Filename: +quot;RC1017.TXT+quot; Source: +quot;Gleanings of a Mystic+quot; by Max Heindel

Filename: "RC1017.TXT"
Source: "Gleanings of a Mystic" by Max Heindel

[PAGE  513]

                     THE UNPARDONABLE SIN AND LOST SOULS:

   Some of our students have been exercised about the unpardonable sin,  and
as  this subject has a certain connection with the subject of marriage,  one
being a sacrilege and the other a sacrament,  it might be well to  elucidate
the  matter from a different point of view than has been formerly  taken  in
our literature.

   First let us see what is meant by a sacrament,  and why the rites of bap-
tism, communion, marriage, and extreme unction are properly so called;  then
we  shall  be in a position to understand what sacrilege is and  why  it  is
unpardonable.

   The  Rosicrucians teach,  only with more detail,  the same doctrine  that
Paul  preached  in  the 15th Chapter of 1st  Corinthians,  starting  at  the
thirty-fifth verse,  that in addition to the body of flesh and blood we have
a soul body,  SOMA PSUCHICON (mistranslated "natural"  body) and a spiritual
body; that each of these bodies is grown from a different SEED atom and that
there  are  THREE stages of unfoldment for Adam, or man.  The first Adam was

[PAGE 514]

taken from the ground and was without sentient life.   Soul was added to the
SECOND ADAM;  thus he had life within, a leaven laboring to elevate the clod
to God.  When the potential of the soul extracted from the physical body has
been  raised  to  the spiritual,  the LAST ADAM will become  a  life  GIVING
spirit, capable of transmitting the life impulse to others directly as flame
from  one candle can be communicated to many without diminishing the  magni-
tude of the original light.

   In the meantime the germ for our early body had to be properly placed  in
fruitful  soil to grow a suitable vehicle,  and generative organs were  pro-
vided from the beginning to accomplish this purpose.   It is stated in  Gen-
esis  1:27 that Elohim created them MALE and FEMALE.   The Hebrew words  are
"SACRE VA N'CABAH."   THESE ARE NAMES OF THE SEX ORGANS.   Literally  trans-
lated,  SACR means "bearer of the germ."  Thus marriage is a sacr-ament, for
it opens the way for transmission of a physical seed atom from the father to
the  mother,  and tends to preserve the race against the ravages  of  death.
Baptism  as  a  SACRament signifies the germinal urge of the  soul  for  the
higher life.   Holy Communion,  in which we partake of bread (made from  the
SEED  of chaste plants),  and of wine (the cup symbolizing  the  passionless
SEE-pod),  points to the age to come, and age wherein it will be unnecessary
to TRANSMIT the seed through a father and mother , but where we may feed di-
rectly upon cosmic life and thus conquer death.  Finally, extreme unction is

[PAGE  515]

the SACRament which marks the loosening of the silver cord,  and the extrac-
tion  of  the sacred germ,  freeing it until it shall again  be  planted  in
another N'CABAH, or mother.

   As the seed and ovum are the root and basis of racial development,  it is
easy to see that no sin can be more serious than that which abuses the  cre-
ative  function,  for  by that SACR-ilege we stunt  future  generations  and
transgress against the Holy Spirit,  Jehovah, who is warder of the  creative
lunar forces.  His angels herald births, as in the cases of Isaac,  John the
Baptist, and Jesus.  When he wanted to reward his most faithful follower, he
promised to make his seed as numerous as the sands on the seashore.  He also
meted  out  a  most  terrible punishment  to  the  Sodomites  who  committed
SACR-ilege by misdirecting the seed.  He even visits the sins of the fathers
upon the children to the third and fourth generations,  for under his regime
LAW reigns supreme.   Man has not yet evolved to the point where he can  re-
spond to LOVE.  He requires from his enemies an eye for an eye, and with the
same measure that he metes, it is meted unto him.

   Though  this  seems very cruel to us who are each day evolving  more  and
more the faculties of love and mercy, we must remember that this retributive
justice relates purely to the physical body, which is under the laws of  Na-
ture just as much as any other chemical composition in  the  universe.  When

[PAGE 516]

abuses have weakened it, it is incapable of fulfilling its mission and meet-
ing our demands in any respect, just as is the case with any other machinery
which we have made from materials around us.   There are no miracles such as
would be required to generate a sound and healthy body from parents who have
transgressed the laws of nature by their abuses; therefore but when time and
care  have restored the necessary strength and vigor,  the body  will  again
perform its functions in a normal and healthy manner.

   Thus  we understand that under the law there is no mercy,  for  mercy  is
dictated by love.  Therefore, it was perfectly in consonance with cosmic or-
der when CHRIST, THE LORD OF LOVE, said that all things would be forgiven to
men which they did against Him, as LOVE is the reigning feature in His king-
dom;  but whatsoever was done contrary to the LAW of Jehovah must  meet  its
full retribution.   We cannot be sufficiently thankful for the wonderful re-
ligion  which  He gave us,  particularly if we compare it with  those  under
which less evolved peoples are now struggling.  Take the Buddhists,  for in-
stance;  grand and beautiful though their leader was, he saw only SORROW,  a
constant struggle against the law of nature.   He aimed to teach his follow-
ers to transcend that condition by perfect obedience such as that whereby we
have  conquered  the  laws  of  electricity and other forces in nature.  The

[PAGE 517]

Buddhist sees nothing but the cold and merciless law; on the other hand,  we
of  the  Western World have before our eyes from the cradle to the  grave  a
beautiful picture of One who said,  "Come unto me all ye that labor and  are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

   But it may be asked,  "What about LOST SOULS;  are they a figment of  the
imagination also?"   To this question may be answered,  "yes",  although  it
needs some qualification.   We shall best understand the case if we go  back
into the history of mankind and view the experiences of some who have trans-
gressed , for they will furnish us an example of what may happen.   In order
to establish the point properly we shall reiterate a few of the  Rosicrucian
teachings  regarding  the genesis of the earth and of man  upon  it.   Three
great stages of unfoldment have preceded the present Earth Period.   THE FA-
THER is the highest Initiate of the Saturn Period,  inhabiting  particularly
the Spiritual Sun.   THE SON, the cosmic Christ,  is the highest initiate of
the Sun period,  inhabiting the Central Sun and guiding the planets in their
orbits  by a ray from Himself,  which becomes the indwelling spirit of  each
planet when it has been sufficiently ripened to contain such a great  Intel-
ligence.   Jehovah, the HOLY SPIRIT, is the highest Initiate of the Moon Pe-
riod and dwelling in the physical, visible sun.  He is regent of the various
moons  thrown off by the different planets for the purpose of giving  beings
who have fallen behind in the march of evolution more rigid discipline under

[PAGE 518]

a  firmer law,  to awaken them and spur them on in the proper  direction  if
possible.

