Rosicrucian Digest, December 1957

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ROSICRUCIAN1957

E C E M B E R 30c per copy

at is sonality?

es behind festations.

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otographing ought Images

ique use of hic energy.

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me for

iencerspective into living.

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t u * i * t y :

MysticismScienceThe Ar t s

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xt e Colored ce

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ce Exploration

DIGEST


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Do O T H E R planets have trees, mountains, and lakes like ours? Arcpeople there who resemble the life forms of earth? Certainly one ofthe most intriguing speculations of our day concerns the probablenature of our neighbors in space. We know that there is a unity ofmany forces in the universe. The spectroscope which measures thewave lengths of incandescent elements shows that the elements ofdistant stars correspond to those of the earth.

What will be the philosophical and theological conscqucnccs ofnterplanetary travelwhen man finds other worlds and peoples inthe vast universe beyond? The earth, considered up to this time ashe ccnter of God's attention, takes a new and relatively insignificant

role in the great drama of life. How will orthodox theologians meetthis challenge to their arbitrarily set decrees concerning man's im-portance in the universal scheme?

It is not conceivable that our small globe alone has been designedfor the phenomenon of life. In the infinity of time, there must beother bodies that have been the locale, and that arc now the habitatof life and of intelligence.

T h i s F a s c i n a t i n g N E W D i s c o u r s e F r e eThese challenging questions have been met with striking clarity

in a special manuscript entitled Life Beyond Earth. You need onlysubscribe or resubscribeto the Rosicrucian Digest for six months,at the usual rate of $1.75 (12/9 sterling), and this discourse will besent to you as a gift. All mailing costs will be paid.

US E THIS COUP ON

R O S I C R U C I A N D I G E S TR o s i c r u c i a n P a r k , S a n J o s e , C a l i f o r n i aG e n t l e m e n :

T h e e n c lo s e d S I . 7 5 ( 1 2 / 9 s t e r l i n g ) i s f o r ar e g u l a r s i x m o n t h s ' s u b s c r i p t i o n t o t h e R o s ic r uc i a n D i g e s t a n d , i n a d d i t i o n , th e d i s c o u r s e e n -t i t l e d L i f e B e y o n d E a r t h .

Yo u r N a m e .

A d d r e s s .........

ROSICRUCIAN DIGEST (AMORC), San Jose, Calif.

WILL SPACE TRAVELERS FINDCIVILIZATIONS BEYOND OUR OWN?

B E Y O N D

E A R T H


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. . . and another Christ mas hav

built a st ronger bond between ou

readers and tlie A M O R C stalf. We

cherish the [ ies ol time honore

Iriends, and lake this opportunit

to wish you eac

f l

M e r r y

C h r is t


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ROSICRUCIAN DIGESTC O V E R S T H E W O R L D

T H E O F F I C I A L M A G A Z I N E O F T H E W O R L D - W I D E R O S I C R U C I A N O R D E R

Vol. XX XV DE CE M BE R, 1957 No. 12

Satellite Mo del (Frontispiece) ....................... . ....................................................... 441

Thought of the Month: The Satellite Era .............................................................. 444Good W il l All-Inclusive (f ill er) ........................................................................... 446

From Tropic Isles ....... 447Ca n You Explain This? 448Photographing Thought Images ............................................................................. 449

W h a t is Perso na lity?......................................... . 452

Cathed ral Con tacts: Levels of Knowledge 456

The H ea rt is the Ma ng er ................................... ............ . ............ .............. 459Time for Patience 464Access to God ................. .............. ................ 467

Temple Echoes ................................. 470Mu sic to Gro w O n ............ .................................................................... 471Do Our Words Betray Us? ................................... --- ---- ----- .......... -......... 473Inter-Jurisdictional Conference (Illustration) ........................................................ 477

Congress of Dignitaries (Illustration) ...................... -................ ............................ 478

Subscription to the Rosicrucian Digest, $3.00 (1/2 /- sterling) per year. Single copies30 cents (2/3 sterling).

Entered as Second-Class Ma tter at the Post Offic e of San Jose, C alifornia, under Section1103 of the U. S. Postal A c t of Oc t. 3, 1917.

Changes of address must reach us by the first of the month preceding date of issue.Statements made in this publication are not the official expression of the organization or

its officers unless stated to be official communications.

Published Monthly by the Supreme Council of

Rosicrucian Park T HE R O S I C R U C I A N O RD E R A M O R C San Jose , Cal i fornia

EDITOR: Frances Vejtasa

T h e P u r p o s e o f t h e R o s i c r u c i a n O r d e r T h e R o s i c r u c i a n O r d e r, e x i s t i n g i n a ll c iv i l iz e d l a n d s , i s a n o n s e c t a r i a n f r a t e r n a l b o d y o f m e n

a n d w o m e n d e v o t e d t o t h e i n v e s t i g a ti o n , s t u d y, a n d p r a c t i c a l a p p l i c a ti o n o f n a t u r a l a n d s p i r i tu a ll a w s . T h e p u r p o s e o f t h e o rg a n i z a t i o n i s t o e n a b l e a ll t o li v e i n h a r m o n y w i t h th e c r e a t i v e , c o n -s t r u c t i v e C o s m i c f o r c e s f o r t h e a t ta i n m e n t o f h e a l th , h a p p i n e s s , a n d p e a c e . T h e O r d e r is i n t e r -n a t i o n a l ly k n o w n a s " A M O R C " ( a n a b b r e v i a t i o n ) , a n d t h e A . M . O . R .C . i n A m e r i c a a n d a l l o t h e rl a n d s c o n s t i t u t e s t h e o n l y f o r m o f R o s i c r u c i a n a c t i v i t i e s u n i t e d i n o n e b o d y. T h e A . M . O . R . C . do e sn o t s e l l i t s te a c h i n g s . I t g i v e s t h e m f r e e l y t o a f fi l ia t e d m e m b e r s t o g e t h e r w i t h m a n y o t h e r b e n e f it s .F o r c o m p l e t e i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e b e n e f i t s a n d a d v a n t a g e s o f R o s i c r u c i a n a s s o c i a t i o n , w r i t e al e t t e r t o th e a d d r e s s b e l o w, a n d a s k f o r t h e f r e e b o o k . The Mas te ry o f L i fe . A d d r e s s S c r i b eS. P . C., R osicr ucia n Ord er, AJVIORC, San .Jose, Ca liforn ia, U. S. A. (Cable Ad dr ess: AMORCO )

Copyrig ht, 1957, by the Supreme Grand Lod ge of AM OR C, Inc. Al l rights reserved.


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h e launchin g of the Sovietsatellite has made theaverage person through-out the world science conscious. It has broughthome to him in a dra-matic manner the tre-mendous technologicaladvance of the age in

which he lives. Most men and womenwill devote but little time to technical

journals or to theses offering an ex- planat ion of the phenomenon. Few, infact, could comprehend the erudite pos-tulations in such works by physicists,metallurgists, astronomers, and relatedspecialists. Th ere are, however, aspectsother than the scientific and militaryones which will vitally influence thelives of millions of persons now living.

The first of these influences is both psychological an d metaphysical. The rewill be a reorientation of the mass hu-m an ego. Man, particularly in the lastcentury, has become exceptionally geo-centric in his thought.. His whole life,his interests and aspirations have be-come more and more centered just inthe earth. The earth is not only hisnatural habitat, his source of livelihoodand security, but to a great extent ithas become the shrine of his devotions.It is true that his religions dealt withthe intangible and the immaterial, thatof the ethereal realm, but the symbolsof such things and their mediums, aschurches and temples, were concrete

T h e and very earthy. Rosicrucian ^ universe exists, there is evidence p.. of it in the stars and in the sun as seen

l&es overhead; but these things appear so Dec em be r remote, seemingly so indirect in their1957 influence on daily events, as to make

the earth an isolated world to mostmen. From the psychological poin t ofview, in so far as the interests of themajority of the people are concerned,the earth is the center of the universe. . . just as it was actually believed to

be before the time of Copernicus.The conception of the earths being

the center of the universe, before thetime of Copernicus, was not alone dueto a lack of knowledge to the contrary,

bu t also due Jo m ans conception of hisown Cosmic importance. The theologyof the dayas nowconceived man asGods chosen being, the ultimate cre-ation. Consequently, exegetical writingsexpounded that since man dwelt uponthe earth, and there was no knowledgeof his kind elsewhere, the earth musthave been divinely chosen for humanhabitation. Galileo and Copernicus, whodeclared that not the earth but the Sunwas the center of the universe, wereexecrated as heretics.

