rosicrucian digest, june 1937

8/12/2019 Rosicrucian Digest, June 1937

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THE


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T h e R O S I C R U C I A N S U P P L Y B U R E A UR O S I C R U C I A N P A R K S A N J O S E . C A L I F O R N I A


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THE GOLD MOSQUE OF KADHIMAIN

With its scintillating gold dome and vividly colored mosaic facade contrasting with the drab humanity which flows by it, thismosque of Baghdad is a symbol of divine beauty and the imagined magnificence of the after-world. Its grace and elegant lines areheightened, rather than lessened, by its setting of squalor. Beau ty has ever been akin to spiritual things in the mind of man.

{Filmed by AMORC Camera Expedition.)


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HE1EBB3332H T T T ^ H I T

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SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIAKOSICBUCIAN PARK

ROSICRUCIANDIGESTCOVERS THE WORLD

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL ROSICRUCIAN MAGA-ZINE OF T H E WORLDWIDE ROSICRUCIAN ORDER

Vol. XV. JUNE, 1937

SOCRA

No. 5

tRISTOTUE

C O N T E N T S Page

The Gold Mosque of Kadhimain (Frontispiece).. 161The Thought of the Month:

The Truth About Europe.............. 164Balance .......... 166Man, The Mighty Midget___ ____ ___ ____ 167Pages From the Past: Cicero ..... ....................172Along Civilization's Trail (Part V) 175Cathedral Contacts: Windows of the Soul ......... 182One Spring Morning 184The Holy Guide 185Tomorrow's Karma ........................................ 188Summaries of Science:

Is There No Further Need of Philosophy?.... 190The Music of Spring 193Sanctum Musings: Attention.......... 194

The Sacred City (Illustration)..... ................... 197

Subscription to The Rosicrucian Digest, Three Dollars peryear. Single copies twenty-five cents each.

Entered as Second Class Matter at the Post Office at SanJose, California , under the Act of August 24th, 1912.

Changes of address must reach us by the tenth of the monthpreceding date of issue.

Statements made in this publication are not the official ex-pressions of the organization or it3 officers unless stated tobe official communications.

Published Monthly by the Supreme Council of

THE R O S IC R U C I A N O R DE R A M O R C


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TheRosicrucian

Digest

June

1937

FTER an extendedtour through fifteen or more countries on the threecontinents of Europe, Asia and Africa, one cannotfail to come to theconclusion thatEurope, at least, islike an invalidwhose body is improving in generalhealth, while parts

and portions are being tormented anddiseased bv a horrible bacterial agency.That infectious agency is the lying, vil-

lifying, conscienceless, mercenary propaganda of the many newspapers ofeach land including, with few exceptions. our own American papers.

After having read the daily Americanpapers and the weekly and monthlynews magazines for a year or more, andhaving arrived at a very definite picture. or series of pictures, of the situations existing in Europe and parts ofthe near East, I was surprised, as werethe hundred and fifty Rosicrucians traveling with me, to find that conditionswere not as they had been reported,and. worst of all. there were no goodreasons for the absolutely false and distorted. as well as alarming, facts givento the public by the newspapers. And.we found that even the European newspapers were guilty of misrepresentingthe factsdeliberated and with evidentintent to mislead. When we read, forinstance, news items, editorials and feature articles in various European countries, dealing with the political, economic. industrial and social conditions in the

United States, we stood aghast. Thefacts were terribly exaggerated, gen

erally deceptive in conclusions and mostoften manufactured out of the wholecloth.

As we analyzed the situation bygathering first hand information in eachof a score or more cities, and by comparing the often contradictorv statements, it became apparent that the solepurpose of these false reports was toarouse enmity between nations, givevent to jealousies, foster suspicion anddoubt, and awaken into action the desire the seeming necessity for war,and more war. Take the conditions inItaly, for an example. W e had been

duly prepared, by newspaper and magazine reports, to find distrust among theItalian people, a large degree of resentment toward Mr. Mussolini and hisautocratic dictation, and abundant evidence everywhere of oppressive taxation for war preparations coupled withdire poverty and want as a result of the"unfortunate Ethiopian expedition.

Did we find any evidence to supportthese reports? Not at all; not evenamong those classes of persons in Italymost easily affected by such things. Ithink I am safe in saying that every oneof our party of one hundred and fiftyintelligent and observing men andwomen, of every class of human interestand occupation, will agree that we sawand witnessed more peace, more progressiveness, more unified loyalty, moreprosperity and more optimism in Italythan in any of the other countries.

Everywhere in Italy, old buildingswere being torn down and hundreds ofnew large, modernistic homes and business buildings were being erected. Old

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plazas were giving way to new andbeautiful parks. Old railroad stationsand steamship piers were being sup-planted by the most magnificent structtures that one could conceivegeneral-ly more elaborate, beautiful and efficiently arranged than in America.

There were no beggars to be seen;no breadlines, no depressing scenes ofunemployment. As for kindly, courteous treatment, a spirit of friendlinessand good-will toward the tourist, wehad naught but admiration and praisefor what we found everywhere.

If ever a man was loved, admired andkindlv respected by a nation of people,it is Mr. Mussolini. Not the austeretyrant, not the frowning, scowling dic

tator, not the feared and hated man ofoppression, but the truly big brotherand father of his people.

I talked with groups of soldiers justreturning from Ethiopia on two monthsfurloughs. They were a happy crowdindeed, hundreds of them, singing merrily as they left the five ships that hadbrought them back home, and paradingthrough the streets, singing lustily.What made them happy? W e havesteadv employment now, building modern roads and bridges, highways, byways, and buildings in that terriblyprimitive country of Ethiopia. For thefirst time in years all who want employment can have it. Our wages are goodand we have been able to send moremonev home to our families than wehave been able to give them in years.Thanks to II Duce!

If the cities and communities of Italycan spend the millions and millions ofdollars for new buildings, parks, bridgesand even sport and social luxuries thatwe saw in all of the many miles wecovered in that country, its war prepara

tions certainly cannot be taxing everyone to the limit, and the nation cannotbe entering bankruptcy with nothing inits mind but destructiveness, as we havebeen told.

And we saw no threatening battleships anywhere on the many miles ofthe Mediterranean we travelled forthirty days or more. W e saw no parades of soldiers in Italy maneuveringin preparation for war. W e saw Mr.Mussolini move about the city of Rome

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and elsewhere without the army ofguards to protect him. W e saw himin his official palace, a pleasant, happy,magnetic leader, whose very smile isworshipped by millions who adore him.W e heard only two cannon shots in ourmonths of travelboth of them peaceful time signals.

The truth about Mr. Mussolini andhis power for maintaining peace in Europe has not been told in America, andthe beauty, safety, friendliness and thrillof traveling in Italy has not been told.

Yet, even as I sat in a private homein the Alps pondering over the diabolical lies published in the world-wideforms of news propaganda, I turned ona radio station in America and heard

the news reporter deliberately falsify areport of what had occurred in Italy theday before.

In Germany one sensed a fear of acoming war, but it was quite evidentthat the stories told of Mr. Hitler andhis actions have been falsified and deliberately misrepresented. W e foundSynagogues in peaceful operation. W efound Jews and Roman Catholics attending their churches without any interference. One elderly Rabbi wasstartled when I told him of the reputedpersecution of the Jews in Germany. Hetold me, with joyous quiverings of hislips, My people do not report suchthings, I cannot believe them. I havelost no members of my congregation,and have had the normal growth.

W e found even some of the European newspapers deliberately misquoting what Mr. Mussolini had said to arepresentative of the Austrian government, and we found no enmity betweenthe peoples of Germany, Switzerland,Austria and Italy.

There is but one sure result to comefrom this deceitful newspaper propaganda. In most cases the leading newsitems in each paper are controlled bythe personal opinion of either the editoror publisher. If he, sitting in his distantoffice, develops an opinion of what isgoing on, thousands of miles away, thatopinion becomes the accepted opinion ofthousands or millions. If he has somepersonal grudge against individual ornation, that grudge becomes the hatredof thousands. And, if he has some mer


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TheRosicrucian

DigestJune1937

cenary interest in the advancement ofworld unrest, world suspicions and war,then thousands and millions of mindsare disturbed and made ready to antic-ipate war.

But, the very worst effect of such

propaganda lies in the fact that many,if not most of these newspapers, havean international circulation. Th e falseand misleading stories we read in manyAmerican newspapers and magazines

were not written so much for home con-sumption, as to arouse the hatred, en-mity and fighting spirit of the peoplebeing criticized. This, then, becomes thecause of wars and conflicts. It is a sadstate of affairs, but until the newspapers

are forced by some law, or some plan,to adhere to the truth in internationalaffairs, there can be no internationalpeace.

