Filename: RC1048.TXT
Source: "The Rosicrucian Mysteries" by Max Heindel

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                    THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE WORLDS:

                           THE CHEMICAL REGION:

    If  one who is capable of consciously using his spiritual body with  the
same  facility that we now use our physical vehicles should glide away  from
the Earth into interplanetary space, the Earth and the various other planets
of our solar system would appear to him or her to be composed of three kinds
of matter, roughly speaking. The densest matter, which is our visible Earth,
would  appear to him as being the center of the ball as the yolk is  in  the
center of an egg.  Around that nucleus he or she would observe a finer grade
of matter similarly disposed in relation to the central mass,  as the  white
of the egg is disposed outside the yolk.  Upon a little closer investigation
he  would  also discover that this second kind of  substance  permeates  the
solid  Earth to the very center,  even as the blood percolates  through  the
more solid parts of our flesh. Outside both of these mingling layers of mat-
ter he would observe a still finer,  third layer corresponding to the  shell
of the egg,  except that this third layer is the finest,  most subtle of the
three  grades of matter,  and that it interpenetrates both of the two  inner
layers.

    As  already said,  the central mass,  spiritually seen,  is our  visible
world,  composed of solids,  liquids, and gases.  They constitute the Earth,

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its atmosphere,  and also the ether, of which physical science speaks  hypo-
thetically as permeating the atomic substance of all chemical elements.  The
second layer of matter is called the Desire World and the outermost layer is
called the World of Thought.

    A  little reflection upon the subject will make clear that just  such  a
constitution  is necessary to account for facts of life as we see them.  All
forms in the world about us are built from chemical substances: solids, liq-
uids,  and gases, but insofar that they do move, these forms obey a separate
and distinct impulse,  and when this impelling energy leaves,  the form  be-
comes inert.  The steam engine rotates under the impetus of an invisible gas
called steam. Before steam filled its cylinder, the engine stood still,  and
when the impelling force is shut off its motion again ceases. The dynamo ro-
tates under the still more subtle influence of an electric current which may
also  cause the click of a telegraph instrument or the ring of  an  electric
bell,  but the dynamo ceases its swift whirl and the persistent ring of  the
electric  bell becomes mute when the invisible electricity is switched  off.
The forms of the bird,  the animal, and the human being also cease their mo-
tion when the inner force which we call LIFE has winged its invisible way.

    All  forms are impelled into motion by desire:  the bird and the  animal
roam  land and air in their desire to secure food and shelter,  or  for  the
purpose of breeding. Man is also moved by these desires, but has in addition
other and higher incentives to spur him to effort;  among them is desire for

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rapidity of motion which led him to construct the steam engine and other de-
vices  that move in obedience to HIS desire.

    If there were no iron in the mountains man could not build machines.  If
there were no clay in the  soil, the bony structure of the skeleton would be
an impossibility,  and if  there were no Physical World at all, with its so-
lids,  liquids,  and gases,  this dense  body  of ours could never have come
into existence.  Reasoning  along similar  lines it must be at once apparent
that if there were no Desire World composed  of desire-stuff, we should have
no way of forming feelings,  emotions, and desires. A planet composed of the
materials we perceive with our PHYSICAL eyes and  of  no  other  substances,
might be the home of plants which grow unconsciously, but have no desires to
cause them to move. The human and animal kingdoms, however, would be  impos-
sibilities.

    Furthermore,  there  is in the world a vast number of things,  from  the
simplest and most crude instruments,  to the most intricate and cunning  de-
vices which have been constructed by the hand of man.  These reveal the fact
of man's thought and ingenuity.  Thought must have a source as well as  FORM
and FEELING.  We saw that it was necessary to have the requisite material in
order  to build a steam engine or a body and we reasoned from the fact  that
in  order  to obtain material to express desire there must also be  a  world
composed of desire stuff.   Carrying our argument to its logical conclusion,

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we  also  hold that unless a World of Thought provides a reservoir  of  mind
stuff upon which we may draw, it would be impossible for us to think and in-
vent the things which we see in even the lowest civilization.

    Thus  it will be clear that the division of a planet into worlds is  not
based  on fanciful metaphysical speculation, but is logically  necessary  in
the economy of nature.  Therefore it must be taken into consideration by any
one  who would study and aim to understand the inner nature of things.  When
we see the street cars moving along our streets,  it does not explain to say
that the motor is driven by electricity of so many amperes at so many volts.
These  names only add to our confusion until we have thoroughly studied  the
science of electricity; and then we shall find that the mystery deepens, for
while the street car belongs to the world of INERT FORM perceptible  to  our
vision,  the electric current which moves it is indigenous to the  realm  of
FORCE,  the invisible Desire World, and the thought which created and guides
it,  comes  from the still more subtle World of Thought which  is  the  home
world of the human Spirit, the Ego.

    It may be objected that this line of argument makes a simple matter  ex-
ceedingly intricate,  but a little reflection will soon show the fallacy  of
such a contention.  Viewed superficially any of the sciences seem  extremely
simple; anatomically we may divide the body into flesh and bone,  chemically
we may make the simple divisions between solid, liquid,  and gas,  but thor-
oughly to master the science of  anatomy  it  is necessary to spend years in

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close  application  and learn to know all the little nerves,  the  ligaments
which  bind  articulations between various parts of the bony  structure,  to
study the several kinds of tissue and their disposition in our system  where
they form the bones,  muscles,  glands, etc., which in the aggregate we know
as the human body.  To understand properly the science of chemistry we  must
study  the valence of the atom which determines the power of combination  of
the various elements,  together with other niceties,  such as atomic weight,
density,  etc. New wonders are constantly opening up to the most experienced
chemist, who understands best the immensity of his or her chosen science.

