NATURE SPIRITS AND NATURE FORCES
by
Max Heindel
[1865-1919]
Foreword By
Augusta Foss Heindel
THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP
Mt. Ecclesia
P.O. Box 713
Oceanside, California, 92054, USA
This volume contains
mystical writings of Max Heindel on the little understood subject of Nature
Spirits and Nature Forces. It is a correlation from his many books, lovingly
collected in one volume by one of Max Heindel's students.
Max Heindel is known as the most advanced of
Western Mystics and has in his numerous books given to the world a mine of
information about Nature Spirits, the little people with whom he had such
interesting experiences. The writer has listened to many stories (which
unfortunately have not been put in writing) of his experiences with these
Spirits, of how they live and their appearance. He had many times remarked that
he would sometime write an entire book on the Nature Spirits, but his very
arduous work of pioneering interfered with this much needed work. However, from
time to time he gave out information in his writings which has now been
correlated and we are thus able to give it to the world in a condensed volume.
In the fifty-four years in which he was permitted to occupy his physical
vehicle, he gave to the world a number of most valuable books. The wonder book,
THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION, has been translated into many languages. This
is only one of a number of books which he left for the world to gain knowledge
from and to enjoy. His astrological books are credited as being the most
comprehensive textbooks on the market. His simple and clear manner in imparting
knowledge is his greatest charm. --Augusta Foss Heindel --April 15, 1937
THE ETHERS AND LAWS OF NATURE
To speak of ethers as an avenue of forces
conveys no meaning to the average mind, because force is invisible. But to an
occult investigator the forces are not merely names such as steam, electricity,
etc. He finds them to be intelligent beings of varying grades, both sub- and
superhuman. What we call "laws of nature" are great intelligences
which guide more elemental beings in accordance with certain rules designed to
further their evolution.
In the Middle Ages, when many people were
still endowed with a remnant of NEGATIVE clairvoyance, they spoke of gnomes and
elves or fairies, which roamed about the mountains and forests. These were the
EARTH spirits. They also told of the undines or WATER sprites, which inhabited
rivers and streams, of sylphs which were said to dwell in the mists above moat
and moor as air spirits, but not much was said of the salamanders, as they are
fire spirits, and therefore not so easily detected, nor so readily accessible to
the majority of people.
The old folk-stories are now regarded as
superstitions, but as a matter of fact, one endowed with etheric vision may yet
perceive the little gnomes building green chlorophyll into the leaves of plants
and giving to flowers the multiplicity of delicate tints which delight our eyes.
Scientists have attempted time and again to
offer an adequate explanation of the phenomena of wind and storm but have failed
signally, nor can they succeed while they seek a mechanical solution to what is
really a manifestation of life. Could they see the hosts of sylphs winging their
way hither and thither, they would KNOW who and what is responsible for the
fickleness of the wind; could they watch a storm at sea from the etheric
viewpoint they would perceive that the saying "the war of the
elements" is not an empty phrase, for the heaving sea is truly then a
battlefield of sylphs and undines and the howling tempest is the war cry of
spirits in the air.
Salamanders are found everywhere, and no
fire is lighted without their help; but they are mostly active underground. They
are responsible for explosions and volcanic eruptions.
The classes of beings which we have
mentioned are still subhuman, but will all at sometime reach a stage in
evolution corresponding to the human, though under different circumstances from
those under which we evolve. But at present the wonderful intelligences we speak
of as the laws of nature, marshal the armies of the less evolved entities
mentioned.
To arrive at a better understanding of what
these various beings are, and their relation to us, we may take an illustration:
Let us suppose that a mechanic is making an engine, and meanwhile a dog is
watching him. It SEES the man at his labor, and how, from the crude iron, steel,
brass, and other metals the engine slowly takes shape. The dog is a being from a
lower evolution and does not comprehend the purpose of the mechanic but it SEES
the workman, his labor, and the result thereof, which manifests as an engine.
Let us suppose further that the dog were
able to see only the materials which slowly change their shape, assemble, and
become an engine but that it is unable to perceive the workman and to see the
work he does. The dog would then be in the same relation to the mechanic as we
are to the great intelligences we call laws of nature, and their assistants, the
Nature Spirits, for we behold the manifestations of their work as FORCE moving
matter in various ways but always under immutable conditions.
In the ether we may also observe the angels,
whose densest body is made of that material, as our dense body is formed of
gases, liquids, and solids. These beings are one step beyond the human stage, as
we are a degree in advance of the animal evolution. We have never been animals
like our present fauna, however, but at a previous stage in the development of
our planet we had an animal-like constitution. Then the angels were human,
though they have never possessed a dense body such as ours, nor ever functioned
in any material denser than ether. At some time, in a future condition, the
earth will again become ethereal. Then man will be LIKE the angels. Therefore
the Bible tells us that man was made A LITTLE WHILE lower than the angels.
(Hebrews 2:17. See marginal reading.)
