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2007 No. 2 Vol. 77, No. 2

ROSICRUCIAN FORUM (ISSN #1077-4017) is published semi-annually by the Grand Lodge of the English Language Jurisdiction, AMORC, Inc., at 1342 Naglee Ave., San Jose, CA 95191 (fees paid through membership).

Subscription: For Rosicrucians from other Grand Lodge Jurisdictions, subscription to the Rosicrucian Forum is US$12.00 per year; US$6.00 per copy. Payment must be made in U.S. dollars.

Copyright 2007 by the Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC, Inc. For members only.

Moving On by Christian Bernard, F.R.C. (Imperator 1990-present)

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The Round Table by H. Spencer Lewis, F.R.C. (Imperator 1915-1939)

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The Art of Mental Creating by Ralph M. Lewis, F.R.C. (Imperator 1939-1987)

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CONTENTS

ROSICRUCIAN FORUMVol. 77, No. 2, 2007

No. 2, 2007 Page 1

One of the basic principles of psychology of the past few decades states that a problem cannot be solved if its origin is not known. This has led to the custom involving lengthy therapies, regression under hypnosis to early childhood, and even regression to past lives, and so on. Admittedly, we have a better overview of our problems and reactions to them when we are aware of their origin, but is awareness really enough? Should we be satisfied only with knowledge of a principle that in some cases excuses many of our attitudes and takes our responsibility away from us? Is it enough to know the cause of our bad actions, false words, and negative thoughts? An explanation can help our understanding of the problem, but it does not serve any purpose whatsoever if the will to change is lacking. And what if the most important factor was not to know the origin of our problems but simply to accept them (like Zen) or to fight them (like chivalry)?

Our life is governed by rhythms and habits. Our anxieties, fears, and phobias can be overcome, but we should be willing to make the necessary changes. To know, for instance, why we are scared in any given situation or have an irrational fear when confronted by an object, an animal, certain circumstances, or some people, might be interesting on the intellectual plane, but it does not solve anything. Our reactions and non-reactions are mostly habits. Let’s take a journey as an example. If we are afraid of the unknown, moving from one place to another may seem arduous. The first time we may hesitate or have a stressful experience. The road may seem to be long. Then, little by little, as we get used to it, that which appeared difficult and disagreeable, begins to look very simple. The way feels shorter, and we react better and become used to it.

One cannot advance walking backwards, nor climb the stairs of life by descending steps. If we want to know what lies behind the door facing us, we must have the courage to open it. If the past is going to help us to live in the present and to prepare for the future, it should not hinder our evolution. The power to accomplish is earned by employing a strong will. Certainly, one does not win at every turn in life; but even after falling down, one can stand up and begin again in another way, a better way. It has often been said that destiny smiles on courageous people. I do not know if this is always the case,

MOVING ONby Christian Bernard, FRC Imperator of A.M.O.R.C.

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but oftentimes we are made aware of the fact that joy and happiness rarely smile upon really pessimistic people. An important feature of being human is to experience difficulties, torment, and suffering. Nobody can escape these afflictions, but the difference actually lies in how we are able to overcome these difficulties and in how we react in the face of adversity. This is what we call the “mastery of life.” We are masters of our own destiny and we have our own free choice, at least in the way in which we are going to stand up to the trials of life. First of all, we should try to overcome our fears and apprehensions, or change our way of thinking, talking, and reacting with thoughtfulness, and certainly with prudence. At times we have perhaps been able to overcome our anxieties because we were forced to do so, and we did not have any other choice. This experience can be applied in many situations. We start by making a small effort at the beginning, and then later it becomes less and less difficult. To be aware of this does not shelter us from life’s tribulations, and we find that we are more often at the mercy of circumstances than acting as their cause.

Returning to my former train of thought, I would like to insist that we should try to improve our behavior and allow our life to evolve in a positive way without expecting anything from others, without looking for the guilty party or parties, and with no excuses or pretexts. Even if one has had a difficult childhood, even if one thinks “To Hell with everyone else!”, even if …, should not prevent us from moving onwards. Whatever our choices may be, we have to take responsibility for them, and if they do not turn out to be fortunate, we should not blame anyone else. We should also be patient, because sometimes what is initially seen as a tragedy, could later turn out to be a blessing. I am sure that each of you has already experienced this once or perhaps several times in different ways. You have certainly heard the Chinese proverb: “Let seven years go by after a disgrace, and it will become a grace.” As for myself, I am convinced that seven days, seven hours, and seven minutes can be enough. This is also what the alchemy of life is about

