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A M R C
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I
THE CONCURRENCE
This Week’s Consideration of a Famous Opinion
N o w the will cannot endure the attracting and impregnation, for it would be free, and yet cannot, because it is desirous; and feeling it cannot be free, it entereth with the attracting into itself, and taketh (or conceiueth) in itself another will, w hich is to go out from the darkness into itself, and that other conceived will is the eternal mind, a n d entereth into itself as a su d d en f la s h (of lig h t n in g ) a nd dissipateth the darkness, and goeth forth into itself, and dwelleth in itself, and maketh to itself another (or second) principle of another quality (source or condition), for the sting of the stirring remaineth in the darkness. The first eternal will is God the Father and it is to generate H is So n — viz., H is Word— not out of anything else, but out of Himself; and we have already informed you about the essences, w hich are generated in the will, and also how the will in the essences is set in darkness, and how the darkness (in the wheel of the anxiety) is broken asunder by the flash of fire, and how the will cometh to be in four forms, whereas in the original all four are but one, but in the flash of fire appear in four fo r m s. . . . Whereby we have given you to understand that the first will shineth in the flash of the fire a nd is c o n su m in g by reason of the anxious sharpness, where the w ill continueth in the sharpness, and comprehendeth the other will in itself (understand in the centre of the sharpness), w hich is to go out from the sharpness, a n d to dw ell in itself in the eternal liberty without pain or source.
V V V
1f In the words of Jacob Boehme we have two different expositions of the generating of the second (Cosmic Conscious) self in the first (self-conscious) self:
- J A C O B BOEH M E, 1 5 7 5 - 1 6 2 4
ELEVENTH DEG REE NUM BER O NE H U N D R E D FIVE PAG E ONE Temple Section---A M O R C ---The Rosicrucian Order
Beloved Members, Greetings!
This week a Supreme Officer makes a contribution to our understand
ing of Cosmic Consciousness by explaining how it may be acquired.
♦ * * the means by which we learn lessons to compensate for error.
PER FECTIO N If we all had Cosmic Consciousness to the highest de-IN CO N CEIVABLE 8ree> etror would probably be completely eliminated,
and consequently there would be no penalty for error.
Such a perfect world is inconceivable— a world in which every human being had advanced to a state of Cosmic Consciousness where his whole life and
activities would be completely in attunement and in harmony with God and the laws of the Universe. Such would be Utopia, and although phi
losophers and writers dream of an ideal state or an ideal group exist
ence, the dream has frequently been established upon the wrong premise.
As any Rosicrucian can see, such an ideal condition must begin with the individual.
We cannot understand what kind of existence or what motives and incentives there would be for living and advancing any further if we had all reached a state of absolute Cosmic Consciousness and perfection.
Surely such a state will exist at some future time, and no doubt when we reach it we will find more noble enterprises and activities for our abilities. There will be greater fields of accomplishment before us.
There will be necessities toward which we must strive, although in all probability much error will be eliminated; that is, man will be able to function on a higher plane and his adjustments, in turn, will be more noble. We must consider Cosmic Consciousness as a process in our partic
ular, state of development rather than an accepted thing in itself.
Terminology adopted to describe development of any kind is purely arbitrary. For example, we might say that you, I and every normal human
being in the world today possesses self-consciousness; that is, the consciousness which makes us able to put together the sen
sations which we receive through our perceptive apparatus. I look out of the window of my office and see a number of things.
I can combine what I see with what I hear, the way I feel, with
Temple Section A M O R C The Rosicrucian Order
self-consciousness makes it possible for us to connect our experience in the form of reason and judgment with what we perceive at the moment, and to live intelligently in accord with the demands about us, social, moral and otherwise. Within our consciousness we construct our ideals, purposes and aspirations. Therefore, we might say that our self-con- sciousness is a cross section of what we really are at any one particular time.
The question might be asked as to where consciousness leaves off and Cosmic Consciousness begins. Here we have the illustration of the fact that it is a matter of real terminology. Just as there can be no dividing line between night and day— a point where day ceases and night begins— or between natural and supernatural, or between any other two established phenomena, so it is that consciousness, self-consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness or any other term that we use is only an arbitrary statement of our conception of a thing or of a state of mind.
