CHAPTER II.

THE FOUB KINGDOMS.

THE three Worlds of our planet are at present the
field of evolution, for a number of different king-
doms of life, at various stages of development. Only
four of these need concern us at present, viz. : the mineral,
plant, animal, and human kingdoms.

These four kingdoms are related to the three Worlds
in different ways, according to the progress these groups of
evolving life have made in the school of experience. So
far as form is concerned the dense bodies of all the king-
doms are composed of the same chemical substances —
the solids, liquids, and gases of the Chemical Region.
The dense body of a man is as truly a chemical compound
as is the stone, although the latter is ensouled by mineral
life only. But even when speaking from the purely physical
standpoint, and laying aside all other considerations for the
time being, there are several important differences when we
compare the dense body of the human being with the min-
eral of the Earth. Man moves, grows, and propagates his
species — the mineral, in its native state, does none of these
things.

Comparing man with the forms of the plant kingdom,
we find that both plant and man have a dense body, capa-
ble of growth and propagation. But Man has faculties not
possessed by the plant. He feels, has the power of motion,
and the faculty of perceiving things exterior to himself.

56

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 57

When we compare man with the animal we see that
both have the faculties of feeling, motion, growth, propa-
gation, and. sense-perception. In addition, man has the
faculty of speech, a superior structure of the brain, and
also hands — which are a very great physical advantage.
We may note especially the development of the thumb,
which makes the hand much more valuable than even that
of the anthropoid. Man has also evolved a definite lan-
guage in which to express his feelings and thoughts, all of
which places the dense body of the human being in a class
by itself, beyond the three lower kingdoms.

To account for these differences in the four kingdoms
we must go to the invisible Worlds, and seek the causes
which give one kingdom that which is denied to another.

To function in any world, and express the qualities
peculiar to it, we must first possess a vehicle made of its
material. In order to function in the dense Physical
World it is necessary to have a dense body, adapted to our
environment. Otherwise we should be ghosts, as they are
commonly called, and be invisible to most physical beings.
So we must have a vital body before we can express life,
grow, or externalize the other qualities peculiar to the
Ethcric Region.

To show feeling and emotion it is necessary to have a
vehicle composed of the materials of the Desire World, and
a mind formed of the substance of the Region of Concrete
Thought is necessary to render thinking possible.

When we examine the four kingdoms in relation to the
Etheric Region, we find that the mineral does not possess
a separate vital body, and at once we see the reason why it
cannot grow, propagate, or show sentient life.

As an hypothesis necessary to account for other known
facts, material science holds that in the densest solid, as in

58 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

the rarest and most attenuated gas, no two atoms touch
each other ; that there is an envelope of ether around each
atom; that the atoms in the universe float in an ocean of
ether.

The occult scientist knows this to be true of the Chem-
ical Region and that the mineral does not possess a separate
vital body of ether. And as it is the planetary ether alone
which envelops the atoms of the mineral, that makes the
difference described. It is necessary, as we have shown,
to have a separate, vital body, desire body, etc., to express
the qualities of a particular realm, because the atoms of the
World of Desire, of the World of Thought and even of the
Higher Worlds, inter-penetrate the Mineral as well as the
dense human body, and if the inter-penetration of the
planetary ether, which is the ether that envelops the atoms
of the mineral, were enough to make it feel and propagate
its inter-penetration by the planetary World of Thought
would also be sufficient to make it think. This it cannot
do, because it lacks a separate vehicle. It is penetrated by
the planetary ether only, and is therefore incapable of indi-
vidual growth. Only the lowest of the four states of
ether — the chemical — is active in the mineral. The chem-
ical forces in minerals are due to that fact.

When we consider plant, animal, and man in relation
to the Etheric Region we note that each has a separate,
vital body, in addition to being penetrated by the planetary
ether which forms the Etheric Region. There is a differ-
ence, however, between the vital bodies of the plants and
the vital bodies of animal and man. In the vital body
of the plant only the chemical and the life ethers are fully
active. Hence the plant can grow by the action of the
chemical ether and propagate its species through the activ-
ity of the life ether of the separate, vital body which it

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 59

possesses. The light ether is present, but is partially latent
or dormant and reflecting ether is lacking. Therefore it
is evident that the faculties of sense-perception and mem-
ory, which are the qualities of these ethers, cannot be
expressed by the plant kingdom. <

Turning our attention to the vital body of the animal
we find that in it the chemical, life and light ethers are
dynamically active. Hence the animal has the faculties
of assimilation and growth, caused by the activities of
the chemical ether; and the faculty of propagation by
means of the life ether — these being the same as in plants.
But in addition, consequent upon the action of the third
or light ether, it has the faculties of generating internal
heat and of sense-perception. The fourth ether, however,
is inactive in the animal, hence it has no thought nor mem-
ory. That which appears as such will be shown later to
be of a different nature.

When we analyze the human being, we find that in him
all four ethers are dynamically active in the highly organ-
ized vital body. By means of the activities of the chemical
ether he is able to assimilate food and to grow ; the forces at
work in the life ether enable him to propagate his species ;
the forces in the light ether supply the dense body with
heat, work on the nervous system and the muscles, thus
opening the doors of communication with the outside world
by way of the senses; and the reflecting ether enables the
spirit to control its vehicle by means of thought. This
ether also stores past experience as memory.

The vital body of plant, animal, and man, extends be-
yond the periphery of the dense body as the Etheric
Region, which is the vital body of a planet, extends beyond
its dense part, showing again the truth of the Hermetic
axiom "As above, so below." The distance of this exten-

60 EOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

sion of the vital body of man is ab'out an inch and a half.
The part which is outside the dense body is very luminous
and about the color of a new-blown peach-blossom. It is
often seen by persons having very slight involuntary clair-
voyance. The writer has found, when speaking with such
persons, that they frequently are not aware they see any-
thing unusual and do not know what they see.

