AMORC - Mystics for Moderns (1959)

8/20/2019 AMORC - Mystics for Moderns (1959)

1/83

ROSICRUCIAN ORDER A M O R C

T R A D E M A R K

Supplementary MonographP R I N T E D I N U . S . A.

The subject matter of this monograph must be understood by the reader or studentof same, not to be the official Rosicru cian teach ings. The se monograph s constitute a seriesof supplementary studies provided by the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, both to membersand nonmembers, because they are not the secret, private teachings of the Order.The object of these supplementary monographs is to broaden the mind of the student bypresenting him with the writings, opinions, and dissertations of authorities in various fieldsof hum an enterprise and endeavor. Th erefo re, it is quite probable that the reader will

note at times in these supple me ntary mon ographs statements made which a re inconsistent with the Ro sicruc ian tea chings or view po int. Bu t with the realization that they are m er e-ly supplementary and that the Rosicrucian Organization is not endorsing or condoningthem, one mUst take them me rely for their prima facie value. Throughou t the supple-mentary series the authors or translators of the subject will be given due credit whenever

we ha ve know ledge of their iden tity.

ROSICRUCIAN PARK, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

"Consecrated to truth and dedicated to every Rosicrucian"

S P E C I A L S U B J E C T L E C T U R E N U M B E R

____EAD__________ _______ 2^0_______

r ;r?«S' :rTŝ '.;r̂v, f r̂'; rTifvi ,-yivir̂ '


2/83

The following lecture is intended to present the philosophy of a mysticin a way that will make it understandable to present-day mystics, andat the same time to retain as much as possible the language and styleof the original work. To this end, the work in question has been edited and to some extent reworded. Except where explanation seemsobvious, comments added by the lecturer have been put in parentheses todistinguish them from the original.

Ruth Phelps, Librarian

MYSTICS FOR MODERNS

Francis Bacon, Mystic

England in 1600 was a curious mixture of the old and the new, of the

Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Amid the new-found interest in science and classical thought, medieval habits lived on. In Bacon's worktoo we find acceptance of the old ways as well as rejection or modification of them. We^find, also, empiricism and mysticism fused into anharmonious philosophy^ — = = — — —

The Middle Ages had no doubt carried the use of allegory and symbolismto extremes, both in religious and secular life. Yet this habitual useof symbolism was still in vogue in Bacon’s time in religious art andbooks, in books of emblems, etc. It was common to associate Moses asthe precursor of Christ with Jesus, and they were often pictured together. The sepulcher of Jesus was associated with Daniel’s lions'

den. The wine of the Last Supper was associated with the symbol of thegrapes and with the symbol of Jesus as the fruit of the vine which wascut and pressed on the cross. This was a habit which Bacon acceptedand used, though without carrying it to extremes.

The philosophy of the Middle Ages was based on authority. In philosophy, Aristotle was considered to be the unalterable foundation on whichtheology and philosophy must be based. This is one thing to which bothBacon and the Rosicrucians wore very much opposed. Bacon's criticism“of Aristotle is at least as much a reaction against blindly acceptedauthority as against Aristotle himself.

The philosophy of medieval times was founded largely on introspectivededuction rather than on observation and experiment. It tended tobegin with assumptions and jump to unfounded conclusions. This type ofthinking was what Bacon’s inductive method was to correct. It was toput in place of both faulty deduction and induction an orderly step bystep method based on experiment.

Bacon said the sciences are like pyramids erected on the basis of history and experience. Natural history is the base of the pyramid ofnatural philosophy. Next to the base is physics, and next to the vertex is metaphysics. The vertex, Bacon tells us, is "The work which Godworketh from the beginning to the end," or the summary law of nature,and he doubts whether human inquiry can reach it.


3/83

(A diagram of Bacon’s pyramid of natural philosophy would look likethis:

The problem of what Bacon meant by the top of the pyramid may be solvedby studying his use of this Biblical quotation in other parts of hisworks, and especially in the essay on Cupid or Love in the Wisdom of

the Ancients.) This love is not the son of Venus, but the most ancientof all G'ods, and the most ancient of all things except Chaos. He waswithout parent, born of an egg of the Night. Out of Chaos, Love begotall things.

This love Bacon understands to be the appetite or instinct of primalmatter, or the natural motion of the atom, which is the original andunique force that constitutes and fashions all things out of matter.There is nothing before it, no efficient cause, neither kind, nor form.It is a thing positive and inexplicable. Even if it were possible toknow the method and process of it, to know its cause is not possible,since it is, next to God, the cause of causes, itself without cause.

This is what the sacred philosopher means when he says, ''He hath madeall things beautiful according to their seasons; also he hath submittedthe world to man’s inquiry, yet so that man cannot find out the~workwhich God worketh from the beginning to thcT̂ end̂ " The summary law ofnature is that impulse of desire impressed by God upon the primary particles of matter which makes them come together, and which by repetition and multiplication produces all the variety of nature. It is athing which mortal thought may glance at but can hardly take in.

(This impulse of attraction which God impressed on matter is the firstform. It is the single and summary law of nature which is subject andsubordinate to God. It is the appetite or instinct of primal matter,

or the natural motion of the atom, and the original force that


4/83

constitutes all things out of matter. This first form is the workwhich God works from the beginning to the end, and which cannot befully known by man. This is the apex of the pyramid of natural philosophy. )

(Now let us descend from the apex and find out what Bacon meant bymetaphysics and form. The concept of form is an idea which goes backat least as far as Plato and Aristotle. Bacon used the word form, butas he often did, he used it in his own way to mean what he wanted it tomean. Since it is basic to his philosophy, it is well that we try tounderstand what he meant. First, however, we must not associate theword form in this sense with the idea of shape or figure.)

(I believe what Bacon meant by form may be put in this way:) The formis the essence of a thing. It is not the mass, but the order and disposition of that mass, which is the primary law. The first form wasthe summary law, the attraction of primal matter, which is the apex of

pyramid. But the first created form was Light. So Bacon calls thethe form of forms.

All things, Plato says, ascend to unity. Hence that science is bestwhich is simplest. This property is found in metaphysics as it contemplates those simple forms of things, density, rarity, etc. He thatunderstands a form knows the ultimate possibility of superinducing thatnature upon all kinds of matter. Form is not separated from matter,but is confined and determined by matter. Physics inquires into thenature of things, but only as to the material and efficient causes ofthem. Metaphysics inquires as to their forms and end. For example,the cause of whiteness in snow may be said to be the intermixture ofair and water, but this is the efficient cause of whiteness, not its

form.

In each branch of learning there is a law which is the foundation bothof theory and practice. This law, and its parallel in each science, is

(>what we understand by the term form. (This is important: The par-f‘̂ticular lav; in each science which is theToundation of^^he^y^gpd^pî ĉ -i

1 tice is what we understand by form. _Form is the primary law Tri eacTT'science. f~

. ------------------------------------- ----- V _

r L~He who is acquainted with forms, comprehends the unity of nature insubstances apparently most distinct from each other. He can disclosethings which neither chance nor experiment would ever have brought

about. Therefore, from the discovery of forms results genuine theoryand free practice. (Form reveals the unity in nature.)

The practical rule is that method should be certain, free or not restricted, and have relation to practice. This is the same thing as thediscovery of true form. For the form of any nature is such that whenit is assigned, the particular nature infallibly follows. Form is always present when that nature is present, and is inherent in the wholeof it. If the form be removed, the nature of the thing is absent.

The thing differs from Its form as the apparent from the actual object,as the exterior from the interior, or as that which has relation to manfrom that which has relation to the universe. It follows that no na

ture can be considered a real form which does not uniformly diminish


5/83

- A-Page Pour

and increase with a given nature.

When we speak of forms, we mean those laws of simple action which arrange and constitute any simple nature, such as heat, light, weight inevery spccies of matter. The form of heat or the form of light, there

fore, is the law of heat or the law of light.

In the works of creation, we see a double emanation of divine powerfrom God, Wisdom, and Power. Power is expressed in mass and substanceand is studied in physics. Wisdom is expressed in form and is studiedin metaphysics. (Wisdom and Power correspond to Wisdom and Darkness orpotential power in Robert Fludd's Mosalcal Philosophy.) In the creation the mass of Heaven and Earth was created in a moment of time. Theorder and disposition was the work of six days, such a difference didGod make in the works of Power and those of Wisdom. (The mass corresponds to Power or matter; the order, to Wisdom or form.)

(To summarize what we have found out about form: It is the primary lawin each science which may be discovered by the certain, free, and practical method. It reveals the unity in nature, and is the inherent essence determined by matter, but is not matter itself. It has relationto what Bacon calls Wisdom. The first form was the summary law, or theappetite or instinct of primal matter, the natural motion of the atomsymbolized by the First God, that of Love. The first created form wasLight, and mind is the form of forms.)

