Rose-Cross & Rosicrucians

Since we have been led to speak of the Brotherhood of the Rose-Cross, it will perhaps not be in vain to clarify some points about it, even though this subject relates to a particular case rather than to initiation in general, for the name 'Rose-Cross' is presently used in a vague and often improper fashion and applied indiscriminately to very different people, very few of whom have a legitimate claim to it. To avoid all these confusions, it would seem best to make a clear distinction between the Brotherhood of the Rose-Cross and the Rosicrucians, the latter term being susceptible of a far wider application than the first; and it is probable that most of the socalled Brothers of the Rose-Cross were really only Rosicrucians. To understand the utility and importance of this distinction, one must first remember that, as we have just said, the true Brotherhood of the Rose-Cross was never an organization with definite outward forms, and that even though from at least the beginning of the seventeenth century there were numerous associations that can be called Rosicrucian, [^1] this does not mean that their members belonged to the Brotherhood of the Rose-Cross. Indeed, we can cven be certain that they were not solely from the fact that they belonged to such associations; this may seem paradoxical and even contradictory at first glance, but can nonetheless be easily understood in view of the considerations stated previously. The distinction we are noting is far from a mere question of terminology, and in reality relates to something much more profound, since, as we have already explained, the term Rose-Cross properly speaking designates an effective initiatic degree, that is to say a certain spiritual state the possession of which clearly does not necessarily involve membership in a specific organization. This degree is what can be called the perfection of the human state, for by its two constituent elements, the very symbol of the Rose-Cross stands for the reintegration of the being into the center of this state and the full expansion of his individual possibilities from that center, thereby marking very accurately the restoration of the 'primordial state', or, which amounts to the same thing, the completion of initiation into the 'lesser mysteries'. On the other hand, from what we can call the 'historical' point of view, we must take into account the fact that the name 'Rose-Cross', which is expressly linked to the use of a certain symbolism, has been used only in certain definite circumstances of time and place, outside of which its use would be illegitimate; one could say that those possessing the degree in question appeared as Brothers of the Rose-Cross in these circumstances only, for contingent reasons, just as in other circumstances they could have appeared under other names and other aspects. This does not of course mean that the symbol itself to which this name refers may not be much more ancient than this use of it, and, just as for every genuinely traditional symbol, it would no doubt be altogether pointless to try to find a definite origin for it. We mean only that the name derived from the symbol was given to an initiatic degree beginning only in the fourteenth century, and furthermore that this nomenclature is limited to the Western world; the name therefore is applied only with reference to a certain traditional form, that of Christian esoterism, or more precisely still, Christian Hermeticism; we will return later to what precisely should be understood by the term 'Hermeticism'. An indication of what we have just said is given by the very 'legend' of Christian Rosenkreutz, whose name, in any event, is purely symbolic and who very probably is not an historical personage, despite what some have said about him, but rather represents what one could call a 'collective entity.' [^2] The general sense of the 'legend' of this supposed founder, and in particular the meaning of the travels attributed to him, [^3] seems to be that, after the destruction of the Order of the Temple, the initiates of Christian esoterism reorganized themselves in accord with the initiates of Islamic esoterism in order to maintain as much as possible the link that had apparently been broken by this destruction. But this reorganization had to be concealed-made invisible, as it were-and without taking its support in an outwardly known institution, which, as such, could once again have been destroyed. [^4] The true Brothers of the Rose-Cross were properly those who inspired this reorganization, or, if one wishes, they were those who possessed the above-mentioned initiatic degree considered especially insofar as they played this role, which continued until the moment when, because of other historical events, the traditional link in question was finally broken in the West in the course of the seventeenth century. [^5] It is said that the Brotherhood then withdrew to the East, which signifies that henceforth in the West there was no longer any initiation permitting one to attain that degree effectively, and also that the action that had hitherto been exercised for maintaining the corresponding traditional teaching ceased to manifest itself here, at least in a regular and normal fashion. [^6] As for knowing who were true Brothers of the Rose-Cross, and saying with certainty whether this or that person was of their number, this appears altogether impossible by the very fact that it is essentially a question of a spiritual state, purely interior, which it would be very imprudent to judge by any outward signs. Furthermore, because of their role, these Brothers of the Rose-Cross could not as such leave any visible trace in profane history, so that cven if their names were known, they would be of no significance to anyone. In this connection, we will refer the reader to our earlier remarks regarding name changes, which sufficiently explain what is really involved here. As for those people whose names are known, particularly as authors of writings of one kind or another, and who are commonly named among the members of this Brotherhood, it is most probable that they were often influenced or more or less directly inspired by the true Brothers of the Rose-Cross whom they served as spokesmen, [^7] which we can express by saying that they were merely Rosicrucians regardless of whether they belonged to any of the groups to which we can give the same name. On the other hand, if it were discovered, exceptionally and as if by accident, that a true Brother of the Rose-Cross had played a role in external events, this would have been as it were despite his degree