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There  seems to be neither pleasure nor pain and yet there is no absense  of
feeling  but it all seems to center in the one idea:  "I AM!"    The   human
Ego, stands face to face with itself, as it were, and for the time being all
else  is shut out.  This is the experience of anyone who passes that  breach
between the Desire World and the World of Thought, whether involuntarily, in
the  course of an ordinary cyclic pilgrimage of the Spirit,  which we  shall
later elucidate when speaking of the post-mortem existence,  or by an act of
the will,  as in the case of the trained occult investigator;  all have  the
same experience in transition.

    There are two main divisions in the Physical World:  the Chemical Region
and  the Etheric Region.  The World of Thought also has two  great  subdivi-
sions: The Region of Concrete Thought and the Region of Abstract Thought.

    As we specialize the material of the Physical World and shape it into  a
dense body,  and as we form the force-matter of the Desire World into a  de-
sire body, so also do we appropriate a certain amount of mind-stuff from the
Region of Concrete Thought; but we, as Spirits,  clothe ourselves in spirit-
substance  from the Region of Abstract Thought and thereby we  become  indi-
vidual, separate Egos.

                      THE REGION OF CONCRETE THOUGHT

    The  Region of Concrete Thought is neither shadowy nor illusory.  It  is
the acme of reality,  and this world which we mistakenly regard as the  only
verity, is but an evanescent replica of that region.







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    A  little reflection will show the reasonableness of this statement  and
prove  our contention that all we see here is really  crystallized  thought.
Our houses,  our machinery, our chairs and tables, all that has been made by
the  hand of man is the embodiment of a thought.  As the juices in the  soft
body of the snail gradually crystallize into the hard and flinty shell which
it  carries  upon its back and which hides it,  so everything  used  in  our
civilization  is  a  concretion of  invisible,  intangible  mind-stuff.  The
thought of James Watt in time congealed into a steam engine and  revolution-
ized the world.   Edison's thought was condensed into an electric  generator
which has turned night to day,  and had it not been for the thought of Morse
and Marconi,  the telegraph would not have annihilated distances as it  does
today.  An earthquake may wreck a city and demolish the lighting  plant  and
telegraph station,  but the thoughts of Watt, Edison, and Morse remain,  and
upon  the  basis  of their indestructible ideas new machinery  may  be  con-
structed  and  operations resumed.  Thus thoughts are  more  permanent  than
things.

    The  sensitive ear of the musician detects a certain musical note in  e-
very  city which is different from that of another city.  He hears  in  each
little brook a new melody,  and to him the sough of wind in the treetops  of
different forests gives a varying sound.    In the Desire World we noted the
existence  of forms similar to the shapes of things gere,  also  that  seem-
ingly SOUND PROCEEDS FROM FORM.  But in the Region of Concrete Thought it is





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different,  for while each form occupies and obscures a certain space  here,
form  is nonexistent when viewed from the standpoint of the Region  of  Con-
crete Thought.  Where the form was, a transparent vacuous space is  observa-
ble.   FROM THAT EMPTY VOID COMES A SOUND which is the  "keynote"  that cre-
ates and maintains the form whence it APPEARS to come,  as the almost invis-
ible core of a gas-flame is the source of the light we perceive.

    Sound from a vacuum cannot be heard in the Physical World,  but the har-
mony  which  proceeds from the vacuous cavity of a  celestial  ARCHETYPE  is
"the Voice of the Silence,"  and  it becomes audible when all earthly sounds
have ceased.  Elijah heard it not while the storm was raging;  nor was it in
evidence during the turbulence of the earthquake,  nor in the crackling  and
roaring fire, but when the destructive and inharmonious sounds of this world
had melted into silence,  "the still small voice"  issued  its  commands  to
save Elijah's life.

    That  "keynote"  is a direct manifestation of the Higher Self which uses
it to impress and govern the personality it has created. But, alas,  part of
its  life  has been infused into the material side of its being,  which  has
thus obtained a certain will of its own and only too often are the two sides
of our nature at war.

    At  last there comes a time when the Spirit is too weary to strive  with
the recalcitrant flesh; when "the Voice of the  Silence"  ceases.  No matter







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how much earthly nourishment we may seek to give,  it will not avail to sus-
tain a form when this harmonious sound,  this  "word from heaven"  no longer
reverberates through the empty void of the celestial archetype.   "Man lives
not by bread alone,"  but by the WORD,   and the last sound-vibration of the
"keynote" is the death-knell of the physical body.

    In  this world we are compelled to investigate and to study a thing  be-
fore we know about it,  and although the facilities for gaining  information
are in some respects much greater in the Desire World,  a certain amount  of
investigation is necessary, nevertheless, to acquire knowledge. In the World
of Thought, on the contrary, it is different. When we wish to know about any
certain  thing there,  and we turn our attention thereto,  then  that  thing
speaks to us,  as it were.  The sound it emits at once gives us a most lumi-
nous comprehension of every phase of its nature.  We attain to a realization
of its past history;  the whole story of its unfoldment is laid bare and  we
seem to have lived through all of those experiences together with the  thing
we are investigating.

    Were it not for one enormous difficulty,  the story thus obtained  would
be exceedingly valuable; but all this information, this life-picture,  flows
in upon us with an enormous rapidity,  in a moment,  in the twinkling of  an
eye, so that it has neither beginning nor end, for, as said, in the World of
Thought, all is one great NOW; TIME does not exist.






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    Therefore,  when  we  want  to use the  archetypal  information  in  the
Physical  World,  we must disentangle and arrange it in chronological  order
with beginning and ending before it becomes intelligible to beings living in
a realm where TIME is a prime factor. That rearrangement is a most difficult
task as all words are coined with relation to the three dimensions of  space
and the evanescent unit of time, the fleeting moment, hence much of that in-
formation remains unavailable.

    Among  the denizens of this Region of Concrete Thought we may note  par-
ticularly two classes. One is called the Powers of Darkness by Paul, and the
mystic  investigator of the Western World knows them as Lords of Mind.  They
were human at the time when the Earth was in a condition of darkness such as
worlds-in-the-making  go through before they become luminous and  reach  the
firemist-stage.  At that time we were in our mineral evolution.  That is  to
say:  the human Spirit which has now awakened was encrusted in the  ball  of
mindstuff,  which was then the Earth. At that time the present human Spirits
were as much asleep as is the life which ensouls our minerals of today,  and
as we are working with the mineral chemical constituents of the earth, mold-
ing them into houses, railways, steamboats, chairs, etc., etc., so those Be-
ings,  who are now Lords of Mind, worked with us when we were  mineral-like.
They have since advanced three steps,  through stages similar to that of the
Angels and Archangels,  before they attained their present position and  be-
came creative Intelligences.  They are expert builders of mind-stuff,  as we
are  builders  of the present mineral substances,  and therefore  they  have
given  us necessary help to acquire a mind which is the highest  development
of the human being.







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    According  to the foregoing explanation it seems to be an  anomaly  when
Paul speaks of them as evil and exhorts us to withstand them. The difficulty
disappears,  however, when we understand that good and evil are but relative
qualities. An illustration will make the point clear: Let us suppose that an
expert organ builder has constructed a wonderful organ, a masterpiece.  Then
he  has followed his vocation in the proper manner,  and is therefore to  be
commended  for  the good which he has done.  But if he is not  satisfied  to
leave well enough alone,  if he refuses to give up his product to the  musi-
cian  who understands how to play upon the instrument,  if he  intrudes  his
presence  into the concert hall,  he is out of place and to be  censured  as
evil.  Similarly the Lords of Mind did the greatest possible service to  hu-
manity when they helped us to acquire our mind,  but many subtle thought in-
fluences come from them,  and are to be resisted,  as Paul very properly em-
phasizes.

    The other class of beings which must be mentioned are called  Archetypal
Forces by the Western School of occultism.  They direct the energies of  the
creative archetypes native to this realm.  They are a composite class of be-
ings of many different grades of intelligence, and there is one stage in the
cyclic journey of the human Spirit when that also labors in, and is part of,
that great host of beings. For the human Spirit is also destined to become a








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great creative Intelligence at some future time, and if there were no school
wherein  it  could gradually learn to create, it would not be  able  to  ad-
vance,  for nothing in nature is done suddenly. An acorn planted in the soil
does not become a majestic oak overnight,  but many years of slow,  persist-
ent  growth are required before it attains to the stature of a giant of  the
forest.  A man does not become an Angel by the mere fact of dying and enter-
ing  a  new world any more than an animal advances to be a man by  the  same
process.   But in time all that lives, mounts the ladder of Being  from  the
clod to the God.  There is no limitation possible to the Spirit,  and so  at
various  stages in its unfoldment the human Spirit works with the other  na-
ture forces,  according to the stage of intelligence which it has  attained.
It creates, changes, and remodels the Earth upon which it is to live.  Thus,
under the great Law of Cause and Effect,  which we observe in every realm of
nature,  it reaps upon earth what it has sown in heaven, and vice versa.  It
grows slowly but peristently and advances continually.


                      THE REGION OF ABSTRACT THOUGHT


    Various  religious  systems  have been given to  humanity  at  different
times,  each suited to meet the spiritual needs of the people among whom  it
was promulgated, and, coming from the same divine source: God; all religions
exhibit similar fundamentals of first principles.






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    All  systems teach that there was a time when DARKNESS reigned  supreme.
Everything which we now perceive was then non-existent. Earth, sky,  and the
heavenly  bodies were uncreate,  so were the multitudinous forms which  live
and move upon the various planets. All, all,  was yet in a fluidic condition
and the Universal Spirit brooded QUIESCENT in limitless Space as the One Ex-
istence.

    The Greeks called that condition  of  homogeneity  CHAOS,  and the state
of  orderly segregation which we now see:  the marching orbs which  illumine
the  vaulted canopy of heaven,  the stately procession of planets  around  a
central light,  the majestic Sun,  the unbroken sequence of the seasons  and
the unvarying alternation of tidal ebb and flow--all this aggregate of  sys-
tematic order was called  COSMOS,  and  was  supposed to have proceeded from
Chaos.

