Post by Frater G on Mar 2, 2009 0:37:48 GMT -5
THE EFFECTS OF REMORSE--THE DANGERS OF EXCESSIVE BATHING
As there are many among the Rosicrucian students who perform the exercises given by the Elder Brothers for the purpose of furthering soul- growth, though they have not felt inclined to enter the Path, it is thought to be well to consider the occult effect of the emotions engendered by these exercises.
When in the exercise of retrospection the aspirant to the higher life reviews the happenings of the day IN REVERSE ORDER and meets an incident in which he hurt some one or failed to help another or in any other way did not live up to that which he holds as his ideal of conduct, he is taught to cultivate intense remorse for whatever he has done wrong for the purpose of eradicating the record from the seed-atom in the heart where it has been imprinted by the act, and where it will remain until it is wiped out by sufferings in purgatory unless previously expunged by artificial means such as this exercise.
In purgatory the cleansing process is accomplished by the centrifugal force of repulsion which tugs and tears the desire stuff, in which the picture is formed over its matrix of ether, out of the desire body. At that particular time the soul suffers as it made others suffer, because of a singular condition in the lower regions of the Desire World where purgatory is located. Some seers who are unable to contact the higher regions speak of the Desire World as illusory, and they are right so far as the lower regions are concerned, FOR THERE ALL THINGS APPEAR REVERSED AS WE SEE THEM IN A GLASS. This peculiarity is not purposeless--nothing in God's kingdom is; all things serve a wise end. This reversal places the erring soul in the position of its victim, so that when a scene unrolls on the screen of its past life where it did a wrong to some one, the soul does not stand as a mere spectator and see the scene re-enacted, but it becomes, for the time being, the victim of the wrong and it feels the pain felt by that wronged one, for the centrifugal force of repulsion exerted to tear the picture from the desire body of the wrongdoer must at least equal the hate and anger of the victim which impressed the picture upon the seed-atom at the time of occurrence.
During retrospection the aspirant endeavors to imitate these conditions; he tries to visualize the scenes where he did something wrong, and the remorse he endeavors to feel must at least equal the resentment felt by whomever he wronged. It then has the same effect of expunging the record of the injury as does the centrifugal force of repulsion, which accomplishes the eradication of evil in purgatory FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXTRACTING THEREFROM THE QUALITY OF THE SOUL WHICH WE KNOW AS CONSCIENCE, and which acts as a deterrent in hours of temptation. Thus used, the emotion of remorse cleanses and purifies the desire body of weeds and tares, leaving the soil free and fostering the growth of manifold virtues that blossom into spiritual advancement and bring greater opportunities for service in the Master's vineyard.
But as the force latent in gunpowder and kindred explosive substances may be used to further greatest objects of civilization or to outdo the most savage acts of barbarism, so also, this emotion of remorse may be misused in such a manner that it becomes a detriment and a hindrance to the soul instead of a help. When we indulge in remorse daily and hourly, we are actually wasting a great power which might be used for the most noble ends of life, for the constant indulgence of regret affects the desire body in a manner similar to that which follows excessive bathing of the physical body, as described in the "VICE OF EXCESSIVE CLEANLINESS," an article which appeared in our magazine, "RAYS FROM THE ROSE CROSS." It was there stated that water has a great affinity for ether and absorbs it most greedily, several illustrations being given to demonstrate the fact; it was also stated that when we take a bath under normal conditions, it removes a great deal of poisonous miasmatic ether from our vital bodies, provided we stay in the water a reasonable length of time. After a bath the vital body becomes somewhat attenuated and consequently gives us a feeling of weakness, but if we are in our usual good health and have not stayed in the bath too long, the deficiency is soon made good by the stream of force which flows into the body through the spleen. When this influx of fresh ether has replaced the poisoned substance carried off in the water, we feel renewed vigor which we rightly attribute to the bath, though usually without realizing the full facts as here stated.
But when a person who is not in perfect health makes a habit of bathing every day, perhaps even twice or three times, an excess of ether is taken from the vital body. The supply entering by way of the spleen is also diminished on account of the loss of tone of the seed-atom located in the solar plexus and the attenuated condition of the vital body. Thus it is impossible for such people to recuperate between such oft repeated depletions, and as a consequence the health of the dense body suffers; they lose strength continually and are apt to become confirmed invalids.