Philosophy, Bacon says, has three objects: God, nature, and man. Sowe may divide philosophy into the doctrine of the deity, the doctrineof nature, and the doctrine of man. Nature is understood by man likethree rays. He understands nature as with a direct ray. God, becauseof the inequality of God and his Creature, is understood like a refracted ray. Man is represented to himself as with a reflected beam.

Divine philosophy, knowledge of God, is a science derivable from God bythe light of nature and the contemplation of his creatures. Naturalphilosophy is divided into physics and metaphysics. It regards thethings which are wholly immersed in matter and movable. Metaphysicsrelates to the investigation of form and end. It is not the primary oruniversal philosophy, but is a part of natural philosophy (as we saw inthe pyramid). It regards what is more abstracted and fixed.

The primary philosophy in the tree of knowledge is like the trunk, be

ing parent to the rest. It docs not have an opposite and differs fromother sciences in the limits by which it is confined rather than in thesubject. It is general science whose axioms are not peculiar to anyone science but common to a number of them. This primary philosophy isnot the same as metaphysics. (it is like the trunk of the tree whosebranches are the parts of philosophy, divine, natural, and human.)

Human philosophy, the third ray, has two parts. One considers man segregate (or individual) and the other considers man congregate (or social). Individual human philosophy consists of knowledge with respectto the body and knowledge with respect to the mind, as well as knowledge concerning the sympathies and concordances between mind and body.

Knowledge concerning the sympathies between mind and body has two


6/83

parts. Discovery is how one discloses the other. Impression is howone works on the other. Discovery has two parts which are both prediction, one being physiognomy, the other the exposition of naturaldreams. Physiognomy discovers the disposition of the mind by thelineaments of the body. Exposition of dreams discovers the state ofthe body by the imaginations of the mind. The other part of tihe knowledge of sympathy between mind and body, Impression, is also dual; howthe functions of the body affect the mind, and how the passions or apprehensions of the mind affect the body.

Bacon compares knowledge to the waters. Some descend from the heavens,which is theology or divine inspiration (comparable to the rationalsoul). Some waters spring from the earth, which is philosophy, orknowledge from external sense (comparable to the sensible soul). (Wemight call these knowledge derived by the psychic and physical minds.)

Human knowledge which concerns the mind or soul of man has two parts.One treats of the reasonable or rational soul, which is a thing divine

and has its original form in the breath of life which God breathed intoman's face. It is the inspired soul. The other is the unreasonable orsensible soul, which is common with beasts and has its original formfrom the matrices of the elements. (The rational soul is the psychicmind, while the sensible so\il is the physical mind.)

The rational soul was not extracted from the mass of heaven and earth,but was breathed in or inspired. Therefore, the knowledge of the substance of the rational soul must be drawn from the same inspirationfrom whence its substance first flowed (that is, from God.) (The nature of the rational soul, or psychic mind, must therefore be known byinspiration from God, or psychically.) In beasts the sensible soul is

the principal soul, of which the body is the organ. But in man, thissoul is itself an organ of the rational soul.

Knowledge of the mind has two parts. One inquires of the substance ornature of the mind, the other of the faculties or functions of the mind(Bacon, like Descartes, uses the terms mind and soul synonymously. Wehave said that the nature of the rational soul can be known only by inspiration.) Its faculties may be known by other methods, and they areunderstanding, reason, imagination, memory, appetite, will, and allthose powers about which logic and ethics are conversant.

Knov,-ledge of the faculties of the mind has two appendices, natural

divination and fascination. Divination is of two kinds. Artificialdivination argues from causes, the other which argues from experimentsand is mostly superstitious, such as inspection of the flight of birds.

Natural divination, the second kind, argues from internal divination ofthe mind without assistance of signs. It too is of two sorts, one native, and the other by influxion. This kind supposes that the mindwhen it is withdrawn and collected into itself and not diffused intoorgans of the body (that is, when it is in attunement), has from thenatural power of its own essence some prenotion of things future. Thisappears in sleep, ecstasies, nearness of death, and more rarely in waking and healthy states. It is commonly furthered by those observances

which retire the mind into itself from the functions of the body.


7/83

Divination by influxion supposes that the mind like a mirror shouldtake a secondary kind of illumination from the foreknowledge of Godand Spirits. The same state of the body as with natural divination isconducive to this kind of divination, because it causes the mind toemploy its own essences more severely.

Fascination is the power and intensive act of the imagination upon thebody of another. This act of imagination includes irradiations of thesenses, transmissions of thoughts from body to body, conveyances ofmagnetic powers. (These we might call psychic perception, projection,telepathy, radiations of the aura, etc.)

(To further emphasize Bacon’s mysticism, in his Advancement of Learninghe goes into the Celestial Hierarchy of Dionysius the AeropagTte.) LeTus proceed from God to Angels or Spirits, whose nature in order of dignity (or degrees of correspondences) is next to God's. In the orderof Angels, the first place or degree is given to the Seraphim, Angelsof Love. The second is to the Cherubim, Angels of Illumination. The

third and following places are to Thrones, Principalities and the rest,which are Angels of Power and Ministry. (First we have Angels of Love,corresponding to the summary law or Love, then Angels of Knowledge andIllumination, and last, Angels of Power and Ministry.) To descend fromintellectual forms to sensible and material forms, we read that thefirst of created forms was Light, which corresponds to knowledge.(This not only outlines the hierarchy, but makes a clear reference tothe doctrine of correspondences.)

After the creation was finished, we read that man was placed in theGarden to work therein. (Note here, as in many places, Bacon makes useof the Biblical account of^creation, even though he elsewhere criticises"

those who erect an entire natural history on the First Chapter of~Genesis. What he is criticising is the extreme use of the doctrines,''hot the doctrines themselves on which mysticism is based.-}

-This work man was to do in the Garden of Eden was that of contemplatioh',for man did not work for necessity but for delight and exercise withouttrouble. The first acts man performed in Paradise comprehended the twoparts of knowledge. Those were the view of creatures, and the imposition of names. The knowledge which produced the fall of man was notthe natural knowledge concerning the creatures, but the moral knowledgeof good and evil, which man aspired to know so as to make a total defection from God and to depend wholly upon himself and his freewill.

(Bacon takes pains to point out that knowledge in itself is not wrong.It is the defection from God that is evil. The two parts of knowledgeare the viewing of the creatures, which corresponds to philosophy, andthe imposition of names according to the signatures, which correspondsto divine inspiration.)

(We might say that the signature is the manifestation of the psychicbeing or inner nature. John Heydon in his Holy Guide explains the lawof correspondences in this way: "That which is inferior or below is asthat which is superior or above, there being one universal matter andform of all things, differenced only by accidents, and particularly bythat great mystery of rarefaction and condensation." The degrees ofthe hierarchy of creation are symbolized by the rungs on the ladder ofJacob's dream. One series of degrees corresponds to another. There isa basic pattern which appears in the Cosmic pattern and is repeated in


8/83

all levels of the ladder.)

There is, Bacon says, a great difference between the Idols of the humanmind and the Ideas of the divine, between certain empty dogmas and thetrue signatures and marks set upon the works of creation as they are

found in nature. (These true signatures which Adam understood in theGarden were the basis of the names which he gave things.) It was notthe pure knowledge of nature by whose light man gave names to othercreatures in Paradise which occasioned the fall. It was the proudknowledge of good and evil with the intent to shake off God and to givelaw to himself.

Knowledge and the mind of man are defined in these words. "God hathmade all things beautiful and descent in the true return of their seasons; also he hath placed the world in man's heart, yet cannot man findout the work which God worketh from the beginning to the end." Baconexplains this further. God has framed the mind of man as a mirror orglass capable of the Image of the universal world, and as joyful to re

ceive the impressions thereof as the eye enjoys receiving light. Man'smind is delighted in beholding the variety of things and the vicissitudes of times, but it is raised also to find out the inviolable lawsand infallible decrees of nature. That no parcel of the world is denied to man's inquiry Solomon declares where he says, The spirit of aman is as the Lamp of God wherewith he searches the inwards of all secrets. (The symbol of light as knowledge is one Bacon uses often, aswhen he compares God's first creature Light with the Angels of Light,again using the doctrine of correspondences.)

X These teachings of mysticism, along with the fundamental doctrines ofalctiemy~an


9/83

but which may be regained through man’s own psychic mind, jyhose whotake Bacon’s inductive process to be of the physical mind, and...the"physicalmirld alone miss the important and essential part jtfjiis* metho'flT;

(The principle of duality in man and the universe is shown by Bacon inmany ways. In the title page to the 1640 edition of the Advancement ofLearning there are two obelisks, two worlds, the terrestrial and the"intellectual. The six parts of the Great Instauration are divided intotwo groups of three each. It is also apparent in the pairs science-philosophy, physics-metaphysics, body-mind, Power-Wisdom, philosophyspeculative and operative, knowledge intuitional and sensible, the rational and sensible souls, matter-form, Idols of the human mind andIdeas of the divine mind.)

