Here is a paper I wrote in 2009, after a presentation I made at the 3rd Conference of the Association for the Study of Esotericism, in Charleston, S.C., USA, June 3, 2008.
At that point, 11 years ago, I sort of wrapped up my entire “intellectual” life in this paper. In other words, I summarized 40 years of research, which started at age 13 or so, as I remember.
So this paper is quite dense indeed. If you have little time, start with part III, page 28.
Today, eleven years after I wrote this document, which I then considered as my “heritage”, well the one thing I would like to read from myself in another incarnation – and see, these sort of things happen: in the future you might stumble on some youtube video archive of you or on a e-mail or post you wrote and recognize it as yours! – well for now, I no longer think esoteric knowledge is enough to solve the world’s problem.
On social networks I see that people with a seemingly fair amount of esoteric knowledge are nervertheless persuaded that Covid 19 is a hoax, consider Qanon as an intellectual option, etc.
So I still think that esoteric knowledge is an extraordinary useful basis, but I now think it is far from enough.
For if you want the world to evolve, some would say, if you want the humankind to keep existing, you sort of have to set fire to the humankind, well, a fire of gentleness and mutual understanding, but a fire anyway.
A fire to melt down the humankind antagonisms.
And esoteric knowledge will never do this.
It already would have if it could.
But it can’t.
I now think that the only way to do so, to set a fire in the human heart, is through art.
And you may and have to set fire to humankind with art, movies, series, mangas, cartoons, musicals, songs, theater plays, podcasts, documentaries, exhibitions, museums, recreational parks, and so on, to connect, enlighten, even confront perhaps, yet gently, and then unite.
In other words, you have to set a gentle fire with love and some sort of reasoning in sentences of few words with few letters.
Which words?
Those carefully chosen to be acceptable by us all, a “all” made of 8 billions units, with creeds, culture, countries, prospects, jobs, situation of almost infinite diversity.
In other words, by us, humans.
Do these words exist?
Yes, they do, in my not humble opinion!
There are so many of them, actually, they’re all around, actually! Over the years of this life, I’ve met a few of them: those of Edgar Cayce’s mingling Christian fundamentalism and pure esoteric knowledge, Omraam MIkhaet Aivanhov’s marrying traditional esoteric knowledge with modernity, the musical words of another Bulgarian spiritual master, Peter Deunov / Beinca Duno. There are quite many of them actually.
Do these words exist?
Yes, indeed: at their very best, at the core level, fundamentalists of all sorts tell the same story that liberals tell with quite -seemingly- different words.
But do these words really exist?
No, if we don’t tell them to the other members of the family, us, the human family.
I think we all of us, human beings, have to tell the story.
Now.