Book Two: The Unknown Books of the Essenes (Excerpts)

A1nd one man spoke: "But, Master, we are but men, we are not angels. How then can we hope to walk in their ways? Tell us what we must do."

2As the son inherits the land of his father, So have we inherited a Holy Land From our Fathers. This land is not a field to be ploughed, But a place within us Where we may build our Holy Temple. -And even as a temple must be raised, Stone by stone,

3So will I give to you those stones For the building of the Holy Temple; That which we have inherited From our Fathers, And their Fathers' Fathers.

4And all the men gathered around Jesus, and their faces shone with desire to hear the words which would come from his lips. And he lifted his face to the rising sun, and the radiance of its rays filled his eyes as he spoke:

5"The Holy Temple can be built Only with the ancient Communions, Those which are spoken, those which are thought, and those which are lived. For if they are spoken only with the mouth, they are as a dead hive which the bees have forsaken, that gives no more honey. The Communions are a bridge between man and the angels, and like a bridge, can be built only with patience, yea, even as the bridge over the river is fashioned stone by stone, as they are found by the water's edge. And the Communions are fourteen in number, As the Angels of the Heavenly Father number seven, and the Angels of the Earthly Mother number seven. And just as the roots of the tree sink into the earth and are nourished, and the branches of the tree raise their arms to heaven, so is man like the trunk of the tree, with his roots deep in the breast of his Earthly Mother, and his soul ascending to the bright stars of his Heavenly Father. And the roots of the tree are the Angels of the Earthly Mother, and the branches of the tree are the Angels of the Heavenly Father. And this is the sacred Tree of Life which stands in the Sea of Eternity.