!" He had to fulfil them himself
by a real, spiritual action. His earthly part, of which his higher
being in the Spirit of the Mysteries must be ashamed, had to be put
away. The earthly must die a symbolic-real death. The putting of his
body into a somnambulic sleep for three days can only be denoted an
outer event in comparison with the greatness of the transformation
which was taking place in him. An incomparably more momentous
spiritual event corresponded to it. But this very process was the
experience which divides the life of the Mystic into two parts. One
who does not know from experience the inner significance of such acts
cannot understand them. They can only be suggested by means of a
comparison.

The substance of Shakespeare's _Hamlet_ may be compressed into a few
words. Any one who learns these words may say that in a certain sense
he knows the contents of _Hamlet_; and logically he does. But one who
has let all the wealth of the Shakespearian drama stream in upon him
knows _Hamlet_ in a different way. A life-current has passed through
his soul which cannot be replaced by any mere description. The idea of
_Hamlet_ has become an artistic, personal experience within him.

On a higher plane of consciousness, a similar process takes place in
man when he experiences the magically significant event which is bound
up with initiation. What he attains spiritually, he lives through
symbolically. The word "symbolically" is used here in the sense that
an outer event is really enacted on the physical plane, but that as
such, it is nevertheless a symbol. It is not a case of an unreal, but
of a real symbol. The earthly body has really been dead for three
days.[5] New life comes forth from death. This life has outlived
death. Man has gained confidence in the new life.

It happened thus with Lazarus. Jesus had prepared him for
resurrection. His illness was at once symbolic and real, an illness
which was an initiation (_cf._ p. 132 _et seq._), and which leads,
after three days, to a really new life.

Lazarus was ripe for undergoing this experience. He wrapped himself in
the garment of the Mystic, and fell into a condition of lifelessness
which was symbolic death. And when Jesus came, the three days had
elapsed. "Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead
was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, 'Father, I thank thee
that thou hast heard me'" (John xi. 41). The Father had heard Jesus,
for Lazarus h