Teachings of an Initiate
by Max Heindel
(Part 3)
XIX. Address at the
Ground Breaking
for Mt. Ecclesia
The Christ said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there will I be among them"; and as always when He spoke, this utterance was
an expression of the most profound divine wisdom. It rests upon a law of
nature which is as immutable as God Himself. When the thoughts of two or
three are centered upon any certain object or being, a powerful thought form
is generated as a definite expression of their minds, and is instantly
projected towards its goal. Its further effects depend upon the affinity
between the thought and whosoever is to receive it, as to generate a vibratory
response to a note sounded by a tuning fork it requires another fork of
identical pitch.
If thoughts and prayers of a low, selfish nature are projected, only low
and selfish creatures respond. That kind of prayer can never reach the
Christ any more than water can run up a hill. it gravitates toward demons
and elementals, which remain totally unresponsive to the lofty aspirations
engendered by such as congregate in the name of Christ.
As we are today gathered upon this spot to break ground for the
Headquarters of a Christian Association, we may rest assured that as surely as
gravity draws a stone toward the center of the earth, the fervor of our
united aspirations will provide attention from the Founder of our faith
(Christ), who will thus be with us. As certainly as forks of identical pitch
vibrate in sympathy, so must the august Head of the Rosicrucian Order
(Christian Rose-Cross) lend his presence upon this occasion when the
home of Rosicrucian Fellowship is being started. The Elder Brother who has
been the inspiration of this movement is present and visible to some among
us at least. There are present upon this momentous occasion and directly
interested in the proceedings the perfect number — 12. That is to say, there
are three invisible leaders who are beyond the stage of ordinary humanity,
and nine members of the Rosicrucian Fellowship. Nine is the number of Adam,
or man. Of these, five, an odd, masculine number, are men, and four, an
even feminine number, are women, while the number of invisible leaders,
three, aptly represents the sexless Divine. Neither has the number attending
been arranged for by the speaker. Invitation to take part in these exercises
was extended to many individuals, but only nine responded. And as we cannot
believe in chance, the attendance must have been regulated in accordance with
the design of our invisible leaders, and may be taken as an expression of
the spiritual power behind this movement, if further proof were needed than
the phenomenal spread of the Rosicrucian teachings, which have penetrated to
every country on earth in the last few years and provoked assent,
admiration, and love, in the hearts of all classes and conditions of
people, particularly among men.
We emphasize this as a noteworthy fact, for while all other religious
organizations are composed largely of women, men are in the majority among the
members of the Rosicrucian Fellowship. It is also significant that our doctor
members outnumber those from all other professions, and that the ministers
come next. It proves that those whose privilege it is to care for the ailing
body are alive to the fact that spiritual causes generate physical
weaknesses, and that they are seeking to understand so that they may give
more efficient aid to the infirm. It demonstrates also that those whose
office it is to minister to the ailing spirit are endeavoring to meet
inquiring minds with a reasonable explanation of the of the spiritual
mysteries, thus strengthening their flagging faith and cementing their tie
to the church, instead of responding with dictum and dogma not supported by reason, which would open wide the flood-gates to the seething sea of
skepticism and sweep the searcher for light away from the haven of the
church into the darkness of materialistic despair.
It has already been the blessed privilege of the Rosicrucian Fellowship
to rescue many a sincere seeker, anxious but unable to believe what seemed
contrary to reason. Given reasonable explanation of the underlying harmony
between the dogmas and doctrines propounded by the church and the laws of
nature, such ones have been sent back into the church fold rejoicing in the
fellowship there, stronger and better members than before they left.
Any movement that is to endure must possess three divine qualities:
wisdom, beauty, and strength. Science, art and religion each possesses one
of these attributes in a measure. It is the purpose of the Rosicrucian
Fellowship to unite and harmonize each with the others by teaching a religion
that is both scientific and artistic, and to gather all churches into one
great Christian Brotherhood. Just now the clock of destiny marks an
auspicious moment for the commencement of building activities to erect a
visible center whence the Rosicrucian teachings may radiate their beneficent
influence to further the well-being of all who are physically, mentally, or
morally infirm.
Therefore we now lift one shovelful of earth from the corner of the
building site with a prayer for wisdom to guide this great school along the
right lines. We turn up the ground a second time with a supplication to the
Master Artist for the faculty of presenting the beauty of the higher life in
such a manner as to render it attractive to all mankind. We break the
ground for the third and last time in connection with these exercises as we
breathe a prayer for strength patiently and diligently to continue the good
work so that it may endure and become a greater factor for upliftment than
any of its predecessors.
Having thus broken ground for the site of the first building, we will now
proceed to plant the wonderful symbol of life and being, the composite
emblem of the Western Mystery School. This consists of the cross,
representing matter, and the climbing rose that twines around its stem,
representing the verdant evolving life climbing to greater and greater
heights by this crucifixion. Each of us nine members will take part in
excavating for this the first and greatest ornament to Mt. Ecclesia. We will
plant it in such a position that the arms point east and west, while the
meridian sun projects it bodily towards the north. Thus it will be directly
in the path of the spiritual currents that vitalize the forms of the four
kingdoms of life: mineral, plant, animal, and man.
Upon the arms and upper limb of this cross you notice three golden
letters, "C.R.C.", the initials of our august Head, Christian Rosenkreuz,
or Christian Rose-Cross. The symbolism of this cross is partly explained
here and there in our literature, but volumes would be required to give a
full explanation. Let us look a little further into the meaning of this
wonderful object lesson.
When we lived in the dense water-laden atmosphere of early Atlantis, we
were under entirely different laws than govern us today. When we shed the
body we felt it not, for our consciousness was focused more in the spiritual
world than in the denser conditions of matter. Our life was an unbroken
existence; we felt neither birth nor death.
With our emergence into the aerial conditions of the Fifth Epoch, the world of
today, our consciousness of the spirit world waned, and form became most
prominent. Then a dual existence commenced, each phase sharply
differentiated from the other by the events of birth and death. One of these
phases is a free spirit life in celestial realms; the other an imprisonment
in a terrestrial body, which is virtually death to the spirit, as
symbolized in the Greek myth of Castor and Pollux, the heavenly twins.
It has been elucidated in various places in our literature how the free
spirit became enmeshed in matter through the machinations of the Lucifer
spirits, which Christ referred to as false lights. That was in fiery Lemuria. Lucifer may therefore be called the genius of Lemuria.
The full effect of his misguidance did not become fully apparent until
the Noachian Age, comprising the periods of later Atlantis and our present Fifth Epoch Earth. The rainbow, which could not have existed under previous
atmospheric conditions, stood painted upon the cloud as a mystic scroll
when mankind entered the Noachian Age, where the law of alternating cycles
brings ebb and flow, summer and winter, birth and death. During this
age the spirit cannot permanently escape from the body of death generated by
the satanic passion first inculcated by Lucifer. Its repeated attempts to
escape to its celestial home are frustrated by the law of periodicity, for
when it has freed itself from one body by death, it is brought to rebirth
when the cycle has been run.
Deceit and illusion cannot be allowed to endure forever, and so the
Redeemer appeared to cleanse the passion-filled blood, to preach the truth
which shall set us free from this body of death, to inaugurate the
immaculate conception along lines most crudely indicated in the science of
eugenics, to prophesy a new age, a new heaven, and a new earth, of which He, the True Light, will be the Genius, an age wherein will dwell the
righteousness and love for which all the world is sighing and seeking.
All of this and the way of attainment are symbolized in the rose cross
before us. The rose, in which the sap of life is dormant in winter and
active in summer, illustrates aptly the effect of the law of alternating
cycles. The color of the flower, its generative organ, resembles our blood,
yet the sap which courses within is pure, and the seed is generated in an
immaculate, passionless manner.
When we attain to the purity of life there symbolized, we shall have
freed ourselves from the cross of matter, and the ethereal conditions of the
millenium will be here. It is the aim of the Rosicrucian Fellowship to
hasten that glad day when sorrow, pain, sin, and death shall have ceased,
and we shall have been redeemed from the fascinating, enthralling illusions
of matter and awakened to the supreme truth of the reality of Spirit. May
God speed and prosper our efforts.
XX. Our Work
in the World
Part I
(issued May, 1912)
Lately there has come to us a realization that the work of the
Rosicrucian Fellowship is not our private work; it is the work of the Elder
Brothers and every member of the Fellowship. In the accomplishment thereof is a wonderful opportunity for soul growth, and we have no more right to
arrogate it to ourselves than we have to deprive members of material food; we
must give all the opportunity to aid in the work physically, mentally, or
financially according to time, talent, and ability. We also realize that
unless we do, the work will be undone, and we shall be unprofitable servants
of the Elder Brothers, for the burden is heavier than we can bear; and to
prosper, the Great Work requires many laborers. I will therefore give in
this lesson a history of the work to date, so that students may be able to
view the future work in its true perspective. This will necessitate a
liberal use of the capital "I", and students will kindly bear with me in
this matter, for no one dislikes introduction of the personal element more
than the writer, but in the present case it seems unavoidable.
