God (in Occult Perspective)
According to the ancient magical conception of God in the
scheme of the universe, evil is the inevitable contrast and complement
of good. God permits the existence of the shadow in
order that it may intensify the purity of the light. He has created
both and they are thus inseparable, the one being necessary
to and incomprehensible without the other.
The very idea of goodness loses its meaning if considered
apart from that of evilGabriel is a foil to Satan and Satan to
Gabriel. The dual nature of the spiritual world penetrates into
every department of life, material and spiritual. It is typified in
light and darkness, cold and heat, truth and error, in brief, the
names of any two opposing forces will serve to illustrate the primary
law of naturenamely, the continual conflict between the
positive or good and the negative or evil.
For a scriptural illustration of this point, the story of Cain
and Abel can be used. The moral superiority of his brother is
at first irksome to Cain, finally intolerable. He murders Abel,
thus bringing on his own head the wrath of God and the selfpunishment
of the murderer. For in killing Abel, Cain has done
himself harm. Cain has not done away with Abels superiority,
but has added to himself a burden of guilt that can end only by
much suffering.
Suffering is shown in the Judaeo-Christian scriptures to be
one means evil is overcome by good. Cain reappears in the
story of the prodigal son, who after deprivation and suffering
is restored to his father who forgives him fully and freely.
It is believed that the possibility of sin and error is consistent
with and inseparable from life. The great sinner is a more vital
being than the colorless character, because having greater capacity
for evil he has also greater capacity for good, and in proportion
to his faults so will his virtues be when he turns to God.
There is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth
than over ninety and nine just persons, because more force of
character, more power for good or evil is displayed by the sinner
than by the feebly correct. And that power is the most precious
thing in life. The apostle Paul specifically rejected this approach
to understanding sin and redemption in Romans 6 1-2.
This dual law of right and wrong, two antagonistic forces, is
designated by the term duad. It is the secret of life and the
revelation of that secret means death. This secret is embodied
in the myth of the Tree of Knowledge in Genesis. At death the
discord will be resolved, but not until then.
From the duad is derived the triad based on the doctrine of
the Trinity. Two forces producing equilibrium, the secret of nature,
are designated by the duad, and these threelife, good,
and evilconstitute one law. By adding the conception of unity
to the triad the tetrad is produced, the perfect number of four,
the source of all numerical combinations.
According to orthodox theology there are three persons in
God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and these three form one
Deity. In occult speculations, three and one make four, the
fourth reality being the unity required to explain the Three.
Hence, it is suggested, in many languages (most notably Hebrew),
the name of God is symbolized by four letters. Again, two
affirmations make two negations either possible or necessary.
According to the Kabalists the name of the Evil one consisted
of the same four letters spelled backward, signifying that evil
is merely the reflection or shadow of goodThe last reflection
or imperfect mirage of light in shadow. Everything exists in
light or darkness, good or evil, and exists through the tetrad.
The triad or trinity, then, is explained by the duad and resolved
by the tetrad.
Such occult interpretations of God echo the ancient mysticism
such as the Eastern religion of Hinduism, where the pairs
of opposites like good and evil are regarded as twin poles of a
larger reality, where anthropomorphic concepts of God the
creator are considered legal fictions for a divine infinity, beyond
time, space, and causality.
Sources
Achad, Frater. The Anatomy of the Body of God. Chicago Collegium
ad Spiritum Sanctum, 1925.
Akiba ben Joseph Rabbi. The Book of Formation. (Sepher
Yetzirah). London William Rider, 1923.
Angeles, Peter A. The Problem of God; A Short Introduction.
Buffalo, N.Y. Prometheus Books, 1981.
Arya, Ushbarbudh. God. Honesdale, Pa. Himalayan International
Institute, 1979.
Brightman, Edgar S. The Problem of God. New York Abingdon
Press, 1930.
Goat Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology 5th Ed.
648
Goblet DAlviella, E. F. Lectures on the Origin and Growth of the
Conception of God. London, 1892. Reprint, New York AMS
Press, 1982.
Pereira, Jose, ed. Hindu Theology A Reader. Garden City,
N.Y. Image Books, 1976.
