The Ten Reasons Not to Be a Martinist

Source: Hermanubis

It is not uncommon to receive e-mails from beloved brothers if they

say that they are interested in joining a Martinist Order and that they
are requesting from the Hermanubis group enough reasons and
motives to convince them to actually join or receive an initiation. It is
clear that our role is not to convince anyone to be or to cease to be a
Martinist, this is a personal and intimate decision, in these cases we
usually respond to the interlocutors with the 10 reasons for not being
Martinists. This text reproduced below:

1) Are you prepared and the "master" has not yet appeared before
your eyes to reveal to you all the secrets of the Universe? So
Martinism is not your best choice. In our fraternity there are no
"gurus" or infallible leaders, we do not advocate any religious
dogma. For the Martinist the Master is within himself, for we are all
children of the same Father.

2) Are you convinced that all your personal efforts, all dedication to
the Brotherhood, should be minimally rewarded with perks, medals,
and pompous titles? So Martinism is not your best choice! In Our
fraternity after decades of study, practice, mistakes, and success you
will learn to be an Incognito, just one more in the crowd, without
recognition, without distinction and without any social
aggrandizement.

3) Do you believe that for a fraternity to be powerful it is necessary to

have powerful members and affiliates? Is it necessary to gather
several Stores? Have political power to act forcefully in society? So
Martinism is not your best option! Our Fraternity is apolitical, our
Orders and our groups do not aggregate a considerable number of
affiliates or members, have no worldly goals nor elect councilmen,
deputies or senators. Money does not guarantee spiritual evolution.

4) Are you prepared to be slandered, ridiculed and publicly

humiliated? Every step you take towards Truth and knowledge, more
enemies you will attract. Human nature is not sufficiently educated to
understand that "when an individual rises to human society as a
whole rises concomitantly," then individual work is in fact a collective
toil. To every human being that you have the privilege of taking out of
the darkness of ignorance, more Light is brought upon our worldly
nature. For many Light and knowledge mean independence and this
independence is intolerable for those who believe that they are
superior to others.

5) Do you have a firm conviction that a fraternity or an Order can

transform your life and the lives of your family into an inexhaustible
source of divine pleasure, gratification, and gifts? Martinism remains
an option to be disregarded.

Who has the power to transform your life and the lives of your family
members is yourself, or rather, their acts and their examples. It would
do no good for a fraternity to offer you knowledge, practice, and
spiritual balance if you did not put all this into practice. Therefore,
Martinism will require of you more than study and dedication, it will
require that you practice what you have learned.

6) Do you feel that by joining a secret Fraternity, you are

automatically subservient to the duties of your religion? Make no
mistake, Martinism does not pay its members any duty or obligation,
not even religious ones. The Martinist is encouraged to continue
practicing his religion, whatever it may be. Religious practice is
essential if the desired balance is to be achieved.

7) Do you expect that at the end of years of study, and upon reaching
the highest degrees, you will have the right to use a fuzzy and
incomprehensible title to the "profane"? Know that the highest degree
of the Martinist Fraternity consists of two letters and 6 points,
nothing more than this! And even more disheartening, Martinism is
inexhaustible and even after decades of dedication there will always
be something to learn.

8) Do you expect to be prepared to accept the material and spiritual

misery of humanity as an individual karma? So do not submit to the
Martinist rules. If a child or an adult asks you for money at the corner
lighthouse, like Martinist you will have the moral and spiritual
obligation to attend to the alms request. We do not know if that coin
or whether that alms will help to alleviate the pain of a hungry
stomach or prevent a child from being driven to immorality by lack of
choice. The decision of what to do with that money is not from the one
who offered it, but from the one who received it. Benemerence is an
irreplaceable obligation of the Martinist.

9) Do you have a desire to one day be a "master" and be constantly

surrounded and flattered by your disciples? Martinism should
definitely not be your choice! Our predecessors have already said,
"Woe to him who thinks himself master and has spiritual
responsibility for the acts of all those who are considered disciples."
The true Master, as we have said, is within each of us, and the
responsibility of the Initiators is to keep uninterrupted chain since the
Unknown Philosopher. Leaders must also have humility and balance,
otherwise they are being perjured to themselves and to the Great
Architect of the Universe.

10) Do you rate promises and oaths more or less serious according to
the moment, the occasion, and the sobriety of the moment that made
you? So you will not be a good Martinist. The most austere and
demanding judge must be our own conscience, if you can not keep an
oath to yourself, how do you expect to fulfill the oaths made on the
soil consecrated by our predecessors? Make a simple self-test, an oath
to yourself, an oath that our Beloved Master Philippe de Lion charged
of all his attendants: "speak no evil to anyone in the next 10 days" if
you fulfill this promise, you will know that you can take more serious
oaths.

If after reading and understanding the above 10 reasons, you still feel
an uncontrollable desire to join your Light to our Light, great, you can
continue your quest, find your way, as we are sure that the path of the
heart is hopelessly contained in your Soul.

Martinists have always opted for the spiritual quality of their

members, we have always selected the aptitude of the multitude, so it
has been for centuries and must continue for the next millennia.

Always and Always for the Glory of Ieschouah, the Great Architect of
the Universe!