[PAGE  54]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC


                                 CHAPTER VII

                     THE UNPARDONABLE SIN AND LOST SOULS

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

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

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


[PAGE 55]                                               THE UNPARDONABLE SIN

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

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

[PAGE  56]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

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


[PAGE 57]                                               THE UNPARDONABLE SIN

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

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

[PAGE 58]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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


[PAGE 59]                                               THE UNPARDONABLE SIN

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

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

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


[PAGE 60]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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


[PAGE 61]                                          THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

                                CHAPTER VIII

                          THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION


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

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

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


[PAGE 62]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

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

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


[PAGE 63]                                          THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

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

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

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


[PAGE 64]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

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

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


[PAGE 65]                                          THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

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

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

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

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


[PAGE 66]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

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

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


[PAGE 67]                                          THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

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

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

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

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


[PAGE  68]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

   So may God strengthen your aspirations to purity.


[PAGE 69]                                                  THE COMING CHRIST


                                 CHAPTER IX

                              THE COMING CHRIST


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

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


[PAGE  70]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

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


[PAGE 71]                                                  THE COMING CHRIST

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

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


[PAGE 72]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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


[PAGE 73]                                                  THE COMING CHRIST

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

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

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

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


[PAGE 74]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

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

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


[PAGE 75]                                                  THE COMING CHRIST

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

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

   The ARYAN RACE have oval hair, oval skulls,  and oval orbits of the eyes,
these features being especially pronounced in the Anglo-Saxons,  who are the
flower of the race at present.

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

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


[PAGE 76]                                                  THE COMING CHRIST

more likely be taken from the new race than from an ancient one.  Otherwise,
if there is virtue in obtaining a Savior from the older races, why not get a
Bushman or a Hottentot?

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


[PAGE 77]                                                     THE COMING AGE


                                  CHAPTER X

                               THE COMING AGE


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

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


[PAGE 78]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

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


[PAGE 79]                                                     THE COMING AGE

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

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

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


[PAGE 80]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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


[PAGE 81]                                                     THE COMING AGE

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

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

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


[PAGE 82]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

                              SUGAR FOR ALCOHOL

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


[PAGE 83]                                                     THE COMING AGE

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

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


[PAGE  84]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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


[PAGE 85]                                                    MEAT AND DRINK


                                 CHAPTER XI

                   MEAT AND DRINK AS FACTORS IN EVOLUTION


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

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


[PAGE 86]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

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

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


[PAGE 87]                                                    MEAT AND DRINK

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

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

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

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

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


[PAGE 88]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

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

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

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

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


[PAGE 89]                                                    MEAT AND DRINK

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

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

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

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


[PAGE 90]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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

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

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


[PAGE 91]                                                    MEAT AND DRINK

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

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

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


[PAGE  92]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

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

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


[PAGE 93]                                                    MEAT AND DRINK

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

   But  the spirit of alcohol is obtained by a process of fermentation.   It
is a SPIRIT OF DECAY,  altogether different from the SPIRIT OF LIFE in  man.
This counterfeit spirit lures man on and on,  always holding before his  vi-
sion the dreams of FUTURE grandeur,  and goading him to strenuous efforts of
body and mind in order to attain and obtain.   Then when he has achieved and
attained,  he awakens to the utter worthlessness of his  prize.   Possession
soon  shatters  illusion as to the worth of whatever he may  have  acquired;
NOTHING  THE WORLD HAS TO GIVE CAN FINALLY SATISFY.   Then again the  lethal
draught  drowns  disappointment,  and the mind conjures up a  new  illusion.
This he pursues with fresh zeal and high hopes, to meet disappointment again
and  again,  for lives and lives,  until at last he learns that "wine  is  a
mocker," and that "all is vanity but to serve God and to do His will."
[PAGE 94]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC


                                 CHAPTER XII


                             A LIVING SACRIFICE

    VOLUMES, OR RATHER libraries, have been written to explain the nature of
God,  but  it is probably a universal experience that the more  we  read  of
other people's explanations,  the less we understand.  There is one descrip-
tion, given by the inspired apostle John when he wrote "GOD IS LIGHT," which
is  as  illuminating as the others are befogging to the  mind.   Anyone  who
takes this passage for meditation occasionally will find a rich reward wait-
ing,  for no matter how many times we take up this subject, our own develop-
ment  in the passing years assures us each time a fuller and  better  under-
standing.   Each  time we sink ourselves in these three words we lave  in  a
spiritual fountain of inexhaustible depth, and each succeeding time we sound
more  thoroughly  the divine depths and draw more closely to our  Father  in
heaven.

   To get in touch with our subject, let us go back in time to get our bear-
ing and the direction of our future line of progress.


[PAGE 95]                                                 A LIVING SACRIFICE

   The  first  time  our consciousness was directed towards  the  Light  was
shortly  after  we had become endowed with mind and had  entered  definitely
upon our evolution as human beings in Atlantis,  the land of the mist,  deep
down in the basins of the earth,  where the warm mist emitted from the cool-
ing earth hung like a dense fog over the land.   Then the starry heights  of
the universe were never seen,  nor could the silvery light of the moon  pen-
etrate the dense, foggy atmosphere which hung over that ancient land.   Even
the fiery splendor of the sun was almost totally extinguished,  for when  we
look in the Memory of Nature pertaining to that time,  it appears very  much
as an arc lamp on a high pole looks to us when it is foggy.   It was exceed-
ingly dim, and had an aura of various colors, very similar to those which we
observe around an arc light.

   But this light had a fascination.  The ancient Atlanteans were taught  by
the divine Hierarchs who walked among them, to aspire to the light,  and  as
the  spiritual sight was then already on the wane (even the  messengers,  or
Elohim,  being perceived with difficulty by the majority),  they aspired all
the  more ardently to the new light, for they feared the darkness  of  which
they had become conscious through the gift of mind.

