Since manned spacecraft are now being designed for continuous flights of up to several years duration, a number of professional ecologists are being employed by the aerospace industries, to assist in the design and development of closed cycle life support systems for incorporation within these craft.

It is obvious that no spaceship with any known propulsion system, could begin to contain and to carry with it, enough air, food and water to sustain its crew for a period of several years. Fortunately, there is no basic need for it to do so.

All life, whether it be human, animal or vegetable, progresses through a series of chemical changes. These changes however, do not require a continuous supply of new material, they require only a continuing source of energy sufficient to make the chemical changes possible.

The planet Earth is, (as we have frequently pointed out) a closed system space ship which has a limited amount of material available for the use of life forms, but which has been using that same matter over and over again for several thousands of millions of years. All successful life forms fit smoothly and completely into this cycle of ecology. Any variety of life which does not conform will leave an

2 UNDERSTANDING

open end somewhere in the cycle, thereby piling up unusable material and eventually depleting its own supply. Nature has a way of coping with such species, and they either evolve into a pattern of conformance, or they soon become extinct.

Mankind, (usually known as the genus Homo.) has become the most flagrant of the non-conforming species and so cannot now be considered as a successful life form. The primitive man conforms quite well; almost everything which he has used, or has discarded, is returned to the environment in a form suitable for immediate use by other forms of life. With his advances in technology however, man has become more and more perverse in his refusal to conform to the pattern of nature. He goes to great lengths to thwart, inhibit or destroy those very life forms or chemical processes whose natural function is to complete the ecological cycle which enables him to continue in existence.

Before man discards any of his used products, he has usually treated them with substances which make them totally unusable by any other form of life. He thus creates tremendous gaps in the natural cycles which are essential to all life. The material which man discards, is correctly known as `waste' since it has been rendered unusable. When large quantities of this unusable matter become mixed with the still unused material of life, it becomes known as `pollution.'

The only manner, therefore, in which the problems of pollution can be solved is through the carefully planed closing of the gaps in our ecology which are responsible for its existence, and which are now seriously threatening oars!

——— ♦ ———

THEY

Friend-friend, please -- I - I should like to caution you, no, really, I-I would like to plead with you. To do what you are about to do wouldn't benefit anyone. Now obviously you are in great distress to have reached this stage. And yet you are so young, so young. What -- what did you say? Oh, all is lost. Nothing to live for. The country is in a mess. I agree with you. I'll even go a step further and include the whole world. But what you are planning is hardly the answer. Better to ask, "what can I do to help the country and the world get out of the mess? What does one person matter you ask?"

APRIL, 1970 3

Funny, not too many months ago I had feelings similar to yours. Yes, I had just about reached the stage where I too wanted to be destructive.

Like you I looked at our involvement in that ridiculous war in Vietnam. That tragic farce which we entered accidentally and have paid for through the death of thousands of young men, through sorrow to parents, relatives and sweethearts, and with dollars which could have been put to better use. And what about the disruption brought about by protestors? And I asked in anguish, what is the meaning of this madness? Will they never learn?

Then like you, I saw the sickening poverty that exists. No, not only in lands where the majority are poor, but right here in the land of prosperity. Thousands of black, white and brown people starving, while millions of dollars were being spent to wake weapons for war. Yes, believe me I wasn't a naive person. I knew about the injustices.

Then I was aware that those practitioners of Christianity seemed to be separated from the troubles. I asked, how can they be satisfied to hide in their white towers of ivory while people all around them are in need? How can they think it enough that they ship their money off to missions for the needy in lands far away? And how could they continue to sit piously listening to sermons about loving their brothers? For after all the big separation which occurs at eleven o'clock every Sunday morning is not a secret. And I cried "Where are the saints in times of need?"

I too felt the hopelessness of our school system. I know that some people advocate bussing as the answer for equal education. They say that is the most practical way to bring ghetto blacks into contact with the better teachers. But I disagreed. For this method has caused many unnecessary ill feelings among the parents. And still no one has proved that bussing is successful. Like you I thought that there must be an easier, more practical answer.

