Filename: RC1102.TXT
Source: "The Web of Destiny" by Max Heindel

[PAGE 3669]

         THE "SIN BODY"--POSSESSION BY SELF-MADE DEMONS--ELEMENTALS:

   Earthbound spirits,  such as previously mentioned, gravitate to the lower
regions of the desire world which interpenetrate the ether,  and are in con-
stant and close touch with those people on earth most favorably situated for
aiding  them  in their evil designs.  They usually stay in  this  earthbound
condition for fifty,  sixty,  or seventy-five years,  but extreme cases have
been  found  in which such people so remain for centuries.   So far  as  the
writer has been able to discover up to the present time,  there seems to  be
no  limit  to what they may do or how soon they will let go.   But  all  the
while they are piling up for themselves an awful load of sin,  nor can  they
escape  suffering therefor;  for the vital body reflects and  etches  deeply
into  the desire body a record of their misdeeds,  and when at last they  do
let go and enter the purgatorial existence,  they meet the retribution which
they well deserve.  This suffering is naturally lengthy in proportion to the
time  they  have  continued their nefarious practices after the death of the

[PAGE 3670]

dense  body--another proof that "Though the mills of God grind  slowly,  yet
they grind exceeding small."

   When the spirit has left the SIN BODY,  as we will call this vehicle,  in
contrast to the soul body, to ascend to the second heaven,  it does not dis-
integrate as quickly as the ordinary shell left behind by normal people, for
the consciousness in it is enhanced by its dual composition; that is to say,
being  composed of both a vital and desire body,  it has an individual or  a
personal consciousness that is very remarkable.  It cannot reason, but there
is a low cunning present which makes it seem as though it were actually  en-
dowed  with  a spiritual presence,  an ego, and this enables it  to  live  a
separate life for many centuries.   The departed spirit meanwhile enters the
second  heaven,  but having done no work on earth to desire or merit a  pro-
longed stay there or in the third heaven,  it only stays there  sufficiently
long to create a new environment for itself and it is then reborn much  ear-
lier  than usual--to satisfy the cravings for material things which draw  it
so strongly.

   When  the spirit returns to earth, this Sin Body is  naturally  attracted
towards it,  and usually stays with it all its life as a demon.   Investiga-
tions have proved  that this class of soulless creatures were very prevalent

[PAGE 3671]

during Biblical times,  and it was to them that our Savior referred as  dev-
ils,  they being the cause of various obsessions and bodily ills such as are
recorded in the Bible.   The Greek word "daimon"  describes them accurately.
Even today a large proportion of southern Europe and the Orient is thus  ha-
rassed,  the affliction being specially aggravated in  Sicily, Corsica,  and
Sardinia.   Whole tribes in Africa,  where the Voodoo magic  prevails,  have
with them these gruesome spectres; the Indians of America  are  also subject
to them.

   But  unfortunately the evil is not confined to the above  peoples.  Right
here in what we call civilized countries, in northern Europe  and  in  North
and South America,  we find that demoniac possession is far from infrequent,
although,  of course,  its form is not so abject as in the  first  mentioned
places  where  it  is  often  accompanied by the most  filthy and abominable
practices.

   The  writer  was at one time quite apprehensive of the effect  which  war
might  have in respect to locking the desire and vital bodies  together  and
bringing to birth legions of monsters to afflict future generations.  But it
is with great thankfulness that he records his conviction that we need  have
no fear on that score.   Only when people are premeditatively malicious  and
vindictive, and  persistently harbor a desire and a purpose to get even with

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some one,  only when such feelings are hugged,  nursed,  and entertained  do
they  harden  the vital body and cause the interlocking grip  of  these  ve-
hicles.   We know from the records of the great war that the rank  and  file
have  no  such  sentiments against one another,  but that  enemies  meet  as
friends  whenever  chance brings them into such relationship that  they  may
converse with one another.  So, though war is responsible for the awful mor-
tality  now and will cause deplorable infant mortality in a future  age,  it
will be blameless with regard to the dreadful diseases engendered by  obses-
sion and the crimes suggested by these demoniacal sin bodies.

   The  discarded sin bodies mentioned in the preceding parts of this  chap-
ter,  inhabit normally and by preference the lowest regions of the ether and
condense themselves to the very line of sight.  Sometimes they even make use
of some of the constituents of the air and seem usually to be perfectly vis-
ible  to those people whom they harass,  although their victims are  usually
very  careful  not to allow anyone to suspect that they have  such  a  demon
about them, that is at least in the western world; there seems to be no such
delicacy in the southern part of Europe.