I have noticed that people who usually react as positively as possible when facing a problem attract what we call “luck”; that is, a new opportunity. It is usually said that a Rosicrucian should be a walking question mark. It is true that this attitude is indispensable and that reasoning is as important as pure meditation. Nevertheless, we should not allow all the problems that come to our mind to ruin our life, nor deprive us of the simple joys or the fleeting moments of happiness that we often ignore and let pass by without valuing them enough. We may be conscious of the world around us, of the cruelty

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that prevails on earth, and of all the injustices that we endure as a group and as individuals, but let us never forget the words of the Belgian singer and poet Jacques Brel, who said “that we should see in everything, every beautiful thing.” If memories overwhelm you, if sadness oppresses you and you feel broken-hearted, if only the ugliness of the world appears in front of you, then hold on to the strength of the spirit within you. Do not give in, instead look for the tiny flame that still shines within your soul, and then provokingly, insolently, rise up and face the forces that are pulling you downwards, and with pride and conviction say: “I am moving onward!!!”

Conscience, confidence, perseverance, and courage…

Let these be my wish for you.

Christian BernardImperator

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It would appear from a careful survey of the success attained by a large majority of Rosicrucians who have used the unique principles to improve their health and enlarge their social and financial standings, that these persons have freely employed such methods, principles, processes, and formulas as might be used by every person without limiting themselves to the exclusion of any principle or idea that was sound and sensible.

In other words, it is found in the review of the lives of most highly successful Rosicrucians that no element of fanaticism and no degree of bigotry or narrowness has entered into their application of Nature’s laws and power. Just because one finds in the Rosicrucian teachings some principles that are unique and efficient and worthy of continuous application, there is no reason to reject from one’s mode of living and from one’s scheme for advancement any principle or idea that is good, and yet not essentially Rosicrucian. In this we see the broadness of the Rosicrucian philosophy, and it illustrates the working out of the thought constantly presented to Rosicrucians; namely, that one must be, above all else, rational, reasonable, and broadminded.

Rosicrucians come to know very early in their experiments with the teachings that the Rosicrucian doctrines are not intended to be a limited creed or an exclusive outline of the only laws and principles of value to us in our personal evolution. As inclusive and ever evolving as the teachings are, the fact remains that each of us is constantly discovering or evolving methods and processes for our own advancement which may not be found in the Rosicrucian teachings or in the teachings of any other school or system. Some schools or movements insist that in order that success with their work may be attained, the student or the practitioner must exclude everything that is not a part of their particular system.

We find physicians of some schools of medicine who are so old-fashioned in their beliefs and comprehension of the newer laws that they insist that patients must not accept or receive any other form of help for their physical disabilities than that being prescribed by the physician in accordance with

THE ROUND TABLEby H. Spencer Lewis, FRC

“To be highly successful in life, we must cease believing or feeling that we are individuals, independent of all other persons or beings in the universe.”

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the indications of the physician’s system. On the other hand, we find more open-minded physicians freely admitting that in addition to the medicine, surgery, or adjustments prescribed by them, patients may also benefit from metaphysical, mental, or psychological treatments. Such physicians are not only helping their patients to attain a normalized condition in a more rapid manner, but they are establishing faith and confidence in the minds of their patients by showing a tolerant attitude and an understanding of the possibilities of various laws to bring about certain conditions.

Rosicrucians freely proclaim and demonstrate that the human mind is capable of many marvelous controls over the physical body, and that through psychological or psychic and mental principles we may alleviate pain and suffering and produce many cures. On the other hand, Rosicrucianism plainly and distinctly indicates that where medicine or herb extracts, surgery or mechanical adjustments, massage or electricity, tooth extraction, vision correction, or any other improvement in the physical, chemical, anatomical, or functional condition of the body is indicated, these things should be attended to immediately and at the hands of a competent person, thoroughly trained in a university or school devoted to that work and licensed to practice their particular art or science. To believe that psychological principles will take the place of these other processes or methods is simply to shut the door to efficient aid and depend upon faith or the operation of natural law to effect a gradual change or permit a temporary condition to become a chronic one and thereby more serious than it was originally.

