Occult Principles of
Health and Healing
by
Max Heindel
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Table of Contents
PART II
DISEASE
Disease is really a fire, the INVISIBLE FIRE
which is THE FATHER endeavoring to break up the crystallized conditions which we
have gathered in our bodies. We recognize fever as a fire, but tumors, cancers,
and all other diseases are really also the effect of that invisible fire, which
endeavors to purify the system and free it from conditions which we have brought
about by breaking the laws of Nature.
Again, we may say that disease is a
manifestation of ignorance, the only sin, and healing is a demonstration of
applied knowledge, which is the only salvation. Christ is an embodiment of the
Wisdom Principle, and in proportion as the Christ is formed in us we attain to
health. Therefore, the healer should be spiritual and endeavor to imbue his
patient with high ideals so that we may eventually learn to conform to God's
laws which govern the universe, and thus attain permanent health in future lives
as well as now.
The Old Testament opens with the account of
how man was led astray by THE FALSE LIGHT of the Lucifer Spirits, giving birth
to all the sorrow and suffering in the world; it closes with the promise that
the Sun of Righteousness shall rise, with Healing in its wings. And in the New
Testament we find the Sun of Righteousness, THE TRUE LIGHT, come to save world,
and the first fact that is stated in regard to Him is that He is of Immaculate
Conception.
Now this point should be thoroughly
understood, that it is the Luciferian taint of passion which has brought sorrow,
sin, and suffering into the world. When the creative power is used for sense
gratification, whether in solitary or associated vice, with or without legal
marriage, that is the sin which cannot be forgiven; it must be expiated.
Humanity as a whole is now suffering for that sin. The debilitated bodies, the
sickness that we see around us has been caused by centuries of abuse, and until
we learn to subdue our passions there can be no true health among the human
race.
Prior to the impregnation of the desire body
with this demoniac principle, conception was immaculate and a sacrament. Men
walked in the presence of the Angels then, pure and unashamed. The act of
fertilization was as chaste as that of the flower. Therefore when the mischief
has been wrought, immediately the messenger, or Angel, girded them with leaves
to impress upon them the ideal which they must learn to live, namely, that of
the plant. Whenever we are able to perform the act of generation in a pure,
chaste, and passionless manner as the plant does, an immaculate conception takes
place and a Christ is born, capable of healing all the suffering of humanity,
capable of conquering death and establishing immortality, a true light to lead
humanity away from the will-o'-the-wisp of passion; through self-sacrifice to
compassion.
This then is the great ideal toward which we
are striving: to cleanse ourselves from the taint of egoism and self-seeking.
Therefore we look upon the emblem of the Rose Cross as an ideal. The seven red
roses typify the cleansed blood; the white rose shows the purity of life; and
the golden radiating star symbolizes that inestimable influence for health,
helpfulness and spiritual uplift which radiates from every SERVANT OF HUMANITY.
Until the Christ life illumines us from
within we do not comprehend, neither do we follow, the laws of Nature, and
consequently we contract diseases by our ignorant contravention of these laws.
As Emerson put it, a man who is sick is a scoundrel in the act of being found
out; he has broken the laws of Nature. That is why it is necessary that the
gospel of Christ should be preached; that every one of us should learn to love
our God with our whole heart and our whole soul and our brother as ourselves,
for all our trouble in the world, whether we recognize it or not, comes from the
one great fact of our selfishness. If the alimentative function is deranged,
what is the reason? It is not that we have overtaxed our system because we have
been angered, and exhausted our nervous force by trying to get someone to serve
our selfish ends, and we feel resentful because we have not succeeded? In every
case selfishness is the prime cause of most diseases; selfishness is the supreme
besetting sin of ignorance.
The disabilities which affect humanity may
be divided into two large classes: MENTAL and PHYSICAL. The mental troubles are
particularly traceable to the abuse of the creative function, when they are
congenital, with one exception which we shall note later. The same holds true in
case of impairment of the faculty of speech. This is reasonable and easy to
understand. The brain and the larynx were built with half of the creative force
by the Angels, so that man who, prior to the acquisition of these organs, was
bisexual and able to create from himself alone, lost that faculty when these
organs were created and is now dependent upon the cooperation of another of
opposite polarity or sex in order to generate a new vehicle for an incoming
Spirit.
When we use spiritual sight to look at man
in the Memory of Nature during the time when he was yet in the making, we find
that wherever there is now a nerve, there was first a desire current; that the
brain itself was made of desire substance in the first place and also the
larynx. It was desire that first sent a motive impulse through the brain and
created these nerve currents, that the body might be moved and obtain for the
Spirit whatever gratification was indicated by desire. Speech, also, is used for
the purpose of obtaining a desired object or end. Through these faculties man
has obtained a certain mastery over the world, and if he could just flit from
one body to another, there would be no end to his abuse of his power for
gratifying every whim and desire. But under the Law of Consequence he takes with
him into a new body, faculties and organs similar to those which he left behind
in the one preceding.
When passion has wrecked the body in one
life, it is stamped upon the seed atom. In the next descent to rebirth it is
therefore impossible for him to gather sound material with which to build a
brain of stable construction. He is then usually born under one of the common
signs, and usually also, the four common signs are on the angles; for through
these signs passionate desire finds it difficult to express itself. Thus the
powerful impulse which formerly ruled in his brain and which might be used for
the purpose of rejuvenescence is absent; he lacks incentive in life and
therefore he becomes helpless--a log upon the ocean of life--often insane.
But the Spirit is not insane; it sees,
knows, and has a keen desire to use the body, though that may be an
impossibility, for often it cannot even send a correct impulse along the nerves.
The muscles of face and body are therefore not under the control of its will.
This accounts for the lack of coordination which makes the maniac such a
pitiable sight. And thus the Spirit learns one of the hardest lessons in life,
namely, that it is worse than death to be tied to a living body and unable to
find expression through it because THE DESIRE FORCE necessary to accomplish
thought, speech, and motion HAS BEEN SPENT IN UNRIGHTEOUS LIVING in a previous
life and left the Spirit without the necessary energy to operate its present
fleshly instrument.
Though mental disabilities, when congenital,
are generally traceable to abuse of the creative function in a past life, there
is at least one notable exception to this rule: Where a Spirit, who has a
particularly hard life before it, comes down to rebirth and feels upon entering
the womb that the panorama of the coming life then shown it marks an existence
too hard for it to undergo, it sometimes tries to run away from the school of
life. At this time the Recording Angels or their agents have already made the
connection between the vital body and the sense centers of the brain in the
forming fetus; therefore the effort of the Spirit to escape from the mother's
womb is frustrated, but the wrench that is given by the Ego deranges the
connection between the etheric and physical sense centers, so that the vital
body is not concentric with the physical, causing the etheric head to extend
above the physical cranium. Thus it is impossible for the Spirit to use the
dense vehicle; it is tied to a mindless body which it cannot use, and the
embodiment is practically wasted.
We also find cases where a great shock later
in life causes the Spirit to endeavor to run away with the invisible vehicles.
As a result a similar wrench is given to the etheric sense centers in the brain,
and the shock deranges the mental expression. Everybody has probably felt a
similar sensation on receiving a fright; a surging as of something endeavoring
to get out of the dense body; that is the desire and vital bodies, which are so
swift in their action that an express train is as a snail by comparison. They
see and feel the danger and are frightened before the scare is transmitted to
the inert and slow physical body in which they are anchored, and which prevents
their escape under ordinary strain.
But at times, as said, the fright and shock
are sufficiently severe to give them such an impulse that the etheric sense
centers are deranged. This most frequently happens to persons born under common
signs, which are the weakest in the zodiac. However, as a ligament that has been
stretched and torn may gradually regain comparative elasticity, so also, in
these cases, it is easier to restore the mental faculties than in those cases
where congenital insanity, brought over from past lives, has caused inadequate
connection.
