This book is very helpful in understanding the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC. It contains many charts and graphs and a few pictures. The thing I found most interesting was the "Rosicrucian Alphabet" that is detailed in this book. The book's author, H. Spencer Lewis, was the first "Imperator" of the Order and is its founder. This book will answer many questions the member and non-member will have. What I could never figure out, however, and what this book really doesn't answer is: how can the Order have originated in Ancient Egypt, and yet H. Spencer Lewis be its first Imperator? Perhaps, then, we could consider that "we originate in Ancient Egypt" in this instance means "we have deep admiration for..."
I found the section of pictures in this book to be very interesting. They include pictures of Mr. Lewis and others in "ceremonial" clothes, as well as a few shots of "Rosicrucian Laboratories," and some pictures of dedication ceremonies at the beautiful Rosicrucian Park in San Jose, California; all the buildings at Rosicrucian Park are built with mock-Ancient Egyptian exteriors, making for a striking, and somewhat bizarre, spectacle in what is now in the middle of the city. This book was published before the creation of the famous Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, which is the largest collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts on the West Coast, and therefore no mention is made of that beautiful attraction that I have loved so much for so long.
AMORC, as envisioned by H. Spencer Lewis, is an institution that teaches the value of peace, understanding, compassion, tolerance, and its lessons contain no dogma (i.e., they don't demand you believe anything they say). Whatever its true origins, AMORC has been of great help to many people. And these positive attributes are very much reflected in this book.
