I'm here. Let's talk!

By the way, what I wrote concerning deliberate deception only applied to monographs intended for the study of members. What is published for the public must, of necessity, be watered down. I still don't believe they contain anything intentionally misleading, but "the real goodies" as Frater Gruntal would call them, are diluted or withheld.

a classic example of deception, common to many modern fraternal teachings, is to play down the time element. most people entering this sort of study have preconceived notions of time and when they hear about the enevitable payoffs of spirituality they naturally assume a few years or decades at the most.

when the experiments end in frustration or failure it is only then that the reality of time is admitted: it takes a number of lifetimes to achieve anything in this field and that means HUNDREDS of years! I have even heard it said metaphysics wont work for anyone untill they change their DNA and that usually entails thousands of years of natural evolution.

The thought has occurred to me the system of study is less a effort of improvement then one of "weeding out the incompetent".
I think that is very deceptive! mayby I am stretching semantics but then Ralph Lewis did the same in his "Guilty of War" essay and he was right to do that at the time. I dont think any of me sarchasm could match the betrayal of encouraging a student with false promises of advancement they wont see in many many lifetimes to come!
>george

George,
It depends on what you mean by "Advancement". Many, myself included were attracted by the promise of being able to perform seeming miracles. However in my case , there was also the compelling desire to help out my fellow man. The ability to do amazing things seemed to be just a by product of ones search for enlightenment, not the object of the search.
There are no incompetents on the mystical path. If one sincerely searches, there will be rewards. Is not the ability to change ones circumstances and perceptions of life experiences a sufficient proof of mystical growth? There are those that could misuse mystical advancement however. One who tries to control his fellow man instead of help them is an example.
One thing about enlightenment. After one reaches enlightenment, you still have to live in this life. You will still have some frustrations. You still will have more to learn. You must still support yourself.
There is a saying that sums this up. "Before Enlightenment, must fetch water and chop wood. After Enlightenment, must fetch water and chop wood."
However your attitude will be different toward life experiences. I hope this helps you some brother.
Gary

Frater Clint and All members,

Originally in 1914 to 1917 there were no monographs as such. They were lessons given to Dr. Lewis to be read to the members in the Lodge sessions. All instructions were supposed to be presented in oral form. The Order was growing too slowly in this form, so the first supplementary material prepared by Dr. Lewis were the Cromaat Monographs. These were mailed to the members. The next step was the monograph in which Dr. Lewis presented the material given to him, plus changes and added material. He demystified mysticism and made the written material more palatable to Americans and later the whole world. He was lucky to have his son, Ralph, to help him with all the details. He was one that liked to dictate to a secretary and let others, possibly Ralph Lewis finish the monograph. He would attune himself with the Cosmic and was then able to contact the RC egregore. I hired a secretary in my practice that worked for AMORC a number of years. She never became an AMORC member, believe it or not, but she was allowed to transcribe many of the monographs dictated by Dr. Lewis. This may help explain Ralph Lewis' connection with the early monographs. Later Ralph rewrote some of the monographs to bring them up to date. The 12th degree monographs were never updated. The order wanted to keep them as they were originally written by Dr. Lewis. I am sure that even Imperator Christian Bernard will not change any of them in any significant way.

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Replying to:

http://www.rc-salon.com/salon/sanctum_items/sanctum_items.html

The Rosicrucian Salon. This is one link I which aroused my interest in earlier monographs. The article by Niger Falcone is misleading in a way and some of it might be false. He states ,"...I got my hands on Monographs from the 1970s, which, in turn, touched a quest for earlier material. Eventually, I acquired a file of the first monographs sent to Home Sanctum members and am now in the process of completing a file of the early Temple Lectures." Notice, he claims he has the first monographs in addition to ones from the 60's. There are several different monograph series up until the current monographs.
The way Falcone makes it seem is that HSL wrote the first series of monographs. Falcone states ,"The later monographs are sufficient to put one on the path of Mystical studies but Dr. H. Spencer Lewis put so much of his Soul and Spirit into the earliest that, even now after all of these years, to sit down and study them gives one the feeling the Dr. Lewis is in the room talking to you." The earliest monographs I have seen are written from someone elses perspective besides HSL. I believe these monographs are from the 40's. So, Falcone must be wrong claiming HSL sent the first monographs or has mistaken the early Temple lectures and CroMaat monographs as the original system.
Once, I attempted getting the earliest material from an older member. After many failed attempts at relieving him of them, he told me what I suspected. He claimed that the differences between monographs are not very different but that the newer ones have more material excluded from the first. I believe the current system is derived from the French version.
I told the man that I wanted to find original monographs by HSL. He told me to go to San Jose and search the vaults. He also said that all of the monographs were written by Ralph. I did not believe him at this point. I asked what HSL first sent to members and he said that they sent Temple lectures which he had photo copied. He was willing to let me see them but wanted to ask someone higher up if it was all right.
I think that Falcone's letter must be misleading. I am of the opinion that HSL sent CroMaat monographs and the Temple Lectures amongst other things to the original 1919 members. However, these were not a monograph system like we have today.
It is often noted that HSL wrote until the year of his death. Therefore, the complete monograph system could not have existed before Ralph took over. I believe Ralph is the transcriber/compiler/co-author of the earlier monographs. Ralph merely took HSL lecture transmitted to him mouth to ear and compiled them.
It may sound far fetched, but the 50's cohort of AMORC members held Ralph in high esteem. It is possible Falcone has at the use of the surname Lewis, mistaken Ralph for Harvey.
I hope that there aren't earlier materials which I am not aware of. I truly believe that the eraliest monograph system was implemented by Ralph and still obtainable clandestinely through rare sources. A copy of 70's monographs will vary very little from 30's series. I have searched for several years trying to find original HSL monographs but have come to conclude that the originals are compiled by Ralph.

LLL,
Frater Clint

I am wondering if it really does matter the author of these very wonderful monographs that we AMORC students are exposed to. The changing system of instruction is very necessary so as to adapt the teachings to the changing reality. After all does all things not change except change itself.

I think, more important, is our attunement with the Cosmic and the egregore of the mystics. Even we, even we (repetition deliberate) could compose these monographs when properly guided. What I am driving at is that the inner teachings are even more important than the outer, and constitutes the driving force of the latter. This is what accounts for the open-end nature of these monographs. By the way, does any one the very last monograph of the graded study of AMORC?