    The youngest lawyer,  fresh from law school,  knows more about the  most
intricate cases,  in his or her own estimation, than the judges upon the Su-
preme Court bench who spend long hours, weeks and months, seriously deliber-
ating  over their decisions.  But those who,  without having studied,  think
they  understand and are fitted to discourse upon the greatest of  all  sci-
ences, the science of Life and Being, make a greater mistake. After years of
patient study,  of holy life spent in close application, a man is oftentimes
perplexed at the immensity of the subject he studies.  He finds it to be  so
vast  in  both  the  direction  of the  great  and  small  that  it  baffles
description,  that  language fails,  and that the tongue must  remain  mute.
Therefore we hold (and we speak from knowledge gained through years of close
study and investigation) that the finer distinctions which we have made, and
shall make,  are not at all arbitrary, but absolutely necessary as are divi-
sions and distinctions made in anatomy or chemistry.

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    No  form  in the physical world has feeling in the true  sense  of  that
word.  It is the indwelling life which feels, as we may readily SEE from the
fact  that a body which responds to the lightest touch while  instinct  with
life,  exhibits no sensation whatever even when cut to pieces after the life
has fled.  Demonstrations have been made by scientists, particularly by Pro-
fessor Bose of Calcutta, to show that there is feeling in dead animal tissue
and  even  in tin and other metal, but we maintain that the  diagrams  which
seem  to support his contentions in reality demonstrate only a  response  to
impacts similar to the rebound of a rubber ball,  and that must not be  con-
fused with such feelings as LOVE, HATE, SYMPATHY and AVERSION.  Goethe also,
in his novel.  "Elective Affinities," (Wahlverwandtschaft),  brings out some
beautiful  illustrations  wherein  he makes it seem as if  atoms  loved  and
hated,  from  the fact that some elements combine readily while  other  sub-
stances refuse to amalgamate,  a phenomenon produced by the different  rates
of  speed  at which various elements vibrate and an unequal  inclination  of
their  axes.   Only where there is sentient life can there  be  feelings  of
pleasure and pain, sorrow or joy.

                            THE ETHERIC REGION:

    In addition to the solids, liquids, and gases which compose the CHEMICAL

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REGION of the Physical World there is also a finer grade of matter called e-
ther,  which permeates the atomic structure of the earth and its  atmosphere
substantially as science teaches. Scientists have never seen,  nor have they
weighed,  measured,  or analyzed this substance, but the infer that it  must
exist in order to account for transmission of light and various other pheno-
mena.  If it were possible for us to live in a room from which the  air  had
been exhausted,  we might speak at the top of our voices,  we might ring the
largest bell,  or we might even discharge a cannon close to our ear and ] we
should  hear no sound,  for air is the medium which transmits  sound  vibra-
tions to the tympanum of our ear, and that would be lacking. But if an elec-
tric light were lighted,  we should at once perceive its rays;  it would il-
lumine the room despite the lack of air. Hence there must be a substance ca-
pable of being set into vibration,  between the electric light and our eyes.
That medium scientists call ether,  but it so subtle that no instrument  has
been devised whereby it may be measured or analyzed,  and therefore the sci-
entists are without much information concerning it,  though forced to postu-
late its existence.

    We  do  not seek to belittle the achievements of modern  scientists.  We
have the greatest admiration for them and we entertain high expectations  of
what  ambitions they may yet realize,  but we perceive a limitation  in  the
fact that all discoveries of the past have been made  by  the  invention  of

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wonderful instruments applied in a most ingenious manner to solve  seemingly
insoluble and baffling problems.  The strength of science lies vested in its
instruments,  for the scientist may say to anyone: "Go,  procure a number of
glasses ground in a certain manner, insert them in a tube,  direct that tube
toward  a certain point in the sky where now nothing appears to  your  naked
eye.  You will then see a beautiful star called Uranus."  If  his directions
are followed,  anyone is QUICKLY AND WITHOUT PREPARATION able to demonstrate
for  himself the truth of the scientist's assertion.  But while the  instru-
ments  of science are its tower of strength,  they also mark the end of  its
field  of investigation,  for it is impossible to contact the  spirit  world
with  PHYSICAL instruments;  so the research of occultists begins where  the
physical  scientist  finds his limit and is carried on by  SPIRITUAL  means.

   These investigations are as thorough and  as  reliable  as  researches by
material scientists, but not as easily demonstrable to the  general  public.
Spiritual  powers lie dormant within every human being,  and when  awakened,
they  compensate for both telescope and microscope,  they enable their  pos-
sessor to investigate, instanter, things beyond the veil of matter, but they
are  only developed by a patient application and continuance in  well  doing
extended over years,  and few are they who have faith to start upon the path
to attainment to perseverance to go through with the ordeal.  Therefore  the
occultist's assertions are not generally credited.