Indeed, invention is of two kinds. One is of the arts and sciences.The other is of arguments and speeches, or that of ordinary logic. Ordinary logical induction is inference and is utterly vicious and incom

petent. Rather than perfecting nature, it perverts and destroys it.What is needed is an art of discovery or direction by which the mindwith the help of art might equal nature.

Discovery proceeds either from experiments to experiments or from experiments to axioms, from which we may likewise design new experiments.When a man tries all kinds of experiments without sequence or method,it is mere palpatation; but when he proceeds by direction and order inexperiments, it is as if he were led by the hand. Man may feel his wayin the dark, or being weak-sighted may be led by the hand of another.Or he may direct his footing by a light. (This third way is to be derived from the Interpretation of Nature, or the method of the Novum

Organum.)

Bacon retains the evidence of the sense, but helped and guarded by acertain process of correction. The mental operation which usually follows, he rejects for the most part. Instead he lays open a new andcertain path for the mind to proceed in, starting directly from thesimple sensuous perception. The work of the understanding must be commenced afresh and the mind from the outset not left to take its owncourse. Rather it must be guided at every step and the business bedone as if by machinery. The previous method Bacon calls Anticipationof the Mind, and the new method Interpretation of Nature. (Interpreta-tion proceeds by slow and careful steps, as by a ladder. Also, in the

New Atlantis the last group of fellows of Salomon’s House is calledInterpreters of Nature.)

(In the Novum Organum, Bacon outlines certain procedures of the mind.These we may tabulate in this manner. To this classification we shalladd one taken from the Advancement of Learning.

1. Deductive Inductivea) common b) Baconian

2. Subjective Objective3. Self-centered Not self-centered4. Unconscious ideas, Conscious ideas, emotions, etc.

emotions, etc. Idols Ideas of the Divine Mind5. Centered in the rational Centered in the sensible or

or psychic mind physical mind


10/83

Since it is a summary of mental processes, the table shows the dangersand faults of logical thinking. Both deduction and common inductionare dangerous because they omit the step by step progress necessary toscientific invention. Deduction does so because it begins with generalities, and induction because it .jumps from particulars to, generali

ties without the necessary intermediate steps.)(When we begin with the subjective, we may start with our own "speciousmeditations, speculations and glosses," from our own ideas and emotionsrather than from actual fact. Assumptions we make before we inquirebegin with self, with what we want to believe. The Idols which we substitute for the Ideas of the Divine Mind are those we take for grantedthrough upbringing, association, etc. They fall into four classes:)

Idols of the Tribe are those of the group or race to which we belong..Idols of the Cave are those of the individual man, for each has a caveof his own which refracts and discolors the light of nature accordingto his own peculiar nature, education, reading, and the like. Idolsformed by association with other men are called Idols of the Marketplace. And Idols which have entered men’s minds from dogmas of philosophy, and laws of demonstration, are Idols of the Theater, because allaccepted systems are but so many stage-plays representing worlds oftheir own creation after an unreal and scenic fashion. This applies tomany principles of science which have been accepted by tradition,credulity and negligence.

False philosophy is of three kinds: Sophistical is based on too narrowa foundation of experiment and natural history, and decides on authority of too few cases. Empirical philosophers bestow much labor on a fewexperiments and construct systems from them. Superstitious philosophy

mixes philosophy with theology and traditions. Among these are philosophers who have attempted to found a system of natural philosophy onthe first chapter of Genesis, on the Book of Job, etc. (Yet Bacon himself uses Genesis in his idea that God first created Light7 therefore,"man should perform experiments of light.)

'The true method of experience first lights the candle and then by itshows the way, commencing from experience duly ordered and digested,and from it educing axioms, and from established axioms again new experiments. So it was not without order and method that the divine wordoperated on the created mass. The beginning is from God, for the business at hand has the character of good impressed upon it, and appears

to procced from God, who is the author of good and the Father of Light.

No one, says Bacon, has yet been found so firm of mind and purpose asresolutely to compel himself to sweep away all theories and common notions and to apply the understanding to a fresh examination of particulars. (Whether or not he derived the idea from Bacon, this is whatDescartes not long after Bacon's time attempted to do.) Nor has anysearch been made to collect a store of particular observations sufficient in number or in kind or in certainty to inform the understanding.(This is what Bacon meant to begin with his Natural and ExperimentalHistory.)


11/83

After these particulars have been set in order in Tables of Discovery,we may educe by a certain method and rule the new light of axioms, andthese shall in their turn point the way to new particulars, that greater things may be looked for. (This is the step by step process whichis the Scala or Ladder, the true steps of the inductive method which we

met in the New Atlantis, and which builds the corresponding ladder ofcreation.) Our road does not lie on the level but ascends and descendsFirst it ascends to axioms, then descends to works. (The ascension maybe ssd-d'tobe induction, Baconian varietyt and descenslon to be deduction,from generals to particular works, although Bacon does not use thatexpression himself.)

We may only hope well of the sciences when in a just scale of ascentand by successive steps not interrupted or broken we rise from particulars to lesser axioms; and then to middle axioms, one above the other,and last of all to the most general. (Lesser, middle, and highestaxioms remind us of the outline of duties In the New Atlantis. It is,

of course, the Ladder of the Great Instauration, as we shall see.) Themiddle axioms are the true and solid and living axioms on which dependthe affairs and fortunes of men.

The understanding must not be supplied with wings, but rather hung withweights to keep it from leaping and flying. I am not, Bacon insists,raising a capitol or pyramid to the pride of man, but laying a foundation in the human understanding for a. holy temple after the model ofthe world. (This is the Holy Temple, The Sanctus Spiritus of the FamaFraternitatis, and Salomon's House in the New Atlantis. It is also thGlobus Intellectualis, the Intellectual Globe on the title page of theAdvancement of Learning.)

Regarding his inductive method, Bacon says: I pledge mankind in aliquor strained from countless grapes, from grapes ripe and fully seasoned, collected in clusters, and gathered, and then squeezed in thepress and finally purified and clarified in the vat. (The symbol ofthe grapes is found In the ritual in the New Atlantis. The grapes represent the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. But it would have recalledeven in Bacon's time, Jesus who was also symbolized by the bunch ofgrapes that was pressed on the cross. The grapes were used in watermark symbols in Rosicrucian works of Bacon's time. Today we miss themeanings of such symbols and consequently much of the meaning of evenBacon's philosophical works.)

Bacon's mysticism is not often stated in so many words, but underliessail his work. It is the assumption or basis on which his thinking isbuilt, the premise with which he begins.

'The Great Instauration which Bacon outlined and which he partly wrotewas In six parts. Part one deals with fields of knowledge or divisionof sciences. This Bacon took up in his Advancement of Learning, especially part two. The second part is an outline of the new inductivemethod and is represented by his Novum Organum, or New Organon. Thethird part is the phenomena of the universe and was begun by Bacon'sNatural and Experimental History. It is the facts from observation anexperiment on which the phiTosophy is to be based. About these three

parts there is no difficulty, since Bacon states them and his own workconcerning them explicitly.


12/83

* The other three. however, are not, so.clear, partly because he_ did no toutline anv specific works concerned with them. Again, to understandwhat he means, we must consider all that he has said about these partsin his own works, and in different versions and editions of his works.We must understand, too, the symbols he uses and their background.

The fourth part Bacon calls the Ladder of the Intellect, which is togive some things it seems necessary to premise for convenience andpresent use. It is to set forth examples of inquiry and invention according to his method, choosing subjects that are most noble in themselves and different from each other. These are to be actual types andmodels by which the entire process of the mind and the fabric of invention should be set forth. The ladder is the step by step process givenin the New Organon and the New Atlantis, the individual steps of theinductive method in particular applications. But the ladder in thissense is taken from the symbol of the ladder of creation which extendsfrom earth to heaven. The ladder of the intellect is that by which themind climbs the steps of the inductive method, but it corresponds to

Jacob's ladder, which is a symbol of the cosmic pattern of creation,and the degrees of creation.

The ladder also symbolizes the steps leading to the intellectual sphererectified to the globe of the world which is on the title page of the1640 edition of the Advancement of Learning, and which was referred toby Bacon several times in his worksT It is the ladder leading to theholy temple in the New Atlantis. In the New Organon, the ladder is theascending and descending scale of axioms and experiments by which onereaches the Globe of the Intellect or the holy temple.

In his Confession of Faith, Bacon refers to "the Person of the Mediator

(Jesus, in whom") tKe true Ladder might be fixed; whereby God might descend to his creatures and his creatures might ascend to God." Jesus*too is the ladder. The symbol, then, is both mystic and material,psychic and physical/ This constant union of the duality of man and zho cosmic "Has not ~Eeen~grasped by students of Bacon, and without ithis philosophy cannot be properly understood. The ladder is the meansor mystical and psychic ascent and descent, and it is at thesame time~̂a symbol of natural and scientific phenomena and the inductive method

The Fifth and Sixth parts of the Instauration refer to the New Philosophy as it is put in the usual English version. Reference to other editions, however, brings this terminology about the sixth part: Philo-

sophia Secunda, or Active Philosophy. Second Philosophy should recallthe Philosophia Prima or Primary Philosophy which is the UniversalPhilosophy symbolized by the trunk of the tree of sciences. The secondary philosophy would logically be the branches of the tree, which istruly the active or practical philosophy or science. This is what wasmissing in the tree, and what Bacon's method was to invent or discover.The sixth part of the Instauration is derived from the new method andis the result of the other parts.

