Rosicrucian Exercises A Foundation for Daily Living II - Hugh McCague: transcript

greetings everyone it's great to be with you thank you so much for joining us i greatly appreciate learning with you today we'll be presenting on the topic of rosicrucian exercises a foundation for daily living too i'm going to put up an image for for us to get us inspired to do this series of exercises i think now you'll be seeing a rosicrucian digest cover article i should say cover it dates from january 1984 1984 as a rosicrucian artist leopold depostels it's a work entitled aspiration it's a very inspiring work and we'll we'll we'll zoom in on it so you can even get an even better uh look at it close more close up you'll see the aspirant that's in the lower right

corner reaching up from from a mountaintop and seeing the master within or this great radiation of of light suggests of the divine within our true nature and the exercises of the rosicrucian order and work and its teachings and the ones we'll do today as well are all guided towards this encounter with the master within the divine within our true guide our true source of understanding and wisdom in life it reminds us in a way of often depictions of the transfiguration but here it shows that it's more esoteric mystical sense that the transfiguration is our of our outer nature coming into full attunement and cut with the divine with divine within the very beautiful blue colors in this picture are very tranquil and soothing as well as the dynamic energy radiating out from the master within away our our heart center so take in this picture some more and we'll soon start

our exercises now part of the process of the resolution studies is to have weekly monographs and they'll typically have exercises in them that we're to practice and they can become lifelong habits to help develop self-mastery and this encounter with the divine within as depicted in this inspiring painting we'll do us over the upcoming hour we'll do a series of exercises in an integrated manner and i think you'll find them educational enriching and rejuvenating experience for us so when you're ready i suggest for you to close your eyes and start taking some deep neutral breaths neither holding the inhalation or holding the exhalation just enjoy the gentle rhythm of the breath and when you do this i suggest that you hold your hands together you

can be lying down or seated if you're seated make sure you're comfortable with your spine upright it's important to be able to breathe in an unencumbered way and have your legs at a right angle at the knees feet flat on the floor and not only have your hands together but press your feet together in a way where closing the circuit of how the vital life force flows through the body and as we do these exercises you'll find i think you'll find that tingling sensation of vital life force will become stronger possibly at first in your extremities through the body and then through your entire body and well have an experience as the master jacob bohm spoke of us as beings of light but just continue to take deep neutral breaths it's a wonderful feature of the holy temple that is our body

that with these breaths we can attune with the divine just as the universe and the creator breathe forth creation through the word of the logos we reenact that in our own microscopic micro cosmic way in our breathing just continue to take the deep neutral breaths neither holding the inhalation or holding the exhalation it's a very simple act but a very profound one because our purpose is spiritual in nature i think we'll find an even added effect to it not only the physiological relaxation response of but our increasing attunement with the divine within as was depicted in the painting aspiration if you're comfortable try to prolong the

exhalation that'll bring about an even more effective the relaxation response particularly through the large vagus nerve find a mind wandering just lovingly and gently bring it back to the gentle rhythm of the breath now we'll do another exercise which will emphasize positive reading on this occasion

i invite you to take a deep breath in hold it and hold it for as long as it is comfortable for you if you have any respiratory issues just take take it easy as you uh find best just hold the breath as you're capable i think you'll find as you hold that breath that that tingling sensation of the vital life force in your body will increase even more and when you need to just exhale when you're ready again breathe in and hold the breath again fail when you need to

just continue to take these deep positive breaths holding the inhalation and as you hold the inhalation just sense what's happening within the body the holy temple just be sensitive and observant and wave in awe the wonderful system and order within us i suggest you keep holding your hands together and your feet together to complete the circuit of the flow of the vital life force throughout your body and now when you're ready we'll do some negative breathing to balance the positive breathing in this case

if you take deep breaths as you exhale out hold the exhalation out not breathing in right away just do it to the degree that you're comfortable and when you need to breathe in again you're ready take another deep breath in and then exhale immediately and then hold the exhalation not breathing in right right away take note of the different sensations in

the body the positive breathing compared to the negative breathing when you're ready exhale again and just hold out the air not breathing in immediately again i think while you do these exercises with the different breathing modalities you'll get a sense of the flow of the vital life force

through your body and you may get some parts of your body heating up at times as well particularly when you have your hands held together and feet together there's a tremendous amount of flow in our bodies physically but also in a psychic way with the life force that animates the holy temple now when you're ready let's return to some deep neutral breaths before we move on to another exercise just be observant of of the flow in your body clean how the life force is flowing in you if your right hand is dominant i think you'll particularly find that the life

