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Title: Gleaning of a Mystic - A Series of Essays on Practical Mysticism
Author: Heindel, Max
Language: English
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Gleanings of a Mystic
BY
MAX HEINDEL
[Illustration: Colophon]
A SERIES OF ESSAYS ON
PRACTICAL MYSTICISM
FIRST EDITION
THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP
International Headquarters
Mt. Ecclesia
Oceanside, California
London:
L. N. Fowler & Co., 7 Imperial Arcade
Ludgate Circus
COPYRIGHT, 1922.
BY
MRS. MAX HEINDEL.
FELLOWSHIP PRESS
OCEANSIDE, CALIF.
Foreword
The contents of this book are among the last writings of Max Heindel,
the mystic. They contain some of his deepest thoughts, and are the
result of years of research and occult investigation. He, too, could
say as did Parsifal: “Through error and through suffering I came,
through many failures and through countless woes.” At last he was given
the living water with which he was able to quench the spiritual thirst
of many souls. He also developed to their depths pity and love, and
could feel the heart throbs of suffering humanity.
Strong souls are usually endowed with great energy and impulse, and
through these very forces, they forge to the front ranks though they
often suffer much. As a result they are filled with compassion for
others. The writer of these lessons sacrificed his physical body on the
altar of service.
In writing the books and monthly lessons of the Fellowship, in
his lectures and class work, and in the arduous pioneer work of
establishing Headquarters within the short span of ten years, Max
Heindel accomplished more than many who are blessed with perfect
health could have accomplished in a lifetime. His first book, his
masterpiece, “The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception,” was written under the
direct guidance of the Elder Brothers of the Rose Cross. It carries
a vital message to the world. It satisfies not alone the intellect,
but also the heart. His “Freemasonry and Catholicism,” has found its
way into many Masonic libraries. The occultist has received much from
the book entitled, “The Web of Destiny,” which is a mine of mystical
knowledge and helpful occult truths. It is also a guide to the
investigator, establishing danger signals for the venturesome ones who
wish to take heaven by storm. To the science of astrology he has given
more in a few years than has previously been discovered in centuries.
His two valuable works, “Simplified Scientific Astrology” and “The
Message of the Stars,” deal largely with the spiritual and medical
aspects of astrology. The latter gives methods of diagnosis and healing
which form a valuable addition to the works of other authors, both
ancient and modern. These books may be found in the libraries of many
doctors of the old school.
In “Gleanings of a Mystic” are found twenty-four lessons which were
formerly sent out to students. It is the wish of the writer of this
introduction that these lessons may carry a message of love and cheer
to the soul-hungry reader and hope to the disconsolate one.
—_Augusta Foss Heindel._
Table of Contents
Chapter I.
Initiation: What It Is and Is Not—Part I. 7
Chapter II.
Initiation: What It Is and Is Not—Part II. 14
Chapter III.
The Sacrament of Communion—Part I. 21
Chapter IV.
The Sacrament of Communion—Part II. 28
Chapter V.
The Sacrament of Baptism. 37
Chapter VI.
The Sacrament of Marriage. 46
Chapter VII.
The Unpardonable Sin and Lost Souls. 54
Chapter VIII.
The Immaculate Conception. 61
Chapter IX.
The Coming Christ. 69
Chapter X.
The Coming Age. 77
Chapter XI.
Meat and Drink as Factors in Evolution. 85
Chapter XII.
A Living Sacrifice. 94
Chapter XIII.
Magic, White and Black. 101
Chapter XIV.
Our Invisible Government. 108
Chapter XV.
Practical Precepts for Practical People. 114
Chapter XVI.
Sound, Silence, and Soul Growth. 121
Chapter XVII.
The “Mysterium Magnum” of the Rose Cross. 130
Chapter XVIII.
Stumbling Blocks. 138
Chapter XIX.
The Lock of Upliftment. 147
Chapter XX.
The Cosmic Meaning of Easter—Part I. 153
Chapter XXI.
The Cosmic Meaning of Easter—Part II. 160
Chapter XXII.
The Newborn Christ. 167
Chapter XXIII.
Why I am a Rosicrucian. 173
Chapter XXIV.
The Object of the Rosicrucian Fellowship. 180
Catalogue of Publications.
Chapter I
INITIATION: WHAT IT IS AND IS NOT
PART I
It is no rare occurrence to receive questions relating to Initiation,
and we are also frequently asked to state whether this order or that
society is genuine, and whether the initiations they offer to all
comers who have the price are _bona fide_. For that reason it seems
necessary to write a treatise on the subject so that students of the
Rosicrucian Fellowship may have an official statement for reference and
guidance in the future.
In the first place let it be clearly understood that we consider it
reprehensible to express condemnation of any society or order, no
matter what its practices. It may be perfectly sincere and honest
_according to its light_. We do not believe that we rise in the opinion
of discriminating men and women by speaking in disparaging terms of
others; neither are we laboring under the delusion that _we_ have all
the truth and other societies are plunged in Egyptian darkness. We
reiterate what we have often said before, that all religions have
been given to mankind by the Recording Angels, who know the spiritual
requirements of each class, nation, and race, and have the intelligence
to give to each a form of worship perfectly suited to its particular
need; that thus Hinduism is suited to the Hindu, Mohammedanism to
the Arab, and the Christian religion to those born in the Western
Hemisphere.
The Mystery Schools of each religion furnish to the more advanced
members of the race or nation embracing it a higher teaching, which,
_if lived_, advances them into a higher sphere of spirituality than
their brethren. But as the religion of the backward races is of a lower
order than the religion of the pioneers, the Christian nations, so also
the _Mystery Teaching of the East is more elementary than that of the
West_, and the Hindu or Chinese Initiate is on a correspondingly lower
rung of the ladder of attainment than the Western Mystic. Please ponder
this well so that you may not fall a victim to misguided people who try
to persuade others that the Christian religion is crude compared with
oriental cults. Ever westward in the wake of the shining sun, the light
of the world, has gone the star of empire, and is it not reasonable to
suppose that the spiritual light has kept pace with civilization, or
even preceded it as thought precedes action? We hold that such is the
case, that the Christian religion is the loftiest yet given to man, and
that to repudiate the Christian religion, esoteric or exoteric, for any
of the older systems is analogous to preferring the older textbooks of
science to the newer ones which embrace discoveries to date.
Neither are the practices of Eastern aspirants to the higher life to
be imitated by Westerners; we refer particularly to the breathing
exercises. They are both beneficial and necessary to the unfoldment
of the Hindu, but it is otherwise with the Western aspirant. To him
it is dangerous to practice breathing exercises for soul unfoldment;
they will even prove subversive of soul growth, and they are, moreover,
absolutely unnecessary. The reason is this:
During involution the threefold spirit has become gradually incrusted
in a threefold body. In the Atlantean Epoch man was at the nadir of
materiality. We are just now rounding the lowest point on the arc of
involution, and starting upward on the arc of evolution. At this point,
then, all mankind is immured in this earthly prison house to such a
degree that spiritual vibrations are almost killed. This is, of course,
particularly true of the backward races and the lower classes in the
Western world. The atoms in such backward race bodies are vibrating at
an exceedingly low rate, and when in the course of time one of these
people develops to a point where it is possible to further him upon
the path of attainment, it is necessary to raise this vibratory pitch
of the atom so that the vital body, which is the medium of occult
growth, may to a certain extent be liberated from the deadening force
of the physical atom. This result is attained by means of breathing
exercises, which in time accelerate the vibration of the atom, and
allow the spiritual growth necessary to the individual to take place.
These exercises may also be used by a great number of people in
the Western world, particularly those who are not at all concerned
about their spiritual advancement. But even among those who desire
soul growth there are many who are not yet at the point where the
atoms of their bodies have evolved to such a pitch of vibration that
acceleration beyond the usual measure would injure them. Here the
breathing exercises would do no harm; but if given to a person who
is really at the point where he can enter the path of advancement
ordinarily mapped out for the Hindu’s precocious brothers and sisters
in the West, in other words, when he is nearly ready for Initiation and
when he would be benefited _by spiritual exercises_, then the case is
far otherwise.
During the aeons which we have spent in evolution since the time when
we were in Hindu bodies, our atoms have accelerated their vibratory
pitch enormously, and as said in the case of one who is really nearly
ready for Initiation, the pitch of vibration is higher than that of the
average man or woman. Therefore he does not need breathing exercises
to _accelerate_ this pitch, but certain spiritual exercises suited to
him individually which will advance him on the proper path. If such
a person at this critical period meets some one who ignorantly or
unscrupulously gives him breathing exercises, and if he follows the
instructions accurately in the hope of _getting quick results_, he
will get them quickly but in a manner he has not looked for, since
the vibratory rate of the atoms in his body will in a very short time
become accelerated to such a pitch that it will seem to him as if he
were walking on air; then also an improper cleavage of the vital body
may take place, and either consumption or insanity follows. Now please
put this down where it will burn itself into your consciousness in
letters of fire: _Initiation is a spiritual process, and spiritual
progress cannot be accomplished by physical means, but only by
spiritual exercises._
There are many orders in the West which profess to _initiate anyone
who has the price_. Some of these orders have names closely resembling
our own, and we are constantly asked by students whether they are
affiliated with us. In order to settle this once and for all, please
note that the Rosicrucian Fellowship has constantly taught that _no
spiritual gift may ever be traded for money_. If you bear this in mind,
you may know we have no connection with any order which demands money
for the transference of spiritual power. He who has something to give
of a truly spiritual nature will not barter it for money. I received
a particular injunction to this effect from the Elder Brothers in the
Rosicrucian Temple, when they told me to go to the English speaking
world as their messenger, a claim I do not expect you to believe _save
as you see it justified by fruits_.
Now, however, about Initiation: What is it? Is it ceremony as claimed
by these other orders? If so, any order can certainly invent ceremonies
of a more or less elaborate kind. They may by flowing robes and
clashing swords appeal to the emotions; they may appeal to the sense
of wonder and awe by rattling chains and by deep sounding gongs, and
thus produce in their members an “_occult feeling_.” Many revel in the
adventures and experiences of the hero in “The Brother of the Third
Degree,” thinking that this is surely Initiation, but I tell you that
it is very far from being the case. _No ceremony can ever give to any
one that inward experience_ which constitutes Initiation, no matter how
much is charged or how fearful the oaths, how awful or beautiful the
ceremony, or how gorgeous the robes, any more than passing through a
ceremony can convert a sinner and make him a saint, for conversion is
to the exoteric religionist exactly what Initiation is in the higher
mysticism. Please consider this point thoroughly, and you will have the
key to the problem.
Do you think that any one could go to a person of depraved character
and agree to convert him for a certain sum and carry out his part of
the agreement? Surely you know that no amount of money could bring
about that change in a man’s character. Ask a true convert where he got
his religion and how he got it. One may tell you that he received it
upon the road as he was walking along; another says that the light and
the change came to him in the solitude of his room; another that the
_light struck_ him as it struck Paul upon the road to Damascus, and
forced him to change. Every one has a different experience, but it is
in every case _an inward experience_, and the outward manifestation of
that inward experience is that _it changes the man’s whole life_ from
the very least to the very greatest aspects.
So it is also with Initiation; it is an inward experience, entirely
_separate and apart from any ceremonial whatever_, and therefore it is
an absolute impossibility that any one could sell it to any one else.
Initiation changes a man’s whole life. It gives him a confidence that
he never possessed before. It clothes him with a mantle of authority
that never can be taken from him. No matter what the circumstances in
life, it sheds a light upon his whole being that is simply wonderful.
Nor can any ceremony effect such a change. We therefore hold that
anyone who offers initiation into an occult order by ceremonials to
every one who has the price, brands himself as an imposter. For the
true teacher, if he were approached by an aspirant with an offer of
money for spiritual attainment would answer indignantly in the words
used by Peter to Simon, the sorcerer, who offered him money for
spiritual powers: “Thy silver perish with thee.”
Chapter II
INITIATION: WHAT IT IS AND IS NOT
PART II
To obtain a better understanding of what constitutes Initiation and
what the prerequisites are, let the student first fix firmly in his
mind the fact that humanity as a whole is slowly progressing upon
the path of evolution, and thus very slowly, almost imperceptibly,
attaining higher and higher states of consciousness. The path of
evolution is a spiral when we regard it from the physical side only,
but a lemniscate when viewed in both its physical and spiritual
phases. (See the diagram of chemical caduceus in _The Rosicrucian
Cosmo-Conception_, page 410.) In the lemniscate, or figure 8, there
are two circles which converge to a central point, which circles may
be taken to symbolize the immortal spirit, the evolving ego. One of
the circles signifies its life in the physical world from birth to
death. During this span of time it sows a seed by every act and should
reap in return a certain amount of experience. But as we may sow seed
in the field and lose return on that which falls on stony ground,
among thorns, et cetera, so also may the seed of opportunity be wasted
because of neglect to till the soil and the life will then be barren
of fruit. Conversely, as diligence and care in cultivation increase
the productive power of garden seed enormously, so earnest application
to the business of life—improvement of opportunities to learn life’s
lessons and extract from our environment the experience it holds—brings
added opportunities; and at the end of the life-day the ego finds
itself at the door of death laden with the richest fruits of life.
The objective work of physical existence over, the race run, and
the day of action spent, the ego enters upon the subjective work of
assimilation accomplished during its sojourn in the invisible worlds,
which it traverses during the period from death to birth, symbolized by
the other ring of the lemniscate. As the method of accomplishing this
assimilation has been most minutely described in various parts of our
literature, it is needless to repeat it here. Suffice it to say that at
the time when an ego arrives at the central point in the lemniscate,
which divides the physical from the psychic worlds and which we call
the gate of birth or death according to whether the ego is entering
or leaving the realm where we, ourselves, happen to be at the time,
it has with it an aggregate of faculties or talents acquired in all
its previous lives, which it may then put to usury or bury during the
coming life-day as it sees fit; but upon the use it makes of what it
has, depends the amount of soul growth it makes.
If for many lives it caters mainly to the lower nature, which lives to
eat, drink, and be merry, or if it dreams its life away in metaphysical
speculations upon nature and God, sedulously abstaining from all
unnecessary action, it is gradually passed and left behind by the more
active and progressive. Great companies of these idlers form what we
know as “backward races”; while the active, alert, and wide-awake who
improve a larger percentage of their opportunities, are the pioneers.
Contrary to the commonly accepted idea, this applies also to those
engaged in industrial work. Their money-getting is only an incident,
an incentive, and entirely apart from this phase their work is as
spiritual as or even more so than that of those who spend their time in
prayer to the prejudice of useful work.
From what has been said, it will be clear that the method of soul
growth as accomplished by the process of evolution requires _action_ in
the physical life, followed in the post-mortem state by a _ruminating
process_, during which the lessons of life are extracted and thoroughly
incorporated into the consciousness of the ego, though the experiences
themselves are forgotten—as we forget our labor in learning the
multiplication table, though the faculty of using it remains.
This exceedingly slow and tedious process is perfectly suited to the
needs of the masses; but there are some who habitually exhaust the
experiences commonly given, thus requiring and meriting a larger scope
for their energies. Difference of temperament is responsible for their
division into two classes.
One class, led by their devotion to Christ, simply follow the dictates
of the heart in their work of love for their fellows—beautiful
characters, beacon lights of love in a suffering world, never actuated
by selfish motives, always ready to forego personal comfort to aid
others. Such were the saints; they worked as they prayed; they never
shirked in either direction. Nor are they dead today. The earth would
be a barren wilderness in spite of all its civilization did not their
beautiful feet circle it on errands of mercy, were not the lives of
sufferers made brighter by the light of hope which radiates from their
beautiful faces. Had they but the knowledge possessed by the other
class they would indeed outdistance all in the race for the Kingdom.
Mind is the predominating feature of the other class. In order to
aid it in its efforts toward attainment, mystery schools were early
established wherein the world drama was played to give the aspiring
soul while he was entranced, answers to the questions of the origin
and destiny of humanity. When awakened, he was instructed in the
sacred science of how to climb higher by following the method of
nature—which is God in manifestation—by sowing the seed of action,
meditating upon the experience, and incorporating the essential moral
to make thereby commensurate soul growth; also with this important
feature, that whereas in the ordinary course of things a whole life
is devoted to sowing and a whole post-mortem existence to ruminating
and incorporating the soul substance, this cycle of a thousand years,
more or less, may be reduced to a day, as held by the mystic maxim, “A
day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” To be
explicit, whatever work has been done during a single day, if ruminated
over at night before crossing the neutral point between waking and
sleeping, may thus be incorporated into the consciousness of the spirit
as usable soul power. When that exercise is faithfully performed, the
sins of each day thus reviewed are actually blotted out, and the man
commences each day as if it were a new life, with the added soul power
gained in all the preceding days of his probationary life.
But!—yes, there is a great big _BUT; nature is not to be cheated_;
God is not to be mocked. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap.” Let no one think that the mere perfunctory review of the
happenings of a day with perhaps the light-hearted admission of,
“I wish I had not done that,” when reviewing a scene where he did
something palpably wrong, will save him from the wrath to come. When we
pass out of the body into purgatory at death and the panorama of our
past life unfolds in reverse order to show us first the effects and
then the causes which produced them, we feel in intensified measure
the pain we gave others; and unless we perform our exercises in a
similar manner _so that we live each evening our hell_ as merited that
day, acutely sensible of every pang we have inflicted, it will avail
nothing. We must also endeavor to feel in the same intense manner,
gratitude for kindness received from others, and approbation on account
of the good we ourselves have done.
Only thus are we really living the post-mortem existence and advancing
scientifically towards the goal of Initiation. The greatest danger of
the aspirant upon this path is that he may become enmeshed in the snare
of egotism, and his only safeguard is to cultivate the faculties of
faith, devotion, and an all-embracing sympathy. It is difficult, but it
can be done, and when it has been accomplished the man or woman becomes
a wonderful power for good in the world.
Now, if the student has pondered the preceding argument well, he has
probably grasped the analogy between the _long cycle_ of evolution
and the short _cycles_ or steps used upon the path of preparation. It
should be quite clear that no one can do this post-mortem work for him
and transmit to him the resulting soul growth, any more than one can
eat the physical food of another and transmit to him the sustenance
and growth. You think it preposterous when a priesthood offers to
shorten the sojourn of a soul in purgatory. How, then, can you believe
that anyone else can—no matter what the consideration—obviate the
necessity of a number of purgatorial existences for your benefit
and transmit to you at once the usable soul power you would have
acquired had you pursued the ordinary course of life to the day you
are ready for Initiation? Yet this is what the offer to initiate a
person not yet upon the threshold means. You must have the soul power
requisite for Initiation or no one can initiate you. If you have it,
you are upon the threshold by your own efforts, beholden to no one,
and may demand Initiation as a right which none would dare dispute or
withhold. If you have it not and could buy it, it would be cheap at
twenty-five million dollars, and the man who offers it for twenty-five
dollars is as ridiculous as his dupe. Please remember that if anyone
offers to initiate you into an occult order, no matter if he calls it
“Rosicrucian” or by any other name, his demand of an initiation fee at
once stamps him as an impostor, explanations to the effect that the
fee is used to purchase regalia, et cetera, are only added evidence
of the fraudulent nature of the order for it is said, “Initiation is
most emphatically not an outward ceremony, but an inward experience.”
I may further add that the Elder Brothers of the Rose Cross in the
Mystic Temple where I received the Light made it a condition that
their _sacred science must never be put in the balance against a
coin_. Freely had I received, and freely was I required to give. This
injunction I have obeyed, both in spirit and to the letter, as all know
who have had dealings with the Rosicrucian Fellowship.
Chapter III
THE SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION
PART I
To obtain a thorough understanding of the deep and far-reaching
significance of the manner in which the Sacrament of Communion was
instituted, it is necessary to consider the evolution of our planet
and of composite man, also the chemistry of foods and their influence
on humanity. For the sake of lucidity we will briefly recapitulate the
Rosicrucian teachings on the various points involved. They have been
given at length in the _Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception_ and our other
works.
The Virgin Spirits, which are now mankind, commenced their pilgrimage
through matter in the dawn of time, that by the friction of concrete
existence their latent powers might be transmuted to kinetic energy as
usable soul power. Three successive veils of increasingly dense matter
were acquired by the involving spirits during the Saturn, Sun, and Moon
Periods. Thus each spirit was separated from all other spirits, and the
consciousness which could not penetrate the prison wall of matter and
communicate with others was forced to turn inwards, and in so doing it
discovered—ITSELF. Thus self-consciousness was attained.
A further crystallization of the before mentioned veils took place in
the Earth Period during the Polarian, Hyperborean, and Lemurian Epochs.
In the Atlantean Epoch, mind was added as a focusing point between
spirit and body, completing the constitution of composite man, who was
then equipped to conquer the world and generate soul power by endeavor
and experience, each having free will and choice except as limited by
the laws of nature and his own previous acts.
During the time man-in-the-making was thus evolving, great creative
Hierarchies guided his every step. Absolutely nothing was left to
chance. Even the food he ate was chosen for him so that he might obtain
the appropriate material wherewith to build the various vehicles of
consciousness necessary to accomplish the process of soul growth. The
Bible mentions the various stages, though it misplaces Nimrod, making
him to symbolize the Atlantean kings who lived _before_ the Flood.
In the Polarian Epoch pure mineral matter became a constituent part of
man; thus _Adam_ was made of earth, that is, so far as his dense body
was concerned.
In the Hyperborean Epoch the vital body was added, and thus his
constitution became plantlike, and _Cain_, the man of that time, lived
on the fruits of the soil.
The Lemurian Epoch saw the evolution of a desire body, which made man
like the present animals. Then milk, the product of living animals, was
added to human diet. _Abel_ was a shepherd, but it is nowhere stated
that he killed an animal.
At that time mankind lived innocently and peacefully in the misty
atmosphere which enveloped the earth during the latter part of the
Lemurian Epoch, as described in the chapter on “Baptism.” Men were
then like children under the care of a common father, until the mind
was given to all in the beginning of Atlantis. Thought activity breaks
down tissue which must be replaced; the lower and more material the
thought, the greater the havoc and the more pressing the need for
albumen wherewith to make quick repairs. Hence necessity, the mother
of invention, inaugurated the loathsome practice of flesh eating, and
so long as we continue to think along purely business or material
lines we shall have to go on using our stomachs as receptacles for the
decaying corpses of our murdered animal victims. Yet we shall see later
that flesh food has enabled us to make the wonderful material progress
achieved in the Western World, while the vegetarian Hindus and Chinese
have remained in an almost savage state. It seems sad to contemplate
that they will be forced to follow in our steps and shed the blood
of our fellow creatures when we shall have outgrown the barbarous
practice as we have ceased cannibalism.
The more spiritual we grow, the more our thoughts will harmonize
with the rhythm of our body, and the less albumen will be needed to
build tissue. Consequently, a vegetable diet will suffice our needs.
Pythagoras advised abstinence from legumes to _advanced_ scholars
because they are rich in albumen and apt to revive lower appetites.
Let not every student who reads this rashly conclude to eliminate
legumes from his diet. Most of us are not yet ready for such extremes;
we would not even advise all students to abstain entirely from meat.
The change should come from within. It may be safely stated, however,
that most people eat entirely too much meat for their good; but this
is in a certain sense a digression, so we will revert to the further
evolution of humanity in so far as it has a bearing upon the Sacrament
of Communion.
In due time the dense mist which enveloped the earth cooled,
condensed, and flooded the various basins. The atmosphere cleared, and
concurrently with this atmospheric change a physiological adaptation
in man took place. The gill clefts which had enabled him to breathe in
the dense water laden air (and which are seen in the human foetus to
this day) gradually atrophied, and their function was taken over by the
lungs, the pure air passing to and from them through the larynx. This
allowed the spirit, hitherto penned up within the veil of flesh, to
express itself in word and act.
There in the middle of Atlantis the sun first shone upon MAN as we
know him; there he was _first born_ into the world. Until then he had
been under the absolute control of great spiritual Hierarchies, mute,
without voice or choice in matters pertaining to his education, as a
child is now under the control of its parents.
But on the day when he finally emerged from the dense atmosphere of
Atlantis; when he first beheld the mountains silhouetted in clear,
sharp contours against the azure vault of heaven; when he first saw
the beauties of moor and meadow, the moving creatures, birds in the
air, and his fellow man; when his vision was undimmed by the partial
obscuration of the mist which had previously hampered perception;
above all, when he perceived HIMSELF as _separate_ and _apart from all
others_, there burst from his lips the glorious, triumphant cry, “I AM.”
At that point he had acquired faculties which equipped him to enter the
school of experience, the phenomenal world, as a free agent to learn
the lessons of life, untrammeled save by the _laws of nature_, which
are his safeguards, and the reaction of his own previous acts, which
become _destiny_.
The diet containing an excess of albumen from the flesh wherewith
he gorged himself, taxed his liver beyond capacity and clogged the
system, making him morose, sullen, and brutish. He was fast losing
the spiritual sight which revealed to him the guardian angels whom he
trusted, and he saw only the _forms_ of animals and men. The spirits
with whom he had lived in love and brotherhood during early Atlantis
were obscured by the veil of flesh. It was all so strange, and he
_feared_ them.
Therefore it became necessary to give him a _new food_ that could
aid his spirit to overpower the highly individualized molecules of
flesh (as explained in the _Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception_, chapter on
Assimilation, p. 457), brace it for battle with the world, and spur it
on to self-assertion.
As our visible bodies composed of chemical compounds can thrive only
upon chemical aliment, so it requires spirit to act upon spirit to aid
in breaking up the heavy proteid and in stimulating the drooping human
spirit.
The emergence from flooded Atlantis, the liberation of humanity from
the absolute rulership of visible superhuman guardians, their placement
under _the law of consequence and the laws of nature_, and _the gift
of_ WINE are described in the stories of Noah and Moses, which are
different accounts of the same event.
Both Noah and Moses led their followers through the water. Moses calls
heaven and earth to witness that he has placed before them the blessing
and the curse, exhorts them to choose the good or take the consequence
of their actions; then he leaves them.
The phenomenon of the rainbow requires that the sun be near the
horizon, the nearer the better; also a clear atmosphere, and a dark
rain cloud in the opposite quarter of the heavens. When under such
conditions an observer stands with his back to the sun, he may see
the sun’s rays refracted through the rain drops as a rainbow. In
early Atlantean times when there had been no rain as yet and the
atmosphere was a warm, moist fog through which the sun appeared as one
of our arc lamps on a foggy day, the phenomenon of the rainbow was an
impossibility. It could not have made its appearance until the mist
had condensed to rain, flooded the basins of the earth, and left the
atmosphere clear as described in the story of Noah, which thus points
_to the law of alternating cycles_ that brings day and night, summer
and winter, in unvarying sequence, and to which man is subject in the
present age.
Noah cultivated the vine and provided a spirit to stimulate man. Thus,
equipped with a composite constitution, a composite diet appropriate
thereto, and divine laws to guide them, mankind were left to their own
devices in the battle of life.
Chapter IV
THE SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION
“_In Remembrance of Me._”
PART II “The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed took
bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, Take, eat;
this is MY body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me.
