Rosicrucian Digest, May 1958

7/27/2019 Rosicrucian Digest, May 1958

1/48

ROSICRUCIAN1958

MAY

30c per copy DIGEST

The Womanof MysteryAn inspirationin light and color.

V A V

Separating Factfrom FancyMind betweentwo worlds.

V A V

The Wheelof Venus

W hat earthmenare thinking.

V A V

M ysticism

Science

The A rts

V A V

TfextGod andthe Cosmic

V A V

Space Exploration


2/48

EXCELLENT

R E C O R D I N G S

The Invisible PersonalityT h e mighty reverberations of the divine voice gave thefirmam ent form, and substance to the black abyss. Th evoice went across the world and gave to all things motion,and to all things orderso relate sacred legends of theworld which recount the beginning of creation.

Today the spoken word still retains a tremendousefficacyit can move the hearts and minds of men; it canfan flames of hatred; quiet tumult; shape the course ofhuman events; create and shatter powerful nations.

Just as the uniting of particles of matter in the chemists testtube produces powerful elements, so too the uniting of certainvowels can produce for you astounding psychological and physio-

logical achievements.

These records are madeby the latest method ofelectrical recording clearand faith ful reproductions. Each record isthe new type unbreakable plastic and a fullteninch standardsizerecord.

Let Dr. H. Spencer Lewis, late Imperator. personally and verballyexplain to you. in a marvelous recording, how this can bo accomplished.Listen to the remarkable, realistic, lifelike records he made. Hear notonly his explanations, but the exact intonations of the various vowels.Let your sanctum invocations be conducted by his spoken word, alsoyour breathing exercises. There is nothing more personal than thespoken word.

Sing le Records(2 sides)

Pr ice $1.80

An y Two Records(4 sides)

Pr ice $3.00

A l l R e c o r d s P o st p a i d

Record 1 The Sanctum Invoca t ion .

( P reparat ion fo r Cathedra l Contac t s . )

Reco rd 2 Exe rc is es i n Vowe l Sound s .

( M y s t i c a l B r ea th i n g w i th Vo w e l S o un d s . )

Record 3 Med i ta t ion Musi c: Ah, Sweet M ystery o f L ife

and Secreto Eterno, the ritualist ic Colombe march.

(Fed nciudedS)e TaX Order these perfect records at once. Send yourorder and remittance to the address below.

FOR MEMBERS ONLY

ROSICRUCIAN SUPPLY BUREAUSAN JOSE , CAL I FORN IA

( E A C H M O N T H T H I S P A G E I S D E V OT E D T O T H E E X H I B I T IO N O F S T U D E N T S U P P L I E S . )


3/48

DELPHIAN TEMPLE

Nestled against the forbidding slope of Mount Parnassus in Greece are these columns of atemple in which the statues of the god Apollo were enshrined. The rugged mountains, theirtowering, sheltering relationship to the temples at Delphi, give this site of the oracles an airof the godly and supernatural. The AMORC Camera Expedition is just completing a sound-and

color motion picture film on the antiquities of this region. (Photo by AMORC)


4/48

LET U S FAC E TH E FACTS . Ou r great scientific achievement hasnot lessened mankinds sense of insecurity.Civilization today is movingcloser to the brink of self-destruction. W hat is kicking in education

and in religious instruction? Are the secret elements of characterthat once made men masters of self now lost or suppressed? W hat isneeded is advancement in our thinking. Acquire a new and enlightenedapproach to life and its problemsbefore it is too late.

this FREE book

There are millions who are troubled by the timesbut

some are doing something about it. W rite today for thefree book, The Mastery of Life. It will tell you. how toadjust to the demands of the times. In your communitya group (no t a religion) is to be formed to considerthese fascinating subjects. Be one with them. W rite tothe address below for the free book. Scribe: S. P. C.

7/teRo s i c r u c i a n s( A M O R C )

SAN JO S E C A L IFO R N IA


5/48

ROSICRUCIAN DIGESTCOVERS THE WORLD

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 I MAY , 1958 No. 5

Delphian Temple (Frontispiece)......... ....................................... ....................... 161

Thought of the Month: Philosophy Today ............................. ............................ 164

The Wheel of Venus..... ..................................... ............ 167

Quest .................................... 169

Stage Career (filler).............. ................ .... .............................................. 170

The Freemasonic Rose-Croix ................................. 171

Cathedral Contacts: Endowment of the Sky.. 173

Two Famous Left-Handers....................................... 175

The Woman of Mystery................ ............................. 177

Rousseau's Response to Life .................... 181

Reflections and Maxims............. ....... ...................... ........................................... 185

Temple Echoes ........................ 186

The Changing Face of Humor ............. 188

The Buddhist Law of Kamma.............................................................................. 189

Separating Fact from Fancy....................... ............ ........................................... 193

From Darkness to Light (Illustration).... ..........., ................................................ 197

Ancient Hit tite Capital (Illustration)................................................................. 198

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

Entered as Second-Class Matter at the Post Office of San Jose, California, under Section1103 of the U. S. Postal A ct of Oc t. 3. 1917.

Cha nges 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 THE ROS I CRUC IA N ORDER A M ORC San Jose, California

EDITOR: Frances Vejtasa

The Purpose of the Rosicrucian OrderThe Rosicrucian Order, existing in all civil ized 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 organization is to enable all to live in harm ony with the crea tive, con-structive Cosmic forces for the attainm ent 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 sti tutes the only form of Rosicrucian activit ies united in one body. The A.M.O.R.C. doesnot sell i ts teachings. It gives them freely to affil iated mem bers togethe r with many o ther benefits.For complete information about the benefits and advantages of Rosicrucian association, write aletter to the address below, and ask for the free book. The Mastery of Life. Address ScribeS. P. C.. Rosicrucian Order, A.VIORC, San Jose, California, U. S. A. (Cable Address: AMORCO )

Copyright, 1958, by the Supreme Grand Lodge of AMO RC , Inc. All rights reserved.


6/48

TheRosicrucian

DigestMay1958

s s s i g s

THE

THOUGHT OF THE MONTHP H IL O S O P H Y T O D A Y

By THE IMPERATOR

i.jttt

a s the emphasis beingplaced upon science andtechnology reduced thefuture of philosophy to amere dialec ticism ? Inother words, has philoso-

phy today and tomorrowno place other than themental exercise that ab-

straction and contemplation can pro-vide? Although Greeks defined philoso-phy as a love of wisdom, it was also acontemplation of the nature of things.With the exception of the moral philos-ophers, almost all the other prominentGreek thinkers were of a scientific in-clination. Most certainly, such could besaid of Thales of Miletus, Heraclitus,Aristotle, and Pythagoras. Lacking in-struments available in later times, theydepended upon the observation of theirunaided senses to analyze natural phe-nomena. Their conclusions were notquantitative, but rather rationalized.Later experimentation by means of in-struments found many of the conclu-sions of these early thinkers in error.

If it is contended that all knowledgeof natural phenomena and of our worldhas to be obtained empirically throughour senses, what has present philosophy

to contribute to human understanding?Philosophy in the past has had for itsobjectives the learning of the aim andpurpose of life, moral and ethical rela-tionships of mankind, and the creationof an ideal society as well as the dis-cerning of the causes of natural phe-nomena. Several of these objectives cancertainly be investigated without theuse of instruments.

One who would insist only upon ra-tionalization and logical speculation

[ 164 1

about a subject that had factual ex-istence would not be a true philosopher.If it were possible to subject, for ex-ample, the spectra of a celestial bodyto analysis, so as to determine its chem-ical constituents, that would be the in-telligent approach to find out its nature.To resort to abstraction and conjectureabout it, no matter how selfevidentones conclusion, would comparativelyconstitute a false knowledge. The phi-losopher will then not substitute reasonfor the knowledge of experience wherethe latter is to be had. The philosopher

propounds a hypothesis, a logical com-pounding of ideas, about a subject whichcannot be brought into the realm ofexternal examination. If the philoso-phers postulation is logically not re-futable, it must stand as a relativetruth.

What is the dependability of knowl-edge acquired through the empiricalmethods of science? Science subjects atiring or an object to analysis with itsinstruments. These instruments far ex-ceed the range of the unaided receptorsenses. Science, for example, can vis-ually observe phenomena millions ofyears remote in tune and millions ofmiles in distance. It can discern objects

as minute as one millionth of an inch.Rut do these things actually exist asthey are perceived? Is there a corre-spondence between the object and themental picture or image which man hasof it? In other words, does the worldof reality conform to our perception ofit? Outside the brain are masses com-posed of energy which act upon thereceptor senses and nervous systemcausing electrical currents in the brain.From these arise sensations of the phe


7/48

nomena which we experience. Thenoumenal world, the one external tothe brain, is therefore quite unlike ourmental picture of it. Sir James Jeans,eminent physicist, says: Our studiescan never put us into contact with

reality; we can never penetrate beyondthe impressions that reality implantsin our minds.