force will flow down the right arm into the left arm and reverse if you're left hand dominated just continue to take some deep neutral breaths just to enjoy the beauty and simplicity of this action i invite you to do with me what the rose questions refer to as the overall

exercise what we'll do is we'll concentrate on different parts of our body as we move through it and we'll go through several times so right now what i invite you to do is focus all your concentration on the tips of your toes big toe in the small toe and all the toes as you do that just continue to take deep neutral breaths which will add to the effect of the concentration as you concentrate on your toes i think you'll find that the vital life force is getting even more charged there there's a wonderful tingling effect helping heal us and make us whole you may wish to picture a bright white light on those parts that you're concentrating in your body and since they're all this all the cells and the nervous system the skin and the hair the blood circulating all the wonderful system and order of the body

gradually move through the toes with the white light and concentration into your foot move gradually through your foot bottoms of your sole your arch the top of the foot gradually towards the ankle the joint there and as you move through your foot from the heel inside all the actions and flow that are occurring there concentrate on them and rejuvenate them with the vital life force and then gradually move up the lower leg a little further up the leg towards the knee back in front the sinew there the joint

all the important work that's done by this part of our body and our mobility and then gradually move up to the thigh the upper leg senses you move the white light that you're visualizing there sense the vidal vitality and wellness increasing in the body as you gradually move up come to where you're seated and the very middle of your body up towards the solar place of the solar plexus the belly button or navel as we pass by various psychic centers you may wish to give extra concentration there and come to the base of the spine which is our our cosmic

axis within the temple of the body gradually move up the various vital organs that are all operating under the intelligence of the subconscious mind that links us with the cosmic mind move up through the lower part of the midsection of your body in a way in awe of all the actions taking place there and think of them working in a harmonious way to increase your health and then gradually move up into the chest region and come to the heart a great center for psychically and physically for our well-being concentrate on the heart and the great actions of pumping that it does for us on a continual basis day in and day out give it that extra energy as you concentrate on it for its well-being and unified health with the temple of

the body as you concentrate on it also think of the spine behind it and all the connections the ganglion the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system all working with the heart and the other endocrine glands and psychic centers and gradually above the heart come to the thymus spend some time visualizing on on it white light invigorating it rejuvenating it it's important work in our body and gradually continue to move up the spine and back in front of our upper chest and inside gradually reaching to the shoulders and once you've made it to the shoulders

refocus your attention on the tips of your fingers just like we've focused on the tips of our toes let's now work through our arms just like we work through our legs concentrate on the very tips of your fingers and then move gradually through them think of all the blood tissues and veins nervous system the skin the hair the bones cartilage move through the fingers as you come in and thumb as you come to your knuckles i think there too like we did with our feet and legs the great value of the hands and our work and worship the spiritual path the sacred signs and gestures that we make with the hands the various things

that we lift and build with them the dexterity of the fingers and creating the co-creator with the cosmic and gradually move through the main body of the hand backs in front the palm come to the the wrist and start to move up the lower arm continue to feel the vital life force being increasingly charged in the body as we move through it concentrating in various parts gradually through the lower arm all its system in order right down to the atomic and molecular level the dna all the wonderful structure there different levels of perception and gradually come to the

elbows back and front in the joint there all the important help the arms do for us through the work of the elbows and the joint and gradually move up into the bicep and the upper arms just continue to move through the body the mini cosmos gradually come back up to the shoulders where we left off when you reach the shoulders run along them and you concentrating on them start to move gradually up into the base of the neck if you move past the nape of the neck give a little extra time to concentrate there is a great nexus of the nervous system assist us in meditating and raising our consciousness

to the heights of the celestial sanctum gradually move up the neck because the throat and all the wonderful actions it does in the thyroid there a great regulator in the body spend some time on the thyroid grateful for all its duties the front and back of the neck picture the nerves flowing there on their way to communicate with the brain as we move up the neck think of the throat and the tongue [Music] the teeth in the lower jaw as well as the lower jaw and the lower lips and at the back of the head and inside the lower part of the head come to the upper lips the upper teeth per jaw the nose the nostrils sense the air coming in and out of the nostrils so you're taking deep breaths think of inside the head

the back midway up the head and then come to the eyes take some time with them and the eyelids and the eyebrows and the place of the third eye between the eyes concentrate all of them as well as moving back into the head now take some time to concentrate on the brain as a whole this wondrous organ in our body in particular constant take some time concentrating on the pituitary gland just below the midpoint of the brain revitalizing it is very important spiritual psychic and physical actions for our well-being and then rise up a little bit above

