[PAGE 1]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION



                      THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION


                                     OR


                            MYSTIC CHRISTIANITY

                        AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE UPON

                  MAN'S PAST EVOLUTION, PRESENT CONSTITUTION 

                          AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT


                                     BY

                                MAX HEINDEL


                          Its Message and Mission:

                                A SANE MIND
                                A SOFT HEART
                                A SOUND BODY

                             __________________


                           TWENTY-EIGHTH EDITION

                            ____________________



                         THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP
                         International Headquarters
                                Mt. Ecclesia
                       Oceanside, California, U.S.A.

                           _____________________

                                  ENGLAND:

                L.N. FOWLER & CO., LTD., 29 LUDGATE HILLION
                               LONDON, E.C. 4




[PAGE 4]                                       ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

                              CREED OR CHRIST

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

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

Behold the Universal Spirit came
    To ALL the churches, not to one alone;
On Pentecostal morn a tongue of flame
    Round EACH apostle as a halo shone.

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

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

His pure sweet love is not confined
    By creed which segregate and raise a wall.
His love enfolds, embraces human kind,
    No matter what ourselves or Him we call.

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

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

                                  -Max Heindel.


[PAGE 5]                                                  A WORD TO THE WISE


                            A WORD TO THE WISE.


    The  founder  of the Christian Religion stated an occult maxim  when  He
said:   "Whosoever  shall not receive the kingdom of God as a  little  child
shall  not  enter  therein"  (Mark  X:15).   All  occultists  recognize  the
far-reaching importance of this teaching of Christ,  and endeavor to  "live"
it day by day.

    When  a new philosophy is presented to the world it is met in  different
ways by different people.

    One  person will grasp with avidity any new philosophical effort  in  an
endeavor to ascertain how far IT SUPPORTS HIS OWN IDEAS.  To such an one the
philosophy itself is of minor importance.   Its prime value will be its vin-
dication of HIS ideas.  If the work comes up to expectation in that respect,
he  will enthusiastically adopt it and cling to it with a  most  unreasoning
partisanship; if not, he will probably lay the book down in disgust and dis-
appointment, feeling as if the author had done him an injury.

    Another adopts an attitude of skepticism as soon as he discovers that it
contains something which HE has not previously read, heard, or originated in
his own thought.   He would probably resent as extremely unjustified the ac-
cusation  that his mental attitude is the acme of self-satisfaction and  in-
tolerance;  such is nevertheless the case; and thus he shuts his mind to any
truth which may possibly be hidden in that which he off-hand rejects.

    Both these classes stand in their own light.   "Set"  ideas render  them
impervious to rays of truth.  "A little child"  is  the very opposite of its



[PAGE 6]                                                  A WORD TO THE WISE

elders in that respect.   It is not imbued with an overwhelming sense of su-
perior  knowledge,  nor does it feel compelled to look wise or to  hide  its
nescience  of any subject by a smile or a sneer.   It is  frankly  ignorant,
unfettered  by preconceived opinions and therefore EMINENTLY TEACHABLE.   It
takes everything with that beautiful attitude of trust which we have  desig-
nated "child-like faith," wherein there is not the shadow of a doubt.  There
the child holds the teaching it receives until proven or disproven.

    In all occult schools the pupil is first taught to forget all else  when
a new teaching is being given,  to allow neither preference nor prejudice to
govern,  but  to keep the mind in a state of calm,  dignified  waiting.   As
skepticism  will  blind us to truth in the most effective  manner,  so  this
calm,  trustful attitude of the mind will allow the intuition,  or "teaching
from  within,"  to become aware of the truth contained in  the  proposition.
That is the only way to cultivate an absolutely certain perception of truth.

    The pupil is not required to believe off-hand that a given object  which
he has observed to be white, is really black,  when such a statement is made
to  him;  but  he must cultivate an attitude of mind  which  "believeth  all
things"  AS POSSIBLE.  That will allow him to put by for the time being even
what are generally considered "established facts,"  and investigate if  per-
chance there be another viewpoint hitherto unobserved by him whence the  ob-
ject referred to would appear black.  Indeed,  he would not allow himself to
look upon anything as "AN ESTABLISHED FACT,"  for he realizes thoroughly the
importance  of keeping his mind in the fluidal state of  ADAPTABILITY  which
characterizes  the little child.   He realizes in every fibre of  his  being
that "now we see through a glass,  darkly,"  and Ajax-like he is ever on the
alert, yearning for "Light, more Light."


[PAGE 7]                                                  A WORD TO THE WISE

    The  enormous advantage of such an attitude of mind  when  investigating
any given subject, object or idea must be apparent.  Statements which appear
positively  and unequivocally contradictory,  which have caused  an  immense
amount of feeling among the advocates of opposite sides, may nevertheless be
capable of perfect reconciliation,  as shown in one such instance  mentioned
in  the present work.   THE BOND OF CONCORD IS ONLY DISCOVERED BY  THE  OPEN
MIND,  however, and though the present work may be found to differ from oth-
ers,  the writer would bespeak an impartial hearing as the basis  of  SUBSE-
QUENT judgment.  If the book is "weighed and found wanting," the writer will
have no complaint.  He only fears a hasty judgment based upon lack of knowl-
edge of the system he advocates--a hearing wherein the judgment is "wanting"
in consequence of having been denied an impartial "weighing."  He would fur-
ther submit,  that the only opinion worthy of the one who expresses it  MUST
BE BASED UPON KNOWLEDGE.

    As  a further reason for care in judgment we suggest that to many it  is
exceedingly difficult to retract a hastily expressed opinion.   Therefore it
is urged that the reader withhold all expressions of either praise or  blame
until  study  of the work has reasonably satisfied him of its merit  or  de-
merit.

    The Rosicrucian Cosmo-conception is not dogmatic, neither does it appeal
to any other authority than the reason of the student.  It is not controver-
sial,  but is sent forth in the hope that is may help to clear some  of  the
difficulties  which  have  beset the minds of students of  the  deeper  phi-
losophies  in  the past.   In order to avoid  serious  misunderstanding,  it
should be firmly impressed upon the mind of the student, however, that there



[PAGE 8]                                                  A WORD TO THE WISE

is no infallible revelation of this complicated subject,  which includes ev-
erything under the sun and above it also.

    An  infallible exposition would predicate omniscience upon the  part  of
the writer,  and even the Elder Brothers tell us that they are sometimes  at
fault  in  their judgment,  so a book which shall say the last word  on  the
World-Mystery  is out of the question,  and the writer of the  present  work
does  not  pretend to give aught but the most elementary  teachings  of  the
Rosicrucians.

    The Rosicrucian Brotherhood has the most far-reaching,  the most logical
conception of the World-Mystery of which the writer has gained any knowledge
during  the many years he has devoted exclusively to the study of this  sub-
ject.   So far as he has been able to investigate, their teachings have been
found in accordance with facts as he knows them.   Yet he is convinced  that
the  Rosicrucian  Cosmo-conception is far from being the last  word  on  the
subject;  that  as we advance greater vistas of truth will open  to  us  and
make clear many things which we now "see through a glass,  darkly."   At the
same time he firmly believes that all other philosophies of the future  will
follow the same main lines, for they appear to be absolutely true.

    In view of the foregoing it will be plain that this book is not  consid-
ered by the writer as the Alpha and Omega, the ultimate of occult knowledge,
and even though is entitled "The Rosicrucian Cosmo-conception,"  the  writer
desires to strongly emphasize that is not to be understood as a "faith  once
for all delivered"  to the Rosicrucians by a founder of the Order or by  any
other  individual.   It is emphatically stated that THIS WORD EMBODIES  ONLY
THE  WRITER'S  UNDERSTANDING  OF THE ROSICRUCIAN  TEACHINGS  concerning  the
World-Mystery,  strengthened  by  his  personal  investigations of the inner



[PAGE 9]                                                  A WORD TO THE WISE

Worlds, the ante-natal and post-mortem states of man, etc.  The responsibil-
ity upon one who wittingly or unwittingly leads others astray is clearly re-
alized by the writer, and he wishes to guard as far as possible against that
contingency, and also to guard others against going wrong inadvertently.

    What  is said in this work is to be accepted or rejected by  the  reader
according to his own discretion.   All care has been used in trying to  make
plain  the teaching;  great pains have been taken to put it into words  that
shall  be easily understood.   For that reason only one term has  been  used
throughout  to convey each idea.   The same word will have the same  meaning
wherever  used.   When any word descriptive of an idea is  first  used,  the
clearest definition possible to the writer is given.  None but English terms
and  the simplest language have been used.  The writer has tried to give  as
exact  and definite descriptions of the subject under consideration as  pos-
sible;  to eliminate all ambiguity and to make everything clear.  How far he
has  succeeded must be left to the student to judge;  but having used  every
possible  means  to  convey the teaching, he feels  obliged  to  guard  also
against the possibility of this work being taken as a verbatim statement  of
the  Rosicrucian  teachings.   Neglect of this precaution might  give  undue
weight to this work in the minds of some students.   That would not be  fair
to  the  Brotherhood  nor  to  the reader.   It  would  tend  to  throw  the
responsibility  upon  the Brotherhood for the mistakes which must  occur  in
this as in all other human works.  Hence the above warming.



