E. & C. d'Hooghvorst
Wisdom is as rare in Tibet as it is in Paris, said Louis Cattiaux. It may flourish
everywhere, however, without anyone suspecting it. A man similar to, but not the
same as so many other city-dwellers, has written these pages that it falls to the reader
to judge. They are not for everyone, even though they are destined to circulate among
the men of today who, through neglect of the ancient revelation, have allowed themselves
to sink into profound ignorance.
Those for whom this book has been written shall know it well on reading it, for it
is given to them, as the author puts it, to believe the unbelievable. They shall know
how to read and understand it, they belong to the same spiritual family. Before leaving
this world on 16th July 1953, the author left it for them as a rallying sign and a reason
for hope (MR
XXXII, 37 and 38 - XXXIII,
35); he dedicated it most especially to the black peoples, still divided and as
though in their infancy, but destined to become powerful in the world through the play
of a Providence indifferent to the intentions and works of men.
The Message Rediscovered is not easy to approach. It contains, according to the
author, a tightly-linked initiation and mystique presented in a concentrated form that
demands more than a straightforward reading, the words being transcended by the
revelation, and the work presenting itself as liquid air that has acquired other extraordinary
properties, but which are invisible at first sight?(1).
The verses are arranged in
two columns, for there are two men in us, the carnal man and the spiritual man, the
external man and the internal man, just as there is also darkness and light, justice
and love, the pure and the impure; all things are arranged two by two (MR
III, 98).
Each of the
verses includes several profound meanings, the left column generally giving the earthly
meanings: moral, philosophical and ascetic; the right column giving the heavenly
meanings: cosmogonic, mystical and initiatory. Sometimes these verses are completed
with a third one placed in the middle of the page, bringing together the two others in
the alchemic meaning that unites heaven and earth, relating to the mystery of God, of
creation and of man; as for this most profound meaning, it corresponds only to God to reveal it to the pious man.
One will also notice that each of the XXXX books carries a
double title, for example, for book 1, on the left: VÉRITÉ NUE, on the right: THE GREEN
SHOOT. The forty titles over the left hand columns are anagrams of one another. It is
indeed rare to be able to make forty anagrams by means of nine letters that are always
the same. The knowing reader will realize that not a single word of this book has been
put there without intention.
The Message Rediscoveredspeaks to us of but a single thing, in continually different
terms, so that the multitude of verses is not a dissipation. The ignorant ones in
search of a new revelation, coming to add something to or subtract something from the
old one, shall be disappointed. One shall find here only a testimony(MR
XXIX, 36) in favour of the old
one that speaks to us of the fall of man in this base world, of the physical and moral
consequences of that fall, and of the means of his bodily and spiritual regeneration, via
the mysterious way that leads to resurrection (MR XXIX, 33 and 45).
We may perhaps scandalize more than one reader in affirming here that the Spirit
of Elijah, still alive, manifests itself through the ages(MR
XXXVI, 95): let those people abstain, for here
is the rock of scandal. Yet blessed is he who shall know, in the pages that are to follow,
how to loose this spirit from its coarse outer shell, recognize its authenticity and take
nourishment from it for an eternal life.
The general dedication of The Message Rediscovered tells us that it is intended "for
the glory of God and at the service of men who shall read with the eyes of the spirit and
of the heart the signs inscribed in the flesh of the world". The eyes of carnal reason or
of the intellect shall, in fact, teach us nothing, there where language addresses itself to
the eyes of the spirit and of the heart. The first ones reveal to us only the outer shell or
the changing appearance of the world; the second ones guide us towards the Essence
and the Substance, its indestructible support, and allow us to recognize the interior
light that God lit up at the beginning in nature and in our heart(MR
VIII, 50').
It is, then, a work of meditation that demands to be read, re-read and studied in
simplicity of spirit and purity of heart. Is it not multiplicity and restlessness of the
spirit that deprive us of the possession of the Kingdom of the Heavens, and the impurity
of our hearts that distances us from the vision of God?(MR
XIII, 32').
The testimony of the Scriptures teaches us that knowledge of the divine light
should proceed, not from the exterior, but from within; awoken and stimulated
through its free origin, this buried light then germinates, and, becoming the "right
measure" and the source of our judgements, it "appears then outside and shines fully
in union"(MR
IX, 54' - IV,
36' - XII,
12'-13').
A deaf man will judge music from the description one can offer him, since he lacks
the use of the organ that allows him to experience it for himself. It is the same for the
other senses. The light shines in the darkness, but if man is deprived of the use of the appropriate organ to apprehend that interior light, it is darkness for him just as long as
he does not recover the look of the spirit and of the heart.
If you have faith and patience, wrote the author with regard to The Message Rediscovered,
it will become clear by itself a little at a time, and everything that seems
obscure to you shall then appear evident.
It is therefore that we suggest the reader should develop his own personal opinion
on this work and should judge for himself whether or not it is identical to traditional
teaching.
