Annas entered his spacious audience chamber, seated himself in a large chair, and commanded that Jesus be brought before him. After a few moments spent in silently surveying the Master, he said: “You realize that something must be done about your teaching since you are disturbing the peace and order of our country.” As Annas looked inquiringly at Jesus, the Master looked full into his eyes but made no reply. Again Annas spoke, “What are the names of your disciples, besides Simon Zelotes, the agitator?” Again Jesus looked down upon him, but he did not answer.

Annas was considerably disturbed by Jesus’ refusal to answer his questions, so much so that he said to him: “Do you have no care as to whether I am friendly to you or not? Do you have no regard for the power I have in determining the issues of your coming trial?” When Jesus heard this, he said: “Annas, you know that you could have no power over me unless it were permitted by my Father. Some would destroy the Son of Man because they are ignorant; they know no better, but you, friend, know what you are doing. How can you, therefore, reject the light of God?”

The kindly manner in which Jesus spoke to Annas almost bewildered him. But he had already determined in his mind that Jesus must either leave Palestine or die; so he summoned up his courage and asked: “Just what is it you are trying to teach the people? What do you claim to be?” Jesus answered: “You know full well that I have spoken openly to the world. I have taught in the synagogues and many times in the temple, where all the Jews and many of the gentiles have heard me. In secret I have spoken nothing; why, then, do you ask me about my teaching? Why do you not summon those who have heard me and inquire of them? Behold, all Jerusalem has heard that which I have spoken even if you have not yourself heard these teachings.” But before Annas could make reply, the chief steward of the palace, who was standing near, struck Jesus in the face with his hand, saying, “How dare you answer the high priest with such words?” Annas spoke no words of rebuke to his steward, but Jesus addressed him, saying, “My friend, if I have spoken evil, bear witness against the evil; but if I have spoken the truth, why, then, should you smite me?”

In his confusion Annas went into another room, leaving Jesus alone with the household attendants and the temple guards for almost an hour. When he returned, going up to the Master’s side, he said, “Do you claim to be the Messiah, the deliverer of Israel?” Said Jesus: “Annas, you have known me from the times of my youth. You know that I claim to be nothing except that which my Father has appointed, and that I have been sent to all men, gentile as well as Jew.” Then said Annas: “I have been told that you have claimed to be the Messiah; is that true?” Jesus looked upon Annas but only replied, “So you have said.”

About this time messengers arrived from the palace of Caiaphas to inquire what time Jesus would be brought before the court of the Sanhedrin,

PETER IN THE COURTYARD

While Peter was warming himself by the fire, in the courtyard the portress went over to him and mischievously said, “Are you not also one of this man’s disciples?” Now Peter should not have been surprised at this recognition, for it was John who had requested that the girl let him pass through the palace gates; but he was in such a tense nervous state that this identification as a disciple threw him off his balance, and with only one thought uppermost in his mind—the thought of escaping with his life—he promptly answered the maid’s question by saying, “I am not.”

Very soon another servant came up to Peter and asked: “Did I not see you in the garden when they arrested this fellow? Are you not also one of his followers?” Peter was now thoroughly alarmed; he saw no way of safely escaping from these accusers; so he vehemently denied all connection with Jesus, saying, “I know not this man, neither am I one of his followers.” About this time the portress of the gate drew Peter to one side and said: “I am sure you are a disciple of this Jesus, not only because one of his followers bade me let you in the courtyard, but my sister here has seen you in the temple with this man. Why do you deny this?” When Peter heard the maid accuse him, he denied all knowledge of Jesus with much cursing and swearing, again saying, “I am not this man’s follower; I do not even know him; I never heard of him before.”

Peter would have liked to escape, but he feared to attract attention to himself. Getting cold, and one of the men standing near him said: “Surely you are one of this man’s disciples. This Jesus is a Galilean, and your speech betrays you, for you also speak as a Galilean.” And again Peter denied all connection with his Master. Peter was so perturbed that he sought to escape contact with his accusers by going away from the fire and remaining by himself on the porch. After more than an hour of this isolation, the gate-keeper and her sister chanced to meet him, and both of them again teasingly charged him with being a follower of Jesus. And again he denied the accusation.

Just as he had once more denied all connection with Jesus, the cock crowed, and Peter remembered the words of warning spoken to him by his Master earlier that same night.

JESUS BEFORE THE COURT OF THE SANHEDRINS

On three previous occasions the Sanhedrin, by a large majority vote, had decreed the death of Jesus, had decided that he was worthy of death on informal charges of law-breaking, blasphemy, and flouting the traditions of the fathers of Israel.

This was a special trial court of some thirty Sanhedrists and was convened in the palace of the high priest. John Zebedee was present with Jesus throughout this trial.  Jesus appeared before this court clothed in his usual garments and with his hands bound together behind his back. The entire court was startled and somewhat confused by his majestic appearance. Never had they gazed upon such a prisoner nor witnessed such composure in a man on trial for his life.

Shotly after the beginning of the testimony of the false witnesses, Annas arrived and took his seat beside Caiaphas. Annas arose and argued that this threat of Jesus to destroy the temple was sufficient to warrant three charges against him:

1. That he was a dangerous traducer of the people. That he taught them impossible things and otherwise deceived them.

2. That he was a fanatical revolutionist in that he advocated laying violent hands on the sacred temple, else how could he destroy it?

3. That he taught magic inasmuch as he promised to build a new temple, and that without hands.

Already the full Sanhedrin agreed that Jesus was guilty of death-deserving transgressions of the Jewish laws, but they were now more concerned with developing charges regarding his conduct and teachings which would justify Pilate in pronouncing the death sentence upon their prisoner.

But Caiaphas could no longer endure the sight of the Master standing there in perfect composure and unbroken silence. He thought he knew at least one way in which the prisoner might be induced to speak. Accordingly, he rushed over to the side of Jesus and, shaking his accusing finger in the Master’s face, said: “I adjure you, in the name of the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Deliverer, the Son of God.” Jesus answered Caiaphas: “I am. Soon I go to the Father, and presently shall the Son of Man be clothed with power and once more reign over the hosts of heaven.”

When the high priest heard Jesus utter these words, he was exceedingly angry, and rending his outer garments, he exclaimed: “What further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now have you all heard this man’s blasphemy. What do you now think should be done with this law-breaker and blasphemer?” And they all answered in unison, “He is worthy of death; let him be crucified.” Jesus manifested no interest in any question asked him when before Annas or the Sanhedrists except the one question relative to his bestowal mission. When asked if he were the Son of God, he instantly and unequivocally answered in the affirmative. Annas desired that the trial proceed further, and that charges of a definite nature regarding Jesus’ relation to the Roman law and Roman institutions be formulated for subsequent presentation to Pilate.

The councilors were anxious to carry these matters to a speedy termination, not only because it was the preparation day for the Passover and no secular work should be done after noon, but also because they feared Pilate might any time return to the Roman capital of Judea, Caesarea, since he was in Jerusalem only for the Passover celebration. But Annas did not succeed in keeping control of the court. After Jesus had so unexpectedly answered Caiaphas, the high priest stepped forward and smote him in the face with his hand. Annas was truly shocked as the other members of the court, in passing out of the room, spit in Jesus’ face, and many of them mockingly slapped him with the palms of their hands. And thus in disorder and with such unheard-of confusion this first session of the Sanhedrist trial of Jesus ended at half past four o’clock.

THE HOUR OF HUMILIATION

The Jewish law required that, in the matter of passing the death sentence, there should be two sessions of the court. This second session was to be held on the day following the first, and the intervening time was to be spent in fasting and mourning by the members of the court. But these men could not await the next day for the confirmation of their decision that Jesus must die. They waited only one hour. In the meantime Jesus was left in the audience chamber in the custody of the temple guards, who, with the servants of the high priest, amused themselves by heaping every sort of indignity upon the Son of Man.

They mocked him, spit upon him, and cruelly buffeted him. They would strike him in the face with a rod and then say, “Prophesy to us, you the Deliverer, who it was that struck you.” And thus they went on for one full hour, reviling and mistreating this unresisting man of Galilee. These are the moments of the Master’s greatest victories in all his long and eventful career as maker, upholder, and savior of a vast and far-flung universe.

THE SECOND MEETING OF THE COURT

At five-thirty o’clock the court reassembled, and Jesus was led into the adjoining room, where John was waiting. While the court began the formulation of the charges which were to be presented to Pilate. Annas made it clear to his associates that the charge of blasphemy would carry no weight with Pilate. This session of the court lasted only a half hour, and when they adjourned to go before Pilate, they had drawn up the indictment of Jesus, as being worthy of death, under three heads:

1. That he was a perverter of the Jewish nation; he deceived the people and incited them to rebellion.

2. That he taught the people to refuse to pay tribute to Caesar.

3. That, by claiming to be a king and the founder of a new sort of kingdom, he incited treason against the emperor.

While Jesus was in the room with John and the guards, some of the women about the high priest’s palace, together with their friends, came to look upon the strange prisoner, and one of them asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?” And Jesus answered: “If I tell you, you will not believe me; and if I ask you, you will not answer.” At six o’clock that morning Jesus was led forth from the home of Caiaphas to appear before Pilate for confirmation of the sentence of death which this Sanhedrist court had so unjustly and irregularly decreed.

JESUS APPEARS BEFORE PILATE

When Jesus and his accusers had gathered in front of Pilate’s judgment hall, the Roman governor came out and, asked, “What accusation do you bring against this fellow?”  The spokesman for the Sanhedrist court answer Pilate: “If this man were not an evildoer, we should not have delivered him up to you.”

When Pilate observed that they were reluctant to state their charges against Jesus, although he knew they had been all night engaged in deliberations regarding his guilt, he answered them: “Since you have not agreed on any definite charges, why do you not take this man and pass judgment on him in accordance with your own laws?” Then spoke the clerk of the Sanhedrin court to Pilate: “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, and this disturber of our nation is worthy to die for the things which he had said and done. Therefore have we come before you for confirmation of this decree.”

Pilate, being keenly sensitive to the disrespectful manner of the approach of these Jews, was not willing to comply with their demands that Jesus be sentenced to death without a trial. When, therefore, he had waited a few moments for them to present their charges against the prisoner, he turned to them and said: “I will not sentence this man to death without a trial; neither will I consent to examine him until you have presented your charges against him in writing.”

When the high priest and the others heard Pilate say this, they signaled to the clerk of the court, who then handed to Pilate the written charges against Jesus. And these charges were: “We find in the Sanhedrist tribunal that this man is an evildoer and a disturber of our nation in that he is guilty of:

1. Perverting our nation and stirring up our people to rebellion.

2. Forbidding the people to pay tribute to Caesar.

3. Calling himself the king of the Jews and teaching the founding of a new kingdom.”

Jesus had not been regularly tried nor legally convicted on any of these charges. He did not even hear these charges when first stated, but Pilate had him brought from the praetorium, where he was in the keeping of the guards, and he insisted that these charges be repeated in Jesus’ hearing. When Jesus heard these accusations, he well knew that he had not been heard on these matters before the Jewish court, and so did John Zebedee and his accusers, but he made no reply to their false charges. Even when Pilate bade him answer his accusers, he opened not his mouth.

THE PRIVATE EXAMINATION BY PILATE

Pilate took Jesus and John Zebedee into a private chamber, leaving the guards outside in the hall, and requesting the prisoner to sit down, Pilate began his talk with Jesus by assuring him that he did not believe the first count against him: that he was a perverter of the nation and an inciter to rebellion. Then he asked, “Did you ever teach that tribute should be refused Caesar?” Jesus, pointing to John, said, “Ask him or any other man who has heard my teaching.” Then Pilate questioned John about this matter of tribute, and John testified concerning his Master’s teaching and explained that Jesus and his apostles paid taxes both to Caesar and to the temple. When Pilate had questioned John, he said, “See that you tell no man that I talked with you.” And John never did reveal this matter.

Pilate then turned around to question Jesus further, saying: “And now about the third accusation against you, are you the king of the Jews?” Since there was a tone of possibly sincere inquiry in Pilate’s voice, Jesus smiled on the procurator and said: “Pilate, do you ask this for yourself, or do you take this question from these others, my accusers?”  The governor answered: “Am I a Jew? Your own people and the chief priests delivered you up and asked me to sentence you to death. I question the validity of their charges and am only trying to find out for myself what you have done. Tell me, have you said that you are the king of the Jews, and have you sought to found a new kingdom?”

Then said Jesus to Pilate: “Do you not perceive that my kingdom is not of this world?

If my kingdom were of this world, surely would my disciples fight that I should not be delivered into the hands of the Jews. My presence here before you in these bonds is sufficient to show all men that my kingdom is a spiritual dominion, even the brotherhood of men who, through faith and by love, have become the sons of God. And this salvation is for the gentile as well as for the Jew.” “Then you are a king after all?” said Pilate. And Jesus answered: “Yes, I am such a king, and my kingdom is the family of the faith sons of my Father who is in heaven. For this purpose was I born into this world, even that I should show my Father to all men and bear witness to the truth of God. And even now do I declare to you that every one who loves the truth hears my voice.”

Then said Pilate half in ridicule and half in sincerity “truth, what is truth, who knows?”