We have set down in our literature as an axiomatic teaching that every
object in the visible universe is the embodiment of pre-existent invisible
thought; that Fulton built a steamboat and Bell a telephone in thought
before these things were manufactured in wood and metal. Likewise, an author
plans a book in his mind before writing. A Mystery Order must also frame
its spiritual philosophy to meet the necessities of the people it is
deputized to serve. That work may require centuries. As the work of
scientific investigators is carried out in the seclusion of their
laboratories, as their tentative conclusions calculated to foster the
intellectual advancement of the race are withheld from the masses until
proven to the best of the scientists' ability, so also the spiritual
teachings intended to foster soul growth among a class of people are kept
from the many until their efficacy has been demonstrated in the case of the
few.
As inventions, theories, or projects some time pass the experimental
stage and are rejected unless fitted for general use, so also a spiritual
teaching must either reach a point of completion where it may be launched
for general service in the world's work, or else die. Thus it has been with
the Western Wisdom Teachings formulated by the Rosicrucian Order to blend
with the ultra-intellectual mind of Europe and America. Our revered Founder
and the twelve Elder Brothers whom he selected to aid him in the work
centuries ago probably first made a retrospective study of the trend of
thought during our era, and it may be, for milleniums before, and thus they
were able to obtain a fairly accurate conception of the direction likely to
be taken by the minds of future generations and determine their spiritual
requirements. Be their method what it may have been, their conclusions were
light when they judged that "pride of intellect, intolerance, and impatience of restraint" would be the besetting sins of our day; and they formulated
their philosophy so that it satisfies the heart at the same time that it
appeals to the intellect and teaches man how to escape restraint by mastering
self. The thousands of appreciate letters from people all over the world,
in the highest ranks and in the lowliest walks of life, attest the great
should hunger and the satisfaction that all classes of people find in this
teaching. But as time goes on, fifty years, a century or two hence, when
scientific discoveries have given color to more of the things stated in the
"Cosmo-Conception," when intellects have become yet broader, the Rosicrucian teachings will give satisfaction of soul to millions of enlightened spirits.
This being the case, you will appreciate the care which the Elder Brothers
must take ere confiding so important a message to anyone, particularly as
such a teaching may only be given out at certain times. As the seed of
plants is planted at the beginning of the yearly cycle, so also must a
philosophical seed such as that of the Rosicrucian teachings be planted and
the book published in the first decade of the century, which commences a new
cycle, or the opportunity is lost till the next cycle rolls around. One
messenger had proven faithless by 1905. Then the Brothers turned to myself,
and entrusted the teachings to me after I have passed a certain test in
1908. The "Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception" was published in November, 1909, a
little more than a year before the end of the first decade. Friends had
edited the original manuscript and did splendid work, but I had of course to
revise it before giving it to the printer. Then I read the printer's proof,
corrected and returned it, reread it after mistakes had been rectified, read
it again after the type had been divided into pages, gave instructions to
engravers about the drawings and to the printer about placing them in the
book, etc. I was up at six and toiled on till twelve, one, two, or three in
the morning for weeks amid endless confusion with tradesmen and the roar of
Chicago about my ears, sometimes almost reaching the limit of nervous
endurance. Still I kept my faculties together and wrote many new points into
the "Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception." Had it not been for the support of the Brothers I must have gone
under. It was their work, however, and they saw me through. All that I was
expected to do was to work to the limit of my endurance and ability and
leave the rest to them, yet I was almost a wreck when the strain was past.
Now, perhaps you will understand my attitude towards the "Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception." I admire and marvel at its wonderful teaching more than anyone else, and can do so without violating proper modesty for the book is
not mine — it belongs to humanity. It does not even seem as if I have written
it, I feel so absolutely impersonal in the matter. My office is only to see
that it is properly published, and the copyright is simply to protect it from
being garbled. But as soon as it is possible to find dependable and
qualified trustees, the Rosicrucian Fellowship will be incorporated and all
my copyrights turned over to them together with all else that belongs to me,
for it was a part of the agreement with the brothers that all profit accruing
from the work must be put right into it again, a condition to which I
willingly assented, for I care naught for money save as needed to further
the work, and neither does Mrs. Heindel. The blessed work is the greatest
recompense to us, more precious than any material reward.
Among all the foolish nonsense which has been published about the
Rosicrucian Order there is one great truth — that they aimed to heal the
sick. Earlier religious orders have sought to advance spirituality by
castigating and abusing the body, but the Rosicrucians exhibit the
tenderest care for this instrument. There are two reasons for their
healing activities. Like all other earnest followers of Christ they are
longingly looking for "the day of the Lord." They know that abuse of sex
prompted by the Lucifer spirits has caused and is responsible for disease and
debility, and that a sound body is indispensable to the expression of a
sound mind. They have therefore aimed to heal the body that it may express a
sane mind, and pure love instead of perverted love, for conception under
such conditions hastens the Kingdom of Christ by producing bodies of finer
and finer texture to replace the "flesh and blood (which) cannot inherit the
kingdom," because physiologically unfit.
Christ gave two commands to his messengers: "Preach the gospel" (of the
coming Age) and, "Heal the sick." One is as binding as the other and, for
the foregoing reasons, as necessary. To comply with the second command the
Elder Brothers have evolved a system of healing which combines the best
points in the various schools of today with a method of diagnosis and
treatment as certain as it is simple, and thus a long step has been taken to
lift the healing art from the sands of experiment to the rock of exact
knowledge.
On the night of the 9th of April, 1910, when the new moon was in Aries,
my Teacher appeared in my room and told me that a new decade (cycle) had
commenced that night. The night before, my work with the newly formed Los
Angeles Fellowship Center had terminated. I had traveled and lectured six
out of seven nights a week and several afternoons besides. Since my Chicago
publishing experience I had been sick and was withdrawing from public work
to recuperate. I knew it was very dangerous to leave the body consciously
when ill, for the ether is then usually attenuated and the silver cord
breaks easily. Death under such conditions would cause the same sufferings
as suicide, so the Invisible Helper is always cautioned to stay by his body
when it is suffering. But at my Teacher's request I was ready for the soul
flight to the Temple, and a guard was left to watch the sick body.
XXI. Our Work
in the World
Part II
As we have stated previously in our literature, there are nine degrees of
the Lesser Mysteries, of whatever school, and the Rosicrucian Order is no
exception. The first of these corresponds to the Saturn Period, and the
exercises having to do with it are held on Saturn's day at midnight. The
second degree corresponds to the Sun Period, and that particular rite is
celebrated every Sunday. The third degree corresponds to the Moon Period
and is held on Monday at midnight; and so one with the remainder of the
first seven degrees. Each corresponds to a Period and is held on the day
appropriate thereto. The eighth degree is celebrated at the new moon and
the full, and the ninth degree at the summer and winter solstices.
When a disciple first becomes a lay brother or sister, he or she is
introduced to the rite held upon Saturday nights. The next Initiation
entitles him also to attend the midnight services at the Temple on Sunday
nights, and so on. It is to be noted, however, that while all lay brothers
and sisters have free access in their spiritual bodies to the Temple during
all days, they are barred from the midnight services of the degrees which
they have not yet taken. Nor is there a visible guard who stands at the
door and demands a password of each as he desires to enter, but a wall is
around the Temple, invisible yet impenetrable to those who have not received
the "open sesame." Every night it is differently constituted so that should a
pupil by mistake or through forgetfulness seek to enter the Temple when the
exercises are above his status, he would learn that it is possible to bump
one's head against a spiritual wall and that the experience is by no means
pleasant.
As already said, the eighth degree meets at the new and full moon, and
all who have not attained are debarred from that midnight service, the
writer among them, for this degree is no mere mummery to be obtained by the
payment of a few paltry coins but requires a measure of spirituality far
beyond my present attainment, a stage to which I may not attain in several
lives, though not wanting in effort or aspiration. You will therefore
understand that on the night of the new moon in Aries, 1910, when the Teacher
came for me, it was not to take me into that exalted gathering of the eighth
degree, but to another session of a different nature. Besides, though this
session was held in the night as it occurs in California, the time is
different in Europe. The exercises of the new moon had been held in Germany
hours before, so that when I arrived at the Temple with my Teacher the sun
was already high in the heavens.
When we entered the Temple some time was devoted to an interview with my
Teacher alone, and in it he outlined the work of the Fellowship as the
Brothers would wish to have it carried out. The keynote of it all was to
refrain from organization, if possible, or at least to make organization as
loose as we could. It was pointed out that no matter how good the
intentions may be in the beginning, as soon as position and power are
created which may gratify the vanity of men, the temptation proves too great
for the majority, and in the measure that the free will of members if
interfered with, the object of the Rosicrucian Order, to foster
individuality and self-reliance, is defeated. Laws and by-laws are
limitations, and for that reason there should be as few as possible. The
Teacher even thought that it would be possible to get along without any at
all.
It is in line with this policy that I had printed upon our letterheads,
An International Association of Christian Mystics"; for there is a vast
difference between an association that is entirely voluntary and an
organization which binds its members by oaths, pledges, etc. Those who have
taken the Obligation as probationers in the Rosicrucian Fellowship know that
that obligation is a promise to themselves and not to the Rosicrucian Order.
