Cathedral Contacts[From The Rosicrucian Digest May 1935]
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"Cathedral of the Soul" is a Cosmic meeting place for all minds of the
most advanced and highly developed spiritual members and workers of the
Rosicrucian Fraternity. It is a focal point of Cosmic radiations and
thought waves from which radiate vibrations of health, peace,
happiness, and inner awakening. Various periods of the day are set
aside when many thousands of minds are attuned with the Cathedral of
the Soul, and others attuning with the Cathedral at this time will
receive the benefit of the vibrations. Those who are not members of the
organization may share in the unusual benefit as well as those who are
members. The book called "Liber 777" describes the periods for various
contacts with the Cathedral. Copies will be sent to persons who are not
members by addressing their request for this book to Friar S. P. C.,
care of AMORC Temple, San Jose, California, enclosing three cents in
postage stamps. (Please state whether member or not--this is important.) |
A
DIVINE PRIVILEGE
AMONG the mystics and mystical philosophers of oriental
lands, the practice of entering into the silence or into meditation several
times each day for just a few minutes at a time is a very old and established custom.
Compared with customs established in the Western World it is equivalent to that
of eating lunch regularly between twelve and one o'clock, or of closing
business offices at five thirty or six o'clock, or of going to church at eleven
o'clock on Sunday morning, or of buying the morning newspaper on the way to the
train. These customs are so general and so universally acknowledged as proper,
beneficial, and consistent with the routine of life, that an exception to these
customs is the only thing that evokes comment.
In fact, in the Western World arising in the morning
at a certain hour, eating at a certain hour, and retiring generally at a time
somewhere between ten-thirty and midnight, are considered as unbreakable rules
necessary in the scheme of things, and having an important bearing upon our
health and happiness. To the mystic and philosopher the suspension of worldly
interests for a few minutes while entering into meditation and contemplation is
as important as anything in the plan of life's affairs. The hours for eating,
arising, and going to sleep are even less regular among the oriental people
than is the established moment for the entering into a contemplative mood. To
the mystic such meditation is food to the soul and to the spiritual and psychic
self; to the philosopher it is food to the mind and the intellect. The
spiritual, psychic, and intellectual part of man must be nourished,
strengthened, and matured along with the growth and development of the physical
part of man, and if either is to be neglected through force of circumstance or
arbitrarily by choice, the physical body is sacrificed through the growth and
development of the spiritual and intellectual part of our beings.
We in the Western World look upon the physical side
of our existence from a different point of view. We realize the duality of man's
existence, but hold fast to the rational belief that while we are existing here
on earth the physical side of our nature is as important to our health,
happiness, growth, and development as is the spiritual side. We have not found,
nor can we believe that any will find, that negating or dethroning the strength
of the body or the prowess of the mind will add in any sense to the growth and
development or Cosmic unfoldment of the spiritual side of our beings. We do
recognize, however, that like those who live simply to eat, as it is said,
there are those who live almost wholly in the material world attracted only by
its fleeting and ever-changing allurements, and giving domination almost
exclusively to the physical side of our existence. These persons are, after
all, no more unsound in their attitude and practice of their beliefs than those
who permit the physical bodies to starve and to become sadly deficient while
devoting most of the hours of the day to practices that are believed to be
spiritual, but are really unassociated with true spiritual principles.
The value of a few moments spent in meditation and
contemplation lies in the fact that it is one of man's really great Divine
privileges to separate himself consciously from the material things of life and
to dwell for a while in the sublime and ecstatic state of attunement with the
Cosmic, with the higher spiritual things of life, and with God. The greatest
blessing man possesses is his ability to think and to reason, to analyze and to
turn his thoughts forward and backward, inwardly and outwardly. Memory is one
of man's most useful mental assets, as well as one of his spiritual gifts. To
be able to dwell in retrospection as well as introspection gives man the
broadest possible survey of his own life, and the lives of others. He is not
only able to close his eyes in thought and visualize mentally or psychically a
panorama of his present life and daily affairs, but he can reach back into the
shadowy hours, days, months, weeks, and years of his present earthly existence
and the existence of human kind and into the faintly illuminated and silvery
lighted visions of the future. This enables man to see himself in his actual
relationship with not only the ever-present now, but the glorious past and the
inevitable future.
By being able to turn his thoughts inwardly he is
able to commune with himself in a sense not possible through any other mode or
mood of thinking. He can become outwardly a part of himself inwardly, and he
can become a thing apart from that which seems to be while becoming wholly that
which really is.
Moments spent in Divine or spiritual meditation
inevitably lead to attunement with the Cosmic and the spiritual forces of the Kingdom of God. This is why those who have made a
practice of setting aside one or two brief periods each day for attunement with
the Cathedral of the Soul, have derived so much material as well as spiritual
benefit. Such attunement is sure to act as a tonic upon the vital functionings
of each part of the body, and upon the essential constitutional health and
vitality of the entire body. It is equivalent to the rest that the physician
recommends after a long siege of illness, and to the relaxation and deep sleep
that is necessary after an extreme strain upon the physical abilities.
Five minutes spent in one of the regular Cathedral
periods outlined in the book Liber 777 will do much for each individual in
brushing away the sorrows and griefs of life, in smoothing out the trials and
tribulations that annoy and worry, and in strengthening and vitalizing the mind
and body. And it will lift upward the trend of our thinking, bringing
inspiration, guidance, and revelation as to the proper thing to do in a moment
of perplexity; it will fill our souls with a joyous song and make the sunshine
of life disperse the gathering shadows, and the threatening storms. It will
encourage the one who is despondent, and fire with ambition the one who is
hopeless.
You should discover--if you have not already done
so--what it is that warrants thousands upon thousands of our members and
friends in holding fast to their schedule of one or two periods of association
with the Cathedral and in Divine meditation each day. The more perfect your
health may be, the more should you enter this period of meditation and give
thanks for the health you enjoy, the other blessings that are yours, and
contribute to the vitalizing power that you radiate to those who are asking for
a share of that which you have so abundantly.
If worldly blessings have come to you in any form
through your daily meditation, you must express your appreciation and gratitude
to God and the Cosmic. If things have been denied to you, or there is an
absence of the realization of your desires in any direction, the period of
meditation will help to enrich your possessions, and to put you in contact with
the source of all things. Do not miss such opportunities. Start today to set
aside a few minutes each morning and evening, or sometime during the middle of
the day when you can be alone and at peace with the world, and attuned with God
for a few minutes. Lift yourself up from the plane of worldly things to the Kingdom of Light, Life, and Love.
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