476 ROSICRUCIANCOSMO-CONCEPTION
read the most secret thought. Ther efore the initiate is bound
by the most solemn vows never to use this power to serve
his individual interest in the slightest degree, nor to save
himself a pang. He may feed five thousand others if he will,
but he must not turn a stone into bread to appease his own
hunger. He may heal others of palsy and leprosy, but by the
Law of the Universe, he is forbidden to stanch his own
mortal wounds. Because he is bound by his vow of absolute
unselfishness, it is ever true of the Initiate that although he
saves others, himself he cannot save.
So the trained clairvoyant who really has something to
give will never hang out a sign offering to exercise his gifts
for a fee, but will give and give freely where he considers it
consistent with the ripe destiny generated under the Law of
Consequence by the person to be helped.
Trained clairvoyance is the kind used for investigating
occult facts, and it is the only kind that is of any use for that
purpose. Therefore the aspirant must feel, not a wish to
gratify an idle curiosity, but a holy and unselfish desire to
help humanity. Until such a desire exists, no progress can be
made in the attainment of positive clairvoyance.
In the ages that have passed since the Lemurian Epoch
humanity has been gradually building the cerebro-spinal
nervous system, which is under the control of the will. In the
latter part of the Atlantean Epoch, this was so far evolved
that it b eca me p ossib le for the Ego t o take fu ll poss ess ion of
the dense body. That was the time (previously described)
when the point in the vital body came into correspondence
with the point at the root of the nose in the dense body and
the indwelling spirit became awake in the Physical World
but, so far as the greater part of humanity was concerned,
lost consciousness of the inner Worlds.