rather than because of it, in which case historians would not in the least suspect this degree, so much do the two things [that is, the spiritual state and the outward event| belong to different domains. All of this will hardly satisfy the curious, but they will have to be content with it, for many things escape the methods of profane history which, by their very nature, allow one to grasp only what might be called the 'exteriority' of events. We must add yet another reason why the true Brothers of the Rose-Cross had to remain unknown: no member is ever allowed to claim that he is such, any more than in Islamic initiation an authentic Sufi claims that title. There is a similarity here that is particularly interesting, although the two names are really not equivalent, for what is implied in the name Sufi is of a higher order than what is indicated by the name Rose-Cross and refers to possibilities that surpass those of the human state, even considered in its perfection. Strictly speaking, this name should even be reserved for the being that has attained the realization of the 'Supreme Identity', that is, the ultimate goal of all initiation; [^8] but it goes without saying that such a being possesses a fortiori the degree of the Rose-Cross and if necessary can accomplish the corresponding functions. Besides, the name Sufi often suffers the same abuse as the name Rose-Cross, to the point of sometimes being applied to those who have merely entered on the path leading to cffective initiation and have not yet reached even its first degrees. In this regard one can note the similar unwarranted extension that is currently given to the word Yogi in the Hindu tradition, to the point that this word, which likewise properly designates one who has reached the supreme goal and which is thus the exact equivalent of Sufi, comes to be applied to those who are still at the preliminary stages, cven the most outward. Not only in such a case, but even for the one who has arrived at the highest degrees without however having reached the final goal, the designation that properly applies is mutaṣawwuf; and because the Suf himself is not marked by any outward distinction, this same designation is also the only one that he is able to take or accept, not because of such purely human considerations as prudence or humility, but because his spiritual state is truly an incommunicable secret. [^9] This is a distinction analogous to the former, but in a more restricted order (because it does not surpass the limits of the human state) that can be expressed by the terms 'Rose-Cross' and 'Rosicrucian', for the latter can designate every aspinant to the state of the Rose-Cross, whatever degree he may have effectively reached, even if he has only received a virtual initiation in the form to which this designation properly applies. On the other hand, one can draw from these remarks a kind of negative criterion, in the sense that if someone calls himself a Brother of the Rose-Cross or a Sufi, one knows from that very fact, and without need to look further into the matter, that in reality he is certainly nothing of the sort. Another negative criterion results from the fact that the Brotherhood of the Rose-Cross never established ties with any outward organization; if someone is known to have been a member of such an organization, it can again be affirmed, at least as long as he was an active member, that he was not a true Brother of the Rose-Cross. We should in any case note that organizations of this type did not take the title of Rose-Cross until quite late, since as we said earlier it does not appear until the beginning of the seventeenth century, that is, shortly before the true Brotherhood of the Rose-Cross withdrew from the West; and there are many clear indications that the organizations which took that name had already deviated to some degree, or at least were very far from the original source. This is even more true of organizations that were later formed under the same name, most of which doubtless could not claim for themselves, however indirectly, any authentic and regular affiliation to the Brotherhood of the Rose-Cross; [^10] this of course is not to mention the many contemporary pseudo-initiatic organizations that have nothing to do with the Rose-Cross except the name they have usurped, and that possess not a trace of traditional doctrine, having, through the entirely individual initiative of their founders, simply adopted a symbol that everyone interprets according to his own fancy, for lack of any knowledge of its true meaning, which escapes these so-called Rosicrucians as completely as it does any of the profane. There remains one point to which we must return with more precision. We have said that when Rosicrucianism originated there must have been a collaboration between initiates of the esoteric traditions of Christianity and of Islam; this collaboration must also have continued subsequently, since it was precisely a matter of maintaining the link between the initiations of the East and West. We will go even further and say that the same people, whether from Christianity or from Islam, were able to be at once Brothers of the Rose-Cross and Sufis (or mutasawwufin of the higher degrees), if they lived in both East and West (and the constant allusion to their travels, all symbolism aside, leads us to think that this must have been the case for many of them), for the spiritual state they had reached implies that they were beyond the differences that exist among outward forms, which differences do not affect the essential and fundamental unity of traditional doctrine. Of course it is no less appropriate to maintain that there exists between tasawwuf and true Rosicrucianism a distinction as between two different forms of traditional teachings; and the true Rosicrucians, the more or less direct disciples of the Brothers of the Rose-Cross, are uniquely those who follow the special path of Christian Hermeticism. However, there cannot be any initiatic organization fully worthy of the name, one possessing an effective consciousness of its goal, which does not have at the summit of its hierarchy beings that have gone beyond the diversity of formal appearances. These beings will be able to appear as Rosicrucians, as mutasawwufin, or even in other forms, according to circumstances; they are truly the living link between all the traditions because, by their consciousness of unity underlying all traditional forms, they effectively participate in the great primordial tradition from which all the others are derived by adaptation to time and place and which, like Truth itself, is one.