[PAGE 10]                                                 A WORD TO THE WISE

    During the four years which have elapsed since the foregoing  paragraphs
were written,  the writer has continued his investigations of the  invisible
worlds,  and  experienced the expansion of consciousness relative  to  these
realms of nature which comes by practice of the precepts taught in the West-
ern  Mystery  School.    Others  also  who  have  followed  the  method   of
soul-unfoldment  herein  described  as particularly suited  to  the  Western
peoples,  have  likewise been enabled to verify for themselves  many  things
here taught.  Thus the writer's understanding of what was given by the Elder
Brothers  has  received some corroboration and seems to have  been  substan-
tially correct,  therefore he feels it a duty to state this for the  encour-
agement of those who are still unable to see for themselves.

    If we said that the vital body is built of PRISMS instead of points,  it
would have been better,  for it is by refraction through these minute prisms
that  the colorless solar fluid changes to a rosy hue as observed  by  other
writers beside the author.

    Other new and important discoveries have also been made;  for  instance,
we know now that the Silver Cord is grown anew in each life,  that one  part
sprouts  from  the seed atom of the desire body in the great vortex  of  the
liver,  that the other part grows out of the seed atom of the dense body  in
the  heart,  that both parts meet in the seed atom of the vital body in  the
solar  plexus,  and that this union of the higher and lower vehicles  causes
the quickening.  Further development of the cord between the heart and solar
plexus during the first seven years has an important bearing on the  mystery
of childlife, likewise its fuller growth from the liver to the solar plexus,
which  takes  place during the second septenary period,  is  a  contributory
cause  of  adolescence.   Completion of the Silver Cord  marks  the  end  of
childlife,  and  from that time the solar energy which  enters  through  the
spleen  and is tinted by refraction through the prismatic seed atom  of  the
vital body located in the solar plexus,  commences to give a distinctive and
individual coloring to the aura which we observe in adults.



[PAGE 11]                                                   LIST OF CONTENTS

                             LIST OF CONTENTS.

                                  PART I.

           MAN'S PRESENT CONSTITUTION AND METHOD OF DEVELOPMENT.


A Word to the Wise ...................................................    5
The Four Kingdoms, diagram ...........................................   16
Introduction .........................................................   17

CHAPTER I.  The Visible and Invisible Worlds .........................   24
    Chemical Region of the Physical World ............................   29
    Etheric Region of the Physical World .............................   34
    The Desire World .................................................   38
    The World of Thought .............................................   48
    Diagram 1.  The Material World a Reverse Reflection
          of the Spiritual Worlds ....................................   52
    Diagram 2.  The Seven Worlds .....................................   54

CHAPTER II.  The Four Kingdoms .......................................   56
    Diagram 3.  The Vehicles of the Four Kingdoms ....................   73
    Diagram 4.  The Consciousness of the Four Kingdoms ...............   74

CHAPTER III.  Man and the Method of Evolution.
    Activities of Life; Memory and Soul-growth .......................   87
    The Constitution of the Seven-fold Man ...........................   88
    Diagram 5.  The Three-fold Spirit, the Three-fold Body and
          the Three-fold Soul ........................................   95
    Death and Purgatory ..............................................   96
    Diagram 5 1/2.  The Silver Cord ..................................   98
    The Borderland ...................................................  112
    The First Heaven .................................................  113
    The Second Heaven ................................................  121
    The Third Heaven .................................................  129
    Preparations for Rebirth .........................................  133
    Birth of the Dense Body ..........................................  139
    Birth of the Vital Body and Growth ...............................  141
    Birth of the Desire Body and Puberty .............................  142
    Birth of the Mind and Majority ...................................  142
    The Blood; the Vehicle of the Ego ................................  143
    A Life Cycle (diagram) ...........................................  146

CHAPTER IV.  Rebirth and the Law of Consequence ......................  147
    Wine as a Factor in Evolution ....................................  165
    A Remarkable Story ...............................................  172



[PAGE 12]                                                   LIST OF CONTENTS

                                  PART II.

                     COSMOGENESIS AND ANTHROPOGENESIS.

CHAPTER V.  The Relation of Man to God ...............................  177
    Diagram 6.  The Supreme Being, the Cosmic Planes and God .........  178

CHAPTER VI.  The Scheme of Evolution.
    The Beginning ....................................................  183
    The Seven Worlds .................................................  186
    The Seven Periods ................................................  188
    Diagram 7.  The Saturn Period.....................................  193

CHAPTER VII.  The Path of Evolution ..................................  194
    Revolutions and Cosmic Nights ....................................  195
    Diagram 8. The Seven Worlds, Seven Globes and Seven Periods ......  197

CHAPTER VIII.  The Work of Evolution.
    Ariadne's Thread .................................................  201
    The Saturn Period ................................................  204
    Recapitulation ...................................................  208
    The Sun Period ...................................................  209
    The Moon Period ..................................................  213
    Diagram 9.  The Twelve Creative Hierarchies ......................  221

CHAPTER IX.  Stragglers and Newcomers ................................  223
    Classes of Beings at the Beginning of the Moon Period ............  226
    Diagram 10.  Classes at the Beginning of Earth Period ............  230

CHAPTER X. The Earth Period ..........................................  233
    Saturn Revolution of the Earth Period ............................  236
    Sun Revolution of the Earth Period ...............................  240
    Moon Revolution of the Earth Period .............................   242
    Rest Periods Between Revolutions .................................  243
    The Fourth Revolution of the Earth Period ........................  245

CHAPTER XI.  Genesis and Evolution of Our Solar System.
    Chaos ............................................................  246
    The Birth of the Planets .........................................  252
    Diagram 11.  Aspects of God and Man ..............................  253
    Diagram 12.  A Man's Past, Present and Future Form ...............  257

CHAPTER XII.  Evolution on the Earth.
    The Polarian Epoch ...............................................  261
    The Hyperborean Epoch ............................................  262
    The Moon; the Eighth Sphere ......................................  264
    The Lemurian Epoch ...............................................  265



[PAGE 13]                                                   LIST OF CONTENTS

    Birth of the Individual ..........................................  266
    Separation of the Sexes ..........................................  267
    Influence of Mars ................................................  268
    The Races and Their Leaders ......................................  270
    Influence of Mercury .............................................  273
    The Lemurian Race ................................................  275
    The Fall of Man ..................................................  282
    The Lucifer Spirits ..............................................  286
    The Atlantean Epoch ..............................................  291
    The Aryan Epoch ..................................................  304
    The Sixteen Paths to Destruction .................................  306

CHAPTER XIII.  Back to the Bible .....................................  308

CHAPTER XIV.  Occult Analysis of Genesis.
    Limitations of the Bible .........................................  317
    In the Beginning .................................................  321
    The Nebular Theory ...............................................  322
    The Creative Hierarchies .........................................  325
    The Saturn Period ................................................  327
    The Sun Period, the Moon Period ..................................  328
    The Earth Period .................................................  329
    Jehovah and His Mission ..........................................  333
    Involution, Evolution and Epigenesis .............................  336
    A Living Soul? ...................................................  344
    Adam's Rib .......................................................  346
    Guardian Angels ..................................................  347
    Mixing Blood in Marriage .........................................  352
    The Fall of Man ..................................................  360
    Diagram 13.  The Beginning and End of Sex ........................  364

                                 PART III.

                  MAN'S FUTURE DEVELOPMENT AND INITIATION.

    Diagram.  The Seven Days of Creation .............................  366

CHAPTER XV.  Christ and His Mission.
    The Evolution of Religion ........................................  367
    Jesus and Christ-Jesus ...........................................  374
    Diagram 14.  The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit .............  377
    Not Peace but a Sword ............................................  383
    The Star of Bethlehem ............................................  388
    The Heart an Anomaly .............................................  393
    The Mystery of Golgotha ..........................................  400
    The Cleansing Blood ..............................................  406
    Diagram, "As Above, so Below" ....................................  410

CHAPTER XVI.  Future Development and Initiation.
    The Seven Days of Creation .......................................  411
    Diagram 15.  The Symbolism of the Caduceus .......................  413
    Radiates, Mollusks, Articulates and Vertebrates ..................  416
    Spirals within Spirals ...........................................  420



[PAGE 14]                                                   LIST OF CONTENTS

    Alchemy and Soulgrowth ...........................................  421
    The Creative Word ................................................  425

CHAPTER XVII.  The Method of Acquiring First-Hand Knowledge.
    The First Steps ..................................................  430
    Western Methods for Western People ...............................  437
    The Science of Nutrition .........................................  441
    Table of Food Values .............................................  450
    The Law of Assimilation ..........................................  457
    Live and Let Live ................................................  460
    The Lord's Prayer ................................................  462
    Diagram 16.  The Lord's Prayer ...................................  464
    The Vow of Celibacy ..............................................  467
    The Pituitary Body and the Pineal Gland ..........................  473
    Diagram 17.  Path of the Unused Sex Currents .....................  475
    Esoteric Training ................................................  477
    How the Inner Vehicle is Built ...................................  480
    Concentration ....................................................  486
    Meditation .......................................................  489
    Observation ......................................................  492
    Discrimination ...................................................  493
    Contemplation ....................................................  494
    Adoration ........................................................  495

CHAPTER XVIII.  The Constitution of the Earth and Volcanic Eruptions .  498
    The Number of the Beast ..........................................  499
    Diagram 18.  The Constitution of the Earth .......................  509

CHAPTER XIX.  Christian Rosenkreuz and the Order of Rosicrucians .....  515
    Ancient Truths in Modern Dress ...................................  515
    Initiation .......................................................  524
    The Rosicrucian Fellowship .......................................  530
    Correspondence Courses ...........................................  533
    Symbolism of Rose Cross ..........................................  534

Topical Index ........................................................  539
    Index ............................................................  543
    Index of Diagrams and Tables .....................................  599

Morning and Evening Exercises
    Evening Exercise .................................................  601
    Morning Exercise .................................................  602



[PAGE 15]

                                   PART I

                             _________________


                       MAN'S PRESENT CONSTITUTION AND

                           METHOD OF DEVELOPMENT







[PAGE 16]

                        DIAGRAM: THE FOUR KINGDOMS




[PAGE 17]                                                       INTRODUCTION

                                INTRODUCTION

   The Western world is undoubtedly the vanguard of the human race, and, for
reasons  given in the following pages,  it is held by the  Rosicrucian  that
neither Judaism nor "popular Christianity,"  but true Esoteric  Christianity
is to be its world-religion.