   Following the above investigations,  the writer attempted a number of ex-
periments  with spirits who were in the higher realms of the  ether,  having
just  passed  out,  and  with  people who had been in the desire world for a

[PAGE 3673]

longer  or  shorter  time,  some of them being almost ready  for  the  first
heaven.   A number of spirits who had departed this life kindly  co-operated
as subjects.   The aim of the experiments was to determine how far it  would
be  possible  for them to clothe themselves in the materials  of  the  lower
etheric  and even the gaseous regions.   It was noticed that those  who  had
just  passed out could quite readily endure the lower ether vibrations,  al-
though being of good character they were not well satisfied to remain  there
longer than necessary,  for they were uncomfortable.  But as we tried people
from successively higher regions of the desire world up to the first heaven,
it  became  more and more difficult to wrap themselves in ether  or  descend
into  it.   The concensus of opinion was that it was like going down into  a
deep well,  there to smother.   It was also found that it was absolutely im-
possible for any one in the physical to see them.   We tried by every method
of suggestion to arouse the people in rooms which we visited,  to a sense of
our  presence,  but we found no response, though in a number  of  cases  the
forms  which we condensed were so opaque that it seemed to the writer as  if
they  were  nearly as dark as those physical people whom we desired  to  at-
tract.  We placed our experimental  subjects between the physical people and

[PAGE 3674]

the light; nevertheless we had no success in any case, either with those who
were  from the higher realms or with those who had passed out  recently  and
were able to stay in the given position and density for a considerable time.

   In  addition  to the entities already mentioned who dwell in a  sin  body
made by themselves, and who thus suffer entirely from their own deeds in the
period  of expiation,  two classes were found which were similar in  certain
respects although entirely different in others.   In addition to the  divine
Hierarchies and the four life waves of spirits now evolving in the  physical
world through the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, there are also
other  life waves which express themselves in the various invisible  worlds.
Among  them there are certain classes of sub-human spirits which are  called
elementals.  It sometimes happens that one of these elementals takes posses-
sion of the sin body of some one of a savage tribe,  and thus adds extra in-
telligence to that being.   At the rebirth of the spirit that generated this
sin body,  the usual attraction brings them together,  but on account of the
elemental  ensouling  the sin body,  the spirit becomes different  from  the
other members of the tribe,  and we find them then acting as medicine men or
in a similar capacity.   These elemental spirits ensouling the sin bodies of
Indians also act upon mediums as  spirit controls, and having obtained power

[PAGE 3675]

over the medium during life,  when he dies,  these elemental spirit controls
oust him from the vehicles which contain his life experience,  and thus  the
medium may be retarded in evolution for ages, for there is no power that can
compel  these  spirits to let go,  once they have gained control of  such  a
body.   Therefore, though mediumship may produce no seeming evil effect in a
lifetime,  there is a very, very, grave danger after death to the person who
allows his body to be taken possession of.   Spiritualism has done a  neces-
sary work in the world.  It was probably the chief means of checking the ab-
solute  materialism of science,  and it has brought solace to  thousands  of
suffering souls who grieved for the loss of departed ones; it has turned un-
believers to believe in a higher existence.  We have no desire, whatever, to
speak  in  a derogatory manner of its workers,  but we cannot  refrain  from
voicing a warning,  as we feel it a duty to point out the enormous danger to
those who allow themselves to be habitually controlled by spirits whom  they
cannot see, and about whom they cannot possibly know anything.

[PAGE 3676]

                       OBSESSION OF MAN AND OF ANIMALS:

   It is a curious fact that subhuman elementals sometimes attach themselves
to certain persons, to a family, or even to a religious society; but in such
cases it was always found that their vehicle did not consist of the hardened
sin body composed of an interlocking desire and vital body, but that the ve-
hicle  had been obtained through mediumship practiced by a person  of  ordi-
narily good character,  and that the ether of this vehicle was in a state of
disintegration.  To offset this and to prolong their hold on such a vehicle,
they  demand  of those whom they serve,  regular offerings of food  and  the
burning of incense;  though they cannot, of course,  assimilate the physical
food,  they can and do live upon the ether fumes and odors which arise  from
it, also upon the fumes of incense.

   This is only another illustration of the fact that purity of motive  will
not protect us when we go contrary to the laws of God,  any more than we can
escape  a  burn  if we put our hand on a hot stove, no matter why we did it.

[PAGE 3677]

But,  nevertheless,  it  has been found in cases where  a  medium  has  been
ensouled by pure motives and high religious devotion,  it is very  difficult
for  such  evil entities to hold the vital body for a long time;  they  soon
tire  of the effort and seek another victim who is more in  accordance  with
their  nature.   Thus in the south of Europe and in the far East  there  are
elementals that take possession of the vital bodies of a family,  generation
after  generation,  leaving one for another and performing certain  services
for  the  family for a consideration of food,  which is usually  offered  at
regular times.   Some of them are too vile to be satisfied with the offering
of ordinary food and demand blood,  even human blood,  and these beings  are
responsible  for such tribes as the head-hunters of the Philippines and  the
stranglers of India,  who commit murder as a religious rite.   This is  also
the basis of Ancestor Worship in the East.

   These as well as the sin bodies which are not ensouled by an outside  in-
telligence have been called "THE DWELLERS ON THE THRESHOLD," merely owing to
the fact that when the person by whom they were originally generated was re-
born,  this demon attached itself to him and became a tempter and a devil to
him all through life.   Not infrequently it was found that in the case of  a
person  who had in one life generated such a demon,  but who had  taken  the
lessons  of  that  life  so  much  to  heart  that they were expiated in the

[PAGE 3678]

purgatorial  existence,   and  who  when  reborn  endeavored  in  the   most
whole-souled way to live a clean,  upright,  and honest life,  this sin body
was  still always on hand to hamper him.   Many of the people who were  thus
afflicted were so sincere in their desire to reform that they entered monas-
teries  and practiced dreadful austerities upon their bodies,  each of  them
believing that the demon which haunted him and of whose presence he was con-
scious was the devil or an emissary from him.

