[PAGE 1]                                            TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE




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            [ T E A C H I N G S   O F   A N   I N I T I A T E ]
            [                                                 ]
            [                        BY                       ]
            [                                                 ]
            [              M A X   H E I N D E L              ]
            [                   [1865-1919]                   ]
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                         THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP
                         INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
                                MT. ECCLESIA
                                P.O. BOX 713
                      OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, 92054, USA





[PAGE 3]                                            TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE


                                  FOREWARD

   This volume of the writings of Max Heindel,  the Western Mystic,  is  the
concluding number embodying the messages he sent out through monthly lessons
to his students.   These lessons, reprinted since this great soul was called
to a greater work in the higher worlds on January 6th, 1919, may be found in
the following books in addition to the present volume:  "Freemasonry and Ca-
tholicism";   "The  Web  of  Destiny";   "The  Mystical  Interpretation   of
Christmas";  "The  Mysteries  of  the Great Operas";  "The  Gleanings  of  a
Mystic";  and "Letters to Students."   These writings comprise the later in-
vestigations of this seer.

   The  helpful  messages and the spiritual encouragement that  the  readers
have  received from the inspired words in the earlier volumes we  know  have
been far-reaching in their effects.   We also feel that in years to come en-
lightened and advanced students and seekers along mystical and occult  lines
will realize more and more the true value of the works of Max Heindel.   His
words reach the very depths of the heart of the reader.   Many who have read
his first work,  "The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception,"  have been thrilled  by
their contact with it.


[PAGE 4]                                            TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

   Max  Heindel,  who was the authorized messenger of the  true  Rosicrucian
Brotherhood, lived the teachings which he taught.  Only one who has suffered
as he suffered during his lifetime is able to touch the heart strings of hu-
manity.   Only he who has felt the labor pains of spiritual birth which  has
admitted  him to the realms of the soul can write with the power  to  thrill
his readers.  As the result of such a spiritual birth the writings which Max
Heindel has bequeathed to humanity will live and bear fruit.   May the read-
ers of this book feel the heart throbs of this great lover of humanity,  who
sacrificed  his very physical existence in his desire to impart to  man  the
wonderful  truths which he had garnered through his contact with  the  Elder
Brothers of the Rosicrucian Order.
                                                       --August Foss Heindel


[PAGE 5]                                            TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                              TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I                                                         PAGE
   The Days of Noah and of Christ ...................................7
Chapter II
   The Sign of the Master...........................................16
Chapter III
   What is Spiritual Work?..........................................23
Chapter IV
   The Way of Wisdom................................................33
Chapter V
   The Secret of Success............................................40
Chapter VI
   The Death of the Soul............................................47
Chapter VII
   The New Sense of the New Age.....................................54
Chapter VIII
   God's Chosen People..............................................61
Chapter IX
   Mystic Light on the World War
         Part I.--Secret Springs....................................66
Chapter X
   Mystic Light on the World War
         Part II--Its Promotion of Spiritual Sight..................72
Chapter XI
   Mystic Light on the World War
         Part III--Peace on Earth...................................81
Chapter XII
   Mystic Light on the World War
         Part IV--The Gospel of Gladness............................88


[PAGE 6]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

Chapter XIII
   The Esoteric Significance of Easter..............................96
Chapter XIV
   The Lesson of Easter............................................103
Chapter XV
   Scientific Method of Spiritual Unfoldment
         Part I--Material Analogies................................108
Chapter XVI
   Scientific Method of Spiritual Unfoldment
         Part II--Retrospection....................................115
Chapter XVII
   The Heavens Declare the Glory of God............................122
Chapter XVIII
   Religion and Healing............................................126
Chapter XIX
   Address at Ground Breaking, Mt. Ecclesia........................133
Chapter XX
   Our Work in the World, Part I...................................141
Chapter XXI
   Our Work in the World, Part II..................................148
Chapter XXII
   Our Work in the World, Part III.................................157
Chapter XXIII
   Eternal Damnation, and Salvation................................163
Chapter XXIV
   The Bow in the Cloud............................................172
Chapter XXV
   The Responsibility of Knowledge.................................180
Chapter XXVI
   The Journey Through the Wilderness..............................190


[PAGE 7]                                      THE DAYS OF NOAH AND OF CHRIST

                                  CHAPTER I

                       THE DAYS OF NOAH AND OF CHRIST

   When  Nicodemus  came to Christ and was told about the necessity  of  re-
birth,  he asked, "How can these things be?"  And we also with out inquiring
minds are often anxious for more light upon the various teachings concerning
our  future.   It  helps us if we can feel that  these  teachings  fit  into
physical facts as we know them.   Then we seem to have firmer ground for our
faith in other things which we have not yet proved.

   It  has been the writer's work to investigate spiritual facts and  corre-
late  them with the physical in such a manner as would appeal to the  reason
and thus pave the way for belief.   In this way it has been his privilege to
give  light to seeking souls on many of the mysteries of life.   Recently  a
new  discovery was made which,  though it seemed as remote  from  connection
with the coming of Christ as east is from west, throws considerable light on
that  event,  especially on the manner of our meeting with the Lord "in  the
twinkling of an eye" as the Bible has it.  Our students well know  how  dis-


[PAGE 8]                                            TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

tasteful it is to the writer to relate personal experiences,  but sometimes,
as in the present case,  it seems necessary,  and we shall crave  indulgence
for using the personal pronoun while relating to the incident.

   One  night  some time ago while in transit to a place in  a  far  country
where I had a mission to perform, I heard a cry.  Though the human voice can
be heard only in air,  there are overtones which are heard in the  spiritual
realms at distances exceeding those traversed by wireless messages.  The cry
was close by,  however,  and I was on the scene in an instant,  but not soon
enough to give the needed help.   I found a man sliding down a slanting  em-
bankment,  bare  of vegetation,  perhaps a dozen feet in width,  and  as  it
proved on subsequent examination, almost smooth, and without a fissure which
would  have afforded a hold for his fingers.   To have saved him would  have
involved materialization of both arms and shoulders,  but there was no time.
In  a moment he had slid over the overhanging precipice and was  falling  to
the floor of the canyon below,  probably several thousand feet,  though I am
not certain, being a poor judge of distance.

   Prompted by a natural spirit of fellow feeling I followed and on the  way
observed  the  phenomenon which is the basis of this article,  namely,  that
when the body had attained a considerable velocity, the ethers composing the
vital body commenced to ooze out,  and when the body crashed into the  rocks
below,  a  mangled  mass,  there  was  very  little of any ether left in it.


[PAGE 9]                                      THE DAYS OF NOAH AND OF CHRIST

Gradually, however, the ethers drifted together, took form, and hovered with
the finer vehicles above the mangled corpse; but the man was in a stupor un-
able to sense or realize the fact of his altered condition.

   As soon as I saw that he was beyond present help I went on; but on think-
ing the matter over it dawned on me that something unusual had happened  and
that it was my duty to find out if the ethers left that way in every one who
feel,  and if so,  why.  Under old-time conditions this would have been dif-
ficult, but the advent of the flying machine claims many victims, especially
in these unfortunate war times.  It was therefore easy to ascertain the fact
that when a falling body has attained a certain velocity,  the higher ethers
leave the dense body,  and the falling man becomes insensible.   As the body
reaches the ground, it is mangled, but the poor man may regain consciousness
when  the ether has reorganized itself.   He will then begin to suffer  from
the  physical  consequences of the fall.  If the fall  continues  after  the
higher ethers have left,  the increased velocity dislodges the lower ethers,
and the Silver Cord is all that remains attached to the body.   This is rup-
tured at the moment of impact with the ground,  and the seed atom passes  on
to the breaking point, where it is held in the usual way.

   From  these  facts we came to the conclusion that it is  the  normal  air
pressure which holds the vital body within the dense.   When we move with an
abnormal velocity, the pressure is removed from some parts of the body and a


[PAGE 10]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

partial  vacuum formed,  with the further result that the ethers  leave  the
body  and  flow into this vacuum.   The two higher ethers,  which  are  most
loosely bound,  are the first to disappear and leave the man senseless after
they have produced the panorama of life in a flash.   Then if the fall  con-
tinues to increase the air pressure in front of the body and the vacuum  be-
hind,  the more closely bound lower ethers are also forced out, and the body
is dead before it reaches the ground.

   It  was found by examining a number of people in normal health that  each
of  the prismatic atoms composing the lower ethers radiated from itself  the
lines  of  force which set spinning the physical atoms in which  it  is  in-
serted,  enduing  the hole body with life.   The united trend of  all  these
units  of force is toward the periphery of the body,  where they  constitute
what has been called the "Odic Fluid," also designated by other names.  When
the air pressure from without is lowered by residence in a high altitude,  a
tendency  to  nervousness becomes manifest because the  etheric  force  from
within  ruses outward unchecked;  and were the man not able to shut off  the
outflow  of solar energy in part by an effort of will to overcome  the  dif-
ficulty, no one could live in such places.

   We  had heard of "shell shock"  and we were aware that numbers of  people
who  had not even the slightest wound were found dead on the  battle  field.
In  fact,  we  had  seen  and  spoken with people who had passed out in this


[PAGE 11]                                     THE DAYS OF NOAH AND OF CHRIST

manner  but were at a loss to know why death has resulted.   They  all  dis-
claimed fear and were unanimously in their assertion that they had  suddenly
become unconscious and a moment later they had found themselves in that they
had  not a single scratch on their bodies.   Our preconceived idea  that  it
must  have been a momentary fear at a particularly close call  which  though
unrealized, had caused their demise, prevented a full investigation; but the
ascertained  results  of the consequences of a fall led us to  believe  that
something  similar  might take place in this connection,  and  this  surmise
proved to be correct.

   When a large projectile passes through the air,  it creates a vacuum  be-
hind  it  by the enormous velocity wherewith it moves,  and if a  person  is
within this vacuum zone while the shell is passing,  he suffers in a measure
determined  by  his own nature and his proximity to the center  of  suction.
His  position  is  in fact a reverse replica of the man who  falls;  for  he
stands  still  while a moving body removes the air pressure and  allows  the
ethers to escape.  If the amount of ether dislocated is comparatively slight
and is composed only of the third and fourth ethers which govern sense  per-
ception and memory,  he will probably suffer only a temporary loss of memory
and inability to sense things or move.   This disability will disappear when
the extracted ethers are again  fitted  inside  the  dense body--a much more


[PAGE 12]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

difficult achievement than where the physical body succumbs and the  reorga-
nization takes place without reference to that vehicle.

   Had  the  people  thus hurt learned now to perform  the  exercises  which
separate the higher and lower ethers, they might have found themselves  out-
side  the body in full consciousness and perhaps ready for their first  soul
flight if they had had the courage to undertake it.  However that may be, it
is safe to say that on their return to the dense body they would have  expe-
rienced  very little if any inconvenience,  and in case the vacuum had  been
strong enough to extract all four ethers and cause death,  there would prob-
ably have been no unconsciousness such as overtakes the ordinary person; for
it was discovered that the people who said that they felt unconscious for  a
moment only were wrong.  It required a time varying from one to several days
in the cases we investigated before the vital body was reorganized and  con-
sciousness reestablished.

   Let us now see what bearing these newly discovered facts have on the com-
ing of Christ and our meeting with Him.   While we lived in ancient Atlantis
in  the basins of the earth,  pressure of the moisture-laden mist  was  very
heavy.  This hardened the dense body, and as a further result the vibrations
of the interpenetrating finer vehicles were considerably slowed down.   This
was especially true of the vital body,  which is made of ether,  a grade  of
matter  belonging to the physical world and subject to some of the  physical
laws.  The solar life did not penetrate the dense mist in the same abundance


[PAGE 13]                                     THE DAYS OF NOAH AND OF CHRIST

as is present in the clear atmosphere of today.   Add to this the fact  that
the vital bodies of that day were almost entirely composed of the two  lower
ethers, which further assimilation and reproduction, and we shall understand
that progress was very slow.  Man lad mainly a vegetative existence, and his
main exertions were devoted to the purpose of obtaining food and reproducing
his kind.

   Had such a man been removed to our atmosphere conditions the, lack of ex-
terior pressure would have resulted in an outflowing of the vital body which
means death.   Gradually the physical body grew less dense and the amount of
the  two  higher ethers increased,  so that man become fitted to live  in  a
clear  atmosphere under a decreased pressure such as we have  enjoyed  since
the  historical event known as the "Flood"  when the mist condensed.   Since
that time we have also been able to specialize more of the solar life force.
The larger proportion of the two higher ethers now found in our vital bodies
enables us to express the higher human attributes appropriate to the  devel-
opment of this age.

   The vibrations of the vital body under the present atmospheric conditions
have enabled the spirit to build that which we call civilization, consisting
of  industrial  and artistic achievements and of moral and  spiritual  stan-
dards,  the industrial and moral excellence being as closely connect and in-
terdependent as the artistic achievement is dependent on a spiritual concep-


[PAGE 14]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

tion.   Industry is designed to develop the moral side of man's nature,  art
to unfold the spiritual.   Thus we are now being prepared for the next  step
in our unfoldment.

   Let it now be remembered that the qualifications necessary for our  eman-
cipation  from the conditions prevailing in Atlantis were party  physiologi-
cal;  we had to evolve lungs to breathe the pure air in which we are now im-
mersed and which allows the vital body to vibrate at a more rapid rate  than
did the heavy moisture of Atlantis.   With this in mind we shall readily see
that  future  advancement lies in freeing the vital body entirely  from  the
trammels of the dense body and letting it vibrate in pure air.

   This  is  what happened in the lofty altitude exoterically known  as  the
"Mount of Transfiguration."   Advanced men of various ages,  Moses,  Elijah,
and  Jesus (or rather the body of Jesus ensouled by Christ) appeared in  the
luminous garment of the liberated soul body, which all will wear in the  New
Galilee,  the Kingdom of Christ.   "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the king-
dom,: for it would interfere with the spiritual progress of the day; so when
Christ  appears  we must be prepared with a soul body and thus be  ready  to
part from out dense body to be "caught up and meet Him in the air."

   The results of the investigation which form the basis of the present  ar-
ticle  may  give us an insight into the method of transition  when  compared
with the information given in the Bible.  It  is  said  that  the  Lord will


[PAGE 15]                                     THE DAYS OF NOAH AND OF CHRIST

appear with a mighty sound like the voice of an Archangel.  We read of thun-
ders and the blasts of trumpets in connection with the event.  A sound is an
atmospheric disturbance,  and since the passage of a projectile made by  man
can lift the vital bodies of soldiers out of their dense bodies, it needs to
argument  to  prove that the shout of a superhuman  voice  could  accomplish
similar results more efficiently--"in the twinkling of an eye."

   "When shall these things be?"  asked the disciples.   They were told that
as it was in the days of Noah (when the Aryan Epoch was about to be  ushered
in), so should it be in the Day of Christ.  They ate and drank, they married
and  were given in marriage.   But some who perhaps seemed not so  different
from  the rest,  had evolved the all-important lungs so that when the  atmo-
sphere cleared they were able to breathe pure air, while others who had only
the  gill clefts perished.   In the Day of Christ when His voice sounds  the
Call,  there will be some who will find themselves with a properly organized
soul  body,  able to ascent above the discarded dense bodies,  while  others
will  be like the soldiers who meet death from "shell shock"  on the  battle
fields today.

   May we prepare for that day by following in His steps.


[PAGE 16]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                 CHAPTER II

                           THE SIGN OF THE MASTER

   There  are at the present time many who,  judging from the signs  of  the
times,  believe Christ to be at the door and are watching him in joyful  an-
ticipation.   Though,  in the opinion of the writer,  the "things which must
first come to pass"  have not taken place in many important particulars,  we
must not forget that He gave warning that "as it was in the days of Noah, so
shall  be in the day of the Son of Man."   Then they ate,  drank,  and  made
merry;  they married and were given in marriage up to the very  moment  when
the  flood  descended and engulfed them.  Only a small  remnant  was  saved.
Therefore  we  who pray for His coming will do well to watch also  lest  our
prayers be answered before we are ready,  for He said,  "The day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night."

   But  there is also another danger,  a very great danger which He  pointed
out,  namely,  "There shall be false Christs;"  and "they shall deceive even
the  very elect,  if that were possible."  So we are warned that  if  people
say, "Christ is here in the city or there in the desert," we are not  to go,


[PAGE 17]                                             THE SIGN OF THE MASTER

or we shall certainly be deceived.

   But on the other hand, if we do not investigate, how shall we know?   May
we  not run the risk of rejecting Christ by refusing to hear  all  claimants
and  judging each according to merits?  When we examine the  injunctions  of
the Bible upon this point,  they seem bewildering and altogether  subversive
of the end they are supposed to help us attain, and the great question,: How
shall we know Christ at His coming?"  is still rife.   We have issued a pam-
phlet on this subject but feel sure additional light will be welcome to all.

   Christ said that some of the false Christs would work signs and  wonders.
He always refused to prove His divinity in that sordid manner when asked  to
do so by the scribes and Pharisees, because He knew that phenomena only  ex-
cited the sense of wonder and whetted the appetite for more.  Those who wit-
ness such manifestations are sometimes sincere in their efforts to  convince
others but they are generally met with an attitude of mind which says in ef-
fect:  "You  say you have seem him do so and so and therefore  you  believe.
Very well!  I also am willing to be convinced.  Let him show me."

   But even supposing a Master were willing to prove his identity, who among
the multitude is qualified to judge the validity of the proof?  No one!  Who
knows the sign of the Master when he sees it?  The sign of the Master is not


[PAGE 18]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

a phenomenon which may be repudiated or explained away by the sophists, nei-
ther is it something the Master may show or hide as he pleases,  nor can  he
take it up and lay it aside at will.  He is forced to carry it with him  al-
ways as we carry out arms and limbs.  It would be just as impossible to hide
the sign of the Master from those qualified to see,  know and judge it as it
would be for us to hide our members, from anyone who has physical sight.  On
the other hand,  as the sign of the Master is spiritual, it must be spiritu-
ally  perceived,  and it is therefore is impossible to show the sign of  the
Master to those who lack spiritual sight as it is to show a physical  figure
to the physically blind.

   Therefore  we read:  "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after  a
sign, and there shall no sign be given unto it."  A little further on in the
same chapter (Matt.  16) we find the Christ asking His disciples,  "Whom  do
men say that I,  the Son of Man, am?"   The answer developed that though the
Jews  saw in Him a superior person, Moses,  Elias,  or one of the  prophets,
they were incapable of recognizing His true character.   They could not  see
the sign of the Master, or they would have needed no other testimony.

   Christ then turned to His disciples and asked them, "But whom say ye that
I am?"   And from Peter came the answer weighted with conviction,  quick and
to the point, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."  He had seen
the  sign  of  the  Master,  and  he  knew  whereof he spoke, independent of


[PAGE 19]                                             THE SIGN OF THE MASTER

phenomena and exterior circumstances,  as emphasized by Christ when He said,
"Blessed  art thou,  Simon,  Son of Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not  re-
vealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."  In other words, the
perception of this GREAT TRUTH depended upon an interior qualification.

   What  this qualification was,  and is,  we learn from the next  words  of
Christ:  "And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter (PETROS, A ROCK,) and
upon this rock (PETRA) I will build my church."

   Christ  said concerning the multitude of materialistic Jews:   "A  wicked
and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,  and there shall no sign  be
given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonah";  and much speculation  has
been the consequence among equally materialistic Christians in latter times.
Some have contended that an ordinary whale did swallow the prophet and later
cast him ashore.  Churches have divided on this as on many other foolish is-
sues.   But  when we consult the occult records we  find  an  interpretation
which satisfies the heart without doing violence to the mind.

   This great allegory,  like so many other myths, is pictured upon the film
of the firmament, for it was first enacted in heaven before it was staged on
the earth, and we still see in the starry sky "Jonah, the Dove," and "Cetus,
the Whale".  But we will not concern ourselves  so  much  with the celestial


[PAGE 20]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

phase as with its terrestrial application.

   "Jonah" means dove, a well recognized symbol of the Holy Spirit.   During
the  three "days"  comprising the Saturn, Sun,  and Moon revolutions of  the
Earth Period,  and the "nights"  between,  the Holy Spirit with all the Cre-
ative  Hierarchies worked in the Great Deep perfecting THE INWARD  parts  of
the  earth and men,  removing the dead weight of the moon.   Then the  earth
emerged from its watery stage of development in the middle Atlantean  Epoch,
and so did "Jonah, the Spirit Dove," accomplish the salvation of the greater
part of mankind.

   Neither  the earth nor its inhabitants were capable of maintaining  their
equilibrium in space, and the Cosmic Christ therefore commenced to work with
and on us, finally at the baptism descending AS A DOVE (not in the form of a
dove but AS a dove) upon the man Jesus.  And as Jonah,  the dove of the Holy
Spirit,  was three Days and three Nights in the Great Fish (the  earth  sub-
merged  in water),  so at the end of our involutionary pilgrimage  must  the
other dove,  the Christ,  enter THE HEART of the earth for the coming  three
revolutionary  Days and Nights to give us the needed impulse on  our  evolu-
tionary  journey.   He must help us to etherealize the earth in  preparation
for the Jupiter Period.

   Thus Jesus become at his baptism, "a Son of the Dove," and was recognized
by another, "Simon Bar-Jonah," (Simon, son of the dove).  At  that  recogni-

[PAGE 21]                                             THE SIGN OF THE MASTER

tion,  by the sign of the dove, the Master calls the other "a rock," a foun-
dation  Stone,  and promises him the "Keys to Heaven."   These are not  idle
words nor haphazard promises.  These are phases of soul development involved
which each must undergo if he has not passed them.

   What  then is the "sign of Jonah" which the Christ bore about  with  Him,
visible to all who could see,  other than the "house from heaven"  wherewith
Paul longed to be clothed; the glorious treasure house wherein all the noble
deeds of many lives glitter and glisten as precious pearls?  Everybody has a
little "house from heaven."  Jesus, holy and pure beyond the rest,  probably
was a splendid sight,  but think how indescribably effulgent must have  been
the  vehicle of splendor in which the Christ descended;  then we shall  have
some  conception of the "blindness"  of those who asked for "a sing."   Even
among  His other disciples He found the same spiritual cataract.   "Show  us
the  Father,"  said Philip,  oblivious to the mystic Trinity in Unity  which
ought to have been obvious to him.  Simon,  however,  was quick to perceive,
because  he himself had by spiritual alchemy made this spiritual  petros  or
"stone"  of the philosopher which entitled him to the "Keys of the Kingdom";
an  Initiation making usable the latent powers of the candidate  evolved  by
service.

