Blackboard

Credit: Jochen Kirchhoff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3qlJk4I6Kc

The papers are Creative Commons 4.0 copywriter (so yes, but you can freely reuse them as long as you reference the work)

A bit off-topic but I will get in contact with the maintainer of the site and ask him about his experience with copyright enforcement. As far I can tell that book is not in the public domain but if nobody is enforcing that anyway, I might as well add it to our library

Hello friends, today I want to talk about something weird: spiritual elitism. Cause you see a lot of people, they talk about Enlightenment and Awakening and Kundalini and "trust me bro, this time for real bro, ego death for sure bro," but there's nothing really exceptional about them. So what do I mean by initiation? Clearly I'm talking about something different.

An initiate compared to a normal human is like comparing a butterfly to a caterpillar. Imagine if you will a great ladder of being, where each of the rungs represents a different level. On one rung you have plants, the next animals, then humans. What does it take to truly step from that rung of humanity to the one above it? This is the real question asked by people who are truly seeking spiritual Evolution.

So how do we begin? Well, with the most general education possible. It is good to have general knowledge, not just of esotericism but history, philosophy, psychology, and many other subjects. What should be noted is in this first basic requirement lays a trap. You see, as seekers we all need an open mind, a broad horizon, but what we need most is intuition, a discernment that allows us to close all doors that will lead us off the path.

Now before we get too ahead of ourselves, I could already hear the followers of Renee Ganan saying, "What about a teacher? Don't we need an initiator to become initiates?" Well, yes, but also no. You see, Renee gunan is technically correct, but he's also old and boring and I don't like him. Think of it like this: initiation is like the growth or cultivation of a plant from a seed. For that seed to grow, it needs proper soil and nourishment. It needs proper water—not too much, not too little. It needs the right amount of sun—not too much, not too little. If we are that seed, then we need soil: a proper institution. We need water: the proper teachings. And we need the Sun: an initiator.