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

greetings everyone it's great to be with you once again thank you for everything you're doing in the way of service and growing and learning and maturing our presentation today is entitled rosar crucian exercises foundation for daily living four studies of the rosac crucian order Amor systematically guide us in developing selfmaster and ways be of service part of this process is the crucial practice of the Ros acution exercises we'll do some of these mystical and related exercises in an integrated manner including meditation visualization metaphysical Aid and more we'll guide through a series of exercises in an educational enriching and rejuvenating way for experience of the Rose gruan teachings and as a foundation for our daily living again I want to share with you

uh an image from a mural in the grand Temple at Rose crusan Park in San Jose California on the Temple's West Wall near the mat station and it's a beautiful mural called the laying on of hands by the rosac crucian artist B B celier who's formerly a staff artist of the rosac crucian I should say of the Los Angeles County Museum I'll give you a resource for this if you want to see the article that appeared related to it uh in the rosecan digest in uh 2017 now the walls and the murals of the in the temple

uh at rosan Park are or ornated as an Antiquity and there's a wondrous use of colors and they're modeled after ancient Egyptian book entitled book of the coming forth by day and it depicts various authentic scenes and customs of life but also mythology of ancient Egypt now it was a special service that Sor cier did in a way it's an application of law creativity applied in a special call for service to the order she had various others working with her and the laying out uh of these various murals which you see one before you now now here we see uh in this mural um

it's actually was originally described in June 1938 issue the Roan digest and then it was uh applied on the wall it it shows the Divine Essence of the deities known as saw it was said to be imparted by the high priest to those who knelt before him that is this healing energy the same form of laying on the hands was used in conferring sovereign ship or kingship or queenship in ancient Egypt and in later times the mural therefore is taken indirectly from the Egyptian Stell describing Queen hashep receiving from her father the kingship of both banks of the river the incense burner held above the Canada closely resembles an ancient artifact in the rosicrucian Egyptian Museum I particularly wanted to show you this mural uh because it relates to some rosac crutian exercises is referred to

as contact healing we'll do an exercise related to uh contact healing or in a way preliminary to it uh and we'll also do uh abs and healing or metaphysical healing as part of our exercises uh today in that regard let me show you this exercise it works with the hands this diagram is originally from a between the lines promotional booklet dating back to 1942 but it was published in subsequent years as well and it shows two illustrations for two different experiments that I invite you to do now with me and this ties in with the flow of the vital life force throughout our bodies with the incoming of eror

uh there's the vital life force that's why there's so many so many uh ways in which the breath is revitalizing re-energizing and healing to us and part of the Mastery of life is indeed the Mastery of the breath we'll apply our breathing in a particular way in this these two exercises and later in the series of exercises we're going to do throughout the hour that we're together uh now also important to understand these exercises we're going to be working with the autonomic nervous system the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous system we'll apply those two nervous systems in a variety of ways um also in our later exercises that we'll do we deal with both a positive polarity and a negative polarity in a variety of ways in our life in our Ros acution which our sizes I'll outline this more as we as we continue but what I invite you now in regard to the first diagram

that's on the left um place your Five Fingers of both your hands together and such a way that they point away from your body so similar to what you see on the left but pointing away pointing away from your body and be sure that the palms of the hands are separated by about one and a half inches like we see in illustration number one on the left do not press the tips of the fingers too strongly just firmly hold them this way for several minutes we'll actually do approximately three minutes and you'll notice that is being generated in the open space between the Palms now this will be ordinary body heat part of the value the many rosu

exercises for us to become more sensitive in a physical way a mental emotional way in a psychic way and an overall mystical way you can just breathe as normal for this part of the of the exercise soon I'll direct you in a different form of breathing this exercise is very simple it allows us to take time out from our active lives focus and be sensitive and we can use those skills all the more throughout our day when we're speaking with others when we're doing our tasks focus on this task will help us to stay focused on the task for the rest of the day just be sensitive you see if you're sensing any particular energy and the