   Buddha,  great, grand and sublime, may be the "light of Asia," but Christ
will yet be acknowledged the "Light of the World."  As the sun outshines the
brightest star in the heavens,  dispels every vestige of darkness and  gives
life and light to all beings, so, in a not too distant future, will the true
religion  of  Christ supersede and obliterate all other  religions,  to  the
eternal benefit of mankind.

   In our civilization the chasm that stretches between mind and heart yawns 
deep and wide and,  as the mind flies on from discovery to discovery in  the
realms of science,  the gulf becomes ever deeper and wider and the heart  is
left further and further behind.  The mind loudly demands and will be satis-
fied with nothing less than a materially demonstrable explanation of man and
his fellow-creatures that make up the phenomenal world.  The heart feels in-
stinctively that there is something greater,  and it years for that which it
feels  is a higher truth than can be grasped by the mind alone.   The  human
soul would fain soar upon ethereal pinions of intuition;  would fain love in
the eternal found of spiritual light and love;  but modern scientific  views
have  shorn  its wings and it sits fettered and mute,  unsatisfied  longings
gnawing at its tendrils as the vulture of Prometheus' liver.




[PAGE 18]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

   Is this necessary?   Is there no common ground upon which head and  heart
may meet,  each assisting the other,  each by the help of the other becoming
more effective in the search for universal truth,  and each receiving  equal
satisfaction?

   As surely as the pre-existing light created the eye whereby the light  is
seen;  as surely as the primordial desire for growth created  the  digestive
and assimilative system for the attainment of that end; as surely as thought
existed  before the brain and built and still is building the brain for  its
expression;  as surely as the mind is now forging ahead and wringing her se-
crets from nature by the very force of its audacity, just so surely will the
heart find a way to burst its bonds and gratify its longings.  At present it
is shackled by the dominant brain. Some day it will gather strength to burst
its prison bars and become a power greater than the mind.

   It  is  equally  certain that there can be no  contradiction  in  nature,
therefore  the heart and the mind must be capable of uniting.   To  indicate
this common ground is precisely the purpose of this book.  To show where and
how the mind,  helped by the intuition of the heart,  can probe more  deeply
into the mysteries of being than either could do alone; where the heart,  by
union with the mind, can be kept from going astray; where each can have full
scope  for action,  neither doing violence to the other and where both  mind
and heart can be satisfied.

   Only when that co-operation is attained and perfected will man attain the
higher,  truer  understanding of himself and of the world of which he  is  a
part; only that can give him a broad mind and a great heart.



[PAGE 19]                                                       INTRODUCTION

   At every birth what appears to be a new life comes among us.   We see the
little form as it lives and grows,  becoming a factor in our lives for days,
months or years.   At last there comes a day when the form dies and goes  to
decay.   The life that came, whence we know not, has passed to the invisible
beyond,  and in sorrow we ask ourselves, Whence came it?   What was it here?
and Whither has it gone?

    Across  every threshold the skeleton form of Death throws  his  fearsome
shadow.   Old or young, well or ill, rich or poor, all,  all alike must pass
out into that shadow and throughout the ages has sounded the piteous cry for
a solution of the riddle of life--the riddle of death.

    So  far  as the vast majority of people are concerned  the  three  great
questions,  Whence have we come?   Why are we here?   Whither are we  going?
remain  unanswered  to  this  day.   It has unfortunately  come  to  be  the
popularly accepted opinion that nothing can be definitely known about  these
matters  of deepest interest to humanity.   Nothing could be more  erroneous
than such an idea.   Each and every one,  without exception,  may become ca-
pable of obtaining first-hand,  definite information upon this subject;  may
personally investigate the state of the human spirit,  both before birth and
after death.  There is no favoritism, nor are special gifts required.   Each
of us has inherently the faculty for knowing all of  these  matters;  but!--
Yes, there is a "but," and a "BUT" that must be written large.  These facul-
ties are present in all,  though latent in most people.  It requires persis-
tent  effort to awaken them and that seems to be a powerful  deterrent.   If
these faculties,  "awake and aware,"  could be had for a monetary  consider-
ation,  even if the price were high,  many people would pay it to gain  such
immense advantage over their  fellow-men,   but   few   indeed   are   those



[PAGE 20]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

willing  to live the life that is required to awaken them.   That  awakening
comes only by patient, persistent effort.  It cannot be bought;  there is no
royal road to it.

    It  is conceded that practice is necessary to learn to play  the  piano,
and that it is useless to think of being a watchmaker without being  willing
to serve an apprenticeship.   Yet when the matter of the soul,  of death and
the beyond,  of the great causes of being, are the questions at issue,  many
think  they  know as much as anyone and have an equal right  to  express  an
opinion, though they may never have given the subject an hour's study.

    As  a matter of fact,  no one unless qualified by study of  the  subject
should expect serious consideration for an opinion.   In legal cases,  where
experts  are called to testify,  they are first examined as to their  compe-
tency.   The weight of their testimony will be nil, unless they are found to
be  thoroughly proficient in the branch of knowledge regarding  which  their
testimony is sought.

    If, however,  they are found to be qualified--by  study  and  practice--
to  express an expert opinion,  it is received with the utmost  respect  and
deference;  and  if the testimony of one expert is  corroborated  by  others
equally proficient,  the testimony of each additional man adds immensely  to
the weight of the previous evidence.

    The irrefutable testimony of one such man easily counterbalances that of
one or a dozen or a million men who know nothing of that whereof they speak,
for nothing, even though multiplied by a million, will still remain nothing.
This is as true of any other subject as of mathematics.

    As previously said,  we recognize these facts readily enough in material
affairs,  but when things beyond the world of sense, when the super-physical
world is under discussion; when the relations of God to man,  the inner-most



[PAGE 21]                                                       INTRODUCTION

mysteries of the immortal spark of divinity, loosely termed the soul, are to
be  probed,  then each clamors for as serious consideration of his  opinions
and ideas regarding spiritual matters as is given to the sage, who by a life
of patient and toilsome research has acquired wisdom in these higher things.

    Nay,  more;  many will not even content themselves with  claiming  EQUAL
consideration for their opinions,  but will even jeer and scoff at the words
of the sage,  seek to impugn his testimony as fraud,  and,  with the supreme
confidence  of deepest ignorance,  asseverate that as THEY know  nothing  of
such matters, it is absolutely impossible that anyone else can.

    The  man  who  realizes his ignorance has taken the  first  step  toward
knowledge.

    The path to first-hand knowledge is not easy.  Nothing worth having ever
comes without persistent effort.  It cannot be too often repeated that there
are no such things as special gifts of "luck."   All that anyone is or  has,
is the result of effort.   What one lacks in comparison with another is  la-
tent in himself and capable of development by proper methods.

    If the reader, having grasped this idea thoroughly, should ask,  what he
must do to obtain this first-hand knowledge,  the following story may  serve
to impress the idea, which is the central one in occultism:

    A young man came to a sage one day and asked,  "Sire,  what must I do to
become wise?"  The sage vouchsafed no answer.  The youth after repeating his
question a number of times, with a like result, at last left him,  to return
the  next  day with the same question.  Again no answer was  given  and  the
youth returned on the third day, still repeating  his  question,  "Sire what



[PAGE 22]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

must I do to become wise?"

    Finally the sage turned and went down to a near-by river. He entered the
water,  bidding the youth follow him.  Upon arriving at a  sufficient  depth
the  sage took the young man by the shoulders and held him under the  water,
despite his struggles to free himself.  At last,  however,  he released  him
and when the youth had regained his breath the sage questioned him:

    "Son, when you were under the water what did you most desire?"

    The youth answered without hesitation, "Air, air!  I wanted air!"

    "Would you not rather have had riches, pleasure, power or love,  my son?
Did you not think of any of these?"  queried the sage.

    "No,  sire!   I wanted air and though only of air," came the instant re-
sponse.

    "Then,"  said the sage,  "To become wise you must desire wisdom with  as
great intensity as you just now desired air.   You must struggle for it,  to
the exclusion of every other aim in life.  It must be your one and only  as-
piration, by day and by night.  If you seek wisdom with that fervor, my son,
you will surely become wise."

    That is the first and central requisite the aspirant to occult knowledge
must possess--an unswerving desire,  a burning thirst for knowledge;  a zeal
that  allows no obstacle to conquer it;  but the supreme motive for  seeking
this occult knowledge must be an ardent desire to benefit humanity, entirely
disregarding  self  in order to work for others.   Unless  prompted  by  the
motive, occult knowledge is dangerous.