    We  can readily see that long probation must precede attainment,  for  a
person equipped with spiritual sight is able to penetrate walls of houses as

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easily  as  we  walk through the atmosphere, able to read at  will  the  in-
nermost  thoughts of those about him,  and if not actuated by the most  pure
and unselfish motives,  would become a  scourge to humanity.  Therefore that
power is safeguarded as we would withhold the dynamite bomb from an  anarch-
ist and from the well-intentioned but ignorant person,  or,  as we  withhold
match and powder barrel from a child.

    In the hands of an experienced engineer the dynamite bomb may be used to
open a highway of commerce,  and an intelligent farmer may use gunpowder  to
good  account in clearing his field of tree-stumps,  but in the hands of  an
ill-intentioned criminal or ignorant child an explosive may wreck much  pro-
perty and end many lives. The force is the same,  but used differently,  ac-
cording to the ability or intention of the user, it may produce results of a
diametrically opposite nature. So it is also with spiritual powers, there is
a time-lock upon them,  as upon a bank safe, which keeps out until they have
earned the privilege and the time is ripe for its exercise.

    As already said, the ether is physical matter and responsive to the same
laws  which govern other physical substances upon this plane  of  existence.
Therefore it requires but a slight extension of PHYSICAL sight to see  ether
(which is disposed in four grades of density);  the blue haze seen in  moun-
tain  canyons is in fact ether of the kind known to occult investigators  as
CHEMICAL ETHER.  Many  people who see this ether unaware that they are  pos-
sessed of a faculty not enjoyed by all. Others, who have developed spiritual
sight are not endowed with etheric vision, a fact which seems an anomaly un-
til the subject of clairvoyance is thoroughly understood.

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    The reason is,  that as ether is physical matter,  etheric sight depends
upon  the  sensitiveness of the optic nerve,  while spiritual sight  is  ac-
quired  by developing latent vibratory powers in two little organs  situated
in  the brain:  the pituitary body and the pineal gland.  Even  near-sighted
people may have etheric vision.  Though unable to read the print in a  book,
they may be able to "see through a wall," owing  to  the fact that their op-
tic nerve responds more rapidly to fine than to coarse vibrations.

    When anyone views an object with etheric sight he sees THROUGH that  ob-
ject  in a manner similar to the way an X-ray penetrates opaque  substances.
If  he looks at a sewing machine, he will perceive first,  an outer  casing;
then, the works within, and behind both,  the casing farthest away from him.

    If he has developed the grade of spiritual vision which opens the Desire
World to him and he looks at the same object, he will see it both inside and
out.  If he looks closely,  he will perceive every little atom spinning upon
its axis and no part or particle will be excluded from his perception.

  But if his spiritual sight has been developed in such a measure that he is
capable of viewing the sewing machine with the vision peculiar to the  World
of Thought,  he will behold a cavity where he had previously seen  the form.

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    Things seen with etheric vision are very much alike in color.  They  are
nearly  reddish-blue,  purple or violet,  according to the  density  of  the
ether,  but when we view any object with the spiritual sight  pertaining  to
the Desire World, it scintillates and coruscates in a thousand ever changing
colors  so indescribably beautiful that they can only be compared to  living
fire.  The writer therefore calls this grade of vision COLOR SIGHT, but when
the  spiritual vision of the World of Thought is the medium  of  perception,
the  seer finds that in addition to still more beautiful colors,  there  is-
sues from the cavity described a constant flow of a certain harmonious TONE.
Thus  this world wherein we now consciously live and which we  perceive  the
world of FORM, the Desire World is particularly the world of COLOR,  and the
World of Thought is the realm of TONE.

    Because of the relative proximity or distance of these worlds, a statue,
a FORM  withstands the ravages of time for millenniums, but the COLORS  upon
a  painting fade in far shorter time, for they come from the  Desire  World;
and MUSIC, which is native to the world farthest removed from us,  the World
of Thought,  is like a will-o-the-wisp which none may catch or hold;  it  is
gone again as soon as it has made its appearance.  But there is in color and
music a compensation for this increasing evanescence.

    The  statue is cold and dead as the mineral of which it is composed  and
has attractions for but few though its FORM is a tangible reality.

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    The forms upon a painting are illusory,  yet they express LIFE,  on  ac-
count  of the COLOR which has come from a region where nothing is inert  and
lifeless. Therefore the painting is enjoyed by many.

    Music is intangible and ephemeral,  but it comes from the home world  of
the  Spirit  and  though so fleeting it is recognized by  the  Spirit  as  a
SOUL-SPEECH fresh from the celestial realms, an echo from the home whence we
are  now exiled.  Therefore it touches a chord in our being,  regardless  of
whether we realize the true cause or not.

    Thus  we  see  that there are various grades of  spiritual  sight,  each
suited to the superphysical realm which it opens to our perception:  etheric
vision, color vision, and tonal vision.

    The occult investigator finds that ether is of four kinds,  or grades of
density:  the CHEMICAL ETHER,  the LIFE ETHER, the LIGHT ETHER,  and the RE-
FLECTING ETHER.

    The CHEMICAL ETHER is the avenue of expression for forces promoting  as-
similation, growth, and the maintenance of form.

    The LIFE ETHER is the vantage ground of forces active in propagation, or
the building of new forms.

    The LIGHT ETHER transmits the motive  power of the Sun along the various
nerves of living bodies and makes motion possible.

    The  REFLECTING ETHER receives an impression of all that is,  lives  and
moves.  It also records each change,  in a similar manner as the film upon a
moving picture machine.  In this record mediums and psychometrists may  read
the past,  upon the same principle as, under proper conditions,  moving pic-
tures are reproduced time and again.

