AMORC Degree 11 (51-70).pdf

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Monograph 51

Monograph 51 R E G I S T E R E D IN U . S . P A T E N T O F F IC E ( A L S O REG ISTERED THROUGHOUT THE WORUD1 P R IN T E D IN U . S- A.

5V T h e m a tte r contained h erein is officially issued th ro u g h the Su­ p rem e Council of th e A. M. O. R . C. u n d e r th e em blem above, w hich w as re g iste re d in th e U n ited S ta te s P a te n t Office lo r th e purpose of p ro te c tin g all th e “ p rin ted , en g rav ed , ty p e w ritte n , and photographic copies of officially p rescrib ed and c o p yrighted m onographs, d is­ s e rta tio n s. scientific p o stu latio n s, philosophical discourses, academ ic stu d ie s, d iag ram s, illu stra tio n s, a n d c h a r ts ” a s au th o rized by the Im p e ra to r of A. M. O. R. C. (T h e above em blem and nam e of the O rd er a re also re g iste re d in co u n trie s th ro u g h o u t th e w o rld .) All m a tte rs h erein co ntained a re s tric tly confidential to the m em ber receiving, a n d a re im p arted only a s an incident to m em bership. The o w n ersh ip of. th e legal title , and the rig h t of possession to th is m o n o g rap h is and sh all rem ain in th e Suprem e G rand L odge of A. M. O. R . C. an d it shall be re tu rn e d to it upon its request. The c o n te n ts h erein a re loaned to b e used fo r th e sole a nd exclusive in fo rm atio n of th e receiving m em ber a nd n o t o th erw ise. Any other u se o r a tte m p te d use does, ipso facto. te rm in a te a ll rig h ts of the m em ber, a n d is a violation of tn e S ta tu te s of th is O rder. A. M. O. R . C. is th e only o rg an ization a u thorized to use th e R eg­ iste re d nam e and sym bols, a n d th e Im p e ra to r has sole rig h t to g ra n t th e use of them to o th e r allied o rg a n iz a tio n s o r m ovem ents.

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THE CONCURRENCE

This Week’s Consideration of a Famous Opinion V V V C]J Belief in magic and the veneration of those who apparently possess such powers was widespread in ancient cultures, and the culture of the Egyptians was no exception. Magic was practiced in order to bring both good and evil results and to affect those both in this world and the next. The firm belief cherished by the Egyptians as to the efficacy of formulas and magic in the next world prevented any doubt as to the possibility of practising sorcery here. Sorcerers were in demand on every hand, and well understood how to fortify the faith of their clients by the display of conjuring tricks: in the Bible we have an allusion to feats of this kind performed before Pharaoh in opposition to Moses and Aaron. ALFRED WIEDEMANN, 1856-1936 -

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Beloved Members, Greetings! If you have not reported on the sanctum exercises included with these monographs, please let us hear from you. We should like to know, also, whether you are enjoying these reviews of past thought and its relation to the present. We shall continue our consideration of the magical beliefs and practices of the Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom. We have seen in the writings of Ptahhotep a didactic exposi­ tion of moral precepts for the individual. Justice was held to be an individual, personal attainment by which one was assured of greater happiness here or in the hereafter. There was, however, little social consciousness of the needs of justice. One was not honest in his dealings with subordinates and members of society be­ cause of any idealism centered in impersonal social relations. As yet no moral ends had been conceived for the state as had been established for the individual. Perhaps the reason for this was that there was no realization of the integration of all of the functions of society, nor any realization that society served a collective end. It was a number of separate ventures over which the Pharaoh presided, insofar as the individual was concerned. So long as the Pharaoh's interests were achieved, the conduct of soci­ ety and its moral standards were of no consequence. One's moral obligations did not extend beyond those relations which would intimately affect himself. THE ST A T E A S AN INSTRUMENT

Do we not see a similar trend in modern society? In theory, at least, we know that society is an entity. We know that individ­ ual justice can be assured only if society as a whole is kept on a plane of rational moral discipline. Nevertheless, we find people more and more corrupting society for their individual, mate­ rial gain. They seek to justify their conduct on the grounds of expediency— the need for survival at all costs. They state that personally they have brought no injury to another individual. They relate their moral conduct only to acts in which they personally participate. However, this does not relieve them from the moral responsibility of injustices performed by a society whose standards they have corrupted, directly or indirectly. The state is_ an in­ strument which man has created. It is man who has given the state existence and power. What the state does through its multitudinous agencies and bureaus when set into motion by man is every citizen's responsibility. A priest of Heliopolis contemplated this adverse trend of the society of this period. At a much later time, during the 18th Dynasty in fact, a scribe preserved his thoughts by recopying them. The composition is now in the British Museum. We quote below from parts of this impressive tractate: "Righteousness is cast out, iniquity is in the midst

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of the council-hall. The plans of the gods are violated and dispo­ sitions are disregarded. The land is in distress, mourning is in every place, towns and districts are in lamentation. All men alike are under wrongs: as for respect, an end is made of it.... "Come, then, my heart, that I may speak to thee and that thou mayest answer for me my sayings and mayest explain to me that which is in the land.... I am meditating on what has happened. Calami­ ties come to pass today, tomorrow afflictions are not past. All men are silent concerning it, [although] the whole land is in great disturbance. "When awake in the morning to suffer every day. Long and heavy is my malady. The poor man has no strength to save himself from him that is stronger than he. It-Ts painful to keep silent concerning the things hearcU [but] it is suffering to reply to the ignorant man...." The eloquence of these words is timeless. They could as well be the echo of the appeal of a social reformer of today who sees individual moral standards jeopardized by the lowered moral prac­ tices of his society. The priest saw the individual with a sense of righteousness made the victim of a social pollution that he could not stem. He realized that we cannot live wholly unto our­ selves. Each act and thought is dual in its function. From them we may experience a direct effect, but they will also provide an indirect result. This indirect result may be the impact which our thoughts or actions have upon society. We may be entirely unaware of such indirect effects, or they may seem so remote as to appear inconsequential. Eventually, however, they return to us, often with far greater efficacy than we gave them. If we are prudent in our thoughts and deeds, their indirect results as well as the direct ones will redound to our benefit. If we are not prudent, we experience the grievances of a corrupt society whose state of af­ fairs is in no small part our own responsibility. Aiding and abetting tyranny in public office by direct partic­ ipation, or by indifference, corrupts society. It is the certain way to experience ill effects in future years. Encouraging too much paternalism on the part of the government, that is, seeking such benefits from the state which it is the individual's duty to provide for himself is another invitation to misfortune. Paternal­ ism increases bureaucracy and excessive taxation, and provides temptation for those weak in character to misuse great power. The uncertainty of the immediate future caused by the corrup­ tion of society in the Middle Kingdom resulted in waves of skepti­ cism which swept over the people. This skepticism, as in every _____ age, was also an indication of a sophistication. It reYsQz/ vealed an accumulation of experiences by which the individuai was able intellectually to make an analytical v comparison of events. Not until one has had varied expe-

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riences is he able to select from them a norm which he believes to be most favorable to him. Skepticism, therefore, reveals a certain maturity of mind. It is not the naive acceptance of a verisimili­ tude as being absolute truth. Rather, skepticism injects the ele­ ments of probability into each experience. It challenges what is perceived in order to prove its reality and its purpose. Skepti­ cism degenerates into pessimism when events result in a preponder­ ance of adversity. The individual then no longer openly questions the nature of circumstances; he resigns himself to anticipating their ill effects. The pessimism of the Middle Kingdom was expressed in doubts about God. Particularly, there was no reliance upon the assurance of immortality. There was doubt about a future life of ultimate happiness and of equal sharing of the next world with the gods. Pessimism is not confined to one sphere of human interest. It flows over, like water over a dam, and submerges all human interest and idealism. If life here was not happy, if faith in human rela­ tions had been shattered, why then should men think it would be otherwise in another world? We must recall that the gods of the Egyptians of this period, that is, those adhered to by the masses, were humanized beings. They were thought to exhibit feelings and conduct not unlike men. If treachery, deception, and disillusion­ ment could exist among mortals, it could also prevail in the world beyond this where the gods dwell. REASO N V E R SU S EMOTION

During the early period of the Old Kingdom, emotions ruled. Men symbolized their feelings by forms which their mind conceived to express those feelings. This was just as many people do today in their religion. Having a sense of compassion and an impulse to do the right, desiring to live beyond this life and wanting to escape its suffering, men conceive things and conditions which seem to repre­ sent such desires and impulses. With intellection, increasing in­ telligence, and a knowledge born of experience, wisdom tempers such emotional idealism. It is then that many former concepts, although pleasant and relieving, are found to be without factual grounds. Reason distinguishes between reality and mere hopes and fan­ cies. This rationalizing is often disturbing in its earlier stages, as we all know. It upsets our peace of mind. There is a tendency to fight against it, to want to retreat again to blind faith. Reason, however, supports the instinct of preservation and caution. We know that we cannot afford to place our heads in a hole in the sand. We cannot believe that something is merely be­ cause the thought of it is pleasant, when the opposite may be true. When we finally make the decision and resort to reason, then we begin anew. We do not abandon idealism; that would be fatal, for we would have no motivation in life, nothing to lead us onward and upward. Reason allows us to segregate the chaff from the grain, to objectify our idealism and make it livable. It provides confidence and assurance that can never be disturbed.

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This monograph relates that there is a dualism of thought and action. We are most often conscious of the direct result of our thoughts and actions. We think something or we execute it as a course of action. In our minds, at the time, there is a single ob­ jective, the reason or purpose behind the thought or the deed. We think or act in relation to some immediate need or concern of our own. For analogy, one rushes out of his office because it is nec­ essary to reach a destination by a certain time. His actions are more far-reaching than perhaps he realizes. By failing to notify his secretary where he is going, she is unable to contact him to inform him that an important customer is anxious to reach him. An indirect result, then, is that he may have lost a substantial sale. Each of our acts and deeds is like an arrow shot into the air. The arrow may not land where it is pointed. Our acts may bring about unanticipated results. Although it is not always possible to anticipate the secondary effects of our thinking and doing, you will find that intuitive judgment will help you. It will warn you if what you intend to do may have disastrous effects. Intuition is the profound judgment of the inner self based upon experiences acquired objectively. By heeding these intuitive decisions, many acts or thoughts considered harmless can be made so in fact. It is not that our thoughts of themselves can reach out and bring harm to others; rather, the wrong thoughts may cause us to act in ways that may be detrimental to others. On this occasion, therefore, prepare your Sanctum as you are accustomed. Light the candles and ignite the incense. As prepara­ tion, it is advisable to refer to the book, Mystics at Prayer, selecting one prayer and repeating it slowly to vourself. Or_you jnay^pre£er to read a page from the inspiring work, ^Effvto Thee ~I~~ Grant. When you are finally relaxed, close your eyes, dismissing all thoughts except what you plan for tomorrow. That tomorrow may be twenty-four hours hence or several years. Approach your plans from a different point of view this time. Do not think of them only in terms of their immediate effects. Think of all the circum­ stances, people, and conditions that may be affected— in other words, of the lives and affairs of others who may be touched by your plans. Then inquire of the ifiner self whether or not the sec­ ondary and indirect consequences of your plans will be detrimental to others. Suddenly, welling up within your consciousness, the answer will come. It may appear as an auditory sensation, that is, as a spoken command or admonishment; again, it may take the form of a written reply, of brilliant letters standing out upon the screen of your consciousness. Regardless of the form of the experience, that is, the intuitive response, be determined to abide by it. Fraternally,

YOUR CLASS MASTER

Summary of This Monograph V V V Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory. f Justice for the Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom was conceived as an individual, personal attainm ent only. It was for the purpose of assuring greater happiness here or in the hereafter. There was little social consciousness of the needs of justice. f People today corrupt society for their individual material gain. They seek to justify their conduct on the grounds of the need of personal survival. 11 Each act and thought is dual in its function. In addition to a direct effect from them there also may be an indirect one. H Skepticism, as in every age, is an indication of sophistication. It injects the element of probability into each experience instead of a naive acceptance of it. 1[ Reason distinguishes between reality and mere hopes and fancies.

Self-Interrogation The following questions are given so that you may test your understanding of the contents of this monograph. From understanding comes wisdom, and wisdom is the application of knowledge. If you cannot answer the questions, reread the monograph. Do not send the answers to the Department of Instruction. 1. What is one of the principal ways of corrupting society and encouraging unethical practices in government? 2. What causes skepticism? How does it degenerate into pessimism? 3. Are thoughts and deeds wholly single in their effects, or are they dual? 4. Were there any moral ends conceived for society during the Middle Kingdom? 5. What form did the pessimism of the Middle Kingdom assume? 6. Is it proper to allow only our emotions to form our ideals in life?

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THE CONCURRENCE

This Week’s C onsideration of a Famous Opinion V V V It is not difficult to understand why the Egyptians looked upon Imhotep, the vizier of King Zoser, as a god, for besides his abilities as a physician and architect, he had a reputation for literary works. The following text makes this clear. Imhotep enjoyed the reputation of being ‘one of the greatest of Egyptian sages’; his fame for wisdom made so deep an impression on his countrymen that it endured as a national tradition for many centuries. As regards his literary activities, he is said to have produced works on medicine and architecture, as well as on more general subjects, and some of his works were extant at the dawn of the Christian era. His proverbs, embodying the philosophy of life which experience had taught, were handed down from generation to generation, and were noted for their grace and poetic diction, their author being described as a ‘master of poetry*. - JAMIESON B. HURRY, M.A., M.D.

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Beloved Members, Greetings! We are pleased to learn that the fratres and sorores who have reported on these monographs and their exercises have found them enlightening and personally helpful. Now we raise the curtain of time again to peer into the events and teachings of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. There was much in the immediate environment of the Egyptian of the Middle Kingdom to arouse pessimism about the former emotional idealism and the traditional promises of the priesthood. Even in that early period, he found around him evidence of the decay of some of the vast pyramid temples. Their once-polished sides no longer glistened in the Sun; the whirling sands of centuries had eroded the huge lower blocks of these "eternal homes" of the kings. In these pyramids, great personages had been buried centuries before. They had not returned to claim their vaunted authority. These pyramid-tombs and the great kings themselves who were buried within them were to exemplify religious precepts which the priest­ hood had expounded to the masses. The bodies within these tombs were now nothing more than masses of matter slowly crumbling; the huge estates of the deceased had vanished; their palaces had fallen in ruin. Even their names were no longer known to some of the peasants and serfs. Where, then was the glory of the next life if the gods could not substantiate in this world that which they were supposed eventually to bestow upon the deceased? The following are examples of poems of pessimism of the period: How prosperous is this good prince! It is a goodly destiny that the bodies diminish, Passing away while others remain, Since the time of the ancestors, The gods who were aforetime, Who rest in their pyramids. Nobles and the glorious departed likewise, Entombed in their pyramids. Those who built their tombs (temples), Their place is no more. Behold what is done therein. I have heard the words of Imhotep and Hardedef, Words greatly celebrated as their utterances. Behold the places thereof! Their walls are dismantled, Their places are no more. And then, another poem: As if they had never been. None cometh from thence, That he may tell us how they fare;

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That he may tell us of their fortunes, That he may content our heart, Until we, too, depart To the place whither they have gone. Imhotep, to whom the first "poem of pessimism" referred, was the vizier and great architect of King Zoser. He constructed the latter's pyramid-tomb and other great edifices. He was related to have been one of the great sages of antiquity, learned in many arts and in esoteric knowledge. Hardedef, of a later period, a royal prince of King Khufu, was likewise celebrated for his learning. However, as this poem points out: "Behold the places thereof!" Such places were already in a state of deterioration in the Middle Kingdom. Time diminished their glory. What evidence was there, then, of the fulfillment of the promises of the gods? Of the great kings, it was "as if they had never been." GIVE US A SIGN

Observe that men wanted some sign, some objective proof that the traditional panegyrics of the glories of the future life, long expounded by their forebears, had merit. After all, as the hymn above relates: "None cometh from thence, that he may tell us how they fare." The populace was con­ fused. They were undergoing a conflict between the social insta­ bility of the times and their devotion to their religious dogma. They longed, as the hymn tells us, for some word or sign from one who had gone beyond "that he may content our heart." The beliefs that the venerated great had taught, as well as the monuments they had left to commemorate such sacred ideals, were now crumbling. These things had been declared eternal. Consequently, there was great disillusionment because men in a comparatively short time— that is, in relation to eternity— could violate and brush aside sacrosanct hopes and beliefs. It was even more shocking that time itself could take the toll of what had been said would last for­ ever. This experience of the Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom is sim­ ilar to that of many present-day orthodox Christians. Their great religious teachers, their priests and ministers, tell them of divine justice; they expound how a personal God is merciful and ex­ hibits compassion to all who believe on Him. Nevertheless, there is about them every evidence of injustice; and immorality, as they conceive it, is on the increase. They find themselves victims of such social maladjustments of the time as wars, famine, persecu­ tion, and oppression. In bewilderment, these persons ask: Has God forsaken us? The weaker ones become atheistic in their reaction to what they conceive as religious cant. The more disciplined reori­ ent their moral viewpoints; they find it necessary to reconstruct their spiritual ideals and values. This consists of a reinterpre­ tation of divine purpose and man's responsibilities in life. To the Egyptians, this reinterpretation was already

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underway. To many, it constituted an abandonment of spiritual idealism; in fact, it was doubted that there could be any existence providing a more positive happiness than that found in this mortal life. The harpists when entertaining sang of the lack of faith in this world. They told of the need to gain the utmost from this brief span of life. The following is quoted in part from such a song, preserved on one of the tomb walls: Every nostril inhaleth once the breezes of dawn, but all born of woman go down to their places. Make a good day, 0 holy father 1 Let odors and oils stand before thy nostril. Wreaths of lotus are on the arms and the bosom of thy sister, Dwelling in thy heart, sitting beside thee. Let song and music be before thy face, and leave behind thee all evil cares! Mind thee of joy, till cometh the day of pilgrimage, when we draw near the land which loveth silence. Here was the exhortation to make the most of the day, to find joy and music in song, to be enthralled by pleasant scenes, for soon the living would "draw near the land which loveth silence." These songs were sung on the occasion of great festivities and were accompanied by the music of the harp. Herodotus, ancient Greek historian, tells of a custom that may have originated in this period of doubt. He relates that at great feasts in Egypt, ser­ vants would drag in a skeleton for all to see, with the admonish­ ment to the assemblage: "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow ye die! " IMMORTALITY SOUGHT

However, there was a sign of hope entering this period of despair. We find a lesson in it as well. With the coming of disillusionment about the happi­ ness of the afterlife, men gave themselves over to sensual living, to passion and pleasure. Such pleasures diminish proportionately to the extent to which they are pursued. They are transient, and man finds that ennui with its constant irritation results. He then comes to realize that man can so satiate the appetites that nothing of a sensual nature will any longer satisfy. This inclines him to want to escape mortal existence, which has become drab. It encour­ ages suicide. On the other hand, when death appears to be a relief from life, the more thoughtful begin to contemplate the nature of death; they carefully appraise it. The apparent relation of death to the metaphysical problems of birth, existence, immortality, mor­ ality, and kindred subjects causes the mind again to entertain these matters— but from a new perspective. Below, we quote from one of these ancient songs, wherein death was held to be a glad release: Death is before me today Like the recovery of a sick man,

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Like going forth into a garden after sickness. Death is before me today As a man longs to see his house when he has spent years in captivity. Men want security. They are not content merely with an escape from adversities. They seek escape only when they are frustrated and disillusioned. The urge to live, to conquer, to find happiness in terms of personal achievement and as an expression of self is inherent in the nature of man. It is a cosmic impulse that is as much a part of his being as his organic functions. It was inevi­ table that man should once again hope for and conceive of an exist­ ence beyond this one, an existence that offered all that this life apparently lacked. With this probing into life's purpose came the question of the worthiness of self. There was a real awakening of the moral sense. This attitude was in contrast to that exhibited by King Unis in the pyramid texts. You will recall that when we studied his writings he made demands upon the gods. He believed the inevitable right of man was to have exalted power in the next world and to be the equivalent of the gods. Now. however, we find the Egyptian noble­ man of this period telling, not about vain deeds he expects to achieve in the afterlife, but rather about his evaluation of self and inquiry into his own character and conduct. A contemporary nobleman, known as Ameni, has said in a trea­ tise: "There was no citizen's daughter whom I misused, there was no widow whom I oppressed; there was no peasant whom I repulsed, there was no herdsman whom I repelled, there was no overseer of serf laborers whose people I took for (unpaid) imposts, there was none wretched in my community, there was none hungry in my time." SELF— There is still another lesson for us in this self-analyA N A L Y S IS sis which was becoming prevalent during that period. It is only from a frank contemplation of our own mental and moral resources that we can ever know our limitations. We cannot rise further if we believe that we have already attained perfec­ tion. The most hopeless are those who do not know or will not admit their imperfections. It is by contrasting our own natures and actions with the ideals which are motivated by our inner selves that we come to realize our personal lack. Much of our misfortune in life is caused by our insistence that circumstances, events, and persons have conspired against us. Holding to the position that we are perfect and virtuous often results in compounding personal faults and the dire effects that follow from them. We must become contrite and willingly confess to ourselves any errors of our ways. Such an attitude opens the mind and removes the blinds from the vision of the soul. This transition in thought, this contemplation of the self, bequeathed to posterity a new literature, referred