Pilate was not able to fathom Jesus’ words, nor was he able to understand the nature of his spiritual kingdom, but he was now certain that the prisoner had done nothing worthy of death. One look at Jesus, face to face, was enough to convince even Pilate that this gentle and weary, but majestic and upright, man was no wild and dangerous revolutionary who aspired to establish himself on the temporal throne of Israel. Pilate thought he understood something of what Jesus meant when he called himself a king, for he was familiar with the teachings of the Stoics, who declared that “the wise man is king.” Pilate was thoroughly convinced that, instead of being a dangerous sedition-monger, Jesus was nothing more or less than a harmless visionary, an innocent fanatic.

After questioning the Master, Pilate went back to the chief priests and the accusers of Jesus and said: “I have examined this man, and I find no fault in him. I do not think he is guilty of the charges you have made against him; I think he ought to be set free.” And when the Jews heard this, they were moved with great anger, so much so that they wildly shouted that Jesus should die; and one of the Sanhedrists boldly stepped up by the side of Pilate, saying: “This man stirs up the people, beginning in Galilee and continuing throughout all Judea. He is a mischief-maker and an evildoer. You will long regret it if you let this wicked man go free.”

Pilate was hard pressed to know what to do with Jesus; therefore, when he heard them say that he began his work in Galilee, he thought to avoid the responsibility of deciding the case, at least to gain time for thought, by sending Jesus to appear before Herod, who was then in the city attending the Passover. Pilate also thought that this gesture would help to antidote some of the bitter feeling which had existed for some time between himself and Herod, due to numerous misunderstandings over matters of jurisdiction. Pilate, calling the guards, said: “This man is a Galilean. Take him forthwith to Herod, and when he has examined him, report his findings to me.” And they took Jesus to Herod.

JESUS BEFORE HEROD

When they brought Jesus before Herod, Herod was startled by his stately appearance and the calm composure of his countenance. For some fifteen minutes Herod asked Jesus questions, but the Master would not answer. Herod taunted and dared him to perform a miracle, but Jesus would not reply to his many inquiries. Then Herod turned to the chief priests and the Sadducees and, giving ear to their accusations, heard all and more than Pilate had listened to regarding the alleged evil doings of the Son of Man. Finally, being convinced that Jesus would neither talk nor perform a wonder for him, Herod, after making fun of him for a time, arrayed him in an old purple royal robe and sent him back to Pilate.

JESUS RETURNS TO PILATE

When the guards had brought Jesus back to Pilate, he went out on the front steps of the praetorium, where his judgment seat had been placed, and calling together the chief priests and Sanhedrists, said to them: “You brought this man before me with charges that he perverts the people, forbids the payment of taxes, and claims to be king of the Jews. I have examined him and fail to find him guilty of these charges. In fact, I find no fault in him. Then I sent him to Herod, and the tetrarch must have reached the same conclusion since he has sent him back to us. Certainly, nothing worthy of death has been done by this man.

If you still think he needs to be disciplined, I am willing to chastise him before I release him.” Just as the Jews were about to engage in shouting their protests against the release of Jesus, a vast crowd came marching up to the praetorium for the purpose of asking Pilate for the release of a prisoner in honor of the Passover feast. For some time it had been the custom of the Roman governors to allow the populace to choose some imprisoned or condemned man for pardon at the time of the Passover. And now that this crowd had come before him to ask for the release of a prisoner, and since Jesus had so recently been in great favor with the multitudes, it seemed to Pilate that he might possibly extricate himself from his predicament by proposing to this group that, since Jesus was now a prisoner before his judgment seat, he release to them this man of Galilee as the token of Passover good will.

As the crowd surged up on the steps of the building, Pilate heard them calling out the name of one Barabbas. Barabbas was a noted political agitator and murderous robber, the son of a priest, who had recently been apprehended in the act of robbery and murder on the Jericho road. This man was under sentence to die as soon as the Passover festivities were over. Pilate stood up and explained to the crowd that Jesus had been brought to him by the chief priests, who sought to have him put to death on certain charges, and that he did not think the man was worthy of death. Said Pilate: “Which, therefore, would you prefer that I release to you, this Barabbas, the murderer, or this Jesus of Galilee?” And when Pilate had thus spoken, the chief priests and the Sanhedrin councilors all the people shouted at the top of their voices, “Barabbas, Barabbas!”

Pilate was angered at the sight of the chief priests clamoring for the pardon of a notorious murderer while they shouted for the blood of Jesus. Therefore he said to them: “How could you choose the life of a murderer in preference to this man’s whose worst crime is that he figuratively calls himself the king of the Jews?” Pilate knew Jesus was innocent of the charges brought against him, and had he been a just and courageous judge, he would have acquitted him and turned him loose. But he was afraid to defy these angry Jews, and while he hesitated to do his duty, a messenger came up and presented him with a sealed message from his wife, Claudia. Pilate indicated to those assembled before him that he wished to read the communication which he had just received before he proceeded further with the matter before him When Pilate opened this letter from his wife, he read: “I pray you have nothing to do with this innocent and just man whom they call Jesus. I have suffered many things in a dream this night because of him.”

When Pilate returned he asked “What shall I do with him who is called the king of the Jews?” And they all shouted with one accord, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” This demand from the mixed multitude startled and alarmed Pilate. Then once more Pilate said: “Why would you crucify this man? What evil has he done? Who will come forward to testify against him?” But when they heard Pilate speak in defense of Jesus, they only cried out all the more, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Then again Pilate appealed to them regarding the release of the Passover prisoner, saying: “Once more I ask you, which of these prisoners shall I release to you at this, your Passover time?” And again the crowd shouted, “Give us Barabbas!” Then said Pilate: “If I release the murderer, Barabbas, what shall I do with Jesus?” And once more the multitude shouted in unison, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate was terrorized by the insistent clamor of the mob, acting under the direct leadership of the chief priests and the councilors of the Sanhedrin; nevertheless, he decided upon at least one more attempt to appease the crowd and save Jesus.

PILATE’S LAST APPEAL

Being afraid to defy the clamor of this misled mob who cried for the blood of Jesus, Pilate ordered the Jewish guards and the Roman soldiers to take Jesus and scourge him. This was in itself an unjust and illegal procedure since the Roman law provided that only those condemned to die by crucifixion should be thus subjected to scourging.

The guards took Jesus into the open courtyard of the praetorium for this ordeal. Pilate did witness the scourging, and before they had finished this wicked abuse, he directed the scourgers to desist and indicated that Jesus should be brought to him. Before the scourgers laid their knotted whips upon Jesus as he was bound to the whipping post, they again put upon him the purple robe, and plaiting a crown of thorns, they placed it upon his brow. And when they had put a reed in his hand as a mock scepter, they knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they spit upon him and struck him in the face with their hands.

And one of them, before they returned him to Pilate, took the reed from his hand and struck him upon the head. Then Pilate led forth this bleeding and lacerated prisoner and, presenting him before the mixed multitude, said: “Behold the man! Again I declare to you that I find no crime in him, and having scourged him, I would release him.” There stood Jesus of Nazareth, clothed in an old purple royal robe with a crown of thorns piercing his kindly brow. His face was bloodstained and his form bowed down with suffering and grief. This sight sent a mighty shudder through the realms of a vast universe, but it did not touch the hearts of those who had set their minds to effect the destruction of Jesus.

Pilate now fully aware that it was futile to appeal to their supposed feelings of pity. He stepped forward and said: “I perceive that you are determined this man shall die, but what has he done to deserve death? Who will declare his crime?” Then the high priest himself stepped forward and, going up to Pilate, angrily declared: “We have a sacred law, and by that law this man ought to die because he made himself out to be the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this, he was all the more afraid, not only of the Jews, but recalling his wife’s note and the Greek mythology of the gods coming down on earth, he now trembled at the thought of Jesus possibly being a divine personage. He waved to the crowd to hold its peace while he took Jesus by the arm and again led him inside the building that he might further examine him. Pilate was now confused by fear, bewildered by superstition, and harassed by the stubborn attitude of the mob.

PILATE’S LAST INTERVIEW

As Pilate, trembling with fearful emotion, sat down by the side of Jesus, he inquired: “Where do you come from? Really, who are you? What is this they say, that you are the Son of God?” But Jesus could hardly answer such questions when asked by a man-fearing, weak, and vacillating judge who was so unjust as to subject him to flogging even when he had declared him innocent of all crime, and before he had been duly sentenced to die. Jesus looked Pilate straight in the face, but he did not answer him. Then said Pilate: “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not realize that I still have power to release you or to crucify you?” Then said Jesus: “You could have no power over me except it were permitted from above. You could exercise no authority over the Son of Man unless the Father in heaven allowed it. But you are not so guilty since you are ignorant of the gospel. He who betrayed me and he who delivered me to you, they have the greater sin.”

This last talk with Jesus thoroughly frightened Pilate. Again Pilate appeared before the crowd, saying: “I am certain this man is only a religious offender. You should take him and judge him by your law. Why should you expect that I would consent to his death because he has clashed with your traditions?” Pilate was just about ready to release Jesus when Caiaphas, the high priest, approached the cowardly Roman judge and, shaking an avenging finger in Pilate’s face, said with angry words which the entire multitude could hear: “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend, and I will see that the emperor knows all.” This public threat was too much for Pilate. Fear for his personal fortunes now eclipsed all other considerations, and the cowardly governor ordered Jesus brought out before the judgment seat. As the Master stood there before them, he pointed to him and tauntingly said, “Behold your king.” And the Jews answered, “Away with him. Crucify him!” And then Pilate said, with much irony and sarcasm, “Shall I crucify your king?” And the Jews answered, “Yes, crucify him! We have no king but Caesar.”

PILATE’S TRAGIC SURRENDER

Here stood the Son of God incarnate as the Son of Man. He was arrested without indictment; accused without evidence; adjudged without witnesses; punished without a verdict; and now was soon to be condemned to die by an unjust judge who confessed that he could find no fault in him. Pilate was afraid of a tumult or a riot. He dared not risk having such a disturbance during Passover time in Jerusalem. He had recently received a reprimand from Caesar, and he would not risk another.

Then Pilate commanded Jesus to be brought before him, and spake to him in the following words; Thy own nation hath charged thee as making thyself a king; wherefore I, Pilate, sentence thee to be whipped according to the laws of former governors; and that thou be first bound, then hanged upon a cross; and also two criminals with thee, whose names are Dimas and Gestas.

The mob cheered when he ordered the release of Barabbas. Then he, Pilate,  ordered a basin and some water, and there before the multitude he washed his hands, saying: “I am innocent of the blood of this man. You are determined that he shall die, but I have found no guilt in him. See you to it. The soldiers will lead him forth.” And then the mob cheered and replied, “His blood be on us and on our children.”

LIVING THE SPIRITUAL LIFE: A WAY OF OVERCOMING THE MORAL CRISIS

BY Deacon Sam Aboh

Of all the great missionaries, Jesus, The Christ, the fore most, confided to the people, those truths, which before Him, belonged to the privileged class alone.

Through Him was the hidden teachings rendered accessible to all, even to the lowliest.  This teaching, He presented to them in a fashion that the world knew not as yet, with a passionate love, (Matt. 27:51).

The Cross, that ancient emblem of the Initiates.which was to be found in the crumbling temples of Egypt and of India, became, through the passion of Jesus, the symbol of the elevation of a humanity rescued from the depths of darkness to attain finally, eternal life  -  the life of regenerated spirit.

In Matt.5:1-12, "The Sermon on the Mount" generally called"The Beatitudes", condenses and contains the whole teachings of Jesus.  In it, the Moral Law is revealed with all its consequences; we are told that we must cultivate the humble hidden "virtues" of humility, charity and righteousness.

Living the spiritual life is nothing but the study and practice of the teachings of Jesus, the Christ.  In John 14:12, The Christ states:  "I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me, will do the same works I have done, even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father."

In 1 Cor. 11:1, we are admonished by Paul to live by example.  Whose example?  Jesus's example of course.  In Luke 17:21' Jesus assures us that " The Kingdom of God is within you".  This, everyone may realise, who practices self- reliance, the forgiveness of injury, and the love of his neighbour.  Christ demands fraternal love and righteous living.  He states:  " Love thy neighbour as thyself, and be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect, for this is the Law and the Prophets.  Matthew 22:39-40.

This precept states the highest aim of initiation  -  the striving after perfection.

My friends, having heard all the passages of scripture, what is "Living the spiritual life"?

Living the spiritual life means, living a life that enables us to bear the nine spiritual fruits mentioned in  Galatians 5:22-23.  "But the fruits of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such, there is no law.

In 1 Cor. 9:27, Paul states: "I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.  Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Living the spiritual life is to do what is good and upright before God as He has commanded through Moses and through all His servants, the prophets; to love all that He has chosen and to hate all that He has rejected; to be far from all evil and cleave to all good works; to do truth and righteousness and justice in the land; to walk no longer in the stubbornness of a guilty heart and eyes of fornication; to do no evil; to walk before Him perfectly; to love all the sons of light and to hate all the sons of darkness; to purify our knowledge in the truth of God's statutes; not going to the right or to the left.  Walk the narrow path.

To have love and compassion, to be non- sectarian, non- denominational, not putting one group against another, but seeing all people as one great family.

It is clear that one great world of thought is divided between two inimical and contradictory schools.  Viewed in this light, our world is one of trouble and transition.  Religious faith has grown lukewarm and the broad principles of the philosophy of the future are apparent as yet but to a very few minds.