   We find that these "stones"  for the "temple made without hands"  undergo
an evolution or process of preparation.  There  is  first  the "petros," the


[PAGE 22]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

diamond  in the rough,  so to speak, found in nature.   When read  with  the
heart,  such  passages  as 1st Cor.,  10:4,  "And did  all  drink  the  same
spiritual  drink;  for they drank of that spiritual Rock (Petros) that  fol-
lowed them:  and that Rock was Christ," are illuminating in this connection.
Gradually, very gradually, we have become impregnated with the WATER OF LIFE
which sprang from the Great Rock.   We have also become polished as  "lithoi
zontes"  (LIVING STONES), destined to be grouped with that GREAT STONE which
the Builder rejected; and when we have wrought well to the end, we shall fi-
nally  receive  in the Kingdom the diadem,  the most precious  of  all,  the
"psiphon leuken," (the white stone) with its New Name.

   There  are  three  steps in the evolution of "THE  STONE  OF  THE  SAGE":
PETROS, the hard rough rock; LITHON, the stone polished by service and ready
to be written on; and PSIPHON LEUKEN, the soft white stone that draws to it-
self  all who are weak and heavy laden.   Much is hidden in the  nature  and
composition  of the stone at each step which cannot be written;  it must  be
read between the lines.

   If  we  hope to build the Living Temple with Christ in  the  Kingdom,  we
would  do well to prepare ourselves that we may fit in,  and then  we  shall
know the Master and the Sign of the Master.


[PAGE 23]                                            WHAT IS SPIRITUAL WORK?

                                 CHAPTER III

                           WHAT IS SPIRITUAL WORK?

   In this connection we will give some extracts from the wonderful poem  by
Longfellow which is called "The Legend Beautiful."

         "In his chamber all alone,
         Kneeling on the floor of stone
         Prayed the Monk in deep contrition
         For his sins of indecision,
         Prayed for greater self-denial
         In temptation and in trial;
         It was noonday by the dial,
         And the Monk was all alone.

         "Suddenly, as if it lightened,
         An unwonted splendor brightened
         All within him and without him
         In that narrow cell of stone;
         And he saw the Blessed Vision
         Of our Lord, with Light Elysian
         Like a vesture wrapped about him,
         Like a garment round him thrown."


[PAGE 24]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

   This  was not the suffering Savior, however,  but the Christ feeding  the
hungry and healing the sick.

         "In an attitude imploring,
         Hands upon his bosom crossed,
         Wondering, worshiping, adoring,
         Knelt the Monk in rapture lost.

               *   *   *   *   *   *

         "Then amid his exaltation,
         Loud the convent bell appalling,
         From its belfry calling, calling,
         Rang through court and corridor
         With persistent iteration
         He had never heard before."

   This was his call to the duty of feeding the poor as Christ had done, for
he was the almoner of the Brotherhood.

         "Deep distress and hesitation
         Mingled with his adoration;
         Should be go, or should he stay?
         Should he leave the poor to wait
         Hungry at the convent gate,
         Till the Vision passed away?
         Should be slight his radiant guest,
         Slight his visitant celestial,
         For a crowd or ragged, bestial


[PAGE 25]                                            WHAT IS SPIRITUAL WORK?

         Beggars at the convent gate?
         Would the Vision there remain?
         Would the Vision come again?
         Then a voice within his breast
         Whispered, audible and clear
         As if to the outward ear:
         'Do they duty; that is best;
         Leave unto they Lord the rest!'

         Straightaway to his feet he started,
         And with longing look intent
         On the Blessed Vision bent,
         Slowly from his cell departed,
         Slowly on his errand went.

         "At the gate the poor were waiting,
         Looking through the iron grating,
         With that terror in the eye
         That is only seen in those
         Who amid their wants and woes
         Hear the sound of doors that close,
         And of feet that pass them by;
         Grown familiar with disfavor,
         Grown familiar with the savor
         Of the broad by which men die!
         But today, they knew not why,
         Like the gate of Paradise
         Seemed the convent gate to rise,


[PAGE 26]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

         Like a sacrament divine
         Seemed to them the bread and wine.
         In his heart the Monk was praying,
         Thinking of the homeless poor,
         What they suffer and endure;
         What we see not, what we see;
         And the inward voice was saying:
         'Whatsoever thing thou doest
         To the least of mine and lowest,
         That doest unto me!'


         "Unto me! but had the Vision
         Come to him in beggar's clothing,
         Come to mendicant imploring,
         Would he then have knelt adoring,
         Or have listened with derision,
         And have turned away with loathing?

         "Thus his conscience put the question,
         Full of troublesome suggestion,
         As at length, with hurried pace,
         Towards his cell he turned his face,
         And beheld the convent bright
         With supernatural light,
         Like a luminous cloud expanding
         Over floor and wall and ceiling.

         "But he passed with awe-struck feeling
         At the threshold of this door,
         For the Vision still was standing


[PAGE 27]                                            WHAT IS SPIRITUAL WORK?

         As he left it there before,
         When the convent bell appalling,
         From its belfry calling, calling,
         Summoned him to feed the poor.
         Through the long hour intervening
         It had waited his return,
         And he felt his bosom burn,
         Comprehending all the meaning,
         When the Blessed Vision said,
         'Hadst thou stayed, I must have fled!"


         Let me tell you a story:

   Ages and ages ago--so long ago in fact that it was almost as far away  as
yesterday--darkness enveloped the earth, and men were groping for the light.
Some  there were who had found it and who undertook to show men the  reflec-
tion thereof,  and they were eagerly sought.   Among them there was one  who
had  been to the city of light for a little while and had absorbed  some  of
its brilliancy.   Straightway men and women from all over the land of  dark-
ness sought him.   They journeyed thousands of miles because they had  heard
of  this light;  and when he heard that a company was traveling towards  his
house,  he set to work and prepared to give them the very best he  had.   He
planted  poles  all around his house and put lights upon them  so  that  his
visitors  might not hurt themselves in the darkness.   He and his  household
ministered to their wants, and he taught them as best he knew.


[PAGE 28]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

   But  soon sine if his visitors murmured.   They had thought to  find  him
seated upon a pedestal radiant with celestial light.  In fancy they had seen
themselves worshiping at his shrine; but instead of the spiritual light they
had  expected  they  had caught him in the very act  of  stringing  electric
lights  to illuminate the place.   He did not even wear a turban or a  robe,
because,  THE  ORDER TO WHICH HE BELONGED HAD AS ONE ITS  FUNDAMENTAL  RULES
THAT IS MEMBERS MUST WEAR THE DRESS OF THE COUNTRY IN WHICH THEY LIVED.

   So  the  visitors came to the conclusion that they had been  tricked  and
swindled and that he had no light.   They they took up stones and stoned him
and  his  household;  they would have killed him had it not been  that  they
feared  the law,  which in that land required an eye for an eye and a  tooth
for a tooth.   Then they went away again into the land of the darkness,  and
whenever they saw a soul headed towards the light,  they help up their hands
in horror and said,  "Do not go there; that is not a true light,  it is as a
jack-o-lantern and it will lead you astray.   We know there is absolutely no
spirituality  there."   Many believed them,  and thus came to pass  in  that
case,  as so many times before,  the saying that was written in one of their
old books:   "This is the condemnation,  that light has come into the  world
but men love darkness rather than light."

   As it was in that far-away yesterday, so also it is today.   Men are run-
ning hither and  thither  seeking  for  light.  Often  like Sir Launfal they


[PAGE 29]                                            WHAT IS SPIRITUAL WORK?

travel  to the ends of the earth, wasting their whole lives seeking for  the
thing that they call Spirituality," but melting disappointment after  disap-
pointment.   But just as Sir Launfal,  having spent his whole life  in  vain
search away from his home,  finally found in the HOLY GRAIL right at his own
castle gate, so every honest seeker after spirituality will, shall, and must
find it in his own heart.  The only danger is that like the company of seek-
ers mentioned,  he may miss it because he does not recognize it.  NO ONE CAN
RECOGNIZE  TRUE SPIRITUALITY IN OTHERS UNTIL HE HAD IN A MEASURE EVOLVED  IT
IN HIS OWN SELF.

   It may therefore be well to try to settle definitely,  "WHAT  IS SPIRITU-
ALITY?" to give a guide whereby we may find this great Christ attribute.  In
order  to do this we must leave our preconceived ideas behind,  or we  shall
certainly fail.   The idea most commonly held is that spirituality manifests
through prayer and meditation; but if we look at our Savior's life, we shall
find that it was not an idle one.  He was not a recluse,  He did not go away
and  hide Himself from the world.   He went among people,  He ministered  to
their daily wants; He fed them when that was necessary; He healed them when-
ever He had the opportunity,  and He also taught them.   Thus He was in  the
very truest sense of the word A SERVANT OF HUMANITY.

   The  monk in "THE LEGEND BEAUTIFUL"  saw Him thus when he was engaged  in
prayer, rapt in spiritual ecstasy.  But  just  then  the convent bell struck


[PAGE 30]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

the hour of twelve, and IT WAS HIS DUTY TO GO AND IMITATE THE CHRIST,  feed-
ing the poor who had gathered around the convent gate.  Great indeed was the
temptation to stay, to bathe in the heavenly vibrations,; but there came the
voice,  "DO THY DUTY, THAT IS BEST; LEAVE UNTO THY LORD THE REST"  How could
he have adored the Savior whom he saw feeding the poor and healing the  sick
while at the same time leaving the hungry poor to stand outside the  convent
gate waiting for him to perform his duties?   It would have been  positively
wicked for him to have stayed there;  and so the Vision said to him upon his
return:  "HAST THOU STAYED, I MUST HAVE FLED."

   Such self-indulgence would have been absolutely subversive of the purpose
he had in view.   If he had not been faithful in little things pertaining to
earthly  duties,  how could it be expected that he would be faithful in  the
greater spiritual work?  Naturally, unless ABLE TO STAND THE TEST,  he could
not be given greater powers.

   There  are  many  people who seek spiritual powers,  wandering  from  one
so-called occult center to another; who enter monasteries and like places of
seclusion,  hoping  by running away from the world's clamor and  glamour  to
cultivate their spiritual nature.   They bask in the sunshine of prayer  and
meditation from morning till night while the  world  is  moaning  in  agony.


[PAGE 31]                                            WHAT IS SPIRITUAL WORK?

Then they wonder why they do not progress;  why they do not get further upon
the  path of aspiration.   Truly prayer and meditation are necessary,  abso-
lutely essential to soul growth.   But we are doomed to failure if we depend
for  soul growth upon prayers which are only words.   TO OBTAIN  RESULTS  WE
MUST  LIVE IN SUCH A MANNER THAT OUR WHOLE LIFE BECOMES PRAYER,  AN  ASPIRA-
TION.  As Emerson said:


         "Although your knees were never bent,
         To heaven your hourly prayers are sent,
         And be they formed for good or ill,
         Are registered and answered still."

   It is not the words we speak in moments of prayer that count,  but IT  IS
THE LIFE THAT LEADS UP TO THE PRAYER.

   What is the use of praying for peace on earth on Sunday when we are  mak-
ing  bullets during the whole week?   How can we pray God to forgive us  our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us when we carry hate in
our hearts?

   THERE  IS ONLY ONE WAY TO SHOW OUR FAITH,  AND THAT IS BY OUR  WORKS;  It
does not matter in what department of life we have been placed,  whether  we
are high or low,  rich or poor,  it is immaterial whether we are engaged  in
stringing electric lights to save our fellows a physical fall, or whether it
is our privilege to stand upon a platform to give out  the  spiritual  light


[PAGE 32]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

and point out to others the way of the soul.   It is absolutely  unessential
whether our hands are grimy with the lowest labor,  perhaps digging a  sewer
to maintain the health of our community, or whether they are soft and  white
as required when nursing the sick.

   The  determining  factor  which  decides whether any  class  of  work  is
spiritual  or material is our attitude in the matter.   The man who  strings
the  electric lights may be far more spiritual than the one who stands  upon
the platform;  for alas,  there are many who go to that sacred duty with the
desire to tickle the ears of their congregation by fine oratory rather  than
to give heart-felt love and sympathy.   It is must more noble work to  clean
out the clogged sewer,  as did THE DESPISED BROTHER in Kennedy's "Servant in
the House," than it is to live falsely in the dignity of a teacher's office,
implying a spirituality that is not actually there.   EVERYONE WHO TRIES  TO
CULTIVATE  THIS RARE QUALITY OF SPIRITUALITY MUST ALWAYS BEGIN BY DOING  EV-
ERYTHING  TO THE GLORY OF THE LORD;  FOR WHEN WE DO ALL THINGS AS  UNTO  THE
LORD, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT KIND OF WORK WE DO.  DIGGING A SEWER,  INVENT-
ING A LABOR SAVING DEVICE, PREACHING A SERMON, OR ANYTHING ELSE IS SPIRITUAL
WORK WHEN IT IS DONE IN LOVE TO GOD AND MAN.


[PAGE 33]                                                  THE WAY OF WISDOM

                                 CHAPTER IV

                              THE WAY OF WISDOM

   It  is  now several years since the teaching of the  Elder  Brothers  was
first published in THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION, and we have since added
to our literature.   It now seems appropriate that we take stock of our work
to see what we have don with the talents entrusted to our care.

   In  the  first  place let us realize that the reason why we  are  in  the
Rosicrucian  Fellowship  is because at some time we have  been  dissatisifed
with the explanations of the problems of life given elsewhere.   We have all
sought light upon the riddle,  and some among us,  like the man spoken of in
the Bible saw a pearl of great price and went and sold all we had and bought
the pearl,  which symbolizes knowledge of the Kingdom of Heaven.   In  other
words,  some  among us have been so anxious to find light and  so  overjoyed
when it was found that we have given our whole life, thought,  and energy to
this work.   Previously assumed obligations prevent the majority from enjoy-
ing  this great privilege,  but everyone of us,  if we have been helped,  is
bound under the law of compensation to make some return, for interchange and


[PAGE 34]                                                  THE WAY OF WISDOM

circulation are everywhere correlative to life, as stagnation is to death.

   We know that we cannot continue to gorge ourselves upon physical good and
retain what we have eaten,  and that unless elimination maintains the  equi-
librium,  death soon follows.   Neither can we with impunity gorge ourselves
with  a  mental diet.   We must share our treasure with others and  use  our
knowledge  in the world's work or run the danger of stagnation in the  quag-
mire of metaphysical speculation.

   During   the   years   which   have   elapsed   since   THE   ROSICRUCIAN
COSMO-CONCEPTION was published,  students have had ample time to familiarize
themselves with its teachings.   We can no longer excuse ourselves by saying
we  do  not know the philosphy because we have had no time to study  it  and
therefore  cannot explain it to others.   Even those who have had the  least
time  to  study because of the duties which call them in their work  in  the
world  ought now to be sufficiently posted to "GIVE A REASON FOR THE  FAITH"
which is within them, as Paul exhorted us all to do.  Even if we do not suc-
ceed  in showing the light to everyone who asks for it,  we owe it  to  our-
selves, to the Elder Brothers, and to humanity to make the attempt.  Our own
soul  growth  depends upon the share we have in the growth of  the  movement
wherewith we have connected ourselves, and it is therefore expedient that we
should realize thoroughly WHAT THE MISSION OF THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP IS.


[PAGE 35]                                                  THE WAY OF WISDOM

   This you will find thoroughly and clearly elucidated in the  introductory
chapter of the "COSMO."  Briefly stated, it is TO GIVE AN EXPLANATION OF THE
PROBLEM  OF  LIFE WHICH WILL SATISFY BOTH THE MIND AND THE HEART,  and  thus
solve  the perplexities of the two classes of people who are now groping  in
the dark for want of this unifying knowledge,  and who may be broadly spoken
of  for the purposes of our discussion as THE CHURCH PEOPLE and  the  SCIEN-
TISTS.  By the first term we will designate all who are led by sincere devo-
tion or kindliness of nature, whether belonging to a church or not.   IN the
second class we mean to include all who are looking at life from the  purely
mental viewpoint, whether they class themselves as scientists or not.  It is
the  aim  and  object  of THE  ROSICRUCIAN  COSMO-CONCEPTION  to  widen  the
spiritual scope of rapidly increasing number among these two classes who re-
alize more or less clearly that there is a lack of something vitally  impor-
tant in their present view of life and being.

   You will remember that when David desired to build a temple for the  Lord
he  was denied the privilege because had had been a man of war.   There  are
organizations  in the world today which are always fighting other  organiza-
tions,  always finding fault and striving to tear down, thus warring just as
much as David did in ancient days.  They cannot with such a state of mind be
permitted  to  build  the temple which is made with living stones of men and


[PAGE 36]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

women,  that temple which Manson in "The Servant in the House"  speaks of in
such beautiful terms.  Therefore, when we go about endeavoring to spread the
truths of the Rosicrucian teachings,  let us always bear in mind that we may
not with impunity decry the religion of anyone else nor antagonize him,  and
that it is not our mission to war against his error, which will manifest it-
self in due time.

   Do you remember that when David had passed out and Solomon reigned in his
stead,  the latter saw the Lord in a dream,  and asked for wisdom?   He  was
given the choice of whatever he might ask,  and he asked for wisdom to guide
the people.   This answer, in effect, was given him:  Because it was in your
heart to ask wisdom,  because you have not asked for riches or long life  or
for victory over your enemies or anything like that but have prayed for wis-
dom,  therefore  that  wisdom shall be given you and much  more  than  that.
Therefore  it may be well for us at this time to devote ourselves to  heart-
felt prayers for wisdom,  and in order that we may recognize it,  it will be
well to discuss what true wisdom is.

   It is said, and truly, that KNOWLEDGE is power.  Knowledge, though in it-
self neither good nor evil, may be used either for one purpose or the other.
Genius  merely shows the bent of knowledge, but genius also may be  good  or
evil.   We speak of a military genius, one who has a wonderful knowledge  of
the tactics of war,  but such a man cannot be truly good, FOR HE IS BOUND TO


[PAGE 37]                                                  THE WAY OF WISDOM

BE HEARTLESS AND DESTRUCTIVE in the expression of his genius.

   A man of war, whether he be a Napolean or a common soldier,  can never be
WISE, because he must deliberately crush all finer feelings of which we take
the heart as a symbol.   On the other hand,  A WISE RULER IS BIG-HEARTED  as
well as having a powerful intellect,  so that one balances the other in pro-
moting the interests of his people.  Even the deepest KNOWLEDGE along  reli-
gious  or  occult  lines is not wisdom,  as we are taught by  Paul  in  that
wonderful thirteenth chapter of first Corinthians,  where he says in effect:
Though  I  have all the knowledge so that I could solve all  mysteries,  and
have  not love,  I am nothing.   ONLY WHEN KNOWLEDGE HAS WED LOVE,  DO  THEY
MERGE INTO WISDOM,  the expression of Christ principle,  the second phase of
Deity.

   We should be very careful to discriminate properly at this point.  We may
have  discrimination between what is expedient for the attainment of a  cer-
tain end AND WHAT HINDERS and we may choose present ills for future  attain-
ment,  but  even in this we do not necessarily express  wisdom.   Knowledge,
prudence,  discretion,  and discrimination are all born of the mind;  all by
themselves  alone are snares of evil from which Christ in the Lord's  prayer
taught  us to pray that we might be delivered.   Only when  these  mind-born
faculties  are tempered by the heart-born faculty of love does  the  blended
product  become  wisdom.   If  we  read  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  first
Corinthians, substituting  the  word WISDOM for the word CHARITY or LOVE, we


[PAGE 38]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

shall understand what this great faculty is that we ought so ardently to de-
sire.

   It is,  then,  the mission of the Rosicrucian Fellowship to promulgate  a
combined doctrine of the head and the heart,  which is the only true wisdom,
for no teaching that lacks either of these complements can really be  called
WISE, any more than we can strike a chord of music on one string; for as the
nature  of man is complex,  the teaching which is to assist him to  cleanse,
purify,  and elevate this nature must be multiplex in aspect.   Christ  fol-
lowed  this principle when He gave us that wonderful prayer,  which  in  its
seven  stanzas touches the keynote of each of the seven human  vehicles  and
blends  them into that master chord of perfection which we call  the  Lord's
Prayer.

   But  how shall we teach the world this wonderful doctrine  received  from
the Elder Brothers?  The answer to this question is first, last, and all the
time:  BY LIVING THE LIFE.  It is said to the everlasting credit of Mohammed
that his wife became his first disciple,  and it is certain that it was  not
his teaching alone but the life which he lived in the home,  day in and  day
out, year in and year out, which won the confidence of his companion to such
an extent that she was willing to trust her spiritual fate in his hands.  It
is  comparatively easy to stand before strangers who know nothing bad  about
us and to whom our shortcomings are therefore not patent,  and preach for an
hour or two each week, but it is  totally  different thing to preach twenty-


[PAGE 39]                                                  THE WAY OF WISDOM

four hours a day in the home as Mohammed must have done by living the  life.
It we would have the success in our propaganda that he had in his,  we must,
each and everyone of us, begin in the hone,  begin by demonstrating to those
with whom we live that the teachings which guide us are truly wisdom  teach-
ings.  It is said that charity begins at home.  This is the word that should
have been translated "love"  in the thirteenth chapter of first Corinthians.
Change  this also into wisdom and let it read,  WISDOM PROPAGANDA BEGINS  AT
HOME.  Then let this be our motto throughout the years:  "By living the life
AT HOME we can advance the cause better than in any other way."   Many skep-
tical  families have been converted by husbands or wives in the  Rosicrucian
Fellowship.  May the rest follow.


[PAGE 40]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                  CHAPTER V

                            THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

   This  is a subject which ought to interest everybody,  for surely we  all
desire to be successful; but the question is what constitutes success?   And
to this question perhaps each individual would have a different answer.  But
a little thought will soon make it clear that whatever path we pursue in our
desire to attain success, that path must be follow the evolutionary tread of
mankind.   Therefore there must be a general answer as to  what  constitutes
success and what is the secret thereof.  It would be a mistake, however,  to
try  to find the solution of this problem just by examining the life of  man
during our present age.   Paying regard to what he has been before and  with
an eye also to the future development of humanity is the only way to  obtain
the  perspective which is necessary to arrive at the proper answer  to  this
momentous question.