After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying
This cup is the New Testament in MY blood. This do ye, as oft as ye
drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and
drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. Wherefore,
whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord
unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.... For
he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation
to himself.... For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and
many sleep.”—I Cor. 11:23-30.
In the foregoing passages there is a deeply hidden esoteric meaning
which is particularly obscured in the English translation, but in the
German, Latin, and Greek, the student still has a hint as to what was
really intended by that last parting injunction of the Savior to His
disciples. Before examining this phase of the subject, let us first
consider the words, “in remembrance of me.” We shall then perhaps be
in better condition to understand what is meant by the “cup” and the
“bread.”
Suppose a man from a distant country comes into our midst and travels
about from place to place. Everywhere he will see small communities
gathering around the Table of the Lord to celebrate this most sacred of
all Christian rites, and should he ask why, he would be told that they
do this in remembrance of One who lived a life nobler than any other
has lived upon this earth; One who was kindness and love personified;
One who was the servant of all, regardless of gain or loss to self.
Should this stranger then compare the attitude of these religious
communities on Sunday at the celebration of this rite, with their civic
lives during the remainder of the week, what would he see?
Every one among us goes out into the world to fight the battle of
existence. Under the law of necessity we forget the love which should
be the ruling factor in Christian lives. Every man’s hand is against
his brother. Every one strives for position, wealth, and power that
goes with these attributes. We forget on Monday what we reverently
remembered on Sunday, and all the world is poor in consequence. We
also make a distinction between the bread and wine which we drink at
the so-called “Lord’s Table,” and the food of which we partake during
the intervals between attendance at Communion. But there is no warrant
in the Scriptures for any such distinction, as anyone may see, even
in the English version, by leaving out the words printed in italics
which have been inserted by the translators to give what they thought
was the sense of a passage. On the contrary, we are told that whether
we eat or drink, or whatever we do, all should be done to the glory of
God. Our every act should be a prayer. The perfunctory “grace” at meals
is in reality a blasphemy, and the silent thought of gratitude to the
Giver of daily bread is far to be preferred. When we remember at each
meal that it has been drawn from the substance of the earth, which is
the body of the indwelling Christ Spirit, we can properly understand
how that body is being broken for us daily, and we can appreciate the
loving kindness which prompted Him thus to give Himself for us; for let
us also remember that there is not a moment, day or night, that He is
not suffering because bound to this earth. When we thus eat and thus
realize the true situation, we are indeed declaring to ourselves the
death of the Lord, whose spirit is groaning and travailing, waiting
for the day of liberation when there shall be no need of such a dense
environment as we now require.
But there is another, a greater and more wonderful mystery hidden in
these words of the Christ. Richard Wagner, with the rare intuition of
the master musician, sensed this idea when he sat in meditation by
the Zurich Sea on a Good Friday, and there flashed into his mind the
thought, “What connection is there between the death of the Savior
and the millions of seeds sprouting forth from the earth at this time
of the year?” If we meditate upon that life which is annually poured
out in the spring, we see it as something gigantic and awe-inspiring;
a flood of life which transforms the globe from one of frozen death
to rejuvenated life in a short space of time; and the life which thus
diffuses itself in the budding of millions and millions of plants is
the life of the Earth Spirit.
From that come both the wheat and the grape. They are the body and
blood of the imprisoned Earth Spirit, given to sustain mankind during
the present phase of its evolution. We repudiate the contention of
people who claim that the world owes them a living, regardless of
their own efforts and without _material_ responsibility on their part,
but we nevertheless insist that there is a _spiritual_ responsibility
connected with the bread and wine given at the Lord’s Supper: _It must
be eaten worthily, otherwise, under pain of ill health and even death_.
This from the ordinary manner of reading would seem far-fetched,
but when we bring the light of esotericism to bear, examine other
translations of the Bible, and look at conditions in the world as we
find them today, we shall see that it is not so far-fetched after all.
To begin with, we must go back to the time when man lived under the
guardianship of the angels, unconsciously building the body which he
now uses. That was in ancient Lemuria. A brain was needed for the
evolution of thought, and a larynx for verbal expression of the same.
Therefore, half of the creative force was turned upwards and used by
man to form these organs. Thus mankind became single sexed and was
forced to seek a complement when it was necessary to create a new body
to serve as an instrument in a higher phase of evolution.
While the act of love was consummated under the wise guardianship of
the angels, man’s existence was free from sorrow, pain, and death. But
when, under the tutelage of the Lucifer Spirits, he ate of the Tree of
Knowledge and perpetuated the race without regard for interplanetary
lines of force, he transgressed the law, and the bodies thus formed
crystallized unduly, and became subject to death in a much more
perceptible manner than had hitherto been the case. Thus he was forced
to create new bodies more frequently as the span of life in them
shortened. Celestial warders of the creative force drove him from the
garden of _love_ into the wilderness of the world, and he was made
responsible for his actions under the cosmic _law_ which governs the
universe. Thus for ages he struggled on, seeking to work out his own
salvation, and the earth in consequence crystallized more and more.
Divine hierarchies, the Christ Spirit included, worked upon the
earth from without as the group spirit guides the animals under its
protectorate; but as Paul truly says, none could be justified under the
law, for under the law all sinned, and all must die. There is in the
old covenant no hope beyond the present, save a foreshadowing of _one
who is to come_ and restore righteousness. Thus John tells us that the
_law_ was given by Moses, and _grace_ came by the Lord Jesus Christ.
But _what is grace_? Can grace work contrary to law and abrogate it
entirely? Certainly not. The laws of God are steadfast and sure, or
the universe would become chaos. The law of gravity keeps our houses
in position relative to other houses, so that when we leave them we
may know of a surety that we shall find them in the same place upon
returning. Likewise all other departments in the universe are subject
to immutable laws.
As _law, apart from love, gave birth to sin, so the child of law,
tempered with love, is grace_. Take an example from our concrete social
conditions: We have laws which decree a certain penalty for a specified
offense, and when the law is carried out, we call it _justice_. But
long experience is beginning to teach us that justice, pure and simple,
is like the Colchian dragon’s teeth, and breeds strife and struggle
in increasing measure. The criminal, so-called, remains criminal and
becomes more and more hardened under the ministrations of law; but when
the milder regime of the present day allows one who has transgressed
to go under suspended sentence, then _he is under grace_ and not under
law. Thus, also the Christian, who aims to follow in the Master’s
steps, is emancipated from the law of sin by grace, provided he forsake
the path of sin.
It was the sin of our progenitors in ancient Lemuria that _they
scattered their seed_ regardless of law and without love. But it is
the privilege of the Christian to redeem himself by purity of life
in remembrance of the Lord. John says, “His seed remaineth in him,”
and this is the hidden meaning of the bread and wine. In the English
version we read simply: “This is the _cup_ of the New Testament,”
but in the German the word for cup is “_Kelch_,” and in the Latin,
“_Calix_,” both meaning the outer covering of the seed pod of the
flower. In the Greek we have a still more subtle meaning, not conveyed
in other languages, in the word “_poterion_,” a meaning which will be
evident when we consider the etymology of the word “pot.” This at once
gives us the same idea as the chalice or calix—a receptacle; and the
Latin “_potare_” (to drink) also shows that the “cup” is a receptacle
capable of holding a fluid. Our English words “potent” and “impotent,”
meaning to possess or to lack virile strength, further show the
meaning of this Greek word, which foreshadows the evolution from man
to superman.
We have already lived through a mineral, a plant, and an animal-like
existence before becoming human as we are today, and beyond us lie
still further evolutions where we shall approach the Divine more and
more. It will be readily conceded that it is our animal passions which
restrain us upon the path of attainment; the lower nature is constantly
warring against the higher self. At least in those who have experienced
a spiritual awakening, a war is being fought silently within, and
is all the more bitter for being suppressed. Goethe with masterly
art voiced that sentiment in the words of Faust, the aspiring soul,
speaking to his more materialistic friend, Wagner:
“Thou by one sole impulse art possessed,
Unconscious of the other still remain.
Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast,
And struggle there for undivided reign.
One, to the earth with passionate desire,
And closely clinging organs still adheres;
Above the mists the other doth aspire
With sacred ardor unto purer spheres.”
It was the knowledge of this absolute necessity of chastity (save
when procreation is the object) upon the part of those who have had
a spiritual awakening which dictated the words of Christ, and the
Apostle Paul stated an esoteric truth when he said that _those who
partook of the Communion without living the life were in danger of
sickness and death_. For just as under a spiritual tutelage, purity of
life may elevate the disciple wonderfully, so also unchastity has a
much stronger effect upon his more sensitized bodies than upon those
who are yet under the law, and have not became partakers of grace by
the cup of the New Covenant.
Chapter V
THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
Having studied the esoteric significance of our Christian festivals,
such as Christmas and Easter, and having also studied the doctrine
of the Immaculate Conception, it may be well now to devote attention
to the inner meaning of the sacraments of the church which are
administered to the individual in all Christian lands from the cradle
to the grave, and are with him at all important points in his life
journey.
As soon as he has entered upon the journey of life, the church admits
him into its fold by the rite of _Baptism_ which is conferred upon him
at a time when he himself is irresponsible; later, when his mentality
has been somewhat developed, he ratifies that contract and is admitted
to _Communion_, where _bread_ is broken and _wine_ is sipped in memory
of the Founder of our faith. Still further upon life’s journey comes
the sacrament of _Marriage_; and at last when the race has been run
and the spirit again withdraws to God who gave it, the earth body is
consigned to the dust, whence it was derived, accompanied by the
blessings of the church.
In our Protestant times the spirit of protest is rampant in the
extreme, and dissenters everywhere raise their voices in rebellion
against the fancied arrogance of the priesthood and deprecate the
sacraments as mere mummery. On account of that attitude of mind these
functions have become of little or no effect in the life of the
community; dissensions have arisen even among churchmen themselves,
and sect after sect has divorced itself from the original apostolic
congregation.
Despite all protests the various doctrines and sacraments of the church
are, nevertheless, the very keystones in the arch of evolution, for
they inculcate morals of the loftiest nature; and even materialistic
scientists, such as Huxley, have admitted that while self-protection
brings about “the survival of the fittest” in the animal kingdom and
is therefore the basis of animal evolution, self-sacrifice is the
fostering principle of human advancement. When that is the case among
mere mortals, we may well believe that it must be so to a still greater
extent in the Divine Author of our being.
Among animals might is right, but we recognize that the weak have a
claim to the protection of the strong. The butterfly lays its eggs
on the underside of a green leaf and goes off without another care
for their well-being. In mammals the _mother_ instinct is strongly
developed, and we see the lioness caring for her cubs and ready to
defend them with her life; but not until the human kingdom is reached
does the _father_ commence to share fully in the responsibility as
a parent. Among savages the care of the young practically ends with
attainment of physical ability to care for themselves, but the higher
we ascend in civilization the longer the young receive care from their
parents, and the more stress is laid upon mental education so that when
maturity has been reached the battle of life may be fought from the
mental rather than from the physical point of vantage; for the further
we proceed along the path of development the more we shall experience
the power of mind over matter. By the more and more prolonged
self-sacrifice of parents, the race is becoming more delicate, but what
we lose in material ruggedness we gain in spiritual perceptibility.
As this faculty grows stronger and more developed, the craving of the
spirit immured in this earthly body voices itself more loudly in a
demand for understanding of the spiritual side of development. Wallace
and Darwin, Huxley and Spencer, pointed out how evolution of _form_ is
accomplished in nature; Ernest Haeckel attempted to solve the riddle of
the universe, but no one of them could satisfactorily explain away the
_Divine Author_ of what we see. The great goddess, _Natural Selection_,
is being forsaken by one after another of her devotees as the years go
by. Even Haeckel, the arch materialist, in his last years showed an
almost hysterical anxiety to make a place for God in his system, and
the day will come in a not far distant future when science will have
become as thoroughly religious as religion itself. The church, on the
other hand, though still extremely conservative is nevertheless slowly
abandoning its autocratic dogmatism and becoming more scientific in
its explanations. Thus in time we shall see the union of science and
religion as it existed in the ancient mystery temples, and when that
point has been reached, _the doctrines and sacraments_ of the church
will be found to _rest upon immutable cosmic laws of no less importance
than the law of gravity_ which maintains the marching orbs in their
paths around the sun. As the points of the equinoxes and solstices are
turning points in the cyclic path of a planet, marked by festivals such
as Christmas and Easter, so birth into the physical world, admission
to the church, to the state of matrimony, and finally the exit from
physical life, are points in the cyclic path of the human spirit
around its central source—God, which are marked by the sacraments of
_baptism_, _communion_, _marriage_, and _the last blessing_.
We will now consider the rite of baptism. Much has been said by
dissenters, against the practice of taking an _infant into church
and promising for it a religious life_. Heated arguments concerning
_sprinkling versus plunging_ have resulted in division of churches. If
we wish to obtain the true idea of baptism, we must revert to the early
history of the human race as recorded in the Memory of Nature. All
that has ever happened is indelibly pictured in the ether as a moving
picture is imprinted upon a sensitized film, which picture can be
reproduced upon a screen at any moment. The pictures in the Memory of
Nature may be viewed by the trained seer, even though millions of years
have elapsed since the scenes there portrayed were enacted in life.
When we consult that unimpeachable record it appears that there was
a time when that which is now our earth came out of chaos, dark and
unformed, as the Bible states. The currents developed in this misty
mass by spiritual agencies, generated _heat_, and the mass ignited at
the time when we are told that God said, “Let there be light.” The
heat of the fiery mass and the cold space surrounding it generated
_moisture_; the fire mist became surrounded by water which boiled, and
steam was projected into the atmosphere; thus “God divided the water
... from the waters ...”—the dense water which was nearest the fire
mist from the steam (which is water in suspension), as stated in the
Bible.
When water containing sediment is boiled over and over it deposits
scale, and similarly the water surrounding our planet finally formed a
crust around the fiery core. The Bible further informs us that a _mist_
went up from the ground, _and we may well conceive_ how the moisture
was gradually evaporated from our planet in those early days.
Ancient myths are usually regarded as superstitions nowadays, but in
reality each of them contains a great spiritual truth in pictorial
symbols. These fantastic stories were given to infant humanity to
teach them moral lessons which their newborn intellects were not yet
fitted to receive. They were taught by myths—much as we teach our
children by picture books and fables—lessons beyond their intellectual
comprehension.
One of the greatest of these folk stories is ”_The Ring of the
Niebelung_”, which tells of a wonderful treasure hidden under the
waters of the Rhine. It was a lump of gold in its natural state. Placed
upon a high rock, it illuminated the entire submarine scenery where
water nymphs sported about innocently in gladsome frolic. But one of
the Niebelungs, imbued with greed, stole the treasure, carried it out
of the water, and fled. It was impossible for him, however, to shape
it until he had forsworn love. Then he fashioned it into a ring which
gave him power over all the treasures of earth, but at the same time
it inaugurated dissension and strife. For its sake, friend betrayed
friend, brother slew brother, and everywhere it caused oppression,
sorrow, sin, and death, until it was at last restored to the watery
element and the earth was consumed in flames. But later there arose,
like the new phoenix from the ashes of the old bird, a new heaven and a
new earth where righteousness was re-established.
That old folk story gives a wonderful picture of human evolution.
The name _Niebelungen_ is derived from the German words, _nebel_
(which means mist), and _ungen_ (which means children). Thus the word
_Niebelungen_ means _children of the mist_, and it refers back to the
time when humanity lived in the foggy atmosphere surrounding our earth
at the stage in its development previously mentioned. There infant
humanity lived in one vast brotherhood, innocent of all evil as the
babe of today, and illuminated by the Universal Spirit symbolized
as the Rhinegold which shed its light upon the water nymphs of our
story. But in time the earth cooled more and more; the fog condensed
and flooded depressions upon the surface of the earth with water;
the atmosphere cleared; the eyes of man were opened and he perceived
himself as a separate ego. Then the Universal Spirit of _love_ and
_solidarity_ was superseded by egotism and self-seeking.
That was the rape of the Rhinegold, and sorrow, sin, strife, treachery,
and murder have given place to the childlike love which existed
among humanity in that primal state when they dwelt in the watery
atmosphere of long ago. Gradually this tendency is becoming more and
more marked, and the curse of selfishness grows more and more apparent.
“Man’s inhumanity to man” hangs like a funeral pall over the earth,
and must inevitably bring about destruction of existing conditions.
The whole creation is groaning and travailing, waiting for the day
of redemption, and the Western Religion strikes the keynote of the
way to attainment when it exhorts us to love our neighbor as we love
ourselves; for then egotism will be abrogated for universal brotherhood
and love.
Therefore, when a person is admitted to the church, which is a
_spiritual_ institution where love and brotherhood are the mainsprings
of action, it is appropriate to carry him _under the waters_ of baptism
in symbol of the beautiful condition of childlike innocence and love
which prevailed when mankind dwelt _under the mist_ in that bygone
period. At that time the eyes of infant man had not yet been opened
to the _material_ advantages of this world. The little child which is
brought into the church has not yet become aware of the allurements
of life either, and others obligate themselves to guide it to lead a
holy life according to the best of their ability, because experience
gained since the Flood has taught us that the broad way of the world is
strewn with pain, sorrow, and disappointment; that only by following
the straight and narrow way can we escape death and enter into life
everlasting.
Thus we see that there is a wonderfully deep, mystic significance
behind the sacrament of baptism; that it is to remind us of the
blessings attendant upon those who are members of a _brotherhood_ where
self-seeking is put into the background and where _service_ to others
is the keynote and mainspring of action. While we are in the world,
he is the greatest who can most successfully dominate others. In the
church we have Christ’s definition, “_He who would be the greatest
among you, let him be the servant of all._”
Chapter VI
THE SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE
When stripped of nonessentials the argument of the orthodox Christian
religion may be said to be as follows:
First, that tempted by the devil, our first parents sinned and were
exiled from their previous state of celestial bliss, placed under the
law, made subject to death, and became incapable of escaping by their
own efforts.
Second, that God so loved the world that He gave Christ, His only
begotten Son, for its redemption and to establish the kingdom of
heaven. Thus death will finally be swallowed up in immortality.
This simple creed has provoked the smiles of atheists, and of the
purely intellectual who have studied transcendental philosophies with
their niceties of logic and argument; and even of some among those who
study the Western Mystery Teaching.
Such an attitude of mind is entirely gratuitous. We might know that the
divine leaders of mankind would not allow millions to continue in error
for millennia. When the Western Mystery Teaching is stripped of its
exceedingly illuminating explanations and detailed descriptions, when
its basic teachings are stated, they are found to be in exact agreement
with the orthodox Christian teachings.
There was a time when mankind lived in a sinless state; when sorrow,
pain, and death were unknown. Neither is the _personal tempter_ of
Christianity a myth, for the Lucifer spirits may very well be said to
be fallen angels, and their temptation of man resulted in focusing his
consciousness upon the material phase of existence where he is under
the law of decrepitude and death. Also it is truly the mission of
Christ to aid mankind by elevating them to a more ethereal state where
dissolution will no longer be necessary to free them from vehicles
that have grown too hard and set for further use. For this is indeed a
“body of death,” where only the smallest quantity of material is really
alive, as part of its bulk is nutrient matter that has not yet been
assimilated, another large part is already on its way to elimination,
and only between these two poles may be found the material which is
thoroughly quickened by the spirit.
We have in other chapters considered the sacraments of baptism and
communion, sacraments that have to do particularly with the spirit.
We will now seek to understand the deeper side of the sacrament of
marriage, which has to do particularly with the body. Like the other
sacraments the institution of marriage had its beginning and will also
have its end. The commencement was described by the Christ when He
said, “Have ye not read that He which made them at the beginning made
them male and female, and said: For this cause shall a man leave father
and mother and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh?
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh.” Matt. 19:4-6. He also
indicated the end of marriage when he said: “In the resurrection they
neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God
in heaven.” Matt. 22:30.
In this light the logic of the teaching is apparent, for _marriage_
became necessary in order that _birth_ might provide new instruments to
take the place of those which had been ruptured by _death_; and when
death has once been swallowed up in immortality and there is no need of
providing new instruments, marriage also will be unnecessary.
Science with admirable audacity has sought to solve the mystery of
fecundation, and has told us how invagination takes place in the walls
of the ovary; how the little ovum is formed in the seclusion of its
dark cavity; how it emerges therefrom and enters the Fallopian tube;
is pierced by the spermatozoon of the male, and the nucleus of a human
body is complete. We are thus supposed to be “at the fount and origin
of life!” But life has neither beginning nor end, and what science
mistakenly considers the fountain of life is really the source of
death, as all that comes from the womb is destined sooner or later to
reach the tomb. The _marriage_ feast which prepares for _birth_, at
the same time provides food for the insatiable jaws of _death_, and so
long as marriage is necessary to generation and birth, disintegration
and death must inevitably result. Therefore it is of prime importance
to know the history of marriage, the laws and agencies involved, the
duration of this institution, and how it may be transcended.
When we obtained our vital bodies in Hyperborea, the sun, moon, and
earth were still united, and the solar-lunar forces permeated each
being in even measure so that all were able to perpetuate their kind
by buds and spores as do certain plants of today. The efforts of the
vital body to soften the dense vehicle and keep it alive were not then
interfered with, and these primal, plantlike bodies lived for ages. But
man was then unconscious and stationary like a plant; he made no effort
or exertion. The addition of a desire body furnished incentive and
desire, and consciousness resulted from the war between the vital body,
which builds, and the desire body, which destroys the dense body.
Thus dissolution became only a question of time, particularly as the
constructive energy of the vital body was also necessarily divided, one
part or pole being used in the vital functions of the body, the other
to replace a vehicle lost by death. But as the two poles of a magnet
or dynamo are requisite to manifestation, so also two single-sexed
beings became necessary for generation; thus marriage and birth were
necessarily inaugurated to offset the effect of death. _Death, then, is
the price we pay for consciousness in the present world_; marriage and
repeated births are our weapons against the king of terrors until our
constitution shall change and we become as angels.
Please mark that it is not stated that we are to become angels, but
that we are to become _as angels_. For the angels are the humanity
of the Moon Period; they belong to an entirely different stream of
evolution, as different as are human spirits from those of our present
animals. Paul states in his letter to the Hebrews that man was made
_for a little while_ inferior to the angels; he descended lower into
the scale of materiality during the Earth Period, while the angels have
never inhabited a globe denser than ether. As we build our bodies from
the chemical constituents of the earth, so do the angels build theirs
of ether. This substance is the direct avenue of all life forces, and
when man has once become as the angels and has learned to build his
body of ether, naturally there will be no death and no need of marriage
to bring about birth.
But looking at marriage from another point of view, looking upon it as
a union of souls rather than as a union of the sexes, we contact the
wonderful mystery of Love. Union of the sexes might serve to perpetuate
the race, of course, but the true marriage is a companionship of souls
also, which altogether transcends sex. Yet those really able to meet
upon that lofty plane of spiritual intimacy gladly offer their bodies
as living sacrifices upon the altar of _Love of the Unborn_, to woo a
waiting spirit into an immaculately conceived body. Thus humanity may
be saved from the reign of death.
This is readily apparent as soon as we consider the gentle action of
the vital body and contrast it with that of the desire body in a fit
of temper, where it is said that a man has “lost control” of himself.
Under such conditions the muscles become tense, and nervous energy is
expended at a suicidal rate, so that after such an outbreak the body
may sometimes be prostrated for weeks. The hardest labor brings no
such fatigue as a fit of temper; likewise a child conceived in passion
under the crystallizing tendencies of the desire nature is naturally
short-lived, and it is a regrettable fact that _length of life_ is
nowadays almost a misnomer; in view of the appalling infant mortality
it ought to be called _brevity of existence_.
The building tendencies of the vital body, which is the vehicle
of love, are not so easily watched, but observation proves that
contentment lengthens the life of any one who cultivates this quality,
and we may safely reason that a child conceived under conditions of
harmony and love stands a better chance of life than one conceived
under conditions of anger, inebriety, and passion.
According to Genesis it was said to the woman, “In sorrow shalt
thou bear children,” and it has always been a sore puzzle to Bible
commentators what logical connection there may be between the eating of
fruit and the pains of parturition. But when we understand the chaste
references of the Bible to the act of generation, the connection is
readily perceived. While the insensitive Negro or Indian mother may
bear her child and shortly afterward resume her labors in the field,
the western woman, more acutely sensitive and of high-strung nervous
temperament, is year by year finding it more difficult to go through
the ordeal of motherhood, though aided by the best and most skilled
scientific help.
The contributory reasons are various: In the first place, while we are
exceedingly careful in selecting our horses and cattle for breeding,
while we insist upon pedigree for the animals in order that we may
bring out the very best strain of stock upon our farms, we exercise
no such care with respect to the selection of a father or mother for
our children. We mate upon impulse and regret it at our leisure, aided
by laws which make it all too easy to enter or leave the sacred bonds
of matrimony. The words pronounced by minister or judge are taken to
be a license for unlimited indulgence, as if any man-made law could
license the contravention of the law of God. While animals mate only at
a certain time of the year and the mother is undisturbed during the
period of pregnancy, this is not true of the human race.
In view of these facts is it to be wondered at that we find such a
dread of maternity, and is it not time that we seek to remedy the
matter by a more sane relation between marriage partners? Astrology
will reveal the temper and tendencies of each human being; it will
enable two people to blend their characters in such a manner that
a love life may be lived, and it will indicate the periods when
interplanetary lines of force are most nearly conducive to painless
parturition. Thus it will enable us to draw from the bosom of nature,
children of love, capable of living long lives in good health. Finally
the day will come when these bodies will have been made so perfect in
their ethereal purity that they may last throughout the coming Age, and
thus make marriage superfluous.
But if we can love now when we see one another “through a
glass darkly,” through the mask of personality and the veil of
misunderstanding, we may be sure that the love of soul for soul, purged
of passion in the furnace of sorrow, will be our brightest gem in
heaven as its shadow is on earth.
Chapter VII
THE UNPARDONABLE SIN AND LOST SOULS
Some of our students have been exercised about the unpardonable sin,
and as this subject has a certain connection with the subject of
marriage, one being a sacrilege and the other a sacrament, it might be
well to elucidate the matter from a different point of view than has
been formerly taken in our literature.
First let us see what is meant by a sacrament, and why the rites of
baptism, communion, marriage, and extreme unction are properly so
called; then we shall be in a position to understand what sacrilege is
and why it is unpardonable.
The Rosicrucians teach, only with more detail, the same doctrine
that Paul preached in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians, starting
at the thirty-fifth verse, that in addition to the body of flesh and
blood we have a soul body, _soma psuchicon_, (mistranslated “natural”
body), and a spiritual body; that each of these bodies is grown from a
different _seed_ atom and that there are _three_ stages of unfoldment
for Adam, or man. The first Adam was taken from the ground and was
without sentient life. Soul was added to the _second Adam_; thus he had
life within, a leaven laboring to elevate the clod to God. When the
potential of the soul extracted from the physical body has been raised
to the spiritual, the _last Adam_ will become a life _giving_ spirit,
capable of transmitting the life impulse to others directly as flame
from one candle can be communicated to many without diminishing the
magnitude of the original light.
