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ROSICRUCIAN PHILOSOPHY
QUESTION No. 71.
When the spirit, coming down to rebirth, has drawn to
itself its mind stuff and sinks into the Desire World, is it
not then in Purgatory again ?
Answer: The difficulty of the inquirer is that he has
not fully comprehended what constitutes Purgatory. Pur-
gatory is in the lower regions of the Desire World, but
these regions are not Purgatory to those who have nothing
to be purged from. The low desires of man are formed of
the desire stuff from this region, and as they cannot be
gratified, the man suffers. Besides, there the force of re-
pulsion is supreme, and w rhen the Ego is passing outward
to the Heaven World it has in its desire body pictures of
the evil acts it has committed. These pictures are formed
also of coarse desire stuff, because they were generated by
the passions of the man at the time he committed the evil
act which they depict, and the centrifugal force of repulsion
seeks to expel them from his makeup. It is the
process of tearing them out that causes the pain he feels.
When, on the other hand, the Ego passes through this
region on its way to rebirth, the centripetal force of attraction
brings new desire matter into its makeup. Then it is
not Purgatory at all ; neither is it Purgatory for the Invis-
ible Helpers who go among the spirits in prison endeavoring
to aid them in learning the lessons that shall make
them better men and women. It is only where evil has to
be expurgated by a spirit that it feels this region as being
purgative.