CHAPTER X.

ESOTERIC TEACHING OF THE SCOTTISH RITE— BRAIN AND THOUGHT.
IN speaking of this wonderful city of Heliopolis, " Fountain of the Sun," one of the most sacred cities of Egyptian history, I desire to call your attention to the knowledge pertaining to our Ancient Brethren, who officiated here, in the " College of Priests," " The Grand East of Ancient Egypt.'''' Here was the seat of the wisdom which belonged to the " Phree-Massen " whose teachings have been handed down to us, from generation to generation. Here Moses was initiated into the Sub- lime Mysteries of Ancient Egypt, of which our own beloved Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is a lineal descendant. Those Elus, Knights and Princes of every age who have ever followed the Pole Star of Truth through the drifting ages of time have handed down to us, from epoch to epoch, the wonderous knowledge taught in the Indian, Mazdean and Egyptian Mysteries, for the especial benefit of our Illustrious Fraternity. By this future generations are eventually enabled to stand upon the topmost rung of the ladder, the very pinnacle of Civil and Religious Liberty, when every Man and Mason shall be free from all usurpations of royalt}? and sacerdotal power, and be thoroughly competent to recognize the whole Truth in the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. Masonry, successor of the mysteries, still follows the ancient manner of teaching. Her ceremonies are like the ancient mystic shows — not the reading of an essay, but the opening of a problem, requiring research and constituting philosophy the arch expounder. The symbols are the instruc- tion she gives. The lectures are endeavors, often partial and one-sided, to interpret these symbols. He who would become an accomplished Mason must not be content merely to hear, or even to understand, the lectures ; he must, aided by them, and they having, as it were, marked out the way for him ; study, interpret, and develop these symbols for himself.
224 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry is like an immense tree, towering up into the glorious heights of Scientific Philosophy, whose ramifying branches spread o'er a vast area, enfolding in its arms the Light, Knowledge and Truth of all the Arts, Sciences, Religions and Philosophies of every age in the world's history; whose roots are watered by that great and glorious fount from which Moses drew his inspiration and knowledge. In fact this tree is the ^'^ fons et origo " of the " Wisdom '' itself, which can be clearly demonstrated to all those who climb iip into its glorious height. When the Neophyte first stands beneath its over- shadowing branches, in darkness visible, with ambition to know and understand the unknowable, his higher self will then prompt him to greater exertions. Clinging and climbing, he struggles upward and onward, grasping blindly for Light, until he stands upon the first of its multifarious branches. With awe and admiration he then begins to realize the Sublimity and Grandeur to be found in the very shadows of its magnificent foliage. He sees far above him scintillations of great and glorious Truths, descending through the drifting ages, to and across the threshold of the twentieth century, and will begin to understand what the poet meant when he said :
' ' Heaven is not reached at a single bound ; * But we build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to the summit round by round."
It is so with the Neophyte. He will begin to realize that Heaven (Wisdom) is not gained by a single bound ; but is only to be obtained by mounting step by step, or degree by degree. Beset with many difficulties, and dangers, as he advances his view widens out, his horizon expands, for the Pole Star of Truth and Right has been his guide. Although he stands in the very shadow of Death, yet will he learn that within his own heart he carries the light which shall lead him through the valley of the shadow, to more sublime heights of the Ineffable degrees of our beloved fraternity. He will realize that there is no Death, for what we call Death is simply the disintegration of molecular forms, to be made manifest eventually in many others.
This disintegration of the physical body of man, animals, plants, etc., occurs as soon as the life forces or controlling soul departs. The mass
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 225
of living elemental units, composing the physical body of man, being no longer controlled or co-ordinated, separate one from the other, putrefaction or decay ensues, and the body becomes a mass of unrestrained, unregu- lated lives, destroying the form or body by their own especial forces. The physical body of either man or animal once more becomes the dust of the earth, and he will now realize the Truth of the statement, " Though I die yet shall I live," for we must distinctly understand that Death is merely the Inn by the wayside, simply the bier upon which the bodj' is laid. He will eventually realize that all men must pass through the gates of Death before they can enter on the road that leads to immortality. Death does not annihilate the true spiritual 7nan^ but just simply destroys the form or personality, the old shard or shell, the tegument of clay that has been the house in which the individuality, or higher self, has been enabled to manifest itself on the physical plane. And in reaching Death he must thoroughly understand that he has suffered, and will become purified, so that the works of the Divine Essence might be exemplified in him. Through the glory of Life, Man must mourn, sorrow, suffer pain and humiliation to the personality, while He, the true 7nan^ will know full well it is simply a refining process to bring him out purified. When man stands erect in his God-hood, before the Divine Glory of Light and Truth, with arms outstretched, and head uplifted, in conscious knowledge of Divine Love, willing to accept his Karma, then the cross will fall behind him and he will realize that he stands before his Higher Self, the Divine Presence of the Supreme Architect, and positi'vel}' know that he and his Father are One. He will thoroughly understand that Resignation is what brings him perfect peace and happiness, and unlocks the door leading to Immortal bliss.
