Rosicrucian Digest, February 1959

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1959

FEBRUARY

35$ pe r copy

ft

The Human Race

in Crisis

W hat images have wefashioned ?

V A V

Giving God

a Chance

K n o w y o u r i n n e rdivini ty.

V A V

Communicat ion

with OtherWorlds

Are we insensi t iveto contacts?

7 A V

Mysticism

Science

The ArtsV A V

T f e x t 0J9C


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AZTEC DANCERS

This famous dance team, led by the celebrated Mexican artist Sehorita Gloria Cansino. per-forms authentic ritualistic Aztec dances. Sefiorita Cansino and her Indian dancers gave anexhibition of her art at the banquet given by the AMORC Lodge in Mexico City following

its Xecent Rally. The occasion was attended by several Supreme and Grand Lodge officers ofthe Order.{Photo by AMORC)


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ROSICRUCIAN DIGESTCOVERS THE WORLD

TH E O F FI C I A L M A G A Z I N E O F TH E W O R LD - W I D E RO S I C R U C I A N O R D ER

XXXVII FEBRUARY, 1959 _______No. 2

Aztec Dancers (Frontispiece) ... 41

Thought of the Month: Communication with Other Worlds 44

The Human Race in Crisis ....... ............. . 48

The Fruition of Growth 52

Cathedral Contacts: Pause for Fulfillment ......... ........................ 56

White and What It Signifies........................ ........................................ 58Technique for Message Reception ............................................. . 60

Achieve the Simple Viewpoint 63

Giving God a Chance ............... .......... 64

Temple Echoes ......................... 68

1959 Rosicrucian InternationalConvention ............ 70

Rosicrucian New Year 72

When to Consult a Lawyer 74

Three Steps Important to Living 75

World-Wide Directory . 76

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Published Monthly by the Supreme Council of

Rosicrucian Park THE ROSICRUCIAN ORDERAMORC San Jose, Ca lifornia

EDITOR: Frances Vejtasa

The Purpose of the Rosicrucian OrderThe Rosicrucian Order, existing in all civilized lands, is a nonsectarian fraternal body of men

and women devoted to the investigation, study, and practical application of natural and spiri tuallaws. The purpo se of the organ ization is to enable all to live in harmo ny w ith the creative, con-structive Cosmic forces for the attainme nt of health, happiness, and peace. The O rder is inter-nationally known as "AMORC' (an abbreviation), and the A.M.O.R.C. in America and all otherlands con stitutes the only form of Rosicruc ian activities united in one body. The A.M.O.R.C. doesnot sell its teaching s. It gives them freely to affiliated membe rs togeth er with many oth er benefits.For complete information about the benefits and advantages of Rosicrucian association, write alette r to the addres s below, and ask for the free book. The Mas tery of Life. Addre ss ScribeS. P. C., Rosicrucian O rder, AMORC, San Jose , California, U. S. A. (Cable Add ress: "AMORCO )

Copyright, 1959, by the Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC, Inc. A ll rights reserved.


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TheRosicrucianDigestFebruary1959

THE

THOUGHT OF THE MONTH

Communication With O ther Worlds

o d a y the average intelligent and imaginative person is of the opinion that

life exists elsewhere thanon earth. He has no convincing proof of this, buthe deduces this idea fromnumerous events and revelations by science which

ie accepts as factual. Each day he ismade more conscious of the fin ite nature of earth. He has always been, sincehis school days, casually aware thatearth is a globede in a sea of celestialmatterthat it is just one of the planetsof our solar system. However, the demands of his economic, political, andsocial life, as well as his religious doctrines, have accentuated to him the importance of earth.

The distant planets, remote stars andgalaxiesin fact, the entire science ofastronomyto the average man wras arealm of fantasy. So far as personalexperience is concerned, the theoriesand discoveries of astronomy stood inthe same relationship to most personsas do the myths of ancient Greece. Themythologies were fantastic and incompatible with the realities of the every

day worldbut then he was told thatthey were but imaginative and he accepted them as such. The postulationsof science, the tremendous distancescited for the celestial bodies, related interms of light traveling 186,000 miles

per second and requiring years to reachearththese, too, were fantastic. Thesethings were equally outside the boundsof the average mans personal reality.There was little or nothing in the courseof most mens daily life that gave sup

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port to the declarations of astronomersregarding worlds beyond.

These pronouncements of science in

the main were, however, accepted bythe populace on faith. The acceptancecorresponded to the reliance which manfor centuries has put in the uniqueknowledge expounded by the shaman,medicine man, sorcerer, and priest. Mencould not substantiate the claims butneither could they refute them. Sincemost of the declarations have had littleintimate effect upon their lives, mengave them a modicum of thought.

Now, for most men, astronomy andits related or co-ordinated sciences havebecome objectified.Things are being accomplished which the man in the streetcan perceive and of which he gainscomprehension without having an astute knowledge of higher mathematicsand the intricacies of physics. Themoon, planets, the solar system as awhole and the space beyond are acquiring a familiarity, notwithstanding theirremoteness. The activity of projectinginto space man-made satellites androckets and the visible tests to prepareman for space journeys are becomingrelated to the world of everyday events.

For most men there still clings to thesecircumstances a kind of foreign atmosphere, like strange happenings inAfghanistan or Tibet. But space projects are now accepted as a phase ofhuman life, one that will play a prominent part in mans future affairs in away of which he is not quite certain.

The more extensive the disclosuresby science of the vastness not alone ofour own solar system but of the greateruniverse, the more constricted becomes


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the earth. It seems highly improbable,even to the intelligent religionist, that avirtual speck of dust such as earthwhen compared with the millions ofsuns and other universes lying in thereaches of spaceshould be exclusivelyselected to harbor intelligent beings. It

becomes fantastic and unbelievable tothink that the infinite number of bodiesin the cosmic aside from earth, shouldbe devoid of the factors upon which lifedepends. In fact, the modern intelligent religious devotee considers it aconstraining doctrine to believe that asupreme being, as a creator, would useas a theatre for the extension of hisown consciousness just earth alone. Itseems more plausible, even though it bea pantheistic idea, that the supreme intelligence is all-pervadingand manifestsitself in self-conscious beings whereverconditions develop favorable organisms.

The creation of the earth is recent ascompared to remote galaxies with theirsuns and satellites which are racingaway from us with nearly the speedof light. It is further highly improbable,considering the eons of time these bodies existed in space before earth, thatnone other should have developed thoseelements or conditions which wouldbring forth life and develop a high degree of intelligence. It is now far lessfantastic to assume that intelligent be

ings in addition to those on earth existin the great universe.Here then arises the question of iso

lation. Why have not such beings manifested or disclosed their existence tomankind in general? If intelligent entities have existed for untold eons oftime, their intelligence, it is presumed,by the evolutionary process exceeds theapperceptive and cognitive powers ofman. I n e distances that lie betweenearth and other solar systems, even inour own galaxy, the Milky Way, areappalling. But if man has made the ad

vances he has within the last century,superior intelligences in existence for afar greater period than man shouldhave been able to surmount in somemanner the obstacles of distance. HenriBergson, the noted French philosopher,asserted that mobilityis a characteristicof the higher forms of consciousness.The more intelligent the being, themore mobile it becomes. On this premise, observing, thinking beings, regard

less of the form of their organism,would have eventually become awareof other worlds and sought to contactthemand probably earth as well.

As we know living organisms onearth, they cannot acquire a high degree of intelligence without being ableto perceive their environment. It is alsopresumed that with highly developedfaculties of cognition and apperception,there is always, as well, imagination.Consequently, a race of beings whowould be so located in space that theirinstrumentation disclosed the planetearth, would be, it is presumed, motivated by an innate curiosity to investigate it. Beings capable of such wouldalso have the technique by which todetermine that the atmosphere of earthcould sustain life.

The science of biology discloses thatthere is little if any differentiation between simple plant and animal cells.Superior organic development could,where life exists elsewhere, have pursued a course of super plants. In otherwords, there could be thinking, reasoning self-conscious plants instead ofanimals. Plants with a cerebral organism or brain are not outside the realmof possibility. On earth there are innumerable plants which exhibit in theirfunctions degrees of consciousness thatare comparable to a low order of intelli

gence. Such plantlike beings in spacemight find it extremely difficult, however, to be highly mobile. Figurativelyand literally, they might be rooted tothe substance of their world.

