Hortus Conclusus

For man on this earth directed solely by observations conditional on the human brain and the conclusions in thought derived from them, almost everything which is ‘eternal’ about him – that is, all which is not subjected to any imagined conclusion or dissolution – is truly a ‘hortus conclusus’: – an enclosed garden! The presence of such a realm, inaccessible to the physical senses and to all thought, is at times intuited, at other times felt, and within large groups of people believed; yet he who intuits, feels or believes remains outside the wall separating the enclosed garden of being conscious of his own eternity: – the ‘lost paradise’ – from those areas open to the possibilities of earthly knowledge. Those individuals who find themselves not yet satisfied with everything they intuit, feel and believe, wander ceaselessly along the insurmountable wall of separation in order to discover a hidden gap they can enlarge and squeeze through. To their surprise, the most fortunate amongst these seekers come across the only narrow gate, found only with great difficulty, which could give access to the ‘enclosed garden’ if they only knew how to open it. But instead of waiting with patience and trust for the door to be opened to them one day from within, nearly all of those fortunate enough to find this gate seek to acquire wondrous duplicate keys from the slyest locksmiths. They waste their time on earth in ever novel and unsuccessful attempts to break open the lock from outside which can only be opened from the inside of the ‘enclosed garden’. This is a waste of effort and a fatal self-deception!
Only one who is himself aware of the eternal, being through his own spiritual nature at home in the garden firmly sealed against all earthly insistence, can open the mysterious doorway from within.
 
Yet, even when opened in this way, no one is admitted who has not cast off from himself all burdens resulting from rational speculation, and every disguise with which he has covered himself; so he may enter as naked and exposed as when he left his mother’s womb.
The whole of my life’s work has always been to open anew this gate from within; from there I guide along many different paths all those who would take nothing else with them than what belongs to their eternal life, leading them to the temples of teaching I have erected, with columns clearly inscribed with words of eternally true teaching.
Every teaching imparted by me to my fellow men is enclosed within the wall of this ‘hortus conclusus’, so that I am completely justified in bequeathing the whole of my teaching under this name which integrates myself and which seems to me for good reasons to be a fitting name with which to describe symbolically this final work. This book also makes answers imparted to individuals privately over the decades, accessible to many. As with the book ‘Letters To One And Many’, it is intended to open the eyes of those introduced to and trusting in my teachings, to the fact that the collection of books and writings containing what I have to impart from the eternal, must be seen as a whole which is rooted within the eternal and can be accessible if those conditions are fulfilled which the eternal requires. I have spoken often enough of these conditions and I have described their nature once more in the previous lines.
 
From: Hortus Conclusus, Chapter: Conversation at the gate)

Hortus Conclusus

1 
THE BOOK OF THE ROYAL ART
The light of Himavat and the words of the masters
The luminary speaks to the seeker
The harvest
The Infinite one
Know yourself
Of the spiritual masters
The danger of vanity
From the lands of the luminaries
The threshold
The king’s question
The journey
Easter night
Oneness
The will to joy
For all who strive for the light
The teaching
Epilogue
 

2 
THE BOOK ON THE LIVING GOD
‘The tabernacle of God with men’ 
The ‘White Lodge’ 
Supernatural experience 
The Path 
En Sôph 
On searching for God 
On deeds and works 
On holiness and sin 
The ‘occult’ world 
The hidden temple 
Karma 
War and peace 
The unity of religions 
The will to find the light 
The high powers of recognition 
On death 
On the spirit 
The path to perfection 
On eternal life 
The light dwells in the east 
Faith, talisman and divine image 
The magic of the word 
A call from Himavat 
Eucharist

3 
THE BOOK ON THE BEYOND
Introduction
The art of dying
On the ‘Temple of Eternity’ and the World of the Spirit
The one reality 
What is to be done?

4
THE BOOK ON MAN
Introduction
The Mystery: ‘Man and Woman’ 
The Path of the Woman
The Path of the Man 
Marriage
The child 
New mankind 
Epilogue 
Final teaching!
 

5
THE BOOK ON HAPPINESS
The duty to be happy 
‘I’ and ‘You’ 
Love 
Wealth and Poverty 
Money
Optimism
 

6
THE PATH TO GOD
Delusion and Belief
Certain Knowledge 
The Dream of Souls 
Truth and Reality
Yes and No. 
The Great Struggle 
Perfection

7
THE BOOK OF LOVE
The great man of love 
On love’s original fire
The redeeming light
The creative power of love
 

8
THE BOOK OF COMFORT
On suffering and comfort 
On the teachings of suffering 
On every manner of folly
On the comforting power of work
On comfort for those who mourn
 

9
THE BOOK OF DIALOGUES
Confession
Knowledge and Occurrence 
Light and Shade 
The Power of the Spirit 
The Jewel of the Heart 
Crossing Over 
Conversation on the Innermost East 
Conversation on the Departure of the Perfected One
The Flower Garden 
The Bad Pupils 
The Night of the Trial 
Individuality and Personality 
The Realm of the Soul 
Finding Oneself 
On the Older Brothers of Mankind 
Magic
 

