(11) The esoteric teachings, as has been said, clearly and positively state that before there began the wonderful process of Evolution from simple to more complex forms of manifestation—from lower to higher—there must first have been an "involution" or in-folding of the World Soul into the simple, gross, elemental forms of matter. The vibrations must have been first lowered, before they can have been increased.

(13) When the lowest point in the scale of Involution was reached, then the Law of Rhythm asserted itself, and the upward climb began—the first movement of Evolution began to manifest itself. And, at this precise point, there was begun the manifestation of what may be termed "individualization," or the forming of centres of activity and consciousness. The World Soul descended into the depth of Involution en masse , and then began to emerge from those depths by an apparent "splitting up" process, in which the active new-born centres of activity began to assert themselves and to move upward toward self-expression. The simpler centres which occultists know to be the centers of activity in the electrons of matter began to form molecules. There was of course manifested the presence of mind within this gross matter—but only the faint glimmerings were manifested, for the gross enveloping sheaths of matter almost smothered the mental principles involved within them.

(36) The highest occult teachings, as well as the highest speculations of science, inform us that there is always a movement in. circles around some given point, and the movement of the said point, or centre of motion, around some other centre, and so on, and on, to infinity." The same writer continues: "All events tend to move in cyclic trend—in constant circular movement of continuous recurrence. The experience of man, aided by the reports of history, bears out this statement. The student of human history is struck by the continuous cyclic trend manifested throughout the ages of history. The student of philosophy is attracted by the same evidence in. his own field. And so it is with every field of human thought—the cyclic trend is noticeable everywhere. Races and nations rise, flourish, decline, and fall; only to be succeeded by others travelling over the same lines. 'Westward the star of Empire takes its flight '—the centre of political power is constantly changing. The civilizations of Lemuria, Atlantis, Egypt, Chaldea, Rome and Greece arose and passed away. Our own civilization is but travelling over the same general lines. All forms of political government, monarchic, autocratic, democratic, in all their variations, were known in the past as in the present. The same law is observable in the history of philosophical thought. Philosophical theories popular in Greece over two thousand years ago fell into disrepute, but are now again forcing their way to the front. The scientific theories of Causation, Continuity, Determinism, and Evolution were popular in Ancient Greece over two thousand years ago. And they were likewise popular in Ancient Egypt and India centuries before that time. Fashions in literature, dress, and manner constantly recur—travelling 'round and 'round their little circles. Laugh as we may at the absurdity of fashion in dress, nevertheless it is proceeding according to Cyclic Law. Religious ideas are as old as the world—pantheism, polytheism, monotheism, and atheism—all have played their parts of fashion in religious thought, over and over again, and will play them again. The present-day revival of interest in the occult teachings arise from the operations of the same law. And the life of individuals manifest the same trend and tendency. A little thought will convince you that the majority of people travel in circles throughout their entire life. The same old thing, over and over again, recurring at intervals of greater or lesser duration, according to the nature and character of the person. Many people are like the squirrel who travels all day on his whirling wheel—always going but getting nowhere, ever ending just where he began." The thoughtful student, considering what has just been called to his attention, will naturally ask us how it is, if this be so, that there is any real progress at all. If, says he, there is nothing but a continuous running around in circles—a constant travelling around without getting anywhere—how is it that there is evident a real progress, a real evolution, a real advancement in the scale of life and being? The answer is simple: given a circular movement around a given point, axis, or centre of attraction, and further given an advancing movement of that centre, point, or axis, it follows that the first circular movement will also be a spiral movement. If the Central Point is advanced, then the circular movement is converted into a spiral movement—and while there persists a "going 'round and 'round" as before, each "going 'round" process travels on a little higher plane, or a more advanced position. And this is just what exists in the Cosmos—a Cosmic Spiral Process, onward and upward, in advancing and rising circles.

(4) Circulation of the Light is not only a circulation of the seed-blossom of the one body, but it is, in the irst place, a circulation of the ' true, creative, formative powers. It has to do, not with a momentary fantasy, but with the exhaustion of the circular course (soul-wanderings) of all the aeons. Therefore a breath-pause means a yearaccording to human reckoning-and a hundred years measured by the long night of the Nine Paths (of reincarnation), After a man has the one tone of individuation (9) behind him, he will be bom outward according to the circumstances, and not until he is old will he turn a single time to the backward- lowing way, vThe force of the Light exhausts itself and trickles away. That brings the nine-fold darkness (of rebirths) into the world. In the book Ling Yen (10) it is said: By concentrating the thoughts, one can fly; by concentrating the desires, one falls. When a pupil takes little care of his thoughts and much care of his desires, he gets into the path of depravity. Only through contemplation and quietness does true intuition arise: for that, the backward- lowing method is necessary.