Perception is another challengingquestion. Would other beings have avisual perception the same as humans?There are various theories as to theorigin of the eye. It is speculated thatit developed from light sensitive cellswhich evolved into an organ. In fact,we have knowledge of organisms whichhave such primitive eyes, that is, myri

ads of cells which respond to the stimulus of light. But having eyes there isno certainty as to the visual imagesthat other world beings might see. Infact, they might have a faculty of perception, a sense receptor, that givesthem another and entirely differentdimension of reality from ours. It mightbe one of which we have no comprehension and could not possibly realize.

It seems rational to presume that if

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beings are intelligent they must havesense receptors winch provide qualitiesor sensations that give rise to mentalimages, to ideas or thoughts. Such sensations and qualities are the materialsof which our thought is built. But whatkind of thoughts and qualities would

reality have for such space beings?Would they have such notions as timeand space? Would they have a conceptof three-dimensional matter and geometric forms? The abstract polemicarises, which is both philosophical and

psychological, Can there be thoughtprocesses having entirely different characteristics from those of the humanmind? It is almost impossible for usto conceive of a being thinking and yetnot having ideas which are related toour senses of sight, touch, feeling, hear

ing, and so on. Our thoughts are a fabricof the qualities of our senses. Even aso-called pristine or original thoughtembodies the terms of the qualities ofour objective experiences or it wouldhave no comprehensible image to ourminds.

Presuming that the consciousness ofhighly intelligent beings in some remote world was receptive to differentsense qualities than ours, its imagerywould likewise be different. The worldof ideation, of thought, of such beings

would be entirely unlike anything wecan conceive. It would not be merelylike a people thinking in terms of adifferent language. In such an instancethere is merely an adapting of differentwords and sounds to the same senseimpressions as other peoples have. Inother words, a rose is a rose by anyother name. But suppose a people perceived things which we, as humans,could not perceive and who had mentalimages from their experiences whichwould have no correspondence to anyreality conveyed by our senses. Where

in could there be any meeting of theminds?

Mental telepathy is now vindicatedas not being a superstition of the DarkAges. It is no longer thought to bean absurd occult speculation. Parapsychology has not as yet reduced mentaltelepatny to a specific hypothesis whichwill thoroughly explain its functions.Systems of metaphysics, however, havelong laid down explanatory principlesfor the phenomena of the mind. But

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]

they have not been able to reduce to aprocedure the phenomena so that eventhe materialist can demonstrate themunder any conditions. Metaphysicalsystems expounding mental telepathyhave asserted that a particular state orlevel of consciousness must first be at

tained by the individual before he canaccomplish thought transference. Science scoffed at this, saying that, ifthought transference were possible, itcould be reduced to empirical conditionsapplicable by any person. However,now parapsychology is convinced thatthe transference of thought is possibleunder certain conditions. What theseconditions of the human mind and emotions are remains as yet a mystery tothem and a matter of experimentation.

In cases of successful mental telep

athy, ideas are transferred from onemind to another. There is, in otherwords, a true communication of thought.It can be presumed, for analogy, tnatthis is accomplished in somewnat thesame manner as the high frequencyimpulses tha t are televised. In otherwords, the idea is formed in the mindof the recipient by the process of assem

bling or organizing the impulses ofthought energy transmitted to nim. Thestimulus he receives brings forth related or associated ideas from memory

by which the impression is then identified. For example, the transference ofthe thought redwould result in the im

pressions creating in the consciousnessof the person receiving them sensationswhich he would recognize as the colorred. It is obvious that if one had neverexperienced the color red, the impressions received would only produce unidentifiable sensations.

How far can thought energy be transmitted? As a result of experiments inparapsychology it is theorized thatwhatever trans m issible en ergy thethought develops, under a certain psychic condition within the individual, atleast it does not diminish with distance.Can thought which has been known tobe transmitted to the far ends of theearth between sensitive individuals belikewise projected into outer space? Arethe factors acting as deterrents or resistances to the energies of the electromagnetic spectrum ineffectual to thoughtimpulses?

With the proposed launching within


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the next decade of manned rockets inorbit far above the earth, interestingexperiments in telepathy could be carried on, provided, of course, that thelaws by which the phenomenon of telepathy occurs are then commonly

known and can be applied by the occupant of the rocket. If thought canreach into infinity and not diminish inits intensity, then a bond with otherintelligences in space or other worldsis possible. Such would necessitate thatthe recipients, the intelligent beingselsewhere, have sense receptors producing somewhat similar qualities to ourown. Otherwise, the impressions suchbeings would have from any thoughtprojected to them from ea rth wouldnever be identified by them.

Have we humans ever been the targetof projected thought from outer spaceintelligences? We, too, would have onlymysterious, intuitive, but vague impressions which we could not identify, ifthe ideation behind such thoughts had

no parallel in human mental images.Are unintelligible feelings we have attimes that arouse our emotions and forwhich there are no corresponding ideas,the result of thought transference frombeings in the depths of space? Perhapsman will eventually develop hyperesthesia by which he will realize he isreceiving the thoughts of other spacebeings and then learn to relate them tohuman ideas that will make for mutualintelligence and true communication.

V A V

Letter Writing, an Art

P

e r h a ps in our new-age living, lette r writing will once more take its place ascreative thought in self-expression. With this in mind, we wish to snare the

following letter which arrived in the December mail:

Snow is falling in my forest. For eighteen years I have not seen snow. Howexquisitely beautiful it is!

I open the door of my hut and it is as if the path is formed of diamond dustscintillating, glittering in the light of my lamps.

No sound comes from the sea. Little River has ceased its bubbling flow, held inthe grip of Frost, the King. Only a faint rustle is heard as the flakes fall gentlyto earth. The great pines are still and silent, weighted with the ir silver glory.

There is harm ony and comfort in this utter silence. God has wrapped theearth in a white covering of peace and love so that Man may rest awhile, and inhis contemplation of beauty be refreshed.

I close my door and turn to prayer. The grandeur and solemnity of this luminous night brings me thoughts of those whose hour of transition is at hand and

to whom the Great White Angel will presently come.Yet there can be no sadness for these souls. They will hear the Spheres eter

nal music as they pass; they will know the lightness of the Sold freed from material existence.

And as I give thanks for them in their joy, I share in a measure with it. NowI rise from prayer and hear the far-off chime of bells at the midnight hour andremember that they commemorate the Birth Day of Our Lord. Unto us a Childis born. Unto us a Son is given.

Yesthis is Christmas Day.Be a t r ic e Ru s s e l l , of Vancouver Island

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^Ufiz cJ-fuman dfycuiE in diis-is.By Sir Sa r v e pa l l i Ra d h a k r i s h n a n(Reprinted from The RotarianSeptember 1958)


h is generation has the responsibility for decidingwhether the human raceis to prosper or decline,whether our conduct willlead to a beginning or anend. It is a challengethat faces us with dangerand opportunity. It is the

crisis of the human race. Deuteronomytells us: I call heaven and earth to

record this day against you, that I haveset before you life and death, blessingand cursing: therefore choose life, that

both thou and thy seed may live.We are asked to choose. But man

tends to lose his creativity when hefeels that nothing gets better, that hecannot improve anything, that his dailylife is controlled by pressures, and thatthe philosophers only echo his own anxiety and despair. The changeless valuesof spirit, the pursuit of truth, and the

practice of love which have nourished

the great pages of history do not seemto be relevant to an age steeped in science, deserted by religion, and deprivedeven of humanist ideals. We seem tohave reached the height of irresponsibility.

Yet it is wrong to assume that eventsare sweeping mankind toward unknownand predestined ends. We are not thehelpless pawns of natural forces. Thereare no inexorable laws of historic development. If we assume historical inevitability, our effort will be paralyzed,our initiative destroyed, and our dignitylost. Though man is rooted in Nature,he also transcends Nature. There is anelement in him which cannot be accounted for by Nature. He can sit in

judgment on himself. Pascal refers tothis truth when he says that though theunthinking forces of Nature may crushman, they do not know what they aredoing but he knows. This is his self-consciousness, his freedom, his superiority to Nature. He cannot become amere function of society.

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The greatest mystery , Mr. Malrauxmakes one of his characters say in TheWalnut Trees of Altenberg, is not thatwe have been flung at random betweenthe profusion of the earth and thegalaxy of the stars, but that in this

prison we can fashion images of ourselves sufficiently powerful to deny ourown nothingness. All these point tothe creative role of human choice and

responsibility.Regarding the future there is nothing

sure or predestined or guaranteed. Theonly certainty is that the good will

prevail over evil or, as our nationalmotto says, truth will triumph, notfalsehood. The spirit in man is thesource of his freedom. We are free tochoose the cause. When once we exercise our choice, we may not be ableto alter the effect.

