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1The first grade and the three degrees included therein embrace all the possibilities of humanity under the external conditions of the present cycle; for, beyond the limited possibilities of the “Life Wave” not even the adept, heir elect of the angels, though he be, can transcend. The various astral spaces which mark off the limits of these human possibilities, constitute the boundary line of Nature drawn by the finger of Deity between the two worlds of human life, the natural and the spiritual. When the external life mission of an adept of the first grade is fulfilled, a process analogous to physical dissolution transpires; the physical atoms which constitute his organism are liberated and the exalted soul enters upon a higher state of evolution and life, and becomes the spiritual man or an adept of the second grade. The second grade is thus a continuation of the first, upon a higher and more interior plane, and the scene of the soul’s activity is transferred from the astral and magnetic spheres to the realm of spirit. This state holds the grand key of life and death, wherein all the greater mysteries of external life are concealed. It also stands midway between the man and the angel. THE TRIUMPH OF THE SOUL—ADEPTSHIP 165 and thus presents to us the equipoise between the human and the divine.
2From the lowest grade of the human being on the external planes of matter up to the highest grade, or the perfect man, there are seven states; so, also, in the realm of spiritual humanity, there are seven states from the perfect man up to the angel. The vast importance of this grade of life, or spiritual adeptship, is also manifest from the fact, that, it is upon the boundaries of the sixth and seventh state of this grade, that, the two halves of the divine soul become permanently and eternally united. The twin souls, male and female, when united, then constitute the complete whole of the divine Ego. This mystical union is “the marriage of the Lamb” of Saint John, wherein the man becomes the angel, the human becomes divine, and enters upon the unknown cycles of Deific life. He is the grand angelic hierophant of celestial mysteries; the nature, power and function of which, are too transcendent for the comprehension of embodied mankind. II THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF ADEPTSHIP
3In passing to this branch of our subject we shall deal only with the first grade, or adeptship of the external degree; since, before it is possible for the student to fully comprehend the powers of the second, he must himself attain unto the first grade. Therefore, to avoid any misconception, let it be distinctly understood that the whole of what now follows pertains exclusively to that state of adeptship whose members live, move, and have their being, and launch forth their powers, either upon the external planes of physical life, or else within the spheres of the astral world immediately interior to it. Since the adept is the perfect man, it is evidently necessary for us to comprehend what is the nature of his perfection, in what does it consist? We have already fully explained, that, in the Occult sense of the term, man is a composite being possessing a seven-fold constitution, having seven cyclic states of existence; that is to say, progressive states of evolution upon the physical plane. The perfect man, therefore, is he who evolves in full his composite being and attains unto the seven states, while yet existing in external physical conditions. While on the other hand, the ordinary human being is [ by Google IZBA 166 THE LIGHT OF EGYPT
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1The first grade and the three degrees included therein embrace all the possibilities of humanity under the external conditions of the present cycle; for, beyond the limited possibilities of the “Life Wave” not even the adept, heir elect of the angels, though he be, can transcend. The various astral spaces which mark off the limits of these human possibilities, constitute the boundary line of Nature drawn by the finger of Deity between the two worlds of human life, the natural and the spiritual. When the external life mission of an adept of the first grade is fulfilled, a process analogous to physical dissolution transpires; the physical atoms which constitute his organism are liberated and the exalted soul enters upon a higher state of evolution and life, and becomes the spiritual man or an adept of the second grade. The second grade is thus a continuation of the first, upon a higher and more interior plane, and the scene of the soul’s activity is transferred from the astral and magnetic spheres to the realm of spirit. This state holds the grand key of life and death, wherein all the greater mysteries of external life are concealed. It also stands midway between the man and the angel. THE TRIUMPH OF THE SOUL—ADEPTSHIP 165 and thus presents to us the equipoise between the human and the divine.
2From the lowest grade of the human being on the external planes of matter up to the highest grade, or the perfect man, there are seven states; so, also, in the realm of spiritual humanity, there are seven states from the perfect man up to the angel. The vast importance of this grade of life, or spiritual adeptship, is also manifest from the fact, that, it is upon the boundaries of the sixth and seventh state of this grade, that, the two halves of the divine soul become permanently and eternally united. The twin souls, male and female, when united, then constitute the complete whole of the divine Ego. This mystical union is “the marriage of the Lamb” of Saint John, wherein the man becomes the angel, the human becomes divine, and enters upon the unknown cycles of Deific life. He is the grand angelic hierophant of celestial mysteries; the nature, power and function of which, are too transcendent for the comprehension of embodied mankind. II THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF ADEPTSHIP
3In passing to this branch of our subject we shall deal only with the first grade, or adeptship of the external degree; since, before it is possible for the student to fully comprehend the powers of the second, he must himself attain unto the first grade. Therefore, to avoid any misconception, let it be distinctly understood that the whole of what now follows pertains exclusively to that state of adeptship whose members live, move, and have their being, and launch forth their powers, either upon the external planes of physical life, or else within the spheres of the astral world immediately interior to it. Since the adept is the perfect man, it is evidently necessary for us to comprehend what is the nature of his perfection, in what does it consist? We have already fully explained, that, in the Occult sense of the term, man is a composite being possessing a seven-fold constitution, having seven cyclic states of existence; that is to say, progressive states of evolution upon the physical plane. The perfect man, therefore, is he who evolves in full his composite being and attains unto the seven states, while yet existing in external physical conditions. While on the other hand, the ordinary human being is [ by Google IZBA 166 THE LIGHT OF EGYPT
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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