CHAPTER XII.

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH.

The Polarian Epoch.

WHILE the material which now forms the Earth
was yet a part of the Sun, it was, of course, in a
fiery condition; but as the fire does not burn
spirit, our human evolution commenced at once, being
confined particularly to the Polar Region of the Sun.

The highest evolved beings which were to become
human were the first to appear. The substances which
now form the Earth were all molten, and the atmosphere
was gaseous, yet man recapitulated his mineral stage anew.

From that attenuated chemical substance of the sun man
himself built his first mineral body, assisted by the Lords
of Form. If this statement is objected to on the ground
that man could not build unconsciously, the case of the
mother can be cited in answer. Is she conscious of build-
ing the body of the babe in her womb? yet surely no one
will say that she has nothing to do with it! The only
difference is that the mother builds unconsciously for the
babe; and man built unconsciously for himself.

Man's first dense body did not even remotely resemble
his present splendidly organized vehicle. That has been
evolved only in the course of myriads of years. The first
dense body was a large, baggy object with an opening at
the top, from which an organ projected. This was a kind

261

262 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

of organ of orientation and direction. In the course of
time the dense body drew more closely together and con-
densed. If it came too close to places of greater heat than
it could endure, it disintegrated. In time the organ grew
sensitive to the condition that threatened destruction and
the dense body automatically moved to a safer place.

This organ has now degenerated into what is called the
pineal gland. Sometimes it is called "the third eye/' but
that is a misnomer, because it never was an eye, but rather
the localized organ for the sensing of heat and cold, which
faculty is now distributed over the entire dense body.
During the Polarian Epoch this sense was thus localized,
as the sense of sight is now in the eye, and that of hearing
in the ear. The extension of the sense of feeling since that
time indicates the manner in which the entire body will
be improved, so that at some future time any part of it
will be able to perceive all things. The senses of sight and
hearing will be extended over the entire body, as the sense
of feeling is now. Then man will be all eyes and ears.
Specialized sense organs indicate limitation. Sense per-
ception by the whole is comparative perfection.

At the early stage of which we are now speaking there
was a kind of propagation. These immense baggy crea-
tures divided in halves in a manner similar to the division
of cells by fission, but the separated portions would not
grow, each remaining only half as large as the original
form.

THE HYPERBOREAN EPOCH.

At different points on the fiery globe there began in
the course of time the formation of crust-islands in a sea
of fire.

The Lords of Form appeared, with the Angels (human-

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 263

ity of the Moon Period), and clothed man's dense form
with a vital body. Those baggy bodies then began to in-
crease in size by drawing to themselves material from the
outside by osmosis, as it were. When they propagated, it
was no longer by dividing into halves, but into two un-
equal parts. Both parts grew until each had attained the
original size of the parent.

As the Polarian Epoch was really a recapitulation of
the Saturn Period, it may be said that during that time
man passed through the mineral state; he had the same
vehicle — the dense body — and a consciousness similar to
the trance state. For analogous reasons, the plant state
was passed through in the Hyperborean Epoch, as man
had a dense and a vital body and a dreamless-sleep-con-
sciousness.

Man began his evolution on the Earth after Mars had
been thrown off from the central mass, and that which is
now the Earth was yet undetached from the Sun; but at
the close of the Hyperborean Epoch the incrustation had
progressed so far that it had become an obstacle to the
progress of some of the higher evolved beings in the Sun.
The fiery condition also hindered the evolution of some of
the lower grades of creatures, such as man, who at that
stage required a denser world for his further development.
Therefore, the part which is now the Earth was thrown
off from the Sun at the end of the Hyperborean Epoch,
and commenced to revolve around the parent body in a
somewhat different orbit than at present. Shortly after-
wards Venus and Mercury were thrown off for similar
reasons.

Crystallization always commences at the pole of a planet
where motion is slow. The consolidated part gradually
works outwards towards the equator in obedience to the

264 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO CONCEPTION

centrifugal force. If that force is stronger than the co-
hesive tendency the consolidated mass is thrown outwards
into space.

At the time when the Earth-globe was separated from
the parent mass, it included that part which is now our
Moon. On this great globe was evolving the life-wave now
passing through the human kingdom, also the life waves
which entered evolution in the Sun, Moon and Earth
Periods, and are now evolving through the animal, plant
and mineral kingdoms.

Mention has been made of the stragglers of various
Periods who in later Periods were enabled to take a step
upward in evolution. There were some, however, who did
not take this step. They did not evolve, and were there-
fore left further and further behind, until they became a
drag and a hindrance to the progressive ones. It became
necessary to get thehm out of the way, that the evolution
of the others might not be retarded.

In the beginning of the Lemurian Epoch, these "fail-
ures" (note that they were failures, not merely stragglers)
had crystallized that part of the Earth occupied by them
to such a degree that it became as a huge cinder or clinker,
in the otherwise soft and fiery Earth. They were a hin-
drance and an obstruction, so they, with the part of the
Earth they had crystallized, were thrown out into space
beyond recall. That is the genesis of the Moon.

THE MOON — THE EIGHTH SPHERE.

The seven Globes, A to G, inclusive, are the field of
Evolution. The Moon is the field of Disintegration.

If Earth had not segregated from the original Globe
which is now the Sun, the rapidity of the vibrations would
have disintegrated man's vehicles. He would have grown

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 265

so rapidly that the growth of the mushroom would seem
slow in comparison. He would have become old before
he had time to pass through youth. That such is the effect
of too much Sun is shown by the rapidity of growth at the
tropics, where maturity and old age are reached much
sooner than in the north. On the other hand had the
Moon remained with the Earth, man would have crystal-
lized into a statue. The separation of the Earth from the
Sun, which now sends its rays from a far distance, enables
man to live at the proper rate of vibration, to unfold
slowly. The Moon-forces reach him from the exact dis-
tance necessary to enable him to build a body of the proper
density. But although the latter forces are active in the
building of the form, they also cause death when their
continued work finally crystallizes the tissues of the body.
The Sun works in the vital body and is the force which
makes for life, and wars against the death-dealing Moon
force.

THE LEMURIAN EPOCH.

In this Epoch appeared the Archangels (the humanity
of Sun Period), and the Lords of Mind (the humanity of
Saturn Period). These Hierarchies were assisted by the
Lords of Form, who were given charge of the Earth
Period. They helped man to build his desire body, and
the Lords of Mind gave the germ of Mind to the greater
part of the pioneers who formed class 1, according to the
classification in diagram 10.

The Lords of Form vivified the Human spirit in as
many of the stragglers of the Moon Period as had made
the necessary progress in the three and one-half Eevolu-
tions which had elapsed since the commencement of the
Earth Period, but at that time the Lords of Mind could

266 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

not give them the germ of Mind. Thus a great part of
nascent humanity was left without this link between the
threefold spirit and the threefold body.

The Lords of Mind took charge of the higher part of the
desire body and of the germinal mind, impregnating them
with the quality of separate selfhood, without which no
separate, self-contained beings such as we are today would
be possible.

We owe to the Lords of Mind the separate personality,
with all the possibilities for experience and growth thus
afforded. And this point marks the birth of the Indi-
vidual.

BIRTH OF THE INDIVIDUAL.

Diagram 1 will make clear the fact that the personality
is the reflected picture of the Spirit, the mind being the
mirror, or focus.

As when reflected in a pond, the images of trees appear
inverted, the foliage seeming to be the deepest down in
the water, so the highest aspect of the spirit (the Divine
Spirit) finds its counterpart in the lowest of the three
bodies (the dense body). The next highest spirit (the
life spirit) is reflected in the next lowest body (the vital
body). The third spirit (the human spirit) and its re-
flection, the third body (the desire body), appear closest
of all to the reflecting mirror, which is the mind, the lat-
ter corresponding to the surface of the pond — the reflect-
ing medium in our analogy.

The Spirit came down from the higher Worlds during
involution; and by concurrent action, the Bodies were
built upward in the same period. It is the meeting of
these two streams in the focussing Mind that marks the
point in time when the individual, the human being, the

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 267

Ego, is born — when the Spirit takes possession of its
vehicles.

