THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

had been opened so that they could perceive the physical world and the things
therein, when each saw himself or herself as separate and apart from all others,
the consciousness of "me and mine, thee and thine," took shape in the nascent
minds, and a grasping greed replaced the fellow feeling which obtained under the
waters of early Atlantis. From that time to the present stage of egoism has been
considered the legitimate attitude, and even in our boasted civilization altruism
remains a Utopian dream not to be indulged in by practical people.
Had mankind been allowed to travel the path of egoism without let or
hindrance, it is difficult to see where it all would have ended. But under the
immutable Law of Consequence every cause must produce an adequate effect;
the principle of suffering was born from sin for the benevolent purpose of guiding
us back to the path of virtue. It takes much suffering and many lives to
accomplish this purpose, but finally when we have become men of sorrows and
acquainted with grief, when we have cultivated that keen and ready sympathy
which feels all the woe of the world, when the Christ has been born within, there
comes to the Christian Mystic that ardent aspiration to seek and to save those
who are lost and show them the way to everlasting light and peace.
But to show the way, we must know the way; without a true understanding of
the CAUSE OF SORROW we cannot teach others to obtain permanent peace.
Nor can this understanding of sorrow, sin, and death be obtained from books,
lectures, or even the personal teachings of another; at least an impression
sufficiently intense to fill the aspirant's whole being cannot be conveyed in that
way. Baptism alone will accomplish the purpose in an adequate manner;
therefore the first step in the life of a Christian Mystic is Baptism.
But when we say Baptism, we do not necessarily mean a physical Baptism
where the candidate is either sprinkled or immersed and where he makes certain
promises to the one who baptizes him. The Mystic Baptism may take place in a
desert as easily on an island, for it is a spiritual process to attain a spiritual
purpose. It may take place at any time during the night or day, in summer or
winter, for it occurs at the moment when the candidate feels with sufficient
intensity the longing to know the cause of sorrow and alleviate it. Then the Spirit
is conducted under the waters of Atlantis, where it sees the primal condition of
brotherly love and kindness; where it perceives God as the great Father of His
children, who are there surrounded by His wonderful love. And by the conscious
return to this Ocean of Love, the candidate becomes so thoroughly imbued with
the feeling of kinship that the spirit of egoism is banished from him forever. It is
because of this saturation with the Universal Spirit that is able later to say: "If a
man takes your coat, give him you cloak also; if he asks you to walk one mile
with him, go with him two miles." Feeling himself one and all, the candidate does
not even consider the murder of himself as mistreatment, but can say: "Father,
forgive them." They are identical with himself, who suffers by their action; he is
the aggressor as well as the victim. Such is the true Spiritual Baptism of the