And I, too, thought about the generation gap. I wondered about difficulties the young had trying to communicate with the old. For it is a fact that the young are beginning to mistrust anyone over thirty, or at least the majority of those over thirty. And I asked "why, why is it that they can't talk? Is it that the old are too satisfied with the status quo? Or is it that the young are too eager for change? Is that the old speak too softly, or the young too loudly? Is it that the

4 UNDERSTANDING

old are too wrapped up in materialism, while the young are more concerned with humanism? And is it that the old are too concerned with telling it like it should be, and the young with telling it like it is?" Again I knew not the answers.

Finally there is this thing with the blacks and whites. This sickening racial polarization that is occurring despite the efforts of some to prevent it. I asked, "why aren't more people concerned? Don't they realize how vulnerable this country would be should we have civil war? Can't people see the absurdity of fearing, mistrusting, or hating another person simply because his skin is a different color? Will they never reach the point where they recognize the individual and not the masses?" The answer seemed to be no. They would never learn.

Then I asked myself "who are these mysterious people called they? Where do they reside? Where is this abstract mass of humanity whose identity cannot be recognized?"

Then I remembered. From the time of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago to that of the action man of today, problems have not been solved by people who refuse to accept responsibilities. And those people who constantly blame others are usually those who don't have any constructive answers themselves. So for the first time in my life I decided to accept the fact that I, too, was one of that group called they.

-John W. Gibson

——— ♦ ———

SURVIVAL

Our priority today is survival. Survival. It is not Viet Nam, nor the moon. It is not Mars, nor the SST, nor racism, nor communism.

It may not even be life of quality any more. Just survival.

- Eddie Albert

Much has already been written and much more will continue to be written on the subject of man's pollution of his environment until each of us realizes the significance of the crisis and accepts the responsibility to reverse the present trends which threaten the survival of all life

There is an old fable to the effect that for want of a nail a war was lost. Without the nail to shoe the horse the messenger was unable to deliver his orders with the resulting loss of the battle.

APRIL, 1970 5

A recent issue of the Science Digest (March 1970) tells a similar story in a different context. The extinction of the dinosaur, and other land species, could well have resulted from a shortage of phyto-plankton, the single celled marine plants that are the first step in the food chain of life. The phyto-plankton are eaten by tiny fish which in turn serve as food for the larger fish, etc. etc. Further, the plankton control the interchange of gases between oceans and atmosphere, providing 70% of the oxygen needed. Our presently contaminated waters. are reaching the oceans and threatening to destroy the plankton with consequent shortages in both oxygen and the food chain with universal implications.

It might be here noted, also, that the elimination of forests and greenery by logging, land use for buildings and roadways, etc. is seriously interfering with the remaining oxygen-carbon dioxide interchange as well. To this must be added the loss of trees and plants by man-made smog-1,300,000 Ponderosa Pines in the Lake Arrowhead (Calif.) mountains alone!

Because a brief article can only touch upon some of the salient aspects of a problem of many ramifications may we suggest to our readers that they write to Mr. Eddie Albert (1040 N. Las Palmas Ave., Hollywood, Calif. 90033) for his packet of very interesting anti-pollution literature. Mr. Albert offers many pertinent and serious examples of our errors, and of their cumulative effects. He offers, also, an excellent bibliography for further study, and notes the bills presently in Congress, where efforts are beginning to be made to control this situation which threatens our survival.

Every man should be aware that solutions are not to be left to governmental agencies and industrial complexes only. Each of us is involved and should contribute our cooperation, know-how, and dollars to reverse a trend which can only spell disaster to all life if continued. remember, the dollars in your pocket will have no value to you, nor your heirs, if you are not here to use them!

There are some encouraging notes, however, relative to the "junk" man cremes and which is pictured as burying him. Perhaps the answer to the ultimate disposal of used automobile tires (some two million presently stored in a warehouse, which is but a drop in the bucket) has not been found as yet, but some interesting uses have been found for other waste products.

6 UNDERSTANDING

Scientists have found a micro-organism. which breaks down cellulose waste and converts it into pure protein, according to a report given in the National Geographic Magazine. Researchers hope to convert newspapers, wood chips, corn stalks, hay, etc. into edible protein.

In Japan, a machine compresses trash and garbage into building or land fill blocks. In Europe, several cities are converting trash, through smokeless incinerators, into heat to feed boilers of electric power generators. Incinerators are used elsewhere to reduce refuse (glass and metal included) to lava-like cinders which will be used in cement blocks, fiberboard and shingles. It has been suggested that thermonuclear power plants could form a "fusion torch" to reduce all waste to its original elements-for re-use.