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to as "Counsels." These were books of moral teachings, but differ­ ent from Ptahhotep's earlier writings which we have studied. Not pedagogic, but popularly written, they appealed to the masses and were widely copied. The earliest of these is called: "Counsels of King Intef." This tractate was first translated by the eminent Egyptologist, A. H. Gardner, about 1914. We quote in part from this ancient writing, which advocates self-restraint and kindli­ ness. "The turbulent man is confusion to a city. He creates two factions among the young generation.... A man who talks much is a mischief-maker to a city.... A fool is he who is greedy when others possess. Life upon earth passes; it is not long. Fortunate is he who is remembered in it. The possession of a million men availeth not the Lord of the two Lands. The good man shall be living for­ ever. "Command thou men, the flocks of God. He made heaven and earth at their desire. He checked the greed of the waters and made the air to give life to their nostrils. They are his own images proceeding from his flesh. He arises in the heaven at their desire. He made for them grass and cattle, fowl and fish, to nour­ ish them. He slew his enemies and destroyed his own children be­ cause of their plots in making rebellion. He maketh the dawn at their desire. He sails by in order to see them. He has raised a shrine behind them. When they weep he heareth." The first part of the Counsel quoted is obviously drawn from experience. It had been observed that greed is not profitable, for it corrupts man's nature. "Life on earth passes; it is not long." Therefore, we are advised not to resort to acts which will condemn a man's soul in the life hereafter to acquire possessions. King Intef points out that "possession of a million men availeth not the Lord of the two Lands {God)." In other words, God is not impressed by the number of possessions a man has acquired during his mortal existence. Greed, as an evil, is detrimental to a happy life in the next world. However, King Intef relates, "The good man shall be living forever." THE The last part of the Counsel that we have quoted is a SHEPHERD remarkable concept of God. He is conceived as being the OF MEN Creator and the shepherd of men. It declares that "Men are his own images." It is especially remarkable to realize that this was written long before the Hebrews expounded like ideas, which eventually became incorporated in what is known as the Old Testament. This writing makes of God a just, benevo­ lent, but also an exacting, paternal being. He bestows many bene­ fits upon man; but at the same time he "slew his enemies" because of "their plots in making rebellion." There is also the "Counsel of Amenemhet." It is in the form of advice to his son, Sesostris. This, you will note, is a pessimistic review of relations with one's fellow humans. The entire

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treatise, which we shall not take the space to quote, is considered "one of the most vivid, dramatic writings of ancient times." This excerpt refers particularly to Amenemhet's recounting of a palace conspiracy which was almost fatal to him. We quote in part: I gave to the beggar, I nourished the orphan; I admitted the insignificant, as well as him who was great of account. But he who ate my food made insurrection, He, to whom I gave my hand, aroused fear therein; They put on my fine linen, looked upon me as... They who anointed themselves with my myrrh, defiled me. Here again was the conflict of experience with traditional religious platitudes. Amenemhet had found that all men are not true brothers. In good faith, he "gave to the beggar" and to others. These recipients of his generosity betrayed his kindness. As his other writings indicate, he was not wholly embittered but he was disillusioned. The Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom were learning a lesson that is still not known to many persons of our times. It is that religious dogma can often close the mind and run counter to the ever-expanding human experience. Religious teaching must concern principles— that is, broad moral ends. It must not attempt to reg­ ulate the particulars of human conduct except as they pertain to the absolute fundamentals of man's nature. An ever-increasing so­ ciety propels man into different channels of activity from which come new experiences. He is called upon to express himself in many ways. His relations with others cause him continually to make ad­ justments regarding the ends of life. His God, his conception of deity, must therefore ever keep abreast of the forms which his moral inclinations assume. If he does not make these adjustments, life seems to become wholly evil and futile. The divine purpose appears irreconcilable with what he observes in his daily affairs. The result of this is a deep pessimism, which comes to suppress the moral impulse. It brings about that spirit of abandonment which we have noted in the early part of the Middle Kingdom— and which is extant today. The self must have flexibility. Moral codes, whether they are conceived as a direct mandate from God, received through the medium of a religious founder, Messiah, or prophet, or as the voice of conscience, must not exclude the value of empirical knowledge. Our spiritual life must be tied fast to practical living. For success­ ful living, human relations must harmonize with those ends which the individual conceives as being spiritually motivated. In other words, each of us must to a great extent create our own religion out of our experiences, both objective and subjective, and that, in effect, becomes our philosophy of life. If our religion is not an intimate part of our consciousness, it never has the efficacy to lift us upward. It becomes a

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mere formality to which we adhere perhaps for no other reason than the force of convention. It destroys itself because of its immo­ bility. V

A V

This monograph has pointed out that during the period of pes­ simism and doubt of the Middle Kingdom concerning immortality and the afterlife, there finally came about within the minds of the people the question of the worthiness of self. The subsequent self-analysis was the saving factor of their moral sense. It made spiritual happiness and the purpose of life a personal matter. We do not mean to imply that man lives entirely to himself, but that his thoughts, conduct, and ideals are determining factors in the outcome of his life. How many do you know who can give you a logical and philoso­ phical definition of such words as good, virtue, evil, life, and immortality? You will find that the majority who respond to your questions will offer definitions that are really foreign to their intimate knowledge. They are inheritances— that is, what they have read, what teachers have told them, quotations from religious dogma dogma, and the like. They merely repeat empty words— words which they have never lived and whose meanings they do not personally understand. Life is often empty and futile to people simply because the rules, the terms and codes, by which to live it are shallow and ex­ traneous to their mentality, consciousness, and personality. A religion, a doctrine or philosophy, in order to be lived, to really be in harmony with one, must be part of his being. Its precepts must be formed of his own consciousness. For analogy, a man-made law is never popular with people if it does not find a response within their moral standards or personal convictions. If it is otherwise, they have no respect for it, and they will break it at the first opportunity without compunction or remorse. Each of us must find whether the life we live, the doctrines we accept, and the codes we recognize are those to which we really conform; that is, does our conformity reflect our inner self and reason, or is it merely a lip service? Such things should be con­ structed of our experience, meditations, and aspirations. Like the Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom, we must analyze ourselves periodi­ cally; we must be ready to admit faults and imperfections, or oth­ erwise we cannot hope to attain whatever ends we sincerely aspire to. On this occasion, let us attempt such an introspec­ tion. First, prepare your Sanctum as usual. Sanctify the event by lighting the candles on your Sanctum altar and by igniting your incense. If possible, as you have been in­ structed for many years, have a flower on your altar,

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symbolic of life itself. To assist you in entering the proper attunement with self, first intone softly the vowel RA three times; then follow it with MA the same number of times. Inhale deeply before each intonation. Now begin the review of your character. Analyze your conduct and relations with others. Are they commendable? What are your faults and bad habits? What is there about your way of living that is inconsistent with what you profess to be your philosophy of life? Remember, you are speaking to self; you cannot deceive your­ self. Is your accepted or customary philosophy of life doing jus­ tice to your temperament, your mentality, to the spiritual nature of your being; or do you feel that changes should be made? You will find that, after this brief introspection, you will experience a psychological or mental relief; you will feel rejuven­ ated in spirit. You will feel a kind of inner cleanliness as though you had discarded obstructing ideas and customs. Fraternally, YOUR CLASS MASTER For further reading: • Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, by Alfred Wiedemann • Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East

Summary of This Monograph

V V V Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory. U The populace was disillusioned because in a comparatively short time —that is, in relation to eternity — men had violated and brushed aside once-sacred hopes and beliefs. 11 When bewildered in their spiritual beliefs, w eaker men become atheists in their reaction to w hat they conceive as religious cant. The more disciplined reorient their moral viewpoints. They find it necessary to reconstruct their spiritual ideals and values. With any disillusionment about the happiness of the afterlife, men are inclined to give themselves over to sensual living. Such pleasures diminish in proportion to the extent to which they are pursued. It is only from a frank contemplation of our own mental and moral resources that we can ever know our limitations. H Religious dogma can often close the mind. It can, as well, run counter to the ever-expanding human experience. 11 Religious teaching must not attempt to regulate the particulars of human conduct except as they pertain to the absolute fundamentals of human nature.

Self-Interrogation The following questions are given so that you may test your understanding of the contents of this monograph. From understanding comes wisdom, and wisdom is the application of knowledge. If you cannot answer the questions, reread the monograph. Do not send the answers to the Department of Instruction. 1. Who was Imhotep? 2. What were some of the causes of the pessimism of the Middle Kingdom? 3. What was the Egyptian attitude toward death during this period? 4. Who were the authors of the famous “Counsels” of the Middle Kingdom? 5. What important lessons were the Egyptians learning at this time? 6. Should our religion be accepted entirely as a tradition, or should it be evolved in part from personal experiences and our moral sense?

th is m o n o g ra p h it n o t su b je c t to sa le o r p u rc h a s e by a n y o n e . A sale or purchase m ay moke the seller an d purchaser su b je c t to civil liability.

This monograph always remains the property of the Supreme Grand Lodge of A. M. O. R. C. It is not purchased by, but loaned to, the receiving member.

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Monograph 56

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T h e m a tte r contained h erein Is officially Issued th ro u g h th e Su­ p rem e Council of th e A. M. O. R . C. u n d e r th e em blem above, which w as re g iste re d in th e U nited S ta te s P a te n t Office fo r the purpose of p ro te c tin g all th e “ p rin te d , en g rav ed , ty p e w ritte n , and photographic copies o f officially p rescrib ed a n d c o p yrighted m onographs, d is ­ se rta tio n s, scientific p o stu latio n s, philosophical discourses, academ ic stu d ie s, d ia g ra m s, illu stra tio n s, and c h a rts ” a s a u thorized by the Im p e ra to r o f A. M. O. R . C. (T h e above em blem a nd nam e of the O rd e r a re also re g iste re d in c o u n trie s th ro u g h o u t the w o rld .) All m a tte rs herein contained a re s tric tly confidential to the m em ber receiving, and a re im p arted only a s an incident to m em bership. The ow n ersh ip of. th e legal title , a n d th e rig h t of possession to th is m on o g rap h is and snail rem ain In th e Suprem e G rand Lodge of A. M. O. R. C. an d it shall be re tu rn e d to it upon its re a u est. T he c o n te n ts h erein a re loaned to be used fo r th e sole and exclusive in fo rm a tio n of th e receiving m em ber a nd n o t o th e rw ise. Any o th e r use o r a tte m p te d use does, ipso facto, te rm in a te all rig h ts of the m em ber, and Is a violation of tn e S ta tu te s of th is O rder. A. M. O. R . C. is th e only o rg an izatio n a u thorized to use th e R eg­ iste re d nam e a n d sym bols, a n d th e Im p e ra to r has sole rig h t to g ra n t th e use of them to o th e r allied o rg a n iz a tio n s o r m ovem ents.

THE CONCURRENCE

This Week’s C onsideration of a Famous Opinion V

V

V

The fact that Akhnaton was practical as well as idealistic is often overlooked; yet he was responsible for having an entire city built. His dedication to his ideal is expressed in an inscription on one of the boundary stones of the city. And the breadth of the City of the Horizon of Aton is from cliff to cliff, from the eastern horizon of heaven to the western horizon of heaven. It shall be for m y Father Ra-Horakhti Aton, its hills, its deserts, all its fowl, all its people, all its cattle, all things which the Aton produces, on which His rays shine, all things which are in ... the City of the Horizon, they shall be for the Father, the living Aton, unto the temple of Aton in the City of the Horizon for ever and ever; they are all offered to His spirit. And may His rays be beauteous when they receive them. -A R T H U R WEIGALL, 1880-1934

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Beloved Members, Greetings! Akhnaton finally selected a new capital between Thebes and the sea. It is now called Tell el-Amarna. He called it Akhetaton, literally meaning "Horizon of Aton . 11 He erected similar cities in Asia and Nubia, of which nothing remains, and built lesser sanctu­ aries as well. All were dedicated to this "sole everliving God." The whole plain of the new city of Akhetaton was marked as the domain belonging to the new god. On either side were cliffs, as if sheltering the new spiritual enlightenment. Akhnaton had fourteen steles prepared "not less than eight meters high." Each of these huge stone tablets bore inscriptions which set forth the limits of the new city. In area, the city was 13 km from north to south and 19 to 27 km from cliff to cliff, or from east to west. The north and south steles bore in part the following inscrip­ tion: "His majesty raised his hand to heaven, to him who made him, even to Aton, saying 'This is my testimony forever, this landmark (stele)... I have made Akhetaton for my father as a dwelling... I have demarked Akhetaton on its south, on its north, on its west, on its east. I shall not pass beyond the southern landmark of Akhe­ taton toward the south, nor shall I pass beyond the northern land­ mark of Akhetaton toward the north... He has made the circuit for his own. He has made his altar in its midst, whereon I made offer­ ing to him.'" It will be noted from the above that Akhnaton, in making his salutation to the god, is said to have also made salutation "even to Aton." This is important, for it indicates that he distin­ guished Aton from God and that the former was but a symbol of God. LIVING IN TRUTH

Whether the phrase that Akhnaton would never pass beyond the boundary of the city was a mere legal phrase indi­ cating no further expansion for the capital, or that he actually would confine himself there, is not made clear. He fre­ quently referred to himself and his followers as "Living in Truth." He most assuredly devoted his whole life to this revealed truth. It was his life. It may be that the inscriptions on the steles indicated that he would never depart from the conception which he had attained and which the new city of Akhetaton so magnificently depicted. This new capital indeed became not only the political center of the empire, but the center of the cultural revolution of the period. The royal architect Bek was sent south on an expedition to the first cataract on the Upper Nile to procure stone for the new temples of Akhetaton, of which there were three in the city. One of these was dedicated to the queen-mother, Tiy, another to the ^---- y princess, and the third, or most prominent, was the state temple. It was the latter which was used principally by \y Akhnaton. The city became a thing of beauty, as new and V revolutionary in its architectural design as were the

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spiritual ideas. In fact/ the structures seem to objectify the enlightenment. It was a period of complete transition in religion, literature, and art, as well as in many customs. Palaces of the king and nobles arose around the temples, sepa­ rated by broad, beautifully landscaped streets. There is on dis­ play in the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum a model of one of these beautiful estates of the nobles. It shows the living quarters of the noble and those of his servants, his stables, his granaries, and even his little shrine to the sole God. This model was con­ structed to scale from archeological data and is the result of research by an eminent Egyptologist. It was constructed by an artist-member of the A.M.O.R.C. and is one of the few models of this Golden Age of Egypt to be seen anywhere in the world. The following are words from one of the ancient descriptions of the city: "Akhetaton, great in loveliness, rich in possessions ... at the sight of her beauty there is rejoicing. She is lovely and beautiful...." Notwithstanding this splendor, the masses of workmen, whose living quarters adjoined the city, did not fare much better than previously. It was unfortunate that the economic wel­ fare of the state under this idealistic king was not all it could have been. TOMBS Akhnaton appointed Merire to be Great Seer. He was also OF THE known as "High Priest— Merire Faithful." It would appear N O BLES that the king relinquished the title of high priest, which he had formerly assigned to himself when he severed his relations with the Theban priesthood. Merire carried out the beau­ tiful teachings with which his master Akhnaton was inspired. The teachings of this enlightened religion came to the young king as psalms or hymns. They were inscribed on the tombs of the nobles for posterity, such tombs being called eternal houses. It is from them that we have our record of the great teachings! Centuries later some of these psalms found their way into the Hebrew psalms and into our present-day Bible. We quote a few below and designate similar passages appearing in the Bible which, of course, was of a much later date. The frequent similarity is not coincidence. How manifold are thy works! They are hidden before men, 0 sole God, beside whom there is no other. Thou didst create the earth according to thy heart. The barques sail up-stream and down-stream alike. Every highway is open because thou dawnest.

0 Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all; The earth is full of thy riches. (Psalms 104:24) So is this great and wide sea, Wherein are things creeping innumerable, Both small and great beasts.

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The fish in the river leap up There go the ships; before thee. There is that leviathan, whom Thy rays are in the midst of the thou hast made to play therein, great green sea. (Psalms 104:25-26) o Thou dawnest beautifully in the horizon of the sky, 0 living Aton, who wast the Beginning of life! When thou didst rise in the eastern horizon, Thou didst fill every land with thy beauty. Thou art beautiful, great, glittering; high over every land, Thy rays, they encompass the lands, even to the end of all that thou hast made. Thou art Ra and thou penetratest to the very end of them; Thou bindest them for thy beloved son [the Pharaoh]. Though thou art far away, thy rays are upon earth; Though thou art in the faces of men, thy footsteps are unseen. We are told in the teachings of Akhnaton that Aton continually brings forth life from the egg and that he is eternal and univer­ sal. The egg is symbolic of the universe as a great cell, the nu­ cleus of which was thought to be the creative force of life. Aton thus sends forth the life-giving essence from the cell of the uni­ verse as an emanation, which is transmitted to Earth and animates all substance. We are told that Aton gives the breath of life and that his rays bring life and vitality. "Thou art in the sky but thy rays are in earth." This may be construed as meaning that the creative force of life, although beyond Earth, is conveyed to the air and thence to the Earth through the medium of Aton's rays. The universality of this divine, life-giving power is well indicated in the phrase: "Thy rays in the midst of the great green sea." There is nothing that escapes the touch of the sole God. "It is breath of life in the nostrils to behold thy rays." This has perhaps a mystical connotation. To behold the rays of Aton, to think about them even, is the equivalent of the breath of life. Without these rays of light, one has no spiritual union with God any more than he has life without breath. A serious effort was made by Aknaton to rationalize natural phenomena and to remove them from the traditional realm of magic. He sought to explain the rise and fall of the Nile with its annual inundation as a phenomenon ordained by God but functioning in man­ ner of natural law. We can also see in his doctrine the provenance of the Judaic concept of God as the Father. Aton was the symbol of the one God, the father of all, whose consciousness dwells every­ where and whose reign serves the welfare of man. We are told: "Thou art the father and mother of all that thou hast made." How greatly indebted are many of the prevailing religious doctrines to the inspired utterances of this young mystic of more than thirty centuries ago!

