The Rosicrucian Philosophy
in Questions and Answers
Volume II
by Max Heindel
(Part 9)
The Philosophy
of War
Question No. 163
From the Rosicrucian viewpoint, can war be said to be right? What should be the stand of the Rosicrucian student in the present conflict? (World War I)
Answer: In the great crises of life we are brought face to face
with certain issues and called upon to make decisions of such importance
that they often require reversion of ideas and ideals, even of our most
cherished principles as hitherto conceived. When such a crisis comes it will
be nothing short of mental, moral, and spiritual suicide to shirk or evade
the issue, no matter what the cost. Consistency is said to be a jewel, but
if we would be truly wise we must be ready to change or revise our ideas
whenever occasion really demands.
The Rosicrucian teaching has always been in conformity with the
Bible dictum, "Thou shalt not kill." No qualification was made and some have
carried this idea to such extremes that they would not kill a fly. But the
majority rightly felt that the injunction was not intended to cover pests and
microorganisms which take such a terrible toll of human life. These things,
being manifestations of evil thoughts, are without the pale. These people
have no intention of allowing their bodies or the bodies of their children
to be overrun by vermin rather than to kill the pests, and they realize that
extermination of insects was a great basic factor in America's success at
Panama. In fact it turned the balance from failure to success, and this
principle should be applied wherever necessary. They feel that it would be a
foolish application of the injunction, "Thou shalt not kill," to allow
beasts of prey or poisonous reptiles to roam about among us to endanger our
lives, and they would cheerfully kill to remove such a menace from the
community. In their code of ethics the injunction involves only the idea
that it is wrong to kill for food, for sport, or for profit. To kill a human
being seemed to remote a possibility to most of us that it was not considered
even as a contingency. We always denounced capital punishment both on the
ground that it is basically wrong and that it is worse than useless for when
we free the Spirit of a murderer from his body we liberate him in the
spiritual world where he can and often does work on others to influence them
to similar crimes. Therefore, it is better to restrain him in a prison and
strive to reform him so that even if he does not regain his liberty in this
life, he will in future existences respect the sanctity of life of others.
But while it is possible thus to deal with the individual murderer,
the case is different when an entire nation runs amuck against another,
committing wholesale murder, arson, destruction, and pillage. It is
then impossible to imprison a whole nation and more drastic means of self-
defense must be found.
In civil life we recognize the law of self-defense, which gives the
intended victim of a would-be murderer the right to slay rather than to be
slain, and it would be specious to contend that this right is lost because a
million murderers dress themselves in uniform or because they go out boldly
and brazenly, proclaiming their intention to kill, or because they lie in
ambush by companies instead of singly. Being the aggressors, they are
murderers, and their intended victims have an unquestionable moral right to
defend their own lives by slaying these murderers. Furthermore, there rests
upon the strong the sacred duty of protecting the lives of those who are too
weak to protect themselves. Even that involves the slaying of the
murderers.
From the spiritual standpoint, therefore, the right or wrong of war hinges upon the question: Who is the aggressor and who is the victim?
This question is easily answered where war is started for the purpose
of conquest, or when war is waged for an altruistic purpose such as the
emancipation of a subjected people from physical, industrial, and religious
bondage. It needs no argument to show that in such cases the oppressor is
also the aggressor and the liberator is the defender of inalienable human
rights. He is performing a sacred duty as his "brother's keeper."
When this is once understood we cannot be deceived by the jack-o-
lanterns of diplomacy, for we have a true light, a simple standard of
right and wrong.
Having made up our minds on that point, it follows that it is far
more noble and heroic to face a firing squad for refusing to enter the army
of the aggressor, or to flee from our native land, or even join the ranks
of the defenders in the most menial capacity, than to hold a post of
highest honor among the aggressors.
On the other hand it is a sacred duty in accord with the highest and
noblest spiritual principles to fight among the defenders. The greater the
sacrifice, the greater the merit, and he who shirks this sacred duty to
defend hearth and home, kin and country, or who fails to fight for the
oppressed, is beneath denunciation. Furthermore, the greater the emergency,
the greater the sacrifice that is required.
Nor is this great privilege of sacrifice confined to those of brawn
and broad shoulders. Not alone are they bound by duty; the work behind
the lines is even more important and all can share according to talent
and ability—mental, physical, and financial.