With regard to physical abnormalities and
deformities, the rule seems to be that as the physical indulgence of passion
reacts on the mental state, so the abuse of the mental powers in one life leads
to physical disability in later existences. An occult maxim says, "A lie is
both murder and suicide in the Desire World." The teachings of the Elder
Brothers given in THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION explain that whenever an
occurrence takes place, a certain thought form generated in the invisible world
makes a record of the incident. Every time the event is talked about or
commented upon, a new thought form is created which coalesces with the original
and strengthens it, provided they are both true to the same vibration. But if an
untruth is told concerning what happens, then the vibrations of the original and
those of the reproduction are not identical; they jar and jangle, tearing each
other to pieces. If the good and true thought form is sufficiently strong, it
will overcome and break down the thought forms based upon a lie, and the good
will overcome the evil but where the lies and malicious thoughts are the
stronger, they may overcome the true thought form of the occurrence and thus
demolish it. Afterwards they will jar among themselves, and all will in turn be
annihilated. All things, in the ultimate, work together for good.
Thus a person who lives a clean life,
endeavoring to obey the laws of God and striving earnestly for truth and
righteousness, will create thought-forms about him of a corresponding nature;
his mind will run in grooves that harmonize with truth; and when the time comes
in the second heaven to create the archetype for his coming life, he will
readily, intuitively, by force of habit from the past life, align himself with
the forces of right and truth. These lines being built into his body, will
create harmony in the coming vehicles, and health will therefore be his normal
portion in the coming life. Those who, on the other hand, have in the past life
taken a distorted view of things, displayed a disregard for truth, and exercised
cunning, extreme selfishness, and a disregard for the welfare of others, are
bound in the second heaven to see things in an oblique manner also, because that
is their habitual line of thought. Therefore, the archetype built by them will
embody lines of error and falsity; and consequently, when the body is brought to
birth, it will exhibit a weakness in various organs, if not in the whole bodily
organization.
Again we warn students not to draw quick
conclusions from these tentative rules. It is not our intention to imply that
everyone that has a seemingly healthy body has been a paragon of virtue in his
past life, and he who suffers from one disability or another has been a
scapegrace or good-for-nothing. None of us are able to tell at the present time
"the whole truth and nothing but the truth." We are deceived because
our senses are illusive. A long street seems to narrow in the distance, when, as
a matter of fact, it is just as wide a mile away as where we are standing. The
sun and the moon seem much larger when near the horizon than when at the zenith;
but, as a matter of fact, we know that they do not gain in size by descending
toward the horizon, nor lose by ascending into the mid-heaven. Thus we are
constantly making allowances for and correcting sense illusions; similarly, with
everything else in the world. What seems to be true is not always so, and what
is true today regarding conditions of life may change tomorrow. Therefore it is
impossible for us to know truth in the ultimate under the evanescent and
illusory conditions of physical existence.
It is only when we enter the higher realms,
and particularly into the Region of Concrete Thought, that the eternal verities
are to be perceived; hence we must necessarily make mistakes again and again,
even despite our most earnest efforts always to know and tell the truth. On that
account it is impossible for us to build a thoroughly harmonious vehicle. Were
that possible, such a body would really be immortal, and we know that
immortality in the flesh is not the design of God. Paul says that "flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."
But we know that even today only a very
small percentage are ready to live as near the truth as they see it, to confess
it and profess it before men by service and by righteous and harmless living. We
can only understand that such must have been few and far between in the by-gone
days, when man had not evolved the altruism that came to this planet with the
advent of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. The standards of morality were much
lower then, and the love of truth almost negligible in the greater part of
humanity, who were engrossed in their endeavors to accumulate as much wealth or
gain as much power or prestige for themselves as possible. They were therefore
naturally inclined to disregard the interests of others, and to tell a lie
seemed in no way reprehensible and sometimes even appeared meritorious. The
archetypes were constantly full of weaknesses, and the organic functions of the
body today are interfered with to a serious degree as a result, particularly as
the Western bodies are becoming more high strung and more sensitive to pain on
account of the Spirit's growing consciousness.
From the occultist's standpoint there are
four classes of insanity. Insanity is always caused by a break in the chain of
vehicles between the Ego and the physical body. This break may occur between the
brain centers and the vital body, or it may be between the vital and desire
body, between the desire body and the mind, or between the mind and the Ego. The
rupture may be complete or only partial.
When the break is between the brain centers
and the vital body, or between that and the desire body, we have the idiots.
When the break is between the desire body and the mind, the violent and
impulsive desire body rules and we have the raving maniac. When the break is
between the Ego and the mind, the mind is the ruler over the other vehicles and
we have the cunning maniac, who may deceive his keeper into believing that he is
perfectly harmless until he has hatched some diabolical, cunning scheme. Then he
may suddenly show his deranged mentality and cause a dreadful catastrophe.
There is one cause of insanity that it may
be well to explain, as it is sometimes possible to avoid it. When the Ego is
returning from the invisible world toward reembodiment, it is shown the various
incarnations available. It sees the coming life in its great and general events,
much as a moving picture passing before its vision. The it is given the choice,
usually, of several lives. It sees at that time the lessons it has to learn, the
fate it has generated for itself in past lives, and what part of that fate it
will have to liquidate in each of the embodiments offered. The it makes its
choice and is guided by the agents of the Recording Angels to the country and
family where it is to live its coming life.
The panoramic view is seen in the Third
Heaven where the Ego is naked and feels spiritually above sordid material
considerations. It is much wiser then that is appears here on Earth, where it is
blinded by the flesh to an inconceivable extent. Later, when conception has
taken place and the Ego draws into the womb of its mother, on about the 18th day
after that event, it comes in contact with the etheric mold of its new physical
body which has been made by the Recording Angels to give the brain formation
that will impress upon the Ego the tendencies necessary to work out its destiny.
There the Ego sees again the pictures of its
COMING life as the drowning man perceives the pictures of his PAST life--in a
flash. At that time the Ego is already partially blind to its spiritual nature,
so that if the coming life seems to be a hard one, it will oftentimes shrink
from entering the womb and making the proper brain connections. It may endeavor
to draw itself out quickly and then, instead of being concentric as the vital
and dense bodies should be, the vital body formed of ether may be drawn
partially above the head of the dense body. In that case the connection between
the sense centers of the vital body and the dense body are disrupted and the
result is congenital idiocy, epilepsy, St. Vitus Dance, and similar nervous
disorders.
The inharmonious relation between the
parents which sometimes exists is often the last straw that makes an Ego feel
that it cannot enter such an environment. Therefore, it cannot be too seriously
impressed upon prospective parents that during the gestatory period it is of the
utmost importance that every thing should be done to keep the mother in a
condition of contentment and harmony. For it is a very hard task for the Ego to
go through the womb; it taxes all its sensibilities to the very utmost, and
inharmonious conditions in the home it is entering are, of course, an added
source of discomfort, which may result in the above named dreadful state of
affairs.
Black magic in its minor forms, such as
hypnotism, for instance, sometimes causes congenital idiocy in a future life.
The hypnotist deprives his victims of the free use of their bodies. Under the
law of consequence he is then tied to a body with a malformed brain, which
prevents his expression. We must not infer, however, that every case of
congenital idiocy is due to such malpractice on the part of the Ego in a past
life; there are also other causes which may bring congenital idiocy as a result.
Drugs and breathing exercises, such as the
Eastern aspirant uses, have a dreadfully destructive effect upon the body, and
it will therefore be seen that their use is altogether undesirable. Many a man
is today in the insane asylum or in the grave of the consumptive on account of
breathing exercises, and the effects of drugs are well known. The atoms of the
Western body have been highly sensitized in the ordinary course of evolution,
and the exercises which may be used with impunity by an Eastern person, whose
body is not so highly sensitized, will cause the atoms of the Western body to
run riot. It is extremely difficult to bring them into proper repose again.
Where a person becomes a medium for a
disembodied Spirit which enters the body, as in the case of the trance medium
where it takes possession of the body and uses it as the owner might do, there
is little if any harm done, provided the Spirit control does not abuse his
privilege. In fact, there are some cases where Spirit controls have better idea
of caring for a body than the owner himself, and may sometimes improve the
health. But Spirits of a high ethical nature do not usually control a medium, it
is rather earthbound and low Spirits such as Indians and others of a like nature
who obtain a control over mediumistic persons, and when in possession of the
body they may use it to gratify their low passions for drink and sex. Thus they
cause a disturbance to the system and a deterioration of the instrument.
