RosicrucianU | Simplified Scientific Christianity | Rays Magazine | The Heart: A Wonderful Organ (2024)

Rays From The Rose Cross Magazine
The Heart: A Wonderful Organ

The dense body of the human being is a wonderfully constructed instrument,composed of numerous cells. From these cells remarkable organs have beenformed by the evolutionary needs of the indwelling Spirit. Some of the organsare in various stages of completion; others are in a state of development,such as for instance, the heart.

The heart is a superb mechanism, manifesting great wisdom in itsconstruction. It is the central organ of the circulatory system' acting as aforce and suction pump in relation to the blood vessels. Excepting the lungs,it is the only organ in the body through which the blood passes in everycycle. Activity of the heart is necessary to life on the material plane.

However, as marvelous an organ as the heart is from the physicalviewpoint, it becomes much more so when considered n the light of the truthsrevealed by occult philosophy. One of the most important facts brought out byoccult science is that there is a change going on in the human heart which,when understood, will give some idea of the importance which each Ego's heartis to play in his evolution.

We have two sets of muscles. One set — the voluntary muscles — is underthe control of the will, can be moved by desire, and is striped bothlengthwise and crosswise. The other set — the involuntary muscles — is notunder the control of the will, cannot be moved by desire' and is stripedlengthwise only.

The heart is the only exception to this. It is an involuntary muscle notnormally under the control of the will, yet is beginning to show cross stripeslike a voluntary muscle. The physical scientist has been unable to determinethe reason for this.

The occult scientist finds the answer in the Memory of Nature. From thatrecord, he learns that when the Ego first sought a stronghold in the heart,this organ was striped lengthwise only, the same as any other involuntarymuscle. As the Ego gained more and more control over the heart, however, thecross stripes have gradually developed. They are not so numerous nor so welldefined as those on the muscles under the full control of desire, but as thealtruistic principles of love and brotherhood increase in strength andgradually overrule the reason, which is based in desire, so will these crossstripes become more numerous and more marked. The heart is always in closesttouch with the Life Spirit, the Spirit of love and unity. Therefore, the heartis the home of altruistic love.

In our civilization, the chasm stretching between the heart, the organ offeeling, and the mind, the organ of reason, is wide. The mind demands amaterially demonstrable explanation of man and his fellow-creatures that makeup the phenomenal world. The heart feels instinctively that there is somethinggreater, and it yearns for that which it feels is a nigher truth than can begrasped by the mind alone.

The heart urges mercy and love, but the reason urges belligerent andretaliatory measures, if not as revenge, at least as a means of preventing arepetition of hostilities. It is this divorce of head from heart that hindersthe growth of a true feeling of Universal Brotherhood and the adoption of theteachings of Christ — the Lord of Love.

But it is certain that, just as the mind is now forging ahead and wringingNature's secrets from her by the very force of its audacity, so also will theheart find a way to burst its bonds and gratify its longing for the highertruth. Some day it will become a power greater than the mind.

Physical science knows that whatever the power which moves the heart, itdoes not come from without, but is inside the heart. The occult scientist seesa chamber in the left ventricle, near the apex, where a little atom, calledthe seed atom, swims in a sea of the highest ether. The force in that atom,like the force in all other atoms, is the undifferentiated life of God;without that force the mineral could not form into crystals and the plant,animal, and human kingdoms would be unable to form their bodies.

The force within the seed atom moves the heart and keeps the organismalive. All other atoms in the body must vibrate in tune with this atom. Theforces of the seed atom have been immanent in every dense body ever possessedby the particular Ego to whom it is attached, and upon it are inscribed allthe experiences of that particular Ego in all its lives.

From the moment we are born, and continuing throughout our entire lives,the ether drawn into our lungs when we breathe carries with it a completepicture of our outside environment, of our actions, and of the actions ofother people who are with us. This record is impressed upon the seed atom inthe heart. Thus, all that we say or do, from the best to the worst, becomeswritten in our heart in indelible characters. This record is our life history,and its individuality is as indispensable to our evolution as the heart itselfis indispensable to our survival in the physical world.