As ether is the avenue of vital, creative
forces, and as angels are such expert builders of ether, we may readily
understand that they are eminently fitted to be warders of the propagative
forces in plant, animal, and man. All through the Bible we find them thus
engaged: Two ANGELS came to Abraham and announced the birth of Isaac. They
PROMISED a child to the man who had obeyed God. Later THESE SAME ANGELS
destroyed Sodom for ABUSE OF THE CREATIVE FORCE. ANGELS foretold TO THE PARENTS
of Samuel and Samson, the birth of these giants of brain and brawn. To Elizabeth
came the ANGEL (not archangel) Gabriel, and announced the birth of John; later
he appeared also to Mary with the message that she was chosen to bear Jesus.
HEAVEN WORLD ACTIVITY AND NATURE FORCES
We are wont to speak of evolution, but do we
ever analyze what it is that makes evolution, why it does not stop in
stagnation? If we do, we must realize that there are forces back of the visible
which make the alteration in the flora and fauna, the climatic and topographical
changes which are constantly going on; and it is then but a natural question,
what or who are the forces or agents in evolution?
Of course, we are well aware that scientists
give certain mechanical explanations. They deserve great credit; they have
accomplished much when we take into consideration that science is but an infant
and has only five senses and ingenious instruments at its command. Its
deductions are marvelously true, but that does not say that there may not be
underlying causes which it cannot, as yet, perceive, but which give a more
thorough understanding of the matter than the mere mechanical explanation
affords. An illustration will elucidate the point.
Two men are conversing, when suddenly one
knocks the other down. There we have an occurrence, a fact, and we may explain
it in a mechanical way by saying: "I saw one man contract the muscles of
his arm, direct a blow at the other, and knock him down." That is a true
version, so far as it goes, but the occult scientist would see also the angry
thought which inspired the blow, and would be giving a more complete version if
he said that the man was knocked down by a thought; for the clenched fist was
but the irresponsible instrument of aggression. Failing the impelling force of
the angry thought, the hand would have remained inert and the blow would never
have been struck.
Thus occult science refers all causes to the
Region of Concrete Thought, and tells how they are generated there by human and
superhuman spirits.
Remembering that the creative archetypes of
everything we see in the visible world are in the World of Thought, which is the
realm of tone, we are prepared to understand that the archetypal forces are
constantly playing through these archetypes which then emit a certain tone, or,
where a number of them have massed to create a species of plant, animal, or
human FORMS, the different sounds blend into one grand chord. That single tone
or chord, as the case may be, is then the keynote of the form thus created, and
as long as it sounds, the form of the species endures; when it ceases the single
form dies or the species dies out.
A jumble of sound is not music any more than
words massed together haphazard are a sentence. But ORDERLY RHYTHMIC SOUND is
the builder of all that is, as John says in the first verses of his gospel,
"In the beginning was the WORD...and without it was not anything
made"; also "the Word was made flesh."
Thus we see that sound is the creator and
sustainer of all form, and in the Second Heaven the Ego becomes one with the
nature forces. With them he works upon the archetypes of land and sea, on flora
and fauna, to bring about the changes which gradually alter the appearance and
condition of the earth and thus afford a new environment, MADE BY HIMSELF, in
which he may reap new experience.
He is directed in this work by great
Teachers belonging to the Creative Hierarchies, which are called angels,
archangels, and other names, all of whom are God's ministers. They instruct him
then consciously in the divine art of creation, both as to the world and the
objects in it. They teach him how to build a FORM for himself, giving him the
so-called "nature spirits" as helpers, and thus man is serving his
apprenticeship to become a Creator each time he goes to the Second Heaven. There
he builds the archetype of the form which he later externalizes at birth.
There are four ethers, called chemical,
life, light and reflecting ethers. Forces work along the positive and negative
poles of the different ethers. The egos in the Heaven World are part of those
forces, and thus the very people whom we call dead are the ones who build our
bodies and help us to live. We may also note that no one can have a better dense
body than he can build. If one makes a mistake in his heaven world work, he
finds it out when he comes to use such a defective body on earth, and thereby
learns to correct the fault the next time he builds an archetype.
All the denizens of the Heaven World work
upon the models of the earth, all of which are in the Region of Concrete
Thought. They alter the physical features of the earth, and bring about the
gradual changes which vary its appearance, so that on each return to physical
life a different environment has been prepared, wherein new experiences may be
gained. Climate, FLORA, and FAUNA are altered by man under the direction of
higher Beings.
Thus the world is just what we ourselves,
individually and collectively, have made it; and it will be what we make it. The
occult scientist sees in everything that happens a cause of a spiritual nature
manifesting itself, not omitting the prevalence and alarmingly increasing
frequency of seismic disturbances, which it traces to the materialistic thought
of modern science.
It is true that purely physical causes can
bring about such disturbances, but is that the last word on the subject? Can we
always get the full explanation by merely recording what appears on the surface?
Surely not! The occultist says that if materialism had not been, seismic
disturbances would not have occurred.