The same thing may be said of business ills, social ills, and the general ills of humanity. Miracles are performed by the mind and also by the hand, and many of the great miracles of the past that are recorded in sacred literature as having been made manifest through prayer or the application of a divine principle are being duplicated today by science through a more direct application of natural laws. The manifest miracle is the same in both cases, and where science or the arts and laws of the natural world will competently and efficiently adjust matters for us, we are extremely foolish to ignore these other methods and depend solely upon faith or our finite understanding of infinite principles.

To be highly successful in life, we must cease believing or feeling that we are individuals, independent of all other persons or beings in the universe. It is only through a developed sense of oneness with God and oneness with humanity that we attune ourselves harmoniously with conditions that

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surround us, and which will carry us onward to success, happiness, and health, if we master the obstacles that seem to rise before us. Most of the obstacles in life that men and women look upon as mountainous barriers to the goals of life are fictitious things and often figments of the imagination or phantasms of the fear element that still resides in our minds as an inheritance from earlier stages of existence.

One older mystic said that the things we feared the most in life were the things that never happened; and I know from personal contact with thousands of men and women, who write to the Rosicrucian Council of Solace for aid and help in overcoming the obstacles they believe stand before them, that the statement of this experienced mystic is true. There is a trite saying that one should never cross a bridge until one comes to it, and I have found that the average person who hesitates in venturing along the path to success is not only trying to cross a bridge that is far in the distance, but is making of that bridge a greater structure and a greater test of endurance than is warranted by the actual facts. Indeed, many such persons are not even sure that there is a bridge to be crossed, but on the basis that no long road continues in any direction without crossing over some bridges, they anticipate the existence of the obstacles or challenges in their lives and proceed to worry about the crossing.

After all, the road to success is like unto the road to happiness, prosperity, health, or pleasure. It is not likely to be entirely level, nor always straight, not always free from showers, storms, muddy spots, or even rocky beds. But these little difficulties or inconveniences are part of the game of life, and the one who is deterred or discouraged by these conditions when she or he approaches them is the one who fails to make the goal. But as I have intimated, there are many who permit themselves to be deterred on the path while it is still level, smooth, straight, and convenient, because of an anticipation of some incline, some curve, or some unpleasant condition.

We have been given more faculties and more marvelous abilities to direct and control our lives than any of the other creatures of this earth. We possess the ability to reason and reach conclusions and establish through our will power a determination to carry out our conclusions against obstacles and conditions that deter other creatures and hold them within limits unknown to us. The wildest and strongest lion of Africa, though demonstrating its prowess in many ways, is easily held within a limited area by an iron grating or a wall that would mean nothing to a human who was determined to pass beyond such an interference to his for her freedom. We know that prisoners, confined

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within prison walls, have pitted their ingenuity, strength, and endurance against the minds of the most skillful engineers and architects in escaping from such limitations. If ordinary people used the same amount of thought and determination in attempting to overcome the personal obstacles that beset their paths to success in life, with all the freedom of thought and action natural to human beings, their success would be assured!

We have within ourselves a creative power that is a part of the universal creative force and is a part of the creative energy that God breathed into space when the first Word was spoken, and order came out of chaos. Science is constantly proving, and the psychic powers within us are constantly demonstrating, that there is no limit to the possibilities of this creative power. We have yet to discover in any field of science, or in the domain of psychology and metaphysics, the limit of that creative power when it is focused upon some issue or upon some condition.

The Divinity within each one of us is the only real part of our existence, and all else is but a servant unto it. The world is the footstool for this Divine Being, and everything in the universe is enslaved by the omnipotent intelligence of this highest expression of creation. This Divine Self knows neither disease nor death, failure nor discouragement. Its trend of activity is always upward and progressive. Its outlook is altruistic, optimistic, and joyful. Its intellectual resources are unlimited. Its capabilities are as wide as the universe itself. It is only the outer person who should be a servant unto the inner self, for the outer individual is limited in time of expression, in period of existence, in capabilities and endurance.

The outer person attempts to judge the world by his or her own comprehension, and this is but an infinitesimal part of the apprehension on the part of the Divine Self. It is only when the outer self attunes with the inner self that limited comprehension widens into universal comprehension, and the individual becomes cognizant of the greater world in which he or she lives. In keeping with this widening of consciousness—this round table of greater realization—there comes an influx of Cosmic Consciousness and Cosmic Attunement, and in this individuals discover a power and a strength that is beyond any power or energy of the material world.

