Filename: RC1094.TXT
Source: "Teachings of an Initiate" by Max Heindel

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                THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT:

                             MATERIAL ANALOGIES: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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                THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT:

                RETROSPECTION--A MEANS OF AVOIDING PURGATORY:

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

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

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

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

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by the fire of remorse.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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                    THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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                            RELIGION AND HEALING:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

                   THE ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES OF HEALING:

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

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

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

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

[PAGE 3400]

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

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

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

[PAGE 3401]

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

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

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

[PAGE 3402]

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

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

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

[PAGE 3403]

               ADDRESS AT THE GROUND BREAKING FOR MT. ECCLESIA:

   The  Christ said,  "Where two or three are gathered together in my  name,
there will I be among them"; and as always when He spoke, this utterance was
an  expression of the most profound divine wisdom.   It rests upon a law  of
nature  which is as immutable as God Himself.   When the thoughts of two  or
three are centered upon any certain object or being, a powerful thought form
is generated as a definite expression of their minds,  and is instantly pro-
jected towards its goal.   Its further effects depend upon the affinity  be-
tween the thought and whosoever is to receive it, as to generate a vibratory
response  to  a note sounded by a tuning fork it requires  another  fork  of
identical pitch.

   If thoughts and prayers of a low, selfish nature are projected,  only low
and  selfish  creatures respond.   That kind of prayer can never  reach  the
Christ any more than water can run up a hill.   it gravitates toward  demons
and  elementals,  which remain totally unresponsive to the lofty aspirations

[PAGE 3404]

engendered by such as congregate in the name of Christ.

   As we are today gathered upon this spot to break ground for the Headquar-
ters of a Christian Association, we may rest assured that as surely as grav-
ity draws a stone toward the center of the earth,  the fervor of our  united
aspirations  will provide attention from the Founder of our faith  (Christ),
who will thus be with us.   As certainly as forks of identical pitch vibrate
in  sympathy,  so must the august Head of the Rosicrucian  Order  (Christian
Rose-Cross)  lend  his  presence  upon  this  occasion  when  the  home   of
Rosicrucian Fellowship is being started.  The Elder Brother who has been the
inspiration  of  this movement is present and visible to some  among  us  at
least.   There are present upon this momentous occasion and directly  inter-
ested in the proceedings the perfect number--12.  That is to say,  there are
three  invisible leaders who are beyond the stage of ORDINARY humanity,  and
nine members of the Rosicrucian Fellowship.  Nine is the number of Adam,  or
man.   Of these, five, an odd, masculine number, are men, and four,  an even
feminine number,  are women,  while the number of invisible leaders,  three,
aptly represents the sexless Divine.   Neither has the number attending been
arranged for by the speaker.  Invitation to take part in these exercises was
extended to many individuals, but only nine responded.  And as we cannot be-
lieve in chance,  the attendance must have been regulated in accordance with
the design of our  invisible  leaders,  and may be taken as an expression of

[PAGE 3405]

the spiritual power behind this movement, if further proof were needed  than
the phenomenal spread of the Rosicrucian teachings, which have penetrated to
every  country on earth in the last few years and provoked  assent,  admira-
tion,  and  love,  in the hearts of all classes and  conditions  of  people,
PARTICULARLY AMONG MEN.

   We emphasize this as a noteworthy fact, for while all other religious or-
ganizations are composed largely of women, men are in the majority among the
members of the Rosicrucian Fellowship.  It is also significant that our doc-
tor members outnumber those from all other professions,  and that the minis-
ters come next.   It proves that those whose privilege it is to care for the
ailing  body are alive to the fact that spiritual causes  generate  physical
weaknesses,  and that they are seeking to understand so that they  may  give
more efficient aid to the infirm.  It demonstrates also that those whose of-
fice it is to minister to the ailing spirit are endeavoring to meet  inquir-
ing  minds with a reasonable explanation of the of the spiritual  mysteries,
thus  strengthening  their  flagging faith and cementing their  tie  to  the
church, instead of responding with dictum and dogma NOT SUPPORTED BY REASON,
which would open wide the flood-gates to the seething sea of skepticism  and
sweep  the  searcher for light away from the haven of the  church  into  the
darkness of materialistic despair.

   It has already been the blessed privilege  of  the Rosicrucian Fellowship

[PAGE 3406]

to rescue many a sincere seeker,  anxious but unable to believe what  seemed
contrary to reason.   Given reasonable explanation of the underlying harmony
between  the dogmas and doctrines propounded by the church and the  laws  of
nature,  such ones have been sent back into the church fold rejoicing in the
fellowship there, stronger and better members than before they left.

   Any movement that is to endure must possess three divine qualities:  WIS-
DOM,  BEAUTY, AND STRENGTH.  Science, art and religion each possesses one of
these attributes in a measure.  It is the purpose of the Rosicrucian Fellow-
ship to unite and harmonize each with the others by teaching a religion that
is both scientific and artistic,  and to gather all churches into one  great
Christian  Brotherhood.   Just now the clock of destiny marks an  auspicious
moment for the commencement of building activities to erect a visible center
whence  the Rosicrucian teachings may radiate their beneficent influence  to
further the well-being of all who are physically,  mentally,  or morally in-
firm.

   Therefore  we  now  lift one shovelful of earth from the  corner  of  the
building site with a prayer for WISDOM to guide this great school along  the
right lines.  We turn up the ground a second time with a supplication to the
Master Artist for the faculty of presenting the BEAUTY of the higher life in
such  a  manner  as to render it attractive to all mankind.   We  break  the
ground for the third and last time in connection  with these exercises as we

[PAGE 3407]

breathe a prayer for STRENGTH patiently and diligently to continue the  good
work  so that it may endure and become a greater factor for upliftment  than
any of its predecessors.

