Filename: RC1072.TXT
Source: "The Rosicrucian Philosophy In Questions & Answers, Vol. I"
         by Max Heindel

[PAGE 2575]

                              QUESTION NO. 94:

   WAS NOT THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM A COMET?

   ANSWER:   No;  the Star of Bethlehem shines at midnight of every night as
it shone upon the night which is recorded in the Bible,  and may be seen  by
anyone among the wise men of today, though hidden from all others.

   The key to the mystery is this:

   The Gospels are not simply stories of the life of an individual; they de-
pict  dramatically  and in symbol the incidents in the path  of  attainment;
they are formulae of initiation.

   In the summertime, when the whole earth is exerting itself to bring forth
THE BREAD OF LIFE for all who live upon it,  the sun is high in the heavens,
sending forth its life giving rays toward our planet.  Then all the PHYSICAL
ACTIVITIES are to the fore and man is engrossed in material occupations nec-
essary  to his existence.   But when in winter the sun is below the  equator
and nature slumbers,  SPIRITUAL INFLUENCES sent forth from the sun are  most
potent.  When the physical darkness increases the spiritual light burns more
brightly and culminates in the birth of saviors on the darkest night in  the
year,  between  the twenty-fourth and the twenty-fifth of December,  at  the
time the sun starts on its journey northward to save humanity from the  cold
and famine which would result if it remained in the southern latitudes.

   On that particular night of the year the spiritual vibrations are  stron-
gest.  It is the HOLY NIGHT of the year par excellence.  On that night it is
easiest for the neophyte to come into conscious touch with spiritual  vibra-
tions.  Therefore it was customary to take neophytes into the temples on yon

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Holy  Night.   There they were entranced under the guidance of WISE MEN  and
taught to leave their bodies consciously by an act of will.   The earth then
became  transparent  to  their  gaze  and they saw  behind  it  THE  SUN  AT
MIDNIGHT--THE  BLAZING STAR.   Not,  of course,  the physical sun,  but  the
spiritual  sun which is the true Christ-star,  for the cosmic Christ is  the
highest Initiate among the luminous sun spirits, the Archangels.

                              QUESTION NO. 95:

   WHAT WERE THE GIFTS OF THE WISE MEN?

   ANSWER:  The Bible tells us that they were GOLD, myrrh and frankincense.

   GOLD has always been regarded as the emblem of spirit in the old  legends
and  symbology.   In the story of the Ring of the Niebelung,  dramatized  by
Wagner,  we hear how the Rhine maidens played in their watery element on the
bottom of the river Rhine.   The water was lighted by the flame of the gold.
This  legend takes us back to the time when these CHILDREN OF THE MIST  were
living  in the beautiful conditions of early Atlantis,  where they were  one
vast  brotherhood,  innocent and childlike, and the Universal Spirit had not

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yet drawn into the separate bodies.

   The gold resting upon the rock at the bottom of the water was the  symbol
of  the Universal Spirit illuminating all mankind.   Later it is stolen  and
welded into a ring by Alberich, the Niebelung, who forswears love to possess
this  gold.   Then it becomes the symbol of the separate Ego in the  present
loveless age of selfishness.  The man who has become wise and sees the evils
of  selfishness offers gold to the Christ as a symbol of his desire for  the
return to the Universal spirit of Love.

   The second gift,  MYRRH,  is an aromatic plant growing in Arabia which is
very rare and scarce.  It is the symbol of the soul.  We are told in legends
of saints who have been so holy that they emitted an aroma.  This is thought
to be a pious fable,  but it is an actual fact that a man may become so holy
that he emits a most beautiful perfume.

   The third gift,  FRANKINCENSE,  is a symbol of the dense body,  which has
been etherealized by a holy life, for frankincense is a physical vapor.  The
minister of the interior of Servia,  one of the conspirators who planned the
regicide in that country less than a decade ago,  has since written his mem-
oirs.   It appears,  according to him,  that when they burned incense at the
time they invited people to join them in their conspiracy,  they  invariably
succeeded in winning over the one whom they sought.  He did not know why, he
simply mentioned it as a curious coincidence.  But to the occultist the mat-
ter is plain.

   No spirit can work in any world without a vehicle made of the material of
that world.  To function in the Physical World, to fetch and carry,  we must
have  a  dense body and a vital body;  both are made of  various  grades  of
physical  matter,  solids,  liquids,  gas  and  ether.  We  may  obtain such

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vehicles in the ordinary way, by going through the womb to birth,  or we may
extract ether from the body of a medium and temporarily use that to  materi-
alize,  or we may use the fumes of incense.   In the Catholic Church,  where
certain spirits are invoked,  incense furnishes the vehicle whereby they may
operate upon the assembled congregation as the discarnate spirits did to fa-
vor the Servian regicides.