The fifth part in English is called the Forerunners, but in the 167^edition of the Advancement of Learning it is more accurately called theanticipations of second philosophy emergent upon practice. We rememberthat Bacon called his inductive method Interpretation of Nature as compared to the old method which he called Anticipation of Nature. The


13/83

fifth part, then, is the old method, the anticipation, and the philosophy which he himself and others should derive from it, which should beused until the sixth part was more complete than it could be in Bacon’slifetime. It is the forerunner, to be used temporarily; or philosophyaccording to the old method to be used until the new should be ready.It is, he says, like interest payable until the principal is forthcoming.

■ That Bacon had in mind by the last three parts of the Instaurationphilosophy, and not other types of works, seems to be evident in thisquotation from the 1653 edition of the History of Winds. Speaking ofthe Natural History, Bacon says, . . this present Historie doth notonly supply the place of the third part of the Instauration, but alsois a not despicable preparation to the fourth, by reason of the Titlesout of the Alphabet and Topicks, and to the sixth, by reason of thelarger Observations, Commentations, and Rules." The six parts of theInstauration are meant to be a well integrated whole dealing with

science and philosophy.

The Great Instauration is a plan for the restoration of philosophy andscience. It does not include the literary renaissance in which Baconwas very much interested. Nor does it include his more strictly Rosicrucian activities represented by the Rosicrucian manifestoes and theNew Atlantis. Nor does it include the Shakespeare plays. All these, Ibelieve, are part of a larger, and certainly no less important, plan of^which the Instauration was itself a part. What Bacon was apparentlytrying to do was to start a complete rebl^T^o? literature, art, scf-ence‘and~phllosophy" for his own and later times, uslne; the RosicrucianOrder and teachings as, the almost unseen and unknown foundation*of the

whole .


14/83

!A*̂ ̂ «WS/: ̂ V̂VPUJ LV»/J LV*/: l̂ yiXSyj v̂j»>Ml̂ J ’>*/’ l.vS/J

ROSICRUCIAN ORDER A M O R C

T R A D E M A R K

Supplementary MonographP R I N T E D I N U . S . A.

The subject matter of this monograph must be understood by the reader or studentof same, not to be the official Ro sicrucian teachings. Th ese mono graphs constitute a seriesof supplementary studies provided by the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, both to membersand nonmembers, because they are not the secret, private teachings of the Order.The object of these supplementary monographs is to broaden the mind of the student bypresenting him with the writings, opinions, and dissertations of authorities in various fieldsof human enterprise and endeavor. There fore, it is quite probable that the reader w illnote at times in these supplementary monographs statements made which are inconsistent with the Ros icrucian teachings or view point. Bus or viewpoint. But with the realization that they are mere

e Rosicrucian Organization is not endorsing or condoningIv supplementary and that

mentary series the authors or translators of the subject will be given due credit wheneverthem, one must take them me rely for their prim a facie value. Throughou t the supple

lentary series the authors or translf we ha ve knowled ge of th ei r iden tity.

ROSICRUCIAN PARK, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

"Consecrated to truth and dedicated to every Rosicrucian"

S P E C I A L S U B J E C T

RAD

L E C T U R E N U M B E R

361

c

rTg?: r/yvi rygYi rTgvi r7y\i r̂gv: ryfev; r7̂,v: r?yvi rv̂r; rTsv: r7y%i rv̂

R - 2 0 3 9


15/83

The following lecture is intended to present the philosophy of a mysticin a way that will make it understandable to present-day mystics, andat the same time to retain as much as possible the language and styleof the original work. To this end, the work In question has been edited and to some extent reworded. Except where explanation seems ob

vious, comments added by the lecturer have been put in parentheses todistinguish them from the original.

Ruth .Phelps, Librarian

MYSTICS FOR MODERNS

The Allegory of the New Atlantis

The New Atlantis was published with Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum or Naturaland Experimental History in 1627. John Heydon's version of the workappeared in his English Physltlans Guide, or a. Holy-guide Leading the

Way _to Know all Things Past, Present and to Come . . . published inTS62. The" Preface, which is the New AtTanTis is often called "AJourney into the Land of the Rosicrucians.11 This, however, is incorrect since Heydon gives it no other title than "Preface." The maindifference between these two versions is the terminology, and I haveU3ed whichever terms make the allegory clear.

The title page of the Sylva Sylvarum has two pillars, the ocean, andbetween the two pillars the World of the Intellect which Bacon refersto at the end of the Advancement of Learning: "I have made as it werea small Globe of the Intellectual World." The Novum Organum had onits title . page the two pillars with a ship sailing out to sea, the

perfect symbol of our Philosophical Voyage. To link Bacon’s works together more thoroughly, the 1640 edition of the Advancement of Learning has two pillars or obelisks with the ship, and at ‘Che top of thepillars two worlds, labelled Visible World and Intellectual World,symbolizing the duality of the world and of man. Since the New Atlantis is itself the Philosophic Voyage, Bacon's most important worksare united by the same symbol.

In works such as the Bible, Dante's Divine Comedy, and the New Atlantithere are three levels of allegorical meaning. The literal or historical level corresponds to every day events and to the physical mind Inman. The spiritual or psychological level corresponds to man's inner

development and to the psychic mind. The third level, the mysticalmeaning, corresponds to the cosmic mind in man, to initiation andmystical attunement. These three kinds of meaning may also be said tocorrespond to the national, organizational, and personal interpretation of the history, ~in this cane of the Rosicrucian Order.

The ocean in our Philosopical Voyage represents the psychic mind, whilthe land, the island of Bensalem, represents the physical mind. Thename Bensalem means Son of Peace. The New Atlantis, like the FamaFraternitatis, begins with a reference to the New World.


16/83

We sailed from Peru, where we had continued for one year, for Chinaand Japan by the South Sea. After five months of good wind, it settled in the west, and we were sometimes in purpose to turn back.Finding ourselves in the midst of the greatest wilderness of waters inthe world, without food, we gave ourselves up for lost men and prepared for death.

(This is the beginning of the Philosophical Voyage mentioned byMichael Maier, and pictured in one of his books. We begin our voyagefrom the edge of the known world into an unknown world. On the oceanof the psychic mind we sail toward that part of the world called theEast, toward enlightenment. The wilderness of waters is comparableto Dante's wilderness in the Divine Comedy, "I came to myself in a darkwood.")

(The ship, like the seeker, is lost, blown here and there and nowhereby the winds, until he gives himself up for dead. Not only that, but

he is without spiritual food. Surely this is a good picture of mostof us who are driven by trouble and conflict to seek a solution inmystical philosophy, and yet we often find it seemingly by accident.)

Yet we did lift up our hearts and voices to God who shows us his won-'ders in the deep, beseeching him of his mercy, that as In the beginning (meaning the creation story in Genesis) he discovered the face ofthe deep, and brought forth dry land, so he would now discover landto us that we might not perish. The next day about evening we sawtoward the north thin clouds which put us in hope of land. And in thedawning of the next day, we plainly discerned land. We entered intothe port of a fair city, and came close to shore and offered to land,

but we saw divers people forbidding us, yet without fierceness, butonly as warning us off.

(Devolution comes before evolution, death before rebirth, the DarkNight before the Golden Dawn. So in our Voyage, we are seemingly lost,hopeless. Yet we appeal to the cosmic; we put our lives in the handsof the cosmic, so to speak. And our appeal is answered. Sincere seek-

is rewarded. In the midst of the vast ocean we have discovered theisland symboXlzing the Rosicrucians, as in the Dark Night we discoverour true selves and the Order and God. But eager as we are, we mustgo through the proper procedure.)

After some negotiation, one of the officials of the island meets withmen from the ship in a small boat, saying: If you swear by the meritsof the Savior that you are no pirates, nor have shed blood lawfullyor unlawfully within forty days past, you may have license to land.We said we were ready to take that oath. After while the notary cameon board our ship, holding in his hand a fruit like an orange but ofa coler between orange-tawny and scarlet, which he used as a preservative against infection. He gave us our oath and told us that the nextday by six in the morning we should be brought to the strangers1 housewhere we should be accommodated both for our whole and for our sick.

(The voyager coming to the island of the Rosicrucians must take an oathas every Rosicrucian takes an oath on entering the Order. The


17/83

A

red fruit symbolizes the Philosopiher' s Stone, Maier* s Golden Medicine,or Cosmic consciousness.)

The next morning we were shown our chambers in the strangers' house,and our guide said to us, "After this day and tomorrow, you are to

keep within doors for three days. Do not think yourselves restrained,but rather left to your rest. Six of our people are appointed toattend you." (No doubt the numbers mentioned in the allegory are symbolic. The stay in the strangers' house represents a period of probation, of which the voyagers make good use.)