V V V

Balance

By So r o r E l i z a b e t h E. P o m e r o y

ALANCE is thatpoint of neutralitybetween two op-posing forces. It isneither an activenor a passive con-dition, but a con-dition where thetwo extremes areheld in some rela-tion with each

other and passover into eachother forming a

third which is equally of both butneither.

All life and consciousness has thesethree modes of manifestation, or threevarying aspects to one unit of conscious-ness^the triangle with the underlyingunity.

W e are not so conscious of the bal-ance aspect. It seems to manifest to usmore as a wavering between the twoextremes. Only momentarily do we ex-

perience equilibrium.As long as there is manifestation, we

shall be more conscious of the active andoutgoing aspect, since the law of Natureis change, and motion is synonomouswith change.

And, then, there is that which mustbe acted upon, affected or changed, thatwhich is passive and receptive, that intowhich the positive passes and exists.

Somewhere between these two polesactive and passive, positive and nega-

tivethere is the place where equiposeis displayed, a place where the opposingforces are equal and balanced.

All life is consciously or unconsciouslyseeking this state of equilibrium. It isthe place of tranquility. It is the Bud-dhists Nirvana, that place of completerest and freedom from all disturbingemotions, a place inert and wrapped insublime meditation.

Men have ever striven to incorporate

the idea of balance into their daily liv-ing. The Wise Men of old taught andexpounded the Middle Pathneitherthe one extreme nor the other, but themiddle path where dwell peace, safety,contentment; neither pleasures so ex-travagant that they intoxicate the mind,nor sorrows so deep they blast all sweet-ness and beauty in the garden of life;but that place that views all with asteady and equal eye.

But the scales of life are prone to tipfar forward and back. Our natures arebattlegrounds for extremes of feelingsand emotions, called up by intense situa-tions in our human lives. From thehighest emotion of which we are capablewe sink of necessity to the correspond-ing lowest; but, in so doing, we mustencounter that propitious moment, nomatter at what level, where all caresfall away and we rest in completewholeness. It is a strange and mysteri-ous moment, neither conscious nor un-conscious, but still and deep and com-plete, a momentary Nirvana.

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Man, the Mighty Midget

ByF r a t e r W i l l i a m H. M c K e g g , F. R. C.

Attempting to be more than Man we become less.William Blake.

HAT are we andwhat not?

This was thee v e r enigmaticalquestion constantly asked by thea n c i e n t G r e e kphilosophers, theforemost of whom,after being foundworthy of initiation into the Mysteries, studied inE g y p t a t t h eTemples.

A student of today might study thewisest of Greeks only to find himselfstill wondering on their seemingly unanswerable question: What is Man?

A dream about a shadow is man,mused Pindar; yet when some god-given splendor falls, a glory of lightcomes over him and his life is sweet.

Carefully reading this statement, untilits inner meaning shines forth, weunderstand one very important Truth.Man, as man, is but a shadow of someInner Self. When this Inner Powerrises into full functioning, the materialman experiences a Godlike glory.

Practically all there is to know of manwas expounded to initiates of the ancient Egyptian mystery schools. Happyare those who have experienced theMysteries. They know the beginningand the end of life, is another Pin-darian conclusion. The hidden wisdom

imparted to the worthy the means of returning to the right start in life; for theouter world had distorted Thought andTruth. M ans only knowledge was thathe was born, lived as best he could, thendied. It is the average person's knowledge even today.

The average person seeking into theoccult world imagines sudden great rewards because he proves he is a seeker.He feels above the rest of mankind. Heyearns to get beyond himself and theworld. He is no longer a mere man. Tohimself, he is something greater, higher,above humanity. Or so he fondlyfancies.

Contrary to his belief, it is only byand through physical senses that theseeker beholds gleams of Eternity.Only while on earth, as man, does helearn Truth.

Lavater wrote much occult knowledgein his Aphorisms On Man. The dis

covery of truth, by slow progressivemeditation, is wisdom Intuition oftruth, not preceded by perceptible meditation, is genius. Every Rosicrucianstudent comes eventually to understandthis. Our early studies help us to develop our psychic functioning, thesenses of our inner selves, so theywill work with a rapidity of perception.Intuitionis the secret of all occult knowledge. Lavater stresses the fact that Intuition and Genius are one and the samething. He knows himself greatly who

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Intuition has guided us on our earthlyand spiritual evolution. By aviation, wehave conquered Space. By radio andtelevision, we have conquered Time andSpace. Imagination had first to formdesign for these scientific inventions.

For that design there had to be alreadyan archetypal design to guide mans intuition, in order that a material manifestation could be produced.

From the Mind of man from Mind,that mysterious power of all occult powers!the world has been led to freshknowledge, new achievements. By whatwe call Mind, man is able to lead himself from average knowledge to Universal Knowledge.

There is something appalling in theinfinitude of knowledge, writes MarieCorelli in her strange romance The Soul

of Lilith, an infinitude which must remain infinite, if it be true that there is aGod who is for ever thinking and whosethoughts become realities.

Also in the same book, she says: Ifwe choose to make evil, it exists till wedestroy itgood we cannot make, because it is the very breath of the Universe, but we can choose to breathe in itand with it.

These statements are gems of Rosi-crucian philosophy, as are all the goldentruths we come across in Miss Corellis

occult romances.Knowledge is infinite. The human

mind is likewise infinite. Its functioningexpands as the intellectual and the spiritual understanding of the human raceexpand.

W e learn first through Intellect. Secondly, we experience that knowledgethrough Emotion. Christianity was expounded by the Master Jesus. For 2000years the human race has learnt itstenets, intellectually. Only today, afterthe lessons have been digested, is man

kind feeling the actuality of Christsteachings, emotionally.Passing down through the ages we

see various phases of intellectual andemotional expansion undergone by theraces on earth. The Norsemen typified

The Valor. The Greeks held up Beauty asRosicrucian ideal in life. The Romans stood for

Justice. Most of the religions before thecoming of the Master Jesus were intellectual religions. Only the Egyptianand Brahmanic stressing respectively

Digest

June

1937

Aspiration and Spiritualitywere forerunners of Christianity. Confuciustaught Reverence. Buddha preachedEmancipation. Mahomet urged Faith.While Zoroaster, one of the greatest ofall adepts, fostered Purity.

Not one of these forms of religiousthought could be properly experiencedemotionally until the Master Jesus appeared and gave as his keynoteLove.

I have heard moderns say that ancientphilosophy is out of date. Christianityshould be modernized. And some ofthem set about to do this, losing quicklythe spirit of the original.

In the mechanic arts, says FrancisBacon, reporting on the fact that phi-lophy comes down from Master toscholar, "the case is otherwisethesecommonly advancing toward perfection

in a course of daily improvement, from arough unpolished state, sometimes prejudicial to the first inventors, while philosophy and the intellectual science are,like statues, celebrated and adored, butnever advanced; nay, they sometimesappear more perfect in the originalauthor, and afterwards degenerate.

Why is it that one man, one philosopher, should offer to the world wisdomso advanced that even to regard itcauses confusion, and bewilders ourthoughts by calling attention to the little

knowledge we already possess?Men are not equal. And well it isthat this be so. An equanimity of mindand social standing would produce afrustration, a stagnation to progress.W e should be forced to wait for a newexample, a new man to appear in ourmidst, so that advancement could become actual and active.

In an organic cell, a man, a race, acountry, there is a moment when theInner Mind projects itself and meldswith the outer self. The Unconsciousbecomes Conscious. Th e spirit stirs.The seeker for Truth experiences thisawakening from time to time.

To the man who thinks, the world isComic. T o the man who feels, theworld is Tragic. It has well been saidthat to think and to feel is to know andsense the tragi-comedy in the Earthslife. The Comic Spirit in the worldgoes with mans common sense. For agenius to have common sense, is to seethe perfected human being.

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As a man reveals himself to himself,so does he approach nearer the Divine.To know himself and the earth on whichhe dwells, is to know God. First , hemust go through his struggle of adjustment, casting off the old ideas and employing the new.

Mans genius forever tempts him withthe fabled offer of Persian loreNewLamps for old! Discarding the old falseideas for Truth enables man to enterthe new earth, and its secrets are his.Life becomes True Life.

The Earth's Hymn can be heard andlearnt only when man hears and learnsthe song of his Inner Self. The GreatMusician has given us means to masterhis Cosmic Song. W e alone may chooseto do so. Our mistakes are good: they

teach us how wrong we have been. Asman changes, so changes the earth. Asthe earth changes, so change the stars.Those of us who have seen the greatupheavals reflected through our worldare the ones who will face the greatglory at the worlds rebirth.

The Cosmic Law works throughminds receptive to Cosmic Guidance.The Earth-Breath is the Water of Life,of the True Inner Life, unseen by outersight. All seekers are led by this onefact. Feeling within themselves there is

some Divine Plan in Life on Earth, butfacing futility and sorrow, yet strugglingagainst all obstacles towards the unseengoal, make men and women heroic andsublime, in which they prove their ownGod-head.

