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268
EOSICRUCIAN PHILOSOPHY
QUESTION No. 134.
What do you mean by initiation,, and why are oniy men
Initiates?
Answer: The ordinary idea of initiation is that of ad-
mittance into a secret order, usually in consideration of
an i?iitiation fee, but occult initiation is very different.
When a person has endeavored to live the higher life for
some time, has purified his vehicles by mental, moral and
physical endeavors, he emits a light in the invisible world
and accumulates a power within. In time a point of cul-
mination is reached where this power must be given vent.
Then there appears in his life a teacher who shows him
the power he has cultivated, often unconsciously to him-
self, and its use. This demonstration is called initiation.
It may take place in a temple or not ; it may or may not
be accompanied by a ceremony, as the circumstances demand.
Let it be clearly understood that no ceremony can
give to the candidate the powers which initiation teaches
him to use, any more than pulling the trigger of a pistol
which is not loaded can cause an explosion. The initiatory
would be worthless save as a culmination to the
ceremony
life of discipjeship.
Thus it is evident that Initiation is the inevitable result
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of merit. It is never sold for money, though there is no
lack of unscrupulous charlatans who offer to initiate anyone
into the occult arts of which they know nothing them-
selves ; nor are gullible fools wanting, or dishonest persons
who hope to gain a sinister power over their fellow-man
by purchase. If Simon, the sorcerer, merited the scathing
rebuke of Peter when he attempted to buy a spiritual power