In the case of the materializing medium, we
may say that the influence is always injurious. The materializing Spirit
entrances the victim and then draws the ether of the vital body out through the
spleen, for the difference between the materializing medium and the ordinary
person is the fact that the connection between the vital body and the dense body
is exceedingly lax, so that it is possible to withdraw this vital body to a very
great extent. The vital body is the vehicle whereby the solar currents which
give us vitality are specialized. Deprived of the vitalizing principle, the body
of the medium at the time of the materialization sometimes shrinks to almost
one-half its usual size; the flesh becomes flabby and the spark of life burns
very low. When the seance is over and the vital body replaced the medium is
awakened and in normal consciousness. He then experiences a feeling of the most
terrible exhaustion and sometimes, unfortunately, resorts to drink to revive the
vital forces. In that case, of course, the health will very soon suffer and the
medium will become a total wreck. At any rate, mediumship should be avoided, for
apart from this danger to the instrument there are other and far more subtle
bodies, and particularly in connection with the after-death state.
Obsession is a state where a discarnate
Spirit has taken permanent possession of the body of someone after dispossessing
the owner. But sometimes people who have formed the habit of drunkenness or some
other low vice seek to excuse themselves by claiming to be obsessed. Wherever a
person makes that statement concerning himself, one may nearly always be sure
that it is nothing but an excuse, for a thief who has stolen something here in
the material world does not go about and tell people of his theft, neither does
an obsessing entity go around proclaiming the fact. It is very certain that such
an entity does not care what is thought about the man whose body he has stolen,
so that there is not reason why he should tell and risk being exorcised.
There is an infallible means of knowing
whether a person is really obsessed, namely, by diagnosis of the eye. "The
eye is the window of the soul," and only the true owner is capable of
contracting and expanding the iris, or pupil of the eye, so that if we take a
person who claims to be obsessed or whom we think is obsessed, to a room which
is darkened, we shall find that the pupil of his eye will not expand if he is
obsessed. Neither will the pupil contract when we bring him into the sunlight,
nor expand if we ask him to look at an object at a distance or contract when he
is asked to read small type. In short, the pupil of the eye will respond neither
to light nor to distance when a person is obsessed, but there is also a certain
disease called locomotor ataxia, where the iris will not respond to distance but
is responsive to light.
No one who maintains a positive attitude of
mind can ever become obsessed, for so long as we assert our individuality that
is strong enough to keep all outsiders away. But in spiritualistic seances where
the sitters are negative there is always a great danger. The best way to avoid
becoming obsessed would be to maintain this positive attitude, and anyone who is
at all negatively inclined should avoid going to spiritualistic seances, crystal
gazing, and other methods of evoking spirits. This is bad practice, anyway, for
those who have gone beyond have their work to do there and should not be brought
back here.
At the moment of death when the seed atom in
the heart, which contains all the experiences of the past life in a panoramic
picture, is ruptured, the spirit leaves its physical body taking with it the
finer bodies. It then hovers over the dense body which is now dead, as we call
it, for a time varying from a number of hours to three and one-half days. The
determining factor as to the time is the strength of the vital body, the vehicle
which constitutes the soul body spoken of in the Bible. There is then a
pictorial reproduction of the life, a panorama in reverse order from death to
birth, and the pictures are etched upon the desire body through the medium of
the reflecting ether in this vital body. During this time the consciousness of
the Spirit is concentrated in the vital body, or at least it should be, and it
has therefore no feeling about the matter. The picture that is impressed upon
the vehicle of feeling and emotion, the desire body, is the basis of subsequent
suffering in the life in Purgatory for evil deeds, and of enjoyment in the First
Heaven on account of the good done in the past life.
The investigations of later years have
revealed the additional fact that there is another process going on during these
important days following death. A cleavage takes place in the vital body similar
to that made by the process of initiation. So much of this vehicle as can be
termed "soul," coalesces with the higher vehicles and is the basis of
consciousness in the invisible worlds after death. The lower part which is
discarded, returns to the physical body and hovers over the grave in the great
majority of cases, as stated in the COSMO. This cleavage of the vital body is
not the same in all persons but depends upon the nature of the life lived and
the character of the person that is passing out. In extreme cases this division
varies very much from normal. This important point was brought out in many cases
of supposed spirit obsession which have been investigated from Headquarters; in
fact it was these cases which developed the far-reaching and astounding
discoveries brought out by our most recent researches into the nature of the
obsession from which the people who appealed to us were suffering. As might be
expected, of course, the division in these cases showed a preponderance of evil,
and efforts were then made to find out if there were not also another class of
people where a different division with a preponderance of good takes place. It
is a pleasure to record that this was found to be the case, and after weighing
the facts discovered, balancing one with another, the following seems to be a
correct description of the conditions and their reasons:
The vital body aims to build the physical,
whereas our desires and emotions tear down. It is the struggle between the vital
body and the desire body which produces consciousness in the Physical World, and
which hardens the tissues so that the soft body of the child gradually becomes
tough and shrunken in old age, followed by death. The morality or immorality of
our desires and emotions acts in a similar manner on the vital body. Where
devotion to high ideals is the mainspring to action, where the devotional nature
has been allowed for years to express itself freely and frequently, and
particularly where this has been accomplished by the scientific exercises of
Retrospection and Concentration, the quantity of the chemical and life ethers
gradually diminishes as the animal appetites vanish, and an increased amount of
the light and reflecting ether takes their place. As a consequence, the physical
health is not as robust among people who follow the higher path as among people
whose indulgence of the lower nature attracts the chemical and life ethers, in
proportion to the extent and nature of their vice, to the partial or total
exclusion of the two higher ethers.
Several very important consequences
connected with death follow this fact. As it is the chemical ether which cements
the molecules of the body in their places and keeps them there during life, when
only a minimum of this material is present, disintegration of the physical
vehicle after death must by very rapid. This the writer has not been able to
verify because it is difficult to find men of high spiritual proclivities who
have passed out recently, but it would seem that this is so from the fact
recorded in the Bible that the body of Christ was not found in the tomb when the
people came to look for it. As we have said before in relation to this matter,
the Christ spiritualized the body of Jesus so highly, made it so vibrant, that
it was almost impossible to keep the particles in place during His ministry. As
stated before, a worldly life increases the proportion of the lower ethers in
the vital body to that of the higher. Where, in addition, a so-called
"clean life" is lived and excesses avoided, the health during life is
more robust than that of the aspirant to the higher life, because the latter's
attitude to life builds a vital body composed principally of the higher ethers.
He loves "the bread of life" more than physical sustenance and
therefore his instrument becomes increasingly high-strung, nervous, and
delicate, a sensitive conditions which greatly furthers the objects of the
Spirit, but which is a hardship from the physical viewpoint.
In the majority of mankind there is such a
preponderance of selfishness and a desire to get the most out of life as they
view that matter, that either they are busy keeping the wolf from the door or
accumulating possessions and taking care of them, and hence they have very
little time or inclination to undertake the soul culture so necessary to true
success in life.
Therefore there is so little that persists
in each life of the majority and evolution is so frightfully slow that until one
is able to view the act of death from the higher regions of the World of
Concrete Thought and, so to say, look downwards, it does not appear that
anything is saved of the vital body. This body seems to return complete to the
physical body and hover over the grave, there to disintegrate simultaneously
with the latter. As a matter of fact, an increasing part cleaves to the higher
vehicles and goes with them into the desire world, there to be a basis of
consciousness in, and to live through, the purgatorial and heaven lives,
generally persisting until man enters the second heaven and unites with the
nature forces there in his efforts to create for himself a new environment. By
that time, it has been absorbed by the spirit or almost so, and whatever may
remain of a material nature will quickly fade away.
But there are some people who are of such an
evil nature that they ENJOY a life spent in vice and degenerate practices, a
brutal life, and who delight in giving pain. Sometimes they even cultivate the
occult arts for evil purposes so that they may have a greater power over their
victims. Then their fiendish, immoral practices result in hardening their vital
body.