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M YST IC A L There are those who refer to Akhnaton as "God-intoxiPANTHEISM cated." He perceived God in every manifestation of nature, the limitless sky, the green sea, the swaying palms, the fish that leap in the river. He loved life. He loved nature as though it were a panorama of the great sole God in action. He proclaims: "My eyes be satisfied daily with beholding him, when he dawns in the house of Aton and fills it with his own self by his beams, beauteous in love, and lays them upon me in sat­ isfying life forever and ever...." Though we think of Akhnaton as being theistic, he was perhaps more of a pantheist. There was to him a sole God as a radiating source of divine power; but also this God was not isolated from what He had created. The beams of Aton, his light, caressed and lingered in all that was brought forth. The word light, as used by Akhnaton, we have noted, was not to be construed in the limited sense of a physical property. It meant love and spiritual consciousness. Thus, this application of the word occurred centuries before Christ. The old magical spells and incantations, so common to Egyptian religion previously, were displaced by Akhnaton. They were re­ placed by prayers to Aton, as noted in the hymns quoted earlier. It must not be thought that the masses were given to the same ex­ cogitations as Akhnaton or that they were even inclined to accept his doctrine. The pioneers in any field require courage to break with tradition. The masses of the 18th Dynasty had no such cour­ age to offend the gods of long standing. Further, the monotheism of Akhnaton, as had the former pantheism of the Ptah mystery school, transcended the simple understanding of the people. Its ideas were too intangible. The masses, however, treated the new religion as a kind of fantasy of their king, as a sort of strange indulgence, which was of little or no concern to them. It is somewhat like the apathy shown by some sects toward the missionaries of today. Those who dwelt at Akhetaton, however, especially the officials, would appear to have been devoted follow­ ers of the new religion. Akhnaton was exceedingly generous to his supporters and to all who ostensibly shared his views. Whether all this loyalty was genuine, or merely the result of the generosity, we cannot know. In referring to Merire, his high priest, Akhnaton said: "Hang gold at his neck before and behind, and gold on his legs; because of his hearing the teachings of Pharaoh concerning every saying in these beautiful seats which Pharaoh has made in the sanctuaries in the Aton-Temple in Akhetaton." During the early reign of the king, border nations such as Syria continued to pay tribute to Egypt. However, their allegiance and fear of her began to lag when no attempt was made to put down the insubordination of vassal states. Rebellion became more fre^---- y quent; defiance was the order of the day. The faithful vassal nations begged in vain for Akhnaton to put down these revolts. The Prince of Jerusalem begged the mystic v king "to care for his land.... All the lands of the king

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have broken away.... If no troops come in this very year, then all the lands of the king are lost." About the sixteenth year of Akhnaton's reign, political unrest reached into his sacred city. It would appear that his wife, the beautiful Nefertiti, did not fully agree with his complete disre­ gard for the political affairs of the empire. She had been his faithful companion and had stood staunchly by him in his rebellion against the Amon priesthood. His affection for her was evidenced in numerous official portraits and monuments. It would appear that this disagreement resulted in a disturbance of their domestic tran­ quility. Nefertiti took up residence in the north end of the city, taking with her young Tutankhaton (who later became Tutankhamen). He was then merely a child, but it would seem that the boy was pledged to marry one of the young princesses, a daughter of Akhnaton and Nefertiti. Akhnaton's son-in-law Smenkhkara shared the throne with Akhnaton. This arrangement was probably due to the later illness of Akhnaton. Smenkhkara tried to pacify the Amon priesthood, whose threats were becoming more and more ominous. He even made a jour­ ney to Thebes with his wife in behalf of the king. He never re­ turned from Thebes, and it is thought that he was murdered there. CULTURAL REVOLUTION

Though there was political and even domestic unrest within the family relations of Akhnaton, the cultural impetus carried on. The new religion and the king himself encouraged art. In the new city, there was an opportunity for self-expression on the part of artists who had imagination. Their newly won freedom is reflected in the magnificent work which they accomplished. Elaborate frescoes have been found in the tem­ ples and homes of the officials. The floors were finished in colors and designs to simulate the marshes with their wild flowers and brilliantly colored fish. The walls were painted with designs of the papyrus reed, with wild bulls, and with timorous birds hov­ ering above. Nature became the incentive of the new art just as it had long given impetus to religion. Formerly, tradition had placed restrictions upon the artist in executing portraits of the king and members of the royal family. They had always to be presented in a stylized form, whether such was characteristic of their personality and physical appearance or not. In other words, the Pharaoh was always "typed." His posture and his headdress were symbolic of his office. It actually became difficult to distinguish the sculptured figure of one king from another as they were almost completely dehumanized. Any physical peculiarity or distinction was necessarily omitted to conform to this custom. Akhnaton encouraged the portrayal of the king as he ----- y appeared to the artist. Characteristics of personality, little mannerisms, and informalities were permitted to be V y captured in the finished art. As a result, many of the v bas-reliefs and murals depict the king in intimate family

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relations. The king is shown with his little daughter on his knee, displaying affectionate attention to her just as any father would exhibit to his child. The Queen, Nefertiti, is standing nearby in an informal posture, with her arm casually draped over the back of Akhnaton's chair. These human relations upon the part of the royal family had never before been exhibited. The techniques in painting also underwent considerable change. Heretofore emphasis had been placed on the point of interest as the artist saw it. To obtain this, he would sacrifice realism: A pool of water with fish in it, for example, was painted as though it were vertical to the plane of the surface— it would be standing on its side. The fish were extracted from it and painted as a frieze, or border, outside it. Vegetables in a vase were spread out in the area above the vase, seemingly suspended in space, so as to give them prominence. Even a reed mat was drawn so that it appeared on the edge of its flat surface. Where humans were concerned, the painter and sculptor desired the figure to show as many angles as possible to the observer. For example, a man seated would have the upper portion of his body twisted to a full-view position. The same thing was done with the arms and legs. All this was remedied during the new regime. There were a rounding out and a foreshortening of the figures. To effect realism, there was a willingness to sacrifice a portion of the face or head. Even uncomplimentary physical characteristics of royalty, such as a protruding jaw or abdomen, were portrayed with an exac­ titude . The early idea of symmetry, or balance, in composition was maintained. This was accomplished by duplicating ornaments on each side of the central subject. The outstanding artist of the city of Akhetaton— and in fact of this 18th Dynasty— was named Thutmose. A studio was erected for him in the central section of the city. The work which he executed has continued to amaze the modern world for its brilliance. He sculptured busts of many of the nobles, offi­ cials, and their wives. These works are wonderful character studies of the people of the time. Fortunately, many of them are in an excellent state of preservation. The most remarkable example of Thutmose's work is his painted bust of Queen Nefertiti. Its delicacy makes it one of the finest pieces of artwork of all ages. The original was excavated by German archeologists in the ruins of Thutmose's studio in the an­ cient city of Akhetaton. A few exact casts of the original were made. These were colored to correspond to the original and pre­ sented to museums. Finally, the practice was discontinued for fear of injuring the original which is now in the Berlin Museum. There are only three in the entire United States. Of a dozen or so direct casts in museums throughout the world, the Rosi­ crucian Egyptian Museum has one. It bears the seal of tfie German government, which cast it. (Small home-size casts

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of Queen Nefertiti and Pharaoh Akhnaton in color can be purchased from the Rosicrucian Supply Bureau.) AKHNATON’ S TRANSITION

Profane history does not disclose whether Akhnaton had a natural death, or a violent one at the hands of the Amon priesthood. Rosicrucian tradition, however, does relate the incident of his transition. We quote in part from the archives of the Order in this regard: "... the untimely depar­ ture of... Beloved Past Master Amenhotep IV [Akhnaton], whose tran­ sition occurred on July 24, 1350, B.C. [based on the current calendar] ... on the memorable day of his transition he forsook all earthly things and found joy in the Holy Sanctum adjoining his bed chamber in his palace. Here in the midst of meditation he was in­ spired to evoke the law of... raising both his hands in meditation to... he pronounced the lost word. Then as peace and quietness came to his hungry soul, he knelt in prayer.... In this position he finally vowed his obligations to God and to all his fellow men who preceded him for the knowledge they had given to the world, and then raised both arms to the Cosmic that it might reach down and raise him to heights sublime." With this quotation, we close our consideration of that period of the world's history known as the Empire Period of Egypt. We shall journey on into another era and away from the ancient land of Egypt, beginning with our next monograph.

V A V For your sanctum period on this occasion, we wish you to medi­ tate upon the entire period of Amenhotep IV's (Akhnaton) life as given you in these monographs. After preparing your Sanctum as usual and saying a little prayer, think of what you have studied. Do not dwell on Akhnaton's teachings alone, but also think of his youth, his dispute with the priesthood, his abandonment of the old city, his revolution of art, his disregard for his administrative duties. What lessons are we to learn from his life? Did Akhnaton make any mistakes of a serious nature? Should he have disregarded his political obligations and devoted himself to his cosmic inspi­ ration exclusively, as he did? Would it have been right for him to try to reconcile the two? Should a mystic be practical or should his principal concern be for the revealed truths that come to him cosmically?

V A V We are not going to endeavor to answer these ques­ tions for you. One of the benefits of this study is the formation of your own ideas from the facts and analyses that we have extended to you. After receiving from your inner self a convincing explanation, try to realize how

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much of what you understand can be applied to the practical affairs of your life. Fraternally, YOUR CLASS MASTER

For further reading: • Herodotus 1 Ancient History

Summary of This Monograph V V V Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory. 5J Akhnaton’s new city was called A khetaton, literally meaning “Horizon of 5]

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Aton.” Akhnaton frequently referred to himself and his followers as “Living in Truth.” This meant that their lives were dedicated to their new concepts and ideals. Several of the hymns of Akhnaton, with slight changes, were later incorporated into the Bible. See the 104th Psalm. Aton was symbolic of the one God, the father o f all, whose consciousness dwells everywhere and whose reign serves the welfare of man. The word light used by Akhnaton is not to be construed in the limited sense of a physical property. To him it meant life and spiritual consciousness as well. The outstanding artist of the 18th Dynasty was Thutmose. His studio was in the new city of Akhetaton. His works continue in our times to cause amazement and sheer admiration of his brilliance. Rosicrucian tradition relates the peaceful and beautiful transition of Akhnaton — his having . . raised both arms to the Cosmic that it might reach down and raise him to heights sublime.”

Self-Interrogation The following questions are given so that you may test your understanding of the contents of this monograph. From understanding comes wisdom, and wisdom is the application of knowledge. If you cannot answer the questions, reread the monograph. Do not send the answers to the Department of Instruction. 1. What were the tombs of the Pharaohs and nobles called? 2. What Biblical Psalms are similar to the hymns of Akhnaton? 3. What was the name of Akhnaton’s new city? What did the name mean? 4. What was the mystical meaning given to the word light in Akhnaton’s new teachings? 5. What did the egg symbolize to the Egyptians during the time of Akhnaton? 6. How did Akhnaton’s transition occur?

"C onsecrated to truth and d edicated to every Rosicrucian" Jhis m o n o g ro p h is n o t su b je c t t o sa le or p u rc h a s e by an y o n e . A sale of p u rc h a s e m ay m ake th e seller a n d p u rc h a s e r su b je c t to civil liab ility .

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'Otfarf>ruri£ R E G IS T E R E D IN U .S . P A T E N T O F F IC E ( A L S O R E G IS T E R E D TH R O U G H O U T T H E W O R LD ) P R IN T E D IN U. S. A.

T h e m a tte r co n tain ed herein is officially issued th ro u g h th e Su­ p re m e Council of th e A. M. O. R . C. u n d e r th e em blem above, w hich w as re g iste re d in th e U nited S ta te s P a te n t Office fo r the purpose of p ro te c tin g all th e ' p rin te d , en g rav ed , ty p e w ritte n , and photographic copies of officially p rescribed an d c o p yrighted m onographs, dis­ s e rta tio n s. scientific p o stu la tio n s, philosophical discourses, academ ic s tu d ie s, d iag ram s, illu stra tio n s, and c h a rts ” a s au th o rized by the Im p e ra to r of A. M. O. R. C. (T h e above em blem and nam e of the O rd e r a re also re g iste re d in c o u n tries th ro u g h o u t th e w o rld .) AH m a tte rs herein contained a re s tric tly confidential to the m em ber receiving, and a re im p arted only a s an incident to m em bership. The o w n ersh ip of. th e legal title , and th e rig h t of possession to th is m on o g rap h is and shall rem ain in th e Suprem e G rand L odge of A. M. O. R . C. a n d it shall be re tu rn e d to it upon its req u est. T he co n te n ts h erein a re loaned to be used fo r th e sole and exclusive in fo rm atio n o f th e receiving m em ber a nd n o t o therw ise. Any other use o r a tte m p te d use does, ipso facto, te rm in a te all rig h ts of the m em ber, and is a violation of th e S ta tu te s of th is O rder. A. M. O. R . C. is th e only o rg an ization authorized to use th e R eg­ is te re d nam e a n d sym bols, a n d th e Im p e ra to r has sole rig h t to g ra n t th e use of them to o th e r allied o rg an izatio n s o r m ovem ents.

THE CONCURRENCE

This Week’s Consideration of a Famous Opinion V V V ^ One of Aristotle’s most important fields of investigation was biology, an interest which may have come from his father, who was a physician. Aristotle discusses the problem of classification in De Partibus. Aristotle recognises in principle three grades of likeness which are found within the animal kingdom. There is first the complete identity of type which exists within a single species. Differences there are between individuals, but they serve no end and it is no part of the economy of nature to produce or to perpetuate them. There is secondly the likeness between species of the same greatest genus; such species have the same bodily parts, differing only in degree—in number, size, softness or hardness, smoothness or roughness, etc. There is thirdly the likeness by analogy between greatest genera themselves; for Aristotle grasps firmly the homology between arm, fore-leg, wing, and fin, between bone and fish-spine, between feather and scale. -W ILLIAM DAVID ROSS, 1877-?

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Beloved Members, Greetings! In our last monograph, it was related that we would depart from the ancient land of Egypt; however, it is necessary for us to tarry a little longer. Though what we shall now consider is not primarily Egyptian in origin, its organization is indigenous to Egypt. For the moment, we shall digress to Babylonia during the sixth century B.C. The Mesopotamian peoples, combined with Egypt and led principally by the great Chaldean armies, sought to repel the Persian hordes sweeping down from the north. The invincible Cyrus, Persian king and conqueror, was not to be easily repulsed. He had studied carefully the methods of warfare which the once greatly feared Assyrians had employed so effectively. In addition, Cyrus was a sagacious strategist. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had previously fortified that city by great walls which surrounded it. Some of the walls, according to historical accounts, were nearly thirty meters high and several meters thick. However, Cyrus finally defeated the Chaldeans and entered Babylon in 5 39 B.C. BABYLO N THE GOLDEN

Babylon was indeed a prize to gladden the heart of any conqueror. It was a sumptuous city. Magnificent temples and palaces rose to great heights and could be seen for a considerable distance across the flat desert land. The tiled bricks of these structures shone in the glaring sunlight. Here and there were edifices emblazoned with gold ornamentation. Babylon was also the center of commerce with all of western Asia. At that time, its culture had reached a high degree of development. Not only was it a clearinghouse for the products of its craftsmen and the importations of other lands, but it also was a seat of great learning. In its huge temples the priests studied and taught astronomy and mathematics, and performed traditional ritualism. Its language was highly evolved, and there were collected the tales and myths of earlier peoples for all who wished to study such lit­ erature. Babylonian art became so far-reaching that even today it influences many of our own designs.

Perhaps one of the most important contributions that Babylon made to the ancient world was its astronomical observations. These contributions were in the form of factual data about the heavens and certain astral theories which were devised to explain them. The most prominent of these speculations prevailing today is known as astrology. Inasmuch as this speculation influenced the thought we are to consider, we shall review it briefly. The Babylonian cosmology conceived the cosmos as being divided primarily into a heavenly and earthly world. Each of these worlds is, in turn, subdivided into three parts. The heavenly world consists of (a) the northern heaven; (b) the zodiac; and (c) the heavenly ocean, or what we might call stellar space. The earthly sphere of the cosmos consists of

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(a) the air, or the immediate atmosphere above the earth; (b) the earth itself, conceived as being disklike; and (c) the waters beneath the earth. The heaven above is the abode of the gods. Again, we find the celestial realm chosen for this abode because of its comparative infinity, its seemingly limitless nature, which is a quality generally related to the attributes of the gods. Each of the subdivisions of the two major divisions of the cosmos is ruled by gods as well. Thus, for example, Anu prevails over the heaven, and Bel is dominant in earth and in the air. Most important of all these subdivisions is the zodiac, be­ cause of its far-reaching effect on the customs and beliefs of the people who followed the Babylonians. The zodiac consists of twelve heavenly figures which span the heavens and through which the Moon passes each month. The Sun passes along this same path once a year, and the five planets visible to the naked eye also follow this course. The Babylonians had these moving stars serve as in­ terpreters of the divine will, that is, by means of them men were made acquainted with the purposes of the gods. To each of the planets was assigned a god. The planet, then, became the inter­ mediary of the will and powers of that god. The god Sin was repre­ sented by the Moon; Shamash by the Sun; Ishtar was the goddess assigned to Venus; Marduk to Jupiter; Nabu to Mercury; Ninib to Saturn; and Nergal to Mars. It is doubtful whether the learned Babylonian priests, who devised this astral speculation to explain the progression of the heavens and to arrive at a cosmic clock or calendar, actually con­ ceived the planets as gods. It would seem more consistent with their cosmology to say that the planet was an objective manifes­ tation of the god. In a sense, the cosmic body, the planet, was a visible extension of the intangible powers and will of the god. It is to be noted that there were three divisions given the heaven and earth alike. This astral conception thus established a correspondence between things on earth and things in heaven. To the cosmos, as a whole, was thus ascribed a duality. There were both infinite and finite spheres. They were not completely di­ vorced from each other but had a sympathetic unity which consti­ tuted the whole cosmos. The bond between these two spheres, the heavenly and the earthly one, was the transmission of powers be­ tween the three divisions of each. The positions of the planets were interpreted as exerting certain forces which, as causes, engender effects in a corresponding domain of the earthly world. Behind all this, which may seem to be a fantastic speculation, was undoubtedly the careful observation by the priesthood of natural phenomena. We have seen in our previous monographs how pro­ foundly impressed the Egyptians were with the apparent course of the Sun through the sky each day. We have noted the significance which was attached to its diurnal rising

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in the east and its setting in the west. The Babylonians, like their contemporaries on the Nile, had learned the relationship of day and night and of the seasons to the Sun. They had, as well, come to comprehend something of its relationship to the essence of life. They had also become cognizant of the cycles of the Moon and its strange effects upon temporal things. It is comprehensible, then, that the Babylonians should have presumed that the planets in some manner likewise exerted an influence on the air, the earth and its multitudinous forms, and the sea as well. They apparently reasoned that since man is one of the products of creation, he cannot escape the emanations of the planetary gods, DIVISIONS OF THE CALEN D AR

The course of the stars became the basis for calculating the divisions of the calendar. Perceptual time is based upon periodic change. By contrast to changes in man's mortal life, the cycles of the stars seemed to be more consistent and thus more reliable. They were, therefore, selected as the mechanism of a cosmic clock. A new era was said to have begun whenever the Sun in the spring equinox entered a new sign in the zodiac. Even today, the Rosicrucians traditionally accept the vernal equinox, or the beginning of spring, as the beginning of the true new year. According to further speculations of the Babylonians, the Sun in the vernal equinox moves eastward from year to year. The equinox is a celestial equator or mythical dividing line in the zodiac over which the Sun crosses in its jour­ ney. The Babylonians contended that this crossing occurs more to the eastward from year to year. In seventy-two years, the crossing point moves eastward by one day. In 2200 years, it moves one month. This period of 2200 years was held to form a world period. The Sun moved into another sign of the zodiac in its crossing at the end of the 2 2 0 0 year period, and thus it was speculated that the power and the will of the new celestial sign would then be brought to bear upon earthly things. All worldly affairs were considered to be under the aegis of the god of the prevailing zodiacal sign. As one historian has said, so effective was this conception that one must realize that many religious and social customs were adopted in response to this idea. Each god of a zodiacal sign was more or less anthropomor­ phic, that is, there was ascribed to him the feelings, habits, and mental characteristics of man. The imagined virtues, likes, and dislikes of a god became the guides by which men adjusted their lives. It was the duty of the priests to interpret the wants, the inclinations, and the aspirations of the gods. Moral, ethical, and legal codes incorporated such conceptions as their underlying pre­ cepts. If this seems primitive, it is only necessary for us to reflect on our contemporary religions. Our present-day moral, ethical, and legal codes to a great extent reflect what renowned religious founders have stated to be the will of God as revealed to them. In more modern times, the theory of astral forces

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motivating human behavior or shaping human affairs to any degree has been discredited in scientific circles. More recently, how­ ever, further developments in scientific channels have come by a circuitous method to the conclusion that cosmic forces do affect the human personality. Reproduction and growth in plant life have been found to be affected by the cycles of the Moon. It is now believed that in ways heretofore unknown the human organism and its nervous systems are likewise so affected. Experimentation is being conducted to determine the possible influences of the more intense cosmic rays in the polar regions upon the human mentality and emotions. These physicists, astronomers, biologists, and psychologists will not concede, however, that the position of the planets or of the Sun and Moon shape the personal destiny of an individual. They will not concede either that the particular relationship of the celestial bodies at the time of the birth of the individual in any way contributes to fashioning the life of that person. If as a result of their experimentation these investigations do eventually show that there is a sympathetic and responsive bond between the human nervous systems, brain, and the cosmic forces, they will have confirmed to a great extent some of the precepts of the ancient Babylonians. FA CT AND SUPERSTITION

Among the Babylonians, as among most of the ancients of the period, there was a confusion of empirical knowledge, or facts, with the suppositions of super­ stition. The distinction between science and religion or between abstraction and empiricism had not yet been defined. A fact, or truth, was often distorted by the importance which the imagina­ tion attached to it— as often occurs today. This attitude is com­ prehensible when it is realized that no separation had yet been made in the minds of men between natural phenomena and the acts of the gods. Each happening in nature was conceived as teleological, that is, its cause was mind— the exercise of the arbitrary will of a god. Since man had ascribed human feelings and thoughts to the gods, he was obliged to speculate as to why the god caused the par­ ticular phenomenon to occur. In such vagaries lies superstition. Darius the Great, who succeeded Cyrus as king of Persia, was a remarkable personality. He displayed not only genius in creating a tremendous empire but also foresight in preserving and even in expanding the culture of those nations which became subordinate to his authority. His suzerainty was apportioned to minor kings of the countries of his empire. As a result, none of the cultural development of long tenure in Babylon was disturbed. Babylonian culture consequently continued to indoctrinate all peoples who visited their splendid capital city. A much later successor of Darius the Great, another with the same name, was even­ tually defeated by the youthful Macedonian, Alexander the Great. With Alexander, there came about a fusion of the culture of the West— that is, of Greece— with that of

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the Orient. Alexander went eastward along the slopes of the Hima­ layas and as far into India as the Valley of the Ganges. He then descended the Indus River and looked upon the ruined cities that preceded his time by thousands of years. The origins of such cities as Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus Valley still remain mysteries. Alexander took the learning, art, literature, and philosophy of Athens and Greece with him by establishing small Greek garrisons and towns along the lines of his vast empire. In them, temples consecrated to the Greek gods were erected. His troops practiced their familiar ways of living wherever they were garrisoned. Thus, they introduced Greek thought and civilization to the Orient. In turn, Greek ideas became mingled with those of the East. Young Alexander was fascinated with Babylon and sought to restore portions of it which had been destroyed after the time of Darius the Great. He erected a great temple in the city, where he worshiped in private. He had scholars make copies of Babylonian literature which recorded their arts and sciences. Such informa­ tion was then sent to Athens and particularly to his former teacher, the renowned Aristotle. The cosmological ideas, the astral theories of the Babylonians, if they had not been pre­ viously known to the Greeks, were most certainly revealed to them at this time. It was in Babylon that Alexander died while planning a campaign for the subjugation of the Arabian peninsula. Let us now move forward to the 2nd century B.C. At the mouth of the Nile was a flourishing city known as Alexandria. It gained its name from the illustrious Alexander the Great. After the death of Alexander, there was great dissension among his generals, re­ sulting in a division of the vast empire which he had founded. One of his most famous generals, Ptolemy, gained dominance over all of Egypt. Another general, Seleucus, reigned over the Asiatic portion of the empire. A relative of still another of his generals, Antigonus, reigned over the European area. Ptolemy was an excellent administrator. He developed Alexandria into the trade center of the ancient world of the time. He constructed a vast fleet of ships by which he controlled Medi­ terranean commerce. Wealth poured into Alexandria from all over the ancient world. This period is known as the Hellenic Age, when Greek culture reached its pinnacle. The creative genius of the Greek mind was felt everywhere. The beautiful architecture of the cities was no longer limited to the homes of wealthy persons or just to temples. Civic pride caused the erection of splendid pub­ lic buildings for administrative officials, civic auditoriums, theatres, and gymnasia. Art was stimulated by the cultivation of the esthetic tastes of the people. Many sought statuary to beautify their homes, and those who could afford it had murals painted on their walls. Even more important was the liberalism of thought which prevailed. There was a serious inquiry into the

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mysteries of existence. Educated persons no longer took seriously the early account of the creation of the world by the gods. No one would have been tried, as Socrates was centuries before, for corrupting the youth by challenging such gods. Men now sought to discover for themselves the secrets of nature and why certain phenomena occur. There was that analytical attitude of mind which is best described today as the scientific approach to knowledge. We may call Aristotle the first great scientist. He sought knowledge by empirical means, by investigation and observance of nature. It is true that many centuries later it was learned that some of his conclusions were wrong. He began the classification of different kinds of knowledge, however, the names of which still persist today, i.e., biology, physics, and logic.

