CHAPTER I — THE LOTUS OF THE VOID
CHAPTER I — THE LOTUS OF THE VOID
- Upon the shoreless sea of becoming, the Seer beheld the Star, burning in silence above the black waters.
- From its radiance arose the Lotus, whose petals unfolded through shadow and light, through death and rebirth, through silence and sound.
- And the Voice spake from within the Lotus, saying: “I am the Stillness that dances, the Darkness that gives birth to stars.”
- The Seer, trembling with awe, fell prostrate before the Light unseen, and said: “Who art Thou, O Voice that speaks from both night and flame?”
- The Voice replied: “I am the Daughter and the Mother, the Serpent and the Crown, the Eternal Bride of the Sun unseen.”
- “I am the Silence before the Word, and the Word that rends Silence. I am the balance of Love and Will. I am the breath between the two eternities.”
- Then said the Seer: “Reveal unto me the way through the Abyss, that I may awaken in the Lotus of the Star.”
- And the Voice answered: “First must thou die, O child of dust; for no mortal steps upon the Path of Immortality.”
- “Cast off thy name, thy form, thy fear; drink of thine own shadow until it becomes nectar, and behold the Sun within the Tomb.”
- “For as Osiris was slain and risen, as Krishna revealed the form terrible and glorious, as Hadit coiled in the heart of Nuit — so must thou behold thy own dissolution, and rise beyond it.”
- “The body is the altar, the breath the prayer, the will the flame, the love the offering. In their union is the Gate.”
- “Know then that the Gate and the Goal are one; the pilgrim and the path are one; the Lotus and the Star are one.”
- And as the Voice spoke thus, the Seer saw the heavens open like a wound of light, and from its core a thousand-petaled flame descending.
- It entered the crown of the Seer, and the world dissolved like smoke in sunlight.
- Then was heard only a whisper — softer than silence — saying:
“Thou art That. The Lotus blooms within thee. The Star is thy Soul.”