The bringing forth of the secrets of the Mysteries

Were I to compress into one sentence how ancient initiation was carried out in the mystery schools of olden times, and how this life could be compared with life in the outer world I should say: ‘It must not be thought that the same feeling of self which a man experiences in the “kingdom” remains when he has developed the three times three attributes, described above, in their reality. He must withdraw from all such feelings of self. What is experienced as Nezach, Jesod, and Hod cannot be carried down into the Kingdom, or remain associated with the ordinary ego-feeling of a man.’ This was common knowledge. Whoever dared to contradict it would have been regarded as a fool, a liar, and a madman.