Dr. Radhakrishnan has served asVice-President of the Republic ofIndia since 1952. From 1949 to 1952he was Indias Ambassador to theSoviet Union. Famed principally asa philosopher and educationist, hehas held professorships in philosophyat Madras, Mysore, ana CalcuttaUniversities; has been vice-chancellor of Andhra and Banaras Universities; and has delivered many lecturesat universities in England and theUnited States. In 1929 and from 1936

to 1939 he taught at Oxford University in England. His best-knownbook is Indian Philosophy, a two-volume work. He helped to draft theIndian Constitution, and has beenactive in the United Nations as amember of the executive board ofUNESCO since 1946. His home is in

New Delhi; his age is 70. Thisarticle is an adaptation, approved byhim for this use, of his recent GabrielSilver lecture at Columbia University.


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History tells us that all those whochose world domination by force brokeagainst the rock or moral law and cameto their end. Insolence, pride born ofundisciplined powerwhat the Greekscall hybrisis the great danger. Thosewhom the gods would destroy they first

make mad. The Pharaohs, the Caesars,and the Hitlers tried force and failed.We are not asked to speak the truthand love our neighbor only on condition tha t the other person does it. A

Seat nation has to take courage andid the way.The crisis that is facing us is not a

material or an economic crisis; it isnot an intellectual crisis. It is a moraland spiritual crisis. We have masteredthe forces of Nature. We can producefood from the inexhaustible plant life

of the sea. Power released from theatom can lift from the backs of menthe burdens they have borne for centuries. We have discovered remedies fordeadly diseases of body and mind. Byharnessing new energies we can raisehuman well-being to undreamed-of levels. The old causes of warhunger,

poverty, and hopelessnessneed not bethere. As men are freed from the battleof physical existence, they will pressforward in their struggle against ignorance, suspicion, malice, and hatred.Our intellectual achievements are un

paralleled.If, in spite of these possibilities, peace

is still in peril, it is due to a cussednessin human nature, a moral blindness, aspiritual affliction which we are unableto overcome. We have not yet learnedto behave as members of an international community.

In a letter to Joseph Priestley, discoverer of oxygen, Benjamin Franklin ex-

f>ressed his conviction about the limit-ess progress to be expected of scienceand added the following hope: O that

moral science were in a fair way ofimprovement, that men would cease tobe wolves to one another, and thathuman beings would at length learnwhat they now improperly call humanity. The kingdom of Heaven within us is struggling against the bruteforces of the world. The evil in us hasto be conquered. We need a change ofheart, a conversion of the soul.

In our generation we have had twoworld wars. We won the wars but lost

the peace. After the First World Warwe set up the League of Nations, butit failed on account of our national obsessions. After the Second World Warwe set up the United Nations organization with the objective of maintainingpeace by removing the causes of inter

national tension and creating an international order based on justice, freedom,and tolerance. Its work is greatly hampered by its lack of universality and thedivision of the great powers into twocamps. It is this division that carriesthe threat of war which weighs on all

peoples of the world.How can we overcome this division?

We cannot adopt the view that thereis only one truth and those who thinkdifferently are inspired by the devil.If we pose the problem in terms of

absolute good and evil, if we createpictures in black and white, betweenreligious faith and materialistic atheism,

between freedom and tyranny, we makecommunication and understanding difficult.

The human individual must think ofthe human family as one. He must lookupon his fellowman as a friend and collaborator in a common puipose and notas a potential enemy to be feared, hated,and killed. He should not assume thathe has eternal and ultimate wisdom andthe other absolute folly. No portion of

mankind ever was as good as it thoughtitself or as bad as it was thought by itsenemies. We must tread another roadin dealing with human relationships.

Public opinion in the United Stateshas changed in regard to the atomicbomb. When only the United Stateshad it, it was accepted there as good,since it was capable of stopping a greatwar. When other countries also developed it, its real character as a dangerous weapon, which might destroycivilization, became apparent.

When we speak of a free world,we are using the word free in a loosesense. It includes a number of unfreemilitary dictatorships and nondemo-cratic authoritarian Governments, several of which exalt race discrimination.We mean by the free world the non-Communist world. It is a negativedefinition.

Modern psychiatry tells us that it isno use becoming furious at people whobehave stupidly or wickedly. Instead of

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losing our tempers with them, weshould study the reasons for their behavior. Perhaps it may be wise for usto adopt a similar attitude in regard tothe cold war. Indignation against wrongis better than indifference to wrong.But gentleness and compassion are bet

ter man both.If we disagree with our opponent, it

is not a justification for destroying him.If he is blind, we should help him tosee. We must awaken the sense of

justice in him. We should never wearyin our effort to help him cast off hiserror. Then what is good in him willunite with what is good in us and weshall all march unitedly toward thegoal.

The first step we have to take is tolook upon our enemies as people like

ourselves who are anxious to lead quiet,respectable lives. They are like ourselvesfathers, mothers, children. Theyare men like ourselves with energy andsacrifice, eager to rectify the injusticesof the world, real or imaginary. Wecan then understand what the reasonsare for their behavior which is so disagreeable to us. We shall then realizethat their success is the measure of ourfailure.

If we are blameless, we can judgeothers, but we are not. Out of the heartof our civilization came the two worldwars, persecution of millions of peopleon racial grounds, concentration camps,torture chambers, and atomic destruction. We seem to be satisfied with dis

pensing advice and indulging in self-righteous warnings.

If we wish to stop subversive movements, the flame of social reform shouldbum in our hearts. We must bring thefight of a new fife into the minds andhearts of millions of underprivilegedmen, women, and children.

If we want to convert our opponent,

we must not always speak of his lowerside, his defects and shortcomings. Wemust present to him his own higherand nobler side. Systems which involvemillions of people cannot be explained

by simple formulas of political machinations and intrigues. We must discerna human mind and a human heart evenin the fanatic faces of our opponentswho adopt different ideologies.

Are we certain that there is no freedom of intellectual initiative and ad

venture in the Soviet Union? If freedomis the lifeblood of science, can we doubtthe resilience of the Soviet system whichhas achieved miracles in science, engineering, and technology even as democratic nations have done? There isfreedom for the scientist, the artist, and

the intellectual in the Soviet Union,and these latter will demand freedomin other fields also, for freedom cannot function in fractions. As the Sovietpeople get educated and are trained tothink independently, they will ask forcivil liberties, parliamentary opposition,control of the bureaucracy by publicopinion. No Government can trampleon the wishes of the people indefinitelyand crush their dreams. If it does so,the people will turn against the Government and fight it, with a raw courage

born of despair and with no otherweapon than the readiness to die.

Science has added to the dignity andstature of the individual. When man isrelieved from the battle for physicalsafety, he becomes a l ittle creator. Everychallenge of science has added to mansmoral stature. As we find that theworld is much more wonderful than weever dreamed it to be, we are led intonew fields of awareness, new rangesof attainment, new realizations of destiny. New knowledge is both a challengeand an opportunity. For it is not yetknown wnat man may be. He must,without haste and without rest, striveto reach greatness. When he realizes hisdestiny of inward awareness and socialcompassion, then the great reconciliationamong the peoples of the world inwhich all groups win and no one loseswill take place.

If the disordered pattern of our society is to be set right, we have tofashion a peace that will assure justiceand individual liberty to all and remove the injustices which are the

sources of unrest and conflict. To establish peace, we must remove the conditions which make for wars.

Nationalism is a decisive factor inmodem history, but it can be kept pureonly if the nationals of a country havea human feeling for all men. From thelove of our country we must progressto a love of mankind.

Genuine nationalism is consistentwith membership in an internationalorder. The principle of variety in

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unity should guide the behavior of allnations. If we suppress national aspirations and support feudalism and reaction, we lose the battle.

We must assist subject-nations to wintheir freedom. The United Nationsshould devise machinery for effecting

peaceful changes and completing theunfinished movements for independence.

It is our duty to promote racial harmony. Racial injustice is the raw material of strife. If we acquiesce in it,we participate in something unclean.Enlightened self-interest demands theremoval of this injustice as soon as possible. In India we have troubles aboutcaste discrimination and untouchabilitywhich we are striving to eliminate.

Our fight should be against hunger,

disease, and illiteracy. It is possibleto free the world from these scourges.If we do not, the revolution of thedestitute and desperate will shake theworld.

