THE SALUTATION OR PROLOGUE
TO THE
BRONZEBOOK (Now incorporated in the Kolbrin)
Greetings, Unborn Ones, now asleep in the dark womb of
the future. Greetings from we who were once as you are now and like whom you
will one day be. We too hoped and feared, doubted and believed.
Were you choosing a gift from the past to the future,
what would it be? The golden treasures hoarded by kings? The bright jewels
beloved by queens? Is worldly wealth still so important to you? If that would
be your choice above all else, we are disappointed, for our labours have been
in vain.
Would you prefer the secret of life, of eternal youth?
Have you altered so little from those who live and laugh today, with no thought
turned towards the future? This thing which seems so desirable, were it yours
would you value it? Would it never pall? Would you still be grateful for it
after a thousand years have passed? The answer would be "yes" if this
life were all, the beginning and end, complete in itself. But might not this
life be no more than a prelude, an introduction to something infinitely
greater? Is the riddle still unsolved, the secret of the ages still well kept,
known only by a few, even when these words are read? How many generations have
passed without progress? Does mankind still lie passive like driftwood upon the
sea of spiritual apathy, driven back and forth by changeable winds and
conflicting currents, making no headway?
Could we leave you the knowledge enabling you to live
a life without toil, surrounded by every luxury and pleasure; a magic stone
granting every desire, an all healing potion, the ability to fly or know all
things on Earth, would any of these satisfy the desires of your heart and
fulfil your dreams? We who lie so far back along the road trust you have
progressed beyond such petty aspirations.
It is beyond our power to give such gifts, and were
they ours to bestow we would withhold them, for unless a gift confers a
benefit, it were better not given. With the wisdom of your generation, tell us,
which of the things mentioned would really benefit you or even prove less bad
than good? Or do you still remain unaware of your true nature and needs?
Who you are, how you speak and dress (are you even
like us in form?) we cannot know or imagine. This alone we know as truth, you
are brother beings of ours and travel the road we once trod. We share one
destiny and have the same true goal, though perhaps no more know in your day
what these are than do in ours. Like to us life comes to you unbidden, it is
fraught with problems and difficulties; it alternates between light and shade,
and like us you wonder what awaits at the end. You, too, are victims of Earth's
delusions; you, too, find Truth and Perfection beyond your grasp and you, too,
aspire to beauty and goodness. These things we know about you, these things
must be or you would not exist.
Your needs are no different from ours, but do you now
know with certainty what they are? Your life serves the same purpose, you are
part of the same pattern, you are ruled by the same impulses and urges, but do
you know why and to what end? We know you are without certainty and assurance
about what lies beyond the veil of death, for these cannot be given while man
remains no more than man, and doubtless like us you remain suspended between
doubt and belief.
Our Unborn Friends, whatever your circumstances of
life you are the children of the past and heirs of those who have lived and
died. We trust you have no cause to reproach those who once held stewardship
over your estate. But whatever you think of the heritage, you cannot put it
aside, any more than you can refuse the obligations of life. Maybe it brings
you the happiness and security, the peace and plenty we never knew. If so, this
will remain unread, for to you it would be a wilderness of words serving no
purpose. If you have so much, if you have progressed so far, nothing we could
give would be of benefit. To the traveler, information about the road behind is
worthless. If this is your state we hail you, we are proud of you, our worthy
children of light, conceived in the long dark years wherein we laboured and ploughed
our own short furrow. You have done well and our greatest joy would be to stand
beside you as you exaltingly reach out for the crowning glory of godhood.
But you may be no more enlightened than we, in which
case accept our offering as a token of our regret, our desire to make amends on
behalf of those who preceded you, for if you remain lost in spiritual darkness
the blame is theirs and not yours.
This we give you, The Hidden Books containing the
accumulated harvest of wisdom and Truth garnered over the generations, the
bread and oil which sustained us and never diminished. May they serve you in
your day as well as they served us. Above all, may you be sufficiently
enlightened to receive them, for today we are persecuted because of our books,
and most who treasured and guarded them are now dead. We can only consign these
books to the ground and destiny, trusting they will be called forth at the
proper time and in a receptive generation.
These books, which we hand into the keeping of time,
were written under the authority of revelation and inspiration. Containing
Truth, their message cannot be attacked by time, for Truth is an eternal youth.