In such extreme cases where the animal
nature has been paramount, where there has been no soul expression in the
preceding Earth life, the division in the vital body spoken of before cannot
take place at death, for there is no dividing line. In such a case, if the vital
body should gravitate back to the dense body and there gradually disintegrate,
the effect of a very evil life would not be so far-reaching, but unfortunately
there is in such cases an interlocking grip of the vital and the desire bodies
which prevents separation. We have seen that where a man lives mostly in the
higher nature, his spiritual vehicles are nourished to the detriment of the
lower. Conversely, where his consciousness is centered in the lower vehicles, he
strengthens them immeasurably. It should be understood that the life of the
desire body is not terminated by the departure of the spirit; it has a residual
life and consciousness. The vital body is also able to sense things in a slight
measure for a few days after death in ordinary cases (hence the suffering caused
by embalming, post-mortem examinations, etc., immediately after death), but
where a low life has hardened and endured it with great strength, it has a
tenacious hold on life and an ability to feed on odors of foods and liquors.
Sometimes, as a parasite, it even vampirizes people with whom it comes in
contact.
Thus an evil man may live for many, many
years unseen in our very midst, yet so close that he is nearer than hands and
feet. He is far more dangerous than the physical criminal for he is able to
prompt others of a similar bent to criminal or degenerate practices without fear
of detection or punishment by law.
Such beings are therefore one of the
greatest menaces to society imaginable. They have sent countless victims to
prison, broken up homes and caused an unbelievable amount of unhappiness. They
always leave their victims when the latter have come into the clutches of the
law. They gloat over their victim's sorrow and distress, this being a part of
their fiendish scheme. It is amazing when one searches the Memory of Nature of
the past to find how prevalent this interlocking condition of the desire and
vital bodies was in former centuries and millenniums. We realize, of course, in
a sort of an abstract way, that the farther we go back into the history of men
the more savage we find them, but that in our own historical times this savagery
should have been so common and so brutal and that might was the measure of right
absolutely and beyond dispute, was, to say the least, quite a shock to the
writer. It has been taught that selfishness and desire were purposely fostered
under the regime of Jehovah to give incentive to action. This in the course of
time had so hardened the desire body that when the advent of Christ took place,
there was almost no heaven life among the people then living.
Earthbound Spirits, such as previously
mentioned, gravitate to the lower regions of the Desire World which
interpenetrates the ether, and are in constant and close touch with those people
on Earth most favorably situated for aiding them in their evil designs. They
usually stay in the earthbound condition for fifty, sixty, or seventy-five
years, but extreme cases have been found in which such people so remain for
centuries.
When the Spirit has left the SIN BODY, as we
call this body in contrast to the soul body, to ascend to the Second Heaven, it
does not disintegrate as quickly as the ordinary shell left behind by normal
people, for the consciousness in it is enhanced by its dual composition; that is
to say, being composed of both a vital and desire body, it has an individual or
a personal consciousness that is very remarkable. It cannot reason, but there is
a low cunning present which makes it seem as though it were actually endowed
with a spiritual presence, an Ego, and this enables it to live a separate life
for many centuries. The departed Spirit meanwhile enters the Second heaven, but
having done no work on Earth to desire or merit a prolonged stay there or in the
Third heaven, it only stays there sufficiently long to create a new environment
for itself and it is then reborn much earlier than usual--to satisfy the
cravings for material things which draw it so strongly.
When the Spirit returns to Earth, this sin
body is naturally attracted towards it, and usually stays with it all its life
as a demon. Investigations have proved that this class of soulless creatures
were very prevalent during Biblical times, and it was to them that our Savior
referred as devils, they being the cause of various obsessions and bodily ills
such as are recorded in the Bible.
In addition to the entities already
mentioned who dwell in a sin body made by themselves, and who thus suffer
entirely from their own deeds in the period of expiation, two classes were found
which were similar in certain respects although different in others. In addition
to the divine Hierarchies and the four life waves of Spirits now evolving in the
Physical World through the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, there
also other life waves which express themselves in the various invisible worlds.
Among them there are certain classes of sub-human spirits which are called
elementals. It sometimes happens that one of these elementals takes possession
of the sin body of some one of a savage tribe, and thus adds extra intelligence
to that being. At the rebirth of the spirit that generated this sin body, the
usual attracting brings them together, but on account of the elemental ensouling
the sin body, the spirit becomes different from the other members of the tribe,
and we find them then acting as medicine men or in a similar capacity. These
elemental spirits ensouling the sin bodies of Indians also act upon mediums as
spirit controls, and having obtained power over the medium during life, when he
dies, these elemental controls oust him from the vehicles which contain his life
experience. Thus the medium may be retarded in evolution for ages, for there is
no power that can compel these spirits to let go, once they have gained control
of such a body. Therefore, though mediumship may produce no seeming evil effect
in a lifetime, there is a very, very grave danger after death to the person who
allows another to take possession of his body.
Hysteria, epilepsy, tuberculosis, and cancer
were all found to result from the erratic propensities of a past life. It was
noticed that though many of the subjects had been, in the past lives
investigated, almost maniacal in the gratification of their lasciviousness, they
were at the same that the physical body generated in the present life was
normally healthy and their disability altogether mental, while in other cases
where the indulgence of the passional nature was coupled with a vile character
and a cruel disregard of others, epilepsy together with rachitis, hysteria, and
a deformed body were the present result. Frequently, cancer, especially cancer
of the liver or breast resulted.
In this connection, however, we wish again
to warn students not to draw hasty conclusions that these are hard and fast
conditions. The number of investigations made, though very large and an arduous
task for one researcher to handle, are too few to be really conclusive in
matters involving millions of human beings. They are, however, in line with the
teachings of the COSMO given by the Elder Brothers regarding the effect of
materialism in bring about rachitis, a softening of a part of the body that
should be hard, and tuberculosis, which hardens tissues that should be soft and
pliable. Cancer is essentially similar in effect; and when we consider that the
sign Cancer is ruled by the Moon, the planet of generation, and that the lunar
sphere is under the sway of Jehovah, the God of generation, whose Angels
announce and preside over birth as instanced in the case of Isaac, Samuel, John
the Baptist, and Jesus, we readily see that abuse of the creative function can
cause both cancer and lunacy in the most differentiated forms.
Regarding lack of vision or disabilities or
the organ of sight, it has long been known among researches that it is the
effect of extreme cruelty in a past life. Recent investigations have developed
the further information that much of the eye trouble now prevalent among people
is due to the fact that OUR EYES ARE CHANGING; they are, in fact, becoming
responsive to a higher octave of vision that before, because the ether
surrounding the Earth is becoming more dense and the air is growing more rarer.
This is particularly true in certain parts of the world, Southern California
among others. It is noteworthy in this connection that the Aurora Borealis is
becoming more frequent and more powerful in its effects upon the Earth. In the
early years of the Christian Era this phenomenon was almost unknown, but in the
course of time as the Christ wave which descends into the Earth during part of
the year, infuses more and more of its own life into the dead, earthly lump, the
ETHERIC VITAL RAYS become visible at intervals. Later they became more and more
numerous and are now commencing to interfere with our electric activities,
particularly with telegraphy, which service is sometimes completely demoralized
by these radiating streamers.
It is also noteworthy that the disturbances
are confined to wires going east and west. Rays or lines of force from the plant
Group Spirits, radiate in all directions from the center of the Earth towards
the periphery and then outwards, passing through the roots of plants or trees,
then upwards towards the top of same.
The currents of the animal Group Spirits, on
the other hand, encircle the Earth. The comparatively weak and invisible
currents generated by the Group Spirits of the plants, and the very strong
powerful rays of force generated by the Christ Spirit now becoming visible as
the Aurora Borealis, have hitherto been of about the same nature as static
electricity, while the currents generated by the animal Group Spirits and which
encircle the Earth may be likened to dynamic electricity which gave the Earth
its power of motion in bygone ages. Now, however, the Christ currents are
becoming more and more forceful and their static electricity is being liberated.
