Filename: RC1076.TXT
Source: "The Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questions & Answers, Vol. I"
         by Max Heindel

[PAGE 2703]

                              QUESTION NO. 165:

   ARE NOT VENOMOUS AND DESTRUCTIVE REPTILES CREATED BY THE EVIL THOUGHTS OF
MEN,  SO FAR AS THE FORM IS CONCERNED?  AND, THEREFORE,  IS IT NOT AN ACT OF
LOVE  TO KILL THEM AND THUS LIBERATE THE DIVINE SPARK WITHIN SO THAT IT  MAY
OCCUPY A HIGHER FORM?

   ANSWER:  None of the animal forms which we see about us have been created
by man.  All these forms, from the highest to the lowest, are the emanations
of group spirits,  which are spiritual entities belonging to another  evolu-
tion than the human kingdom,  But man is a creator by means of his thoughts,
and the evil thoughts,  the thoughts of fear and hatred, do take form and in
the course of centuries they crystallize into what we know as bacilli.   The
bacilli of infectious diseases are particularly the embodiments of fear  and
hate, and therefore they are also vanquished by the opposite force, courage.
As a tuning fork will commence to vibrate when we strike another tuning fork
of the same pitch,  so also will these microscopic germs.   If we enter  the
presence  of  a  person  infection  with  a  contagious  disease in fear and

[PAGE 2704]

trembling,  we most assuredly draw to ourselves the death dealing  poisonous
microbes.   If  on the other hand,  we approach that person in  a  perfectly
fearless  attitude,  we shall escape the infection,  PARTICULARLY IF WE  ARE
PROMPTED BY LOVE.  But love does not prompt us to kill in the usual sense of
the word.   It is true that if we could deal directly with the LIFE of  evil
and  poisonous things and help them into a higher form,  we might  be  doing
good; but in the first place we are not capable of judging when that present
form has outlived its usefulness, and, therefore,  we cannot presume to take
the responsibility of depriving the informing life of its instrument in lov-
ing kindness.  The only time when we may sometimes properly kill for love is
in case an animal has been maimed beyond chance of recovery,  and we kill it
to end its sufferings.

                              QUESTION NO. 166:

   WHAT IS A GROUP SPIRIT, WHERE IS IT, AND WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

   ANSWER:   As a man has a body composed of many cells,  each with an indi-
vidual  consciousness,  so is a group spirit an entity  functioning  in  the
Spiritual  Worlds  and possessing a spiritual body composed of many separate

[PAGE 2705]

animal  spirits.   The group spirit itself cannot function in  the  Physical
World, but it evolves by sending the different animal spirits into a form of
body which it creates,  and which then forms a species or tribe of  animals,
and the group spirit guides all these animal bodies by means of  suggestions
which we call instinct.  When the body of an animal dies,  the animal spirit
has unconsciously derived a certain experience from functioning in that  ve-
hicle,  and  after a time it is reabsorbed into the spiritual  body  of  the
group  spirit,  where it remains for some time while the  group  spirit  as-
similates the experience gathered by that separate animal spirit.   Thus  in
time the group spirit grows and evolves.  So do the animal spirits which are
its wards.  They will become human in a future incarnation of the earth, and
then the group spirit will look after them as race or a national spirit  un-
til  they have become perfectly capable of taking care of  themselves  indi-
vidually.   The  group spirits of the animals are in the  Desire  World  and
circle  the surface of the earth.   The group spirits of the plants  are  in
that part of the Region of Concrete Thought which occupies the center of the
earth,  and the group spirits of the minerals have not yet properly  entered
the atmosphere of our earth.  They are in the Region of Abstract Thought.

   The group spirits of the animals are very often seen in the Desire  World
having human bodies and animal heads.   The illustrations upon the  Egyptian
temples represent in a crude way the appearance of these group spirits.  The
trained  investigator finds no difficulty in conversing with them and  often
he has cause to marvel at their erudition.

[PAGE 2706]

                              QUESTION NO. 167:

   ARE ANIMALS AMENABLE TO THE LAW OF CAUSATION?

   ANSWER:   No, not in the sense of being MORALLY responsible.   Of course,
if an animal jumps out a window from a high building,  that as a cause  will
produce  lesions  according to the nature of the fall it sustains,  just  as
when a human beings jumps out of the window.   But in the case of the animal
there  is only the physical effect shown by the hurt it suffers,  while  the
man who deliberately commits such an act not only sustains certain  lesions,
but  he is also MORALLY RESPONSIBLE for the instrument which  he  possesses,
and the law of causation brings to him an adequate MORAL retribution of such
a  nature that he will learn to take care of his instrument and not seek  to
destroy it by such acts in the future.

   The  reason why the animal has no moral responsibility is that is has  no
reasoning power,  but ordinarily acts by direction of the group spirit which
we call instinct,  and it may be that instinct has instilled a fear into the
animal  which  causes it to commit an act resulting in injury to  its  body.
Before  anyone can be MORALLY responsible to the law of causation,  he  must
have a certain free will and choice,  also the power of reasoning  properly,
and, therefore, we reiterate that as animals are devoid of these attributes,
they are not at all amenable MORALLY to the law of causation.

[PAGE 2707]

                              QUESTION NO. 168:

   DO ANIMALS LIVE AFTER DEATH?

