The Rosicrucian Order is an ancient Mystic Fraternity formed in the year 1313 by a high spiritual teacher having the symbolical name "Christian Rosen
Kreuz": Christian Rose Cross. It was his mission to prepare a new phase
of the Christian religion to be used during the coming age now at hand,
for as the world and man evolve so also must religion change. The system of
worship suited to the spiritual needs of our forebears is unsuited to our
altered intellectual condition. Therefore, the great spiritual entities in
charge of evolution, change the religions of the world in harmony with the
passage of the marching orbs in the heavens.
The Rosicrucian Philosophy is entirely Christian, striving to make
religion a living factor in the land — and to lead to Christ those who cannot
find Him by faith alone.
The Sixth Sense
The particular function of this Philosophy is to enable people to accept
the Christian doctrines through the medium of esoteric knowledge, when they
are unable to do so through the medium of faith. It aims to supplement the
work of the churches, not to supplant them.
The Rosicrucian Philosophy teaches that man possesses a latent sixth sense
which has been developed in some and which eventually will be developed by
all. This sense enables its possessor to perceive and investigate the
super-physical realms, where the so-called dead live.
It also teaches that the Earth is a great school to which we return life
after life through rebirth, learning new lessons during each sojourn here, and
thus ever evolving toward greater perfection of character and the powers which
it confers. The grades attained by different individuals in this school
account for the differences in fortunes which we see on every side. Therefore
we do not despair of God's love when we see the inequalities of life, for we
know that in time all will be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect.
Facing Death
Sooner or later there comes a time when the consciousness is forced to
recognize the fact that life, as we see it, is but fleeting, and that amid
all the uncertainties of our existence there is but one certainty — Death!
When the mind has thus become aroused by thought of the leap in the dark
which at sometime must be taken by all, several questions inevitably present
themselves: Whence have we come? Why art We here? Whither are we going? These
are basic problems with which all must sooner or later grapple, and it is of
the greatest importance how we solve them for the view we take will
color our whole lives.
The Rosicrucian Teachings also take the sting of sorrow out of the
greatest of all trials, "the loss of loved ones," even if they have been what
is called wayward, or black sheep; for we know that it is an actual fact that
in God we live and move and have our being; hence, if one single Spirit
were lost, a part of God would be lost and such a proposition is absolutely
impossible. Under the immutable Law of Cause and Effect, we are bound to meet
these loved ones sometime in the future, under other circumstances, and there
the love that binds us together must continue until it has found its fullest
expression. The Laws of Nature would be violated if a stone thrown from the
Earth were to remain suspended in the atmosphere, and under the same immutable
Laws, those who pass into the higher sphere must return. Christ said, "Ye
must be born again;" and "If I go to my Father, I will return."
Adversity and Trouble
When the bark of our life sails lightly upon smooth summer seas, wafted
along by the fair winds of health and prosperity, when friends are present on
every hand, eager to help us plan pleasures which will increase our enjoyment
of this world's goods, when social favors or political powers come to us to
gratify our every wish in whatever sphere our inclinations seek expression,
then indeed, we may say, and seem justified in saying, with our whole heart
and soul: "This world is good enough for me." But when we come to the end of
the smiling sea of success; when the whirlwind of adversity has blown us upon
the rocky shores of disaster, and the sea of suffering threatens to engulf us;
when friends have failed and every human help is as far off as it is
unavailing, then we must look for guidance to the skies as does the mariner
when he steers his ship over the waste of waters.
Likewise one who is looking for a guide which he may trust in the days of
sorrow and trouble also should embrace a religion founded on eternal laws and
immutable principles, able to explain the mystery of life in a logical manner
so that his intellect is satisfied. At the same time, a system of devotion
satisfies the heart, so that these twin factors in life receive equal
satisfaction.
Divine Love
Only when man has a clear intellectual conception of the scheme of human
development is he in a position to range himself in line therewith. When it is
made clear to him that that scheme is beneficent and benevolent in the very
highest degree, that all is truly ruled by divine Love, then that
understanding will sooner or later call out in him a true devotion and
heartfelt acquiescence which will awaken in him a desire to become a co-worker
with God in the world's work.
Eye has not seen nor ear heard the glories that are yet in store for us,
but Oliver Wendel Holmes has expressed a little of what we may look forward to
in the following lines:
Build thee more stately mansions, O my
soul.
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the
last,
Shut thee from Heaven with a dome
more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leafing thine outgrown shell by life's
unresting sea!
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