Filename: RC1019.TXT Source: +quot;Gleanings of a Mystic+quot; by Max Heindel [PAGE 608] T
Filename: RC1019.TXT
Source: "Gleanings of a Mystic" by Max Heindel
[PAGE 608]
THE COSMIC MEANING OF EASTER:
On the morning of Good Friday, 1857, Richard Wagner, the master artist of
the nineteenth century, sat on the verandah of a Swiss villa by the Zurich
Sea. The landscape about him was bathed in the most glorious sunshine;
peace and good will seemed to vibrate through nature. All creation was
throbbing with life; the air was laden with the fragrant perfume of budding
pine forests--a grateful balm to a troubled heart or a restless mind.
Then suddenly, as a bolt from an azure sky, there came into Wagner's
deeply mystic soul a remembrance of the ominous significance of that
day--the darkest and most sorrowful in the Christian year. It almost over-
whelmed him with sadness, as he contemplated the contrast. There was such a
marked incongruity between the smiling scene before him, the plainly observ-
able activity of nature, struggling to renewed life after winter's long
sleep, and the death struggle of a tortured Savior upon a cross; between the
full throated chant of life and love issuing from the thousands of little
[PAGE 609]
feathered choristers in forest, moor and meadow, and the ominous shouts of
hate issuing from an infuriated mob as they jeered and mocked the noblest
ideal the world has ever known; between the wonderful creative energy ex-
erted by nature in spring, and the destructive element in man, which slew
the noblest character that ever graced our earth.
While Wagner meditated thus upon the incongruities of existence, the
question presented itself: Is there any connection between the death of the
Savior upon the cross at Easter, and the vital energy which expresses itself
so prodigally in spring when nature begins the life of a new year?
Though Wagner did not consciously perceive and realize the full sig-
nificance of the connection between the death of the Savior and the rejuve-
nation of nature, he had, nevertheless, unwittingly stumbled upon the key to
one of the most sublime mysteries encountered by the human spirit in its
pilgrimage from clod to God.
In the darkest night of the year, when earth sleeps most soundly in
Boreas' cold embrace, when material activities are at the very lowest ebb, a
wave of spiritual energy carries upon its crest the divine creative "Word
from Heaven" to a MYSTIC BIRTH at Christmas; and as a luminous cloud the
spiritual impulse broods over the world that "knew it not," for it "shines
in the darkness" of winter when nature is paralyzed and speechless.
[PAGE 610]
This divine creative "Word" has a message and a mission. It was born to
"save the world," and "to give its life for the world." It must of neces-
sity sacrifice its life in order to accomplish the rejuvenation of nature.
Gradually it BURIES ITSELF IN THE EARTH and commences to infuse its own vi-
tal energy into the millions of seeds which lie dormant in the ground. It
whispers "the word of life" into the ears of beast and bird, until the gos-
pel or good news has been preached to every creature. The sacrifice is
fully consummated by the time the sun crosses its Easter (n) node at the
spring equinox. Then the divine creative Word expires. IT DIES UPON THE
CROSS AT EASTER in a mystical sense, while uttering a last triumphant cry,
"It has been accomplished" (consummatum est).
But as an echo returns to us many times repeated, so also the celestial
song of life is re-echoed from the earth. The whole creation takes up the
anthem. A legion-tongued chorus repeats it over and over. The little seeds
in the bosom of Mother Earth commence to germinate; they burst and sprout in
all directions, and soon a wonderful mosaic of life, a velvety green carpet
embroidered with multicolored flowers, replaces the shroud of immaculate
wintry white. From the furred and feathered tribes "the word of life"
re-echoes as a song of love, impelling them to mate. Generation and multi-
plication are the watchwords everywhere--THE SPIRIT HAS RISEN to more abun-
dant life.
[PAGE 611]
Thus, mystically, we may note the annual birth, death, and resurrection
of the Savior as the ebb and flow of a spiritual impulse which culminates at
the winter solstice, Christmas, and has egress from the earth shortly after
Easter when the "word" ASCENDS TO HEAVEN" on Whitsunday. But it will not
remain there forever. We are taught that "thence it shall return," "at the
judgement." Thus when the sun descends below the equator through the sign
of the scales in October, when the fruits of the year are harvested,
weighed, and assorted according to their kind, the descent of the spirit of
the new year has its inception. This descent culminates in birth at Christ-
mas.
Man is a miniature of nature. What happens on a large scale in the life
of a planet like our earth, takes place on a smaller scale in the course of
human events. A planet is the body of a wonderfully great and exalted Be-
ing, one of the Seven Spirits before the Throne (of the parent Sun). Man
isalso a spirit and "made in their likeness." As a planet revolves in its
cyclic path around the sun whence it emanated, so also the human spirit
roves in an orbit around its central source--God. Planetary orbits, being
ellipses, have points of closest approach to and extreme deviation from
their solar centers. Likewise the orbit of the human spirit is elliptical.
