PART III

EFFECTS OF WAR UPON THE DESIRE BODY — THE VITAL
BODY AS AFFECTED BY THE DETONATIONS OP
BIG GUNS
IN THE beginning of the Great War the emotions of Europe ran riot in a most horrible manner, first among the so-called "living," and then among the killed — when they awoke. This awakening took a long time because of the large guns used — but more of that later. The whole atmosphere of the countries involved was seething with currents of anger and hate, like a cloud of dark crimson it hung around every human being and over the land. Then there were dark-tinted streaks like a funeral pall, which seem always to be generated in crises of sudden dis- aster when reason is at a standstill and despair grips the heart. This was doubtless caused by the fact that the peoples involved realized that a catastrophe of a magnitude which they were unable to comprehend was happening. The desire bodies of the majority whirled at high speed in long waves of rhythmic pul-
EFFECTS OF THE WAR UPON THE DESIRE BODY 95
sation which, said more plainly than words, "Just kill, kill, kill." When two or three or a crowd met and commenced to discuss the war, the rythmic pulsa- tions indicating the settled purpose to do and dare ceased, and the thoughts and feelings of excitement generated by the discussion or speech took shape as conical projections which rapidly grew to a height of about six or eight inches, then they burst and emitted a tongue of flame. Some people generated a number of these volcanic structures at one time, in others there were only one or two at the same time. When one of these bubbles had burst in one place, another appeared somewhere else on the desire body while the discussion lasted, and it was the flames from them that colored the cloud over the land scarlet. When a crowd disbanded or friends parted after such a discussion, the bubbling and eruptions grew smaller and less frequent, finally ceasing and giving place again to the long rhythmic pulsations first mentioned.
These conditions are now seldom if ever seen; the explosive anger at the enemy thus indicated is a thing of the past so far as the great majority are concerned. The basic orange color of the western peoples' aura is again visible, and both officers and men seem to have settled down to war as to a game ; each is anxious to outdo and outwit the other. The war is now mainly a channel for their ingenuity; but a number of the
96 THE OCCULT EFFECT OF OUR EMOTIONS
lay-brothers of the Rosicrucian Order believe that the condition of anger will return in a modified form when active hostilities cease and peace negotiations commence.
This form of emotion we may call abstract anger, and it differs widely from what is observed in the case of two persons who become angry with each other in private life, whether they start to fight physically or not. Seen from the hidden side of nature, there are hostilities before blows are struck. Jagged, dagger-like desire-forms project themselves from one to the other like spears until the fury which gener- ated them has expended itself. In the patriotic anger there is no personal enemy, therefore the desire-forms are more blunt and explode without leaving the per- son who generated them.
The "steel men" so common in private life where worry over the thousand and one things that never happen crystallizes an armor around the person who allows old Saturn to thus grip him, were and are con- spicuous by their absence. The writer accounts for it on the hypothesis that the tension in their environ- ment forced them to enlist and the shock broke the shell; then familiarity with danger bred contempt for it. It is certain that these people have benefited greatly by the war, for there is no state more ham- pering to soul-growth than constant fear and worry.
EFFECTS OF THE WAR UPON THE DESIRE BODY 97
It is also a remarkable fact that though the men en- gaged in war suffer awful privations, the mass of them are cultivating a tinge of soft sky-blue which stands for hope, optimism, and a dawning religious feeling, giving an altruistic touch to the character. It is an indication that that universal fellow-feeling which knows no distinctions of creed, color, or country is growing in the human heart.
In the beginning of the war the desire bodies of the combatants whirled at an awful rate, and it was noted that while people passing over from sickness, old age, or ordinary accidents regain consciousness in a short time, varying from a few minutes to a few days, those killed in war were in a great many cases unconscious for several weeks, and strange to say, those who were almost torn to pieces seemed to wake up much quicker than thousands that had only insig- nificant wounds. This puzzle was not solved for many months. Before we study the causes underlying this phenomenon, we must first record that when the peo- ple who had thus died in intense anger during the first part of the war awoke in the invisible world, they usually started to fight their enemies anew, and until the great educational work started by the Elder Brothers and their Invisible Helpers bore fruit, these people went about with maimed bodies and in great anguish because of their dear ones left behind. Now
98 THE OCCULT EFFECT OF OUR EMOTIONS
such occurrences are extremely rare and soon settled, for all have been taught that thought will create a new arm, limb, or face; the patriotic hatred is gone, and "enemies" able to speak each other's language often fraternize with benefit to both. The red cloud of hate is lifting, the black veil of despair is gone, there are no volcanic outbursts of passion in either the living or the dead, but so far as the writer is able to read the signs of the times in the aura of the na- tions, there is a settled purpose to play the game to the end. Even in homes bereaved of many members, this seems to hold good. There is an intense longing for the friends beyond but no hatred for the earthly foe. This longing is shared by the friends in the unseen and many are piercing the veil, for the in- tensity of their longing is awakening in the "dead" the power to manifest by attracting a quantity of ether and gas which often is taken from the vital body of a "sensitive" friend, as materializing spirits use the vital body of an entranced medium. Thus the eyes blinded by tears are often opened by a yearn- ing heart so that loved ones now in the spirit world are met again face to face, heart to heart. This is nature's method of cultivating the sixth sense which will eventually enable all to know that man is an im- mortal spirit and continuity of life a fact in nature.