    Without   possessing  these  qualifications--especially  the  latter--in
some measure,  any attempt to tread the arduous path of occultism would be a



[PAGE 23]                                                       INTRODUCTION

hazardous undertaking.   Another prerequisite to this first-hand  knowledge,
however,  is the study of occultism at second-hand.   Certain occult  powers
are necessary for the first-hand investigation of matters connected with the
pre-natal and post-mortem states of man,  but no one need despair of acquir-
ing information about this conditions because of undeveloped occult  powers.
As a man may know about Africa either by going there personally or by  read-
ing descriptions written by travelers who have been there,  so may he  visit
the superphysical realms if he will but qualify himself therefor,  or he may
learn  what  others who have so qualified themselves report as a  result  of
their investigations.

    Christ  said,  "The Truth shall make you free,"  but Truth is not  found
once and forever.   Truth is eternal,  and the quest for Truth must also  be
eternal.   Occultism knows of no "faith once for all delivered."   There are
certain  basic  truths which remain,  but which may be looked at  from  many
sides,  each giving a different view,  which complements the previous  ones;
therefore,  so far as we can see at present,  there is no  such  achievement
possible as arriving at the ultimate truth.

    Wherein  this work differs from some philosophical works the  variations
are caused by difference of viewpoint,  and all respect is paid to the  con-
clusions reached and the ideas set forth by other investigators.   It is the
earnest hope of the writer that the study of the following pages may help to
make the student's ideas fuller and more rounded than they were before.


[PAGE 24]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION


                                 CHAPTER I


                      THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS


     The  first  step  in Occultism is the study of  the  invisible  Worlds.
These Worlds are invisible to the majority of people because of the dormancy
of  the finer and higher senses whereby they may be perceived,  in the  same
way  that  the  Physical World about us is perceived  through  the  physical
senses.   The majority of people are on a similar footing in regard  to  the
super-physical Worlds as the man who is born blind is to our world of sense;
although  light and color are all about him,  he is unable to see them.   To
him they are non-existent and incomprehensible,  simply because he lacks the
sense of sight wherewith to perceive them.   Objects he can feel;  they seem
real; but light and color are beyond his ken.

     So with the greater part of humanity.   They feel,  and see objects and
hear sounds in the Physical World, but the other realms, which the clairvoy-
ant  calls the higher Worlds,  are as incomprehensible to them as light  and
color  are  to the blind man.   Because the blind man cannot see  color  and
light, however, is no argument against their existence and reality.  Neither
is  it an argument,  that because most people cannot see the  super-physical
Worlds  no one can do so.   If the blind an obtains his sight,  he will  see
light and color.   If the higher senses of those blind to the super-physical
Worlds are awakened by proper methods,  they also will be able to behold the
Worlds which are now hidden from them.



[PAGE 25]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

     While many people make the mistake of being incredulous concerning  the
existence or reality of the super-sensuous Worlds,  there are also many  who
go to the other extreme,  and,  having become convinced of the verity of in-
visible Worlds, think that when a person is clairvoyant all truth is at once
open  to him;  that when one can "see,"  he at once "knows all about"  these
higher Worlds.

     This  is  a  great mistake.  We readily recognize the fallacy of such a 
contention in matters of everyday life.  We  do not think that a man who was 
born blind, but has obtained his sight, at once "knows all about" the Physi-
cal World.   Nay, more;  we know that even those of us who have been able to 
see  the  things  about  us  all  our  lives are far from having a universal 
knowledge  of  them.   We  know  that it requires arduous study and years of 
application  to  know  about  even that infinitesimal part of things that we 
handle in our daily lives, and reversing the Hermetic aphorism,  "as  above,
so below,"  we gather at once that it must be the same  in the other Worlds.
At the same time it is also true that there are much greater facilities  for 
acquiring knowledge  in  the super-physical Worlds than in our present dense 
physical condition, but not so great as to eliminate the necessity for close 
study and the possibility of  making a mistake in observation.  In fact, all 
the testimony of reliable and qualified observers prove that much  more care 
in observation is needed there than here. 

     Clairvoyants must first be trained before their observations are of any
real  value,  and the more proficient they become the more modest  they  are
about telling of what they see;  the more they defer to the versions of oth-
ers, knowing how much there is  to learn and realizing how little the single



[PAGE 26]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

investigator can grasp of all the detail incident to his investigations.

     This  also accounts for the varied versions,  which superficial  people
think are an argument against the existence of the higher Worlds.  They con-
tend that if these Worlds exist,  investigators must necessarily bring  back
identical descriptions.  If we take an illustration from everyday life,  the
fallacy of this becomes apparent.

     Suppose  a  newspaper sends twenty reporters to a city with  orders  to
"write it up."   Reporters are,  or ought to be,  trained observers.   It is
their business to see everything and they should be able to give as good de-
scriptions  as can be expected from any source.   Yet it is certain that  of
the twenty reports,  no two would be exactly alike.   It is much more likely
that  they would be totally different.  Although some of them might  contain
leading features in common,  others might be unique in quality and  quantity
of description.

     Is it an argument against the existence of the city that these  reports
differ?   Certainly not!   It is easily accounted for by the fact that  each
saw  the  city from his own particular point of view and  instead  of  these
varying  reports being confusing and detrimental,  it is safe to say that  a
perusal of them all would give a fuller,  better understanding and  descrip-
tion  of the city than if only one were read and the others were  thrown  in
the wastebasket.  Each report would round out and complement the others.

     The same is true regarding accounts made by investigators of the higher
Worlds.  Each has his own peculiar way of looking at things and can describe
only what he sees from his particular point of view.   The account he  gives
may differ from those of others, yet all be equally truthful from each indi-
vidual observer's viewpoint.




[PAGE 27]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

     It  is sometimes asked,  Why investigate these Worlds?   Why is it  not
best  to take one World at a time; to be content for the present  time  with
the lessons to be learned in the Physical World, and, if there are invisible
Worlds  why not wait until we reach them before investigating?   "Sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof!"  Why borrow more?

     If we knew without doubt that at some time,  sooner or later,  each one
of us must be transported to a far country where, under new and strange con-
ditions,  we must live for many years, is it not reasonable to believe  that
if we had an opportunity to learn of that country in advance of our  removal
to it we would gladly do so?   Knowledge would render it much easier for  us
to accommodate ourselves to new conditions.

     There is only one certainty in life and that is--Death! As we pass into
the beyond and are confronted by new conditions,  knowledge of them is  sure
to be of the greatest help.

     But that is not all.   To understand the Physical World,  which is  the
world  of effects,  it is necessary to understand the super-physical  World,
which is the world of causes.   We see street cars in motion and we hear the
clicking  of telegraph instruments,  but the mysterious force  which  causes
phenomena remains invisible to us.   We say it is electricity,  but the name
gives us no explanation.   We learn nothing of the force itself;  we see and
hear only its effects.

     If  a dish of cold water be placed in an atmosphere of  a  sufficiently
low  temperature ice crystals immediately begin to form and we can  see  the
process  of their formation.   The lines along which the water  crystallizes
were in it all the time as lines of force but they were invisible until  the
water congealed.  The beautiful "frost flowers" on a windowpane  are visible



[PAGE 28]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

manifestations  of currents of the higher Worlds which operate upon  us  all
the time, unrecognized by most of us, but none the less potent.

     The higher Worlds are thus the worlds of causes, of forces; and we can-
not really understand this lower World unless we know the others and realize
the forces and causes of which all material things are but the effects.

     As  to  the reality of these higher Worlds compared with  that  of  the
Physical World,  strange as it may seem,  these higher Worlds,  which to the
majority appear as mirages, or even less substantial,  are,  in truth,  much
more  real and the objects in them more lasting and indestructible than  the
objects in the Physical World.   If we take an example we shall readily  see
this.   An architect does not start to build a house by procuring the  mate-
rial and setting the workmen to laying stone upon stone in a haphazard  way,
without  thought or plan.   He "thinks the house out."   Gradually it  takes
form in his mind and finally there stands a clear idea of the house that  is
to be--a thought-form of a house.

     This house is yet invisible to all but the architect.   He makes it ob-
jective on paper.   He draws the plans and from this objective image of  the
thought-form the workmen construct the house of wood,  iron,  or stone,  ac-
curately corresponding to the thought-form originated by the architect.

     Thus  the  thought-form becomes a material  reality.   The  materialist
would assert that it is much more real, lasting and substantial that the im-
age in the architect's mind.  But let us see.  The house could not have been
constructed without the thought-form.   The material object can be destroyed
by dynamite,  earthquake,  fire, or decay, but the thought-form will remain.
It  will  exist  as  long  as  the architect lives and from it any number of



[PAGE 29]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

houses similar to the one destroyed may be constructed.  Not even the archi-
tect himself can destroy it.   Even after his death this thought-form can be
recovered  by  those who are qualified to read the memory of  nature,  which
will be dealt with later.

     Having thus seen the reasonableness of such Worlds existing around  and
about us, and having satisfied ourselves of their reality, their permanency,
and of the utility of a knowledge concerning them, we shall now examine them
severally and singly, commencing with the Physical World.