In the meantime the germ for our earthly body had to be properly placed
in fruitful soil to grow a suitable vehicle, and generative organs were
provided from the beginning to accomplish this purpose. It is stated in
Genesis 1:27, that Elohim created them _male_ and _female_. The Hebrew
words are “_sacre va n’cabah_.” _These are names of the sex organs._
Literally translated, _sacr_ means “bearer of the germ.” Thus marriage
is a _sacr_-ament, for it opens the way for transmission of a physical
seed atom from the father to the mother, and tends to preserve the
race against the ravages of death. Baptism as a _Sacr_ament signifies
the germinal urge of the soul for the higher life. Holy Communion, in
which we partake of bread (made from the _seed_ of chaste plants), and
of wine (the cup symbolizing the passionless _seed_-pod), points to
the age to come, an age wherein it will be unnecessary to _transmit_
the seed through a father and mother, but where we may feed directly
upon cosmic life and thus conquer death. Finally, extreme unction
is the _sacr_ament which marks the loosening of the silver cord, and
the extraction of the sacred germ, freeing it until it shall again be
planted in another _n’cabah_, or mother.
As the seed and ovum are the root and basis of racial development,
it is easy to see that no sin can be more serious than that which
abuses the creative function, for by that _sacr_-ilege we stunt future
generations and transgress against the Holy Spirit, Jehovah, who is
warder of the creative lunar forces. His angels herald births, as
in the cases of Isaac, John the Baptist, and Jesus. When he wanted
to reward his most faithful follower, he promised to make his seed
as numerous as the sands on the seashore. He also meted out a most
terrible punishment to the Sodomites who committed _sacr_-ilege by
misdirecting the seed. He even visits the sins of the fathers upon the
children to the third and fourth generations, for under his regime
_Law_ reigns supreme. Man has not yet evolved to the point where he can
respond to _love_. He requires from his enemies an eye for an eye, and
with the same measure that he metes, it is meted unto him.
Though this seems very cruel to us who are each day evolving more
and more the faculties of love and mercy, we must remember that this
retributive justice relates purely to the physical body, which is under
the laws of Nature just as much as any other chemical composition
in the universe. When abuses have weakened it, it is incapable of
fulfilling its mission and meeting our demands in any respect, just
as is the case with any other machinery which we have made from the
materials around us. There are no miracles such as would be required to
generate a sound and healthy body from parents who have transgressed
the laws of nature by their abuses; therefore that sin cannot be
remitted but must be expiated; but when time and care have restored the
necessary strength and vigor, the body will again perform its functions
in a normal and healthy manner.
Thus we understand that under the law there is no mercy, for mercy
is dictated by love. Therefore it was perfectly in consonance with
cosmic order when _Christ, the Lord of Love_, said that all things
would be forgiven to men which they did against Him, as _love_ is the
reigning feature in His kingdom; but whatsoever was done contrary to
the _law_ of Jehovah must meet its full retribution. We cannot be
sufficiently thankful for the wonderful religion which He gave us,
particularly if we compare it with those under which less evolved
peoples are now struggling. Take the Buddhists, for instance: grand and
beautiful though their leader was, he saw only _sorrow_, a constant
struggle against the laws of nature. He aimed to teach his followers
to transcend that condition by perfect obedience such as that whereby
we have conquered the laws of electricity and other forces in nature.
The Buddhist sees nothing but the cold and merciless law; on the other
hand, we of the Western World have before our eyes from the cradle to
the grave a beautiful picture of One who said, “Come unto me all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
But it may be asked, “What about _lost souls_; are they a figment
of the imagination also?” To this question may be answered, “yes,”
although it needs some qualification. We shall best understand the case
if we go back into the history of mankind and view the experiences of
some who have transgressed, for they will furnish us an example of
what may happen. In order to establish the point properly we shall
reiterate a few of the Rosicrucian teachings regarding the genesis
of the earth and of man upon it. Three great stages of unfoldment
have preceded the present Earth Period. _The Father_ is the highest
Initiate of the Saturn Period, inhabiting particularly the Spiritual
Sun. _The Son_, the cosmic Christ, is the highest Initiate of the Sun
Period, inhabiting the Central Sun and guiding the planets in their
orbits by a ray from Himself, which becomes the indwelling spirit of
each planet when it has been sufficiently ripened to contain such a
great Intelligence. Jehovah, the _Holy Spirit_, is the highest Initiate
of the Moon Period and dwelling in the physical, visible sun. He is
regent of the various moons thrown off by the different planets for
the purpose of giving beings who have fallen behind in the march of
evolution more rigid discipline under a firmer law, to awaken them and
spur them on in the proper direction if possible.
When we look into space, we perceive that some planets have a number
of moons and others have none; but as there are laggards in any large
company, and as moons are required to aid these stragglers to retrieve
their lost estate if possible, we may be sure that these planets which
have no moons now have had them in the past. Those Great Beings of
whom the _Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception_ speaks as “Lords of Venus” and
“Lords of Mercury” were, in fact, stragglers from those two planets.
In the dim distant past they inhabited moons which encircled their
respective planets, and were successful in retrieving their loss in
a large measure under the discipline given them there. Later they
received the opportunity to serve the humanity of our earth, and by
that service to secure a return to the home planet whence they had been
exiled. They were _lost_ under the _law_, but _redeemed by love_; and
thus we may infer that opportunities for service will also bring to
other beings, who may become “lost,” the opportunity to retrieve the
past.
Since it may puzzle the student as to what becomes of the moons
upon which such beings dwell for a time, we may say that the solar
system is to be regarded as the body of the Great Spirit whom we
call God, and as any growth caused by an abnormal process pains us
when it occurs in our body, so also such crystallizations as moons
are sources of discomfort to that Great Being. Furthermore, as our
own systems endeavor to eliminate such abnormalities as growths, so
also the universe endeavors to expel moons which have served their
purpose. While the beings who have been exiled to a moon are there, the
Planetary Spirit of the primary planet by his care for these beings,
holds the moon in its orbit, and we speak of his love for them as the
Law of Attraction; but when they have returned to the parent planet,
the Planetary Spirit has no further interest in their cinder-like
habitation. Then slowly the orbit of the vacated moon widens, it
commences to disintegrate, and it is finally expelled into interstellar
space. The asteroids are remnants of moons which once encircled Venus
and Mercury. There are also other seeming moons and lunar fragments
in our solar system, but the _Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception_ does not
concern itself with them as they are outside the pale of evolution.
Chapter VIII
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
The periodical ebb and flow of the material and spiritual forces which
invest the earth are the invisible causes of the physical, moral, and
mental activities upon our globe.
According to the hermetic axiom, “As above so below,” a similar
activity must take place in man, who is but a minor edition of Mother
Nature.
The animals have twenty-eight pairs of spinal nerves and are now in
their Moon stage, perfectly attuned to the twenty-eight days in which
the moon passes around the zodiac. In their wild state the group spirit
regulates their mating. Therefore there is no overflow with them. Man,
on the other hand, is in a transition stage; he is too far progressed
for the lunar vibrations for he has thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves.
But he is not yet attuned to the solar month of thirty-one days, and
he mates at all times of the year; hence the periodical flow in woman,
which under proper conditions is utilized to form part of the body of
a child more perfect than its parent. Similarly, the periodical flow
in mankind becomes the sinew and backbone of racial advancement; and
the periodical flow of the earth’s spiritual forces, which occurs at
Christmas, results in the birth of Saviors who from time to time give
renewed impetus to the spiritual advancement of the human race.
There are two parts to our Bible, the Old and the New Testaments. After
briefly reciting how the world came into being, the former tells the
story of the “Fall.” In view of what has been written in our literature
we understand the Fall to have been occasioned by man’s impulsive and
ignorant use of the sex forces at times when the interplanetary rays
were inimical to conception of the purest and best vehicles. Thus man
became gradually imprisoned in a dense body crystallized by sinful
passion and consequently an imperfect vehicle, subject to pain and
death.
Then commenced the pilgrimage through matter, and for millennia we have
been living in this hard and flinty shell of body, which obscures the
light of heaven from the spirit within. The spirit is like a diamond
in its rough coat, and the celestial lapidaries, the Recording Angels,
are constantly endeavoring to remove the coating so that the spirit may
shine through the vehicle which it ensouls.
When the lapidary holds the diamond to the grindstone, the diamond
emits a screech like a cry of pain as the opaque covering is removed;
but gradually by many successive applications to the grindstone the
rough diamond may become a gem of transcendent beauty and purity.
Similarly, the celestial beings in charge of our evolution hold us
closely to the grindstone of experience. Pain and suffering result,
which awaken the spirit sleeping within. The man hitherto content with
material pursuits, indulgent of sense and sex, becomes imbued with a
divine discontent which impels him to seek the higher life.
The gratification of that aspiration, however, is not usually
accomplished without a severe struggle upon the part of the lower
nature. It was while wrestling thus that Paul exclaimed with all the
anguish of a devout, aspiring heart: “Oh wretched man that I am * * *
The good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that
I do * * * I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I
see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and
bringing it into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”
(Rom. 7:19-24.)
When the flower is crushed, its scent is liberated and fills the
surroundings with grateful fragrance, delighting all who are fortunate
enough to be near. Crushing blows of fate may overwhelm a man or woman
who has reached the stage of efflorescence; they will but serve to
bring out the sweetness of the nature and enhance the beauty of the
soul till it shines with an effulgence that marks the wearer as with
a halo. Then he is upon the path of Initiation. He is taught how
unbridled use of sex regardless of the stellar rays has imprisoned
him in the body, how it fetters him, and how by the proper use of
that same force in harmony with the stars he may gradually improve
and etherealize his body and finally attain liberation from concrete
existence.
A shipwright cannot build a staunch oak ship from spruce lumber; “men
do not gather grapes of thorns;” like always begets like, and an
incoming ego of a passionate nature is drawn to parents of like nature,
where its body is conceived upon the impulse of the moment in a gust of
passion.
The soul who has tasted the cup of sorrow incident to the abuse of the
creative force and has drunk to the dregs the bitterness thereof, will
gradually seek parents of less and less passionate natures, until at
length it attains to Initiation.
Having been taught in the process of Initiation the influence of
the stellar rays upon parturition, the next body provided will be
generated by Initiate parents without passion, under the constellation
most favorable to the work which the ego contemplates. Therefore the
Gospels (which are formulae of Initiation) commence with the account
of the immaculate conception and end with the crucifixion, both
wonderful ideals to which we must some time attain, for each of us is
a Christ-in-the-making, and will sometime pass through both the mystic
birth and the mystic death adumbrated in the Gospels. By knowledge
we may hasten the day, intelligently co-operating instead of as now
often stupidly frustrating through ignorance the ends of spiritual
development.
In connection with the immaculate conception misunderstandings prevail
at every point; the perpetual virginity of the mother even after giving
birth to other children; the lowly station of Joseph, the supposed
foster-father, etc. We will briefly view them in the light of facts as
revealed in the Memory of Nature:
In some parts of Europe people of the higher classes are addressed
as “wellborn,” or even as “highwellborn,” meaning that they are the
offspring of cultured parents in high station. Such people usually look
down with scorn upon those in modest positions. We have nothing against
the expression “wellborn;” we would that every child were well born,
born to parents of high moral standing no matter what their station in
life. There is a virginity of soul that is independent of the state of
the body, a purity of mind which will carry its possessor through the
act of generation without the taint of passion and enable the mother to
carry the unborn child under her heart in sexless love.
Previous to the time of Christ that would have been impossible. In
the earlier stages of man’s career upon earth quantity was desirable
and quality a minor consideration, hence the command was given to “go
forth, be fruitful, and multiply.” Besides, it was necessary that
man should temporarily forget his spiritual nature and concentrate
his energies upon material conditions. Indulgence of the sex passion
furthers that object, and the desire nature was given full sway.
Polygamy flourished, and the larger the number of their children, the
more a man and a woman were honored, while barrenness was looked upon
as the greatest possible affliction.
In other directions the desire nature was being curbed by God-given
laws, and obedience to divine commands was enforced by swift punishment
of the transgressor, such as war, pestilence or famine. Rewards for
dutiful observance of the mandates of the law were not wanting either;
the “righteous” man’s children, his cattle and crops were numerous; he
was victorious over his enemies and the cup of his happiness was full.
Later when the earth had been sufficiently peopled after the Atlantean
Flood, polygamy became gradually more and more obsolete, with the
result that the quality of the bodies improved, and at the time of
Christ the desire nature had become so far amenable to control in the
case of the more advanced among humanity that the act of generation
could be performed without passion, out of pure love, so that the child
could be immaculately conceived.
Such were the parents of Jesus. Joseph is said to have been a
carpenter, but he was not a worker in wood. He was a “builder” in a
higher sense. God is the Grand Architect of the universe. Under Him
are many builders of varying degrees of spiritual splendor, down even
to those whom we know as Freemasons. All are engaged in building a
temple without sound of hammer, and Joseph was no exception.
It is sometimes asked why Initiates are always men. They are not; in
the lower degrees there are many women, but when an Initiate is able
to choose his sex he usually takes the positive masculine body, as
the life which brought him to Initiation has spiritualized his vital
body and made it positive under all conditions, so that he has then an
instrument of the highest efficiency.
There are times, however, when the exigencies of a case require a
female body, such as, for instance, providing a body of the highest
type to receive an ego of superlatively high degree. Then a high
Initiate may take a female body and go through the experience of
maternity again, after perhaps having eschewed it for several lives, as
was the case with the beautiful character we know as Mary of Bethlehem.
In conclusion, then, let us remember the points brought out, that
we are all Christs-in-the-making; that sometime we must cultivate
characters so spotless that we may be worthy to inhabit bodies that
are immaculately conceived; and the sooner we commence to purify our
minds of passionate thoughts, the sooner we shall attain. In the
final analysis it only depends upon the earnestness of our purpose,
the strength of our wills. Conditions are such now that we can live
pure lives whether married or single, and cold; sister-and-brother
relationships are not necessary either.
Is the life of absolute purity beyond some of us yet? Be not
discouraged; Rome was not built in a day. Keep on aspiring though you
fail again and again, for the only real failure consists in ceasing to
try.
So may God strengthen your aspirations to purity.
Chapter IX
THE COMING CHRIST
We have previously seen how infant humanity in Atlantis lived in unity
under direct guidance of divine leaders, and how they were eventually
brought out of the water into a clear atmosphere where the separateness
of each individual from all others became obvious at once.
“God is Light”—the Light which became life in man. It was dim and
achromatically diffused in the misty atmosphere of early Atlantis,
as colorless as the air on a densely foggy day in the present age,
hence the unity of all beings who lived in that light. But when
man rose above the waters, when he emerged into the air where the
godly manifestation, Light, was refracted in multitudinous hues,
this variously colored light was differently absorbed by each. Thus
diversity was inaugurated, when mankind went through the mighty arch
of the rainbow with its variegated and beautiful colors. That bow
may therefore be considered an entrance gate to “the promised land,”
the world as now constituted. Here the light of God is no longer an
insipid single tint as in early Atlantis. The present dazzling play of
color tells us that _the watchword of the present age is segregation_,
and therefore so long as we remain in the present condition under the
law of alternating cycles, where summer and winter, ebb and flow,
succeed each other in unbroken sequence, so long as God’s bow stands in
the sky, an emblem of diversity, it is yet the day of the kingdoms of
men, and the kingdom of God is held in abeyance.
Nevertheless, as surely as the Edenic conditions upon the fire girt
islands of ancient Lemuria ended in separation into sexes, each
expressing one element of the creative fire, and making the union
of man and woman as necessary to the generation of a body as is the
union of hydrogen and oxygen to the production of water; and as
surely as emergence from the watery atmosphere of Atlantis into the
airy environment of _Aryana_, the world of today, promoted further
segregation into separate nations and individuals, who war and prey
upon one another (because the sharply differentiated forms which they
behold blind them to the inalienable unity of each soul with all
others); just as certainly will this world condition give place to a
“new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
In early Atlantis we lived in the deepest basins of the earth where the
mist was densest; we breathed by means of gills and would have been
unable to live in an atmosphere such as we have now. In the course of
time desire to explore beyond caused the invention of airships, which
were propelled by the expansive force of sprouting grain. The “ark”
story is a perverted remembrance of that fact. Those ships actually did
founder upon mountain tops where the atmosphere was too rare to sustain
them. Today our ships float upon the element in which the Atlantean
ships were at one time immersed. We have now contrived various means of
propulsion able to carry us over the highlands of the earth which we
occupy at present, and are commencing to reach out into the atmosphere
to conquer that element as we have subjected the waters; and as surely
as our Atlantean ancestors made a highway of the watery element which
they breathed _and then rose above it to live in a new element_, just
as certainly shall we conquer the air and then rise above it into the
newly discovered element which we call ether.
Thus each age has its own peculiar conditions and laws; the beings who
evolve have a physiological constitution suited to the environment of
that age, but are dominated by the nature forces then prevailing until
they learn to conform to them. Then these forces become most valuable
servants, as for instance, steam and electricity, which we have
partially harnessed. The law of gravity still holds us in its powerful
grip, although by mechanical means we are trying to escape into the new
element. We shall at a not distant time attain to mastery of the air,
but as the ships of the Atlanteans foundered upon the mountains of the
earth because their buoyancy was insufficient to enable them to rise
higher in the light mist of those altitudes, and because respiration
was difficult, so also will the increasing rarity of our present
atmosphere prevent us from entering the “new heaven and the new earth,”
which are to be the scene of the New Dispensation.
Before we can reach that state, physiological as well as moral and
spiritual changes must take place. The Greek text of the New Testament
does not leave us in doubt as to this, though lack of knowledge of the
mystery teachings prevented the translators from bringing it out in the
English version. Did we but believe the Bible even as we have it, we
should be spared many delusions and much uneasiness concerning the time
of this. Whole sects have disposed of their belongings in anticipation
of the advent of Christ on a certain day, and have suffered untold
privations afterwards. Schemers have passed themselves off as Christ
or even as God, have married, raised families, and died, leaving their
sons, who were supposed to be Christs, to fight for the kingdom.
A temporal government was forced to banish one of these militant
“Christs” to an island of the Mediterranean, and another to an Asiatic
city where he is now under military supervision. Nor is there any sign
that the future will lack similar claimants; rather, the sacrilegious
imposture is spreading.
_We may rest assured that the divine leaders of evolution made no
mistake when they gave the Christian Religion to the Western World—the
most advanced teaching to the most precocious among mankind._ It may
therefore be regarded as a detriment when an organization undertakes
to graft a Hindu religion (which is excellent for the people to whom
it was divinely given) upon our people. The imported Hindu breathing
exercises have certainly sent many people to insane asylums.
If we believe Christ’s words: “My kingdom is not of this world,”
(_kosmos_, the Greek word used for “world” meaning “order of things”
rather than our planet, the earth, which is called _gee_,) we shall
know better than to look for Christ today.
“Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” any more than
the gill breathing creature of early Atlantean times was fit to live
under the natural conditions prevailing in the present age where “the
kingdom of men” exists. Paul, in discussing the resurrection, does
not say as in the English translation, “There is a natural body and
there is a spiritual body.” I Cor. 15:44. He affirms that there is a
“_soma psuchicon_,” a soul body, and tells in the preceding verses
how this is generated from a “_seed_” in the same way as explained
in the Rosicrucian teachings. The Bible affirms that our bodies are
corruptible. (It also teaches that one organ, the heart, is an
exception. This has reference to the seed atom in the heart. Ps.
22:26.) Therefore our bodies must be changed before Christ can come.
If these things were believed, few would run after impostors, and the
latter would have their labors for their pains. But Western papers
unfortunately give notoriety to such schemers, though regarding them as
a joke as well they may, for it would be preposterous to believe that
the great and wise Being who guides evolution could be so shortsighted
as not to know that the Western World would never accept the scion of
what it regards as a semi-barbaric race for its Savior.
When preparations were made 2000 years ago, for the embodiment of the
Savior of the world, Galilee was the Mecca for roving spirits. Thither
flocked people from Asia, Africa, Greece, Italy, and all other parts of
the world of that day. Conditions there were exceptionally congenial
and attractive so that, as declared by various scholars who have
investigated the matter, Galilee was as cosmopolitan as Rome itself.
It was, in fact, the “melting pot” of that day. Among others, Joseph
and Mary, the parents of Jesus, had emigrated from Judea to Nazareth in
Galilee before the advent of their firstborn, and the body generated in
that environment was different from the ordinary Jewish race body.
It is an incontrovertible fact that environment plays a great part
in evolution. We have today upon earth _three great races_. One, the
Negro, has hair which is _flat_ in section, and the head is long,
narrow, and _flattened_ on the sides. The orbit of the eye is also long
and narrow. The Negroes are descendants of the Lemurian Race.
The Mongols and kindred peoples have _round_ heads. Their hair is round
in section, and the orbits of their eyes are also round. They are the
remnants of the Atlantean Race.
The _Aryan Race_ have oval hair, oval skulls, and oval orbits of the
eyes, these features being especially pronounced in the Anglo-Saxons,
who are the flower of the race at present.
In America, the Mecca of nations today, these various races are of
course represented. Here is the “melting pot” in which they are being
amalgamated. It has been ascertained that here there is a difference in
children belonging to the same family. The _skulls of younger children
born in America are more nearly oval than the heads of their older
brothers and sisters born abroad_.
From this fact and from others which need not be mentioned here, it
is evident that a new race is being born on the American continent;
and reasoning from the known fact that the Christ came from the most
cosmopolitan part of the civilized world of 2000 years ago, it would
be but logical to expect that if a new embodiment were sought for that
exalted Being, His body would more likely be taken from the new race
than from an ancient one. Otherwise, if there is virtue in obtaining a
Savior from the older races, why not get a Bushman or a Hottentot?
But we may be sure that though impostors deceive for a time, they are
found out sooner or later, and their plans come to naught. Meanwhile,
progression continues to bring us nearer the Aquarian Age, and _a
Teacher is coming_ to give the Christian Religion impetus in a new
direction.
Chapter X
THE COMING AGE
When we speak of the “Coming Age,” of the “New Heaven and the New
Earth” mentioned in the Bible, and also of the “Aquarian Age,” the
differences may not be quite clear in the minds of our students.
Confusion of terms is one of the most fertile seed grounds of fallacy,
and the Rosicrucian teachings aim to avoid it by a particularly
definite nomenclature. Sometimes an extra effort seems necessary to
disperse the haze engendered by current cloudy conceptions of others as
sincere as the present writer, but not so fortunate in having access to
the incomparable Western Wisdom Teachings.
It has been taught in our literature that four great epochs of
unfoldment preceded the present order of things; that the density
of the earth, its atmospheric conditions, and the laws of nature
prevailing in one epoch were as different from those of the other
epochs as was the corresponding physiological constitution of mankind
in one epoch different from those in the others.
The bodies of ADM (the name means _red earth_), the humanity of fiery
Lemuria, were formed of the “dust of the ground,” the red, hot,
volcanic mud, and were just suited to their environment. Flesh and
blood would have shriveled up in the terrible heat of that day, and
though suited to present conditions, Paul tells us that they cannot
inherit the Kingdom of God. It is therefore manifest that before a new
order of things can be inaugurated, the physiological constitution of
mankind must be radically changed, to say nothing of the spiritual
attitude. Aeons will be required to regenerate the whole human race and
fit them to live in ethereal bodies.
On the other hand, neither does a new environment come into existence
in a moment, but land and people are evolved together from the smallest
and most primitive beginnings. When the mists of Atlantis commenced to
settle, some of our forbears had grown embryonic lungs and were forced
to the highlands ages before their compeers. They wandered in “the
wilderness” while “the promised land” was emerging from the lighter
fogs, and at the same time their growing lungs were fitting them to
live under present atmospheric conditions.
Two more races were born in the basins of the earth before a succession
of floods drove them to the highlands: the last flood took place at the
time when the sun entered the watery sign Cancer, about ten thousand
years ago as told Plato by the Egyptian priests. Thus we see there is
_no sudden_ change of constitution or environment for the whole human
race when a new epoch is ushered in, but an overlapping of conditions
which makes it possible for most of the race by gradual adjustment
to enter the new condition, though the change may seem sudden to
the individual when the preparatory change has been accomplished
unconsciously. The metamorphosis of a tadpole from a denizen of the
watery element to one of the airy gives an analogy of the past, and
the transformation of the earthworm to a butterfly soaring in the air
is an apt simile of the coming age. When the heavenly time marker came
into Aries by precession, a new cycle commenced, and the “glad tidings”
were preached by Christ. He said by implication that the new heaven and
earth were not ready then when He told His disciples: Whither I go you
cannot _now_ follow, but you shall follow afterwards. I go to prepare a
place for you and will come again and receive you.
Later John saw in a vision the new Jerusalem descending from heaven,
and Paul taught the Thessalonians “_by the word of the Lord_” that
those who are Christs at His coming shall be caught up _in the air_ to
meet Him and be with Him _for the age_.
But during this change there are pioneers who enter the kingdom of God
before their brethren. Christ, in Matt. 11:12, said that “the kingdom
of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” This
is not a correct translation. It ought to be: The kingdom of the
heavens _has been invaded_ (_biaxetai_), and invaders seize on her. Men
and women have already learned through holy, helpful lives to lay aside
the body of flesh and blood, either intermittently or permanently, and
to walk the skies with winged feet, intent upon the business of their
Lord, clad in the ethereal “wedding garment” of the new dispensation.
This change may be accomplished through a life of simple helpfulness
and prayer as practiced by devoted Christians, no matter with what
church they affiliate, as well as by the specific exercises given in
the Rosicrucian Fellowship. The latter will prove barren of results,
unless accompanied by constant _acts_ of love for _love_ will be
the keynote of the coming age as _Law_ is of the present order. The
intense expression of the former quality increases the phosphorescent
luminosity and density of the ethers in our vital bodies, the fiery
streams sever the tie to the mortal coil, and the man, once _born of
water_ upon his emergence from Atlantis, is now born _of the spirit_
into the kingdom of God. The dynamic force of his love has opened a way
to the land of love, and indescribable is the rejoicing among those
already there when new invaders arrive, for each new arrival hastens
the coming of the Lord and the definite establishment of the Kingdom.
Among the religiously inclined there is a definite unceasing cry: How
long, O Lord; how long? And despite the emphatic statement of Christ
that the day and hour are unknown, even to Himself, prophets continue
to gain credence when they predict His coming on a certain day,
though each is discomfited when the day passes without development.
The question has also been mooted among our students, and the present
chapter is an attempt to show the fallacy of looking for the Second
Advent in a year or fifty or five hundred. The Elder Brothers decline
to commit themselves further than to point out what must first be
accomplished.
At the time of Christ the sun was in about seven degrees of Aries. Five
hundred years were required to bring the precession to the thirtieth
degree of Pisces. During that time the new church lived through a
stage of offensive and defensive violence well justifying the words
of Christ: “I came not to bring peace but a sword.” Fourteen hundred
years more have elapsed under the negative influence of _Pisces_, which
has fostered the power of the church and bound the people by creed and
dogma.
