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ROSICRUCIAN PHILOSOPHY
They were the "children of the mist/' for the clear atmos-
phere of today did not then exist; the sun appeared like
an arc lamp in the street on a very foggy day, on account
of the density of the mist which rose from the earth.
While humanity lived in that state, they were not as far
advanced mentally as we are now. They could not see
things outside themselves, but they had an inner perception.
They saw the soul qualities of all who lived around
them and they perceived themselves as spiritual rather than
material. At that time there were no nations at all, but
humanity was one vast brotherhood. All were partially
outside their bodies and therefore in touch with the Uni-
versal Spirit, which has now been obscured in the separate-
ness of egotism which cause? each man to feel himself dis-
tinct and apart from all the rest of humanity; where
brotherhood is forgotten and selfishness rules.
When any one has progressed so far that he appreciates
the blessings of brotherhood, where he endeavors to abolish
egotism and cultivate altruism, he may go through the rite
of baptism. He enters the water as a symbol of his return
to the ideal conditions of brotherhood which existed when
all humanity lived, so to speak, in water. Therefore, we
see Jesus, the herald of Universal Brotherhood, at the beginning
of his minis-try entering the waters of the Jordan
and being baptized there. When he rose from the waters,
the Universal Spirit rested upon Him as a dove, and from
that time on he was not simply Jesus, but Christ Jesus,
the potential Savior^of the world imbued with the Univer-
sal Spirit, which shall eventually take away all the evils of
selfishness and restore mankind to the blessings of brother-
hood which will be realized when the Universal Spirit has
become immanent in all mankind.