   Thus we see that the gifts of the wise men are SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY, de-
voted to the service of humanity.  To give oneself is to imitate Christ,  to
follow in His steps.

                              QUESTION NO. 97:

   JESUS WAS BAPTIZED AT THIRTY, RECEIVING THE "CHRIST SPIRIT."   PLEASE EX-
PLAIN THIS BAPTISM.

   ANSWER:   The earth has not always been as it is now.   Science tells  us
that  there  was  a  time when it was blended firemist.  The Bible goes back

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even  further and speaks of a time before that mist,  when the earth  became
glowing and luminous as fire; a time when darkness reigned.

   There  have been in all four epochs or stages in this development of  the
earth.   First there was this dark stage, which is called in the Rosicrucian
terminology the "Polarian"  Epoch.   Then the substance which now forms  the
earth was a dark mass,  hot and gaseous.   In the second stage,  called  the
Hyperborean Epoch, this dark mass was ignited.  We are told "God said:  'Let
there be light,' and there was light."  Then came the stage when the heat of
this firemist in contact with cold space generated moisture,  and this mois-
ture  was  densest near the fiery core, where it was heated  to  steam  that
rushed  outward from the center--"God divided the waters from  the  waters,"
that is, the dense water nearest the core from the light steam outside.  Fi-
nally there cam an incrustation,  such as always takes place where water  is
boiled over and over again, and thus the crust over the earth, the dry land,
was formed.

   When that crust had been completed,  there was no water upon the  surface
of the earth, but as the Bible says, "A mist went up from the surface,"  and
no  herb had yet grown upon the face of the earth.   At that time,  however,
vegetation began to appear and nascent humanity lived there.   But they were
not a humanity constituted as we are today.   Their form was very much  dif-
ferent  and they were not nearly as evolved as we are at the  present  time.
In fact,  body and spirit were not perfectly together;  the spirits  hovered
partly outside and therefore "man's eyes had not yet been opened."

   Old  folk stories such as we hear of in Germany and different  places  in
the Old World,  speak of them as the niebelungen.   "Niebel"  means mist and
"ungen" is children.  They were the  "CHILDREN  OF  THE MIST," for the clear

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atmosphere of today did not then exist; the sun appeared like an arc lamp in
the street on a very foggy day,  on account of the density of the mist which
rose from the earth.

   While  humanity lived in that state,  they were not as far advanced  men-
tally as we are now.  They could not see things outside themselves, but they
had  an  inner perception.   They saw the soul qualities of  all  who  lived
around them and they perceived themselves as spiritual rather than material.
At that time there were no nations at all,  but humanity was one vast broth-
erhood.  All were partially outside their bodies and therefore in touch with
the  Universal Spirit,  which has now been obscured in the  separateness  of
egotism  which causes each man to feel himself distinct and apart  from  all
the rest of humanity; where brotherhood is forgotten and selfishness rules.

   When  any one has progressed so far that he appreciates the blessings  of
brotherhood,  where he endeavors to abolish egotism and cultivate  altruism,
he  may go through the rite of baptism.  He enters the water as a symbol  of
his return to the ideal conditions of brotherhood which existed when all hu-
manity lived, so to speak, in water.  Therefore, we see Jesus, the herald of
universal Brotherhood,  at the beginning of his ministry entering the waters
of  the Jordan and being baptized there.  When he rose from the waters,  the
Universal Spirit rested upon Him as a dove, and from that time on he was not
simply  Jesus,  but Christ Jesus,  the potential Savior of the world  imbued
with the Universal Spirit, which shall eventually take away all the evils of
selfishness  and restore mankind to the blessings of brotherhood which  will
be realized when the Universal Spirit has become immanent in all mankind.

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                               QUESTION NO. 98:

   IN  YOUR  TEACHING  YOU STATE THAT WE STAY FOR A  TIME,  AVERAGING  ABOUT
ONE-THIRD  OF THE LENGTH OF THE EARTH LIFE,  IN PURGATORY IN ORDER THAT  OUR
SINS  MAY BE EXPIATED PRIOR TO GOING TO HEAVEN.   HOW THEN DO YOU  RECONCILE
THIS TEACHING WITH THE WORDS OF THE CHRIST TO THE DYING THIEF:   "TODAY THOU
SHALT BE WITH ME IN PARADISE"?