There must be the teachers and thepupils; the wise men of Art and the students. Education must become Initiation. Then individual man becomesaware of his divine relationship with theworld and the universe and all they containthe planets and stars above all,

with the Spirit of God which manifestsin material form for our enlightenment.The State, the Man and Understand

ingthese are the three connections tograsp. Every country should be an Im~peratorial State. Man is himself a king.He may, in his individual greatness, become the Imperial head of a State, thevoted representative man of the moment.If the spiritual mood is working throughthe mass, we may be sure it has alreadyfound a manifested form in one individual. And he it is whose right and

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place make him worthy of precedence.The rest copy him, and also advance.

For this very reason, every man oughtto know his own country, its historicaltradition and the Cosmic design behindits national spirit. Man should servehis state as he serves his God . To render to God our personal self along withthe spiritual, is the grander vision ofrendering to the State our practicalideals and progressive support.

The great English statesman Burke-led the British race to see the ideal behind the form of Britainlife based onJustice and Freedom, as later forced onthe world by the colonists in the newlyformed America.

Each man learns through his own experience. He knows only as much as

he is capable of possessing. He advancesonly according to his aptitude for knowledge and learning. If he places his owngod in power, he must still be held inbondage to his own ignorance. Thetruly Free Man is the man of wisdom.His understanding of the country inwhich he lives guides him, and his mindreceives back the flow of statesmanshipreflected in the appointed leader of hisnation.

W e have with us now and then forthese movements invariably die of in

ertia!so-called schools of spiritual wisdom which inform their followers theycan show them a swift way to heaven.One particular body declared it couldinstruct the average pupil on how to attain ascension. It is vague, even thoughtwenty-five dollars a month is very definite. Where would they ascend to?

Spiritual attainment cannot be taughtfor so much a lesson. The student ismerely guided. It is for him to followinstructions of a worthy organizationand work out his life in a normal,natural manner. Yelling at the Cosmicto do this or that for you is as uselessas trying to get beyond humanity.

To divorce yourself from your everyday life, from the nation in which youlive, is to distort all inner visionforyou have destroyed the veil of matterupon which visions of Eternity are being cast.

Behind each man, each country, thereis a Spiritual movement. Because manfrequently prevents the manifestation ofthat movement, he by no means brings


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TheRosicrucian

DigestJune1937

about a definite end to its working.There may be a delay in its functioningbut, as a Cosmic Law, it becomes manifest.

Christianity has been slowly cominginto perfection. The inner Spirit of the

American nation is only now about tobe reflected in every true American manand woman, as our President has declared.

W hy are we here? W hat are we?The student who essays to fly beyond

matter is useless. He is no use to himself; of still less use to the God hefancies he so rightfully serves. Heagrees that God created the world, buthis indifference to such a Divine Creation is insulting.

Man constantly asks why he exists,

who he is and what he will become.These are eternal questions which manobstinately refuses to solve. He callsfor a new lamp of quidance but won'tgive up the old one!

The majority of newcomers into Rosicrucian study are of this category. Theyenter with the fixed belief that initiationbestows upon them immediate magic.The world, the entire universe, open uptheir secrets for the asking. These students feel they should be taught certainwords which, when uttered, cause wonders to occur.

Indeed, there are many wonders forus to experience on the Path, but theycome about according to natural lawand the students own inner development. Yet the newcomer -wants rightaway to be more than man. And he isdisappointed and set in doubt when nosuch thing is achieved.

I have heard people boast of beingfar above the rest of us. They are quiteproud of their self-declared purity andspirituality. The man or woman whoboasts of being pure and holy is the per

son to keep a weather eye on. Theirrepeated affirmations mean they knowthey are anything but what they declare. As William Blake well puts it:Men are admitted into Heaven not because they have curbed & governd theirPassions or have No Passions, but because they have Cultivated their Understandings. The Treasures of Heavenare not Negations of Passion, but Realities of Intellect, from which all the Passions Emanate Uncurbed in their Eter

nal Glory. The Fool shall not enterinto Heaven let him be ever so Holy.Holiness is not The Price of Entranceinto Heaven."

To declare the lower self no longerexists is only a fallacy. It always exists.

Only by holding fast to that which isgood do we become allied to that goodness. Ramakrishna Paramahausa (1835-1886), the Indian mystic, told his followers how to get rid of the lower self.The blossom vanishes of itself as thefruit grows, so will your lower selfvanish as the divine grows in you."

If we set about to become rebornspiritually, all is granted us. Nothingcan be done overnight. Our Rosicrucian philosophy teaches us constantlyone great Truth: study, learn, and work.If we cannot put into action our loftiestideals, our beliefs, then we are uselessin life.

Some students crave to contact theGreat Masters . They somehow believethat only when out of their physicalbodies, flying through the air to farplaces, can this be done. W e all hopeto be worthy of such contacts. Ourgreatest encouragement rests in the factthat the Masters have ever used Manas their instruments, not angels. Theirown perfection has come about throughtheir having lived as Man and learnt the

secrets of Nature.W e might long to hear what the

Music of the Spheres sounds like. Butthere is the immortal music of Beethovenand Wagner to appease our longing.Perhaps no other musician has broughtto earth the music of heaven as hasWagner, especially in the Magic FireMusic of the last act of The Valkyries." Da Vinci's paintings, and thoseof Raphael, are gleams of Eternitycaught in time and space. Michelangelo's sculptures and Frescoes give

forth Eternal Truths. So long as theylast, so long will aspiring man step onward.

Mme. Curie did more good for herfellowmen with her scientific studies,putting into effect the secrets of Nature,than had she closed herself from theworld and mankind in general. W e havesuch great minds as Einstein, Millikanand Ouspensky men who surely advance the race by their thinking anddiscoveries of spiritual Truths in ma

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terial form. Our duty is to reveal Truthin our lives for others to see and follow if we feel we ought to advance mankind according to the word of Christ.

The C o sm ic M in d ha s workedthrough our teachers, the poets andscientists of mankind. Each has beenbut a midget in size compared to theunlimited space of the Cosmos. Yet thewonders of Eternity have been producedthrough that midget. For this is theLaw of evolution, both spiritual and material. It is individual evolution. Theman experiences within himself thewonders of Eternity. It is the meansof our advancement. It is the very purpose of Gods creation.

The Rosicrucians, perhaps above allother seekers, have understood the best

ways of becoming channels throughwhich Cosmic Wisdom flows. In herfascinating romance, The Young Di-ana/ Marie Corelli refers to them.Light is Life. Lightand the twinportion of Light, Fire. The Rosicrucians have come nearer than any otherreligious sect in the world to the comprehension of things divine.

Miss Corelli mentions also that manhas five senses (Touch, Taste, Sight,Hearing and Smell). He should reallyhave seven, if he fosters Intuition and

Instinct, which are more important thanall the others as the means of communicating with his surroundings. W e haveseven tones of music, seven tones ofcolor. There should be also seven raysof light.

Today we are delving deeply intothe study of Light and Color. It is

timely, for mans development and theearths development have reached stagesof progress where new revelations areto be put into effect, emotionally.

All things come from Fire. Fire isthe generative element, wise old Hera

clitus wrote, and from its transformations all things are born. Condensedfire becomes steam; steam becomeswater; water, through further condensation, becomes earth.

W e are now learning that Light isLife! Fire, the twin portion of Light, isnot the fire of darkness, but the Spiritual Fire of real Life. It is this DivineFlame of celestial Fire which has beenburning away all the dross of the world.Like the Phoenix, man and the earthare rising anew from the ashes of false

hood, while the heavens themselves reflect this rebirth.

If we wish to seek what we are, letus first seek to live as we area portion of the Eternal manifest as Man. Donot let us try to sidetrack existence, forit is while on earth that the midget manbecomes Man the Mighty. A grain ofsand is comparable to a universe in aspiritual sense, though materially it isnot so. Though we are but a "dreamabout a shadow, let us give ourselvesmoments of Splendor.

If we seek to learn what man is, donot let us flee from the class-room oflife. All too frequently, to the distractedmind of him who essays to be more thanman,the more he aspires to heaven,the closer he gets to the earth!

In attempting to become more thanMan he becomes less.

L

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

Do not forget the opening date of the Rosicrucian Convention in San Jose, California,is Sunday, July 11 and the Convention lasts one week, or until July 17. During this interval, there is never a dull moment. Each hour of the day is filled with instructive lectures, demonstrations, social activities, exchange of ideas and recreation. From variousparts of the world and every state of the union and every province of Canada, Rosicrucian students will converge on San Jose. All will eventually return home feeling muchbenefited by their week of study, preparation and association.