The etheric impulse which they give will inaugurate a new era, and the sense
organs now possessed by mankind must accommodate themselves to this change.
Instead of the etheric rays which emanate from an object bringing a reflected
image to the retina of our eyes, the so-called "blind spot" will be
sensitized and we shall look out through the eye and see directly the thing
itself instead of the image upon our retina. Then we shall not only see the
surface of the thing we observe, but we shall be able to see through it as those
who have cultivated the etheric vision do now.
As time goes on and the Christ by His
beneficent ministration attracts more and more of the interplanetary ether to
the Earth, thus making its vital body more luminous, we shall be walking in a
sea of light, and when we learn to forsake our ways of selfishness and egotism
through the constant contact with these beneficent Christ vibrations, we shall
also become luminous. Then the eye as it is now constituted would not be of
service to is, therefore it is now beginning to change and we are experiencing
the discomfort incident to all reconstruction.
It was found by examining a number of people
in normal health that each of the prismatic atoms composing the lower ethers
radiated from itself the lines of force which set spinning the physical atom in
which it is inserted, enduring the whole body with life. The united trend of all
these units of force is toward the periphery of the body, where they constitute
what has been called the "Odic Fluid," also designated by other names.
When the air pressure from without is lowered by residence in a high altitude, a
tendency to nervousness becomes manifest because the etheric force from within
rushes outward unchecked; and were the man not able to shut off the outflow of
solar energy in part by an effort of will to overcome the difficulty, no one
could live in such a place.
We have heard of "shell shock" and
we are aware that numbers of people who had not even the slightest wound were
found dead on the battlefield. In fact, we had seen and spoken with people who
had passed out in this manner but were at a loss to know why death had resulted.
They all disclaimed fear and were unanimous in their assertion that they had
suddenly become unconscious and a moment later they had found themselves in
their present condition. They were unlike their fellows in that they had not a
single scratch on their bodies. Our preconceived idea that it must have been a
momentary fear at a particularly close call which, though unrealized, had caused
their demise, prevented a full investigation; but the ascertained results of the
consequences of a fall led us to believe that something similar might take place
in this connection; this surmise was correct.
One night some time ago while in transit to
a place in a far country where I had a mission to perform, I heard a cry. Though
the human voice can be heard only in air, there are overtones which are heard in
the spiritual realms at distances exceeding those traversed by wireless
messages. The cry was close by, however, and I was on the scene in an instant,
but not soon enough to give the needed help. I found a man sliding down a
slanting embankment, bare of vegetation, perhaps a dozen feet in width, and as
it proved on subsequent examination, almost smooth, and without a fissure which
would have afforded a hold for his fingers. To have saved him would have
involved materialization of both hands and shoulders, but there was no time. In
a moment he had slid over the overhanging precipice and was falling to the floor
of the canyon below, probably several thousand feet.
Prompted by a natural spirit of fellow
feeling I followed and on the way observed the phenomenon which is the way
observed the phenomenon which is the basis of this article, namely, that when
the body had attained a considerable velocity, the ethers composing the vital
body commenced to ooze out, and when the body crashed to rocks below, a mangled
mass, there was very little if any ether left in it. Gradually, however, the
ethers drifted together, took form, and hovered with the finer vehicles above
the mangled corpse; but the man was in a stupor and unable to sense or realize
the fact of his altered condition.
As soon as I saw that he was beyond help, I
went on; but on thinking the matter over it dawned on me that something unusual
had happened and that it was my duty to find out if the ethers left that way in
everyone who fell, and if so, why. Under old time conditions this would have
been difficult, but the advent of the flying machine claims many victims. It was
therefore easy to ascertain the fact that when a falling body has attained a
certain velocity, the higher ethers leave the dense body, and the falling man
becomes insensible. As the body reaches the ground, it is mangled, but the poor
man may regain consciousness when the ether has reorganized itself. He will then
begin to suffer from the physical consequences of the fall. If the fall
continues after the higher ethers have left, the increased velocity dislodges
the lower ethers, and the silver cord is all that remains attached to the body.
This is ruptured at the moment of impact with the ground, and the seed atom
passes on to the breaking point, where it is held in the usual way.
From these facts we came to the conclusion
that is the normal air pressure which holds the vital body within the dense.
When we move with an abnormal velocity, the pressure is removed from some parts
of the body and a partial vacuum formed, with the further result that the ethers
leave the body and flow into this vacuum. The two higher ethers, which are most
loosely bound, are the first to disappear and leave the man senseless after they
have produced the panorama of life in a flash. Then if the fall continues to
increase the air pressure in front of the body and the vacuum behind, the more
closely bound lower ethers are also forced out, and the body is dead before it
reaches the ground.
When a large projective passes through the
air, it creates a vacuum behind it by the enormous velocity wherewith it moves,
and if the person is within this vacuum zone while the shell is passing, he
suffers in a measure determined by his own nature and his proximity to the
center of suction. His position is in fact a reverse replica of the man who
falls; for he stands still while a moving body removes the air pressure and
allows the ethers to escape. If the amount of ether dislocated is comparatively
slight and is composed only of the third and fourth ethers which govern sense
perception and memory, he will probably suffer only a temporary loss of memory
and inability to sense things or move. This disability will disappear when the
extracted ethers are again fitted inside the dense body--a much more difficult
achievement than where the physical body succumbs and the reorganization takes
place without reference to that vehicle.
Our bodies are gradually hardening from
childhood to old age, on account of the chalky substances contained in most of
the foods we usually nourish our bodies upon. This calcareous matter is
primarily deposited in the walls of the arteries and veins, causing what is
known to the medical profession as arterio-sclerosis or hardening of the
arteries. The arteries of a little child are exceedingly soft an elastic, like a
rubber tube, but gradually as we advance through childhood, youth, and on toward
old age, the walls of the arteries become harder in consequence of the deposits
of chalk left by the passing blood. Thus in time they may become as stiff and
inelastic as a pipe stem. There is a condition which is called pipe-stem artery.
The arteries then become brittle and may break, causing hemorrhage and death.
Therefore it is truly said that a man is as old as his arteries. If we can clear
the arteries and capillaries of this earthy matter, we may gradually prolong
life and the usefulness of our body.
From the occult standpoint, of course, it is
no matter whether we live or die, as the saying is, for death to us does not
mean annihilation but only the shifting of the consciousness to other spheres;
nevertheless, when we have brought a vehicle through the useless years of
childhood past the hot years of youth, and have come to the time of discretion
when we are really beginning to gain experience, then the longer we can prolong
the time of experience the more we may gain. For that reason it is of a certain
value to prolong the life of the body.
In order to accomplish that result, we must
first select the foods that are least impregnated with the choking substances
which cause the induration of arteries and capillaries. These may be briefly
stated to be the green vegetables and all fruits. next, it is of importance to
seek to eradicate the choking matter which we have already absorbed, if that is
possible, but science has not yet found any food or medicine that will with
certainty produce that effect. Electric baths have been found to be exceedingly
beneficial but not entirely satisfactory. Buttermilk is the best agent for
eradicating this earthy substance and next comes grape juice. If taken
continually and in generous quantities, these substances will considerably
ameliorate the hardened condition of the arteries.
Unfortunately, people seem to lay their bad
traits to heredity, blaming their parents for their faults, while taking to
themselves all the credit for the good. The very fact that we differentiate
between that which is inherited and that which is our own shows that there are
two sides to man's nature, the side of the FORM, and the life side.
We are drawn to certain people by the law of
causation, and the law of association. The same law which causes musicians to
seek the company of one another in concert halls, gamblers to congregate at the
race tracks or in pool rooms, people of a studious nature to flock to libraries,
etc., also causes people of similar tendencies, characteristics, and tastes to
be born in the same family. When we hear a person say, "Oh, yes, I know I
am extravagant, but I just cannot help it. It runs in the family," it is
the law of association; and the sooner we recognize, that instead of making the
law of heredity an excuse for our evil habits, we should seek to conquer them
and cultivate virtues instead, the better for us.