   ANSWER:   The New Testament was written in Greek,  a language in which no
punctuation  marks are used.   The punctuation marks in our Bible have  been
inserted  by  our  later  Bible  translators,  and  punctuation  often  very
radically changes the meaning of a sentence, as the following story will il-
lustrate:

   In  a prayer meeting some one handed in a request which the  pastor  read
thus:   "A sailor going to sea, his mother-in-law desires the prayers of the
congregation  for his safe return to wife and child."   The request was  not
punctuated  at all,  but would imply that the young man's mother-in-law  was
very solicitious to have him return safely to his wife and child and  there-
fore  desired  the  prayers of the congregation.   Had the  pastor  read  it
without the comma,  it would have implied that the sailor,  going to see his
mother-in-law,  desired the prayers of the congregation for his safe  return
to wife and child,  and one would naturally think that the lady in  question
must be a Tartar when it was necessary for the young man to ask the  prayers
of the congregation before facing her.  In this case, if the words of Christ
are  read thus:   "Verily I say unto thee today,  thou shalt be with  me  in
Paradise," they would imply that the thief would be  with the Christ at some

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future time not defined.  But where the comma is placed before the world to-
day, as in the Bible, it gives the idea ordinarily held by people.

   That  this  idea  is absolutely wrong can be seen by the  remark  of  the
Christ  just after His resurrection,  when He said to the woman,  "Touch  me
not,  for I have not yet ascended to my Father."   If He promised the  Thief
that  he  should be with Him in Paradise on the day of the  crucifixion  and
three days later declared that He had not yet been there,  the Christ  would
have been guilty of a contradiction which,  of course,  is an impossibility.
Placing  of the comma as suggested fully reconciles the meaning of  the  two
passages, and besides Peter tells us that in the interval He worked with the
Spirits in Purgatory.

                              QUESTION NO. 99:

   WHAT IS THE ESOTERIC MEANING OF THE TWO THIEVES AND THE CROSS?

   ANSWER:   Contrary to the ordinarily accepted opinion,  the four  Gospels
are not at all the biography of jesus, the Christ; they are Formulae of ini-
tiation  of  four  different Mystery Schools, and in  order  to  veil  their
esoteric meaning, the life and ministry of the Christ  is also intermingled.

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That  could be easily done as all initiates,  being cosmic characters,  have
similar  experiences.   It is truly said that unto the multitude the  Christ
spoke in parables, but the hidden meaning was given to His disciples in pri-
vate.   Paul also gave the milk to the weak and the meat to the strong ones.
It  was  never intended at any time to give the hidden symbols  to  ordinary
people,  or to make the Bible "an open book of God,"  as people nowadays be-
lieve.

   When  reading in the memory of nature,  we find that at the time  of  the
crucifixion, there were not only two, but a number, who were crucified.  The
people of that time meted out capital punishment for the slightest  offenses
and there were always plenty to suffer these barbarous deaths.  Thus,  those
who wanted to veil the hidden meaning of the gospels were at no loss to find
something  wherewith to fill out the tale and obscure the points  which  are
really  vital  in the crucifixion.   The part of the story relating  to  the
thieves is,  therefore,  a true incident, without having anything to do with
the esoteric meaning at all.

[PAGE 2584]

                              QUESTION NO. 100:

   WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE CROSS?  IS IT SIMPLY AN INSTRUMENT OF  TORTURE
AS USUALLY TAUGHT IN THE ORTHODOX RELIGION?

   ANSWER:   Like  all other symbols,  the meanings of the cross  are  many.
Plato gave one of these meanings when he said, "The Worldsoul is crucified,"
that is to say:  We have four kingdoms in the world--the mineral, the plant,
the animal and the man.

   The  mineral kingdom ensouls all chemical substance of whatever kind,  so
that the cross,  of whatever material it is made,  is first a symbol of that
kingdom.

   The upright lower limb of the cross is a symbol of the plant kingdom  be-
cause  the currents of the group spirits which give life to the plants  come
from the center of the earth where these group spirits are located and reach
out toward the periphery of our planet and into space.

   The upper limb of the cross is the symbol of man,  because the life  cur-
rents  of the human kingdom pass downward from the sun through the  vertical
spine.   Thus  man is the inverted plant, for as the plant  takes  its  food
through the root, passing it UPWARD, so does the man take his nourishment by
way of the head,  passing it DOWNWARD.  The plant is chaste,  pure and  pas-
sionless,  and  stretches  its  creative organ,  the  flower,  chastely  and
unashamed TOWARD THE SUN, a thing of beauty and delight.  Man turns his pas-
sion filled generative organ TOWARD THE EARTH.   Man inhales the life giving
oxygen and exhales the poisonous carbon dioxide.  The plant takes the poison
exhaled by man, building its body therefrom, and returning  to us the elixir

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of life, the cleansed oxygen.

   Between  the  plant  and the human kingdom stands  the  animal  with  the
horizontal  spine,  and  in the horizontal spine the life  currents  of  the
animal  group  spirit play as they circle around our globe.   Therefore  the
horizontal limb of the cross is the symbol of the animal kingdom.