We make no claim to exact and accurate statements beyond the possibility of
error and misinterpretation, for words are frail messengers. They are fallible
things unable to transmit accurately from mind to mind. Also, we cannot tell
how they who resurrect the books will deal with the contents. They are written
in letters known to the learned, but learning changes with the generations.
These books are the glorious embodiment of Eternal Truth, but the words and
expressions are unworthy garments so that misconception and misunderstanding
are not possible. Words are servants of the fallible mortal sphere and when
called upon to serve a realm of greater things prove inadequate. Therefore, be
not like some petty-minded ones of our generation who say, "The letters
are misplaced and the words ill used." They examine each blade of grass
diligently, but fail to discover the purpose of the meadow. Such men lack
insight and seeing only the bare letters say, "These tell me all, there is
nothing more". We have a saying, "do not judge a place of instruction
by its bricks". Wisdom, being eternal, doubtless this will apply no less
in your generation.
So, Unborn Unknowable Ones, we humbly tender this, the
gift of the past which we could not pass on otherwise. If you have advanced far
along the road towards greatness, it will have no value; but if you still dally
or have wandered away, lost in the illusive mists of worldliness and none
answers your cries, then take this hand extending out of the past. It will
guide you faithfully and well.
Down through the generations men have been persecuted,
have suffered and died so that Truth and Goodness might prevail, remember them.
If the world is good, then your peace and pleasures have been brought by their
sacrifices. If it is not, then you must not quibble over the cost to yourselves
in making it good. Surely no torments and terrors in your days could exceed
those of the past!
Farewell, Unborn Ones, with these few words we have
reached from the day of the present into the night of the future. We have
planted the seed, will it grow or rot in the ground? What crop will it produce?
We cannot know.
Let fate deal with it as it will, we have gathered the
seed, flailed and winnowed it and kept it with every care.
We have planted well, we can do no more.
May life deal better with you than with us. May you
never be denied the comforting hand of hope. Farewell!
THE BOOK OF CREATION
Extracted From The Great Book
Of The Sons of Fire
(An account of the beginning of things and why they
are as we find them)
Chapter 1
CREATION
Mortal knowledge is circumscribed by mortal ignorance,
and mortal comprehension is circumscribed by spiritual reality. It is unwise
for mortal man to attempt the understanding of that which is beyond his
conception, for there lies the road to disbelief and madness. Yet man is man
and ever fated to reach out beyond himself, striving to attain things which
always just elude his grasp. So in his frustration he replaces the dimly seen
incomprehensible with things within his understanding. If these things but poorly
reflect reality, then is not the reflection of reality, distorted though it may
be, of greater value than no reflection at all?
There are no true beginnings on Earth, for here all is
effect, the ultimate cause being elsewhere. For who among men can say which
came first, the seed or the plant? Yet in truth it is neither, for something
neither seed nor plant preceded both, and that thing was also preceded by
something else. Always there are ancestors back to the beginning, and back
beyond to there is only God. This, then, is how these things were told in The
Great Book of The Sons of Fire.
Before the beginning there was only one consciousness,
that of The Eternal One whose nature cannot be expressed in words. It was The
One Sole Spirit, The Self Generator which cannot diminish. The Unknown,
Unknowable One brooding solitary in profound pregnant silence.
The name which is uttered cannot be that of this Great
Being who, remaining nameless, is the beginning and the end, beyond time,
beyond the reach of mortals, and we in our simplicity call it God.
He who preceded all existed alone in His strange abode
of uncreated light, which remains ever unextinguishable, and no understandable
eye can ever behold it. The pulsating draughts of the eternal life light in His
keeping were not yet loosed. He knew Himself alone, He was uncontrasted, unable
to manifest in nothingness, for all within His Being was unexpressed potential.
The Great Circles of Eternity were yet to be spun out, to be thrown forth as
the endless ages of existence in substance. They were to begin with God and
return to Him completed in infinite variety and expression.
Earth was not yet in existence, there were no winds
with the sky above them; high mountains were not raised, nor was the great
river in its place. All was formless, without movement, calm, silent, void and
dark. No name had been named and no destinies foreshadowed.
Eternal rest is intolerable, and unmanifested
potential is frustration. Into the solitude of timelessness can Divine Loneliness
and from this arose the desire to create, that He might know and express
Himself, and this generated the Love of God. He took thought and brought into
being within Himself the Universal Womb of Creation containing the everlasting
essence of slumbering spirit.
