Elaboration
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So he started off upon his career and, as the disciple under command of his soul, undertook the twelve labors, performing each of them in one of the zodiacal signs. He, therefore, represents every disciple who seeks to tread the path and demonstrate his control over the forces of his nature, and he likewise represents the point at which humanity now finds itself. His early name was Alkeides, which was changed to Hercules after he had undergone a strange experience, and before he started forth upon his labors. The name Hercules was originally Herakles, which signifies "the glory of Hera". Hera represents Psyche, or the soul, so his name embodied his mission, which was to manifest forth in active work on the physical plane the glory and the power of his innate divinity. One of the ancient scriptures of India says: "By mastery of the binding life comes radiance," and it was this mastery of the imprisoning form which was the glorious consummation of all the undertakings of Hercules. We are told that he had a divine father and an earthly mother and so, as with all sons of God, we find the same basic symbology emerging. They typify in their persons the essential duality of God in manifestation, of life in form, of soul in body, and of spirit and matter. This duality is the glory of humanity and also constitutes the problem which every human being has to solve. Father-Spirit and Mother-Matter meet together in man, and the work of the disciple is to withdraw himself from the bonds of the mother and thus respond to the love of the Father. [18] This duality is also brought out in the fact that he was one of twins. We read that one twin was born of an earthly father, and that the other was the son of Zeus. This is the great realization that comes to every developed and self-aware human being. He finds himself conscious of two aspects which meet in his nature. There is the well developed and highly organized personality through which he habitually expresses himself (mental, emotional and physical), with all three parts coordinated into an integrated unit. Then there is the spiritual nature, with its impulses and intuitions, its constant pull towards things vital and divine, and the consequent inner warfare which grows out of this realized duality. Hercules was the disciple, living in a physical body, but capable at times, like St. Paul, of being "caught up to the third heaven," and having intercourse with divine beings. In this condition, he visioned the Plan, knew what he had to do and perceived the reality of the spiritual life. There is also one interesting little fact in the story of his life which has a bearing on this same truth. Whilst still an infant, we are told that Hercules killed his twin. He was no longer a divided entity, no longer a duality, but soul and body formed one unity. This indicates always the stage of the disciple. He has made the at-one-ment and knows himself to be soul in body and not soul and body, and this realization has now to color all his actions. Whilst in the cradle, history relates, the lusty infant killed two serpents, again emphasizing duality. In this act he forecast the future in which he demonstrated that the physical nature no longer controlled, but that he could strangle the serpent of matter and that the great illusion no longer had him imprisoned. He slew the serpent of matter and the serpent of illusion. If the serpent symbology is studied, we shall find that three serpents are depicted: one standing for the serpent of matter, another for the serpent of illusion, and the third for the serpent of wisdom. This last serpent is only discovered when the other two have been slain. [19] This sense of duality is the first stage of the spiritual experience and colors the thoughts of all the great aspirants and mystics of the world. Note how St. Paul cries out as he wrestles with the problem:
As Hercules grew up, we are told, great care was given to his education. He was trained in all possible accomplishments, and every faculty that he had was developed and organized. What is the lesson to be learned from this? It is the need to realize that every disciple, if he truly merits that name, must necessarily be a highly developed member of the human family. All three parts of his nature have to be unfolded; his mind must be well-stocked and functioning, and he must know how to use it; his sensitive emotional nature must be responsive to every type of contact; his physical body must be a fit medium of expression for the indwelling soul and equipped to undertake the tasks to which the man has pledged himself. There has been amongst aspirants for many centuries a tendency to decry and belittle the mind. They are apt to say glibly, "The mind is the slayer of the real," and, through an unrecognized mental inertia and laziness, to feel that the important thing is to have the heart nature developed. They regard the mind, with its capacity to analyze and discriminate, as a snare and a delusion. But this surely is an error. Knowledge of God is as necessary and as important as love of God; and this the new age, with its new type of aspirant, will most assuredly demonstrate. Saintliness, sweetness and a pleasing, loving disposition have their place in the sumtotal of the characteristics [20] of the aspirant, but when linked to stupidity and an undeveloped mentality, they fail to be as useful as they could be when coupled to intelligence. When linked to a high grade intellect and with mental powers oriented to divine knowledge, they will produce that knower of God whose influence becomes worldwide and who can both love and teach his fellowmen. So Hercules was trained in all accomplishments and could take his place with the thinkers of his time. We are told also that his height was four cubits, a symbolic way of expressing the fact that he had achieved his full growth in all departments of his fourfold personality, Man, we are told, is the cube, "the city that stands foursquare". Physically, emotionally and mentally, he was developed and to these three factors is added a fourth, a soul in conscious possession of its mechanism, the developed personality. Having