Mystery SchoolsPosted 10 years ago under Conspiracies, Education, Government, History
Reflection on the Evolution of the Mystery Schools
“All that glitters is not gold”: Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice
The same is particularly true of the published histories of alchemy, esotericism and much of the related information regarding the mystery schools planted on the web that is dredged up by Google.
a) Some were written by those opposed to the esoteric, but who find themselves inexorably drawn to it.
b) Some were written by people wishing to spread fear and make a name for themselves.
c) Some were written by well-meaning authors who did/do not understand it.
d) Some were written by serious members of occult groups to lead those with superficial interest away in order to separate out those who will get past the detours and truly reach for the ‘gold.’
e) Others were deliberately written from unworthy motives to lead people astray.
f) Most were written by those who were never a part of or directly involved in the actual teaching of the mystery schools.
g) A very very few are truly accurate accounts of the events being reported. But even then two people seated side by side often have significantly different versions of what they perceive from their research of the same texts.
h) In fact, you should be critical of even what is being written in this reflective article. The ancient axiom, of ‘put it to the test of experience, then and only then can you add it to the validity of your knowing,’ applies to everything. One does not need to believe or not believe in riding a bicycle once one actually rides it!
Over the years I have found that the disciples of the various gurus of the 19th and 20th century present very different versions of the teaching of their teacher. This is to be expected, “Each cup takes from the well only as much as it can hold and understand.”
As an example, this is particularly true in the case of Carl Marx. Most people upon reading or taking a university course in Marxism, almost immediately, become revisionists. Marx’s working model of historical evolution is a powerful mystery school tool with which to examine history. As such it stimulates readers to such a degree that they then create a version of their own. In listening to them, one can easily tell whether they identify with the young Marx, the middle Marx or the late Marx. And this is true of all influential writings. The followers, haters, and critics resort to ‘halfness’ rather than wholeness quoting only those verses and chapters that will ‘prove’ their chosen interpretation and belief.
Another issue to be considered is that subsequent generations of people become involved in focus on the physical life of a teacher and not the essence of their teaching. i.e. Buddha was not a Buddhist, Mohammed was not a Muslim, and Christ was not a Christian. Remember that the legacy of notes left behind by the students and disciples are not the teacher, rather they reflect those items that were of interest to the followers as well as being taken out of context, the moment of Now, and the circumstances and ambiance in which they were expressed.
Now take these considerations a step further in regard to secret societies, esoteric group activities, and their teachings. What we are treated with is a mishmash of fact, rumor, speculation, innuendo, delusion, and illusion. Truth and reality are the victims. However, beneath all this façade is a history of serious focused efforts and practices developed to take seekers beyond the material five sensory world of linear outer effects and to penetrate the inner universe of the interdimensional ‘higher or causal mind.’ To express this in another way: A major role of the wisdom schools has been to explore the inner unchanging universal principles (i.e. the mysteries) of nature and to develop outer practices supporting those principles relevant to the customs, culture, and consciousness of the social systems and ethos of which the students are a part. Cultures, techniques, and facts change, principles remain.
To express this in another way: A major role of the wisdom schools has been to explore the inner unchanging universal principles (i.e. the mysteries) of nature and to develop outer practices supporting those principles relevant to the customs, culture, and consciousness of the social systems and ethos of which the students are a part. Cultures, techniques, and facts change, principles remain.
Our materialistic culture today teaches that the Pythagorean School was primarily about mathematics. In fact, mathematics was one of a number of tools by which Pythagoras stretched the minds of his students to expand their capacity for conceptual thinking. In ancient times and post ancient times, students of holistic mystery schools were being trained in the ‘physic,’ ‘metaphysic,’ abstract expression i.e. music and vibration as well as the health of the physical body.
The Olympic games did not start as ‘overblown’ athletic events. What we have today is the externalized expression of what were the Greek mystery schools. They were graduation exercises in which the teachers assembled their students for examination in the physic, metaphysic, expressive arts as well as physical performance. The same is true of yoga as it is practiced today in the west for relieving stress. Physical yoga exercises are part of a spirit, mind, and body series of practices designed to expand the consciousness of those who choose to engage in the discipline.
The ancient Egyptian and oriental mysteries came to Europe via Greece and the Arabic empire’s absorption and integration of the secret wisdom teachings in the many regions where it became dominant. During the crusades, the Christian “intelligencia” that accompanied the crusading soldiers gained initiation from their Arabic and Persian counterparts. Remember intellectuals have never let warfare interfere with communication. It is from these clandestine connections that organizations such as the Knights Templar, Rosicrucians etc. emerged.
Meanwhile, Spain became a center for the teaching and exploration of the Kabala and the amazing synthesis of science, literature, medicine, philosophy, mathematics, alchemy and occultism that the later Spanish inquisition was to crush, but which provided the basis of modern European culture, science, and philosophy. For Catholicism, the occult and the esoteric became the private domain of the Jesuits in response to the Reformation.
