It is a trite saying that "man is of few days and full of trouble." Among
all the vicissitudes of life none affects us more powerfully than loss of
health. We may lose fortunes or friends with comparative equanimity, but when
health fails and death threatens, the strongest falter; realizing human
impotence we are more ready to turn to divine power for succor than at other
times. Therefore, the office of spiritual adviser has always been closely
associated with healing.
Among primitive humanity the priest was also "medicine man." In ancient Greece,
Aesculapius was particularly sought by those in need of healing. The church
followed in his steps. Certain Catholic orders have continued the endeavor to
assuage pain during the centuries which have intervened between that day and
the present. In times of sickness the "good father" came as a representative
of our Father in Heaven, and what he lacked in skill was made up by love and
sympathy — if he was indeed a true and holy priest — and by the faith engendered
in the patient by the priestly office. His care of the patient did not
commence at the sick bed, nor was it terminated at recovery. The gratitude of
the patient toward the physician was added to the veneration felt for the
spiritual adviser, and as a consequence the power of the priest to help and
uplift his erstwhile patient was enormously increased, and the tie between
them was closer than possible where the offices of spiritual and medical
adviser are divorced.
It is patent that the art of medicine has reached a stage of efficiency
which could not have been attained save by devotion to that one particular end
and aim. The safeguards of sanitary laws, the extinction of insect carriers of
disease are monumental testimonies to the value of modern scientific methods.
Thus it may seem as if all were well and there were no need of further effort.
But in reality, until humanity as a whole enjoys perfect health, there is no
issue more important than the question, How may we attain and maintain perfect
health?
In addition to the regular school of surgery and medicine, which depends
exclusively upon physical means for the care of disease, other systems have
sprung up which depend entirely on mental healing. It is the custom of
organizations which advocate "mind cure," "nature cure," and other like
methods to hold experience meetings and publish journals with testimonials
from grateful supporters who have benefited by their treatments, and if
physicians of the regular school did likewise there would be no lack of
similar testimonies of their efficiency.
The opinion of thousands is of great value, but it does not prove anything,
for thousands may hold an opposite view. Occasionally a single man may be
right and the rest of the world wrong, as when Galileo maintained that the
Earth moves. Today the whole world has been converted to the opinion for which
he was persecuted as a heretic. We maintain that as man is a composite being,
cures are successful in proportion as they remedy defects on the physical,
moral, and mental planes of being.
Curing vs. Healing
As the great majority of people do not make a distinction between curing and
healing, it may be well to explain the difference which is primarily one of
cooperation or the lack thereof. One person may undertake to "cure" another by
massage or drugs; the patient in either of these cases is passive as the clay
that is being molded by the potter. There is no doubt that under such
treatment trouble may disappear and the person be made well, but this is only
a temporary relief; he has not received the proper appreciation of the
underlying cause of his disease, he does not understand that the illness was a
consequence of breaking the laws of Nature, and is therefore very liable to go
and do the same things over again with the result that his malady returns. A
"cure" is a physical process. Healing is radically different; there the
sufferer is always required to cooperate both spiritually and physically with
the healer.
To make this clear we can do no better than view the life and work of our
great Leader, the Christ. When people came to Him to be healed they did not
expect a physical treatment, but knew that relief would be given through the
power of the Spirit. They had unlimited confidence in Him, and that this was
essential we see from the incidents recorded in the thirteenth chapter of
Matthew where He is said to have gone among the people with whom Jesus, the
original owner of the body, had dwelt in early youth. They saw only the
outward man: "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph; are not his brethren with
us?" etc. They believed that nothing great could come out of Nazareth, and
according to their faith it was done unto them, for we read that "He did not
many mighty works there because of their unbelief."
But faith without works is dead, and in every case where Christ healed
anyone, this person had to do something; he had to cooperate actively with the
great Healer before his cure could be accomplished. He said, "Stretch forth
thy hand," and when the man did so the hand was healed; to another, "Take up
thy bed and walk," and when he did so the malady disappeared; to the blind,
"Go and bathe in the pool of Siloam"; to the leper, "Show thyself to the
Priest, offer your gifts," etc. In every case there was active cooperation
upon the part of the one to be healed, which helped the Healer. They were
simple requirements, but such as they were they had to be complied with, so
that the spirit of obedience could aid the Healer's work. When Naaman came to
Elijah and thought that this prophet was going to come out with a great show
of magic and ceremony to dispel the leprous spots from his body he was doomed
to disappointment. And when the prophet sent word to him, "Go and wash seven
times in the river Jordan," he was enraged to the point of crying out, "Have
we not great rivers in Assyria and why should I go and wash in the Jordan?