The same tender regard for the maintenance of the fullest of individual
liberty is in evidence throughout the whole range of the Western Mystery
School. We have no masters; they are our friends and our Teachers, and they never under any condition demand obedience to any mandate of theirs nor
command us to do this or that. At most, they advise, leaving us free to
follow or not.
I may say here that this policy of not organizing had already been
adopted in starting the study centers at Columbus, Ohio; Seattle,
Washington; and Los Angeles; but since then I have gone further along this
line in trying to spread the teachings to individuals from a world center
rather than to establish more centers in different cities. In some places
bands of students have desired to unite for study and spiritual elevation.
To this end all assistance has been given them, but as said, I have made no
effort to bring about formation of study centers but leave students to do as
they feel prompted.
The new work of healing, of which I shall presently speak, necessitated
permanent headquarters. As we are living in a concrete world under material
conditions, it seems to be necessary that headquarters should be
incorporated under the laws of the land in which we live, so that that which
belongs to the work may remain available for the use of humanity after the
present leaders have been released from life. Thus far we cannot escape
hard and fast conditions of organization at headquarters, but the
association at large must remain free so that the highest spiritual growth
and the longest life may be attained. It is sad to contemplate, however,
that though such are our intentions, the day must come when the Rosicrucian
Fellowship will go the way of all other movements; it will bind itself by
laws, and usurpation of power will cause it to crystallize and disintegrate.
But then we have the consolation that upon its ruins will rise something
greater and better, as it has risen above other structures that have served
their purpose and are now on the way to dissolution.
After the before mentioned discussion we entered the Temple, where the
twelve Brothers were present. It was arranged differently from what I had
seen it before, but lack of space forbids a detailed description. I shall
only mention three spheres suspended one above the other in the center of
the Temple, the middle sphere being about half way between floor and
ceiling; also that it was much larger than the two others, which hung one
above and one below.
The various modes of vision above the physical are: etheric or X-ray
sight, color vision, which opens up the Desire World, and tonal vision which
discloses the Region of Concrete Thought, as explained very fully in "The
Rosicrucian Mysteries." My development of the latter phase of spiritual
sight had been most indifferent up to the time mentioned, for it is a fact
that the more robust our health, the closer we are enmeshed in the physical
and the less able to contact the spiritual realms. People who can say, "I
never had a day's sickness in my life," at the same time reveal the fact
that they are perfectly attuned to the physical world and totally incapable
of contacting the spiritual realm.
This was nearly my case up to 1905. I had suffered excruciating pain all
my life, the after effects of a surgical operation on the left limb in
childhood. The wound never healed until I changed to a meatless diet. Then
the pain ceased. My endurance during all the previous years was such that
the pain never showed by a line on the face, and in every other respect I
had perfect health. It was noticeable, however, that when blood flowed as
the result of an accidental cut, it would not coagulate, and a great
quantity was always lost; whereas after two years on a lean diet the
accidental loss of an entire nail in the morning resulted in the loss of a few
drops of blood only. I was able to use the typewriter the same afternoon.
There was no festering as the new nail grew.
Upbuilding of the spiritual side of the nature, however, brought
disharmony to the physical body. It became more sensitive to conditions
around. The result was a breakdown. This was all the more complete because
of the before mentioned endurance that kept me on my feet for months after I
should have given in, with the result that I came very close to death's door.
As death is the permanent dissolution of the tie between the physical and
spiritual bodies, those who are near death approach the condition existing
when severance is about to take place. Goethe, the great German poet,
received his first Initiation while his body was prostrated nearly unto death.
I had not progressed so high, but my studies, aspirations, and an exercise
practiced for a long time which I thought then I had devised but which I now
know was carried over from the past, all combined to make it possible for me
during that first sickness to slip out of the body for a short while and
then return. I did not know how I did it, and was unable to do it at will. A
year later I did it again by accident. That, however, is beside the case. The
point I wish to bring out is that the rupture of physically robust health
is necessary before it is possible to attain poise in the spiritual world,
and the stronger and more vigorous the instrument, the more drastic must be
the method of breaking it down. Then come years when there is an unbalanced
fluctuating condition of health, until finally we are able to adjust
ourselves so as to maintain health in the physical world while we retain the
ability to function also in the higher realms.
Thus it has been with me: strenuous work both physical and mental, even
to the present day, has kept the physical instrument in anything but an
enjoyable condition. Friends have cautioned me, and I have tried to heed
their warnings, but the work must be done, and until help comes I am forced
to continue regardless of health; and Mrs. Heindel is with me in this as in
all else. Out of this precarious condition, however, has come an increasing
ability to function in the spiritual world. While, as said, at the time of
the experience here related my tonal vision and the ability to function in
the Region of Concrete Thought was indifferent and chiefly confined to the
lowest subdivision thereof, a little assistance from the Brothers that night
enabled me to contact the fourth region, where the archetypes are found, and
to receive there the teaching and understanding of that which is
contemplated as the highest ideal and mission of the Rosicrucian Fellowship.
I saw our headquarters and a procession of people coming from all parts
of the world to receive the teaching. I saw them issuing thence to carry
balm to afflicted ones near and far. While here in this world it is
necessary to investigate in order to find out about anything, there the voice
of each archetype brings with it as it strikes the spiritual consciousness
a knowledge of what the archetype represents. Thus there came to me that
night an understanding which is far beyond my words to express, for the
world in which we live is based upon the principle of time, but in the high
realm of the archetypes all is an eternal now. These archetypes do not tell
their story as this is told, but there is borne in upon one an instant
conception of the whole idea, much more luminous than can be given by
the reciter in words. I have not dared to attempt telling it during the
time which has since elapsed, but in the following section I shall endeavor
to give you a picture thereof.
XXII. Our Work
in the World
Part III
The Region of Concrete Thought, as you will remember from our other
teachings, is the realm of sound, where the harmony of the spheres, the
celestial music, pervades all that is as the atmosphere of the earth surrounds
and envelops everything terrestrial. Everything there may be said to be
wrapped in and permeated by music. It lives by music and grows by music.
The Word of God there sounds forth and forms all the various types which
later crystallize into the things we behold in the terrestrial world.
On the piano five dark keys and seven white constitute the octave.
Besides the seven globes upon which we evolve during a Day of Manifestation
there are five dark globes which we traverse during the Cosmic Nights. In
each life cycle the Ego withdraws for a time to the densest of these five,
that is, Chaos, the formless world where nothing remains save the centers of
force known as seed atoms. At the beginning of a new life cycle the Ego
descends again into the Region of Concrete Thought, where the "music of the
spheres" at once sets the seed atoms into vibration.
There are seven spheres, the planets of our solar system. Each has its
own keynote and emits a sound varying from that of every other planet. One
or another among them vibrates in particular synchrony with the seed atom of
the Ego then seeking embodiment. This planet then corresponds to the
"tonic" in the musical scale; and though the tones from all the planets are
necessary to build up an organism completely, each is modified and made to
conform to the basic impact given by the most harmonious planet, which is
therefore the ruler of that life, its Father Star. As in terrestrial music
so also in the celestial there are harmonies and discords, and these all
impinge upon the seed atom and aid in building the archetype. Vibratory lines
of force are thus formed, which later attract and arrange physical particles
as spores or sand are marshaled into geometrical figures by bowing a brass
plate with a violin bow.
Along these archetypal lines of vibration the physical body is later
built, and thus it expresses accurately the harmony of the spheres as it was
played during the period of construction. This period, however, is much
longer than the actual period of gestation, and varies according to the
complexity of the structure required by the life seeking physical
manifestation. Nor is the process of construction of the archetype
continuous, for under aspects of the planets which produce notes to
which the vibratory powers of the seed atom cannot respond it simply hums
over those which it has already learned, and thus engaged it waits for anew
sound which it can use to build more of the organism which it desires in
order to express itself.
Thus, seeing that the terrestrial organism which each of us inhabits is
molded along vibratory lines produced by the song of the spheres, we may
realize that the inharmonies which express themselves as disease are produced
in the first place by spiritual inharmony within. It is further evident
that if we can obtain accurate knowledge concerning the direct cause of the
inharmony and remedy it, the physical manifestation of disease will shortly
disappear. It is this information which is given by the horoscope of birth,
for there each planet in its house and sign expresses harmony or discord,
health or disease. Therefore all methods of healing are adequate only in
proportion as they take into consideration the stellar harmonies and
discords expressed in the wheel of life — the horoscope.
While the laws of nature that govern in the lower realms are all-powerful
under ordinary circumstances, there are higher laws which pertain to the
spiritual realms and which may under certain circumstances be made to
supersede the former. For instance, the forgiveness of sins upon
recognition thereof and true repentance is made to supersede the law which
demands an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. When Christ walked upon
this earth and healed the sick, He, being the Lord of the Sun, embodied
within Himself the synthesis of the stellar vibrations as the octave embodies
all the tones of the scale, and He could therefore emit from Himself the true
corrective planetary influence required in each case. He sensed the inharmony
and knew at once wherewith to offset it by virtue of His exalted development.