achieved his growth and having been trained in all that the world could give him, we are told next that he proceeded to slay his teachers. He killed them all and got rid of them. Why? Because he had reached the point where he could stand on his own feet, forming his own conclusions, guiding his own life, and handling his own affairs. It was necessary, therefore, to rid himself of all those who sought to supervise him; he had to break away from authority and set out to find his own way and make his own contacts with life. This is where many aspirants stand at this time. They are in possession of much theory, they have a relatively wide technical knowledge of the nature of the Path and of what they should do upon it, but they do not as yet stand on their own feet and tread that Path, alone and unsupported. They need props, and look for people to tell them what to do and what they should believe. We shall find in the third labor which Hercules performed, in the sign Gemini, that he was tested on this point and had to prove that he was justified in taking this step. He then makes the interesting discovery that he is not nearly so free nor so strong as, in his youthful enthusiasm, he fancied himself to be. [21] When he reached the age of eighteen years, we are told, he slew a lion which was devastating the countryside and that he began to perform other public services, so that, little by little, his name came before the people. Eighteen is always a significant number. In it we have the number ten, which is the number of personality perfection, plus the number eight, which, we are told by some numerologists, is the number of the Christ force. It is the Christ force, in the new cycle of discipleship, seeking to express itself, which produces the condition of turmoil and the difficulties which characterize that stage. It is of value perhaps to note the following: "Number eight is the circle which we have already found to be the container of all the potencies out of which the Light shall bring Perfection, but now twisted or turned upon itself. The serpent no longer swallows its tail, thus completing its cycle, but writhes and twists in space and out of the contortions of its writings it brings forth a perverted image of itself ... But in eighteen we have the vision of the Straight and Narrow Path: the Dot has unfolded into the one and become the axis around which our life turns. At this step the Initiate has faced this one divine truth and felt the mighty urge of the One Life. Henceforth he strives to make the twisted line subservient to the straight line" (The Key of Destiny, H. A. and F. H. Curtiss. pp. 246-247).It is interesting to note also that we are told in the Kabalah: "The eighteenth path is called the House of Influence ... and from the midst of the investigation the arcana and hidden sense are drawn forth which dwell in its shade and which cling to it from the cause of all causes." (Sepher Yetzira, No. 30). This is what Hercules, at the age of eighteen, is setting out to do. He must tread the Path whereon all the hidden things can be brought forth into the light; he has reached the point where he can achieve knowledge of himself and can begin to investigate the hidden forces of nature. This is the problem of all disciples. The next episode in his career is his marriage and the birth of three children, a symbolic way of expressing the truth that he made at-one-ment with Psyche, the soul. From that union [22] the three aspects of the soul were born or began to manifest themselves. He began to know the nature of the spiritual will and to use it in the directing of his life. He experienced the workings of spiritual love and became conscious of the need to serve. Spiritual mind began to reveal truth to him and he saw the underlying purpose. These are the higher correspondences of the three aspects of the personality, his mind, his emotional nature, and his physical body. We now discover him going through a very peculiar stage. We read in the ancient story that Hera (Psyche, or the soul) drove him mad. She drove him mad through jealousy and, whilst in that curious state, we read that he slew his children and his friends and everyone connected with him. May it not be suggested in this connection that he passed through that unwholesome state common to all beginners on the Path of Discipleship, in which a morbid conscientiousness sacrifices everybody and everything to individual soul unfoldment? This is a most common fault with aspirants. Their sense of proportion is frequently at fault and their sense of values distorted. The balanced and sane life, which is the ideal for a son of God, is subordinated to a fanatical determination to make spiritual progress. Spiritual ambition sways the aspirant and he becomes destructive, unbalanced and, usually, exceedingly difficult to live with. There is much sound counsel in the Biblical injunction, "Be not righteous overmuch, why shouldst thou die?" This stage is curiously exemplified for us on a large scale in the fanatical sacrifices made in the Orient, and under the Inquisition and the Protestant Covenanters, of all who interpreted truth contrary to the conviction of a particular group of believers. When Hercules had recovered from his insanity, as he fortunately did, we are told that a new name was given to him, that a new abode was assigned to him and that the twelve labors were laid upon him for fulfilment. We are told that these words were spoken to him: "From this day forth thy [23] name shall no more be Alkeides, but Herakles. In Tirjus shall thou make thy abode, and there, serving, thou shalt accomplish thy labors. When this shall be accomplished then thou shalt become one of the Immortals." (Greek and Roman Mythology, Vol. I, Fox.) Having recovered his sanity, the focus of his life was changed. He no longer lived down where he lived before. The name of the soul became his name, and he was constantly reminded thereby that to express the glory of the soul was his mission. The twelve great labors that were to set the seal of accomplishment upon his life, and which would indicate his right to join the great group of Immortals, were outlined to him and he entered upon the Way. We are told