Filename: RC4005.TXT

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                 ROSICRUCIAN CHRISTIANITY PHILOSOPHY COURSE

                                 LESSON NO. 34:

                                    FAUST:

   When the name Faust is mentioned, the majority of educated people at once
think of Gounod's presentations upon the stage.  Some admire the music,  but
the story itself does not seem to particularly impress them.   As it appears
there, it seems to be the unfortunately all too common story of a sensualist
who  betrays  a young unsuspecting girl and then leaves her to  expiate  her
folly  and  suffer for her trustfulness.  The touch of  magic  and  witchery
which enters into the play is Thought of by most people as only the  fancies
of an author who has used them to make the sordid,  everyday conditions more
interesting.

   When Faust is taken by Mephistopheles to the underworld and Marguerite is
borne to heaven upon angelic wings at the conclusion of the play, it appears
to  them to be just the ordinary moral to give the story a goody-goody  end-
ing.

   A small minority know that Gounod's opera is based upon the drama written
by Goethe.   And those who have studied the two parts of his presentation of
Faust, gain a very different idea from that presented by the play.  Only the
few who are illuminated mystics,  see in the play written by Goethe the  un-
mistakable  hand of an enlightened fellow Initiate,  and realize  fully  the
great cosmic significance contained therein.

   Be it very clearly understood that the story of Faust is a myth as old as
mankind.   Goethe presented it clad in a proper mystic  light,  illuminating
one of the greatest problems of the day,  the relation and struggle  between
Freemasonry and Catholicism, which we have considered from another viewpoint
in a former book.

   We have often said in our literature, that a myth is a veiled symbol con-
taining a great cosmic truth,  a conception which differs radically from the
generally accepted one.   As we give picture books to our children to convey
lesson  beyond their intellectual grasp,  so the great Teachers gave  infant
humanity these pictorial symbols, and thus, unconsciously to mankind, an ap-
preciation of the ideals presented has been etched into our finer vehicles.

   As  a  seed germinates unseen in the ground ere it can flower  above  the
visible surface of the Earth, so these etchings traced by the myths upon our
finer,  invisible vestures have put us into a state of receptivity where  we
readily  take to higher ideals and rise above the sordid conditions  of  the
material world.  These ideals would have been submerged by the lower nature,
had it not been prepared for ages by the agency of just such myths as Faust,
Parsifal, and kindred tales.

   Like  the story of Job the scene of the Faust myth has its  beginning  in
heaven at a convocation of the Sons of Seth, Lucifer among them.  The ending
is also in heaven as presented by Goethe.  As it is very different from that
which is commonly presented upon the stage, we stand face to face with a gi-
gantic problem.   In fact,  the Faust myth depicts the evolution of  mankind
during  the present epoch.   It also shows us how the Sons of Seth  and  the
Sons of Cain each play their part in the work of the world.

   It  has always been the custom of the writer to stick as closely  to  his
subject as possible, so that any phase of the philosophy under consideration
might receive the full force of concentrated illumination so far as was pos-
sible  to give it.   But sometimes circumstances justify departure from  the
main trend of the argument,  and our consideration of the Faust myth is  one
of them.   Were we to discourse upon this subject only in so far as it has a
bearing upon the problem of Freemasonry and Catholicism,  we should have  to
return  to the subject later,  in order to illuminate other points of  vital
interest in the unfoldment of soul as the work of the human race.  We there-
fore trust that digressions may not be criticized.

   In the opening scene,  three of the Sons of God,  Planetary Spirits,  are
represented  as bowing before the Grand Architect of the  Universe,  singing
songs  of the spheres in their adoration of the Ineffable Being who  is  the
source of life,  the author of all manifestation.   Goethe represents one of
these supernal Spirits of the stars as saying:

   "The sun intones its ancient song,
   'Mid rival chant of brother spheres,
   Its predestined course it speeds along,
   In thund'rous march throughout the years."

   Modern scientific instruments have been invented,  whereby in  laboratory
tests  light  waves  are  transmuted to sound,  thus  demonstrating  in  the
Physical  World  the mystic maxim of the identity of  these  manifestations.
That which was patent formerly only to the mystic who was able to raise  his
consciousness to the Region of Concrete Thought,  is now also sensed by  the
scientist.  The song of the spheres, first publicly mentioned by Pythagoras,
is  not  therefore,  to be regarded as an empty idea originated in  the  too
vivid  imagination of poetical minds nor as the hallucination of a  demented
brain.

   Goethe meant every word he said.   The stars have each their own keynote,
and they travel about the Sun at such varying rates of speed, that their po-
sition  now  cannot  be duplicated until twenty-seven  thousand  years  have
passed.  Thus  the  harmony  of the heavens changes at every moment of life,
and as it changes, so does the world alter its ideas and ideals.  The circle
dance of the marching orbs to the tune of the celestial symphony created  by
them marks man's progress along the path we call evolution.

   But  it  is a mistaken idea to think that constant harmony  is  pleasing.
Music thus expressed would become monotonous; we should weary of the contin-

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ued harmony.  In fact, music would lose its charm were not dissonance inter-
spersed  at frequent intervals.   The closer a composer can come to  discord
without  actually entering it in the score,  the more pleasing will  be  his
composition when given life through musical instruments.   Similarly in  the
song of the spheres, we could never reach individuality and the selfhood to-
wards which all evolution trends, without the divine discord.