He had need of no further preparation, but obtained results at once by
substituting harmony for the planetary discord which caused the disease
wherewith He was dealing. Only in one case did He take refuge in the
higher law and say, "Arise, thy sins are forgiven."
Likewise with the ordinary methods employed in the Rosicrucian System of
Healing, they depend upon a knowledge of the planetary inharmonies which
cause disease and the correcting influence which will remedy the same. his
has sufficed in all the instances which have come under our notice to date.
However, there is a more powerful method available under a higher law which
may accelerate recovery in cases of long standing, and under certain
circumstances where the sincere and heartfelt recognition of wrong exists may
even obliterate the effects of disease before destiny, cold and hard, would
otherwise so decree.
When we look with spiritual vision upon one who is diseased, whether the
physical body be emaciated or not, it is plainly evident to the seer that
the finer vehicles are much more tenuous than during health. Thus they do
not transmit to the physical body a proper quota of vitality, and as a
consequence that instrument becomes more or less disrupted. But whatever
may be the state of emaciation of the rest of the physical body, certain
centers which are tenuous during health in a degree varying with the
spiritual development of the man, become clogged in an increasing degree
according to the seriousness of the disease. This is particularly true of the
main center between the eyebrows. Therein the spirit is immured, sometimes
to such an extent that it loses touch with the outer world and its progress
and becomes so thoroughly centered upon its own condition that only complete
rupture of the physical body can set it free. This may be a process of long
years, and in the meantime the planetary inharmony which caused the initial
disease may have passed by, but the sufferer is unable to take advantage of
the improved conditions. In such cases a spiritual outpouring of a special
kind is necessary to bring to the soul its message, "Thy sins are forgiven."
When that has been heard, it may respond to the command, "Take up thy bed
and walk."
None among our present humanity can measure anywhere near the stature of
the Christ, consequently none can exercise His power in such extreme cases;
but the need of that power in active manifestation exists today as much as
it did two thousand years ago. Spirit pervades everything in and upon our
planet, but in a varying measure. It has more affinity for some substances
than for others. Being an emanation from the Christ Principle, it is the
Universal Spirit composing the World of Life Spirit that restores the
synthetic harmony of the body.
A substance was shown to the writer in the Temple of the Rosicrucians on
the memorable night previously mentioned, with which the Universal Spirit
could be combined as readily as great quantities of ammonia combine with
water. Inside the large central sphere mentioned in a previous lesson was a
smaller container which held a number of packages filled with that
substance. When the Brothers had placed themselves in certain positions,
when the harmony of certain music had prepared the way, suddenly the three
globes commenced to glow with the three primary colors, blue, yellow, and red.
To the vision of the writer it was plain how during the incantation of the
formula the container having in it the before mentioned packages became
aglow with a spiritual essence that was not there before. Some of these
were later used by the Brothers with instantaneous success. Before them
the crystallizing particles enveloping the spiritual centers of the
patient scattered like magic, and the sufferer awoke to a recognition of
physical health and well-being.
Note: — The four following articles are from manuscripts by Max Heindel which were unpublished at the time of his passing. They later appeared in the magazine, "Rays from the Rose Cross," and are here reproduced.
XXIII. Eternal Damnation,
and Salvation
As we have at the Fellowship during each week a number of classes in
which the intellectual side of our natures may have sway, the Sunday evening
service, including the address, is intended for the heart side. You know it
is the aim of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood to combine the intellect and the
heart, therefore the Sunday evening addresses should be devoted largely to
bringing out the heart side, the touching of the heart strings. This is
something we greatly need, more even than the development of the intellect.
We are so apt in our present civilization to run along the intellectual line
and seek always for an explanation of our problems that appeals only to the
mind, forgetting that which may appeal to the heart also. Therefore the
speaker will endeavor to lead you rather along a form of meditation in which
the exhortations made may be said to apply more to the heart than to the
head, and which apply to himself as well as to anyone else.
During the past week the Elder Brother who has been the Teacher of the
speaker for some time, requested that the address of last Sunday be repeated
in another form so that we might take up the phase of our philosophy which
at present demands our greatest attention, namely, that of fitting ourselves
for higher work. If we look at man as he is now, we obtain only a partial
view of him, for man as well as everything else is ever becoming; but unless
we prepare for that becoming we cannot attain. It is therefore necessary
that we continually have our mind's eye directed toward the future in order
to know what is before us; also it is necessary to endeavor to live up to
our ideals, for only as we live up to them can we in time attain to them.
When we have attained to an ideal, it is no longer an ideal. There was a
time when some of us partook of the flesh of animals. Such food was
obtained by a tragedy, a taking of life. Therefore we got the idea we would
like to discontinue that practice, and after awhile we attained to that
ideal and became what are called "vegetarians." Vegetarian food was no
longer an ideal to us, because we had attained to it. So in the spiritual
life there are ideals that are farther and farther ahead, and which we must
always strive to keep for ideals in order that we may in time attain to and
live up to the highest that is within us.
We will now touch upon the subject known in the churches as "eternal
damnation and salvation." This is something we may have thought we could
get away from. We have, no doubt, in years past heard the ministers
preaching of hell; telling people of the necessity of applying themselves at
once to the problem of salvation in order that they might not be eternally
damned. Then perhaps in distrust of such a doctrine, perhaps thoroughly
infuriated at the thought that a Creator would create beings in order that
he might afterwards eternally torment the greater number of them, we turned
away from the church to other religions or philosophies.
Some of us may have turned to Eastern religions that teach the continuity
of life and the process whereby man evolves and eventually becomes a god.
Perhaps while studying these doctrines we obtained the idea of the
infinitude of time to the extent that we became a reproach to the Western
World, for there are those who think that the infinitude of time makes it
unnecessary for them to apply themselves as we do here. The Western World
has been given the doctrine which teaches "eternal damnation and eternal
salvation," and although we cannot believe it as taught in the orthodox
manner, nevertheless these twin doctrines contain a great truth.
The intelligent understanding of them hinges upon the derivation of the
world "eternal." If we turn to the Greek Bible, we shall find the word
"aionian." Taking a dictionary we find that this word means
"age-lasting — for an indefinite period of time." In the letter of Paul to
Philemon where he speaks of returning the slave Onesimus to him it is said:
"Perhaps it was good that he might be taken from you a little while that he
might go to you forever (aionian)." Neither Onesimus nor Philemon was
immortal, so there "aionian" can only mean for a part of a lifetime and not
for eternity; so we see that the latter is not the sense in which we are to
take it. But in what sense are we to take it?
When we look about us in the world and contemplate the process of
evolution, we may learn that throughout the whole pilgrimage of the spirit
from the clod to the god there is eternal progression; that there are
many stages, and many points at which the spirit rests for a time, then
takes a step forward. We who have studied in our philosophy the various
epochs and the periods that were back of the epochs, remember that it was
stated that the first real separation of people took place in the latter
part of the Lemurian Epoch. There was then what may be called a chosen
people; there has a certain division in the desire bodies of some of the
people who dwelt in that land at that time. Into those in whom the desire
body had divided so that there was some higher desire matter in their
make-up, the human spirit or Ego could enter, and in that way they became
man as we know him today. That was the first race; then gradually there
have been other races started: seven during the Atlantean Epoch and five so
far in the current Fifth Epoch. There will be two more in this Epoch and one in the
Sixth Epoch; then we shall be through with races.
Now while this process of evolution has been going on and while this vast
company of spirits have been continually progressing from stage to stage,
there have been stragglers on the way. Even when we were not yet conscious,
there were some who did not progress with their class, because they were not
as pliable as were the others; therefore they could not take the next step
in evolution. We have not come to the point where the quickest changes take
place, where there is less time between races than ever before. So the Elder
Brothers look upon the sixteen races in a way that justifies calling them
"the sixteen paths to destruction."
Here we have our lesson. There is a step for each of us from one race to
the next. We came through the races in the Lemurian Epoch; we went through
the seven Atlantean races, then the first of the Fifth Epoch races. We have
progressed along with the others; each time we have successfully passed
the point where there was a division made, and have in that manner attained
salvation. This is exactly on the same plan that children in school
are brought up from kindergarten to college. Some have to stay behind
each year; they are obliged to remain behind and learn the lessons that they
did not learn the year before; but they are given another chance. So there
are always some Egos lagging behind and some, more diligent than others, who
are at the front.
This is the question for you and me to answer tonight; are we going to be
among the laggards, or are we going to apply ourselves as we should and as
we can? Having been given this wonderful doctrine, having come to know the
wonderful truth of the continuity of life, are we going to hang back and say
to ourselves: "There is plenty of time. We do not believe in this doctrine
of eternal damnation; we know that all will be saved in time"? There will
be some that will attain before others and some that will lag behind; but
the question is, Are we going to be a help or a hindrance to the human race? We
stand today before the people of the Western World as the foremost; we have
the philosophy that explains in a better manner than any other philosophy
the problems of life. Then the question is, Are we going to use it in a
practical manner by applying ourselves to live it — live it in our daily
lives?