   ANSWER:   That which lives is THE SPIRIT, which has neither beginning nor
end, IT IS.  But what you mean is, most likely, does it persist in the shape
of an animal?   to that question we may say yes, it persists for a longer or
a shorter time,  according to the stage of its evolution,  in a desire  body
made of the material of the Desire World.   Even the beetle tat crawls  over
the  sidewalk and is stepped upon may be seen by the clairvoyant to  walk  a
few feet away and then gradually fade to nothingness.   It persists only for
a  few moments in its shape before the spirit returns to the central  source
of the group spirit.   In the case of a horse,  a cow,  or any of the higher
animals,  there is a correspondingly longer time and more  consciousness  in
the Desire World than in the case of these lower forms.   As an illustration
we may mention a case which attracted considerable attention a few years ago
when Rider Haggard, the English novelist, published a remarkable dream.   He
had a dog to whom he was very much attached,  and one night he dreamed  that
the  dog came to him showing signs of embarrassment and distress,  beckoning
him  to come along.   Rider Haggard in his dream followed the dog which  led
the  way some distance to a brook.   There among some bulrushes,  it  showed
Rider Haggard ITSELF lying dead,  looking up at him in mute and piteous  ap-
peal for an explanation.

   When  Rider Haggard woke the following morning,  he remembered the  dream
most  vividly,  but took no notice of it until later in the day when it  was
discovered that the  dog  was  missing.  After a search had been made in the

[PAGE 2708]

immediate  neighborhood,  Rider Haggard finally betook himself to  the  spot
seen in his dream.   There he found among the bulrushes the body of his  dog
in the very position he had seen it in his dream.  Explanations,  of course,
could not be given;  it was a puzzling experience and that was all.   But to
the  occultist it is very plain that the intelligent dog,  having met  death
and finding itself in the Desire World at night, went to its master, who was
at that time also outside his body,  and brought him to the place of the ac-
cident in order to obtain his help and explanation.

                              QUESTION NO. 169:

   WHEN A PET DOG OR CAT DIES,  DOES THE ENTIRE GROUP SPIRIT TO WHICH IT BE-
LONGS DIE AT THE SAME TIME?  ALSO WHAT BECOMES OF THE ANIMAL SOUL,  AND DOES
THE HUMAN LOVE AND CARE IT HAS RECEIVED HELP IT ON ITS UPWARD JOURNEY?

   ANSWER:   The question shows that the inquire has not the proper idea  of
what a group spirit is.  As our body is composed of innumerable cells,  each
cell having its own little cell life, but all the cells subjected to our own
central  intelligence,  so  the  group  spirit  of a species of animals is a

[PAGE 2709]

spiritual  entity belonging to a different evolution and having a  spiritual
body  composed  of many evolving animal spirits.   These animal  spirits  it
sends  into  incarnation  from time to time into the animal  bodies  of  its
tribe,  one  spirit  to each body,  and at death they return  to  the  group
spirit,  having gained a higher grade of consciousness than when  they  were
born.   This helps the group spirit to evolve,  and in return it governs the
spirits  of the separate animals in its tribe.   Like all other  spirits,  a
group spirit cannot die.   It is the guardian of the animal spirits,  and as
they  evolve the spiritual body of the group spirit undergoes a  metamorpho-
sis.   When the separate animal spirits have evolved sufficiently,  they be-
come individualized human beings,  but continue in charge of the same  group
spirit,  as we see nations or races under the domination of a  race  spirit.
They do not become their own masters until they have evolved even beyond the
point of having family or national ties.  That was why Christ said that "un-
less  a  man leave father and mother he cannot follow me,"  for  father  and
mother are bodies--they are ties and clogs.   The spirits have no father and
no mother, but are all one in the ultimate.

   As  to what becomes of the animal soul at death,  we may say  that  after
passing out of this body it soon returns to the group spirit,  and the  love
and  care which we have given it naturally further it greatly in its  evolu-
tion,  for  while the wild animals act entirely under the  dictates  of  the
group spirit by that which we call instinct, the domestic animals show a ca-
pability of thought,  entirely beyond their normal evolution at the  present
time.   They have received that ability from us on the same  principle  that
when  we take a wire highly charged with electricity and place another  wire
which  is  not  charged  close to it, the uncharged wire will become charged

[PAGE 2710]

with electricity OF A LOWER VOLTAGE.   In a similar manner the animal  which
comes  in contact with human beings is not itself capable of  thinking,  but
learns to do so in a measure by this contact.   And we may safely infer that
those animals which have become domesticated will in time become the  teach-
ers of their less advanced brothers.

                              QUESTION NO. 170:

   WHAT  SUBSTANCE  DOES A PERSON OR ANIMAL THROW OFF WHEREBY  THEY  CAN  BE
TRACED, AS, FOR EXAMPLE, CRIMINALS ARE TRACED BY BLOODHOUNDS?

   ANSWER:  When a clairvoyant looks at other persons with etheric sight for
the  first  time,  he is usually astonished at beholding showers  of  stars,
pyramids, double pyramids and all other geometrical forms issuing from their
hands and faces, and he wonders greatly what they are.  Later on,  he learns
that they are the crystals of which his body is composed and which are  thus
being excreted by the skin.   Most of the excretions remain in the clothing,
and furnish bloodhounds or dogs with the necessary starting point for  their
search.  As these atoms decay,  they emit an effluvia similar to that of all

[PAGE 2711]

decaying bodies.   This effluvia we sense ourselves where soiled clothing is
left unlaundered for some time.   The dogs, having a keener scent than human
beings, distinguish between the effluvia from one person and another, and as
the atoms left by a person fleeing from justice are strewn along the path he
has taken, it is easy for the bloodhound to distinguish these from the atoms
of other people or animals for a short time after the fugitive has passed.

