The Genius of Harvey Spencer Lewis, Founder of the Ancient Mystical Order of the Rosy Cross
The Need for a Frankly Analytical Biography of this Great Figure
Harvey Spencer Lewis at his desk. He was a prolific writer of beautiful, richly informed prose.
His books, outside the fictional texts, and particularly his essays, are memorably powerful.
He was also magnificent in the mobilization of the written word within a highly structured teaching organization.
He was also very good at working with people. combining individual creativity with rich interpersonal skills, if not he could not have created AMORC, which I am not aware of as suffering any major conflict known to the outside world until Lewis' own successor, his son Ralph Lewis, had passed away, a conflict which the Order survived and moved beyond
Almost each time I drink something, I say a prayer I learnt from the Ancient Mystical Order of the Rosy Cross ( AMORC), the multidisciplinary mystical school founded by the US author and institution builder Harvey Spencer Lewis ( 1883-1939), whose genius was demonstrated by his gift for synthesizing philosophical and spiritual ideas and self development techniques in the context of a teaching system carried out through a highly efficient global organization, AMORC.
AMORC succeeds in developing a mystical system, a method for pursuing immersive encounter with the source of existence, that is carefully tailored to the cosmopolitan, secular and multi-religious and individualistic contexts of the modern world.
Interestingly, though, I am not aware of any extensive account of this man's life that explores the range of his inspiration and the distinctive manner in which he used that inspiration in constructing a unique approach to teaching mystical theory and practice, integrating elements from earlier forms in the Rosicrucian tradition of Western esotericism which he centrally built upon.
The only extensive biography of him I am aware of is Cosmic Mission Fulfilled by his son and successor as head of AMORC, Ralph Lewis, but from what I recall, though vaguely, since I read it decades ago, that work seems more like an effort to promote the legends Lewis crafted to give legitimacy, as he understood it, to his work, than a frank, analytical account and study of how Lewis actually cultivated the seed ideas and institutional systems of AMORC.
Like a significant number of religious figures, Lewis built a fictional universe around the inspirational core of his work, his insights into perspectives on cosmic intelligence and how to relate with it through intellectual, intuitive and aesthetic insight employing intellectual study, contemplation and ritual within a broad cultural framework, rooted in European culture but open to global multi-cultural expansion, sensitive to all philosophical and spiritual schools while transcending their particularities.
At the core of the symbolism of AMORC are ancient Egypt and the culture represented by the 17th century Scientific Revolution, when the division between religion, the occult, philosophy and science were still in flux in Europe as the dominant modern Western world view was coming into being through the mutual influence and tension between these forces.
Lewis almost certainly got his Egyptian inspiration from the older Rosicrucian school the Golden Dawn, born in England but using ancient Egyptian symbolism to great effect, in relation to Jewish origin Kabbalah and a broad range of ideas and practices from various schools of thought in the Western esoteric tradition, from Tarot to the Enochian Keys.
What Lewis achieved was to distill the elaborate ritual systems represented by the Golden Dawn into smaller forms embodying essential principles, for private use in the home of the student, while keeping the more elaborate, myth centred ritual structures for use in AMORC temples which students are not bound to attend, as far as I know, but attendance at which would conduce to camaraderie with other members and to learning outside the study programs conducted in the privacy of one's home.
Lewis' method therefore went beyond the focus on particular religious systems represented by ancient Egyptian religion and Kabbalah by developing something more in keeping with mental development techniques that had been emerging in the West perhaps since the early 20th century, while using the religious systems and their mythic forms as an inspirational framework.
He achieved this in the context of claiming his school was the successor to a school founded in ancient Egypt by Pharaoh Akhnaton, who briefly replaced ancient Egyptian polytheism with a monotheism centred on the sun known as Aten, earning him the recognition, from one perspective, as the world's first monotheist, an innovation accompanied by significant artistic and architectural creativity in Egypt, innovations described as inspired by his initiatives in breaking with tradition.