   Therefore,  the Book of Job designates Satan as being one of the Sons  of
God.   And the Faust myth speaks of Lucifer as also present in the  convoca-
tion,  which takes place during the opening chapter of the story.   From him
comes the saving note of dissonance which forms a contrast tot he  celestial
harmony;  and  as the brightest light throws the deepest  shadow,  Lucifer's
voice enhances the beauty of the celestial song.

   While the other Planetary Spirits bow down in adoration when they contem-
plate the works of the Master Architect as revealed in the universe, Lucifer
sounds  the  note  of  criticism,  of blame, in the following words directed
against the masterpiece of God, the king of creatures, man:

   "Of suns and worlds I nothing have to say,
   I see alone man's self-inflicted pains;
   That little world god still his stamp retains,
   As wondrous now as on the primal day.
   Better he might have fared, poor wight,
   Had You withheld the heavenly light;
   Reason he names it, but doth use it so,
   That he more brutish than brutes doth grow."

   This from the viewpoint of former generations may sound sacrilegious, but
in  the greater light of modern times we can understand that even in so  ex-
alted a being as that designated by the name of God,  there must be  growth.
We can sense the striving after still greater abilities,  the  contemplation
of  future  universes offering improved facilities for those  evolutions  of
other Virgin Spirits,  which are a result of the imperfections noted in  the
scheme of manifestation by its exalted Author.   Furthermore,  as "in Him we
live and move and have our begin," so the discordant note sounded by the Lu-
cifer Spirits would also rise within Him.  It would not be an outside agency
which called attention to mistakes or took Him to task,  but His own  divine
recognition of an imperfection to be transmuted into greater good.

   In  the Bible we read that Job was a perfect man,  and in the Faust  myth
the bearer of the title role is designated a servant of God,  for  naturally
the  problem of unfoldment,  of greater growth,  must be solved by the  most
highly advanced.   Ordinary individuals, or those who are lower in the scale
of evolution,  have still that part of the road to travel which has  already
been covered by such as Faust and Job, who are the vanguard of the race, and
who  are looked upon by ordinary humanity in the same way that  Lucifer  de-
scribes them, namely as fools and freaks:

   "Poor fool, his food and drink are not of earth,
   An inward impulse hurries him afar;
   himself, half conscious of his frenzied mood;
   From heaven claimeth he the fairest star,
   And from the earth he craves the highest, best;
   And all that's near and all that's far,
   Can never still the cravings of his breast."

   For such people a new and higher path must be opened to give them greater
opportunities for growth; hence the answer of God:

   "Though in perplexity he serves me now,
   I soon will lead him where the light appears;
   When buds the sapling doth the gardener know,
   That flow'r and fruit shall grace its coming years."

   Fust represents the seeking soul who is endeavoring to find the meaning of 
life and evolution. He is following the path of knowledge and positive action 
and work. Thus he is a true son of Cain, as stated by Max Heindel. Marguerite, 
on the other hand, is a ward of the sons of Seth and is following the path of 
faith and devotion. Faust is tempted by Lucifer to gratify his lower passions 
and desires, and he succumbs for a time. But as he is basically good and 
working for the true ideals of life, he eventually triumphs over temptation 
and rises into Heaven. Lucifer, however, has been of real service to Him by 
making him a stronger soul than he otherwise would have been had he not met 
and overcome the temptations presented by Lucifer. Marguerite is negative in 
character, but she is dominated by love, and the temptations to which she 
succumbs are those presented to her by the impulses of love. In the nd love 
saves her from the effects of her sin, and she also rises into Heaven. The 
Rosicrucian teaching aims to combine the qualities of Faust and Marguerite in 
the aspirant, namely to blend the head and the heart.

                             [To Be Continued]

                                 QUESTIONS:

1] Why did the great teachers give infant humanity these pictorial symbols?

2] In time what effect does this have on humanity?

3] What would have happened to the higher nature if this work had not been 
   done in past ages?

4] What two streams of humanity are represented in the opera Faust?

5] Can the individuality become a fact if constant harmony prevails?

6] Who does Satan represent in the opening scene of Faust?

7] What is Lucifer's work as described in the opera Faust?

8] Can this discordant note be outside of God, Himself?

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                               LESSON NO. 35:

                             FAUST [Continued]:

   As exercise is necessary to the development of physical muscle, so devel-
opment of the moral nature is accomplished through temptation.   The Ego be-
ing given choice,  may exercise it in whatever direction it chooses,  for it
learns  just as well by its mistakes as by right action in the first  place,
perhaps even better.   Therefore, in the Job myth, the devil is permitted to
tempt; and in the Faust myth he makes the request:

   "My Lord, if i may lead him as I choose,
   I wager Thou him yet wilt lose."

To this the Lord replies:

   "`Tis granted thee! Divert
   This spirit from its primal source,
   Him mayst thou seize, thy power exert,
   If he will go the downward course.
   But stand ashamed when thou art forced to own,
   A good man in his darkest aberration
   Still knows the path that leadeth to salvation.
   Go, thou art free to act without control.
   I do not cherish hate for such as thee;
   Of all the spirits of negation
   The cynic is least wearisome to Me.
   Man is too prone, activity to shirk,
   And undisturbed in rest he fain would live;
   Hence this companion purposely I give
   Who stirs, excites, and must as devil work.
   But ye, O faithful Sons of God, none wronging,
   Rejoice in all of everliving beauty,
   The everliving, evergrowing, and becoming;
   Now gird yourselves about with love and duty."