Man's work in the Heaven World is not
confined solely to the alteration of the surface of the earth which is to be the
scene of his future struggles in the subjugation of the Physical World. He is
also actively engaged in learning how to build a body which shall afford a
better means of expression. It is man's destiny to become a Creative
Intelligence and he is serving his apprenticeship all the time. During his
heaven life he is learning to build all kinds of bodies--the human included.
Thus we see that man learns to BUILD his
vehicles in the Heaven World, and to USE them in the Physical World. Nature
provides all phases of experience in such a marvelous manner and with such
consummate wisdom that as we learn to see deeper and deeper into her secrets we
are more and more impressed with our own insignificance and with an ever growing
reverence for God, whose visible symbol nature is.
THE MISSION OF CHRIST AND THE FESTIVAL OF THE FAIRIES
Whenever we are confronted by one of
nature's mysteries which we are at a loss to explain, we simply add a new name
to our vocabulary which we then use in learned juggling to hide our ignorance of
the subject. Such are the AMPERE which we use to measure the volume of the
electric current, the VOLT which we say indicates the strength of the current,
and the OHM which we use to show what resistance a given conductor offers to the
passage of the current. Thus by much study of words and figures, the master
minds of electrical science attempt to persuade themselves and others that they
have fathomed the mysteries of the elusive force which plays such an important
part in the world's work; but when all is said and they are in a confidential
mood, they admit that the brightest lights of electrical science know but very
little more about it than the schoolboy who is just beginning to experiment with
his cells and batteries.
Similarly in the other sciences: Anatomists
cannot distinguish the canine from the human embryo for a long time, and while
the physiologist talks learnedly about metabolism, he cannot escape the
admission that the laboratory tests whereby he endeavors to imitate our
digestive processes must be and are widely different from the transmutations
undergone in the chemical laboratory of the body by the nourishment we take.
This is not said to disparage or belittle the wonderful achievements of science,
but to emphasize the fact that there are factors behind all manifestations of
nature--intelligences of varying degrees of consciousness, builders and
destroyers, who perform important parts in the economy of nature--and until
these agencies are recognized and their work studied, we can never have an
adequate conception of the way the nature forces work, which we call heat,
electricity, gravity, chemical action, etc. To those who have cultivated the
spiritual sight, it is evident that the so-called dead spent part of their time
in learning to build bodies under the guidance of certain spiritual Hierarchies.
They are the agents in the metabolic and anabolic processes; they are the unseen
factors in assimilation, and it is therefore literally true that we should be
unable to live save for the important aid rendered to us by those whom we call
dead.
In relation to the nature forces we
learnedly explain how heat from the sun evaporates the water of the rivers and
oceans, causing it to ascend to the cooler regions of the air where it condenses
to clouds which finally become so saturated with moisture that they gravitate
towards the earth as rain to replenish the rivers and oceans and be again
evaporated. It is all perfectly simple, a nice automatic perpetual motion
process. But is that all? Are there not a number of holes in this theory? We
know that there are, though we can not digress too far from our subject to
discuss them. One thing is lacking to fully explain it, namely, the
semi-intelligent action of the sylphs who lift the finely divided vaporized
particles of water prepared by the undines, from the surface of the sea and
carry them as high as they may before partial condensation takes place and
clouds are formed. These particles of water they keep until forced by the
undines to release them. When we say it storms, battles are being fought on the
surface of the sea and in the air, sometimes with the aid of salamanders to
light the lightning torch of separated hydrogen and oxygen and send its
awe-inspiring shaft crashing zigzag through the inky darkness, followed by
ponderous peals of thunder that reverberate in the clearing atmosphere, while
the undines triumphantly hurl the rescued raindrops to earth that they may be
again restored to union with their mother element.
The little gnomes are needed to build the
plants and the flowers. It is their work to tint them with the innumerable
shades of color which delight our eyes. They also cut the crystals in all the
minerals and make the priceless gems that gleam from golden diadems. Without
them there would be no iron for our machinery nor gold wherewith to pay for it.
They are everywhere and the proverbial bee is not busier. To the bee, however,
is given credit for the work it does, while the little Nature Spirits that play
such an immensely important part in the world's work are unknown save to a few
so-called dreamers.
At the summer solstice the physical
activities of nature are at their apex or zenith. Therefore "Midsummer
Night" is the great festival of the fairies who have wrought to build the
material universe, nourished the cattle, nurtured the grain and are hailing with
joy and thanksgiving the crest wave of force which is their tool in shaping the
flowers into the astonishing variety of delicate shapes called for by their
archetypes and in tinting them in unnumbered hues which are the artist's delight
and despair. On this greatest of all nights of the glad summer season they flock
from fen and forest, from glen and dale, to the Festival of the Fairies. They
really bake and brew their etheric foods and afterwards dance in ecstasies of
joy, the joy of having brought forth and served their important purpose in the
economy of nature.
It is an axiom of science that nature
tolerates nothing that is useless. Parasites and drones are an abomination; the
organ that has become superfluous atrophies; so does the limb or eye that is no
longer used. Nature has work to do and requires work of all who would justify
their existence and continue as part of her. This applies to plant and planet,
man and beast, and to the fairies as well. They have their work to do; they are
busy folk and their activities are the solution to many of nature's multifarious
mysteries, as already explained.