The dense body is built into the matrix of this vital
body during ante-natal life, and with one exception, it is
an exact copy, molecule for molecule, of the vital body.
As the lines of force in freezing water are the avenues of
formation for ice crystals, so the lines of force in the vital
body determine the shape of the dense body. All through
life the vital body is the builder and restorer of the dense
form. Were it not for the etheric heart the dense heart
would break quickly under the constant strain we put upon
it. All the abuses to which we subject the dense body are
counteracted, so far as lies in its power, by the vital body,
which is continually fighting against the death of the
dense body.

The exception mentioned above is that the vital body
of a man is female or negative, while that of a woman is
male or positive. In that fact we have the key to numer-
ous puzzling problems of life. That woman gives way to
her emotions is due to the polarity noted, for her positive,
vital body generates an excess of blood and causes her to
labor under an enormous internal pressure that would
break the physical casement were not a safety-valve pro-
vided in the periodical flow, and another in the tears which
relieve the pressure on special occasions — for tears are
"white bleeding."

Man may have and has as strong emotions as woman,
but he is usually able to suppress them without tears, be-

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 61

cause his negative vital body does not generate more blood
than he can comfortably control.

Unlike the higher vehicles of humanity, the vital body
(except under certain circumstances, to be explained when
the subject of "Initiation" is dealt with) does not ordinar-
ily leave the dense body until the death of the latter. Then
the chemical forces of the dense body are no longer held
in check by the evolving life. They proceed to restore the
matter to its primordial condition by disintegration so that
it may be available for the formation of other forms in
the economy of nature. Disintegration is thus due to the
activity of the planetary forces in the chemical ether.

In texture the vital body may be crudely compared to
one of those picture frames made of hundreds of little
pieces of wood which interlock and present innumerable
points to the observer. The vital body presents millions
of points to the observer. These points enter into the
hollow centers of the dense atoms, imbuing them with vital
force that sets them vibrating at a rate higher than that of
the mineral of the earth which is not thus accelerated and
ensouled.

When a person is drowning, or falling from a height,
or freezing, the vital body leaves the dense body, the atoms
of which become temporarily inert in consequence, but at
resuscitation it re-enters the dense body and the "points"
are again inserted in the dense atoms. The inertia of the
atoms causes them to resist the resumption of vibration
and that is the cause of the intense prickly pain and the
tingling sensation noted at such times, but not ordinarily,
for the same reason that we become conscious of the start-
ing or stopping of a clock, but are oblivious to its tick
when it is running.

There are certain cases where the vital body partly

62 EOSICRUCIAN COSMO CONCEPTION

leaves the dense body, such as when a hand "goes to
sleep." Then the etherie hand of the vital body may be
seen hanging below the dense arm like a glove and the
points cause the peculiar pricking sensation felt when the
etherie hand re-enters the dense hand. Sometimes in
hypnosis the head of the vital body divides and hangs out-
side the dense head, one half over each shoulder, or lies
around the neck like the collar of a sweater. The absence
of prickly sensation at awakening in cases like this is be-
cause during the hypnosis part of the hypnotist's vital
body had been substituted for that of the victim.

When anesthetics are. used the vital body is partially
driven out, along with the higher vehicles, and if the appli-
cation is too strong and the life ether is driven out, death
ensues. This same phenomenon may also be observed in
the case of materializing mediums. In fact the difference
between a materializing medium and an ordinary man
or woman is just this: In the ordinary man or woman
the vital body and the dense body are, at the present stage
of evolution, quite firmly interlocked, while in the medium
they are loosely connected. It has not always been so, and
the time will again come when the vital body may normally
leave the dense vehicle, but that is not normally accom-
plished at present. When a medium allows his or her vital
body to be used by entities from the Desire World who
wish to materialize, the vital body generally oozes from
the left side — through the spleen, which is its particular
"gate." Then the vital forces cannot flow into the body
as they do normally, the medium becomes greatly ex-
hausted, and some of them resort to stimulants to counter-
act the effects, in time becoming incurable drunkards.

The vital force from the sun, which surrounds us as a
colorless fluid, is absorbed by the vital body through the

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 63

etheric counterpart of the spleen, wherein it undergoes a
curious transformation of color. It becomes pale rose-
hued and spreads along the nerves all over the dense body.
It is to the nervous system what the force of electricity is
to a telegraph system. Though there be wires, instruments,
and telegraph operators all in order, if the electricity is
lacking, no message can be sent. The Ego, the brain, and
the nervous system may be in seemingly perfect order, but
if the vital force be lacking to carry the message of the
Ego through the nerves to the muscles, the dense body will
remain inert. This is exactly what happens when part of
the dense body becomes paralyzed. The vital body has be-
come diseased and the vital force can no longer flow. In
such cases, as in most sickness, the trouble is with the
finer invisible vehicles. In conscious or unconscious rec-
ognition of this fact, the most successful physicians use
suggestion — which works upon the higher vehicles — as an
aid to medicine. The more a physician can imbue his
patient with faith and hope, the speedier disease will van-
ish and give place to perfect health.

During health the vital body specializes a superabundance
of vital force, which, after passing through a dense body,
radiates in straight lines in every direction from the per-
iphery thereof, as the radii of a circle do from the center;
but during ill-health, when the vital body becomes attenu-
ated, it is not able to draw to itself the same amount of
force and in addition the dense body is feeding upon it.
Then the lines of the vital fluid which pass out from the
body are crumpled and bent, showing the lack of force
behind them. In health the great force of these radiations
carries with it germs and microbes which are inimical to
the health of the dense body, but in sickness, when the vital
force is weak, these emanations do not so readily eliminate

64 BOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

disease germs. Therefore the danger of contracting dis-
ease is much greater when the vital forces are low than
when one is in robust health.

