There are many misconceptions with regards to healing and manifestation, especially from the Rosicrucian point of view. Many Rosicrucians and Buddhists would find the idea of manifesting an outcome (through spiritual means) wrong. Some might call it an act of self-maintenance (meaning, an act of the material ego). Others might say it’s a degenerative action that pulls one closer to their lower nature and further from the Higher. I will attempt to illustrate the true power of manifestation, and it’s connection with physical action – showing that neither is different and the mitigating factor of “good” or “bad” depends on the motivation of the effort.

Desire and Action

Imagine a person who is out of work. They need to pay the rent or mortgage, pay for food and take care of their family, but they just got fired. This person may go out and buy a suit and tie, and adjust their attitude to work at a new job. Perhaps it’s a job selling televisions at an electronics store. Likely this isn’t something they are excited about, but they put on the suit, go in for the interview and give the impression this is the most interesting job offer ever. All that to score a job. What are they doing? They are adjusting their energy – they are in fact committing an act of magic.

Now imagine this jobless person going into an interview, but before they walk through the door they mutter a silent prayer. Walking in they take a seat and feel more confident, having the will of God on their side.

Now imagine a third scenario where they prepared themselves mentally with an esoteric practice to “manifest” this job as their desired outcome. Going into the interview they have a renewed confidence that the perfect job will manifest into their life.

In a fourth and final scenario, the person attunes to the will of the Higher within, and allows that presence to radiate from them, like a pyramid of Divine Will.

Considering those three scenarios, is there a “right” or “wrong” way for a pupil of the Spiritual Path? For some, the prayer, or manifestation is breaking a natural law. For others, everything beyond the natural means is wrong. I will demonstrate how the source of each of those scenarios is the same – making them all equal.

The Source of Desire

When you make an action, whether it is by physical means, or spiritual, you are acting from a desire center within you. Even the most mundane act is sourced from this desire center. It is perhaps an act of will, but the will is not to be confused with thinking or thought (head).

To test this, do the following:

Go into your restroom, and before you shut the door, become observant of your muscle movement. Before you move your arm and hand to shut the door, what happens? Tune into that micro moment. There’s a brief moment of feeling, an impulse. That impulse comes from your core desire. It wants to shut the door (or turn the door knob when you want to open the door). That feeling turns to a thought and that turns into muscle movement. Try it and see for yourself.

If you can hold that feeling, you can actually do some fairly strange things. Metaphysical things. However, that’s outside the scope of this topic. What’s important is that this desire is the source of your action – your physical action. It’s also the source of your spiritual action. Before a person utters a prayer, or becomes the prayer, they have this same impulse.

In other words, no matter what action you take: physical action, prayer, manifestation, occult action, it all starts with the same impulse (desire). Therefore, it isn’t the action that is “wrong” or “right,” but the desire (impulse) itself.

lt is said that a pyramid arises when we pray which vibrates and is coloured in conformity with our inner quality. Therefore, prayer can be something highly dangerous, for all misunderstood prayer turns against us. 

Elementary Philosophy of the Modern Rosycross

Dangerous?

Jan van Rjickenborgh writes about the dangers of prayer – prayer that is colored with a selfish inner quality. In my view, it’s no more dangerous than doing the act physically. If your action is in alignment with the Will of God (or the Higher Self), then it is a pure act whether it utilizes physical means, prayer, or esoteric/magical means. However, if the act is impure (selfish) then no matter if it uses physical means, prayer or esoteric means, it is drawing our identity down into the spiral of the world.

Is it “wrong” to manifest a new computer? Some would say, “yes it is the result of a darkly colored soul, fixated on self gratification and its manifestation will further draw the attention down. This will cycle in the respiration field, contaminating every action and experience with this negativity – which becomes even more negative.”

Yet I look at the issue and think, “well is manifesting this new computer any different then organizing one’s finances to buy this computer?” I say, NO. If the desire is wrong, then it’s wrong no matter how it comes about. If the desire is pure then it is pure, no matter how it comes about.

Spiritual leaders often make their followers think something is “dangerous,” as a way of controlling them. Do not believe something because it was written by a leader. Feel it for yourself, without ego, in the state of the Higher.

The main reason I pulled out of the 2nd aspect (Pupilship) of the Golden Rosycross, had to do with demands and expectations on my attendance to a Physical Temple. My experience has taught me that so-called sacred spaces themselves are not spiritual, but can trigger spiritual experiences. That is to say, they can act as reflectors of Spirituality, but only if one is inclined to receive.