This panorama of our life history forms the basis of our post-mortemexistence. The record of wrongdoing is erased in a painful purgatorialexperience caused by the fire of remorse, which sears the Spirit as thepictures of its misdeeds unroll before its gaze. The Ego thus becomes lessprone to repeat the same wrongdoing and mistakes in future lives. The Ego'sreaction to the pictures showing the good that ws. done is a heavenly joy, theremembrance of which will in later lives prompt the Ego to do more good.

When a person has completed a lifetime in the physical world and theusefulness of the dense body has ended, the Ego withdraws from it by way ofthe head, taking with it the mind and the desire body, as it does every nightduring sleep. The vital body, which now has become useless, also is withdrawn.When the silver cord which united the higher to the lower vehides snaps, itcan never be repaired.

Before this final cleavage is made, however, it is essential for theprogress of the Ego that it be left undisturbed to review the panorama of thelife just ended. When a person is freed from the dense body at the moment of"death," the whole panorama of his past life begins to pass before him inreverse order, and he reviews his history as a spectator at a film showing.The pictures impress themselves upon his higher vehicles, although he has nofeeling about them at this time.

It is very important, however, that there be no disturbance of any kindduring the panorama, since the Ego's purgatorial experience, when his feelingsabout the pictures are to be made manifest, depends upon how clearly thosepictures have been etched upon the higher vehicles.

The "silver cord," which unites the higher vehicles with the dense body,terminates at the seed atom. When material life comes to an end in the naturalmanner the forces in the seed atom disengage themselves, pass outward alongthe vagus nerve, the back of the head, and along the silver cord, to rupturein the heart, which marks physical death — but the connecting silver cord isnot broken until the panorama has been viewed — sometimes not for severaldays.

The vital body is the vehicle of sense perception. As that remains with thedesire body and the etheric cord connects these two bodies with the discardeddense body, it will be evident that until the cord is severed, there must be acertain amount of feeling experienced by the departing Ego when the dense bodyis molested. Therefore, great care should be taken not to cause the passingSpirit discomfort.

In view of the current interest in, and increasing frequency of hearttransplants, it is important to consider the phenomena of the donor's panoramaand his immediate after-death experience in the light of these transplants.

Since heart transplants must take place immediately after thedonor's death, it obviously is impossible to avoid interference with hispanoramic process, which also takes place immediately after death. Possiblythe panoramic process of the donor would continue (though not perfectly,because of the pain of surgery) while the transplanting is being done, and atthe end of the panorama the silver cord would snap and the higher vehicles beentirely freed from the physical body — including the heart.

Meanwhile, what of the seed atom of the recipient? It is, so it wouldseem, still in the etheric counterpart of his heart, which still remains inhis body. In cases where parts of the dense body are amputated, only theplanetary ether accompanies the separated part. The etheric counterpart of theamputated member gradually disintegrates as the physical member disintegrates.It is known that persons who have had members amputated have complained ofpain in the amputated part, since these persons still possessed the ethericpart, which sometimes does not disintegrate for several years. The silver cordof the recipient of a heart transplant must also be intact, even though thephysical heart has been removed, for if it had been ruptured or severed therecipient could not live.

Once the donor's physical heart (without the seed atom) has been placed inthe recipient's etheric heart, the question arises: would the angelic Beingsand their helpers who wisely handle such matters transfer the recipient'sdense seed atom to the apex of the donor's heart, which is now pumping bloodthrough it? No doubt it could be done, and U the recipient lives, it wouldseem that that as what is done.

The destiny of the recipient, and possible former-life relations betweendonor and recipient, could be important factors in the outcome of thetransplant. Another factor would seem to be the recipient's archetype which hehimself has worked on during his previous "heaven" life and which, we aretaught, is "wound up" for a certain specific length of time and thusdetermines the length of his physical existence.

