The events of 1990 and the current AMORC vs. CR+C debate has become a hot topic in my e-mail. That’s unfortunate because I wanted to stay out of this debate.

It’s even more unfortunate that there’s a debate at all. It’s not a good thing for AMORC or CR+C. Anyone who thinks differently is deluding themselves. The energy some people squander on validating their views could be used in so many better ways.

As a former member of both AMORC and CR+C, I try to follow the Rosicrucian Code of Life in everything I do. It’s not always easy. When I turned to it for guidance o how to answer people who ask me which side I believe is right, more than one rule seemed to apply. I’ve included them, and my commentary, in this essay.

#8: Never permit yourself to enter discussions of other person’s religious beliefs, except to point out the soundness, goodness or possible benefits of certain doctrines and thereby show them the good that exists in all religions. Hold not your religious thoughts as superior. Speak well of them if need be, point out how they serve you, but do not create in the minds of others the thought that they are in sin or error because of their beliefs. That religion is best for each which enables one to understand God and God’s mysterious ways.

Granted, Rosicrucianism is not a religion. However, it is a system of belief and I have been questioned by many neophytes of our Order. In many cases, they feel their belief and sincerity is being questioned by those who say the group they belong to isn’t valid because of a basically political event which occurred before they were even members. Others aren’t even members buy want to know which group is better.

The answer is that neither is better. They are simply different. That’s the reason I belong to both. I also belong to a few other R+C groups which don’t recognize AMORC or CR+C at all.

As in all things, you should listen to your own conscience and to the still small voice within you. Never allow anyone — including me — to tell you what to believe.

No Rosicrucian would knowingly attack the beliefs of another. To do so, would be a violation of the very principles they claimed to uphold.

#9: Be tolerant on all subjects and bear in mind that destructive criticism creates naught but sorrow. Unless you can constructively comment on matters, refrain from speaking.

In my own humble opinion, AMORC and CR+C are both excellent organizations. Both serve to spread the light. They use different monograph systems to deliver basically the same information and philosophy to their members.

Much has been made over the fact that AMORC has updated its monographs while CR+C has not. This is true. Which method makes for better study is a matter of taste. Having compared both sets of monographs, I honestly can’t say one is better than the other.

AMORC monographs use more modern language and have included information about how modern scientific advances have often proven principals Rosicrucians proposed centuries ago. CR+C monographs, while keeping the original wording that H. Spence Lewis used in the early 1900s, have footnotes by Imperator Gary Stewart which also reference these developments.

Personally, I find the modern AMORC monographs clearer and easier to comprehend while I enjoy the esoteric feel of the CR+C monographs. Lewis wrote the monographs used by CR+C to be read aloud in the closed lodges in the 1930s. That, as well as Stewart’s commentaries and sense of humor, make them a good read.

Both are filled with the wisdom of Rosicrucian thought.

#25: Repeat no slander, tell no tales, and support no reports that injure or condemn unless accompanied by more than the same degree of constructive criticism and comment, and only after you have investigated and learned all the facts.

So if you expect me to tell you that Gary Stewart is a charlatan or that certain AMORC officials are corrupt, you’re going to be sadly disappointed. My own investigation shows me that the events leading up to Gary Stewart’s leaving AMORC in 1990 and later forming the CR+C were basically a political and administrative mess which was handled badly. Much has been written about it, but unfortunately, always by those with an axe to grind so there is no one place to gain an objective overview of the matter.

I’m sure there are good and bad guys on both sides. Both organizations have their fill of well meaning individuals who are trying to do what’s right. Both also have the mandatory collection of those who seek to make themselves feel important by claiming to have the only valid viewpoint or who are so insecure that the only way they can feel secure in their own belief is to destroy the beliefs of others.

I hope I am in the first category, but that is up to the reader to decide.

There are other rules which apply, but I feel this is enough to make my point and answer the most common questions I am asked.

The most important thing I can tell you is that the true Rosicrucian Order exists above and beyond mundane matters of incorporated names, trademarks and legal claptrap. Whether you belong to CR+C, AMORC, the Rosicrucian Fellowship or any of the other myriad groups which call themselves Rosicrucian, if you are sincere and are honestly working for your own evolution and the benefit of all mankind, you are a true Rosicrucian.

Don’t let anyone make you doubt that.

Light, life and love,
Darryl Riser