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Table of contents
Chapter I Initiation: What It Is and Is Not
Chapter II Initiation: What It Is and Is Not
Chapter III The Sacrament of Communion
Chapter IV The Sacrament of Communion“In Remembrance of Me.”
Chapter V The Sacrament of Baptism
Chapter VI The Sacrament of Marriage
Chapter VII The Unpardonable Sin and Lost Souls
Chapter VIII The Immaculate Conception
Chapter IX The Coming Christ
Chapter X The Coming Age
Chapter XI Meat and Drink as Factors In Evolution
Chapter XII A Living Sacrifice
Chapter XIII Magic, White and Black
Chapter XIV Our Invisible Government
Chapter XV Practical Precepts For Practical People
Chapter XVI Sound, Silence, and Soul Growth
Chapter XVII The “Mysterium Magnum” of the Rose Cross
Chapter XVIII Stumbling Blocks
Chapter XIX The Lock of Upliftment
Chapter XX The Cosmic Meaning of Easter
Chapter XXI The Cosmic Meaning of Easter
Chapter XXII The Newborn Christ
Chapter XXIII Why I am a Rosicrucian
Chapter XXIV The Object of the Rosicrucian Fellowship
Chapter I Initiation: What It Is and Is Not
PART
IIt
is no rare occurrence to receive questions relating to Initiation,
and we are also frequently asked to state whether this order or
that
society is genuine, and whether the initiations they offer to all
comers who have the price are
bona fide. For that
reason it seems necessary to write a treatise on the subject so
that
students of the Rosicrucian Fellowship may have an official
statement
for reference and guidance in the future.In
the first place let it be clearly understood that we consider it
reprehensible to express condemnation of any society or order, no
matter what its practices. It may be perfectly sincere and
honest
according to its light.
We do not believe that we rise in the opinion of discriminating men
and women by speaking in disparaging terms of others; neither are
we
laboring under the delusion that
we have all the
truth and other societies are plunged in Egyptian darkness. We
reiterate what we have often said before, that all religions have
been given to mankind by the Recording Angels, who know the
spiritual
requirements of each class, nation, and race, and have the
intelligence to give to each a form of worship perfectly suited to
its particular need; that thus Hinduism is suited to the Hindu,
Mohammedanism to the Arab, and the Christian religion to those born
in the Western Hemisphere.The
Mystery Schools of each religion furnish to the more advanced
members
of the race or nation embracing it a higher teaching, which,
if lived, advances
them into a higher sphere of spirituality than their brethren. But
as
the religion of the backward races is of a lower order than the
religion of the pioneers, the Christian nations, so also the
Mystery Teaching of the East is more elementary than that of the
West, and the Hindu
or Chinese Initiate is on a correspondingly lower rung of the
ladder
of attainment than the Western Mystic. Please ponder this well so
that you may not fall a victim to misguided people who try to
persuade others that the Christian religion is crude compared with
oriental cults. Ever westward in the wake of the shining sun, the
light of the world, has gone the star of empire, and is it not
reasonable to suppose that the spiritual light has kept pace with
civilization, or even preceded it as thought precedes action? We
hold
that such is the case, that the Christian religion is the loftiest
yet given to man, and that to repudiate the Christian religion,
esoteric or exoteric, for any of the older systems is analogous to
preferring the older textbooks of science to the newer ones which
embrace discoveries to date.Neither
are the practices of Eastern aspirants to the higher life to be
imitated by Westerners; we refer particularly to the breathing
exercises. They are both beneficial and necessary to the unfoldment
of the Hindu, but it is otherwise with the Western aspirant. To him
it is dangerous to practice breathing exercises for soul
unfoldment;
they will even prove subversive of soul growth, and they are,
moreover, absolutely unnecessary. The reason is this:During
involution the threefold spirit has become gradually incrusted in a
threefold body. In the Atlantean Epoch man was at the nadir of
materiality. We are just now rounding the lowest point on the arc
of
