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While
the material which now forms the Earth was yet a part of the Sun, it was, of
course in a fiery condition; but as the fire does not burn spirit, our human
evolution commenced at once, being confined particularly to the Polar Region of
the Sun.
The highest evolved beings which were to become human were the
first to appear. The substances which now form the Earth were all molten, and
the atmosphere was gaseous, yet man recapitulated his mineral stage anew.
From that attenuated chemical substance of the sun man himself
built his first mineral body, assisted by the Lords of Form. If this statement
is objected to on the ground that man could not build unconsciously, the case
of the mother can be cited in answer. Is she conscious of building the body of
the babe in her womb? Yet surely no one will say that she has nothing to do
with it! The only difference is that the mother builds unconsciously for the
babe; and man built unconsciously for himself.
Man's first dense body did not even remotely resemble his present
splendidly organized vehicle. That has been evolved only in the course of
myriads of years. The first dense body was a large, baggy object with an
opening at the top, from which an organ projected. This was a kind of organ of
orientation and direction. In the course of time the dense body drew more
closely together and condensed. If it came too close to places of greater heat
than it could endure, it disintegrated. In time the organ grew sensitive to the
condition that threatened destruction and the dense body automatically moved to
a safer place.
This organ has now degenerated into what is called the pineal
gland. Sometimes it is called "the third eye," but that is a
misnomer, because it never was an eye, but rather the localized organ for the
sensing of heat and cold, which faculty is now distributed over the entire
dense body. During the Polarian Epoch this sense was thus localized, as the
sense of sight is now in the eye, and that of hearing in the ear. The extension
of the sense of feeling since that time indicates the manner in which the
entire body will be improved, so that at some future time any part of it will
be able to perceive all things. The senses of sight and hearing will be
extended over the entire body, as the sense of feeling is now. Them man will be
all eyes and ears. Specialized sense organs indicate limitation. Sense
perception by the whole is comparative perfection.
At the early stage of which we are now speaking there was a kind
of propagation. These immense baggy creatures divided in halves in a manner
similar to the division of cells by fission, but the separated portions would
not grow, each remaining only half as large as the original form.
At different points on the fiery globe there began in the course
of time the formation of crust-islands in a sea of fire.
The Lords of Form appeared, with the Angels (humanity of the Moon
Period), and clothed man's dense form with a vital body. Those baggy bodies
then began to increase in size by drawing to themselves material from the
outside, osmosis, as it were. When they propagated, it was no longer by
dividing into halves, but into two un-equal parts. Both parts grew until each
had attained the original size of the parent.
As the Polarian Epoch was really a recapitulation of the Saturn
Period, it may be said that during that time man passed through the mineral
state; he had the same vehicle--the dense body--and a consciousness similar to
the trance state. For analogous reasons, the plant state was passed through in
the Hyperborean Epoch, as man had a dense and a vital body and a
dreamless-sleep-consciousness.
Man began his evolution on the Earth after Mars had been thrown
off from the central mass, and that which is now the Earth was yet undetached
from the Sun; but at the close of the Hyperborean Epoch the incrustation had
progressed so far that it had become an obstacle to the progress of some of the
higher evolved beings in the Sun. The fiery condition also hindered the
evolution of some of the lower grades of creatures, such as man, who at that
stage required a denser world for his further development. Therefore, the part
which is now the Earth was thrown off from the Sun at the end of the
Hyperborean Epoch, and commenced to revolve around the parent body in a
somewhat different orbit than at present. Shortly afterwards Venus and Mercury
were thrown off for similar reasons.
Crystallization always commences at the pole of a planet where
motion is slow. The consolidated part gradually works outwards towards the
equator in obedience to the centrifugal force. If that force is stronger than
the cohesive tendency the consolidated mass is thrown outwards into space.
At the time when the Earth-globe was separated from the
parent-mass, it included that part which is now our Moon. On this great globe
was evolving the life wave now passing through the human kingdom, also the life
waves which entered evolution in the Sun, Moon, and Earth Periods, and are now
evolving through the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms.
Mention has been made of the stragglers of various Periods who
in later Periods were enabled to take a step upward in evolution. There were
some, however, who did not take this step. They did not evolve, and were
therefore left further and further behind, until they became a drag and a
hindrance to the progressive ones. It became necessary to get them out of the
way, that the evolution of the others might not be retarded.
In the beginning of the Lemurian Epoch, these
"failures" (note that they were failures, not merely
stragglers) had crystallized that part of the Earth occupied by them to such a
degree that it become as a huge cinder or clinker, in the otherwise soft and
fiery Earth. They were a hindrance and an obstruction, so they, with the part
of the Earth they had crystallized, were thrown out into space beyond recall.
That is the genesis of the Moon.
The seven Globes, A to G, inclusive, are the field of Evolution.
The Moon is the field of Disintegration.
If Earth had not segregated from the original Globe which is now
the Sun, the rapidity of the vibrations would have disintegrated man's
vehicles. He would have grown so rapidly that the growth of the mushroom would
seem slow in comparison. He would have become old before he had time to pass
through youth. That such is the effect of too much Sun is shown by the rapidity
of growth at the tropics, where maturity and old age are reached much sooner
than in the north. On the other hand had the Moon remained with the Earth, man
would have crystallized into a statue. The separation of the Earth from the
Sun, which now sends its rays from a far distance, enables man to live at the
proper rate of vibration, to unfold slowly. The Moon-forces reach him from the
exact distance necessary to enable him to build a body of the proper density.
But although the latter forces are active in the building of the form, they
also cause death when their continued work finally crystallizes the tissues of
the body.
The Sun works in the vital body and is the force which makes for
life, and wars against the death-dealing Moon force.
In this Epoch appeared the Archangels (the humanity of Sun
Period). and the Lords of Mind (the humanity of Saturn Period). These
Hierarchies were assisted by the Lords of Form, who were given charge of the
Earth Period. They helped man to build his desire body, and the Lords of Mind
gave the germ of Mind to the greater part of the pioneers who formed class 1.
The Lords of Form vivified the Human spirit in as many of the
stragglers of the Moon Period as had made the necessary progress in the three
and one half Revolutions which had elapsed since the commencement of the Earth
Period, but at that time the Lords of Mind could not give them the germ of
Mind. Thus a great part of nascent humanity was left without this link between
the threefold spirit and the threefold body.
The Lords of Mind took charge of the higher part of the desire
body and of the germinal mind, impregnating them with the quality of separate
selfhood, without which no separate, self-contained beings such as we are today
would be possible.
We owe to the Lords of Mind the separate personality, with all
the possibilities for experience and growth thus afforded. And this point marks
the birth of the Individual.
Diagram 1 will make clear the fact
that the personality is the reflected picture of the Spirit, the mind being the
mirror, or focus.
As when reflected in a pond, the images of trees appear
inverted, the foliage seeming to be the deepest down in the water, so the
highest aspect of the spirit (the Divine Spirit) finds its counterpart in the
lowest of the three bodies (the dense body). The next highest spirit (the life
spirit) is reflected in the next lowest body (the vital body). The third spirit
(the human spirit) and its reflection, the third body (the desire body), appear
closest of all to the reflecting mirror, which is the mind, the latter
corresponding to the surface of the pond--the reflecting medium in our analogy.
