theprisonerofAMORC

Monograph No. 4 of the 4th Degree in the Initiate Section-- BURKE ON PLATO

2009-11-12T11:01:23-08:00

Monograph No. 4 of the 4th Degree in the Initiate Section opens with a quote from John Benjamin Butler Burke, who, as I mentioned in my last blog, seems to rate rather poorly as an actual mystic as he does not seem to affirm definitely that there is a core of consciousness at the center of the universe.

At the very end of his discourse, Burke says somewhat poetically,
-Whether we too, dim units that we are, shall persist self-conscious in that great ocean independently of all time, science cannot answer. Many men will say yes. Not because they think it; but because they feel it must be so. The old answer is the same as that which Plato had to give more than 2500 years ago, although he cannot have been blind as to its inadequacy: that if Goodness and Love, like truth, be realities, whatever atoms may really be, that which delights in virtue must b e happy, and in harmony with the totality of things. In the correlation of vital phenomena are that unity and that plurality at once rendered a continuous whole.
Although Plato did have some kind of view of the indivisible level of matter, what we call atoms, it was not the same as Democritus, but a more, refined geometric view. Nonetheless, his view on life after death and his view of the universe as a reflection of a creative principle, called the GOOD (‘agathon’- in Greek) make him clearly side with those who believe in life after death.
In AMORC UNMASKED, I discuss, in depth, Plato’s story of Er, a slain warrior who dies and is assigned, unlike most, to remember the contours of the afterlife, after he somehow is revived on earth as perhaps the first, in-depth account of an NDE experience in Western literature. I quote the following from The Republic, one of Plato’s most famous dialogues, as translated by Benjamin Jowett-
-Ten days afterwards, when the bodies of the dead were taken up already in a state of corruption, his body was found unaffected by decay, and carried away home to be buried. And on the twelfth day, as he was lying on the funeral pile, he returned to life and told them what he had seen in the other world.
Suffice to say in this story, Er fully experiences the life between lives, where the dead arrive in the afterlife and must drink from the River Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness- before they are born again. Plato clearly is an advocate of survival after bodily death.
And, whether adequately or not, there is a whole industry now, past lifetime therapy, which utilizes hypnosis to dredge up memories that have, in this lifetime, been somehow buried. There is also an abundant literature which recounts reincarnation memories that happen spontaneously, in children when they first learn how to speak, in dreams, even in psychotherapy and certainly in various cultures, particularly in Tibetan Buddhism, where religious leaders are chosen based on their ability to remember, under special conditions, artifacts from their past.
I believe, therefore, that this little discussion by Burke- blurs Plato’s belief in the afterlife and, moreso, blurs his firm commitment to some kind of direct apprehension of the Good, a form of mysticism, probably related directly to the teachings of the Eleusinian mysteries. With all the mysticism suggested by Plato, even that which is discussed obliquely, again I believe this concurrence gives a rather unmystical view of reality, one that does not cohere with even AMORC’s view of Cosmic Consciousness as the heart of its teaching.
Why is it here, then? I think there is even a bigger question when gets to heart of the Monograph, and its strange use of a quote from Genesis. I will discuss this in my next blog.

Monograph No. 4 of the 4th Degree in the Initiate Section-- CAN AN AGNOSTIC BE A MYSTIC?

2009-11-10T10:55:46-08:00

AMORC IS A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Monograph No. 4 of the 4th Degree in the Initiate Section begins with a Concurrence, a quote from a famous or distinguished personal that generally begins the monographs. This one is a discussion by John Benjamin Butler Burke, who AMORC claims to be a philosopher and mystic. It says that his writings agree perfectly with the subject of this monograph, which is about what happens to the human body after it dies and what happens to the human soul.