    The  Christian Mystic obtains a deeper comprehension when he  opens  his
Bible  and  ponders  the  first five verses of that  brightest  gem  of  all
spiritual ore: the gospel of St. John.

    As  he reverently opens his aspiring heart to acquire  understanding  of
those sublime mystical teachings he transcends the form-side of nature, com-
prising  various realms of which we have been speaking,  and  finds  himself
"in the spirit,"  as  did the prophets in olden times. He is then in the Re-
gion  of Abstract Thought and sees the eternal verities which also Paul  be-
held in this, the Third Heaven.





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      For those among us who are unable to obtain knowledge save by  reason-
ing upon the matter,  however, it will be necessary to examine the fundamen-
tal meaning of words used by St. John to clothe his wonderful teachings.  It
was  originally given in the Greek language,  a much simpler matter than  is
commonly supposed, for Greek words have been freely introduced into our mod-
ern languages,  particularly in scientific terms, and we shall show how this
ancient teaching is supported by the latest discoveries of modern science.

    The opening verse of the Gospel of St. John is as follows:   "In the BE-
GINNING was the WORD and the WORD was with GOD,  and the WORD was  GOD."  We
will  examine  the  words:  "beginning,"  "Word,"  and "God."    We may also
note that in the Greek version the concluding sentence reads:  "and  God was
the Word," a difference which makes a great distinction.

    It is an axiomatic truth that  "out of nothing, nothing comes,"   and it
has often been asserted by scoffers that the Bible teaches generation  "from
nothing."  We readily agree that TRANSLATIONS into the modern languages pro-
mulgate  this  erroneous doctrine,  but we have  shown  in  THE  ROSICRUCIAN
COSMO-CONCEPTION (chapter on  "The  Occult Analysis of Genesis"),  that  the
Hebrew  text  speaks of an EVER-EXISTING essence, as the  basis  whence  all
forms,  the Earth and the heavenly lights included, were first created,  and
John also gives the same teaching.

    The Greek word  ARCHE,  in  the  opening  sentence of the Gospel of  St.
John has been translated  THE BEGINNING,  and  it  may be said to have mean-
ing, but it also has other valid interpretations, vastly more significant of
the idea John wished to convey. It means:  an elementary condition,  a chief
source, a first principle, primordial matter.





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    There was a time when science insisted that the elements were immutable,
that  is  to say,  that an atom of iron had been an atom of iron  since  the
earth  was  formed and would so remain to the end of time.   The  alchemists
were  sneered at as fanciful dreamers or madmen,  but since PRofessor J.  J.
Thomson's  discovery  of the electron,  the atomic theory of matter,  is  no
longer  tenable.   The principle of radio-activity has leter vindicated  the
alchemists.   Science and the Bible agree in teaching that all that  is  has
been formed from one homogenous substance.

    It is that basic principle which  John  called  ARCHE:   primordial mat-
ter,  and the dictionary defines archeology as:   "the science of the origin
(ARCHE) of things."  Masons style God the  "Grand Architect,"  for the Greek
word tekton means builder,  and God is the Chief Builder (TEKTON) of  ARCHE,
the primordial virgin matter which is also the chief source of all things.

    Thus we see that when the opening  sentence of St.  John's Gospel is pro
perly  translated,  our Christian religion teaches that once a  virgin  sub-
stance enfolded the divine Thinker: God.

    That is the identical condition which the earlier Greeks called Chaos. A
little  thought  will make it evident that we are not arbitrary  in  finding
fault with the translation of the gospel, for it is self-evident that a word






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cannot be the beginning, a thought must precede the word, and a thinker must
originate thought before it can be expressed as a word. When properly trans-
lated the teaching of John fully embodies  that  idea,  for  the Greek  term
LOGOS   means  both the reasonable thought (we also say logic) and the  word
which expresses this (logical) thought.

    1)  In the primordial substance was thought,  and the thought  was  with
        God, And God was the word,

    2) That (The Word), also was with God in the primal state.

    Later the divine WORD, the Creative Fiat, reverberates through space and
segregates the homogeneous virgin substance into spearate forms.

    3) Every thing has come into existence because of that prime fact,  (The
    Word of God), and no thing exists apart from that fact.

    4) In that was Life.

    In the alphabet we have a few elementary sounds from which words may  be
constructed.  They are basic elements of expression,  as bricks,  iron,  and
lumber are raw materials of architecture, music, literature, or poetry,  but
the  contour of the finished product and the purpose it will  serve  depends
upon  the  arrangement  of  the  raw materials,  which  is  subject  to  the
constructor's design.

    But a heap of bricks,  iron,  and lumber,  is not a house,  neither is a
jumbled mass of notes music, nor can we call a haphazard arrangement of  al-
phabetical sounds a word.  These raw materials are prime necessities in con-
struction of architecture,  music, literature, or poetry, but the contour of
the  finished  product  and  the  purpose  is  will  serve  depends upon the





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arrangement of the raw materials,  which is subject to the constructor's de-
sign.   Building materials may be formed into prison or palace; notes may be
arranged as fanfare or funeral dirge;  words may be indicted to inspire pas-
sion  or  peace,  all according to the will of the  designer.  So  also  the
majestic  rhythm  of  the  Word of God has  wrought  the  primal  substance,
ARCHE,  into  the  multitudinous  forms which comprise the phenomenal world,
according to His will.

    Did  the reader ever stop to consider the wonderful power of  the  human
word?  Coming to us in the sweet accents of love,  it may lure us from paths
of  rectitude  to shameful ignominy and wreck our life with sorrow  and  re-
morse,  or it may spur us on in noblest efforts to acquire glory and  honor,
here  or  hereafter.  According to the inflection of the voice  a  word  may
strike terror into the bravest heart or lull a timid child to peaceful slum-
ber. The word of an agitator may rouse the passions of a mob and impel it to
awful bloodshed,  as in the French Revolution, where dictatorial mandates of
mob-rule  killed  and exiled at pleasure, or,  the strain of   "Home,  Sweet
Home"   may cement the setting of a family-circle beyond possibility of rup-
ture.

    Right  words are true and therefore free;  they are never bound or  fet-
tered by time or space;  they go to farthest corners of earth,  and when the
lips  that  spoke them first have long since mouldered in the  grave,  other
voices take up with unwearying enthusiasm their message of life and love, as
for instance,  the mystical  "Come unto me"   which has sounded from  unnum-
bered tongues and brought oceans of balm to troubled hearts.




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    Words  of peace have been victorious where war would have meant  defeat,
and  no  talent is more to be desired than ability always to say  the  right
word  at the auspicious time.
    Considering thus the immense power and potency of the human word, we may
perhaps dimly apprehend the potential magnitude of the Word of God, the Cre-
ative Fiat, when,  as a mighty dynamic force it  first  reverberated through
space and commenced to form primordial  matter into worlds, as  sound from a
violin bow molds sand into geometrical figures. Moreover,  THE WORD  OF  GOD
STILL SOUNDS to sustain the marching orbs and impel them  onwards  in  their
circle paths;  the Creative Word continues to produce forms of gradually in-
creasing efficiency,  as media expressing life and consciousness.  The  har-
monious enunciation of consecutive syllables  in  the Divine  Creative  Word
mark successive stages in the evolution of  the  world  and  man.  When  the
last syllable has been spoken and the complete word  has  sounded,  we shall
have reached perfection as human beings. Then TIME will be at  an  end,  and
with the last vibration of the Word of God, the worlds will be resolved into
their original elements.  Our life will then be  "hid  with  Christ in God,"
until the Cosmic Night, Chaos, is over,  and we wake to  do "greater things"
in a "new heaven and a new earth."






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    According  to the general idea Chaos and Cosmos  are  superlative  anti-
theses of each other. Chaos being regarded as a past condition of  confusion
and disorder which has long since been entirely superseded by the cosmic or-
der which now prevails.

    As a matter of fact,  Chaos is the seed-ground of Cosmos,  the basis  of
all progress, for thence come all IDEAS which later materialize as railways,
computers,  telephones,  etc.

    We  speak  of thoughts as being  "conceived by the mind,"  but  as  both
father and mother are necessary in the generation of a  child, so also there
must be both IDEA and MIND before a THOUGHT can  be conceived. As semen ger-
minated in the positive male organ is projected into the negative  uterus at
conception,  so ideas are generated by a positive human Ego in  the  spirit-
substance of the Region of Abstract Thought. This idea is projected upon the
receptive mind, and a conception takes place. Then, as the spermatozoic  nu-
cleus draws upon the maternal body for material to  shape a body appropriate
to its individual expression,  so does each idea clothe itself in a peculiar
form of mind-stuff. It is then a thought, as visible to the  inner vision of
composite man as a child is to its parent.

    Thus   we   see   that  ideas  are   embryonic   thoughts,   nuclei   of
spirit-substance from the Region of Abstract Thought.  Improperly  conceived
in a diseased mind they become vagaries and delusions,  but when gestated in
a sound mind and formed into rational thoughts they are the basis of all the
material, moral,  and mental progress. The closer our touch with Chaos,  the
better will be our Cosmos,  for in that realm of abstract realities truth is
not obscured by matter, it is self-evident.




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      Pilate asked "What is Truth?" but no answer is recorded.    We are in-
capable  of cognizing truth in the abstract while we live in the  phenomenal
world,  for the inherent nature of matter is illusion and delusion,  and  we
are constantly making allowances and corrections whether we are conscious of
the  fact or not.  The sunbeam which proceeds for 90 millions of miles in  a
straight  line  is refracted or bent as soon as it strikes our  dense  atmo-
sphere, and according to the angle of its refraction, it APPEARS to have one
color or another. The straightest stick appears crooked when partly immersed
in water,  and the truths which are so self-evident in the higher worlds are
likewise obscured,  refracted or twisted out of all semblance under the  il-
lusory conditions of this material world.

    "The truth shall set you free,"  said Christ,   and the more we turn our
aspirations from material acquisitiveness and seek to lay up treasure above,
the  more  we aim to rise,  the oftener we  "get in the spirit,"   the  more
readily  we  "shall know truth"  and reach  liberation  from the  fetter  of
flesh  which binds us to a limited environment,  and attain to a  sphere  of
greater usefulness.