The present age is certainly a mighty one as reckoned by the sum of progress accomplished.  The physical and intellectual progress which have been realised are truly remarkable.  On the other hand, moral progress is nil.  As regards this, the world seems rather to be retrograding people are so feverishly absorbed by politics, by industrial and financial enterprises, that they sacrifice spiritual welfare to material ease.  The craving for pleasure, luxury and wealth is growing ever more strong.  People feel that they must acquire and possess, regardless of the cost!

Drunkenness, prostitution and extreme indulgence in sensuality everywhere spread their poison, checking life at its outset and weakening the generations to come; the newspapers compete with each other in the broadcast, sowing of defamation and falsehood, while an unwholesome literature crazes the brain and weakens the moral fibre of the soul.

Must we not attribute this state of things to environment, to the bad example set to children, to the weakness of parents, and to the lack of family training?

The evils we endure arise from the fact that man knows little of the laws of the universe; he knows nothing of the forces that are within him.  That which takes place in each of us is likewise manifest in society as a whole and causes the moral disorder which we see around us.

If this conflict may cease, it is necessary that the eyes of all, great or small, rich or poor, men or women, or children, should be open to the truth; that a new and universal teaching should come to enlighten all human beings as to their origin, duty and destiny.  These are the all important truths which alone can serve as the foundation for the energetic education that will render mankind truly strong and free.

The present world is a time of crisis and renewal.  The world is in fermentation(disorderly development), corruption is on the ascendant; what is wrong is right and what is right is wrong.  This is the effect of the moral crisis.

But the moral level should be raised.  What we require is a belief which affords an incentive for improvement, a moral sanction and a strong conviction as to our ultimate fate.  It is clear that the moral crisis could be arrested if we live the spiritual life.

Let us approach this Easter in an attitude of spiritual aspiration to imitate our Great Leader, The Christ, by crucifying our lower nature.  May every day of the year be a Good Friday, and every morning be a glorious Easter on which we rise in the newness of life to greater and better deeds.

SHALOM!!  Thank You!

 

STAY AWAY
BY MR. AUGUSTINE MICHAEL OWUSU

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field  ; the which when a man hath found, and buyeth that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking  goodly  pearls :

Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. –Matthew 13 : 44 – 46.

In these parables Christ Jesus emphasizes the fact that the exalted state of   consciousness   which may be called “ the kingdom of heaven “ is attained only by complete application to living the life of purity and loving service to others. Whether one is simply a devoted Christian, led by the heart, or a student of the hidden meaning of life, each day scientifically evolving the Golden Wedding Garment, the necessary change within the consciousness must be made. However, no half – measures will   do  ; one cannot serve God and mammon. To unfold   the inner latent potentials into dynamic powers   requires persistence effort and concentration of purpose – wholehearted dedication.

In one of his Letters to Students, Max Heindel pointed out lack of concentration as the greatest general hindrance to progress in spiritual work. He went on to say :

“ Consider now that in ordinary life we do not try to become a doctor and practice medicine today, work in a machine shop tomorrow, and every other  day go at some other business. We know that such a course would not take us anywhere in life. Neither do we live  in one family as husband or wife today and assume similar relations in another family tomorrow   ; nor do we change our social circle as often as we change our coats or shoes. On the contrary, we pursue one line of work in the world ; we look after one family ; we concentrate our efforts in these departments of life to the exclusion of all others. “

“ Why not apply the same common sense to our spiritual endeavours? We study our business ; we plan ahead ; we work with all our might in order to make it a success ; we also study the needs of our family and we plan for them. We know that success, both social and industrial, depends upon the amount of concentration and the amount of planning   we do. If, then, we are wise concerning worldly things, which last only for the few years of our Earth life, can we not bring ourselves to use the same common sense to apply ourselves equally with all our mind and with our heart to the spiritual things that are everlasting?

“  I therefore urge all the students who are in sympathy with the Rosicrucian Fellowship to devote their  whole heart, mind, and Spirit to living and spreading the Teachings. Trained, skilled workers are sought in our earthly enterprises. In the heavenly kingdom loyalty and devotion are also prime factors.” Max Heindel .

How do we achieve these goals in order to reach the ultimate? This can be done by “  staying awake “ all the time and this is beautifully recorded in St. Mark 14 : 37 -38

“ And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and said unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest not thou watch one hour?

Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

We have often heard the saying : “ The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. “  No doubt many spiritual aspirants know the meaning of these words from first – hand experience. How often have we fallen short of our ideal? How often, even perhaps only hours or moments after receiving renewed inspiration from a very uplifting service or meditation, have we gone out and gotten into argument, or become irritated with another, or indulged in a  resentment, or gossip, or criticism, or a desire for something we knew to be less than our ideal? Indeed, our spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak and we  “ fell asleep.”  There is no need to despair, however, for  “  the only failure is in ceasing to try. “

In the above Bible reference, Christ admonishes the   Disciples :  “ Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. “  Watching, observing, and retrospecting, we begin to become aware of what we are doing. When we are aware of what we are doing and why we are doing it, it becomes easier to  “ stay awake “ to the impulses of the Higher Self, the Christ within, instead of falling into temptation. It is when we fall asleep to our ideal that we those things we later wish we had not done……..Romans 7 : 19.

The following are some reminders which are good to keep up front in our consciousness, and which can help to keep us awake to a clearly defined concept of our ideals, their serious significance and their actual application in the physical world.

We know from the Western Wisdom Teachings that the planet Earth, our present sphere of learning, would have crystallized far beyond evolutionary use   long ago had it not been for the intervention of the Christ, our Ideal. We owe Him a great debt. Because of His great sacrifice and service to us, we may now have life and have it more abundantly. The Path of Initiation is now open to all. We have purer desire material to draw upon so that we may be uplifted. Our planet is rejuvenated annually so that we might be able to progress in the school of life.

Let us try to create a vivid image of this and how it has been accomplished as related in The Rosicrucian Cosmo- Conception, pages 407 – 408 : “ The expression, the cleansing blood of Christ Jesus,’ means that as the blood flowed on Calvary, it bore with it the great Sun – Spirit Christ, Who by that means secured admission to the Earth itself and since that moment has been its Regent. He diffused His own desire body throughout the planet, thereby cleansing it from all the vile influences which had grown up under the regime of the Race – Spirit. He purified the conditions and we owe it to Him that we are able to gather for our desire bodies purer desire – stuff than formerly, and He continues working to help us, by making our external environment constantly purer. “  This was done, and still being done at the expense of the great suffering  to the Christ because of the hampering, confining effect that the Earth’s slower vibration has upon His more advanced and rapidly vibrating Being. No wonder the 14^th Apostle records in Romans 8 :22 “ Creation groaneth and travaileth in pain waiting for the day of His liberation. “ Taking this within ourselves and realizing it, we certainly do not want to do those things that make the Christ’s burden any heavier .

The things  we should practice that find us remaining “ awake “ with the Christ are all those things that unify humanity, uplift the spirit, and enlighten, are selfless and altruistic, harmony – producing, and conducive to universal welfare. And this can be attained only by complete application to living the life of purity and loving service to others. The 14^th Apostle puts it  “ Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth. “ – 1^ST Corinthians 10 :24. Christ Jesus also emphasizes, “ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness ; and all these things shall be added unto you.” – St. Matthew 6 :33.

In contrast, when we “ fall asleep “ to the Christ within, we are likely to do the opposite things that separate humanity, downgrade the spirit and deceive, are selfish, malevolent, discord – producing, and conducive to self – centered interests only. When we behave this way, we are like the fool that built his house upon the sand and at the propitious time, we shall fall and the fall will be great. – Matthew 7 :26 -27.

The spiritual aspirant should no longer indulge in separative attitudes, anger, hatred, resentment, or petty feelings such  as  taking offense at another’s words or actions. If the other person is doing something that is objectionable, he is in need of prayers and blessings so that he may find the Light and what is best for his spiritual growth according to God’s Will, not ours. When we really realize and do not fall asleep to the fact that, that other person out there is for us, and that his welfare is important to us, the whole of humanity’s and the Christ’s, it becomes much  easier to love , forgive, and bless.

The same applies to refraining from indulgence in gossip and criticism, which, like acid, eats away at the soul growth we may be making. The larynx is the opposite pole of the reproductive organs, and the creative force may be misspent by gossip and criticism as it may in the careless misuse of the procreative act. Besides, does anyone really have the qualifications to judge  another ? References to Matthew 7: 1- 2 and John 8 : 10 – 11.

“ Woe unto them who condemn these my works unfinished ! “ Again, we could put our time and sacred energies into much more constructive channels by praying for others, that they receive the guidance suited to their needs, and also by striving to be good example, as a “ a light on a hill. ‘ – Matthew 5 : 14 – 16

As each one of us   undertakes the personal responsibility of purification and   preparation for   greater service, the Christ’s burden is lessened just that much.  We ought to remain awake to the ideas that;

1.       We must cease adding to His burden,

2.       We must lighten it by taking responsibility for our own evolution, and

3.       We must fit ourselves to become His co – workers in order to hasten the day of His liberation as well as that of humanity.

We need to stay awake to the fact that we are “ emanating “ beings : our thoughts  are creative, or destructive, according to their nature. All day long we are “ creating “ by thoughts, words and deeds. A great help in staying awake to this important fact is something written by Max Heindel :  “ Every night at midnight, our Elder Brothers bare their breasts to all the darts of malice, greed, materialism, selfishness, sensuality, and hate that we have hurled during the past twenty – four hours. Imagine what it would feel like to be the recipient of a shower of sharply – pointed darts. The Brothers of the Black Grail are active in the world, striving to stir up strive and incite others to evil, materialistic attitudes and selfish deeds.

Max Heidel happily accepted the Fellowship Teachings from the Elder Brothers and even worked harder  when he was on his sickbed, writing books of inspirations and propagating these Teachings.  What are you and I doing, my dear sisters and brothers  ? Are we awake or fast  asleep ? Are we giving our best to our friends who are   ignorant about the Fellowship Teachings ? Are we patient and tolerant with them when they make mistakes, just as we are patient with ourselves when we make similar mistakes on the  path ? Are we bored when people come to us and tell us their troubles, or do we run away from them, seeking to escape hearing their tales of woe ?

“ Watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation.”  Let us remain awake to this fact and cease to be counted among those who are hurling these sharp darts, and let us strive to become like the Elder Brothers who “ make themselves magnets for all the evil thoughts in the Western World and then by the Alchemy of sublime love, transmute them to pure love, benevolence, and altruism, sending them back to the World to uplift and encourage all Good. “ When you and I are able to exhibit the above qualities, it means, we are living the spiritual life. We can also fulfill what Christ Jesus said in John 14 : 12 “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works than these shall he do ; because I go unto my Father. “ Believing in Christ is living His teachings to the letter.  In other words, complete application to living the life of purity and loving service to others. This  can only keep you awake all the time and you will be like the wise man who built his house upon the rock.—Matthew 7 : 24. He can also join St. Paul in saying “ None of these things  move me. “

Let us  remain  ever awake to the fact that this is what we are striving to do. Let us strive to be beings of light and upliftment in our surroundings. The work is going on right now.  When the Christ comes upon us, let us be found not asleep, but awake and consciously living His teachings.

Finally, my sisters and brothers,  whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. – Philippians 4 : 8

May the Roses bloom upon your Cross

YE ARE MY FRIENDS (JOHN 15:14)

BY MR. JOHNSON DEGBOE.

The year 2016 like any other year is a year of love.  The year 2016 has an added claim to love simply because it was born on Friday.  Friday is ruled by the planet Venus, the planet of love and all the teachings of the Master are anchored on love: love God with all your heart and with all your strength.  And love your neighbor as thine self. This is the summary of the assignment that Jesus Christ has given mankind on earth.  Our topic:  “Ye are My Friends” is the manifestation of that divine love which Jesus Christ has given mankind as the key that admits a fulfilled aspirant to the Kingdom of Heaven, that Holy City, the New Jerusalem, our eternal home as revealed to John, the Beloved. Rev. 21.  Although the kingdom of heaven is mankind’s eternal home, it is not accessed on silver platter.  It is attained through a persistent evolutionary process that transforms a sinner into a saint.  Heaven is meant for all who have transformed their sinful lives into christed lives.  Christed life is a life of divine love.  And “friends” the operative word in our topic is brought about by that divine love.  It is no wonder therefore that Jesus Christ told his disciples that they cannot follow him into the Kingdom at the end of His three-year mission on earth because the disciples were not christed enough.  We may recall Peter’s denial of his Master THREE TIMES on the night of the Arrest in Pilate’s house.  Remember it was Peter who had earlier on vowed to follow his Master to anywhere he went.  Added to that Peter was foretold of this denial evidence enough that even the disciples had not deepened and widened that divine love to sacrifice their lives for others at the time of the crucifixion.  They had to wait and evolve to that exalted initiation in order to attain the christed life required of them to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Humanity is therefore on the path of evolution.  Man must evolve just as Peter, the lead disciple of Jesus from “Petros” the rough rock to Peter the smooth rock on which Christ built His Church.

“...you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.  And I will give you the keys of the kingdom...” Matt. 16:18-19.

Man must therefore cleanse himself and develop that authentic divine love to become a friend of the Christ.  Corrine Helene has given a lead to the acquisition of that love.  According to Corrine Helene, man must use the ideals of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man as the foundation for the type of friendship that is destined to expand until it becomes all inclusive to embrace the whole world.  The friendship meant here is what Thomas Payne alluded to when he declared: to do good is my religion and the world is my country.