Being quite familiar with AMORC’s theories of reincarnation and spiritual development, it is almost shocking to see how disharmonious the teachings of Mr. Burke are with the mystical premises of AMORC- in fact, of any other type of mystical conception. For instance, when talking about how mind stuff, which are, according to his “modern view,” only composed of atoms and electrons, why “should we object if we once more return to that mind in which and from which we also have had our origin, the cradle of our birth, that great ocean of thought in which we live and move and have our being?”
Why not return to a sea of ‘atoms and electrons’ (despite the fact that electrons are just one component in atoms) and be happy? Well, what if we are not conscious in the process? So we just return to a sea of inert cosmic matter? To clarify that point for someone who might miss being conscious, he says: “Whether that ocean is itself conscious we cannot say,” he says, but then puts his bet on consciousness, saying, “…our own deep conviction is that in that self-consciousness alone would its unity exist as a reality.”
So John Butler Burke, the philosopher and mystic, is sympathetic- but guessing about the Universe being conscious. But I thought that the major attribute of mysticism was Cosmic Consciousness- that their ace-in-the-whole was that their psyche had merged with Cosmic or Universal Consciousness?
I guess John Butler Burke is not a mystic, but a philosopher, sympathetic with idea that there may be a reality out there, but he has only experienced it theoretically.
As I describe in The Prisoner of San Jose and AMORC Unmasked, mysticism, according to AMORC is what this whole show is about?
So why is this concurrence used at all- if it doesn’t really lead in coherently to a an essay consciousness, life and death from the standpoint of the mystical Nodin Manuscript?

Master Monograph, Fourth Degree- MIND CONTROL AND COSMOLOGY

2009-11-07T09:38:42-08:00

AMORC IS A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Remember our discussion of doctrine, which I said was a foundation of Mind Control, a close cousin of practice. Because to do almost anything, you must believe something. One doesn’t stare at a candle for hours on end, trying to change its color, unless one believes in an aura. And where does an aura come from?

Believe me, AMORC’s practices rest securely on certain doctrines, of which its cosmological and ontological doctrines are paramount. I used cosmological to mean over-all descriptive elements for signifying the origin and structure of the universe, including the galaxies, solar systems, planets and the like. By ontological, I mean all descriptive elements that signify the essential nature of things- like God, the soul, time, space, matter, energy and how they are related from the standpoint of “beingness” or “existence.”
If there is one thing that is very clever about AMORC, is that it has the audacity to try and frame a complete cosmology to answer many great questions about the universe, all of which bear heavily on its members motivations to sit in their Home Sanctums, do their experiments with invisibility and telepathy and pay their dues monthly like good Rosicrucians.
As anyone who has read The Prisoner of San Jose knows, I encountered literature on Mind Control only after I had been a Rosicrucian for over twenty years. So it was at that time, that I began to make some distinctions between AMORC and other Mind Control cults. As I said in AMORC UNMASKED,

But after considerable time delving into the literature, I began to realize that AMORC worked similarly to other Mind Control cults- with one single exception. Members were generally recruited through advertisements, not people. And they were indoctrinated principally through the monographs utilizing a combination of highly authoritarian doctrines coupled with a progressive program of hypnotic indoctrination and mind control.
Back in 1950, as exhibited in my latest book, the Rosicrucians had an ad, which was placed in various magazines. Part of the text reads:
WILL MAN CREATE LIFE?
Does the Secret of Life Belong to Divinity alone?
For centuries, man has dared to invade realms which theology has believed sacred. He has revealed the secret of organic functions and measured the forces of mind- now, breathlessly, he tears at the veil which conceals the nature of life itself. Will this be his crowning achievement- or his utter annihilation…?
THIS FREE BOOK
You will find an answer to the creation of life in the ageless teachings of the Rosicrucians….
The Secret of Life? Well, I just revealed it to you in my last blog. It is concealed in the 7th Law of the Nodin Manuscript.
Life results from the interaction produced on the surface of the Earth between the two polarities of Nous, this interference manifesting by the combined action of the four principals of nature.
Now you know it. Get to work!

Master Monograph, Fourth Degree No. 3- AMORC’S THEORY OF THE ORIGINS OF LIFE

2009-11-02T19:49:47-08:00

AMORC IS A SHEEP IN WOLF’S CLOTHING

How does life arise?

According to AMORC, it all happens because of the 7th Law of the Nodin Manuscript which is enunciated in Monograph No. 3 of Degree 4 in the Initiate section. The law states:

Life results from the interaction produced on the surface of the Earth between the two polarities of Nous, this interference manifesting by the combined action of the four principals of nature.

