Chapter 40
CHAPTER XVI.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT AND INITIATION.
The Seven Days of Creation.
THE Rosicrucian speaks of the Earth Period as Mars-
Mercury. The great creative Day of Manifesta-
tion is embodied in the names of the days of the
week, for our week-days have been named after the evolu-
tionary stages through which the virgin spirits pass in
their pilgrimage through matter.
Day. Corresponds to the Is ruled by
Saturday Saturn Period Saturn
Sunday Sun Period The Sun
Monday Moon Period The Moon
Tuesday First half of the Earth Period Mars
Wednesday .... Second half of the Earth Period. . . . Mercury
Thursday Jupiter Period Jupiter
Friday .Venus Period Venus
The Vulcan Period is the last Period of our scheme of
evolution. The quintessence of all the preceding Periods
is extracted by the recapitulation of spiral after spiral.
No new work is done until the very last Revolution on the
very last Globe and then only in the Seventh Epoch.
Therefore the Vulcan Period may be said to correspond to
the week, which includes all of the seven days.
The claim of astrologers that the days of the week are
ruled by the particular planet for which they are named,
is well-founded. The ancients were also familiar with this
occult knowledge, as is shown in their mythologies, in
411
412 EOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
which the names of the gods are associated with the days
of the week. Saturday is plainly "Saturn's day" ; Sunday
is correlated to the Sun, and Monday to the Moon. The
Latins call Tuesday "Dies Martis," which obviously shows
its connection with Mars, the god of war. The name
"Tuesday" is derived from "Tirsdag," "Tir" or "Tyr,"
being the name of the Norse god of war. "Wednesday"
was "Wotensday," from Woten, also a Norse god; it is
called "Dies Mercurii" by the Latins, showing its associa-
tion with Mercury, as given in our list.
Thursday, or "Thorsdag," is named for "Thor," the
Norse god of thunder, and is called "Dies Jovis" by the
Latins, after the thunder gods, "Jove" and "Jupiter."
Friday is named for the Norse goddess of beauty,
"Freya," and for similar reasons, the Latins call it "Dies
Veneris," or Day of Venus.
These names of Periods have nothing to do with the
physical planets, but refer to past, present or future in-
carnations of the Earth; for, again applying the Hermetic
axiom, "As above, so below," the macrocosm must have its
incarnations as well as the microcosm, man.
Occult science teaches that there are 777 incarnations,
but that does not mean that the Earth undergoes 777
metamorphoses. It means that evolving life makes
7 Eevolutions around the
7 Globes of the
7 World Periods.
This pilgrimage of Involution and Evolution, including
the "short cut" of Initiation, is embodied in the Caduceus,
or "Staff of Mercury" (see diagram 15), so called because
this occult symbol indicates The Path of Initiation, which
has been open to man only since the beginning of the
Mercury half of the Earth Period. Some of the lesser
DIAGRAM 15
THE SEVEN DAYS OF CREATION
AND
THE FOUR GREAT INITIATIONS
ORDINARY HUMANITY PURSUES THE SPIRAL PATH
THE INITIATE GOES THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW WAY THAT LEADS
SATURN -PERIOD
(SATURDAY)
VIOLET
VENUS-PERIOD
(FRIDAY)
RED
MOON -PERIOD
(MONDAY)
BLUE
EARTH -
MERCURY -HALF
(WEOH£50AY)-YELLOW
VULCAN-PERIOD
THEWECK
(EMBRACING AUTHC Mfl)
WHITE
(INCLUDING AUTHCCXWs)
SUN -PERIOD
(SUNDAY)
INDIGO
JUPITER- PERIOD
(THURSDAY)
ORANGE
- PERIOD
MARS - HALF
(TUESDAY ) GREEN
THE WAYOF INITIATION
THERE WAS NO INITIATION PRIOR TO THE END of THE
MARS HALF OF THE EART H PERIOD . THE. LEASER MYS-
TERIES EMBRACE HUMAN EVOLTION IN THE MERCURY
HALF OF THE EARTH -P6RIOD
414 BOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
mysteries were given to the earlier Lemurians and Atlan-
teans, but not the Four Great Initiations.
The black serpent on diagram 15 indicates the winding,
cyclic path of Involution, comprising the Saturn, Sun and
Mood Periods, and the Mars half of the Earth Period,
during which the evolving life built its vehicles, not be-
coming fully awake and clearly conscious of the outside
world until the latter part of the Atlantean Epoch.
The white serpent represents the path that the human
race will follow through the Mercury half of the Earth
Period, and the Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan Periods, dur-
ing which pilgrimage man's consciousness will expand into
that of an omniscient, Creative Intelligence.
The serpentine path is the path followed by the great
majority; but the "Staff of Mercury," around which the
serpents twine, shows the "straight and narrow way," the
path of Initiation, which enables those who walk therein
to accomplish in a few short lives that which it requires
millions of years for the majority of mankind to accom-
plish.
It need scarcely be said that no description of the initia-
tory ceremonies can be given, as the first vow of the Ini-
tiate is silence; but even if permissible, it would not be
important. What concerns us in getting a bird's-eye view
of the evolutionary path is to ascertain the results of the
ceremonies.
The whole result of initiation is to give to the spiritually
aspiring an opportunity to develop the higher faculties
and powers in a short time and by severe training, thereby
gaining the expansion of consciousness that all mankind
will surely possess eventually, but which the vast majority
choose to acquire through the slow process of ordinary evo-
lution. We may know the states of consciousness and
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 415
their concomitant powers attained by the candidate as he
passes through successive great Initiations, provided we
know what those future states and powers will be for hu-
manity in general. Some hints have been given and more
may be logically deduced by an application of the law of
Correspondences, to give a fairly rounded picture of the
evolution in store for all of us, and the magnitude of the
great steps in Initiation. To do this it may help us to
glance back over the steps by which the consciousness of
man has been evolved through the various Periods.
We remember that during the Saturn Period the uncon-
sciousness of man was similar to that of the dense body
when plunged into the deepest trance condition; this was
succeeded, in the Sun period, by a dreamless-sleep con-
sciousness. In the Moon Period the first glimmering of
waking showed itself in inward pictures of outward things.
The entire consciousness consisted of such inward repre-
sentations of external objects, colors, or sounds. At last,
in the latter part of the Atlantean Epoch, this picture-
consciousness gave way to the present full waking-con-
sciousness, in which objects could be observed outside,
clearly and distinctly outlined in space. When this objec-
tive-consciousness was attained, man became aware of an
outside world and for the first time thoroughly realized
the difference between "self" and "others." He then real-
ized his separatcness and thenceforth the "I" consciousness,
Egoism, became paramount. As previous to that time
there had been no thoughts nor ideas dealing with an out-
side world, there had consequently been no memory of
events.
The change from the internal picture consciousness to
the objective-self-consciousness was effected by a very slow
process, commensurate with its magnitude, lasting from
416 BOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
the existence on Globe C in the third Eevolution of the
Moon Period, until the latter part of the Atlantean Epoch.
During that time the evolving life passed through four
great stages of animal-Ztfce development before reaching the
human stage. These steps of the past correspond to four
stages yet to be passed through, and to the four initiations.
Within these four stages of consciousness previously
passed there are altogether thirteen steps, and from man's
present state to the last of the Great Initiations there are
also thirteen initiations — the nine degrees of the lesser
mysteries and the four Great Initiations.
There is a similar division among our present animals
which can be traced through Form, because, as the form
is the expression of the life, so each step in its development
must necessarily show a step forward in consciousness.
Cuvier was the first to divide the animal kingdom into
four primary classes, but was not so successful in his divi-
sion of these classes into sub-classes. The embryologist,
Karl Ernst von Baer, also Professor Agassiz and other
scientists, classify the animal kingdom into four primary
and thirteen subdivisions, as follows:
i RADIATES:
1 — Polyps, Sea-anemones and Coral.
2 — Acalephs, or Jelly-fish.
3 — Starfish, Sea-urchins.
II MOLLUSKS :
4 — Acephala (oysters, etc.).
5 — Gasteropoda (snails).
6 — Cephalopoda.
III ARTICULATES:
7 — Worms.
8 — Crustacea (lobsters, etc.).
9 — Insects.
IV VERTEBRATES:
10 — Fishes.
11 — Reptiles.
12— Birds.
13 — Mammals.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 417
The first three divisions correspond to the remaining
three Revolutions of the Mercury half of the Earth Period,
and their nine steps correspond to the nine degrees of the
lesser mysteries, which will have been taken by humanity
in general when it has reached the middle of the last
Revolution of the Earth Period.
The fourth division in the list of the advancing animal
kingdom has four subdivisions: Fishes, Reptiles, Birds,
and Mammals. The steps in consciousness thus indicated
correspond to similar states of advancement to be attained
by humanity at the end of the Earth, Jupiter, Venus, and
Vulcan Periods and which any qualified individual may
now attain by initiation. The first of the Great Initiations
gives the stage of consciousness which will be attained by
ordinary humanity at the end of the Earth Period; the
second that to which all will attain at the end of the
Jupiter Period ; the third gives the extension of conscious-
ness to be reached at the close of the Venus Period; the
last brings to the initiate the power and omniscience to
which the majority will attain only at the end of the Vul-
can Period.
The Objective-Consciousness by which we obtain knowl-
edge of the outside world is dependent upon what we
perceive through the medium of the senses. This we call
"real," in contradistinction to our thoughts and ideas
which come to us through our inner consciousness; their
reality is not apparent to us in the same way as that of
a book or table, or other visible or tangible object in space.
Thoughts and ideas seem misty and unreal, therefore we
speak of a "mere" thought, or of "just" an idea.
The ideas and thoughts of today, however, have an evo-
lution before them; they are destined to become as real,
clear and tangible as any of the objects of the outside
418 ROSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
world which we now perceive through the physical senses.
At present, when a thing or a color is thought of, the pic-
ture or color presented by the memory to our inner con-
sciousness is but a dim and shadowy one compared with
the thing thought of.,
As early as the J.upiter Period there will be a marked
change in this respect. Then the dream-pictures of the
Moon Period will return, but they will be subject to the
call of the thinker, and not mere reprodiictions of outer
objects. Thus there will be a combination of the pictures
of the Moon Period and the thoughts and ideas consciously
developed during the Earth Period, that is, it will be a
Self -Conscious Picture-Consciousness.
When a man of the Jupiter Period says "red," or speaks
the name of an object, a clear and exact reproduction of
the particular shade of red of which he is thinking, or of
the object to which he refers, will be presented to his inner
vision and will also be quite visible to the hearer. There
will be no misconception as to what is meant by the words
spoken. Thoughts and ideas will be alive and visible,
therefore hypocrisy and flattery will be entirely eliminated.
People can be seen exactly as they are. There will be
both good and bad, but the two qualities will not be min-
gled in the same person. There will be the thoroughly
good man and the downright evil man, and one of the
serious problems of that time will be how to deal with
the latter. The Manichees, an Order of still higher spiritu-
ality than the Rosicrucians, are at present studying that
very problem. An idea of the condition anticipated may
be gained from a short resume of their legend. (All
mystic orders have a legend symbolical of their ideals and
aspirations.)
In the legend of the Manichees there are two kingdoms
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 419
—that of the Light-Elves and that of the Night-Elves.
The latter attack the former, are defeated and must be
punished. But, as the Light-Elves are as thoroughly good
as the Night-Elves are bad, they cannot inflict evil upon
their foes, so they must be punished with Good. There-
fore a part of the kingdom of the Light-Elves is incor-
porated with that of the Night-Elves and in this way the
evil is in time overcome. Hate which will not submit to
hate, must succumb to Love.
The internal pictures of the Moon Period were a cer-
tain expression of man's external environment. In the
Jupiter Period the pictures will be expressed from within ;
they will be an outcome of the inner life of the man. He
will also possess the additional faculty, which he cultivated
in the Earth Period, of seeing things in space outside of
himself. In the Moon Period he did not see the concrete
thing, but only its soul-qualities. In the Jupiter Period
he will see both, and will thus have a thorough perception
and understanding of his surroundings. At a later stage
in the same Period, this perceptive ability will be suc-
ceeded by a still higher phase. His power to form clear
mental conceptions of colors, objects, or tones will enable
him to contact and influence supersensuous beings of vari-
ous orders and to secure their obedience, employing their
forces as he wishes. He will be unable to send out from
himself the forces wherewith to carry out his designs, how-
ever, and will be dependent upon the help of these super-
physical beings, who will then be at his service.
At the close of the Venus Period he will be able to use
his own force to give his pictures life and to set them out
from himself as objects in space. He will then possess an
Objective, Self -Conscious, Creative-Consciousness.
Very little can be said about the high spiritual con-
420 ROSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
sciousness which will be attained at the close of the Vulcan
Period; it would be quite beyond our present comprehen-
sion.
SPIRALS WITHIN SPIRALS.
It must not be supposed that these states of conscious-
ness commence at the beginning of the Periods to which
they belong and last until the end. There is always the
Recapitulation, and therefore there must be the corre-
sponding stages of consciousness on an ascending scale.
The Saturn Eevolution of any Period, the stay on Globe
A, and the first Epoch on any Globe, are repetitions of
the Saturn Period states of development. The Sun Eevo-
lution, the stay on Globe B, and the second Epoch on any
Globe are Eecapitulations of the Sun Period states of de-
velopment, and so on, all the way through. Hence it will
be seen that the consciousness which is to be the especial
and peculiar result or product of any Period, does not
begin to be evolved until all the Eecapitulations have been
made. The waking-consciousness of the Earth Period was
not started until the Fourth Eevolution, when the life
wave had reached the Fourth Globe (D), and was in the
Fourth or Atlantean Epoch on that Globe.
The Jupiter consciousness will not start in the Jupiter
Period until the Fifth Eevolution, when the Fifth Globe
(E) has been reached and the Fifth Epoch commences
on that Globe.
Correspondingly, the Venus consciousness will not begin
until the Sixth Eevolution has come to the Sixth Globe
and Epoch, and the special Vulcan work will be confined
to the very last Globe and Epoch, just before the Day of
Manifestation closes.
The time required for passing through these respective
FUTUKE DEVELOPMENT 421
Periods varies greatly. The further into matter the virgin
spirits descend, the slower their progress and the more
numerous the steps or stages of progression. After the
nadir of material existence has been passed and the life
wave ascends into more tenous and mobile conditions, the
progress is gradually accelerated. The Sun Period is of
somewhat longer duration than the Saturn Period, and the
Moon Period is longer than the Sun Period. The Mars
(or first) half of the Earth Period is the longest half of
any Period. Then the time begins to shorten again, so
that the Mercury half of the Earth Period, the latter
three and a half Revolutions, will occupy less time than
the Mars half; the Jupiter Period will be shorter than the
Moon Period; the Venus Period shorter than the corre-
sponding Sun Period; and the Vulcan Period the shortest
Period of them all.
The states of consciousness of the different Periods may
be tabulated as follows:
Period Corresponding consciousness
Saturn Unconsciousness corresponding to deep trance
Sun Unconsciousness resembling dreamless sleep
Moon Picture consciousness corresponding to dream state
Earth Waking, objective consciousness
Jupiter Self-conscious picture consciousness
Venus Objective, Self-conscious, Creative consciousness
Vulcan Highest Spiritual Consciousness
Having taken a general survey of the states of conscious-
ness to be developed in the next three and a half Periods,
we will now study the means of attainment.