   It  is said truly that the boy is the father of the man.   In  a  similar
sense our previous existences are the progenitors of our present and  future
lives,  and it is very certain that in this sense at least, "the sins of the
fathers are visited upon the children"; nor can we deny the justice thereof,
for  the cruelties practiced by these people which caused the  formation  of
the sin body were generally of the most atrocious nature imaginable.

   You have probably heard it said that when a bull dog has taken a grip  on
anything,  he WILL NOT let go.  This implies, however, that he has the power
to do so if he wants to.   But it is different with a snake;  its teeth  are
pointed  towards  the back of the mouth so that when once it  has  sunk  its
fangs  into  the  flesh  of  its  victim, it CANNOT let go but must perforce

[PAGE 3679]

swallow the victim.   Curiously enough, something similar is the case in ob-
session.

   You  will remember that the writer has always contended that spirit  con-
trols stand outside their victim's body and behind him, manipulating the or-
gan of speech or the whole body,  as the case may be,  from and through  the
cerebellum  and  medulla  oblongata where the flame of  life  burns  with  a
double, buzzing sound composed of two tones, indicative of the resistance of
the  body to the manipulations of the intruder.   Our latest  investigations
have,  however,  disclosed the fact that the spirit controls  who  thus  ma-
nipulate their victims from without,  are the wise ones who are too wary  to
be caught in a trap.   While they are without,  they can let go at any  time
they wish and leave their victim to pursue his daily life as desired,  while
they  do the same themselves.   But there are other spirits who are  not  so
wise,  or who are perhaps more foolhardy or else so anxious to get into  the
physical  world  that they throw all caution aside.   Entering the  body  of
their victims,  they find themselves in almost the same position as the prey
of  the snake;  the body of their intended victim has a lock grip upon  them
and they cannot let go under ordinary circumstances.  Thus the obsession be-
comes permanent, and the whole personality of that victim changes.

[PAGE 3680]

   If  the obsessing spirit be an elemental or subhuman entity which is  not
able to use a mind or larynx, these being the latest human acquisitions, the
person  so obsessed becomes a hopeless lunatic,  not infrequently of  a  ma-
levolent nature,  and the faculty of speech is also impaired.   It is almost
impossible to dislodge such an entity once it has entered.  Investigation of
former  lives shows that this affliction is usually the outcome of a  desire
to  run away from life's experience;  for those who are obsessed  are  often
found to have been suicides in a previous existence.   Then they had a  body
which they did not appreciate, and as a consequence in a later life the men-
tality became weakened either through an organic disease, a great shock,  or
by  obsession.   In any one of these cases the spirit was  ousted  from  its
body, always hovering around it and eager to obtain possession but unable to
do so because of the lack of mind wherewith to focus thought upon the  brain
or because of obsession by an extraneous entity.

   Sorrow and disappointment are usually the causes of suicide,  and often a
great sorrow was found to derange the mind; but the spirit is then quite ca-
pable of understanding and handling the situation even though it may not  be
able to use its vehicles because of the lacking focus of mind.  But where it
has given way and attempted to  escape  by  suicide, it learns in the manner

[PAGE 3681]

described to realize the value of a body and of the links therewith, so that
in  the  future no provocation will be sufficient to cause it to  sever  the
silver  cord.   In fact,  sometimes sorrows come to tempt a person  who  has
given way in the past to do this very act; and when he resists,  it shows he
has  become immune from the temptation.   It seems to be the same  principle
upon  which  the drunkard of a former life is tempted to drink in  order  to
test his stability of character by his conscious refusal to yield.

   It  is curious that the commission of suicide in one life and the  conse-
quent post-mortem suffering during the time when the archetype still  exists
often  generate in such people a morbid fear of death in the next  life,  so
that  when  the event actually occurs in the ordinary course of  life,  they
seem  frantic  after they leave the body and so anxious to get back  to  the
physical world again that they frequently commit this crime of obsession  in
the  most foolish and unthinking manner.  However,  as there are not  always
negative human subjects available for obsession, (and even if there were, it
is  not certain that the person who has just passed out and who  is  seeking
such  a chance will find one in whom he may take refuge) a strange,  a  hor-
rible thing often happens,  namely,  that such a spirit ousts the real owner
of an animal body and then ensouls its vehicle.  it is then under the dread-

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ful necessity of living an animal existence, pure and simple.  If the animal
is subjected to cruelty by its master, the obsessing human spirit suffers as
the  animal spirit would have suffered;  if the animal is to be  killed  for
food,  the man within sees and understands the preparation for slaughter and
has  to  go through the horrible experiences connected therewith.   Nor  are
cases of this nature infrequent at all; in fact they happen very often, as a
visit to some of the great American slaughter-houses has brought home to the
writer in a most forcible manner; and the realization of this,  to him,  new
fact has brought home in an almost painful manner the necessity of educating
the people to the great truth that DEATH,  LIKE BIRTH,  IS ONLY AN EVENT  OF
FREQUENT OCCURRENCE IN THE NEVER-ENDING LIFE OF THE IMMORTAL SPIRIT.