Yet we must not suppose that this at once raised man
to his present status in evolution, making him the self-
conscious, thinking being he is today. Before that point
could be reached a long and weary road had to be trav-
eled, for at the time we are considering, organs were in
their most rudimentary stage and there was no brain that
could be used as an instrument of expression. Hence the
consciousness was the dimmest imaginable. In short, the
man of that day was very far from being as intelligent as
our present-day animals. The first step in the direction
of improvement was the building of a brain to use as an
instrument of mind in the Physical World. That was
achieved by separating humanity into sexes.

SEPARATION OF THE SEXES.

Contrary to the generally accepted idea, the Ego is bi-
sexual. Were the Ego sexless, the body would necessarily
be sexless also, for the body is but the external symbol of
the indwelling spirit.

The sex of the Ego does not, of course, express itself as
such in the inner worlds. It manifests there as two dis-
tinct qualities — Will and Imagination. The Will is the
male power and is allied to the Sun forces; Imagination
is the female power and is always linked to the Moon
forces. This accounts for the imaginative trend of woman
and for the special power which the Moon exercises over
the female organism.

When the matter of which the Earth and the Moon were
afterwards formed was still a part of the Sun, the body
of man-in-the-making was yet plastic, and the forces from
that part which afterwards became Sun, and that part

268 EOSICKUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

which is now Moon worked readily in all bodies, so that
the man of the Hyperborean Epoch was hei maphrodite —
capable of producing another being from himself without
intercourse with any other.

When the Earth separated from the Sun and shortly
afterwards threw off the Moon, the forces from the two
luminaries did not find equal expression in all, as formerly.
Some bodies became more amenable to the forces from one,
and some to those from the other.

INFLUENCE OF MARS.

In the part of the Earth Period preceding the separation
of the sexes — during the three and one-half Revolutions
which intervened between the time when Mars was differ-
entiated and the beginning of the Lemurian Epoch —
Mars traveled in a different orbit from the present, and its
aura (that part of its finer vehicles which extends beyond
the dense planet) permeated the body of the central planet
and polarized the iron within it.

As iron is essential to the production of warm, red
blood, all creatures were cold-blooded, or rather, the fluid
parts of the body were no warmer than the surrounding
atmosphere.

When the Earth was set free from the Central Sun, that
event changed the orbits of the planets and thus the influ-
ence of Mars over the iron in the Earth was minimized.
The Planetary Spirit of Mars finally withdrew the re-
mainder of that influence, and although the desire bodies
of the Earth and Mars still penetrate, the dynamic power
of Mars over the iron (which is a Mars metal) has ceased
and iron has become available for use on our planet.

Iron is in reality the basis of separate existence. With-
out iron the red, heat-giving blood would be an impossi-

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 269

bility, and the Ego could have no hold in the body. When
red blood developed — in the latter part of the Lemurian
Epoch — the body became upright and the time had come
when the Ego could begin to dwell within the body and
control it.

But to dwell within is not the end and aim of evolu-
tion. It is simply a means by which the Ego may better
express itself through its instrument, that it may manifest
in the Physical World. To that end the sense organs, the
larynx, and above all, a brain, must be built and perfected.

During the early part of the Hyperborean Epoch, while
the Earth was still united with the Sun, the solar forces
supplied man with all the sustenance he needed and he
unconsciously radiated the surplus for the purpose of
propagation.

When the Ego entered into possession of its vehicles it
became necessary to use part of this force for the building
of the brain and the larynx, which was originally a part
of the creative organ. The larynx was built while the
dense body was yet bent together in the bag-like shape
already described, which is still the form of the human
embryo. As the dense body straightened and became up-
right, part of the creative organ remained with the upper
part of the dense body and later became the larynx.

Thus the dual creative force which had hitherto worked
in only one direction, for the purpose of creating another
being, became divided. One part was directed upward to
build the brain and larynx, by means of which the Ego
was to become capable of thinking and communicating
thoughts to other beings.

As a result of this change only one part of the force
essential in the creation of another being was available
to one individual, hence it became necessary for each indi-

270 KOS1CBUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

vidual to seek the co-operation of another, who possessed
that part of the procreative force which the seeker lacked.
Thus did the evolving entity obtain brain consciousness
of the outside world at the cost of half its creative power.
Previous to that time, it used within itself both parts of
that power to externalize another being. As a result of
that modification, however, it has evolved the power to
create and express thought. Before then, it was a creator
in the physical world only; since then it has become able
to create in the three worlds.

THE RACES AND THEIR LEADERS.

Before considering in detail the evolution of the Le-
murians it may be well to take a general survey of the
Races and their Leaders.

Some very valuable works on Occultism, bringing before
the public the teachings of the Eastern Wisdom, have
nevertheless contained certain mistakes, owing to a mis-
understanding of the teachings by those who were so for-
tunate as to receive them. All books, not written directly
by the Elder Brothers, are liable to contain such errors.
Considering the extreme intricacy and many complica-
tions of the subject, the wonder is not that mistakes do
occur, but that they are not more frequent. Therefore the
writer does not presume to criticise, recognizing that more
numerous and more serious mistakes may be embodied in
the present work, owing to his own misconception of the
teaching. He simply sets forth in the next few paragraphs
what he has received, which shows how the differing (and
seemingly contradictory) teaching of two such valuable
works as "The Secret Doctrine" by H. P. Blavatsky, and
"Esoteric Buddhism," by A. P. Sinnett, may be reconciled.

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 271

That part of human evolution which is to be accom-
plished during the present sojourn of the life wave on our
Earth is divisible into seven great stages or Epochs; but
these cannot appropriately be called Races. Nothing to
which that name could be correctly applied appears, until
the end of the Lemurian Epoch. From that time different
Eaces succeed one another through the Atlantean and
Aryan Epochs, and will extend slightly into the Sixth
great Epoch.

The toal number of Races — past, present and future —
in our scheme of evolution is sixteen; one at the end of
the Lemurian Epoch, seven during the Atlantean Epoch,
seven more in our present Aryan Epoch and one in the
beginning of the Sixth Epoch. After that time there will
be nothing that can properly be called a Race.

Races did not exist in the Periods which have preceded
the Earth Period and they will not exist in those Periods
which follow it. It is only here, at the very nadir of ma-
terial existence, that the difference is so great between man
and man as to warrant the separation into Races.

The immediate Leaders of humanity (apart from the
creative Hierarchies) who helped man to take the first
tottering steps in Evolution, after Involution had fur-
nished him with vehicles, were Beings much further ad-
vanced than man along the path of evolution. They came
on this errand of love from the two planets which are
located between the Earth and the Sun — Venus and Mer-
cury.

The Beings who inhabit Venus and Mercury are not
quite so far advanced as those whose present field of evo-
lution is the Sun, but they are very much further ad-
vanced than our humanity. Therefore they stayed some-
what longer with the central mass than did the inhabitants

272 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

of the Earth, but at a certain point their evolution de-
manded separate fields, so those two planets were thrown
off, Venus first, and then Mercury. Each was given such
proximity to the central orb as insured the rate of vibra-
tion necessary for its evolution. The inhabitants of Mer-
cury are the furthest advanced, hence are closer to the Sun.

Some of the inhabitants of each planet were sent to 'the
Earth to help nascent humanity and are known to occult
scientists as the "Lords of Venus" and the "Lords of Mer-
cury."

The Lords of Venus were leaders of the masses of our
people. They were inferior beings of the Venus evolution,
who appeared among men and were known as "messen-
gers of the Gods." For the good of our humanity they
led and guided it, step by step. There was no rebellion
against their authority, because man had not yet evolved
an independent will. It was to bring him to the stage
where he would be able to manifest will and judgment
that they guided him, until he should be able to guide
himself.

It was known that these messengers communed with the
Gods They were held in deep reverence and their com-
mands were obeyed without question.

When under the tuition of these Beings mankind had
reached a certain stage of progress, the most advanced
were placed under the guidance of the Lords of Mercury,
who initiated them into the higher truths for the purpose
of making them leaders of the people. These Initiates
were then exalted to kingship and were the founders of the
dynasties of Divine Eulers who were indeed kings "by the
grace of God," i. e., by the grace of the Lords of Venus
and Mercury, who were as Gods to infant humanity. They
guided and instructed the kings for the good of the peo-

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 273

pie and not for self-aggrandizement and arrogation of
rights at their expense.