The world of science, the one ex-ternal to us, is illusionary in the formin which we perceive it. There is some-thing beyond us but what its true na-ture is we do not know nor can weever know. The range of our faculties,even with instrumentation, may be butthe perceiving of just a partial natureof what we experience. This being so,it would seem, upon first blush, thatscience is placed in the same state of

affairs as is philosophy. The philosopherarrives at a conception that is mainlya mental construct, a product of hisreason. The scientist arrives at a pointof knowledge empirically, but what heperceives may be but an image in hismind, having no external archetype.

The distinction to be made here isthat in science there is a preponderanceof experience which gives it, for all

practical purposes, the character oftruth. Mans sense faculties, insofar asthe general qualities of these senses areconcerned, their visual and auditory

impressions, for example, have a degreeof uniformity. The application of in-struments to these senses will providethe normal observer of a natural phe-nomenon the same general experienceas had by anyone else. The observerswill appear to see, hear, or feel moreor less the same sensations under similarconditions. What these observers ex-

perience may not be contact wdth actualreality, no more so than would be thesimultaneous seeing of a mirage on thedesert by a group of men, but it wouldstill be a collectiveexperience.

By experiencing phenomena nearlyalike, men can adjust their relation toit in a practical way. For the time be-ing, their collective experience andgenerally accepted ideas cause such to

become a universal point of knowledge.By universal we mean that such can

be fitted into a pattern of knowledge toserve men until some subsequent ex-

perience may prove it false. We liveby what we know, not by what may be

so. Especially is this true if we nevercan know what is reality.

The philosophers knowledge is a pri-vate one. It is conviction which he hasarrived at by his personal thought proc-esses. In most instances his conclusion,

unless he can get others to subscribe tohis concept, has no external existence.We may say it has no public quality.Philosophers have often had no agree-ment upon a concept. Time may proveone or the other wrong. The conclusionsof science have that empirical qualitythat gives them a preponderance ofevidence, even if they are but massillusion, mere images of the humanmind.

There is much which yet remains amystery in human experience. At pres-ent the realm of such experience is

inchoate. It defies any concerted em-pirical approach. It lies outside thebounds of presentday physical science.It may be defined as abstract in itscontent. Nevertheless the influence ofsuch subjects upon human relations,mans welfare, is tremendous. Manmust find some satisfactory explanationto such mysteries. He cannot discardthem merely because they are not sub-ject to the procedures of science. Atrue philosopher, a lover of wisdom,desires to leave no human experiencein the category of the inscrutable. He

wishes to so order his life as to unifyall human experience, to have it fallinto a comprehensible and functionalorder.

Such subjects as justice, beauty, mo-rality, ethics, immortality, the summurnbonum or highest good of society arenot possibleas yetof a true scien-tific scrutiny in the same manner asis matter and radiant energy, for ex-ample. These are things or conditionsto which man has given names becausethey are part of his living and, there-fore, should be known. They should

have meaning to him more than theconstituting of a mere word or term.It is here that the philosopher by pro-found inquiry into these terms givesthem comprehensible value.

For further example, the philoso-phers abstractions upon the content ofjustice are not necessarily a consequenceof a priori knowledge. He has first observed the habits, customs and practicesfound in human relations that give rise

( 165]


8/48

to the notion of justice. He then ra-tionalizes from such experiences their

probable essence, the basic conduct fromwhich the notion of justice is engen-dered. Though a philosopher is to thisextent an empiricist, yet he cannot sub-

ject his final reasoning, his proposition,to any material confirmation. His find-ings, as a hypothesis or as an ideal, willand must serve to fill in the gaps in ourknowledge which are not as yet bridgedby science.

What is the place of science itself inthe world of men? To gain knowledgeof our natures, and what we term theworld in which we live, is probably theanswer of science to such a question.But for what end should such knowl-edge be applied? The prolongation ofhuman life is one answer, but why

prolong it? Why should men extendtheir conscious interval on earth? Shallit be for sensuous living? Have menan obligation to life itself because ofthe fact that they are, on this planetat least, an exalted form of life? Thesequestions as of now do not fall into thecategory of pure or applied science.These are the problems and the pre-vailing province of the philosopher.

There are branches or domains ofscience, each, through its empiricalmethods, revealing a new insight intonatural phenomena. Such knowledge

must have an evaluation in terms ofits contribution to human welfare.

Though science is establishing the factthat there are correlated basic laws inthe astronomical world, the world ofmen, and that of the electron, have anyof these laws a hierarchal order? Shallsome new knowledge of these worlds be

established as being of lesser value thanthat derived from another field of in-quiry? Does, for example, astronomysupersede geology in importance? Is

biology paramount to physics?The importance attached to living,

aside from the basic biological urge tolive, is the obligation of philosophy toexpound. Science provides an under-standing of the human relations to oth-er natural phenomenato the extentthat man can discern it. It delineatesthe motivating forces that act on andupon man. But man is a rational and

imaginative being. To himself he ap-pears causative and wants to direct hislife. If he is propelled by subliminalforces, at least he desires to guide him-self in the belief that he possesses freewill.

Philosophy, even more than religion,can give man this direction. Philosophyis not by inclination, as is religion,generally hostile or inherently opposedto science. As Jeans has said: In what-ever way we define science and philos-ophy, their territories are contiguous;wherever science leaves offand in

many places its boundary is illdefined,there philosophy begins.

V A V

TheRosicrucianDigestMay1958

THE SUMMERS GREATEST OPPORTUNITY

From 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. . . . every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, and Saturday from June 16 to July 5 . . .

Exciting discussions of serious facts; days of experiments, reading, debating, askingquestions, getting answers, acquiring skills, changing environment, refreshing stimulifor body and mind, recreation, ritualistic convocations, and all the restpleasant times

and serious study . . .This is RoseCroix University.

Discover for yourself the intimate studentteacher relationship which makes learningan exciting adventure at this most intriguing of all schools. Remember: RoseCroixUniversity is a Rosicrucian schoolyour schoolwhere everything will be accordingto your interests and pleasure. Theres not much time to losethis years term is fromJune 16 Ju ly 5. Make plans at once. Write for The Story of Learning, and for fullinformation, to the REGISTRAR, ROSECROIX UNIVERSITY, Rosicrucian Park, SanJose, California, U. S. A.

[ 166]


9/48

^Vl/lizzl!oj- QJznmBy G a s t o n Bu r r id g e

Th e planet Venus isp resen tlyand forthat matter always has

beenthe source of morecontroversy than Mars.Emanuel Swedenborg(16881772), Swedishscientist, philosopher andmystic, wrote that Venuswas inhabited by twowidely differing types ofpeople, each living on

an opposite side of thesphere. One group was ofgentlefolk, kind, humane,and deeply religious; thegroup on the other sideof their world was cruel,savage, stupidand gi-ants, or twice the heightof Earthmen.

If mobile intelligencehas gained a foothold onother parts of our SolarSystem, it would seemthat Venus would be as

likely a place as Mars. Also, Venusswings much closer to Earth more oftenthan Mars. Therefore, does it seem toofantastic to turn some of our attentionin the direction of the Evening Star?called Morning Star, if seen in themorning.

Venus is often referred to as Earthstwin sister. It is believed to be onlyabout 200 miles less in diameter thanEarth. Its volume is thought to be about9/10 that of our globe. This makesVenus considerably larger than Mars,hence possessing a great deal more grav-

itational force than the Red Planet. Ifyou weigh 175 pounds in Earth, youwould tip the scales to only 144^

pounds on Venus, while on Mars youwould bring the scalebeam down tobut 58 and 1/3 pounds!

Mars has an atmosphere. It is be-lieved to be very thin as compared toEarths. Venus has an atmosphere tooand therein lies the source of most ofthe mystery cloaking her. We cannot

see through that atmos-phere. Hence, we do notknow for certain whatlies below it. Today,Mars is more thoroughlymapped than Earth was100 years ago, but Venusholds her hooded cloaktight against Earthmansprying!

One of the most in-triguing of the Venus

mysteries is that astro-nomical riddle known asThe Lumiere Candree,or Ashy Light. It is aglint, a muffled sparkle,an auralike luminescenceseen on the dark side ofVenus. Perhaps it is, assome astronomers think,a sort of reflected lightfrom all the heavens.Maybe it is a phospho-rescence come from theadded closeness of Venus

to the Sunor could it be the reflectionof a hovering Venusian satellite? Is itearth-shine? There is no agreementamong astronomers, but the Ashy Lightis noticeable on the dark side of Venuscontinually, where only coalblacknessshould be. We should remember we arelooking at Venus through many milesof our own atmosphere.

Does Venus have a moon, a satellite?Most observers say no, although someearly and competent astronomers havenot joined this majority. And again, thedense atmosphere around Venus itself

hides many a true answer.In his recent book, The Inexplicable

Sky,Arthur Constance relates, on pages45 and 46, how Jean Dominique Cas-sini (16251712), the astronomer whodiscovered four of Saturns satellites,believed firmly that he had observeda small moon to the east of Venus, andof the same phase, early in the morningof August 18, 1686.

Again, the noted optical expert of his

[ 16 7]


10/48


day, James Short (17101768), also ob-served a point of light at a distance ofabout 10 seconds of arc from Venus.He described it well and fully, whichindicates he held it under view forconsiderable time. But he only saw it

that once!Another observer, M. Montaigne, saw

on several occasions between the datesof May third and eleventh, 1761, asmall crescentshaped object which ap-

peared to act as a satellite should.Were these observations illusions?

