Course XXVI - Teaching 5: Amon in the Hellenic Schools

The esoteric school that might be called polytheistic reached its summit in Egypt, eventually decayed and its temples remained entirely buried in the sand.
Moslems impeded their search and just recently, hardly half a century ago, temples and sepulchers were excavated and entirely exoteric inscriptions deciphered. The esoteric inscriptions were mainly destroyed along with the Library of Alexandria.
But its immense knowledge did not disappear from the face of the earth, and until today it has flourished with a variety of forms and in different places, almost always in contrast with other forms of monotheism.
The rest of it, duly preserved, has been legated to mankind, first, through the Hellenic Schools. When the priests of Amon were forced to be in exile and to take refuge in Greece, this country was inhabited by very primitive beings, devoted over all to meet their main needs.
The priests of Amon lived there for a short period of time that was sufficient to leave a seed.
When the priests of Amon returned to Egypt, at a time the priests of Aton –who were monotheistic– were forced to leave the country and also they took refuge in Greece.
Then the influence of the two can be studied in Greece and throughout centuries.
Both grand conceptions had very important philosophical derivations: the doctrine on grace would derive from the polytheistic conception, and the doctrine on freewill from Aton’s conception.
If we take for granted that everything is illusion and a reflection or emanation of the Non-Manifested Divinity, of course any thing –man, his mind, and his soul– are just a reflection absolutely dependent on a non-manifested aspect. Then one cannot do anything for a being, to change his destiny, however holy or criminal, wise or fool he may be. Ultimately, this conception leads to fatalism; a being is not free but like God, as a whole.
But believers in the freewill may hold: if man is divine and has any particle of divinity, then to certain extent he is self-determined.
Greek Initiatic Schools were very different from Egyptian Initiatic Schools. Now we shall deal with those Schools that followed the current of Amon, to the exclusion of the monotheistic trend.
First you notice certain dispersion as much in ends as in forms, in relation to Egyptian Schools. The Egyptian priest studied the whole science and every aspect of wisdom. But the Greek deemed that an entire life is not enough to comprise totally all this.
The Egyptian Temple was one and immense; and the Greek Temple, even though it was complete like a center of religious, philosophical and pedagogical culture, was devoted to only one branch.
This was so, first for the physical individual constitution: the Egyptians were surprisingly stout, resistant and flexible, and these conditions were notably increased by means of drugs and surgery. They sexual appetite was moderate, over all among priests. But the Greek, even though they were beautiful, their endurance was poor; just some few of them would be able to stand the Egyptian plan.
Egypt was a kingdom very united with the Pharaoh; Greece was composed of numberless little kingdoms and cities. The entire Greece was divided.
Sex was the first problem among the Greek. Therefore, in many temples mainly they studied the transmutation in relation to celibates. These teachings failed because the lustful Greek thought, “If we raise our natural material acts and offer them to the Divinity, then those acts become divine”. In some way, this was right. But at once the Greek misused this, especially on the pretext of transforming anti-natural acts into divine acts.
Many of these beings notably developed their intelligence, and returned many times to the physical world. But intelligent and skillful men have failed because they were tied to certain vice (gamble, drink, women), and shall not be able to excel to be in the position of overcoming these facets. Second, they studied magic and psychic powers.
We may say the Greek, in relation to his love of the form, had very different needs from the Egyptians. A sexual act had a double meaning, and very few went beyond the first grade.
No news about the third grade.
Those who reached the third grade, that is, the philosophical grade, kept silence.
Many works by Greek philosophers survived up to our days: but the works by Plato and his followers reflected the trend of Amon and of the Grace; and the works by Aristotle and others reflected the trend of Aton and the freewill.
Plato’s influence decayed for several centuries, but came to life again in Jamblicus and Plotinus. This doctrine, of the Grace, had much influence on the Christian Church, especially through Saint Augustine. Naturally, this Church would be monotheistic. But, in thirteen century, the Aristotelian doctrine is notably established by Saint Thomas Aquinas.
But after the death of Cleopatra, some religious treasures of the glorious Temple of Amon remained beyond the reach of the Roman conquerors, and were carried with great secrecy to an almost inaccessible place in the African desert, surrounded by high mountains. They were carried by faithful disciples, whose descendants have kept them up to our days. These disciples have ever successfully defended their treasure: neither Moslems were able to discover it.
Amon’s memory was not deleted in the East. Julia Domma, a daughter of a priest of Fire, in Emera, Syria, married the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus and in her court she was surrounded by a chosen group of beings, whose works are remembered up to our days.
Plato was studied again in the Renaissance by outstanding Florentine sages in fifteen century.
The Esoteric Schools of knowledge and love continuously remain in conflict and constant fusion and exchange because these two forces must join together through struggle, at the end of the era of Pisces, to form one expression of the Divine.