   Full  faith in this doctrine would take away untold misery from  mankind,
and we ought to do all in our power to help spread this gospel of Life.

   It also sometimes occurs that an evil man embodies himself in a beast  of
prey  and  takes a fiendish delight in terrorizing a  community.   When  the
Christ  walked upon earth,  such cases of animal obsession by human  spirits
were met with every day,  and the instances recorded in the Bible are not at
all  myths  or  foolishness  to one endowed with spiritual sight and able to

[PAGE 3683]

read in the Memory of Nature, for it is found that these things actually did
happen;  in fact,  the ancient seers who observed this habitual entrance  of
people  of  low and evil character into the bodies of beasts when  they  had
passed out of their own bodies at death,  thought that this was the  regular
course of nature instead of being an anomalous condition, and they therefore
formulated the doctrine of Transmigration.

         THE CREATION OF ENVIRONMENT--THE GENESIS OF MENTAL AND 
                         PHYSICAL DISABILITIES:

   It  is a fact evident from the merest superficial observation that  while
animals  act  alike under like circumstances, because they are guided  by  a
group spirit,  the human being does not.  In humanity there are as many spe-
cies as there are individuals, each one being a law unto himself; and we can
never  predict from the actions of one,  how another will act under  similar
circumstances;  even the same individual may act differently,  and  probably
will, under similar circumstances at different times.  On that account it is
difficult  to handle or properly elucidate a subject like "The Web  of  Des-
tiny,"  when we are only equipped with minds of such small capacity as human
beings have at present.   To fully understand this subject would require the
wisdom of such great beings as the Recording Angels, who have charge of this
intricate department of life.

   It must not, therefore, be thought that the writer is giving in this book
more  than  a very superficial view of how destiny is made and unmade.  Each

[PAGE 3684]

act of each individual calls forth in the universe a certain vibration which
spends itself,  reacting upon him and others in his environment; and no mere
human  mind could either watch or tabulate the results of these actions  and
reactions in a few short months,  years, or lives.   But we have sought from
the general picture impressed upon our mind by the study of our subject,  to
classify the causes engendered in the past as they appear to us,  and  their
effect in present lives.   Several hundred persons have been investigated in
the  course of this study,  and in some cases we have gone back  for  three,
four,  or even more lives in order to get at the root of the matter  and  to
determine  how the actions in the past react to make conditions  in  present
lives.   But  although  we have thus done our very best  under  the  circum-
stances,  students are particularly requested not to regard this as any  au-
thoritative conclusion in the matter,  but rather as a fingerpost which,  we
hope, may help to solve certain problems.

   As  regards  environment,  it would seem that people who are  of  a  par-
ticularly difficult nature to get along with and who have a hard life before
them,  are often born among strangers where they will not receive any sympa-
thy  and where their sufferings will not create upon their next of  kin  ac-
cording to  the  flesh  any appreciable sympathetic impression; or else they

[PAGE 3685]

are orphaned, or deserted by their parents, or they run away from home at an
early  age.   Where this is the case, the soul often hungers for a  sympathy
which  it had neglected to give to others in previous lives.   We have  also
found  cases where certain people committed the most atrocious  outrages  in
the past and brought shame and dishonor upon their nearest kin, who suffered
deeply because they loved the miscreant.   And in the life where this erring
soul  was to atone for past misdeeds, it would find itself in an  altogether
unsympathetic environment,  hungering and thirsting for the love that it had
despised in a previous life;  thus its lot was made all the harder.   If the
man did not learn the lesson in one life,  several lives of similar  experi-
ence would teach him to be sympathetic to those who loved him, as well as to
do honestly and rightly by others.

   It was also found that often a soul had gone wrong in past lives  because
of a lack of kindly influence on the part of those who composed his  immedi-
ate  family,  and who should have given to him their loyalty,  support,  and
love.   The lack of this sympathetic environment did not, of course,  excuse
his misdeeds in the eyes of the law, and he was forced in later lives to ex-
piate the misdeeds of the past.   But in such cases the tables were  usually
reversed; the family, which in past lives had been indifferent to him, would

[PAGE 3686]

not  dote upon him and thus would feel keenly whatever sorrow and  suffering
he must go through on account of his past.  Thus they expiated their part in
making him what he was because of their lack of sympathy and kindness.

   These are extreme cases;  but, naturally, one cannot draw a definite les-
son  from cases not clearly marked;  the more bluntly events stand out,  the
easier  it is to tabulate them.   The law which holds good in extreme  cases
would also hold good in lesser cases, with modifications in proper degree to
cover choice of environment.

   The  foregoing  facts  show us clearly that we are  truly  our  brother's
keeper,  and that it behooves every one of us to show all the  sympathy  and
kindness we possibly can to those who are in misfortune, either in or out of
our families.   For though upon the fact of things and looking at life  from
the  viewpoint of our present embodiment alone, we may not seem to have  any
responsibility for the condition of a scapegrace relative;  nevertheless  if
we could view the larger life, if we could see behind the veil,  probably we
should find that we ourselves had helped him to sink into degradation.