At that time a Killer held a sacred trust to educate and
help his people; to alleviate and promote equity and well-
being. He had the light of God to give him wisdom and
guide his judgment. Hence, while those kings reigned,
all things prospered, and it was indeed a Golden Age. Yet,
as we follow the evolution of man in detail, we shall see
that the present phase or period of development, though it
cannot be called a golden age in any but a material sense,
is nevertheless a necessary one, in order to bring man to
the point where he will be able to rule himself, for self-
mastery is the end and aim of all rulership. No man can
safely remain ungoverned who has not learned to- govern
himself, and at the present stage of development, that is
the hardest task that can be given him. It is easy to com-
mand others; it is hard to force obedience from oneself.

INFLUENCE OF MERCURY.

The purpose of the Lords of Mercury at that time, and
of all Hierophants of Mysteries since then, as also all
the occult schools of our day, was and is to teach the
candidate the art of Self-Mastery. In the measure that a
man has mastered himself, and in that measure only, is he
qualified to govern others. Were the present rulers of the
masses able to govern themselves we should again have the
Millenium or Golden Age.

As the Lords of Venus worked on the masses of a long-
past age, so do the Lords of Mercury now work on the
Individual, fitting him for mastery over self and (inci-
dentally only, not primarily) for mastery over others.
This work on their part is but the beginning of what will

274 EOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

be an increasing Mercurial influence during the remaining
three and one-half Revolutions of the Earth Period.

During the first three and one-half Revolutions Mars
held sway, polarizing the iron, preventing the formation
of the red blood and keeping the Ego from immuring itself
in the body until the latter had attained to the requisite
degree of development.

During the last three and one-half Revolutions Mercury
will operate to extricate the Ego from its densest vehicle
by means of Initiation.

Incidentally, it may be noted that, as Mars polarized the
iron, so Mercury has polarized the metal bearing its name
and the workings of that metal will show very well this
tendency to take the dense body away from the spirit — to
liberate the latter from the former.

That dread disease, syphilis, is an example of condi-
tions where the Ego is fettered and immured in the body
to a particularly cramping extent. Sufficient mercury
relieves the condition, lessens the hold of the body upon
the Ego and leaves the latter to that comparative freedom
within the body which the normal person enjoys. But on
the other hand, an overdose of mercury causes paralysis,
thus taking the dense body from the man in an improper
way.

The Lords of Mercury taught man to leave and re-enter
the body at will; to function in his higher vehicles inde-
pendent of the dense body, so that the latter becomes a
cheerful dwelling house instead of a closely-locked prison
— a useful instrument instead of a clogging fetter.

Therefore occult science speaks of the Earth Period as
Mars-Mercury, and so it may be said truly that we have
been in Mars and are going to Mercury, as taught in one
of the occult works previously mentioned. It is also true,

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 275

however, that we have never inhabited the planet Mars,
nor are we to leave the earth at some future time to take
up our abode on the planet Mercury, as the other work
mentioned states, with the intention of correcting an error
in the first one.

Mercury, now being in obscuration, is exercising very
little influence on us, but it is emerging from a planetary
rest and as time goes on its influence will be more and
more in evidence as a factor in our evolution. The coming
Races will have much help irom the Mercurians, and the
people of still later Epochs and Revolutions will have even
more.

THE LEMURIAN RACE.

We are now in a position to understand the information
which is to follow concerning the people who lived in the
latter part of the Lemurian Epoch, whom we may call the
Lemurian Race.

The atmosphere of Lemuria was still very dense — some-
what like the fire-fog of the Moon Period, but denser.
The crust of the Earth was just starting to become quite
hard and solid in some places, while in others it was still
fiery, and between islands of crust was a sea of boiling,
seething water. Volcanic outbursts and cataclysms marked
this time when the nether fires fought hard against the
formation of the encircling wall which was to imprison
them.

Upon the harder and comparatively cool spots man lived
surrounded by giant fern-forests and animals of enormous
size. The forms of both man and animal were yet quite
plastic. The skeleton had formed, but man himself had
great power in molding the flesh of his own body and
that of the animals about him.

276 ROSICKUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

When he was born he could hear and feel, but his per-
ception of light came later. We have analogous cases in
animals like cats and dogs, the young of which receive
the sense of sight some time after birth. The Lemurian
had no eyes. He had two sensitive spots which were
affected by the light of the Sun as it shone dimly through
the fiery atmosphere of ancient Lemuria, but it was not
until nearly the close of the Atlantean Epoch that he had
sight as we have it today. Up to that time the building of
the eye was in progress. While the Sun was within — while
the Earth formed part of the light-giving mass — man
needed no external illuminant; he was luminous himself.
But when the dark Earth was separated from the Sun it
became necessary that the light should be perceived, there-
fore as the light-rays impinged upon man, he perceived
them. Nature built the eye as a light-perceiver, in re-
sponse to the demand of the already-existing function,
which is invariably the case, as Professor Huxley has so
ably shown. The amceba has no stomach, yet it digests.
It is all stomach. The necessity for digesting food built
the stomach in the course of time, but digestion took place
before the alimentary canal was formed. In an analogous
manner, the perception of light called forth the eye. The
light itself built the eye and maintains it. Where there
is no light there can be no eye. In cases where animals
have withdrawn and dwelt in caves — keeping away from
the light — the eyes have degenerated and atrophied because
there were no light rays to maintain them and no eyes
were needed in the dark caves. The Lemurian needed
eyes; he had a perception of light, and the light was com-
mencing to build the eye in response to his demand.

His language consisted of sounds like those of Nature.
The sighing of the wind in the immense forests which

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 277

grew in great luxuriance in that super-tropical climate,
the rippling of the brook, the howling of the tempest — for
Lemur ia was storm-swept — the thunder of the waterfall,
the roar of the volcano — all these were to him voices of the
Gods from whom he knew himself to have descended.

Of the birth of his body he knew nothing. He could
not see either it or anything else, but he did perceive his
fellow-beings. It was, however, an inner perception, like
our perception of persons and things in dreams, but with
this very important difference, that his dream-perception
was clear and rational.

Thus he knew nothing at all about his body, in fact he
did not even know he had a body any more than we know
we have a stomach when that organ is in good health. We
remember its existence only when our abuse of it causes
us to feel pain there. Under normal conditions we are
entirely unconscious of its processes. Similarly did the
body of the Lemurian serve him excellently, although he
was unaware of its existence. Pain was the means of
making him aware of his body and of the world without.

Everything in connection with the propagation of the
race and the bringing to birth was done by direction of the
Angels under the leadership of Jehovah, the Regent of the
Moon. The propagative function was performed at stated
times of the year when the lines of force, running from
planet to planet, were focussed at proper angles. Thus
the creative force encountered no obstruction and parturi-
tion was painless. Man was unaware of birth, because at
that time he was as unconscious of the physical world as
he now is during sleep. It was only in the intimate con-
tact of sex relation that the spirit became aware of the
flesh and the man <(knew" his wife. That is shown in
such passages of the Bible as "Adam knew Eve and she

278 BOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

bore Seth"; "Elkanah Icnew Hannah and she bore Sam-
uel"; and Mary's question, "How shall I conceive, seeing
I know no man?" This is also the key to the meaning
of the "Tree of Knowledge," the fruit of which opened
the eyes of Adam and Eve, so that they came to know both
good and evil. Previously they had known only good,
but when they began to exercise the creative function
independently, they were ignorant of stellar influences,
as are their descendants, and Jehovah's supposed curse was
not a curse at all, but a simple statement of the result
which must inevitably follow use of the generative force
which failed to take into consideration the effect of the
stellar rays on childbirth.

Thus the ignorant use of the generative force is pri-
marily responsible for pain, sickness and sorrow.

The Lemurian knew no death because when, in the
course of long ages, his body dropped away, he entered an-
other, quite unconscious of the change. His consciousness
was not focussed in the physical world, therefore the laying
aside of one body and the taking of another was no more
to him than a leaf or twig drying and falling away from
the tree and being replaced by a new growth.