                           MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS:

                                 DIAGRAM 13A:

                         THE SEVEN DAYS OF CREATION:    

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          |    [  Stage of Unconscious  ]    |    [  Stage of Conscious   ]   |
          |    [      Involution.       ]    |    [      Evolution.       ]   |
          |    [  Growth of the 3-fold  ]    |    [  Growth of the 3-fold ]   |
          |<---[  body, the focus of    ]--->|<---[ by right action, right]-->|
          |    [  mind & attainment of  ]    |    [    feeling and right  ]   |
          |    [  self-consciousness.   ]    |    [        thought.       ]   |
          |                                  |                                |
          |                                  |                                |
          |                                  |                                |
          ||--------|                        |                        |-------|
          ||THRONES |                        |                        |We will| 
  World   ||awakened|                        |                        |  be   |
   of     || the    |                        |                        | God-  |
  Divine  ||Divine  |                        |                        |  Men  |
  Spirit  || Spirit |                        |                        |  and  |
          || in man |                        |                        | Crea-
----------||and gave|----------------------- |------------------------|--tors-|
  World   ||him  the||--------|              |               |-------||  by   |
   of     || thought||CHERUBIM|              |               |We will||Amalga-|
  Life    ||form  of||awakened|              |               | be    || mating|
  Spirit  ||   a    ||  the   |              |               | Demi- || the   |
----------||-Dense--||-Life---|--------------|---------------|-Gods--||-3-fold|
W Region  || Body.  || Spirit ||--------|    |     |--------|| and   || Soul  |
O  of     ||        || in Man ||SERAPHIM|    |     |We will ||extract|| with  |
R Abstract||        ||and gave||awakened|    |     |  be    ||  the  ||  the  |
L Thought || Lords  ||him  a  ||  the   | We are   |Super-  || Emo-  || Mind. |
D         ||   of   ||germinal|| Human  | human    |  Man   ||tional ||       |
          ||  Mind  || Vital  || Spirit | here>>   |  and   || Soul  ||       |
O ........||..were..||.Body...||and gave|.....\|/..|.extract||.from..||.......|
F         || human. || which  ||the germ||--------||  the   ||  the  || Mine- |
          ||        ||  was   || of the || LORDS  ||Intel-  || Desire|| rals  |
T Region  ||        ||then  a || Desire ||  OF    ||lectual || Body. ||will be|
H   of    ||        || thought||  Body  || FORM   ||  Soul  ||       || human.|
O Concrete||        ||  form. || which  ||        ||  from  ||       ||       |
U Thought || Globes ||        ||was then||  Mind  ||  the   ||       || Globes|
G         || of the ||        ||   a    ||given by|| Vital  ||Plants ||of  the|
H         || SATURN ||        || thought||Lords of|| Body.  ||will be|| VULCAN|
T         || PERIOD ||        ||  form. ||  Mind  ||        ||human. || PERIOD|
          ||--------||        ||        ||is now a||        ||       ||-------|
----------|----------|--------||--------||-thought||--------||-------|---------
  Desire  |          |        ||        || form.  ||        ||       |
  World   |          |        ||        ||        || Animals||       |
          |          | Globes ||        ||  Con-  ||will be || Globes|
          |          | of the ||        || scious || human. ||of  the|
          |          |  SUN   ||        ||  Soul  ||        || VENUS |
          |          | PERIOD ||        ||  ex-   ||        || PERIOD|
          |          |--------||        || tracted||        ||-------|
----------|--------------------|--------||-from---||--------|------------------
P         |                    |        || Dense  ||        | 
H         |                    |        || Body. M||        |
Y         |                    | Globes ||M      E|| Globes |
S Etheric |                    | of the ||A      R|| of the |
I Region  |                    |  MOON  ||R      C|| JUPITER|
C         |                    | PERIOD ||S      U|| PERIOD |
A         |                    |--------||1/2    R||--------|
L ........|..............................|.......Y|............................
          |                              |     1/2|
W         |                              | Globes |
O Chemical|                              | of the |
R Region  |                              | EARTH  |
L         |                              | PERIOD |
D         |                              |--------| 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Involution brings the spirit              Evolution lifts the spirit out of
down into matter by crystal-              matter by spiritualizing the bodies
lizing it into bodies.                    into soul.

                Epigenesis, the original creative activity
                of the spirit, is the lever and the Mind
                is the fulcrum upon which Involution turns
                to Evolution.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[PAGE 2712]

                              QUESTION NO. 171:

   WHAT IT THE ORIGIN OF LIFE?

   ANSWER:   When that question is asked a scientist,  he will  commence  to
tell  us about protoplasm,  protyle or something else of a like nature,  but
that is form.   No matter how small,  insignificant and simple that form may
be, it is still a form, and from the occultist's point of view, the question
is poorly put,  for the spirit,  IS,  WAS and WILL ALWAYS BE.   As Sir Edwin
Arnold says in his beautiful poem, "The Song Celestial":

   "Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be
         never;
   Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are
         dreams!
   Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the
         spirit for ever;
   Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of
         it seems!
   "Nay, but as when one layeth his worn-out robes away,,
   And, taking new ones, sayeth, 'These will I wear today!'
   So putteth by the spirit lightly its garb of flesh,
   And passeth to inherit a residence afresh."

   It  is LIFE that builds the FORMS and uses them for a time in order  that
it  may  progress thereby.  When their usefulness has ceased the life passes

[PAGE 2713]

on,  leaving the forms behind,  and then they are dead.   Thus the  question
should rather be "How did the dead originate?"  for life IS--it has  neither
origin nor termination.

                              QUESTION NO. 172:

   WHAT IS MATTER?  IS IT NOT UNREAL?

   ANSWER:  There are various theories of matter.  If we ask the materialist
he, of course, maintains that MATTER IS THE ONE REALITY; that all and every-
thing is matter and that nothing can exist except that.   The Christian Sci-
entist  is  of  the  very  opposite  opinion.    He  holds  that  matter  is
nonexistent--a delusion;  that EVERYTHING THAT IS,  IS SPIRIT,  and so those
two classes of people are the very antitheses of one another.  But the truth
is between.