The Spirit came down from the higher Worlds during involution;
and by concurrent action, the Bodies were built upward in the same period. It
is the meeting of these two streams in the focusing Mind that marks the point
in time when the individual, the human being, the Ego, is born--when the Spirit
takes possession of its vehicles.
Yet we must not suppose that this at once raised man to his
present status in evolution, making him the self conscious, thinking being he
is today. Before that point could be reached a long and weary road had to be
traveled, for at the time we are considering, organs were in their most
rudimentary stage and there was no brain that could be used as an instrument of
expression. Hence the consciousness was the dimmest imaginable. In short, the
man of that day was very far from being as intelligent as our present-day
animals. The first step in the direction of improvement was the building of a
brain to use as an instrument of mind in the Physical World. That was achieved
by separating humanity into sexes.
Contrary to the generally accepted idea, the Ego is bisexual.
Were the Ego sexless, the body would necessarily be sexless also, for the body
is but the external symbol of the indwelling spirit.
The sex of the Ego does not, of course, express itself as such
in the inner worlds. It manifests there as two distinct qualities--Will and
Imagination. The Will is the male power and is allied to the Sun forces;
Imagination is the female power and is always linked to the Moon forces. This
accounts for the imaginative trend of woman and for the special power which the
Moon exercises over the female organism.
When the matter of which the Earth and the Moon were afterwards
formed was still a part of the Sun, the body of man-in-the-making was yet plastic,
and the forces from that part which afterwards became Sun, and that part which
is now Moon worked readily in all bodies, so that the man of the Hyperborean
Epoch was hemaphrodite--capable of producing another being from himself without
intercourse with any other.
When the Earth separated from the Sun and shortly afterwards
threw off the Moon, the forces from the two luminaries did not find equal
expression in all, as formerly. Some bodies become more amenable to the forces
from one, and some to those from the other.
In the part of the Earth Period preceding the separation of the
sexes--during the three and one-half Revolutions which intervened between the
time when Mars was differentiated and the beginning of the Lemurian Epoch--Mars
traveled in a different orbit from the present, and its aura (that part of its
finer vehicles which extends beyond the dense planet) permeated the body of the
central planet and polarized the iron with it.
As iron is essential to the production of warm, red blood, all
creatures were cold-blooded, or rather, the fluid parts of the body were no
warmer than the surrounding atmosphere.
When the Earth was set free from the Central Sun, that event
changed the orbits of the planets and thus the influence of Mars over the iron
in the Earth was minimized. The Planetary Spirit of Mars finally withdrew the
remainder of that influence, and although the desire bodies of the Earth and
Mars still penetrate, the dynamic power of Mars over the iron (which is a Mars
metal) and iron has become available for use on our planet.
Iron is in reality the basis of separate existence. Without iron
the red, heat-giving blood would be an impossibility, and the Ego could have no
hold in the body. When red blood developed--in the latter part of the Lemurian
Epoch--the body become upright and the time had come when the Ego could begin
to dwell within the body and control it.
But to dwell within is not the end and aim of evolution. It is
simply a means by which the Ego may better express itself through its
instrument, that it may manifest in the Physical World. To that end the sense
organs, the larynx, and above all, a brain, must be built and perfected.
During the early part of the Hyperborean Epoch, while the Earth
was still united with the Sun, the solar forces supplied man with all the
sustenance he needed and he unconsciously radiated the surplus for the purpose
of propagation.
When the Ego entered into possession of its vehicles it became
necessary to use part of this force for the building of the brain and larynx.
The latter was originally a part of the creative organ. The larynx was built
while the dense body was yet bent together in the bag-like shape already
described, which is still the form of the human embryo. As the dense body
straightened and became upright, part of the creative organ remained with the
upper part of the dense body and later became the larynx.
Thus the dual creative force which had hitherto worked is only
one direction, for the purpose of the creating another being, became divided.
One part was directed upward to build the brain and larynx, by means of which
the Ego was to become capable of thinking and communicating thoughts to other
beings.
As a result of this change only one part of the force essential
in the creation of another being was available to one individual, hence it
became necessary for each individual to seek the co-operation of another, who
possessed that part of the procreative force which the seeker lacked.
Thus did the evolving entity obtain brain consciousness of the
outside world at the cost of half its creative power. Previous to that time, it
used within itself both parts of that power to externalize another being. As a
result of that modification, however, it has evolved the power to create and
express thought. Before then, it was a creator in the physical world only;
since then it has become able to create in the three worlds.
Before considering in detail the evolution of the Lemurians it
may be well to take a general survey of the Races and their Leaders.
Some very valuable works on Occultism, bringing before the
public the teachings of the Eastern Wisdom, have nevertheless contained certain
mistakes, owing to a misunderstanding of the teachings by those who were so
fortunate as to receive them. All books, not written directly by the Elder
Brothers, are liable to contain such errors. Considering the extreme intricacy
and many complications of the subject, the wonder is not that mistakes do
occur, but that they are not more frequent. Therefore the writer does not
presume to criticise, recognizing that more numerous and more serious mistakes
may be embodied in the present work, owing to his own misconception of the
teaching. He simply sets forth in the next few paragraphs what he has received,
which shows how the differing (and seemingly contradictory) teaching of two
such valuable works as "The Secret Doctrine" by H. P. Blavatsky, and
"Esoteric Buddhism," by A. P. Sinnett, may be reconciled.
That part of human evolution which is to be accomplished during
the present sojourn of the life wave on our Earth is divisible into seven great
stages or Epochs; but these cannot appropriately be called Races. Nothing to
which that name could be correctly applied appears until the end of the
Lemurian Epoch. From that time different Races succeed one another through the
Atlantean and Fifth Epochs, and will extend slightly into the Sixth great
Epoch.
The total number of Races--past, present and future--in our
scheme of evolution is sixteen; one at the end of the Lemurian Epoch, seven
during the Atlantean Epoch, seven more in our present Fifth Epoch and one in
the beginning of the Sixth Epoch. After that time there will be nothing that
can properly be called a Race.
Races did not exist in the Periods which have preceded the Earth
Period and they will not exist in those Periods which follow it. It is only
here, at the very nadir of material existence, that the difference is so great
between man and man as to warrant the separation into Races.
The immediate Leaders of humanity (apart from the creative
Hierarchies) who helped man to take the first tottering steps in Evolution,
after Involution had furnished him with vehicles, were Beings much further
advanced than man along the path of evolution. They came on this errand of love
from the two planets which are located between the Earth and the Sun--Venus and
Mercury.
The Beings who inhabit Venus and Mercury are not quite so far
advanced as those whose present field of evolution is the Sun, but they are
very much further advanced than our humanity. Therefore they stayed somewhat
longer with the central mass than did the inhabitants of the Earth, but at a
certain point their evolution demanded separate fields, so those two planets
were thrown off, Venus first, and then Mercury. Each was given such proximity
to the central orb as insured the rate of vibration necessary for its
evolution. The inhabitants of Mercury are the furthest advanced, hence are
closer to the Sun.
Some of the inhabitants of each planet were sent to the Earth to
help nascent humanity and are know to occult scientist as the "Lords of
Venus" and the "Lords of Mercury."
The Lords of Venus were leaders of the masses of our people.
They were inferior beings of the Venus evolution, who appeared among men and
were know as "messengers of the Gods." For the good of our humanity
they led and guided it, step by step. There was no rebellion against their
authority, because man had not yet evolved an independent will. It was to bring
him to the stage where he would be able to manifest will and judgment that they
guided him, until he should be able to guide himself.
