Rays from the Rose Cross Magazine
Studies in the Cosmo-Conception
Importance of an Undisturbed Retrospection
Q. How important is the panorama of the past life during the purgative
existence?
A. Because in the Desire World this panorama is realized in definite
feelings, it is most important.
Q. On what does this importance depend?
A. If the panorama lasted long and the man was undisturbed, the full, deep,
clear impression etched into the desire body would make life in the Desire
World more vivid and conscious and the purgation more thorough than if,
because of distress at the loud outbursts of grief on the part of relatives at
the death bed and during the three-day period, the man had only a vague
impression of his past life.
Q. Why is this important?
A. The Spirit which has etched a deep, clear record into its desire body
will realize the mistakes of the past life much more clearly and definitely
than if the pictures were blurred on account of the individual's attention
being diverted by the suffering and grief around him.
Q. How does this benefit him?
A. His feeling concerning the things which cause his present
suffering in the Desire World will be much more definite if it is drawn from a
distinct panoramic impression than if the duration of the process were short,
and this sharp, clear-cut feeling is of immense value in future lives.
Q. How is this accomplished?
A. It stamps upon the seed atom of the desire body an ineffaceable
impression of itself. The experience will be forgotten in succeeding lives,
but the feeling remains.
Q. How does this manifest?
A. When opportunities occur to repeat the error in later lives, this
feeling will speak to us clearly, and unmistakably.
Q. By what other name is this called?
A. It is the "still, small voice" of conscience which warns us, though we
do not know why; but the clearer and more definite the panorama of past lives
have been, the oftener, stronger, and clearer shall we hear this voice.
Q. What might this teach the living?
A. It should teach us how important it is that we leave the passing Spirit
in absolute quietness after death. By so doing we help it to reap the greatest
possible benefit from the life just ended and to avoid perpetuating the same
mistakes in future lives, while our selfish, hysterical lamentations may
deprive it of much of the value of the life it has just concluded.
Q. What is the mission of Purgatory?
A. The mission of Purgatory is to eradicate injurious habits. 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 future.
Q. Then Purgatory is an indispensable factor in his development?
A. Yes, as a consequence of the existence of this beneficent state man
learns virtue and Aght action. When he is reborn, he is free from evil habits;
at least, every evil act committed is one of his own free will. The tendencies
to repeat the evil of past lives remain, for we must learn to do right
consciously and of our own will.
--Ref: Cosmo, 109-110
--Rays from the Rose Cross Magazine, May, 1980, p. 212