The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception
ISBN 0-911274-34-0 | |
The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception or Mystic Christianity (also known as Western Wisdom Teachings) is a Rosicrucian text by Max Heindel, first published in 1909.
Contents overview
The author talks about the true man and his journey through
It deals with many esoteric topics and also
Main themes
The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception is divided in three parts:
Part I: the Visible and the Invisible Worlds, Man and the Method of Evolution, Rebirth and the Law of Cause and Effect;
Part II: the scheme of Evolution in general and the Evolution of the Solar System and the Earth in particular;
Part III: Christ and His Mission, Future Development of Man and Initiation, Esoteric Training and a Safe Method of Acquiring Firsthand Knowledge.
The Rosicrucian conception of God and the scheme of evolution
According to the Western Wisdom Teachings, in the beginning of a Day of Manifestation a certain collective Great Being, God, limits Himself to a certain portion of space, in which He elects to create a
In God there are contained hosts of glorious Hierarchies and lesser beings of every grade of intelligence and stage of consciousness, from omniscience to an unconsciousness deeper than that of the deepest trance condition. During the current period of manifestation these various grades of beings are working to acquire more experience than they possessed at the beginning of this period of existence. Those who, in previous manifestations, have attained the highest degree of development work on those who have not yet evolved any consciousness.
The period of time devoted to the attainment of self-consciousness and to the building of the
The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception describes that in the Solar System, God's Habitation, there are seven Worlds differentiated by God, within Himself, one after another.[1] These Worlds have each a different "measure" and rate of vibration and are not separated by space or distance, as is the Earth from the other planets. They are states of matter, of varying density and vibration (as are the solids, liquids and gases of the physical Earth). These Worlds are not instantaneously created at the beginning of a day of Manifestation, nor do they last until the end. The evolutionary scheme is carried through five of these Worlds in seven great Periods of manifestation, during which the evolving virgin spirit becomes first human and then a God. The highest Worlds are created first, and as involution is to slowly carry the life into denser and denser matter for the building of forms, the finer Worlds gradually
Part of a series on |
Theism |
---|
The Rosicrucians teach that the above referred seven Worlds belong to the lowest of the seven "Cosmic Planes". The Worlds and Cosmic Planes are not one above another in space, but the seven Cosmic Planes inter-penetrate each other and all the seven Worlds. They are states of spirit-
From The Absolute proceeds the Supreme Being, at the dawn of manifestation: this is The One, the "Great Architect of the Universe". The first aspect of the Supreme Being may be characterized as Power, from this proceeds the second aspect, the Word, and from both of these proceeds the third, aspect, Motion. From the threefold Supreme Being proceed the "seven Great Logoi". They contain within Themselves all the great Hierarchies which differentiate more and more as they diffuse through the various Cosmic Planes.[3] In the Highest World of the seventh Cosmic Plane dwells the God of the solar systems in the Universe. These great Beings are also threefold in manifestation, like the Supreme Being. Their three aspects are Will, Wisdom and Activity.
Comments about the Cosmo
The author's perspective
By Max Heindel in A Word to the Wise:
- If the book is "weighed and found wanting," the writer will have no complaint. He only fears a hasty judgment based upon lack of knowledge of the system he advocates—a hearing wherein the judgment is "wanting" in consequence of having been denied an impartial "weighing." He would further submit, that the only opinion worthy of the one who expresses it must be based upon knowledge.
- Yet he is convinced that The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception is far from being the last word on the subject.
- The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception is not dogmatic, neither does it appeal to any other authority than the reason of the student.
- The Rosicrucian Brotherhood has the most far-reaching, the most logical conception of the World-Mystery (...)
- It is emphatically stated that this work embodies only the writer's understanding of the Rosicrucian teachings concerning the World-Mystery (...)
- What is said in this work is to be accepted or rejected by the reader according to his own discretion.
---
- Now, perhaps you will understand my attitude towards the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. I admire and marvel at its wonderful teaching more than anyone else, and can do so without violating proper modesty for the book is not mine—it belongs to humanity.[4]
A critical essay
By Charles Weber in The Mystic and Occult in Max Heindel's Writings:[5]
- The Cosmo’s author has "an unswerving desire, a burning thirst for knowledge", which is "the first and central requisite the aspirant to occult knowledge must possess", but with this qualification, that "the supreme motive for seeking this occult knowledge must be an ardent desire to benefit humanity" (22). "Another prerequisite to this first-hand knowledge, however, is the study of occultism second-hand" (23). It is the purpose of the Cosmo to make that second-hand study of occultism possible. Occult science is the science of what occurs occultly insofar as it is not perceived in external nature, but in that region toward which the soul turns when it directs its inner being toward the spirit.
- Heindel emphasizes the facticity of the Cosmo’s contents and the rigor and objectivity of his sources by using the term occult scientist(s) thirty times and occult science twenty-five times. The occultist (used twenty times) "knows" and "sees" what he is reporting on. "The occult scientist uses concentration in preference to prayer because the former is accomplished by the aid of the mind, which is cold and unfeeling, whereas prayer is usually dictated by emotion" (463). That is, concentration is more impersonal, and therefore more reliable. However, when emotion is replaced by a mystic’s "pure unselfish devotion to high ideals, prayer is much higher than cold concentration" (ibid).
Modern perspective
The first edition was printed in 1909 and has changed little since then.
Publication history
The first edition was printed in November 1909. The order of publication was placed by Max Heindel on the
The first dedicatory
The first edition of this work, containing more than 700 pages of in depth teachings into the major themes of the occult science, was dedicated to a knowledgeable lecturer of the occult field called
See also
- Epochs (Anthropogenesis)
- Esoteric cosmology
- Planes of existence
- Rebirth
- Subtle bodies
References
- ^ Heindel, Max, The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception; Diagram 2: The Seven Worlds
- ^ Heindel, Max, Idem; Diagram 8: The 7 7 7 Incarnations
- ^ Heindel, Max, Idem; Diagram 6: The Supreme Being, the Cosmic Planes and God
- ^ The Rosicrucian Fellowship. Our Work in the World. Accessed in July 2005
- ^ Weber, Charles. The Mystic and Occult in Max Heindel's Writings. Accessed in February 2005
- ^ Note: The new moon is important in astrology, as is the full moon.
- ^ Jean de Galzain. Online [RF Friends] announcement of the 100-year centenary of the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and celebration events at Mount Ecclesia on the weekend of November 13–14-15, 2009.