The Akhnaton connection, for which no evidence has ever been provided, as far as I know, and which has no relationship with mainstream understanding of history, to the best of my knowledge, is almost certainly false, invented by Lewis to give his organization the sanctification of an ancient tradition from such an illustrious source.
Lewis also tried to establish a network of historical correlations with AMORC, such as his account of Jesus' life in The Mystical Life of Jesus, an account almost certainly completely untrue, somewhat more false than the parade pf great figures in European history described by AMORC as Rosicrucians, such as Isaac Newton, claims unsustained by evidence and which mainstream history cannot credit, even when taking into account the mysteriousness of the early emergence of Rosicrucianism.
What Lewis' fictions achieve, however, is to locate AMORC within a historical and multidisciplinary context representing the international, multicultural and multi-disciplinary creativity and knowledge demonstrated by AMORC at its best, values that remain valid and which are demonstrated by AMORC even beyond the identification with the fictional architecture created by Lewis and his associates.
Was Lewis once a member of the Ordo Templi Orientis, the magical/mystical order created by the legendary 20th century Western esotericist Aleister Crowley, as is claimed in the Wikipedia article on Lewis, Crowley being perhaps the most prominent heir of the Golden Dawn?
If so, Lewis' approach to taking forward the Rosicrucian heritage he shared with Crowley in a manner significantly deviating from Crowley's approach while adapting related elements in his own way, would be another demonstration of Lewis' individualistic creativity.
This creativity is demonstrated in the manner in which he shaped elements common to the Western esoteric tradition, harmonizing this tradition with a breadth of knowledge beyond it in creating a system flexible, readily adaptable, engaged with in the privacy of one's home though mail order lessons as a correspondence course and later, through the Internet, within the context of a system that is deeply and broadly intellectual while also cultivating a contemplative, aesthetic and ritual culture, combining the extension of human perception in psychic powers with training in healing as well as techniques of unifying physical, mental and spiritual development.
There is a need for a full, frank and creatively analytical telling of the story of how this man planted the seeds of this achievement, moving the narrative more from myth to history.
.
-- The Need for a Frankly Analytical Biography of this Great Figure
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Compcros
Harvey Spencer Lewis at his desk. He was a prolific writer of beautiful, richly informed prose.
His books, outside the fictional texts, and particularly his essays, are memorably powerful.
He was also magnificent in the mobilization of the written word within a highly structured teaching organization.
He was also very good at working with people. combining individual creativity with rich interpersonal skills, if not he could not have created AMORC, which I am not aware of as suffering any major conflict known to the outside world until Lewis' own successor, his son Ralph Lewis, had passed away, a conflict which the Order survived and moved beyond
Almost each time I drink something, I say a prayer I learnt from the Ancient Mystical Order of the Rosy Cross ( AMORC), the multidisciplinary mystical school founded by the US author and institution builder Harvey Spencer Lewis ( 1883-1939), whose genius was demonstrated by his gift for synthesizing philosophical and spiritual ideas and self development techniques in the context of a teaching system carried out through a highly efficient global organization, AMORC.
AMORC succeeds in developing a mystical system, a method for pursuing immersive encounter with the source of existence, that is carefully tailored to the cosmopolitan, secular and multi-religious and individualistic contexts of the modern world.
Interestingly, though, I am not aware of any extensive account of this man's life that explores the range of his inspiration and the distinctive manner in which he used that inspiration in constructing a unique approach to teaching mystical theory and practice, integrating elements from earlier forms in the Rosicrucian tradition of Western esotericism which he centrally built upon.
The only extensive biography of him I am aware of is Cosmic Mission Fulfilled by his son and successor as head of AMORC, Ralph Lewis, but from what I recall, though vaguely, since I read it decades ago, that work seems more like an effort to promote the legends Lewis crafted to give legitimacy, as he understood it, to his work, than a frank, analytical account and study of how Lewis actually cultivated the seed ideas and institutional systems of AMORC.
