Esoteric V10: July 1896 - Iapsop.com

THE OYOLE OF RELIGIONS.
BY W. P. PYI,E.
The fourth principle, Cohesion, is that which sust!lins and
binds in form. Its manifestation is the strength that resists
change of form. lu the physical body, it resides in the breasts,
wbich nourish and sustain; in public life, it appears as conservatism;
in man's character, as egoism,-not in the sense of pride
and intolerance, unless the egoism i11 perverted, but in the
maintenance and assertion of the ego.
We .find its correspondence in those religiQns Rystems whose
teachings, practically applied, so strengthen and intensify the
ego in man, that he is unable to rise out of a consciousness of
self, as a separate entity, into a. consciousness of his oneness
with the wlwle. Thfl vat·ious religions systems of the Orient,
ancl Theosophy, that western ft·agment of Hmlclhism, are expnnents
of this foUl·th principltt; and, by tm·ning so entirely
from the thought of the divine Son to that of the Mother, the
Ruman Catholic Church has passed from the principle of Order
to that of Cohesion. In many ways is she the "Mother Church,"
and, like a mother, she is controlled by th~ot pt·inciple of Coht!­
si.m, which forbillll any aclvancement which deman1ls ohange of
form. However. the esotet·ic teachings of this church are nut
given to the w01·ld. aR, to a gt·eat extent, are those of the OJ·iental
systems. These Orientalists teach that the ego should be
sn tt·ained antl developecl as to be master of the creative forces;
that. by entire concentration UJlOn his own interior powerH,
these for1!e,., in accordance with certain laws, become ;mbject to
hill will.
The religion o£ divinE' Onlet·. which the Clll'ist came toestablillh,
also teadte,. th;\t m;m must take comm:md of tha forces
of nature; for .JeRns saicl. "lie that believeth on me, the wo•·ks
that l tlo shall he clo also: antl greater workR than these shall
he clo.'' .John XIV. 12. .Jesus commanded the wincl and the .
waves, antl tlu~y obeyecl him, he comm:mded the ilick to he heal-
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