In the middle of the last century the sun came within orb of influence
of the scientific sign _Aquarius_, and although it will take about
six hundred years before the Aquarian Age commences, it is highly
instructive to note what changes the mere touch has wrought in the
world. Our limited space precludes enumeration of the wonderful
advances made since then; but it is not too much to say that science,
invention, and resultant industry have completely changed the world,
its social life, and economic conditions. The great strides made in
means of communication have done much to break down barriers of race
prejudice and prepare us for conditions of Universal Brotherhood.
Engines of destruction have been made so fearfully efficient that the
militant nations will be forced ere long to “beat their swords into
plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” _The sword has had its
reign_ during the Piscean Age, but _science will rule_ in the Aquarian
Age.
In the land of the setting sun we may expect to first see the ideal
conditions of the Aquarian Age: A blending of religion and science,
forming a religious science and a scientific religion, which will
promote the health, happiness and the enjoyment of life in abundant
measure.
_Sugar For Alcohol_
In the chapter elucidating the Law of Assimilation in the _Rosicrucian
Cosmo-Conception_, we stated that minerals cannot be assimilated
because they lack a vital body, which lack makes it impossible for man
to raise their vibratory rate to his own pitch. Plants have a vital
body and no self-consciousness, hence are most easily assimilated and
remain with man longer than cells of animal flesh, which is permeated
by a desire body. The vibratory rate of the latter is high, and much
energy is required in assimilation; its cells also quickly escape and
make it necessary for the flesh eater to forage often.
We are aware that alcohol is a “foreign spirit” and a “spirit of
decay,” because _it is generated by fermentation_ OUTSIDE the
consumer’s system. Being “spirit,” it vibrates with such intense
rapidity that the human spirit is incapable of tuning it down and
controlling it as food must be, hence metabolism is out of the
question. Nay, more, as we cannot reduce its vibratory rate to that of
our bodies, this foreign spirit may accelerate their vibratory pitch
and control us as happens in the state of intoxication. Thus alcohol is
a great danger to mankind and one from which we must be emancipated ere
we can realize our divine nature.
A stimulant spirit is necessary while we live on a _diet of flesh_ or
progress would stop, and _a food_ has been provided for the pioneers
of the West that answers all requirements; its name is “sugar.” _From
sugar the ego itself generates alcohol_ INSIDE the system by the very
processes of metabolism. This product is therefore both food and
stimulant, perfectly keyed to the vibratory pitch of the body. It has
all the good qualities of alcohol in enhanced measure and none of its
drawbacks. To perceive properly the effect of this food, consider the
peoples of eastern Europe where but little sugar is consumed. They are
slavish; they speak of themselves in terms of depreciation; the pronoun
“I” is always spelled with small letters but “you” with a capital.
England consumes five times as much sugar per capita as Russia. In
the former we meet a different spirit, the big “I” and the little
“you.” In America the candy store becomes a most dangerous rival of the
saloon, for _the man who eats sweets will not drink_, and there is no
surer cure for alcoholism than to induce the sufferer to eat freely of
sweets. The drunkard abhors sugar, however, while his system is under
the sway of the “foreign spirit.”
The temperance movement was begun in the land where _most sugar is
consumed_, and has _generated “the spirit of self-respect.”_
Chapter XI
MEAT AND DRINK AS FACTORS IN EVOLUTION
In previous chapters we saw how infant humanity was cared for by
superhuman guardians, provided with appropriate food, led out of
danger’s way, and sheltered in all respects until grown to human
stature and fit to enter the school of experience to learn the lessons
of life in the phenomenal world. We saw also how the rainbow points to
natural laws peculiar to the present age, how man was given free will
under these laws, and how the spirit of wine was given to cheer and to
stimulate his own timid, fearful spirit, to nerve it for the war of the
world.
In an analogous manner the irresponsible little child who has been
brought under the waters of baptism by its natural guardians is cared
for through the years of childhood while its various vehicles are being
organized. When the parental blood stored in the thymus gland has been
exhausted and the child thus emancipated from the parents, it awakes
to individuality, to the feeling of “I AM.” It has then been prepared
with a knowledge of good and evil with which to fight the battle of
life; and at that time the youth is taken to the church and given the
bread and wine to nerve and nourish him spiritually, also as a symbol
that henceforth he is a free agent, only responsible to the laws of
God. A blessing or a curse, this freedom, according to the way it is
used.
In early Atlantis mankind was a universal brotherhood of submissive
children with no incentive to war or strife. Later they were segregated
into nations, and wars inculcated loyalty to kin and country. Each
sovereign was an absolute autocrat with power over life and limb of his
subjects, who were numbered in hundreds of millions, and who yielded
ungrudging and slavish submission, an attitude maintained to the
present day among the millions of Asiatics, who are vegetarians and
consequently need no alcohol.
As flesh eating came into vogue, wine became a more and more common
beverage. In consequence of flesh eating much material progress was
made immediately preceding the advent of Christ, and because of
the practice of drinking wine an increasing number of men asserted
themselves as leaders, with the result that instead of a few large
nations such as people Asia, many small nations were formed in the
southwestern portion of Europe and Asia Minor.
But though the great mass of people who formed these various nations
were ahead of their Asiatic brethren as craftsmen, they continued
submissive to their rulers and lived as much in their traditions as
did the latter. Christ upbraided them because they gloried in being
Abraham’s seed. He told them that “before Abraham was, I AM,” that is,
the ego has always existed.
It is His mission to emancipate humanity from Law and lead it to
LOVE, to destroy “the kingdoms of men” with all their antagonism to
one another, and to build upon their ruins “the kingdom of God.” An
illustration will make the method clear:
If we have a number of brick buildings and desire to amalgamate them
into one large structure, it is necessary to break them down first and
free each brick from the mortar which binds it. Likewise each human
being must be freed from the fetters of family, hence Christ taught
“Unless a man leave father and mother he cannot be my disciple.” He
must outgrow religious partisanship and patriotism and learn to say
with the much misunderstood and maligned Thomas Paine: “_The world is
my country, and to do good is my religion_.”
Christ did not mean that we are to forsake those who have a claim upon
our help and support, but that we are not to permit the suppression of
our individuality out of deference to family traditions and beliefs.
Consequently He came “not to bring peace, but a sword;” and whereas
the eastern religions discourage the use of wine, _Christ’s first
miracle was to change water to wine_. The sword and the wine cup are
signatures of the Christian religion, for by them nations have been
broken to pieces and the individual emancipated. Government by the
people, for the people, is a fact in northwestern Europe, the rulers
being that principally in name only.
But the fostering of the martial spirit such as prevails in Europe was
only a means to an end. The segregation which it has caused must give
place to a regime of brotherhood such as professed by Paine. A new step
was necessary to bring this about; _a new food_ must be found which
would act upon the spirit in such a way as to foster individuality
through _assertion of self without oppression of others and without
loss of self-respect_. We have enunciated it as a law that only spirit
can act upon spirit, and therefore that food must be a spirit but
differing in other respects from intoxicants.
Before describing this let us see what flesh has done for the evolution
of the world.
We have noted previously that during the Polarian Epoch man had only a
dense body; he was like the present minerals in this respect, and by
nature he was as inert and passive.
By absorbing the crystalloids prepared by plants he evolved a vital
body during the Hyperborean Epoch and became plantlike both in
constitution and by nature, for he lived without exertion and as
unconsciously as the plants.
Later he extracted milk from the then stationary animals. Desire for
this more readily digestible food spurred him on to exertion, and
gradually his desire nature was evolved during the Lemurian Epoch.
Thus he became constituted like the present day _Herbivora_. Though
possessed of a passional nature, he was docile and could not be induced
to fight save to defend himself, his mate, and family. Hunger alone had
the power to make him aggressive.
Therefore, when animals began to move and sought to elude this ruthless
parasite, increasing difficulty of obtaining the coveted food aroused
his craving to such an extent that when he had hunted and caught an
animal, he was no longer content to suck its udders dry but commenced
to feed upon its blood and flesh. Thus he became as ferocious as our
present day Carnivora.
Digestion of flesh food requires much more powerful chemical action and
speedy elimination of the waste than that of a vegetable diet as proved
by chemical analysis of the gastric juices from animals, and by the
fact that the intestines of Herbivora are many times longer than those
of a carnivorous animal of even size. Carnivora easily become drowsy
and averse to exertion.
When prodded by the pangs of hunger the ferocious wolf does indeed
pursue its prey with unwavering perseverance, and the spring of the
crouching king of beasts overmatches the speed of the wing-footed
deer. By ambush the feline family foil the fleetest in their attempts
to escape. The cunning of the fox is proverbial, and the slinking
nocturnal habits of the hyena and kindred scavengers illustrate the
depth of depravity resulting from a diet of decayed flesh.
The vices generated by flesh eating may be said to be lassitude,
ferocity, low cunning, and depravity. We may tame the herbivorous
ox and elephant. Their diet makes them docile and stores enormous
power which they obediently use in our service to perform prolonged
and arduous labor. The flesh food required by the constitutional
peculiarities of Carnivora makes them dangerous and incapable of
thorough domestication. A cat may scratch at any moment, and the
muzzling ordinances of large cities are ample proof of the danger of
dogs. Besides, energy contained in the diet of Carnivora is so largely
expended in digestion that they are drowsy and unfitted for sustained
labor like the horse or elephant.
The drowsiness following a heavy meal of meat is too well known to
require argument, and the custom of taking stimulants with food is an
outgrowth of the desire to counteract the deadening effect of dead
flesh. The intensified effect of feasting upon _flesh in an advanced
state of decay_ is well illustrated in “society,” where banquets of
game that is “high” are accompanied by orgies of the wildest nature and
followed by indulgence of the vilest instincts.
The Westerner who can live upon a clean, sweet, wholesome diet of
vegetables, cereals, and fruits, does not become drowsy from his
food; he needs no stimulant. _There are no vegetarian drunkards._ The
soothing effects of vegetable food manifest as finer feelings, which
replace the ferocity fostered by flesh food. Many need the mixed diet
yet, for the practice of flesh eating has furthered the progress of the
world as nothing else except perhaps its companion vice—drunkenness;
and though we cannot say that they have been blessings in disguise,
they have at least not been unmitigated curses, for in the Father’s
kingdom all seeming evil nevertheless works for good in some respect,
though it may not be apparent upon the surface. We shall see how
presently.
A private corporation, the East India Company, commenced and
practically achieved the subjugation of India with her three hundred
million people, for the English are voracious flesh eaters, while
the Hindu’s diet fosters docility. But when England fought the flesh
eating Boers, Greek met Greek, and the valor displayed by both sides
is a matter of brilliant record. Courage, physical as well as moral,
is a virtue and cowardice a vice. Flesh has fostered self-assertion
and helped us to develop a backbone, though unfortunately often at the
expense of others who still retain the wishbone. It has done more as
will be illustrated:
As said previously, the crouching cat is forced to employ strategy to
save strength when procuring its prey, so that it may retain sufficient
energy to digest the victim. Thus brain becomes the ally of brawn. In
ancient Atlantis _desire for flesh developed the ingenuity of primitive
man and led him_ to trap the elusive denizens of field and forest. The
hunter’s snare was among the first LABOR-SAVING DEVICES—which mark
the beginning of the evolution of mind, and of the uncompromising,
unflagging struggle of the meat fed mind for supremacy over matter.
We say “_the meat fed mind_,” and we reiterate it, because we wish
to emphasize that it is by the nations which have adopted flesh food
that the most noteworthy progress has been made. The vegetarian
Asiatics remain upon the lower rungs of civilization. The further west
we travel, _the more the consumption of meat increases as does the
disinclination for bodily exercise, and consequently the activity of
the mind is increased to a higher and higher pitch in the invention of
labor-saving devices_. The American agriculturists’ acres are counted
by thousands, and they harvest large crops with less labor than the
peasant of the East who has only a small patch of ground. The reason
is that the poor, plodding, grain fed Easterner has only his hands and
his hoe, which he keeps in motion all day and day after day, while the
meat fed, progressive Westerner turns power-driven implements into his
fertile fields and sits down in a comfortable seat to watch them work.
One uses muscle, the other mind.
Thus the indomitable courage and energy which have transformed the face
of the Western World are virtues directly traceable to flesh food,
which also fosters love of ease and invention of labor-saving devices;
while alcohol stimulates enterprise in execution of schemes thus
hatched to procure the maximum of comfort with a minimum of labor.
But the spirit of alcohol is obtained by a process of fermentation.
It is a _spirit of decay_, altogether different from the _spirit of
life_ in man. This counterfeit spirit lures man on and on, always
holding before his vision dreams of _future_ grandeur, and goading
him to strenuous efforts of body and mind in order to attain and
obtain. Then when he has achieved and attained, he awakens to the
utter worthlessness of his prize. Possession soon shatters illusion
as to the worth of whatever he may have acquired; _nothing the world
has to give can finally satisfy_. Then again the lethal draught drowns
disappointment, and the mind conjures up a new illusion. This he
pursues with fresh zeal and high hopes to meet disappointment again and
again, for lives and lives, until at last he learns that “wine is a
mocker,” and that “all is vanity but to serve God and to do His will.”
Chapter XII
A LIVING SACRIFICE
Volumes, or rather libraries, have been written to explain the nature
of God, but it is probably a universal experience that the more we read
of other people’s explanations, the less we understand. There is one
description, given by the inspired apostle John when he wrote “_God is
Light_,” which is as illuminating as the others are befogging to the
mind. Anyone who takes this passage for meditation occasionally will
find a rich reward waiting, for no matter how many times we take up
this subject, our own development in the passing years assures us each
time a fuller and better understanding. Each time we sink ourselves
in these three words we lave in a spiritual fountain of inexhaustible
depth, and each succeeding time we sound more thoroughly the divine
depths and draw more closely to our Father in heaven.
To get in touch with our subject, let us go back in time to get our
bearing and the direction of our future line of progress.
The first time our consciousness was directed towards the Light
was shortly after we had become endowed with mind and had entered
definitely upon our evolution as human beings in Atlantis, the land of
the mist, deep down in the basins of the earth, where the warm mist
emitted from the cooling earth hung like a dense fog over the land.
Then the starry heights of the universe were never seen, nor could the
silvery light of the moon penetrate the dense, foggy atmosphere which
hung over that ancient land. Even the fiery splendor of the sun was
almost totally extinguished, for when we look in the Memory of Nature
pertaining to that time, it appears very much as an arc lamp on a high
pole looks to us when it is foggy. It was exceedingly dim, and had an
aura of various colors, very similar to those which we observe around
an arc light.
But this light had a fascination. The ancient Atlanteans were taught
by the divine Hierarchs who walked among them, to aspire to the
light, and as the spiritual sight was then already on the wane (even
the messengers, or Elohim, being perceived with difficulty by the
majority), they aspired all the more ardently to the new light, for
they feared the darkness of which they had become conscious through the
gift of mind.
Then came the inevitable flood when the mist cooled and condensed. The
atmosphere cleared, and the “_chosen people_” were saved. Those who
had worked within themselves and learned to build the necessary organs
required to breathe in an atmosphere such as we have today, survived
and came to the light. It was not an arbitrary choice; _the work of the
past consisted of body building_. Those who had only gill clefts, such
as the foetus still uses in its prenatal development, were as unfit
physiologically to enter the new era as the foetus would be to be born
were it to neglect to build lungs. It would die as those ancient people
died when the rare atmosphere made gill clefts useless.
Since the day when we came out of ancient Atlantis our bodies have been
practically complete, that is to say, no new vehicles are to be added;
but from that time and from now on _those who wish to follow the light
must strive for soul growth_. The bodies which we have crystallized
about us must be dissolved, and the quintessence of experience
extracted, which as “soul” may be amalgamated with the spirit to
nourish it from impotence to omnipotence. Therefore, the Tabernacle
in the Wilderness was given to the ancients, and the _light of God
descended upon the Altar of Sacrifice_. This is of great significance:
The ego had just descended into its tabernacle, the body. We all know
the tendency of the primitive instinct towards selfishness, and if we
have studied the higher ethics we also know how subversive of good the
indulgence of the egotistic tendency is; therefore, God immediately
placed before mankind the Divine Light upon the Altar of Sacrifice.
Upon this altar they were forced by dire necessity to offer their
cherished possessions for every transgression, God appearing to them
as a hard taskmaster whose displeasure it was dangerous to incur.
But still the Light drew them. They knew then that it was futile to
attempt to escape from the hand of God. They had never heard the words
of John, “God is Light,” but they had already learned from the heavens
in a measure the meaning of infinitude, as measured by the realm of
light, for we hear David exclaim: “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?
or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven,
thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, thou art there. If I take the
wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even
there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. If I
say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light
about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth
as the day, for the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
With every year that passes, with the aid of the greatest telescopes
which the ingenuity and mechanical skill of man have been able to
construct to pierce the depths of space, it becomes more evident that
the infinitude of light teaches us the infinitude of God. When we hear
that “men loved darkness rather than Light because their deeds were
evil,” that also rings true to what we unfortunately know as present
day facts, and illumines the nature of God for us; for is it not true
that we always feel endangered in the dark, but that the light gives us
a sense of safety which is akin to the feeling of a child who feels the
protecting hand of its father?
To render permanent this condition of being in the Light was the next
step in God’s work with us, which culminated in the birth of Christ,
who as the bodily presence of the Father, bore about in Himself that
Light, for the Light came into the world that whosoever should believe
in Christ should not perish, but have everlasting life. He said, “I am
the Light of the World.” The altar in the Tabernacle had illustrated
the principle of sacrifice as the medium of regeneration, so Christ
said to His disciples: Greater love hath no man than this, that he
lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends. And forthwith
He commenced a sacrifice, which, contrary to the accepted orthodox
opinion was not consummated in a few hours of physical suffering upon
a material cross, but is as perpetual as were the sacrifices made upon
the altar of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, for it entails an annual
descent into the earth and an endurance of all that the cramping earth
conditions must mean to such a great spirit.
This must continue till a sufficient number have evolved who can
bear the burden of this dense lump of _darkness_ which we call the
earth, and which hangs as a millstone about the neck of humanity, an
impediment to further spiritual growth. Until we learn to follow “in
His steps,” we can rise no higher towards the Light.
It is related that when Leonardo da Vinci had completed his famous
painting, “The Last Supper,” he asked a friend to look at it and tell
him what he thought of it.
The friend looked at it critically for a few minutes and then said:
“I think you have made a mistake in painting the goblets from which
the apostles drink so ornamental and to resemble gold. People in their
positions would not drink from such expensive vessels.”
Da Vinci then drew his brush through the entire set of vessels which
had drawn the criticism of his friend, but he was heartbroken, for he
had painted that picture with his soul rather than with his hands, and
he had prayed over it that it might speak a message to the world. He
had put all the greatness of his art and the whole-hearted devotion of
his soul into that effort to paint a Christ who should speak the word
that would lead men to emulate His deeds.
Can you see Him as He sits there at that festive board, THE EMBODIMENT
OF LIGHT, and speaks those wonderful, mystic words: _This is my body,
this is my blood, given for you_—a living sacrifice.
In the past period of our spiritual career we have been looking for
a Light _exterior_ to ourselves, but now we have arrived at the point
where we must look for the Christ light within and emulate Him by
making of ourselves “living sacrifices” as He is doing. Let us remember
that when the sacrifice which lies before our door seems pleasant and
to our liking, when we seem able to pick and choose our work in His
vineyard and do what pleases us, we are not making a real sacrifice
as He did, nor are we when we are seen of men and applauded for our
benevolence. But when we are ready to follow Him from that festive
board where He was the honored one among friends, into the garden of
Gethsemane _where He was alone_ and wrestled with the great problem
before Him while His friends slept, then are we making a living
sacrifice.
When we are content to follow “in His steps” to that point of
self-sacrifice where we can say from the bottom of our hearts, “_Thy
will, not mine_,” then we have surely _the light within_, and there
will never henceforth be for us that which we feel as darkness. _We
shall walk in the light._
This is our glorious privilege, and the meditation upon the words
of the apostle, “God is Light,” will help us to realize this ideal
provided we add to our faith, _works_, and say by our deeds as did the
Christ of da Vinci, “_This is my body and this is my blood_,” a living
sacrifice upon the altar of humanity.
Chapter XIII
MAGIC, WHITE AND BLACK
From time to time as occasion requires we warn students of the
Rosicrucian Fellowship in our private individual letters not to attend
spirit seances, hypnotic demonstrations, or places where incense
is burned by dabblers in occultism. Black Magic is practiced both
consciously and unconsciously to an extent that is almost unbelievable.
“Malicious animal magnetism,” which is only another name for the Black
Force, is responsible for more failures in business, loss of health,
and unhappiness in homes than most people are aware of. Even the
perpetrators of such outrages are, as said, often unconscious of what
harm they have done. Therefore it seems expedient to devote a chapter
to an explanation of some of the laws of magic, which are the same for
the white as for the black. There is only one force, but it may be used
for good or evil; and according to the motive behind it and the use
that is made of it, it becomes either black or white.
It is a scientific axiom that “_Ex nihil, nihil fit_” (out of nothing
nothing comes). There must be a seed before there can be a flower, but
where the first seed came from is something which science has failed to
explain. The occultist knows that all things have come from _arche_,
the infinite essence of chaos, used by God, the Grand Architect, for
the building of our universe; and, given the nucleus of anything, the
accomplished magician can draw upon the same essence for a further
supply. Christ, for instance, had some loaves and some fishes; by
means of that nucleus He drew upon the primordial essence of chaos for
the rest needed in performing the miracle of feeding a multitude. A
human magician whose power is not so high can more easily draw upon
the things which have already materialized out of chaos. He may take
flowers or fruit belonging to some one else, miles or hundreds of miles
away, disintegrate them into their atomic constituents, transport them
through the air, and cause them to assume their regular physical shape
in the room where he is entertaining friends in order to amaze them.
Such magic is _grey_ at best, even if he sends sufficient of his coin
to pay for what he has taken away; if he does not, it is Black Magic to
thus rob another of his goods. Magic to be white must always be used
unselfishly, and in addition, for a noble purpose—to save a fellow
being suffering. The Christ, when He fed the multitude from chaos, gave
as His reason that they had been with Him for several days, and if they
had to journey back to their homes without physical food they would
faint by the wayside and suffer privation.
God is the Grand Architect of the Universe and the Initiates of the
White Schools are also arche-tektons, builders from the primordial
essence in their beneficent work for humanity. These Invisible Helpers
require a nucleus from the patient’s vital body, which is, as students
of the Rosicrucian Fellowship know, given to them in the effluvia
from the hand, which impregnates the paper when the patient makes
application for help and healing. With this nucleus of the patient’s
vital body they are able to draw upon virgin matter for whatever they
need to restore health by building up and strengthening the organism.
The Black Magicians are despoilers, actuated by hatred and malice.
They also need a nucleus for their nefarious operations, and this they
obtain most easily from the vital body at spiritualistic or hypnotic
seances, where the sitters relax, put themselves into a negative frame
of mind, drop their jaws, and sink their individualities by other
distinctly mediumistic practices. Even people who do not frequent such
places are not immune, for there are certain products of the vital body
which are ignorantly scattered by all and which may be used effectively
by the Black Magicians. Chief in this category are the hair and finger
nails. The Negroes in their voodoo magic use the placenta for similar
evil purposes. One particularly evil man, whose practices were exposed
a decade ago, obtained from boys the vital fluid which he used for his
demoniac acts. Even so innocent a thing as a glass of water placed in
close proximity to certain parts of the body of the prospective victim,
while the Black Magician converses with him can be made to absorb a
part of the victim’s vital body. This will give the Black Magician the
requisite nucleus, or it may be obtained from a piece of the person’s
clothing. The same invisible emanation contained in the garment, which
guides the bloodhound upon the track of a certain person, will also
guide the Magician, white or black, to the abode of that person and
furnish the Magician with a key to the person’s system whereby the
former may help or hurt according to his inclination.
But there are methods of protecting oneself from inimical influences,
which we shall mention in the latter part of this chapter. We have
debated much whether it were wise or not to call the attention of
students to these facts, and have come to the conclusion that it
does not help anyone to imitate the ostrich which sticks its head
into a hole in the sand at the approach of danger. It is better to
be enlightened concerning things that threaten so that we may take
whatever precautions are necessary to meet the emergency. The battle
between the good and the evil forces is being waged with an intensity
that no one not engaged in the actual combat can comprehend. The Elder
Brothers of the Rosicrucians and kindred orders which, we may say, in
their totality represent the Holy Grail, live on the love and essence
of the unselfish service which they gather and garner as the bees
gather honey, from all who are striving to live the life. This they add
to the lustre of the Holy Grail, which in turn grows more lustrous and
radiates a stronger influence upon all who are spiritually inclined,
imbuing them with greater ardor, zeal, and zest in the good work and in
fighting the good fight. Similarly the evil forces of the Black Grail
thrive on hate, treachery, cruelty, and every demoniac deed on the
calendar of crime. Both the Black and the White Grail forces require a
pabulum, the one of good and the other of evil, for the continuance of
their existence and for the power to fight. Unless they get it, they
starve and grow weaker. Hence the relentless struggle that is going on
between them.
Every midnight the Elder Brothers at their service open their breasts
to attract the darts of hate, envy, malice, and every evil that has
been launched during the past twenty-four hours. First, in order that
they may deprive the Black Grail forces of their food; and secondly,
that they may transmute the evil to good. Then, as the plants gather
the inert carbon dioxide exhaled by mankind and build their bodies
therefrom, so the Brothers of the Holy Grail transmute the evil
within the temple; and as the plants send out the renovated oxygen so
necessary to human life, so the Elder Brothers return to mankind the
transmuted essence of evil as qualms of conscience along with the good
in order that the world may grow better day by day.
The Black Brothers, instead of transmuting the evil, infuse a greater
dynamic energy into it and speed it on its mission in vain endeavors
to conquer the powers of good. They use for their purposes elementals
and other discarnate entities which, being themselves of a low order,
are available for such vile practices as required. In the ages when
men burned animal oil or candles made from the tallow of animals,
elementals swarmed around them as devils or demons, seeking to obsess
whoever would offer an occasion. Even wax tapers offer food for these
entities, but the modern methods of illumination by electricity, coal
oil, or even paraffin candles, are uncongenial to them. They still
flock around our saloons, slaughter houses, and similar places where
there are passionate animals, and animal-like men. They also delight
in places where incense is burned, for that offers them an avenue of
access, and when the sitters at seances inhale the odor of the incense
they inhale elemental spirits with it, which affect them according to
their characters.
This is where the protection we spoke about before may be used. When
we live lives of purity, when our days are filled with service to God
and to our fellow-men, and with thoughts and actions of the highest
nobility, then we create for ourselves the _Golden Wedding Garment_,
which is a radiant force for good. No evil is able to penetrate this
armor for the evil then acts as a boomerang and recoils on the one who
sent it, bringing to him the evil he wished us.
But alas, none of us are altogether good. We know only too well the
war between the flesh and the spirit. We cannot hide from ourselves
the fact that like Paul, “the good that we would do, we do not, and
the evil that we would shun, that we do.” Far too often our good
resolutions come to naught and we do wrong because it is easier.
