1. Right Generation
A Course of Lessons for Advancement in the Spiritual Life
Especially dedicated to those who desire to go All the Way with Jesus Christ
From the moment that a human being appears upon the earth, the question of sex is involved. From the coterie that await the birth of the young babe who anxiously inquire whether it be a boy or a girl, throughout the whole life of a human being in the different stages, the matter of its sex is the most decisive and important issue at the beginning and ultimate of every marked era.
Yet the fact is, all of us are but playing a part in taking upon ourselves this appearance of sex, for in our true being, our whole being, no such expression of division has any place. The very word sex comes from the Latin sectum—to cut off, to separate—and this shows the belief in the race mind that sex is a division between two that were once whole, and it is as old as man’s thinking—the belief that one sex is not complete without the other.
In truth, we are spirit or soul, and one with God and we never had a beginning and will never have an end, being the expression, “the image and likeness,” of God who is without beginning of years or end of days. And as Moses, or the seer who gave us the first chapter of Genesis, has declared, we are made in the image of One who is both male and female, the two in one. Therefore in our real being we are the two in one, whole, perfect, without any division. Swedenborg declares that in the highest heaven, man is a sphere—as Celestial Being, he is both male and female in one. Other seers have given the same imagery concerning the original man or the highest man, as a sphere, one half of which is the woman and the other half the man, although he, too, like Plato of old, describes this sphere as being halved in some mysterious way at the time of incarnation, and therefore each half is ever seeking its mate. Both Swedenborg and Plato had higher concepts than they could express, and they themselves ascribed their powers to the fact that they obeyed an inner Voice that kept them from marriage.
The light which such masters had, which Paul had and Jesus Christ, that shows the way of attainment to be not in the ordinary flesh marriage, but in surmounting it—that light we invoke, as we hold to our perfection, that we are complete within ourselves, and that “there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus,” (Gal. 3:28).
To those who still feel that there is something to be finished in the life of generation, let this appeal to them as the wisdom of those who trust in a great law that is working out our destiny according to the highest ideal; that the one who is to mate you in this life will come to you, or you to that one, without any effort, most easily, directly, fully and happily if all thought is removed from sex, and one seeks only the Will of God. The reason of the much mismating of these times, and, in consequence, the many divorces that have become like a pest and a disgrace to our nation, is because of this false idea, that one must hunt one’s mate and sieze that one at the opportune moment, or perhaps lose the joy of one’s life by a false step or other mischance.
There are young men and women who never meet a new acquaintance of the opposite sex, without instantly inquiring within themselves, “Is this the one?” Whereas, if all thought would be dismissed, as to the liability of losing the true representative of one’s Lord or one’s soul, then the law which brings them into right generation could operate with the least resistance, and whatever they were to work out together could be in perfect symbolism, with the least possible unhappiness and the greatest advancement, that could be in generation, toward the regeneration.
That human being who shall most resemble your soul-self will come to you at the right moment and under the right circumstances. The coming of that one is appointed by the great Good of each one’s life, either in order to discipline us out of all relationships and mere human attachments, or else, as a fair fruit of two lives lived close to the Spirit, and better able to work out the good of humanity together than apart. Let us trust in the Spirit to accomplish this good in our lives, as well as other forms of good that our hearts may desire.
You have an ideal of the one who would be your best mate and most satisfactory to you. Are you fit? Are you ready for that one? Would it not be a trial for that one to live with you? Consider this, and know that the only way for you to be the companion of an angel is to be an angel yourself. Therefore seek the union with God; turn your mind from mere human approval and satisfaction, and you will attain the former and not miss the latter.
Truly “Thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is His name; The God of the whole earth shall he be called” (Isa. 54:6) and you, who feel the need of a husband after the flesh, may find yourselves without that sense of need, or on the other hand, the desire perfectly fulfilled by seeking first the one Husband of us all. So man,—you, who seek a bride that shall be a fair companion—remember “The Spirit and the bride say come” (Rev. 22:17) and your true Bride is the great Soul of us all, which is your own soul in its perfection, seek the union with your own soul, that you may have a fit companion for your spiritual nature. Seek the union with God and withdraw the mind from desire to please woman, and you shall find that you receive the Spirit, and the earthly mate will not be refused you, if you still feel that you must have a companion in this spiritual life.
The earthly union, called marriage, is the symbol of the divine union with God, and therefore it becomes a religious institution, for every part of it should be a sacrament, and the language of its different privileges and duties should be the language of the Spirit, describing the entrance into heavenly places and a realization of heavenly joys. As there is but one union in all being, the union with God, therefore the marriage in which one finds oneself should receive all fidelity and picture forth the union with one, only. In the perfect symbolism there is no divorce. Divorce is death and is only a compromise. Nevertheless, it is allowable where hearts are hard, and suffering is acute, and they who find themselves crucified should be at the place where they are through with the marriage of the flesh and ready for the union with God.