heat between the palms of your hands keeping them about an inch and a half part at the base many of these exercises of rosac crucians are highly meditative in their

nature in an indirect way it's another feature that we can enjoy now so we deepen our experience over this hour now don't do it quite yet but I'm going to instruct you next soon to take a long breath hold it rosac crans refer to as positive breathing and when you do that I think you'll find that the heat is increasing between your palms so the Flesh of the Palms begin to tingle you even feel a charge of the life force between your hands and your palms so I invite you now take a long deep breath and hold it for as long as comfortable and see what happens when you need to breathe out feel free

to do so and if you wish to try it again take a long deep breath and hold it and see if the effect intensifies you need to breathe out and you can do these exercises with your hand eyes open or them closed you may find it particularly valuable to have your eyes closed turn more inward to the sensations let's do a final third deep breath and hold it when you need to breathe out do so and

just hold your eyes closed for a moment and feel the sensation as it continues in your body and your hands tingling you may be feeling in your hands is a very enriching type not the type that we call pins and needles where there's lack of oxygen but just the exact opposite these exercises pertain to in a certain direct and indirect way methods of contact healing when passed down through the ages known to the rosac crues and similar to what we see or saw on the mural next we're going to do the second

exercise that's Illustrated on the right illustration number two now take the thumb of your right hand firmly in the grip of the thumb and first two fingers of your left hand is Illustrated have the fingers or the other fingers of the right hand extended so they do not touch the left hand now do not squeeze the thumb and in a relatively light grip hold the

thumb let us continue to do this for about another two minutes and just see what it feels like for you and then there'll be more instructions again you may wish to close your eyes just have your concentration on sensing thumb that's being held the fingers and thumb that's holding it it's can be like a meditative reflective type experience it also is a concentration exercise e I think you'll be feeling what may be

described as an ordinary body heat or warmth but we're going to go beyond that shortly soon I'll advise we don't do it quite yet we're going to take another long breath and hold it while you feel not just the ordinary body warmth the positive energy generated in the right thumb and the two fingers passing to the left thumb and

going up the left arm so I invite you to do so now hold your breath breathe in deeply and hold it as long as comfortable and when you need to Exhale when it's comfortable again take another deep breath and hold it still holding your hands and fingers as indicated and when you need to breathe out again May to keep your eyes closed and

just feel the inner Sensations associated with your arms and hands and now when you're ready take another deep breath and hold it here need to this way we can have an experience of the positive energy in the body associated with the vital life force and how it can move and circulate through the body in this case down the right arm into the left this closely relates to that mural that

we saw and how energy can be passed and only from within ourselves to others in a form of contact healing that's dealt with in a systematic way through the rose chushan exercises in the monthly monographs we'll follow this up with another rtion method of healing abs and healing and metaphysical aid from these first two exercises you had a taste of preliminaries um one of the forms of healing of the rosac crucians it's much more described and the next parts of the uh healing practice are given in the monographs I know many of them practice them uh uh as we indicated on our for our family members okay so now let us continue you see before you now a symbolic indic indication something very

special to rosac crucians it's the Vault of CRC It's Des described in the Ros chrisan Manifesto dating from around 1614 of B fattis we see here a sevens sided polygon equal sided pagon within it we have the rose cross the Vault of CRC is said to be sided there is a story of its Discovery and lying inside it was a figure named Christian Rosen crun and also a CRC a traditional master and teacher of our in our order but symbolic also of our divine nature within ourselves and our own selves on the path of self-mastery

and in discovery of the Vault there's the Awakening of CRC which will enact during our period of meditation mystical exercises today the cross and the rose Chuan tradition has no religious meaning it has a mystical meaning deep experience of the laws of nature the vertical bar and the horizontal bar indicate two polarities coming together to form a manifestation at the at the intersection the rose which is the our unfolding lives our growing maturity as each pedal unfolds we learn new lessons a new way in life we're going to ascend to the heights of the celest fanom in a way reenacting The Awakening BEC coming in the cosmic Consciousness