10
THE SECRET
The Beginning
Conversation on the beach
Santo Spirito
Southern night
The rocky island
The sea journey
 

11
THE WISDOM OF JOHN
Portrait of the Master 
The Luminary’s Earthly Path 
The Aftermath 
The Missive 
The Pure Teaching 
The Paraclete
 

12
SHOWING THE WAY
Promise 
Phenomena and experience
Knowledge and teaching
Learning to read
Letters
Cult of personality 
Critical activity 
Who was Jakob Böhme? 
The power of healing 
Dangers of mysticism 
Twentytwo teachings in verse
 

13
SPECTRE OF FREEDOM
Mirage 
Necessity 
Communality 
Authority 
The urge to associate 
The failed economy
Competition 
The craze for catchwords
Self-realisation 
Religion 
Science 
Consiousness of reality
 

14
PATH OF MY PUPILS
Whom I accept as my pupil 
A necessary distinction 
Unnecessary self-torment 
Unavoidable difficulties 
Dynamic belief 
The greatest obstacle 
The pupil and his companions 
Inner life and outer world 
How my books are to be used
 

15
THE MYSTERY OF GOLGOTHA
The Mystery Of Golgotha
The most dreadful of our enemies
Love and hatred
The growth of the soul
Spiritual guidance
Occult practices
Spiritualist mediums and artistic creation
At the source of life
“Admission to the White Lodge”
Foolish inventions

16
CULT -MAGIC AND MYTH
The work of man 
Myth and reality 
Myth and cult 
Cult as magic
Magic and recognition 
The inner light
 

17
THE MEANING OF LIFE
The appeal 
The sin of the fathers 
The supreme good 
The ‘evil’ man 
The revelation of the light world 
The meaning of silence 
Truth and truths
 

18
MORE LIGHT
To those tired of sleeping 
The architects of the cathedral of humanity 
Theosophy and pseudo-theosophy 
On the three steps 
What needs to be comprehended! 
The mystery of artistic expression 
Western-Eastern Magic 
The light of the spirit in Christianity 
The secret of the ancient cathedral building works 
On the true service of God
 

19
THE HIGH GOAL
The call of the spirit 
The two paths 
On seeking and finding 
On the eternal light 
On colours of the light 
On the The High Goal 
On the paths of the ancients 
On the blessing of work 
On the power of love 
The Master of Nazareth

20
RESURRECTION
Resurrection 
The knowledge of the wise 
Law and coincidence 
Fruitless effort 
The carnival of the occult 
Inner voices 
The magic of fear 
The limits to omnipotence 
The new life 
Festive joy 
The value of laughter 
Mastering oneself 
Perfection

21
WORLDS
Foreword
The guidance
The return
The visions
To conclude
SEQUENCE OF THE PICTURES
Emanation
“In principio erat Verbum”
“Lux in tenebris”
“Te Deum laudamus”
Space and Time
Original propagation
Seeds of worlds
Becoming worlds
Birth of the cosmos
Labyrinth
Need for manifestation
Astral light
Sodom
Inferno
“De profundis”
Revelation
Illumination
Fulfilment
Victory
Himavat
 

22
PSALMS
Inferno
Redemption
Recognition
Promise
Liberation
Fulfilment
 

23
MARRIAGE
On the sublime of holiness marriage
On love 
On togetherness
On suffering and joy
On temptation and danger
On the pressures of the everyday
On the will to unanimity
On the transmission of happiness
On eternal attachment
 

24
ON PRAYER
The mystery of praying 
Seek, and you shall find
Ask, and you shall receive
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you 
Spiritual renewal 
The way you ought to pray

25
SPIRIT AND FORM
The question
Outside and inside
Home and work
The form of joy
The form of suffering
The art of living

26
SCINTILLAE
MANTRA PRACTICE
 

27
WORDS OF LIFE
Appeal
I
Retreat 
Love
Deed
Struggle
Peace
Power
Life 
Light 
Trust 
Enlightenment 
Vow

28
ABOVE THE EVERYDAY
Thirty-four poems, maxims and teachings in verse. 
Part one.

29
ETERNAL REALITY
Twenty-seven teachings in verse in rhythmic style. 
Part two..

30
LIFE IN THE LIGHT
Thirty-two teachings in verse 
Part three.

31
LETTERS TO ONE AND MANY
Thirty chapters in the form of letters 
and eighteen poems
 

32
HORTUS CONCLUSUS
Conversation at the gate
On the simplicity in everything eternal
On the changing position and on the ‘rungs’
On states of consciousness and help in suffering
On the consciousness of the departed
On the sublime commitment of the helpers
On the caricature of the eternal ‘I’
Once more on truth and reality
On temporal and eternal space
On the tradition of Asiatic religion
On the mystery of the east
On the forms of religion
On assent and faith
On false images of God
On the meaning of all teaching
Where I am merely a messenger
Those to whom I have nothing to say
On the eternal salvation of the soul
On the delaying desire to ask questions
On the temporal and the eternal soul 
What remains after death
On a name and a makeshift
The conclusions one should reach oneself
On gross underestimation
On the plight of pastoral workers
How the eternal is ‘natural’ to itself
To conclude and goodbye

Massagno, summer 1936
BÔ YIN RÂ
www.Bô-YIN-Râ.org