We are closest to God when our cyclic journey carries us into the celestial
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sphere of activity--heaven, and we are farthest removed from Him during
earth life. These changes are necessary to our soul growth. As the festi-
vals of the year mark the recurring events of importance in the life of a
Great Spirit, so our births and deaths are events of periodical recurrence.
It is as impossible for the human spirit to remain perpetually in heaven or
upon earth as it is for a planet to stand still in its orbit. The same im-
mutable law of periodicity which determines the unbroken sequence of the
seasons, the alternation of day and night, the tidal ebb and flow, governs
also the progression of the human spirit, both in heaven and upon earth.
From realms of celestial light where we live in freedom, untrammeled by
limitations of time and space, where we vibrate in tune with infinite har-
mony of the spheres, we descend to birth in the physical world where our
spiritual sight is obscured by the mortal coil which binds us to this lim-
ited phase of our existence. We live here awhile; we die and ascend to
heaven, to be reborn and to die again. Each earth life is a chapter in a
serial life story, extremely humble in its beginnings, but increasing in in-
terest and importance as we ascend to higher and higher stations of human
responsibility. No limit is conceivable, for in essence we are divine and
must therefore have the infinite possibilities of God dormant within. When
we have learned all that this world has to teach us, a wider orbit, a larger
[PAGE 613]
sphere of super-human usefulness, will give scope to our greater capa-
bilities.
"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea."
Thus says Oliver Wendell Holmes, comparing the spiral progression in the
widening coil of a chambered nautilus to the expansion of consciousness
which is the result of soul growth in an evolving human being.
"But what of Christ?" someone will ask. "Don't you believe in Him? You
are discoursing upon Easter, the feast which commemorates the cruel death
and the glorious, triumphant resurrection of the Savior, but you seem to be
alluding to Him more from an allegorical point of view than as an actual
fact."
Certainly we believe in the Christ; we love Him with our whole heart and
soul, but we wish to emphasize the teaching that Christ is the first fruits
of the race. He said that we shall do the things He did, "and greater."
Thus we are Christs-in-the-making.
"Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn.
The cross on Golgotha thou lookest to in vain,
Unless within thyself it be set up again."
[PAGE 614]
Thus proclaims Angelus Silesius, with true mystic understanding of the
essentials of attainment.
We are too much in the habit of looking to an outside Savior while har-
boring a devil within; but till Christ be formed IN US, as Paul says, we
shall seek in vain, for as it is impossible for us to perceive light and
color, though they be all about us, unless our optic nerve registers their
vibrations, and as we remain unconscious of sound when the tympanum of our
ear is insensitive, so also must we remain blind in the presence of Christ
and deaf to His voice until we arouse our dormant spiritual natures within.
But once these natures have become awakened, they will reveal the Lord of
Love as a prime reality; this on the principle that when a tuning fork is
struck, another of identical pitch will also commence to sing, while tuning
forks of different pitches will remain mute. Therefore the Christ said that
His sheep knew the SOUND of His voice and responded, but the voice of the
stranger they heard not (John 10:5). No matter what our creed, we are all
brethren of Christ, so let us rejoice, the Lord has risen! Let us seek Him
and forget our creeds and other lesser differences.
[PAGE 615]
Once more we have reached the final act in the cosmic drama involving the
descent of the solar Christ Ray into the matter of our earth, which is com-
pleted at the Mystic Birth celebrated at Christmas, and the Mystic Death and
Liberation, which are celebrated shortly after the vernal equinox when the
sun of the new year commences its ascent into the higher spheres of the
northern heavens, having poured out its life to save humanity and give new
life to everything upon earth. At this time of the year a new life, an aug-
mented energy, sweeps with an irresistible force through the veins and ar-
teries of all living beings, inspiring them, instilling new hope, new ambi-
tion, and new life, impelling them to new activities whereby they learn new
lessons in the school of experience. Consciously or unconsciously to the
beneficiaries, this outdwelling energy invigorates everything that has life.
Even the plant responds by an increased circulation of sap, which results in
additional growth of the leaves, flowers, and fruits whereby this class of
[PAGE 616]
life is at present expressing itself and evolving to a higher state of con-
sciousness.
But wonderful though these outward physical manifestations are, and glo-
rious though the transformation may be called which changes the earth from a
waste of snow and ice into a beautiful, blooming garden, it sinks into sig-
nificance before the spiritual activities which run side by side therewith.
The salient features of the cosmic drama are identical in point of time with
the material effects of the sun in the four cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer,
Libra and Capricorn, for the most significant events occur at the
equinoctial and solstitial points.