In cases where parts of the dense body are amputated,
only the planetary ether accompanies the separated part.
The separate vital body and the dense body disintegrate
synchronously after death. So with the etheric coun-
terpart of the amputated limb. It will gradually
disintegrate as the dense member decays, but in the
meantime the fact that the man still possesses the etheric
limb accounts for his assertion that he can feel his fin-
gers or suffers pain in them. There is also a connection
with a buried member, irrespective of distance. A
case is on record where a man felt a severe pain, as if a
nail had been driven into the flesh of an amputated limb,
and he persisted until the limb was exhumed, when it was
found that a nail had been driven into it at the time it was
boxed for burial. The nail was removed and the pain
instantly stopped. It is also in accordance with these
facts that people complain of pain in a limb for perhaps
two or three years after the amputation. The pain will
then cease. This is because the disease remains in the still
undetached etheric limb, but as the amputated part dis-
integrates, the etheric limb follows suit and thus the pain
ceases.

Having noted the relations of the four kingdoms to the
Etheric Kegion of the Physical World, we will next turn
our attention to their relation to the Desire World.

Here we find that both minerals and plants lack the
separate desire body. They are permeated only by the
planetary desire body, the Desire Work!. Lacking the
separate vehicle, they are incapable of feeling, desire, and
emotion, which are faculties pertaining to the Desire

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 65

World. When a stone is broken, it does not feel; but it
would be wrong to infer that there is no feeling connected
with such an action. That is the materialistic view, or the
view taken by the uncomprehending multitude. The
occult scientist knows that there is no act, great or small,
which is not felt throughout the universe, and even though
the stone, because it has no separate desire body, cannot
feel, the Spirit of the Earth feels because it is the Earth's
desire body that permeates the stone. When a man cuts
his finger, the finger, having no separate desire body, does
not feel the pain, but the man does, because it is his desire
body which permeates the finger. If a plant is torn up by
the roots, it is felt by the Spirit of the Earth as a man
would feel if a hair were torn from his head. This Earth
is a living, feeling body, and all the forms which are with-
out separate desire bodies through which their informing
spirits may experience feeling, are included in the desire
body of the Earth and that desire body has feeling. The
breaking of a stone and the breaking off of flowers are
productive of pleasure to the Earth, while the pulling out
of plants by the root causes pain. The reason is given in
the latter part of this work, for at this stage of our study
the explanation would be incomprehensible to the general
reader.

The planetary Desire World pulsates through the dense
and vital bodies of animal and man in the same way that
it penetrates the mineral and plant, but in addition to this,
animal and man have separate desire bodies, which enable
them to feel desire, emotion and passion. There is a differ-
ence, however. The desire body of the animal is built en-
tirely of the material of the denser regions of the Desire
World, while in the case of even the lowest of human races
a little of the matter of the higher Kegions enters into the

66 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

composition of the desire body. The feelings of animals
and the lowest human races are almost entirely concerned
with the gratification of the loweBt desires and passions,
which find their expression in the matter of the lower
Kegions of the Desire World. Hence, in order that they
may have such emotions to educate them for something
higher, it is necessary that they should have the corre-
sponding materials in their desire bodies. As man pro-
gresses in the school of life, his experiences teach him,
and his desires become purer and better. Thus by degrees
the material of his desire body undergoes a corresponding
change. The purer and brighter material of the higher
Regions of the Desire World replaces the murky colors
of the lower part. The desire body also grows in size, so
that in a saint it is truly a glorious object to behold, the
purity of its colors and its luminous transparency being
beyond adequate simile. It must be seen to be appreciated.

At present the materials of both the lower and the
higher Regions enter into the composition of the desire
bodies of the great majority of mankind. None are so
bad that they have not some good trait. This is expressed
in the materials of the higher Regions which we find in
their desire bodies. But., on the other hand, very, very few
are so good that they do not use some of the materials of
the lower Regions.

In the same way that the planetary vital and desire
bodies inter-penetrate the dense material of the Earth, as
we saw in the illustration of the sponge, the sand and the
water, so the vital and desire bodies inter-penetrate the
dense body of plant, animal and man. But during the
life of man his desire body is not shaped like his dense and
vital bodies. After death it assumes that shape. During
life it has the appearance of a luminous ovoid which, in

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 67

waking hours, completely surrounds the dense body, as
the albumen does the yolk of an egg. It extends from
twelve to sixteen inches beyond the dense body. In this
desire body there are a number of sense-centers, but, in
the great majority of people, they are latent. It is the
awakening of these centers of perception that corresponds
to the opening of the blind man's eyes in our former illus-
tration. The matter in the human desire body is in in-
cessant motion of inconceivable rapidity. There is in it
no settled place for any particle, as in the dense body.
The matter that is at the head one moment may be at the
feet in the next and back again. There are no organs in the
desire body, as in the dense and vital bodies, but there are
centers of perception, which, when active, appear as vor-
tices, always remaining in the same relative position to, the
dense body, most of them about the head. In the majority
of people they are mere eddies and are of no use as centers
of perception. They may be awakened in all, however,
but different methods produce different results.

In the involuntary clairvoyant developed along improper,
negative lines, these vortices turn from right to left, or
in the opposite direction to the hands of a clock — counter-
clockwise.