    Study of philosophy and science has a tendency to further perception  of
truth,  and  as  science has progressed it has gradually  receded  from  its
erstwhile  crude materialism.  The day is not far off when it will  be  more
reverently  religious  than the church itself.  Mathematics is  said  to  be






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"dry,"  for it does not stir the emotions.  When  it is taught that "the sum
of  the  angles of a triangle is 180 degrees,"   the dictum is at  once  ac-
cepted,  because its truth is self-evident and no feeling is involved in the
matter.  But  when  a doctrine such as the  Immaculate  Conception  is  pro-
mulgated and our emotions are stirred, bloody war,  or heated argument,  may
result,  and still leave the matter in doubt.  Pythagoras demanded that  his
pupils  study mathematics,  because he knew the elevating effect of  raising
their  minds above the sphere of feeling,  where it is subject to  delusion,
and  elevating it towards the Region of Abstract Thought which is the  prime
reality.

    In this place we are dealing with worlds in particular,  and will there-
fore defer comment upon the remainder of the first five verse of St.  John's
Gospel:

                       And Life became Light in man,
                  5)   and Light shines in Darkness.

    We have now seen that the Earth is composed of three worlds which inter-
penetrate  one  another so that it is perfectly true when Christ  said  that
"heaven  is  within  you"  or,   as   the  translation  should  rather  have
been, AMONG YOU.   We  have  also  seen that of these three realms  two  are
subdivided.  It  has also been explained that each division serves  a  great
purpose  in the unfoldment of various forms of life which dwell in  each  of
these worlds,  and we may note in conclusion,  that the lower regions of the
Desire  World constitute what  the  Catholic  religion  calls  PURGATORY,  a






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place  where the evil of a past life is transmuted to good,  usable  by  the
Spirit as conscience in later lives.  The higher regions of the Desire World
are the  FIRST HEAVEN  where  all  the good a man has done is assimilated by
the Spirit as SOUL power.  The  Region  of  Concrete  Thought is  the SECOND
HEAVEN,  where,  as already said, the Spirit prepares its future environment
on Earth, and the Region of Abstract Thought is the  THIRD  HEAVEN,  but  as
Paul said, it is scarcely lawful to speak about that.

    Some will ask:  Is there then no hell?   No!  THE MERCY OF GOD tends  as
greatly towards the principle of GOOD AS THE INHUMANITY OF MAN towards  cru-
elty,  so  that he would consign his brother men to flames  of  hell  during
eternity for the puerile mistakes committed during a few years,  or  perhaps
for  a slight difference in belief.  The writer has heard of a minister  who
wished  to  impress his "flock"  with  the  reality of an eternity  of  hell
flames,  and to demonstrate the fallacy of a heretical notion entertained by
some  of his parishioners:  that when sinners go to hell they burn to  ashes
and that is the end.

    He took with him an alcohol lamp and some asbestoes into  the pulpit and
told  his audience that God would turn their souls into a  substance  resem-
bling asbestos. He showed them that thought the asbestos were heated red hot
it did not decompose into ashes.  Fortunately,  the day of the hell preacher
has  gone by,  and if we believe the Bible which says that  "in God we  live
and move and have our being,"  we  can  readily  understand that A LOST SOUL





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WOULD BE AN IMPOSSIBILITY,  for  were  one single soul (Spirit)  lost,  then
logically a part of God Himself would be lost. No matter what our color, our
race,  or  our  creed,  we are all equally the children of God  and  in  our
various ways we shall obtain satisfaction.  Let us therefore rather look  to
Christ and forget creed.


                              CREED OR CHRIST?


No man loves God who hates his king;
    Who tramples on his brother's heart and soul,
Who seeks to shackle, cloud, or fog the mind
    By fears of Hell has not perceived our goal.

God-sent are all religions blest;
    And Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Life,
TO Give the heavy-laden rest,
    And peace from sorrow, sin, and strife.

At his request the Universal Spirit came
    TO ALL THE CHURCHES, not to one alone;
On Pentecostal morn a tongue of flame
    Round EACH apostle as a halo shone.

Since then, as vultures ravenous with greed,
    We oft have battled for an empty name,
And sought by dogma, edict, creed,
    To send each other to the flame.

Is Christ then twain?  Was Cephas, Paul
    To save the world, nailed to the tree?
Then why divisions here at all?
    Christ's love enfolds both you and me.




[PAGE 86]                                          THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES


His pure sweet love is not confined
    By creeds which segregate and raise a wall,
His love enfolds, embraces HUMAN KIND,
    No matter what ourselves of Him we call.

Then why not take Him at His word?
    Why hold to creeds which tear apart?
But one thing matters, be it heard,
    That brother-love fill every heart.

There`s but one thing the world has need to know;
    There`s but one balm for all our human woe.
There`s but one way that leads to heaven above--
    That way is human sympathy and love.






[PAGE 87]                                            THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN

                                 CHAPTER IV

                           THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN

                        VITAL BODY--DESIRE BODY--MIND

    Our chapter head,  "The Constitution of Man,"  may surprise a reader who
has not previously studied the Mystery Teachings,  or he may imagine that we
intend  to give an anatomical dissertation, but such is not  our  intention.
We  have  spoken of the Earth upon which we live as being  composed  of  se-
veral invisible realms in addition to the world we perceive by means of  our
senses.  We  have also spoken of man as being correlated  to  these  various
divisions in nature, and a little thought upon the subject will quickly con-
vince us that in order to function upon the various planes of existence  de-
scribed,  it  is necessary that a man should have a body composed  of  their
substance,  or at least have specialized for his or her own use, some of the
material of each of these worlds.

    We have said that finer matter, called desire-stuff and mind-stuff, per-
meates our atmosphere and the solid Earth,  even as blood percolates through
all parts of our flesh.  But that is not a sufficient explanation to account
for all facts of life. If that were all, then minerals,  which are interpen-
etrated by the World of Thought and the World of Desire, would have thoughts
and  desires as well as man.  This is not the case,  so something more  than
mere interpenetration must be requisite to acquire the faculties of  thought
and feeling.




[PAGE 88]                                          THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES


    We know that in order to function in this world,  to live as a  physical
being  among other like beings,  we must have a physical body all  our  own,
built of the chemical constituents of this visible world. When we lose it at
death,  it  profits  us  nothing that the world is full  of  just  the  very
chemicals needed to build such a body.  We cannot then specialize them,  and
therefore we are invisible to all others. Similarly, if we did not possess a
special  body made of ether,  we should be unable to grow and to  propagate.
That  is  the case with the mineral.  Had we no separate  individual  desire
body,  we should be unable to feel desires and emotions,  there would be  no
incentive to move from one place to another. We should then be stationary as
plants,  and did we not possess a mind,  we should be incapable of  thought,
and act upon impulse and instinct as animals do.

    Some one may of course object to  this last statement,  and contend that
animals do think.  So far  as our domesticated animals are concerned that is
partially true, but it is not quite in the same way that we  think  and rea-
son.  The difference may  perhaps best  be  understood if we  take  an illu-
stration from the  electrical  field. When an electric current OF HIGH VOLT-
AGE is passed through a coiled  copper wire,  and  another wire is placed in
the center of the coils, that wire will become charged with electricity OF A
LOWER VOLTAGE; so also the animal, when brought  within  the sphere of human
thoughts, evolves a mental activity of a lower order.





[PAGE 89]                                            THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN


    Paul,  in his writings, also mentions the NATURAL BODY and the SPIRITUAL
BODY  while the man himself is a Spirit inhabiting those vehicles.  We  will
briefly note the constitution of the various bodies of man invisible to  the
physical sight but as objective to spiritual sight as the dense body to  or-
dinary vision.

                            THE VITAL BODY

    That  body of ours is composed of ether  is  called  the  VITAL BODY  in
Western Mystery Schools,  for, as we have already seen,  ether is the avenue
of ingress for vital force from the Sun and the field of agencies in  nature
which promote such vital activities as assimilation,  growth,  and  propaga-
tion.

    This vehicle is an exact counterpart of our visible body,  molecule  for
molecule,  and  organ for organ,  with one exception,  which we  shall  note
later.  But it is slightly larger, extending about one and  one-half  inches
beyond the periphery of our dense vehicle.

    The  spleen is the entrance gate of forces which vitalize the  body.  In
the  etheric counterpart of that organ solar energy is transmuted  to  vital
fluid of a pale rose color.  Thence it spreads all over the nervous  system,
and  after  having  been used in the body it radiates in  streams,  much  as
bristles protrude from a porcupine.

    The rays of the Sun are transmitted either directly, or reflected by way
of the planets and the Moon.  The rays directly from the Sun give  spiritual
illumination;  the  rays perceived by way of the  planets  produce  intelli-
gence, morality, and soul growth,  but the rays reflected by way of the Moon




[PAGE 90]                                          THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES


make  for  physical growth as seen in the case of plants,  which  grow  dif-
ferently  when planted in the light of the Moon from what is the  case  when
they are planted when the Moon is dark. There is also a difference in plants
sown when the Moon is in barren and fruitful signs of the Zodiac.

    The solar ray is absorbed by the human Spirit which has its seat in  the
center of the forehead;  the stellar ray is absorbed by the brain and spinal
cord; and the lunar ray enters our system through the spleen.

    The solar, stellar, and lunar rays are all three-colored, and in the lu-
nar which supplies our vital force, the blue beam is the life of the FATHER,
which cause germination;  the yellow beam is the life of the SON,  which  is
the  active principle in nutrition and growth; and the red beam is the  life
of  the  HOLY SPIRIT,  which stimulates to action,  dissipating  the  energy
stored  by the yellow force.  This principle is particularly active in  gen-
eration.

    The  various kingdoms absorb this life-force differently,  according  to
their constitution.  Animals have only 28 pairs of spinal nerves.  They  are
keyed  to  the lunar month of 28 days and therefore dependent upon  a  Group
Spirit  for an infusion of stellar rays necessary to produce  consciousness.
They are altogether incapable of absorbing the direct ray of the Sun.