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    We have been speaking of ether as an avenue of FORCES, a word which con-
veys no meaning to the average mind, because force is invisible.  But to  an
occult investigator the forces are not merely names such as  steam,electric-
ity,  etc.  He finds them to be intelligent beings of varying  grades,  both
sub-  and superhuman.    What we call "laws of nature,"  are great  Intelli-
gences  which  guide more elemental beings in accordance with certain  rules
designed to further their evolution.

    In the Middle Ages,  when many people were still endowed with a  remnant
of NEGATIVE clairvoyance,  they spoke of gnomes, elves,  and fairies,  which
roamed  about the mountains and forests. These were the EARTH spirits.  They
also  told  of  the undines or WATER sprites,  which  inhabited  rivers  and
streams,  and of sylphs which were said to dwell in the mists above moat and
moor as air spirits.  But not much was said of the salamanders,  as they are
fire spirits, and therefore not so easily detected, or so readily accessible
to the majority of people.

    The old folk stories are now regarded as superstitions,  but as a matter
of fact,  one endowed with etheric vision may yet perceive the little gnomes
building  green chloryphyll into the leaves of plants and giving to  flowers
the multiplicity of delicate tints which delight our eyes.

    Scientists  have attempted time and again to offer an adequate  explana-
tion  of the phenomenon of wind and storm but have failed signally,  nor can

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they  succeed  while  they seek a mechanical solution to what  is  really  a
manifestation of life. Could they see the hosts of sylphs winging their  way
hither  and  thither,  they would KNOW who and what is responsible  for  the
fickleness  of the wind;  could they watch a storm at sea from  the  etheric
viewpoint,  they would perceive that the saying   "the war of the  elements"
is not an empty phrase,  for the heaving sea is truly then a battlefield  of
sylphs and undines and the howling tempest is the war cry of spirits in  the
air.

    Also the salamanders are found everywhere and no fire is lighted without
their help.  However, they are active mostly underground,  being responsible
for explosions and volcanic eruptions.

    The  classes of beings which we have mentioned are still sub-human,  but
will all at some time reach a stage in evolution corresponding to the human,
though  under different circumstances from those under which we evolve.  But
at  present the wonderful Intelligences we speak of as the laws  of  nature,
marshal the armies of less evolved entities mentioned.

    To arrive at a better understanding of what these various beings are and
their relation to us, we may take an illustration: Let us suppose that a me-
chanic is making an engine, and meanwhile a dog is watching him. It SEES the
man at his labor, and how he uses various tools to shape his materials, also
how,  from the crude iron,  steel, brass, and other metals the engine slowly
take shape.  The dog is a being from a lower evolution and does not  compre-
hend  the purpose of the mechanic but it sees both the workman,  his  labor,
and the result thereof which manifests as an engine.

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    Let  us  now suppose that the dog were able to see the  materials  which
slowly change their shape,  assemble,  and become an engine,  but that it is
unable  to perceive the workman and to see the work he does.  The dog  would
then  be in the same relation to the mechanic as we are to the great  Intel-
ligences we call laws of nature, and their assistants,  the nature  spirits,
for  we  behold the manifestations of their work as FORCE moving  matter  in
various ways but always under immutable conditions.

    In the ether we may also observe the Angels,  whose densest body is made
of that material, as our dense body is formed of gases, liquids, and solids.
These Beings are one step beyond the human stage,  as we are a degree in ad-
vance of the animal evolution.  We have never been animals like our  present
fauna,  however, but at a previous stage in the development of our planet we
had  an animal-like constitution.  Then the Angels were human,  though  they
have never possessed a dense body such as ours,  nor ever functioned in  any
material denser than ether.  At some time, in a future condition,  the Earth
will again become ethereal. Then man will be like the Angels. Therefore  the
Bible  tells  us  that man was made A LITTLE LOWER than the Angels. (Hebrews
2:7).

    As ether is the avenue of vital, creative forces, and as Angels are such
expert builders of ether,  we may readily understand that they are eminently

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fitted to be warders of the propagative forces in plant,  animal,  and  man.
All through the Bible we find them thus engaged:  Two ANGELS came to Abraham
and  announcd the birth of Isaac,  they promised a child to the man who  had
obeyed God.   Later these same Angeles destroyed Sodom for abuse of the cre-
ative force.   ANGELS foretold to the parents of Samuel and Samson the birth
of  these  giants  of brain and brawn.   To Elizabeth came  the  ANGEL  (not
Arch-angel) Gabriel and announced the birth of John;  later he appeard  also
to Mary with the message that she was chosen to bear Jesus.

                            THE DESIRE WORLD:

    When  spiritual sight is developed so that it becomes possible to behold
the Desire World,  many wonders confront the newcomer,  for conditions there
are  so  widely different from what they are here that  a  description  must
sound quite as incredible as a fairy tale to anyone who has not himself seen
them.

    Many cannot believe that such a world exists,  and that other people can
see that which is invisible to them,  yet some people are blind to the beau-
ties of this world which we see.  A man who was born blind,  may say to  us:
"I know that this world exists.  I can hear, I can smell,  I can taste,  and
above  all I can feel,  but when you speak of light and of color,  they  are
non-existent to me.  You say that you SEE these things.  I cannot believe it
for I cannot SEE myself. You say that light and color are all about me,  but

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none of the senses at my command reveal them to me and I do not believe that
the  sense you call sight exists.  I think you suffer from  hallucinations."
We might sympathize very sincerely with the poor man who is thus  afflicted,
but his scepticisms, reasonings, objections, and sneers notwithstanding,  we
would be obliged to maintain that we perceive light and color.