   Thus  the  plot  is ready and Faust is about to become  enmeshed  in  the
snares which beset the path of every seeking soul.  The following lines show
the  beneficent purpose and the necessity of temptation.   The Spirit is  an
integral  part of God;  primarily INNOCENT, but not virtuous.   Virtue is  a
positive  quality developed by taking a firm stand for the right in  tempta-
tion,  or by the suffering endured in consequence of wrongdoing.   Thus  the
prologue in heaven gives to the Faust myth its highest value as a guide, and
its encouragement to the seeking soul.  It shows the eternal purpose  behind
the earthly conditions which cause pain and sorrow.

   Goethe next introduces us to Faust himself,  who is standing in his dark-
ened study.  He is engaged in introspection and retrospection:

   "I have, alas! philosophy, medicine, and law,
   Theology I too have studied, pshaw!
   Now here I stand with all my love,
   A fool no wiser than before.
   I Thought to better humankind,
   To elevate the human mind;
   I have not worked for goods nor treasure,
   Nor worldly honor, rank, nor pleasure.
   With books I all my life have striven,
   But now to magic I am given;
   And hope through spirit voice and might,
   Secrets veiled to bring to light.
   That I no more with aching brow,
   Need speak of what I nothing know.
   Woe's me!  Still prisoned in the gloom
   Of this abhorred and musty room,
   Where heaven's dear light itself doth pass

   But dimly through the painted glass.
   Up! forth into the distant land.
   Is not this book of mystery
   By Nostradamus' magic hand,
   An all sufficient guide?  Thou'lt see
   The courses of the stars unrolled,
   When Nature doth her thoughts unfold
   To thee.  Thy soul shall rise and seek
   Communion high with her to hold."

   A  lifetime  of study has brought Faust no real knowledge.   The  conven-
tional sources of learning prove barren in the end.  The scientist may think
God a superfluity; he may believe that life consists in chemical action  and
reaction--that is,  when he starts.   But the deeper he delves into  matter,
the greater the mysteries that beset his path, and at last he will be forced
to abandon further research or believe in God as a Spirit whose life invests
every atom of matter.   Faust has come to that point.   He says that he  has
not worked for gold "nor treasure, nor worldly honor,  rank,  nor pleasure."
He has striven from love of research and has come to the point where he sees
that a spirit world is about us all; and through this world,  through magic,
he  now  aspires to a higher,  more real knowledge than  that  contained  in
books.

   A tome,  written by the famous Nostradamus is in his hand, and on opening
it he beholds the sign of the macrocosm.   The power contained therein opens
to his consciousness a part of the world he is seeking, and in an ecstasy of
joy he exclaims:

   "Ah! at this spectacle through every sense,
   What sudden ecstasy of joy is flowing;
   I feel new rapture, hallowed and intense.
   Now of the wise man's words I learn the sense:
   Unlocked the spirit world is lying,
   Thy senses shut, thy heart is dead;
   Up, scholar! lave with zeal undying
   Thine earthly breast in morning red.
   How all that lives and works is ever blending,
   Weaves one vast whole from Being's ample range,
   See powers celestial rising and descending,
   Their golden buckets' ceaseless interchange.
   Their flight on rapture breathing pinions winging,
   From heaven to earth the rhythm bringing."

   But again the pendulum swings back.   As an attempt to gaze directly into
the brilliant light of the Sun would result in shattering the retina of  the
eye,  so the audacious attempt to fathom the Infinite results in failure and
the seeking soul is thrown from the ecstasy of joy into the darkness of  de-
spair:

   "A wondrous who, but ah! a show alone.
   Where shall I grasp thee, infinite nature, where?
   Ye breasts, ye fountains of all life whereon
   Hang heaven and earth, from which the withered
         heart
   For solace yearns.  ye still impart
   Your sweet and fostering tides; where are ye--
         where?
   Ye gush, and I must languish in despair."

   We must first understand the lower before we can successfully aspire to a
higher knowledge.  To rant and rave of worlds beyond, of finer bodies,  when
we  have little conception of the vehicles with which we work every day  and
the environment in which we move, is the height of folly.   "Man,  know thy-

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self" is a sound teaching.  The only safety lies in climbing the ladder rung
by rung, never attempting a new step until we have  made  ourselves  secure,
until  we are poised and balanced upon he one where we stand.   Many a  soul
can echo from its own experience the despair embodied in the words of Faust.

   Foolishly  he has started at the highest point.   He has suffered  disap-
pointment, but does not yet understand that he must begin at the bottom;  so
he commences an evocation of the Earth Spirit:

   "Earth Spirit, Thou to me art nigher,
   E'en now my strength is rising higher,
   Courage I feel, abroad the world to dare,
   The woe of earth, the bliss of earth, to bear;
   With storms to wrestle, brave the lightning glare,
   And 'mid the crashing shipwreck not despair.
   Clouds gather o'er me, obscure the moon's light
   The lamp's flame is quenched with darkness of
         night.
   Vapors are rising, flashing and red,
   Beams of them dartingly, piercing my head;
   I am seized with a sickening, shuddering dread.
   Spirit, prayer-compelled, 'tis Thou
   Art hovering near, unveil Thyself now.
   My heart I gladly surrender to Thee;
   Thous must appear, if life be free."