   We do not need to go into details to a great extent.  We may mention that
in  the  earlier epochs of our evolution when man-in-the-making  was  coming
down from the  spiritual  world  into his present  material  existence,  the


[PAGE 41]                                              THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

secret  of success lay in a knowledge of the physical world and  the  condi-
tions therein.  It was not necessary at that time to tell humanity about the
spiritual world and our finer vehicles,  for these were facts patent to  ev-
erybody.  We saw and lived in the spiritual realms.  But we were then coming
into the physical world,  and therefore the schools of Initiation taught the
pioneers  of mankind the laws which govern the physical world and  initiated
them into the arts and crafts whereby they might conquer the material realm.
From  that time until a comparatively recent date humanity has been  working
to perfect itself in these branches of knowledge,  which reached their high-
est expression in the centuries just prior to the discovery of steam and are
now in their decadence.

   At  first thought this may seem an unwarranted statement,  but a  careful
examination  of the facts will very quickly develop the truth  thereof.   In
the so-called "dark ages"  there were no factories,  but every town and vil-
lage  was full of small shops in which the master,  sometimes alone  and  at
other times with a few journeymen and apprentices,  wrought the works of his
trade  from the raw material to the finished product,  exercising his  skill
and  creative  instinct and putting his heart and soul into every  piece  of
work that left his hands.   If he were a blacksmith,  he knew how to produce
ornamental  ironwork fit for signs,  gates, and other things which  went  to
make up the quaint beauty of those medieval villages and towns.  Nor did his


[PAGE 42]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

handiwork ever leave him entirely; as he walked about the town he might look
upon this,  that,  or the other ornament,  and pride himself upon the beauty
thereof,;  pride himself also in the knowledge of how he had won the respect
and  admiration  of his fellow townsmen by his  artistic  and  conscientious
work.   The  joiner who made the framework of the chairs,  also  upholstered
them  and made those artistic designs which we are today seeking to  follow.
The shoemaker,  the weaver,  and all other craftsmen without exception  pro-
duced the finished article from the raw material, and each took pride in his
handiwork.   Also they toiled long hours,  but there was no murmur  or  com-
plaint,  for each found a satisfaction in this exercise of his creative  in-
stinct.   The song of the blacksmith to the accompaniment of the  hammer  on
the anvil was a fact in every shop,  and the journeymen and apprentices felt
themselves not slaves but MASTERS IN THE MAKING.

   Then came the age of steam and machinery and with it a new system of  la-
bor.   Instead of the production of the finished article from the raw  mate-
rial by one man,  which gave satisfaction to his creative instinct,  the new
plan  was to make men tenders of machines which produced only parts  of  the
finished articles.   These parts were then assembled by others.   While this
plan decreased the cost of production and increased the output,  it left  no
scope for the creative instinct of  a  man.  He  became merely a cog in some


[PAGE 43]                                              THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

great machine.  In the medieval shop money was indeed a minor consideration;
the joy of production was everything; time mattered not.   But under the new
system  men commenced to work FOR MONEY AND AGAINST TIME,  with  the  result
that the souls of both master and men are now starved.   They have lost  the
substance and retained only the shadow of all that makes life worth  living,
for  they are laboring for something which they can neither use  nor  enjoy.
This applies to both master and men.

   What  would we say of a young man who should set himself the goal of  ac-
cumulating  a  million handkerchiefs which he could never  by  any  possible
change use?   Surely we should call him a fool;  and why should we not place
the  man who spends all his energy and foregoes all the comforts of life  to
become a millionaire,  in the same category?   This system cannot  continue,
for it is giving man a stone when he asks for bread,  and there must be some
other development in store for him.  New standards must be in the process of
development,  new ideals must be looming up to give us a wider vision.   For
hints  as to the trend of evolution we must look to those among us  who  are
most  gifted with inspiration,  the poets and seers.   James Russell  Lowell
sounds  perhaps  the clearest note in his VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL.   A  knight
leaving  his castle imbued with a desire to do great and valiant things  for
God,  is going to join the Crusaders and seek the Holy Grail in far  distant
Palestine.  He leaves his castle self-satisifed,  proud,  and arrogant, bent


[PAGE 44]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

on  his mission.   At the castle gate he meets a poor beggar,  a leper,  who
stretches out his hands asking for alms.  Sir Launfal, however,  has no com-
passion,  but  in order to be rid of the loathsome thing,  he throws  him  a
golden coin and endeavors to forget him.

"But the leper raised not the gold from the dust,
'Better to me the poor man's crust,
Better the blessing of the poor,
Though I turn empty for his door.
That is not true alms which the hand can hold;
He gives only the worthless gold
Who gives from a sense of duty;
But he who gives from a slender mite,
And gives to that which is out of sight--
That thread of all-sustaining beauty
Which runs through all and doth all unite--
The hand cannot clasp the whole of his aims,
The heart outstretches its eager palms,
For a god goes with it and makes it store
To the soul that was starving in darkness before.'"

   But what of Sir Launfal?  Could he be expected in such a frame of mind to
attain success and find the Grail?  Certainly not.   So disappointment after
disappointment meets him, and finally he returns to his castle,  discouraged
and humbled in heart.   There he again meets the leper,  and at the sight of
him,


[PAGE 45]                                              THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

"The heart within him was ashes and dust;
He parted in twain his single crust,
He broke the ice on the streamlet's brink,
And gave the leper to eat and drink."

   Then, having fulfilled the task of mercy, the reward comes with it:

"The leper no longer crouched by his side'
But stood before him glorified,
         *     *     *     *     *     *     *


And the Voice that was softer than silence said,
'Lo, it is I, be not afraid!
In many lands, without avail,
Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail;
Behold, it is here--this cup which thou
Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now!
This crust is my body broken for thee,
This water the blood I shed on the tree;
The Holy Supper is kept, indeed,
In whatso we share with another's need;
Not what we give, but what we share--
For the gift without the giver is bare;
Who gives HIMSELF with his aims feeds three:
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.'"

   In  these words lies the secret of success,  which consists in doing  the
little things,  the perhaps seemingly disagreeable things which are close to
our hands, instead of going afar and seeking for chimerical  phantasms which


[PAGE 46]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

never develop into anything definite or tangible.

   What  will  doing the former accomplish for us?  may be  pertinently  in-
quired.   Again we may take the answer from a poet,  Oliver Wendell  Holmes,
who tells us of the little chambered nautilus.  It first builds a small cell
only  large enough to hold it.   Then as it grows,  it adds another  chamber
which  is larger and which it them occupies for the next period  of  growth,
and so on until it has made a spiral shell as large as it can, which it then
leaves.  This idea he puts into the following lines:

"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!"

   When we have come to this point,  we have obtained success--all the  suc-
cess that we can get in our present world--and we are entering a new  sphere
of larger opportunities.


[PAGE 47]                                              THE DEATH OF THE SOUL

                                 CHAPTER VI

                            THE DEATH OF THE SOUL

   From  time to time,  seemingly following a law of periodicity,  the  same
difficulties crop up in the minds of students.  At the same time a number of
letters from different parts of the world ask for information on a  subject,
at  another time on a different one, but after years the same  subjects  are
revived.   While help is given the individuals who ask,  it may be that many
more are interested in the same subject at the same time,  hence this lesson
on the death of the soul,  which seems to exercise the mind perhaps  because
death of the body is so common and frequent.

   Some  years ago we published a lesson on "The Unpardonable Sin  and  Lost
Souls" in connection with the sacraments which we were them explaining.   It
was there stated that all the sacraments have to do with the transmission of
the seed atoms,  which form the nuclei of our various bodies.   The germ for
our earthly body must be properly placed in fruitful soil to grow a suitable
dense vehicle, and for this reason, as stated in Genesis, 1:27, "Elohim cre-
ated man male and female."  The Hebrew words are SACR VA N'CABAH.  These are


[PAGE 48]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

names of the sex organs.  Literally translated, SACR means the bearer of the
germ;  and thus MARRIAGE is a SACRament, for it opens the way for the trans-
mission of the physical seed atom from the father to the mother and tends to
preserve the race against the ravages of death.

   BAPTISM as a SACRament signifies the germinal urge of the soul for higher
life, the planting of a spiritual seed.

   COMMUNION  is  the SACRament in which we partake of bread made  from  the
seed of chaste plants, and in which the cup symbolizing the passionless seed
pod points to the age to come,  an age when marriage will be unnecessary  to
transmit the seed through a father and mother, but when we may feed directly
upon cosmic life and thus conquer death.

   Finally,  EXTREME UNCTION is the SACRament which marks the loosing of the
silver cord and the extraction of the sacred germ,  until it shall again  be
planted in another N'cabah, or mother.

   As the seed and ovum are the root and basis of racial development,  it is
easy to see that no sin can be more serious than that which abuses the  cre-
ative function,  for by the SACRilege we stunt future generations and trans-
gress against the Holy Spirit,  Jehovah,  who is the warden of the  creative
lunar force.   His angels herald birth,  as in the case of Isaac,  John  the
Baptist, and Jesus.  When He wanted to reward  His  most  faithful follower,


[PAGE 49]                                              THE DEATH OF THE SOUL

Abraham,  He promised to make his seed as numerous as the sands on the  sea-
shore.  He also meted out the most terrible punishment to the Sodomites, who
committed sacrilege by misdirecting the seed; and the sin of Onan who wasted
it is also a pointer in the same direction.

   We  are told in the Bible that mankind were forbidden to eat of the  Tree
of Knowledge under pain of death.   But instead of patiently waiting for the
periods  of  propitious interplanetary conditions Adam KNEW Eve,  and  since
then  she has borne her children in pain and suffering subject to  premature
death.  Therefore the abuse of this sacred function for gratification of the
passional nature, and particularly perversion, is recognized by esotericists
as the unpardonable sin.  It is to this James refers when he says, "There is
a sin unto death.  I do not say that ye shall pray for that."

   But  occult investigations have proved in this case,  as with  all  other
forms of hell preaching,  that God and nature are much more lenient and mer-
ciful  to man than man is to his fellows.   Though the  retributive  justice
meted  out  to those who have lived lives of sin and vice was found  in  all
cases to be severe, nothing nearly as serious as the "death of the soul" oc-
curs.   So far as we have been able to learn,  ONLY THE BLACK  MAGICIAN  WHO
CONSCIOUSLY MISUSES THE SEED FOR MALICIOUS PURPOSES faces anything so  seri-
ous as that implied in the phrase;  and there would really be no need of go-
ing into the subject at all  except  that  it  throws side lights upon other


[PAGE 50]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

matters of value to the student.

   To  understand  this properly we must first call to the  mind  the  sharp
definitions of the terms spirit,  soul and body as given in the "Rosicrucian
Cosmo-Conception."   It is there stated that in the beginning of  manifesta-
tion the Virgin Spirit, a spark from the Divine, involved itself in a three-
fold veil of spirit-matter and thus became the Ego.

   The  threefold spirit cast a threefold shadow into the realm  of  matter,
and  thus the DENSE BODY was evolved as a counterpart of the Divine  Spirit,
the VITAL BODY as a replica of the Life Spirit,  and the DESIRE BODY as  the
image of the Human Spirit.  Finally, and most important of all,  the link of
MIND  was formed between the threefold spirit and its threefold body.   This
was the beginning of individual consciousness, and marks the point where the
involution  spirit  into  matter is finished and  the  evolutionary  process
whereby the spirit is lifted out of matter begins.   Involution involves the
crystallization of spirit into bodies,  but evolution depends upon the  dis-
solution of the bodies, the extraction of the soul-substance from them,  and
the alchemical amalgamation of this soul with the spirit.

   At the beginning of evolution man consisted only of spirit and  body,--he
was soulless; but since them each life lived on earth in the great school of
experience had made him more and more soulful according to the use which  he
has made of his opportunities.  This is shown in the different gradation be-
tween the savage and the saint which we see all  about  us.  It  is the loss


[PAGE 51]                                              THE DEATH OF THE SOUL

of the soul which is involved in the experience we describe as the death  of
the  soul.   The spirit itself can of course never die seeing that it  is  a
spark from the Divine, without beginning and without end.   How then can the
death  of  the soul be brought about,  and what is the real meaning  of  the
phrase?   This is a subject the writer does not like to dwell upon,  but for
the  sake of the important side light it throws upon spiritual  advancement,
as already said, the facts will be given.

   In  the foregoing we have seen that the threefold spirit has projected  a
threefold  body and that the purpose of evolution is the extraction  of  the
threefold soul from his threefold body and the amalgamation thereof with the
threefold spirit.  Now mark this point for this is the important crux of the
whole matter,  a very valuable and important piece of information which will
help  the student to a more definite understanding of the subject  than  has
hitherto  been given:   Much is said in occult literature about "THE  PATH";
but though to the initiated who already know,  the statements of what it  is
and where it is are plentiful,  this information has never before been given
to the exoteric student.  Paul tells us that to be carnally MINDED is death,
but to be spiritual MINDED is life and peace.  This is the exact truth,  for
the MIND,  WHICH IS THE LINK BETWEEN THE SPIRIT AND THE BODY, IS THE PATH OR
BRIDGE, THE ONLY MEANS OF TRANSMISSION OF SOUL TO SPIRIT.  So long as man is


[PAGE 52]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

carnally minded and turns his attention to worldly successes,  cherishing as
his motto proverb,  "Let us eat,  drink, and be merry for tomorrow we  die,"
all his activities are centered in the lower part of his being,  the person-
ality,  and he lives and dies like the animals,  unconscious of the magnetic
drawings of the spirit.  But at length there comes a time when the yearnings
of the spirit are felt,  and the personality sees the light and sets out  to
seek its Higher Self across the bridge of mind.  And as flesh and blood can-
not inherit the Kingdom of God,  the body is crucified that the soul may  be
liberated  and  joined to its Father in Heaven,  the threefold  spirit,  the
Higher Self.

   That  at least is the general tendency,  the higher elevates  the  lower.
But unfortunately there are examples of the opposite where the lower person-
ality  becomes  so strong in its materialism and where the mind  becomes  so
firmly enmeshed with the lower vehicles that the personality refuses to sac-
rifice itself for the spirit, with the result that THE BRIDGE OF MIND IS FI-
NALLY BROKEN.   The soulless personality may then continue to live for  many
years  after this separation has taken place,  and may perpetrate  the  most
outrageous acts of cruelty and cunning until it succumbs.  Black Magic which
involves the perverted use of seed obtained from others is generally used by
these  soulless personalities for the purpose of satisfying  their  demoniac
desires.  Often they obtain power in a nation or a society, which  they then


[PAGE 53]                                              THE DEATH OF THE SOUL

delight in wrecking.

   Meanwhile the spirit stands naked; it has no seed atoms wherewith to cre-
ate further bodies,  and it therefore automatically gravitates to the planet
Saturn  and thence to Chaos,  where it must retain until the dawn of  a  new
creative day.   It may seen unjust at first sight that the spirit should  be
thus  made to suffer though it has committed no wickedness;  but on  further
thought it will be understood that as the personality is the creature of the
Higher Self,  the responsibility exists and cannot be evaded.   Fortunately,
however, such cases grow increasingly rare as we advance upon the pathway of
evolution.   Nevertheless,  it behooves all to set their faces earnestly to-
wards the goal so that the light on the path that leads toward our spiritual
ideal, the union with the Higher Self, may grow brighter day by day.


[PAGE 54]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                 CHAPTER VII

                        THE NEW SENSE OF THE NEW AGE

   At the end of the Taurean age, about 4,000 years ago, "God's people" fled
from the wrath to come when they left Egypt,  the land where they  worshiped
the  Bull.   They were led in their flight to the promised  land  by  Moses,
whose  head  in  ancient esoteric pictures is adorned  with  wreathed  ram's
horns,  symbolical of the fact that he was herald of the Aryan age  of  2100
years, during which each Easter morning the vernal sun colored the doorposts
red  as with the blood of the lamb, when it passed over the equator  in  the
CONSTELLATION (not the SIGN) of the ram Aries.   Similarly,  when the sun by
precession was approaching the watery constellation Pisces, the Fishes, John
immersed the converts to the Messianic religion in the waters of Jordan, and
Jesus called his disciples "fishers" of men.  As the "lamb" was slain at the
passover while the sun went through the constellation Aries, the Ram, so the
faithful have in obedience to the command of their church fed on fishes dur-
ing Lent in the present cycle of Pisces, the Fishes.


[PAGE 55]                                       THE NEW SENSE OF THE NEW AGE

   At the time when the sun by precession left the constellation Taurus, the
Bull,  the  people  who worshiped that animal were  pronounced  heathen  and
idolators.   A new symbol of the Savior, or Messias,  was found in the lamb,
which correspond to the constellation Aries; but when the sun by  precession
left that sign,  Judaism became a religion of the past,  and thenceforth the
bishops of the new Christian religion wore a mitre shaped like a fish's head
to  designate their standing as ministers of the church during  the  Piscean
Age, which is now drawing to a close.

   By viewing the future through the perspective of the past,  it is evident
that  a  new age is to be ushered in when the sun enters  the  constellation
Aquarius,  the  Water-bearer,  a few hundred years hence.   Judging  by  the
events  of the past it is reasonable to expect that a new phase of  religion
will supersede our present system,  revealing higher and nobler ideals  than
our present conception of the Christian religion.   It is therefore  certain
that if in that day we would not be classed among the idolators and heathen,
we must prepare to align ourselves with these new ideals.

   John  the Baptist,  preached the gospel of preparedness in  no  uncertain
words, warning people that the ax had been laid at the root of the tree.  He
cautioned  them also to flee from the wrath to come,  when the Son (Sun)  of
God should come,  fan in hand, to separate the wheat from the chaff and burn
it  up.  Christ  likened  the  gospel  to  a  little leaven which leavened a


[PAGE 56]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

measure of flour.

   At first sight the method of John seems to be most drastic, laying the ax
at the root of the whole social structure,  while the leavening process men-
tioned by Christ appears to be more gentle;  but in reality it is even  more
thoroughgoing and drastic,  as will be evident if we consider carefully what
takes place when we make a loaf.  It is a chemical revolution,  a  miniature
war,  involving an entire transformation of every atom of flour in the  ves-
sel;  none can escape the action of the leaven,  and there is a sound as  of
continual cannonading, explosion of bombs and shells, until the force of the
leaven is spent and the dough transformed to a light sponge.   But this  war
of the atoms,  this chemical revolution,  is absolutely indispensable in the
process of bread making, for if the leavening process were omitted,  the re-
sult would be a heavy, unpalatable, indigestible loaf.  It is the transmuta-
tion wrought by the leaven which makes the loaf wholesome and nutritious.

   The  process of preparation for the Aquarian Age has  already  commenced,
and as Aquarius is an airy, scientific, and intellectual sign, it is a fore-
gone  conclusion  that the new faith must be rooted in reason  and  able  to
solve  the riddle of life and death in a manner that will satisfy  both  the
mind and the religious instinct.


[PAGE 57]                                       THE NEW SENSE OF THE NEW AGE

   Such  is the Western Wisdom Religion promulgated by the Rosicrucian  Fel-
lowship;  like the leaven in the loaf, it is breaking down the fear of death
engendered by the uncertainty surrounding the post-mortem existence.   It is
showing that life and consciousness continue under the laws as immutable  as
God,  which tends to raise man to increasingly higher,  nobler,  and loftier
states  of spirituality.   It kindles the beacon light of hope in the  human
heart  by the assertion that as we have in the past evolved the five  senses
by which we contact the present visible world,  so shall  we in the not dis-
tant future evolve another sense which will enable us to see the denizens of
the  etheric  region,  as well as those of our dear ones who have  left  the
physical body and inhabit the ether and lower desire world during the  first
stage of their career in the spiritual realms.   The mission of Aquarius  is
aptly represented by the symbol of man emptying the water urn.

   Aquarius is an airy sign having special rule over the ether.   The  Flood
partly dried the air by depositing most of the moisture it held in the  sea.
But  when the sun enters Aquarius by precession,  the rest of  the  moisture
will be eliminated and visual vibrations,  which are most easily transmitted
by a dry etheric atmosphere, will become more intense;  thus conditions will
be  particularly  conducive  to production of the slight  extension  of  our
present   sight  necessary  to  open  our  eyes  to  the   etheric   region.
California's production of physics is an instance  of  this effect of a dry,


[PAGE 58]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

electric atmosphere,  though,  of course, it is not nearly so dry as the air
of the Aquarian Age will be.

   Thus faith will be swallowed up in knowledge and we shall all be able  to
utter the triumphant cry,  "O death, where is thy sting;  O grave,  where is
thy victory?"   But it is well to realize that by aspiration and  meditation
to those who are longingly looking for that day are taking time by the fore-
lock and may quite easily outstrip their fellows who are unaware of what  is
in store.   The latter,  on the other hand, may delay the development of ex-
tended vision by the belief that they are suffering from hallucinations when
they begin to get their first glimpses of the etheric entities, and the fear
that if they tell others what they see, they will be adjudged insane.

   Therefore the Rosicrucian Fellowship has been charged by the Elder Broth-
ers with the mission of promulgating the gospel of the Aquarian Age,  and of
conducting a campaign of education and enlightenment,  so that the world may
be  prepared  for what is in store.  The world must be leavened  with  those
ideas:

  (1)    Conditions in the land of the living dead are not shrouded in  mys-
tery, but knowledge regarding them is as available as  knowledge  concerning 
foreign countries from the tales of travelers.

  (2)    We now stand  close  to the threshold where we shall all know these
truths.

  (3)    And, most important of all, we shall hasten the day in our own case


[PAGE 59]                                       THE NEW SENSE OF THE NEW AGE

by acquiring knowledge of the facts concerning the post-mortem existence and
the  things we may expect to see,  for then we shall know what to look  for,
and  neither be frightened,  astonished nor incredulous when we commence  to
obtain glimpses of these things.

   Students should also realize that a serious responsibility goes with  the
possession  of knowledge:  "to who much is given,  of him much shall be  re-
quired."   If we hide or bury our "talent," may we not expect a merited con-
demnation?   The Rosicrucian Fellowship can only fulfill its mission  in  so
far as each member does his duty in spreading the teachings,  and  therefore
it  is to be hoped that this may serve to call the attention of the  student
to the fact of his individual duty.

   The  etheric  sight is similar to the X-ray in that it enables  its  pos-
sessor  to see right through all objects, but it is much more  powerful  and
renders everything as transparent as glass.   Therefore in the Aquarian  Age
many things will be different from now,  for instance,  it will be extremely
easy  to study anatomy and to detect a morbid growth,  a dislocation,  or  a
pathological condition of the body.   At present medical men of the  highest
standing admit regretfully that their diagnosis are only too frequently  er-
roneous  as shown by post-mortem observation; but when we have  evolved  the
etheric sight, they will be able  to  study  both  anatomical structures and


[PAGE 60]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

physiological processes without hindrance.