While the optimist gives us but 40 years and the pessimist but 15 years of survival under present conditions, still there is hope that man who reaches for the stars and has touched the moon already with his technology and coordinated efforts can and will overcome all threats to his environment of the future and will find the means to reverse the adverse effects of his past actions.

But, never forget that you are personally involved, directly and indirectly, for all life is one!

——— ♦ ———

I STOOD BEFORE THE THRONE

I am one of the fellowship of those who have died temporarily in this life and then have come back to inhabit the same body. Our stories are amazingly similar, even to the part where we do not believe the fact until we pass through it. Mine may be slightly different in one respect only-and that is that I think I did part of it myself deliberately.

It was during a rather drastic operation in which I was not expected to live, although this had not been told me. I had the usual experiences after I went under anesthesia of being dissociated from the body and in a position where I could see the surgical procedure and hear all of the conversation (later confirmed by my friend, the doctor, and the nurses.) As I watched and listened to the dissection of my body, the thought came to me, "Here I am-outside. I'm going to find out something I've wanted to know. My life is a mess. I'm going to ask

APRIL, 1970 7

why." And, just like that I saw how it could be done. With an effort of will I pulled away and snapped "Upstairs."

At first I seemed to be in a vast and beautiful space like an infinite cathedral, but I knew who was and retained my own identity. There were thousands around me whose identity I recognized also. Some of them had gone before in this life, others I had perhaps known in other lives, and many whom I never met before but whom I recognized at once through the sense of all-permeating communication which exists there. They pressed around me saying, "Welcome. Peace be with you. Don't be afraid," and other expressions of greeting and encouragement. But, while I was filled with a great love for them, I realized this was not what I wanted. I insisted on going farther and farther "upstairs" and though they asked me to stay, they did not prevent me from going ahead.

Next I passed rank after rank of brighter beings who challenged me kindly, but as soon as I told them 1 knew what I was doing, they let me go higher. I remember I kept saying, "I want to see Him." It was somewhat like going up spiritual terraces, and f well know what, is meant by, "Angels with flaming swords," although there are few words in any language on earth to describe what I saw.

At last I found myself in a bright and tender vastness in which I was a tiny bold being standing before the infinite source.

I hesitate to describe my communication with the Presence of God for fear my limited use of language may distort my meaning to the reader.

It is enough to say that in those minutes I was completely happy, understood, and understanding. I was aware of the past, the present and the future at once. I was given a choice of returning to the body, or of remaining in the realm of the spirit; and when all things were weighed, I chose to return. And here I am.

I came back to my earthly body to find that I had been technically "dead" for several minutes. This happened to many other folks I know, and is not too unusual. It also bears out the Biblical statement that no living person may look upon the face of God.

However, I believe the thing I cherish most is the remembrance that out there I was graciously recognized as an individual, and respected for my brashness in faith that I could go all the way to the Throne on

8 UNDERSTANDING

the assurance that He who originated me would see me and give me His attention as He would in Prayer.

The question has, of course, been raised as to whether my experience was a "vision" or the dream of anesthesia in which the desired result is created in the mind of the dreamer.

My answer is-what of it? I believe that I stood within the mind of the great Dreamer Himself. If this be a dream, it is a dream I cherish beyond any other reality. And, when I leave this particular body for the last time, I will lay it down gladly to dream this dream forever.

-Dale Morrison

——— ♦ ———

JUNE DEDICATION AND CONVENTION

Although plans are still far from finalized for the Six Day Dedication and Convention to be held at the International Cultural Center of Understanding, 2200 Merlin Road, Merlin, Dregon, we offer a preview of things to come. The Convention dates are June 19th through June 24th. The events are co-sponsored by Understanding, Inc. (Dr. Daniel W. Fry) and the Aletheia Association (Rev. Jack Schwarz) with the cooperation of the Solar Light Retreat (Marianne Francis). The purpose of the Convention: To bring understanding between people of all nations, races, and philosophies by presenting to them speakers, panel discussions, group participation and cultural aspects of diverse parts of the world such as Thailand, India, Europe and the United States.

Understanding Days, June 19 through 21, commence with the formal dedication ceremonies to be held at high noon on the 19th. The afternoon program will commence at 3 P.M. and will feature a talk by Dr. Daniel W. Fry, Founder and President of Understanding, Inc. This will be followed by a panel discussion until about 5 P.M. The evening program of entertainment and meditation will start at 7:30 P.M. Thailand dances will be included on the program.