   As we have said in THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION,  and as we have fur-
ther  elucidated in the Rosicrucian philosophy relative to a  question  con-
cerning  the  Latin  ritual  in  the  Catholic  Church,  a  name is a sound.
Properly uttered,  no matter by whom, it has a compelling influence over the
intelligence it represents,  and the word given in each degree of Initiation
gives  man access to a particular sphere of vibration,  peopled  by  certain
classes of Spirits.   Therefore, as a tuning fork responds to a note of even
pitch,  so when Faust sounds THE NAME of the Earth Spirit, it opens his con-
sciousness to that all pervading presence.

   And be it remembered that Faust's experience is not an isolated  instance
of what may happen under abnormal conditions.  He is a symbol of the seeking
soul.   You and I are Fausts in a certain sense,  for at some stage  in  our
evolution we shall meet the Earth Spirit and realize the power of His  name,
properly uttered.

                            [To Be Continued]

                               QUESTIONS:

1] Is temptation, as portrayed on Faust, necessary to the growth of humanity 
   and why?

2] What two attributes assist in overcoming the temptation of Lucifer?

3] Explain the difference between innocence and virtue.

4] What does Faust, as a scientist, represent?

5] Why did Faust fail in his first attempt to know the mystery of the 
   Universe?

6] After Faust's first failure, whom did he then turn to for assistance?

7] Is the story of Faust the story of each Ego, and if so, why?

[PAGE 77]

                              LESSON NO. 36:

                            FAUST [Continued]:

   In The Star of Bethlehem, a Mystic Fact, we endeavored to give students a
glimpse of a certain phase of Initiation.  Most of us walk about upon  Earth
and see only a seemingly dead mass,  but one of the first facts revealed  in
our  consciousness by Initiation is the living reality of the Earth  Spirit.
As  the  surface of our body is dead compared to the organs within,  so  the
outer envelope of the Earth, being encrusted, gives no idea of the wonderful
activity within.   Upon the path of Initiation nine different layers are re-
vealed,  and in the center of this rolling sphere we meet the Spirit of  the
Earth  face  to  face.   It  is actually  true  that  it  is  "groaning  and
travailing"  in the Earth for the sake of all, working and anxiously waiting
for our manifestation as Sons of God so that,  as the seeking soul which as-
pires to liberation is released from its dense body,  the Earth Spirit  also
may be liberated from its body of death in which it is now confined for us.

   The words of the Earth Spirit to Faust, as given by Goethe,  offer splen-
did material for meditation,  for they represent mystically what the  candi-
date feels when he first realizes the actual reality of the Earth Spirit  as
a living presence, ever actively laboring for our uplift.

   "In the currents of life, in the action of storm
   I float and wave with billowy motion;
   Birth and the grave, a limitless ocean;
   A constant weaving, with change still rife,
   A restless heaving, a glowing life,
   Time's whizzing loom I've unceasingly trod;
   Thus weave I the living garment of God."

   Of course,  the Earth Spirit is not to be thought of as a larger man,  or
as  having  physical form other than the Earth itself.   The vital  body  of
jesus,  in which the Christ Spirit was focused prior to its  actual  ingress
into the Earth, has the ordinary human form; it is preserved and is shown to
the  candidate at a certain point in his progression.   Some day int he  far
future it will again house the benevolent Christ Spirit upon His return from
the center of the Earth,  when we shall have become etheric,  and when He is
ready  to ascend to higher spheres,  leaving us to be taught of the  Father,
whose religion will be higher than the Christian religion.

   The esoteric truth that WHEN A SPIRIT ENTERS BY A CERTAIN DOOR,  IT  MUST
ALSO RETURN THE SAME WAY, is taught by Goethe in connection with the initial
appearance of Mephistopheles to Faust.   Faust is not upon the regular  path
of Initiation.  He has not earned admission nor the help of the Elder Broth-
ers;  he is seeking at the wrong door because of his impatience.   Therefore
he  is  spurned by the Earth Spirit and when having seemingly  attained,  is
plunged  from  the pinnacle of joy to the pit of despair where  he  realizes
that he has in reality failed.

   "I, God's own image, from this toil of clay
   Already free, who hailed
   The mirror of eternal truth unveiled,
   'Mid light effulgent and celestial day,
   I, whose unfettered soul
   With penetrative glance aspired to flow
   Through nature's veins, and still creating know
   The life of gods . . . how am I punished now,
   one thunder word has hurled me from the goal!
   Spirit, I dare not lift me to thy sphere;
   What though my power compelled thee to appear,
   My art was futile to detain thee here.
   Fiercely didst thrust me from the realm of
         thought,
   Back on humanity's uncertain fate!
   Who'll teach me now?  What ought I to forego?"

   He thinks the sources of information are exhausted and that he may  never
attain to the real knowledge.   And fearing the dull monotony of a plodding,
ordinary existence, he grasps a phial of poison and is about to drink,  when
songs without,  proclaim the risen Christ for it is Easter morning.   At the
thought,  new hope stirs his soul.  He is also further disturbed in his pur-
pose by the knocking of Wagner, his friend.

   Walking with the latter,  Faust voices the cry of agony wrung from  every
aspiring  soul in the awful struggle between the higher and  lower  natures.
So long as we live worldly lives without higher aspirations,  there is peace
in our breasts.   But once we have sensed the call of the Spirit,  our equi-
poise is gone,  and the more ardently we pursue the quest of the Grail,  the
fiercer is this inner struggle.   Paul thought of himself as a wretched  man
because  lower  desires in the flesh combated the higher  spiritual  aspira-
tions.  Faust's words are of similar import:

   "Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast,
   And struggle there for undivided reign;
   one to the Earth with passionate desire
   And closely clinging organs still adheres,
   Above the mists the other does aspire
   With sacred ardor unto purer spheres."

