Filename: RC1047.TXT
Source: "The Rosicrucian Mysteries" by Max Heindel

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                              INTRODUCTION:

    Before   entering  upon   an  explanation  of  the  teachings   of   the
Rosicrucians,  it  may be well to say a word about them and about the  place
they hold in  the evolution of humanity.

    For  reasons  to be given later these teachings advocate  the  dualistic
view;  they hold that man is a Spirit enfolding all the powers of God as the
seed enfolds the plant,   and that these powers are being slowly unfolded by
a   series  of existences in a gradually improving earthy body;   also  that
this  process of development  has been performed under the guidance  of  ex-
alted  Beings  who  are yet  ordering  our steps,   though in  a  decreasing
measure,    as  we  gradually  acquire  intellect  and  will.  These exalted
Beings,   though  unseen  to  the physical eyes, are neverthless potent fac-
tors in all affairs of life, and give to the various groups of humanity les-
sons which will most efficiently  promote  the  growth  of  their  spiritual
powers. In fact, the earth  may be  likened  to  a  vast  training school in
which there are pupils  of  varying age and ability as we  find it in one of
our own schools.  There are the savages,  living and  worshipping under most
primitive conditions, seeing in stick or stone a  God.  Then,  as  man  pro-
gresses  onwards  and  upwards  in  the scale  of  civilization,  we  find a
higher  and  higher conception  of  Deity,  which  has flowered here  in our 
Western World in the  beautiful  Christian  religion that now furnishes  our 
spiritual inspiration and  incentive to  improve.

    These  various  religions have been given to each group  of humanity  by
the  exalted beings whom we know in the Christian  religion as the Recording
Angels,  whose  wonderful prevision enables them  to  view the trend of even
so unstable a quantity as the human mind,  and thus  they are enabled to de-
termine what steps are necessary to lead our unfoldment along the lines con-
gruous to the  highest universal good.

    When  we study the history of the ancient nations we shall find that  at
about six hundred years B.C.   a  great spiritual wave had its inception  on
the Eastern  shores  of the  Pacific Ocean where  the  great  Confucian  re-
ligion accelerated the progress of the Chinese nation,   then also the reli-
gion of the Buddha commenced to win its millions of adherents in India,  and
still further West we have the lofty philosophy of Pythagoras.  Each  system
was suited to the needs  of the particular people to whom it was sent.  Then
came  the  period   of  the  Sceptics,  in  Greece,   and  later,  traveling

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westward  the  same spiritual wave is manifested as the  Christian  religion
of the so-called "Dark Ages"  when the dogma of a dominant church  compelled
belief from the whole of Western Europe.

    It is a law in the universe that a wave of spiritual awakening is always
followed by a period of doubting materialism; each phase is necessary in or-
der  that  the Spirit  may receive equal development of heart and  intellect
without being  carried too far in either direction.  The great Beings afore-
mentioned,  who  care for our progress,  always take steps to safeguard  hu-
manity  against that  danger,  and when they foresaw the wave of materialism
which  commenced in the sixteenth century with the birth of our modern  sci-
ence,  they  took steps to protect  the  West  as  they had  formerly  safe-
guarded  the  East  against  the sceptics who were held in check by the Mys-
tery Schools.

    In the fourteenth century there appeared in central Europe a great spir-
itual teacher whose symbolical name was

                           CHRISTIAN ROSENKREUZ

                                   or

                           CHRISTIAN ROSE CROSS,

who  founded the mysterious Order of the Rosy Cross,   concerning  which  so
many  speculations   have  been made and so little has become known  to  the
world  at large,  for it is the Mystery School of the West and is open  only
to those who have attained the stage of spiritual unfoldment necessary to be
initiated in its secrets concerning the Science of Life and Being.

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    If we are so far developed that we are able to leave our dense  physical
body and take a soul flight into interplanetary space we shall find that the
ultimate physical atom is spherical in shape like our earth;  it is a  ball.
When  we take a number of balls of even size and group them around  one,  it
will  take just twelve balls to hide a thirteenth within.  Thus  the  twelve
visible  and the one hidden are numbers revealing a cosmic relationship  and
as  all  Mystery Orders are based upon cosmic lines,  they are  composed  of
twelve members gathered around a thirteenth who is the invisible HEAD.

    There  are seven colors in the spectrum:  red,  orange,  yellow,  green,
blue, indigo, and violet. But between the violet and the red there are still
five  other colors which are invisible to the physical eye but reveal  them-
selves to the spiritual sight.  In every Mystery Order there are also  seven
Brothers who at times go out into the world and there perform whatever  work
may be necessary to advance the people among whom they serve,  but five  are
never seen outside the temple. They work with and teach those alone who have
passed through certain stages of spiritual unfoldment and are able to  visit
the temple in their spiritual bodies,  a feat taught in the first initiation
which usually takes place outside the temple as it is not convenient for all
to visit that place physically.

