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Frater Achad
Stepping out of the Old Æon and into the New
by Charles S. Jones
[Originally published in The Equinox, Volume III, No. I]
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As all of you should know, we have entered a New Aeon. A Higher Truth has been given to the World. This truth is waiting in readiness for all those who will consciously accept it, but it has to be realized before it is understood, and day by day those who have accepted this Law, and are trying to live it, realize more and more of its Beauty and Perfection.
The new teaching appears strange at first; and the mind is unable to grasp more than a fragment of what it really means. Only when we are living the Law can that fragment expand into the infinite conception of the whole.
I want you to share with me one little fragment of this great Truth which has been made clear to me this Sun-Day morning: I want you to come with me – if you will – just across the border-line of the Old Aeon and gaze for a moment at the New. Then, if the aspect pleases you, you will stay, or, it may be, you will return for a while, but the road once open and the Path plain, you will always be able to get there again, in the twinkling of an eye, just by readjusting your Inner sight to the Truth.
You know how deeply we have always been impressed with the ideas of Sun-rise and Sun-set, and how our ancient brethren, seeing the Sun disappear at night and rise again in the morning, based all their religious ideas in this one conception of a Dying and Re-arisen God. This is the central idea of the religion of the Old Aeon but we have left it behind us because although it seemed to be based on Nature (and Nature’s symbols are always true), yet we have outgrown this idea which is only apparently true in Nature. Since this great Ritual of Sacrifice and Death was conceived and perpetuated, we, through the observation of our men of science, have come to know that it is not the Sun which rises and sets, but the earth on which we live which revolves so that its shadow cuts us off from the sunlight during what we call night. The Sun does not die, as the ancients thought; It is always shining, always radiating Light and Life. Stop for a moment and get a clear conception of this Sun, how He is shining in the early morning, shining at mid-day, shining in the evening, and shining in the night. Have you got this idea clearly in your minds? You have stepped out of the Old -Eon into the New.
Now let us consider what has happened. In order to get this mental picture of the ever-shining Sun, what did you do? You identified yourself with the Sun. You stepped out of the consciousness of this planet; and for a moment you had to consider yourself as a Solar Being. Then why step back again? You may have done so involuntarily, because the Light was so great that it seemed as Darkness. But do it again, this time more fully, and let us consider what the changes in our concept of the Universe will be.
The moment we identify ourselves with the Sun, we realize that we have become the source of Light, that we too are now shining gloriously, but we also realize that the Sunlight is no longer for us, for we can no longer see the Sun, any more than in our little old-aeon consciousness we could see ourselves. All around us is perpetual Night, but it is the Starlight of the Body of Our Lady Nuit in which we live and move and have our being. Then, from this height we look back upon the little planet Earth, of which we, a moment ago, were a part, and think of Ourself as shedding our Light upon all those little individuals we have called our brothers and sisters, the slaves that serve. But we do not stop there. Imagine the Sun concentrating His rays for a moment on one tiny spot, the Earth. What happens? It is burnt up, it is consumed, it disappears. But in our Solar Consciousness is Truth, and though we glance for a moment at the little sphere we-have left behind us, and it is no more, yet there is “that which remains.” What remains? What has happened? We realize that “every man and every woman is a star.” We gaze around at our wider heritage, we gaze at the Body of Our Lady Nuit. We are not in darkness; we are much nearer to Her now. What (from the little planet) looked like specks of light, are now blazing like other great Suns, and these are truly our brothers and sisters, whose essential and Starry nature we had never before seen and realized. These are the ‘remains’ of those we thought we had left behind.
There is plenty of room here, each one travels in His true Path, all is joy.
Now, if you want to step back into the Old Aeon do so. But try and bear in mind that those around you are in reality Suns and Stars, not little shivering slaves. If you are not willing to be a King yourself, still recognize that they have a right to Kingship, even as you have, whenever you wish to accept it. And the moment you desire to do so, you have only to remember this – Look at things from the point of view of the Sun.
Love is the law, love under will.