| 
|
|
|
|
In this essay we'll explore how Perennialists manifest as Seer 1-Masters: 2 Savants who overcome 3 demonic terrestrial powers and retrograde subjective elements through spiritual, mental, and physical activities. This is an unusual role for Perennialists to play, so it's essential that we make its substantive characteristics clear. Perennialist Seer-Masters discern entities (truths, persons, events, objects) clearly through genuine inner vision. They're gifted with super-normal spiritual, physical, and moral insight. Such persons are sometimes called prophets, oracles, diviners, or hierophants. They communicate inspired revelations concerning present and future events. For example, as early as 1995, contemporary Seer-Masters predicted the retrogression of the United States into a fascist, militarist, police state, which has now occurred and is evident to all those who "have eyes to see."We'll also explore how some persons contribute--inadvertently or deliberately--to the efforts of Perennialist Seer-Masters in defeating demonic forces and how interested readers can join in these activities in a conscious manner. The effort to overcome the malevolent cabal and its many fellow-travelers becomes the joint effort of all right-minded, intelligent persons who desire to preserve our human culture and advance our physical and spiritual evolution.
Rather than being reclusives, quietists, 4 or ascetics, Perennialist Seer-Masters engage in efficacious actions to overcome demonic forces: political, economic, social, and religious despots and their effects and retrograde subjective elements: vice and ignorance. These Seer-Masters contend, however, with spiritual and Higher Reason armaments, rather than with commonplace weapons of destruction. While most of the leaders of the demonic forces are beyond reformation, some of their followers are capable of correction and recovery. Perennialist Seer-Masters work to rescue these persons for the cause of Truth.
The Subtleties of the Effort Against Evil Forces
Perennialist Seer-Masters, and other participants in the worldwide effort against the malignant forces of the capitalist cabal, work in extra-ordinary ways with astute understanding of the crucial elements of the battle. Since the capitalist forces have a monopoly on the means of criminal oppression (military, 'intelligence' agencies, police, Wall Street, law courts, legislative bodies) in the United States and the world, Perennialist Seer-Masters recognize that using the tactics of armed revolution would only result in worker-revolutionaries being murdered outright.
The goals of the forces of Truth are much more subtle than eradicating the capitalist cabal that's currently in power; the intent is of a completely different order than in commonplace military or police hostilities.
The primary objective of Perennialist Seer-Masters is Understanding and Realizing the Truth. 5 To persons conditioned by capitalist ideology to believe that the only measures of success are wealth and fame, achievement of understanding and realization of Truth seem like pitiable, delusive accomplishments. It's necessary, therefore, to remind ourselves of our Primary Reality: as Eternal Beings.
Among the elements of Truth Perennialists comprehend are the crucial factors in the effort against demonic forces leading to enhanced awareness on the part of intelligent persons worldwide, generating more productive capabilities in overcoming evil powers. Our effort is against mind-destroying propaganda, debilitating emotions, and degrading life-style images and goals, among other elements. We overcome demonic forces by developing new concepts and instituting new structures of cooperation for the benefit of all humans.Gaining awareness of our goals is a significant achievement, since many persons see our strife only in terms of destroying evildoers (political, economic, religious despots) with whatever means possible. Without a profound augmentation of understanding (knowledge, awareness, motivation) on the part of people worldwide, ridding ourselves of our current thug-leaders would only mean that a new (perhaps more malicious) group of tyrants might take their place.
Perennialist Seer-Masters and Spiritual Energy
"In souls abandoned to God everything is efficacious . . . God imparts to their silence, to their repose, to their detachment, to their words, gestures, etc., a certain virtue which, unknown to them, works in the hearts of those around them; and, as they are guided by the occasional actions of others who are made use of by grace to instruct them without their knowledge, in the same way, they, in their turn, are made use of for the support and guidance of others without any direct acquaintance with them, or understanding to that effect."
Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), Abandonment to Divine Providence
Perennialist Seer-Masters contend against evil by contacting, storing, assimilating, projecting, and directing spiritual energy. Since this essentially involves a Seer-Master "channeling" supersensuous force through her own being, it's essential that she "work" on herself to become translucent and unobstructed--what the shaman tradition refers to as "impeccable."