In the desire body of the properly trained voluntary
clairvoyant, they turn in the same direction as the hands
of a clock — clockwise, glowing with exceeding splendor, far
surpassing the brilliant luminosity of the ordinary desire
body. These centers furnish him with means for the per-
ception of things in the Desire World and he sees, and in-
vestigates as he wills, while the person whose centers turn
counter-clockwise is like a mirror, which reflects what
passes before it. Such a person is incapable of reaching
out for information. The reason for this belongs to a later

68 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

chapter, but the above is one of the fundamental differences
between a medium and a properly trained clairvoyant.
It is impossible for most people to distinguish between
the two ; yet there is one infallible rule that can be followed
by anyone : No genuinely developed seer will ever exercise
this faculty for money or its equivalent; nor will he use it
to gratify curiosity; but only to help humanity.

No one capable of teaching the proper method for the
development of this faculty will ever charge so much a
lesson. Those demanding money for the exercise of, or for
giving lessons in these things never have anything worth
paying for. The above rule is a safe and sure guide, which
all may follow with absolute confidence.

In a far distant future man's desire body will become as
definitely organized as are the vital and dense bodies.
When that stage is reached we shall all have the power to
function in the desire body as we now do in the dense
body, which is the oldest and best organized of these bodies
of man — the desire body being the youngest.

The desire body is rooted in the liver, as the vital body
is in the spleen.

In all warm-blooded creatures, which are the highest
evolved, and have feelings, passions and emotions, which
reach outward into the world with desire, which may be
said to really live in the fuller meaning of the term and not
merely vegetate — in all such creatures the currents of the
desire body flow outward from the liver. The desire stuff
is continually welling out in streams or currents which
travel in curved lines to every point of the periphery of
the ovoid and then return to the liver through a number
of vortices, much as boiling water is continually welling
outward from the source of heat and returning to it after
completing its cycle.

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 69

The plants are devoid of this impelling, energizing
principle, hence they cannot show .life and motion as can
the more highly developed organisms.

Where there is vitality and motion, but no red blood,
there is no separate desire body. The creature is simply
in the transition stage from plant to animal and therefore
it moves entirely in the strength of the group-spirit.

In the cold-blooded, animals which have a liver and red
blood, there is a separate desire body and the group-spirit
directs the currents inward, because in their case the sepa-
rate spirit (of the individual fish or reptile for instance)
is entirely outside the dense vehicle.

When the organism has evolved so far that the separate
spirit can commence to draw into its vehicles then it (the
individual spirit) commences to direct the currents out-
ward, and we see the beginning of passionate existence and
warm blood. It is the warm, red blood in the liver of the
organism sufficiently evolved to have an indwelling spirit
which energizes the outgoing currents of desire stuff
that cause the animal or the man to display desire and
passion. In the case of the animal the spirit is not yet
entirely tndwelling. It does not become so until the points
in the vital body and the dense body come into correspond-
ence, as explained in Chapter XII. For this reason the
animal is not a "liver," that is, he does not live as com-
pletely as does man, not being capable of as fine desires and
emotions, because not as fully conscious. The mammalia of
today are on a higher plane than was man at the animal
stage of his evolution, because they have warm, red blood,
which man did not have at that stage. This difference in
status is accounted for by the spiral path of evolution,
which also accounts for the fact that man is a higher type
of humanity than the present Angels were in their human

70 ROSTCRTJCIAN COSMO CONCEPTION

stage. The present mammalia, which have in their animal
stage attained to the possession of warm, red blood, and are
therefore capable of experiencing desire and emotion to
some extent, will, in the Jupiter Period, be a purer and
better type of humanity than we are now, while from
among our present humanity there will be some, even in
the Jupiter Period, who will be openly and avowedly
wicked. Moreover, they will not then be able to conceal
their passions as is now possible, but will be unabashed
about their evil-doing.

In the light of this exposition of the connection between
the liver and the life of the organism, it is noteworthy
that in several European languages (English, German,
and the Scandinavian tongues) the same word signifies
the organ of the body (the liver) and also "one who lives."

When we turn our attention to the four kingdoms in
their relation to the World of Thought we find that min-
erals, plants and animals lack a vehicle correlating them to
that World. Yet we know some animals think, but they
are the highest domesticated animals which have come
into close touch with man for generations and have thus
developed a faculty not possessed by other animals, which
have not had that advantage. This is on the same princi-
ple that a highly charged wire will "induce" a weaker cur-
rent of electricity in a wire brought close to it ; or that a
man of strong morals will arouse a like tendency in a
weaker nature, while one morally weak will be overthrown
if brought within the influence of evil characters. All we
do, say, or are, reflects itself in our surroundings. This is
why the highest domestic animals think. They are the
highest of their kind, almost on the point of individualiza-
tion, and man's thought vibrations have "induced" in them
a similar activity of a lower order. With the exceptions

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 71

noted, the animal kingdom has not acquired the faculty of
thought. They are not individualized. This is the great
and cardinal difference between the human and other king-
doms. Man is an individual. The animals, plants and
minerals are divided into species. They are not individual-
ized in the same sense that man is.

It is true that we divide mankind into races, tribes and
nations ; we note the difference between the Caucassian, the
Negro, the Indian, etc.; but that is not to the point. If
we wish to study the characteristics of the lion or the
elephant or any other species of the lower animals, all that
is necessary is to take any member of that species for that
purpose. When we learn the characteristics of one animal,
we know the characteristics of the species to which it be-
longs. All members of the same animal tribe are alike.
That is the point. A lion, or its father, or its son, all
look alike; there is no difference in the way they will act
under like conditions. All have the same likes and dis-
likes; one is the same as another.

Not. so with human beings. If we want to know about
the characteristics of Negroes, it is not enough that we
examine one single individual. It would be necessary to
examine each individually, and even then we will arrive at
no knowledge concerning Negroes "as a whole/' simply
because that which was a characteristic of the single indi-
vidual does not apply to the race collectively.

