After cycling through the Third degree, which involves the expression of unconditional love in our relationships, the Fourth degree leads to the realisation that all matter is God.

In order to facilitate this realisation we have to surrender our personal ego and allow it to be crucified in the rough and tumble of daily life. Out of this surrender and the consequent tempering process, our identity gradually shifts from the personality to the Self, which cannot be destroyed.

This phase tends to see the accumulation of suffering in our lives and at this point it helps to accept that the negativity we experience from others (and ourselves) is motivated by ignorance and that whatever comes our way cannot harm us in our essential Self. It is natural when on the receiving end of conflict to want to assert ourselves and as any psychologist will tell you, self-assertion is one of the indicators of a healthy ego. Well, that is definitely true in the early days of identity formation before a clear sense of personality self has emerged. It is important for the child and adolescent to assert themselves so that their fledgling personalities can survive and mature. But once the integrated personality has emerged and you are successfully making your way, it needs to be surrendered.

The "I" thought is the final illusion to be surrendered.

We can more readily accept this when we become aware of the actual tension of identifying with the lower self. This process in which we identify with the mind/ego is the most subtle of knots and it keeps us prisoners of the planet. Surrender and opening of the heart are one and the same process and they lead to the experience of the Self and the living experience that we are all One and that there is nothing that is truly separate from us.

There is a story that illustrates this vision. A man who had realised the Self was walking along the road one day and was set upon by thieves. They robbed him, stripped him of his clothes and beat him to within an inch of his life. Then they ran off and some passers by came to the victim's assistance. As they tended to his wounds they asked him if he knew who had beaten him. In response the man told them that those same robbers who had beaten him for no good reason and taken all he owned were the same people who were now tending to his wounds.

In the Indian tradition they say that the individual who has had the vision of the Self regards the saint and the beggar, the dog and the man who eats the dog as one and the same. All manifestations of the Self, whether pleasant or unpleasant from our human vantage point are all the One Life expressing Itself through different vehicles. Hence in the Grail tradition it is said that all matter is God.

The experience of the Fourth degree is akin to entering a wasteland where there is little solace on an emotional or even spiritual level. It leads us towards a complete and utter reliance upon ourselves. When we are being challenged on all levels only the experience of the Self brings any resolution. It is like we are caught up in an unpleasant illusion and the only thing that helps the scales fall from our eyes is the experience of the Self, the Reality which transcends time, space and causation.

During my training at the Hofbauer Centre we were shown a series of paintings that illustrated how one man gradually grew closer to God. In the first painting there was a cross which symbolised God in this person's awareness and it was a small cross in the background of the painting. The more the man's suffering intensified the larger that symbol became until in the last painting the cross had come into the foreground and was his entire focus. The more we suffer at the personality level the greater is the motivation to experience the Divine.

“Dust and decay in all around I see, O Thou who changeth not, abide with me”.

The events of the next few years will bring their share of suffering to us as individuals and to the planet as a whole and for this reason I would encourage all who read this article to seek the Reality and serve It with all your heart.

This ends the series of articles on the Lesser Mysteries. Over time I hope to present some thoughts on the Greater Mysteries.