Sympathetic Vibratory Physics - It's a Musical Universe!

 

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LECTURE FIVE

 

THE LAW OF RE-EMBODIMENT

 

HERBERT SPENCER, in his "First Principles," discusses force and matter, and after a long dissertation he accepts as a fact the indestructibility of matter and the persistency of force. The idea he develops is that it makes no difference how often matter and force may change form, nevertheless they are persistent; therefore he argues that there is only a certain amount of force and matter in the Universe. He concludes his discussion with the opinion that in his judgment the whole Universe is an unfoldment from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous and back to the homogeneous again; and these respective periods he designates as "alternate eras of evolution and dissolution."

 

In his statement that the whole Universe is a manifestation of alternate eras of evolution and dissolution, Mr. Spencer has touched upon an Occult truth, a fragment of Occult knowledge. For the Occultist teaches that there is no such thing as eternity, as understood by the Western mind; that nothing can go on working forever and forever without rest. His idea being that everything moves according to given law, within certain periods, and that there are actions and reactions throughout all nature. Those of you who are familiar with the Eastern philosophy, will remember that this same thought is brought out there, and is described as "the days and nights of Brahma." Occultism says that the Great Consciousness manifests Itself periodically as the Universe, and after each manifestation there comes a period of rest, a period of night; for even Divine Consciousness Itself must rest.

 

When the Night of Brahma is coming on, gradually the living Universe finds its life pulsations growing slower and slower, and fainter and fainter; and one by one the planets fade from sight; one by one the stars cease to give forth their light, and the suns themselves grow dim. The Earth is rolled up as a parchment, and men and gods and worlds and suns all sink into sleep - there are no thoughts in the Great Mind. All is silence, rest, darkness. Reaction has followed action; the day's work has been done throughout all parts of the Supreme, and the Cosmic Night has come.

 

This night of rest lasts Eons embracing thousands and untold thousands of years; then comes creation's dawn. There is a slight pulsation within the Great Consciousness and there begin to be the rudiments of the Universe. It is as though one were standing in a great dark auditorium in the center of which burns a flickering flame of light. It is the only point of light to be seen in all that great place; then away in the distance another flame appears, then another and another, till the heavy atmosphere begins to pulsate and soon every portion of the room is illuminated, and that which was darkness becomes light, and the non-existent exists and becomes motion. You who have stood upon an eminence and watched a city as darkness was settling upon it saw, as the night advanced, one tiny point of light after another appear, now here, now there, until there was a great blaze of light throughout the whole city, and where it had been obscuration and gloom it became a brilliant illumination.

 

So it is with the Great Consciousness. From Its innermost heart goes forth the pulsating life, and the Solar Deities, in whom are embodied the greatest power and wisdom that man can conceive, are awakened to take up their part of the work in the new day, and there a sun springs into existence, then another, and another, until the whole Universe is again brought into activity. These Deities radiate the life force which thrills into activity the Planetary Spirits, who also take up their work, and worlds come forth into space again. These Spirits radiate the life force that awakens the lesser Gods who have slept through the long night of Brahma, and they resume again their evolutionary journey. And so the morning of a Cosmic Day has come. Deity has awakened, and has planned the day.

 

The Cosmic Days are more or less alike, as are all the days of men's years alike, except that each Cosmic Day is better than the one preceding it, since each new period of evolution is an advance beyond the one that passed before. Divine Mind images within Itself, or pictures the new day, and thus creates the outline of the plan by which all things shall evolve during that period. Then the greatest centers of consciousness take the plan as imaged by Deity and carry into execution the idea of the Great Architect. God thinks and the creative agencies bring into existence the physical worlds according to God's idea which they see. God wills and divides into two parts which we have described in a previous lecture as the particled and the unparticled portions, and there is the force and matter ensouled by consciousness. Then by Their will power the great centers of consciousness direct this force and this matter into the different matrices that Deity has planned, and the suns are formed to give forth light, and the worlds are made for men and animals to evolve upon.

 

The plans made by Deity in the dawn of each Cosmic Day are what men call "Natural Laws." They are the ways in which Deity selects to manifest during that particular Cosmic Day. These plans emanating from the center of the Supreme radiate throughout every part and portion of It; and the law which governs the visible side of life is the same law that governs the invisible side; and if you find a law operating in the realm of physics, you may know that it also operates in the realm of metaphysics.