It was known that these messengers communed with the Gods. They
were held in deep reverence and their commands were obeyed without question.
When under the tuition of these Beings mankind had reached a
certain stage of progress, the most advanced were placed under the guidance of
the Lords of Mercury, who initiated them into the higher truths for the purpose
of making them leaders of the people. These Initiates were then exalted to
kingship and were the founders of the dynasties of Divine Rulers who were
indeed kings "by the grace of God," i.e., by the grace of the Lords
of Venus and Mercury, who were as Gods to infant humanity. They guided and
instructed the kings for the good of the people and not for self-aggrandizement
and arrogation of rights at their expense.
At that time a Ruler held a sacred trust to educate and help his
people; to alleviate and promote equity and well-being. He had the light of God
to give him wisdom and guide his judgment. Hence, while those kings reigned,
all things prospered, and it was indeed a Golden Age. Yet, as we follow the
evolution of man in detail, we shall see that the present phase or period of
development, though it cannot be called a golden age in any but a material
sense, is nevertheless a necessary one, in order to bring man to the point
where he will be able to rule himself, for self-mastery is the end and aim
of all rulership. No man can safely remain ungoverned who has not learned to
govern himself, and at the present stage of development, that is the
hardest task that can be given him. It is easy to command others; it is hard to
force obedience from oneself.
The purpose of the Lords of Mercury at that time, and of all
Hierophants of Mysteries since then, as also of all the occult schools of our
day, was and is to teach the candidate the art of Self-Mastery. In the measure
that a man has mastered himself, and in that measure only, is he
qualified to govern others. Were the present rulers of the masses able to
govern themselves we should again have the Millenium or Golden Age.
As the Lords of Venus worked on the masses of a long past ago,
so do the Lords of Mercury now work on the Individual, fitting him for mastery
over self and (incidentally only, not primarily) for mastery over others. This
work on their part is but the beginning of what will be an increasing Mercurial
influence during the remaining three and one-half Revolutions of the Earth
Period.
During the first three and one-half Revolutions Mars held sway,
polarizing the iron, preventing the formation of the red blood and keeping the
Ego from immuring itself in the body until the latter had attained at the
requisite degree of development.
During the last three and one half Revolutions Mercury will
operate to extricate the Ego from its densest vehicle by means of Initiation.
Incidentally, it may be noted that, as Mars polarized the iron,
so Mercury has polarized the metal bearing its name and the workings of that
metal will show very well this tendency to take the dense body away from the spirit--to
liberate the latter from the former.
That dread disease, syphilis, is an example of condition were
the Ego is fettered and immured in the body to a particularly cramping extent.
Sufficient mercury relieves the condition, lessens the hold of the body upon
the Ego and leaves the latter to that comparative freedom within the body, an
overdose of mercury causes paralysis, thus taking the dense body from the man
in an improper way.
The Lords of Mercury taught man to leave and re-enter the body at
will; to function in his higher vehicles independent of the dense body, so that
the latter becomes a cheerful dwelling house instead of a closely-locked
prison--a useful instrument instead of a clogging fetter.
Therefore occult science speaks of the Earth Period as
Mars-Mercury, and so it may be said truly that we have been in Mars and are
going to Mercury, as taught in one of the occult works previously mentioned. It
is also true, however, that we have never inhabited the planet Mars, nor are we
to leave the earth at some future time to take up our adobe on the planet
Mercury, as the other work mentioned states, with the intention of correcting
an error in the first one.
Mercury, now being in obscuration, is exercising very little
influence on us, but it is emerging from a planetary rest and as time goes on
its influence will be more and more in evidence as a factor in our evolution.
The coming Races will have much help from the Mercurians, and the people of
still later Epochs and Revolutions will have even more.
We are now in a position to understand the information which is
to follow concerning the people who lived in the latter part of the
Lemurian Epoch, whom we may call the Lemurian Race.
The atmosphere of Lemuria was still very dense--somewhat like
the fire-fog of the Moon Period, but denser. The crust of the Earth was just
starting to become quite hard and solid in some places, while in others it was
still fiery, and between islands of crust was a sea of boiling, seething water.
Volcanic outbursts and cataclysms marked this time when the nether fires fought
hard against the formation of the encircling wall which was to imprison them.
Upon the harder and comparatively cool spots man lived
surrounded by giant fern-forests and animals of enormous size. The forms of
both man and animal were yet quite plastic. The skeleton had formed, but man
himself had great power in molding the flesh of his own body and that of the
animals about him.
When he was born he could hear and feel, but his perception of
light cam later. We have analogous cases in animals like cats and dogs, the
young of which receive the sense of sight some time after birth. The Lemurian
had no eyes. He had two sensitive spots which were affected by the light of the
Sun as it shone dimly through the fiery atmosphere of ancient Lemuria, but is
was not until nearly the close of the Atlantean Epoch that he had sight as we
have it today. Up to that time the building of the eye was in progress. While
the Sun was within--while the Earth formed part of the light-giving mass--man
need no external illuminant; he was luminous himself. But when the dark Earth
was separated from the Sun it became necessary that the light should be
perceived, therefore as the light rays impinged upon man, he perceived them.
Nature built the eye as a light-perceiver, in response to the demand of the
already-existing function, which is invariable the case, as Professor Huxley
has so ably shown. The amoeba has no stomach, yet it digests. It is all
stomach. The necessity for digesting food built the stomach in the course of
time, but digestion took place before the alimentary canal was formed. In an
analogous manner, the perception of light called forth the eye. The light
itself built the eye and maintains it. Where there is no light there can be no
eye. In cases where animals have withdrawn and dwelt in caves--keeping away
from the light--the eyes have degenerated and atrophied because there were no
light rays to maintain them and no eyes were needed in the dark caves. The
Lemurian needed eyes; he had a perception of light, and the light was
commencing to build the eye in response to his demand.
His language consisted of sounds like those of Nature. The
sighing of the wind in the immense forests which grew in great luxuriance in
that super-tropical climate, the rippling of the brook, the howling of the
tempest--for Lemuria was storm-swept--the thunder of the waterfall, the roar of
the volcano--all these were to him voices of the Gods from whom he knew himself
to have descended.
Of the birth of his body he knew nothing. He could not see
either it or anything else, but he did perceive his fellow beings. It
was, however, an inner perception, like our perception of persons and things in
dreams, but with this very important difference, that his dream-perception was
clear and rational.
Thus he knew nothing at all about his body, in fact he did not
know he had a body any more than we know we have a stomach when that organ is in
good health. We remember its existence only when our abuse of it causes us to
feel pain there. Under normal conditions we are entirely unconscious of its
processes. Similarly did the body of the Lemurian serve him excellently,
although he was unaware of its existence. Pain was the means of making him
aware of his body and of the world without.
Everything in connection with the propagation of the race and
the bringing to birth was done by direction of the Angels under the leadership
of Jehovah, the Regent of the Moon. The propagative function was performed as
stated times of the year when the lines of force, running from planet to
planet, were focussed at proper angles. Thus the creative force encountered no
obstruction and parturition was painless. Man was unaware of birth, because at
that time he was unconscious of the physical world as he now is during sleep.
