"Деннис Уитли. The Devil Rides Out (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

which has come down to us through the ages. You will have heard of
the Persian myth of Ozamund and Ahriman, the eternal powers of Light
and Darkness, said to be co-equal and warring without cessation for
the good or ill of mankind. All ancient sun and nature
worship-festivals of spring and so on, were only an outward
expression of that myth, for Light typifies Health and Wisdom,
Growth and Life; while Darkness means Disease and Ignorance, Decay
and Death.
'In its highest sense Light symbolises the growth of the Spirit
towards that perfection in which it can throw off the body and
become light itself; but the road to perfection is long and arduous,
too much to hope for in one short human life, hence the widespread
belief in re-incarnation; that we are born again and again until we
begin to despise the pleasures of the flesh. This doctrine is so old
that no man can trace its origin, yet it is the inner core of truth
common to all religions at their inception. Consider the teaching of
Jesus Christ with that in mind and you will be amazed that you have
not realised before the true purport of His message. Did He not say
that the 'Kingdom of God was within us,' and, when He walked upon
the waters declared: 'These things that I do ye shall do also; and
greater things than these shall ye do, for I go unto my Father which
is in Heaven,' meaning most certainly that He had achieved
perfection but that others had the same power within each one of
them to do likewise.'
De Richleau paused for a moment and then went on more slowly.
'Unfortunately the hours of the night are still equal to the hours
of the day, and so the power of Darkness is no less active than when
the world was young, and no sooner does a fresh Master appear to
reveal the light than ignorance, greed, and lust for power cloud the
minds of his followers. The message becomes distorted and the
simplicity of the truth submerged and forgotten in the pomp of
ceremonies and the meticulous performance of rituals which have lost
their meaning. Yet the real truth is never entirely lost, and
through the centuries new Masters are continually arising either to
proclaim it or, if the time is not propitious, to pass it on in
secret to the chosen few.
'Apollonius of Tyana learned it in the East. The so-called
Heretics whom we know as the Albigenses preached it in the twelfth
century through Southern France until they were exterminated.
Christian Rosenkreutz had it in the Middle Ages. It was the
innermost secret of the Order of the Templars who were suppressed
because of it by the Church of Rome. The Alchemists, too, searched
for and practised it. Only the ignorant take literally their
struggle to find the Elixir of Life. Behind such phrases, designed
to protect them from the persecution of their enemies, they sought
Eternal Life, and their efforts to transmute base metals into gold
were only symbolical of their transfusion of matter into light. And
still to-day while the night life of London goes on about us there
are mystics and adepts who are seeking the Eightfold Way to
perfection in many corners of the Earth.'