Our dinner was served, which was good both for bread and meat. We hadalso three sorts of drinks, wine of the grape, a drink of grain, anda kind of clear cider. Besides, there were brought to us a greatstore of those scarlet oranges for our sick, and box of grey or whitish pills, which our sick should take. (The three drinks may symbolize the alchemical principles, sulphur, salt, and mercury, or body,mind, and soul in the manner of the three elements. The red fruitthis time is accompanied by whitish pills, so we have the alchemicalred and white symbolizing duality. These will heal the sick, or restore harmony in them.)

The next day I said to our company: Let us know ourselves. We aremen cast on land, as Jonah was out of the whale's belly, when we wereas buried in the deep. (Jonah in the whale's belly is a symbol of thedescent into the subconscious, the Dark Night, just as is being lostat sea. Cast on land, they are emerging from that trial.)

Now we are on land, we are but between death and life, for we are beyond both the old world and the new. Therefore, let us look up to God,

and every man reform his own ways. Let us behave ourselves so we mayfind peace with God and grace in the eyes of this people. Our companythanked me and promised to live soberly and civilly. So we spent ourthree days joyfully and had every hour joy of the amendment of oursick, who thought themselves cast into some divine pool of healing.(The period of probation is spent by the seeker in knowing himself,mending his ways, and in being healed, in beginning a new life.)

When our three days were past a new man came, clothed in blue with awhite turban having a small red cross on the top. He spoke with six ofus. I am governor of this hoiise of strangers, a Christian priest, andof the Order of the Rosie Cross, and am come to you to offer you my

service. The state has given you license to stay on land for sixweeks. I do not doubt I shall be able to obtain for you such furthertime as shall be convenient. None of you may go above a mile and ahalf from the walls of the city without special leave.

We answered we wanted words to express our thanks and his noble offersleft us nothing to ask. It seemed to me that we had before us a picture of our salvation in heaven. (The student is joyful at havingpassed his probationary period, and he may now leave the strangers'house, but he may not go beyond certain limits.)

The next day the governor came to us again and some ten of us sat down

with him. He began thus: Because of our solitary situation and the


18/83

laws of secrecy which we have for our travelers, and the rare admission of strangers to our island, we know most of the habitableworld but ourselves are unknown. Since he that knoweth least is fittest to ask questions, it is more reason that you ask me than that I

ask you. We desired to know, because that land was so remote, whowas the apostle of that nation and how it was converted to the faith.He showed contentment in this question, saying: It shows that youfirst seek the kingdom of heaven.

About twenty years, he told us, after the ascension of our Savior itcame to pass that there was seen by the people of Renfusa (Heydon hasDamrar) a city on the east coast of our island, when the night wascloudy and calm, about a mile in the sea (meaning the psychic mind)a great pillar of light in the form of a column or cylinder, risingfrom the sea a great way toward heaven. On top of it was a largecross of light. (The pillar of light, of course, recalls the pillarof cloud and fire in the Book of Exodus.) The people gathered on thesands to wonder and then put themselves into small boats to go nearerthis marvelous sight. When the boats were come within about sixtyyards of the pillar, they found themselves all bound and could go nofurther. So they all stood as in a theater, beholding this light, asan heavenly sign. There was in one of the boats a wise man of theSociety of Rosie Crucians (or Salomon's House) which house or collegeis the very eye of this kingdom. The Rosie Crucian, having attentivelyand devoutly viewed and contemplated this pillar and cross, fell down •upon his face, and then raised himself upon his knees, and lifing uphis hands to heaven, made his prayers in this manner:

Lord God of heaven and earth, thou hast vouchsafed of thy grace to

those of our order to know thy works of creation and true secrets ofthem, and to discern between divine miracles, works of Nature, worksof art and impostures, and illusions of all sorts. I do here acknowledge and testify before this people, that the thing we now see is thyfinger and a true miracle. We most humbly beseech thee to prosperthis great sign, and to give us the interpretation and use of it inmercy.

When he had made his prayer, he found his boat was movable whereas therest remained still fast. Taking that for an assurance of leave toapproach, he caused the boat to be softly and with silence rowedtoward the pillar. But before he came near it, the pillar and cross

of light broke up as it were into a firmament of many stars, which alsovanished soon after, and there was nothing left but a small ark, orchest of cedar, which was dry though in the water. In the fore end ofit grew a small green branch of palm. When the Rosie Crucian hadtaken it with all reverence into his boat, it opened by itself, andthere were found in it a book and a letter, both written on fineparchment and wrapped in linen. The book contained all the canonicalbooks of the Old and New Testament and the Apocalypse, and some otherbooks of the New Testament which were not at that time written, werenevertheless in the book.

(in Heydon*s account, it is the apostle John who put the ark to sea,

as we shall see. The background of the ark symbol Includes the Ark ofNoah, the ark which the children of Israel made on the Exodus, and ark


19/83

In which Moses was placed in the bulrushes. In the New Atlantis theark symbol has the same meaning that the opening of"the tomb does inthe Fama Fraternitatis. It represents the teachings which were handeddown through the centuries from one cycle of activity to another. Thehistorical meaning of the allegory pertains to the officer who opensthe symbolic tomb. The book and letter symbolize the body of teachings but also the knowledge acquired by the individual student. Mystically the account symbolizes an initiation Into a higher level ofconsciousness. __Bacon savs knowledge begins with light which is God'sfirst creature.. Divine knowledge comes by Inspiration. The light in_the allegory symbolizes divine knowledge.)

There was in both these writings, the book and letter, wrought a greatmiracle, like that of the apostles, in the original gift of tongues.For there being at that time in this land Hebrews, Persians, and Indians, besides the natives, every one read the book and letter as ifthey had been in his own language. Thus was this land saved from in

fidelity, as the remain of the o]d world was from water, by an ark,through the miraculous evangelism of St. John.

(Knowledge received psychically is understood by the student in hisown language, as it wore, according to his interpretation of the symbolic language of the experience. This is an inner psychic experienceand the gift of tongues is one of wisdom and understanding.)

The next day the same governor came to us again and after we were sethe said: Well, the questions are on your part. We observed the islanwas known to few and yet knew most of the nations of the world. Thismight be accounted for by its being in the secret conclave of such a

vast sea. But we could not tell what to make of their knowledge oflanguage, books, and affairs of those at such a distance from them.He replied: In what I shall tell you I must reserve some particularswhich it is not lawful for me to reveal, but there will be enought lefto give you satisfaction. (in Bacon's day, when the Fama created sucha stir, the Rosicrucians were unknown themselves, while they knew andassociated freely with all people.)

About three thousand years or more ago the navigation of the world,especially for remote voyages, was greater than at this day. ThePhoenicians and the Carthaginians had great fleets. The shipping ofEgypt and Palestine and China was likewise great. And the great

Atlantis, that you call America, abounded in tall ships. Our islandhad fifteen hundred strong ships. Of all this there is with you butsparing memory, but we have large knowledge thereof.

("The great Atlantis, that you call America" can mean that Americasymbolizes the New Atlantis. The New World then being settled shouldbe the ideal country, the Land of the Rosicrucians. The travels ofthe brethren of the fraternity were a part of the training of an educated young man, but this too is symbolic of the Philosophical Voyageand of the spread and acquisition of knowledge. This is made plainagain when we come to the outline of the duties of the fellows of thecollege. The great shipping and commerce may mean that the ancient

world had more commerce than is realized. But it may also symbolizethe mystical philosophy of the ancients.)


20/83

(in the allegory of Atlantis, we see the different levels of meaning.In the first place, it is a utopia within a utopia, like a play withina play. America, which is both the old and the new Atlantis, standsfor the Rosicrucian Order, as well as for the ideal state. Historicallythe tale is the history of the rise and fall of a country, or of anorganization, or for that matter of an individual. Spiritually, itsymbolizes knowledge, mystical philosophy, its misuse and consequences.Also spiritually, it is an allegory of inner conflict and struggle.Eecause both Atlantis and Bensalem represent a mystical fraternity,it is a struggle within the self. Since America is the New Atlantis,it symbolizes rebirth, both of the Order and the individual.)

At that time this island was frequented by ships of all the nationsbefore named. Men of these countries who were not sailors came withthem, and we have some little tribes of them witxh us at this day, suchas Persians, Chaldeans, Arabians. Our own ships went to your straitscalled the Pillars of Hercules, to China and the Oriental Seas, and asfar as the borders of East Tartary. (Perhaps the people named represent areas of ancient mystical knowledge. Tartary was a region in Asifrom the Sea of Japan to the Dnieper River; hence, it symbolizes theEast. But Tartarus was a mythical place, a region below Hades, so itmay be meant to emphasize the different levels of the allegory, aswell as different levels of the mind.)