(9) A great occult teacher has written of this teaching, as follows: "The Esoteric Doctrine teaches, like Buddhism and Brahmanism, and even the Kabala, that the one infinite and unknown Essence exists from all eternity, and in regular and harmonious successions is either passive or active. In the poetical phraseology of Manu these conditions are called the 'Days' and the 'Nights' of Brahma. The latter is either 'awake' or 'asleep' * * * Upon inaugurating an active period, says the Secret Doctrine, an expansion of this Divine Essence from without inwardly, and from within outwardly, occurs in obedience to eternal and immutable law, and the phenomenal or visible universe is the ultimate result of the long chain of cosmical forces thus progressively set in motion. In like manner, when the passive condition is resumed, a contraction of the Divine Essence takes place, and the previous work of creation is gradually and progressively undone. The visible universe becomes disintegrated, its material dispersed, and 'darkness' solitary and alone, broods once more over the face of the 'deep.' To use a metaphor from the Secret Books, which will convey the idea more clearly, an out-breathing of the 'unknown essence' produces the world; and an inhalation causes it to disappear. This process has been going on from all eternity, and our present universe is but one of an infinite series, which had no beginning and will have no end." In this connection, the student of Herbert Spencer will find in the ancient occult doctrines and teachings an unsuspected firm basis for the teaching of his modern master. Spencer in his teaching of the universal presence and activity of Rhythm but echoes the old occult teachings on the subject. Note the following from the pen of the modern prophet of Evolution: "Apparently, the universally coexistent forces of attraction and repulsion which, as we have seen, necessitate rhythm in all minor changes throughout the universe, also necessitate rhythm in the totality of its changes—produce now an immeasurable period during which the attracting forces predominating, cause universal concentration, and then an immeasurable period, during which the repulsive forces predominating, cause universal diffusion—alternate eras of Evolution and Dissolution." The First Aphorism further states: "Light there was not: for the Flame of Spirit was not yet rekindled." This is apt to prove a "hard saying" to those who, having the half-truth only, and not realizing the existence of the other half, have thought of Infinite Reality as being Spirit, of which the Flame is of course the occult and esoteric symbol. But the best ancient wisdom, as voiced by the most careful teachers, have ever taught those qualified to know the whole truth that not only back of Matter, but also back of Spirit, there abides an Eternal and Infinite Essence, which is neither Spirit nor Matter, but which is the unconditioned root and source of both Spirit and Matter. Light and Flame—the two universally recognized esoteric and occult symbols of Spirit—have back of them the "lightless and heatless" Essence of Light and Heat. The Infinite Reality is the Essence of the Spirit Light and Flame—not the Light and Flame itself. The student will be aided in. grasping this truth, if he will contemplate the flame of a lamp, a candle, a gas-flame, or any other kind of physical flame; he will perceive to be present, under and at the centre of the flame, a dark, transparent, "something" which is the "essence" from which the Flame itself proceeds, and upon which it draws for support and sustenance. In occult terminology the counterpart of this on the higher planes of Being is called "the Dark Flame"—it is the Essence of the Flame and Light, and not Flame or Light itself. As an ancient writer has said: "The Essence is the 'spirit of the fire,' and not Fire itself; therefore, the attributes of Fire, i.e., heat, flame, and light, are not the attributes of the Essence, but rather of the Fire of which the Essence is the Cause." Therefore, the Infinite Unmanifest—the sleeping Eternal Parent—must not be thought of by the student as being Spirit, in the sense of the latter term as commonly employed in our thought. Rather is it akin to Pure Space from which the Flame emerges, and in which it is contained. There is close reasoning and distinction here, which will become clear to the student as he proceeds, but which must be noted even now in passing.