CRC you'll see in this next slide a vault like that when we're learning and growing start to sense more deeply our spiritual nature we start to sense within ourselves the living CRC our divine within the master within increasingly as we grow and learn in our lives we start to awaken it and it can move start to express itself start to sense that we're made up of a finite nature and infinite nature and increasing realization of that infinite plane and how the two inner penetrate and form a Unity in a way it reminds me of the story uh it's much beloved by many mathematicians and others called flatl the mathematician Abit and he talks

about persons that were dwelling in just two Dimensions if they were imprisoned and and stuck in outside a room they could but realize there's a third dimension they could rise out that's what we're going to do similar ionology when we rise to the of the celestial sanctum and move from the finite plane to the infinite plane from the four dimensions of the SpaceTime Continuum three physical dimensions and the dimension of time passing also Fifth Dimension you describ as the law of vibration the vibration of a phenomena but we'll go beyond even those Dimensions to much higher dimensions As We rise up in the cosmic as is our practice we'll start to sense the vastness of the

cosmos here depicted the colorized scene of the Milky Way our home will pass through and out of will continue to rise send to the heights of the celestial sanctum take in the entirety of the cosmos and then we move increasingly from the finite plane to the infinite plane going Way Beyond the speed of light our inner nature do things that the outer nature cannot and we're not restricted by the physical laws of nature but we go into the how they're mirrored on the infinite plane we can rise up higher and higher until we come to the very center the cosmos center of our being move fully into the infinite plane you see how it radiates its great lines of energy helping create the universe the way that the Ros ofans refer to as the cosmic which is the universal

intelligence permeating radiating through the cosmos and we use that to do the metaphysical Aid to all in needs these matters uh remind me too of uh in earlier years I remember uh even in another city and where I grew up and exploring all the uh back roads and byways all for miles [Music] around as as in the book Ros chrisan cycles of life and the MTH just a uh book The uh selfmaster in the cycles of Life fate um by past

imperor H Spencer Lewis those Bor um close to the around in uh part of July and June on that seventh period of the year they like to explore uh a very detailed way their surroundings and within themselves and I remember sometimes we'd have visitors that come to us and uh take they' like to go out and see around the countryside sometimes we take them in some areas which tourists wouldn't wouldn't know about but they're very much of note very beautiful scenes of nature now some of the roads said had signed saying not a through Road and when I would direct a person to drive through there they would have some some hesitancy as they said are you suggesting that we're going to drive through not a through Road yes we're going to go through not a through

Road similarly there be times we take them out and uh on foot and there was some roads we go uh or streets we go on and it said no exit and we head in and we're they say are we going to have to back up no we're not going to back up we're going to exit this no exit Road um sign was for the vehicle but for those who are traveling lighter on foot they could one could exit indeed um you could pass over the various Ridge or high points and take the path downward which the car could not go similari in the scene here may seem at times like as we rise up in the cosmic that we're trying to go through not a through Road or quickly We rise up higher and higher in the infinite plane that we're exiting a no exit Road yes there are things that our outer nature cannot do but our inner nature can do and as we grow in maturity

and Mastery you can do use these and apply these for great effect on both the finite plane and the infinite plane and the tremendous healing that humanity and all need so at this stage I invite you as we continue our exercises and our lessons to close your eyes and follow the instructions the booklet Hebrew 777 before we do that we'll purify ourselves further those two initial exercises and the diagram we saw before us in this the celestial sanctum by the law of purification and the law of Attunement particularly law of cosmic Attunement the inspiring diagrams in away our

psychic and mystical exercise let's continue with some neutral breathing our eyes closed seting seated or lying down comfortably just feel the gentle Rhythm of the breath the incoming the air sense the increasing presence of the divine within the master within and with the go going to the air feel the stimulation of the vagus nerve which gives rise to the relaxation and response enjoy the increased calm tranquility and serenity the incoming breath feel the increasing presence of the divine within and with the outgoing relaxation response and you may wish to extend your exhalation a little longer than the inhalation that'll intensify it relaxation response and the stimulation

