[Intro] The Magician, twenty-one. The word: alive. [Section 1] Hence the pair of opposites the letter stands for: the quick and the dead. In the Gospel narrative, these words carry more than their ordinary meaning. The quick are those whose inner faculty is awake. The dead are ordinary people—not physically dead, but unawakened. [Section 2] Many expressions in Scripture have a double meaning: faith, death, birth, blindness, and poverty. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” What a strange expression. Why should the poor in spirit be blessed? It does not mean being spiritless, or refusing to stand for your rights. Its ethical meaning is non-attachment to things: possessions, acquisitions, and the belief that life itself can be stored in what we own. [Section 3] Jesus taught the multitude in parables, and reserved the hidden teachings for those ready to receive them. He warned his disciples against casting pearls before swine. The things intended for the quick were not to be cast before the dead. The mystery is not exclusion for its own sake. It is the recognition that understanding requires preparation. [Section 4] In the Ancient Mysteries, man died and was born again through his own work upon himself. The old Adam—the natural man—gave way to the spiritual man. Those described as blind or deaf were not necessarily without sight or hearing. They had eyes, but had not learned to see. They had ears, but had not learned to hear. [Outro] To the quick, the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. To the dead, instructive parables. The quick—the alive—are those who have reconstructed themselves, who have made the spiritual man out of the natural man. The question remains: Are we merely living, or have we begun to awaken?
