The Equinox (Volume III, Number I)

THE EQUINOX brethren, seeing the Sun disappear at night and rise again in the morning, based all their religious ideas in this one con- ception of a Dying and Re-arisen God. This is the central idea of the religion of the Old Zon, but we have left it be- hind us because although it seemed to be based on Nature (and Nature’s symbols are always true), yet we have out- grown this idea which is only apparently true in Nature. Since this great Ritual of Sacrifice and Death was conceived and perpetuated, we, through the observation of our men of science, have come to know that it is not the Sun which rises and sets, but the earth on which we live which revolves so that its shadow cuts us off from the sunlight during what we call night. The Sun does not die, as the ancients thought; It is always shining, always radiating Light and Life. Stop for a moment and get a clear conception of this Sun, how He is shining in the early morning, shining at mid-day, shining in the evening, and shining in the night. Have you got this idea clearly in your minds? You have stepped out of the Old Zon into the New. : Now let us consider what has happened. In order to get this mental picture of the ever-shining Sun, what did you do? You identified yourself with the Sun. You stepped out of the consciousness of this planet; and for a moment you had to consider yourself as a Solar Being. Then why step back again? You may have done so involuntarily, because the Light was so great that it seemed as Darkness. But do it again, this time more fully, and let us consider what the changes in our concept of the Universe will be. ; The moment we identify ourselves with the Sun, we real- ize that we have become the source of Light, that we too are now shining gloriously, but we also realize that the Sunlight 184