Their language was to the Lemurians something holy.
It was not a dead language like ours — a mere orderly ar-
rangement of sounds. Each sound uttered by the Lemu-
rian had power over his fellow-beings, over the animals
and even over nature around him. Therefore, under the
guidance of the Lords of Venus, who were the messengers
of God — the emissaries of the creative hierarchies — the
power of speech was used with great reverence, as some-
thing most holy.

The education of the boys differed greatly from that of
the girls. The Lemurian methods of education seem

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 279

shocking to our more refined sensibilities. In order to
spare the reader's feelings, only the least cruel of them will
be touched upon. Strenuous in the extreme as they may
seem, it must be remembered that the Lemurian body was
not nearly so high-strung as are the human bodies of the
present day; also that it was only by the very harshest
measures that the exceedingly dim consciousness could be
touched at all. As time went on and the consciousness
became more and more awakened, such extreme measures
as those used then became unnecessary and have passed
away, but at that time they were indispensable to arouse
the slumbering forces of the spirit to a consciousness of
the outside world.

The education of the boys was designed especially to de-
velop the quality of Will. They were made to fight one
another, and these fights were extremely brutal. They
were impaled upon spits, with full power to release them-
selves, but by exercising the will-power they were to re-
main there in spite of the pain. They learned to make
their muscles tense, and to carry immense burdens by the
exercise of the Will.

The education of the girls was intended to promote the
development of the imaginative faculty. They also were
subjected to strenuous and severe treatment. They were
put out in the great forests, to let the sound of the wind
in the tree-tops speak to them and to listen to the furious
outbursts of flood and tempest. They thus learned to
have no fear of those paroxysms of nature and to perceive
only the grandeur of the warring elements. The frequent
volcanic outbursts were greatly valued as a means of edu-
cation, being particularly conducive to the awakening of
the faculty of memory.

Such educational methods would be entirely out of the

280 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

question at the present day, but they did not make the
Lemurian morbid, because he had no memory. No matter
what painful or terrifying experiences he endured, every-
thing was forgotten as soon as past. The above-mentioned
strenuous experiences were for the purpose of developing
memory, to imprint these violent and constantly-repeated
impacts from without upon the brain, because memory is
necessary that the experiences of the past may be used as
guides to Action.

The education of the girls developed the first germinal,
nickering memory. The first idea of Good and Evil was
formulated by them because of their experiences, which
worked chiefly on the imagination. Those experiences
most likely to leave a recollection were thought "Good;"
those which did not produce that much-desired result were
considered "Evil."

Thus woman became the pioneer in culture, being the
first to develop the idea of "a good life," of which she be-
came the esteemed exponent among the ancients and in
that respect she has nobly led the vanguard ever since.
Of course, as all Egos incarnate alternately as male and
female, there is really no pre-eminence. It is simply that
those who for the time being are in a dense body of the
feminine gender have a positive vital body, and are there-
fore more responsive to spiritual impacts than when the
vital body is negative as in the male.

As we have seen, the Lemurian was a born magician.
He felt himself a descendant of the Gods, a spiritual being;
therefore his line of advancement was by gaining not spir-
itual, but material knowledge. The Temples of Initiation
for the most advanced did not need to reveal to man his
high origin; to educate him to perform feats of magic; to
instruct him how to function in the desire world and the

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 281

higher realms. Such instruction is necessary today be-
cause now the average man has no knowledge of the spir-
itual world, nor can he function in superphysical realms.
The Lemurian, however, in his own way, did possess that
knowledge and could exercise those faculties, but on the
other hand, he was ignorant of the Laws of the Cosmos and
of facts regarding the physical world which are matters of
common, everyday knowledge with us. Therefore at the
School of Initiation he was taught art, the laws of Nature
and facts relating to the physical universe. His will was
strengthened and his imagination and memory wakened so
that he could correlate experiences and devise ways and
means of action when his past experiences did not serve
to indicate a proper course of procedure. Thus the Tem-
ples of Initiation in the Lemurian times were High
Schools for the cultivation of Will-power and Imagina-
tion, with "post-graduate courses" in Art and Science.

Yet, though the Lemurian was a born magician, he never
misused his powers because he felt himself related to the
Gods. Under the direction of the Messengers of the Gods,
already spoken of, his forces were directed toward the
molding of forms in the animal and the plant worlds. It
may be hard for the materialist to understand how he
could do such work if he could not see the world about
him. It is true man could not "see" as we understand the
term and as he now sees objects outside in space with his
physical eyes. Still, as the purest of our children are
clairvoyant to this day while they remain in a state of
sinless innocence, so the Lemurians, who were yet pure
and innocent, possessed an internal perception which gave
them only a dim idea of the outward shape of any object,
but illumined so much the brighter its inner nature, i*s

282 BOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

soul-quality, by a spiritual apperception born of innocent
purity.

Innocence, however, is not synonymous with Virtue.
Innocence is the child of Ignorance and could not be main-
tained in a universe where the purpose of evolution is the
acquisition of Wisdom. To attain that end, a knowledge
of good and evil, right and wrong, is essential, also choice
of action.

If, having knowledge and choice, man ranges himself on
the side of Good and Right he cultivates Virtue and Wis-
dom. If he succumbs to temptation and does wrong know-
ingly, he fosters vice.

God's plan is not to be brought to naught, however.
Every act is a seed-ground for the law of Consequence.
We reap what we sow. The weeds of wrong action bear
flowers of sorrow and suffering, and when the seeds from
them have fallen into a chastened heart, when they have
been watered by the tears of repentance Virtue will event-
ually blossom forth. What blessed assurance, that out of
every evil we do, Good will eventually accrue, for in our
Father's Kingdom naught but Good can endure.

Therefore the "Fall" with its consequent pain and suf-
fering is but a temporary state where we see through a
glass darkly, but anon we shall behold again face to face
the God within and without who is ever perceived by the
pure in heart.

THE FALL OF MAN.

This is cabalistically described as the experience of one
pair who, of course, represent humanity. The key is
given in the verse where the Messenger of the Gods says
to the woman, "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children ;"

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 283

the clue is also found in the sentence of death which was
pronounced at that same time.

It will be observed that previous to the Fall the con-
sciousness was not focussed in the physical world. Man
was unconscious of propagation, birth and death. The An-
gels who have charge of and work in the vital body (the
medium of propagation) regulated the propagative func-
tion and brought the sexes together at certain seasons of
the year, using the solar and the lunar forces when they
produced conditions most propitious for fecundation, the
union being achieved unconsciously to the participants at
first, but later it produced a momentary physical cognition.
Then the period of gestation caused no inconvenience and
parturition was painless, the parent being plunged in deep
sleep. Birth and death involved no break in the conscious-
ness and were therefore non-existent to the Lemurians.

Their consciousness was directed inward. They per-
ceived physical things in a spiritual way, as we perceive
them in a dream — at which time all that we see is within
ourselves.

When "their eyes were opened" and their consciousness
was directed outward toward the facts of the physical
world, conditions were altered. Propagation was directed,
not by the Angels, but by man, who was ignorant of the
operation of the Sun- and Moon-forces. He also abused
the sex-function, using it for sense-gratification, with the
result that pain attended the process of child-bearing.
Then his consciousness became focussed in the physical
world, although all things did not appear to his vision with
clearly-defined outlines until the latter part of the Atlan-
tean Epoch. Still he came by degrees to know death be-
cause of the break made in his consciousness when it was

284 BOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

shifted to the higher worlds at death and back to the
physical world at rebirth.

The "opening of the eyes" was brought about in the fol-
lowing manner: We remember that when the sexes sep-
arated, the male became an expression for Will, which is
one part of the twofold soul-force; the female expressing
the otiier part, Imagination. If woman were not imagina-
tive she could not build the new body in the womb and
were not the spermatozoon an embodiment of the concen-
trated human will, it could not accomplish impregnation
and so commence the germination, which results in the
continued segmentation of the ovum.