Therefore we all have the nucleus of evil within ourselves, which
affords the open sesame for the evil forces to work upon. For that
reason it is best for us not unnecessarily to expose ourselves at
places where seances are held with spirits invisible to us, no matter
how fine their teachings may sound to the unsophisticated. Neither
should we take part even as spectators at hypnotic demonstrations,
for there also a negative attitude lays one liable to the danger of
obsession. We should at all times follow the advice of Paul and put
on the whole armor of God. We should be positive in our fight for the
good against the evil and never let an occasion slip to aid the Elder
Brothers by word or deed in the Great War for spiritual supremacy.
Chapter XIV
OUR INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT
It is well known to students of the Rosicrucian Philosophy that each
species of animals is dominated by a group spirit, which is their
guardian and looks after these, its wards, with a view to bringing them
along the path of evolution that is best suited to their development;
it does not matter what the geographical position of these animals
is; the lion in the jungles of Africa is dominated by the same group
spirit as is the lion in the cage of a menagerie in our northern
countries. Therefore these animals are alike in all their principal
characteristics; they have the same likes and dislikes with respect
to diet, and they act in an almost identical manner under similar
circumstances. If one wants to study the tribe of lions or the tribe
of tigers, all that is necessary is to study one individual, for it
has neither choice nor prerogative, but acts entirely according to the
dictates of the group spirit. The mineral cannot choose whether it will
crystallize or not; the rose is bound to bloom; the lion is compelled
to prey; and in each case the activity is dictated entirely by the
group spirit.
But man is different; when we want to study him we find that each
individual is as a species by himself. What one does under any given
circumstances is no indication of what another may do; “one man’s meat
is another man’s poison”; each has different likes and dislikes. This
is because man as we see him in the physical world is the expression
of an individual indwelling spirit, seemingly having choice and
prerogative.
But as a matter of fact man is not quite as free as he seems; all
students of human nature have observed that on certain occasions a
large number of people will act as though dominated by one spirit. It
is also easy to see without recourse to occultism that the different
nations have certain physical characteristics. We all know the German,
French, English, Italian, and Spanish types. Each of these nations has
characteristics which differ from those of the other nations, thus
indicating that there must be a _race spirit_ at the root of these
peculiarities. The occultist who is gifted with spiritual sight knows
that such is the case, and that each nation has a different race spirit
which broods as a cloud over the whole country. In it the people live
and move and have their being; it is their guardian and is constantly
working for their development, building up their civilization and
fostering ideals of the highest nature compatible with their capacity
for progress.
In the Bible we read that _Jehovah_, _Elohim_, who was the race
spirit of the Jews, went before them in a pillar and a cloud, and in
the Book of Daniel we gain considerable insight into the workings of
these race spirits. The image seen by Nebuchadnezzar with its head of
gold and feet of clay showed plainly how a civilization built up in
the beginning with golden ideals degenerated more and more until in
the latter part of its existence the feet were of unstable, crumbling
clay, and the image was doomed to topple. Thus all civilizations when
started by the different race spirits have great and golden ideals, but
humanity by reason of having some free will and choice does not follow
implicitly the dictates of the race spirits as the animals follow the
commands of the group spirits. Hence in the course of time a nation
ceases to rise, and as there can be no standing still in the cosmos,
it begins to degenerate until finally the feet are of clay and it is
necessary to strike a blow to shatter it, _that another civilization
may be built up on its ruins_.
But empires do not fall without a strong physical blow, and therefore
an instrument of the race spirit of a nation is always raised up at
the time when that nation is doomed to fall. In the tenth and eleventh
chapters of Daniel we are given an insight into the workings of the
invisible government of the race spirits, the powers behind the throne.
Daniel is much disturbed in spirit; he fasts, for fully _three weeks_,
praying for light, and at the end of that time an archangel, a race
spirit, appears before him and addresses him: “Fear not, Daniel, for
from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and
to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come
for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me
_one and twenty days_, but lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came
to help me; and I remained there with the king of Persia.” After he
explains to Daniel what is to happen, he says: “Knowest thou wherefore
I came unto thee? _and now will I return to fight with the prince of
Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come_,
and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael,
your prince.” The archangel also says: “In the first year of Darius the
Mede, even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him.”
So when the handwriting is on the wall, some one is raised up to
administer the blow; it may be a Cyrus, a Darius, an Alexander, a
Caesar, a Napoleon, or a kaiser. Such a one may think himself a prime
mover, a free individual acting by his own choice and prerogative,
but as a matter of fact he is only the instrument of the invisible
government of the world, the power behind thrones, the race spirits,
who see the necessity of breaking up civilizations that have outlived
their usefulness, so that humanity may get a new start and evolve under
a new and a higher ideal than that which ensouled it before.
Christ himself when upon earth, said: “I came not to bring peace, but a
sword,” for it was evident to Him that as long as humanity was divided
into races and nations there could be no “peace on earth and good will
among men.” Only when the nations have become united in a universal
brotherhood is peace possible. The barriers of nationalism must be done
away with, and to this end the United States of America has been made a
melting pot where all that is best in the old nations is being brought
together and amalgamated, so that _a new race with higher ideals and
feelings of universal brotherhood may be born for the Aquarian Age_.
In the meantime the barriers of nationalism have been partially broken
down in Europe by the terrible conflict just past. This brings nearer
the day of universal amity and the realization of the Brotherhood of
Man.
There is also another object to be gained. Of all the terrors to
which mankind is subjected, there is none so great as _death_, which
separates us from those we love, because we are unable to see them
after they have stepped out of their bodies. But just as surely as the
day follows the night, so will every teardrop wear away some of the
scale that now blinds the eyes of man to the unseen land of the living
dead. We have said repeatedly and we now reaffirm that one of the
greatest blessings which will come from the war will be the spiritual
sight which a great number of people will evolve. The intense sorrow of
millions of people, the longing to see again the dear ones who have so
suddenly and ruthlessly been torn from us, are a force of incalculable
strength and power. Likewise those who have been snatched by death in
the prime of life and who are now in the invisible world are equally
intense in their desires to be reunited with those near and dear to
them, so that they may speak the word of comfort and assure them of
their well-being. Thus it may be said that two great armies comprising
millions upon millions are tunneling with frantic energy and intensity
of purpose through the wall that separates the invisible from the
visible. Day by day this wall or veil is growing thinner, and sooner
or later the living and the living dead will meet in the middle of the
tunnel. Before we realize it, communication will have been established,
and we shall find it a common experience that when our loved ones step
out of their worn and sick bodies, we shall feel neither sorrow nor
loss because we shall be able to see them in their ethereal bodies,
moving among us as they used to do. So out of the great conflict we
shall come as victors over death and be able to say: “O death, where
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
Chapter XV
PRACTICAL PRECEPTS FOR PRACTICAL PEOPLE
“If I were to do business on the principles laid down in the Sermon on
the Mount I would be down and out in less than a year,” said a critic
recently. “Why, the Bible is utterly impracticable under our present
economic conditions; it is impossible to live according to it.”
If that is true there is a good reason for the unbelief of the world,
but in a court the accused is always allowed a fair trial, and let us
examine the Bible thoroughly before we judge. What are the specific
charges? “Why, they are countless,” answered the critic, “but to
mention only a few, let us take such passages as, ‘Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven;’ ‘Blessed are the meek
for they shall inherit the earth;’ ‘Take no thought for the morrow,
what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink.’ Such ideas point the way to
the poor-house.”
“Very well,” says the apologist, “let us take the last charge first.
King James’ version says: ’No man can serve two masters. Ye cannot
serve God and mammon, therefore I say unto you, take no thought for
your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your
body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than food and the body
than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: they sow not, neither do
they reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can
add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither
do they spin. And yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the
grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven,
shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore
take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink?
or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? for after all these things do
the Gentiles seek; your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need
of all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.’”
If this is intended to mean that we should wastefully squander all
we have in prodigal or riotous living, then it is of course not only
impractical but demoralizing. Such an interpretation is, however,
out of keeping with the tenor and teaching of the whole Book, and
it does not say so. The Greek word _merimnon_ means being overly
careful or anxious, and if we read the passage with this alteration
we shall find that it teaches a different lesson which is entirely
practical. Mammon is the Syriac word for riches, desired by foolish
people. In the preceding paragraph Christ exhorted them not to become
servants or slaves to riches, which they must leave behind when the
silver cord is broken and the spirit returns to God, but seek rather
to live lives of love and service and lay up treasures of good deeds,
which they might take with them into the Kingdom of Heaven. In the
meantime, He exhorted, be not overly anxious regarding what you shall
eat and drink and clothe yourself with. Why worry? You cannot add a
hairbreadth to your height or a hair to your head by worrying. Worry
is the most wasteful and depleting of all our emotions, and it does no
good whatever. Your heavenly Father knows you need material things,
therefore seek first His kingdom and righteousness and all else needed
will be added. On at least two occasions when multitudes came to Christ
in places far from their homes and distant from towns where refreshment
was obtainable, He demonstrated this; He gave them first the spiritual
food they sought and then ministered to their bodily needs direct from
a spiritual source of supply.
Does it work out in these modern days? Surely there have been so many
demonstrations of this that it is not at all necessary to recount any
special one. When we work and pray, pray and work, and make our lives
a living prayer for opportunities to serve others, then all earthly
things will come of their own accord as we need them, and they will
keep coming in larger measure according to the degree to which they are
used in the service of God. If we regard ourselves only as stewards and
custodians of whatever earthly goods we possess, then we are really
“_poor in spirit_” so far as the evanescent earthly treasures are
concerned, but rich in the more lasting treasures of the Kingdom of
Heaven; and if we are not out and out materialists, surely this is a
practical attitude.
It is not so long ago that “_caveat emptor_,” “Let the buyer beware,”
was the slogan of the merchants who sought after earthly treasures and
regarded the buyer as their legitimate prey. When they had sold their
wares and received the money, it did not matter to them whether the
buyer was satisfied or not. They even prided themselves on selling
an inferior article which would soon wear out, as evident in the
shortsighted motto, “The weakness of the goods is the strength of
the trade.” But gradually even people who would scorn the idea of
introducing religion into their business are discarding this _caveat
emptor_ as a motto, and are unconsciously adapting the precept of
Christ, “_He that would be the greatest among you, let him be the
servant of all_.” Everywhere the best business men are insistent in
their claim to patronage on the ground of the service they give to the
buyer, because it is a policy that pays, and may therefore be classed
as another of the practical precepts of the Bible.
But it sometimes happens that in spite of their desire to serve their
customers, something goes wrong and an angry, dissatisfied buyer comes
blustering in, decrying their goods. Under the old shortsighted regime
of _caveat emptor_ the merchant would have merely laughed or thrown
the buyer out of the door. Not so the modern merchant, who takes his
Bible into business. He remembers the wisdom of Solomon that “a soft
answer turneth away wrath,” and the assertion of Christ that “_the meek
shall inherit the earth_,” so he apologizes for the fault in the goods,
offers restitution, and sends the erstwhile dissatisfied customer away
smiling and eager to sing the praises of the concern that treats him
so nicely. Thus by obeying the practical precept of the Bible, keeping
his temper in meekness, the business man gains additional customers who
come to him in full faith of fair treatment, and the added profit in
sales made to them soon overbalances the loss on goods which may have
caused the dissatisfaction of other customers.
It pays dividends in dollars and cents to keep one’s temper and
be meek; it pays greater dividends from the moral and spiritual
standpoints. What better business motto can be found than in
Ecclesiastes: “Wisdom is better than weapons of war. Be not rash in
thy mouth, be not hasty in thy speech to be angry, for anger resteth in
the bosom of fools.” Tact and diplomacy are always better than force;
as the Good Book says: “If the iron be blunt we must use more strength,
but wisdom is profitable to direct.” The line of least resistance,
so long as it is clean and honorable, is always the best. Therefore,
“_Love your enemies, do good to them that despitefully use you_.”
It is good practical business policy to try to reconcile those who do
us harm lest they do more; and it is better for us to get over our
ill feeling than to nurse it, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall
he also reap, and if we sow spite and meanness, we breed and beget in
others the same feelings. Furthermore, all these things will apply in
private life and in social intercourse just as in ordinary business.
How many quarrels could be avoided if we cultivated the virtue of
meekness in our homes; how much pleasure would be gained; how much
happiness would come into our lives if in our social and business
relations we learned to _do unto others as we would that they should do
unto us_!
There is no need for the great mental strain that so many of us are
working under concerning what we shall eat and what we shall drink.
Our Father in Heaven does own the earth and the fullness thereof; the
cattle on a thousand hills are His. If we learn truly to cast our cares
upon Him, there is no doubt that the way out of our difficulties will
be provided. It is a fact, acknowledged by all authorities who have
investigated the subject, that comparatively few people die from lack
of necessities of life, but a great many die because of overindulgence
of the appetites. It is the practical experience of the writer and
numerous others that if we do our work day by day as it appears before
us, faithfully and to the best of our ability, the wherewithal for the
morrow will always be provided. If we go according to the instruction
of the Bible, doing all “as unto the Lord,” it does not matter what
line of honest work we follow; we are then at the same time seeking
the Kingdom of God. But if we are only time servers, working for fear
or favor, we cannot expect to succeed in the long run; health, wealth,
and happiness may attend us for a little while, but outside the solid
foundation of the Bible there can be no lasting joy in life and no real
prosperity in business.
Chapter XVI
SOUND, SILENCE, AND SOUL GROWTH
Sincere students of the Science of the Soul are naturally anxious to
grow in grace that they may serve so much better in the Great Work of
Human Upliftment. Being humble and modest they are only too painfully
aware of their shortcomings, and frequently while casting about for
means to facilitate progress they ask themselves, “_What hinders?_”
Some, particularly in bygone ages when life was lived less intensely
than now, realized that the everyday life among ordinary humanity had
many drawbacks. To overcome these and further their soul growth they
withdrew from the community to a monastery or to the mountains where
they could give themselves over to the spiritual life undisturbed.
We know, however, that that is not the way. It is too well established
in the minds of most of our students that if we run away from an
experience today, it will confront us again tomorrow, and that the
victor’s palm is earned by overcoming the world, not by running away
from it. The environment in which we have been placed by the Recording
Angels was our own choice when we were at the turning point of our life
cycle in the Third Heaven, we then being pure spirit unblinded by the
matter which now veils our vision. Hence it is undoubtedly the one that
holds lessons needed by us, and we should make a serious mistake if we
tried to escape from it altogether.
But we have received a mind for a definite purpose—to reason about
things and conditions so that we may learn to discriminate between
essentials and nonessentials, between that which is designed to hinder
for the purpose of teaching us a virtue by overcoming it, and that
which is an out and out hindrance, which jars our sensibilities and
wrecks our nerves without any compensating spiritual gain. It will
be of the greatest benefit if we can learn to differentiate for the
conservation of our strength, accepting only that which we must endure
for the sake of our spiritual well-being. We shall then save much
energy and have much more zest in profitable directions than now. The
details of that problem are different in every life; however, there are
certain general principles which it will benefit us all to understand
and apply in our lives, and among them is the effect of silence and
sound on soul growth.
At first blush it may surprise us when the statement is made that
sound and silence are very important factors in soul growth, but when
we examine the matter we shall soon see that it is not a far-fetched
notion. Consider first the graphic expression, “War is hell,” and then
call up in imagination a war scene. The sight is appalling, even more
so to those who see it with the undimmed spiritual vision than to those
who are limited to physical sight, for the latter can at least shut
their eyes to it if they want to, but the whole horror lies heavily
upon the heart of the Invisible Helper who not only hears and sees but
_feels_ in his own being the anguish and pain of all the surrounding
suffering as Parsifal felt in his heart the wound of Amfortas, the
stricken Grail king; in fact, without that intensely intimate feeling
of oneness with the suffering there could be no healing nor help given.
But there is one thing which no one can escape, the terrible noise of
the shells, the deafening roar of the cannon, the vicious spitting of
the machine guns, the groans of the wounded, and the oaths of a certain
class among the participants. We shall need no further argument to
agree that it is really a “hellish noise” and as subversive of soul
growth as possible. The battle field is the last place anyone with a
sane mind would choose for the purpose of soul growth, though it is
not to be forgotten that much of this has been made by noble deeds of
self-sacrifice there; but such results have been achieved _in spite of_
the condition and not because of it.
On the other hand, consider a church filled with the noble strains of
a Gregorian chant or a Handel oratorio upon which the prayers of the
aspiring soul wing their way to the Author of our Being. That music
may surely be termed “_heavenly_” and the church designated as offering
an ideal condition for soul growth, but if we stayed there permanently
to the neglect of our duties we should be failures in spite of the
ideal condition.
There remains, therefore, only one safe method for us, namely, to stay
in the din of the battle field of the world, endeavoring to wrest from
even the most unpromising conditions the material of soul growth by
unselfish service, and at the same time _to build within our own inner
selves a sanctuary_ filled with that silent music which sounds ever in
the serving soul as a source of upliftment above all the vicissitudes
of earthly existence. Having that “living church” _within_, being in
fact under that condition “_living temples_,” we may turn at any moment
when our attention is not legitimately required by temporal affairs to
that spiritual house not made with hands and lave in its harmony. We
may do that many times a day and thus restore continually the harmony
that has been disturbed by the discords of terrestrial intercourse.
How then shall we build that temple and fill it with the heavenly
music we so much desire? What will help and what will hinder? are the
questions which call for a practical solution, and we shall try to
make the answer as plain and practical as possible, for this is a very
vital matter. The _little things_ are particularly important, for the
neophyte needs to take even the slightest things into account. If we
light a match in a strong wind it is extinguished ere it has gained a
fair start, but if the little flame is laid on a brush-heap and given
a chance to grow in comparative calm, a rising wind will fan the flame
instead of extinguishing it. Adepts or Great Souls may remain serene
under conditions which would upset the ordinary aspirant, hence he
should use discrimination and not expose himself unnecessarily to
conditions subversive of soul growth; what he needs more than anything
is _poise_, and nothing is more inimical to that condition than _noise_.
It is undeniable that our communities are “Bedlams,” and that we have
a legitimate right to escape some noises if possible, such as the
screeching made by street cars rounding a curve. We do not need to
live on such a corner to the detriment of our nerves or endeavors at
concentration, but if we have a sick, crying child that requires our
attention day and night, it does not matter how it affects our nerves,
we have no right in the sight of God or man to run away or neglect
it in order to concentrate. These things are perfectly obvious and
produce instant assent, but the things that help or hinder most are,
as said, the things that are so small that they escape our attention
entirely. When we now start to enumerate them, they may provoke a smile
of incredulity, but if they are pondered upon and practiced they will
soon win assent, for judged by the formula that “by their fruits ye
shall know them,” they will show results and vindicate our assertion
that “Silence is one of the greatest helps in soul growth,” and should
therefore be cultivated by the aspirant in his home, his personal
demeanor, his walk, his habits, and paradoxical as it seems, even in
his speech.
It is a proof of the benefit of religion that it makes people happy,
but the greatest happiness is usually too deep for outward expression.
It fills our whole being so full that it is almost awesome, and a
boisterous manner never goes together with that true happiness for
it is the sign of superficiality. The loud voice, the coarse laugh,
the noisy manner, the hard heels that sound like sledge hammers, the
slamming of doors, and the rattling of dishes are the signatures of the
unregenerate, for they love noise, the more the merrier, as it stirs
their desire bodies. For their purpose church music is anathema; a
blaring brass band is preferable to any other form of entertainment,
and the wilder the dance, the better. But it is otherwise, or should
be, with the aspirant to the higher life.
When the infant Jesus was sought by Herod with murderous intent, his
only safety lay in flight, and by that expedient were preserved his
life and power to grow and fulfill his mission. Similarly, when the
Christ is born within the aspirant he can best preserve this spiritual
life by fleeing from the environment of the unregenerate where these
hindering things are practiced, and seek a place among others of
kindred ambitions provided he is free to do so; but if placed in a
position of responsibility to a family, it is his duty to strive to
alter conditions by precept and example, particularly by example, so
that in time that refined, subdued atmosphere which breathes harmony
and strength may reign over the whole house. It is not essential to
the happiness of children that they be allowed to shout at the top of
their voices or to race pell-mell through the house, slamming doors
and wrecking furniture in their mad race; it is indeed decidedly
detrimental, for it teaches them to disregard the feelings of others in
self-gratification. They will benefit more than mother by being shod
with rubber heels and taught to reserve their romps for outdoors and
to play quietly in the house, closing doors easily, and speaking in a
moderated tone of voice such as mother uses.
In childhood we begin to wreck the nerves that bother us in later
years, so if we teach our children the lesson above indicated, we
may save them much trouble in life as well as further our own soul
growth now. It may take years to reform a household of these seemingly
unimportant faults and secure an atmosphere conducive to soul growth,
especially if the children have grown to adult age and resent reforms
of that nature, but it is well worth while. We can and _must_ at least
cultivate the virtue of silence in ourselves, or our own soul growth
will be very small. Perhaps if we look at the matter from its occult
point of view in connection with that important vehicle, _the vital
body_, the point of this necessity will be more clear.
We know that the vital body is ever storing up power in the physical
body which is to be used in this “School of Experience,” and that
during the day the desire body is constantly dissipating this energy in
actions which constitute experience that is eventually transmuted to
soul growth. So far so good, but the desire body has the tendency to
run amuck if not held in with a tight rein. It revels in _unrestrained_
motion, the wilder the better, and if unbridled makes the body whistle,
sing, jump, dance, and do all the other unnecessary and undignified
things which are so detrimental to soul growth. While under such a
spell of inharmony and discord the person is dead to the spiritual
opportunities in the physical world, and at night when he leaves his
body the process of restoration of that vehicle consumes so much time
that very little, if any, time is left for work, even if the person has
the inclination to think seriously of doing such work.
Therefore we ought by all means to flee from noises which we are
not obliged to hear, and cultivate personally the quiet yet kindly
demeanor, the modulated voice, the silent walk, the unobtrusive
presence, and all the other virtues which make for harmony, for then
the restorative process is quickly accomplished and we are free the
major part of the night to work in the invisible worlds to gain more
soul growth. Let us in this attempt at improvement remember to be
undaunted by occasional failures, remembering Paul’s admonition to
continue in well-doing with patient persistence.
Chapter XVII
THE “MYSTERIUM MAGNUM” OF THE ROSE CROSS
Occasionally we get letters from students voicing their regret that
they are alone in the study of the Rosicrucian Philosophy, that their
husbands, wives, children, or other relatives are unsympathetic or even
antagonistic to the teachings, despite all efforts of the said students
to interest favorably these friends and thus obtain companionship in
their studies, or at least freedom to follow their bent. This friction
causes them a certain amount of unhappiness according to their various
temperaments, and we are asked by these students to advise them how
to overcome the antagonism and convert their relatives. This we have
done by personal letters and have been privileged to help change
conditions in not a few homes when our advice has been followed; but we
know that frequently those who suffer most acutely are silent, and we
have therefore decided to devote a little time to a discussion of the
subject.
It is truly said, very truly, that “a little knowledge is a dangerous
thing,” and this applies with the same force to the Rosicrucian
teachings as to any other subject. Therefore, the very first step is
to find out _if you have enough knowledge_ to be on the safe side. So
let me ask the question: What is the Rosicrucian teaching which you
are so anxious to have others share and to which they object? Is it
the twin laws of “_Causation_” and “_Rebirth_?” They are excellent for
explaining a great many problems of life, and they are a great comfort
when the grim reaper appears and robs our home of some one near and
dear. But then you must remember that there are many who do not feel
the need of any explanation whatever. They are constitutionally as
unfit to apply it as a deaf mute is to use a telephone. It is true that
we work to better advantage when conscious of the law and its purpose,
but let us take comfort from the fact that these laws work for good
to all whether they know it or not, and therefore _this knowledge is
not essential_. They will suffer no great loss because they do not
embrace this doctrine, and they may escape the danger incident to the
possession of “a little knowledge.”
In India where these truths are known and believed by millions, people
make little effort at material progress because they know that they
have endless time, and what they do not accomplish in this life may
wait till the next or a later life. Many Westerners who have embraced
the doctrine of rebirth have ceased to be useful members of their
community by adopting a life of indolence, thereby bringing reproach
on these so-called higher teachings. If your friends will have none
of this teaching, leave them alone. Making converts is by no means
the essential point of the Rosicrucian teaching. The Guardian of the
Gate will not examine them as to knowledge, and he may admit some who
are entirely ignorant of this matter and shut the door in the face of
others who have devoted their lives to studying, lecturing on, and
teaching these laws.
Then if the doctrines of “Causation” and “Rebirth” are unessential,
what about the _complex constitution of Man_? Surely it is essential to
know that we are not merely this visible body, but have a vital body
to charge it with energy, a desire body to spend this force, a mind
to guide our exertions in channels of reason, and that we are virgin
spirits enmeshed in a threefold veil as egos. Is it not essential to
know that the physical body is the material counterpart of the Divine
Spirit, that the vital body is a replica of the Life Spirit, and that
the desire body is the shadow of the Human Spirit, the mind forming the
link between the threefold spirit and the threefold body?
No, _it is not essential to know these things_. Properly used,
this knowledge is an advantage, but it may also be a very decided
disadvantage in the case of those who have only “a little knowledge”
in that direction. There are many such who are always meditating on
“the higher self” while entirely forgetful of the many “lower selves”
groaning in misery at their very doors. There are many who dream day
and night of the time when they will take their daily _soul flights_ as
“invisible helpers” and ease the sufferings of the sick and sorrowful,
yet would not spend a five cent car fare and an hour’s time to bring a
poor, friendless soul in a city hospital a flower and a word of cheer.
Again I say that the Guardian of the Gate is more likely to admit him
who did what he could than him who dreamed much and did nothing to help
his suffering fellow man.
If you could get people to study the Rosicrucian teachings about death
and the life after, you would feel it important that they should
also know about the silver cord remaining unbroken for a period
approximating three and one-half days after the spirit has left the
body, and that it must be left undisturbed while the panorama of its
past life is being etched into the desire body to serve as arbiter of
its life in the invisible world. You would like them to know all about
the spirit’s life in purgatory—how the evil acts of its life react upon
it as pain to create conscience and keep it from repeating in a later
life the acts that caused the suffering. You would have them know how
the good acts of life are transmuted into virtues usable in later lives
as set forth in our philosophy.
You have no doubt been surprised at the assertion that a knowledge of
the great twin laws is unessential. Probably the next assertion that
it is immaterial whether others learn about the constitution of man
as we know it may have scandalized you; and you will undoubtedly feel
shocked to have it stated that the Rosicrucian teachings concerning
death and the passing of the spirit into the unseen worlds are also
comparatively unnecessary to the purpose we aim to accomplish. It
really does not matter whether your relatives understand or believe in
these teachings. So far as your own passing is concerned, an earnest
request that they leave your body quiet and undisturbed for the proper
period will probably be carried out to the letter, for people have an
almost superstitious regard for such “last requests”; and if any of
your friends pass over, _you_ are there with your knowledge and can do
the right thing for them. So never mind if they refuse to take up that
part of the Rosicrucian teaching.
