1.1
Throughout the entire history of mankind, two systems of esoteric development have held the attention of al those who, by reason of a natural bent and an inner urge, desired to walk the path of liberation.
The history of magic shows that in al civilizations the same two systems of magic development were applied. Now both systems were used simultaneously, now successively, as the different periods of culture appeared and disappeared. One system is designated in the modern philosophy of the Rosycross as the system of splitting of the personality, the other as the system of culture of the personality.
In both systems the underlying idea is that man is imperfect, semiconscious and caught in delusion, but perfection, full consciousness and absolute truth are only waiting for us to grasp them. Their Hierophants are calling us. And there are the methods of training and fulfillment, the ways connecting the present and the future as we desire it.
Thus we see how the splitting of the personality arises from the womb of the ages. By dietetic methods, breath control and asceticism, concentration and contemplation, and by control of the powers of speech the candidate had to learn how to bring about splitting of his fourfold personality. By means of such splitting, or by controlling the law of cohesion of the four vehicles of his personality, lying concentrically one within the other, the pupil was able at will to effect a separation between his physical body, with its etheric counterpart, and his two more subtle vehicles, so that he could travel in full consciousness in the so-called Higher Regions.
Afterwards he could re-establish the cohesion of his four vehicles, and he thought that the way between appearance and reality was thus explored, and he would be able to advance from power to power in the light of totally new possibilities of life. After al, had he not made a connection between the dark depths of this world and the radiant possibilities of a new era? He could unite with brothers and sisters on an equal footing, he was free, he was a ‘son of the dawn’, and along with this mastered citizenship of two worlds there were other advantages such as an increased impressibility of the senses and an ever deeper penetration, firsthand and independently, into the Plan of things.
God was very merciful indeed toward such a candidate of the ancient spiritual schools! He was liber- ated! And in unison with many others sharing his unspeakable blessedness, he could work in a seemingly unlimited radius of action in the service of the Realm of Light, for the uplift of those who still walked in darkness.
Great and glorious was the labor done by those ancient initiates and liberated ones. The luminous trail of their deeds shines like a flame in the memory of nature. It was with this Light shining forth from the ancient Wisdom of the East that thousands of Occidentals were connected, when they were in immanent danger of perishing in the vampiric grip of materialism and unbelief.
When the nadir of materialism reared its many barriers, those who knocked at the door for passage were reminded of the Past, with its shining points of Light, by a host of enlightened workers. When many were nearly suffocating in the grip of matter, with no possible escape being offered by a religionism adapted to matter, a loving hand was held out to them by the Brotherhood of Light, for the ailing human race to grasp, so as to be led back to the past as an emergency measure.
Is then our liberation reached through the past? No, but the past held consolation and succor, ac- cording to the golden word, ‘He who refuses to learn from the past will reap punishment in the future’. That is why the past, as a deed of love, makes an appeal to the subconscious knowledge whenever, in ignorance and delusion, we block the roads to future deliverance.
Also in the past there was another branch of esotericism found among the ancient Egyptians and Greeks who put forth a course of development en- tirely different from that of those who chose to force a way of liberation by splitting the personality. ‘This second group was of the opinion that itwas unlawful to attempt to escape from this world, and that the Light could be reached only by rising straight through it, perfecting it. And further, if man and nature were separated from the Land of Light (which they actually were), then they must become cultured and the manifested world must become harmonized. Therefore, their postulate lay in the magic of Culture of the Personality, the uplift of the anthropos, of man, from the bottom up.
Thus, systems of racial and blood purification were instituted, according to magic norms. And as it would not be possible for man to express himself in a world and a realm of nature which lagged behind, then concurrently the other kingdoms of nature had to be raised to a higher level also. Agriculture, horticulture, cattle breeding and al other things necessary for subsistence were carried on in an entirely new way, in more or less extensive colonies formed by those who practised the mysteries. This new manner was perfectly adapted to the man progressing in ‘culture of the personality’ and in this way, also, magic results were obtained.