A V A Now we come to our sanctum exercise. This monograph has referred to the Babylonian theory of the astral influence of the planets upon all life and earthly things, including man. We have pointed out that biologists and psychologists in particular have concerned themselves with what, if any, are the effects of the phases of the Moon upon the growth and reproduction of man and, further, the effects on the human nervous system and the mental and emotional processes. Their findings, though not conclusive, were sufficiently satisfactory to compel further research. It was found, for example, that a group of college students used in the experiments appeared to have more energy and mental stamina during the waxing of the moon than in its period of waning. We shall ask you to conduct an experiment to determine whether the phases of the Moon exert an influence upon your sympathetic/ parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system; whether they excite or quiet your emotions; whether you find this an aid or a hindrance to your thought. We know from our Rosicrucian teach­ ings that the psychic consciousness of man, which pervades each cell of his being, is closely linked with the autonomic nervous system and that it functions as a transformer of higher nerve im­ pulses and the higher vibrations of the cosmic forces. It then should be the instrument for the detection of any minute vibratory changes, the result of the phases of the Moon and their relation­ ship to the magnetic fields of the Earth. We live in these mag­ netic fields of the Earth. If they are disturbed or agitated in any way, there should be a response in our nervous organism. This response should be noticeable in our moods, temperament, and the thoughts which are the consequence of our moods. You will select either the period of the New Moon or the time when the Moon is about to wane, that is, directly after a Full Moon. Whichever period is closest in time to the study of this monograph should be the one for the exercise. Your calendar will indicate the Moon phases for your information. Then you will prepare your Sanctum as usual.

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Do not fail to ignite the candles and the incense. They help establish the necessary environment for repose and for contempla­ tion and meditation, as has often been explained to you. Remember that the candles and incense are symbols of very important prin­ ciples. When the Sanctum is prepared and you are relaxed, hold in mind a particular problem, the solution of which has been difficult for you. It should be a problem which vitally concerns you in some way. To yourself, ask the Cosmic Mind for illumination, for some idea, some suggestion whereby you may solve the perplexing matter. If you have not had success with this mystical approach to a prob­ lem, then on this occasion you should note particularly whether you are helped or not. Try the experiment twice, once at each time of the two phases of the Moon. Again, note carefully which period was more bene­ ficial insofar as any inspiration is concerned. It is also advis­ able to record which period of the Moon had the most quieting and relaxing and, conversely, the most stimulating effect upon you. Obviously, these experiments should be conducted under as nearly normal conditions as possible. Do not try them if you are ill, emotional, fatigued, or under any unusual stress. Approach this scientifically as well as mystically in order to be fair in deter­ mining the results. We want to know the results of your experi­ ment. Make a report and address it to your Class Master. In our next monograph, we shall continue our mental journey to Alexandria, the great seat of ancient learning. Fraternally, YOUR CLASS MASTER

For further reading: • Historian1s History of the World •Bismya, by Dr. Edgar James Banks • History of the Babylonians and Assyrians, by Dr. George Stephen Goodspeed

Summary of This Monograph V

V

V

Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory. H Cyrus defeated the Chaldeans and entered Babylon in 539 B.C. U One of the most important contributions that Babylon made to the ancient world was its astronomical observations. H Babylonian cosmology divided the cosmos into two worlds, a heavenly and an earthly one. f The Babylonians declared that the stars serve as interpreters of the divine will. A god was assigned to each planet. H All worldly affairs were considered to be under the aegis of the god of the prevailing zodiacal sign. 11 The Babylonians conceived each happening of nature as having a teleological or mind cause. f As a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great, there was a fusion of the culture of the East and the West. 11 Ptolemy, ruler of Egypt, developed Alexandria into the trade center of the ancient world. H Aristotle began the classification of different kinds of knowledge, the names of which still persist today.

"C onsecrated to truth and dedicated to every Rosicrucian" This m o n o g ra p h is n o t s u b je c t to sale or p u rc h a s e by a n y o n e . A sa le or p u rc h a s e m ay m ake th e seller a n d p u rc h a s e r s u b je c t to civil liab ility .

n O O O o

The Rosicrucian Order

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This monograph always remains the property of the Supreme Grand Lodge of A. M. O. R. C. It is not purchased by, but loaned to, the receiving member.

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CG ST ERfc O IN U .S . P A T fc N T O FF-C E ( AL S O R E O ’ S TE R C D T H R O U G H O U T T H t W O KLO ) P R IN T E O I N L . f i . A .

T h e m a tte r co n tain ed herein is officially issued th ro u g h the S u ­ p rem e Council of th e A. M. O. R. C. u n d e r th e em blem above, which w as re g iste re d in th e U nited S tates P a te n t Office for th e purpose of ......................■( " p rin t ‘ ---------- ‘ ---------- -----‘ ------- 1 ‘ lly pre illc p o s____ . . . . . . . . . s tu d ie s, d iag ram s, illu stra tio n s, and c h a r ts " a s a u thorized by the Im p e ra to r of A. M. O. R. C. (T h e above em blem and nam e of the O rd e r a re also reg istered In co u n tries th ro u g h o u t th e w o rld .) All m a tte rs h erein co n tain ed are s tric tly confidential to th e m em ber receiving, and a re Im parted only as an incident to m em bership. The o w n ersh ip of, th e legal title , a n d th e rijpht of possession to this m on o g rap h is and snail rem ain in th e Suprem e G rand L odge of A. M. O. R . C. an d it shall be re tu rn e d to It upon its req u est. The c o n te n ts h erein a re lo an rd to be used for th e sole and exclusive in fo rm atio n of th e receiving m em ber and n o t o th erw ise. Any o th er u se o r a tte m p te d use does. Ipso facto, te rm in a te a ll rig h ts of the m em ber, and is a violation of th e S ta tu te s of th is O rder. A. M. O. R. C. is th e only o rg an izatio n aulhorized to use th e R eg­ iste re d nam e and sym bols, and th e Im p e ra to r has sole rig h t to g ra n t th e use of them to o th e r allied o rg a n iz a tio n s o r m ovem ents.

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THE CONCURRENCE

This Week’s Consideration of a Famous Opinion V V V *1 Gnosticism had elements derived from Plato, Philo, the A vesta, the Jewish Kabalists, and the Greek mysteries. The gnosis, or knowledge, they \ desired was essentially metaphysical and mystical, j Illumination, or wisdom, they believed, would enable them to return to the divine, or cosmic, realm. They strove for the knowledge of God, the science of realities, the gnosis of the things-that-are; wisdom was their goal; the holy things of life their study. They were called by many names by those who subsequently haled them from their hidden retreats to ridicule their efforts and anathematise their doctrines, and one of the names which they used for themselves, custom has selected to be their present general title. They are now generally referred to in Church history as the Gnostics, those whose goal was the Gnosis, — if indeed that be the right meaning; for one of their earliest existing documents expressly declares that Gnosis is not the end —it is the beginning of the path, the end is God— and hence the Gnostics would be those who used the Gnosis as the means to set their feet upon the Way to God. - G . R. S. MEAD, 1863-1933

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Beloved Members, Greetings! We hope that you conducted the experiment suggested in the last monograph. If you have conducted two or more such experi­ ments, your findings will be appreciated in the form of a report. Now let us return to the ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt. In Alexandria, there was established what is known as the Museum. It was a prominent institution of higher learning, the equivalent of our universities of today. The several buildings of which it was composed were surrounded by extensive and beautiful gardens. The buildings consisted of lecture halls, laboratories, and a library. In these buildings the philosophers and experimen­ ters in the different fields of science taught and lived. In order that they might be free from economic worries while engaged in research and studies, Pharaoh Ptolemy provided them with living quarters and all of their necessities. Since it was maintained by Ptolemy, it was the first institution of higher learning to be sup­ ported by the state. The studies and research were in such branches of knowledge as advanced mathematics, geography, astronomy, physics, anatomy, med­ icine, and biology. The philosophical doctrines of Aristotle, Plato, Zeno the Stoic, Epicurus, and others were likewise expounded in the lecture halls. The products of this intensified research and study were tremendous and advanced man's knowledge consider­ ably. The first scientific classification of thousands of works of literature was done in the library of the Museum. The splendid literary works of ancient Egypt and Babylonia were translated and classified as to the branch of knowledge to which they belonged. Further, these early works were examined to determine whether they were originals or copies. Under the genius of Callimachus, more than 500,000 works were so arranged and made available to stu­ dents and researchers. During this period, Eratosthenes carried on extensive experi­ ments in the Museum to determine the diameter of the Earth. With his instruments and masterly knowledge of mathematics, this bril­ liant geographer estimated the diameter of the Earth within eighty kilometers of accuracy. There, as well, Euclid conceived the form of mathematics which we know as advanced geometry. There, too, were laid down the rules of grammar and even the very terms we use today, the difference being merely the translation from Greek to other languages. Still another of the learned men at the Museum was Aristarchus. Long before the time of Copernicus, who is far better known, he taught and sought to demonstrate that the Earth is not the center of the universe and that it and the planets revolve about the Sun. The celebrated Archimedes, who invented many me­ chanical devices for moving heavy objects and discovered the proportionate loss in weight of bodies immersed in water, communicated with the learned minds in the Museum from Syracuse, where he resided.

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CENTER OF LEARNING

Until after the time of Christ and the destruction of the Museum and library, Alexandria remained the pole of attraction for all who sought knowledge. Eventually, the whole city— not merely the Museum— became prominent as a vast school. Clustering about the Museum and the library, in homes and small edifices were seminaries of philosophy and theol­ ogy. Intercourse between the West and the East, especially during this Hellenic period and later during the ascendancy of the Roman Empire, brought about a wave of eclecticism. There was an increas­ ing unity of Greek concepts with the Osirism of Egypt, the Zoro­ astrianism of Persia, the astral theories of Babylonia, and the theology of the Jews. The young man who went to Alexandria in search of further knowledge could literally shop about for his choice. We can, in our mind's eye, see him visiting the Museum and watching the exper­ iments and then walking along one of the various streets that bor­ dered the spacious gardens. Here and there would be small groups of persons standing about a speaker who was addressing them from the steps of a house. Sometimes this speaker would be heckled by those in the audience who disagreed with his views. Others would be making notes of his remarks for further study. After pausing awhile, our imaginary student would move on. He would notice a sign or symbol over the entrance to an edi­ fice, proclaiming to him that within was the eminent teacher of a specific doctrine, who imparted his knowledge for a modest fee to all who sought his guidance. Perhaps even the sonorous exhortation of the preceptor could be heard through the open doorway. In­ trigued, the young scholar would step within and remain standing in the back of the modest lecture hall with others who could not be seated. Eventually, his intellectual curiosity would be appeased. He would select some school whose doctrines and practices satisfied him and perhaps corresponded to his ideals. Then he would become a student or votary of that teacher. A Christian school in Alexandria occupied a prominent place in that city of learning. One of the numerous scholars, Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 1507-220?), renowned for his history of literature and theological writing, became second head of that school. Clement was well versed in Greek literature and philosophy, as well as in the Christian scriptures. He was noted for his eloquence, which drew to him throngs who thrilled to his powers of persuasion. Clement is said to have referred to himself as a Gnostic. He qualified this designation, we are told, by saying that he had a knowledge of "divine things" but that it did not constitute a theosophy or philosophical concept of God. During this period numerous small schools of phil­ osophy and theology flourished which have become identi­ fied by the name Gnosticism. Gnosticism became a definite system of thought in the Apostolic Age, but it had its

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roots in the distant past. It attained its height in the latter half of the second century. Its many followers, though of differ­ ent sects, sought salvation by means of an esoteric, that is, an inner, knowledge of the universe and of the soul. They were called Gnostics because of their search for this gnosis, or special knowl­ edge. At a later period, the Gnostics also called themselves Christians; but, as we shall see, they thought their approach to the doctrines of Christ were superior to the conventional ones. ORIGINATOR OF GNOSTICISM

According to tradition, the originator of Gnosticism was Simon of Gitta. Peter and John were said to have encountered him in Samaria. Actually, however, Simon was only an individual teacher. There was no single founder of Gnosticism. It was a syncretic philosophy, that is, one that was borrowed from many sources and gradually became fused into a single system. At times, such a method has strengthened the original doctrines from which it borrows, but more often it results in the depreciation of their lucidity and effectuality. The syncretism of Gnosticism reaches back to ancient Egypt and draws heavily upon both Persia and Bab­ ylonia, as we shall note. Gnosticism nourished itself upon the astral speculations of the Babylonians, the religion of Persia, and the later influence of Stoicism under the Roman Empire.

The greatest centers of this syncretic influence were the ancient cities of Antioch in Asia Minor and Alexandria in Egypt, the latter of which we have just visited mentally. A city such as Alexandria was thronged with eclectic-minded people who sought ini­ tiation in a number of mystery schools until they found one whose teachings sounded the depths of their understanding. There were many individual teachers who felt it their moral obligation to bring about a unity of the conflicting ideas, and they thus encour­ aged the eclecticism of the age. One of these was Philo, a Jewish, Hellenic philosopher of the first century. Philo was one of the Jewish colonists who came to Alexandria, attracted by its intellec­ tual appeals. He endeavored to bring into harmony the teachings of the Old Testament with the ideas of Stoicism and the Platonic phi­ losophy. The word gnosis, for which these philosophers and theologians were named, became the key to their doctrines. According to Clement of Alexandria, who wrote considerably about Gnosticism, gnosis is "the knowledge of who we are, what we have become, where we were, into what place we have been thrown; wither we are hasten­ ing, whence we are redeemed; what is birth, what is rebirth." This gnosis is an immediate kind of knowledge. It enters the conscious­ ness in a flash without the labor of reasoning. It follows contem­ plation and meditation as a noetic experience, or an illumination of the consciousness. It is said that it does not come from abstraction or dialectics and must be invoked. Though bringing to the mind concepts in a more or less complete or comprehensible form, the intuitive revelation

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must first be engendered by the performance of certain rites and ceremonies. To present this more clearly: Though the gnosis would be dis­ closed to men in a form complete— as compared to separate ideas which would need to be objectively integrated into a concept— yet such knowledge would not flash into consciousness without effort on man's part. A preparation was necessary by which this gnostic wis­ dom would be unlocked. The ideas could be communicated from the superior Intelligence to the mortal mind only by man's following recondite rites. These rites were the keys. They consisted of symbols, words, and signs by which man caused himself to become en rapport with higher intelligences which would illumine him with tEe gnosis. M YSTIC A L ILLUMINATION

The gnosis and Light were made synonymous. In most of the mystery schools, Light meant the illumination of the mind as well as that of the world. It depicted the dispelling of the clouds of ignorance which shadowed the mind. One was not a true "dweller in the Light" unless he was free of those clouds which were engendered by igno­ rance. Likewise, life, in the gnostic and mystical sense, meant Light because one does not experience the fullness of life until he is enlightened. If one's experiences are in any way adumbrated by the dark clouds of ignorance, his life is accordingly restricted. The gnosis, the greater Light, penetrates all the vicissitudes of life and reveals every possible way of human expression. This gnosis, then, is like a great floodlight; it illuminates the breadth of the highway of life and reveals the course the human should travel. Though this concept of gnosis was inspiring and worthy in many respects, it was in opposition to some contemporary religious and philosophical systems. The Gnostics, for example, were opposed to the Old Testament commandment of not eating of the Tree of Knowl­ edge. This was considered by them to be an attempt to suppress the knowledge of the contraries, of the opposites, and especially of the moral life. In fact, the Serpent's urging the mystical char­ acter Adam to eat the fruit was considered by the Gnostics a wise counsel, regardless of the motive behind it. The Serpent is related to have said: "Your eyes will be opened and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil." To the Gnostics, it appeared that man cannot grow spiritually in ignorance of evil but only in spite of it. One awakens the soul, not by being ignorant of evil but only by calling on his inner qualities to sustain him from known temptations. The moral will is strengthened by the choice of good and not as a result of a virtuous state in which no evil exists. Men must want good, not as a tradition or as a habitual state, but because its opposite is known to them and rejected for its nature. To know evil and to conquer it is more creditable

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than the virtue of innocence. The gnosis was thus also a means by which man could develop a philosophical or speculative system to explain divine being and moral qualities. The doctrine of gnosis also brought Gnosticism into a sharp conflict with faith, the cen­ tral principle of contemporary theologies. Man was to obtain a unity with God, not by faith but by knowledge. He was first to have revealed to him the special manifestations of God and then, step by step, be drawn to Him. The spiritual laws must be known. They must be accepted not merely on authoritative statement. Gnosticism took a stand which to all- purposes represented knowledge versus faith. The main points of Gnosticism are as follows: 1.

Above all, God is thought and, therefore, unknown and unknowable. He is the pleroma, or fullness, of being.

2.

Between this unknowable God and the visible universe exists a chain of spiritual beings— a descending hierarchy called aeons. These aeons are emanations from the pleroma. Jehovah of the Old Testament was one of these gods, or aeons.

3.

There is an absolute dualism between good and evil. Good has its source in the spirit or the fullness of God. Evil is inherent in matter. The quality of matter is the realm of evil, or Satan's world. Redemption can come only by enlightenment, which comes down from God by means of aeons. Christ, in some of the later systems of Gnosticism, is likewise one of these aeons.

4.

The basis of Gnostic morality was asceticism. This consisted of escaping from evil matter and particularly from the body, which was thought to be corrupt.