    The man or woman whose spiritual sight has been awakened is in a similar
position with respect to those who do not perceive the Desire World of which
he  speaks.  If  the  blind  man  acquires  the faculty of sight by an oper-
ation, his eyes are opened and he will  be compelled to assert the existence
of light and color which he formerly denied, and when spiritual sight is ac-
quired by anyone, he also perceives for himself the facts related by others.
Neither is it an argument against the existence of spiritual realms that se-
ers  are  at variance in their descriptions of conditions in  the  invisible
world.  We need but to look into books on travel and compare stories brought
home by explorers of China,  India, or Africa;  we shall find them differing
widely  and often contradictory,  because each traveler saw things from  his
own  standpoint,  under other conditions than those met by his  brother  au-
thors. We maintain that the man who has read most widely these varying tales
concerning a certain country AND WRESTLED  WITH THE CONTRADICTIONS OF NARRA-
TORS,  will have a more comprehensive idea of the country or people of  whom
he has read, than the man who has read only one story assented to by all the
authors.  Similarly, the varying stories of visitors to the Desire World are
of value,  because giving a fuller view, and more rounded,  than if all  had
seen things from the same angle.

[PAGE 1790]

    In this world matter and force are widely different.  The chief  charac-
teristic  of matter here is INERTIA:  the tendency to remain at  rest  until
acted upon by a force which sets it in motion.  In the Desire World,  on the
contrary,  force and matter are almost indistinguishable one from the other.
We might almost describe desire-stuff as force-matter,  for it is in  inces-
sant motion,  responsive to the slightest FEELING of a vast multitude of be-
ings  which populate this wonderful world in nature.  We often speak of  the
"teeming  millions"  of  China  and India, even of our vast cities,  London,
New York,  Paris,  or Chicago;  we consider them overcrowded in the extreme,
yet  even the densest population of any spot on Earth is sparsely  inhabited
compared with the crowded conditions of the Desire World.  No  inconvenience
is felt by any of the denizens of that realm,  however,  for,  while in this
world two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time,  it is  dif-
ferent there.  A number of people and things may exist IN THE SAME PLACE  AT
THE SAME TIME and be engaged in most diverse activities,  regardless of what
others are doing,  such is the wonderful elasticity of desire-stuff.  As  an
illustration we may mention a case where the writer, while attending a reli-
gious service,  plainly perceived at the altar certain beings interested  in
furthering  that service and working to achieve that end.  At the same  time
there drifted through the room and the altar,  a table at which four persons
were  engaged in playing cards.  They were as oblivious to the existence  of
the beings engaged in furthering our religious service,  as though these did
not exist.

[PAGE 1791]

    The Desire World is the abode of those who have died, for some time sub-
sequent to that event,  and we may mention in the above connection that  the
so-called "dead" very  often  stay for a long while among their still living
friends.  Unseen  by their relatives they go about the  familiar  rooms.  At
first  they are often unaware of the condition mentioned:  THAT TWO  PERSONS
MAY BE IN THE SAME PLACE AT THE SAME TIME,  and when they seat themselves in
a  chair or at the table,  a living relative may take the supposedly  vacant
seat. The man we mistakenly call dead will at first hurry out of his seat to
escape being sat upon,  but he soon learns that being sat upon does not hurt
him in his altered condition, and that he may remain in his chair regardless
of the fact that his living relative is also sitting there.

    In  the lower regions of the Desire World the whole body of  each  being
may  be  seen,  but in the highest regions only the head  seems  to  remain.
Raphael,  who  like many other people in the Middle Ages was gifted  with  a
so-called  SECOND SIGHT,  pictured that condition for us in his Sistine  Ma-
donna,  now in the Dresden Art Gallery, where Madonna  and  the Christ-child
are represented as floating in  a golden atmosphere and surrounded by a host
of genie-heads: conditions which the occult investigator knows to be in har-
mony with actual facts.

[PAGE 1792]

    Among the entities who are, so to speak,   "native" to that realm of na-
ture,  none are perhaps better known to the Christian world than the Archan-
gels.  These exalted Beings were human at a time in the Earth's history when
we were yet plant-like.  Since then we have advanced two steps;  through the
animal  and to the human stage of development.  The present Archangels  have
also made two steps in progression;  one, in which they were similar to what
the  Angels are now,  and another step which made them what we call  Archan-
gels.

    Their  densest body,  though differing from ours in shape,  and made  of
desire-stuff, is used by them as a vehicle of consciousness in the same man-
ner that we use our body.  They are expert manipulators of forces in the De-
sire World, and these forces, as we shall see, move all the world to action.
Therefore the Archangels work with humanity INDUSTRIALLY and POLITICALLY  as
arbitrators of the destiny of peoples and nations. The Angels may be said to
be FAMILY SPIRITS,  whose mission is to unite a few Spirits as members of  a
family,  and cement them with ties of blood and love of kin, while the Arch-
angels may be called race and national spirits,  as they unite whole nations
by patriotism or love of home and country. They are responsible for the rise
and fall of nations, they give war or peace, victory or defeat, as it serves
the best interest of the people they rule.  This we may see,  for  instance,
from the book of Daniel, where the Archangel Michael is called the prince of
the children of Israel.  Another Archangel tells Daniel (in the tenth  chap-
ter)  that  he intends to fight the prince of Persia by means of the Greeks.

