In the School of the Golden Rosycross we talk about the two nature orders. One, the nature in which we are living, we also call dialectics and the other we call the original nature, from which we originated before the ‘fall’.

Dialectics, also called the emergency nature order, is the world of opponents and opposites you see around you continuously: day and night, light and dark, pleasure and pain, love and hatred, etc. One part cannot exist without the other; even more: one pole always evokes the other pole; they bring forth one another. Between those two poles, those opposites, we as human beings are constantly tossed back and forth. One instant you can feel very bright and capable to conquer the whole world, the next moment something happens which causes your high spirit to disappear and instead you feel dejected and inadequate. 

Inside this state of dialectics, time and space are also capturing us; the duration of everything here is limited by the unavoidability of change. The understanding of eternity is not known to us here. Instead we experience continuously the rhythm of what is called in the School: rising, shining, and fading. That means: being subject to change.  A flower rises from the earth, grows and blooms beautifully for a while, but after that nothing can stop it from declining, from perishing again. Nothing on this earth is eternal, timeless.

Another aspect of this nature is what we call the reflection sphere, also called the land beyond, or the land on the other side. It is the invisible counterpart of the visible material world. Every thought, every feeling and every deed of mankind is being recorded in the reflection sphere and reflected back into the material sphere like a mirror. Those two fields of life: the material sphere and the reflection sphere, interpenetrate and influence each other. The reflection sphere is the same realm that many religions popularly refer to as heaven and hell; both are often seen as if they were eternal and absolute, but that is an illusion. Also there, as “on earth”, life is only temporary. It is simply the sphere where the thinner vehicles of a person (the ether, astral and mental aspects of the human being) gradually dissolve after the death of the physical body. Life in the reflection sphere, after the physical death, is similar to life on earth, and is only temporary, as the emptying of the old personality from the microcosm progresses and the process of preparing the microcosm for a new birth begins anew.

So, the material and the reflection sphere are both fields of life belonging to the same nature order, that being the nature in which takes place the constant circling of birth and death.

This earth is a learning place, where we are given the opportunity to have experiences. All those experiences form our consciousness and when this consciousness is full – full of experiences – we get the feeling that in fact we don’t belong in this world, that all this, all those opposites and temporalities, can never be everything. That there must be more than that. Then, we start longing for something that will last forever, for something eternal. And that’s the reason one finds oneself seeking, that is the process the School offers to guide you towards: to become conscious of this possibility, and then to make the decision to return again to the Original Nature.

The original nature is the kingdom where there are no opponents ruling and where time and space don’t play any role whatsoever. Here are values like eternity, justice, freedom and harmony. It is the original kingdom that humanity left when it decided to go its own way. Because of this ‘fall’ mankind descended into matter, into the physical world in which we are now living. And gradually it lost its divine status because of this.

The spirit-spark atom, the divine nucleus in our heart is the only remnant of the Original Nature to remind us of it. It stimulates us to look for what we have lost as a True Person a long time ago. The spirit-spark atom, also called the Rose Bud or the Rose of the Heart, is the last remaining divine aspect inside a human being. Its presence is latent, and it must be awakened again. The spirit-spark atom is situated in the top of the right heart chamber, at the mathematical centre of our microcosm.

When the Original human being left the Original Nature by his own free will, he lost all his spiritual qualities. The only thing that was left was this indestructible nucleus. All original powers and forces of the true original man lie hidden inside the spirit-spark atom. And this causes in us a pre-remembrance, a profound longing for our original state of being, a longing that is disturbing us. It stimulates the seeking in us, the looking for a life without struggle, for a life of true freedom. But in its ignorance, mankind is striving for this ideal image within the bounds of this earthly nature. 

However, true happiness can never be found here, because everything is temporary. The law of dialectics is the law of rising, shining and declining. But to where does this deep longing direct itself then? It’s directed towards the Original Nature, to give the True Person a chance to grow again. That is the true task, the true purpose of life, which shall be remembered by every human being.