Generation, briefly defined, is bringing forth after the flesh. Regeneration is bringing forth after the Spirit. As long as the flesh draws us and we feel that it is necessary to our manifestation we should have high, noble, pure ideals of marriage, and even when we have set aside the flesh as a necessity for our happiness and hold to the Spirit alone as the real substance which shall shine through this flesh, we should never despise the institution of marriage, but, like Paul, declare marriage is honorable in all, and to be kept free from sin or uncleanness in every way.
The marriage-act should be approached with the most sacred feelings of its purity and oneness with love. While it may not be an act filled with the intention or purpose of reproduction, it should not refuse the union of the angels (Matt. 19:14 and Matt. 18:10); for it is the little one that sanctifies the union, and takes it out of selfishness into the universal, so that heaven and earth meet in the act, and it is not with the low calculation, fear, and other follies that have been associated with coition.
The Brahmans, who are living the highest life of the householder, never unite except with a full sense on the part of each that the Spirit approves, and with prayers that the result of the union may be a Great One who awaits just such beautiful, pure avenues, through which to express. In such a marriage-act the future mother has perfect control over her own body, and it becomes the wife’s prerogative to invite the union, and her husband’s understanding that self-control is a normal and orderly expression in the perfect marriage. In such a union there is a recognition on each side of the feminine view and the masculine idea of the true nature of the union. In the latter case, it is seen only as an act of love. In the former, as an act for fruition. Both views should be accepted and considered from the highest standpoint. All these things are possible to the couple who invite Christ to be a guest at the wedding. If the wine of your marriage feast has become exhausted, then fill the jars of purification with “Holy-water”—with the holy water of a consecrated life, then will Christ breathe upon these waters and bring forth the finest wine of all,— the union that most nearly resembles our oneness with God.
It is now coming into the mind of the race that it is quite possible to have a companionship between two of the opposite sex, which shall not culminate in a union after the flesh. There are many more such ideal unions than the world knows of, unbelieving as it is that a perfectly sexed being can have self-control in completeness. Yet is is proven that there is no happier understanding between human beings, than between those who live as brother and sister and yet are married. To them a look, a touch of the hand, a sacred thought can bring an ecstasy of sweetest joy like that of the angels upon whose plane they are really living.
Certain ones have attempted this “Joseph marriage” (named after Joseph and Mary) not knowing its temptations and the hunger of their own natures when the demand shall come upon them from the little ones in the invisible, who desire to be expressed in the flesh through them, and they have not been able to hold to their first ideal; let them not be ashamed, nor refuse the little one who shall bless their union. Let them not have the old thought that they have lost ground, but rather that they have made rash promises, which would never be made, if we followed the Christ-way, who says “Swear not at all.”
Many a marriage is formed by the invisible sponsors of the child who will be the first-born. It is this little one that is picturing forth in allegory and paintings as the Cupid, that is hunting them and oftentimes there is more than one, and the young couple are fairly besieged, until they capitulate. And sometimes this capitulation has been without the “benefit of clergy,” because of the untrue opposition on the part of unwise parents, or the weakness of poor human nature, that knew not the terrible force that was brought to bear upon it.
Those who desire to come into the regeneration out from generation can do so through holding to absolute purity,—the purity that sees no one and nothing as impure; that has no condemnation for the sexual act whether in marriage or out of it, but is able to rise above the necessity of complying with human appetite.
Let each of the married pair, see the other as the Lord. Let the woman often see God in her husband and learn to wait upon him, to defer to him and to honor him as she would were God her companion. Let the husband see his wife as his own soul and respect her absolutely; listen to her faithfully, and trust her guidance, honor her and supply her richly with all the expressions that bring her into the favor and admiration of the world.
Let nothing that is hateful or hard, or unclean, or unworthy in the other, move one to sorrow or to anger, to despising or hating. Never speak one to the other of the faults that the human eyes may behold, but remember the power of the silent word to redeem one’s companion from every detrimental trait. When love is complete, then criticism may be invited and gladly welcomed, but so long as evil appears very evil to one, the work should be with one’s self rather than with the mate. Thus can marriage become a ladder by which one can mount to regeneration, overcoming the things that are stumblingblocks in all, whether married or unmarried.
When Paul said of them who feel that they must marry, “they shall have trouble in the flesh” he knew that it is a state of testing and hard disciplining, and that the reality of all the joy that one might expect in marriage could be with the unmarried, and the latter might miss the sorrows and the afflictions which are the burden of most earthly unions.
Dismissing all sense of sexuality, we enter into the large love, wherein we are truly united in our great God-body. In the divine sight we are one body, indivisible and filled with creative energy and manifestations, and we enter into this ecstatic consciousness as we seek, not the union with any one human being, but with the whole race as one with God, wherein is the divine bliss, after which all humanity longs.