   Then  came the inevitable flood when the mist cooled and condensed.   The
atmosphere  cleared,  and  the  "CHOSEN  PEOPLE"  were saved.  Those who had


[PAGE 96]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

worked within themselves and learned to build the necessary organs  required
to breathe in an atmosphere such as we have today,  survived and came to the
light.   It was not an arbitrary choice; THE WORK OF THE PAST  CONSISTED  OF
BODY  BUILDING.   Those who had only gill clefts,  such as the foetus  still
uses  in its prenatal development,  were unfit physiologically to enter  the
new era as the foetus would be to be born were it to neglect to build lungs.
It would die as those ancient people died when the rare atmosphere made gill
clefts useless.

   Since  the day when we came out of ancient Atlantis our bodies have  been
practically complete,  that is to say, no new vehicles are to be added;  but
from  that  time  and from now on THOSE WHO WISH TO FOLLOW  THE  LIGHT  MUST
STRIVE FOR SOUL GROWTH.  The bodies which we have crystallized about us must
be dissolved,  and the quintessence of experience extracted, which as "soul"
may  be  amalgamated  with the spirit to nourish if from  impotence  to  om-
nipotence.  Therefore, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was given to the an-
cients, and THE LIGHT OF GOD DESCENDED UPON THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE.  This is
of great significance:  The ego had just descended into its tabernacle,  the
body.   We all know the tendency of the primitive instinct towards  selfish-
ness,  and if we have studied the higher ethics we also know how  subversive
of good the indulgence of the egotistic tendency is; therefore,  God immedi-
ately placed before mankind the Divine Light upon the Altar of Sacrifice.


[PAGE 97]                                                    MEAT AND DRINK

   Upon  this altar they were forced by dire necessity to offer their  cher-
ished possessions for every transgression,  God appearing to them as a  hard
taskmaster whose displeasure it was dangerous to incur.  But still the Light
drew them.   They knew then that it was futile to attempt to escape from the
hand of God.   They had never heard the words of John, "God is Light,"   but
they  had already learned from the heavens in a measure the meaning  of  in-
finitude,  as  measured by the realm of light,  for we hear  David  exclaim:
"Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?  or whither shall I flee from thy pres-
ence?  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell,
thou art there.   If I take the wings of the morning,  and dwell in the  ut-
termost  part of the sea,  even there shall thy hand lead me and  thy  might
hand shall hold me.  If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me,  even the
night shall be light about me.  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee,  but
the night shineth as the day,  for the darkness and the light are both alike
to thee."

   With  every  year that passes,  with the aid of the  greatest  telescopes
which the ingenuity and mechanical skill of man have been able to  construct
to pierce the depths of space,  it becomes more evident that the  infinitude
of  light teaches us the infinitude of God.   When we hear that  "men  loved
darkness  rather  than  Light because their deed were evil," that also rings


[PAGE 98]                                              GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

true to what we unfortunately know as present day facts,  and illumines  the
nature of God for us;  for is it not true that we always feel endangered  in
the dark, but that the light gives us a sense of safety which is akin to the
feeling of a child who feels the protecting hand of its father?

   To  render  permanent this condition of being in the Light was  the  next
step in God's work with us, which culminated in the birth of Christ,  who as
the bodily presence of the Father, bore about in Himself that Light, for the
Light came into the world that whosoever should believe in Christ should not
perish,  but have everlasting life.  He said, "I am the Light of the World."
The  altar in the Tabernacle had illustrated the principle of  sacrifice  as
the medium of regeneration,  so Christ said to His disciples:  Greater  love
hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  Ye are my
friends.  And forthwith He commenced a sacrifice, which, contrary to the ac-
cepted orthodox opinion was not consummated in a few hours of physical  suf-
fering  upon a material cross,  but is as perpetual as were  the  sacrifices
made upon the altar of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness,  for it entails  an
annual  descent  into the earth and an endurance of all  that  the  cramping
earth conditions must mean to such a great spirit.

   This must continue till a sufficient number have evolved who can bear the
burden of this dense lump  of  DARKNESS  which  we call the earth, and which


[PAGE 99]                                                 A LIVING SACRIFICE

hangs  as a millstone about the neck of humanity,  an impediment to  further
spiritual growth.   Until we learn to follow "in His steps,"  we can rise no
higher towards the Light.

   It is related that when Leonardo da Vinci had completed his famous paint-
ing "The Last Supper,"  he asked a friend to look at it and tell him what he
thought of it.

   The friend looked at it critically for a few minutes and then said:

   "I  think you have made a mistake in painting the goblets from which  the
apostles  drink so ornamental and to resemble gold.   People in their  posi-
tions would not drink from such expensive vessels."

   Da Vinci then drew his brush through the entire set of vessels which  had
drawn  the  criticism  of his friend,  but he was heartbroken,  for  he  had
painted  that picture with his soul rather than with his hands,  and he  had
prayed over it that it might speak a message to the world.   He had put  all
the  greatness  of his art and the whole-hearted devotion of his  soul  into
that effort to paint a Christ who should speak the word that would lead  men
to emulate His deeds.

   Can you see Him as He sits there at that festive board, THE EMBODIMENT OF
LIGHT,  and speaks those wonderful, mystic words:  THIS IS MY BODY,  THIS IS
MY BLOOD, GIVEN FOR YOU-- a living sacrifice.


[PAGE 100]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

   In  the  past period of our spiritual career we have been looking  for  a
Light EXTERIOR to ourselves,  but now we have arrived at the point where  we
must look for the Christ light within and emulate Him by making of ourselves
"living sacrifices" as He is doing.  Let us remember that when the sacrifice
which  lies before our door seems pleasant and to our liking,  when we  seem
able to pick and choose our work in His vineyard and do what pleases us,  we
are  not making a real sacrifice as He did,  nor are we when we are seen  of
men and applauded for our benevolence.   But when we are ready to follow Him
from that festive board where He was the honored one among friends, into the
garden of Gethsemane WHERE HE WAS ALONE and wrestled with the great  problem
before Him while His friends slept, then are we making a living sacrifice.