    Let not the reader imagine that this initiation  makes the pupil  a  Ro-
sicrucian, it does not, any more than admission to a high school makes a boy

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a member of the faculty.  Nor does he become a Rosicrucian even  after  hav-
ing passed through all the nine degrees of this or any other Mystery School.
The Rosicrucians are Hierophants of the Lesser Mysteries,   and beyond  them
there are  still  schools wherein greater Mysteries are taught.   Those  who
have advanced through the Lesser Mysteries are called Adepts,  but even they
have  not  reached  the exalted standpoint of the  twelve  Brothers  of  the
Rosicrucian  Order  or  the Hierophants of any other Lesser  Mystery  School
any more  than the  freshman  at  college has attained to the knowledge  and
position  of  a teacher in the high school from which he has just graduated.

     A  later work will deal with initation,  but we may say here  that  the
door   of a genuine Mystery School is not unlocked by a golden key,  but  is
only  opened as a reward for meritorious service to humanity and any one who
advertises himself as a Rosicrucian or makes a charge for tuition, by either
of those acts shows himself to be a chrlatan.  The true pupil of any Mystery
School is far too modest to advertise the fact,  he will scorn all titles or
honors  from men,  he will have no regard for riches save the riches of love
given to him by those whom it becomes his privilege to help and teach.

    In the centuries that have gone by since the Rosicrucian Order was first
formed they have worked quietly and secretly, aiming to mould the thought of
Western Europe through the works of Paracelsus, Boehme, Bacon,  Shakespeare,

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Fludd and others. Each night at midnight when the physical activities of the
day are at their lowest ebb,  and the spiritual impulse at its highest flood
tide, they have sent out from their temple soul-stirring vibrations to coun-
teract materialism  and  to further the development of soul powers. To their
activities we owe the gradual spiritualization of our once so  materialistic
science.

    With the commencement of the twentieth century a further step was taken.
It  was realized that something must be done to make religion scientific  as
well as to make science religious,  in order that they may ultimately blend;
for  at  the  present  time heart and intellect  are  divorced.   The  heart
instinctively  feels  the  truth  of  religious  teachings  concerning  such
wonderful  mysteries as the Immaculate Conception (the Mystic  Birth),   the
Crucifixion  (the Mystic Death),  the Cleansing Blood,  the Atonement,   and
other doctrines of the Church,  which the intellect refuses to believe,   as
they are incapable of demonstration,  and seemingly at war with natural law.
Material  advancement  may be furthered when intellect is dominant  and  the
longings  of the heart unsatisfied,  but soul growth will be retarded  until
the heart also receives satisfaction.

    In  order to give the world a teaching so blended that it  will  satisfy
both the mind and heart,  a messenger must be found and instructed.  Certain
unusual  qualifications were necessary,  and the first one chosen failed  to
pass  a certain test after several years had been spent to prepare  him  for
the work to be done.

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    It  is well said that there is a time to sow,  and a time to reap,   and
that  there are certain times for all the works of life,  and in  accordance
with  this law of periodicity each impulse in spiritual uplift must also  be
undertaken  at  an appropriate time to be successful.   The first and  sixth
decades  of  each  century  are  particularly  propitious  to  commence  the
promulgation  of new spiritual teachings.  Therefore the  Rosicrucians  were
much concerned at this failure,  for only five years were left of the  first
decade of the twentieth century.

    Their second choice of a messenger fell upon the present writer,  though
he knew it not at the time, and by shaping circumstances about him they made
it  possible  for  him to begin a period of preparation for  the  work  they
desired  him to do.  Three years later,  when he had gone to Germany,   also
because of circumstances shaped by the invisible Brotherhood, and was on the
verge of despair at the discovery that the light which was the object of his
quest,   was only a jack-o-lantern,  the Brothers of the  Rosicrucian  Order
applied  the test to see whether he would be a faithful messenger  and  give
the teachings they desired to entrust to him, to the world.  And when he had
passed  the  trial they gave him the monumental solution of the  problem  of
existence first published in "The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception" in November,
1909,   more  than a year before the expiration of the first decade  of  the
twentieth  century.   This  book  marked a new  era  in  so-called  "occult"
literature, and the many editions which have since been published as well as

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the thousands of letters which continue to come to the author,  are speaking
testimonies  to  the  fact  that  people are  finding  in  this  teaching  a
satisfaction they have sought elsewhere in vain.

    The  Rosicrucians teach that all great religions have been given to  the
people among whom they are found,  by Divine Intelligences who designed each
system  of  worship to suit the needs of the race or nation to whom  it  was
given. A primitive people cannot respond to a  lofty  and  sublime religion,
and VICE VERSA.   What helps one race would hinder another, and in pursuance
of the same policy there has been devised a system of soul-unfoldment suited
especially to the Western people, who are racially and temperamentally unfit
to undergo the discipline of the Eastern school,  which was designed for the
Hindus.