At this time, the inhabitants of the Great Atlantis, the Holy Land,flourished. Though the account by Plato, that descendants of Neptunesettled there, and of the magnificent temple, city and hill, and theseveral degrees of ascent whereby men climbed up to the same, as if ithad been a Ladder of Heaven, though these are poetical and mythical,

yet this much is true. The country of Atlantis as well as Peru andMexico, were mighty and proud kingdoms. (The Ladder of Heaven is theLadder of the Intellect which leads to the Temple of Wisdom, the Houseof the Holy Spirit. It is the Ladder of Bacon's Great Instaurationor Reformation and stands for the steps of the Inductive Method.)

Within ten years both Peru and Mexico made expeditions, Mexico throughthe Atlantis to the Mediterranean Sea, and Peru through the South Seaupon our Island. The former expedition was related to Plato by theEgyptian priest whom he cites. Whether the ancient Athenians repulsedthem, I cannot say. Certain it is that neither man nor ship cameback from that voyage. Neither had the voyage of Peru upon us any

better fortune. The king of this island named Altabin (Heydon hasPhoates) compelled them to give themselves up without striking a strokeAfter they were at his mercy, he contented himself with their oath thathey should no more bear arms against him, and dismissed them all in •safety. The divine revenge (which we might call karma) overtook thoseproud enterprises, for within less than a hundred years the Great Atlantis was utterly lost and destroyed; not by a great earthquake, asyour man says, but by a deluge or inundation. It was not deep, notpast forty foot, so that it destroyed man and beast generally, yetsome wild inhabitants of the wood escaped. Men who were not drownedperis bed for want of food. So do not marvel at the thin population ofAmerica nor the rudeness and ignorance of the people, for they are

younger by a thousand years than the rest of the world. (Atlantiswas lost as karma for aggression against other nations, or misuse of


21/83

their knowledge. The inhabitants of America, the Indians, are a newrace, further emphasizing America as the symbol of the New Atlantis.The inundation of Atlantis was the symbolic 40 feet of the Biblicaldeluge.)

So you see, the governor continues, we lost our traffic with Americans with whom, because they lay nearest us, we had most commerce.As for other parts of the world, in the ages following, navigationeverywhere greatly decayed. (The spread of knowledge, represented byshipping and commerce, declined until Europe in the Middle Ages wasalmost ignorant of knowledge outside its own immediate area and interests. The struggle between the countries symbolizes the conflict between the mystical and other philosophies, as well as the conflictswithin the individual. The deluge again stands for the submergencein the psychic or subconscious mind, the Dark Night. The decline ofcommerce may also represent the cycles of the Oder, the periods ofquiescence and activity, and the periods of meditation and activity in

the life of the student.)

There reigned in this island about 1,900 years ago, a king whose memoryof all others vie most adore, not superstitiously but as a divine instrument, though a mortal man. His name was Salomona, and we esteemhim as the lawgiver of our nation. (Heydon calls the king EugeniusTheodidactus, which is the pseudonym Heydon uses as author of hisbooks.) This king ordained the prohibitions we have on the entranceof strangers. Of those that should land, as many should be permittedto depart as would, but as many as would stay should have very goodconditions. Now in so many ages since that time, but 13 persons atdifferent times chose to return. What they reported abroad cannot be

known. Our lawgiver saw fit to restrain our travel abroad with oneexception. And here I may seem a little to digress, but you will by-and-by find it pertinent. The exception was the erection of Salomon’sHouse.

(Heydon calls Salomon’s House the Temple of the Rosie Cross and theHoly House, which of course is the Sanctus Spiritus of the Fama. Itshould be remembered that the terms all symbolize the same thing, theRosicrucian Order and its teachings, the individual student and theknowledge he acquires, and the Royal Society of London. Salomon isused, as usual, as a symbol of wisdom. As the Order builds its symbolic Temple, the Sanctus Spiritus, so each member builds his ownTemple or House of the Holy Spirit. It is the point from which thephilosophical voyages of the society are made and to which they return.It is the eye of the kingdom.)

It is the noblest foundation that ever was upon the earth, and thelantern of this kingdom. It is dedicated to the study of the worksand creatures of God. I take it to be named for the king of theHebrews, of whose works we have some parts which with you are lost,namely, that natural history which he wrote of all plants, from thecedar of Lebanon to the moss that grows out of the wall, and of allthings that have life and motion. (in place of Salomon’s natural history, Heydon has: "The Rosie Crucian M. which he wrote of all thingspast, present or to come.” This would lead one to equate the book M.

and natural history.) Our king, finding himself to symbolize, in many


22/83

things, with that king of the Hebrews, honored him with the title ofthis foundation. This order or society is sometimes called the Collegeof the Six Days Works, by which I am satisfied that our king hadlearned from the Hebrews that Gcd created the world in six days. Heinstituted that house, therefore, for the finding out of the truenature of all things, whereby God might have more glory and men morefruit in their use of them.

(However, provision must be made for obtaining knowledge.) When theking had forbidden his people to navigate to any part of the world notunder his crown, he made this ordinance; that every 12 years thereshould be sent from the kingdom two ships appointed to several voyages,that in either of them should be a mission of three of the fellows orbrethren of the Temple of the Rosie Cross, whose errand was to giveus knowledge of the affairs and state of those countries to which theywere designed, and especially of the sciences, arts, manufactures, andinventions of all the world, to bring us books, instruments, and patterns in every kind. The ships, after they landed the brethren, shouldreturn and the brethren should stay abroad till the new mission. Thusyou see, we maintain a trade, not for any commodity of matter, butonly for God’s first creature, which was light. (Men should, like God,create light first. Again, we see, these are Philosophical Voyages.)

(The founder of Salomon’s House, which symbolizes the RosicrucianOrder, is comparable to the founder or author of the fraternity inMaier's Themis Aurea. The quotation about the cedars of Lebanon isone of Bacon’s favorites and comes from I Kings, 4:33. The interestingthing about this is that the following chapter begins the descriptionof the erection of the Temple of Solomon, including the cherubim

carved over the altar.)

(The third law in the Fama Fraternitatls is that the brethren shouldmeet every year on the Day C In the House of the Holy Spirit. Thefeast of the family or fraternity which follows in the New Atlantiscorresponds to this gathering.) One day two of our company werebidden to a feast of the family, or as Heyaon puts it, of the fraternity. It is granted to any man that lives to see thirty persons descended of his body, alive together, and all above three years old, tomake this feast at the cost of the state. The father of the fraternity they call the Rosie Crucian. (Maier said, by the name RosieCrucian they mean their founder.) The Rosie Crucian chooses one man

from among his sons to live in the house with him. (This refers tothe fourth lav/ of the Fama instructing each member to choose a fitsuccessor.) After divineservice the father comes forth with all hisgeneration of lineage and sits in the chair at the upper end of theroom. There comes in from the lower end a herald with two young ladsone on either side. One carries a parchment scroll, the other a cluster of grapes of gold. (The parchment again symbolizes the teachings,or knowledge, as well as the authority of the father. The grapesare the fruit of the Tree of Life, which Maier said was human wisdom.)The scroll is read aloud and is the king’s charter, containing giftsof revenue and privileges to the Rosie Crucian, and is then given tohim. The grapes also are given to the father who gives them to that

son he chose to be in the house with him, who bears it before theRosie Crucian as a sign of honor when he goes in public.


23/83

The Rosie Crucian retires and then comes forth to dinner. None of thedescendants sit with him unless they be of the Temple of the RosieCross. After dinner the Rosie Crucian retires again to make privateprayers, and then comes forth to give the blessing. He calls his

descendants one by one by name. The person called kneels down and thefather lays his hand on his head, giving the blessing in these words:"Son (or Daughter) of the Holy Island, thy father speaks the word; theblessing of the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and the HolyDove be upon thee, and make the days of thy pilgrimage good and many."If there be any sons, not above two, of eminent merit, he calls forthem again and says, laying his arm over their shoulders, "Sons, it iswell you were born, give God the praise, and persevere to the end."He delivers to him a jewel, made in the figure of an ear of wheat,which they wear on the front of their turban or hat. This done, theyfall to music and dances and other recreations.

(We have not only the symbol of the grapes, but that of the ear of

wheat which appears in ancient mysteries. It is possible, since thefeast of the family honors a father and his offspring, the celebrationalso symbolizes the Chymical Marriage.)

One of the fathers of the Temple of the Rosie Cross came to the cityand sent word to us he would admit all our company to his presence, andhave private conference with one of us that we should choose. I waschosen, and when we were alone, he spoke to me in Spanish:

I will give you the greatest jewel I have. I will impart to thee forthe love of God and men, a relation of the true state of the Templeof the Rosie Cross, or Salomon's House. To do this I wrill first set

forth the end of our foundation, secondly, the preparations and instruments we have for our works, and thirdly the employments and functionswhereto our fellows are assigned, and fourthly the ordinances and riteswhich we observe.

