Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, on February 17, 1943, Burnam Schaa’s family moved to Clovis, California, in 1945. Frater Schaa first joined the Rosicrucian Order in 1962 while still in college. After completing his military service in 1969, he came to work for the Rosicrucian Order in San Jose, California.
Frater Schaa held the following administrative positions for AMORC over the years: Data Processing Manager, Museum Curator and Controller. He was subsequently appointed a Grand Lodge Officer in 1977 and elected to the Supreme Grand Lodge Board of Directors in 1980.
Discourse
Early in our AMORC studies we are given certain exercises for the development of intuition and psychic consciousness. There is one particular exercise which is of great value, in conjunction with others, to help blend our inner and outer consciousness.
Modern medical science has only recently discovered a variation of this method and they sometimes refer to it as biofeedback or even meditation. Currently, it is not at all uncommon for medical professionals to teach this medical variation to patients so they can alleviate or reduce stress and thus moderate or control many of its undesirable effects, which range from simple anxiety to heart disease.
However, these techniques have been known to mystics throughout history in different times and different civilizations. In ancient Judaism similar meditation/concentration practices date back to the time of the Second Temple in the 2nd century B.C., and are found in one of the earliest forms of Jewish mysticism, called the Kabbalah.
They are also found in a 14th century Christian treatise entitled The Cloud of Unknowing! How to Attain Union with God. The anonymous author states that, although union with God cannot be reached on ordinary levels of human consciousness, it can be reached through use of the human powers of concentration. These cosmic levels of awareness are reached by systematically eliminating all distractions and physical activity, all worldly things, including all thoughts.
The basic elements that elicit the same response in certain Christian and Judaic practices are also found in Islamic mysticism or Sufism. Sufism developed in reaction to the external rationalization of Islam and made use of intuitive and emotional faculties which are claimed to be dormant until revitalized through concentrated training under proper guidance.
In the West such disciplines were not part of routine Judeo-Christian practices, but rather were associated with the mystical tradition. In the East, however, meditation and concentration were developed much earlier and became a major element in religion as well as everyday life.
Writings from the Indian scriptures, the Upanishads, dating from the 6th century B.C., note that individuals might attain a unified state with Brahma. This was accomplished by means of restraining the breath and eliminating physical sensation, and through practicing concentration, contemplation, and meditation. This procedure produced an absorption into the All.
There are a multitude of Eastern religions and ways of life, including Zen and Yoga with their many variants, which utilize similar techniques. That is, they employ mental and physical methods, including the repetition of a word or sound, exclusion of the ordinary processes of thought, a quiet environment, or a comfortable position.
A method of prayer in Shintoism (Japan) consists of the priest sitting quietly inhaling air through the nose, holding the air for a short time, and then exhaling through the mouth, with eyes directed toward a mirror at eye level. Throughout the exercise the priest repeats ten numbers, or sacred words, pronounced according to the traditional religious teachings. Taoism, one of the traditional religions of China, employs, in addition to methods similar to Shinto, concentration on nothingness to achieve absolute tranquility.
The so-called nature mystics have been able to induce the same response by immersing themselves in quiet, often in the quiet of nature. American poet-naturalist Henry David Thoreau made many references to such feelings as were attained by sitting for hours alone with nature. Indeed, Thoreau compared himself to a Yogi.
Humans have always needed a higher form of perception which, instead of blocking the Soul’s deeper regions, open them up. Thus, meditation practices have always been found in nearly every human culture.
