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Every great system of religion has been the concomitant of a corresponding system of “scientific” evolution, whose progress has always culminated in astronomy or Astro-anthropology.
It may not appear to the indifferent or casual observer just how the religious concept has relation to any system or presentation of so-called science; but when it is made clear that the power or combination of energies, whether personal or impersonal, in which originates the physical universe with its forms and motions, also gives impulse and fashion to the organism of man and the workings and aspirations of his mind, it will become obvious that the moral bias, as determined by the deep religious impulse and conviction, is either the outgrowth or accompaniment of interpretations of the most external expression of energy. The two domains are so closely allied and interdependent as to constitute them merely distinct departments of a great whole, the crowning glory of which is the perfectly constructed manhood.
The outward and most material domain of the universe is but the determination, into form and operation, of consciousness; and its truthful inters pretation is the reading of the thoughts of that consciousness, and therefore its realistic apprehension.
The human mind comprehends, rises above, and controls phenomena, proportionally to its incorporation of the forms and motions of the universe, or in exact ratio with its involution of the universe as a microcosmic impress or reflex of universal property, quality, and quantity.
Consciousness is nothing more than the contact or touch of mental aggregation with its surroundings, and the metamorphosis of that touch or feeling into its rational or irrational version or rendering.
Mind will take hold of, understand, and control the laws of biologic and physical form and function by gradual progressions, till every law of the universe is understood; and every principle of being is brought into subjection to the amplifying capacity of man’s intellectual and moral force.
This cannot be, however, till the human mind in its amplification, merges by its development into an equal capacity with the functional volume of the original energy of projection. In other words, man must involve till he reaches the point of his final birth from the present grade of life into the sonship of universal consciousness. This sonship constitutes him the Son of man, the Son of God.
The physical universe as a whole is the conspicuous expression of mental force, and as a material structure the most literal rendering of such a force. It follows then, that to acquire the truest conception of the active source of this literal expression, it must be inquired after through the great unfolding or evolution of itself, in the most material, physical, salient, and literal renderings that this source has formulated and energized.
Astronomy or Astro-anthropology furnishes the most distinguishable and prominent feature of the handiwork of universal energy, and because of this, it is the true basis of our correct study and conception of Deity, or of the mental complexion whence man has his origin.
The simple term astronomy, does not convey to the mind anything like an adequate idea of the Koreshan view of the stellar or astral system.
The term astronomy is derived from the two words, astro, star, and nomos, law; hence the law of the stars. As this department of the Koreshan System is a distinct correlative of organic form and function as these obtain in the various constitutions and manifestations of biology, and so inseparably connected with all the phases of human life; human change and progress; modifications and degrees of mental, moral, and religious metamorphosis as to comprise the unity of the two domains, an inexpugnable factor of their existence, we denominate the discourse upon our astral or stellar system Astro-anthropology and its technical nomenclature, Astro-anthropo-cosmogony. Astro, of the stars; anthropo, of man; and cosmogony, “the doctrine or science of the generation, origin, or creation of the world or universe.” This word is from the two Greek words, kosmos, world; and genein, to beget, generate or create. * Astro-anthropology embraces two general factors, or polar extremes of the economy of being, one of which is the observed or objective universe, the other being the subjective or observing.
Our first consideration must have regard to the observing; for, until the mind arrives at some true conception of the law of its own functions, it is poorly capacitated to discriminate wisely, and to descant upon its relations to the objectivities of creation.
As through the special sense of sight, knowledges of various kinds reach the perceptive centers, and as this sense is the dominant one of the discernment, discrimination, and criteria of conformation, its study is of the first importance as a preparatory step to the investigation of the laws of Astro-anthropo-cosmogony.
Our principal channel for the observation of external objects is the eye. Through this organ the mind comes in contact or touch with external things.
Perception through the eye is the sensitive touch or contact of the brain cells, with the objects which the mind perceives through its organ of observation and reason,' the brain. This contact is made by the use of a subtile force generated in the cells themselves, communicated through the fibre to the center of the globe of the eye, thence made to radiate through a double convex lens situated in its front of anterior portion.
The eye-ball has three distinct chambers or compartments. The larger and posterior of these is the main one of the organ and occupies about seven-eighths of the cavity of the globe. This cavity contains what is called the vitreous humor. The term vitreous is from vitrum, glass. It is so named because of its function, and resemblance to melted glass. In front of this humor is the double convex lens or magnifier, just anterior to which are the two smaller cavities; one called the posterior, the other the anterior chamber of the eye.
The double or convex lens serves a most important use in the function of vision or perception, the office of which will appear obvious, as the reader pursues the study of the subject and laws of optics.
The lining of the concavity of the globe is a delicate membrane called the retina. It is a continuation and expansion of the optic nerve; the principal nerve of vision. This membrane receives the first delicate impress or picture of objectivities, as they are conveyed to its expanded surface from a focus, formed by convergent lines of visual energy at some point in the vitreous humor, this focal point determined by the contraction or expansion of the ciliary muscle, which operates to either bulge or flatten the lens, in order to adapt the focus to the distance of the object to be perceived.
The common doctrine of vision is almost wholly erroneous; the general supposition being that the light from the object passes into the eye, making the picture upon the retina, whence it is conveyed to the cortical substance or gray matter of the brain.
The Koreshan science of optics differs from this, in that it holds to and inculcates the view that the cells of the cortical area generate the visual force, which is carried down through the fiber to the optic tract, thence to the retina from which the lines of energy converge to the focal point in the vitreous humor.
From this focus the energy, or that portion of it conveyed forward or towards the lens, passes through it, coming to a focus a little anterior to the lens, and from that point radiating in every direction, touching in its passage every object or visible atom of substance with which the lines of visual energy come in contact.
The visual lines are thus reflected, doubling upon themselves and returning the impression through the lens, to the focus within the vitreous humor, thence carrying the impression, touch or contact of the objective points as a picture to the retina, thence again to the brain.
The Flaming Sword · Vol. 1, No. 14 · 8 Mar 1890 · PDF p. 1