The Rosicrucian Digest September 1937.pdf

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T H E T E M P L E O F T H E V E S T A L V I R G I N SThe ruins of the once beautiful Temple of Virgins, on the site of the Roman Forum, is seen above. T hese maidens were secluded from

society , living in a state of high moralit y. Th ey ate, slept, and studied w ithin the confines of their spac ious marble edifice. In the ancientRoman rites they symbolised purity and innocence, and thus were kept from contact with the profane, world. Known also as Vestals,after the Roman goddess of the hearth, Vesta, it was their duty to keep the sacred fire continually burning.

(Courtesy of The Rosicrucian Digest .)



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HE STRA NG E POW ERS of mind were known to the

ancients. From every land they trekked to the caves of the oracle. In her presence they were imbued with themysterious faculty of foresight. She brushed from their me ntal vision, fear and misgivings. Deep within the ir con-sciousness she implanted illuminating ideas with whichthey went forth to accomplish the seeming miracles his-tory records. Were these geniuses of the ancient world,Pericles, Socrates, Alexander the Great, merely deluded,cast un der a fantastic spell, or can the huma n min d truly as-

sertan influence over things an d conditionsPIs there a wealthof infinite knowledge jus t beyond the border of o ur dailythoug hts which can be aroused and comm anded a t will ?

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DIGESTCOVERS THE WORLD

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

A

Vol. XV. SEPTEMBER, 1937 No. 8

C O N T E N T S Page

The Temple of the Vestal Virgins (Frontisp iece) 281

The Thought of the Month: W h a t is Ka rm a? . 284

Prudence.....................................................................

288

Our Recen t Convention 289

Pages from the Past: Mohammed 301

The Increment of Life ........................................ . 303

Being a Mystic and Being Sane 308

Sanctum Musings: The W or ld of Make-Believe 314

The Wisdom of a Child (Illustration) 317

Subscr ip t ion to The Rosicrucian Digest , Three Dol lars per year. Single copies twen tyfive cen ts each.Entered as Second Class M at ter a t the P ost Office a t San

Jose, California, under the Act of August 24th, 1912.Changes o f address must reach us by the ten th o f the month

p re ced in g d a te of is su e.S tatements made in th is pub l icat ion are no t the o f f ic ia l ex-

p re ss io n s of th e o rg an iz a ti o n o r it s of fi ce rs u n le ss s ta te d to be of fici al co m m unic ati ons.

Published Monthly by the Supreme Council of

THE ROSICRUCIAN ORDER—AMORCROSICRUCIAN PARK SAN JOSE. CALIFORNIA

ST. MARTIN



N E of the subjec tsof mystical, meta-

physical or orien-t a l p h i l o s o p h ywhich seems to puzz le the W e st-e rn W o r l d t y p eof mind, perhapsmo re t h a n a n yother subject, ist h a t o f K a r m a .The very word it-self appears to be so mysterious and

undefinable that it creates the impres-sion in the minds of many casual read-ers of mystical and oriental literature

that Karma is an indefinite somethingthat is the cause of all of our suffering,illness, unhappiness, misfortune and despondency. The free and liberal man-ner in which the word and the law arerepresented, as translated and explained by se lfa pp oin ted teac hers of mysticaland metaphysical theories, and the glibmanner in which thousands of misin-formed students and readers use theword to explain all the personal eventsof life, have led to a greater misunder-standing of the real principles repre-

sented by this word than of any other pr inciple assoc iated with the ve ry broa d field of mystical and occult philosophy.

Briefly stated, the word Karm a’’ isan oriental and unfortunately chosenand popularly adopted term for what isknown as the "Law of Co mpens ation.”

T h e This law represents that form of spir

Rosicruc ian i! ual and w? rJ dl>; ac.ti° n ^ * hich thethoughts and deeds or human beings are

d i g e s t balanced. Th is process of balancingSept em ber may be likened to the familiar process1937 of nature whereby one reaps what one

sows. The law has efficiently demon-strated itself in the lives of millions of human beings and is a very definite

pr inciple, made man ifes t by many experiences in the un der standing of everysincere student of mysticism and metaphysics. It show s th at we can and do br ing upon ou rselve s in the immediateor mediate future the conditions and circumstances which constitute our lotin life. Thro ugh our observation of theworking of the law, we are warranted in believing that it is an immutable law and that it will work in the distant here-after as well as in the present cycle of time and that we can and do create for ourselves in the future afterlife many

of the circumstances and conditionswith which we will have to contend.There is ample proof of the truth of thestatement that everything that occurs inlife is due to some cause, and everycause has its definite effect. In the spir-itual and social world it has proved thatwe cannot do a kindness or an injury toanother human being, or even to a dumbanimal, socalled, without some day insome way making adequate and justcompensation for our act, or receiving just and adequate recompense for ou r

act.In carefully watching, studying, and analyzing events in the course of our lives, many thousands of us havelearned beyond any question of a doubtthat we can and do create for ourselvesevents and conditions in the near or distant future, by the thoughts we hold,the thoughts we express, the motives

behind ou r ac ts, an d the ac ts them -selves. W e have learned also that thereis no way of avoiding the Law of Karma or the Law of Compensation ex

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cept by making compensation and adjust ing th e balan ce of the scale ei ther before th e law forces us to do so, or when the demand of the law is upon usand we are within its grasp.

And we have learned that no unkind-ness and no kindess, no unjust or justthought or deed, or unmerciful or merciful act or plan that goes into ac-tion, ever escapes the Karmic recordsor goes uncompensated, unadjusted or unbalanced. It may take months or years before the inevitable results of our acts are brought home to our attentionor compensation is made, but the law isas positive and sure in its working as isthe socalled law of the Medes and thePersians.

Man and his arbitrarily made lawsfor the civic conduct of citizens and thesocial and ethical and moral conduct of

peop les may attem pt to adju st an d punish or co mpen sa te individua ls for their acts, but such punishment or com-

pen sa tion is nev er as just , nev er asmerciful, never as considerate, and never as sure and efficacious as is theinevitable operation of the law of Karma.

W e have said tha t the law is im-mutable, and we mean by that that we

mean to say it is a divine principle or divine law created by God, and in nowise contrary to His divine principlesof mercy, justice, forgiveness and love.

And the law of compensation or Karma is not a blind, cold, mechanicalthing that demands an eye for an eyeand a tooth for a tooth as man demandsin his arbitrarily made law. Such a pro-cess is never wholly just, is never merci-ful, and most of all is never constructiveor benefiicial to the individual and tosociety, whereas the law of Karmanaturally and eternally seeks to be con-

structive and wholly beneficial to theindividual and to the society of in-dividuals.

But for some strange reason—prob-ably due to the misrepresentation of the true law of Karma and to the lack of intelligent un der stan ding of it—manythousands of casual readers of mystical

ph ilo so ph y and man y ea rly stu den ts of such philosophies believe, along withsome of the Theosophical leaders and the leaders of other socalled humani-

tarian and mystical movements, thatall suffering is Karmic. This belief isundoubtedly based upon logical fallacyoften stated as: “All misdeeds lead tosuffering, therefore all suffering is dueto misdeeds.’’

If the law of compensation is a justand merciful and constructive law, aswe must consider it to be if it is uni-versally active, and therefore a uni-versal law of divine origin, it must makecompensation for good deeds as well asdemand adjustment for evil deeds. Thefairness and justice of the operation of the law in both ways appeals to our good sense and at once brings out theabsurdity of the idea that the law of compensation is only a form of punish-ment for misdeeds.

I have inferred that the word “K arma”is an unfortunately chosen word as aname or title for the “Law of Compen-sation.” To many students of oriental ph ilo so ph y and to many of the or ienta lminds the words “Karma” implies onlysuffering, or the trials and tribulationsof life. Therefore, it is not a good termto describe the Law of Compensation.For unless our good deeds were com-

pen sated an d re warded , if by nothingmore than the personal pleasure and

happiness we get out of doing good,man would not be tempted or inclined to live a noble life, to do good untoothers, and to contribute freely to theconstructive, uplifting progress of civili-zation. If man were only punished for the evil he did, he would neither be de-terred in his evil actions nor motivated and inclined to do good in place of evil.Most of man's arbitrarily made laws re-lating to our social, ethical, moral and civic conduct provide forms of punish-ment for our evil acts, even to the de-mand of an eye for an eye and a tooth

for a tooth. But a review of the historyof civilization since its dawn up to the

pre sent mom ent proves very conv incing-ly that the threat or promise or pro-vision of punishment for evil acts hasnot lessened crime nor lessened the amount of evil done by those who are in-clined toward evil doing.

If we were to take out of our schemeof things all of our natural desires toreward good deeds and to give praiseor compensation or acknowledgment to

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the good that is done and to encouragethose who try to do good, we would soon find more evil in the world thangood, despite any Cosmic or manmadelaw of punishment for the commissionof evil. T he operation of the Law of

Compensation alone would be sufficientreason for the human individual tostrive to do good, to be tempted to dogood rather than evil. O ur good acts,our good thoughts, our good intents and good motives bring their rich rewardsinevitably and as surely as our evil actsand motives and intents and purposes

br ing som e form of suffer ing, some formof chastisement, some form of denial or adjustme nt which impresses upon us thefact that we cannot be unjust, unfair,and unkind to man and God withouthaving the lesson or principle broughtto our attention in that form or that de-gree or that nature or that time, or under those conditions when the chas-tisement or correction will be the mostimpressive and the most constructive.

The idea, however, that all suffering,all illness, all pain, all sorrow, all dis-appointment, and all socalled bad luck is a Karmic result of some similar or dissimilar unkindness or evil act or in-tent on our part, or that all blessings, allrewards from God or man, from theCosmic or from worldly society, or all

joy or all hap pines s or all socal led good fortune is also the Karmic result of good deeds and kind acts and con-structive thoughts on our part, is anabsurdity.

There are many causes for some of our illnesses, some of our misfortunes,some of our unhappiness, and some of our trials and tribulations that have norelation to any evil or unfortunate or erroneous act or thought, consciously or unconsciously performed or expressed

by us, ei ther in this life or any previous

life. W hile it is undoubtedly true thatour lot in life today is very greatly theresult and the accumulated effect of what we did and did not do in previousyears or previous times, on the other hand, life is daily fraught with unex-

pected , un an ticipated , and seem inglyundeserved blessings, benedictions, richrewards and magnificent opportunities.And each day brings its incidental trialsand tribulations and various forms of sorrow and suffering, either in a minute

or large degree, from no cause that isremotely associated with yesterday, or yesteryear, or any preceding year of our life, or any act or thought per-formed by us at any previous time.

The idea, for instance, that the threelittle girls who were brutally and fiend-ishly murdered during the last days of June of this year in Southern California

by a mad man and an individual of criminal instincts and passions werevictims of a Karmic action and musthave committed some acts or possiblysome act in their present lives or pre-ceding lives which brought upon themthis unfortunate tragedy, is an unsound idea, and unsuppo rted by logical reason-ing and by an analysis of all universallaws. In the first place, if we are to be-

lieve that all the suffering, all the painand sorrow, and all the illness and mis-fortune which comes into our lives iswholly and solely decreed by CosmicLaw operating as Karma, then wewould have to assume or believe thatthe individual who so fiendishly and

bru ta lly mistrea ted these th re e ve ryyoung children and then murdered themwas acting as an instrument for the lawof Karma and was a channel throughwhich that law operated. In other words, if we assume that what occurred

to these three children was Cosmicallydecreed through the Karmic law, thenthe man accused by the police, and looked upon as a criminal, and classified as out of harmony with all Cosmic and divine principles is, after all, an instru-ment of the Cosmic, a worker in God’svineyard, a channel through which oneof the divine laws operates, and there-fore he should neither be punished byman for what he did nor should hesuffer at the hands of the law of Karmafor the crime he seems to have com-mitted. Ce rtainly it would be unjust of the Law of Compensation or the law of Karma for it to choose an individual tocarry out a divine decree of Karma and ravage, mutilate, and then murder threeyoung children who could not havecommitted any crime in this incarnationto deserve such punishment, and then punish the in stru men t which the Cosmicchose for carrying out its divine decree.

In other words, can you consistently believe th at the law of Karma is ju st if

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it selects and then causes and empowersa man to commit a horrible crime againstlife and society, and then punishes thatman for fulfilling the divine mission thatwas decreed?

If, on the other hand, you should want to argue, as some of the unthink-ing occult students argue, that since theman acted as an instrument or channelfor the fulfillment of the Karmic law inthe case of the three children, he should

be allowed to go free of any man m ad e pun ishmen t or Cosmic pu nish men t, thenin such a case you would have to admitor assume that there are crimes whichan individual can or may commit againstGod or God’s children, against uni-versal laws, against life and againstsociety, and for which the individual

will never be punished and never cen-sored, and should not receive even con-demnation at the hands of man.

God and the Cosmic laws working inaccordance with God's scheme of thingshave the right, the privilege, and the

pre ro gative of bes towing up on man ce r-tain blessings, benedictions and re-wards, certain unexpected and unantici- pated advanta ges or o pportunities w hichwill enable him to maintain or continuehis mission in life or to help others or carry out a Cosmically inspired plan of

humanitarianism, or to bring resultingadvantages to society generally or add one more step to the progress of civili-zation. These advantages and blessingsand benedictions may come in thismanner to individuals who have notdirectly or indirectly earned them or deserved them through any definite actor thought in the past which could belogically or reasonably interpreted as adirect cause of the blessings and bene-dictions. There is some cause, of course,for the results that have been mademanifest, but that cause need not be

wholly or solely of a Karmic nature.W h at the individual does with these

blessing s and advanta ges, these ben e-dictions and these opportunities, may

be the cause of future Karmic action, bu t they are not always the result of some Karmic action. T he same is trueof unfortunate things that come intoour lives.

Undoubtedly God often grants to usor visits upon us many blessings and awards, many forms of trials and tribu-

lations for the sake of testing us or giv-ing us an opportunity to test ourselves,or contributing to the general scheme of things as a channel or an instrument.Much good has come into the lives of many individuals through suffering,through trials and tribulations, and eventhrough spells of illness without theaction of the law of Karma. W e growspiritually, and in every element of character and makeup of personality,through the things we experience, bothgood and evil, both happy and unhappy.To make all of the experiences of life adirect result of previous acts would beto put the whole of life upon a purelymechanical basis, and would leave no

prov ision fo r th e in terven tio n of God or the spontaneous expression of God’s

rights or privileges. It wo uld reduce theuniversal scheme of things to an un-intelligent system of action and re-action, with no progressive outlook, noanticipatory consideration, no evolu-tionary factor, and no divine element of mercy and love.

Perhaps the Rosicrucian Order is theonly mystical organization operating inthe W estern and oriental worlds todaywhich has this distinct and comprehen-sive understanding of the law of Karmaand the Law of Compensation; but that

is no reason why all Rosicrucians should not do their utmost to understand thematter thoroughly, competently, and interpret their understanding and spread a comprehension of it amongthose persons who are unacquainted with the real facts and who do not havethis correct understanding. W e should all do our utmost to correct the falseimpression that exists in regard to thetrue nature of the law of Karma and the true operation of the Law of Compensation.