The attainment of this friendship is what all aspirants on the path of Light must persistently work to achieve.  And Corrine Helene has admonished us that “this ideal should be held in the Holy of Holies and should not be allowed to be marred or desecrated by an unworthy thought, word or deed”.

What then is the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man that serves as the foundation on which this all inclusive friendship that embraces the whole world is built? Max Heindel answers this question comprehensively in his book: Letters To Students. (Letter No. 1).  He said: it is customary to address one another as “Sister” and “brother” in a religious movement in recognition of the fact that we are all children of God, who is our common Father.  This is where the Fatherhood of God to man stems from and brings about the brotherhood of man.  But brothers and sisters are not always harmonious.  Sometimes they are even misguided enough to hate one another but between friends, there can be no feeling but love.  Max Heindel rightly concludes that it was in recognition of this fact that prompted Christ our great and glorious ideal to say to His disciples: “Ye are my friends if you do whatever I command you.  Henceforth I call you not servants.... but friends for all things that I have heard from my father I have made known to you”, John 15: 14-15.  Any committed aspirant who has attained to his exalted stage of becoming a friend of the Christ freely shares all spiritual information with the Redeemer.  There is no barrier to the exchange of spiritual secrets between the Master and his aspirant.  This then is the height to which true and authentic love can lead any committed aspirant to on the path of attainment.  Max Heindel has therefore advised us not to be content with the fraternal relationship in our various religious movements; not even in the Fellowship but we should strive to become friends in the holiest and the most authentic sense of the word.

The Elder brothers whose esoteric teachings have brought us together on the path of attainment also honour their disciples in the same way the Christ honoured his disciples by giving them the name friends.  The question every one of us must ask himself is whether his lifestyle has truly earned him the friendship tag.  Certainly, we have not yet merited the exalted name of friends yet.  It is however deliberately given us by the Elder Brothers so that we strive to transmute our present un-christed life-styles into christed lifestyles to merit the friendship tag.  So as to merit the confidence the Elder Brothers repose in us.  Are we discontent with the fraternal relations and striving to attain to that authentic friendship that becomes all inclusive to embrace the whole world? No! We seem content with the fraternal relations.  We still address our members as “sisters” and “brothers”, perhaps the true reflection of our level of spiritual development.

What then is that authentic divine love acquisition of which makes us friends of the Christ? As said earlier in this discussion the Christ Mission on earth is anchored on divine love.  Divine love therefore runs through the Christ work on earth.  The New Testament is the custodian of this divine love treatise.  We shall however dwell mostly on 1 Corinthians 13: for our purposes.

“....Love is kind; love does not envy, love does not parade itself, is no puffed up.  Does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked thinks no evil.  Does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, bearers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails...” 1 Corinthians 13:4 – 8.

The Christ love as explained by Paul is not passion or sentiment.  Where love becomes passion and sentiment it degenerates into the lower nature desire stuff which is diametrically opposed to the authentic love – the higher desire stuff, our goal on the path of attainment.  But mankind has long been hooked upon love as passion, sentiment or an ideal thus has man drifted away from the Christ love.  Hatred, petty jealousies, envy, greed, self love/selfishness, arrogance and pride etc. are all not part of the divine love that paves the way to becoming friends of the Christ.  In pursuit of higher lifestyles to become friends of Christ, Paul cautions us “not to let anything be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but as the lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself.  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others”.  Philippians 2:3-4

The Apostle is here asking us to eliminate selfishness from our lives among other things in order to achieve the Christ love.  We may however recall that universal selfishness was fostered in mankind during the ages of Noah to Christ under the Jehovah’s regime: “Heavens, even the heavens are the Lord’s, but the earth has He given to the children of man”.  This is the genesis of man’s selfishness.  And man has so engrossed himself in selfishness that he has become impervious to change oblivious of the fact that universal selfishness that he has become so engrossed in is a means of attaining selflessness that will progress him towards achieving Christ love.  Man does not therefore work to store his wealth in heaven but he wants his reward on earth here and now.  He feels it is suicidal to transmute selfishness into selfless love because of his craze for materialism for self aggradisement.  Such lifestyles as said earlier prevent us from becoming friends of Christ and living its attendant spiritual life.  Man was so baked in the mosaic lifestyle that he resists the Christ message of love that will transform him into the christed man.  So strong was the resistance to the Christ love that the Redeemer had to adopt a step by step approach to wedge his way through and make man his friend.  “Show me your friend and I will tell you your character;” runs the old adage.  The Christ must therefore remould his disciples in his image and lifestyle.

Jesus therefore first taught his disciples to think of one another as brothers and sisters;  “.... All of you are brothers” do not call any one on earth your Father; for one is your Father, He who is in heaven” Matt 23:8-9.  Jesus taught his disciples to love one another and become one big spiritual family that cuts across blood and tribe.  Jesus did not only teach his disciples to break away from blood relations but he also lived it.  Jesus demonstrated this love when he told the one who informed him that his mother and brothers were at the door waiting to see him.  “But He answered and said to the one who told Him”, “who is my mother and who are my brothers” and He stretched out His hand towards His disciples and said: Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, sister and mothers”.  Matt. 12:48-50

The love that occasioned the brotherhood among the disciples was originally blood, clan and tribe.  This original love must however be widened and deepened to cut across all bonds of blood, tribe and nationhood to attain to that celestial love, pure and all inclusive. 

How do we eliminate these parochial relations and attain to Christ love and become friends of the Christ and qualify ourselves to become citizens of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem? To eliminate these parochial relations, and inherit eternal life, we must heed Paul’s admonition. Col 3:2, 5, 8, 9 “Set your mind on things above not things on earth.... therefore put to death your members which are on earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry.  Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience’.  We must equally obey the Apostle and “put off anger, wrath, malice blasphemy, filthy language out of our mouth.  We must not lie to one another, since we have put off the old man with his deeds.  And have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.  In this regard, our relationship must cut across national boundaries where blood, clan and tribalism must be sacrificed for a larger and a more universal relation that Corrine Helene calls “World inclusive” where “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free man but Christ is all in all”. Therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness and long suffering” Col. 3:11-12.

Paul has explicitly outlined what lifestyles qualify us to achieve the Christ love and become friends of the Lord.  And all who have attained to the exalted Christ love are guaranteed eternal life in the New Jerusalem. Jesus Christ lived the authentic divine love throughout His three-year ministry on earth.  He did not succumb to the temporary pleasures of world.  He was able to ply the Narrow Path in the world with all its hardships and tribulations and successfully conquered the world.  It is our turn to imitate the Christ.

Although the Elder Brothers address us as friends, we indeed fall short of that exalted status. Our lifestyles are crafted in hatred, self-love, covetousness greed, sexual immorality and the like.  We shun the Narrow Path and prefer to live on the fast lane of the Broadway.  Such immoral lives negate our claims to Christ love.  Like the Christ, the Elder Brothers are very much aware that we fall short of the exemplary lifestyles of the exalted ones and do not deserve the title of friends. They have intentionally conferred same on us to ginger us up to work to merit it.

Christ similarly treated his disciples and they lived up to expectation after his departure from the physical scene.  Each of them transformed their sinful lives into saintly lives and made the grade of the Christ love. But the disciples were greatly aided in nurturing and living the christed life by the Holy Spirit, the Helper whom Christ sent! “To teach them all things and bring to their remembrance all things that I said to you”. John 14:26.... The disciples later matured into the Christ life and were able to carry their crosses individually to Golgotha. One may mention Stephen who was the first to demonstrate his Christ love at his horrific murder outside the gates of Jerusalem.  Father takes my spirit but as for these men forgive them. Stephen has imitated his Master in death.  There is the other case of Peter whose only humble request at his crucifixion was to be crucified head downwards because he was not qualified enough to be crucified head upwards as his Master. So have the apostles acquitted themselves creditably.  The Redeemer’s method of gingering up the disciples by conferring the exalted title on them before they work to achieve it has worked to perfection as shown above.  The question then is: Are the friends of the Elder Brothers also living up to their billing as  the future pioneers of the Lord’s work of establishing the New Galilee?

THE PASSING - - AND LIFE AFTERWARDS

BY MR. J. M. ADDO

INTRODUCTION

  Most people have an instinctive interest in what happens after death of the physical body, though ideas about it vary infinitely. Unfortunately, even many professed Christians are quite fearful about death and look forward to it with dread. This is a great mistake and a hindrance to the individual, for his fearsome thoughts affect detrimentally the value to him of what actually does take place.

  That there is a definite, wonderful life for the Spirit after it is released from its physical body is no longer a matter of blind faith. There are many people who have become sufficiently clairvoyant to observe conditions on the other side of the "veil" and thus to resolve any doubt previously held about this vital manner. As a matter of fact, humanity in general is slowly developing etheric vision, so that in the approaching Aquarian Age knowledge concerning conditions in the land of the living dead will be as available as it is now concerning foreign countries here on Earth.

  Life on earth is only one phase of a recurring evolutionary cycle which we all undergo, experiencing and learning in our physical bodies on Earth, then leaving the physical plane to assimilate the essence of what we have learned, rebuild our bodies, rest, and return to Earth to repeat the cycle. The work

done by man in the higher worlds is many-sided, and in a sense more far reaching than his work on Earth. His life there is not in the least an inactive, dreamy, or illusory existence. It is a time of the greatest and most important activity in preparing for the next life, as sleep is an active preparation for the work of the next day.

  Among those who have developed their clairvoyant faculties in a positive manner, i.e., under control of their will, and can observe accurately what goes on in the invisible worlds, was Max Heindel, an Initiate of the Rosicrucian Order, and founder of The Rosicrucian Fellowship. In his book, The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, he describes in some detail what happens at the time of passing and afterward between Earth lives in the higher worlds. Most of the following is taken verbatim from this most enlightening volume.

THE PASSING

  Man, the individualized, indwelling Spirit, is a complex being. He possesses not only a dense, physical body, which he uses here in this world to fetch and carry, and which many think of as the whole man, but also a vital body made of ether, which permeates the visible body and is the instrument for specializing the energy of the Sun. In addition, he possesses a desire body, his emotional nature, which pervades both the dense and vital bodies, and extends about sixteen inches outside the visible body. Then there is the mind, which is a mirror, reflecting the outer world and enabling the Spirit or Ego to transmit its commands as thought and word, and to compel action.

  During life on Earth man builds and sows, until the moment of death arrives. Then the seed-time and the periods of growth and ripening are past. The harvest time has come, when the skeleton specter of Death arrives with his scythe and hour-glass. That is an apt symbol. The skeleton symbolizes the relatively permanent part of the body. The scythe represents the fact that this permanent part, which is about to be harvested by the Spirit, is the fruitage of the life now drawing to a close. The hour-glass in his hand indicates that the hour does not strike until the full course has been run in harmony with unvarying laws.

  When that moment arrives a separation of the vehicles takes place. As his life in the Physical World is ended for the time being, it is not necessary for man to retain the dense body. The vital body, also belonging to the Physical World, is withdrawn by way of the head, leaving the dense body inanimate.

  The higher vehicles--vital body, desire body, and mind--are seen (by the clairvoyant) to leave the dense body with a spiral movement, taking with them the soul of one dense atom--not the atom itself, but the forces that played through it. The results of the experiences passed through in the dense body during the life just ended have been impressed upon this particular atom. While all the other atoms of the dense body have been renewed from time to time, this permanent atom has remained. It has remained stable, not only through one life, but it has been a part of every dense body ever used by that particular Ego. It is withdrawn at death only to re-awaken at the dawn of another physical life, to serve again as the nucleus around which is built the

new dense body to be used by the same Ego. It is therefore called the "seed-atom." During life the seed-atom is situated in the left ventricle of the heart, near the apex. At death it rises to the brain by way of the pneumogastric nerve, leaving the dense body, together with the higher vehicles, by way of the sutures between the parietal and occipital bones (the Sagittal suture).

  When the higher vehicles have left the dense body they are still connected with it by a slender, glistening, silvery cord, shaped much like two figure sixes reversed, one upright and one horizontally placed, the two connected at the extremities of the hooks.

  "Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the foundation, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." (Eccles. 12:6-7.) (See Diagram below as shown in The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception.

  One end is fastened to the heart by means of the seed-atom, and it is the rupture of the seed-atom which causes the heart to stop. The cord itself is not snapped until the panorama of the past life, contained in the vital body, has been reviewed.

  Care should be taken, however, not to cremate or embalm the body until at least three days after death, for while the vital body is with the higher vehicles, and they are still connected with the dense body by means of the silver cord, any post-mortem examination or other injury to the dense body will be felt, in a measure, by the man. Cremation should be particularly avoided in the first three days after death, because it tends to disintegrate the vital body, which should be kept intact until the panorama of the past life has been etched into the desire body.

  The silver cord snaps at the point where the sixes unite, half remaining with the dense body and the other half with the higher vehicles. From the time the cord snaps the dense body is quite dead.

  The Life Panorama: When the Ego is freed from the dense body, which was the heaviest clog upon his spiritual power (like a heavy mitten upon the hand of a musician), his spiritual power comes back is some measure, and he is able to read the pictures in the negative pole of the reflecting ether of his vital body, which is the seat of the subconscious memory.

