The Rosicrucian
Cosmo-Conception
by Max Heindel
(Part 17)
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 depends 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 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 happiness resulting from a carefree existence and a
sheltered environment.
When life is regarded is that way all the principal things that make for
permanency are forgotten; the individual 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 position 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 environment 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 garbage can,
knows nothing. The cur's life is hard, but it gets experience that makes it
alert, alive and resourceful. Its life is rich in events, and it reaps a
harvest of experience, while the pampered lap dog drones it 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 a
handmaid 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 instruments. 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 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 attention,
the second less, and the third least of all. In time, when the 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 humanity 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 languages 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 Comte de St. Germain (who was one of the later
incarnations of Christian Rosenkreuz 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 communication 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 will 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.
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.
Repeated 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
omniscient 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
the material wants. Such prayers are not even purifying. They are from the
desire body, which sums up the situation thus: Now Lord, 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 promote
the progression of that part 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 conception 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 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 separateness, 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. Russia 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 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 constitution.
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 Hindus have lived for many, many thousands of
years in an environment and climate totally different from ours. They have
pursued a different method of thought and their civilization, 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
esoteric knowledge and perfectly suited to them, but as unsuitable 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 currents may flow through his body in
a certain way to produce certain definite results. That instruction would
be altogether useless for a Westerner, 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 students of the higher esoteric 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 Rosicrucians
were a society devoted to the discovery and use of the formula for the making
of the "Philosopher'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 any but the individual who makes it for himself. The formula is
given in the esoteric training and a Rosicrucian is no different in that
respect from the esotericist 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 individuals alike and consequently really effective work is
always individual in its scope.
All esoteric 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 esoteric groups, the "Brothers" in which do not belong to
his Ray, cannot do so with benefit to 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 atmosphere 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
operandi of existence were not explained by the priestly injunction "not
to seek to know the mysteries of God."
To any man or woman who is blessed, 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.
Intellectual 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 criticize and is ready
to accept provisionally, as probably true, statements which cannot be
immediately verified, then, and not until then, 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 powers 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 beyond the capacity of the pupil at that stage of
his development. 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 consideration of all who
intend taking the first steps toward the higher knowledge. If the
directions given are followed at all, they must be given full credence as an
efficacious means to accomplish their purpose. To follow them in a
half-hearted manner would be of no avail whatever. Unbelief will kill the
fairest flower ever produced by the spirit.
Work on the different bodies of man is carried on synchronously. One
body cannot be influenced without affecting 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 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 fastidiousness in physical matters and will also
engender ennobling 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 consider the spiritual means to the same end, we shall be including
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 albumen, 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 surrounding pulpy matter
accumulates and changes in form until at length that degree of organization
develops which is known as a fetus. 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, membranes, the coverings and even the
very substance of the stomach, liver, lungs, and other organs. The joints
become 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 consolidating 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 entire
body, gradually choke up and change into solid fiber, no longer pervious to
the blood.
The larger blood vessels, both arteries and veins, indurate, lose their
elasticity, grow smaller, and become incapable 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 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 gradual 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 increase 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 insignificant 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 former.
The bones of a child are composed of three parts of gelatin 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 nourished 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 supply 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 question — 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 sustain
physical life it is necessary that we eat and drink but as there are many
kinds of food and drink, it behooves 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 esoteric 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 eliminated, 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 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 children, because in them the rapid formation of bone requires
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 fetus. 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 carrying 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 contains less stone because it has been boiled. The stone that 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 distilled
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 contrary, the longer they are
boiled, the more heavily charged with ash they become. Those suffering from
urinary diseases 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
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 esoteric student, contains no earthy matter of any
consequence and has an influence upon the body possessed 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 milk 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 particularly 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 gradually increased as the stomach becomes
accustomed to its use, it will be found very nourishing. The health of farm workers
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 nutritious and beneficial
article of diet and contains no ash whatever.
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 be 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 treatment, people with sunken
eyes, wrinkled skins and poor complexions become plump, ruddy and lively.
The increased permeability enables the spirit to manifest more freely and
with renewed energy. The following table (Part A), (Part B), 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 simply eliminate meats from the ordinary diet of
meat-eaters would unquestionably undermine the health of most persons. 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 each chemical
element, allowing the aspirant to work out his own method.
Neither must we allow the appearance of a person to influence our judgement
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.
Carbohydrates or sugars are the principal power-producers.