 

And now we have seen how Divine Thought has manifested Itself in physical re-embodiment and how the law of periodicity has once again caused thought to be embodied in form, and how thereafter the law of periodicity makes itself felt everywhere throughout the Cosmic Day. Take, for example, the greatest conception of time that the human mind is capable of actually grasping, the cyclic motion of our sun. We find that it travels from a given point in space through its orbit, and returns again in about twenty-five thousand and nine hundred years. The law of periodicity has caused that great orb to go forth and return and a cycle has been made. The moon also has its particular orbit as has our earth and all the planets that swing in space; all are governed by the law of periodicity. Then again there is history repeating itself, and man forming his habits by a repetition of thought. And as it is with the law of periodicity, so it is with all the other impulses which are sent into the Universe by Deity; they continue to manifest over and over again from the moment they are sent forth until the last throb of the great Deific heart shall be given and the Cosmic Night shall come. The impulses which form a Universe, persist throughout the Universe, and manifest as the Laws of the Universe.

 

When we find that the Supreme Consciousness re-embodies Itself for a new Cosmic Day we know that the law of re-embodiment must apply to every part and portion of the Universe; that re-embodiment is a Cosmic Law, a law of nature. For evidence of this truth let us study the planets. Worlds are brought into existence by Planetary Spirits or Elohim who see the Divine thought or picture of worlds and use the images for matrices. They then project their thoughts into these centers, thereby creating vortices, which, through the intensity of their vibrations and the tremendous velocity with which they revolve, draw from boundless space the tiny particles we call atoms, and these seething masses of matter become huge balls of flaming gases. After ages and ages have passed these burning balls cool sufficiently to sustain vegetable and animal life upon their surfaces. And worlds, like the bodies of men, have their birth, their childhood, maturity and finally death and disintegration. When death comes to a world the life Principle commences to flow out of it through various channels into space. It is seeking new centers in which to re-embody itself; and with the passing of the life force from a world we find disintegration taking place. The atoms which composed the compact mass of the external world become demagnetized and fall away from each other, and finally drift away into space to be attracted by other newer and stronger magnetic centers, where they become re-embodied in other worlds in which consciousness may manifest.

 

Re-embodiment is a fact in nature, whether you look at it from an Occult standpoint, or from that of Herbert Spencer, with his indestructibility of matter and force re-embodying themselves for the purpose of evolution. This law of re-embodiment manifests in all planes, upon all worlds or planets. That we may comprehend it better, let us look at the action of this law in the several kingdoms on this world of ours. Starting with the mineral kingdom, we find there the lowest expression of embodied consciousness on this planet, and as typical of that kingdom we will consider the action of this law in coal. Take some of this coal and burn it. What is the result? The hard black mass becomes changed into ash and gas. The ash returns to the earth whence it came and again forms earth; and the gas which was liberated by the burning comes into contact with the atmosphere under its new condition and becomes separated into its four component parts which we call oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon. The oxygen and hydrogen unite and descend again to earth as water. The nitrogen and carbon unite and form the tissues of a plant and again you find the original elements united, with consciousness embodied in the new form, which is now a plant.

 

Passing on to the vegetable kingdom we see here the same law manifesting, but in a more pronounced manner; for as consciousness becomes more individualized more of God's plans must be manifested through it. As Winter approaches, the life force, which is the animating principle of vegetation, passes down into the roots. The leaves fall to the ground and the consciousness which manifested throughout the plant withdraws itself from the external to the internal and lies dormant and resting, waiting for the impulse which comes with Spring to awaken and arouse it again into action - to bring it into the external - that man's heart may be gladdened by the beauty of its expression. As the life force rises slowly from root to branch in the bush or tree, we see the law at work bringing forth new forms of life in the shape of leaf and bud and we know that re-embodiment is taking place among the shrubs and grasses and trees.

 

In the bulb family this same law works. The life force sinks into the tiny bulb at the beginning of Autumn and there it lies in silence and in darkness, within that tiny sphere, till the soft breath of Spring warms and raises its vibrations and arouses within its center a desire to again express itself, to appear once more in a newer and a more beautiful form than that of the bulb. And so it begins to re-clothe itself; it draws from earth and air such chemicals as it needs to give material expression to its beautiful soul or self, and behold "the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these," in its re-embodiment.