   Having thus broken ground for the site of the first building, we will now
proceed to plant the wonderful symbol of life and being,  the composite  em-
blem  of  the  Western  Mystery  School.    This  consists  of  the   cross,
representing matter, and the climbing rose that twines around its stem, rep-
resenting the verdant evolving life climbing to greater and greater  heights
by this crucifixion.   Each of us nine members will take part in  excavating
for this the first and greatest ornament to Mt. Ecclesia.   We will plant it
in such a position that the arms point east and west, while the meridian sun
projects it bodily towards the north.   Thus it will be directly in the path
of  the spiritual currents that vitalize the forms of the four  kingdoms  of
life:  mineral, plant, animal, and man.

   Upon  the arms and upper limb of this cross you notice three golden  let-
ters,  "C.R.C.",  the initials of our august Head, Christian Rosenkreuz,  or
CHRISTIAN ROSE-CROSS.   The symbolism of this cross is partly explained here
and  there in our literature,  but volumes would be required to give a  full
explanation.   Let us look a little further into the meaning of this wonder-
ful object lesson.

   When  we lived in the dense WATER-LADEN ATMOSPHERE of early ATLANTIS,  we
were under entirely different laws than govern us  today.  When  we shed the

[PAGE 3408]

body we felt it not, for our consciousness was focused more in the spiritual
world than in the denser conditions of matter.  Our life was an unbroken ex-
istence; WE FELT NEITHER BIRTH NOR DEATH.

   With our emergence into THE AERIAL CONDITIONS OF ARYANA, the world of to-
day,  our  consciousness of the spirit world waned,  and  form  became  most
prominent.   Then a DUAL EXISTENCE commenced, each phase sharply differenti-
ated from the other by the events of birth and death.   One of these  phases
is  a free spirit life in celestial realms;  the other an imprisonment in  a
terrestrial body,  which is virtually death to the spirit,  as symbolized in
the Greek myth of Castor and Pollux, the heavenly twins.

   It  has been elucidated in various places in our literature how the  free
spirit  became  enmeshed in matter through the machinations of  the  Lucifer
spirits,  which  Christ  referred to as false lights.   That  was  in  FIERY
LEMURIA.  LUCIFER MAY THEREFORE BE CALLED THE GENIUS OF LEMURIA.

   The  full effect of his misguidance did not become fully  apparent  until
THE NOACHIAN AGE,  COMPRISING THE PERIODS OF LATER ATLANTIS AND OUR  PRESENT
ARYANA.   The  rainbow,  which could not have existed under  previous  atmo-
spheric  conditions,  stood painted upon the cloud as a mystic  scroll  when
mankind entered the Noachian Age, where the law of alternating cycles brings
ebb  and  flow,  summer  and  winter,  birth and death.  During this age the

[PAGE 3409]

spirit cannot permanently escape from the body of death generated by the sa-
tanic passion first inculcated by Lucifer.   Its repeated attempts to escape
to its celestial home are frustrated by the law of periodicity,  for when it
has freed itself from one body by death,  it is brought to rebirth when  the
cycle has been run.

   Deceit  and  illusion  cannot be allowed to endure forever,  and  so  the
REDEEMER appeared to cleanse the passion-filled blood,  to preach the  truth
which  shall  set us free from this body of death,  to  inaugurate  the  im-
maculate conception along lines most crudely indicated in the science of eu-
genics,  to prophesy a new age, a new heaven, and a new earth,  of which He,
THE  TRUE LIGHTS,  will be the Genius, an age wherein will dwell  the  righ-
teousness and love for which all the world is sighing and seeking.

   All  of this and the way of attainment are symbolized in the  rose  cross
before us.   The rose, in which the sap of life is dormant in winter and ac-
tive  in  summer,  illustrates aptly the effect of the  law  of  alternating
cycles.  The color of the flower, its generative organ, resembles our blood,
yet  the sap which courses within is pure,  and the seed is generated in  an
immaculate, passionless manner.

   When  we  attain to the purity of life there symbolized,  we  shall  have
freed ourselves from the cross of matter, and the ethereal conditions of the
millenium will be here.  It  is  the  aim  of  the Rosicrucian Fellowship to

[PAGE 3410]

hasten that glad day when sorrow,  pain,  sin,  and death shall have ceased,
and we shall have been redeemed from the fascinating,  enthralling illusions
of  matter and awakened to the supreme truth of the reality of Spirit.   May
God speed and prosper our efforts.

                            OUR WORK IN THE WORLD:

   Lately  there  has  come  to  us a  realization  that  the  work  of  the
Rosicrucian Fellowship is not our private work; it is the work of the  Elder
Brothers and every member of the Fellowship.   IN THE ACCOMPLISHMENT THEREOF
IS A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY FOR SOUL GROWTH, and we have no more right to ar-
rogate it to ourselves than we have to deprive members of material food;  we
must  give all the opportunity to aid in the work physically,  mentally,  or
financially according to time,  talent,  and ability.   We also realize that
unless we do, the work will be undone, and we shall be unprofitable servants
of the Elder Brothers,  for the burden is heavier than we can bear;  and  to
prosper,  the Great Work requires many laborers.   I will therefore give  in
this lesson a history of the work to date,  so that students may be able  to
view the future work in its true perspective.   This will necessitate a lib-
eral use of the capital "I", and students will  kindly  bear with me in this

[PAGE 3411]

matter,  for no one dislikes introduction of the personal element more  than
the writer, but in the present case it seems unavoidable.