CO N SCIO U SN ESS Consciousness is a condition rather than a static arbi- A CONDITION trarily established point. Man can constantly raise his
conscious level from birth through adult development;
that is, as we gain understanding and new conceptions we are expanding our consciousness. To the fullest extent that we use our abilities we are further extending our consciousness, and the more completely we come into accord with the laws of the Universe and with the laws of nature and made for the development of Cosmic Consciousness.
The degree of Cosmic Consciousness that any individual has at any particular time depends to a certain extent upon his advance
ment in the teachings, but primarily upon his use and appli
cation of the principles involved in the instruction he has received. In other words, the teachings themselves do not create a certain degree of Cosmic Consciousness within us.
Temple Section A M O R C The Rosicrucian Order
ELEVENTH DEG REE NUM BER O NE H U N D R E D FIVE PAGE THREE
They provide the necessary information by which we can be constantly developing and increasing the condition of Cosmic Consciousness within.
Many sincere students question why it is that the conscientious member cannot be told more specifically how he can develop a state of Cosmic Consciousness; why he cannot be told how to do it as he can be told how to perform any other act of daily life and, then by practicing, improve and develop his technique. The reason can be illustrated better than it can be explained, but first bear in mind that it is impossible for a human being to understand a condition of which he has had no realization either through understanding or experience. In other words, we cannot conceive of a condition or a state that is beyond our knowledge and experience.
If you visualize, for example, what the planet Mars would look like if you were suddenly placed upon it, your whole conception would be based upon past experience. While you could imagine conditions very different in organization and arrangement from what you are familiar with on this earth, you still would imagine nothing completely new. Artists have attempted to paint pictures of imaginary scenes on another planet, but if you analyze such a picture, you will find the elements are com
posed of conditions and things with which we are familiar here, even though in another form.
A higher degree of Cosmic Consciousness than you now possess is something of which you have no knowledge and have not experienced.
Therefore, if anyone tells you that he can explain a process to reach words and visualization. In other words, without using words in your
thinking or visualizing, try again to think of the same incident. You will find that you cannot do it; you will find that your memory is built up primarily of visual images and words. We translate practical
ly all our experiences into terms of our vocabulary.
S U B V O C A L ®ne m°dern psychologist defines thinking as the process of TALKIN G subvocal talking. To a certain extent this definition is
quite accurate. When you think, it is usually no more than a process of talking to yourself. The reason you cannot clearly recall an incident from memory without words or imagery is because you cannot
conceive of an incident except in terms of your experience.
If you cannot reconstruct in consciousness an incident with which you are familiar without utilizing the products of your knowledge and experience, how could you reconstruct in con
sciousness a condition concerning which you know nothing through
Temple Section A M O R C The Rosicrucian Order
ELEVENTH DEGREE NUM BER ONE H U N D R E D FIVE PAGE FOUR
either knowledge or experience? For this reason, the states of develop
ment of Cosmic Consciousness must be acquired by the individual.
It is equally clear that the interpretation of psychic experience and psychic phenomena cannot be done secondhand. Psychic experience be
comes understandable to you alone because the product of the experience is in terms of your own understanding, not in terms of another’s. We can illustrate this by the following example: Imagine that three in
dividuals— a musician, a painter and an engineer— have an identical psychic experience. They have a vision which is inspirational and brings into their beings the ideals of good and beauty.
Being creative, they seek to put something of the experience into
m a n ife s ta tio n .
What form would the interpretation of this psychic experience take in these individuals? Would not each convert it into terms of his objective training and understanding? Would not the musi
cian find inspiration for a magnificent piece of music; the artist in
corporate the vision into a painting; and the engineer express it in some structural achievement? If you could see the result of each one’s work, you might say that each was truly inspired. However, beyond that you could not trace in any way the source of these three manifestations as being identical.
The psychic experience which you have will be transformed into ob
jective manifestation on the basis of your own understanding and ability.
No one can interpret that experience for you because you alone are obli
gated to interpret it into purposeful existence in the world to serve others who are seeking for further development. Therefore, the acqui
sition of Cosmic Consciousness is not an event— it is a process. The best we can do is to work to achieve the continuation of the process
itself.
Fraternally,
YOUR CLASS MASTER