[PAGE 1793]

    There  are varying grades of intelligence among human beings;  some  are
qualified to hold lofty positions entirely beyond the ability of others.  So
it  is also among higher beings.  Not all Archangels are fitted to govern  a
nation and rule the destiny of a race, people, or tribe; some are not fitted
to rule human beings at all,  but as the animals also have a desire  nature,
these  lower  grades of Archangels govern the animals as Group  Spirits  and
evolve to higher capacity thereby.

    The work of the Race Spirit is readily observable in the people it  gov-
erns.   The lower in the scale of evolution the people, the more they show a
certain racial likeness.   That is due to the work of the Race Spirit.   One
national  Spirit is responsible for the swarthy complexion common  to  Ital-
ians, for instance, while another causes the Scandinavians to be blond.   In
the  more advanced types of humanity,  there is a wider divergence from  the
common type, due to the individualized Ego, which thus expresses in form and
feature  its  own  particular  idiosyncrasies.   Among  animals,  where  the

[PAGE 1794]

separate Spirit is not individualized and self-conscious, the resemblance is
not only much more marked physically but extends even to traits and  charac-
teristics.  We may write the biography of a man, for the experiences of each
varies from that of others and his acts are different,  but we cannon  write
the  biography of an animal,  for members of each tribe all act alike  under
similar circumstances.  If we desire to know the facts about Edward VII,  it
would profit us nothing to study the life of the Prince-Consort, his father,
or of George V,  his son,  as both would be entirely different from  Edward.
In order to find out what manner of man he was,  we must study his own indi-
vidual life.   If, on the other hand, we wish to know the characteristics of
beavers,  we may observe any individual of the tribe, and when we have stud-
ied its idiosyncrasies,  we shall know the traits of the whole tribe of bea-
vers.  What we call "instinct" is in reality the dictates of "Group Spirits"
which govern separate individuals of its tribe telepathically, as it were.

    The  ancient Egyptians knew of these animal Group spirits  and  sketched
many  of them,  in a crude way, upon their temples and tombs.  Such  figures
with a human body and an animal head actually live in the Desire World. They
may be spoken to,  and will be found much more intelligent than the  average
human being.

    That statement brings up another peculiarity of conditions in the Desire
World in respect of language. Here in this world human speech is so diversi-
fied that there are countries where people who live only a few  miles  apart

[PAGE 1795]

speak a dialect so different that they understand each other with great dif-
ficulty,  and each nation has its own language that varies  altogether  from
the  speech of other peoples.
    In the lower regions of the  Desire  World, there  is the same diversity
of tongues as on  Earth,  and  the  so-called "dead"  of one  nation find it
impossible to converse with those who  lived in another country.  Hence lin-
guistic accomplishments are of great value to the Invisible Helpers, of whom
we shall hear later, as their sphere of usefulness is enormously extended by
that ability.

     Even  apart from differences of language our mode of speech is  exceed-
ingly productive of misunderstandings.  The same words often convey most op-
posite  ideas to different minds.    If we speak of a "body of  water,"  one
person may think we mean a lake of small dimensions, the thoughts of another
may  be  directed to the Great Lakes, and a third person's thoughts  may  be
turned  towards the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.    If we speak of a  "light,"
one may think of a gaslight,  another of an electric arc-lamp,  or if we say
"red,"  one  person  may think we mean a delicate shade of pink and  another
gets the idea of crimson. The misunderstandings of what words mean goes even
farther, as illustrated in the following.

    The writer once opened a reading room in a large city where he lectured,
and invited his audience to make use thereof.  Among those who availed them-
selves  of  the opportunity was a gentleman who had for many  years  been  a
veritable "metaphysical tramp,"  roaming from lecture  to  lecture,  hearing

[PAGE 1796]

the  teachings of everybody and practicing nothing.  Like the  Athenians  on
Mars' Hill,   he was always looking for something "new," particularly in the
line of phenomena,  and his mind was in that seething chaotic state which is
one of the most prominent symptoms of "mental indigestion."

    Having attended a number of our lectures he knew from the program  that:
"The lecturer does not give readings or cast horoscopes FOR PAY."   But see-
ing on the door of the newly opened reading room,  the legend:   "Free Read-
ing Room,"   his erratic mind at once jumped to the conclusion that although
we were opposed to telling fortunes for pay,  we were now going to give free
readings  of the future in the Free Reading Room.  He was much  disappointed
that  we did not intend to tell fortunes,  either gratis or for a  consider-
ation,   and we changed our sign to  "Free Library"  in order to  obviate  a
repetition of the error.

    In the higher Regions of the Desire World the confusion of tongues gives
place to a universal mode of expression which absolutely prevents  misunder-
standings of our meaning.  There each of our thoughts takes a definite  form
and color perceptible to all,  and this thought-symbol emits a certain tone,
which  is not a word,  but it conveys our meaning to the one we  address  no
matter what language we spoke on earth.

