Page Content (OCR)
Chapter Three This purely factitious existence has nothing real except the possibility of evolution - which remains latent, and forms the objective of esoteric studies and work. Apart from this seed, everything in exterior life is based on lies. If the Fall is a direct consequence of identifying with the “I’”’ of personality [the predator’s mind, the degraded DNA state], and the solitude of polar beings separated by the Fall is the source of weakness in humans who have in this way become mortal, the return of Unity appears to be an inexhaustible source of new energies. These energies are necessary to man, and to restore the dangerously disturbed equilibrium of today’s public and private life, he must seek them out. However, this return to the perfect unity of polar beings is not given freely. It is the exclusive privilege of those who have crossed, or are ready to cross, the Second Threshold of the Way. It is through realization of the totally indivisible unity of their real “I”, by two polar Individualities arrived at the Second Birth, that the original sin can and a4 Objective Love can only be attained here, in human existence, by its complete and vivifying manifestation at the time of the Second Birth. Courtly Love, as exemplified in the Grail Stories, is then the precursor of Objective YT --- Love. Courtly Love is the raison d'étre for the couple of polar beings: for the Knight and the Lady of his Dreams. Without it, their polarity remains spiritually sterile and they fall back into the common estate. The practice of Courtly Love demands sacrifices and exploits. These are tests. For those who surmount them, the salutary effect of Gnosis is doubled. The courtly Love of the Knight and his Lady will immediately place them on the fourth step of the Staircase, where their exploits and sacrifices will hasten their advance, provided that Gnosis, having been sufficiently assimilated by them, produces its fruits, i.e. work for the Cause. The time they need for this will be given them, but they will remain on the step only if they Burn with YT --- Love. Courtly Love can only be effective when it is based on a Gnosis which is /ived. For only lived Gnosis goes down into the heart and can ensure that the Knight will have the discernment which will prevent him from going astray in the jungle of purely human reasoning and feeling. Courtly Love is the meaning of, and the instrument of work on what Mouravieff has called the Fifth Way: the sublime esoteric way to acquire the attributes which will be characteristic of the world to come. This Fifth Way is not given to everybody to attempt. It does not exclude the other four ways either. The great error in esoteric studies 428 must be redeemed.