   We  have set down in our literature as an axiomatic teaching  that  every
object  in the visible universe is the embodiment of pre-existent  invisible
thought;  that Fulton built a steamboat and Bell a telephone in thought  be-
fore these things were manufactured in wood and metal.  Likewise,  an author
plans  a book in his mind before writing.   A Mystery Order must also  frame
its  spiritual  philosophy  to  meet the necessities of  the  people  it  is
deputized to serve.  That work may require centuries.  As the work of scien-
tific  investigators is carried out in the seclusion of their  laboratories,
as  their  tentative conclusions calculated to foster the  intellectual  ad-
vancement of the race are withheld from the masses until proven to the  best
of the scientists' ability, so also the spiritual teachings intended to fos-
ter  soul growth among a class of people are kept from the many until  their
efficacy has been demonstrated in the case of the few.

   As  inventions,  theories,  or projects some time pass  the  experimental
stage  and are rejected unless fitted for general use,  so also a  spiritual
teaching  must either reach a point of completion where it may  be  launched
for general service in the world's work, or else die.  Thus it has been with
the  Western Wisdom Teachings formulated by the Rosicrucian Order  to  blend
with the ultra-intellectual mind of Europe and America.  Our revered Founder

[PAGE 3412]

and the twelve Elder Brothers whom he selected to aid him in the work centu-
ries  ago probably first made a retrospective study of the trend of  thought
during  our era,  and it may be, for milleniums before,  and thus they  were
able  to obtain a fairly accurate conception of the direction likely  to  be
taken  by the minds of future generations and determine their spiritual  re-
quirements.   Be their method what it may have been,  their conclusions were
light when they judged that "PRIDE OF INTELLECT, INTOLERANCE, AND IMPATIENCE
OF RESTRAINT"  would be the besetting sins of our day;  and they  formulated
their philosophy so that it satisfies the heart at the same time that it ap-
peals to the intellect and teaches man how to escape restraint by  mastering
self.   The thousands of appreciate letters from people all over the  world,
in  the highest ranks and in the lowliest walks of life,  attest  the  great
should  hunger and the satisfaction that all classes of people find in  this
teaching.   But as time goes on, fifty years,  a century or two hence,  when
scientific discoveries have given color to more of the things stated in  the
"Cosmo-Conception," when intellects have become yet broader, the Rosicrucian
teachings will give satisfaction of soul to millions of enlightened spirits.

   This being the case,  you will appreciate the care which the Elder Broth-
ers  must take ere confiding so important a message to anyone,  particularly
as such a teaching may only be  given  out at certain times.  As the seed of

[PAGE 3413]

plants  is  planted at the beginning of the yearly cycle,  so  also  must  a
philosophical seed such as that of the Rosicrucian teachings be planted  and
the book published in the first decade of the century, which commences a new
cycle,  or  the opportunity is lost till the next cycle rolls  around.   One
messenger had proven faithless by 1905.  Then the Brothers turned to myself,
and  entrusted  the teachings to me after I have passed a  certain  test  in
1908.  The "Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception" was published in November, 1909, a
little  more  than a year before the end of the first decade.   Friends  had
edited the original manuscript and did splendid work, but I had of course to
revise it before giving it to the printer.  Then I read the printer's proof,
corrected and returned it, reread it after mistakes had been rectified, read
it  again after the type had been divided into pages,  gave instructions  to
engravers  about the drawings and to the printer about placing them  in  the
book, etc.  I was up at six and toiled on till twelve, one, two, or three in
the morning for weeks amid endless confusion with tradesmen and the roar  of
Chicago about my ears, sometimes almost reaching the limit of nervous endur-
ance.  Still I kept my faculties together and wrote many new points into the
R.C-C.  Had it not been for the support of the Brothers I must have gone un-
der.   It was their work, however, and they saw me through.   All that I was
expected  to  do was to work to the limit of my endurance  and  ability  and

[PAGE 3414]

leave the rest to them, yet I was almost a wreck when the strain was past.

   Now,  perhaps  you will understand my attitude towards  the  "Rosicrucian
Cosmo-Conception."   I admire and marvel at its wonderful teaching more than
anyone else,  and can do so without violating proper modesty for the book is
not mine--it belongs to humanity.   It does not even seem as if I have writ-
ten it, I feel so absolutely impersonal in the matter.  My office is only to
see that it is properly published, and the copyright is simply to protect it
from  being garbled.   But as soon as it is possible to find dependable  and
qualified trustees,  the Rosicrucian Fellowship will be incorporated and all
my copyrights turned over to them together with all else that belongs to me,
for it was a part of the agreement with the brothers that all profit  accru-
ing  from the work must be put right into it again,  a condition to which  I
willingly  assented,  for I care naught for money save as needed to  further
the work,  and neither does Mrs. Heindel.   The blessed work is the greatest
recompense to us, more precious than any material reward.

   Among  all  the  foolish  nonsense which has  been  published  about  the
Rosicrucian  Order  there is one great truth--that they aimed  to  heal  the
sick.   Earlier religious orders have sought to advance spirituality by cas-
tigating  and abusing the body,  but the Rosicrucians exhibit the  tenderest
care  for  this instrument.   There are two reasons for  their  healing  ac-
tivities.  Like  all  other  earnest  followers of Christ they are longingly

[PAGE 3415]

looking for "the day of the Lord."   They know that abuse of sex prompted by
the lucifer spirits has caused and is responsible for disease and  debility,
and  that a sound body is indispensable to the expression of a  sound  mind.
They have therefore aimed to heal the body that it may express a sane  mind,
and  pure love instead of perverted love,  for conception under such  condi-
tions  hastens the Kingdom of Christ by producing bodies of finer and  finer
texture to replace the "flesh and blood (which) cannot inherit the kingdom,"
because physiologically unfit.