that in his person he symbolized the Fixed Cross in the heavens, formed by the four constellations Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. Tradition tells us that he was physically bullnecked, as well as psychologically stubborn and ready to attack any problem and to rush blindly into any undertaking. Nothing could turn him from his purpose, and we shall see when we study the labors that he rushed headlong into them. Nothing deterred him, nothing frightened him, and one-pointedly he went his way. The ancient motto that has governed the activities of all active disciples became his and his soul enjoined upon him the need of "the power to do, the power to dare, the power to be silent, and the power to know." "The power to do" is the motto of Taurus, and this he exemplified in his twelve labors. He symbolized Leo, because he always wore the lion's skin as a proof of his courage, and the motto of that sign being "the power to dare," no danger affrighted him and no difficulty turned him back. Perhaps his outstanding achievement was what he accomplished in the sign Scorpio; for the great work was to overcome illusion. It was consummated and carried to completion in the sign Scorpio. The motto of that sign is silence. In Capricorn he becomes the Initiate, and this stage is always impossible until illusion has been overcome and the power of silence has been [24] achieved. Therefore, when an infant in the cradle, unable to speak, he symbolized the high water mark of his achievement by strangling the two serpents. Then, at his maturity, he symbolized in himself Aquarius the Man, whose motto is "to know". He had a mind and used his intellect in active work and service. So, doing and daring, in silence and with knowledge, he overcame all obstacles and passed undeterred from Aries to Pisces; starting in Aries as the humble aspirant and ending in Pisces as the all-knowing, victorious World Savior. One point might be made here. In the history of Hercules we are told nothing of what he ever said; we are only told of what he did. Through his deeds, he earned the right to speak. In the story of that greater Son of God, Jesus the Christ, we are told not only what he did but also what he said. In the silence of Hercules and in his steady accomplishment, no matter by what failure and difficulty he might be faced, and in his power of endurance, we have shown to us the characteristics of the disciple. In the story of Jesus the Christ, through the demonstration of his powers and by the words he spoke, we have the proofs of the Initiate. And now having reached maturity, having evolved the characteristics necessary for his mission, we read that the gods and goddesses did their utmost to equip him for the work that he had to do. He had received all that the world could give him; now the powers of the soul were conferred upon him, and he had to learn how to use them. We read that Minerva gave him a beautiful robe but, as we never read of his wearing it, we can infer that something symbolic is intended. There are many cases in history where a robe is given: Joseph received a many-colored garment from his father; the mantle of Elijah descended upon Elisha, and the robe of Christ was divided up and quarrelled over by the soldiers at the crucifixion. It is the general opinion that the robe is the symbol of vocation. The vocation of Elijah had passed on to Elisha; the vocation of the Christ, the World Savior, came to an end at the crucifixion [25] when he entered upon greater and more important work. The wisdom that was now realized by Hercules because he had made the at-one-ment with the soul, impressed upon him a sense of vocation. He was pledged to the spiritual life and nothing could deter him. Vulcan gave him a golden breastplate, magnetic and protective, the symbol of energy, emanating from high sources of spiritual power, which will enable the aspirant to undertake the twelve labors and go forward unafraid. From Neptune, the god of the waters, he received horses. The symbology underlying this gift is very interesting. Horses, as well as Neptune, the god of the waters and the deity of the watery, emotional nature, stand for the capacity to be carried away by either a line of thought or an emotional reaction. This emotional, fluidic nature, with its sensitivity and its power to feel, when rightly used and subordinated to godlike purposes, is one of the greatest assets that the disciple possesses. With the aid of Neptune and the rapid steeds, Hercules could be en rapport with the most distant sphere in which his labors could be cast. Through emotional sensitivity and response, we, too, can be en rapport with the world in which our labors are cast. Equipped, therefore, with vocation, spiritual energy and sensitivity, the gift of a sword that came from Mercury, the messenger of the gods, is of profound significance, for the sword is the symbol of the mind which divides asunder, separates and cuts off. Through its use, Mercury added to the other gifts bestowed upon Hercules that of mental analysis and discrimination. We are told that Apollo, the Sun God himself, became interested in Hercules and pondered what he could give him that would serve him. Finally he gave him a bow and arrow, symbolizing the capacity to go straight to the goal; symbol, too, of that piercing illumination, that shaft of Light which could irradiate the darkness of his path, when needed. Thus equipped, Hercules stands ready for the great endeavor. And when all the gifts had been bestowed and he stood with his divine equipment, we read of a most intriguing little detail: [26] he went out and cut for himself a club. All these divine gifts were very lovely and wonderful, but as yet he did not know how to use them. He sensed his vocation, he believed in spiritual energy, he was told that he possessed the horses of contact and that, if he would, the bow and arrow of illumination were his; but he liked the familiar club of his own fashioning. He would rather bludgeon his way through with what he knew he could use than use the unfamiliar tools which had been given him. So he clutched his wooden club and set out upon his labors. [27]
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