Meanwhile, the non-Catholic “intelligencia” drew on, joined, formed, and blended a range of occult traditions in opposition. It was out of this background that Deism became the synthesis and public face of the more secretive Masons, Rosicrucians, and Knights Templar to become the public philosophy of the 18th century Enlightenment within western culture.
“Deism: The Enlightenment endeavor to purify Christianity, to rid religion of all that was not rational, natural, and moral, and develop a natural religion. An international movement, Deism reflected local religious, philosophical, and social expressions of the Enlightenment. In England, it was critically concerned with the origins of religion, but positive in moral and religious affirmation; in France it was anti-Catholic, shading into skepticism, atheism, and materialism; in Germany it was championed alongside nationalist metaphysics and historical criticism; in America it embraced a revolutionary creed…” [1]
Deism may be likened to being the outer generalised public version of the inner synthesis of Rosicrucian, Templar, Masonic, etc. philosophy and teaching relating to the nature of the Creative Source. Part of its focus and intent was to replace the simplistic male genderised anthropomorphic image of God with an abstract non-gendered creative essence.
Another motive was to continue and extend the potential for change toward rationalism that had begun in the Reformation but had faltered. As an example, note how Emanuel Swedenborg contended that humanity was not born with original sin, but rather was born free with choice. This is one of the reasons why so many thinking people and groups of the mid and late 19th century embraced Swedenborg’s writings. As an example, many homeopaths of that era may also be counted amongst them including Constantine Hering and James Tyler Kent.
Meanwhile the rise of the Illuminati parallels the decline of the formal Masonic and other organizations from being true esoteric consciousness-expanding developmental groups into becoming the social-fraternal lodges that they are today. The result has been that a number of contemporary descendants of the ancient wisdom schools have degenerated into networks no longer focused on the service to the cause of humanity but rather to the service of self and selfish interest groups on a multinational scale. It is this reality that has evoked increasing concern among people sensitive to the future of humanity.
At the moment through misinformation and disinformation there is a strong tendency to ‘throw the baby out with its bath water.’ Many of today’s humanitarian and reform movements may actually be traced in their origins to persons who were members of mystery school lodges and circles or their close friends. This includes anti-slavery, early 19th century women’s rights, mass education, reform of medicine, expansion of voting rights, the co-operative movement, etc. Much of what we consider today to be our basic rights began as ideas that were gleaned during meditation upon and discussion of the universalist philosophies of the mystery school tradition. These were then subsequently actualised for all of us, relevant to their time and culture, by those who stepped forward to fight and sacrifice for achievement of those ideals.
What today is practiced by a few will tomorrow become the habits of the many! The mathematics taught to the Pharoahs of Egypt is today basic ‘O’ level maths. The tree is in the seed – Choose carefully that which you plant!
References
1. Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 213.
Suggested reading
Cole, T. Mawby & Reid Vera W. 1951 Gods in the Making, Aquarian Press: London
Paine, Thomas 1776 Common Sense
Schwaller de Lubicz, Isha 1967 Her-Bak: Egyptian Initiate, Inner Traditions Ltd, New York
Whitney, Jerome 2001 Healing and Resonance in ancient Egypt, Open Door Books: London
Note
This article represents a synthesis of fifty years of reading, research, and observation of patterns and connections within and between the institutions of western culture. As an example: As a young farm boy member of a USA national rural youth organisation, the 4H, I had a little square medal pin to wear on my jumper. It read around its edges “Head, Heart, Hands, and Health”. i.e. a symbolic representation for the four elements air, fire, earth, and water the very basis of mystery school ritual. It must be remembered that balancing of the ‘four elements’ has the qualities of Jungian concept of universal archetypes. Meanwhile in an independent ethos the Navajo Indian domed home, the ‘hogan’ was positioned so that the entrance was from the east-air, rising sun; the fire was positioned on the south or noon side; sleeping was done in the west, the ‘earth’ side i.e. setting sun; while the food preparation was in the north-water side of the home.
One needs to recall that the tombs of the Valley of the Kings are on the west or ‘earth’ side of the Nile, i.e. the setting sun. In churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques where ever the leader of the group stands, sits, or kneels is the ‘east-air’ position representing the energy of inspiration regardless of the actual compass direction behind them. Meanwhile the people represent the ‘good salt of the earth’, the west.
This brief discourse is intended to demonstrate that the teaching and structures of the mystery schools surround us both in architecture and throughout practices of our culture whether we are aware of it or not. For those who are aware one may equate it to a western version of Feng Shui whereby the natural energy patterns of our planetary environment are consciously harmonised with the human structures and rituals of daily life.