Giordano Bruno gave voice to thefeelings of those men who were in-spired by Galileo and Copernicus andwho felt a liberation from the earth.Galileo spoke for those who found anew companionship with the distantworlds which the scientific postulations

of the daring thinkers had made in-timate and seemingly alive. In joy,Bruno exclaimed: What! is a feeblehuman creature the only object worthyof the care of God? No, the ear th is

but a planet . The rank she holds amongthe stars is but by usurpation; it istime to dethrone her. The ru ler of ourearth is not man, but the Sun , with thelife which breathes in common throughthe universe. . . . Only one bereft ofhis reason could believe that those in


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The Rosicrucian Diges t Decem ber1957

How insignificant and primitive m aycome to appear many of the ecclesias-tical and other titles assumed by hu-mans on earth who have attributed tothemselves a kind of Cosmic suprema-cy! How absu rdly ridiculous it wouldappear to the advanced residents ofanother worldliving in a broader con-

ception and environmentfor one manor a group of men on Earth to have

allowed themselves to be called the in-termediaries for God! M en will breathethe very essence of God in the outerspace they travel and feel the presenceof Cosmic power about them. M any ofthe old theological institu tions will seem

puny and ineffectual efforts to reachthe Divine, while yet rooted to obsolete,ea rthly traditions.

V A V

fo o

e were sitting in a high1 1 1 / / room above the chapel

% / a n d a l th o u g h i t w a sW Christmas Eve my good

I i i II friend the dominie seem-

ed curiously troubled.And that was strange,for he was a man ex-tremely sensitive to the

festivities of his faith.The joys and sorrows of Jesus were

not to him events of a remote past butmore current and living happenings

rs.ea r

L

than the headlines in the newspape:At Christmas he seems actually to hethe voice of the herald angels.

My friend is an old man, and I haveknown him for many years, but thiswas the first time the Nativity had failedto rouse him to an ecstasy. He ad-mitted to me something was wrong.Tomorrow, he said, I must go downinto that chapel and preach a Christ-mas sermon. And I must speak of peaceand good will toward men. I know youthink of me as a man too cloistered to

be of any use to m y community. AndI know that our world is one of warand hate and enmity. And you, myyoung friend, and others keep insistiithat before there can be brotherhcthere mu st be the b ashing of heads. Youare all for good will to men, but you

want to note very many exceptions.And I am still hoping and praying thatin the great love of God the finalseal of interdiction must not be puton even one. You m ay laugh at me, butright now I am wondering about howChristmas came to Judas Iscariot.

It is the habit of m y friend, when heis troubled by doubts, to reach for the

- u n a L u i L U E

Book, and he did so now. He smiledand said, Will you assist me in a littleexperiment? I will close m y eyes andyou hold out the Bible to me. I willopen it at random and run my fingersdown a page. You rea d me the textwhich I blindly select.

I did as he told me and he happenedon the twenty sixth chapter of St.Matthew and the twenty fifth verse.I felt sorry for him, for this was no

part of th e stor y of the bir th of Christ, but instead an account of the gre at be-trayal.

Read what it says, commanded thedominie. And I read: T hen Judas,which betrayed Him, answered andsaid, Master, is it I? He said unto him,Thou hast said.

My friend frowned, but then helooked at me in triumph. M y hand isno t as steady as it used to be. You shouldhave taken the lower pa rt of my fingerand not the top. Read the twentyseventh verse. It is not an eighth of aninch away. Read wh at it says. And Iread, And He took the cup and gavethanks and gave it to them, saying,Drink ye all of it.

Mark that, cried the old man ex-ultantly. Not even to Judas, the be-trayer, was the wine of life denied. I

can preach my Christmas sermon now,and my text will be Drink ye all of it.Good will toward men means good willto every las t son of God. Peace onearth means peace to Pilate, peace tothe thieves on the cross, and peace to poor Isca riot .

from Behold the M an , by Ralph L. Woods.


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^ xom ^UlojiLa By A n n S y l t e , F. R. C.

L a s t October, the Sui preme Grand Lodgewas the recipient of agift from a far awaylanda gift which willi n s p i r e a n d d e l i g h tevery visitor to the Su-

prem e Temple for yearsto come.

This gift is a gonga magnificently beauti-ful piece of Templeequipment whose ex-quisite tones now playa prominent part atthe weekly Convoca-tions. This gong is the

present of the Indo ne-sian Grand Lodge, ofD jaka r t a , I nd ones i a ,whose Grand Secretary, Edward Zecha,was a visitor to Rosicrucian Park in1956. Th e letter which accompaniedthe gift stated: This gong is not very

old, its age being about 125 years, butit is of good quality and produces adeep, sonorous sound. Gongs of this na-ture are not a market product, but areespecially made to order. Du ring the

process of m aking, it is accompanied bymeditation of good thoughts and fast-ing. Some of these gongs m ay no t besounded at all except on special occa-sions.

Gongs have been a part of religiousritual for more tha n 5,000 years. Wecan be sure of the date through thefindings of archaeologistsparticularly because of the rich discoveries of W . M.Flinders Petrie, world renowned Egyp-tologist. Du ring the w ar, a shipment ofobjects he had unearthed from a ceme-tery of the 2nd or 3rd Dynasty (29802680 B.C.), originally scheduled for aBritish Museum, through a long andfortunate chain of circumstances, final-ly found its way to the RosicrucianEgyp tian Museum. One of the chiefobjects of interest in this collection isa small gong about 6 inches in diameter,still fastened to the remains of the cord

by which it had origi-nally hung. This tinygong now stands in acase in the RosicrucianMuseum. It is so ar-ranged that a mirror

behind it clearly showsa small wad of beeswaxin its center, which wasthe ancient method oftun ing a gong. Smallgongs of this size wereknown as cymbals, andwere played by strikinglightly with the fingers.

Egy p to log i s t s l i keWilkinson and Petrietell us that smelting, or

processing, of m eta lswas skilfully carried on

by th e Egyp tians an d other ea rly races.Metals were melted in a crucible overa fierce fire. M en with blowpipes keptthe flames at a tremendous heat, then

the liquid was poured out, cooled, and beaten with smooth stones. The abun-dance of implements of war, as well asvases, mirrors, etc., of bronze, copper,and iron, attest to the skill of these an-cient people in the working of metals.

Every gong has a raised part in itscenter, and this is where the gong isstruck. Th e more ancient gongs havea small hard lump of beeswax on theinside, stuck there exactly like a wadof chewing gum. This beeswax, by itssize and position, makes the tone of thegong true. In more modem times, thegong is toned by grinding and filinguntil its full voice rings out clear andresonant. Th e particular gong whichnow stands in a place of honor in theSupreme Temple was tuned by thelatter method.

At the conclusion of Convocation onthe evening of October 15, the Imperator came to the East of the Temple andinformed the members of the gift fromIndonesia. He told of the h istory of this

articular gong, and mentioned that itad formerly graced a Buddhist Tem


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pie. T he people of th e Eas t, headded, know that a gong is to be fe lt , as well as heard.

As the Convocation closed, membersassembled in the foyer outside the T em -

ple Cham ber. The large hall was fullof the buzz of conversation as the members ga thered aroimd th e bea ut iful in -strument. Th e gong is bronze, about22 inches in diameter, 6 inches thick,and is hollowor rather, has no back,to allow the sound to course freely. Itis struck by a round, hard, leathercovered mallet, fitted to an 8 inchhandle. Both the gong and m allet arefastened by silken cords to a metalstand 4 feet high, beautifully enameledand decorated.

Frater James H. Whitcomb, actingas Outer Guardian that evening, pickedup the m allet and reverently struck the

gong. At th e first note, conversation in -stan tly stopped. Th e deep tones re-verberated through the silence. No one

resent had ever heard such a soundefore! W as it one note, or a chord,

or a series of chords in every octave? No one could be sure. This vibrat ing

sound was truly fe lt . Was this, perhaps,an echo of the Music of the Spheres?

There was wonder and delight ineveryones eyes as the Guardian struckthe gong slowly again and again, the fulltones rolling over and over, filling themind and body with the beauty of per-

fect, sweet sound.When the gong was finally silent,members gathered around to examineit more closely. I tho ught our old gonghad a lovely tone, one lady sighed.But that was before I knew therecould be a note of music like this. Sheechoed the thoughts of all who were presen t. I t is quite clea r th at our per-ception of beauty is relative.

Therefore, may we, who have thegreat privilege of attending Convoca-tions at the Supreme Temple every

week, express our own deepest appre-ciation, as well as that of our visitorsfrom every part of the world who willshare with us the thoughtfulness ofour friends in Indonesia. W e have

been given a new stand ard by which tomeasure the beauty of sound.

V A V

T h e Rosicrucian Digest Dece mbe r1957

d a n Q jo u dZxjitaLn JP l L:9

A b o u t 18 months beforethe First World War, Iattended a patient, whowas the house guest ofa writer for a local paper.One time as I was aboutto leave, Mrs. K. re-marked, I wish youwould let Gypsy Gray

tell you r fortune. I was no t interestedin fortunes, but I said, All right, I

will. I found Gypsy Gray sitting ina comer of the next room, a square of black velvet on her lap, and on it acrystal.

She began, You are in Army uni-form and on a big ship with a lot oftroops. Since I was the n over Arm yage, and had no intention of enteringthe Army, I thought, Nonsense. How-ever, she went on: You are in a desert.To your left are some palm trees, in the

distance some rocky hills, and behindyou there are Indian troops.

Is it India? I asked.No. You do not believe it now, but

when you come back, you will tell meit was all true.

