I read some of this material, and skimmed the rest. I might consider reading the rest of it at a later time. Max Heindel's "international bestseller", titled "The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception" is a very curious work. First published in 1909, its ideas are very similar to those of Rudolf Steiner. Indeed, they *are* the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, give or take a few details. Dr Steiner was acknowledged as a source of inspiration in the first edition of the book, but his name was subsequently dropped. Instead, Heindel claimed to have recieved his esoteric knowledge from another personage, "an Elder Brother", whose identity is left unclear. Perhaps he is the reincarnated 14th century master, Christian Rosenkreutz, who walks the earth incognito? Most outsiders would surely see this as a rather poor excuse for plagiarism. That's how Steiner himself saw it. He actually condemned Heindel in several of his lectures!
The anti-Semitic traits of Heindel's magnum opus are annoying. The Jews, he claims, are a degenerate offspring of the so-called Old Semites. Their "Leader" (presumably Jehovah) supposedly opposed (!) the racialist idea of the Jews being "the chosen people", but the hardened sons of Judah refused to listen. Heindel reads the Bible exactly backwards! Finally, Jesus Christ was sent to the Jews as a last ditch attempt to make them come to their senses, but they rejected Him in favour of Barabbas. As punishment, the Temple was destroyed and the Jews were dispersed throughout the world. However, Heindel hopes that modern, assimilated Jews in the United States might intermarry with Gentiles in the "melting pot" and hence become seed-bearers of the new evolutionary race of the future. In contrast to Steiner, who pointed to the Slavs as the next advanced race, Heindel claims that the United States will create it instead. (It's interesting to note that Master Beinsa Douno, a Bulgarian occultist inspired by both Theosophy and Anthroposophy, emphasized the Slavic angle even more than Steiner himself. As a good Californian, Heindel naturally does the opposite.) Heindel also claims that the current Western nations are the true descendants of the lost tribes of Israel! This idea doesn't come from Steiner, as far as I know, but rather from an exotic movement known as British Israelism.
I noted that Heindel doesn't mention Steiner's curious speculations about two Jesus children. Perhaps Steiner didn't mention them before 1909? Otherwise, the scenario is similar to that found in Anthroposophy, with Christ (a Sun-being) incarnating in Jesus at the baptism of Jordan, and Jesus' blood shed at the cross somehow cleansing the Earth from negative spiritual-evolutionary forces, thereby making "initiation" possible for everyone who wishes. Heindel's speculations about different planetary epochs, Lemuria and Atlantis, or Luciferic beings seem to be broadly Anthroposophical in character, as well. The duality between Lucifer and Ahriman seems to be lacking, but it's not mentioned in Steiner's early works either.
I admit that I felt a certain frustration when reading brother Heindel's ouevre. Most of the ideas in "The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception" are sheer bunk, unless you believe that virtually all of modern science is a gigantic fraud. And no, I'm not talking about the existence of Spirit. I'm no materialist. I'm referring, of course, to the bizarre stuff about Atlantis and other "revisionist" history, including the formation of the human "races". Nor does Heindel believe in evolution sensu stricto. Instead, we have degeneration: the ape is a degenerate man, and so are "savages" such as Aborigines in Australia. Mosses are degenerate plants! (I think a botany student would tell the author where he can put his mosses.) I already mentioned the anti-Semitic tendencies.
Ironically, Heindel's style of writing - which is considerably better than Steiner's - actually make him sound less enchanting and therefore less interesting. Steiner's writings have an odd quality which somehow forces you to read them, and try decoding them. There is little to decode in Heindel, and few *really* crazy ideas, of the kind that make us critical reviewers have a love-hate relationship to Rudolf. But then, I haven't read Heindel's other writings (yet), so who knows? Maybe he has some intriguing ideas about bees, crocuses, cows or, ahem, earth-quakes?
Maybe the old moss-hater and Jew-assimilator still have some occult surprises up his sleeve...
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