ALCHEMY AND SOUL-GROWTH.
The dense body was started in the Saturn Period, passed
through various transformations in the Sun and Moon
422 EOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
Periods, and will reach its highest development in the
Earth Period.
The vital body was started in the second Revolution of
the Sun Period, was reconstructed in the Moon and Earth
Periods, and will reach perfection in the Jupiter Period,
which is its fourth stage, as the Earth Period is the fourth
stage for the dense body.
The desire body was started in the Moon period, recon-
structed in the Earth period, will be further modified in
the Jupiter Period, reaching perfection in the Venus
Period.
The mind was started in the Earth Period, will be modi-
fied in the Jupiter and Venus Periods, and attain to per-
fection in the Vulcan Period.
Reference to diagram 8 will show that the lowest Globe
of the Jupiter Period is located in the Etheric Region. It
would therefore be impossible to use the dense physical
vehicle there, as only a vital body can be used in the
Etheric Region. Yet it must not be supposed that after
spending the time from the beginning of the Saturn
Period to the end of the Earth Period in completing and
perfecting this body, it is then thrown away that man
may function in a "higher" vehicle !
Nothing in Nature is wasted. In the Jupiter Period
the forces of the dense body will be superimposed upon
the completed vital body. That vehicle will then possess
the powers of the dense body in addition to its own facul-
ties, and will therefore be a much more valuable instru-
ment for the expression of the threefold spirit than if
built from its own forces alone.
Similarly, Globe D of the Venus Period is located in
the Desire World (see diagram 8), hence neither a dense
nor a vital body could be used as an instrument of con-
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 423
sciousness, therefore the essences of the perfected dense
and vital bodies are incorporated in the completed desire
body, the latter thus becoming a vehicle of transcendent
qualities, marvelously adaptable and so responsive to the
slightest wish of the indwelling spirit that in our present
limitations, it is beyond our utmost conception.
Yet the efficiency of even this splendid vehicle will be
transcended when in the Vulcan period its essence, to-
gether with the essences of the dense and vital bodies, are
added to the mind body, which becomes the highest of
man's vehicles, containing within itself the quintessence
of all that was best in all the vehicles. The vehicle of the
Venus Period being beyond our present power of concep-
tion, how much more so is that which will be at the service
of the divine beings of the Vulcan Period !
During involution the creative Hierarchies assisted man
to arouse into activity the threefold spirit, the Ego, to
build the threefold body, and to acquire the link of mind.
Now, however, on the seventh day (to use the language
of the Bible), God rests. Man must work out his own
salvation. The threefold spirit must complete the working
out of the plan begun by the Gods.
The human spirit, which was awakened during Involu-
tion in the Moon Period, will be the most prominent of
the three aspects of the spirit in the evolution of the
Jupiter Period, which is the corresponding Period on the
upward arc of the spiral. The life spirit, which was
started into activity in the Sun Period, will manifest its
principal activity in the corresponding Venus Period, and
the particular influences of the Divine Spirit will be strong-
est in the Vulcan Period, because it was vivified in the
corresponding Saturn Period.
All three aspects of the spirit are active all the time
424 BOSICKUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
during evolution, but the principal activity of each aspect
will be unfolded in those particular Periods, because the
work to be done there is its special work.
When the threefold spirit had evolved the threefold body
and gained control of it through the focus of Mind, it
commenced to evolve the threefold soul by working from
within. How much or how little soul a man has depends
upon the amount of work the spirit has done in the bodies.
This has been explained in the chapter describing post
mortem experiences.
As much of the desire body as has been worked upon
by the Ego is transmuted into the emotional soul, and is
ultimately assimilated by the human spirit, the special
vehicle of which is the desire body.
As much of the vital body as has been worked upon by
the life spirit, becomes the Intellectual soul, and it builds
the life spirit, because that aspect of the threefold spirit
has its counterpart in the vital body.
As much of the dense body as has been worked upon
by the Divine Spirit is called the Conscious soul, and is
ultimately merged in the Divine Spirit, because the dense
body is its material emanation.
The Conscious soul grows by action, external impacts,
and experience.
The Emotional soul grows by the feelings and emotions
generated by actions and experiences.
The Intellectual soul, as mediator between the other
two, grows by the exercise of memory, by which it links
together past and present experiences and the feelings
engendered thereby, thus creating "sympathy" and "an-
tipathy," which could not exist apart from memory, be-
cause the feelings resulting from experience alone would be
evanescent.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 425
During involution the spirit progressed by growing
bodies, but evolution depends upon soul growth — the trans-
mutation of the bodies into soul. The soul is, so to say,
the quintessence, the power or force of the body, and when
a body has been completely built and brought to perfec-
tion through the stages and Periods as above described,
the soul is fully extracted therefrom and is absorbed by
the one of the three aspects of the spirit which generated
the body in the first place; thus:
The Conscious soul will be absorbed by the divine spirit
in the seventh Revolution of the Jupiter Period;
The Intellectual soul will be absorbed by the life spirit
in the sixth Revolution of the Venus Period ;
The Emotional soul will be absorbed by the human spirit
in the fifth Revolution of the Vulcan Period.
THE CREATIVE WORD.
The mind is the most important instrument possessed
by the spirit, and its special instrument in the work of
creation. The spiritualized and perfected larynx will speak
the creative Word, but the perfected mind will decide as
to the particular form and the volume of vibration, and
will thus be the determining factor. Imagination will be
the spiritualized faculty directing the work of creation.
There is a strong tendency at the present time to regard
the faculty of imagination slightingly, yet it is one of the
most important factors in our civilization. If it were not
for the imagination, we would still be naked savages.
Imagination planned our houses, our clothes and our trans-
portation and transmission facilities. Had not the in-
ventors of these improvements possessed the mind and
imagination to form mental images, the improvements
could never have become concrete realities. In our mate-
426 EOSICBUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
rialistic day and age there is scarcely an effort made to
conceal the contempt in which the faculty of imagination
is generally held, and none feel the effects of this more
acutely than inventors. They are usually classed as
"cranks," and yet they have been the chief factors in the
subjugation of the Physical World and in making our
social environment what it is today. Any improvement in
spiritual or physical conditions must first be imagined as
a possibility before it can become an actuality.
If the student will turn to diagram 1 this fact will be-
come clear. In the comparison there drawn between the
functions of the different human vehicles and the parts of
a stereopticon, the mind corresponds to the lens. It is the
focusing medium whereby the ideas wrought by the imagi-
nation of the spirit are projected upon the material uni-
verse. First they are thought-forms only, but when the
desire to realize the imagined possibilities has set the man
to work in the Physical World, they become what we call
concrete "realities."
At the present time, however, the mind is not focused
in a way that enables it to give a clear and true picture of
what the spirit imagines. It is not one-pointed. It gives
misty and clouded pictures. Hence the necessity of experi-
ment to show the inadequacies of the first conception, and
bring about new imaginings and ideas until the image
produced by the spirit in mental substance has been repro-
duced in physical substance.
At the best, we are able to shape through the mind only
such images as have to do with Form, because the human
mind was not started until the Earth Period, and there-
fore is now in its form, or "mineral" stage, hence in our
operations we are confined to forms, to minerals. We can
imagine ways and means of working with the mineral
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 427
forms of the three lower kingdoms, but can do little or
nothing with living bodies. We may indeed graft living
branch to living tree, or living part of animal or man to
other living part, but it is not life with which we are
working; it is form only. We are making different condi-
tions, but the life which already inhabited the form con-
tinues to do so still. To create life is beyond man's power
until his mind has become alive.
In the Jupiter Period the mind will be vivified to some
extent and man can then imagine forms which will live.
and grow, like plants.
In the Venus Period, when his mind has acquired "Feel-
ing," he can create living, growing, and feeling things.
When he reaches perfection, at the end of the Vulcan
Period, he will be able to "imagine" into existence crea-
tures that will live, grow, feel, and think.
In the Saturn Period the life wave which is now man
started on its evolution. The Lords of Mind were then
human. They worked with man at that Period, when he
was mineral. They now have nothing to do with the lower
kingdoms, but are concerned solely with our human
development.
Our present animals started their mineral existence in
the Sun Period, at which time the Archangels were human,
therefore the Archangels are the rulers and guides of the
evolution of that which is now animal, but have nothing to
do with plant or mineral.
The present plants had their mineral existence in the
Moon Period. The Angels were then human, therefore
they have special concern with the life that now inhabits
the plants, to guide it up to the human stage; but they
have no interest in the minerals.
Our present humanity will have to work with the new
428 KOSICKUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
life wave, which entered evolution in the Earth Period and
now ensouls the minerals. We are now working with it
by means of the faculty of imagination, giving it form —
building it into ships, bridges, railways, houses, etc.
In the Jupiter Period we shall guide the evolution of the
plant kingdom, for that which is at present mineral will
then have a plant-like existence and we must work with it
there as the Angels are now doing with our plant kingdom.
Our faculty of imagination will be so developed that
we shall have the ability, not only to create forms by means
of it, but to endow those forms with vitality.
In the Venus Period our present mineral life wave
shall have advanced another step, and we shall be doing for
the animals of that period what the Archangels are now
doing for our animals— giving them living and feeling
forms.
Lastly, in the Vulcan Period it will be our privilege
to give them a germinal mind, as the Lords of Mind did
to us. The present minerals will then have become the
humanity of the Vulcan Period, and we shall have passed
through stages similar to those through which the Angels
and Archangels are now passing. We shall then have
reached a point in evolution a little higher than that of the
present Lords of Mind, for remember, there is never an
exact reproduction anywhere, but always progressive im-
provement, because of the spiral.
The Divine Spirit will absorb the human spirit at the
close of the Jupiter Period; the life spirit at the close of
the Venus Period; and the perfected Mind, embodying
all that it has garnered during its pilgrimage through all
the seven Periods, will be absorbed by the Divine Spirit at
the close of the Vulcan Period. (There is no contradic-
tion of the foregoing in the statement made elsewhere that
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 429
the Emotional soul will be absorbed by the human spirit in
the fifth Kevolution of the Vulcan Period, because the
latter will then be within the Divine Spirit.)
Then will succeed the long interval of subjective activity,
during which the virgin spirit will assimilate all the fruits
of the septenary Periods of active Manifestation. It is
then merged in God, from Whom it came, to re-emerge
at the dawn of another Great Day, as One of His glorious
helpers. During its past evolution its latent possibilities
have been transmuted to dynamic powers. It has acquired
Soul-power and a Creative Mind as the fruitage of its
pilgrimage through matter. It has advanced from impo-
tence to Omnipotence, from nescience to Omniscience.
CHAPTEE XVII.
THE METHOD OF ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE.
The First Steps.
THE time has now come for pointing out the way by
which each individual may investigate for himself
all the facts with which we have dealt thus far in
our study. As stated in the beginning, there are no special
"gifts" bestowed upon any. All may know for themselves
the truth concerning the pilgrimage of the soul, the past
evolution and future destiny of the world, without being
compelled to depend upon the veracity of another. There
is a method whereby this valuable faculty may be acquired,
and the earnest student qualify himself to investigate those
super-physical realms; a method by which, if persistently
followed, the powers of a God may be developed.
A simple illustration may indicate the first steps. The
very best mechanic is well-nigh helpless without the tools
of his craft. Indeed it is the hall-mark of a good artisan
that he is very fastidious as to the quality and condition
of the tools he uses, because he knows that the work de-
pends as much upon their excellence as upon his skill.
The Ego has several instruments — a dense body, a vital
body, a desire body,, and a mind. These are its tools and
upon their quality and condition depends how much or how
little it can accomplish in its work of gathering experience
in each life. If the instruments are poor and dull there
430
ACQUIBING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 431
will be but little spiritual growth and the life will be a
barren one, so far as the spirit is concerned.
We generally estimate a "successful" life by the bank
account, the social position attained, or the happi-
ness resulting from a carefree existence and a sheltered
environment.
When life is regarded in that way all the principal
things that make for permanency are forgotten; the indi-
vidual is blinded by the evanescent and illusionary. A
bank account seems such a very real success, the fact is
forgotten that from the moment the Ego leaves the body, it
has no equity in gold nor any other earthly treasure. It
may even have to answer for the methods employed in
amassing that hoard, and suffer great pain in seeing others
spend it. It is forgotten that the important social posi-
tion also disappears when the silver cord is loosed. Those
who once fawned may then sneer, and even those who were
faithful in life might shudder at the thought of an hour
spent with no company but that of the dead. All that is
of this life alone is vanity. Only that is of true value
which can be taken with us across the threshold as the
treasure of the spirit.
The hot-house plant may look very beautiful as it blooms
in its sheltered glass house, but should the furnace fire
go out, it would wither and die, while the plant that has
grown in rain and sunshine, through storm and calm, will
survive the winter and bloom afresh each year. From the
viewpoint of the soul, happiness and a sheltered environ-
ment are generally unfortunate circumstances. The petted
and fondled lap-dog is subject to diseases of which the
homeless cur, which has to fight for a scrap from a gar-
bage can, knows nothing. The cur's life is hard, but it
gets experience that makes it alert, alive and resourceful.
432 KOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
Its life is rich in events, and it reaps a harvest of experi-
ence, while the pampered lap-dog drones its time away in
fearful monotony.
The case of a human being is somewhat similar. It
may be hard to fight poverty and hunger, but from the
standpoint of the soul it is infinitely preferable to a life of
idle luxury. Where wealth is nothing more than the hand-
maid of well thought out philanthropy, which helps man in
such a way as to really uplift him, it may be a very great
blessing and a means of growth for its possessor, but when
used for selfish purposes and oppression, it cannot be
regarded as other than an unmitigated curse.
The soul is here to acquire experience through its instru-
ments. These are the tools furnished to each at birth, and
they are good, bad or indifferent according to what we
have learned through past experience in the building of
them. Such as they are we must work with them, if at all.
If we have become aroused from the usual lethargy and
are anxious to progress, the question naturally arises, What
must I do?
Without well-kept tools the mechanic can do no effective
work; similarly, the instruments of the Ego must be
cleansed and sharpened; then we may commence to work
to some purpose. As one works with those wonderful tools
they themselves improve with proper use and become more
and more efficient to aid in the work. The object of this
work is Union with the Higher Self.
There are three steps by which this work conquers the
lower nature, but they are not completely taken one after
the other. In a certain sense they go together, so that at
the present stage the first receives the most attenion, the
second less, and the third least of all. In time, when the
ACQUIKING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 433
first step has been wholly taken, naturally more attention
can be paid to the other two.
There are three" helps given in attaining these three
stages. They can be seen in the outside world, where the
great Leaders of humanity have placed them.
The first help is Race-religions, which by aiding human-
ity to overcome the desire body, prepare it for union with
the Holy Spirit.
The full operation of this help was seen on the Day of
Pentecost. As the Holy Spirit is the Race-God, all lan-
guages are expressions of it. That is why the apostles,
when fully united and filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke
with different tongues and were able to convince their
hearers. Their desire bodies had been sufficiently purified
to bring about the wished-for union and this is an earnest
of what the disciple will one day attain to — the power to
speak all tongues. It may also be cited as a modern,
historical example, that the Compte de St. Germain (who
was one of the later incarnations of Christian Rosenkreutz,
the founder of our sacred Order), spoke all languages, so
that all to whom he spoke thought he belonged to the
same nation as they. He also had achieved union with the
Holy Spirit.