Then the war broke out, and in duecourse I was in the Armyas a Medi-cal Officer. After the Dardanelles cam-

pa ign, I was in Egyp t with the 29thDivision. Up to this point no mem oryof the gypsy s prediction had ever en-tered m y mind. One morning, though,sitting at the opening of my tent, Ilooked up and there was the exact pic-ture she had described to me some twoyears before. To the left there was agroup of palm trees; behind us werefiie Indian troops; and in the distancea range of rocky hills.

Dr. F. J. W heeler


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O-^fiotocjzajifiincj f)ncujz. B y T . I v a n P y l e , F.R . C., of Kent, England

o n d e r f u l resultsin the healing of

illness and in the stim-ulation of crop growthare claimed to have been achieved at theDelawarr Laboratoriesat Oxford, England,with the aid of whatmight be called psy-chic receivers and

transmitters and afascinating psychiccamera which is capable of photo-graphin g hum an thought. Scientific re-search into the relationship between

prim ary sp iritual causes an d mater ialmanifestations has been going on atthese laboratories for the past fifteenyears. The reported success of certainexperiments and the conclusions reached by the researchers are of great signifi-cance to all who believe that there isa purposeful God, or Universal Force,controlling physical pheno mena throughnatural law.

The work at the laboratories is mo-tivated by the basic concept, Thatthere is one Unive rsal Source of Energysustaining life and progress in an or-derly Universe. Tnis Universal En-ergy, or Universal Mind, is conceivedas materializing as charged particles inliving cells. In other words, the phy si-cal world around us is composed ofmaterialized Universal Mind. Everyliving thing is considered to possesswhat is called a counterpart body, an

invisible, nonmaterial form which cor-responds to the physical body. Thiscounterpart body acts as an aerial toreceive the Energy from the UniversalSource which materializes to form the

physical body. The pattern of thecounterpart body determines the pat-tern of growth and development of thema terial manifestation. Students ofmysticism and occult matters will befamiliar with the concept although theterms used may differ from those towhich they are accustomed.

The experiments car-ried out at the Dela-w arr La bora tones have

been aimed at demon-strating that the proc-ess of materializationcan be controlled bythe hum an mind. It iswith the various meth-ods of evoking and di-recting the Universal

Energy that the lab-oratories are primarilyconcerned. The workers have estab-lished that whatever method is usedthere must be a living person or thing to act as the recipient. Also, there hasto be a conscious effort by a n ind ividualto perform th e evocation. However,they claim that the process can be as-sisted to some extent by the use ofinstrum ents specially developed for thiswork.

These instruments are the psychicreceivers and transmitters referred toin the opening paragraph. In appear-ance they are reminiscent of the little

black boxes, complete with nu merousknobs and dials, with which we arefam iliar in this electronic age. But thereceivers and transmitters at the Dela-warr Laboratories are neither worked by electricity nor do th ey handle elec-tromagnetic forces. The y are operatedentirely by human agency, by tne con-scious creation of a thought patternwhich controls the manifestation ofUniversal Energy.

In simple terms, the receiver istuned in by the human operator towhatever living thing is to receive at-tention. Because the forces being usedare nonmaterial, and are not subject tothe limitations of time or space, dis-tance is of no importance. The recipientmay be hundreds of miles away fromthe instrumen ts. In the case of hum an

beings an d an im als, a blood spot on a piece of blotting pap er is used to estab -lish the contact. This specimen is ro-tated until a position is found which


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gives the maximum reaction on the in-strument through the medium of thehu m an operator. By setting the dialsin various positions and by using men-tal concentration, it is then possible tomake a diagnosis of the condition to betreated.

The transmitters have similar rowsof dials, and, when treatment is to begiven, a transmitter is tuned to thesame settings as those on the receiver.It is the presence of the hu m an operatorwhich charges up the transmitterand sets it working. At the laboratories,where the walls of two rooms are linedwith banks of these transmitters, allsending out treatments, an operatorgoes to each one every few hours torecharge it with his or her presence.However, in this case no mental con-centration is required. This method,known as radionic therapy, is used tocure sickness and disease in human be-ings and in animals, and it is claimedthat it is equally effective for psycho-logical m ala d ies an d inharmoniousmental conditions.

The Pagchic Camera

At the Delawarr Laboratories thework has progressed a stage farther bydeveloping a unique system of photo-graphing what is believed to be thecounterpart body of diseased or dam-aged organseven though the patientm ay be ma ny miles away. This is done

by tu nin g in a radion ic diagnostic in -strument in the normal way and thendirecting the incoming forces on to anordinary photographic plate. The re-sult is a sort of X ray photograph ofthe relevant part of the body, with aclear indication of the cause of thetrouble. Again, the presence of a hu -man operator is essential, and in its

prese nt stage of developm ent only one pe rson has been found who ca n success-fully operate the psychic camera.

This revolutionary instrument has

also been used to demonstrate that con-centrated human thought does createan actual energy pattern which can be ca ptu red on a ph otog raph ic plate. A

The psychic picture of ord inary tap wa Ro sic rucian ter s^ows the radiations of the constitr\ ue nt atoms of the molecules. Th e

jJ 8 es picture consists of a num ber of lines Dec em be r 0f varying lengths radiating from a1957 central point. A photograph was taken

of consecrated water about 20 minutesafter it had been ceremonially blessed,and clearly superimposed on the radi-ation pattern was the outline of a cruci-fix. When shown the picture, theclergyman said, Th at was m y thought.I cannot visualize God, and so I use thesjonbol of a crucifix.

On another occasion an assistant satin front of the apparatus and mentallyvisualized a penknife with one blade

part ly opened. The resu ltin g photographfaithfully reproduced an accurate out-line of such a knife.

Plants and Itadionie T herapy

Another interesting aspect of thework, carried out by Mr. George de laW arr and his assistants, is the highlysuccessful application of the principleof radionic therapy to the treatmentof plants a nd crops. But perhaps themost startling feature of this work isnot the actual result achieved but theunique method employedthe radia-tion treatment is not given to the soilitself, but to a photograph of the soil.The research workers believe that theemulsion on an ordinary photographic

pla te records radiations oth er than thoseof lightradiations connected with theactual nature of the object being pho-tographed.

Various experiments have been car-ried out with different plants and crops,including cabbages, cauliflower, broad

beans, and let tuce. In each case treat-ment was given by radiating a photo-graph of the selected plot, and in eachcase an untreated plot of similar soilwas planted with identical specimensat the same time as that which hadreceived the beneficial irradiation. Theresults were remarkable. Cabbages intreated earth grew about three times faster than those in untreated earth,cauliflower showed an 81 percent in-crease in crop yield, and broad beansand lettuce also demonstrated much

improved growth.In other instances, treatment has be en given by ca rryin g ou t a diagnosisusing actual soil samples and seeds, aswith the blood spots of human beingsand animals. This reveals any un bal-ance or sickness in the soil and en-ables the correct transmission to bemade in the same way that healing

powers are sent out to people and


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animals. In some cases soil m ay con-tain all the necessary elements to pro-duce healthy crops but, for reasons asyet unknown, some of the elementsmay be locked and unavailable to

the plants. It is believed that in someway radionic treatment unlocks these par ticu la r elem ents an d allows themto contribute to crop growth.

Distant treatments of this type have been perform ed a t Oxford for soil inScotland, and even as far away asRhodesia in the Southern hemisphere.Seventeen acres of treated land in Scot-land produced a 20 percent increase inthe growth of carrots compared withun treated land. Tobacco plants inRhodesia were influenced, in the wordsof the farmer, to a remarkable degreeof maturity.Yet another method of stimulatingcrop growth is the planting, along withthe seeds, of a substance previously ir-radiated with radionic energy. Themedium used is vermiculite, a com-modity employed in the building tradefor insula tion purposes. It is insolublein water and chemically inert.

Vermiculite, irradiated by the apparatus norm ally used for hum an tr eat-ment, was mixed with grass seed inthe proportion of two of vermiculite to

one of seed by weight. Compared withseed planted on its own in similar soilthe increase in m oist weight of the cropwas 186 percent and the protein con-tent actually increased by 270 percent.In a similar experiment with oatsgrown in pots, the harvesting producedevidence that the increase in weight ofthe treated crop over the untreated was280 percent.

A Personal Factor

But the most important and spectac-ular experiment of them all is the one

which comes to the very crux of them atter by demonstrating that the equip-ment used is only of comparativelyminor importance, and that it is the

power of hum an thought itself which

evokes and directs the Divine UniversalEnergy. It was an apparent failurewhich led to this outcome. W hen alarge plant establishment had includedtreated vermiculite with various typesof seed under test conditions over fairlylarge areas, the phenomenal results didnot occur. But when workers from theLaboratories went to the establishmentthemselves they were able to repeat the

ph enom ena. This indicated th at the personal factor was in some way in -fluencing the results.