   When  we  are  content  to  follow  "in  His  steps"  to  that  point  of
self-sacrifice  where we can say from the bottom of our hearts,  "THY  WILL,
NOT MINE," then we have surely THE LIGHT WITHIN, and there will never hence-
forth be for us that which we feel as darkness.  WE SHALL WALK IN THE LIGHT.

   This is our glorious privilege,  and the meditation upon the words of the
apostle,  "God is Light," will help us to realize this ideal provided we add
to  our faith,  WORKS,  and say by our deeds as did the Christ of da  Vinci,
"THIS IS MY BODY AND THIS IS MY BLOOD," a living sacrifice upon the altar of
humanity.


[PAGE 101]                                            MAGIC, WHITE AND BLACK


                                CHAPTER XIII

                           MAGIC, WHITE AND BLACK


   FROM  TIME  to  time  as  occasion  requires  we  warn  students  of  the
Rosicrucian  Fellowship  in  our private individual letters  not  to  attend
spirit seances,  hypnotic demonstrations,  or places where incense is burned
by dabblers in occultism.   Black Magic is practiced by both consciously and
unconsciously to an extent that is almost unbelievable.   "Malicious  animal
magnetism,"  which is only another name for the Black Force,  is responsible
for more failures in business, loss of health, and unhappiness in homes than
most  people are aware of.   Even the perpetrators of such outrages are,  as
said, often unconscious of what harm they have done.  Therefore it seems ex-
pedient to devote a chapter to an explanation of some of the laws of  magic,
which are the same for the white as for the black.  There is only one force,
but it may be used for good or evil;  and according to the motive behind  it
and the use that is made of it, it becomes either black or white.

   It is a scientific axiom that "EX NIHIL, NIHIL FIT" (out of nothing noth-
ing comes).  There must be a seed before there  can  be  a flower, but where


[PAGE 102]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

the  first seed came from is something which science has failed to  explain.
The occultist knows that all things have come from ARCHE,  the infinite  es-
sence of chaos,  used by God,  the Grand Architect,  for the building of our
universe; and , given the nucleus of anything, the accomplished magician can
draw upon the same essence for a further supply.  Christ, for instance,  had
some loaves and some fishes;  by means of that nucleus He drew upon the pri-
mordial  essence of chaos for the rest needed in performing the  miracle  of
feeding a multitude.   A human magician whose power is not so high can  more
easily  draw upon things which have already materialized out of  chaos.   He
may take flowers or fruit belonging to some one else,  miles or hundreds  of
miles away, disintegrate them into their atomic constituents, transport them
through  the air,  and cause them to assume their regular physical shape  in
the the room where he is entertaining friends in order to amaze them.   Such
magic  is GREY at best,  even if he sends sufficient of his coin to pay  for
what he has taken away;  if he does not,  it is Black Magic to thus rob  an-
other of his goods.  Magic to be white must always be used unselfishly,  and
in  addition,  for a noble purpose--to save a fellow being  suffering.   The
Christ,  when He fed the multitude from chaos,  gave as His reason that they
had been with Him for several days and if they had to journey  back to their


[PAGE 103]                                            MAGIC, WHITE AND BLACK

homes without physical food they would faint by the wayside and suffer  pri-
vation.

   God is the Grand Architect of the Universe and the Initiates of the White
Schools  are  also arche-tektons,  builders from the primordial  essence  in
their  beneficent  work  for humanity.  These Invisible  Helpers  require  a
nucleus  from  the  patient's  vital body, which  is,  as  students  of  the
Rosicrucian  Fellowship know,  given to them in the effluvia from the  hand,
which impregnates the paper when the patient makes application for help  and
healing. With this nucleus of the patient's vital body they are able to draw
upon  virgin matter for whatever they need to restore health by building  up
and strengthening the organism.

   The Black Magicians are despoilers, actuated by hatred and malice.   They
also  need a nucleus for their nefarious operations,  and this  they  obtain
most easily from the vital body as spiritualistic or hypnotic seances, where
the sitters relax, put themselves into a negative frame of mind,  drop their
jaws,  and sink their individualities by other distinctly mediumistic  prac-
tices.   Even  people who do not frequent such places are  not  immune,  for
there are certain products of the vital body which are ignorantly  scattered
by all and which may be used effectively by the Black Magicians.   Chief  in
this  category are the hair and fingernails.   The Negroes in  their  voodoo
magic  use the placenta for similar evil purposes.   One  particularly  evil
man, whose practices were exposed a decade ago, obtained from boys the vital


[PAGE 104]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

fluid  which he used for his demoniac acts.   Even so innocent a thing as  a
glass of water placed in close proximity to certain parts of the body of the
prospective victim,  while the Black Magician converses with him can be made
to absorb a part of the victim's vital body.  This will give the Black Magi-
cian  the  requisite  nucleus,  or it may be obtained from a  piece  of  the
person's clothing.   The same invisible emanation contained in the  garment,
which  guides the bloodhound upon the track of a certain person,  will  also
guide the Magician,  white or black, to the abode of that person and furnish
the Magician with a key to the person's system whereby the former by help or
hurt according to his inclination.

   But  there  are methods of protecting oneself from  inimical  influences,
which we shall mention in the latter part of this chapter.   We have debated
much  whether it were wise or not to call to call the attention of  students
to these facts, and have come to the conclusion that it does not help anyone
to imitate the ostrich which sticks its head into a hole in the sand at  the
approach of danger.   It is better to be enlightened concerning things  that
threaten so that we may take whatever precautions are necessary to meet  the
emergency.   The battle between the good and the evil forces is being  waged
with  an intensity that no one not engaged in the actual combat can  compre-
hend.  The Elder Brothers of the Rosicrucians and kindred  orders  which, we


[PAGE 105]                                            MAGIC, WHITE AND BLACK

may say,  in their totality represent the Holy Grail,  live on the love  and
essence  of the unselfish service which they gather and garner as  the  bees
gather honey,  from all who are striving to live the life.  This they add to
the lustre of the Holy Grail, which in turn grows more lustrous and radiates
a  stronger  influence upon all who are spiritually inclined,  imbuing  them
with greater ardor,  zeal and zest in the good work and in fighting the good
fight.  Similarly the evil forces of the Black Grail thrive on hate, treach-
ery,  cruelty,  and every demoniac deed on the calendar of crime.   Both the
Black  and  White Grail forces require a pabulum,  the one of good  and  the
other of evil,  for the continuance of their existence and for the power  to
fight.   Unless they get it, they starve and grow weaker.  Hence the relent-
less struggle that is going on between them.