               CHEMICAL REGION OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD

     In the Rosicrucian teaching the universe  is divided into seven differ-
ent Worlds, or states of matter, as follows:

                      1-World of God.
                      2-World of Virgin Spirits.
                      3-World of Divine Spirit.
                      4-World of Life Spirit.
                      5-World of Thought.
                      6-Desire World.
                      7-Physical World.

     The division is not arbitrary but necessary,  because the substance  of
each  of these Worlds is amenable to laws which are practically  inoperative
in others.   For instance, in the Physical World, matter is subject to grav-
ity,  contraction and expansion.   In the Desire World there is neither heat
nor cold, and forms levitate as easily as they gravitate.  Distance and time
are also governing factors of existence in the Physical World,  but are  al-
most non-existent in the Desire World.

     The matter of these worlds also varies in density,  the Physical  World
being the densest of the seven.

     Each World is subdivided into seven Regions or sub-divisions of matter.



[PAGE 30]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

In the Physical World,  the solids,  liquids and gases form the three denser
subdivisions,  the remaining four being ethers of varying densities.  In the
other Worlds similar subdivisions are necessary, because the matter of which
they are composed is not of uniform density.

     There are still two further distinctions to be made.   The three  dense
subdivisions of the Physical World--the solids,  liquids  and gases--consti-
tute what is termed the Chemical Region. The substance in this Region is the 
basis of all dense Form.

     The Ether is also physical matter.  It is not homogeneous,  as material
science alleges,  but exists in four different states.   It is the medium of
ingress for the quickening spirit which imparts VITALITY to the Forms in the
Chemical  Region.   The four finer or etheric subdivisions of  the  Physical
World constitute what is known as the Etheric Region.

     In the World of Thought the three higher subdivisions are the basis  of
abstract thought,  hence they,  collectively,  are called the Region of  Ab-
stract Thought.  The four denser subdivisions supply the mind-stuff in which
we embody and concrete our ideas and are therefore termed the Region of Con-
crete Thought.

     The careful consideration given by the occultist to the characteristics
of the Physical World might seem superfluous were it not that he regards all
things from a view point differing widely from that of the materialist.  The
latter recognizes three states of matter--solids, liquids, and gases.  These
are all chemical,  because derived from the chemical constituents of  Earth.
From this chemical matter all the FORMS of mineral, plant,  animal,  and man
have been built, hence they are as truly  chemical  as  the substances which




[PAGE 31]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

are commonly so termed.   Thus whether we consider the mountain or the cloud
that  envelops its top,  the juice of the plant or the blood of the  animal,
the spider's thread, the wing of the butterfly or the bones of the elephant,
the  air  we  breathe or the water we drink--all are  composed of  the  same
chemical substance.

     What  is it then which determines the conformation of this  basic  sub-
stance into the multiplex variety of Forms which we see about us?  It is the
One Universal Spirit,  expressing Itself in the visible world as four  great
streams of Life, at varying stages of development.   This fourfold spiritual
impulse molds the chemical matter of the Earth into variegated forms of  the
four Kingdoms--mineral, plant,  animal, and man.  When a form has served its
purpose as a vehicle of expression for the three higher streams of life, the
chemical forces disintegrate that form so that the matter may be returned to
its primordial state, and thus made available for the building of new forms.
The  spirit  or life which molds the form into an expression of  itself  is,
therefore,  as extraneous to the matter it uses as a carpenter is apart from
and personally independent of the house he builds for his own occupancy.

     As all the forms of mineral, plant, animal, and man are chemical,  they
must  logically  be as dead and devoid of feeling as chemical matter  in  it
primitive state, and the Rosicrucian asserts that they are.

     Some scientists contend that there is feeling in all tissue,  living or
dead,  to whatever kingdom it belongs.  They include even the substances or-
dinarily classed as mineral in their category of objects having feeling, and
to  prove their contentions they submit diagrams with curves of  energy  ob-
tained from tests.  Another  class of investigators teach   that there is no




[PAGE 32]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

feeling even in the human body,  except in the brain,  which is the SEAT  of
feeling.   They say it is the brain and not the finger which feels the  pain
when  the latter is injured.   Thus is the house of Science divided  against
itself  on  this as on most other points.   The position taken  by  each  is
partly right.  It depends upon what we mean by "feeling."  If we mean simply
response to impacts, such as the rebound of a rubber ball that is dropped to
the ground, of course it is correct to attribute feeling to mineral,  plant,
and animal tissue; but if we mean pleasure and pain, love and hate,  joy and
sorrow, it would be absurd to attribute them to the lower forms of life,  to
detached tissue,  to minerals in their native state,  or even to the  brain,
because such feelings are expressions of the self-conscious immortal spirit,
and  the brain is only the keyboard of the wonderful instrument  upon  which
the human spirit plays its symphony of life,  just as the musician expresses
himself upon his violin.

     As there are people who are quite unable to understand that there  must
be and are higher Worlds, so there are some who,  having become slightly ac-
quainted  with  the higher realms,  acquire the habit of  undervaluing  this
Physical World.   Such an attitude is as incorrect as that of the  material-
ist.   The  great and wise Beings who carry out the will and design  of  God
placed us in this physical environment to learn great and important  lessons
which could not be learned under other conditions, and it is our duty to use
our  knowledge of the higher Worlds in learning to the best of  our  ability
the lessons which this material world has to teach us.

     In one sense the Physical World is a sort of model school or experiment
station to teach us to work correctly in the others.   It does this  whether
or not we know of the existence of those other worlds,  thereby  proving the




[PAGE 33]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

great  wisdom of the originators of the plan.   If we had knowledge of  none
but the higher Worlds, we would make many mistakes which would become appar-
ent only when physical conditions are brought to bear as criterion.   To il-
lustrate:   Let us imagine the case of an inventor working out his idea of a
machine.  First he builds the machine in thought, and in his mind he sees it
complete  and in operation,  performing most beautifully the work it is  de-
signed to do.   He next makes a drawing of the design,  and in doing so per-
haps finds that modifications in his first conception are necessary.   When,
from  the drawings,  he has become satisfied that the plan is  feasible,  he
proceeds to build the actual machine from suitable material.

     Now it is almost certain that still further modifications will be found
necessary before the machine will work as intended.  It may be found that it
must  be entirely remodeled,  or even that it is altogether useless  in  its
present form, must be discarded and a new plan evolved.  But mark this,  for
here is the point:   the new idea or plan will be formulated for the purpose
of eliminating the defects in the useless machine.   Had there been no mate-
rial  machine constructed,  thereby making evident the faults of  the  first
idea, a second and correct idea would not have been formed.

     This applies equally to all conditions of life--social, mercantile, and
philanthropic.   Many plans appear excellent to those conceiving  them,  and
may  even look well on paper,  but when brought down in the actual  test  of
utility  they often fail.   That however, should not discourage us.   It  is
true that "we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes," and the
proper light in which to regard this Physical World is as a school of  valu-
able experience, in which we learn lessons of the utmost importance.






[PAGE 34]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION


                  THE ETHERIC REGION OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD.

     As  soon as we enter this realm of nature we are in the invisible,  in-
tangible World,  where our ordinary senses fail us,  hence this part of  the
Physical World is practically unexplored by material science.

     Air is invisible, yet modern science knows that it exists.  By means of
instruments its velocity as wind can be measured;  by compression it can  be
made visible as liquid air.  With either, however, that is not so easy.  Ma-
terial  science  finds that it is necessary to account in some way  for  the
transmission of electricity,  with or without wires.  It is forced to postu-
late  some substance of a finer kind that it knows,  and it calls that  sub-
stance "ether."  It does not really know that ether exists, as the ingenuity
of the scientist has not,  as yet,  been able to devise a vessel in which it
is  possible to confine this substance, which is altogether too elusive  for
the  comfort of the "wizard of the laboratory."   He cannot measure,  weigh,
nor analyze it by any apparatus now at his disposal.

     Truly,  the achievements of modern science are marvelous.  The best way
to  learn the secrets of nature, however,  is not by inventing  instruments,
but by improving the investigator himself.  Man has within himself faculties
which eliminate distance and compensate for lack of size to a degree as much
greater than the power of telescope and microscope as theirs exceeds that of
the  naked eye.   These senses or faculties are the means  of  investigation
used by occultists.  They are their "open sesame" in searching for truth.

     To the trained clairvoyant ether is as tangible as are the solids,  li-
quids, and gases of the Chemical Region to ordinary beings. He sees that the



[PAGE 35]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

vital forces which give life to the mineral forms of plant,  animal and  man
flow into these forms, by means of the four states of ether.   The names and
specific functions of these four ethers are as follows.

  (1) Chemical Ether--This ether is both positive and negative in manifesta-
tion.   The forces which cause assimilation and excretion work  through  it.
Assimilation is the process whereby the different nutritive elements of food
are incorporated into the body of plant, animal and man.  This is carried on
by forces with which we shall become acquainted later.   They work along the
positive pole of the chemical ether and attract the needed elements,  build-
ing them into the forms concerned.   These forces do not act blindly nor me-
chanically, but in a selective way (well-known to scientists by its effects)
thereby accomplishing their purpose,  which is the growth and maintenance of
the body.