In the Hyperborean Epoch, before man possessed a
desire body, there was but one universal mode of communi-
cation and when the desire body has become sufficiently
purified, all men will again be able to understand one
another, for then the separative Race differentiation shall
have passed away.
The second help which humanity now has is the Religion
of the Son — the Christian religion, the object of which is
Union with Christ by purification and control of the vital
body.
434 BOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
Paul refers to this future state when he says: "Until
Christ be formed in you/* and exhorts his followers, as men
who are running a race, to rid themselves of every weight.
The fundamental principle in building the vital body is
repetition. Eepeated experiences work on it to create
memory. The Leaders of humanity, who desired to give
us unconscious help by certain exercises, instituted prayer
as a means of bringing pure and lofty thought to work on
the vital body, and enjoined us to "pray without ceasing."
Scoffers have often asked sneeringly why it should be
thought necessary to always pray, because if God is omnis-
cient He knows our needs and if He is not, our prayers
will probably never reach Him ; and if not omniscient,
He cannot be omnipotent, and therefore could not answer
prayer in any case. Many an earnest Christian may also
have thought it wrong to be continually importuning the
Throne of Grace.
Such ideas are founded upon a misunderstanding of
facts. Truly God is omniscient and requires no reminder
of our needs, but if we pray aright, we lift ourselves up to
Him, thus working upon and purifying our vital bodies.
If we pray aright — but that is the great trouble. We are
generally much more concerned about temporal things
than we are about spiritual upliftment. Churches will
hold special meetings to pray for rain! and the chaplains
of opposing armies or navies will even pray before a battle
that success may follow their arms !
That is prayer to the Race-God, Who fights the battles
of His people, gives them increase of flocks and herds,
fills their granaries and caters to their material wants.
Such prayers are not even purifying. They are from the
desire body, which sums up the situation thus : Now Lord,
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 435
I am keeping your commandments to the best of my ability
and I want You to do Your part in return.
Christ gave to humanity a prayer that is, like Himself,
unique and all-embracing. In it there are seven distinct
and separate prayers; one for each of the seven principles
of man — the threefold body, the threefold spirit and the
link of mind. Each prayer is peculiarly adapted to pro-
mote the progression of that p<ut of composite man to
which it refers.
The purpose of the prayer relating to the threefold body
is the spiritualization of those vehicles and the extraction
therefrom of the threefold soul.
The prayers relating to the threefold spirit prepare it to
receive the extracted essence, the threefold soul.
The prayer for the link of mind is to keep it in its
proper relation as a tie between the higher and the lower
nature.
The third help to be given to humanity will be the
Religion of the Father. We can have very little concep-
tion of what that will be, save that the ideal will be even
higher than Brotherhood and that by it the dense body
will be spiritualized.
The Religions of the Holy Spirit, the Race-religions,
were for the uplifting of the human race through a feeling
of kinship limited to a group — family, tribe or nation.
The purpose of the Religion of The Son, Christ, is to
further uplift mankind by forming it into a Universal
Brotherhood of separate individuals.
The ideal of the Religion of The Father will be the
elimination of all separateness, merging all into One, so
that there will be no "I" nor "Thou/' but all will be One
in reality. This will not come to pass while we are still
inhabitants of the physical Earth, but in a future state
436 EOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
where we shall realize our unity with all, each having access
to all the knowledge garnered by each separate individual.
Just as the single facet of a diamond has access to all the
light that comes through each of the other facets, is one
with them, yet bounded by lines which give it a certain
individuality without s¶teness, so will the individual
spirit retain the memory of its particular experiences,
while giving to all others the fruits of its individual
existence.
These are the steps and stages through which humanity
is unconsciously being led.
In past ages the Race-spirit reigned alone. Man was
content with a patriarchal and paternal government in
which he had no part. Now all over the world we see
signs of the breaking down of the old system. The caste
system, which was the stronghold of England in India,
is crumbling. Instead of being separated into small
groups, the people are uniting in the demand that the
oppressor shall depart and leave them to live in freedom
under a government of, by and for the people. Eussia is
torn by strife for freedom from a dictatorial, autocratic
government. Turkey has awakened and taken a long
stride toward liberty. Here in our own land, where we
are supposed to be in the actual enjoyment of such liberty
as others are, as yet, only able to covet or fight for, we are
not yet satisfied. We are learning that there are other
oppressions than those of an autocratic monarchy. We
see that we have still industrial freedom to gain. We are
chafing under the yoke of the trusts and an insane system
of competition. We are trending toward co-operation,
which is now practiced by the trusts within their own
confines for private profit. We are desirous of a state of
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 437
society where "they shall sit every man under his vine and
under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid."
Thus, all over the world, the old systems of paternal
government are changing. Nations, as such, have had
their day and are unwittingly working toward Universal
Brotherhood in accordance with the design of our invisible
Leaders, who are none the less potent in shaping events
because they are not officially seated in the councils of
nations.
These are the slow means by which the different bodies
of humanity at large are being purified, but the aspirant
to the higher knowledge works consciously to attain to
these ends, by well-defined methods, according to his con-
stitution. ,
WESTERN METHODS FOR WESTERN PEOPLE.
In India, certain methods under different systems of
Yoga, are used. Yoga means Union and, as in the West,
the object of the aspirant is union with the Higher Self;
but to be efficacious, the methods of seeking that union
must differ. The vehicles of a Hindu are very differently
constituted from those of a Caucasian. The Hindus have
lived for many, many thousands of years in an environ-
ment and climate totally different from ours. They have
pursued a different method of thought and their civiliza-
tion, though of a very high order, is different from ours
in its effects. Therefore it would be useless for us to
adopt their methods, which are the outcome of the highest
occult knowledge and perfectly suited to them, but as un-
suitable for the people of the West as a diet of oats would
be for a lion.
For instance, in some systems it is required that the
yogi shall sit in certain positions, that particular cosmic
438 KOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
currents may flow through his body in a certain way to
produce certain definite results. That instruction would
be altogether useless for a Caucasian, as he is absolutely
impervious to those currents, because of his way of living.
If he is to attain results at all, he must work in harmony
with the constitution of his vehicles. That is why the
"Mysteries" were established in different parts of Europe
during the Middle Ages. The Alchemists were deep stu-
dents of the higher occult science. The popular belief
that the object of their study and experimenting was the
transmutation of baser metals into gold, was because they
chose that symbolic way of describing their true work,
which was the transmutation of the lower nature into
spirit. It was thus described to lull the suspicions of the
priests, without stating a falsehood. The statement that
the Eosicrucians were a society devoted to the discovery
and use of the formula for the making of the "Philosoph-
er's Stone" was and is true. It is also true that most
people have handled and do often handle this wondrous
stone. It is common, but of no avail to an but the indi-
vidual who makes it for himself. The formula L given in
the esoteric training and a Rosicrucian is no different in
that respect from the occultist of any other school. All
are engaged in the making of this coveted stone, each,
however, using his own methods, as there are no two indi-
viduals alike and consequently really effective work is
always individual in its scope.
All occult schools are divisible into seven, as are the
"Rays" of Life, the virgin spirits. Each School or Order
belongs to one of these seven Rays, as does each unit of
our humanity. Therefore any individual seeking to unite
with one of these occult groups, the "Brothers" in which
do not belong to his Ray, cannot do so with benefit to
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 439
himself. The members of these groups are brothers in a
more intimate sense than are the rest of humanity.
Perhaps if these seven Rays are compared to the seven
colors of the spectrum, their relation to one another can
be better understood. For instance, if a red ray were to
ally itself with a green ray, inharmony would result. The
same principle applies to spirits. Each must proceed
with the group to which it belongs during manifestation,
yet they are all one. As all the colors are contained in
the white light, but the refractive quality of our atmos-
phere seems to divide it into seven colors, so the illusory
conditions of concrete existence cause the virgin spirits
to seem grouped and this apparent grouping will abide
while we are in this state.
The Rosicrucian Order was started particularly for those
whose high degree of intellectual development caused them
to repudiate the heart. Intellect imperiously demands a
logical explanation of everything — the world mystery, the
questions of life and death. The reasons for and the
modus aperandi of existence were not explained by the
priestly injuction "not to seek to know the mysteries of
God."
To any man or woman who is blest, or otherwise, with
such an inquiring mind it is of paramount importance
that they shall receive all the information they crave, so
that when the head is stilled, the heart may speak. Intel-
lectual knowledge is but a means to an end, not the end
itself. Therefore, the Rosicrucian purposes first of all to
satisfy the aspirant for knowledge that everything in the
universe is reasonable, thus winning over the rebellious
intellect. When it has ceased to criticise and is ready to
accept provisionally, as probably true, statements which
cannot be immediately verified, then, and not until then,
440 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
will esoteric training be effective in developing the higher
faculties whereby man passes from faith to first-hand
knowledge. Yet, even then it will be found that, as the
pupil progresses in first-hand knowledge and becomes able
to investigate for himself, there are always truths ahead
of him that he knows to be truths, but which he is not yet
advanced sufficiently to investigate.
The pupil will do well to remember that nothing that is
not logical can exist in the universe and that logic is the
surest guide in all the Worlds, but he must not forget that
his faculties are limited and that more than his own pow-
ers of logical reasoning may be needed to solve a given
problem, although it may, nevertheless, be susceptible of
full explanation, but by lines of reasoning which are be-
yond the capacity of the pupil at that stage of his de-
velopment. Another point that must be borne in mind
is that unwavering confidence in the teacher is absolutely
necessary.
The foregoing is recommended to the particular con-
sideration of all who intend taking the first steps toward
the higher knowledge. If the directions given are fol-
lowed at all, they must be given full credence as an effi-
cacious means to accomplish their purpose. To follow
them in a half-hearted manner would be of no avail what-
ever. Unbelief will kill the fairest flower ever produced
by the spirit.
Work on the different bodies of man is carried on syn-
chronously. One body cannot be influenced without af-
fecting the others, but the principal work may be done on
any one of them.
If strict attention is paid to hygiene and diet, the dense
body is the one principally affected, but at the same time
there is also an effect on the vital body and the desire
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 441
body for, as purer and better materials are built into the
dense body, the particles are enveloped in purer planetary
ether and desire-stuff also, therefore the planetary parts
of the vital and desire bodies become purer. If attention
is paid to food and hygiene only, the personal vital and
desire bodies may remain almost as impure as before, but
it has become just a little easier to get into touch with the
good than if gross food were used.
On the other hand if, despite annoyances, an equable
temper is cultivated, also literary and artistic tastes, the
vital body will produce an effect of daintiness and fas-
tidiousness in physical matters and will also engender en-
nobling feelings and emotions in the desire body.
Seeking to cultivate the emotions also reacts upon the
other vehicles and helps to improve them.
THE SCIENCE OF NUTRITION.
If we begin with the dense vehicle and consider the
physical means available to improve it and make it the
best possible instrument for the spirit and afterward con-
sider the spiritual means to the same end, we shall be in-
cluding all the other vehicles as well; therefore we shall
follow that method.
The first visible state of a human embryo is a small,
globulous, pulpy or jelly-like substance, similar to albu-
men, or the white of an egg. In this pulpy globule various
particles of more solid matter appear. These gradually
increase in bulk and density until they come in contact
with one another. The different points of contact are
slowly modified into joints or hinges and thus a distinct
framework of solid matter, a skeleton, is gradually formed.
During the formation of this framework the surround-
ing pulpy matter accumulates and changes in form until
442 ROSICBUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
at length that degree of organization develops which is
known as a foatus. This becomes larger, firmer, and more
fully organized up to the time of birth, when the state of
infancy begins.
The same process of consolidation which commenced
with the first visible stage of existence, still continues.
The being passes through the different stages of infancy,
childhood, youth, manhood or womanhood, old age, and
at last comes to the change that is called death.
Each of these stages is characterized by an increasing
degree of hardness and solidity.
There is a gradual increase in density and firmness of
the bones, tendons, cartilages, ligaments, tissues, mem-
branes, the coverings and even the very substance of the
stomach, liver, lungs, and other organs. The joints be-
come rigid and dry. They begin to crack and grate when
they are moved, because the synovial fluid, which oils and
softens them, is diminished in quantity and rendered too
thick and glutinous to serve that purpose.
The heart, the brain, and the entire muscular system,
spinal cord, nerves, eyes, etc., partake of the same con-
solidating process, growing more and more rigid. Millions
upon millions of the minute capillary vessels which ramify
and spread like the branches of a tree throughout the en-
tire body, gradually choke up and change into solid fibre,
no longer pervious to the blood.
The larger blood vessels, both arteries and veins, indu-
rate, lose their elasticity, grow smaller, and become in-
capable of carrying the required amount of blood. The
fluids of the body thicken and become putrid, loaded with
earthy matter. The skin withers and grows wrinkled and
dry. The hair falls off for lack of oil. The teeth decay
and drop out for lack of gelatine. The motor nerves begin
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 443
to dry up and the movements of the body become awkward
and slow. The senses fail; the circulation of the blood is
retarded; it stagnates and congeals in the vessels. More
and more the body loses its former powers. Once elastic,
healthy, alert, pliable, active and sensitive, it becomes
rigid, slow, and insensible. Finally, it dies of old age.
The question now arises, What is the cause of this grad-
ual ossification of the body, bringing rigidity, decrepitude,
and death?
From the purely physical standpoint, chemists seem to
be unanimous in the opinion that it is principally an in-
crease of phosphate of lime (bone matter), carbonate of
lime (common chalk), and sulphate of lime (plaster of
paris), with occasionally a little magnesia and an insigni-
ficant amount of other earthy matters.
The only difference between the body of old age and
that of childhood is the greater density, toughness and
rigidity, caused by the greater proportion of calcareous,
earthy matter entering into the composition of the for-
mer. The bones of a child are composed of three parts of
gelatine to one part of earthy matter. In old age this
proportion is reversed. What is the source of this death-
dealing accumulation of solid matter?
It seems to be axiomatic that the entire body is nour-
ished by the blood and that everything contained in the
body, of whatever nature, has first been in the blood.
Analysis shows that the blood holds earthy substances of
the same kind as the solidifying agents — and mark ! — the
arterial blood contains more earthy matter than the venous
blood.
This is highly important. It shows that in every cycle
the blood deposits earthy substances. It is therefore the
common carrier that chokes up the system. But its sup-
444 KOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
ply of earthy matter must be replenished, otherwise it
could not continue to do this. Where does it renew its
deadly load? There can be but one answer to that ques-
tion— from the food and drink; there is absolutely no
other source.
The food and drink which nourish the body must be,
at the same time, the primary source of the calcareous,
earthy matter which is deposited by the blood all over the
system, causing decrepitude and finally death. To sus-
tain physical life it is necessary that we eat and drink,
but as there are many kinds of food and drink, it be-
hooves us, in the light of the above facts, to ascertain, if
possible, what kinds contain the smallest proportion of
destructive matter. If we can find such food we can
lengthen our lives and, from an occult standpoint, it is
desirable to live as long as possible in each dense body,
particularly after a start has been made toward the path.
So many years are required to educate, through childhood
and hot youth, each body inhabited, until the spirit can
at last obtain some control over it, that the longer we can
retain a body that has become amenable to the spirit's
promptings, the better. Therefore it is highly important
that the pupil partake of such food and drink only as will
deposit the least amount of hardening matter and at the
same time keep the excretory organs active.