A special series of vermiculite experi-ments was then conducted to find outthe extent to which the human factorwas entering into the work. The as-sistants whose task it was to tend andwater c ertain plants were informed thattreated vermiculite had been used as in

previous tests. In ac tual fact the vermi-culite had received no treatm ent of anysort whatsoever. The seedlings sup- posed ly plan ted with the trea ted ma-terial thrived and grew to much greater proportio ns th an those which the as-sistants believed to be untreated! Thisresult, states Mr. De la W arr, pointsto the personal evocation of UniversalEnergies by the operator, and it maywell help to explain the phenomenonof green fingered gardeners.

The implications of the work at theDelawarr Laboratories are profound inrelation to the relief of pain and suf-fering in human beings and animals,and the securing of abundant food sup

lies world wide. Both can be achievedy the power of human thought work-

ing in harmony with Universal Energy.

V A V

OUR COVER: The cover was executed by Margery Lester Leighton, a noted San Francisco artist, and a Rosicrucian. It depicts two contrasting conceptions of astronomical phenomena. At th e top is an ancient Egyptian symbolic conception of the Cosmos. Relow is the proposed United States satellite to be launched in 1958, shown coursing in its orbit about the earth.


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T he Rosicrucian Digest Dec em ber1957

^\V(ia I l i ? B y D r . H . S p e n c e r L e w i s , F. R . C .

(From Ro sic ru cia n Digest, March 1936)

Since thousands of readers of the Ro sic rucia n Diges t have not read many of the earlier

articles by our late Imperator, Dr. H. Spencer Lewis, we adopted the editorial policy of publishing each month one of his outstanding articles, so that his thoughts would continue to reside within the pages of this publication.

e find in the personalitym an y interesting fac tsthat are commonly over-looked or greatly misun-derstood. A common prac-tice at the present timethroughout the civilizedand uncivilized world isto give names to children

at birth, and these names they bearthroughout their lives except whenchanged by marriage, or changed vol-untarily with the permission of a courtof law. Th e history of this practiceshows that at the very dawn of civiliza-tion man attempted to distinguish him-self and his associates by certain vowelsounds used for the purpose of iden-tification.

At first these names were of one ortwo syllables, and for many hundredsof years each individual usually bore bu t one name, a given name. Fin al ly

because of the multiplic ity of thesegiven names and the m a n y similarities,certain adjectives were added to dis-tinguish one from the other. At firstthese adjectives were descriptive of theappearance of the person, or descriptiveof his home, his castle, his occupation,and finally the family name or groupnam e was adopted. At first m an y ofthe family names were the names ofthe castles, estates, provinces, or occu-

pations of the fa th er or ch ief of thefamily.

But after all is said, the names w hich

we have to distinguish us from othersdo not distinguish the personality butrathe r the individuality. Th at whichdistinguishes us most clearly, most defi-nitely, and certain ly most satisfactorily,is the picture of presentment of ourown personality.

To illustrate what I mean, here isan incident. A large social organizationin this city found that it was necessary

to select from its membership, composed who lly of women, a committeeof fifteen to attend a very importantcivic affair as representatives of thewomen of the central portion of Cali-fornia. I was present with the two of-ficers who had the responsibility ofselecting this committee. As they beganto select the women for the committeeof fifteen, I noticed that emphasis wasgiven in each and every case to certainoutstanding characteristics of the per-sonality of the individual.

Mrs. Smith was not selected becauseher name was Mrs. Smith, and becausethat name distinguished her from oth-ers, but because of some charm , or some

pleasan t, impressive tr a it of personality,or because of some mental, intellectual,or other talent which she had devel-oped and manifested in an efficient anduseful ma nner. In other words, thecommittee was selecting fifteen per-

sonalities and not fifteen individuals orfifteen names.This became evident when a number

of persons selected were unknown bynam e to the committee. I heard oneof the two persons say, There is thatlady, the one who always smiles so

plea sant ly whe n she meets everyone,who dresses so conservatively and yetcorrectly, who never seems to have anear for any critical comments, but isalways ready to offer constructive sug-gestions. She is the one who alwaysarrives a little early at all the meet-

ings and wants to know if the re is some-thing that she can do to help in thework of the organization.

They did not describe her physicalappearance very definitely, but certain-ly they did not describe her husband orthe position he occupied, or the houseshe lived in, or her age, or any of theother points of distinction except thosethat pertained in a limited manner to


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her personality. It was the personalityof this individual that had impressedthe two officers, and not the fact thatshe was the wife of one of the leading

bankers of the city , or th at she had amagnificent home, or did a great dealof social entertaining, or had consid-erable wealth, or had been to Europea number of times, or that she hadthree sons who were well known in

business in th e city.I have noticed in my contact with

successful business executives in largecorporations and institutions that inselecting employees or associates forcertain important positions, considera-tion was given, first of all, to the per-sonality of those who were underconsideration. Every impo rtant execu-

tive will tell you that he is morefamiliar with personalities in his insti-tution than with names. He will admitto you that there are a number of per-sons whom he contacts throughout theday in a casual manner, and whosenames he has never learned, but whomhe has marked almost unconsciously inhis mind because of some outstandingcharacteristic of personality.

Sometimes these characteristics areunfavorable, and for that reason the

person is marked in a derogatory way ,and perhaps would be one of the firstto be discharged, suspended, or laid offtemporarily if any reduction in thenumber of employees were necessary.On the other hand, others will be pro-moted, advanced, and given authorityand opportunity for the use of theirabilities because of outstanding pointsof personality that are favorable.

Our personalities are things whichwe create and make, more than werealize. It is true th at we inherit afew traits of personality from our an-cestors, but even these can be modified,

and often are modified, by the traitswhich we volu ntarily adopt. I do notwant to overlook the point that ourhealth has some bearing upon our per-sonalities. A person whose health is

below par an d who is suffering to somedegree, or is annoyed in his harmonious balance by an ai lm en t, wil l sooner orlater have his personality reflect the

phys ical an d m en tal mood within. Itcertainly is not too much to say thata person in poor health cannot alwaysmanifest in a natural manner a pleas-

ing personality, or even the true per-sonality that would manifest if thehealth were normal.

It is always possible under certaincircumstances to place upon ourselvesa temporary cloak of fictitious person-ality. But this hypocritical presentmentof ourselves never deceives for anylength of time. A cloak m ay serve onoccasion among strangers for a fewhours or for a few seconds, but thereis one reason w hy such a cloak, if wornvery long, defeats its own purpose. The

pe rson who is wearing it m ust con-stantly keep it fresh and active. Thusthe individual is constantly ill at ease,not natural, and soon creates the im-

pression in the minds of others th at heor she is acting. Th e charm, power, or

good in our personalities must be re-vealed as natural and not as artificialif the personality is to win its way.

If we think that our physical appearance an d our indiv idual ity as hu -man beings is something that changesfrom year to year through age andthrough experience and through thetrials and tribulations of life, we shouldrealize that personality too is constant-ly changing and that each experienceof life, each trial, each suffering, eachtest of our capabilities and powers con-

tribute more definitely to the moldingof our personality than they do to the physical appearance of the body. W ehave often heard it said that a personwho has lived a long time has grownmore aged looking or more gray, morewrinkled or more stooped, but has alsogrown more mellow in personality.

Fortunately for the human race andthe advancement of civilization, as wellas for the unfoldment of our evolution,the trials of life have from century tocentury modified constructively the

persona lity of th e average individual.Scientists remind us that, in the evo-

lution of the human form throughoutthe ages, man has become more uprightin his stature, has softened in his phys-ical appearance, and become moregraceful in his movements. He has losta number of physical attributes whichare unnecessary and which made himcrude and primitive in appearance. Butthese great improvements in o ur physi-cal make up are of far less importanceto the advancement of civilization than


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The Ro sicrucian D ig est Dec em ber1957

those which have taken place in the persona lity of man.

As I have stated, man is the creatorof his personality and can make it al-most what he wishes. However, I donot want to slight the fact that sometraits of personality have been addedto the average individual unconsciously

and involuntarily through the experi-ences of life. But these involuntaryimprovements do not begin to equal innum ber or in importance the voluntaryqualities and attributes that man hasdeliberately developed, not assumed.

Perhaps one of the outstanding traitsof human personality is the tendencyto smile pleasantly. It is said that manis the only living m ember of the animalkingdom that can express a smile andthrough a smile reveal joy and happi-ness. M an has made the most of thisnatural ability deliberately and uncon-sciously. The human beings who seemto have no ability to smile, and nofacility for expressing joy or happinessthat may be in their hearts are cer-tainly in the minority.

This is one characteristic of personal-ity which when deliberately developed

becomes an ou tstand ing and impressiveone. We soon find ourselves liking andenjoying the company of those whosmile easily and sincerely. Th ey helpto contribute to our happiness and the

pleasantness of th e day, an d th ey also

cause us to feel that the person is happy withinhas found th e real key tosome happiness.