  The whole of his past life passes before his sight like a panorama, the events being presented in reverse order. The incidents of the days immediately preceding death come first and so on back through manhood or womanhood to youth, childhood, and infancy. Everything is remembered.

  The man stands as a spectator before this panorama of his past life. he sees the pictures as they pass, and they impress themselves upon his higher vehicles, but he has no feeling about them at this time. That is reserved until the time when he enters the Desire World, which is the world of feeling and emotion. At present he is only in the Etheric Region of the Physical World.

  This panorama lasts from a few hours to several days, depending upon the length of time the man could keep awake, if necessary. Some people can keep awake only twelve hours, or even less; others can do so, upon occasion, for a number of days, but as long as the man can remain awake, this panorama lasts.

THE DESIRE WORLD

  Purgatory: If the dying man could leave all his desires behind, the desire body would very quickly fall away from him, leaving him free to proceed into the heaven world, but that is not generally the case. Most people, especially if they die in the prime of life, have many ties and much interest in life on Earth. They have not altered their desires because they have lost their physical bodies. In fact, often their desires are augmented by a very intense longing to return. This acts in such a manner as to bind them to the Desire World in a very unpleasant way, although unfortunately, they do not realize it. On the other hand, old and decrepit persons and those who are weakened by long illness and are tired of life, pass on very quickly.

  The matter may be illustrated by the ease with which the seed falls out of the ripe fruit, no particle of the flesh clinging to it, while in the unripe fruit the seed clings to the flesh with the greatest tenacity. Thus it is especially hard for people to die who are taken out of their bodies by "accident" while at the height of their physical health and strength, engaged in numerous ways in the activities of physical life; held by the ties of wife, family, relatives, friends, pursuits of business and pleasure.

  As long as the man entertains the desires connected with Earth life he must stay in his desire body, and as the progress of the individual requires that he pass on to higher regions, the existence in the Desire World must necessarily become purgative, tending to purify him from his binding desires. How this is done is best seen by taking some radical instances.

  The miser who loved his gold in Earth life loves it just as dearly after death; but in the first place he cannot acquire any more, because he has no longer a dense body wherewith to grasp it and worst of all, he cannot even keep what he hoarded during life. He will, perhaps, go and sit by his safe and watch the cherished gold or bonds; but the heirs appear and with, it may be, a stinging jeer as the "stingy old fool" (whom they do not see, but who both sees and hears them), will open his safe, and though he may throw himself over his gold to protect it, they will put their hands through him, neither knowing nor caring that he is there, and will then proceed to spend his hoard, while he suffers in sorrow and impotent rage.

  He will suffer keenly, his sufferings all the more terrible on account of being entirely mental, because the dense body dulls even suffering to some extent. In the Desire World, however, these sufferings have full sway and the man suffers until he learns that gold may be a curse. Thus he gradually becomes contented with his lot and at last is freed from his desire body and is ready to go on.

In the Desire World it operates in purging man of the baser desires and the correction of the weakness and vices which hinder his progress, by making him suffer in the manner best adapted to that purpose. If he has made others suffer, or has dealt unjustly with them, he will be made to suffer in that identical way. Be it noted, however, that if a person has been subject to vices, or has done wrong to others, but has overcome his vices, or repented and, as far as possible, made right the wrong done, such repentance, reform, and restitution, have purged him of those special vices and evil acts. The equilibrium has been restored and the lesson learned during that embodiment, and therefore will not be a cause of suffering after death.

In the Desire World life is lived about three times as rapidly as in the Physical World. A man who has lived to be fifty years of age in the Physical World would live through the same life events in the Desire World in about sixteen years. This is, of course, only a general gauge. There are persons who remain in the Desire World much longer than their term of physical life. Others again, who have led lives with few gross desires, pass through in a much shorter period, but the measure given above is very nearly correct for the average man of the present day.

  It will be remembered that as the man leaves the dense body at death, his past life passes before him in pictures; but at that time he has no feeling concerning them.

  During his life in the Desire World also these life pictures roll backward, as before; but now the man has all the feeling it is possible for him to have as, one by one, the scenes pass before him. Every incident in his past life is now lived over again. When he comes to a point where he has injured someone, he himself feels the pain as the injured person felt it. He lives through all the sorrow and suffering he has caused to others and learns just how painful is the hurt and how hard to bear is the sorrow he has caused. In addition there is the fact already mentioned before that the suffering is much keener because he has no dense body to dull the pain. Perhaps that is why the speed of life there is tripled--that the suffering may lose in duration what it gains in sharpness. Nature's measures are wonderfully just and true.

  The mission of Purgatory is to eradicate the injurious habits by making their gratification impossible. The individual suffers exactly as he has made others suffer through his dishonesty, cruelty, intolerance, or what not. Because of this suffering he learns to act kindly, honestly, and with forbearance toward others in the future. Thus, in consequence of this beneficent state, man learns virtue and right action. When he is reborn he is free from evil habits, at least every evil act committed is one of free will. The tendencies to repeat the evil of past lives remains, for we must learn to do right consciously and of our own will. Upon occasion these tendencies tempt us, thereby affording us an opportunity of ranging ourselves on the side of mercy and virtue as against vice and cruelty. But to indicate right action and to help us resist the snares and wiles of temptation, we have the feeling resulting from the expurgation of evil habits and the expiation of wrong acts of past lives. If we heed that feeling and abstain from the particular evil involved, the temptation will cease. We have freed ourselves from it for all times. If we yield we shall experience keener suffering than before until at

last we have learned to live by the Golden Rule, because the way of the transgressor is hard. Even then we have not reached the ultimate. To do good to others because we want them to do good to us is essentially selfish. In time we must learn to do good regardless of how we are treated by others; as Christ Jesus said, we must love even our enemies.

  There is an inestimable benefit in knowing about the method and object of this purgation, because we are thus enabled to forestall it by living our Purgatory here and now day by day, thus advancing much faster than would otherwise be possible. The exercise of Retrospection is given in the latter part of The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, the object of which is purification as an aid to the development of spiritual sight. It consists of thinking over the happening of the day after retiring at night. We review each incident of the day, in reverse order, taking particular note of the moral aspect, considering whether we acted rightly or wrongly in each particular case regarding actions, mental attitude, and habits. By thus judging ourselves day by day, endeavoring to correct mistakes and wrong actions, we shall materially shorten or perhaps even eliminate the necessity for Purgatory and be able to pass to the First Heaven directly after death. If in this manner we consciously overcome our weaknesses, we also make a very material advance in the school of evolution. Even if we fail to correct our actions, we derive an immense benefit from judging ourselves, thereby generating aspirations toward good, which in time will surely bear fruit in right action.

  The Borderland: Purgatory occupies the three lower Regions of the Desire World. The First Heaven is in the three upper Regions. The central Region is a sort of borderland--neither heaven nor hell. In this Region we find people who are honest and upright; who wronged no one, but were deeply immersed in business and thought nothing of the higher life. For them the Desire World is a state of indescribable monotony. There is no "business" in that world, nor is there, for a man of that kind, anything that will take its place. He has a very hard time until he learns to think of higher things than ledgers and drafts.

  Such people are really in a pitiable state. They are generally beyond the reach of any help whatever and suffer much longer than almost anyone else. Besides, they have scarcely any life in the heaven world, where the building of bodies for future use is taught, so they put all their crystallizing thoughts into whatsoever body they build for a future life.

  The First Heaven: When the purgatorial existence is over, the purified Spirit rises into the First Heaven, which is located in the three highest Regions of the Desire World, where the results of its sufferings are incorporated in the seed-atom of the desire body, thus imparting to it the quality of right feeling, which acts as an impulse to good and a deterrent from evil in the future. Here the panorama of the past unrolls itself backward, but this time it is the good acts of life that are the basis of feeling. When we come to scenes where we helped others, we realize anew all the joy of helping which was ours at the time, and in addition we feel all the gratitude poured out to us by the recipient of our help. When we come to scenes where we were helped by others, we again feel all the gratitude that we then felt toward our benefactor. Thus we see the importance of appreciating the favors shown us by others, because gratitude makes for soul growth. Our happiness in heaven depends upon the joy we gave others, and the valuation we placed upon what others did for us.

  This heaven is also a place of progression for all who have been studious, artistic, or altruistic. The student and the philosopher have instant access to all the libraries of the world. The painter has endless delight in the ever-changing color combinations. He soon learns that his thought blends and shapes these colors at will. His creations glow and scintillate with a life impossible of attainment to one who works with the dull pigments of Earth. He is, as it were, painting with living, flowing materials and able to execute his designs with a facility which fills his soul with delight.

  The poet finds a wonderful inspiration in the pictures and colors which are the chief characteristics of the Desire World. Thence he will draw the materials for use in his next incarnation. In like manner does the author accumulate material and faculty. The philanthropist works out his altruistic plans for the upliftment of man. If he failed in one life, he will see the reason for it in the First Heaven and will there learn how to overcome the obstacles and avoid the errors that made his plan impracticable.

THE WORLD OF THOUGHT

  The Second Heaven--Region of Concrete Thought: In time a point is reached where the result of the pain and suffering incident to purgation, together with the joy extracted from the good actions of the past life, have been built into the seed-atom of the desire body. Together these constitute what we call conscience, that impelling force which warns us against evil as productive of pain and inclines us toward good as productive of happiness and joy. Then man leaves his desire body to disintegrate, as he left his dense and vital bodies. He takes with him the forces only of the seed-atom, which are to form the nucleus of future desire bodies, as it was the persistent particle of his past vehicles of feeling.

  At last the man, the Ego, the threefold Spirit, enters the Second Heaven. He is clad in the sheath of mind, which contains the three seed-atoms--the quintessence of the three discarded vehicles.

  When the man dies and loses his dense and vital bodies, there is the same condition as when one falls asleep. The desire body had no organs ready for use. It is now transformed from an ovoid to a figure resembling the dense body which has been abandoned. We can easily understand that there must be an interval of unconsciousness resembling sleep and then the man awakes in the Desire World. It not infrequently happens, however, that such people are, for a long time, unaware of what has happened to them. They do not realize that they have died. They know that they are able to move and think. It is sometimes even a very hard matter to get them to believe that they are really "dead." They realize that something is different, but that they are not able to understand what it is.

  Not so, however, when the change is made from the First Heaven, which is in the Desire World, to the Second Heaven, which is in the Region of Concrete Thought. Then the man leaves his desire body. He is perfectly conscious. He passes into a great stillness. For the time being everything seems to fade away. He cannot think. No faculty is alive, yet he know that he IS. He has a feeling of standing in "The Great Forever"; of standing utterly alone, yet unafraid; and his being is filled with a wonderful peace, "which passeth all understanding." In occult science this is called The Great Silence.

  Then comes the awakening. The Spirit is now in its home world--heaven. Here the first awakening brings to the Spirit the sound of "the music of the spheres." In our Earth life we are so immersed in the little noises and sounds of our limited environment that we are incapable of hearing the music of the marching orbs, but the occult scientist hears it. He knows that the twelve signs of the zodiac and the seven planets form the sounding-board and strings of "Apollo's seven-stringed lyre." He knows that were a single discord to mar the celestial harmony from that grand Instrument there would be "a wreck of matter and a crash of worlds. Celestial music is a fact and not a mere figure of speech. Pythagoras was not romancing when he spoke of the music of the sphere, for each one of the heavenly orbs has its definite tone, and together they sound the celestial symphony which Goethe also mentions in the prologue to his Faust.

  When it is said that this is the world of tone, it must not be thought that there are no colors. Many people know that there is an intimate connection between color and tone; that when a certain note is struck, a certain color appears simultaneously. So it is also in the heaven world. Color and sound are both present; but the tone is the originator of the color. Hence it is said that this is particularly the world of tone, and it is this tone that builds all forms in the Physical World. The musician can hear certain tones in different parts of Nature, such as the wind in the forest, the breaking of the surf on the beach, the roar of the ocean, and the sounding of

many waters. These combined tones make a whole which is the keynote of the Earth--its "tone." As geometrical figures are created by drawing a violin bow over the edge of a glass plate, so the forms we see around us are the crystallized sound-figures of the archetypal forces which play into the archetype in the heaven world.

  The life in the Second Heaven is an exceedingly active one, varied in many different ways. The Ego assimilates the fruits of the last Earth life and prepares the environment for a new physical existence. The Second Heaven is the real home of man--the Ego, the Thinker. Here he dwells for centuries, using the sound or tone which pervades this Region as his instrument, so to speak.

  It is this harmonious sound vibration which, as an elixir of life, builds into the threefold Spirit the quintessence of the threefold body, upon which it depends for growth. This spiritualization of the vehicle is accomplished by cultivation, during earthly life, of the faculties of observation, discrimination, memory, devotion to high ideals, prayer, concentration, persistence, and right use of the life forces.

  As much of the desire body as the man had worked upon during life by purifying his desires and emotions will be welded into the Human Spirit, thus giving an improved mind in the future. As much of the vital body as the Life Spirit had worked upon, transformed, spiritualized, and thus saved from the decay to which the rest of the vital body is subject, will be amalgamated with the Life Spirit to insure a better vital body and temperament in the succeeding lives. As much of the dense body as the Divine Spirit has saved by right action will be worked into it and will bring better environment and opportunities.