Each of the following Convention days will feature at least five renowned speakers with significant messages, and evenings will continue to be devoted to entertainment and meditation sessions. Confirmed speakers include: Sophia Austin, Col. Arthur J. Burks, Marianne Francis, Roland Hunt, Fred Kimball, George King, J. V. Krishan

APRIL, 1970 9

Murthy (India) Jack Schwartz, and Rev. Damien Simpson, who will serve as the Master of Ceremonies.

Many others have been invited, including June and Ron Ormand for a showing of their movie on Terte, the Philippine Psychic Surgeon. As confirmations are received they will be noted in the May issue of Understanding Magazine.

Registration fees for the events have been set as follows:

Friday, June 19th: $5.00 General Admission; $4.00 Understanding Members.

Saturday and Sunday, June 20 and 21: $7.50 General Admission; $5.00 Understanding Members

Single sessions $2.50.

Students (with cards) : $2.00 per day.

All who become members of Understanding, Inc. by June 1, 1970 will be entitled to the special rates. Associate Membership is only $2.00 per year, and the Magazine subscription is still offered at only $2.50 per year-12 issues. We encourage all who plan to attend to send in their registrations as soon as possible that we may better plan to handle the numbers expected.

The Aletheia Convention days are June 22 through 24. We suggest you write to Rev. Jack Schwarz, P. 0. Box 334, Selma, Oregon, 97538, for his special program, which includes Dr. Gina Cerminara among its notables.

As a large attendance is expected we suggest that you write to our Merlin address for a list of local motels (rates from $6.00 up) or for the location of nearby campsites, which may also require advance reservations for space.

We look forward to meeting with old friends and new. Let us know when you are coming!

——— ♦ ———

Sometimes even the best-trained meteorologists go astray in interpreting satellite data. In the early days of satellite photography, weathermen at ESSA's Suitland base referred to a small bright spot in the southwestern United States as a cloud. Mysteriously, however, the "cloud" persisted month after month in the same place. Eventually, it was identified as White Sands, New Mexico, now recognized as the. brightest spot in the U.S.

Science Digest, May 1969

10 UNDERSTANDING

world report

Galactic Space Exploration

Medford (Ore.) Mail Tribune, Sept. 4, 1969 By Joseph L. Myler

WASHINGTON (UPI)-Beyond the solar system-the sun and its family of nine planets lies what astronomers call galactic or interstellar space.

The nearest star to Earth, other than the sun, is 25.5 trillion miles away. Can man, presumably a prisoner of the solar sys tem, ever bridge so great a distance in order to find out what kind of matter exists out there?

He may not have to, according to a recent scientific report. He may be able to send his analytical space machines on interstellar missions of a sort without ever leaving his solar system home base.

A while back a panel of the Space Science Board of the National Academy of Sciences proposed that the United States begin work at once on "grand tour" flights by unmanned craft to the outer planets of the sun's family.

These are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, ranging from 483.3 million to 3.67 billion miles in average distance from the sun. The grand tour flights would begin in 1974, take years to complete never carrying a spacecraft beyond the fringes of the solar system.

Nevertheless, one of them, the voyage to Pluto, might put a human contraption in sensing distance of matter which is more representative of interstellar than solar stuff.

According to the Space Board panel, it has been suggested that Pluto, now the outermost planet, "may not be an original member of the solar system" but a stray from more distant and more mysterious regions of space.

Man wants to explore the great planets-Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune-because they may consist mainly of the primordial matter out of which the sun and its family, including Earth, were condensed some five billion years ago.

Jerusalem Peace Forest

San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle, September 21, 1969

EAST JERUSALEM, Occupied Jordan-(AP)-The Israelis, a

APRIL, 1970 11

nation of tree planters, are busy giving a new look to the holy city of Jerusalem.

Already they have planted thousands of saplings on the stony hills along the former Israel-Jordan border which passes through the city. Several hundred acres of bare hillside are being developed as the Jerusalem Peace Forest.

A center has been set up where tourists will be able to register if they wish to plant a tree in the forest with their own hands.

The Israeli National Parks Authority also is drawing up plans for a 6000-acre green belt around the walled old city, captured by Israel in the 1967 war.

