The moral obligation to defend the tradition

The following is based on a comment that I wrote on another blog. It is a response to the usual tactics used by my detractors of placing themselves on a moral high ground. One such talking point is to deny the right of Traditionalist initiates, such as those of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®, to defend the honour of their Fraternity when it is being maligned by post-modern initiates and even Chiefs of Reconstructionist Orders. They say it is morally wrong to question authors of books who uses their works as a political vehicle against the Traditional Alpha et Omega. With a patronizing polemic they also inform Traditionalist initiates that they cling to “terrestrial emotions” and that any “true spirituality” implies that one must be above such things (as defending the reputation and honour of the Fraternity) and only seek the “spirit”.

Let me first address the misconception regarding “clinging to terrestrial emotions”. Why does a person make such a presumption that a defensive behaviour always is rooted in Yesod, the automatic consciousness? When you project negativity on a person without any real reason, that often has its origin in Yesod. But the use of Severity don’t always have to be based on the “foundation” or the automatic consciousness. There is the concept also of the Severe or Stern aspect of the Divine, the “Left hand emanation” of God. An Adept may also invoke the Severity of God, or Holy Wrath so to speak.

In most pagan religions you will notice that the martial god or goddess also is part of the assembly of gods. Even the judeo-christian mythos has its martial Arch-Angel in Michael. Remember the great lesson of equilibrium in the Grade of Neophyte that “unbalanced force is evil, unbalanced mercy is but weakness, unbalanced severity is but oppression”. It stresses the fact that unbalanced mercy “would permit evil to exist unchecked, thus making itself as it were the accomplice of that evil”. Meditate on those words and you will see that sometimes it is called for to react with Force and Severity against an aggressor. Thus has the initiates of the Alpha et Omega® reacted against Nick Farrell’s books.

The other presumption is that is has to do with emotion in the first place. What if it has its true origin in spiritual principles? A good martial artist fights without passion and with fullest equilibrium in both body and mind. Although he may evoke the aid of emotion he still attaches it to a higher principle. This should be the aim, to unite the spiritual principle with the emotion as its throne or foundation. Besides, without “earthly emotions” or “passions” your will never reach the summit of the Great Work; it will dry up in intellectual abstraction and sterility. This kind of dualism (between body and soul, matter and spirit) isn’t fit for a student of the Royal Art.

Regarding morality and etics, it is true that it is always a question of spiritual morality and ethics, and especially in this context a question of morals and ethics of initiates. All of this latest round of polemics stems from the fact that Nick Farrell has published his two latest books as a conscious defamation campaign against the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega and its Chiefs, both past and present (and it is my prerogative to interpret his writing as such). What he has done, which is backed up by his reconstructionist friends, is to dilute the significance of what it means to be a initiate.

A true initiate neither reveres nor ridicules past brethren and sisters, especially past Chiefs of the R+C Order. A true initiate never profanes the records or secret documents of the R+C Order either, regardless of age. Neither does a true initiate deride nor deny the source of the Hermetic Tradition, i.e. the ancient Fraternity which protects the Tradition and acts as its Steward (what in the Golden Dawn is referred to as the Third Order). A true initiate has the DUTY to defend all of these points if any initiate or supposed initiate breaches them. It is not unethical to call such bad (read unmoral) behavior of a fallen initiate. It is not bullying (at a stretch it is as a “bullying of a bully”).

The brethren and sisters of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega® have felt bullied by the likes of Nick Farrell and Pat Zalewski for a long time now. This latest publication by Nick Farrell was the final straw; the dam finally broke. The initiates of the Alpha et Omega has said with a unified voice: “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!”

The Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega® has never feared to take up a battle against abusers of the Tradition or teachers abusing their students. We did this with Robert Zink and his New Age version of the Golden Dawn. We don’t fear to call the behavior of militant reconstructionists either who are trying their very best to undermine the existence of traditionalist Orders such as the Alpha et Omega®. We did not ask to be maligned in printing. Our Order simply wants to provide the traditional alternative to fast food spirituality of post-modernism, where everyone seeks immediate gratification of the needs of the ego. And we are being honest about it. This honesty is obviously to much for some individuals in certain quarters of the Golden Dawn community.

Will the initiates of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega® subject itself to these few voices of the community (which arrogantly has taked it upon them to represent the silent majority of it) and should they adapt to what in our post-modernist paradigm is deemed as accepted opinion-wise? I say: no chance! There are individuals that are seeking the true Light in this current confusion we call the post-modernist age. Thus there must be organizations which truly can present a viable alternative to fast-food spirituality for the post-modern soul in his genuine search for the that Light. Whatever the nay sayers state.

S∴R∴