   Christ gave two commands to his messengers:  "Preach the gospel"  (of the
coming Age) and,  "Heal the sick."  One is as binding as the other and,  for
the foregoing reasons,  as necessary.  To comply with the second command the
Elder  Brothers  have evolved a system of healing which  combines  the  best
points in the various schools of today with a method of diagnosis and treat-
ment as certain as it is simple, and thus a long step has been taken to lift
the healing art from the sands of experiment to the rock of exact knowledge.

   On the night of the 9th of April, 1910,  when the new moon was in  Aries,
my  Teacher  appeared in my room and told me that a new decade  (cycle)  had
commenced that night.   The night before,  my work with the newly formed Los
Angeles Fellowship Center had terminated.   I had traveled and lectured  six
out of seven nights a week and several afternoons besides.  Since my Chicago

[PAGE 3416]

publishing  experience I had been sick and was withdrawing from public  work
to recuperate.   I knew it was very dangerous to leave the body  consciously
when  ill,  for  the ether is then usually attenuated and  the  silver  cord
breaks easily.   Death under such conditions would cause the same sufferings
as suicide,  so the Invisible Helper is always cautioned to stay by his body
when it is suffering.   But at my Teacher's request I was ready for the soul
flight to the Temple, and a guard was left to watch the sick body.

   As we have stated previously in our literature, there are nine degrees of
the  Lesser Mysteries,  of whatever school, and the Rosicrucian Order is  no
exception.  The first of these corresponds to the Saturn Period, and the ex-
ercises having to do with it are held on Saturn's day at midnight.  The sec-
ond degree corresponds to the Sun Period,  and that particular rite is  cel-
ebrated every Sunday.   The third degree corresponds to the Moon Period  and
is  held on Monday at midnight;  and so one with the remainder of the  first
seven degrees.   Each corresponds to a Period and is held on the day  appro-
priate  thereto.   The eighth degree is celebrated at the new moon  and  the
full, and the ninth degree at the summer and winter solstices.

   When a disciple first becomes a lay brother or sister,  he or she is  in-
troduced  to the rite held upon Saturday nights.   The next  Initiation  en-
titles him also to attend the midnight  services  at  the  Temple  on Sunday

[PAGE 3417]

nights,  and so on.  It is to be noted, however, that while all lay brothers
and sisters have free access in their spiritual bodies to the Temple  during
all  DAYS,  they are barred from the midnight services of the degrees  which
they  have not yet taken.   Nor is there a visible guard who stands  at  the
door  and demands a password of each as he desires to enter,  but a wall  is
around the Temple, invisible yet impenetrable to those who have not received
the "open sesame."  Every night it is differently constituted so that should
a  pupil by mistake or through forgetfulness seek to enter the  Temple  when
the  exercises are above his status,  he would learn that it is possible  to
bump  one's head against a spiritual wall and that the experience is  by  no
means pleasant.

   As  already said,  the eighth degree meets at the new and full moon,  and
all  who  have  not attained are debarred from that  midnight  service,  the
writer among them,  for this degree is no mere mummery to be obtained by the
payment of a few paltry coins but requires a measure of spirituality far be-
yond  my present attainment,  a stage to which I may not attain  in  several
lives,  though not wanting in effort or aspiration.   You will therefore un-
derstand that on the night of the new moon in Aries, 1910,  when the Teacher
came for me, it was not to take me into that exalted gathering of the eighth
degree,  but to another session of a different nature.  Besides, though this
session  was  held  in  the  night  as  it occurs in California, the time is

[PAGE 3418]

different in Europe.  The exercises of the new moon had been held in Germany
hours before,  so that when I arrived at the Temple with my Teacher the  sun
was already high in the heavens.

   When we entered the Temple some time was devoted to an interview with  my
Teacher  alone,  and  in it he outlined the work of the  Fellowship  as  the
Brothers  would wish to have it carried out.   The keynote of it all was  to
refrain from organization,  if possible, or at least to make organization as
loose  as we could.   It was pointed out that no matter how good the  inten-
tions  may be in the beginning,  as soon as position and power  are  created
which may gratify the vanity of men, the temptation proves too great for the
majority,  and  in the measure that the free will of members  if  interfered
with,  the  object of the Rosicrucian Order,  to  foster  individuality  and
self-reliance,  is defeated.  Laws and by-laws are limitations, and for that
reason there should be as few as possible.  The Teacher even thought that it
would be possible to get along without any at all.

   It  is in line with this policy that I had printed upon our  letterheads,
AN INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN MYSTICS"; for there is a vast dif-
ference  between an association that is entirely voluntary and an  organiza-
tion which binds its members by oaths, pledges,  etc.   Those who have taken
the Obligation as probationers in the  Rosicrucian Fellowship know that THAT

[PAGE 3419]

OBLIGATION IS A PROMISE TO THEMSELVES and not to the Rosicrucian Order.  The
same tender regard for the maintenance of the fullest of individual  liberty
is in evidence throughout the whole range of the Western Mystery School.  WE
HAVE NO MASTERS; they are our FRIENDS and our Teachers, and they never under
any condition demand obedience to any mandate of theirs nor command us to do
this or that.  At most, they advise, leaving us free to follow or not.

   I  may  say  here that this policy of not  ORGANIZING  had  already  been
adopted in starting the study centers at Columbus, Ohio;  Seattle,  Washing-
ton;  and Los Angeles; but since then I have gone further along this line in
trying  to  spread the teachings to individuals from a WORLD  CENTER  rather
than to establish more centers in different cities.  In some places bands of
students have desired to unite for study and spiritual elevation.   To  this
end all assistance has been given them,  but as said,  I have made no effort
to  bring about formation of study centers but leave students to do as  they
feel prompted.