We should look upon the world asone unit. We need a world economic-development program. If we do notwish to destroy the world, advanced nations should set apart a small fractionof their national income for the purposeof this program. We have the insight.Why do we not have the zeal? Whenwe know that the future of underprivi

leged countries is unpredictable, wny is

it that we do not have a sense of urgency, conviction, passion, warmth? Whyare we not stirred by the idea of oneworld which will compel us to liberatethe poor and the exploited strata of oursociety?

An international society is the goalto which we are moving. We cannotreverse the processes of history. Theremust, however, be a machinery for enforcing the rule of law among the nations of the world. In a disarmed worldwe should have an effective United Nations with a police force universallyrecognized and respected.

There is no magical formula or shortcut solution to peace. We may proceedstep by step, reach limited agreements,improve the political climate, strengthenthe confidence among nations, and fosterpolicies of live and let live, of coexistence. It is the only way to developa moral community in which we canlive together and work for a fuller lifefor our peoples and remove the greatestfear, which is fear itself. We must believe that world peace is the inevitablethough perhaps distant consequence ofthe evolution of the human soul.

Beyond the difficulties of history thereis the Reality that wills that we maygrow more closely together, may understand one another better, and live as

members of one spiritual household.

V A V

For system and order . . .

STUDENTS LESSON BINDER

Keeping your lessons neatly bound and filed can be oneof the greatest study aids made available to AMORC members.The attractive, expanding pocket-style binder, offered through

the Rosicrucian Supply Bureau, is stamped ingold with the name and symbol of the Order.It contains an index form for easy reference,and holds half a years monographs of the newstyle. These binders are available for $2.25(16/6 sterling) EACH, or in lots of THREEfor only $5.50 (2/-/- sterling). Order asmany as you need from the

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strategic plays. Throughout the seasonthe athlete does not break trainingthat is, he adheres to a proper diet,refrains from drinking alcoholic beverages, and maintains necessary hours ofsleep. He does these things, under thedirection of his coach, in order that hemay play the best games of which heis capable. He plays well because hehas been steadfast in disciplining himself. He will not play his best if hehas broken training; neither will we doour best in life if we break training.We are, therefore, in training, in preparation, to make of ourselves fully mature integrated beings in a game whichis not seasonal but ever-present.

Growth is not only a challenge butthe divine purpose of life. It means themanifestation and expression of an in

finite heritage. Socrates said, Holdingconverse with the Divine Order, he(man) becomes orderly and divine asfar as the nature of man allows. Onlywhen there are altruistic ideals isgrowth experienced. Life then seeks toalign itself with the Divine or CosmicOrder. Because growth means progressing toward completion or fulfillment,our minds thus grow in power and weutilize our potentialities. Such recognition enhances ones growth, and thatwhich is superstitious and crude is leftbehind. It drops away from ourselves

just as the drying autumn leaves dropfrom trees with the approach of winter.

In the challenge of life we seek thatwhich is profound. We seek an awareness, a consciousness that will sustainand inspire us. In the living of life, wemust of course be active and extremely

practical. We must create opportunities for contemplation and meditation.This provides a sort of positive andnegative phase of our being and helpsto round out a life of maturity. It has

been said that our primary purpose isnot to do something but rather to besomething. Growth and maturity helpto bring about this realization. Yourvisions should be plans for reasonableaccomplishment, and not simply dreamsor desires. Plans are actually the anticipation of fulfillment. Plans must belaid, however, upon a firm foundationof knowledge, experience, and understanding, a foundation which will provide for the art of living and maturegrowth.

NoIdle DreamingThe mature person does not idly

build dream castles. Maturity meansthat through growth something hasreached the flowering of that for whichit was destined or intended. Maturity

means growing from something lesserinto something greater. Horticulturistssay that an orange tree in its growthdevelops a sturdy trunk and roots whichreach deep into the soil; it then produces a bountiful crop of oranges eachseason. Note that in the case of theorange tree, maturity when reacheddoes not imply a single yield of fruit.The mature tree continues to producea fine crop every season, year afteryear. For tne tree to produce the finest

juice-laden fruit, horticulturists bud orgraft to the tree a small portion of a

branch from another orange tree whichhas manifested strong, desirable strains.To relate this to the human entity,

the budding or grafting may be representative of the use of the experienceand knowledge acquired by one whotruly aspires to full growth of humanlife and its ultimate maturity. In thissense, maturity has to do with the desires, ambitions, purposes, and goals established by the thinking mind. Thereis great meaning in the living of life;there is an ultimate goal. If it were notso, man would have no aim nor objec

tive, no direction whatsoever other thanthat given by the outer objective senses.His mental growth would not becomemature, and the results of a long spanof undirected life would be small andtrivial.

When man comes to realize and understand that it is possible in the livingof life for him to awaken an important

phase of his being, everything he doesthereafter will have a new meaning.Doubt and vacillation will be replacedwith new understanding. Lifes ambi-

guities will disappear. Life itself willave new meaning. Without such realization, man could not begin to under

stand the purpose of existence nor thefulfillment which is possible for him.

Life gives back to us what we putinto it. As we give or contribute, theuniverse responds in greater measure.If we do not aspire to greater thingsand the more abundant life, our lifewill be merely a conglomerate of passing trivialities. Because we are intelli-

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gent beings, we have reason to believethat the universe is intelligent and infinite. The mystically minded personfinds that the universe is imbued withinfinite response. The response may bemore than we contribute to life. Theuniverse responds with more than we

give. Thus abundance is always in potential, an abundance which is real andgenuine.

Basla tor Improvement

If in the flowering of our maturitywe contribute something of greatnessand understanding in creativeness, innew developments, in improved environment, in better human relationships,we contribute or add something to theworld, just as the mature orange treeyields its crop of oranges. This requires

that we think of something greater thanourselves and of which we are actuallya part. If we do not choose to be awareof significant factors having to do withour existence, and do not value or understand them, they may remain inactive.

On the other hand, if we see ourpotentials in the new light of growth,understanding, and mature thought,they may become active. We will notbecome confused with the illusions ofobjectivity. We will, however, give attention to them through inner thought

and feeling, through inner perception.We are seeking a higher level of consciousness and how to awaken it. Ouroutlook, our attitude toward life with allits complexities should be one of inspiration and understanding. Opportunities present themselves for us touse our potentialities. We become creators, and aspire to even greater creativeness.

In seeking our full maturity in life,we are not dealing entirely with thatwhich is physical, but with the inner

being of man. We are conscious beings;and what little we know of the worldabout us is determined by our consciousness. Our position in this condition willbe in accord with the level and qualityof our consciousness. To grow and mature, there must be learning. Man must

profit from past experience and fromthe knowledge which he has gathered.But beyond learning and the gatheringof knowledge, there must be the willand desire for personal endeavor, to

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cultivate the art of thinking and themeans of giving expression to all thatis good and noble. The present momentmay be very important to us, but wemust always be preparing for the futureand not giving so much attention towhat has already happened. We plan,

we anticipate, we visualize; our growthcarries us onward. What occurs tomorrow is the result of what began today.

Growth is progressing toward fruition, the fruition of maturity. We willhave this realization if we disciplineourselves, because tomorrows realization is the outcome of todays growthin the present hour, in fact. As we seekand anticipate, we look forward to anew level or state of consciousness. Inour growth we are always actuallyworking toward this higher level. It is

already in potential within us. It is apart of the eternal order in the scaleof descent from the Supreme Mind. Wecannot attain such awareness, however,if we do not seek higher awarenessthrough the inner self. We must seekinner perception. It is like a light ap

pearing in the darkness.

Inner perception warms and strengthens the radiance of the light. Our growthand progress are thus enhanced. Thisexperience is the challenge, for we aredealing with the deepest and most mysterious forces of life. We must be determined and definite in everything wedo. We must manifest wisdom andhuman dignity. Thus we bring qualityinto our growth and, as a result, lifeand its realizations will have a newquality. We are enriched with strengthand inspiration from the infinite realityof that which is abstract but nonetheless potent with divine power. Thisdoes not imply that we will not haveadversity and be incapable of mistakes. We will, however, profit and bestrengthened as a consequence. If we

did not live actively, and perhaps makea few errors, we would be merely existing. There would be no growth. Human nature is imbued with frailties,but these can be strengthened, andthere can be fewer of them as weachieve mature growth.

Your value lies not in your quantity,but in your quality. Humbleness willreveal to you now far short you may beof the fullness of maturity. One shouldnever be satisfied with the accomplish-


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merits of today or yesterday. There are

Eeater achievements to be gained.fes aspirations go beyond the goals of

the material; they strive to reach thedivine core from which the universetakes form. You will respond to divine,

mystical, and spiritual promptings.The Exalted GoalThe mystic exalts the life of man.