   Every midnight the Elder Brothers at their service open their breasts  to
attract  the  darts of hate,  envy,  malice,  and every evil that  has  been
launched during the past twenty-four hours.  First,  in order that they  may
deprive the Black Grail forces of their food;  and secondly,  that they  may
transmute the evil to good.  Then, as the plants gather the inert carbon di-
oxide exhaled by mankind and build their bodies therefrom,  so the  Brothers
of  the Holy Grail transmute the evil within the temple;  and as the  plants
send  out  the  renovated oxygen so necessary to human life,  so  the  Elder
Brothers  return  to  mankind  the  transmuted  essence of evil as qualms of


[PAGE 106]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

conscience  along with the good in order that the world may grow better  day
by day.

   The Black Brothers, instead of transmuting the evil, infuse a greater dy-
namic  energy into it and speed it on its mission in vain endeavors to  con-
quer the powers of good.   They use for their purposes elementals and  other
discarnate entities which,  being themselves of a low order,  are  available
for such vile practices as required.  In the ages when men burned animal oil
or  candles made from tallow of animals,  elementals swarmed around them  as
devils or demons,  seeking to obsess whoever would offer an occasion.   Even
wax tapers offer food for these entities,  but the modern paraffin  candles,
are  uncongenial to them.   They still flock around our  saloons,  slaughter
houses,  and  similar  places  where  there  are  passionate  animals,   and
animal-like men.   They also delight in places where incense is burned,  for
that offers them an avenue of access, and when the sitters at seances inhale
the odor of the incense they inhale elemental spirits with it,  which affect
them according to their characters.

   This is where the protection we spoke about before may be used.   When we
live  lives of purity,  when our days are filled with service to God and  to
our fellow men, and with thoughts and actions of the highest nobility,  then
we create for ourselves the GOLDEN WEDDING GARMENT, which is a radiant force
for good.  No evil is able to penetrate this armor for the evil then acts as


[PAGE 107]                                            MAGIC, WHITE AND BLACK

a boomerang and recoils on the one who sent it,  bringing to him the evil he
wished us.

   But alas,  none of us are altogether good.  We know only too well the war
between  the flesh and the spirit.   We cannot hide from ourselves the  fact
that like Paul,  "the good that we would do, we do not, and the evil that we
would shun,  that we do."  Far too often our good resolutions come to naught
and we do wrong because it is easier.   Therefore we all have the nucleus of
evil within ourselves,  which affords the open sesame for the evil forces to
work  upon.   For that reason it is best for us not unnecessarily to  expose
ourselves  at places where seanes are held with spirits invisible to us,  no
matter  how fine their teachings may sound to the unsophisticated.   Neither
should we take part even as spectators at hypnotic demonstrations, for there
also  a  negative attitude lays one liable to the danger of  obsession.   We
should at all times follow the advice of Paul and put on the whole armor  of
God.   We should be positive in our fight for the good against the evil  and
never let an occasion slip to aid the Elder Brothers by word or deed in  the
Great War for spiritual supremacy.


[PAGE 108]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC


                                 CHAPTER XIV


                          OUR INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT


   IT IS WELL known to students of the Rosicrucian Philosophy that each spe-
cies of animals is dominated by a group spirit,  which is their guardian and
looks after these, its wards, with a view to bringing them along the path of
evolution that is best suited to their development;  it does not matter what
the  geographical position of these animals is;  the lion in the jungles  of
Africa is dominated by the same group spirit as is the lion in the cage of a
menagerie in our northern countries.   Therefore these animals are alike  in
all their principal characteristics;  they have the same likes and  dislikes
with  respect  to diet,  and they act in an almost  identical  manner  under
similar  circumstances.   If one wants to study the tribes of lions  or  the
tribe of tigers,  all that is necessary is to study one individual,  for  it
has neither choice nor prerogative,  but acts entirely according to the dic-
tates of the group spirit.   The mineral cannot choose whether it will crys-
tallize or not;  the rose is bound to bloom;  the lion is compelled to prey;
and in each case the activity is dictated entirely by the group spirit.


[PAGE 109]                                          OUR INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT

   But man is different;  when we want to study him we find that each  indi-
vidual  is as a species by himself.  What one does under any  given  circum-
stances is no indication of what another may do;  "one man's meat is another
man's poison";  each has different likes and dislikes.   This is because man
as  we  see  him in the physical world is the expression  of  an  individual
indwelling spirit, seemingly having choice and prerogative.

   But  as a matter of fact man is not quite as free as he seems;  all  stu-
dents of human nature have observed that on certain occasions a large number
of  people will act as though dominated by one spirit.   It is also easy  to
see  without recourse to occultism that the different nations  have  certain
physical characteristics.  We all know the German, French, English, Italian,
and Spanish types.   Each of these nations has characteristics which  differ
from those of the other nations,  thus indicating that there must be a  RACE
SPIRIT at the root of these peculiarities.  The occultist who is gifted with
spiritual sight knows that such is the case, and that each nation has a dif-
ferent  race spirit which broods as a cloud over the whole country.   In  it
the people live and move and having their being; it is their guardian and is
constantly working for their development, building up their civilization and
fostering  ideals of the highest nature compatible with their  capacity  for
progress.