of the Vegas nerves just enjoy this enriching physical psychic intellectual emotional and overarching mystical experience a simple as it seems incoming of the breath is the vital life force increasing presence of divine within the increased tingling of the flow of the vital life force in our body the relaxation response especially if we prolong your exhalation very simple exercise but never to be

underestimated and we'll feel for the rest of the day the enrichment that this is causing to us now as we do this on a regular basis a momentum is built up there's accumulative effect and a way of life can we use this relaxation and the Acuity of mind that comes with it to stay on task to be more competent when there challenges come up in our life remember this experience in the Deep maturity with it and the relaxation the accompanying acity and Clarity of mind just extend the breath remember and turn inward briefly and be all the more ready to embrace whatever needs to be done this is the way these rules of chrisan exercises become extremely practical everything we're doing now is

for our healing and the healing of others our growth in maturity and the Mastery of life itself pleas continue with the breathing we've been doing I think you'll find two that you move towards what's called autonomic balance there's a balancing of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems as we go go deeper into these exercises we'll even become parasympathetic dominant for a time that's okay think you'll find that your heart rate is slowing up your heart is becoming more efficient I think you'll find too that you're moving towards optimal heart rate variability heart isn't being like a metronome but your heart

is each heartbeat is different duration because it's steering you through life like we're steering a car the heart responds to what is needed and the nervous system and our tar faculties will adjust the heartbeat accordingly it's very enriching it's very ennobling it's very healing I think with the tingling in your body too you'll find that each cell your body is imbued with the life force what Rose crucians call The Cosmic Consciousness Consciousness pervading all through the cosmos we increasingly move into that Consciousness the cosmic a wonderful thing that happens with meditation and relaxation is that the mitochondria of the sub cellular structures in each one of our cells that are responsible for generating 90% of the energy in our bodies they stop leaving the cells due

to stress come back in they stay in and they're far more effective that's why these exercises that we're doing now are very energizing re-energizing the simple breathing exercise and the other exercise we're about to do of a wonderful dual action they're very restive they help us rest deeply they help us keep get caught up on sleep at the same time we remain alert and we become increasingly re-energized you'll be feeling it now you may be feeling it even more later today for whatever you need to do your mission in life discharge your responsibilities and duties even degree of satisfaction enjoyment and richness let's continue with

the neutral breaths extending the exhalation possibly breathing a little deeper than usual just feel like a symphonic action the music of the body our minds and hearts the wondrous tonic healing making whole effect that we can give to others applying the law service and the love Attunement we're applying now particularly a lot of cosmic Attunement now frers and Sor and participants so

purified let is prepared to ascend to the heights of the celestial sanctum as described in the slide before us invite you now to keep your eyes closed and let's play a prayer and invocation may wish to say after me May the Divine Essence of the cosmic cleanse me of all impurities of Mind in body that I may commune with the celestial sanctum may my mortal Consciousness be so enlightened that any imperfections of my thinking may be revealed to me may I be given the power of will to correct them I humbly

petition that I may perceive the fullness of Nature and partake thereof ever consistent with the cosmic good so M it be Al for and Source let us ascend from The Vault of CRC rising up in illumination and regeneration up above our home building or dwelling where at up over our surrounding neighborhood our town or city or local geographic area that is continue to rise up higher and higher faster and faster as we begin transcend space and time Joy the exhilaration of the ascent seeing below our Province or

state now our entire great nation or country see the land forms forms of nature the great weather systems rise up higher and higher take in now our continent our hemisphere now the entire beautiful blue Jewel of the earth rotating about its axis similar to how we a symbolic way rotate about our spine our Holy Temple body we see the wondrous Beauty Pure White Light reflected from the Moon our local satellite revolving around around the earth let us look up and see the beautiful elliptical orbits our Hess solar system the great

fiery ball of the sun our local star now traveling faster and faster past the planets in their wondrous Beauty the outer reaches of our solar system those past Myriad Stellar phenomena quazars the pulsar the interstellar gases black holes balancing the universe great Cosmic web connecting the great structure of the universe and the Stars start to sense the great spiraling action and rotation our loc of our home our local galaxy The Milky Way galaxy past Myriad stars and nebula within the Milky Way sense the great arms and let's pass out our local arm look back the wondrous beauty of the Milky