These twin-forces, Will and Imagination, are both
necessary to the propagation of bodies. Since the separa-
tion of the sexes, however, one of these forces remains
within each individual and only the part given out is avail-
able for propagation. Hence the necessity for the one-
sexed being who expresses only one kind of soul-force, to
unite with another, who expresses the complementary soul-
force. This was previously explained; also that the part
of the soul-force not used for propagation becomes avail-
able for inner growth. So long as man sent out the full,
dual sex-force for generation, he could accomplish nothing
in the direction of soul-growth for himself. But since
then the part not used through the sex-organ has been ap-
propriated by the indwelling spirit to build the brain and
the larynx for its expression.

Thus man built on, all through the latter part of the
Lemurian Epoch and the first two-thirds of the Atlantean
Epoch until, by the above-mentioned use of this half of
his sex-force, he became a fully-conscious, thinking, rea-
soning, being.

In man the brain is the link between the spirit and the

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 285

outside world. He can know nothing of the outside world
except through the medium of the brain. The sense-organs
are merely carriers to the brain of impacts from without
and the brain is the instrument which interprets and co-
ordinates those impacts. The Angels belonged to a dif-
ferent evolution and had never been imprisoned in a dense
and cumbrously slow vehicle such as ours. They had
learned to obtain knowledge without a physical brain.
Their lowest vehicle is the vital body. Wisdom came to
them as a gift, without the necessity of laboriously think-
ing it out through a physical brain.

Man, however, had to "fall into generation," and work
for his knowledge. The spirit, by means of one part of
the sex-force directed inward, built the brain to gather
knowledge from the physical world, and the same force is
feeding and building the brain today. It is subverted
from its proper course inasmuch as it should have gone
outward for procreation, but man retains it for selfish pur-
poses. No so the Angels. They had experienced no di-
vision of their soul-powers, therefore they could send out
the dual soul-force without selfish reservation.

The force that goes outward for the purpose of creating
another being is Love. The Angels sent out their whole
love, without selfishness or desire and in return, Cosmic
Wisdom flowed into them.

Man sends out only part of his love; the residue he
selfishly keeps and uses to build his inner organs of ex-
pression, to improve himself; thus does his love become
selfish and sensual. With one part of his creative soul-
power he selfishly loves another being because he desires
co-operation in propagation. With the other part of his
creative soul-power he thinks (also for selfish reasons)
because he desires knowledge.

286 ROSICKUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

The Angels love without desire, but man had to go
through selfishness. He must desire and work for wisdom
selfishly, that he may reach selflessness at a higher stage.

The Angels helped him to propagate even after the sub-
version of part of the soul-force. They helped him to
build the physical brain, but they had no knowledge that
could be transmitted by means of it, because they did not
know how to use such an instrument and could not speak
directly to a brain-being. All they could do was to con-
trol the physical expression of the love of man and guide
it through the emotions in a loving, innocent way, thus
saving man the pain and trouble incident to the exercise
of the sex-function without wisdom.

Had that regime lasted, man would have remained
simply a God-guided automaton and would never have
become a personality — an individual. That he has be-
come so is due to a much-maligned class of entities called
the Lucifer Spirits.

THE LUCIFER SPIRITS.

These spirits were a class of stragglers in the life wave
of the Angels. In the Moon Period they worked them-
selves far ahead of the great mass of those who are now
the most advanced of our humanity. They have not pro-
gressed as far as the Angels who were the pioneer human-
ity of the Moon, however, but they were so much in
advance of our persent humanity that it was impossible for
them to take a dense body as we have done ; yet they could
not gain knowledge without the use of an inner organ,
a physical brain. They were half-way between man who
has a brain and the Angels who need none — in short, they
were demi-gods.

They were thus in a serious situation. The only way

EVOLUTION ON THE EAETH 287

they could find an avenue through which to express them-
selves and gain knowledge was to use man's physical brain,
as they could make themselves understood by a physical
being endowed with a brain, which the Angels could not.

As said, in the latter part of the Lemurian Epoch man
did not see the physical world as we do now. To him the
desire world was much more real. He had the dream-
consciousness of the Moon Period — an inner picture-con-
sciousness; he was unconscious of the world outside him-
self. The Lucifers had no difficulty in manifesting to
his inner consciousness and calling his attention to his out-
ward shape, which he had not theretofore perceived. They
told him how he could cease being simply the servant of
external powers, and could become his own master and
like unto the gods, "knowing good and evil." They also
made clear to him that he need have no apprehension if his
body died, inasmuch as he had within himself the creative
ability to form new bodies without the mediation of the
Angels. All of which information was given with the one
purpose of turning his consciousness outward for the
acquirement of knowledge.

This the Lucifers did that they might profit by it
themselves — to gain knowledge as man acquired it. They
brought to him pain and suffering where there was none
before ; but they also brought him the inestimable blessing
of emancipation from outside influence and guidance,
thereby starting him on the road to the evolution of his
own spiritual powers — an evolution which will eventually
enable him to upbuild himself with wisdom such as that
of the Angels and other Beings Who guided him before
he first exercised free will.

Before man's enlightenment by the Lucifer Spirits he
had not known sickness, pain nor death. All of these

288 KOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

resulted from the unwise use of the propagative faculty
and its abuse for the gratification of the senses. Animals
in their wild state are exempt from sickness and pain,
because their propagation is carried on under the care and
direction of the wise group-spirit at only those times of the
year which are propitious to that process. The sex-func-
tion is designed solely for the perpetuation of the species
and under no circumstances for the gratification of sensual
desire.

Had man remained a God-guided automaton, he would
have known no sickness, pain, nor death unto this day;
but he would also have lacked the brain-consciousness and"
independence which resulted from his enlightenment by
the Lucifer Spirits, the "light-givers," who opened the eyes
of his understanding and taught him to use his then dim
vision to gain knowledge of the Physical World which he
was destined to conquer.

From that time there have been two forces working in
man. One force is that of the Angels, who build new
beings in the womb by means of the Love which is turned
downward for procreation; they are therefore the perpetu-
ators of the race.

The other force is that of the Lucifers, who are the
instigators of all mental activity, by means of the other
part of the sex-force, which is carried upward for work
in the brain.

The Lucifers are also called "serpents" and are vari-
ously represented in different mythologies. More will be
said about them when we come to the anaylsis of Genesis.
For the present enough has been said to warrant us in
pursuing the main line of investigation, which leads us to
follow the progress of man's evolution still further, through
the Atlantean and Aryan Epochs, down to the present day.

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 289

What has been said about the enlightenment of the
Lemurians applies to only a minor portion of those who
lived in the latter part of that Epoch, and who became
the Seed for the Seven Atlantean Eaces. The greater
part of the Lemurians were animal-like and the forms
inhabited by them have degenerated into the savages and
anthropoids of the present day.

The student is requested to note carefully that it was
the Forms which degenerated. There is a very important
distinction to be kept in mind between the bodies (or
forms) of a race, and the Egos (or life) which incarnates
in those race-bodies.

When a race is born, the forms are ensouled by a certain
group of spirits and have inherent capability of evolving
to a certain stage of completion and no further. There
can be no standing still in nature, therefore when the limit
of attainment has been reached, the bodies or forms of that
race begin to degenerate, sinking lower and lower until at
last the race dies out.

The reason is not far to seek. New race-bodies are
particularly flexible and plastic, affording great scope for
the Egos who incarnate in them to improve those vehicles
and progress thereby. The most advanced Egos are
brought to birth in such bodies and improve them to the
best of their ability. These Egos, however, are only
apprentices as yet, and they cause the bodies to gradually
crystallize and harden until the limit of improvement of
that particular kind of body has been reached. Then
forms for another new race are created, to afford the
advancing Egos further scope for more extended experience
and greater development. They discard the old race-
bodies for the new, their discarded bodies becoming the
habitations for less advanced Egos who, in their turn,

290 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

use them as stepping-stones on the path of progress. Thus
the old race-bodies are used by Egos of increasing inferior-
ity, gradually degenerating until at last there are no Egos
low enough to profit by incarnation in such bodies. The
women then become sterile and the race-forms die.