    Man  is in a transition stage,  he has 31 pairs of spinal  nerves  which
keys him to the solar month,  but  the  nerves in the so-called cauda-equina




[PAGE 91]                                            THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN


(literally, horse-tail) at the end of our spinal cord are still too undevel-
oped to act as avenues for the spiritual ray of the Sun. In proportion as we
draw our creative force upward by spiritual thought we develop these  nerves
and awaken dormant faculties of the Spirit.  But it is dangerous to  attempt
that  development  except  under guidance of a qualified  teacher,  and  the
reader  is  earnestly warned not to use any method published in  books,  nor
sold, for their practice usually leads to insanity. The safe method is never
sold  for money or any earthly consideration however large or small;  it  is
always freely given as a reward of  merit.  "Ask and ye shall receive,  seek
and ye shall find,  knock and it shall be opened,"  said the Christ.  If our
life is a prayer for illumination, the search will not be uncertain, nor the
knock without response.

    When  solar  energy has been transmuted in the spleen it  traverses  the
whole nervous system of the body,  glowing with a most beautiful color of  a
delicate rosy hue. It answers the same purpose as electricity in a telegraph
system.  We may string wires between cities,  erect telegraph stations,  in-
stall  receivers and transmitters.  We may even have operators ready at  the
keys,  but until electric fluid is turned into our wires, the telegraph keys
will refuse to click.

    So also in the body, the human Spirit is operator,  and from the central
station of the brain,  nerves ramify,  go through the whole body to all  the
different muscles.  When this vitalizing fluid of which we are speaking tra-
verses the nervous system,  the Ego may send his commands to the muscles and




[PAGE 92]                                          THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES


cause them to move, but if the vital fluid for any reason does not flow into
a certain part of the body such as an arm or a limb,  then the Spirit is po-
werless to move that part of the body and we say that it is paralyzed.

    When we are in health,  we specialize solar energy in such great quanti-
ties that we cannot use it all in the body and therefore it radiates through
the pores of our skin in straight streams and serves a similar purpose as an
exhaust fan.  That machine drives the foul air out of a room or building and
keeps the atmosphere within pure and sweet.  The excessive vital force which
radiates from the body drives out poisonous gases, deleterious microbes, and
effete matter,  thus tending to preserve a healthy condition.  It also  pre-
vents armies of disease germs, which swarm about in the atmosphere, from en-
tering, upon the same principle that a fly cannot wing its way into a build-
ing through the exhaust fan.  Thus it serves a most beneficent purpose  even
after it has been utilized in our body and is returning to the free state.

    It  is a curious and most astounding sight when one first observes  how,
from exposed parts of the body such as hands and face,  there suddenly  com-
mences to flow a stream of stars, cubes,  pyramids,  and a variety of  other
geometrical  forms.  The writer has more than once rubbed his eyes  when  he
first perceived the phenomenon, for it seemed that he must be suffering from
hallucinations.  The forms observed are chemical atoms, however,  which have
served their purpose in the body and are expelled through the pores.





[PAGE 93]                                            THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN


    When one has eaten a meal,  vital fluid is consumed by the body in great
quantities, for it is the cement whereby nature's forces build our food into
the body.  Therefore the radiations are weakest during the period of  diges-
tion.  If  the  meal  has been heavy, the outflow is very perceptibly dimin-
ished, and does not then cleanse our body as thoroughly as when the food has
been digested,  nor  are  the  radiations as potent in keeping out  inimical
germs. Therefore one is most liable to catch cold or other diseases by over-
eating.

    During  ill health the vital body specializes but little  solar  energy.
Then,  for a time, the visible body seems to feed upon the vital body, as it
were,  so  that the vehicle becomes more transparent and attenuated  at  the
same rate as the visible body exhibits a state of emaciation.  The cleansing
odic radiations are almost entirely absent during sickness,  therefore  com-
plications set in easily.

     Though science has not directly observed this vital body of man, it has
upon several occasions postulated the existence of such a vehicle as  neces-
sary to account for facts in life, and the radiations have been observed  by
a  number  of scientists at different times and  under  varying  conditions.
Blondlot  and Charpentier have called them N-rays after the city  of  Nantes
where  the radiations were observed by these scientists;  others have  named
them  "The Odic fluid."  Scientific  investigators  who have  conducted  re-
searches into psychic phenomena have even photographed  it  when it has been





[PAGE 94]                                          THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES


extracted through the spleen by materializing Spirits.  Dr.  Hotz,  for  in-
stance, obtained two photographs of a materialization through the German me-
dium, Minna-Demmler.  On one a cloud of ether is seen oozing out through the
left side of the medium,  shapeless and without form.   The second  picture,
taken  a few moments later,  shows the materialized Spirit standing  at  the
medium's  side.   Other photographs obtained by scientists from the  Italian
medium, Eusapio Palladino, show a luminous cloud over-hanging her left side.

    We said in the beginning of this description that the vital is an  exact
counterpart of the dense body with one exception: it is of the opposite sex,
or  perhaps we should rather say POLARITY.  As the vital body nourishes  the
dense vehicle,  we may readily understand that blood is its highest  visible
expression,  and also that a positively polarized vital body would  generate
more blood than a negative one.  Woman,  who is physically negative,  has  a
positive  vital body,  hence she generates a surplus of blood which  is  re-
lieved  by  the periodic flow.  She is also more prone to tears,  which  are
white bleeding,  than man,  whose negative vital body does not generate more
blood  than he can comfortably take care of.  Therefore it is not  necessary
for him to have the outlets which relieve excess of blood in woman.


                              THE DESIRE BODY


    In  addition to the visible body and the vital body we also have a  body
made of desire stuff from which we form our feelings and emotions.  This ve-
hicle also impels us to seek sense gratification.  But while the two instru-
ments of which we have already spoken are well organized,  the  desire  body







[PAGE 95]                                            THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN


appears  to  spiritual  sight as an ovoid cloud extending  from  sixteen  to
twenty inches beyond the physical body.  It is above the head and below  the
feet  so that our dense body sits in the center of this egg-shaped cloud  as
the yolk is in the center of an egg.

    The reason for the rudimentary state of this vehicle is that it has been
added  to  the human constitution more recently than the  bodies  previously
mentioned.  Evolution  of  form may be likened to the manner  in  which  the
juices in the snail first condense into flesh and later become a hard shell.
When  our  present  visible body first germinated in the Spirit,  it  was  a
thought-form,  but gradually it has become denser and more concrete until it
is now a chemical crystallization.  The vital body was next emanated by  the
Spirit as a thought-form,  and is in the third stage of concretion which  is
etheric.  The  desire body is a still later acquisition.  That  also  was  a
thought-form  at its inception,  but has now condensed to desire-stuff,  and
the mind,  which we have only recently received,  is still but a mere cloudy
thought-form.

    Arms and limbs,  ears and eyes are not necessary to use the desire body,
for it can glide through space more swiftly than wind without such means  of
locomotion as we require in this visible world.

    When viewed by spiritual sight, it appears that there are in this desire
body a number of whirling vortices.  We have already explained that it  is a





[PAGE 96]                                          THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES


characteristic of desire-stuff to be in constant motion,  and from the  main
vortex in the region of the liver, there is a constant outwelling flow which
radiates  toward  the periphery of this egg-shaped body and returns  to  the
center through a number of other vortices.  The desire body exhibits all the
colors and shades which we know and a vast number of others which are  inde-
scribable in earthly language.  Those colors vary in every person  according
to his or her characteristics and temperament,  and they also vary from  mo-
ment  to moment as passing moods, fancies,  or emotions are  experienced  by
him. There is, however, in each one a certain basic color dependent upon the
ruling  star at the moment of his or her birth.  The man in whose  horoscope
Mars is peculiarly strong usually has a crimson tint in his aura;  where Ju-
piter is the strongest planet the prevailing tint seems to be a bluish tone;
and so on with the other planets.

    There  was a time in the Earth's past history when incrustation was  not
yet  complete,  and human beings of that time lived upon  islands  here  and
there,  amid  boiling seas.  They had not yet evolved eyes or  ears,  but  a
little organ:  the pineal gland, which anatomists have called THE THIRD EYE,
protruded through the back of the head and was a LOCALIZED ORGAN OF FEELING.
It  warned the man when he came too near a volcanic crater and thus  enabled
him to escape destruction.  Since then the cerebral hemispheres have covered
the pineal gland,  and instead of a single organ of feeling,  the whole body
inside  and  out is sensitive to impacts, which of course is a  much  higher
state of development.





[PAGE 97]                                            THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN


    In the desire body every particle is sensitive to vibrations similar  to
those which we call sight,  sounds,  and feelings,  and every particle is in
incessant motion,  rapidly swirling about so that in the same instant it may
be at the top and bottom of the desire body and impart at all points to  all
the other particles a sensation of that which it has experienced. Thus every
particle  of  desire-stuff in this vehicle of ours will instantly  feel  any
sensation experienced by any single particle.  Therefore the desire body  is
of  an exceedingly sensitive nature,  capable of most intense  feelings  and
emotions.


                                 THE MIND


    This is the latest acquisition of the human Spirit,  and in most  people
who have not yet accustomed themselves to orderly,  consecutive thought,  it
is  a mere inchoate cloud disposed particularly in the region of  the  head.
When looking at a person clairvoyantly there appears to be an empty space in
the  center  of the forehead just above and between the eyebrows.  It  looks
like the blue part of a gas flame.  That is mind-stuff which veils the human
Spirit,  or Ego,  and the writer has been told that not even the most gifted
seer can penetrate that veil,  said to have been spoken of in ancient  Egypt
as "THE VEIL OF ISIS."  None  may lift it and live,  for behind that veil is
the Holy of Holies,  the temple of our body,  where the Spirit is to be left
secure from all intrusion.