What nonsense!" He lacked the spirit of submission which is absolutely
necessary in order that the work may be done, and it is safe to say that had
he persisted he would have not received the healing of his malady. Neither
would nay of those who were healed by the Christ have been affected unless
they had obeyed and had done as they were bidden. This is a law of Nature that
is absolutely sure. It is disobedience that brings disease. Obedience, no
matter whether that involves washing in the Jordan or stretching forth a hand,
shows a change of mind, and the man is therefore in a position to receive the
healing balm which may come through the Christ, or through a healer of one
kind or another as the case may be. Primarily, in all cases, the healing force
comes from our Heavenly Father, Who is the Great Physician.
These are the three great factors in healing: first, the power, from our
Father in Heaven; next, the healer, and third, the obedient mind of the
patient upon which the power of the Father can act through the healer in such
a way as dispel all bodily ills.
Let us now understand that the whole universe is pervaded with the power of
the Father, always available to cure all ills of whatever nature; that is the
great certainty.
The healer is the focus, the vehicle through which the power is infused into
the patient's body. If he is a proper instrument, consecrated, harmonious,
really and truly in tune with the Infinite, there is no limit to the wonderful
works of the Father which may be performed through him when opportunity
presents a patient of a properly receptive and obedient mind.
The Rosicrucian Fellowship
Method of Healing
Why the Rosicrucians
Heal
Among all the foolish and fallacious nonsense which has been circulated
concerning the Rosicrucians during the past centuries, there is one great
truth: "Members of the Order aim to heal the sick and have superior means of
accomplishing this benevolent purpose." Earlier religious orders have sought
to advance spiritually by castigating and abusing the body, but the
Rosicrucians exhibit the tenderest care for this instrument. There are two
reasons for their healing activities. Like all other earnest followers of
Christ they are longingly looking for "the day of the Lord." They know that
Lucifer, the false Light of Lemuria, implanted passion, inaugurating begettal
in sin and caused sorrow, pain and death; also that Christ, the true Light of
the coming New Galilee, inaugurated the Immaculate Conception, and preached
the gospel of redemption from sin by Love. A new race is to be cradled here in
the Western World, and generative purity is therefore the watchword of the
disciple in this part of the world. A new race is to be loved into existence,
and thus the ills that now afflict humanity through generations of begettal in
passion will cease; even Death will at last be overcome in the new
dispensation, because the ethereal purity of the bodies will obviate the
necessity for renewal.
While there is much definite information about that age in the Bible, one
point is shrouded in insoluble mystery: "The day knoweth no man, not even the
Angels in Heaven, nor the Son." Christians in all ages since the Gospel was
first preached have yearned for that day when the Sons of Light shall be
manifest. The Father alone, being the Highest Initiate among the Lords of
Mind, is able to foresee the time when the separative, self-seeking mind will
yield to the self-negating, unifying spirit of love. One point is very clear,
however: It will be just as impossible for anyone to live under the conditions
of the New Heaven and the New Earth who has not the properly constituted body
called "Wedding Garment" in the Bible, as it was for the degenerate Atlanteans
who lacked lungs to breathe when the atmospheric change came.
It is a scientific fact that the state of the blood affects the mind and
vice versa. A sound body is therefore indispensable to sane mentality. Only a
sane mind can transcend passion; only a sound body can generate another that
is as pure. The Rosicrucians have aimed to heal the body that it may harbor a
sane mind and a pure love, for each conception under those conditions is a
step toward the day of the Lord for which we all long so ardently. This is the
reason for the healing activities, and it is the meaning of our motto, "A Sane
Mind, a Soft Heart, a Sound Body." It has been written in various works that
the members of the Order took a vow to heal others free of charge. This
statement is somewhat garbled. The lay brothers took a vow to minister to all
according to the best of their ability free of charge. That vow included
healing, of course, in the case of such men as Paracelsus, who had ability in
that direction; by the combination method of physical remedies applied under
favorable stars and spiritual counsel he was highly successful. Others were
not suited to be healers but labored in other directions, but all were alike
in one particular — they never charged for their services, and they labored in
secret without flourish of trumpet or sound of drum.