You Rosicrucians who have not had the opportunity of association with others of likemind, will find here at the Rosicrucian Convention, men and women of every walk of life,of the professional and the business world. You will have an opportunity to comparenotes, find out how others have solved the same problem you now confront with theuse of the same knowledge and facilities that you have. If it requires a small sacrificeto come to San Jose for the National Convention, you will find the sacrifice well made.It will be an event you will never forget. Prepare now.

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P A G E Sfrom the

r 'w y r y r '^ rw ^ y r ^ y r ^ '^ ^ r - w 'w ^ r^ r ' w ^ ^ ^ r ^ r ^ - w

CICEROEach month we will present excerpts from the writings of famous thinkers and teachers

of the past. These will ive our readers an opportunity of knowing their lives through thepresentation of those writings which typify their thoughts. Occasionally such writings willbe presented through the translation or interpretation of other eminent authors of the past.

This month we present excerpts from the work of Cicerowriter, orator and statesman.

Cicero was born at Arpinum in 106 B. C. He was the son of a Roman knight who possessed an estate at Arpinum and property in Rome, and most of his boyhood was spent atthese two places. Hi3 studies began early: the poet Achias inspired nim with a love ofliterature and. through the teachings of Phaedrus, he became impressed by the Epicureanphilosophy. After studying dialectic, rhetoric and law, and expressing his literary interests 1through verse writing and translation from Greek authors, he began his forensic career at j the age of twenty-five. 4

The history of his l ife includes two unhappy marriages and features an ambitious poli tical 4career during which he attained the consulship and was once sent to govern Cilic ia; but 4his successes were interspersed with periods when he found himself deserted by his sup- 4porters, and even forced into exile. It is said that many of his failures were due to his in- 4consistencies, others to his excessive optimism and belief that he wras exert ing a good in- 4fluence (as with Caesar and, later, with Octavian), which traits made him easy to deceive. 4Running parallel to this was his forensic career, marked by many celebrated speeches of 4defense and prosecution. He affected a rhythmical prose, utilized the weapon of exaggera- 4tion which was permitted to Roman orators, was a master of pathos and invective, and 4was considered the wit of the period. However, many thought his speeches were studded 4with an excessive number of jokes, and it is said that he never could resist a pun. 4

During his travels he studied philosophy at Athens and in Asia, and he always turned 4to this subject and to his wr iting at times of political disappointment. Many of his works 4show little originality, and some of them are confessedly translations and compilations; 4so that critics consider his chief merits the invention of a philosophical terminology for 4the Romans, the production of manuals which have had an enduring influence because of jtheir beauty of style, and the famous Letters. These compilations are considered the chiefsource of information concerning that era and include 100 letters written by other personsand presenting a great variety of style.

In the year 43 B. C. his political sympathies caused him to be placed on the proscribedlist and on December 7 he wa3 beheaded by Antonys soldiers. He had attempted to escapeon a ship but, being cast back by unfavorable winds he returned to his villa saying: Letme die in the country which I nave often saved. His hands and head were nailed to therostra in Rome after Antonys wife had thrust a hairpin through the tongue!

Cicero's literary works are classed as rhetorical, oratorical, philosophic, political, and ]epistolary- Aside from his Letters, some of his best liked works are: de Republica 4(which contains the famous, prophetic Dream of Scipio often compared to the Vision 4of Er " in Platos "Republic) De Finibus, De Deorum Natura and "Tusculanae Dis- 4putationes. From this last named work we have chosen a few quotations on the subject 4of immortality from the section entitled In Contempt of Death. 4

TheRosicrucianDigestJune1937

HE first thing, then,is to inquire whatdeath, which seems

to be so well un-derstood, really is;for some imaginedeath to be the de-parture of the soulfrom the body;others think thatthere is no suchdeparture, but thatsoul and body per-ish together, and

that the soul is extinguished with thebody. Of those who think that the souldoes depart from the body, some believe

in its immediate dissolution; others fancythat it continues to exist for a time; andothers believe that it lasts forever.

But the greatest proof of all is, thatnature herself gives a silent judgment infavor of the immortality of the soul, in-asmuch as all are anxious, and that toa great degree, about the things whichconcern futurity; One plants that fu-ture ages shall enjoy, as Statius saidin his Synephebi. W hat is his object in

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doing so, except that he is interestedin posterity? Shall the industrious hus-bandman, then, plant trees the fruitof which he shall never see? and shallnot the great man found laws, institu-

tions and a republic? What does theprocreation of children implyand ourcare to continue our names'and ouradoptionsand our scrupulous exact-ness in drawing up willsand the in-scriptions on monuments, and panegyr-ics, but that our thoughts run on futur-ity? There is no doubt but a judgmentmay be formed of nature in general,from looking at each nature in its mostperfect specimen; and what is a moreperfect specimen of man, than thosewho look on themselves as born for theassistance, the protection, and the pres-ervation of others?

What will you say? what do youimagine that so many and such greatmen of our republic, who have sacrificedtheir lives for its good, expected? Doyou believe that they thought that theirnames should not continue beyond theirlives? None ever encountered death fortheir country, but under a firm per-suasion of immortality! Themistoclesmight have lived at his ease; so mightEpaminondas; and, not to look abroadand amongst the ancients for instances,

so might I myself. But somehow orother, there clings to our minds a cer-tain presage of future ages; and thisboth exists most firmly and appearsmost clearly, in men of the loftiestgenius and greatest souls. Take awaythis, and who would be so mad as tospend his life among toils and dangers?I speak of those in power. W hat arethe poets views but to be ennobled afterdeath? .. .Why do I mention poets? thevery mechanics are desirous of fameafter death. Why did Phidias include a

likeness of himself in the shield of Min-erva, when he was not allowed to in-scribe his name on it? W ha t do ourphilosophers think on the subject? Dothey not put their names to those verybooks which they write on the contemptof glory? If, then, universal consent isthe voice of nature, and if it is the gen-eral opinion everywhere, that those whohave quitted this life are still interestedin something; we must also subscribe tothat opinion. And if we think that menof the greatest abilities and virtue see

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most clearly into the power of nature,because they themselves are her mostperfect work; it is very probable that, asevery great man is especially anxious tobenefit posterity, there is something of

which he himself will be sensible afterdeath.

But as we are led by nature to thinkthere are gods, and as we discover, byreason, of what description they are, soby the consent of all nations, we areinduced to believe that our souls sur-vive; but where their habitation is, andof what character they eventually are,must be learned from reason. ..

But I return to the ancients. Theyscarcely ever gave any reason for theiropinion but what could be explained by

numbers or definitions. It is reported ofPlato, that he came into Italy to makehimself acquainted with the Pytha-goreans: and that when there, amongstothers, he made an acquaintance withArchytas and Timaeus, and learnedfrom them all the tenets of the Pytha-goreans; and that he not only was ofthe same opinion with Pythagoras con-cerning the immortality of the soul, butthat he also brought reasons in supportof it; .. .

What kind of sight do you imagine

that will be, when the whole earth islaid open to our view? And that, too,not only in its position, form, and boun-daries, nor those parts of it only whichare habitable, but those also that lieuncultivated, through the extremities ofheat and cold to which they are ex-posed; for not even now is it with oureyes that we view what we see, for thebody itself has no senses; but (as thenaturalists, aye, and even the physi-cians assure us, who have opened ourbodies, and examined them), there arecertain perforated channels from theseat of the soul to the eyes, ears, andnose; so that frequently, when eitherprevented by meditation, or the force ofsome bodily disorder, we neither hearnor see, though our eyes and ears areopen, and in good condition; so that wemay easily apprehend that it is the soulitself which sees and hears, and notthose parts which are, as it were, butwindows to the soul; by means ofwhich, however, she can perceive noth-ing, unless she is on the spot, and ex-erts herself. How shall we account for


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the fact, that by the same power ofthinking we comprehend the most dif-ferent things; as color, taste, heat, smell,and sound? which the soul could neverknow by her five messengers, unlesseverything was referred to her, and shewere the sole judge of all. And we shallcertainly discover these things in a moreclear and perfect degree when the soulis disengaged from the body, and hasarrived at that goal to which natureleads her, for at present, notwithstand-ing nature has contrived, with the great-est skill, those channels which lead fromthe body to the soul, yet they are, insome way or other, stopped up withearthy and concrete bodies; but whenwe shall be nothing but soul, then noth-ing will interfere to prevent our seeingeverything in its real substance, and inits true character. . .

... Not that I see any reason why theopinion of Pythagoras and Plato maynot be true; but even although Platowere to have assigned no reason for hisopinion (observe how I esteem theman), the weight of his authority wouldhave borne me down; but he hasbrought so many reasons, that he ap-pears to me to have endeavored to con-vince others, and certainly to have con-vinced himself.