Later, at the time of the winter solstice,
we are at the other pole of the yearly cycle where the days are short and the
nights long; physically speaking, darkness hangs over the Northern Hemisphere;
but the wave of spiritual light and life which will be the basis of next year's
growth and progress is now at its greatest height and power. On Christmas night
at the winter solstice when the celestial sign of the Immaculate Virgin stands
upon the eastern horizon at midnight, the sun of the new year is born to save
humanity from the cold and the famine which would ensue were its beneficent
light withheld. At that time the Christ Spirit is born into the earth and
commences to leaven and fertilize the millions of seeds which the fairies build
and water that we may have physical food. But, "Man shall not live by bread
alone." Important as is the work of the fairies, it fades into
insignificance compared with the mission of Christ who brings to us each year
the spiritual food needed to advance us upon the path of progress, that we may
attain perfection in love with all which that implies.
FORCES OF DIFFERENT PERIODS
In the Moon Period, contact of the heated
sphere with cold Space generated moisture, and the battle of the elements
commenced in all its fierceness. The heated ball of fire endeavored to evaporate
the moisture, force it outwards and create a vacuum wherein to maintain its
integrity and burn undisturbed. But there is and can be no void in nature, hence
the outrushing steam condensed at a certain distance from the heated ball and
was again driven inwards by the cold of Space, to be again evaporated and
propelled outwards in a ceaseless round for ages and ages, as a shuttlecock
between the separate Hierarchies of Spirits composing the various Kingdoms of
Life, represented in the Fire-Sphere and Cosmic Space which is an expression of
the Homogeneous Absolute Spirit. The Fire Spirits are actively striving to
attain enlargement of consciousness. But the Absolute rests, ever clothed in the
invisible garment of Cosmic Space. In "It" all powers and
possibilities are LATENT, and It seeks to discourage and check any attempt at
expenditure of latent power as dynamic energy required in the evolution of a
solar system. Water is the agent It used to quench the fire of active spirits.
The zone between the heated center of the separate Spirit Sphere, and the Point
where its individual atmosphere meets Cosmic Space, is a battleground of
evolving spirits at various stages of evolution.
The present angels were human in the Moon
Period, and the highest Initiate is The Holy Spirit (Jehovah).
As our humanity and the other Kingdoms of
Life on earth are variously affected by the present elements, so that some like
heat, other prefer cold; some thrive on moisture and others require dryness; so
also in the Moon Period among the angels, some had affinity for water, others
abhorred it and loved the fire.
From the Cosmic angle or viewpoint we note
that Solomon's Temple is the Solar Universe, and Hiram Abiff, the Grand Master,
is the Sun which travels around the twelve signs of the zodiac, enacting there
the mystic drama of the Masonic Legend. At the Vernal Equinox the Sun leaves the
watery sign Pisces, which is also feminine and docile, for the belligerent,
martial, energetic, FIERY SIGN ARIES, the ram or lamb, where it is exalted in
power. It fills the universe with a creative fire which is immediately seized
upon by the innumerable billions of nature spirits who therewith build the
Temple of the coming year in forest and fen. The forces of fecundation applied
to the countless seeds slumbering in the ground cause them to germinate and fill
the earth with luxuriant vegetation while the group spirits mate the beasts and
birds in their charge so that they may bring forth and increase sufficiently to
keep the fauna of our planet at normal.
The OBJECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS by which we
obtain knowledge of the outside world is dependent upon what we perceive through
the medium of the senses. This we call "real," in contradistinction to
our thoughts and ideas which come to us through our inner consciousness; their
reality is not apparent to us in the same way as that of a book or table, or
other visible or tangible object in space. Thoughts and ideas seem misty and
UNreal, therefore we speak of a "mere" thought, or of "just"
an idea.
The ideas and thoughts of today, however,
have an evolution before them; they are destined to become as real, clear, and
tangible as any of the objects of the outside world which we now perceive
through the physical senses. At present, when a thing or a color is thought of,
the picture or color presented by the memory to our inner consciousness is but a
dim and shadowy one compared with the thing thought of.
As early as the Jupiter Period there will be
a marked change in this respect. Then the dream pictures of the Moon Period will
return, but they will be subject to the call of the thinker, and not mere
reproductions of outer objects. Thus there will be a combination of the pictures
of the Moon Period and the thoughts and ideas consciously developed during the
Earth Period, that is, it will be a SELF-CONSCIOUS PICTURE-CONSCIOUSNESS.
When a man of the Jupiter Period says
"red," or speaks the name of an object, clear and exact reproduction
of the particular shade of red of which he is thinking, or of the object to
which he refers, will be presented to his inner vision and will also be quite
visible to the hearer. There will be no misconception as to what is meant by the
words spoken. Thoughts and ideas will be alive and visible, therefore hypocrisy
and flattery will be entirely eliminated. People will be seen exactly as they
are. There will be the thoroughly good man and the downright evil man, and one
of the serious problems of that time will be how to deal with the latter. The
Manichees, an Order of still higher spirituality than the Rosicrucians, are at
present studying that very problem. An idea of the condition anticipated may be
gained from a short resume of their legend. (All mystic orders have a legend
symbolical of their ideals and aspirations.)