It was only in the intimate contact of sex relation that the spirit became
aware of the flesh and them man "knew" his wife. That is shown is such
passages of the Bible as "Adam knew Eve and she bore Seth";
"Elkanah knew Hannah and she bore Samuel"; and Mary's
question, "How I shall conceive, seeing I know no man?" This
is also the key to the meaning of the "Tree of Knowledge," the fruit
of which opened the eyes of Adam and Eve, so that they came to know both good
and evil. Previously they had known only good, but when they began to exercise
the creative function independently, they were ignorant of stellar influences,
as their descendants, and Jehovah's supposed curse was not a curse at all, but
a simple statement of the result which must inevitably follow use of their
generative force which failed to take into consideration the effect of the
stellar rays on childbirth.
Thus the ignorant use of the generative force is primarily
responsible for pain, sickness and sorrow.
The Lemurian knew no death because when, in the course of long
ages, his body dropped away, he entered another, quite unconscious of the
change. His consciousness was not focussed in the physical world, therefore the
laying aside of one body and the taking of another was no more to him than a
leaf or twig drying and falling away from the tree and being replaced by a new
growth.
Their language was to the Lemurians something holy. It was not a
dead language like ours--a mere orderly arrangements of sounds. Each sound
uttered by the Lemurian had power over his fellow-beings, over the animals and
even over nature around him. Therefore, under the guidance of the Lords of
Venus, who were the messengers of God--the agents of the creative hierarchies--
the power of speech was used with great reverence, as something most holy.
The education of the boys differed greatly from that of the
girls. The Lemurian methods of education seem shocking to our more refined
sensibilities. In order to spare the reader's feelings, only the least cruel of
them will be touched upon. Strenuous in the extreme as they may seen, it must
be remembered that the Lemurian body was not nearly so high-strung as are the
human bodies of the present day; also that it was only by the very harshest
measures that the exceedingly dim consciousness could be touched at all. As
time went on and the consciousness became more and more awakened, such extreme
measures as those used then became unnecessary and have passed away, but at
that time they were indispensable to arouse the slumbering forces of the spirit
to a consciousness of the outside world.
The education of the boys was designed especially to develop the
quality of Will. They were made to fight one another, and these fights were
extremely brutal. They were impaled upon spits, with full power to release
themselves, but by exercising the will power they were to remain there in spite
of the pain. They learned to make their muscles tense, and to carry immense
burdens by the exercise of the Will.
The education of the girls was intended to promote the
development of the imaginative facility. They also were subjected to strenuous
and severe treatment. They were put out in the great forests, to let the sound
of the wind in the tree tops speak to them and to listen to the furious
outbursts of flood and tempest. They thus learned to have no fear of those
paroxysms of nature and to perceive only the grandeur of the warring elements.
The frequent volcanic outbursts were greatly valued as a means of education,
being particularly conducive to the awakening of the faculty of memory.
Such educational methods would be entirely out of the question
at the present day, but they did not make the Lemurian morbid, because he had
no memory. No matter what painful or terrifying experience he endured,
everything was forgotten as soon as past. The above mentioned strenuous
experiences were for the purpose of developing memory, to imprint these violent
and constantly repeated impacts from without upon the brain, because memory is
necessary that the experiences of the past may be used as guides to Action.
The education of the girls developed the first germinal,
flickering memory. The first idea of good and evil was formulated by them
because of their experiences, which worked chiefly on the imagination. Those
experiences most likely to leave a recollection were thought "Good;"
those which did not produce that much desired result were considered
"Evil."
Thus woman become the pioneer in culture, being the first to
develop the idea of "a good life," of which she became the esteemed
exponent among the ancients and in that respect she has nobly led the vanguard
ever since. Of course, as all Egos incarnate alternately as male and female,
there is really no pre-eminence. It is simply that those who for the time being
are in a dense body of the feminine gender have a positive vital body, and are
therefore more responsive to spiritual impacts than when the vital body is
negative as in the male.
As we have seen, the Lemurian was a born magician. He felt
himself a descendant of the Gods, a spiritual being; therefore his line of
advancement was by gaining not spiritual, but material knowledge. The
Temples of Initiation for the most advanced did not need to reveal to man his
high origin; to educate him to perform feats of magic; to instruct him how to
function in the desire world and the higher realms. Such instruction is
necessary today because now the average man has no knowledge of the spiritual
world, nor can he function in superphysical realism. The Lemurian, however, in
his own way, did possess that knowledge and could exercise those faculties, but
on the other hand, he was ignorant of the Laws of the Cosmos of facts regarding
the physical world which are matters of common, everyday knowledge with us.
Therefore at the School Initiation he was taught art, the laws of Nature and
facts relating to the physical universe. His will was strengthened and his
imagination and memory wakened so that he could correlate experiences and
devise ways and means of action when his past experiences did not serve to
indicate a proper course of procedure. Thus, the Temples of Initiation in the
Lemurian times were High Schools for the cultivation of Will-power and
Imagination, with "post-graduate courses" in Art and Science.
Yet, though the Lemurian was a born magician, he never misused
his powers because he felt himself related to the Gods. Under his direction of
the Messengers of the Gods, already spoken of, his forces were directed toward
the molding of forms in the animal and the plant worlds. It may be hard for the
materialist to understand how he could do such work if he could not see the
world about him. It is true man could not "see" as we understand the
term and as he now sees objects outside in space with his physical eyes. Still,
as the purest of our children are clairvoyant to this day while they remain in
a state of sinless innocence, the Lemurians possessed an internal perception
which gave them only a dim idea of the outward shape of any object; but
illuminated so much the brighter its inner nature, its soul-quality, by a
spiritual apperception born of innocent purity.
Innocence, however, is not synonymous with Virtue. Innocence is
the child of Ignorance and could not be maintained in a universe where the
purpose of evolution is the acquisition of Wisdom. To attain that end, a
knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong, is essential, also choice of
action.
If, having knowledge and choice, man ranges himself on the side
of Good and Right he cultivates Virtue and Wisdom. If he succumbs to temptation
and does wrong knowingly, he fosters vice.
God's plan is not to be brought to naught, however. Every act is
a seed-ground for the Law of Consequence. We reap what we sow. The weeds of
wrong action bear flowers of sorrow and suffering, and when the seeds from then
have fallen into a chastened heart, when they have been watered by the tears of
repentance Virtue will eventually blossom forth. What blessed assurance, that
out of every evil we do, Good will eventually accrue, for in our Father's
Kingdom naught but Good can endure.
Therefore, the "Fall" with its consequent pain and
suffering is but a temporary state where we see through a glass darkly, but
anon we shall behold again face to face the God within and without, who is ever
perceived by the pure in heart.
This is cabalistically described as the experience of one pair
who, of course, represent humanity. The key is given in the verse where the
Messenger of the Gods says to the woman, "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children;" the clue is also found in the sentence of death which was
pronounced at that same time.
It will be observed that previous to the Fall the consciousness
was not focussed in the physical world. Man was unconsciousness of propagation,
birth and death. The Angels who have charge of and work in the vital body (the
medium of propagation) regulated the propagative function and brought the sexes
together at certain seasons of the year, using the solar and the lunar forces
when they produced conditions most propitious for fecundation, the union being
achieved unconsciously by the participants at first, but later it produced a
momentary physical cognition. Then the period of gestation caused no
inconvenience and parturition was painless, the parent being plunged in deep
sleep. Birth and death involved no break in the conscious and were therefore
non-existent to the Lemurians.
Their consciousness was directed inward. They perceived physical
things in a spiritual way, as we perceive them in a dream--at which time all
that we see is within ourselves.