This faint glimmer of the Truth and proof of the immortality of the soul, proves to the initiate that he has passed froin the square to the compasses, whose swinging leg circumscribes every moral virtue ; in fact, he realizes that he has gone beyond the operative tools and now uses those of the speculative Mason. The instruments used by the Sages of the ancient world will now become familiar to him, and in their use he will discover that he has now risen to a higher plane of intellectual development, to a knowledge of Truth and the key to the Lost Word. I\Iany things will now become clearer to his vision and 15
226 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
understanding, from these ineffable heights of Scottish Rite Masonry. He will see in the Pole Star a fit emblem of the Deity, a point within the circle of Eternity. Now is the opportunity for him to devote his time and attention to solving the great problems of life, to enable him to understand those sublime philosophical Truths permeating our beloved Fraternity. In attaining to a knowledge of these lofty Truths he should strive earnestly and faithfully to give them, just as freely as he received them, to his aspiring Brother by the wayside. Such a perfect Mason will be ever true to himself and the glorious fraternity to which he belongs. Like the ancient initiates of the Egyptian Mysteries he will faithfully obey the law and be true to the principles of Scottish Rite Masonry. Always ready to draw his sword in defense of his country for the preservation of free government, never consenting to despotism or civil or military usurpation, he will be guided and directed solely by honor and duty.
What the world of to-day, and even generations yet unborn, owe to Masonry and our glorious Scottish Rite will never be fully realized. Our fraternity has always been and always will be an incentive to enlightenment, liberality and education. During the " Dark Ages," in the Lodge room only did scientists and philosophers dare make known any of their important scientific discoveries, for fear of the Inquisition, that dread tool of tyrants and benighted superstition. To-day we find our beloved Rite working earnestly and faithfully in the interest of suffering humanity, to secure for all freedom of thought and free government, for the people and by the people. Our Elus, Knights and Princes of the twentieth century have an advantage over ancient Brethren in being able to exemplify openly the grand Truths taught behind the closed doors of our most illustrious bodies of the Scottish Rite, throughout the world universal. The faithful manner in which these duties are being performed are only known to the co-workers in the great and glorious undertaking of that which is Jiist, right and true. We realize that we should not live for ourselves ; but devote our time to the welfare of our country, our neighbors, and practice charity toward all men in the fullest sense of the word, recognizing in every man a brother, and above all practice se/f-less-ness in all our dealings with our fellow man, without hope of honor or reward.
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 227
Once more I quote from "Morals and Dogmas," page 312: "The true Mason labors for the benefit of those to come after him, and for the advancement and improvement of his race. It is a poor ambition which contents itself within the limits of a single life. All men who desire to live, desire to survive their funerals, and to live afterward in the good which they have done mankind rather than in the fading characters written in men's memories. Most men desire to leave some work behind them which may outlast their own day and brief generation. This is an instinctive impulse, given by God, and often found in the rudest human heart ; tlie surest proof of the soul's immortality and of the fundamental difference between men and the wisest brutes. To plant trees that, after we are dead, will shelter our children, is as natural as to love the shade of those our fathers planted. The rudest, unlettered husbandman, painfully conscious of his own inferiority, the poorest widowed mother, giving her life-blood to those who pay only for the work of her needle, will toil and stint themselves to educate their child that he may take a higher station in the world than they ; and of such children are the world's greatest benefactors."
The first inhabitants of Egypt brought with them the eternal verities of the ancient wisdom from India, the birth place of the Aryan Hindu, the last offshoot of the first sub-race of the fifth Root race, who most as- suredly preserved the secrets of the glorious teachings we so dearly love and practice to-day, in Scottish Rite Masonry. They are the self-same esoteric Truths taught by the Hierophants and Sages in the hoary ages of antiquit}^, during the initiatory services of the mysteries of India, by the Brotherhood of the White Lodge^ the Hierarchy of Adepts, whose every thought and act has been for the upbuilding of humanity. These are the Brothers who have preserved the sublime Truths and teachings we are endeavoring to promulgate in our Lodges, Chapters, Councils and Consistories, of both the Southern and the Northern Jurisdictions of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, throughout the world Universal.
There has never existed a time, in the history of the world, when the teachings of those Great Adepts were not being given forth, in order to help poor struggling humanity on to a higher plane of intelligence and spiritual unfoldment. We must distinctly understand that a vast number of these great and glorious Truths are embodied in all Religions
228 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
and Philosophies and are not new, but as old as the stars above. The scriptures tell us : " Eiii Chodosh tacasJi ha sheviesh " (There is no new- thing under the sun) See Eccles. isi Chap, and gtJi verse. That man would be more than a God who could invent or discover anything which has never been in existence before. Ragon, in " Maconnerie Occulte," states that " Humanity only seems to progress in achieving one discovery after the other, as in truth it only finds that which it had lost. Most of our modern inventions, for which we claim such glory, are after all, things people were acquainted with three or four thousand years back. Lost to us through wars, floods, and fire their very existence became obliterated from the memory of man. And now modern thinkers begin to rediscover them once more" (see Chapters III and XIV of this work).