Furthermore, when the occasion arises where defense of others
or self-defense becomes unavoidable, the harder the campaign is pushed,
the shorter and more successful it will be. Therefore, no half measures
should be tolerated, and neutrality under such circumstances must be
regarded at least as a sin of omission.
It is well understood by students of esotericism that wars are
instigated and inspired by the divine hierarchies who thus use one nation to
punish another for its sins. Even a superficial study of the Bible will
furnish many instances. This does not always mean that the victor is
altogether righteous, but it does show that the vanquished nation has done
wrong and merits the punishment inflicted, usually on account of its
arrogance and godlessness. Nor is it a sign that because it is victorious
for a long time and extremely difficult to conquer, it enjoys divine favor-
-at least in a measure. Such a course may be brought about by the invisible
army who support the arms of the aggressor and prolong the struggle for the
purpose of making the final defeat more thorough and disastrous; also to teach
the defenders a lesson that could not be learned in a short decisive struggle.
Such, briefly, is the philosophy of war from the spiritual viewpoint,
regardless of who are the nations involved. If we apply these principles and
tests to the present war (World War I) it must be apparent to everyone who
is not biased and will approach the subject with a broad and open mind that
the militarists of the Central Empires have been preparing for this war for
generations, and on the fifth of July, 1914, at the notorious Potsdam
Conference which is now acknowledged by them, they agreed to start the war
after a few weeks during which the bankers of these nations were so
manipulating the markets as to amass the greatest possible financial
resources. This stamps the Austro-German war parties as the aggressors, who
under the spell of the Race Spirits have marshaled their millions against all
the other nations of the world. In the beginning of the conflict France
and England, who were the immediate neighbors of the outraged Belgians,
made her cause their own and acted in that respect as their brother's keeper.
However, being unprepared, they have been unable to bring the struggle to a
decisive termination. Therefore it became necessary for America to enter
the conflict and turn the balance, so that peace may be restored and safety
secured to those who are too weak to protect themselves.
It has been a matter for rejoicing that whenever the United States
has been forced to enter upon a military campaign it has always been either
in self-defense or in the still more altruistic role of defender and
emancipator of the weak. Were this a war of conquest or aggression, it
would be better for any spiritually minded person to face a firing squad as
already stated than to participate in such an unrighteous undertaking. On the
other hand, seeing that the present struggle which is waged for the purpose
of crushing the militarism of Central Europe has taken such a terrible toll
of human life with the strength of the allied defenders nearly spent, it is
the sacred duty of everyone to aid to the very limit according to his
spiritual, mental, moral, or physical capacity, either at the front or behind
the lines wherever the judgment of those in charge may require his or her
service.
Therefore we would urge each and every one of the students of the Rosicrucian Teachings, of whatever country now defending the cause of
humanity against the militarist party of the Central Powers, to support his or
her government to the very best of his ability that we may soon see "Peace
on earth and among men good will."
Is the teaching of the Rosicrucians available for everyone? If so, how is it made available?
Answer: In order to promulgate this teaching The Rosicrucian Fellowship has been formed, and anyone who is not a hypnotist, professional
medium, clairvoyant, palmist, or astrologer, may enroll as a Preliminary
Course Student by writing to the General Secretary. There is no fee for
initiation, or dues. Money cannot buy our teaching. Advancement depends upon merit.
After completing the Preliminary Course one is put on the Regular
Student list for a period of two years, after which if he has become so
imbued with the verity of the Rosicrucian teachings that he is prepared to
sever his connection with all other esoteric or religious orders—the Christian
Churches and Fraternal Orders are excepted—he may assume the Obligation which admits him to the degree of Probationer.
We do not mean to insinuate by the foregoing that all other schools
of esotericism are of no account—far from it. Many roads lead to Rome, but
we shall attain with much less effort if we follow one of them than if we
zigzag from path to path. Our time and energy are limited in the first
place, and are still further curtailed by family and social duties not to be
neglected for self-development. it is to husband the minimum of energy that
we may legitimately expend upon ourselves, and to avoid waste of the scanty
moments at our disposal that resignation from all other Orders is insisted
upon.
The world is an aggregate of opportunities, but to take advantage of
any one of them we must possess efficiency in a certain line of endeavor.
Development of our spiritual powers will enable us to help or harm our weaker
brothers. It is only justifiable when efficiency in service of humanity is
the object.