When "their eyes opened" and their consciousness was
directed outward toward the facts of the physical world, conditions were
altered. Propagation was directed, not by the Angels, but by man, who was
ignorant of the operation of the Sun and Moon forces. He also abused the
sex-function, using it for sense-gratification, with the result that pain
attended the process of child-bearing. Then his consciousness became focused in
the physical world, although all things did not appear to his vision with
clearly defined outlines until the latter part of the Atlantean Epoch. Still he
came by degrees to know death because of the break made in his consciousness
when it was shifted to the higher worlds at death and back to the physical
world at rebirth.
The "opening of the eyes" was brought about in the
following manner: We remember that when the sexes separated, the male became an
expression for Will, which is one part of the twofold soul-force; the female
expressing the other part, Imagination. If woman were not imaginative she could
not build the new body in the womb and were not the spermatozoan an embodiment
of the concentrated human will, it could not accomplish impregnation and so
commence the germination, which results in the continued segmentation of the
ovum.
These twin-forces, Will and Imagination, are both necessary to
the propagation of bodies. Since the separation of the sexes, however, one of
these forces remains within each individual and only the part given out is
available for propagation. Hence the necessity for a one-sexed being who
expresses the complementary soul-force. This was previously explained; also
that the part of the soul-force not used for propagation becomes available for inner
growth. So long as man sent out the full, dual sex-force for generation, he
could accomplish nothing in the direction of soul-growth for himself. But since
then the part not used through the sex organ has been appropriated by the
indwelling spirit to build the brain and the larynx for its expression.
Thus man built on, all through the latter part of the Lemurian
Epoch and the first two-thirds of the Atlantean Epoch until, by the above
mentioned use of this half of his sex-force, he became a fully-conscious,
thinking, reasoning, being.
In man the brain is the link between the spirit and the outside
world. He can know nothing of the outside world except through the medium of
the brain. The sense organs are merely carriers to the brain of impacts from
without and the brain is the instrument which interprets and coordinates those
impacts. The Angels belonged to a different evolution and had never been
imprisoned in a dense and cumbrously slow vehicle such as ours. They had
learned to obtain knowledge without a physical brain. Their lowest vehicle is
the vital body. Wisdom came to them as a gift, without the necessity of
laboriously thinking it out through a physical brain.
Man, however, had to "fall into generation," and work
for his knowledge. The spirit, by means of one part of the sex-force directed
inward, built the brain to gather knowledge from the physical world, and the
same force is feeding and building the brain today. It is subverted from its
proper course inasmuch as it should have gone outward for procreation, but man
retains it for selfish purposes. No so the Angels. They had experienced no division
of their soul-powers, therefore they could send out the dual soul-force without
selfish reservation.
The force that goes outward for the purpose of creating another
being is Love. The Angels sent our their whole love, without selfishness or
desire and in return, Cosmic Wisdom flowed into them.
Man sends out only part of his love; the residue he selfishly
keeps and uses to build his inner organs of expression, to improve himself;
thus does his love become selfish and sensual. With one part of his creative
soul-power he selfishly loves another being because he desires co-operation in
propagation. With the other part of his creative soul-power he thinks (also for
selfish reasons) because he desires knowledge.
The Angels love without desire, but man had to go through
selfishness. He must desire and work for wisdom selfishly, that he may reach
selflessness at a higher stage.
The Angels helped him to propagate even after the subversion of
part of the soul-force. They helped him to build the physical brain, but they
had no knowledge that could be transmitted by means of it, because they did not
know how to use such an instrument and could not speak directly to a brain
being. All they could do was to control the physical expression of the love of
man and guide it through the emotions in a loving, innocent way, thus saving
man the pain and trouble incident to the exercise of the sex-function without
wisdom.
Had that regime lasted, man would have remained simply a
God-guided automaton and would never have become a personality--an individual.
That he had become so is due to a much maligned class of entities called the
Lucifer Spirits.
These spirits were a class of stragglers in the life wave of the
Angels. In the Moon Period they worked themselves far ahead of the great mass
of those who are now the most advanced of our humanity. They have not
progressed as far as the Angels who were the pioneer humanity of the Moon
Period, however, but they were so much in advance of our present humanity that
it was impossible for them to take a dense body as we have done; yet they could
not gain knowledge without the use of an inner organ, a physical brain. They
were half-way between man who has a brain and the Angels who need none--in
short, they were demi-gods.
They were thus in a serious situation, The only way they could
find an avenue through which to express themselves and gain knowledge was to
use man's physical brain, as they could make themselves understood by a
physical being endowed with a brain, which the Angels could not.
As said, in the latter part of the Lemurian Epoch man did not
see the physical world as we do now. To him the desire world was much more real.
He had the dream-consciousness of the Moon Period--an inner
picture-consciousness; he was unconscious of the world outside himself. The
Lucifers had no difficultly in manifesting to his inner consciousness and
calling his attention to his outward shape, which he had not theretofore
perceived. They told him how he could cease being simply the servant of
external powers, and could become his own master and like unto the gods,
"knowing good and evil." They also made clear to him that he need have
no apprehension if his body died, inasmuch as he had within himself the
creative ability to form new bodies without the mediation of the Angels. All of
which information was given with the one purpose of turning his consciousness
outward for the acquirement of knowledge.
This the Lucifers did that they might profit by it
themselves--to gain knowledge as man acquired it. They brought to him pain and
suffering where there was none before; but they also brought him the
inestimable blessing of emancipation from outside influence and guidance,
thereby starting him on the road to the evolution of his own spiritual
powers--an evolution which will eventually enable him to upbuild himself with
wisdom such as that of the Angels and other Beings Who guided him before he first
exercised free will.
Before man's enlightenment by the Lucifer Spirits he had not
known sickness, pain nor death. All of these resulted from the unwise use of
the propagative faculty and its abuse for the gratification of the senses.
Animals in their wild state are exempt from sickness and pain, because their
propagation is carried on under the care and direction of the wise group spirit
at only those times of the year which are propitious to that process. The
sex-function is designed solely for the perpetuation of the species and under
no circumstances for the gratification of sexual desire.
Had man remained a God-guided automaton, he would have known no
sickness, pain, no death unto this day; but he would also have lacked the
brain-consciousness and independence which resulted from his enlightenment by
the Lucifer Spirits, the "light-givers," who opened the eyes of his
understanding and taught him to use his then dim vision to gain knowledge of
the Physical World which he was destined to conquer.
From that time there have been two forces working in man. One
force is that of the Angels, who build new beings in the womb by means of Love
which is turned downward for procreation; they are therefore the perpetuators
of the race.
The other force is that of the Lucifers, who are the
instigators of all mental activity, by means of the other part of the
sex-force, which is carried upward for work in the brain.
The Lucifers are also called "serpents" and are
variously represented in different mythologies. More will be said about them
when we come to the analysis of Genesis. For the present enough has been said
to warrant us in pursuing the main line of investigation, which leads us to
follow the progress of man's evolution still further, through the Atlantean and
Fifth Epochs, down to the present day.
The student is requested to note carefully that it was the forms
which degenerated. There is a very important distinction to be kept in mind
between the bodies (or forms) of a race, and the Egos (or life) which is reborn
in those race-bodies.