    For the purpose of promulgating the Rosicrucian Teachings in the Western
World,  the Rosicrucian Fellowship was founded in 1909.  It is the herald of
the  Aquarian  Age,   when the Sun by its precessional passage  through  the
constellation  Aquarius,  will bring out all the intellectual and  spiritual
potencies  in  man which are symbolized by that sign.  As heat from  a  fire
warms all objects within the sphere of its radiations,  so also the Aquarian
ray  will  raise the earth's vibrations to a pitch we are as yet  unable  to
comprehend,  though we have demonstrations of the MATERIAL workings of  this

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force  in the inventions which have revolutionized life within the memory of
the  present generation.  We have wondered at the X-ray,  which sees through
the  human  body,  but each one has a sense latent which when  evolved  will
enable him to see through any number of bodies or to any distance. We marvel
at the telephone conversations across the continent of America, but each has
within a latent sense which when evolved will enable him to see through  any
number   of  bodies  or  to  any  distance.   We  marvel  at  the  telephone
conversations across the continent of America,  but each has within a latent
sense of speech and hearing that is far more acute;  we are surprised at the
exploits  of  ships  under sea and in the sky,  but we are  all  capable  of
passage  under water or through the sky;  nay,  more we may  pass  unscathed
through  the solid rock and the raging fire,  if we know how,  and lightning
itself  is slow compared to the speed with which we may travel.  This sounds
like a fairy tale today,  as did Jules Verne's stories a generation ago, but
the  Aquarian Age will witness the realization of these dreams,  and ever so
much  more that we still do not even dream of.  Such faculties will then  be
the  possessions of large numbers of people who will have gradually  evolved
them  as  previously  the ability to walk,  speak,  hear,   and  see,   were
developed.

    Therein lies a great danger,  for,  obviously,  anyone endowed with such
faculties  may  use  them to the greatest detriment of the world  at  large,
unless  restrained  by  a  spirit  of  unselfishness  and  an  all-embracing
altruism. Therefore religion is needed today as never before, to foster love
and  fellow-feeling  among humanity so that it may be prepared  to  use  the
great  gifts  in  store for it wisely and well.  This need  of  religion  is

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specially  felt in a certain class where the ether is more loosely  knit  to
the  physical atoms than in the majority,  and on that account they are  now
beginning to sense the Aquarian vibrations.

    This  class is again divided in two groups.   In one  the  intellect  is
dominant, and the people in that class therefore seek to grasp the spiritual
mysteries  out of curiosity from the viewpoint of cold reason.  They  pursue
the path of knowledge for the sake of knowledge,  considering that an end in
itself.   The  idea that knowledge is of value only when  put  to  practical
constructive use does not seem to have presented itself to them.  This class
we may call OCCULTISTS.

    The  other group does not care for knowledge,  but feels an  inner  urge
God-ward, and pursues the path of devotion to the high ideal set before them
in  Christ,  doing the deeds that He did as far as their flesh will  permit,
and  this  in time results in an interior illumination which brings with  it
all the knowledge obtained by the other class, and much more.  This class we
may describe as MYSTICS.

    Certain  dangers  confront  each of the two groups.   If  the  occultist
obtains  illumination  and  evolves  within  himeslf  the  latent  spiritual
faculties,  he may use them for the furtherance of his personal objects,  to
the  great  detriment  of his fellow-men.  That is  black  magic,   and  the
punishment   which  it  AUTOMATICALLY  calls  down  upon  the  head  of  the
perpetrator is so awful that it is best to draw the veil over it. The mystic
may also err because of ignorance, and fall into the meshes of nature's law,

[PAGE 1752]

but being actuated by love,  his mistakes will never be very serious, and as
he  grows  in  grace the soundless voice within his heart  will  speak  more
distinctly to teach him the way.

    The  Rosicrucian Fellowship endeavors to prepare the world  in  general,
and the sensitives of the two groups in particular, for the awakening of the
latent  powers  in  man,   so that all may  be  guided  safely  through  the
danger-zone  and  be as well fitted as possible to use these new  faculties.
Effort  is made  to  blend  the love without which Paul declared  a   knowl-
edge   of   all  mysteries worthless,  with a mystic  knowledge  rooted  and
grounded in love, so that  the pupils of this school may become LIVING expo-
nents  of  this   blended soul-science of the  Western  Wisdom  School,  and
gradually  educate  humanity at large in the virtues necessary to  make  the
possession of higher powers safe.

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                   THE PROBLEM OF LIFE AND ITS SOLUTION:

                            THE PROBLEM OF LIFE:

    Among  all  the vicissitudes of life,  which vary in  each  individual's
experience,     there   is  one  event  which  sooner  or  later  comes   to
everyone--Death!  No matter what our station in life, whether the life lived
has  been  a laudable one or the reverse,  whether great  achievements  have
marked  our  path among men;  whether health or sickness has been  our  lot,
whether we have been famous and surrounded by a host of admiring friends  or
have  wandered unknown through  the years of our life,   at some time  there
comes  a  moment  when  we stand alone before the portal of  death  and  are
forced to take the leap  into the dark.

    The  thought of this leap and of what lies beyond must inevitably  force
itself upon every thinking person.  In the years of youth and health,   when
the  bark  of  our  life sails upon seas of prosperity,   when  all  appears
beautiful  and  bright,  we may put the thought behind us,  but  there  will
surely come a time in the life of every thinking person when the problem  of
life  and death forces itself upon his consciousness and refuses to  be  set
aside.  Neither will it help him to accept the ready-made solution of anyone
else without thought and in blind belief,  for this is a basic problem which
every one must solve for himself or herself in order to obtain satisfaction.