But the student may say, “If a knowledge of the before mentioned
subjects which seems of such practical value is immaterial to
advancement, then it follows that study of the Periods, Revolutions,
World Globes, etc., is entirely so. That disposes of everything taught
in the ”_Cosmo_,“ and there is nothing left of the Rosicrucian teaching
which we have embraced and to which we have pinned our faith!”
_Is nothing left?_ Yes, indeed, ALL IS LEFT, for those things mentioned
are only the husks which you must remove to get at _the meat in the
nut_, the kernel of it all. You have read the “_Cosmo_” many times
perhaps. Maybe you have studied it and feel proud of your knowledge
of the world mystery, but _have you ever read the mystery hidden in
every line_? That is the great and essential teaching, the one teaching
to which your friends will respond, if you can find it and give it to
them. The “_Cosmo_” preaches on every page THE GOSPEL OF SERVICE.
For our sakes Deity manifested the universe. The great creative
Hierarchies have all been and some of them still are _our servants_.
The luminous star angels, whose fiery bodies we see whirling through
space, have worked with us for ages, and in due time Christ came
to bring us the spiritual impetus needed at that time. It is also
significant in the extreme that in the parable of the last judgment
Christ does not say, “Well done, thou great and erudite _philosopher_,
who knoweth the Bible, the Kabala, the ‘_Cosmo_,’ and all the other
mysterious literature which reveals the intricate workings of nature”;
but He says, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: * * * enter
thou into the joy of thy lord. * * * * For I was an hungered, and
ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; * * *.” Not
one single word about knowledge; _the whole emphasis was laid upon
faithfulness and service_.
There is a deep occult reason for this: _service builds the soul body_,
the glorious wedding garment without which no man can enter into the
kingdom of the heavens, occultly termed “_The New Galilee_,” and it
does not matter whether we are aware of what is going on, so long as we
accomplish the work. Moreover, as the luminous soul body grows in and
around a person, this light will teach him or her about the Mysteries
without the need of books, and one who is thus God-taught knows more
than all the books in the world contain. In due time the inner vision
will be opened and the way to the Temple shown. If you want to teach
your friends, no matter how skeptical they may be, they will believe
you if you preach the gospel of service.
But you must _preach by practice_. You must become a servant of men
yourself if you would have them believe in you. If you want them to
follow, you must lead, or they will have the right to question your
sincerity. Remember, “ye are a city upon a hill,” and when you make
professions they have a right to judge you by your fruits; therefore
_say little, serve much_.
There are many who love to discuss the harmless, peaceful life at
dinner, oblivious of the fact that the red roast on the table and the
cigar in the mouth dull the effect. There are others who make a god of
the stomach and would rather study dietetics than the Bible; they are
always ready to buttonhole their friends and discourse upon the latest
food fad. I knew one man who was at the head of an esoteric group. His
wife was antagonistic to occultism and the meatless diet. He forced her
to cook his vegetables at home, and told her that if she ever dared to
bring meat into _his_ kitchen or contaminate _his_ dishes with it, he
would pitch her and the dishes into the street, adding that if she must
make a pig of herself she could go and get flesh food in a restaurant.
_Is it to be wondered at that she judged the religion by the man and
would have none of it?_ Surely he was to blame, being “his brother’s
keeper,” and though this is an extreme case, it makes the lesson more
obvious. It is to the everlasting praise of Mahomet that his wife
became his first disciple, and it speaks volumes for his kindness and
consideration in the home. His is an example we should all do well to
follow if we would win our friends to the higher life, for though all
religious systems differ outwardly _the kernel of all is_ LOVE.
Chapter XVIII
STUMBLING BLOCKS
Not infrequently the remark is made by people who have no sympathy with
or aspirations to live the higher life, that it unfits people for the
world’s work. Unfortunately it cannot be denied that there is seeming
justification for the assertion, though in reality the very first
requisite for living the higher life involves an obligation to comport
oneself irreproachably in dealing with material matters, for unless
we are faithful in the little things, how can we expect to be trusted
with greater responsibilities? It has therefore been deemed expedient
to devote a lesson to the discussion of some of the things which act as
stumbling blocks in the life of aspirants.
In the Bible story where the king sent out his servants with
invitations to the feast he had prepared, we are told that his
invitations were refused on various grounds. Each one had material
cares, buying, selling, marrying, therefore they could not attend to
the spiritual things, and such people we may say represent the greater
number of humanity today, who are too engrossed in the cares of the
world to devote even a thought to aspiration in the higher direction.
But there are others who become so enthusiastic upon the first taste
of the higher teachings that they are ready to give up all work in the
world, repudiate every obligation, and devote their time to what they
are pleased to call “helping humanity.” They will readily admit that it
takes time to learn how to be a watchmaker, a shoemaker, an engineer,
or a musician, and they would not for a moment dream of giving up
their present material business to establish themselves as shoemaker,
watchmaker, or music teacher just because they felt enthusiastic about
or inclined to take up such work. They would know that lacking the
proper preparation and training they would be doomed to failure, and
yet they think that just because they have become enthusiastic over the
higher teachings they are at once fitted to step out of the world’s
work and devote their time to service similar, even though in a lesser
degree, to that rendered by the Christ in His ministry.
One writes to Headquarters: “I have given up flesh eating, and I long
to live the ascetic life, far from the world’s noise that jars upon me.
I want to give my life for humanity.” Another says: “I want to live the
spiritual life, but I have a wife who needs my care and support. Do
you think I would be justified in leaving her to help my fellow men?”
Still another says: “I am in a business which is unspiritual; every
day I must do things which are against my higher nature, but I have a
daughter dependent upon me for an education. What shall I do: continue
or give up?” There are of course many other problems presented to us,
but these serve as fair samples, for they represent a class which is
ready to give up the world at the slightest word of encouragement,
and rush off to the hills in the expectation of sprouting wings
immediately. If the people who are in that class have any ties, they
break them without a scruple or a moment’s consideration.
Another class still feels some obligation, but could be easily
persuaded to repudiate it in order that they might live what they call
“the spiritual life.” It cannot be denied that when people get into
this state of mind, when they lose their ambition to work in the world,
when they become shiftless and neglectful of their duties, they merit
the reproach of the community.
But as already said such conduct is based upon a misunderstanding of
the higher teachings and is not at all sanctioned by the Bible or the
Elder Brothers.
It is a step in the right direction when a person ceases to feed on
flesh because he feels compassion for the suffering of the animals.
There are many people who abstain from flesh foods for health’s sake,
but theirs being a selfish motive, the sacrifice carries with it no
merit. Where the aspirant to the higher life is prompted to abstain
from flesh food because he realizes that the refining influence of a
meatless diet upon the body will aid him in his quest by making the
body more sensitive to spiritual influences, there is no real merit
either. Truly, the person who abstains from flesh foods for the sake
of health will be much benefited, and the person who abstains to make
his body more sensitive will also get his reward in that respect, but
from the spiritual point of view neither will be very much better. On
the other hand, whoever abstains from flesh food because he realizes
that God’s life is immanent in every animal just as in himself, that
in the final analysis God feels all suffering felt by the animal, that
it is a divine law, “Thou shalt not kill,” and that he must abstain
out of compassion, this person is not only benefited in health and by
making his body more sensitive to spiritual impacts, but because of the
motive which prompts him he reaps a reward in soul growth immeasurably
more precious than any other consideration. Therefore we would say by
all means abstain from flesh food, but be sure to do so prompted by the
right spiritual motive or it will not affect your spiritual interests
one iota.
When the enthusiast says that he wants to get away from the world and
the noise that jars upon him to live the ascetic life, it is truly
a strange idea of service. The reason why we are here in this world
is that we may gather experience, which is then transmuted into soul
growth. If a diamond in the rough were laid away in a drawer for
years and years, it would be no different than before, but when it
is placed against the grindstone by the lapidary the harsh grinding
process removes the last atom of the rough coating and brings out the
beautiful, luminous gem. Every one of us is a diamond in the rough,
and God, the Great Lapidary, uses the world as a grindstone which rubs
off the rough and ugly coating, allowing our spiritual selves to shine
forth and become luminous. The Christ was a living example of this. He
did not go away from the centers of civilization, but moved constantly
among the suffering and the poor, teaching, healing, and helping until
by the glorious service rendered, His body was made luminous on the
Mount of Transfiguration, and He who had trodden the Way exhorted His
followers to be “in the world but not of it.” That is the great lesson
that every aspirant has to learn.
It is one thing to go out in the mountains where there is no one to
contradict or to jar upon our sensibilities and keep our poise there;
it is another thing entirely to maintain our spiritual aspirations and
keep our balance in the world where everything jars upon us; but when
we stay on this path, we gain a self-control which is unattainable in
any other manner.
However, though we are careful to prepare our food well and to abstain
from flesh eating or any other contaminating _outward_ influence,
though we want to get away to the mountains to escape the sordid
things of city life, and we want to rid ourselves of every outward
thing that may prove a stumbling block to our progress, still what
about the things that come from _within_, the thoughts we have in our
minds and our mental food? It will avail us not one iota of good if we
could feed our bodies upon nectar and ambrosia, the ethereal food of
the gods, when the mind is a charnel house, a habitat of low thoughts,
for then we are only as whited sepulchres, beautiful to behold from
without but inwardly full of a nauseating stench; and this mental
delinquency can be maintained just as easily and perhaps it is even
more apt to be maintained in the solitude of the mountains or in a
so-called spiritual retreat than in a city where we are busy with the
work of our vocation. It is indeed a true saying that “an idle brain
is the devil’s workshop,” and the safest way to attain to interior
purity and cleanliness is to keep the mind busy all the time, guiding
our desires, feelings, and emotions toward the practical problems
of life, and working, each one in his own immediate environment, to
find the poor and the needy that he may give them whatever help their
cases require and merit. That class which has no ties of its own may
profitably make ties of love and friendship with those who are loveless
and friendless.
Or if it is the care of a relative—wife, daughter, husband, or anyone
else that claims us, let us remember the words of Christ when He
said, “Who are my mother and my brother?” and answered the question
by saying, “Those who do the will of my Father.” This saying has been
misconstrued by some to mean that the Christ repudiated His physical
relationships for the spiritual, but it is only necessary to remember
that in the last moments of His life on earth He called to Him the
disciple whom He loved and brought him to His mother, giving him to
her as a son and charging the disciple to care for His parent. Love is
the unifying force in life, and according to the higher teachings we
are required to love our kin, but also to extend our love natures so
that they may also include everyone else. It is good that we love our
own mother and father, but we should also learn to love other people’s
mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, for universal brotherhood
can never become a fact so long as our love is confined only to the
family. It must be made all inclusive.
There was one among the disciples of Christ whom He loved especially,
and following His example we also may bestow a particular affection
upon certain ones, though we ought to love everyone and do good even to
them that despitefully use us. These are high ideals and difficult of
accomplishment at our present stage of development, but as the mariner
steers his ship by a guiding star and reaches his desired haven though
never the star itself, so also by setting our ideals high we shall live
nobler and better lives than if we do not aspire, and in time and
through many births we shall eventually attain, because the inherent
divinity in ourselves makes it imperative.
Finally then, to sum up, it does not really matter where we are placed
in life, whether in a high station or a low. Present environment with
its opportunities and limitations is such as suits our individual
requirements as determined by our self-made destinies in previous
existences. Therefore it holds for us the lesson we must learn in order
to progress properly. If we have a wife, a daughter, or other family
relations to hold us to that environment, they must be considered as
part of what we have to reckon with, and by doing our duty to them we
learn the required lesson. If they are antagonistic to our belief, if
they have no sympathy with our aspirations, if we have on their account
to stay in a business and do things which we are not pleased with, it
is because we must learn something from these things, and the proper
way for the earnest aspirant is to look conditions squarely in the face
with a view to finding out just what it is that is needed. This may
not be an easy matter. It may take weeks, months, or years to solve
the problem, but so long as the aspirant applies himself prayerfully
to the task, he may be sure that the light will shine some day, and
then he will see what is required and why these conditions were imposed
upon him. Then having learned the lesson or found out its purpose, he
will if he has the right spirit prayerfully bear the burden, for he
will know that he is upon the right road and that it is an absolute
certainty that as soon as the lesson of that environment has been
learned a new way will be opened up showing him the next step upon the
path of progress. Thus the “stumbling blocks” will have been turned
into “stepping stones,” which would never have happened if he had run
away from them. In this connection we would quote the beautiful little
poem:
“Let us not waste our time in longing
For bright but impossible things.
Let us not sit supinely waiting
For the sprouting of angel wings.
Let us not scorn to be rush-lights,
Everyone can’t be a star,
But let us fulfill our mission
By shining just where we are.
There is need of the tiniest candle
As well as the garish sun;
And the humblest deed is ennobled
When it is worthily done.
We may never be called on to brighten
Those darkened regions afar,
So let us fulfill our mission
By shining just where we are.”
Chapter XIX
THE LOCK OF UPLIFTMENT
Have you ever seen how ships going up a canal or river are lifted from
one level to another? It is a very interesting and instructive process.
First the ship is floated into a small enclosure where the water level
is the same as that of the lower part of the river where the ship has
previously been sailing. Then the gates of the enclosure are shut and
the ship is cut off from the outside world by the high walls of the
lock. It cannot go back to the river without; even the light is dimmed
around it, but _above_ the moving clouds or the bright sunshine are
seen beckoning. The ship cannot rise without assistance, and the law of
gravitation makes it impossible for the water in that part of the river
where the ship has been sailing to float it to a higher level, hence no
help may be looked for from that source.
There are also gates in the upper part of the lock which prevent the
waters on the higher levels from rushing into the lock from above,
otherwise the inrushing water would flood the lock in a moment and
crush the ship lying at the bottom level because acting in conformity
with that same law of gravitation. It is from _above_, nevertheless,
that the power must come if the ship is ever to be lifted to the higher
level of the river, and so to do this safely a _small stream_ is
conducted to the bottom of the lock, which lifts the ship _very slowly
and gradually but safely_ to the level of the river above. When that
level has been reached, the upper gates may be opened without danger to
the ship, and it may sail forth upon the expansive bosom of the higher
waterway. Then the lock is _slowly_ emptied and the water it contained
added to the water at the lower level, which is thereby raised even if
but slightly. The lock is then ready to raise another vessel.
This is, as said in the beginning, a very interesting and instructive
physical operation, showing how human skill and ingenuity overcome
great obstacles by the use of nature’s forces. But it is a source of
still greater enlightenment in a spiritual matter of vital importance
to all who aspire and endeavor to live the higher life, for it
illustrates the only safe method whereby man can rise from the temporal
to the spiritual world, and it confutes those false teachers who for
personal gain play upon the too ardent desires of the unripe, and
who profess ability to unlock the gates of the unseen worlds for the
consideration of an initiation fee. Our illustration shows that this is
impossible, because the immutable laws of nature forbid.
For the purpose of elucidation we may call our river the river of
life, and we as individuals are the ships sailing upon it; the lower
river is the temporal world, and when we have sailed its length and
breadth for many lives, we inevitably come to the lock of upliftment
which is placed at the end. We may for a long time cruise about the
entrance and look in, impelled by an inner urge to enter but drawn by
another impulse towards the broad river of life without. For a long
time this lock of upliftment with its high, bare walls looks forbidding
and solitary, while the river of life is gay with bunting and full
of kindred craft gaily cruising about; but when the inner urge has
become sufficiently intense, it finally drives us into the lock of
upliftment, and it imbues us with a determination not to go back to
the river of worldly life. But even at that stage there are some who
falter and fear to shut the gate behind them; they aspire ardently at
times to the life on the higher level, but it makes them feel less
alone to look back upon the river of worldly life, and sometimes they
stay in this condition for lives, wondering why they do not progress,
why they experience no spiritual downpouring, why there is no uplift in
their lives. Our illustration makes the reason very plain; no matter
how hard the captain might beg, the lock keeper would never think of
releasing the stream of water from above until the gate had been
closed behind the ship, for it could never lift the ship an inch under
such conditions but would flow through the open gates to waste in the
lower river. Neither will the guardians of the gates of the higher
worlds open the stream of upliftment for us, no matter how hard we
pray, until we have shut the door to the world behind us, and shut it
very tight with respect to the lust of the eyes and the pride of life,
the sins that so easily beset us and are fostered by us in the careless
worldly days. We must shut the door on them all before we are really in
a condition to receive the stream of upliftment, but once we have thus
shut the door and irrevocably set our faces forward, the downpouring
begins, slowly but surely as the stream of the lock keeper which lifts
the vessel.
But having left the temporal world with all its deeds behind and having
set his face towards the spiritual worlds, the yearning of the aspirant
becomes more intense. As time passes he feels in increasing measure
the void on both sides of himself. The temporal world and its deeds
have dropped from him as a garment; he may be bodily in that world,
performing his duties, but he has lost interest; he is in the world
but not of it, and the spiritual world where he aspires to citizenship
seems equally distant. He is all alone and his whole being cries and
writhes in pain, longing for light.
Then comes the turn of the tempter: “I have a school of initiation,
and am able to advance my pupils quickly for a fee,” or words to that
effect, but usually more subtle; and who shall blame the poor aspirants
who fall before the wiles of these pretenders? Lucky are they if, as
is generally the case, they are merely put through a ceremonial and
given an empty degree, but occasionally they meet one who has really
dabbled in magic and is able to open the flood gates from the higher
level. Then the inrush of spiritual power shatters the system of the
unfortunate dupe as the waters of the river above would wreck a vessel
at the bottom of the lock if an ignorant or malicious person were to
open the gates. The vessel must be lifted slowly for safety’s sake, and
so must the aspirant to spiritual upliftment; patience and unwavering
persistence in well-doing are absolutely indispensable, and the door
to the pleasures of the world must be kept closed. If that is done we
shall surely and certainly accomplish the ascent to the heights of the
unseen world with all the opportunities for further soul growth there
found, for it is a natural process governed by natural laws, just as is
the elevation of a ship to the higher levels of a river by a system of
locks.
But how can I stay in the lock of upliftment and serve my fellow man?
If soul growth comes only by service, how can I gain by isolation?
These are questions that may not unnaturally present themselves to
students. To answer them we must again emphasize that no one can lift
another who is not himself upon a higher level, not so far above
as to be unreachable, but sufficiently close to be within grasp of
the reaching hand. There are, alas, too many who profess the higher
teachings but live lives on the level with ordinary men and women of
the world or even below that level. Their professions make the higher
teachings a byword and call down the scorn of scoffers. But those who
live the higher teachings have no need to profess them orally; they
are isolated and marked in spite of themselves, and though handicapped
by the misdeeds of the “professors,” they do in time win the respect
and confidence of those about them; eventually they call out in their
associates the desire of emulation, they convert them in spite of
themselves, reaping in return for this service a commensurate soul
growth.
Now is the time of the year (Christmas) when the crest wave of
spiritual power envelops the world. It culminates at the winter
solstice, when the Christ is reborn into our planet, and though
hampered by the present (from the limited viewpoint) deplorable war
conditions, His life given for us may be most easily drawn upon by the
aspirant at this season to further spiritual growth; therefore all who
are desirous of attaining the higher levels would do well to put forth
special efforts in that direction during the winter season.
Chapter XX
THE COSMIC MEANING OF EASTER
PART I
On the morning of Good Friday, 1857, Richard Wagner, the master artist
of the nineteenth century, sat on the verandah of a Swiss villa by
the Zurich Sea. The landscape about him was bathed in most glorious
sunshine; peace and good will seemed to vibrate through nature. All
creation was throbbing with life; the air was laden with the fragrant
perfume of budding pine forests—a grateful balm to a troubled heart or
a restless mind.
Then suddenly, as a bolt from an azure sky, there came into Wagner’s
deeply mystic soul a remembrance of the ominous significance of that
day—the darkest and most sorrowful in the Christian year. It almost
overwhelmed him with sadness, as he contemplated the contrast. There
was such a marked incongruity between the smiling scene before him,
the plainly observable activity of nature, struggling to renewed life
after winter’s long sleep, and the death struggle of a tortured Savior
upon a cross; between the full-throated chant of life and love issuing
from the thousands of little feathered choristers in forest, moor, and
meadow, and the ominous shouts of hate issuing from an infuriated mob
as they jeered and mocked the noblest ideal the world has ever known;
between the wonderful creative energy exerted by nature in spring, and
the destructive element in man, which slew the noblest character that
ever graced our earth.
While Wagner meditated thus upon the incongruities of existence, the
question presented itself: Is there any connection between the death
of the Savior upon the cross at Easter, and the vital energy which
expresses itself so prodigally in spring when nature begins the life of
a new year?
Though Wagner did not consciously perceive and realize the full
significance of the connection between the death of the Savior and the
rejuvenation of nature, he had, nevertheless, unwittingly stumbled upon
the key to one of the most sublime mysteries encountered by the human
spirit in its pilgrimage from clod to God.
In the darkest night of the year, when earth sleeps most soundly in
Boreas’ cold embrace, when material activities are at the very lowest
ebb, a wave of spiritual energy carries upon its crest the divine
creative “Word from Heaven” to a _mystic birth_ at Christmas; and as a
luminous cloud the spiritual impulse broods over the world that “knew
it not,” for it “shines in the darkness” of winter when nature is
paralyzed and speechless.
This divine creative “Word” has a message and a mission. It was born
to “save the world,” and “to give its life for the world.” It must of
necessity sacrifice its life in order to accomplish the rejuvenation
of nature. Gradually it _buries itself in the earth_ and commences
to infuse its own vital energy into the millions of seeds which lie
dormant in the ground. It whispers “the word of life” into the ears
of beast and bird, until the gospel or good news has been preached to
every creature. The sacrifice is fully consummated by the time the
sun crosses its Easter(n) node at the spring equinox. Then the divine
creative Word expires. _It dies upon the cross at Easter_ in a mystical
sense, while uttering a last triumphant cry, “It has been accomplished”
(consummatum est).
But as an echo returns to us many times repeated, so also the celestial
song of life is re-echoed from the earth. The whole creation takes
up the anthem. A legion-tongued chorus repeats it over and over. The
little seeds in the bosom of Mother Earth commence to germinate; they
burst and sprout in all directions, and soon a wonderful mosaic of
life, a velvety green carpet embroidered with multicolored flowers,
replaces the shroud of immaculate wintry white. From the furred
and feathered tribes “the word of life” re-echoes as a song of
love, impelling them to mate. Generation and multiplication are the
watchwords everywhere—_the Spirit has risen_ to more abundant life.
Thus, mystically, we may note the annual birth, death, and resurrection
of the Savior as the ebb and flow of a spiritual impulse which
culminates at the winter solstice, Christmas, and has egress from the
earth shortly after Easter when the “word” “_ascends to Heaven_” on
Whitsunday. But it will not remain there forever. We are taught that
“thence it shall return,” “at the judgment.” Thus when the sun descends
below the equator through the sign of the scales in October, when the
fruits of the year are harvested, weighed, and assorted according
to their kind, the descent of the spirit of the new year has its
inception. This descent culminates in birth at Christmas.
Man is a miniature of nature. What happens on a large scale in the
life of a planet like our earth, takes place on a smaller scale in the
course of human events. A planet is the body of a wonderfully great
and exalted Being, one of the Seven Spirits before the Throne (of
the parent sun). Man is also a spirit and “made in their likeness.”
As a planet revolves in its cyclic path around the sun whence it
emanated, so also the human spirit moves in an orbit around its
central source—God. Planetary orbits, being ellipses, have points of
closest approach to and extreme deviation from their solar centers.
Likewise the orbit of the human spirit is elliptical. We are closest
to God when our cyclic journey carries us into the celestial sphere
of activity—heaven, and we are farthest removed from Him during
earth life. These changes are necessary to our soul growth. As the
festivals of the year mark the recurring events of importance in
the life of a Great Spirit, so our births and deaths are events of
periodical recurrence. It is as impossible for the human spirit to
remain perpetually in heaven or upon earth as it is for a planet to
stand still in its orbit. The same immutable law of periodicity which
determines the unbroken sequence of the seasons, the alternation of day
and night, the tidal ebb and flow, governs also the progression of the
human spirit, both in heaven and upon earth.
From realms of celestial light where we live in freedom, untrammeled by
limitations of time and space, where we vibrate in tune with infinite
harmony of the spheres, we descend to birth in the physical world where
our spiritual sight is obscured by the mortal coil which binds us to
this limited phase of our existence. We live here awhile; we die and
ascend to heaven, to be reborn and to die again. Each earth life is a
chapter in a serial life story, extremely humble in its beginnings,
but increasing in interest and importance as we ascend to higher and
higher stations of human responsibility. No limit is conceivable,
for in essence we are divine and must therefore have the infinite
possibilities of God dormant within. When we have learned all that this
world has to teach us, a wider orbit, a larger sphere of superhuman
usefulness, will give scope to our greater capabilities.
“Build thee more stately mansions, O my Soul.
As the swift seasons roll,
Leave thy low vaulted past;
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea.”
Thus says Oliver Wendell Holmes, comparing the spiral progression
in the widening coil of a chambered nautilus to the expansion of
consciousness which is the result of soul growth in an evolving human
being.
“But what of Christ?” someone will ask. “Don’t you believe in Him? You
are discoursing upon Easter, the feast which commemorates the cruel
death and glorious, triumphant resurrection of the Savior, but you seem
to be alluding to Him more from an allegorical point of view than as an
actual fact.”
Certainly we believe in the Christ; we love Him with our whole heart
and soul, but we wish to emphasize the teaching that Christ is the
first fruits of the race. He said that we shall do the things He did,
“and greater.” Thus we are Christs-in-the-making.
“Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn.
The cross on Golgotha thou lookest to in vain,
Unless within thyself it be set up again.”
Thus proclaims Angelus Silesius, with true mystic understanding of the
essentials of attainment.
We are too much in the habit of looking to an outside Savior while
harboring a devil within; but till Christ be formed IN US, as Paul
says, we shall seek in vain, for as it is impossible for us to perceive
light and color, though they be all about us, unless our optic nerve
registers their vibrations, and as we remain unconscious of sound when
the tympanum of our ear is insensitive, so also must we remain blind
to the presence of Christ and deaf to His voice until we arouse our
dormant spiritual natures within. But once these natures have become
awakened, they will reveal the Lord of Love as a prime reality; this on
the principle that when a tuning fork is struck, another of identical
pitch will also commence to sing, while tuning forks of different
pitches will remain mute. Therefore the Christ said that His sheep knew
the _sound_ of His voice and responded, but the voice of the stranger
they heard not. (John 10:5). No matter what our creed, we are all
brethren of Christ, so let us rejoice, the Lord has risen! Let us seek
Him and forget our creeds and other lesser differences.
Chapter XXI
THE COSMIC MEANING OF EASTER
PART II
Once more we have reached the final act in the cosmic drama involving
the descent of the solar Christ Ray into the matter of our earth,
which is completed at the Mystic Birth celebrated at Christmas, and
the Mystic Death and Liberation, which are celebrated shortly after
the vernal equinox when the sun of the new year commences its ascent
into the higher spheres of the northern heavens, having poured out
its life to save humanity and give new life to everything upon earth.