   But  he does not realize that there is no royal road to attainment,  that
each  one  must  walk  the  path to peace alone.  He thinks that Spirits can
give him soul power ready for use:

   "Oh, are there spirits in the air,
   Who float 'twixt heaven and earth dominion
         wielding?
   Stoop hither from your golden atmosphere;
   Lead me to scenes, new life and fuller yielding.
   A magic mantle did I but possess,
   Abroad to waft me as on viewless wings.
   I'd prize it far beyond most costly dress,
   Nor change it for the robe of kings."

   Because  of this looking to others he is doomed to  disappointment.   "If
thou art Christ help thyself,"  is the universal rule,  and self-reliance is

[PAGE 78]

the cardinal virtue which aspirants are required to cultivate in the Western
Mystery School.  No one is allowed to lean on MASTERS, nor to blindly follow
LEADERS.   The  Brothers of the Rose Cross aim to emancipate the  soul  that
come to them;  to educate, to strengthen, and to make them COWORKERS.   Phi-
lanthropists do not grow on every bush, and whoever looks to a Teacher to do
more  than point the way,  will meet disappointment.   No matter what  their
claims,  no matter whether they come in the flesh, or as Spirits,  no matter
how spiritual they seem, Teachers positively cannot do for us the good deeds
requisite  to soul growth,  assimilate them, nor give us the resulting  soul
power ready to use, any more than they can impart to us physical strength by
eating our food.   True,  Faust the seeking soul, attracts a Spirit ready to
serve him, but it is a Spirit of an undesirable nature, Lucifer.  When Faust
asks his name, he replies:

   "The Spirit of Negation; the power that still
   Works for good though scheming ill."

   People or Spirits who offer to gratify our desires usually have an end in
view.

   Now we come to a point involving an important cosmic law which  underlies
various  spiritualistic phenomena and also supports the unique  teaching  of
The Rosicrucian Fellowship (the the Bible), that Christ will not return in a
dens body but in a vital body.  It also shows why He MUST return.   Students
will therefore do well to read very carefully:

   Attracted by the mental attitude of Faust,  Lucifer follows him into  his
study.   On the floor just inside the door is a five pointed star  with  the
two  horns nearest the door.   In the ordinary process of Nature  the  human
Spirit enters its dense body during antenatal life and withdraws at death by
way of the head.   Invisible Helpers who have learned to transmute their sex
force  to soul power in the pituitary body,  also leave and enter the  dense
body  by way of the head;  therefore,  the pentagram WITH ONE POINT  UPWARD,
symbolizes the aspiring soul who works in harmony with Nature.

   The black magician, who  has  neither  soul nor soul power, also uses the
sex  force.   he leaves and enters the body by way of the feet,  the  silver
cord  protruding  from the sex organ.   Therefore,  the pentagram  with  two
points upward is the symbol of black magic.   Lucifer had no trouble in  en-
tering Faust's study, but when he wishes to leave after speaking with Faust,
the single point bars his way.  He requests Faust to remove the sign and the
latter queries:

Faust:   The pentagram your peace does mar,
         To me you, son of hell, make clear,
         How entered you, if this your exit bar?
         Where is the snare,
         Why through the window not withdraw?

Lucifer: For ghosts, devils, 'tis a law,
         Where we stole in, there we must forth;
         we're free
         The first to choose, but to the second
         slaves are we.

   Before A.D.  33 Jehovah guided our planet in its orbit and mankind on the
path of evolution FROM WITHOUT.  On Golgotha, Christ entered the Earth which
He now guides from within,  and will until a sufficient number of our human-
ity  have evolved the soul power necessary to float the Earth and guide  our
younger brothers.  This requires ability to live in vital bodies, capable of
levitation.   The vital body of Jesus through which Christ entered the Earth
is His only avenue of return to the Sun.  Hence the Second Advent will be in
Jesus' vital body.

                            [To Be Continued]

                                QUESTIONS:

1] What is one of the first facts impressed upon the consciousness by 
   initiation?

2] Why has Faust not found the regular path of Initiation as yet?

3] When once we begin to live the higher life what condition is lost and is it 
   necessary to gain it back?

4] Can spirits give anyone soul power? Explain.

5] What is the CARDINAL virtue required of the candidate in the Western 
   Mystery School?

6] Does the Black Magician possess soul or soul power?

7] Does he use the same force as the White Magician? Explain.

8] Must a spirit return the same way as he leaves?

9] What bodies will it be necessary for humanity to function in to be able to 
   float the earth?

10] What power must be developed before this can be done and the Earth Spirit 
    relieved of this responsibility?

[PAGE 79]

                               LESSON NO. 37:

                             FAUST [Continued]:

   The  Faust myth presents a curious situation in the meeting of the  hero,
who is the seeking soul,  with different classes of Spirits.   The Spirit of
Faust,  inherently good,  feels drawn to the higher orders; it feels akin to
the  benevolent  Earth Spirit,  and bemoans the inability to detain  it  and
learn from it.   Face to face with the spirit of negation,  who is only  too
willing to teach and to serve,  he finds himself master in a certain  sense,
because that spirit cannot leave,  over the symbol of the five pointed  star
in the position it is placed upon the floor.   But both his inability to de-
tain  the Earth Spirit and obtain tuition from that exalted Being,  and  his
mastery  over the spirit of negation,  are due to he fact that he  has  come
into contact with them BY CHANCE and not by soul power evolved from within.