Antarctica Weather Satellite

Auckland Star, New Zealand, September 16, 1969

LONDON, Monday-The Soviet Union has launched a permanent weather radio station over Antarctica, the first there, a Moscow radio broadcast monitored here said.

The broadcast said the semiautomatic station would relay to Moscow information about the upper layers of the atmosphere at the South Pole.

The broadcast did not say when the station was launched but added, "initial data already received explains many of the problems of modern meteorology."

Man's New Question

San Jose Mercury, Thurs., Feb. 5, 1970

WASHINGTON-Dr. Glenn Seaborg, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, told Congress Wednesday that the age of triumphant science and technology is forcing us into a new philosophical era based on the "why?" of living.

The Nobel prize-winning chemist said that vast numbers of scientists are now beginning to ask, "What is being done with our discoveries," rather than rejoicing in the discovery as an end in itself.

Seaborg expressed his belief that the "despair and negativism of the time" is a prelude to deeper and more positive thinking, in which man will examine human values and goals. He said

"I believe that one of the characterizations of the human race possibly the one that is primarily responsible for its course of evolution-is that it has grown by creatively responding to failure."

12 UNDERSTANDING

He went on: "We have always experienced times when we have been dissatisfied, unhappy with ourselves and our conditions and lamented them profoundly before we took new steps to change them."

`Smart Pill' Expected?

Daily Courier, Grants Pass, Ore., Feb. 20, 1970

BERKELEY (UPI)-A pill to improve human intelligence may be just around the corner.

Dr. David Krech, a psychologist at the University of California, says development of a real IQ pill depends considerably on chance, but scientists are close enough to the secrets of brain chemistry to make such a pill "highly likely" in the next 15 years.

Biochemists and psychologists in the past 15 years have sought to identify physical forms of the brain in which memories are retained. The experiments suggest to many scientists, although some scoff, that any memory involves chemical changes in the brain.

Krech says these are either production of new proteins, the release of differentiated molecules of ribonucleic acids or the increase of enzyme activity.

If these processes can be identified-and altered-drugs not only to improve intelligence, but to diminish it, or to erase memories, or to emphasize selected abilities, have arrived.

——— ♦ ———

UFOS INTERNATIONAL

South American Sightings

(La Razon, June 3, 1969, Santiago, Chile ANSA)

An unidentified flying object descended to two hundred meters from the ground, remained stationary for two minutes and then flew away towards the unknown before the amazed gaze of five miners about to begin their daily work. This happened in Maria Elena, 1,500 km. to the north of Santiago, at 7:55 A.M. The witnesses were Julio Tapia, foreman, Jose Barraza, operator of the mechanical shovel, Adalberto Puelles, and two miners. They were about 800 meters from the site where the UFO had come down and described it as "very brilliant" and aluminum colored. "From that distance it looked like a number four football," declared Tapia, and added, "I cannot tell exactly what size it was. It could have been three or thirty meters. It was very difficult to judge its diameter from that distance, especially due

APRIL, 1970 13

to its great luminosity. The UFO remained stationary, then made a kind of turn and suddenly passed from immobility to a dizzying speed without any apparent difficulty. We were five of us, and we all saw the flying saucer . . . We could not have been crazy all five of us."

(La Razon, June 4, 1969) Mar del Plata

Some time ago the zone of Azul had been much visited by the mysterious UFOs. Now they seem to have reappeared. Mr. Adolfo Corengia, who owns a week-end house on Urioste Avenue, near the municipal swimming pool, was in his house at about 7 P.M. when suddenly a strong light lit up the interior. Looking out, he saw something like a fire-ball of an intense brilliancy stationed about 15 meters from where he was. On the upper part there was what looked to him like a yellowish tower. He shut the window and went outside to have a better look. When he turned the corner of the house, the strange object began to rise and shot away.

The next day Corengia, who at first had not told anybody, for fear of ridicule, found a mark of about 2.5 meters in diameter, at the rim of which the grass was scorched. lie made another startling discovery a large quantity of mushrooms of an unusual size had appeared. He called several neighbors who all confirmed the signs of scorched grass, as well as the amazing mushrooms.

Australian Scene

(U.F.O.J.C. Newsletter, Sydney, Australia, December 1969 =26)

A recent close encounter with an UFO was reported to Vince Mele of Queensland FSR Bureau by a 35-year old Tully district farmer, Louis Maule.