Christ gave two commands to His messengers: "Preach the Gospel" (of the
coming Age) and "Heal the sick." One is as binding as the other, and, for the
foregoing reasons, as necessary. To comply with the second command the Elder
Brothers have evolved a system of healing which combines the best points in
the various schools of today with a method of diagnosis and treatment as
certain as it is simple, and thus a long step has been taken to lift the art
of healing from the sands of experiment to the rock of exact knowledge.
It is a true, good, and valid reason when we say that we want to help others
for Christ's sake. He is now immured in the Earth, groaning and travailing and
waiting for liberation. Pain and sickness are caused by transgression of the
laws of life, therefore they crystallize the dense body, give a firmer grip on
the vital body and retard the day of our liberation, as well as His. By
helping the sick to attain health and by teaching them to live in harmony with
the laws of life so that they may maintain health, we are hastening the day of
His coming. May God bless our efforts and strengthen our hands in the Good
Work.
The Invisible Helpers
Our method of healing is not altogether a spiritual matter. We use physical
means wherever it is possible. There are times even when we send our patients
to a doctor in order that they may obtain quick relief from him by a certain
treatment which we cannot give as promptly by other methods. Also, the diet of
patients receives careful attention, for naturally, as the body is built up of
physical substances, we are giving medicine by using the right food. But in
addition, healing is carried on by the Elder Brothers through a band of
Invisible Helpers whom they are instructing.
These Invisible Helpers are Probationers who during the daytime live a
worthy life of helpfulness and thereby for themselves or earn for themselves
the privilege of being helpful through the instrumentality of the Elder
Brothers at night. These Probationers are gathered together in bands according
to their temperaments and ability. They are under instruction of other
Probationers who are doctors, and all of them work under the guidance of the
Elder Brothers, who naturally are the moving Spirits in the whole work.
The system of forming and organizing a band of Invisible Helpers is
accomplished by the use of the effluvia from their vital bodies. The first of
this is obtained at the time when the Probationer signs his obligation and it
is renewed every day when he makes the record upon his or her report blank. So
long as he is faithful and lives the life of purity and service it forms an
unbroken link between him and the Elder Brothers. Each group of healers
usually consists of twelve Probationers besides their instructor and they are
generally taken from the same locality because the night is the same for them
all. It would not be feasible to group one living in Australia with one living
in Alaska for one would be going about his or her daily work while the other
is taking his or her nightly rest. But people taken from almost anywhere in
North or South America spend about the identical hours in rest and
recuperation and these Probationers are then grouped according to their rising
signs so that they may form a complete circle.
Regarding the system used to find those who have written to Headquarters for
help, the same method is followed as in finding the Probationers. That is to
say, applicants for relief are required to write the letter of request with
pen and ink. Thus the paper is impregnated with a part of their vital body and
this is taken from the letter by the Elder Brothers. It contains an accurate
gauge of the condition of the individual from whom it came and it also acts as
an "open sesame" to the Helpers who are given charge of this case. Through
that they have free access to his body, and a considerable number of patients
who come for healing write that they have both seen and felt the Helpers
working both inside and outside their bodies. As the condition of the patient
changes so does the record. Therefore the patients are required to write with
pen and ink a few words every week and mail it to Headquarters. Thus the Elder
Brothers are in constant touch with their condition and are able to direct
intelligently the work of restoration to health.
This work never ceases. It is continuous, as the Sun is always absent from a
part of the globe and the Probationers in that part are active in the work of
healing and helping during the hours of bodily rest.
Anatomically man belongs to the mammals, whose blood corpuscles are not
nucleated. The nuclei found in the blood of lower animals are the vantage
ground of the Group Spirits, but the higher animals are so far advanced upon
the road to individualization that their blood is free from this influence. In
the fetus where the mother acts as a Group Spirit for the first few weeks, she
nucleates the blood; but as soon as the Ego begins work, the first thing it
does is to disintegrate these nucleated blood corpuscles, and at the time of
the quickening not a single such corpuscle remains. The Ego is master of its
vehicle, a heritage which none may take from it under any pretense whatever.
