The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception

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

The first edition was printed in 1909, it has little changed since then and it is considered to be Max Heindel's magnum opus: a reference work in the Esoteric Christianity and the Occult literature. It is a very complex book which outlines an evolutionary process of man and the universe, correlating science with religion. It is, till nowadays, the basic book for the Philosophy courses of the school, The Rosicrucian Fellowship, founded by the author in 1909/11.

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, â€¦). 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.

Contents

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 (...)

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 * What is said in this work is to be accepted or rejected by the reader according to his own discretion.
 * 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.

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


 * The Cosmo's author has â€œan unswerving desire, a burning thirst for knowledge,â€ which is â€œthe first and central requisite the aspirant to occult knowledge must possess,â€ but with this qualification, that â€œthe supreme motive for seeking this occult knowledge must be an ardent desire to benefit humanityâ€ (22). â€œAnother prerequisite to this first-hand knowledge, however, is the study of occultism second-handâ€ (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) â€œknowsâ€ and â€œseesâ€ what he is reporting on. â€œThe 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 emotionâ€ (463). That is, concentration is more impersonal, and therefore more reliable. However, when emotion is replaced by a mystic's â€œpure unselfish devotion to high ideals, prayer is much higher than cold concentrationâ€ (ibid).