In my own path, I’ve been in tune with the spiritual call and impulse for some time. For me the sacred space that triggers my depth of feeling is my “meditation room” (a room set aside for quiet contemplation.) However, when I attended the Golden Rosycross’ Bakersfield temple I never felt the sacred spirit. I had some prompt me to tell others about the feeling of Spirit or Energy about the place, but the truth is I never felt it.

The reason I never felt it in the Bakersfield temple relates to my non compliance with being there. I never wanted to take the trip there, so it was always somewhat tiresome or awkward. In short, I wasn’t in tune with the experience.

Not feeling the “spirit,” or “energy” that others might at a sacred space, is no indication of connection to said energy. In fact I felt the withdrawal of the school’s energy field when I internalized my withdrawal from the 2nd aspect. It was a physical sensation of pull out of their energy.

What really happens when people “feel” energy

People often claim they feel “the presence of God” at their church or temple. This can lead to erroneous conclusions, such that “my group is connected and that group isn’t.” I’m not saying that happens the GRC, but I’ve seen that sentiment in different religions and denominations.

What’s happens with spiritual feeling, is a person is feeling the presence of the Holy One within themselves! Something triggers that connection. It could be a person, or people. It could be a aroma, or a garden. It could be a physical space. These are simply triggers that bridge an inner connection, but they are not the thing itself.

This is important to understand this because one must not feel less if they don’t feel the “power” or “energy” of a place. People should refrain from putting others on the spot to explain the “power field” of a place, especially if one doesn’t really exist.

The only true power field is within each of us, and it is the energetic force within, bridging the gap between the Higher and physical self.

Esoteric vs. Exoteric

In my youth I would claim to have felt the “presence of God” in my father’s church. In my 20’s I felt it in an occult group called the Golden Dawn. Afterwards I felt the same Presence of God at a humble Buddhist temple out of someone’s house (it was then I felt something odd as buddhism has no view of God.) As I went through different faiths and groups I had this deep connection where I would feel the same presence of God.

A mistake is to think the experience is exoteric (outside of me). Gnosis came to me one night, while contemplating in silence. Gnosis explained that it isn’t that all these groups were connecting to a “God outside of them,” but rather I was carrying God/Source/Higher Self with me everywhere I went.

When I walked into a Christian church (as a believer), I felt the presence. When I wasn’t a believer, I lost that connection – but when I connected to the Golden Dawn, I felt it again! Then I lost it, and then regained that connection as a Buddhist… The connection I felt to the power field wasn’t “out there,” but always within me. I carry it everywhere I go. Sometimes I find something that tunes me into the field. It might be a sacred space, or it could be a plant. It could be listening to the sounds of life (cars, people talking, the sound of walking on gravel).

In other words, it is an esoteric principal (not an exoteric one) that makes the connection to the power field happen. No special building or place will create that experience. The experience comes from our harmonization with the field within us.

Before I stepped into direct perception of the mysteries – the Gnostic path of liberation, I had to understand several concepts. One of those early concepts was the idea of Gnosis and how it varies from the idea of Faith. As it turned out, I had already a glimpse of this concept from my history with Buddhism. Buddhism rejected the idea of Faith based ideology, in favor of the direct experience (Gnosis).

In a lesser known work comes this phrase, “Gnosis is the death of faith and the birth of power.” For some, calling for the death of Faith, is perhaps blasphemous. Yet when understood in the context of what Faith is, we see it is a fragile concept, easily replaced once the direct experience is achieved.

Faith Defined

Never had I thought this would be a tricky concept and yet it’s now a delicate matter to discuss. The reason for the tip toeing around the topic is that the definition of Faith from the Golden Rosycross (Jan van Rijckenborgh’s view of Faith) is quite different than that of everyone else.

Typically, Faith is defined as a belief (in fact it is synonymous with Belief) in something unseen. Whether one is Catholic, Evangelical, Muslim, Hindu or a member of a modern religion, faith is conceived in this way. One believes the doctrines, the pastor/iman/rabbi/master/guru because they have Faith in such people. They believe in the teachings because they have Faith in the ideologies from their Holy books.

Faith defined in this way is bound to error. Faith, you see, can be wrong. It was the Faith of the Catholic Church that demanded people believe the Earth was flat, or that it was the center of the solar system. My 3 year old daughter has faith in Santa Claus delivering presents on Christmas Day, while my wife has faith that Big Foot exists in the woods. The point here, is that faith may be right or may be wrong. As it is a belief, it has no special authority.