When a race is born, the forms are ensouled by a certain
group of spirits and have inherent capability of evolving to a certain stage of
completion and no further. There can be no standing still in nature, therefore
when the limit of attainment has been reached the bodies or forms of that race
begin to degenerate, sinking lower and lower until at last the race dies out.
The reason is not far to seek. New race bodies are particularly
flexible and plastic, affording great scope for the Egos who are reborn in them
to improve these vehicles and progress thereby. The most advanced Egos are
brought to birth in such bodies and improve them to the best of their ability.
These Egos, however, are only apprentices as yet, and they cause the bodies to
gradually crystallize and harden until the limit of improvement of that
particular kind of body has been reached. Then forms for another new race are
created, to afford the advancing Egos further scope for more extended
experience and greater development. They discard the old race bodies for the
new, their discarded bodies becoming the habitations for less advanced Egos
who, in their turn, use them as stepping-stones on the path of progress. Thus
the old race bodies are used by Egos of increasing inferiority,
gradually degenerating until at last there are no Egos low enough to profit by
rebirth in such bodies. The women then become sterile and the race-forms
die.
Science speaks only of evolution. It fails to consider the lines
of degeneration which are slowly but surely destroying such bodies as have
crystallized beyond possibility of improvement.
Volcanic cataclysms destroyed the greater part of the Lemurian
continent and in its stead rose the Atlantean continent, where the Atlantic
Ocean now is.
Material scientists, impelled by the story of Plato to
undertake researched regarding Atlantis, have demonstrated that there is ample
foundation for the story that such a continent did exist. Occult scientists
know that it existed and they also know that the conditions there were such as
shall now be described.
Ancient Atlantis differed from our present world in many ways,
but the greatest difference was in the constitution of the atmosphere and the
water of that Epoch.
From the southern part of the planet came the hot, fiery breath
of the volcanoes which were still abundantly active. From the north swept down
the icy blasts of the Polar region. The continent of Atlantis was the meeting
place of those two currents, consequently its atmosphere was always filled with
a thick and murky fog. The water was not so dense as now, but contained a
greater proportion of air. Much water was also held in suspension in the heavy,
foggy Atlantean atmosphere.
Through this atmosphere the Sun never clearly shone. It
appeared to be surrounded by an aura of light-mist, as do street-lamps when
seen through a dense fog. It was then possible to see only a few feet in any
direction and the outlines of all objects not close at hand appeared dim, hazy
and uncertain. Man was guided more by internal perception than by external
vision.
Not only the country, but also the man of that time was very
different from anything existent on earth at the present time. He had a head,
but scarcely any forehead; his brain had no frontal development; the head
sloped almost abruptly back from a point just above the eyes. As compared with
our present humanity; he was a giant; his arms and legs were much longer, in
proportion to this body, than ours. Instead of walking, he progressed by a
series of flying leaps, not unlike those of the kangaroo. He had small blinking
eyes and his hair was round in section. The latter peculiarity, if no other,
distinguishes the descendants of the Atlantean races who remain with us at the
present day. Their hair was straight, glossy, black and round in
section.
The higher vehicles of the early Atlanteans were not drawn into
a concentric position in relation to the dense body, as are ours. The spirit
was not quite an indwelling spirit; it was partially outside, therefore
could not control its vehicles with as great facility as though it dwelt
entirely inside. The head of the vital body was outside of and held a position
far above the physical head. There is a point between the eyebrows and about
half an inch below the surface of the skin, which has a corresponding point in
the vital body. This point is not the pituitary body, which lies much deeper in
the head of the dense body. It might be called "the root of the
nose." When these two points in the dense and the vital bodies come into
correspondence, as they do in man today, the trained clairvoyant sees then as a
black spot, or rather as a vacant space, like the invisible core of a gas flame.
This is the seat of the indwelling spirit in the man--the Holy of Holies in the
temple of the human body, barred to all but that indwelling human Ego whose
home it is. The trained clairvoyant can see with more or less distinctness,
according to his capacity and training, all the different bodies which form the
aura of man. This spot alone is hidden from him. This is the "Isis"
whose veil none may lift. Not even the highest evolved being on earth is
capable of unveiling the Ego of the humblest and least developed creature.
That, and that alone upon earth, is so sacred that it is absolutely safe from
intrusion.
These two points just spoken of--the one in the dense body and
its counterpart in the vital body--were far apart in the men of the early
Atlanteans days, as they are in the animals of our day. The head of the horse's
vital body is far outside the head of its dense body. The two points are closer
together in the dog than in any other animal except, perhaps, the elephant.
When they come into correspondence we have an animal prodigy, able to count,
spell, etc.
On account of the distance between these two points, the
Atlantean's power of perception or vision was much keener in the inner Worlds
than in the dense Physical World, obscured by its atmosphere of thick, heavy
fog. In the fullness of time, however, the atmosphere slowly became clearer; at
the same time, the point spoken of in the vital body came closer and closer to
the corresponding point in the dense body. As the two approached each other,
man gradually lost touch with the inner Worlds. They became dimmer as the dense
Physical World became clearer in outline. Finally, in the last third of the
Atlantean Epoch, the point in the vital body was united to the corresponding
point in the dense body. Not until then did man become fully awake in the dense
Physical World; but at the same time that full sight and perception in the
Physical World were gained, the capability of perceiving the inner Worlds were
gradually lost to most of the people.
In an earlier time the Atlantean did not clearly perceive the
outline of an object or a person, but he saw the soul and at once knew its
attributes, whether they were beneficial to him or otherwise. He knew whether
the man or animal he was regarding was kindly or inimically disposed toward
him. He was accurately taught by spiritual perception how to deal with others
and how to escape harm. Therefore when the Spiritual World gradually faded from
his consciousness, great was his sorrow at the loss.
The Rmoahals were the first of the Atlantean Races. They had
but little memory and that little was chiefly connected with sensation. They
remembered colors and tomes, and thus to some extend they evolved Feeling. The
Lemurian had entirely lacked Feeling, in the finer signification of the word.
He had the sense of touch, could feel the physical sensations of pain, ease and
comfort, but not the mental and spiritual ones of joy, sorrow, sympathy and
antipathy.
With memory came to the Atlanteans the rudiments of a language.
They evolved words and no longer made use of mere sounds, as did the Lemurians.
The Rmoahals began to give names to things. They were yet a spiritual race and,
their soul-powers being like the forces of nature, they not only named the
objects around them, but in their words was power over the things they named.
Like the last of the Lemurians, their Feelings as spirits inspired them, and no
harm was ever done to one another. To them the language was holy, as the
highest direct expression of the spirit. The power was never abused or degraded
by gossip or small talk. By the use of definite language the soul in this race
first became able to contact the soul of things in the outside world.
The Tlavatlis were the second Atlantean Race. Already they began
to feel their worth as separate human beings. They became ambitious, they
demanded that their works be remembered. Memory became a factor in the life of
the community. The remembrance of the deeds done by certain ones would cause a
group of people to choose as their leader one who had done great deeds. This
was the germ of Royalty.
This remembrance of the meritorious deeds of great men was
carried even beyond the time when such leaders died. Mankind began to honor the
memory of ancestors and to worship them and others who had shown great merit.
That was the beginning of a form of worship which is practiced to this day by
some Asiatics.
The Toltecs were the third Atlantean Race. They carried still
further the ideas of their predecessors, inaugurating Monarchy and Hereditary
Succession. The Toltecs originated the custom of honoring men for the deeds
done by their ancestors, but there was then a very good reason for so doing.