   The etheric vision will not enable us to see one another's thoughts,  for
they are formed in still finer stuff, but it will make it largely impossible
for  us to live double lives and to act differently in our homes than we  do
in public.   If we were aware that invisible entities now throng our houses,
we  should often feel ashamed of the things we do;  but in the Aquarian  Age
there will be no privacy which may not be broken into by anyone who  desires
to see us.  It will avail nothing that we send the office boy or maid out to
tell an unwelcome visitor that we are "not in."   This means that in the new
age  honesty and straightforwardness will be the only policies worth  while,
for  we cannot then do wrong and hope to escape detection.   There  will  be
people whose base characters will lead them into ways of wickedness then  as
now, but they will at least be marked so that they may be avoided.

   The student can easily conjecture a number of other conditions that  will
result  from the extension of sight which will come with the  Aquarian  Age,
and by living as near to that state as possible,  he will be placing himself
in a position to become one of the pioneers of that age when "there shall be
no night," and when the "tree of life" shall bloom unceasingly by the trans-
parent etheric "sea of glass" which permeates all things.



[PAGE 61]                                                GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE


                                CHAPTER VIII

                             GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE

   When  we  read the history of the Hebrews as recorded in  the  Bible  and
chronicled in medieval and modern records of the various peoples  inhabiting
the Western world, one unescapable fact stands out with startling clearness,
to wit, that they have been led into exile and slavery, hated in every coun-
try where they have been scattered,  and persecuted wherever the temperament
of the nations among whom the Jews dwelt would allow them to resort to  such
measures.  According to the Bible, esteemed the "Word of God" by the Western
peoples,  the Jews are "God's chosen people" in a peculiar sense,  yet among
these very nations the Jews are despised and discredited.   When we investi-
gate the reason of this tragedy, two salient facts present themselves:

   (1)   Everywhere the Jews have proclaimed themselves God's chosen people,
destined by divine favor in time to become masters of the world, to whom all
nations will eventually have to pay homage and tribute.


[PAGE 62]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

   (2)   Their dealings with the gentiles have almost invariably been marked
by such sharp practices that in public mind Shakespeare's Shylock,  exacting
his "pound of flesh," agrees with the general conception of their nature.

   Thus,  unconsciously, there has grown up in the mind of the other nations
a resentment toward the Jews'  claim to be divinely favored children of God,
while they class all others as stepchildren, heathen,  and gentiles reserved
for the day of wrath when Israel shall triumphantly rule them with a rod  of
iron.   This resentment is accentuated by contemplation of the  present  day
practices of the Jews.

   If the Jews had backed up their claim of being divine favorites by  lives
of noble and lofty conduct, they would probably have inspired the admiration
of many of the people among whom they have dwelt.   They would have  stirred
some  to emulation;  even those who were envious of their  preferment  would
probably have respected them.   But because their high professions and their
practices are so widely divergent,  it is sad but not to be wondered at that
they are hated and persecuted on every hand.

   The student is warned not to view the foregoing merely as a criticism  of
the Jews,;  it is wrong to expose the faults of others and to criticise them
unless we have a constructive end in view.  It is always so easy to see  the
mote in our  brother's  eye, but far easier to overlook the beam in our own.


[PAGE 63]                                                GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE

The  reason for bringing up the subject of the Jews with their high  profes-
sions and divergent practices is but to inquire if,  by turning the  search-
light upon the mote in their eye, we shall not find a large beam in our own.
If so, we shall have accomplished something worth while and put ourselves in
line to remove the beam.

   So long as we live at the level of the world, doing the things others do,
good, bad and indifferent, no one takes particular notice of us; but the mo-
ment  we,  like the Jews,  make professions to be something  different,  the
searchlight  of society at once singles us out as objects of observation  to
determine  what ratio of agreement there is between our professions and  our
practices.   We are watched wherever we go and whatever we do; hence a great
responsibility  rests upon us to acquit ourselves well in order that we  may
do  credit to the teachings of our Elder Brothers and stimulate in others  a
desire to embrace these teachings.

   Therefore let us pause and take stock of our actions and  accomplishments
in the past year; then let us make such resolutions as we feel will make the
future more profitable from the standpoint of the soul.

   In  the first place let us acknowledge that we have been  especially  fa-
vored, far beyond our merit, by receiving the Rosicrucian teachings from our
Elder  Brothers.   Let us hope that we have expressed our gratitude to  them
through  all  the  past year,  and let us at this  time  send  them  special
thoughts of love and gratitude.  Needless  to  say  they  do  not  crave our


[PAGE 64]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

gratitude,  they are beyond that;  but we may make more soul growth by being
grateful.

   Then let us consider how we have used these precious teachings during the
past year:   have we dealt justly with our fellows,  have we been lenient in
our judgments and criticisms of others,  have we striven to curb our temper,
cultivate equipoise,  and overcome whatever may be our particular  besetting
sin?

   What  measure of success have we had?   Let us hope  our  accomplishments
have been at least moderate, for as the sincerity of the Jews'  high profes-
sions have been judged by their performance, so, right or wrong,  the teach-
ings of the Elder Brothers will be rated in the community by the actions  of
those who profess to be their followers.

   But is is a foregone conclusion that we shall have to admit at the end of
our  retrospection that we have fallen far short of the lofty ideals  placed
before us.  This is always a critical point where our spiritual career is in
danger of shipwreck upon the rock of faintheartedness, that is, if we are of
the temperament that broods over or magnifies failure.   Such an attitude of
mind precipitates disaster by robbing us of the will to win; it makes us be-
lieve that there is not use in struggling,  that the odds against us are too
great.  Excuses are found in the antagonism of friends and family to our be-
lief, duties that take our time, etc.  But, as a matter of fact, the trouble
is within ourselves, and if we yield, we shall find  that  our  friends will


[PAGE 65]                                                GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE

despise us in their hearts even if they do not show it openly as in the case
of the Jews.

   Instead,  so  far from causing us to forsake the path  of  progress,  our
failures  should act as a spur to greater efforts,  and we should  make  our
resolution with greater determination so that during the coming year we  may
be invincible with respect to the matter covered by it.

   We all know our own particular shortcomings,  "the sin which doth so eas-
ily beset us,"  and each will naturally have to formulate the proper resolu-
tions  for himself.   But in carrying these resolutions into effect so  that
they may be productive of soul growth and help to weave the glorious  GOLDEN
WEDDING  GARMENT,  it will undoubtedly help us immensely to fasten our  eyes
and thoughts upon one who possessed the virtue we are seeking to  cultivate.
Such a great example we have in Christ,  who "was tempted in all things like
ourselves,  yet without sin."   Let us therefore keep Him closely before our
mind's  eye  during the coming year,  and we shall surely  make  great  soul
growth.   This is also the best propaganda we can make for  the  Rosicrucian
teachings, for by living close to them we shall surely evoke in others a de-
sire to share in their blessings.


[PAGE 66]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                 CHAPTER IX

                        MYSTIC LIGHT ON THE WORLD WAR

                           PART I.--SECRET SPRINGS


   It  is  well known to students of the Rosicrucian teachings  that  we  as
spirits are immortal,  without beginning and without end;  that we have gone
to the great school of experience many life-days in the past each time  clad
in a new child's body of finer texture, in which we lived for a time varying
from  a few hours to a lifetime,  and when a day at life's school  had  been
completed,  we shuffled off this mortal coil, worn out and decrepit,  to re-
turn  to  our heavenly home for rest and assimilation during  the  night  of
death  of the lessons learned;  later to be reborn and take up  our  lessons
where we left them when we were called home from the previous session of the
school of life.

   During each day at life's school we met other spirits and formed ties  of
love  and hate.   In later lives we met again so that the debts  of  destiny
thus incurred might be liquidated.  And so our friends of today are those we


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befriended yester-life, and our enemies are those with whom we were at vari-
ance in the forgotten past.  Thus we are continually weaving the web of des-
tiny on the loom of time,  and creating for ourselves a garment of glory  or
gloom according to whether we have worked well or ill.

   But  we do not work out our INDIVIDUAL destiny only,  for as the  proverb
says,  "No  man liveth unto himself."  We are grouped in  families,  tribes,
races, and nations, and in addition to our individual destiny we are tied by
the  family and national destinies because we are under the guardianship  of
the  angels and archangels who act as family and race spirits  respectively.
It is these great spirits who imprint on our seed atoms the racial form  and
features  of the physical body.   They also implant the national  loves  and
hates  on  the seed atoms of our finer vehicles,  because  the  race  spirit
broods  like a cloud over the land inhabited by its wards,  and  the  latter
draw all the materials for their finer bodies from this atmosphere.  In this
race spirit,  as a matter of actual fact,  they live and move and have their
being.   From it their vehicles are formed.  Yea,  with every breath in this
race spirit,  so that it is absolutely true that it is nearer than hands and
feet.   It is this race spirit which imbues them with love or hate for other
nations,  thus determining between certain nations and the trust and  confi-
dence which exists between others.


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   According  to the teachings of the Rosicrucians,  every spirit is  reborn
twice during the time it takes the sun by precession to go through a sign of
the zodiac,  once as man and once as woman.   This is done in order that  it
may  gain the experiences to be had in that sign from the viewpoint of  both
sexes.   There are many modifications to this rule according to the necessi-
ties of individual spirits, for the law is not blind but it is under the ad-
ministration  of great beings called the Recording Angels in  the  Christian
terminology.   It is their duty to watch the Clock of Destiny and  see  when
the time is ripe to reap the harvest of the past,  and this applies both  to
individuals  and to nations.   Therefore if we study the characteristics  of
the  nations recently locked in a titanic struggle,  together with the  aims
for  which they were fighting,  and look back over the pages of history,  it
needs no seership,  scarcely even intuition,  to place them and thus see how
the springs of the recent war were generated in the distant past.

   It has, in fact, been suggested by historians that the sons of Albion are
a reembodiment of the ancient Romans.  In the light of occult investigations
this  is not quite true,  for there are a number of alien  strains  present.
But  they have been so fused in the dominant race that it may be said to  be
practically a fact.

   Let  us  recall  the history of Rome and  remember  that  the  democratic
spirit,  after the first seven kings had reigned,  manifested itself in  the
formation of a republic, which then began a war of aggression to obtain  the


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mastery of the world,  and in the course of this campaign it became  engaged
with Carthage in a mighty struggle for the mastery of the Mediterranean Sea.
To gain expansion westward the Romans endeavored to expel the  Carthaginians
from Sicily.   Carthage at that time was a great sea power,  but she was de-
feated by the Romans in 260 B.C. on her own element.   Following up this ad-
vantage Rome transferred the war to Africa and was at first successful,  but
Regulus,  the  consoul whom she left behind,  was finally worsted  and  made
prisoner.   A  series of naval disasters to Rome ensued,  and  Carthage  was
about  to  regain more than she had lost of Sicily when Tetulus,  the  Roman
Consul,  gained another decisive victory over the Carthaginians in 241 B.C.,
who there upon undertook to evacuate Sicily and the adjacent islands.   This
ended in the first Punic War, which was twenty-two years in duration.

   But Carthage was not to be so easily conquered.   Finding Rome her  match
at sea,  she resumed hostilities by acquiring a foothold in Spain,  and  the
great Carthaginian general, Hannibal, who heartily hated Rome, attempted the
conquest of that city during the second Punic War, which was declared in 218
B.C.   His plans, nurtured in secret, were carried on with unexampled celer-
ity.   He crossed the Pyrenees from Spain to France, fought his way over the
Alps against every obstacle, and  descended  upon  Cisalpine  Gaul  with but


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twenty-six thousand survivors of his army of fifty-nine thousand men.  After
several  defeats of the Romans came the great battle of Cannae in 216  B.C.,
where  Hannibal's victory was complete.  Macedonia and Sicily  declared  for
the conquerors, and Hannibal marched even to the Colline gate of Rome.   But
finding this city too strong for him,  he withdrew to southern Italy,  where
he was finally defeated and Carthage forced to sue for peace.  Thus Rome be-
came the mistress of the Mediterranean.

   But the hate of Hannibal was unabated,  and when he and his  compatriots,
the Carthaginians,  were reborn in landlocked Prussia, while the ancient Ro-
mans  occupied  the British Islands as mistresses of the seas,  it  was  in-
evitable that in time a great conflict must take place.   As the ancient Pu-
nic Wars generated the recent conflict,  so will this war in due time  bring
its renewal of the struggle unless we shown a spirit of kindness in  dealing
with  the vanquished foe,  instead of dealing with them as Rome did in  that
ancient past,  without mercy and without consideration.   The power to  harm
others must be taken from the militarist of the Central Empires.   It is ab-
solutely imperative that the world should be made safe from a repetition  of
this catastrophe, BUT THE MEASURES TAKEN TO SECURE THIS DESIRABLE END SHOULD
BE  SUCH THAT NOT ONLY DO THEY ENSURE PEACE FOR THE PRESENT LIFE,  BUT  ALSO
FOR  THOSE FUTURE LIFE-DAYS WHEN WE SHALL MEET IN ANOTHER GUISE  THOSE  WITH
WHOM WE WERE RECENTLY AT WAR.


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   Justice ought to be done,  but it should be tempered with mercy in  order
to avoid perpetuating hate,  and therefore such harsh measures as,  for  in-
stance,  the industrial boycott are wrong.  It should be sufficient  to  see
that the Central Empires get no more than a fair share of the world's trade.
The new American nation,  which is not yet under the domination of any  race
spirits,  sees  more impartially and therefore more clearly than  any  other
what is right.   Therefore it is to be hoped that the American ideas of jus-
tice will prevail.   Let us remember that one wrong never can and never will
right another, and that we must live and let live.

                             --- END OF FILE ---

[PAGE 72]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                  CHAPTER X

                        MYSTIC LIGHT ON THE WORLD WAR

                PART II -- ITS PROMOTION OF SPIRITUAL SIGHT.

   Strange as the statement may seem, it is nevertheless true that the great
majority  of mankind are partially asleep most of the time,  notwithstanding
the fact that their physical bodies may seem to be intensely occupied in ac-
tive  work.   Under ordinary conditions the desire body in the case  of  the
great majority is the most awake part of composite man, who lives almost en-
tirely in his feelings and emotions, but scarcely ever thinks of the problem
of existence beyond what is necessary to keep body and soul together.   Most
of this class have probably never given the great questions of life,  Whence
have we come, why are we here, and whither are we going? any serious consid-
eration.   Their vital bodies are kept active repairing the ravages  of  the
desire  body upon the physical vehicle, and purveying the vitality which  is
later dissipated in gratifying the desires and emotions.


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   It  is this hard-fought battle between the vital and desire bodies  which
generates consciousness in the physical world and makes men and women so in-
tensely  alert that,  viewed from the standpoint of the physical  world,  it
seems to give the lie to our assertion that they are partially asleep.  Nev-
ertheless,  upon examination of all the facts it will be found that this  is
the case,  and we may also say that this state of affairs has come about  by
the design of the great Hierarchs who have our evolution in charge.

   We  know  that  there  was a time when man was much  more  awake  in  the
spiritual worlds than in the physical.   In fact there was a time when,  al-
though he had a physical body, he could not sense it at all.   In order that
he  might  learn how to use this physical instrument properly,  conquer  the
physical  world,  and learn to think accurately,  it was necessary  that  he
should for a time forget all about the spiritual worlds,  and devote all his
energies to physical affairs.   How this was brought about by the  introduc-
tion  of  alcohol  as a food and by other means has been  explained  in  the
"COSMO"  and need not be reiterated.   But we are now face to face with  the
fact that mankind has become so completely immersed in materiality that,  so
far  as the great majority are concerned,  the invisible vehicles are  thor-
oughly  focused  upon  physical  activities  and  asleep  to  the  spiritual
verities, which are even derided as the imagination of diseased brains; also
those  who  are beginning to awake from the sleep of materialism are scorned


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as fanatics, fit only for the madhouse.

   If  this attitude of mind were consistently followed,  the  spirit  would
eventually  become  crystallized in the body.  The heaven life in  which  we
build our future vehicles and environments would become increasingly barren;
for when we persistently hold the thought that there is nothing but what  we
contact through our senses (see, hear,  feel,  smell,  touch,  and analyze),
this  mental  attitude cultivated in the earth life persists in  the  Second
Heaven with the result that we may there neglect the preparation that  would
give us a field of endeavor and instruments wherewith to work in it,  and as
a result evolution would soon cease.

   According  to the Rosicrucian teachings,  the soul is the extract of  the
various bodies;  it is garnered by experience that involves the  destruction
of  the particular bodies from which this living bread is derived and  which
is to be used as a pabulum for the spirit.  In the ordinary course of evolu-
tion  the perfection of the various vehicles is gradual,  and the soul  sub-
stance  is then garnered and assimilated by the spirit between earth  lives.
But  at a certain period in the larger life when we are entering upon a  new
spiral,  a different phase of evolution, it is usually necessary  to  employ
drastic measures to turn the spirit out of the beaten pathway into a new and
unknown direction.   Formerly when we possessed less individuality and  were
incapable of taking the initiative ourselves these changes were accomplished


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by  what  may  be  called  great  cataclysms  of  nature,  but   which  were 
in  fact  planned  by  the  divine Hierarchies who guide evolution,  with  a
view to destroying multitudes of bodies that had served the purpose of human
development in a given direction,  changing the environment of those who had
learned the possibilities of a new road,  and starting these pioneer  people
upon  a fresh career.   Such wholesale destruction was naturally  much  more
frequent  in the earlier epochs than in later times.   Lemuria had  all  the
requisite conditions for numerous attempts at making a fresh start with  one
group when another had failed and had been destroyed.   As a matter of fact,
there was not merely one flood in Atlantis but three,  and a period of about
three-quarters of a million years elapsed between the first and the last.

   We  may  not expect that the method of wholesale destruction  and  a  new
start can be abrogated until we as a whole awaken to the necessity of taking
a new road when we have come to the end of the old,  but a new method is be-
ing used by the Invisible Directors of evolution.   They are not now  making
use  of cataclysms of nature to change the old order for something  new  and
better,  but THEY ARE MAKING USE OF THE MISDIRECTED ENERGIES OF HUMANITY IT-
SELF  TO FURTHER THE ENDS THEY HAVE IN VIEW.   This was the genesis  of  the
great war which recently raged among us.  Its purpose was to turn our  ener-
gies  from  seeking the bread whereof men die and to create in us  the  soul
hunger that would cause us  to  turn  from material things to spiritual.  We


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are,  as a matter of act, commencing to work out our own salvation.   We are
beginning to do things for ourselves instead of having them done for us, and
though unaware of the fact, WE ARE LEARNING HOW TO TURN EVIL TO GOOD.

   Some may think this war affected only those few million men actually  en-
gaged in it,  but a little thought upon the matter will soon convince anyone
that the welfare of the whole world was involved to a greater or lesser  de-
gree  so far as economic conditions were concerned.   There is no  race  nor
country that escaped entirely, nor can any go on in the same tranquil manner
as before the war broke out.  Kinship and friendship were ties which reached
from the trenches of Europe to every part of the globe.  Many of us were re-
lated  to individuals in one and perhaps both groups engaged in the  strife,
and  we  followed  their fortunes with an  interest  commensurate  with  the
strength  of our feeling for them.   But in the nighttime when our  physical
bodies were asleep and we entered the desire world, we could not escape liv-
ing and feeling th whole tragedy with all the intensity whereof we were  ca-
pable,  for the desire currents swept the whole world.   In the desire world
there is neither time nor distance.   The trenches of Europe were brought to
our door no matter where we lived, and we could not escape the  subconscious
effect  of  the  spectacle which we there  saw.   Furthermore  this  titanic
struggle  produced  effects  which  could  never  be  equaled  by  a natural


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cataclysm, which is so much quicker in its action and so much shorter in its
duration, besides being localized and incapable of generating the same feel-
ings of love and hate which were such important factors in the World War.

   During  the previous career of man it has been the object of  the  divine
Hierarchs to teach him how to accomplish physical results by physical means.
He has forgotten how to utilize the finer forces in nature such as,  for in-
stance,  the energy liberated when grain is sprouting,  which was  used  for
purposes of propulsion and levitation in the Atlantean airships.   He is un-
aware of the sanctity of fire and how to use it spiritually,  therefore only
about  fifteen per cent of its power is utilized in the best steam  engines.
It is well of course that man is thus limited,  for were he able to use  the
power at the command of one whose spiritual faculties are awakened, he could
annihilate our world and all upon it.  But while he is doing his best or his
worst with the faculties at his command today,  he is learning the lesson of
how  to hold his feelings in leash to fit himself for the use of  the  finer
forces necessary for development in the Aquarian Age, and pulling the scales
from his eyes so that he may commence to see the new world which he is  des-
tined to conquer.

   Two  separate and distinct processes are made use of to  accomplish  this
result.  One is the visit of death to millions of homes, tearing  away  from


[PAGE 78]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

the family group the husband, father, or brother,  and leaving the survivors
to face a grey existence of economic privation.  The sun existed previous to
the  eye  and built that organ for its perception.   The desire to  see  was
naturally unconscious on the part of the individual who did not know and had
no concept of the meaning or use of sight; but in the world soul, which cre-
ated  the  sun,  rested the knowledge and requisite desire that  worked  the
miracle.   Similarly in the case of death:  when our consciousness had first
become  focused in the physical vehicles and the fact of death stared us  in
the face, there was no hope within; but in time religion supplied the knowl-
edge  of  an invisible world whence the spirit had come to  take  birth  and
whither it returns after death.   The hope of immortality gradually  evolved
in humanity the feeling that death is only a transition,  but modern science
has done its best to rob men of this consolation.

   Nevertheless,  at every death the tears that are shed serve  to  dissolve
the  veil  that  hides  the invisible world  from  our  longing  gaze.   The
deep-felt yearning and the sorrow at the parting of loved and loving ones on
both sides of the veil are tearing this apart,  and at some not far  distant
day the accumulated effect of all this will reveal the fact that there is no
death,  but that those who have passed beyond are as much alive as we.   The
potency  of  these tears,  this sorrow,  this yearning is not equal  in  all
cases, however, and the effects differ wisely according to whether the vital


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body has been awakened in any given person by acts of unselfishness and ser-
vice,  according  to the occult maxim that all development  along  spiritual
lines begins with the vital body.   his is the basis,  and no superstructure
can be built until this foundation has been laid.