The skin and the urinary system are the saviors of man
from an early grave. Were it not that by their means,
most of the earthy matter taken with our food is elimi-
nated, no one would live ten years.
It has been estimated that ordinary, undistilled spring
water contains carbonate and other compounds of lime to
such an extent that the average quantity used each day by
one person in the form of tea, coffee, soup, etc., would in
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 445
forty years be sufficient to form a block of solid chalk or,
marble the size of a large man. It is also a significant
fact that although phosphate of lime -is always found in
the urine of adults, it is not found in the urine of chil-
dren, because in them the rapid formation of bone re-
quires that this salt be retained. During the period of
gestation there is very little earthy matter in the urine of
the mother, as it is used in the building of the foetus. In
ordinary circumstances, however, earthy matter is very
much in evidence in the urine of adults and to this we
owe the fact that physical life reaches even its present
length.
Undistilled water, when taken internally, is man's worst
enemy, but used externally, it becomes his best friend. It
keeps the pores of the skin open, induces circulation of
the blood and prevents the stagnation which affords the
best opportunity for the depositing of the earthy, death-
dealing phosphate of lime.
Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood,
said that health denotes a free circulation and disease is
the result of an obstructed circulation of the blood.
The bathtub is a great aid in keeping up the health of
the body and should be freely used by the aspirant to the
higher life. Perspiration, sensible and insensible, carries
more earthy matter out of the body than any other agency.
As long as fuel is supplied and the fire kept free from
ashes, it will burn. The kidneys are important in carry-
ing away the ashes from the body, but despite the great
amount of earthy matter carried away by the urine, enough
remains in many cases to form gravel and stone in the
bladder, causing untold agony and often death.
Let no one be deceived into thinking" that water con-
tains less stone because it has been boiled. The stone that
446 EOSICBUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
forms on the bottom of the teakettle has been left there
by the evaporated water which escaped from the kettle as
steam. If the steam were condensed, we should have dis-
tilled water, which is an important adjunct in keeping
the body young.
There is absolutely no earthy matter in distilled water,
nor in rain water, snow nor hail (except what may be
gathered by contact with house-tops, etc.), but coffee, tea,
or soup made with ordinary water, no matter how long
boiled, is not purified of the earthy particles; on the con-
trary, the longer they are boiled, the more heavily charged
Math it they become. Those suffering from urinary dis-
eases should never drink any but distilled water.
It may be said generally of the solid foods we take into
our system, that fresh vegetables and ripe fruits contain
the greatest proportion of nutritious matter and the least
of earthy substances.
As we are writing for the aspirant to the higher life
and not for the general public, it may also be said that
animal food should be entirely avoided, if possible. No
one who kills can go very far along the path of holiness.
We do even worse than if we actually killed, for in order
to shield ourselves from the personal commission of the
act of killing, and still reap its results, we force a fellow
being, through economic necessity, to devote his entire
time to murder, thereby brutalizing him to such an extent
that the law will not allow him to act as a juror in cases
of capital crime, because his business has so familiarized
him with the taking of life.
The enlightened know the animals to be their younger
brothers and that they will be human in the Jupiter
Period. We shall then help them as the Angels, who were
human in the Moon Period, are now helping us, and for an
ACQUIRING FIEST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 447
aspirant to high ideals to kill — either in person or by
proxy — is out of the question.
Several very important food products from animals,
such as milk, cheese and butter, may be used. These are
the results of the processes of life and require no tragedies
to convert them into food. Milk, which is an important
food for the occult student, contains no earthy matter of
any consequence and has an influence upon the body pos-
sessed by no other food.
During the Moon Period man was fed upon the milk
of Nature. Universal food was absorbed by him and the
use of rviilk has a tendency to put him in touch with the
Cosmic forces and enable him to heal others.
It is popularly supposed that sugar or any saccharine
substance is injurious to the general health, and particu-
larly to the teeth, causing their decay and the resulting
toothache. Only under certain circumstances is this true.
It is harmful in certain diseases, such as biliousness and
dyspepsia, or if held long in the mouth as candy, but if
sparingly used during good health and the amount grad-
ually increased as the stomach becomes accustomed to its
use, it will be found very nourishing. The health of
negroes becomes greatly improved during the sugar-cane
harvest time, notwithstanding their increased labor. This
is attributed solely to their fondness for the sweet cane-
juice. The same may be said of horses, cows, and other
animals in those localities, which are all fond of the refuse
syrup fed to them. They grow fat in harvest time, their
coats becoming sleek and shining. Horses fed on boiled
carrots for a few weeks will get a coat like silk, owing to
the saccharine juices of that vegetable. Sugar is a nutri-
tious and beneficial article of diet and contains no ash
whatever.
448 ROSICBUCIAN COSMO-GONCEPTION
Fruits are an ideal diet. They are in fact evolved by
the trees to induce animal and man to eat them, so that
the seed may he disseminated, as flowers entice bees for a
similar purpose.
Fresh fruit contains water of the purest and best kind,
capable of permeating the system in a marvelous manner.
Grape juice is a particularly wonderful solvent. It thins
and stimulates the blood, opening the way into capillaries
already dried and choked up — if the process has not gone
too far. By a course of unfermented grape-juice treat-
ment, people with sunken eyes, wrinkled skins and poor
complexions become plump, ruddy and lively. The in-
creased permeability enables the spirit to manifest more
freely and with renewed energy. The following table,
which with the exception of the last column, is taken
from the publications of the United States Department of
Agriculture, will give the aspirant some idea of the amount
it is necessary to eat for different degrees of activity, also
the constituents of the various foods named.
Considering the body from a purely physical standpoint,
it is what we might call a chemical furnace, the food being
the fuel. The more the body is exercised, the more fuel
it requires. It would be foolish for a man to change an
ordinary diet which for years had adequately nourished
him, and take up a new method without due thought as to
which would be the best for serving his purpose. To sim-
ply eliminate meats from the ordinary diet of meat-qaters
would unquestionably undermine the health of most per-
sons. The only safe way is to experiment and study the
matter out first, using due discrimination. No fixed rules
can be given, the matter of diet being as individual as any
other characteristic. All that can be done is to give the
table of food values and describe the general influence of
ACQUIRING FIEST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 449
each chemical element, allowing the aspirant to work out
his own method.
Neither must we allow the appearance of a person to
influence our judgment as to the condition of his health.
Certain general ideas of how a healthy person should look
are commonly accepted, but there is no valid reason for so
judging. Ruddy cheeks might be an indication of health
in one individual and of disease in another. There is no
particular rule by which good health can be known except
the feeling of comfort and well-being which is enjoyed by
the individual himself, irrespective of appearances.
The table of foods here given deals with five chemical
compounds.
Water is the great solvent.
Nitrogen or proteid is the essential builder of flesh, but
contains some earthy matter.
Carbo-hydrates or sugars are the principal power-pro-
ducers.
Fats are the producers of heat and the storers of reserve
force.
Ash is mineral, earthy, and chokes the system. We need
have no fear of not obtaining it in sufficient quantities to
.build the bones; on the contrary, we cannot be too careful
to get as little as possible.
The calorie is the simple unit of heat, and the table
shows the number contained in each article of food when
bought at the market. In a pound of Brazil nuts, for in-
stance, 49.6% of the whole is waste (shells), but the re-
maining 50.4% contains 1485 calories. That means that
about one-half of what is bought is waste, but the re-
mainder contains the number of calories named. That
we may get the greatest amount of strength from our food
.we must pay attention to the number of calories it con-
450
ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
tains, for from them we obtain the energy required to per-
form our daily work. The number of calories necessary
to sustain the body under varying conditions is shown in
the following table :
Man at very hard muscular work 5500 Calories
Man at moderately hard muscular work 4150
Man at moderately active muscular work 3400
Man at moderately light work 3050
Man at sedentary work 2700
Man without muscular exercise 2450
Woman at light to modern muscular work 2450
TABLE OF FOOD VALUES.
8
*&
&
D
0)
rt^
£
Proteids 1
%
*»
«&
fa
Carbo-hy-
drates
%
-d
.S^
Fuel value
in Calories
per Ib.
g£§.
s««a
j5--£w
£§'•3
FKLITS.
Apples, dried .
?81
1 6
?fl
66.1
2.0
1185
Apples, fresh
?50
633
03
03
10.8
0.3
190
2:30
Apricots, dried
29.4
4.7
1.0
62.5
2.4
1125
Bananas
35.0
48.0
08
0.4
14.3
0.6
260
1:45
Cucumbers
15.0
81 1
07
09
2.6
0.4
65
Dates, dried
100
138
1 9
25
70.6
1,2
1275
Figs, dried
18.8
4 3
03
74.2
2.4
1280
3:00
Grapes
25.6
58.0
1 0
1 ?,
14.4
0.4
295
Lemons
30.0
ft? 5
07
05
5.9
0.4
125
Musfemelons
Oranges
50.0
?71
44.8
634
0.3
06
'o'i
4.6
8.5
0.3
04
80
150
3:00
2:45
Pears
10.0
76.0
0.5
0.4
12.7
0.4
230
2:00
Persimmons (edible part)
Raisins, dried
ib.6
66.1
13.1
0.8
?3
0.7
30
31.5
68.5
0.9
3.1
550
1265
4:00
Raspberries
Squash
50.6
85.8
44.2
1.0
0.7
°0fl
12.6
4.5
0.6
0.4
220
100
3:45
Strawberries
5.0
85.9
09
06
7.0
0.6
150
2:45
Tomatoes, canned
94.0
1 ?
0?
4.0
0.6
95
2:00
Tomatoes, fresh
94.3
09
04
3.9
05
100
2:00
Watermelons
59.4
37.5
0?
01
2.7
01
50
NUTS.
Almonds
45.0
2.7
11.5
30?
9.5
1.1
1515
4:00
Brazil nuts
49.6
?6
86
337
3.5
20
1485
4:00
Butternuts
86.4
06
38
83
0.5
0.4
385
4:00
Chestnuts, dried
24 0
4.5
8.1
5.3
56.4
1.7
1385
Chestnuts, fresh
16.0
37.0
5.2
4.5
35.4
1.1
915
Filberts
52.1
1 8
7.5
31 3
6.2
1.1
1430
4:00
Hickory nuts
62.2
1.4
58
?55
4.3
0,8
1145
4:00
Pecans
53.2
1.4
5?
33.3
6.2
0.7
1465
4:00
Walnuts Black
74.1
0.6
7.2
146
3.0
0.5
730
4:00
Walnuts, English
GRAINS.
Bread :
58.1
1.0
43.6
6.9
5.4
26.6
1 8
6.8
47.1
0.6
«1
1250
1040
4:00
4:00
Graham
35.7
89
1 8
52.1
1.5
1195
4:00
K vi'
35.7
9.0
Off
53.2
1.5
1170
4:00
White, fresh . .
35.3
9.2
1.3
53.1
1.1
1200
4:30
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE
451
TABLE OF FOOD VALUES (CONTINUED)
S
I*
h
*,
£
1 Proteids II
%
*»
£*
Carbo-hy-
drates
%
ja
$*
Fuel value,
in Calories
per Ib.
i °J .
«"2 *s
s.§ Ss
in §3
White, stale
35.3
9.2
1.3
53.1
1.1
1200
3 :30
Whole Wheat
38.4
9.7
0.9
49.7
1.3
1139
4 :00
Corn, green, sweet,
canned
76.1
2.8
1.2
19.0
0.9
430
3 :45
Corn, green, sweet (edi-
ble part)
75 4
3.1
1 i
19 7
0 7
440
3 :45
Cornmeal
12.5
9.2
1.9
75 4
1 0
1635
Flour :
Buckwheat
13.6
6.4
1.2
77.9
0.9
1605
Graham
11.3
13.3
1.9
71.4
1.8
1645
Rye
11'. !»
6.8
I) '.»
78.7
0.7
1620
Wheat (high grade).
Wheat (low grade)..
Whole Wheat
IL'.O
12.0
11.4
11.4
14.0
l.'i.S
1.0
1.9
1.9
75.1
71.2
71.9
0.5
0.9
1.0
1635
1640
1650
Macaroni, Vermicelli, etc.
Oat Breakfast Food. . . .
10.3
7.7
13.4
16.7
0.9
73
74.1
66.2
1.3
2.1
1645
1800
3:00
Oyster Crackers
4.8
11.3
10.5
70.5
2.9
1910
Rice
12.3
8.0
0.3
79.0
0.4
1620
1 :00
Soda Crackers
5.9
9.8
9.1
73.1
2.1
1875
Starch
90.0
1675
Wheat Breakfast Food.
LEGUMES
Beans, baked, canned. . .
Beans, dried
9.6
68.9
12.6
12.1
6.9
22.5
1.8
2.5
1.8
75.2
19.6
59.6
1.3
2.1
3.5
1680
555
1520
3:45
3:45
Beans, Lima, shelled. . .
68.5
7.1
0.7
22.0
1 7
540
3:30
Beans, String
7.0
83.0
2.1
0.3
6.9
0.7
170
Peas, canned
35.3
3.6
0.2
9.8
1.1
235
Peas, dried
9.5
24.6
1.0
62.0
2.9
1565
Peas, shelled
74.6
7.0
0.5
16.9
1.0
440
2 :35
Peanuts
24.5
6.9
19.5
29.1
18.5
1.5
1775
VEGETABLES.
Beets
?00
700
1 3
01
7.7
0.9
160
3 :45
Cabbage
15.0
77.7
1.3
0.1
4.8
0.9
115
4 :30
Celery
20.0
75.6
0.9
0.1
2.6
0.8
65
3 :15
Lettuce
15.0
80.5
1.0
0.2
2.5
0.8
65
Onions
10.0
62.6
1.4
0.3
8.9
0.5
190
2 :0.->
Parsnips
20.0
66.4
1 3
0.4
10.8
1.1
230
3 :30
Potatoes
•>oo
6° R
1 8
01
14.7
0.8
295
3 :30
Rhubarb (pie plant) . . .
Spinach
40.0
56.6
92.3
0.4
2.1
0.4
0.3
2.2
3.2
0.4
2.1
60
95
Sweet potatoes
20.6
55.2
1.4
0.6
21.9
0.9
440
Turnips
30.0
6? 7
0.9
0.1
5.7
0.6
120
4 :00
SUGARS.
Candy plain . . .
96.0
1680
81.0
1420
71.4
1250
.
70.0
1225
Sugar, granulated
MISCELLANEOUS.
Chocolate
35
1?9
487
100.0
30.3
2.2
1750
5625
Cocoanuts
48.8
7.2
2.9
25.9
14.3
0 9
1295
Cocoanuts, prepared . . .
3.5
6.3
57.4
31.5
1.3
2805
Cocoa, powdered
4.6
21.6
•>89
37.7
7.2
2160
Mushrooms
88.1
3.5
0.4
6.8
1.2
185
1 :20
Tapioca
11.4
0.4
0.1
88.0
0.1
1650
2 :00
452 EOSICBUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
According to this table, it is evident that chocolate is
the most nutritious food we have; also that cocoa, in its
powdered state, is the most dangerous of all foods, contain-
ing three times as much ash as most of the others, and ten
times as much as many. It is a powerful food and also a
powerful poison, for it chokes the system more quickly
than any other substance.