   When  God  desires to manifest,  He emanates within Himself  the  thought
forms of such a universe as he desires to create, and these archetypal ideas
are spirit when first emanated in that central source.  But under the influ-
ence  of time and space,  they slowly crystallize and become that  which  we
know as matter.   This is a similar process to that which we may observe  in
the case  of  a  snail.  The  juices of its soft and flexible body gradually

[PAGE 2714]

crystallize into the hard and flinty shell which is incapable of moving save
as propelled by the snail.   Thus, as the house of the snail is crystallized
snail,  SO MATTER IS CRYSTALLIZED SPIRIT.  And as the house of the snail re-
mains  stationary when not moved by the snail,  so matter is  immobile  save
when moved by the spirit.   But in the course of time the snail's house goes
to decay.   The matter of which it was formed is broken up into minute  par-
ticles  and becomes available for the building of other  flexible  forms--it
may  become  the  body  of  a  snail  again.   So,   also  the  crystallized
spirit--matter--is re-etherealized and becomes spirit again.  Matter evolves
as well as spirit,  for it becomes more etheral, more flexible,  and or ame-
nable  to the impacts of spirit when it is built into different  forms  time
after time.

   Thus  we  may say with the Christian Scientist that all is  spirit,  that
which  appears as matter being in reality spirit in a state of  crystalliza-
tion,  and  we may also agree with the materialist that all is  matter,  for
spirit which has not yet crystallized into matter will eventually do so.  It
is a mistake to consider anything in God's Universe as unreal;  both  matter
and spirit are real.  They are the positive and negative poles of God.

[PAGE 2715]

                              QUESTION NO. 173:

   YOU  SAID  IN A PREVIOUS LECTURE THAT THE EARTH IS THE BODY OF  A  SPIRIT
WHICH  GIVES ITS LIFE FOR THE DWELLERS UPON THE SURFACE.   WHY DOES IT  GIVE
FLOWERS AND FRUIT TO SOME AND EARTHQUAKE AND FAMINE TO OTHERS?

   ANSWER:   During  the  interval  between  death  and  a  new  birth,  the
discarnate  spirits who have reached the Second Heaven where the  archetypes
of  everything are,  build their future environment in which they reap  what
they  have sown.   If they have been diligent in past lives,  if  they  have
tilled  the soil and made two blades of grass to grow where there  was  only
one,  they  will build for themselves a still more fertile land  which  will
yield greater fruits for less labor.  If they have spent their time thinking
of NIRVANA,  a heavenly place of rest and indolence,  and have loved more to
enter into metaphysical discussion than to look after material things,  they
will continue to do so in the Second Heaven,  and in consequence their  land
will be arid when they come back to earth life.   They will then  experience
famine, flood and earthquake, so that they may realize the necessity of pro-
viding for material conditions.   Thus they will in time learn their  lesson
and  strive  to  conquer this world as we have done in  the  West,  for,  of
course, the inquirer has reference to the people of the East who suffer from
flood and famine.   They are our younger brethren,  behind us in  evolution,
and must follow in our footsteps.   They must learn to forget,  for a  time,
the spiritual worlds in order to attain the development which only the mate-
rial world can give them.  Thus, there is a deep purpose in the famine which
is at present their lot and there  is  a  purpose as deep in our prosperity.

[PAGE 2716]

Their  famine will eventually drive them into more material conditions,  but
we,  having a land of plenty with all the good things of this  world,  where
ingenious inventions make life easier on every hand,  will eventually say to
ourselves, when we have been satisfied with these material blessings,  "What
is the good of it all?  Give us, rather, the spiritual things,"  and we will
then enter a spiritual development much higher than that of the East.

                              QUESTION NO. 174:

   WHAT IS MEANT BY THE SENTENCE "MAN, KNOW THYSELF?"

   ANSWER:   This sentence was found above the entrance to a  Greek  mystery
temple as an indication of the fact that it is obligatory upon man to  thor-
oughly understand the mystery of his own nature,  which is much deeper  than
is apparent on the surface.   This,  on the principle of the hermetic axiom,
"as  above,  so below."   When he understands himself and knows himself,  he
will be able by analogy to know about God.   For it is truly said that  "Man
was made in the image of God."

   But to know himself it is not only necessary  that  he  should understand

[PAGE 2717]

that which he sees,  the physical body,  but also the invisible bodies which
are the causes of his thoughts, feelings and emotions.   This was the teach-
ing given in the mystery temples.

   There  is still another and a far deeper meaning to that sentence.   When
we  ask ourselves the causes of all the sorrow and the misery in the  world,
we must revert to the earliest epochs of the earth's existence to solve  our
problem.  In the first two Epochs, the Polarian and the hyperborean, man was
a complete creative unit,  capable of sending forth from himself the  forces
which generated a body for another being.   But in the Lemurian Epoch,  when
it became necessary to build a brain and a larynx, the sex force was divided
and  one half retained in order to accomplish that object.   Only the  other
half  remained available for generation.   Then man ceased to KNOW  HIMSELF,
but "Adam KNEW his wife," and as a result she bore him children.

   The  spirit inherently feels its own divine creative nature and  secretly
rebels against the necessity of seeking the cooperation of another to gener-
ate.   As a result,  sorrow, trouble and pain have come into the world,  and
will  exist so long as the present method of procreation makes it  necessary
for  two to cooperate to perpetuate the species.   And it was  the  glorious
goal  that  is set before humanity in the future--the coalition of  the  two
poles  of the creative force which will gain make man an individual  Creator
complete  in himself--that was adumbrated in the mystery words,  "Man,  know
thyself."

   The Apostle John, in his First Epistle, the 3rd chapter, 8th verse, tells
us the way of attainment where he says that "He that commiteth sin is of the
devil...For  this  purpose  was the Son of God  manifested,  that  he  might
destroy  the  works  of the devil....Whosever is born of God does not commit

[PAGE 2718]

sin, FOR HIS SEED REMAINETH IN HIM."