It does not matter what we believe, but only how we live; it is not a
question of faith, but of showing our faith by works. Have we put into our
daily lives our ideals? People about us are looking at us, and they see in
us either an example of what they ought to be or what they ought not to be.
Sunday after Sunday we hear these teachings, we learn the lessons of life,
and we meditate upon the word "service"; but how are we living up to that
ideal? Are we serving in the world? Are we going out into the world to
practice these things, to there live the corresponding life and exemplify
the teachings that have been received here? None of us can say we do it to
the best of our ability; we all of us fall far short. Then comes the
question: Is the ideal too high? No, it is not. There is a way whereby we
may live day by day to better and better advantage, which we will now
mention.
Those among you who have not taken up the exercises recommended in our
literature should seriously consider doing so. I most earnestly advise that
you take them up, because whether we who do so notice in ourselves an
improvement, whether or not it is noticed by others in the world about us,
there is nevertheless an improvement. We cannot day after day review our
thoughts and deeds without individually living a better life and becoming
better men and women. The two Rosicrucian exercises are not difficult and
require but little time; nor are we expected to take the time that should be
allotted to daily labor for our self-improvement. It is as wrong to do this
as to take the bread that should go to others in the family and eat it
ourselves. Every kind of selfishness should be shunned. We should endeavor
to improve ourselves day by day, and thereby become better men and women,
thus enabling us to shed more abundant life upon the Fellowship.
The probationers who are following the exercises and who are identifying
themselves with the Rosicrucian teachings in this manner will exert a more
helpful and powerful influence than otherwise possible. Therefore I would
urge again — and I would not repeat it were it not by special request — that
as many of you as can take up these exercises and endeavor to live
accordingly, for it is only as we take up and live the higher life that we can
fit ourselves for the progression that is to come.
At the time when the sun passes through a new sign of the zodiac, there
is always given to humanity a new spiritual impulse. That impulse must have a
channel to flow through, and that channel must be ready and able to vibrate
to the impulse. Unless there are some people ready who can receive its
vibration and give it out, the teaching connected with that spiritual
impulse cannot come.
We have read how throughout the past nineteen hundred years the second
coming of the Christ has been looked forward to; how some in the time of the
Apostles looked for His coming and thought that He was to establish a
worldly kingdom on earth. As in the past, so down to the present time we
find people looking for His coming — coming as a person. But as Angelus
Silesius says:
"Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn.
The Cross on Golgotha thou lookest to in vain,
Unless within thyself it be set up again."
As a tuning fork that is pitched to a certain vibration will start to
sing when another of the same key is struck, so also will it be with us;
when we have been attuned to the vibrations of the Christ, we shall be able
to express the love that He came to teach mankind, and which we are
inculcating by our service every Sunday evening. Until we live up to that
love and perceive the Christ within, we cannot see the Christ without.
Therefore let us remember the little poem:
Let us not waste our time in longing
For bright and impossible things;
Let us not sit supinely waiting
For the sprouting of angel wings.
Let us not scorn to be rushlights,
Ev'ry one can't be a star;
But let us brighten the darkness
By shining just where we are.
XXIV. The Bow in
the Cloud
I have a few preliminary explanations to make, a few reasons why the
subject of "The Bow in the Cloud" is taken up. I recently dictated the
manuscript for a book which I have since been editing. In the course of
the dictation there came up certain points that required investigation, one
of them being the life force that enters the body through the spleen. Upon
investigating it was seen that this force manifests in different colors, and
that in different kingdoms of life it works differently; therefore much was
to be looked up before making the information public. A friend, upon reading
some of the manuscript, sent to his library in Seattle for a book published
about forty years ago called "Babbitt's Principles of Light and Color."
I referred to this book and found it most interesting, written by a man who
was clairvoyant. After spending an hour studying the book, I turned to
investigation myself, with the result that a great deal of new light was shed
upon the subject. And it is a deep and profound subject, for the very life
of God seems to be embodied in these colors.
Among other things, in tracing back through the Memory of Nature, in
regard to light and color I came to a point where there was no light, as has
been shown in the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. Then I followed the
different stages of planetary formation and on down to the point where the
bow was seen in the cloud. The whole investigation made such a profound
impression upon me as to fill me with devotion.
It is stated in the Bible that "God is Light," and nothing can reveal to
us the nature of God in the same degree as that symbol. If a clairvoyant
went back into the far, dim past and looked upon this planet as it was then
formed, he would see at first, as it were, a dark cloud, without form, coming
out of chaos. Then he would see this cloud of virgin substance turned by
the Creative Fiat into light — its first visible manifestation, a luminous fire
mist. Then would come a time when moisture gathered around that fire mist,
and later the period spoken of as the Moon Period would arrive. Still later
would come the darker and more dense stage called the Earth Period.
In the Lemurian Epoch the first incrustation of the earth began when the
seething, boiling water was evaporated. We know that when we boil and
reboil water, it encrusts the kettle; likewise the boiling of the moisture
on the outside of the fiery earth ball formed the hard and crusty shell that
constitutes the surface of the earth.
The Bible says relative to the next epoch that it did not rain upon the
earth, but a mist went forth from the earth. From the damp earth at that
time there issued a mist that completely surrounded it. Then it was
impossible for us to see the sunlight as we do now; the sun had the
appearance of an arc light of the present time on a dark night; it had an
aura around it. In that misty atmosphere we dwelt in the early period
of Atlantis. Later there came a time when the atmosphere cooled more and
more and the moisture was condensed into water, finally driving the
Atlanteans from their land by a flood such as is recorded in the various
religions.
At the time when that misty atmosphere enwrapped the earth, the rainbow
was an impossibility. This phenomenon usually occurs when there is a clear
atmosphere in some places and a cloud in others. There came a time when
humanity saw the rainbow for the first time. When I looked upon that scene in
the Memory of Nature, it was most wonderful. There were refugees who were
driven from Atlantis, which is now partly under the Atlantic Ocean; it also
included parts of what are now known as Europe and America. These refugees
were driven eastward till they came at last to a place where the land was
high, where the atmosphere had partially cleared, and where they saw the
clear sky above. Of a sudden there came up a cloud, and from that cloud
came lightning. They heard the roll of thunder, and they who had escaped
peril by water and had fled under the guidance of a leader whom they revered
as God, turned to Him to ask, "What have we come to now? Shall we be
destroyed at last?" He pointed to the rainbow that stood in the cloud and
said: "No, for so long as that bow stands in the cloud, so long shall the
seasons come one after another in unbroken succession"; and the people with
great admiration and relief looked upon that bow of promise.
When we consider the bow as one of the manifestations of Deity, we may
learn some wonderful lessons of devotion, for while we look upon the
lightning with awe and hear the thunder with fear, the rainbow in the sky
must always provoke in the human heart an admiration for the beauty of its
sevenfold path of color. There is nothing to compare with that wonderful
bow, and I wish to call your attention to a few physical facts concerning it.
In the first place the rainbow never appears at noon; it is always after
the sun has passed downward and has traversed more than half the distance
from the meridian to the horizon that the rainbow appears, and the closer
the sun is to the horizon, the larger, clearer, and more beautiful it is.
It never appears in a clear sky. It usually has for its background the dark
and dreary cloud, and it is always seen when we turn our face from the sun.
We cannot look towards the sun and at the same time see a rainbow.
When we look upon the bow from below, it appears as a half circle above the
earth and us. But the higher we get, the more of the circle we see, and in
the mountains, when we reach a sufficient height above the rainbow, we see
it as a sevenfold circle — sevenfold like the Deity of whom it is a
manifestation.
Now with these physical facts before us, let us go into the mystic
interpretation of the subject. In ordinary life when we are at the height of
our physical activity, when prosperity is the greatest, when everything
looks bright and clear to us, then we do not need the manifestation of the
divine light and life. We do not need that covenant, as it were, that God
made with man upon his entry into the Fifth Epoch. We do not care about
the higher life; our bark is sailing upon summer seas, and we care for
nothing else; everything is so good to us here that there seems no reason
why we should look beyond.
But suddenly there comes the tempest, a time in every life when sorrows
and troubles come upon us. The storm of disaster tears away from us every
physical foundation, and we stand, perhaps, alone in the world in sorrow.
Then when we look away from the sun of physical prosperity, when we look to
the higher life, we shall always see upon the dark cloud of disaster the bow
that stands as the covenant between God and man, showing that we are always
able to contact the higher life. It may not be best for us then to do so,
for we all need a certain material evolution, which is best accomplished
when we do not contact too closely the higher life. But in order to evolve
and progress and gradually seek a higher and higher state of spirituality,
there must in time come to us troubles and trials which will bring us into
contact with the higher life. When we can look upon trial and tribulation
as a means to that end, then sorrows become the greatest blessings that can
come to us. When we feel no hunger, what do we care about food? But when
we feel the pangs of starvation and are seated before a meal, no matter how
coarse the fare, we feel very thankful for it.
If we sleep every night of our lives and sleep well, we do not appreciate
what a blessing it is. But when we have been kept awake night after night
and have craved sleep, then when it comes with its corresponding rest, we
realize its great value. When we are in health and feel no pain or disease
in our bodies, we are prone to forget that there ever was such a thing as
pain. But just after recovering from an illness or after we have suffered
much, we realize what a great blessing health is.