   When Parsifal, the hero of another of these great soul myths,  first vis-
ited the Castle of the Grail, he was asked how he had come there, and he an-
swered "I know not."  He just HAPPENED to  enter  the  holy  place as a soul
sometimes gets a glimpse of the celestial realms in a vision;  but he  could
not stay in Mount Salvat.   He was forced to go out into the world again and
learn his lesson.   Many years later he returned to the Castle of the Grail,
weary and worn with the quest, and the same query again was asked:  "How did
you  come  here?"   But this time his answer was  different,  for  he  said,
"Through search and suffering I came."

   That is the cardinal point which marks the great difference between  per-
sons who happen to come in contact with Spirits from superphysical realms by
chance  or stumble upon he solution of a law of Nature,  and those,  who  by
diligent research and particularly by LIVING THE LIFE,  attain to  conscious
Initiation  into the secrets of Nature.   The former do not know how to  use
this power intelligently and are therefore helpless.   The latter are always
masters of the forces they wield,  while the others are the sport of  anyone
who wishes to take advantage of them.

   Faust  is the symbol of man,  and humanity was first led by  the  Lucifer
Spirits and the Angles of Jehovah.   We are now looking to the Christ Spirit
within  the  Earth as the Saviour to emancipate us from  their  selfish  and
negative influence.

   Paul gives us a glimpse of the further evolution designed for us, when he
says, that after Christ has established the kingdom, He will turn it over to
the Father, who will then be all in all.

   Faust,  however, first seeks communication with the macrocosm, who is the
Father.   Like  the heavenly centaur,  Sagittarius, he aims his bow  at  the
highest stars.   he is not satisfied to begin at the bottom and work his way
up gradually.  When spurned by that sublime Being, he comes down one step in
the scale and seeks communion with the Earth Spirit who also scorns him, for
he  cannot  become the pupil of the good forces until he  has  conformed  to
their rules,  so that he may enter the path of Initiation by the true  door.
Therefore,  when  he  finds that the pentagram at the door  holds  the  evil
Spirit,  he sees a chance to drive a bargain.   He is ready to sell his soul
to Satan.

   As said before,  however,  he is too ignorant to successfully retain  the
mastery,  and spirit power quickly clears away the obstructions  and  leaves
Lucifer free.   But though he departs from the chamber of Faust, he soon re-
turns ready to barter for the seeking soul.   He paints before Faust's  eyes
glowing  pictures of how he may live his life over,  how he may gratify  his
passions and desires.  Faust, knowing that Lucifer is not disinterested, in-
quires what compensation he requires.  To this, Lucifer answers:

   "I pledge myself to be thy servant here,
   At every beck and call alert to be;
   But when we meet in yonder sphere,
   Then shalt thou do the same for me."

   Faust himself,  adds a seemingly singular condition,  regarding the  time
when  the service of Lucifer shall terminate and his own earth life come  to
an end.

   Strange as it seems,  we have in the agreement of Lucifer and the  clause
proposed by Faust basic laws of evolution.  By the Law of Attraction we  are
drawn  into  contact with kindred Spirits both here and  hereafter.   If  we
serve  the good forces here and labor to lift ourselves,  we find  similarly
minded company in this world and in the next, but if we love darkness rather
than light,  we find ourselves associated with the underworld here and here-
after also.  There is no escape from this.

   Furthermore,  we are all "temple builders" working under the direction of
God and His ministers,  the divine Hierarchies.  If we shirk the task set us
in life, we are placed under conditions which will force us to learn.  There
is no rest nor peach upon the path of evolution and if we seek pleasure  and
joy  to the exclusion of the work of life,  the death knell soon comes.   If
ever  we  come to a point where we are ready to bid the passing  hour  stay,
where  we  are  so contended with conditions that we cease  our  efforts  to
progress,  our existence is quickly terminated.  It is a matter of  observa-
tion, that people who retire from business to live only for the enjoyment of
that which they have accumulated,  soon pass out;  while the man who changes
his vocation for an avocation generally lives longer.   Nothing is so apt to
end an existence as inactivity.  Therefore, as has been said,  the  laws  of
Nature  are enunciated in the bargain of Lucifer and the condition added  by
Faust:

   "If e'er I be content in sloth or leisure,
   Then be that our the last I see.
   When thou with flattery canst cajole me
   Till self-complaisant I shall be;
   When thou with pleasure canst befool me,
   Be that the final day for me.
   Whenever to the passing hour
   I say, 'Oh stay, thou art so fair!'
   Then unto thee I give the power
   To drag me down to deep despair.
   Then let my knell no longer linger,
   Then from my service thou art free;
   Fall from the clock the index finger,
   Be time all over then for me."

   Lucifer requests Faust to sign with a DROP OF BLOOD.   And when asked the
reason,  he says cunningly,  "Blood is a most peculiar essence."   The Bible
says it is the seat of the soul.

[PAGE 80]

   When  the  Earth was in process of condensation the invisible  aura  sur-
rounding  Mars,  mercury and Venus penetrated the Earth and the  Spirits  of
these planets were in peculiar and close relation with humanity.   iron is a
Mars metal, and by the admixture of iron with the blood, oxidation  is  made
possible;  thus  the  inner  heat  required  for  the  manifestation  of  an
indwelling  Spirit  was obtained through the agency of the  Lucifer  Spirits
from  Mars.   They are therefore responsible for the conditions under  which
the Ego is immured in the physical body.