"Impeccability is nothing else but the proper use of energy." 6The Seer-Master must first contact spiritual energy and begin storing it for use in overcoming demonic forces.
| "The truth is that although we lead terrestrial lives, the warfare we're conducting is on the spiritual level. The weapons we use are not corporeal but forces of spiritual energy which destroy the enemy's strongholds." (my own translation from the Koine Greek original) |
| Having contacted and stored spiritual energy, the Perennialist Seer-Master now assimilates this force and begins projecting and directing it to those areas where it will produce the desired effects. |
From her sumpatheia--intuitive awareness of the universe--the Seer-Master discerns precisely how stored energy should be projected, directed, and used to overcome demonic forces.
"That is justice, when by a complete self-knowledge a man has become master of himself (or 'better than himself,' kreitton hautou, as the phrase runs with a significant and beautiful ambiguity); that is happiness, eudaimonia, when there is no longer a hostile division of the powers within the soul, like a faction within a city, but a measured harmony and the unity of subordination."Paul Elmer More, The Religion of Plato
The Ideal State: External and Internal
Each Perennialist Seer-Warrior imaginatively creates a social archetype of the Ideal State:
- To inform students concerning the Form of penultimate social-interpersonal polity 7
- To provide a goal toward which advanced human effort can aspire
- To work toward overcoming demonic forces that corrupt and pervert social-political-economic principles and institutions
A Perennialist sage met a ruler. The ruler said: "If you wish, you may ask a favor of me."
The sage replied: "I cannot seek favors from a slave of my slaves."
"How is that?" asked the ruler.
The sage replied: "I have two slaves who are your masters: greed and self-love."
Plato explains that just as the principles of right order for a city-state are discovered in combat against the fundamental principles of tyranny, so the forms (eidos) of virtue in the soul are discovered in opposition to the many forms of disorder in the soul.
We follow Plato's guidance by including in our imaginatively invented Pattern not only a social archetype of the Ideal State, but also an explanation of how we work at building an inner state of self-knowledge and harmony between various emotional, psychological, and intellectual elements. We build this Inner State of Harmony through self-awareness and self-discipline:
- Not allowing negative effects of demonic forces and their outrages to detrimentally affect us
- Using negative forces to improve ourselves: not getting upset, not hating, not seeking revenge, not envying, avoiding narcissism and egomania, attaining the virtues of humility and considerateness
- Living a higher life with limited financial means, not seeking for wealth
- Not seeking (in fact, avoiding) fame
- Not wanting to control people or situations (where this response is appropriate)
- Listening to good music; deliberately ignoring bad music
- Understanding world events: defeating propaganda, lies, obfuscation
- Viewing enlightening, well-crafted movies and other art objects
Perennialist Seer-Masters engage in social-political analysis and activity--among other things--because the order or disorder of a society shapes people's minds and souls. All persons who want to safeguard their minds and their souls must engage in philosophy, in the sense of searching assiduously for the truth: what's really happening in both the supersensible and terrestrial worlds and in oneself.
"Understanding of the self only arises in relationship, in watching yourself in relationship to people, ideas, and things; to trees, the earth, and the world around you and within you. Relationship is the mirror in which the self is revealed. Without self-knowledge there is no basis for right thought and action." Boethius
Perennialist Seer-Masters help us to rescue ourselves not only from political-economic-religious tyrants, but also from our own tyrannies: our mindless self-indulgence, our acquiescence to ignorance and self-satisfaction.
| "The true procedure of spiritual advance is to envision beautiful things of this world as steps along which one mounts upwards to that Higher Form of Beauty."
Plato, Symposium |
Perennialist Seer-Masters Live In and Contemplate the Realm of Forms
Perennialist Seer-Masters are capable of discerning Forms through the special methodologies of dialectic and contemplation of Forms. There are several different ways in which humans may be said to "live in" and "locate their being in" a world or domain. During meditation or altered states of consciousness, seekers' entire awareness may reside in a psychic or supersensible domain, while they remain insensible to bodily sensations.
The manner of "living in a domain or world" we're here exploring is one in which Perennialist Seer-Masters and their students are fully conscious of their physical world--including their bodily sensations and mental thoughts--while "living in," "having their being in" the realm of Forms by:Socrates and Plato (and all other Perennialist Seer-Masters) teach--by their life example--how to "live in" and "have our being in" the domain of Forms while also operating in the physical world. By locating our being in the realm of Forms, we're able to use the powers of this realm to overcome malevolent terrestrial forces. It's necessary, therefore, to understand the various ways in which the understanding of Forms, especially the Form Goodness, empowers us.