Also in connection with heart transplants — and transplants of all otherorgans as well — it should be remembered that every atom of each body belongspeculiarly to the Spirit inhabiting that body. The condition of the body andits organs, nerves, tissues, etc., is the sum total of the way the indwellingSpirit hut lived in its previous lives on Earth and ho been able to constructthe counterpart of his body during the period between earth lives.

Herein lies the reason for the fact that an Ego cannot or will not acceptcertain types of blood or an organ from someone who is too much at variancewith his own peculiar makeup. The Ego, or individual Spirit, must overcome ordominate the cells that are brought into its physical body, whether it bethrough eating and subsequent assimilation, or through blood transfusion, orby transplanting of an organ. The cells of animals are more highly developedthan those of plants; therefore they are more difficult to make a part of thebody polity than are those of plants by means of eating and assimilation. Anorgan is a group of special cells, and is imbued with the consciousness of itsowner. This consciousness may differ sufficiently from that of the recipientto cause the rejection of the organ by the recipient. This may not beimmediately evident, however, as the body of the recipient likely has beenweakened by illness and the surgery performed. Medical science recognizes this"built-in" ability of the body to know what is needed, referring to it as the"rejection phenomenon."

A record of all the Spirit's experiences is embedded in the seed atom, aspreviously stated, and during each new life this atom (or its forces), byvirtue of its innate qualities, attracts material for a new body. If it hasviolated the laws of God, then the results are present in the bodily structure— and not only in the dense body, but also in the vital and desire bodies andin the mind.

Disease, then, including heart disease, is brought about by the Egoitself, is rooted in the spiritual realm, is a manifestation of ignorance anddisobedience to higher laws, and can be permanently eradicated only by achange in the human being's inner spiritual nature. To transplant a healthyphysical organ in the place of a diseased organ can be physicallyaccomplished, and in some cases this seems to prolong the life of therecipient. The transplanting of a healthy organ to replace a diseased one,however, will not cure the underlying cause of the patient's disease and,unless he makes the necessary spiritual changes in his inner self, he willstill have to learn the required lesson in this or another life.

The Law of Cause and Effect is the arbiter of the way this life is to belived, and certain opportunities for spiritual growth are set before the Egoat various points in its Earth life. If these opportunities are made use of,the life will continue along the straight path, but if not, it diverges, as wemight say, into a blind alley where the life then is terminated by theCreative Hierarchies, which destroy the archetype in the heaven world. Thus wemay say that the ultimate length of an Earth lye is determined before we arephysically born, but the life may be shortened if we neglect opportunities.

There is also the possibility, in the cue of a few, where the lye ho beenthoroughly lived, where it has been very full, and where the person hasendeavored in all cues to live up to his opportunities, that more life may beinfused into the archetype than had been done in the first place, and so thelife may be prolonged. This, however, be it remembered, occurs only inexceptional cases.

In summary, then, it may be said that the heart is an organ which is onlybeginning to show its glorious potential as the instrument through which thetrue Christ Love will become a universal reality. It is the organ in which therecord of the essence of each Ego s individuality is stored throughout everyphysical lifetime. It is an organ which we have been developing throughout ourprevious lives, and each person's heart is as good or as bad as he himself hasmade it.

To attempt to transfer this organ from one human being to another may beto invite problems seemingly not intended by the Architects of our evolution.It may well be that solving these problems would be a far greater job for therecipient Ego than to have incurred whatever destiny was intended for himwithout having undergone a transplant.

Addendum: In modern science the term "magnetic field" is often used indiscussing the various peculiar traits, behavior, and characteristics ofplant, animal, and man. This, in general, is the vital body, the two lowerethers (Chemical and Life) which form an etheric matrix that holds the densephysical atoms of the body in formation. The two higher ethers (Light andReflecting) are more attenuated and are volatile and migratory. Every organ ofthe body has its over-all etheric matrix, a part of the etheric matrix of thewhole body. Planets also have their "magnetic fields," etheric counterparts,or vital bodies.

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