The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret motionof things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to theeffecting of all things possible, (Knowledge and philosophy must beput to practical use.) The preparations and instruments are these. Wehave large and deep caves, high towers, lakes, great houses (observatories), chambers of health, baths for the cure of disease, orchardsand gardens, parks and enclosures for beasts and birds, pools for fish,

brewhouses, bake-houses, kitchens, shops of medicines, mechanical arts,furnaces, perspective-houses, sound-houses, perfume-houses, engine-houses, mathematical-houses, houses of deceits of the senses. Theseare the riches of the Rosie Crucians.

One of the most important parts of the New Atlantis outlines the employments and offices of the fellows of Salomonrs House, or the Temple ofthe Rosie Cross. This may be an allegory on the teachings of the Orderas well as on the structure and function of a scientific society suchas the Royal Society of London later became. It certainly is a practical outline of the working of Bacon's experimental, Inductive method


24/83

There are nine groups of fellows, the first consisting of twelve, theothers of three each. The first group sail to foreign countries tobring back books, experiments, etc. These are called merchants oflight. (Light, of course, symbolizes knowledge, and it is light orknowledge we must obtain first.) The second group collect experimentsin books and are called depredators. The third, or mystery men, collect experiments of mechanical arts and liberal sciences, and practices not brought into arts. (This first section of three groups collect information and experiments.)

The fourth group try new experiments, and are called pioneers or miners. The nuxt three draw former experiments into tables and titlesto give better light from drawing observations out of them. (in otherwords, they report on them.) They are compilers. The sixth groupdraw out of experiments things for use in man's life. They apply theknowledge and are called Dowry-men or benefactors. (in the secondsection, the groups experiment, report, and apply the knowledge. This

same pattern is repeated in the last section, but on a higher level.)

The seventh group direct new experiments of a higher light, and arecalled lamps. Three others execute the experiments so directed, andreport on them, and are called inoculators (which means literally tofurnish with eyes). Thu ninth and last group raise former discoveriesinto greater observations, axioms, and aphorisms. They are calledInterpreters of Nature. (Bacon's inductive method is Interpretationof Nature rather than Anticipation of Nature as he called the oldmethod. The name of the last group of fellows, then, is a directreference to Bacon's inductive method.)

The fellows have consultations to decide what should be published andwhat not, and they take an oath of secrecy to conceal what they do notmake public. (Heydon adds to this section a reference .to two of thelaws of the Fama: Our seal is R. C. and we meet upon the day altogether. The fourth rule of the Fama is that every year upon the dayC. they should meet together at the house S. Spiritus. The fifth lawis that the word C. R. should be their seal, mark and character. Thesteps of the inductive method are not only the basis of the scientificmethod, but of the Rosicrucian method and philosophy. It must be usedfor psychic and physical experiments. Furthermore, knowledge is builtup inductively, but on that basis, it is applied by deductive reasoning, although Bacon does not use that term. And the deduction is asdifferent from ordinary deduction as Bacon's inductive method fromthe ordinary kind.)

The Rosie Crucian goes on: For our rites we have two galleries. Inone are samples of inventions, and in the other statues of principalinventors. Upon every invention of value we erect a statue to theinventor, and give him a liberal and honorable reward.

We have certain hymns and services which we say daily of praise andthanks to God for his marvelous works, and prayers imploring'his aidand blessing for the illumination of our labors and turning them togood and holy uses.


25/83

As he stood up, I knelt down, and he laid his right hand on my headand said, "God bless thee, my son, and God bless this relation whichI have made. I give thee leave to publish it, for the good of othernations, for we here are in GodTs bosom, a land unknown." And so heleft me. (Earlier, Bacon said that the fellows of Salomon’s Housepublish some things and keep some secret. So here, too, we have areference to the policy of secrecy in the simple statement, "I givethee leave to publish it." Before the end of this last paragraph,Heydon inserted a strange biography of himself. But that may be another Rosicrucian puzzle.)

We have now progressed from the beginning of the Philosophical Voyageand being lost in the wilderness of waters, or the subconscious mind,to finding the Island of Bensalem, or Apamia as Heydon sometimes callsit, that is, to finding the Rosicrucian Order. We have seen, in theform of symbol and allegory, some of the rites, beliefs and accom

plishments of the fraternity. The allegory may be interpreted ondifferent levels of meaning, and it may apply to the individual student as well as to the fraternity.

Seventeenth century ideal states such as the New Atlantis were notjust utopian in the sense of being impractical dreams. They weremeant to be realizable in time. They were not castles in the air,but ideals to strive for. Some writers of these works were connected with the-Rosicrucian Order, and some were friends of members of thefraternity. Some were members of the Invisible College which laterbecame the Royal Society of London. These men were practical reformers .

The New Atlantis is said to have been unfinished, and it is interesting to speculate on the possibility that Bacon did finish It and published it either anonymously or under a pseudonym. It might be profitable to study other utopias of the seventeenth century with thisidea in mind.

Harrington’s Oceana Is a study of governmental and political theory.Campanella’s City of the Sun has some similarities to Bacon’s work.In both, it is" learning that is most important, and the head of thestate amounts to a philosopher-ruler. Andrea's Christianopolis Iseven more like the New Atlantis. The Nova Solyma published anonymously

in 1648 has some ideas in common with these, but it concentrates moreon the moral and religious aspects of the state and personal life.All of these works could very well be considered Rosicrucian in spiritAlthough their similarities are striking, there are things which makethe New Atlantis a work by itself. There is nothing in the o triers tocompare to l) the Allegory of the Ark, 2) the Feast of the Family,3) the allegorical History of Atlantis, 4) the Duties of the Fellowsof Salomon’s House. These are the foundation of the mystical and thescientific ideals of Bacon’s work. In some ways, the New AtlarT£Ts~ Ts~closer to the Fama and Confossio Fraternitatis than to the utopias'mentioned.

o o o 0 o o o —


26/83

S i r f s t i

i

r ? » v . r

. r ? « S ~ f o x ; f o x , r ? + \ ' , ? g \

y*v: t>S\i r̂!': r?î r?̂';ryŝ-; rr»v; r/#Mr/»n r̂vi r?%ŝ r̂vi r?tf\i r?


27/83

The following lecture is intended to present the philosophy of a mysticin a way that will make it understandable to present-day mystics, andat the same time to retain as much as possible the language and styleof the original work. To this end, the work in question has been ed~ited and to some extent reworded. Except where explanation seems obvious, comments added by the lecturer have been put in parentheses todistinguish them from the original.

Ruth Phelps, Librarian

MYSTICS FOR MODERNS

The Allegory of the Fama

The Fama Fraternltatis was a Rosicrucian manifesto printed first inGermany in 1614 and subsequently in several editions. It was, however,

circulated in manuscript form at least as early as 1610. The firstEnglish version was not published until Thomas Vaughan’s in 1652. Tenyears later John Heydon’s English Physltlan’s Guide contained in thelast book a version of the Fama. I have also used one of the manuscript copies of the Fama in the Ashmole collection, and two of theearly German editions. After comparing these editions, I have used thewording that seems most meaningful. The symbolism of the tomb in theFama has been correlated with Bacon’s division of knowledge. The nameFama Fraternltatis means the Fame or Report of the Fraternity. It wasan advertisement of the mysterious Rosicrucians and was meant to appealto the learned in Europe, who were to show their interest by publishingcommunications to the Brethren of the Rosy Cross.

The initials C. R., R. C., or C. R. C. used in various copies of theworks mean Christian Rosenkreutz, the allegorical originator of thebrotherhood. The House of the Holy Spirit is usually given its Latinname, Sanctus Spiritus, but I have translated such terms into English.

The three levels of symbolism, historical or literal, spiritual or psychological, and mystical may be applied to the Fama and the New Atlantis. In the Fama these also correspond to the history of the Order inany cycle, to "its history In a particular cycle, and to the developmentof the individual student.

Before we begin the allegory, it might be well to explain a few terms.The Axiomata of the Fama are basic laws or axioms. Like many such symbols, the Axiomata is a multi-level one, referring to the mysticalprinciples themselves, as well as to interpretations or expressions ofthem at a particular time. The term is a symbol for both the principles and a particular oral or written expression of them, such asHeydon’s, Maier1s, or Bacon's books. These may vary from cycle tocycle, while the principles themselves are the same.

The Rota Mundi, or wheel of the world, has been interpreted to mean theTarot cards, since if you use R 0 T A as an anagram, you may makeT A R O . But you may just as well get T 0 R A, or the Torah, referringto the books of Moses. One reference to the Rota in the Fama is particularly revealing. It says rthe Rota began when God spoke, "Let it be


28/83

done” and will end when he will speak, "Let it be destroyed." YetGod's clock strikes every minute, where ours scarce strikes perfecthours. Long before Newton’s time, the universe was compared to a pieceof machinery such as a clock. The Rota symbolizes the seemingly mechanical universe and the application of the Axiomata or principles to

the motion and change in the world. Specifically, it may refer to astrology or geomancy as a particular expression of the mechanicalprinciples.

