The Secret Doctrine : Part 1

Mystic Christianity
by Yogi Ramacharaka

(Page 10 of 16)

The concluding statement of the Creeds (brought over from the preceding lesson) refers to the Holy Ghost.

"I believe in the Holy Ghost." (Apostles' Creed.)

"And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life." (Nicene Creed.)

To the average Christian the nature of the Holy Ghost - one of the beings of the Trinity - is veiled in obscurity, and is generally pronounced "not to be understood." A careful examination of the orthodox Christian writings will show the student that the Church is very much at sea regarding this subject, which should be of the greatest importance to its priests and congregations. Ask the average intelligent churchman regarding the nature of the Holy Ghost, and see for yourself the vague, contradictory and unsatisfactory concepts held by the person questioned. Then turn to the encyclopaedias and other books of reference, and see how little is known or taught regarding this important subject.

It is only when the teachings of Mystic Christianity are consulted that one receives any light on the subject. The Occult Teachings are quite explicit on this subject so fraught with difficulty and lack of comprehension on the part of the orthodox teachers and students.

The teaching of Mystic Christianity, regarding the Holy Ghost, may be summed up by the great general statement that: The Holy Ghost is the Absolute in its phase of Manifestation, as compared to its phase of Unmanifestation - Manifest Being as compared with Unmanifest Being - God Create as compared with God Uncreate - God acting as the Creative Principle as compared to God as The Absolute Being .

The student is asked to read over the above general statement a number of times and to concentrate his or her attention carefully upon it, before proceeding further with the lesson.

To understand the above statement it is necessary for the student to remember that the Absolute may be thought of as existing in two phases. Not as two persons or beings , remember, but as in two phases . There is but One Being - there can be but One - but we may think of that One as existing in two phases. One of these phases is Being Unmanifest; the other, Being Manifest.

Being Unmanifest is the One in its phase of Absolute Being, undifferentiated, unmanifested, uncreated; without attributes, qualities, or natures.

It is impossible for the human mind to grasp the above concept of Being Manifest in the sense of being able to think of it as a "Thing, or Something." This because of the essential being of it. If it were like anything that we can think of, it would not be the Absolute, nor would it be Unmanifest. Everything that we can think of as a "thing" is a relative thing - a manifestation into objective being.

But we are compelled by the very laws of our reason to admit that the Absolute Being Unmanifest exists, for the Manifest and Relative Universe and Life must have proceeded and emanated from a Fundamental Reality, which must be Absolute and Unmanifest. And this Being which our highest reason causes us to assume to exist is Being Unmanifest - God the Father - who cannot be known through the senses - whose existence is made known to us only through Pure Reason, or through the workings of the Spirit within us. In the material sense "God is Unknowable" - but in the higher sense He may be known to the Spirit of Man, and His existence may be known and proven by the exercise of the highest faculties of the reason.

Being Unmanifest is the One in its actual existence and being. If all the world of objective life and manifestation, even to its highest forms, were withdrawn from manifestation, then there would be left - what? Simply and solely, Being Unmanifest - God the Father, alone. Into His Being all else would be withdrawn. Outside of Him there would be nothing . He would be Himself - One - existing in the phase of Being Unmanifest.

We are aware that this idea may seem to be "too abstruse" for the minds of some of our students at first reading - it may appear like an assertion of a Being who is Non-Being. But, be not too hasty - take time - and your mind will assimilate the concept, and will find that it has a corresponding Truth imbedded in its inmost recesses, and then it will know this to be the Truth. And then will it recognize the existence of God the Father, as compared with God, the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost, as we have said, is the Absolute in its phase of Manifest Being. That is, it is God as manifest in the Spirit of Life, which is immanent in, and manifest in, all objective life and phenomena in the Cosmos or Universe.

In previous series of lessons in the Yogi Philosophy, we have shown you that there was a Spirit of Life immanent in, and manifesting through, all forms of life. We have also shown you that everything in the Universe is alive - down to even the minerals, and the atoms composing matter. We have shown you that inasmuch as the Spirit of Life is the source of all Manifestations in the universe, and the "God in the machine" of all phenomena of force, matter and life, then it naturally follows that there can be nothing dead in the world - that there is LIFE manifesting in every object, varying only in the degree of manifestation. In our "Advanced Lessons" and in "Gnani Yoga" this subject is considered in detail. Then what is this Spirit of Life? If God is All, then it cannot be Something other than God. But it cannot well be God the Uncreate - the Absolute in its Absolute phase - the Being Unmanifest. Then what can it be?

About the Author

Yogi Ramacharaka was a pseudonym of William Walker Atkinson, an American writer who was influential in turn-of-the-century spiritual/philosophical movements such as 'New Thought' (a precursor to today's New Age movement) and Theosophy. Atkinson, writing as Ramacharaka, helped to popularize Eastern concepts in America, with Yoga and a broadly-interpreted Hinduism being particular areas of focus.