Of course, it will require some study at first to secure
the best nourishment, but it pays in health and longevity
and secures the free use of the body, making study and
application to higher things possible. After a while the
aspirant will become so familiar with the subject that he
will need to give it no particular attention.
While the foregoing table shows the proportion of chem-
ical substances contained in each article of food named, it
must be remembered that not all of this is available for
use in the system, because there are certain portions which
the body refuses to assimilate.
Of vegetables we digest only about 83% of the proteids,
90% of the fat, and 95% of the carbo-hydrates.
Of fruits we assimilate about 85% of the proteids, 90%
of the fat, and 90% of the carbo-hydrates.
The brain is the co-ordinating mechanism whereby the
movements of the body are controlled and our ideas are
expressed. It is built of the same substances as are all
other parts of the body, with the addition of phosphorus,
which is peculiar to the brain alone.
The logical conclusion is that phosphorus is the particu-
lar element by means of which the Ego is able to express
thought and influence the dense physical body. It is also
a fact that the proportion and variation of this substance
is found to correspond to the state and stage of intelligence
of the individual. Idiots have very little phosphorus;
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 453
shrewd thinkers have much; and in the animal world, the
degree of consciousness and intelligence is in proportion
to the amount of phosphorus contained in the brain.)
It is therefore of great importance that the aspirant
who is to use his body for mental and spiritual work, ,
should supply his brain with the substance necessary for
that purpose. Most vegetables and fruits contain a certain
amount of phosphorus, but it is a peculiar fact that the
greater proportion is contained in the leaves, which are
usually thrown away. It is found in considerable quanti-
ties in grapes, onions, sage, beans, cloves, pineapples, in
the leaves and stalks of many vegetables, and also in sugar-
cane juice, but not in refined sugar.
The following table shows the proportions of phosphoric
acid in a few articles :
100,000 PARTS OP:
Barley, dry, contain, of phosphoric acid, 210 parts
Beans 292
Beets 167
Beets, Leaves of 690
Buckwheat 170
Carrots, dry 395
Carrots, Leaves of 963
Linseed 880
Linseed, Stalks of 118
Parsnips Ill
Parsnips, Leaves of 1784
Peas ..., 190
The gist of the preceding argument may be thus suc-
cinctly stated:
(1) The body, throughout the entire period of life, is
subject to a process of consolidation.
(2) This process consists of the depositing by the blood
of earthy substances, principally phosphate and carbonate
of lime, by which the various parts become ossified, con-
verted into bone, or kindred matter.
454 EOSICBUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
(3) This conversion into bone destroys the flexibility
of the vessels, muscles and other parts of the body subject
to motion. It thickens the blood and entirely chokes up
the minute capillaries, so that the circulation of the fluids
and the action of the system generally diminishes, the
termination of this process being death.
(4) This process of consolidation may be retarded and
life prolonged by carefully avoiding the foods that contain
much ash; by using distilled water for internal purposes;
and by promoting excretion through the skin by means of
frequent baths.
The foregoing explains why some religions prescribe
frequent ablutions as a religious exercise, because they pro-
mote the health and purify the dense body. Fastings were
also prescribed for the same purpose. They give the stom-
ach a much-needed rest, allow the body to eliminate the
effete matter, and thus, if not to frequent or too prolonged,
promote the health, but usually as much and more can be
accomplished by giving the body proper foods which are
the best medicines.
Always the first care of the physician is to ascertain if
there is proper excretion, that being Nature's chief means
for ridding the body of the poisons contained in all foods.
In conclusion, let the aspirant choose such food as is
most easily digested, for the more easily the energy in
food is extracted, the longer time will the system have for
recuperation before it becomes necessary to replenish the
supply. Milk should never be drunk as one may drink a
glass of water. Taken in that way, it forms in the stomach
a large cheese-ball, quite impervious to the action of the
gastric juices. It should be sipped, as we sip tea or coffee.
It will then form many small globules in the stomach,
which are easily assimilated. Properly used, it is one of
ACQUIBING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 455
the best possible articles of diet. Citrus fruits are power-
ful antiseptics, and cereals, particularly rice, are antitoxins
of great efficiency.
Having now explained, from the purely material point
of view, what is necessary for the dense body, we will con-
sider the subject from the occult side, taking into con-
sideration the effect on the two invisible bodies which in-
terpenetrate the dense body.
The particular stronghold of the desire body is in the
muscles and the cerebro-spinal nervous system, as already
shown. The energy displayed by a person when laboring
under great excitement or anger is an example of this. At
such times the whole muscular system is tense and no hard
labor is so exhausting as a "fit of temper." It sometimes
leaves the body prostrated for weeks. There can be seen
the necessity for improving the desire body by controlling
the temper, thus sparing the dense body the suffering re-
sulting from the ungoverned action of the desire body.
Looking at the matter from an occult standpoint, all
consciousness in the Physical World is the result of the
constant war between the desire and the vital bodies.
The tendency of the vital body is to soften and build.
Its chief expression is the blood and the glands, also the
sympathetic nervous system, having obtained ingress into
the stronghold of the desire body (the muscular and the
voluntary nervous systems) when it began to develop the
heart into a voluntary muscle.
The tendency of the desire body is to harden, and it in
turn has invaded the realm of the vital body, gaining pos-
session of the spleen and making the white blood cor-
puscles, which are not "the policemen of the system" as
science now thinks, but destroyers. It uses the blood to
carry these tiny destroyers all over the body. They pass
456 EOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
through the walls of arteries and veins whenever annoy-
ance is felt, and especially in times of great anger. Then
the rush of forces in the desire body makes the arteries
and veins swell and opens the way for the passage of the
white corpuscles into the tissues of the body, where they
form bases for the earthy matter which kills the body.
Given the same amount and kind of food, the person of
serene and jovial disposition will live longer, enjoy better
health, and be more active than the person who worries, or
loses his temper. The latter will make and distribute
through his body more destructive white corpuscles than
the former. Were a scientist to analyze the bodies of these
two men, he would find that there was considerably less
earthy matter in the body of the kindly-disposed man than
in that of the scold.
This destruction is constantly going on and it is not
possible to keep all the destroyers out, nor is such the
intention. If the vital body had uninterrupted sway, it
would build and build, using all the energy for that pur-
pose. There would be no consciousness and thought. It
is because the desire body checks and hardens the inner
parts that consciousness develops.
There was a time in the far, far past when we set out
the concretions, as do the mollusks, leaving the body soft,
flexible and boneless, but at that time we had only the
dull, glimmering consciousness the mollusks now have.
Before we could advance, it became necessary to retain
the concretions and it will be found that the stage of
consciousnes* of any species is in proportion to the de-
velopment of the bony framework within. The Ego must
have the solid bones with the semi-fluid red marrow, in
order to be able to build the red blood-corpuscles for its
expression.
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 457
That is the highest development of the dense body. It
signifies nothing in this connection that the highest class
of animals have an internal bone formation similar to
man's, but still have no indwelling spirit. They belong to
a different stream of evolution.
THE LAW OF ASSIMILATION.
The law of assimilation allows no particle to be built
into our bodies that we, as spirits, have not overcome
and made subject to ourselves. The forces active along
these lines are, as we remember, principally our "dead,"
who have entered "heaven" and are learning there to
build bodies to use here, but they work according to
certain laws that they cannot circumvent. There is life
in every particle of food that we take into our bodies, and
before we can build that life into our bodies by the proc-
ess of assimilation, we must overcome and make it
subject to ourselves. Otherwise there could be no harmony
in the body. Each part would act independently, as they
do when the co-ordinating life has been withdrawn. That
would be what we call decay, the process of disintegration,
which is the direct opposite of assimilation. The more
individualized is the particle to be assimilated, the more
energy will it require to digest it and the shorter time
will it remain before seeking to reassert itself.
Human beings are not organized in such a manner that
they can live upon solid minerals. When a purely mineral
substance, such as salt, is eaten, it passes through the
body leaving behind it but very little waste. What it
does leave, however, is of a very injurious character. If
it were possible for man to use minerals as food, they
would be ideal for that purpose because of their stability
and the little energy required to overcome and subject
458 ROSICBUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
them to the life of the body. We should be compelled
to eat very much less in quantity and also less often than
we now do. Our laboratories will some time supply us
with chemical food of a quality far surpassing anything
that we now have, which shall be always fresh. Food
obtained from the higher plants and still more from the
yet higher animal kingdom, is positively nauseating be-
cause of the rapidity of decay. This process is caused
by the efforts made by the individual particles to escape
from the composite whole.
The plant kingdom is next above the mineral. It has
an organization capable of assimilating the mineral com-
pounds of the Earth. Man and animal can assimilate
the plants and thus obtain the chemical compounds neces-
sary to sustain their bodies and as the consciousness of
the plant kingdom is that of dreamless sleep, it offers
no resistance. It requires but little energy to assimilate
the particles thus derived and having small individuality
of their own, the life ensouling the particles does not
seek to escape from our body as soon as food derived from
more highly developed forms, therefore the strength de-
rived from a diet of fruit and vegetables is more enduring
than that derived from a meat diet, and the food supply
does not require as frequent replenishing, besides giving
more strength in proportion, because less energy is re-
quired for assimilation.
Food composed of the bodies of animals consists of
particles which have been worked upon and inter-pene-
trated by an individual desire body, and have thus been
individualized to a much greater extent than the plant
particles. There is an individual cell-soul, which is per-
meated by the passions and desires of the animal. It
requires considerable energy to overcome it in the first
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 459
place, so that it may be assimilated, yet it never becomes
so fully incorporated into the polity of the body as do
the plant constituents, which have no such strong indi-
vidual tendencies. The result is that it is necessary for
the flesh-eater to consume a greater weight of food than
is required by the fruitarian; also he must eat oftener.
Moreover, this inward strife of the particles of flesh causes
greater wear and tear of the body in general, rendering
the meat-eater less active and capable of endurance than
the vegetarian, as all contests between advocates of the
two methods have demonstrated.
Therefore, when flesh-food derived from the herbivora
is such an unstable diet, it is evident that if we should
try to use the flesh of carnivorous animals, in which the
cells are still further individualized, we would be forced
to consume enormous quantities of food. Eating would
occupy the greater part of our time, but notwithstanding
that fact, we would always be lean and hungry. That
such is its effect, can be seen in the wolf and the vulture;
their leanness and hunger are proverbial. Cannibals eat
human flesh, but only at long intervals and as a luxury.
As man does not confine himself exclusively to a meat
diet, his flesh is not that of an entirely carnivorous beast,
nevertheless the hunger of the cannibal has also become
the burden of a proverb.
If the flesh of the herbivora were the essence of what
is good in plants, then, logically, the flesh of the carniv-
ora should be the quintessence. The meat of wolves
and vultures would thus be the creme de la creme, and
much to be desired. This we know is not the case, but
quite the reverse. The nearer we get to the plant king-
dom, the more strength we derive from our food. If the
reverse were the case, the flesh of carnivorous animals
460 KOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
would be sought by other beasts of prey, but examples
of "dog eat dog" are very few throughout nature.
LIVE AND LET LIVE.
The first law of occult science is "Thou shalt not kill,"
and that should have the greatest weight with the aspirant
to the higher life. We cannot create so much as one
particle of dust, therefore what right have we to destroy
the very least form. All Form is an expression of the
One Life — the Life of God. We have no right to destroy
the Form through which the Life is seeking experience,
and force it to build a new vehicle.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, with the true compassion of all
far-advanced souls, champions this occult maxim, in the
following beautiful words:
I am the voice of the voiceless;
Through me the dumb shall speak
Till a deaf world's ear
Shall be made to hear
The wrongs of the wordless weak.
The same force formed the sparrow
That fashioned man, the king.
The God of the Whole
Gave a spark of soul
To furred and feathered thing.
And I am my brother's keeper;
And I will fight his fight, I
And speak the word
For beast and bird
Till the world shall set things right.
Sometimes the objection is made that life is also taken
when vegetables and fruits are eaten, but that statement
is based upon a complete misunderstanding of the facts.
When the fruit is ripe, it has accomplished its purpose,
which is to act as a womb for the ripening of the seed.
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 461
If not eaten, it decays and goes to waste. Moreover, it
is designed to serve as food for the animal and human
kingdoms, thus affording the seed oportunities for growth
by scattering it in fertile soil. Besides, just as the ovum
and the semen of human beings are ineffectual without the
seed-atom of the reincarnating Ego and the matrix of
its vital body, so any egg or seed, of itself, is devoid of
life. If it is given the proper conditions of incubator or
soil, the life of the group-spirit is then poured into it,
thus grasping the opportunity so afforded of producing
a dense body. If the egg or seed is cooked, crushed, or not
given the conditions necessary for the life, the opportunity
is lost, but that is all.
At the present stage of the evolutionary journey, every-
one knows inherently that it is wrong to kill and man
will love and protect the animals in all cases where his
greed and selfish interest does not blind him to their
rights. The law protects even a cat or a dog against
wanton cruelty. Except in "sport," that most wanton of
all our cruelties against the animal creation, it is always
for the sake of money that animals are murdered and
bred to be murdered. By the devotees of "sport" the
helpless creatures are shot down to no purpose save to
bolster up a false idea of prowess upon the part of the
huntsman. It is hard to understand how people who ap-
pear otherwise sane and kindly can, for the time, trample
upon all their gentler instincts and revert to bloodthirsty
savagery, killing for the sheer lust of blood and joy in
destruction. It is certainly a reversion to the lowest
savage animal instincts, and can never be dignified into
the remotest semblance of anything "manly," even though
practiced and defended by the otherwise humane and
worthy temporary head of a mighty nation.
•462 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
How much more beautiful it would be for man to play
the role of friend and protector of the weak. Who does
not love to visit Central Park in New York City and pet,
stroke and feed the hundreds of squirrels which are run-
ning about secure in the knowledge that they will not be
molested? And who is not glad, for the sake of the
squirrels, to see the sign, "Dogs found chasing the squir-
rels will be shot." This is hard on the dogs, but it is
i^ be commended as an evidence of the growth of the senti-
ment favoring the protection of the weak against the
unreasoning or merciless strong. Nothing is said on the
sign about the squirrels being injured by men, because
that would be unthinkable. So strong is the influence of
the trust the little animals repose in the kindness of man,
that no one would violate it.
THE LORD'S PRAYER.
Returning to our consideration of the spiritual aids
to human progress, the Lord's Prayer, which may be
considered as an abstract, algebraical formula for the up-
liftment and purification of all the vehicles of man, the
idea of taking proper care of the dense body is expressed
in the words : "Give us this day our daily bread."
The prayer dealing with the needs of the vital body
is, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who
trespass against us."
The vital body is the seat of memory. In it are stored
the sub-conscious records of all the past events of our
life, good or ill, including all injuries inflicted or sus-
tained and benefits received, or bestowed. We remember
that the record of the life is taken from those pictures
immediately after leaving the dense body at death, and
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 463
that all the sufferings of post mortem existence are the
results of the events these pictures portray.
If, by continual prayer, we obtain forgiveness for the
injuries we have inflicted upon others and if we make
all the restitution possible, purify our vital bodies by
forgiving those who have wronged us, and eliminate all
ill-feeling, we save ourselves much post mortem misery,
besides preparing the way for Universal Brotherhood,
which is particularly dependent upon the victory of the
vital body over the desire body. In the form of memory,
the desire body impresses upon the vital body the idea of
revenge. An even temper amid the various annoyances of
daily life indicates such a victory, therefore the aspirant
should cultivate control of the temper, as it includes work
on both bodies. The Lord's Prayer includes this also,
for when we see that we are injuring others, we look
about and try to find the cause. Loss of temper is one
of the causes and it originates in the desire body.