(34) A writer, speaking along the lines just mentioned, has said: "The masters taught that by an understanding of the Principle of Rhythm man could escape many bewildering and perplexing changes in his emotional states and feelings. * * * They called this the Process of Neutralization, the operations of which consisted of raising the Ego above the vibrations of the ordinary conscious plane, and on to the higher. This was akin to rising above a thing and allowing the thing to pass beneath one. The occult masters, and their advanced students, polarized themselves at the positive pole of a particular emotional state, and by a process of "refusing" or "denial" they managed to escape the effects of the swing of the emotional pendulum to the negative pole of that emotion. All individuals who have attained any degree of self-mastery really proceed in this same manner, though usually unconsciously and without a true understanding of the law they are operating. By refusing to allow their negative mental and emotional states to manifest in them, they really 'neutralize' them, and cause them to pass under them on a lower plane of consciousness. The advanced occultist, however, proceeds consciously and deliberately to this end, and acquires a degree of balance, poise, and power almost incredible." The further the student penetrates in his investigations, along the lines of the physical, the mental, or the spiritual, the more will he become convinced of the truth of the ancient occult axiom: "Everything beats time." V. The Principles of Cycles The Principle of Cycles manifests that universal circular direction of process or progress which is apparent in all the manifested world, from its highest to its lowest manifestation. The spirit of this principle was expressed in the ancient occult axiom: "Everything proceeds in circles." It is apparent to all careful thinkers and investigators that all progress or procession of things or events follows the path of the circle. All things, physical, mental, and spiritual manifest the cyclic or circular trend. World and atoms, the Cosmos and man, all are under this law. This principle is understood more clearly when we understand that a completed and uninterrupted manifestation of Rhythm results in the completion of a circular movement—therefore the circular or cyclic trend of things is really closely allied to the Principle of Rhythm, and both Rhythm and Cyclicity are closely allied to the Principle of Vibration.

(9) Modern Science, in pursuing its discoveries along the lines of Evolution, has almost entirely ignored the twin-activity of Manifestation, which is known as Involution. Not so the ancient occultists , however, for they knew full well the truth so forcibly expressed in the words of a modern "plain speaking" philosopher who said: "You can never get out of a thing anything which is not already involved in it." And to the ancient student of the esoteric teachings any idea of Evolution which did not begin with the teachings concerning Involution was like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out. There is an ancient saying which runs: "That which is evolved must previously have been involved;" and in this simple statement is condensed a volume of important occult lore.

(38) A writer has said of this: "The Ego may convert the circle of its life-motion into an advancing and rising spiral, which while carrying him around the life circle will at the same time raise him a stage higher at each turn. The Mountain of Attainment, around which winds the Spiral Path, is travelled only in this way. Around and around the Pilgrims travel, seemingly retracing their steps but in reality constantly mounting upward. By advancing the Central Point, by means of the Will , the wise and the strong convert the Circles into Spirals, and thus advance and attain. This, indeed, as the old aphorism states, 'is one of the highest forms of Mental Alchemy.'" The further the student penetrates in his investigations, along the lines of the physical, the mental, or the spiritual, the more will he become convinced of the truth of the ancient occult axiom that "Everything proceeds in circles." VI. The Principle of Polarity The Principle of Polarity manifests that universal fact of "the pairs of opposites," or "the antinomies," which is apparent in all the manifested world, from its highest to its lowest manifestation. The spirit of this principle was expressed in the ancient occult axiom: "Everything has its Opposite, which is the other pole of its manifestation." The Principle of Polarity may be stated as follows: "All phenomena manifest polarity, or opposite and contrasted sets of qualities, properties, or powers, operating in opposite and contrasted directions." The ancient philosophers made this one of the chief features of their teachings, under the name of "The Opposites," "The Pairs of Opposites," or "The Antinomies," according to the usage of the respective schools. They held that every phenomenal thing possesses and manifests these pairs of opposite qualities, properties, and powers. They also held that each and every set of polarized opposites constitutes a unity consisting of a reconciliation and balancing of the opposing poles. They also held that every phenomenal thing, itself, is one of a pair of polarized opposites which, together, constitute a greater unity; and so on, either to infinity or until the opposites find final reconciliation and harmony in an Infinite Reality.