Man is essentially spirit and he comes here
equipped with a mental and moral nature, which are entirely his own, taking from
his parents only the material for the physical body. Thus while heredity in the
first place is true only as regards the material of the dense body and not the
soul qualities, which are entirely individual, the incoming Ego also does a
certain amount of work on its dense body, incorporating in it the quintessence
of its past physical qualities. No body is an exact mixture of the qualities of
its parents, although the Ego is restricted to the use of the materials taken
from the bodies of the father and mother. Hence a musician incarnates where he
can get the material to build the slender hand and the delicate ear, with its
sensitive fibres of Corti and its accurate adjustment of the three semicircular
canals. The arrangement of these materials, however, is to the extent named,
under the control of the Ego.
In the fetus, in the lower part of the
throat just above the sternum or breast bone, there is a gland called the thymus
gland, which is largest during the period of gestation and which gradually
atrophies as the child grows older and disappears entirely by or before the
fourteenth year, very often when the bones have been properly formed. Science
has been very much puzzled as to the use of this gland, and few theories have
been advanced to account for it. Among these theories one is that it supplies
the material for the manufacture of the red blood corpuscles until the bones
have been properly formed in the child so that it may manufacture its own blood
corpuscles. That theory is correct.
During the earliest years the Ego which owns
the child-body is not in full possession, and we recognize that the child is not
responsible for its doings, at any rate not before the seventh year, and later
we have extended it to the fourteenth year. During that time no legal liability
for its action attaches to the child, and that it as it should be, for the Ego
being in the blood can only function properly in blood of its own making, so
that where, as in the child-body, the stock of the blood is furnished by the
parents through the thymus gland, the child is not yet its own master or
mistress. Thus it is that children do not speak of themselves so much as
"I" in the earlier years, but identify themselves with the family;
they are Papa's girl and Mama's boy. The young child will say "Mary wants
this" or "Johnny wants that," but as soon as they have attained
the age of puberty and have begun to manufacture their own blood corpuscles,
then we hear the boy or girl say, "I" will do this or "I"
will do that. From that time they begin to assert their own identify, and to
tear themselves loose from the family.
Seeing, then, that the blood throughout the
years of childhood, as well as the body, is inherited from the parents, the
tendencies to disease are also carried over, not the disease itself, but the
tendency. After the fourteenth year, when the indwelling Ego has commenced to
manufacture its own blood corpuscles, it depends a great deal upon itself
whether or not these tendencies shall become manifested actualities in its life.
Flesh and alcohol have the tendency to make
man ferocious and to turn his spiritual sight away from the higher worlds and
focus vision upon the present material plane. Therefore the Bible tells us that
at the beginning of the rainbow age, the age where we live in an atmosphere of
clear and pure air, so different from the misty atmospheric condition of
Atlantis spoken of in the second chapter of Genesis, Noah first brewed wine.
Material development has taken place in consequence of the present focusing of
our energies upon the material world, which resulted from partaking of meat and
wine.
Christ's first miracle changed water into
wine. HE HAD RECEIVED THE UNIVERSAL SPIRIT at the baptism, and had no need of
artificial stimulants. He changed the water to wine to give to others less
advanced. But no wine bibbers can inherit the kingdom of God. The esoteric
reason is this, that while the lower ethers vibrate to the seed atoms in the
solar plexus and the heart, and thus keep the physical body alive, the higher
ethers vibrate to the pituitary body and pineal gland. By imbibing this false
rebellious spirit that is fermented OUTSIDE the body, and is different from the
spirit that is fermented INSIDE, by sugar, these organs are temporarily dazed
and cannot vibrate to the higher world, and so because of age-long abuse, man
has ceased to function in the higher worlds. If he takes too much of this spirit
of alcohol, the organs named may be slightly awakened so that he sees the lowest
realms of the desire world and all the evil things therein; that happens in the
disease known as delirium tremens. To sum up, as the evolution of soul depends
upon acquisition of the two higher ethers from which the beautiful wedding
garment is made, and as these ethers are attuned to the organs named in the same
manner that the lower ethers are attuned to the seed atom in the heart and the
seed atom in the solar plexus, you will readily understand the deadly effects to
the spiritual man, of alcohol and drugs. To elucidate further I quote an
incident of life.
There is an old saying: "Once a Mason
always a Mason"; that means that when anyone has received the initiation of
the Masonic Order, and by virtue of that becomes a Mason, he cannot resign, for
he cannot give up that knowledge and the secrets which he has learned any more
than a person who goes to college can give back his learning received at that
institution and therefore, once a Mason always a Mason, and likewise, once a
pupil, a lay brother, of a mystery school, always a pupil and a lay brother of
said same mystery school. But though that holds good and life after life we come
back connected with the same order that we have been affiliated with in previous
lives, we may in any one life so conduct ourselves that it is impossible for us
to realize this in our physical brains, and I will, as said, cite for the
benefit of all students a case which is very much to the point.
When I was taken into the Temple of the
Rosicrucian order in Germany I was surprised to see a man whom I had known on
the Pacific Coast; that is to say I had seen him a few times; we had never
spoken. He seemed at that time to be in a station in the society, where we were
connected, much above mine, and I had never had personal acquaintance with him.
However, he greeted me there warmly, and seemed to understand all about his
connection with said society, about our meeting there, and so forth; and I
looked forward upon my return to America to getting much information from this
brother when I should be fortunate enough to meet him here in the West. When I
arrived at the city where he was, I was told by mutual friends that he had been
expecting me and was looking forward anxiously to meeting me. Therefore, when I
did meet the gentleman, I at once went up to him and shook him by the hand. He
also seemed to recognize me and called me by name. It seemed there was every
indication that he knew all that had happened while we were both out of the
body. Besides, he had told me in the Temple that he remembered everything that
happened to him when out of the body; this of course I believed for he was of a
much higher degree than the first, into which I had just been admitted.
On the day of our physical meeting, after a
few moments' conversation I said something which caused him to stare at me
blankly. I had referred to some incident of our meeting in the Temple, and he
showed plainly that he knew nothing whatever of it. I had, however, said so much
that I was forced to say more, or appear very foolish so I told him that he had
professed to remember everything. This he denied, and at the end of the
interview he begged me very earnestly to endeavor to find out why it was that he
was a lay brother of the Rosicrucian Order, yet could not remember that which
took place during his absence from the body. He was as I knew at various Temple
services. He took part, yet in his physical brain he was absolutely ignorant of
that which had occurred. The mystery was solved a little later when I learned
from him, out of the body, the fact that he smoked cigarettes and used drugs
which clouded his brain to such an extent that it had become impossible for him
to carry anything through of his psychic experiences. When I told him that in
the body, he made a valiant effort to rid himself of the habit which he
acknowledged. This case illustrates how careful we should be to be clean in our
habits; in everything to regard this body of ours as the Temple of God, and
refrain from defiling it as we would refrain from defiling a house of God built
of stone and mortar, which is not one millionth part as holy as the body
wherewith we have been endowed. The brain, in particular, is the great and
important instrument whereby we are doing our work in the Physical World, and we
obviously should not use any intoxicants or drugs which muddle it and thus
prevent our making the progress we expect.
The Christ
Picture Plate of The Healing Christ
It is a trite saying that "man if of
few days and full of trouble." Among all the vicissitudes of life none
affects us more powerfully than loss of health. We may lose fortunes or friends
with comparative equanimity, but when health fails and death threatens, the
strongest falter; realizing human impotence we are more ready to turn to divine
power for succor then than at other times. Therefore, the office of spiritual
adviser has always been closely associated with healing.
Among savages the priest was also
"medicine man." In ancient Greece, Aesculapius was particularly sought
by those in need of healing. The church followed in his steps. Certain Catholic
orders have continued the endeavor to assuage pain during the centuries which
have intervened between that day and the resent. In times of sickness the
"good Father" came as a representative of our Father in Heaven, and
what he lacked in skill was made up by love and sympathy--if he was indeed a
true and holy priest--and by the faith engendered in the patient by the priestly
office. His care of the patient did not commence at the sick bed, nor was it
terminated at recovery. The gratitude of the patient toward the physician was
added to the veneration felt for the spiritual adviser, and as a consequence the
power of the priest to help and uplift his erstwhile patient was enormously
increased, and the tie between them was closer than possible where the offices
of spiritual and medical adviser are divorced.