Most people leave physical life with the same tempera-
ment they bring into it, but the aspirant must systematic-
ally conquer all attempts of the desire body to assume
mastery. That can be done by concentration upon high
ideals, which strengthens the vital body and is much more
efficacious than the common prayers of the Church. The
occult scientist uses concentration in preference to prayer,
because the former is accomplished by the aid of the mind,
which is cold and unfeeling, whereas prayer is usually
dictated by emotion. Where it is dictated by a pure un-
selfish devotion to high ideals prayer is much higher than
cold concentration. It can never be cold, but bears upon
the pinions of Love the outpourings of the mystic to the
Deity.
The prayer for the desire body is, "Lead us not into
464 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
temptation." Desire is the great tempter of mankind.
It is the great incentive to all action, and in so far as the
actions subserve the purposes of the spirit, it is good; but
where the desire is for something degrading, something
that debases the nature, it is indeed meet that we pray
not to be led into temptation.
Love, Wealth, Power, and Fame! — These are the four
great motives of human action. Desire for one or more
of these is the motive for all that man does or leaves un-
done. The great Leaders of humanity have wisely given
them as incentives to action, that man may gain experi-
ence and learn thereby. They are necessary, and the
aspirant. may safely continue to use them as motives for
action, but he must transmute them into something higher.
He must overcome with nobler aspirations the selfish love
which seeks the ownership of another Body, and all de-
sires for wealth, power and fame for narrow and personal
reasons.
The Love for which he must long is that only which
is of the soul and embraces all beings, high and low, in-
creasing in proportion to the needs of the recipient;
The Wealth, that which consists solely of abundance of
opportunities to serve his fellow men;
The Power, that alone which makes for the upliftment
of humanity; '
The Fame, none save that which increases his ability
to spread the good news, that all who suffer may thus
quickly find solace for the heart's grief.
The prayer for the mind is "Deliver us from evil." We
have seen that mind is the link between the higher and
the lower natures. Animals are permitted to follow de-
sire without any restriction whatever. In their case, there
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 405
is neither good nor evil, because they lack mind, the
faculty of discrimination. The method of self-protection
which we pursue in regard to animals which kill and steal
is different from that which we use in relation to human
beings who do the same things. Even a human being who
is bereft of mind is not held accountable. The fact is
recognized that he does not know he is doing wrong,
therefore he is simply restrained.
It was only when his mental eyes were opened that man
came to know good and evil. When the link of mind be-
comes allied to the Higher Self and does its bidding, we
have the high-minded person. On the contrary, the coali-
tion of the mind with the lower desire nature produces
the low-minded person; therefore the meaning of this
prayer is that we may be delivered from the experience
resulting from the alliance of the mind with the desire
body, with all thereby implied.
The aspirant to the higher life accomplishes the union
of the higher and the lower natures by means of Medita-
tion on lofty subjects. This union is farther cemented by
Contemplation, and both these states are transcended by
Adoration, which lifts the spirit to the very Throne.
The Lord's Prayer, given for the general use of the
Church, gives Adoration first place, in order to reach
the spiritual exaltation necessary to proffer a petition
representing the needs of the lower vehicles. Each aspect
of the threefold spirit, commencing with the lowest, raises
itself in adoration to its corresponding aspect of Deity.
When the three aspects of the spirit are all arrayed before
the Throne of Grace, each utters the prayer appropriate
to the needs of its material counterpart, all three joining
in the closing prayer for the mind.
466 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
The human spirit soars to its counterpart, the Holy
Spirit (Jehovah), saying "Hallowed be Thy Name."
The life spirit bows before its counterpart, The Son
(Christ), saying "Thy Kingdom Come."
The divine spirit kneels before its counterpart, The
Father, with the prayer, "Thy Will be done."
Then the highest, the divine spirit, petitions the
highest aspect of the Deity, the Father, for its counter-
part, the dense body : "Give us this day our daily bread."
The next highest, the life spirit, prays to its counter-
part, the Son, for its counterpart in the lower nature,
the vital body : "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
those who trespass against us."
The lowest aspect of the spirit, the human spirit, next
offers its petition to the lowest aspect of Deity for the
highest of the threefold bodies, the desire body: "Lead
us not into temptation."
Lastly, in unison, all three aspects of the threefold
spirit in man join in the most important of the prayers,
the petition for the mind, in the words : "Deliver us from
evil/'
The introduction, "Our Father Who art in Heaven,"
is merely as the address on an envelope. The addition,
"For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the
Glory, forever. Amen," was not given by Christ, but is
very appropriate as the parting adoration of the three-
fold spirit as it closes its direct address to the Deity.
Diagram 16 illustrates the foregoing explanation in a
simple and easily remembered manner, showing the con-
nection between the different prayers and the correspond-
ing vehicles, which are similarly colored. This diagram
is inserted opposite the title page.
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 467
THE Vow OF CELIBACY.
The sex-pervert, or sex-maniac, is a proof of the cor-
rectness of the contention of occultists that one part of
the sex-force builds the brain. He becomes an idiot,
unable to think because of drawing and sending out, not
only the negative or positive part of the sex-force (ac-
cording to whether male or female) which is normally
to be used through the sex-organ for propagation, but
in addition to that, some of the forre which should build
up the brain, enabling it to produce thought — hence the
mental deficiency.
On the other hand, if the person is given to spiritual
thought, the tendency to use the sex-force for propagation
is slight, and whatever part of it is not used in that way
may be transmuted into spiritual force.
That is why the initiate, at a certain stage of develop-
ment, takes the vow of celibacy. It is not an easy vow,
nor one to be lightly taken By one desirous of spiritual
advancement. Many people who are not yet ripe for the
higher life have ignorantly bound themselves to a life of
asceticism. They are as dangerous to the community and
to themselves on the one hand as is the imbecile sex-
maniac on the other.
At the present stage of human evolution the sex func-
tion is the means whereby bodies are provided, through
which the spirit can gain experience. The people who
are most prolific and follow the creative impulse un-
reservedly are the lowest classes; thus it is difficult for
incoming entities to find good vehicles amid environments
enabling them to unfold their faculties in such a manner
as to permanently benefit themselves and the rest of
humanity, for among the wealthier classes who could
furnish more favorable conditions many have few or no
468 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
children. It is not because they live abstemious sex-
lives, but for the entirely selfish reasons that they may
have more ease and leisure and indulge in unlimited sex-
gratification without the burden of a family. Among the
less-wealthy middle class, families are also restricted, but
in their case partially for economic reasons, that they
may give one or two children educational and other ad-
vantages that their means would not permit them to give
to four or five.
Thus man exercises his divine prerogative of bringing
disorder into nature. Incoming Egos must take the oppor-
tunities offered them sometimes under unfavorable circum-
stances. Other Egos who cannot do that, must wait till
favorable environment offers. Thus do we affect one an-
other by our actions and thus are the sins of the fathers
visited upon the children, for as the Holy Spirit is the
creative energy in nature, the sex energy is its reflection
in man, and misuse or abuse of that power is the sin that
is not forgiven, but must be expiated in impaired efficiency
of the vehicles, in order to thoroughly teach us the
sanctity of the creative force.
Aspirants to the higher life, filled with an earnest
desire to live a noble spiritual life, often regard the sex-
function with horror, because of the harvest of misery
which humanity has reaped as a result of its abuse. They
are apt to turn in disgust from what they regard as im-
purity, overlooking the fact that it is precisely such peo-
ple as they who (having brought their vehicles into good
condition by means of proper sanitary food, high and
lofty thought, and pure and spiritual lives) are best
fitted to generate the dense bodies essential to the develop-
ment of entities seeking incarnation. It is common knowl-
edge among occult scientists that, to the detriment of the
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 469
race, many high-class Egos are kept out of incarnation
at the present time solely because parents cannot be found
who are pure enough to provide them with the necessary
physical vehicles.
Persons who, for the reason above mentioned, refrain
from doing their duty to humanity, are magnifying the
sun-spots to such an extent that they forget to see the
Sun itself ! The sex-function has its great place in the
economy of the world. When properly used, there is no
greater boon to the Ego, for it then provides pure and
healthful bodies such as man needs for his development;
conversely, when abused, there is no greater curse, for it
is then the source of the worst ills to which flesh is heir.
It is a truism that "no man liveth unto himself/' By
our words and acts we are constantly affecting others.
By the proper performance, or the neglect of our duty,
we make or mar the lives, first, of those in our immediate
environment, but ultimately of all the inhabitants of the
Earth, and more. No one has a right to seek the higher
life without having performed his duty to his family,
his country, and the human race. To selfishly set aside
everything else and live solely for one's own spiritual
advancement, is as reprehensible as not to care for the
spiritual life at all. Nay, it is worse; for those who do
their duty in the ordinary life to the best of their ability,
devoting themselves to the welfare of those dependent
upon them, are cultivating the essential quality of faith-
fulness. They will certainly advance in due time to a
point where they will become awake to spiritual necessi-
ties, and will carry to that work the faithfulness developed
elsewhere. The man who deliberately turns his back upon
his present duties to take up the spiritual life will surely
be forced back into the path of duty from which he has
470 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
mistakenly diverged, with no possible means of escape
until the lesson has been learned.
Certain tribes of India make the following excellent
division of life. The first twenty years are spent in ob-
taining an education ; the years from 20 to 40 are devoted
to the duty of raising a family; and the remaining time
is devoted to spiritual development, without any physical
cares to harass or distract the mind.
During the first period the child is supported by its
parents; during the second period the man, in addition
to supporting his own family, cares for his parents while
they are giving their attention to higher things; and
during the balance of his life, he is in turn supported
by his children.
This seems a very sensible method, and is quite satis-
factory in a country where all, from the cradle to the
grave, feel the spiritual need, to such degree that they
mistakenly neglect material development except as im-
pelled by the lash of direst need, and where the children
cheerfully support their parents, secure in the knowledge
that they will be supported in turn and thus be enabled
to devote themselves entirely to the higher life after hav-
ing performed their duty to their country and to humanity.
In the Western World, however, where no spiritual need
is at present felt by the average man because he is prop-
erly following material lines of development, such a mode
of life would be impossible of realization.
Spiritual desire never comes until the time is ripe, and
always when the particular conditions obtain under which
we must seek its gratification, if at all. Whatever duties
exist which are apparent restrictions must be borne. If
the care of a family prevents the complete consecration
desired, the aspirant would certainly not be justified in
ACQUIKING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 471
neglecting duty and devoting the entire time and energy
to spiritual purposes. An effort must be made to gratify
such aspirations without interfering with duty to family.
If the desire to live a celibate life comes to a person
who holds marriage relations with another, the obligations
of such relations are not to be forgotten. It would be
very wrong, by practicing celibacy under such circum-
stances, to endeavor to escape from the proper perform-
ance of duty. As to what constitutes duty in regard to
coition, however, there is a standard for aspirants to the
higher life different from that of the ordinary man or
woman.
Most people regard marriage as sanctioning unlimited
license for the gratification of sexual desire. In the eyes
of statute law, perhaps it does so, but no man-made law
nor custom has any right to govern this matter. Occult
science teaches that the sex-function should never be used
for sense-gratification, but for propagation only. There-
fore an aspirant to the higher life would be justified in
refusing coition with the marriage partner unless the
object were the begetting of a child, and then only if both
parties were in perfect health — physically, morally and
mentally — as otherwise the union would be likely to re-
sult in the generation of a feeble or degenerate body.
Each person owns his or her body, and is responsible
to the law of Consequence for any misuse resulting from
the weak-willed abandonment of that body to another.
In the light of the foregoing, and looking at the matter
from the viewpoint of occult science, it is both a duty
and a privilege (to be exercised with thanks for the
opportunity) for all persons who are healthy and of sound
mind to provide vehicles for as many entities as is con-
sistent with their health and ability to care for the same.
472 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
And, as previously stated, most particularly are aspirants
to the higher life under obligation in this respect, on ac-
count of the purification which their purer lives have
wrought in their bodies, because of which they are better
qualified than ordinary humanity to generate pure vehicles.
Thus they enable high-class entities to find suitable
vehicles and help humanity to advance by affording these
waiting Egos opportunities to incarnate and exercise their
influence at an earlier period than would otherwise be
possible.
If the sex-force is used in the way indicated, coition
will take place but few times in a Hie, and practically the
entire sex-force may be used for spiritual purposes. It
is not the use, but the abuse that causes all the trouble
and interferes with the spiritual life, so there is no need
for anyone to abandon the higher life bdcause he or she
cannot be celibate. It is not necessary to be strictly celi-
bate while going through the lesser Initiations. The vow
of absolute celibacy applies to the greater Initiations only,
and even then a single act of fecundation may sometimes
be necessary as an act of sacrifice, as was the case in pro-
viding a body for Christ.
It may also be said that it is worse to suffer from a
burning desire, to be constantly thinking vividly of the
gratification of sense, than to live the married life in
moderation. Christ taught that unchaste thoughts are
as bad as, and even worse than unchaste acts, because
thoughts may be repeated indefinitely, whereas there is at
least some limit to acts.
The aspirant to the higher life can be successful only
in proportion to the extent of the subjugation of the lower
nature, but should beware of the other extreme.
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 473
THE PITUITARY BODY AND THE PINEAL GLAND.
In the brain, and in approximately the positions shown
in diagram 17, are two small organs called the pituitary
body and the pineal gland. Medical science knows but
little about these, or the other ductless glands of the body.
It calls the pineal gland "the atrophied third eye," yet
neither it nor the pituitary body are atrophying. This
is very perplexing to scientists, for nature retains nothing
useless. All over the body we find organs which are either
atrophying or developing, the former being milestones,
as it were, along the path which man has traveled to reach
his present stage of development, the latter pointing out
the lines for future improvement and development. For
instance, the muscles which animals use to move the ears
are present in man also, but as they are atrophying, few
people can use them. The heart belongs to the class
indicating future development; as already shown, it is
becoming a voluntary muscle.
The pituitary body and the pineal gland belong to still
another class of organs, which at the present time are
neither evolving nor degenerating, but are dormant. In
the far past, when man was in touch with the "inner''
Worlds, these organs were his means of ingress thereto,
and they will again serve that purpose at a later stage.
They were connected with the involuntary or sympathetic
nervous system. Man then saw the inner Worlds, as in
the Moon Period and the latter part of the Lemurian and
early Atlantean Epochs. Pictures presented themselves
quite independent of his will. The sense-centers of his
desire body were spinning around counter-clockwise (fol-
lowing negatively the motion of the Earth, which revolves
on its axis in that direction) as the sense-centers of
474 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
"mediums" do to this day. In most people these sense-
centers are inactive, but true development will set them
spinning clockwise, as explained elsewhere. That is the
difficult feature in the development of positive clairvoy-
ance.
The development of mediumship is much easier, be-
cause it is merely a revival of the mirror-like function
possessed by man in the far past, by which the outside
world was involuntarily reflected in him, and which func-
tion was afterward retained by inbreeding. With present-
day mediums this power is intermittent, which explains
why they can sometimes "see" and at other times, for no
apparent reason, fail utterly. Occasionally, the strong
desire of the client enables them to get into touch with
the information he is seeking, on which occasions they
see correctly, but they are not always honest. Office rent
and other expenses must be paid, so when the power
(over which they have no conscious control) fails them,
some resort to fraud and utter any absurdity that occurs
to their minds, in order to satisfy their client and get his
money, thus casting discredit upon what they really do
see at other times.