(38) According to the secret doctrine, man, through the gradual refinement of his vehicles and the ever-increasing sensitiveness resulting from that refinement, is gradually overcoming the limitations of matter and is disentangling himself from his mortal coil. When humanity has completed its physical evolution, the empty shell of materiality left behind will be used by other life waves as steppingstones to their own liberation. The trend of man's evolutionary growth is ever toward his own essential Selfhood. At the point of deepest materialism, therefore, man is at the greatest distance from Himself. According to the Mystery teachings, not all the spiritual nature of man incarnates in matter. The spirit of man is diagrammatically shown as an equilateral triangle with one point downward. This lower point, which is one-third of the spiritual nature but in comparison to the dignity of the other two is much less than a third, descends into the illusion of material existence for a brief space of time. That which never clothes itself in the sheath of matter is the Hermetic Anthropos--the Overman-- analogous to the Cyclops or guardian dæmon of the Greeks, the angel of Jakob Böhme, and the Oversoul of Emerson, "that Unity, that Oversoul, within which every man's particular being is contained and made one with all other."

(27) "When the revolving object reaches a certain degree or rate of vibration, its molecules disintegrate, and resolve themselves into the original elements or atoms. Then the atoms, in turn disintegrate, and are resolved into the countless corpuscles which constitute the atom. And finally even the corpuscles disintegrate, and a condition of ethereal substance is produced. Science does not dare to follow the illustration further, but the occultists teach that if the vibrations were continuously increased the revolving object would mount up the successive states of manifestation, and would display the various higher stages of consciousness." The occultists teach that each and every mental or emotional state has its own distinctive rate of vibration, and that the secret of "emotional contagion" is due to the fact that similar vibrations are set up in the emotional nature of persons subjected to the influence of strong emotion in another person. All manifestations of thought, emotion, will, desire, or feeling, or any other mental state, are accompanied and caused by vibrations of a certain high rate, and that these vibrations tend to influence others in their field of "induction," and tend to set up in the others similar vibrations. In this fact lies the secret of Mental Influence, Personal Magnetism, etc. A knowledge and mastery of the science of mental vibrations enables the skilled Rosicrucian to change the rate of his mental vibrations at will, and to thus maintain a state of mental calm and power, unaffected by the thought vibrations of those around him.

(8) There is reported to us from the highest occult sources of information the fact that the ALL presents Itself alternately in great periods of Manifestation (called the Cosmic Days), followed by a like great period of Unmanifestation (called the Cosmic Nights). During the Cosmic Night the Eternal Parent exists as if wrapped in an unconscious and dreamless sleep, from which with the Dawn of the new Cosmic Day it awakens gradually into Manifestation. The Cosmic Day, in turn, gradually finds itself changing into a Twilight, which slowly but surely darkens into the Cosmic Night when all again is stilled and quiet. And so on, and on, and on, in infinite sequence and repetition—in infinite rhythm—the Cosmos presents this succession of Days and Nights: of Manifestation and Unmanifestation. And, so it has been forever and ever, and will continue forever and ever, without end, ceasing, or interruption. Such is the report of the wise and the illumined teachers of the race.

(33) A writer has said of an important fact concerning Rhythm in our emotional states: "Nothing swings beyond the limit of its extremes—nothing can pass beyond its rhythmic limits. Consequently, if a thing swings far in one direction, it swings back equally far in the other. Its reaction is in the measure of its action, though in an opposite direction. If its swing is great, its extremes are widely apart—if the swing is small, then the extremes are close together. The pendulum illustration may be applied to the phenomena on all planes. A short beat of the metronome allows the rod to move only a short distance each way—the long beat admits of a wide swing. And, in the same way, those who suffer keenly also enjoy keenly, while those whose natures admit of but little suffering are also incapable of more than a limited capacity for enjoyment. A pig suffers little, and enjoys but little; while a highly organized, sensitive individual suffers the torments of emotional and mental hell at times, while at others he mounts to the heavenly emotional and mental realms. The pendulum swings as far in one direction as in the other." In some of the higher teachings of the Rosicrucians the student is instructed in the application of the Principle of Rhythm to the mastery of his emotional states and feelings. The essence of this secret teaching is that the wise, perceiving the inevitable reaction following action, the ebb tide following the high tide, manage to escape the consequences of the reaction by rising to their higher realms or planes of consciousness just before the time of the backward swing of the emotional pendulum, thus allowing the reactionary movement to be manifested only on their lower planes of consciousness while the Ego dwells serenely on the upper plane.