Were they real, and has the density ofthe atmosphere covered them? Is thisVenusian atmosphere expanding? Couldthey have been artificial satellites, and,

perchance, are we only 300 years be-hind the times?

In his book, Men of Other Planets.Kenneth Heuer says, No mortal hasever seen the solid or liquid surface ofVenus. But is this true? This, asmany another Venusian mystery, had

best be approached with caution.Dr. Percival Lowell, the follower and

expander of Schiaparellis Mars obser-vations, builder of the now famousLowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Ari-zona, and writer of numerous astro-nomical books, was firmly convinced hehad seen beneath the milkygray ofVenus atmosphere. Its folds had parted

for himnot once, but several times.Not only had they separated at night,when most astronomers work, but inthe daytime too. Venus is often visibleto the naked eye in daylight.

And now, more than 40 years later,we begin to get pieces of confirmationregarding Lowells Venus work. Thereon that vast uplift of country in north-ern Arizona the daytime sky is oftenso blue as to approach blackness. Theclear, dry air lies quiet in the 6000feet elevation affording some of the bestseeing in the world.

It was in this setting that Lowell hadobserved Venus during daylight hours.And it was here that he made the ob-servations which set a controversyaflame over 50 years ago which hasnot yet burned out!

What Lowell beheld on the planetVenus surfaceor somewhere above it,when the cloak of atmosphere partedwas a hublike center, and from thishub radiated something similar to

[ 16 8]

spokes. These spokes appeared to bedark like the hub. They were unevenly

placed around the hub. The spaces between these spokes seemed lighter incolor. Circling their outer extremitieswas a rim, as dark as the hub and

spokesand varying in width as did thespokes.Lowell could not observe these mark-

ings constantly enough to determinewhether they were on the surface orabove it, but he felt sure that they werethere.

Because other astronomers had notseen any such markings on or nearVenus, they were loathe to believe thatthey existed. They thought Lowellmust have somehow seen a pattern, insome way rereflected from the pupilof his own eye. Or, perhaps, a cobwebstretched high across the pines near histelescopes dome, or maybe across thedomes very slit.

But now come some interesting piecesof evidence. In the summer of 1956,The Association of Lunar and Plane-tary Observers met in convention atLowell Observatory. The Convention

resented a paper, VenusThe Unnown Planet, by the Associations

Venus Recorder, Dr. James C. Bartlett,Jr. While this paper emphasized thefact that Venus is still very much of a

mystery generally, some recent observa-tions of it, made by Mr. Richard Baumof England, appeared to largely coin-cide with those made by Dr. Lowellnearly half a century earlier.

But more than this. A correlation ofsome 339 separate bits of informationand drawings sent to the Venus Recorder over the twoyear period, be-tween 1954 and 1956, by 29 individualVenus observers scattered over the TJ. S.and Europe, seem to clinch the correct-ness of the drawings by Lowell andBaum.

Thus it does seem that the Venusianatmosphere must occasionally partthat there is movement within it andthat the wheel arrangement was notwholly within Lowells observing eyeor his imaginationand therefore verylikely some mortals have seen portionsof the solid or liquid surface of Venus.

If the atmosphere of Venus does openoccasionallyor oftenif it does par-take of movement and motion, what


11/48

causes these changes? We cannot besure, of course, but here on Earth suchcontinual movements in our own atmos-phere are caused by heat. The heatcomes from our Sun and the unevennesswith which that heat warms the Earthssurface. The unevenness of the heatingcomes because of the varying thicknessof the cloud cover here and the turningof our globe on its axis.

We can judge matters we know littleabout only by knowledge of similarones of which we do know a little. IfVenus atmosphere breaks open oncein a while, then we are led to concludethat such action is caused by a move-ment within it. If there is movement,we would be inclined to the view thatit was due to an uneven heating of theplanets surface. This, in turn, wouldindicate that Venus rotates on its axis.

Whether a planet spins on its axis ordoes not is very important! Our Earthmakes one complete revolution in alittle less than 24 hours; Mars, in alittle more than 24 hours. At one timethe rate of Venus was thought to beabout the same rate as of the Earth.Lowell believed that Venus stood still!Present consensus is that Venus turnsfaster than once a yearwhich meansit would keep the same face alwaysto the sunbut more slowly than Earthor Mars. The speed is not known, noris the true position of its axis. Thenearest to a definite statement in thisregard is that The planet turns oncein several of our days, or once in about68 of our hours.

If Venus keeps one face perpetuallyto the Sun and the other away fromit, the sunny side would probably bewell above the boiling point of water,wliile the shaded side would be colderthan Antarcticaunless the thick Ve-nusian atmosphere screens away muchof the Suns fierce heat on the sunnyside, which is possible, and transferssome of the Suns heat to the shadedside, by a method we know nothingabout. This last seems quite unlikely.

Another spoke in the wheel of Venusis Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky and hishighly controversial book, Worlds inCollision.Here, Venus is the star, themain character, the queen, but she isheavily burdened with appendages.Probably most astronomers, though not

(Continued on next page)

From the files of

QUEST

Rare Information on Natures Realm

Compiled byRo b e r t W a t s o n

The Miracle Plant

The Maguey Tree is a miracle plant thatsupplies the entire needs of an Indian na-tion. Be it milk, water or beer, meat, vege-tables or bread, it is all one to the 65,000Otomi Indians of Mesquital Valley, Mexico.Their amazing M a g u e y T r e e fills all theseneeds and more. It gives them brushes,baskets, bandages, hogfood, firewood andropesalso, roofing, siding and shingles forhousing. It supplies clothing too, and a

thornneedle already threaded to repairthem. For the little luxuries of life, theIndians cook and eat the worms which livein the tree.

Nomadic Gorillas

The Gorilla builds a new home for his fam-ily each night. He is too big to climb trees,but, with his family, covers long distancesover the ground in search of food. As nightfalls, he builds a new shelter by bendingand twisting the branches of living trees toform a canopy. This he covers with mossand lashes down with creepers, often tyingmore than a score of knots in the process.

The Living ThermometerUnknowingly, perhaps, this common littleinsect is a L i v i n g T h e r m o m e t e r . . . Thecall of the common black cricket shows hissensitiveness to temperature changes. As thetemperature rises, the crickets chirrup be-comes faster and more shrill. As it getscooler, the call becomes slowerfading en-tirely at around 40 Fahrenheit. To readyour Cricket Thermometer, count the num-

ber of chirrups in 15 seconds and add forty.

[ 169]


12/48

all, would feel that Worlds in Collisionis a spoke which could well be left outof the wheel with no harm done to itsultimate strength. However, it is easyto come to a decision regarding a mat-ter if you can disregard just one piece

of evidencemost difficult, if you mustconsider them all, as one should.The possibility that Venus was once

a mighty comet, bom of Jupiter, andnot so long ago either, cosmically speak-ing, has all the excitement one couldwish. Whether this great comet tussledwith Earth, at least twiceand lostto become our Evening Star, does notdetract in the least from the presenta-tion. Dr. Velikovskys Collisionis heav-ily footnoted, many pages being halfreading material and half references.Like so many things in life, one has todecide this one for himself tooandthat is what makes it difficult.

How intriguing are the answers whichwe do not know! How drab the oneswe doin comparison!

But let us leave the more violentaspects of our sister planet and turnour thoughts toward what might havehappened should intelligence have triedanother type of experiment on itselfone in which the beings are held in a

fixedstatus. Supposing there should betalking and thinking plants!As NicolasCamille Flammarion (18421925), theFrench astronomer and one of the great-

est students of extraterrestrial culturalpatterns of all time, once wondered:what might have happened here if ananimal kingdom, as such, had neverdeveloped? Perhaps evolution has takensuch a path on Venus. It is not too

fantastic a thought.But let us be visionary and imaginea world inhabited by beings held sta-tionary by their feet instead of beingendowed with locomotion. Their livesand customs would be very differentfrom ours. They would build no greatcities, but would be great cities. Theywould make no journeys to see whatlay on the other side of the hill. Theywould have a most strange, to us, Gov-ernment. No wars could be theirs. Noaftermaths of brown while the red slow-ly changed to green again! And no traf-fic problems. These beings would haveno written historyand they wouldneed none, for very little could be lostamong them. Each might live for sev-eral centuries; and if they were likeour great Redwoods, perhaps they wouldsurvive several thousand years.

Thinking trees! And why not? AsAlfred Joyce Kilmer wrote of the treeshe knew here on Earth, I think that Ishall never see a poem lovely as a tree.

Spokes in the wheel of Venus.Strange, mysterious, tantalizing. Some-day we may know their true materialand pattern.