The essence was quickened by a ripple from the mind of
God and a creative thought was projected. This generated power which produced
light, and this formed a substance like unto a mist of invisible dust. It
divided into two forms of energy through being impregnated with The Spirit of
God and, quickening the chaos of the void within the Universal Womb, became
spun out into whirlpools of substance. From this activity, as sparks from a
fire, came an infinite variety of spirit minds, each having creative powers
within itself.
The activating word was spoken, its echoes vibrate
still, and there was a stirring movement which caused instability. A command
was given and this became the Everlasting Law. Henceforth, activity was
controlled in harmonious rhythm and the initial inertia was overcome. The Law
divided the materializing chaos from God and then established the boundaries of
the Eternal Spheres.
Time no longer slept on the bosom of God, for now
there was change where before all had been unchanging, and change is time. Now
within the Universal Womb was heat, substance and life, and encompassing it was
the Word which is the Law.
The command was given, "Let the smallest of
things form the greatest and that which lives but a flash form
everlastingness." Thus the universe came into being as a condensation of
God's thought, and as it did so it obscured Him from all enclosed within His
solidifying creation. Henceforth, God was hidden, for He has always remained
dimly reflected in His creation. He became veiled from all that came forth from
Him. Creation does not explain itself, under the Law it cannot do so, its
secrets have to be unraveled by the created.
All things are by nature finite, they have a
beginning, a middle and an end. An unaccomplishable purpose would be eternal
frustration and therefore, the universe being created purposefully it must have
an objective. If it ended without anything else following, then the God
existing must slumber indifferent to its activities. But He has made it a
living work of greatness operating under the changeless Law.
The creating word had been spoken, now there was
another command and the power going forth smote the sun so its face was lit,
and it shone with a great radiance pouring warmth and light upon its sister
Earth. Henceforth she would live within the protection of her brother's
household, rejoicing in his benevolence and strength. The waters upon the bosom
of Earth were gathered together and dry land appeared. When the covering of
water was rolled back the body of Earth was unstable, damp and yielding. The
face of the sun shone down kindly upon his sister and the dry land of her body
became very hard, humidity and dampness were taken away. He gave her a garment
of fleece and a veil of fine linen, that she might clothe her body with
modesty.
From the Great Womb had sprung the Spirit of Life and
it was rampant in the Heavens. It gazed upon Earth and saw her fairness, and
was filled with desire, and came out of the heavenly spaces to possess her. It
came not peacefully as a lover, but tempestuously as a ravager. Its breath
howled along her corridors and raged among her mountain tops, but it did not
discover the dwelling place of her Spirit. She had withdrawn, as a woman
withdraws before force, for modesty must not be outraged in submission. Yet she
desired its embrace, for among all the Radiant Company she was honoured.
The sun saw her perplexity and he wrestled with the
Spirit of Life and overcame it. When it was subdued and the primal struggle had
ceased, it was delivered by the sun to his sister. It was chastened and
quietened and in silence brooded over Earth's waters, and she was stirred in
response. Mud eggs of life potential were formed in swamps, at the meeting
places of land and two waters. The sun gave quickening heat and life crawled
forth upon the bosom of the Earth.
The land dust brought forth the male and the dark
water mist the female, and they united and multiplied. The first brought forth
the second and the two produced the third. Earth was no longer virgin and the
Spirit of Life grew old and departed. Earth was left garbed in the matron's
mantle of green, herbage covered the face of the land.
The waters brought forth fishes and creatures which
move about and twist themselves and wriggle in the waters, the serpents and the
beasts of terrible aspect which were of yore, and reptiles which creep and
crawl. There were tall walking things and dragons in hideous form clothed with
terror, whose great bones may still be seen. Then came forth from the Womb of the
Earth all the beasts of the field and forest. All the creatures of creation
having blood in their bodies, and it was complete. Beasts roamed the dry land
and fishes swam in the seas.
There were birds in the skies and worms within the
soil.
There were great land masses and high mountains, wide
barren places and heaving waters. Fertile greenness covered the land and
abundant life swarmed in the seas, for now Earth throbbed with the energy of
life.
Metals lay hidden in her rocks and precious stones
within the soil. Gold and silver were scattered and secreted.
There was copper for tools and forest of timber. There
were swamps of reeds and stone for every purpose. Everything was prepared,
everything was ready, and now Earth awaited the coming of man.
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