(8) The best teachings of modern science is that there is a stimulating or fertilizing activity in nature which acts upon a generative force, the latter reacting upon the former. And, at the other end of the material scale, we find the teaching that the atom (once supposed to be the ultimate form of matter) is now discovered to be composed of a multitude of electrons, corpuscles, or ions (different names for the same thing) revolving around each other at a tremendous rate of motion. It was formerly supposed that the electrons simply revolved one around another, and that all were alike in character and nature; but the later discoveries show that the formation of the atom is due rather to the action of numerous circling positive (or "male") electrons around a central negative (or "female") electron, the positive (or "male") electrons seemingly exerting a peculiar effect upon the negative (or "female") electron, causing her to put forth certain energies which result in the "generation" of the atomic structure.

(13) The Ineluctable, the Kosmic Law is, thus, rooted in a natural principle under which each several entity is overruled to go, duly and in order, towards that place and Kind to which it characteristically tends, that is towards the image of its primal choice and constitution.

In that archetypal world every form of soul is near to the image to which its individual constitution inclines it; there is therefore no need of a sender or leader acting at the right moment to bring it at the right moment whether into body or into a definitely appropriate body: of its own motion it descends at the precisely true time and enters where it must. To every Soul its own hour; when that strikes it descends and enters the body suitable to it as at the cry of a herald; thus all is set stirring and advancing as by a magician's power or by some mighty traction; it is much as, in any living thing, the soul itself effects the fulfillment of the natural career, stirring and bringing forth, in due season, every element- beard, horn, and all the successive stages of tendency and of output- or, as it leads a tree through its normal course within set periods.

The Souls go forth neither under compulsion nor of freewill; or, at least, freedom, here, is not to be regarded as action upon preference; it is more like such a leap of the nature as moves men to the instinctive desire of sexual union, or, in the case of some, to fine conduct; the motive lies elsewhere than in the reason: like is destined unfailingly to like, and each moves hither or thither at its fixed moment.

Even the Intellectual-Principle, which is before all the kosmos, has, it also, its destiny, that of abiding intact above, and of giving downwards: what it sends down is the particular whose existence is implied in the law of the universal; for the universal broods closely over the particular; it is not from without that the law derives the power by which it is executed; on the contrary the law is given in the entities upon whom it falls; these bear it about with them. Let but the moment arrive, and what it decrees will be brought to act by those beings in whom it resides; they fulfil it because they contain it; it prevails because it is within them; it becomes like a heavy burden, and sets up in them a painful longing to enter the realm to which they are bidden from within.

(35) The following interesting quotation from a writer on the subject serves to bring out some of the main points concerned in the consideration of the activities of this particular principle: "Cyclicity is akin to Rhythm, and arise by reason of it. All events tend to move in cyclic trend—in constant circular movement. The Law of Cyclicity manifests in the universal tendency of things to swing in circles. Cyclicity is the outgrowth, or more complex form, of Rhythm. The primal manifestation of Rhythm is action to-and-fro in. a straight line or path—a movement backward and forward between two extremes or poles of action. This would be the invariable movement if the particular force manifested were the only manifestation of force or energy in that particular field of the Cosmos. But when the swinging pendulum (free to move in any direction) is subjected to the conflicting attractions and repulsions of other manifestations of force and energy, then there is manifested the universal tendency toward the circular trend—the tendency to convert the straight path of the swing into a circular path or cycle. The action and reaction, the attraction and repulsion, arising from the conflict between the force of the rhythmic swing in a straight line on the one hand, and the attractive and repellant forces from without, on the other hand, tend to swing the moving thing in a perfect circle around a central point, axis, or pivotal centre. And these conflicting forces are in operation through the Cosmos, and the manifestation of Cyclicity may be noticed on all planes. There is ever the evidence of the cyclic trend of things and events—the tendency to move in circles. The electrons in the atoms move in circles, just as do the planets around the sun, and just as does the sun move around some other centre in space.