It is really and actually true that "IN God we live and move and have our
being." Outside Him we could have no existence; we live by and through His
life; we move and act by and through His strength; it is His power which
sustains our dwelling place, the forts the universe itself would disinte-
grate. Now we are taught that man was made in the likeness of God, and we
are given to understand that according to the law of analogy we are pos-
sessed of certain powers latent within us which are similar to those we see
so potently expressed in the labor of Deity in the universe. This gives us
a particular interest in the annual cosmic drama involving the death and
resurrection of the sun. The life of the GOD MAN, CHRIST JESUS was moulded
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in conformity with the solar story, and it foreshadows in a similar manner
all that may happen to the MAN GOD of whom this Christ Jesus prophesied when
He said: The works that I do shall ye do also; and greater works shall ye
do; whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me af-
terwards.
Nature is the symbolic expression of God. She does nothing in vain or
gratuitously, but there is a purpose behind every thing and every act.
Therefore we should be alert and regard carefully the signs in the heavens
for they have a deep and important meaning concerning our own lives. The
intelligent understanding of their purpose enables us to work so much more
efficiently with God in His wonderful efforts for the emancipation of our
pace from bondage to the laws of nature, and for its liberation into a full
measure of the stature of the sons of God--crowned with glory, honor, and
immortality, and free from the power of sin, sickness, and suffering which
now curtail our lives by reason of our ignorance and nonconformity to the
laws of God. The divine purpose demands this emancipation, but whether it
is to be accomplished by the long tedious process of evolution or by the im-
mensely quicker pathway of Initiation depends upon whether or not we are
willing to lend our cooperation. The majority of mankind go through life
with unseeing eyes and with ears that do not hear. They are engrossed in
their material affairs, buying and selling, working and playing, without an
[PAGE 618]
adequate understanding or appreciation of the purpose of existence, and were
it unfolded to them it is scarcely to be expected that they would conform
and co-operate because of the sacrifice it involves.
It is no wonder that the Christ appeals particularly to the poor and that
He emphasizes the difficulty of the rich entering the kingdom of heaven, for
even to this day when humanity has advanced in the school of evolution for
two millenia since His day, we find that the great majority still value
their houses and lands, their pretty hats and gowns, the pleasures of soci-
ety, dances, and dinners more than the treasurers of heaven which are gar-
nered by service and self-sacrifice. Although they may intellectually per-
ceive the beauty of the spiritual life, its desirability fades into
insignificance in their eyes when compared with the sacrifice involved in
attaining. Like the rich young man they would willingly follow Christ were
there no such sacrifice involved. They prefer rather to go away when they
realize that sacrifice is the one condition upon which they may enter dis-
cipleship. So for them Easter is simply a season of joy because it is the
end of winter and the beginning of the summer season with its call of out-
door sports and pleasures.
But for those who have definitely chosen the path of self-sacrifice that
leads to Liberation, Easter is the annual sign given them as evidence of the
cosmic basis of their hopes and aspirations. As Paul properly states in
[PAGE 619]
that glorious fifteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians, "If Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
"Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified
of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up if so be that the
dead rise not.
"For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.
"And if Christ be not raised your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
"If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what
advantageth it me if the dead rise not?
"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of
them that slept."
But in the Easter sun which at the vernal equinox commences to soar into
the northern heavens after having laid down its life for the earth, we have
the cosmic symbol of the verity of resurrection. When taken as a cosmic
fact in connection with the law of analogy that connects the macrocosm with
the microcosm, it is an earnest that some day we shall all attain the cosmic
consciousness and know positively for ourselves by our own experience that
there is no death, but that what seems so is only a transition into a finer
sphere.
[PAGE 620]
It is an annual symbol to strengthen our souls in the work of well-doing
that we may grow the golden wedding garment required to make us sons of God
in the highest and holiest sense. It is literally true that unless we walk
in the light as God is in the light, we are not in fellowship; but by making
the sacrifices and rendering the services required of us to aid in the eman-
cipation of our race we are building the soul body of radiant golden light
which is the special substance emanated from and by the Spirit of the Sun,
the Cosmic Christ. When this golden substance has clothed us with suffi-
cient density, then we shall be able to imitate the Easter sun and soar into
the higher spheres.
With these ideals firmly fixed in our minds, Easter time becomes a season
when it is in order to review our life during the preceding year and make
new resolutions for the coming season to serve in furthering our soul
growth. It is a season when the symbol of the ascending sun should lead us
up to a keen realization of the fact that we are but pilgrims and strangers
upon earth, that our real home as spirits is in heaven, and that we ought to
endeavor to learn the lessons in this life school as quickly as is consis-
tent with proper service, so that as Easter Day marks the resurrection and
liberation of the Christ Spirit from the lower realms, so we also may con-
tinually look for the dawn of that day which shall permanently free us from
the meshes of matter, from the body of sin and death, together with our
[PAGE 621]
brethren in bondage, for no true aspirant would conceive of a liberation
that did not include all who were similarly placed.