The microcosm literally means: small world. It is an accurate reflection of the macrocosm, the universe. From Hermes Tresmegistos, an initiate in Universal Egyptian philosophy, comes the saying: “as above, so below”. The microcosm is a complex sphere-shaped system, with the spirit-spark atom as a nucleus in the centre. It surrounds and penetrates our physical body; our ether body, which takes care of the functioning of our physical body; our astral body, in which are active all longings and desires of a person, and the mental body, through which the mental capacity can function. These four bodies together form our personality, also referred to as our “lower self”.

Just as the earth is surrounded by stars and planets, so a person is surrounded by a spherical shell containing numerous magnetic points, which can be compared to the starry heavens. These magnetic points attract forces from outside which are being forwarded through to the personality. That sphere of forces we call the auric being or the higher self, also living inside the microcosm. All forces and experiences, both positive and negative, and every connection from former lives in the microcosm, are being stored in the auric being. It’s also sometimes said that this is the book in which our karma is being written down. We may state that those forces influence the personality and have created the personality. A person lives by and out of this higher self. This higher self determines what can enter our microcosm and what can’t.

You can also compare this with a puppet, which is played by the puppet player through a system of little strings. The puppet is the personality, the player is the auric being. Those little strings tie us constantly to dialectics, we are being lived by them. The higher self is only directed towards dialectics, towards self-maintenance. This means, of course, that it tends to aim us as much as possible towards dialectics. And in this way the higher and the lower self are constantly reacting upon each other and consolidating each other.

When we are fortifying our ego and make it bigger and stronger, we are also fortifying our auric being and shall be connected more strongly to the strings of the puppet player. It should be emphasized that this should not be thought of in terms of good and evil, or that the higher self is something bad. It is giving us our life experiences, which ensure that, in the end, a personality will recognise that life upon this earth doesn’t give any true freedom, and that the path to return must be walked.

The only way to free ourselves from this puppet player is to cut the strings. This can only be realised if we don’t connect ourselves anymore with all the opposites in this world. By looking at them from a distance and by letting the Other One in us grow instead of our I. Then, eventually, the magnetic forces of our personal universe shall extinguish and be replaced by new lights, by forces emanating from the Original Kingdom. Then the spirit-spark atom can more and more take over the guidance of our microcosm instead of the higher self. In the Bible we read about this as a New Heaven and a New Earth, inside the microcosm, inside of us.

Through many lives the microcosm carries a new personality each time, in order to learn from its experiences. The microcosm is eternal, but no longer divine! It’s merely a shadow from the lustrous shine it once had in the Original Kingdom, and only the spirit-spark atom is connected with that Kingdom all the time.

The karma that lies stored inside our microcosm is the sum of the past, but also the sum of the present. We mean to say that even during this life you are building up karma. “What a man sows, he shall reap”.  Every act of a person creates karma. When it’s negative, sooner or later it shall cause a negative reaction, and the same goes for a positive act. Thus everybody is tied to his or her karma, it is the law of cause and effect. In this way, the law of karma takes care of returning to a person in his or her life those things he has caused by himself. And this might be something resulting either from a former life, or from the present life. Thus we may be convinced that we should just face situations, however difficult, because we have caused them ourselves; whether in another life, or in the present life. Although we tend to think that everything just happens and is beyond our own fault. This is our learning process, through which we – eventually – gain insight into the final purpose of our life. It is possible that in former lives a large part of the path back to the original kingdom has been walked already and that we continue this in our present life; we can base our self upon what has been achieved already. You then start your life as a seeker, right from the beginning.

At the age of about 13 years the karmic past is projecting itself in the blood of the person. All those experiences inside the microcosm are starting to influence the young person. This often causes an intense disturbance and anxiety inside the youth, and sometimes causes conflicts with others which aren’t so easily solved. Thus there may be many causes that force a young person to surrender completely to dialectic life. He or she can be forced by his own karma. A person must go through experiences in order to solve them, so that eventually they disappear out of the microcosm. In a subsequent incarnation, those experiences no longer have to be lived through. In the end, we must liberate ourselves from karma. There is always a free choice in this, a free choice to handle karma either one way or the other.