The aspirant to true spiritual sight and insight must
first of all give proof of unselfishness, because the trained
clairvoyant has no "off days." He is not in the least
mirror-like, dependent upon the reflections which may
happen to come his way. He is able to reach out at any
time and in any direction, and read the thoughts and
plans of others, provided he particularly turns his atten-
tion that way — not otherwise.
The great danger to society which would result from
the indiscriminate use of this power if possessed by an un-
worthy individual, can be easily understood. He would
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476 EOSICBUCIAN COSMO CONCEPTION
be able to read the most secret thought. Therefore the
initiate is bound by the most solemn vows never to use
this power to serve his individual interest in the slightest
degree, nor to save himself a pang. He may feed five thou-
sand others if he will, but he must not turn a stone into
bread to appease his own hunger. He may heal others of
palsy and leprosy, but by the Law of the Universe, he is
forbidden to stanch his own mortal wounds. Because he
is bound by his vow of absolute unselfishness, it is ever
true of the Initiate that although he saves others, himself
he cannot save.
So the trained clairvoyant who really has something to
give will never hang out a sign offering to exercise his
gifts for a fee, but will give and give freely where he con-
siders it consistent with the ripe destiny generated under
the law of consequence by the person to be helped.
Trained clairvoyance is the kind used for investigating
occult facts, and it is the only kind that is of any use for
that purpose. Therefore the aspirant must feel, not a wish
to gratify an idle curiosity, but a holy and unselfish desire
to help humanity. Until such a desire exists, no progress
can be made in the attainment of positive clairvoyance.
In the ages that have passed since the Lemurian Epoch
humanity has been gradually building the cerebro-spinal
nervous system, which is under the control of the will. In
the latter part of the Atlantean Epoch, this was so far
evolved that it became possible for the Ego to take full pos-
session of the dense body. That was the time (previously
described) when the point in the vital body came into cor-
respondence with the point at the root of the nose in the
dense body and the indwelling spirit became awake in the
Physical World but, so far as the greater part of humanity
was concerned, lost consciousness of the inner Worlds.
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 477
Since then, the connection of the pineal gland and the
pituitary body with the cerebro-spinal nervous system has
been slowly building, and is now all but complete.
To regain contact with the inner Worlds, all that re-
mains to be done is the reawakening of the pituitary body
and the pineal gland. When that is accomplished, man
will again possess the faculty of perception in the higher
worlds, but on a grander scale than formerly, because it
will be in connection with the voluntary nervous system
and therefore under the control of his Will. Through this
inner perceptive faculty all avenues of knowledge will be
opened to him and he will have at his service a means of
acquiring information compared with which all other
methods of investigation are but child's play.
The awakening of these organs is accomplished by Eso-
teric Training, which we will now describe, as far as may
be done in public.
ESOTERIC TRAINING.
In the majority of people, the greater part of the sex-
force which may legitimately be used through the creative
organs is expended for sense-gratification; therefore in
such people there is very little of the ascending current
shown in diagram 17.
When the aspirant to the higher life begins to curb these
excesses more and more, and to devote his attention to
spiritual thoughts and efforts, the trained clairvoyant can
perceive the unused sex-force commencing to ascend. It
surges upward in stronger and stronger volume, along the
path indicated by the arrows in diagram 17, traversing
the heart and the larynx or the spinal cord and the larynx
or both, and then passing directly between the pituitary
body and the pineal gland toward the dark point at the
478 ROSICKUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
root of the nose where "The Silent Watcher," the highest
spirit, has its seat.
These currents do riot usually take one of the two paths
indicated in the diagram to the entire exclusion of the
other, but generally one path is traveled by the greater
volume of the sex-currents, according to the temperament
of the aspirant. In one who is seeking enlightenment
along purely intellectual lines the current travels particu-
larly over the spinal cord and only a small part goes over
the path through the heart. In the mystic who feels
rather than knows, the currents find their way upwards
through the heart.
Both are developing abnormally, and each must some-'
time take up the development he has neglected, so as to
become fully rounded. Therefore the Eosicrucians aim
to give a teaching . that will satisfy both classes, although
their main efforts are expended in reaching the intellec-
tually minded, for their need is the greatest.
This current of itself, however, even though it assumes
the proportions of a Niagara and flows until the crack of
doom, will be useless. But still, as it is not only a neces-
sary accompaniment, but a pre-requisite to self-conscious
work in the inner World, it must be cultivated to some
extent before the real esoteric training can begin. It will
thus be seen that a moral life devoted to spiritual thought
must be lived by the aspirant for a certain length of time
before ft is possible to commence the work that will give
him first-hand knowledge of the super-physical realms and
enable him to become, in the truest sense, a helper of
humanity.
When the candidate has lived such a life for a time suf-
ficient to establish the current of spiritual force, and is
found worthy and qualified to receive esoteric instruction,
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 47?,
he is taught certain exercises, to set the pituitary body in
vibration. This vibration causes the pituitary body to im-
pinge upon and slightly deflect the nearest line of force
(See diagram 17). This, in turn, impinges upon the line
netx to it, and so the process continues until the force of
the vibration has been spent. It is similar to the way in
which the striking of one note on a piano will produce a
number of overtones, by setting up a vibration in the other
strings which are at proper intervals of pitch.
When by the increased vibration of the pituitary body,
the lines of force have been deflected sufficiently to reach
the pineal gland, the object has been accomplished, the gap
between these two organs has been bridged. This is the
bridge between the World of Sense and the World of De-
sire. From the time it is built, man becomes clairvoyant
and able to direct his gaze where he will. Solid objects are
seen both inside and out. To him space and solidity, as
hindrances to observation, have ceased to exist.
He is not yet a trained clairvoyant, but he is a clairvoy-
ant at will, a voluntary clairvoyant. His is a very different
faculty from that possessed by the medium, who is usually
an involuntary clairvoyant and can see only what comes;
or who has, at best, very little more than the purely nega-
tive faculty. But the person in whom this bridge is once
built is always in sure touch with the inner Worlds, the
connection being made and broken at his will. By degrees,
the observer learns to control the vibration of the pituitary
body in a manner enabling him to get in touch with any of
the regions of the inner Worlds which he desires to visit.
The faculty is completely under the control of his will. It
is not necessary for him to go into a trance or do anything
abnormal, to raise his consciousness to the Desire World.
He simply wills to see, and sees.
480 KOSICKUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
As was explained in the earlier part of this work, the
neophyte must learn to see in the Desire World, or rather,
he must learn how to understand what he sees there. In
the Physical World objects are dense, solid, and do not
change in the twinkling of an eye. In the Desire World
they change in the most erratic manner. This is a source
of endless confusion to the negative involuntary clairvoy-
ant, and even to the neophyte who enters under the guid-
ance of a teacher, but the teaching soon brings the pupil
to a point where the Form may change as often as it will ;
he can perceive the Life that causes the change, and knows
it for what it is, despite all possible and puzzling changes.
There is also another and most important distinction to
be made. The power which enables one to perceive the
objects in a world is not identical with the power of enter-
ing that world and functioning there. The voluntary clair-
voyant, though he may have received some training, and is
able to distinguish the true from the false in the Desire
World, is in practically the same relation to it as a prisoner
behind a barred window is to the outside world — he can
see it, but cannot function therein. Therefore esoteric
training not only opens up the inner vision of the aspirant,
but at the proper time further exercises are given to fur-
nish him with a vehicle in which he can function in the
inner Worlds in a perfectly self-conscious manner.
How THE INNER VEHICLE Is BUILT.
In ordinary life most people live to eat, they drink,
gratify the sex-passion in an unrestrained manner, and lose
their tempers on the slightest provocation. Though out-
wardly these people may be very "respectable," they are,
nearly every day of their lives, causing almost utter con-
fusion in their organization. The entire period of sleep
ACQUIBING FIKST-IIAND KNOWLEDGE 481
is spent by the desire and the vital bodies in repairing the
damage done in the day time, leaving no time for outside
work of any kind. But as the individual begins to feel
the needs of the higher life, control sex-force, and temper,
and cultivate a serene disposition, there is less disturbance
caused in the vehicles during waking hours; consequently
less time is required to repair the damage during sleep.
Thus it becomes possible to leave the dense body for long
periods during sleeping hours, and function in the inner
Worlds in the higher vehicles. As the desire body and
the mind are not yet organized, they are of no use as sep-
arate vehicles of consciousness. Neither can the vital body
leave the dense body, as that would cause death, so it is
evident that measures must be taken to provide an or-
ganized vehicle which is fluidic and so constructed that it
will meet the needs of the Ego in the inner Worlds as does
the dense body in the Physical World.
The vital body is such an organized vehicle, and if some
means could be found to loosen it from the dense body
without causing death, the problem would be solved. Be-
sides, the vital body is the seat of memory, without which
it would be impossible to bring back into our physical con-
sciousness the remembrance of super-physical experiences
and thus obtain the full benefit of them.
We remember that the Hierophants of the old Mystery
Temples segregated some of the people into castes and
tribes such as the Brahmins and the Levites, for the pur-
pose of providing bodies for the use of such Egos as were
advanced enough to be ready for Initiation. This was done
in such a manner that the vital body became separable
into two parts, as were the desire bodies of all humanity
at the beginning of the Earth Period. When the Hiero-
phant took the pupils out of their bodies he left one part
482 BOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
of the vital body, comprising the first and second ethers, to
perform the purely animal functions (they are the only
ones active during sleep), the pupil taking with him a
vehicle capable of perception, because of its connection
with the sense-centers of the dense body; and also capable
of memory. It possessed these capabilities because it was
composed of the third and fourth ethers, which are the
mediums of sense-perception and memory.
This is, in fact, that part of the vital body which the
aspirant retains from life to life, and immortalizes as the
Intellectual Soul.
Since Christ came and "took away the sin of the world,"
(not of the individual) purifying the desire body of our
planet, the connection between all human dense and vital
bodies has been loosened to such an extent that, by train-
ing, they are capable of separation as above described.
Therefore Initiation is open to all.
The finer part of the desire body, which constitutes the
Emotional Soul, is capable of separation in most people
(in fact, it possessed that capability even before Christ
came) and thus when, by concentration and the use of the
proper formula, the finer parts of the vehicles have been
segregated for use during sleep, or at any other time, the
lower parts of the desire and vital bodies are still left to
carry on the processes of restoration in the dense vehicle,
the mere animal part.
That part of the vital body which goes out is highly or-
ganized, as we have seen. It is an exact counterpart of the
dense body. The desire body and the mind, not being or-
ganized, are of use only because they are connected with
the highly organized dense body. When separated from
it they are but poor instruments, therefore before man
ACQUIRING FIEST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 483
can withdraw from the dense body, the sense-centers of the
desire body must be awakened.
In ordinary life the Ego is inside its bodies and its force
is directed outward. All man's will and energy are bent
upon the task of subduing the outside world. At no time
is he able to get away from the impressions of his outside
environment and thus be free to work on himself in his
waking hours. During sleep, when such an opportunity
is afforded, because of the dense body having lost con-
sciousness of the world, the Ego is outside his bodies. If
man is to work on his vehicles at all, it must be when the
outside world is shut out as in sleep, but yet the spirit still
remains within and in full control of the faculties, as it is
in the waking state. Not until such a state can be attained
will it be possible for the spirit to work inwardly and prop-
erly sensitize its vehicles.
Concentration is such a state. When in it, the senses
are stilled and a person is outwardly in the same condition
as in the deepest sleep, yet the spirit remains within and
fully conscious. Most people have experienced this state,
at least in some degree, when they have become interested
to absorption in a book. At such times they live in the
scenes depicted by the author and are lost to their environ-
ment. When spoken to, they are oblivious to the sound,
so to all else transpiring around them, yet they are fully
awake to all they are reading, to the invisible world created
by the author, living there and feeling the heart-beats of
all the different characters in the story. They are not
independent, but are bound in the life which some one has
created for them in the book.
The aspirant to the higher life cultivates the faculty of
becoming absorbed at will in any subject he chooses, or
rather not a subject usually, but a very simple object, which
484 ROSICKUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
he imagines. Thus when the proper condition or point of
absorption has been reached where his senses are absolutely
still, he concentrates his thought upon the different sense-
centers of the desire body and they start to revolve.
At first their motion is slow and hard to bring about,
but by degrees the sense-centers of the desire body will
make places for themselves within the dense and vital
bodies, which learn to accommodate themselves to this new
activity. Then some day, when the proper life has
developed the requisite cleavage between the higher and
lower parts of the vital body, there is a supreme effort of
the will; a spiral motion in many directions takes place,
and the aspirant stands outside his dense body. He looks
at it as at another person. The door of his prison-house
has been opened. He is free to come and go, as much at
liberty in the inner worlds as in the Physical World, func-
tioning at will, in the inner or outer World, a helper of
all desiring his services in any of them.
Before the aspirant learns to voluntarily leave the body,
he may have worked in the desire body during sleep, for
in some people the desire body becomes organized before
the separation can be brought about in the vital body. Un-
der those conditions it is impossible to bring back these
subjective experiences to waking consciousness, but gen-
erally in such cases it will be noticed, as the first sign of
development, that all confused dreams will cease. Then,
after a while, the dreams will become more vivid and per-
fectly logical. The aspirant will dream of being in places
and with people (whether known to him in waking hours
or not matters little), conducting himself in as reasonable
a way as if he were in the waking state. If the place of
which he dreams is accessible to him in waking hours, he
may sometimes get proof of the reality of his dream if he
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 435
will note some physical detail of the scene and verify his
nocturnal impression next day.
He will next find that he can, during sleeping hours,
visit any place he desires upon the face of the Earth and
investigate it a great deal more thoroughly than if he had
gone there in the dense body, because in his desire body
he has access to all places, regardless of locks and bars.
If he persists, there will at last come a day when he need
not wait for sleep to dissolve the connection between his
vehicles, but can consciously set himself free.
Specific directions for freeing the higher vehicles can-
not be given indiscriminately. The separation is brought
about, not by a set formula of words, but rather by an act
of will, yet the manner in which the will is directed is in-
dividual, and can therefore be given only by a competent
teacher. Like all other real esoteric information, it is
never sold, but comes only as a result of the pupil qualify-
ing himself to receive it. All that can be done here is to
give an indication of the first steps which lead up to the
acquirement of the faculty of voluntary clairvoyance.
The most favorable time to exercise is on first awaken-
ing in the morning, before any of the worries and cares of
daily life have entered the mind. At that time one is fresh
from the inner Worlds and therefore more easily brought
back into touch with them than at any other time of the
day. Do not wait to dress, or sit up in bed, but relax the
body perfectly and let the exercises be the first waking
thought. Relaxation does not mean simply a comfortable
position ; it is possible to have every muscle tense with ex-
pectation and that of itself frustrates the object, for in that
condition the desire body is gripping the muscles. It can-
not do otherwise till we calm the mind.
486 EOSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
CONCENTRATION.