   When we look into space,  we perceive that some planets have a number  of
moons and others have none;  but as there are laggards in any large company,
and as moons are required to aid these stragglers to retrieve their lost es-
tate if possible,  we may be sure that these planets which have no moons now
have  had  them in the past.   Those Great Beings of  whom  "The Rosicrucian
Cosmo-Conception" speaks as "Lords of Venus" and "Lords of Mercury" were, in
fact,  stragglers from those two planets.   In the dim distant past they in-
habited moons which encircled their respective planets,  and were successful
in retrieving their loss in a large measure under the discipline given  them
there.    Later they received the opportunity to serve to secure a return to
the home planet whence they had been exiled.   They were LOST under the LAW,
but REDEEMED BY LOVE;  and thus we may infer that opportunities for  service
will also bring to other beings,  who may become "lost"  the opportunity  to
retrieve the past.

   Since  it  may puzzle the student as to what becomes of  the  moons  upon
which such beings dwell for a time,  we may say that the solar system is  to
regarded as the body of the Great Spirit whom we call God, and as any growth
caused by an abnormal process pains us when it occurs in our body,  so  also

[PAGE 519]

such  crystallizations as moons are sources of discomfort to that Great  Be-
ing.   Furthermore,  as our own systems endeavor to  eliminate  such  abnor-
malities  as growths,  so also the universe endeavors to expel  moons  which
have served their purpose.   While the beings who have been exiled to a moon
are there,  the Planetary Spirit of the primary planet by his care for these
beings, hold the moon in its orbit, and we speak of his love for them as the
Law  of Attraction;  but when they have returned to the parent  planet,  the
Planetary  Spirit has no further interest in their  cinder-like  habitation.
Then slowly the orbit of the vacated moon widens,  it commences to  disinte-
grate,  and it is finally expelled into interstellar space.   The  asteroids
are  remnants  of moons which once encircled Venus and Mercury.   There  are
also  other seeming moons and lunar fragments in our solar system,  but "The
Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception" does not concern itself with them as they  are
outside the pale of evolution.

[PAGE 520]

                          THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:

   The  periodical ebb and flow of the material and spiritual  forces  which
invest the earth are the invisible causes of the physical, moral, and mental
activities upon our globe.

   According to the hermatic axiom, "As above so below,"  a similar activity
must take place in man, who is but a minor edition of Mother Nature.

   The animals have twenty-eight pairs of spinal nerves and are now in their
Moon  stage,  perfectly attuned to the twenty-eight days in which  the  moon
passes  around the zodiac.   In their wild state the group spirit  regulates
their mating.   Therefore there is no overflow with them.  Man, on the other
hand,  is in a transition stage;  he is too far progressed for the lunar vi-
brations  for he has thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves.   But he is not  yet
attuned to the solar month of thirty-one days,  and he mates at all times of
the year;  hence the periodical flow in woman, which under proper conditions
is  utilized to form part of the body of a child more perfect than its  par-
ents.  Similarly,  the  periodical  flow  in  mankind  becomes the sinew and

[PAGE 521]

backbone  of  racial advancement;  and the periodical flow  of  the  earth's
spiritual forces, which occurs at Christmas, results in birth of Saviors who
from  time to time give renewed impetus to the spiritual advancement of  the
human race.

   There are two parts to our Bible, the Old and the New Testaments.   After
briefly reciting how the world came into being,  the former tells the  story
of the "Fall"   In view of what has been written in our literature we under-
stand  the Fall to have been occasioned by man's impulsive and ignorant  use
of  the  sex forces at times when the interplanetary rays were  inimical  to
conception of the purest and best vehicles.   Thus man became gradually  im-
prisoned in a dense body crystallized by sinful passion and consequently  an
imperfect vehicle, subject to pain and death.

   Then commenced the pilgrimage through matter,  and for millennia we  have
been living in this hard and flinty shell of body,  which obscures the light
of heaven from the spirit within.  The spirit is like a diamond in its rough
coat, and the celestial lapidaries, the Recording Angels, are constantly en-
deavoring to remove the coating so that the spirit may shine through the ve-
hicle which it ensouls.

   When the lapidary holds a diamond to the grindstone,  the diamond emits a
screech like a cry of pain and the opaque covering is removed; but gradually
by  many  successive  applications  to  the grindstone the rough diamond may

[PAGE 522]

become a gem of transcendent beauty and purity.   Similarly,  the  celestial
beings in charge of our evolution hold us closely to the grindstone of expe-
rience.  Pain and suffering result, which awaken the spirit sleeping within.
The man hitherto content with material pursuits,  indulgent discontent which
impels him to seek the higher life.

   The  gratification  of that aspiration, however,  is not  usually  accom-
plished without a severe struggle upon the part of the lower nature.  It was
while  wrestling thus that Paul exclaimed with all the anguish of  a  devout
aspiring heart: "Oh wretched man that I am * * * * The good that I would,  I
do not;  but the evil which I would not,  that I do * * * * I delight in the
law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members warring
against the law of my mind and bringing it into captivity to the law of  sin
which is in my members."  (Rom. 7:19-24)

   When  the flower is crushed,  its scent is liberated and fills  the  sur-
roundings with grateful fragrance,  delighting all who are fortunate  enough
to  be near.   Crushing blows of fate may overwhelm a man or woman  who  has
reached  the  stage of efflorescene;  they will but serve to bring  out  the
sweetness  of the nature and enhance the beauty of the soul till  it  shines
with  an effulgence that marks the wearer as with a halo.   Then he is  upon
the path of Initiation.  He is taught how unbridled use of sex regardless of

[PAGE 523]

the stellar rays has imprisoned him in the body, how it fetters him, and how
by  the  proper  use of that same force in harmony with  the  stars  he  may
gradually  improve  and etherealize his body and finally  attain  liberation
from concrete existence.