 

Passing on to the animal kingdom we find the tadpole and caterpillar. Both of these little creatures are good examples of the working of this law. They are individual consciousnesses; and before your eyes the tadpole gradually changes its form until it has a distinctly different body from the one it had at first. Yet the new frog body that can leap and swim and croak is animated by the same consciousness that animated the wriggling little form of the tadpole. The caterpillar, having a limited and loathsome form, desires a fuller and a better expression of itself and passes into a stupor or sleep. Then slowly its old atoms give place to new, which build a better form, until at last the same consciousness which crawled and crept upon the earth has re-clothed or reembodied itself and with wings of a golden hue it soars from earth to air. And the re-embodiment of the butterfly from the caterpillar is not only an illustration of the working of the law of re-embodiment, but it is typical of the evolution of the soul or mind of man which rises from the lowest depths of ignorance or so-called sin, to manhood and to Godhood.

 

This same law is operative in the higher forms of animal life and in the life of man; for a law that is a law of nature must persist throughout the Universe. The fact that we do not see the operation of a law is no proof that the law has ceased to act. Nor is the fact that this law manifests differently in different kingdoms and forms, evidence of the limitation or non-existence of the law. Every law manifests in each class of forms alike, but differs in its manifestation in different classes of forms because the consciousness within the form restricts but does not prevent the manifestation. For example, the law of gravity manifests the same in all iron, but manifests differently in different kingdoms and substances.

 

Individualized consciousness not only re-embodies itself constantly during earth life, but it re-embodies itself after it drops its entire body. In other words, it reincarnates. During the space of every seven years, according to some schools of medicine, man undergoes a complete change of body. Is he not therefore in the process of re-embodying himself by this constant renewal of his atoms? According to his rates of vibration or as his thoughts are elevated or debased does he draw new atoms into himself. And after he has dropped one physical body that he has drawn to himself is it surprising that he should have the power to draw to himself another? Is the fact that most men do not remember their past lives a proof that they did not formerly exist? If so, the majority of men did not exist during the first three years of their present lives nor in a pre-natal condition. The Occultists say that man does remember his past lives when his subjective mind controls his objective mind - and can function through it - for in the subjective are stored the memories of past experiences. What we call Conscience is but this memory of past experiences warning us not to repeat former follies and mistakes.

 

Since we have spoken of the re-embodiment of man by the term popularly known as reincarnation, it may be well before we take up other aspects of it to answer a question which is now in the minds of a number of you, and that is: what becomes of man between the times of his embodiments or incarnations?

 

As there are different states of matter in this objective physical world of ours, such as gases, liquids and solids, so there are different states of matter in the subjective world; and these different grades do not lie separate and distinct from each other. For example, on the physical plane there are conditions where substances interblend, as it were, as they do in a syphon bottle of aerated water, or in a water-soaked sponge, where each substance occupies the same space while lying within the other. Again, we have the solid earth with certain waters within and on the earth. Outside the earth we have water or vapor in clouds and yet within both the earth and the clouds is air or gases which extend still further out into space.

 

On the subjective side of life there are finer forms of matter which interpenetrate our earth, water and gas. Around our earth there are belts or zones composed of finer matter very much like the rings around Saturn, and the densest of these rings interpenetrates our earth, while each of the other rings extends further and further into space - according to its rarity and size. These rings are material, but each is of a different tenuity of matter caused by its different rates of vibration. We might crudely picture our world as a porous wooden ball floating in a tub of water. The water would correspond to the first subjective plane and would not only surround the ball, but it would be through the ball as well. Outside the water and surrounding it would be a belt of atmosphere representing the second subjective plane and outside of that would be a belt of ether representing the third subjective plane.

 

It is to these several belts that man goes between his incarnations; and it is to the first belt, that one which interpenetrates the earth, that the souls or minds of the animals go. According to a man's rate of vibration or specific gravity is he drawn into one or another of those inner belts or spheres which corresponds to, or is harmonious with, his own vibrations. The subjective belts or spheres are not, as many think, for the growth and development of man, but are places of rest where he reviews the experiences and assimilates the knowledge gained on earth. For it is impossible for man to pass beyond the photosphere of this earth and incarnate upon other planets - as some modern metaphysicians claim he does - until his vibrations, which control his specific gravity, have become so high, so God-like, that the law of gravity operating here can no longer confine him to the earth or to the subjective planes surrounding it.

