BY Chief (Dr.) Kenneth Idiodi, FRC
The question often arises from people outside the Order: “In what way does the ROSICRUCIAN ORDER, AMORC serve society, serve people in general and contribute to Nation Building?
This question arises out of a popular notion that in order to serve society, an organisation must itself provide some tangible good to each individual, or at least to a large majority of them, as does the Red Cross, the Boys Scouts, the Girls Guide, or the various service clubs. It must be emphasised that these various groups are doing a marvellous job according to their respective missions.
However, it is not necessarily the nature of an educational institution to provide such services. The nature of an educational organisation is to develop the hearts and minds of students, to provide society with artisans, technicians, knowledgeable parents, teachers, leaders, public servants or professionals, and especially to build character and integrity in these students. These students then touch the rest of society, and bring to society the benefits of their learning.
Education is perhaps the principal ingredient in the development of a free and enlightened society. AMORC is an educational organisation, so stipulated and defined by its Articles of Incorporation; and by its recognition as such by every government of every land in which it operates. Its educational programme serves to build character and integrity and bring practical knowledge to its members in the following manner:
(1) By emphasising self-reliance: Rosicrucian students are made acquainted with natural laws; primarily the law of compensation: – that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. There is no getting without giving. There is no reward unearned. There is no achievement without effort. There is no magic nor supernatural power that can override their own determination:
(2) By emphasising the here and now: Rosicrucian students are trained to concentrate on the matters of the day, not to dwell on the past, nor on tomorrow. If today’s responsibilities are properly tended to, tomorrow will take care of itself.
(3) By emphasising positive thinking: Rosicrucian students are encouraged to carry positive and constructive thoughts in all their endeavours; to carry in their hearts thoughts of goodness, love, kindness, health, and justice
By emphasising the preservation of harmony. Rosicrucian students are taught that harmony is man’s supreme goal; that it is their obligation to bring harmony into their lives and into the lives of those with whom they live; to find harmony through discussion, learning, and sharing with others.
(5) By stressing virtue and morality: Rosicrucian students are instructed in the value of right living, based on natural and spiritual laws. The discipline of Nature itself is demonstrated, and again, the natural principle of compensation is emphasised. This instruction provides a clearer picture of universal justice. The student acts rightly because he knows why he must.
(6) By its nationwide presence: The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC has several affiliated bodies throughout Nigeria and several nations with temples that have facilities such as libraries that are open to members as well as non-members for educational purposes and public enlightenment. The world “lodge” which unfortunately has to some persons become an opprobrium has been used by the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC for several centuries to designate simply a meeting place for the mutual exchange of ideas and intelligence relating to the proper assimilation and practical application of the principles released by correspondence through the official Monographs.
(7) By exalting the virtues of service: Rosicrucian students are extolled to serve God and Humanity, that by so doing they best serve themselves; that in service to family, neighbour, and state. They work for the common good, and from the common good they derive sustenance and happiness. As Rosicrucians, we are aware that with good thoughts, good words and good deeds, we assist God to create a better nation and a better world. For as the saying goes, “Heaven helps those who help themselves”.
We all know that in recent years and especially due to the falling standards in education as well as the social and economic turbulence of the times, we have been passing through an era when many Nigerians as well as the rest of humanity have become increasingly concerned if not even disenchanted with the trend of human civilization.
On the positive side, our local experience of a depressed economy is exciting the creativity of Nigerians who have now mutually agreed that hitherto we have wasted, misused or underrated the tremendous natural and human resources that the Supreme Intelligence has endowed us with.
The Order is primarily a cultural, educational and philosophical organisation. Although we are not traditionally identified with the construction of elaborate physical edifices for the general or formal type of education, it must be emphasised that our main purpose is to build creative, resourceful, self-reliant and altruistic human beings who in turn will exercise their Rosicrucian training and initiative constructively in building a better Nation today and tomorrow through their spiritual and material contributions to the larger community of which they are a part.
Our Rosicrucian programmes of instruction, through the graded monographs and affiliated bodies temple activities such as forums, workshops, convocations, conclaves and conventions are structured in an enlightening pragmatic manner to provide the Nation with developed soul-personalities who have a wholistic appraisal of factors that are conducive to societal welfare and development. Our intimate attunement with the creative, constructive Cosmic forces and the consciousness of God offers us the unique insight, foresight and intuition for effectively tackling human problems at personal, communal, national and global levels.
Rosicrucians build human beings to build the Nation and promote a better world. There can be no greater contribution than that because the best assets of any Nation are its citizens – the individual units that make up the whole.