[PAGE 1797]

    To  arrive at an understanding of how such a universal language  becomes
possible  and is at once comprehended by all,  without preparation,  we  may
take as an illustration the manner in which a musician reads music. A German
or a Polish composer may write an opera. Each has his own peculiar terminol-
ogy and expresses it in his own language. When that opera is to be played by
an Italian bandmaster,  or by a Spanish or American musician, it need not be
translated; the notes and symbols upon the page are a universally understood
language of symbols which is intelligible to musicians of no matter what na-
tionality.  Similarly with figures, the German counts: ein, zwei, drei;  the
Frenchman says: un, deux, trois, and in English we use the words: one,  two,
three,  but the figures: 1,2,3, though differently spoken,  are intelligible
to all and mean the same. There is no possibility of misunderstanding in the
cases  of either music or figures.  Thus it is also with the universal  lan-
guage peculiar to the higher regions of the Desire World and the still  more
subtle realms in nature, it is intelligible to all, an exact mode of expres-
sion.

    Returning  to our description of the entities commonly met with  in  the
lower  Desire  World,  we may note that other systems of religion  than  the
EGYPTIAN,  already mentioned, has spoken of various classes of beings native
to  these realms.  The Zoroastrian religion,  for instance,  mentions  SEVEN
AMSHASPANDS  and  the IZZARDS as having dominion over certain  days  in  the
month and certain months in the year. The Christian religion speaks of Seven
Spirits before the Throne,  which  are  the  same beings the Persians called

[PAGE 1798]

Amshaspands.  Each of them rules over two months in the year while the  sev-
enth:  Michael,  the highest, is their leader, for he is ambassador from the
Sun to the Earth; the others are ambassadors from the planets.  The Catholic
religion  with  its abundant occult information takes most notice  of  these
"star-angels"  and  knows  considerable about their influence upon  the  af-
fairs of the earth.

    The Amshaspands, however, do not inhabit the lower regions of the Desire
World but influence the Izzards.  According to the old Persian legend  these
beings are divisible into two groups: one of twenty-eight classes,  and  the
other of three classes.  Each of these classes has dominion over,  or  takes
the  lead  of all the other classes on one certain day of  the  month.  They
regulate the weather conditions on that day and work with animal and man  in
particular.  At least the twenty-eight classes do that,  the other group  of
three  classes  has  nothing  to do with animals,  because  they  have  only
twenty-eight  pairs  of spinal nerves, while human beings  have  thirty-one.
Thus animals are attuned to the lunar month of twenty-eight days,  while man
is correlated to the solar month of thirty or thirty-one days.  The  ancient
Persians were astronomers but not physiologists; they had no means of  know-
ing  the  different  nervous constitution of animal and man,  but  they  saw
clairvoyantly these superphysical beings; they noted and recorded their work
with animal and men,  and our own anatomical investigations may show us  the
reason  for these divisions of the classes of Izzards recorded in  that  an-
cient system of philosophy.

[PAGE 1799]

    Still  another class of beings should be mentioned:  those who have  en-
tered the Desire World through the gate of death and are now hidden from our
physical vision.  These so-called "dead"  are  in  fact much more alive than
any of us,  who are tied to a dense body and subject to all its limitations,
who  are forced slowly to drag this clog along with us at the rate of a  few
miles an hour,  who must expend such an enormous amount of energy upon  pro-
pelling that vehicle that we are easily and quickly tired,  even when in the
best of health, and who are often confined to a bed, sometimes for years, by
the indisposition of this heavy mortal coil. But when that is once shed  and
the  freed Spirit can again function in its spiritual body,  sickness is  an
unknown condition,  and distance is annihilated, or at least practically so,
for though it was necessary for the Saviour to liken the freed Spirit to the
wind which blows where it listeth,  that simile gives but a poor description
of what actually takes place in soul flights. Time is non-existent there, as
we shall presently explain,  so the writer has never been able to time  him-
self,  but has on several occasions timed others when he was in  the  physi-
cal  body and then speeding through space upon a certain  errand.  Distances
such  as from the Pacific Coast to Europe,  the delivery of a short  message
there and the return to the body has been accomplished in slightly less than
one minute. Therefore our assertion, that those whom we call dead are in re-
ality much more alive than we, is well founded in facts.

[PAGE 1800]

    We  spoke of the dense body in which we now live,   as  a "clog"  and  a
"fetter."  It must not be inferred,  however,  that  we sympathize with  the
attitude of certain people who,  when they have learned with what ease soul-
flights are accomplished,  go about bemoaning the fact that they are now im-
prisoned.  They are constantly thinking of, and longing for,  the  day  when
they  shall be able to leave this mortal coil behind and fly away  in  their
spiritual body.  Such an attitude of mind is decidedly mistaken;  the  great
and  wise Beings who are invisible leaders of our evolution have not  placed
us  here to no purpose.  Valuable lessons are to be learned in this  visible
world wherein we dwell, lessons that cannot be learned in any other realm of
nature,  and the very conditions of density and inertia whereof such  people
complain,  are factors which make it possible to acquire the knowledge  this
world  is designed to give.  This fact was so amply illustrated in a  recent
experience of the writer:

    A  friend had been studying occultism for a number of years but had  not
studied  astrology.  Last year she became aroused to the importance of  this
branch of study as a key to self-knowledge and a means of understanding  the
natures  of others,  also of developing the compassion for their errors,  so
necessary in the cultivation of love for one's neighbor. Love for our neigh-
bor the Saviour enjoined upon us as the Supreme Commandment,  which  is  the

[PAGE 1801]

fulfillment of all laws, and as astrology teaches us to BEAR and FORBEAR, it
helps  as  nothing else can in the development of this supreme  virtue.  She
therefore  joined one of the classes started in Los Angeles by  the  writer,
but a sudden illness quickly ended in death and thus terminated her study of
the subject in the physical body, here it was well begun.