   Where the animal propensities are catered to and an abnormal use is  made
of  the sex force,  a man is apt to become an idiot,  but the thoughts of  a
spiritual man are pure, chaste and full of wisdom.

   At the present time, cooperation of the sexes is necessary to procreation
of vehicles for Egos who are coming to rebirth,  but the time will come when
man  will cease to create in that manner.   HE WILL KNOW  HIMSELF.   Concen-
trated thought as the seed will remain within himself,  but he will manifest
it by means of the larynx as a Creative Word,  a word that will form  things
in the Physical World.   Then it will no longer be necessary for mankind  to
seek the cooperation of one another in providing new vehicles.   This he was
taught in the mystery schools,  which are way stations upon the path of  at-
tainment,  and therefore the saying "Man,  know thyself"  was inscribed upon
the Delphian oracle.

[PAGE 2719]

                              QUESTION NO. 175:

   WHAT IS THE HOLY GRAIL?

   ANSWER:   The  story of the Holy Grail is one of the myths  used  by  the
great leaders of humanity to convey to us spiritual truths in symbols  which
would at that time have been incomprehensible to our infant intellect.

   The Grail story is found, variously told, in all the earlier races as far
back  as we can trace religious teaching,  and libraries have  been  written
about this wonderful mystic panacea for all ills.

   In medieval times many versions of this legend were recited by minstrels,
minnesingers,  troubadours or master-singers.  Most beautiful, perhaps,  was
the simple version of Wolfram von Eschenback, which was taken in hand by the
master artist of the nineteenth century, Richard Wagner, in his famous music
drama "Parsifal."

   The  story relates that on the night when our Savior ate the last  supper
with His disciples,  He drank from a certain cup or chalice,  and later one,
when the lifeblood flowed from His wounded side,  Joseph of Arimathea caught
the life blood of our dying Savior in yon chalice.   He also took the  spear
wherewith  that wound had been inflicted.  These relics he carried with  him
for many years, and such was the wonderful life giving power of the Savior's
blood that it sustained him throughout all his privations, in prison, and on
his wanderings.  At last, the relics were taken up into heaven for a time in
the  care of Angels,  but one night there appeared a mystic  messenger  sent
from God to the holy Titurel with command that he build a castle HIGH IN THE
AIR, upon a mountain top, and there gather around himself a bank of knights,
WHO MUST BE CHASTE AND PURE.   These Grail Knights were permitted to  behold
the sacred relics at stated times and thus they became inspired with  desire
and  power  to  go into the world to do mighty  spiritual  deeds.   In  time
Titurel  gave  the wardership of the Grail to his son Amfortas  and  in  his
reign as King of the Grail, a sad calamity befell the Grail Knights.

   There lived in "A HEATHEN VALE"  below  the  castle a black knight by the

[PAGE 2720]

name  of Klingsor who desired to become a Knight of the Grail.   he was  not
chaste,  so  in order to meet the condition he mutilated himself in  such  a
manner that it became impossible for him TO GRATIFY DESIRE.  But when he ap-
plied to the holy Titurel,  the latter saw his heart and refused him  admit-
tance.   Then Klingsor swore that if he might not serve the Grail, the Grail
should serve him.   He peopled the garden of his magic castle with  illusory
phantasmic flower maidens who waylaid the Knights of the Grail on their pas-
sage  to and from the castle,  seduced them and thus disqualified  them  for
further service as Grail Knights.

   Fearing  that  all  the Knights of the Grail would  become  prisoners  of
Klingsor,  Amfortas decided to fight the black magician.   He took with  him
the holy spear to accomplish his object.  But Klingsor evoked KUNDRY, who is
a creature of two existences.   At one time she is the faithful and  willing
servitor of the Grail, at another time the unwilling tool of Klingsor.  When
serving the Grail, she is humble, obedient and simply clad.  Under the spell
of  Klingsor,  she becomes beautiful in the extreme,  a  woman  of  seducing
charms,  and  these she is forced to use as Klingsor bids her,  for  he  has
power  over  her  by virtue of the fact that he is not  susceptible  to  her
charms on account of his act of mutilation.

   Kundry meets Amfortas,  who falls before her charms.   While lying in her
arms the spear falls from his hand and is snatched by the waiting  Klingsor,
who  inflicts A WOUND THAT CANNOT HEAL, and for many years the King  suffers
tortures, particularly when he unveils the Holy Grail for the benefit of his
knights.  Then the spear wound commences to bleed anew, causing him the most
excruciating pain.

[PAGE 2721]

   Roughly  speaking,  the giving one of the several  valid  interpretations
which  appertain to the Grail mystery,  as to other symbols,  Kundry is  the
negative dense body which at one time is under the control of the higher na-
ture  symbolized by the Grail Knights,  and another time ruled by the  lower
desire nature symbolized by Klingsor, which tempts the spirit to forsake its
higher  ideals,  and  causes suffering when temptation is  yielded  to.   In
Parsifal,  the  pure and guileless one,  we see the man  who  overcomes  and
therefore succeeds to the wardership of the Grail.

