The Albigen System is named after a book titled The Albigen Papers by Richard Rose.

In his personal search Mr. Rose studied many spiritual systems, including Christian mysticism, spiritualism, raja yoga, magic, theosophy, and the physical sciences. He did not encounter Zen until after he became enlightened, but after meeting a Zen master and learning his techniques he said Zen was the most efficient and direct system. He later discovered Ramana Maharshi and said that Ramana expressed the most accurate description of enlightenment as sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi.

Group work is highly recommended but not required.

General principles

• One's actions are without meaning if the actor is not known, so the search for truth is man's primary aim.
• "Truth" means the truth about man, his true nature, his consciousness, attributes he may have, his origin, his destiny, his relation to his Creator if there is one, etc.
• One's life can become a "vector" pointed at truth.
• It is a mistake to postulate a definition of truth and then try to prove it. As long as the truth is undefined, a vector pointed at truth can only be a vector pointed away from untruth. This is called the path of the "reverse vector".
• Truth is defined as the most likely of available possibilities. The least likely after investigation are discarded. Then what has been retained is examined again.
• One must have a rational basis to operate even while one is led by intuition. Intuition is clarified by testing it. Intuition is crucial but it is balanced by reason.
• One must tread the dual path of survival in this life while looking for survival beyond it.
• While looking, one should understand the capacities and limitations of the physical vehicle, which means to study energy conservation and transmutation.
• The human being is part of the natural aquarium and must be understood as such even if his origin is in the stars. Observations of the zoological aspects of human life will lead one to very different conclusions about the meaning of society and personal activities than is admitted in ordinary culture.
• It is a mistake to concentrate on abstract truth at the beginning. Putting the house in order is a necessary step. One's current lifestyle is the truth one is currently living. Physical activities such as going to meetings on a regular basis or keeping a journal are very helpful in maintaining one's focus.
• One does not need to invent a method at the beginning. Methods have been in existence and tested over thousands of years. One can begin with a system that appeals to the intuition and follow it until something better is discovered.
• As with any science, there is a monumental amount of information available; the difficult part is separating the wheat from the chaff. Basic guidelines are recommend, which can be used until one's intuition is developed.
• These guidelines by definition are things to avoid:
  • Concept structures, appeals to belief and authority, untested imagination.
  • Organizational maladies such as hierarchies, money-orientation, immorality.
  • Utilitarian systems which aim at well-being or success while disregarding larger truths.
• In the big picture, it is one's ignorance and egoism that must be overcome. The conjunction of ego and inability to respond to truth bears investigation.
• There is always a theoretical contradiction between what appears to be predestination and what might be accomplished through will. Since one can never prove the determining factor, one must act as though one has a will. One's life becomes an "eternal fact", and if nothing else, a person can make his fact-status one of searching rather than of despair.
• The human mind is bound to dualistic modes of thinking, so one needs to understand both sides of an argument, either or both of which could be true, while developing an intuition which can see beyond the pairs of opposites.
• An oft-expressed principle in magic is that imagination plus desire plus will equals creation ("to know, to dare, to do, and to be silent"). This presents a problem for the searcher who wishes to discover the truth rather than create something out of the imagination. Blavatsky said in order for a spiritual experience to be considered valid "scientifically" it must be unexpected and spontaneous rather than planned or conceived in advance.
• The forgoing is a theoretical foundation for the "reverse vector" method. A confirming "fact" according to Mr. Rose was that he found in his experience that the world did not exist the way he understood it previously. But the searcher cannot rely on the experience of another for confirmation, and until everything (a final answer) is known, then everything remains unknown.

top of page