We may easily trace this process by certain examples.
The Teutonic-Anglo-Saxon race (particularly the Ameri-
can branch of it) has a softer and more flexible body and
a more high-strung nervous system than any other race on
earth at the present time. The Indian and the Negro
have much harder bodies and, because of the duller ner-
vous system, are much less sensitive to lacerations. An
Indian will continue to fight after receiving wounds the
shock of which would prostrate or kill a white man,
whereas the Indian will quickly recover. The Australian
aborigines or Bushmen furnish an example of a race dying
out on account of sterility, notwithstanding all that the
British government is doing to perpetuate them.

It has been said by white men against the white race,
that wherever it goes the other races die out. The whites
have been guilty of fearful oppression towards those other
races, having in many cases massacred multitudes of the
defenseless and unsuspecting natives — as witness the con-
duct of the Spaniards towards the ancient Peruvians and
Mexicans, to specify but one of many instances. The
obligations resulting from such betrayal of confidence and
abuse of superior intelligence and power will all have to
be paid — yea, to the last, least iota ! — by those incurring
them. It is equally true, however, that even had the
whites not massacred, starved, enslaved, expatriated and
otherwise maltreated those older races, the latter would
nevertheless had died out just as surely, though more
slowly, because such is the Law of Evolution — the Order

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 39 J

of Nature. At some future time the white race-bodies,
when they become inhabited by the Egos who are now em-
bodied in red, black, yellow or brown skins, will have
degenerated so far that they also will disappear, to give
place to other and better vehicles.

Science speaks only of evolution. It fails to consider
the lines of Degeneration which are slowly but surely
destroying such bodies as have crystallized beyond possi-
bility of improvement.

THE ATLANTEAN EPOCH.

Volcanic cataclysms destroyed the greater part of the
Lemurian continent and in its stead rose the Atlantean
continent, where the Atlantic Ocean now is.

Material scientists, impelled by the story of Plato to
undertake researches regarding Atlantis, have demon-
strated that there is ample foundation for the story that
such a continent did exist. Occult scientists know that it
existed and they also know that the conditions there were
such as shall now be described.

Ancient Atlantis differed from our present world in
many ways, but the greatest difference was in the Consti-
tution of the atmosphere and the water of that Epoch.

From the southern part of the planet came the hot,
fiery breath of the volcanoes which were still abundantly
active. From the north swept down the icy blasts of the
Polar region. The continent of Atlantis was the meeting-
place of those two currents, consequently its atmosphere
was always filled with a thick and murky fog. The water
was not so dense as now, but contained a greater propor-
tion of air. Much water was also held in suspension in
the heavy, foggy Atlantean atmosphere.

Through this atmosphere the Sun never clearly shone.

292 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

It appeared to be surrounded by an aura of light-mist, as
do street-lamps when seen through a dense fog. It was
then possible to see only a few feet in any direction and
the outlines of all objects not close at hand appeared
dim, hazy and uncertain. Man was guided more by
internal perception than by external vision.

Not only the country, but also the man of that time
was very different from anything existent on earth at the
present time. He had a head, but scarcely any forehead;
his brain had no frontal development; the head sloped
almost abruptly back from a point just above the eyes.
As compared with our present humanity, he was a giant;
his arms and legs were much longer, in proportion to his
body, than ours. Instead of walking, he progressed by a
series of flying leaps, not unlike those of the kangaroo.
He had small blinking eyes and his hair was round in
section. The latter peculiarity, if no other, distinguishes
the descendants of the Atlantean races who remain with
us at the present day. Their hair was straight, glossy,
black and round in section. That of the Aryan, though
it may differ in color, is always oval in section. The ears
of the Atlantean sat much further back upon the head
than do those of the Aryan.

The higher vehicles of the early Atlanteans were not
drawn into a concentric position in relation to the dense
body, as are ours. The spirit was not quite an indwelling
spirit; it was partially outside, therefore could not con-
trol its vehicles with as great facility as though it dwelt
entirely inside. The head of the vital body was outside of
and held a position far above the physical head. There
is a point between the eyebrows and about half an inch
below the surface of the skin, which has a corresponding
point in the vital body. This point is not the pituitary

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 293

body, which lies much deeper in the head of the dense
body. It might be called "the root of the nose." When
these two points in the dense and the vital bodies come into
correspondence, as they do in man today, the trained clair-
voyant sees them as a black spot, or rather as a vacant
space, like the invisible core of a gas flame. This is the
seat of the indwelling spirit in the man — the Holy of Holies
in the temple of the human body, barred to all but that
indwelling human Ego whose home it is. The trained
clairvoyant can see with more or less distinctness, accord-
ing to his capacity and training, all the different bodies
which form the aura of man. This spot alone is hidden
from him. This is the "Isis" whose veil none may lift.
Not even the highest evolved being on earth is capable of
unveiling the Ego of the humblest and least developed
creature. That, and that alone upon earth, is so sacred that
it is absolutely safe from intrusion.

These two points just spoken of — the one in the dense
body and its counterpart in the vital body — were far apart
in the men of the early Atlantean days, as they are in
the animals of our day. The head of the horse's vital
body is far outside the head of its dense body. The two
points are closer together in the dog than in any other
animal except, perhaps, the elephant. When they come into
correspondence we have an animal prodigy, able to count,
spell, etc.

On account of the distance between these two points,
the Atlantean's power of perception or vision was much
keener in the inner Worlds than in the dense Physical
World, obscured by its atmosphere of thick, heavy fog.
In the fullness of time, however, the atmosphere slowly
became clearer; at the same time, the point spoken of in
the vital body came closer and closer to the corresponding

294 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

point in the dense body. As the two approached each
other, man gradually lost touch with the inner Worlds.
They became dimmer as the dense Physical World became
clearer in outline. Finally, in the last third of the At-
lantean Epoch, the point in the vital body was united to
the corresponding point in the dense body. Not until then
did man become fully awake in the dense Physical World ;
but at the same time that full sight and perception in the
Physical World were gained, the capability of perceiving
the inner Worlds was gradually lost to most of the people.

In an earlier time the Atlantean did not clearly per-
ceive the outline of an object or a person, but he saw the
soul and at once knew its attributes, whether they were
beneficial to him or otherwise. He knew whether the man
or animal he was regarding was kindly or inimically dis-
posed toward him. He was accurately taught by spiritual
perception how to deal with others and how to escape
harm, therefore when the Spiritual World gradually faded
from his consciousness,, great was his sorrow at the loss.

The Rmoahals were the first of the Atlantean Eaces.
They had but little memory and that little was chiefly con-
nected with sensation. They remembered colors and tones,
and thus to some extent they evolved Feeling. The
Lemurian had entirely lacked Feeling, in the finer sig-
nification of the word. He had the sense of touch, could
feel the physical sensations of pain, ease and comfort, but
not the mental and spiritual ones of joy, sorrow, sympathy
and antipathy.

With memory came to the Atlanteans the rudiments of
a language. They evolved words and no longer made use
of mere sounds, as did the Lemurians. The Rmoahals
began to give names to things. They were yet a spiritual
race and, their soul-powers being like the forces of nature,

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 295

they not only named the objects around them, but in their
words was power over the things they named. Like the
last of the Lemurians, their Feelings as spirits inspired
them, and no harm was ever done to one another. To
them the language was holy, as the highest direct expres-
sion of the spirit. The power was never abused or de-
graded by gossip or small talk. By the use of definite
language the soul in this race first became able to contact
the soul of things in the outside world.

The Tlavatlis were the second Atlantean Eace. Already
they began to feel their worth as separate human beings.
They became ambitious; they demanded that their works
be remembered. Memory became a factor in the life of
the community. The remembrance of the deeds done by
certain ones would cause a group of people to choose as
their leader one who had done great deeds. This was the
germ of Eoyalty.

This remembrance of the meritorious deeds of great
men was carried even beyond the time when such leaders
died. Mankind began to honor the memory of ancestors
and to worship them and others who had shown great
merit. That was the beginning of a form of worship
wliic-Ii i? practiced to this day by some Asiatics.

The Toltecs were the third Atlantean Eace. They car-
ried still further the ideas of their predecessors, inaugurat-
ing Monarchy and Hereditary Succession. The Toltecs
originated the custom of honoring men for the deeds done
by their ancestors, but there was then a very good reason
for so doing. Because of the peculiar training at that
time, the father had the power to bestow his qualities upon
his son in a way impossible to mankind at the present time.