   On Good Friday morning,  1857, Richard Wagner sat at the Villa Wesendonck
by the Zurich Sea,  and as he looked about him the sun was shining,  all na-
ture was smiling and from the millions of seeds buried in the ground  around
him,  innumerable  plants and flowers were sprouting.   The  thought  struck
Wagner, "What is the connection between the death of the Savior at this time
of the year and this manifold sprouting life,"  and in that thought he  came
very near to the key to the mystery of the Grail,  for the Grail was a  Mys-
tery School,  one of many which existed in the Middle Ages.   The stories of
King  Arthur  and his Knights of the Round Table are not  fables,  they  are
facts.   There  was  such a Mystery in Wales as late as the  time  of  Queen
Elizabeth.  And these Mystery Schools exist to the very present day,  though
not  as publicly known as they were in the more spiritual  mediaeval  times.
They  Mystery of King Arthur dealt more with the material and temporal  side
of  life  than  the Mystery of the Grail,  which  was  altogether  pure  and
spiritual.   And there the pupil was taught,  not in words,  but THE FEELING
WAS GIVEN TO HIM, a teaching from within, which we may express as follows:

   You see all around you the various kingdoms  in the world.  There is man,

[PAGE 2722]

animal,  plant and mineral.   The LIFE which is in each of these kingdoms is
the  one  universal life of God, which manifests through all  these  various
FORMS.   When the forms decay it becomes necessary to provide other forms in
their places,  hence the generative activity which serves this purpose.   In
the plant kingdom,  which is beneath you, that activity is pure,  chaste and
immaculate.  There is no passion connected with it in any respect.

   In the kingdoms of the Gods, which are beyond you,  it is also carried on
as  a process of regeneration which is pure and holy.   But in the  kingdoms
which  stand between the plant and the gods,  conditions are the reverse  of
chaste.   Man  and animal are passionate.  MAN IS,  IN  FACT,  THE  INVERTED
PLANT.  The plant is unashamed and stretches its creative organ, the flower,
towards the sun,  a thing of beauty and delight,  pure,  chaste and passion-
less.  Man turns his creative organ toward the earth; he hides it with shame
because it is filled with passion.  In time man is to become a god, he is to
use  his  creative  ability  for the benefit of others  and  not  for  sense
gratification.  And so in time man must become plant-like on a higher scale.
Therefore,  you see this symbol:   THE POD OF THE PLANT WHICH HOLDS THE SEED
IS THE GRAIL CUP,  and the spear which brigs that seed forth from the flower
is the ray of the sun.  You, also, must learn to take the solar force, which
is the builder of all forms,  and use it in your creative organ without pas-
sion,  so that that which you create shall be immaculately conceived and not
as now begotten in sin.

   The juice of the plant flows through its green stem and leaves uncolored,
pure and chaste.   Your blood is red and filled with passion, but in the re-
generation  that  blood must be cleansed by the spiritual force  which  will
come  to  you  from  the  spiritual sun, as the forces from the physical sun

[PAGE 2723]

bring forth the juice of the plant.  And having become thus regenerated, you
will die as a man to be resurrected a God.

                              QUESTION NO. 176:

   WHAT  WAS  THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE PYRAMID BUILDERS OF EGYPT  AND  THE
PYRAMID BUILDERS OF CENTRAL AMERICA?  WHICH IS THE OLDER CIVILIZATION?

   ANSWER:   Anthropological researches have shown that the Black races have
a long, narrow head, narrow eye sockets and flat hair.  The Mongolian races,
the Indians,  etc.,  have round heads,  round eye sockets and their hair  is
round.   The head of the white races is oval, so are the eye sockets and the
hair,  showing that we have upon earth three kinds of people and  these  are
the  remnants  of the LEMURIAN RACE which lived in the Third  Epoch  of  the
earth's development.  The Mongolians, Indians, etc., are the remnants of the
ATLANTEAN PEOPLES and the white races are the present ARYANS.  Upon examina-
tion,  it  will be found that the Egyptians belonged to  our  present  Aryan
races, while the Aztecs show the peculiarities of skull, orbit and hair dis-
tinctive of the Atlantean people.  Therefore that civilization is older than
the Egyptian.

[PAGE 2724]

   Not much has been written concerning the pyramids of Central America, but
Piazzi Smith and Richard Proctor, both professional astronomers,  have writ-
ten  considerable concerning the pyramids of Egypt,  and have endeavored  to
find out what their use was.  From the measurements of the pyramids,  Piazzi
Smith deduces the theory that they were built by divine architects, a theory
which Professor Proctor ridicules,  although he finds the measurements  sup-
port  the theories of Professor Smith, but he attributes it to  coincidence.
When  the base of the pyramid measures as many hundreds of inches  as  there
are days in a year;  when the diagonals of the base show the same number  of
inches as there are years in the great sidereal world year,  it merely  hap-
pened so, in the estimation of Professor Proctor.  These coincidences are so
numerous,  however, that to an unbiased mind they appear to be an embodiment
of a definite design.  Professor Proctor, being an unwilling witness for the
theory that the Pyramid was designed for astrological purposes,  gives  aug-
mented  value to his testimony when he admits that of all the  theories  ad-
vanced concerning the use of the pyramids,  the theory that they were  built
for astrological purposes,  is the only one that can withstand the weight of
the  contrary evidence.   Therefore,  though he characterizes it as  a  wild
theory, it is the only tenable one, according to evidence.

   As a matter of fat, the pyramids were temples of initiation, built by the
Hierophants  of  the lesser mysteries,  and as initiation of  candidates  is
founded  upon  the passage of the heavenly bodies,  the stars,  through  the
twelve signs of the zodiac, so naturally, these temples of initiation embod-
ied all the cosmic measurements.  Only the pyramid of Cheops among the Egyp-
tian group was thus used.   The others were simply imitations built at later
times  by  some  of  the  Pharoahs.  The  lesser  mysteries  have existed in

[PAGE 2725]

different parts of the world and at various times.  In India,  in Egypt,  in
Greece,  and also in Central America.  Therefore, the connection between the
pyramid builders of one part of the world and another is that they were  all
the Hierophants of the lesser mysteries and that their temples were used for
purposes of initiations.

                              QUESTION NO. 177:

   WHAT IS THE ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TEACHINGS OF THE ROSICRUCIAN
PHILOSOPHY AND THE ORTHODOX CHURCH?