   The new work of healing,  of which I shall presently speak,  necessitated
permanent headquarters.  As we are living in a concrete world under material
conditions,  it seems to be necessary that headquarters should  be  incorpo-
rated  under the laws of the land in which we live,  so that that which  be-
longs  to  the work may remain available for the use of humanity  after  the
present leaders have been released from  life.  Thus  far  we  cannot escape

[PAGE 3420]

hard  and  fast conditions of organization at headquarters,  but  the  ASSO-
CIATION  AT LARGE MUST REMAIN FREE so that the highest spiritual growth  and
the longest life may be attained.  It is sad to contemplate,  however,  that
though such are our intentions,  the day must come when the Rosicrucian Fel-
lowship will go the way of all other movements; it will bind itself by laws,
and usurpation of power will cause it to crystallize and disintegrate.   But
then we have the consolation that upon its ruins will rise something greater
and  better,  as it has risen above other structures that have served  their
purpose and are now on the way to dissolution.

   After  the before mentioned discussion we entered the Temple,  where  the
twelve Brothers were present.   It was arranged differently from what I  had
seen it before,  but lack of space forbids a detailed description.   I shall
only  mention three spheres suspended one above the other in the  center  of
the Temple,  the middle sphere being about half way between floor and  ceil-
ing;  also that it was much larger than the two others, which hung one above
and one below.

   The  various modes of vision above the physical are:   etheric  or  X-ray
sight, color vision, which opens up the Desire World, and tonal vision which
discloses  the Region of Concrete Thought, as explained very fully  in  "The
Rosicrucian  Mysteries."   My development of the latter phase  of  spiritual
sight had been most indifferent up to the time mentioned,  for  it is a fact

[PAGE 3421]

that the more robust our health,  the closer we are enmeshed in the physical
and the less able to contact the spiritual realms.   People who can say,  "I
never  had a day's sickness in my life,"  at the same time reveal  the  fact
that they are perfectly attuned to the physical world and totally  incapable
of contacting the spiritual realm.

   This was nearly my case up to 1905.  I had suffered excruciating pain all
my  life,  the  after effects of a surgical operation on the  left  limb  in
childhood.  The wound never healed until I changed to a meatless diet.  Then
the pain ceased.   My endurance during all the previous years was such  that
the  pain never showed by a line on the face,  and in every other respect  I
had perfect health.   It was noticeable, however,  that when blood flowed as
the result of an accidental cut,  it would not coagulate,  and a great quan-
tity was always lost;  whereas after two years on a lean diet the accidental
loss of an entire nail in the morning resulted in the loss of a few drops of
blood only.  I was able to use the typewriter the same afternoon.  There was
no festering as the new nail grew.

   Upbuilding of the spiritual side of the nature, however,  brought dishar-
mony to the physical body.   It became more sensitive to conditions  around.
The result was a breakdown.   This was all the more complete because of  the
before mentioned endurance that kept me on my feet for months after I should
have given in, with the result that I came very close to death's door.

[PAGE 3422]

   As death is the permanent dissolution of the tie between the physical and
spiritual bodies,  those who are near death approach the condition  existing
when severance is about to take place.  Goethe,  the great German poet,  re-
ceived his first Initiation while his body was prostrated nearly unto death.
I had not progressed so high, but my studies,  aspirations,  and an exercise
practiced for a long time which I thought then I had devised but which I now
know was carried over from the past, all combined to make it possible for me
during  that  first sickness to slip out of the body for a short  while  and
then return.   I did not know how I did it, and was unable to do it at will.
A year later I did it again by accident.  That, however, is beside the case.
The  point  I  wish to bring out is that the rupture  of  physically  robust
health  is necessary before it is possible to attain poise in the  spiritual
world,  and the stronger and more vigorous the instrument,  the more drastic
must  be the method of breaking it down.   Then come years when there is  an
unbalanced fluctuating condition of health, until finally we are able to ad-
just  ourselves so as to maintain health in the physical world while we  re-
tain the ability to function also in the higher realms.

   thus it has been with me:  strenuous work both physical and mental,  even
to the present day,  has kept the physical instrument in anything but an en-
joyable condition.  Friends have cautioned me,  and  I  have  tried  to heed

[PAGE 3423]

their warnings,  but the work must be done, and until help comes I am forced
to continue regardless of health;  and Mrs. Heindel is with me in this as in
all else.  Out of this precarious condition, however, has come an increasing
ability to function in the spiritual world.  While, as said,  at the time of
the  experience here related my tonal vision and the ability to function  in
the  Region of Concrete Thought was indifferent and chiefly confined to  the
lowest subdivision thereof, a little assistance from the Brothers that night
enabled me to contact the fourth region, where the archetypes are found, and
to  receive  there the teaching and understanding of that which  is  contem-
plated as the highest ideal and mission of the Rosicrucian Fellowship.

   I  saw our headquarters and a procession of people coming from all  parts
of  the world to receive the teaching.  I saw them issuing thence  to  carry
balm to afflicted ones near and far.   While here in this world it is neces-
sary to investigate in order to find out about anything,  there the voice of
each  archetype brings with it as it strikes the spiritual  consciousness  a
knowledge  of  what the archetype represents.  Thus there came  to  me  that
night  an  understanding which is far beyond my words to  express,  for  the
world in which we live is based upon the principle of time,  but in the high
realm of the archetypes all is an eternal NOW.  These archetypes do not tell
their story as this is told, but there is borne in upon one an instant  con-

[PAGE 3424]

ception  of  the whole idea,  much more luminous than can be  given  by  the
reciter  in words.   I have not dared to attempt telling it during the  time
which  has since elapsed,  but in the following chapter I shall endeavor  to
give you a picture thereof.