(18) The teaching is that the race as a whole is slowly evolving on to the said higher Plane of Consciousness, and long ages from now will "conscious" normally on it. In the meantime, however, certain advanced souls have transcended the Human Plane, and have passed on to the higher plane, where they aid and assist the rest of the race. Moreover, to the individual whose unfoldment is rapid, from one or more of many well-known causes, there come at times "flashes of consciousness" from the higher plane aforesaid, which at least for the time being bring the individual into conscious contact with that plane. The pages of the mystic records are filled with statements of experiences of this kind. In certain forms of poetic fervor, religious exaltation, and mystic experience, these flashes come and are then recorded by the individual experiencing them—the record, however, usually being given in the terms of the philosophy, religion, or general belief of the person experiencing the contact or "illumination," the person not fully realizing from just what source the flash of Truth has come.

(23) In the above we have but one of the many applications of the Principle of Correspondence, which teaches that "As above, so below; as below, so above;" and that "From One know All." II. The Principle of Law and Order The Principle of Law and Order manifests in the presence and manifestation of a regular sequence, and orderly procession of phenomena in the universe of things. It is voiced by the celebrated axiom of a leading scientist that "The Universe is governed by laws." The spirit of this principle of truth is embodied in the very term "The Cosmos," which term is derived from the Greek term "Kosmos," meaning: "The world or universe considered in connection with perfect order and arrangement, as opposed to Chaos." In the occult teachings of the Rosicrucians it is impressed upon the student that "there is no such thing as Chance," in so far as Chance is used in the sense of "uncaused happening." The student is taught that even in the instances in which Blind Chance seems to rule, there is still the manifestation of Law and Order and Causation, though the Causes may lie outside of human knowledge. The term "Chance" is now employed by careful thinkers only in the sense of "The unknown, or unforeseen cause or causes of an event." In the Cosmos the same Causes, manifesting under the same circumstances always produce the same Effects. All of our science and thought is based upon this universal fact, and intelligent reasoning would be impossible without the tacit assumption of the truth of this principle. There is no room for Chance or haphazard, lawless happenings in the Cosmos. Everything, every happening, and every event, must have its "causes" and its "becauses." Everything happens "because" of so-and-so. Given certain causes, there must ensue certain results and effects. "Nothing ever happens" says the old proverb—and nothing ever does "happen" except for definite causes, and in pursuance with universal laws. As someone has said: "There is no room in the universe for anything outside of and independent of Law and Order. The existence of such an outside Something would render all Cosmic Law ineffective, and would plunge the universe into chaotic disorder and lawlessness." A writer has said regarding this: "A careful examination will show that what we call 'Chance' is merely the idea of obscure causes, causes that we cannot understand. The word 'Chance' is derived from a word meaning "to fall" (as the falling of dice from the box onto the board), the essence of the idea being that the fall of the dice are merely 'happenings' unrelated to any cause. And this is the sense in which the term is generally employed. But when the matter is closely examined it is seen that there is no chance whatsoever about the fall of the dice. Each time a die falls, and displays a certain number, it obeys a law as infallible as that which governs the revolution of the planets around the sun, and the movement of the sun itself. Back of the fall of the die are causes, or chains of causes, running back further than the mind can follow. The position of the die in the box; the amount of muscular energy expended in the throw; the condition of the table; etc., etc., all are causes, the effect of the combination of which may be seen in the fall and position of rest of the die. But back of these perceived causes there are chains of unseen preceding causes, all of which have had a bearing upon the position of the die as it comes to rest on the table. If the die be cast a great number of times, it will be. found that the numbers shown will be about equal, that is, there will be an equal number of one-spot, two-spots, etc., coming uppermost. Toss a penny in the air, and it may come down either heads' or tails.' But make a sufficient number of tosses, and the heads and tails will even up. This is the operation of the Law of Average. But bath the average and the single toss come under the Law of Cause and Effect." The same writer says: "There is no original happening; and every happening is merely a link in a great chain of happenings. There is a continuity between precedent happenings, the present happenings, and future happenings. There is always the relation between what has gone before, and what is happening now, and what will happen in the future. For instance: A stone is dislodged from the mountain-side and crashes through the roof of a cottage in the valley below. At first sight this seems to be a chance effect, but when we examine the matter we find a great chain of causes behind it. In the first place, there was the rain which softened the earth supporting the stone and which allowed or caused' it to fall. Then back of that there was the influence of the sun, other rains, etc., which gradually disintegrated the rock from a larger piece. Then there were the causes which led to the formation of the mountain, and its upheaval by convulsions of nature, and so on ad infinitum. We might follow up the causes behind the rain. Then we might consider the existence of the cottage just at that place at that particular moment. In short we would soon find ourselves involved in a mesh of cause and effect from which we would soon strive vainly to extricate ourselves." But the Rosicrucians do not believe in Fatalism in the ordinary sense of that term. Fatalism denies that preceding events have any causal relation to preceding events, and holds that the fated event would have happened in spite of any precedent event. Fatalism makes the fated event stand apart from the Law of Cause and Effect, and implies that the event arose from the operation of some arbitrary degree or will. The following quotation from an authoritative source will serve to point out the essential distinction between Fatalism and the Determination of Cosmic Law: "Fatalism is the doctrine that the course of events is so determined that what an individual wills can have no effect on that course. Fatalism must be carefully distinguished from Determinism, as the confusion of these two conceptions has been responsible for much of the popular prejudice existing against Determinism. Fatalism, as has been said, denies that Will has efficacy in shaping events. Determinism maintains that this causally efficient Will is itself to be causally accounted for; this is entirely different for the fatalistic assertion that Will counts for nothing. In fact Determinism and Fatalism are fundamental antagonistic. Determinism asserts that events are determined by some of the events that immediately precede them; that if the latter were different the former would be different. Fatalism denies that immediately preceding events have anything to do with the origination of events immediately following: it asserts that the latter would occur even if the former were changed. To say that one's death is fixed by Fate is to deny that it takes place by natural law. Or, more accurately, it is to say that however much one varies the cause, one cannot vary the effect. The fatalist's position is that the end is predetermined, but not the means; the determinist's position is that the events now occurring lead by causality to other events, which are thus fixed because their causes are actually existent. Or, to put it still another way, for the fatalist what actually determines the event is not another event immediately preceding, but some mysterious decree issued by some mysterious agent ages before the event. This enables us to see that Fatalism gives no scope to the Will. But Determinism, which merely asserts that every event has its determining conditions in its immediate antecedents, includes among those antecedents the human Will. Thus Determinism is consistent with a belief in the efficacy of Will, and Fatalism is not." In the above we have illustrations of some of the many applications of the Principle of Law and Order, which teaches that "Nothing happens by Chance, but everything happening is in accordance with Law, Order, and Causation." III. The Principle of Vibration The Principle of Vibration manifests in the manifestation of a state of vibration in everything in the Manifested Cosmos. It is voiced by the old occult axiom: "Everything vibrates." Modern science has advanced to the position of the ancient occultists who asserted that everything in the Cosmos was in a state or condition of continuous vibration. Science now tells us that not only is every particle of matter, or every mass of matter, in a state of continual vibration, but also that light, heat, magnetism, electricity and every other form of natural force results from a state of vibration.