  It is not enough, however, to say that conditions in the forthcoming life on Earth will be determined by conduct and action in the life just ended. It is required that the fruits of the past be worked into the world which is to be the next scene of activity while the Ego is gaining fresh physical experiences and gathering further fruit. Therefore all the denizens of the heaven world work upon the models of the Earth, all of which are in the Region of Concrete Thought. They alter the physical features of the Earth, and bring about the gradual changes which vary its appearance, so that on each return to physical life a different environment has been prepared, wherein new experiences may be gained. Climate, flora, and fauna are altered by man under the direction of higher Beings. Thus the world is just what we ourselves, individually and collectively, have made it; and it will be what we make it. The occult scientist sees in everything that happens a cause of a spiritual nature manifesting itself, not omitting the prevalence and alarmingly increasing frequency of seismic disturbances, which it traces to the materialistic thought of modern science.

  Man's work in the heaven world is not confined solely to the alteration of the surface of the Earth which is to be the scene of his future struggles in the subjugation of the Physical World. He is also actively engaged in learning how to build a body which will afford a better means of expression. It is man's destiny to become a Creative Intelligence and he is serving his apprenticeship all the time. During his heaven life he is learning to build all kinds of bodies--the human included.

  Man is directed in this work by Teachers from the higher creative Hierarchies, which helped him to build his vehicles before he attained self-consciousness, in the same way he himself now builds his bodies in sleep. During heaven life they teach him consciously. The painter is taught to build an accurate eye, capable of taking in a perfect perspective and of distinguishing colors and shades to a degree inconceivable among those not interested in color and light.

  The mathematician has to deal with space, and the faculty for space perception is connected with the delicate adjustment of the three semi-circular canals which are situated inside the ear, each pointing in one of the three dimensions in space. Logical thought and mathematical ability are in proportion to the accuracy of the adjustment of these semi-circular canals.

  Musical ability is also dependent upon the same factor, but, in addition to the necessity for the proper adjustment of the semi-circular canals, the musician requires extreme delicacy of the "fibers of Corti," of which there are about ten thousand in the human ear, each capable of interpreting about twenty-five gradations of tone. In the ears of the majority of people they do not respond to more than from three to ten of the possible gradations, but the master musician requires a greater range to be able to distinguish the different notes and detect the slightest discord in the most complicated chords.

  The instrument through which man senses music is the most perfect sense organ in the human body. The eye is not by any means true, but the ear is, in the sense that it hears every sound without distortion, while the eye often distorts what it sees.

  In addition to the musical ear, the musician must also learn to build a long, fine hand with slender fingers and sensitive nerves, otherwise he would not be able to reproduce the melodies he hears.

  It is a law of Nature that no one can inhabit a more efficient body than he is capable of building. He first learns to build a certain grade of body and afterwards he learns to live in it. In that way he discovers its defects and is taught how to remedy them.

  All men work unconsciously at the building of their bodies during ante-natal life until they have reached the point where the quintessence of former bodies--which they have saved--is to be built in. Then they work consciously. It will, therefore, be seen that the more a man advances and the more he works on his vehicles, thus making them immortal, the more power he has to build for a new life. The advanced pupil of an occult school sometimes commences to build for himself as soon as the work during the first three weeks (which belongs exclusively to the mother) has been completed. When the period of unconscious building has passed the man has a chance to exercise his nascent creative power, and the true original creative process--Epigenesis--begins.

    The Third Heaven--Region of Abstract Thought: Having assimilated all the fruits of his last life and altered the appearance of the Earth in such a manner as to afford him the necessary environment for his next step towards perfection; having also learned by work on the bodies of others, to build a suitable body through which to express himself in the Physical World, and having at last resolved the mind into the essence which builds the threefold Spirit, the naked individual Spirit ascends into the higher Region of the World of Thought--the Third Heaven. "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body I cannot tell; God knoweth;) such as one caught up to the third heaven."--II Cor. 12:2 Here by the ineffable harmony of this higher world, it is strengthened for its next dip into matter.

  After a time comes the desire for new experience and the contemplation of a new birth. This conjures up a series of pictures before the vision of the Spirit--a panorama of the new life in store for it. But--mark this well--this panorama contains only the principal events. The Spirit has free will as to detail. It is as if a man going to a distant city had a time-limit ticket, with initial choice of route. After he has chosen and begun his journey it is not sure that he can change to another route during the trip. He may stop over in as many places as he wishes, within his time limit, but he cannot go back. Thus as he proceeds on his journey, he becomes more and more limited by his choice. If he has chosen a steam road, using soft coal. He must expect to be soiled and dusty. Had he chosen a road using anthracite or using electricity, he would have been cleaner. So it is with the man in a new life. He may have to live a hard life, but he is free to choose whether he will live it cleanly or wallow in the mire. Other conditions are also within his control, subject to the limits of his past choices and acts.

  The pictures in the panorama of the coming life begin at the cradle and end at the grave. This is the opposite direction to that in which they travel in the after-death panorama which passes before the Spirit immediately following its release from the dense body. The reason for this radical difference in the two panoramas is that in the before-birth panorama the object is to show the returning Ego how certain causes or acts always produce certain effects. In the case of the after-death panorama the object is the reverse, that is, to show how each event in the past life was the effect of some cause further back in the life. Nature, or God, does nothing without a logical reason, and the farther we search the more apparent it becomes to us that Nature is a wise mother, always using the best means to accomplish her ends.

The ART OF SELF-DISCIPLINE

BY MR. ANTHONY OWUSU

Admittedly, personal discipline is not a popular subject today. In our society, any insistence upon self-discipline is largely resisted, even among many Christians. Legalism, they cry, defending their rights of Christian liberty. These free-spirited believers maintain that discipline restricts their freedom in Christ, binding them in a spiritual straightjacket.

Discipline is not always pleasurable or easy to come by. In a true sense it is a battle between the spirit and the flesh. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Disciplined living for the Christian means an intentional surrender to the superiority of the Spirit leading to the Lordship of Christ over all of life.

 The Greek word translated “discipline” (enkrateia) comes from the root krat, which denotes power or lordship. Self-discipline means to exercise power over one’s self. It is the ability to keep one’s self under control. The word indicates self-mastery over one’s inner desires, thoughts, actions, and words. 

Self-discipline—what many people call "will-power"—refers to the ability to persist at difficult or unpleasant tasks until they are completed. People who possess high self-discipline are able to overcome reluctance to begin tasks and stay on track despite distractions. Those with low self-discipline procrastinate and show poor follow-through, often failing to complete tasks—even tasks they want very much to complete.

Self-discipline appears in various forms, such as perseverance, restraint, endurance, thinking before acting, finishing what you start doing, and as the ability to carry out one’s decisions and plans, in spite of inconvenience, hardships or obstacles.

One of the main characteristics of self-discipline is the ability to forgo instant and immediate gratification and pleasure, in favour of some greater gain or more satisfying results, even if this requires effort and time. Self-discipline asks that we endure frustration, disappointment, and pain in the service of a higher goal. It means being willing to push ourselves to the limits of our will and endurance if that is what is needed for success.

The opposite of self-discipline is a self-indulgent lifestyle that produces “the works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19-21). Any lack of self-control will inevitably result in sinful deeds. But where self-mastery exists, there is a strong resistance to sensual appetites and sinful choices. Self-rule brings every thought, word, and deed captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). Any advance in personal holiness demands self-control.

The planet related to discipline is Saturn. Saturn is a planet of thoroughness, self-control and limitation. Saturn also represents what you have to do in order to succeed at being who you are. Saturn tests us and will push us to our limits. It rules over time -the Greek god’s name Chronus means time-  and is called the lord of Karma. Saturn’s lessons are discipline, practise and commitment. It has the power to reward like no other planet.  Discipline and responsibility are important to Saturn. Saturn’s symbol is the crescent of the personality subjugated to and held down by the cross of matter. Only when we bow down to the law of the way things are and pass the tests of material existence can we truly be free to enter the realm of the spirit.      

Vision: Disciplined people have a vision of where they want to be at a particular point in time. They never lose sight of where they are going. Having a clear vision helps you maximise your energy and passion. It enables you to take massive, determined action and bring it to bear on specific goals.

Goals: Discipline is the vehicle that moves you from the point of setting goals to attaining those goals. But goals have to be set first for them to be realised. The fruits of discipline are evident in the number of goals attained.

There are two types of spiritual disciplines - those that are personal and those that are corporate. The personal disciplines are those that each individual should develop for him or herself, while the corporate disciplines are one that the entire church body can do together.

Discipline may be grouped into two categories: disciplines of abstinence, and disciplines of engagement. Depending on our lifestyle and past personal experiences, we will each find different disciplines helpful in accomplishing the goal of living as a new creature in Christ. Solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy, and sacrifice are disciplines of abstinence. Given our highly materialistic culture, these might be the most difficult and most beneficial to many of us. We are more familiar with the disciplines of engagement, including study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, and fellowship. However, two others mentioned by Willard might be less familiar: confession and submission.

The Disciplines of Abstinence

Abstinence requires that we give up something that is perfectly normal–something that is not wrong in and of itself, such as food or sex–because it has gotten in the way of our walking with God, or because by leaving these things aside we might be able to focus more closely on God for a period of time. As one writer tells us, “Solitude is a terrible trial, for it serves to crack open and burst apart the shell of our superficial securities. It opens out to us the unknown abyss that we all carry within us . . .”{9} Busyness and superficial activities hide us from the fact that we have little or no inward experience with God. Solitude frees us from social conformity, from being conformed to the patterns of this world that Paul warns us about in Romans 12.

Solitude: The practice of spending time without any others or any distractions. Solitude goes hand in hand with silence. The power of the tongue and the damage it can do is taken very seriously in the Bible. There is a quiet inner strength and confidence that exudes from people who are great listeners, who are able to be silent and to be slow to speak.

Silence: Removing noisy distractions to hear from God. Find a quiet place away from noise to hear from God. Write your thoughts and impressions as God directs your heart. Silence can occur even in the midst of noise and distraction. But you must focus your attention on your soul. This could mean talking less or talking only when necessary. And it could mean turning off the radio and the TV.

Fasting: Abstain from food, media, entertainment, or anything else that occupies your time. There are three purposes for fasting: to purge toxins from the body, to develop self-control over a sensual appetite, and to weaken the hold of flesh upon spirit. Fasting, another one of the central disciplines, retrains us away from dependence upon the satisfaction of desire and makes the kingdom of God a vital factor in our concrete existence. Fasting, which primarily concerns voluntary abstention from food, all or some, and can also be extended to drink, has the function of freeing us from having to have what we want. We learn to remain calm, serene and strong when we are deprived--even severely deprived. If our desires are unsatisfied, we learn, so what?

a. Partial fast: no food but plenty of water and fresh fruit juices. Continue your normal routine. Inwardly, practice Christian meditation, song and worship. Let every task be a sacred ministry to the Lord.
b. Normal fast: water only but plenty of it. You will probably experience some hunger pangs, and perhaps dizziness from low blood sugar. Continue normal routine, but take it easy. Inwardly, the same as a partial fast but spend more time in Christian meditation. A normal fast can be extended to about 40 days.
c. Absolute fast: neither food nor water. Absolute fasting is reported in the Bible, but only for extreme heavy-duty spiritual work. An absolute fast can produce the near-death experience in less than a week--if the person survives.

Self-denial. Practice setting aside your self-interest and personal agenda in order to follow Christ. This does not mean loss of self-identity or self-respect, but voluntary submission to the leadership of God through Christ. It has been called "the way of the cross" but the final examination takes place in some Garden of Gethsemane, in a test that calls for the answer, "Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done."

Frugality: Use your money for purposes outside your own needs for a time.  Learning to live with less money and still meet your basic needs. Before buying something new, choose to go without or pick a less expensive alternative that will serve your basic needs. Live a simple, focused life.

Chastity: Voluntarily choosing to abstain from sexual pleasures for a time (those pleasures that are deemed morally right in the bond of marriage) to find higher fulfillment in God. Decide together as a couple to set aside time to go without sexual pleasures in order to experience a deeper relationship with God in prayer. 1 Corinthians 7:8, “Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

Secrecy:  Avoiding self-promotion, practice serving God without others knowing. Give in secret. Serve “behind the scenes” in a ministry that you are assured few will know about. Do not allow anyone to know of the deeds you do or the money you give in order to avoid doing them for the wrong motivations. Only God needs to know.

Sacrifice: Stretch your sense of what you can do without for the sake of those who have less. Giving of our resources beyond what seems reasonable to remind us of our dependence on Christ. Choose to give your time or finances to the Lord beyond what you normally would.

Simplicity: Christian simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward life-style. The purpose is freedom from anxiety about things and slavery to others' opinions. Both the inward and outward aspects are essential. If we merely simplify our desires, we may still be swamped by possessions that possess us. If we only get rid of excess accumulation, we may still retain the desires that lead to accumulation. This whole self-discipline centers around the question, "How much is enough?" and the instruction, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness" (Matt. 6:33).

Disciplines of Engagement:

Study:   Study as a spiritual discipline is, in general, the focussing of the mind upon God's works and words. In study our mind takes on the order in the object studied, and that order invariably forms the mind itself and thereby the soul and the life arising out of it. Thus the law of God kept before the mind brings the order of God into our mind and soul. The soul is "restored" as the law becomes the routine pattern of inward life and outward action. We are integrated into the movements of the eternal kingdom.

 Service: Service is the discipline of doing things for someone other than ourselves, without reward or recognition. The purpose is freedom from egocentricity and all the compulsions it creates. What we do is not nearly as important as why we do it. When our purpose in serving has no strings attached, we are free. When our real purpose is to get something--like attention, praise, approval or self-approval--we are hooked by the very strings we attach to our service.