At 8 P.M. on October 1, 1969, the witness was headed north, driving home from South Johnstone when he saw a black, circular shaped object about 60 feet in diameter and ringed with red lights, descending from the sky. "I got a shock" Maule said. "It was gigantic and looked to be slowing up." The headlights of a passing car momentarily obscured the witness's vision and he slowed to a stop. "When I looked again it was traveling towards South Johnstone at maybe 100 m.p.h. and at a height of about 500 feet, then it banked and proceeded towards the clouds at very high speed."

On that same evening, but three miles to the north and earlier to this sighting, Mr. Vince Mele of Queensland FSR Bureau had set up

14 UNDERSTANDING

his mobile detector on a hill site overlooking the surrounding area. Promptly at 8 P.M. his detector alarm sounded and it was two minutes before the alarm re-set itself automatically-then it was quiet for the rest of the evening. Even though Vince Mele did not see any lights or objects himself, the incident seems to provide the first good evidence of, independent visual sighting correlated with triggering of the detector by an UFO.

——— ♦ ———

book reviews

Breakthrough to Creativity

(Shafica Karagulla, M.D., De Vorss & Co. $5.95)

The motive of the author, Shafica Karagulla, is stated: To awaken humanity to its future destiny and reach out to explore the "inner" and "outer" spaces of the superconscious state.

Dr. Karagulla gave up teaching at New York Medical to investigate into High Sense Perception (HSP), which act was motivated by a friend giving him the book, Edgar Cayce, Man of Miracles, by Joseph Millard.

He found through his many years of research that many people have phases of it, and that many in responsible places of government and business have a considerable amount of HSP, and use it incognito. This is so with medical men who can see clairvoyantly and use, the HSP in diagnosis.

Much information is presented that could prove to be very valuable to you. For instance, a lady asked to speak to Dr. Karagulla privately after one of his lectures, for he had struck a chord when he explained the gift of clairsentience, or feeling. By talking to him she found that she had taken on the physical, mental and emotional feelings of the

APRIL, 1970 15

man with whom she was in love, who was suffering from cancer. She had visited doctors for a physical check-up but they had found nothing wrong. She was shown how to turn this feeling off and on as needed. What helped me so much and was so interesting was the chapter "Energy Fields Around Human Beings." It tells how some people who are not able to pick up their own energy take their energy "predigested" from others. These sappers have closed-in energy fields and feel better around more vital people. The victims feel exhausted, baffled and irritated if they are around these "sappers" too long. A deep instinct of self-preservation causes the victim to feel an irresistible urge to get away.

This book goes into much detail explaining how the "Sensitive" derives all the beautiful information concerning most all the "higher" gifts. There is also an excellent bibliography if one really cares to make a study of HSP.

The author calls those with these gifts "The Supersane." He says, "There must be a breakthrough in human consciousness to match the breakthrough in science and technology. As always, such an evolutionary development begins with the few and gradually extends to the many. The Supersane may be those who are already making this early breakthrough in human awareness somewhat ahead of the rest of humanity. Humanity with new frontiers of personal abilities and capacities opening up before it can regain its sense of purpose about living. The Supersane are normally intelligent human beings who are moving through the five sense barrier into a more expanded area of awareness-they may be the forerunners of a tremendous evolutionary mutation of the whole human race, or the beginnings of a more normal and slow evolutionary development which will produce a higher type of humanity."

- Beatrice Smith

——— ♦ ———

EXAMINE ALL THINGS

Rosicrucian Philosophy

From a subscriber has come this article, published in the August 20, 1963 issue of UTRECHTSCH NIEUWSBLAD, Utrecht, Holland. It was the outcome of a Convention of 3,000 Rosicrucians and entitled Preview of New World Period. We quote:

The purpose of this convention was to fix the attention of its participants upon the fact that, according to the Rosicrucians, the world

16 UNDERSTANDING

and mankind have just entered a new era. This statement is based on the ascertainment of the fact that a new intercosmic electromagnetic radiation field encompasses our earth.

This field has now gained such a great intensity that its influence has become noticeable.

The approaching era of Aquarius will see the end of division among men, and reality will appear in full light, so it was stated during the convention. Reason, one and undivided, will replace all speculation. "Man will come to realize that his goal does not lie in the material world but in its etheral aspect."