If we desire to know the character of Abraham Lin-
coln it will avail us nothing to study his father, his grand-
father, or his son, for they would differ entirely. Each
would have his own peculiarities quite distinct from the
idiosyncracies of Abraham Lincoln.

On the other hand, minerals, plants, and animals are
described if we devote our attention to the description of

72 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

one of each species ; while there are as many species among
human beings as there are individuals. Each individual
person is a "species," a law unto himself, altogether sepa-
rate and apart from any other individual, as different from
his fellow-men as one species in the lower kingdom is from
another. We may write the biography of a man, but an
animal can have no biography. This is because there is in
each man an individual, indwelling spirit which dictates
the thoughts and actions of each individual human being;
while there is one "group-spirit" common to all the differ-
ent animals or plants of the same species. The group-
spirit works on them all from the outside. The tiger
which roams in the wilds of the Indian jungle and the
tiger penned up in the cage of a menagerie are both ex-
pressions of the same group-spirit. It influences both
alike from the Desire World, distance being almost anni-
hilated in the inner Worlds.

The group-spirits of the three lower kingdoms are vari-
ously located in the higher Worlds, as we shall see when
we investigate the consciousness of the different kingdoms ;
but to properly comprehend the positions of these group-
spirits in the inner Worlds it is necessary to remember
and to clearly understand what has been said about all the
forms that are in the visible world having crystallized from
models and ideas in the inner Worlds, as illustrated by the
architect's house and the inventor's machine. As the juices
of the soft body of the snail crystallize into the hard shell
which it carries upon its back, so the Spirits in the higher
Worlds have, in a similar manner, crystallized out from
themselves the dense, material bodies of the different
kingdoms.

Thus the so-called "higher" bodies, although so fine and
cloudy as to be invisible, are not by any means "emana-

THE FOUE KINGDOMS

73

tions" from the dense body, but the dense vehicles of all
kingdoms correspond to the shell of the snail, which is
crystallized from its juices, the snail representing the
spirit; and the juices of its body in their progress towards
crystallization representing the mind, desire body and vital
body. These various vehicles were emanated by the spirit
from itself for the purpose of gaining experience through
them. It is the spirit that moves the dense body where
it will, as the snail moves its house, and not the body that
controls the movements of the spirit. The more closely the
spirit is able to enter into touch with its vehicle the better
can it control and express itself through that vehicle, and
vice versa. That is the key to the different states of con-
sciousness in the different kingdoms. A study of diagrams
3 and 4 should give a clear understanding of the vehicles
of each kingdom, the manner in which they are correlated

DIAGRAM 3

Showing the vehicles of each kingdom, and the manner in which
such vehicles are correlated to the different worlds.

WORLD

KINGDOM

Mineral

Plant

Animal

Man

Region of
Abstract Thought ....
and
Region of
Concrete Thought

Group-spiiit
and Ego

No vehicle

Group-spirit
and Ego

No vehicle

Group-spirit
and Ego

No vehicle

Ego
Mind

Desire World

No vehicle

No vehicle

Desire body

Desire body

Physical World:
includes the
Etheric Region

No vehicle
Dense body

Vital body
Dense body

Vital body
Dense body

Vital body
Dense body

and the
Chemical Region

EOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

DIAGRAM 4

Showing the state of consciousness appertaining to each kingdom.

WORLD

KINGDOM

State of
Conscious-
ness

Mineral

Plant

Animal

Man

Region of
Abstract Thought

Group-
spirit
and
Ego

Grou p-
spint
and
Ego

Trance-
like

Dreamless
Sleep

and
Region of
Concrete Thought

Desire World

Group-
spirit
and
Ego

Dream
Conscious-
ness

Physical World;
includes the
Etheric Region

Dense
body

Vital
body
Dense
body

Desire
body
Vital
body
Dense
body

Ego
Mind
Desire
body
Vital
body
Dense
body

Waking
Conscious-
ness

and the

to the different Worlds and the resulting state of con-
sciousness.

From diagram 3 we learn that the separate Ego is
definitely segregated within the Universal Spirit in the
Region of Abstract Thought. It shows that only man
possesses the complete chain of vehicles correlating him
to all divisions of the three Worlds. The animal lacks one
link of chain — the mind; the plant lacks two links, the
mind and the desire body; and the mineral lacks three
links in the chain of vehicles necessary to function in a
self-conscious manner in the Physical World — the mind,
the desire and the vital bodies.

The reason for the various deficiencies is that the Min-
eral Kingdom is the expression of the latest stream of
evolving life; the Plant Kingdom is ensouled by a life wave
that has been longer upon the path of evolution; the life

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 75

wave of the animal Kingdom has a still longer past; while
Man, that is to say, the life now expressing itself in the
human form, has behind it the longest journey of all the
four kingdoms, and therefore leads. In time, the three
life-waves which now animate the three lower kingdoms
will reach the human, and we shall have passed to higher
stages of development.

To understand the degree of consciousness which results
from the possession of the vehicles used by the life evolving
in the four kingdoms, we turn our attention to diagram 4,
which shows that man, the Ego, the Thinker, has de-
scended into the Chemical Region of the Physical World.
Here he has marshaled all his vehicles, thereby attaining
the state of waking consciousness. He is learning to con-
trol his vehicles. The organs of neither the desire body
nor the mind are yet evolved. The latter is not yet even
a body. At present it is simply a link, a sheath for the
use of the Ego as a focusing point. It is the last of the
tehicles that have been built. The spirit works gradually
from finer into coarser substance, the vehicles also being
built in fine substance first, then in coarser and coarser
substance. The dense body was built first and has now
come into its fourth stage of density; the vital body is
in its third stage and the desire body in its second, hence it
is still cloud-like, and the sheath of mind is filmier still.
As those vehicles have not, as yet, evolved any organs, it is
clear that they alone would be useless as vehicles of con-
sciousness. The Ego, however, enters into the dense body
and connects these organless vehicles with the physical
sense-centers and thus attains the waking state of con-
sciousness in the Physical World.