Man is lifes highest expression, but itis up to man, as an individual, to makesomething noble of this expression. Thetrue self of man may be interpretedas the integration of his mystical, men-tal, and material elements. The universeis divine and infinite. If it were not,there would be nothing beyond man,nothing to reach for to complete him-self and mature, nothing by which todraw himself into unity, nothing of aninfinite nature from which he coulddraw inspiration. There must be mani-fested not only admiration and respectfor life, but also reverence for life(in Albert Schweitzers famous phrase).This should be manifested in our heartsand minds and in all we do.

We are endeavoring to bring our-selves to full stature, to full growth anddevelopment, to unfold with new un-derstanding, and to profit from experi-ence. Man is capable of achieving goalseven greater than any thus far realized.

The knowledge which you have gath-ered must be organized in your mind.An organized orderly life should be theorder of each day. It is only throughindividual effort that the mind can be

kept active, the senses be sharpened andjudgments made keener, and that in -sight can be made clearer. The morethe mind is used, the more agile andfacile it becomes; new habit patternsare formed, and life takes on a newpurpose. There is an objective which ismaturity. The objective is establishedand realized through our innermosturges which seek the fulfillment of spir-itual and physical needs.

Cultivate new growth and attitudes,new outlooks and objectives. You havethe capacity to accept changes, to meetdifficult problems, and to profit fromexperience through growth. Be tolerant,

patient, and understanding. The mindis constantly seeking to grasp the levelof its insight which cannot oe reachedwhen tension and emotional upheaval

prevail. The mind seeks its own levelm calmness. If we would enjoy innerpeace, then peace must exist in our en-vironment, in our heart and mind. Ifneed be, we can change, modify, evencreate new patterns for living. We seekthe perfection of the real in our perspec-tive, in what we contemplate, in whatwe do. We seek to manifest mental,spiritual, and mystical maturity . Growthmust be the measure of lifes maturity.Life will bestow upon us the fruition ofour endeavors.

With our knowledge and understand-ing, we are made strong for whateverthe future may hold for us. We be-come mature and practical, and livewith inspired understanding.

INDEX OF EXPERIMENTS

What could be more handy for every Rosicrucian student than to have at his fingertips a convenient index of every experiment of value to him? The Rosicrucian SupplyBureau now offers such a compact index for your use.

The value of the Rosicrucian teachings is in their application to the problems of the

day. To waste valuable time in searching for this help is to deprive yourself of theadvantages of these monographs as well as of a quicker understanding of the lessonsthemselves. With this index you can locate every important topic, subject, and principleof the AMORC teachings.

This index is being priced especially low to enable every member to have one aspart of his lesson material. When writ ing for yours, ask for the Index of Experiments,price postpaid only 25 cents (1/9 sterling). Order yours from:

ROSICRUCIAN SUPPLY BUREAU

San Jose, California

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The Cathedral of the Soul is a Cosmic meeting place for all minds of themost highly developed and spiritually advanced members and workers of theRosicrucian fraternity. It is the focal point of Cosmic radiations and thoughtwaves from which radiate vibrations of health, peace, happiness, and innerawakening. Various periods of the day are set aside when many thousandsof minds are attuned with the Cathedral of the Soul, and others attuning withthe Cathedral at the time will receive the benefit of the vibrations. Those whoare not members of the organization may share in the unusual benefits as wellas those who are members. The book called Liber 777 describes the periodsfor various contacts with the Cathedral. Copies will be sent to persons whoare not members if they address their requests for this book to Scribe S. P. C.,care of AMORC Temple, San Jose, California, enclosing five cents in postagestamps. (Please state whether member or notthis is important.)

PAUSE FOR FULFILLMENT


ByCe c i l A. Po o l e , Supreme Secretarya n y years ago the philosopher-naturalist, JohnBurroughs, when thwarted by circumstances overwhich it seemed he hadno control, wrote one ofthe most famous poemsof his career. It was entitled Waiting. An ex

amination of the philosophy expressedby this poem shows it to be somewhatcontrary to the modem concept ofachievement. In fact, it is, in a sense,contrary to most of the later philosophythat Burroughs himself wrote. Yet, heacknowledged, and it has been acknowledged by many individuals, that thereare times when it is necessary to waitfor certain events to occur and that todo anything else is to work against aforce that is immovable.

The wise man does not fight with hisenvironment. He does not resist it.Rather he tries to understand the functioning of his environment so that hisefforts may be directed to harmonizinghimself with the surrounding forces ina way that will aid his own achievements which in the end are to reach astate of satisfactory relationship with

all that constitutes his environment. Inthe past few decades the general tendency of modem philosophy in its practicalapplication has been to develop theidea that great accomplishments are

possible by directing our efforts andforces continually toward the endswhich will bring about those accomplishments; we have been taught thatto succeed is to work and strive constantly to achieve the ends we havedecided to attain or which society im-

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poses upon us. In other words, theterm go-getter was evolved as a type ofcolloquial terminology many years agoto describe what we have generally accepted to be the successful man orwoman.

There is much to be said for theindividual who directs his energy, time,and strength toward worth-while accomplishments, and certainly the individual who continues to work in theface of adverse circumstances is to belooked upon as one who really is dedicated to the purposes that he holdsworth while. At the same time, thewise man should understand that somecircumstances and events cannot alwaysbe conquered by any constant effortdirected toward those ends which wefeel will bring about certain accom

plishments.There are times when it is wise to

wait. The whole course of the universeis based upon the fulfillment of certainlaws that are active or have been putinto effect, but it is not always possiblefor us to be pushing or continuallyforcing the manifestation of these laws.For example, a quantity of liquid in afixed container can be emptied only ata certain rate of speed unless we adaptcertain forms of pressure which complicate the situation by possibly exertingtoo much pressure upon the containeritself.

If we rely upon the force of gravityto empty the container, the flow will bea fixed rate depending upon the sizeof the opening; there is no way thatnature can be modified. We cannotforce the change in seasons or the varying of day and night. Certain activitiesor functions are beyond the realm ofhuman exertion to modify. Accordingto the traditional stories of creation,even the Creator rested after havingfinished certain parts of what was al

legorically represented to be the processof creation.To bring about fulfillment of our

wishes or desires or fulfillment by theterminating of a project or certain phaseof work, there are certain activities towhich we must devote ourselves in order to see that the proper activities areunder way. But often there is a pointwhere effort must stop. Recently, I wasworking on a statistical matter that required a great deal of time and atten

tion. I did all I could in preparing theinformation, the forms, the report, buta time came when I had finished what Icould do and the final form had to betransmitted to another place where itwould be worked upon and a decision

reached by other individuals. After Itransferred those materials to anotherenvironment, as it were, I became veryimpatient because I had worked hard andlong in activating the process. Now Ifind that I have to adopt a policy ofwaiting or pausing for fulfillment of the

project to take place through the activities of others and certain forces thatare entirely beyond my ability to control in any way whatsoever.

The important thing to understandhere is not to let ones self get so im

patient as to lose sight of the fact that

achievement or fulfillment is a processcovering both activity and inactivity.When tne project upon which I workedis finally completed, the project will beconsidered as a unit, and the fulfillmentwill have been brought about throughmy properly directed efforts and throughthe pause that intervened when I coulddo nothing.

If we are to be expressions of wisdom,we will then be constantly reminded ofour efforts, and also be experienced sufficiently to know when the proper timecomes to let the matter rest while it isout of our hands. In dealing with problems at the level of our day-to-day living or problems that have eternalvalues, man must realize that therecomes a time when mans ability tocope with a situation must be transferred to another source or another

point of action.There are individuals who claim to

seek divine guidance and divine aid inthe affairs of this world who constantlyattempt to inform their Creator howthey believe certain activities should be

accomplished and what ends should beeventua lly reached. Here again, it isnecessary for us to learn that waitingis sometimes a form of cooperation withforces higher than those vvhich we control. We learn that, if we properly andto the best of our ability fulfill certainends, the time will come for us to transmit the matter to a higher force. Ourinterference will then not add nor helpthe eventual solution, but usually keepsus in an unsettled state while we wait.

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No one can tell another exactly whenhis individual efforts should cease andwhen work of someone or somethingelse should begin, but we should as weevolve in life eventually reach an ability to make that decision for ourselvesand the first step in the decision is to

realize that a pause will be a part ofthe full process of fulfillment. Furthermore, we must realize we express wisdom in the degree that we acknowledge the necessity of waiting for thefulfillment of some of our most cherished desires.