pituitary gland for the very center of the brain there's a little sphere the size of a pee where the pineal gland spend some extra time concentrating on it just all of your concentration and that small s sphere at the center of your brain as you do that i think you'll find that you're raising your vibrations up the cosmic keyboard higher up the octaves and assisting us to be more psychically attuned and receive impressions from the master within the different octaves of the cosmic keyboard then rise up to the upper part of your brain the upper part of the skull the hair

forehead and when you're ready we'll go through the body three more two more times i won't guide you as much i know you know this well so return to the toes and just gradually go through them and then the feet i think as you do this you'll find that the tingling sensation of the vital life force is building even more as we enrich and rejuvenate ourselves and while we're concentrating on the physical body we'll sense also increasingly that we're becoming more and more aware of our psychic nature and spiritual nature as we do this for truly the overall exercise is a form of meditation to connect us with the divine within as you move through the legs think too in every cell there's the consciousness of the cosmic the cosmic consciousness

rosicrucians use the term cosmic to mean all the natural and spiritual laws in existence and the universal intelligence back of the cosmos gradually moving through the body a degree of exhilaration by this profound act it's so simple once you reach your shoulders again then

move through the fingers and the hands and the arms and when we reach the shoulders again move up through the neck into the head you're ready we'll go through a third and final time starting with the toes again maybe particular parts of your body you wish to dwell on longer for your health and well-being so

feel free to do so as you move through get a sense increasingly of the integrated system that is our body and being a microcosm of the macrocosm all natural and spiritual laws that work within the temple of the body are correspondingly at work throughout the cosmos as you come up to the heart secret there too is that is the temple of the heart and the temple of life centered there matching and corresponding to

the temple of the cosmos which is the temple of the divine and when you're ready gradually move through the tips of your fingers hands and the arms come slowly back to the shoulders when we complete this third circulation through the body of the overall exercise let's feel gratitude for this act of the work can worship the rosicrucian order and work work in applying natural and spiritual laws and worship and being ever more

aware of the divine within us our true nature now if you have your feet together and hands together still you may wish to continue to do that otherwise you may wish to separate your feet have your hands and your laps palms down or similar if you're lying down meditation can be done while lying or seated or standing now we're going to do a continue with a meditation exercise it'll be based on an article that appeared in the rosicrucian digest in may 1990 and was entitled meditation from the center of the universe it was by past grand master donna o'neil i'll give you a reference for it at the

end of our series of exercises and various other references to the things that are being mentioned in this presentation today we'll adapt it with the book libra 777 celestial sanctum cosmic attunement meditation so at this time i invite you with your eyes still closed picture a sphere of light surrounding you you may wish to choose it as a bright white light or very clear nevertheless light or some other color conducive to your state at this time but picture a sphere of light in close surrounding your body standard on your heart feel the increasing rejuvenation

regeneration the effects of this fear of light around you radiating out from the divine within your being now expand this fear of light to take in your entire dwelling or home and now expand the sphere of light to take in your entire neighborhood composite contain it and then expand the sphere of light again to take in the entire geographic area this is your town or your city and continue to expand the sphere of

light with your heart center at its center they take in your entire state or province and then expand the sphere of light to take in your entire nation your country since the presence of all things contained within this fear physically psychically and spiritually and then expand the sphere which you're centered on to take in the entire continent where you dwell and then expand it again to take in the

entire hemisphere where you dwell and expand it again to take in the entirety the sphere of the earth and then expand out from the sphere of the earth taking in the troposphere the stratosphere and the ionosphere and keep expanding the sphere of light out to take in the entirety of the solar system the sun the planets moving in beautiful system and order sense them within this great sphere which you're centered on at your heart and then keep expanding out and taking in other stars stellar phenomena quasars and pulsars binary stars

supernovae black holes continue to expand so you take in nebulize keep absorbing all this system and order expanding out further and further if you're at the center now sense the entire milky way galaxy in its great arms and encompass it within this great sphere of light expand this sphere of light be out even beyond the milky way galaxy and it's great spiraling action start to take in more stars and stellar phenomena interstellar gases and nebulae and other galaxies in various shapes and forms keep expanding this fear of light taking now not only individual galaxies but super clusters

