AT WHAT PRICE

 

 

When we look back at the events of life we immediately find that life is a multitude of trade-offs. We leave the total security and instant gratification of the womb for a less secure and less instant gratification of our needs in return for the increasing awareness afforded by infancy. In a sense we have risked everything for the awareness of the experience of life. We leave the safety and security of the cradle in return for the bumps and scrapes of learning to walk and becoming a toddler. In turn, toddlerhood is replaced by leaving the security of home in return for facing the uncertainty and stress of a new environment and new relationships. All the while we are growing in experience and awareness; we are learning to use our subtle bodies, that is, the Vital Body, the Desire Body and the Mind, along with the Dense Body. This continues throughout the years of education and on into the future as long as we live. This increasing awareness and experience seems to be the driving force behind the decisions and choices we make. Apparently they are also the driving forces behind incarnation and the gaining of newer and greater experiences during the course of many lifetimes. Even without our knowledge or understanding we are developing the latent potentialities within into dynamic powers.  The continuous string of risks, challenges and gambles we make are all part of the choices we decide to experience and the powers we are developing.

 

Max Heindel tells us in the “Cosmo” that at one time in our development we were hermaphroditic, meaning that we had reproductive ability solely within ourselves. This was the state of our being during our pre-Lemurian existence. Then, in the Lemurian Epoch, one-half of the forces for the sexual apparatus were diverted, so that they could be used to form the brain and the larynx. The use of the brain and larynx gave man the ability to think and to grow in knowledge by being able to synthesize new knowledge based upon what we had learned, ourselves, plus what we had learned from others. Possessing a larynx gave us the ability to verbally communicate and share knowledge when decreasing vibratory rates prevented us from telepathic communication. These were helpful assets; however, the price to be paid was a loss of self-sufficiency, as far as procreation was concerned. We now needed a partner in the procreative process. In addition this whole process was no longer under angelic supervision or angelic forces, and this change, although separative in a sense, was yet designed to loop back and bring two together as one. Just as we turn again and again on the spiral of evolution and recapitulate all our previous experiences, one wonders if cloning is somehow a recapitulation of this self-sufficient reproduction.

 

Early in our human existence, in the Garden of Eden, there was once again, a seeming separation. This time, however, the separation was not under angelic supervision, but was influenced by the Luciferic forces. As punishment for acquiescing to the disobedience urged by these forces, man was ousted from the Garden of Eden. He lost awareness of his idyllic state of unity with God, and was cut off from his intimate love relationship with Him. Believing he was separate from God, because he was unable to hear His voice and feel His presence, man was prematurely left without divine guidance. The price of this disobedience was horrendous. This event was the start of man’s tribulation; a tribulation that is reaching new heights as it gradually nears its final recapitulation at this time. But never for an instant believe that God’s plan can be subverted or that punishment can be greater than the crime. God has not forgotten us nor has He been separate from us. We are still His children, and we will be returning home to Him whom we never left; that is, we will finally develop the awareness, not just the knowledge, “that it is within God that we live and move and have our being”. This risen state of consciousness is the “High Mountain of God” spoken of by Micah, the prophet.

 

As man’s Dense Body became progressively refined and the Subtle Bodies became more mature, man’s culture and environment changed. The Hunter - Gatherer culture became Agrarian. Crops were planted, harvested and stored for future use. The process of experiencing, awareness and thinking continued to move forward resulting in the man of today. Another way to say this is that tribes and small bands of people became large, then they separated to find areas of adequate food. They grew in wisdom and experience, became agrarian and later came back together again, finally coalescing into the society we have today. This pattern of man’s advancement led to diversification and specialization. Naturally, this caused a vast interconnection and dependence of one person with many others. As a matter of fact, global interconnection and dependence is in progress at this time. Here again, we are moving away from self-sufficiency in isolation, and toward a global need for each other. This could be considered self-sufficiency as a group. Now what affects one nation, affects all nations. We must sacrifice independence and self-sufficiency on the altar of unity. Is God teaching us that we are one in spirit and in flesh? Is he helping us to see the reflection of spiritual unity in material unity?

