FREQUENTLY-ASKED QUESTIONS

Courtesy of www.lib.washington.edu

Q:   Is the Order a religion?

A:   The teachings of the Order are universal and thereby applicable to all religions and to atheists.  Members came from different religions- Catholics, Muslims, Seventh Day Adventists, Protestants etc. and others  have  no religion. Student-practitioners do not blindly believe in the teachings, but rather, the teachings are experiential in nature and they learn the Truth in the process.  You do not have to change your religion and the teachings may even add life and meaning to your present religion.  In the same manner, you do not have to change your nationality in order to know the Truth.    The  Order  is a nonsectarian fraternal organization which respects  and unifies all religions and devoted to the study and dissemination of esoteric and mystical teachings  gathered and preserved by the ancients throughout the ages.

Q: What did Buddha, Jesus, Lao-tzu, Mohammed,  Rumi,  Plotinus, Zoroaster, Boddhidharma, Jacob Boehme, Pythagoras, William Blake all have in common?

A:  They were all illumined souls. Beings who attained Cosmic Consciousness. But how did they attain it?  They practiced certain esoteric techniques.  They followed the path of Liberation from the cyclic wheel of birth and rebirth.   The Path that affords knowledge of the Self—of who we are and why we are here.   Knowledge  that  grants Power and Wisdom, Divine Communion and Total Freedom.  You too have the opportunity to learn those secret techniques pertaining to Self-mastership.

Q:  What in essence is a mystic?

A:  A mystic is a master of life who  actually, personally and experientially realize the divinity within himself .  He is well aware of the intricate realities and endeavors to find the light and, having found, shares it with his fellowmen.  He sees God’s power – which is Love – in every creation.

Q:  What differentiates the Rosicrucian Order, Order of the Hermetic Gold and Rose+Cross from other schools of thought/mysticism?

A:  Our school, the Rosicrucian Order, OHGRC, is an advocate of Total  Human  Freedom.   Freedom  from what?  Ignorance,  misery,  bigotry.  How?  Through the realization of our  true, divine Self caged in this mortal body that is enslaved for so long by our illusions and desires.

Q:  Why  should we meditate?

A: Most of us are not yet meditating but merely concentrating.  Trying to concentrate, that is.  Meditation only follows when we have perfected the art of concentration.  You may sit down for years and years but unless you are adept in concentrating there is little hope of progress.  This is why the Masters teach us one-pointedness :  we should focus our attention on whatever we are doing, be it mental or sacred tasks. We should never let our stubborn mind wander.  We should train to submit to our  Will.  We should direct it and not the other way around.

In the Bhagavad-Gita, the avatar Krishna tells Arjuna: “For the mind is restless, turbulent and obstinate , that to control it is much harder than subduing the wind.”

This mind is the worst master but the best servant.  The ordinary mortal, according to modern science, merely uses one tenth of the mind’s capacity.  Through concentration and meditation, we can tap its utmost potential.  And for the mind, there is neither time nor space.  It knows no bounds.  There are no boundaries it cannot cross, no space it cannot engulf, no depth it cannot fathom.  It is the tool to Higher Consciousness.  Once controlled and purified of all mental impressions, only then can we see Reality hidden by the veil of illusion and freely commune with the Superconsciousness Mind.  I’ll relate to you a story in Zen Buddhism about the reality we see as it is now:

“Two monks were arguing about a flag.  One said: “The flag is moving.”  The other said: “The wind is moving.”  The sixth patriarch happened t o be passing by.  He told them: “Not the wind, not the flag; mind is moving.”

So, still your mind until you are no longer aware of its stillness.  Only a pure hand can carry a pure cup of wine without trembling, without breaking the cup, without spoiling the wine. If you desire the Absolute, be worthy of that grace.  Sit down and learn to meditate.

Q:   Can meditation  be learned  easily?

A: The meditation techniques in the Order are simple but  requires  sincerity of purpose  and are only revealed to dedicated spiritual seekers belonging to the Order.  Meditation techniques haphazardly practiced and inappropriate to the individual are always fraught with dangers.  An aspirant of mystical knowledge should seek proper guidance so that negative effects may be avoided.   We cannot just rely on hearsay or books that teach this and that since NOT ALL can be written or verbally instructed.  A blind man following a blind man will surely flounder.

Here, in our Order, we make sure that each student receives the meditation techniques suitable to his or her temperament, personality, age and sex so that psychosomatic, emotional and mental disturbances  may be prevented as one awakens latent psychic energy centers in the body.

Q:  How can I make my life meaningful and blessed?

A:  Everywhere we go, we find suffering.  The hideous face of death lurks somewhere upon us.  As a Spanish proverb goes:  “Every step you make is a step nearer to the grave.” Thus, we should never waste our time on idle matters.  There is not enough time left to fiddle with the world.

Whatever lesson we failed to learn in this world, whatever debt we did not pay our creditors, whatever service we dared not render to the least of our brethren is sure to be flung back to us – perhaps in this lifetime or in the next lifetimes.  The  same  sufferings?   The same fleeting joys?  Who can escape this grinding wheel of birth and rebirth? Who can escape the Negative Power, which wields its hegemony over this region?  You… you can escape this if and only if you are determined enough and sincere enough to rise above this tumultuous world.

A mystery school is always afforded to man suitable and appropriate to the level of his spiritual development.  The Way of the Masters is always different from the way of the savages.  Man is here to learn the greatest value of human existence, which is to realize the Divinity that slumbers within one’s self.  And it is only in this human incarnation that one has the opportunity to merge with the Absolute One.  That’s why even the highest of all devas and angelic hosts  may have a reason to envy man.

Man  crawls and kisses the dirt but he can sour up the sky to immerse himself in the Light Divine. Man crawls since it is the easiest way of learning to endure life’s pains in preparation for his flight beyond the ethereal sky.  The avatar Krishna once said: “Ignorance is the cause of thy bondage. Knowledge is the cause of thy liberation.”  The Wings of Knowledge is duly given to those who are prepared to  fly and take the upward Path of  Truth, Love and Bliss.