Importance of Francis Bacon

“The very nerve of genius, the marrow of persuasion, the golden stream of eloquence, the precious gem of concealed literature...”

R. C., T. C., Elegy 9, Manes Verulamiani (1626)

Why do we think that knowledge of Francis Bacon and his work is important? What relevance has it today?

1. Bacon’s philosophical scheme, The Great Instauration or Six Days Work, is still not fully understood and practised in the way intended. To do so could bring enormous benefits to the world and help create a 'New Atlantis' or Golden Age.

2. Bacon not only headed the Rosy Cross Fraternity (Rosicrucians) but his Great Instauration is based on ancient wisdom and biblical and cabalistic principles. A study and knowledge of this is a major gateway into the true but veiled ever-living Wisdom Tradition. The aim is to discover truth.

3. Both Divinity and Poetry (Drama) play major roles in the Great Instauration. Shakespeare is not only an important part of this but the Shakespeare Authorship enigma was set up to train us in what Bacon calls the Art of Discovery, so that eventually we might discover and know the Author of All.

4. Bacon was a man of mystery and secrets, both of necessity and also of choice. Partly because of this, and partly because he had to act the role of a martyr to truth like the first St Alban before him, his name and memory has been slandered. This hurt needs to be redressed. The truth needs to be known, as does all truth.

5. The very name of Francis Bacon signals exactly the Mystery tradition of which he was an exemplar – the great Mystery tradition of Europe and the Near East, after which Europe was named. Mysteries are plays in which the mystery of life is discovered and known by experience. We are all actors on the stage of the world, as Shakespeare points out, and the landscape of Europe is the stage for the The European Myth and Mystery, which is also the Christian Mystery, properly understood. This European mystery, and Europe itself, is of fundamental importance as the midsummer sun moves into the zodiacal sign of Taurus in the heavens, marking the beginning of a new Great Age.

Discover more > Bacon – Shakespeare – Hermes