The Friars of LRC

Lectorium Rosicrucianum (LRC) or the Universal School of the Golden Rosycross is a mystical organization which, unlike many Rosicrucian Orders of today, expressly operates as a religion (at least in some jurisdictions) and does have many characteristics of a Church. It has even been labeled a cult by some, particularly in France.

Having never been a member, I can't offer an insider's perspective. But I have watched a number of their youtube videos, and there are some things in their lectures which I find appealing.

For example, one of their lecturers compared the ego to a mirror, so that when you look at the world what you really see is not the world as it is, but a reflection of yourself. This is a view widely held within spirituality in general, and fits in nicely with my Zen outlook.

There are other things about LRC which mark them as being not only a spiritual school but a Church in their own right. They talk a lot about purification, and have very particular views about personal morality which do seem puritanical if not actually penitential (no drinking, no smoking, no eating meat, etc). These aren't bad attitudes per se, but in a way it seems to me that LRC members are basically expected to live as friars or uncloistered nuns, which is interesting in terms of Rosicrucian tradition.

I feel that Rosicrucianism is generally more nonconformist and less renunciate in outlook. Worldly pleasures might not be sought after as a means to a successful life, but neither are they considered doctrinally impure to my knowledge. Whether or not the lifestyle expectations LRC places on its members are enough to consider them a cult depends on who's doing the labeling, I suppose.