So in the contrast between the rays of the sun and the darkness of the
cloud, we see in the latter the bow that beckons us on to a higher life; and
if we will only look up to that, we shall be much better off than if we
continue in the paths of the lower life.
Many of us are prone to worry over little things. This reminds
me of a story recently printed in one of our papers of a little
boy who had climbed a ladder. He had been looking up as he was climbing,
and had gone so far up that a fall would have meant death. Then he stopped
and looked down, instantly becoming dizzy. When we look down from a height,
we become dizzy and afraid. But some one above called to him and said:
"Look up, little boy. Climb up here, and I will help you." He looked up,
and at once the dizziness and fear left him; then he climbed up until taken
in at a window.
Let us look up and endeavor to forget the little worries of life, for the
bow of hope is always in the cloud. As we endeavor to live the higher life
and climb the sublime heights toward God, the more we shall find the bow of
peace becoming a circle and that there is peace here below as well as there
above. It is our duty to accomplish the work we have to do in the world,
and we should never shrink from that duty. Still we have a duty to the
higher life, and it is in the interests of the latter that we gather
together on Sunday night and by massing our aspirations advance toward the
spiritual heights.
We should remember that we each have within a latent spiritual power that
is greater than any worldly power, and as it is unfolding, we are
responsible for its use. To increase that power we should endeavor to devote
part of our leisure time to the cultivation of the higher life, so that when
the cloud of disaster comes upon us, we shall by the aid of that power find
the bow within the cloud. As the bow is seen at the end of the storm, so
when we have gained the power to see the bright rainbow in our cloud of
disaster, the end of that disaster has come, and the bright side begins to
appear. The greater the disaster, the greater the needed lesson. When on
the path of wrong doing we sooner or later are kindly but firmly whipped into
line by the realities of life, and forced to recognize that the path of truth
is upward and not downward and that God rules the world.
XXV. The Responsibility
of Knowledge
At the time in the far, dim past when we began our lives as human beings
we had had very little experience, and consequently we had very little
responsibility. Responsibility depends upon knowledge. The animals, we find,
are not amenable to the law of causation from the moral standpoint, although
of course, if an animal jumps out of a window, it is amenable to the law of
physical causation, inasmuch as when it falls upon the ground beneath, it
may possibly break a limb or cause itself some injury. If a man should do
the same thing, he would be amenable to the law of responsibility in
addition to the law of cause and effect. There is for him a moral
responsibility, for he knows better, and he has no right to injure the
instrument that has been given him. So we see that we are morally
responsible according to our knowledge.
As we have gone through the experiences of many lives, more and more
faculties have become ours, and we are born each time with the accumulated
talents which are the results of the experiences of those lives. We are
responsible, therefore, for the way we use them. It is necessary that we
should put these talents to use in life, for unless we do, they will atrophy
just as surely as will the hand that is not used and that hangs limp and
idle by the side. Just as surely as that hand atrophies, so surely will our
spiritual faculties atrophy unless we put them to usury and gain more.
There can be no resting, no halting on this path of evolution which we are
treading; we must either go forward or else degenerate.
There is, then, evidently much responsibility attached to knowledge. The
more knowledge we have, the more responsibility we have — that is very plain.
But looking at it from the still deeper viewpoint of the esoteric scientist,
there is a responsibility attached to knowledge which is not ordinarily
perceived by humanity, and it is this particular phase of responsibility
that we wish to discuss here.
Mabel Collins avers that the story in her book called "The Blossom and the Fruit, or the Story of Fleta, a Black Magician," is a true story. She
states that the material for this story was brought from a far distant country
in a very strange manner, and that from the standpoint of one who knows, there
are in it some of the very deepest truths pertaining to the gaining of
knowledge and its use. We are told there how Fleta in the beginning of her
embodiments, while still in the savage state, murdered her lover, and that
from that murder, through the cruelty involved in it, she obtained a certain
power. That power, naturally, according to the deed, went in the direction
of black magic. Therefore in the life with which the story deals, she
possessed the power of a black magician. She forced her lover to kill
an entity in order that she might gain new power. It was in this black
manner that she utilized her knowledge.
There is a very deep truth here. All knowledge that is not saturated
with life is empty, purposeless, and useless. The life that gives power to
knowledge may be obtained in various ways, and may also be put to use in
various ways. Once it has been obtained, it may be stored in a talisman,
and then used by others for a good or for an evil purpose according to the
character of the one who uses it. If it is stored within the one who develops
the power himself, then it will be used according to the character of that
man or woman. This is on the same principle that we may store up electricity
in a battery, so that it may be taken away from the electric station and used
for a variety of purposes by others than the one who stored it. So, also,
the dynamic power that comes through the sacrifice of life for the purpose of
gaining esoteric power, may be used in one way or the other if stored in a
talisman.
We see this great fact in life particularly illustrated in the legend of
Parsifal. In this beautiful legend, the cleansing blood of the Savior,
given in noble self-sacrifice — not taken from another — was received in a
vessel which then became a talisman, and was capable of giving spiritual
power to many who looked upon it if they were pure, chaste, and harmless.
We have also the symbol of the spear which was the cause of the wound from
which the blood flowed. This was stained with the cleansing blood, which
made it a talisman that could be variously used. during the reign of
Titurel the Grail mystery was powerful; but when the Grail was given over to
Amfortas, son of Titurel, he went out armed with the holy spear to slay
Klingsor. He then ceased to be harmless; he wanted to pervert that great
spiritual power and use it to slay an enemy. Even though it was an enemy of
the good, it was not right to use that power for that purpose, and therefore
the power turned against him. He had ceased to be chaste, pure, and
harmless, and then the power gave him the wound that would never heal. So it
is also in other cases.
We read of David the bloody man of war, who was forbidden by the Lord to
build the Temple. Even though that Lord was a god of war, having had to
punish nations in order to bring them into the right, He could not use the
instrument which had been soiled by the blood of His wars for the purpose of
building a temple. That had to be left to David's son, Solomon, the man of
peace. We are told how Solomon desired wisdom, great knowledge, not in
order that he might gain the victory over his enemies, not in order that he
might increase his territory and make his people a great nation, but in order
that he might better rule the people who had been placed under his care; and
knowledge was given to him abundantly.
We also learn how Parsifal, the antithesis of Amfortas, was the offspring
of a man of war, a bloody man, who died. Through Herzleide, heart
affliction, the posthumous child Parsifal came into the world. In the first
part of his career he used the bow, but at a certain stage he broke it,
became chaste, pure, and harmless, and by the power of these qualities stood
firm in the day of temptation, and wrested the spear from Klingsor, who had
had it since the day when Amfortas lost it. Parsifal, in his wanderings
between the time when he received the speak and the time when he returned
to the Grail Castle, was beset by many temptations and much sorrow,
trouble, and tribulation. Men had sought his life, and many times he
realized that he might have saved himself by the use of the holy spear if
he would have turned it against his enemies. But he knew that the spear
was to be used not for hurt but for healing; he realized the sacredness of
the power which the sacrificial blood had given to the talisman, and that it
must only be used for the very highest purpose.
So we find everywhere that those who come into possession of spiritual
power will never make use of it for any selfish purpose. No matter what
trouble comes to them, they stand firm on that point. No matter how hard
they may be beset, they never for a moment think of prostituting their power
for selfish gain. Though such a one, if he likes, may feed five thousand
who are hungry and way from their source of supply, he will not take even
one little stone and turn it to bread to appease his own hunger. Although
he may stand before his enemies and heal them, as the Christ healed the ear
of the Roman soldier, he will refuse to use spiritual power to staunch the
blood that flows from his own side. It has always been said of such men
that "others they saved, themselves they would not save." They could always
have done so, for the power is great. But if they had so used it, they
would have lost it; they had no right to thus prostitute their power.
Then there is a different kind of mystery from that of the Grail. For
instance, John the Baptist's head was placed upon a platter after he had
been sacrificed, and others derived a certain power by looking upon that
spectacle. The Greek myth tells us of Argus, who had so many eyes that he
could see everywhere — he was clairvoyant. But he used his power for a wrong
purpose, and Mercury, the god of wisdom, cut off his head, and took away the
power. Every time that a man seeks to use spiritual knowledge and power in a
wrong way, he will lose them; they cannot remain his.
Even when we look at knowledge from a scientific standpoint, we realize
that it takes life, for every thought which we think breaks down tissue in
our brain, which is built of little cells. Every cell has its own
individual cell life, and that life is destroyed by thinking, or rather,
the form is destroyed so that the life can no longer manifest in it. There
is always the taking of life in whatever direction we go after
knowledge. There are those who take life in scientific experiments out of pure
curiosity. There are those who are cruel in the taking of life, as in
vivisection, and here, when the quest of knowledge is pursued solely from
the motive of curiosity, there is a dreadful debt laid up against a future
day, for the equilibrium will surely be restored.
