X. ATTAINMENT AND QUEST

1. All life forms strive upwards in complexity as if moving towards some light at the end of a tunnel. At first the light is dimly perceived. Initially the impulse involves merely seeking to be less at the mercy of environment. As we go up the evolutionary ladder, the light grows brighter and the striving becomes more rapid and intense. When actions are based upon factual error, the striving itself will often produce retrograde results in the short term. The trait that most distinguishes man from other life forms is his ability to more clearly conceptualize something beyond himself, and his capacity to strive towards this through the willful further development of intellect and spirit. The end of this journey is perceived by most cultures as the final attainment to a happy and serene state of pure spirit.

2. As we move through life, some capacities are diminished and some things forgotten, or at least rightly deemed to be of less importance than previously. There are certain types of wisdom which are most prominent at a certain age and are truly appropriate or useful primarily at that age.

3. Often young people will imagine that they possess great insight, especially into the behavior of others. It will never occur to them that older people may have possessed this same insight at the same age. The possibility that several decades of increasing substantive knowledge might possibly change a person's insights will often allude them completely. Teaching simple facts without stating elaborate conclusions is the best way to help young people without sounding condescending.

4. The attainment to wisdom as life progresses can be likened to someone climbing an almost infinitely high mountain straddled by a very thick, but low lying, layer of clouds. The young person at the bottom can see very clearly, but only up to the clouds, and pridefully imagines himself to be very near to the mountaintop. As he enters the clouds his vision becomes less clear. This is the period when humility and self-questioning begin. The higher he climbs the more he realizes his original error. As he begins to come out of the clouds he can see the awesome crags of wisdom at a distance so vast that he knows now that he can never reach them even in several lifetimes, but he also knows now for the first time with absolute certainty that at least he is on the correct path.

5. Those who attain to the highest understanding seem to be those who most easily admit their own ignorance. If one is living with integrity, his general level of spiritual wisdom will increase with age. As one advances in attainment, the rate of increase will accelerate because of naturally increasing effort linked to growing consciousness. As gross elements are thrown off, the process of acceleration by elimination comes into play like the natural increase in speed towards the end of a jigsaw puzzle.

6. We hear the word "occult" a good deal today. This word means "hidden." There can be occult or arcane knowledge pertaining to anything about which the average person is generally ignorant, such as economics or banking. A secondary meaning, but much more popular use of this term, is to describe phenomena commonly associated with the so-called "supernatural." There is no such thing as the supernatural. This is a silly and self contradictory term.

7. In the universe there are only natural phenomena. There are three categories: those which are known to profane science and therefore to the populace at large, those which are known to unusually resourceful individuals or groups, and those which are known to no man (26).

8. In observing a fly buzzing around a ceiling, one can describe, measure, quantify, and extrapolate as to what the fly is doing, but one can only "know" by being the fly.  

9. If there were eleven laws which govern the universe, the individual seeking familiarity with these laws would be better off having mastery without explanation of one, than having explanation without mastery, of all eleven. The seeking of explanation through knowledge is, of course, as good a path to mastery as any other.

10. Most people have the unfortunate tendency to group unrelated ideas. Ideas do not necessarily have to be embraced as package deals. An eclectic approach to the totality of human knowledge and spirituality will, for the thoughtful individual, have the best result.

11. It is good to make a list of intellectual interests to be pursued, then to compile by basic subject categories, one's lifetime bibliography. In this way it can be quickly seen what areas of interest need boning up on. In this, one should consider what is beneficial and deeply relevant, not merely what is enjoyable.

12. The individual should keep a journal wherein is recorded that which is deemed to be truly important. What this is, will change with time. It is easier to record now than to recall, especially sequence, later. Apart from a journal of days, specific categories of events with dates may be useful and rewarding. Such should be reviewed, contemplated periodically, and reconciled with a detailed written plan for one's future.