When the Ancient Craftsmen erected the Pyramids and carved the Sphinx upon the banks of the Nile, they must assuredly have been able to manufacture their tools in order to perform the work necessary in constructing such remarkable monuments. We have ocular demonstra- tions that they thoroughly comprehended the quarrying and carrying across the desert sands of Egypt, enormous blocks of stone, and raising them to the required position by methods peculiarly their own, to erect Tombs, Temples and colossal statuary to beautify and adorn the wonderous cities in the valley of the Nile. These ruins are scattered throughout its length and breadth and constitute fragmentary records of those ancient craftsmen, which to-day give evidence of their marvelous knowledge and skill, not only in Architecture, but in the Arts and Sciences.
Let us look back at the stupenduous buildings which adorned the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, long centuries before Rhea Silvia officiated in the temples of Alba Longa and gave birth to Romulus and Remus. Let us follow in the footsteps of the men who delved into and unearthed the secrets of that Babylonian Empire, and we shall be astonished at the profound knowledge that pertained to this, ancient people, who erected the " Hanging Gardens of Babylon " simply to gratify the whim of a daughter of Ebactana. Let us cross the dark waters of the Indian Ocean, and visit the " Land of the Vedas," where we may examine the most magnificent Gopuras and Cave Temples. We may here receive ocular demonstrations of the sublimity and grandeur
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of tbese extremely beautiful fabrics, which are the wonder and admira- tion of our learned men of the twentieth century. My dear Brothers and readers, the farther back we go into the realms of distant ages, searching for the wisdom and knowledge belonging to Brothers of a prehistoric age, the more will we be confronted with unmistakable evidences of their great learning and most extraordinary intellectual and spiritual development. We will recognize in the magnificent monuments of India, iVssyria and the Valley of the Nile, tokens of their knowledge in Astronomy, as well as the state of perfection to which they had arrived in Mechanics, Mathematics, Architecture, etc. Besides these we have proof of the existence of a Science, which men of the present day cannot properly understand or interpret, or at best only dimly sense. Right here I will positively assert that all Religions, all Philosophies, and all Sciences for this Race had their origin in the "Land of the Vedas," whose links can be traced back to its original source, broken and disfigured as they are, yet still with fragments here and there to connect us with the glory belonging to the Ancient Wisdom of the " Great White Lodge," which was at its zenith when Science, Philosophy and Religion walked hand in hand together.
These great and glorious Adepts inherited all the wisdom belong- ing to the Atlanteans and Lemureans, whose mighty traditions they thoroughly comprehended, but which cannot be told to us, as we would be unable to understand them. These Great Teachers were the origin- ators of a system of Philosophy that we of the present day are just beginning to comprehend. There is no man of this era who can truth, fully say that the Sciences known to us of the twentieth century were unknown to our Ancient Brethren of India. The teachings of Anaxago- ras, Empedocles, Democritus and others are being taught to-day in our schools and colleges. Gallileo was not the first map to discover the motions of the earth. The rotation of this planet upon its axis, as well as the heliocentric system, were taught by Pythagoras and others B. c. 700. As above stated, the motions of the earth were understood at this earl}- date, and yet during the reign of the Emperor Constantine, in the year A. D. =-17, his son Crispus Cseser was taught by his preceptor, Lactantius, that the earth was a plane surrounded by the sky, the earth itself being composed of fire and water ; and his venerable preceptor, the Holy
230 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY,
Father, warned him against believing in the heretical doctrine of the earth's globular form.
Who can add or take away from Euclid and improve upon him? Many of the old Philosophers and Scientists of the ancient days had probably forgotten, during their lives, more than all our modern Scientists ever knew. What should we have known of the application of the theory of mathematics, for practical purposes, if it had not been for Archytus, the pupil of Pythagoras?
The Priests of Etruria, as well as the ancient Rishis of India, thoroughly understood the method whereby they could attract lightning, long centuries before Christ. What will better illustrate the peculiar methods of the teachings of the various ages, my readers will more fully understand, when they begin to search for themselves and find the truth of these statements, verified b}^ the best writers of every epoch of the world's history. I know that it is very difficult to convince people of the truth of many things, more especially when these things clash with their preconceived ideas aud notions of what is true or what is false. It is also very difficult to get men to believe and agree upon matters be3'ond their comprehension.
Suppose a man requested me to teach him square root without his having any knowledge of the first four rules of arithmetic ; no matter how hard I tried to explain to him that the squares of the base and perpendicular equal the square of the hypothenuse, and that by adding the results of the squares of the two sides and extracting the square root from the sum of the sides would give him the required side of the hypo- thenuse. Why, it would be like talking Greek to him, he could not understand me, and it would be impossible for him so to do, until he had first mastered the basic principles : Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division, as then, and then only, could he understand me and acquire a knowledge of Square Root.
