Wisdom of The Idiots; part 19; Hidden Truth, The Bleeding Obvious & Book Sales
There aint no such thing as esoteric literature; No such thing as esoteric books, pamphlets, monographs, broadsheets, drawings, designs, paintings, hexensigils, seals, mojos, music, chant, poetry, song, newspapers or any other signal form visible, written, seen, heard, hummed, whistled or spoken. It matters not whether you are a Buddhist, a Jain, a Hindu, a Moslem, a Catholic or some Multi Ethnic Colourful Invention of your own. The mass of 'genuine esoteric' literature available on the subject is overwhelmingly emphatic on this point. If it's in a book then it's exoteric. If it's in the mouths of men then it's exoteric. If it's a Navaho sand painting or a Tibetan mandala then it's in this world and partakes of the flaws of this world. The structure of this world does not support the manifestation of higher Truth in material form.
I'll invoke Parmenides who describes two views of reality;
in "The Way of Truth" he explains how reality - that which 'is' - is one, singular, and that change is impossible, and existence is timeless, uniform, necessary, and unchanging.
In "The Way of Opinion," he explains the world of appearances, in which one's sensory faculties lead to conceptions which are false and deceitful.
Indeed, many teachers maintain that the intellect is a barrier to understanding. Vivikananda said
“My body is the chariot, my five senses are the steeds, my intellect is the reins – but I am the charioteer.”
The existence of intellect, the Commanding Self as it has sometimes been called, is the very reason why Zen employs koans – to present it with seemingly logical, properly constructed and syntactically correct language but which is, in fact, a logical nonsense and designed to drive the intellect screaming into a corner and force it to acknowledge its limitations. How easy is it to bamboozle the intellect? Consider the following:
The next statement is true.
The previous statement is false.
The continuing failure of Steiner's Anthroposophy, for example, is almost certainly and entirely due to their belief that honing the intellect can force Truth and make it amenable to the same rigorous scientific verification defined by material process and rational enquiry. The scientific method.
There are two 'secrets' and only two in Man's eternal quest.
The Law; To discover the law which created man, the physical being.
The Work; To reveal the connection between man, the material man, and man, the spiritual man.
There are two lessons and only two lessons in any 'esoteric' book;
Truth exists and there is a path to it
Truth cannot be approached by Man's ordinary faculties of perception and cognition in this world.
As for extrasensory powers and divine attributes these are not secrets to be discovered - neither are they goals in themselves. They are the by-product of the successful search, and are given to us only when we have achieved and demonstrated absolute moral and ethical development and that one is far and away beyond their abuse. Of course, that’s just one mad old man's opinion, is it not?
Musashi.
In Wisdom of the Idiots; part 20, we look at Everything Everywhere Except Here; try our hand at Screaming in Public Places; we look at the new craze of Hiding Under Stones for Fun & Profit and we review Vin Diesel's dynamic performance in his new action film “The Wheelchair of Riddick – extreme convalescing”