Rose's student David Gold described his work as esoteric and direct. Rose chose not to establish a popular movement of students, instead preferring a sub-rosa network of close students including author Joseph Chilton Pearce.
He came from humble roots, then studied as a scientist. His teachings were based on a lifetime of experience and research, and in particular an experience when he was thirty. Joseph Chilton Pearce described him as, "Rose is a no-nonsense West Virginian who wants nothing more from life than to somehow pass on the cataclysmic spiritual experience, the Enlightenment that blind-sided him when he was a young man."
Tenets
His student John Kent felt Rose's teachings were difficult to describe, because Rose stressed inner work inherently subjective and intimate to each individual. They were more about pursuing personal insight and introspection than a set of specific techniques. Nonetheless, according to Kent, Rose did formulate a system of teachings based on his study of other traditions and his own insights. Kent summarized the core questions in the teachings as:
- Who am I (ultimately)?
- Where did I come from (before birth)?
- Where am I going (after death)?
Rose recommends a deep investigation of "who" is living and experiencing: clearly defining self and ego. He also insisted that a life of activity is meaningless as long as the identity of the actor is not known. He thought approaching spirituality as a way to find peace or enhance one's life, which he called "utilitarian," was foolish. Instead he advocated total dedication to a search for truth ... in particular concerning self and ego ... in spite of the personal consequences.
He used the term "Jacob's Ladder" ( image) as a kind of transpersonal map. Based on that, he then used the terms "Law of the Ladder" and "Ladder Work" to describe different levels he observed among those seeking truth. He also believed that one could only effectively help, or be helped by, others who were on the same or adjacent rungs of the ladder. He felt "extra-proportional returns" were realized when a group of people combine their efforts in any endeavor, which he called the "Contractor's Law".
Rose cautioned against postulating what truth ... with respect to self and ego, for example ... should be and then trying to move toward it. Instead one removes misunderstandings. His working definition of truth was "a condition from which all untruth has been removed." He used the phrases "retreat from error" and "reverse vector" to describe the process of moving away from the most obviously false, what he called "garbage," which would clarify the thinking and intuition to a point where more subtle untruth could be evaluated.
He published
The Albigen Papers in 1973, which he called a guidebook for seekers. His theories about the transmutation of energy from the body through the mind up to what he called the "spiritual quantum," were published after that and similar to some recent theories describing the mind as a force-field. He produced a pamphlet on a method of meditation involving the dispassionate review of past traumatic events as a way to overcome psychological problems and to understand the ego. His book
Psychology of the Observer encapsulated his views on the structure of mind-processes and what he described as the internal ascent from a personal, conflicted view of the world to a more Universal perspective.
He was a hypnotist, occasionally giving demonstrations, and said that understanding hypnotism was a key to understanding the mechanics of the mind. His criticism of spiritual and New Age movements often included references to their use of self-hypnotic methods.
Recommended Study
His student John Kent described the culmination of Rose's philosophy as corresponding "most closely with the nondualism of Advaita Vedanta". But Kent also writes that rather than presenting a concept-structure or a specific practice upon which his teachings could be based Rose instead advocated personal immersion into available methods and religious styles while always applying what he called "respectful doubt." Consequently, his followers obtained an understanding of a wide number of esoteric groups and methods, which they were able to bring back and share among themselves. Rose also believed that progress on one's spiritual path was linked to one's efforts at helping others.
Rose recommended a number of authors to his students and disparaged other authors, based on his research. Those he most highly recommended were Indian guru Ramana Maharshi, Chan master Huang Po, Christian mystics St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, George Gurdjieff, and researchers Paul Brunton and Richard Bucke. In
Albigen Papers he described H.P. Blavatsky's books as "some of the most valuable a student can own," and in his publication of
Profound Writings East & West, called her text
Book of Golden Precepts (also
Voice of the Silence) as "a condensed guide to the deepest teachings of mankind." Rose had a high regard for Alfred Pulyan, a Zen teacher in Connecticut, who gave him a method of Transmission referred to in Zen literature.
Teaching Style
According to Kent, Rose advocated a very personal commitment similar to Gurdjieff and he discouraged casual commitment. Aspects of his style which discouraged casual commitment included: a Zen-like method of confrontation, recommending a celibate lifestyle, and strong criticism of what he described as social and political sacred cows. In personal interactions he would attempt to dispel illusions and falsehoods that students were hiding from themselves. This sharpness caused his students to called him a Zen master, even though he was highly critical of mainstream Zen. He felt that requiring students to be determined would produce a more committed group of thinkers and researchers.
Rose gave a series of lectures in the 1970s which outlined his approach to Zen and which incorporated the term Zen in the title: The Psychology of Zen; Zen and Common Sense; Zen and Death; etc. Several of these have been transcribed from the audio tapes and published. He published for limited circulation a paper titled The Monitor Papers which established rules, guidelines and techniques to be observed during confrontation in the private group meetings where confrontation was permitted.
Stemming from his investigations into Spiritualism, in his early lectures he often related his findings on paranormal phenomena.