Pythagoras was one of the greatest Philosophers of ancient Europe. He was the son of Mesarchus, an engraver, and was born about the year B. c. 580, either at Samos, an island in the ^gean Sea, or as some say, at Sidon in Phoenicia. Very little is known of his early life, beyond the fact that he won prizes for feats of agilit}^ at the Ol3^mpic Games. Having attained manhood and feeling dissatisfied with the amount of
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 231
knowledge to be gained at home, he left his native land and spent many- years in travel, visiting in turn most of the great centres of learning. History narrates that his pilgrimage in search of Wisdom extended to Egypt, India, Persia, Crete and Palestine, and from each country he gathered fresh stores of information and succeeded in becoming well acquainted with the esoteric Wisdom, as well as with the popular esoteric knowledge of each. He returned to his home, with his mind well stored and his judgment matured, intending to open there a college of learning ; but this he found to be impracticable, owing to the opposition of its turbulent ruler, Polycrates. Failing in this design he migrated to Crotona, a noted city in Magna Grascia, and a colony founded by the Dorians, on the South coast of Italj-. It was here this ever famous Philosopher founded his College or Society of students, which became known over the civilized world as the " Grand East," or central assembly of the learned men of Europe. It was here, too, that Pythagoras taught the Occult Wisdom gathered from the Gymnosophists and Brahmins of India, from the Hierophants of Egj'pt, the Oracles of Delphi, the Idean Cave and from the Kabbalah of the Hebrew Rabbis and Chaldean Magi.
For nearly forty years he taught his pupils and exhibited his won- derful powers ; but ail end was put to his institution and he was forced to flee from the city, owing to a conspiracy and rebellion which arose on account of a quarrel between the people of Crotona and the inhabitants of Sybaris. He succeeded in reaching Metapontum, where he is said to have died about the year b. c. 500. Pythagoras was intensely in earnest in his search for learning and a comprehensive knowledge of the pro- found and lofty Sciences possessed by the ancient Eg}"ptian Hierophants. He was so very anxious to obtain all the esoteric secrets pertaining to the Ancient Eg3'ptian Mysteries, that he consented to be circumcised that he might be eligible to become an Initiate, after which he was made familiar with the occult teachings of the Egyptian Hierophants.
Pythagoras founded the Grecian Mysteries and taught to his pupils all that he had learned from the Gymnosophists, Brahmins and Hiero- phants. It was within the Temples of these people that he studied the Hermetic Sciences and came to an understanding of the revelations of the Sybils ; but he learned the geometrical theories in the Temples of Egypt. He was an apt scholar himself and grasped very readil}^ all those high
232 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY,
and lofty Sciences in which he had been instructed, until he stood pre- eminently above all the Philosophers of Ancient Europe, demonstrating this fact to all who studied under him.
Our revered Brother, Albert Pike, in "Morals and Dogmas," page 366, states that: " He taught the true method of obtaining a knowledge of the Divine Law ; to purify the soul from its imperfections, to searcb for Truth, and to practice virtue ; thus imitating the perfections of God. He thought his system vain, if it did not contribute to expel vice and introduce virtue into the mind. He taught that the two most excellent things were to speak the truth and to render benefits to one another. Particularly he inculcated Silence, Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice. He taught the immortality of the Soul, the Omnipotence of God, and the necessity of personal holiness to qualify a man for admission into the Society of the Gods. Thus we owe the particular mode of instruction in the Degree of Fellow-Craft to Pythagoras ; and that degree is but an imperfect reproduction of his lectures. From him, too, we have many of our explanations of the symbols. He arranged his assemblies due East and West, because the Master represents the rising Sun, and of course must be in the East. The pyramids, too, were built precisel}' by the four cardinal points. And our expression that our Lodges extend upward to the Heavens, come to us from the Persian and Druidic custom of having to their Temples no roof but the sky."
" Thales, Orpheus, Pherecydes, Anaxagoras, Solon, Plato, in fact, all the ancient Philosophers visited Egypt for the express purpose of acquiring ' more light ' in those wondrous realms of Mysticism, Metaphysics, and transcendental Anthropology, because they could not in their own coun- tries get that higher and more intimate knowledge of Divine or Spiritual ideas which they so earnestly desired. They thoroughly realized that the sublime teachings of the ancient Egyptians were not cognized by the uninitiated, and, in fact, thoroughly comprehended they were not enabled, from the teachings received, to delve deeply into the ethereal realm of Thought or Being, and all they were enabled to comprehend was merely the phenomenal, cognizable by their senses alone (' we must ever remem- ber that with our physical senses alone at our command none of iis can hope to reach beyond gross matter ') they distinctly understood that their investigations could go so far and no farther, but they positively knew
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that here, in Egypt, all those sublime teachings and glorious Truths, for which they had been searching, and so earnestly desired to comprehend, were to be found in the Ancient Egyptian Mysteries."
Every one of those ancient Philosophic Craftsmen, who lifted the veil of the Greater Mysteries and received the " Light " of those sublime teachings, which were the wonder of the ancient world, began to under- stand that before he or they could receive the Diviue Wisdom so earnestly desired he would have to go from below upwards, and in order to attain to higher planes, he would have to build the ladder within himself, so as to rise above his lower, and free his higher self, that he might consciously know and understand all the causes " that have made him what he is, and that shall make him what he will be."
An oracle of Apollo, quoted by Euscbius, states that the " Egyptians were the first who disclosed by infinite actions the path that leads to the gods. The oracle is as follows :
"The path by which to Deity we climb, Is arduous, rough, ineffable, sublime; And the strong massive gates, through which we pass, In our fust course, are bound with chains of brass. Those men the first, who of Egyptian birth, Drank the fair waters of Nilotic earth, Disclosed by actions infinite this road, And man>- ])aths to God I'luenicians showed, This road the Assyrians pointed out to view, And this the Lydians and Chaldeans knew."
