"SCHOOL, THEATER AND TEMPLE"

   Zélia de Toledo Piza        

The man was created to the image and similarity of the "Creator." Not in the aspect of physical constitution, but in the sense of cosmic principles that vibrate in the Universe. The Universe is sustained by a series of energies. Those energies vibrate in the man through their centers of force called chakras (the book "The Man and the Universe" presents detailed description of those energies).

In the current moment of the evolution, those energies are unbalanced. The balance state or unbalance of those energies results in our positive and negative tendencies, tendencies those that, today, they are completely dissociated, with predominance of the negatives.

The man's work is exactly the on of organizing those energies so that their centers of force pass to tune with the cosmic energies and they bring, as consequence, the internal balance of our nature.

This balance is only gotten through the work of the self-realization. The weapons that the man possesses for that work are the elements of the soul: - mind, emotion and will. The emotion is that takes the man to the action. The pulses of the emotion need to be analyzed by the mental and the action should be the one judged right and fair, using the force of the Will. That work, so simple in the theory, demands though a Herculean Will, in other words, an Will equivalent to that which was demanded from Hercules when accomplishing their 12 works (the game of the human soul is detailed in the book "The Man and the Universe").

We will think about some of those works.

Hercules is son of Zeus, the Greek god, and of Alcmena, queen of Tebas. In the moment of the birth of Hercules, Zeus announces that the first boy to be born in the earth would be the ruler of Greece. Hera, wife of Zeus, become jealous, she flies for the city of Argos and she makes Euristeu to be born first, delaying the birth of Hercules. Against his will, Zeus grants to Euristeu the power to impose numerous and difficult works to Hercules. Among them:

Cleaning of the horse stables:

Augias was king of Elida, in Greece. He possessed an immense cattle flock, and among them they were the twelve white bulls consecrated to the god Helios.

It happens that for 30 years those stables were not receiving any cleaning. The manure piled up such great height that was impossible somebody to penetrate to feed the animals.

Hercules receives the incumbency of cleaning that horse stable in just one day. Impossible task! But, intelligent as he was, he diverts the waters of the river Alfeu, he opens 2 holes opposed in the walls of the horse stable and for there he channels their waters. In less than 24 hours it was perfectly clean and king Augias could enter to feed the cattle.

Which is the symbolism of that legend?

- The accumulated dirts represent the rude and unbalanced emotions of the human soul.

- The waters of the river Alfeu that entered carting the dirts represent the baptism of the transformation.

- The literal meaning of the word Augias is SUN and LIGHT. It means that, being the soul free from the unbalances, the true SUN gets to penetrate.

The self-realization has for objective to clean the human psyche balancing the positive and negative principles that there act, so that the man is always capable to find the point of Justice in all their actions. Being clean the soul, the true SUN illuminates our Superior Conscience, that is a particle of the Divinity, and God gets to reach our conscious life.

The robbery of the apples of gold:

The apples are protected in the Garden of Hesperides.

Hercules doesn't know where is the Garden, but he is forced to bring the apples. After many drawbacks and unheard efforts, he gets from Nereu the indication of at least which direction to take to arrive there. He was still very far, but for there he goes. When crossing the Caucasus, he finds Prometeu chained having a vulture devouring his liver. Touched, he gets to throw a well-aimed arrow that abates the vulture. Prometeu, grateful, indicates him the right road.

To the entrance of the Garden he comes across an enormous dragon of name Lado, which possessed a hundred heads. Without fear, he faces the dragon and he gets to kill him.

The apples were kept by Atlantidas, daughters of Atlas. They had expressed order for not leaving anybody to touch those fruits. Seeing, however, the bravery of Hercules when facing the dragon, they give him the apples.

Which the symbology of that legend?

- The place where were planted the fruits of gold, was called Garden of Hesperides. In Greek, Hesperes, Hesper, Vesper is related to Venus, place from where Lucifer comes, considered, in the oriental traditions, as the bearer of the Light, as the donor of the mental to the men.

- The dragon represents the unbalances of the soul. He is at the door of the Garden of Hesperides, in other words, at the doors of the mental. The apple of gold is the fruit of the tree of the Wisdom. The dragon is there posted to impede the performance of the mental with autonomy.

- To get the apples represents the overlap of the mental over the emotions. It means to acquire judgement capacity to solve with justice the situations in which the person is involved, without interference of the emotional demands.

- The encounter of Nereu and, then, of Prometeu, they show that, every body who makes an effort to the maximum always finds someone who shows him the road.

 Hercules, when accomplishing the 12 works, gets to balance in the soul the positive and negative tendencies and force the Divinity to live in his interior. To deserve Olympus, Hercules passed years and years accomplishing difficult and courageous actions.

 They are three the stages that the man needs to travel to reach his self-realization - school, theater and temple.

 The life is a true school where the man should discover the Laws that govern the life. Discovering the Laws, he should apply them in the game of the life that is a true theater. In that theater, in other words, in the collide of the life, he should develop the great game of the opposites of the soul, the game of the Good and of the Evil.

Only the perfect interior transformation gives to the man the right of penetrating in the temple. It means that the man, finally, at the end of a long walk, gets to reacquire the integral value of God. With that, he will have accomplished the cosmic function that was delineated to him from the beginning of the times.

The man comes from God and, to accomplish his mission, he goes down for the polarity and for the controversies of the human soul. He should travel the road of the self-realization, with courage and Herculean Will, in order to return again to reinstates in God.

 They are words of Ralph Lewis, second Emperor of AMORC: When the Conscience of the Cosmos, of the ONE, reproduces in the man, then the cycle is complete. The Cosmos becomes conscious of Himself.