involution, and starting upward on the arc of evolution. At this
point, then, all mankind is immured in this earthly prison house to
such a degree that spiritual vibrations are almost killed. This is,
of course, particularly true of the backward races and the lower
classes in the Western world. The atoms in such backward race
bodies
are vibrating at an exceedingly low rate, and when in the course of
time one of these people develops to a point where it is possible
to
further him upon the path of attainment, it is necessary to raise
this vibratory pitch of the atom so that the vital body, which is
the
medium of occult growth, may to a certain extent be liberated from
the deadening force of the physical atom. This result is attained
by
means of breathing exercises, which in time accelerate the
vibration
of the atom, and allow the spiritual growth necessary to the
individual to take place.These
exercises may also be used by a great number of people in the
Western
world, particularly those who are not at all concerned about their
spiritual advancement. But even among those who desire soul growth
there are many who are not yet at the point where the atoms of
their
bodies have evolved to such a pitch of vibration that acceleration
beyond the usual measure would injure them. Here the breathing
exercises would do no harm; but if given to a person who is really
at
the point where he can enter the path of advancement ordinarily
mapped out for the Hindu’s precocious brothers and sisters in the
West, in other words, when he is nearly ready for Initiation and
when
he would be benefited
by spiritual exercises,
then the case is far otherwise.During
the aeons which we have spent in evolution since the time when we
were in Hindu bodies, our atoms have accelerated their vibratory
pitch enormously, and as said in the case of one who is really
nearly
ready for Initiation, the pitch of vibration is higher than that of
the average man or woman. Therefore he does not need breathing
exercises to
accelerate this
pitch, but certain spiritual exercises suited to him individually
which will advance him on the proper path. If such a person at this
critical period meets some one who ignorantly or unscrupulously
gives
him breathing exercises, and if he follows the instructions
accurately in the hope of
getting quick results,
he will get them quickly but in a manner he has not looked for,
since
the vibratory rate of the atoms in his body will in a very short
time
become accelerated to such a pitch that it will seem to him as if
he
were walking on air; then also an improper cleavage of the vital
body
may take place, and either consumption or insanity follows. Now
please put this down where it will burn itself into your
consciousness in letters of fire:
Initiation is a spiritual process, and spiritual progress cannot be
accomplished by physical means, but only by spiritual
exercises.There
are many orders in the West which profess to
initiate anyone who has the price.
Some of these orders have names closely resembling our own, and we
are constantly asked by students whether they are affiliated with
us.
In order to settle this once and for all, please note that the
Rosicrucian Fellowship has constantly taught that
no spiritual gift may ever be traded for money.
If you bear this in mind, you may know we have no connection with
any
order which demands money for the transference of spiritual power.
He
who has something to give of a truly spiritual nature will not
barter
it for money. I received a particular injunction to this effect
from
the Elder Brothers in the Rosicrucian Temple, when they told me to
go
to the English speaking world as their messenger, a claim I do not
expect you to believe
save as you see it justified by fruits.Now,
however, about Initiation: What is it? Is it ceremony as claimed by
these other orders? If so, any order can certainly invent
ceremonies
of a more or less elaborate kind. They may by flowing robes and
clashing swords appeal to the emotions; they may appeal to the
sense
of wonder and awe by rattling chains and by deep sounding gongs,
and
thus produce in their members an “occult
feeling.” Many
revel in the adventures and experiences of the hero in “The Brother
of the Third Degree,” thinking that this is surely Initiation, but
I tell you that it is very far from being the case.