But there are many who labor on the

other side of the question, and condemnsouls to death, as if they were criminalscapitally convicted; nor have they anyother reason to allege why the immor-tality of the soul appears to them to beincredible, except that they are not ableto conceive what sort of thing the soulcan be when disentangled from thebody; just as if they could really forma correct idea as to what sort of thingit is, even when it is in the body; whatits form, and size, and abode are; sothat were they able to have a full view

of all that is now hidden from them in aliving body, they have no idea whetherthe soul would be discernible by them,or whether it is of so fine a texture thatit would escape their sight. Let thoseconsider this, who say they are unableto form any idea of the soul withoutthe body, and then they will see whether*they can form any adequate idea ofwhat it is when it is in the body. For

my own part, when I reflect on thenature of the soul, it appears to me afar more perplexing and obscure ques-tion to determine what is its characterwhile it is in the body, a place which, asit were, does not belong to it. than toimagine what it is when it leaves it, andhas arrived at the free aether, which is,if I may say so, its proper, its own habi-tation.

..I think I can account for the mannerin which the blood, and bile, andphlegm, and bones, and nerves, andveins, and all the limbs, and the shapeof the whole body, were put togetherand made; aye, and even as to the soulitself, were there nothing more in it thana principle of life, then the life of a manmight be put upon the same footing asthat of a vine or any other tree, andaccounted for as caused by nature; forthese things, as we say, live. Besides,if desires and aversions were all thatbelonged to the soul, it would have themonly in common with the beasts; but ithas, in the first place, memory, and that,too, so infinite, as to collect an absolutecountless number of circumstances,which Plato will have to be a recollec-tion of a former life; for in that bookwhich is inscribed Menon, Socrates asksa child some questions in geometry, withreference to measuring a square; his

answers are such as a child would make,and yet the questions are so easy, thatwhile answering them, one by one, hecomes to the same point as if he hadlearned geometry. From whence Soc-rates would infer, that learning is noth-ing more than recollection; and thistopic he explains more accurately, in thediscourse which he held the very day hedied; for he there asserts that any onewho seeming to be entirely illiterate, isyet able to answer a question well that isproposed to him, does in so doing mani-

festly show that he is not learning itthen, but recollecting it by his memory.Nor is it to be accounted for in anyother way, how children come to havenotions of so many and such importantthings, as are implanted, and as it weresealed up in their minds, (which theGreeks call ennoiai) unless the soul be-fore it entered the body had been wellstored with knowledge.

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Along Civilizations Trail

By R a l p h M. L e w i s , K. R. C.

Editors Note:This is the fifth episode of a narrative by the Supreme Secretary relatingthe experiences he and his party had in visiting mystic shrines and places in Europe and theancient world.

PROPHECY DAY IN THE GREAT PYRAMID

H O U G H a n e x -tremely invitingbreakfast had beenprepared for us, wewere not in a mood

for the considera-tion of food. Whatlay ahead of uso c c u p i e d o u rt h o u g h t s . A l lthrough our trav-els there had beenin the back of ourconsciousness the

thought of the Great Pyramid andSeptember 16, 1936, the eventful dayprophesied by the Pyramid itself tohave a tremendous future effect uponthe races of mankind and our present

civilization. Even as we hurriedly ateand glanced through a Cairo news-paper we observed that the press of thatcity had taken cognizance of September16 and, in a long article, quoted differ-ent authorities interpretations of thesymbolism of the Great Pyramid withrespect to this particular day.

Sheike Abdul, our personal guide,called for us in a modern automobile ofAmerican make in which we placed ourvarious cinema equipment, tripod, cam-era, accessories, lens, films, filters, and

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then crowded ourselves in as well. W ewere soon speeding toward the GreatPyramids.

Of course, from what one has readand pictures one has seen, one realizes

that the Pyramids are the greatest edi-fices ever built by ancient manas faras we now have knowledge of the pastand that they are massive structurestoday, even in comparison with the sky-scrapers and big buildings of our mod-ern cities. But this realization is nothingto the actual experience of seeing them.As one approaches they grow monstrousand seem to loom out of the very sandsupon which they are erected. Mostpaintings of the Great Pyramids makethem seem very colorful, yet in the glar-ing sun, even in the early morning, to

the eye they are white with just a slighttint of yellow. They reflect the brilliantsunlight on the sands.

The Pyramids are built on a greathigh plateauthe plateau of the Sahara.They are not on the Delta region of theNile. In a sense, in their present stateof preservation they appear crude, likean enormous pile of gigantic blockstumbled upon each other and assuming,it seems, by accident the general shapeof the Pyramid. But this impression isonly gained when one is close to them.


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From a position close to them thereseems to be little difference in size between the Great Pyramid of Cheopsand the Pyramid of Chephren.

As one starts to walk about the baseof the Cheops Pyramid there soon

dawns upon him the realization that itdoes, as estimated, cover an area ofsome thirteen acres. The great sandstone blocks of which it is composed areabout the shoulder height of an averageman. For a height of about fifty or sixtyfeet around the entire Pyramid, thegreat blocks are quite jagged and protrude. Above that, with the exceptionof the one corner or side of the Pyramid which is exposed toward the opendesert, the sides are quite smooth andalmost inaccessible. The exposed corner, however, has been whipped by theelements and the sands for years, and itis so jagged that its blocks form a natural stairway or steps to the apex. Itwould seem as though it would be quitesimple to ascend the Pyramid by thismeans, yet to the inexperienced it is atedious task. Native Arab boys for afew piastres willingly race to the topand return in the short time of sevenminutes.

The top of the Great Pyramid is nowflat, but originally had a gold apex, portions of which were removed at differ

ent intervals in the past. It is said thatthe remainder of the gold was removedduring Napoleons invasion of Egypt.In fact, from below one can see aslender mast rising from the top. Thissteel mast, it is said, was affixed to thetop of the Great Pyramid by Napoleonand from it flew the French flag duringhis occupation of Egypt.

One of the mysteries of the GreatPyramid for a considerable time, evenin late centuries, was the location of itsentrance. There was nothing visible

from the outside to indicate the properentrance to it. The Caliph, El Mamoun,made a false entrance, and this falseentrance is still used today as the mainentrance to the Pyramid. It was through

The this false entrance that we made ourRn tirn isLin entrY> climbing up to it over two or

three of the large blocks, each weighingtwo and a half tons, which is the average weight of all of them, and of whichthere are some two million, three hund-

DigestJune1937

red thousand in the Great P yr am id-enough to form a stone wall from NewYork to San Francisco and half wayback, four feet in height.

W e entered the jagged aperture ofthe mammoth structure, and then our

party of four cautiously walked along asemi-dark and narrow stone passageway which led to the ramp of what isknown as the Grand Gallery. Afterwalking along this passageway for ashort distance we were obliged to stoopand crawl through a circular-like tunnelfor a distance of about twenty-five orthirty feet. When we stood erect againwe were at the beginning of the GrandGallery. It was a most awe-inspiringspectacle. W e thrilled to the thought,as we looked upward along this steepnarrow passageway and saw above usand on either side massive highly polished lime stone blocks, that we werein the Great Pyramid of Egy pt. Mystery of mysteries! One feels helpless,surrounded by this wall of stone. Hefeels insignificant; humble. It is peculiarbut true that the Great Pyramid inspiresin man that same feeling of humility asdo some of the great works of nature.Slowly we began our ascent up therough stone ridges in the form of stepswhich are the only means of reachingthe top of the Grand Gallery. It is a

steep ascent and you feel, after five orten minutes of climbing, that the heightof the Great Pyramid is under-estimatedand certainly must exceed by severalhundred feet the nearly five hundredfeet accredited to it.

Suddenly your attention is called toan almost obscure hole-like aperture toyour right as you ascend. As you lookat it, it seems as though it was not anintentional opening but perhaps the result of damage in later years, but youare advised that this is the true entranceto the Great Pyramid. As you peer intothe inky blackness and feel a cool draftof air upon your face, you think of thehundreds of neophytes of the mysteryschools of the past who were led upfrom the Chamber of Darkness belowafter taking their original obligation atthe altar between the paws of theSphinx and after having performed certain rites in the allegorical world ofdarkness depicted by the lower chamber.

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They were then permitted to ascend thevery narrow and low passageway intowhich we looked and to enter the GreatPyramid itself through this jaggedopening. How pleasing it must have

been to them to know that they had attained that degree of illumination andunderstanding and worthiness whichpermitted them to travel further, physically, mentally and spiritually!

So with the most solemn spirit and inutter silence we proceeded. The entireexperience invited silence. Ordinaryconversation and comments would haveseemed so absurd, so meaningless incontrast to the thought that was putinto this stupendous structure, thewealth of knowledge it represented, the

experiences of those who had gone before us in this same place. Finally, withgratitude, we came to a rest at a levelstage. Walking along this level pathway, which was considerably more narrow than the Grand Gallery, we entereda portal an opening seemingly cutthrough a sheer block of limestone, ofabout seven feet in height and three feetin width. Passing through this we cameinto a large chamber known as theQueens Chamber, about twenty-fivefeet in length and sixteen or twenty

feet in width, with a comparatively lowceiling, absolutely plain, no inscriptions,no symbolism, nothing to indicate eitherthe life or death of its builders.