The education consisted of calling up before the soul of
the child pictures of the different phases of life. The con-

296 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

sciousness of the early Atlantean was, as jet, principally
an internal picture-consciousness. The power of the edu-
cator to call up these pictures before the soul of the child
was the determining factor upon which depended the soul-
qualities that would be possessed by the grown man. The
instinct and not the reason was appealed to and aroused,
and by this method of education the son, in the great ma-
jority of cases, readily absorbed the qualities of the father.
It is thus evident that there was at that time good reason
for bestowing honor upon the descendants of great men,
because the son almost always inherited most of his father's
good qualities. Unfortunately, that is not the case in our
time, although we still follow the same practice of honor-
ing the sons of great men ; but we have no reason whatever
for doing so.

Among the Toltecs, experience came to be highly valued.
The man who had gained the most varied experience was
the most honored and sought. Memory was then so great
and accurate that our present memory is nothing in com-
parison. In an emergency, a Toltec of wide practical ex-
perience would be very likely to remember similar cases
in the past, and suggest what action should be taken. Thus
he became a valuable adviser to the community when a
situation developed which none of the members had pre-
viously encountered and they were unable to think or rea-
son from analogy as to how to deal promptly with the
emergency. When such an individual was not available,
they were compelled to experiment in order to find what
was best to do.

In the middle third of Atlantis we find the beginning
of separate nations. Groups of people who discovered in
one another similar tastes and habits would leave their
old homes and found a new colony. They remembered the

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 297

old customs and followed them in their new homes as far
as they suited, forming new ones to meet their own par-
ticular ideas and necessities.

The Leaders of mankind initiated great Kings at that
time to rule the people, over whom they were given great
power. The masses honored these kings with all the rever-
ence due to those who were thus truly Kings "by the grace
of God." This happy state,- however, had in it the germ of
disintegration, for in time the Kings became intoxicated
with power. They forgot that it had been put into their
hands by the grace of God, as a sacred trust; that they
were made Kings for the purpose of dealing justly by and
helping the people. They began to use their power cor-
ruptly, for selfish ends and personal aggrandizement in-
stead of for the common good, arrogating to themselves
privileges and authorities never intended for them. Ambi-
tion and selfishness ruled them and they abused their high,
divinely derived powers, for purposes of oppression and
revenge. This was true, not only of the Kings, but also
of the nobles and the higher classes, and when one con-
siders the power possessed by them over their fellow-
beings of the less developed classes, it is easy to under-
stand that its misuse would bring about terrible conditions.

The Original Turanians were the fourth Atlantean Eace.
They were especially vile in their abominable selfishness.
They erected temples where the Kings were worshiped as
gods, and caused the extreme oppression of the helpless
lower classes. Black magic of the worst and most nauseat-
ing kind flourished and all their efforts were directed
towards the gratification of vanity and external display.

The Original Semites were the fifth and most important
of the seven Atlantean Eaces, because in them we find the
first germ of the corrective quality of Thought. Therefore

298 EOSICBUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

the Original Semitic Race became the "seed-race" for the
seven Races of the present Aryan Epoch.

In the Polarian Epoch man acquired the dense body as
an instrument of action. In the Hyperborean Epoch the
vital body was added to give power of motion necessary to
action. In the Lemurian Epoch the desire body furnished
incentive to action.

The mind was given to man in the Atlantean Epoch to
give purpose to action, but as the Ego was exceedingly
weak and the desire nature strong, the nascent mind
coalesced with the desire body; the faculty of Cunning re-
sulted and was the cause of all the wickedness of the mid-
dle third of the Atlantean Epoch.

In the Aryan Epoch Thought and Reason were to be
evolved by the work of the Ego in the mind to conduct
Desire into channels leading to the attainment of spiritual
perfection, which is the Goal of Evolution. This faculty
of Thought and of forming Ideas was gained by man at
the expense of loss of control over the vital forces — i. e.,
power over Nature.

With Thought and Mind man can at present exercise
power over the chemicals and minerals only, for his mind
is now in the first or mineral stage of its evolution, as was
his dense body in the Saturn Period. He can exercise no
power over plant or animal life. Wood and various
vegetable substances, together with different parts of the
animals, are used by man in his industries. These sub-
stances are all in the final analysis chemical matter en-
souled by mineral life, of which the bodies in all the king-
doms are composed, as previously explained. Over all these
varieties of chemical mineral combinations man at his
present stage may have dominion, but until he has reached
the Jupiter Period, that dominion will not be extended so

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 299

that he can work with life. In that Period, however, he
will have the power to work with plant life as the Angels
do at present in the Earth Period.

Material scientists have labored for many years in an
endeavor to "create" life, but they will not succeed until
they have learned that they must approach the laboratory
table with the deepest reverence, as they would draw near
to the altar in a Temple — with purity of heart and with
holy hands, devoid of greed and selfish ambition.

Such is the wise decision of the Elder Brothers, who
guard this and all the deep secrets of Nature until man
shall be fit to use them for the uplifting of the race — for
the glory of God and not for personal profit or self-ag-
grandizement.

It was, however, this very loss of power over the vital
forces which the Atlanteans suffered that made it possible
for man to evolve further. After that, no matter how great
his selfishness became, it could not prove absolutely de-
structive of himself and of Nature, as would have been the
case had the growing selfishness been accompanied by the
great power possessed by man in his innocent former state.
Thought that works only in man is powerless to command
Nature and can never endanger humanity, as would be
possible were Nature's forces under man's control.

The Original Semites regulated their desires to some
extent by the mind, and instead of mere desire, came cun-
ning and craftiness — the means by which those people
sought to attain their selfish ends. Though they were a
very turbulent people, they learned to curb their passions
to a great extent and accomplish their purposes by the use
of cunning, as being more subtle and potent than mere
brute strength. They were the first to discover that
"brain" is superior to "brawn."

30U KOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

During the existence of this Race, the atmosphere of
Atlantis commenced to clear definitely, and the previously-
mentioned point in the vital body came into correspondence
with its companion point in the dense body. The combina-
tion of events gave man the ability to see objects clearly
with sharp, well-defined contours; but it also resulted in
loss of the sight pertaining to the inner Worlds.

Thus we see, and it may be well to definitely state it as
a law : No progress is ever made that is not gained at the
cost of some previously possessed faculty, which is later
regained in a higher form.

Man built brain at the expense of the temporary loss of
the power to bring forth offspring from himself alone. In
order to get the instrument wherewith to guide his dense
body, he became subject to all the difficulty, sorrow and
pain which is involved in the co-operation necessary to the
perpetuation of the race; he obtained his reasoning power
at the cost of the temporary loss of his spiritual insight.

While reason benefited him in many ways, it shut from
his vision the soul of things which had previously spoken
to him, and the gaining of the intellect which is now man's
most precious possession was at first but sadly contem-
plated by the Atlantean, who mourned the loss of spiritual
sight and power which marked its acquisition.

The exchange of spiritual powers for physical faculties
was necessary, however, in order that man might be able
to function, independent of outside guidance, in the Phys-
ical World which he must conquer. In time his higher
powers will be regained when, by means of his experiences
in his journey through the denser Physical World, he has
learned to use them properly. When he possessed them,
he had no knowledge of their proper use, and they were

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 301

too precious and too dangerous to be used as toys, with
which to experiment.

Under the guidance of a great Entity, the Original
Semitic Eace was led eastward from the continent of At-
lantis, over Europe, to the great waste in Central Asia
which is known as the Gobi Desert. There it prepared
them to be the seed of the seven Races of the Aryan Epoch,
imbuing them potentially with the qualities to be evolved
by their descendants.

During all the previous ages — from the commencement
of the Saturn Period, through the Sun and Moon Periods,
and in the three and one-half Revolutions of the Earth
Period (the Polarian, Hyperborean, Lemurian, and earlier
part of the Atlantean Epochs) — man had been led and
guided by higher Beings, without the slightest choice.
In those days he was unable to guide himself, not yet hav-
ing evolved a mind of his own; but at last the time had
come when it was necessary for his further development
that he should begin to guide himself. He must learn
independence and assume responsibility for his own actions.
Hitherto he had been compelled to obey the commands of
his Ruler; now his thoughts were to be turned from the
visible Leaders, the Lords from Venus, whom he wor-
shipped as messengers from the gods — to the idea of the
true God, the invisible Creator of the System. Man was
to learn to worship and obey the commands of a God he
could not see.