We shall now analyze these main points of Gnosticism to deter­ mine their moral and intellectual value to man. First, it is nec­ essary to know some of the sources, from which we shall quote extracts from the original Gnostic teachings. One of the principal general sources of such knowledge is the Coptic writings. The Copts were an Egyptian Christian sect. Two of their books, frag­ ments of which have come down to us through the Greek and Latin languages, were the Pistis Sophia and the Book of Jeu. The Pistis was written in Egypt about the close of the third century. It was in two parts. The excerpts we have of it were translated from the Greek. As is not uncommon in the history of religion and philos­ ophy, there is more critical material about the subject of Gnosti­ cism extant than translations of the original sources. In a \ ^ / similar way, there have been many thousands of volumes \ 0 / written to explain, criticize, or condemn the Bible. One \ / of the greatest of these critical references to Gnosticism v which has provided us with knowledge of its doctrines is

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the Syntagma, by Emperor Justinian, which work has often been quoted, but which is now lost. There were two great master teachers of Gnosticism— Basilides and Valentinus. The speculative systems of later Gnosticism were interpretations of earlier symbolism, just as some philosophical schools today have doctrines based on inherited symbolism and rit­ ualism. The book Pistis Sophia is a mythical history woven out of the eclectic details of such rituals which descended to the Gnostic sect. As we have seen from the above outline of the main points of Gnosticism, it was conceived that at the head of the universe there stands a Supreme God. He was not so much a deity as "an abstract ground of all existence." In the Pistis Sophia, He is conceived as Pure Light. Elsewhere, His transcendent nature is indicated by such names as "Father of All," "Unbegotten," "Ineffable," "The Abyss," and the "Unknowable." The whole of this divine nature was called the pleroma, which literally means the fullness of the divine nature. The pleroma thus implied a monism, a single divine state. The world of Light of the Persian religion had become the pleroma of the Gnostics. To the Persians, as we have noted, this Light meant spiritual illumination, the disembodied creative mind of God. This pleroma, then, was the integration of the full powers of a divine substance or being. Basilides, who developed one of the most profound systems of Gnosticism and who taught at Alexandria about A.D. 120-130, is quoted by Hippolytus as saying of the primary substance: "There was when naught was; nay even that naught was not aught of things that are. (Even in the world of reality.) But nakedly, conjecture and mental quibbling apart, there was absolutely not even the One (the Logos of the World of Reality). And when I use the term was, I do not mean to say that it was (that is to say, in any state of being); but merely to give some suggestion of what I wish to indicate. I use the expression, 'there was absolutely naught'; for that naught is not simply the so-called ineffable, it is beyond that. For that which is really ineffable is not named ineffable but is superior to every name that is used." In declaring there was a time when there was naught, Basilides did not mean that there was an absolute void, that is, the absence of divine potential; rather, that there was a time when there were no determinative qualities such as we ordinarily perceive as real­ ity. There was not even such a state of unity that we could discern and call the One. This absolute condition could not have been referred to as "ineffable" because the word in a sense is a quality, and no quality could be applied to the pleroma.

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V A V In this monograph we have explained that to the Gnostics gnosis meant "an immediate kind of knowledge. It enters the con­ sciousness in a flash without the labor of reasoning." We were also told that to the Gnostics this wisdom was an illumination of the consciousness as a result of contemplation and meditation. This in actuality meant an intimate knowledge or a contact with the Cosmic Mind which illuminates the mortal mind completely and momen­ tarily. Let us, therefore, on this occasion conduct another sanctum exercise concerning this intuitive knowledge. First, prepare your Sanctum as you have been instructed. While relaxed, with the feet apart and the hands unclasped in your lap, gaze at the candle flame on your sanctum altar. Do not stare at it but simply look at the center of the flame. Blink your eyes if necessary so as to be at ease at all times. Think of this flame, this physical light, as being symbolic of the Greater Light, the intuitive impressions which you wish to illuminate your mind. Remember that intuition is the more complete knowledge of the Divine that comes to you subconsciously. It is, we can say, a kind of subconscious judgment because the Divine Mind in the sub­ conscious relates your dormant thoughts into complete ideas, into experiences you have never had objectively. Therefore, the intui­ tive knowledge is a new and satisfying arrangement of ideas. It is for this reason that intuitive knowledge is always so self-evident and something that we are not disposed to question. If you are successful in this experiment, you should have a flash of inspiration or what is commonly known as a "hunch." Its content may concern almost anything: your work, your home life, your studies, hobbies, or a plan for future action. With it, how­ ever, will come a feeling of confidence and a greater understand­ ing. It is this latter which the Gnostics called illumination. The exercise should not last more than five or eight minutes. If you have not been successful in that time, then repeat the exer­ cise on another occasion. Fraternally, YOUR CLASS MASTER

For further reading:

I !

• World's Living Religions, by R. E. Hume • Fragments of A Faith Forgotten, by G.R.S. Mead • The Religion of Assyria and Babylon, by Robert W. Rogers

Summary of This Monograph V V V Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory. f The Museum in Alexandria was a great institution of higher learning. It was the first such institution supported by the state. f The first complete classification of literature by subject was in the Alexandrine library, organized by Callimachus. If A Christian school took a prominent place in Alexandria. One of the numerous scholars and second head of the school was the celebrated Clement (A.D. 1507-220?). 5| Gnosticism had its roots in the distant past, but it reached its height in the latter half of the second century. Gnostics were so called because of their search for a gnosis, or special knowledge. H Gnosis was said to be an immediate kind of knowledge. It entered the consciousness in a flash without the labor of reasoning. H Gnosis, light, and life were related in the theological and philosophical terminology of the Gnostics. H Gnosis was held to be a means by which men could develop a philosophical or speculative system to explain divine being and moral qualities. 11 There were two great teachers of Gnosticism: Basilides and Valentinus. Two of the works of Gnosticism, fragments of which have reached us, are Pistis Sophia and Book of Jeu.

Self-Interrogation

The following questions are given so that you may test your understanding of the contents of this monograph. From understanding comes wisdom, and wisdom is the application of knowledge. If you cannot answer the questions, reread the monograph. Do not send the answers to the Department of Instruction. 1. Who were some of the great teachers who taught at the Alexandrine Museum? 2. Give the name of the Jewish eclectic philosopher. 3. Give the name of the great Christian writer who became the second head of the Alexandrine Christian school. 4. What are the main points of Gnosticism? 5. Why were the Gnostics so named? 6. Light was associated with Gnosticism. Why?

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T h e m a tte r co n tain ed h erein U officially Issued th ro u g h the Su­ p rem e Council of the A. M. O. R . C. u n d e r th e em blem above, which w as re g iste re d In the U nited S tates P a te n t Office fo r th e purpose of p ro te c tin g all th e '•p rin ted , engraved, ty p e w ritte n , and photographic copies of officially p rescribed and c o p yrighted m onographs, dis­ s e rta tio n s. scientific p o stu latio n s, philosophical discourses, academ ic stu d ie s, d iag ram s, illu stra tio n s, and c h a rts ” as authorized by the Im p e ra to r of A. M. O. R. C. (T h e above em blem and nam e of the O rd e r a re also reg istered in co u n tries th ro u g h o u t the w o rld .) All m a tte rs herein co ntained a re stric tly confidential to the m em ber receiving, and a re im p arted only as an incident to m em bership. The o w n ersh ip of, th e legal title , and th e rig h t of possession to this m on o g rap h is and shall rem ain in th e Suprem e G rand L odge of A. M. O. R. C. and it shall be re tu rn e d to it upon its re q u e st T he c o n te n ts h erein a re loaned to be used fo r th e sole and exclusive Inform ation of th e receiving m em ber and n o t otherw ise. Any o th er use o r a tte m p te d use does, ipso facto, te rm in a te all rig h ts of the m em ber, and is a violation of tn e S ta tu te s of th is O rder. A. M. O. R . C. is th e only o rganization a u thorized to use th e R eg­ iste re d nam e and sym bols, a n d th e Im p e ra to r has sole rig h t to g ra n t th e use of them to o th e r allied o rg anizations o r m ovem ents.

THE CONCURRENCE

This Week’s Consideration of a Famous Opinion V

V

V

In the Gnostic work Pistis Sophia, the fall or descent of Sophia is told to his disciples by Jesus, and it is he who helps her ascend out of Chaos. As in the Osirian mysteries, the dead man follows the route of the god through the underworld; so the Gnostic initiate is analogous to Sophia. To attain to the knowledge of the Light, the human soul (as the world-soul before it) has to descend into matter . . . . Hence the Sophia, desiring the Light, descends towards its reflection, from the Thirteenth Aeon, through the Twelve, into the depths of Chaos or Unorder, where she seems in danger of entirely losing all her own innate light or spirit, being continually deprived of it by the powers of matter. Having descended to the lowest depths of Chaos, she at length reaches the limit, and the path of her pilgrimage begins to lead upward to spirit again. Thus she reaches the middle point of balance, and still yearning for the Light, rounds the turning point of her cyclic course, and changing the tendency of her thought or mind or nature, recites her penitential hymns or repentances. Her chief enemy is the false light . . . which is assisted by four-andtwenty material powers, the reflections of the supernal projections, powers or co-partners of the Sophia . . . . -G . R. S. MEAD, 1863-1933

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Beloved Members, Greetings! According to Gnostic theory, an element, an intricate part of the pleroma, fell from it, leaving it incomplete. It is this implied division or partial disintegration of that which would seem to be indivisible that is an inconsistency in the Gnostic doctrine. One of the myths (just as Christianity has theirs) to explain this alteration in the nature of the pleroma is that Sophia, one of the host of divine beings, fell from on High; that is, she fell out of the completeness of which the pleroma consists. This fall was caused by "Sophia leaving her appointed place in her ambition to attain the Supreme Light." There is, of course, a moral in this myth: Even ambition motivated by the highest ideals must be kept within the bounds of law and principle or it may defeat its own cause. According to another legend, Sophia has a twofold function. First, she is the fallen divinity through whom Light becomes im­ mersed in darkness. She is also the intermediary between the higher world and the spiritual nature, which has been exiled from it. The Gnostics, like most of the ancients and many moderns, insisted upon a division of the Cosmic into two worlds: one being the Heaven, the spiritual land, the Infinite, or the ideal state, in contrast to the other, the earthly realm, the finite, or mortal existence. As a dualism, the two realms appear to be so much in conflict that it seems necessary to explain a relationship between them so that they do not become completely disunited. We saw how in ancient Egypt this dualism was also no little source of confu­ sion and concern to the people. Sophia depicted some of the Light of the pleroma. When she fell, she brought Light with her into the world, but it was considerably diminished. This fall of Sophia further helps to bring about a unity of the two otherwise opposed worlds. Her Light descending into chaos causes the latter to be stirred, and thus a nexus is established between the two realms— the one above and the one below. It was the fall of Sophia that broke up the unity of the pleroma, the complete divine state, and necessitated the restoration. The fallen divinity was known by other names to some of the Gnostic sects. In Simonian Gnosticism, this lowest of the divin­ ities is called Helena. It was in later Gnosticism that the fallen divinity was known as Sophia, which was symbolical of Wisdom To Be Freed. In many ways, the conception was related to the spiritual Mother, Ishtar, who in earlier Babylonian mythology descends into the Abyss where she is held prisoner. After the descent of the Light into chaos, there was a gradual emanation or graduated, descending scale of the goodness of the pleroma into the abyss, the worldly realm. Here, again, we see the syncretic effect of the Gnostic doctrines, for they borrowed this concept from the Babylonians. The planetary gods of the Babylonian religion became the aeons

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or the emanations descending to the lower, material world. The aeon is a name indicating each of the descending steps from the pleroma to the worldly realm. Each aeon is a syzygy, or pair of opposites— male and female. In other words, they are sets of con­ traries. The further the aeon was from the pleroma in its descent, the less perfect or divine was its nature. We can see that this ladderlide formation, or hierarchy of goodness, became a means of linking the two worlds. It left neither one wholly independent and was a means of explaining the apparent duality of existence. DESCENDING In their progressive descent, the principal aeons were POW ERS named: Mind and Truth, Word and Life, Man and Church, etc. There were subdivisions of these composing other syzygies. Some of these pairs were known as: Depthlike and Commin­ gling; Unaging and Union; Self-Production and Bliss; Immovable and Blending; Alone-Begotten and Happiness. This hierarchy, then, is an attempt to mediate between God and the facts of the material world. Many systems of mystical philosophy, like the Celestial Hierarchy of Dionysius the Areopagite, are a means to aid men to bridge what may ordinarily seem an insuperable gap between the objective world and Cosmic Consciousness. In another sense, it is the pantheonic idea, that is, the idea of the family of gods. God is supreme, and beneath Him in a categorical descending order are lesser spiritual beings arranged in pairs of male and female. Actually, these pairs are only degrees of realization of the vir­ tues of the fullness of God. As Rosicrucians, we would call these pairs, or aeons, the ascending planes of consciousness by which the mystic attains union with the Cosmic. We cannot omit reference to the significance of the syzygies, or pairs of opposites: it is a realization of the contraries in nature, the polarities upon which all creation or manifestation depends. The single is only complete in the pleroma itself, where the opposites— negative and positive— are united in their efficacy. In any manifestation less than the pleroma, the single is incom­ plete and impotent. Valentinus tells us: "All things that come forth from a pair are fullness, but all which proceed from a single are images." In this Gnostic conception of the dualism of reality, the world and matter are held to be intrinsically evil. It is as a lower world "standing over against the higher one into which the soul ought to escape." The soul of man is of the nature of the higher world, but has fallen from it. The fall of the soul is previous to man's conscious existence. This fall of the human soul from the pleroma is due to some cosmic disaster. It is only divine intervention that can break the bondage of the soul to the body. Man's spiritual nature was from a divine being who had fallen out of the World of Light. Thus, mortals possess some Light but must ascend from the world to the greater Light to restore the fullness of their beings. They must

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sever the evil influence that matter exerts over them. The eclec­ ticism of this doctrine of the bondage of the soul and the evil of matter is apparent as an inheritance of early Greek— that is, Orphic— doctrines. It is also a corruption of the idea of the Bab­ ylonian planetary gods who are no longer looked upon in Gnosticism as supreme deities. They are all "antagonistic powers holding man in bondage." Mithraism, a branch of the Persian religion of the first century, adopted the conception of the soul's ascending through the earlier Babylonian planetary spheres. There was a blend of the astral worship of the Babylonians with the Persian and Mithraic beliefs, myths, and legends in Gnostic metaphysics. Today, there are several metaphysical societies which teach that man must ascend to spiritual perfection by having his soul incarnated in sequences on different planets. The planets are pro­ gressively arranged according to a spiritual scale. Each is held to be the habitat of souls having a degree of perfection corre­ sponding to this spiritual scale. Such doctrines are a perpetua­ tion of the Babylonian astral theory and Gnosticism. Even as expounded by Roman Catholicism, Christianity is not free of this doctrine of the hierarchal ascent of the soul through the inter­ mediary of higher bodies. The soul has its liberation, according to Catholicism, not by direct union with God, but by progressing through the rites of the Church, which is the intermediary. PRIN C IPLE OF REDEMPTION

We may say that the final purpose of Gnosticism is that of Redemption. It was to offer spiritual en­ lightenment, or gnosis, whereby the soul is to be freed of the bondage and evil influences of the body and matter. Gnosticism sought to explain: first, how man, since he had a soul, came to be exiled in this world of lesser spirituality; second, how to save that soul from further defilement by liberating it from its bondage. Light is the symbol of spirituality. Darkness is the symbol of the body and matter. Since pain, distraction, torment, disease, and evil are of the world, it is comprehensible that this realm was considered the dark and evil one. The earth exerts a carnal influence which man must resist. He is not able to purge matter of its inherent evil, so he must cause the soul to move up­ ward, step by step, to be absorbed into the greater Light. In the astral theory of the Babylonians, the gods, through their corre­ sponding planets, as we have seen, were said to have an influence on mortals— on earthly things. In Gnosticism, the aeons can influ­ ence man. Each contributes something in the way of a gnosis for man's spiritual ascent and freedom. In the Pistis Sophia, it is related: "When the time of that soul is come for its passing from the body, then the counterfeit spirit followeth after that soul and also the destiny. They follow after it in the way whereby it shall pass into the height.

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"And before it goeth far into the height it uttereth the Mystery of the Seals and breaketh all the bonds of the counterfeit spirit, whereby the rulers bind it to the soul." The adept is prepared for his journey by sacraments and lus­ trations (purging and purification) and by hidden names, words, and signs. These signs and words are to evoke the cosmic forces of the different aeons by which man's inner consciousness is brought into attunement with a plane of illumination. Man must know, he must have the gnosis by which he attains the pleroma--the final plane of Oneness. A blind faith is not sufficient. The Light is ever there, but man can share in it only by learning how to become en­ compassed by its radiance. Man is the gatherer of the seeds of Light which are scattered in the darkness below. The more he gath­ ers, the more he is liberated from the darkness of evil, ignorance, and torment. In Gnosticism, this freedom of the soul is a restor­ ation of it to its rightful place in the pleroma— the fullness of divine being. The Pistis Sophia exhorts: "Now, therefore, will I tell you: whosoever shall renounce the whole world and all therein, and shall sub­ mit himself to the divinity, to him that mystery ,shall be far more than all the mysteries of the Kingdom of Light; it is far simpler to understand than all the rest and it is far clearer than them [sic] all. He who shall come to a knowledge of that mystery, both renounces the whole of this world and all its cares..." In later Christian Gnosticism, the mythical Redeemer is the Christ. Accordingly, it was expounded that Jesus was used as "the instrument to communicate the hidden Gnosis." In other words, Jesus imparted the knowledge by which the higher natures of man were freed of bondage. Thus, the soul was restored to the Kingdom of Light. In a letter of Valentinus, published by Hippolytus, the former says: "One is good whose free utterance is manifested through his son (Jesus); it is by Him alone that the heart can become pure, when every evil essence has been expelled out of it. Now, its purity is prevented by the many essences which take up their abode in it, for each of them accomplishes its own deeds outraging it in divers fashions with unseemly lusts, as far as I can see, the heart seems to receive somewhat the same treatment as an inn which has holes and gaps made in its walls and which is frequently filled with dung, men living filthily in it and taking no care of the place as being someone else's property. Thus it is with the heart so long as it has no

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care taken of it, ever unclean and the abode of many demons (elemental essences). But when the alone God Father hath regard unto it, it is sanctified and shineth with light and he who possesseth such a heart is so blessed that he shall see God." MORAL DUALITY

Gnosticism was not without its practical aspects, particularly in its ethics— or what constitutes right and wrong conduct. All worldly affairs and material con­ ditions, because they are earthly and concern the body, were intrinsically evil as compared to spirit. The Persians had taught this conflict between Ormazd (Light and Goodness) and Ahriman (Darkness and Evil) centuries before. Morality, or spirituality, and that noble conduct which reflects it were to be attained by a deliverance from sensual living— from domination by the desires of the body. It was necessary, having these concepts, that the Gnostic be an ascetic, that is, that he eschew the world, keeping as free from its sensual appeals as possible. The Gnostic, there­ fore, practiced self-abnegation, the repression of the appetites and passions, and an assiduous disregard for worldly pleasures. Strangely enough, however, with one sect, this conception developed into a libertinism— it went to the opposite extreme; its adherents indulged in all sensual pleasures to the fullest extent. Psychologically, it was a display of defiance of convention. It was an attempt to exemplify the individual's indifference and supe­ riority to sensual things— to show that he was unaffected by them. It further indicated the conception that a moral code is unneces­ sary, that if we consider evil as being ineffectual and believe ourselves aloof to its influences, we do not have to inveigh against it by injunctions. To receive the revealed gnosis, the wisdom by which the Redemption was to be had, the aspirant had to be initiated into the secrets of the sect. These initiations were in the form of an allegory in which the pleroma was depicted, the fall of Sophia, and the liberation of the soul by means of the power of the aeons. The preparatory act of the initiation took the form of a baptism. This lustration, or cleansing, included not only the element of water, but fire as well, and that which alluded to the spirit. Symbols denoting some word of the revealed gnosis were marked on the body of the initiate or engraved upon a ring. Special names were divulged to him during the ritual which, when pronounced under prescribed conditions, were said to have a thaumaturgic power. They were intended to induce certain states of consciousness within the individual or to evoke the spiritual intelligences of the hier­ archy, namely, the aeons. The names were not to be written by the initiate because of their secrecy; therefore, they were memorized. Each name corresponded to an aeon. The similarity between such Gnostic practices and the Hebrew Kabala is obvious.