of galaxies continue to expand faster and faster so now taking in the entirety of the cosmos with you at the center and sent within this great sphere the consciousness of the cosmic let us at this very center of the cosmos where there's the cosmic access to the universe revolving about us in the great sphere that is encompassing it reading out from us let us picture now our celestial sanctum maybe an inspiring place in nature just looking up around the cosmos where you are or maybe an inspiring mountain at the center of the cosmos you may wish to visualize a mountain like you've seen on

earth but suggestive being at the center cosmic axis or maybe a beautiful meadow or by the sea there's rippling waves coming in suggesting all the vibrations of the universe on the cosmic keyboard or maybe some other inspiring place in nature special to you or a church or a cathedral or a guedwara or a mandir or a stupa or a synagogue or some other sacred temple such as the grand lodge's temple in rosagosan park fill in your sacred place at the center of the cosmos at the center of your heart fill it in with inspiring sounds and impressions of the senses beautiful stained glass window possibly depicting mystical laws and principles incense with wonderful aroma and the rising up of the vibrations of the incense as it rises symbolic of the great ascension and consciousness as we

expanded out successively the sphere of light fill in your celestial sanctum at the center of the cosmos at the center of your being now make it real make it vital make it exciting to be in and sense the presence there of others speakers who are with us in this presentation and others of like mind and other rosicrucians on the mystical path growing and maturing together in your celestial sanctum you may wish to picture some special ritual taking place of an inspiring nature for example conducted by the imperator chief executive officer of the resocutionary landmark with the grand masters of the different grand lodges when you've filled in the sights and the sounds and the various impressions of the senses turn inward again and dwell in deep

silence at the center of your being center of the cosmos at the center of this great sphere of light encompassing the cosmos just as you expanded that fear of light out from your divine within consent all vibrations of the universe all intelligence all things and beings are present as one all is one now if you dwell

in the deep silence the still center of your being the center of the universe in the temple of the heart the holy temple of the body with the celestial sanctum envisioned as a sacred place and temple matching the temple of the cosmos god's temple these different phases and expressions of existence all linked together in a highly meaningful pattern unified as one now this is always our birthright to

experience it's where we always are it's simply a matter of increasingly realizing it and expressing it and self-mastering our lives we continue with this meditation cosmic attunement the celestial sanctum let us perform other exercises within this meditation

the first this radiates love and well-being that is metaphysical aid to all those in need there's various ways to do this but what i may i suggest to you is let us picture all those who petitioned the grand lodge and for health and healing and guidance and upliftment picture them inside your celestial sanctum assembled before you an also picture assembled there others that you know who are in need and indeed all beings throughout the cosmos who are in need upliftment and healing at this time picture them all assembled before you and then radiate love and well-being to

them from your heart and mind you may wish to picture going directly out from you or you may wish to picture going up from you and then coming down on all those assembled do whatever works best for you but feel the flow now as you radiate love and well-being to all those assembled in need before you just let it flow enjoy the exhilaration of this experience as you outer nature acts as a channel for our inner nature the divine within and its infinite resources for love and well-being and healing awakening those healing capacities with all those assembled before us

see those assembled before you enlivened remade repaired vital rejuvenated fully alive as god intended just let the radiations of healing continue from you i think you'll find at a certain point it'll speed up and you'll know you're getting through much more easily just let the flow happen at a certain point i think you'll find you don't have to make a conscious effort just let the exhilarating flow go through you as you dwell in deep silence at the center of the cosmos at the center of your heart and being assured with confidence that healing is

taking place within all those assembled and within your own being without even asking for as you've given so you shall receive the law of compensation law of karma muted well at the deep center increasing realization of the divine within as the healing forces radiate out from you just continue to surrender the outer nature to the divine within find your mind wandering just lovingly

and gently bring it back to the breath and dwelling in the deep center of your being whereas we ascended the heights of the celestial sanctum so we descended deeply within ourselves by the law of correspondence the two actions mirror each other and occur simultaneously now we'll formally conclude this period the work of the silent council in conjunction with the council of solas directing metaphysical aid to all those in need they're saying if it pleases the cosmic it is done so be it in truth so might it be

but let us continue our meditation assured that the radiations of love and well-being and healing will continue as a way of life for us as part of our mission on the path we increasingly mature as persons our capacity to tune with the cosmic and to emulate the cosmic in our lives increases this is our birthright this is our destiny just as we've radiated love and well being told as a co-creator with the cosmic let us conduct another

central spiritual exercise of visualization by which the universe was created and is maintained if there's something you'd like to visualize at this time something you're trying to manifest into your life or something you'd like to be more confident of or capable and or there may be some experience that is stressful coming up that you'd like to have more confidence and assuredness and you could visualize it seeing yourself in mastery doing well in it maybe it's an important conversation with someone maybe it's a job interview maybe it's performing better in a particular sport or in some particular task or maybe it's creating something like a new home a better mode of transportation or a new