 

A man's thoughts are the cause of his vibrations, hence a man who is material, sensuous and sensual, is by harmonious vibration drawn to the first subjective plane and becomes earthbound. He cannot rise higher than any other animal, and so he remains in the first belt which surrounds and interpenetrates the material world until he is ready to reincarnate. But as a man's mentality overcomes his emotions, in his course of evolution, and as his subjective mind learns to control his objective mind, he becomes more spiritual; his rates of vibration become higher, and then when the time comes to rest between incarnations he is drawn to the belt which is of a higher rate of vibration, and goes further away from this earth. So, according to the theologians, there is a Heaven and according to Occultism there are several Heavens.

 

And now comes a very important point in the mental aspect of this law of re-embodiment, which is the practical side of it. Man is not only a center of consciousness, but he is a center of self-consciousness. He has free will within certain great latitudes, and he has freedom of choice, and that fact holds him to a great responsibility. Man, by his choice, or thinking, determines not only his Heaven, but also his earth life. He directs both the time of his incarnation or re-embodiment and the environment of his re-embodiment. The less developed an ego, the more rest does it require between earth lives. This is a general truth and applies to every living thing. For example, you would not expect a child to work as hard or as continuously as a man; you would not expect so much of an undeveloped man along any line as you would of a developed man: and so it is that the thought or development of a man determines the length of time which must elapse between re-embodiments for him. Weak, tired, disappointed souls, they who are ignorant of the laws of life, require a long time between incarnations. It is said by those who know, that the average period between incarnations at this time in our evolution is five hundred years for the great mass of men who are not developed. According to the strength of an ego and its desire to evolve, and therefore its desire to have a vehicle through which to evolve, does the period of time between incarnations lessen or lengthen; and I am informed that among progressive egos the time between incarnations averages now about one hundred years. You can readily see that the shorter the time between re-embodiments, the more experience must be gained; and the more knowledge carried over from one embodiment to another, the more rapid is our progress on our evolutionary journey. Occultists believe it to be advantageous for a soul to keep his body for a very long time; or, in other words, to prolong each of his incarnations to as great a length as it is possible to do. It is a great mistake to cast aside a body before it has become so old and worn, that it is no longer of any use as a vehicle.

 

Every moment of our lives we are changing our bodies and are making them better or worse by our thoughts. We are also creating our environment, liberating or enslaving ourselves, according to the quality of our thoughts and emotions. We create ties between ourselves and other souls through hating as much as through loving because whatever our minds dwell upon, that we draw to us. For example: If I think of you, immediately there is a vibration in the ether between you and me. If I continue to think of you, this vibration becomes intensified until a blue magnetic cord becomes established between us - a mental telegraph wire, if you choose - over which my thoughts pass to you, and by which yours come to me. This connection is visible to the clairvoyant, but not to the physical eye, and can only be destroyed by disuse for a greater or shorter lapse of time according to its size and strength. As a spider spins his web from one point to another, so do men constantly spin thought webs connecting themselves for good or ill with persons or things. If you hate a person, you are continually sending hateful thoughts to that person and by so doing you keep a constant vibration of the ether between you. After a time this vibration becomes a real pathway for your thoughts to travel upon and it binds you to the object of your hatred with a bond invisible yet stronger, and harder to break, than a bond of steel. This is the reason groups of egos come back to earth and incarnate in families and communities. Those who love each other are drawn again and again into the closer relationships of life, not because "blood is thicker than water," but because of the ties formed in past lives.

 

Then there is the great law of equilibrium, the law of Justice that we are constantly putting into action by our thoughts. This law modifies our evolution, and limits our scope of free will under certain conditions. There is a law of absolute justice and it is man's unjust thoughts which lead him to believe otherwise. Perfect love is synonymous with absolute justice and God is love. If equilibrium were not maintained on all planes, then chaos would reign supreme; it could not be otherwise. On the physical plane we see the manifestation of equilibrium if we look for it. For example, throw a stone into a pool of water, and watch how the disturbance caused by displacing the water at a certain point is adjusted by the movement on the surface of the water from that point to the extreme edge of the pool, and back again to the point of disturbance below the surface. We saw the tiny waves that were created by throwing the stone into the water, but we did not understand that it was the great law of equilibrium working to adjust the water of the pool to the new condition we had created in it. It is through equilibrium that the great law of justice brings back to man precisely what he has sent forth, and this is why he often finds in his every-day life that he must re-adjust himself. "Be not deceived; God (the law) is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap."