   We frequently hear the expression that such and such a person is the "odd
one" in a certain family;  and  we  may  nearly always take it that the poor

[PAGE 3687]

soul so designated is a stranger among strange people,  having to stay there
for  this life on account of some misdeeds in the past.   "Blood is  thicker
than water,"  says an old proverb; but as a matter of fact, the tie of blood
is of no consequence unless the spirits in a family are bound to one another
by love or hate from the past,  which determines their real relationship  in
the present life.   A soul may be clothed in the flesh of a certain  family,
it may sit at their board and have a legal right to a part of their  estate,
while  still it is as much a stranger to them as a passing tramp who begs  a
meal at their kitchen door.   Do you remember that the Christ said,  "For  I
was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:  I
was a stranger and ye took me in."  And then,  "Inasmuch as ye have done  it
unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  When
we find such a soul, one that is "odd," lonely,  and strange in its environ-
ment,  it  should be our endeavor as Christians to emulate the  example  set
forth  by our Lord;  we should endeavor to make such a strange soul at  home
and cultivate its acquaintance for Christ's sake, regardless of its supposed
oddities.

   The disabilities which affect humanity may be divided into large classes;
MENTAL and PHYSICAL.   The mental troubles are particularly traceable to the
abuse of the creative function, when they are congenital, with one exception
which we shall note later.  The same holds true in case of impairment of the

[PAGE 3688]

faculty of speech.   This is reasonable and easy to understand.   The  brain
and the larynx were built with half of the creative force by the Angels,  so
that man who,  prior to the acquisition of these organs,  was bi-sexual  and
able to create from himself alone,  lost that faculty when these organs were
created  and is now dependent upon the co-operation of another  of  opposite
polarity or sex in order to generate a new vehicle for an incoming spirit.

   When  we use the spiritual sight to look at man in the Memory  of  Nature
during the time when he was yet in the making,  we find that wherever  there
is now a nerve,  there was first a desire current; that the brain itself was
made of desire substance in the first place and also the larynx.  It was de-
sire  that first sent a motive impulse through the brain and  created  these
nerve currents, that the body might be moved and obtain for the spirit what-
ever gratification was indicated by desire.  Speech,  also,  is used for the
purpose of obtaining a desired object or end.   Through these faculties  man
has  obtained a certain mastery over the world,  and if he could  just  flit
from  one body to another,  there would be no end to his abuse of his  power
for gratifying every whim and desire.   But under the law of consequence  he
takes with him into a new body, faculties and organs similar to those  which
he left behind in the one preceding.

[PAGE 3689]

   When  passion has wrecked the body in one life,  it is stamped  upon  the
seed  atom.   In the next descent to rebirth it is therefore impossible  for
him to gather sound material with which to build a brain of stable construc-
tion.   He is then usually born under one of the common signs,  and usually,
also,  the four common signs are on the angles; for through these signs pas-
sionate desire finds it difficult to express itself.   Thus the powerful im-
pulse which formerly ruled in his brain and which might be used for the pur-
pose of rejuvenescence is absent;  he lacks incentive in life and  therefore
he becomes helpless--a log upon the ocean of life--often insane.

   But the spirit is not insane;  it sees,  knows,  and has a keen desire to
use the body, though that be an impossibility, for often it cannot even send
a correct impulse along the nerves.  The muscles of face and body are there-
fore  not  under the control of its will.   This accounts for  the  lack  of
co-ordination  which makes the maniac such a pitiable sight.   And thus  the
spirit learns one of the hardest lessons in life,  namely,  that it is worse
than death to be tied to a living body and unable to find expression through
it because THE DESIRE FORCE necessary to accomplish thought, speech, and mo-
tion  HAS BEEN SPENT IN UNRIGHTEOUS LIVING in a previous life and  left  the
spirit  without the necessary energy to operate its present fleshly  instru-
ment.

[PAGE 3690]

                            THE CAUSE OF DISEASE:

                 EFFORTS OF THE EGO TO ESCAPE FROM THE BODY:

                          EFFECTS OF LASCIVIOUSNESS:

   Though mental disabilities,  when congenital,  are generally traceable to
abuse of the creative function in a past life, there is at least one notable
exception to this rule,  namely,  cases such as mentioned in the Rosicrucian
Cosmo-Conception and elsewhere in our literature,  and described as follows:
Where a spirit,  who has a particularly hard life before it,  comes down  to
rebirth  and  feels upon entering the womb that the panorama of  the  coming
life then shown it marks an existence too hard for it to undergo,  it  some-
times tries to run away from the school of life.  At that time the Recording
Angels  or their agents have already made the connection between  the  vital
body and the sense centers of the brain in the forming foetus; therefore the
effort of the spirit to escape from the mother's womb is frustrated, but the
wrench  that is given by the Ego deranges the connection between the etheric

[PAGE 3691]

and  physical sense centers,  so that the vital body is not concentric  with
the physical, causing the etheric head to extend above the physical cranium.
Thus it is impossible for the spirit to use the dense vehicle; it is tied to
a  mindless  body which it cannot use,  and the  embodiment  is  practically
wasted.

   We also find cases where a great shock later in life causes the spirit to
endeavor  to run away with the invisible vehicles.   As a result  a  similar
wrench is given to th etheric sense centers in the brain,  and the shock de-
ranges the mental expression.   Everybody has probably felt a similar sensa-
tion on receiving a fright; a surging as of something endeavoring to get out
of the dense body;  that is the desire and vital bodies,  which are so swift
in their motion that an express train is as a snail by comparison.  They see
and  feel the danger and are frightened before the scare is  transmitted  to
the inert and slow physical body in which they are anchored,  and which pre-
vents their escape under ordinary strain.