"AS ABOVE SO BELOW, AND AS BELOW, SO ABOVE," says the Hermetic aphorism, enunciating thereby the great law of analogy which is the master-key to all mysteries. When we use the centrifugal force of remorse to eradicate the acts of evil from our hearts during the evening exercise of retrospection, the effect is similar to the action of the water which removes the miasmatic poisoned ether from our vital bodies during the bath, and thus leaves room for an influx of pure health-promoting ether. After we have burned out the wrong-doings in the sacrificial fire of remorse, the poisonous substance thus eradicated leaves room for the influx of desire stuff which is MORALLY healthier and better soil for noble deeds. The more thoroughly we are purged by this remorse, the greater the vacuum produced and the better the grade of new material we attract to our subtler vehicles.
But, on the other hand, if we indulge in regrets and remorse during every waking hour as some do, we are outdoing purgatory, for though the time there is spent in eradication of evil, the consciousness turns from each picture when it has been torn out by the force of repulsion. Here, because of the interlocking of the desire and vital bodies, we are enabled to revivify the picture in memory as oft as we please, and while the desire body is gradually dissolved in purgatory by the expurgation of the panorama of life, certain small amount is added while we are living in the physical world, to take the place of that which is ejected by remorse. Thus, remorse and regret when continually indulged in have the same effect on the desire body as excessive bathing has on the vital body. Both vehicles are depleted of strength by excessive cleansing, and for that reason it is as dangerous to the moral and spiritual health to indulge indiscriminately in feelings of regret and remorse as it is fatal to physical well-being to bathe too much. Discrimination should govern in both cases.
When we perform the exercise of retrospection, we should give ourselves over to the feelings of regret and remorse with our whole soul; we should endeavor to shed tears of fire that may burn into our very innermost being; we should make the cleansing process as thorough as possible, to the end that we may grow in grace thereby to the utmost. BUT HAVING FINISHED THE EXERCISE WE SHOULD DO THE SAME AS IS DONE IN PURGATORY--CONSIDER THE INCIDENTS OF THE DAY CLOSED AND FORGET ALL ABOUT THEM, save in so far as they demand restitution of something, the making of an apology, or such subsequent acts to satisfy the demands of conscience. And having thus paid the debt, our attitude ought to be one of unfailing optimism. "THOUGH YOUR SINS BE AS SCARLET, THEY SHALL BE AS WHITE AS SNOW." "If God be for us, who can be against us?" B y that attitude we die daily to the old life and we are born each day to walk in the newness of the spiritual life, for our desire bodies are thus renewed and ready to serve a higher aim in life than the day before.
And while we are discussing regret and remorse as applied to the problem of soul-growth, with their effect on our subtle bodies, we may also profitably mention the effect of regret directed into other channels. There are people who live with regret as with a boon companion, who take it to bed with them at night and get up with it in the morning; they take it to the office, shop, or church, they sit with it at meals, they nurse it as the most precious thing in their possession, and they would sooner part with life itself than give up their regret for this, that, or the other thing.
As a vampire sucks the ether from the vital body of its victim and feeds upon it, so perpetual thoughts of regret and remorse concerning certain things become a desire-elemental which acts as a vampire and draws the very life from the poor soul who has shaped it, and by the attraction of like for like, it fosters continuance of this morbid habit of regret.
We are not helping the loved ones who have departed this life by our regrets which we love to fancy are evidences of our faithfulness, but we are hindering them. They have left the present sphere of experience and are going onwards to other realms where there are other lessons to be learned, and we are holding them back by our thoughts, for they feel us most acutely for some time after they have passed over, and we owe them a duty to think thoughts of cheer and love instead of selfish regret which hurts both us and them. Regret is subversive of all spiritual growth, for while the thought-elemental thus created hangs about us as a vampire we cannot climb the rugged path.
Loathsome as the vulture which feeds upon the noxious, decomposing carcasses of the dead are the vain regrets which live upon the morbid contemplation of the past and its mistakes. It is our duty to drive them out of our mental habitation as we would eject a vulture from our physical abode were it to seek entrance.
Instead, let us cultivate an attitude of optimism in all things, for all things work together for good--God is at the helm, nothing can go really wrong, and all will turn out right in God's good time.