V A V


13/48

D L 9 r,i z f . m a i o n . L c < c J \ o - ( I x o i x

By D r . H. Sp e n c e r L e w is , F. R.C .

r^ u _ w~T7i h il e it is very apparent,\ 1 / / and freely admitted by

I % / Masonic writers, that thewy Freemasonic RoseCroix

degree symbol and namewere taken from the spirit of the Rosicrncian workof tile Middle Ages inrecognition of the good

work done by the philosophers of theRosicrncian Order, the actual ritual ofthe Masonic RoseCroix degree is in no-

wise like any of the rituals in theRosicrucian Order, and even the sym-bol itself is slightly different and givena very different interpretation and ap-plication.

We understand, for instance, that theritualism and teachings of the Freemasonic RoseCroix degree center aroundthe tenets of Christianity exclusivelyand, in fact, idealize them and me-morialize them. It has been said bysome Masonic writers that in the pastmany orthodox Jews who have joinedFreemasonry have hesitated to take the

RoseCroix degree because of its em-phatic Christian nature. This is not acriticism of the ritual or work of theRoseCroix degree, but merely a man-ner of identifying it and classifying it.If the Freemasonic RoseCroix degreeis strictly and emphatically Christian,it certainly cannot be anything like anyof the rituals of the Rosicrucian Orderas we practice them and know them,for our rituals have never been sec-tarian in any sense, or colored with thedenominational doctrines of any Chris-tian organization.

It should be understood that the RoseCroix degree is one of the thirtytwodegrees of that branch of Freemasonryknown as the Scottish Rites, and is not apart of the fundamental Blue Lodgeform of Freemasonry which consistsonly of the first three degrees. None ofthe higher degrees of Freemasonry, ineither the Scottish Rite division or theYork Rite division, are degrees in thesame sense as we use the term in our

Rosicrucian Order. Each one of our de-grees begins with a long or brief cere-mony of initiation, and is followed bya course of lessons and lectures forweekly study before progress can bemade to the next degree. Some of ourRosicrucian degrees have sixty, eighty,or a hundred or more monographs, re-quiring months or years to complete.

As we understand it from all Masonicwriters and authorities, the RoseCroixdegree of Freemasonry is magnificent

and beautiful, inspiringand devotionalin its symbolism and moral, ethical, andreligious principles, but it consists onlyof the ritualism of initiation into thatdegree and is not followed, nor are anyof the other degrees in Freemasonry fol-lowed, by any course of weekly lessonsor lectures that require study at home,

practice and application. For this rea-son, there cannot be any identity

between the RoseCroix degree of Free-masonry and the Rosicrucian Order.This has been proven to us by the facttliat a great many who have gone into

and through the RoseCroix degree havejoined our organization and found inthe studies the practical application ofprinciples which they have not had be-fore and which do not interfere withanything they have learned in Free

Because of questions arising as towhat relations exist between the Rosi-crucian Order, AMORC, and theFreemasonic RoseCroix, the expla-nation by the late Dr. H. Spencer

Lewis, as Imperator of the A.M.O.R.C.is here given. This article is a re-print from the February, 1936 issueof theRosicrucian Forum. Dr. Lewisexpressed himself similarly manytimes throughout the years, indicat-ing a continuation of opinion and

policy' which still prevails.

Th e Ed it o r

[ 1 7 1 ]


14/48

masonry nor resemble anything theyhave learned there.

One can be a very eminent authorityon the subject matter of Freemasonryand particularly of the RoseCroix de-gree thereof without being an authorityon the subject of Rosicrucian teachingsas practiced by the Rosicrucian Order,or even have any knowledge of the rit-ualism and teachings of the RosicrucianOrder. On the other hand, many of themost eminent authorities in Americaand Europe on the Rosicrucian Ordersteachings and practices know absolute-ly nothing about the work and teach-ings of Freemasonry and have never

been even initiates of the FreemasonicOrder.

We have noticed in Masonic litera-ture and in the discussions on the part

of Freemasons in our organization thatthose who have passed through theRoseCroix degree of Freemasonry donot call themselves Rosicrucians or Rosi-crucian students and, in fact, the wordRosicrucian is almost obsolete in theliterature of Freemasonry and is not aterm that they use officially in anymanner. Only in the French interpre-

tation of the Latin Rosae Crucis, or theEnglish Rose Cross, do we find theRosicrucian Order using the words RoseCroix, for that is the French equivalentof the term. We have never noticedany confusion in the minds of the gen-eral public in regard to the term RoseCroix degree and Rosicrucian Order,for those who are familiar with theFreemasonic term know that it has norelationship or connection with theRosicrucian Order, and those in theRosicrucian Order know well that thereis no degree in our work called theRoseCroix degree.

Certainly, our organization has stateddefinitely and positively in all its lit-erature for the past years, and especial-ly in its official pamphlets, the fact thatour Rosicrucian Order is not affliliated

with any other fraternal organizationin America, and is not a part of anyother secret society in this country.Also, we have at times explained thatthere is no connection between ourorganization and Freemasonry althougheach holds the highest esteem for theother.

V A V


Our French Magazine

LA ROSE-CROIX

Those of you who read Frenchor who have friends who prefer French reading

will want to subscribe to this fine magazinethe French counterpart of the RosicrucianDigest. This bimonthly collection of articles and features on art, science, and mysticismcontains the Imperators regular greetings, the writings of todays leading mystics, andnews of Rosicrucian events the world over. Subscription for one year (4 issues) is $2.50.(Check with your local bank or post office regarding method of remitting to France.)Make remittances, and address all inquiries to:

EDITIONS ROSICRUCIENNES56 Rue GambettaVilleneuveSaintGeorges (SeineetOise)France

[ 1 7 2 ]


15/48

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 a t 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 three cents in postagestamps. (Please state whether member or notthis is important.)

ENDOWMENT OF THE SKY

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

was reading a magazineof worldwide circula-tion. As I read articleafter article, it seemedthat I was simply kill-ing time. While the ma-terial had certain inter-

est, it contributed verylittle to my knowledge orto any worthwhile purpose, yet I real-ized mat millions of people each monthread this magazine. Its title has becomea byword throughout the world. It islooked up to and respected. However,I could not help thinking how shallowwere most of the articles. Reading themmerely filled time. They gave onesomething to do when it was thoughtnecessary to use up time and in a man-ner seemingly somewhat constructive.

I finally concluded that such readingwas better than doing nothing, andthat is about all I could say for thenumerous articles that had taken morethan two hours to read.

After concluding that my time hadbeen more or less wasted, I looked outthe window. I was in an airplane,eighteen thousand feet above a tropicalsea. The time was late afternoon. Infact, the sun was setting in the west,and as I looked out over this vast ex-panse of water on a perfectly clearevening, my attention centered on thesky. The first stars were appearing, andthe sun was just dipping below thehorizon of water. Nothing was visibleexcept sea, sky, sunset, and stars. Itwas then the thought came to me thatthere was more to be read in this scene

[ 1 7 3 ]


16/48


than in the magazine which I held inmy hands. We, earthbound creaturesthat we are, at least so far in the his-tory of mans conquest of the universeis concerned to this time, fail to realizethat in the sky lies a great deal thatmay endow us with new knowledge

and. a new perspective.Within the scope or range of mv

vision, there was much to be grasped.First of all, and probably what hadattracted me and lead my thoughts todrift, there was beauty. The beauty ofa sunset on a tropical sea seen from my

point of view, completely detached fromthe earth, caused me to feel that I wasfloating through a manifestation of

physical beauty that is not an everydayexperience. The setting of the sun, withthe sea hardly discernible at such analtitude, brought the realization thathere was an expression of nature whichwe should view more often whether weare on the ground or in the air. Thesky in the increasing darkness resultingfrom the vanishing sun, the vividnessof the stars as they became visible,made me realize that much in the aes-thetic life of man is ignored while hereads or devotes himself to variousearthly duties rather than simply toraise his eyes to the sky and the beautythat it holds.

In our daytoday existence we fre-

quently are trapped by the circum-stances about us, by physical demands,and by using time merely to passthrough its moments rather than toappreciate the implications that maycome from the environment immediate-ly about us. Impressed by the beautyof the seascape, I realized how muchof our time is used by activities whichcause us to miss some beauty thatshould be ours to appreciate. Through

perception of beauty, man should learnthat it is within his realization of the

aesthetic, his comprehension of beauty,that he comes to the nearest physicalparallel with those experiences whichare similar to those described by mys-tics who have glimpsed the expressionof the divine and have been able totranslate it into the inspiration that hasmade life more worth while than hasany concern with physical problems.

Looking into the sky, into space, Irealized also that there was great depthbefore me, that far beyond the range

[ 1 7 4 ]

of the physical eye existed the wholeuniverse, that man is an insignificant

Fart of that vast expression of creation.could see only points of light, but I

knew that those points of light origi-nated in worlds and systems of sunsfar in space, far in the space that exists

beyond mans perception.And so, another endowment of thesky besides beauty is depth, and thatcan be taken to mean a literal depthof the universe or the challenge of theunknownthe realization that far deep-er than mans ability to comprehendthe world, and the situation about him,lies a depth of meaning that can onlybe comprehended by our letting themind drift beyond the physical limita-tions of our daytoday existence.

