In his Lectures on Ancient Philosophy, Manly P. Hall states, "The consciousness of man is said to exist in three general states: in an unawakened state, an awakening state, and an awakened state. Those whose souls are wholly immersed in the illusion of form are declared to be asleep. Those to whom beauty means nothing, in whom there is no desire to better an imperfect state, who live to gratify the appetites of the flesh, are the sleeping ones." After a time these sleeping souls drift back again from the invisible worlds where they go to sleep after death and again continue to take on bodies until finally the Divinity within is aroused and animated to cast off their "robes of lethargy."
The second group -- the awakening souls are those in whom realization, while not perfected, has become an element in the cultural life. Divine potentialities must be liberated from the winding-sheet of matter. Such a soul is consecrated to the attainment of wisdom. All change is regarded as fresh opportunity, and with faith in ultimate perfection the seeker eagerly pursues the quest of Self.
The third group - the awakened souls -- are those who have cast off the graveclothes of limitation and made their escape from generation, exchanging the alternation of mortal life for the continued awareness of the inner existence. They are masters not only of the so-called terrestrial state, but having liberated their souls from the idea of generation they ascend to that truly incorporeal world where the soul is united with the true substances of its own being.
Manly P. Hall in Lectures on Ancient Philosophy
In the story of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the death and the burial are figurative, allegorical. They do not refer to the death of the physical body, but to a personal sense of self-separateness. The old consciousness is outgrown. As far as earthly life and human limitations are concerned, the aspirant can also say those final words of the Christ upon the cross: "It is finished" (John 19:30) and "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46).
Resurrection is the keynote of nature; death is not. Death is only the ante-chamber of resurrection. Resurrection is the clue to the world of meaning, and is the fundamental theme of all the world religions - past, present, and the future. Resurrection of the spirit in the human, in all forms, in all kingdoms, is the objective of the entire evolutionary process, and this involves liberation from materialism and selfishness.
The fact of the resurrection will be demonstrated during the next few centuries, and the Living Christ will walk among men and lead them onward towards the Mount of Ascension.
Christ has never left us for a distant heaven of nebulous outlines, but is ever within our reach. His working disciples, the Masters of the Wisdom and the Lords of Compassion are with us, here and now. They proclaim that we are not alone, but that the Forces of Light and of Enlightenment are constantly working; that the strength and the wisdom of Those who know are being mobilized to aid mankind, and that nothing can now arrest or prevent the contact between that intelligent aspiring center, called humanity, and the inner spiritual group, the Hierarchy.
These perfected men, therefore, exist. They are more than men because the divine spirit in them registers all stages of consciousness and awareness -- subhuman, human, and superhuman. This inclusive development enables them to work with men, to contact humanity at need, and to know how to lead us forward to the phases of resurrection.
Alice A. Bailey in The Externalisation of the Hierarchy
Christ was resurrected not only on Easter morn; at-one with the Infinite Christ Consciousness he reanimates himself in the dawn of each soul's awakening. Our souls die every day, whenever we are buried in the tomb of ignorance; we resurrect ourselves again in Cosmic Wisdom.
Banish the death consciousness perceived during the sleep of delusion, and resurrect your soul in the ever-reigning Light of Immortality. Let this be your Easter awakening.
May you thus be able to lift the soul beyond the conscious and sleep states and expand it into God in the superconscious sphere.
Behold thine immortal Self resurrected with Christ in the illuminating Light of Christ Consciousness, present in every soul, every flower, every atom.
Paramhansa Yogananda in The Second Coming of Christ