Way galaxy and look up and see other spiral galaxies and galaxies and other forms it's continue to rise higher and higher it's described earlier in the instructions of the booklet Libra 777 let's continue to rise higher and higher as muriat start stars and nebula and galaxies and even clusters of galaxies many many clusters of galaxies sense of psychic vibrations a full range of vibrations what R of Christians decribe as the cosmic keyboard enjoy this great sea of vibrations like a great Harmony the harmony of the Spheres the music of the

cosmos back all this vibration everything manifests through the law of vibration a law of manifestation past the Myriad stars and nebula and clusters of galaxies now even superclusters of galaxies passing out from our local super cluster galaxies and see the vastness of the universe super cluster of Galaxy one after the other suggesting the infinite increasingly tremendous vastness on the finite plane increasingly suggesting to us the vastness of cosmic Consciousness our consciousness of the entirety the universal mind that we're linked to deep within and suggesting the passage from the finite

plane to the infinite plane our self May view this like a no exit road but our inner nature knows how to exit let's do so now we rise higher and higher inly let the divine within the master within take over as we surrender to it be receptive to it it knows the rest of the journey that's all the clusters of galaxies and S the stupendous action of the entire structure of the universe since the universe as a whole revolving about a great Cosmic axis you sense the presence of that great Cosmic axis go a tremendous speed beyond the speed of light toward its midpoint the center of the cosmos at the center of her being as you come to that great midpoint from the COS

axis blow up and dwell there increasingly make the passage from the finite plane to the infinite plane decreasing realization of the divine within the Divine mind within us and throughout creation all around us let us dwell for a period in silence on the infinite plane and Sor and

participants let us continue to experience the cosmic identify our mind with the cosmic mind Cosmic being the universal intelligence deep within us and through all creation used in the finite plane through the infinite plane as creasingly surrender the vine within inly move from a finite plane as vast it is to the infinite plane You may wish to picture your Sacred

Space your Celestial sanctum as Cas You may wish to make it the Temple of the cosmos all around you or maybe an aspiring place in nature back on Earth h a high hill or Mountaintop by a great lake or along the ocean shore sacred grove beautiful metal just fill in the sights and sounds the center of your being a holy Temple it is the celestial sanctum feel in the sights and sounds and all the Impressions physical mental emotional psychic and mystical feel great gratitude great sense of EX a we at this high point of Consciousness the picture incense Rising

The Seekers on this conference call with us visible invisible masters Grand Lodge officers and imperor Grand Lodge officers R Christian ordermark with us when you fill in all the Impressions both an inner and outer nature just release it and let go let the manifestation of the visualization increase recently take place let just dwell for a time in silence

together and feel whatever there is to feel inde feel all there is to feel if your mind wanders just lovingly gently bring it back simple discipline of the breath and experience the cosmic as we surrender and be receptive to it fors and Soros and participants at this

High Point the meeting of many Minds let's conduct the baptism of the V of Life Force sure and visualize the life force like a gentle rain or a flow of the waterfalls descending on your B being enriching and en Noble and revitalizing you so let the live vital life force flow through a whole Holy Temple your body and the celestial sanctum through your head and your neck your chest your arms your limbs descending through your body like a special baptism on high at a certain point you won't need

to picture it anymore just let it flow let it happen in gratitude this is the esoteric understanding of the Fountain of Youth now let's cont another spiritual operation and exercise at the heights of the celestial sanctum

picture a white light rotating around your heart and psychic heart in a counterclockwise f counterclockwise as if you were viewing yourself in the front of your chest make large swings getting closer and closer as you go around and around closer and closer to the center of your heart feel the great energy of the swings as you go around and around go around seven times the seven sides of the Vault of CR go around more that's okay as you