   A shipwright cannot build a staunch oak ship from spruce lumber; " men do
not gather grapes of thorns;"  like always begets like,  and an incoming ego
of a passionate nature is drawn to parents of like nature, where its body is
conceived upon the impulse of the moment in a gust of passion.

   The  soul who has tasted the cup of sorrow incident to the abuse  of  the
creative  force  and  has drunk to the dregs the  bitterness  thereof,  will
gradually seek parents of less and less passionate natures,  until at length
it attains to Initiation.

   Having  been  taught in the process of Initiation the  influence  of  the
stellar rays upon parturition,  the next body provided will be generated  by
Initiate parents without passion,  under the constellation most favorable to
the work which the ego contemplates.  Therefore the Gospels (which are  for-
mulae of Initiation) commence with the account of the immaculate  conception
and  end with the crucifixion,  both wonderful ideas to which we  must  some
time  attain,  for each of us is a Christ-in-the-making,  and will  sometime
pass  through both the mystic birth and the mystic death adumbrated  in  the
Gospels.  By knowledge we may hasten  the  day,  intelligently  co-operating

[PAGE 524]

instead  of as now often stupidly frustrating through ignorance the ends  of
spiritual development.

   In connection with the immaculate conception misunderstandings prevail at
every point;  the perpetual virginity of the mother even after the birth  to
other  children;  the lowly station of Joseph,  the supposed  foster-father,
etc.   We  will briefly view them in the light of facts as revealed  in  the
Memory of Nature:

   In  some  parts of Europe people of the higher classes are  addressed  as
"wellborn,"  or even as "highwellborn,"  meaning that they are the offspring
of  cultured  parents in high station.  Such people usually look  down  with
scorn  upon those in modest positions.  We have nothing against the  expres-
sion "wellborn;"  we would that every child were well born,  born to parents
of  high moral standing no matter what their station in life.   There  is  a
virginity of soul that is independent of the state of the body,  a purity of
mind  which will carry its possessor through the act of  generation  without
the  taint of passion and enable the mother to carry the unborn child  under
her heart in sexless love.

   Previous to the time of Christ that would have been impossible.   In  the
earlier stages of man's career upon earth quantity was desirable and quality
a minor consideration,  hence the command was given to "go forth,  be fruit-
ful,  and multiply."   Besides, it was necessary that man should temporarily
forget  his  spiritual  nature  and  concrete  his  energies  upon  material

[PAGE 525]

conditions.  Indulgence of the sex passion furthers that object, and the de-
sire  nature was given full sway.  Polygamy flourished,  and the larger  the
number  of their children,  the more a man and a woman were  honored,  while
barrenness was looked upon as the greatest possible affliction.

   In other directions the desire nature was being curbed by God-given laws,
and  obedience  to divine commands was enforced by swift punishment  of  the
transgressor, such as war, pestilence or famine.  Rewards for dutiful obser-
vance  of the mandates of the law were not wanting either;  the  "righteous"
man's children,  his cattle and crops were numerous;  he was victorious over
his enemies and the cup of his happiness was full.

   Later  when the earth had been sufficiently peopled after  the  Atlantean
Flood,  polygamy became gradually more and more obsolete,  with  the  result
that the quality of the bodies improved,  and at the time of Christ the  de-
sire  nature had become so far amenable to control in the case of  the  more
advanced among humanity that the act of generation could be performed  with-
out passion,  out of pure love, so that the child could be immaculately con-
ceived.

   Such were the parents of Jesus.  Joseph is said to have been a carpenter,
but he was not a worker in wood.  He was a "builder" in a higher sense.  God
is  the  Grand  Architect  of  the universe.  Under Him are many builders of

[PAGE 526]

varying  degrees of spiritual splendor,  down even to those whom we know  as
Freemasons.   All are engaged in building a temple without sound of  hammer,
and Joseph was no exception.

   It is sometimes asked why Initiates are always men.  They are not; in the
lower degrees there are many women,  but when an Initiate is able to  choose
his  sex  he usually takes the positive masculine body,  as the  life  which
brought  him  to  Initiation has spiritualized his vital body  and  made  it
positive  under  all conditions,  so that he has then an instrument  of  the
highest efficiency.

   There are times,  however, when the exigencies of a case require a female
body, such as, for instance, providing a body of the highest type to receive
an ego of superlatively high degree.  Then a high Initiate may take a female
body and go through the experience of maternity again,  after perhaps having
eschewed it for several lives,  as was the case with the beautiful character
we know as Mary of Bethlehem.

   In conclusion,  then, let us remember the points brought out, that we are
all  Christs-in-the-making;  that sometime we must cultivate  characters  so
spotless that we may be worthy to inhabit bodies that are immaculately  con-
ceived;  and  the  sooner  we commence to purify  our  minds  of  passionate
thoughts, the sooner we shall attain.  In the final analysis it only depends
upon the earnestness of our purpose, the strength of our wills.   Conditions
are  such  now  that  we  can live pure lives whether married or single, and

[PAGE  527]

cold, sister-and-brother relationships are not necessary either.

   Is  the life of absolute purity beyond some of us yet?   Be not  discour-
aged;  Rome was not built in a day.   Keep on aspiring though you fail again
and again, for the only real failure consists in ceasing to try.

   So may God strengthen your aspirations to purity.

                              THE COMING CHRIST:

   We  have previously seen how infant humanity in Atlantis lived  in  unity
under  direct  guidance  of divine leaders,  and how  they  were  eventually
brought  out of the water into a clear atmosphere where the separateness  of
each individual from all others became obvious at once.