[PAGE 98]                                          THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES


    To  those  who have not previously studied the deeper  philosophies  the
question may occur:  But why all these divisions? Even the Bible speaks only
of soul and body,  for most people believe soul and Spirit to be  synonymous
terms.  We  can  only answer that this division is  not  arbitrary  but  ne-
cessary,  and founded upon facts in nature.  Neither is it correct to regard
the soul and the Spirit as synonymous.  Paul himself speaks of  the  NATURAL
BODY  which  is composed of physical substances: solids, liquids, gases, and
ethers;  he  mentions  a  SPIRITUAL  BODY, the vehicle of the  Spirit,  com-
posed  of the mind and desire body, and THE SPIRIT ITSELF,  which is  called
EGO in Latin or "I" in English.

    That  term "I"  is  an  application which can be made only by the  human
Spirit of itself. We may all call a dog, dog; or we may call a table, table,
and  any one else may apply the same name to the dog and to the  table,  but
only a human being can be called "I."  Only  he  himself can apply that most
exclusive of all words,  "I,"  for  this is the badge of self-consciousness,
the  recognition  by the human spirit of ITSELF as an entity,  separate  and
apart from all others.

      Thus we see that the constitution of man is more complex than  appears
upon the surface,  and we will now proceed to note the effect upon this mul-
tiplex being of various conditions of life.




[PAGE 99]                                                     LIFE AND DEATH


                                 CHAPTER V.

                               LIFE AND DEATH

                       INVISIBLE HELPERS AND MEDIUMS

    There are two classes of people in the world. In one class the vital and
dense bodies are so firmly cemented that the ethers cannot be extracted  un-
der any circumstances but remain with the dense body at all times and  under
all  conditions  from  birth to death. Those people are  insensible  to  any
supersensuous sights or sounds. They are therefore usually exceedingly skep-
tical, and believe nothing exists but what THEY can see.

    There  is  another class of people in whom the  connection  between  the
dense and the vital bodies is more or less loose, so that the ether of their
vital  bodies vibrates at a higher rate than in the first  class  mentioned.
These people are therefore more or less sensitive to the spiritual world.

    This class of sensitives may again be divided. Some are weak characters,
dominated by the will of others in a NEGATIVE manner,  as mediums,  who  are
the  prey of disembodied Spirits desirous of obtaining a physical body  when
they have lost their own by death.

    The  other  class of sensitives are strong POSITIVE characters  who  act
only from within, according to their own will. They may develop into trained
clairvoyants,  and be their own masters instead of slaves of  a  disembodied
Spirit. In some sensitives of both classes it is possible to extract part of





[PAGE 100]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES



the  ether which forms the vital body.  When a disembodied Spirit obtains  a
subject of that nature, it develops the sensitive as a MATERIALIZING MEDIUM.
The  man who is capable of extracting his own vital body by an act of  will,
becomes  a citizen of two worlds, independent and free.  These  are  usually
known  as  INVISIBLE HELPERS.  There are certain other  abnormal  conditions
where the vital body and the dense body are separated totally or in part, as
for instance, if we place our limb in an uncomfortable position so that cir-
culation of the blood ceases.  Then we may see the etheric limb hanging down
below the visible limb as a stocking.  When we restore circulatiion and  the
etheric  limb  seeks to enter into place,  an intense prickly  sensation  is
felt,  due to the fact that the little streams of force,  which radiate  all
through the ether,  seek to permeate the molecules of the limb and stir them
into  renewed  vibration.  When a person is drowning,  the vital  body  also
separates  from the dense vehicle and the intense prickly pain  incident  to
resuscitation is also due to the cause mentioned.

    While  we are awake and going about our work in the Physical World,  the
desire body and mind both permeate the dense and the vital bodies, and there
is  a constant war between the desire nature and the vital body.  The  vital
body is continually engaged in building up the human organism, while the im-
pulses of the desire body tend to tire and to break down tissue.  Gradually,
in  the course of the day, the vital body loses ground before the onslaughts







[PAGE 101]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH



of the desire body,  poisons of decay slowly accumulate, and the flow of vi-
tal fluid becomes more and more sluggish until at length it is incapable  of
moving the muscles.  The body then feels heavy and drowsy. At last the vital
body collapses,  as it were; the little streams of force which permeate each
atom  seem to shrivel up,  and the Ego is forced to abandon its body to  the
restorative powers of sleep.

    When  a  building becomes dilapidated and is to be RESTORED and  put  in
thorough  repair,  the tenants must move out to let the workmen have a  free
field.  So also when the building of a Spirit has become unfit  for  further
use, it must withdraw therefrom. As the desire body caused the damage, it is
a logical conclusion that it also must be removed. Every night when our body
has become tired,  the higher vehicles are withdrawn, only the dense and vi-
tal bodies being left upon the bed.

      Then  the process of restoration commences and lasts for a  longer  or
shorter time according to circumstances.

      At  times,  however,  the grip of the desire body upon our denser  ve-
hicles is so strong that it refuses to let go.  When it has become so inter-
ested in the proceedings of the day, it continues to ruminate over them  af-
ter  the collapse of the physical body,  and is perhaps only half  extracted
from  that vehicle.   Then it may transmit sights and sounds of  the  Desire
World to the brain. But, as the connections are necessarily askew under such
conditions, the most confused dreams result. Furthermore, as the desire body






[PAGE 102]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES



compels  motion,  the dense body is very apt to toss about when  the  desire
body is not fully extracted; hence the restless sleep which usually accompa-
nies dreams of a confused nature.

    There are times, of course, when dreams are prophetic and come true, but
such dreams result only AFTER complete extraction of the desire body.  Under
circumstances where the Spirit has seen some danger, perhaps,  which may be-
fall, it then impresses the fact upon the brain AT THE MOMENT OF AWAKENING.

    It  also  happens that the Spirit goes upon a soul flight and  omits  to
perform its part of the work of restoration;  then the body will not be  fit
to re-enter in the morning, so it sleeps on. The Spirit may thus roam afield
for  a number of days,  or even weeks,  before it again enters its  physical
body and assumes the normal routine of alternating waking and sleeping. This
condition is called TRANCE,  and  the  Spirit  may  remember upon its return
what it has seen and heard in the super-physical realm,  or it may have for-
gotten,  according  to  the stage of its development and the  depth  of  the
trance  condition.  When the trance is very light,  the  Spirit  is  usually
present in the room where its body lies all the time, and upon its return to
the body it will be able to recount to relatives all they said and did while
its body lay unconscious.  Where the trance is deeper,  the returning Spirit
will  usually be unconscious of what happened around its body,  but may  re-
count experiences from the invisible world.





[PAGE 103]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH

    A  few  years  ago  a little girl by the name  of  Florence  Bennett  in
Kankakee,  Illinois, fell into such a trance. She returned to the body every
few  days,  but stayed within only a few hours each time,  the whole  trance
lasting three weeks,  more or less.  During the returns to her body she told
relatives  that in her absence she seemed to be in a place inhabited by  all
the people who had died.  But she stated that none of them spoke about dying
and no one among them seemed to realize that they were dead. Among those she
had seen was a locomotive engineer who had been accidently killed.  His body
was  mangled in the accident which caused death.  The little girl  perceived
him there walking about minus arms,  and with lesions upon his head,  all of
which  is in line with facts usually seen by mystic  investigators.  Persons
who have been hurt in accidents go about thus,  until they learn that a mere
wish  to  have  their body made whole will supply a new  arm  or  limb;  for
desire-stuff is most quickly and readily molded by thought.


                                 DEATH


    After a longer or shorter time there comes in each life a point when the
experiences  which a Spirit can gain from its present environment have  been
exhausted,  and life terminates in death. Death may be sudden and  seemingly
unexpected,  as for instance by earthquake, upon the battle-field, or by ac-
cident,  as we call it,  though in reality death is never accidental or  un-
foreseen by Higher Powers.  Not a sparrow falls to the ground without divine






[PAGE 104]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES



will.  There are along life's path partings of the way,  as it were;  on one
side the main line of life continues onward,  the other path leads into what
we might call a blind alley. If the man takes the latter path,  it soon ends
in  death.  We are here in life for the sake of gaining experience and  each
life  has a certain harvest to reap.  If we order our life in such a  manner
that we gain the knowledge it is intended we should acquire,  we continue in
life,  and opportunities of different kinds constantly come our way.  But if
we neglect them, and the life goes into paths which are not congruous to our
individual development,  it would be a waste of time to let us stay in  such
an environment. Therefore the great and wise Beings who are behind the scene
of evolution,  terminate our life, that we may  have a fresh start in a dif-
ferent  sphere of influence.  The Law of Conservation of Energy is not  con-
fined  to  the Physical World,  but operates in the spiritual  realms  also.
There  is  nothing in life that has not its purpose.  We do  wrong  to  rail
against circumstances, no matter how disagreeable. We should rather endeavor
to  learn the lessons which are contained therein,  that we may live a  long
and useful life. Some one may object and say:  "You are inconsistent in your
teachings.  You say there is really no death; that we go into a brighter ex-
istence, and that we have to learn other lessons there in a different sphere
of usefulness! Why then aim to live a long life?"







[PAGE 105]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH


    It is very true that we make these claims,  and they are perfectly  con-
sistent with the other assertions just mentioned. However, there are lessons
to be learned HERE which cannot be learned in the other worlds,  and we have
to  bring  up  this physical body through the useless  years  of  childhood,
through  hot and impulsive youth,  to the ripeness of manhood or  womanhood,
before it becomes of true spiritual use.  The longer we live after  maturity
has been attained,  when we have commenced to look upon the serious side  of
life and started truly to learn lessons which make for soul-growth, the more
experience we shall gather and the richer our harvest will be.  Then,  in  a
later  existence,  we shall be much more advanced and capable of  taking  up
tasks  that would be impossible with less length of life and breadth of  ac-
tivity. Besides, to die is hard for the man in the prime of life with a wife
and growing family whom he loves,  with ambitions of greatness  unfulfilled,
with  hosts of friends about him,  and with interests all centered upon  the
material plane of existence. It is sad for the woman whose heart is bound up
in  home and the little ones she has reared to leave them,  perhaps  without
anyone  to care for them;  to know that they have to fight their  way  alone
through the early years when tender care is needed and perhaps to see  those
little  ones abused,  and she unable to lift a hand,  though her  heart  may
bleed  as freely as it would in Earth life.  All these things are  sad,  and
THEY BIND THE SPIRIT TO  EARTH for a much longer time than ordinarily;  they
hinder it from reaping the experiences it should reap upon the other side of
death,  and  they make it desirable, along with other reasons  already  men-
tioned, to live a long life before passing onwards.





