The Rosicrucian
plan concerned a universal spirit of brotherhood and wisdom, where knowledge
was nurtured and available to all individuals, who would be free to pursue
peace and happiness. Comenius (Johann Amos Komensky [1592-1670] ),
one of John Dee's Bohemian Brethren, put it this way, according to Yates'
presentation in The Rosicrucian Enlightenment:
". . . we may hope that 'an Art of Arts, a Science of Sciences, a Wisdom of Wisdom, a Light of Light' shall at length be possessed. The inventions of previous ages, navigation and printing, have opened a way for the spread of light. We may expect that we stand on the threshold of yet greater advances. The 'universal books" (the simplified educational primers planned by Comenius) will make it possible for all to learn and to join in the advance. The book of Pansophia* will be completed. The schools of universal wisdom advocated by Bacon will be founded. And the prophets of universal wisdom in all countries must be accessible to one another. 'For though it is true that the world has not entirely lacked intercourse, yet such methods of intercourse as it has enjoyed have lacked universality.' Therefore it is desirable that the 'agents of general happiness and welfare' should be many. They must be guided by some order, 'so that each of them may know what he has to do, and for whom and when and with what assistance, and may set about his business in a manner which will make for the public benefit.' There should be a College, or a sacred society, devoted to the common welfare of mankind, and held together by some laws and rules. A great need for the spread of light is that there should be a universal language which all can understand. The learned men of the new order will devote themselves to this problem. So will the light of the Gospel, as well as the light of learning, be spread throughout the world."__________________ *Pansophia is a system of "universal knowledge of a macro-microcosmic philosophy," as Yates wrote it. Using the Pansophia system brings harmony between the inner world of humans and the outer world of Nature. After a time at the Calvinist university of Herborn in Nassau [in western Germany] Comenius continued his formal education at the University of Heidelberg in 1613. Yates wrote, "There were other Bohemians with Comenius at Herborn and Heidelberg," and that Johann Valentin Andreae was also in Heidelberg during this period. We recall and consider that in later times Heidelberg was also a common center not only for the Pietists, but for individuals Zimmerman, Kelpius, Beissel and Miller, for William Penn and, no doubt, for many other Rosicrucians studying Rosicrucianism and planning for life in the New World. Also, we cannot ignore the similar reference to Pansophia, the "Sophia" of the later work of the Kelpius perfecti as "the Woman in the Wilderness" in the New World. The root meaning of Sophia, is from the Greek, "wisdom." Pansophia is from the Greek, "all + wisdom," that is, a system or work embracing all knowlege and wisdom. This is a mark of Rosicrucianism. It is embedded in the Rosicrucian attitude toward life and learning. Knowledge is that which is demonstrable to an individual by one's own direct experience; wisdom is in understanding the application or use of knowledge appropriately in given conditions. |
![]() Comenius [1592-1670] Note: Frances Yates wrote in . . . Enlightenment,
"Comenius was one of the Bohemian Brethren, the mystical branch of the
oldest reformation tradition in Europe, that stemming from John Huss [also
founder of the first of the reformed churches in Europe]. Comenius
and Johann Valentin Andreae had much in common. Both were devout,
reformed clerics; both were interested in new intellectual movements which
they grafted on to their native piety, the German Lutheran tradition [Andraea]
in the one case, in the other, the Hussite tradition [Comenius].
Both lived through the same terrible period, and had to work on as best
they could through wars and persecutions."
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