     Excretion is carried on by forces of the same kind,  but working  along
the  negative pole of the chemical ether.  By means of this pole they  expel
from  the body the materials in the food which are unfit for use,  or  those
which  have outlived their usefulness in the body and should  be  expurgated
from the system.   This, like all other processes independent of man's voli-
tion,  is also wide,  selective, and not merely mechanical in its operation,
as seen, for instance, in the case of the action of the kidneys,  where only
the urine is filtered through when the organs are in health; but it is known
that when the organs are not in health,  the valuable albumen is allowed  to
escape with the urine, the proper selection not being made because of an ab-
normal condition.



[PAGE 36]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

     (2)  Life Ether--As the chemical ether is the avenue for the  operation
of the forces the object of which is the maintenance of the individual form,
so  the life ether is the avenue for the operation of the forces which  have
for their object the maintenance of the species--the forces of propagation.

     Like  the  chemical ether,  the life ether also has  its  positive  and
negative  pole.   The forces which work along the positive  pole  are  those
which  work  in  the female during gestation.   They enable her  to  do  the
positive,  active work of bringing forth a new being.  On the other hand the
forces which work along the negative pole of the life ether enable the  male
to produce semen.

     In the work on the impregnated ovum of the animal and man,  or upon the
seed  of the plant,  the forces working along the positive pole of the  life
ether produce male plants,  animals and men;  while the forces which express
themselves through the negative pole generate females.

      (3)  Light  Ether--This ether is both positive and negative,  and  the
forces which play along its positive pole are the forces which generate that
blood heat in the higher species of animal and in man,  which makes them in-
dividual sources of heat.   The forces which work along the negative pole of
the light ether are those which operate through the senses,  manifesting  as
the passive functions of sight, hearing,  feeling,  tasting,  and  smelling.
They also build and nourish the eye.

     In the cold-blooded animals the positive pole of the light ether is the
avenue of the forces which circulate the blood, and the negative forces have
the same functions in regard to the eye as in the case of the higher animals
and man.  Where eyes are lacking, the forces working in the negative pole of
the  light ether are perhaps building or nourishing other sense  organs,  as
they do in all that have sense organs.




[PAGE 37]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

     In  plants the forces which work along the positive pole of  the  light
ether  cause the circulation of the juices of the plant.   Thus  in  winter,
when  the  light ether is not charged with sunlight as in  summer,  the  sap
ceases  to flow until the summer sun again invests the light ether with  its
force.  The forces which work along the negative pole of the light ether de-
posit the chlorophyll,  the green substance of the plant and also color  the
flowers.   In fact,  all color, in all kingdoms is deposited by means of the
negative pole of the light ether.  Therefore animals have the deepest  color
on  the back and flowers are deepest colored on the side turned towards  the
light.   In the polar regions of the earth,  where the rays of the  sun  are
weak,  all color is lighter and in some cases is so sparingly deposited that
in winter it is withdrawn altogether and the animals become white.

     (4)   Reflecting Ether--It has heretofore been stated that the idea  of
the house which has existed in the mind can be recovered from the memory  of
nature,  even after the death of the architect.   Everything that  has  ever
happened  has  left  behind it an ineffaceable picture  in  this  reflecting
ether.   As  the giant ferns of the childhood of the Earth have  left  their
pictures  in the coal beds,  and as the progress of the glacier of a  bygone
day may be traced by means of the trail it has left upon the rocks along its
path,  even so are the thoughts and acts of men ineffaceably recorded by na-
ture in this reflecting ether,  where the trained seer may read their  story
with an accuracy commensurate with his ability.

     The  reflecting ether deserves its name for more than one  reason,  for
the pictures in it are but REFLECTIONS of the memory  of  nature.   The real



[PAGE 38]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

memory of nature is found in a much higher realm.   In this reflecting ether
no thoroughly trained clairvoyant cares to read, as the pictures are blurred
and  vague compared to those found in the higher realm.   Those who read  in
the reflecting ether are generally those who have no choice,  who,  in fact,
do  not know what they are reading.   As a rule ordinary psychometrists  and
mediums obtain their knowledge through the reflecting ether.  To some slight
extent  the pupil of the occult school in the first stages of  his  training
also reads in the reflecting ether,  but he is warned by his teacher of  his
insufficiencies of this ether as a means of acquiring accurate  information,
so that he does not easily draw wrong conclusions.

     This ether is also the medium through which thought makes an impression
upon the human brain.   It is most intimately connected with the fourth sub-
division of the World of Thought.   This is the highest of the four subdivi-
sions  contained in the Region of Concrete Thought and the homeworld of  the
human mind.   There a much clearer version of the memory of nature is  found
than in the reflecting ether.

                              THE DESIRE WORLD

     Like the Physical World,  and every other realm of nature,  the  Desire
World has the seven subdivisions called "Regions,"  but unlike the  Physical
World,  it does not have the great divisions corresponding to  the  Chemical
and Etheric Regions.   Desire stuff in the Desire World persists through its
seven subdivisions or regions as material for the embodiment of desire.   As
the  Chemical Region is the realm of form and as the Etheric Region  is  the
home of the forces carrying on life activities in those forms, enabling them




[PAGE 39]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

to live,  move and propagate, so the forces in the Desire World,  working in
the quickened dense body, impel it to move in this or that direction.

     If  there were only the activities of the Chemical and Etheric  Regions
of the Physical World, there would be forms having life,  able to move,  but
WITH  NO INCENTIVE FOR SO DOING.   This incentive is supplied by the  cosmic
forces active in the Desire World and without this activity playing  through
every fibre of the vitalized body,  urging action in this direction or that,
there would be no experience and no moral growth.  The functions of the dif-
ferent  ethers would take care of the growth of the form,  but moral  growth
would  entirely lacking.   Evolution would be an impossibility,  both as  to
form and life,  for it is only in response to the requirements of  spiritual
growth  that forms evolve to higher states.  Thus we at once see  the  great
importance of this realm of nature.

     Desires,  wishes, passions, and feelings express themselves in the mat-
ter of the different regions of the Desire World as form and feature express
themselves in the  Chemical Region of the Physical World.   They take  forms
which last for a longer or shorter time,  according to the intensity of  the
desire, wish, or feeling embodied in them.  In the Desire World the distinc-
tion between the forces and the matter is not so definite and apparent as in
the Physical World.   One might almost say that here the ideas of force  and
matter are identical or interchangeable.  It is not quite so, but we may say
that to a certain extent the Desire World consists of force-matter.

     When speaking of the matter of the Desire World,  it is true that it is
one degree less dense that the matter of the Physical World,  but we  enter-
tain an entirely wrong idea if we imaging it is finer physical matter.  That



[PAGE 40]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

idea,  though held by many who have studied occult philosophies, is entirely
erroneous.   The wrong impression is caused principally by the difficulty of
giving  the  full and accurate description necessary for a  thorough  under-
standing of the higher worlds.  Unfortunately,  our language is  descriptive
of material things and therefore entirely inadequate to describe the  condi-
tions  of  the super-physical realms,  hence all that is  said  about  these
realms must be taken tentatively,  as similes,  rather than as accurate  de-
scriptions.

     Though the mountain and the daisy, the man,  the horse,  and a piece of
iron,  are composed of one ultimate atomic substance, we do not say that the
daisy  is  a finer form of iron.  Similarly it is impossible to  explain  in
words the change or difference in physical matter when it is broken up  into
desire-stuff.   If there were no difference it would be amenable to the laws
of the Physical World, which it is not.

     The law of matter of the Chemical Region is inertia-the tendency to re-
main IN STATU QUO.  It  takes a certain amount of force to overcome this in-
ertia  and cause a body which is at rest to move,  or to stop a body in  mo-
tion.   Not so with the matter of the Desire World.   That matter itself  is
almost living.   It is in unceasing motion, fluid, taking all imaginable and
unimaginable  forms with inconceivable facility and rapidity,  at  the  same
time  coruscating  and scintillating in a thousand ever-changing  shades  of
color, incomparable to anything we know in this physical state of conscious-
ness.   Something very faintly resembling the action and appearance of  this
matter  will be seen in the play of colors on an abalone shell when held  in
the sunlight and moved to and fro.

   That is what the Desire World is--ever-changing light and color--in which
the  forces  of  animal  and  man intermingle with the forces of innumerable



[PAGE 41]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

Hierarchies  of spiritual beings which do not appear in our Physical  World,
but are as active in the Desire World as we are here.   Some of them will be
dealt with later and their connection with man's evolution described.

     The  forces  sent out by this vast and varied hose of Beings  mold  the
ever-changing  matter  of the Desire World into  innumerable  and  differing
forms of more or less durability, according to the kinetic energy of the im-
pulse which gave them birth.

     From  this slight description it may be understood how difficult it  is
for a neophyte who has just had his inner eyes opened to find his balance in
the World of Desire.   The trained clairvoyant soon ceases to wonder at  the
impossible descriptions sometimes brought through by mediums.   They may  be
perfectly honest,  but the possibilities of parallax,  and of getting out of
focus are legion,  and of the subtlest nature,  and the real wonder is  that
they ever communicate anything correctly.  All of us had to learn to see, in
the  days of our infancy,  as we may readily find by watching a young  babe.
It  will  be found that the little one will reach for objects on  the  other
side of the room or the street,  or for the Moon.   He is entirely unable to
gauge distances.  The blind man who has been made to see will, at first, of-
ten close his eyes to walk from one place to another,  declaring,  until  he
has  learned to use his eyes,  that it is easier to walk by feeling than  by
sight.   So the one whose inner organs of perception have been vivified must
also be trained in the use of his newly acquired faculty.  At first the neo-
phyte  will try to apply to the Desire World the knowledge derived from  his
experience in the Physical World, because he has not yet learned the laws of
the world into which he is entering.  This is the source of a vast amount of




[PAGE 42]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

trouble  and  perplexity.   Before he can understand,  he must become  as  a
little child,  which imbibed knowledge without reference to any previous ex-
perience.