   In  esotericism the cross was never looked upon as an instrument of  tor-
ture,  and it was not until the sixth century that the crucified Christ  was
shown  in pictures.   Previous to that time the symbol of the Christ  was  a
cross  and a lamb resting at its foot, to convey the idea that at  the  time
when  the Christ was born the sun at the vernal equinox crossed the  equator
in the sign Aries,  the Lamb.   The symbols of the different religions  have
always  been  made  in that way.   At the time when the  sun  by  precession
crossed  the vernal equinox in the sign Taurus,  the Bull,  a  religion  was
founded  in Egypt where they worshiped the Bull Apis in the same sense  that
we worship the Lamb of God.   At a much earlier date,  we hear of the  norse
God Thor driving his twin goats across the sky.   That was at the time  when
the vernal equinox was in the sign Gemini,  the Twins.   At the time of  the
birth  of Christ,  the vernal equinox was in about 7 degrees of  Aries,  the
Lamb,  therefore our Savior was called the Lamb of God.  There was a dispute
in  the  earlier centuries regarding the propriety of having the lamb  as  a
symbol of our Savior.  Some claimed that the vernal equinox at His birth was
really  in the sign Pisces,  the Fishes, and that the symbol of  our  Savior
should have been a fish.   It is in memory of that dispute that the bishop's
mitre still takes the form of the head of a fish.

[PAGE 2586]

                              QUESTION NO. 101:

   COULD  NOT  THE MISSION OF CHRIST HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED WITHOUT  SUCH  A
DRASTIC METHOD AS THE CRUCIFIXION?

   ANSWER:  It could, of course, have been accomplished without the specific
method  of  crucifixion,  but IT WAS AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY  THAT  THE  BLOOD
SHOULD FLOW.   There are various grades of teachers and they require differ-
ent  conditions for the accomplishment of their task.   Some teachers,  like
Moses  and the Buddha,  come to a nation and help it to a certain  a  point,
they themselves growing thereby; and both of the teachers mentioned attained
to  the point in their own development where their bodies  became  luminous.
We  hear how the face of Moses shone so that it become necessary for him  to
use  a  veil,.   The Buddha become luminous at the time of his  death.   The
Christ attained the stage of luminosity at the time of His  transfiguration,
and  it  is very significant that the most important part of His  work,  His
suffering and death, took place after the event of the transfiguration.  And
while it become necessary for Moses, Elijah,  Buddha and the other  previous
teachers to be born in a physical body and will not need again to take  upon
Himself  such  an instrument.   For when the spirit leaves the body  in  the
natural  way it takes along certain impurities as it slowly  withdraws  from
the congealing blood.  Even in such a pure body as the body of Jesus,  there
were impurities,  and the violent death which caused the blood to run liber-
ated  the Ego of Christ from the blood with a quick wrench,  leaving  behind
whatever impurity there may have been, so that the Christ  emerged  from the

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body of Jesus unsullied and without the time of destiny usually attendant on
life in the dense body.

   On  the same principle it is a fact that although at the present time  we
have  wars  that are to be regretted from the mere human standpoint,  it  is
nevertheless  a fact which is patent to the occultist that these  wars  have
cleansed the blood of the race considerably,  so that gradually humanity  is
becoming less and less passionate and more and more spiritual.   Also we may
say  that  in  this  fact lies the redeeming feature  of  the  slaughter  of
animals.   When humanity went through the animal stage it had no red passion
filled  blood  as  our animals have;  we were not as  highly  evolved.   The
animals of today,  though behind us in evolution, are on a higher spiral and
while we now are suffering under the law of consequence because of having to
overcome our passions in our own strength,  the animals are being helped and
held  in check by their group spirits.  And when they reach the human  stage
in the Jupiter Period,  they will be a higher humanity,  free from the  pas-
sions which have made this world such a sorrowful place.  thus nature always
transmutes whatever evil we may commit into a higher good.

   Answering the question,  we may therefore say that in the case of  Christ
the  violent  death was necessary because it enabled the  Christ  Spirit  to
withdraw from the body of Jesus without retaining any of the impurities  at-
tached to that merely human vehicle.

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                              QUESTION NO. 102:

   ACCORDING TO THE ROSICRUCIAN TEACHING, WHEN WILL CHRIST COME AGAIN?

   ANSWER:  The Bible says truly that the "day and the hour knoweth no man,"
and the people who have been trying to fix a certain date or a certain  year
for the Second Coming have entirely misunderstood the object of the Christ's
mission on earth.  His teaching was given to humanity in order that the law,
"An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" might be abolished--that THE LAW
OF FEAR (of God) might be swallowed up by THE LAW OF LOVE.  "The law and the
prophets were until Christ," it is said, but we know that even today law is,
and is necessary.   Therefore,  it is evident that law was not abolished  at
the  physical  coming  of Christ.   It is the coming  of  Christ  into  "the
within,"  the inner nature of man,  that is to abolish law.   paul speaks of
this  advent as the "Christ being formed in ye,"  and until the  Christ  has
been formed in us we are not ready for the Second Coming.   Angelus Silesuis
says:

         "Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
         And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn.
         The cross on Golgotha thou lookest to in vain,
         Unless within thyself it be set up again."