[PAGE 1754]

    Upon   the  eastern  edge  of the Desert of  Sahara  there  stands   the
world-famous    Sphinx   with   its  inscrutable  face  turned  toward   the
East,  ever greeting the Sun as its rising rays herald the newborn day.   It
was  said  in the Greek myth that it was the wont of this monster to  ask  a
riddle  of  each traveler.   She devoured those who could not  answer,   but
when Oedipus solved the riddle she destroyed herself.

    The  riddle which she asked of men was the riddle of life and death,   a
query which is as relevant today as ever,  and which each one must answer or
be  devoured  in the jaws of death.  But when onece a person has  found  the
solution to the problem,  it will appear that in reality there is no  death,
that  what  appears  so,  is but a change from one  state  of  EXISTENCE  to
another.   Thus,   for the man who finds the true solution to the riddle  of
life, the sphinx of death has ceased to exist,  and he can lift his voice in
the triumphant cry,  "O death,  where is thy sting?  O  grave,  where is thy
victory?"

   Various  theories of life have been advocated to solve  this  problem  of
life. We may divide them into two classes, namely THE MONISTIC THEORY, which
holds  that  all  the facts of life can be explained by  reference  to  this
visible world wherein we live,  and THE DUALISTIC THEORY,  which refers part
of the phenomenon of life to another world which is now invisible to us.

  Raphael in his famous painting, "The School of Athens," has most aptly pic-
tured to us the attitude of these two schools of thought.   We see upon that
marvelous painting a  Greek  Court  such  as those wherein philosophers were

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once wont to congregate. Upon the various steps which lead into the building
a  large number of men are engaged in deep  conversation,  but in the center
at the top of the steps stand  two  figures,  supposedly  of Plato and Aris-
totle,  one pointing upwards, the other towards the earth,  each looking the
other in the face, mutely, but with  deeply concentrated will;  each seeking
to cinvince the other that his attitude  is right,  for  each bears the con-
viction in his heart.  One  holds that  he  is of the earth earthy,  that he
has come from the dust  and  that thereto  he will return,  the other firmly
advocates the position that there is a higher something which has always ex-
isted and will continue regardless of whether the body wherein it now dwells
holds together or not.

    The  question  who is right is still an open one with  the  majority  of
mankind.   Millions  of tons of paper and printer's  ink have been  used  in
futile attempts to settle it by argument,  but it will always remian open to
all who have not solved the riddle themselves,  for it is a basic problem, a
part  of  the life experience of every human being to settle that  question,
and therefore no one can give us the solution ready-made for our acceptance.
All that can be done by those who have really solved the problem, is to show
to others the line along which they have found the solution, and thus direct
the inquirer how he also, by his own efforts, may arrive at a conclusion.

    That  is  the aim of this little book;  not to offer a solution  to  the
problem  of  life to be taken blindly,  on faith in the author's ability  of

[PAGE 1756]

investigation.  The teachings herein set forth are those handed down by  the
Great Western Mystery School of the Rosicrucian Order and are the result  of
the concurrent testimony of a long line of trained Seers given to the author
and  supplemented  by  his  own  independent  investigation  of  the  realms
traversed  by the Spirit in its cyclic path from the invisible world to this
plane of existence and back again.

    Nevertheless,    the  student  is  warned  that  the  writer  may   have
misunderstood  some  of the teachings and that despite the greatest care  he
may have taken  a wrong view of that which he believes to have been seen  in
the  invisible world where the possibilities of making a mistake are legion.
Here  in  the world which we view about us the forms are stable and  do  not
easily  change,  but in the world around us which is perceptible only by the
spiritual sight,  we may say that there is in reality no form,  but that all
is  life.   At  least  the forms are so changeable  that  the  metamorphosis
recounted  in fairy stories is discounted there to an amazing  degree,   and
therefore we have the surprising revelations of mediums and other  untrained
clairvoyants  who,   though they may be perfectly honest,  are  deceived  by
illusions of FORM which is evanescent, because they are incapable of viewing
the LIFE that is the permanent basis of that form.

    We must learn to see in this world.  The new-born babe has no conception
of distance and will reach for things far, far beyond its grasp until it has
learned  to  gauge its capacity.  A  blind man who acquires the  faculty  of
sight, or has it restored by an operation will at first be inclined to close

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his eyes when moving from place to place,  and declare that it is easier  to
walk by feeling than by sight; that is because he has not learned to use his
newly  acquired faculty.  Similarly the man whose spiritual vision has  been
newly  opened requires to be trained;  in fact,  he is in much greater  need
thereof  than  the  babe and the blind man already mentioned.   Denied  that
training,   he would be like a new-born babe placed in a nursery  where  the
walls  are  lined with mirrors of different convex and  concave  curvatures,
which  would  distort  its own shape and the forms of  its  attendants.   If
allowed to grow up in such surroundings and unable to see the real shapes of
itself  and its nurses it would naturaly believe that it saw many  different
and  distorted shapes,  when in reality the mirrors were responsible for the
illusion.   Were  the persons concerned in such an experiment and the  child
taken out of the illusory surroundings, it would be incapable of recognizing
them until the matter had been properly explained. There are similar dangers
of  illusion  to those who have developed spiritual sight,  until they  have
been trained to discount the refraction and view the LIFE which is permanent
and stable,  disregarding the FORM which is evanescent and changeable.   The
danger  of getting things out of focus always remains,  however,  and is  so
subtle that the writer feels an imperative duty to warn his readers to  take
all  statements  concerning the unseen world with the provverbial  grain  of
salt, for he has no intention to deceive. He is therefore inclined rather to

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magnify  than  to minimize his limitations and would advise the  student  to
accept  nothing from the author's pen without reasoning it out for  himself.
Thus,   if  he  is deceived,  he will be self-deceived  and  the  author  is
blameless.

