Waite refers frequently throughout
Azoth to a religion based on Mystic ideals. I found it eye-opening and quite unexpected. His ambition is high and involves nothing less than the entire transformation of humanity. The book is divided into two main headings, the Outward Man and the Inward Man. The whole book focuses on the outward expression of inner processes.
"But if we would testify to the world at large concerning the grand religious and reconstructive work of development, and concerning the help which we can give therein, we must have a visible ministering body and a church of the New Life. That must begin like the parabolic grain of mustard seed, set newly in the developing matrix of mother earth. It must be humble and small at first, and it must grow gradually, till, like the Apostolic Church of Christ, it takes possession of the king’s palace and of the throne of the world. Like the upper room at Jerusalem must be the first synagogue of the true religion of Humanity, but the grand, universal, mystic Temple of the new mystic Jerusalem will stand after a few years as a sign unto the nations of the earth of the glory that in them is to be revealed, of the flower of human loveliness which is to unfold, of the day of dream and legend, of the day of prophecy and song, of the day of development and evolution, of the surpassing Day of Christ.
We are not prophesying or divining; we state a fact to come. There is only one doctrine in religion which can ultimately possess the world, and that is the doctrine of development. The law which has presided over the construction of the universal world can alone preside adequately over the construction of humanity to the end of eternal life." pp. 117, 118
It’s evident from the following that he embraced all "worthy" religions, as he puts it, but his true goal is the synthesis of all religions into one universal Mystical religion. He stops short of calling for a religion in the traditional sense, but does say it should have an external and visible form of expression—sacrament (ritual) and symbolism. Waite’s Fellowship of the Rosy Cross was probably an experiment in this direction. In 1893, when
Azoth was written, he seems to have a pretty good idea of the direction his "religion" should take but doesn't believe its time has yet come. He leaves to future generations the development of his ideas.
"When humanity has outgrown the shell of an official religion, as a shell it casts it behind. But religion does not die. To-day, when there is a general disintegration of all forms of speculative belief, the vital spirit of religion was perhaps never more abroad in the world, is more conscious than ever of itself; the secrets of spiritual truth were never sought more eagerly, and never did the positive reality which is behind all official religions seem more likely to become universally known, and accepted with zeal and enthusiasm. It is therefore a day of revelation, a day of many teachers, of intellectual going to and fro, and of continual interior ferment.
Now, the synthesis of religious belief must be the work of the twentieth century. It is not possible to intellectually assert any longer the positive and exclusive truth of any one form of exterior religion. It is certainly not possible for Mystics. We have discovered the actual substratum which is the heart of all religions. We are not only convinced with Max Müller that there is a religion behind all religions, but we also know what it is. We are in one sense convinced of the truth of all those that are worthy of the name which they bear. But we cannot mistake the veil for the reality, type for antitype, signum for signatum. And once we have come to recognize that the official religions are a veil of symbolism, a woof of parable, it is clear that without irreverence, and without sacrilege, we, at least, who know something of the thing signified, may consider after what manner the veil is woven, whether it requires re-adjustment and another fashion of emblazonment, or even whether it would be well to invest the realities of religion with a new veil of symbolism, of a lighter and finer texture. One thing is certain. If we would accomplish the evolution of humanity we must have a public sacrament, or outward sign of inward grace and beauty, an economy of the positive truth which shall be consonant with the law of progress—a religion of light and joy, a religion of peace and beatitude, a religion of mildness and beneficence, a religion of aspiration, of dream and poetry—of the aspiration which is the source of poetry, of the beauty which is its expression, of the inspiration which is its birthright, of high, supreme, emancipated imagining. We no longer believe in dragons, in winged serpents, and in the monsters of unnatural history; we do not attach actuality to nightmares, nor objective truth to the revolting horrors of delirium tremens. The Inferno of Dante is sublime, but our veil of symbolism, our tissue of parable, must be stripped of the mythology of perdition even in its most exalted aspect. The good, the beautiful, and the true—these are the ends of our aspiration, these the substance of our hopes. And our religion must be like unto these. Its foundation should be also in the principle that man must inevitably work out his own salvation. Help he may have from beyond and outside himself, but the help from within is essential—it is the essence of conscious progress. It is not by the vicarious sacrifice of a Christ crucified on a Cross, but by the personal immolation of the lesser and meaner man, crucified on the altar of the heart, that the sins of the world will be washed out.
And now if we refrain from proposing a scheme of universal religion, it is not because we are deficient in clear conviction as to the lines which that scheme must follow, but we are conscious of deficiencies within, and however much we may be energized with mystic zeal, we would avoid, as becomes us, the errors of incompetent temerity. We look for a leader of men; awaiting his advent, help from all quarters should be welcome to all Mystics, and here a word may be added for thinkers of the agnostic standpoint.
It is the main thesis of our whole instruction that the processes of Mysticism are evolutionary processes, and that the doctrine of development is at the root of our practical wisdom. At the same time, there is a religious aspect of evolution which is separable from Mysticism, which could be followed to the world’s profit were there no mystic science, and in this aspect it constitutes a kind of natural religion, which, addressing ourselves for the moment to the agnostic thinkers only, we would venture to recommend to their judgment as a possible field of activity. We assume that, when true to their name, they are the most negative and undogmatic of reasoners, that their judgment is suspended concerning the great issues of life, but that they are aware also of the incapacity of their principles to sustain the moral nature of humanity when it has cut itself adrift from the official mainstays of morality. Now, provisionally defining religious work as the construction of the race in the direction of its true end, we submit that a practical system for the creation of a correspondence with evolutionary law should not only enlist their sympathies, but should also command their cooperation. Mystics though we be, we should delight if agnostic philosophy developed an independent instrument for the creation of such a correspondence. However diverse the methods, we should be at work for the same end, and after the reason of the one law." pp. 119, 120