The student should particularly note that it is because
of their connection with the splendidly organized mechan-

76 KOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

ism of the dense body that these higher vehicles become of
value at present. He will thus avoid a mistake frequently
made by people who, when they come into the knowledge
that there are higher bodies, grow to despise the dense
vehicle; to speak of it as "low" and "vile" — turning their
eyes to heaven and wishing that they might soon be able
to leave this earthly lump of clay and fly about in their
"higher vehicles."

These people generally do not realize the difference be-
tween "higher" and "perfect." Certainly, the dense body
is the lowest vehicle in the sense that it is the most un-
wieldy, correlating man to the world of sense with all the
limitations thus implied. As stated, it has an enormous
period of evolution back of it; is in its fourth stage of
development and has now reached a great and marvelous
degree of efficiency. It will, in time, reach perfection,
but even at present it is the best organized of man's vehi-
cles. The vital body is in its third stage of evolution, and
less completely organized than the dense body. The desire
body and the mind are, as yet, mere clouds — almost en-
tirely unorganized. In the very lowest human beings
these vehicles are not even definite ovoids; they are more
or less undefined in form.

The dense body is a wonderfully constructed instrument
and should be recognized as such by everyone pretending
to have any knowledge of the constitution of man. Observe
the femur, for instance. This bone carries the entire
weight of the body. On the outside it is built of a thin
layer of compact bone, strengthened on the inside by beams
and cross-beams of cancellated bone, in such a marvelous
manner that the most skilled bridge or construction en-
gineer could never accomplish the feat of building a pillar
of equal strength with so little weight. The bones of the

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 77

skull are built in a similar manner, always the least possible
material is used and the maximum of strength obtained.
Consider the wisdom manifested in the construction of the
heart and then question if this superb mechanism deserves
to be despised. The wise man is grateful for his dense
body and takes the best possible care of it, because he knows
that it is the most valuable of his present instruments.

The animal spirit has in its descent reached only the
Desire World. It. has not yet evolved to the point where
it can "enter" a dense body. Therefore the animal has no
individual indwelling spirit, but a group-spirit, which
directs it from without. The animal has the dense body,
the vital body and the desire body, but the group-spirit
which directs it is outside. The vital body and the desire
body of an animal are not entirely within the dense body,
especially where the head is concerned. For instance, the
etheric head of a horse projects far beyond and above the
dense physical head. When, as in rare cases it happens,
the etheric head of a horse draws into the head of the
dense body, that horse can learn to read, count and work
examples in elementary arithmetic. To this peculiarity is
also due the fact that horses, dogs, cats and other domesti-
cated animals sense the Desire World, though not always
realizing the difference between it and the Physical World.
A horse will shy at the sight of a figure invisible to the
driver ; a cat will go through the motions of rubbing itself
against invisible legs. The cat sees the ghost, however,
\vithout realizing that it has no dense legs available for
frictional purposes. The dog, wiser than cat or horse, will
often sense that there is something he does not under-
stand about the appearance of a dead master whose hands it
cannot lick. It will howl mournfully and slink into a
corner with its tail between its legs. The following illus-

78 EOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

tration may perhaps be of service to show the difference
between the man with his indwelling spirit and the animal
with its group-spirit.

Let us imagine a room divided by means of a curtain,
one side of the curtain representing the Desire World and
the other the Physical. There are two men in the room,
one in each division; they cannot see each other, nor can
they get into the same division. There are, however, ten
holes in the curtain and the man who is in the division
representing the Desire World can put his ten fingers
through these holes into the other division, representing
the Physical World. He now furnishes an excellent rep-
resentation of the group-spirit which is in the Desire
World. The fingers represent the animals belonging to
one species. He is able to move them as he wills, but he
cannot use them as freely nor as intelligently as the man
who is walking about in the Physical division uses his body.
The latter sees the fingers which are thrust through the
curtain and he observes that they all move, but he does
not see the connection between them. To him it appears
as if they were all separate and distinct from one another.
He cannot see that they are the fingers of the man behind
the veil and are governed in their movements by his in-
telligence. If he hurts one of the fingers, it is not only
the finger that he hurts, but chiefly the man on the other
side of the curtain. If an animal is hurt, it suffers, but not
to the degree that the group-spirit does. The finger
has no individualized consciousness; it moves as the man
dictates — so do the animals move as the group-spirit dic-
tates. We hear of "animal instinct" and "blind instinct.'*
There is no such vague, indefinite thing as "blind" in-
stinct. There is nothing "blind" about the way the group-
spirit guides its members — there is Wisdom, spelled with

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 79

capitals. The trained clairvoyant, when functioning in the
Desire World, can communicate with these spirits of the
animal species and finds them much more intelligent than
a large percentage of human beings. He can see the mar-
velous insight they display in marshaling the animals
which are their physical bodies.

It is the spirit of the group which gathers its flocks of
birds in the fall and compels them to migrate to the south,
neither too early nor too late to escape the winter's chilly
blast ; that directs their return in the spring, causing them
to fly at just the proper altitude, which differs for the
different species.