The awareness of beauty and depth

in this view brought to me a certainsense of serenity and peace. If all man-kind involved in the solution of the

problems that exist in the world todaycould gain a comprehension of depthand beauty that is about us, then thissense of serenity might help us to solvethe problems mat otherwise seem in-soluble at present. It is because mandoes not detach himself from his acute

problems that they become so impor-tant. Serenity is the result of our ab-sorbing the factors of the universewhich may not be readily and easily

accessible to us.Even more important than the ap-

peal of the aesthetic that comes throughthe realization of beauty or the realiza-tion of the depth of the universe beheldin part as we look at the sky, or theserenity such an experience can bringto our consciousness, there lies an evenmore important factor in beholding thesky and that is hope. If man can moveat high altitudes, if he can look fromwherever he is and see the vast exten-sion of the universe, then certainlythere must be hope for mankind as acomposite group of individuals as wellas for the individual.

The future of mankind on earth maybe beclouded at times because of themany unsolved problems. Problems re-main unsolved because of the lack ofknowledge of how to cope with them,but since man has solved problems thathave brought great technological ad-vancements and made it possible forhim to travel in the air at a high alti-


17/48

tude as I was now doing, then thereis hope that man may overcome manyother barriers. His launching into spacemay hold the key to new knowledgeana the solution to many presentday

problems.

Just as I saw this view and consid-ered the lessons that might be learnedfrom the appreciation of the beauty anddepth of the sky, so may every indi-vidual look out even farther and real-ize that his own destiny is tied up insome way both with the physical worldof which he is now a part and withthat vast creative force that is respon-

sible fen* the universe and of whichman can be a part now in his physicalexistence and throughout eternity.

Eternity might be considered as anextension of the vastness of the sky,the vastness of the unknown which lies

beyond our immediate grasp. Immor-tality for the individual is partly hisability to rise above the immediate cir-cumstances and to project his conscious-ness, his thinking, into the vastness ofthe cosmic forces that sustain and main-tain the whole universe as well as the

being of each individual segment of lifethat finds expression here on this earth.

V A V

[~

3v j o L ^ a m o u i

By D r . R. Ke l l e r

J2zjt- cJ-fancls.ih(Reprinted from Ciba SymposiaFebruary 1942, by permission)

B welldeveloped capacity

for observation is neces-sary in order to be ableto identify even a ratherclose acquaintance as alefthander. Particularlythe act of writing, themost important operation

___

carried out with oneland, is usually performed with theright hand by both lefthanders andrighthanders as a result of compulsionsexerted during the school years. In ad-dition, training and certain tools helpto suppress primary lefthanded tenden-cies to such an extent that they attractattention only when present to an ex-treme degree.

Thus, if it is possible for a personslefthandedness to remain hidden fromhis intimate associates, it is immediate-

ly evident that we can know about thelefthandedness of famous people onlyif this characteristic was especially wellmarked in them, or if we are dealingwith an artist whose lefthandedness is

betrayed by the manner in which heexecuted his work.

To prove his theory that in artists theheterosexual, left side, is particularlywelldeveloped, W. Fliess listed a num-ber of artists with leftsided tendenciese. g., Schumann, Michelangelo, Hol-bein, Lenbach, Leonardo da Vinci,

Menzel, and others. However, these as-sertions of Fliess are not supported byany exact proof. Only in the case ofthe two lastmentioned artists is theleftsided tendency beyond any doubt,since it has been confirmed by other

people at various times.

Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (14521519),probably the most famous lefthander,was one of those extremely rare per-sons who execute every difficult ma-nipulation, including writing, with theleft hand. Although it hardly appearspossible to have any clearer proof ofthe existence of leftsidedness, yet therehas been no lack of attempts to cleansethe great artist of the blemish of lefthandedness and to present him asambidextrous.

In the study of hand preferences, IraS. Wile asserts that Leonardo da Vinci

possessed equal facility in both hands(Handedness: Right and Left, Ch. II,

p. 12). However, Dmitri Merejkowski,in his historical novel dealing with DaVinci, makes the assertion that althoughhe drew with the left hand and paintedwith the right, he was not generallyambidextrous (The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci, New York, 1928, p.618).

The very recent collection of all the

[ 1 7 5 ]


18/48

documents confirming Leonardos lefthandedness, edited by G. Bonvicini, willprobably refute the allegation of am-bidexterity once and for all. Upon clos-er examination of his drawings itbecomes evident that Leonardo musthave drawn with his left hand since all

lines run from left to right. By meansof this characteristic, the art critic Gio-vanni Morelli (18161891) was able todifferentiate genuine works of Leonardofrom those which were falsely attrib-uted to him. Llowever, the masterslefthandedness, which was not yet

roven beyond any doubt solely on theasis of this characteristic, finds expres-

sion not only in the execution of hisdrawings; there is also further evidenceof it in the subjects of his plans andsketches.

One frequently observes that thecranks of Leonardos apparatuses andmachines are attached in such mannerthat they can be turned only by theleft hand. In addition to the testimonyof various contemporaries, obvious proofof Leonardos lefthandedness is pro-vided by the fact that the enormousmass of his notes is written almost ex-clusively in the aforementioned mirror-writing.

In passing it may be noted that al-though anyone can easily decipher thisscript with the help of a mirror, yet it

has frequently been regarded as a secretcipher. G. Calvi has expressed the fol-lowing opinion about Leonardos lefthandedness: Leonardo was lefthanded,and his mirrorwriting wras the result

of a natural, instinctive process, whichwas not corrected either by training or

by his will. Ordinary handwriting [abductive script from left to rightauthor] required an effort on his part,a voluntary resistance to habit. There-fore, in the few examples that have

come down to us, this script is more orless rudimentary, or forced.

Von Menze I

Ad olf von M enze l (18151905)worked just as willingly and deftly withhis left hand as with his right. Twoauthentic statements by him can becited in support of this assertion:. . . when I paint in oils, I always usemy right hand; for drawings, aquarelles,and gouaches always the left. Andagain: Here to the right of the win-

dow I paint at my easel with my righthand, and here at the left I draw, etch,and paint watercolors with my lefthand. No one is able to tell with whichhand I have worked, and to me it makesno difference.

The fact that Menzel painted withhis right hand cannot be considered asabsolute proof that Menzel was ambi-dextrous. It is probable that when hefirst learned to paint, at the age of 19,the same compulsion to use the righthand prevailed as in the teaching ofwriting. A study of Menzels brain by

Hansemann revealed definite asymmet-ry of the cerebral hemispheres. Notonly was the left hemisphere moresimply formed, it was also inferior tothe right one in its organization.

V A V


ROSICRUCIAN RALLY, HAMILTON, ONTARIO

The Hamilton Chapter will sponsor its first Rally on Saturday May 31, at the U.C.T.

Building, 194 Main Street East, Hamilton, Ontario. An invitation is extended to all

Rosicrucians to attend this Rally and enjoy the many program features which have

been planned, including lectures by Grand Councilor, Harold P. Stevens, and Inspector

General, Stanley K. Clarkconvocations and a special ritua l drama. For further de-

tails, write the Rally Secretary', Mrs. Margaret Richards, 99 East 39th Street, Hamilton,

Ontario.

[ 1 7 6 ]


19/48

^Unz, Woman


20/48

TheRosicructanDigestMay1958

The servant, who ushered me in,closed the door and I was alone withthe doctor.

This room too was darkly drapedagainst outside light. A huge bronzeBuddha stood on a tall stand in the

window embrasure, with two tall can-dlesticks on either side; the flames inthe great candles were burning steadilyand slowly.

The doctor was small, and she satin a chair upon a little platform so thatshe would look down on the patientseated below her. She was dressed likea nun in a shimmering pale grey ma-terial which also folded round her headand face concealing her hair.

Her face was oval, luminously pale,and out of it shone enormous grey eyes,the pupils rimmed with black; the most

lustrous, the most compelling, the mostcompassionate, the wisest, the most un-derstanding eyes I have ever seen.

The face was pure and unlined, themouth firm and large, but tender. Itmight have been the face of a womanof thirtyfive who took good care of herskin. But the eyes were those of a sagewho might be a thousand years old.

I sat in the chair below her.Dont speak, she said. Let me

think about you.She looked at my eyes and went past

them. I had an electric sensation as ifI were physically touched.

Olga, she said, you are not ill inany way. It is very unlikely you everwill be. You have come from a news-paper. Isnt that so?

I admitted that it was.She closed her eyes as if she were

listening. I looked at her hands lyingrelaxed on the arms of her chair.

They were long, slender and of apearly peachblossom whiteness. Noth-ing about her gave any indication of

the strength which could control spiritedhorses, as I learned later.

She opened her eyes and smiled.That too was electrifying. London wasfull of famous beauties in those days,but this was the first time I had beenin the presence of that overpoweringbeauty which coruscates from the innerfires of an awakened man or woman.

You will have integrity, she said,and will tell the unvarnished truth

[ 1 7 8 ]

about me, so I am going to tell you allabout my treatments. I learned them inTibet. I had the great privilege of beinginstructed by a guru in a place whereno woman before has ever been ac-cepted. The treatments I give are assimple as nature itself. They restoremen who have departed from their na-ture back to it. The methods are thou-sands of years old. Out of this natureand simplicity the newspapers wouldmake some unworthy sensation. Prom-ise you will not do that?