 

The Hermetic Maxim, “As above, so below” is certainly true. We see man’s unity in the material world as we evolve and the “Cosmo” tells us that spirits join as we evolve. One day all our spirits will join as one in God. Remember, God keeps his promises and covenants, but in His own time and in His own way. Man can hasten or delay their fruition by his vibratory closeness to, or distance from, God. So much is in our own hands. It is a shame that we can not truly appreciate this fact.

 

Let us consider a true story. There once was a woman who deeply loved her diabetic sister. The sister was married to an insensitive man who was unwilling to sacrifice anything for his wife. He brought home cakes, pies, candy and ice cream all the time. His wife was unable to resist the temptation of eating these sweets. One day she died in diabetic coma. The husband went on with his life, but the sister of the dead woman developed a severe problem. She hated her brother-in-law and wanted to murder him. She tried to find a way to do this without being caught and sent to prison herself. This went on for years and the anger in her boiled and boiled. Eventually she developed cancer of the stomach. Note that the stomach is the repository of forbidden things eaten.  The brother-in-law went merrily on with his life, while the sister descended in pain with her stomach cancer into death. She could not see that her anger was eating her alive. Nor did it affect her brother-in-law, who didn’t even know the depths of her anger because she would not see him or speak to him. The cost of her anger and hatred was death. There are a few lessons to be learned here; lessons that may be very important in the evolution of our understanding.

 

We read in the Book of Genesis 1:28 God tells Adam, the humanity of the time, that he …”shall have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”, which is to say that Adam was to be the caretaker of these forms of life. In the next verse we find: “And God said, “behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat”. Here meat means food. In the following verse, God says the same for the animals. All were to be vegetarian. Man was not to eat animals but to take care of them. Animals were to be vegetarian too. It was only after the flood, when the ark was resting on dry ground, that God said in Genesis 9:3-5, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man”. This was a great change. Along with the eating of meat came the promise of death. Today, we know the scientific reasons for avoiding flesh eating. Cholesterol problems, leading to arteriosclerosis, heart attack and stroke are well known. Fatal illness from bacteria, hormonal dysregulation, antibiotic resistance and poisoning from herbicides and insecticides are less obvious reasons. Clearly the cost of eating flesh is death.

 

A “Jack of All Trades” type of person is a vanishing breed, replaced by specialists of various kinds. This situation is reminiscent of the newly fertilized cell, which initially multiplies without specialization. After a while, however, cells come together to form groups that do specialize, called ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm. To mention some of the structures that come from ectoderm we find teeth, eyes, skin, and nervous system; from the mesoderm comes muscles, heart, blood cells and blood vessels; and from the endoderm comes intestines, glands and internal organs. So we can see that there is a definite progression of changes in all life, from the cell to the whole individual. At each juncture of change there are trade-offs. Something is lost as something else is gained. But the end result is a movement ever higher and more efficient.

 

We are all stragglers and have been tediously slow in understanding and growing in awareness. Many people have remained stuck in their old traditions and ways; fixed in erroneous lifestyles, opinions and beliefs. Thus they do not keep up with advancing civilization, falling more and more behind. The real tragedy is that they have separated themselves from the rest of humanity, not understanding that we are the sons and daughters of God. Worse yet, they are separated from their awareness of God and an understanding of the Divine Plan. The Rosicrucian Teachings are a way for people to get back on track if they would but receive them and live them.

 

This separative attitude is a grave error, providing fertile ground for all kinds of false beliefs. It may be such as one person being special above another, or that some people have special rights and privileges entitling them to dominate and control others because they are better, smarter and/or part of an imaginary elite, spiritually and materially. This is not to say that each person is not entitled to their own belief system. They are! The problem arises when there is the desire to compel others to agree. Denial, disobedience, or ignorance of the basic knowledge that we are all children of God has led to a difficult stage in human evolution. Some insist that we must believe in their concept of God and culture. Others insist that they have the right to take money from the poor so that the rich can live more richly. Still others insist they have the right to rule the world. This type of thinking has brought the world to the brink of disaster. What is the cost of such desires? War, destruction, famine and death is the cost. It is heart-breaking to see that man’s eyes are still entirely focused on the material world; too blind to see that it is an illusion that will disappear like the morning mist.

 - Ruth Winocur

 

 

ROSE CROSS

A Quarterly Rosicrucian Online Magazine

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