So we find it in the case of Fleta, that the sacrifice of life at one
time in the physical world was followed by sacrifice in another world; but
through it she gained a power that brought her even to the very temple
doors, where she stood and demanded Initiation. Her motives, however, like
those of Klingsor, were not pure. She was not chaste, not fitted to have
spiritual power in its full measure and to be counted as one of the helpers
of humanity; therefore she was banished from the door of the temple, and
died the death of the black magician. A veil hangs before that death, and
we are not told what is behind it. Those things are perhaps better left
untold. But the lesson is just as valid, that we cannot take life nor in a
wrongful way amass knowledge without incurring a dreadful liability thereby.
The only reason which is satisfactory and proper for the quest of knowledge
is that we may thereby serve and help the race in a more efficient way.
At the present time the sacrifice of life in obtaining knowledge is
unavoidable; we cannot help it. But we should seek that knowledge with the
purest and the bet of motives, for the life that we destroy is legion. The
esotericist, who sees the life that is coming to birth, the elemental life
which is seeking embodiment and which is deprived of its forms by the
process of obtaining knowledge, is amazed sometimes at the vast loss of
the separate life that is thus sacrificed, and sacrificed to no good
purpose. Therefore we reiterate that no one has the right to seek knowledge
unless with the purest and the best of motives.
If, on the other hand, we walk the path of duty, if we seek to do those
things well and thoroughly which come to our hands, and if we have spiritual
aspirations without aiming to force spiritual growth, then we shall be
comparatively easily fitted for having higher powers. It is a beautiful
feature of the Rosicrucian exercises that they not only give us
spiritual knowledge, but they fit us for having that knowledge. We must learn
to walk the path of duty, to live the good life. Never mind a long life;
so many people, as Thomas a Kempis says, are concerned with living a long
life. But never mind this. Rather, let us strive each day to do our
duty; then we shall surely be fit to have the higher knowledge that goes with
exalted powers.
No matter what our sphere, there is always a place where we may make use
of our knowledge, not to preach sermons, not to talk to people from morning
till night about the things we know that they may admire our knowledge, but
that we may live the spiritual life among them, that we may stand to them as
living examples of our teachings. There is for everyone of us this
opportunity. We need no look very far for it; it is right here.
Thomas a Kempis has expressed this in a manner which only a mystic can
do. He has given the idea in such beautiful words that it would pay us well
to read and ponder a few of them in his "Imitation of Christ." He says:
"Every man naturally desireth to know, but what does knowledge avail
without the fear of God. Surely, an humble husbandman that serveth God is
better than a proud philosopher who studies the course of the heavens, and
neglecteth himself.....The more thou knowest, the heavier will be thy
judgment unless thy life be also the more holy. Be, therefore, not puffed
up, but rather fear for the knowledge that is given thee. If it seem to
thee that thou knowest much, remember that there are many things which
thou knowest not. Thou knowest not how long thou mayest prosper in well
doing."
Therefore let us remember that we should not seek after knowledge simply
for the sake of knowledge, but only as a means to the living of a better and a
purer life, for that alone justifies it.
XXVI. The Journey Through
the Wilderness
Our subject is taken from the Bible story of "The Temple in the
Wilderness," and we shall endeavor to interpret it from the standpoint of
the Rosicrucian teachings. It may seem to those who have not studied
these teachings that one interpretation is as valid and as worthy of belief as
another, but further consideration of the subject may give a somewhat
different opinion. Peter, in his second Epistle, first chapter and 20th
verse says: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scriptures is of
any private interpretation." In our daily life we understand that if our
opinion on any subject is to be considered valuable, that opinion must be
based upon a certain amount of knowledge of the subject. The testimony of
witnesses in a court is based upon this principle. If a person well
qualified by study or experience expresses an opinion upon a subject, he is
listened to with respect and receives due consideration. It should be the
same with one interpreting the Scriptures.
You will notice that Peter says that the Scriptures are not of private
interpretation. The Roman Catholics have held during many centuries (and
have been censured for so maintaining) that they are an authority on
interpretation of the Scriptures. There is some foundation for this
position, for every Pope who has ever been at the head of the Vatican, with
one exception, has had his spiritual sight unfolded.
It is not claimed that the Popes have wielded their power wisely, but
nevertheless they have not been blind leaders of the blind. It is such a
claim that Peter makes for himself. He says, "We have not followed
cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty." (II
Peter, 1:16) "Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?" says Paul in the 9th
chapter of First Corinthians, first verse.
There is thus a foundation for their writings and their teaching, and
this foundation is that they have seen and heard. We might go further and
show that those who were associated with the Christ when He was upon earth
had spiritual sight. They had been taken upon the Mount of Initiation,
there they saw Moses and Elijah, who had both long since passed out and were
no longer in the physical world. They beheld them, and saw and heard things
whereof they might not speak. Therefore by the unfoldment of the sixth or
spiritual sense they had a foundation for their teaching. They were capable
of interpreting the teaching given them, the proof of which they had seen.
In the Rosicrucian Fellowship we do not believe that the power of
spiritual sight is given only to the few but that it is a faculty to be
acquired by every human being in the course of his or her spiritual
unfoldment. Some day we shall all acquire spiritual sight, and then we
shall know that the things previously stated are true. There are some among
us who have unfolded spiritual sight, and have by that unfoldment acquired
the ability to see beyond the veil, to read from the Memory of Nature, and
to find reflected therein from a higher world the causes that produced our
present civilization. Some can also see into the future, and thus know of
the future work of evolution. The Scriptures have not been taken up by the
writer and interpreted according to his personal understanding, but this
information is the result of an understanding obtained by means of spiritual
vision.
In the first place let it be understood, as previously said in speaking
of the Christian mysteries, that the four Gospels are not merely accounts of
the life of a single individual, written by four different people, but that
they are symbolical of different Initiations. Paul says, "Until Christ be
formed in you." Everyone will some day go through the four stages that are
depicted in the four Gospels, for everyone is unfolding the Christ spirit
within himself. And in saying this of the four Gospels, we may also apply
the same assertion to a great part of the Old Testament, for it is a
wonderful book of esotericism. When we hoe potatoes, we do not expect to find
only potatoes and no earth; neither should we expect to dig into the book we
call the Bible and find every word an esoteric truth, for as there must be
soil between the potatoes, so must there be dross between esoteric truths in
the Bible.
The four Gospels were written in a manner such that only those who have
the right to know can unveil what is meant and understand the underlying
facts. So likewise in the Old Testament we find great esoteric truths that
become very plain when we can look behind the veil that blinds most of us.
Many for the present must forego esoteric sight in order to master the
conditions of material evolution and thereby perfect themselves for the
pursuits of the material world. But we of the Western world are now on the
esoteric arc; we are on the shore of the spiritual sea, where we individually
shall gather the pearls of knowledge that have been hidden by the matter that
has blinded us.
We will now discuss a form of Initiation depicted in a part of the Bible,
describing the journey of man from the clod to God. When we enter into the
collection of writings which we call the Bible, we find that it begins with
five books which are commonly called the five Books of Moses. These tell of
the journey of a so-called "chosen people" from Egypt to a promised land,
and how they passed through the water called the Red Sea, guided in a manner
called supernatural; after many, many years and after many of those who
first set out upon that journey had perished, they finally reached the land
that was promised. And yet Paul in his letter to the Hebrews speaks of that
covenant as having been unable of fulfillment, for that which should have
been accomplished failed. This is a fact. When we make a law, there is
also a means for transgressing that law; therefore it is impossible for law
to save.
There was a time when humanity was in such a state that it was impossible
to guide them at all without law — law telling them in all cases what they
must do and what they must not do. Therefore it was the mission of their
leader to give them such laws, and these were embodied in the five Books of
Moses. Historically the Israelites were a people who traveled not from
Egypt to Palestine, but who were taken by their leaders from doomed
Atlantis, where the condensing moisture in the atmosphere caused floods that
rendered the land uninhabitable, into the central part of Asia. This
company of men and women had been selected as a nucleus for a chosen race,
and they have since become what is known as the Fifth Epoch race. While this may be
a historical interpretation, still there is within this story a great
spiritual lesson, particularly in that part of the story which we are
considering.
In the Cosmo-Conception is given an illustration of two men standing on a
street corner; one knocks the other down. An observer might say that an
angry thought knocked the man down. Another would contradict that statement
and say that he saw the arm lifted and a blow landed upon the man's face,
causing him to fall to the ground. The latter version is true, but there
was a thought also; the arm was but an irresponsible instrument. It is
thought that moves everything, and when we look upon the hidden or esoteric
side of effects, we get a far deeper understanding of causes. It is from
this viewpoint that we shall speak of the Temple in the Wilderness.
In our Bible there is a description of the first people upon earth. They
are called Adam and Eve; but properly interpreted this means the human race,
which gradually arrogated to itself the power of procreation and thereby
became free agents. Humanity was thus given its freedom and made responsible
to the law of Consequence, for it had arrogated to itself the power to create
new bodies, and was then separated from th Tree of life and the state which
we are now cognizant of as etheric. When we learn that we have a vital body
made of ether, and that it is the tree of life to everyone of us and
furnishes us the vitality whereby we are enabled to make the movements of the
body, we may understand why the power to recreate and regenerate ourselves
was taken away from us lest we learn how to vitalize the imperfect dense
body; and we also see why as stated in the Bible, there were placed at the
gate of the Garden of Eden Cherubim with flaming swords to guard that
region.