In the legend of the Manichees there are two
kingdoms, that of the Light Elves and that of the Night Elves. The latter attack
the former, are defeated and must be punished. But, as the Light Elves are as
thoroughly good as the Night Elves are bad, they cannot inflict evil upon their
foes, so THEY MUST BE PUNISHED WITH GOOD. Therefore a part of the kingdom of the
Light Elves is incorporated with that of the Night Elves and in this way the
evil is in time overcome. Hate which will not submit to hate must succumb to
Love.
The internal pictures of the Moon Period
were a certain expression of man's external environment. In the Jupiter Period
the pictures will be expressed from within; they will be an outcome of the inner
life of the man. He will also possess the additional faculty, which he
cultivated in the Earth Period, of seeing things in space outside himself. In
the Moon Period he did not see the concrete thing, but only its soul qualities.
In the Jupiter Period he will see both, and will thus have a thorough perception
and understanding of his surroundings. At a later stage in the same Period this
perceptive ability will be succeeded by a still higher phase. His power to form
clear mental conceptions of colors, objects, or tones will enable him to contact
and influence supersensuous beings of various orders and to secure their
obedience, employing their forces as he wishes. He will be unable to send out
from himself the forces wherewith to carry out his designs, however, and will be
dependent upon the help of these superphysical beings, who will then be at his
service.
At the close of the Venus Period he will be
able to use his own force to give his pictures life and to set them out from
himself as objects in space. He will then possess an objective, self-conscious,
creative-consciousness.
THE EARTH SPIRIT
Most of us walk upon earth and see only a
seemingly dead mass, but one of the first facts revealed in our consciousness by
Initiation is the living reality of the Earth Spirit. As the surface of the body
is dead compared to the organs within, so the outer envelope of the earth, being
encrusted, gives no idea of the wonderful activity within. Upon the path of
Initiation nine different layers are revealed, and in the center of this rolling
sphere we meet the Spirit of the Earth face to face. It is actually true that it
is "groaning and travailing" in the earth for the sake of all, working
and anxiously waiting for our manifestation as Sons of God so that, as the
seeking soul, which aspires to liberation is released from its dense body, the
Earth Spirit also may be liberated from its body of death in which it is now
confined for us.
Of course, the Earth Spirit is not to be
thought of as a larger man, or as having physical form other than the earth
itself. The vital body of Jesus, in which the Christ Spirit was focused prior to
its actual ingress into the earth, has the ordinary human form; it is preserved
and is shown to the candidate at a certain point in his progression. Some day in
the far future it will again house the benevolent Christ Spirit upon His return
from the center of the earth, when we shall have become etheric, and when He is
ready to ascend to higher spheres, leaving us to be taught of the Father, whose
religion will be higher than the Christian religion.
The Faust myth presents a curious situation
in the meeting of the hero, who is the seeking soul, with different classes of
spirits. The spirit of Faust, inherently good, feels drawn to the higher orders;
it feels akin to the benevolent Earth Spirit, and bemoans the inability to
detain and learn from it. Face to face with the Spirit of Negation, who is only
too willing to teach and serve, he finds himself master in a certain sense,
because that spirit cannot leave over the symbol of the five-pointed star in the
position it is placed upon the floor. But both his inability to detain the Earth
Spirit and obtain tuition from that exalted Being, and his mastery over the
Spirit of Negation, are due to the fact that he has come into contact with them
BY CHANCE and not by soul power evolved from within.
When Parsifal, the hero of another of these
great soul myths, first visited the Castle of the Grail, he was asked how he had
come there, and he answered "I know not." He had just HAPPENED to
enter the holy place as a soul sometimes gets a glimpse of the celestial realms
in a vision; but he could not stay in Montsalvat. He was forced to go out into
the world again and learn his lessons. Many years he returned to the Castle of
the Grail, weary and worn with the quest, and the same query was asked:
"How did you come here?" But this time his answer was different, for
he said, "Through search and suffering I came."
That is the cardinal point which marks the
great difference between persons who happen to come in contact with spirits from
superphysical realms by chance or stumble upon the solution of a law of nature,
and those who, by diligent research and particularly by LIVING THE LIFE, attain
to conscious Initiation into the secrets of nature. The former do not know how
to use this power intelligently and are therefore helpless. The latter are
always masters of the forces they wield, while the others are the sport of
anyone who wishes to take advantage of them.
TWO QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
A student asks: "Is not nature guilty
of frequent malformations in the plant and animal world as well as in the human
race, and can there be a perfectly whole and sane intelligence with a forceful
will in a diseased or malformed body?"
In reply we would ask, what is here meant by
nature? Bacon says that nature and God differ only as the print and the seal.
