306 ROSICRUCIANCOSMO-CONCEPTION
mere intellect cannot reach. Development attained in that
manner, however, is not permanent, because it is one-sided,
therefore not in harmony with the law of evolution, which
demands that development, to be permanent, must be evenly
balanced—in other words, that spirituality shall evolve
through, or at least equally with, intellect. For this reason the
Slavic civilization will be short-lived, but it will be great and
joyful while it lasts, for it is being born of deep sorrow and
untold suffering, and the Law of Compensation will bring
the opposite in due time.
From the Slavs will descend a people which will form
the last of the s even Races of t he Aryan Epoch, and from the
people of the United States will descend the last of all the
Races in this scheme of evolution, which will run its course
in the beginning of the Sixth Epoch.
THE SIXTEEN PATHS TO DESTRUCTION.
The sixteen Races are called the “Sixteen paths to
destruction” because there is always, in each Race, a danger
that the soul may become too much attached to the Race;
that it may become so enmeshed in Race characteristics it
cannot rise above therace-idea, and will therefore fail to
advance; that it may, so to speak, crystallize into that Race
and consequently be confined to the Race bodies when they
start to degenerate, as happened to the Jews.
In Periods, Revolutions, and Epochs where there are no
Races, there is much more time, and the likelihood of
becoming fossilized is not so great, nor so frequent. But the
sixt een Races are born and die in such a relatively short time
there is grave danger that the one who gets too much
attached to conditions may be left behind.
Christ is the great unifying Leader of the Sixth Epoch,