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The doctrine of Reincarnation/ often erroneously called trans­ migration, which involves a considerable difference, was apparently taught by the later Gnostic sects. In the Pistis Sophia there appears: "... and many more souls shall pass through the cycles of transmigrations of body and come back into the world on that day; and among them shall be some who are now alone and hear me (referring to a Master) teach concerning the consummation of the number of perfect souls; they shall find the mysteries of Light, and shall receive them. They shall mount up to the Gateway of Light, and shall find that the number of perfect souls is complete, which is the con­ summation of the First Mystery and the Gnosis of the Pleroma; they will find that I have shut the gates of Light, and from that hour none can come in or go forth thereby." The Master here is urging those who desire the Greater Light not to waste the opportunities of the present incarnation but rather to heed his words. If one does not, then, upon returning to this life, he may find that it is too late to attain perfection and he may be penalized and not permitted illumination for a con­ siderable time. Conversely, one who diligently applies himself and acquires the First Mystery will make much progress toward perfec­ tion thereafter. We are told: "But he who shall have received the complete mystery of the First Mystery of the Ineffable, that is to say, the twelve mysteries of the First Mystery,one after another, ... shall have the power of exploring all the orders of the Inheritance of Light, of exploring from without within, from within without, from above below, and from below above, from the height to the depth, and from the depth to the height, from the length to the breadth, and from the breadth to the length; in a word, he shall have the power of exploring all the regions of the Inheritances of Light, and he shall have the power of remaining in the region which he shall choose in the Inheritance of the Light-kingdom." As Gnosticism grew and as it incorporated the early Christian teachings in its great eclectical body, Christianity became alarmed. There was a strong possibility that Christianity would be submerged by the speculative and inherited teachings of Gnosti­ cism. Until the time of Origen, an early Christian father, Chris­ tianity had no organized doctrine— no logical presentation of precepts to compete with the organized thought and perspicuity of, for example, the Greek philosophies. It was feared that before Christianity could be well established, it would be com­ pletely absorbed into Gnosticism. Christianity resented Gnosticism's rejection of

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aspects of the Old Testament. Gnosticism, as we have seen, held in favor of the man Adam eating the apple of wisdom. Further, Chris­ tianity declared that Gnosticism advocated "a higher God who was other than the Creator." The Creator of the world was not, accord­ ing to the Gnostics, the pleroma, or the full divine being. The Creators of the Earth and of material things, and even Jesus him­ self, were but aeons— lesser divine intelligences. Christianity was also antagonistic toward the Docetic view of the person of Christ, which was held by Gnosticism. Docetism is the doctrine that the Christ Consciousness did not enter an actual mortal body, that Christ was not physically like other humans; instead, what men knew as Christ was a phantom, a reflection of his spiritual being— or, as Rosicrucians might say, a projected self. In the Fourth Gospel, there is the phrase, "Word was made flesh." Most exegetical authorities contend that this was an ex­ pression of Christianity's opposition to Gnosticism. The Gnostics had expounded that the flesh and the body— in fact, all material things— are intrinsically evil. Christianity, likewise, could not reconcile the asceticism of the Gnostic practices with its own doc­ trines. It declared that man was not to deny the body and to retreat from temptations but was to use such to further the purpose of his soul. It contended that man must master existence rather than ignore it. Gnosticism, however, did Christianity a service by its rivalry. It compelled such men as Origen and Tertullian, famed Church writers, to analyze the Old Testament and remove from it all syncretic matter insofar as possible so that Christianity might be pure in its doctrines. The life of the monks, their withdrawing from the world in search of further revelation and illumination, was a direct conformity to the asceticism of the Gnostics, notwith­ standing Christianity's opposition to the practice. Further, "the sacramental idea of religion became more firmly established." The Church, however, substituted in its sacraments the bestowing of blessings for the gnosis, or the secret wisdom of the Gnostics. The Mysteries, common to all the early systems of philosophy of the Orient and at first foreign to Christianity, were later introduced to Christianity because of the popularity of Gnosticism, which included them. This extreme rivalry compelled Christianity to establish a theology as popular as the doctrines of Gnosticism. This challenge gave impetus to such eminent Christian writers as Origen. V

A V

From the content of this monograph you will have noted that Gnosticism expounded that the redemption of man, or his salvation, lies in the liberation of the soul from the bondage of the body. The soul was thought to be imperfect. In other words, it was incomplete when in the human being and had to be restored to its original state in the pleroma, the

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fullness of divine being. This restoration or redemption was by means of intermediaries known as aeons or lesser divine intelli­ gences. With some alteration, this doctrine of the soul's progres­ sion through intermediaries has been adapted to the dogma of various Christian sects, especially of Catholicism. It implies that man cannot directly attain communion with God, that he cannot have an immediate experience of oneness with the Cosmic. On the other hand, there is a doctrine with which you are familiar: It is that the soul in man is an extension of the Cosmic Intelligence and of the universal, vibratory, creative force. Thus, the soul in each human is always in direct communion with the Cosmic. Consequently, it always retains all its cosmic qualities within man, and there is no variation of the soul qualities in any man. According to this doctrine, it only becomes necessary for man to introvert his consciousness, turn it inward, so as to have an awareness of his own spiritual being, the soul force within. If successful in this introversion of his consciousness, he then expe­ riences the oneness of the soul. Such a cosmic experience is direct and immediate. Which concept is more acceptable to you, philosophically and logically? Furthermore, which method has proved itself by experi­ ence to be intimately true? To help you answer these questions or to bring the answers again to the focus of your mind, we ask that you enter into a period of meditation in your Sanctum. Prepare your Sanctum as instructed. To assist you to relax so as to become attuned with the psychic self, softly intone the vowels Ra and Ma, three times. Next, express to yourself the desire to attune with the Cosmic Mind, the Universal Soul. Now, what impressions do you receive? Do you feel that such a mystical experience can be had, that you can have a momentary afflatus of the soul, that is, a raising of the consciousness of self to become one with the Cosmic? Then, again, do you have the impression instead that you are limited by intermediaries, by external means such as a priest, a religious dogma and church ritual, or the influence of some extraneous intelligence through which you must function or to which you must first appeal? This exercise will give you the opportunity to prove certain doctrines to yourself. Fraternally, YOUR CLASS MASTER.

Summary of This Monograph

V V V Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory. H The fall of Sophia was caused by her leaving her appointed place in her ambition to attain the Supreme Light. 1f Sophia is the intermediary between the higher world and the spiritual nature, which has been exiled from it. H The aeon is a name indicating each of the descending stages from the pleroma to the worldly realm. H The Gnostic doctrine is that God is supreme and that beneath him is a categorical descending order of lesser spiritual beings arranged in pairs of male and female. H The significance of these syzygies, or pairs of opposites, is the relation of the contraries in nature, the polarities upon which all creation and manifestation depend. 11 The Gnostics conceived the world and m atter to be intrinsically evil. U The final purpose of Gnosticism is that of redemption —to free the soul from the bondage of the body. 1J Gnosticism did Christianity a favor by its rivalry. It compelled the early Christian w riters to prepare a theology and to analyze the Old Testament for clarification.

Self-Interrogation

The following questions are given so that you may test your understanding of the contents of this monograph. From understanding comes wisdom, and wisdom is the application of knowledge. If you cannot answer the questions, reread the monograph. Do not send the answers to the Department of Instruction. 1. What did the mythical character, Sophia, represent?

2. What is an aeon? 3. Can you explain the hierarchy of the pleroma? 4. How is the soul liberated according to Gnosticism? 5. a. How did Christianity view Gnosticism? b. Explain the advantages of Gnosticism to Christianity. 6. What does light symbolize? What does darkness represent?

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PM T h e m a tte r co n tain ed herein is officially Issued th ro u g h the SuDreme Council of th e A. M. O. R . C. u n d e r th e em blem above, which w as re g iste re d in th e U nited S tates P a te n t Office fo r the purpose of p ro te c tin g all th e " p rin te d , en g raved, ty p e w ritte n , a nd photographic ----- - ^ ------- -------------------------copies o f officially sertatio n s. stu d ies, dldg! 0 -1 1 1 3 , n iu sii aiiuiis, a«u io Im p e ra to r o f A. M. O. R. C. (T h e above emblem and name ot the O rd er a re also reg istered in countries th ro u g h o u t th e w o rld .) All m a tte rs herein contained a re s tric tly confidential to th e mem ber r e c e iv in g , and a re im parted only as an incident to m em bership. The o w nership of. th e legal title , and th e rig h t of possession to this m onograph is and snail rem ain in th e Suprem e G rand Lodge of A. M. O. R. C. and it shall be retu rn ed to It upon its reau est. The co n ten ts herein a re loaned to be used fo r the sole and exclusive Inform ation of th e receiving m em ber and not otherw ise. Any o th er use o r a tte m p te d use does, ipso facto, te rm in a te all rig h ts of the m em ber, and is a violation of th e S ta tu te s of th is O rder. A. M. O. R. C. is the only organization authorized to use th e R eg­ iste re d nam e and sym bols, and the Im p e ra to r has sole rig h t to g ra n t th e use of them to o th er allied o rg anizations o r m ovem ents.

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This Week’s Consideration of a Famous Opinion V V

V

Concerning the individual psychic development of the persons along the Path, Confucius, the ancient Chinese philosoplier, has given us the following words of wisdom: The highest study of all is that which teaches us to develop those principles of purity and perfect virtue which Heaven bestowed upon us at our birth, in order that we may acquire the power of influencing for good those amongst whom we are placed, by our precepts and example; a study without an end — for our labors cease only when we have become perfect — an unattainable goal, but one that we must not the less set before us from the very first. It is true that we shall not be able to reach it, but in our struggle toward it we shall strengthen our characters and give stability to our ideas, so that, whilst ever advancing calmly in the same direction, we shall be rendered capable of applying the faculties with which we have been gifted to the best possible account. -C O N F U C IU S , 551-479 B.C.

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Beloved Members, Greetings 1 The roots of our Rosicrucian teachings are in the past. By that statement, we do not mean to imply that the present-day teach­ ings which you are receiving are simply a repetition of what the inspired men of past ages thought. Rather, we mean that the gen­ eral lines of thought, the objectives, purposes, and certain basic laws which we now teach had their origin in past centuries. In fact, the most modern sciences of today also owe a debt to the early alchemists, astrologers, and mathematicians even though they have now advanced far beyond them. And, of course, our Rosicrucian work has been continually added to as well. During the past few weeks, we have shown you how mystical and metaphysical conceptions, doctrines, and symbolism grew out of the long period of Egyptian civilization and were passed on to later cultures to be added to and modified. Some, however, retain their pure form. We hope, too, that the various sanctum exercises, each of which was related to the topic of the monograph, have proven bene­ ficial to you. Such exercises are given for different purposes, and the effects are not the same. You may review exercises in previous monographs and continue those which have proved most bene­ ficial or practice the ones with which you have less success. Many of the reports that have come to me have contained so much of the personal element in the praise which was given that I took this matter up by correspondence with some of the Eleventh Degree members and asked them why they felt it necessary to extend such praise and write such profuse letters of personal thanks when they should have confined their comments to the lectures and the work of this Degree. I hope that all of you have discerned by this time that, although my name and personality are used quite freely in magazine articles, books, the Forum, some of the monographs, and in our propaganda literature, there has been no attempt on my part or on the part of any of the officers to build up a personal fol­ lowing. In other words, we have not only avoided such a thing, but we have done our utmost to prevent it and to eliminate it where it has arisen. One of the easiest things in the work of such an or­ ganization as this is to build up a personal following. It leads to a form of personal worship or personal adoration and makes the organization a sort of one-man proposition. I am not going to refer to any of the several large and popular organizations in this country which center their whole power and appeal on their founder or leader. You are familiar with the larger ones, and perhaps you also know that there are hundreds of smaller ones that do the same thing. The members of this Degree to whom I wrote answered that they felt it was their duty to start some sort of definite recognition of the services I have given the Order and to begin now to make sure that in the future my personality will not be entirely eliminated from the

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organization through my transition. It is thoughtful of these members to remind me that the time may not be far away when transi­ tion will come and take me out of the organization. I cannot say that it is a thought that is entirely lacking in cheer and joy; on the other hand, it is not an exhilarating thing to think about because it would worry me a little at the present time to think that such a thing could occur before I have completed the work I want to do. However, these members felt that the Order was becoming en­ tirely too impersonal through my wilful efforts to make it an impersonal organization. I do not know whether there is soundness in their logic and reasoning, but I am sure that I am not going to be greatly influenced by what they said although, so far as the Eleventh Degree members are concerned and even those in the Tenth Degree, I may allow a closer and more intimate contact with me and permit them to look upon me as the big brother of their classes or as though I were sitting in the center of a circle and they were seated around me as students. The truth is that the Order has always been fairly free of such personal worship, and all of the past great Masters are grouped together in one body of Masters to all of whom our respects are given in a sort of group fashion. Not one of them would have been happy if he had been considered greater than the others, and I am sure that each one of those in the past has felt, as I feel now, that those who have preceded us were greater than we are in what we have accomplished and in what we are doing. However, it is certainly gratifying to know that so many of you have found such marvelous changes in your lives since entering this Degree. One letter which I received said that it is by turn­ ing the light of self-examination inward that one discovers how many marvelous changes have really taken place. This frater stated that as he reviewed his present ideals and standards of a business nature, he could not help seeing how he had changed in the last several years and especially in the last six months. He said he realized now that gradually he had been eliminating from his busi­ ness every little principle or method and every statement and word that could possibly be misinterpreted or appear misleading to any of his customers. He had eliminated from his business affairs every element that could bring dissatisfaction to even the least of his customers or the most inconsequential ones. The frater said that perhaps the next greatest change was in the nature of the friendships he was establishing and the elimina­ tion of those acquaintances and spenders of his time who used to visit him frequently or accompany him on walks through the park and elsewhere to talk about the inconsequential things of life. He said that they merely consumed time without improving his mentality or spirituality in the least. As he looks back now, these former friends seem very shallow,

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and a great many of them were like leeches that attach themselves to a larger body and live on the mental or spiritual food that they can pick up without giving anything back. The frater said that he now finds more thrill and joy in spending a few hours alone in meditation, in reviewing his mono­ graphs, or in constructive reading than he used to find in a whole evening of card playing and ordinary conversation with friends or acquaintances who dropped in to spend the evening. He said he had given away from his library nearly all of the old books that used to attract him but which now he wouldn’t think of wasting a mo­ ment's time reading. He went on to tell how these changes had affected his whole life, his relationship to his children, his health, and even his finances. This frater's letter was typical of many received although few presented details as he was able to because of his careful analysis of the situation. THOUGHTS ON REGENERATION

One letter called my attention to the fact that the writer believed that regeneration was a much slower process than most realized from an outward appraisal of it. He said he believed the slowness was due to the profoundness of it, every minute degree of which was far more important than anyone could possibly estimate. He said that, as a medical man, he was taught not to expect a complete change in the blood system of a human being in less than seven years. Whenever a serious germ or destructive element had got into the system in tropical climates or in foreign lands, it was customary to accept the fact that seven years was the shortest time in which the system could be completely cleared of such inoculation or contamination. He spoke of this matter in a way to indicate that he was one who had traveled extensively through countries in Africa, Asia, and other tropical areas. His point was that if it takes seven years to purge the phys­ ical body completely of such a thing as a germ and to regenerate the entire system, it will surely take more than seven years to regenerate the soul personality, spirit, and character of a person. If it is worth waiting seven years to have the bloodstream cleared, it is certainly worth waiting twenty-five or fifty years for regen­ eration to affect the entire body and psychic nature. That is an interesting thought. He followed it with the observation that while we are waiting for the complete and ultimate manifestation of regeneration, we are daily benefiting by the minute changes that are taking place. Another interesting letter from a frater spoke of the fact that since the principles of regeneration had begun to manifest in connection with this Tenth and Eleventh Degree work, his hair where he had been bald had grown better and had gradually darkened through the elimination of gray hair. He wrote that also a slight unsteadiness in his hand that used to manifest in his handwriting had gradually disappeared. He

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said that along with these manifestations, he felt stronger, could walk longer distances, digested his food better, slept better, and found his memory had greatly improved. This frater ended his letter by saying that, from the present indication, he anticipated that in another five years he might begin to look and feel younger. He reminded me that he was speaking now only of the physical regen­ eration taking place but that in the psychic sense there were many other important manifestations of improvement and he was thoroughly delighted. Fraternally, YOUR CLASS MASTER

Summary of This Monograph

V V V Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory.

f The older exercises may be reviewed. H Many members have written of the gradual and marvelous changes which they have discovered through inward self-examination. H The Order has always been fairly free of personal worship.

The Weekly Application Whatsoever thou resolvest to do. do it quickly. Defer not till the evening what the morning may accomplish.—UNTO THEE I GRANT

It is an interesting observation that as one grows older, there seems to be less anxiety about growing older. There is less inclination to worry about the time it takes for things to materialize. Have you ever wondered why this might be? One likely explanation is that experience has shown that anything worthwhile is worth waiting for. The experiences of early life have shown that much time and energy are wasted by hurrying and living impulsively. It has been noted that the anticipation of goals is often more fulfilling than the goal itself, and thus older people set about to enjoy the “getting” rather than the “being there.” Analyze your own attitudes regarding goals, see how they have changed since you first began your studies. With this in mind, your future plans can emphasize even more the attention to the activities along the path rather than what lies at the end of the path. This certainly adds to the enjoyment and fullness of life, and gives you a new sense of longevity.

This m o n o g ra p h is n o t su b jec t to sale or p u rch ase by a n y o n e . A sale or p u rch ase m a y m a te th e seller and p u rc h a s e r su b je c t to civil liab ility .

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THE CONCURRENCE

This Week’s Consideration of a Famous Opinion V V

V

One of the most interesting and attractive of the Apocryphal Books is The Wisdom of Solomon, probably written by an Alexandrian Jew, between 145 B.C. and A.D. 40. It has been referred to in the % writings of Tertullian, Origen, and Clement of Alexandria. The following words of wisdom point out the to the perfection of understanding: Wisdom is radiant and fadeth not away; A nd easily is she beheld of them that love her, And found of them that seek her. She forestalleth them that desire to know her, m aking herself first known. He that riseth up early to seek her shall have no toil, For he shall find her sitting at his gates. For to think upon her is perfection of understanding, And he that keepeth vigil for her sake shall quickly be free from care. -T H E WISDOM OF SOLOMON, c. 145 B.C.-A.D. 40

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Beloved Members, Greetings! Perhaps we are now at a point in our Eleventh Degree work where most of you are once more taking stock, so to speak, of your progress and development, and beginning to analyze the results of the past six months' study and practice. All in all, one of the most pleasant features of the work of this Degree is that none of those who went into the Tenth and Eleventh Degrees in the past year or so have manifested any anxiety to progress too rapidly. "Getting ahead" used to be one of the problems with which we had to contend in the lcwer Degrees. After a member had received twelve or fourteen monographs, he began to want to know when he was going to get into the next Degree. Fortu­ nately, there are only a few monographs in each of the early Degrees which allow the members to progress from step to step fairly rapidly. Now that we are in the upper Degrees, however, we find there are more monographs in each and the progress is slower so far as mere Degrees are concerned. If I had my way, from the Sixth Degree on, we would have no Degrees at all but simply allow the monographs to run along consecutively. There is an artificial and fictitious sense of advancement through such arbitrary divisions of the mono­ graphs. A member who goes from the Third Degree to the Fourth feels that he has made a step or a real advancement of some kind in the one week when he changed from the Third Degree to the Fourth. The truth is that he has only advanced one monograph and is only one week ahead, just as he had been each week in the middle of the Third or any other Degree. After all, we cannot advance any faster than we evolve, and we cannot evolve any faster than our psychic natures will allow. One of the members of this class called my attention to the fact that he has found a satisfactory explanation for the idea that all people are created equal. He said that he always believed there was some truth in the idea but that, nevertheless, the statement was not true. He has now found a way of saying it that brings him complete satisfaction and accounts for all of the differences that we see in life. He said that he tells everyone that "We are all created equal but we are not born equal." He means by this that God originally created each one of us alike in His own image and with the same degree of divine power and intelligence, but that in the process of being conceived and born, we take upon ourselves the hereditary influences of our parents and forebears and carry over from a previous incarnation some karmic debts. At the same time, we come under certain astral influences that make each of us dif­ ferent. Therefore, although we were originally created equal, we are no longer born equal and each one has certain limita­ tions, certain strong and weak points, certain advantages or disadvantages, and certain valuable assets or lack of assets that make no two of us exactly alike in this life.

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M EASURING P R O G R E SS

It is certain that no two of us develop and progress along the Path in the same manner and to the same degree. I remember that when we were having the first Sixth Degree work in the first Lodge in New York and it came time to demonstrate some of the healing principles by contact on the spines of some of the members, some members could feel the vi­ brations and the tingling in the fingertips very definitely; others felt this only mildly; some not at all. When a tonic treatment was given to the members generally in the class, some felt the tonic strongly and were benefited by it but others hardly noticed it at all. We realized then that if a person were perfectly healthy and in a practically normal condition, the treatment vibrations would not manifest strongly and the tonic treatment would have little apparent effect. In other words, they were felt and received in accordance with the need for a tonic and for health-giving vibra­ tions. There are members in this Eleventh Degree and in the Tenth who do not need some of their psychic centers awakened and developed as much as others. Those who do not need it so greatly will not feel the same effects from the experiments and practices as others. Perhaps, also, when it comes to the wonderful changes of regenera­ tion, some of these members may not feel the same changes taking place that others will feel. Now I hope that none of our members will feel from what I have said that when one becomes conscious of a psychic development going on, it indicates that he is lacking in development or has an evil nature and, therefore, is in need of greater help. That is not always the case, and the one who has the greatest degree of regen­ eration taking place may not be a person who has been filled with sin or evil or materialism. He may be a person who has the highest ideals and the highest principles but has not had the opportunity to apply them and quicken the functioning of the psychic body within him. On the other hand, those who have been exerting a psychic influence for some time and have kept the psychic centers fairly active will not get the same results and sense the same changes taking place as others. Furthermore, our ultimate position in life and our ultimate place in the scheme of things determine what each of us is to receive in the way of psychic development and is to have in the way of regeneration. All that we can be sure of is that we must go on with our inner preparation and inner development until the Cosmic sees fit to bring it to a standstill or intimates that sufficient change has taken place. None of us can know when this may occur, nor can anyone tell whether he needs more or less than he has been receiving. Beginning very shortly, I shall have some interesting facts to give you, and we shall discontinue these present discussions of ideas and get to some very wonderful things

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that are contained in our secret manuscripts. Certainly, the work of the Eleventh Degree is carrying out what was started in the Tenth and is fulfilling the wishes and hopes of most of the higher members. I can honestly say here with frankness and with evidence to support what I say that there is not to my knowledge a single member in the present Tenth and Eleventh Degrees who has not volun­ tarily and enthusiastically expressed his appreciation and his pro­ found thanks for the higher Degrees. At the same time, he has expressed his joy for having been allowed to enter the Order and continue with it to the present time. If this is the fact, it will be perfect proof that the Rosicrucian teachings do bring wonderful changes in our lives and that there is something truly worthwhile in following the Rosicrucian system day by day and year by year. I judge from the many letters I receive that every one of you is quite well satisfied with the monographs you have been receiv­ ing, and that you are certainly well satisfied with the benefits that have come to you. Nevertheless, you like to look back over the past six months or one year and see what progress you have made in comparison with your previous status in life. One of our members in this Degree asked me kindly to point out what I had found was the greatest benefit through the regenerative processes of the Tenth and Eleventh Degrees. He said that the benefits in his own life were many— in fact, too many to be stated in a letter. But he wanted to see whether I had had such experiences and whether others had reaped the same benefits. As I thought over his letter and tried to get his point of view, it occurred to me that the proper answer to his question would constitute a lesson in itself and that all of you might enjoy this lesson and profit by it. We have reached a point in our Eleventh Degree processes where we should begin to focus our efforts and concentrate our practices upon certain definite results so that we may be conscious of just what we are doing, and get the utmost benefit from each monograph and each week of time as it passes. OUTSTANDING BEN EFIT

One of the outstanding benefits of the regenerative processes of the Eleventh Degree is the gradual attunement with the Cosmic that is taking place within each one of you. This kind of attunement is not something that is accompanied by any strange manifestations or any peculiar or freakish demonstrations of cosmic power. Undoubtedly, most of you will understand exactly what I mean when I say that attunement between individuals is a growing thing that gradually unfolds or develops and becomes a definite thing without any real manifesta­ tion of the processes of growth. In other words, not until the attunement has reached a point where it can be applied or used in a definite way will there be any manifestation of what is going on.