It is patent that the art of medicine has
reached a stage of efficiency which could not have been attained save by
devotion to that one particular end and aim. The safeguards of sanitary laws,
the extinction of insect carriers of disease are monumental testimonies to the
value of modern scientific methods. Thus it may seem as if all were well and
there were no need of further effort. But in reality, until humanity as a whole
enjoys perfect health, there is no issue more important than the question, How
may we attain and maintain perfect health?
In addition to the regular school of surgery
and medicine, which depends exclusively upon physical means for the care of
disease, other systems have sprung up which depend entirely on mental healing.
It is the custom of organizations which advocate "mind cure,"
"nature cure," and other like methods to hold experience meetings and
publish journals with testimonials from grateful supporters who have benefited
by their treatments, and if physicians of the regular school did likewise there
would be no lack of similar testimonies of their efficiency.
The opinion of thousands is of great value,
but it does not prove anything, for thousands may hold an opposite view.
Occasionally a single man may be right and the rest of the world wrong, as when
Galileo maintained that the Earth moves. Today the whole world has been
converted to the opinion for which he was persecuted as a heretic. We maintain
that as man is a composite being, cures are successful in proportion as they
remedy defects on the physical, moral, and mental planes of being.
As the great majority of people do not make
a distinction between curing and healing, it may be well to explain the
difference which is primarily one of cooperation or the lack thereof. One person
may undertake to "cure" another by massage or drugs; the patient in
either of these cases is passive as the clay that is being molded by the potter.
There is no doubt that under such treatment trouble may disappear and the person
be made well, but this is only a temporary relief: he has not received the
proper appreciation of the underlying cause of his disease, he does not
understand that the illness was a consequence of breaking the laws of Nature,
and is therefore very liable to go and do the same things over again with the
result that his malady returns. A "cure" is a physical process.
Healing is radically different; there the sufferer is always required to
cooperate both spiritually and physically with the healer.
To make this clear we can do not better than
view the life and work of our great Leader, the Christ. When people came to Him
to be healed they did not expect a physical treatment, but knew that relief
would be given through the power of the Spirit. They had unlimited confidence in
Him, and that this was essential we see from the incidents recorded in the
thirteenth chapter of Matthew where He is said to have gone among the people
with whom Jesus, the original owner of the body, had dwelt in early youth. They
saw only the outward man: "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph; are not
his brethren with us?" etc. They believed that nothing great could come out
of Nazareth, and according to their faith it was done unto them, for we read
that "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief."
But faith without works is dead, and in
every case where Christ healed anyone, this person had to do something; he had
to cooperate actively with the great Healer before his cure could be
accomplished. He said, "Stretch forth thy hand," and when the man did
so the hand was healed; to another, "Take up thy bed and walk," and
when he did so the malady disappeared; to the blind, "Go and bathe in the
pool of Siloam"; to the leper, "Show thyself to the priest, offer your
gifts," etc. In every case there was active cooperation upon the part of
the one to be healed, which helped the Healer. They were simple requirements,
but such as they were they had to be complied with, so that the spirit of
obedience could aid the Healer's work. When Naaman came to Elijah and thought
that this prophet was going to come out with a great show of magic and ceremony
to dispel the leprous spots from his body he was domed to disappointment. And
when the prophet sent word to him, "Go and wash seven times in the river
Jordan," he was enraged to the point of crying out, "Have we not great
rivers in Assyria and why should I go and wash in the Jordan? What
nonsense!" He lacked the spirit of submission which is absolutely necessary
in order that the work may be done, and it is safe to say that had he persisted
he would not have received the healing of his malady. Neither would any of those
who were healed by his malady. Neither would any of those who were healed by the
Christ have been affected unless they had obeyed and had done as they were
bidden. This is a law of Nature that is absolutely sure. It is disobedience that
brings disease. Obedience, no matter whether that involves washing in the Jordan
or stretching forth a hand, shows a change of mind, and the man is therefore in
a position to receive the healing balm which may come through the Christ, or
through a healer of one kind or another as the case may be. Primarily, in all
cases, the healing force comes our Heavenly Father, Who is the Great Physician.
These are the three great factors in
healing: first, the power, from our Father in Heaven; next, the healer, and
third, the obedient mind of the patient upon which the power of the Father can
act through the healer in such a way as to dispel all bodily ills.
Let us now understand that the whole
universe is pervaded with the power of the Father, always available to cure all
ills of whatever nature; that is the great certainty.
The healer is the focus, the vehicle through
which the power is infused into the patient's body. If he is a proper
instrument, consecrated, harmonious, really and truly in tune with the Infinite,
there is no limit to the wonderful works of the Father which may be performed
through him when opportunity presents a patient of a properly receptive and
obedient mind.
Among all the foolish and fallacious
nonsense which has been circulated concerning the Rosicrucians during the past
centuries, there is one great truth: "Members of the Order aim to heal the
sick and have superior means of accomplishing this benevolent purpose."
Earlier religious orders have sought to advance spiritually by castigating and
abusing the body, but the ROSICRUCIANS exhibit the tenderest care for this
instrument. There are two reasons for their healing activities. Like all other
earnest followers of Christ they are longingly looking for "the day of the
Lord." They know that Lucifer, the false Light of Lemuria, implanted
passion, inaugurating BEGETTAL IN SIN, and caused sorrow, pain and death; also
that Christ, the true Light of the coming New Galilee, inaugurated the
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, and preached the gospel of redemption from sin by LOVE.
Celibacy is expedient for the aspirants in the East, as those lower races are
soon to die out, but is contrary to the scheme of evolution for the West,
because a new race is to be cradled here, and GENERATIVE PURITY is therefore the
watchword of the Disciple in this part of the world. A new race is to be LOVED
into existence, and thus the ills that now afflict humanity through generations
of begettal in passion will cease; even Death will at last be overcome in the
new dispensation, because the ethereal purity of the bodies will obviate
necessity for renewal.
While there is much definite information
about that age in the Bible, one point is shrouded in insoluble mystery:
"The day knoweth no man, not even the Angels in Heaven, nor the Son."
Christians in all ages since the Gospel was first preached have yearned for that
day when the Sons of Light shall be manifest. The Father alone, being Highest
Initiate among the Lords of Mind, is able to foresee the time when the
separative, self-seeking mind will yield to the self-negating, unifying spirit
of love. One point is very clear, however: It will be just as impossible for
anyone to live under the conditions of the New Heaven and the New Earth who has
not the properly constituted body, called "Wedding Garment" in the
Bible, as it was for the degenerate Atlanteans who lacked lungs to breathe when
the atmospheric change came.
It is a scientific fact that the state of
the blood affects the mind and vice versa. A sound body is therefore
indispensable to sane mentality. Only a sane mind can transcend passion; only a
sound body can generate another that is as pure. The ROSICRUCIANS have aimed to
heal the body that it may harbor a sane mind and a pure love, for each
conception under those conditions is a step toward the day of the lord for which
we all long so ardently. This is the reason for the healing activities, and it
is the meaning of our motto, "A Sane Mind, a Soft Heart, a Sound
Body."
It has been written in various works that
the members of the order took a vow to heal others free of charge. This
statement is somewhat garbled. The lay brothers took a vow to MINISTER to all
according to the best of their ability FREE OF CHARGE. That vow included
healing, of course, in the case of such men as Paracelsus, who had ability in
that direction; by the combination method of physical remedies applied under
favorable stars and spiritual counsel he was highly successful. Others were not
suited to be healers but labored in other directions, BUT ALL WERE ALIKE IN ONE
PARTICULAR--THEY NEVER CHARGED FOR THEIR SERVICES, and they labored in secret
without flourish of trumpet or sound of drum.
Christ gave two commands to His messengers:
"Preach the Gospel" (of the coming Age) and "Heal the sick."