To understand the slowness wherewith those slain
EFFECTS OF THE WAR UPON THE DESIRE BODY 99
in the war regain consciousness in the unseen world, we must first undertake a more intimate study of the four ethers than has hitherto been given in "The Eosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. ' '
The atoms of the chemical and life ethers gathered around the nuclear seed-atom located in the solar plexus are shaped like prisms. They are all located in such a manner that when the solar energy enters our body through the spleen, the refracted ray is red. This is the color of the creative aspect of the Trinity, namely Jehovah, the Holy Spirit, who rules Luna, the planet of fecundation. Therefore the vital fluid from the sun which enters the human body by way of the spleen becomes tinged with a pale rose color, often noted by seers when it courses along the nerves as electricity does in the wires of an electric system. Thus charged, the chemical and life ethers are the avenues of assimilation which preserves the indi- vidual, and of fecundation which perpetuates the race.
During life each prismatic vital atom penetrates a physical atom and vibrates it. To form a picture of this combination, imagine a pear-shaped wire basket having walls of spirally curved wire run- ning obliquely from pole to pole. This is the physical atom ; it is shaped nearly like our earth, and the pris- matic vital atom is inserted from the top, which is widest and corresponds to the north pole of the earth.
100 THE OCCULT EFFECT OF OUR EMOTIONS
Thus the point of the prism penetrates the physical atom at the narrowest point, which corresponds to the south pole of our earth, and the whole resembles a top swinging, swaying, and vibrating. In this man- ner our body is made alive and capable of motion. (It is noteworthy that our earth is similarly per- meated by a cosmic body of ether, and that those man- ifestations which we note as the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis are etheric currents circling the earth from pole to equator as currents in the physical atoms do.)
The light and reflecting ethers are avenues of con- sciousness and memory. They are somewhat atten- uated in the average individual and have not yet taken definite form; they interpenetrate the atom as air interpenetrates a sponge, and they form a slight auric atmosphere outside each atom.
At death a separation takes place; the seed-atom is withdrawn from the apex of the heart along the sat- urnine pneumogastric nerve, through the ventricles and out of the skull (Golgotha) ; all the other atoms of the vital body are liberated from the cross of the dense body by the same spiral motion, which un- screws each prismatic atom of ether from its phys- ical envelope.
This process is attended with more or less violence according to the cause of death. An aged person
EFFECTS OF THE WAR UPON THE DESIRE BODY 101
whose vitality has been slowly ebbing may fall asleep and wake up on the other side of the veil without the slightest consciousness of how the change took place; a devout and religious person who has been prepared by prayer and meditation on the beyond would also be able to make an easy egress; people who freeze to death meet with what the writer believes to be the easiest of accidental deaths, drowning being next.
But when a person is young and healthy, especially if of an irreligious or atheistic turn of mind, the pris- matic ether atom is so tightly entwined by the phys- ical atom that a considerable wrench is required to separate the vital body. When the separation of the physical body from the higher vehicles has been ac- complished and the person is dead, as we say, the light and reflecting ethers are separated from the prismatic atom. It is this stuff, as described in the Cosmo, which is molded into the pictures of the past life and etched into the desire body, which then begins to feel whatever there was of pain or pleasure in the life. The part of the vital body composed of the prismatic atoms of the chemical and life ethers then returns to the physical body, hovering above the grave and disintegrating synchronously with it.
Now comes the crux of our explanation. Ether is physical matter, and while people shot with small arms in a minor engagement may sometimes be seen
102 THE Occui/r EFFECT OF OUR EMOTIONS
walking away somewhat dazed but nevertheless con- scious, the awful detonations of the big guns used so extensively have the effect of throwing the pris- matic ether atoms topsy-turvy, and shattering (not scattering) the auric envelope of light and reflecting ethers which is the basis of sense-perception and mem- ory. Until this resolves itself into its original rela- tivity, the man remains in a stunned, comatose con- dition which often lasts for weeks. Under such con- ditions this fine etheric stuff does not lend itself to the formation of pictures of the past life — it is con- gealed to a certain extent.
103