lead them to a
recognition of the Real Self--the Spirit Within. He is with us ever as
an Abiding Spirit, a Comforter, a Helper, an Elder Brother.

He is not gone from us! He is here with us now and forever, in Actual
Spirit Communion!

The Lord hath indeed Risen--Risen from Mortal Form to Immortal
Spiritual Existence!

THE NINTH LESSON.

THE INNER TEACHINGS.

The first and main phase of the Inner Teachings of Mystic Christianity
is that connected with the Mystery of the Life of Jesus. The outer
teachings give but an imperfect view of the real life and nature of
the Master, and theologians have built up an edifice of dogmatic
theory around the same. The Mystery of the Life of Jesus forms the
subject of some important Inner Teachings of the Mystic Fraternities
and Occult Brotherhoods, and is considered by them to be the
foundation of the other teachings. And so we shall consider this phase
of the subject at this point.

In the first place we must remember that the soul of Jesus was
different from the souls of other men. His was a "virgin birth"--not
in the commonly accepted sense of the term, but in the occult sense as
explained in the second lesson of this series. His soul was fresh from
the hand of the Creator--His spirit had not been compelled to work
through repeated incarnations, pressing forward for expression through
humble and ignoble forms. It was free from taint, and as pure as the
Fountain from which is flowed. It was a virgin soul in every sense of
the term.

This being so, it follows that it was not bound by the Karma of
previous incarnations--as is the case with the ordinary soul. It had
no entangling ties--it had no seeds of desire and action planted in
previous lives, which were pressing forward toward expression in His
life. He was a Free Spirit--an Unbound Soul. And therefore He was not
only unbound by any Karma of His own, but was also free (by nature)
from the Karma of the race or of the world.

The absence of personal Karma left Him free from the selfish personal
Desire which binds men to the wheel of action and personal ambition.
He had no desire or thought for personal aggrandizement or glory, and
was perfectly free (by nature) to work for the good of the race as an
outside observer and helper, without suffering the pains and sorrows
of race-life, had He so wished. But He chose otherwise, as we shall
see in a moment.

The absence of Race-Karma, or World-Karma, freed Him from the