No ceremony can ever give to any one that inward experience
which constitutes Initiation, no matter how much is charged or how
fearful the oaths, how awful or beautiful the ceremony, or how
gorgeous the robes, any more than passing through a ceremony can
convert a sinner and make him a saint, for conversion is to the
exoteric religionist exactly what Initiation is in the higher
mysticism. Please consider this point thoroughly, and you will have
the key to the problem.Do
you think that any one could go to a person of depraved character
and
agree to convert him for a certain sum and carry out his part of
the
agreement? Surely you know that no amount of money could bring
about
that change in a man’s character. Ask a true convert where he got
his religion and how he got it. One may tell you that he received
it
upon the road as he was walking along; another says that the light
and the change came to him in the solitude of his room; another
that
the light struck
him as it struck Paul upon the road to Damascus, and forced him to
change. Every one has a different experience, but it is in every
case
an inward experience,
and the outward manifestation of that inward experience is
that
it changes the man’s whole life
from the very least to the very greatest aspects.So
it is also with Initiation; it is an inward experience,
entirely
separate and apart from any ceremonial whatever,
and therefore it is an absolute impossibility that any one could
sell
it to any one else. Initiation changes a man’s whole life. It gives
him a confidence that he never possessed before. It clothes him
with
a mantle of authority that never can be taken from him. No matter
what the circumstances in life, it sheds a light upon his whole
being
that is simply wonderful. Nor can any ceremony effect such a
change.
We therefore hold that anyone who offers initiation into an occult
order by ceremonials to every one who has the price, brands himself
as an imposter. For the true teacher, if he were approached by an
aspirant with an offer of money for spiritual attainment would
answer
indignantly in the words used by Peter to Simon, the sorcerer, who
offered him money for spiritual powers: “Thy silver perish with
thee.”
Chapter II Initiation: What It Is and Is Not
PART
IITo
obtain a better understanding of what constitutes Initiation and
what
the prerequisites are, let the student first fix firmly in his mind
the fact that humanity as a whole is slowly progressing upon the
path
of evolution, and thus very slowly, almost imperceptibly, attaining
higher and higher states of consciousness. The path of evolution is
a
spiral when we regard it from the physical side only, but a
lemniscate when viewed in both its physical and spiritual phases.
(See the diagram of chemical caduceus in
The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception,
page 410.) In the lemniscate, or figure 8, there are two circles
which converge to a central point, which circles may be taken to
symbolize the immortal spirit, the evolving ego. One of the circles
signifies its life in the physical world from birth to death.
During
this span of time it sows a seed by every act and should reap in
return a certain amount of experience. But as we may sow seed in
the
field and lose return on that which falls on stony ground, among
thorns, et cetera, so also may the seed of opportunity be wasted
because of neglect to till the soil and the life will then be
barren
of fruit. Conversely, as diligence and care in cultivation increase
the productive power of garden seed enormously, so earnest
application to the business of life—improvement of opportunities to
learn life’s lessons and extract from our environment the
experience it holds—brings added opportunities; and at the end of
the life-day the ego finds itself at the door of death laden with
the
richest fruits of life.The
objective work of physical existence over, the race run, and the
day
of action spent, the ego enters upon the subjective work of
assimilation accomplished during its sojourn in the invisible
worlds,
which it traverses during the period from death to birth,
symbolized
by the other ring of the lemniscate. As the method of accomplishing
this assimilation has been most minutely described in various parts
of our literature, it is needless to repeat it here. Suffice it to
say that at the time when an ego arrives at the central point in
the
lemniscate, which divides the physical from the psychic worlds and
which we call the gate of birth or death according to whether the
ego
is entering or leaving the realm where we, ourselves, happen to be
at
the time, it has with it an aggregate of faculties or talents
acquired in all its previous lives, which it may then put to usury
or
bury during the coming life-day as it sees fit; but upon the use it
makes of what it has, depends the amount of soul growth it
makes.If
for many lives it caters mainly to the lower nature, which lives to
eat, drink, and be merry, or if it dreams its life away in
metaphysical speculations upon nature and God, sedulously
abstaining
from all unnecessary action, it is gradually passed and left behind
by the more active and progressive. Great companies of these idlers
form what we know as “backward races”; while the active, alert,
and wide-awake who improve a larger percentage of their
opportunities, are the pioneers. Contrary to the commonly accepted
idea, this applies also to those engaged in industrial work. Their