[PAGE 106]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES


    The difference between those who pass out at a ripe old age and one  who
leaves  this Earth in the prime of life may be illustrated by the manner  in
which the seed clings to a fruit in an unripe state.  A great deal of  force
is necessary to tear the stone from a green peach;  it has such a  tenacious
hold upon the fruit that shreds of pulp adhere to it when forcibly  removed.
So also the Spirit clings to the flesh in middle life and a certain part  of
its  material  interest remains and binds it to Earth after  death.  On  the
other hand,  when a life has been lived to the full, when the spirit has had
time to realize its ambitions or to find out their futility, when the duties
of  life has been misspent and the pangs of conscience have worked upon  the
man,  and shown him his mistakes; when, in fact,  the Spirit has learned the
lessons of life,  as it must have to come to old age, then it may be likened
to  the seed of the ripe fruit which falls out clean,  without a vestige  of
flesh clinging thereto, at the moment the encasing pulp is opened. Therefore
we say,  as before,  that thought there is a brighter existence in store for
those who have lived well,  it is nevertheless best to live a long life  and
to live it to the fullest extent possible.





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    We also maintain that no matter what may be the circumstances of a man's
death, it is not accidental; it has either been brought about by his own ne-
glect to embrace opportunities of growth or else life has been lived to  the
ultimate possible.  There is one exception to that rule,  and that is due to
man's  exercise of his divine prerogative of interference.  If we lived  ac-
cording to schedule,  if we all assimilated the experiences designed for our
growth by the Creative Powers, we should live to the ultimate length, but WE
OURSELVES  usually shorten our lives by not taking advantage  of  opportuni-
ties.  It also happens that OTHER MEN may shorten our lives and cut them off
as  suddenly as the so-called accident whereby the divine  rulers  terminate
our life here.  In other words, murder,  or fatal accidents brought about by
HUMAN CARELESSNESS are in reality the only  termination to life not  planned
by invisible leaders of humanity.  No one is ever compelled to do murder  or
other  evil,  or there could not come to them a just retribution  for  their
acts.  The  Christ  said that evil must come but WOE  UNTO  HIM  BY  WHOM IT
COMETH,  and to harmonize that with the law of divine  justice,  "as  a  man
soweth,  so shall he also reap,"   THERE MUST AT LEAST BE ABSOLUTE FREE WILL
IN RESPECT TO EVIL ACTS.

      There are also cases where a person lives such a full and good life of
such  vast benefit to humanity and to himself that his days  are  lengthened
beyond the ultimate, as they are shortened by neglect, but such cases are of
course too few to allow of their being dwelt upon at length.

    Where  death is not sudden as in the case of accidents,  but  occurs  at
home after an illness, quietly and peacefully, dying persons usually experi-
ence a falling upon them as of a  pall  of great darkness before termination





[PAGE 108]                                          THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES



of life. Many pass out from the body under that condition and do not see the
light again until they have entered the superphysical realms. There are many
other cases, however, where the darkness lifts before the final release from
the body.  Then the dying person views both worlds at once, and is cognizant
of the presence of both dead and living friends. Under such circumstances it
very often happens that a mother sees some of her children who have gone be-
fore,  and she will exclaim joyously:  "Oh,  there is Johnny standing at the
foot of the bed:  my,  but hasn't he grown!"   The living relatives may feel
shocked  and uneasy,  thinking the mother is suffering from  hallucinations,
while  in reality she is more clear-sighted than they.  She perceives  those
who  have passed beyond the veil,  who have come to greet and assist her  to
find herself at home in the new world she is entering.

    Each  human being is an individual, separate and apart from all  others,
and  as experiences in the life of each differ from those of all  others  in
the interval from the cradle to the grave,  so we may also reasonably  infer
that  the  experiences of each Spirit when it passes through  the  gates  of
birth and death.  We print what purports to be a spirit message communicated
by the late professor James of Harvard at the Boston Spirit Temple,  and  in
which he describes sensations which he felt when passing through the gate of
death.  We do not vouch for its authenticity as we (the writer) have not in-
vestigated the matter personally.






[PAGE 109]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH


    Professor James had promised to communicate after death with his friends
in  this life,  and the whole world of psychic research was and still is  on
watch for a word from him. Several mediums have claimed that Professor James
has  communicated  through them,  but the most remarkable  are  those  given
through the Boston Spirit temple as follows:

    "And  this is death,  only to fall asleep, only to awaken in the morning
and to know that all is well. I am not dead, only arisen.

                             *  *  *  *  *

    "I  only know that I experienced a great shock through my entire system,
as if some mighty bond had been rent asunder.  For a moment I was dazed  and
lost consciousness.  When I awakened I found myself standing beside the  old
body  which had served me faithfully and well.  To say that I was  surprised
would  only inadequately express the sensation that thrilled my very  being,
and  I realized that some wonderful change had taken place.  Suddenly I  be-
came conscious that my body was surrounded by many of my friends, and an un-
controllable desire took possession of me to speak and touch them that  they
might know that I still lived.  Drawing a little nearer to that which was so
like and yet unlike myself, I stretched forth my hand and touched them,  but
they heeded me not."

                             *  *  *  *  *

    "Then  it  was that the full significance of the great change  that  had
taken place flashed upon my newly awakened senses;  then it was that I real-
ized that an impenetrable barrier separated me from my loved ones on  Earth,
and that this great change which had taken place was indeed death.  A  sense
of  weariness  and longing for rest took possession of me.  I seemed  to  be
transported through space,  and I lost consciousness, to awaken in a land so






[PAGE 110]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES



different and yet so similar to the one which I had lately left.  It was not
possible  for  me  to  describe my sensations when  I  again  regained  con-
sciousness and realized that, though dead, I was still alive.

    "When  I first became conscious of my new environment I was resting in a
beautiful  grove,  and was realizing as never before what it was  to  be  at
peace with myself and all the world."

                            *  *  *  *  *

      "I  know  that only with the greatest difficulty shal I be enabled  to
express to you my sensations when I fully realized that I had awakened to  a
new life. All was still, no sound broke the silence. Darkness had surrounded
me. In fact, I seemed to be enveloped in a heavy mist, beyond which which my
gaze could not penetrate.  Soon in the distance I discerned a faint  glimmer
of light, which slowly approached me, and then, to my wonder and joy,  I be-
held  the face of her who had been my guiding star in the early days  of  my
earth life."

                            *  *  *  *  *

    One  of the saddest sights witnessed by the seer at a death-bed  is  the
tortures to which we often subject our dying friends on account of ignorance
of how to care for them in that condition.  We have a science of birth;  ob-
stetricians who have been trained for years in their profession and have de-
veloped  a  wonderful skill assist the little stranger into this  world.  We
have also trained nurses attendant upon mother and child,  the ingenuity  of
brilliant minds is focused upon the problem of how to make maternity easier;
neither pains nor money are spared in these beneficent efforts for one  whom
we  have  never seen.  But when the friend of a lifetime,  the man  who  has
served his kind well and nobly in profession,  state, or church, is to leave




[PAGE 111]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH



the scene of his labors for a new field of activity, when the woman, who has
labored to no less good purpose in bringing up a family to take its part  in
the world's work,  has to leave that home and family,  when one whom we have
loved all our lives is about to bid us the final farewell, we stand by,  ut-
terly at a loss how to help.  Perhaps we even do the very things most detri-
mental to the comfort and welfare of the departing one.

    Probably  there is no form of torture more commonly inflicted  upon  the
dying  than that which is caused by administering stimulants.  Such  potions
have  the effect of drawing a departing Spirit into its body with the  force
of a catapult,  to remain and to suffer for some time longer.  Investigators
of conditions beyond have heard many complaints of such treatment.  When  it
is  seen that death must inevitably ensue, let not selfish desire to keep  a
departing  Spirit  a little longer prompt us to inflict such  tortures  upon
them.  The death chamber should be a place of the utmost quiet,  a place  of
peace and of prayer, for at that time, and FOR THREE AND ONE-HALF DAYS AFTER
THE LAST BREATH,  the  Spirit is passing through a Gethsemane and needs  all
the assistance that can be given.  The value of the life that has just  been
passed  depends greatly upon conditions which then prevail about  the  body;
yes,  even the conditions of its future life are influenced by our  attitude
during that time,  so that if ever we were our brother's keeper in life,  we
are a thousand times more so at death.





[PAGE 112]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES

      Post-mortem examinations,  embalming,  and cremation during the period
mentioned,  not only disturb the passing Spirit mentally,  but are even pro-
ductive of a certain amount of pain,  there still being a slight  connection
with the discarded vehicle.  If sanitary laws require us to prevent decompo-
sition  while thus keeping the body for cremation,  it may be packed in  ice
till  the three and one-half days have passed.  After that time  the  Spirit
will not suffer, no matter what happens to the body.


                        THE PANORAMA OF A PAST LIFE


    No matter how long we may keep the Spirit from passing out, however,  at
last  there  will  come a time when no stimulant can hold it  and  the  last
breath is drawn.  Then the silver cord of which the Bible speaks,  and which
holds  the higher and the lower vehicles together,  snaps in the  heart  and
causes  that organ to stop.  That rupture releases the vital body,  and  it,
with the desire body and mind, floats above the visible body for from one to
three and one-half days,  while the Spirit is engaged in reviewing the  past
life, an exceedingly important part of its post-mortem experience. Upon that
review depends its whole existence from death to a new birth.