   With regard to the second process of soul unfoldment which is carried  on
among those actually engaged in warfare, there are probably but few who have
had as unique an opportunity to study actual conditions on the whole of  the
extended line of battle as th writer.  Notwithstanding all the brutality and
hellishness of the whole thing he feels confident that this was the greatest
school of soul unfoldment that has ever existed, for nowhere have there been
so  numerous opportunities for selfless service as on the battle  fields  of
France,  and nowhere have men been so ready to grasp the change of doing for
some  one else.   Thus the vital bodies of a host of people have received  a
quickening  such  as they would probably not have otherwise attained  for  a
number of lives, and these people have therefore become correspondingly sen-
sitive  to spiritual vibrations,  and susceptible in a higher degree to  the
benefit  which may be derived from the first process  previously  mentioned.
As a result we shall in due time see an army of sensitives among us who will
be in such close touch with the invisible world that their concerted  testi-
mony cannot be crushed by the materialistic school.  They will prove a great


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factor  in helping us to prepare for the higher conditions of  the  Aquarian
Age.

   "But,"  some may ask, "will they not forget when the stress and strain of
war are over?   Will not a large percentage of these people go back into the
same rut where they were before?"  To this we may answer that we feel confi-
dent it can never come to pass, for while the invisible vehicles, especially
the vital body, are asleep, man may pursue a materialistic career;  but once
this vehicle has been awakened and has tasted the bread of life,  it is like
the  physical body,  subject to hunger--soul hunger,--and its cravings  will
not be denied save after an exceedingly hard struggle.   In the latter case,
of course,  the words of Peter are applicable:   "The last state of that man
is worse than the first."   However,  it is good to feel that out of all the
indescribable  sorrow  and trouble of the war good is being wrought  in  the
crucible of the gods,  and it will be a lasting good.   May we all align our
forces and help extract the good, so that we may be shining examples to help
lead humanity to the New Age.


[PAGE 81]                                                     PEACE ON EARTH

                                 CHAPTER XI

                        MYSTIC LIGHT ON THE WORLD WAR

                         PART III -- PEACE ON EARTH

   A war-weary world,  red with the blood of millions,  the hope of its  fu-
ture,  the flower of its young manhood,  is groaning in agony,  praying  for
peace, not an armistice, a temporary cessation of hostilities, but EVERLAST-
ING PEACE, and it is striving to solve the problem of how to accomplish this
much  desired  end.   But it is striking at effects because ignorant  of  or
blind to the one great underlying cause of the ferocity of the people, which
was  but barely hidden under a thin veneer of civilization before  it  burst
into the volcano of destruction which we have recently witnessed and are now
lamenting.

   Until the connection between the food of man and his nature is understood
and the knowledge applied to tame the passions and eradicate ferocity, there
can  be no lasting peace.   In the dim dawn of being when  man-in-the-making
wrought under the direct guidance of the divine Hierarchs who led him  along
the path of evolution, food was given him of a  nature  that  would  develop


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various  vehicles in an orderly,  systematic manner,  so that in time  these
different bodies would grow into a composite instrument usable as the temple
of an indwelling spirit which might then enter and learn life's lessons by a
series  of  embodiments in earthly bodies of an increasingly  fine  texture.
Five  great stages or epochs are observable in the evolutionary  journey  of
man upon earth.

   In the first, or Polarian Epoch, what is now man had only a dense body as
the  minerals have now,  hence he was mineral-like,  and it is said  in  the
Bible that "ADAM was formed of the earth."

   In  the  second,  or Hyperborean Epoch,  a vital body made of  ether  was
added, and man-in-the-making had then a body constituted as are those of the
present plants; he was not a plant but was plantlike.  CAIN, the man of that
time,  is  described as an agriculturist; his food was derived  solely  from
vegetation, for plants contain more ether than any other structure.

   In the third, or Lemurian Epoch, man cultivated a desire body,  a vehicle
of  passions  and emotions,  and was then constituted as the  animal.   Then
milk, a product of living animals, was added to his diet, for this substance
is most easily worked upon by the emotions.  ABEL, the man of that time,  is
described as a shepherd.   It is nowhere stated that he killed an animal for
food.

   In the fourth, or Atlantean Epoch, mind was  unfolded,  and the composite


[PAGE 83]                                                     PEACE ON EARTH

body  became  the temple of an indwelling spirit,  a  thinking  being.   But
thought  breaks down nerve cells;  it kills,  destroys,  and  causes  decay,
therefore  the new food of the Atlantean was dead carcasses.   He killed  to
eat,  and  so the Bible describes the man of that time as NIMROD,  a  mighty
hunter.

   By partaking of these various foods man descended deeper and deeper  into
matter;  his  erstwhile ethereal body formed a skeleton  within  and  became
solid.  At the same time he gradually lost his spiritual perception, but the
memory  of heaven was always with him,  and he knew himself to be  an  exile
from his true home, the heaven world.  In order to enable him to forget this
fact  and apply himself with undivided attention to conquering the  material
world,  a new article of diet, namely, wine, was added in the fifth or Aryan
Epoch.   Because of indulgence in this counterfeit spirit of alcohol  during
the  millenniums  which have passed since man came up out of  Atlantis,  the
most advanced races of humanity are also the most atheistic and  materialis-
tic.   THEY ARE ALL DRUNK for even though a person may say,  and  say  quite
truthfully, that he has never touched liquor in his life, it is nevertheless
a fact that body in which he is functioning has descended from ancestors who
for  millenniums have indulged in alcoholic beverages in unstinted  measure.
Therefore the atoms composing all present day Western bodies  are  unable to


[PAGE 84]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

vibrate  to the measure necessary for the cognition of the invisible  worlds
as  they  were before wine was added to the diet  of  humanity.   Similarly,
though  a child may be brought up today on a fleshless diet,  it still  par-
takes  of  the ferocious nature of its flesh-eating ancestors of  a  million
years,  though  in a less degree than those who still continue to  feast  on
flesh.   Thus the effect of the flesh food provided for man-in-the-making is
deep-seated and deep-rooted even in those who do not now indulge in it.

   What wonder then that those who still partake of flesh and wine return at
times to godless savagery and exhibit a ferocity unrestrained by any of  the
finer  feelings  supposed to have been fostered by  centuries  of  so-called
civilization!   So long as men continue to quench the immortal spirit within
themselves by partaking of flesh and the counterfeit alcoholic spirit, there
can  never be lasting peace on earth,  for the innate ferocity  fostered  by
these  articles will break through at intervals and sweep even the most  al-
truistic conceptions and ideals into a maelstrom of savagery,  a carnival of
ruthless slaughter, which will grow correspondingly greater as the intellect
of  man evolves and enables him to conceive with his master mind methods  of
destruction more diabolical than any we have yet witnessed.

   It needs no argument to prove that the recent war was much more  destruc-
tive than any of the previous conflicts recorded in history,  because it was
fought by men of BRAIN rather than by men of BRAWN.  The ingenuity  which in


[PAGE 85]                                                     PEACE ON EARTH

times  of peace has been turned to such good account in constructive  enter-
prises  was enlisted in the service of destruction,  and it is safe  to  say
that if another war is fought fifty or a hundred years hence, it may perhaps
all  but  depopulate the earth.   Therefore a lasting peace is  an  absolute
necessity  from the standpoint of self-preservation and no thinking  man  or
woman  can afford to brush aside without investigation any theory  which  is
advanced  as tending to make war impossible,  even if they have been  accus-
tomed to regard it as a foolish fad.

   There  is plenty of proof that a carnivorous diet fosters  ferocity,  but
lack  of space prevents a thorough discussion of this phase of the  subject.
We may, however, mention the well known fierceness of beasts of prey and the
cruelty of the meat-eating American Indian as fair examples.   On the  other
hand, the prodigious strength and the docile nature of the ox, the elephant,
and the horse show the effects of the herb diet on animals,  while the  veg-
etarian  and peaceable nations of the Orient are a proof of the  correctness
of the argument against a flesh diet which cannot be successfully  gainsaid.
Flesh food has fostered human ingenuity of a low order in the past;  it  has
served a purpose in our evolution;  but we are now standing on the threshold
of a new age when self-sacrifice and service will bring spiritual growth  to
humanity.  The evolution of the mind will bring a wisdom profound beyond our


[PAGE 86]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

greatest conception, but before it will be safe to entrust us with that wis-
dom,  we  must become HARMLESS as doves, for otherwise we should be  apt  to
turn it to such selfish and destructive purposes that it would be an  incon-
ceivable menace to our fellow men.   To avoid this the vegetarian diet  must
be adopted.

   But  there are vegetarians and vegetarians:   In Europe conditions  cause
people  now to abstain from flesh eating to a very large extent.   They  are
not  true vegetarians for they are lusting for flesh every moment  of  their
lives,  and they feel the want of it as a great hardship and sacrifice.   In
time they would of course grow used to is,  and in many generations it would
make them gentle and docile, but obviously that is not the kind of vegetari-
anism  we need now.   There are others who abstain from flesh foods for  the
sake of health;  their motive is selfish,  and many among them probably also
lust  after the "flesh pots of Egypt."  Their attitude of mind is  not  such
either that it would abolish ferocity very quickly.

   But there is a third class which realizes that all life is God's life and
that to cause suffering to any sentient being is wrong,  so out of pure com-
passion  they abstain from the use of flesh foods.   They are the true  veg-
etarians, and IT IS OBVIOUS THAT A WORLD WAR COULD NEVER BE FOUGHT BY PEOPLE
OF  THIS  TURN OF MIND.   All true Christians will also be  abstainers  from
flesh  foods for similar motives.   Then peace on earth and good will  among
men will be an assured fact; the nations will beat their  swords  into plow-


[PAGE 87]                                                     PEACE ON EARTH

shares  and  their  spears into pruning hooks that they may  cease  to  deal
death,  sorrow, and suffering, and become instruments to foster life,  love,
and happiness.

   Our own safety,  the safety of our children, the safety of the human race
even,  demands  that we listen to the inspired voice of  the  poetess,  Ella
Wheeler  Wilcox,  who wrote the following soul stirring appeal in behalf  of
our dumb fellow creatures:

         "I am the voice of the voiceless,
         Through me the dumb shall speak,
         Till a deaf world's ear
         Shall be made to hear
         The wrongs of the wordless weak.

         "The same force formed the sparrow,
         That fashioned man the king;
         The God of the Whole
         Gave a spark of soul,
         To furred and feathered thing.

         "And I am my brother's keeper,
         And I will fight his fight,
         And speak the word
         For beast and bird
         Till the world shall set things right."


[PAGE 88]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                 CHAPTER XII

                        MYSTIC LIGHT ON THE WORLD WAR

                      PART IV -- THE GOSPEL OF GLADNESS

   The  recent titanic struggle among the nations in Europe upset the  equi-
librium of the whole world to such an extent that the emotions of the people
who liven in even the most remote regions of the earth were stirred as  they
had never been stirred before, the people expressing anger, hate,  hysteria,
or gloom according to their nature and temperament.   It is evident to those
who  have  studied the deeper mysteries of life and who understand  the  op-
eration  of natural law in the spiritual worlds that the inhabitants of  the
invisible  realms were affected in perhaps a greater degree than  those  who
lived in physical bodies, which by their very density make it impossible for
us to feel the full force of the emotions.

   After the outbreak of the war the tide of emotions ran high and fast, be-
cause there were no adequate means of checking it;  but by dint of hard work
and  organization the Elder Brothers of humanity succeeded after  the  first
year in creating an army of Invisible Helpers who, having passed through the


[PAGE 89]                                             THE GOSPEL OF GLADNESS

gate  of death and having felt the sorrow and suffering incident to  an  un-
timely transition,  were filled with compassion for the others who were con-
stantly pouring in,  and became qualified to soothe and help them until they
also had found their balance.  Later, however, the emotions of hate and mal-
ice  engendered  by the people in the physical world became so  strong  that
there was danger they might gain the ascendancy;  therefore new measures had
to be taken to counteract these feelings, and everywhere all the good forces
were  marshaled  into line to help restore the balance and  keep  the  baser
emotions down.

   One  of  the  ways in which most people contributed to  the  trouble  and
helped to prolong the war which they were praying might end, was by dwelling
on the AWFUL side of it and forgetting to look at the bright side.

   "The  bright  side of that cruel war?"  is probably  the  question  which
arises in the mind of the reader.  "Why, what can you mean?"  To some it may
perhaps even seem sacrilegious to speak of a bright side in connection  with
such  a calamity,  as they would put it.   But let us see if there is not  a
silver lining to even this blackest of clouds,  and if there is not a method
by  which the silver lining could be made wider and wider so that the  cloud
would become altogether luminous.

   Some  time ago our attention was called to a book  entitled  "Pollyanna."
Pollyanna was the little daughter of  a  missionary,  whose  salary  was  so


[PAGE 90]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

meager  that  he could scarcely obtain the bare necessities of  life.   From
time  to time barrels filled with old clothes and odds and ends  arrived  at
the mission for distribution.   Pollyanna hoped that some day a barrel might
come  containing a little doll.   Her father had even written to ask if  the
next  barrel might not contain a discarded doll for his child.   The  barrel
came, but instead of the doll it contained a pair of small crutches.  Notic-
ing the child's disappointment her father said:   "There is one thing we can
be glad of and grateful for, that we have no need of the crutches."   It was
then they began "playing the game,"  as they called it,  of looking for  and
finding  something for which to be glad and thankful,  no matter  what  hap-
pened,  and they always found it.  For example, when they were forced to eat
a very scant meal at a restaurant,  not being able to afford the dainties on
the menu,  they would say:   "Well, we are glad we like beans,"  even though
their  eyes would rest on the roast turkey and its prohibitive price.   Then
they started to teach the game to others, making many a life the happier for
learning it,  among them some in whom the belief had become fixed that  they
could never again be happy.

   At  last they were really starving,  and Pollyanna's mother had to go  to
heaven  to save the expense of living.   Soon her father  followed,  leaving
Pollyanna dependent upon the bounty of a rich but  crabbed  and inhospitable


[PAGE 91]                                             THE GOSPEL OF GLADNESS

old maiden aunt in Vermont.  Despite the unwelcome reception and undesirable
quarters assigned her at first,  the little girl saw nothing but reasons for
gladness;  she literally radiated joy, drawing under its spell maid and gar-
dener  and in time even the loveless aunt.   The child's roseate  mind  soon
filled  the bare walls and floor of her dingy attic room with all manner  of
beauty.   If  there were no pictures,  she was glad that  he  little  window
opened upon a landscape scene more beautiful than any artist could paint,  a
carpet  of green and gold the like of which not even the cleverest of  human
weavers had ever woven.   If her crude washstand were without a mirror,  she
was  glad that the lack of it spared her seeing her freckles;  and  what  if
they were freckles,  had she not reason to be glad they were not warts?   If
her trunk were small and her clothes few,  was there not reason for gladness
that the unpacking was soon done and over?  If her parents could not be with
her,  could she not be glad that they were with God in heaven?   Since  they
could not talk to her, ought she not to rejoice that she could talk to them?

   Flitting birdlike over field and moor she forgot the supper hour, and be-
ing  ordered upon her return to the kitchen to make her meal there of  bread
and milk,  she said to her aunt who expected tears and pouting, "Oh, I am so
glad  you  did it,  because I am so fond of bread and milk."   Not  a  harsh
treatment, and there were many of them at first, but that she  imagined some


[PAGE 92]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

kindly motive back of it and gave it a grateful thought.

   Her first convert was the housemaid,  who used to look forward with dread
to the weekly wash day and face Monday in a surly mood.  It was not long be-
fore  our little glad girl and Nancy feeling gladder on Monday morning  than
on  any other morning,  because there was not another wash day for  a  whole
week;  and soon she had her glad that her name was not Hepsibah,  but Nancy,
at  which  name  the  latter  had been  disgruntled.   One  day  when  Nancy
remonstratingly said to her, "Sure, there is nothing in a funeral to be glad
about,"  Pollyanna promptly answered,  "Well, we can be glad it isn't ours."
To the gardener, who complained to her that he was bent half over with rheu-
matism,  she also taught the glad game by telling him that being  bent  half
over he ought to be glad that he saved one-half the stooping when he did his
weeding.

   Near her home in a palatial mansion lived an elderly bachelor,  a  sullen
recluse.  The more he rebuffed her, the cheerier she was and the oftener she
went to see him because no one else did.   In her innocence and pity she at-
tributed  his  lack  of courtesy to some secret sorrow,  and  therefore  she
longed  all the more to teach him the glad game.   She did teach it to  him,
and  he learned it,  thought it was hard work at first.   When he broke  his
leg, it was not easy to get him to be glad that but one leg was broken,  and
admit it would have  been  far  worse  if  this legs had been as numerous as


[PAGE 93]                                             THE GOSPEL OF GLADNESS

those of a centipede and he had fractured all of them.   Her sunshiny dispo-
sition  succeeded  at  last in getting him to love the  sunshine,  open  the
blinds, pull up the curtains, and open his heart to the world.  He wanted to
adopt her, but failing in this, he adopted a little orphan boy whom she hand
chanced to meet by the wayside.

   She  made one lady wear bright colors,  who had before worn  only  black.
Another  lady,  rich and miserable because her mind was centered  upon  past
troubles, had her attention directed by Pollyanna to the miseries of others,
and  being  taught through the glad game how to bring  gladness  into  their
lives,  this lady brought an abundance of it also into her own.  All unknown
to  the  little  girl  she reunited in happy home life  a  couple  about  to
separate,  by kindling within their hearts that had grown cold a strong love
for their little ones.  By and by the whole town began to play the glad game
and teach it to others.   Under its influence men and women became different
beings:   the unhappy became happy, the sick became well,  those about to go
wrong found again the right path, and the discouraged took heart again.

   Soon the leading physician in town found it necessary to prescribe her as
he  would some medicine.   "That little girl,"  he said,  "is better than  a
six-quart bottle of tonic.   If anyone can take a grouch out of a person  it
is  she;  a dose of Pollyanna is more curative than a store full of  drugs."
But the greatest miracle which the glad game  worked  was the transformation


[PAGE 94]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

effected in the character of her prim, puritanic aunt.  She who had accepted
Pollyanna in her home as a matter of stern family duty,  developed under her
little  niece's treatment a heart that fairly overran with affection.   Soon
Pollyanna  was  taken out of her bare attic room to a  beautifully  papered,
pictured, carpeted, and furnished room on her aunt's floor.  And so the good
she did reacted upon herself.

   The  story is fiction,  but it is based upon facts rooted in cosmic  law.
What that little girl did with respect to the people in her environment,  we
as students of the Rosicrucian teachings can and ought to do in our own  in-
dividual spheres, both in regard to the matters which pertain to intercourse
with our relatives and immediate associates and with respect to the world at
large.

   As regards its application to war in general,  instead of being gloomy at
defeat  or appalled at catastrophes recorded in sensational newspaper  head-
lines, instead of adding our gloom, hate, and malice to the similar feelings
engendered by others, can we not find a bright side even in such a seemingly
overwhelming calamity?  Surely there is reason to rejoice exceedingly in the
thoughts of self-sacrifice which prompted so many noble men to give up their
work in the world,  their large incomes, and their comfortable homes for the
sake  of  what to them was an ideal to make the world better for  those  who
came  after them,  for they could not help realizing that they  might  never
come  back  to  enjoy  the  fruits  themselves.  Can  we  not  rejoice like-


[PAGE 95]                                             THE GOSPEL OF GLADNESS

wise  that  many  noble  women,  nurtured  in  ease  and comfort, left their 
homes  and  friends  for  the  arduous  work  of  nursing and caring for the 
wounded?  Throughout  all  there  was a spirit of altruism, shared by  those  
who  though  forced  by  circumstances  to say at home  still  put  in their  
time  knitting  and working for those who had to bear  the  brunt of battle.

   Great are the birth pangs by which altruism is being born in millions  of
human hearts,  but through the superlative suffering of the later war human-
ity will become gentler,  nobler,  and better than ever before.   If we  can
only take this view of the recent suffering and sorrow, if we can only teach
others  to look to the future blessings which must accrue through this  pain
and suffering, we shall ourselves be better able to recover from the strain,
and be better qualified to help others do the same.

   In this manner we can imitate Pollyanna,  and if we are only sufficiently
sincere,  our views will spread and take root in other hearts;  then because
thoughts are things and good thoughts are more powerful than evil since they
are in harmony with the trend of evolution,  the day will soon come when  we
shall be able to gain the ascendancy and help establish permanent peace.

   It is hoped that this suggestion may be taken very seriously and put into
practice by everyone of our students,  for the need is great at the  present
time, greater than it has been before.


[PAGE 96]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                CHAPTER XIII

                     THE ESOTERIC SIGNIFICANCE OF EASTER

               AND THE INCEPTION OF THE ROSICRUCIAN PHILOSOPHY

   AGAIN  the earth has reach the vernal equinox in its annual circle  dance
about the sun, and we have Easter.  The spiritual ray sent out by the Cosmic
Christ each fall to replenish the smoldering vitality of the earth is  about
to ASCEND to the Father's Throne.   The spiritual activities of  fecundation
and germination which have been carried on during the winter and spring will
be followed by material growth and a ripening process during the coming sum-
mer  and  autumn under the influence of the indwelling  Earth  Spirit.   The
cycle  ends  at "Harvest Home."   Thus the great World Drama  is  acted  and
re-enacted  from year to year,  an eternal contest between life  and  death;
each in turn becoming victor and being vanquished as the cycles roll on.

   This great cyclic influx and efflux are not confined in their effects  to
the  earth and its flora and fauna.  They  exercise  an  equally  compelling


[PAGE 97]                                THE ESOTERIC SIGNIFICANCE OF EASTER

influence upon mankind, though the great majority are unaware of what impels
them to action in one direction or another.  The fact remains, nevertheless,
independent of their cognition that the same earthy vibration which  gaudily
adorns  bird and beast in the spring is responsible for the human desire  to
don gay colors and brighter raiment at that season.   This is also "the call
of the wild," which in summer drives mankind to relaxation amid rural scenes
where  nature spirits have wrought their magic art in field and  forest,  in
order  to recuperate from the strain of artificial conditions  in  congested
cities.

   On the other hand,  it is the "FALL" of the spiritual ray from the sun in
autumn  which  causes resumption of the mental and spiritual  activities  in
winter.   The same germinative force which leavens the seed in the earth and
prepares it to reproduce its kind in multiple, stirs also the human mind and
fosters  altruistic  activities which make the world better.   Did  no  this
great  wave of selfless Cosmic Love culminate at Christmas,  did it not  vi-
brate peace and good will,  there would be no holiday feeling in our breasts
to engender a desire to make others equally happy;  the universal giving  of
Christmas gifts would be impossible, and we should all suffer loss.

