250 ROSICRUCIANCOSMO-CONCEPTION
concrete existence, though the latter is the basis of the
former and therefore cannot be dispensed with. The
importance of the Chaotic interim lies in the fact that during
that period the evolving entities of all classes are so closely
united that they are really one; consequently those which are
of lower development during manifestation are in closest
contact with the more highly evolved, thus experiencing and
benefiting by a much higher vibration than their own. This
enables them to live over and assimilate their past
experiences in a manner impossible when hampered by
Form.
We have seen the benefit to the spirit in man from the
interim between death and a new birth. There the form still
exists, though much more attenuated than the dense body;
but in the Cosmic Night and intervals of rest between
Periods and Revolutions, when there is perfect freedom from
form, the beneficial results of past experiences can be much
more effectively assimilated.
We have a word which was originally coined to convey
the idea of the state of things between manifestations. This
word, however, has b een us ed in a mat erial s ens e t o such a n
extent that it has lost its primal significance. That word is
Gas.
It may be thought that this is a very old word, which has
nearly always existed as a synonym for a state of matter
lighter than liquids, but such is not the case. The word was
first used in “Physica,” a work which appeared in 1633, the
author of it being Jan Baptist van Helmont, a Rosicrucian.
Helmont, did not call himself a Rosicrucian; no true
Brother does so publicly. Only the Rosicrucian knows the
brother Rosicrucian. Not even the most intimate friends or