The Washington herald., 1914-08-09

our lives Is stored up. the seat Of Con-
science, the wielder OF the VIII.
The Resurrection Body.
The second of the three divisions OF
the spiritual body is spoken of by St
Paul in the significant words: I'VE have
a building Of God. an house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens.
That is the Bliss Body, the glorifed
body of the Christ. the Resurrection
Body" It is not a body which is made
with hands. by the working Of con-
scIousness in lower vehicles: II Is not
formed by experience. not >builded out
OF the materialssgathered by man IN his
long pilgrimage II Is a body which be-
longs TO the Christ-life, the life Of Initia-
ton; to the divine embodiment In man;
} Il is buIlded of God. by the activity OF
the Spirit. and grows during the whole
life or lives OF the Initiate. only reach
ing its perfection at the Resurrection"
The third division Of the spiritual body
is the fine MIN OF subtle matter that
separates of the Individual spirit as a
Being. and yet permits the interpenetra-
ton Of all by ALL In the day when the
Son Himself shall be subject unto Him
that puts all things under Him, that God
may be all in ALL" this Aim will be tran
scende6.
Christianity has always recognized the
existence of three worlds, or regions,
through which a man passes: first, the
physical world: secondly, an intermediate
state into which he passes at death;
thirdly, the heavenly world. There Is
some difference Of opinion as to the ma
ture Of the intermediate world. The
Roman Catholic names 1t Purgatory, and
believes that every soul passes into II.
save that Of the Saint, the man who has
reached perfection. or that Of a man who
has died in mortal sim" The great
mass OF humanity pass into purifying
region, wherein a man remains for a
period varying In length according to
the sins he has committed. only passing
out OF it into the heavenly world when
he has become pure. The various COM
munities that are called Protestant vary
in their teachings as to details. and most
ly repudiate the idea OF post mortem
publication; but they agree broadly that
there is an intermediate state, sometimes
spoken OF as Paradise" or as walt
ing period" The heavenly world is al
most universally, in modern Christendom,
regarded as a final state. with no very
definite or general idea as to its nature,
or as to the progress or stationary con-
dItion OF those attaining to II. In early
Christianity this heaven was considered
TO be, as II really is. a stage in the prog
TGSS VI AuG sOAls AtlllNdA HdNIOh IA OAC
form or another. the pre-existence Of the
soul, being then very generally taught
How They Are Developed.
To complete the outline necessary for
the understanding OF the Resurrection
and Ascension, we must see how these
various bodies are developed in the higher
evolution
The physical body is in a constant state
of fiux, IL minute particles being con-
tInually renewed, so that 1t is ever build
ing; and as II is composed of the food We
eat, the liquids We drink, the air We
breathe, and particles drawn from our
physical surroundings, both people and
things We can steadily purify II, by
choosing its materials well. and thus
make it an ever purer vehicle through
which to act, receptive Of subtler vibra-
lions, responsive TO purer desires. to mob
Ter and more elevated thoughts.
The desire body also changes, in SINH
lar fashion. but the materials for IL are
expelled and drawn in by the play OF the
sions. and emotions. II these are coarse,
the materials built into the desire body
are also coarse, while as these are puri-
fed, the desire body grows subtle and
becomes very sensitive TO the higher in
nuences. In proportion as a man domi-
mates his lower nature and becomes IN
selfish in his wishes, feelings, and emo
tons. as he makes his love for those
around him less selfish and grasping, he
is purifying this higher vehicle of con-
scioutless; the result is that when out
OF tn body in sleep he has higher. purer,
and more instructive experiences, and
when he leaves the physical body at
death he passes swiftly through the in
termediate state, the desire body dis
migrating with great rapidity. and not
delaying him in his onward Journey.
The mental body is similarly being
built now. in this case by thoughts 1t
will be the vehicle of consciousness In
the heavenly world, but is being built
now by aspirations. by imagination, rea-
son, Judgment artistic faculties, by the
use Of all the mental powers. Such as
the man makes it, so must he wear it.
and the length and richness of his
heavenly state depends on the kind Of
mental body he has built during his life
on earth
AS a man enters the higher evolution,
this mental body comes into independent
activity on this side OF death, and grad
ually becomes conscious Of his heavenly
fife, even amid the whirl OF mundane
existence. And inasmuch as heaven is
not far away from US, but surrounds US
on every side, and We are only shut out
from it by our incapacity to feel its
vibrations, not by their absence; mas
much as those vibrations are playing
upon US at every moment OF our lives, all
that is needed to be in Heaven is to be-
come conscious Of these vibrations.
Rises Into Second Heaven.
During the stages OF evolution the
Casual Body develops rapidly, and en-
ables the man, after death. to rise into
the second heaven. After the Second
Birth. the birth OF the Christ in man,
the heavens" This is the body Of the
Christ, developed during the days of
His service on earth.
In the Christian Mysteries-as in the
ancient Egyptians, Caldean. and others
there was an outer symbolism which
expressed the stages through which the
man was passing. He was brought into
the chamber Of Initiation, and was
stretched on the ground with his arms
extended, sometimes on a cross OF wood,
sometimes merely on the stone floor, in
the posture of a crucified man. He was
then touched with the thyrsus on the
heart-the spear OF the crucihxion-
and leaving the body. he passed into the
worlds beyond. the body falling into
deep trance, the death of the crucified.
The body was placed in a sarcophagus
Of stone, and there left, carefully guard
ed. Meanwhile the man himself was
treading first the strange obscure re-
sions called the heart of the earth"
and thereafter the heavenly mount, where |
he put on the perfected bliss body, now
FULLY organized as a vehicle Of conscious |