Esoterics
I am going to make a claim in this article and follow up with answers to anticipated questions. The claim is from Esoterics, which answers fundamental questions about life. It gives answers unavailable in religion, science, and philosophy. Esoterics is derived from Hylozoics, as taught by Pythagoras long ago. It echoes through many religions and philosophies, with varying accuracy. If you seek to understand the reason for life and consciousness, Esoterics is well worth considering as a source of answers.
The claim:
Starting in 1875, humanity has been given esoteric information about the nature and purpose of existence by beings who are more advanced than any human. These beings have the means to explore and experience reality that are more advanced than those of any human. They don’t operate with hypotheses and theories. They can simply experience the facts of reality directly. But as humans, we all need to construct a mental system. The more actual facts that you can incorporate, the more useful the system. Esoterics offers the esoteric facts given to us about reality.
Ok, I’m sure that this raises questions for a lot of you. I will try to anticipate ten of them here:
1. Do you know these beings? Can I meet them?
These teachers intend for their teachings to stand by themselves; there is no need to meet the individuals. They are not motivated by human desire for attention or other lower motives like money or fame. The teachings should only be accepted if they seem reasonable and answer one’s own questions. They make no claim that the teachings should be believed and implicitly trusted because of their authority. According to them, we will meet them eventually on our evolutionary path, both as individuals and as a species. They go further to say that they were once humans, and we will eventually be like them.
2. Why 1875?
With the increased spread of literacy and education, they felt that humanity was ripe for information that it could never get on its own. They are motivated by a deep compassion for how we suffer in our ignorance and doubt. Before 1875 there were mystery schools for those few who were ready for the information. From 1875 on, it was offered to all humanity rather than to the few. It was hidden knowledge in the mystery schools; now it is almost hidden again, like a needle in a haystack of the internet, but it can be found.
3. Is this some kind of religion or belief system?
No. The motto of the Theosophical Society applies: “There is no religion higher than truth.” And what is truth but an accurate description of reality? Religions have an important role, and appeal to people’s sensed need for God or purpose. They make a good contribution to helping raise people’s emotional level. But they have often been poor sources of facts about history and reality, and too often propagate destructive ideas and unfair judgement of others. And all major religions and institutions have been compromised in one way or another by powerful and selfish people. In esoteric study, belief is not required or encouraged. Belief has an emotional component that limits it. Emotional thinking is black and white, “I believe” or “I don’t believe”.
4. How do you know it isn’t some kind of hoax or just another mystic babbling fantastical things?
The teachings seem logical and self-consistent to me. I have had experiences that I could only explain in light of the teachings. I have accepted them as a working hypothesis and will improve or replace that hypothesis if more facts and experiences require it. But I know that I am unequipped to verify more than a fraction of what they say by my own senses and experiences. I am impressed by the quality of the presentations. They are the statements of logical minds, non-self-contradictory. I find them to be consistent with the best aspects of religion and philosophy.
5. I am skeptical. There is so much nonsense out there. What is truth? Can we really know anything?
These days, skepticism is healthy and needed. We are at a time when many find that traditional religious and philosophical systems of thought are inadequate. Attention seekers are eager to provide questionable answers, and bogus systems. As I said earlier, truth is an accurate description of reality. We can know truth; we know quite a bit about our physical world. Science has been exploring and finding information for hundreds of years now. Your smart phone is testament to the huge advances in science that go into every part of it; the battery, the screen, the plastic case, the wireless transmission and reception, etc. The experimental method of science can be used by anyone and is needed to verify and truly incorporate the esoteric teachings in our permanent understanding. Eventually, scientists will have an increased ability to observe subtler levels of material and present new facts to humanity that will validate some of the esoteric teachings. Until that time, only individuals who have opened up the advanced senses that can explore subtler worlds can give us the information. Science will eventually explore all of the higher worlds, but we will have to wait a long time for their discoveries. Esoterics predicts some of what they will find. Science will be found to be complementary to Esoterics, not a competing view.
6. Is there a way to summarize Esoterics simply?
Yes. Esoterics says that the meaning of life is the evolution of consciousness. This is what we are all trying to do, have been doing, and will do far into the future. When you have an epiphany that gives you a new understanding of life, it is an incremental evolution of your consciousness. It is your permanent property, and you can never go back to not understanding. That is why esoteric schools emphasize wisdom; it is the only possession that can’t be taken from you. For example, when a person looks at life and comes to the conclusion that it is not really all about him, it is about the whole, it is an epiphany. It can free them from the petty desires of the separate self and open a new world of possibilities of unity and service to others. All life is involved in the evolution of consciousness. Consciousness is latent in the mineral kingdom, subjective in the plant kingdom, objective and active in the animal kingdom, and self-consciousness is explored in the human kingdom.
7. Why haven’t I read about Esoterics in the media if it explains so much?
Because it is a kind of information that conventional media doesn’t know what to do with. It is not backed by scientists, it isn’t religious, it isn’t an established and discussed philosophy, and it is obliquely and poorly represented by “woo woo” popular fringe beliefs. It confidently makes statements that humans can’t verify. It is easily dismissed because few are capable of defending it. Those who write about Esoterics is dismissed by those who are satisfied that their own belief system is the final answer. And surprisingly few people are willing to research the literature to answer such fundamental questions as “What are we?” “Where did we come from?” and “Where are we going?” Those who start trying end up in religious and philosophical cul-de-sacs that can take years and lifetimes to analyze and see through. Those cul-de-sacs get a thorough discussion in the media, though, further distracting and misleading others.
8. Is Esoterics spiritualism? Channeling? Occultism? New Age?
None of the above, though the accurate parts of those things are also found in Esoterics. For instance, Esoterics presents reincarnation as the method of ongoing progress, an aspect of a larger Law of Rebirth. This law says that all life forms experience a cycle of death and rebirth, to serve the needs of the consciousness that uses the forms.
9. Who are you to talk about Esoterics?
I claim no authority. I have searched for answers, and this is the best explanation I have found. The last thing I want is for you to believe something just because I said it. I ask you to study and make up your own mind. If you want to know what I think, visit onepurelove.com.
10. I want to learn more! Where should I start?
The path to wisdom is individual, and each lifetime offers a different approach and lessons. If you have developed your mind, you can get a full picture of Esoterics from “The Knowledge of Reality” by Henry T. Laurency. Your independent search for truth is vital, and will eventually succeed. “Ask and ye shall receive.” May this effort open the door for you into the great esoteric teachings available, and help you realize that we can know!