The group-spirit of the beaver teaches it to build its
dam across a stream at exactly the proper angle. It con-
siders the rapidity of the flow, and all the circumstances,
precisely as a skilled engineer would do, showing that it is
as up-to-date in every particular of the craft as the col-
lege-bred, technically-educated man. It is the wisdom of
the group-spirit that directs the building of the hexagon
cell of the bee with such geometrical nicety; that teaches
the snail to fashion its house in an accurate, beautiful
spiral; that teaches the ocean mollusk the art of decorat-
ing its iridescent shell. Wisdom, wisdom everywhere! so
grand, so great that one who looks with an observant eye
is filled with amazement and reverence.

At this point the thought will naturally occur that if the
animal group-spirit is so wise, considering the short period
of evolution of the animal as compared with that of man,
why does not the latter display wisdom to a much greater
degree and why must man be taught to build dams and
geometrize, all of which the group-spirit does without
being taught?

The answer to that question has to do with the descent of

80 ROSICKUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

the Universal Spirit into matter of ever-increasing density.
In the higher Worlds, where its vehicles are fewer and
finer, it is in closer touch with cosmic wisdom which shines'
out in a manner inconceivable in the dense Physical
World, but as the spirit descends, the light of wisdom
becomes temporarily more and more dimmed, until in the
densest of all the Worlds, it is held almost entirely in
abeyance.

An illustration will make this clearer. The hand is
man's most valuable servant; its dexterity enables it to
respond to his slightest bidding. In some vocations, such
as bank teller, the delicate touch of the hand becomes so
sensitive, that it is able to distinguish a counterfeit coin
from a genuine in a way so marvelous that one would
almost think the hand were endowed with individual in-
telligence.

Its greatest efficiency is perhaps reached in the produc-
tion of music. It is capable of producing the most beauti-
ful, soul-stirring melodies. The delicate, caressing touch
of the hand elicits the tenderest strains of soul-speech from
the instrument, telling of the sorrows, the joys, the hopes,
the fears and the longings of the soul in a way that noth-
ing but music can do. It is the language of the heaven
world, the spirit's true home, and comes to the divine
spark imprisoned in flesh as a message from its native land.
Music appeals to all, regardless of race, creed, or other
worldly distinction. The higher and more spiritual the
individual the plainer does it speak to him and even "the
savage breast" is not unmoved by it.

Let us now imagine a master-musician putting on thin
gloves and trying to play his violin. We note at once that
the delicate touch is less subtle; the soul of the music is
gone. If he puts another and a heavier pair of gloves over

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 81

the first pair, his hand is hampered to such an extent that
he may occasionally create a discord instead of the former
harmony. Should he at last put on, in addition to the
two pairs of gloves already hampering him, a pair of still
heavier mittens, he would, temporarily, be entirely unable
to play, and one who had not heard him play previously to
the time he put on the gloves and the mittens, would
naturally think that he had never been able to do so, espe-
cially if ignorant of the hampering of his hands.

So it is with the Spirit; every step down, every de-
scent into coarser matter is to it what the putting on of a
pair of gloves would be to the musician. Every step down
limits its power of expression until it has become accus-
tomed to the limitations and has found its focus, in the
same way that the eye must find its focus after we enter a
house on a bright summer day. The pupil of the eye con-
tracts to its limit in the glare of the sun and on entering
the house all seems dark; but, as the pupil expands, and
admits the light, the man is enabled to see as well in the
dimmer light of the house as he did in the sunlight.

The purpose of man's evolution here is to enable him
to find his focus in the Physical World, where at present
the light of wisdom seems obscured. But when in time we
have "found the light," the wisdom of man will shine forth
in his actions, and far surpass the wisdom expressed by
the group-spirit of the animal.

Besides, a distinction must be made between the group-
spirit and the virgin spirits of the life wave now expres&-
ing itself as animals. The group-spirit belongs to a dif-
ferent evolution, and is the guardian of the animal spirits.

The dense body in which we function is composed of
numerous cells, each having separate cell-consciousness,
though of a very low order. While these cells form part of

82 KOSICBUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPT 10 X

our body they are subjected to and dominated by our
consciousness. An animal group-spirit functions in a spirit-
ual body, which is its lowest vehicle. This vehicle consists
of a varying number of virgin spirits imbued for the time
being with the consciousness of the group-spirit. The
latter directs the vehicles built by the virgin spirits in its
charge, caring for them and helping them to evolve their
vehicles. As its wards evolve, the group-spirit also evolves,
undergoing a series of metamorphoses, in a manner similar
to that in which we grow and gain experience by taking
into our bodies the cells of the food we eat, thereby also
raising their consciousness by enduing them with ours for
a time.

Thus while a separate, self-conscious Ego is within each
human body and dominates the actions of its particular
vehicle, the spirit of the separate animal is not yet individ-
ualized and self-conscious, but forms part of the vehicle of
a self-conscious entity belonging to a different evolution —
the group-spirit.

This group-spirit dominates the actions of the animals
in harmony with cosmic law, until the virgin spirits in its
charge shall have gained self-consciousness and become
human. Then they will gradually manifest wills of their
own, gaining more and more freedom from the group-spirit
and becoming responsible for their own actions. The group-
spirit will influence them, however (although in a de-
creasing degree), as race, tribe, community, or family
spirit until each individual has become capable of acting
in full harmony with cosmic law. Not until that time will
the Ego be entirely free and independent of the group-
spirit, which will then enter a higher phase of evolu-
tion.

The position occupied by the group-spirit in the Desire

THE FOUR KINGDOMS 83

World gives to the animal a consciousness different from
that of man, who has a clear, definite waking conscious-
ness. Man sees things outside of himself in sharp, dis-
tinct outlines. Owing to the spiral path of evolution, the
higher domestic animals, particularly the dog, horse, cat
and elephant see objects in somewhat the same way, though
perhaps not so clearly defined. All other animals have
an internal "picture consciousness" similar to the dream-
state in man. When such an animal is confronted by an
object, a picture is immediately perceived within, accom-
panied by a strong impression that the object is inimical
or beneficial to its welfare. If the feeling is one of fear,
it is associated with a suggestion from the group-spirit how
to escape the threatened danger. This negative state of
consciousness renders it easy for the group-spirit to guide
the dense bodies of its charges by suggestion, as the animals
have no will of their own.