[PAGE 110]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

   In the Bible we read the JEHOVAH, ELOHIM,  who was the race spirit of the
Jews, went before them in a pillar and a cloud, and in the Book of Daniel we
gain considerable insight into the workings of these race spirits.   The im-
age  seen  by Nebuchadnezzar with its head of gold and feet of  clay  showed
plainly how a civilization built up in the beginning with golden ideals  de-
generated  more and more until in the latter part of its existence the  feet
were of unstable, crumbling clay, and the image was doomed to topple.   Thus
all civilizations when started by the different race spirits have great  and
golden  ideals,  but humanity by reason of having some free will and  choice
does  not follow implicitly the dictates of the race spirits as the  animals
follow the commands of the group spirits.  Hence in the course of time a na-
tion ceases to rise, and as there can be no standing still in the cosmos, it
begins to degenerate until finally the feet are of clay and it is  necessary
to strike a blow to shatter it, THAT ANOTHER CIVILIZATION MAY BE BUILT UP ON
ITS RUINS.

   But empires do not fall without a strong physical blow,  and therefore an
instrument  of the race spirit of a nation is always raised up at  the  time
when  that nation is doomed to fall.  In the tenth and eleventh chapters  of
Daniel we are given an insight into the workings of the invisible government
of the race spirits, the powers behind the throne.  Daniel is much disturbed
in spirit;  he fasts,  for fully THREE WEEKS, praying for light,  and at the
end  of  that  time  an  arch-angel,  a  race spirit, appears before him and


[PAGE 111]                                          OUR INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT

addresses him: "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set
thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God,  thy words
were heard,  and I am come for thy words.   But the prince of the kingdom of
Persia withstood me ONE AND TWENTY DAYS, but lo,  Michael,  one of the chief
princes,  came to help me;  and I remained there with the king  of  Persia."
After he explains to Daniel what is to happen, he says: "Knowest thou where-
fore  I came unto thee?   AND NOW WILL I RETURN TO FIGHT WITH THE PRINCE  OF
PERSIA:  AND WHEN I AM GONE FORTH, LO, THE PRINCE OF GRECIA SHALL COME,  and
there  is  none  that holdeth with me in these  things,  but  Michael,  your
prince."   The archangel also says:  "In the first year of Darius the  Mede,
even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him."

   So when the handwriting is on the wall, some one is raised up to adminis-
ter the blow;  it may be a Cyrus, a Darius, an Alexander, a Caesar,  a Napo-
leon, or a kaiser.  Such a one may think himself a prime mover, a free indi-
vidual acting by his own choice and prerogative,  but as a matter of fact he
is only the instrument of the invisible government of the world,  the  power
behind  thrones,  the race spirits,  who see the necessity  of  breaking  up
civilizations that have outlived their usefulness,  so that humanity may get
a  new  start  and evolve under a new and a higher  ideal  than  that  which
ensouled it before.


[PAGE 112]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

   Christ himself when upon earth,  said: "I came not to bring peace,  but a
sword,"  for it was evident to Him that as long as humanity was divided into
races  and  nations there could be no "peace on earth and  good  will  among
men."   Only when the nations have become united in a universal  brotherhood
is peace possible.  The barriers of nationalism must be done away with,  and
to  this end the United States of America has been made a melting pot  where
all  that is best in the old nations is being brought together and  amalgam-
ated, so that A NEW RACE WITH HIGHER IDEALS AND FEELINGS OF UNIVERSAL BROTH-
ERHOOD  MAY BE BORN FOR THE AQUARIAN AGE.   In the meantime the barriers  of
nationalism  have been partially broken down in Europe by the terrible  con-
flict just past.   This brings nearer the day of universal amity and the re-
alization of the Brotherhood of Man.

   There is also another object to be gained.   Of all the terrors to  which
mankind is subjected,  there is none so great as DEATH,  which separates  us
from  those  we  love,  because we are unable to see them  after  they  have
stepped  out  of their bodies.   But just as surely as the day  follows  the
night,  so will every teardrop wear away some of the scale that  now  blinds
the eyes of man to the unseen land of the living dead.  We have said repeat-
edly and we now reaffirm that one of the greatest blessings which will  come
from the war will be the spiritual sight which a great number of people will
evolve.  The intense sorrow of millions of  people, the longing to see again


[PAGE 113]                                          OUR INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT

the dear ones who have so suddenly and ruthlessly been torn from us,  are  a
force  of  incalculable strength and power.   Likewise those who  have  been
snatched  by  death in the prime of life and who are now  in  the  invisible
world  are equally intense in their desires to reunite with those  near  and
dear to them,  so that they may speak the word of comfort and assure them of
their well being.  Thus it may be said that two great armies comprising mil-
lions upon millions are tunneling with frantic energy and intensity of  pur-
pose through the wall that separates the invisible from the visible.  Day by
day this wall or veil is growing thinner, and sooner or later the living and
the  living dead will meet in the middle of the tunnel.   Before we  realize
it,  communication will have been established, and we shall find it a common
experience that when our loved ones step out of their worn and sick  bodies,
we  shall feel neither sorrow nor loss because we shall be able to see  them
in their ethereal bodies, moving among us as they used to do.  So out of the
great  conflict we shall come as victors over death and be able to  say:  "O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"


[PAGE 114]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC


                                 CHAPTER XV

                   PRACTICAL PRECEPTS FOR PRACTICAL PEOPLE


   "IF  I WERE to do business on the principles laid down in the  Sermon  on
the  Mount I would be down and out in less than a year,"  said a critic  re-
cently.  "Why, the Bible is utterly impracticable under our present economic
conditions; it is impossible to live according to it."

   If that is true there is a good reason for the unbelief of the world, but
in  a court the accused is always allowed a fair trial,  and let us  examine
the Bible thoroughly before we judge.  What are the specific charges?  "Why,
they are countless," answered the critic, "but to mention only a few, let us
take such passages as,  'Blessed are the poor in spirit,  for theirs is  the
Kingdom of Heaven;' 'Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth;'
'Take no thought for the morrow,  what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink.'
Such ideas point the way to the poorhouse."