Like a significant number of religious figures, Lewis built a fictional universe around the inspirational core of his work, his insights into perspectives on cosmic intelligence and how to relate with it through intellectual, intuitive and aesthetic insight employing intellectual study, contemplation and ritual within a broad cultural framework, rooted in European culture but open to global multi-cultural expansion, sensitive to all philosophical and spiritual schools while transcending their particularities.
At the core of the symbolism of AMORC are ancient Egypt and the culture represented by the 17th century Scientific Revolution, when the division between religion, the occult, philosophy and science were still in flux in Europe as the dominant modern Western world view was coming into being through the mutual influence and tension between these forces.
Lewis almost certainly got his Egyptian inspiration from the older Rosicrucian school the Golden Dawn, born in England but using ancient Egyptian symbolism to great effect, in relation to Jewish origin Kabbalah and a broad range of ideas and practices from various schools of thought in the Western esoteric tradition, from Tarot to the Enochian Keys.
What Lewis achieved was to distill the elaborate ritual systems represented by the Golden Dawn into smaller forms embodying essential principles, for private use in the home of the student, while keeping the more elaborate, myth centred ritual structures for use in AMORC temples which students are not bound to attend, as far as I know, but attendance at which would conduce to camaraderie with other members and to learning outside the study programs conducted in the privacy of one's home.
Lewis' method therefore went beyond the focus on particular religious systems represented by ancient Egyptian religion and Kabbalah by developing something more in keeping with mental development techniques that had been emerging in the West perhaps since the early 20th century, while using the religious systems and their mythic forms as an inspirational framework.
He achieved this in the context of claiming his school was the successor to a school founded in ancient Egypt by Pharaoh Akhnaton, who briefly replaced ancient Egyptian polytheism with a monotheism centred on the sun known as Aten, earning him the recognition, from one perspective, as the world's first monotheist, an innovation accompanied by significant artistic and architectural creativity in Egypt, innovations described as inspired by his initiatives in breaking with tradition.
The Akhnaton connection, for which no evidence has ever been provided, as far as I know, and which has no relationship with mainstream understanding of history, to the best of my knowledge, is almost certainly false, invented by Lewis to give his organization the sanctification of an ancient tradition from such an illustrious source.
Lewis also tried to establish a network of historical correlations with AMORC, such as his account of Jesus' life in The Mystical Life of Jesus, an account almost certainly completely untrue, somewhat more false than the parade pf great figures in European history described by AMORC as Rosicrucians, such as Isaac Newton, claims unsustained by evidence and which mainstream history cannot credit, even when taking into account the mysteriousness of the early emergence of Rosicrucianism.
What Lewis' fictions achieve, however, is to locate AMORC within a historical and multidisciplinary context representing the international, multicultural and multi-disciplinary creativity and knowledge demonstrated by AMORC at its best, values that remain valid and which are demonstrated by AMORC even beyond the identification with the fictional architecture created by Lewis and his associates.
Was Lewis once a member of the Ordo Templi Orientis, the magical/mystical order created by the legendary 20th century Western esotericist Aleister Crowley, as is claimed in the Wikipedia article on Lewis, Crowley being perhaps the most prominent heir of the Golden Dawn?
If so, Lewis' approach to taking forward the Rosicrucian heritage he shared with Crowley in a manner significantly deviating from Crowley's approach while adapting related elements in his own way, would be another demonstration of Lewis' individualistic creativity.
This creativity is demonstrated in the manner in which he shaped elements common to the Western esoteric tradition, harmonizing this tradition with a breadth of knowledge beyond it in creating a system flexible, readily adaptable, engaged with in the privacy of one's home though mail order lessons as a correspondence course and later, through the Internet, within the context of a system that is deeply and broadly intellectual while also cultivating a contemplative, aesthetic and ritual culture, combining the extension of human perception in psychic powers with training in healing as well as techniques of unifying physical, mental and spiritual development.
There is a need for a full, frank and creatively analytical telling of the story of how this man planted the seeds of this achievement, moving the narrative more from myth to history.
.
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