13. Whether an internal reality is or is not an external actuality may be far less important than how we deal with it. Painstaking empirical explanation often misses the main point and can sometimes be far less effective than quick intuitive action. For example, heroic confrontation and defeat of an enemy in a nightmare is psychologically more effective than analyzing the symbolism of the dream upon awaking. If some poor individual believes himself to be possessed by a demon and is manifesting all the degenerative symptoms of this, the dynamic thing to do is not to play the "smart-ass" by explaining to the person the psychological dynamics of his malady, but to perform an exorcism. You can "explain" later.

14. Time and space are irrelevant in the subconscious realm. In the ninety minutes during which one dreams at night, one can subjectively experience decades. Many things come into play here, including the tapping of hereditary memory encoded in DNA, or possibly, past incarnations. One can become aware that one is dreaming, can consciously control events in the dream to some extent, and can learn to remember whatever is accomplished in the dream upon awakening. Dream creativity often greatly exceeds in quality that of the waking state. This is a tremendous resource, since dreaming constitutes six years of the average person's life. A similar method for tapping the subconscious mind, known as the "stewing process," has traditionally been used by many great inventors, and works on this same principle. The aspirant should seek further knowledge of both.

15. The price that an individual must pay for greater attainment is that he must spend a lifetime surrounded by individuals of lesser attainment. The price however, is worth every penny.

"Eventually it will be proclaimed throughout the land that these false ones are false, and wherever they shalt walk they shalt walk ashamed, and in that time it will be clearly seen that they have been terribly, terribly swollen, nay, bloated with the wretched false importancy of the lower self, and that their words have been merely the vile banal trumpetings therefrom." ~ Elof II ~

16. A higher morality consists in working towards justice for every living thing in the universe, including oneself.

17. Spiritual monism is faith in the primacy of either good or evil as the abiding force in the universe. This involves imaginative wishfulness about the supposed destiny of one to eventually triumph over the other. In this mode of error, one force is thought of as being a mere pathological deviation from the other, which can somehow be "cured."

18. Spiritual dualism is the absolute knowledge that good and evil are coequal, eternal, and universal in manifestation (27).

19. The idea that "good" is the prevailing force in the universe and will someday obliterate "evil," and that there is not supposed to be any suffering in the world, is the fantasy of impotent weaklings, and is ironically, responsible for more evil and suffering than any other cause. Monistic spirituality always leads to unworkable political and economic systems exploited by power hungry leaders to the very great detriment of all.

20. He who has absolute knowledge and an immovable will, needs neither hope nor faith, both of which are the comfort of sheep. Notice how the monistic clergyman will refer to his "flock."

21. In spirituality:
The monist prays to improve his universe.
The dualist remakes his universe.
The monist ignores the fact of evolution.
The dualist wills the direction of evolution.
The devolutionary monist fears the Bogeyman.
The evolutionary dualist becomes the Bogeyman28).

22. The evolutionary dualist viewpoint is neither religion, nor philosophy. It is simply a working formula for building viable spirituality, a loving and just reaction to verifiable truth.

23. The ultimate test of workability for a major religion is the effect that it has on society over the long term of history. A viable spirituality intended to exert major influence must not only attract widespread adherence but must also have a positive effect upon society. Cowardly religion attracts many people, but does so only because it appeals to human weakness by promising supernatural revenge to apathetic sluggards. This is passive and limp-wristed. It contributes to all that is devolutionary. Nobody should adhere to a tradition which has clearly failed. Religions based upon false values and unnatural principles are not worth following.

24. Absolute separation of church and state is impossible because what people are spiritually determines the form of government they will create or condone. The economic system of a country will never exceed the soul wisdom of the people residing therein. Wherever we find the vile institutionalized cowardice of scarecrow religion, we also find Socialism or some other unworkable form of collectivist government. We can't expect an inferior prevailing spirituality to result in a superior way of running society. If the people are no good, the government will be even worse.

25. One of the main reasons that prevailing religions don't work is because they mix lies with truth. They demand literal interpretation of what is obviously mythological and teach a lot of self-effcing foolishness about sex. They then mix common sense truth about not hurting others in with all this. The nonsense part brings apparent discredit upon the true part. Essentially it robs people of a moral basis for their behavior.

