The Mysterious Virtue

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There is just one, very positive thing that can be shown you of the Path, and that is its beginning. The Path - Tao - must begin with the self-surrender of the dualistic ego to the Kingdom within you. And if the ego has given itself away like this, what more can it do? It is no longer there!

If such a beginning is made, just watch what happens next! Time and time again, you will see Virtue descending on the Path in all its wondrous glory, and it will be just as mysterious to you as it is to everyone else. And it will remain mysterious, even when you continue along that Path. For the Mysterious Virtue means becoming one with The Other Nature, with another Soul-state, and what do you know of that?

High up a mountain you discover a hidden spring. You strike a rock and the spring gushes open. Can you tell in advance what course the stream of water will take as it seeks and finds its way down the mountainside? Can you tell how it will reach the sea?

You are living your everyday life and you have your place in it in an office perhaps, or a shop, or a house or somewhere like that. Many people know you -- where you live -- what you are worth -- what you do for a living. They know your abilities and shortcomings, and any limitations you may have. Some of them may have known you from your schooldays, as a child of average abilities. You didn't know much then, and you still don't, and you don't feel you are in any way special.

Now, driven by an inner need, and at the suggestion of the School of the Rosycross, you are on the point of making the glorious, Johannine sacrifice of self. That mediocre "I" of yours, that many people know so well, brings you to the Spirit of the Valley, and in total surrender you empty yourself for the Other One who must grow in you.

Suppose you really do that. Suppose Mr. or Mrs. Average actually does that. What happens then? You strike the rock and a stream of Living Water comes gushing out and flows on its way.

And what then? In the eyes of the world, in the eyes of those who know you so well, you will initially remain the same Mr. or Mrs. Average. You go on doing your job, whatever it may be, and you go on living in the same place, on the same street. But you are no longer there. You have gone, like the central character in Gustav Meyrink's novel, The White Dominican.

A miracle now unfolds: the stream of the new Soul-state, whose outpouring you made possible by your total self-sacrifice, now flows along a certain course, carrying with it the 'house you left behind'. The result is the manifestation of new accents and facts in your life, much to the amazement of all those who knew you so well. 'How is it possible?' they ask themselves. Mysterious Virtue!

The being who was formerly you smiles and is silent; he continues with his everyday work for as long as is necessary, typing invoices, selling merchandise, meeting clients, or anything else that might be required. And all the while The Other One is giving birth to things in you and nourishing them.

How is that possible? It is possible because, as the great sacrifice of self unfolds, it turns out that your animal I, your biological ego, is really a fragment, a scrap, a spark, a tiny ray of the Great Being of the Heart or, at least, is connected with it. This gives rise to a certain sensation, a certain experience; it is as if the old I is observing the whole development from a corner, from a distance, as an interested party who nonetheless exerts no influence on the proceedings. It is as if The Other One in you speaks to you from time to time as an exalted relative. 'See brother, see, sister, everything is as it should be; things are being done as they have to be done', and, filled with devotion, you bow your head.

The signature of the New Consciousness is a totally different awareness. It is not an I-consciousness but a collective consciousness. It is The Other One who gives birth to things in you and nourishes them. He it is who gives birth to them, so, having reached that state, how could you ever claim possession of them for yourself?

The Other One in you is the builder of the new Soul-house, and you watch what is going on, you experience it, but you do not possess it. The Other One increases and multiplies Virtue. The stream widens and deepens. Though you share in the results of The Work, you do not do any of it yourself, so how could you ever wish for any reward? What reward would you want? What reward would be possible?

The pace of development gathers momentum, Virtue increases, and the being in which you formerly stood as lord and master towers miles above the former Mr. or Mrs. Average. The Other One rules: 'Not I, but the Christ in me'. It would be absurd, wouldn't it, if you were to see yourself as master? Never in a million years would you say: 'I am the initiate. I am the master. I am the envoy of the Brotherhood. I have the mandate. Look at me. I am the man'.

There is one signature by which you can always recognize people who want to infiltrate your ranks but do not want to follow the Path of the Mysterious Virtue: they always place the dualistic ego in the forefront, they always bring their "I" into things. They are forever fighting a battle, just as battles are always fought in this nature.

However, if you allow the "I" to fall silent and follow the Path of Wisdom, there will be a growth, a development, a going forward from power to power and from glory to glory which no child of man will ever be able to stop. Then whatever catastrophes happen in the world, you will rise above them, and above the orgy of conflict that characterizes this nature. The Kingdom of God within you will open and will gain dominion over you. Yet its dominion will be imperceptible; no compulsion will be exerted, because it responds to a totally different Fundamental Principle and is of an entirely Other Nature.

In ordinary nature, one ego rules over another, and there is compulsion ... indeed, there must be! In the New Life-Field, such a thing is impossible! So one day it will be possible to say:

Who are you, brother?

Who are you, sister?

We are no one!

We have departed forever; we are dead and we live. And we behold the great and glorious miracle, the miracle people call The Mysterious Virtue.

From "The Mysterious Virtue" - The Chinese Gnosis - Catharose de Petri and Jan van Rijckenborgh

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