Regarding the book M., also conspicuous in the Fama, Michael Maier saysthat in it the brethren saw many mysteries, and the anatomy and idea ofthe universe, as well as the perfection of all the arts, beginning withthe heavens and descending to lower sciences. Heydon refers to his ownbook The Wise-Man's Crown as being the book M. It has been said thatthe Latiri"“Liber M. means Liber Mundi, or Book of the World, but the M.may also refer to Moses, meaning the Book of Moses, or Genesis. Sincethis is another multi-level symbol, it may very well include all these

meanings. It is a symbolic body of knowledge, as well as an actualprinted book or books which during a particular cycle of activity embodies knowledge of that time.

The Book of Nature is a similar multi-level symbol referring to thewhole of nature as a symbolic book, to ancient knowledge symbolized byreference to Salomon's supposed Natural History, and it may be justifiable to include Francis Bacon's Natural History in this symbol.

It seems quite significant that Heydon's Holy Guide begins with a version of Bacon's allegory the New Atlantis, and the last section of thebook includes Heydon's version of the Fama Fraternltatis.

The first paragraph of the Fama sets the scene for the allegory itself.Like Bacon's New Atlantis, it begins with a reference to the New World,"the half part of the world, which was heretofore unknown and hidden."The New World symbolizes the restoration of the knowledge of the ancient mystics, for which Rosicrucians work. It is, in the seventeenthcentury history, the Baconian-Rosicrucian instauration. This• paragraphalso makes reference to the renewal of all arts to perfection, whichagain, recalls Bacon's Great Instauration, or renewal. We are alsogiven the aim and purpose, not only of the Fama, but of the Order: Toattain knowledge of Jesus Christ and Nature so that finally man mightthereby understand his own nobleness and worth, and why he is calledMicrocosmus, and how far his knowledge extends in Nature. (The Micro-

cosmus is a reference to the hermetic philosophy and the law of correspondences, since the Microcosmus is the little world corresponding tothe Macrocosmus or greater Cosmic world.

If the learned were united, says the Fama, they might collect the Bookof Nature, or a perfect method of all arts, whereof (Heydon says) thisis the chief, and therefore called the R. C. Axiomata. The learned,however, esteem the Pope, Aristotle, and Galen more than the.clearlight of truth. (This too sounds like Bacon's arguments.) To such ageneral"reformation the most Godly and highly illuminated Father, ourBrother C. R., the chief and original of our Fraternity has labored.(The Axiomata is the chief part of the Book of Nature, which is a per

fect method of all arts.)


29/83

At five, Prater C. R. was placed in a cloister where he learned Greekand Latin. (Before he starts his philosophical journey, he has had theusual classical education of the time.) When he was still In his growing years, on his own desire and request, he was associated to a Brother who determined to go to the Holy Land, or, as Heydon has it, Apamia.

(The word Apamia is significant because it is the same one Heydon usedin his version of the New Atlantis for the island of Bensalem, and itthus links the New Atlantis and the Fama together. Instead of the HolyLand the German lias Heiligen Grab, holy grave or tomb, so that C. R. atthe beginning of his journey was searching for the Holy Tomb, or thetomb In the House of the Holy Spirit.) Although this brother died, andso never came to Apamia, yet Brother C. R. did not return but went toDamasco, minding from there to go to Apamia.

He remained in Damasco and obtained much favour with the Ishmalites.(Boehme in I^ysterium Magnum says Ishmael symbolizes the kingdom of nature and Isaac 'the kingdom of grace. Christ was represented in Isaacand Adam in Ishmael. The Ishmaelites, then, would be those who understand the book of nature.) He became acquainted with the wise men ofDamcar in Arabia and beheld how nature was discovered unto them. So hemade a bargain with the Arabians that they should carry him to Damcar.(The word Damcar is spelled at least three ways: Damcar, Damear, andDamrar. If we omit the fourth letter, and use the rest as an anagram,we have drama.) There the Wise received him not as a stranger, but asone whom they had long expected (as Apollonius was received in India).They called him by his name and showed him secrets out of His cloister,whereat he could not but mightily wonder. He learned better the Arabian tongue, so that the year following he translated (or broughtforth) the book M. into good Latin, and I (says Heydon) have put itinto English wearing the title The Wlse-Man1s Crown, whereunto is added

A New Method of Rosie Crucian Physick. This is the place where PraterC. R. learnecTTTis physics, mathematics and philosophy.

(The founder of the Fraternity has labored, like Bacon, for the generalreformation. He started out on his philosophical journey in search ofthe tomb. The journey, like the voyage in the New Atlantis, is thesymbolic philosophical voyage. He intended to go to Jerusalem orApamia, symbolizing the Rosicrucian Order. Like the allegorical headof the fraternity, each member begins a philosophical voyage when hejoins the brotherhood. He begins searching for and building the symbolic tomb or Temple of Wisdom or House of the Holy Spirit. The journey to the East symbolizes the knowledge derived from the East and from

the Arabs of the Middle Ages, and also the Light in the East or theEast of the Temple.)

At this point in the allegory, Heydon inserts a short discourse onraising the dead, a favorite subject of his. (By this he means concentration and meditation which results In freeing the psychic mind' fromthe physical, which in turn brings about spiritual rebirth. Perhaps itsymbolizes reincarnation as well.) This is the place where R. C. didlearn his physics and philosophy how to raise the dead; for example asJL snake cut in pieces and rotted in dung will every piece prove a wholesnake &c. And at last they could restore every Brother that died tolife again, and so continue many Ages. Is it anything else but a partof man, except his mind, rooted in a continual, even, gentle, moist,


30/83

and natural heat? (Heat and rotted in dung represents concentrationand meditation.) Hermes was after this manner raised from death tolife; so was Virgil the Poet. (The physical self, symbolized by thesnake, Is destroyed, Dut'reborn by what the alchemists symbolized asputrefaction, by meditation and descent into the subconscious psychicmind.)

After three years C. R. shipped himself into Egypt, where he remainednot long, and then sailed over the Mediterranean Sea to Fez where theArabians had directed him. In Fez he found better grounds of hisfaith, agreeable with the harmony of the whole world, and thence proceeds that concord, that as in every seed is contained a whole tree orfruit, so in the body of man is contained the whole great world. (Asis the great world, so is the small world, man. And just as the seedcontains the whole plant, so man contains within himself the greatworld.)

After two years in Fez, Brother C. R. went to Spain, hoping that thelearned in Europe would order their studies according to those surefoundations (which he had discovered in his journey). So he conferredwith them, showing them the errors of our arts, and how they might becorrected; also how the faults of the church and the whole moral philosophy were to be amended. He showed them new growths, new fruits andbeasts, and prescribed them new Axiomata, whereby all things might be'fully restored. (This is the purpose of Bacon's Great Instauration.No doubt this has been the experience of every man who has begun a cycle of the Order's activity. In a smaller way, it is typical of theexperience of the individual members. They are eager to share theirnew-found knowledge. But their experience is often that of the allegorical Father C. R. C. Their efforts are rebuffed.)

Having showed the learned in Spain the new fruits, etc., it was to thema laughing matter. Being new to them, they feared their name would belessened if they acknowledged their errors, to which they were accustomed. Who-so loveth unquietness, let him be reformed. The same songwas sung to him by other nations, which moved him more because he hadnot expected it, being ready to impart his arts and secrets to thelearned, if they would have but undertaken to write the true and infallible Axiomata of all faculties, sciences and arts. (He would givethem the principles, if they would but write the books containing themfor their own age. Heydon has, instead of, "showing them the errors ofour arts," "showing them the errors of Sodom and Gomorrah," which

emphasizes the allegorical nature of the Fama.)

The true and infallible Axiomata, C. R. C. knew would direct thelearned like a globe or circle to the only middle point the center.(By the basic principles of the Axiomata the student is led to the coreof knowledge, and to the center of his own being.) It should serve tothe wise and learned for a rule, that there might be a society in Canaan which would have gold, silver and precious stones sufficient tobestow them on kings for necessary use and lawful purposes. (The jewels, etc. symbolize the wisdom and knowledge which C. R. C. and thestudent have won. They are like the fruit of the tree of knowledge inMaier and the grapes of the vine in the New Atlantis. With these thegovernors might be brought up to learn all ’that God suffered man toknow, and thereby be enabled to give counsel to those that seek it,


31/83

like the heathen oracles. (The knowledge of the student is to be usedto help others, to give counsel to those that seek it.)

The world in those days was already big with those great commotions,laboring to be delivered of them; and brought forth painstaking, worthymen who broke through darkness and barbarism. They have been the up

permost point in the triangle of fire whose flame now should be brighter and shall give to the world the last Light. (in the time when C. R.C. was supposed to have lived, about 1400, the world was great withcommotion, that of the renaissance which was truly a rebirth of learning. It experienced a similar growth in Bacon's time. Then, as inother periods, the philosophical and mystical fraternal orde

AMORC - Mystics for Moderns (1959)

Documents

Transcript of AMORC - Mystics for Moderns (1959)