The Rosicrucian method of attainment differs from other systems in
one especial particular: It aims, even at the very start, to emancipate the
pupil from dependence upon others, to make him self-reliant to the very highest degree, so that he may be able to stand alone under all
circumstances and cope with all conditions. Only one who is thus strongly
poised can help the weak.
Do you consider the ancient myths of actual value, or are they largely figments of the imagination?
Answer: They contain profound esoteric truths. The contest between
light and darkness is described in innumerable myths which are alike in the
main features, though circumstances vary according to the evolutionary stage
of the people among whom they are found. Generally the appear fantastic to
the normal mind because the picture drawn is highly symbolical, and
therefore out of tune with the concrete realities of the material world.
However, embodied in these legends are great truths which appear when they are
stripped of their scale of materialism.
In the first place it should be borne in mind that the contest
between light and darkness, as fought here in the physical world, is
but the manifestation of a similar contest fought also in the moral,
mental, and spiritual realms. This is a fundamental truth, and he who would
know truth should realize that the concrete world, with all the things which
we now think so real, solid, and enduring is but an evanescent
manifestation created by the divine thought, and it will dissolve into dust
millions of years before the other worlds which we think of us unreal and
intangible are similarly dissolved and we once more return to the bosom of
the Father, to rest until the dawn of another and greater Cosmic Day.
It is particularly at Christmas, when the light is low and the
night long, that humanity turns its attention to the Southern Sun, and waits
in an attitude of expectancy for the moment when it shall again commence
its northward journey to bring back the light and life to our frozen
hemisphere. In the Bible we learn how Samson, the Sun, waxed strong while his
rays grew longer; how the powers of darkness, the Philistines, ferreted out
the secret of his power and had his hair, or rays, cut, to rob him of his
strength; how they deprived him of his sight by piercing his eyes and finally
slew him at the temple of the Winter Solstice.
The Anglo-Saxons speak of the victory of King George over the dragon;
the Teutons call to mind how Beowolf slew the fire drake and how Siegfried
conquered the dragon Fafner. Among the Greeks we find Apollos victorious
over Python, and Hercules over the dragon of the Hesperides. Most of the
myths tell only the victory of the newborn Sun, but there are others which,
like the story of Samson just recited, and Hiram Abiff of the Masonic
Legend, tell also of how the old year's Sun was vanquished after having
completed its circle and was then ready to give birth to a new Sun, which
rises from the ashes of the old Phoenix to be the Lightbearer of a new year.
It is in such a myth that we learn of the origin of the mistletoe, a tale
which is told in Scandinavia and Iceland, particularly at Yuletide when the
red holly mingles in decorative effect with the white mistletoe—a shadowy
symbol of the blood that was scarlet with sin but has become white as snow.
The story follows:
In ancient days when the Gods of Olympus reigned over the
Southland, Wotan with his company of Gods, held sway in Walhall where the
icicles reflected the winter Sun in all tints of the rainbow and the
beautiful coverlet of snow made light the darkest night eve without the aid
of the flaming Aurora Borealis. They were a wonderful company; Tyr, the God
of War, still lives in memory among us, for him we have named Tuesday.
Wotan, the wisest among them, is remembered in Wednesday; Thor still is with
us as the God of Thursday. He was the hammer swinger. When he threw his
hammer after the giants, the enemies of God and man, he made thunder and
lightning by the terrific force with which his hammer struck the clouds.
The gentle Freya, the Goddess of beauty, for whom we have named Friday,
and the treacherous Loke, whose name lives in the Scandinavian Saturday, are
other present-day fragments of a forgotten faith.
But there was no one like Baldur. He was the second son of Odin
and Freya. He was the noblest and most gentle of the Gods, beloved of
everything in nature. He exceeded all beings, not only in gentleness, but
in prudence and eloquence, also, and was so fair and graceful that light
radiated from him. In a dream it was revealed to him that his life was in
danger and this weighted so heavily on his Spirit that he shunned the
society of the Gods. His mother Freya, having at length prevailed upon him
to tell her the cause of his melancholy, called a council of the Gods, and
all were filled with sad forebodings, for they knew that the death of Baldur
would be the forerunner of their downfall—the first victory of the giants, or
powers of darkness.