The first thing to practice is fixing one's thoughts upon
some ideal and holding them there without letting them
swerve. It is an exceedingly hard task, but, to some extent
at least, it must be accomplished before it is possible to
make any further progress. Thought is the power we use
in making images, pictures, thought-forms, according to
ideas from within. It is our principal power, and we must
learn to have absolute control of it, so that what we pro-
duce is not wild illusion induced by outside conditions, but
true imagination generated by the spirit from within (see
diagram 1).
Sceptics will say that it is all imagination but, as said
before, if the inventor had not been able to imagine the
telephone, etc., we would not today possess those things.
His imaginings were not generally correct or true at first,
otherwise the inventions would have worked successfully
from the beginning, without the many 'failures and ap-
parently useless experiments that have nearly always pre-
ceded the production of the practical and serviceable in-
strument or machine. Neither is the imagination of the
budding occult scientist correct at first. The only way to
make it true is by uninterrupted practice, day after day,
exercising the will to keep the thought focussed upon one
subject, object, or idea, exclusive of all else. Thought is a
great power which we have been accustomed to waste. It
has been allowed to flow on aimlessly, as water flows over a
precipice before it is made to turn the wheel.
The rays of the Sun, diffused over the entire surface of
the Earth, produce only a moderate warmth, but if even a
few of them are concentrated by means of a glass, they are
capable of producing fire at the focusing-point.
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 43?
Thought-force is the most powerful means of obtaining
knowledge. If it is concentrated upon a subject, it will
burn its way through any obstacle and solve the problem.
If the requisite amount of thought-force is brought to bear,
there is nothing that is beyond the power of human com-
prehension. So long as we scatter it, thought-force is of
little use to us, but as soon as we are prepared to take the
trouble necessary to harness it, all knowledge is ours.
We often hear people exclaim petulantly, "Oh, I cannot
think of a hundred things at once!" when really that is
exactly what they have been doing, and what has caused
the very trouble of which they complain. People are con-
stantly thinking of a hundred things other than the one
they have in hand. Every success has been accomplished
by persistent concentration upon the desired end.
This is something the aspirant to the higher life must
positively learn to do. There is no other way. At first he
will find himself thinking of everything under the sun in-
stead of the ideal upon which he has decided to concen-
trjilc, but he must not let that discourage him. In time
he will find* it easier to still his senses and hold his
thoughts steady. Persistence, persistence, and always
PERSISTENCE will win at last. Without that, how-
ever, no results can be expected. It is of no use to perform
the exercises for two or three mornings or weeks and then
neglect them for as long. To be effective they must be
done faithfully every morning without fail.
Any subject may be selected, according to the tempera-
ment and mental persuasion of the aspirant, so long as
it is pure and mentally uplifting in its tendency. Christ
will do for some; others, who love flowers particularly, are
most easily helped by taking one as the subject of concen-
tration. The object matters little, but whatever it is we
488 ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
must imagine it true to life in all details. If it is Christ,
we must imagine a real Christ, with mobile features, life
in His eyes, and an expresson that is not stony and dead.
We must build a living ideal, not a statue. If it is a
flower, we must, in imagination, take the seed and having
buried it in the ground, fix our mind upon it steadily.
Presently we shall see it burst, shooting forth its roots,
which penetrate the Earth in a spiral manner. From the
main branches of the roots we watch the myriads of minute
rootlets, as they branch out and ramify in all directions.
Then the stem begins to shoot upward, bursting through
the surface of the earth and coming forth as a tiny green
stalk. It grows; presently there is an off-set; a tiny twig
shoots out from the main stem. It grows; another off-set
and a branch appears; from the branches, little stalks
with buds at the end shoot out ; presently there are a num-
ber of leaves. Then comes a bud at the top; it grows
larger until it begins to burst and the red leaves of the
rose show beneath the green. It unfolds in the air, emit-
ting an exquisite perfume, which we sense perfectly as it
is wafted to us on the balmy summer breeze which gently
eawys the beautiful creation before the mind's eye.
Only when we "imagine" in such clear and complete out-
lines as these, do we enter into the spirit of concentration.
There must be no shadowy, faint resemblance.
Those who have traveled in India have told of fakirs
showing them a seed, which was planted and grew before
the eyes of the astonished witness, bearing fruit which the
traveler tasted. That was done by concentration so intense
that the picture was visible, not only to the fakir himself,
but also to the spectators. A case is recorded where the
members of a committee of scientists all saw the wonderful
things done before their eyes, under conditions where
ACQUIEING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 489
sleight-of-hand was impossible, yet the photographs which
they obtained while the experiment was in progress, came
to naught. There was no impression on the sensitive
plates, because there had been no material, concrete objects.
At first the pictures which the aspirant builds will be
but shadowy and poor likenesses, but in the end he can,
by concentration, conjure up an image more real and alive
than things in the Physical World.
When the aspirant has become able to form such pictures
and has succeeded in holding his mind upon the picture
thus created, he may try to drop the picture suddenly and,
holding his mind steady without any thought, wait to see
what comes into the vacuum.
For a long time nothing may appear and the aspirant
must carefully guard against making visions for himself,
but if he keeps on faithfully and patiently every morning,
there will come a time when, the moment he has let the
imaged picture drop, in a flash the surrounding Desire
World will open up to his inner eye. At first it may be
but a mere glimpse, but it is an earnest of what will later
come at will.
MEDITATION.
When the aspirant has practiced concentration for some
time, focussing the mind upon some simple object, build-
ing a living thought-form by means of the imaginative
faculty, he will, by means of Meditation, learn all about
the object thus created.
Supposing that the aspirant has, by concentration,
called up the image of the Christ. It is very easy to
meditatively recall the incidents of His life, suffering
and resurrection, but much beyond that can be learned
by meditation. Knowledge never before dreamed of will
490 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
flood the soul with a glorious light. Yet something that
is uninteresting and does not of itself suggest anything
marvelous, is better for practice. Try to find out all
about — say, a match, or a common table.
When the image of the table has been clearly formed
in the mind, think what kind of wood it is and whence
it came. Go back to the time when, as a tiny seed, the
tree from which the wood was cut first fell into the forest
soil. Watch it grow from year to year, covered by the
snows of winter and warmed by the summer Sun, steadily
growing upward — its roots meanwhile constantly spread-
ing under the ground. First it is a tender sapling, sway-
ing in the breeze; then, as a young tree, it gradually
stretches higher and higher toward the air and the sun-
shine. As the years pass, its girth becomes greater and
greater, until at last one day the logger comes, with his
axe and saw gleaming as they reflect the rays of the winter
Sun. Our tree is felled and shorn of its branches, leav-
ing but the trunk; that is cut into logs, which are hauled
over the frozen roads to the river-bank, there to await the
springtime when the melting snow swells the streams.
A great raft of the logs is made, the pieces of our tree
being among them. We know every little peculiarity
about them and would recognize them instantly among
thousands, so clearly have we marked them in bur mind.
We follow the raft down the stream, noting the passing
landscape and becoming familiar with the men who have
the care of the raft and who sleep upon little huts built
upon their floating charge. At last we see it arrive at
a sawmill and disbanded. One by one the logs are grasped
by prongs on an endless chain and hauled out of the water.
Here comes one of our logs, the widest part of which will
be made into the top of our table. It is hauled out of
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 491
the water to the log-deck and rolled about by men with
peavies. We hear the hungry whine of the great circular
saws as they revolve so fast that they appear as mere blurs
before our eyes. Our log is placed upon a carriage which
is propelled toward one of them, and in a moment those
teeth of steel are tearing their way through its body and
dividing it into boards and planks. Some of the wood
is selected to form part of a building, but the best of it
is taken to a furniture factory and put into a kiln, where
it is dried by steam so that it will not shrink after it has
been made into furniture. Then it is taken out and put
through a great planing machine with many sharp knives,
which makes it smooth. Next it is sawn off into different
lengths and glued together to form table-tops. The legs
are turned from thicker pieces and set into the frame
which supports the top ; then the whole article is smoothed
again with sandpaper, varnished and polished, thus com-
pleting the table in every respect. It is next sent out,
with other furniture, to the store where we bought it,
and we follow it as it is carted from that place to our
home and left in our dining-room.
Thus, by meditation, we have become conversant with
the various branches of industry necessary to convert a
forest tree into a piece of furniture. We have seen all
the machines and the men, and noted the peculiarities of
the various places. We have even followed the life process
whereby that tree has grown from a tiny seed, and have
learned that back of seemingly very commonplace things
there is a great and absorbingly interesting history. A
pin; the match with which we light the gas; the gas
itself; and the room in which that gas is burned — all
have interesting histories, well worth learning.
492 ROSICKUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
OBSERVATION".
One of the most important aids to the aspirant in his
efforts is observation. Most people go through life blind-
folded. Of them it is literally true that they "have eyes,
and see not; . . . have ears, and hear not." Upon the
part of the majority of humanity there is a deplorable
lack of observation.
Most people are, to some extent, excusable for this, be-
cause their sight is not normal. Urban life has caused
untold damage to the eyes. In the country the child
learns to use the muscles of the eye to the full extent,
relaxing or contracting them as required to see objects
at considerable distances in the open, or close at hand
in and about the house. But the city-bred child sees
practically everything close at hand and the muscles of its
eyes are seldom used to observe objects at any great
distance, therefore that faculty is to a great extent lost,
resulting in a prevalence of near-sightedness and other
eye troubles.
It is very important to one aspiring to the higher life
that he be able to see all things about him in clear,
definite outlines, and in full detail. To one suffering
from defective sight, the use of glasses is like opening up
a new world. Instead of the former mistiness, everything
is seen clearly and definitely. If the condition of the
sight requires the use of two foci, one should not be con-
tent with having two pairs of glasses, one for near and
one for far seeing, thus necessitating frequent changes.
Not only are the changes wearisome, but one is very apt
to forget one pair when leaving home. The two foci can
be had in one pair of bi-focal glasses, and such should be
worn, to facilitate observation of the minutest details.
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 493
DISCRIMINATION.
When the aspirant has attended to his eyesight, he
should systematically observe everything and everybody,
drawing conclusions from actions, to cultivate the faculty
of logical reasoning. Logic is the best teacher in the
Physical World, as well as the safest and surest guide in
any world.
While practicing this method of observation, it should
always be kept in mind that it must be used only to
gather facts and not for purposes of criticism, at least
not wanton criticism. Constructive criticism, which
points out defects and the means of remedying them, is
the basis of progress; but destructive criticism, which
vandalisticaly demolishes good and bad alike without aim-
ing at any higher attainment, is an ulcer on the character
and must be eradicated. Gossip and idle tale-bearing are
clogs and hindrances. While it is not required that we
shall say that black is white and overlook manifestly wrong
conduct, criticism should be made for the purpose of help-
ing, not to wantonly besmirch the character of a fellow-
being because we have found a little stain. Remembering
the parable of the mote and the beam, we should turn our
most unsparing criticism toward ourselves. None is so
perfect that there is no room for improvement. The more
blameless the man, the less prone he is to find fault and
cast the first stone at another. If we point out faults
and suggest ways for improvement, it must be done with-
out personal feeling. We must always seek the good
which is hidden in everything. The cultivation of this
attitude of discrimination is particularly important.
When the aspirant to first-hand knowledge has practiced
concentration and meditation exercises for some time, and
494 EO8ICBUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
has become fairly proficient in them, there is a still higher
step to be taken.
We have seen that concentration is focusing thought
upon a single object. It is the means whereby we build
a clear, objective, and living image of the form about
which we wish to acquire knowledge.
Meditation is the exercise whereby the history of the
object of our investigation is traced and, so to say, entered
into, to pick out of it every shred of evidence as to its
relation to the world in general.
These two mental exercises deal, in the deepest and most
thorough manner imaginable, with things. They lead
up to a higher, deeper and more subtle stage of mental
development, which deals with the very soul of things.
The name of that stage is Contemplation.
CONTEMPLATION.
In contemplation there is no reaching out in thought
or imagination for the sake of getting information, as
was the case in Meditation. It is simply the holding of
the object before our mental vision and letting the soul
of it speak to us. We repose quietly and relaxed upon
a couch or bed — not negatively, but thoroughly on the
alert — watching for the information that will surely come
if we have reached the proper development. Then the
Form of the object seems to vanish and we see only the
Life at work. Contemplation will teach us about the
Life-side, as Meditation taught us about the Form-side.
When we reach this stage and have before us, say, a
tree in the forest, we lose sight of the Form entirely, and
see only the Life, which in this case is a group spirit.
We shall find, to our astonishment, that the group spirit
of the tree includes the various insects which feed upon it;
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 495
that the parasite and its host are emanations from one
and the same group spirit, for the higher we ascend in
the invisible realms, the fewer the separate and distinct
forms, and the more completely the One Life predomi-
nates, impressing upon the investigator the supreme fact
that there is but the One Life — the Universal Life of
God, in Whom it is an actual fact that "we live, and
move, and have our being." Mineral, plant, animal, and
man — all, without exception — are manifestations of God,
and this fact furnishes the true basis of brotherhood — a
brotherhood which includes everything from the atom to
the Sun, because all are emanations from God. Concep-
tions of brotherhood based upon any other foundation,
such as class-distinctions, Race-affinity, similarity of occu-
pation, etc., fall far short of this true basis, as the occult
scientist clearly realizes when he sees the Universal Life
flowing in all that exists.
ADORATION.
When this height has been reached by Contemplation,
and the aspirant has realized that he is in truth beholding
God in the Life that permeates all things, there remains
still to be taken the highest step, Adoration, whereby he
unites himself with the Source of all things, reaching by
that act the highest goal possible of attainment by man
until the time when the permanent union takes place at
the end of the great Day of Manifestation.
It is the writer's opinion that neither the heights of
Contemplation, nor the final step of Adoration can be
attained without the aid of a teacher. The aspirant need
never fear, however, that for want of a teacher he will
he delayed in taking these steps ; nor need he be concerned
about looking for a teacher. All that is necessary for him
496 EOSICEUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION
to do is to start to improve himself, and to earnestly and
persistently continue therein. In that way he will purify
his vehicles. They will commence to shine in the inner
Worlds, and cannot fail to attract the attention of the
teachers, who are always watching for just such cases and
are more than eager and glad to help those who, because
of their earnest efforts to purify themselves, have won the
right to receive help. Humanity is sorely in need of
helpers who are able to work from the inner Worlds,
therefore "seek and ye shall find," but let us not imagine
that by going about from one professed teacher to an-
other, we are seeking. "Seeking," in that sense of the
word, will avail nothing in this dark world. We our-
selves must kindle the light — the light which invariably
radiates from the vehicles of the earnest aspirant. That
is the star which will lead us to the teacher, or rather the
teacher to us.
The time required to bring results from the perform-
ance of the exercises varies with each individual and is
dependent upon his application, his stage in evolution and
his record in the book of destiny; therefore no general
time can be set. Some, who are almost ready, obtain re-
sults in a few days or weeks; others have to work months,
years, and even their whole life without visible results,
yet the results will be there, and the aspirant who faith-
fully persists will some day, in this or a future life, be-
hold his patience and faithfulness rewarded and the inner
Worlds open to his gaze, finding himself a citizen of
realms where the opportunities are immeasurably greater
than in the Physical World only.
From that time — awake or asleep, through what men
call life, and through what men call death — his conscious-
ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE 497
ness will be unbroken. He will lead a consciously-con-
tinuous existence, having the benefit of all the conditions
which make for more rapid advancement to ever-higher
positions of trust, to be used in the uplifting of the race.