Prayer: Take deliberate steps to pray regularly and with purpose. Praying through the Psalms is a good way to increase your “prayer vocabulary.”

Confession: Practice confessing your sins to trusted people who will pray with you and be spiritual allies.

Faithful: Discipline requires that you be faithful and trustworthy enough to perform daily tasks comprehensively. Do not pretend that you will succeed when you know very well you have neglected to follow through with the plan. Be faithful; stick to the plan!

Timeliness: You must be disciplined enough to drop whatever it is you are doing and accomplish what must be done, when it needs to be done. Disciplined people do not postpone tasks; for they know that to do so will delay their success.  If you're supposed to be somewhere at a specific time, be there on time. The apostle Paul listed proper use of time as a mark of true spiritual wisdom: "Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:15-16). Being punctual marks a life that is organized. It reveals a person whose desires, activities, and responsibilities are under control. Being on time also acknowledges the importance of other people and the value of their time.

Eliminate ‘noise’: ‘Noise’ here refers to irrelevant tasks, people, places and actions that do not feed into your goal. These are distractions that so often get in the way of your success. Noise is the number one enemy of discipline.

 Tenacity: Discipline requires that you learn to hold on even when calamity strikes. Discipline ensures that you do not give up just because the battle has intensified. Instead, it helps you to be tenacious enough to weather the storm.

Alert: Discipline will demand that you stay alert at all times. Guard your goals with vigour. This is not the time to slumber; you will have enough of that when you attain your goals.

But this is easier said than done. Discipline has more to do with ‘action’ than ‘talk’. No amount of positive affirmations or motivational and hidden tapes and seminars will make us disciplined. Anyone can set desired goals and have the motivation to achieve those goals.

However, only discipline can ‘take’ you to your goal. This may mean working consistently for long hours; doing tasks that you would rather not do, but which are essential in the attainment of your goals; foregoing or putting on hold current comforts and pleasures, etc.

 It is in the area of thoughts that behaviours are born, and which in turn lead us to act in one way and not the other. If we can have the right thoughts, then we will behave in the right way and take the right actions. It is the latter aspect of this process that will determine whether we are disciplined or undisciplined; whether we succeed or fail.

MOVING TO THE WEST COAST

by MR. Louis Agbe

Foundation of the Rosicrucian Order

Back in 2013 we celebrated the 700^th anniversary of the foundation of the Rosicrucian Order by Christian Rose Cross (Christian Rosen Kreuz) in Germany. The Order established the Etheric Temple of the Rose Cross over a large house that was located about 5 miles north of Carlsbad Germany. But after the various wars in Europe the borders were changed and Carlsbad Germany became Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.

Modern Astrological research has helped us find the date of the Foundation. This happened before the Gregorian calendar corrected the time and date of our yearly cycle that was slowly becoming out of synchrony from the real seasons. The Rosicrucian Order was founded on May 10, 1313 – Julian calendar – (which corresponds to May 2, 1313 in the Gregorian calendar that was adopted in 1582) early in the morning at 4.34 am in Carlsbad/Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic. The chart of the foundation is attached showing the plethora of aspects at that very moment in time so propitious for such an important endeavor. 

Max Heindel’s prediction of the move

Max Heindel told us that, one day, when the time is ripe, the Order will move the Mystery School and the Etheric Temple from the old continent, restricted by European Race Spirits, to the New World where there is not Race Spirit but Christ, here at Mount Ecclesia, down the pacific coast of Southern California that has a specific and particular etheric condition, unequalled anywhere in the world.

Events heralding the move to the West Coat

When a major spiritual change is about to take place it is normally accompanied by deep and profound spiritual events of global significance. As Max Heindel hinted, the time for the movement of the Mystery School and the Etheric Temple from the old continent to the New World was ripening and fast closing in, and so it was preceded by major spiritual phenomena of global significance.

During the transition from the 20^th Century and its progression into the 21^st Century we have been presented with a succession of threatening and powerful signs and messages from God that have caused deep internal reflection and invited many to wake up to the new reality. We began our journey in the new millennium with many alarm bells ringing, sounding the clarion call for greater awareness, reminding us to move more rapidly forward in our evolution and prepare us for profound and irreversible changes to the world and in our personal lives.

It began with the threat of Y2K where all world computer systems would not be able to move their clocks past December 31, 1999! The implication was that, suddenly the internet would be shutting down and bringing world affairs to a screeching halt, creating chaos and wreaking havoc in our modern civilization. Eventually all computers were upgraded and Y2K came and went without a hitch.

Then came September 11 2001, known as 9/11, when the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were destroyed by planes flown by terrorists which shocked the world and ignited the worldwide war on terrorism with hunt for the likes of Osama Bin Laden and other terrorist villains.

Then the heavens displayed a rare Ecliptic Conjunction called an Occultation of Venus Retrograde and the Sun on June 8 2004 that was the prelude to the end of the Mayan Calendar. It was to be followed 8 years later by a second Occultation of Venus Retrograde and the Sun on June 5, 2012. Such rare events only happen in cycles of 115 and 125 years. The next occultation would not reappear before another 116 years in 2117 AD. This was in preparation of the final climax marking the end of the 5,125 year cycle of the Mayan Calendar on the Winter Solstice of that same year, on December 21, 2012. The Mayan Calendar was based on Venus while our modern calendar is based on the Sun and their convergence marked the end of the Mayan Civilization, closing the final chapter of the lingering influence of the Atlantian Period. These events sent a wave of ominous fear throughout the world with many Hollywood movies portraying destructive events of apocalyptic dimensions. But as usual the physical world did not come to an end then, yet our consciousness was deeply affected and started a serious process of internal retrospection.

In October 2007 in the middle of this downward Mayan cycle came the collapse of the stock market whipping and wiping away many savings and altering the financial security of millions of people worldwide.

Then in January and November 2008 the Planet Pluto came crossing over the winter solstice point and entered Capricorn, where it is exalted and will stay there for the next 16 years. It was then that the world financial system collapsed. Pluto came to do a major house clean-up. Corruption, naked greed and arrogance are to be weeded out through regeneration, the restoration of integrity, responsibility, virtue and the quest for the truth. At that time in late fall of 2008 Planet Saturn who defines the border of the visible material world was traveling in opposition to Uranus who opens the gate to the invisible world. People were invited to think outside the box to discover the reality of the invisible Etheric world that permeates all life.

After that came the pivotal year 2011 when the celestial beings and their planetary vehicles moved into new signs and creating a wave of awakening on Earth.

On March 12, 2011 the planet Uranus entered the sign Aries, to stay for the next seven years. Uranus came to replace selfishness by altruism, to bring a return to universal principles and re-establish a connection with Universal Love. Uranus come to sound the gong of change while making a unusual series of 7 direct squares with Pluto to bring fundamental and irreversible changes in the human psyche.

Then on April 5, 2011 the planet Neptune entered the sign Pisces to stay for the next 14 years. It aims at bringing the dissolution of the old habits, obsolete practices and worn out religious concepts, and fostering a finer and more intuitive connection to the spiritual realms to open deeper understanding through the union of Religion and Quantum science.

Then on October 20, 2011 the planet Persephone, the planet beyond Pluto, entered Virgo for the next 92 years. She came to restore our universal value system, on the moral, ethical and spiritual levels to enable us to reconnect with God within ourselves and further advance our evolution.

The year 2011 was also marked with 6 eclipses (1 in January, 2 in June, 1 in July, 1 in November, and I in December) affecting the invisible body of the Earth and raising global vibrations closer to the light. This is notable because we normally witness only 4 eclipses each year.

During the period 2012 -2015 Pluto and Uranus performed a celestial square dance where they were tangled in seven successive square aspects due to their respective forward and retrograde motion in:

June 24, 2012

September 19, 2012

May 21, 2013

November 1, 2013

April 21, 2014

December 15, 2014 and finally

March 17, 2015

Then the year 2014 started with a New Moon on January 1. Such a notable event happens only once every 19 years. The New Moon in Capricorn was conjunct Pluto and Mercury and was also at the head of a rough grand cross between Uranus, Jupiter and Mars in Cardinal signs. But in the following months the four planets involved in the grand cross moved into alignment at the 13^th degree of all four cardinal signs on Earth Day 2014 on April 22, 2014, a warning sign of the beginning of a grand shake up for mankind.

While all these were going on, we also witnessed a series of Total Lunar Eclipses called Blood Moons, accompanied by Solar Eclipses that spanned over a two year period, in 2014 and 2015. These total eclipses of the Moon formed a series of four in a row called Tetrad that coincided with Judeo-Christian holidays (such as Passover, Spring Equinox, Adar Nisan, Feast of the Tabernacle, Sukkot, Fall Equinox, Michaelmas…) referring to prophecies recorded thousands of years ago by the prophets, of a time of great preparation through fiery tribulations that are to precede the anticipated return of the Messiah.

In the past 2000 years there have been a total of nine such Tetrads and this present one being the last in the Piscean Age. The next one will come in over 500 years in 2582-2583 AD, well into the Aquarian Age.

But let us back track for a minute. Since 1945, at the end of the WWII, the Order of the Rose Cross has been working tirelessly from behind the scene to promote the creation of the European Union. After a succession of bold events and efforts that have paved the way for its creation, Europe was born in 1992 under the Maastricht Treaty, bringing an era of openness, reconciliation and cooperation between nations on the old continent. The creation of Europe was the culmination and major contribution of the Order of the Rose Cross in the old world and the necessary condition to afford them the freedom to finally perform their next major step. That step consists in the mystic move, at the appointed time, to the pacific shores of the New World, of the Rosicrucian Mystery School and its most precious and powerful instrument to serve humanity, that is , the invisible Etheric Temple of the Rose Cross, as predicted by Max Heindel.

The movement the Mystery School and Etheric Temple

In 2013 we celebrated the 700^th anniversary of the foundation of the Order of the Rose Cross 1313-2013. Also during that year 2013 the Order the discrete transfer of the Rosicrucian Mystery School and its Glorious Etheric Temple to the New World. So after 700 years of tireless and intense spiritual work for the western world from the old continent, the Order of the Rose Cross has finally made the move to the New World away from the old continent’s atmosphere restricted by various race spirits.

The transfer of the Mystery School and its Etheric Temple to Mount Ecclesia in Oceanside California, where there is no race spirit, did not receive any media attention, nor caused any outer changes in the operation of our Rosicrucian movement. It happened in discrete silence because it is invisible for the majority of aspirants. The move is meant to assist more directly and effectively, the spiritual renaissance of the western world and a rebirth from its ashes, and help to regenerate the western people away from the traps of sensuality, greed, selfishness and materialism, by striving to develop Pure Love, Benevolence, Altruism, and Spiritual Aspirations.

It is worthy of note that during the last Mystery School Summer Session of 2015, a group of dedicated members joined forces to completely clean, repair, and repaint the Temple at Mount Ecclesia as a precursor of the rebirth that is in the making during the next 7 years of this all important period of transition, change and transformation.

Implications to the aspirant of the move to the West Coast

A new era has begun in the West and during the next seven years till the year 2020 we should see some profound changes to inspire truth seekers and aspirants for the light, to join the Esoteric Christian Mystic movement and walk the path of Love, Compassion, Forgiveness and Selfless Service in the footsteps of Christ Jesus.

As we engage in spiritual development and practice the kind of spiritual alchemy that produces self-transformation and the building of our Soul Body, we will find ourselves ready for the mystic steps of true internal initiation that leads to eternal Life in the Kingdom promised and prepared for us by Christ, the Lord and Light of the World.

BEFORE THE SECOND VEIL

BY DR. PETER BROWN

My Dear Sisters and Brothers,

We of the Christian School have been taught that THE CHRIST WILL RETURN.(Christianity Lectures, p.338; Cosmo: 360, 386; Freemasonry & Catholicism, p.66; Gleanings of a Mystic p. 81 Letters to Students, p.83  The Rosicrucian Fellowship teaches us point blank that the Christ will return to the next Great Race at the beginning of the Sixth Epoch, or New Galilee.

We are taught that: two more sub-races are yet to be evolved in the present Aryan Epoch, one of which is the Slav.  And the other race will be descended from the Slav.  The approaching Aquarian Age is considered the herald of the Sixth Epoch, the beginning of which is thousands of years away.

Exact time of Second Coming

The EXACT time of the Second Coming, however, is not known, because it depends in great measure upon the spiritual progress of humanity.  Even the Elder Brothers declined to commit themselves on the matter further than to point out what must first be accomplished before the Coming can happen.

What must first be accomplished?

Concerning this, Max Heindel has a lot of information as guidance:

1.        Cosmo Conception, page 360.

“In the Sixth Epoch there will be but one universal Brotherhood, under the leadership of the RETURNED Christ, but the day and the hour no man knows.  It is not fixed, but depends upon how soon a sufficient number of people shall have commenced to live the life of fellowship and love, which is to be the hall-mark of the New Dispensation”.

For confirmation that Christ will be leader of the coming race, see Cosmo p, 313; and leader of the 6^th Epoch, Cosmo p, 303; And that Christ will be both King and Priest; Freemasonry & Catholicism, pps,24,57, 90 and that He will NEVER appear again in a physical body see Cosmo p. 381 and p.6. of How Shall we know Christ at His Coming.