   ANSWER:  There are many, but perhaps the principal one is the teaching of
orthodoxy that at each birth a newly created soul enters material  existence
fresh  from  the hand of God,  that it lives here in a material body  for  a
longer or shorter span of time and then passes out by death into the  invis-
ible  beyond,  there to remain for all eternity in a state of  happiness  or
misery according to what it did while here in the body.

   The  Rosicrucian teaching is that each soul is an integral part  of  God,
which is seeking to gain experience by repeated existences in gradually  im-
proving material bodies and that, therefore, it passes into and out of mate-
rial  existences  many  times;  that  each  time  it  gathers  a little more

[PAGE 2726]

experience  than  it  previously possessed and in  time  is  nourished  from
nescience  to omniscience--from impotence to omnipotence--by means of  these
experiences.

   Our sense of justice revolts against a teaching which sends one soul into
a  home of culture and a noble family where it has the advantage of  wealth,
where moral teachings are implanted in the growing child,  but sends another
into the slums,  its father a thief and the mother,  perhaps,  immoral,  and
where its teachings consist in lying, stealing, etc.  If here only once, all
should have the same chance if they are to be judged by the same laws, an we
know  that no two people have the same experiences in life.   We  know  that
where  one meets many temptations, another lives comparatively untouched  by
the storms of life.   Therefore, when one soul is placed in a moral environ-
ment and another in immoral surroundings, it is not right to send the one to
a  heaven  of enjoyment and eternal bliss for doing the right he  could  not
help doing, nor is it just to send the other to a hell for stealing and rob-
bing  when the environment and the conditions into which he was thrown  were
such that he could not help himself.

   Therefore,  the  Rosicrucian teaching holds that we  come  into  whatever
place is best fitted for us by our previous experiences in former lives, and
that  we get just what we deserve in all cases;  that all experiences  which
come to us are just what we need to give us the appropriate impetus for  our
next step in unfoldment.

[PAGE 2727]

                              QUESTION NO. 178:

   KINDLY  STATE THE ESSENTIALS WHEREIN THE ROSICRUCIAN  PHILOSOPHY  DIFFERS
FROM THEOSOPHY.

   ANSWER:   We are not as much concerned in seeking out differences  as  in
finding  agreements.   It may be said,  however,  that the Rosicrucian  Phi-
losophy is the Western teaching given to the Western people at this time for
their advancement.  If we take Theosophy as meaning THEO SOPHIA (Divine Wis-
dom), then, of course, the Rosicrucian Philosophy is only a part of that Di-
vine Wisdom,  like all other religious systems.  But if we take theosophy to
mean the philosophy promulgated by the Theosophical Society,  or  Societies,
for there are several brands,  then we may say that the Rosicrucian teaching
is much more comprehensive and complete.   Besides,  in teaching their  phi-
losophy  the  Rosicrucians are diametrically opposed to the  method  of  the
Theosophical Society, which has for its objects:

   First, The formation of a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood,

   Second, The study of comparative religion, and

   Third,  The investigation of the unexplained laws in nature and the power
latent in man.

   The  Brothers  of the Rosy Cross contend that the  majority  of  advanced
people are in sympathy with the idea of Universal Brotherhood,  and that  we
need not be theosophists to have that idea at heart.   Countless other soci-
eties have altruistic ideas along the lines of brotherhood.  Many scientists
are studying comparative religion and doing it exceedingly well.   it is not
necessary  to  be  a  theosophist  in order to follow that object, but it is

[PAGE 2728]

necessary to be an occultist in order to follow out the third object of  the
Theosophical Society,  namely,  the study of the unexplained laws of  nature
and the powers latent in man.

   Therefore,  the Rosicrucians recommend that all thoughts be centered upon
living such a life and practicing such exercises as will develop the  latent
powers in each pupil so that he may see and know the invisible worlds whence
come the causes we see manifested here.   When this object is attained,  and
not  till then,  is he capable of investigating the unexplained laws of  na-
ture.  He is then also in a much better position than the scientists or any-
one else to study comparative religion,  for he sees the central source from
when all religions sprang,  each being adapted to the people to whom  given.
He  also sees how they fit into the grand scheme of evolution,  and when  he
has  become  capable of reaching the consciousness of the inner  worlds  the
unity of life is so apparent that he does not need to trouble himself  about
the  first object of the Theosophical Society,  the universality of the  One
Life  which makes brotherhood a fact in nature,  beyond necessity of  state-
ment.

   To  reach that last step,  we must have the true view of the matter.   We
may  preach to a stove that its duty is to heat and warm us,  but unless  we
comply with the laws of its nature and put fuel into it,  our preaching will
be of no avail.   On similar principle, unless we reach the step of  exalta-
tion where our hearts are filled with the divine love, we may preach and put
forth  teachings concerning Universal Brotherhood,  but it will do no  good.
If we fill the stove with fuel,  it will heat us,  and if we fill our hearts
with  love they will radiate that quality without statement of objects  such
as the first one mentioned.

   Therefore, the principal difference  between the Theosophical Society and

[PAGE 2729]

the Rosicrucian fellowship is a complete reversion of method.  For,  whereas
the Theosophical Society aims to form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood
by the study of comparative religion and only take up the development of the
hidden  side  of man's nature last--and many even decry development  of  the
hidden powers--the Rosicrucian teaching urges the pupil first of all to LIVE
THE LIFE,  to concentrate all the powers of his being to so walk that he may
be  fitted for possession of the soulpowers absolutely essential to the  in-
vestigations he contemplates.

                              QUESTION NO. 179:

   IS THE WHITE LODGE OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY THE SAME AS THE TEMPLE  OF
THE ROSICRUCIANS?