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 instance, 49.6% of the whole is waste (shells), but the
remaining 50.4% contains 1485 calories. That means that about one-half of
what is bought is waste, but the remainder 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 contains, for from them we
obtain the energy required to perform our daily work. The number of
calories necessary to sustain the body under varying conditions is shown in
the following table (per day):
| Man at very hard muscular work: |
5500 Calories |
| Man at moderately hard muscular work: |
4150 Calories |
| Man at moderately active muscular work: |
3400 Calories |
| Man at moderately light work: |
3050 Calories |
| Man at sedentary work: |
2700 Calories |
| Man without muscular exercise: |
2450 Calories |
| Woman at light to moderate manual work: |
2450 Calories |
According to the 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, containing 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 chemical 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 carbohydrates.
Of fruits, we assimilate about 85% of the proteids, 90% of the fat, and
90% of the carbohydrates.
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. (As to proportion. — Ed.)
The logical conclusion is that phosphorus is the particular 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; 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 quantities 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 of:
| Barley, dry, contain, of phosphoric acid: |
210 parts |
| Beans: |
292 parts |
| Beets: |
167 parts |
| Beets, Leaves of: |
690 parts |
| Buckwheat: |
170 parts |
| Carrots, dry: |
395 parts |
| Carrots, Leaves of: |
963 parts |
| Linseed: |
880 parts |
| Linseed, Stalks of: |
118 parts |
| Parsnips: |
111 parts |
| Parsnips, Leaves of: |
1784 parts |
| Peas: |
190 parts |
The gist of the preceding argument may be thus succinctly 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, converted into bone, or kindred matter.
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 promotion excretion through the skin by means of
frequent baths.
The foregoing explains why some religions prescribe frequent ablutions as a
religious exercise, because they promote the health and purify the dense
body. Fastings were also prescribed for the same purpose. They give the
stomach a much needed rest, allow the body to eliminate the effete
matter, and thus, if not too 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 the best possible
articles of diet. Citrus fruits are powerful 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 consider the subject from the esoteric
side, taking into consideration the effect on the two invisible bodies which
interpenetrate 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 resulting
from the ungoverned action of the desire body.
Looking at the matter from an esoteric 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 possession of the spleen and making the
white blood corpuscles, 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 through the walls of arteries and veins
whenever annoyance 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
purpose. There would be no consciousness and thought. It is because the
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 consciousness of any species is in proportion to
the development 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.
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 process of
assimilation, we must overcome and make it subject to ourselves. Otherwise
there could be no harmony in the body. All parts 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 is
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 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 because 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 compounds of the Earth. Man and animal
can assimilate the plants and thus obtain the chemical compounds necessary 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 derived 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 required for assimilation.
Food composed of the bodies of animals consists of particles which have
been worked upon and inter-penetrated 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 permeated by the passions and
desires of the animal. It requires considerable energy to overcome it in the
first 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 individual tendencies. The result is that is 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 carnivora 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 kingdom, the more strength we derive from our
food. If the reverse were the case, the flesh of carnivorous animals 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 esoteric 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 esoteric 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,
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. 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 opportunities 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, everyone 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 appear 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.
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 running
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 squirrels will be shot." This is hard on the dogs, but is is to be
commended as an evidence of the growth of the sentiment 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 upliftment 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 sustained 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 that all the sufferings of postmortem
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 postmortem 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 temperament they bring into
it, but the aspirant must systematically 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 esoteric 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 unselfish 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 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 undone. The great Leaders of humanity have wisely given them as
incentives to action, that man may gain experience 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 desires 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, increasing 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 desire without any restriction whatever. In their case,
there 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 becomes allied to the Higher Self and does
its bidding, we have the high-minded person. On the contrary, the coalition 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 Meditation on lofty subjects. This union is
further 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.
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 counterpart, the dense body: "Give us this day
our daily bread."
The next highest, the life spirit, prays to its counterpart, 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 threefold 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 connection
between the different prayers and the corresponding vehicles, which are
similarly colored.
The Vow of
Celibacy
The sex-pervert, or sex-maniac, is a proof of the correctness of the
contention of esotericists 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 (according 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 force 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 development, 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 function 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 unreservedly
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 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 advantages 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 opportunities offered them sometimes
under unfavorable circumstances. Other Egos who cannot do that, must wait
till favorable environment offers. Thus do we affect one another 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 impurity,
overlooking the fact that it is precisely such people 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 development of entities seeking
incarnation. It is common knowledge among esoteric scientists that, to the
detriment of the 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 faithfulness. They will certainly
advance in due time to a point where they will become awake to spiritual
necessities, 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 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 obtaining 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 satisfactory 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 impelled 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 having
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 properly 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 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
circumstances, to endeavor to escape from the proper performance 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. Esoteric
science teaches that the sex-function should never be used for
sense-gratification, but for propagation only. Therefore 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 result 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 esoteric 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 consistent
with their health and ability to care for the same. And, as previously
stated, most particularly are aspirants to the higher life under obligation in
this respect, on account 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 life, 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 because he or she cannot be celibate. It is
not necessary to be strictly celibate 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 providing 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.