As there are many among the Rosicrucian students who perform the exercises given by the Elder Brothers for the purpose of furthering soul- growth, though they have not felt inclined to enter the Path, it is thought to be well to consider the occult effect of the emotions engendered by these exercises.
When in the exercise of retrospection the aspirant to the higher life reviews the happenings of the day IN REVERSE ORDER and meets an incident in which he hurt some one or failed to help another or in any other way did not live up to that which he holds as his ideal of conduct, he is taught to cultivate intense remorse for whatever he has done wrong for the purpose of eradicating the record from the seed-atom in the heart where it has been imprinted by the act, and where it will remain until it is wiped out by sufferings in purgatory unless previously expunged by artificial means such as this exercise.
In purgatory the cleansing process is accomplished by the centrifugal force of repulsion which tugs and tears the desire stuff, in which the picture is formed over its matrix of ether, out of the desire body. At that particular time the soul suffers as it made others suffer, because of a singular condition in the lower regions of the Desire World where purgatory is located. Some seers who are unable to contact the higher regions speak of the Desire World as illusory, and they are right so far as the lower regions are concerned, FOR THERE ALL THINGS APPEAR REVERSED AS WE SEE THEM IN A GLASS. This peculiarity is not purposeless--nothing in God's kingdom is; all things serve a wise end. This reversal places the erring soul in the position of its victim, so that when a scene unrolls on the screen of its past life where it did a wrong to some one, the soul does not stand as a mere spectator and see the scene re-enacted, but it becomes, for the time being, the victim of the wrong and it feels the pain felt by that wronged one, for the centrifugal force of repulsion exerted to tear the picture from the desire body of the wrongdoer must at least equal the hate and anger of the victim which impressed the picture upon the seed-atom at the time of occurrence.
During retrospection the aspirant endeavors to imitate these conditions; he tries to visualize the scenes where he did something wrong, and the remorse he endeavors to feel must at least equal the resentment felt by whomever he wronged. It then has the same effect of expunging the record of the injury as does the centrifugal force of repulsion, which accomplishes the eradication of evil in purgatory FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXTRACTING THEREFROM THE QUALITY OF THE SOUL WHICH WE KNOW AS CONSCIENCE, and which acts as a deterrent in hours of temptation. Thus used, the emotion of remorse cleanses and purifies the desire body of weeds and tares, leaving the soil free and fostering the growth of manifold virtues that blossom into spiritual advancement and bring greater opportunities for service in the Master's vineyard.
But as the force latent in gunpowder and kindred explosive substances may be used to further greatest objects of civilization or to outdo the most savage acts of barbarism, so also, this emotion of remorse may be misused in such a manner that it becomes a detriment and a hindrance to the soul instead of a help. When we indulge in remorse daily and hourly, we are actually wasting a great power which might be used for the most noble ends of life, for the constant indulgence of regret affects the desire body in a manner similar to that which follows excessive bathing of the physical body, as described in the "VICE OF EXCESSIVE CLEANLINESS," an article which appeared in our magazine, "RAYS FROM THE ROSE CROSS." It was there stated that water has a great affinity for ether and absorbs it most greedily, several illustrations being given to demonstrate the fact; it was also stated that when we take a bath under normal conditions, it removes a great deal of poisonous miasmatic ether from our vital bodies, provided we stay in the water a reasonable length of time. After a bath the vital body becomes somewhat attenuated and consequently gives us a feeling of weakness, but if we are in our usual good health and have not stayed in the bath too long, the deficiency is soon made good by the stream of force which flows into the body through the spleen. When this influx of fresh ether has replaced the poisoned substance carried off in the water, we feel renewed vigor which we rightly attribute to the bath, though usually without realizing the full facts as here stated.
But when a person who is not in perfect health makes a habit of bathing every day, perhaps even twice or three times, an excess of ether is taken from the vital body. The supply entering by way of the spleen is also diminished on account of the loss of tone of the seed-atom located in the solar plexus and the attenuated condition of the vital body. Thus it is impossible for such people to recuperate between such oft repeated depletions, and as a consequence the health of the dense body suffers; they lose strength continually and are apt to become confirmed invalids.