Wotan therefore cast runes, magic characters, which were used to
foretell the future, but all seemed dark to him. He could gain no
insight. The "Vessel of Wisdom," which might have served them in their
need was in the keeping of one of the Norns, the Goddesses of Fate, so that
could not help them now. Ydun, the Goddess of health, whose golden apples
kept the Gods ever young, had been betrayed into the powers of the giants by
the trickery of Loke, the spirit of evil, but a delegation was sent to her, in
order that she might be consulted on the nature of the sickness which
threatened Baldur, if such it be. However, she only answered with tears,
and finally after a solemn council held by all the Gods, it was determined
that all the elements, and everything in nature should be bound by an oath
not to harm the gentle God. This was done and a pledge was obtained from
everything, except one insignificant plant which grew westward of the
Palace of the Gods; this seemed so frail and fragile that the Gods deemed
it to be innocuous.
However, Wotan's mind still misgave him that all was not right.
it seemed to him that the Norns of good fortune had flown away. Therefore,
he resolved to visit the home of a celebrated prophetess by the name of
Vala. This is the spirit of the earth, and from her he would learn the Fate
in store for the Gods, but he received no comfort from her and returned
to Walhall more cast down than formerly.
Loke, the spirit of evil, and treachery, was in reality one of the
giants, or powers of darkness, but part of the time he lived with the Gods.
He was a turncoat, who could be depended upon by neither party, and
therefore he was usually distrusted and despised by both Gods and giants.
One day while he was sitting bemoaning his Fate a dense cloud began to rise
from the ocean, and after a time the dark figure of the Giant King issued
from it. Loke in some terror demanded what brought him hither. The monarch
began to reproach him with the contemptible part he, a demon by birth, was
acting in consenting to be the tool of the Gods in their warfare against the
giants, to whom he owed his origin. It was out of no affection for himself
that he was admitted to the society of the Gods, but because Wotan knew well
the ruin which he and his offspring were destined to bring upon them and
thought by thus conciliating him to defer the evil day. He who from his
power and cunning might have been a leader with either party, was now
despised and rejected by all. The Giant King further reproached him with
having already frequently saved the Gods from ruin and even with
furnishing them with weapons against the giants, and ended by appealing to
the hatred which rankled in his bosom against Wotan and his whole race as a
proof that his natural place was with the giants.
Loke acknowledged the truth of this and professed his readiness to
aid his brethren by all means in his power. The Giant King then told him
that the moment was now at hand when he might seal the Fate of the Gods; that
if Baldur was slain their destruction must sooner or later follow and that
the gentle God's life was at that time threatened by some as yet
undiscovered danger. Loke replied that the anxiety of the Gods was already
at an end, for Freya had bound everything in nature by oath not to injure
her son. The dark monarch said that one thing only had been omitted.
However, what that was lay concealed in the breast of the Goddess and was
known to no other. He then sank down again to his dark abyss and left Loke
to his darker thoughts.
Loke then, having assumed the figure of an old woman, appeared to
Freya and by his cunning drew from her the fatal secret; that presuming on the
insignificant nature of the mistletoe she had omitted to obtain from it the
pledge wherewith she had bound everything else. Loke lost no time in
repairing to the place where the mistletoe grew, and tearing it up by the
roots, gave it to the dwarfs, who were cunning smiths, to form into a spear.
This weapon was made with many incantations, and when the spear was
completed one called for blood to temper it. A child free from all taint
was brought in, th dwarf plunged the spear into its breast and sang:
"The death-grasp hear,
Ho! Ho!—now 'tis o'er—
Soon hardens the spear
In the babe's pure gore—
Now the barbed head feel,
Whilst the veins yet bleed,
Such a deed—such a deed—
Might harden e'en steel."
In the meantime the Gods and the dead braves, who are with them
assembled for a tournament, in order to convince Baldur how groundless were
his apprehensions, now that his life was deemed to be charmed, made him the
butt of all their weapons.
Loke repaired there also with the fatal spear and seeing the blind
and strong God, Hoedur, standing apart from the rest, asked him why he did
not honor his brother Baldur by tilting with him, also. Hoedur excused
himself on account of his blindness and because he had no weapon. Loke then
put the enchanted spear into his hands and Hoedur, unsuspicious of malice,
pierced Baldur through the breast with the spear made from the mistletoe, so
that he fell lifeless to the ground to the unspeakable grief of all creatures.
Baldur is the summer Sun, beloved by everything in nature, and in
the blind God, Hoedur, who slays him with the spear, we may readily
recognize the sign Sagittarius, for when the Sun enters that sign in
December it is nearly without light and is therefore said to be slain by
the blind God Hoedur. The bow of Sagittarius, as pictured on the zodiac
of the south presents symbolically the same idea as the spear of the story
in the Eddas.