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
(following negatively the motion of the Earth, which revolves on its axis in
that direction) as the sense centers of "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 clairvoyance.
The development of mediumship is much easier, because 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 function 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 aspirate 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 attention that way — not otherwise.
The great danger to society which would result from the indiscriminate
use of this power if possessed by an unworthy individual, can be easily
understood. He would 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 thousand 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 considers 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 esoteric 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 possession of
the dense body. That was the time (previously described) when the point in
the vital body came into correspondence 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.
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 remains 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 facility 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 Esoteric 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 root of the nose where "The Silent Watcher," the highest spirit,
has its seat.
These currents do not 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 particularly 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 sometime take up the
development he has neglected, so as to become fully rounded. Therefore
the Rosicrucians aim to give a teaching that will satisfy both classes,
although their main efforts are expended in reaching the intellectually
minded, for their need is the greater.
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 necessary accompaniment, but a prerequisite 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 it 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 sufficient to establish
the current of spiritual force, and is found worthy and qualified to receive
esoteric instruction, he is taught certain exercises, to set the pituitary
body in vibration. This vibration causes the pituitary body to impinge upon
and slightly defect the nearest line of force (See
Diagram 17). This, in turn, impinges upon the line
next 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 Desire. 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
clairvoyant at will, a voluntary clairvoyant. He 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 negative 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.
As we 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 clairvoyant, and even to the neophyte who enters under the guidance
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 entering that world and
functioning there. The voluntary clairvoyant, 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 furnish 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 outwardly these people may be very "respectable," they
are, nearly every day of their lives, causing almost utter confusion in their
organization. The entire period of sleep 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
separate 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 organized 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. Besides, the vital body is the seat of memory, without
which it would be impossible to bring back into our physical consciousness
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 purpose of providing bodies for 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
Hierophant took the pupils out of their bodies he left one part 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 training, 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 organized, as we
have seen. It is an exact counterpart of the dense body. The desire body
and the mind, not being organized, 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 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 consciousness of the world, the Ego is
outside his bodies. If man is to work on his vehicle 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 properly 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 in
absorption in a book. At such times they live in the scenes depicted by the
author and are lost to their environment. 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 from 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 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 this 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, functioning 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. Under those conditions it is impossible to bring back these subjective
experiences to waking consciousness, but generally 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 perfectly
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 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 cannot 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 individual, 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 qualifying 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 awakening 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
expectation and that of itself frustrates the object, for in that
condition the desire body is gripping the muscles. It cannot do otherwise
till we calm the mind.
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 extend 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 produce is not wild illusion induced by outside conditions, but
true imagination generated by the spirit from within (see
Diagram 1).
Skeptics 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 apparently useless experiments that
have nearly always preceded the production of the practical and serviceable
instrument or machine. Neither is the imagination of the budding esoteric
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 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.
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 comprehension. 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
constantly 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 instead of the ideal upon which he has decided to
concentrate, 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,
however, 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 temperament 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 concentration. The
object matters little, but whatever it is we 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 expression 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 number of
leaves. Then comes a bud at the top; it grow larger until it begins to burst
and the red leaves of the rose show beneath the green. It unfolds in the air,
emitting an exquisite perfume, which we sense perfectly as it is wafted to
us on the balmy summer breeze which gently sways the beautiful creation
before the mind's eye.
Only when we "imagine" in such clear and complete outlines 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 the
spectators. A case is recorded where the members of a committee of scientist
all saw the wonderful things done before their eyes, under conditions where
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, building 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 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 spreading under the ground. First it is a tender sapling, swaying
in the breeze; then, as a young tree, it gradually stretches higher and
higher toward the air and the sunshine. 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, leaving 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
thousand, so clearly have we marked them in our mind. We follow the raft
down the stream, noting the passing landscape and become 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 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 completing 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.
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, because 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 content 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.
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 vandalistically demolishes good
and bad alike without aiming 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 helping, 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 without
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 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; 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 predominates, 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. Conceptions of brotherhood based
upon any other foundation, such as class distinctions, Race affinity,
similarity of occupation, etc., fall far short of this true basis, as the
esoteric 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 be
delayed in taking these steps; nor need he be concerned about looking for a
teacher. All that is necessary for him to do is 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 another, we are
seeking. "Seeking," in that sense of the word, will avail nothing in this dark
world. We ourselves 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 performance 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 results 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 faithfully persists will some day, in this or a future life, behold 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 consciousness will be unbroken. He will lead a
consciously continuous existence, having the benefit of all the conditions
which make for more rapid advancement to every higher positions of trust, to be
used in the unlifting of humanity.
Reference: The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, by Max Heindel (1865-1919)
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