Religion should give instructions in optimum living. Optimum living embraces more than a few hilarious days, a few enjoyable weeks, or a few years of health and material prosperity which are followed by a long period of illness and misery. Optimum living gets the best out of life relative to its entire span. Considering the tremendous accumulation of scientific evidence that life persists after the dissolution of the physical, religion must embrace both life on earth and life beyond the tomb.
For living to best advantage after life on earth is done man must know as much as possible about the inner plane realm, about its energies and properties. And it is becoming increasingly evident that for him to live to best advantage while still in the physical form he must know as much as possible about these inner plane energies.
University scientists have demonstrated extrasensory perception. Man’s soul often acquires information, usually unknown to himself, upon which he acts successfully to adapt himself to future conditions he could not have perceived through his reason and physical senses. This extrasensory perception, through which all information must be acquired after he loses his physical body, is equally valuable during and after physical life.
University scientists have also demonstrated psychokinesis. As man will have no physical muscles, and as objects of the inner plane do not respond to gravitation or physical pressure of any kind; after leaving the physical, to move or build anything, or to go anywhere, man must exercise psychokinesis. While still on earth he often is able to bring psychokinesis into play to heal the sick and amazingly demonstrate other desirable physical conditions. Because of this, the use of psychokinesis on earth is equally as valuable as its use after earthly life is done.
On the inner plane there is no air, no moisture, and no molecular vibrations which constitute heat. Thus after he leaves the physical he is not influenced by physical weather. He is influenced markedly by astrological vibrations, which constitute the inner plane weather. Though he may not be aware of it while on earth, the inner plane weather has as much or more influence over his life as the outer plane weather. Therefore, knowledge of how to forecast these astrological conditions and what precautionary actions should be taken relative to them, is equally important to man in the after earth life as it is while he still occupies a physical form.
Mankind is becoming too well educated to be guided either in religion or in its political views by blind belief in propaganda. More and more it is demanding demonstrated facts from those who advocate some economic or political system. And in due time it will demand demonstrated facts on which to base its religion. In 210 Brotherhood of Light Lessons the writer has striven to set forth as many such significant outer plane and inner plane facts, and the logical inferences to be derived from them, as possible.
The writer believes The Religion of the Stars will be the world religion of the future not merely from the facts and logical inferences presented in these 210 Lessons but because these facts will be supplemented by additional facts as fast as they are discovered and verified. The Religion of the Stars is not a static religion. It will progress as fast as there is progress in demonstrable knowledge.
This writer is not so foolish to believe that what has already been published in the 210 Brotherhood of Light Lessons is the last word, or that no errors have been made in them, or that new demonstrated facts may not make necessary some revision of the ideas there presented. He all too well remembers that when he went to college, the atom of each of the many chemical elements was indivisible, unchangeable and indestructible. Einstein had not yet published his Theory of Relativity. And four things which since his youth have so greatly changed civilization, as yet had no existence: automobiles, airplanes, cinema and radio.
While he is still on earth he will do all in his power to acquire new significant facts and revise the Brotherhood of Light Lessons to include them. When he has passed to the next plane undoubtedly new significant facts will be discovered that should be included in The Religion of the Stars. However, as orthodoxy will certainly try to get sufficient control to slant them into conformity with orthodox opinion, he believes the Brotherhood of Light Lessons as he leaves them should remain unchanged.
It would be unethical for someone to insert opinions or discoveries in these lessons and not take both the credit and the blame for them. The writer does not want the credit for the ideas or the errors of some other person. He asks that the printed pages of each lesson be left as he has last revised it.
However, in reprinting, it is easy to increase any lesson to 36 or 40 or any multiple of four pages. He suggests, therefore, that any errors he has made, or new discoveries, or logical opinions derived from these discoveries, be set forth and elaborated in an appendix following the 32 (original format) pages of the lesson which it is thought should be thus amended. Before this is done the writer of the appendix should submit what he has thus written to The Church of Light Board of Directors and secure their approval. And his name should appear in the appendix as the author of such commentary.
The author of the 210 Brotherhood of Light Lessons desires that they be permanently retained as the Stellarian Beliefs as he has written them up to the date of his physical demise, and that subsequent amendments should be credited to the persons who make them.
C. C. Zain
(Elbert Benjamine, 1882-1951)