This is a gigantic task; the contemplation of it may well daunt the brav-
est heart, and were we alone it could not be accomplished; but the divine
hierarchies who have guided humanity upon the path of evolution from the be-
ginning of our career are still active and working with us from their side-
real worlds, and with their help we shall eventually be able to accomplish
this elevation of humanity as a whole and attain to an individual realiza-
tion of glory, honor, and immortality. Having this great hope within our-
selves, this great mission in the world, let us work as never before to make
ourselves better men and women, so that by our example we may waken in oth-
ers a desire to lead a life that brings liberation.
[PAGE 622]
THE NEWBORN CHRIST:
It has often been said in our literature that the sacrifice of Christ
wass not an event which, taking place on Golgotha, was accomplished in a few
hours once and for all time, but that the mystic births and deaths of the
Redeemer are continual cosmic occurrences. We may therefore conclude that
this sacrifice is necessary for our physical and spiritual evolution during
the present phase of our development. As the annual birth of the Christ
Child approaches, it presents a never old, ever new theme for meditation,
from which we may profit by pondering it with a prayer that it may create in
our hearts a new light to guide us upon the path of regeneration.
The inspired apostle gave us a wonderful definition of Deity when he said
that "God is Light," and therefore "light" has been used to illustrate the
nature of the Divine in the Rosicrucian teachings, especially the mystery of
the Trinity in Unity. It is clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures of all
times that God is one and indivisible. At the same time we find that as the
[PAGE 623]
one white light is refracted into three primary colors, red, yellow, and
blue, so God appears in threefold role during manifestation by the exercise
of the three divine functions of CREATION, PRESERVATION, AND DISSOLUTION.
When He exercises the attribute of CREATION, God appears as Jehovah, the
HOLY SPIRIT; He is the Lord of law and generation and projects the solar
fertilizing principle INDIRECTLY through the lunar satellites of all planets
where it is necessary to furnish bodies for their evolving beings.
When He exercises the attribute of PRESERVATION for the purpose of sus-
taining the bodies generated by Jehovah under the laws of nature, God ap-
pears as the Redeemer, CHRIST, and radiates the principles of love and re-
generation DIRECTLY into any planet where the creatures of Jehovah require
this help to extricate themselves from the meshes of mortality and egotism
in order to attain to altruism and endless life.
When God exercises the divine attribute of DISSOLUTION, He appears as THE
FATHER who calls us back to our heavenly home to assimilate the fruits of
experience and soul growth garnered by us during the day of manifestation.
This Universal Solvent, the ray of the Father, emanates from the Invisible
Spiritual Sun.
These divine processes of creation and birth, preservation and life, and
dissolution, death and return to the Author of our being we see everywhere
[PAGE 624]
about us, and we recognize the fact that they are activities of the Triune
God in manifestation. But have we ever realized that in the spiritual world
there are no definite events, no static conditions; that the beginning and
the end of all adventures of all ages are present in the eternal "here" and
"now"? From the bosom of the Father there is an everlasting outdwelling of
the essence of things and events, which enters the realms of "time" and
"space." There it gradually crystallizes and becomes inert, necessitating
dissolution that there may be room for other things and other events.
There is no escape from this cosmic law; it applies to everything in the
realm of time and space, the Christ ray included. As the lake which empties
itself into the ocean is replenished when the water that left it has been
evaporated and returns to it as rain, to flow again ceaselessly toward the
sea, so the Spirit of Love is eternally born of the Father, day by day, hour
by hour, endlessly flowing into the solar universe to redeem us in its death
grip. Wave upon wave is thus impelled outward from the sun to all the plan-
ets, giving a rhythmic urge to the evolving creatures there.
And so it is in the very truest and most literal sense A NEWBORN CHRIST
that we hail at each approaching Yule-feast, and Christmas is the most vital
annual event for all humanity whether we realize it or not. It is not
merely a commemoration of the birth of our beloved Elder Brother, Jesus, but
[PAGE 625]
the advent of the rejuvenating love of life of our Heavenly Father, sent by
Him to redeem the world from the wintry death grip. Without this new infu-
sion of divine life and energy we should soon perish physically, and our
orderly progress would be frustrated so far as our present lines of develop-
ment are concerned. This is a point we should endeavor to realize thor-
oughly in order that we may learn to appreciate Christmas as keenly as we
should.