   The  Region  of Concrete Thought,  as you will remember  from  our  other
teachings,  is the realm of sound, where the harmony of the spheres, the ce-
lestial music, pervades all that is as the atmosphere of the earth surrounds
and  envelops everything terrestrial.   Everything there may be said  to  be
wrapped  in and permeated by music.   It lives by music and grows by  music.
The  WORD  of God there sounds forth and forms all the various  types  which
later crystallize into the things we behold in the terrestrial world.

   On  the piano five dark keys and seven white constitute the octave.   Be-
sides  the seven globes upon which we evolve during a Day  of  Manifestation
there  are five dark globes which we traverse during the Cosmic Nights.   In
each  life cycle the Ego withdraws for a time to the densest of these  five,
that is, Chaos, the formless world where nothing remains save the centers of
force known as seed atoms.  At the beginning of a new life cycle the Ego de-
scends  again  into  the Region of Concrete Thought, where the "music of the

[PAGE 3425]

spheres" at once sets the seed atoms into vibration.

   There are seven spheres,  the planets of our solar system.   Each has its
own keynote and emits a sound varying from that of every other planet.   One
or another among them vibrates in particular synchrony with the seed atom of
the  Ego  then  seeking embodiment.   This planet then  corresponds  to  the
"tonic"  in the musical scale; and though the tones from all the planets are
necessary to build up an organism completely,  each is modified and made  to
conform  to the basic impact given by the most harmonious planet,  which  is
therefore the ruler of that life, its Father Star.   As in terrestrial music
so also in the celestial there are harmonies and discords, and these all im-
pinge upon the seed atom and aid in building the archetype.  Vibratory lines
of force are thus formed, which later attract and arrange physical particles
as  spores or sand are marshaled into geometrical figures by bowing a  brass
plate with a violin bow.

   Along  these  archetypal lines of vibration the physical  body  is  later
built, and thus it expresses accurately the harmony of the spheres as it was
played during the period of construction.   This period,  however,  is  much
longer than the actual period of gestation, and varies according to the com-
plexity  of the structure required by the life seeking  physical  manifesta-
tion.   Nor is the process of construction of the archetype continuous,  for
under aspects of the  planets  which  produce  notes  to which the vibratory

[PAGE 3426]

powers  of the seed atom cannot respond it simply hums over those  which  it
has already learned,  and thus engaged it waits for anew sound which it  can
use  to build more of the organism which it desires in order to express  it-
self.

   Thus,  seeing that the terrestrial organism which each of us inhabits  is
molded along vibratory lines produced by the song of the spheres, we may re-
alize that the inharmonies which express themselves as disease are  produced
in  the first place by spiritual inharmony within.   It is  further  evident
that if we can obtain accurate knowledge concerning the direct cause of  the
inharmony and remedy it,  the physical manifestation of disease will shortly
disappear.  It is this information which is given by the horoscope of birth,
for  there each planet in its house and sign expresses harmony  or  discord,
health  or disease.   Therefore all methods of healing are adequate only  in
proportion  as they take into consideration the stellar harmonies  and  dis-
cords expressed in the wheel of life--the horoscope.

   While the laws of nature that govern in the lower realms are all-powerful
under  ordinary circumstances,  there are higher laws which pertain  to  the
spiritual realms and which may under certain circumstances be made to super-
sede  the former.   For instance,  the forgiveness of sins upon  recognition
thereof  and true repentance is made to supersede the law which  demands  an
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.   When Christ walked upon this earth
and healed the sick, He, being the Lord of the Sun,  embodied within Himself

[PAGE 3427]

the synthesis of the stellar vibrations as the octave embodies all the tones
of the scale,  and He could therefore emit from Himself the true  corrective
planetary influence required in each case.  He sensed the inharmony and knew
at once wherewith to offset it by virtue of His exalted development.  He had
need of no further preparation, but obtained results at once by substituting
harmony for the planetary discord which caused the disease wherewith He  was
dealing.   Only  in one case did He take refuge in the higher law  and  say,
"Arise, thy sins are forgiven."

   Likewise with the ordinary methods employed in the Rosicrucian System  of
Healing,  they  depend upon a knowledge of the planetary  inharmonies  which
cause disease and the correcting influence which will remedy the same.   his
has sufficed in all the instances which have come under our notice to  date.
However,  there is a more powerful method available under a higher law which
may accelerate recovery in cases of long standing, and under certain circum-
stances where the sincere and heartfelt recognition of wrong exists may even
obliterate the effects of disease before destiny, cold and hard,  would oth-
erwise so decree.

   When we look with spiritual vision upon one who is diseased,  whether the
physical  body be emaciated or not,  it is plainly evident to the seer  that
the finer vehicles are much more tenuous than during health.   Thus they  do
not  transmit  to  the  physical  body  a proper quota of vitality, and as a

[PAGE 3428]

consequence  that instrument becomes more or less disrupted.   But  whatever
may  be  the state of emaciation of the rest of the physical  body,  certain
centers  which  are  tenuous  during health in a  degree  varying  with  the
spiritual development of the man, become clogged in an increasing degree ac-
cording to the seriousness of the disease.  This is particularly true of the
main center between the eyebrows.  Therein the spirit is immured,  sometimes
to such an extent that it loses touch with the outer world and its  progress
and becomes so thoroughly centered upon its own condition that only complete
rupture of the physical body can set it free.  This may be a process of long
years,  and in the meantime the planetary inharmony which caused the initial
disease may have passed by,  but the sufferer is unable to take advantage of
the improved conditions.   In such cases a spiritual outpouring of a special
kind is necessary to bring to the soul its message, "Thy sins are forgiven."
When that has been heard,  it may respond to the command,  "Take up thy  bed
and walk."