   "God  is  Light"--the Light which became life in man.   It  was  dim  and
achromatically diffused in the misty atmosphere of early Atlantis, as color-
less as the air on a densely foggy day in the present age,  hence the  unity
of all beings who lived in that light.   But when man rose above the waters,
when he emerged into the aire where the godly manifestation, Light,  was re-
fracted in multitudinous hues,  this variously colored light was differently
absorbed by each.  Thus diversity was inaugurated, when mankind went through
the  mighty  arch of the rainbow with its variegated and  beautiful  colors.
That  bow  may  therefore be considered an entrance gate  to  "the  promised
land,"  the world as now constituted.  Here the light of God is no longer an

[PAGE  528]

insipid  single  tint as in early Atlantis.   The present dazzling  play  of
color  tells  us that THE WATCHWORD OF THE PRESENT AGE IS  SEGREGATION,  and
therefore so long as we remain in the present condition under the law of al-
ternating cycles,  where summer and winter, ebb and flow, succeed each other
in unbroken sequence,  so long as God's bow stands in the sky,  an emblem of
diversity,  it is yet the day of the kingdoms of men, and the kingdom of God
is held in abeyance.

   Nevertheless,  as surely as the Edenic conditions upon the fire girt  is-
lands of ancient Lemuria ended in separation into sexes, each expressing one
element of the creative fire,  and making the union of man and woman as nec-
essary to the generation of a body as is the union of hydrogen and oxygen to
the  production of water;  and as surely as emergence from the watery  atmo-
sphere of Atlantis into the airy environment of ARYANA,  the world of today,
promoted further segregation into separate nations and individuals,  who war
and  prey upon one another (because the sharply differentiated  forms  which
they  behold blind them to the inalienable unity of each soul with all  oth-
ers);  just  as  certainly will this world condition give place  to  a  "new
heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

   In  early Atlantis we lived in the deepest basins of the earth where  the
mist was densest;  we breathed by means of gills and would have been  unable
to live in an atmosphere such as we have now.  In  the course of time desire

[PAGE 529]

to explore beyond caused the invention of airships,  which were propelled by
the  expansive  force of sprouting grain.  The "ark"  story is  a  perverted
remembrance  of that fact.   Those ships actually did founder upon  mountain
tops  where the atmosphere was too rare to sustain them.   Today  our  ships
float  upon  the element in which the Atlantean ships were at one  time  im-
mersed.   We have now contrived various means of propulsion able to carry us
over the highlands of the earth which we occupy at present, and are commenc-
ing to reach out into the atmosphere to conquer that element as we have sub-
jected the waters;  and as surely as our Atlantean ancestors made a  highway
of the watery element which they breathed AND THEN ROSE ABOVE IT TO LIVE  IN
A  NEW  ELEMENT,  just as certainly shall we conquer the air and  then  rise
above it into the newly discovered element which we call ether.

   Thus  each age has its own peculiar conditions and laws;  the beings  who
evolve  have a physiological constitution suited to the environment of  that
age, but are dominated by the nature forces then prevailing until they learn
to conform to them.  Then these forces become most valuable servants, as for
instance, steam and electricity, which we have partially harnessed.  The law
of gravity still holds us in its powerful grip, although by mechanical means
we are trying to escape into the new element.  We  shall  at  a  not distant

[PAGE 530]

time attain to mastery of the air,  but as the ships of the Atlanteans foun-
dered  upon the mountains of the earth because their buoyancy  was  insuffi-
cient  to enable them to rise higher in the light mist of  those  altitudes,
and because respiration was difficult, so also will the increasing rarity of
our present atmosphere prevent us from entering the "new heaven and the  new
earth," which are to be the scene of the New Dispensation.

   Before  we  can  reach that state, physiological as  well  as  moral  and
spiritual changes must take place.   The Greek text of the new New Testament
does not leave us in doubt as to this,  though lack of knowledge of the mys-
tery teachings prevented the translators from bringing it out in the English
version.   Did  we but believe the Bible even as we have it,  we  should  be
spared  many  delusions  and much uneasiness concerning the  time  of  this.
Whole sects have disposed of their belongings in anticipation of the  advent
of Christ or even as God, have married, raised families,  and died,  leaving
their sons,  who were supposed to be Christs,  to fight for the kingdom.   A
temporal government was forced to banish one of these militant "Christs"  to
an island of the Mediterranean,  and another to an Asiatic city where he  is
now under military supervision.  Nor is there any sign that the future  will

[PAGE 531]

lack similar claimants; rather, the sacrilegious imposture is spreading.

   WE MAY REST ASSURED THAT THE DIVINE LEADERS OF EVOLUTION MADE NO  MISTAKE
WHEN  THEY GAVE THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION TO THE WESTERN WORLD-- THE  MOST  AD-
VANCED TEACHING TO THE MOST PRECOCIOUS AMONG MANKIND.   It may therefore  be
regarded as a detriment when an organization undertakes to graft a Hindu re-
ligion  (which  is excellent for the people to whom it was  divinely  given)
upon our people.  The imported Hindu breathing exercises have certainly sent
may people to insane asylums.

   If  we  believe  Christ's words:   "My kingdom is  not  of  this  world,"
(KOSMOS,  the Greek word used for "world" meaning " order of things"  rather
than our planet, the earth, which is called GAEA), we shall know better than
to look for Christ today.

   "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."   any more than  the
gill-breathing  creature of early Atlantean times was fit to live under  the
natural  conditions prevailing in the present age where  "the  resurrection,
does  not say as in the English translation,  "There is a natural  body  and
there is a spiritual body."  I Cor. 15:44.  He affirms that there is a "SOMA
PSUCHICON,"  a soul body, and tells in the preceding verses how this is gen-
erated from a "SEED"  in the same way as explained in the Rosicrucian teach-
ings.  The Bible affirms that our bodies are corruptible.  (It also  teaches

[PAGE 532]

that one organ,  the heart, is an exception.  This has reference to the seed
atom in the heart.  Ps.  22:26)  Therefore our bodies must be changed before
Christ can come.