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For instance, a young man and a young woman who have been attracted to each other and who find each other's company pleasant, and who sense the emotion of love, will gradually develop an attunement through their companionship that is very indefinite in one sense and yet very definite in another. If two such persons "keep company" by enjoying each other's companionship over a period of many weeks or months, going out walking together, riding, swim­ ming, or attending lectures, or perhaps just sitting and talking to each other by the hour, there will be a gradual blending of their natures and a softening of the qualities or points which are not exactly harmonious, and, in addition to this, there will be built up within each one of them an invisible, unconscious attunement toward the other. As I have said before, it is almost impossible to tell what this attunement is or to tell when it begins or where it ends, and it is not until there is some practical use for this attunement, or some purpose to be served by it, that we become con­ scious of the fact that such attunement has developed. With the young couple the attunement continues, and perhaps before they are married or long after they are married, there will come a temporary separation when they are far apart from each other for a few days, weeks, or months, and then the attunement that was built up between them, or that exists in each of them, gradually becomes manifest in a longing or in a conscious realization of a part of the inner self being separated. There may also be the manifestation of receiving each other's thoughts or impressions until it becomes quite appar­ ent to each of them that their hearts and minds and souls are in contact with each other, regardless of time or space. Now, the same thing is true regarding Cosmic Attunement. There is no point in its progress where you can say it has actually begun, nor any point where you could ever say that it was com­ pleted. The average student who is becoming highly attuned with the Cosmic, and with even the Universal Mind of the Cosmic, is un­ aware of this attunement until he has some actual need for it. The giving of absent treatments to other persons will call for the use of this attunement, and through the attunement, he is able to send a treatment quickly and efficiently to someone else, but even this does not bring out the actual existence of the attunement in the way he would look for it. He may receive many impressions from others and he may be able to reach up to the Celestial Sanctum or the Universal Mind and get information quickly through intuitive impressions, but even this does not reveal the actual status of his Cosmic Attunement. But there are a few manifestations of this attunement which each one of us can notice and realize, and it is these that I want to call to your attention in the next monograph. Fraternally, YOUR CLASS MASTER

Summary of This Monograph V V V Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory.

11 We cannot advance any faster than we evolve, and we cannot evolve any faster than our psychic natures will allow. % Although created equal, we are not born equal. No two of us can progress along the Path in the same manner. Our ultimate place in the scheme of things determines our individual psychic development. 1f Cosmic Attunement has been developing gradually in each of you; as to w hat extent you may not know until such manifestation is actually needed. U Absent healing treatm ents, psychic impressions, contact with the Celestial Sanctum, intuitive impressions from the Universal Mind, are all m anifestations of Cosmic Attunement, when needed.

The Weekly Application Whatsoever thou resolvest to do, do it quickly. Defer not till the evening what the morning may accomplish.—UNTO THEE I GRANT

There are few things in life with which we do not feel some change in our feelings toward them. The foods we eat, the people with whom we work or live, the furniture we use, the weather we experience, and countless other things affect us differently at various times in our lives. It seems there is nothing we do not tire of, to some degree at least. Sameness, or absence of change and variety, is frustrating to us. As vital, living beings, we are sensitive to the motion of life, and if we are denied experiences that involve motion, we sense that denial and are irritated by it. Thus it is incumbent upon us to bring change and variety into life, for our own welfare and the welfare of others. Change your diet occasionally. Sit in a chair other than your favorite now and then. Look forward to rain and cloudy days as an opportunity for less physical pursuits. By thus bringing some change into your life, you will find it more colorful and exciting. You will find it bringing you into a new appreciation of the things that had become commonplace by their sameness.

This m o n o g ra p h is n o t s u b je c t to sa le or p u rch ase by an y o n e . A sale or p u rc h a se m ay m oke th e seller a n d p u rc h a s e r su b je c t to civil liab ility .

This monograph always remains the property of the Supreme Grand Lodge of A. M. O. R. C. It is not purchased by, but loaned to, the receiving member.

Degree 11

Monograph 62

Degree

11

Monograph 62

678

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THE CONCURRENCE

This Week’s Consideration of a Famous Opinion V V V •I Through Cosmic Attunement that certain channel is opened through which one may accomplish the greatest service for mankind and himself. The more one is qualified to cooperate with the Cosmic, the more important will be the work given to such a one. This simple message of service was given to his followers by Socrates, more than four hundred years before Christ. As by rendering a service to men you come to know those who are willing to serve you in turn, and by showing a favour those who return favours, and by consulting together you know those who are wise, so by serving the gods you may make experience of them, if they are willing to give you advice concerning things concealed from men; you will know that the deity is of such a nature that it sees all things at once and hears all things, and is everywhere present, and that its providential care is over all at once. To me, therefore, it seems that intelligent men will abstain from unholy and unjust and shameful deeds, not only when they are under the eyes of men, but even if they were in solitude, for they would reflect that not one of the things they might do would escape the notice of the gods. -S O C R A T E S , 469(?)-399 B.C.

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ELEVENTH DEGREE

NUMBER SIXTY-TWO

-T he Rosicrucian Order

PAGE ONE

Beloved Members, Greetings! Undoubtedly, one of the greatest advantages of psychic or Cosmic Attunement is that it makes you so closely associated with the Cosmic that you become one of its channels for the carrying out of its great work. As promised in the last monograph, I want to call attention to certain manifestations of this attunement. In the first place, there is the matter of health, or let us say of life itself. Regardless of what the materialistic scien­ tists say, life is not just pure mechanics. It is not just a mat­ ter of breathing and eating, and sleeping a little, and exercising a little. We might invent a machine that would consume food and would breathe in air, and exercise, and move about, but to complete the moving, we would have to supply it with some sort of vital energy like electricity. Man requires this invisible, vital, cos­ mic energy in order to be alive, and to be conscious of his living. Man's health is simply a degree of his vital living. He may be living poorly or he may be living abundantly. If he is living abundantly with the proper Cosmic Attunement, he will have perfect health. If he is living poorly with little Cosmic Attunement, it does not make any difference how much food he eats, how much air he breathes, or how much exercise he takes, he will not be well and will soon develop various forms of diseases. Perfect health means perfect attunement with the Cosmic. It means a blending of the consciousness of the inner self of the in­ dividual with the consciousness of the Cosmic Mind. It means that the inner self and the great outer self of the universe are so united, so in harmony, so in attunement, that the character, thoughts, mind power, vitality, and consciousness of the one are blended into the other. ATTUNEMENT ILLUSTRATED

We have many excellent illustrations of this sort of attunement in various material conditions of the physical world. For example, if one piano string or violin string is attuned or toned to another, when one is played the other will vibrate in harmony with it. This is also called "resonance" by scientists. We can have perfect attunement between colors in art. There is a natural attunement between red and green, for instance, so that if you look at one for a long time, and then look at something black or into dark space, you will see the other. They are called complementary colors as there is a definite relationship between them. Any painting that contains a considerable amount of red in different parts of its composition must have some green in it also, in order to make the picture seem balanced, and there must be attunement between the two colors. Every color has its attunement color and its associated and comple­ mentary color. In many chemicals, certain elements will attune with others or properly blend or unite so as to make a harmo-

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nious result, and when two of them that are out of attunement are put together, there is an entirely different manifestation. But none of these crude things can begin to equal the fine relationship that develops with Cosmic Attunement. The person who is cosmically attuned receives greater and purer health vibrations from the Cosmic. Every hour that such attunement exists the individual is receiving new energy, new vitality, new strength. This may not be easily noticed by you, for your health may be generally good, and you may not feel that you have any more strength or vitality than you ordinarily have, but this Cosmic Attunement with its increased vitality and its increased creative power will make a glorious man­ ifestation in case of any emergency or any strain, or accident to the body or your health. Only recently, one of the members of this Degree was hurt in a serious accident which had occurred through carelessness. The physicians and doctors at the hospital, and the nurses and everyone else, thought that our frater would be crippled for a long time and might even lose his life, but they were astonished to see how quickly all the wounds healed and how the blood seemed to carry on its curative work with greater strength and vitality than they had ever seen in any other case. The good frater himself finally dis­ covered that despite all of his injuries he was not as weak as they expected and that his constitutional health and strength were far beyond anything that he had anticipated. Even pain was absent except for a few minutes, and this astonished everyone who was in contact with him. While going about our normal affairs of life, we have no occa­ sion to be conscious of the reserve strength and the reserve power that may be in our bodies. We cannot be stronger or healthier than is normal, and when we are normal, we have no way of knowing whether or not there is an excess vitality ready for us. It is only when there is a strain, overwork, an accident, or some need for the application of this reserve vitality that we discover whether we have it. I think all of us have been greatly impressed by the fact that the life of Thomas A. Edison was prolonged in his old and worn-out body solely because of the physical reserve, the constitutional strength and vitality, which he had. I do not mean to say that this vitality came to him through Cosmic Attunement, although there are many other incidents in his life which show that he was often in attunement with the Cosmic and received cosmic inspiration. He was a careful man in regard to his eating and his general living. He avoided excesses and strains upon his physical constitution, and in this way he built up a reserve that served him well when the time came for its manifestation. Another benefit of this Cosmic Attunement is the fact that it saves us from making many grave errors in judg­ ment, and in our actions and thinking. This is another

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subject that I will talk about shortly, but I want to call your attention to the fact that Cosmic Attunement is something that rounds out a person's life so completely and so perfectly that it is almost impossible for anyone to judge as to what is really going on in the human body, and in all of its secret inner functionings, when Cosmic Attunement actually exists. The exercises that you have had in the past, and which you should still be doing--especially the ones that you found were most peaceful and inspiring to you— will continue to build up your Cosmic Attunement and help you to become one with the Universal Creative Forces. T RIA N G LES R EC A LLED

The Rosicrucians should always keep in mind the law of the spiritual and material triangles given in the les­ sons of the early Degrees. Whenever a manifestation of cosmic power is to occur on the earth plane and demonstrate here on this earth the spirituality of the Cosmic, we must remember that the triangle with the point downward represents such a manifesta­ tion. The triangle in this position means that all of the cosmic energy, the Cosmic Mind and power, are focalized to one point on the earth, represented by the lower point of the triangle, and at this one point there will be a manifestation of all of the power and intelligence that is in the Cosmic.

Now, it is true that the Cosmic can create or manifest mate­ rial things on this earth plane very easily. We have seen in some of our Temple experiments that the Cosmic can produce flowers by utilizing the vibratory energy of the earth that is in the room and controlling and forming it through the focusing of cosmic vibra­ tions. When the Cosmic wants to carry out some of its great plans, however, it does not create a new man and a new woman as instru­ ments for each occasion. It will focalize its strength and power into the consciousness of some properly qualified individuals here on earth and make them instruments to carry out the good work. In this way thousands of men and women are being inspired daily to do certain things of a beneficial, humanitarian, creative nature. They do these things feeling that they have had a good impulse, and never stop to think that perhaps they are the chosen channels of the Cosmic for such special work. Those who keep themselves attuned with the Cosmic are sure to be the ones to be used here on earth for the special work which the Cosmic desires to do. If you think for a moment of the thousands of plans that the Cosmic may wish to carry out in every city, coun­ try, or community, each day of the year, you will see that thou­ sands, if not millions, of persons are being inspired daily with little impulses to do some one thing, and do it just the way the Cosmic wants it done. Very often these persons do only some little simple thing. On the other hand, sometimes there are those who are selected to do a very important and tedious piece of work which requires a long time and

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much thought and effort for its accomplishment. The more one is qualified and prepared to cooperate with the Cosmic, the more im­ portant will be the work given. Let us take, for instance, an incident that occurred a few years ago in a small city in California. A woman of leisure with some money at her disposal, and a good heart, being spiritually awakened, suddenly felt the impulse to establish a day nursery in which the little children of mothers who had to work to earn a liv­ ing for their families could be cared for during the day while the mothers were at work. She made her plans and then talked to one or two other women and got their cooperation. Finally the day nursery was started in a vacant house. This woman seemed constantly to receive inspirations as to what to do and how to add constructive features to her plans until, within a year, the nursery had grown to be an important institution. After three or four years of oper­ ation, this day nursery was taking care of from fifty to eighty children a day, and the parents were paying only a small sum a day for each child, as a helpful contribution so that they would not feel that they were receiving charity. The children were not only cared for from seven in the morning until six in the evening, but they were fed two or three meals a day with plenty of wholesome food donated by the various wholesale grocery stores, milk depots, and bakeries. They also had free med­ ical attention and were examined by several trained nurses who volunteered their services. They were entertained each afternoon by volunteer musicians, or young teachers, from a local teachers' college, who were studying to become kindergarten teachers, and a variety of games were sent to the place by toy stores. Clothing of various kinds was also sent by different people in the community. Thus, thirty to fifty women were enabled to go to work each day and earn a living for their families, sometimes because their husbands had been injured and were ill in bed or in hospitals, or because death had taken the breadwinner from the family. These children were being cared for much better than if they were left at home, and yet they were not made to feel that they were recipients of charity. This is a typical example of how the Cosmic uses someone who is qualified for such a thing to carry out its plans and its de­ sires. The life of Thomas Edison was typical of how the Cosmic will use a certain qualified channel to give us specific and neces­ sary improvements and conveniences. Great singers and musicians are thus inspired, but we also often find men and women in the most humble walks of life cosmically inspired to do some little or big thing that constitutes a very valued contribution to the uplift of humanity. Fraternally, YOUR CLASS MASTER

Summary of This Monograph

V V V Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory. U Cosmic Attunement not only brings us better health, enables us to avoid accidents, illness, and many of the trials and tribulations of life, but it also brings greater happiness through service to others. f The satisfaction of being a cosmic channel for the good of mankind is in itself a rich reward. f The triangle with the point down represents the concentration of all the cosmic power focalized to one point on the earth, the lower or focal point of the triangle is the point of concentrated power. 11 Those who keep themselves attuned with the Cosmic are sure to be those who are being used for the special work of the Cosmic here on earth, be that work great or small. f The continuation of peaceful and inspiring exercises will help build up Cosmic Attunement.

The Weekly Application Whatsoever thou resolvest to do, do it quickly. Defer not till the evening what the morning may accomplish.—UNTO THKE I GRANT

Looking at your body as a vehicle for the expression of your soul personality is always a worthwhile exercise. We too often forget our body, taking it for granted, and only giving it attention when we are in pain. We should treat it as we do a child, as our greatest object of affection. We should look at it as a caretaker looks at his charge, as his greatest responsibility. Cleaning, scrubbing, feeding, watering, and exposure to sunshine and fresh air — all in measured proportion — are essential to its well-being. The better the shape of the body, the more joyful will be the life of the soul personality.

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This monograph always remains the property of the Supreme Grand Lodge of A. M. O. R. C. It is not purchased by, but loaned to, the receiving member.

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The Weekly Application Whatsoever thou retolvest to do. do it quickly. Defer not till the evening what the morning may accomplish.—UNTO THEE I GRANT

In addition to the ten- or fifteen-minute exercise to be used in the morning and at night, try the same exercise for a period of one minute sometime during the day. You do not have to sit and time this, of course, but set aside approximately one minute. The longer period suggested in earlier monographs is to give you time to get your concentration and attention in gear, as it were. This is often at the heart of any problem we have with exercises: getting into a frame of mind where our whole attention is on the task at hand. It isn’t that psychic rejuvenation requires time at all. It could be almost instantaneous, if our ability to concentrate were instantaneous. As advanced students, after a few of the longer time periods for warm-ups, you should be able to get to a point of complete concentration more easily. Then you merely have to “sweep” your body, from toe to head, several times in succession, and you should find that completely exhilarating. Furthermore, it will be an exercise you will be more likely to continue since it is of short duration.

Summary of This Monograph V V V Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory. f It is suggested this week that you review an exercise given in the early Degrees. The idea of this exercise is to concentrate your mind, your will, and all of your psychic power upon the inner self of each part of your body until each cell becomes highly vitalized, beginning with the feet and continuing until the head is reached. The reverse process, beginning with the head, is to be used not more than once to every three or four times the other exercise is performed. 1f Analyze and meditate upon your psychic growth, and your ability to concentrate as compared with your efforts of a year and a half ago.

THE INSTITUTION BEHIND THE R O SIC R U C IA N O R G A N IZA TIO N San Jose, California, U. S. A. Rosicrucian Park

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THE CONCURRENCE

This Week’s Consideration of a Famous Opinion V

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C| Now more than ever before, man is realizing the necessity for peace and contentment: That peace and contentment which alone can come from Cosmic Attunement; that peace and contentment to which Jesus and the great Masters of all times referred as being the most sublime of the spiritual attainm ents. One of these great messages of wisdom is given to us in the following selection from the Hindu “Vana Parva” of the Mahabharata: The wise are always contented and the foolish always discontented. There is no end to discontent, and contentment is the highest happiness. People who have reached the perfect way, do not grieve, they are always conscious of the final destiny of all creatures. One must not give way to discontent, for it is like a virulent poison. It kills persons of undeveloped intelligence, just as a child is killed by an enraged snake. That man has no manliness whose energies have left him, and who is over-powered with perplexity when an occasion for the exercise of vigour presents itself. Our actions are surely followed by their consequences. Whoever merely gives him self up to passive indifference (to worldly affairs) accomplishes no good. Instead of murmuring one must try to find out the way by which he can secure exemption from (spiritual) misery; and the means of salvation found, he must then free him self from sensuality. The man who has attained a high state of spiritual knowledge is always conscious of the great deficiency (instability) of all matter. Such a person keeping in view the final doom, (of all), never grieves. -M A H A BH A R A TA

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Beloved Members, Greetings! The reports coming to me from members of this Degree indicate not only a very enthusiastic interest in the monographs, but also a keen interest in what is taking place as a result of these studies. In trying to discover in the letters I have received what might be called the consensus of opinion, or universal comment, I find that the majority agree that a great sense of peace and con­ tentment has come into their lives and that the fear of the future, or the fear of what the future may hold for them, is never given any consideration and does not even seem to make an impression at any time. It is said of Jesus the Christ that he was the great Prince of Peace. If we attempt to find the golden threads throughout his teachings that are stronger or greater than any others, we find two that are perhaps the most important, and these we would label Peace and Love. Surely Jesus did determine that what the world needed, and what the individual needed above everything else, was peace. A secondary, or shall we say an important, condition necessary for this great peace of mind and heart and soul was that of universal love. Jesus did not concern himself very greatly about the prob­ lems that existed between the tribes and nations of people, and when he spoke of "peace" he did not have in mind primarily the unrest, or even the warfare, that existed between the nations. He was speaking more of the unrest in the individual. PROBLEM OF P E A C E

I do not believe it is necessary for me to say to you that, if the soul personality of the individual is at peace and understands the principle of universal love, there will be peace between groups of peoples and nations of peo­ ples. To attempt to establish peace between nations without estab­ lishing peace between the individuals and their contact with the world is impossible. If you will think for a moment you will see how futile it is for our statesmen and diplomats of today to attempt to regulate the unrest throughout the world and establish universal peace in its larger form without making any attempt to bring peace and love into the hearts and consciousness of the individuals who compose these nations. Such method is an attempt to attack the problem, or solve the problem, by beginning at the wrong end, for, after all, the warfare between nations is only an outer manifestation of that which is going on within the individual — and you cannot curb or control the outer manifestation as long as it exists inwardly. We see, therefore, that whereas the great Masters preceding Jesus came to the world with messages of wisdom, illumination, and transcendental mystical comprehension, Jesus came with a message of Peace and Love— and that he considered these far more important. Jesus had the advantage not only of evolution through all preceding incarnations wherein and whereby he had learned of the fundamental problems surrounding man's

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existence, but he also had in his earthly studies in his last incarnation the opportunity to analyze the teachings and ideals of his predecessors and to see wherein they met some of the problems but without striking at the very root of the universal problem. If he, therefore, came to the conclusion that the greatest need of the human soul and mind was that of peace and love we may well feel that it is, after the ultimate analysis, the greatest blessing that can come into the life of the individual. When we speak of peace within the human breast we mean more than a mere freedom from worry or concern regarding the present or the future, for it must include the whole of our existence. It must include the past as well as the present and the future. In order that this may be so, our contentment and sense of peace must be based upon an understanding of our life from the very hour of birth in this incarnation, and it must include an understanding of what we were, or what we probably passed through in previous incar­ nations. The sense of real peace must bring us sublime contentment through an understanding of our place in the universe, our rela­ tionship to God and man, and our contact with all of the earthly as well as spiritual conditions. In order that such understanding may bring us peace and contentment our understanding must not only be complete and well-rounded and profound in its broad aspect, but it also must be free from the fears, the doubts, and the misconcep­ tions that govern the average being. If we look at the other side of the picture we will quickly see what the positive attitude of peace is as compared with the negative attitude. Those who have an unrest within are those who are essentially fearful of the future. The average human being looks upon the past as something that is entirely gone, or as a ghost hidden in a closet which may or may not ever come to life. The average human tries to look upon his past as something that is fairly well buried in oblivion, but should it arise to confront him at any time in the future he will try to meet it by the superior knowledge and the superior conduct of his life which he has expe­ rienced in more recent times. He feels, therefore, that the past is not a really serious problem unless something unexpected should happen, and it is this fear of the unexpected in relation to the past as well as the future that keeps many human hearts at contin­ uous unrest. What if the sins of the future should demand adjust­ ment or compensation? That thought undoubtedly instills more fear in the hearts and minds of human beings than any other. Even the criminal, and the one who is not given to spiritual speculation, fears the unknown element of an unknown law that may demand compen­ sation for past and present sins. Adding to this the doubt as to what the future may hold and what the ultimate goal of his exist­ ence may be, we see that fear is the element which keeps peace from being a positive, dominating factor in the lives of those who do not understand the universal laws and the law of universal love.