   But at times,  as said,  the fright and shock are sufficiently severe  to
give them such an impulse that the etheric sense centers are deranged.  This
most  frequently happens to persons born under common signs,  which are  the
weakest in the zodiac.   However,  as a ligament that has been stretched and
torn  may  gradually regain comparative elasticity, so also, in these cases,

[PAGE 3692]

it is easier to restore the mental faculties than in those cases where  con-
genital insanity,  brought over from past lives,  has caused inadequate con-
nection.

   Hysteria,  epilepsy,  tuberculosis,  and cancer were all found to  result
from  the erratic propensities of a past life.   It was noticed that  though
many of the subjects had been,  in the past lives investigated,  almost  ma-
niacal in the gratification of their lasciviousness,  they were at the  same
time  of  a highly devotional and religious nature;  and in such  cases,  it
seems  that  the physical body generated in the present  life  was  normally
healthy and their disability altogether mental;  while in other cases  where
the indulgence of the passional nature was coupled with a vile character and
a cruel disregard of others, epilepsy together with rachitis, hysteria,  and
a deformed body were the present result;  also,  frequently,  cancer,  espe-
cially cancer of the liver or breast.

   In this connection,  however,  we wish to again warn students not to draw
hasty  conclusions that these are hard and fast conditions.   The number  of
investigations  made,  though  very large and an arduous task  for  one  re-
searcher to handle, are too few to be really conclusive in matters involving
millions of human beings.   They are, however, in line with the teachings of
the Cosmo given by the Elder Brothers regarding the effect of materialism in

[PAGE 3693]

bringing  about  rachitis a softening of a part of the body that  should  be
hard,  and tuberculosis,  which hardens tissues that should remain soft  and
pliable.  Cancer is essentially similar in effect; and when we consider that
the sign Cancer is ruled by the moon, the planet of generation, and that the
lunar sphere is under th sway of Jehovah,  the God of generation,  whose an-
gels  announce  and preside over birth as instanced in the  case  of  Isaac,
Samuel,  John the Baptist,  and Jesus, we readily see that abuse of the gen-
erative  functions can cause both cancer and lunacy in the most  differenti-
ated forms.

   Therefore with regard to physical abnormalities and deformities, the rule
seems to be that as the physical indulgence of passion reacts on the  mental
state,  so the abuse of the mental powers in one life leads to physical dis-
ability in later existences.   An occult maxim says that "A lie is both mur-
der and suicide in the Desire World."   The teachings of the Elder  Brothers
given  in the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception explain that whenever  an  occur-
rence takes place,  a certain thought form generated in the invisible  world
makes  a record of the incident.   Every time the event is talked  about  or
commented  upon,  a  new thought form is created which  coalesces  with  the
original and strengthens it,  provided they are both true to the same vibra-
tion.  But  if  an  untruth is told concerning what happens, then the vibra-

[PAGE 3694]

tions of the original and those of the reproduction are not identical;  they
jar and jangle,  tearing each other to pieces.   If the good an true thought
form  is sufficiently strong,  it will overcome and break down  the  thought
forms based upon a lie,  and the good will overcome the evil;  but where the
lies  and malicious thoughts are the stronger,  they may overcome  the  true
thought form of the occurrence and thus demolish it.   Afterwards they  will
jar among themselves, and all in turn will be annihilated.

   Thus a person who lives a clean life, endeavoring to obey the laws of God
and  striving  earnestly for truth and righteousness,  will  create  thought
forms about him of a corresponding nature; his mind will run in grooves that
harmonize with truth; and when the time comes in the second heaven to create
the archetype for his coming life, he will readily, intuitively, by force of
habit from the past life,  align himself with the forces of right and truth.
These lines,  being built into his body,  will create harmony in the  coming
vehicles,  and  health will therefore be his normal portion  in  the  coming
life.  Those who, on the other hand, have in the past life taken a distorted
view of things, displayed a disregard for truth, and exercised cunning,  ex-
treme selfishness, and disregard for the welfare of others, are bound in the
second heaven to see things in an oblique manner also, because that is their

[PAGE 3695]

habitual line of thought.   Therefore,  the archetype built by them will em-
body lines of error and falsity; and consequently,  when the body is brought
to birth,  it will exhibit a weakness in various organs, if not in the whole
bodily organization.

   Again we warn students not to draw quick conclusions from these tentative
rules.  It is not our intention to imply that every one that has a seemingly
healthy body has been a paragon of virtue in his past life, and he who  suf-
fers   from   one   disability  or  another  has  been   a   scapegrace   or
good-for-nothing.   None  of us are able to tell at the present  time,  "the
whole truth and nothing but the truth."   We are deceived because our senses
are illusive.   A long street seems to narrow in the distance,  when,  as  a
matter  of fact,  it is just as wide a mile away as where we  are  standing.
The sun and moon seem much larger when near the horizon than when at the ze-
nith; but, as a matter of fact, we know that they do not gain in size by de-
scending  toward  the horizon,  nor lose by ascending into  the  mid-heaven.
Thus we are constantly making allowances for and correcting sense illusions;
similarly,  with everything else in the world.  What seems to be true is not
always  so,  and what is true today regarding conditions of life may  change
tomorrow.   Therefore it is impossible for us to know truth in the  ultimate
under the evanescent and illusory conditions of physical existence.