 

In. the city of Chicago there is a unique court, called the Infants' Court. It is the only court of the kind in the world and is where infants or minors are tried. Sometimes there are fifty cases tried there in one day, and never less than one hundred in each week. There are cases where parents have abandoned children, or where children have left their parents. Investigation is made into the character and condition of all the children who are brought under its jurisdiction, and an effort is made to place them in the particular walk of life where they may become the best citizens. To a careless observer it would seem that when the Infants' Court had disposed of the child deserted by its parents that would end the matter, but it does not. The Divine Law of Equilibrium caused the child to incarnate through those parents because of associations in a past life. Those parents owed to that child the care and attention it should receive until it should reach an age when it could care for itself; and in order that a perfect equilibrium should be established between those three individuals this child was brought to them to receive that which belonged to it by right. Perhaps the parents did not wish to pay their debt to the child and abandoned it, thinking they were rid of the responsibility, but they were mistaken. Equilibrium; justice, must and will prevail, and if it be not established in this life then it must be in another. That invisible cord created by their thinking in a past life has not been broken by this attempt to shift their paternal responsibilities. Again it will bring these three souls or minds together, perhaps in the relationship of master and slaves, or of mistress and maids, "For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled."

 

The same law holds good in the betrayal of trust, whether of affections, or of a fiduciary nature. If a person wrongs another, the thought of the wronged one goes forth to that other and binds the two souls or minds together with a bond that cannot be broken until full justice has been done between them.

 

The general character of a man's thoughts determines his general environment, such as the class into which he will be born; and his special thoughts determine the family in that class which will give him his body. For example, here is a man who cultivates only that which pertains to the so-called evil side of life; this is the side of life that he prefers. He will reincarnate into an environment suitable to the character he has made for himself. He will be born into criminal circles. There is no use wasting tears about him or his depravity; God is just, and this universe is governed by law. When a man comes back into slum life he has put himself into that condition; his own thoughts have carried him just where he belongs. It is quite common for a soul or mind to incarnate in a respectable circle of society in one life, yet by dissipation, neglect of opportunities, and cultivating the animal side of its nature, to become a social outcast in its next earth life where it will be able to indulge its unfortunate propensities unrestrained by respectable friends or relations.

 

If a person is born and reared under favorable circumstances, it is because the character of his thoughts brought him into that environment. He was attached by the Great Law to the parents who were able and willing to give him the advantages he received. We could save ourselves much misdirected or wasted force and sympathy if we would recognize the fact that nothing ever happens in this world, but that everything is governed by law. I do not say leave unfortunate souls where you find them, but I say do not attempt to quarrel with the law which is giving to them precisely what they have desired some time in their career. If you see a soul who wants help, then help it; but do not weep over those who are enjoying the fruits of their own thought labors, and do not be dissatisfied, or criticise God because some souls have placed themselves in certain unpleasant walks of life, or have brought upon themselves unhappy conditions.

 

Man not only determines his birth and the quality of his body at birth, but he modifies his body every moment of his life. Take the dissipated, sensuous and sensual criminal, thinking only of that which pertains to the external side of life; he excarnates, and after a time is brought back to earth into an environment where he is pre-natally marked with the very characteristics that his own mind indicates. He takes that kind of a body which is the best expression for him. It is quite unusual for such a soul to succeed in getting out of that environment in one life, because its body and brain express so strongly those particular characteristics. It is possible, however, for it to do one of two things; indulge in the vicious propensities till the depths of degradation have been reached, and it learns that the price is entirely too great to pay for such pleasures and decides to reform; or it may commence to fight for self-control from the beginning and gradually change its body and environment by changing its thought.

 

In the sense of making his own character, man is his own maker. He has the free will to think, and his every thought is a tendency in a given direction. One thought does not make a character, but one thought is a tendency toward a character, since once the initial impulse is given, it has a tendency to repeat itself until a habit is formed, and habits make character. Therefore every thought a man thinks has its effect upon his destiny, not only in shaping his present life, but also his future incarnation. Perhaps you were never made aware of how intense a man's thought may be and how immediate is its action upon his physical body. If you are suddenly startled, the effect is instantaneous upon your body, and the entire system may be deranged by the fright.

 

The majority of men make their physical bodies and their environment unconsciously, but I have known men who have consciously made their bodies over so completely and entirely that their friends did not recognize them afterward. I have seen women change their figures through the power of their thoughts and make them precisely what they desired them to be. Persons who showed the marks of age have brought back the flush of youth, and I have known men and women to prolong their lives far beyond the threescore years and ten that the individuals of our race are supposed to have allotted to them.

 

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