   If these things were believed,  few  would run after impostors,  and  the
latter would have their labors for their pains.  But Western papers unfortu-
nately give notoriety to such schemers,  though regarding them as a joke  as
well  they may,  for it would be preposterous to believe that the great  and
wise Being who guides evolution could be so shortsighted as not to know that
the  Western  World  would never accept the scion of what it  regards  as  a
semi-barbaric race for its Savior.

   When  preparations were made 2000 years ago,  for the embodiment  of  the
Savior  of  the world,  Galilee was the Mecca for roving  spirits.   Thither
flocked people from Asia,  Africa, Greece, Italy, and all other parts of the
world  of that day.   Conditions there were exceptionally congenial and  at-
tractive so that,  as declared by various scholars who have investigated the
matter,  Galilee was as cosmopolitan as Rome itself.  It was,  in fact,  the
"melting pot'  of that day.   Among others, Joseph and Mary,  the parents of
Jesus,  had emigrated from Judea to Nazareth in Galilee before the advent of
their  firstborn,  and the body generated in that environment was  different
from the ordinary Jewish race body.

   It is an incontrovertible fact that  environment  plays  a  great part in

[PAGE 533]

evolution.  We have today upon earth THREE GREAT RACES.  One, the Black, has
hair which is FLAT in section, and the head is long, narrow and FLATTENED on
the sides.   The orbit of the eye is also long and narrow.   The Blacks  are
descendants of the Lemurian Race.

   The Mongols and kindred peoples have ROUND heads.  Their hair is round in
section,  and orbits of their eyes are also round.  They are the remnants of
the Atlantean Race.

   The ARYAN RACE have oval hair, oval skulls,  and oval orbits of the eyes,
these features being especially pronounced in the Anglo-Saxons.

   In America, the Mecca of nations today, these various races are of course
represented.  Here is the "melting pot" in which they are being amalgamated.
It has been ascertained that there is a difference in children belonging  to
the  same family.   The SKULLS OF YOUNGER CHILDREN BORN IN AMERICA ARE  MORE
NEARLY OVAL THAN THE HEADS OF THEIR OLDER BROTHERS AND SISTERS BORN ABROAD.

   From  this fact and from others which need not be mentioned here,  it  is
evident that a new race is being born on the American continent; and reason-
ing from the known fact that the Christ came from the most cosmopolitan part
of the civilized world of 2000 years ago,  it would be but logical to expect
that if a new embodiment were sought for that exalted Being, His body  would

[PAGE 534]

more likely be taken from the new race than from an ancient one.

   But  we  may be sure that though impostors deceive for a time,  they  are
found out sooner or later, and their plans come to naught.  Meanwhile,  pro-
gression  continues to bring us nearer the Aquarian Age,  and A  TEACHER  IS
COMING to give the Christian Religion impetus in a new direction.

                               THE COMING AGE:

   When we speak of the "Coming Age,"  of the "New Heaven and the New Earth"
mentioned in the Bible, and also of the "Aquarian Age,"  the differences may
not be quite clear in the minds of our students.   Confusion of terms is one
of the most fertile seed grounds of fallacy,  and the Rosicrucian  teachings
aim to avoid it by a particularly definite nomenclature.  Sometimes an extra
effort  seems  necessary to disperse the haze engendered by  current  cloudy
conceptions of others as sincere as the present writer, but not so fortunate
in having access to the incomparable Western Wisdom Teachings.

   It has been taught in our literature that four great epochs of unfoldment
preceded the present order of things; that the destiny of the earth, its at-
mospheric conditions, and the laws of nature prevailing in one epoch were as
different  from  those  of  the  other  epochs  as  was  the   corresponding
physiological  constitution of mankind in one epoch different from those  in
the others.

[PAGE 535]

   The  bodies  of ADM (the name means RED EARTH),  the  humanity  of  fiery
Lemuria,  were formed of the "dust of the ground,"  the red,  hot,  volcanic
mud,  and were just suited to their environment.  Flesh and blood would have
shriveled up in the terrible heat of that day,  and though suited to present
conditions,  Paul tells us that they cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.   It
is therefore manifest that before a new order of things can be  inaugurated,
the  physiological constitution of mankind must be radically changed to  say
nothing of the spiritual attitude.   Aeons will be required to generate  the
whole human race and fit them to live in ethereal bodies.

   On the other hand,  neither does a new environment come into existence in
a  moment,  but land and people are evolved together from the  smallest  and
most primitive beginnings.   When the mists of Atlantis commenced to settle,
some of our forbears had grown embryonic lungs and were forced to  highlands
ages before their compeers.  They wandered in "the wilderness"  while "  the
promised  land"  was emerging from the lighter fogs,  and at the  same  time
their growing lungs were fitting them to live under present atmospheric con-
ditions.

   Two  more races were born in the basins of the earth before a  succession
of floods drove them to the highlands; the last flood took place at the time
when the sun entered the watery sign Cancer, about ten thousand years ago as
told Plato by the Egyptian priests.  Thus  we  see there is NO SUDDEN change

[PAGE 536]

of constitution or environment for the whole human race when a new epoch  is
ushered  in,  but an overlapping of conditions which makes it  possible  for
most  of the race by gradual adjustment to enter the new  condition,  though
the change may seem sudden to the individual when the preparatory change has
been  accomplished  unconsciously.   The metamorphosis of a tadpole  from  a
denizen  of  the watery element to one of the airy gives an analogy  of  the
past,  and the transformation of the caterpillar to a butterfly  soaring  in
the air is an apt simile of the coming age.   When the heavenly time  marker
came into Aries by precession, a new cycle commenced, and the "glad tidings"
were  preached by Christ.   He said by implication that the new  heaven  and
earth were not ready then when He told His disciples:  Whither I go you can-
not NOW follow,  but you shall follow afterwards.   I go to prepare a  place
for you and will come again and receive you.

   Later John saw in a vision the new Jerusalem descending from heaven,  and
Paul taught the Thessalonians "BY THE WORD OF THE LORD"  that those who  are
Christ's at His coming shall be caught up IN THE AIR to meet Him and be with
Him FOR THE AGE.