- Concentrating their sensory, mental, and spiritual attention on Forms such as Goodness, Beauty, Justice, Commonwealth, etc.
- Focusing on elements which conduce to a higher life experience than that known by persons living in ordinary consensus reality
- Focusing on superior elements of:
- Painting
- Music
- Literature
- Movies
- Philosophy
- Dialectical interchange
- Self-Knowledge and Self-improvement
"This, then which gives to the objects of knowledge their truth and to him who knows them his power of knowing, is the Form or essential nature of Goodness. It is the cause of knowledge and truth; and so, while you may think of it as an object of knowledge, you will do well to regard it as something beyond truth and knowledge and precious as these both are, of still higher worth. . . . It is apt to say that known entities not only come to be known through Goodness, but they also owe their beimg to Goodness. We must distinguish Goodness from existence, because Goodness is ontologically superior to existence in rank and power."
Plato, Commonwealth (the author's translation from the Greek)
The Form Goodness:
- Gives objects of knowledge:
- Their truth
- Their power of being known
- Their Being and Reality
- Gives those who have achieved comprehension their power of understanding
We overcome demonic terrestrial forces by understanding and realizing Forms.
In all historic eras, humankind has ordered its life according to specific societal archetypes: patterns of behavior and objectives. When these elements become injurious and deadly--as at present--then we can overcome these destructive societal archetypes--patterns of behavior and objectives--only by understanding the true Form of these elements and thus realizing their Truth.
We overcome demonic elements by understanding and realizing true and benevolent archetypes: harmonious patterns of behavior and synergistic objectives.
One of Plato's most important projects was the search for and investigation of the Form Commonwealth--which included societal archetypes, patterns of behavior, and human objectives. In Plato's quest for the Commonwealth Form he was seeking more than a mere accumulation of haphazard historical facts about man's political and social life. He was questing after the supersensible Form Commonwealth, a comprehensive Model which would make possible a more perfect terrestrial embodiment of the Commonwealth Polity.
Through understanding Plato's writings, especially The Commonwealth, we gain the necessary comprehension of the nature of Forms in general and the Form Commonwealth in particular, making it possible to not only comprehend fully the Form Commonwealth, but also create a contemporary commonwealth movement leading to harmonious, cooperative communities.
Plato was convinced that without gaining a full understanding of the Form Commonwealth, all practical attempts at realizing a terrestrial commonwealth are doomed to failure. The Form Plato is looking for is far beyond the empirical and historical world, an Ideal Pattern by which humankind can aspire to realize a more fulfilling life.
"Our aim in founding the Commonwealth was not the disproportionate happiness of any one class, but the greatest happiness of the whole; we thought that in a Commonwealth which is ordered with a view to the good of the whole we should be most likely to find Justice. . ." Plato, Commonwealth III
Plato's work, The Commonwealth, therefore, is not an academic study of historical attempts at an ideal state, but the creation of a comprehensive Ideal Pattern for human life through which humans could understand and realize how to order their lives for the greatest fulfillment of their full potential.
"No historical phenomenon is adequate to the ideal pattern of the state; for, as he says in his Phaedo, the phenomena 'aim at being' but fall short and are unable to be like their archetypes. Not for a moment could Plato think of putting on the same level a given empirical fact and his Idea of the Legal State--the state of justice."All this becomes understandable if we bear in mind that Plato had to solve a problem very different from that of any other political reformer. He could not simply replace one political system or form of government by another and better one. He had to introduce a new method and a new postulate into political thought." 8
Though a complete embodiment of the Form Commonwealth does not yet exist in the terrestrial domain, the Form Commonwealth does have being in the sovereignty of the higher realm of Forms for those persons who seek to behold and understand it through Dialectical Interchange 9 and by living in and locating their being in the realm of Forms. Such Perennialist seekers make themselves citizens of this Commonwealth by discerning, exploring, and treasuring it as a reality and an ideal.
There have been a number of historical political "experiments" that provide some insight into the essential features of a commonwealth: fifth century Athens, the Venetian republic, and the United States. And there have been a number of "utopias," 10 imaginatively created accounts of idealized communities. But all these are merely distant approximations of the Form Commonwealth, which we must understand if we're to create a commonwealth movement.