    The  question may arise in the student's mind:  "How  can we review  our
past life from the cradle to the grave, when we do not even remember what we
did  a month ago?  To form a proper basis for our future life,  this  record
ought to be very accurate, but even the best memory is faulty."  When we un-
derstand the difference between the conscious and  subconscious  memory  and






[PAGE 113]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH



the manner in which the latter operates, the difficulty vanishes.  This dif-
ference  and the manner in which the subconscious memory keeps  an  accurate
record of our life experiences may be best understood by an illustration, as
follows: When we go into a field and view the surrounding landscape,  vibra-
tions  in the ether carry to us a picture of everything within the range  of
our vision. It is as sad as it is true, however, that  "we have eyes and see
not,"  as  the Saviour said. These vibrations impinge upon the retina of our
eyes,  even to the very smallest details,  but they usually do not penetrate
to our consciousness, and therefore are not remembered. Even the most power-
ful impressions fade in the course of time, so that we cannot call them back
at will when they are stored in our conscious memory.

    When  a photographer goes afield with his camera,  the results which  he
obtains are different.  The  ether vibrations emanating from all things upon
which his camera is focused,  transmit to the sensitive plate an  impression
of the landscape,  true to the minutest detail;  and,  mark this well,  this
true and accurate picture is in no wise dependent upon whether the photogra-
pher  is observant or not.  It will remain upon the plate and may be  repro-
duced under proper conditions.  Such is the subconscious memory,  and it  is
generated automatically by each of us during every moment of time,  indepen-
dently of our volition, in the following manner.

    From  the first breath which we draw after birth to our last dying  gasp





[PAGE 114]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES


we inspire air which is charged with pictures of our surroundings,  and  the
same  ether which carries that picture to the retina of our eye  is  inhaled
into our lungs where it enters the blood.  Thus it reaches the heart in  due
time.  In  the left ventricle of that organ,  near the apex,  there  is  one
little  atom which is particularly sensitized and which remains in the  body
all through life. It differs in this respect from all other atoms which come
and  go,  for it is the particular property of God,and of a certain  Spirit.
This  atom may be called the book of the Recording Angel,  for as the  blood
passes through the heart,  cycle after cycle,  the pictures of our good  and
evil acts are inscribed thereon to the minutest detail.   This record may be
called the subconscious memory.  It forms the basis of our future life  when
reproduced  as a panorama just subsequent to death.  By removal of the  seed
atom--which corresponds to the sensitized plate in a camera--the  reflecting
ether of the vital body serves as a focus,  and as the life unrolls  slowly,
backwards,  from death to birth the pictures thereof are etched into the de-
sire body, which will be our vehicle during our sojourn in Purgatory and the
First Heaven where evil is eradicated and good assimilated, so that in a fu-
ture  life  the  former may serve as CONSCIENCE to  withhold  the  man  from
repeating  mistakes  of the past,  and the latter will spur him  to  greater
good.

    A phenomenon similar to the panorama of life usually takes place where a
person is drowning.  People who have been resuscitated speak of having  seen
their whole life IN A FLASH. That is because under such conditions the vital





[PAGE 115]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH



body also leaves the dense body.  Of course there is no rupture of the  sil-
ver cord,  or life could not be restored. Unconsciousness follows quickly in
drowning,  while in the usual post-mortem review the  consciousness  contin-
ues  until the vital body collapses in the same manner that it does when  we
go to sleep.  Then consciousness ceases for a while and the panorama is ter-
minated.  Therefore also the time occupied by the panorama varies with  dif-
ferent persons,  according to whether the vital body was strong and healthy,
or had become thin and emaciated by protracted illness.  The longer the time
spent  in  review,  and the more quiet and peaceful  the  surroundings,  the
deeper  will  be the etching which is made in the desire  body.  As  already
said,  that has a most important and far-reaching effect,  for then the suf-
ferings which the Spirit will realize in Purgatory on account of bad  habits
and misdeeds will be much keener than if there is only a slight  impression,
and in a future life the still small voice of conscience will warn much more
insistently against mistakes which caused sufferings in the past.

    When  conditions are such at the time of death that the Spirit  is  dis-
turbed  by  outside conditions,  as for instance the din and  turmoil  of  a
battle,  the harrowing conditions of an accident, or the hysterical wailings
of  relatives,  the distraction prevents it from  realizing  an  appropriate
depth in the etching upon the desire body.  Consequently its post-mortem ex-
istence becomes vague and insipid; the Spirit does not harvest the fruits of






[PAGE 116]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES



experience as it should have done had it passed out of the body in peace and
under normal conditions.  It would therefore lack incentive to good in a fu-
ture  life,  and miss the warning against evil which a deep etching  of  the
panorama  of life would have given.  Thus its growth would be retarded in  a
very  marked degree,  but the beneficent Powers in charge of evolution  take
certain  steps  to compensate for our ignorant treatment of  the  dying  and
other untoward circumstances mentioned. What these steps are,  we shall dis-
cuss when considering the life of children in heaven; for the present let it
be  sufficient to say that in God's kingdom every evil is always  transmuted
to a greater good, though the process may not be at once apparent.


                                 PURGATORY


    During life the collapse of the vital body at night terminates our  view
of the world about us,  and causes us to lose ourselves in the  unconscious-
ness of sleep.  When the vital body collapses just subsequent to death,  and
the  panorama of life is terminated,  we also lose consciousness for a  time
which varies according to the individual.  A darkness seems to fall upon the
Spirit;  then  after a while it wakes up and begins dimly  to  perceive  the
light  of the other world,  but is only gradually accustomed to the  altered
conditions.  It is an experience similar to that which we have  when  coming
out of a darkened room into sunlight, which blinds us by its brilliancy, un-
til the pupils of our eyes have contracted so that they admit a quantity  of
light bearable to our organism.





[PAGE 117]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH


    If  under such a condition we turn momentarily from the bright  sunlight
and look back into the darkened room, objects there will be much plainer  to
our  vision than things outside which are illumined by the powerful rays  of
the Sun. So it is also with the Spirit; when it has first been released from
the body it perceives sights, scenes, and sounds of the material world which
it has just left much more readily than it observes the sights of the  world
it  is entering.   Wordsworth  in  his  ODE TO IMMORTALITY  noted a  similar
condition in the case of newborn children,  who are all clairvoyant and much
more  awake to the spiritual world than to this present plane of  existence.
Some  lose the spiritual sight very early, others retain it for a number  of
years,  and a few keep it all through life, but as the birth of a child is a
death in the spiritual world and it retains the spiritual sight for a  time,
so also death here is a birth upon the spiritual plane,  and the newly  dead
retain a consciousness of this world for some time subsequent to demise.

    When  one awakes in the Desire World after having passed through  afore-
mentioned experiences,  the general feeling seems to be one of relief from a
heavy burden,  a feeling perhaps akin to that of a diver encased in a  heavy
rubber suit,  a weighty brass helmet upon his head,  leaden soles under  his
feet,  and heavy weights of lead upon his breast and back,  confined  in his





[PAGE 118]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES



operations  on  the bottom of the ocean by a short length of air  tube,  and
able  to move only clumsily and with difficulty.  When after the day's  work
such a man is hauled to the surface,  and divests himself of his heavy  gar-
ments and he moves about with the facility we enjoy here, he must surely ex-
perience  a  feeling of great relief.  Something like that is  felt  by  the
Spirit when it has been divested of the mortal coil and is able to roam  all
over  the  globe instead of being confined to the narrow  environment  which
bound it upon earth.

    There is also a feeling of relief for those who have been ill. Sickness,
such as we know it,  does not exist there.  Neither is it necessary to  seek
food and shelter,  for in that world there is neither heat nor cold.  Never-
theless,  there are many in the purgatorial region who go to all the bothers
of housekeeping,  eating and drinking just as we do here.  George Du Maurier
in his novel,  PETER IBBETTSON,  gives  a  very good idea of this condition,
in  his life lived between the hero and the Countess of Towers.  This  novel
also  illustrates splendidly what has been said of the subconscious  memory,
for George DuMaurier has somewhere,  somehow discovered an easy method which
anyone may apply to do what he calls  "dreaming true."   By taking a certain
position in going to sleep, it is possible, after a little practice, to com-
pel the appearance, in a dream, of any scene IN OUR PAST LIFE,  which we de-
sire to live over again. The book is well worth reading on that account.




[PAGE 119]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH


    When  a  fiery nebulae has been formed in the sky and commences  to  re-
volve,  a little matter in the center where motion is slowest  commences  to
crystallize.  When  it  has reached a certain density it is  caught  in  the
swirl,  and whirled nearer, and nearer to the outward extremity of what has,
by  that time,  become the equator of a revolving globe.  Then it is  hurled
into space and discarded from the economy of the revolving Sun.

    This process is not accomplished automatically as scientists would  have
us  believe,  an  assertion  which has been proven in THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-
CONCEPTION and other places in our literature.  Herbert Spencer rejected the
nebular theory because it required  a  First  cause, which he denied (though
unable to form a better hypothesis of the formation  of  solar systems), but
it is accomplished through the activity of a Great Spirit, which we may call
God or any other name we  choose.  As above, so below, says the Hermetic ax-
iom. Man, who is a lesser Spirit,  also gathers  about  himself  spirit-sub-
stance,  which crystallizes into matter  and becomes the visible  body which
the spiritual sight reveals as placed  inside an aura of finer vehicles. The
latter are in constant motion. When the dense body is born as a child  it is
extremely soft and flexible.

    Childhood, youth, maturity, and old age are but so many different stages
of crystallization, which goes on until at last a point is reached where the
Spirit  can no longer move the hardened body and it is thrown out  from  the
Spirit as the planet is expelled from the Sun.  That is death--the commence-
ment of a disrobing process which continues in Purgatory.  The low evil pas-
sions  and  desires  we  cultivated  during  life  have   crystallized   the





[PAGE 120]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES



desire-stuff in such a manner that also must be expelled. Thus the Spirit is
purged  of evil under the same law that a sun is purged of the matter  which
later forms a planet. If the life has been a reasonably decent one, the pro-
cess of purgation will not be very strenuous nor will the evil desires  thus
expurgated persist for a long time after having been freed, but they quickly
disintegrate.  If,  on the other hand,  an extremely vile life has been led,
the  part of the expurgated desire nature may persist even to the time  when
the  Spirit returns to a new birth for further experience.  It will then  be
attracted to him and haunt him as a demon,  inciting him to evil deeds which
he himself abhors. The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is not a mere fanci-
ful idea of Robert Louis Stevenson,  but is founded upon facts well known to
spiritual investigators.  Such cases are extremes,  of course,  but they are
nevertheless  possible,  and we unfortunately have laws which  convert  such
possibilities  of probabilities in the case of a certain class of  so-called
criminals.  We refer to laws which decree capital punishment as penalty  for
murder.