money-getting is only an incident, an incentive, and entirely apart
from this phase their work is as spiritual as or even more so than
that of those who spend their time in prayer to the prejudice of
useful work.From
what has been said, it will be clear that the method of soul growth
as accomplished by the process of evolution requires
action in the
physical life, followed in the post-mortem state by a
ruminating process,
during which the lessons of life are extracted and thoroughly
incorporated into the consciousness of the ego, though the
experiences themselves are forgotten—as we forget our labor in
learning the multiplication table, though the faculty of using it
remains.This
exceedingly slow and tedious process is perfectly suited to the
needs
of the masses; but there are some who habitually exhaust the
experiences commonly given, thus requiring and meriting a larger
scope for their energies. Difference of temperament is responsible
for their division into two classes.One
class, led by their devotion to Christ, simply follow the dictates
of
the heart in their work of love for their fellows—beautiful
characters, beacon lights of love in a suffering world, never
actuated by selfish motives, always ready to forego personal
comfort
to aid others. Such were the saints; they worked as they prayed;
they
never shirked in either direction. Nor are they dead today. The
earth
would be a barren wilderness in spite of all its civilization did
not
their beautiful feet circle it on errands of mercy, were not the
lives of sufferers made brighter by the light of hope which
radiates
from their beautiful faces. Had they but the knowledge possessed by
the other class they would indeed outdistance all in the race for
the
Kingdom.Mind
is the predominating feature of the other class. In order to aid it
in its efforts toward attainment, mystery schools were early
established wherein the world drama was played to give the aspiring
soul while he was entranced, answers to the questions of the origin
and destiny of humanity. When awakened, he was instructed in the
sacred science of how to climb higher by following the method of
nature—which is God in manifestation—by sowing the seed of
action, meditating upon the experience, and incorporating the
essential moral to make thereby commensurate soul growth; also with
this important feature, that whereas in the ordinary course of
things
a whole life is devoted to sowing and a whole post-mortem existence
to ruminating and incorporating the soul substance, this cycle of a
thousand years, more or less, may be reduced to a day, as held by
the
mystic maxim, “A day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day.” To be explicit, whatever work has been done during a
single day, if ruminated over at night before crossing the neutral
point between waking and sleeping, may thus be incorporated into
the
consciousness of the spirit as usable soul power. When that
exercise
is faithfully performed, the sins of each day thus reviewed are
actually blotted out, and the man commences each day as if it were
a
new life, with the added soul power gained in all the preceding
days
of his probationary life.But!—yes,
there is a great big
BUT; nature is not to be cheated;
God is not to be mocked. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap.” Let no one think that the mere perfunctory review of
the happenings of a day with perhaps the light-hearted admission
of,
“I wish I had not done that,” when reviewing a scene where he did
something palpably wrong, will save him from the wrath to come.
When
we pass out of the body into purgatory at death and the panorama of
our past life unfolds in reverse order to show us first the effects
and then the causes which produced them, we feel in intensified
measure the pain we gave others; and unless we perform our
exercises
in a similar manner
so that we live each evening our hell
as merited that day, acutely sensible of every pang we have
inflicted, it will avail nothing. We must also endeavor to feel in
the same intense manner, gratitude for kindness received from
others,
and approbation on account of the good we ourselves have
done.Only
thus are we really living the post-mortem existence and advancing
scientifically towards the goal of Initiation. The greatest danger
of
the aspirant upon this path is that he may become enmeshed in the
snare of egotism, and his only safeguard is to cultivate the
faculties of faith, devotion, and an all-embracing sympathy. It is
difficult, but it can be done, and when it has been accomplished
the
man or woman becomes a wonderful power for good in the
world.Now,
if the student has pondered the preceding argument well, he has
probably grasped the analogy between the
long cycle of
evolution and the short
cycles or steps
used upon the path of preparation. It should be quite clear that no
one can do this post-mortem work for him and transmit to him the
resulting soul growth, any more than one can eat the physical food
of
another and transmit to him the sustenance and growth. You think it
preposterous when a priesthood offers to shorten the sojourn of a
soul in purgatory. How, then, can you believe that anyone else
can—no
matter what the consideration—obviate the necessity of a number of
purgatorial existences for your benefit and transmit to you at once
the usable soul power you would have acquired had you pursued the
ordinary course of life to the day you are ready for Initiation?