   As the Christ walked day by day,  hither and yon,  over the hills and the
valleys of Judea and Galilee,  teaching the multitudes,  all were benefited.
But  He  communed  most  with His disciples, and they, of course, grew apace


[PAGE 98]                                           TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

each  day.   The bond of love became closer as time went on,  until one  day
ruthless  hands  took  away the beloved Teacher and put Him  to  a  shameful
death.  But though He had died after the flesh, he continued to commune with
them  in spirit for some time.   At last,  however,  He ascended  to  higher
spheres,  direct touch with Him was lost,  and sadly these men  looked  into
each  other's faces as they asked,  "Is this the end?"   They had  hoped  so
much,  had entertained such high aspirations,  and though the verdant  glory
was  as  fresh upon the sun-kissed landscape as before He  went,  the  earth
seemed cold and dreary, for black desolation gnawed at their hearts.

   Thus  it is also with us who aim to walk after the spirit and  to  strive
with  the flesh,  though the analogy may not have been previously  apparent.
When the "FALL" of the Christ ray commences in autumn and ushers in the sea-
son  of spiritual supremacy,  we sense it at once and commence to  lave  our
should  in the blessed tide with avidity.   We experience a feeling akin  to
that of the apostles when they walked with Christ,  and as the season  wears
on  it  becomes easier and easier to commune with Him,  face to face  as  it
were.   But in the annual course of events Easter and the ASCENSION  of  the
"risen"  Christ ray to the Father leave us in the identical position of  the
apostles when their beloved Teacher went away.  We are desolate and sad;  we
look upon the world as a  dreary  waste and cannot comprehend the reason for


[PAGE 99]                                THE ESOTERIC SIGNIFICANCE OF EASTER

our  loss,  which is as natural as the changes of ebb and flood and day  and
night--phases of the present age of alternating cycles.

   There  is a danger in this attitude of mind.   If it is allowed  to  grow
upon us, we are apt to cease our work in the world and become dreamers, lose
our balance,  and excite just criticism from our fellow men.   Such a course
of conduct is entirely wrong, for as the earth exerts itself in MATERIAL EN-
DEAVOR to bring forth abundantly in summer after receiving the SPIRITUAL IM-
PETUS in winter,  so ought we also to exert ourselves to greater purpose  in
the world's work when it has been our privilege to commune with the  spirit.
If we do Thus we shall be more apt to excite emulation than reproach.

   We are wont to think of a miser as one who hoards gold,  and such  people
are generally objects of contempt.   But there are people who strive as  as-
siduously  to acquire knowledge as the miser struggles to  accumulate  gold,
who will stoop to any subterfuge to obtain their desire,  and will as  jeal-
ously guard their knowledge as the miser guards his hoard.   They do not un-
derstand  that  by such a method they are effectually closing  the  door  to
greater  wisdom.   The  old Norse theology contained a  parable  which  sym-
bolically elucidates the matter.   It held that all who died fighting on the
battle field (the strong souls who fought the good fight unto the end)  were
carried to Valhalla to be with the gods; while those who died in bed or from
disease  (the  souls  who drifted weakly through life) went  to  the  dismal
Niflheim.  The doughty warriors in  Valhalla feasted daily upon the flesh of


[PAGE 100]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

the boar called Scrimner, which was so constituted that whenever a piece was
cut from it the flesh at once grew again,  so that it was never consumed  no
matter how much was carved.   Thus it aptly symbolized "KNOWLEDGE,"  for  no
matter how much of this we give to others, we always retain the original.

   There is Thus a certain obligation to pass on what we have of  knowledge,
and  "to whom much is given of him much will be required."   Perhaps it  may
not  be  out  of place to recount an experience which  will  illustrate  the
point,  for it was the final "test" applied to myself before I was entrusted
with the teaching embodied in THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION,  although  I
was,  of course, at the time unaware that I was being weighed.   It occurred
at a time when i had gone to Europe in search of a teacher who,  I believed,
was  able to aid me to advance on the path of attainment.   But when  I  had
probed his teaching to the bottom and forced him to admit certain  inconsis-
tencies  in it which he could not explain,  I was in a veritable "slough  of
despond,"  ready to return to America.  As I sat in my chair ruminating over
my disappointment,  the feeling that some one else was present came over me,
and  I looked up and beheld the One who has since become my  Teacher.   With
shame  I remember how gruffly I asked who had sent him and what  he  wanted,
for  I  was  thoroughly  disgruntled,  and  I  hesitated considerably before


[PAGE 101]                               THE ESOTERIC SIGNIFICANCE OF EASTER

accepting his help on the points that had caused me to come to Europe.

   During the next few days my new acquaintance appeared in my room a number
of times,  answering my questions and helping me to solve problems that  had
previously baffled me,  but as my spiritual sight was then poorly  developed
and not always under control, I felt rather skeptical in the matter.   Might
it not be hallucination?   I discussed the question with a friend.   The an-
swers  to  my queries as given by the apparition were  clear,  concise,  and
logical  to a high degree.   They were strictly to the point and  altogether
beyond anything I was capable of conceiving,  so we concluded that the expe-
rience must be real.

   A  few  days later my new friend told me that the Order to which  he  be-
longed  had  a complete solution to the riddle of the  universe,  much  more
far-reaching  than any publicly known teaching,  and that they would  impart
that teaching to me provided I agreed to keep it as an inviolable secret.

   The  I turned on him in anger:   "Ah! do I see the cloven hoof  at  last!
No,  if you have what you say and if it is good for the world to know.   The
Bible expressly forbids us to hide the Light, and I care not to feast at the
source of knowledge while thousands of souls hunger for a solution to  their
problems as I do now."  My visitor then left me and stayed away,  and I con-
cluded that he was an emissary from the Black Brothers.


[PAGE 102]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

   About a month later I decided that I could obtain no greater illumination
in  Europe  and therefore made reservation on a steamer for  New  York.   As
travel was heavy, I had to wait a month for a berth.

   When I returned to my rooms after having purchased my ticket, there stood
my slighted Teacher and he again offered me instruction on condition that  I
keep it secret.   This time my refusal was perhaps more emphatic and  indig-
nant than before, but he did not leave.  Instead he said, "I am glad to hear
you  refuse,  my brother,  and I hope you will always be as zealous in  dis-
seminating our teachings without fear or favor as you have been in this  re-
fusal.  That is the real condition of receiving the teachings."

   How  directions were then given me to take a certain train at  a  certain
depot  and  go to a place I had not heard of before,  how i  there  met  the
Brother  in the flesh,  was taken to the Temple,  and received the main  in-
structions embodied in our literature,  are matters of small interest.   The
point  is  that  had  I agreed to keep the  instructions  secret,  I  should
naturally have been unfit to be a messenger of the Brothers,  and they would
have  had  to  seek another.   Likewise with any of us:   if  we  hoard  the
spiritual blessings we have received, evil is at our door, so let us imitate
the earth at this Easter time.   Let us bring forth in the physical world of
action  the  fruits of the spirit sown in our souls during the  past  wintry
season.  So shall we be more abundantly blessed from year to year.


[PAGE 103]                                              THE LESSON OF EASTER

                                 CHAPTER XIV

                            THE LESSON OF EASTER

   AND  again  it is Easter.   The dark,  dreary days of  winter  are  past.
mother  nature is taking the cold,  snowy coverlids off the earth,  and  the
millions  and millions of seed sheltered in the soft soil are  bursting  its
crust  and clothing the earth in summer robes,  a riot of gay  and  glorious
colors, preparing the bridal bower for the mating of beasts and birds.  Even
in  this  war-torn year the song of life sounds loudly above  the  dirge  of
death.   "O death,  where is thy sting?   O grave,  where is  thy  victory?"
Christ  has risen--the first fruits.   He is the resurrection and the  life;
whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

   Thus at the present season the mind of the civilized world is turned  to-
wards the feast we call Easter, commemorating the death and resurrection  of
the individual whose life story is written in the Gospels,  the noble  indi-
vidual  known  to the world by the name of Jesus.   But a  Christian  mystic
takes a deeper and more far-reaching view of this  annually recurring cosmic


[PAGE 104]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

event.  For him there is an annual impregnation of the earth with the cosmic
Christ  life;  an INBREATHING which takes place during the fall  months  and
culminates  at  the  winter solstice when we  celebrate  Christmas,  and  an
OUTBREATHING  which  finds  its  completion at  the  time  of  Easter.   The
inbreathing or impregnation is manifested to us in the seeming inactivity of
winter,  but the outbreathing of the Christ life manifests as the  resurrec-
tion force which gives new life to all that lives and moves upon the  earth,
life abundant, not only to sustain but to propagate the perpetuate.

   Thus  the  cosmic drama of life and death is played  annually  among  all
evolving creatures and things from the highest to the lowest,  for even  the
great  and sublime cosmic Christ in His compassion becomes subject to  death
by entering the cramping conditions of our earth for a part of the year.  It
may  therefore be appropriate to call to mind a few ideas  concerning  death
and rebirth which we are sometimes prone to forget.

   Among the cosmic symbols which have been handed down to us from antiquity
none  is  more  common that the symbol of the egg.   It is  found  in  every
religion.   We find it in the Elder Eddas of the Scandinavians,  hoary  with
age, which tell of the mundane egg cooled by the icy blast of Niebelheim but
heated  by the fiery breath of Muspelheim until the various worlds  and  man
had come into being.  If we turn to the sunny south we find the Vedas of In-
dia the same story in the Kalahansa, the Swan in  time and space, which laid


[PAGE 105]                                              THE LESSON OF EASTER

the  egg  that finally became the world.   Among the Egyptians we  find  the
winged globe and the oviparous serpent,  symbolizing the wisdom manifest  in
this  world of ours.   Then the Greeks took this symbol and venerated it  in
their Mysteries.  It was preserved by the Druids; it was known to the build-
ers of the great serpent mound in Ohio; and it has kept its place in  sacred
symbology  even  to this day,  though the great majority are  blind  to  the
MYSTERIUM MAGNUM which it hides and reveals--the mystery of life.

   When  we  break  open  the shell of an egg,  we  find  inside  only  some
varicolored viscous fluids of various consistencies.  But placed in the req-
uisite temperature a series of changes soon take place,  and within a  short
time a living creature breaks open the shell and emerges therefrom, ready to
take its place among its kin.  it is possible for the wizards of the labora-
tory  to  duplicate the substances in the egg;  they may be  enclosed  in  a
shell,  and  a perfect replica so far as most tests go may be  made  of  the
natural egg.  But in one point it differs from the natural egg, namely, that
no living thing can be hatched from the artificial product.  Therefore it is
evident  that a certain intangible something must be present in one and  ab-
sent in the other.

   This  mystery of the ages which produces the living creature is  what  we
call life.  Seeing  that it cannot be cognized among the elements of the egg


[PAGE 106]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

by even the most powerful microscope (though it must be there to bring about
the changes which we note),  it must be able to exist independently of  mat-
ter.  Thus we are taught by the sacred symbol of the egg that though life is
able to mold matter,  it does not depend upon it for its existence.   It  is
self-existent,  and having no beginning it can have no end.  This is symbol-
ized by the ovoid shape of the egg.

   We are appalled at the carnage on the European battle fields, and rightly
so  because  of  the  manner in which the victims are  being  taken  out  of
physical  life.   But when we consider that the average human life  is  only
fifty years or less,  so that death reaps a harvest of fifteen hundred  mil-
lions in half a century,  or thirty millions per annum,  or two and one-half
millions  every  month,  we see that the total has not been so  greatly  in-
creased after all.   And when we have the true knowledge conveyed by the egg
symbol that life is uncreate, without beginning and without end,  it enables
us  to  take  heart and realize that those who are now being  taken  out  of
physical existence are only passing through a cyclic journey similar to that
of  the cosmic Christ life which enters the earth in the fall and leaves  it
at Easter.   Those who are killed are only going into the invisible  realms,
whence they will later take a new dip into physical matter,  entering as all
living  things do the egg of the mother.   After a period of gestation  they
will re-emerge into physical life to learn new lessons in the great  school.
Thus we see how the  great  law of analogy works in all phases and under all


[PAGE 107]                                              THE LESSON OF EASTER

circumstances of life.   What happens in the great world to a cosmic  Christ
will  show itself also in the lives of those who are Christs in the  making;
and  this will enable us to look more cheerfully upon the  present  struggle
than would otherwise be the case.

   Furthermore,  we must realize that death is a cosmic necessity under  the
present circumstances for if we were imprisoned in a body of the kind we now
use and placed in an environment such as we find today,  there to live  for-
ever, the infirmities of the body and the unsatisfactory nature of the envi-
ronment  would very soon make us so tired of life that we would cry for  re-
lease.   It would block all progress and make it impossible for us to evolve
to greater heights such as we may evolve to by re-embodiment in new vehicles
and placement in new environments which give us new possibilities of growth.
Thus  we may thank God that so long as birth into a concrete body is  neces-
sary for our further development, release by death has been provided to free
us  from the outgrown instrument,  while resurrection and a new birth  under
the smiling skies of a new environment furnish another chance to begin  life
with  a clean slate and learn the lessons which we failed to master  before.
By this method we shall some time become perfect as is the risen Christ.  He
commanded it, and he will aid us to achieve it.



[PAGE 108]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                 CHAPTER XV

                THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT

                        PART 1.--MATERIAL ANALOGIES.

   WHILE we were coming down by involution into concrete existence our  line
of progress lay entirely in material development;  but since we have rounded
the  nadir  of  materiality and are beginning to rise  above  the  concrete,
spiritual unfoldment is becoming increasingly important as a necessary  fac-
tor in our development, although we still have many great and important les-
sons to learn from the material phase of our existence.  This applies to hu-
manity  in general but particularly,  of course,  to those who  are  already
consciously beginning to aspire to live the higher life.   It may  therefore
be  expedient to review from another angle the Rosicrucian teachings  as  to
the scientific method of acquiring this spiritual unfoldment.

   People  of the older generation,  particularly in Europe and the  eastern
states  of America,  will undoubtedly remember with pleasure  their  travels
along  quiet  country  lanes,  and  how time and again they have passed by a


[PAGE 109]                                              SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT

rippling  stream with an old rustic mill,  its creaking water wheel  labori-
ously turning the crude machinery within,  using but a small fraction of the
power stored in the running water,  which was going uselessly to waste  save
for such partial use.   But later on a new generation came and perceived the
possibilities  to be realized by a scientific use of this  enormous  energy.
Engineers  began  to construct dams to keep the water from  flowing  in  the
former wasteful manner.  They diverted the water from the storage reservoirs
through  pipes  or flumes to the water wheels  constructed  upon  scientific
principles,  and  they husbanded the great energy which they had  stored  by
letting  in only enough water to turn the water wheels at a given speed  and
with a given load.

   But while the scientifically constructed water wheel was a giant compared
with its crude predecessor,  it was subject to some of the same limitations;
its enormous energy could only be used at the place where the power was  lo-
cated,  and such places are usually many miles from the centers of civiliza-
tion  where power is most needed.   By working with the laws of nature,  man
had secured a servant of inexhaustible energy;  but how to make it available
where most needed, that was the question.  To solve that problem,  again the
laws of nature were invoked;  electric generators were coupled to the  water
wheels,  the  water power was transformed  into  electrical  energy  and  an


[PAGE 110]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

endeavor  made to send it from the sources of its development to the  cities
where it might be used.  But this again required scientific methods of work-
ing with the laws of nature, for it was found that different metals transmit
electricity with varying facility, the best of them being copper and silver.
Copper was therefore chosen as the less expensive of the two.

   Let  the  student observe that we cannot compel these forces to  do  any-
thing; WHENEVER WE USE THEM IT IS BY WORKING WITH THE LAWS THAT GOVERN THEIR
MANIFESTATION,  by  choosing  the line of least  resistance  to  obtain  the
maximum of energy.   If wires of iron or German silver, which have a compar-
atively high resistance,  had been chosen as transmitters,  a great deal  of
energy would have been thus lost,  besides,  other complications would  have
resulted which we need not enter into for our purpose.   But by working with
the laws of nature and choosing the line of least resistance,  we obtain the
best result in the easiest manner.

   There  were other problems which confronted these experimenters in  their
transformation of the water power used in the old water wheels, to electric-
ity usable many miles from the source of power.   it was found that an elec-
tric current would always seek the ground by the nearest path if there  were
any possibility of so doing.  Hence it became necessary that the wire carry-
ing the electric  current  be separated from the earth by some material that


[PAGE 111]                                              SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT

would prevent it from thus escaping, exactly as a high wall keeps a prisoner
behind  it.   Something had to be found for which electricity had a  natural
aversion,  and his was discovered in glass,  porcelain,  and certain fibrous
substances,  thus solving by scientific means and ingenuity,  working always
with  the laws of nature,  the problem of how to use the best  advantage  in
distant places the great energy which the old crude mill wheel had wasted at
its source.

   The  same  application of scientific methods to other problems  of  life,
such  as gardening,  has also secured wonderful results for the benefit  and
comfort of humanity,  making two hundred blades of grass grow where formerly
by the crude old methods not one even could find sustenance.   Wizards  like
Luther  Burbank  have  improved upon the wild varieties of  fruit  and  veg-
etables,  making them larger,  more luscious and palatable,  as well as more
prolific; and wherever, haphazard practices of former days, the same benefi-
cial results have been achieved.   But as said before,  and this is very im-
portant  for our consideration,  EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN DONE HAS BEEN  AC-
COMPLISHED BY WORKING WITH THE LAWS OF NATURE.

   The Hermetic axiom,  "AS above so below,"  enunciates the law an analogy,
the master-key to all mysteries,  spiritual  or  material, and we may safely


[PAGE 112]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

infer that what holds good in the application of scientific methods to mate-
rial  problems  will  have  equal force when  applied  to  the  solution  of
spiritual  mysteries.   The most cursory review of religious development  in
the past will be sufficient to show that it has been anything but scientific
and systematic, and that the most haphazard methods have prevailed.   On ac-
count of their capacity for devotion, a few have risen to sublime heights of
spirituality and are known through the ages as Saints,  shining lights  upon
the  pathway,  showing what may be done.   But how to achieve  that  sublime
spirituality  has been and is a mystery to all,  even to those who most  ar-
dently desire such development,  and these are,  alas,  comparatively few at
the present time.

   The Elder Brothers of the Rosicrucians have, however, originated a scien-
tific method, which, if persistently and consistently followed, will develop
the sleeping soul powers in any individual, just as surely as constant prac-
tice will make a person proficient in any material line of endeavor.  To un-
derstand  this matter it is necessary to realize that facts in the case;  it
was  the old crude mill wheel that gave water power in an  efficient  manner
and to much greater advantage.  If we first study the natural development of
soul  power by evolution,  we shall then be in a position to understand  the
great and beneficial results to be derived from an application of scientific


[PAGE 113]                                              SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT

methods to this important matter.  Students of the Rosicrucian teachings are
of course familiar with the main points in this process of humanity's devel-
opment by evolution, but there may be a number who are not so informed,  and
so for their sake we will give a little fuller outline than might  otherwise
be necessary.

   Science says,  and correctly so, that an invisible,  intangible substance
called  ether permeates everything from the densest solids to the air  which
we breathe.   This ether has never been seen, measured,  or analyzed by sci-
ence, but it is necessary to postulate its existence in order to account for
various phenomena such as, for instance, the transmission of light through a
vacuum.   There,  science says,  ether is the medium of transmission of  the
light ray.   Thus the ether carries to us a picture of our vision,  and  im-
presses it upon the retina of our eyes.   Similarly,  when a  motion-picture
operator  photographs a number of scenes in a play,  the ether carries  pic-
tures of all objects, the motions they make, et cetera,  to the minutest de-
tails,  through  the lens of his camera to the sensitized plate,  leaving  a
complete record of all the scenery and every act of the actors in that play.
And if there were in our eyes a similar sensitized film of sufficient length
to  hold  the  pictures,  we  should  at the end of our life have a complete


[PAGE 114]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

record of every event that had taken place in it, that is, provided we could
see.

   But there are a number of people who are deficient in various senses; ONE
THING HOWEVER,  THEY MUST ALL DO TO LIVE:   THEY MUST BREATHE.   And nature,
which is only another name for God, has thus rightly decreed that the record
be  kept by this universally used means.  Every moment of our action in  the
drama of life from the first breath to the last dying gasp,  the ether which
is  drawn into our lungs carries with it a complete picture of  our  outside
environment, of our actions and the actions of other people who are with us,
the  record being impressed upon one single little atom placed in  the  left
ventricle  at the apex of the heart where the newly oxygenated  blood,  thus
carrying with it a different picture for every moment of our life, passes by
in  a continual stream.   Therefore all that we say or do from the least  to
the greatest,  from the best to the worst, is written in our heart in indel-
ible  characters.   This record is the basis of the natural slow  method  of
soul  growth  by evolution,  corresponding to the crude  and  ancient  water
wheel.

   In  the next chapter we shall see how it is thus used and how  by  scien-
tific  means soul growth may be accomplished and soul power unfolded  by  an
improvement on this process.


[PAGE 115]                                              SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT

                                 CHAPTER XVI

                THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT

           PART II.--RETROSPECTION--A MEANS OF AVOIDING PURGATORY.

   We  saw in the last chapter that a record resembling a picture  film,  of
our life from the cradle to the grave is inscribed upon a little atom in the
heart  by  the action of the ether which we inhale with  every  breath,  and
which carries with it a picture of the outside world in which we are  living
and moving at the time.   This forms the basis of our post-mortem existence,
the record of deeds of wrongdoing being eradicated in a painful  purgatorial
experience  caused by the fire of remorse, which sears the soul as the  pic-
tures of its misdeeds unroll before its gaze,  thus making it less prone  to
repeat the same wrongdoing and mistakes in future lives.   The reaction from
the pictures where good was done is a heavenly joy,  the subconscious remem-
brance  of which will in later lives prompt the soul to do more  good.   But
this  process  is necessarily sow and may be likened to the action  and  op-
eration of the old mill wheel.  However, it is the way designed by nature to


[PAGE 116]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

teach  humanity how to walk circumspectly and obey her laws.   By this  slow
process  the greater part of humanity is gradually evolving from  egoism  to
altruism,  and  though exceedingly slow it seems to be the  only  method  by
which they will learn.

