The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception

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The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception or Mystic Christianity is a Rosicrucian text, written by Max Heindel (ISBN 0-911274-34-0)

Contents

Western Wisdom Teachings

The first edition was printed in November 1909, it has little changed since then and it is considered to be Max Heindel’s magnum opus. It is a reference work in the Christian mysticism practice and in the Occult study literature, containing the fundamentals of Esoteric Christianity from a Rosicrucian perspective. The Cosmo contains a comprehensive outline of the evolutionary process of man and the universe, correlating science with religion. It is, till current days, the basic book for the Philosophy courses of the school, The Rosicrucian Fellowship, founded by the author in 1909/11.

The first dedicatory

The first edition of this work, containing more than 700 pages of indepth teachings into the major themes of the occult science, was dedicated to a knowledgeable lecturer of the occult field called Rudolf Steiner, to whom Max Heindel felt greatly indebted. It had the subtitle "Occult Science" instead of "Mystic Christianity" and just above the message and mission ("A Sane Mind, a Soft Heart and a Sound Body", "Service") there was a quotation from Paul of Tarsus: "PROVE ALL THINGS". In the subsequent edition, Heindel removed the initial dedicatory and changed the mentioned elements. The first dedicatory become a controversial issue among some students of both teachers, till current days. However, as both authors, Heindel and Steiner, appear to have been influenced by the same Elder Brother of the Rosicrucian Order, to some extent and at some stage of their lives, it becomes an accessory issue that may only be unveiled through the discernment of the student along her/his path of spiritual unfoldment.

Contents overview

The author talks about the true man and his journey through involution, evolution and epigenesis, presenting practical methods to aid the development of latent potentials in each one of us and how to transmute our latency into dynamic powers in order to achieve, according to the author, direct knowledge and conscientious work in the invisible worlds.

It deals with many esoteric topics and also metaphysics, physiology and cosmology (the visible and invisible worlds, human evolution, death and rebirth, nutrition, esoteric training, …). It contains a history of the evolution of the human spirit and related bodies (from before awareness, through various incarnations of our planet on various planes, and into the future development) and of animal, vegetable and mineral life waves (each, of the myriad of life forms and types of consciousness on this physical plane, experiencing their own points in evolution). It also presents an esoteric interpretation about the mission of Christ and an occult analysis of Biblical texts which include the fall of man, the law of cause and consequence, Bible and rebirth; and many other themes which were further developed in the subsequent books, lectures and lessons given by the author at the time (1910s) in the United States.

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.

Comments about the Cosmo's

The author's perspective (Max Heindel in A Word to the Wise, foreword in RCC)

  • 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.

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  • 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. [1]


A critical essay (Charles Weber in The Mystic and Occult in Max Heindel's Writings)

  • 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).

See also

External links

Wikipedia

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