Man is not so easily managed from without, either with
or without his consent. As evolution progresses and man's
will develops more and more, he will become non-amenable
to outside suggestion and free to do as he pleases regard-
less of suggestions from others. This is the chief difference
between man and the other kingdoms. They act accord-
ing to law and the dictates of the group-spirit (which we
call instinct), while man is becoming more and more a
law unto himself. We do not ask the mineral whether
or not it will crystallize, nor the flower whether it will or
will not bloom, nor the lion whether it will or will not
cease to prey. They are all, in the smallest as in the great-
est matter, under the absolute domination of the group-'
spirit, being without free will and initiative which, in
some degree, are possessed by every human being. All
animals of the same species look nearly alike, because they

84 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

emanate from the same group-spirit, while among the fif-
teen hundred millions of human beings who people the
Earth no two look exactly alike, not even twins when ado-
lescent, because the stamp that is put upon each by the
indwelling individual Ego makes the difference in appear-
ance as well as in character.

That all oxen thrive on grass, and all lions eat flesh,
while "one man's meat is another man's poison" is an-
other illustration of the all-inclusive influence of the
group-spirit as contrasted with the Ego which makes each
human being require a different proportion of food from
every other. Doctors note with perplexity the same pecu-
liarity in administering medicine. Its acts differently
upon different individuals, while the same medicine will
produce identical effects on two animals of the same spe-
cies, owing to the fact that animals all follow the dictates
of the group-spirit and Cosmic Law — always act similarly
in identical circumstances. Man alone is, in some measure,
able to follow his own desires within certain limits. That
his mistakes are many and grievous, is granted, and to
many it might seem better if he were forced into the right
way, but if this were done, he would never learn to do
right. Lessons of discrimination between good and evil
cannot be learned unless he is free to choose his own course
and has learned to eschew the wrong as a veritable "womb
of pain." If he did right only because he had no choice,
and had no chance to do otherwise, he would be but an
automaton and not an evolving God. As the builder
learns by his mistakes, correcting past errors in future
buildings, so man, by means of his blunders, and the pain
they cause him, is attaining to a higher (because self-
conscious) wisdom than the animal, which acts wisely
because it is impelled to action by the group-spirit. In

THE FOUK KINGDOMS 85

time the animal will become human, have liberty of choice
and will make mistakes and learn by them as we do now.

Diagram 4 shows that the group-spirit of the plant
kingdom has its lowest vehicle in the Eegion of Concrete
Thought. It is two steps removed from its dense vehicle
and consequently the plants have a consciousness corre-
sponding to that of dreamless sleep. The group-spirit of
the mineral has its lowest vehicle in the Eegion of Abstract
Thought and it is, therefore, three steps removed from its
dense vehicle ; hence it is in a state of deep unconsciousness
similar to the trance condition.

We have now shown that man is an individual indwell-
ing spirit, an Ego separate from all other entities, directing
and working in one set of vehicles from within, and that
plants and animals are directed from without by a group-
spirit having jurisdiction over a number of animals or
plants in our Physical World. They are separate only in
appearance.

The relations of plant, animal and man to the life cur-
rents in the Earth's atmosphere are symbolically repre-
sented by the cross. The Mineral Kingdom is not repre-
sented, because as we have seen, it possesses no individual
vital body, hence cannot be the vehicle for currents belong-
ing to the higher realms. Plato, who was an Initiate, often
gave out occult truths. He said "The World-Soul is
crucified."

The lower limb of the cross indicates the plant with its
root in the chemical mineral soil. The group-spirits of
plants are at the center of the Earth. They are (it will
be remembered) in the Eegion of Concrete Thought, which
inter-penetrates the Earth, as do all the other Worlds.
From these group-spirits flow streams or currents in all

86 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTIO.N

directions to the periphery of the Earth, passing outward
through the length of plant or tree.

Man is represented by the upper limb; he is the inverted
plant. The plant takes its food through the root. Man
takes his food through the head. The plant stretches its
generative organs towards the sun. Man, the inverted
plant, turns his towards the center of the earth. The plant
is sustained by the spiritual currents of the group-spirit in
the center of the earth, which enter into it by way of the
root. Later it will be shown that the highest spiritual
influence comes to man from the sun, which sends its rays
through man, the inverted plant, from the head downwards.
The plant inhales the poisonous carbon-dioxide exhaled by
man and exhales the life-giving oxygen used by him.

The animal, which is symbolized by the horizontal limb
of the cross, is between the plant and the man. Its spine
is in a horizontal position and through it play the cur-
rents of the animal group-spirit which encircle the Earth.

No animal can be made to remain constantly upright,
because in that case the currents of the group-spirit could
not guide it, and if it were not sufficiently individualized to
endure the spiritual currents which enter the vertical
human spine, it would die. It is necessary that a vehicle
for the expression of an individual Ego shall have three
things — an upright walk, that it may come into touch with
the currents just mentioned; an upright larynx, for only
such a larynx is capable of speech (parrots and starlings
are examples of this effect of the upright larynx) ; and,
owing to the solar currents, it must have warm blood. The
latter is of the utmost importance to the Ego, which will be
logically explained and illustrated later. These requisites
are simply mentioned here as the last words on the status
of the four kingdoms in relation to each other and to the
Worlds.