                         THREE THEORIES OF LIFE:

    Only  three  noteworthy theories have been offered as solutions  to  the
riddle  of existence and in order that we may be able to make the  important
choice  between them,  we will state briefly what they are and give some  of
the  arguments  which  lead us to advocate the Doctrine of  Rebirth  as  the
method  which favors soul-growth and the ultimate attainment of  perfection,
thus offering the best solution to the problem of life.

    1)  THE  MATERIALISTIC THEORY TEACHES THAT LIFE IS BUT A  SHORT  JOURNEY
FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE;  THAT THERE IS NO HIGHER INTELLIGENCE  IN  THE
UNIVERSE THAN MAN; THAT HIS MIND IS PRODUCED BY CERTAIN CORRELATIONS OF MAT-
TER AND THAT THEREFORE DEATH AND DISSOLUTION OF THE  BODY  TERMINATE  EXIST-
ENCE.

    There was a day when the arguments of materialistic philosophers  seemed
convincing, but as science advances it discovers more and more that there is
a  spiritual  side to the universe.  That life and consciousness  may  exist
without  being  able to give us a sign,  has been amply proven  inthe  cases
where  a  person who was entranced and thought dead for  days  has  suddenly

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awakened and told all that had taken place around  the  body.   Such eminent 
scientist as  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  Camille Flammarion,  Lombroso,  and other 
men of highest intelligence  and  scientific  training,  have  unequivocally 
stated as the result of their investigations, that the intelligence which we 
call man survives death of  the  body and lives on in our midst as independ-
ently of whether we see them or  not, as light and color exist all about the 
blind man regardless of the fact  that  he  does  not  perceive them.  These 
scientist have reached their conclusion after years  of  careful  investiga-
tion.  They have found that the so-called dead can, and  under  certain cir-
cumstances do, communicate with us in such a manner that mistake  is  out of 
the question.  We maintain that their testimony is worth more than the argu-
ment of materialism to the contrary,  for it is based  on  years of  careful 
investigation,  it is in harmony  with  such  well  established  laws as THE 
LAW OF CONSERVATION OF MATTER and THE LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. Mind is 
a form of energy,  and immune from destruction as claimed by the materialist.
Therefore we disbar the materialistic theory as unsound  because out of har-
mony with the laws of nataure and with well established facts.

    2) THE THEORY OF THEOLOGY CLAIMS THAT JUST PRIOR TO EACH BIRTH A SOUL IS
CREATED BY GOD AND ENTERS INTO THE WORLD WHERE IT LIVES FOR A  TIME  VARYING
FROM A FEW MINUTES TO A FEW SCORE YEARS; THAT AT THE END OF THIS SHORT  SPAN
OF LIFE IT RETURNS THROUGH THE PORTAL OF  DEATH  TO  THE  INVISIBLE  BEYOND,
WHERE IT REMAINS FOREVER IN A CONDITION OF HAPPINESS OR MISERY ACCORDING  TO
THE DEEDS DONE IN THE BODY DURING THE FEW YEARS IT LIVED HERE.

[PAGE 1760]
 
    Plato  insisted upon the necessity of a clear definition of terms  as  a
basis of argument and we contend that that is as necessary in discussing the
problem  of  life from the Bible  point  of  view as in arguments  from  the
platonic  standpoint.  According to the Bible man is a composite being  con-
sisting of body,  soul,  and Spirit.  The two latter are usually taken to be
synonymous but we in sist that they are not interchangeable and present  the
following to support our dictum.

    All things are in a state of vibration.  Vibrations from objects in  our
surroundings are constantly impinging upon us and carry to our senses a cog-
nition of the external world.  The vibrations in the ether act upon our eyes
so  that we see,  and vibrations in the air transmit sounds to the  ear.

    We  also  breathe  the air and ether which is thus charged with pictures
of  our surroundings  and  the  sounds in our environment,  so that by means
of  the breath we receive at each moment of our life,  INTERNALLY,  an accu-
rate picture of our external surroundings.

    That is a scientific proposition.  Science does not explain what becomes
of  these  vibrations,  however,  but according to the  Rosicrucian  Mystery
Teaching  they are transmitted to the blood,  and then etched upon a  little
atom in the heart as automatically as a moving picture is imprinted upon the
sensitized   film,   and   a   record   of   sounds   is   engraved upon the

[PAGE 1761]

phonographic  disc.  This breath-record starts with the first breath of  the
new-born babe and ends only with the last gasp of the dying man,  and "soul"
is a product of the breath. Genesis also shows the connection between breath
and  soul  in the words:  "And  the Lord God formed man of the dust  of  the
ground,  and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living soul"   (The same word: NEPHESH,  is  translated  breath  and soul in
the above quotation.)

