...features the Epilogue out of the book, SUMMUM: Sealed Except to the Open Mind. It tells the story of one man's spiritual quest that led him to research The Kybalion, and how The Kybalion evolved into the Summum book. This page is courtesy and copyright of Summum and is reproduced by permission.
"... all things [are] evolving from other things, and resolving into other things..." -- The Kybalion
"Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change from one form to another."
Among scientific circles, this is known as both the Law of Conservation of Energy and the First Law of Thermodynamics. Science has concluded through experimentation and observation that the forms of matter and energy within the universe are never created and never destroyed. The total amount of energy in the universe always remains the same, and energy can only transform itself. If we consider this law as of universal application, not only does it apply to grosser forms of energy such as light and matter, it also applies to subtler forms of energy such as mental ideas and the life force inhabiting a human body.
Religions and philosophies for thousands of years have acknowledged the effects of this law in the concept of reincarnation. The essence behind one's existence is subject to this fundamental law. The death of the physical body does not signify a destruction of that essence. Rather, death initiates a change in form. Ancient cultures had a very keen and intimate understanding of the essence and its relationship with the physical body. They were able to manipulate the death process to the point that the changing of states of the essence could occur at a much greater level, allowing themselves to be catapulted forward in the development of their being. This was the reason behind ancient mummification, and the reason why Summum re-introduced mummification to society in a modern, contemporary form.
Some people have held the belief that when you re-incarnate, you wake up in your next lifetime having a memory of your prior life. But this cannot happen unless certain things take place and those particular things do not typically occur. A person's essence does not contain memories. Memory is tied to the body for it is a function of the brain. Chemicals stored within the brain correspond to the memories we have. It is these stored, chemical, vibratory patterns that make up our memories. While a person's essence may be affected by the memories, the essence does not contain the memories. Memory is accumulated in the brain. When the body dies and deteriorates, the chemical patterns dissolve and the memory is gone, unless one's body is preserved through mummification. Then memories can be maintained.
The essence does not carry on memory of a previous lifetime. What it carries on is you. The essence accumulates residual vibrations and familiarities that come from experiences. You may find yourself familiar with this or attracted to that, although you do not know why. Just prior to the essence re-incarnating, it hovers around a copulating couple, then gravitates towards the pregnant woman and waits for the baby to be born. Given the advances in science, other opportunities for reincarnation arise. The essence may observe a laboratory and wait for the birth of a test tube baby. At a future time it may linger around a fetus that will be born out of an artificial womb, or it may await the birth of a clone.
In any event, as the baby takes in its first breath of life, the essence enters the body. You receive the evolutionary genetics of your parents held within the DNA that serves as the blueprint for this new body. The genetic memory determines your physical traits and characteristics and greatly defines your personality. Still, your essence contains residual vibrations that continue and go on. Brothers and sisters, born and raised in the same family, sharing the same genetics, exposed to the same environments, find themselves having different interests and attractions.
In 1979, Ron Temu, a dock worker in southern California, began traveling to Summum in Salt Lake City, Utah, to listen to Summum Bonum Amen Ra aka "Corky" Ra give philosophy presentations. These presentations began as a result of encounters Corky had with what he describes as advanced beings. Ron and Corky had been college friends, and when Corky told Ron of his experiences, Ron decided to find out what Corky had to say in his presentations. Up to this point, Ron had been involved in a personal spiritual inquiry for a number of years. He had been investigating and reading, attending workshops and seminars, looking for answers to questions that had developed in his mind. Ron found Corky's presentations so compelling that for years he would travel to Salt Lake on a regular basis and listen to Corky discuss topics such as creation, vibration, rhythm, and others.
Around 1983, Ron came across a book he found at the Bodhi Tree bookstore located on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, California. The book was called The Kybalion, by Three Initiates. Ron began reading the book at the bookstore and was so enamored by it, he bought it, drove home, and read the entire book that day. The book so charmed and captivated his attention. It addressed questions and tied information together. It complemented and confirmed the information he received at Corky's presentations. Something about it was familiar and personal. Ron told Corky about the book and exclaimed, "Corky, this is what you are talking about! What you've been talking about for all these years is in this book!"
But Ron saw and felt a big difference between The Kybalion and Corky's presentations. To Ron, The Kybalion was just a book of words. While it had great information that touched him, it was just a book. Corky, on the other hand, would present the concepts in a very unique manner. Corky brought a life to the ideas and could elaborate on them in a way that just can't be found in a book. Corky had never heard of the book and asked Ron to bring it to Salt Lake. Corky, myself, and others read the book and agreed, it was a great little book. It said many of the things Corky had been teaching Ron and others at the classes. It re-affirmed the things Corky had been initiated into during his divine encounters.
The Kybalion was written in the early 1900s by authors who only identified themselves as "Three Initiates," an intriguing title. Why would they not give their names as the authors of the book, yet refer to themselves as Three Initiates? In their humble honesty, they state in the book they cannot take credit for the work, for it only surmises something that has been around for ages. But in that same honesty they identified themselves as Three Initiates. Why would they do that, unless of course, they were actually initiated by someone or something?