   There is another class which has caught a glimpse of a vision and sees in
the distant future a glorified humanity, expressly all the divine attributes
and living a life of love and peace.  That class is aiming its bow of  aspi-
ration  at  the stars,  and is endeavoring to attain in one or a  few  short
lives  what  its fellow men will require hundreds of embodiments  to  accom-
plish.   To that end they, like the pioneers in the harnessing of the waters
and the scientific transmission of electricity, are seeking for a scientific
method  which  will eliminate the waste of time and energy involved  in  the
slow  process  of  evolution  and  enable them  to  do  the  great  work  of
self-unfoldment  scientifically and without waste of energy.   That was  the
problem  which  the early Rosicrucians set themselves to solve,  and  having
discovered this method they are now teaching the same to their faithful fol-
lowers, to the eternal welfare of all who aspire and persevere.  Just as the
engineers  who undertook to improve the primitive mill wheel and  accomplish
the  transmission of electricity to distant points achieved their object  by
first studying the effects and defects  of the primitive device, so also the


[PAGE 117]                                              SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT

Elder  Brothers  of  the  Rosicrucians first studied by  the  aid  of  their
spiritual  sight  all  the  phases  of  ordinary  human  evolution  in   the
post-mortem state as well as in the physical world,  so that they might  de-
termine  how through many lives progress is gradually attained.   They  also
studied such glyphs and symbols as had been given to humanity throughout the
ages,  to aid them in soul growth, notably the Tabernacle in the Wilderness,
which,  as Paul says, was a shadow of better things to come,  and they found
the secret of soul growth hidden in the various appliances and appurtenances
used  in that ancient place of worship.  As the scenes in the life  panorama
which unrolls before the eyes of the soul after death,  cause a suffering in
purgatory which cleanses the soul from a desire to repeat the offenses which
generated those pictures,  so the salt wherewith the sacrifices upon the al-
tar  of burnt offerings in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness were rubbed  be-
fore being placed before the altar and the fire wherewith they were consumed
symbolized  a double fiery pain similar to that felt by the soul  in  purga-
tory.   Confident in the Hermetic axiom, "AS ABOVE, SO BELOW,"  they evolved
the method of Retrospection as being in harmony with the cosmic laws of soul
growth,  and capable of accomplishing day by day that which the  purgatorial
experience does only one in a life time, namely, cleansing the soul from sin


[PAGE 118]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

by the fire of remorse.

   But when we say "Retrospection,"  it happens not infrequently that people
say,  "Oh,  that is taught by other religious bodies and i have practiced it
all  my  life;  I examine the day's doings every  evening  before  going  to
sleep."

   So far,  so good.   But that is not sufficient.  In order to perform this
exercise  scientifically it is necessary to follow the process of nature  as
the  electrician did when he desired to insulate the electric  current  from
the ground and found that glass,  porcelain and fibre would act as  barriers
to its passage.  We must conform in every particular to the processes of na-
ture in her methods of attaining soul growth.  When we study the purgatorial
expiation, we find that THE LIFE PANORAMA IS UNFOLDED IN REVERSE ORDER, from
the grave to the cradle,  scenes that were enacted late in life being  taken
up  for expiation first,  and those which occurred in early youth being  the
last to be dealt with.   This, in order to show the soul how certain EFFECTS
in  life  were  brought  about by CAUSES  generated  at  an  earlier  stage.
Similarly, the scientific method of soul unfoldment requires that the aspir-
ant must examine his life every evening before going to sleep, starting with
the scenes which were enacted late in the evening just prior to retiring for
the night, then gradually proceeding in  reverse  order  towards  the things


[PAGE 119]                                              SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT

which were done in the afternoon,  then those which took place in the  morn-
ing,  and back to the very moment of awakening.  But also,  and this is very
important, it is not sufficient to merely examine these scenes in a perfunc-
tory  way and admit being sorry when one comes to a scene where one was  un-
kind or unjust to another person.  There the glyph contained in the altar of
burnt  offerings  gives specific instruction; just as  the  sacrifices  were
rubbed with SALT which,  as everyone knows burns and smarts exceedingly when
rubbed  into a would,  and just as fire, such as is applied on the altar  of
burnt offerings to the sacrifice,  consumes the same offerings,  so also the
aspirant  to soul growth must realize that he is both priest and  sacrifice,
the altar and the fire burning thereon;  he must allow the salt and the fire
of  remorse to burn and sear into his very heart a deep-felt  contrition  at
the thought of whatever wrong he has done,  for only such a deep and serious
treatment of the matter will wash the record away from the seed atom in  the
heart and leave it clean.  And unless that is done,  nothing has been accom-
plished.   But if the aspirant to scientific soul unfoldment succeed in mak-
ing this fire of remorse and contrition sufficiently intense,  then the seed
atom  will be cleansed of the sin committed day by day throughout the  life,
and  even the things that have taken place before such exercises were  taken
up will gradually disappear before that cleansing fire, so  that  the end of


[PAGE 120]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

life when the silver cord has been loosened the aspirant find himself  with-
out  any  panorama of life to take up his attention,  such as  all  ordinary
people are occupied with who have not been fortunate enough to be taught and
to practice this scientific method.  The result then is that instead of hav-
ing  to spend in purgatorial expiation a period of time about  one-third  as
long as the life lived in the dense body,  he who steadily and  unwaveringly
practices this method finds himself as a free lance in the invisible  world,
not  bound  by limitations which hold and fetter all others,  and  therefore
free  to  use his entire time while in the lower regions in the  service  of
suffering humanity.   But there is a great difference between the opportuni-
ties  there and here;  here one-third of our life is taken up with rest  and
recuperation,  another third is taken up in work so that we may  obtain  the
wherewithal to keep this physical body fed,  clothed,  and housed;  and only
the other third is at all available for the purposes of rest, recreation, or
soul growth.  It is different in the Desire World where the spirit finds it-
self after death.  The bodies in which we function there do not require food
or raiment,  neither do they need shelter;  they are not subject to  fatigue
either,  so that instead of spending two-thirds of the time as here in  pro-
viding the necessaries of the body,  the spirit is there free to use its in-
struments the whole twenty-four hours,  day after day.   Therefore the  time
saved in the invisible world by having lived our purgatory day by day is the


[PAGE 121]                                              SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT

equivalent of that portion of an entire earth life which one spends in work.
Also  during  all that time thus saved no thought or care need be  given  to
anything else but how we may help to further the scheme of evolution and aid
our  younger and less fortunate brothers.   Thus we reap a rich harvest  and
make  more soul growth in that post-mortem existence than would be  possible
in several ordinary lives.   When we are reborn we then find ourselves  with
all  the soul powers thus acquired and must further along upon the  path  of
evolution than we could possibly have been under ordinary circumstances.

   It is also noteworthy that while other methods of soul unfoldment evolved
and taught by other schools carry with them danger which sometimes may bring
those  who practice them into the insane asylum,  the scientific  method  of
soul unfoldment advocated by the Elder Brothers of the Rosicrucian order  is
always  bound to benefit everyone who practices it and can never  under  any
circumstances  cause  any harm to anyone.   We may also say that  there  are
other  helps  that have not been mentioned here which  are  communicated  to
those  who have proved their worth by their persistence,  and while they  do
not directly aim at the evolution of spiritual sight,  this will be  evolved
by all who practice them with the necessary faithful perseverance.


[PAGE 122]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                CHAPTER XVII

                    THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD

   "The  Heavens  declare the glory of God;  and the firmament  showeth  his
handiwork.   Day  unto day uttereth speech,  and night  unto  night  showeth
knowledge.   There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth,  and their words to the end of
the  world.   In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,  which is  as  a
bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a
race."

   Everywhere  for  miles around us we see the  glorious  sunrise,  bringing
light and life to all;  then the day star mounts high in the heavens,  later
to  decline towards the western horizon in a glorious burst of flame as  its
sinks into the sea, leaving an afterglow of indescribable,  variegated tints
coloring  the heavens as with liquid fire of the softest and most  beautiful
hues,  which the brush of the painter can never paint to  perfection.   Then
the moon, the orb of night, rises over the eastern hills, carrying the stars
and constellations upward in her train toward the zenith, and  following the


[PAGE 123]                              THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD

sun in its everlasting circle dance; the stellar script thus describes  upon
the  map of heaven man's past,  present and future evolution among the  ever
changing  environments of the concrete world,  without rest or  peace  while
time lasts.

   In  this ever changing kaleidoscope of the heavens there is one star  and
only  one that remains so comparatively stationary that to all  intents  and
purposes and from the standpoint of our ephemeral life of fifty,  sixty,  or
one  hundred years it is a fixed point--the North Star.   When  the  mariner
sails  his ship upon the waste of waters, he has full faith that so long  as
he  steers by that mark he will safely reach his desired haven.   Nor is  he
dismayed when clouds obscure its guiding light,  for he has a compass magne-
tized  by  a mysterious power so that through sunshine or rain,  in  fog  or
mist,  it points unerringly to that steadfast star and enables him to  steer
his ship as safely as if he could actually see the star itself.  Truly,  the
heavens declare the wonders of the Lord.

   As it is in the macrocosm,  the great world without us,  so it is in  our
own  lives.   At our birth the sun of life rises,  and we begin  the  ascent
through  the  years of childhood and youth toward the zenith of  manhood  or
womanhood.   The ever changing world which forms our environment,  including
fathers,  mothers,  sisters, and brothers, surrounds us.  With friends,  ac-
quaintances,  and foes we face the battle of life with whatever strength  we
may have gained in our past lives, to pay the debts contracted,  to bear the


[PAGE 124]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

burdens of this life,  perhaps to make them heavier according to our  wisdom
or  unwisdom.   But  among all the changing circumstances of  life  and  the
vicissitudes of existence there is one great and grand guide which like  the
North  Star never fails us;  a guide ever ready like the steadfast  star  in
heaven  to  help us steer our bark of life into clear sailing--God.   It  is
significant  to read in the Bible that the wise men in their search for  the
Christ  (OUR GREAT SPIRITUAL TEACHER) also followed a star that led them  to
this  great spiritual Light.   What would we think of the captain of a  ship
who lashed the wheel and let his ship drift with the tide, leaving it to the
change  of wind or fate?   Would it surprise us if he were eventually  ship-
wrecked and lost his life upon the rocks?  Surely not.   The marvel would be
if he should reach the shore.

   A  great  and wonderful allegory is written in cosmic characters  in  the
sky.   It  is also written in our own lives,  and warns us  to  forsake  the
fleeting life of the material and to seek the eternal life of God.

   We are not left without a guide, even though the veil of flesh, the pride
of life,  and the lusts blind us for a time.   For as the mariner's magnetic
compass  points to the guiding star,  so the spirit draws us to  its  source
with a longing and a yearning that cannot be entirely quenched no matter how
deep  we may sink into materialism.  Many are at present  groping,  seeking,
trying to solve that inner unrest;  something  seems  to urge them on though


[PAGE 125]                              THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD

they  do not understand it;  something ever draws them forward to  seek  the
spiritual and to reach up for something higher--our Father in Heaven.

   David said,  "if I ascend up into heaven thou art there; if I make my bed
in  the grave thou art there;  thy right hand shall guide and hold me."   in
the 28th Psalm,  he says, "when i consider thy heavens, the work of thy fin-
gers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou
visitest  him?   For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,  and
hast  crowned him with glory and honor.   Thou madest him to  have  dominion
over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under his feet."

   This is nothing new to those who are seeking the Light, who have been do-
ing  their very best to live the life; but the danger lies in that they  may
become indifferent, may become spiritually common-place.  Therefore,  as the
steersman  at  the helm of the ship is constantly wakeful and  watching  the
guiding  compass,  so it is of the greatest importance that  we  continually
shake  ourselves  lest we go to sleep and the ship of our life  go  off  its
course.   let  us all set our faces firmly towards this star of  hope,  this
great spiritual light, the real and only thing worth while--the life of God.


[PAGE 126]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE


                                CHAPTER XVIII

                            RELIGION AND HEALING

   At various times and in different ways humanity has been given  religions
suited  to spur them onward upon the path of evolution.   In each the  ideal
was made just high enough to rouse the aspirations of the class of people to
whom it was given,  but not so high as to be beyond their appreciation,  for
then it would not have appealed to them at all.   The savage,  for instance,
must have a strong God,  one who wields the flaming sword of lightning  with
mighty hand.   He can look up to such a God in fear, but would despise a God
who would show love and mercy.

   Therefore religions have also changed as man has evolved;  the ideal  has
been  slowly  raised until it has reach the highest stage in  our  Christian
teaching.   The flower of religions is always given to the flower of  human-
ity.   in a future age a higher religion will of course be given to  a  more
advanced race.   There can be no end to evolution,  but we maintain that the
invisible  leaders of humanity give to each nation the teaching best  suited
to their condition.  Hinduism  helps  our  younger brothers in the East, but


[PAGE 127]                                              RELIGION AND HEALING

Christianity is the Western teaching, particularly suited to Western people.

   Thus  we see that the mass of humanity is taken care of by  the  religion
publicly taught in the country of their birth; but there are always pioneers
whose precocity demands a higher teaching,  and to them a deeper doctrine is
given  through the agency of the Mystery School belonging to their  country.
When  only  a few are ready for such preparatory schooling they  are  taught
privately,  but as they increase in number the teaching is given  more  pub-
licly.

   The  latter is the case in the Western world at present.   Therefore  the
Brothers of the Rose Cross gave to the writer a philosophy such as published
in our various works,  and sanctioned the launching of THE ROSICRUCIAN  FEL-
LOWSHIP to promulgate this teaching.  The purpose is to bring aspiring souls
into contact with the Teacher when by service HERE,  in the physical  world,
they  have  shown their sincerity and given reasonable assurance  that  they
will  use  their spiritual powers for service in the other world  when  they
shall have been initiated therein.

   The higher teachings are never given for a monetary consideration.  Peter
in olden days rebuked Simon the sorcerer,  who wanted to buy spiritual power
that  he  might prostitute it for material gain.   THE ELDER  BROTHERS  ALSO
REFUSE  TO OPEN THE DOOR TO THOSE WHO PROSTITUTE THE SPIRITUAL  SCIENCES  BY
CASTING  HOROSCOPES,  READING  PALMS,  OR  GIVING  CLAIRVOYANT READINGS PRO-


[PAGE 128]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

FESSIONALLY  FOR  MONEY.  The  Rosicrucian Fellowship advocates the study of
astrology and palmistry by all its members,  and furnishes simple  teachings
on  the former in textbooks at merely nominal cost so that all  may  acquire
ability in this science instead of remaining the dupes of professionals, who
are often mere pretenders.

   During  the  past few years since we first commenced to  disseminate  the
Rosicrucian  teachings  they have spread like wildfire  over  the  civilized
world.  They are studied with avidity from the Cape of Good Hope to the Arc-
tic  Circle  and  beyond.   They have found response in the  hearts  of  all
classes  of people--in the snow-clad huts of Alaskan miners,  in  government
houses where a tropical wind unfurls the British Lion,  and in the  capitals
of  Turkish autocracy and American democracy alike.   Our adherents  may  be
found  in government institutions as well as in the humblest walks of  life,
all  in lively correspondence and close touch with our movement and  working
for  the promulgation of the deeper truths concerning life and  being  which
are helping them.

                   THE ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES OF HEALING.

   It  is  a  trite saying that "man is of few days and  full  of  trouble."
Among all the vicissitudes of life none affect us more powerfully than  loss
of health.  We may lose fortune  or friends with comparative equanimity, but


[PAGE 129]                                              RELIGION AND HEALING

when health fails and death threatens, the strongest falter; realizing human
impotence we are more ready to turn to divine power for succor then than  at
other  times.   Therefore the office of spiritual adviser  has  always  been
closely associated with healing.

   Among  savages  the priest was also "medicine man."   In  ancient  Greece
Aesculapius was particularly sought by those in need of healing.  The Church
followed in his steps.   Certain Catholic orders have continued the endeavor
to assuage pain during the centuries which have intervened between that  day
and the present.  In times of sickness the "good father" came as a represen-
tative of our Father in Heaven,  and what he lacked in skill was made up  by
love and sympathy--if he was indeed a true and holy priest--and by the faith
engendered in the patient by the priestly office.   His care of the  patient
did  not commence at the sickbed,  nor was it terminated at  recovery.   The
gratitude  of the patient toward the physician was added to  the  veneration
felt for the spiritual adviser, and as a consequence the power of the priest
to help and uplift his erstwhile patient was enormously increased,  and  the
tie between them was closer than possible where the offices of spiritual and
medical adviser are divorced.

   It  is not denied that the double office gave the incumbents a most  dan-
gerous power over the people and that that power was at times abused.  It is
also patent that the art of medicine has reached a stage of efficiency which
could not have been attained save by devotion to that one particular end and



[PAGE 130]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

aim.   The safeguards of sanitary laws, the extinction of insect carriers of
disease, and the consequent immunity from disease are monumental testimonies
to the value of modern scientific methods.   Thus it may seem as if all were
well and there were no need of further effort.  But in reality, until human-
ity as a whole enjoys perfect health, there is no issue more important  than
the question, How may we attain and maintain health?

   In addition to the regular school of surgery and medicine,  which depends
exclusively upon physical means for the care of disease,  other systems have
sprung up which depend entirely on mental healings.  It is the custom of or-
ganizations  which  advocate  "mind cure," "nature  cure,"  and  other  like
methods  to hold experience meetings and publish journals with  testimonials
from grateful supporters who have benefited by their treatments, and if phy-
sicians of the regular school did likewise there would be no lack of similar
testimonies to their efficiency.

   The  opinion of thousands is of great value,  but is does not prove  any-
thing,  for thousands may hold an opposite view.   Occasionally a single man
may  be right and the rest of the world wrong,  as when  Galileo  maintained
that the earth moves.  Today the whole world has been converted to the opin-
ion  for which he was persecuted as a heretic.   We assert that as man is  a
composite being,  cures are successful in proportion as they remedy  defects
on the physical, moral, and mental  planes  of being.  We also maintain that


[PAGE 1311                                              RELIGION AND HEALING

results  may be obtained more easily at certain times when the stellar  rays
are propitious for the healing of a particular disease or for treatment with
remedies previously prepared under auspicious conditions.

   It is well known to the modern physician that the condition of the blood,
and therefore the condition of the whole body,  changes in sympathy with the
state of mind of the patient,  and the more the physician uses suggestion as
an adjunct to medicine the more successful he is.   Few perhaps would credit
the  further fact that both our mental and physical condition is  influenced
by planetary rays which change as the planets move.  In these days since the
principle  of  radioactivity  has been established we  know  that  everybody
projects  into space numberless little particles.   Wireless telegraphy  has
taught  us  that etheric waves travel swiftly and surely  through  trackless
space and operate a key according to our will.   We also know that the  rays
of the sun affect us differently in the morning when they strike us horizon-
tally than at noon when they are perpendicular.   If the light rays from the
swift-moving sun produce physical and mental changes, may not the persistent
ray of slower planets also have an effect?   If they have,  they are factors
in health not to be overlooked by a thoroughly scientific healer.

   Disease is a manifestation of ignorance,  the only sin,  and healing is a
demonstration of applied knowledge, which is  the only salvation.  Christ is


[PAGE 132]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

an  embodiment of the Wisdom Principle,  and in proportion as the Christ  is
formed in us we attain to health.   Therefore the healer should be spiritual
and endeavor to imbue his patient with high ideals so that he may eventually
learn  to conform to God's laws which govern the universe,  and thus  attain
permanent health in future lives as well as now.

   However,  faith  without works is dead.  if we persist  in  living  under
unsanitary conditions,  faith will not save us from typhoid.   When we apply
preventives of proper kind,  or remedies in sickness,  we are really showing
our faith by works.

   Like  other Mystery orders the Rosicrucian Order has also aimed  to  help
humanity in the attainment of bodily health.  It has been written in various
works  that  the  members of the Order took a vow to  heal  others  free  of
charge.  This statement is somewhat garbled.  The lay brothers take a vow to
MINISTER to all according to the best of their ability FREE OF CHARGE.  That
vow included healing, of course, in the case of such men as Paracelsus,  who
had  ability in that direction;  by the combination method of physical  rem-
edies applied under favorable stars and spiritual counsel he was highly suc-
cessful.   Others were not suited to be healers but labored in other  direc-
tions,  BUT ALL WERE ALIKE IN ONE PARTICULAR--THEY NEVER CHARGED  FOR  THEIR
SERVICES, AND THEY LABORED IN SECRET WITHOUT FLOURISH OF TRUMPET OR SOUND OF
DRUM.


                             --- END OF FILE ---

[PAGE 133]                                        ADDRESS AT GROUND BREAKING

                                 CHAPTER 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 pro-
jected towards its goal.   Its further effects depend upon the affinity  be-
tween 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


[PAGE 134]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

engendered by such as congregate in the name of Christ.

   As we are today gathered upon this spot to break ground for the Headquar-
ters of a Christian Association, we may rest assured that as surely as grav-
ity 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  inter-
ested 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 be-
lieve 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


[PAGE 135]                                        ADDRESS AT GROUND BREAKING

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,  admira-
tion,  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 or-
ganizations are composed largely of women, men are in the majority among the
members of the Rosicrucian Fellowship.  It is also significant that our doc-
tor members outnumber those from all other professions,  and that the minis-
ters 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 of-
fice it is to minister to the ailing spirit are endeavoring to meet  inquir-
ing  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


[PAGE 136]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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:  WIS-
DOM,  BEAUTY, AND STRENGTH.  Science, art and religion each possesses one of
these attributes in a measure.  It is the purpose of the Rosicrucian Fellow-
ship 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 in-
firm.

   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


[PAGE 137]                                        ADDRESS AT GROUND BREAKING

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  em-
blem  of  the  Western  Mystery  School.    This  consists  of  the   cross,
representing matter, and the climbing rose that twines around its stem, rep-
resenting 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  let-
ters,  "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 wonder-
ful 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


[PAGE 138]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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 ex-
istence; WE FELT NEITHER BIRTH NOR DEATH.

   With our emergence into THE AERIAL CONDITIONS OF ARYANA, the world of to-
day,  our  consciousness of the spirit world waned,  and  form  became  most
prominent.   Then a DUAL EXISTENCE commenced, each phase sharply differenti-
ated 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
ARYANA.   The  rainbow,  which could not have existed under  previous  atmo-
spheric  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


[PAGE 139]                                        ADDRESS AT GROUND BREAKING

spirit cannot permanently escape from the body of death generated by the sa-
tanic 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  im-
maculate conception along lines most crudely indicated in the science of eu-
genics,  to prophesy a new age, a new heaven, and a new earth,  of which He,
THE  TRUE LIGHTS,  will be the Genius, an age wherein will dwell  the  righ-
teousness 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 ac-
tive  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


[PAGE 140]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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.