And in answer to the inevitable ques-tion that will be asked, “How can onetell or determine whether a conditionthat has come upon an individual,either good or bad, is a result of Karmaor of direct divine decree?" Let me add that the cause of any mysterious or un-explained occurrence in our presentlives is not so important as our realiza-tion of the lesson to be learned from theoccurrence. If we receive at any time arich reward or an incidental reward, a

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blessing or a be ne dictio n, an oppor-tunity or an advantage, let us givethanks to God and the Cosmic for itand realize that whatever may have

be en th e ca use th at brought it ab ou t,our obligation and our duty now is tounselfishly, lovingly, and constructivelyuse it. If illness or sorrow, disa ppo int-ment or disadvantage comes to us, in-stead of searching into the remote pastfor a probable cause, we should striveto learn the lesson that the situationmay include, and do our utmost to over-come and master the conditions and

thereby strengthen our character and add to our wisdom, and determine to solive our lives from day to day that weshall not earn again a similar experiencethrough any possible Karmic action,and be prepared to meet such a con-tingency in the future. In this wise wewill be harmonizing with universalCosmic law in turning all of our experi-ences, good and bad, and all of our situations, circumstances, and incidentsof life, to good advantage for the bene-fit of ourselves and the benefit of man-kind generally.

PrudenceBy S o r o r L e i la L e G r o s B o n d

"Put a bridle on thy ton gue ; s et aguard before thy lips, lest the words of thine own mouth destroy thy peace."

“Unto Thee I Grant.”

jO W qu ickly the ready re to rtsprings to our lips, the vibra-tions of anger flow out fromourselves, increasing the an-ger of our aggressor. Ou r words sting the heart of our fellow being. Angry and hurt

he tries to thrust words that will wound

us as much or more than our words havewou nded him. Coals heaped upon coals’till the heat scorches our very souls and we drag ourselves away to nurse our wounds. Deep inside we feel a sense of shame. W e have hurt a brother. W ehave been the instrument that has caus-ed misery, pain. T he da y has becomedarken ed because of us! If we could buterase those words spoken in the heat of anger! But they have been spoken; they

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have accomplished their purpose. Is our grief caused by selfpity, or is it inshame we weep as our inner being criesout against us and grieves for the errorswe have created?

How sweet the reward if we canmaster our tongue for that temptingmoment! If we can hold the silence or give the soft answer that checks wrathas cool water upon fevered lips; if vi-

bra tions of love and understandin g flowout in place of the destructive ones of anger, will not the result be worthy of

the effort to curb our passion? W h a t joywill be ours, what bliss, as we see theclouds blow over, and the face of our fellowman brighten with joy. W e havegiven him those happy moments, wehave helped him, just a little, throughthe journey. W e have created! Created harmony and peace. O ur being is bath -ed in the glow of perfect joy; the outer man is in accord with the inner. O ur moment is full!

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C O N V E N T IO N P H O T O G R A P H ST o really know w hat the Convention is like, of course one must attend in person. The

next best thing, however, is to have one of the large photographs showing the hundredsof smiling faces—persons from every part of the United States and Canada, and fromforeign countries, who attended the happ y conclave. You will be proud to be associated with an organization which can conduct conventions of this kind.

Obtain one of these exceptionally large photographs. 47 inches by 8 inches in size.Fram e and hang it in your home, your sanctum, den, or you r office. It will have a pleas-ing significance to you. The se convention photograp hs may be had a t the economical

price of $1.50 each—p ostage included.You may also have a souvenir copy of the Convention program such as was issued

to all who attended, so that you may see just what transpired daily at this past Rosicru-cian conclave. Perh aps it will be an incentive for you to attend this coming year. Price15c each.

Send orders and remittances to the Rosicrucian Supply Bureau, San Jose, California.

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O ur Recent Convent i on

T H E I N T E R E S T I N G H IG H L IG H T S O F T H IS V E R Y

P L EA S A N T E V E N T

By t h e C o n v e n t io n S e c r e t a r i e s

LL of our membersand friends will beglad to know thatour recent Inter-national Conven-tion — from July11 to July 17 — w a s o n e o f t h elargest, finest and most happy gath-erings of membersand delegates that

th e o r g a n i z a t i o nhas ever had.

It would take too many pages of The Ros icrucian D ig est to report all of theevents, incidents and detailed routineactivities of this great Convention, butwe feel that it is only fair to a large ma-

jo ri ty of our members, and pro per for our permanent records that the interest-ing highlights of this great Conventionshould be presented in this publication.Every member will find in these high-lights some interesting, inspiring and

helpful ideas.More than three weeks before theopening of the Convention, students for the RoseCroix University courses be-gan to arrive, and since they always re-main throughout the Convention, wecan really say that Convention dele-gates and members began to come toRosicrucian Park early in June, and now, in the first week of August, wefind a number of them still in the city.As has been the custom for many years,a number of those who visited Rosicru-

cian Park and California for the firsttime have decided to remain, and are

buying or re nting or even bu ild inghomes here. The wonderful climate, the

bea utifu l scenery, th e wonderful se lec-tion of fruits and vegetables at economi-cal prices, simply astonish many wholive in the ea stern part of Un ited States,and who have been dreaming of someday finding a garden spot in which tolive. T his valley in which San Jose and Rosicrucian Park are located has been

known for years as “The Valley of H ea rt’s D elight” and the average visitor looks upon it as we do, as the nearest

po ss ible appro ac h to a para dis e onearth.

On Saturday, July 10, and all daySunday, July 11, trains and automobiles

bro ught de legates and mem bers to thecity in large groups, and by six o'clock on Sunday evening approximately fivehundred members and delegates had registered for the Conv ention. An d when the doors of the Convention Hall

in the center of our Park were finallyopened in the evening, there were appro xim ately six hundre d re gis te re d de le-gates and members, with more arrivingevery hour throughout the night and allday M onday and Tuesday.

The first session of the Conventionwas duly opened on Sunday evening

by th e Sovereign G ra nd M aste r, F rate r Thor Kiimalehto, stepping upon the pla tform and an nouncing th at in his of-ficial capacity he opened the Conven-tion as a Convention of the Grand

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V W /

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1937

Lodge of AMORC of North and SouthAmerica. The Supreme Secretary thenstepped upon the platform and called for nominations and the election of aConvention Chairman. The assemblyelected Frater O. Hughes of Topeka,Kansas, as Convention Chairman. Itwas the first time he had served in thiscapacity or in any capacity at Head-quarters, and we were glad to havesomeone representing the Midwest tak-ing full charge of the Convention.

Frater Hughes then proceeded toread, paragraph by paragraph, the cus-tomary rules and regulations for a Con-vention and permitted the assembly tovote upon them and adopt them. A fter this, he appointed the chairmen of the

various committees which the rules and regulations called for, selecting individ-uals as chairmen who represented vari-ous parts of the country, and who werein no wise connected with the officialactivities at Headquarters. Then he an-nounced that, in accordance with theusual custom at all of our Conventions,the registered delegates and memberswere at liberty to join voluntarily anyof the committees by making applica-tion the next day to the appointed chairmen. Mem bers were encouraged to unite with these committees in ac-cordance with whatever Convention ac-tivities they wished to encourage and emphasize.

The committees thus formed were asfollows: 1. T he A dm inistration Com-mittee, composed of members who de-sired to look into and examine and thoroughly investigate all of the officialand semiofficial administration activi-ties at Headquarters and throughoutthe Order generally; to audit the booksat Headquarters, analyze all of the

financial accounts, scrutinize the meth-ods of auditing and bookkeeping main-tained at Headquarters, analyze all of the systems used for the preparation of the monographs, the mailing of them,the rendering of welfare service tomembers, the operation of the variouscorrespondence departments, the exam-ination of the allied activities of theOrder, the study and examination of the original charters, documents and foreign papers of authenticity, the cor-respondence with foreign branches of

the Order, and the legal papers involved in all of the past activities of the or-ganization. The purpose of the commit-tee was to satisfy itself regarding all of the claims of the Order and to makeany recommendations that it might find pro per, and at the same time to con-sider the recommendations of the mem-

be rs and de lega te s gen erally assembled at the Convention.

2. T he Resolutions Comm ittee. Its purp os e was to receive from the members and delegates th ro ughout the Con-vention week any resolutions, recom-mendations, and suggestions which anynew members or old members wished to

pre se nt or bring be fo re th e Conven tio n,to put them into proper form and pre-

sent them for Convention examinationand vote.

3. T he Grievance Committee. Its busine ss was to receive from any of themembers complaints, criticisms or sug-gestions of a critical nature, investigatethem by examining books, records, and

busine ss metho ds , or to call to thei r committee room any witnesses or in-dividuals who could throw any lightupon any critical problem, and then towork out a solution for these problemsand present such solutions before the

Convention for a vote.There was also an EntertainmentCommittee to arrange for special formsof entertainment during the Conventionweek, and there were several other minor committees voluntarily organized to investigate and look after any specialmatters.

After the appointment of chairmenfor the various committees, a sergeantatarms was appointed, and then Frater Hughes introduced Madame BeatriceBowman who graciously furnished the

opening musical numbers, presentingtwo of her vocal pupils, and accom pany-ing them on the grand piano.

The various officials and departmentheads at Headquarters were then intro-duced to the assembly, and each made a

br ief addre ss of welcome. A number of cablegrams and greetings from foreign jurisd ictio ns were re ad, and finally theChairman introduced the Imperator,who made a brief speech of welcome,and then addressed the Universitygraduates assembled in the front seats

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of the Auditorium and, with the as-sistance of the RoseCroix UniversityRegistrar and the Dean of the Faculty,he handed the graduation certificates tothose who had successfully completed

the special courses. Th e Dean called attention to the fact that a large per-centage of the graduates had attained high honor grades in their examina-tions. He pointed out that this percen t-age of honor grades was higher than inthe average university in the country,showing that the students at the RoseCroix University were of a higher in-tellectual status and more deeply inter-ested in their studies than the averageuniversity student.

At the conclusion of this feature of

the program, the president of the Uni-versity class arose and read a reso-lution that had been passed by thegraduates, thanking the Imperator and the officers of the University for their valuable assistance and guidance and especially for the wonderful instructionthey had received.

Then the Imperator called for a per iod of th ree min utes’ si lent meditationwhile Soror Cow ger, the Dean of Musicof the University, played some verysoft music on the organ. Th e Imperator

asked all present to send kind thoughtsto all who were absent and who had planned or hope d to be a t th e Conven -tion, and to direct their spiritual lovetoward those members everywhere whohad passed through transition since our

prev ious Conv en tio n.

After this period the Imperator de-livered his annual message, which ap- pea rs as a sep ara te ar tic le in this issue.This concluded the first session of theConvention.

Early Monday morning the members

beg an to ar rive a t the Park and to takeadvantage of the several different meet-ings, demonstrations, and forms of of-ficial activity taking place in the various

bu ild ings a t Ros icrucian Park. T hrough-out the Convention week members ar-rived as early as seven o’clock in themorning and left only at midnight.W ith facilities for eating their lunches,and even their breakfasts, close to thePark, and their evening meals, likewise,as well as refreshments at various inter-vals, the members were reluctant to

leave the beautiful grounds with all of the fascinating types of shrubbery, trees,

bu sh es an d flowers, an d the shad ynooks, the fountains, the convenient

bench es an d ex pa nses of lawn.

W he n there was not something of importance being done in one of themain buildings, and no official commit-tee meetings or discussions taking placeamong small groups, there was alwaysthe helpful and inspiring social contactand conversation among the members inquiet little corners and shaded portionsof the Park. O n one of the lawns aninformation tent had been erected, withmicrophone and loud speakers situated in different parts of the Park, and heremembers could call for one another or

have one another paged, and they could also make appointments to see one an-other, or learn just what activities weregoing on every minute and every hour in some part of the grounds or build-ings, or secure oth er information. Itwas considered that this information bo oth with the seve ra l clerks in ch arg eof it was one of the busiest places inthe whole Park throughout the entireweek.

Each morning throughout the Con-vention there were special Temple ses-

sions, the first beginning at 8:00 A. M.in the Supreme Temple Lodgeroom.At these sessions a brief ritual was con-ducted by the officers of the SupremeLodge and officers of the local Chapter.Vowel sounds were practiced, appropri-ate music was played, and periods of meditation were held for those whowished to enjoy this special feature.Practically every member attending theConvention enjoyed these sessions ontwo or three occasions. Then there werespecial class meetings at 10:00 A. M. in

the Main Auditorium each morning.They started Monday morning withspecial personal instruction to the mem-

ber s of the first th ree N eophyte degrees.On Tu esday morning there was instruc-tion for members of the first threeTemple degrees, and this was continued each day until on Friday only the mem-

bers in the ver y highes t degrees , or those in the upper Ninth degree and

bey ond met for pe rson al , privat e in-struction und er the Imperator. In eachcase, the instructors for these class ses-

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sions were experts in the matters of those degrees represented by those

pre se nt. M em bers of th e hig her de-grees, of course, were permitted to at-tend the sessions of the lower degrees,

but the mem bers of the lower deg rees

could not attend the higher sessions.W he n the members of the Sixth Degreewere in session one day, Frater Milesand several others who are expert in thework of contact treatment and the prin-ciples of the Sixth Degree gave demon-strations upon some of the members onthe platform, and many questions wereasked and answered an d special instruc-tion given. T he se morning sessions inthe Auditorium proved to be not only anew feature but a very important fea-ture of the Convention and will be con-

tinued in the future.One morning the members and dele-

gates visited the Rosicrucian PrintingPlant and saw The Rosicrucian Forum

be ing printed, and the co ve r of The Ros icrucian D ig est being printed in itsmany colors. They were shown thescore or more of methods of printing,the photographing, engraving and artdepartments, the bookbinding and book making department, and the many other features that make this printing plantone of the largest on the Pacific Coast,

which prepares over six million piecesof printed matter for the use of AMORC each year .

In the afternoons at two o’clock therewere special lectures in the Auditorium

by var ious mem bers of the O rder fromdistant cities who were authorities inspecial lines of study . T he se specialafternoon sessions were well attended and were considered highly profitablein bringing out special emphasis onmany of the subjects covered by thecourses of study in our monographs and

degrees. The entertainment committeealso presented various talented members during th ese sess ions . In ad di tio nthere were afternoon lectures in theMuseum by the Curator, Frater Brower.

At the same time, there were demon-strations being given in the ScienceBuilding, in the Color and Light Labor-atory where the Imperator had a number of gro up s dai ly witnes sing the m ar-velous effects of mystical pictures beingautomatically painted in color by the

sun’s rays through prisms and other re-flecting devices. O n no two occasionsthroughout the University weeks and the Convention week were the pictures

pain ted au to mat ical ly by th e su n pre-cisely the same. These pictures appear-

ed as beautiful landscapes or marineviews, strange oriental temples, beauti-ful clouds and skies, mystical symbols,visions of strange oriental characters,heads, faces, scrolls with lettering uponthem, and every conceivable kind of mystical or fantastic picture. The mem-

bers of each group were permitted toexamine the very simple arrange-ment whereby the sun’s rays were

bro ught down into th e dark en ed la bor-atory through a wooden channel wherethe reflected sunlight from mirrors on

the roof caused a square beam of sun-light to play upon a revolving prismwhich automatically threw the picturesupon a screen on the wall four feet wideand six feet long. W itho ut any humantouch or any mechanism, the vibrationsof the sun, the heat waves of the sun,and the gradual movement of the solar disk in the sky created the pictures. Re-luctantly each group had to make wayfor another group after fifteen or twen-ty minutes’ study of this fascinatingdemonstration.