   None among our present humanity can measure anywhere near the stature  of
the Christ,  consequently none can exercise His power in such extreme cases;
but  the need of that power in active manifestation exists today as much  as
it did two thousand years ago.   Spirit pervades everything in and upon  our
planet,  but in a varying measure.  It has more affinity for some substances
than for others.  Being an emanation from  the  Christ  Principle, it is the

[PAGE 3429]

Universal  Spirit composing the World of Life Spirit that restores the  syn-
thetic harmony of the body.

   A substance was shown to the writer in the Temple of the Rosicrucians  on
the  memorable night previously mentioned, with which the  Universal  Spirit
could be combined as readily as great quantities of ammonia combine with wa-
ter.   Inside the large central sphere mentioned in a previous lesson was  a
smaller  container  which held a number of packages filled  with  that  sub-
stance.  When the Brothers had placed themselves in certain positions,  when
the harmony of certain music had prepared the way, suddenly the three globes
commenced to glow with the three primary colors, blue, yellow, and red.   To
the vision of the writer it was plain how during the incantation of the for-
mula  the container having in it the before mentioned packages became  aglow
with  a  spiritual essence that was not there before.   Some of  these  were
later  used  by the Brothers with instantaneous success.   Before  them  the
crystallizing  particles  enveloping the spiritual centers  of  the  patient
scattered  like magic,  and the sufferer awoke to a recognition of  physical
health and well-being.

[PAGE 3430]

                      ETERNAL DAMNATION, AND SALVATION:

   As  we  have at the Fellowship during each week a number  of  classes  in
which the intellectual side of our natures may have sway, the Sunday evening
service, including the address, is intended for the heart side.  You know it
is  the aim of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood to combine the intellect and  the
heart,  therefore the Sunday evening addresses should be devoted largely  to
bringing  out the heart side,  the touching of the heart strings.   This  is
something we greatly need,  more even than the development of the intellect.
We are so apt in our present civilization to run along the intellectual line
and seek always for an explanation of our problems that appeals only to  the
mind,  forgetting  that which may appeal to the heart also.   Therefore  the
speaker will endeavor to lead you rather along a form of meditation in which
the  exhortations  made may be said to apply more to the heart than  to  the
head, and which apply to himself as well as to anyone else.

   During  the past week the Elder Brother who has been the Teacher  of  the
speaker for some time, requested that the address of last Sunday be repeated

[PAGE 3431]

in  another form so that we might take up the phase of our philosophy  which
at present demands our greatest attention, namely, that of fitting ourselves
for higher work.   If we look at man as he is now,  we obtain only a partial
view of him, for man as well as everything else is ever becoming; but unless
we  prepare for that becoming we cannot attain.   It is therefore  necessary
that we continually have our mind's eye directed toward the future in  order
to  know what is before us;  also it is necessary to endeavor to live up  to
our ideals, for only as we live up to them can we in time attain to them.

   When we have attained to an ideal, it is no longer an ideal.  There was a
time  when some of us partook of the flesh of animals.   Such food  was  ob-
tained by a tragedy,  a taking of life.   Therefore we got the idea we would
like  to  discontinue that practice,  and after awhile we attained  to  that
ideal  and  became what are called "vegetarians."   Vegetarian food  was  no
longer an ideal to us,  because we had attained to it.   So in the spiritual
life there are ideals that are farther and farther ahead,  and which we must
always strive to keep for ideals in order that we may in time attain to  and
live up to the highest that is within us.

   We will now touch upon the subject known in the churches as "eternal dam-
nation and salvation."   This is something we may have thought we could  get
away from.   We have,  no doubt, in years past heard the ministers preaching
of hell; telling people of the necessity of applying  themselves  at once to

[PAGE 3432]

the  problem of salvation in order that they might not be eternally  damned.
Then perhaps in distrust of such a doctrine,  perhaps thoroughly  infuriated
at  the  thought that a Creator would create beings in order that  he  might
afterwards eternally torment the greater number of them, we turned away from
the church to other religions or philosophies.

   Some of us may have turned to Eastern religions that teach the continuity
of  life and the process whereby man evolves and eventually becomes  a  god.
Perhaps  while  studying  these doctrines we obtained the idea  of  the  in-
finitude  of  time to the extent that we became a reproach  to  the  Western
World,  for there are those who think that the infinitude of time  makes  it
unnecessary for them to apply themselves as we do here.   The Western  World
has  been  given the doctrine which teaches "eternal damnation  and  eternal
salvation," and although we cannot believe it as taught in the orthodox man-
ner, nevertheless these twin doctrines contain a great truth.

   The  intelligent understanding of them hinges upon the derivation of  the
world  "eternal."   If we turn to the Greek Bible,  we shall find  the  word
"aionian."    Taking   a   dictionary  we  find   that   this   word   means
"age-lasting--for  an indefinite period of time."  In the letter of Paul  to
Philemon where he speaks of returning the slave Onesimus to him it is  said:
"Perhaps it was good that he might be taken from you a little while that  he

[PAGE 3433]

might  go to you FOREVER (aionian)."  Neither Onesimus nor Philemon was  im-
mortal,  so there "aionian"  can only mean for a part of a lifetime and  not
for eternity;  so we see that the latter is not the sense in which we are to
take it.  But in what sense are we to take it?

   When we look about us in the world and contemplate the process of  evolu-
tion,  we may learn that throughout the whole pilgrimage of the spirit  from
the  clod  to  the god there is eternal progression;  that  there  are  many
stages,  and many points at which the spirit rests for a time,  then takes a
step forward.   We who have studied in our philosophy the various epochs and
the periods that were back of the epochs,  remember that it was stated  that
the  first  real separation of people took place in the latter part  of  the
Lemurian  Epoch.   There was then what may be called a chosen people;  there
has a certain division in the desire bodies of some of the people who  dwelt
in that land at that time.   Into those in whom the desire body had  divided
so  that  there was some higher desire matter in their  make-up,  the  human
spirit  or Ego could enter,  and in that way they became man as we know  him
today.   That was the first race; then gradually there have been other races
started:   seven during the Atlantean Epoch and five so far in the Aryan Ep-
och.  There will be two more in this Epoch and one in the Sixth Epoch;  then
we shall be through with races.