Reincarnation is the re-vivification of the emptied microcosm. This doesn’t mean that a person who died is returning to life again. A person like ourselves only lives once. But karma that is built up by a person during his life, is being saved. During a subsequent incarnation a new personality is being built up again inside the microcosm. And this personality shall have to face all the deeds and experiences of his predecessors. Thus, the cycle of birth and death may repeat itself endlessly. However, the final purpose is to liberate us from karma and to free ourselves from the connections of dialectics. Then, an end may come to this infinite return of the microcosm into dialectics.

The power field of the School, also referred to as the Living Body of the School, is a very special energy field filled with Light Force from the Original field of life. This power field is extremely vivid, always developing and in motion, hence the name the “Living Body”. It came into existence when our grandmasters and their pupils were able to make the connection with the Brotherhood of the Original Kingdom. The Kingdom not of this world. This power field is completely and totally equal to the Plan of God. All light forces are applied and attracted herein, and reveal themselves in the temples and working places of the School of the Golden Rosy Cross. This Light Field is not connected to time and space; it belongs to a different dimension, to the Original Kingdom, but it completely penetrates our dimension, which we know as earth.

Like the rays of sun are captured by a magnifying glass and cause a fire, thus the light forces of the Original Kingdom are concentrated in the School of the Golden Rosy Cross. The School serves as a focal point. When we are in the Temple we may experience something of the Light force. The force field then touches us directly in the heart, where the spirit-spark atom is located. It gives us the opportunity to conquer the impediments and influences of our karma, our character, etc. The force field nourishes the desire for Light and liberation inside a person. It teaches us to understand things in our life and it makes us adequately strong to use our will power in the service of the Path of inner liberation. By the power of the force field the spirit-spark atom is enabled to beam forth a completely penetrating radiation. Once this radiation becomes active again, a force is liberated which changes the entire body, cell by cell. The thinking, feeling and acting are being charged with a new force. That new force must find a dwelling place inside of us. We ourselves must start to work with the opportunities that are given to us by the force field. For when this doesn’t happen, we soon find ourselves being absorbed completely by our busy lives, and the voice of the spirit-spark atom weakens and is no longer heard.

The pupils of the School must keep the Force field of the School alive and strong. Of course, you can never do this all by yourself of course, but an entire group can! Here we see the importance of the group. Many flames form a mighty fire together. In this way the force field is attracting people who are willing to listen to the call in their heart and follow it.

Gnosis The word gnosis originates from the Greek language and literally means: “knowledge”. Mr. Jan van Rijckenborgh says about Gnosis: “Originally gnosis was the summary of original wisdom, the summary of all knowledge which pointed directly towards the original divine life. Thus was – and is – divine wisdom being brought to mankind and the way is shown to those who want to return to the original Fatherland.” It is the radiation force of the other kingdom, the Divine reality, which is touching us in the spiritual School. It is the Spirit of God, working as divine wisdom, love and power.

Transfiguration means: renewal. Renewal according to an enormous process of change inside a person. It’s the restoring of the microcosm to its original, divine state. This cannot be realised by a person with his personality. It can only be done through and by the force and activity of the spirit-spark atom in the heart. The new Soul must be born inside a person, a soul that is not of this nature. This process can be started once we, with all our emotions, our driving and striving aimed towards earthly life, can move to the background in order to give the Rose, the new Soul, space to flourish. In this way the “I” shall gradually diminish, and the New Soul shall grow. In the Bible we read: “He must grow and I must diminish.” 

Of course this takes time. The “I” is very dominantly and strongly present, therefore this is a process that takes place very gradually. This gradual process is called: transmutation. It is the preparation of the microcosm for the forthcoming transfiguration. By directing our desire towards the Other in us, the spirit-spark atom gets stronger and stronger, thus being able to take over guidance in our life. We then become more and more untouchable for the influences of dialectics and are able to live more and more out of the forces of the original kingdom. The Cathars called this process the endura, or: the path of I-detachment.