This period was followed each day by oth er gro ups meetin g in th e Color and Light Laboratory, in charge of Dr.Collins, who demonstrated a largeBlack Light apparatus which enabled every individual to sit in Black Lightand have his or her aura made visibleand many other interesting things dem-onstrated. At the same time, in thescience amphitheater in the same build-ing, large groups of members were be-ing given demonstrations and explana-tions of the scientific features of our lectures and lessons by the Dean of theUniversity, Frater Bailey.

Likewise, in the Planetarium eachafternoon the members were givendemonstrations of the movement of thestars and planets in the heavens. O neof the interesting features of this Plane-tarium, not found in any other Plane-tarium in the world, is the creation atthe beginning of the demonstration of clouds of fog, showing how in the be-ginning of the creation of the universe

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moisture preceded the creation of every-thing else. In our Planetarium theseclouds or fogs are so real that they

block out the bea ut iful dome sky an d cause the entire room to become moist

and cool to such an extent that those pre se nt ca n feel the foglike moisture or dew on their hands and faces. As thoseclouds gradually mpve by, through themovement of winds beautifully demon-strated, the clear blue sky above and

be yo nd is re vealed and gra dually thestars make their appearance. A fter allof the stars of the six larger magnitudeappear, the heavens begin to revolveand the twentyfour hour movement of the stars is demonstrated in preciselyfour minutes. This is followed, then, bya movement of the sun across the heav-

ens, showing the effect of the red sun-rise and the red sunset and the brilli-ancy of midheaven. This is followed bythe movement of the moon across theheavens and the various other planets.Then, finally, the meteor that is nowshooting through the heavens wasdemonstrated in a startling manner.Our Planetarium is popularly knownhere in the W es t as the “Thea ter of the Sky," and with the demonstrationthat usually takes one hour, all of themysterious and inspiring and fascinat-

ing laws of astronomy are demonstrated in a manner that leaves the individualfeeling that he is out on the top of a hillon a beautiful clear night, and can seethe earth ’s horizon from Ea st to W es tand North to South with the brilliantstars overhead. O the r scientific mattersare demonstrated in the lobby of thePlanetarium, and a view of the moon ina very large size is shown daily, reveal-ing the moon’s mountains and lakes asthey actually appear in the heavens onthe day of the visit.

Each evening sessions began at seveno’clock after many other smaller meet-ings were held in various parts of thePark, and each evening session wasfilled with many special features. D ur-ing these sessions various officers of theorganization — including the Imperator,the Supreme Secretary, the Grand Treasurer, the department heads and those active in the Junior Order and theSpa nish American Section <— ma de longand interesting addresses dealing with

a thorough analysis of subjects covered by ou r inst ruct ions and mon ograph s.

Among the interesting events of Tuesday evening was the broadcasting,over a Pacific Coast hookup, of part of

one of the Convention sessions, duringwhich the Supreme Secretary inter-viewed in front of the microphone anumber of the foreign delegates such asFrater Robert Sharp, who came as anofficial delegate from the Rosicruciandivision located in and around Johan-nesburg, South Africa, and Frater Percy Piggott, a delegate from Hull,England, and Soror Ethel Rosenthal, adelegate from Lisbon, Portugal, and Colonel G. A. Phillips, a longtime resi-dent of India in the British Service who

came down from Victoria, BritishColumbia, as one of the number of dele-gates representing the Canadian juris-diction. T he remarks of these foreignmembers were very interesting indeed,and particularly those of Colonel Phil-lips who compared the higher value and

pract icab ility of the W este rn W orld mysticism, as found in the Rosicrucianteachings, with the purely estheticteachings of India.

On Wednesday evening, precedingthe evening session, there was a musicaldemonstration of the strange instrumentcalled the Theremin. This demonstra-tion was conducted by Soror Aszmanof St. Louis. H er grace, poise and m ar-velous musical ability gave us a won-derful treat. Th e last number, our themesong, “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life” wassung by Frater Brower who was thechanter and vowel sound demonstrator on the Courier Car last year, and anobbligato to his singing was played bySoror Aszman. Th e demonstration wasaccompanied by Soror Cowger, playingon the Hamm ond Organ. This feature

of the program made a perfect demon-stration of music, produced synthetical-ly by electrical vibrations or by electri-cal equipment, since the Theremin and the Hammond Organ are wholly elec-trical in nature and their tones are the pu re st th at can be produced .

Then, after the usual lectures and ad-dresses in the Auditorium, the Conven-tion Pageant was held on the grounds.These Pageants are usually arranged

by F rate r Chester Lafferty , and this

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year he was assisted in the preparationof the dialogues and descriptive matter

by our ne w Editor, Soror O 'N eil l, and the dramatic readings were by Soror Gluth who performed so excellently inthe Pageant of 1936. This year the

Pa gea nt consisted of a series of tableaux pre se nted on a la rg e st age bu ilt on thelawns of the Park , and beautifully light-ed, depicting various events in the his-tory of mystical and secret brotherhoodsand the lives of the great mystical

ph ilosophe rs, includ ing the life of Amenhotep, the activities of the Master Jesus, Benjamin Franklin, FrancisBacon, and several others. In eachtableau the individuals were dressed in the precise type of clothing worn atthe time, with interior or exterior set-tings that were appropriate. Specialmusic accompanied the tableaux, and the audience said it was the finest his-torical and instructive, as well as dra-matic presentation that they had ever witnessed out of doors.

On Thursday evening, in accordancewith our usual custom, a special honor-ary initiation was held in the SupremeTemple whereby all those who made asmall donation to the Temple Fund for the maintenance of the fixtures and equipment of the sacred Temple at

Rosicrucian Park were given an honor-ary initiation with the ancient Egyptianritual conducted by a full staff of of-ficers in Eg yptia n costume. The re wassuch a large number of applicants for this honorary initiation this year thatthe initiation had to be conducted intwo sections. A t the conclusion of thelast section, at approximately 9:30 inthe evening, all of those who were ab-sent from the Auditorium returned toit in time to listen to the conclusion of an enlightening address that was beinggiven, and after a brief recess, the Im-

pera to r op ened the Conve nt ion sessionagain for his usual mystical ceremony.This is one of the outstanding events of each Convention, and for two hours theImperator in a sacred ceremony, and with the utmost reverence and dignity

prev ai ling th ro ughout the Aud ito rium ,demonstrated the outstanding mystical

pr inciples of ou r teachings.

On this occasion he added severalnew features, the first being a demon-

stration of the effects of music and thecontrol of these effects. Sitting at aGrand Piano on the Auditorium plat-form, he illustrated the fundamentals of music and then demonstrated the effectof each musical note or combination of

notes in producing physical conditionsin various parts of the body, and thendemonstrated how the rates of vibra-tions of these musical notes could becontrolled in a mystical mann er. Th isfeature had never been demonstrated inany of our classes or Te mp le ceremonies

befo re , and it was a won der fu l thing tosee how the vibrations and the beats of each note played on the piano could bemade more rapid or slower in their movement and produce different effects.

This was followed by demonstrations

of the principles of levitation, projec-tion, absent contact, extension of con-sciousness, absent treatment, and soforth. Th en , with the lights lowered,the Imperator demonstrated how one’saura can be extended or caused to riseor float, and he also demonstrated theformation of a cloud which would makeindividuals invisible or parts of himself or of others invisible, such as makingthe arms or head or half of the body be-come totally invisible, without movingfrom his place in the center of the

platfo rm .Then the usual astonishing demon-

stration of mental and physical alchemywas given by the Imperator. This is theeighth occasion of this demonstration atRosicrucian Park, and the results have

been un iformly the same. Every pre -caution and every test and everymethod of safeguarding the demonstra-tion from any form of trickery, fraud,interference or collusion is used by themembers assembled in the Auditorium.Little children are called upon to make

a selection of certain individuals, and to pick ou t one individual who is to pro -vide the assembly with any letter or piece of wri ting th at he may have in his pocket or am ong his possessions. This piece of wri ting or w ri tten matter isthen passed around among a number of individuals seated near the personselected, and they are instructed toscrutinize it carefully, and examine thewritten signature on the letter or pieceof paper th at is not of recent date. T he

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color of the ink as well as the style of handwriting is carefully examined.Then this piece of written matter is held high in the air by the person selected

by the ch ildren , and while it is sti ll he ld

aloft and in sight of everyone, the Im perato r proc eeds to use the alchem icallaws to cause the handw riting to changein its characteristic style, and the color of the ink to change. A fter approxim ate-ly forty seconds, the paper is opened and examined quickly by all of thosewho are near the one selected, or byany others who are skeptical about thematter, and it is always found that thestyle of the signature has been changed,and the color of the ink changed, and theink of the signature still wet from the

change that has taken place. Becausethe ink dries rapidly, the examinationhas to be made hurriedly, but after thedemonstration is over and the piece of written matter is passed around for ex-amination among all who care to see it,and even twenty or thirty minutes later,the ink is still moist on the paper in

parts.

On some occasions a complicated system of drawing numbers has beenused whereby one number representsthe row of seats, another represents the

number of individuals on one row of seats, and another number represents a part ic ula r individual in th at group whois called upon, then, to select certainother individuals who in turn select an-other individual who is to provide a

piece of writing and hold it th ro ughoutthe demonstration. The Imperator usu-ally asks the assembly to invent or de-vise its own means or methods of select-ing the individual to hold the paper or to provide the piece of written matter and to select those who are to examineit during the demonstration, althoughall may see it after the demonstration iscompleted. O n no occasion has thedemonstration failed, and it is consid-ered one of the most convincing as wellas the most dramatic and fascinat-ing demonstrations of many of our metaphysical and mystical laws and teachings.

Another unusual incident of the Con-vention was an afternoon period de-voted to the activities of the AM O R CCamera Expedition experts. Th ey erect-

ed on the lawns a complete professionalmoving picture and sound recordingoutfit and brought before the recordingmicrophone and camera foreign and American delegates and members and

interviewed them, while every motion of their actions and every word they spokewere recorded on professional film toshow at some future Convention and toremain as a permanent record in our archives. Many hundreds of feet of colored moving pictures were takenthroughout the Convention week to add to the records, and on Friday afternoonat one o’clock the usual Convention

photo gra ph was take n, which included all of the hundreds of delegates and members gathered around the Charles

Dana Dean Memorial Fountain and onthe steps of the Science Building. Itturned out to be the largest and finest

photo gra ph ever taken of th e Con ven-tion assembly, approximately fortyseven inches by eight inches. The pic tu re was on displa y fo r all to see thefollowing morning and at the Banquet.

Frid ay evening’s session opened withthe christening of the Imperator’sgrandson, James Harvey Whitcomb,followed by the induction of fiveColombes and one ColombeinWaiting.

The Imperator, assisted by lodge of-ficers in ritualistic robes, co nducted bothimpressive ceremonies.

This being the last night of the ses-sions in the Main Auditorium, the va-rious committees made their reportsafter four days of continuous activity.The Grievance Committee chairman reported th at no gr ieva nce had been pre-sented to them that they were not ableto adjust immediately, without evenconsultation with any of the Supremeofficers. Their only recommendation

was that hereafter the Grievance Com-mittee be named the Adjustment Com-mittee, inasmuch as nearly all of thegrievances were minor things thatsimply required adjustme nt. T he y re-

ported th at no t a sing le member, de le-gate or representative, Commissioner,Grand Councillor, or InspectorGeneralof any of the districts in North and South America present at the Conven-tion, or who had written to the Con-vention, had made a complaint pertain-ing to the general activities of the O rde r

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or any of its administrative affairs, or reflecting upon the integrity, sincerityand loyality of the officers and workersin the organization.

Then the report of the Administra-

tion Com mittee was read. It was a longreport that had been duly signed byevery one of the members of the com-mittee and attested to before a NotaryPublic. It stated that they had examined individually and collectively all of theancient documents, charters, records,and historical papers of the org anizationand had found the AMORC of Northand South America to have every con-ceivable and possible form of authen-ticity that was indisputable, includingdocuments from foreign jurisdictions,authenticated by the police departmentsof different cities in which they weresigned, and authenticated by the na-tional government of the foreign coun-tries, and finally authenticated by theAmerican ambassadors or consuls inthat country, with all of their seals and signatures attached. The committee alsoreported it had gone over all of the of-ficial records arid investigated the finan-cial integrity and soundness of the or-ganization, and the important matter of ownership and control of the assets of the organization. Th ey reported most

positively , as hav e all of the sim ilar ad -ministration committees at previousConventions, that not one of the Su-

prem e officers, from the Im pera to r do wnto the Grand Treasurer or Grand Sec-retary, nor any of their wives, nor anymember, delegate or officer in the or-ganization, had any personal control of the funds or assets of the organization,and that every physical, material and financial asset including the property atRosicrucian Park, all its buildings,

book s, and ev ery th ing per ta in ing to the

Order was held in the name of theOrder only, and that this was arranged in a legal form that had been approved

by the U nited S ta te s Fed era l Govern -ment through its departments of incomeand departments of justice; that no Su-

prem e officers or any of th ei r relativesor any member or representative of theOrder could draw upon the funds for his or her own personal use indiscrim-inately or otherwise, nor could he giveaway any of the funds or property of

the organization, nor did any profit fromthe income of the organization pass inthe form of dividends or shares to anyof the officers, or to any members or other persons outside or inside of theorganization, as individuals.

The Administration Committee also,in auditing the books covering the en-tire history of the organization, claimed that it found unmistakable evidence of a legal and satisfactory nature to showthat the Imperator had made, in the pastyears, many large donations, as well asloans to the organization's funds, and that none of these had been repaid, and that he had not made any applicationfor repayment of any of them. Thespecial auditor of the AdministrationCommittee voluntarily made the state-ment from the Auditorium platform thatthe Imperator, no matter how long hemight live, could not withdraw from theorganization anywh ere near the amountof money he had given or loaned to it,and that there was no indication thathe had ever attempted to do so. T hecommittee also found that the organiza-tion was free of any other indebtednessthan its current bills, that there were nomortgages or liens against any of the

pro perty or holding s, and th at even dur-ing the years of the financial depression

the Board of Directors had kept the or-ganization free of any losses or any re-flections upon the financial integrity and soundness of the organization.

The delegates and members applaud-ed these statements, realizing that theyonce more proved that any argumentsto the contrary on the part of criticsoutside of the organization were based upon a lack of understanding of thetrue nature of the organization’s meth-ods of operating. Several business menon the committee reported that in the

methods used in every department atHeadquarters they found in the busi-ness end and administration end of A M O R C n oth in g b ut th e m oststrict, severe and modern, businesslikemethods.