Showing that the religions of the Egyptians comprised the essentials of all others, and that their moral code was both pure and exalted. But the real iialurc and attributes of God could only be communicated to such as were initiated into the Mysteries, and gave unquestionable proofs of their fidelity and zeal. And to the initiate it was a startling and solemn revelation. It was difficult, says Plato, to attain, and dangerous to pub- lish the knowledge of the true God. Every Initiate in the Egyptian and Babylonian Mysteries were students deeply interested in the things seen, and the lessons learned, during their initiation, and they not only asked questions, but verified the statements made by the Hierophants, through their own personal investigations. In fact, they were endeavoring to ac-
234 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
quire " Light '' and Wisdom, consequently they looked up to those who initiated them for guidance, when the}^ discovered that they must search and think for themselves, and in this way developed the power of Thought which could not otherwise have been done. " Knowledge is Power" but first let us understand what is meant b}' " Knowledge."
Many people are under the impression that " Knowledge " is com- prised in simply knowing a thing to be hard or soft, hot or cold ; that the object is a stone, a horse, dog or boy, is to know all about it; but that kind of knowledge is very superficial. There are many others who fanc}' that the result of experience places them in possession of certain facts, truths, etc., which is perfect knowledge. Now, I claim that true knowledge is a conscious realization of the law of phenomenal life, etc., a thorough understanding, of the underl3dng causes of the manifestations and differ- entiations of all things, and to be enabled to trace Nature from cause to Effect. For instance : — to have a Knowledge of Man we must trace the Monadic essence through elements to minerals, from minerals to plants, from plants to animals, from animals to quarternary Man, up to the present evolution, then on through body, soul and spirit, into the Eternal Essence of all things ; this is knowledge, and such knowledge is only to be acquired by earnest study and the soul's deep meditation. Therefore, in our endeavor to solve any scientific problem, no matter how abstruse it may be, we should concentrate our mind firml}' and persistentl}' upon the subject, and then study it according to the law of analogy, or correspon- dence, which is the fundamental idea in all esoteric philosophies, whose right application is the ke}' note to esoteric study.
Annie Besant, in the " Seven Principles of Man," page 14, states that, " The material centres of sensation are located in the Linga Sharira [Eiliereal Body) , which may be said to form the bridge between the physical organs and the mental perceptions ; impressions from the physical universe impinge on the material molecules of the phj-sical bod}^, setting in vibration the constituent cells of the organs of sensation, or our ' senses.' These vibrations in their turn, set in motion the finer material molecules of the corresponding organs in the Linga Sharira (the ' Ka ' of the ancient Egyptians), or the centers of sensation, the inner senses. From these, vibrations are again propagated into the yet rarer matter of the lower mental plane, whence they are reflected back until,
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 235
reaching the material molecules of the cerebral hemispheres, they become our ' brain consciousness.'
" This correlated and unconscious succession is necessary for the normal action of ' consciousness,' as we know it. In sleep and in trance, natural or induced, the first and last stages are generally omitted, and the impressions start from and return to the astral plane, and thus make no trace on the brain raemor}^ ; but the natural psychic, the clairvoyant who does not need trance for the exercise of his power, is able to transfer his consciousness from the physicial to the astral plane without losing his grip thereof and can impress the brain-memory with knowledge gained on the astral plane, so retaining it for use."
I consider consciousness to be the Sixth sense. It deals with the occult, the psychic, the purely mental, and is but little understood by the people of the Western world, simpl}^ because there is no money in it. Yet, b}' the use of this sense, we can work apparent miracles by the thoughts of others, like an open book. Consciousness develops intuition to such an extent, or degree, that to one who has cultivated this sense, by simply holding the hand of a person he can fee/ him talk, just as plainly and as intelligently as if you saw his lips move in speech and heard his voice. Now if we understand that Thoughts are things, that Thoughts are personal entities, just as much as a book or pen, a man or a tree we can thoroughl}' comprehend this fact. A word lightly spoken may not live, but the thought that embodied it does. Consequently to the ps3^chic, the clairvoyant, there is no difficulty in reading one's mind, for the simple reason that the Thought forms are seen and easily understood, because he not onl}' sees the Thought, but as I have already stated, he can feci him express himself.
Albert Pike says, in " Morals and Dogmas," page 573 : "The words I speak are but a succession of particular sounds, that by conventional arrangement communicate to others the Immaterial, Intangible, Eternal Thought. The fact that Thought continues to exist an instant, after it makes its appearance in the soul, proves it immortal : for there is nothing conceivable that can destroy it. The spoken words, being mere sounds, may vanish into thin air, and the written ones mere marks, be burned, erased, destroyed : but the Thought itself lives still, and must live on forever. A human Thought, then, is an actual exist-
236 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
ence, and a Force and Power, capable of acting upon and controlling matter as well as mind. Is not the existence of a God, who is the immaterial soul of the Universe, and whose Thought, embodied or not embodied in his Word, an Infinite Power of creation and production, destruction and preservation, quite as comprehensible as the existence of a Soul, of a Thought separated from the Soul, of the power of that Thought to mould the fate and influence the Destinies of Humanity? "
How sublimely grand is nature in her wondrous majesty and beauty, and how few there are who try to solve her mysteries. Science informs us of the harmony of nature's laws, which guide the glorious spheres in their orbits, and tries to explain the peculiar differentiation of molecular forms continually manifesting themselves from the unseen world around us ; yet who is there among us that understands the mystery of either motion, sound or color? We tramp the stones, dust and grasses beneath our feet, seldom giving a thought about their peculiar differentiation and wonderful manifestations into higher forms of spiritual unfoldment, demonstrating what the poet says :
"Every clod feels a stir of night,
An instinct within it that reaches and towers, Grasping blindly above it for light,
It climbs to a soul in the grasses and flowers.