As I have said before, people tend to think of themselves as individuals—separated, isolated, and unique unto themselves. By contemplating the Divine Self within, individuals broaden their consciousness to the extent where they

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sense and finally realize that the real self is a part of all the real expression pervading the universe, and that they are not separated from the rest of humanity and are not separate individuals, but inseparable segments of the universal self or soul.

In a material sense it is true that in union there is strength, and in our mundane affairs, association and cooperation bring added fortitude and security. Certainly, then, in the wider sense, the unification of all soul expressions on earth through the inseparable association of each individual’s real self with the real self of all other individuals brings security, power, and strength, and makes each of us the master of our fate and destiny. But we cannot master our careers or our lives by ignoring others around us or by disregarding the surrounding conditions through which we navigate our course in life. We can no more direct our course in life, independent of any consideration of other beings or conditions, than can a comet, swiftly hurtling through space, arbitrarily select a course for its rapid movement and successfully avoid the collisions and catastrophes that would be inevitable. The success of any one person is a joy and a benefit to all others, just as the failure of any individual is a sorrow to all others. Success begets success, as happiness begets happiness and joy. Tolerance, sympathy, and love attune people not only to one another, but to the universal laws and to the harmony of the Cosmic. Of these, love is unquestionably the greatest law of the universe.

Much is said in the business world of the code of ethics by which business should be standardized in operation, and in the social world we hear of the moral code and the social conventions. To the mystic who is attuned with the cosmic laws there comes a code of principles for living that supersedes the human-made code of ethics or the morals and conventions of society. The mystic learns with conviction and proper understanding why ethics in business and morals and conventions in society have been established and reduced to definite words by humanity, and why these things are a necessity. Mystics know that it is not simply immoral to violate one of Nature’s ethical laws, but a sin against oneself and against society, as well as a sin against cosmic decree. Therefore, immorality or the violation of Nature’s laws in any sense becomes abhorrent to the mystic.

The mystic realizes that the most beautiful of principles in the universe can be reduced to corruption and perversion by the undeveloped mind or the evil mind that dwells within the physical part of a human being. The mystic realizes that while love is the one universal law that is higher than all others,

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it must be a love that is free from the contaminations of the physical self and free from the sins of lust and selfishness. Mystics realize that while this great law of life makes it incumbent upon each of us to love all creatures and all beings, and to love our neighbor as ourself, that to reduce this law to the selfish or personal physical love of the lower part of oneself, in an unbridled manner and with promiscuity, is to pervert a divine principle to a coarse and vulgar application.

The laws of Karma and of cosmic compensation reveal to mystics that they cannot do injustice to others, or take advantage of others, or even live a dual existence, without bringing into their lives inevitable suffering and sorrowful adjustment. Hence the mystic’s comprehension of ethics and morality has a clear and more definite meaning to her or him, and this elicits an obedience to cosmic law which humans are reluctant to give to mundane laws or laws of human invention.

In the home, in business, in society, and in our personal affairs, each of us must be true unto ourself, and this self must be the inner self, if we are to be true at all. We must let the divine power within us dominate the physical power of our body and the world around us. We must let the beauty, the grandeur, and the sublime thoughts of the Divine Mind of our being fill us with the inspiration and comprehension of our real place in the universe and of our relationship to all other beings. We must let the God Consciousness of our soul control and direct the health and activities of the physical self so that it may truly be the servant unto us, and not a master whipping us into submission and earthly servility. In this way will we rise to power and glory and attain the highest degree of success and happiness in all of the affairs of the home and of the business world.

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Perhaps it is best to begin by saying that the art of mental creating is not one that began by having its process inscribed upon ancient temple walls. It is not something which only chosen high initiates are given the privilege of receiving after severe test and trial. It is not a lost art that has been rediscovered. It is not something, which was once common to a great civilization and was destroyed by the ravages of time. Further, it was not later found among the artifacts of an ancient people, to be held out today to certain individuals and groups. In fact, there is nothing mysterious about mental creating, except as people may wish to make it so. The term art in this sense means that it is a technique or method which practice has developed to make accomplishment more efficient.

The art of mental creating employs those powers of mind and attributes that are inherent in every human being. It is a method of making the best of certain natural abilities. That some individuals have become masters of mental creating does not altogether signify that they have been imbued with greater powers than others. It usually means that they have been more persevering. Possibly they fully realized their potentialities and concentrated upon them with a view toward mastering them.