Another section of the committee had investigated the manner in which themail is received, the letters sorted daily,read, and passed to various departmentswhere special dictators anwer them, and competent stenographers and secretaries

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transcribe the answers and see that theyare sent as promptly as possible. Th eywere especially interested in the manner in which all incoming mail is opened bya staff of bonded employees workingunder a chief bookkeeper and auditor,and all money removed in a systematicmanner, with a triple form of account-ing, and these various sections of thefinancial department have to balancetheir records daily. They examined the

ba nk books and all oth er ac coun ting books an d prove d to them selves , thecommittee said, that it was impossiblefor any of the officers of the organiza-tion to have any control over the incom-ing funds or the recording of them or distribution of them.

Ano ther section of the A dministrationCommittee investigated the process of pr ep ar in g the lectures . T hey foun d th at beginn ing with the Resea rch Counciland the Editorial Council composed of special authorities in all parts of thecountry, who make weekly and monthlyrecommendations and amendments tothe monographs in the form of modernscientific findings and references, the pre para tion then passes into the Edi-torial Department where the mono-graphs are revised, augmented and im-

prov ed from month to month. A fter be-

ing carefully reedited and prepared again in typewritten form they arefinally put into monograph form, care-fully graded for individual degrees and individual members. T hey investigated the mailing of the monographs in theMailing Department, and noticed howeach monograph goes through a number of different processes and forms of

pre pa ra tion before it reac he s the in-dividual member. This was the first timeany committee had analyzed the in-volved and elaborate process to such an

extent, and after the report had beenread, many members on Saturdaychecked up on this elaborate process be-cause it astonished them. T he committeefurther stated that they did not find stacks of monographs on hand that had

been pre pare d years ago, and whichwere sent to all members alike, but theyfound that the monographs were beingconstantly prepared, reedited and re-written, and that only a small quantitywas kept on hand, just sufficient to

fill the requirements of the nextmonth. The committee also investigated the one outstanding thing which hasalways elicited the admiration of mem-

bers; th at is, the mailing of monog raph s,whereby many thousands receive their monographs weekly on the same day,and usually without the loss of a singlemonograph in many years. They found the equivalent of a regular post officein Rosicrucian Park, where all of themail is not only put into envelopes butrun through a special meter machine,tied, and put into large mail sacks, justas is done in a regular post office. Theysaid it was the most elaborate method of preparation for prompt delivery and correct delivery of mail that they had ever seen.

The committee found that over fiftythousand dollars is spent annually for

po stag e alone at A M O R C H eadquar-ters, and that the express shipmentsrepresent the largest amount of express

bus iness in Central Cal iforn ia . Theywere particularly interested in the tele-graph office located in the Administra-tion Building whereby telegrams whichare sent through the Postal Telegraphcome in on the ticker tape through adirect line, thereby saving an hour or more in the delivery of quick telegrams.

They found every possible method of communication being used, includingradio.

After the long report had been read,the Imperator called for the Chairmanof the Administration Committee tocome up on the platform and answer questions for him. He particularly asked the Chairman whether he had ever served on any committee before, had ever been at any Convention before,and whether he was friendly with anyof the officers or members at Head-

quarters, and whether he had made avery careful and thorough search, alongwith his associates on the committee,and whether there was any question inhis mind or in theirs regarding any

poin t of the ad minis trat ion of the or-ganization. To all of these questions theChairman gave an emphatic, positiveanswer that everything was perfectlysatisfactory and far beyond the com-mittee's previous conception of what agood business system should be like.

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All of the committees' reports weresigned by the members of each commit-tee, and then sworn to before a Notary,read to the Convention, left open for discussion, if any, and finally voted upon and approved unanimously by all

of the delegates and members present.During the latter part of this session

the Imperator asked for statistics of various kinds. Again it was shown thatapproximately a third of the persons

pr ese nt ad mit ted th at where as they ha d been de linq ue nt in re adin g th e Bible or had not read it often before joining theOrder, they now found it an excellent

book to re ad freq ue ntly. O ver fifty per cent of the members voted that previousto joining the Order, they had not at-tended their own churches or churches

of their chosen religions with regular-ity, but since joining the Order theyhad done so. Oth ers voted tha t theywere actively interested in churches of various denominations. The statisticsregarding the various religious repre-sentations showed members and officersof all of the different religions. Statisticsregarding ages of the individuals pres-ent at the Convention showed thatthere were those from sixty to eightyfiveyears of age down to sixteen, as regu-lar members. It was also found that a

number of members had been in theOrder for more than twenty years and that Soror H. Spencer Lewis and Frater Thor Kiimalehto had been in the Order for over twentyone years, being theoldest in point of length of membership.Quite a few had been in the Order over twelve years, and a majority had beenin the Order for over eight or nineyears. T he youngest members presentwere two or three who had joined a dayor two before the opening of theConvention.

A review of the history of the organ-ization revealed that at the time of thefirst Convention held in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, in 1917, there were nineLodges in existence, including the onein Pittsburgh, and that representativesfrom all of them had been present at the1917 Convention and that it was on thisoccasion that the Master of the BostonLodge was initiated and proceeded thereafter to form a Lodge in Boston,which became either the ninth or tenthLodge of the Order.

A report of the SpanishAmericanSection showed that it was rapidly in-creasing in membership now that thework in all forms, including the mono-graphs, has been duplicated in theSpanish language. The members and

delegates were unanimous in voting,also, that what the AdministrationCommittee had found was true: T ha tthe dues of $2.00 a month were verysmall compared to the value received byeach student, and the AdministrationComm ittee showed by its report that theamount of profit from the $2.00 paid byeach member was very small indeed,and that any idea of reducing the dueswas tho roughly out of the question. Infact, the entire Convention was readyto object to any proposal that the dues

be re du ced. This was made plain bythe applause which greeted the reportof the committee.

On Saturday, throughout the day,various committees working for the nextyear held their meetings, including thenewly elected Grand Councillors whohad been elected by nomination and vote on the part of the delegates and members in assembly. A committee wasappointed by the Convention to takecare of the plans for the next year’sConvention, to secure nominations for

a Convention Chairman, and to makenominations for Grand Councillors for the following year.

At the close of this busy day—withall of its committee meetings and per-sonal interviews — there came the oc-casion for the ann ual Banqu et. Aga inthe City of San Jose offered to AMORCthe free use of its large MunicipalAuditorium, where a wonderful Ban-quet was served by one of the largehotels. N o charge is ever made to themembers or delegates attending the

Convention for this Banquet, and thisyear several prizes were given to thosewho were fortunate in having their registration numbers drawn from a box

by a little girl.

Erwin Winterhalder, the famoussculptor, had carved out of three largecakes of ice some beautiful symbolicstatuary—A rosy cross flanked by twosphinxes—which stood on a large tablethroughout the Banquet, and there weresongs by the RoseCroix University

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1

students, as well as various speeches and pre se ntations th ro ughout the th reeh our pe riod of the Banquet.

One surprise came when the veteranartist, Frater Anderson, presented tothe Imperator a large portrait of the Im-

pera to r done in wool. It w as a m ag-nificent piece of work and greatlyadmired by all who attended theConvention.

In accepting the gift the Imperator said that during the early part of theConvention he had accidentally discov-ered one of the delegates making pro-lific pencil sketches around RosicrucianPark, and in looking at a few of thesewonderfully executed caricatures of

members and delegates he noticed thatthe signature attached to the sketch wasV E T A nderson, the famous newspaper cartoonist and caricaturist. Th e Im- pera to r had be en a coworker in thenewspaper art field with Andersonthirty or more years ago, and had notheard from him in many years and wassurprised to discover that he was amember of the Orde r. But this gift wasa still greater surprise.

Then at ten o’clock the KepherRaClub, composed of the young lady em-

ployees a t H eadquarters , app ro xim atelysixty in number, conducted a dance inthe Municipal Auditorium and all of themembers and delegates who could do soenjoyed this feature until the midnighthour, or early in the morning.

The University students had enter-tained themselves on the Saturday pre-ceding the Convention by hiring a largetranscontinental bus and taking an all-day ride to Carmel, Del Monte, and thevarious beach resorts of the CarmelPeninsula, including a visit to the old

ruins of the first Rosicrucian Temple bu ilt in the Carmel V alley in the ea rly part of the Sev en teenth Centu ry . Somany things occurred on that trip thatare solely of interest to the Universitystudents that it would not be of interestto all of our members to detail themhere but, according to the little maga-zine published each year by the alumniassociation of the University, theseUniversity students had so many inter-esting experiences throughout their threeweeks' term of daily studies from

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early in the morning until late in theevening, that they voted it the most in-teresting and beneficial period of their lives.

Then, on the last Saturday of theConvention, a hundred or more of thedelegates and members took a specialtrip in a privately chartered bus to SanFrancisco and across the two new

br idges , an d around the city its elf,visiting many of the important historicaland picturesque sites.

The newspapers of San Jose vied with each other in publishing daily, bothmorning and evening, various snap-shots of the delegates and members do-ing many interesting things around the

bu ild ings and grounds of RosicrucianPark, and in giving the details of eachday’s program and a hearty broadcastof their official welcome to the Conven-tion. Even editorials were published,

praising the organ izat ion and its ac tiv i-ties and speaking of the excellency of this large Convention.

Another pleasing incident was theafternoon tea attended by those mem-

be rs at the Con ve ntion who had beenon the recent Egyptian Tour, to whichwere invited those who had been on the

similar AMORC Tour to Egypt in1929. The Im perator and his wife and other officers at Headquarters who wereon the Tour were evidently delighted inmeeting again with those who had ac-companied them on the Tour; and throughout the week there were manyhumorous and seemingly significant ref-erences to things that occurred on theEgyptian Tour and those present whohad been on the Tour apparently en-

joyed these re fe rences while so man yof us were left in the dark regarding thereal meaning of the statements made.

One of the most common expressionsthroughout the week, on the part of those who had visited Rosicrucian Park for the first time, was that “none of the

pic tu re s or desc riptions of Ros icrucianPark and its buildings and activities do

ju stice to the size of the Park , the re alnumber of many buildings, and the

beauty of th ei r ar chitectu re and co lor.”W h at seemed to impress the newvisitors more than anything else, be-sides the beauty of the buildings and



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the spaciousness of the grounds, werethe many different types and forms of flowers and shrubbery, representing the

papyru s th at grows in Egypt, vines and trees that grow in Palestine, and Japan,Australia, and even the unique type of

tree that grows in the snow at the topof M ount Shasta. Flowers that have

been deve loped from seed s sent fromvarious parts of the world made aunique showing, and once again hun-dreds of the delegates took away withthem slips and parts of plants in an at-tempt to have them grow in their ownyards and homes.

The weather again was very pleasantand many decided to remain in thisvalley permanently or come back againvery shortly to establish a home here.

The enlarged and specially designed form of the Hammond Organ used atthe Convention attracted attention con-tinuously, and during the afternoonswhen there were impromptu concertsconducted in the Auditorium betweensessions, many musicians attending theConvention gave excellent perform-ances, but all were impressed with theextreme purity and beauty of the tonesof this unique Hammond Organ.

The highdomed ceiling of the Audi-torium in the Park is covered with manyforeign flags representing practically

every large country in the world. Theseflags have been sent to the Auditorium

by the off icers of the va rious foreign jurisd iction s, and dem onst ra te the in ter-national nature of the O rder throughoutthe world. But at this Convention theState of Washington, through the

bra nch of the O rd er in Sea ttle , pre se nt-ed to the Auditorium the first StateFlag. This was presented through thespecial representative and delegate,Soror Mary Burke, who made an ap-

pro priate speech. It is hoped th at all of

our other branches and Lodges and Chapters throughout the country willfollow suit and communicate with usabout sending a State Flag for this dis-

play . But we hope th at no C hapte r or Lodge will do this without communi-cating with the Imperator’s Secretary

first, so that there will not be duplica-tions of flags.

This Convention was marked in avery definite way by the complete ab-sence of any disturbing or unpleasantdiscussions because of the very notice-

able absence of any legal problems or critical matters that have occupied theattention of the delegates and membersat past Conventions. From the veryopening session to the last minute of theBanquet and Dance, there was not anunpleasant note or word in any of theofficial sessions, in any of the committeemeetings, or in any of the lectures and demonstrations in the various buildings.Everyone on the grounds and around the Park and in the buildings and in theneighborhood restaurants and storeswas continuously smiling and happyand commenting upon the fact that theRosicrucian Conventions are always themost cheerful and inspiring of anymeetings held by such organizations asours.

And now we are already making plans for the 1938 Conv en tion, takinginto consideration the many suggestionsthat were made for little improvementsand little addition s. It wo uld be wellindeed for those of our members whowant to spend a pleasant vacation in amost economical manner to keep in

mind the possibility of the Universitycourses for three weeks preceding theConvention, and then the week of theConvention itself. M any sent their re-grets that they were unable to attend either the University or the Conventionthis summer because they waited untilthe last minute to try to arrange for their absences from business or fromhome or from professional duties, and at the last month found that they had waited too long. Members of all degreesand in any branch of the study, who are

in good standing in the Order, are en-titled to attend the Convention, and every branch, every Chapter, and everyLodge of the organization is entitled tosend one or two official delegates to theConvention. So make you r plans nowfor next summer’s vacation.