count them and when you reach the center of your heart stay there and dwell in peace profound allowing the we energy fill your heart and radiate out from you filling the cosmos avoid energy radiating

out picture is love and well-being going out from the Heart Center of your being in the cosmos rting love and well-being out we conduct the work of the silent Council in conjunction with the Council of soless of the Grand Lodge radiating love and wellbeing form of this white light to all those who have petitioned the Grand Lodge for God guidance and healing and radiate love and well-being to all those who petitioned our Affiliated bodies of Rish Amar for guidance and healing and radiate love and well-being to all those you know who are in need of guidance and healing let continue to radiate love and well-being to all sentient beings throughout the cosmos who are

need of guidance and healing let the energy flow at a tremendous rate out from you use the inner spiritual Force to allow this to happen certain point I think you need to make no conscious effort will continue to flow the radiations of the vine within us we surrender to it and the radiations will even speed up and we'll know we're reaching those in need when that happens just completely surrender being the love and radiation is going forth filling the universe merging our mind with a cosmic mind being the cosmic

mind experiencing as the cosmic mind experiences these radiations of love and wellbeing assume the cosmic mind now continue to be one with the cosmic mind in the consciousness of the cosmic one with the one

in the most profound form of peace peace profound soon we'll formally close this period of metaphysical aid but we'll continue the meditation mystical exercises a while longer ass sure that these radiations of love and well-being to all those in need continue as a way of life throughout our day as part of our mission living formally close this period of the work

of a silent counsil in conjunction with the Council of soless and as sending a physical Aid invite you to say with me now if it pleases the cosmic it is done so mod it be I must dwell a while longer at the heights of the celestial sanctum having applied over 50 Ros acuan laws and principles cluding the law correspondence between the inner and the outer law of polarity or Duality a law of unity move from the finite to the infinite plane experience of Union the law of service and the radiating of love and well-being law of assumption now amongst many other laws we've applied let us apply the law gratitude before we begin our descend

from the heights of celestial sanctum may wish to express thank you gratitude to all those who have taught us well all those who have loved us well through all those who have sacrificed well on our behalf for all those who shown an uplifting example in the way of self-mastery gratitude to fill our Birthright in Cosmic Attunement this time and always PS and sers and participants let us begin our descent from the heights of the celestial sanctum moving a tremendous Speed Way Beyond speed of light past the Myriad stars and galaxies superclusters of galaxies clusters of galaxies the black

holes the great structure Cosmic web throughout the cosmos and let us see in the distance super cluster that is our local home pass through it into it a myriad clusters of galaxies see in the distance as we move faster and faster towards our our local cluster of galaxies and plunge into it past the Myriad Beauty and wonders harm manyy of the Spheres see the distance the wondrous Milky Way galaxy our home and let us plunge into its arm where we dwell as the Myriad stars and Stellar phenomena pulsars and quazars and see in the distance our solar system great fiery ball of the sun our

local star the beautiful blue Jewel of the Earth the Holy Temple of the Earth the hemisphere where we left off the continent where we left off great nation country our Province or state or city or local geographic area let us say together final prayer and invocation May the god of my heart sanctify this atunement of self with it Celestial sanctum so M it be let us continue further onto our neighborhood the building dwelling or home where we left off back in the room however we're situated see they lying down feeling enriched en nobl remade all the more ready

for the work and worship of the rtion order now and always fulfilling our mission in life we continue to take this state of mind and awareness as a way of life and use it in all that we do the applying the law of transmutation and all we contact in healing and all that we say to others let it radiate to all in need and when you're ready invite you to open your eyes and give a stretch If You Wish by way of conclusion I will say thank you much very much for joining us as we continue to explore rosan CWS and principles and also fundamentally their experience we have firstand contact with

them and know them firsthand and can apply them in wisdom and creative expression our Mastery of Life harmonious living and service