This story is told in the beginning of the Bible, but in the end of the
book, in Revelation, we are told about a city where there is peace among the
people. Two cities are mentioned in the Bible; one, Babylon, a city of sorrow
and tribulation, where confusion started, where humanity first became
estranged, one from another, where brotherhood ceased; also another city, a
new one, a New Jerusalem, is described where there will be peace. We are
further told in Revelation that in this New Jerusalem is the Tree of life,
symbolizing the power to regenerate ourselves, whereby we shall regain that
health and beauty that we at present lack.
It was for a good purpose that this power was taken away. It was not
through malice in order that man should suffer in sorrow and pain, but
because it was only by repeated existences in an inferior body that we could
learn to build for ourselves such a vehicle as would be fit to immortalize.
Man gradually came down from the etheric state as easily then as he can today
dwell in the present three elements of the physical world. In the past
etheric state he contacted internally the life currents that we now contact
unconsciously. He was then able to center the energy of the sun in his body
and draw it in a manner different from that at present used. This power was
gradually taken away from him as he entered the more solid state of the
present.
Then began the journey through the wilderness, a wilderness of space and
of matter; and we shall continue to so journey until we reenter the etheric
realm consciously — that realm called the New Heaven and the New Earth, where
righteousness will dwell and where there will be no more sin. At the
present time we are still traveling through the wilderness of space, as we
shall see if we study the Bible understandingly. Not the English version,
however, as that was prepared by translators who were hampered by an edict
of King James instructing them not to translate anything that would in any
manner interfere with the existing belief of that time.
The first thing that we learn from the esoteric point of view about the
temple that was built in the wilderness is that Moses was called into the
mountain and there shown certain patterns. You will remember we have been
told in the Cosmo-Conception that in the heaven world there are pattern
pictures — archetypes. We find in the Greek language the word "apxn" meaning "in the beginning," that is, the commencement. The Christ says of Himself, or rather the Initiate who understands his divinity says: "I am the beginning (apxn) and the end." There is in that word "beginning" (apxn) the nucleus for everything we have here.
In the temple there was placed an ark, and the ark was arranged in such a
manner that the staves could not or should not be taken out of it; during
the whole journey through the wilderness those staves must remain there.
They were never removed until the ark was taken into the temple of Solomon.
We see here a state where a certain symbol, an archetype, something that
comes from the beginning, is made in such a manner that it can be taken up
at any time and carried further on. In that ark was the nucleus around
which everything in the temple centered. There was the magical rod of
Aaron, and there was the pot of manna; also the two tablets of the law.
We have here described a perfect symbol of what man really is, for all
the while he is going through this vale of matter and is traveling
continually from one place to another, the staves are never under any
condition removed. They are not removed until he comes to that state
symbolized in Revelation where it is said, "Him that overcometh will I make
a pillar in the temple of my God; and he shall go no more out."
During all the time that has intervened from the moment when man
commenced his passage through matter, he has had that spirit of
peregrination. He does not remain stationary. Every so often the temple was
taken up, an the ark was carried farther on to a new place. So also is man
taken from place to place from environment to environment, from condition to
condition. It is not an aimless journey, for it has for its goal that
promised land, the New Jerusalem, where there shall be peace. But while
man is on this journey he must know that there will be no rest and no peace.
This is the result of the law which man has transgressed in a certain
sense. It was not designed at the beginning that we should go through such
an evolution as this, such a vale of sorrow and tears as we have been and
are passing through. We are told that the creative force that was latent
within and that we are just beginning to use constructively was first used
by us under the direction of the angels, who took care that procreation was
carried on at times when the planetary conditions were favorable. Then
parturition was painless. Everything was good on the earth. The Lord had
made everything so that it was good. But there came a time when the
Lucifer spirits, whom we recognize as the stragglers from the angel
evolution, had to have a brain in order that they might function in the
physical world. Therefore they showed us how we might use our creative force
in a manner independent of the guidance of the angels, so that when a body was
cast off in death, as it had to be when it became useless, it would be
possible for the human being to create another body.
So we have these two classes working in different parts of the body: the
Lucifer spirits, that have since worked on us through the spinal cord and
the brain; and the angels who have charge of the propagative faculty in so
far as it does not interfere with our own action. Here, at this point, is
where free will and choice come in and also the Law of Consequence. The
animals are not responsible in the way we are; if an animal jumps from a
height, it hurts itself in a physical manner, but there the responsibility
ends; while if we should do the same thing, we should incur similar physical
results and in addition a moral responsibility, for we know better than to
injure the physical vehicle unnecessarily. Thus the Law of Consequence
attaches to every act of a human being when free will is attained.
Whatever we do that is wrong has in some way to be brought to our notice.
Sorrow and pain have been the taskmasters who have guided us aright, and in
order that we might in time know how to do right, the Law of Consequence was
given. In the ark, which symbolized the human being, there were placed the
tablets of the law, and there was also placed the pot of manna. The word
"manna" signifies not bread that came from heaven but the thinker, the Ego,
which descended from the higher spheres. In almost every language we have
the word "man." In Sanskrit, German, Scandinavian, etc., the root is the
same. In the ark is the thinker, and he is being carried about in the
temple in the wilderness during the present stage of his evolution.
There is in us also the spiritual power symbolized by the rod of Aaron.
Aaron's rod, we remember, was one that budded when all others remained
barren. There is in each one of us a spiritual power that has become
latent during the time we have been going through the pilgrimage of matter,
and it is for us to awaken this power. We have spoken a number of times about
this spiritual power — how the use of it brings blessings into the world when
used as Parsifal used it, and how when misused, as did Amfortas, it brings
sorrow.
This spiritual power is latent at the present time because humanity,
symbolized by the traveling ark, has not fitted itself to receive it. We
are too selfish, and we must cultivate unselfishness before we shall be
trusted to wield this wonderful power. Peter is very emphatic in regard
to the teachers who may come among us, when he speaks of false teachers and
says they will make merchandise of us. Such are they who have lessons in
this, that, and the other kind of spiritual science to sell, more than
likely in astrology, at perhaps five dollars per lesson. They have these
things to give us for the coin of the realm, but we must remember that it is
not money but merit that counts in spiritual attainment every time, and it is
impossible to initiate a man into higher spiritual powers for a few dollars
or any material consideration. Just as it is necessary to load the pistol
before pulling the trigger will cause the explosion, so also is it necessary
that we have stored up within ourselves the force, the spiritual power
symbolized by Aaron's rod, before we can have that power turned to its
proper and legitimate use. And this is one of the great lessons in the
story of the ark.
If we continue to travel and travel, take rebirth after rebirth, and do
not at some time learn to obey the voice of God, hold His commandments holy,
and live the good life, we cannot expect to reach the City of Peace, but
must be content to remain in the land of sorrow and suffering.
How then are we to unfold our spiritual power? What is the way, the
truth, and the life? We have had the threefold path shown us in the glorious
teaching of the Christ. Ordinary humanity all over the world are being
worked upon by law, which works upon the desire body and holds it in check.
The thinker is pitted against the flesh. But under law no one can be saved.
We also have the vital body spoken of in our teaching. This is the vehicle,
as Paul has said, of love and attraction. If we can overcome the passionate
side of our nature, if we can get away from the lower vibrations of love, if
we can cultivate within ourselves purity, and if we can withstand temptation
as did Parsifal and live the pure life, then every day we cultivate within
ourselves a power. This power is the power of love, which will express
itself in our lives in service, and gradually it will accumulate to such an
extent that it will be like the powder in the loaded pistol. Then the
Teacher will come to us and show us how to liberate the power we have stored
up within our being.
It depends upon ourselves how long we shall travel in the wilderness.
Everyone of us has the power latent within that will bring him or her into
the City of Peace, a place apart from sorrow and suffering. Everyone of us
can and must make the start sometime, and the first step is purification,
for without the pure life there can be no spiritual advancement. "Ye cannot
serve God and mammon," it is said. But mammon is usually interpreted to
mean the gold of the world. Yet a man may remain in his business and take
care of it for the good of all, not for his own selfish greed and interest,
doing everything possible for others, and not be serving mammon no matter
how much he may be accumulating. A person may love only a few around him,
but there is a higher love that flows out to others not in his own circle
which must be observed. Every duty must be fulfilled that we may thereby
take advantage of the higher opportunities that are ever opening up before
us.
And so we must all learn our lessons in service: service to humanity,
service to animals, service to our younger brothers, service everywhere.
This alone will bring us out of the "wilderness." It is said that those who
were highest in the temple were those who served; and the Christ said, "He
who would be the greatest among you, let him be the servant of all." Let us
all strive to render this service. It is easy to do if we will. Then some
day in the not far distant future we shall hear that gentle voice, the voice
of the Teacher, which comes to everyone who serves and who listens to the
voice of God.
Reference: Teachings of an Initiate, by Max Heindel (1865-1919)
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