The legend of Baldur's death teaches the same cosmic Truth as all
other myths of kindred nature, namely, that the Spirit of the Sun must die to
the glories of the Universe while, as Christ, it enters the earth to bring
it the renewed life, without which all physical manifestations on our
planet must cease. As death here precedes a birth into the spiritual
realms, so also there is a death upon the spiritual plane of existence
before a birth can take place into the physical body. As Osiris in
Egypt is slain by Typhon, ere Horus, the Sun of the New Year, may be born, so
also Christ die to the higher world before He an be born into the earth and
bring to us the needed annual spiritual impulse; but our Holy Season
commemorates no greater manifestation of Love than that of which the mistletoe
is emblematical. Being physically the extreme of weakness, it clings to the
oak which is the symbol of strength. it is the very weakness of the weakest
of beings that pierces the heart of the noblest and gentlest of Gods so that,
compelled by his love for the lowly, he descends to the shades in the
underworld, even as Christ for our sake dies to the spiritual world each year
and is born into our planet that He may permeate it anew with His radiant
Life and Energy.
What is the Rosicrucian attitude toward prayer, in the light of Biblical admonitions?
Answer: In one place the Bible directs us to pray without ceasing.
In another Christ repudiates the practice, saying that we should not
imitate those who believe they are heard for their many words. There
can, of course, be no contradiction between the words of Christ and those
of His disciples, and we must therefore reconstruct our ideas of prayer in
such a manner that we may pray always and yet without voluminous verbal or
mental expression. Emerson said:
"Although your knees were never bent,
To heaven your hourly prayers are sent,
And be they formed for good or ill,
Are registered and answered still."
In other words, every act is a prayer, which, under the law of cause
and effect, brings to us adequate results. We get exactly what we want.
Expression in words is unnecessary, but sustained action along a certain line
indicates what we wish, even if we ourselves do not realize it, and in time,
longer or shorter, according to the intensity of our desire, there comes
that which we have thus prayed for.
The things thus gained or achieved may not be what we really and
consciously want. In fact, sometimes we may get something we would far
sooner be without, something that is a curse and a scourge, but the prayer-
act has brought them to us and we must keep them until we can legitimately
get rid of them. If we throw a stone into the air, the act is not complete
until the reaction has carried the stone back to the earth. In that case the
effect follows the cause so speedily that it is not difficult to connect the
two.
However, if we wind the spring of an alarm clock, the power is stored
up in the spring until a certain mechanism releases it. Then comes
the effect—the ringing of a bell—and although we may have been sleeping
the sleep of forgetfulness, the reaction or unwinding of the spring took
place just the same. Similarly, acts which we have forgotten will sometime or
another produce their results regardless, and thus the prayer of action is
answered.
However, there is the true mystic prayer—the prayer where we meet
God face to face, as Elijah met Him. Not in the tumult of the world, the
wind, the earthquake, or the fire, do we meet Him, but when all is still
the soundless voice speaks to us from within. However, the silence which is
required for this experience is not a mere silence of words. There are not
even the inward pictures which usually pass before us in meditation, nor are
there thoughts, but our whole being resembles a calm crystal-clear lake. In
it Deity mirrors Himself, and we experience the unity which makes
communication unnecessary either by words or in any other way. We feel
all God feels. He is nearer than hands and feet.
The Christ taught us to say, "Our Father who are in heaven," etc.
That prayer is the most sublime that can be given utterance in words, but
this prayer of which I am speaking may at the moment of union give itself
utterance in the one unspoken word, "Father." The devotee, when he is truly
in the mood of prayer, never gets any farther. He makes no requests, for
what is the use? Has he not the promise, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall
not want"? Has he not been told to seek first the kingdom of heaven and
all other things shall be added? His attitude can perhaps best be understood
if we take the simile of a faithful dog looking with dumb devotion into
its master's face, its whole soul pouring itself out through its eyes in
love. Likewise, only of course with much greater intensity, does the true
mystic look to the God within and pour himself or herself out in voiceless
adoration. In this way we may pray without ceasing, inwardly, while we work
as zealous servants in the world without; for let us always remember that it
is not intended that we should dream our lives away. While we pray to
God within, we must also work for God without.
Reference: The Rosicrucian Philosophy In Questions and Answers, Volume II, by Max Heindel (1865-1919)
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