   When  blood is extracted from the human body and coagulates,  every  par-
ticle is of a peculiar form not duplicated by the particles of any other hu-
man being.   Therefore, the one who has blood of a certain person has a con-
necting link with the Spirit that built the blood particles.   He has  power
over that person if he knows how to use this knowledge.   That is the reason
why  Lucifer required the signature in Faust's blood,  for with the NAME  of
his victim thus written in blood,  he could hold the soul in bondage accord-
ing to the laws involved.

   Yes,  indeed!   Blood is a very peculiar essence,  as important in  white
magic as in black.  All knowledge in whatever direction used, must necessar-
ily  feed on life which is primarily derived from the extracts of the  vital
body:  that is to say,  the sex force and the blood.   All knowledge that is
not  thus fed and nurtured,  is as dead and as powerless as  the  philosophy
Faust  extracted  from his books.   No books are of  themselves  sufficient.
only  in the measure that we take that knowledge into our lives and  nourish
it and live it, is it of real value.

   But  there  is  this great difference: that while  the  aspirant  in  the
schools of the Sacred Science feeds his soul on HIS OWN SEX  FORCE  and  the
lower  passions in HIS OWN BLOOD which he thus transmutes and cleanses,  the
adherents  of the black school live as vampires on the sex force  of  others
and the impure blood drawn from the veins of victims.   In the Castle of the
Grail  we  see the pure and cleansing blood working wonders upon  those  who
were chaste and aspired to high deeds, but in the Castle of Herod,  the per-
sonification of voluptuousness,  Salome,  causes the passion filled blood to
race riotously through the veins of the participants, and the blood dripping
from  the  head of the martyred Baptist served to give them the  power  they
were too cowardly to acquire through suffering,  by cleansing themselves  of
impurities.

   Faust aims to acquire power quickly by the aid of others,  hence he  con-
tacts  the  danger  point,  just as everyone  does  today,  who  runs  after
self-styled "adepts"  or "masters,"  who are ready to pander to the   lowest
appetites  of their dupes--for a consideration--as Lucifer offers  to  serve
Faust.   But they can give no soul powers no matter what they  claim.   That
comes from within, by patient persistence in well-doing, a fact which cannot
be too often reiterated.

                          [To Be Continued]

                               QUESTIONS:

1] Why is Faust, the seeking Soul, unable to detain the Earth Spirit or to be 
   master over Lucifer?

2] What is the great difference between persons who happen to contact spirits 
   of the other realms and those who by living the life attain to conscious 
   Initiation?

3] What is to emancipate humanity from the leadership of Jehovah and Lucifer?

4] Can Faust become a pupil of the good forces without conforming to their 
   rules?

5] Why is Lucifer able to escape from Faust's seeming control?

6] What is the basic law of evolution as signified in the agreement between 
   Lucifer and Faust?

7] What is the one condition which tends the most toward crystallization?

8] Why is blood a most peculiar essence?

9] Can a soul be held in bondage through allowing another control over his 
   blood?

10] What is the difference in the use of the blood between the white and black 
    magician?

[PAGE 81]

                              LESSON NO. 38:

                            FAUST [Continued]:

   Being in a reckless mood,  Faust answers contemptuously the demand of Lu-
cifer for his signature in blood to the pact between them,  with the follow-
ing words:

   "Be not afraid that I shall break my word.
   The scope of all my energy
   Is with my vow in full accord.
   Vainly have i aspired too high;
   I'm on a level but with such as thou;
   Me the Great Spirit scorned, defied.
   Nature from me herself doth hide.
   Rent is the web of thought; my mind
   Doth knowledge loathe of every kind.
   In depths of sensual pleasure drowned
   Let us our fiery passions still;
   Enwrapped in magic's veil profound
   Let wondrous charm our senses thrill.

   Having  been  scorned by the powers which make for good and  being  thor-
oughly inflamed with a desire for first-hand knowledge,  for real power,  he
is ready to go to any length.   But God is represented as saying in the pro-
logue:

   "A good man in his darkest aberration,
   Still knoweth the way that leadeth to salvation."

   Faust is the aspiring soul,  and the soul cannot be permanently  diverted
from the path of evolution.

   The statement by Faust of his purpose bears out the assertion that he has
a high ideal, even when wallowing in mire--he wants experience:

   "The end I aim at is not joy.
   I crave excitement, agonizing bliss,
   Enamored hatred, quickening vexation.
   Purged from the love of knowledge, my vocation.
   The scope of all my powers henceforth be this:
   To bare my breast to every pang, to know
   In my heart's core all human weal and woe,
   To grasp in thought the lofty and the deep;
   Man's various fortunes on my breast to heap."

   Before anyone can be truly compassionate, he must feel, as Faust  desires
to feel,  the depth of the sorrows of the human soul as well as its most ec-
static joys;  for only when we know these extremes of the human passion  can
we feel the  compassion  necessary  for those who would aid in the uplift of
humanity.   by the help of Lucifer, Faust is able to learn both joy and sor-
row, and thus Lucifer is indeed, as he says,

   ". . .The pow'r that still
   Works for good, though scheming ill."

   By  the interference of the Lucifer Spirits in the scheme  of  evolution,
the  passions  of mankind were aroused, intensified and led into  a  channel
which has caused all the sorrow and sickness in the world.  Nevertheless, it
has awakened the individuality of man and freed him from the leading strings
of the Angels.   Faust, also, by the help of Lucifer, is led out of the con-
ventional  paths and becomes thereby individualized.   When the bargain  has
been concluded between Faust and Lucifer we have the replica of the Sons  of
Cain, who are the progeny and charges of the Lucifer Spirits as we have seen
in "Freemasonry and Catholicism."