V V V

R E A D T H E R O S I C R U C I A N F O R U M •

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I MOHAMMED ]► 4

► Each mo nth we wil l presen t excerpts f rom the w ri t ings of famous th inkers and teachers 4

► of the pas t . These wil l g ive our readers an opportuni ty of knowing the ir l ives throu gh the 4► presenta t ion of those wri t ing s which typify the ir thoughts . Occasional ly such w ri t ings wil l 4 r be presented through the t rans la t ion or in terpre ta t ion of o ther eminent authors of the pas t . 4

This month we present the grea t teacher Mohammed who gave the Qur 'an (Koran) to the 4world and founded a fa i th which, today, has many more fol lowers than Chris t iani ty . 4

Mohamm ed was bo rn at Mecca in 570 A. D. In his twen tyfifth yea r he became man ager 4of the es ta te of the widow Kadi jah and the ir ensuing marr iage was a long and happy one . 4

r In the peaceful yea rs which passed be tween his you th and his I l luminat ion—at the age of 4f for ty—he re t i red yearly for a per iod of sol i tude and s ilence and prepared himself throu gh 4T me di t a tion a nd fa s ting fo r the coming o f c os mic c onsc iousne ss . 4T K a d i j a h w as th e fi rs t t o b el ie ve in th e re v el at io n s M o ha m m ed re ce iv ed , a n d , a t fl r3 t, y only her fa i th s tood be tween him and the mockery and disbe l ie f which are the port ion of y a l l prophets . I t i s re la ted tha t , a f te r three unsuccess ful years , he invi ted for ty of h is chief 1y kind red to a banquet, told them of his mission and asked who would second him. Only hi3 Jy s ixteen yea r o ld cous in Ali responded. The m agni tude of the enterp rise to be unde rtaken I y by an old man and a youth appeared r id iculous to the res t and the meet ing dissolved in I y laughter . Fo r th i r teen years he t rave led, preaching the reve la t ions which were vouchsafed 4

y to h im from t ime to t ime (and ga thered in the Ko ran) . Pursu ed by enemies , threa tened j► with death, homeless and scorned he finally arrived a t Medinah and ther e gained some 4

y adh eren ts. He was now fiftythree, agin g and desolate—except for the comfort from within 4

► —and he turn ed to defend ing his beliefs with the sword, backed by an increa sing num ber 4

► of converts, so tha t a f te r ten years of grue l ing ac t iv i ty the fa i th was rapidly spreading. 4

► The tenet3 of the Kora n bette red the social, as well as the spiritua l and religious, con 4► ditions of the time and served to stimu late and enlighten the Arabian world so that, in the j► following centuries, i t became a leader in civilization. Mystical s tud en ts find the life of 4► Mohammed an impress ive i l lus t ra t ion of cosmic a t tunem ent . Here was an unschooled man, 4► far from the cen ters of civilized life, who yet laid the foun dations of a social and spiritu al 4£ regime des tined to influence mil l ions of persons through out the centuries and up to the 4r present mom ent! 4

In the essay. “Mohammed and Moham medanism’’ Carlyle g ives a symp athe t ic p ic ture 4of the prophe t and his mission. " . . . . A spontaneo us, passion ate, yet ju st, tru em ean ing 4

I man! Ful l of wi ld facul ty , fi re and l ight ; of wi ld wo rth , a ll uncul tured; working outh is 4f l if e ta s k in the de p ths o f t he De s e r t t he re . ” . . . 4

We are present ing three excerpts f rom the t rans la t ion of E. H. Pa lmer. The f i rst , f rom 4v the Chapter of the Table , i l lus t ra tes h is in te res t in the M as ter Jesus whom he m ent ions so 4 y frequent ly . The second, f rom the Ch apter of the Nigh t , should be compared with the “comy m andm ents” in the Bible. The th i rd , the Chapter of the Fo lding Up, presents a passage

y of poetic beau ty. J ------------

P A G ES from the

H E N G o d s a id ,O Jesus, son of

M ary ! remember m y f a v o u r s t o -wards thee and to-wards thy mother,when I aided theew i t h t h e H o l yGhost , t i l l thoudidst spea k to menin the cradle and wh e n g r o wn u p .An d when I taughtthee the Book and

wisdom and the law and the gospel;

when thou didst create of clay, as itwere, the likeness of a bird, by my

po wer , an d didst blow thereo n, it be-came a bird; and thou didst heal the blin d from birth , an d the leprous by my perm ission ; an d when thou did st br ingforth the dead by my permission; and when I did ward off the children of Israel from thee, when thou didst cometo them with manifest signs, and thosewho misbelieved amongst them said,“This is naught but obvious magic.” . ..

An d wh en God said, ‘‘O Jesus, son of Mary! is it thou who didst say to men,

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take me and my mother for two gods, beside G od?’ He sa id, 'I ce lebrate T h y praise! w hat ails me th at I sh ou ld sa ywhat I have no right to? If I had said it,Thou wouldst have known it; Thouknowest what is in my soul, but I know

not w hat is in T h y soul; verily, Th ou artone who knoweth the unseen. I never told them save what Thou didst bid me, — “W orsh ip G od, my Lord and your Lord,” and I was a witness againstthem so long as I was amongst them;

but when Thou did st take me aw ay tothyself Th ou wert the watcher over them,for Th ou a rt witness over all. If Th oushouldst punish them, verily, they areThy servants; if Thou shouldst forgivethem, verily, Thou art the mighty and the wise.’ Go d said, ’Th is is the daywhen their confession shall profit theconfessors, for them are gardens be-neath which rivers flow, to dwell thereinfor ever and for aye.’

God is well pleased with them, and they well pleased with Him; that is themighty happiness.

God’s is the kingdom of the heavens,and the earth, and all that is therein,and He is mighty over all.

II.

Put not with God other gods, or thou wilt sit despised and forsaken.

Thy Lord has decreed that ye shallnot serve other than Him; and kindnessto one’s parents, w hether one or bo th of them reach old age with thee; and sayno t to them, Fie!’ an d do not grumbleat them, but speak to them a generousspeech. And lower to them the wing of humility out of compassion, and say, 'OLord! have compassion on them as they

bro ught me up whe n I was lit tle !’ Your Lord knows best what is in your soulsif ye be righteous, and, verily. He is

forgiving unto those who come back pen iten t.

And give thy kinsman his due and the poor and the son of the road; and waste not wastefully, for the wastefulwere ever the devil’s brothers; and thedevil is ever ungrateful to his Lord.

But if thou dost turn away from themto seek after mercy from thy Lord,which thou hopest for, then speak tothem an easy speech.

Make not thy hand fettered to thyneck, nor yet spread it out quite open,lest thou shouldst have to sit down

blam ed and st ra itened in means. Ver ily,thy Lord spreads out provisions towhomsoever He will or He doles it out.

Verily, He is ever well aware of and sees His servants.

And slay not your children for fear of poverty; we will provide for them;

beware! for to slay them is ever a greatsin!

And draw not near to fornication;verily, it is ever an abomination, and evil is the way thereof.

And slay not the soul that God hasforbidden you, except for just cause;for he who is slain unjustly we havegiven his next of kin authority; yet lethim not exceed in slaying; verily, he isever helped.

And draw not near to the wealth of the orphan, save to improve it, until hereaches the age of puberty, and fulfilyour compacts; verily, a compact is ever enquired of.

And give full measure when ye mea-sure out, and weigh with a right bal-ance; tha t is bette r and a fairer determination.

And do not pursue that of whichthou hast no knowledge; verily, thehearing, the sight, and the heart, all of

these shall be enquired of.And walk not on the earth proudly;

verily, thou canst not cleave the earth,and thou shalt not reach the mountainsin height.

III.

In the name of the merciful and com- pas sionate God .W he n the sun is folded up,And when the stars do fall.And when the mountains are moved,And when the shecamels ten months’

gone with young shall be neglected,And when the beasts shall be crowded together,

And when the seas shall surge up,And when souls shall be paired with

bodies ,And when the child who was buried

alive shall be asked for what sin shewas slain,

An d w hen the pages shall be spread out,And when the heaven shall be flayed,

(Concluded on Page 307)

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T h e I ncrem en t o f L i f e

SIDELIGHTS ON THE ART OF WEIGHING ADVICE

By L e R o y E. S c o t t

OMEBODY is a l-w a y s t r y i n g t ohave u s chang eour mode of liv-ing . O ne w ou ld have us changedoctor s ; ano ther w o u l d h a v e u schange our under-wear. Some shaketheir heads at our toothpaste; otherssay we’re smokingthe wrong cigar-

ettes. Some prescribe larger familieswhile more recommend a cruise in theSouth Seas — however impossible thelatter may often be.

W he the r such actions are motivated by an altru is tic complex or w heth er thecomplex is entwined about a weather-

beaten dollar sign th ere is li ttle diffe r-ence in the approach. The thing is that a

nice percentage of our people think there is something haywire with the restof the world and they feel it their car-dinal heritage to save those so afflicted.And the saving may be anything fromthree cents on a bunch of bananas tothe salvation of our spongy souls.

Personally however, I fear I havelearne d to go slowly in these things. Itis no longer easy for me to suggest thata man lay off eating green peas or quitstaying out nights. A man followed some such suggestion of mine once and

still he went wrong. Soon afterwa rds itdawned on me that he might have done

better under his ow n power. If one has persuaded anoth er to reform is he notthereafter somewhat responsible for thenew member of his faith? A nd as thedays go on and no improvement is seentha t responsibility often becomes terrific!

Certainly there is no knowing likethe knowing of wh at one wants. And those who have come to know whatthey w ant will take nothing less. It isthis power of observation and little elsethat makes all the difference there is tomake. T he unce rtainty of not knowingwhat is good for us is possibly one of the very few certain things about life.If a man be drunk, whether with liquor,selfpity, egotism or religion it mattersnot. He is still drunk. And he has

pro bably failed to real ize th at thosethings which go to make up life can be,and should be, tested before we adopt

them. Or, on the other hand, he mayat the time be in the process of testingthese things and it might be well of usto hold our judgment in abeyance.

I had always taken life hitormissuntil the viewpoint of seriously testinglife’s ingredients crept upon me — thatis, testing them before I adopted themas permanent baggage. It was a bit of a shock to realize that for years I could have been analyzing all things as totheir relative efficiency. An d, in a uni-verse where there is such great order, is

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it unreasonable to believe that the solu-tion to all things is available if one will but douse the panic and re so rt to com-mon sense? Life is a continual processof sorting and choosing. O ur everymovement and thought listens first for a

reason. Finding no reason it actsmechanically. This in spite of the factthat life is often referred to as a processof break ing down. But if tha t be true,that which is broken down finds the lifein the building anew.

The panic with which most of us at-tack life is as much of an anachronismas changing tires on 5th Avenue. M a-chines have replac ed labor. But com-mon sense has replaced but few of theher edi tary notions. In building a tree N atu re take s her time and whe n she is

through usually has something that willstand. W hen building a reputation mostof us grow too impatient to do a good job. A t va rious tim es in our lives weare proud of our choice. Sometimeshusb and , sometimes wife. Sometimesinvestment, sometimes vacation. Buthow often does that choice reflect therichness of analytical reasoning as torelative or intrinsic value?

Some day, some philosopher who isalso a mathematician will bring thevariables of life within the concepts of us all. He will proba bly group them

and show how much of each should goto make a desired effect. Just what a gasstation attendant or college professor should have for breakfast and just what pap ers he sh ou ld read.

W e read fiction to find life as wewould like it, when if we would sensiblyuse that which lies all about us we could probably make the life we desire. T heforce of this application would make for greater individualism. There would still

be the pattern s of life bu t th ey wou ld be bro ader an d more intricate.

Even as a mechanic knows nowwhich bolt to tighten and how muchgrease to put in the transmission, someday we may know how many childrento have and how to inspire them to eatspinach, to say nothing of how to pay

T h e the bills—th at will perh aps come later,i? In the meantime, the crippled and di^ J *11 • L L a j.n . seased will inherit wh at we cannot or

£ will not overcome.Sep tember Th e world today is pregn ant w ith1937 practition ers of every sort. Religious,

medical, social, governmental and abom-inable. O f this vast number only a fewstand on a firm foundation of reasoning.Most belong to a calamity school in adistrict where the taxes are 95% de-linquent. Selfish interests hide under

bouyant slog ans. It is the crying need of many people that they find a way toknow what is best. Ye t although thatdecision must come from within it isonly when notions have been replaced with proven theories that we can hopefor general improvement. The notionthat a thing which is practical in thefinite may have no application in the ab-stract is wholly “notio n.” Tru e the animal without the power of reasonoften does better than the human who possesses it. But th at is no arg umentagainst reason.

Some there are who pity us for our conservatism while others predict our disaster at every turn. The governmentis not immune. It wants us to build homes but at the same time it also at-tempts to say how we shall earn themoney. The ice company has its invest-ment. But if it canno t sell ice it cann otrecommend electric refrigerators.

W e are walking down the street. If we cannot walk fast without hurryingwe are paying homage to some power—

visible or invisible. Ye t if we cannotwalk slowly without annoying our con-science we are little better off—'emer-gencies of life and death excepted.

The automobile dealer can show ushow we are better off to turn in our car each year and the cobbler says it paysto sole our old shoes. The correspond-ence schools advertise that midnight oil

pays gre at div iden ds but our he lpmatesays we need more sleep. Some advisemore sunshine. Oth ers hint we should we ar better clothes. A few say we ’re

fools to pay our bills.But nobody ever thinks of opening a

book on he avier mathematics to ba ck upthese consequence s of life. Still, hiddenaway in the pages of mathematics for the last 200 years or so, is a little trick which has served the engineer glorious-ly but which the economist has madelittle use of. It is grossly simple yet themere mention of its name—differential calculus—gives most people a synthetic

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headache. How shortsighted of us toassign this gift from Heaven—for suchit is—so wide a berth. An d if our greatmathematicians did not often wear suchheavy spectacles they might see within

the student that so essential spark of real life.

But this little trick of which I speak.It has to do merely with the theory thatany accomplishment is merely a sum-mation of many tiny accomplishments or

parts; that the value or effect of each separate part may be increased or de-creased at will but that when an in-crease in the value or effect of any sep-arate part no longer enhances the whole then such separate part is at its most efficient value. And, to arbitrarily in-crease the value or effect of any part when such increase does not increase the value or effect of the whole, creates an undue load upon the whole and of consequence reduces the value or effect of the whole. And, that the whole is at its peak when each of the several parts is at its peak for the given condition.

In every day life that means that a per son wears en ough clothes to keepcomfortably warm but not so many thatthey become a burd en to him. It means

that he eats enough food to satisfy thehunger of his body but not so much thathe will have indigestion. T hat he willdrive his car fast enough to make thetrip worth while but not so fast that hewill upset on some curve or intersection.That, being a man, he will know asmuch as he can about women, but notso much that he will no longer be ableto love his wife.

The mathematician calls these things“variables” and he deals in functionswhich follow an infinite number of paths

over a piece of crosssection paper. Th ediscovery came almost as if by accidentsimultaneously to Newton and Leibnitz,yet it was probably the result of greatthought. Luckily it came before the ma-chine age, not after. W itho ut it our machine age would likely have been anage of many monstrosities. T he well

balanced citizen may have no specificname for the variables of his own life but nev ertheless he will do we ll to varyeach part of his makeup so as to get

the most out of life.

Like the curves or graph on a pieceof plotting paper the lives of some people seem to come from the gre at un-known, above or below, and disappear likewise; while others seem to have

neither beginning nor ending, merelydo they go about in circles. The mysteryof these beginnings or endings, is as yetnot for us to understand . M erely is itthat as we pass through this period of transition, which is life, we can be of service, or we can be something else.

So it is that the beginning or endingof a curve as plotted by an engineer may not be ascertainable, regardless of how interesting or important it mayseem. W ha t he is interested in is whatthe curve does as it crosses his paper.

W h a t interests him is for w hat value of the variables which go to make up thatcurve does the curve reach high pointsor low points. He is interested becausewhen he know the values of the vari-ables for these points he can make useof the curve at its most valuable points.

W h at we as human beings should beinterested in is not so much our begin-ning or our ending, but what we makeof ourselves as we cross this thingcalled life. N ot tha t our beginning and ending—if we have either—are not of extreme importance but only that fewof us can spend our lives solely in con-templation of these two mysteries.

W h en a man knows, or can find, howmuch time he should spend on educa-tion, exercise, entertainment, clothes, re-flection, and social functions, not tomention a thou sand other things, he willhave learned what there is to knowabout life and can then take up its con-sequences—which, if it were not thatthere are countless millions of us in thesame boat, would drive us individuallyinsane. W e dislike being alone. Yet

be ing with others makes ou r st rugglethe more difficult.

Contem plate if you will Fig. 1. Th iscurve (AB) comes from the unknownon one end and goes to the unknown onthe other. It passes through “O ” (whichis comparable to our inception into thiswo rld) with the least possible resistanceand is gone. The variables which makeit up do nothing to make that curve in-dividual or significant except as the path

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Now look a t Fig. 2. H ere the curv e

(AB ) goes abou t in a circle. It makesno decisions of its own. T ru e it hassome use but it cannot get away fromitself.