Bvery object of which we know, every phenomenon we come across, has a soul in it. It is the moving power that produced the motion, the effect of which on us, we call an object. For all objects of which we have knowledge are objects of vibratory movement on us. This moving power may be, and is, in materialistic language called force. Now this force, or soul, is evolved and differentiated as it clothes itself in forms, a process which may be called the incarnation of force. This is a universal law. Kverywhere we notice that force, type or idea is incar- nated, or manifests itself in forms, again and again, and thus it, grows. Force is never destroyed, but when the form, in which it clothes itself for the time being, is broken up, it finds some other form in which to express itself The same law applies to the human kingdom ; for human beings are just as much a part of nature as anything else. Human force, or type, or soul also reincarnates in order to grow-. The
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 237
only difference between the process, as working in the lower kingdom and that noticed in humanity, is that while in the lower kingdoms the force is a special one, human forces or souls are individuals. Each soul is an individual, and capable of no further subdivision and differentiation, but only of progress. Thus the soul in man, as an individual force, appears first in the crudest form. Then as it repeats its incarnation, or manifestation in form, it goes on progressing till it has completed the human evolution, and has reached the same perfection, as, for instance, was reached by Christ. Thus re-incarnation is the method of the evolu- tion of the soul, and we must distinctly understand, that it does not mean transmigration, or reappearance of individuals of one incarnation, as the very same individual in the next.
The stone disentegrates and forms the dust of the earth, so that plant life might come into existence, and produce higher forms of unfoldment, leading on to higher spiritual development and divine consciousness, as manifested in her higher forms, for as the Reverend J. W. Lee, D.D., says, in the " Making of Man : "
'• Not till the dust stands erect in the living man ; not till the atoms throb in a human brain, and beat in a human heart was the intention under the drift of ages, spelled out in the unity of thought. Man is the head and heart of nature. Evolution and Involution is the coming and becoming of man. The world is because he is."
What mind can comprehend the Infinite and absolutely unknown, having no beginning and shall have no end ; which is both last and first, because whether differentiated or withdrawn into itself it ever is ? What mind can explain the mystery and power of " magnetism," the virtue or force which compels one pole of a magnetic needle to point direct to the north? And what is Light? What is electricity? Who can explain the process by which the rose received its delicious perfume ? Whence comes the blush of its petals ? And how does the lily come forth from the slime and filth of the cesspool, in all its dazzling brightness and purity? Is it any more a problem, whence comes Thought, Will, Percep- tion and all the phenomena of the mind ? Has the phonograph vocal organs ? Has it a memory ? Has this rotating cjdinder which speaks to us a brain and tongue, that will articulate with an exactitude seemingly imcomprehensible — your vocal Thought ?
238 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
How often we hear people say that " the brain is the organ of the mind and its secretion is Thought!" Are we to understand from this that Thought or Mind cannot exist without the Brain f If that is the idea they desire to convey, I for my part most emphatically object to such conception, and do most earnestly ask the reader to follow me in an argument along these lines, so that I may be enabled to show them that these assertions are not true. Does it require a brain to direct ?
" Aldebaraii, fairest in Germini's train,
That beams forth with Capella on high ; Where Orion's bright clusters splendidly reign, And illumines the beautiful skj'."
When Professor Tyndall delivered his celebrated address in Belfast, Ireland, upon the subject of " Matter and Mind," he stated " that Science would probably have entirelj^ to recast its conception of matter," and this is just exactly what Science has been compelled to do; and to-day, in this wonderful twentieth century, it does not give the same definition to matter it did when I was a boy, for now, we recognize matter existing under conditions that would have been regarded as an absurdity by the Scientific world, when Tyndall intimated the necessity for the reconsider- ation of preconceived ideas regarding matter.
Now this brings me to my first remark about " the brain being the organ of the Mind," etc. Nearly every person is under the impression that Thought is produced by the action of the " gray matter of the brain," and when the gray matter was not to be found working, in its peculiar convolutions, thought was not able to produce itself, and that with the presence of the brain thought is manifested. According to the old theory the development of thought in a child was entirely different in its character from that in man, or even in the child at a more advanced age. It was claimed that the thottght in the child was infantile in- its character, and as the child grew from boyhood to manhood, thought grew pari passu and became far more subtle and powerful, and that it was a more mature Thought, having developed through an advanced age, being produced simply by the physical development of the convolutions of the cerebral hemispheres.
Further, if at any period of man's life his brain was injured, or over- powered by ttse of strong liquors or narcotics, or under high feverish
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 239
conditions, the blood supply would be impure and bad blood would function through the brain, in consequence of which he would have delirium, and his thoughts become confused through the peculiar condi- tion of the brain.
