Page 133 - Gnosis volume 2

125

question: is humanity ready to face the passage into the Cycle of the Holy Ghost? Does

there exist a ruling class and an elite – the distinction we make is essential – capable of

hauling it through this passage?

This is an agonizing question for all those who are conscious of its urgency. Many of
us can sense its importance, but prefer to turn back to the past. Founding our judgment

on what has happened before, we still reckon with the clemency that God showed

towards us at the time of the two previous falls. This is an error. Humanity has run out
19
of credit. Today, its acts can be the only response to Divine patience .

*
* *

As we have pointed out several times already, humanity today is on the threshold of

the Cycle of the Holy Ghost, just as, two thousand years ago, it was on the threshold of

the Cycle of the Son. To be more precise, a comparison may be made between our
epoch and that of St. John the Baptist. This is why it is important to consider the reasons

which prevented the Forerunner from succeeding in his task. This task was to prepare

20
the way of the Lord, make His paths straight and to make the Jewish people and
society ready to receive the Gospel of the Kingdom. But John the Baptist’s captivity and
death cut short this preparatory mission and increased the difficulties that Jesus Christ

had to face.

The atmosphere in which the Forerunner began his work was not unfavourable.

The Herod dynasty was not imbued with the con-

19
Ref.: t. I, pp. 219 and 263; t. II, p. 68 in the French original version; t. I, pp. 234-235 and 288-
289; t. II, pp. 68, 69, 70 in the English manuscript.
20
Matthew, III, 3.