Nature is the visible symbol of God, and we are too apt to think of nature
nowadays in a materialistic sense. Back of every manifestation in nature there
are forces, NOT BLIND FORCES, BUT INTELLIGENCES which motivates action. What we
speak of as electricity, as magnetism, as expansion in steam, etc., are
intelligences which work unseen to us when certain conditions are brought about.
Nature spirits build the plants, form the crystals of the rock, and with
numerous other hierarchies are working around and about us unseen, but
nevertheless busy in making that which we call nature.
These are all evolving beings, like
ourselves, and the very fact that they are evolving shows that they are
imperfect and therefore apt to make mistakes which naturally result in
malformations, so that it may be said in answer to the question that the
invisible intelligences which make what we call nature are guilty of frequent
mistakes as well as we.
As to the second part of the question,
whether there can be a perfectly whole and sane intelligence with a forceful
will in a diseased or malformed body, we may say "Yes, undoubtedly,"
but as the expression of that intelligence is dependent upon the efficiency of
its instrument, it may, naturally, be hampered by the physical deformity, on the
same principle that no matter how skilled the workman is, his efficiency depends
in a great measure upon the condition of his tools.
The following interesting enquiry is worthy
of attention: "It is stated in the COSMO-CONCEPTION that the faculty of
space perception is connected with the delicate adjustment of the three
semi-circular canals in the ear, pointing in the three dimensions of space.
Logical thought and mathematical ability are in proportion to the accuracy of
their adjustment.
"It seems that the perception of the
fourth dimension has been arrived at by mathematicians of a very high degree.
Can you tell me if there is any chance in the arrangement of these semi-circular
canals, or what is the process that leads up to the fourth dimensional
consciousness?"
"It would also seem that nature spirits
and elementals have this fourth dimensional consciousness which is a higher
degree of consciousness than that which we now possess and possibly higher than
possessed by the bee or the Elberfeld horses. Will you please supply the missing
link? What makes man or humanity superior to these beings and what is the
arrangement of these semi- circular canals in the case of these gifted
horses?"
To the majority of mankind figures are
exceedingly dry. They are not only uninteresting, but exceedingly tedious, for
we are used to living an outward life among other people and friends where we
give expression to our desires, feelings, and emotions. The more these are
stirred the more interesting we find life and contrariwise the things that do
not cause a ripple of emotion are held to be dull and uninteresting. Therefore
the majority do not take to mathematics or anything else that will sharpen the
mind without at the same time arousing the emotional nature.
We know that God geometrizes, that all the
processes of nature are founded upon a systematic calculation which argues the
great Master Mind. When God as the great Architect of the universe has built the
whole world upon mathematical lines we may know that consciously or
unconsciously the mathematician is reaching out in a direction in which
eventually he will find himself face to face with God and this in itself argues
an expansion of consciousness. When we consider the fact that each one of the
semi-circular canals is in fact a supersensitive spirit-level adjusted so as to
indicate to our consciousness the motion of our body through the length and
breadth, height or depth of space we may easily understand that their accurate
adjustment is necessary to space perception. If they are true, then the space
perception of that person is perfect, and if he takes up the study of
mathematics then his theories will agree with what he sees in the world as
actual facts. This in some high minds engenders an actual love of figures so
that they may rest such a mind instead of being a source of fatigue may arouse
in him the latent spiritual faculties, but not through any change in the semi-
circular canals for these are bony structures and not easily changed during the
lifetime. There is no doubt, however, that one who has a taste for music or
mathematics will later build these canals more accurately in the Second Heaven
between death and a new birth.
With respect to the consciousness of the
ELEMENTALS OR NATURE SPIRITS, it is quite correct to assume that they have what
may be called a fourth dimensional consciousness, for in addition to the height,
width, and depth which are the dimensions of space in the physical world, there
is what we may call "thoroughness" in the ethers. With the etheric
sight you may look into a mountain and if you have an etheric body such as the
nature spirits possess, you may also walk through the hardest granite rock. It
will offer no more obstruction than the air does to our progress here, in fact
not so much, for here we are hindered by winds. But even among nature spirits
there are different entities and a corresponding variation of consciousness.
The bodies of the gnomes are made of the
chemical ether principally and therefore they are of the earth earthy; that is,
one never sees them fly about as do the sylphs. They can be burned in fire. They
also grow old in a manner not so greatly different from human beings.
The undines which live in the water and the
sylphs of the air are also subject to mortality, but their bodies being composed
of the life and light ethers respectively, make them much more enduring, so that
while it is stated that the gnomes do not live more than a few hundred years,
the undines and sylphs are said to live for thousands, and the salamanders whose
bodies are principally built of the fourth ether are said to live many thousands
of years. The CONSCIOUSNESS, which builds and ensouls these bodies, however,
belongs to a number of divine hierarchs who are gaining additional experience in
that manner; and the FORMS which are built of matter and thus ensouled have
attained a degree of self-consciousness; during these long existences they have
a sense of their own transitory existence and it is to their rebellion against
this state of things that the war of the elements, notably, fire, air, and
water, is due. Fancying that they are being held in bondage they seek liberation
from the leash by force and having no sense to guide themselves, run amuck in a
destructive manner which at times brings about great catastrophes. The
consciousness of the gnomes is too dull to take the initiative but they not
infrequently become accomplices of the other nature spirits by opening passages
which favor explosions in the rock.