   The Second Coming of Christ depends upon how soon a sufficient number  of
people have become Christ-like and attuned to the Christ principle. so that,
as  tuning  forks of the same pitch sing together when one is  struck,  they
will be able to respond to the Christ vibrations that will be set up at  the
return of the Savior.  Therefore, this event is not to be calculated.  Every
time we endeavor to imitate Christ and fulfil His teachings,  we are hasten-
ing His Coming; so let us thus strive.

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                              QUESTION NO. 103:

   WHAT  IS MEANT BY THE SAYING THAT CHRIST WAS MADE A HIGH  PRIEST  FOREVER
AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHISEDEC?

   ANSWER:   We are told that this Melchisedec was king of Salem and also  a
high priest.   We are told that his priesthood was far above that of  Aaron,
for it was unchangeable,  while that of Aaron and the Levites was subject to
frequent change.

   During  the times of which we have records in history,  there has  always
been  a division of the temporal and the ecclesiastical powers.   Moses  was
the  temporal  ruler and leader of the Jewish people,  while Aaron  was  the
priest who looked after their spiritual welfare,  and down the ages this di-
vision of the church and the state has ever been apparent,  at times causing
great  strife and bloodshed,  for their interests seem ever to be  diametri-
cally opposite.   But at the time of this Melchisedec, king of Salem,  which
interpreted means "PEACE,"  there was no such division, the two offices were
combined  in  one individual.   The story of Melchisedec,  a  Being  without
earthly pedigree,  refers, of course, to the time in early Atlantis when hu-
manity  had not yet been divided into warring nations,  but were  one  vast,
peaceful brotherhood, and the leaders of the people were Divine Beings,  who
were both kings and priests.

   The later division of church and state has been one of the most  fruitful
sources  of  enmity and war among humanity,  for each of  these  powers  has
striven  for supremacy over the other,  while in reality there should be  no
prejudice,  for no one who is not as spiritual as a priest should be is  fit
to rule as a king, and no one who is not as wise and just as a  king  should

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be  is fit to have the spiritual guidance of humanity as the  priests  have.
When these qualities are combined in one leader again,  the reign of univer-
sal peace and brotherhood will become a fact.   The Christ has been heralded
as such a leader, capable of uniting church and state as king and priest af-
ter the order of Melchisedec.   His Second Coming inaugurates the milennium,
the age of peace and joy,  where the symbolical New Jerusalem,  the city  of
peace  (for  Jer-u-salem,  means "THERE SHALL BE PEACE"),  reigns  over  the
nations of the earth, united into one universal brotherhood.  There shall be
Peace on Earth and Goodwill among Men.

                              QUESTION NO. 104:

   WHAT  DID CHRIST MEAN WHEN HE SAID, "ALL WHO CAME BEFORE ME WERE  THIEVES
AND ROBBERS"?

   ANSWER:   We read in the Bible about two great cities,  strangely similar
yet directly opposite.  One is the city of Babylon, the birthplace of confu-
sion,  where mean ceased to be brothers and separated from one another.   It
lies upon seven hills by a river and is ruled over by a king.   Lucifer--the
"day star"--the light giver.  His fall from heaven is  lamented  exceedingly

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in  the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah,  and later on we hear of the  fall  of
that great city, which has become an abomination, is called a harlot, having
caused war, trouble and desolation among all the people of the earth.

   Then,  in supreme antithesis,  we are told of another city called the New
Jerusalem, which occupies the honored position as bride.  IN that city there
is NOT A FLOWING RIVER but A SEA OF GLASS.   It also lies upon seven  hills,
is ruled over by another light giver who is called "the light of the world,"
and it is a city of peace where the gates are never closed although the pre-
cious Tree of Life is within.  This city is not a city of this world,  but a
city which has come down from heaven.

   To  understand this symbology,  it is necessary to go back into  the  far
distant past when man-in-the-making had not yet attained the development  he
has today.   When he first came upon this earth the dense body was built  in
the  POLARIAN EPOCH,  and was vitalized by the interpenetration of  a  vital
body  in  the  HYPERBOREAN EPOCH.   At that time man was  like  the  Angels,
male-female,  a complete creative unit,  able to create from himself by pro-
jecting his whole creative forces--which is love.

   Later it becomes necessary for man to evolve a brain, and in order to ac-
complish that object one-half of his creative force was turned inward in or-
der to build the necessary organs.  From that time on, man must seek the co-
operation  of some one having the other half of the sex force available  for
propagation.  Now he loves selfishly to obtain the cooperation of another in
propagation;  the  other half of the creative force wherewith he  built  his
brain and larynx he also uses selfishly to think,  because he desires to ob-
tain knowledge.