I promised.First I will tell you the method of

healing by the breath. Now when apatient is in battle shock, his breath isshallow and uneven. I teach him to

breathe slowly, deeplybut effortlessly,just like this. Not as the gymnasium

teaches which is very tiring, but gently,calmly, so that long drinks of oxygenbanish his fatigue.

Now this is against orthodox prac-tice for it is working on the symptoms.Try it yourself. Youll see how difficultit is to remain agitated while youbreathe the slow, tranquil, unworriedbreath.

In two minutes I had grasped thedifference between breathing deeplywith effort and breathing deeply witheaseone exhausted and the other ex-

hilarated.You are a good student, she said,remember how to breathe and it willsolve many of your problems. Next wehave the breathing for stamina. Sosimple. It is nothing more than thisfactoxygen is vitality, it contains alife principle. Most people use only onethird of tneir lungs, so they get onlyone third of the energy which is thebirthright of the body.

Many people die because they aretoo tired to breathe. The more theyneed it the less they can work for it.

Regard it as essential as your food.Oxygen is indeed most essential tosparkling strength. Drink it. Eat it.

Some of my feeblest patients havebeen restored to the vital strength ofyoung men by nothing else than in-struction in how to get their rightfulsupply of oxygen.

Now she gave me the little pamphletof breathing instructions she had hadprinted for her patients.


21/48

There is too much to tell you in aninterview. It is merely a return tonature. Now is that sensational?

I agreed that it was not. What wassensational was the fact that her simpleroutine was then considered abnormal.

Now there is the voice. Treatmentby the voice is my own idea though itdoes stem from my instruction in Tibetin the healing of the body by selfmadevibrations. You can do anything withtheseinduce the warlike temper of awarrior preparing for battle or the still-ness which invites extrasensory percep-tion.

I use it to bring the nerveshattered,trembling patient back to normal.

Now is it not true that emotion af-fects the tones of the voice? Hysteria

rises to a high pitch. Fear is thin andfalsetto. Only tranquility is low andpleasing, from the middle of the chest.I teach them the habit of speaking asif they were tranquil and in peacefulcommand of themselves. To speak selfmastery and breathe selfmastery, andnot to bother their heads with theirfeelings. I will do that. Just speak and

breathe as ifThe doctor opened her lovely slim

hands. They like this treatment be-cause it is so easy. They do it faithfullyas if

I ask no more of them. Verysoon they are?Now she came down from her chair

on the little platform and unrolled aslightly padded mat. She put it on thefloor.

Lie down on this on your back.I obeyed immediately.

She sat on the floor beside me in thefolded Buddha position. She arrangedmy arms a little away from my bodywith the palms turned up.

Now deliberately relax every muscle

down to your last small toe till you arelike a rag doll if you are picked up.Now what do you feel?

I felt as if the forces of gravity andthe hard floor were pulling every mus-cle into place and untying knots every-where. She called it relaxism. It isa wellknown elementary principle butI have never come across anything thatreleases the circulation of the blood andclears up so much fatigue in so fewminutes.

Color therapy is standard practicenow but it was revolutionary then. Shetook me into her little treatment roomwhere patients were bathed in the psy-chological atmospheres of tinted light.Dr. Woodbridge said the color used the

principles of physics as well as of psy-chology. Light filtered through a colortakes that colors frequency. There isa field of frequency round the body.This changes according to the healthcondition. The blue rate will changethe body frequency to its own if thelight is powerful enough and the patientis left in the rays long enough.

She answered my question before Iasked it. Yes, you can close your eyesand sleep while the lamp shines on you.A blind man can be healed of certain

nervous disorders by light shiningthrough the color blue.

She swung into place and switchedon in turn the different colored lamps.They were large globes of colored glassof intensely vital colors. Violet, dark

blue, light blue, deep yellow, pale yel-low, green, orange, dull red, crimson,even a fiery shade of scarlet.

Thats a poison color, she said ofthe latter, but there are uses for poi-sons. It can wake a man from melan-cholia to a state of irritation which can

be the first step to returning life.

The light shed from these globes inthe small whitewalled room had sucha lambent quality it made the air seemlike colored water. The dark blue andthe green gave the aspect of ones walk-ing under the sea. The deep yellow waslike tropical sunlight. The orange waslike desert sunrise. The crimson feltlike being caught in flames.

Too much isnt good for you, shesaid, switching off the orange light.Come back to the consulting room.

We returned to the tranquil presenceof the Buddha.

Is that all? I asked.

It is far from all, she answered.If you remember and practice any ofthe tilings I have told you, you will to-day have taken the first step on a jour-ney of ten thousands miles; the journeythat leads to the power of selfmastery.When 3>ou can walk unmolested amongwild animals and not be afraid, you willknow you have attained it.

[ 1 7 9 ]


22/48


On further questioning she showedme a newspaper clipping and photo-graph of herself walking unscathedthrough a corral of unbroken horsesmilling around her without molestingher.

If savage animals come near, youspeak to them as if you love them,she said. Naturally they dont under-stand words but the fearless compassionin your voice starts a telepathic com-munication. You dont need to speakat all if your inner powerwhich every-one hasis realized and highly de-veloped.

The dim, unremembered servant nowentered to announce the arrival of a

patient.

The doctor from Tibet touched myforehead between the eyes with the tipof her finger giving me a slight electricshock.

Walk on the Path. It is yours. Youwill tell the truth in your article. Let

them know how simple it is to be nat-ural and grow strong on goodness, tran-quility, water, and air. I depend on younot to be sensational.

I kept my promise. But the editorwas not disappointed. She had givenme a photograph and he was the onlyone who had an inside story. He pub-lished the article as I wrote it and asshe approved it.

But he wrote the title. MAYFAIRTEMPLE OF COLOR AND LIGHT.

V A V

Of Gods and Miraclesby

Ulrich Steindorff Carrington

A Book of Lasting Pleasure

Time marches onbut truth, laboriously gleaned, changesslowly. Over fifty centuries ago in the land of the Nile,man gained his first insight into spiritual valueslong

before any of the living religions or great philosophies began, these truths were incor-porated in simple tales.

In these stories you are not reading a modem historians version of ancient times. Noone speaks for these sages. They speak for themselveswords written 2000 years beforeChrist!

The compiler of these stories is the son of the late Dr. George Steindorff, worldfamous Egyptologist, and former consultant for the Rosicrucian Museum. Ulrich Stein-dorff Carrington spent his youth in Egypt surrounded by the great technical works onEgypt in the library of his famous father. In reading these tales you are as close asmodem man can be to the innermost thought and sentiments of early man.

Add these wondrous tales of the ancient Egyptians to your library. Order your copyfrom: ROSICRUCIAN SUPPLY BUREAU, San Jose, California, U. S. A. Price percopy, only $2.75 ( 1 / / s terling), postpaid.

Getting ready for aging is a lifelong process. It should begin in the nursery

school.Dr. Roy G. Hoskins, New York Times

[ 180]


23/48

A

Moment of Grandeur

for you . . .

as you witness a stirring drama tization of a great mom ent in history

ju st one of tk e countless ac tivities bein g prepared for your benefi t at tke

1958

INTERNATIONAL ROSICRUCIAN CONVENTION

July 6-11


24/48

T he R o s i c r u c i a n R e s e a r c h L i b r a r ystands like a vault of learning and knowl-edge amidst the cultural surroundings ofRosicrucian Park. H ere can be seen fas-

cinating Rosicrucian manuscripts, books,and documents. Here Conven tion dele-gates can spend relaxing hours delvinginto priceless literature.

A World

TransformedIn the very midst o( daily

chores, how often has your mindreached out? Ho w many times

has your fancy wandered to a

different worldto a time and

pla ce im bued w ith th e love of

knowledge and the search for

truth?

Your dream is not alone.

I h o u s a n d s b e f o r e y o u , a n d

thousands even now, have set

their hearts on this goal! A nd

from July 611, a thousand of

these will live this dream. A

t h o u s a n d w i l l e x p e r i e n c e t h e

bonds of broth erh ood a n d fra -

ternal association. A thousand,

and you, perhaps, will know a

world transformed!

In the tranquil surroundings ofRosicrucian Park, one can often seeconversations like these in progress.Here visiting dignitaries from Eu-rope, Africa, and the United Statesdiscuss program arrangements at a

recent Convention.


25/48

The spacious grounds of Rosicrucian Park provide an opportunity for special events at eachannual Convention. O n the occasion pictured above, officials of the E gyptian governm ent visitedRosicrucian Park via helicopter. A t this point in a recent Convention, grea t interest and activity

were centered around die Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum which houses the largest collection ofEgyptian antiquities in Western United States.

Each Hour

Is YoursEach morning a sacred convocation

aw aits your presence. A t its close you

will find that otker arrangements have

ke en m ad e for you^'a class , a science

demonstration, an interview, a tour, a

per iod of m ed itation, sp ec ia l lectures,films, and otker tkings to see and do.

You will realize tk at tke entire program

was p lanned wi tk YOU in mind.