There are persons who wilfully orunconsciously seek the sordid and un-happy side of life. Such persons areeither mentally unbalanced, mentallydeficient, or psychically undeveloped.Even among the criminal classes wherethe tendency is to associate with thatwhich is deplorable, destructive, unhap

y, contentious or abnormal, there is aegree of inconsistency mentally and

psychically , and such persons are notnormal hum an beings. Even when psy-choanalysts state that some of these

persons de liberately associate them -selves with the sordid and unhappyside of life, and that it is not becauseof any uncontrollable urge from w ithin,we must admit that such persons arementally deficient or abnormal, andthat therefore their deliberateness inthis regard is not a sign of strong men-

tality, but rather a sign of a conditionwhich should arouse our compassionand pity. For this reason most crim-inals and those who love to be a partof the underworld should be treated byus as needing psychopathic considera-tion and treatment rather than dire

pun ishm ent.

When we present our personalities toour friends and acquaintances, we are presenting a picture of th e real selfwithin. During the daytime while weare occupying an important executive

position an d feel th at we m ust wear acloak of extreme dignity and authorityin order to demand or comm and respectfrom employees and so called inferiors,we may put upon the self an artificialcloak, and assume an outer expressionof personality that is not the true one.

But in moments of relaxation and insocial contacts and in moments that weare unaware of, the real personalityunderneath the cloak will reveal itself.It will make a more lasting and moreunderstandable impression than thosewhich we m ay have assumed. Em-

ployees im der any executive will fran k-ly state that they take with a so calledgrain of salt the exacting attitude andcritical mannerisms of their employerfor they have noticed at odd momentsthat underneath his outer cloak thereis a personality of fairness, kindness, justice, and happiness. But in th e same

manner an artificial cloak of kindnessand mercy, of sincerity and fairness, isdetected in all of its falseness just asreadily.

The re is nothing that will tend moreto develop a pleasing personality, onewhich in a very subtle and mysteriousmanner impresses itself in its truthful-ness upon all whom we contact, thanthe adoption of an attitude of tolerancein all matters of distinction. In otherwords, if we adopt a universal andhuman point of view in regard to dis-tinctions of individuals and their ex-

perien ces in life, we become kind andgentle in persona lity. So long as wecan feel that one race or nation of

people is bet ter or worse th an another,or so long as we can feel convincedthat persons of one color or class arelower in the scale of life or less desir-able than others, we are bound to havecertain characteristics maintained inour personality that are unfavorable.


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Sooner or later they will man ifest them-selves in detrimental ways.

The absence of any form of religiousworship in our beings is a derogatoryelement in our personalities that is sureto reflect itself unfavorably. The per-son who does not love Goda supreme

being of some kind representin g theomnipotence of the universeis lack-ing in one of the first elements of a

pleasing personality . The person whocannot love all men and all women ashum an beings, as his kindred, free fromdistinctions that will belittle any ofthem, is lacking another important ele-ment that makes a pleasing personality.The person who cannot find actual joyand happiness in life itself, and inliving, is lacking in a very essential

element.Th e one who cannot see tha t there isfar more good than evil in the world,far more joy, far more happiness, farmore of the ideal and beautiful, isdoomed to have a most disagreeable

persona lity. The on e who can find him -self ready to listen to the tales of gossipand the critical remarks of other per-sons, and find interest in such stories,is sure to have his personality dark-ened, and to have the cloudiness revealitself to others.

So we find that our personality issomething that we can regulate andcontrol. It should be something thatis composed of a code of life which wecan adopt at the beginning and developand malce a true and inherent part ofourselves. W e should give as muchthought to the development of this per-sonality as we give to the developmentof the brain and the mind and theirfaculties.

Training should begin early in life.Step by step as the child is taught towalk and to talk, to read and to under-stand, he should be taught the essen-tials of a pleasant, happy personality.As he is taught to have his face andhands cleansed, to remove the dirt anddross disguising the real features, heshould be also taught to remove fromhis consciousness those things that willconceal the personalitys real charm. Anexample should be set by developmentof the personalities of the parents, andthe things we read or permit ourselvesto witness are contributory factors ofwhich we are often unaware.

The man or woman who reads dailyor weekly only those newspapers or

periodicals dealing with the contentions between labo r an d capital, between thevarious opposing factors of social andeconomic conditions, and the attacks

between rival po lit ical parties, is sureto develop a personality that is con-tentious and generally supercritical. Onthe other hand, those who make it their business to re ad such lite ra tu re , andespecially such newspapers as attemptto present the higher and better side oflife, and to ignore as unessential thesordid and unfortunate things of life,will develop a tendency toward attunement with the happy side of the world.

Some newspapers delight in overem- phasizing th e sordid things as consti-

tuting the most important news of theworld. Th ere are other publicationswhich emphasize the kind and goodthings presented in daily living.

One cannot, for instance, read care-fully a book of astronomy without be-coming convinced that there are mar-velous laws in the universe constantlyoperating for the good of man . As onewalks out in the evening and lifts hiseyes toward heaven, he is bound to findnew joy in noticing the arrangementsof stars, and observing things aboutthem that he had never seen before.By reading the book, and becomingacquainted with another part of theuniverse, he has foimd a new field for

pleasant an d happy contem plation .Those who read only such books thatdeal with crime and with war, or withthe economic struggles of our earthlysystems, are bound to look upon every

business tran sa ct ion, every social con-tact and incident of life, with a some-what cynical and critical attitude.These things affect our personality, asdo our private thoughts and personal

convictions which are subtly createdand molded by what we read and hear,observe and comprehend.

The creating of personality is some-thing that is continuous and eternalfrom birth to transition, and beyond;

personality is im mortal. As we buildand create it today and tomorrow, itwill act and react and express itself inthe eternal future. Personality will bethe real p art of us to survive our earth-ly existence and become our spiritualheritage in the kingdom of God.


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The Cathedral of the Soul is a Cosmic meeting place for all minds of the

most highly developed and spiritually advanced members and workers of the Rosicrucian fraternity. It is the focal point of Cosmic radiations and thought waves from which radiate vibrations of health, peace, happiness, and inner awakening. Various periods of the day are set aside when m any thousands of minds are attuned with the Cathedral of the Soul, and others attuning with the Cathedral at the time w ill rece ive the benefit of the vibrations. Those who are not members of the organization may share in the unusual benefits as well as those who are members. The book called Liber 777 describes the periods for various contacts with the Cathedral. Copies wil l be sent to persons who are not members if they address their requests for this book to Scribe S. P. C., care of AMORC Temple, San Jose, California, enclosing three cents in postage stamps. (Please state whe ther me mb er or not this is important.)

LEVELS OF KNOWLEDGE By C e c i l A . P o o l e , Supreme Secretary

t is easily conceded thatthere are different levelsof knowledge, insofar asvarious members of thehuman race are con-cerned. A t th e sametime, there is a tendencyto believe tha t the know l-edge that has been or

may be attained by the human race isalmost perfect, or at least is highlyevolved. Ou r conceptions, opinions,and conclusions that have been made a

part of the know ledge of th e humanT h e race are those with which the hum an

Rosicru cian being has t?rPreted ,Ws T ' mediate environment, but also the

5 l whole universe. December W e have arrived at certain conclu1957 sions and certain understandings. M any

of them are probably true; in fact,there is no doubt tha t most of them aretrue, but nevertheless we should notlose sight of the fact that these levelsof knowledge that we have attained areall from mans point of view and of his

position in the universe.Space travel has become an accepted

future fact; that is, there is little doubt

in the minds of most thinking peopletoday that travel beyond the limitationsof die earths atmosphere is in theforeseeable future. To wha t exten t thistravel will evolve is still to be deter-mined in the future. However, in viewof the strides that have been made intransportation upon this earth in the

pa st two centuries, certainly if equalstrides are made within the next cen-tury in space travel, there will be re


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markable changes in our concept of theuniverse.

One of the first facts that is going toimpress man when he is able to leavethe earths atmosphere and travel intospace is that he is no longer in a posi-tion to judge everything that exists

pure ly in term s of th e knowledge th atis the product of a race of intelligent

beings living on one planet . It hasalways been known that when man ex-

pands his horizons, whether they be physical or mental, he takes in to con-sideration new conditions and new cir-cumstances. Consequently, as manleaves the limitations of the environ-ment of the physical world, he is goingto have to modify his thinking and his po int of view, and also m any of his preconceived ideas, to conform to con-ditions and facts which he finds else-where in this universe.

What we know of the physical uni-verse outside the limitations of the

planet Earth is lim ited to observationswith instruments and the conclusionsthat have been reached from those ob-servations. Obviously there can be noconclusions more perfect than the in-struments and the interpretation of thedata provided by the instruments. Con-sequently, the examination of the real

tiling will change these opinions. Nodoubt the moon and planets in ou r solarsystem will actually be different fromwhat we have determined them to be

by our observations here.The changing of the point of view

insofar as the interpretation of the physical aspects of th e un iverse is con-cerned is even secondary to the impactthat may take place if it is found thatintelligent life exists elsewhere in theuniverse. If there are Jiving creatureswith intelligence, or, shall we say, in-tellectual capacity similar to that ofhuman beings, then it is only logicalfor us to assume that these intelligent

beings will exist in one of three states.They will be less evolved than thegeneral average of the human race onearth; they will be about the same; orthey will be more highly evolved. Theimplications on society and upon thehuman race and its place in the worldwill be vastly affected by contact withany other intelligent beings in theuniverse.