At this time of the year a new life, an augmented energy, sweeps with
an irresistible force through the veins and arteries of all living
beings, inspiring them, instilling new hope, new ambition, and new
life, impelling them to new activities whereby they learn new lessons
in the school of experience. Consciously or unconsciously to the
beneficiaries, this outwelling energy invigorates everything that has
life. Even the plant responds by an increased circulation of sap,
which results in additional growth of the leaves, flowers, and fruits
whereby this class of life is at present expressing itself and evolving
to a higher state of consciousness.
But wonderful though these outward physical manifestations are, and
glorious though the transformation may be called which changes the
earth from a waste of snow and ice into a beautiful, blooming garden,
it sinks into insignificance before the spiritual activities which run
side by side therewith. The salient features of the cosmic drama are
identical in point of time with the material effects of the sun in the
four cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, for the most
significant events occur at the equinoctial and solstitial points.
It is really and actually true that “_in_ God we live and move and have
our being.” Outside Him we could have no existence; we live by and
through His life; we move and act by and through His strength; it is
His power which sustains our dwelling place, the earth, and without His
unflagging, unwavering efforts the universe itself would disintegrate.
Now we are taught that man was made in the likeness of God, and we
are given to understand that according to the law of analogy we are
possessed of certain powers latent within us which are similar to those
we see so potently expressed in the labor of Deity in the universe.
This gives us a particular interest in the annual cosmic drama
involving the death and resurrection of the sun. The life of the _God
Man, Christ Jesus_, was moulded in conformity with the solar story,
and it foreshadows in a similar manner all that may happen to the _Man
God_ of whom this Christ Jesus prophesied when He said: The works that
I do shall ye do also; and greater works shall ye do; whither I go thou
canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards.
Nature is the symbolic expression of God. She does nothing in vain
or gratuitously, but there is a purpose behind every thing and every
act. Therefore we should be alert and regard carefully the signs in
the heavens for they have a deep and important meaning concerning our
own lives. The intelligent understanding of their purpose enables us
to work so much more efficiently with God in His wonderful efforts
for the emancipation of our race from bondage to the laws of nature,
and for its liberation into a full measure of the stature of the sons
of God—crowned with glory, honor, and immortality, and free from the
power of sin, sickness, and suffering which now curtail our lives by
reason of our ignorance and nonconformity to the laws of God. The
divine purpose demands this emancipation, but whether it is to be
accomplished by the long and tedious process of evolution or by the
immensely quicker pathway of Initiation depends upon whether or not
we are willing to lend our cooperation. The majority of mankind go
through life with unseeing eyes and with ears that do not hear. They
are engrossed in their material affairs, buying and selling, working
and playing, without an adequate understanding or appreciation of the
purpose of existence, and were it unfolded to them it is scarcely to
be expected that they would conform and co-operate because of the
sacrifice it involves.
It is no wonder that the Christ appeals particularly to the poor and
that He emphasizes the difficulty of the rich entering the kingdom of
heaven, for even to this day when humanity has advanced in the school
of evolution for two millenia since His day, we find that the great
majority still value their houses and lands, their pretty hats and
gowns, the pleasures of society, dances, and dinners more than the
treasures of heaven which are garnered by service and self-sacrifice.
Although they may intellectually perceive the beauty of the spiritual
life, its desirability fades into insignificance in their eyes when
compared with the sacrifice involved in attaining. Like the rich young
man they would willingly follow Christ were there no such sacrifice
involved. They prefer rather to go away when they realize that
sacrifice is the one condition upon which they may enter discipleship.
So for them Easter is simply a season of joy because it is the end of
winter and the beginning of the summer season with its call of outdoor
sports and pleasures.
But for those who have definitely chosen the path of self-sacrifice
that leads to Liberation, Easter is the annual sign given them as
evidence of the cosmic basis of their hopes and aspirations. As Paul
properly states in that glorious fifteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians,
“If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is
also vain.
“Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have
testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up if so
be that the dead rise not.
“For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.
“And if Christ be not raised your faith is vain; ye are yet in your
sins.
“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable.
“If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what
advantageth it me if the dead rise not?
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of
them that slept.”
But in the Easter sun which at the vernal equinox commences to soar
into the northern heavens after having laid down its life for the
earth, we have the cosmic symbol of the verity of resurrection. When
taken as a cosmic fact in connection with the law of analogy that
connects the macrocosm with the microcosm, it is an earnest that some
day we shall all attain the cosmic consciousness and know positively
for ourselves by our own experience that there is no death, but that
what seems so is only a transition into a finer sphere.
It is an annual symbol to strengthen our souls in the work of
well-doing that we may grow the golden wedding garment required to make
us sons of God in the highest and holiest sense. It is literally true
that unless we walk in the light as God is in the light, we are not in
fellowship; but by making the sacrifices and rendering the services
required of us to aid in the emancipation of our race we are building
the soul body of radiant golden light which is the special substance
emanated from and by the Spirit of the Sun, the Cosmic Christ. When
this golden substance has clothed us with sufficient density, then
we shall be able to imitate the Easter sun and soar into the higher
spheres.
With these ideals firmly fixed in our minds, Easter time becomes a
season when it is in order to review our life during the preceding year
and make new resolutions for the coming season to serve in furthering
our soul growth. It is a season when the symbol of the ascending sun
should lead us up to a keen realization of the fact that we are but
pilgrims and strangers upon earth, that our real home as spirits is
in heaven, and that we ought to endeavor to learn the lessons in this
life school as quickly as is consistent with proper service, so that
as Easter Day marks the resurrection and liberation of the Christ
Spirit from the lower realms, so we also may continually look for the
dawn of that day which shall permanently free us from the meshes of
matter, from the body of sin and death, together with our brethren in
bondage, for no true aspirant would conceive of a liberation that did
not include all who were similarly placed.
This is a gigantic task; the contemplation of it may well daunt the
bravest heart, and were we alone it could not be accomplished; but the
divine hierarchies who have guided humanity upon the path of evolution
from the beginning of our career are still active and working with us
from their sidereal worlds, and with their help we shall eventually be
able to accomplish this elevation of humanity as a whole and attain to
an individual realization of glory, honor, and immortality. Having this
great hope within ourselves, this great mission in the world, let us
work as never before to make ourselves better men and women, so that by
our example we may waken in others a desire to lead a life that brings
liberation.
Chapter XXII
THE NEWBORN CHRIST
It has often been said in our literature that the sacrifice of Christ
was not an event which, taking place on Golgotha, was accomplished in a
few hours once and for all time, but that the mystic births and deaths
of the Redeemer are continual cosmic occurrences. We may therefore
conclude that this sacrifice is necessary for our physical and
spiritual evolution during the present phase of our development. As the
annual birth of the Christ Child approaches, it presents a never old,
ever new theme for meditation, from which we may profit by pondering it
with a prayer that it may create in our hearts a new light to guide us
upon the path of regeneration.
The inspired apostle gave us a wonderful definition of Deity when
he said that “God is Light,” and therefore “light” has been used to
illustrate the nature of the Divine in the Rosicrucian teachings,
especially the mystery of the Trinity in Unity. It is clearly taught
in the Holy Scriptures of all times that God is one and indivisible.
At the same time we find that as the one white light is refracted
into three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, so God appears in a
threefold role during manifestation by the exercise of the three divine
functions of _creation, preservation, and dissolution_.
When He exercises the attribute of _creation_, God appears as Jehovah,
the _Holy Spirit_; He is then Lord of law and generation and projects
the solar fertilizing principle _indirectly_ through the lunar
satellites of all planets where it is necessary to furnish bodies for
their evolving beings.
When He exercises the attribute of _preservation_ for the purpose of
sustaining the bodies generated by Jehovah under the laws of nature,
God appears as the Redeemer, _Christ_, and radiates the principles of
love and regeneration _directly_ into any planet where the creatures of
Jehovah require this help to extricate themselves from the meshes of
mortality and egotism in order to attain to altruism and endless life.
When God exercises the divine attribute of _dissolution_, He appears as
_The Father_ who calls us back to our heavenly home to assimilate the
fruits of experience and soul growth garnered by us during the day of
manifestation. This Universal Solvent, the ray of the Father, emanates
from the Invisible Spiritual Sun.
These divine processes of creation and birth, preservation and
life, and dissolution, death and return to the Author of our being
we see everywhere about us, and we recognize the fact that they
are activities of the Triune God in manifestation. But have we ever
realized that in the spiritual world there are no definite events, no
static conditions; that the beginning and the end of all adventures of
all ages are present in the eternal “here” and “now?” From the bosom of
the Father there is an everlasting outwelling of the essence of things
and events, which enters the realms of “time” and “space.” There it
gradually crystallizes and becomes inert, necessitating dissolution
that there may be room for other things and other events.
There is no escape from this cosmic law; it applies to everything in
the realm of time and space, the Christ ray included. As the lake
which empties itself into the ocean is replenished when the water that
left it has been evaporated and returns to it as rain, to flow again
ceaselessly toward the sea, so the Spirit of Love is eternally born of
the Father, day by day, hour by hour, endlessly flowing into the solar
universe to redeem us from the world of matter which enmeshes us in its
death grip. Wave upon wave is thus impelled outward from the sun to all
the planets, giving a rhythmic urge to the evolving creatures there.
And so it is in the very truest and most literal sense _a newborn
Christ_ that we hail at each approaching Yule-feast, and Christmas is
the most vital annual event for all humanity whether we realize it or
not. It is not merely a commemoration of the birth of our beloved
Elder Brother, Jesus, but the advent of the rejuvenating love life of
our Heavenly Father, sent by Him to redeem the world from the wintry
death grip. Without this new infusion of divine life and energy we
should soon perish physically, and our orderly progress would be
frustrated so far as our present lines of development are concerned.
This is a point we should endeavor to realize thoroughly in order that
we may learn to appreciate Christmas as keenly as we should.
We may learn a lesson in this respect as in many others from our
children or from reminiscences of our own childhood. How keen were
our anticipations of the approaching feast! How eagerly we waited
for the hour when we should receive the gifts which we knew would be
forthcoming from Santa Claus, the mysterious universal benefactor who
brought the toys for the coming year! How would we have felt had our
parents given us the dismembered dolls and broken drums of yesteryear?
It would surely have been felt as an overwhelming misfortune and would
have left a deep sense of broken trust which even time would have found
it difficult to heal; yet it would have been as nothing compared with
the cosmic calamity that would befall mankind if our Heavenly Father
should fail to provide the newborn Christ for our cosmic Christmas gift.
The Christ of last year cannot save us from physical famine any more
than last year’s rain can drench the soil again and swell the millions
of seeds that slumber in the earth awaiting the germinal activities
of the Father’s life to begin their growth; the Christ of last year
cannot kindle anew in our hearts the spiritual aspirations which urge
us onward in the Quest any more than last summer’s heat can warm us
now. The Christ of last year gave us His love and His life to the last
breath without stint or measure; when He was born into the earth last
Christmas, he endued with life the sleeping seeds which have grown
and gratefully filled our granaries with the bread of physical life;
He lavished the love given Him by the Father upon us, and when He had
wholly spent His life, He died at Eastertide to rise again to the
Father, as the river by evaporation rises to the sky.
But endlessly wells the divine love; as a father pities his children,
so does our Heavenly Father pity us, for He knows our physical and
spiritual frailty and dependence. Therefore we are now confidently
awaiting the mystic birth of the Christ of another year, laden with new
life and love sent by the Father to preserve us from the physical and
spiritual famine which would ensue were it not for this annual love
offering.
Younger souls usually find it difficult to disabuse their minds of the
personality of God, of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, and some can
only love Jesus, the man. They forget Christ, the Great Spirit, who
ushered in a new era in which the nations established under the regime
of Jehovah will be broken to pieces that the sublime structure of
Universal Brotherhood may be built upon their ruins. In time all the
world will realize that “God is spirit, to be worshiped in spirit and
in truth.” It is well to love Jesus and to imitate him; we know of no
nobler ideal and none more worthy. Could a nobler one have been found,
Jesus would not have been chosen as a vehicle of that Great One, the
Christ, in whom dwelt the Godhead. We shall therefore do well to follow
“in His steps.”
At the same time we shall exalt God in our own consciousness by taking
the word of the Bible that He is spirit, and that we cannot make any
likeness which will portray Him for He is like nothing in heaven or
on earth. We can see the physical vehicles of Jehovah circling as
satellites around the various planets; we can also see the sun, which
is the visible vehicle of the Christ; but the Invisible Sun, which
is the vehicle of the Father and the source of all, appears to the
greatest of human seers only as a higher octave of the photosphere of
the sun, a ring of violet-blue luminosity behind the sun. But we do not
need to see; we can feel His love, and that feeling is never so great
as at Christmas time when He is giving us the greatest of all gifts,
the Christ of the new year.
Chapter XXIII
WHY I AM A ROSICRUCIAN
Not infrequently we find that some one takes the platform to explain
why he is a Baptist, Methodist, or Christian Scientist, and what his
particular faith may be. We have often been asked by our students for
something which would help make plain to their associates why they
had embraced the teachings of the Elder Brothers given through the
Rosicrucian Fellowship, in preference to the faith which they had left.
We will, therefore, endeavor to give a succinct resume of reasons which
appeal to us as sufficient, but students will doubtless find many other
reasons equally good or better, which they may add verbally to what is
here said.
It should be made clear in the very beginning that students in the
Rosicrucian Fellowship do not call themselves Rosicrucians. That title
applies alone to the Elder Brothers, who are the hierophants of the
Western Wisdom Teaching. They are as far beyond the greatest living
saint in spiritual development as that saint is above the lowest fetish
worshiper.
When the bark of our life sails lightly upon smooth summer seas,
wafted along by the fair winds of health and prosperity, when friends
are present on every hand, eager to help us plan pleasures which will
increase our enjoyment of this world’s goods, when social favors or
political powers come to us to gratify our every wish in whatever
sphere our inclinations seek expression, then, indeed, we may say and
seem justified in saying with our whole heart and soul: “This world is
good enough for me.” But when we come to the end of the smiling sea of
success; when the whirlwind of adversity has blown us upon the rocky
shores of disaster, and a wave of suffering threatens to engulf us;
when friends have failed and every human help is as far off as it is
unavailing, then we must look for guidance to the skies as does the
mariner when he steers his ship over the waste of waters.
But when the skipper scans the sky in search of a star whereby to
steer the ship safely, he finds that the whole heavens are in motion.
Therefore to follow almost any one of the myriad of wandering stars
visible to the eye would be disastrous. To meet the requirements the
guiding star must be perfectly steadfast and immovable, _and there
is only one such, namely, the North Star_. By its guiding light the
mariner may steer in full confidence and bring his ship to a haven
of rest and safety. Likewise one who is looking for a guide which he
may trust in days of sorrow and trouble should embrace a religion
founded on eternal laws and immutable principles, able to explain
the mystery of life in a logical manner so that his intellect may be
satisfied, and at the same time containing a system of devotion that
may satisfy the heart, so that these twin factors in life may receive
equal satisfaction. Only when man has a clear intellectual conception
of the scheme of human development is he in a position to range himself
in line therewith. When it is made clear to him that this scheme is
beneficent and benevolent in the very highest degree, that all is truly
ruled by divine love, then this understanding will sooner or later call
out in him a true devotion and heartfelt acquiescence which will awaken
in him a desire to become a co-worker with God in the world’s work.
When seeking souls come to the door of the church to seek surcease from
sorrow, they cannot be satisfied with the platitudes that it is the
will of God that sorrow and suffering have come to them, that in His
divine providence He has seen fit to scourge them, and that they must
take it as an indication that He regards them as His beloved children
and be satisfied no matter what happens. They cannot see that Deity
does justice when He makes some rich and many poor, a few healthy and
many sickly; and it is only too often in evidence that iniquity is
prosperous while rectitude is in rags.
The Rosicrucian teachings give clear and logical information concerning
the world and man; they invite questions instead of discouraging them,
so that the seeker after spiritual truth may receive full satisfaction
intellectually; their explanations are strictly scientific as they are
reverently religious. They refer us for information regarding life’s
problems to laws that are as unchangeable and immutable in their realm
of action as the North Star is in the heavens.
Though the world whirls upon its axis at the rate of one thousand
miles an hour, we stand safely anywhere upon its surface because the
principle of gravity prevents us from being hurled into space by the
terrific speed. We know that the law of gravity is eternal; it will
not act today and suspend action tomorrow. When we enter a hydraulic
elevator we rest safely upon a column of water because that fluid is
more incompressible than most solids, and this property is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. Were its action suspended for even a
few moments, thousands of people would fall to their death; but it is
steadfast and sure, therefore we trust it implicitly.
The law of cause and effect is also immutable; if we throw a stone into
the air, the act is not complete until by gravitation it has returned
to earth. “_Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap_,” is the
way this law is expressed in the realm of morals. “The mills of God
grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small,” and once an act has been
done, the reaction will come some time, some where, as surely as the
stone that was thrown into the air will return to the earth.
But it is manifest that all of the causes that we set going in life
do not ripen in the present existence, and it therefore follows that
they must find their fruition somewhere else at some other time, or the
law would be invalidated, a proposition that would be as absolutely
impossible as that the law of gravitation could be suspended, for
either would make chaos out of cosmos. The Rosicrucian teachings
explain this by a statement that man is a spirit attending the School
of Life for the purpose of unfolding latent spiritual power, and that
for this purpose he lives many lives in earthly bodies of increasingly
finer texture, which enable him to express himself better and better.
In the lower grades of this school of evolution man has few faculties.
Each life-day he comes to school in the morning of childhood, and is
given lessons to learn, and at night when old and gray the nurse maid
of nature, “Death,” puts him to sleep that he may rest from his labors
until the dawn of another life-day, when he is given a new child body
and new lessons. Each day “Experience,” the teacher of the school helps
him to learn some of the lessons of life, and gradually he becomes
more and more proficient. Some day he will have learned the entire
curriculum of the school, which includes building of bodies as well as
using them.
Thus when we see one who has few faculties, we know that he is a young
soul who has gone to life’s school only a few days; and when we find a
beautiful character, we recognize an old soul who has spent much time
in mastering its lessons. Therefore we do not despair of God’s love
when we see the inequalities of life, for we know that in time all will
be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect.
The Rosicrucian teachings also take the sting of sorrow out of the
greatest of all trials, the loss of loved ones, even if they have
been what is called wayward or black sheep; for we know that it is an
actual fact that _in God we live and move and have our being_; hence,
if one single soul were lost, a part of God would be lost, and such
a proposition is absolutely impossible. Under the immutable law of
cause and effect we are bound to meet these loved ones some time in
the future under other circumstances, and there the love that binds us
together must continue until it has found its fullest expression. The
laws of nature would be violated if a stone thrown from the earth were
to remain suspended in the atmosphere, and under the same immutable
laws those who pass into the higher spheres must return. Christ said,
“Ye must be born again,” and “If I go to my Father, _I will return_.”
But although our reason may reach into the mysteries of life, there
is still a higher stage, _actual first-hand knowledge_. As a matter
of fact the foregoing propositions are capable of verification by
each one, for we all have a _sixth sense_ latent in our being, which
will sometime enable us to view the spiritual world with the same
distinctness as that with which we see the temporal. This sixth sense
will be developed by all in the course of evolution, and there are
certain means whereby it may be developed now by all who care to take
the necessary time and trouble to do so. Some have done this, and they
have told us of their travels in the land of the soul. We believe
their testimony concerning that place just as we believe what people
who have traveled in Africa or Australia tell us of those countries.
And just as we say that _we know_ the earth rotates upon its axis and
revolves in its orbit around the sun because we have been thus informed
by scientists who have made the investigations and calculations that
establish these facts, so also we say that _we know_ the dead live,
and that whether dead or alive, in the body or out of it, we are all
enfolded in the love of our Father in Heaven, without whose Will not
the smallest sparrow falls to the ground, and that He cares for all and
orders our steps in harmony with His plans to develop our spiritual
powers to the highest possible degree.
So because of the logical, soul-satisfying philosophy of life given
by the Rosicrucians, we follow their teachings in preference to other
systems, and invite others who wish to share the blessings thereof to
investigate.
Chapter XXIV
THE OBJECT OF THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP
The object of the Rosicrucian Fellowship has been clearly stated in our
literature, as have the means whereby it is hoped to attain the end in
view, but in response to requests for a succinct summary we devote this
chapter to that subject.
The world is God’s training school. During the past we have learned
to build different vehicles, among others the physical body. By this
work we are promoted from class to class, each with its particular
scope of consciousness. We evolved eyes that we might see, ears that
we might hear, and other organs that we might taste, smell, and feel.
But not all egos were promoted at every step. When the mist in the air
at the time of Atlantis condensed and filled the basins of the earth
with oceans of water, driving men to the highlands, many perished by
asphyxiation because they had not evolved lungs. They could not pass
through the portal of the rainbow, which was, so to speak, the entrance
gate to the new age with its dry atmospheric conditions.
Another great world transformation is coming, we know not when; even
the Christ confessed His ignorance of the day and the hour; but He
warned us that the day would come as a thief in the night, and He
prophesied that the conditions in the world would then be similar to
those prevailing in the days of Noah; they were living then in carefree
enjoyment of life when suddenly the floodgates of heaven were opened,
and death and destruction spread before them.
Christ told us that it is possible to take the kingdom of God by storm
and attain to the consciousness and conditions there prevailing. But
Paul informs us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;
he states that we have a soul body (_soma psuchicon_—1 Cor. 15: 44),
and that we shall meet the Lord _in the air_ when He comes. This soul
body is therefore as necessary to entrance into the new age of the
kingdom of God, as a body equipped with lungs was to the Atlanteans who
desired to enter into the age in which we are now living. Therefore it
is necessary that we make our calling and election sure by preparing
the _Golden Wedding Garment_, the soul body, which alone can secure our
admission to the mystic marriage.
The multitude is slowly moving in the right direction as led by the
different churches, but there is an ever growing class that, so to
speak, feels the wings of the soul body sprouting, people who feel an
inner urge to take the kingdom of God by storm. Though unaware of any
definite ideal, they sense a greater truth and a more certain light
than those which the Church radiates; they are tired of parables and
long to learn the underlying facts at the very feet of Christ.
The Rosicrucian Fellowship was started for the purpose of reaching this
class, to show them the way to illumination, to help them build their
soul body and evolve the soul powers which will enable them to enter
consciously into the kingdom of God and obtain first-hand knowledge.
This is a large undertaking, none greater and even under the most
favorable existing conditions progress must be slow, but if the
aspirant will continue with patient perseverance in well doing, it can
be done.
The methods are definite, scientific, and religious; they have been
originated by the Western School of the Rosicrucian Order, and are
therefore specially suited to the western people. Sometimes, but very
rarely, they bring results in a short time; generally it requires years
and even lives before the aspirant attains, but the following system
will in the end bring all to their hearts’ desire.
The Tabernacle in the Wilderness was a symbolic representation of the
way to God, and, as Paul says, held a shadow of better things to come.
Everything in it had its spiritual meaning. The table of shewbread
gives us an important lesson germane to our present consideration.
Students will remember that the ancient Israelites were commanded to
bring the shewbread to the tabernacle at stated intervals. The grain
from which this was made was given them by God but they must prepare
the soil in which it was to grow, they must plant and cultivate, they
must weed and water, so as to secure the greatest possible increase;
they must harvest and thresh, grind and bake, ere they had the loaves
which they brought to the tabernacle as _bread to shew_ for their toil.
Similarly, God gives to all the grain of opportunity to serve, but it
is our duty to cultivate these opportunities and nurse and nourish
them in the soil of loving kindness so that they may bring a great
increase. We must always bear in mind the words of Christ that He came
to minister and to serve. Therefore anyone aspiring to follow in His
steps and to be great in the kingdom of God must ever be on the lookout
for opportunities to serve his fellows. Each day must be filled as full
as possible with kind and considerate deeds, for they are the warp and
woof of which the _golden wedding garment_ is woven. Without these
“works” no amount of prayer, fasting, or other religious exercises will
avail. It is useless to repair to the temple without this _bread to
shew_ that we have really worked in the Master’s service.
The foregoing is also the teaching of the exoteric churches; but the
following is the exclusively Rosicrucian scientific teaching and
method, based upon the deepest knowledge of spiritual facts whereby the
aspirant is enabled to gain the maximum soul growth in each life, so
that his spiritual advancement is accelerated beyond his very wildest
dreams. Therefore this is the most important spiritual teaching that
has been given to man in modern times, and no one who tries honestly to
follow this simple method can fail to be enormously benefited:
Ether is the medium of transmission of light, that which etches a
picture on the photographic film. It permeates the air, and with every
breath we draw from birth to death ether enters our system and etches
a picture of our surroundings and actions on a little atom in the
heart. Thus each carries with him a complete record of his life, which
is assimilated after death. Expiation of the evil deeds causes pain
and anguish in purgatory. These are thus transmuted to conscience to
prevent repetition of the same mistakes in succeeding lives: the good
deeds are transmuted to love and benevolence. Instead of waiting for
this post-mortem transmutation of the shewbread of life, the aspirant
who desires to take heaven by storm may assimilate the fruits of each
day after retiring and before going to sleep by running over the deeds
done. The events of the day are considered in reverse order, so that
that which happened in the evening is taken first, then the happenings
of the afternoon, forenoon, and morning. This is important for it
conforms to the way the life panorama acts after death, taking first
the events just prior to death, last the events of infancy. The object
is to show the effects and then refer them to their antecedent causes.
In this retrospection it will do the aspirant no good to run over the
events of the day and mildly blame himself where he did wrong—he is
usually sure enough to praise himself sufficiently for his good deeds.
But he must remember the altar of burnt offerings where the sacrifices
for sin were offered. They were first rubbed with salt and then placed
on the altar to be consumed by a divinely enkindled fire. Anyone knows
what an intense pain is caused when salt is rubbed into a wound, and
this rubbing with salt is symbolic of the pain the aspirant must feel
for his wrongdoing. Now mark that it was not permissible to place
the sacrifice on the altar until it had been thus rubbed with salt.
God would not accept it before, but _when it had been salted it was
consumed by a fire kindled by God Himself_.
This tells us that unless we have washed our evil deeds of the day in
the salt of our tears and heartfelt contrition, God will not accept our
sacrifice of repentance; but when we have really repented, our sins
will be washed away and our recording atom will be clean as the driven
snow. With respect to our good deeds we may remember that there were
two little piles of frankincense on the top of the shewbread. These
were offered upon the altar of incense, where the smoke ascended as a
sweet savor to the Lord, so different from the nauseating stench that
went up from the altar where the sin offerings were burned. Is it any
wonder that God took no delight in the sacrifice of bulls and calves,
but delighted in a contrite heart and a repentant spirit?
It is this spiritual aromatic extract of our good deeds that builds our
soul body. By the ordinary natural process it takes about one-third
as many years in our post-mortem existence as we lived in the body,
to reap what we have sowed. But when an aspirant has assimilated the
fruits of life by faithful retrospection at the end of each day, he
is free as soon as he leaves the body and may use the years spent by
others in purgatory and the first heaven as he pleases. Furthermore,
as he needs neither food, shelter, nor sleep, he may spend twenty-four
hours a day doing good. Thus he has practically as many years of
service and soul growth after death as the number of his earth life;
and being trained and schooled in this work his attainments are
probably greater than could be made in a number of lives lived in the
ordinary way.
