Nevins Shawn - Passages: An Introduction and Commentary on Richard Rose’s Albigen System

Passages: An Introduction and Commentary on Richard Roses Albigen System

Mike Gegenheimer & Shawn Nevins

Passages: An Introduction and Commentary on Richard Roses Albigen System

Copyright 2022 by Mike Gegenheimer & Shawn Nevins

All rights in this book are reserved by the authors. No part of the book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

TAT Foundation Press, Hurdle Mills, NC

Website: tatfoundation.org

Cover photograph by Paul Rezendes

Website: paulrezendes.com

Cover fonts: Baskerville Old Face

Text fonts: Palatino Linotype, Lucida Handwriting, Printers Ornaments One, Baskerville Old Face

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022936114

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication data

Gegenheimer, Mike and Nevins, Shawn.

Passages: An Introduction and Commentary on Richard Roses Albigen System / written by Mike Gegenheimer and Shawn Nevins.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-9864457-8-1

1. Spirituality. 2. Self-Realization. 3. Philosophy. I. Title.

Table of Contents

Foreword

This book grew out of an earlier collection of passages from Richard Roses writing that specifically discussed methods and techniques in the quest for self-realization. However, over the years I found this pamphlet-sized collection of passages was of greatest value to those already deeply familiar with his teachings. Students of Rose in the 1970s and 1980s could more easily understand the emphasis and core aspects of his teachings as a result of direct interaction with Rose and application of his teachings in real time. Todays reader, however, does not have that advantage, and a concise yet thorough introduction to Roses Albigen System is needed.

Though he wrote six invaluable books and left behind a number of other essays as well as transcripts and recordings of his talks, it is challenging to find amidst these hundreds of pages Roses recommendations for what to do . Predominantly, Rose taught through a direct communication, intuitively inspired, heart/mind to heart/mind. One sees this in his epic poem The Three Books of the Absolute, a pure attempt to guide the seeker, through intuition, beyond the mind.

In one sense, Rose did all that was neededleft a burning arrow pointing in the direction of Truth. Yet what practices should a spiritual seeker undertake on a day-in, day-out basis? The time has passed for sitting across from Rose in his small kitchen, warming hands on a cup of coffee and asking, Mr. Rose, what should I do?

Rose never intended nor believed it possible to leave a step-by-step system, but he did leave nuggets of wisdom, methods and techniques, and an overall approach that is the most elegant I know. His is a common-sense spirituality aimed at the discovery of ultimate essence. That is what I hope this collection of quotes and commentary passes on to you. A way to spiritual attainment that gives just enough detail to get you started, principles to guide you to the end, and the freedom to adapt as you are inspired to.

Any system bears the imprint of its creator. With Rose, theres his paradoxical mix of truculence and empathy, which youll see scattered throughout this book. The following quote captures that facet of Richard Roses spirit and gives you an inkling of what he was like:

There are those who believe in being extremely passive and there are those who believe in storming the gates of heaventhat is, the active approach. And I dont say you have to be passive or you have to be aggressive, but the particular path that I followed was aggressive; it became a fight with me, and thats the one I teach. So if you consider that objectionable, well then of course its your choice of a path, thats all.

And so it is with this book. Youll likely quickly see if its of interest to you. If not, then peace to the wanderer, as Rose would say. Theres plenty of other books and teachers to study and besides, awakening your own inner guidance system is the most important teaching of all. If this book is of interest, however, I encourage you to periodically revisit it as youll find nuances revealed in its pages as you grow along the path.

The chapters outline the major themes of Richard Roses teaching and contain quoted material designated with the abbreviation RR and footnoted to facilitate locating the source. His words and punctuation are as Rose left them. Following these quoted extracts are brief commentaries to give context for those less familiar with Rose or approaching his work for the first time. These notes are simply marked as Commentary. While there are two authors of this commentary, weve made no distinction as to which I is commenting. Consider these comments the sum of our experience, an experience which led to enlightenment for both. Collectively, we have many years of flailing about with barely a clue of what a spiritual path entailed, years of association with Richard Rose, and years of applying his lessons to our search.

For those unfamiliar with Richard Roses background, I begin the book with Bart Marshalls Who was Richard Rose? and What is the Albigen System?both valuable introductions to Roses life and work.

Lecture in Columbus, OH, October 23, 1974

Introduction

Who Was Richard Rose? by Bart Marshall

Richard Rose (1917-2005) was one of the most profound and unusual spiritual teachers America has ever produced. An earthy, pugnacious farmer from the hills of West Virginia, Rose underwent a cataclysmic spiritual experience at the age of thirty that left him with an intimate understanding of the secrets of life and death. He is often referred to as a Zen master because of the depth of his wisdom and the spiritual system he conveyed to his students. But he did not expound traditional Zen, or any other traditional teaching. What he taught was unique because it was anchored in his direct personal experience of Truth.

Though he authored several books on esoteric philosophy and lectured widely in universities across the country, Richard Rose remained largely unknown during his lifetime, and has in fact been described as the greatest man no ones ever heard of. He appeared in newspaper articles and on local talk shows during lecture tours, and was featured in spiritual journals from time to time, but he was a throw-back to the stern Zen masters of a thousand years ago, and his hard-edged, uncompromising approach to life and spiritual work is not a path that appeals to the masses.

From a very early age Rose was a man on a missionto find an answer to the great riddle of life. One of his earliest memories was writing over and over in an awkward childs hand, Many are called, but few are chosen. At the age of twelve he entered a Capuchin seminary in Pennsylvania to study for the priesthood. He wanted, simply, to find God. After five years he left, disenchanted with religious life and its constant admonitions to be content believing church doctrines, and not to seek a personal experience of God.

Disillusioned with religion, he focused on physics and chemistry in college. He hoped to find the keys to the universe in atoms and molecules, but eventually realized that logic and science were yet another endless tangent. He then turned to yoga and asceticism, and in his twenties he maintained an extremely disciplined lifestyle. I decided to make my body a laboratory, he said, not a cesspool. He became a vegetarian, did not smoke or drink, and observed strict celibacy. He also spent long months in solitude on his remote farm in the hills of West Virginia. Solitude is beautiful, he said. Those years of celibacy and solitude were the most joyful of my life.

But Rose also knew he needed to seek out information about the spiritual path, and find others who were on it. So he often crisscrossed the country in search of someone who might have achieved true wisdom. This was in the 30s and 40s, however, and there were few books available, and even fewer honest teachers. He must have presented quite an appearance in those days. He kept his head shaved, wore a goatee, and in keeping with his years in the seminary, perhaps, dressed entirely in black, including a black snap-brim fedora reminiscent of the gangsters of the day.