The Rosicrucians start from the postulate that a physical atom comes to life through penetration by an ether atom and that the properties of the physical atom are determined by the vibration of the ether atoms. A further postulate is that the new radiation field energizes and modifies the relations between the ether atoms and the material atoms.

This coming event underlies a spiritualization of matter, a transfiguration; that is, a gradual replacing of physical phenomena and manifestations with etheral phenomena and manifestations.

According to the Rosicrucians man must put himself into harmony with the radiation influences underlying the new phase of human evolution, so that the spirit, the soul and body may be re-united. When this process is being brought about in a human being, then it can be said of him: "He is in the world but no longer of the world."

The expected second coming of the Christ is indeed a reality, seeing that in the history of the human race there were other times of harvest, so-called, in which the outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place when a certain period was cosmically favorable for it. This Holy Spirit is fully capable of manifesting Itself in each of the twelve eras composing a sideral year, in the respective form adapted to each prevailing intercosmic radiation field.

This is not an automatic process. No, man has to make a choice as to whether he desires to walk the path shown. If he actually chooses that path, then the power of the Holy Spirit will work in him liberating ; if he rejects it, he will experience the Holy Spirit only as a higher nature force, driving behind the natural processes of this world. The intervention of the Holy Spirit is always particularly strong in times of crises in human evolution, in order to divert the life course

APRIL, 1970 17

of mankind and save humanity from the retardation of subjection to natural laws.

The new radiation field may result in a resurrection for those whose choice is positive and in a fall for the negatively disposed. Those who demonstrate their positive resolution in their attitude to life will then belong to the first real Christian community of our time. In this community, so the Rosicrucian says, the far-reaching requisites implied in calling oneself a Christian are truly fathomed.

——— ♦ ———

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

Mankind United by Moon Triumph

Daily Courier, Grants Pass, Ore., Dec. 5, 1969-by Louis Cassels

UPI Pictures sent back from the moon may have a greater religious impact on mankind than any number of sermons.

Even the most sluggish imagination is stirred by the perspective of space to see man and his world in a different light.

Two lessons in particular are driven home by the view from the moon, and both of them are profoundly Biblical.

The first is a sense of man's puniness. On the vast scale of the universe, which we begin dimly to appreciate in lunar photographs, our planet is an infinitesimal speck of dust. And a human individual is merely one of 3 billion animated micro-particles infesting that speck.

We all need to ponder this truth, to let it soak deep into our consciousness, and be humbled by it.

For too long, modern man has been bemused by his own achievements-including the achievement of reaching for the moon. It will be good for our souls if the lunar vista enables us to regain the sense of awe and wonder which stirred a Hebrew poet on a starry night some 3,000 years ago

"When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,

"The moon and the stars which thou hast established;

"What is man that thou art mindful of him,

"And the son of man that thou dost care for him?"

If we stop there, of course; we will simply trade pride for despair. But even in the moment of being humbled by the recognition of man's littleness, we can also remember that to be infinitesimal is not necessarily to be insignificant. For these animated micro particles called

18 UNDERSTANDING

men have been given godlike powers-to think, to will, to create. The Hebrew poet mused on that wondrous fact also

"Yet Thou hast made man only a little less than God,

"And dost crown him with glory and honor.

"Thou has given him dominion over the works of thy hands;

"Thou has put all things under his feet."

All things-and now even the moon-under our feet.

That collective pronoun-our-is the key to the second great religious lesson to be learned from the moon voyages.

It is tremendously significant that people all over the world regardless of nationality, find it natural to say that "we" have reached the moon. Neil Armstrong, the first human being who actually did, obviously had this same sense of a corporate accomplishment when he spoke of "one small step for a man-one giant leap for mankind."

The oneness of mankind, transcending all political barriers, is a central theme of the Bible. For centuries, it has been dismissed by "practical" men as an utopian ideal. The view from the moon makes clear that it is the most realistic of facts.

Black and white, young and old, rich and poor, communist and capitalist, Russian and American-we are all co-passengers on a speck in space, and from 240,000 miles out, our differences seem much less important than the fact of our common humanity, and the miracle of our existence.

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We Count on You

As a member, or subscriber, interested in the goals of Understanding,

APRIL, 1970 19

Inc. To promote a better understanding among all peoples of earth, and of those not of earth, may we count on you for a donation, any amount, to help us completely furnish and equip the International Cultural Center of Understanding in time for the Dedication and Convention in June?

