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The Imperator's Monthly
Message[By H. Spencer
Lewis][From The Mystic Triangle January 1929] I PRESUME that this message will reach most of you just as the holidays are closing their delightful hours, and the new year is proclaiming itself a husky child. And by the time most of you have read this magazine, I shall be on my way eastward with the party of members who have arranged to take the journey with my wife and family to How I wish that more of you could have arranged to go with us! I know that we are going to have a great deal of enjoyment, and derive a great deal of benefit through this trip. And I know that hundreds of you will be in concentration upon us, sending to all of us your good wishes and thoughts every day. How I have felt for each of you who have written and said that while you could not go, and regretted your inability to go, you were going to be with us in spirit. And I want to assure you that we shall be with you, each one of you, in spirit also. I have known, because I have noticed, the struggle that some of you have made to try and take this trip, and I have been happy to note the philosophical or truly Rosicrucian attitude that each one of you has manifested when you found that you could not go with us. Some things in life we may enjoy, and other things are denied to us. If only desiring and wishing for things would bring them about, how richly all of us could live, and how abundantly we would enjoy the blessings of this universe; but the law says that it is not to be so. Something more than wishing, something more than wanting a thing, is necessary in order that we may have it; and when we do not have our wishes fulfilled, we must realize that there is a time and place, and a law and principle, for all things. I know that in many cases, those of you who are remaining at home and who could not go with us, would go at some other time. Even now we are planning a summer time trip, because we have found that hundreds could not get away from business conditions, obligations, and duties, or away from home life during the important busy months of January, February, and March. And, so a trip to be taken during the summer vacation months is being planned; it will not include Egypt because of the intense heat there, but it will include a visit to the mystical parts of Europe, under the most enjoyable conditions, and with truly interesting companions. And we shall make this trip the most economical one that has ever been made for a tourist party, covering the countries of Life always contains many surprises for us, and as one great philosopher said, "Anticipation and realization are constantly striving to thrill us." Very often the anticipation of a pleasure brings more happiness than the realization, but I have found, as no doubt you have, that surprises, or unanticipated or unexpected things happen which bring us sudden and extreme joy. Many of the expected things never happen. A friend of mine once said to me that the things that had bothered him the most were the things that never happened. He was one of those persons who worried and fretted over things that he feared might happen, or things that he visualized as most certainly coming to him; and yet in his fear and in his anxiety, he did certain things to try and prevent their fulfilment, and in most cases succeeded. And when the time had passed, and the feared event had not occurred, he discovered that he had suffered more through the expectation of dire results than if the thing had actually happened. And so life reveals itself in peculiar ways, with the unexpected. As I have said, our dreams cannot all be realized, our hopes cannot all be fulfilled, and we must accept things as they come and make the best of them. He is happiest, who will accept his situation and the conditions which surround him, and make the very best of them. Our lectures teach us that we gain nothing by negating anything that exists. We make everything good by turning it into good if it seems to be evil. We make our environment better by accepting it at its face value, and then endeavor to improve it. We are what we are today, because of our insistence in improving ourselves; and our environments are better because of our restlessness, and our determination to make things better. The trend of civilization would have been far different in the ages past if the primitive man and all mankind had negated and set aside the things which they had, and which they did not like. That would not have improved things one iota, and it would have left man weaker in his moral fortitude, and a victim of his own inability to cope with any situation. While we are on our way across the Atlantic, and through the mystical and Rosicrucian sections of the Holy Land and Egypt, while we are indulging in initiations and ceremonies seldom witnessed by others except Rosicrucians in foreign lands, I will keep in contact with the Order through a special message in the magazine each month, and through a description of what we are seeing and what we are doing. A number of competent stenographers and secretaries will accompany the party as tourists, and they have volunteered to take my rapid dictation and typewrite articles about what the touring party is doing in each country, and these will appear in this magazine, while we are gone. The first instalment about the trip and our experiences will appear in the February issue, which will be printed about the 20th of January, and will reach you about the first of the month of February. The issues of the magazine may be a little late while we are on this trip, because the Editor will try to hold up the printing of the magazine until the last minute in order to get the material that will be sent by mail from foreign places. Naturally, I regret that my absence from Headquarters during the months of January, February, and March will cut short my intimate contact with each of you by correspondence. I hope that all of you who read this will remember that letters addressed to me, personally, while I am absent, will not have my attention, and that while my two secretaries will receive such mail and endeavor to look after any important matter, on the other hand, matters of a personal nature, which you think I should attend to in your behalf, cannot receive such attention until I return in April. If you have a problem that is extremely urgent, write to the Supreme Secretary, and also send him reports, and other matters for general attention, which some of you send to me. I want to take opportunity at this time to thank the many hundreds who have sent me letters, telegrams, and cablegrams of birthday and holiday greetings. I wish to include also those who were thoughtful in sending little gifts or tokens of usefulness. I had no idea that so many of you would remember that my birthday came in November, and I was especially surprised at the beautiful cards and sentiments expressed in written messages. These messages came from all parts of the I always enjoy this opportunity each month to have a little personal chat with you, and tell you what is uppermost in my mind at the time I dictated. At this moment I feel much like I have felt each time I have stood before the microphone in the broadcasting studio, and have talked to many thousands of persons. I know, from hundreds of letters, received each month, that thousands of you read this message in the magazine, and read it very carefully, and that adds to the feeling I have that I am talking directly to each one of you on these monthly occasions, and that you feel the intimate contact that is thus established. While I am absent, the Supreme Secretary is certainly going to have a busy time, and although his wife is one of our party on the tour he will have little opportunity to miss the usual home life pleasures which he so greatly enjoys, because I know that my absence, and the absence of one or two others that assist in my work at Headquarters, will increase his responsibilities, and the detail of his routine activities, and undoubtedly call for many hours of night work during the months of January, February, and March. Your good thoughts of him and his extra labors, and your promptness in making your reports regarding your work, along with conciseness in your communications, will greatly facilitate his labors. Elsewhere, in this issue, you will find an article telling of the wonderful time we had here at Headquarters on the occasion of the dedication of the new And now I bid all of you farewell, and hope that you will enjoy the holiday and winter months as greatly as we expect to. | ||
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