    When  a  man is dangerous he should of course be  restrained,  but  even
apart from the question of the moral right of a community to take  the  life





[PAGE 121]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH



of anyone--which we deny--society by its very act of retaliatory murder  de-
feats the very end it would serve. If the vicious murderer is restrained un-
der whatever discipline is necessary in a prison,  for a number of years un-
til  his natural death,  he will have forgotten his bitterness  against  his
victim and against society,  and when he stands as a free Spirit in the  De-
sire World,  he may even by prayer have obtained forgiveness and have become
a good Christian.  He will then go on his way rejoicing, and will in the fu-
ture life seek to help those whom he hurt here.

    When society retaliates and puts him to a violent death shortly after he
has  committed the crime,  he is most likely to feel himself as having  been
greatly injured,  and not without cause. Then such a character will  usually
seek to "get even,"  as  he  calls it,  going about for a long time inciting
others  to commit murder and other crimes. Then we have am epidemic of  mur-
ders in a community, a condition not infrequent.

    The regicide in Serbia shocked the Western world (in 1914) by wiping out
an entire royal house in a most shockingly bloody manner,  and the  Minister
of the Interior was one of the chief conspirators.  Later he wrote his  mem-
oirs,  and therein he writes that whenever the conspirators had tried to win
anyone as a recruit, they always succeeded when they burned incense.  He did
not know why, but simply mentioned it as a curious coincidence.

    To the mystic investigator the matter is perfectly clear.  We have shown
the necessity of having a vehicle made of the materials of any world wherein
we wish to function.  We usually obtain a physical vehicle by going  through
the womb,  or perhaps in a few special cases, from a particularly good mate-
rializing medium, but where it is only necessary to work upon the brain  and




[PAGE 122]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES



influence someone else to act,  we need but a vehicle made of such ether  as
may be obtained from fumes of many different substances.  Each kind attracts
different classes of Spirits,  and there is no doubt that the incense burned
at meetings where the conspirators were successful was of a low and  sensual
order and attracted Spirits who had a grudge against humanity in general and
the  King of Serbia in particular. These malcontents were unable  to  injure
the king himself,  but used a subtle influence which helped the conspirators
in their work. The released murderer who has a grudge against society on ac-
count  of his execution,  may enter low gambling saloons where the fumes  of
liquor  and tobacco furnish ample opportunity for working upon the class  of
people who congregate in such places,  and the man whose spiritual sight has
been  developed is often sadly impressed when he sees the subtle  influences
to  which  those  who frequent such places are exposed.  It is  a  fact,  of
course,  that  a  man  must be of a low caliber  to  be  influenced  by  low
thoughts,  and  that it is as impossible to incite a  person  of  benevolent
character to do murder--unless we put him into a hypnotic sleep--as to  make
a  tuning fork which vibrates to C sing by striking another attuned  to  the
key of G.  But the thoughts of both living and dead constantly surround  us,
and no man ever thought out a high spiritual philosophy under the  influence






[PAGE 123]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH



of tobacco fumes or while imbibing alcoholic stimulants.  Were capital  pun-
ishment, newspaper notoriety of criminals, and the manufacture of liquor and
tobacco eliminated from society,  the gun factories would soon cease to  ad-
vertise and go out of business along with most of the locksmiths. The police
force  would  decrease,   and  jails  and  taxes  would  be  correspondingly
minimized.

    When a person enters Purgatory he is  exactly the same person as  before
he died. He has just the same appetites, likes and dislikes,  sympathies and
antipathies, as before. There is one important difference, however,  namely,
that HE HAS NO DENSE BODY WHEREWITH TO GRATIFY HIS APPETITES.  The  drunkard
craves drink, in fact, far more than he did in this life, but has no stomach
which  can  contain liquor and cause the chemical  combustion  necessary  to
bring about the state of intoxication in which he delights.  He may and does
enter  saloons where he interpolates his body into the body of the  physical
drunkard so that he may obtain his desires at second hand,  as it were,  in-
citing his victim to drink more and more.

    Yet  there  is no true satisfaction.  He sees the full  glass  upon  the
counter but his spirit hand is unable to lift it. He suffers the tortures of
Tantalus until in time he realizes the impossibility of gratifying his  base
desire.  Then he is free to go on, so far as that vice is concerned.  He has
been purged from that evil without intervention of an angry Deity or a  con-
ventional  devil with hell's flames and pitchfork to administer  punishment,
but under the immutable law THAT AS WE SOW SO SHALL WE REAP, he has suffered




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exactly  according to his vice.  If his craving for drink was of a mild  na-
ture, he would scarcely miss the liquor which he cannot there obtain. If his
desires were strong and he simply lived for drink, he would suffer veritable
tortures of hell without need of actual flames. Thus the pain experienced in
eradication of his vice would be exactly commensurate with the energy he had
expended upon contracting the habit,  as the force wherewith a falling stone
strikes the earth is proportionate to the energy expended in hurling it  up-
wards into the air.

    Yet  it is not the aim of God to "get even;"  LOVE  is  higher than  LAW
and in His wonderful mercy and solicitude for our welfare He has opened  the
way  of repentance and reform whereby we may obtain forgiveness of  sin,  as
taught by the Lord of Love: the Christ. Not indeed contrary to law,  for His
laws are immutable,  but by application of a higher law,  whereby we  accom-
plish here that which would otherwise be delayed until death had forced  the
day of reckoning. The method is as follows:

    In  our explanation concerning the subconscious memory we noted  that  a
record of every act,  thought, and word is transmitted by air and ether into
our lungs, thence to the blood, and finally inscribed upon the tablet of the
heart: a certain little  SEED ATOM,  which  is  thus the book of the Record-
ing Angels.  It was later explained how this panorama of life is etched into
the desire body and forms the basis of retribution after death. When we have





[PAGE 125]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH



committed a wrong and our conscience accuses us in consequence, and this ac-
cusation is productive of sincere repentance ACCOMPANIED BY REFORM, the pic-
ture  of that wrong act will gradually fade from the record of our life,  so
that  when we pass out at death it will not stand accusingly against us.  We
noted that the panorama of life unwinds BACKWARDS just after death. Later in
the purgatorial life it again passes before the spiritual vision of the man,
who  then  experiences the exact feeling of those whom he  has  wronged.  He
seems to lose his or her identity for the time being and assumes the  condi-
tion of his one time victim, he experiences all the mental and physical suf-
fering himself which he inflicted upon others. Thus he learns to be merciful
instead of cruel, and to do right instead of wrong in a future life.  But if
he awakens to a thorough realization of a wrong previous to his death, then,
as said, the feeling of sorrow for his victim and the restitution or redress
which  he gives of his own free will makes the suffering after  death  unne-
cessary. Hence "his sin is forgiven."

    The  Rosicrucian Mystery Teaching gives a scientific method  whereby  an
aspirant to the higher life may purge himself continually,  and thus be able
entirely to avoid existence in Purgatory. Each night after retiring the  pu-
pil  reviews his or her life during the day IN REVERSE ORDER.  He starts  to
visualize as clearly as possible the scene which took place just before  re-
tiring. He then endeavors to view impartially his actions in that scene, ex-
amining them to see whether he did right or wrong. If the latter, he endeav-
ors to FEEL AND REALIZE AS VIVIDLY AS POSSIBLE that wrong.  For instance, if





[PAGE 126]                                         THE ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES



he spoke harshly to someone,  and upon later consideration finds it was  not
merited,  he will endeavor to FEEL exactly as that one felt whom he  wronged
and at the very earliest opportunity to apologize for the hasty  expression.
Then he will call up the next scene in backward succession which may perhaps
be the supper table.  In respect of that scene he will examine himself as to
whether he ate to live, sparingly and of foods prepared without suffering to
other creatures of God (such as flesh foods that cannot be obtained  without
taking life).  If he finds that he allowed his appetite to run away with him
and that he ate gluttonously, he will endeavor to overcome these habits, for
to live a clean life we must have a clean body,  and no one can live to  his
highest possibilities while making his stomach a graveyard for the  decaying
corpses  of murdered animals.  In this respect there occurs to the writer  a
little poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

    "I am the voice of the voiceless;
          Through me the dumb shall speak,
    Till a deaf world's ear
    Shall be made to hear
          The wrongs of the wordless weak.

    The same force formed the sparrow
          That fashioned man the king;
    The God of the whole
    Gave a spark of soul
          To furred and feathered thing.





[PAGE 127]                                                    LIFE AND DEATH


    And I am my brother's keeper
          And I will fight his fight,
    And speak the work
    For beast and bird
          Till the world shall set things right.


    Thus the pupil will continue to review each scene IN REVERSE ORDER  from
night till morning, and TO FEEL REALLY SORRY  for whatever he has done amiss.
He  will not neglect to FEEL GLAD either when he comes to a scene  where  he
has done well,  and THE MORE INTENSELY HE CAN FEEL,  THE MORE THOROUGHLY  HE
WILL ERADICATE THE RECORD UPON THE TABLET OF THE HEART AND SHARPEN HIS  CON-
SCIENCE,  so that as time goes on from year to year, he will find less cause
for blame and enhance his soul power enormously. Thus he will grow in a mea-
sure  impossible  by  any  less systematic method,  and  there  will  be  no
necessity for his stay in Purgatory after death.

    This evening exercise, and another for the morning, if persistently per-
formed  day by day will in time awaken the spiritual vision as they  improve
life.   This matter has, however, been so thoroughly treated in number 11 of
the  ecture  series "SPIRITUAL SIGHT AND INSIGHT"  that it is unnecessary to
dwell upon the matter further in this place.


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