Rosicrucian Society ™

In the lower Regions of the Desire World, there is the same diversity of tongues as on earth, and the so-called “dead” of one nation find it impossible to converse with those who lived in another country. Hence linguistic accomplishments are of great value to the“Invisible Helpers”, of whom we shall hear later, as their sphere of usefulness is enormously extended by that ability.

Even apart from difference of language our mode of speech is exceedingly productive of misunderstandings. The same words often convey most opposite ideas to different minds. If we speak of a “body of water”,one person may think we mean a lake of small dimensions, the thoughts of another may be[pg 084]directed to the great American Lakes and a third person's thoughts may be turned towards the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. If we speak of a “light”, one may think of a gas-light, another of an electric Arc-lamp, or if we say “red”, one person may think we mean a delicate shade of pink and another gets the idea of crimson. The misunderstandings of what words mean goes even farther, as illustrated in the following.

The writer once opened a reading room in a large city where he lectured, and invited his audience to make use thereof. Among those who availed themselves of the opportunity was a gentleman who had for many years been a veritable “metaphysical tramp,”roaming from lecture to lecture, hearing the teachings of everybody and practicing nothing. Like the Athenians on Mars' Hill, he was always looking for something “new,”particularly in the line of phenomena, and his mind was in that seething chaotic state which is one of the most prominent symptoms of“mental indigestion.”

Having attended a number of our lectures he knew from the program that: “The lecturer does not give readings, or cast horoscopesfor pay.” But seeing on the door of[pg 085]the newly opened reading room, the legend:“Free Reading Room,” his erratic mind at once jumped to the conclusion that although we were opposed to telling fortunes for pay, we were now going to give free readings of the future in the Free Reading Room. He was much disappointed that we did not intend to tell fortunes, either gratis or for a consideration, and we changed our sign to “Free Library” in order to obviate a repetition of the error.