However, this has no connection at all with
the Elberfeld horses or kindred animal prodigies. These are the wards of their
respective group spirits and it is probably the last time they will seek
embodiment in an animal form. When that happens, such spirits are relegated to
Chaos where they must wait during the Cosmic Night for their less gifted
brothers until the time when it is possible to begin their human evolution in
the Jupiter Period.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE EARTH: AND VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Even among occult scientists it is counted
among the most difficult problems to investigate the mysterious construction of
the earth. Every occult scientist knows how much easier it is to thoroughly and
accurately investigate the Desire World and the Region of Concrete Thought and
bring back the results into the Physical World than to investigate completely
the secrets of our physical planet, because to do that fully, one must have
passed through the nine lesser Mysteries and the first of the Great Initiations.
Modern scientists know very little about
this matter. So far as seismic phenomena are concerned they very frequently
change their theories, because they are constantly discovering reasons why their
previous hypotheses were untenable. They have, with all their usual splendid
care, investigated the very outside shell, but only to an insignificant depth.
As for volcanic eruptions, they try to understand them as they try to understand
everything else, in a purely mechanical way, depicting the center of the earth
as a fiery furnace and concluding that the eruptions are caused by the
accidental admission of water and in other similar ways.
In a certain sense, their theories have some
foundation, but in this case they are, as always, neglecting the spiritual
causes, which to the occultist appear to be the true ones. To him, the world is
far from being "dead." On the contrary, its every nook and crevice is
permeated by spirit, which is the leaven that causes changes in and upon the
planet.
The different kinds of quartz, the metals,
the disposition of the various strata--all have a much higher significance than
the materialistic investigator has ever been able to grasp. To the occult
scientist, the way in which these materials are arranged is full of meaning.
To the trained clairvoyant sight of the
Initiate of the various degrees of the Mysteries, the earth appears built in
strata, something like an onion, one layer or stratum outside another. There are
nine such strata and the central core, making ten in all. These strata are
revealed to the Initiate gradually. One stratum becomes accessible to him at
each Initiation, so that at the end of the nine lesser Initiations he is master
of all the layers, but has not yet access to the secrets of the core.
In ancient parlance these nine steps are
called the "Lesser mysteries." They take the neophyte consciously
through all that relates to his past evolution, through the activities of
involuntary existence, so that he is able to understand the manner and meaning
of the work he then performed unconsciously. He is shown how the present
ninefold constitution (the threefold body, the threefold soul, and the threefold
spirit) was brought into existence; how the great creative Hierarchies worked on
the virgin spirit, awakening in it the Ego, helping it to form the body; and
also the work he himself has done, to extract from the threefold body as much of
the threefold soul as he now possesses. One step at a time is he led through the
nine steps of the lesser mysteries, the nine strata.
When the advancing man has passed through
the nine lesser Initiations, gaining thereby entrance to all the layers of the
earth, entrance into the core is yet to be won. That is opened to him by the
first of the Four Great Initiations, in which he learns to know the mystery of
the mind, that part of his being begun on earth. When he is ready for the first
Great Initiation he has developed his mind to the degree to which all men are
destined to attain at the end of the Earth Period. In that Initiation he is
given the key to the next stage, and all work done by him after that will be
such as humanity in general will do in the Jupiter Period, and does not concern
us at present.
Diagram 18 will give an idea of the
arrangement of the earth's strata, the central core being omitted to indicate
more clearly the lemniscate formation of the currents in the ninth stratum. In
the diagram the strata are represented as being of equal thickness, though in
reality some are much thinner than others. Beginning at the outside, they appear
in the following order:
(1) The Mineral Earth: This is the stony
crust of the earth, with which geology deals as far as it is able to penetrate.
Diagram No. 18: Constitution of the
Earth
(2) The Fluid Stratum: The matter of this
stratum is more fluid than that of the outside crust, yet it is not watery, but
rather more like a thick paste. It has the quality of expansion, like that of an
exceedingly explosive gas, and is kept in place only by the enormous pressure of
the outer crust. Were that removed, the whole of the fluid stratum would
disappear in space with a tremendous explosion. These correspond to the Chemical
and Etheric Regions of the Physical World.
(3) Vapor Stratum: In the first and second
strata there is really no conscious life. But in this stratum there is an ever
flowing and pulsating life as in the Desire World surrounding and
interpenetrating our earth.
(4) Water Stratum: In this stratum are the
germinal possibilities of all that exists upon the surface of the earth. Here
are the archetypal forces which are back of the group spirits; also the
archetypal forces of the minerals, for this is the direct physical expression of
the Region of Concrete Thought.
(5) Seed Stratum: Material scientists have
been baffled in their efforts to discover the origin of life, how the first
living things came forth from previously dead matter.
