The interior life from the standpoint of the mystics. An address delivered before the London spiritualist alliance ... December 16th, 1890

Absorption, or the soul’s transport above and outside itself. It constitutes a more perfect union with Divinity through the tool of positive love. It is a state of sanctification, extreme happiness, and unspeakable torrents of delight flowing over the entire being. It is beyond description and transcends any illustration; its joy cannot even be imagined. Love, which is a power of the soul—or of that original: "anima" soul which gives life to our bodies—has passed into the spirit of the soul, into its superior, divine, and universal form. When this process is finished, it comprises the seventh and final stage of spiritual development, which is Ravishment. Renouncing everything physical about itself, the soul becomes a pure spirit. It becomes capable of being united in a completely heavenly way to the Uncreated Spirit, whom it beholds, loves, serves, and adores above and beyond all created forms. This is the Mystic Marriage—the perfect union, the entrance of God and Heaven into the inner man.

There is evidence to show that this process has been accomplished in all ages and among all nations. The Egyptian hierophants Priests or explainers of sacred mysteries. seem to have been acquainted with it in that "early dawn and dusk of time" that preceded the first dawn of the laws of Moses. This was also the goal of the Mysteries in their original and pure condition. When we climb the "mountains of our ignorance" and look out upon the immeasurable antiquity of the Far East—at India, China, and Japan—we see that this same positive philosophy was pursued there with the same goals and through strictly parallel processes. At the beginning of Christianity, it was known to the Gnostic ascetics and to that wonderful circle of secluded illuminati Those claiming special spiritual enlightenment. and supreme masters of transcendentalism who made up the theurgic Related to the practice of rituals intended to invoke the presence of gods or achieve union with them. school of Alexandria. The writings of A legendary Hellenistic figure that combined the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth; the reputed author of the Hermetica. Hermes Trismegistus are the disguised history of the human soul's evolution, and the doctrine of spiritual reconstruction is developed in both the Old and New Testaments. From the experts of

Egyptian wisdom and the Jewish keepers of secret knowledge, from Greek initiates, from the successors of Plato, and from the first priests of esoteric Christianity, this absolute tradition—with all its processes and mysteries—passed on to the medieval alchemists. These were strange writers and profound thinkers who succeeded in convincing the world for centuries that they were searching for the way to turn base metals into gold. In reality, under the cover of physical experiments, they wrote only about the soul's transformation. They purified the secret original: "Sol" (Sun) Sun and the true original: "Luna" (Moon) Moon with the energies of Divine elements.

However, it is not necessary to look to the remote Eastern world for instruction on the highest mysteries of secret science. There is a wealth of wisdom, a wealth of light, and a great body of positive and practical doctrine in the Western Mystics. They devoted their secluded lives to reaching Nirvana in Christ. Even in terms of supernatural physical achievements, they did not fall behind the East. The history of Christian supernaturalism tells us that during the seven stages of transcendental absorption, the body of the Mystic was seen to rise from the ground and hover mysteriously in the air. Swept away by interior visions, the Mystic became unaware of everything happening around them. At the same time, their physical senses—which had temporarily stopped responding to the normal outside environment—were served in a way we would call magical. They saw, heard, felt, and tasted, but on another plane of existence. Occasionally, their indescribable ecstasy was shown through the appearance of lights and halos around them and the spreading of a heavenly fragrance.

The processes of Mysticism, however, are secret processes; the science is a secret science. You have been informed of the exact nature of its most transcendental goal. It has, however, many goals, many purposes, and many methods, but all of them are "esoteric" (intended only for those with special knowledge) in character. They are hidden in a literature that is difficult to...