In the exploration of the earth, it has been shown th at when one civilizationhas an impact on another, the civiliza-tion least prepared to adjust itself tothe impact may cease to be; in fact, itsindividuals may become extinct. Native populations have been wiped out by theinfluence of civilization upon them.Consequently, if we should contact arace of intelligent beings on another

planet who are below us in cu lture, wemay then assume the obligation of be-ing responsible for the ir destiny. Willthey be placed in a secondary position,such as some races have been upon thisearth? W ill they be wiped out entire-ly, as other races have been? Or willthey be completely inactivated andtaken advantage of as were the Ameri-can Indiansand as has also been the

prac tice of th e European races overother races and civilizations throughoutthe world?

On the other hand, has anyonestopped to seriously consider the con-sequences of contacting a race or groupof intelligent beings far in advance ofus? Th e opposite m ay take place. Wemay come under the domination of agroup of intelligent beings who will

place us in secondary position, or pos-sibly some might observe that the hu-

man race might benefit by receivingsome of the same treatme nt th at a large portion of it has given ou t to others in pa st history.

There are other implications evenmore important. How are we going toreconcile certain philosophical and re-ligious principles to new discoveries? Inthe Western world, we have beentaught that man was created in theimage of God, that representatives ofGod have come to earth to properly di-rect us. Possibly in another civilizationor in another world, the intelligent be-ings will have no resemblance to us.Then will it be we or they who aremade in the image of God? A verydifficult question, possibly for theologi-ans to decide. Furthermore, possiblytheir religious, ethical, and philosoph-ical concepts will be entirely different,and a great controversy will developas to which is righ t and which is wrong,and, as in the case of so many argu-ments, possibly the stronger ones willwin, regardless of whether they areright or wrong.


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The Rosicrucian Dig es t Decem ber1957

Such an imaginary look as this intothe future should cause intelligent menand women to realize that we are notthe perfect beings tha t some might hopewe could be. There exist in all man i-festations of being various levels ofknowledge and intelligence. Thoselevels are based upon the evolvementof the particular individual or group ofindividuals that have reached a certain

po in t in their in tellectua l growth. In -telligence, that is, true knowledge, ex-ists not as a possession of man, but asa tool of man. True knowledge andabsolute fact must exist in a mind thatmay not be directly related to man, but ra th er be a m ind th at m an can pierce, or approach, such as Platosrealm of ideas to which every intelli-gent being may have access.

W ha t the interpretation of thoseideas is, what may be our interpreta-tion of universal knowledge and Divinemind may be, is definitely reflected interms of our own knowledge, environ-ment, and understanding. Consequent-ly our levels of knowledge, as we ex-

pan d the horizons of exploration fromthe limitations of the earth to portionsof the universe, must cause us to realizethat we must be ready to adjust ourthinking to different levels, and to co-ordinate those levels in such a waythat growth of all intelligent beings,

regardless of where they may be orunder what circumstances they exist,may go forward as they were intendedto by the Creator.

Possibly the human race needs a les-son that will cause it to be a little lessconceited. We have been smug on ourearth, claiming that we knew the wayto salvation, to perfection, to materialachievement, without realizing, or atleast seriously considering the fact,that other intelligences may be carry-ing on similar activities in other places.While we make our plans for the ex-

ploration of spaceand there are even po lit icians who ta lk about laying claimto the moon or the planetswe might

be surprised one of these days to learnthat there are thinking individuals else-where in this universe who are farahead of our planning; and before wemay approach other parts of the solarsystem, possibly they w ill approach theearth.

It would be well if we would stop toconsider that one of the most profoundaspects of knowledge is humility; and,regardless of the levels of knowledgethat can be obtained, we should behumble before the existence of knowl-edge and the potentiality of attainingit so that we can always be ready toadjust ourselves to truth, whatever itmay be, when it is revealed to us.

V A V

IMAGINE!Another opportunity not to miss what you have been missing for years!From June 16 to July 5, 1958, the Rose-Croix University is again opening its doors to

a student body made up of members from all over the world! These students will participate in the most unique methods of instruction ever to be experienced in an educational institution. Th ey w ill gain a particular advantage in their quest for truth and knowledge.

Neither age nor educational background are primary factors in applying for admission. As lon g as you are a member of AMORC in good standing you are eligible to attend.

Write for free and complete information to: THE REGISTRAR, Rose-Croix University, Rosicrucian Park, San Jose, California, U .S .A . Ask for a copy of The Story of Learning which fully explains what lies in store for you here, and how you can take advantage of it.


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The Rosicrucian Dig es t Decem ber1957

Iy fear that He will deprive us of thatwhich we have been trained from ourearliest years to count valuable. Insuch an event we mu st take Him away,as Joseph and Mary did, and guardHim until these evil forces in our na-ture, symbolized by Herod, die out.

Silent WorshipEvery mystic must celebrate daily

the coming of Christmas. It m ust al-ways be in the background of his con-sciousness in everything he does. Thiscelebration can take place only in thesilence of the heart, in meditation andconcentration. Th e m ind is aw are ofsoul love when the energy of the soulwhich brings our ego into being isturne d upon itself and strengthened forthe nourishing and empowering of the

person ality . Ord in ari ly th is crea tive

power is wasted on th e useless ac tivi-ties of the human world; but, by theinner Christmas, the animal nature ismade obedient, and reason is illumined.All things in h um an life are dead with-out the love of Godto be found inthe manger of the heart.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesussaid, Blessed are the pure in heart,for the y shall see God. This greatmystical law explains tha t only he whoardently desires to change his life, toelevate his consciousness, to transmutethe experience and contents of the pres-ent moment, m ay come into the realiza-tion of the more highly refined fre-quencies of consciousness known asCosmic Consciousness. The word Christmas literally means Christ Mass, orthe offering or sacrifice of Christ.This is a way of saying that our ordi-nary human and animal consciousnesshas been created from the Cosmic Con-sciousness, although we have always

been unaware of th e fact. The Cosmichas brought us out of itself so that wemight build the vehicles and facultiesof soul and mind an d body. This ac-complishment in turn wall give us thekind of awareness which will make it

possible fo r our becoming conscious ofth at out of which we came. In short,through us the Cosmic becomes awareof itself.

In the Christian religion the birthof Jesus Christ is explained by sayingthat God sacrifices Himself in humanflesh in order that He may see Himself

in the form of man and love man inHis own perfection and simplicity and

puri ty , which alone can make it pos-sible for man to offer himself back toGod in the consciousness of the divinenature which has been bestowed uponhim. M ystically interpreted, the doc-trine of the Incarnationthe doctrineof Christs birth into human fleshmeans th at Cosmic Consciousness bringshuman consciousness into being byevolving the levels of consciousness outof the substance of the earth, and final-ly making it possible for the individu-ality or ego, so painfully evolved, to

become aw are of th e energy and forceof pure being in which it lives andmoves and has its own being.

The first moment of this awareness(and the moment of awareness foreverafter) constitutes th e Fea st of Christmas

in the mystical heart. Is it any wonderthat the wise men offered their pres-ents? Is it any wonder that we giveeach other gifts on Christmas day, giftswhich are the unconscious token of theoffering of ourselves to the Baby Jesusin the heart of our fellowmen?

The Saving ol Man

Jesus, the Greek word for theHebrew Joshua, l i tera l ly meansSaviour, indicating clearly that Cos-mic Consciousness is the Saviour ofman. W ha t does it save us from? Andw ha t does it save us for? It saves usfrom the consciousness, all too preva-lent in our everyday life, of separationfrom God. All the loneliness and sinin human experience comes from thefeeling of separation from the essenceof our Being.

T he hu m an ind iv idua lity wh ichgropes darkly in a world of confusioncannot see the light of its own con-sciousness, and does not know whenceit came or where it is going. Th e dailyexperiences of life seem meaninglessand unrelated. The word sin, whichliterally means to miss the mark orseparation, indicates this separationof the human being from the sourceof his true nature. Hu man reason can-not save humanity, and neither can

physical labor. No law s devised morecleverly, nor financial systems evolvedmore rnghly, nor peace treaties signedin ink more indelible will do any goodin the attempts to solve mans problems


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until man becomes aware of his owntrue being and thus enters the Con-sciousness of the Cosmic. Th e experi-ence of Christmas in the heart in hu-man life is essential to peace profound.

Another thing from which we aresaved is sickness. Sickness is a lack of balance and harm ony in the conscious-ness which manifests itself in the ac-tions of the mind and body. This sick-ness also is separation. It is the multi -

pl ic ity of feeling an d though tthe pa inand tension which arise in conscious-ness when the body and mind areseparated from thei r source. All themistakes in thought, the destructivefeelings, the pain producing actions ofthe human body can be healed by theenergizing vitality of the Cosmic whenthe individuality can sensitize itself inthe full awareness of the life force ofAll Vitality. W hen we are fatigued,depressed, confused, anxious, bitter, re-sentful, fearful, proud, or vain, themystical consciousness can find solacefrom these illnesses of mind and heart

by retrea ting into the Consciousness ofthe Cosmic.