[PAGE 2592]

   Previously  man had projected his whole creative force  without  reserve,
unselfishly.   Since the division of the sex force man has eventually become
selfish and therefore by attraction a prey to others of like nature.

   The  Angels were the humanity of the Moon Period and have since  attained
to their present high development,  but as in every great company there  are
stragglers,  so also in the case of the Angels there were some who  did  not
attain--a  class of beings which were behind the Angels but above  humanity.
They were in a sad state,  for they could not follow the present development
of  the Angels and neither could they sink as low into matter as man.   They
could not,  as the Angels, dispense with a brain, yet they were incapable of
building one for themselves,  so when humanity evolved the brain and  spinal
cord  they saw an opportunity in woman,  who expresses the negative pole  of
the creative force,  IMAGINATION,  the faculty which enables her to build  a
body in the womb.   In order to gain access to her consciousness this intel-
ligence took advantages of a perplexity then disturbing the woman on account
of her exercise of the imaginative faculty.

   At  that  time the eyes of humanity had not yet been  opened;  they  were
spiritual beings,  not quite conscious of the possession of a physical body.
The woman was the first to dimly observe that she and others possessed  such
an  instrument,  and  she had observed that at certain  times  some  of  her
friends whom she had previously perceived as having this physical appendage,
had lost it,  so she was troubled.   From the Angels she could obtain no in-
formation,  but this intelligence which appeared within herself in the  ser-
pentine spinal cord,  enlightened her, and "the serpent said unto the woman,
`Hath God said, ye shall not eat of every Tree in the Garden?'" to which she

[PAGE 2593]

answered that they had been forbidden "to eat  of the Tree of Knowledge" un-
der penalty of death.  But the serpent said:  "Ye shall not surely die,  for
God knows that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and
ye shall be as gods,  knowing good and evil."   The woman secured the  coop-
eration  of  the  man according to the instructions of  LUCIFER,  THE  LIGHT
GIVER,  and since then their eyes have been opened, they have known good and
evil.   But prior to that time man had been unconscious of the possession of
his body;  it had fallen away from him at times,  as the leaf falls from the
tree,  without inconveniencing or disturbing him,  for his consciousness had
been focused in the Spiritual World at all times.   But the Lucifer  spirits
desired a power over him, a foothold in his brain and spinal cord.  They in-
cited  him to break away from the yoke of the Angels and take  the  creative
function in his own hands.   By the oft repeated and ignorant abuse of  that
faculty the consciousness of man was withdrawn from the Spiritual Worlds and
focusedin the Physical World.   Then came death in all its present  terrible
aspects,  for man now regards this earth life as the only real  life.   When
that  ends,  he enters an existence of which he knows nothing and  which  he
consequently fears.

    Thus, on account of listening to Lucifer, THE FALSE LIGHT GIVER, man has
become subject to sorrow,  pain and death.  He has been robbed of his  inno-
cence and peace.   The Christ came into the world to save humanity from sin,
sorrow and death.  Therefore He called Himself the TRUE LIGHT,  and the oth-
ers,  who had come before, He characterized as thieves and robbers, for they
had  robbeed man of the spiritual sight though they had enlightened  him  in
the physical sense.

[PAGE 2594]

                              QUESTION NO. 105:

   WHAT DID THE CHRIST MEAN WHEN HE SAID,  "WHOSOEVER SHALL NOT RECEIVE  THE
KINGDOM OF GOD AS A LITTLE CHILD SHALL NOT ENTER THEREIN"?

   ANSWER:   In the world around us we see the kingdom of men,  where  every
one  is  endeavoring to maintain his own position and depends upon  his  own
ideas  and his own self-assertion to hold that position against all  comers.
When anything new is presented to him, his mental attitude is usually tinged
with skepticism.  He fears to be deceived.

   The  attitude of a little child with regard to what it sees or  hears  is
exactly the reverse of the position of its elders.   The little child has no
overwhelming  sense of its own superior knowledge,  but is frankly  ignorant
and therefore eminently teachable,  and it was to this trait that the Savior
referred in the passage quoted.

   When  we enter the higher life,  we must first forget everything that  we
knew in the world.   We must commence to look at things in an entirely  dif-
ferent way, and WHEN A NEW TEACHING IS BROUGHT BEFORE US WE MUST ENDEAVOR TO
RECEIVE  IT REGARDLESS OF OTHER FACTS PREVIOUSLY OBSERVED.   This  in  order
that we may be perfectly unbiased.   Of course,  we are not supposed to  be-
lieve offhand that "black is white,"  but if some one seriously asserts that
an object which we have hitherto regarded as black is really white, our mind
should be sufficiently open to prevent us from passing judgment at once  and
saying,  "Why,  I know that that object is black."   We should be willing to
reexamine the object to see if there may not be a  point of view whence that

[PAGE 2595]

thing  which we have thought black appears to be white.   Only when we  have
made thorough examination and have found that the thing is really black from
whatever point of view may we return to our previous opinion.

