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From Bethlehem to Calvary - Chapter Four - The Third Initiation - The Transfiguration
II. "After six days Jesus taketh Peter, James and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the Sun, and his raiment was white as the light. "And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. "While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud over-shadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only." - St. Matt., XVII, 1-8. A consideration of the various unifications which Christ had made in Himself will have prepared us for the stupendous phenomenon of the revelation which forced the three disciples to their faces. Three kneeling kings or magi attended the birth initiation. At this crisis there were three disciples prostrate upon the ground, unable to look upon the glory which had been revealed. They thought that they knew their Master, but the familiar Presence had been transformed, and they stood before The Presence. The sense of awe, of wonder and of humility is ever an outstanding [151] reaction of the mystics of all time to the revelation of light. This episode is the first one in which we contact the radiance and the light which shone from the Savior, and which enabled Him to say with truth "I am the Light of the world." Contact with God will ever cause a light to shine forth. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, his countenance was so irradiated that men could not look upon it, and history tells that he had to use a veil to shield that radiance from others. But the light which was in Christ shone forth in fullness from His whole Person. Increasingly, I believe, as the evolutionary process goes forward, we shall come to a deeper understanding of the significance of light in relation to humanity. We talk of the light of knowledge, and towards that light and its furtherance all of our educational processes and institutions are consecrated. We desire profoundly the light of understanding, which expresses itself in wisdom, and characterizes the sage and the wise upon earth; this light marks them off from the ordinarily intelligent person, making their words of moment, and giving value to their advice. We have been led to believe that there are in the world the illuminati, working quietly and silently behind the scenes in world affairs, shedding the light when needed into the dark places of the world, elucidating problems, and eventually bringing to light that which must be eradicated and that which is needed. We have also learnt to recognize the Light-bearers of all time, and we feel that in Christ the light of the ages is focused, and the light of God is centered. His disciples came into the radius of this light for the first time on the mountain-top, after six days of work, so the story runs, and could not bear the sight of so much brilliance. Nevertheless, they felt that "it was good for them to be there." Yet in our consideration of the light which was in Christ, and the rapture of the Apostles at its revelation, let us not lose sight of the fact that He Himself tells us that there is in us also a light, and that it too must blaze forth for the helping of the world and the glorification of our Father which is in [152] Heaven. (St. Matt., V, 16.) To this light the mystics testify, and it is this light into which they enter, and which enters into them, revealing the light which is latent and drawing it forth to potency. "In Thy light shall we see light." This is the outstanding fact of scientific mysticism. God is light as well as life. This the mystic has proved, and to this he eternally testifies. This awareness of the fact of divinity is established in our consciousness first of all through the recognition of the wonder latent in every human being. That man who sees no good in his fellowmen is he who is unaware of his own goodness; that man who sees only evil in those around him is he who is seeing them through the distorted lens of his own warped nature. But those who are awakening to the world of reality are constantly made aware of the divinity in man, through his unselfish acts, his kindness, his spirit of enquiry, his light-heartedness in difficulty, and his basic essential goodness. This awareness deepens as he studies the history of the race and the religious inheritance of the ages, and above all when he is brought face to face with the transcendent goodness and wonder which Christ revealed. From this realization he passes on to the discovery of the divine in himself, and starts on that long struggle which carries him through the stages of intellectual awareness of possibility, and of intuitive perception of truth, to that illumination which is the prerogative and the gift of all the perfected sons of God. The radiant inner body of light is present both in the individual and in the race, unseen and unrevealed, but slowly and surely emerging. At the present hour a large number of mankind are engaged in the activities of the six days which precede the transfiguration experience.
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