   But  during this change there are pioneers who enter the kingdom  of  God
before their brethren.   Christ, in Matt. 11:12, said that "  the kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."  This is not a
correct translation.  It ought to be:  The  kingdom  of the heavens HAS BEEN

[PAGE 537]

INVADED (BIAXETAI),  and invaders seize on her.   Men and women have already
learned  through  holy,  helpful lives to lay aside the body  of  flesh  and
blood,  either  intermittently or permanently,  and to walk the  skies  with
winged feet,  intent upon the business of their Lord,  clad in the  ethereal
"wedding garment"  of the new dispensation.  This change may be accomplished
through  a  life of simple helpfulness and prayer as  practiced  by  devoted
Christians,  no matter with what church they affiliate,  as well as  by  the
specific  exercises given in the Rosicrucian Fellowship.   The  latter  will
prove  barren of results,  unless accompanied by constant ACTS of  love  for
LOVE  will be the keynote of the coming age as LAW is of the present  order.
The  intense expression of the former quality increases  the  phosphorescent
luminosity and density of the ethers in our vital bodies,  the fiery streams
sever the tie to the mortal coil,  and the man,  once BORN OF WATER upon his
emergence from Atlantis,  is now born OF THE SPIRIT into the kingdom of God.
The dynamic force of his love has opened a way to the land of love,  and in-
describable is the rejoicing among those already there when new invaders ar-
rive,  for each new arrival hastens the coming of the Lord and the  definite
establishment of the Kingdom.

   Among  the religiously inclined there is a definite unceasing  cry:   How
long,  O Lord;  how long?  And despite the emphatic statement of Christ that
the day and hour are unknown, even to Himself,  prophets  continue  to  gain

[PAGE 538]

credence when they predict His coming on a certain day,  though each is dis-
comfited  when the day passes without development.   The question  has  also
been  mooted among our students,  and the present chapter is an  attempt  to
show the fallacy of looking for the Second Advent in a year or fifty or five
hundred.   The Elder Brothers decline to commit themselves further  than  to
point out what must first be accomplished.

   At the time of Christ the sun was in about seven degrees of Aries.   Five
hundred years were required to bring the precession to the thirtieth  degree
of Pisces.   During that time the new church lived through a stage of offen-
sive  and defensive violence well justifying the words of Christ:   "I  came
not to bring peace but a sword."   Fourteen hundred years more have  elapsed
under the negative influence of PISCES,  which has fostered the power of the
church and bound the people by creed and dogma.

   In the middle of the last century the sun came within orb of influence of
the scientific sign AQUARIUS,  and although it will take about seven hundred
years  before the Aquarian Age commences, it is highly instructive  to  note
what  changes the mere touch has wrought in the world.   Our  limited  space
precludes enumeration of the wonderful advances made since then;  but it  is
not  too much to say that science,  invention,  and resultant industry  have
completely changed the world, its social life, and economic conditions.  The

[PAGE 539]

great  strides made in means of communication have done much to  break  down
barriers of race prejudice and prepare us for conditions of Universal Broth-
erhood.   Engines of destruction have been made so fearfully efficient  that
the  militant  nations will be forced ere long to "beat  their  swords  into
plowshares  and  their spears into pruning hooks."   THE SWORD HAS  HAD  ITS
REIGN during the Piscean Age, but SCIENCE WILL RULE in the Aquarian Age.

   In the land of the setting sun we may expect to first see the ideal  con-
ditions of the Aquarian Age:  A blending of religion and science,  forming a
religious science and a scientific religion,  which will promote the health,
happiness and the enjoyment of life in abundant measure.

                              SUGAR FOR ALCOHOL:

   In  the  chapter elucidating the Law of Assimilation in  the  ROSICRUCIAN
COSMO-CONCEPTION, we stated that minerals cannot be assimilated because they
lack a vital body, which lack makes it impossible for man to raise their vi-
bratory  rate  to  his  own  pitch.    Plants  have  a  vital  body  and  no
self-consciousness,  hence are most easily assimilated and remain  with  man
longer than cells of animal flesh, which is permeated by a desire body.  The
vibratory  rate  of the latter is high, and much energy is required  in  as-
similation;  its  cells also quickly escape and make it  necessary  for  the
flesh eater to forage often.

[PAGE 540]

   We are aware that alcohol is a "foreign spirit"  and a "spirit of  decay"
because IT IS GENERATED BY FERMENTATION OUTSIDE the consumer's system.   Be-
ing "spirit,"  it vibrates with such intense rapidity that the human  spirit
is incapable of tuning it down and controlling it as food must be, hence me-
tabolism is out of the question.  Nay, more,  as we cannot reduce its vibra-
tory  rate to that of our bodies,  this foreign spirit may accelerate  their
vibratory  pitch  and control us as happens in the  state  of  intoxication.
Thus  alcohol  is a great danger to mankind and one from which  we  must  be
emancipated ere we can realize our divine nature.

   A  stimulant  spirit  is necessary while we live on a DIET  OF  FLESH  or
progress  would stop,  and A FOOD has been provided for the pioneers of  the
West that answers all requirements; its name is "sugar."  FROM SUGAR THE EGO
ITSELF  GENERATES  ALCOHOL INSIDE the system by the very  processes  of  me-
tabolism.   This  product is therefore both food  and  stimulant,  perfectly
keyed to the vibratory pitch of the body.   It has all the good qualities of
alcohol in enhanced measure and none of its drawbacks.  To perceive properly
the effect of this food, consider the peoples of eastern Europe where little
sugar is consumed.   They are slavish;  they speak of themselves in terms of
depreciation; the pronoun "I" is always spelled with small letters but "you"
with a capital.  England consumes five times as  much  sugar  per  capita as

[PAGE  541]

Russia.   In  the former we meet a different spirit,  the big  "I"  and  the
little "you."   In America the candy store becomes a most dangerous rival of
the  saloon,  for THE MAN WHO EATS SWEETS WILL NOT DRINK,  and there  is  no
surer  cure  for  alcoholism than to induce the sufferer to  eat  freely  of
sweets.   The drunkard abhors sugar,  however, while his system is under the
sway of the "foreign spirit."