Let us first look at the advantages. An advantage, we will agree, is something, which furthers our personal ends. These advantages may consist of objects, such as a home, a car, and money in the bank. They also may be circumstances such as promotion in business, association with influential friends, the solution of a problem, or an important favorable decision. Advantages may be adventitious, such as being brought to our attention by means over which we exercise no control or exert no influence. Thus, for example, one may offer to buy a piece of your property, which you long since have thought worthless and have not even tried to sell recently.

Now, it is common experience that these “accidental” advantages occur all too infrequently to be relied upon. Since we insist upon advantages, or consider certain things or conditions necessary to our welfare, it is apparent that to have them, we must bring them about. When you set out to do something, you are the moving factor. The result, if there is to be any, begins with you. If you are actually going to participate in the

THE ART OF MENTAL CREATINGby Ralph M. Lewis, FRC

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method or procedure of making whatever you wish done become a reality, you are then its creator.

It is obvious, is it not, that there exists a definite distinction between creating and a sheer wish. This difference lies in the power of action, which the individual exerts. Those who merely wish are shrouding mental creating in fancy. A wish in itself, they believe, has some kind of mysterious potency. They think that by some strange metamorphosis the reality will come out of the wish. A wish, after all, is a desire. It may be an objective, a goal, or an end that is sought. If one, however, advances no further than the wish, no matter how sincere it may be, he or she will never experience a realization of it. To use an analogy, if you are at the bottom of a steep hill and you believe it to your advantage to attain the brow of that hill, no wish, no matter how intense in and of itself, is going to accomplish this. Something must follow from the desire. A way or method of ascending the hill must be created.

Consequently then, all advantages that are not accidental must be created. To create them, we must act. Is mental creating any different from the kind of creating or producing of an accomplishment that comes about through physical activity? There is no final difference. Every conscious human enterprise, that is, one where a person voluntarily participates, has its beginning in thought. It is, therefore, quite patent that if something, which you did not anticipate, and which you did not conceive, materializes in your daily affairs, you are not directly its creator.

There are many things of which we are the unconscious cause. We actually bring them into existence. On the other hand, you most certainly would not call a person a creator who suddenly realizes a result, but who had no part in directing its development. The most we could say of such a person is that he or she discovered the result. Discoveries are something we should not depend upon. That is, we should not wait for discoveries to develop. Sometimes when we come suddenly upon a result that we think advantageous, we are able by deductive reasoning to trace backward from the general to the series of particulars or causes from which it came about. Then we can control them and cause the effect to recur as often as we wish.

However, most often, we have no knowledge of how our “discoveries” come about. Therefore, when you are the conscious cause, which is preferable, you plan, you think out the method, by which an effect is to be accomplished. You are then its true creator.

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When, by this reasoning, for example, you set out to build a garage for your car, you are mentally creating, even though at the same time you may be vigorously swinging a hammer and driving nails. No matter how much physical energy or force you exert, or how many material things you work with, so long as everything being done or assembled is according to your conception, you are mentally creating. After all, in each enterprise, when we consciously and voluntarily take part, there is always before us the ideal, the thought which first motivated us to action. Just as the thought alone cannot create, neither can bodily action truly create, unless it is related to the mental action that preceded it.

We should begin to realize at this point why so many persons fail in accomplishment in life. It is because most of their bodily actions are not coordinated with their thinking, or else they merely dream and never convert their mental images into action, into material and physical activity.

Since creating begins with thought, we must turn to the mind for further analysis. We do many things habitually. We know almost all of our habits. If we do not eliminate them, it infers either that we consider them to be beneficial, or we have not or cannot exert enough will power to alter them. Excluding habits then, all our other actions should be premeditated. We should want to do them. Further, they should be done with a definite end in view. In your mind then, for mental creating, it is first necessary to assemble the mental picture of your desire, the end sought. You build this in your consciousness, just as you would build a box with your hands, for example.

At this point you don’t think of ways or means, you just endeavor to perceive the object or condition in its entirety. What is it you want? Can you visualize it clearly in your mind’s eye? As you see it mentally, is it as you would want it to materialize, to come about? Do you say to yourself, “It is lacking something; I don’t know what?” If such a condition exists in your mental picture, it is at fault. If you were to build a box materially, and one side of it was missing, you would not be content.

Consequently, until you are quite satisfied with your mental creation, until the mind’s picture seems complete, you are not ready to proceed. When your visualization is complete, look critically upon your handiwork. The next step is to estimate how much you value it. Do not only take it into consideration as an asset, namely, the benefits you may derive from it, but also the liabilities that it may incur. Everything that we seek to purchase or acquire has its price. This price is to be paid in money or its equivalent, or in consequences.