According to its commentary on the 6th Law, when Vital Life Force, the positive polarity of Nous- and Spirit, the negative polarity of Nous- come together in the Earth’s atmosphere, they create an electromagnetic field, the very one surrounding our planet.
In its description of life’s origins, AMORC states that the elements of fire, air, earth and water arise from the union of the Vital Life Force and Sprit. Their combination “enables life to manifest on this planet.”
It then takes somewhat of a leap and says-
Planetary life is, therefore, the macrocosmic reflection of cellular life, for it comes from the merging of two complementary energies- one coming from space that is of an electrical nature, and one radiating from Earth that is of a magnetic nature.
Why do I say “leap?” Well, now Vital Life Force from the Sun is identified with electricity and Spirit from Earth is identified with magnetism. But those identifications were not really developed in the monograph. Nor was any reason why “planetary life” is a mirror of “cellular life.”
So when AMORC concludes the paragraph with the triumphant announcement that-
On all planes and in all realms, we can therefore state that the Hermetic Tablet applies to the same laws- namely, that which is above is like that which is below.
-we do really wonder if anything here has really been said at all.
Why all this talk of cosmology? What purpose does it serve?
The answer is that is necessary for a Mind Control system, which caters to spiritual hunger, to address all the basic questions of human existence. As I spoke about in The Prisoner of San Jose, I, like many other potential recruits, was looking for real answers to profound questions. This is part of the allure of the Rosicrucians, some of which we will examine in the next blog.

Master Monograph, Fourth Degree No. 3- THE SIXTH LAW MORE CLOSELY EXAMINED

2009-11-01T15:44:56-08:00

AMORC IS A SHEEP IN WOLF’S CLOTHING

We continue to look at the Sixth Law of Nodin, as enunciated in Degree 4 of the Initiate Section, Monograph No. 3, which states:
The Sun is the source from which emanates the positive polarity of Nous; the Earth is that from which is propagated its negative polarity.
The positive polarity of Nous is Vital Life Force. The negative polarity is Spirit. We went on to see how the Earth is thick with spirit energy and radiates this energy out to space.

But is this really so crystal clear?
After speaking of the Earth as being dense with spirit energy, AMORC makes the following statement: “You should not conclude from these remarks that the Source of Sprit is the Earth itself and that Vital Life Force exists only because of the solar radiation.” This is comforting to know, since the Sun is radiating Nous to the Earth and Sprit is one of those components. As far as I can tell, Earth is capturing the Spirit component of Nous and somehow condensing it.
After all, the Monograph does say,
The chemical constituents of the air and the cosmic essence which permeates it constitute the positive polarity of Vital Life Force. Vital Life Force itself constitutes the positive polarity of Nous…. It must be emphasized that this polarity towards all the planets orbiting the Sun.”
Perhaps the Sixth Law should more clearly state:
“The Sun is the source from which emanates both the positive, which is Vital Life Force, and negative polarity of Nous, which is Spirit. Earth like all the other planets in the system, captures both energies, but condenses Vital Life Force to such a degree that it propagates it outwards.”
We could call this Freeman’s Law. There, I have now made an important clarification to Nodin’s Sixth Law and to Rosicrucian cosmology. Wow!
Speaking more seriously, I do not feel that the Sixth Law, in its current formulation, is clearly enunciated, which seems quite puzzling, for a foundational document of AMORC’s cosmology.
But, then again, as I have alluded to in The Prisoner of San Jose and AMORC UNMASKED, does it really serve Mind Control cults to be always clear? Sometimes confusion and disorientation is the key to more effective Mind Control.

THE NODIN MANUSCRIPT

2009-10-29T11:00:39-07:00

AMORC IS A SHEEP IN WOLF’S CLOTHING

According to a 1996 monograph, written by Gary Stewart, the former Imperator of AMORC, who was displaced by Christian Bernard, the Nodin Manuscript is “the actual key to the Rosicrucian system and the fundamental basis of our teachings.” According to Stewart, Nodin’s work, which predated the 17th century documents I have referred to previously in The Prisoner of San Jose and AMORC UNMASKED, was in two parts.