In reality, according to the occult
explanation of evolution, the question should be how the "dead" things
originated. THE LIFE WAS THERE PREVIOUS TO THE DEAD FORMS. It built its bodies
from attenuated vaporous substance long before it condensed into the earth's
solid crust. ONLY WHEN THE LIFE HAD LEFT THE FORMS COULD THEY CRYSTALLIZE AND
BECOME HARD AND DEAD.
Coal is but crystallized plant bodies; coral
is also the crystallization of animal forms. The life leaves the FORMS and the
FORMS die. Life never came into a form to awaken it to life. Life departed from
the forms and the forms died. Thus did "dead" things come to be.
In this fifth stratum is the primordial
fount of life from which came the impetus that built all the forms on earth. It
corresponds to the Region of Abstract Thought.
(6) Fiery Stratum: Strange as it may seem,
this stratum is possessed of sensation. Pleasure and pain, sympathy and
antipathy have here their effect on the earth. It is generally supposed that
under no possible circumstances can the earth have any sensation whatever. The
occult scientist, however, as he watches the harvesting of the ripe grain and
the gathering of fruit from the trees in the autumn, or the plucking of flowers,
knows the pleasure experienced by the earth itself. It is similar to the
pleasure felt by the cow when its bursting udders are being relieved by the
sucking calf. The earth feels the delight of having yielded nourishment for its
progeny of Forms, this delight reaching its culmination in the harvest time.
On the other hand, when plants are torn out
by the roots, it is patent to the occult scientist that the earth senses a sting
of pain. For that reason he does not eat the plant foods which grow under the
earth. In the first place they are full of the earth force and deficient in sun
force, and are additionally poisoned by being pulled up by the roots. The only
exception to this rule is that he may partake sparingly of the potato, which
originally grew on the surface of the earth, and has only in comparatively
recent times grown beneath the soil. Occultists endeavor to nourish their bodies
on fruits which grow toward the sun, because they contain more of the higher sun
force, and have not caused the earth pain.
It might be supposed that mining operations
would be very painful to the earth, but the reverse is the case. Every
disintegration of the hard crust causes a sensation of relief and every
solidification is a source of pain. Where a mountain torrent washes away the
soil and carries it toward the plains, the earth feels freer. Where the
disintegrated matter is again deposited, as in a bar outside the mouth of a
great river, there is a corresponding sense of uneasiness.
As sensation in animals and men is due to
their separate vital bodies, so the feeling of the earth is particularly active
in this sixth stratum, which corresponds to the World of Life Spirit. To
understand the pleasure felt when mining operations are disintegrating the hard
rock, and the pain when deposits gather, we must remember that the earth is the
dense body of a Great Spirit, and to furnish us with an environment in which we
could live and gather experience, it had to crystallize this body into its
present solid condition.
As evolution proceeds, however, and man
learns the lessons pertaining to this acme of concretion, then earth will become
softer and its Spirit more and more liberated. This is what Paul meant when he
spoke of the whole creation groaning and travailing, waiting for the day of
liberation.
(7) Refracting Stratum: This part of the
earth corresponds to the World of Divine Spirit. There are in occult science
what are known as "The Seven Unspeakable Secrets." For those who are
not acquainted with these secrets, or have not at least an inkling of their
import, the properties of this stratum must seem particularly absurd and
grotesque. In it all the forces which are known to us as the "Laws of
Nature" exist as moral, or rather immoral forces. In the beginning of the
conscious career of man they were much worse than at present. But it appears
that as humanity progresses in morals, these forces improve correspondingly;
also that any lapse in morals has a tendency to unleash these Nature Forces and
cause them to create havoc upon the earth; while the striving for higher ideals
makes them less inimical to man.
The forces in this stratum are thus, at any
time, an exact reflection of the existing moral status of mankind. From the
occult point of view, the "hand of God" which smites a Sodom or a
Gomorrah is not a foolish superstition, for as surely as there is individual
responsibility to the Law of Consequence which brings to each person the just
results of his deeds whether for good or evil, so is there also community and
national responsibility, which brings upon groups of men corresponding results
for their collective acts. Nature Forces are the general agents of such
retributive justice, causing floods, or earthquakes, or the beneficent formation
of oil or coal for various groups, according to their deserts.
(8) Atomistic Stratum: This is the name
given by the Rosicrucians to the eighth layer of the earth, which is the
expression of the World of Virgin Spirits. It seems to have the property of
multiplying many fold the things in it; this applies, however, only to those
things which have been definitely formed. An unshapen piece of wood, or an
unhewn stone has no existence there, but upon anything which has been shaped, or
has life and form (such as a flower or a picture), this stratum has the effect
of multiplication to an astonishing degree.
(9) Material Expression of the Earth Spirit:
There are here lemniscate currents, which are intimately connected with the
brain, heart, and sex organs of the human race. It corresponds to the World of
God.
(10) Center of Being of the Earth Spirit:
Nothing more can be said about this at present except that it is the ultimate
seed ground of all that is in and on earth, and corresponds to the Absolute.
End of
Nature Spirits and Nature Forces
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