Inner and Outer Evolution
GA 91 — 20 August 1904, Graal
4. Auxiliary Terms, New Testament
There are certain expressions that have been in use in all secret schools since ancient times to hide certain facts from the profane. For example, the expression 'on the mountain'. It means the 'interior of the temple', where the secret school is located and the secret disciple is initiated into certain things. “Jesus went up into the mountain,” that is to say, he led them into the interior of his mystery school and expounded what he had taught in parables before the multitude.
The Sermon on the Mount, with its tremendous and momentous significance, could only be expounded to the disciples, not to the people. It is secret because it contains tremendously significant demands. The very first sentence reads:
“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” [Matt. 5,3]
Blessed means to be 'blessed'; those who will ascend from the physical to the spiritual, who long for the spirit; the Kingdom of Heaven springs from within them. There are 3 x 3 beatitudes, 9. The number nine, which through certain manipulations can be reduced to seven, is a holy number.
Three virtues that correspond to the lower nature are: longing, suffering and peace. Through longing we are drawn up; through suffering we overcome and come to peace.
The second group of virtues, those that lead upwards, are: justice, kindness and a benevolent heart. If we compare this second group with the first, we find that the first group relates to the individual, while the others relate to our fellow human beings.
Thirdly, there are the virtues that lead upwards to the higher beings. First, by being tolerant; only to be acquired through strict self-discipline – peaceableness. He who speaks to offend another, to say what pleases him, cannot find the way to higher entities. The second is to be strict against oneself and to suffer persecution for the sake of one's righteousness; to take upon oneself any persecution for the sake of righteousness. Third, to declare oneself a disciple of the Master.
These 3 x 3 virtues are now expounded in detail in the Beatitudes.
“Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” [Matt. 5,4]
Peace is found by the one who draws from the realm of the earth whatever can be had, but does not covet.
The Lord saw something rhythmic in the number nine and had to impress it on the disciples.
An even more magnificent example of being on the mountain is the transfiguration. It is said that the disciples came into a kind of special state, of heightened consciousness. 'A cloud overshadowed them.' This is the suggestion of devachanic clairvoyance, where the past and future disappear so that they see the three of them side by side. Jesus reveals to them the secret meaning of his basic saying: The Way is what is first revealed to man. It is also called 'Elias' – 'Elias', who shows the way. 'Moses' is also called 'truth' in the secret teaching. It is Moses insofar as he received the commandments; he sets the goal. Christ is the life-awakening example: life. The great religious founders – Zoroaster, Buddha, Hermes – gave teachings. What Christ taught was not the new thing that mattered, but that he lived it, that is what matters. – You are not to entrust it to anyone until the Christ comes to life in his own soul.
Another secret became clear, that of the returning Elijah in John the Baptist; he taught reincarnation here in its entirety. That he did not teach it outwardly has its good reason in the task of Christianity: to sanctify the personality. — In ancient times, people said to themselves: This life is one of many that I endure here, will benefit me later — Egypt, laborers. Now people should learn to appreciate the individual life, to recognize its full value; Christianity is 1900 years old; all people have gone through it once. Because about one reincarnation time has passed, the reincarnation doctrine is now being taught again. Once people felt the value of the individual life. Now they have to return to the higher self.
The most profound, mystical gospel is the Gospel of John. According to research by Protestant theologians, it is the latest, written 150 years later. This is based on the lack of writing in the beginning. Who is the writer of this gospel? We do not find the name John anywhere. Only the designation “the disciple whom the master loves”. In the secret language, this means: one who has been initiated by the master himself. Who was at the cross? Jesus' mother, Mary, her sister. Nowhere does it say that the mother's name was Mary. Let us read about the wedding at Cana. “Woman, what do I have to do with you?” Let us read further at the crucifixion: “Woman, behold your son.” All this can only be understood by the researcher of secrets: the people of an initiate are referred to as his mother. At the same time, he has outgrown his people, he arises from them but grows beyond them. Here we, as 'mother', must understand the Jewish people. Mary of Magdala represents the part of the people who believe in him because of his miracles; 'Cleophas' wife' represents the part of the people who feel Jewish. But he has outgrown the part of the Jewish people that forms a common basis, which had already absorbed Alexandrian wisdom, which was not limited to Palestine; this is the own mother from whom Jesus has grown out; the disciple is to take her to himself. Thus the Gospel of John spreads the truth on a Jewish-Alexandrian basis – Jews in the diaspora – in the learned form. This mother had become nameless, scattered throughout the world. Wedding = festivity. Symbol of transformation for the old religion, which was water, into the wine of the new covenant. He is founding something new, but his hour has not yet come. Therefore: 'Woman, what do I have to do with you?'
Who is the disciple whom Jesus loved?
The 'Wedding at Cana' is only found in the Gospel of John because it is one of the deepest secrets that Jesus entrusts to the disciple to whom he has initiated. Does he say at any point that he has been initiated? Yes. The story of the miracle of Lazarus is only found here. It is an initiation. Here the disciple whom Jesus loves presents himself. Until then, there is no mention of the disciple whom Jesus loves; only afterwards. The one who is awakened in this way is above the personal, needs no name. He also knows in the highest sense who Christ is: the Incarnate Logos. All Egyptian theosophy is here: the Word is what comes from an earlier development, arupic; life is the Rupic; the light is the astral; it shines in the darkness - the earthly. One comes to the literal interpretation of the Gospels indirectly, after receiving the key.
“Let us not rend the garment.” The garments are the various coverings; they can be divided except where the high priestly dignity is concerned. An initiate will distinguish himself from others by being absolutely tolerant, never pushing his opinion to the fore, but waiting until the facts speak. — [John in] “Chapter 20”.
Thus the Gospel of John contains not only words, but deeds that give life everywhere.