"AS ABOVE SO BELOW, AND AS BELOW, SO ABOVE," says the Hermetic aphorism, enunciating thereby the great law of analogy which is the master-key to all mysteries. When we use the centrifugal force of remorse to eradicate the acts of evil from our hearts during the evening exercise of retrospection, the effect is similar to the action of the water which removes the miasmatic poisoned ether from our vital bodies during the bath, and thus leaves room for an influx of pure health-promoting ether. After we have burned out the wrong-doings in the sacrificial fire of remorse, the poisonous substance thus eradicated leaves room for the influx of desire stuff which is MORALLY healthier and better soil for noble deeds. The more thoroughly we are purged by this remorse, the greater the vacuum produced and the better the grade of new material we attract to our subtler vehicles.
But, on the other hand, if we indulge in regrets and remorse during every waking hour as some do, we are outdoing purgatory, for though the time there is spent in eradication of evil, the consciousness turns from each picture when it has been torn out by the force of repulsion. Here, because of the interlocking of the desire and vital bodies, we are enabled to revivify the picture in memory as oft as we please, and while the desire body is gradually dissolved in purgatory by the expurgation of the panorama of life, certain small amount is added while we are living in the physical world, to take the place of that which is ejected by remorse. Thus, remorse and regret when continually indulged in have the same effect on the desire body as excessive bathing has on the vital body. Both vehicles are depleted of strength by excessive cleansing, and for that reason it is as dangerous to the moral and spiritual health to indulge indiscriminately in feelings of regret and remorse as it is fatal to physical well-being to bathe too much. Discrimination should govern in both cases.
When we perform the exercise of retrospection, we should give ourselves over to the feelings of regret and remorse with our whole soul; we should endeavor to shed tears of fire that may burn into our very innermost being; we should make the cleansing process as thorough as possible, to the end that we may grow in grace thereby to the utmost. BUT HAVING FINISHED THE EXERCISE WE SHOULD DO THE SAME AS IS DONE IN PURGATORY--CONSIDER THE INCIDENTS OF THE DAY CLOSED AND FORGET ALL ABOUT THEM, save in so far as they demand restitution of something, the making of an apology, or such subsequent acts to satisfy the demands of conscience. And having thus paid the debt, our attitude ought to be one of unfailing optimism. "THOUGH YOUR SINS BE AS SCARLET, THEY SHALL BE AS WHITE AS SNOW." "If God be for us, who can be against us?" B y that attitude we die daily to the old life and we are born each day to walk in the newness of the spiritual life, for our desire bodies are thus renewed and ready to serve a higher aim in life than the day before.
And while we are discussing regret and remorse as applied to the problem of soul-growth, with their effect on our subtle bodies, we may also profitably mention the effect of regret directed into other channels. There are people who live with regret as with a boon companion, who take it to bed with them at night and get up with it in the morning; they take it to the office, shop, or church, they sit with it at meals, they nurse it as the most precious thing in their possession, and they would sooner part with life itself than give up their regret for this, that, or the other thing.
As a vampire sucks the ether from the vital body of its victim and feeds upon it, so perpetual thoughts of regret and remorse concerning certain things become a desire-elemental which acts as a vampire and draws the very life from the poor soul who has shaped it, and by the attraction of like for like, it fosters continuance of this morbid habit of regret.
We are not helping the loved ones who have departed this life by our regrets which we love to fancy are evidences of our faithfulness, but we are hindering them. They have left the present sphere of experience and are going onwards to other realms where there are other lessons to be learned, and we are holding them back by our thoughts, for they feel us most acutely for some time after they have passed over, and we owe them a duty to think thoughts of cheer and love instead of selfish regret which hurts both us and them. Regret is subversive of all spiritual growth, for while the thought-elemental thus created hangs about us as a vampire we cannot climb the rugged path.
Loathsome as the vulture which feeds upon the noxious, decomposing carcasses of the dead are the vain regrets which live upon the morbid contemplation of the past and its mistakes. It is our duty to drive them out of our mental habitation as we would eject a vulture from our physical abode were it to seek entrance.
Instead, let us cultivate an attitude of optimism in all things, for all things work together for good--God is at the helm, nothing can go really wrong, and all will turn out right in God's good time.
Those who wish to join may introduce themselves here.