   In the tragedy of Faust, Marguerite is the ward of the Sons of Seth,  the
priesthood described in the Masonic legend.   Presently the two classes rep-
resented by Faust and Marguerite are to meet,  and between them the  tragedy
of life will be enacted and out of the sorrows encountered by each in conse-
quence, the soul will grow wings that will raise it again to realms of bliss
whence  it came.   In the meanwhile Lucifer conducts Faust to  the  witches'
kitchen where he is to receive the  elixir of youth, so that rejuvenated, he
may become desirable in the eyes of Marguerite.

   When Faust is presented upon the stage,  the witches'  kitchen is full of
instruments supposed to be used in magic.   A hell-fire burns under a kettle
wherein  love potions are brewed and there is much else which is  fantastic.
But  we may pass by the inanimate objects without even mentioning them,  and
consider  with  profit  what is meant by the family of apes  which  we  find
there, for they also represent a phase of human evolution.

   Filled with a passion instilled by the Lucifer Spirits, or fallen Angels,
mankind broke away from the angelic host led by Jehovah.   As a  consequence
of the hardening power of desire,  "coats of skin"  soon enveloped them  and
separated them from each other.   Egotism supplanted the feeling of brother-
hood as the nadir of materiality was approached.   Some were more passionate
than others, hence their bodies crystallized to a greater extent.   They de-
generated and became apes.   Their size also dwindled as they approached the
line where the species must be extinguished.  They are, therefore, the espe-
cial wards of the Lucifer Spirits.   Thus the Faust myth shows us a phase of
human  evolution not included in the Masonic legend,  and gives us a  fuller
and more rounded view of what has actually happened.

   Once,  all  mankind stood at the point where the scientist  believes  the
missing link to have been.  Those which are now apes, degenerated  from that
point  while the human family evolved to its present stage  of  development.
We know how indulgence of the passion brutalizes those who give way to them,
and  we can readily realize that at a time when man was yet in  the  making,
unindividualized, and under direct control of cosmic forces, this indulgence
would  be  unchecked by the sense of selfhood which guards us in  a  measure
body.   Therefore,  the results would naturally be more far-reaching and di-
sastrous.

   Some time the aspiring soul must enter the witches' kitchen as Faust did,
and face the object lesson of the consequence of evil as represented by  the
apes.   The soul is then left to meet Marguerite in the garden, to tempt and
be tempted, to choose between purity or passion, to fall as Faust did, or to
stand staunchly for purity,  as did Parsifal.  Under the Law of Compensation
it  will  then receive its reward for the deeds done in the  body.   Indeed,

[PAGE 82]

luck is twin to merit,  as Lucifer points out to Faust,  and true wisdom  is
only acquired by patient persistence in well-doing.

   "How closely luck is linked to merit
   Does never to the fool occur.
   Had he the wise man's stone, I swear it,
   The stone had no philosopher."

   True  to his purpose to study LIFE instead of BOOKS,  Faust demands  that
Lucifer procure for him admittance to the home of Marguerite,  and  proceeds
to win her affections by a princely gift of jewels smuggled into her  closet
by  Lucifer.   The brother of Marguerite is away fighting for  his  country.
Her mother is unable to decide what is best to do with the gift and takes it
to the spiritual adviser in the church.  The latter loves the shining stones
more  than the precious souls entrusted to his care.   He neglects his  duty
for a necklace of pearls, more eager to secure the gems for the adornment of
an idol, than to guard the child of the church against moral dangers lurking
around  her.   Thus Lucifer gains his point and quickly reaps  a  reward  of
blood and human souls,  for in order to gain access to marguerite's chamber,
Faust induces her to give her mother a sleeping potion which results in  the
death of the parent.   Valentine,  the brother of Marguerite,  is killed  by
Faust.   Marguerite is cast into prison and sentenced to suffer capital pun-
ishment.

   When  we  remember that the blood is the seat of the soul,  and  that  it
clings to the flesh of a person who meets a sudden and untimely end with the
same tenacity as the kernel adheres to the flesh of an unripe fruit,  it  is
easy to see that there is considerable torture connected with such a  death.
The Lucifer Spirits revel in the intensity of feeling and evolve by it.  The
nature  of an emotion is not so essential as the intensity,  so far  as  the
purpose is concerned.   Therefore, they stir the human passions of the lower
nature,  which are more intense in our present stage of evolution than feel-
ings of joy and love.  As a result, they incite to  war  and  bloodshed, and
appear  evil now but in reality they act as stepping-stones  towards  higher
and nobler ideals,  for through sorrow and suffering such as are  engendered
in the breast of Marguerite, the Ego rises higher in the scale of evolution.
It learns the value of virtue by a misstep in the direction of vice.

   It was with true appreciation of this fact that Goethe wrote:

   "Who never ate his bread in sorrow,
   Who never spent the midnight hours,
   Weeping, waiting for the morrow,
   He knows ye not, ye heavenly powers."

                           [To Be Continued]

                              QUESTIONS:

1] Can the soul be permanently diverted from the path of evolution?

2] Why is it necessary for Faust to go through the mire of materiality?

3] What causes the crystallization of the physical body?

4] How is true wisdom acquired?

5] How do the Lucifer spirits evolve?

6] What does this result in for the soul?

Continued with file "RC4006.TXT"

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