   There is nothing so remarkable about a child as the flexible attitude  of
its mind which renders it so teachable, and the pupil who endeavors to  live
the  higher life should always aim to keep his mind in that  fluidic  state,
for as soon as our ideas have become SET and incapable of being changed, our
progress ceases.   That was the great truth which the Christ was endeavoring
to  present to his hearers when he made the remark which has occasioned  the
question.

                              QUESTION NO. 106:

   DID NOT JESUS EAT FISH?  WHY THEN ARE THE ROSICRUCIANS VEGETARIANS?

   ANSWER:  After the Resurrection the Christ at one time appeared among His
disciples while they were in a locked room.   They did not recognize Him  at
once and did not believe that His was a material body.   But the vehicle  in
which He appeared was the vital body of Jesus, and  it was possible for Him,

[PAGE 2596]

as for anyone else capable of functioning in that vehicle, to draw matter of
the  chemical  region around Himself and build a perfectly  tangible,  dense
body in a moment.  In order to convince them that He was as usual,  He asked
for something to eat and was given a piece of a honeycomb and some fish.  It
is stated that he ate,  but not that he ate the fish,  and one who had  been
brought  up among strict vegetarians like the Essenes would not  have  eaten
the  fish any more than he would have eaten flesh if it had been set  before
him.

   It is also related of the Buddha that he died after gorging himself  upon
boar's  flesh,  which is highly amusing to anyone aware of the fact that  he
taught his disciples the simple and harmless life--to sustain the body  upon
the  purest  and best foods as they come directly from the  ground--and  was
moved  to the greatest pity at the sight of suffering on the part of man  or
beast.   The esoteric student understands that in olden times the boar was a
symbol of the esoteric knowledge.   One may give of his knowledge;  the more
we  give the more we have--at least the same amount of knowledge always  re-
mains.   This  truth  was taught in a symbol of  the  Norse  mythology:   In
Valhall the warriors who had fought the good fight were seated around tables
feasting upon the flesh of a boar, which was so constituted that as often as
they cut a part of its flesh away the flesh grew out at once,  so that there
was always plenty, no matter how much was taken or how many ate.  The Buddha
in his earth life had gorged himself upon this sacred knowledge, and when he
died he was full thereof.

   Nevertheless,  the inquirer has a wrong idea.   The Rosicrucians  do  not
teach that everyone should be a vegetarian AT ONCE.  In fact they teach that
the vegetarian diet generates an abundance of energy,  much more than  flesh
foods.  This  energy  is  not  only physical but spiritual, so that if a man

[PAGE 2597]

leads a sedentary life and is of a material disposition,  engaged,  perhaps,
in  sordid business transactions or in other lines of strictly material  en-
deavor,  this spiritual energy can find no vent and is apt to cause systemic
disturbances.   Only  those  who live an active,  outdoor  life,  where  the
abundance  of energy generated by the vegetarian food can be thrown off,  or
who  transmute that energy into spiritual endeavor,  can thrive on the  veg-
etarian diet.   Besides,  we recognize that the heredity of many generations
has  made  man partly carnivorous,  so that in the case of most  people  the
change  from a mixed diet to vegetables should be gradual.   The diet  which
suits  one  man is not fitted for another,  VIDE the old proverb  that  "one
man's meat is another man's poison,"  and no hard and fast rules can be laid
down which will apply equally to all people.  Therefore,  everything that we
eat as well as everything else connected with our personality should be  de-
termined by ourselves individually.

   The  Bible  says truly that is not that which goeth into the  mouth  that
defileth us.   If we crave and support ourselves upon loathsome food,  IT IS
THE  CRAVING THAT IS THE SIN,  and not the food itself.   If a man is  in  a
place where he cannot obtain the pure foods which he desires and craves,  he
ought to take the food which is obtainable, even flesh food,  without loath-
ing,  just as thankfully as he takes the pure food.   It will not defile him
because of his attitude of mind.

[PAGE 2598]

                              QUESTION NO. 107:

   IF  CHRIST  FED THE MULTITUDE WITH FISH,  WHY IS IT WRONG FOR US  TO  USE
THEM, OR EVEN FLESH, AS FOOD?

   ANSWER:  It is the nature of a beast of prey to eat any animal that comes
in its path,  and its organs are such that it must have that kind of a  diet
to exist, but EVERYTHING IS IN A STAGE OF BECOMING; it is always changing to
something higher.   Man, in his earlier stages of unfoldment,  was also like
the beasts of prey in certain respects;  however,  he is to become  God-like
and thus he must cease to destroy at some time in order that he may commence
to  create.   The Jews were still in a position where their  animal  natures
were so much to the fore that they had exceedingly small ideas of  altruism.
They clung closely to the law,  "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,"
and were not at all merciful in any respect.   We have gone a little further
along  the path of evolution,  and altruism is coming to the fore  more  and
more.

