Holy Week in the Work

Since the autumn, we've been looking at the way the Christian year has been arranged. We've seen that for two thousand years the church's liturgical cycle has taken advantage of cosmic variations in the positions of the planets and stars, which can help us in our inner work. Other festivals before Christianity had also made use of these times, because various Messengers had known of the changes in the position of the Earth, the planets and our Sun which could be used to encourage an increase in consciousness. The Egyptian and Greek religions, in particular, which preceded our Christian era, gave their followers feasts and fasts which corresponded to the energies available for initiates. But here I'm looking at Christianity, because that is the religion which today, I believe, embodies the most conscious planning by learned men and women so that even now we may study the Christian year and learn which type of inner work best corresponds to each festival. Now we've arrived at Holy Week, the most important time of the entire Christian year and the period when much understanding and an increase in Being may be obtained if we make the right efforts. On the largest possible scale of understanding, Dr. Nicoll told his students that "The sacrifice of Christ was to decrease entropy for humanity". And he explained that every time we make some small sacrifice, every time we accept a small death on our own level, which is what we've been attempting to do throughout Lent, we increase the possibility of becoming more and more alive in the most real part of ourselves. We increase our inner order, and work against entropy. Mrs. Pogson pointed out that while Adam in the Garden of Eden acted from self-will and disobeyed God, thereby losing his right to live in Paradise, Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane lay down his self-will and obeyed the Will of His Father. His choice demanded conscious suffering, but from that suffering came the great and holy triumph of Easter Sunday. He came to show us the way which we may all follow, which leads to eternal life. On a physical level, too, everything changed after the Crucifixion. The drops of blood and water which flowed from the wounds of Jesus fell upon the Earth and purified it, reaching backwards and forwards in time simultaneously so that all of mankind now had the chance to become conscious. The festival of Easter is almost always celebrated at the same time as the Passover of the Jews. The very few exceptions occur when the Jewish year, which is lunar, has to insert an extra month so that the solar and lunar calendars agree. Both festivals are, at root, festivals of freedom. As the Israelites were led out of Egypt and out of bondage to their material desires and mental addictions, so at Easter all mankind is shown how to be free from the slavery of the multitude of I's within us and to reach that point in ourselves which alone is real. How does the Earth's position in space relate to the timing of Easter? If you remember our previous discussions of cosmic time, you'll recall that a period of concentrated work began for us in early autumn, when we focused more on internal tasks after the summer holidays. In September, the Earth starts to move closer to the energies which come from the highest level of the cosmos, from far away, which are better able to reach us at this time. The Earth revolves around the Sun, of course, but we recollect that the Sun also revolves around its own "Sun", the star Sirius. And all Suns, all stars, revolve around the central Sun of the galaxy. There is much to ponder here. The special position of our planetary journey which began in the autumn takes us within the Sun's own orbit of Sirius, and in direct alignment with the forces of the Ray of Creation. The moon also plays a part in reflecting light to us here on Earth, and increasing the powers of the different energies that reach us. By the time the Earth has come to the spring equinox, it is beginning to move away from the alignment with Sirius and the further reaches of the universe; it then begins a new phase of the annual journey which focuses more on working in the world, in Life. Before the Earth leaves the elliptical orbit of the Sun around Sirius, a final Full Moon at this stage of the pilgrimage reflects back increased energies to us on Earth, and this Full Moon is what is important at the festivals of Passover and Easter. From time to time suggestions have been made that we should fix a date for Easter, to be the same every year just as Christmas always falls right after the Winter Solstice. As we can see, this would be a huge mistake as far as our inner work is concerned. We would no longer receive the extra boost which now benefits our Work life, and this would make our transformation even more difficult than it currently is. We need all the help we can get from the cosmos, and Easter shows us that harmony between inner and outer worlds is actually made more possible when we align ourselves with those special energies. For us in the Work, Holy Week is the most concentrated phase of this whole annual cycle. What is conceived now, at Easter, may be born at Christmas in Essence. What we now sacrifice will enable new life to rise from our most real part. The Gospel narratives of Easter are extremely interesting, and one of the most fruitful tasks for this time is to see all the different I's at work around the events of Holy Week. The Pharisees, Pilate, the crowds which first acclaim Jesus and then reject Him, the Roman soldiers, the disciples who simply can't stay awake - all these I's are within us. Most interesting of all is Judas, who plays the part of the betrayer in this cosmic drama. Gurdjieff says that Judas is actually a great saint because he understands the need for his action - to bring about the events that lead to the death of Jesus - and also that he would be hated and reviled for what he had done, until the very end of time. Such a person needs courage and equanimity, together with real devotion to the Master, and his part could only be played by a conscious man far above the level of Being of the crowds. We might ponder on the meaning of this role, and whether we ourselves would have been prepared to play it. Which of our I's take the uppermost role in the drama of Holy Week? Do we have the courage of Judas and Jesus Himself, as we draw closer to the crucifixion? Do we watch and pray, as Christ asks us to do, or do we fall asleep along with the other disciples? Do we give up any attempt to understand and to work on ourselves, like Pontius Pilate? Or do we accept the Will of the Father, and steadily set our face towards Jerusalem, unwavering in our knowledge of what is to come, and our acceptance of the conscious suffering that will be our task?