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Therefore, the man or woman who is developing a sense of peace and contentment is one who is rising above the misconceptions, the doubts, and the fears that have enslaved man through all ages. Early in our youth we were taught in the classroom that it is the fearless men and the fearless women who can rise to the greatest heights. We were taught the value of bravery. Undoubtedly fear is the greatest stumbling block in the lives of children and adults, and it is most certainly that which prevents the daring exploration of the unknown— and it is the unknown which makes man a coward and holds him from reaching the heights that he may reach. Peace and contentment bring as a natural result a sense of fearlessness and bravery. The mystic who has attained a sense of peace and love, and feels absolute contentment regarding the pres­ ent and the future, is one who is ready to extend and expand his consciousness and enlarge the world in which he lives. He is ready to meet all of its revelations, all of its manifestations, and to rise above those which are undesirable and enjoy to the fullest those which are harmonious. R EV ER SED FORMULA

And therein lies another important key to the value of peace and contentment. This attitude of contentment brings to the individual the greater blessings of life, for it attunes him with the peace that reigns throughout the world in the Cosmic. It brings him joys and pleasures, thrills and ecstasies that the fearful one who is in a state of unrest never experiences. The Buddhists thought that this great state of peace could be attained only by a degree of suspension of earthly con­ sciousness which they called Nirvana. They found that those who had attained the greatest or highest degree of universal peace and contentment within their breasts were generally unconscious of the evil and sins, of the warfare and strife, that surrounded them. This led to the conclusion that if one could shut out the objective world, the corruptible— and live in the incorruptible, then peace would be attained and perfect contentment of life be made manifest. We now know that this formula is reversed, and that before the shutting out from our consciousness of the strife in the world can take place we must first attain peace and contentment, and that we cannot begin by establishing contentment and peace as a steppingstone to a separation from the strife of the world. Therefore, when our members in this Degree say that they are finding the greatest manifestation of their development in the form of peace and contentment, they are frankly admitting that they are entering into what Jesus and the great Masters of all times admit­ ted was the most sublime of the spiritual attainments. In fact there is nothing greater, nothing more wonderful or important to be attained by the adept or by the Master. Everything else begins at this point, everything else radiates from or is attracted to the point of peace and contentment. Could the attainment of wealth bring any greater peace or contentment than that which the poor man or the man in

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medium circumstances experiences if it is sublime peace and con­ tentment? Could the attainment of health, or the luxuries of life, or a high position in the material world, or fame, or honor bring any greater reward or greater blessing to the soul, the heart, and the mind of the individual than absolute peace and contentment? We know that the acquirement of earthly assets does not eliminate the worry and strife that prevent inner peace, but generally adds to the worries and makes peace and contentment less possible. It is the man or woman who can rest in peace and contentment who is able to attract to himself or herself those necessities of life, those rich blessings that will be compatible with the peace and content­ ment within and not disturb this profound peace. In the last exercise given to you, the purpose of the concen­ tration upon the consciousness and the awakening and activating of the Divine Mind in all of the cells and parts of the body was for the development of a greater harmony within, and this leads to greater peace and rest. For this reason I advise that the exercise be continued until I suggest to you another one in the near future. In the meantime, the thoughts given in this talk on peace and con­ tentment should be meditated upon several times each day in order that the objective mind may be trained to sense what the inner spiritual consciousness senses. I may state to you now that you are on the borderline of taking a step into the next plane of con­ sciousness. Nothing has been said to you in any of the previous Degrees of monographs about the different grades of Cosmic Con­ sciousness. This has been reserved for this Degree and we are now about to enter into a discussion of these grades and a system of exercises for the development of the change to these grades. The great Masters of the Cosmic contact us and work through us according to our various grades of Cosmic Consciousness, and those who are in the first grade or first plane of that system of devel­ opment begin their journey through the various planes by starting with a sense of peace and contentment. There are several planes of Cosmic Consciousness. These have nothing to do with any planes of future existence so often referred to in pseudo-metaphysical writ­ ings. I mean by that that when we speak of planes of consciousness we do not mean the planes of future existence that are commonly described in the misleading books published by those who know very little of what they write about. It is true, however, that a plane of Cosmic Consciousness in this earthly life has its relative plane in the future state. A person who passes through transition here on Earth while in the first, second, or third plane of Cosmic Consciousness will dwell in that same plane of Cosmic Consciousness in the hereafter until reincarnation occurs. If transition should occur while the adept is dwelling in the fifth plane of Cosmic Consciousness here on Earth he will continue to be in that fifth plane of Cosmic Consciousness after transition and will not change that plane until in his next incarnation he develops to the next plane.

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You will see that this is a quite different idea from that which is promulgated by those who do not understand the law and who have misinterpreted the very brief and mystical statements that have been made in a few semipublic writings of the great Masters regarding these planes. The great Masters tried to refer to these planes of consciousness or planes of transcendental existence with­ out revealing to the uninitiated or unworthy the real facts. These veiled and guarded statements have been misinterpreted by those who were not qualified to understand them and assumed that in the future existence of man or in his future spiritual existence there were various planes of consciousness through which he passed be­ tween incarnations. They believed that at transition man went into the first plane of consciousness and then gradually passed to the second and then to the third, and so forth, until he had reached the highest of these planes and then was either ready for incarna­ tion again or for some reason remained in the highest of these planes as a master worker in the Cosmic. That is entirely erro­ neous and without any foundation in the universal scheme of things. EVOLUTION M EANS T E S T S

There is no reason for man to make any greater or more rapid progress through the planes of Cosmic Consciousness while in the spiritual realm than he would make here on the earth plane. Furthermore, it is impossible to evolve through these planes of consciousness while living a purely spiritual existence, for the process of evolution requires tests and trials which can be experienced only here on the earth plane. We see, therefore, that whatever progress man makes in the various planes of Cosmic Consciousness must be made here on Earth while in earthly incarnation, and that the period he spends Tn spiritual existence is a temporary suspension of progress in these planes during which he enjoys the rich rewards of the plane that he had attained at the time of his transition. He must come back to Earth again to rise to the next higher plane of Cosmic Conscious­ ness. This, you see, answers the question as to why we reincarnate and what is the purpose of successive lives and cosmic evolution. We have not been able to answer this question in the past to the fullest extent, for it would open the doorway to a discussion of these planes of consciousness and that is what we have wanted to avoid. We did not want our statements to be misunderstood and looked upon as referring to the several planes of existence in the future which the untrained and unknowing writers of today refer to so frequently. May I suggest, therefore, the great value, the great benefit of contemplation and meditation upon the fact that you are now about to enjoy the benefits of the first plane of Cosmic Conscious­ ness. It may be that some of you have already attained this plane and perhaps higher planes of Cosmic Consciousness in a previous incarnation. If that is so, you will soon pass out of this first plane and into the second and third, and reach up to the point or to the plane attained by you in your last incarnation and then will begin to reach to the next

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plane. Later on in this Degree you will learn how you may deter­ mine what plane of consciousness you have reached and what you may do to reach the next higher plane before your transition occurs. But for the moment, or rather for the present time, we will con­ sider that each one of you has just reached the first plane of Cosmic Consciousness. Contemplation upon this, thinking of its significance, and of the scheme of the various planes, will open up marvels of pictures and of impressions to your psychic con­ sciousness. It will help you to understand many of the great mys­ teries of life. In my next lesson with you, I will tell you more about the progressions through these planes that you may have expe­ rienced in the past and will experience in the future. Fraternally, YOUR CLASS MASTER

The Weekly Application Whatsoever thou resolvest to do, do it quickly. Defer not till the evening what the morning may accomplish.—UNTO THEE I GRANT

Aspiring to mastership involves acting like a master. We can study for years, do various exercises to enhance our physical and psychic prowess, and still not feel like m asters. Being a master simply requires acting like a master, whether or not your physical or psychic conditions are up to par. Once you start acting like a master, however, these conditions will soon improve as well. Masters before us have given us the example, so we do not have to look far to see what we should do to act like a master. For this week, take humility. Be humble. Be conscious of being humble. Do not let pride get in your way. Take a back seat to someone close to you. Let them have their say. Let them have their way for a moment. Acknowledge that they may be right. Try not to mold them to your way; let yourself be molded, for a change, to their way. These are acts of humility.

Summary of This Monograph V V V Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory.

f In his teachings, Jesus stressed Peace and Love; the preceding Avatars brought messages of transcendental mystical comprehension. f If the soul personality of the individual is at peace and understands the principle of universal love, there will be peace between groups of peoples and nations. 51 The mystic who feels absolute contentment, regarding the present and the future, is one who is ready to expand his consciousness and enlarge the world in which he lives. 1f Contentment brings greater blessings to the individual and attunes him with the peace that reigns in the cosmic realm. 11 Man does not progress more rapidly through the planes of Cosmic Consciousness while in the spiritual realm; he remains on the plane that he had attained on Earth. We have to reincarnate in order to rise to the next higher plane of Cosmic Consciousness. 11 The process of evolution requires trials which can be experienced only on the earth plane.

This m o n o g ra p h it n o t su b jec t to sa le or p u rc h a se by an y o n e . A sale or p u rc h a se m ay m ake th e seller a n d p u rc h a s e r s u b je c t to civil liab ility .

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This monograph always remains the property of the Supreme Grand Lodge of A. M. O. R. C. It is not purchased by, but loaned to, the receiving member.

THE CONCURRENCE

This Week’s Consideration of a Famous Opinion ^ V

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*J In the Avesta, the Bible of Zarathushtra, the Iranian sage of the sixth century B.C., is presented the idea of God’s attributes as His messengers sent to the human soul to ennoble and redeem, and of the rewards of Heaven and punishments of Hell as from within. The following excerpt from this great writing illustrates the planes of consciousness of the soul: I was lovely and thou madest me lovelier still; I was fair and thou madest me yet fairer; I was desirable and thou madest me still more desirable through this good thought, through this good speech, through this good deed of thine. The first step that the soul of the faithful man made, placed him in the Good-Thought Paradise; the second step placed him in the Good-Word Paradise; the third step placed him in the Good-Deed Paradise; the fourth step that the soul of the faithful man made placed him among the eternal Lights. —ZARATHUSHTRA (Zoroaster), Sixth century B.C.(?)

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Beloved Members, Greetings! Continuing our discussion about the various planes of Cosmic Consciousness, I think it is well to say a few more words about some of the mistaken ideas connected with this subject before proceeding to outline the doctrine of the planes in its complete­ ness. Naturally, the outline of the doctrine does not include any of the negative points regarding misconceptions of it, as it is not presumed that such misconceptions actually exist. In fact, in very few of the countries where mystical teachings are highly evolved do we find such misconceptions of the occult principles as we do in the Western world. The reason for this is not that the Western people are less developed, but that in the Western world we have a big army of misinformed teachers who have rushed into print with books or magazine articles, or have gone into lecturing without being properly qualified, and who are anxious to present their in­ dividual theories and opinions rather than any fundamental truths that they may have learned. In the Eastern lands such teachers would more likely be ignored and have no following, but in the Western world these teachers have a large following. It is because of this situation that there is so much misconception. PLA N ES OF P R O G R E SS

As intimated previously, one of the great misconceptions was that persons in the Western world who had heard of this subject of planes of Cosmic Conscious­ ness thought that it referred to progressive planes, or planes of progressive existence for the soul after transition. Hence, we have a number of teachers of the false doctrine that after transi­ tion the soul personality progresses through a number of such planes before incarnating again.

Now, I stated in the previous monograph that after transition the soul personality does not rise any further than the plane in which the psychic self was functioning here on Earth at the time of transition. Unquestionably the soul personality has an opportunity during any incarnation to develop to a greater degree on whatever plane it happens to be, but it does not go beyond that plane after transition. To make plain what I mean, let us say that one of our present high Degree members who has developed well and reached the fourth plane of Cosmic Consciousness, or is just in the beginning of the fourth plane of Cosmic Consciousness, passes through transition. That person would continue to stay in the fourth plane of Cosmic Consciousness throughout the entire period of Cosmic existence awaiting rebirth. Let us say that that person who passed through tran­ sition was forty years of age. The chances are that if the person had continued here on Earth, and continued to

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study and evolve and develop, that by the forty-third or fortyfifth birthday he would have reached the next plane of Cosmic Con­ sciousness or the fifth plane. However, transition occurred and the soul personality passed into the Cosmic plane during the begin­ ning of its existence in the fourth plane. The soul personality remaining in the Cosmic perhaps seventy-five or a hundred years would remain in that fourth plane all of that time, but upon re­ birth or reincarnation it would soon enter the fifth plane and would begin its earthly studies and development in that plane of consciousness. Now, if this person lived another fifty years on Earth, in that time the soul might pass from the fifth to the sixth or the seventh plane of Cosmic Consciousness, according to how consis­ tently and how thoroughly the person carried on the studies and did everything possible to advance his development. Then might come transition again and it would hold this person in the sixth or sev­ enth plane for another long period awaiting rebirth. I am sure that you grasp the idea now and understand that be­ tween transition and rebirth there is no advancement from one plane to another but merely a long period of waiting until experience and development begin again in another incarnation. The experience that is gained through many incarnations explains why some persons are born with such high development that even as children we can look into their eyes and note their expressions and see what is called an "old soul." Those who have made no progress at all here on Earth into the Cosmic planes of consciousness are living in what are called the "sub-planes" of Cosmic Consciousness. In other words, they are in those planes that are below the first true Cosmic plane. They have occasional psychic experiences and occasional demonstrations of intuition, or possibly only a few such experiences in their whole lives, and they have not awakened or quickened the Cosmic Con­ sciousness within them whatsoever. On the other hand, there are many who are born in the first or second planes of Cosmic Con­ sciousness, having attained this much during their experiences covering ten or fifteen periods of previous reincarnations; that is, through many incarnations they have gradually and slowly picked up a little development without consciously making any effort to do so. In this way dozens of incarnation periods are necessary, for dozens of existences here on Earth are required for such persons to get into even the first plane of Cosmic Consciousness. Otherwise they remain in the sub-planes of which we know very little because the division between them is very indefinite. Once, how­ ever, a person has consciously and intelligently proceeded to enter the Cosmic planes through a definite line of study and a system of procedure such as our organization offers to its members, or other organizations offer in the

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lower degrees of study, the students make rapid progress through the first or second planes of Cosmic Consciousness and may go through these planes in one incarnation. In fact, the very profound student, such as those who have lived in monasteries or in some school devoted to spiritual and psychic development, may pass through the first three planes of Cosmic Consciousness in one earthly existence or within a span of fifty or seventy-five years. But beyond that it is very doubtful whether more than a few highly evolved or especially selected persons ever pass through two planes or three planes of Cosmic Con­ sciousness in one earthly period. In other words, as you advance up the scale of Cosmic planes it is not possible to cover three planes in one earthly existence and then four or five in the next and then six or seven in another, and so forth, until a person is rapidly passing through them because of high development. The fact of the matter is that the higher the development the slower the progress through the higher planes, until the point comes where one whole long earthly existence is necessary to get through a single plane of development. YOUR PLAN E OF ATTAINMENT

1 know precisely what questions have arisen in the minds of each one of you, for I can remember how these questions came to my mind when I first studied this subject. I know that each one of you would like to know in what plane of Cosmic Consciousness you are dwelling at the present time or what plane you have attained through your develop­ ment. I would like to be able to answer that question right now but I cannot; and I do not want you to think that I am promising that I will answer this some time later on. Someday I may be able to tell each of you what plane you are now in and how you attained some of the planes in the past, but I can make no promises at this time. And I want to assure you that I know of no methods outside of the Rosicrucian work that can give you this information or help you in solving this problem. In other words, if through your Rosi­ crucian studies and experiments you do not get this important ques­ tion answered, you need not expect to have it answered in any other way. A few persons of the Orient have attempted to obtain this in­ formation through a study of their horoscopes (attempting to have horoscopes made of their past incarnations) but this did not prove to be of any help and I am sure that none of you will waste your time and money in having astrology attempt to work out this solu­ tion for you.

Of course, there is the possibility of one of the great Masters coming in contact with you during one of your experiences and telling you, or indicating to you with a symbol or sign, just what plane of Cosmic Con­ sciousness you are dwelling in at the present time. Such information would be the most dependable, but you cannot

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do more than humbly plead occasionally for such information and there is no way you can demand it or concentrate for it or hope to extract it out of the Cosmic, for if it is given to you at all it will be given by one of these Masters as a special favor and given for some good reason. Now this is all that I am going to tell you this week for I want you to meditate upon it and contemplate the magnificent scheme of things which makes possible these stages of Cosmic existence or planes of Cosmic contact. In my next talk with you I will tell you some more about them and gradually help you to utilize your experi­ ence in rising to the next plane. Fraternally, YOUR CLASS MASTER

Summary of This Monograph V V V Below is a summary of the important principles of this monograph. It contains the essential statements which you should not forget. After you have carefully read the complete monograph, try to recall as many as you can of the important points you read. Then read this summary and see if you have forgotten any. Also refer to this summary during the ensuing week to refresh your memory.

1f The soul personality does not rise to a higher plane of consciousness above the earthly plane upon which it last functioned, but it does have an opportunity during any incarnation to develop to a greater degree on w hatever plane it happens to be. 1f “Old souls” are those persons who at birth have already attained a highly developed consciousness. ^ Those who have made no progress here on Earth into the planes of Cosmic Consciousness are living in “sub-planes.” H No outside organization or system can tell you w hat is your plane of Cosmic Consciousness. Contact with one of the great Masters may reveal this information. H Contemplate and meditate upon the great scheme of things which makes possible the various stages of Cosmic existence.

The Weekly Application Whatsoever thou resolvest to do, do it quickly. Defer not till the evening what the morning may accomplish.—UNTO THEE I GRANT

A second act of mastership to be exercised this week is kindness. Love others as you love yourself. Return harshness with softness. Return anger with understanding. Be to others as you would have them be to you. Think deeply on this. Visualize yourself in this role, and then act upon it.

Ihis m o n o g ra p h is n o t s u b je c t to sale o r p u rc h a s e by a n y o n e . A sale or p u rc h a s e m ay malte th e seller a n d p u rc h a s e r su b je c t to civil liab ility .

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A M s th e only o rg an izatio n au th o rized to use th e R eg­ iste re d nam e and sym bols, and th e Im p e ra to r has sole rig h t to g ra n t th e use of them to o th e r allied o rg an izatio n s o r m ovem ents.

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THE CONCURRENCE

This Week’s Consideration of a Famous Opinion V

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