   "Very  well,"  says the apologist,  "let us take the last  charge  first.
King James' version says: 'No man can serve  two  masters.  Ye  cannot serve


[PAGE 115]                           PRACTICAL PRECEPTS FOR PRACTICAL PEOPLE

God  and mammon,  therefore I say unto you,  take no thought for your  life,
what  ye  shall eat or what ye shall drink,  nor yet for your body  what  ye
shall  put on.   Is not the life more than food and the body  than  raiment?
Behold the fowls of the air:  they sow not,  neither do they reap nor gather
into barns;  yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.   Are ye not much better
than they?   Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stat-
ure?   And  why take ye thought for raiment?   Consider the  lilies  of  the
field,  how they grow:  they toil not, neither do they spin.   And yet I say
unto  you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one  of  these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grasses of the field, which today is and to-
morrow  is cast into the oven,  shall He not much more clothe you,  O ye  of
little faith?  Therefore take no thought saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink?  or,  Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  for after all  these
things do the Gentiles seek;  your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need
of  all these things.   But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and  His  righ-
teousness and all these things shall be added unto you.'"

   If  this  is intended to mean that we should wastefully squander  all  we
have in prodigal or riotous living,  then it is of course not only impracti-
cal but demoralizing.   Such an interpretation is,  however,  out of keeping
with the tenor and teaching of the whole Book, and it does not say so.   The
Greek word MERIMNON means being overly careful or anxious,  and  if  we read


[PAGE 116]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

the  passage with this alteration we shall find that it teaches a  different
lesson which is entirely practical.   Mammon is the Syriac word for  riches,
desired by foolish people.   In the preceding paragraph Christ exhorted them
not  to become servants or slaves to riches,  which they must  leave  behind
when  the  silver  cord is broken and the spirit returns to  God,  but  seek
rather to live lives of love and service and lay up treasures of good deeds,
which  they might take with them into the Kingdom of Heaven.   In the  mean-
time,  He exhorted,  be not overly anxious regarding what you shall eat  and
drink and clothe yourself with.  Why worry?  You cannot add a hairbreadth to
your height or a hair to your head by worrying.   Worry is the most wasteful
and depleting of all our emotions, and it does no good whatever.  Your heav-
enly Father knows you need material things, therefore seek first His kingdom
and righteousness and all else needed will be added.   On at least two occa-
sions when multitudes came to Christ in places far from their homes and dis-
tant from towns where refreshment was obtainable,  He demonstrated this;  He
gave them first the spiritual food they sought and then ministered to  their
bodily needs direct from a spiritual source of supply.

   Does  it work out in these modern days?   Surely there have been so  many
demonstrations  of this that it is not at all necessary to recount any  spe-
cial one.  When we work and pray, pray and work, and make our lives a living


[PAGE 117]                           PRACTICAL PRECEPTS FOR PRACTICAL PEOPLE

prayer for opportunities to serve others, then all earthly things will  come
of  their own accord as we need them,  and they will keep coming  in  larger
measure  according  to the degree to which they are used in the  service  of
God.   If  we regard ourselves only as stewards and custodians  of  whatever
earthly goods we possess, then we are really "POOR IN SPIRIT"  so far as the
evanescent  earthly treasures are concerned,  but rich in the  more  lasting
treasures of the Kingdom of Heaven;  and if we are not out and out material-
ists, surely this is a practical attitude.

   It is not so long ago that "CAVEAT EMPTOR,"  "Let the buyer beware,"  was
the slogan of the merchants who sought after earthly treasures and  regarded
the buyer as their legitimate prey.   When they had sold their wares and re-
ceived the money,  it did not matter to them whether the buyer was satisfied
or  not.   They even prided themselves on selling an inferior article  which
would soon wear out, as evident in the short-sighted motto, "The weakness of
the  goods  is the strength of the trade."   But gradually even  people  who
would  scorn the idea of introducing religion into their business  are  dis-
carding  this CAVEAT EMPTOR as a motto,  and are unconsciously adopting  the
precept of Christ,  "HE THAT WOULD BE THE GREATEST AMONG YOU, LET HIM BE THE
SERVANT  OF ALL."   Everywhere the best business men are insistent in  their
claim  to  patronage  on  the  ground of the service they give to the buyer,


[PAGE 118]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

because it is a policy that pays, and may therefore be classed as another of
the practical precepts of the Bible.

   But  it  sometimes happens that in spite of their desire to  serve  their
customers,  something goes wrong and an angry,  dissatisfied customer  comes
blustering in,  decrying their goods.   Under the old shortsighted regime of
CAVEAT EMPTOR the merchant would have merely laughed or thrown the buyer out
of the door.  Not so the modern merchant, who takes his Bible into business.
He remembers the wisdom of Solomon that "a soft answer turneth away  wrath,"
and the assertion of Christ that "THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH,"  so  he
apologizes  for the fault in the goods,  offers restitution,  and sends  the
erstwhile  dissatisfied customer away smiling and eager to sing the  praises
of  the concern that treats him no nicely.   Thus by obeying  the  practical
precepts  of the Bible,  keeping his temper in meekness,  the  business  man
gains additional customers who come to him in full faith of fair  treatment,
and  the  added profit in sales made to them soon overbalances the  loss  on
goods which may have caused the dissatisfaction of other customers.

   It pays dividends in dollars and cents to keep one's temper and be  meek;
it  pays greater dividends from the moral and spiritual  standpoints.   What
better business motto can be found than in Ecclesiastes:  "Wisdom is  better
than weapons of war.  Be  not  rash in thy mouth, be not hasty in thy speech


[PAGE 119]                           PRACTICAL PRECEPTS FOR PRACTICAL PEOPLE

to be angry,  for anger reseth in the bosom of fools."   Tact and  diplomacy
are always better than force;  as the Good Book says:  "If the iron be blunt
we must use more strength, but wisdom is profitable to direct."  The line of
least  resistance,  so long as it is clean and honorable,  is  always  best.
Therefore,  "LOVE YOUR ENEMIES,  DO GOOD TO THEM THAT DESPITEFULLY USE YOU."
It  is  good practical business policy to try to reconcile those who  do  us
harm lest they do more;  and it is better for us to get over our ill feeling
than to nurse it,  for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap,  and
if  we sow spite and meanness,  we breed and beget in others the same  feel-
ings.   Furthermore,  all these things will apply in private life and in so-
cial intercourse just as in ordinary business.   How many quarrels could  be
avoided if we cultivated the virtue of meekness in our homes; how much plea-
sure would be gained; how much happiness would come into our lives if in so-
cial  and business relations we learned to DO UNTO OTHERS AS WE  WOULD  THAT
THEY SHOULD DO UNTO US!