One is as binding as the other, and, for the foregoing reasons, as necessary. To
comply with the second command the Elder Brothers have evolved a system of
healing which combines the best points in the various schools of today with a
method of diagnosis and treatments as certain as it is simple, and thus a long
step has been taken to lift the art of healing from the sands of experiment to
the rock of exact knowledge.
It is a true, good and valid reason when we
say that we want to help others for Christ's sake. He is now immured in the
Earth, groaning and travailing and waiting for liberation. Pain and sickness are
caused by transgression of the laws of life, therefore, they crystallize the
dense body, give a firmer grip on the vital body and retard the day of our
liberation, as well as His. By helping the sick to attain health and by teaching
them to live in harmony with the laws of life so that they may maintain health,
we are hastening the day of His coming. May God bless our efforts and strengthen
our hands in the Good Work.
Our method of healing is not altogether a
spiritual matter. We use physical means wherever it is possible. There are times
even when we send our patients to a doctor in order that they may obtain quick
relief from him by a certain treatment which we cannot give as promptly by other
methods. Also, the diet of patients receives careful attention, for naturally,
as the body is built up of physical substances, we are giving medicine by using
the right food. But in addition, healing is carried on by the Elder Brothers
through a band of Invisible Helpers whom they are instructing.
These Invisible Helpers are Probationers who
during the daytime live a worthy life of helpfulness and thereby fit themselves
or earn for themselves the privilege of being helpful through the
instrumentality of the Elder Brothers at night. These Probationers are gathered
together in bands according to their temperaments and ability. They are under
instruction of other Probationers who are doctors, and all of them work under
the guidance of the Elder Brothers, who naturally are the moving Spirits in the
whole work.
The system of forming and organizing a band
of Invisible Helpers is accomplished by the use of the effluvia from their vital
bodies. The first of this is obtained at the time when the probationer signs his
obligation and it is renewed every day when he makes the record upon his report
blank. So long as he is faithful and lives the life of purity and service it
forms an unbroken link between him and the ELDER BROTHERS. Each group of healers
usually consists of twelve Probationers besides their instructor and they are
generally taken from the same locality because the night is the same for them
all. It would not be feasible to group one living in Australia with one living
in Alaska for one would be going about his daily work while the other is taking
his nightly rest. But people taken from almost anywhere in North or South
America spend about the identical hours in rest and recuperation and these
Probationers are then grouped according to their rising signs so that they may
form a complete circle.
Regarding the system used to find those who
have written to Headquarters for help, the same method is followed as in finding
the Probationers. That is to say, applicants for relief are required to write
the letter of request with pen and ink. Thus the paper is impregnated with a
part of their vital body and this is taken from the letter by the Elder
Brothers. It contains an accurate gauge of the condition of the individual from
whom it came and it also acts as an "open sesame" to the Helpers who
are given charge of this case. Through that they have free access to his body,
and a considerable number of patients who come for healing write that they have
both seen and felt the Helpers working both inside and outside their bodies. As
the condition of the patient changes so does the record. Therefore the patients
are required to write with pen and ink a few words every week and mail it to
Headquarters. Thus the Elder Brothers are in constant touch with their condition
and are able to direct intelligently the work of restoration to health.
This work never ceases. It is continuous, as
the Sun is always absent from a part of the globe and the Probationers in that
part are active in the work of healing and helping during the hours of bodily
rest.
Anatomically man belongs to the mammals,
whose blood corpuscles are not nucleated. The nuclei found in the blood of lower
animals are the vantage ground of the Group Spirits, but the higher animals are
so far advanced upon the road to individualization that their blood is free from
this influence. In the fetus where the mother acts as a Group Spirit for the
first few weeks, she nucleates the blood, but as soon as the Ego begins work,
the first thing it does is to disintegrate these nucleated blood corpuscles, and
at the time of the quickening not a single such corpuscle remains. The Ego is
master of its vehicle, a heritage which no one may take from it under any
pretense whatever. To do so is black magic, whether the person knows it or not,
and though the benevolent motive would of course have a certain mitigating
effect in another direction, the fat nevertheless remains that one is upon
dangerous ground when attempting to meddle with the blood of anyone who does not
desire it and who has not asked for such treatment.
There is only one exception to this rule.
Children until the age of puberty are, so to say, a part of their parents,
because there is stored in the thymus gland an essence of the parental blood
which the child uses in manufacturing its own supply during the years of
childhood, while the desire body is in the course of gestation. As time goes on
the supply in the thymus gland becomes smaller and smaller and the child attains
more and more to a realization of its own individuality. By the time the thymus
gland has disappeared the desire body has matured sufficiently to take part in
the alchemy of transmuting the Saturnine skeleton into the Jupiterian vehicle
which will thus incorporate the essence of the present physical body.
Interference with the blood stops this process; therefore it is only until the
time of puberty that the parent may at for the child in giving the ether which
admits the Invisible Helper.
The greatest drawback to our healing
activity comes from the negligence of patients. Our requirements are very
simple. We only ask them to write once a week with pen and ink, so that the
etheric effluvia coming from the hand during writing may furnish our Invisible
Helpers with a key of admission to the patient's system. But simple as is this
rule, some fail to write. Here is a case where a person who had for many years
had vertebrae displaced and who was cured by our treatment, though osteopaths,
chiropractors, and several others who had tried, had found it impossible to
replace these vertebrae. The poor man was therefore in constant pain and sick in
bed most of the time, entirely unable to work. The treatment of our Invisible
Helpers replaced the vertebrae, and they are still in place. The man went to
work and it seemed wonderful. But becoming so elated at the idea that he was so
entirely free, he disregarded our instruction to keep on writing, so that our
Invisible helpers might have the chance to keep his vertebrae in place for a
sufficient length of time till they would stay put. Now comes the following
letter showing that we were right in requesting him to do this, and he did wrong
not to obey. He says: "A short time ago I wrote that I was cured, and would
discontinue my weekly letters, but I see now that I have made a big mistake.
Since then my back has pained me nearly all the time and I am getting
round-shouldered again, though the vertebrae are in place where the injury was.
It seems as though I am asking a lot of you to take this up the second time, but
I did not realize the influence the Invisible Helpers had over me and how much I
was dependent on them."
In the coming of the Christ to Earth we
have an analogy between it and the administering of the spiritual Panacea,
according to the law, "As above, so below." There is in every little
cell of the human body a separate cell life, but over and above that is the Ego
which directs and controls all cells so that they act in harmony. During certain
protracted illnesses the Ego becomes so intent upon the suffering that it ceases
to vivify the cells fully; thus bodily ailment breeds mental inaction and it may
become impossible to throw off disease without a special impulse to dispel the
mental fog and start the cell activities anew. That is what the spiritual
Panacea does. As the inrushing Christ Life on Golgotha commenced to dispel the
shell of fear bred by inexorable law that hung like a pall about the Earth; as
it started the millions of human beings upon the path of peace and good will, so
also when the Panacea is applied does the concentrated Christ Life therein
contained rush through the patient's body and infuse each cell with a rhythm
that awakens the imprisoned Ego from its lethargy and gives back life and
health.
In order to describe the Panacea an
experience of the author will be related: A substance was shown to him in the
Temple of the Rosicrucians on a certain memorable night, with which the
Universal Spirit could be combined as readily as great quantities of ammonia
combine with water. Three spheres were suspended one above the other in the
center of the Temple, the middle sphere being about half way between the floor
and ceiling. It was much larger than the other two, which hung one above and one
below. Inside the large central sphere was a smaller contained which held a
number of packages filled with that substance. When the Brothers had placed
themselves in certain positions, when the harmony of certain music had prepared
the way, suddenly the three globes began to glow with the three primary colors,
blue, yellow, and red. To the vision of the writer it was plain how during the
incantation of the formula the container having in it the before mentioned
packages became aglow with a spiritual essence that was not there before. Some
of these were later used by the Brother with instantaneous success. Before them
the crystallizing particles enveloping the spiritual centers of the patient
scattered like magic, and the sufferer awoke to a recognition of physical health
and well-being.
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