The Supreme Temple lends an air of serenity

and dignity to the ritualistic sessions conducted inits graceful chambers. Th e rising sun depicts the

greater light of knowledge and truth proceedingfrom the speakers station in the symbolic East ofa Rosicrucian Temple.


26/48

*7h e ^GM xjhu^UtiHa

o n th e W a ll. . .

...............

*n bhis year, m em bers ofA M O R C w ill as se m b le a

thousand strong to discuss, to

deliberate, and to enjoy the most

worthy pursui ts of which men

and women in these trying

t imes are capable ..........

MAKE TRAVEL PLANS NOW

Be part of this historic event. Rosicru cian Parkis m the very center of California's great scenicand recreation areas, only a few miles from thesea and from the airport of San Franciscoandsitua ed on highways and rail routes that makerave o tie C onven tion a memorable eventhe nominal registration fee ($7 .00) covers one

hig weeh of activityincluding the official bamquet. D ay care for children is available at^xtra, standard fees. l or particulars regarding ( comm odations w hile here, please write to the

R O S I C R U C I A N C O N V E N T I O N

S E C R E T A R Y

Rosicrucian Park

San Jose, C alifornia , U . S. A.

KnimmN o t to be missed are th ese ex clusive a d -

vantages of at tending the 1958Convention

Personal interviews with the officers andstaff members of AMORC, by

appointment.

A premiere of AM OR Cs latest motionpicture epic.

J U L Y 611(For Members Only)

A Forum conducted by the Supremeand Grand Lodge officers.

Special addresses by a Rosicrucian sci-entist and a Rosicrucian statesman.

Initiation into the worlds oldestmysteries . . .

A dramatic production filled with themost significant episodes of AMORCstraditional history.

p. s. W e would l ike to have you drop us a l i n e

if you plan on c o m i n g .

in the Rosicrucian Science 7 L Z f Z 7 yother physical science exhibits will be of great interes. ,o yon They will evince in you e v T g re a te

wh,Vh v M i n d th e orga niza tio n ofwhich you are a part.


27/48

< ^ f y O l l 6 a i l d 6.(20n t o J 2 i f t

(Abridged from a longer manuscript by the author.)

By Ra y m u n d A n d r e a , Grand Master, A M O R C of Great Britain

o u s s e a u sstory of his ownlife, in his Confessions,isone of the most intimateand revealing autobiog-raphies ever penned. Thisis a record of introspec-tive and psychologicalresponse to life and cir-cumstances which keeps

the reader almost continuously occupied

with the subjective workings and reac-tions of a mind and heart which naturehad destined to live in a world of theirown, totally incapable of adjustment inany normal sense to ordinary everydayexistence. He is perhaps the geniusabove most others who must be judgedby what he produced, not by what hewas.

JeanJacques Rousseau was bom onJune 28, 1712, in Geneva. His fatherwas a man of unstable temperamentwhose alternations of conduct met withthe disapproval of his neighbors. My

birth, says Rousseau, cost my motherher life and was the first of my mis-fortunes. He was nursed through the

ears of infancy by his aunt, for whome had a great affection.We may gather that his introduction

to a scholars world took place at a verytender age. Every night after supperhe read with his father, often into theearly hours of the morning. From theseyears, too, he brought the memory ofthe songs and simple airs sung by hisaunt. It was the one period of his lifewhen he was truly happy. However,one thing for normal development waslacking: He grew up in an atmosphereof emotion and imagination with a totalabsence of healthy reaction to the ob-

jective world.As a result of a quarrel with the

Council, Rousseaus father broke up hishome and went into voluntary banish-ment, across the border. The boy wasplaced under the guardianship of hisuncle, a military engineer in Geneva.Here he fell into disgrace for some tri-

fling acts of mischief by school boys andwas soundly punished, although he forhis part avowed innocence. This harsh-ness left its mark on his mind for life.Thereafter, all appeared sinister andcruel.

The time for deciding on a trade orprofession for Rousseau arrived. A placewas found for him in the office of theCity Registrar. He quickly distinguished

himself in the eyes of his employerand the clerks as a fool and blockheadand was sent home.

Rousseaus unique education was car-ried much further when he was nextapprenticed to an engraver, a man ofviolent character, who contrived totarnish all the amiable qualities ofmy childhood and reduce my conditionto a state of servitude. In brief, hismaster was a tyrant and turned all thegood in Rousseau to evil. After severalthrashings, Rousseau quitted his masterwithout ceremony and took to the road,

with high expectations of great thingsahead.

In Savoy, the cure gave him a letterto a new and distinguished convert,Madame LouisaEleanora de Warens,who lived at Annecy. The impressionshe made on him was a peculiarly deepand lasting one. Madame Warens was29, and childless, and Rousseau was 17,wrhen this most singular attachment be-gan. There is much to be said for Vulliamys comment: Rousseau had neverknown a mothers affection. In one whois thus deprived of a natural experiencethere is nearly always something whichappeals at once to the motherly instinctof a woman.

She persuaded Rousseau to renouncethe religion of Calvinism and recom-mended him to the monastery at Turin.Fie was robed and baptised, and fullyexpected that his future had been madesecure. But after exhortations to be agood Christian, he was given the pro-ceeds of a collection and turned out.For some days he gave himself up to

[ 18 1]


28/48


the pleasure of wandering, ultimatelyentering the service of a widow aslackey. Other employment followed;

but wherever Rousseau was employed,something always happened and hetook to the road again. At last destitu-tion turned his thoughts to Madame

Warens, and he made his way back toAnnecy.

Madame Warens received him withthe placid mien of a mother. The prob-lem now was to find a profession forRousseau, and it was decided to makehim the curate of a small village. Hewas sent to the Lazarist academy forinstruction in Latin and theology, buthis tutor proved so distasteful to himthat he could learn nothing. He had agreat desire for music, and MadameWarens placed, him with the choirmas-ter of the Cathedral for a musical edu-

cation. Here, too, Rousseau continuedto daydream. Moreover, his masterdrank heavily, and Rousseau shortlyabandoned him and returned to thehouse of his benefactor. Much to hissurprise and grief, he found MadameWarens had left for Paris on business.The days passed, and no news came ofher.

Rousseau resumed his wanderings,finally reaching Lausanne, where heconceived the idea of passing off as a

professor of music. In a mood of greatcompetency, he wrote a new piece for

one of the concerts. He conducted thecomposition himself, but he appearedso comical and the noise was so dia-

bolical that the fiddlers nearly roaredwith laughter. It was a bad start fora professor of music seeking pupils.

Rousseau next accompanied a dis-tinguished looking traveler, who calledhimself Father Paulus, as interpreter inhis appeal for funds for the restitutionof the Holy Sepulchre. Father Pauluswas exposed and suddenly disappeared,while Rousseau set off by foot.

The date of his return to Savoy ap-pears to have been 1732. How he livedand where, up to this time, is a matterof conjecture. As long as he was freeto walk and sleep where he would andobtain food by some means, nothing elseseemed to matter much to him. Duringthese wanderings, Rousseau was writ-ing his famous discourses in the bloodof his heart. Small wonder it is that,

[ 1 8 2 ]

when he came to pen them, the smoul-dering thought broke out in an irre-sistible plea for social equality andindividual freedom, which later becamethe textbook of the Revolution.

Rousseau was again received with

kindness by Madame Warens, and sheobtained a position for him as secretary.Confined all day in a dull office, histhoughts soon turned again to music.He continued twoyearsin this drudgeryand then obtained Madame Warensconsent to quit his employment andteach music to young ladies.

His desire to write appears to haveawakened at this time through thereading of the memorable correspond-ence of Voltaire and Prince Frederick,but it did not bring Rousseau to decisiveaction. From music he turned to physi-

cal science, but was cured of that whenan accident blinded him for severalweeks. He was now 24, and not yetsettled to any definite occupation. Iwas burning with a love that had noobject, he says. There is a world ofmeaning in those words. There is noperiod when a man is so dangerous tohimself and to others; it is the key toall Rousseaus wanderings and irregu-larities.

The two years of 173840 Rousseaurecalls as the short happiness of mylife. He read, dreamed, and studiednature in all her moods. But the factof importance to us is that he was pre-

ga ring the ground for his future work.[e studied logic, philosophy, and Latin,

the theological doctrines of the Jansenists and Jesuits, and astronomy.

His residence with Madame Warenscame to an end when she procured himan appointment as tutor at Lyon. Histutorship did not last more than a year,and in 1741, with a new system ofmusical notations he haddevised, Rous-seau set out for Paris. An opportunitywas found for him to present his newsystem before the Academy of Sciences.The system was later condemned, andhis first printed work, A dissertationupon modern music, also proved afailure.

He secured an appointment as secre-tary to the French ambassador at Venicein August, 1743. The idea of socialinequality was now stirring in Rous-seau, and his insolence to his master


29/48

brought about a violent rupture. Hewas expelled without pay. In Septem-ber, 1744, he was back in Paris withanother appointment as secretary. Herehe became acquainted with a sewingmaid, Therese Levasseur, who was to

be his companion through the remain-ing years of his vexed lifeyears whenRosseau, half famished and with mad-ness gaining on him, creeping from

pavement to garret to escape the eyesof the curious and the gibes of fools,thundered his political and educational

pamphlets across France, and had to flyinto exile to save his life.