   There is no need for the great mental strain that so many of us are work-
ing under concerning what we shall eat and what we shall drink.   Our Father
in Heaven does own the earth and the fullness thereof; the cattle on a thou-
sand hills are His.  If we learn truly to cast our cares upon Him,  there is
no doubt that the way out of our difficulties will be provided.


[PAGE 120]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

   It is a fact,  acknowledged by all authorities who have investigated  the
subject, that comparatively few people die from lack of necessities of life,
but a great many die because of overindulgence of the appetites.   It is the
practical  experience  of the writer and numerous others that if we  do  our
work day by day as it appears before us,  faithfully and to the best of  our
ability,  the wherewithal for the morrow will always be provided.   If we go
according to the instruction of the Bible, doing all "as unto the Lord,"  it
does not matter what line of honest work we follow;  we are then at the same
time seeking the Kingdom of God.   But if we are only time servers,  working
for  fear  or favor,  we cannot expect to succeed in the long  run;  health,
wealth,  and  happiness may attend us for a little while,  but  outside  the
solid  foundation  of the Bible there can be no lasting joy in life  and  no
real prosperity in business.


[PAGE 121]                                   SOUND, SILENCE, AND SOUL GROWTH


                                 CHAPTER XVI


                       SOUND, SILENCE, AND SOUL GROWTH

   SINCERE STUDENTS of the Science of the Soul are naturally anxious to grow
in  grace  that  they may serve so much better in the Great  Work  of  Human
Upliftment.   Being humble and modest they are only too painfully  aware  of
their  shortcomings,  and frequently while casting about for  means  to  fa-
cilitate progress they ask themselves, "WHAT HINDERS?"   Some,  particularly
in  bygone ages when life was lived less intensely than now,  realized  that
the everyday life among ordinary humanity had many drawbacks.   To  overcome
these  and further their soul growth they withdrew from the community  to  a
monastery  or to the mountains where they could give themselves over to  the
spiritual life undisturbed.

   We know,  however,  that that is not the way.  It is too well established
in the minds of most of our students that if we run away from an  experience
today,  it will confront us again tomorrow,  and that the victor's  palm  is
earned by overcoming the world,  not by running away from it.   The environ-
ment in which we have been placed by the Recording Angels was our own choice


[PAGE 122]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

when we were at the turning point of our life cycle in the Third Heaven,  we
then  being pure spirit unblinded by the matter which now veils our  vision.
Hence  it  is undoubtedly the one that holds lessons needed by  us,  and  we
should make a serious mistake if we tried to escape from it altogether.

   But  we  have  received a mind for a definite  purpose--to  reason  about
things  and conditions so that we may learn to discriminate  between  essen-
tials and non-essentials,  between that which is designed to hinder for  the
purpose of teaching us a virtue by overcoming it,  and that which is an  out
and out hindrance,  which jars our sensibilities and wrecks our nerves with-
out any compensating spiritual gain.   It will be of the greatest benefit if
we can learn to differentiate for the conservation of our strength,  accept-
ing only that which we must endure for the sake of our spiritual well-being.
We  shall then save much energy and having much more zest in profitable  di-
rections than now.  The details of that problem are different in every life;
however,  there are certain general principles which it will benefit us  all
to  understand and apply to our lives,  and among them is the effect of  si-
lence and sound on soul growth.

   At  first blush it may surprise us when the statement is made that  sound
and silence are very important factors in soul growth,  but when we  examine
the matter we shall soon see  that it is not a far-fetched notion.  Consider


[PAGE 123]                                   SOUND, SILENCE, AND SOUL GROWTH

first the graphic expression, "War is hell," and then call up in imagination
a war scene.   The sight is appalling, even more so to those who see it with
the  undimmed  spiritual vision than to those who are  limited  to  physical
sight,  for the latter can at least shut their eyes to it if they  want  to,
but the whole horror lies heavily upon the heart of the Invisible Helper who
not  only hears and sees but FEELS in his own being the anguish and pain  of
all  the  surrounding suffering as Parsifal felt in his heart the  wound  of
Amfortas,  the stricken Grail king; in fact, without that intensely intimate
feeling  of  oneness with the suffering there could be no  healing  or  help
given.   But there is one thing which no one can escape,  the terrible noise
of the shells, the deafening roar of the cannon, the vicious spitting of the
machine  guns,  the groans of the wounded, and the oaths of a certain  class
among the participants.  We shall need no further arguement to agree that it
is  really a "hellish noise"  and as subversive of soul growth as  possible.
The battle field is the last place anyone with a sane mind would choose  for
the  purpose of soul growth,  though it is not to be forgotten that much  of
this has been made by noble deeds of self-sacrifice there;  but such results
have been achieved IN SPITE of the condition and not because of it.

   On  the other hand,  consider a church filled with the noble strain of  a
Gregorian chant or a Handel oratorio  upon which the prayers of the aspiring


[PAGE 124]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

soul  wing their way to the Author of our Being.   That music may surely  be
termed "HEAVENLY"  and the church designated as offering an ideal  condition
for  soul growth,  but if we stayed there permanently to the neglect of  our
duties we should be failures in spite of the ideal condition.

   There remains, therefore, only one safe method for us, namely, to stay in
the din of the battle field of the world, endeavoring to wrest from even the
most  unpromising conditions the material of soul growth by  unselfish  ser-
vice,  and at the same time TO BUILD WITHIN OUR OWN INNER SELVES A SANCTUARY
filled  with  that silent music which sounds ever in the serving soul  as  a
source of upliftment above all the vicissitudes of earthly existence.   Hav-
ing that "living church"  WITHIN, being in fact under that condition "LIVING
TEMPLES,"  we may turn at any moment when our attention is not  legitimately
required by temporal affairs to that spiritual house not made with hands and
lave in its harmony.   We may do that many times a day and thus restore con-
tinually the harmony that has been disturbed by the discords of  terrestrial
intercourse.

