02/23/18

I do not remember in which Monograph this ancient adage is first introduced to the budding student. As is typical of the study method employed by the Order in its early days, little is said after its introduction.

For coming to an understanding of the true significance and importance is an exercise in conscious observation, rational apperception, prolonged study, and contemplation. Skills inactive in most of our species.

Students active with other students in a recognized Rosicrucian setting, often hear more experienced members utilizing this adage in forum classes and discursive exercises without providing a thorough explanation of its deep meaning and critical importance to mystical growth.

In fact, frequent use of this adage without adequate explanation harms, rather than helps, new students for a well-known psychological principle, i.e., it is innate in our human nature to think we know and understand the deep meaning of a statement after it becomes familiar to us in conversation. The best example, I can provide is a patient visiting his or her physician for diagnosis and treatment of an unfamiliar complaint. The physician asks about symptoms and examines for signs of illness. Eventually, the physician pronounces the recognized medical name for the sign-symptom complex and prescribes a course of treatment.

What does the patient think? He or she thinks that because the physician has pronounced ‘the name’ for the illness, magically they understand everything about the illness. Sounds foolish when I tell you, but it is absolutely true. One can only understand the illness by studying its etiology, history, and modes of treatment.

I will finish this post soon, but I am sure it will be most useful for each reader to write down how he our she understands the question. When you are finished, read it and ask yourself if it is correct from the highest Rose-Croix perspective you can imagine.

Ciao, Michael