It was never published in its entirety and “always remained in the possession of the principal Rosicrucian adept, and later, the Imperator.”
Steward, who now is the Imperator of the Confraternity of the Rose Cross, says that the first part of the document was originally published by H. Spencer Lewis in the Fourth Degree of the Monographs, which we have been discussing in these blogs, but the second part solely remains in the possession of Gary Stewart, who received it from Ralph Lewis, the Imperator who appointed him to be the Imperator of AMORC. According to this 1996 document, Stewart says, “At the moment, AMORC proclaimed H. Spencer Lewis' monographs as being antiquated and have now adopted teachings that were written by a team of doctors, scientists, etc. that were appointed by Christian Bernard.”
Whatever the current state of the monographs I have been quoting is compared to the original, there is something very funny about the way the contents of the Nodin manuscript are enunciated in the current Fourth Degree.

Master Monograph, Fourth Degree No. 2- THE FIRST TWO LAWS OF DIVINE MIND

2009-10-27T17:40:07-07:00

AMORC IS A SHEEP IN WOLF’S CLOTHING

As one looks at various cosmological systems, it is not unusual to see various terms and ideas used somewhat differently. Although the Master Monograph, Fourth Degree No. 2 is utilizing the Nodin Manuscript, it quotes from Anaxagoras, the Pre-Socratic Philosopher, 500-428 B.C., saying that the manuscript quotes the Pre-Socratic, utilizing his words, “aether” and “nous.”
The quotes seem to define a kind of creation story similar to that described in the early stages of the Biblical Genesis, where the firmament is separated from the heavens, where earth is separated from the waters.

According to AMORC’S claims about the Nodin manuscript, there are four laws pertaining to Nous.
The first law is that “Nous manifests in matter in terms of elements, divinities and principals of Spirit.”
The second law is that: “Electricity is the passion of space, magnetism of matter; Nous is the energy which animates and maintains this passion.”
The third law is: Nous permeates animate matter as well as inanimate matter.
The fourth law is: “On the material plane, the manifestations of Nous are predominantly negative. On the spiritual plane, they are predominantly positive.
Let us look at the first two laws.
In the first law, it is interesting that AMORC claims that the elements are “none other than the atoms which, by combining into an infinity of molecules, give birth to all material substances.” It further enjoins the reader to recall “that the Rosicrucian tradition relates that there exist in all 144 elements, each one having physiochemical properties determined by the number of electrons, protons and neutrons of which it is compose.”
Whereas AMORC does not really go into why it thinks the “elements” it mentions are “atoms,” it should be noted that although the concept of atoms was publicly written about in the 5th Century by Democritus and later explored by the Latin poet, Lucretius, this ancient concept of the atom was nothing like the concept of atoms as developed by Dalton in the early 1800’s, a brilliant theory that led to the modern concept of the atom. The atoms spoken of my Democritus were differentiated by shape- not by spinning bands of electrons. This is not to say that it isn’t possible that some ancient scholars kept some of the scientific secrets of the ancient Atlanteans under their belt but the language of the so-called First Law seems quite archaic.
The second law regarding electricity is quite poetic, saying “Electricity is the passion of space.” The use of that term is very startling to be found in a 720 AD manuscript, when the term was first used by Sir William Gilbert in 1600, who took the term from the word, amber. Amber, when rubbed with jet, a lightweight stone, had been known to attact small particles- owing to what we now call static electricity and was first introduced in Gilbert’s De magnete, magneticisique corporibus or, in Engish, On the Magnet." This was published in Latin in 1600. Did he cop it from the Nodin manuscript or some other R+C manuscript that predates the manifestos?
So, it is possible to question pedigree of the Nodin manuscript in terms of: the R+C attribution of the manuscript centuries before the Manifestos or the alleged birth of Christian Rosenkreuz; the use of the term “elements” in conjunction with the modern concept of atoms and the seeming translation of the term, “electricity,” which wasn’t used.

AMORC INITIATE SECTION -TEMPLE DEGRE 4- ROSICRUCIAN COSMOLOGY

2009-10-25T08:43:06-07:00

AMORC IS A SHEEP IN WOLF’S CLOTHING

Lest those who stumble on the material from the Nodin Manuscript wonder about all the discourse on abstract cosmological theory, it is important to realize that every organization that purports the kind of content that AMORC has- must have a system of information that, right or wrongly, hangs together coherently. Like various types of classical philosophy- whether it be Platonic, Thomistic, Hegelian or based on the works of Alfred North Whitehead, it has to contain a lot of detail- to be any kind of a philosophic or onotological system.