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Do not momentarily deceive yourself by giving way to your emotions and appetites. Apply the yardstick of reason to your mental picture. In visualizing it, ask yourself, if in bringing this about, you are going to incur the animosity or disrespect of many intelligent or fair-minded people. Although you may give yourself personal pleasure in the short run, will you have to endure the disesteem of neighbors and personal friends?

Now, of course, many great inventors had to experience great disdain toward their work and suffer humiliation to realize their ideal. But on the other hand they knew that that which they mentally created and later brought into material existence, would in time come to benefit a far greater number of persons than just themselves and their immediate family or friends. However, it was worth the sacrifice. Is your mental picture one that is apt to incur all of this disfavor on the one hand, and serve no one but yourself, on the other? If it is, proceed no further toward materializing it, because eventually you will be apt to hate the thing you will have created. It is, under such circumstances, more of a liability than an asset.

If you are creating something, which as you look upon it on the screen of your consciousness, defies the morals, conventions, and the laws of humanity at the present time, then unless you can also visualize equally as clearly how it will later become an accepted part of society, do not proceed. Furthermore, if you must combat your own conscience to hold the mental picture in mind, it means that immanently you realize that the ideal does not directly represent the whole of you. It is not representing the moral as well as the mental self. Don’t create something half-heartedly. If it does not appeal to your entire nature, it is not truly of you. Proceed no further.

Let us presume that you find your mental picture complete and quite acceptable to you, one that, insofar as the careful thought that you have given it is concerned, will not become a liability to you. Your next problem then is to materialize this picture. There is no kind of mental alchemy whereby, through the means of a word or a secret formula, you can at once transmute a mental picture in its entirety into a physical actuality. It is necessary to analyze the mental picture, to ascertain what elements or parts of it already exist as a reality, and of which you have knowledge, and how they may be obtained.

To put it simply, if your mental picture, the objective you have in mind, is composed entirely of elements the true existence of which you are not quite certain, and you do not know where you could locate or bring them about, then all that you have in mind is an image of fancy. There exists no relation

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between your mental world and the physical one. For analogy, suppose you hold in mind the picture of a chest, a large cabinet, which you would like to bring into material existence. If, however, in the mental picture, it is composed of a substance of which you have no knowledge as to its source or the possibility of producing it, it stands to reason you will be thwarted in bringing it about by the very inadequacy of your own thought. Your mental image, therefore, in part at least, must have a material archetype.

Let us now suppose that you hold the mental picture of a home of your own, and you want to transmute this mental picture into a realized fact. Looking upon the picture, you discover that your home is quite different in design and in its accommodations from any other you have seen. However, you also observe that it is constructed of materials that are in existence. You recognize the brick, lumber, mortar, plumbing, and electrical fixtures. Further, you know where they can be obtained. What stands between you and bringing that picture into actual existence? It is the need of a certain action on your part to create it physically.

Since you cannot do all of the labor yourself, and since you have not the materials, the only action you can exert is the power of money to purchase the materials and services. Your first link with the present, with the material world in this example, is the acquiring of the money. Next, ask yourself how you obtain your monetary income. Is that source sufficient for you immediately, or eventually, to acquire the needed sum? If too much time will need to elapse before you can secure the money through your usual channels, your course of action then lies in one of two directions. First, you must simplify your mental picture for the present, make it one that can be created into a material reality more easily, and then later establish another and more advanced picture. Secondly, or alternatively, you must establish in mind, for the interim, a substitute mental picture of an advancement in your position or profession, which may provide greater income.

To do this, you repeat the process; you find out what is needed as the first element to make such a picture become a fact. If it means putting more time into your work, then start to create, apply action, and put in more time. If it means you must develop some new way of expanding your business or reducing costs, then act, start to create in that direction. It is obvious that if you realize successfully the mental picture of increased income, by action, by doing the necessary things in your business affairs, you will bring into existence the first element of the greater mental picture—the home you want.

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Learn, then, that mental creation is not possible if the mental picture does not contain some link with the present. There must be something about it that you are able to begin now. Mental creation includes imagination. Imagination is most valuable when it includes an actual element, something that now exists or is quite possible, regardless of how small a part of the whole picture it is, and imagination projects it into the future, enlarges it. We can imagine moving a mountain. We can mentally create that event if we have knowledge of the actual factor, with which we must begin, and by action we can develop it progressively into the power that will move the mountain. Thoughts, which we may have and which are in no way contiguous to our present world or circumstances, are just fantasy and not true imagination. You must extend your thought from something, which is into what you want to come about.