We may learn a lesson in this respect as in many others from our children
or from reminiscences of our own childhood. How keen were our anticipations
of the approaching feast! How eagerly we waited for the hour when we should
receive the gifts which we knew would be forthcoming from Santa Claus, the
mysterious universal benefactor who brought the toys for the coming year!
How would we have felt had our parents given us the dismembered dolls and
broken drums of yesteryear? It would surely have been felt as an overwhelm-
ing misfortune and would have left a deep sense of broken trust which even
time would have found it difficult to heal; yet it would have been as noth-
ing compared with the cosmic calamity that would befall mankind if our Heav-
enly Father should fail to provide the newborn Christ for our cosmic Christ-
mas gift.
The Christ of last year cannot save us from physical famine any more than
last year's rain can drench the soil again and swell the millions of seeds
[PAGE 626]
that slumber in the earth awaiting the germinal activities of the Father's
life to begin their growth; the Christ of last year cannot kindle anew in
our hearts the spiritual aspirations which urge us onward in the Quest any
more than last summer's heat can warm us now. The Christ of last year gave
us His love and His life to the last breath without stint or measure; when
He was born into the earth last Christmas, He endued with life the sleeping
seeds which have grown and gratefully filled our granaries with the bread of
physical life; He lavished the love given Him by the Father upon us, and
when He had wholly spent His life, He died at Eastertide to rise again to
the Father, as the river by evaporation rises to the sky.
But endlessly wells the divine love; as a father pities his children, so
does our Heavenly Father pity us, for He knows our physical and spiritual
frailty and dependence. Therefore we are now confidently awaiting the mys-
tic birth of the Christ of another year, laden with new life and love sent
by the Father to preserve us from the physical and spiritual famine which
would ensue were it not for this annual love offering.
Younger souls usually find it difficult to disabuse their minds of the
personality of God, of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, and some can only
love Jesus, the man. They forget Christ, the Great Spirit, who ushered in a
new era in which the nations established under the regime of Jehovah will be
broken to pieces that the sublime structure of Universal Brotherhood may be
[PAGE 627]
built upon their ruins. In time all the world will realize that "God is
spirit, to be worshiped in spirit and truth." It is well to love Jesus and
to imitate him; we know of no nobler ideal and none more worthy. Could a
cobler one have been found, Jesus would not have been chosen as a vehicle of
that Great One, the Christ, in whom dwelt the Godhead. We shall therefore
do well to follow "in His steps."
At the same time we shall exalt God in our own consciousness by taking
the word of the Bible that He is spirit, and that we cannot make any like-
nesses which will portray Him for He is like nothing in heaven or on earth.
We can see the physical vehicles of Jehovah circling as satellites around
the various planets; we can also see the sun, which is the visible vehicle
of the Father and the source of all, appears to the greatest of human seers
only as a higher octave of the photosphere of the sun, a ring of violet-blue
luminosity behind the sun. But we do not need to see; we can feel His love,
and that feeling is never so great as at Christmas time when He is giving us
the greatest of all gifts, the Christ of the new year.
[PAGE 628]
WHY I AM A ROSICRUCIAN:
Not infrequently we find that some one takes the platform to explain why
he is a Baptist, Methodist, or Christian Scientist, and what his particular
faith may be. We have often been asked by our students for something which
would help make plain to their associates why they had embraced the teach-
ings of the Elder Brothers given through the Rosicrucian Fellowship, in
preference to the faith which they had left. We will, therefore, endeavor
to give a succinct resume of reasons which appeal to us as sufficient, but
students will doubtless find many other reasons equally good or better,
which they may add verbally to what is here said.
It should be made clear in the very beginning that students in the
Rosicrucian Fellowship do not call themselves Rosicrucians. That title ap-
plies alone to the Elder Brothers, who are the hierophants of the Western
Wisdom Teaching. They are as far beyond the greatest living saint in the
spiritual development as that saint is above the lowest fetish worshiper.
[PAGE 629]
When the bark of our life sails lightly upon smooth summer seas, wafted
along by the fair winds of health and prosperity, when friends are present
on every hand, eager to help us plan pleasures which will increase our en-
joyment of this world's goods, when social favors or political powers come
to us to gratify our every wish in whatever sphere our inclinations seek ex-
pression, then, indeed, we may say and seem justified in saying with our
whole heart and soul: "This world is good enough for me." But when we come
to the end of the smiling sea of success; when the whirlwind of adversity
has blown us upon the rocky shores of disaster, and a wave of suffering
threatens to engulf us; when friends have failed and every human help is as
far off as it is unavailing, then we must look for guidance to the skies as
does the mariner when he steers his ship over the waste of waters.