V A V

White and What It SignifiesByM a r y M i c h a e l Sims

h e combined reflection ofall rays in the spectrum,

the color white, thoughreally a blend, has hadsuch powerful effects onmen from civilizationsdawn to the atom agethat it has been assignedmore symbolical signifi

cance than any other single subject inhistory. White signifies bridal purity.It signifies honor. It stands for cleanliness, honesty, innocence, and for thesquare deal.

Mankinds filiation to white is so

extreme that it cannot be explainedsimply as tradition or custom, for itsometimes bears the same significancein entirely different cultures. White inuniversal symbols, may mean the sameto the businessman in Boston as to the

beggar in Baghdad.To the North American Indian each

color told a story. The traditional significance of some colors differed fromtribe to tribe, but from Plymouth Rockto the deserts of California, white hasalmost always signified the same. Thedark-eyed redskin who smeared his facewith the white pigment from kaolinclay performed this little ritual so thatall the world could know of the peaceand purity within his soul.

History tells us that the ancient barbarians who believed that the Sky wasGod had a peculiar color-lore all theirown which sprang most likely fromthought association with sky colorsthemselves. Black was evil. White, alongwith blue, was a color of profound good

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ness. White-horse-sacrifice ceremonieswere carried out on hilltops all overthe land. Nothing else save humansacrifice itself could so thoroughly ap

pease the demands of the Sky God.Uncanny as it may seem, the inex

plicable affinity to white can be tracedeven into the world of the dumb animalwho draws his conclusions by instinctalone. For in the days when the Westwas young and the range wide open,the yegua madre (mother mare), chosento lead a train of mules, was a light-gray or a distinct white. One reason forthis choice is that the white leader was

on dark nights more conspicuous to theeyes of the men who drove the mules.But the prime reason for the whiteyegua madre lies in the unexploredmind of the mule himself; he will follow the white mare until death.

Man, as the mule, seems to be drawnto the white animal. A white horse captured the stormy heart of the ambitious

Napoleon Bonaparte, and the American Indian considered as sacred therare white Buffalo.

The precious white buffalo hide be

came equally valuable to white hunters.Robert M. Wright who was the notableauthor of Dodge City, the CowboyCapital, purchased one of these covetedhides from a man called Prairie DogDave for one thousand dollars, at atime when one thousand dollars was afortune.

This respect paid the buffalo had nobearing on the Early Westerners opinion of horseflesh, however. That was atime when the white horse was looked


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upon by the reckless range riders withsomething near scorn. It is conceivablethat this turn-about was caused by the

power of symbolical thought itself, fora rough-and-ready man bent on freedomsometimes even lawlessness

might have considered the color of purity and innocence as something tootender for the tough times of the OldWest.

Yet paradoxically, while rough riderswere scorning the white horse, thewhite mule still held his place in animalsociety. The volantes that carried themissions padres to their new parisheswere drawn exclusively by white mules.It is possible that the priests chose them

because the white for purity matchedtheir devotion to God. On the otherhand, they may have had a more practical reason for their choicesuch asan unwritten insurance policy for safedelivery. Old timers often remarked:Youll never see a dead white mule.

How much truth lies in such a saying is questionable, but there is nodenying that the magnetism of whiteis powerful. And due to its inexplicablequality it was literally impossible forthe white horse to stay in disreputefor long, despite rangeland mu nnunngs.

In fact, he came back to his rightfulplace in white-lore stronger than ever.In the form of a pacing grey-whiteghost horse, he roamed the prairiesfor many years, a beautiful creaturethat seemed, almost to glow in the dark.His existence was verified by such menas the famous w riter Washington Irvingwho saw him in 1832 and recorded thefact in his journal, and the brilliantnewspaper correspondent, George W.Kendall, whose detailed writings madethe ghost horse famous.

Kendall wrote: Many were the stories, told by some of the old hunters, of

a large white horse that had often beenseen in the vicinity of the Cross Tim

bers and near Red River . . . As thecamp stories ran, he has never beenknown to gallop or trot, but paces fasterthan any horse that has been sent afterhim can run . . .

The ghost horse was trailed for years,captured once or twice, but always became loose again. The Old West had tohave a cynosure of its freedom spirit,and even though the early range had

cast out the white horse once, no othercreature, with the possible exceptionof the cowboy himself, could hold sowell this symbolic position. So the marvelous creature whinnying to the moon,stomping his hooves on high hills, had

to be white!In mythology, Venus the goddess of

love, was bom in the white foam of thesea and carried by the Zephyrs alongthe white tops of the waves. She has

been pictured standing on a white shell.As with the bridal veil it is evident thatno other color could portray so well theintangible air of love.

In Christian religion the dove symbolizing the Holy Ghost is a white dove.The pure soul of the conscientious Christian is a white soul. White is the color

of the flag of truce, the color of honor,of mystery, purity, freedom, and safety.According to legend the Christ childalways wore white. The good cowboyin the Western movie can almost always be identified by the white hat.Doctors and nurses wear white. Whiteis the color of the Nations capitol, thecolor of Indias sacred cow, the apparelof angels, the baptismal gown, the fitting dress for the newborn baby. Andwhite is the Christmas worth singingabout.

Advertisers, artists, and photographers have long recognized the powers ofwhite. Yet too often, the average citizen,intrigued by new styles and trends,loses sight of the potential powers within his reach.

The wise person learns to exploitwhite. He realizes that the symbol thatdominates the savage and the civilizedalike, that even finds its way into theworld of the dumb animal, should notbe forgotten in everyday living.

It is no accident that the successfulbusinessman travels through his working life in a white shirt. A man maybe a Robin Hood in green, boy-like inblue, a sportsman in yellow or red, buthe is most distinguished in white. Thewoman may be provocative in orange,soft in pink, pretty in blue, but she ismost conspicuously woman, when likeWhistlers ethereal Little White Girlshe appears before the world with allher womanly attributes dressed in thesweet splendor of white.

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fUzcfiniaus, for


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constitute a secret code that only a fewintimates can decipher.

If fast transmission is wanted, themessage is translated into electricalcurrents. This translation process, inthe special case where letters are rep

resented by dots and dashes, is theMorse Code which was the prototype ofmessage-encoding schemes. Radio transmission requires that the electricalsignals be superimposed upon rapidlyvibrating electrical wave trains. Thisso-called modulation process constitutesanother code.

After encoding, the message must beaddressed; that is, it is aimed at oneor at a limited number of recipients.This requires selection of a channel.The channel may be represented by adirection, such as that of a searchlight

or a radio antenna. It may consist in avibration rate, selecting the desired receiver by frequency tuning. It may bealso a material channel such as the network of wire lines connecting the calling and the called parties of a tele

hone conversation. Finally, there muste power behind the message. This

power may be supplied by the transmitter alone or it may be boosted andamplified along the way. The reasonfor this requirement is that every message must compete with and, if possible,override not only myriads of other mes

sages but also the omnipresent noisecaused by the vibration of all atoms andelectrons in the Universe.

Since the presence of noise makes itimpossible to be absolutely sure of anysingle symbol, it is desirable to sendexcess or duplicate information. Thisis often accomplished by the grammarand spelling of a known language andby the logical context of the messagewhich permits a guess at garbled words.

The first requirement for messagereception is attention. There must be a

willingness and readiness to receive. Ifyou switch off your telephone bell atnight, you cannot receive a call, nomatter how urgent.

The next requirement is adaptation:the receiver must be, intentionally orotherwise, adjusted to the character ofthe message. If vou tune in on thewrong television channel, you may seea Western instead of the baseball WorldSeries. The concept of adaptation thusincludes tuning, or adaptation to the

signal frequency. It also covers thevarious types of modulation. Radio fansknow that f.m. requires a different receiver from a.m. Adaptation also coverscoding in the literal sense. If the signalconsists of dots and dashes, one must

know the significance of their number,length, and spacing.

All this and much more is impliedin the concept of adaptation or attune-ment. After a lifetime of study, onemay yet constantly learn or discovernew facets and improvements in theart of receptive adaptation.

Next, one must understand the transmitted language and the meaning ofits words.