    In the post-mortem existence the breath-record is disposed of.  The good
acts  of life produce feelings of pleasure and the intensity  of  attraction
incorporates them into the Spirit as soul-power.  THUS THE BREATH-RECORDS OF
OUR GOOD ACTS ARE THE SOUL WHICH IS SAVED,  for by the union with the Spirit
they  become immortal.  As they accumulate life after life,  we become  more
soulful and they are thus also the basis of soul-growth.

    The record of  our evil acts  is also derived from our breath in the mo-
ments  when  they  were committed.  The  pain and suffering they bring cause
the Spirit to expel  the breath-record  from  it being in Purgatory. As that
cannot exist independently of the  life-giving Spirit,  the breath-record of
our sins disintegrates upon expurgation, and thus we see that "the soul that
sinneth, it  shall  die." The memory of the suffering incidental to expurga-
tion, however, remains with the Spirit as  CONSCIENCE, to deter from repeti-
tion of the same evil in later lives.

     Thus both our good and evil acts are recorded through the agency of the

[PAGE 1762]

breath,  which  is  therefore  the basis of the soul,  but while the breath-
record of good acts amalgamates  with  the Spirit and lives on forever as an
immortal soul,  the breath-record of evil  deeds is disintegrated; it is the 
soul that sinneth and dies.

    While the Bible teaches that immortality of the soul is conditional upon
well-doing,  it makes no distinction in respect of the Spirit. The statement
is  clear and emphatic when...."The silver cord be loosed...then  shall  the
dust  return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to  God  who
gave it."

    Thus  the  Bible  teaches  that the body is made  of  dust  and  returns
thereto, that a part of the soul generated in the breath is perishable,  but
that  the  Spirit survives bodily death and persists  forever.  Therefore  a
"lost  soul"  in  the  common acceptance of that term is not a Bible  teach-
ing,  for the Spirit is uncreate and eternal as God Himself,  and  therefore
the orthodox theory cannot be true.

    3) THE THEORY OF REBIRTH: WHICH TEACHES THAT EACH SPIRIT IS AN  INTEGRAL
PART OF GOD,  THAT  IT ENFOLDS ALL DIVINE POSSIBILITES AS THE ACORN  ENFOLDS
THE OAK;  THAT BY MEANS OF MANY EXISTENCES IN AN EARTHLY BODY  OF  GRADUALLY
IMPROVING TEXTURE ITS LATENT POWERS ARE BEING  SLOWLY  UNFOLDED  AND  BECOME
AVAILABLE AS DYNAMIC ENERGY;  THAT NONE CAN BE LOST BUT THAT ALL WILL  ULTI-
MATELY ATTAIN TO PERFECTION AND REUNION WITH GOD,  EACH BRINING WITH IT  THE
ACUMULATED EXPERIENCES WHICH ARE THE  FRUITAGE  OF  ITS  PILGRIMAGE  THROUGH
MATTER.

[PAGE 1763]

    Or, as we may poetically express it:

                WE ARE ETERNAL:

On whistling stormcloud; on Zephyrus wing,
The Spirit-choir loud the world-anthems sing;
Hark! List to their voice: "We have passed through death's door,
There's no Death; rejoice! life lives evermore."

We are, have always been, will ever be.
We are a portion of Eternity,
Older than Creation, a part of One Great Whole,
Is each Individual and immortal Soul.

On Time's whirring loom our garments we've wrought,
Eternally weave we on network of Thought,
Our kin and our country, by Mind brought to birth,
Were patterned in heaven ere molded on earth.

We have shone in the jewel and danced on the wave,
We have sparkled in fire, defying the grave;
Through shapes everchanging, in size, kind and name
Our individual essence still is the same.

And when we have reached to the highest of all,
The gradations of growth our minds  shall recall,
So that link by link we may join them together
And trace step by step the way we reached thither.

Thus in time we shall know, if only we do
What lifts, ennobles, is right and true.
With kindness to all, with malice to none,
That in and through us God's will may be done.

[PAGE 1764]

    We venture to make the assertion that there  is but one sin:  IGNORANCE,
and but  one salvation:  APPLIED KNOWLEDGE.  Even the wisest among  us  know
but litte  of what may be learned,  however, and no one has attained to per-
fection,  or an attain in one single short life, but we note that everywhere
in nature slow persistent unfoldment makes for higher and higher development
of everything, and we call this process evolution.

    One  of the chief characteristics of evolution lies in the fact that  it
manifests in alternating periods of activity and rest. The busy summer, when
all things upon earth are exerting themselves to bring forth, is followed by
the flood-tide.  Thus, as all other things move in cycles, the life that ex-
presses  itself here upon earth for a few years is not to be thought  of  as
ended  when death has been reached,  but as surely as the Sun rises  in  the
morning after having set at night, will the life that was ended by the death
of  one body be taken up again in a new vehicle and in a different  environ-
ment.

