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What is
truth?.....Then he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them,
I find
in Him no fault at all. But we have a custom that I should release
unto you
one at the Passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the
King of
the Jews? Then cried they all again saying, Not this man, but
Barabbas.
now Barabbas was a robber. Pilate therefore took Jesus and
SCOURGED Him.
And the soldiers platted A CROWN OF THORNS and put it on His head,
and they
put on Him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews; and they
smote
him with their hands.
"Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, behold I
bring
Him forth unto you that ye may know that I find no fault in Him.
Then came
Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And
Pilate
saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore,
and of-
ficers saw Him, they cried out, saying, Crucify Him, Crucify Him.
Pilate
saith unto them, Take ye Him and crucify Him; for I find no fault
in Him.
The Jews answered him, We have a law and by our law He ought to die,
because
He made Himself the Son of God.....Pilate sought to release Him,
but the
Jews cried out saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not
Caesar's
friend; whoever maketh himself a king speaketh against
Caesar.....They cried
[PAGE 117] THE STIGMATA AND THE
CRUCIFIXION
out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith
unto them,
Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no
king but
Caesar. Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be
crucified. And
they took Jesus and led Him away. And He, bearing His cross, went
forth
into a place called the PLACE OF A SKULL, which is, in the Hebrew,
Golgotha.
There they CRUCIFIED Him and two others with Him, one on either
side and
Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the
cross. And
the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS."
We have here the account of how the STIGMATA or punctures were
produced
in the Hero of the Gospels, though the location is not quite
correctly de-
scribed, and the process is represented in a narrative form differing
widely
from the manner in which these things really happen. But we stand
here be-
fore one of the Mysteries which must remain sealed for the profane,
though
the underlying mystical facts are as plain as daylight to those who
know.
The physical body is not by any means the real man. Tangible,
solid, and
pulsating with life as we find it, it is really the most dead part
of the
human being, crystallized into a matrix of finer vehicles which are
invis-
ible to our ordinary physical sight. If we place a basin of water
in a
freezing temperature, the water soon congeals into ice, and when we
examine
this ice, we find that it is made up of innumerable little crystals
having
various geometrical forms and lines of demarcation. There are
etheric lines
of forces which were present in the water before it congealed. As
the water
[PAGE 118] ANCIENT AND MODERN
INITIATION
was hardened and molded along these lines, so our physical bodies
have con-
gealed and solidified along the etheric lines of force of our
invisible vi-
tal body, which is thus in the ordinary course of life inextricably
bound to
the physical body, waking or sleeping, until death brings dissolution
of the
tie. But as Initiation involves the liberation of the REAL MAN
from the
body of sin and death that he may soar into the subtler spheres at
will and
return to the body at his pleasure, it is obvious that before that
can be
accomplished, before the object of Initiation can be
attained, the
interlocking grip of the physical body and the etheric vehicle which
is so
strong and rigid in ordinary humanity, must be dissolved. As they
are most
closely bound together in the palms of the hands, the arches of the
feet,
and the head, the occult schools concentrate their efforts upon
severing the
connection at these points, and produce the STIGMATA invisibly.
The Christian Mystic lacks knowledge of how to perform the act
without
producing an exterior manifestation. The STIGMATA develop in him
spontane-
ously by constant contemplation of Christ and unceasing efforts to
imitate
Him in all things. These exterior STIGMATA comprise not only the
wounds in
the hands and feet and that in the side but also those impressed
by the
crown of thorns and by the scourging. The most remarkable example
of stig-
matization is that said to have occurred in 1224 to Francis of Assisi
on the
mountain of Alverno. Being absorbed in contemplation of the Passion
he saw
a seraph approaching, blazing with fire and having between its
wings the
[PAGE 119] THE STIGMATA AND THE
CRUCIFIXION
figure of the Crucified. St. Francis became aware that in hands,
feet, and
side he had received externally the marks of crucifixion. These
marks con-
tinued during the two years until his death, and are claimed to
have been
seen by many eyewitnesses, including Pope Alexander the Fourth.
The Dominicans disputed the fact, but at length made the same
claim for
Catherine of Sienna, whose STIGMATA were explained as having at her
own re-
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