But Fig. 3 is different. Here the curve(AB) has become independent for thatshort period (OCD) which is compar-able to our lives. T o find the poin t “C ”the mathematician merely finds for whatvalue of “X ” the curve not only nolonger goes upward but actually startsdow nw ard. “X ” is one of the variablesof the curve and he merely varies thatvariable until he gets no more out of hiscurve. To find point " C ” in our lives we merely test each load we are carry-ing [or its efficiency— we merely ascer-tain if each is paying us dividends. Butthese dividends need not necessarily behard cash. Th ey m ay be selfrespect

and peace of mind. Educ ation is one of life's variables but if we spend 80 yearswith our noses to the grindstone wemay go down but not in history.

If we could all approach life with this

theory in mind we should probably domuch better in most applications. O ur solutions obviously cannot have the ac-curacy of mathematics but if we con-tinually put our variables to this simpletest of efficiency we cannot help butshow improvement—if it be improve-ment we desire. O f course if our gamecalls for nullo and our goal on the curveof life is point “D” on the curve in Fig.3, then we must merely discard any in-gredient or activity which enhances our

pre st ige.

It often seems a shame that we take

the gift of life so carelessly. T he old idea that we profit by having some onedo our thinking for us leaves us prettyvulnerable after a few hands. Try itsometime. It is easier for us to diagnoseanother’s complaint than it is for us todiagnose our own. If we in our wisdomcan so readily prescribe for another why can we not use that knowledge togood effect upon ourselves?

And this is not in any way an im- pra ct icab le philoso phy. It is no mere

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hobby. And , on the other hand, itwould be sad if it were reducible tofinite figures for we then might be con-siderably more animal than human'—or in some cases the vegetable might

predominate.If we cared to analyze we might learntha t when a certain value of “X ” hastaken us to point “C ” on our curve of life, increasing tha t value of "X ” maysend us rapidly down the curve of lifetowards point “D .” And when "D ” isreached, further increases in “X ” maysend us even more rapidly to Heaven,which is somewhere beyond point “B.”Just where we do not know. Ironically,that seems to be one way of getting toHeaven. Some day we may have achance of trying it.

Take as a very elementary examplethat rugged pastime of dieting. Here wereduce the thing almost to a science.Th at is, if we are reducing. W e need only to look at the pointer on the scales.And depending on where we are on our curve of life we will be governed ac-cordingly. T he point “C ” is usuallywhe re we start the down grade. It mayalso be our point of highest efficiencyor success. O r it may mark only thespot where they begin to administer theadrenalin. In any event wh at we eat

has everything to do with what we doand wh at we become. N ot that there isone, and only one, significant gloryhallelujah set of victuals. But merelythat of all things which we must decideempirically, our choice and assimilationof foods heads the list.

The test therefore lies largely if notwho lly with ourselves. It has little to

do with whether we are rich or poor,though extremes of either are often in-imical to our wellbeing. Before we taketo heart any advice, written or spoken,costly or gratis, subsidized or competi-

tive, we should first compare its patternwith our own color scheme. If the two blend it is one th ing. If th ey contrast itmay be something else.

T he mathematician takes an arb itrarychange in the variable and over it he places the re su ltant ch ange in th e wholefunction. W he n the result of this is zerohe knows he has reached the point hedesires.

As individuals, we have the oppor-tunity of considering arbitrary changesin whatever goes to make up that some-thing we call ourselves. W he n more of a certain thing makes us no better off that is a good point to stop, for thatthing. For, a countless number of things, in their desperate struggle for existence, each day surround us and at-tempt to ente r our lives. If we allowed them all to enter we would be bogged down before we had time to see a doc-tor. If we allowed none to enter wewould become sterile exponents of theinert.

The acceptance or rejection of thesethings is life. And our ability to make a

quick and unbiased analysis of themdoes, as I said in the beginning, makeall the difference there is to make.W he n all the variables of life learn th atwe are going to be firm with them, the petty ones will perhaps hesi ta te be fore pes tering us as they do no w and lifewill probably be on a more efficient

basis —w hate ver good th at will do us.

M O H A M M E D

(Continued from Page 302)And when hell shall be set ablaze,

And when Paradise shall be broughtnigh,

The soul shall know what it has produced!

I need not swear by the stars that slink back , moving sw iftly, slinking intotheir dens!

N or by the nig ht when dar kness drawson!

N or by the morn when it first bre ath esup!

Verily, it is the speech of a nobleapostle, mighty, standing sure withthe Lord of the throne, obeyed and trusty too!

Your comrade is not mad; he saw himon the plain horizon, nor does hegrudge to communicate the unseen.

N or is it the speech of a pel ted devil .Then whither do ye go?It is but a reminder to the worlds, to

whomsoever of you pleases to gostraight:—but ye will not please, ex-cept God, the Lord of the world should please.

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1937

Bei ng a M yst i c an d Bei ng Sane

A T IM E L Y D IS C U SS IO N O F T H I S I M P O R T A N T M A T T E R

(Annual Message Delivered at the 1937 Convention)By T h e I m p e r a t o r

H I L E r e t u r n i n gacross the Atlanticth is spr ing , and r ev iew ing all o f the many pleasant,surprising, inspir-ing and illuminat-ing experiences as-sociated with our

T o ur t h r o u g hmany lands and contacts with stu-dents of mysticismof all types and

degrees of development, I could not help pa ss ing from the sta ge of re tros pect ionto introspection. W h a t would I find again in America upon my return, and what outstanding differences in theschools of philosophy and metaphysicswould I observe, comparing the W es t-ern W orld type of students with thetypes of the East?

My analysis of conditions brought meface to face with one of the most dis-turbing and most interesting phases of the subject, as I have contacted it for many years.

Analyzing the nature and practicesof a large number of socalled mystical,metaphysical, occult and “spiritual”movements in America, and reviewingagain the hundreds of pieces of propa-ganda literature, books, pamphlets, let-

ters and circulars issued by these move-ments and their many leaders, and finally summarizing the elaborate, ex-treme, pretentious, fantastic claims onthe part of most of them, I finally asked myself this question: “W h y is it that somany otherwise intelligent, rationalhuman beings seem to believe that astudy of metaphysics or of the mystical,

spiritual, philosophical and mysteriouslaws, principles, and facts of life must be ac compa nied by or bas ed upon er-ratic, impossible, and often inane asser-tions, implications, promises and ex- pe cta tions? ”

In other words, why do so manyseemingly normal human beings believethat a correct and proper study of themystical laws of life and the spirituallaws of the universe cannot be accom- pan ied by sa ne and ra tion al thinkingand sane and rational living, and espec-ially by sane and rational believing?

A survey of the propaganda, theclaims, the promises, the activities, and the final crash to earth of a score or more of new, surprising, “mystical” or “occult” movements which have had anovernight mushroom birth in the W es t-ern W orld in the past twenty years

plainly reve als th at he who offers to the public the most ou tlan dish, ex tre melyfantastic, highly improbable and elabor-ately painted program in the fields of

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mysticism, mystical philosophy and spiritual revelation immediately attractsthousands upon thousands of individ-uals who wholeheartedly and enthusi-astically cast aside all rhyme and reason

in their thinking, throw aside all prev-ious rational training, ignore all con-servative principles, and blindly thoughdiligently accept the fantastic and theillogical as truths.

Is it not possible to be a student of mysticism or of Nature’s partially con-cealed laws and principles and of thespiritual fundamentals of life, and still

be sane? W h a t is there about th e stu dyof these arcane subjects that should warrant any individual to become ir-rational in his thinking and so gullible

in the acceptance of principles offered him that he becomes obsessed withridiculous ideas and inhibited by impos-sible beliefs?

In attempting to answer these ques-tions I returned again to a survey of the many strange movements that haveappeared in North America, for in-stance. in the past years, and have at-tracted a wide following, seeming torise to great heights of worldly and phys ical st re ngth and pro sp eri ty , and then suddenly close up voluntarily be-

cause of inability to fulfill their promisesor because the local city or state policeor departments of the federal govern-ment close them up, or because news-

papers and mag az ines reveal the hypoc-risy, the deceit, the immorality, and the insincerity of the leaders and their associates. Each and every one of thesenew and surprising movements hasmade unique claims, has seized uponunique ideas, has offered impossible re-wards to those who followed it, and hasdeliberately taken the names of great

thinkers or leaders in the past, or para-graphs from their writings, or spiritualtruths from the Bible, and has misrepre-sented or twisted and turned them and tried to show that new truths, newfacts, new marvels had been discovered and were now available only throughthe new organization and the new lead-er. Some of them have claimed tha tthey were created by the high command of some grea t “invisible M as ter” or bythe decree of one of the well known and

be loved mas ter th inkers of the past , or

more often by authority of the “Great

W hite Brotherhood” or occasionally bythe official and positive instructions of Saint Germain or of Jesus the Christ,or of John the B aptist or of one of manyother eminent spiritual and philosoph-

ical thinkers and leaders.Then I turned to review the claims

and pretensions of the leaders of mostof these spontaneously born and sud-denly extinguished organizations. Innearly every case where the organiza-tions claim unique and extremely fanati-cal knowledge and power, the leader or leaders have clothed themselves withthe most weird and highly improbablecharacterizations and pretensions. Firstof all, they always claim to be a direct,

per sonal , divine ly appoin ted disciple

and messenger of some past eminent ph ilo soph ical and mys tica l th in ker or spiritual leader. Secondly, they alwaysclaim to have superhuman or super-normal powers and abilities, includingthe power or ability to voluntarily and momentarily ascend above and beyond this earth plane even in the twinkling of an eye, and hold confidential and whis-

pered co nv ersat ions and communica-tions with saintly beings, invisible Cos-mic Ma sters, or even with God. In thethird place, they picture themselves

either by direct statement or by implica-tion as being so holy and pure, so piousand so divine in character and physicalcomposition, that they live continuouslyin fear of a gust of wind that may blowthem into space above the clouds, wheretheir wings will suddenly exert their dormant power and keep them in eter-nal flight. Fourthly, they allow their followers to believe—and always dis-creetly encourage the belief—that theyhave few if any human traits, are aboveand beyond all human and earthly

temptations and reflections; that theynot only do not eat meat or smoke or drink, even to the extent of accepting aswallow of wine in making a toast, and that they are not only aesthetic and

pure in all th ings natu ra l and all th ingsunnatural, but that they are immuneeven to the natural instincts of all kindsand are celibates, despisers of moneyand earthly rewards, unaffected byearthly praise or adoration, uncon-taminated by earthly influences, and

ju st too good to remain on earth excep t

for their divine mission in teaching theThree hundred nine



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rest of the ignorant world how to besomething like themselves.

In nearly every case, these leadershave proclaimed that although they ap-

pear to be fo rty or fif ty years of age,

they are in fact seventy or eighty or ahund red years old. Some have evenclaimed that they have lived here onearth for so long a time that they haveforgotten their date of birth, and—mostfortunately—have forgotten where theywere born and where any records could

be foun d of thei r birth . T hey alway sclaim to have “a powerful organization”

ba ck of them, to have the moral, sp ir-itual, and even physical support of aCosmic or Holy Assembly, to make freeand frequent visits to oriental and especially Indian and Tibetan monas-teries and secluded temples, and to havethe editorial and intellectual guidanceand assistance of marvelous Masters,and even on occasion of Jesus the Christor some of His Disciples.

Invariably they have claimed thatthere was no commercial element as-sociated with their program; that for every dollar they receive from their followers they spend at least a dollar and five cents in doing good for their followers; that if they could, they would do away with the necessity of collec-tions, the payment of dues, the high

pr ices for private instruct ion, an d thehandling of money in any form. Theygenerally assert most positively thattheir ‘‘divine mission in life” is unas-sociated with any selfish or personal de-sire to provide for themselves the neces-sities, let alone the comforts, of life.The most definite thing that they giveto their followers is a list of promiseswhich includes the ability to ascend inholy communication with the saints and spiritual beings of the past and present,

the ability to become immune to allearthly problems, trials and tribulations,the power to be superhuman and super-normal, the “gu ara nte ed ” formula for lifting one’s self quickly and thoroughlyout of the average and ordinary routineof life to a high and successful and finally prosperous position, to dwellwith the gre at ‘‘unseen M as ters ” in inti-mate association, and hundreds of pre- posterous but nev er theles s al lu ringfeats.

It is a fact that through the study of N a tu re’s laws, the sp iritual laws, thelaws relating to man’s being and his as-sociation with the Cosmic principlesand powers, an individual can so improve himself in his th inking, in hisunderstanding, in his comprehension,and in the development of his poise, hischaracter, latent powers and abilities,that he can lift himself GRADUALLYto a higher place in life. It is true tha tas an individual studies and analyzesand becomes intellectually and spiritual-ly familiar with the fundamental lawsof the universe and tries to adjust him-self SANELY with these laws and livein harmony with Divine and Cosmic

pr inciples, he does deve lop an d aw ak enand quicken those actions, those essen-

tial and Godgiven traits of character and mental prowess that enable him tochange the course of his life, to see be-yond the every day horizon, and to fol-low a path of development, intellectual-ly, ethically, morally and spiritually,that will make his life more peaceful,more contented, more PROSPEROUSin all of the things of life than the per-son who lives a life of narrowminded-ness, bigotry and hypocritical thinking,and of unaw akened comprehension.

But, the greatest prosperity in life is

not that associated with money, or evenwith the worldly things that have noinherent quality but represent a power to buy. Good health, a moderate enjoy-ment of the necessities of life, a happyand contented mind, a sureness of whatwill be made manifest on the morrow,a lack of fear regarding the socalled unknown probabilities of life, a rationaland understandable attunement withthe Consciousness of God and the Spir-itual Mind of the universe, the fortun-ate ability to make friends and hold them, to spread sunshine and happiness,to find ways and means of helping others(without the use of money or materialthings)—these are the things that rep-resent the true prosperity of life. A per so n who has most of these wou ld notabandon them, trade them, exchangethem or sell them for all of the money,the gold, the jewels or material assetsof this earth. Such persons may behumble workers, even unskilled labor-ers, underpaid hirelings, living in smallhomes, in small villages, and unac

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quainted with the scintillating, glamor-ous artificialities of this life.

Yet these sparkling and highly dec-orated and colorful movements do notoffer such prosperity to their students,their followers, and their financial con-tributors. They always add to their listof promises of guaranteed peace, guar-anteed health, and guaranteed knowl-edge the ability to do supernormalthings, unnatural things, fantasticthings, extraordinary feats and inaneachievements.

N ot one of these suddenly popula r and eventually dissolved movements hasfailed to include in its pretensions and guarantees some impossible spiritual

and divine marvels; or it has intimated a course and practice in life that includ-ed immoral and unmoral practices under the guise of 'the unfoldm ent of cha r-acter and the purging of the flesh,” or of strange physical and mental abilities,including levitation, ascension of the

bod y, the loca tion of gold mines and de- po sits of gold, the disco very of hiddenfortunes, the attraction of jewels and rare metals, the indulgence in spiritualcompanions or “soul mates,” or the riseto fame and glory in politics and in

busine ss and social life in a very sh ort pe riod of time.