friendship or relationship whatever it is use your imagination to picture and visualize it make it real in your mind fill it in with the sights and sounds just like we did with the celestial sanctum that we're dwelling in put in your emotions the value needs to be something that will not only benefit yourself but others as well so it can be both value to you but also an active service to others take some time to fill it in like a painter painting on a canvas put in sights and sounds as well [Music] if there's other ways that you can draw in the senses do so as well to make it as real as possible because in a little while we'll release it to the subconscious which will then take it to the cosmic

to help assist in its manifestation so continue to fill in your visualization trade it with confidence that it's already existing on the cosmic plane it's simply a matter of manifesting it so just keep filling it in the picture senseless the emotions the deep value of it to you in your life something that cannot be readily achieved through outer means alone it needs the inner divine resources that are infinite for

its creation and shortly i'll let you know when to release the visualization but keep building it up and holding it in the mind make it as real and as vital as you can make sure it's emotionally charged as it's important to you in your life and of value to others now in a few moments we're going to release the visualization release it now as if you're mailing a letter into the subconscious let it go it pleases the cosmic it is done now take a few deep neutral breaths and re-focalize on the tuning with the cosmic at this

deep center of your being be assured in the days and hours to come as signs and hints come for fulfilling the visualization make sure that you act on it and help realize it and manifest it existing on the cosmic plane now to manifest it on the terrestrial plane or as an inward experience for your outer mind as well there's various reasons to ascend to the heights of the celestial sanctum one is for general enlightenment who we've been doing another can be to seek feeling which we've worked on as well whereas we radiated love and well-being that had a wonderful tonic effect for

ourselves but one can always radiate the love and well-being to oneself as one assembled before you but another reason can be to seek answers to important life questions that are not readily answered by any other means can't be looked up in encyclopedia or if a person sought out with the answer necessarily now often when we dwell in stillness at the heights of the celestial sanctum oppressions will come forward to us there are important answers to things that we've been thinking about explicitly or implicitly in our lives or may come after the meditation session something someone says or an impression that something we see that closes it the deeper impression that we got while meditation so the outer mind can comprehend so our whole being understands it but there's also times in meditation you may want to ask a very specific simple clear question

of the master within the god within if you have such a question at this time please do so before we descend from the heights of the celestial sanctum make sure it's clear and direct and something of great importance just as we visualized an image to manifest within strong and pure emotion make sure this question has strong pure emotion back of it and its importance to us in assisting us in self-mastery and harmony and living there's some questions you like to ask now you may wish to repeat it to yourself several times some find a help in picture that it is a sentence blaze and white letters before the dark screen of your consciousness were or in blazing the letters picture picture it's a simple instinct question there's more complex issue try to break it up at this time into

smaller questions and just do one question now and another question later as you put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together to get the whole impression if you want to ask a question now let's do so when you're ready let it go release it into the subconscious go to the cosmic resources and just re-focal eyes and dwelling on your deep neutral breaths enjoying exhilaration being at the center of the cosmos at the center of your being let us dwell here a while longer before we make our great descent from the

heights of the celestial sanctum now as a final spiritual operation let us invoke the law of gratitude to all those who have taught us enriched us loved us let us feel deep gratitude and love for them in this act in the heights of the celestial sanctum they'll experience their gratitude deep within themselves whether they're incarnated or not and evoking the law gratitude in this

way automatically invokes the law cosmic attunement now let us begin our descent from the heights of the celestial sanctum the center of the cosmos picture yourself again the center of great fear of light around you and bring it in to take in closer and closer to you moving past the super clusters of galaxies and galaxies finally you're taking in the entirety the milky way galaxy alone and draw it in further

past various stellar phenomena stars quasars pulsars binary stars black holes draw it in further to take in only our entire solar system then take it in further to encompass the earth encompass the hemisphere where you dwell [Music] continent country or nation province or state finally your city or geographic area and let us say together may the god of my heart sanctify this atomic self with the celestial sanctum so be it in truth so motive and then draw the sphere of light in closer through your city or town into your neighborhood and then you're dwelling in the room where you are and around the holy temple the body and that the sphere of light dissolve

through yourself enriched rejuvenated remade and repaired and when you're ready you may wish to open your eyes and stretch all the more ready for your duties of the day on the path of mysticism and spirituality and self-mastery thank you everyone you