The New Heloise, a novel on man-ners and morals, was published in 1761,but it is upon the Social Contract andEmile, his work of education, that Rous-

seaus reputation mainly rests. Thesebooks raised the storm against him. Theheresy of Emile brought its condemna-tion by the Parliament of Paris. Hereceived a warning letter from a friend:In the name of God, make off! The

burning of your book will do you noharm. You could not endure life in a

prison. Provision was immediatelymade for his safe transit to Yverdon.

Among his friends there was the pas-tor of Motiers, whose church Rousseauregularly attended. He thought he sawan opportunity of allaying the public

anger against him if he became a com-municant. He was admitted to the com-munion and promised not to write any-thing more. But the dignitaries at Ge-neva were not readily appeased. Theyrequired from him a public recantationof his views on Christianity. No morewas necessary to make Rousseau forgethis promise not to write again. Fromthis time to the end, the clouds of sor-

row and persecution settled heavilyupon him.

A house was found for him at Wootton, where he passed a few months play-ing the harpsichord, made botanical ex-cursions in the surrounding country, and

corrected the proof of his Dictionaryof Music. Here he also finished the firstpart of the Confessions. During thisperiod Rousseau was unmistakably in-sane. Blinded by a cloud of delusions,he quarrelled bitterly with his friends.

The tragic scene draws to a close. InMay 1778, twenty miles from Paris, hehad a few weeks of relative happinessin a little cottage amid charming scen-ery. On July 2, he rose as usual at fiveoclock in the morning and took a walk,returning at seven for his coffee. Feel-

ing a faintness and later recovering, hewas helped by Therese to dress for anappointment. When ready to set out,another faintness seized him. He fellforward suddenly, striking his brow onthe floor. Therese raised him in herarms. Rousseau was dead. The mannerof his death was symbolic: that of the

brilliant genius broken on the wheel ofcircumstances and falling in ruins indementia.

His body was buried beneath thepoplars on the island. But at the revolu-tion, in 1794, it was taken in triumph

to Paris.Part it

It is a curious fact that some of thegreatest figures in world history wereadjudged insane. It is interesting tonote Kretschmers view of this abnor-mality in the genius. The sensitive

person is extremely easily wounded bythose tiny discords of life which thehealthy person does not even notice.And because of his gentle and con-strained nature, he is unable to disem-

barrass himself forthwith by forceful

dealings with the torturing influences.So he becomes the man of inner con-flicts.

Genius suffers in silence and waits.It has a tremendous selfconfidence in a

personal mission; and early or late, acause for its declaration arises, and theword of this one man shines in thefirmament like a new star. It was sowith Rousseau.

The period from 174449 is markedby Rousseaus forming many new

[ 183]


30/48

TheRosicrucianDigestMay

1958

friendships with men and women ofgood standing, free thinkers and phi-losophers being prominent among them.In 1749, the Academy of Dijon offereda prize for the best essay on If therestoration of Arts and Sciences hascontributed to the purifying of Man-

ners. On the road to Vincennes tovisit his friend, Diderot, in prison, andscanning a news sheet as he went,Rousseau lit upon this subject for anessay. It was like a voice from the oth-er side. He trembled from head to toewith the onrush of ideas that possessedhim. He was so agitated by the sud-den illumination that he sat down be-neath a tree to collect himself and con-sider what manner of thing had hap-

pened to him. In his own words: Allthat I have been able to retain of thesecrowds of great verities, which, in a

quarter of an hour, illumined me be-neath that tree, has been feebly enoughscattered in my three principal worksthat is, the first Discourse, that uponEquality,and the treatise on Education,which three works are inseparable,and form together a complete whole.

On reaching the prison he confidedthe matter to his friend, Diderot, whourged him to enter for the prize. Butfrom that moment, he says, I was lost.The prizewinning essay brought him,as we have seen, immediate fame. Italso made him a social outcast. He hadfound a reason for his wretched ex-istence and a cause to espouse.

Rousseaus Discourse flings a note ofchallenge to the civilization of his day.So long as government and law pro-vide for the security and wellbeing ofmen in their common life, the arts, lit-erature and the sciences, less despoticthough perhaps more powerful, flinggarlands of flowers over the chainswhich weigh them down. They stiflein mens breasts that sense of originalliberty, for which they seem to have

been bom, cause them to love their ownslavery, and so make of them what iscalled a civilized people.

Such was the tone and trend ofRousseaus first broadcast which thor-oughly upset the French people. Simul-taneously with this triumph came thesuccess of his opera, Devin du Village.He published his second Discourse in1755 and it increased his reputationimmeasurably. The sound and impar-

[ 184]

tial judgment of Morley on the two dis-courses was that they were pieces thathave moved the world.

When published in 1762, the SocialContract passed off relatively quietly;but as soon as clever heads realizedwhat kind of doctrine they were offered

in it, it was acknowledged the most im-portant political tract of the time. Afew years later it was to become thetextbook of the Revolution. It is impos-sible to read this now without realizingacutely that it must have had a terribleinfluence upon the awakening sense ofinjustice in the minds of the masses.Had he lived to see the Revolution, noman would have been more startledthan he to note how tremendously in-fluential was the book in promoting thenational upheaval which prepared thefoundations of modem France.

The brilliance of these politicalworks of Rousseau was eclipsed byEmile, a treatise on education. It is alengthy and closely reasoned studywhich could only emanate from a mas-ter mind. It is a most singular factthat Rousseau, who had received noeducation, and had no contact withchildren, yet penned the greatest workthe world had seen on education. As inhis political works, Rousseau inveighedagainst the social order of the day be-cause of what he had suffered person-ally under it; so here, in the matter ofeducation, it was his own sufferings,restrictions and inhibitions that stirredhis emotions to launch his able criticismupon the handling of a child.

Everything of Rousseau has the noteof challenge of the bom reformer in it.It appears in the opening sentence ofEmile. God makes all things good;man meddles with them and they be-come evil. The section in the bookunder the title, Profession of faith ofa Savoyard Priest, brought down aload of condemnation. Vulliamy had

this to say of it: What is the principleof this faith? It is a very simple one:Only believe in God, and see Him in theuniverse. No book, no church, no med-dlesome priest, no rite is necessary. . . .How could a respectable man find Godwithout the assistance of clergymen?so wrote Vulliamy.

Letters from the Mountainraised an-other storm in Geneva and increasednot a little Rousseaus fame. In 1764


31/48

he began to write the celebrated Confessionsand theReveries. The Reveriescontains some beautiful writingpas-sages of rare descriptive powerbut theshadow of madness and final despair isupon it.

Carlyle says in his inimitable style:Historically it is a most pregnantspectacle, that of Rousseau. Banishedinto Paris garrets, in the gloomy com-pany of his own thoughts and necessi-ties there; driven from post to pillar;fretted, exasperated till the heart ofhim went mad, he had grown to feeldeeply that the world was not hisfriend. It was expedient, if anywaypossible, that such a man should not

have been set in that hostility with theworld. He could be cooped into garrets,laughed at as a maniac, left to starvelike a wild beast in his cage; but hecould not be hindered from setting theworld on fire. The French Revolutionfound its Evangelist in Rousseau.

The tremendous influence of his writ-ings upon his time, and since, pointsplainly to the fact that this vessel ofdishonor, in the eyes of so many, wasendowed in later life with the highestmystical gifts of inspiration. Indeed,whatever biography has to say of Rous-seau, occult insight acclaims him aninitiate, and one with a very definitemission.

V A V

cifys.jLzctiom

Censoriousness. We are apt to be verypert at censuring others, where we willnot endure advice ourselves. And noth-ing shews our weakness more, than to

be so sharpsighted at spying othermens faults, and so purblind about our

own.When the actions of a neighbour areupon the stage, we can have all ourwits about us, are so quick and criticalwe can split an hair, and find out everyfailure and infirmity; but are withoutfeeling, or have but very little sense, ofour own.

Bound of Charity. The more mercifulacts thou dost, the more mercy thouwilt receive: and if with a charitableemployment of thy temporal riches,thou gainest eternal treasure, thy pur-

anJl JWaxims.

chase is infinite: thou wilt have foundthe art of multiplying indeed.

Temper. Nothing does reason moreright, than the coolness of those thatoffer it; for truth often suffers more bythe heat of its defenders, than from thearguments of its opposers.

Zeal ever follows an appearance oftruth, and the assured are too apt to bewarm; but it is their weak side in argu-ment; zeal being better shewn againstsin, than persons, or their mistakes.

Justice. Believe nothing against an-other, but upon good authority: norreport what may hurt another, unlessit be a greater hurt to others to conceal

lt' From Fruits of Solitude,by William Penn, 16441718

V A V

The whole function of philosophy ought to be to find out what definite dif-ference it will make to you and me, at definite instances of our life, if this worldformula or that worldformula be the true one.

Wil l ia m James

[ 185]


32/48


h e Light and ShadowClub of San Jose oncemore chose the Rosicru-cian Egyptian, Orie

Documents

Rosicrucian Digest, May 1958