I do not believe that these exercise that resemble the one described in my last three blogs generally lead someone to Cosmic Consciousness. I believe, in fact, there is a profound difference between watching a travelogue of Puerto Rico and actually going there. In general, I think that AMORC basically takes its members on a Cosmic Ride through Fantasyland, a place that becomes vivified through hypnotic conditioning but essentially takes the place of the reality talked about in Monograph No. 7 of the Initiate Section in Degree 4 by such notables as St. Augustine, the Catholic Saint; Al-Ghazzali, the Sufi mystic; Plotinus, the founder of the Neo-Platonic School; the poet, William Wordsworth- and so many other distinguished writers.

In my opinion, there is some value in understanding that there is a higher Reality that we can potentially experience, but the use of guided imagery- particularly without a teaching about discernment and discrimination enabling one to distinguish between mental, emotional and spiritual states- is quite deceptive. In my study of Cults, I believe one of their chief features is their ability to trick their members into believing that their visualizations correspond to something more than an image, but rather are the very personification of ultimate reality.

T. S. Eliot said, “between the idea and the reality falls the shadow.” In the context of AMORC’s guided imagery, the shadow is the confusion between the idea and the reality, a devilish deception. This is a tragedy for members like me who work so hard to penetrate the veil of Illusion only to be caught in its merciless tendrils for so many fruitless years.