THE FACULTIES OF THE OLD AND THE NEW MAN
the rose of st. john
D
rawing your attention to the higher faculties of the old man, we considered with each other that, when a person of this nature has or will have any higher faculty at his disposal, this concerns a certain activity of the two endocrine organs in the head, namely, the pituitary gland and the pineal gland. After all, the pituitary gland is the sensory organ of the emotions, of the impressions of the auric sphere, and the pituitary gland feels everything, either entering or even only touching this auric sphere, as being present. This organ also perceives everything that a person himself evokes in his life and that consequently lingers in his environment. Through this touch, the pituitary gland begins to vibrate, and its vibration arouses the dormant organ, the pineal gland or the third eye, to increased activity, resulting in the initial emotional impressions to be stimulated to inner sight. The activity of these two organs can be cultivated in a purely natural way, if only we possess the key to drive them onward to increased activity. Therefore, the increased power is a rather extended, natural power and is wholly of this world. This is why the pupil on the path of transfiguration wholly rejects this expansion of his visual faculty, because he completely sees through the result of such a development as it means the cultivation of the personality, binding it more tightly to the earth. In this way, he would achieve the very opposite of the goal initially envisaged.
What, then, are the higher faculties of the new man? If we want to understand anything of the activity of these higher faculties of the new man, we should first of all determine and outline the fundamental principle of these faculties. It is total, fundamental I-demolition. This I-demolition does not mean that we should become less egoistic and a bit more humanistic, or that we should become more attuned to religious or other standards. No, by Idemolition, the Spiritual School of the Rosycross refers to a total break-up of the whole complicated human system of this nature. On this basis, we may begin the preparatory work. First of all, it is the intention of this preparatory work to change the life streams of the earthly figure completely. This change of the basis of life is, therefore, the first condition, because these streams keep the whole being together. The forces and substances in the earthly human being are binding and hence maintaining. This is why a person should, once he has set his foot on the liberating path, focus his attention on giving up everything that binds and maintains the ‘I’. This is a radical, but inevitable process, because the auric sphere, this extremely important respiration field of the human being on the path, must be liberated and become free from any lower, ordinary material influences. Not until the respiration field satisfies this condition can the work begin in the correct Light. the faculties of the old and the new man 7
