“For example, we all know that the universe is composed of many solar systems, but we certainly do not know every sun and planet composing it. To a large extent the same principle applies to the study of mysticism. In the particular case of concentration the fact of knowing what it is intellectually does not give us the power to concentrate effectively.”

No matter how advanced our tools of measurement and analysis become, regardless of how much we evolve as a species there are certain things that our intellect will never be able to comprehend. As this monograph succinctly explains, knowledge like the universe is near infinite in its scope. For every question we answer ten more arise in short order, and we can simply never know all of the questions that there are to ask. As anyone with a scientific background will know, without the right questions the scientific method is essentially useless.

Add to this the very real limitations of the physical world, and you can understand the insurmountable barriers that prevent our pursuit of limitless knowledge. For example, everything that we observe in the night sky is transmitted to us at the speed of light. Nothing faster exists in the universe. Yet, in cosmic terms light is excruciatingly slow. To put this into perspective, consider the fact that the images we see of our closest galaxy, Andromeda, are almost 2.5 million years old. While we can use these limitations to approximate the size and distance of many things near and far, the hard barriers of the physical world will always stop us from extending our knowledge past a certain point.

“What matters to us primarily is to transmit to you certain knowledge while giving you the mystical means of making it useful to your daily life”

AMORC situates itself squarely in this region between science and the unknown. Let us see how they fill in the gaps.

“We know that such an interaction is manifested as a subtle electromagnetic field. It is futile, therefore, to try to perceive the aura of things by using our purely objective sight in that we remain on a mental plane which prevents any psychic impression from stimulating the higher levels of consciousness”

Here, we receive our answer. The Rosae Crucis tell us that objectivity cannot be relied upon because there is far too much knowledge that exists outside the realms of the tangible. Therefore, we must instead rely on other instincts such as intuition. Specifically, intuition as dictated by AMORC.

This idea that just because something can’t be explained means that any alternative theory must be true, belies a fundamental misunderstanding of how science works, because every new theory reveals a question that can be measured and analyzed through the scientific method. Without positive, replicable evidence, even the most logical-seeming theories can be rejected without further notice.

In other words, if AMORC’s claims of visible electromagnetic auras, then they need only to get in touch with NASA. In 2008, a research arm of the government organization managed to visualize electromagnetic fields through a technique that combined CGI with 3D composite images. Indeed, many of these fields showed distinct colors that could well ascribe to AMORC’s claims of multicolored auras. I wonder what prevents the Rosae Crucis from truly putting their millennia’s worth of psychic mastery to the test.