    Upon one of many occasions when she visited the writer subsequent to her
release from the body,  she deplored the fact that it seemed so difficult to
make headway in her study of astrology.  The writer advised continued atten-
dance at the classes,  and suggested that she could surely  get someone  "on
the other side" to help her study.

    At  this she exclaimed impatiently:  "Oh,  yes!  Of course I attend  the
classes. I have done so right along; I have also found a friend who helps me
here.  But you cannot imagine how difficult it is to concentrate  here  upon
mathematical  calculations and the judgment of a horoscope or in  fact  upon
any  subject here,  where every little thought-current takes you miles  away
from  your study.  I used to think it difficult to concentrate when I had  a
physical body,  but it is not a circumstance to the obstacles which face the
student here."

    The physical body was an anchor to her, and it is that to all of us. Be-
ing dense,  it is also to a great extent impervious to disturbing influences
from which the more subtle spiritual bodies do not shield us.  It enables us
to bring our ideas to a logical conclusion with far less effort  at  concen-

[PAGE 1802]

tration  than is necessary in that realm where all is in such incessant  and
turbulent  motion.  Thus we are gradually developing the faculty of  holding
our thoughts to a center by existence in this world, and we should value our
opportunities  here,  rather than deplore the limitations which help in  one
direction more than they fetter in another. In fact, we should never deplore
any condition,  each has its lesson.  If we try to learn what that lesson is
and  to assimilate the experience which may be extracted therefrom,  we  are
wiser than those who waste time in vain regrets.

    We  said  there  is no time in the Desire World,  and  the  reader  will
readily  understand that such must be the case from the fact,  already  men-
tioned, that nothing there is opaque.

    In this world the rotation of the opaque earth upon its axis is  respon-
sible for the alternating conditions of day and night.  We call it DAY  when
the  spot where we live is turned towards the Sun and its rays illumine  our
environment,  but when our home is turned away from the Sun and its rays ob-
structed by the opaque earth we term the resulting darkness NIGHT.  The pas-
sage  of the earth in its orbit around the Sun produces the seasons and  the
year,  which are our divisions of time. But in the Desire World where all is
light there is but one long day. The Spirit is not there fettered by a heavy
physical  body,  so  it  does not need  sleep  and  existence  is  unbroken.
Spiritual  substances are not subject to contraction and expansion  such  as
arise  here  from  heat  and  cold,   hence   summer  and  winter  are  also

[PAGE 1803]

non-existent. Thus there is nothing to differentiate one moment from another
in respect of the conditions of light and darkness, summer and winter, which
mark time for us.   Therefore,   while the so-called "dead"  may have a very
accurate  memory  of time as regards the life they lived here in  the  body,
they are usually unable to tell anything about the chronological relation of
events  which have happened to them in the Desire World,  and it is  a  very
common thing to find that they do not even know how many years have  elapsed
since  they passed out from this plane of existence.  Only students  of  the
stellar  science are able to calculate the passage of time after  their  de-
mise.

      When the occult investigator wishes to study an event in the past his-
tory of man,  he may most readily call up the picture from THE MEMORY OF NA-
TURE,  but if he desires to fix the time of the incident, he will be obliged
to count backwards by the motion of the heavenly bodies. For that purpose he
generally uses the measure provided by the Sun's precession:  each year  the
Sun  crosses the Earth's equator about the twenty-first of March.  Then  day
and night are of even length,  therefore this is called the vernal  equinox.
But on account of a certain wobbling motion (nutation) of the Earth's  axis,
the Sun does not cross over at the same place in the zodiac.  It reaches the
equator a little too early,  it PRECEDES, year by year it moves BACKWARDS  a
little. At the time of the birth of Christ, for instance, the vernal equinox

[PAGE 1804]

was in about seven degrees of the zodiacal sign Aries.  During the two thou-
sand  years which have intervened between that event and the  present  time,
the Sun has moved BACKWARDS about twenty-seven degrees, so that it is now in
about ten degrees of the sign Pisces.  It moves around the circle of the zo-
diac in about 25,868 years. The occult investigator may therefore count back
the number of signs,  or whole circles,  which the Sun has PRECEDED  between
the present day and the time of the event he is investigating.  Thus he  has
by the use of the heavenly time keepers an approximately correct measure  of
time even though he is in the Desire World,  and that is another reason  for
studying the stellar science.

                          THE WORLD OF THOUGHT: 

    When we have attained the spiritual development necessary consciously to 
enter the World of Thought and leave the Desire World, which is the realm of 
light and color,   we pass through a condition which the occult investigator 
calls The Great Silence. 

    As previously stated, the higher regions of the Desire World exhibit the 
marked peculiarity of blending form and sound,   but when one passes through 
the Great Silence,   all the world seems to disappear and the Spirit has the 
feeling  of  floating  in  an ocean of intense light,   utterly alone,   yet 
absolutely fearless, because imbued with a sense of its impregnable  securi-
ty, no longer subject to form or sound,  past or future;  all is one eternal 
NOW.

Continued with file "RC1049.TXT"

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