What is the source of that great reservoir of wisdom we find flaming out through time? Science has no answer. It can but note that from the beginning men held that the essence of all things is one, and that the spirit is the source of all. Time after time we trace what appears to be the strangling out of this great secret, which is no secret, by a mountainous network of myths. What is myth but the poetic expression of dogma, and what is dogma but the scientific statement of religious truth? Through myth, which possesses the elasticity of life itself, we return to the original source symbolised by the circle, the serpent swallowing its tail. The winged globe, which became the sacred scarabaeus of the Egyptians, shows the secret idea attached to it by its name. In the papyri the . scarab is called Khopirron and Khopri from the verb Khopron "to become." It is an emblem of human life, and the successive reincarnations of the liberated soul. The Egyptians believed, as do our scientists, that man was not simply a material being who could be in only one place at once, but that he included another self able to pass through all barriers, bound neither by time or space, and which might exist for thousands of years. This self they termed the Ka. At death this tenuous body could not be created out of nothing. It must therefore always have existed. They believed that the Ka, during physical life, existed alongside the physical body. It was not immaterial, but composed of highly attenuated matter, and its arteries converging into the heart received nutriment from the blood of that organ. After death how could it be supplied with nutriment? It is a consideration of this difficulty that explains why the consecration of food and water to the gods was so rigorously enjoined in the Egyptian, Hindu and other religions. The Ab, or heart was also deemed immortal. In common with the Occultists, the Egyptians believed the heart to be the seat of life, without the heart there could be no resurrection. Present day occultists believe that the ultimate, the immortal atom is in the heart, and is the last particle of life to leave the physical body at death. It carries with it the seed of future immortality, and the records of pre-natal existence. Wordsworth writes: 66 I guess not what this tells of Being past, The Ba was a third self which corresponds best to our idea of the soul. It is usually depicted by a bird. The Sâhû, a fourth self figures as the swathed mummy of the deceased. The empty form having come from the Godhead could therefore at death return to it. The Sâhû was not truly mortal body. It was a new being formed by the reunion of earthly elements elaborated by nature, and in which the soul was reborn to accomplish a new earthly existence. That which was, for the vulgar, the resurrection of the physical body was for the initiate only the eternal renovation of nature. It must be remembered that those were some of the mysteries that had descended to Egypt from the beginning of time. The Christian religion lost them during the first century, and has suffered considerably in consequence. The old Egyptians thoroughly realised the most powerful argument for survival. The indestructibility of the spirit by any force known to man. The Osiris. By far the most important of these selves was the chief, immortal representative of man as a whole-his Osiris. Such was the name of the immortal counterpart of the mummy, and the equipment of the mummy was the equipment of the Osiris. The furniture, amulets, etc., all belonged to Osiris. The Osiris of man has in the present day been revived in "Divine Science," "New thought." It is the teaching of the Cosmic, immortal Christ within. Osiris was the greatest god known to the Egyptians. He had lived on earth as a benefactor, and died for man's good. He lived again as man's friend. His birth was celebrated with cradle and lights. His resurrection was annually celebrated at the holy sepulchre, and His death was commemorated by the Eucharist after it had been consecrated by the priests, and become veritable flesh of His flesh. Thus we see that four thousand years before the birth of Jesus the Christ the Egyptians were commemorating the death of their Christ in whom they believed they lived and moved and had their being. The papyri all refer to the deceased as one with Osiris, in death as in life. They believed that the body was the temple of the living God. CHAPTER VIII FUGITIVE TALES THE following story is interesting, as it is continuing steadily to develop. The late owner of Grey Court, who furnished me with the details, writes: "If the house still belonged to my family I would not ask you even to leave out its name, but, as it is, you will at once understand that I feel we owe this amount of circumspection to the present owners. The present owner happens to be one of our best known politicians, whom I cannot conceive of as a seer. Nevertheless he now wants to get rid of his house, as he says it is haunted. I should have thought that he was ghost proof, but perhaps his wife is not. Here is the story written down by the original owner: "The story which I propose to narrate to you refers to an old house which is no longer in our possession, and as some people have an antipathy to ghosts, the present owner might very reasonably object to my telling this tale, since, if he wished to sell the house, it might interfere with his obtaining a purchaser. Therefore I rely entirely upon your discretion. "Grey Court is a very old house, the more |