By the coming of Christ we are alsosaved from death. In the awareness ofthe Cosmic Consciousness there is nosuch thing as death, since death is a

concept in the human mind whichcomes from the realization that the body was given to us an d will be takenfrom us. If the consciousness is cen-tered in the body and the awarenessof its actions in the material world, weare merely self conscious, and there-fore conscious of the operation of theimagination which produces an end tothe body in the future. It is only bythe rebirth of consciousness in theawareness of the Cosmic that we cansave ourselves from this death.

Eternal life is the awareness of theCosmic in the present moment. In it weexperience our true being, which iseternal, rather than the mere aware-ness of the material body which willsome day be destroyed. It requires nomore than a shifting of consciousnessfrom the mortality of the body to theimmortality of the soul to make usaware of the truth that there is nodeath. This is signified in the life ofChrist by the story of the resurrection.The crucifixion and resurrection forman inseparable part of the story of

Christmas. For jus t as Cosmic Con-sciousness is bom, so we must be cruci-fied to the doing of its will. Thus wecan be raised from the death of our

personal selfishness in th e body and

human mind to the immortality andeternal life of the consciousness of theCosmic.

Insp irational E xperience

The Christ bom in the heart atChristmastime is the source of inspira-tion. Every daily problem, all thefoibles and weaknesses of our humannature may be submitted to Him; and,since He is perfect in wisdom, He willgive them back to us perfectly resolvedfor our illumination and guidance. Thewisdom of the Cosmic is operating inthe soul personality at all times. Everymystic knows tha t the creative thoughtsand feelings of the conscious mind arereceived by the unconscious, and that by the law of deduction th ey are de-veloped to their logical and right con-clusions. Thus, as a man thinketh inhis heart, so is he. As ye sow, soshall ye reap. Th is is perfect wisdom,and the consciousness of this truth isCosmic Consciousness. The ability tothink, desire, and imagine creatively isthe purpose of the mystic s life. It is

true inspirationtrue wisdom put intoaction by the disciple who has to somedegree become one with Christ, theconsciousness of the Cosmic. W ha t iscalled in religion the Will of God is theLaw of the Cosmic fulfilling itself ac-cording to the desire of the mystic.

There is no more wonderful experi-ence in all of life than the experienceof inspiration. It is the sheer power ofChrist working in the human heart,causing the mind to know and do bet-te r than is ord inar ily possible. It causesthe unfolding and solidifying of all our

personal experience for the purpose ofmaking it the tool of the Cosmic intel-ligence. Th e mystic who offers himselfto the Cosmic to work under inspira-tion is like the child Jesus, at the age oftwelve, in the Temple about HisFa the rs business. His affairs are theaffairs of God, and Gods Will becomeshis own. Just as Jesus, the symbol ofCosmic Consciousness, was disputing inthe Temple with the scribes and teach-ers, causing them to wonder and ques-tion the wisdom of his statements, so


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T he Rosicrucian Digest Dec em be r1957

the Cosmic Consciousness within theheart, when it begins to grow to ma-turity, will argue mightily with theordinary traditions and education ofthe hum an mind. Scholastic educationis good in its place, and not to bescoffed at fo r w ha t it is worth. But itis nothing unless it becomes a tool of

the Christ Child within the heart.Just as the Virgin Mary kept all thesayings and the experiences of theChrist Child within her heart, so wemust keep in purity and sincerity thehighest moments of exaltation, love,and illumination within our own hearts.God then may take our experience andaspiration which we offer to Him inthe silence of the soul and give them

back to us to be used fo r th e fu rtherexperience of creation in the world.Jesus, immediately after the beginningof His ministry, said: When you praydo not show off and re peat loud phrases before yo ur fellowm en, bu t ente r intoyour closet and pray to the Father insecret, and the Father who hears youin secret will rew ard you openly. Themystic, then, does not appear beforehis fellowmen to be pious and senti-mental and superior, but enters into thecloset of the consciousness of the soul. There he prays to the God of his heart,who grants his every wish according toHis Will, with almighty power andauthority.

Th e story is told that after M ary andJoseph found Jesus in the Temple Hewas subject unto them from that veryhour. It is easy to imagine the fearand disappointment of the parents ofJesus at his rebellion. And ye t He wasobedient unto them and did their everywish until He went off to begin Hissacred ministry for the healing and thealleviation of the suffering of the world.So also the Cosmic is obedient to theinnerm ost desire of the mystic. To askin the Nam e of Jesus means m ysticallyto supplicate in the consciousness of the

Cosmic. Th e true mystic is aware ofwhat is possible according to Cosmiclaw and he desires only the will of theCosmic. The Cosmic is obedient to hiswill, and what he asks in the name ofthe God of his heart, the Christ Child,will be granted him.

The birth of the Christ in the heartcomes in the silence of the eternity ofthe soulthe breath taking stillness in

which all the faculties of the humannature are poised in the awareness ofdivinity. This m ome nt is the goal ofall striving, and is worthy of every ef-fort and sacrifice. The silence is theabsence of all vanity and ordinary hu-man thought, the oblivion of the humanego and its importance in a vain world.

It is a silence created out of suffering,the Dark Nig ht of the Soul. The Dark Night , a fa ct in th e life of the mystic ,is fiie spiritual, emotional, and mentalstate of frustration, hopelessness, pain,and depression caused by wearinesswith the old life of the ego. Th e dark-est period of this night produces thestillness, the silence, when the ego hassurrendered, when the individuality issupremely aware of its utter helpless-ness. The n, an d only then, are the con-ditions right for the entrance intoconsciousness of the new Mind, theDivine Help, the Son of God, the Sav-iour of the World, Jesus Christ, theConsciousness of the Cosmic.

In Christmas Scripture this experi-ence is described in the second chapterof St. Lukes Gospel: And there werein the same country shepherds abidingin the field, keeping watch over theirflock by night. And, lo, the angel ofthe Lord came upon them, and theglory of the Lord shone round aboutthem: and they were sore afraid. Andthe angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings ofgreat joy, which shall be to all people.For unto you is bom this day in thecity of David a Saviour, which is Christthe Lord. Out of the Silence, the still-ness and darkness of the night, comesthe Light, which brings peace profound,true love, and life more abundant.

The consciousness of silence is pro-duced by th e stillness of the mind wa it-ing for the coming of the Holy Ghost,the Spirit of God, who enters into onesheart and there conceives the babyJesus in the womb of the soul. W e thus

become th e Virgin M ary , an d Chris tis bom in the he art. This priceless giftis available to all men and women whowill bring themselves to the momentof silence and purity which is sym-

bolized by the virginity of M ary. Th ismeans that all extraneous ventures inlife cease to have any meaning in thelight of the one supreme motive for

being, th e Birth of Jesus, the conscious-


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ness of the Cosmic. From th at mom enton, it is possible to go into the silence,the closet, and there comm une with ourown true selves which have become theSelf of God.

The Prologue to St. Johns Gospelthe Christmas Gospel, which is readtraditionally after every Mass in theChristian Churchdescribes the mys-tical experience: In the beginning wasthe Word (Cosmic Consciousness) andthe Word was with God and the Wordwas God. . . .All things were made byHim. . . . In Him was Life and the Lifewas the Ligh t of Men. And the Lightshineth in darkness, and the darknesscomprehendeth it not. . . . That wasthe true Light, which lighteth everyman that cometh into the world. . . .The world was made by Him, and theworld knew Him not. H e came un to Hisown, and His own received Him not.But as many as received Him, to themgave He power to become the Sons ofGod . . . And the Word was made

Flesh . . . and we beheld His Glory . . .full of Grace and Truth.

The ardent desire for this experienceis wonderfully expressed in the mys-tical prayer, O wonderful beautifulkingdom of light, shed down upon thishumble soul thy beam of Cosmic Con-sciousness; look down and touch thesoul that waits and stir its mind withthoughts divine; cast out all evil andall sin and take into the world of lovemy heart and psychic self that thusmerged my self shall be but Self ofGod. This desire is also expressed inthe most mystical of all the Christmashymns of Christianity: 0 little townof Bethlehem, how still we see theehe! . . . How silently, how silently, thewondrous gift is given; So God impartsto human hearts the blessings of hisheaven. No ear m ay hea r his coming,

but in th is world of sin, where meeksouls will receive him still, the dearChrist enters in.

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^Jim z jo x ^J atLznaz By R o d m a n R . C l a y s o n , Grand Master

T he Ro sicrucian Dig es t Decem ber1957

y nature most people, par ticu la rly Am ericans,are impatient, but theyhave the capacity for m anyaccomplishments if theywill b ut take sufficient time.Time must be allowed foropportunity, thought, andthe expenditure of effort inorder to obtain a realizationof our desires; and this re-quires patience. To para-

phrase an old proverbperhaps, afterall, the long way around may be theshortest way to a goal.