2.       Questions & Answers Volume 1, page 206.

“The Second Coming of Christ depends upon how soon a sufficient number of people have become Christ-like and attuned to the Christ Principle, so that, as tuning forks of the same pitch sing together when one is struck, they will be able to respond to the Christ vibrations that will be set up at the return of the Saviour.  Therefore this event is not to be calculated.  Every time we endeavor to imitate Christ and fulfil His teachings, we are hastening His coming; so let us thus strive.”

3.       Questions & Answers Volume 2, page 300.

“Christian Rosenkreutz works with the world powers, the industries, and science, in order to bring about the union of the temporal and spiritual power, the head and the heart, which must take place before Christ can come again.”

4.       Christianity Lectures, page 338

“It is in vain to look for a second coming of Christ in any other way than by making ourselves ready to receive Him…Only when the Christ has been formed within can He be perceived

without.”

5.       Mystical Interpretation of Christmas, page 20

“It is the Christ ether which now floats this sphere of ours, and let us remember that if we want to work for his liberation, we must in sufficient numbers evolve our own soul bodies to the point where they may float the Earth.  Thus we may take up His burden and save Him the pain of physical existence.”

6.       Mysteries of the Great Operas, page 25

“On Golgotha, Christ entered the Earth which He now guides from within, and will until a sufficient number of our humanity have evolved the soul power necessary to float the Earth and guide our younger brothers.  This requires the ability to live in vital bodies, capable of levitation.  The vital body of Jesus through which Christ entered the Earth is His only avenue of return to the Sun.  Hence the Second Advent will be Jesus’ vital body.”

In a nutshell, we see plainly here that the Second Coming depends largely upon US: upon every member of the human race.  We need to be more awakened to such a great task ahead of us as humanity.

So what should we do?

Living the spiritual life.

Only one answer: to live the spiritual life.  Living the spiritual life is the only way out.  It is written that it is only through constant selfless devotion to the ideal of LOVING SERVICE to others that we may build our Soul Bodies.

By building such a body we add a whole new world to our conscious experience, a realm in which many wonderful events take place. 

Which place?

This is the Soul World ( Desire World) in which the Ego functions when the body is asleep, and may bring back memories of the activities there, provided of course, it has built the Soul Body, has woven the starry Golden Wedding Garment without which no one can attend the Mystic Marriage of the lower self to the Higher Self.

It is written and attested to and verified that any true member of the Rosicrucian Fellowship wears this luminous garment long before he/she is ready for a certain event to take place.

Now let us pause here to ask certain relevant questions:

1.       This Soul Body: what is it?

2.       What is it made of?

3.       What is inside it?

4.       And how is it like?

In fact everybody reading this or listening is eager to know the answers.  The point is, unless one has the Soul Body, how can they describe it? How can you describe a tree when you have not seen a tree before or when you have no idea whatsoever of what it is or is like?  Fortunately, thank God, we have somebody, a pioneer along the way who provides us succinct point blank answers.

Max Heindel (Ancient & Modern Initiation, page 52) states:

“When we speak of SOUL BODY we mean exactly what we say, and this vehicle is in no wise to be confused with the soul that permeates it.  The Invisible Helper who uses it on soul flights knows it to be as real and tangible as the dense body of flesh and blood.  But within that Golden Wedding Garment there is an intangible something cognized by the spirit of introspection.  It is unnameable and indescribable … It is not life, love, beauty, wisdom, nor can any other human concept convey an idea of what it is, for it is the sum of all human faculties, attributes, and concepts of good, immeasurably intensified.  If everything else were taken from us, that prime reality would still remain, and we should be rich in its possession, for through it we feel the drawing power of our Father in heaven, that inner urge which all aspirants know so well   …  Just as the true fire is hidden in the flame that encloses it, so that unnameable, intangible something hides in the Soul Body and burns up the frankincense extracted from the showbread; thus it lights the fire which makes the Soul Body luminous.”

That’s not all ! At all.  It is written:

The soul Body is a replica of the physical body because the Ego is, during incarnation, functioning within and through and by means of the Archetype which it built in the heaven worlds prior to birth in the physical organism.  Any form which the Ego builds, whether in the physical, etheric, desire or mental world, will take the form established by the Archetype.  So also will any thought form.

A Virgin Spirit

As the embodied Ego learns to know its true selfhood as pure or Virgin Spirit, able to exist apart from the dense physical body, the Soul Body evolves correspondingly, and the Ego begins to awaken on the inner planes, as the child awakes in the body of flesh when its body is mature enough to emerge from the mother’s womb in which it was formed.

Create the Awareness

This awareness is essential: for us to create the AWARENESS that we are essentially sparks of the DIVINE FLAME, having within ourselves the potentialities of God Himself.  We need then to exert ourselves to unfold our potentialities into true constructive powers.  We are being urged from within to aid our creator in the eternal process of evolution.

Gods-in-the-making

As Gods-in-the-making we are unlimited in our ability to unfold, to improve, to accomplish.  We OURSELVES must make the effort. Not only do we help ourselves by living according to God’s laws, but we benefit all humanity as well.  For, every right thought and action adds to the POWER FOR GOOD in the world.

Max Heindel has pointed out that the truly great person is humble and ready to serve wherever the opportunity may arise.  He says:  “Service is the standard of true greatness.  He has also taught us that loving, self-forgetting service to others is what attracts the two higher ethers which compose the Soul Body, and this shining Garment is the badge of the truly great.

Ancient & Modern Initiations speak of emerging from Atlantis, losing our spiritual sight and yearning to go back home, for which the Ancient Sanctuary we know as the Tabernacle in the wilderness was given.

Emerging from Atlantis

We read in the Bible the story of how Noah and a remnant of his people with him were saved from the flood and formed the nucleus of the humanity of the Rainbow Age in which we now live.

 It is also stated that Moses led his people out of Egypt, the land of the Bull, Taurus, through waters which engulfed their enemies and set them free as a chosen people to worship the Lamb, Aries, into which sign the sun had then entered by precession of the equinox.

These two narratives relate to one and the same incident, namely, the emergence of infant humanity from the doomed continent of Atlantis into the present age of alternating cycles where summer and winter, day and night, ebb and flow, follow each other.

Loss of spiritual sight and a yearning for the spirit world

As humanity had then just become endowed with mind, they began to realize the loss of the spiritual sight which they had hitherto possessed, and they developed a yearning for the spirit world and their divine guides which remains to this day, for humanity has never ceased to mourn their loss.

The Atlantean Mystery Temple: The Tabernacle in the Wilderness

Therefore the ancient Atlantean Mystery Temple, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, was given to them that they might meet the Lord when they had qualified themselves by service and subjugation of the lower nature by the Higher Self.

Designed by Whom?

Being designed by Jehovah it was the embodiment of great cosmic truths hidden by a veil of symbolism which spoke to the inner or Higher Self.

 In the first place it is worthy of notice that this divinely designed Tabernacle :

1.       was given to a chosen people,

2.       who were to build it from freewill offerings given out of the fullness of their hearts.

 What particular lesson is here? : the divine pattern of the path of progress is given only to those who have first made a covenant with God that

a.       he/she will serve Him

b.      and is willing to offer up his heart's blood in a life of service without self-seeking.

Children of Light? Are you Sure?

The term "Mason" is derived from PHREE MESSEN, which is an Egyptian term meaning "Children of Light."

 In the language of Masonry, God is spoken of as the Grand Architect. ARCHE is a Greek word which means "Primordial substance." TEKTON is the Greek name for builder. It is said that Joseph, the father of Jesus, was a "CARPENTER," but the Greek word is TEKTON--builder.

It is also said that Jesus was a "tekton," a builder. Thus every true mystic Freemason is a child of light according to the divine pattern given him by our Father in Heaven. To this end he dedicates his whole heart, soul, and mind. It is, or should be, his aspiration to be "greatest in the kingdom of God," and therefore he must be THE SERVANT OF ALL.

 The next point which calls for notice is the location of the temple with respect to the cardinal points, and we find that it was laid directly east and west. Thus we see that the path of spiritual progress ...  travels from east to west. The aspirant entered at the eastern gate and pursued the path by way of the Altar of Burnt Offerings, the Brazen Laver, and the Holy Place to the westernmost part of the Tabernacle, where the Ark, the greatest symbol of all, was located in the Holy of Holies.

For our lesson, today, we pause at the Altar before the Second Veil

   The great care and attention to detail regarding the construction of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness shows that something far more exalted ...  was intended in its construction. Under its earthly and material show there was designed a representation of things heavenly and spiritual such as should be full of instruction for us.

Max Heindel describes the work carried on in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, the Atlantean Mystery School.  He points out that:

“the perpetual incense offered upon the Altar before the second veil showed … the beauty and sublimity of selfless service, thus exhorting the Mystic Mason, as a child of light,” to persist in evolving “within himself and around himself … the “Golden Wedding Garment” which is also the Christ Light of the soul Body.  By lives of service this glorious soul-substance gradually pervades his whole aura until it is ablaze with a golden light.”

What happens when the aura begins to shine with this golden light?

When the Soul Body shines in the inner worlds,

a)      the Ego begins to awaken there

b)      and to perform consciously the work of the Invisible helper.

So the Soul Body does NOT come by anyone’s deliberate thoughts to create it:

a)       It comes into being NATURALLY

b)      Through the activity of the archetype

c)       Which governs the type of body which every Ego inhabits on every plane.

d)      This Archetype must, of course, be provided with the soul-substance which evolves from the selfless service of the aspirant.

Again it is written that the Soul Body is formed of the two higher ethers, the Light and Reflecting Ethers, plus a nucleus of living etheric and physical atoms which it carries through successive embodiments.

Is that all that is required: just to build a Soul Body?

The answer is a big NO. Why?

Because it is written:  the formation of the Soul Body is NOT the whole process by which the Ego becomes conscious on the inner planes.

1.       The desire body also divides into a higher and a lower part

2.       The lower substance remains with the body while the higher forms part of the Soul Body complex.

3.       It is the development of the higher desire stuff in the aura that brings about the ability to “dream true” – but these experiences are really dreams.  They are not waking experiences.

The waking experience of the Invisible Helper, which is the prelude to Initiatory work, depends upon the Golden Wedding Garment with its Light and Reflecting Ethers.

In Cosmo page 405, Max Heindel states that:

1.        the desire body must be aroused from its lethargy during sleep. 

2.       And its awakening, or arousing can come only from within, by way of the Ego itself,

3.       assisted by the Elder Brothers of the Initiatory School.

Achieving these should be our goal.  Achieving these should be our focus. Service, service, service. 

The highest service comes from the loving heart, whether it be a visible or invisible helper.

PERFORM RETROSPECTION IN EARNEST

And, as an aid, Max Heindel emphasizes the necessity of earnestness in the performance of the evening Retrospection as preparation for burning the incense before the second veil; as preparation for the work of Invisible Helper-ship – clothed in our Soul Bodies, capable of levitation and imbued with love, like a rose emitting its fragrance, running missions of loving service whether in life or in death.

The Conclusion of the matter.

My dear sisters and Brothers

May we all strive for that sweetness of nature and beauty of soul which radiates in effulgent light.

As the rose liberates its fragrance for the benefit of all those near it, may we embrace our opportunities for service during the coming days of our lives, cultivating and nourishing them, that we may reap therefrom, the “Living Bread which nurtures the Soul.”

My dear sisters and Brothers,

The matter has ended.

“My the roses bloom upon your cross.

CHARACTERISTICS AND THE MEANINGS YIELDED BY HYMNS

by MR. Anthony Nyamful

Introduction

During the recent funeral of the late sister Mercy, a lady who sang with fellowship students all the hymns we sang, came to me and asked whether we belong to the Methodist Church. She did not wait for me to answer her question when she added that all the songs fellowship students sang were for the Methodist Church and that we have stolen their songs. It may be true that some hymns typically belong to a particular church, however, most composers of hymns had in mind all Christian churches at time the hymn was being composed. Nonetheless, there may be a few hymns which are meant for only a particular Christian organization. For example, the opening hymn of the Rosicrucian Fellowship will never be heard anywhere except in a Rosicrucian Fellowship temple. Similarly, “Nokware Me Y[ Catholic As]r Ba” will never be heard anywhere except in a Catholic church.

In order that we understand the characteristics of hymns very well, it is pertinent that we distinguish between three main categories of music. These are art music, pop music and traditional or folk music. Art music is commonly known as classical music. There are varieties of them. Examples are symphony, minuet, fugue, sonata, cantata etc. Strictly speaking all art music are composed by musicians who have learned the rules of composition. Such musicians therefore are able to read and write music. Pop music on the other hand, is that type of music mostly composed without strict adherence to the rules of musical composition. Furthermore, pop music (a term that derives from "popular") is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the Western world during the 1950s and 1 960s, deriving from rock and roll. The terms "popular music" and "pop music" are often used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular (and can include any style).

Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other styles such as urban, dance, rock, Latin, and country; nonetheless, there are core elements that define pop music. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure) as well as the common employment of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. The term "pop song" was first recorded as being used in 1926, in the sense of a piece of music "having popular appeal". However, the term was in mainstream use at least ten years earlier. Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1 920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music.

Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted orally, or as music with unknown composers. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. One meaning often given is that of old songs, with no known composers; another is music that has been transmitted and evolved by a process of oral transmission or performed by custom over a long period of time.