26. Scripture is written by men, not "God." There are vast discrepancies between many scriptural writings and concurrent chronicles of reputable secular historians. Scriptural versions often reflect a long term agenda for political advantage in trying to make the writers' people seem especially persecuted. Much of scripture is nothing more than a clever mixture of lies and truth. Historical falsehood and slave philosophy camouflaged with a little common-sense folk wisdom. In this way if you question the history it will seem as though you disagree also with basic moral precepts.

27. The religions based upon spiritual monism are acquiescent slave traditions. The practitioners are morally weak, simple-minded, and cowardly. Their actions are rarely at one with their words. Individually they are not impotent, but in larger numbers, each fueling the sickness of the others, they will become as torturous and murderous as their combined strength and self-serving rationalizations will allow them to be.

"One who farms out most of his spiritual activity to a clergyman can be likened to the man who would hire someone else to romance his wife. There are simply some things that one should do for himself. Spiritual activity is probably the most important of these. The man who does not perform independently in this regard is a spiritual gutter crawler. He who strives towards a transcendental ideal will achieve things intellectually and spiritually as much beyond the average as the average are beyond the chimpanzees" ~ invites Dirk the Sun Warrior, one outspoken Freethinker of the New Aeon ~

28. A truly viable spirituality must have perfect integrity between three basic components ~

~ An intellectual premise consistent with all known science

~ A moral basis reflecting absolute Libertarian reciprocity

~ A source, not of dogmatic belief, but of archetypal inspiration, grounded in one's own ancestral mythology

To summarize in this context ~

~ Intellectual Premise - evolutionary dualist viewpoint

~ Moral Basis - basic Libertarian impulse"

~ Archetypal Inspiration - indigenous mythology

29. Those who follow "outland" religions are docile spiritual bondsmen. Developed people feel pity for anyone who would demand so little of himself intellectually and spiritually that he would raise up a foreign philosopher and make him into a "God". Most of these spiritual sheep can't even blow their own noses without asking their cultural turncoat leaders how to do it.

30. Those obsessed with trying to reconcile every aspect of modern experience with foreign scriptures written thousands of years ago are false to their own heritage and to the present day world. Slavish dogmatism renders the individual an ineffective participant in modern society. People need not seek at such a distance for their spirituality, nor aid and abet missionary monoculture. The vile dispiriting nihilism of wandering internationalists is a poor substitute for the spiritual integrity of being rooted in one's own ancestral tradition. Today there are many fine natural indigenous spiritualities being reborn. They represent diverse ethnicity. One must seek, however. They will not come to you.

31. For moral excellence to prevail in society nobody needs to be converted to anybody else's national tradition. The most educated and spiritually developed persons of today are rediscovering the ancient spiritualities of their forbears. Sometimes there is justified resentment because most of the early writings were destroyed by fanatics of some other religion dominant in the same period. This very fact however, gives those who are resurrecting these old spiritualities much leeway for conceptual personifications based upon ancient archetypal ideals while at the same time incorporating the knowledge and science of the modern world. These emerging spiritualities is not encumbered by the dogmas of the past. Nor are they based upon subservience, cowardice, and hypocrisy, but upon integrity, courage, honor, and liberty. The new indigenous spiritualities are superior to the original in that they no longer countenance the barbaric sacrificial practices that characterized the earlier systems.

32. Indigenous spiritualities have more integrity and archetypal relevance for people than any identification with "outland" personifications. The bland faceless beehive religion of worldwide universalism however, will only be rejected if people know there is an alternative,

33. Information about superior spiritualities and political choices must be made generally available. Usually it is better if the two things are presented separately. If this is done anonymously, the poor lost sheep who constitute most of society will not have to lose face in upgrading their allegiances. In this way all that energy they spend talking about how moral they are could actually end up being channeled into constructive activity.

34. There are many today who think of themselves as having attained to illumination. The only people who have, however, are members of that loose aggregation of individuals, who on a worldwide basis, ceaselessly work to move the world towards that one condition which favors the ongoing evolutionary expression of all living things. This is the Quest (29).