    This earth may,  in fact, be likened to a school to which we return life
after life to learn new lessons,  as our children go to school day after day
to increase their knowledge. The child sleeps through the night which inter-
venes  between death and a new birth.  There are also different  classes  in
this  world school which correspond to the various grades from  kindergarten
to college. In the lower classes we find Spirits who have gone to the school
of life but a few times, they are savages now,  but in time they will become
wiser  and  better than we are,  and we ourselves shall progress  in  future
lives  to spiritual heights of which we cannot even conceive at the present.

[PAGE 1765]

If we apply ourselves to learn the lessons of life,  we shall of course  ad-
vance much faster in the school of life than if we dilly-dally and idle  our
time away.  This,  on the same principle which governs in one of our own in-
stitutions of learning.

    We  are not here then by the caprice of God.  He has not placed  one  in
clover and another in a desert,  nor has He given one a healthy body so that
he may live at ease from pain and sickness,  while He placed another in poor
circumstances with never a rest from pain.  But what we are,  we are on  ac-
count of our own diligence or negligence, and what we shall be in the future
depends  upon  what we will to be and not upon divine caprice  or  upon  in-
exorable fate.  No matter what the circumstances,  it lies with us to master
them,  or to be mastered as we will. Sir Edwin Arnold puts the teaching most
beautifully in his  "Light of Asia:"

The Books say well, my Brothers! each man's life
The outcome of his former living is;
The bygone wrongs bring forth sorrows and woes,
The bygone right breeds bliss.

Each has such lordship as the loftiest ones,
Nay, for with powers around, above, below,
As with all flesh and whatsoever lives ACT maketh joy or woe.


Who toiled, a slave, may come anew a prince
For gentle worthiness and merit won,
Who ruled, a king, may wander earth in rags
For things done or undone.

[PAGE 1766]

Or, as Ella Wheeler Wilcox says:

"One ship sails East and another sails West
With the self same winds that blow.
`Tis the set of the sail, and not the gale,
Which determines the way they go.

As the winds of the sea are the ways of fate
As we voyage along through life.
`Tis the act of the soul, which determines the goal
And not the calm or the strife."

    When we wish to engage someone to undertake a certain mission we  choose
some one whom we think particularly fitted to fulfill the requirements,  and
we must suppose that a Divine Being would use at least as much common  sense
and not choose anyone to do his errand who was not fitted therefor.  So when
we  read in the Bible that Samson was foreordained  to be the slayer of  the
Philistines  and that Jeremiah was predestined to be a prophet,  it  is  but
logical to suppose that they must have been particularly suited to such  oc-
cupations.  John the Baptist,  also,  was born to be a herald of the  coming
Saviour  and to preach the Kingdom of God which is to take the place of  the
kingdom of men.

    Had these people had no previous training, how could they have developed
such a fitness to fulfill their various missions,  and if they had been fit-
ted,  how  else could they have received their training if  not  in  earlier
lives?

[PAGE 1767]

   The Jews believed in the Doctrine of Rebirth or they would not have asked
John  the  Baptist if he were Elijah, as recorded in the  first  chapter  of
John. The Apostles of Christ also held the belief as we may see from the in-
cident  recorded in the Sixteenth chapter of Matthew where the Christ  asked
them  the  question:  "Whom do men say that I,  the Son  of  Man,  am?"  The
Apostles replied:  "Some  say that thou art John the Baptist;  some,  Elias;
and others Jeremias or one of the Prophets."   Upon this occasion the Christ
tacitly  assented to the teaching of Rebirth because He did not correct  the
disciples as would have been His plain duty in His capacity as teacher, when
the  pupils  entertained  a  mistaken idea.

   But to  Nicodemus  He  said  unequivocally: "Except a  man be born again,
he cannot see the  kingdom of God," and  in the eleventh chapter of Matthew,
the fourteenth  verse,  He said, speaking of John the Baptist: "THIS IS ELI-
JAH."  In  the  seventeenth chapter of Matthew,  the twelfth verse, He said:
"Elijah  is come already and they knew him not, but have done unto him what-
soever  they  listed."  "Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them
of John the Baptist."

    Thus  we maintain that the Doctrine of Rebirth offers the only  solution
to  the problem of life which is in harmony with the laws of  nature,  which
answers  the  ethical requirements of the case and permits us  to  love  God
without blinding our reason to the inequalities of life and the varying cir-
cumstances which give to a few the ease and comfort,  the health and wealth,
which are denied to the many.

[PAGE 1768]

    The  theory  of heredity advanced by materialists applies  only  to  the
FORM,  for  as a carpenter uses material from a certain pile  of  lumber  to
build a house in which he afterward lives,  so does the Spirit take the sub-
stance wherewith to build its house from the parents.  The carpenter  cannot
build  a  house of hard wood from spruce lumber,  and the Spirit  also  must
build a body which is like those from which the material was taken.  But the
theory  of heredity does not apply upon the moral plane,  for it is a  known
fact  that  in the rogues galleries of America and Europe there is  no  case
where  both  father and son are represented.  Thus the  sons  of  criminals,
though  they have the tendencies to crime, keep out of the clutches  of  the
law.  Neither will heredity hold good upon the plane of the  intellect,  for
many  cases  may be cited where a genius and an idiot spring from  the  same
stock. The great Cuvier, whose brain was of about the same weight, as Daniel
Webster's, and whose intellect  was as great, had five children who all died
of  paresis;  the brother of Alexander the Great was an idiot;  and thus  we
hold that another solution must be found to account for the facts of life.

