“For too long, O Postulant, you have remained in ignorance of your own Mystery, and an abyss has eventually formed between your soul and your body, between the Rose living within you and the Cross you must carry. The time has come for you to fill this abyss…

Do you wish to know the Mystery of your being?

(Answer)

Why do you seek knowledge of this Mystery?

(Answer)

Do you promise to listen to the voice of your Inner Self?

(Answer)

Do you agree to make it your guardian and guide?

(Answer)

Will you go as often as possible to the Sanctum?

(Answer)”

This is a small excerpt from the Neophyte’s Great Oath, a document which must be read and signed after each recruit’s initiation into AMORC. This passage of questioning is a central part of this ritual. Here, the society seeks to incite a meaningful dialogue between the participant’s outer and inner self. Establishing this link is considered to be critical for unlocking the Cosmic mastery that is promised by the society. While the dialogue is meant to inspire a greater inner communion, there are some obvious hints that AMORC is leading the line of questioning in its favor.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with legal terminology, a leading question is one that is designed to elicit a particular response. By using specific wording and a contextual framing an interrogator can manipulate you into giving them the answers they want. Consider the following example:

A lawyer wishes to confirm that a certain bystander saw a specific suspect at the crime scene. Instead of asking this question directly, they may decide to take the suspect’s presence as a foregone conclusion by asking the bystander whether they noted the physical characteristics or clothing during their sighting. By answering this question, the witness is admitting that they did indeed see the witness. The other details are secondary.   

In 1974 psychologist Elizabeth Loftus conducted a famous experiment where she analyzed the responses of car crash witnesses under questioning. Her research revealed that eyewitnesses could easily be manipulated into creating false memories based on nothing more than the wording of the questions. In some cases this manipulation could be achieved by nothing more than a positive modifier at the beginning of a question for example, “do you agree that…” instead of “should you..”

AMORC frames this dialogue by taking the recruit through a symbolically loaded ritual that involves painting the symbol of the Rosae Crucis. The recruit is then told that they have a fundamental gap in their soul that needs to be filled. Once again, the symbolism of the rose and the cross is affirmed. At the end of the line of questioning, the recruit is asked whether they will visit their Sanctum as often as possible. Note, there is no question of whether the recruit will visit the Sanctum in the first place. The obligation is assumed, the only question is the level of devotion.

“Remember forever, O Neophyte, the moments you have just lived in the presence of the Invisible Masters of our brotherhood and in the presence of the Supreme Intelligence which prevails throughout Creation”

When it comes to establishing context, environment plays just as big a role as language. Consider the starkness of an interrogation room, where the suspect is presented in front of a hostile party with no distance or distractions to lessen impact of their verbal assault. Here, AMORC goes to great lengths to ensure that recruits conduct all experiments in the designated Sanctum, an area that is overtly identified with certain modes of thought.

In 1955, Solomon Asch conducted a series of experiments into group behavior. During the experiment he would ask a group of participants to answer a series of extremely simple questions. However, a number of the group subjects were plants who were told to answer questions incorrectly. In each instance where an incorrect answer was provided, subsequent interviewees would often be compelled to provide the same answer so as not to deviate from the social norm. Note that these were strangers with no previous relationship to each other. Now, consider how this behavior is likely to manifest in a room that is filled with supreme beings that have an omniscient knowledge of your innermost thoughts and feelings.