A further requirement is the minimizing of receiver noise. Adaptation

and attention may exclude unwantedsignals, so that mainly the faint tracesof the desired message will reach thereceiving apparatus. But this will availnothing if tne receiver itself is not quiet.When two parties in a long-distancetelephone conversation talk at the sametime, neither hears the other; and aperson with a ringing in his ears cannot hear the chirp of a distant cricket.It may amuse an audience more versedin human than in machine characteristics to learn tha t the best way to quieta receiver is to keep it cool. Inner neat

makes for noise and confusion, in machines as well as in men. If one be so

bold as to sum up a vast technical discipline in a few nontechnical words,one may state that the characteristicsof a good receiving system are: attention, attunement, understanding, andstillness.

The above requirements are not limited to reception by electrical equipment but apply to other types of communication. Consider, for example, atechnically uninformed person listening

to a lecture on a specialized subject, likethe present one. If the speakers lan guage is too technical, the hearers willbe unable to adapt themselves to hiscode, and his message will not getthrough. Experienced speakers therefore match their presentation to theaverage knowledge of the audience.They must not aim too low, because thisalso would be a mismatch: it wouldwaste time and prevent them from covering the subject in the allotted time.

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If one of the listeners has never before given any thought to the subjectmatter, he may have difficulty in following the speaker. Sooner or later hemisses a word or a phrase. If he attempts to bridge the gap by his owndeductions, he loses his inner stillness

and divides his attention between hisown thoughts and the message. Thus,lack of understanding successively destroys stillness, attention, and attune-ment.

Even well-trained and attentive listeners may lose the thread if the lecturearouses their opposition or stimulatestheir imagination. Since it is impossibleto follow two trends of thought simultaneously, such flashes of own thoughtshould be quickly jotted down or mentally stored and set aside until a suitable

time for discussion. Good speakers allow for such short interruptions byoccasional pauses and repetitions. It isseen that our four criteria of good reception apply to human relations aswell as to mechanized message transfer.

From the human, mental message reception just discussed, it is only a shortstep to mystical technique. What waspreviously called attention, here becomes meditation and concentration.

Adaptationthe adjustment of thereceiver to the form and vibration rateof the messageis known to mystics as

attunement.The need for stillness is stressed byall master mystics. Until the clamor ofsense impressions and desires is quieted,the still, small voice of the Inner Selfcamiot be heard.

Understanding is the point that isoften overlooked or forgotten by students of mysticism. The ecstasy of illumination may be above mundanewisdom. But unselfish mystics want toturn the bliss of their inspirations topractical use in the service of mankind.And it is this service that requires un

derstanding and training.

Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven wererich in musical inspiration; but theyalso were expert in harmony, counter

point and instrumentation, so that theycould translate the ir inspirational flashesinto earthly masterpieces. Gershwin,on the other hand, was limited to mu

sical comedy song hits until, late in life,he painfully acquired the craft of com

position.The same is true of painting, sculp

ture, invention, and pure science. Nonebut a competent chemist can have avision of a protein molecules intricatepattern, and only a physicist can interpret an intuitional flash revealing theinner structure of atoms or electrons.What good would the vision of a greatbuilding or monument do to a man wholacked words to describe it, and skill

to build or depict it?This stress on knowledge and understanding is not a new idea. Rosicrucianlectures cover philosophy, history, physics, psychology, and physiology in addition to metaphysics and mysticism. Agreat deal of time is devoted to thedevelopment of skills and sensitivity, tothe technique of message reception. TheBible itself says: With. all thy gettingget Understanding.

From the religious viewpoint onemight say that attunement corresponds

to salvation by faith; trained understanding, to salvation by works. Therelative merit of these two has beenhotly argued, but the ancient wisdomof Hindu mystics has pointed out that

both are needed and that one leads tothe other.

As to message reception, our surveyhas shown that its engineering requirements are valid for human relationsand even for the divine messages as

pired to by mystics. In terms adaptedto mystical thinking, they are: attention, attunement, stillness andlast but

not leastunderstanding.

V A V

Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fireconscience.(Rule from the Copybook of Washington when a schoolboy)

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By Ar t h u r C. Pie pe n b r in k , F. R. C.

f all living tilings manhas a fascinating attri-

bute peculiar to him. Hecan stop and reflect uponwhat he is doing. Trees,p la n ts , animals, b ird s ,and fish for the most partfeel impelled to act, andthey act. They rarely

pause to question, W hy? But mancan pause amidst his daily activities

interrogate the elements of his environ-mentand then spend countless hoursattempting to find the answers. He canliterally stop living in order to spendtime questioning the reasons for his be-ing alive. He creates complexities outof simplicities. He describes a drop ofwater in voluminous notes, and closeshis examination by creating doubt asto whether or not a drop of water iseven wet. He asks if a falling tree makesa noise if no one is around to hear it.It isnt enough that he breatheshe

must know whether he sucks in the airor simply creates an opening into whichair is pushed by atmospheric pressure.

Then thousands upon thousands ofvolumes are prepared which concernthe complexities of philosophy, religion,idealism; each one tries to tell man, ina different language, the intimate con-scious experiences of the author. Onesays God is everywhere; others saythere is no God. To some He is spirit;to others He is simply superhuman.

The hereafter has as many differentdescriptions as there are authors tellingof it, and one is no more of an authoritythan another. Through all this manwades mentally, in an effort to discoverthe secrets of life in which he is one.He longs to find a simple key, a simpleexplanation to the meaning and purposeof life.

For the average person,sim plicityliesjust beyond reach because he looks for

it from people and things outside him-self, and since anothers experience isdifferent from his own, he fails to un-derstand the others explanation. He isalways too ready, when faced with a

problem, to refer to someone elses opin-ion as to its cause. Because the path ofleast resistance is to ask someone elsesview rather than thinking it throughfor himself, he becomes a slave to ex-ternal opinions and viewpoints. Thisvery natural human practice is thecause of most complexities in life. A

person ends up not knowing who orwhat to believe.To achieve Mastership, and happi-

ness, man must achieve the simpleviewpoint. He must cease to make alot out of nothingcease to make moun-tains of molehills. The key to life isnot locked up in some mysterious writ-ing, nor is it hidden behind a veil. Itis not life which is confusing and com-plex, but ra ther man s different notionsconcerning it.

V A V

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the

people? Is there an y better or equal hope in the world?Ab r a h a m L i n c o l n

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Giving God a ChanceByD r. H. Spe n c e r Lew i s , F. R. C.

(From Rosicrucian Digest, December 1931)

Since thousands of readers of the Rosicrucian Digest have not read many of thearticles by Dr. H. Spencer Lewis, first Imperator of the present Rosicrucian cycle, we adoptedthe editorial policy of publishing each month one of his outstanding articles, so that his thoughtswould continue to reside within the pages of this publication.


e r e is a report that Ithink will be very encouraging to all of you,and I hope you will passit along to those who aresick and ailing. In the

Medical Record of September 25, 1920, Dr.Joseph Byrne, professor

of neurology at the Fordham Universitymedical school in New York, made thisstatement:

As a conservative estimate, it maybe admitted that of all the ailments forwhich relief is sought, 90 percent orover are self-limited and tend to getwell. It may also be admitted that inover 90 percent of all human ailmentsthe psychic is the dominant factor.

I think that if any of us wanted topreach a sermon or give a lecture onthe value of metaphysical and druglesshealing, we could do nothing better

than take this paragraph as the text;and from some public lectures that Ihave heard in years gone by, by menwho did not thoroughly understand thesubject of real psychology, it would bea good thing if they started and alsoclosed their lecture with this text.

The first part of this statement bythe professor says that at least 90 percent of the ailments for which peoplego to doctors, clinics, hospitals, or spe-

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cialists for treatment are self-limitedand tend to get well. In other words,90 percent of these ailments are thosewhich nature would cure through Godsown healing processes in our own bodies if we would remove the limitationsand stop interfering with the processesof nature . I do not think we have atruer statement regarding human ail

ments.In most of the healing work doneby every metaphysician, his greatestproblem is not th at of giving the righttreatment for healing nor of diagnosingwhat is wrong, nor recommending anything in the way of a constructive practice, but to get out of the patients mindthe ideas that limit the healing processes, and hinder natures own work.The hardest thing in nearly all thesecases is to get the patient to stop analyzing his condition, giving it fictitiousnames, and to stop thinking that he is

going to get worse and may need twoor three more doctors and possibly ahospital operation and several otherthings.

Sel/-Diagnoi

How often we find persons sufferingfrom some little discomfort in the upperpart of the body and analyzing it assome abnormal condition of the heart.They think of heart trouble, whenever


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they feel a little cramp or pain. On theother hand, there are those who creditall such peculiar sensations, pains, oraches to the lungs. They seem to thinkthat the lungs are the only thing thatexists in the upper part of the body,

and could be responsible for any sensation. They are sure that they are goingto have tuberculosis or some other longstanding illness connected with thelungs.

