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CHAPTER XV. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT
PART I MATERIAL ANALOGIES
WHILE we were coming down by involution into concrete existence our line of progress lay entirely in
material development; but since we have rounded the nadir of materiality and are beginning to rise above the
concrete, spiritual unfoldment is becoming increasingly important as a necessary factor in our development,
although we still have many great and important lessons to learn from the material phase of our existence.
This applies to humanity in general but particularly, of course, to those who are already consciously
beginning to aspire to live the higher life. It may therefore be expedient to review from another angle the
Rosicrucian teachings as to the scientific method of acquiring this spiritual unfoldment.
People of the older generation, particularly in Europe and the eastern states of America, will undoubtedly
remember with pleasure their travels along quiet country lanes, and how time and again they have passed by a
rippling stream with an old rustic mill, its creaking water wheel laboriously turning the crude machinery
within, using but a small fraction of the power stored in the running water, which was going uselessly to
waste save for such partial use. But later on a new generation came and perceived the possibilities to be
realized by a scientific use of this enormous energy. Engineers began to construct dams to keep the water
from flowing in the former wasteful manner. They diverted the water from the storage reservoirs through
pipes or flumes to the water wheels constructed upon scientific principles, and they husbanded the great
energy which they had stored by letting in only enough water to turn the water wheels at a given speed and
with a given load.
But while the scientifically constructed water wheel was a giant compared with its crude predecessor, it was
subject to some of the same limitations; its enormous energy could only be used at the place where the power
was located, and such places are usually many miles from the centers of civilization where power is most
needed. By working with the laws of nature, man had secured a servant of inexhaustible energy; but how to
make it available where most needed, that was the question. To solve that problem, again the laws of nature
were invoked; electric generators were coupled to the water wheels, the water power was transformed into
electrical energy and an endeavor made to send it from the sources of its development to the cities where it
might be used. But this again required scientific methods of working with the laws of nature, for it was found
that different metals transmit electricity with varying facility, the best of them being copper and silver.
Copper was therefore chosen as the less expensive of the two.
Let the student observe that we cannot compel these forces to do anything; WHENEVER WE USE THEM IT
IS BY WORKING WITH THE LAWS THAT GOVERN THEIR MANIFESTATION, by choosing the line
of least resistance to obtain the maximum of energy. If wires of iron or German silver, which have a
CHAPTER XV. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT PART I MATERIAL ANALOG
34
Teachings of an Initiate
comparatively high resistance, had been chosen as transmitters, a great deal of energy would have been thus
lost, besides, other complications would have resulted which we need not enter into for our purpose. But by
working with the laws of nature and choosing the line of least resistance, we obtain the best result in the
easiest manner.
There were other problems which confronted these experimenters in their transformation of the water power
used in the old water wheels, to electricity usable many miles from the source of power. it was found that an
electric current would always seek the ground by the nearest path if there were any possibility of so doing.
Hence it became necessary that the wire carrying the electric current be separated from the earth by some
material that would prevent it from thus escaping, exactly as a high wall keeps a prisoner behind it.
Something had to be found for which electricity had a natural aversion, and his was discovered in glass,
porcelain, and certain fibrous substances, thus solving by scientific means and ingenuity, working always
with the laws of nature, the problem of how to use the best advantage in distant places the great energy which
the old crude mill wheel had wasted at its source.
The same application of scientific methods to other problems of life, such as gardening, has also secured
wonderful results for the benefit and comfort of humanity, making two hundred blades of grass grow where
formerly by the crude old methods not one even could find sustenance. Wizards like Luther Burbank have
improved upon the wild varieties of fruit and vegetables, making them larger, more luscious and palatable, as
well as more prolific; and wherever, haphazard practices of former days, the same beneficial results have
been achieved. But as said before, and this is very important for our consideration, EVERYTHING THAT
HAS BEEN DONE HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED BY WORKING WITH THE LAWS OF NATURE.
The Hermetic axiom, "AS above so below," enunciates the law an analogy, the master-key to all mysteries,
spiritual or material, and we may safely infer that what holds good in the application of scientific methods to
material problems will have equal force when applied to the solution of spiritual mysteries. The most cursory
review of religious development in the past will be sufficient to show that it has been anything but scientific
and systematic, and that the most haphazard methods have prevailed. On account of their capacity for
devotion, a few have risen to sublime heights of spirituality and are known through the ages as Saints, shining
lights upon the pathway, showing what may be done. But how to achieve that sublime spirituality has been
and is a mystery to all, even to those who most ardently desire such development, and these are, alas,
comparatively few at the present time.
The Elder Brothers of the Rosicrucians have, however, originated a scientific method, which, if persistently
and consistently followed, will develop the sleeping soul powers in any individual, just as surely as constant
practice will make a person proficient in any material line of endeavor. To understand this matter it is
necessary to realize that facts in the case; it was the old crude mill wheel that gave water power in an efficient
manner and to much greater advantage. If we first study the natural development of soul power by evolution,
we shall then be in a position to understand the great and beneficial results to be derived from an application
of scientific methods to this important matter. Students of the Rosicrucian teachings are of course familiar
with the main points in this process of humanity's development by evolution, but there may be a number who
are not so informed, and so for their sake we will give a little fuller outline than might otherwise be
necessary.
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