It must be explained at this point thatthe prophecies of the Great Pyramid arenot based mainly upon inscriptionsfound on the walls or in papyrus scrolls,for there was practically nothing left orfound in the Great Pyramid to revealanything of the times of the Pyramid itself or of the future which the Pyramidprophesies. The prognostications are

based upon the dimensions and the arrangement of the dimensions of theGreat Pyramid, its passageways, theirheight, length, and breadth, the heightof the Pyramid, length and breadth ofthe stones, the distances from one passageway to another. There is a numerical uniformity to the dimensions, andthis uniformity has given mathematicians, scientists and others a mathematical key, and with this key the differentproportions and mathematical arrangements of the Great Pyramid have been

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used to reveal events of the future.This is not merely speculative or fantastic, because the events have definitelycome to pass, one after another. It isone more indication of the fact that the

Great Pyramid was used not only as atemple of learning but as a monumentof learning to inform future generationsof the knowledge of the basic scienceshad by the mystery schools at that time.

Other facts are that the pyramid isin the exact center of the land surfaceof the earth; the fact that the weight ofthe Pyramid is the same as the weightof the earth in proportion to its size;and further, that it was used as anastronomical observatory, showingknowledge of astronomy. Any engineer

knows that the builders of the GreatPyramid must have been possessed ofexceptional engineering skill and ingenuity to build the structure. Its greatblocks of stone are perfectly mathematically proportioned. Their ends arefitted together so perfectly and held bysuch a thin and yet exceptionally adhesive mortar that not even a sheet ofpaper can be inserted between them.They were hewn out so accurately thateach block of stone does not vary froma straight line and an accurate square

more than a hundredth of an inch in alength of six feet.

After leaving the Queen's Chamberwe returned to the Grand Gallery onceagain and continued our ascent for afew minutes longer. Except for thefeeble torch-like light every fifteen ortwenty feet, fastened by metal bracketsto the smooth stone sides in recenttimes, the passageway would have beeninky black. Finally the uneven flooring,which really consists of stone blocks ofwhich the Pyramid itself is built with

niches to keep one from slipping because of the steep incline, levelled outand a few feet ahead of us it appearedas though the passageway with thewalls converging to a width of aboutfour feet was blocked by a huge stone,one of the masonry blocks upended. Aswe went up to it we noticed that therehad been carved through it also a tunnel-like passageway, the deeper shadowof the entrance not having been noticeable further back. The height of thistunnel-like passageway was not suffi-


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cient to allow us to walk erect and wewere again obliged to crawl on handsand knees. W e crawled a length ofabout sixteen feet, then stood uprightin a large chamber, the height of whichwas about twelve or fourteen feet,

length about thirty feet, width abouttwenty feet. Th is was the KingsChamber, known as the Hall of Illumination. It, too, was perfectly bare ofall furnishings, inscriptions, hieroglyphics,in fact, everything with the exception that at the end opposite fromwhich we entered was a large sarcophagus of stone. The sarcophagus, in fact,was one of the blocks of masonry ofwhich the Great Pyramid is constructed,and it was lying in a horizontal positionin the center of the end of the chamber.The upper portion of the block had

been sawed or cut away, and the reminder had been hollowed out to conform to the general contour of the human body, and thus it formed the sarcophagus or coffin of some pharaoh oreminent person so relate the sagas.Many believe it was the burial place ofthe Pharaoh Cheops. However, thereis nothing in the sarcophagus at thistime, nothing inscribed upon it thatwould confirm this theory and therenever has been found anything thatwould definitely establish the fact thatthe Great Pyramid was built solely as a

burial place, with this tomb-room as itsfinal purpose. One immediately gainsthe impression, which supports legendsthat have come down through the agesas well as the more recent discoveriesof which we will speak later, that thissarcophagus was used for initiation.

In this Hall of Illumination, thisKings Chamber, there met at intervalsonly the highest adepts and the mosthighly developed and learned of themembers of this mystery school, thisearly Egyptian Brotherhood of learning.

It was in this Kings Chamber that thecouncil meetings were held, where policies were decided upon which shapedthe course of many human lives at thattime. It was in this chamber that all thefacts of reality, all the knowledge whichman had acquired by virtue of experience and investigation, were classifiedand related and made into an understandable, livable philosophy of life. Inthe lower chambers the students were

taught facts, the result of inquiry andinvestigation, made to prove the laws,made to apply them to their own lives,and as they learned these lessons theyadvanced, degree by degree, chamberby chamber, until eventually they were

permitted to share in the council meetings of the Hall of Illumination, andfrom there they went forth in the worldto spread the knowledge they hadlearned, to gather about them other neophytes whom they sought out and toteach them as they had been taught. Allaround this great temple of learning,this Pyramid, at that time greed, fear,avarice, ignorance and superstition prevailed. These dual conditions have always existed. Th e learned men of thattimethose who had attained the Hallof Illuminationcould not go out among

the multitudes and immediately convertthem to understanding. They wouldonly have lost their lives if they had attempted it, and nothing would havebeen gained.

So the real purpose of the Great Pyramid was kept secret. To many at thattime it was considered merely a placeof worship where mysterious religiousrites took place, and the ambassadors oflight and wisdom of that period wereforced to seek here and there one whowas ready or worthy to take the vows

at the altar between the paws of theSphinx at a certain hour at night, andthen be led through the secret passageway discovered in recent time bySelim Hassam. eminent archaeologist,to have led into the Great Pyramiditself.

W e stood about, none of us speaking, just thinking, each within the worldof his own thoughts trying to visualizewhat had occurred in this very stonechamber, in this heart of a past civilization centuries ago. There also flashed

through our minds the fact that manyoccult and mystical organizations, soproclaiming themselves, had prophesieda dire event for the world upon thisvery day, September 16, 1936. Theyhad contended that it meant, if not theend of the world, a serious catastrophewhich would shatter civilization; that itwould mean the ruination of humanity,or perhaps the very atoms of the GreatPyramid itself would fly asunder. W e

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recalled, all of us, to ourselves, articleswe had read within the last forty-eighthours in magazines, in newspapers, setting forth these prophecies by leadersof various sects and cults from everypart of the world. The eyes of the worldwere on this Pyramid.

With all of this, we had a sense ofsatisfaction that we had been chosen asrepresentatives by one of the very fewand the largest of the occult mysticalorganizations who took the position thatSeptember 16, 1936, was to see the fulfillment of a prophecy of the Great Pyramid, BUT instead of disaster and destruction and ruination it was to be aconstructive transition. It was to begina change in business, in international

outlook, and the AMORC, the Rosicru-cian Order, to show its faith in its interpretation of the prophecy of the GreatPyramid, sent its representatives to bepresent in the very heart of it upon thatday. There was no feeling of depression, but a feeling of elation, of intenseexcitement, like the minute of lull beforea great storm when the boughs of treesare motionless, when not even a leaf canbe seen to move, when all nature seemsin suspense, waiting for a signal to release her fury. This suspense did not instil fear, but rather expectancy that

something stupendous of a Cosmic nature was taking place, or would, shortly.

It was then that there was performeda ceremony that none of us shall everforget, and it was the first time that ithad been performed since the days ofthe activity of the Great Pyramid itself the time when the mystic brotherhoods held their regular ceremonies init. Th is ceremony was the intonationof the mystic vibratory vowel sounds.Frater Brower stepped forward andturned so that his back was to the center of the great sarcophagus. The restof us stood on either side of the chamber, and then he proceeded to intonethese sacred vowel sounds, the vibrations of which have a definite effectupon the emotional and psychic naturesof man. Th e vibrations under ordinarycircumstances are intended to, and do,excite these centers of mans sympathetic nervous system and have atendency to elevate his consciousness,to exhilarate him, lift him above the

ordinary mundane feelings and sensations which he experiences daily. Butnone of us expected the result. W eheard, not alone Frater Browers intonations, but it seemed the chorus of amillion voices besides. With the veryutterance of the first vowel it seemed asthough he had struck a key which unlocked voices that had been imprisonedin stone for centuries awaiting a magicword or tone for release, and the soundscame back to us from the walls and thefloor and the ceiling like a chorus ofcries of freedom, as though we had liberated imprisoned beings. It was startling. He continued the vowel soundsfor a period of at least five minutes. W eseemed to sway. W e lost sense of timeand space. W e were swept along with

this strange current of psychic emotionalism, and it seemed for several minutes(it must have been just seconds) afterhe ceased his intonation the sounds continued to reverberate from wall, ceilingand floor. Then all was quiet; the silencewas deeper by contrast than it had beenbefore.