But when the skipper scans the sky in search of a star whereby to steer
the ship safely, he finds that the whole heavens are in motion. Therefore
to follow almost any one of the myriad of wandering stars visible to the eye
would be disastrous. To meet the requirements the guiding star must be per-
fectly steadfast and immovable, and there is only one such, namely, the
North Star. By its guiding light the mariner may steer in full confidence
and bring his ship to a haven of rest and safety. Likewise one who is look-
ing for a guide which he may trust in days of sorrow and trouble should
[PAGE 630]
embrace a religion founded on eternal laws and immutable principles, able to
explain the mystery of life in a logical manner so that his intellect may be
satisfied, and at the same time containing a system of devotion that may
satisfy the heart, so that these twin factors in life may receive equal sat-
isfaction. Only when man has a clear intellectual conception of the scheme
of human development is he in a position to range himself in line therewith.
When it is made clear to him that this scheme is beneficient and benevolent
in the very highest degree, that all is truly ruled by divine love, then
this understanding will sooner or later call out in him a true devotion and
heartfelt acquiescence which will awaken in him a desire to become a
co-worker with God is the world's work. When seeking souls come to the door
of the church to seek surcease from sorrow, they cannot be satisfied with
the platitudes that it is the will of God that sorrow and suffering have
come to them, that in His divine providence He has seen fit to scourge them,
and that they must take it as an indication that He regards them as His be-
loved children and be satisfied no matter what happens. They cannot see
that Deity does justice when He makes some rich and many poor, a few healthy
and many sickly; and it is only too often in evidence that iniquity is pros-
perous while rectitude is in rags.
[PAGE 631]
The Rosicrucian Teaching gives clear and logical information concerning
the world and man; it invites questions instead of discouraging them, so
that the seeker after spiritual truth may receive full satisfaction intel-
lectually; and its explanations are as strictly scientific as they are rev-
erently religions. It refers us for information regarding life's problems
to laws that are unchangeable and immutable in their realm of action as the
North Star is in the heavens.
Though the world whirls upon its axis at the rate of one thousand miles
an hour, we stand safely anywhere upon its surface because the principle of
gravity prevents us from being hurled into space by the terrific speed. We
know that the law of gravity is eternal; it will not act today and suspend
action tomorrow. When we enter a hydraulic elevator we rest safely upon a
column of water because that fluid is more incompressible that most solids,
and this property is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Were its ac-
tion suspended for even a few moments, thousands of people would fall to
their death; but it is steadfast and sure, therefore we trust in implicitly.
The law of cause and effect is also immutable; if we throw a stone into
the air, the act is not complete until by gravitation it has returned to
earth. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," is the way this
law is expressed in the realm of morals. "The mills of God grind slowly,
but they grind exceedingly small," and once an act has been done, the reac-
tion will come some time, some where, as surely as the stone that was thrown
[PAGE 632]
into the air will return to the earth.
But it is manifest that all of the causes that we set going in life do
not ripen in the present existence, and it therefore follows that they must
find their fruition somewhere else at some other time, or the law would be
invalidated, a proposition that would be as absolutely impossible as that
the law of gravitation could be suspended, for either would make chaos out
of cosmos. The Rosicrucian Teachings explain this by a statement that man
is a spirit attending the School of Life for the purpose of unfolding latent
spiritual power, and that for this purpose he lives many lives in earthly
bodies of increasingly finer texture, which enable him to express himself
better and better. In the lower grades of this school of evolution man has
few faculties. Each life-day he comes to school in the morning of child-
hood, and is given lessons to learn, and at night when old and gray the
nurse maid of nature, "Death," puts him to sleep that he may rest from his
labors until the dawn of another life-day, when he is given a new child body
and new lessons. Each day "Experience," the teacher of the school helps him
to learn some of the lessons of life, and gradually he becomes more and more
proficient. Some day he will have learned the entire curriculum of the
school, which includes building of bodies as well as using them.
Thus when we see one who has few faculties, we know that he is a young
[PAGE 633]
soul who has gone to life's school only a few days; and when we find a beau-
tiful character, we recognize an old soul who has spent much time in master-
ing its lessons. Therefore we do not despair of God's love when we see the
inequalities of life, for we know that in time all will be perfect as our
Father in Heaven is perfect.
The Rosicrucian teachings also take the sting of sorrow out of the great-
est of all trials, the loss of loved ones, even if they have been what is
called wayward or black sheep; for we know that it is an actual fact that IN
GOD WE LIFE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING; hence, if one single soul were
lost, a part of God would be lost, and such a proposition is absolutely im-
possible. Under the immutable law of cause and effect we are bound to meet
these loved ones some time in the future under other circumstances, and
there the love that binds us together must continue until it has found its
fullest expression. The laws of nature would be violated if a stone thrown
from the earth were to remain suspended in the atmosphere, and under the
same immutable laws those who pass into the higher spheres must return.