Records of the past telling the storyof mystical, philosophical and spiritualmovements in Europe for many cen-turies show that ages ago, leaders and groups of independent thinkers makingabsurd and ridiculous pretensions and claims tried all of the ways and meansthat these new and modern movementsin the W estern W orld are trying to at-tract the attention of followers and de-ceive the government. N ot one of these

modern movements has invented or de-vised a scheme or plan that was nottried long ago. Europe is especially freein these modern times of many of theseridiculous movements that are makingsuch bombastic claims in America.There are some absurd offerings still to be found in Europe, but America is cer-tainly the most gullible of any countryin the world.

W e know from our experiences, fromour records, from our contacts withthousands of members, that men and

women of culture, of refinement, in-

tellect and rational thinking, can find time and good motive for the study of mystical philosophy and spiritual revel-ation. W e do know that thousands of such sane and rational persons find in-

spiration and happiness, contentment, peace , and ge ne ral pro sp eri ty in thestudy of such subjects as are covered inour graded courses of lessons. W eknow that with thousands of them, thestud y is like a hobby. It occupies a po r-tion of their spare time, it becomes atempting and inspiring pastime as wellas a profitable intellectual and spiritualindulgence. W e know only too wellthat they are willing to contributenominally and conservatively to the up-keep of such an organization as ours.

W e have learned on many past occa-sions that they will even make sensibleand reasonable sacrifices to defend theorganization and its leaders, to protectthe good name and integrity of theOrder and its symbols, and to further the good purposes for which the Order remains in existence. W e know thatthey love to travel from the Easterncoast to the W este rn, from the Northand the South and even from foreigncountries, to visit our Headquarters,our Park, our buildings and our offices.

W e know tha t in every city and com-munity groups of them associate them-selves to do welfare work and spread sunshine. W e know that men and womenof high position in the government, inthe courts of law, in business, and in

profess ions, give a po rtion of their timeto help the organization and to help theunfortunate in and outside of our or-ganization. W e know that they take theRosicrucian work—including its teach-ings, its humanitarian activities, its re-search, scientific explorations and ana-lytical investigations, its promotion of good living a nd righ t thinking — veryseriously. We know that with thousandsof our members the high ideals and

princ ip les of our organization areequivalent to a religious philosophy.

But we do know also that our member s are not in te re sted in any fanaticalclaims, in any extreme promises, or inany hope of becoming superhumans or superhuman beings, or superior crea-tures equal to God. W e know thatthousands of them would instantly re-

sign from the organization if we ever Three hundred eleven



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1937

attempted to claim for ourselves, asdirectors of the organization, or claimfor the leaders of our activities in any

part of the wor ld , the rid iculous and absurd characteristics, abilities, powersand divine experiences that the leaders

of these many other movements and or-ganizations claim for themselves. W eknow that ten thousand of our memberswould resign overnight if we attempted to instruct them to sit for an hour or more in meditation with their hands up-lifted in front of them, praying to God to help them to “ascend in the physical

body” or asc end sp ir itua lly, or as ce nd in any other way. W e know that m anythousands would resign instantly if weattempted to tell them that we knew of hidden and inoperative gold mineswhich we hoped to open, and fromwhich we intended to extract more gold than exists in the world. W e know that

practica lly ev ery one of our memberswould resign from the organization if we told them that the next issue of our magazine was going to be edited byJesus Christ, or would contain an edi-torial written or dictated, or even in-spired, by Jesus Christ. W e know thatevery member would abandon our or-ganization in absolute disgust if wemade onehalf or onetenth of theclaims that were made by many of these

other organizations, and we thank God that the average member in our organi-zation is so sane, so rational, so intelli-gent, and so contented that he is nottempted even to read or listen to thewild and fantastic stories told or writtenunder the authority of many of theseother organizations.

W e know that our members would not believe us if we said that we had found “a new way to talk with God.”They know there is only one way tocommune with God, and that is in the

oldest way that man has ever known or ever used, and which millions havefound through their own experience,and which is a natural method thatcomes even to the child mind because of its sane and rational procedure. W eknow that our members would notcredit us with either intelligence or sin-cerity if we were to proclaim that SaintGermain or any other eminent Master of the past, philosopher, or Divine, washourly associating himself with us in an

invisible or visible body, and was di-recting the affairs of this organizationand dictating its policy and its teachings.

W e know also that our memberswould scoff at us and ridicule us if weattempted to claim that we would bring

“twin rays” (soul mates) together; or to produce the “violet flame” of Cosmic

po wer in our grou p assemblies; or th at by proc la im ing that each one of us wasthe “ascended I Am” we could changethe course of our lives; or that the real

purpose of our organization was to starta new race by beginning with a few im-maculate conceptions at Headquartersand having other members indulge pro-miscuously in the bringing into theworld of children born out of wedlock

but hav ing re in carn ate d souls of G re atMasters; or that some woman officer of our organization was the divinely appointed m othe r of a new race to give bi rth to ch ildren of spec ia lized divineheritage; or that by burning some in-cense of a special kind manufactured byus in a secret laboratory while in atrance and sold by us in spiritualized

pa ck ag es , the individua l who bum s theincense could attract elemental spiritsthat would enter his body, take posses-sion of him and change the being into asuperbeing—or any of the hundred and one fantastic and ridiculous claims that

are made by the organizations that aresweeping America today and sweepingthe individuals to disappointment, tospiritual doom, and mental insanity.

W e know tha t our organization hasgrown in size more rapidly than anyother of the socalled mystical, philo-sophical and metaphysical organizationsor brotherhoods, but we know thatwhile it has grown in size and grown in pro sp eri ty in ev ery sens e th ro ugh thesane and rational support of its mem-

be rs , it ha s grow n in real sp iritua l power as well, and has done so through sane

methods.Every one of the Supreme officers

and department heads in the Head-quarters of AM OR C would rather re-sign his appointed position and abandonhis connection with A M O R C tomorrowthan to be expected to assume or to al-low the members to believe that he or she was any specially divine Master, or had any special and unique divine pow-ers and abilities, or was the reincarna-

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tion of any Great Master or was indaily or hourly companionship with aninvisible Master or group of them, tosuch an extent that they were under thecontrol and direction of these invisible

M asters in some fantastic manner. W ewant our members to look upon us assane and rational individuals holdingour positions in the organization not byany divine right, but by the right of dili-gent service, sane thinking, carefulmanagement and dignified conduct and unstinted service to the members. An d we do not want in our organization, asofficer or member, any individual or any

human being who is beginning to think or has a tendency to think that he or she is developing a unique trait of spir-ituality, a special form of divine power,or a unique Cosmic position. W e w ant

to be always sane and rational human being s dea ling with sa ne and ra tionalhuman beings in a sane and rationalmanner. W e hope in this wa y to con-tinue to serve our membership and to

pre sent ou rselves to th e world in th atsame honest and sincere manner as haveall of the past officers and directors of the Rosicrucian activities in all parts of the world.

ANCIENT SYMBOLISM

M&n, when conscious of an eternal truth, has ever symbolized it so that the human consciousness could forever have realization of it. Nations , languag es and customs have changed, but these ancient designs continue to illuminate mankind with their mystic light. For those who are seeking light, each month we will reproduce a symbol or symbols, with their ancient meaning.

D U A L BE I N G

N ot only does ou r com-mon law consider marriageas uniting two individualsinto a single entity, but theearly Canon or Ecclesi-astical law did as well.The mystical principle be-hind the church law wasthat man and woman wereoriginally one being of dualsex, and thereafter becameseparate beings, each with

but one pola ri ty of life, or sex, and this condition marriage strove to correct.

The allegory below depicts these ancient principles. To the rightof the two swee thearts is Cupid, a well known symbol. Abovethem is a twoheaded figure alluding to the state of marriage,wherein persons may have separate minds, yet can return to theoriginal condition of man — the duality of sex and one being.

(Reproduced from an early Rosicrucian volume — dated 1629 A. D. — in the arch ives of th eRosicrucian Order, AMORC.)

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1937

| SANCTUM MUSINGS £

THE W ORL D OF MAKEBELIEVE

(A Message Delivered at the 1937 Convention)

By F r a t e r F r a n k F a n n in g

HERE is possiblyno subject we candiscuss that cannot be opened bya quotation fromShakespeare. TheS h a k e s p e a r e a ndramas are infinitein wisdom—so bysaying — “All theworld’s a stage,and all the menand women mere-l y p l a y e r s , ” w e

start with what we want to say aboutthe world of reality and the world of makebelieve. From childhood, we star tto act—that is, we live in a world of our own imagination. As children, if welook back to that time, we recall play-ing imaginary events, events in whichwe merged the outerself so completelyas to lose consciousness of fact and dwelt in fancy.

“Makebelieve,” adults say, “is theimagination of children, they grow outof it when they develop.” W e never grow out of “makebelieve”—we might believe we do, but we don 't—if it werenot for the socalled world of make

believe, man wou ld vanish from theearth.

W e m ight come across a man whoseouter existence is that, say, of a brick-layer. His work seems very matteroffact and dull. W e see him working,

covered with dust and mortar. Aw ayfrom his e veryd ay work, we might meetthe same man and learn that he dwellsmuch in a world of fancy, profoundlyinterested in music, in art, and studyingalong mystical and occult lines. Th esethings have nothing to do with hisordinary work. W h at causes him then,to turn to the finer things in life?

It can be only his imaginary realm of

thoug ht. In imagination he desireshighe r things in life. In imagination, hehas created an ideal for himself.

The motion picture screen has giventhe human race, especially the “aver-age” man, more comfort and enjoymentthan any other medium of entertain-ment. In a motion picture the atre yousit down and relax. You forget yo ur-self, your physical body, yo ur ev erydaytroubles and work. You rest. Conc en-trating on the screen, you forget theworld of fact about you. You projectyour consciousness onto that screenwith the actors and actresses and be-come one of them in their sorrows and difficulties, in whatever role they may be portra ying.

How do we do this? W e know thatwhat we behold is only a shadow of events, yet nothing seems more real tous than those shadows. Th e sur-roundings in which we are have van-ished, our entire attitude is emotional,imaginative.

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Perhaps the screen might be compared to th e psyc hic ey e of m an,—onthis eye, in the center of his forehead,are flashed myriad pictures of other

places , scenes , events —a ve ri ta ble mo-tion picture theatre in the human head.In our game of makebelieve we oftendwell in strange surroundings of imag-ination, so that our difficulties in life aretemporarily forgotten. T he motion pic ture world has given us a medium bywhich we are able to do this very thingwhen ever we wish — that is, forgetactuality and enter the world of imagi-nation. H ere in this my thical, incor- po real, in tangible and im materia l place,one is a “unit,” a “type” who is “cast”as a character or a “bit” in a picture— one of the segments that go to make

up the many component parts of a pro-duction, like “notes” in the scale of amusical composition, which eventually pro duce th e ha rm on ics of a sy mpho nyor a “bit” of jazz, but both essential totheir time and place.

A good actor, portraying the role of a particular character, makes us fe el that “imagined” character, whether tragic or comic, yet it is only make

believe. W hil e en acte d it dra w s usaway from reality into the very part the

pla yer assumes. Let us remem ber th at,

when in the motion picture theatre, tosee scenes of foreign lands is to feel our-selves projected into those very settings,to forget temporarily that we are inAmerica, only looking at films.

The psychiceye in man is a screenupon which are reflected scenes of far off places. O ur imagination conjure s upscenes for us. M ay we not, with equalease, enter into those imaginations, justas we fe el part of a setting on a motion picture screen?

The ancient Greek, Aristotle, said

that “true drama should be a 'purging'for the spec tator.” In any high, ele-vating motion picture, such as “TheLost Horizon,” we temporarily tran-scend time and space and dwell for themoment amid the settings we see on thescreen. Com ing aw ay from it, we feelas though we had und ergone a purging, —we feel we hav e tr ansc ended actu al-ity for a while, which makes returningto it more bearable.

This is the secret of imagination.Spiritual imagination is the secret of all

occult study. As the theatre takes usout of ourselves, so does imaginationlift us into realms of spirituality wherewe find ourselves “liftedup ,” and whereimagination becomes the world of real-ity, our own world of reality seeming,in turn, to be only a shadow of the real.

Every scientific discovery is in realitythe materialization of a spiritual truth.The motion picture screen, with the mo-tion picture camera, are outer demon-strations of the psychic eye and thelight within man. T he du ality of thecamera is symbolic of man’s conscious-ness. Firs t, the came ra with its positivefilm unexposed is useless until the“light” is contacted, the "light” causinga polarized action which instantly

changes the positive film (unexposed)to the negative (expo sed). He re the proc ess of “dev eloping ” is ne ce ssary,then it is ready for “projection” in itsnega tive form. It is now placed in the“projection” machine, the result is wit-nessed at the third point, namely the“screen,” where the manifestation or

picture , ne ce ss ar ily a n d natu ra llyfollows.

Thus are many of the major and minor laws demonstrated in this mys-tical, mythical, and mechanical manner.Here is seen the multicolored fanfareof life, in all its moods and moments.Here, in reflected pomp and circum-stance, is life's lookingglas s. H ere wesense ourselves as others see us, timed and placed and full of fear—and whatis time but an illusionary vision of ma-terial man, to space his illusionary ideasof a timeless creation, conceived and accepted, for the purpose of self and ashis only answ er for his dismissal. Ideascan not be spaced, neither are theytimed, only civilized man uses timedevices and worships at its altar. W h at

knows nature of it, or the lack of it?Through reiteration and readymade beliefs, re ad ily prov ed fa ulty yet ac -cepted as fact, we have inherited—time.

Perhaps the greatest desire of man isto “ get aw ay from himself” — tha t is,away from his material troubles and discomforts. T he theatre has been anage old solace. M ome ntarily, man has been lifted out of himself by “make be lieve.” In im ag ination, he has fol-lowed the events of the magic show hehas seen. All of us live to a greater or

Three hundred fifteen



T h e

Rosicruc ian

D igest

Sept em ber

1937

less degree in a "world of make be liev e” ; we ar e ac to rs and ac tres se sliving in an imaginary realm. W e must

believe th at we are co nst an tly being"cast” for something better, somethinghigher. W e must each have an ideal

and must strive continuously toward that ideal, for today is but a "part” or a "bit” we must play toward the ful-fillment of a tomorrow. T o continue tolive just in a world of immediate real-ity and to respond to things as theyactually are, in and around us, causeslife to appear drab and monotonous.Thus, as in the world of motion pic-tures, it is necessary that we live in animaginary world, a potentiality of be-coming something over and beyond w hat we are at the moment. Th e partwe each must play, must merge its

ordinary consciousness with that of thewhole; the objective with the subjective,the negative with the positive, and hewho comes increasingly under theguidance of his soul, enters, more and more, into the consciousness of themastercraftsman.