To aid deserving aspirants, still deeper and more definite teachings
are given by the Elder Brothers through the Rosicrucian Fellowship.
Students who feel the inner urge may ask for information concerning
these teachings.
Index
Abel, man of Lemuria, 23.
Action, desirability of, 16.
Action, good, required for soul body, 183.
A. D. M., red earth, 78.
Adam, a Polarian, 22.
Airships of Atlantis, 71.
Albumen not needed by spiritual, 24.
Alcohol, action, 83.
Altar of sacrifice, 96.
America, the melting pot, 112.
Angels, humanity of Moon Period, 50.
lived in etheric world, 50.
guided man, 32.
Anglo-Saxons, pioneers of race, 75.
Animals ruled by group spirits, 108.
Aquarian Age, science to rule in, 82.
six hundred years until, 81.
teacher of, 76.
Arche-Tektons, Initiates are, 103.
Ark, airship of Atlantis, 71.
Aryan Age, invaders of, 80.
Aryana, national segregation of, 70.
Assimilation of life experiences, 184.
Asteroids, remnants of Moons, 60.
Astrology, value of in marriage, 53.
Atlantis, destruction of, 180.
Atlantean epoch, the nadir of materiality, 9.
Atlanteans aspire to light, 95.
divinely guided, 69.
Atlantis, airships of, 71.
atmosphere of, 69.
man becomes man in, 25.
peaceful conditions of, 86.
Atmosphere, changes of, 180.
Attainment, method of, 171.
Baptism, soul’s urge for higher life, 55.
Black Brothers, increase evil, 106.
Black Magic, frequent practice of, 101.
golden, wedding garment protects against, 106.
practices of, 103.
Blood hound, follows invisible emanation, 104.
Born of water and spirit, 80.
Brain gained at sacrifice of creative force, 32.
Breathing exercises, danger of, 9.
use of, 10.
Brotherhood, all members of, 44.
Cain, a Hyperborean, 23.
Candles, tallow, attract elementals, 106.
Causation, 177.
Children, training of, 127.
Chosen people, 95.
Christ, annual coming of, 171.
bodily presence of the Father, 98.
forgiveness of, 57.
Inhabits central sun, 58.
man a Christ-in-the-making, 158.
mission of, 47, 87.
power of, 158, 159.
preservation, principle of, 168.
sacrifice of, 98.
Christ, _see also_ Earth Spirit.
Civilization, evolution of, 111.
Communication with dead, 113.
Communion, points to age to come, 55.
worthy celebration of, 31.
Conscience gained in purgatory, 184.
Consciousness result of war between vital and desire bodies, 49.
Conservation of strength, 122.
Contentment lengthens life, 51.
Contrition, importance of, 185.
Conversion and Initiation, 12.
inner experience, 13.
Converts, making of, 132.
Courage, 91.
Creation, principle of Jehovah, 168.
Creative hierarchies guide man, 22.
Crystalloids aid in evolving vital body, 88.
Dead, communication with, 113.
Death, care of body after, 134.
conquest of, 56.
price of consciousness, 50.
Dense body, care of after death, 134.
crystallized state of, 47.
raising vibrations of, 10.
restoration of in sleep, 128.
spiritualization of, 74.
under laws of nature, 57.
Desire body, control of, 128.
destroys dense body, 49.
gained in Lemuria, 23.
reaction of man’s acts, 25.
Dietetics, albumen not needed by spiritual, 24.
legumes not needed by advanced, 24.
Diplomacy and force, 119.
Dissolution the Father’s power, 168.
Divine hierarchies work upon man, 22.
Divine leaders abolish religious errors, 46.
Divine spirit and physical body, 132.
Earth conditions cramp humanity, 99.
crystallization of due to man, 32.
Earth Spirit body and blood, 31.
Earth Spirit, _see also_ Christ.
Earthly goods, use of, 117.
Easter, Christ’s liberation, 160.
vital, force of, 161.
Effort brings opportunities, 15.
Ego chooses work of life, 64.
Egotism, protection from, 19.
Elder Brothers hierophants of western wisdom teaching, 173.
high status of, 173.
not mercenary, 20.
transmute evil, 105.
Elementals inhaled with incense, 106.
Emancipation, God’s purpose, 162.
Environment chosen by ego, 64, 122.
power of, 74.
Epochs, changes of, 77.
Ether etches pictures on seed atom, 184.
medium of transmission of light, 184.
new element, 71.
Evolution, 177.
Evolution of man, 35.
path of spiral, 14.
Exercises: Breathing practices, 9, 10.
Experience, a grindstone, 63.
Extreme unction, 56.
Faculties, evolution of, 177.
Fall, unchastity, 62.
Family, duty to, 127.
Father, The, dissolution principle of, 168.
highest Initiate of Saturn Period, 58.
inhabits spiritual sun, 58.
Finger nails used in Black Magic, 103.
Flesh, eating of, difficult to digest, 90.
material progress result of, 23, 86, 92.
necessitated by materialism, 23.
sins of, 90.
Flood, sun in Cancer, 78.
Food, significance of, 22.
Forgiveness of Christ, 57.
Free Will, 22.
of Initiate in choice of environment, 64.
in Atlantis, 25.
Galilee, melting pot, 74.
Gill clefts replaced by lungs, 24.
Gills of early Atlantis, 70.
Glass of water in Black Magic, 104.
God, immanence of, 161.
Golden wedding garment, _see_ Soul Body.
Good Friday, 153.
Gospels formulae of Initiation, 64.
Grace and forgiveness of sin, 34.
Grail, _see_, Holy Grail.
Group Spirit, 108.
Hair used in Black Magic, 103.
Healing, Rosicrucian method of, 103.
Help, practical, 133.
Hierarchies, service of, 135.
still active, 166.
Hindu breathing exercises, 73.
Holy Grail, many orders constitute, 105.
two forces of, 105.
Holy Spirit, _see_ Jehovah.
Human spirit and desire body, 132.
Humanity, salvation of, 160.
slowly progressing, 14.
Hyperborea, generation in, 49.
Hyperborean epoch, man plantlike in, 22.
vital body gained in, 22.
Hypnotism, danger of, 107.
I as pronoun, 83.
Inactivity causes straggling, 16.
Incense, Black Forces use, 106.
Inequalities, harmonizing of, 178.
Initiates, arche-tektons, 103.
bodies of, immaculately conceived, 64.
choose own life work, 64.
purity of, 64.
may be women, 67.
Initiation, changes life, 13.
confers authority, 13.
free, 13.
inner experience, 12.
money cannot buy, 11.
requirements for, 20.
spiritual process, 11.
spiritualizes vital body, 67.
through spiritual exercises, 11.
tribulation leads to, 63.
Initiation fee, impossibility of, 20.
Inner vision opened, 136.
Intellectual conception of life, 175.
Intensity of feeling, 19.
Jehovah, creation principle of, 168.
dwells in physical sun, 58.
highest Initiate of Moon Period, 58.
race spirit of the Jews, 110.
regent of various moons, 58.
warder of creative forces, 56.
Jesus race body of, 74.
Judgment, Sun in Libra, 156.
Justice of life, 175.
with mercy, 33.
Knowledge, necessity for, 131.
Larynx gained at sacrifice of creative force, 32.
Law, knowledge of, 131.
Law of Consequence given to Atlanteans, 26.
Laws of nature and destiny, 25.
Legumes not needed by advanced, 24.
Lemurian epoch, desire body gained in, 23.
Life Spirit and vital body, 132.
Light, Atlanteans aspire to, 95.
symbol of God, 167.
Living church within, 124.
Lords of Mercury, stragglers of past, 59.
Lords of Venus, stragglers of past, 59.
Lord’s Supper, _see_ communion.
Lost souls, 58.
Love endlessly born, 169.
keynote of coming age, 80.
of souls, 53.
transcends sex, 51.
Lucifer spirits cause body’s crystallization, 32.
Lungs related to spirits’ freedom, 24.
Man becomes man in Atlantis, 25.
mineral-like in Polarian Epoch, 88.
Marriage necessitated by disintegration and death, 49.
sacrament of, 55.
transcends sex, 51.
Materialism, predominance of, 163.
Matter, limitation of causes self-confidence, 22.
Materialization, varieties of, 102.
Meat non-permanent as food, 82.
Meat eating, _see_ Flesh eating.
Michael, race spirit, 111.
Milk aid in evolving desire body, 89.
given in Lemuria, 23.
Mind, effect of meat upon, 93.
given during Atlantean epoch, 22.
given for discrimination, 122.
link between spirit and matter, 132.
Minerals, assimilation impossible, 82.
Moderation in food, 136.
Mongols, descendants of Atlanteans, 75.
Moons, discipline stragglers, 59.
physical vehicles of Jehovah, 172.
tumors of universe, 60.
Moses led followers through water, 26.
Motive, importance of, 101.
Mysteries, soul body teaches, 136.
Mystery schools furnish higher teaching, 8.
Nationalism must pass, 112.
Nations, rise and fall of, 110.
Negroes, descendants of Lemurians, 75.
New Galilee, 135.
New heaven and new earth, _see_ Aquarian Age.
New race, 75.
Niebelungen ring, 42.
Nimrod, Atlantean king, 22.
Noah, 27.
Noise, evil effects of, 125.
stirs desire bodies, 126.
Nucleus in magic practices, 103.
Orthodoxy, arguments of, 46.
Panorama etched into desire body, 133.
Passion, crystallizing power of, 32.
Periodic flow of earth, 62.
Philosophy, hidden meaning in, 135.
Physical body, _see_ Dense body.
Pioneers the active workers, 16.
two classes of, 17.
Pisces, creed and dogma of, 81.
Planet, body of Great Spirit, 156.
evolution of, 41.
orbit of, 156.
Poise, necessity for, 125.
Polarian had only dense body, 88.
Polarian epoch, dense body in, 22.
mineral-like state of man in, 22.
Polygamy, 66.
Possession cures desire, 93.
Post mortem experience, 15.
Post mortem state, 16.
Preservation, Christ principle, 168.
Progress, impossible to unworthy, 150.
Proselyting unnecessary, 132.
Providence of God, 120.
Purity, redemption of, 35.
Race spirits cause racial characteristics, 109.
high ideals of, 110.
Racial characteristics, 109.
Rainbow, advent of, 27.
emblem of diversity, 70.
entrance to new age, 180.
gates to promised land, 69.
Reconciliation, desirability of, 119.
Recording angels give religions, 7.
Religion, happiness from, 126.
Religion given by Recording Angels, 7.
suited to nations, 8.
Religious errors, not long permitted, 46.
Responsibility not to be shirked, 127.
Resurrection, Easter Sun symbolizes, 163.
Retrospection, good gained by, 184.
importance of, 18.
Rhine Gold, 42.
Rosicrucian messengers, 11.
Sacrament, Hebrew derivation of, 55.
importance of, 38.
Sacrifice, evolution result of, 97.
soul growth from, 165.
Sanctuary, inner, 124.
Saints, 17.
Salt, 185.
Science becomes religious, 40.
to rule Aquarian Age, 82.
Seances, danger of, 107.
Seasons symbolize diversity, 70.
Self-Sacrifice, advancement from, 38.
of Christ, 100.
Selfishness bane of race, 43.
Separation of sexes, 32.
Service builds soul body, 135.
essential in life, 135.
the policy that pays, 118.
redemption of stragglers, 59.
Sexes, separation of, 32.
Silence, great help in soul growth, 126.
Sin must be expiated, 57.
Sixth sense, 178.
Sleep, work during gains soul growth, 129.
Solar system body of God, 59.
Son, _see_ Christ.
Sorrow, keynote of Buddhism, 57.
Soul amalgamates with spirit, 96.
Soul body, 54.
from seed, 73.
light of teaches man, 136.
of new age, 181.
methods of building, 80.
protects against Black Magic, 106.
wedding garment of new age, 80.
Soul growth dissolves crystallized bodies, 96.
helps in, 126.
method of, 17.
Sound, effect of, 124.
Spinal nerves, animal twenty-eight pairs of, 61.
man thirty-one pairs of, 61.
Spirit orbit of, 156.
Spiritual forces, ebb and flow of, 61.
Spiritual sight result of war, 112.
Spiritual world, time non-existent, 169.
Spring and Earth Spirit, 31.
Stellar ray, 64.
Strength, conservation of, 122.
Sugar beneficial effects of, 83.
cure of alcoholism by, 84.
Sun ascends at Easter, 165.
in Cancer, the flood, 78.
invisible vehicle of God, 172.
visible vehicle of Christ, 172.
Tact, value of, 119.
Talents of ego, 15.
Teacher of New Age, 76.
Temple, way to shown, 136.
Thought breaks down tissue, 23.
Time, non-existent in spiritual world, 169.
Tolerance for our families, 137.
Tree of knowledge, 32.
Tribulation prepares for Initiation, 63.
Trinity, mystery of, 167.
Unfoldment, three stages of, 55.
Universal solvent, 168.
Vegetarianism, advantages of, 91.
Vegetarian needs no alcohol, 91.
Virgin spirits enmeshed in matter as egos, 132.
self-consciousness attained by, 22.
Vital body charges body with energy, 132.
constructive energy of, 49.
evolved by Hyperborean, 22, 88.
medium of occult growth, 9.
spiritualized by Initiation, 67.
stores up power, 128.
vehicle of love, 51.
War, spiritual aspects of, 123.
spiritual intensity of, 104.
spiritual sight result of, 112.
Water, Noah and Moses led followers through, 26.
used in Black Magic, 104.
Wedding garment, _see_ Soul Body.
Western Initiates more advanced, 8.
Western Mystery Teaching Christian, 47.
White Magic, unselfish, 102.
Wine, given in Atlantis, 26.
self-assertion from drinking, 86.
stimulates spirit of man, 27.
Word, cosmic meaning of, 155.
Workers, the pioneers, 16.
World, God’s training school, 180.
World change to come, 181.
Worry, evil of, 116.
You as pronoun, 83.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
Rays From the Rose Cross
THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP MAGAZINE
A Monthly Magazine of
MYSTIC LIGHT
Subscription $2.00 per year
_General Contents_
_The Mystic Light Department_ is devoted to articles on Occultism,
Mystic Masonry, Esoteric Christianity and similar spiritual subjects.
_The Question Department_ is designed to give further light upon the
various subjects dealt with in the different departments.
_The Astral Ray Department_ gives Cosmic Light on life’s problems. So
far as space permits horoscopes of subscribers’ children are read each
month. These readings show the hidden faults and talents to help the
parents bring out the best in their charges.
Vocational Readings for young men and women are given to show them the
sphere in the world’s work for which they are best fitted.
_Studies in the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception._ Our Origin, Evolution
and Ultimate Destiny are religiously, reasonably and scientifically
explained in this department.
_Children’s Department._ Stories for the children.
_Nutrition and Health._ In this department articles on health and diet
teach how to build bodies wisely and well.
_The Rosy Cross Healing Circle._ Its meetings and their results.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception
_Seventh Edition_
600 pp. cloth Price $2.00, postfree.
This remarkable book by Max Heindel marks an entirely new departure in
mystic literature.
For the first time in history the _Western Wisdom Teaching_ concerning
Life and Being which the Rosicrucians have guarded for centuries, is
here given by an authorized messenger, for it is held that the world
is ready to receive this advanced science of the soul, the religious
philosophy of the Aquarian Age, now at hand. The existing soul-hunger
and the satisfying nature of the Rosicrucian teachings are equally well
attested by the phenomenal sale of this great book, and many thousands
of letters received by the author from grateful students located all
over the world, who testify that they there found what they have long
sought elsewhere in vain.
We give herewith some headings of chapters and subdivisions as a slight
indication of what is contained in this mine of mystic light and
knowledge.
Part I.
The Visible and Invisible Worlds, The Four Kingdoms, Man and the Method
of Evolution. Spirit, Soul and Body; Thought, Memory and Soul-growth.
The conscious, subconscious and superconscious mind. The science of
death, the beneficence of purgatory, life in heaven. Rebirth and the
Law of Consequence.
Part II.
The Scheme of Evolution. The Path of Evolution. The Work of Evolution.
Genesis and Evolution of Our Solar System. Chaos the seed-ground of
Cosmos, Birth of the Planets, Planetary Spirits. Evolution of the
Earth. The Moon, the eighth sphere—retrogression. Occult Analysis of
Genesis. The Nebular Theory.
Part III.
Christ and His Mission. The Star of Bethlehem, the Mystery of Golgotha
and the cleansing blood. Future Development and Initiation. Alchemy
and Soul-growth. The Method of Acquiring First-hand Knowledge. Western
Methods for Western People. Esoteric Training. Christian Rosenkreuz and
the Order of Rosicrucians. The Rosicrucian Initiation.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
The Rosicrucian Philosophy
IN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Price $2.00, Postfree.
A book of ready reference upon all mystic matters, which ought to
be in the library of every occult student. It covers 432 pages; has
a considerable number of illuminating diagrams, is printed on fine
paper in clear type, reinforced binding of cloth with the beautiful
Rosicrucian Symbols stamped upon the cover in red, black and gold; and
the three edges are also gold.
_PARTIAL LIST OF SUBJECTS_
_Section I._—_Life on Earth._ Social Conditions, Marriage, Children,
Sleep and Dreams, Health and Disease
_Section II._—_Life After Death._ Cremation. Purgatory, The First
Heaven, The Second Heaven, The Third Heaven, Guardian Angels.
_Section III._—_Rebirth._ The Law of Rebirth, The Law of Causation,
Transmigration.
_Section IV._—_The Bible Teachings._ The Creation, The Fall, The
Immaculate Conception, Sayings of Christ.
_Section V._—_Spiritualistic Phenomena._ Mediumship, Obsession,
Materialization.
_Section VI._—_Clairvoyance._ Dangers of Psychism, True Spiritual
Unfoldment, Initiation.
_Section VIII._—_Animals_. Their Life Here and Hereafter.
It is truly _AN OCCULT INFORMATION BUREAU_!
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
How Shall We Know Christ When he Comes?
By Max Heindel
15c Postfree.
The title indicates sufficiently the scope of the book.
It is direct and to _the point_ like all the writings of this author.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
The Rosicrucian Mysteries
_AN ELEMENTARY EXPOSITION_
BY MAX HEINDEL
200 pp. cloth. $1.50 postfree.
This is the Book for the Busy Man
who is seeking a solution to the Great Mystery called Life, but lacks
leisure to wade through volumes of metaphysical speculations. The lucid
and logical explanations carry conviction—they bear
_THE STAMP OF TRUTH_
Nevertheless, the language is so simple, clear and devoid of
technicalities that _a child can understand_ its message. It is
therefore specially suited to beginners, but advanced students will find
_THE MYSTERY OF LIGHT
COLOR AND CONSCIOUSNESS_,
and similar subjects of vital interest.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
Christ or Buddha?
Annet C. Rich.
Foreword by Max Heindel.
30c. Postfree.
The idea that India is the main repository of occult knowledge is held
by many who have forsaken the Christian Religion to embrace Hinduism.
“Christ or Buddha?” shows most clearly that
_THE WESTERN WISDOM TEACHINGS_
throw a light upon the problems of life which is much more intense,
far-reaching and soul satisfying in every respect than that of the
Eastern teachings. A partial list of contents will indicate its scope.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
Freemasonry and Catholicism
By MAX HEINDEL
_An Esoteric Exposition of the Cosmic Facts underlying these two Great
Institutions, as determined by Occult Investigation_
Describes the influence of each of these institutions upon the
evolution of mankind and the ultimate destiny of each.
The building of King Solomon’s Temple has always remained a theme of
great interest; but add to this the story of the Queen of Sheba and the
real builder of the Temple, Hiram Abiff, so seldom read of in current
literature, and truly one is confronted by a story of exquisite and
transcendent interest.
To have read this book is to have delved deep into the past and to have
gained a glimpse into the mysteries that have puzzled philosophers in
ages gone by. Only a Mystic and a trained Seer who has the divine gift
of reading the Akashic Records of the past could give such a lucid
description of this great subject.
_THIS BOOK SHOULD BE IN EVERY MASON’S LIBRARY_
Bound in cloth. 98 pages. Price $1.00
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
The Web of Destiny
HOW MADE AND UNMADE
INCLUDING
The Occult Effect of our Emotions
Prayer—A Magic Invocation
Practical Methods of Achieving Success
By Max Heindel
175 pp. Cloth Bound
Two Dollars Postfree
These four series of lessons in one volume are the collected fruits of
a Mystic’s investigations showing the unseen forces which shape our
destiny.
This valuable information is now given for the first time in book form.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
Rosicrucian Interpretation of Christianity
ANCIENT TRUTHS IN MODERN DRESS
Price 10c Each, Postfree
No. 1. The Riddle of Life and Death.
No. 2. Where Are the Dead?
No. 3. Spiritual Sight and the Spiritual Worlds.
No. 4. Sleep, Dreams, Trance, Hypnotism, Mediumship and Insanity.
No. 5. Death and Life in Purgatory.
No. 6. Life and Activity in Heaven.
No. 7. Birth a Fourfold Event.
No. 8. The Science of Nutrition, Health and Protracted Youth.
No. 9. The Astronomical Allegories of the Bible.
No. 10. Astrology; Its Scope and Limitations.
No. 11. Spiritual Sight and Insight.
No. 12. Parsifal.
No. 13. The Angels as Factors in Evolution.
No. 14. Lucifer, Tempter or Benefactor?
No. 15. The Mystery of Golgotha and the Cleansing Blood.
No. 16. The Star of Bethlehem; A Mystic Fact.
No. 17. The Mystery of the Holy Grail.
No. 18. The Lord’s Prayer.
No. 19. The Coming Force; Vril or What?
No. 20. Fellowship and the Coming Race.
These lectures are particularly suitable for beginners. Read
consecutively, they give a comprehensive outline of our philosophy.
_THEY FIT THE POCKET_
and allow a busy man to utilize time on cars en route to or from
business.
_GIVE ONE TO A FRIEND_
It is an inexpensive and a helpful gift.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
Mysteries of the Great Operas
BY MAX HEINDEL
Faust, Parsifal, The Ring of the Niebelung, Tannhauser, Lohengrin
The Secret Teachings concealed in the Great Myths as embodied in the
major operas are here interpreted. The Evolutionary Plan and Methods
of Spiritual Unfoldment are shown to lie hidden in the imagery of Folk
Tales. The treatment of this subject adapts the book to the use of the
musician and student of folklore as well as to the occultist.
Bound in Cloth with the usual three colored
gold covers used on all Rosicrucian
Fellowship Books.
$2.00 Postfree
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
In the Land of The Living Dead
AN OCCULT STORY
BY PRENTISS TUCKER
This is a fascinating story of a young mystic’s experiences during
the Great War, both upon the seen and the unseen planes. The
author possesses great aptitude for portraying conditions upon the
superphysical planes so that the layman can form a concrete conception
regarding them.
Published by The Rosicrucian Fellowship
168 Pages Cloth Bound $1.50 postfree.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
The Message of the Stars
MAX AND AUGUSTA HEINDEL
708 pp. Cloth. $3.50, Postpaid
This book gives a complete system of reading the horoscope for
character and the various fortunes of life. The progressed horoscope,
and the art of prediction are fully dealt with. An exposition of
Medical Astrology and a system of diagnosing disease from the
horoscope, used for many years by the authors in their extensive and
successful practice, are included, and also a number of articles on
the philosophy of Astrology. The subject of Medical Astrology is
illustrated by 36 example horoscopes.
A new index has been added to both Natal and Medical Astrology. This
will be invaluable to the student in quickly locating any desired
information in either department.
This book is the classic of modern Astrology. It is set in a most
attractive style, printed on fine paper, with durable binding, the
cover stamped in colors like other Rosicrucian textbooks.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
Simplified Scientific Astrology
BY MAX HEINDEL
_Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged_
WITH MAX HEINDEL’S PORTRAIT
198 pp. Bound in Cloth. $1.50 Postpaid.
A complete textbook on the art of erecting a horoscope, making the
process simple and easy for beginners. It also includes a
Philosophic Encyclopedia
—AND—
Tables of Planetary Hours
The Philosophic Encyclopedia fills a long felt want of both beginners
and advanced students for information concerning the underlying reasons
for astrological dicta. It is a mine of knowledge arranged in such a
manner as to be instantly accessible.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
Simplified Scientific Ephemeris
_1860 TO DATE._ _PRICE_, 25c _EACH YEAR_
The increasing difficulty experienced by Astrologers in obtaining
Ephemerides has induced us to enter the field and produce
A Better Ephemeris
AT HALF THE PRICE USUALLY CHARGED BY OTHERS
The type is as large as used in this book, the print is clear and
beautiful. It will save eye strain.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
SIMPLIFIED
Scientific Tables of Houses
Latitudes 25 to 60 Degrees, Inclusive
Volume 1.
25-36 degrees
Volume 2.
37-48 degrees
Volume 3.
49-60 degrees
WITH LONGITUDES and LATITUDES
of about
FIFTEEN HUNDRED CITIES OF THE WORLD
50c each volume postpaid.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
Earthbound
BY AUGUSTA FOSS HEINDEL
This is a new lecture in our Rosicrucian Christianity Series. It is
a very interesting description of the soul who is earthbound after
death, the conditions which surround him on the superphysical planes,
his activities there, and the causes which hold him in that state.
The dangers of the ouija board, as affording a field of operation for
earthbound spirits, are also described.
13 Pages. Paper Bound. Price 10c.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
The Mystical Interpretation of Christmas
BY MAX HEINDEL
Five dissertations in one volume, upon this most interesting Subject of
CHRISTMAS from the Mystical Viewpoint, showing the occult significance
of this great event.
Attractively Bound in Heavy Paper. $1.00 postfree.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
Correspondence Courses
IN
CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM AND ASTROLOGY
_Christian Mysticism_: A correspondence course of twelve lessons upon
the _Rosicrucian Philosophy_, using the _Cosmo-Conception_ by Max
Heindel, as a textbook. This philosophy gives a logical analysis of the
origin, evolution, and future development of the world and man, showing
both the spiritual and scientific aspects. It is entirely Christian,
aiming to make religion a _living factor in the world_ and to lead to
Christ those who cannot reach Him by faith alone.
This course is open to all who are interested.
_Astrology_: We want to _help you to help others_, and for that reason
we have instituted a correspondence course in Astrology. Astrology is
to us a phase of religion, a Divine Science. We teach it to others on
condition that they will not prostitute it for gain.
_Anyone who is not engaged in fortune telling_ or similar methods of
commercializing spiritual knowledge may be admitted to this course.
Address:—
—SECRETARY—
The Rosicrucian Fellowship, Oceanside, California.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling and
punctuation remains unchanged.
The entry “Catalogue of Publications” has been added to the Table of
Contents.
Italics are represented thus _italic_.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Gleaning of a Mystic - A Series of Essays on Practical Mysticism" ***
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