Christ said, "Ye must be born again," and "If I go to my Father, I will re-
turn."
But although our reason may reach into the mysteries of life, there is
still a higher stage, actual firsthand knowledge. As a matter of fact the
foregoing propositions are capable of verification by each one, for we all
have a sixth sense latent in our being, which will sometime enable us to
view the spiritual world with the same distinctness as that with which we
[PAGE 634]
see the temporal. This sixth sense will be developed by all in the course
of evolution, and there are certain means whereby it may be developed now by
all who care to take the necessary time and trouble to do so. Some have
done this, and they have told us of their travels in the land of the soul.
We believe their testimony concerning that place just as we believe what
people who have traveled in Africa or Australia tell us of those countries.
And just as we say that we know the earth rotates upon its axis and revolves
in its orbit around the sun because we have been thus informed by scientists
who have made the investigations and calculations that establish these
facts, so also we say that we know the dead live, and that whether dead or
alive, in the body or out of it, we are all enfolded in the love of our Fa-
ther in Heaven, without whose Will not the smallest sparrow falls to the
ground, and that He cares for all and orders our steps in harmony with His
plans to develop our spiritual powers to the highest possible degree.
So because of the logical, soul-satisfying philosophy of life given by
the Rosicrucians, we follow their teachings in preference to other systems,
and invite others who wish to share the blessings thereof to investigate.
[PAGE 635]
THE OBJECT OF THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP:
The object of the Rosicrucian Fellowship has been clearly stated in our
literature, as have the means whereby it is hoped to attain the end in view,
but in response to requests for a succinct summary we devote this chapter to
that subject.
The world is God's training school. During the past we have learned to
build different vehicles, among other the physical body. By this work we
are promoted from class to class, each with its particular scope of con-
sciousness. We evolved eyes that we might see, ears that we might hear, and
other organs that we might taste, smell, and feel. But not all egos were
promoted at every step. When the mist in the air at the time of Atlantis
condensed and filled the basins of the earth with oceans of water, driving
men to the highlands, many perished by asphyxiation because they had not
evolved lungs. They could not pass through the portal of the rainbow, which
was, so to speak, the entrance gate to the new age with its dry atmospheric
conditions.
[PAGE 636]
Another great world transformation is coming, we know not when; even the
Christ confessed His ignorance of the day and the hour; but He warned us
that the day would come as a thief in the night, and He prophesied that the
conditions in the world would then be similar to those prevailing in the
days of Noah; they were living then in carefree enjoyment of life when sud-
denly the floodgates of heaven were opened, and death and destruction spread
before them.
Christ told us that it is possible to take the kingdom of God by storm
and attain to the consciousness and conditions there prevailing. But Paul
informs us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; he states
that we have a soul body (SOME PSUCHICON-1 Cor. 15: 44), and that we shall
meet the Lord in the air when He comes. This soul body is therefore as nec-
essary to entrance into the new age of the kingdom of God, as a body
equipped with lungs was to the Atlanteans who desired to enter into the age
in which we are now living. Therefore it is necessary that we make our
calling and election sure by preparing the GOLDEN WEDDING GARMENT, the soul
body, which alone can secure our admission to the mystic marriage.
The multitude is slowly moving in the right direction as led by the dif-
ferent churches, but there is an ever growing class that, so to speak, feels
the wings of the soul body sproating, people who feel an inner urge to take
the kingdom of God by storm. Though unaware of any definite ideal, they
sense a greater truth and more certain light than those which the Church
[PAGE 637]
radiates; they are tired of parables and long to learn the underlying facts
at the very feet of Christ.
The Rosicrucian Fellowship was started for the purpose of reaching this
class, to show them the way to illumination, to help them build their soul
body and evolve the soul powers which will enable them to enter consciously
into the kingdom of God and obtain first-hand knowledge.
This is a large undertaking, none greater and even under the most favor-
able existing conditions progress must be slow, but if the aspirant will
continue with patient perseverance in well doing, it can be done.
The methods are definite, scientific, and religious; they have been
originated by the Western School of the Rosicrucian Order, and are therefore
specially suited to western people. Sometimes, but very rarely, they bring
results in a short time; generally it requires years and even lives before
the aspirant attains, but the following system will in the end bring all to
their heart's desire.
