It is appropriate that we read from the Twenty-Second Saying on the Sun of Righteousness and the Image and Word incarnate within that Light as we prepare to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the dawning of God’s Second Advent.
Our eight-day sunrise vigil begins on the evening of January 29th with a service commemorating the events that transpired that night in 1962 when The Child of Light, Jamil, passed from this world at midnight. We then have eight days of sunrise services through the morning of February 6th. Of course, you can find all the details in the last chapter of the book, Jamil: Child of Light, which I always encourage you to read at this special time of year.
The Twenty-second Saying (Part 2)
“After thinking these thoughts, The Man took a scroll in hand; and removing the silken ribbon that bound it, he began to read to The Mariners and Companions of The Way.
“And these are the words of the Twenty-Second Saying:
“Man has a spiritual nature that is not consciously alive – a spirit which is part of a spiritual domain and is not of the world or the material universe. It sustains the life of mortal man, yet he knows it not, being ignorant of his true nature: the spirit sleeps. And no teaching of saintly priests or words spoken by holy prophets, neither any scripture, sacred book, sacred law, nor sacrament, ordinance or commandment of any world religion, regardless of its great age or supposed authority, can awaken it – these only stir the mind or the emotion or the psychic nature of Man. The spirit remains the sole possession of God; and nothing of the earth, no matter the title, position or claim to any such title or position, can reach it.
“God speaks to the spirit through His Word. And the Word manifests in the Image. There is no other way to God. God has blessed the world with a precious gift – the manifestation of the Image and the Word discerned as the great, holy Light of the spiritual Sun of Righteousness which is the instrument of His Divine Will.
“God would that man and woman perceive His Image and Word and by these means come to Life again; and by living, they would know Him.
“From ancient times God has revealed Knowledge of His Existence through Holy Ones inspired of the Image and the Word. And Holy Ones proclaimed to all the world the means by which the spirit might live again and know God. But humans, in their foolishness and inability to judge or know things of the spirit, because of their perpetual clinging to the senses and the mind as the sole means of perception, lost hold of the Truth of the revealed Doctrines.
“Thus, Knowledge of The Way to God was forgotten. Even the Christian religion is guilty of this most grievous error. The scriptures say, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His Only-Begotten Son, so those who believe in Him might not die, but have life everlasting.’
“Man, desiring to worship things mortal and being ever anxious to follow the way of the flesh, believes the good and inspired teaching that Jesus is the Son of God. Though incarnate with the Image and the Word of God and truly a Son of God, Jesus is not the First-Born of God sent into the world to redeem humanity.
“The First-Born is the Light of God’s Image and the Truth of His Word, gloriously manifest in the Sun of Righteousness.
“It is not by the suffering of Jesus, my beloved Brother in Light, nor by his death on the cross, nor by the shedding of his blood as atonement, that Man is saved, but only by the Image and the Word which God has caused to come into the world. God alone is Man’s Savior. And only God’s Light and Truth can redeem him from the error of Darkness; for if Man’s spirit not be reborn, it can never know God.
“It is because he was made in the Image of that Image and Word of God that Jesus arose from the dead. And this is the greatest of Secret Sayings, for the Image and the Word given of God so that Man might live are not discerned by the worldly but only by those who live The Way under the Codes of the Order of The Community.
“The spirits of those who live The Way are reborn and made into living souls; and they know God by means of the Image and the Word, which are Life and Breath, Bread and Water, to the soul. No mortal eye can see, nor mortal ear hear the Things of God.
“The Sun of Righteousness comes to restore order in the universe. It is the Image of God and not an image of any living thing either in Heaven or on earth. The Word is manifest within the Image, and within the Word is God’s Revelation and Knowledge of Himself, the source of all life in its original and pre-existent form. The Substance of this spiritual Sun is God – Redeemer, Restorer, Savior – who instructs the world in understanding of His Nature in Love, Mercy ,and Goodness.
“Let all those who would be redeemed from the earth, in life and in death, accept the Gift of God with rejoicing and thanksgiving, wrapping themselves in a robe of splendorous Light as a protection against the Powers of Darkness which even now gather in strength to seek out the spirits of the ignorant and the unsuspecting who put their faith and trust in the powers of the world.”
We are preparing, and you will be receiving soon, information on this year’s Community Convocation which will take place the first week in June. Our celebration will focus on the 60th anniversary of this important cosmic and spiritual event. You will also be receiving additional information on the September Cosolargy Conference, which will focus of Color and Sacred Imagery.
“‘But what kind of sin do the ignorant commit that they should be deprived of immortality?’ I asked. ‘You do not seem to have thought about what I told you. Did I not tell you to pay attention?’ ‘I understand and remember, and at the same time I thank you.’ ‘If you understand, tell me why those who are ignorant deserve death.’ ‘Because the material body has its source in the abhorrent darkness, from which came the watery substance of which the body is composed in the sensible world, and from this body, death slakes its thirst.’ ‘You have understood correctly. But why is it, as the word of God has it, that whoever recognizes and knows himself enters into the good?’ I answered, ‘Because the father of all consists of light and life, and from him human beings were born.’ ‘You are right. Light and life are God and father, out of which humans came. And if you learn that you are also made of light and life, you will return to light and life.’” ~