Again, it is asserted that if a man's brain is injured by a heavy blow upon the head, crushing the bone in upon the gray matter, thought is ^immediately arrested, and in lifting the pressure of the bone from the brain thought will begin to function again. It is claimed that if a portion of the brain were destroyed or eaten away through disease, the faculty of thought expressed by that particular portion of the brain would disappear.
The conclusion arrived at would be, from the above, that thought grows, ripens and matures with the growth and development of the brain, and varies according to the condition of the brain, being destroyed if the brain is seriously injured, finally disappearing as the brain decays and the mind of man is destroyed — is lost. Now there is no question about the strength of these arguments, for they are most assuredly very strong, more especially to one who reasons, step by step, along the lines where this process of reasoning would lead him.
But I intend to show that this inductive method of reasoning is not at all times true, for many facts have been overlooked, and in consequence the entire argument falls to the ground, like a house built with a pack of cards. Annie Besant has said : " Unless you are sure that you know everything in the universe of discourse, inductive logic does not lead you to a certain and final conclusion," which most assuredly has not been done in this argument ; therefore the whole superstructure falls to pieces.
In an argument based on the constant relation between two things, a relationship must positively be shown to exist. If you get the same two things moving in an opposite direction, varying inversely, then what becomes of the argument ? Now that is exactly what has happened in connection with the argument based on brain and thought, and their constantly varying together. It has been found they do not so vary, and still more than that, sometimes vary inversely ; that is, a condition may sometimes arise where the brain is partially paralyzed, but where the thought is much more active than when it is working in the brain.
240 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
Now I :un i^oiiiu^ to ])rovo to you by hy])notic and nicsnicric experi- iiK'iil lli.it iiiU'lli,i;riu'c c;iii function when the brain is paralyzed. Chaicol and his school haAc demonstrated tliis fact, and they have proved it oNcr- and over again. Tlic learned doctors have not advanced a tlieory, hill have just stated facts in their research and scientific observation. Hut lirsl IcI iiK- (|iiotc you from the "Medical Record" of New York, page io.|, |iil\' lOlli, iSc)8: "A man is rejiorled hy Porta to have lost the whole of his right cerel>i;il hi'iiiis])lR're by an accicUut. lie was uncon- scious for a {v\\ hours only, and icf/fi/ he rcan'crcd I/r /yoTtu/ llml iiiDiir- th(il('lv (t//iT llic luriihiit he li(i({ iii>t hrni iiiiconsrions^ because he recollected being picked up and taken to a hospital, ivighteen nuniths later the wound was closed. 1 \v had, of c(nirse, side paralysis ; but liis left cerebral hemisphere being intact his intellectual functions are said to be unim- paired."
VVc have ;ni iuslniuieut called the spvnioorafili, which distinctly shows, not oul\- the tlirobbiug of the heart, but it will record and show the iiio\ciiieut of the lungs, as well as the coutracliou and expansion of the muscles. it is an instrument with a revoh'iug cylinder and various atlat'hiuciils, such as levers, ])cucil, paper, etc., and when couuected with various parts of the liiimau boiK' in a certain way we are eiud)led to register the peculiar motions of the various organs, such as the beating of the heart, the risi' and tall of the lungs, etc., etc. Now, by ajiplying certain parts of one of these niachiues to yviwx heart, you would get a recoi-d of its motion, showing the slightest differentiation of its action, ami this record would be (raced by (he reccuder in all its variations upon the cylinder ol the inslniuu'iil ilsell. It \\\\\ also recoixl with exactness the motions of the lungs and muscles, however slight. If no perceptible motion is cogui/cd by mir jihysical senses, this iustrumeul will mark it onl in curved lines, easily recognizable by any physician, and these very lines prove the truth and fact of the motion, thus doing away with human testimony and the possibilit\' of tiaud b^■ any hnuian intervcntioij.
Now we will hypnotize a man, and with this iuslrument find that the motions ol his various organs, while in ihc hypnotic state, are so slight that without its use we sluuild declare they were iiot functioning at all. This delicate instrument, with its wonderful nicclianisni, records the slightest niovcnient in the lungs and heart, etc., thciel)\- proving to us
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 241
that the blood does not function through all jxirts of the brain, neither does it go to the lungs to be oxygenized and electrified and forced through the arterial system in all its wonderful ramifications on its life-giving mission to all parts of the body. Consequently the blood becomes over- charged with carbonic acid, which is produced through improper respira- tion, and its presence brings on a state of coma, a condition of the brain in which thought is nnable to function. So far as the physical Ijody of this man is concerned, as he is to all appearances dead, lying there .so still and quiet, with all the attributes of death, yet, although in this con- dition, we shall find all his mental faculties in a remarkable state of activity.
