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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
The above description of John leaves no doubt as to his original. He stands for repentant intellect, just as the Messiah represents Life triumphant. The one represents the lower ego, but the other the higher Self; hence, is John the cousin of Jesus. When the lower self is tired of the pursuit of worldly pleasure and has reached the end of its tether, it begins to reflect on its destiny, and realizes that neither friends, nor riches, nor position, nor physical prowess, nor anything else can come to its rescue or relieve it of the impending gloom of death and extinction, which stare it in the face. It then cries out in the anguish of its loneliness in the world, and, becoming disgusted with the pleasures and joys of the mortals, which had hitherto diverted its attention from its real nature, gradually learns that the source of all bliss, blessedness and immortality is none other than its own true Self. This is the stage which is likened to the voice of one crying in the wilderness, saying, 'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Now, because the activity of intellect is exhausted with the purification of the body alone, which can be accomplished by means of water, and since will, rather than intellect, is the real cause of the progress of the soul, the baptism of intellect is necessarily that of water. The intellectual self is of the earth, earthy; but the Soul is from heaven, therefore, heavenly. Hence, intellect is made to say that it is unworthy to loosen the latchet of the shoes of the Messiah. Again, because it is only through the intellect that one can become convinced of the existence of the higher Self, it is the solitary witness to the coming Messiah at whose
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