Their Leader therefore called the people together and
delivered a soul-stirring oration, which might be thus ex-
pressed :

Hitherto you have seen Those who led you, but there are
Leaders of varying grades of splendor, higher than They,

302 KOSICKUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

Whom you have not seen, Who guided your every tottering
step in the evolution of consciousness.

Exalted above all these glorious Beings stands the invis-
ible God Who has created the heaven, and the earth upon
which you dwell. He has willed to give you dominion over
all this land, that you may be fruitful and multiply in it.

This invisible God only, must you worship, but you must
worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, and not make any
graven image of Him, nor use any likeness to picture Him
to yourselves, because He is everywhere present, and is
beyond any comparison or similitude.

If you follow His precepts, He will bless you abundantly
in all good. If you stray from His ways, evil will follow.
The choice is yours. You are free; but you must endure
the consequences of your own actions.

The education of man proceeds by four great steps.
First, he is worked upon from without, unconsciously.
Then he is placed under the Eulership of Divine Messen-
gers and Kings whom he sees, and whose commands he
must obey. Next he is taught to revere the commands of
a God whom he does not see. Finally, he learns to rise
above commands; to become a law unto himself; and, by
conquering himself of his own free will, to live in harmony
with the Order of Nature, which is the Law of God.

Fourfold also are the steps by which man climbs up-
ward to God.

First, through fear, he worships the God whom he begins
to sense, sacrificing to propitiate Him, as do the fetish-
worshipers.

Next, he learns to look to God as the Giver of all things,
and hopes to receive from Him material benefits here and
now. He sacrifices through avarice, expecting that the

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 303

Lord will repay an hundredfold, or to escape swift punish-
ment by plague, war, etc.

Next, he is taught to worship God by prayer and the liv-
ing of a good life; and that he must cultivate faith in a
Heaven where he will be rewarded in the future; and to
abstain from evil that he may escape a future punishment
in Hell.

At last he comes to a point where he can do right with-
out any thought of reward, bribe, or punishment, but sim-
ply because "it is right to do right." He loves right for
its own sake and seeks to govern his conduct thereby, re-
gardless of present benefit or injury, or of painful results
at some future time.

The Original Semites had reached the second of these
steps. They were taught to worship an invisible God and
to expect to be rewarded by material benefits, or punished
by painful afflictions.

Popular Christianity is at the third step. Esoteric
Christians, and the pupils of all occult schools are trying
to reach the highest step, which will be generally achieved
in the Sixth Epoch, the New Galilee, when the unifying
Christian religion will open the hearts of men, as their
understanding is being opened now.

The Akadians were the sixth and the Mongolians the
seventh of the Atlantean Eaces. They evolved the faculty
of thought still further, but followed lines of reasoning
which deviated more and more from the main trend of the
developing life. The Chinese Mongolians maintain to this
day that the old ways are the best. Progress constantly
requires new methods and adaptability, keeping ideas in
a fluid state, therefore those races fell behind and are de-
generating, with the remainder of the Atlantean Kaces.

As the heavy fogs of Atlantis condensed more and more,

304 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

the increased quantity of water gradually inundated that
continent, destroying the greater part of the population
and the evidences of their civilization.

Great numbers were driven from the doomed continent
by the floods, and wandered across Europe. The Mon-
golian races are the descendants of those Atlantean refu-
gees. The Negroes and the savage races with curly hair,
are the last remnants of the Lemurians.

THE ARYAN EPOCH.

Central Asia was the cradle of the Aryan Races, who
descended from the Original Semites. Thence have the
different Eaces gone out. It is unnecessary to describe
them here, as historical researches have sufficiently re-
vealed their main features.

In the present (the Fifth or Aryan) Epoch, man came
to know the use of fire and other forces, the divine origin
of which was purposely withheld from him, that he might
be free to use them for higher purposes or his own devel-
opment. Therefore we have in this present Epoch two
classes: One looks upon this Earth and upon man as be-
ing of divine origin ; the other sees all things from a purely
utilitarian viewpoint.

The most advanced among humanity at the beginning of
the Aryan Epoch were given the higher Initiations, that
they might take the place of the messengers of God, i. e.,
the Lords of Venus. Such human Initiates were from this
time forth the only mediators between God and man. Even
they do not appear publicly nor show any signs and won-
ders that they were Leaders and Teachers. Man was left
entirely free to seek them or not, as he desired.

At the end of our present Epoch the highest Initiate
will appear publicly, when a sufficient number of ordinary

EVOLUTION ON THE EAETH 305

humanity desire, and will voluntarily subject themselves
to such a Leader. They will thus form the nucleus for the
last Race, which will appear at the beginning of the Sixth
Epoch. After that time races and nations will cease to
exist. Humanity will form one spiritual Fellowship as
before the end of the Lemurian Epoch.

The names of the Races which have spread over the
Earth during the Fifth Epoch, up to the present time,
are as follow :

1. — The Aryan, which went south to India,
2. — The Babylonian-Assyrian-Chaldean.
3. — The Persian-Graeco-Latin.
4.— The Celtic.

5. — The Teutonic-Anglo-Saxon (to which we
belong) .

From the mixture of the different nations now taking
place in the United States will come the "Seed" for the
last Race, in the beginning of the Sixth Epoch.

Two more Races will be evolved in our present Epoch,
one of them being the Slav. When, in the course of a few
hundred years, the Sun, because of the precession of the
equinoxes, shall have entered the sign Aquarius, the Rus-
sian people and the Slav Races in general will reach a
degree of spiritual development which will advance them
far beyond their present condition. Music will be the
chief factor in bringing this about, for on the wings of
music the soul which is attuned may fly to the very
Throne of God, where the mere intellect cannot reach.
Development attained in that manner, however, is not
permanent, because it is one-sided, therefore not in har-
mony with the law of evolution, which demands that
development, to be permanent, must be evenly balanced —
in other words, that spirituality shall Devolve through, or

306 KOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

at least equally with, intellect. For this reason the Slavic
civilization will be short-lived, but it will be great and
joyful while it lasts, for it is being born of deep sorrow
and untold suffering, and the law of Compensation will
bring the opposite in due time.

From the Slavs will descend a people which will form
the last of the seven Eaces of the Aryan Epoch, and from
the people of the United States will descend the last of
all the Races in this scheme of evolution, which will run
its course in the beginning of the Sixth Epoch.

THE SIXTEEN PATHS TO DESTRUCTION.

The sixteen Races are called the "Sixteen paths to
destruction" because there is always, in each Race, a
danger that the soul may become too much attached to
the Race; that it may become so enmeshed in Race-char-
acteristics it cannot rise above the race-idea, and will
therefore fail to advance ; that it may, so to speak, crystal-
lize into that Race and consequently be confined to the
Race-bodies when they start to degenerate, as happened to
the Jews.

In Periods, Revolutions, and Epochs where there are
no Races, there is much more time, and the likelihood of
becoming fossilized is not so great, nor so frequent. But
the sixteen Races are born and die in such a relatively
short time there is grave danger that the one who gets too
much attached to conditions may be left behind.

Christ is the great unifying Leader of the Sixth Epoch,
and He enunciated this law when He uttered those little-
understood words: "If any man come to me, and hate
not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and
brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot
be my disciple. .

EVOLUTION ON THE EARTH 307

"And whosoever doth not hear his cross, and come after
me, cannot be my disciple.

"... whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."

Not that we are to leave, nor underestimate family
ties, but that we are to rise above them. Father and
mother are "bodies"; all relations are part of the Race —
which belongs to Form. The souls must recognize that
they are not Bodies, nor Eaces, but Egos striving for per-
fection. If a man forgets this, and identifies himself with
his Race — clinging to it with fanatic patriotism — he is
likely to become enmeshed in and sink with it when his
compeers have passed to greater heights on the Path of
Attainment.