Yet
this is what the offer to initiate a person not yet upon the
threshold means. You must have the soul power requisite for
Initiation or no one can initiate you. If you have it, you are upon
the threshold by your own efforts, beholden to no one, and may
demand
Initiation as a right which none would dare dispute or withhold. If
you have it not and could buy it, it would be cheap at twenty-five
million dollars, and the man who offers it for twenty-five dollars
is
as ridiculous as his dupe. Please remember that if anyone offers to
initiate you into an occult order, no matter if he calls it
“Rosicrucian” or by any other name, his demand of an initiation
fee at once stamps him as an impostor, explanations to the effect
that the fee is used to purchase regalia, et cetera, are only added
evidence of the fraudulent nature of the order for it is said,
“Initiation is most emphatically not an outward ceremony, but an
inward experience.” I may further add that the Elder Brothers of
the Rose Cross in the Mystic Temple where I received the Light made
it a condition that their
sacred science must never be put in the balance against a coin.
Freely had I received, and freely was I required to give. This
injunction I have obeyed, both in spirit and to the letter, as all
know who have had dealings with the Rosicrucian Fellowship.
Chapter III The Sacrament of Communion
PART
ITo
obtain a thorough understanding of the deep and far-reaching
significance of the manner in which the Sacrament of Communion was
instituted, it is necessary to consider the evolution of our planet
and of composite man, also the chemistry of foods and their
influence
on humanity. For the sake of lucidity we will briefly recapitulate
the Rosicrucian teachings on the various points involved. They have
been given at length in the
Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception
and our other works.The
Virgin Spirits, which are now mankind, commenced their pilgrimage
through matter in the dawn of time, that by the friction of
concrete
existence their latent powers might be transmuted to kinetic energy
as usable soul power. Three successive veils of increasingly dense
matter were acquired by the involving spirits during the Saturn,
Sun,
and Moon Periods. Thus each spirit was separated from all other
spirits, and the consciousness which could not penetrate the prison
wall of matter and communicate with others was forced to turn
inwards, and in so doing it discovered—ITSELF. Thus
self-consciousness was attained.A
further crystallization of the before mentioned veils took place in
the Earth Period during the Polarian, Hyperborean, and Lemurian
Epochs. In the Atlantean Epoch, mind was added as a focusing point
between spirit and body, completing the constitution of composite
man, who was then equipped to conquer the world and generate soul
power by endeavor and experience, each having free will and choice
except as limited by the laws of nature and his own previous
acts.During
the time man-in-the-making was thus evolving, great creative
Hierarchies guided his every step. Absolutely nothing was left to
chance. Even the food he ate was chosen for him so that he might
obtain the appropriate material wherewith to build the various
vehicles of consciousness necessary to accomplish the process of
soul
growth. The Bible mentions the various stages, though it misplaces
Nimrod, making him to symbolize the Atlantean kings who
lived
before the Flood.In
the Polarian Epoch pure mineral matter became a constituent part of
man; thus Adam
was made of earth, that is, so far as his dense body was
concerned.In
the Hyperborean Epoch the vital body was added, and thus his
constitution became plantlike, and
Cain, the man of
that time, lived on the fruits of the soil.The
Lemurian Epoch saw the evolution of a desire body, which made man
like the present animals. Then milk, the product of living animals,
was added to human diet.
Abel was a
shepherd, but it is nowhere stated that he killed an animal.