W e felt rejuvenated. Fatigue fromthe ascent was gone. Any fear that anyof us may have had with respect to thestories of what was to occur in theGreat Pyramid seemed absurd to us

now. W e felt secure, and a sense ofcontentment and peace came over us asthough, unwittingly, we had accomplished a great good, which we may come torealize in this lifetime or we may not.

Our guide was waiting for us outsidethe low circular passagew ay. As westarted through it, he begged me to stopin the middle of the passageway in mycrouched position until he crawledthrough, reaching me. W e could notpass each other. He looked into myface from his position on his hands andknees and said, At this particularpoint where you are, you can safelyarise and stand erect. I twisted myhead into a position so that I could lookabove, and there to my surprise immediately above me was a small shaftjust large enough to accommodate mybody. I moved into a position so that asI arose the upper portion of my bodywould rise into the shaft over head. Itwas inky black, because I could not thensee the light of the circular passageway

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in which I stood. He said, Reach aboveyou with your right hand as far as youcan. I brought my right hand up doseto my body until I eventually stretchedit far above my head. He said, Nowplace your hand against the stone wallimmediately in front of you. This Idid. He continued, Now, move yourhand until you feel a projection of stone,about the size of your hand. I movedmy hand slowly against the cold,smooth, stone surface until it struckagainst an oblong projection. He said, Place your hand upon it. I did. Inoticed that it fitted my hand as thoughit had been shaped to be held in aclosed hand like something that was intended to be carried by the hand. Ipulled against it to see if it was loose.I commented on this. He explained:What you feel has been shaped out ofthe stone block of which it is a part.The block has been cut away from theraised portion. Your hand now rests onthe exact center of the Great Pyramid.It is the mathematical center. Th e distance from the point of your hand tothe apex of the Pyramid and to the baseand to the various sides is exactly thesame. Furthermore, you are now grasping what is known as the Pyramidalinch. Th at stone, that particular size,was the unit of measurement used bythe Egyptians in building this very edi

fice, and to commemorate that unit ofmeasurement it was carved on the sideof one of the blocks of the Pyramid andplaced in the exact center where it nowrests.

What master mathematicians, whatgenius in a time and an age when theworld likes to think of mankind havingdwelt in utter ignorance! With a feeling akin to reverence, I rejoined theparty, and soon we had left the coolness of the Great Pyramid with its constant temperature of 68 degrees Fahren

heit for the now blistering desertoutside.

TheRosicrucionDigestJune1937

The party then returned to Cairowith the exception of Frater Browerand myself. W e proceeded to locateone of the huge exterior blocks of stoneof the Pyramid, in the shade, and therewe sat and ate our lunch overlookingthe plateau of the Sahara Desert andthe green Nile and Delta; also looking

down toward the mud huts on the siteof the old city of Gizeh.

Early in the afternoon we sought outthe recent excavations of that eminentarchaeologist, Selim Hassan . W e climbed down and through the Pyramid

Temple. Th is Temple was quite somedistance from the Great Pyramid itself,and originally was connected with it bya long ramp or causeway. Many preliminary ceremonies were held in thisTemple, and then from there the participants, candidates, and neophytes, in apicturesque procession walked alongthese ramps and causeways to the GreatPyramid and concluded their rites. Justrecently, in this Pyramid Temple, therewas excavated the sarcophagus andmummy of a princess, a daughter ofCheops. W e photographed hundreds of

feet of film of the more recent excavations of the Sphinx, showing how thepaws were not hewn out of masonry asthe upper portion of the body, but consisted of flat stones of about four inchesin thickness, laid one upon the other,forming layers, and then shaped as wenow see them. We commented upon thegreat crime committed by Napoleonwhen he ordered his men to fire uponthe Sphinx, defacing it, to show his disrespect for the Egyptians venerationof it.

After filming with professional cameras, by special permission, many otherstructures in and around the Great Pyramid, we went closer to examine andphotograph with still camera the colonnaded court or entrance to a newly excavated temple, at the base of the Pyramid. Of a different type stone than thePyramid itself, it seemed marble-likeagainst the background. W e commentedupon the fact that this very ancientstructure had Doric-like columns, thearchitectural form credited to the muchlater Grecian period. W e were to dis

cover, however, that the Egyptians usedthis type of column quite commonly,and it is still believed by archaeologiststhat there is no connection between theDoric column and the column to whichwe have referred.

It was late in the day as we prepared for our return. W e departed bycamel to a point where we could againload our equipment in a modern motor

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car. W e looked up at the Great Pyramid. It had changed. It was now colorful. The setting sun had given it agolden glow. Its ragged contour, causedby the exposed blocks of masonry, cast

patches of deep shadow, purple in hue.The shadows seemed to be creeping upfrom the desert itself, rapidly approaching, soon to engulf it in darkness.

W e retired to our hotel early, for to

morrow the Nile was to reveal anotherchapter of civilizations tale. Each milealmost, as one travels along that greatriver, one has unfolded to him a storyof mans past accomplishments, glory,

power, failure, hopes and misfortunes.Therefore we now looked forward toLuxor, or the ancient city of Thebes,once glorious capital of Egypt when inall her power and splendor.

(To be continued next month)

V V V

ATTEND THE ROS ICRUCIAN CONVENTION

ANCIENT SYMBOLISM

Man, when conscious of an eternal truth, has ever symbolized it so that thehuman consciousness could forever have realization of it. Nations, languages andcustoms have changed, but these ancient designs continue to illuminate mankindwith their mystic light. For those who are seeking light, each month we willreproduce a symbol or symbols, with their ancient meaning.

A B U S E O F K N O W L E D G E

This illustration is an allegoryalluding to the intoxication thatcomes from an excess of knowledge which is acquired withoutproper mental digestion; that is,cogitation and reflection. Thetree with the trunk in the formof a woman alludes to temporalor sensual knowledge. The fruit

of this tree can be eaten withbenefit by man if digested andused for the purpose for which

it exists . But if man indulges too freely, the fruit soon intoxicateshim, robs him of his reason and normal powers. Th is state of intoxication is indicated by the reclining male figures. Briefly, the

8------Vft

------Cedge only to the degree of his ability to masterand direct it, or else it gains control of him.

1-------------9

M5-------------8

h. 1K------------- H j

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M i M i i m a ii ia i ii ii ii ia i im M m M i m M i iM i i i ai iM m m n M i M M m n M a it a at im i m m M m t m i M M a m M t M i m m i ia a ia m M i im a M m M H t a m M M m m n n

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

WINDOWS OF THE SOUL

TheRoster ucian

DigestJune1937

S I sit here lookingout of the windowof this room, therecomes to me thethought that awin-dow, an accepted,rather insignificantthing, serves two

great purposes:First, i t permitslight to enter thisroomlight whichmakes it possiblenot only for me to

do the work that I must do here, butlight from the source which furnisheslife and vitality for all that lives. Also,on this day, it permits me to get aglimpse of what is outside the confines

of this room and makes life better, because I not only can see what is there,but I can anticipate the pleasures andenjoyment of the outdoors in which I,and all other living things, can participate when the day's work is done.

This physical window, admitting ac

tual light, will cause us to think evenfurther of the windows of life that arethe means by which enters the light oflife, wisdom, and knowledge. Just asdifferent rooms and different windowswith different exposures, or possibly ofdifferent materials, affect the light whichenters, so the soul of man looks out tothe universe and is able to gain its conception of all that is, due to the windowthrough which it looks.

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There are those who have no otherwindows except the objective facultieswhich man is given to perceive the ma-terial world about him. To these peoplethe world is limited to material stan-

dards, to material conceptions. Thereare not open to them the windows whichlet in all the light of the universe. Man,therefore, colors his whole life by thatwhich he perceives. Someone has said,"To the pure, all things are pure;" andwe might say in exact opposite, to theimpure, all things are impure, negativeand lacking in those qualities which arefor the betterment of mankind.

Two individuals look out of their ownbeings and see, physically and objec-tively, the same thing; but one sees allthat is good, all that is worthy in theobject or act under observation, whilethe other sees one feature which, tohim, is not good, not worthy of mansconsideration, and from that one featurehe conceives that the whole thing whichhe perceives is valueless or even im-moral. Men see through the windows oftheir beings, windows colored with theirown narrowness of perception, coloredwith their previous understanding andestablished opinions. In other words,man beholds what he is.

This might appear to be rather ahopeless state for man, because withthis understanding man is apparentlylimited by his environment. However,man need not be limited by his en-vironment because there remains theinnate ability of man, not only to con-tinue to perceive what he is, but to be-hold greater thingsbehold the bestworks of man expressed in art, music,in religion, in philosophy or even natureitself; and in so perceiving these betterthings he may raise his level of think-

ing; he may aspire toward the idealswhich he sees or beholds and becomelike them.

