s, whether
it was not possible in the living life to be released from contradiction
(as it is called in the Bhagavad-Gita), to quite tear away the bonds of
animal sensuous being, and definitively allow the eternal principles to be
active. The question is whether the terrestrial stone is, in its complete
perfection, on the whole possible, whether the ethical ideal in absolute
purity can be pragmatically realized.]

"Whereupon after a short blocking and stilling of my external senses, I
received this answer [of the Bridegroom]; that this could not be until a
complete death of the body of sin was suffered, showing me that which is
written in the 6th verse of the seventh chapter of Romans, that after that
was perished and dead, wherein we were held, we should serve God in
newness of spirit." (L. G. B., I, pp. 50 ff.)

[Here we have then the requirement to become wholly dead to the realm of
sin, in order to be able to rise fully to the ethical ideal. The question
whether this is possible in life remains open, to be sure. In symbolism
this mystical death and the union with the highest spirit was represented
symbolically in the highest degree of freemasonry. The representative of
the Highest is the Master degree of the M. v. St. and he fills the dead,
as it were, with his life, as the raising takes place (H in H, F against
F, K against K, etc.), like the reviving of the child by Elijah (I Kings
XVIII, 21). As for the necessary decay of the body before the raising
("The skin leaves," etc.) let us quote the passage, L. G. B., I, pp. 271
ff.: [the divine word speaks] "Know ... that I have not left thee without
a potent and rich talent which lies in thine own keeping, although deep
hidden and covered with a threefold covering (Exod., XXXIX 34, Num. IV, 5,
6), which must be removed before thou canst see this costly garment. The
first covering is the coarse dark appearance of this earthly realm ... the
second is the fast-binding [directed upon the mundane] reason ... the
third is the baser natural senses.... Provided that thou thoroughly
determine with the firm resolution to break through these three obstacles,
thou wilt come to the golden mass.... While it is given to ye then to know
where the treasure really lies [Seeking out of the grave. The three
murderers, who have hidden the corpse, are these very 'three obstacles.']
and you have my spirit on this, which will not alone seek for it but will
with the hand of its strength strong