   The  temperance movement was begun in the land where MOST SUGAR  IS  CON-
SUMED, and has GENERATED "THE SPIRIT OF SELF-RESPECT."

                   MEAT AND DRINK AS FACTORS IN EVOLUTION:

   In previous chapters we saw how infant humanity was cared for by superhu-
man guardians, provided with appropriate food, led out of danger's way,  and
sheltered in all respects until grown to human stature and fit to enter  the
school  of experience to learn the lessons of life in the phenomenal  world.
We  saw also how the rainbow points to natural laws peculiar to the  present
age,  how man was given free will under these laws,  and how the  spirit  of
wine was given to cheer and to stimulate his own timid,  fearful spirit,  to
nerve it for the war of the world.

   In  an  analogous  manner the irresponsible little  child  who  has  been
brought  under the waters of baptism by its natural guardians is  cared  for
through  the years of childhood while its various vehicles are  being  orga-
nized.   When  the parental blood stored in the thymus gland  has  been  ex-
hausted and the child thus emancipated from the parents, it awakens to indi-
viduality,  to  the  feeling  of  "I AM."  It  has then been prepared with a

[PAGE 542]

knowledge  of good and evil with which to fight the battle of life;  and  at
that  time the youth is taken to the church and given the bread and wine  to
nerve and nourish him spiritually,  also as a symbol that henceforth he is a
free  agent,  only responsible to the laws of God.   A blessing or a  curse,
this freedom, according to the way it is used.

   In early Atlantis mankind was a universal brotherhood of submissive chil-
dren  with no incentive to war or strife.   Later they were segregated  into
nations, and wars inculcated loyalty to kin and country.  Each sovereign was
an absolute autocrat with power over life and limb of his subjects, who were
numbered  in hundreds of millions,  and who yielded ungrudging  and  slavish
submission, an attitude maintained to the present day among millions of Asi-
atics, who are vegetarians and consequently need no alcohol.

   As flesh eating came into vogue,  wine became a more and more common bev-
erage.   In consequence of flesh eating much material progress was made  im-
mediately  preceding  the advent of Christ, and because of the  practice  of
drinking  wine an increasing number of men asserted themselves  as  leaders,
with  the  result that instead of a few large nations such as  people  Asia,
many  small  nations were formed in the southwestern portion of  Europe  and
Asia Minor.

   But though the great mass of people who formed these various nations were
ahead of their Asiatic brethren as craftsmen,  they  continued submissive to

[PAGE 543]

their  rulers  and  lived as much in their traditions  as  did  the  latter.
Christ upbraided them because they gloried in being Abraham's seed.  He told
them that "before Abraham was, I AM," that is, the ego has always existed.

   It is His mission to emancipate humanity from Law and lead it to LOVE, to
destroy "the kingdoms of men" with all their antagonism to one another,  and
to build upon their ruins " the kingdom of God."   An illustration will make
the method clear:

   If we have a number of brick buildings and desire to amalgamate them into
one large structure,  it is necessary to break them down first and free each
brick  from the mortar which binds it.   Likewise each human being  must  be
freed from the fetters of family, hence Christ taught, " Unless a man leaves
his father and mother he cannot be my disciple."   He must outgrow religious
partisanship and patriotism and learn to say with the much misunderstood and
maligned Thomas Paine:  "THE WORLD IS MY COUNTRY, AND TO DO GOOD IS MY RELI-
GION."

   Christ  did not mean that we are to foresake those who have a claim  upon
our help and support,  but that we are not to permit the suppression of  our
individuality out of deference to family traditions and beliefs.

   Consequently He came "not to bring peace,  but a sword;"  and whereas the
eastern religions discourage the use of wine,  CHRIST'S FIRST MIRACLE WAS TO
CHANGE  WATER  TO  WINE.  The  sword  and  the wine cup are signature of the

[PAGE 544]
  
Christian religion,  for by them nations have been broken to pieces and  the
individual emancipated.  Government by the people, for the people, is a fact
in northwestern Europe, the rulers being that principally in name only.

   But the fostering of the martial spirit as prevails in Europe was only  a
means to an end.   The segregation which it has caused must give place to  a
regime of brotherhood such as professed by Paine.   A new step was necessary
to  bring  this about;  A NEW FOOD must be found which would  act  upon  the
spirit  in such a way as to foster individuality through ASSERTION  OF  SELF
WITHOUT  OPPRESSION  OF OTHERS AND WITHOUT LOSS OF  SELF-RESPECT.   We  have
enunciated it as a law that only spirit can act upon spirit,  and  therefore
that food must be a spirit but differing in other respects from intoxicants.

   Before  describing this let us see what flesh has done for the  evolution
of the world.

   We  have noted previously that during the Polarian Epoch man had  only  a
dense body;  he was like the present minerals in this respect, and by nature
he was inert and passive.

   By absorbing the crystalloids prepared by plants he evolved a vital  body
during the Hyperborean Epoch and became plant-like both in constitution  and
by nature, for he lived without exertion and as unconsciously as the plants.

   Later  he  extracted  milk  from the then stationary animals.  Desire for

[PAGE 545]

this more readily digestible food spurred him on to exertion,  and gradually
his  desire nature was evolved during the Lemurian Epoch.   Thus  he  became
constituted like the present day HERBIVORA.  Though possessed of a passional
nature,  he was docile and could not be induced to fight save to defend him-
self,  his mate, and family.  Hunger alone had the power to make him aggres-
sive.

   Therefore,  when animals began to move and sought to elude this  ruthless
parasite,  increasing difficulty of obtaining the coveted food  aroused  his
craving  to such an extent that when he had hunted and caught an animal,  he
was no longer content to suck its udders dry but commenced to feed upon  its
blood and flesh.  Thus he became as ferocious as our present day CARNIVORA.

   Digestion  of flesh food requires much more powerful chemical action  and
speedy  elimination of the waste than that of a vegetable diet as proved  by
chemical analysis of the gastric juices from animals,  and by the fact  that
the  intestines  of  Herbivora are many times longer than those  of  a  car-
nivorous animal of even size.   Carnivora easily become drowsy and averse to
exertion.