W e are im patient about m any things.W e see a new road or a new bridge

be ing bu ilt , and we wonder w hy it wasnot done before. Our neighbor puts upa new fence, and we wonder why hedid not do a better job of it. We are

prone to take for granted presen t dayconveniences of household appliancesand the various methods of fast and ef-ficient transportation, and we wonderwhy this was not developed a long timeago. In fact, we may wonder why the

people who lived in our commun itytwen ty years ago did not do things d if-ferent! y. W hy did not someone thinkof new improvements sooner? No oneis perfect, and yet it is so easy to beimpatient with the imperfections ofother people.

Virtually everything we can thinkof has had a humble beginning. Im -

provemen t or developm ent in people ormethods seldom comes all at once. Men,ideas, and methods are not bom fullgrown. We cannot remak e people orthe ir ideas. This is always a personalmatter, and is accomplished gradually.Big undertakings cannot be achievedquickly. We must leam to take peopleas they are and to help them wheneverwe can. It is necessary that we allowour children to leam. In their earlyyears we taught them to tie their shoe-strings. At first they fumbled with theknots. W e could have much morequickly tied the strings for them, but

if we had done so, theywould not have learned totie the strings on their ownshoes.

Development and prog-ress is a slow process; and perhaps it is ju st as wellthat it is so, even thoughwe may sometimes be im -

patien t about i t from our personal perspective. Th ereare times when we think

we could live other peoples lives betterfor them than they themselves seem to

be capable of doing.Perfection does not come easily or

quickly, and there are no wholly per-fect people. We may feel that we areenlightened, that we have reached the

peak of knowledge; an d yet, if we willhonestly analyze ourselves, we mayfind that we still persist in ways that

people of fu tu re generations wouldthink absurd, much as we perhapsthink of some of the things of the lastgeneration. Those who will live infuture generations are bound to wonder

why we did not do things differently.They will think that many of our ef-forts have been bungled or wasted.

Individ ually we should strive for twothings: fairness of understanding and

proper perspective. We should not betoo impatient with what we feel islacking in our neighbor or our placeof business or employment, or even in

present day industrial and scientific ac-complishments. Th e same may be saidof finding a b etter w ay to solve personaldifferences. But we must continue todream of better things, better ways ofdoing. Without vision, the people

perish. The mind of m an is capableof tremendous possibilities. There is nodevelopment in the h istory of the worldthat you can think of that has not been broug ht about by th e mind ofman. It was first dreamed of and vis-ualized, and given much thought. Everyundertaking has required time and pa-tience. A person who does not think,


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contemplate, and dream of accomplish-ments and goals will never experiencethe fruits of achievement.

Nothing worthw hile is bom an d cre-ated without thought. There must al-ways first be the dream, the idea, the

plan , and the purpose before the real ityof it can be brought forth. It takestime to bring about the realization ofan idea. It takes work and patience.Your idea may not take definite shapeand substance as soon as you wish. Thisrequires patience. Sometimes you can-not give your immediate attention toit, and there is a necessary waiting

pe riod unti l additional developmentmakes further consideration possible.

Attainment

We must patiently watch for our op- po rtunities. There are very few thingswhich are impossible of attainment,although we m ay have to work a t themfor years for the realization. Think ofthe developments which are todaysconveniences. At one time m any ofthem were thought to be impossible,and yet with the passing of time they became possible an d th en realities. Theideas and dreams which we may havehad in earlier years, and those at onetime experienced by other people, en-

rich our lives today. There have been perseverance and patience. It was oncesaid that man would never fly. Todaytransportation by air is commonplace.At this writing, a man made satellite,or moon, is traveling around the earth,having been launched by the countryof Russia. For years scientists havedreamed of this possibility, because ofthe needed knowledge which it will

bring us from th e instru ments wh ichit will carryknowledge about outerspace, Cosmic rays, atmospheric tem-

pe ratures, an d bet ter weather prediction.The minds of hundreds of scientists

have been working on th e moon project.The United States satellite will carryspecially developed instruments. It will

be sent in to space from the earth byway of rockets at sufficient speed forthe satellite to reach the required highaltitudes above the earth, where it willnot be subject to so much gravity andwill travel in its orbit around the earth.With time and patience, the necessaryfuel for the rockets to drive them suf-ficiently fast will be developed. It ap-

pears that momentous achievementswill take place in 1958, the Interna-tional Geophysical Year.

W hen w hat you desire seems virtual-ly impossible of attainm ent, give it evenmore thought and patiently work to br ing about its realization. There may be m any differen t ways of working outwhat you want, and you may want tochange your approach without chang-ing your purpose. A great m any of thethings which you are thinking aboutand which our scientists are now dream -ing about will come to pass through

pa tience an d the development of ideasand technique.

Persistency and consistency are thekey words. Remember the words ofLord Bulwer Lytton: D ream, 0 youth,dream nobly and manfully, and yourdreams shall be your prophets. Whatwe seek must be logical and rationaland in fine with present experienceand knowledge. To a limited degree ourexperience and knowledge cause us toaccept the limitations set on our de-sires by laws of Nature, the Law ofCause and Effect. W e know that wemust intelligently deal with these ele-ments. W e know that there is no magicformula. The process may be relativelyslow and painful, but in the end it will

bring rich reward because you havemanifested intelligence and willingnessto face facts.

To bring about desired results weseek further knowledge. It is the lackof knowledge or of those things whichwe do not understand which bringsabout a feeling of insecurity. Thu s wesee that the trite expression knowl-edge is pow'er is true. You can worksuccessfully with anything that youunderstand.

The dreams to which we refer shouldnot be merely idle pastime nor shouldwe simply talk idly about them if weexpect the reward of achievement.Words can never take the place ofreality and work. Every person is en -titled to his own ideas or dreams. All

people should be allowed to work outthe ir personal problems. We should not

become im pat ient with them an d im - pose ou r pet ideas and methods uponthem. Th e important thing is that weshow interest in the interests of ourfriends, particularly those who areseeking accomphshment. In so doing


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The Rosicrucian Digest Dec em be r1957

we will learn what the purpose is oftheir pursuit, what their philosophy is.It may surprise you to learn that their

ph ilosophy is eq ua l to your ow n phi-losophy of life. W e let others follow thew ay of life they choose. Th e sameforces or laws are available for every-one to use.

While television was not known ahundred years ago, if someone had saidat that time that he would eventuallysit in his living room and on a screenmade for the purpose watch the runnin e of a horse race, as we do today, hiscredulity would have been questioned;yet the forces which make it possiblewere always actually there.

It would be foolish for us to say thatwe can hear everything that a dog canhear. W e know very well that a dogand other animals have a keener senseof hearing. Th ey hear higher rates ofsound vibrations than those which can

be perceived by th e hum an ear. Theconditions that make this possible arealways present.

When what we desire is slow of ac-complishment, we m ust no t become im-

patient and rebel. Even thoug h it issometimes difficult to see or accept,many of the things we experience adda richness to life and a breadth to ex-

per ience th at we never would ha veknown if we had not been permitted to

think and dream, p lan and contemplate.We should not become discouraged be-cause we feel that things are not whatthey should be. W e should try to workwith facts th at cannot be refuted. Ifwe desire improvement and change wemust go about it patiently and intelli-gently.

W hen some unlooked for accident orsome unwanted experience becomes anirrevocable reality, an interference toour plans, when we are faced with thetruth of proved facts, there is no peaceor purpose in letting impatience get the

best of us. T he classic examples of thosewho have suffered for their ideals are not more dramatic n or heroic tha n whatmany men do despite occasional heart- breaking difficult ies in almost everyfamily. Th e way to personal peace,the way to effectiveness, the way to

productiveness an d creativeness, andthe way to happiness, is to change if

possible w hat needs to be changed, an d

to make the most of what cannot bechanged without giving way to impa-tience and discouragement.

In looking for perfection or some-thing closely approx imating it, especial-ly in other people, when we fail to findit, we often spend more time thinking

about wh at is not right than about whatis right. E merson wrote: If we willtake the good we find, we shall haveheaping measures/ and the yearsteach much which the days neverknow.

There is no one who has not experi-enced adversity and discouragementno one who has not had to meet serious

problems. There is no one who hascrusaded to improve the ways of the past or m ate rially contribu ted to theadvancement of the future who has not been misunders tood. Le t us no t con-tribute to misunderstanding.

This is a day of specialization. Onecannot know and do everything. Insome respects it has always been so, formen have always been limited in theirliving, not only by their talents, facili-ties, and education, but by the limitsof time. Even when they have talentand skill to spare, there are limitations.There is always the matter of time.Very often with patience we can createthe time for opportunity. From ourdreams we must definitely know whatit is that we wish to bring about; thenwe must work at it. W e will five hap - pier lives as we pursue our goal andapply ourselves diligently and persist-ently. Of course you will usually findthat the activities and plans of yourmind will far exceed your physicalcapacity or ability.

Try to see things in their true proportion; try to see people as th ey are;try to see in people and in things the

purpose th ey serve. If yo u would do big th ings , yo u m ust th in k big with itslogical imp

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Rosicrucian Digest, December 1957