Because of the peculiar training at that time, the father had the power to
bestow his qualities upon his son in a way impossible to mankind at the present
time.
The education consisted of calling up before the soul of the
child pictures of the different phases of life. The consciousness of the early
Atlantean was, as yet, principally an internal picture-consciousness. The power
of the educator to call up these pictures before the soul of the child was the
determining factor upon which depended the soul qualities that would be
possessed by the grown man. The instinct and not the reason was appealed to and
aroused and by this method of education the son, in the great majority of
cases, readily absorbed the qualities of the father. It is thus evident that
there was at that time good reason for bestowing honor upon the descendants of
great men, because the son almost always inherited most of his father's good
qualities. Unfortunately, that is not the case in our time, although we still
follow the same practices of honoring the sons of great men; but we have no
reason whatever for doing so.
Among the Toltecs, experience came to be highly valued. The man
who had gained the most varied experience was the most honored and sought.
Memory was in them so great and accurate that our present memory is nothing in
comparison. In an emergency, a Toltec of wide practical experience would be
very likely to remember similar cases in the past, and suggest what action
should be taken. Thus be became a valuable adviser to the community when a
situation developed which none of the members had previously encountered and
they were unable to think or reason from analogy as to how to deal promptly
with the emergency. When such an individual was not available, they were
compelled to experiment in order to find what was best to do.
In the middle third of Atlantis we find the beginning of
separate nations. Groups of people who discovered in one another similar tastes
and habits would leave their old homes and found a new colony. They remembered
old customs and followed them in their new homes as far as they suited, forming
new ones to meet their own particular ideas and necessities.
The Leaders of mankind initiated great Kings at that time to
rule the people, over whom they were given great power. The masses honored
these kings with all the reverence due to those who were thus truly Kings
"by the grace of God." This happy state, however, had in it the germ
of disintegration, for in time the Kings become intoxicated with power. They
forgot that it had been put into their hands by the grace of God, as a sacred
trust; that they were made Kings for the purpose of dealing justly by and
helping the people. They began to use their power corruptly, for selfish ends
and personal aggrandizement instead of for the common good, arrogating
themselves privileges and authorities never intended for them. Ambition and
selfishness ruled then and they abused their high, divinely derived powers, for
purposes of oppression and revenge. This was true, not only of the Kings, but
also of the nobles and the higher classes, and when one considers the power
possessed by them over their fellow beings of the less developed classes, it is
easy to understand that its misuse would bring about terrible conditions.
The Original Turanians were the fourth Atlantean Race. They
were especially vile in their abominable selfishness. They erected temples
where the Kings were worshiped as gods, and caused the extreme oppression of
the helpless lower classes. Black magic of the worst and most nauseating kind
flourished and all their efforts were directed towards the gratification of
vanity and external display.
The Original Semites were the fifth and most important of the
seven Atlantean Races, because in them we find the first germ of the corrective
quality of Thought. Therefore the Original Semitic Race become the "seed
race" for the seven races of the present Fifth Epoch.
In the Polarian Epoch man acquired a dense body as an
instrument of action. In the Hyperborean Epoch the vital body was added to give
power of motion necessary to action. In the Lemurian Epoch the desire body
furnished incentive to action.
The mind was given to man in the Atlantean Epoch to give
purpose to action, but as the Ego was exceedingly weak and the desire nature
strong, the nascent mind coalesced with the desire body, the faculty of Cunning
resulted and was the cause of all the wickedness of the middle third of the
Atlantean Epoch.
In the Fifth Epoch Thought and Reason were to be evolved by the
work of the Ego in the mind to conduct Desire into channel leading to the
attainment of spiritual perfection, which is the Goal of Evolution. This
faculty of Thought and of forming Ideas was gained by man at the expense of
loss of control over the vital forces--i.e., power over Nature.
With Thought and Mind man can at present exercise power over
the chemicals and minerals only, for his mind is now in the first of mineral
stage of its evolution, as was his dense body in the Saturn Period. He can
exercise no power over plant or animal life. Wood and various vegetable
substances, together with different parts of the animals, are used by man in
his industries. These substances are all in the final analysis chemical matter
ensouled by mineral life, of which the bodies in all the kingdoms are
composed, as previously explained. Over all these varieties of chemical mineral
combinations man at his present stage may have dominion, but until he has
reached the Jupiter Period, that dominion will not be extended so that he can
work with life. In that Period, however, he will have the power to work with
plant life as the Angels do at present in the Earth Period.
Material scientist have labored for many years in an endeavor
to "create" life, but they will not succeed until they have learned
that they must approach the laboratory table with the deepest reverence, as
they would draw near to the alter in a Temple--with purity of heart and with
holy hands, devoid of greed and selfish ambition.
Such is the wise decision of the Elder Brothers, who guard this
and all the deep secrets of Nature until man shall be fit to use them for the
uplifting of the race--for the glory of God and not for personal profit or
self-aggrandizement.
It was, however, this very loss of power over the vital forces
which the Atlanteans suffered that made it possible for man to evolve further.
After that, no matter how great his selfishness became, it could not prove
absolutely destructive of himself and of Nature, as would have been the case
had the growing selfishness been accompanied by the great power possessed by
man in his innocent former state. Thought that works only in man is
powerless to command Nature and can never endanger humanity, as would be
possible were Nature's forces under man's control.
The Original Semites regulated their desires to some extent by
the mind, and instead of mere desires, came cunning and craftiness--the means
by which those people sought to attain their selfish ends. Though they were a
very turbulent people, they learned to curb their passions to a great extend and
accomplish their purposes by the use of cunning, as being more subtle and
potent than mere brute strength. They were the first to discover that
"brain" is superior to "brawn."
During the existence of this Race, the atmosphere of Atlantis
commenced to clear definitely, and the previously mentioned point in the vital
body came into correspondence with its companion point in the dense body. The
combination of events gave man the ability to see objects clearly with sharp,
well-defined contours; but it also resulted in loss of sight pertaining to the
inner Worlds.
Thus we see, and it may be well to definitely state it as a
law: No progress is ever made that is not gained at the cost of some previously
possessed faculty, which is later regained in a higher form.
Man built the brain at the expense of the temporary loss of the
power to bring forth offspring from himself alone. In order to get the
instrument wherewith to guide his dense body, be became subject to all the
difficulty, sorrow and pain which is involved in the co-operation necessary to
the perpetuation of the race; he obtained his reasoning power at the cost of
the temporary loss of his spiritual insight.
While reason benefited him in many ways, it shut from his
vision the soul of things which had previously spoken to him, and the gaining
of the intellect which is now man's most precious possession was at first but
sadly contemplated by the Atlantean, who mourned the loss of spiritual sight
and power which marked its acquisition.
The exchange of spiritual powers for physical faculties was
necessary, however, in order that man might be able to function, independent of
outside guidance, in the Physical World which he must conquer. In time his
higher powers will be regained when, by means of his experiences in his journey
through the denser Physical World, he has learned to use them properly. When he
possessed them, he had no knowledge of their proper use, and they were too
precious and too dangerous to be used as toys, with which to experiment.
Under the guidance of a great Entity, the Original Semitic Race
was led eastward from the continent of Atlantis, over Europe, to the great
waste in Central Asia which is known as the Gobi Desert. There it prepared them
to be the seed of the seven Races of the Fifth Epoch, imbuing them potentially
with the qualities to be evolved by their descendants.