Because of this, Faith has led many to ruin. Buddhism came about because of Faith. Rather than utilize Faith in dogma, Holy Books or teachers, Buddhism taught reason and logic. But reason and logic wasn’t enough, and Buddhism expanded to include the act of Direct Experience. In Buddhism this “direct experience of emptiness” was described as the “Flash of lightning in the darkness of sky.” It is direct and immediate illumination one achieves through experience.

The Golden Rosycross on Faith

The Golden Rosycross uses the concept of Faith throughout their literature. Jan van Rijckenborgh makes great use of the word. As it turns out, their view of faith is quite different than the commonly understood definition.

Rather than faith being a starting point, a point of belief, that may turn into a direct experience of spiritual Truth, Rijckenborgh uses the concept of Faith in an almost opposite way. Rijckenborgh views faith as the acceptance of Gnosis and making this Gnosis real in one’s life.

Gnosis Defined

In my personal experience, Gnosis is like the Buddhist concept of direct perception. It is not a logical knowing, or a dogmatic faith in a truth, but a direct experience of reality (Spiritual Reality). Faith is like the man who hopes and believes God is real, Gnosis is when the man has a direct experience of God (which is often divergent from the stated dogma).

From The Chinese Gnosis, Jan van Rijckenborgh writes:

To the extent that you, too, are engaged in this process, you no longer need to waste time and energy searching for books and manuscripts on which you pin all your hopes of liberation. Tao can neither be spoken nor written. Tao, the way, the path, can only be experienced.

The Chinese Gnosis p. 16

In the quote above, the word Tao is used to express the concept of Gnosis. The Tao is not written or spoken but directly experienced. Consider this in the light of Rijckenborgh’s other work, The Universal Gnosis:

Therefore, it is out of the question that the Gnosis could be revealed as a totality and presented as a system…. The Gnosis comes to every single person in a language that can be understood by him or her; it shows the Path to everyone and is approachable by everyone through basic intelligent action.  

The Universal Gnosis, p. 15-18

This is the thread that binds the two concepts of Tao and Gnosis. Gnosis is personally revealed, not through a system or book or teaching. Instead Gnosis is understood personally in a language of the individual.

The Problem of Conventional Faith

Conventional ideas on Faith are problematic. Pure faith is uplifted and talked about as though it is a glorious thing, but what faith is in actuality is blind obedience – it is the antithesis of Gnosis.

What is faith? It is often said that faith is believing in something unseen. Meaning, you do not yet have a direct experience of the thing, the situation. You believe, you hope something to be true – but you don’t KNOW it to be true.

I would ask anyone who values faith to sit with the above paragraph for a moment. Faith is hope, it is belief, but it isn’t direct experience.

My son had faith that Santa Claus came every Christmas morning. I know people who have faith that Bigfoot lives in the woods, and I know others who have faith that UFOs are actively abducting people. Their faith is based on the stories of others passed down to them. But none of it is from direct experience. My son never directly saw Santa Claus, my friends never directly experienced Bigfoot, nor were abducted by aliens – yet they have faith these things are real. But what if they aren’t real? What if it is either the ego, or simply an error?

Conventional faith fuels the sails of many ships that crash on distant reefs.

The Solution of Gnosis

I first came to understand gnosis as a solution in 2019. I met a fellow who was a solo practitioner. He was done with organizations and told me that the most important thing to do was find truth on my own. Not by faith, but through Gnosis. But what is Gnosis?

Gnosis, Greek for wisdom or knowledge, refers to knowledge that is known directly. It is the direct experience of Truth. It is personal, and as such no one can take it from you. Others may read in a book, or quote a leader that the world is such and such, but if you have the Gnosis to know something different you can smile and nod but realize the truth within is quite different.

Gnosis is not meant to be preached to others, lest they trod upon it and push it into the mud. As Gnosis is personally revealed, it can not be taught as dogma. Each person comes to Gnosis in their own way, in their own time.

Therefore – Gnosis solves the problem of Faith. Where faith can lead people astray, into the arms of a Jim Jones or into the grip of a modern day guru, Gnosis reveals Truth through direct and individual effort. Gnosis removes the need for faith (once Gnosis of a topic is found) and from that is the power by which we can live the Truth.

The Other Faith

The unique defining element of the Golden Rosycross reveals Faith as the action of Gnosis. In this way Faith is a product of Gnosis. Gnosis coming first, faith is the act of making the Gnostic element real. What exactly does that mean? I am uncertain.