Jesus said, “Seek and you will find. Yet, what you asked me about in former times and which I did not tell you then, now I do desire to tell, but you do not inquire after it.”
The mystical journey and spiritual life is, by nature, a sacred quest to which there is no final answer. Rather, it is a continuum of self-expression and experience through which the soul advances and evolves consciously. It is an on-going gradual and organic process of exploration and penetration of the holy mysteries of God and Creation, and thus the unfoldment of one’s own self-realization. Those who seek will discover, and continuing to seek beyond discovery, God will continue to reveal itself without end, for God is Ain Sof, the One-Without-End, the infinite and eternal. This continual self-revelation of God and communion in God is the reward of the righteous and elect, a reward inherent in living the Divine Life.
True discipleship is not a casual or brief affair. It is a life-time relationship. It grows and naturally evolves and changes over time, just as any living relationship does, unfolding as both the holy tzaddik and the disciple unfold and advance together in their spiritual evolution. Although a disciple may be carried a great distance from one’s tzaddik by life, nevertheless one remains the faithful disciple, intimately connected both psychically and spiritually to one’s teacher. Even though the tzaddik should pass out of this world or the disciple becomes an apostle of God, succeeding the teacher as a lineage-holder of the Light-transmission, nevertheless the disciple remains always a disciple of his or her holy tzaddik, the teacher is his or her teacher for all time. Thus, the assembly of the elect is a community of disciples—a continuum of discipleship that flows through the ages and generations of initiates from the original Master of the tradition. In our own tradition, the lineage goes back to Yeshua Messiah and the assembly of prophets of ancient Israel, and yet further to the predawn of human history and the first conscious contact and communion of a human being with the Creator.
Discipleship is a microcosm of the ongoing divine revelation of God that has evolved over the ages of human history. Just as we see the revelation of God grow, evolve, and become more and more refined, subtle, and sublime, as humanity itself has grown and evolved, so it is with the teachings and initiations the tzaddik imparts to the disciple. At the outset of discipleship, it is not the inner and secret teachings that are imparted, but the outer teachings and initiations that form the foundation for the revelation of the greater and supreme mysteries.
There are many levels of teachings, practices, and initiations, each level unfolding from the one that came before it. With each gradation comes the increase of knowledge and experience that makes it possible for the initiate to receive, integrate, and understand the next cycle of teachings and initiations. It is not that, at any time, the master is keeping any secrets from the disciple or withholding teachings and initiations, but rather that the conditions necessary for transmission must be created by the disciple, the receptivity of the disciple being the real key of transmission. Early on, the disciple’s receptivity and ability to understand is limited, and therefore there are many things the tzaddik cannot share. As the disciple matures in spiritual practice and spiritual living, growing in experience and knowledge, he or she is able to perceive things he or she was not previously able to perceive. The disciple is able to receive levels of teachings and initiation he or she formerly could not have understood.
As discipleship spans long periods of time, the disciple must keep the vigil of pursuing the holy mysteries and seeking. One actively invokes teachings and initiations from one’s tzaddik, along with maintaining one’s own continuum of spiritual practice, through which direct spiritual experience comes. The questions and receptivity of the disciple invoke the response of the tzaddik. Hence, the Master reminds his disciples that it is the disciple who initiates the continuum of transmission through his or her active desire to receive.
Above, we have said that the holy tzaddik, like his or her disciples, is also a disciple of a teacher. The spiritual adept or master and his or her disciples are not separate from one another, but, in truth, are completely interconnected and interdependent. They fulfill and complete each other, and between them, the conditions necessary for the Light-transmission and divine revelation are manifest. They need each other for their continued development and evolution. The mystic understands that, just as the master and disciple need one another for fulfillment and completion, so God needs a divine humanity for fulfillment and completion. Discipleship in Christ is the cornerstone of ongoing divine revelation and the great work toward the Second Coming.
Not only is the Lord speaking to his disciples of some two thousand years ago, but to his disciples today. There is more to be revealed of the holy mystery of the Messiah and God’s plan for humanity and the earth; neither the succession of the prophets nor the succession of the apostles has ceased—the divine revelation continues. So we are to continue our seeking into the mysteries of God and Creation, and to inquire of God regarding those things the generations of initiates preceding us could not inquire about. All that can be revealed is not yet revealed; the divine revelation remains incomplete. We are part of an organic, ongoing process of physical, psychic, and spiritual evolution and we are called by God to be conscious agents of that great work. May the Lord make us fit servants and channels of Divine Grace! Amen.