     To  arrive at a correct understanding of the Desire World it is  neces-
sary  to  realize that it is the world of feeling,  desires,  and  emotions.
These  are  all under the domination of two great forces--Attraction and Re-
pulsion, which act in a different way in the three denser Regions of the De-
sire World  from that in which they act in the three finer or upper Regions, 
while the central Region may be called neutral ground.

     This central Region is the Region of feeling.   Here interest in or in-
difference to an object or an idea sways the balance in favor of one of  the
two  previously mentioned forces,  thereby relegating the object or idea  to
the  three  higher or the three lower Regions of the Desire World,  or  else
they will expel it.  We shall see presently how this is accomplished.

     In  the finest and rarest substance of the three higher Regions of  the
Desire  World  the  force of Attraction alone holds sway,  but  it  is  also
present  in  some degree in the denser matter of the  three  lower  Regions,
where it works against the force of Repulsion, which is dominant there.  The
disintegrating force of Repulsion would soon destroy every form coming  into
these three lower Regions were it not that it is thus counteracted.   In the
densest or lowest Region,  where it is strongest,  it tears and shatters the
forms  built  there in a way dreadful to see,  yet it is  not  a  fatalistic
force.   Nothing in nature is vandalistic.  All that appears so is but work-
ing towards good.  So  with  this  force in its work in the lowest Region of




[PAGE 43]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

the  Desire  World.   The forms here are demoniac creations,  built  by  the
coarsest passions and desires of man and beast.

     The tendency of every form in the Desire World is to attract itself all
it  can of a like nature and grow thereby.   If this tendency to  attraction
were predominate in the lowest Regions, evil would grow like a weed.   There
would be anarchy instead of order in the Cosmos.  This prevented by the pre-
ponderating power of the force of Repulsion in this Region.   When a  coarse
desire  form is being attracted to another of the same nature,  there  is  a
disharmony in their vibrations, whereby one has a disintegrating effect upon
the other.   Thus, instead of uniting and amalgamating evil with evil,  they
act  with  mutual destructiveness and in that way the evil in the  world  is
kept within reasonable bounds.   When we understand the working of the  twin
forces in this respect we are in a position to understand the occult  maxim,
"A lie is both murder and suicide in the Desire World."

     Anything happening in the Physical World is reflected in all the  other
realms of nature and,  as we have seen,  builds its appropriate form in  the
Desire World.  When a true account of the occurrence is given,  another form
is  built,  exactly  like  the first.  They  are  then  drawn  together  and
coalesce, strengthening each other.  If, however, an untrue is given, a form
different from and antagonistic to the first, or true one,  is created.   As
they deal with the same occurrence,  they are drawn together,  but as  their
vibrations  are different they act upon each other with mutual  destructive-
ness.  Therefore, evil and malicious lies can kill anything that is good, if
they are strong enough and repeated often enough.  But, conversely,  seeking
for the good in evil will,  in time,  transmute the evil into good.   If the
form that is built to minimize the evil is weak, it will have no effect  and





[PAGE 44]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

will be destroyed by the evil form,  but if it is strong and frequently  re-
peated  it will have the effect of disintegrating the evil and  substituting
the good.  That effect, be it distinctly understood, it not brought about by
lying, nor denying the evil, but by looking for the good.  The occult scien-
tist  practices  very  rigidly this principle of looking  for  good  in  all
things, because he knows what a power it possesses in keeping down evil.

     There  is  a story of Christ which illustrates this point.   Once  when
walking with His disciples they passed the decaying and ill-smelling carcass
of a dog.   The disciples turned in disgust,  commenting upon the nauseating
nature  of this sight;  but Christ looked at the dead body and said  "Pearls
are not whiter than its teeth."  He was determined to find the good, because
He  knew the beneficial effect which would result in the Desire  World  from
giving it expression.

     The lowest Region of the Desire World is called "the Region of  Passion
and Sensual Desire."   The second subdivision is best described by the  name
of "Region of Impressionability."  Here the effect of the twin forces of At-
traction and Repulsion is evenly balanced.  This is a neutral Region,  hence
all  our impressions which are built of the matter of this Region  are  neu-
tral.   Only when the twin feelings,  which we shall meet in the fourth  Re-
gion,  are brought to bear, do the twin forces come into play.  The mere im-
pression of anything,  however, in and of itself,  is entirely separate from
the feeling it engenders.   The impression is neutral and is an activity  of
the  second  Region of the Desire World,  where pictures are formed  by  the
forces of sense-perception in the vital body of man.

     In the third Region of the Desire World,  the force of Attraction,  the
integrating, upbuilding force, has already gained the upper  hand  over  the




[PAGE 45]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

force of Repulsion,  with its destructive tendency.  When we understand that
the mainspring in this force of Repulsion is self-assertion,  a pushing away
of all others that it may have room,  we shall understand that it gives  way
most easily to a desire for other things, so that the substance of the third
Region of the Desire World is principally dominated by the force of  Attrac-
tion towards other things,  but in a selfish way,  and therefore this is the
Region of Wishes.

     The  Region  of  Coarse Desires may be likened to  the  solids  in  the
Physical World; the Region of Impressionability to the fluids; and the fluc-
tuating,  evanescent nature of the Region of Wishes will make  that  compare
with  the gaseous portion of the Physical World.   These three Regions  give
the  substance  for  the forms which make for  experience,  soul-growth  and
evolution,  purging the altogether destructive and retaining  the  materials
which may be used for progress.

     The fourth Region of the Desire World is the "Region of Feeling."  From
it  comes  the feeling concerning the already described forms and  upon  the
feeling engendered by them depends the life which they have for us and  also
their effect upon us.   Whether the objects and ideas presented are good  or
bad in themselves is not important this stage.   It is our feeling,  whether
of Interest or Indifference that is the determining factor as to the fate of
the object or idea.

     If the feeling with which we meet an impression of an object or an idea
is Interest, it has the same effect upon that impression as sunlight and air
have upon a plant.  That idea will grow and flourish in our lives.   If,  on
the other hand, we meet an impression or idea with Indifference,  it withers
as does a plant when put in a dark cellar.




[PAGE 46]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

     Thus from this central Region of the Desire World come the incentive to
action,  or the decision to refrain therefrom (though the latter is also ac-
tion in the eyes of the occult scientist),  for at the present stage of  our
development the twin feelings,  Interest and Indifference furnish the incen-
tive  to action and are the springs that move the world.   At a later  stage
these feelings will cease to have any weight.   Then the determining  factor
will be DUTY.

     Interest starts the forces of Attraction or Repulsion.

     Indifference simply withers the object or idea against which it is  di-
rected, so far as our connection with it is concerned.

     If  our  interest  in an object or an idea  generates  Repulsion,  that
naturally causes us to expurgate from our lives any connection with the  ob-
ject  or idea which roused it;  but there is a great difference between  the
action of the force of Repulsion and the mere feeling of Indifference.  Per-
haps an illustration will make more clear the operation of the twin Feelings
and the twin Forces.

     Three men are walking along a road.  They see a sick dog; it is covered
with sores and is evidently suffering intensely from pain and thirst.   This
much is evident to all three men-their senses tell them that.   Now  Feeling
comes.  Two of them take an "interest" in the animal, but in the third there
is a feeling of "indifference."   He passes on, leaving the dog to its fate.
The  others remain;  they are both interested,  but each manifests it  in  a
quite  different way.   The interest of one man is sympathetic and  helpful,
impelling him to care for the poor beast, to assuage pains and nurse it back
to health.   In him the feeling of interest has aroused the force of Attrac-
tion.  The  other  man's  interest  is  of a different kind.  He sees only a




[PAGE 47]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

loathsome sight which is revolting to him and wishes to rid himself and  the
world of it as quickly as possible.   He advises killing the animal outright
and  burying it.   In him the feeling of interest generates the  destructive
force of Repulsion.

     When the feeling of Interest arouses the force of Attraction and it  is
directed  toward low objects and desires, these work themselves out  in  the
lower  Regions of the Desire World, where the counteracting force of  Repul-
sion  operates,  as  previously described.   From the  battle  of  the  twin
forces--Attraction and Repulsion--results all the pain and  suffering  inci-
dent to wrongdoing or misdirected effort, whether intentional or otherwise.

     Thus we may see how very important Feeling we have concerning anything,
for upon that depends the nature of the atmosphere we create for  ourselves.
If we love the good,  we shall keep and nourish as guardian angels all  that
is good about us;  if the reverse,  we shall people our path with demons and
our own breeding.

     The names of the three upper Regions of the Desire World are "Region of
Soul-Life,"  "Region of Soul-Light,"  and "Region of Soul-Power."   In these
abide  Art,  Altruism,  Philanthropy,  and all the activities of the  higher
soul-life.   When  we  think of these Regions  as  radiating  the  qualities
indicated  by  their names,  into the forms of the three lower  Regions,  we
shall  understand  correctly the higher and lower  activities.   Soul-power,
however,  may for a time be used for evil purposes as well as for good,  but
eventually the force of Repulsion destroys vice and the force of  Attraction
builds virtue upon its shattered ruins.  All things,  in the ultimate,  work
together for GOOD.

