FOREWORD In this volume we consider man, no longer a weak, sinful puppet of fate, ignorant of his own possibilities and blind to his place in evolution and to his great destiny, but man who has now taken his destiny in his own hands; has grasped the mighty scheme of the universe and understands that this earth is an evolved theatre on whose stage he shall work out his evolution according to mathematical laws. He now comprehends something of the significance of the promise made him in the beginning: "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." He now deliberately plucks the golden apples that grow high up on the Tree of Knowledge and is determined to eat of them, no longer at the suggestion of the serpent, for he has reaped the bitter experience both of haste, and of disobedience to his divine guidance and can no longer be seduced by the senses, but at the direction of the Lord God who planted the tree in the midst of the garden. Moreover, during all the dark night of his past evolution, through which he has reaped the results of his first mistake, he has felt the irresistible urge to press on and conquer; has always heard in the great silences of his Soul the rhythmic cadences of the wonderful harmony of the spheres and has realized that a universe so perfect, a harmony so complete and so rich in melodies, so inspiring, was not brought forth by chance. He now knows that man, being the Lord of Creation must have within him the possibility of reaching the same perfection and of striking a still higher note in this wonderful scale; in fact, he must lead the orchestra. Again and again when his weary senses have grown faint from the battle of life he has sunk into the embrace of that solace and boon given to humanity when it made its great mistake, namely, "Ye shall surely die." He has realized that without this experience of rest and recuperation commonly called death he could never reach the goal of his divine destiny; for at each period of so-called death he has realized that although the Angel of the Flaming Sword has shut him out of Eden while in his physical embodiment, yet the gates of death were but an open sesame admitting him once more into the Garden of his Soul. And there he has met the Lord walking in His garden at the close of each day of earth life and has heard from His lips such words of encouragement that he has arisen each new morning of earth life more full of hope and strength and understanding and determination to conquer. In this volume we take up the history of man's evolution at the point of number 11, after he has passed a full period of effort (from 1 to 10) and has been born into earth-life like a giant rising from his sleep, full of renewed vigor for the steep, upward climb to conscious perfection from the New Beginning of number 11 to the Ultimate Attainment of number 22. New York City The Authors. |