    The Law of Rebirth coupled with its companion law, the Law of Causation,
does that. When we die after one life, we return to earth later,  under cir-
cumstances determined by the manner in which we lived before. The gambler is
drawn  to  pool  parlors and race tracks to associate with  others  of  like
taste,  the  musician is attracted to the concert halls  and  music  studios
where there are congenial Spirits,  and the returning Ego also carries  with
it  likes  and dislikes which cause it to seek parents among  the  class  to
which it belongs.

[PAGE 1769]

    But  then someone will point to cases where we find people  of  entirely
opposite tastes living lives of torture, because grouped in the same family,
and forced by circumstances to stay there contrary to their wills.  But that
does not vitiate the law in the slightest.  In each life we contact  certain
obligations which cannot then be fulfilled.  Perhaps we have run away from a
duty such as the care of an invalid relative and have met death without com-
ing  to a realization of our mistake. That relative upon the other hand  may
have  suffered  severely from our neglect, and have stored up  a  bitterness
against us before death terminates the suffering.  Death and the  subsequent
removal to another environment does not pay our debts in this life, any more
than  the removal from the city where we now live to another place will  pay
the  debts we have contracted prior to our removal.  It is  therefore  quite
possible  that  the two who have injured each other as described,  may  find
themselves members of the same family. Then,  whether they remember the past
grudge or not, the old enmity will assert itself and cause them to hate anew
until the consequent discomfort force them to tolerate each other,  and per-
haps later they may learn to love where they hated.

    The question also arises in the mind of inquirers:  If  we have been here
before why do we not remember?  And  the answer is that while most people are
not aware  of  how their previous existences were spent, there are others who

[PAGE 1770]

have very distinct recollection of previous lives.  A  friend of the  writer 
for  instance,   when  living  in  France,   one  day  started  to  read  to
her son about a certain city where they were then going upon a bicycle tour,
and the boy exclaimed:  "You do not need to tell me about  that,  Mother.  I
know  that city.  I lived there and was killed!"  He  then commenced to  de-
scribe the city and also a certain bridge.  Later he took his mother to that
bridge and showed her the spot where he had met death centuries before.  An-
other friend travelling in Ireland saw a scene which she recognized, and she
also described to the party the scene around the bend of the road which  she
had never seen in this life,  so it must have been a memory from a  previous
life.  Numerous other instances could be given where such minor  flashes  of
memory reveal to us glimpses from a past life.  The verified case in which a
little three year old girl in Santa Barbara described her life and death has
been  given  in "The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception."  It is perhaps the  most
conclusive  evidence  as it hinges on the veracity of a child too  young  to
have learned deception.

    This theory of life does not rest upon speculation,  however.  It is one
of the first facts of life demonstrated to the pupil of a Mystery School. He
is taught to watch a child in the act of dying, also, to watch it in the in-
visible world from day to day,  until it comes to a new birth a year or  two
later. Then he knows with absolute certainty that we return to Earth to reap
in a future life what we now sow.

[PAGE 1771]

    The reason for taking a child to watch in preference to an adult is that
the child is reborn very quickly,  for its short life on Earth has borne but
few  fruits and these are soon assimilated, while the adult who has lived  a
long life and had much experience remains in the invisible worlds for centu-
ries, so that the pupil could not watch him from death to rebirth. The cause
of infant mortality will be explained later; here we merely desire to empha-
size  the  fact that it is within the range of possibilities  of  every  one
without  exception to become able to know at first hand that which  is  here
taught.

    The average interval between two Earth-lives is about a thousand  years.
IIt is determined by the movement of the Sun known to  astronomers  as  PRE-
CESSION OF THE EQUINOX,  by  which the Sun moves through one of the signs of
the Zodiac in about 2,100 years.  During that time the conditions upon Earth
have  changed  so much that the Spirit will find  entirely  new  experiences
here, and therefore it returns.

    The  Great Leaders of evolution always obtain the maximum  benefit  from
each condition designed by them,  and as the experiences in the same  social
conditions are very different in the case of a man from what they are for  a
woman, the human Spirit takes birth twice during the 2,100 years measured by
the precession of the equinox,  as already explained:  it is born once as  a
man  and another time as a woman.  Such is the rule,  but it is  subject  to
whatever  modifications  may  be necessary to facilitate  reaping  what  the
Spirit has sown,  as required under the Law of Causation which works hand in

[PAGE 1772]

hand with the Law of Rebirth. Thus,  at  times  a  Spirit  may be brought to 
birth long ere the thousand years have expired,  in order  to fulfill a cer-
tain mission,  or it may be detained in the invisible worlds  after the time 
when it should have come to birth according  to the strict requirements of a 
blind law.  The laws of nature  are not that, however. They are Great Intel-
ligences who always subordinate minor considerations  to  higher  ends,  and 
under their beneficent guidance we  are constantly progressing  from life to 
life under conditions exactly suited  to each individual, until  in  time we 
shall attain to a higher evolution and become Supermen.

    Oliver Wendell Holmes has so beautifully voiced that aspiration and  its
consummation in the 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!"

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