     The Physical and the Desire Worlds are not separated from each other by




[PAGE 48]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

space.   They are "closer than hands and feet."  It is not necessary to move
to get from one to the other, nor from one Region to the next.  Just as sol-
ids,  liquids,  and gases are all together in our bodies,  inter-penetrating
one  another,  so are the different Regions of the Desire  World  within  us
also.  We may again compare the lines of force along which ice-crystals form
in water to the invisible causes originating in the Desire World,  which ap-
pear in the Physical World and give us the incentive to action,  in whatever
direction it may be.

     The  Desire  World,  with it  innumerable  inhabitants,  permeates  the
Physical  World,  as  the lines of force do the water--invisible, but every-
where present and potent as the cause of everything in the Physical World.

                            THE WORLD OF THOUGHT

     The  World  of  Thought  also consists  of  seven  Regions  of  varying
qualities and densities,  and, like the Physical World, the World of Thought
is divided into two main divisions--the Region of Concrete Thought, compris-
ing the four densest Regions; and the Region of Abstract Thought, comprising
the three Regions of finest substance.  This World of Thought is the central
one of the five Worlds from which man obtains his vehicles.  Here spirit and
body meet.  It is also the highest of the three Worlds in which man's evolu-
tion is being carried forward at the present time, the two higher Worlds be-
ing practically in abeyance as yet, so far as man is concerned.

     We know that the materials of the Chemical Region are used in  building
all physical forms.   These are forms are given life and the power of motion
by the forces at work in the Etheric Region,  and some of these living forms
are stirred into activity by means of the twin Feelings of the Desire World.




[PAGE 49]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

The Region of Concrete Thought furnishes the mind-stuff in which ideas  gen-
erated in the Region of Abstract Thought clothe themselves as THOUGHT-FORMS,
to act as regulators and balance wheels upon the impulses engendered in  the
Desire World by impacts from the phenomenal World.

     Thus we see how the three Worlds, in which man is at present  evolving,
complement one another,  making a whole that shows forth the Supreme  Wisdom
of the Great Architect of the system to which we belong,  and Whom we rever-
ence by the holy name of God.

     Taking  a more detailed view of the several divisions of the Region  of
Concrete  Thought we find that the archetypes of PHYSICAL form no matter  to
what kingdom they may belong,  are found in its lowest subdivision,  or  the
"Continental Region."  In this Continental Region are also the archetypes of
the continents and the isles of the world, and corresponding to these arche-
types  are  they fashioned.   Modifications in the crust of the  Earth  must
first be wrought in the Continental Region.   Not until the archetypal model
has been changed can the Intelligences which we (to hide our ignorance  con-
cerning them) call the "Laws of Nature," bring about the physical conditions
which  alter the physical features of the Earth according to  the  modifica-
tions designed by the Hierarchies in charge of evolution.  They plan changes
as an architect plants the alteration of a building before the workmen  five
it concrete expression.   In like manner are changes in the FLORA and  FAUNA
due to metamorphoses in their respective archetypes.

     When we speak of the archetypes of all the different forms in the dense
world it must not be thought that these archetypes are merely models in  the
same sense in which we speak of an object constructed  in  miniature,  or in




[PAGE 50]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

some  material  other than that appropriate for its proper  and  final  use.
They are not merely likenesses nor models of the forms we see about us,  but
are  CREATIVE archetypes;  that is,  they fashion the forms of the  Physical
World in their own likeness or likenesses,  for often many work together  to
form one certain species,  each archetype giving part of itself to build the
required form

     The second subdivision of the Region of Concrete Thought is called  the
"Oceanic Region."  It is best described as flowing, pulsating vitality.  All
the  forces that work through the four ethers which constitute  the  Etheric
Region are there seen as archetypes.   It is a stream of flowing life,  pul-
sating through all forms, as blood pulsates through the body,  the same life
in  all forms.   Here the trained clairvoyant sees how true it is that  "all
life is one."

     The  "Aerial Region"  is the third division of the Region  of  Concrete
Thought.  Here we find the archetype of desires, passions, wishes, feelings,
and  emotions such as we experience in the Desire World.   Here all the  ac-
tivities  of  the Desire World appear as atmospheric conditions.   Like  the
kiss of summer breeze come the feelings of pleasure and joy to the clairvoy-
ant sense;  as the sighing of the wind in the tree-tops seem the longings of
the  soul and like flashes of lighting the passions of warring nations.   In
this  atmosphere of the Region of Concrete Thought are also pictures of  the
emotions of man and beast.

     The "Region of Archetypal Forces"  is the fourth division of the Region
of  Concrete Thought.   It is the central and most important region  in  the
five Worlds wherein man's entire evolution is carried on.   On the one  side
of  this  Region are the three higher Regions of the World of  Thought,  the
World of Life Spirit and the World of Divine Spirit.  On  the  other side of




[PAGE 51]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

this Region of Archetypal Forces are the three lower Regions of the World of
Thought,  the Desire and the Physical Worlds.   Thus this Region  becomes  a
sort of "crux," bounded on one side by the Realms of Spirit, on the other by
the Worlds of Form.  It is a focusing point, where Spirit reflects itself in
matter.

     As the name implies,  this Region is the home of the Archetypal  Forces
which  direct  the  activity of the archetypes in  the  Region  of  Concrete
Thought.   From  this Region Spirit works on matter in a  formative  manner.
Diagram  1 shows the idea in a schematic way,  the forms in the lower  World
being  reflections of the Spirit in the higher Worlds.   The  fifth  Region,
which is the one nearest to the focusing point on the Spirit side,  reflects
itself in the third Region,  which is nearest the focusing point on the Form
side.   The sixth Region reflects itself in the second and the  seventh  re-
flects itself in the first.

     The  whole of the Region of Abstract thought is reflected in the  World
of  Desire;  the World of Life Spirit in the Etheric Region of the  Physical
World; and the World of Divine Spirit in the Chemical Region of the Physical
World.

     Diagram 2 will give a comprehensive idea of the seven Worlds which  are
the sphere of our development, but we must carefully keep in mind that these
Worlds  are  not placed one above another,  as shown in the  diagram.   They
inter-penetrate--that  is to say,  that as in the case where the relation of
the Physical World and the Desire World was compared,  where we likened  the
Desire  World to the lines for force in freezing water and the water  itself
to the Physical World, in the same way we may think of the lines of force as




[PAGE 52]                                 THE INVISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS


                             DIAGRAM 1:

      THE RELATIVE PERMANENCY OF THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS





[PAGE 53]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

being any of the seven Worlds, and the water,  as in our illustration, would 
correspond to the next denser World in the scale.   Another illustration may 
perhaps make the subject clearer.

     Let  us  use  a spherical sponge to represent  the   dense   earth--the
Chemical Region.   Imagine that sand permeates every part of the sponge  and
also forms a layer outside the sponge.   Let the sand represent the  Etheric
Region,  which in a similar manner permeates the dense earth and extends be-
yond its atmosphere.

     Let  us  further imagine this sponge and sand immersed in  a  spherical
glass  vessel filled with clear water,  and a little larger than the  sponge
and sand.   We place the sponge and sand in the center of the vessel as  the
yolk is place in the center of an egg.   We have now a space of clear  water
between  the sand and the vessel.   The water as a whole will represent  the
Desire World,  for just as the water percolates between the grains of  sand,
through very pore of the sponge,  and forms that clear layer,  so the Desire
World  permeates both the dense Earth and the ether and extends beyond  both
of these substances.

     We know there is air in water,  and if we think of the air in the water
(in our illustration), as representing the World of Thought, we shall have a
fir mental picture of the way in which the World of Thought, being finer and
more subtle, inter-penetrates the two denser Worlds.

     Finally,  imagine that the vessel containing the sponge, sand and water
is  placed in the center of a large spherical vessel;  then the air  in  the
space  between  the two vessels would represent that part of  the  World  of
Thought which extends  beyond the Desire World.

     Each   of   the   planets  in  our  solar   system   has   three   such
inter-penetrating Worlds,  and if we think of each of the planets consisting



[PAGE 54]                                   THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION



                                DIAGRAM 2: 

                            THE SEVEN WORLDS




[PAGE 55]                                   THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLDS

of three Worlds as being individual  sponges,  and  of the fourth World, the 
World of Life Spirit, as being the water in a large vessel where these three 
fold separate sponges swim,  we shall understand  that  as  the water in the 
vessel fills  the  space  between  the sponges  and percolates through them,
so the World  of Life Spirit  pervades inter-planetary space and inter-pene-
trates the individual planets.  It forms a common bond between them, so that 
as it  is  necessary to have a boat and be able to control it, if we wish to 
sail from America to Africa, so it is necessary  to have a vehicle correlat-
ed  to the World of Life Spirit  under  our conscious control in order to be 
able to travel from one planet to another.

     In  a manner similar to that in which the World of Life  Spirit  corre-
lates us to the other planets in our own solar system does the World  Divine
Spirit  correlate us to the other solar systems.   We may regard  the  solar
systems as separate sponges, swimming in a World of Divine Spirit,  and thus
it will be apparent that in order to travel from one solar system to another
it would be necessary to be able to function consciously in the highest  ve-
hicle of man, the Divine Spirit.


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