   ANSWER:   No, the Theosophical Society is simply an exoteric organization
for the dissemination of a certain philosophy, mostly derived from the East-
ern  Religions,  while  the Rosicrucian Fellowship aims  to  promulgate  the
teachings of the Western Mystery School, the Order of Rosicrucians, which is
secret and not accessible to anyone except upon direct invitation.

   As  to  the  relation  of  the  Order of Rosicrucians and kindred Mystery

[PAGE 2730]

Order to the White Lodge,  we may say that there are in different places  of
the  earth a number of these schools of the lesser mysteries,  each of  them
composed of twelve brethren,  and also a thirteenth member.   The latter  is
the  link between the different schools, and all these HEADS  or  thirteenth
members compose what is ordinarily known as the White Lodge,  namely,  a su-
preme conclave of the Eldest among our Brothers,  who are now in full charge
of human evolution and plan the steps we are to follow in order to advance.

                              QUESTION NO. 180:

   WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND BY THE TERM MASTER, AND IS THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOW-
SHIP MOVEMENT INSPIRED BY THEM?

   ANSWER:  In the far East the pupil who aspires to the higher life seeks a
"Master"  and is bound hand and foot, figuratively speaking, to that Master.
he  must blindly follow the instructions of his Master,  without  the  least
hesitancy or exhibition of curiosity concerning the purpose of whatever  di-
rections are given him.  He must render the Master personal service of what-
ever  kind  required and at whatever cost or inconvenience to  himself,  and
thus,  in short,  he becomes virtually the slave of an often  very  exacting
taskmaster.

[PAGE 2731]

   But here in the West such  a method would be altogether degrading, for we
have advanced to such a stage of individuality  that WE CAN ONLY PROGRESS BY
ACTION FROM WITHIN,  and if we  make any  promises or take any vows we ought
not to obligate ourselves to  anyone else, but make our promises and vows to
ourselves; for if we cannot keep our vows to ourselves,  we certainly cannot
keep promises made to others.

   Furthermore, we may break a promise given to someone else and deceive him
into believing that we have kept our faith, but we cannot deceive ourselves.
If  we break a promise made to ourselves we know it at once,  and  therefore
the  pupil  in the West is instructed to make his promises TO  HIMSELF,  for
that  is stronger than any vow to an outsider.   The teacher in the West  is
the closest friend and adviser of the pupil,  for he follows the example  of
the Christ,  who said to his disciples:   "This is my commandment,  that  ye
love one another,  as I have loved you.   YE ARE MY FRIENDS if ye do what  I
command  you  (and)  HENCEFORTH I CALL YOU NOT  SERVANTS,  for  the  servant
knoweth  not  what his lord doeth;  but I have called you friends,  for  all
things  that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto  you."   John,
chapter 15, verses 12, 14, 15.

   The Rosicrucian Fellowship is not backed by these teachers or inspired by
them;  they  gave certain teachings to the writer on the condition  that  he
should spread them to the best of his ability, AND ANNOUNCED THEIR READINESS
TO  HELP OTHERS WHO WOULD QUALIFY FOR THAT INSTRUCTION.   Students of  these
teachings  have  banded together for the benefit of  associated  study,  but
there is no hard and fast organization,  nor is it intended to form one, but

[PAGE 2732]

to  let people obtain this teaching anywhere they please.   We  prefer  that
they should remain in their churches.

                              QUESTION NO. 181:

   IF  ONE WHO BELIEVES IN THE TEACHINGS ADVANCED BY THE  ROSICRUCIANS  EAR-
NESTLY  MAINTAINS THAT THEY ARE TRUE,  IS HE NOT IN DANGER OF BECOMING  DOG-
MATIC AND INTOLERANT OF THE OPINIONS OF OTHERS?   AND WHAT SHOULD BE HIS AT-
TITUDE TOWARDS THOSE WHO REFUSE TO ACCEPT THESE TEACHINGS?

   ANSWER:   It  is of utmost importance that we should recognize  the  fact
that,  at least in our present limited existence,  we cannot possible arrive
at truth IN THE ULTIMATE.  Therefore, that which seems to us "truth, and the
whole  truth"  is  most likely after all only a part of the  truth.   As  we
evolve and become capable of understanding more and more, our conceptions of
life,  the world, and God, change.  Therefore, we ought at all times to have
the open mind so that we may receive new truth,  we should never forget  the
fact  that  there are still greater truths which we have  not  yet  learned.
Then we are open minded and cannot become creed bound or hide bound.

[PAGE 2733]

   Some people grow so extremely enthusiastic when they have found something
which appeals to them as truth,  that they at once commence a veritable cru-
sade to compel others to share it with them.   That is a great mistake.   If
we go into a church and commence asking questions which raise doubts in  the
minds  of  the members and make them uneasy concerning their faith,  we  may
easily cause a sad state of disturbance.   If that which we have to give ap-
peals  to them and becomes an anchor to them,  so that they may rest in  the
new and higher faith,  well and good.   But if it so happens that that which
we have to give is beyond them,  is unacceptable,  we may lead them into  an
extremely unhappy frame of mind and they may turn to materialism, atheism or
some other dreadful, skeptical attitude.  Their life, in that case, will lie
at our door.   We should always make it a rule in the world to be very quiet
about  what we believe or do not believe,  though never neglectful to say  a
little  word where an opportunity is given, and if that word brings  an  in-
quiry  we should answer it fearlessly.   Thus we may gradually lead the  in-
quirer on.   He will not be thus led unless he is seeking,  and when we find
out  that he desires the information,  we should give him all he  wants  and
give  it freely.   But we reiterate that IT IS A SERIOUS  RESPONSIBILITY  TO
THRUST OUR OPINION UPON EARS THAT ARE UNWILLING OR NOT READY.

Continued with file "RC1077.TXT"

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