To do so is black magic, whether the person knows it or not, and though the
benevolent motive would of course have a certain mitigating effect in another
direction, the fact nevertheless remains that one is upon dangerous ground when
attempting to meddle with the blood of anyone who does not desire it and who
has not asked for such treatment.
There is only one exception to this rule. Children until the age of puberty
are, so to say, a part of their parents, because there is stored in the thymus
gland an essence of the parental blood which the child uses in manufacturing
its own supply during the years of childhood, while the desire body is in the
course of gestation. As time goes on the supply in the thymus gland becomes
smaller and smaller and the child attains more and more to a realization of
its own individuality. By the time the thymus gland has disappeared the desire
body has matured sufficiently to take part in the alchemy of transmuting the
Saturnine skeleton into the Jupiterian vehicle which will thus incorporate the
essence of the present physical body. Interference with the blood stops this
process; therefore it is only until the time of puberty that the parent may
act for the child in giving the ether which admits the Invisible Helper.
The greatest drawback to our healing activity comes from the negligence of
patients. Our requirements are very simple. We only ask them to write once a
week with pen and ink, so that the etheric effluvia coming from the hand
during writing may furnish our Invisible Helpers with a key of admission to
the patient's system. But simple as is this rule, some fail to write. Here is
a case where a person who had for many years had vertebrae displaced and who
was cured by our treatment, though osteopaths, chiropractors, and several
others who had tried, had found it impossible to replace these vertebrae. The
poor man was therefore in constant pain and sick in bed most of the time,
entirely unable to work. The treatment of our Invisible Helpers replaced the
vertebrae, and they are still in place. The man went to work and it seemed
wonderful. But becoming so elated at the idea that he was so entirely free, he
disregarded our instruction to keep on writing, so that our Invisible Helpers
might have the chance to keep his vertebrae in place for a sufficient length
of time till they would stay put. Now comes the following letter showing that
we were right in requesting him to do this, and he did wrong not to obey. He
says: "A short time ago I wrote that I was cured, and would discontinue my
weekly letters, but I see now that I have made a big mistake. Since then my
back has pained me nearly all the time and I am getting round-shouldered
again, though the vertebrae are in place where the injury was. It seems as
though I am asking a lot of you to take this up the second time, but I did not
realize the influence the Invisible Helpers had over me and how much I was
dependent on them."
The Spiritual Panacea
In the coming of the Christ to Earth we have an analogy between it and the
administering of the Spiritual Panacea, according to the law, "As above, so
below." There is in every little cell of the human body a separate cell life,
but over and above that is the Ego which directs and controls all cells so
that they act in harmony. During certain protracted illnesses the Ego becomes
so intent upon the suffering that it ceases to vivify the cells fully; thus
bodily ailment breeds mental inaction and it may become impossible to throw
off disease without a special impulse to dispel the mental fog and start the
cell activities anew. That is what the spiritual Panacea does. As the
inrushing Christ Life on Golgotha commenced to dispel the shell of fear bred
by inexorable law that hung like a pall about the Earth; as it started the
millions of human beings upon the path of peace and good will, so also when
the Panacea is applied does the concentrated Christ Life therein contained
rush through the patient's body and infuse each cell with a rhythm that
awakens the imprisoned Ego from its lethargy and gives back life and health.
In order to describe the Panacea an experience of the author will be
related: A substance was shown to him in the Temple of the Rosicrucians on a
certain memorable night, with which the Universal Spirit could be combined as
readily as great quantities of ammonia combine with water. Three spheres were
suspended one above the other in the center of the Temple, the middle sphere
being about half way between the floor and the ceiling. It was much larger
than the other two, which hung one above and one below. Inside the large
central sphere was a smaller container which held a number of packages filled
with that substance. When the Brothers had placed themselves in certain
positions, when the harmony of certain music had prepared the way, suddenly
the three globes began to glow with the three primary colors, blue, yellow,
and red. To the vision of the writer it was plain how during the incantation
of the formula the container having in it the before mentioned packages became
aglow with a spiritual essence that was not there before. Some of these were
later used by the Brothers with instantaneous success. Before them the
crystallizing particles enveloping the spiritual centers of the patient
scattered like magic, and the sufferer awoke to a recognition of physical
health and well-being.
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