We can obtain from him, in his present condition, a demonstration of memory and consciousness far more powerful than in his regular nor- mal or waking state. His memory has been immensely stimnlated, in fact to such an extent that he can tell us of every incident in his life, from childhood up to the present day. He will be enabled to describe scenes of his schoolboy days, the school and schoolmates, the master, the interior and exterior of the building, and he will remember the houses and the people who lived in the immediate vicinity, indeed many things which in his waking state had long been forgotten, will now be described by him, as if they had occurred but yesterday. We shall al.so find that in his present state or condition his mental faculties have been so inten- sified, he can memorize to an extent trul}' remarkable, so much so that if we should read to him a half dozen stanzas from " Homer's Odys.sey " in Greek, a language he does not understand, yet will he repeat it, word for word, from beginning to end without a mistake. If we restore him to his waking state we shall discover that he will not remember or be able to pronounce one word of it. Hypnotize him again and we shall find that he is able to repeat them, word for word, without blunder or mishap, thus demonstrating that when his brain is dormant, not functioning, and the man is in the hypnotic condition, we find a higher grade of intelli- gence and a grander memory, with no blank in his life, as he can describe accurately every incident, with an exactitude seemingly incomprehensible.
Many men which we meet in every-day life are dowered with an ordinary intelligence. Take one of these and throw him into a hyp- notic condition, when he will be far more brilliant in his reasoning, and
U
242 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
often argue from cause to effect witli surprising ability, yet his brain is not working, and in this condition you can compel him to do nearly any- thing you may desire. You can destroy his senses or intensify them. You will realize that j^ou can control his voluntar}' muscles, individuality, sympathies and antipathies, and perform many things with which, no doubt, you are perfectly familiar. We positively know that we can hyp- notize an insane man and obtain from him intelligence and reasoning powers. Throw him back again to his waking state and once more he is a lunatic; but under hypnotic control he becomes an intelligent, reasoning, human being, who will talk and argue as well as one that is sane. I could continue my arguments along these lines, but think the above will prove that though thought may always be expressed by the brain^ it is also possible to express it withoitt the brain. Although many incidents in our normal lives have been forgotten, they are to be fovind impressed upon our consciousness and can be brought back, again and again, even when lost to our normal faculties.
We find, through these investigations, that instead of thought varying with the state of the brain, it varies against it ; when the brain is in a state of coma, thought is far more active ; when paralyzed the mental faculties are immensely stimulated and the man enabled to exercise a power far more keen and subtle than during his waking consciousness, by which fact we "^.x^ forced to admit that the brain is a limitation impressed on our consciousness .1 a partial instrtinient instead of the producer of Thought. Therefore the Brain is not the organ of the Mind, and it does not secrete Thought in the same manner in which the Hepatic gland secretes bile for the digestive apparatus. For, as above stated. Thoughts are Things, and the Thoughts which come to Man have existed long ages before the physical body of the man was born.
We can readily prove the Power and Force of Thought ; for instance ; You are sitting at your window, or standing at some place where you can see another person — say — standing upon the sidewalk, waiting for some one, and, if you send out a thought to him, willing him to look around at you, the first thing you will observe will be a peculiar feeling of uneasiness about the individual, and he will turn his head, one way then the other, until finally he will direct his gaze to the spot where you are standing.
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 243
In the Appendix of Paracelsus, by Hartman, he states that : " By the magic power of the will a person on this side of the ocean may make a person on the otHer side hear what is said on this side, and a person in the East may thus converse with another in the West. The physical may hear and understand the voice of another man at a distance of a hundred steps, and the ethereal body of a man may hear what another man thinks at a distance of a hundred miles and more. What may be accomplished by ordinary means in a month (such as the sending of messages) may be done by this art in a day."
The thought goes forth with a force for good or evil, just as we think or send it out, and like a stone cast forth from our hand, falling into a pool of water, disturbs and displaces every molecule of that body. If we watch the falling stone we shall see, where it struck the water, an all embracing circular wave start out with a momentum which will eventually reach the surrounding banks, when, in order to preserve its equilibrium, it will return to the source from whence it emanated, thus proving that (Thoughts) " curses, like chickens, come home to roost." So we should ever be guarded in our Thoughts, for those we send out return to us, and we ourselves feel their influence, either for Good or Evil, as the case may be. Thoughts are perfect entities.
Thought has no language I But in passing through the cerebral hemi- spheres of a Greek, Arab, Hindu, Chinese, or an American, it expresses itself in the language of the brain through which it passes. We can clearly demonstrate the locality of the brain, but who among us can locate the Mind? " Mind (or Manas) belongs to the immortal man, the real / that continually clothes itself in various personalities, to live, die and pass away with each and every one of them. But the true man lives through all and endures forever," and the voice of the real man comes to us by a process as direct and swift as bodily vision, a voice which never deceives us Itituition.
Annie Besant says, in "Reincarnation," page 22: "The brain no more produces the thought than the organ produces the melody, in both cases there is a player working through the instrument. But the power of the player to manifest himself, in thought or in melody, is limited by the capacities of the instrument."
■■^•i
J3grainitrs-^p|)iit\— €^Dm)bs.
My form stupendous here the gods have placed. Sparing each spot of harvest-bearing land;
Hnd with this mighty work of art have graced H rochj? isle, encompassed once with sand; Hnd near the Pyramids have bid me stand:
Not that fierce sphynx that Chebes erewhile laid waste. But great Latona's servant, mild and bland;
hatching the prince beloved, who fills the throne
Of egypt's plains, and calls the Nile his own. XThat heavenly monarch, who his foes defies Like "Vulcan powerful, and like IPallas wise.
— Akrian.
246
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 247
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