Then there are those women whofeel sure that every little pain in their

bodies is due to the oncoming of cancer.Having read about and talked over thefatal cancer cases that have beenbrought to their attention, they nowconcentrate on that one idea. Othersthink that every little ache is a sureindication that they have gallstones orappendicitis, liver or kidney trouble, orsomething else. Usually these personsget such ideas by comparing their ownvague symptoms with the vague description of symptoms that some other

person has had who suffered from sucha disease as they are now picturing forthemselves.

When someone in a family passesaway from heart trouble, there are sureto be a number of relatives who willinterpret every ache and pain theyhave as an indication of heart trouble.

Every operation for gallstones in anyfamily or community of friends leadsto the suspicion of gallstones in connection with every ache. These are thelimitations to natural healing and tonatures processes that interfere withthe metaphysicians work. Such limiting thoughts are generally accompaniedby many forms of drugging and unusual treatment. These persons will tryevery remedy that anybody recommends. They will take hot baths andwill sweat themselves in electric blankets; they will make foolish regulationsin their diet and change their generalhabits of living, walking, sleeping, andexercise; they will try more concoctionsin the form of specialized remedies thanany normal person would ever think of

putting into a normal body.When they go for treatments, they

discount anything that is said to themby a physician who does not agree withtheir point of view. If he suggests thattheir trouble is not of the heart butmerely a nervous condition of the mus

cles in the chest, they feel sure that thephysician is incompetent, and seek an other and still another until they findone who agrees with their own diagnosis.

Such persons generally end their

search by placing themselves in thehands of so-called specialists. The onewho suspects he has heart trouble willnot feel satisfied until he has eventuallyplaced himself in the hands of a heartspecialist. The one who thinks he haslung trouble will never be satisfied until he has gone to a lung specialist.

The Drugless Dealer

It is not until such person becomestired of the useless treatment whichdoes not seem to affect his condition ineither way, or until he has become convinced by some sane arguments anddemonstrations, that he goes to a meta

physician or drugless healer and getssome unbiased information.

When the metaphysician or druglesshealer receives such a patient, his firstbig problem is to trea t the mind of the

{)atient rather than the body. All of theimitations have tobe removed, and theobstacles cleared out, purged, cleansed,

and negated. It is just as though thephysician would go into the garret ofthe brain of the patient, with brooms

and vacuum cleaner, shovels and pickax, to clean out cobwebs and dust andall kinds of boxes and refuse before

being able to set the garret into order.All this time the patient may think

that he is receiving little benefit, andprobably wonders why some more obstacles and refuse in the way of pillsand medicine and other things are not

being given to him. If his patiencelasts, and he is rational enough to givethe physician an opportunity to getthrough with the house cleaning, hewill begin to receive some benefitthrough the constructive work madepossible by giving nature a chance.

Every drugless physician, like everymetaphysician, will frankly admit thatit is not his system, not his work, norhis peculiar method that brings aboutthe cure, but that it is Nature throughGods own laws. He will frankly tellany honest patient that his work is notthe healing of the body but of themind through getting rid of the limitations. It is absolutely true that in 90

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percent of such cases, God and naturallaws would take care of the healingwithout any physician of any kind, ifthe patient would only give God achance. But just as we often find ourhomes, offices, our back yards and frontyards, so covered with dust or grime,

and littered with undesirable tilings thatwe send for an expert to come and dothe cleaning, so it is necessary sometimes to call in an expert to do somehouse cleaning that the patient coulddo himself, if ne only knew how to goabout it.

Psychic Dominance

Now, note the Professors statementsays that in over 90 percent of allhuman ailments the psychic is the dominan t factor. Do you realize fully whatthis means? It means that in a ma

jority of the human, physical ailments,the real cause or condition, the realsource of the trouble is not in the fleshor in the material part of the body,but in its psychic part. W ha t a wonderful truth! It is the most important,as well as the most astonishing, factorever discovered in the field of therapeutic research.

Tracing back the art of therapy tothe most primitive tribes in the mostancient of times, we find that therealways has been a realization by thosewho are mystically inclined that some

psychic element entered into most ofthe human ailments. The ancient formsof incantations and mystical ceremoniesaround an ailing person, and even thepractices of the American Indian medicine man, which were a highly evolvedstate of the ancient mystical practices,took into consideration that the psychicpart of man had a close connection withhis physical condition.

During the past hundred years, ormore, we have advanced from the speculative, mystical state to the scientific

understanding of the psychic nature ofdisease. We no longer work in the darkthrough the use of incantations andvowel sounds, magical prayers, and formulas, which were little understood intheir real nature. We now work withhighly evolved and well-understood psychic laws that are more absolute in theiraction than any of the processes of thedrug system of medication.

In other words, there can be no ail

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ment in the physical body unless thereis first an ailment in the psychic bodyof our beings. The foolish objectors tothis idea, who are generally avowedmedical practitioners, say that if thepsychic part of man is divine and godly,there can be no illness in the psychic

part, and that it is only in the human,earthly, flesh part of the body that illness can reside. That argument seemslogical to a great many persons; theyoften state they cannot believe that disease can start in the psychic part ofour beings.

This misunderstanding is due to thewrong premise at the very beginningof the argument. These arguments begin with the assumption that the psychic part of man is 100 percent divine,

pure, and undefilable. The psychic pa rtis not the soul. It is his mental, psy

chological, neurological constitution. Itis associated with a soul, the divine inman, but it is not the soul itself.

Therefore, the psychic part can become obsessed with wrong ideas or become abnormal with wrong conditions.Our emotions affect our psychic natures.Anxiety, hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit,injustice, intolerance, and similar destructive emotions, will shatter the harmony of our psychic self and spread inits very being a poison and toxic condition that is as disastrous as poison of amaterial nature is to the physical body.In the same manner, the emotional partof ourselves may help to purge and

purify the psychic nature within eachone of us. Thoughts of love, kindness,mercy, justice, toleration, good will,universal brotherhood, peace, harmony,and similar emotions will act as a stimulant, as a perfume to the inner self,and make the psychic part of our bodies

pleasant, happy, strong, and pure inevery sense.

Every metaphysician knows that indiagnosing any illness, or Cosmic con

dition surrounding our lives, the causewill be found in the psychic nature ofourselves and in a preliminary condition of the human body that seems to bebreaking it down or tearing it asunder,or keeping the blood impure. All kindsof physical aches and abnormalities canbe traced to a poisonous condition ofour psychic selves, and this psychic

poisoning can be traced to some silentor secret, or deep-rooted emotion that


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is destructive, such as anger, hatred,jealousy, or some similar attitude toward a person, or a group of persons,or toward conditions generally.

Problem I# Simple

The problem, therefore, is simple tothe metaphysician and to the druglesshealer, but difficult indeed to the patient and to those healers who attemptto cure through purely material means.To attempt to remove or affect the causeand conditions of ailments in the human body by medication directed toward a chemical change in the physicalbody alone is merely an attempt tochange the outer manifestation of thetrouble without touching the causewhatsoever. Any attempt to change thechemical nature of the blood, punfy it,and bring it to a normal standardthrough medication or diet, or exercise,while the emotional, psychic part ofthe nature of the body is being poisonedand continuing to poison the blood, issimply to waste ones efforts and tomake no progress whatever in the cureof disease.

Those of your friends, and especiallythose who are in various fields of medical healing, who decry or deny the efficacy of metaphysical healing, should

be shown this statement by Dr. Joseph

Byrne. But whether this scientists

statement is accepted or not, or whethersome physician will believe in meta

physical healing, the fact remains thatthe metaphysician is able to demonstrate the truthfulness of this principleand to bring about cures and changes

in the human existence that no othermethod or system can effect.Man is truly fearfully and wonder

fully made, but all the wonder and allthe marvelousness of it does not rest inthe purely chemical composition, andthe chemical actions and reactions ofthe physical body. The greatest wonderor marvel, the greatest magic and miracle of mans whole existence, is the

psychic soul part of his being. Hereinlies all power and strength, fortitude,and self-mastery. It is this par t of manthat is the thinking, doing, mastering

pa rt of his existence.The Rosicrucian, the mystic general

ly, and the metaphysician are givingmost of their thought to this greaterpar t of man, while many other systemsof helping man are concentrating theirefforts exclusively on the lesser, material, negative, changeable, mortal part,which is of little c

Documents

Rosicrucian Digest, February 1959