The Tabernacle in the Wilderness was a symbolic representation of the way
to God, and, as Paul says, held a shadow of better things to come. Every-
thing in it had its spiritual meaning. The table of shewbread gives us an
important lesson germane to our present consideration. Students will remem-
ber that the ancient Israelites were commanded to bring the shewbread to the
[PAGE 638]
tabernacle at stated intervals. The grain from which this was made was
given them by God but they must prepare the soil in which it was to grow,
they must plant and cultivate, they must weed and water, so as to secure the
greatest possible increase; they must harvest and thresh, grind and bake,
ere they had the loaves which they brought to the tabernacle as bread to
shew for their toil. Similarly, God gives to all the grain of opportunity
to serve, but it is our duty to cultivate these opportunities and nurse and
nourish them in the soil of loving kindness so that they may bring a great
increase. We must always bear in mind the words of Christ that He came to
minister and to serve. Therefore anyone aspiring to follow in His steps and
to be great in the kingdom of god must ever be on the lookout for opportuni-
ties to serve his fellows. Each day must be filled as full as possible with
kind and considerate deeds, for they are the warp and woof of which the
golden wedding garment is woven. Without these "works" no amount of prayer,
fasting, or other religious exercise will avail. It is useless to repair to
the temple without this bread to shew that we have really worked in the
Master's service.
The foregoing is also the teaching of the exoteric churches; but the fol-
lowing is the exclusively Rosicrucian scientific teaching and method, based
upon the deepest knowledge of spiritual facts whereby the aspirant is en-
abled to gain the maximum soul growth in each life, so that his spiritual
[PAGE 639]
advancement is accelerated beyond his very wildest dreams. Therefore this
is the most important spiritual teaching that has been given to man in mod-
ern times, and no one who tries honestly to follow this simple method can
fail to be enormously benefited:
Ether is the medium of transmission light, that which etches a picture on
the photographic film. It permeates the air, and with every breath we draw
from birth to death ether enters our system and etches a picture of our sur-
roundings and actions on a little atom in the heart. Thus each carries with
him a complete record of his life, which is assimilated after death. Ex-
piation of the evil deeds causes paid and anguish in purgatory. These are
thus transmuted to conscience to prevent repetition of the same mistakes in
succeeding lives: the good deeds are transmuted to love and benevolence.
Instead of waiting for this post-mortem transmutation of the shrewbread of
life, the aspirant who desires to take heaven by storm may assimilate the
fruits of each day after retiring and before going to sleep by running over
the deeds done. The events of the day are considered in reverse order so
that that which happened in the evening is taken first, then the happenings
of the afternoon, forenoon, and morning. This is important for it conforms
to the way the life panorama acts after death, taking first the events just
prior to death, last the events of infancy. The object is to show the
[PAGE 640]
effects and then refer them to their antecedent causes.
In this retrospection it will do the aspirant no good to run over the
events of the day and mildly blame himself where he did wrong-he is usually
sure enough to praise himself sufficiently for his good deeds. But he must
remember the altar of burnt offerings where the sacrifices for sin were of-
fered. They were first rubbed with salt and then placed on the altar to be
consumed by a divinely enkindled fire. Anyone knows what an intense pain is
caused when salt is rubbed into a wound, and this rubbing with salt is sym-
bolic of the pain the aspirant must feel for his wrongdoing. Now mark that
it was not permissible to place the sacrifice on the altar until it had thus
rubbed with salt. God would not accept it before, but WHEN IT HAD BEEN
SALTED IT WAS CONSUMED BY A FIRE KINDLED BY GOD HIMSELF.
This tells us that unless we have washed our evil deeds of the day in the
salt of our tears and heartfelt contrition, God will not accept our sacri-
fice of repentance; but when we have really repented, our sins will be
washed away and our recording atom will be clean as the driven snow. With
respect to our good deeds we may remember that there were two little piles
of frankincense of the top of the shew bread. These were offered upon the
altar of incense, where the smoke ascended as a sweet savor to the Lord, so
different from the nauseating stench that went up from the altar where the
[PAGE 641]
sin offerings were burned. Is it any wonder that God took no delight in the
sacrifice of bulls and calves, but delighted in a contrite heart and repen-
tant spirit?
It is this spiritual aromatic extract of our good deeds that builds our
soul body. By the ordinary natural process it takes about one-third as many
years in our post-mortem existence as we lived in the body, to reap what we
have sowed. But when an aspirant has assimilated the fruits of life by
faithful retrospection at the end of each day, he is free as soon as he
leaves the body and may use the years spent by others in purgatory and the
first heaven as he pleases. Furthermore, as he needs neither food, shelter,
nor sleep, he may spend twenty-four hours a day doing good. Thus he has
practically as many years of service and soul growth after death as the num-
ber of his earth life; and being trained and schooled in this work his at-
tainments are probably greater than could be made in a number of lives in
the ordinary way.
To aid deserving aspirants, still deeper and more definite teachings are
given by the Elder Brothers through the Rosicrucian Fellowship. Students
who feel the inner urge may ask for information concerning these teachings.
Continued with file "RC1020.TXT"
End of File
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