[PAGE 3696]

   It  is only when we enter into the higher realms,  and particularly  into
the  Region of Concrete Thought,  that the eternal verities are to  be  per-
ceived;  hence we must necessarily make mistakes again and again,  even  de-
spite our most earnest efforts to always know and tell the truth.   On  that
account  is is impossible for us to build a thoroughly  harmonious  vehicle.
Were that possible,  such a body would really be immortal,  and we know that
immortality in the flesh is not the design of God; for Paul says that "flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."

   But  we  know that even today only a very small percentage are  ready  to
live as near the truth as they see it,  to confess it and profess it  before
men by service and by righteous and harmless living.  We can also understand
that such must have been few and far between in the by-gone ages,  when  man
had not evolved the altruism that came to this planet with the advent of our
Lord and Savior,  Christ Jesus.   The standards of morality were much  lower
then,  and the love of truth almost negligible in the greater part of human-
ity,  who were engrossed in their endeavors to accumulate as much wealth  or
gain as much power or prestige for themselves as possible.  They were there-
fore naturally inclined to disregard the interests of others,  and to tell a
lie seemed in no way reprehensible and sometimes even appeared  meritorious.

[PAGE 3697]

The archetypes were consequently full of weaknesses,  and the organic  func-
tions of the body today are interfered with to a serious degree as a result,
particularly  as the western bodies are becoming more high strung  and  more
sensitive to pain on account of the spirit's growing consciousness.

                THE CHRIST RAYS CONSTITUTE THE "INNER URGE"--

                      ETHERIC SIGHT--COLLECTIVE DESTINY:

   Assimilation  of  the  fruits of each past life takes  place  before  the
spirit  descends  to rebirth,  and consequently the character  generated  is
fully formed and readily expressed in the subtle,  mobile mind-stuff of  the
Region of Concrete Thought,  where the archetype of the coming dense body is
built.   If the spirit seeking rebirth loved music,  it will seek to build a
perfect ear with the semi-circular canals accurately placed and the ampullae
very thin and sensitive to vibration;  it will seek to form long and slender
fingers wherewith to execute the heavenly chords caught by the ear.   But if
it  detested music,  if in the past life it endeavored to close its ears  to
sounds of gladness or the sob of sorrow the desire to shut itself away  from
others  thus formed would cause it to neglect the ear when building the  ar-
chetype, and as a consequence this organ would be defective in a degree com-
mensurate  with the neglect caused by the character of the  previous  exist-
ence.

[PAGE 3698]

   Similarly with the other senses; who drinks from a fount of knowledge and
endeavors to share his knowledge with his neighbor,  lays the foundation for
powers of oratory in a future life, because the desire to communicate knowl-
edge  would  cause  him to pay particular attention  to  the  formation  and
strength of the vocal organ when he is building the archetype of his  coming
body.   Those who, on the other hand, endeavor to gain access to the myster-
ies  of life for the sake of curiosity or to gratify their own pride of  in-
tellect,  neglect to build an adequate organ of expression and are therefore
found  to  have weak voices or impediments in speech.   In this  way  it  is
brought  home  to them that expression is a valuable  asset.   Although  the
brain of one thus afflicted may not sense the lesson, the spirit learns that
we are strictly accountable for the use we make of our talents,  and we must
pay th penalty sometime,  somewhere, if we neglect to speak the word of Life
to  light  our brothers or sisters upon the path,  when  well  qualified  by
knowledge to do so.

   Regarding  lack  of vision or disabilities of the organ of sight  it  has
long  been known among researchers that it is the effect of extreme  cruelty
in a past life.   Recent investigations have developed the further  informa-
tion  that much of the eye trouble now prevalent among people is due to  the
fact that OUR EYES ARE CHANGING; they are, in fact, becoming responsive to a

[PAGE 3699]

higher octave of vision than before, because the ether surrounding the earth
is  becoming  more  dense and the air is growing more rare.   This  is  par-
ticularly true in certain parts of the world, southern California among oth-
ers.  It is noteworthy in this connection that the Aurora Borealis is becom-
ing more frequent and more powerful in its effects upon the earth.   In  the
early years of the Christian Era this phenomenon was almost unknown,  but in
the  course of time as the Christ wave which descends into the earth  during
part  of  the year,  infuses more and more of its own life  into  the  dead,
earthly  lump,  the ETHERIC VITAL RAYS become visible at  intervals.   Later
they became more and more numerous and are now commencing to interfere  with
our electrical activities,  particularly with telegraphy,  which service  is
sometimes completely demoralized by these radiating streamers.

   It  is also noteworthy that the disturbances are confined to wires  going
east and west.  If you will refer to pages eighty-five and eighty-six in THE
ROSICRUCIAN  COSMO-CONCEPTION,  you will see it stated there  that  rays  or
lines  of force from the plant group spirits radiate in all directions  from
the  center  of the earth towards the periphery and then  outwards,  passing
through the roots of plants or trees, then upward toward the top of same.