Your generosity will be much appreciated by those in Merlin who give of their time as well as dollars. We thank you now!

(All donations are U. S. Income Tax Deductible.)

Meeting Location Changed

Unit No. 15 of Inglewood, Calif., announces a change of location for their monthly Understanding lectures, held the third Saturday each month.

Meetings henceforth will be held at the Community Room (second floor) of the Western Federal Savings and Loan Assn., 355 E. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood. Public Invited.

Mark-Age in California

Mark and Yolanda, Directors of Mark-Age MetaCenter (Miami, Fla.), will be in Southern California during April and May for lectures and conferences. They will have, also, the first two hardbound books by Mark-Age -- How to Do All Things: Your Use of Divine Power, and Mark-Age Period and Program.

For those who wish to sponsor meetings, or for those who wish personal conferences, the Southern California address is: Mark-Age, P.O. Box 8393, La Crescenta, Calif. 91214.

Merlin Public Lecture and Seminar

"Aletheia" announces a public lecture to be given by Jack Schwarz on "Above and Beyond." The lecture will be held on May 14th at the International Cultural Center of Understanding, 2200 Merlin Road, Merlin, Oregon.

Rev. Jack Schwarz will also conduct two weekend Seminars on "The Spiritual Essence of the Tarot and I Ching." The Seminars will be held at the Center also. The First Seminar begins Friday May 15, and runs through Saturday and Sunday. The second begins Friday May 2nd and runs through Saturday and Sunday. Both include five sessions.

Write to "Aletheia," P.O. Box 334, Selma, Ore., 97538 for a detailed schedule if you are interested.

20 UNDERSTANDING

CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT

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OUTERMOST: A man risks his life to tell his UFO secret! Just one of many articles and features. Included, also, a world wide directory of UFO clubs and publications. Edited by Gene Duplantier. 'Reserve your copy now. $1.50 advance orders. Ready soon! Mail orders to Gene Duplantier, 17 Shetland St., Willowdale, Ontario, Canada.

FREE SUMMER SCHOOL-Survival Education (First Aid, Edible plants, canoe workshop. . .), Hydroponics, Computer Science, Memory Banks, Nutrition (New Age), Metaphysics, food canning, ESP, Many lectures while on hiking and camping trips around Mt. Rainier... New Age Foundation, P. 0. Box 867, Eatonville, Wa. 98328

"CROSS and STAR." Contemporary version of St. Matthew. JESUS' personal instructions for ALL to become EXEMPLARS. Attain powers HE demonstrated. FREE New hymns "PRAISE TO GOD"-"PRAISE GOD" song "MOTHER" by author. 164 page paperback, 8½ x 11-printed $4.00 ea. ppd. U.S. $4.50 Canada. $5.00 Overseas. New hymns "PRAISE TO GOD---"PRAISE GOD"-song "MOTHER." Music and lyrics arrangement. $1.25 ea set ppd. U.S. and Canada. $1.50 Overseas. CHRISTIANS ARE "ANTI-CHRIST."

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——— ♦ ———

Announcing A New Publication

E. S. P.

The Magazine of Extrasensory and Supernatural Phenomena

In the First Issue: Psychic Crime Busters-Age of Aquarius-Positive Powers of Witchcraft-Flying Saucers Over Rhode Island. Illus. Articles by major New Age leaders. 6 issue subscription $3.00.

THESE BOOKS ALSO AVAILABLE

In Days to Come
by Ashtar ............. $2.50

Book of Space Brothers
by T. Beckley .......... 4.95

Flying Saucer Close-Up
by John Dean ......... 7.95

My Trip to Mars
by Wm. Ferguson ...... 1.00

7 Hours Aboard a Space Ship
by Dan Martin ......... 1.00

Song of Saturn
by Connie Menger ...... 3.95

We Met Space People
by Mitchell Sisters ...... 1.00

My Friend From Beyond Earth
by Rev. Stranges ....... 1.00

Boys From Topside
by Dr. Wilbert Smith .... 4.95

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An International Quarterly of highest quality invites you to join in this superb Metaphysical Feast, unequalled anywhere in the world! Under direct supervision of Beloved Master, "The ALL KNOWING ONE!"

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