TMO Provincial Master’s Message Fall 2013

Greetings Brothers and Sisters, Fraters and Sorores.

In TMO we have a tradition, not spoken of regularly but implied in our work, of considering ourselves on a mission. We speak of moral chivalry and of being in the defense of truth. A sword is part of our ritual regalia and is one of the symbols a person will see in looking at TMO literature. In my mind’s eye I see each of us, as TMO members, being knights on a quest of bringing truth, light, and harmony to the hearts of all mankind. I can see us in knight’s armor, with sword and shield, mounted on a horse and riding into battle. Perhaps this is a little too dramatic, but it symbolizes, to me, the work that must be done, the effort that must be expended, and the seriousness of the task at hand. The work of the TMO and all mystical brotherhoods, including AMORC, is not to be taken lightly – it is not an intellectual exercise just to understand the workings of the universe; one must go beyond this to take that understanding and apply it for the good of humanity.

We are each knights on our individual quests. We must seek out the truth in our own way, find the “Holy Grail” of mystical illumination, and then bring that experience back into the work-a-day world to help the mass of humanity find it for themselves. We may find only fragments of our goal of illumination, but whatever we experience will be of use to us in our task. We must be careful because it would be easy for us to fall into the trap of stating or implying that our philosophy and our understanding, is the only and ultimate truth for everyone. The image of the knight may imply that we are to enforce the “truth” and make everyone comply with it. No, we don’t want to go that far with this symbol. Our task is to make the truth available for discovery by others, for each of us may have a different understanding of the truth.

Our work, our task, our quest is to discover ourselves, our place in the universe, our reason for existence, then to establish our link with the infinite, merge with the Divinity that created it all, then to bring that experience and the understanding that comes from that experience back to our daily lives. We bring the light we have experienced, no matter to what degree, back to the mass of humanity for the purpose of raising each person to the levels we have reached and beyond. We do this subtly and without drawing attention to ourselves. We spread the light by example, by doing good works, by inspiring others, by living our lives in complete harmony with our understanding of truth. By radiating truth through our lives others will be attracted and inspired to start and pursue their own quest of truth.

Yes, no matter what your source of inspiration, be it TMO or AMORC or some other school, we all are knights in the service of mankind. Let us always be mindful of this and live up to our own expectations of this service.

David Schloegel, F.R.C.

Provincial Master, TMO