[PAGE 3700]

   The currents of the animal group spirits, on the other hand, encircle the
earth.  The comparatively weak and invisible currents generated by the group
spirits of the plants,  and the very strong powerful rays of force generated
by the Christ Spirit now becoming visible as the Aurora Borealis, have hith-
erto been of about the same nature as static electricity, while the currents
generated  by the animal group spirits and which encircle the earth  may  be
likened  to dynamic electricity which gave the earth its power of motion  in
by-gone ages.   Now, however, the Christ currents are becoming more and more
forceful and their static electricity is being liberated.   The etheric  im-
pulse  which they give will inaugurate a new era,  and the sense organs  now
possessed by mankind must accommodate themselves to this change.  Instead of
the etheric rays which emanate from an object bringing a reflected image  to
the retina of our eye, the so-called "blind spot"  will be sensitized and we
shall look out through the eye and see directly the thing itself instead  of
the  image upon our retina.   Then we shall not only see the surface of  the
thing  we  observe,  but we shall be able to see through and through  it  as
those who have cultivated the etheric vision do now.

   As  time goes on and the Christ by His beneficent ministrations  attracts
more and more of the interplanetary ether to th earth, thus making its vital

[PAGE 3701]

body more luminous, we shall be walking in a sea of light, and when we learn
to forsake our ways of selfishness and egotism through the constant  contact
with  these  beneficent Christ vibrations, we also  shall  become  luminous.
Then the eye as it is now constituted would not be of service to us,  there-
fore  it is now beginning to change and we are experiencing  the  discomfort
incident  to all reconstruction.   It may be said further with reference  to
the Aurora and its effects upon us, that these rays are radiated through ev-
ery part of the earth,  which is the body of Christ,  from the center to the
periphery,  but in the inhabited parts of the world these rays are  absorbed
by  humanity  as  the rays of the plant group spirits are  absorbed  by  the
flower.   These rays constitute the "inner urge"  which is slowly but surely
impelling mankind to adopt an attitude of altruism.  They are the impregnat-
ing rays which fructify the soul, so that eventually the immaculate  concep-
tion will take place and the Christ will be born within each of us.  When we
have  all thus become perfectly impregnated, the Christ light will begin  to
radiate from us.  Then we shall walk in the Light as He is in the Light, and
we shall all have Fellowship, one with another.

   Just a few words concerning collective destiny will end these lessons:

   Besides the individual destiny generated by ourselves in each life, there

[PAGE 3702]

is also a collective destiny which we incur by the fact that we are  members
of a community or a nation.  It is well known that communities sometimes act
as  a whole,  either for good or for evil,  and it is only  reasonable  that
these  collective  actions should also have a collective  effect  in  future
lives upon the members of that community or nation which takes part in them.
And  it is found that when these acts are evil the debt thus  contracted  is
generally  liquidated  in the course of accidents,  so called,  on  a  large
scale.   It has been taught as a matter of fact that there are no  accidents
save  where man,  who has the divine prerogative of initiating  new  causes,
breaks  into  other lives and thereby causes a change in their  affairs,  or
when by carelessness he takes the life of a fellow-being.   The latter is an
accident  in many cases.   But such great cataclysms as that which  we  wit-
nessed in Sicily, and such as the San Francisco earthquake,  the great Euro-
pean War,  etc.,  are not accidents, but are causative acts of the community
involved  or the result of such acts in past lives.   Knowing what we do  of
the working of the laws of infant mortality, we can readily realize, for in-
stance,  that as so many hundreds of thousands of victims of the  Great  War
have passed out upon the battle field where it is absolutely impossible  for
them to etch in the panorama  of  their  past life, it will be necessary for

[PAGE 3703]

them  to pass out in the next existence during childhood,  and how can  this
wholesale  death  come  to the infants of a future  age  save  through  some
epidemic or some cataclysm which will sweep the earth?   On that  hypothesis
we may see in the Sicilian earthquake, San Francisco's destruction, the fam-
ines in Ireland and India,  and similar national catastrophes,  the workings
of  destiny from the past,  bringing to each nation the fruits of  its  past
lives and actions as a community.

   What has been said in the foregoing pages is a very slight hint of how we
make and unmake destiny.   Please remember that the few hundred cases inves-
tigated do not give an adequate basis for a general idea of the scope of the
Law,  and the student is bound to find incongruities in individual cases re-
garding  what has been said.  Questions will undoubtedly present  themselves
regarding  this,  that,  or the other specific case,  and while it  is  easy
enough  to investigate single cases and state what causes in one  life  pro-
duced  certain effects in another life of one person,  it is very  different
when we come to tabulate them and endeavor to form a general law, as we have
tried to do in the present work.   To perform this task in a perfect  manner
would require superhuman knowledge and wisdom,  and the present attempt  may
perhaps be characterized as a case of a  fool  rushing in where angels might
well fear to tread.   Personally,  the writer has gained much more knowledge
than  he has been able to communicate,  but he hopes nevertheless that  what
has  been said may be of some little use to the student as hints  concerning
the great mystery of life.

   May these studies in the Web of Destiny generate in each student a keener
desire to live day by day in such a manner that there shall be more peace on
earth and good will among men.

Continued with file "RC1103.TXT"

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