Ron attempted to ascertain who the Three Initiates were and who initiated them. He researched the publisher of the book, the Yogi Publication Society, and determined the funding of the publication came from the Masons. Ron began contacting Free Mason groups to get more information about the book, but no one claimed it or seemed to know anything about it. He contacted the Masonic Temple in Chicago, Illinois, where the Yogi Publication Society was apparently located, but it was to no avail. As far as he could determine, an offshoot lodge of the Masons published the book. In comparing other Masonic information with The Kybalion, Ron found The Kybalion to be significantly different and therefore did not think the Three Initiates went through any type of Masonic initiation. But the information in The Kybalion was so compelling that Ron and others would agree the Three Initiates went through some type of divine, initiatory experience.
Sages throughout time have stated when certain ideas are publicly presented, people can become outraged. Religious people seem to be particularly prone to the outrage for they feel it offends their religion. Most people have heard or read stories about individuals in history who claimed divine encounters and then were persecuted or ridiculed. The Three Initiates had a compelling experience. They did not give details for they knew of the anger they would encounter.
History is filled with stories from differing cultures about compelling initiatory encounters with the divine. These stories are accepted by many people. Yet it seems the story can only be acceptable if it is a story about the past. It becomes difficult to accept by people if it is a story about something that occurred in the present day. Had they given details about their initiation, had they discussed further details about the principles and given the whole story about them, the Three Initiates would have infuriated people. They knew this and even went on to make this statement in The Kybalion.
Ron's research of The Kybalion indicated the principles in it were once part of an ancient rabbinical text that was kept among certain Jewish rabbis. The text disappeared following the Christian Crusades when Christians had burned books. The story was that Moses of the Old Testament received principles carved on stone tablets after a divine encounter. The principles were too much to understand for the people at that time and Moses destroyed the tablets. Moses received a second set of tablets with other principles more easily understood by the infantile people he was to lead. But Moses revealed the original principles to certain individuals who were capable of understanding and acting upon them. The principles were handed down by word of mouth amongst rabbis who later wrote them down only to become lost after the crusades.
While the principles cannot truly be lost since they make up the fabric of existence, writings about them can be. Over time, many books have indirectly referred to them, but as a whole, the principles became diluted and distorted. Three individuals re-introduced the principles in an unadulterated form following an initiation back in the late 1800s, early 1900s. They wrote things down, progression continued, and today, there are people who meet in a pyramid for in-depth discussion about these concepts.
Still, many people read about the principles, but don't do anything about it. They read and discuss and talk and read, but nothing happens with them. As the Three Initiates stated, you need to apply the principles in your life, use them, experience them, become part of them in order to make them real and truly understand them. So Corky started teaching about the principles at Summum after he was initiated into them by the advanced beings, the Summa Individuals, beings who are complete and whole. This is how Corky first found out about the principles. Then Ron introduced The Kybalion. Now when Corky looks back in life, he says there is a familiarity with things about The Kybalion that he did not realize until a certain point in his life. Ron had a familiarity possibly with people who had brought about the original publication of The Kybalion.
At this point I should state The Kybalion makes a very significant omission. It does not contain the one Grand Principle from which all the other principles come. Perhaps this was on purpose. Perhaps it was too much for the people of the time to understand and the Three Initiates elected not to divulge it. But today there are a few people who can grasp it for it was introduced to Corky during his initiation, and Corky introduced it to me and others who have been through initiations given at Summum. Today, there are some individuals who are attracted to this principle. There are people who have considered the idea in some fashion, even though it was never formally introduced to them. The Principle of Creation is the binding or birthing principle for the other principles of The Kybalion and Summum. They would not be without the Principle of Creation. While the principle may appear very abstract at first, when one becomes involved in serious study about it, the principle begins to reveal itself.
And so, when Corky was preparing to write a book about the Summum philosophy, he decided to use The Kybalion as an outline since this is essentially what The Kybalion discussed. The Kybalion had fallen into the public domain and under laws of the land Corky could create a derivative work from it. By adding the Grand Principle of Creation to it, by discussing additional details about the principles along with further concepts, and by rewriting content in a style and language more appropriate for today's modern era, The Kybalion has evolved into SUMMUM: Sealed Except to the Open Mind. As The Kybalion states, all things change. The Principles of Creation are once again presented in a pure, complete, and contemporary manner.
To truly understand these principles, you need to use them in your life. You will be attracted to these principles as your essence becomes more and more familiar with their workings. Some people are already attracted to them because of work they have done in this or previous lifetimes. Others are not for their work has yet to begin. Those of you who feel no affinity to these principles may first need to search and develop yourselves in other ways. But in the end, you will reach a point where you begin to study them and become initiated into them.
There are people who after discovering Summum, traveled hundreds even thousands of miles to visit in Salt Lake. Something touched them and they felt compelled to come. For some, it signaled the start of something new. For others, it was picking up where they last left off. Either way, it becomes a time when the mysteries and wonder of the universe beckon, and nature invites you to dance with creation.
Summum Bonum Anu Aua