(2) ... For in any one science the reduction of the total of knowledge into its separate propositions does not shatter its unity, chipping it into unrelated fragments; in each distinct item is talent the entire body of the science, an integral thing in its highest Principle and its last detail: and similarly a man must so discipline himself that the first Principles of his Being are also his completions, are totals, that all be pointed towards the loftiest phase of the Nature: when a man has become this unity in the best, he is in that other realm; for it is by this highest within himself, made his own, that he holds to the Supreme.

At no point did the All-Soul come into Being: it never arrived, for it never knew place; what happens is that body, neighbouring with it, participates in it: hence Plato does not place Soul in body but body in Soul. The others, the secondary Souls, have a point of departure- they come from the All-Soul- and they have a Place into which to descend and in which to change to and fro, a place, therefore, from which to ascend: but this All-Soul is for ever Above, resting in that Being in which it holds its existence as Soul and followed, as next, by the Universe or, at least, by all beneath the sun.

The partial Soul is illuminated by moving towards the Soul above it; for on that path it meets Authentic Existence. Movement towards the lower is towards non-Being: and this is the step it takes when it is set on self; for by willing towards itself it produces its lower, an image of itself- a non-Being- and so is wandering, as it were, into the void, stripping itself of its own determined form. And this image, this undetermined thing, is blank darkness, for it is utterly without reason, untouched by the Intellectual-Principle, far removed from Authentic Being.

As long as it remains at the mid-stage it is in its own peculiar region; but when, by a sort of inferior orientation, it looks downward, it shapes that lower image and flings itself joyfully thither.