   Now while this process of evolution has been going on and while this vast

[PAGE 3434]

company  of spirits have been continually progressing from stage  to  stage,
there have been stragglers on the way.  Even when we were not yet conscious,
there were some who did not progress with their class, because they were not
as pliable as were the others;  therefore they could not take the next  step
in evolution.  We have not come to the point where the quickest changes take
place,  where there is less time between races than ever before.  So the El-
der  Brothers  look upon the sixteen races in a way that  justifies  calling
them "the sixteen paths to destruction."

   Here we have our lesson.  There is a step for each of us from one race to
the next.   We came through the races in the Lemurian Epoch; we went through
the seven Atlantean races, then the first of the Aryan races.   We have pro-
gressed  along with the others;  each time we have successfully  passed  the
point where there was a division made, and have in that manner attained sal-
vation.   This  is  exactly on the same plan that  children  in  school  are
brought  up  from kindergarten to college.  Some have to  stay  behind  each
year;  they are obliged to remain behind and learn the lessons that they did
not learn the year before; but they are given another chance.   So there are
always some Egos lagging behind and some, more diligent than others, who are
at the front.

   This is the question for you and me to answer tonight; are we going to be
among  the  laggards, or are we going to apply ourselves as we should and as

[PAGE 3435]

we can?   Having been given this wonderful doctrine, having come to know the
wonderful truth of the continuity of life, are we going to hang back and say
to ourselves:  "There is plenty of time.  We do not believe in this doctrine
of eternal damnation;  we know that all will be saved in time"?   There will
be  some that will attain before others and some that will lag  behind;  but
the question is,  Are we going to be a help or a hindrance to the race?   We
stand today before the people of the Western World as the foremost;  we have
the  philosophy that explains in a better manner than any  other  philosophy
the  problems of life.   Then the question is, Are we going to use it  in  a
practical  manner  by applying ourselves to live it--live it  in  our  daily
lives?

   It  does not matter what we believe,  but only how we live;  it is not  a
question of faith,  but of showing our faith by works.  Have we put into our
daily lives our ideals?  People about us are looking at us,  and they see in
us either an example of what they ought to be or what they ought not to  be.
Sunday after Sunday we hear these teachings,  we learn the lessons of  life,
and  we meditate upon the word "service";  but how are we living up to  that
ideal?   Are we serving in the world?   Are we going out into the  world  to
practice  these things,  to there live the corresponding life and  exemplify
the teachings that have been received here?   None of us can say we do it to
the best of  our  ability;  we  all  of  us  fall far short.  Then comes the

[PAGE 3436]

question:  Is the ideal too high?  No, it is not.  There is a way whereby we
may live day by day to better and better advantage,  which we will now  men-
tion.

   Those  among you who have not taken up the exercises recommended  in  our
literature should seriously consider doing so.  I most earnestly advise that
you  take them up,  because whether we who do so notice in ourselves an  im-
provement,  whether  or not it is noticed by others in the world  about  us,
there  is nevertheless an improvement.   We cannot day after day review  our
thoughts  and deeds without individually living a better life  and  becoming
better men and women.   The two Rosicrucian exercises are not difficult  and
require but little time; nor are we expected to take the time that should be
allotted to daily labor for our self-improvement.  It is as wrong to do this
as to take the bread that should go to others in the family and eat it  our-
selves.  Every kind of selfishness should be shunned.  We should endeavor to
improve ourselves day by day, and thereby become better men and women,  thus
enabling us to shed more abundant life upon the Fellowship.

   The probationers who are following the exercises and who are  identifying
themselves  with the Rosicrucian teachings in this manner will exert a  more
helpful and powerful influence than otherwise possible.   Therefore I  would
urge  again--and I would not repeat it were it not by special  request--that
as many of you as can take up these exercises  and  endeavor to live accord-

[PAGE 3437]

ingly, for it is only as we take up and live the higher life that we can fit
ourselves for the progression that is to come.

   At  the time when the sun passes through a new sign of the zodiac,  there
is always given to humanity a new spiritual impulse.  That impulse must have
a  channel to flow through,  and that channel must be ready and able to  vi-
brate  to the impulse.   Unless there are some people ready who can  receive
its  vibration and give it out, the teaching connected with  that  spiritual
impulse cannot come.

   We  have read how throughout the past nineteen hundred years  the  second
coming of the Christ has been looked forward to; how some in the time of the
Apostles  looked  for  His coming and thought that He  was  to  establish  a
worldly kingdom on earth.   As in the past,  so down to the present time  we
find  people  looking for His coming--coming as a person.   But  as  Angelus
Silesius says:

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

   As  a  tuning fork that is pitched to a certain vibration will  start  to
sing  when  another  of  the same key is struck, so also will it be with us;
when we have been attuned to the vibrations of the Christ,  we shall be able
to express the love that He came to teach mankind,  and which we are  incul-
cating  by our service every Sunday evening.  Until we live up to that  love
and perceive the Christ within, we cannot see the Christ without.

Therefore let us remember the little poem:
   Let us not waste our time in longing
         For bright and impossible things;
   Let us not sit supinely waiting
         For the sprouting of angel wings.
   Let us not scorn to be rushlights,
         Ev'ry one can't be a star;
   But let us brighten the darkness
         By shining just where we are.

Continued with file "RC1095.TXT"

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