For further analogy, no separate rung of a ladder ever raised a person to any great height. It requires a number of rungs united to serve a common end—that of lifting one upward. Therefore, in the process of mentally creating, make your mental picture as elaborate as you wish. However, do not leave out the first rung, the connecting link with your present capabilities and powers and with factual things.

Can we not receive inspiration and aid from within, in mentally creating? Yes, we can. However, we must not believe that the mere holding of a mental picture in mind, perfect in detail, is all that is necessary to transform it into an actuality. There is no strange power that is going to seize upon the picture and transmute it for our use. The cosmic forces are not genii. When we hold the picture clearly in mind, we should, as first explained, try to discover in it that factual element which constitutes a beginning for our course of action. Then mentally we should ask for cosmic inspiration, for guidance, for that intuitive knowledge as to how best to start that necessary action. We should ask for the essential mental and physical power that we will need to launch our campaign.

We must not think that some infinite power, like the waving of a magician’s wand, is going to materialize the entire conception into a material reality, without any more effort on our part than merely holding the picture in mind. If, when your mental picture is complete, you cannot objectively and immediately discern within it the primary factor that constitutes the point of beginning, which is the first thing you need to do to bring it about, then release the picture into the subjective mind. This is done by dismissing it from your thought, with the hope or wish that you will receive the necessary

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inspiration as to how to begin. Such inspiration may come to you the next day or the next week. It may come in what is ordinarily called a hunch, or as an intuitive flash.

The mystical aspect of mental creating comes in gaining the added advantage of a suggestion from the self within, from the Infinite Intelligence of your being, by releasing the stimulating mental picture into your subjective mind. However, mental creating, contrary to the belief of many persons, includes no mystical process whereby, we repeat, the complete mental picture will be materialized without any physical effort on our part. It is often stated that mental creating includes the drawing to oneself of a higher power that accomplishes the desired result. And this is true. However, the power takes the form of a revealed idea, of inspired useful knowledge, of intuitively suggested help. We learn from within how we may create in the material world that which we have in mind. However, we are still required to do the creating—to exert the action.

It must be quite apparent, I am certain, that many persons have used this art of mental creating which I have sketched here without any knowledge of mysticism or even the principles of psychology. They have developed the art by careful reasoning and by responsiveness to their own intuitive impulses. It may have taken them most of their lives to develop it. You, therefore, who have the opportunity of acquiring the knowledge of the method, have a distinct advantage in the saving of valuable time. However, the art of mentally creating, whether discovered by an individual in the course of careful thinking and analysis of their acts, or whether learned by reading such essays as this, works for both alike. There is no secret about it.

The Traditional Martinist Order

The Traditional Martinist Order operates under the auspices of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC. Our Imperator is the Sovereign Grand Master of the TMO, and our Grand Master is the Grand Master of the TMO. If you are a Rosicrucian member who has reached at least the First Temple Degree in your studies, you are eligible to join the Traditional Martinist Order which offers initiation, systematic and inspiring studies conducted within a Temple, and a ritual followed by open discussion among our members.

To learn more about how you can join this remarkable Order, you may obtain further information and an application form in the TMO section of www.rosicrucian.org/members or contact the TMO Administrator at tmo@rosicrucian.org or mail this form to: TMO Applications, 1342 Naglee Ave., San Jose CA 95191, USA.

Name _____________________________ AMORC key # ___________

Address _____________________________________________________

City/State/ZIP _______________________________________________

Country ______________________ Telephone ____________________

E-mail Address _______________________________________________

Join Imperator Christian Bernard, Grand Master Julie Scott (English Grand Lodge for the Americas), Grand Master Jose Luis Aguilar-Moreno (Spanish Grand Lodge for the Americas), and Grand Master Serge Toussaint (French Grand Lodge) at the 2008 Tri-lingual AMORC convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. All programs will be translated into English, Spanish, and French.

Convention hotel - the beautiful, newly-renovated J.W. Marriott hotel on Canal Street in New Orleans’s historic district.

For information, contact the South Central Region at southcentralregion@rosicrucian.org.

Rosicrucian Tri-lingual Convention(English, French, and Spanish)

NEW ORLEANS 2008June 14 - 15 , 2008