   We have been taught that there is no life in the universe but the life of
God.   That  "in Him we live and move and have our being."   That  His  life
animates  everything that is and therefore we naturally understand  that  as
soon  as  we  take  LIFE we are destroying THE FORM built  by  God  for  His
manifestation.   The  lower  animals are evolving spirits  and  have  sensi-
bilities.  It is their desire for experience that causes them to build their
various FORMS,  and when we take their forms away from theme we deprive them
of their opportunity for gaining experience.   We hinder their evolution in-
stead of helping them.   It is excusable in the cannibal,  who knows no bet-
ter, when he eats his fellow men.  We  now  regard  cannibalism with horror,

[PAGE 2599]

and the day will also come when we shall feel a like disgust at the  thought
of  making  our  stomachs the burying ground of the  carcasses  of  murdered
animals.

   It  is  natural that we should desire the very best of  food,  but  every
animal body has in it the poisons of decay.  The venous blood is filled with
carbon dioxide and other noxious products on their way to the kidneys or the
pores of the skin to be expelled as urine or perspiration.   These loathsome
substances  are in every part of the flesh and when we eat such food we  are
filling our own bodies with toxic poisons.  Much sickness is due to our  use
of flesh foods.

   When we cry to the Bible as authority for flesh eating we should also  be
willing  to follow its injunctions and stop eating pork,  which is the  most
horrible food of all.   It is a notable fact that the orthodox Jews who  ab-
stain  from the foods interdicted in the Bible are immune  from  consumption
and cancer.

   In a great many places where the Bible speaks of "meat," it is very plain
that  flesh food is not meant.   The chapter in Genesis where man's food  is
first allotted to him says that he should eat of every tree and herb bearing
seed,  "and to you it shall be for MEAT."   The most evolved people  at  all
times have abstained from flesh foods.  We see,  for instance,  Daniel,  who
was a holy man and a wise man,  beg that he might not be forced to eat meat,
but  that he and his companions be given pulse.   The children of Israel  in
the wilderness are spoken of as "LUSTING after flesh,"  and their God is an-
gry with them in consequence.

   There  is an esoteric meaning to the feeding of the multitude where  fish
was  used as food,  but looking to the purely material aspect we may sum  up
the points made in our answer by reiterating that we shall some time outgrow

[PAGE 2600]

flesh and fish eating as we have risen above cannibalism.   Whatever license
may  have been given in the barbaric past will disappear in  the  altruistic
future,  when more refined sensibilities shall have awakened us to a  fuller
sense of the horrors involved in the gratification of a carnivorous taste.

   For  a very full presentation of the question,  "Does the  Bible  justify
Flesh Eating," we would refer the inquirer to a little pamphlet by that name
issued by the Unity Society of Kansas City,  Missouri,  which gives the  pro
and the con with great impartiality, and shows that it was only as a conces-
sion to the before mentioned LUST for flesh that the practice was  tolerated
at all.

                              QUESTION NO. 108:

   PLEASE  EXPLAIN WHY THE FATTED CALF WAS NOT KILLED FOR THE RIGHTEOUS  SON
INSTEAD OF THE PRODIGAL.  WAS THAT NOT GIVING A REWARD FOR WRONG DOING?

   ANSWER:   The story of the prodigal son was a parable whereby the  Christ
intended  to  teach a lesson and not an actual fact.   It is a  story  which
tells  of  the  spirit's pilgrimage through  matter.   There  are  different
classes  of  spirits.  Some,  but  not  all,  have  gone  into the school of

[PAGE 2601]

experience,  the world.   They have descended from their high estate in  the
World of God gradually deeper and deeper into the sea of matter which blinds
them.   At  last they find themselves immeshed in the dense  matter  of  the
Physical World.  That is the turning point where they wake up; where the un-
conscious path of involution ends; where self-consciousness is attained plus
a consciousness of the world without.   But the spirit within is not content
to remain in this world.  Re-awakened to a sense of its inherent divinity it
feels drawn anew to the highest spheres, and says "I will arise and go to my
father."

   Then comes the toil of stripping off the various vehicles in which it has
become  immeshed and of raising itself once more to the conscious  communion
with  God.   While engaged in this arduous task "the Father meets it a  long
way off";  the still small voice from within begins to speak and tell of the
heavenly  glories and,  at last,  when either the evolution of humanity  has
been  completed or the single spirit has taken THE SHORT CUT OF  INITIATION,
there is a reunion with God and the other brothers who have not yet gone out
into the school of experience.   Naturally there is more rejoicing over  the
return  of one who has fought the good fight and has come back to his  heav-
enly home,  than over the one who has not yet sought to improve his opportu-
nity.

Continued with file "RC1073.TXT"

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