“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”
-Matthew 16:24-26
The cross is not limited to Christianity, but in Christ it found its greatest expression. Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, lived the initiative path openly, there by making redemption for all of humanity possible.
When He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6), it was not as as a person with their consciousness asleep. It was as a fully developed master and the living incarnation of the universal Christ force.
C.S. Lewis famously said that Jesus’ claims- that He was the Son of God, that He forgives sin, is the Savior, the Messiah – meant he was either “liar, lunatic, or lord”.
The path of gnosis, within Christianity and all religions, is not about belief or theological debate, but to delve within ourselves and discover the path of self-sacrifice.
There have been plenty of liars and lunatics throughout history claiming to be the messiah, but none had quite the same world-shattering implications as Christianity.
The fiery and heartfelt testimonies of his disciples after His death and resurrection, and the apostles who risked their lives to spread the news of His teachings, all point to an inernal transformation of everyone who was touched by the Christic teachings.
The Christic path is the intimate process of reconnecting the soul and spirit; of regathering our scattered conscious attention; of reviving ourselves for love of God and humanity; of renouncing all egoic attachments.
With the gnostic teachings of Samael Aun Weor we understand the Christic process is completely internal, the cross we carry is the weight of our karma.
When a master incarnates the Christ, then that intimate Christ carries the karma of the world.
Our cross is our life, here and now. Our setbacks and worries, our instabilities and restrictions, our limitations and mistakes. Our cross is the intersection of the sufferings of life with the possibility of eternity at every moment.
Each person’s cross is unique, just as each person’s history is unique, and each person’s path to spiritual liberation is unique unto themselves.
Carrying the cross is heavy, it is slow, it invites mockery. And it is only possible with love. Carrying a cross without love becomes bitterness, spiritual pride, and arrogance.
When a person carries the cross of their life they accept their situation with humility and love. They make every effort to put others first, to love and bless their enemies, to fulfill their obligations without hope of reward other than the fulfillment that comes from a life of meaning and purpose.
Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose, Ch. The Arhat’s Cross:
You must work in the great work of the Father.
You will be an immolated lamb upon the altar of sacrifice.
You will work incessantly for humanity.
You will perform works of genius, but do not expect a crown of laurels, my child…
Remember that you must sacrifice your mind…
Humanity will make a mockery of your work. They will ridicule you and give you bile to drink…
Your works of merit will be received with loud guffaws, and humanity will reward all of your sacrifices with their deepest despise.
You are worthy of compassion, oh arhat!
The cross of your mental body is large and very heavy.
Your enemies will be your very spiritual brothers and sisters.
They will punish you severely and they will mock you, oh arhat!
The spiritual devotees of all the denominations will qualify you as an evil one, and they will ridicule you, oh arhat!
You will be slandered, mocked and hated by all the world. This is how you will crucify your mind, oh arhat!
Apollonius of Tyana spent his last years enclosed within a prison. Paracelsus was qualified as a friend of gypsies and executioners by all of his “Judas’s.” All the pedants of that time hated to death the eminent Theophrastus Bombastus of Hohenheim (Aureola Paracelsus).
This great wise man (Paracelsus) gave humanity medical wisdom that will be accepted and comprehended only by the human species of the Aquarian Age.
Agrippa, hated by men, wandered from city to city, and all the world distrusted him and qualified him as a sorcerer.
All the saints of Jerusalem, all the martyrs of humanity, were hated and persecuted.
Oh arhat, the cross of your mental body is heavy!
You are now an enigmatic personage, my child, and all the spiritual brothers qualify you as an evil one, as being intolerant, as tenebrous, simply because they do not comprehend you. You know this.
Blessed be those who love us, because they comprehend us; blessed be those who hate us, because they do not comprehend us.