[PAGE 141]                                             OUR WORK IN THE WORLD

                                 CHAPTER 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 ar-
rogate 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 lib-
eral use of the capital "I", and students will  kindly  bear with me in this


[PAGE 142]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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  be-
fore 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 scien-
tific  investigators is carried out in the seclusion of their  laboratories,
as  their  tentative conclusions calculated to foster the  intellectual  ad-
vancement of the race are withheld from the masses until proven to the  best
of the scientists' ability, so also the spiritual teachings intended to fos-
ter  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


[PAGE 143]                                             OUR WORK IN THE WORLD

and the twelve Elder Brothers whom he selected to aid him in the work centu-
ries  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  re-
quirements.   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 ap-
peals 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 Broth-
ers  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


[PAGE 144]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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 endur-
ance.  Still I kept my faculties together and wrote many new points into the
R.C-C.  Had it not been for the support of the Brothers I must have gone un-
der.   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


[PAGE 145]                                             OUR WORK IN THE WORLD

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 writ-
ten 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  accru-
ing  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 cas-
tigating  and abusing the body,  but the Rosicrucians exhibit the  tenderest
care  for  this instrument.   There are two reasons for  their  healing  ac-
tivities.  Like  all  other  earnest  followers of Christ they are longingly


[PAGE 146]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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  condi-
tions  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 treat-
ment 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


[PAGE 147]                                             OUR WORK IN THE WORLD

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.


[PAGE 148]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                 CHAPTER 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 ex-
ercises having to do with it are held on Saturn's day at midnight.  The sec-
ond degree corresponds to the Sun Period,  and that particular rite is  cel-
ebrated 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  appro-
priate  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  in-
troduced  to the rite held upon Saturday nights.   The next  Initiation  en-
titles him also to attend the midnight  services  at  the  Temple  on Sunday


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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 be-
yond  my present attainment,  a stage to which I may not attain  in  several
lives,  though not wanting in effort or aspiration.   You will therefore un-
derstand 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


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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  inten-
tions  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 dif-
ference  between an association that is entirely voluntary and an  organiza-
tion which binds its members by oaths, pledges,  etc.   Those who have taken
the Obligation as probationers in the  Rosicrucian Fellowship know that THAT


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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,  Washing-
ton;  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  incorpo-
rated  under the laws of the land in which we live,  so that that which  be-
longs  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


[PAGE 152]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

hard  and  fast conditions of organization at headquarters,  but  the  ASSO-
CIATION  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 Fel-
lowship 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  ceil-
ing;  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


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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 quan-
tity 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 dishar-
mony 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.


[PAGE 154]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

   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,  re-
ceived 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 ad-
just  ourselves so as to maintain health in the physical world while we  re-
tain 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 en-
joyable condition.  Friends have cautioned me,  and  I  have  tried  to heed


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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  contem-
plated 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 neces-
sary 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  con-


[PAGE 156]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

ception  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 chapter I shall endeavor  to
give you a picture thereof.


[PAGE 157]                                             OUR WORK IN THE WORLD

                                CHAPTER 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 ce-
lestial 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.   Be-
sides  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 de-
scends  again  into  the Region of Concrete Thought, where the "music of the


[PAGE 158]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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 im-
pinge 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 com-
plexity  of the structure required by the life seeking  physical  manifesta-
tion.   Nor is the process of construction of the archetype continuous,  for
under aspects of the  planets  which  produce  notes  to which the vibratory


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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  it-
self.

   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 re-
alize 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  dis-
cords 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 super-
sede  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


[PAGE 160]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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 circum-
stances where the sincere and heartfelt recognition of wrong exists may even
obliterate the effects of disease before destiny, cold and hard,  would oth-
erwise 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


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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 ac-
cording 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


[PAGE 162]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

Universal  Spirit composing the World of Life Spirit that restores the  syn-
thetic 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 wa-
ter.   Inside the large central sphere mentioned in a previous lesson was  a
smaller  container  which held a number of packages filled  with  that  sub-
stance.  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 for-
mula  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 HOLY CROSS," AND ARE HERE REPRODUCED.


[PAGE 163]                                  ETERNAL DAMNATION, AND SALVATION

                                CHAPTER 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


[PAGE 164]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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  ob-
tained 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 dam-
nation 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


[PAGE 165]                                  ETERNAL DAMNATION, AND SALVATION

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  in-
finitude  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 man-
ner, 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


[PAGE 166]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

might  go to you FOREVER (aionian)."  Neither Onesimus nor Philemon was  im-
mortal,  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  evolu-
tion,  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 Aryan Ep-
och.  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


[PAGE 167]                                  ETERNAL DAMNATION, AND SALVATION

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 El-
der  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 Aryan races.   We have pro-
gressed  along with the others;  each time we have successfully  passed  the
point where there was a division made, and have in that manner attained sal-
vation.   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


[PAGE 168]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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 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


[PAGE 169]                                  ETERNAL DAMNATION, AND SALVATION

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  men-
tion.

   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  im-
provement,  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  our-
selves.  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 accord-


[PAGE 170]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

ingly, 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  vi-
brate  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;


[PAGE 171]                                  ETERNAL DAMNATION, AND SALVATION

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  incul-
cating  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.


[PAGE 172]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                CHAPTER XXIV

                            THE BOW IN THE CLOUD

   I have a few preliminary explanations to make, a few reasons why the sub-
ject of "The Bow in the Cloud"  is taken up.   I recently dictated the manu-
script  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 in-
vestigating  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 read-
ing some of the manuscript,  sent to his library in Seattle for a book  pub-
lished  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


[PAGE 173]                                              THE BOW IN THE CLOUD

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 re-
gard 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 dif-
ferent 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 impres-
sion 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,  com-
ing 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 incrusts the kettle; likewise the boiling of the  moisture
on the outside of the fiery earth ball formed the hard and crusty shell that


[PAGE 174]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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 appear-
ance  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 hu-
manity 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


[PAGE 175]                                              THE BOW IN THE 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 de-
stroyed  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 light-
ning  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 seven-
fold  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.


[PAGE 176]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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  manifes-
tation.

   Now with these physical facts before us, let us go into the mystic inter-
pretation 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 Aryan 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,


[PAGE 177]                                              THE BOW IN THE CLOUD

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 con-
tinue in the paths of the lower life.

   Many  of  us  are  prone  to  worry  over  little  things.  This  reminds


[PAGE 178]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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  to-
gether  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  respon-
sible 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


[PAGE 179]                                              THE BOW IN THE CLOUD

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 up-
ward and not downward and that God rules the world.


[PAGE 180]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                 CHAPTER 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  re-
sponsibility.  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  addi-
tion to the law of cause and effect.   There is for him a moral responsibil-
ity,  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


[PAGE 181]                                   THE RESPONSIBILITY OF KNOWLEDGE

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 re-
sponsible,  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 occult  scientist,
there is a responsibility attached to knowledge which is not ordinarily per-
ceived 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 coun-
try 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


[PAGE 182]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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 pos-
sessed  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 devel-
ops  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 elec-
tricity 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 occult 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


[PAGE 183]                                   THE RESPONSIBILITY OF KNOWLEDGE

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 th 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 harm-
less, 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


[PAGE 184]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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 or-
der 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 afflic-
tion,  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


[PAGE 185]                                   THE RESPONSIBILITY OF KNOWLEDGE

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.


[PAGE 186]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

   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  indi-
vidual  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  curios-
ity.   There are those who are cruel in the taking of life,  as in  vivisec-
tion,  and here,  when the quest of knowledge is pursued solely from the mo-
tive  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 un-
told.   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.


[PAGE 187]                                   THE RESPONSIBILITY OF KNOWLEDGE

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  un-
avoidable;  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
occultist,  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  pro-
cess  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 com-
paratively easily fitted for having higher powers.   It is a beautiful  fea-
ture  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


[PAGE 188]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

shall surely be fit to have the higher knowledge that goes with exalted pow-
ers.


   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 judg-
ment 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


[PAGE 189]                                   THE RESPONSIBILITY OF KNOWLEDGE

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.


[PAGE 190]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

                                CHAPTER XXVI

                     THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS


   Our  subject is taken from the Bible story of "The Temple in the  Wilder-
ness,"  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 an-
other,  but further consideration of the subject may give a somewhat differ-
ent 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 opin-
ion 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  wit-
nesses 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. 


[PAGE 191]                                THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS

   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  inter-
pretation  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 excep-
tion, 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  cun-
ningly  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


[PAGE 192]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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 in-
formation  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


[PAGE 193]                                THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS


wonderful book of occultism.  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 occult truth,  for as there  must  be
soil between the potatoes,  so must there be dross between occult 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 occult  truths  that
become  very plain when we can look behind the veil that blinds most of  us. 
Many for the present must forego occult sight in order to master the  condi-
tions of material evolution and thereby perfect themselves for the  pursuits
of  the material world.   But we of the Western world are now on the  occult
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 


[PAGE 194]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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 com-
pany of men and women had been selected as a nucleus for a chosen race,  and
they have since become what is known as the Aryan 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  con-
sidering.

   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


[PAGE 195]                                THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS

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  occult
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 be-
came 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 cre-
ate  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  vi-
tal  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 our-
selves  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.


[PAGE 196]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

   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 sor-
row 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  be-
cause  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  to-
day 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 


[PAGE 197]                                THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS

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 occult 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 begin-
ning  (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.


[PAGE 198]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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  con-
tinually 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  com-
menced 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


[PAGE 199]                                THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS

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 par-
turition 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 in-
dependent 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 


[PAGE 200]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

results and in addition a moral responsibility,  for we know better than  to
injure the physical vehicle unnecessarily.   Thus the Law of Consequence at-
taches 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 bar-
ren.   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


[PAGE 201]                                THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS

as Parsifal used it,  and how when misused, as did Amfortas,  it brings sor-
row.

   This spiritual power is latent at the present time because humanity, sym-
bolized 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  impos-
sible  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 be-
fore pulling the trigger will cause the explosion,  so also is it  necessary
that we have stored up within ourselves the force,  the spiritual power sym-
bolized 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


[PAGE 202]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

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 glori-
ous 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,


[PAGE 203]                                THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS

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.



[PAGE 205]                                                             INDEX

                                    INDEX

Adam and Eve,--human race 195.
Air pressure, normal, holds vital body within dense vehicle 9.
Alcohol introduced as food, purpose of 73.
Allegorical story regarding "Light" 27.
Aquarian Age, conditions of 57.
   new conditions of 59.
   preparation for 80.
Aquarius, sign of coming age 55.
Archetype, what and where 197-198, how built 158-160.
Aries, herald of Aryan Age 54.
Ark, what is was 197, 200.
Art, purpose of 14.
Aryan race, origin of 194.
ascension of Christ 98.
Aspirant to soul growth, what is required of 119.
Atlantean airships, power used in 77.
Atlantis, chosen people led out of 194.
   conditions of life in early 137, 138.
   floods of 75.
   pressure of atmosphere in 12, 13.
   refugees driven from 174.
   spiritual perception lost in 83.
Atrophy, of spiritual faculties 181.
Aura, a "house from heaven" 21.

Babylon, city of sorrow 196.
Baptism, as a sacrament 48.
Bible, a book of occultism 193.
Black Magician, fate of 49.
   true story of, by Mabel Collins, 181, 186.
   true story contrasted with stories of Parsifal and Solomon, 183, 185.
Black Magic, used by the soulless 52.
   what it is 182.
Building the temple 35, 36.

Carthage, inhabitants of, reborn in Prussia 68-70.
Chaos, Ego withdrawals to 157.
Cherubim, guarding Eden with flaming sword 195.
"Chosen people," led from Egypt 193.
   one meaning of 166.
Christ, an embodiment of Wisdom Principle 132.


[PAGE 206]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

Christ, His coming 14.
   how we shall know Him at His coming 15.
   our great spiritual leader 124.
   Transfiguration of 14.
   vibrations of love 171.
Christ Jesus 14, 16, 31, 36.
Christ ray, the fall of 98.
Christian mystic's deep view of Easter 103.
Churches, turning from, caused by 165.
Civilization, a thin veneer 81.
   built by vibrations of vital body 13.
Cosmic Christ, in cramped earthly conditions 104.
Cosmic Christ life 106.
Cosmic love culminates at Christmas 97.
Cosmic symbols, none more common than the egg 104.
Communion is a sacrament 48.
Consciousness, how generated 73.
Creative function, abuse of 48.
Creative instinct in man 41, 42.
Cyclic journey, similar to that of Cosmic Christ life 106.

Damnation and salvation, what they are 164-171.

Death a cosmic necessity 107.
   caused by ethers leaving 10-12.
   of a black magician 186.
   of the soul 47, 49.
   only a transition 78.
Dense body, only body possessed in Polarian Epoch 82.
Desire body, added in Lemurian Epoch 82.
Desire world, disturbed by war 88.
   post-mortem condition of spiritual aspirant in 119, 121.
Destiny, how woven 66-68.
Destruction, the sixteen paths to 167.
Diet, carnivorous, fosters ferocity 85.
   vegetarian, fosters docility 85.
Discrimination, the necessity for 37.
Disease, a manifestation of ignorance 131.
   planets as factors in 131, 160.

Early Rosicrucians solve problem of self-unfoldment 116.
Earth Period, nature of 173.
Eastern religions, teaching of 165.
Elder Brothers, "drive out money changers" 128.
   gave us teachings 63.


[PAGE 207]                                                             INDEX

   organize Invisible Helpers 88.
   originated a scientific method of soul development 112. 
   students of human evolution 177.
Electric atmosphere, effect of 57, 58.
Emerson, on prayer 31.
Epochs of man's evolution 82.
Eternal (aionian), meaning of 165.
Ether carries pictures of every object 113. 
   is vehicle of the light rays 113. 
   scientific conception of 113. 
Etheric body, escapes from the physical while falling 7-15.
Etheric vision, scope and limitations of 59, 60.
Ethers leave body, conditions when 10, 11.
   cause of shell shock 11, 12
   death caused by shell shock 11.
Evolution, new methods employed 75.
Exercises, Rosicrucian, counteracting effects of shell shock 12.
   practice of, renders neophyte free in purgatory 118-120.
Extreme unction, a sacrament 48.
Extended vision, how obtained 58.

Falling great distances, effect of Chap. I. 7-15.
Father Star, planet most harmonious to Ego 158.
Fire mist, from virgin substance 173.
Food, flesh, fosters ferocity 85.
   in its relation to man's nature 81.
Forgiveness 159.
Free will and propagation 199.

Galileo, right when "world" was wrong 180.
"Golden Wedding Garment," how woven 65.
Gospel of Gladness 89.
   Pollyanna 89-94.
   Pollyanna, fiction, but illustrates cosmic law 94, 95.
Gospels, symbolical of Initiation 192.

Hannibal, rebirth of in Prussia 70.
Headquarters "and a procession of people" 155.
Healing, associated with activities of spiritual adviser 129.
   different methods of 130.
   free of charge 132.
Heart and intellect to be combined 163.



[PAGE 208]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

Heaven, knowledge of kingdom of symbolized by pearl 21.
Hermetic axiom, "As above, so below" 111.
Higher laws which...supersede 159, 160, 161.
Higher life, how entered into 177.
   teaching, never given for a consideration 127.
Holy Grail, where likely to be found 29.

Ideals, the nature of 164.
Immaculate generation inaugurated by Christ 139.
Industry, designed to develop moral side of man 41.
Initiation, gives "keys to the Kingdom" 21.
   in Atlantis 41.
Intellect and heart to be combined 163.
Interpretations of Scriptures, by Max Heindel 192.
Intolerance, a besetting sin 143.
Invisible leaders present at dedication 134.
   realms disturbed by war 88.

Jews, as the "chosen people" 61, 194.
Jonah and the Whale 19, 20.

Keys to heaven 19.
Kingdom of heaven 7.
Knowledge, a responsibility 180.
   a responsibility, quoted from "Imitation of Christ" 188.
   entrusted to Max Heindel as reward of altruism 100-102.
   gaining of and use of 181.
   is power 180.
   retained through given to others 100.
   symbolized in Norse myth 99.

Laggards, who are 167.
Law, does not save 194.
   of compensation 34.
   of consequence 200.
   of forgiveness of sin 159.
Laws of nature, working with 111.
Leaders, the present 151.
"Legend Beautiful, The" 23.
Lemurian Epoch, beginning of 178.
Lemuria, Lucifer the Genius of 138.
Life, panorama, unfolded in reverse order 188.
Life, taken in interest of knowledge 186, 187.
Living the life 12.


[PAGE 209]                                                             INDEX

Longfellow's "The Legend Beautiful" 21.
Looking at the bright side of things 90.
Lord's Prayer, the 12.
   touches keynote of human vehicles 12.
Love to be wedded to knowledge 11.
Lucifer spirits, angelic life wave stragglers 199.
   misguidance of 138.

Mammon, how not served 203.
Manna, pot of, in the Ark, meaning of 198, 200.
Marriage, a sacrament 48.
Master, the sign of the 16-21.
Medieval handicraft 41.
Meeting the Lord 31.
Men outnumber women in the Rosicrucian Fellowship 135.
Metaphysical speculation, a quagmire 34.
Mind, evolution of 85, 86.
   linked to lower vehicles in Atlantean Epoch 82.
   may be snare of evil 37.
Modern industrial production 42.
Mohammed lived his philosophy 38.
Moon Period 173.
Mysterium magnum, what it hides and reveals 105.
Mystery School, established for pioneers 127.

New Jerusalem, City of Peace 202. 
   is the Tree of Life 196.
Noah, days of 7-15.
North Star, a fixed point 123.

Optimism, "Pollyanna" illustrates cosmic law of 89-95.

Pabulum 74.
Palmistry 128.
Panacea 160-162.
Parsifal, legend of 183, 184.
Peace, attainment of hindered by flesh food and wine 84.
   on earth, when attained 86.
Philosopher's Stone 19.
Pioneers, require higher teachings 127.
Pisces, sign of Christian Dispensation 54.
Poems:  Longfellow 23; Lowell 44; Holmes 46; Wilcox 87;
   Angelus Silesius 170; Unknown 171.
Popes had spiritual sight unfolded 191.


[PAGE 210]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

Prayer, Emerson (poem) 31.
Prayers and thought of a low nature, region to which they gravitate 133.
Pride of intellect, 143.
Profession and practice, relation between 63.
Progress depends on death 107.
   how attained 117.
Purgatorial experience caused by fires of remorse 115.
Purification, a step in spiritual unfoldment 203.
Purpose of evolution, the extraction of "soul" 51.

Qualities requisite for endurance--wisdom, beauty, strength, 136.

Races, the sixteen paths to destruction 167.
   when and how started 166.
Race spirit, none over U.S.A. 71.
Race spirit, what they are 67.
Rainbow, time when it first appeared 174, 175.
Rays, planetary, different effects of 131.
Record of life 115.
   inscribed upon atom in heart 115.
Religion given to a people according to their status 126.
Responsibility for acts of free will 199, 200.
Retrospection in harmony with cosmic law 117.
   cleanses of sins committed before one started the practice 119.
   correct method of 118, 119; results of 119-121.
Riches, accumulation of 43.
Rod of Aaron, magical, in Ark 198, 200.
Romans, reembodied in Sons of Albion 69-70.
Rose Cross, planted at Mt. Ecclesia 137.
Rosicrucians, a Mystery order 132.
Rosicrucian Brothers, a messenger of the 102.
Rosicrucian Fellowship, the mission of 12.
   disintegration of 152.
   the purpose of 136, 139, 140.
   under Aquarian dispensation 57-59.
Rosicrucian teachings 108.

Sacraments, nature of 48.
Salvation, how attained 167.
   what it is 164-167.
Scientific method of soul unfoldment 121.


[PAGE 211]                                                             INDEX

Scriptures interpreted by Max Heindel by spiritual vision 192.
Second coming of the Christ 14-22.
Secret of success 40.
Seed atom, loss of 53.
   racial form and features produced by 67.
   time of leaving the various vehicles 9.
Service, brings us out of "wilderness" 203.
   without worldly reward, a Rosicrucian ideal, 132. 
Shell shock, nature of 10.
Sign of Jonah 9.
Sign of the Master 15, 16-22.
Silver cord, loosing of 9, 48.
Sin, nature of 131.
   results in death of the soul 51-53.
   the unpardonable 47-49.
Sir Launfal 43.
Sixteen races, "paths to destruction" 167.
Sorrow and pain, our taskmasters 200.
Soul growth, what it depends on 118.
Soul, death of 47, 51.
   composed of 74.
Soul power, natural development of by evolution 112.
Soulless man, time of 50.
Spirit, immorality of and rebirth of 66.
   turned into a new path of evolution 74.
Spiritual atrophy, time when it sets in 181.
   perception, lost in Atlantis 83.
Spiritual currents, vitalize forms of four kingdoms 137.
Spiritual power, how developed 178.
   how to be used; how lost 184, 185.
   result of its use 200, 201.
Spiritual sight, possessed by Popes and others 191.
   work, consists of 30.
Spirituality, difference between true and false 26, 27.
   what it is 30.
Spleen, kind of force entering body through it 172.
"Stones for bread," application of 43.
"Stone of Sages," what it is 22.
Story regarding "Light" 27.
   "Fleta, the Black Magician" 181.
   "Parsifal" 183.

Tables of Law in the Ark 198, 200.
Talisman, nature of a 183, 184.


[PAGE 212]                                          TEACHINGS OF AN INITIATE

Taurus, worship of the Bull 54. 
Teachings, new spiritual, when given out 170, also 143, 144.
Temple in the Wilderness 190.
Test passed by Max Heindel in 1908, 144.
Thoughts and prayers, place to which they gravitate 133.
Thought forms, how and when generated 133.
Thomas a Kempis, quotation from 188.
Threefold spirit casts a threefold shadow 50.
Time, between races 167.
Transfiguration, Mount of 14.
Tree of knowledge, symbology of 49.
Tree of Life, what it is 195.
True Wisdom, what it is 10.

Vacuum and falling bodies 10.
Valhalla, an abode of the gods 99.
Vegetarians, different kinds of 86.
Veil, between living and dead to be dissolved 78.
Virgin spirit, involved in matter 50.

"Vision of Sir Launfal" 43.
Vital body, added in Hyperborean Epoch 82.
   held in place by pressure 9.
   in Atlantean Epoch 13.
   oozes out under certain conditions 10.
   quickened by suffering in war 79.
   the Tree of Life 195.
   work of in repairing waste 72.
Vitality, dissipated by desires and emotions 72.
Vivisection, consequences of 186.

War, a school of soul unfoldment 79.
   effects of in desire world 76.
   how one leads to another 70.
   looking at the bright side of 94.
   prolonged by mental attitude of the people 89.
World war, causes of, rebirth of Carthaginians and Romans 68-70.
"Water of Life", whence it comes 20.
Western wisdom religion, being promulgated 57.
Wilderness, symbolical of space and matter 197.
   how long we shall travel in 202.
Wine added to man's diet in Aryan Epoch 83.
Wisdom, the only true 38.
World drama, acted and re-enacted 96.


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