The moral of a motion picture pro-duction is its personality, which is a

blend of men tal and em otional energ ywith a vital force — the result of theunion of these three energies, in objec-

tive form, is the picture. T he motion picture , in co unte rd is tinction to co n-sciousness, provides the "waters of spac e” in which the hum an being thrivesand grows; and, by his unfoldment, he

becomes aw ar e of th e gre ate r and la rg -

er issues and through the agency of scientific, religious and educational in-fluence, his consciousness is steadilyexpanding.

Most of us feel like getting awayfrom ourselves. O ur Rosicrucian studyshows us the way of obtaining peacewhenever we so desire it. W e do nothave to be lifted out of ourselves. W edo not have to ignore our physical

bodies . In fact , it is th ro ugh and by the phys ical body th at a m an ifes ta tion of spiritual laws comes to us. M an hasever willed to do and yet, without the

quality of will, how could he bring intoactual use the power of imagination, toshape and change his course of life, hisenvironment and his ideals? Imagineforth what you will, but remember imaged thoughts go forth and return toyou just as you imprint them. So wemust learn to raise our thoughts and our ideals to the highest concept of har-mony, beauty, peace and love, and reapthe harvest that is bound to return to us,twofold and overflowing.

IP ........... 3

A C O R R E C T I O N

In last month’s issue of "T he Rosicrucian Dige st" there appe ared a report of the high Elights of the recent Rosicrucian Eg yptian and Mystic Lands To ur. In the beginning of |the report, reference was made to the departure from America on the S. S. R ex of the §Italian Steamship Line. Th e departure w as made on the S. S. Roma, and wherever the §name R ex is mentioned in the aforesaid report, the word R o m a should be substituted.

—T H E ED IT O R .(si. ...... □

? ...............................................................................................................................................................a

C O N V E N T IO N R E P O R T

"Along Civilization's Trail," the interesting travel serial by Frater Ralph M. Lewis,has been deleted from this issue to provide room for the Rosicrucian Convention report.This series of articles will be resumed in the next issue, as will the two departments,"Summaries of Science" and "Cathedral Contacts."

EL................................. ............................................................................................ .................................................

JU N IO R O R D E R

The Junior Ord er of To rch Bearers, Los Angeles Chapter, is again active. Those in =terested are invited to attend sessions at 10 A. M. each Sunday , Hermes Lodge, 148 N. §Gra mer cy Place. During the Junior sessions Forum meetings are held for parents.

............................................................... di

Thre e hundred sixteen



T H E W IS D O M O F A CH IL D

The innocence and frankness of a child, with its naive reaction to reality, often cause it to speak wordsof wisdom by which the most astute can profit. The above picture is a reproduction of a large painting inthe art gallery of the Vatican, which magnificently depicts a learned patriarch recording the words of ayoung lad. It is also a splendid charact er study.

(Courtesy of The Rosicrucian Digest.)



T he M a r k • •

of D i st i nct i on ' f i a t ei na l @nsl (jnia t fnoi i e (3omlac)e$l i i p

You are never a stranger in any gathering, il your affiliations

are known. Social harriers and bonds are broken by I he simple

display of a membership emblem. You are never an “ unknown ’ to

others, if you signify your interests and ideals by the dignified wearing

of your fraterna l insignia. No lan d is far from home, or any nation

very foreign, il you can meet there, people who think as you do.

A membership emblem is a magnet tiiat draws out of the daily

pa ssi ng th ro ng, th e in di ff er en t wor ld, th e peop le yo u should kn ow

and make your friends.

This Handsome Ring

I lie ring is ma de of ste rlin g silver, wit h

beautiful en amel fi nish, a n d has an embos se d

Egyptian design consisting of the sphinx and

pyra mids. I he Rosic rucian insi gni a is impres-

sively set off. Il is a ring every Ro sic ruc ian —

man or wo m an —will be proud to wear. I he

men s ring o I the same design has a mass ive-

ness which is a desired feature ol all mascu-

line jewelry. I he wom en s ring is sturd y, yet

dainty and ornate .

Obtain your size by cutting a hole in a card

lo accommodate your ring linger, and send the

card with y o u r order and remittance to the

addr ess below. I he.se rings will give years

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



T H E P U R P O S E S O F

T H E R O S I C R U C I A N O R D E R

Member of “ F U D O S I "

(Federa t ion Universelles de3

Ordres e tSocietes

Ini t ia t iques)

The Rosicrucian Order, existing in ail civilized lands, is a nonsectarian,fra te rna l body of men and women devoted to the inves t iga t ion, s tudy, and

p ra c ti ca l ap p li ca ti on of n a tu ra l an d sp ir it u a l la ws. T he pu rp ose of th e o rg a n i-zation is to enable all to live in harmony with the creative, constructive.Cosmic forces for the attainm ent of health, hap piness, and Peace.

The Order is in te rna t ional ly known as AMORC (an abbrevia t ion) , and theAMORC in America , and a l l o ther lands , cons t i tu tes the only form of Ros i-cruc ian ac t iv i t ies uni ted in one body having representa t ion in the in terna-tional federation . The AMORC does not sell i ts teaching s, bu t gives themfreely to all affiliated members, together with many other benefits .

Inquirers seeking to know the his tory , purposes , and prac t ica l benefi tsthat they may receive from Rosicrucian association, are invited to send for the free book, "Th e Secret H erita ge .” Add ress, Fria r S. P. C., care of

AMORC TEMPLERosicrucian P ark , San Jo se, C alifornia, U. S. A.

(Cable Address : "AMORCO” Radio Sta t ion W6HTB)

O ff ic ia ls of t he N o r t h and Sout h A m er i can Jur i sd ic t i on

This Jurisdiction includes all countries of North, Central and South America and all land under the protection of the United States of America.H. SPENCER LEWIS. F. R. C. , Ph. D ........... Impe ra to r RALPH M. LEWIS. F. R. C ................................................................... Supreme Secre taryTHOR KIIM AL EHT O. F . R . C.......................................... ........................................... Sovere ign Grand Mas ter HARVEY MILES. F. R. C ...................................................... — G ra nd T re a su rer HARRY L. SHTRLEY, F. R. C Direc tor of Publication*MERRITT GORDON. F. R. C ..................................................................................................... Regional Grand Mas ter

S P A N I S H A M E R I C A N D I V I S I O NARMANDO FONT DE LA JARA. F. R. C., Deputy Grand Master: CECIL A. POOLE. F.R.C.,

Secreta ryGe neral. Direct inquiries regarding this division to the Secreta ryGen eral, RosicrucianPark. San Jose, California, U. S. A.

Jun ior Orde r of Torch Bearers (sponsored by AMORC). For comple te informat ion as to i ts aimsand benefi ts address Genera l Secre tary , Grand Chapter , Ros icruc ian Park, San Jose . Cal i fornia .

The following principal branches are District Headquarters of A M O R C

Detroit, Michigan:Thebes C hapter No. 336. Mrs. Pearl AnnaTifft, Master: Mr. Ernest Cheyne, Secre

Los Angeles, California:Hermes Lodge, A M O R C Temple. Mr.Paul Deputy, Master. Reading Room and Inqui ry office open d aily, 10 a. m. to 5 p. m.

and 7:30 p. m. to 9 p. m. except Sundays.148 N. Gramercy Place.

New York City, New York:

New York Cha pter , Rooms 3536, 711 8thAve., cor. 8th Ave. and 45th Street. Mr.Joseph Weed, Master: Martha L. Mullins,Secre tary. Inquiry and reading rooms openweek days and Sundays, 1 to 8 p. m.

Booker T. Wa shingto n Chapter. Horace I.Hamlett, Master, 491 Classon Ave., Brook-lyn: Ida F. Johnson. Secre tary. 286 Mc-Donough St., Brooklyn. Meeting s everySund ay evening at 8:30 p. m., Y. M. C. A.Chapel, 180 W . 135th Street.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Benjamin Franklin Chapter of AMORC:Mr. H. Baker Churchill, Master; Mr. GeorgeM. Stewart, Secretary, 617 Arch Street.Meetings for all members every second and fourth Su nday, 7:30 p. m. at the U niversalPeace Institute, 219 S. Broad Street, 2nd floor (over Horn & Hardart’s).

Birmingham, Alabama:

Birmingham Cha pter. Conv ocation for allgrades, each Friday night, 7:30 p. m., Lodgeroom, Tutw ilder Hotel. Mr. Orland o S.Finch, Master, 1604 16th Ave. N. or C. C.Berry, Secretary, 721 S. 85th Street.

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania:Penn. First Lodge. Mar y S. Green, Master;

610 Arch Street.

tary. Meetings at the Detroit Federa-tion of W om en's Clubs, 4811 2nd Avenue,every T uesd ay, 8 p. m. Inquirers call dial phone To wns en d 62967.

San Francisco, California:Fra ncis Bacon Lodge. 1655 Polk Street:Mr. Elmer Lee Brown, Master. Mysticalconvocations for all members every 2nd and 4th Mon day , 8 p. m. Office and readingroom open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday,7 to 9 p.m.

Reading, Pennsylvania:Reading Chapter. Mr. Geo. Osman. Master;Mr. R. K. Gumpf, Secretary . Meeting every1st and 3rd Friday, 8:00 p.m., WashingtonHall, 904 Washington Street.

Boston, Massachusetts:The Marie Clemens Lodge. Mr. Pierpont F.De Lesdernier, Master: Temple and readingRooms, 739 Boylston St., Telephone Kenmore 9398.

Chicago, Illinois:Chicago Chap ter No. 9. Fred D. W edge,Master; Miss Sue Lister, Secre tary. Te le-

phone Su perio r 6881. Read ing Room openafternoons and evenings. Sundays 2 to 5only. Lakeview Bldg., 166 S. Michigan Ave..Rooms 408910. Lec ture sessions for ALLmembers every Tuesday night. 8:00 p. m.Chicago (Colored) Cha pter No. 10. Dr.Katie B. Howard. Master; Nehemiah Dennis,Secretary. Meetings every Wednesday nightat 8 o'clock, Y. M. C. A.. 3763 So. W ab as h

Avenue.(Directory Continued on Next Page)



Washington, D. C.:

Thomas Jefferson Chapter. Richard D. Ames,Master. Meetings Confederate MemorialHall, 1322 Vermont Ave. N. W ., every Fri-day evening, 8:00 p. m. Sec retary, Mrs.Gladys Short, 3323 Holmead PI. N. W .

Seattle, Washington:

AM OR C Chapter 586. Mr. C. R. Cleaver,Master; Mr. Geo. Peterson, Secretary. 31114Lowman Bldg., between 1st and 2nd Aves..on Ch erry Street. Reading room open week days 11 a. m. to 4:30 p. m. Visitors welcome.Chapter meetings each Monday, 8:00 p. m.

Portland, Oregon:Portland Rose Chap ter. Mrs. Emma Strick-land, Master; Phon e Ga. 8445. In forma tionTues. evening, 7 to 9, 405 Orpheum Bldg.Chapter meets Thursday 8:00 p.m. at 714S. W . 11th Ave.

Newark. New Jersey:H. Spencer Lewis Chap ter. John Wied erkehr, Master. Meeting every M onday. 8:15

p. m.. 37 W as hing ton St.St. Louis, Missouri:

St. Louis Chapter. Douglas M. Bryden,Master. Melbourne Hotel, Grand Avenueand Lindell Blvd. Mee tings first and third Tuesday of each month. 8 p. m.

Other Chartered Chapters and Lodges of the Rosicrucian Order (AMORC) will be found in

most large cities and towns of Nor th Am erica. Address of local repre senta tives given on request.

P R I N C I P A L C A N A D I A N B R A N C H E S

Victoria, British Columbia:

Victoria Lodge. Mr. George A. Melville,Master. Inqu iry Office and Reading Room,725 Co urtne y Street. Librar ian, Mr. C. C.Bird, Phone G3757.

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada:Charles Dana Dean Chapter, 204 KensingtonBldg. Mr. Ronald S. Scarth , Mas ter, 834Grosven or Avenue. Session for all membersevery Tuesday at 7:45 p. m.. 204 KensingtonBuilding.

Edmonton, Alberta:Mr. F. G. Powell. Master. 9533 Jasper Avenue E.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada:Mr. E. Charlton, Mas ter. Sessions 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month, 7:00 p. m., No. 10Lansdowne Ave.

Vancouver, British Columbia:Canadian Grand Lodge, AMO RC. Mr. E.A. Burnett, Master; Miss Mabylee Deacon,Secretary, AMORC Temple, 878 HornbyStreet.

A F E W O F T H E F O R E I G N J U R I SD I C T IO N S

Scandinavian Countries:The AMORC Grand Lodge of Denmark.Mr. Arthur Sundstrup, Grand Master; CarliAndersen, S. R. C., Grand S ecretary. Manogade 13th Strand. Copenhagen, Denmark.

Sweden:Grand Lodge "Rosenkorset." Anton Svanlund, F. R. C., Grand M aster. Jerusalemsgatan, 6, Malmo.

Holland:De Rozekruisers Orde; GrootLodge der

Nederlanden. J. Coops, Gr . Sect., Hunze

straat 141, Amsterdam.France:

Dr. Hans Gruter, Grand M aster. Mile.Jeanne Guesdon, Secretary, 56 Rue Gam

bet ta. Villeneuve Sa int Georges (Seine & Oise).

Switzerland:AMORC, Grand Lodge, 21 Ave. Dapples,Lausanne; Dr. Ed. Bertholet, F. R. C., Grand Master, 6 Blvd. Chamblandes, PullyLausanne; Pierre Genillard, Grand Secty., SurlacB, Mont Choisi, Lausanne.

China:Th e United Grand Lodge of China. P. O.Box 513, Shanghai, China.

New Zealand :Auckland Chap ter AM ORC . Mr. G. A.Franklin, Master, 317 Victoria Arcade Bldg..Queen St.. City Auckland.

England:The AMORC Grand Lodge of Great Britain.Mr. Raymund Andrea, F. R. C., Grand Master, 34 Baywater Ave., Westbury Park,Bristol 6.

Dutch and East Indies:Dr. W . Th. van Stokkum, Grand Master;W . J. Visser, SecretaryG eneral. Karang

tempel 10 Semarang, Java.Egypt:

The Grand Orient of AMORC, House of theTemple, M. A. Ramayvelim, F. R. C., Grand Secretary, 26, Avenue Ismalia. Heliopolis.Cairo Information Bureau de la Rose Croix,]. Sapporta, Secretary, 27 Rue SalimonPacha. Cairo.

Africa:The Grand Lodge of the Gold Coast,AMORC. Mr. William Okai, Grand Master,P. O. Box 424 Accra, Gold Coast, WestAfrica.

T he addresses of other foreign Grand Lodges and secretaries will be furnished on application.

T H E R O S I C R U C I A N P R E S S , L T D . m j g f j j fc. P R I N T E D I N U . S . A .



<

7hi ISrithrm Jn W lutt Are there mortals,

clothed in a spiritual radiance

and armed with a divine insight, who

guide ou r destinies? Doe s the world harb or

humans who transcend the petty ways of men,

and with compassion lead the afflicted to health

and the sore at heart to happiness? A re there

selfless beings known as the Gre at W hite B rot he r-

hood who safeguard the race against itself? N o mo re

beautiful tale woven on the loom of fact exists today.

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Documents

The Rosicrucian Digest September 1937.pdf