Reflections On Rosicrucian Gatherings

RCUI Retreat in Estes Park - September 27 - 29, 2019

We had a very interesting and instructive weekend retreat at the YMCA of the Rockies. It was a beautiful fall weekend, with the low clouds on Friday breaking up on Saturday afternoon and nature then treating us to a spectacular and clear Sunday morning. Although this time of year can be cold and frosty, we were fortunate to enjoy comfortable weather and the spectacular scenery that surrounds the YMCA center. Deer and Elk sightings were frequent, and safe. The weekend's programs centered on the RCUI class "Cycles and Vibrations" by Fr Robert Waggener (PhD, FRC, IRC), interspersed with breaks that included beginner's Tai Chi exercises by Fr Dave Miller, a discussion on the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligent life by Fr Don Daniels, and violin music by Fr Dave Wheeler. There also was some time to enjoy the outdoors, and to visit with Fraters and Sorors from many places.

The RCUI class included material on a wide variety of topics. Following is a short summary of two of these topics: the vibrations of strings, and the cycles of evolution of the soul.

Fr Waggener gave an interesting discourse on musical scales, dating back to the studies of Pythagoras on the nature of vibrating strings. The twelve-note scale was discussed as being derived from the vibrations of strings of various lengths, all under the same amount of tension. The length of the string vibrating on the note C is the basis of the scale (although modern musical instruments are often tuned to the note A). The other, higher pitched notes can be produced by strings of shorter lengths. Thus, there is a "reciprocal" relationship between a string's length and its vibrational frequency, or pitch: shorter strings have higher pitch. In the Pythagorean scale, the shorter string lengths are all simple fractions of the length of the C string (for example, the A-string is 3/5 as long as the C-string). The modern scale does not use such simple fractions, but rather uses "logarithmic" scaling. Fr Waggener also discussed different aspects of tuning the entire 12-note scale, based on the specific frequency (or pitch) used for the C-string. For example, the frequency (or pitch) of the C-string can be adjusted by changing the tension on the string (or its material, although this was not discussed). It was pointed out that the modern musical scale is tuned to a C-note that is at a higher pitch than the pitch which Pythagoras used in his work. The work by Pythagoras not only explored the physics of string vibrations, but it also explored the effects of the notes on various glands and psychic centers, and was used for healing. Fr Waggener suggested that we consider a scale that is more nearly aligned to the Pythagorean scale when using vowel sounds or other sounds in our healing work, and provided some instruction on how this can be done. A copy of the published version of his discourse is available. (It was also noted that Pythagoras used an 8-note scale, and that the 12-note scale contains those 8 notes plus 4 sharp notes.)

The cycles of our evolution through reincarnation was also discussed. Fr Waggener suggested that there are three things we can do in order to speed our progress to the next "dimension" of our evolution. These actions are (1) Get your finances in order; (2) Strive to never again be angry in this life, and (3) Strive to never again have a negative thought or action toward another person in this life. These are all probably quite difficult to do. The second and third actions seemed like they would obviously help to increase our ability to attune with the Cosmic and thereby assist in the evolution of our Souls. These two actions therefore did not generate a tremendous amount of discussion about why they are important, although there was some discussion of how we might accomplish them. However, the admonition to "get your finances in order" generated much discussion. After all, what do finances have to do with spiritual evolution? After a lively discussion, the group agreed that "finances" is really a metaphor for "karma": so get your karma in order. When considered in this way, it is also a somewhat obvious action, clearly important but probably easier said than done. Even things as simple and apparently insignificant as giving or receiving a gift may cause karmic effects. Another aspect to getting one's finances in order is that it demonstrates that one has achieved mastery over physical reality. In order to evolve and re-integrate with the One Soul and the Cosmic, we must learn the lessons that we incarnated into physical existence to learn. Mastery over our physical existence untethers us, so that we can shift our energy more toward spiritual evolution.

Reported by Frater Bill Hallett