Thus too, consciousness in higher regions and a splendid extension of the sense faculty came about, but this was rooted in matter which participated in the glory of man’s elevation. The resistance of matter was overcome to a certain extent, not by escaping from it, but by subjecting and exalting it.
So while one method posited, in point of fact, the initiation outside the body, the other placed it im the body including the physical vehicle. By this latter method also, a large number of Occidentals were saved from the living death of spiritual petrification and from the chaos of a terrible downfall, by connecting them too with a ray of the Ancient Wisdom, in order to prepare them and preserve them, by means of the past, for a possible new future.
1.2
Now that the new future has begun, al those who aspire to and strive after an esoteric process of development are now being confronted with the Chris- tian Mystery of Initiation of the Holy Rosycross for the New Era. The two old systems have seized hold of Occidentals rushing to their doom and linked them for a time with the past, so that they would not become crystallized beyond remedy, with al the consequences thereof. However, we must clearly realize that the ancient esoteric mysteries are utterly unsuited for Occidentals as systems of initiation, or as structurally liberating powers.
Therefore, if we were to measure the success of the workers who brought the Ancient Wisdom to the Occident by the number of those who actually attained structural liberation, the result would be greatly disappointing. It was merely the idea which enabled many Occidentals to hold out. The ancient systems have completely failed in the Occident as schools of initiation and no different result could have been expected.
Besides, the time is not so far off and possibly is already here, when the ancient systems will no longer offer any structurally liberating aspect even for the modern Oriental. Under the influence of a tremendous Cosmic Power, our world and the fourfold personality of man are subject to continuous change. Considered from the standpoint of man’s vehicles, the human race is rushing toward a great crisis. Virtually, the Occidental world already entered this crisis at the beginning of this century, but now it has reached its actual phase.
If, in the dim past, it was possible for the esoteric candidate to be liberated in the described ways and to celebrate this glorious return; if, in the first part of this century, it was necessary to fix the mind of the seeking Occidental idealistically upon the past, mankind has now entered an era in which the future alone must be considered. For many thousands of esoteric seekers, splitting of the personality, idealistically or structurally, is now altogether out of the question and will henceforth lead, both physically and spiritually, to most undesirable situations. By the same token, in time to come there can be no question for them of culture of the personality. In the future this system also must be rejected as structurally harmful.
In view of the totally changed physical, atmospheric and cosmic conditions, the endocrine glands, which play such an important part in occult matters, can no longer react to the methods of the ancients. The portal of liberation as related to the past has definitely been closed behind mankind.
This being an undeniable fact, the ancient wisdom has lost its liberating power; official religiousness has become devoid of al its appeal and influence, and the esoteric experiment of the past commended in books or lessons will only raise Homeric laughter, as of a man who seeks to conceal his anguish.
In this century many have already foreseen the neutralization of the ancient esoteric mental culture, and in certain circles it was thought that the dangers could be averted, without prejudice to future redemptive and liberating activity, by diverting the Ancient Wisdom into occult-Christian channels and building up a sort of synthesis.
Some of these plausible experiments have even been introduced under the name of Rosycross, possibly in good faith, but these attempts must be denounced as very serious mistakes, because there is a completely independent and purely Christian Mystery of Initiation of the Holy Rosycross preserved intact for the century ahead; it is a mystery which, fundamentally and structurally, is and must be considered free from al the methods and systems of the ancients.
To this Mystery al earnest seekers after liberation will have to turn in the future. The system in question is given to us in a veiled form in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is this system which has now become a necessity for every seeker and which will now be proclaimed to all mankind; one which, thank God, will make the ultimate revelation of true Christianity possible.
1.3
The method of initiation of the new era aims at transmutation of the personality, the secret of the evangelical rebirth. Therein is no division or cultivation of the personality, no evasion or elevation of something that, by its very nature, is doomed to perish, but transmutation of the personality, which means to build up, in and through the Power of Christ and His Hierarchy, a completely new personality whilst the spirit still functions in the old one.