   When prodded by the pangs of hunger the ferocious wolf does indeed pursue
its prey with unwavering perseverance,  and the spring of the crouching king
of beasts overmatches the speed of the wing-footed deer.   By ambush the fe-
line family foil the fleetest in their attempts to escape.  The  cunning  of

[PAGE 546]

the  fox is proverbial,  and the slinking nocturnal habits of the hyena  and
kindred  scavengers illustrate the depth of depravity resulting from a  diet
of decayed flesh.

   The  vices generated by flesh eating may be said to be lassitude,  feroc-
ity,  low cunning,  and depravity.   We may tame the herbivorous ox and  el-
ephant.   Their diet makes them docile and stores enormous power which  they
obediently  use in our service to perform prolonged and arduous labor.   The
flesh  food required by the constitutional peculiarities of Carnivora  makes
them dangerous and incapable of thorough domestication.   A cat may  scratch
at any moment,  and the muzzling ordinances of large cities are ample  proof
of the danger of dogs.   Besides,  energy contained in the diet of Carnivora
is  so largely expended in digestion that they are drowsy and  unfitted  for
sustained labor like the horse or elephant.

   The  drowsiness following a heavy meal of meat is too well known  to  re-
quire  arguement,  and the custom of taking stimulants with food is an  out-
growth of the desire to counteract the deadening effect of dead flesh.   The
intensified  effect of feasting upon FLESH IN AN ADVANCED STATE OF DECAY  is
well illustrated in "society," where banquets of game that is "high" are ac-
companied by orgies of the wildest nature and followed by indulgence of  the
vilest instincts.

   The Westerner who can live upon a clean,  sweet,  wholesome diet of  veg-
etables, cereals and fruit, does not become drowsy from his food;  he  needs

[PAGE 547]

no stimulant.   THERE ARE NO VEGETARIAN DRUNKARDS.   The soothing effects of
vegetable food manifest as finer feelings,  which replace the ferocity  fos-
tered  by flesh food.   Many need the mixed diet yet,  for the  practice  of
flesh eating has furthered the progress of the world as nothing else  except
perhaps its companion vice--drunkenness;  and though we cannot say that they
have  been a blessing in disguise,  they have at least not been  unmitigated
curses,  for in the Father's kingdom all seeming evil nevertheless works for
good  in some respect,  though it may not be apparent upon the surface.   We
shall see how presently.

   A private corporation, the East India Company,  commenced and practically
achieved the subjugation of India with her three hundred million people, for
the  English are voracious flesh eaters, while the Hindu's diet fosters  do-
cility.   But when England fought the flesh eating Boers,  Greek met  Greek,
and  the  valor  displayed by both sides is a matter  of  brilliant  record.
Courage, physical as well as moral, is a virtue and cowardice a vice.  Flesh
has fostered self-assertion and helped us to develop backbone, though unfor-
tunately  often at the expense of others who still retain the wishbone.   It
has done more as will be illustrated:

   As  said previously,  the crouching cat is forced to employ  strategy  to
save strength when procuring its prey,  so that it may retain sufficient en-
ergy  to  digest  the  victim.  Thus  brain  becomes  the ally of brawn.  In

[PAGE 548]

ancient  Atlantis DESIRE FOR FLESH DEVELOPED THE INGENUITY OF PRIMITIVE  MAN
AND LED HIM to trap the elusive denizens of field and forest.   The hunter's
snare was among the first LABOR-SAVING DEVICES--which mark the beginning  of
the evolution of mind, and of the uncompromising, unflagging struggle of the
meat fed mind for supremacy over matter.

   We say "THE MEAT FED MIND,"  and we reiterate it,  because we wish to em-
phasize  that  it is by the nations which have adopted flesh food  that  the
most noteworthy progress has been made.  The vegetarian Asiatics remain upon
the lower rungs of civilization.   The further west we travel,  THE MORE THE
CONSUMPTION  OF MEAT INCREASES AS DOES THE DISINCLINATION FOR  BODILY  EXER-
CISE, AND CONSEQUENTLY THE ACTIVITY OF THE MIND IS INCREASED TO A HIGHER AND
HIGHER  PITCH  IN  THE  INVENTION OF  LABOR-SAVING  DEVICES.   The  American
agriculturists' acres are counted by thousands, and they harvest large crops
with  less labor than the peasant of the East who has only a small patch  of
ground.   The reason is that the poor, plodding grain fed Easterner has only
his hands and his hoe,  which he keeps in motion all day and day after  day,
while the meat fed, progressive Westerner turns power-driven implements into
his  fertile fields and sits down in a comfortable seat to watch them  work.
One uses muscle, the other mind.

[PAGE 549]

   Thus  the indomitable courage and energy which have transformed the  face
of  the  Western World are virtues directly traceable to flesh  food,  which
also fosters love of ease and invention of labor-saving devices; while alco-
hol  stimulates enterprise in execution of schemes thus hatched  to  procure
the maximum of comfort with a minimum of labor.

   But  the spirit of alcohol is obtained by a process of fermentation.   It
is a SPIRIT OF DECAY,  altogether different from the SPIRIT OF LIFE in  man.
This counterfeit spirit lures man on and on,  always holding before his  vi-
sion the dreams of FUTURE grandeur,  and goading him to strenuous efforts of
body and mind in order to attain and obtain.   Then when he has achieved and
attained,  he awakens to the utter worthlessness of his  prize.   Possession
soon  shatters  illusion as to the worth of whatever he may  have  acquired;
NOTHING  THE WORLD HAS TO GIVE CAN FINALLY SATISFY.   Then again the  lethal
draught  drowns  disappointment,  and the mind conjures up a  new  illusion.
This he pursues with fresh zeal and high hopes, to meet disappointment again
and  again,  for lives and lives,  until at last he learns that "wine  is  a
mocker," and that "all is vanity but to serve God and to do His will."

Continued with file "RC1018.TXT"

End of File