Hawthorne told in his story, "TheGreat Stone Face," of how many soughtto be the actual incorporation or incar-nation of all the noble attributes as ex-pressed in this face, yet it was the oneman who contemplated the character ofthe face daily, and raised his thoughtsthrough volition on his own part to thatwhich he idealistically supposed the face

represented, who became in actual lifeOne hundred eighty-three

the living example of all good expressedin this face.

And so while we, as human beings,are ever inclined to project ourselvesinto our environment and behold itthrough our own narrow and limitedopinions, we should at the same timestrive to become what we behold byreaching out and seeking for somethinggreater than what may be objectivelymanifest to us in our immediate environ-ment.

A great task which lies before man,then, is to literally clean and brightenthe windows of his soul, because just aspure sunlight cannot enter a discoloredor dirty window, neither can the purelight of wisdom and the great sustain-

ing and understanding light of theCosmic and of God enter into the lifeof he who does not prepare the meansby which his life may receive them.

Man has sought to contact thesegreater forces, to understand and utilizemore completely the knowledge of theuniverse, and so many have, in orderto accomplish this purpose, isolatedthemselves from all worldly things withthe thought in mind that they could thusmake it more possible to reach thesehigher levels. They attempted to put all

temptation outside their environment.They hoped to attain what they did nothave by eliminating what they did have.Thus, great mystics and philosophersof old have devoted their lives to un-told hardship; have deprived themselvesof many of the accepted needs of life inorder to behold afar the true state ofcosmic consciousnessof oneness withGodthat they might be brought to agreater state of understanding and de-velopment by depriving themselves ofmaterial things of the world.

It is not necessary that the student onthe path, or he who is a potential mystic,shall completely isolate himself at alltimes from his environment, but it isimperative that he who wishes to con-tact and gain knowledge and illumina-tion from higher sources must at timestake himself completely apart from theroutine and daily cares and consecratesome time to the purpose which he hasset before him.

All who so desire to meet togetherwith others of like minds seeking to see

beyond their material limitations, are in-


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vited to join with all those who comeat regular periods to the Cathedral ofthe Soula cathedral assemblage where,from every part of the whole world,those who are masters and those whoonly seek to be masters, and possibly

those who are only humble studentsmerely trying to learn what they maybehold through the windows of theirsouls, assemble daily for attunement.The combined efforts of all so assembled

in this great cathedral aid each oneto better his own life and the life ofothers.

To all who read this, whether members or not, the Rosicrucians issue an invitation to join in these daily periods

of contact in the Cathedral of the Soul.Upon request we will send you thebook, Liber 777, which describes andexplains the purposes and aims of thisgreat cathedral.

V V V

One Spring MorningBy So r o r M a r i a n G. H e t h e r i n g t o n

SE EM to catch awhiff of Ireland inthe air these freshSpring days. Omy, the grass isgreen! And I liftthis rain-grey veilof nineteen thirty

seven. Memory ofchildish games willhelp to lift it. Remember when aring of you, hand-clasped together,

hopped about with a leader in the center of the ring? He, or she, said prettyor ugly, and everyone loosenedtensions and at Still pond, no moremoving, each pose was set. Beautifulor otherwise! Your leader chose themost beautiful or ugly to direct the nextround of bending, swinging figures.

Yesterday morning a glance throughmy kitchen window made me feel someone had said, Still pond, no more moving. W hat remains of a hard mapletree (after insects, woodpeckers, vandalboys with sharp-toothed saws, andlightning have done their worst) is trying to be beautiful this Spring. Yesterday those long pointed buds wereswollen large, each one at the end of atiny twig, which in turn is nothing more

than a slip-stitch on a branch of a largerlimb, and they all pointed upwards. Acouple of sparrows came to sit amongthe branches and remove water fromtheir dainty feathers. Alternately theyspread wings to run a tiny beak throughthe feathers. And suddenly, there,framed in my kitchen window with a

mingled blue and cloud-grey background, was a beautiful pattern for Irishlace, the bud-picots interlacing threadsof twigs, and sparrows making the rosettes by a graceful spread of the wing.

From another window I saw a largesharp-eyed robin nab the tail end of alarge worm, emphatically withdrawinghim from the hole, then hopping awaywith satiated disgust.

There are no rasping noises from theradio since our electricity has been disconnected. I think more often there aresweet tones arising from the childrens'violin. They hunger for its sweetnessnow. I pick up a book on ComparativeLiterature, and there find that ancientSemetic races were prone to naturalcomparisons in poetry and writings:

We rise at sunrise,W e rest at sunset,Dig wells and drink,Till our fields and eat

What is the strength of the Emperorto us?

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The Holy GuideA ROSICRUCIAN MYSTIC LEGEND FROM THE ORIGINAL

1662 EDITION BY JOHN HEYDON

P a r t IV

T h e A r r iv a l o f a R o s ic r u c i a n M a s t e r

T THAT time sixor seven days werepast, and I becameacquainted with amerchant of thecity, whose namewas Nicholas W al-ford. He was a

Jew, and circumcised; fo r t he yhave s o m e Jewsy e t r e m a i n i n gamong them whomthey leave to their

own religion. They may the better dothis because these give unto our Saviourmany high attributes, and love the nation of Chassalonia extremely.

This man of whom I speak acknowledged that Christ was born of a virgin,and that he was more than a man; and

he would tell how God made him rulerof the Seraphim which guard Histhrone; and they call him also the wayEmepht and the Eliah of the Messiah, and many other high names. Andas for the country of Apamia, the HolyIsland or Chassalonia ( for it is all oneplace) this man would make no end ofcommending it. He was desirousbytradition among the Jews thereto haveit believed that the people thereof wereof the generations of Abraham, by another son, whom they call Nachoran;and that Moses, by a secret Cabala, or

dained the Laws of the Rosy Crosswhich they now use; and that when theMessiah should come, and sit on histhrone at Hierusalem, the King of Chassalonia should sit at his feet, whereasother kings should keep a great distance.But yet, setting aside the Jewish dreams,the man was a wise man, and learned,

and of great policy, and excellentlyversed in the laws and customs of thatnation.

One day, among other discourses, Itold him that I was much affected withthe relation I had, from some of thecompany, of their custom in holding thefeast of the fraternity, and that I hadnever heard of a solemnity wherein nature did so much preside. And, becausepropagation of families proceeds fromthe Nuptial copulation, I desired toknow of him what laws and customs

they had concerning marriage; andwhether they kept marriage well; andwhether they were tied to one wife. Forwhere population is so much affected,as it seemed to be with them, there iscommonly permission for a plurality ofwives.

To this he said: You have reason tocommend that excellent institution ofthe Feast of the Family. And indeed wehave experienced that those familiesthat are partakers of the blessing of thatfeast flourish and prosper ever after inan extraordinary manner. But hear me

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now, and I will tell you what I know.You shall understand, then, that thereis not under the Heavens so chaste aNation as this of Apamia, nor so freefrom all pollution or foulness. It is thevirgin of the world. I remember I haveread in one of your European books of

an holy hermit among you that desiredto see the spirit of fornication, and thereappeared to him a little foul, uglyAethiope. But if he had desired to seethe Spirit of Chastity of the HolyIsland, it would have appeared to himin the likeness of a fair, beautifulcherubin.

There is nothing among mortal menmore fair and admirable than the chasteminds of this people. Know therefore,that with them there are no stews, nodissolute houses, no courtesans, nor

anything of that kind. Nay they wonder(with detestation) at you in Europe,who permit such things. They say yehave put marriage out of office: Formarriage is ordained a remedy for unlawful concupiscence, and natural concupiscence seems a spur to marriage.But when men have at hand a remedymore agreeable to their corrupt will,marriage is almost expulsed. And therefore there are in your country infinitemen that marry not, but choose rather alibertine and impure single life, than tobe yoked in marriage. And many that

do marry, marry late, when the primeand strength of their years is past. Andwhen they do marry, what is marriageto them, but a very bargain, wherein issought alliance, or portion, or reputation, with some desire (almost indifferent) of issue: and not the faithful nuptial union of man and wife that wasfirst instituted. Neither is it possiblethat those that have cast away so baselyso much of their strength should greatlyesteem children as chaste men do.

TheRosicruciattDigestJune

1937

So likewise during marriage is the

case much amended, as it ought to be ifthose things were tolerated only fornecessity? No, but they remain still avery affront to marriage. The hauntingof those dissolute places, or resort toCourtesans, are no more punished inmarried men than in bachelors. And thedepraved custom of change and the delight in meretricious embracements(where sin is turned into art) makes

marriage a dull thing, and a kind of imposition or tax.

They hear you defend these things,as done to avoid greater evils: as ad-voutries, deflowering of virgins, unnatural lust and the like; but they saythis is a preposterous wisdom: and they

rosicrucian digest, june 1937

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