During all the previous ages--from the commencement of the
Saturn Period, through the Sun and Moon Periods, and in the three and one-half
Revolutions of the Earth Period (the Polarian, Hyperborean, Lemurian, and
earlier part of the Atlantean Epochs)--man had been led and guided by higher
Beings, without the slightest choice. In those days he was unable to guide
himself, not yet having evolved a mind of his own; but at last the time had
come when it was necessary for his further development that he should begin to
guide himself. He must learn independence and assume responsibility for his own
actions. Hitherto he had been compelled to obey the commands of his Ruler; now
his thoughts were to be turned from the visible Leaders, the Lords from Venus,
whom he worshiped as messengers from the gods--to the idea of the true God, the
invisible Creator of the System. Man was to learn to worship and obey the commands
of a God he could not see.
Their Leader therefore called the people together and delivered
a soul-stirring oration, which might be thus expressed:
Hitherto, you have seen Those who led you, but there are
Leaders of varying grades of splendor, higher than They, Whom you have not
seen, Who guided your every tottering step in the evolution of consciousness.
Exalted above all these glorious Beings stands the invisible
God Who has created the heaven, and the earth upon which you dwell. He has
willed to give you dominion over all this land, that you may be fruitful and
multiply in it.
This invisible God only must you worship, but you must
worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, and not make any graven image of Him, nor
use any likeness to picture Him to yourselves, because He is everywhere
present, and is beyond any comparison or similitude.
If you follow His precepts, He will bless you abundantly in
all good. If you stray from His ways, evil will follow. The choice is yours.
You are free; but you must endure the consequences of your own actions.
The education of man proceeds by four great steps. First, he is
worked upon from without unconsciously. Then he is placed under the Rulership
of Divine Messengers and Kings whom he sees, and whose commands he must obey.
Next he is taught to revere the commands of a God whom he does not see.
Finally, he learns to rise above the commands; to become a law unto himself;
and, by conquering himself of his own free will, to live in harmony with the
Order of Nature, which is the Law of God.
Fourfold also are the steps by which man climbs upward to God.
First, through fear, he worships the God whom he begins to
sense, sacrificing to propitiate Him, as do the fetish-worshipers.
Next, he learns to look to God as the giver of all
things, and hopes to receive from Him material benefits here and now. He
sacrifices through avarice, expecting that the Lord will repay a hundredfold,
or to escape swift punishment by plague, war, etc.
Next, he is taught to worship God by prayer and the living of a
good life; and that he must cultivate faith in a Heaven where he will be
rewarded in the future; and to abstain from evil that he may escape a future
punishment in Hell.
At last he comes to a point where he can do right without any
thought of reward, bribe, or punishment, but simply because "it is right
to do right." He loves right for its own sake and seeks to govern his
conduct thereby, regardless of present benefit or injury, or of painful results
at some future time.
The Original Semites had reached the second of these steps.
They were taught to worship an invisible God and to expect to be rewarded by
material benefits, or punished by painful afflictions.
Popular Christianity is at the third step. Esoteric Christians,
and the pupils of all occult schools are trying to reach the highest step,
which will be generally achieved in the Sixth Epoch, the new Galilee, when the
unifying Christian religion will open the hearts of men, as their understanding
is being opened now.
As the heavy fogs of Atlantis condensed more and more, the
increased quantity of water gradually inundated that continent, destroying the
greater part of the population and the evidences of their civilization.
Great numbers were driven from the doomed continent by the
floods, and wandered across Europe. The Mongolian races are the descendants of
those Atlantean refugees. The Black Africans are the descendants of the
Lemurians.
Central Asia was the cradle of the Fifth Epoch Races, who
descended from the Original Semites. Thence have the different Races gone out.
It is unnecessary to describe them here, as historical researches have
sufficiently revealed their main features.
In the present Fifth Epoch, man came to know the use of fire
and other forces, the divine origin of which was purposely withheld from him,
that he might be free to use them for higher purposes or his own development.
Therefore we have in this present Epoch two classes: One looks upon this Earth
and upon man as being of divine origin; the other sees all things from a purely
utilitarian viewpoint.
The most advanced among humanity at the beginning of the Fifth
Epoch were given the higher Initiations, that they might take the place of the
messengers of God, i.e. the Lords of Venus. Such human Initiates were from this
time forth the only mediators between God and man. Even they did not appear
publicly nor show any signs of wonders that they were Leaders and Teachers. Man
was left entirely free to seek them or not, as he desired.
At the end of our present Epoch the highest Initiate will
appear publicly, when a sufficient number of ordinary humanity desire, and will
voluntarily subject themselves to such a Leader. They will thus form the
nucleus for the last Race, which will appear at the beginning of the Sixth
Epoch. After that time races and nations will cease to exist. Humanity will
form one spiritual Fellowship as before the end of the Lemurian Epoch.
The names of the Races which have spread over the Earth during
the Fifth Epoch, up to the present time, are as follows:
From the mixture of the different nations now taking place in
the United States will come the "Seed" for the last Race, in the
beginning of the Sixth Epoch.
Two more Races will be evolved in our present Epoch, one of
them being the Slav. When, in the course of a few hundred years, the Sun,
because of the precession of the equinoxes, shall have entered the sign
Aquarius, the Russian people and the Slav Races in general will reach a degree
of spiritual development which will advance them far beyond their present
condition. Music will be the chief factor in bringing this about, for on the
wings of music the soul which is attuned may fly to the very Throne of God,
where the mere intellect cannot reach. Development attained in that manner,
however, is not permanent, because it is one-sided, therefore not in harmony
with the law of evolution, which demands that development, to be permanent,
must be evenly balanced--in other words, that spirituality shall evolve
through, or at least equally with, intellect. For this reason the Slavic
civilization will be short-lived, but it will be great and joyful while it
lasts, for it is being born of deep sorrow and untold suffering, and the law of
Compensation will bring the opposite in due time.
From the Slavs will descend a people which will form the last
of the seven Races of the Fifth Epoch, and from the people of the United States
will descend the last of all the Races in this scheme of evolution, which will
run its course in the beginning of the Sixth Epoch.
The sixteen Races are called the "Sixteen paths to
destruction" because there is always, in each Race, a danger that the soul
may become too much attached to the Race; that it may become so enmeshed in
Race characteristics it cannot rise above the Race idea, and will
therefore fail to advance; that it may, so to speak, crystallize into that Race
and consequently be confined to the Race bodies when they start to degenerate.
In Periods, Revolutions, and Epochs where there are no Races,
there is much more time, and the likelihood of becoming fossilized is not so
great, nor so frequent. But the sixteen Races are born and die in such a
relatively short time there is grave danger that the one who gets too much
attached to conditions may be left behind.
Christ is the great unifying Leader of the Sixth Epoch, and He
enunciated this law when He uttered those little-understood words: "If any
man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my
disciple.
"And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
". . . whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that
he hath, he cannot be my disciple."
Not that we are to leave, nor underestimate family ties, but
that we are to rise above them. Father and mother are "bodies"; all
relations are part of the Race--which belongs to Form. The souls must recognize
that they are not Bodies, nor Races, but Egos striving for perfection. If a man
forgets this, and identifies himself with his Race--clinging to it with fanatic
patriotism--he is likely to become enmeshed in and sink with it when his
compeers have passed to greater heights on the Path of Attainment.
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