   How  then shall we build that temple and fill it with the heavenly  music
we so much desire?  What will help and what will hinder? are questions which
call for a practical solution,  and we shall try to make the answer as plain
and  practical  as possible,  for this is a very vital matter.   The  LITTLE
THINGS are particularly important, for  the  neophyte needs to take even the


[PAGE 125]                                   SOUND, SILENCE, AND SOUL GROWTH

slightest things into account.   If we light a match in a strong wind it  is
extinguished ere it has gained a fair start, but if the little flame is laid
on  a  brush heap and given a chance to grow in comparative calm,  a  rising
wind will fan the flame instead of extinguishing it.   Adepts of Great Souls
may remain serene under conditions which would upset the ordinary  aspirant,
hence  he should use discrimination and not expose himself unnecessarily  to
conditions  subversive of soul growth;  what he needs more than anything  is
POISE, and nothing is more inimical to that condition than NOISE.

   It is undeniable that our communities are "Bedlams,"  and that we have  a
legitimate right to escape some noises if possible,  such as the  screeching
made by street cars rounding a curve.  We do not need to live on such a cor-
ner to the detriment of our nerves or endeavors at concentration,  but if we
have a sick, crying child that requires our attention day and night, it does
not matter how if affects our nerves,  we have no right in the sight of  God
or man to run away or neglect it in order to concentrate.   These things are
perfectly  obvious and produce instant assent, but the things that  help  or
hinder most are,  as said, the things that are so small that they escape our
attention entirely.  When we now start to enumerate them, they may provoke a
smile of incredulity,  but if they are pondered upon and practiced they will
soon win assent, for judged by the formula that  "by  their  fruits ye shall


[PAGE 126]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

know them," they will show results and vindicate our assertion that "Silence
is one of the greatest helps in soul growth," and should therefore be culti-
vated by the aspirant in his home, his personal demeanor, his walk, his hab-
its, and paradoxical as it seems, even his speech.

   It is a proof of the benefit of religion that it makes people happy,  but
the greatest happiness is usually too deep for outward expression.  It fills
our whole being so full that it is almost awesome,  and a boisterous  manner
never goes together with that true happiness for it is the sign of  superfi-
ciality.  The loud voice, the coarse laugh, the noisy manner, the hard heels
that sound like sledge hammers,  the slamming of doors,  and the rattling of
dishes are the signatures of the unregenerate, for they love noise, the more
the merrier,  as it stirs their desire bodies.  For their purpose church mu-
sic is anathema; a blaring brass band is preferable to any other form of en-
tertainment, and the wilder the dance, the better.  But it is otherwise,  or
should be, with the aspirant to the higher life.

   When  the infant Jesus was sought by Herod,  with murderous  intent,  his
only safety lay in flight, and by that expedient were preserved his life and
power to grow and fulfill his mission.   Similarly,  when the Christ is born
within the aspirant he can best preserve this spiritual life by fleeing from
the  environment  of  the  unregenerate  where  these  hindering  things are


[PAGE 127]                                   SOUND, SILENCE, AND SOUL GROWTH

practiced, and seek a place among others of kindred ambitions provided he is
free to do so; but if placed in a position of responsibility to a family; it
is  his  duty  to strive to alter conditions by precept  and  example,  par-
ticularly by example, so that in time that refined, subdued atmosphere which
breathes harmony and strength may reign over the whole house.  It is not es-
sential  to the happiness of children that they be allowed to shout  at  the
top to their voices or to race pell-mell through the house,  slamming  doors
and wrecking furniture in their mad race;  it is indeed decidedly  detrimen-
tal,   for  it  teaches  them  to  disregard  the  feelings  of  others   in
self-gratification.   They will benefit more than mother by being shod  with
rubber heels and taught to reserve their romps for outdoors and to play qui-
etly in the house,  closing doors easily, and speaking in a moderate tone of
voice such as mother uses.

   In childhood we begin to wreck the nerves that bother us in later  years,
so  if we teach our children the lessons above indicated,  we may save  them
much  trouble  in life as well as further our own soul growth now.   It  may
take  years to reform a household of these seemingly unimportant faults  and
secure  an atmosphere conducive to soul growth,  especially if the  children
have  grown to adult age and resent reforms of that nature,  but it is  well
worth while.  We  can  and  MUST at least cultivate the virtue of silence in


[PAGE 128]                                             GLEANINGS OF A MYSTIC

ourselves, or our own soul growth will be very small.  Perhaps if we look at
the  matter from its occult point of view in connection with that  important
vehicle, THE VITAL BODY, the point of this necessity will be more clear.

   We know that the vital body is ever storing up power in the physical body
which is to be used in this "School of Experience,"  and that during the day
the desire body is constantly dissipating this energy in actions which  con-
stitute experience that is eventually transmuted to soul growth.   So far so
good,  but the desire body has the tendency to run amuck if not held in with
a  tight  reign.   It revels in UNRESTRAINED motion,  whistle,  sing,  jump,
dance,  and do all the other unnecessary and undignified things which are so
etrimental to soul growth.   While under such a spell of in harmony and dis-
cord  the  person  is dead to the spiritual opportunities  in  the  physical
world,  and at night when he leaves his body the process of  restoration  of
that vehicle consumes so much time that very little,  if any,  time is  left
for work, even if the person has the inclination to think seriously of doing
such work.

   Therefore,  we  ought by all means to flee from noises which we  are  not
obliged to hear, and cultivate personally the quiet yet kindly demeanor, the
modulated  voice,  the silent walk,  the unobtrusive presence,  and all  the
other  virtues which make for harmony, for then the restorative  process  is
quickly accomplished and we  are free the major part of the night to work in


[PAGE 129]                                   SOUND, SILENCE, AND SOUL GROWTH

the  invisible worlds to gain more soul growth.   Let us in this attempt  at
improvement  remember  to be undaunted by occasional  failures,  remembering
Paul's admonition to continue in well-doing with patient persistence.


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