In a Mind Control religious cult, this detail is for propping up the practices that allow the member to be properly indoctrinated and used by the cult leaders. Therefore, organizations like Scientology, the Unification Church or the former groups of Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh, the Hare Krishna Group or the Branch Dravidians all have to have their cosmology, their way of grappling with divine law, creation, the nature of the universe, etc.
To support the rationale between travelling on the spirit planes, the application of its healing techniques, its claims to be able to access the Akashic records, to exercise cult powers- I believe that AMORC has tapped into various cosmological theories and extracted and organized words like “spirit,” “soul,” “consciousness,” “ether” and “mind” to form a coherent theory of the universe.
Considering the vast amount of ancient literature and myths- from the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Pre-Socratics, Plato and his descendents, the various basic religious texts and the huge repository of alchemical, Rosicrucian and theosophical material, it is not hard to build a cosmology from various concepts. But whether that cosmology is true or actually based on genuine, ancient Rosicrucian manuscripts, like the Nodin Manuscript- is the real question.
In Degree 4, No. 1, we learn that matter, conscious and life all “have their source in a common energy: the Ether.” The word ether or aether comes from the Greek word, aithein, which means “to burn.” For this reason, the First Temple Degree statement that the word means, “divine fire,” has at least a certain amount of etymological truth- in regards to this proposed translation.
From the ether comes Universal Soul and Nous, the two polarities of this basic energy. From Nous comes Spirit and the Vital Life Force, governing respectively matter and life itself. Despite the fact that life can spring from these two powers, it is a life which needs consciousness and this can only come from a creation graced with Soul.
So, in this way, Rosicrucian theory creates a cosmological view of how life is created and then becomes conscious. But what is this theory actually based on?

AMORC INITIATION-TEMPLE DEGRE 4- THE NODIN MANUSCRIPT

2009-10-23T10:51:03-07:00

Go to Google Books to search and preview “AMORC Unmasked”

AMORC IS A SHEEP IN WOLF’S CLOTHING

According the Master Monograph Degree 4, No.1, the Nodin Manuscript is dated “SUN in Capricorn, 9 degrees, Lux R+C, in the city of Lyons, France.” The Monograph says it is therefore to have been written in A.D. 720. R+C is a designation for the Rosicrucian order.

It is interesting to note that the first public document of the “Rosicrucian Order,” whatever it actually was, appeared in 1614 in Kassel Germany. That is when Frater C. R. C., commonly called Christian Rosenkreuz was first introduced to the world by an officious Rosicrucian order. It is indicated in various other documents that Rosenkreuz was born in 1378 and died in 1484, but these dates could be symbolic. Nonetheless, the alleged dating is far before Rosenkreuz allegedly lived or the 17th century first public release of the famous Manifesto documents.
I am interested in finding out more information about the history of acronym, R+C. If anyone knows something about its origin, I would really like to know.

AMORC INITIATION-TEMPLE DEGRE 4- WHY AM I NOT AFRAID?

2009-10-21T10:34:36-07:00

AMORC IS A SHEEP IN WOLF’S CLOTHING

AMORC IS A SHEEP IN WOLF’S CLOTHING
In an Introduction to Degree 4, Christian Bernard, the Imperator, warns against “displaying or allowing the contents of your monographs to be read by nonmembers, even when motivated by the best intentions.” He further warns that “through disrespect for the oaths you have taken before the Rose Cross, you would create a negative Karma which would need to be compensated sooner or later.”

Perhaps I should be trembling since

I have exposed some of this exact content from time to time- short quotes, though- but mostly summaries. Am I supposed to be afraid because of this?
Of course, “oaths of secrecy” are utilized by various types of organizations for both legitimate and non-legitimate reasons. Certainly, it is legitimate for certain organizations with proprietary patents to demand secrecy from their employees, for government and military organizations to have classified material only open to specially qualified citizens, for certain organizations to keep their material for members only.
But what about information that has a disastrous impact on its readers or society at large? What about information that is used for criminal purposes, for libeling the innocent or based on and used for Mind Control purposes? Asking for “oaths of secrecy” for these matters is certainly not legitimate.