neither does it appeal to any other authority than the reason of the student. The Rosicrucian Brotherhood has the most far-reaching, the most logical conception of the World-Mystery (...) It is emphatically stated that this work embodies only the writer's understanding of the Rosicrucian teachings concerning the World-Mystery (...) What is said in this work is to be accepted or rejected by the reader according to his own discretion. --- Now, perhaps you will understand my attitude towards the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. I admire and marvel at its wonderful teaching more than anyone else, and can do so without violating proper modesty for the book is not mine—it belongs to humanity. A critical essay By Charles Weber in The Mystic and Occult in Max Heindel's Writings: The Cosmo’s author has "an unswerving desire, a burning thirst for knowledge", which is "the first and central requisite the aspirant to occult knowledge must possess", but with this qualification, that "the supreme motive for seeking this occult knowledge must be an ardent desire to benefit humanity" (22). "Another prerequisite to this first-hand knowledge, however, is the study of occultism second-hand" (23). It is the purpose of the Cosmo to make that second-hand study of occultism possible. Occult science is the science of what occurs occultly insofar as it is not perceived in external nature, but in that region toward which the soul turns when it directs its inner being toward the spirit. Heindel emphasizes the facticity of the Cosmo’s contents and the rigor and objectivity of his sources by using the term occult scientist(s) thirty times and occult science twenty-five times. The occultist (used twenty times) "knows" and "sees" what he is reporting on. "The occult scientist uses concentration in preference to prayer because the former is accomplished by the aid of the mind, which is cold and unfeeling, whereas prayer is usually dictated by emotion" (463). That is, concentration is more impersonal, and therefore more reliable. However, when emotion is replaced by a mystic’s "pure unselfish devotion to high ideals, prayer is much higher than cold concentration" (ibid). Modern perspective The first edition was printed in 1909 and has changed little since then. Publication history The first edition was printed in November 1909. The order of publication was placed by Max Heindel on the New Moon of November 1909 and the book was published a couple of weeks later by the Full Moon,