We are able to understand and realize the Commonwealth Form through study of Plato's teachings, through Dialectical Interchange with others interested in Commonwealth, and through creating a new, contemporary imaginatively created Pattern delineating how small, experimental communities come into being, determining through their common experience which structures and methods are effective and beneficial. This imaginatively created Pattern explores how these communities train in Dialectical Interchange and group decision-making in building effective egalitarian communities and how they then fecundate the larger society with their knowledge.
|
To most, total reality is humankind having been taken over by a plutocratic cabal that is rapidly turning persons into sub-human robots. However, to persons deconditioned from consensus reality 11 the operations of Perennialist Seer-Masters are visible: presenting the Form, Type 12 , or Model of a Cooperative Commonwealth Community. This Ideal Form 13 , which presents a pattern of persons living in social harmony, can lead humankind back to the path of realizing our full potential.
| |
Recognizing the need for a Form or Model of the "right way" to order our lives can occur only after we've realized and acknowledged that we've taken a "wrong path."
We've taken the wrong path where predatory capitalists pauperize and murder workers.
We must set up effective Models to help us return to the correct path: models of harmony, consensus decision-making, and cooperation.
The Forms or Models provided by Perennialist Seer-Masters enable us to re-educate our thinking, so that old models are seen to be cancerous, deadly mind-traps that brainwash us into emulating the most despicable, base people imaginable. In the section below you can practice learning how to see the "Classic Examples" of Capitalist Society in their true light.
"To whoever had eyes to see they appeared hideous, since they were losing the finest of what were once their most treasured possessions [divine attributes]. But to those who were blind to the true way of life oriented to virtue, it was at this time that they gave the semblance of being supremely beauteous and blessed. Yet inwardly they were filled with an unjust lust for possessions and power." Plato, Critias
Bringing Into Realization the Form Commonwealth Overall, the direction of human evolution has been an upward helical path with each new cycle achieving a higher advance:
- Savagery: a pre-cultural level marked by total absence of restraint; untamed and bestial
- Barbarism: a cultural level marked by violence and minimal restraint more complex than primitive savagery but less sophisticated than advanced civilization
- The preservation and dissemination of the knowledge and values of civilized society by Perennialist savants
- The re-awakening of the people to the knowledge and values of world culture through Perennialist teaching
- Civilization: the level of human development characterized by civility (self-disciplined behavior), literacy (ability to read and understand what you read), appreciation for art, the rule of law, not men, constitutionally guaranteed rights
- Decadence: decline and decay of civilized factors, leading to the demise of the culture
Whenever possible, Perennialist Seer-Masters create close-knit coalitions of seekers and initiates which embody the Form Commonwealth:
- Egyptian hierophant temples
- Pythagoras' community at Krotona
- Plato's Academy
- Esoteric Christian communities
- Neo-Platonic academies in Alexandria and Athens
- Plotinus' attempt to set up a new Academy called Platonopolis
- Gothic Cathedral schools
- Cathar communities in southern France
- Bernard of Clairvaux's Cistercian Order
- Cambridge Platonist group
World citizens are presently facing the ravages of deliberate cultural destruction by politicians and their corporate controllers. We're entering a period when much of the Perennialist wisdom will have to go underground, to protect it from destruction by savages and barbarians--now called "compassionate conservatives."
Those among humankind who can understand the enduring importance of the higher knowledge and values embodied in such Forms as Commonwealth, must preserve this priceless heritage and assist humankind to return to the right path. These few (about 5%) will have to carry out cloaked operations to safeguard and disseminate the hidden wisdom. This essay constitutes a call to action in this regard, and will resonate with those who have developed advanced powers of discernment.
"It is necessary, in the first place, to turn our attention constantly and continuously to the higher ideal which we wish to realise; to the highest ideal we can form of truth, goodness, and beauty. In proportion as we can do this we shall find truth, goodness, and beauty becoming realised in our nature. The practical outcome of an intelligent realisation of the existence of our higher divine Self, is the opening up, as it were, of a channel of communication through which the higher can flow into, and manifest in, the lower. There is an actual structural alteration in the physical body and nerve centres. Every thought conditions a definite physiological change. We shut out the higher possibilities by thought alone, by thinking ourselves separate. Just in proportion as we think of ourselves as divine, in proportion as we realise that the divine is within us, shall we come to a conscious realisation of our divine nature and powers. Nor is there any other path by which this may be accomplished." William Kingsland, Scientific Idealism
Notes:1 Seer: a person capable of perceiving things beyond the natural range of the senses, outside normal sensory channels; a person possessing extrasensory, paranormal powers of perception
2 Master:
One who has control over others and herself or himself One who has ownership of an entity A Champion: One who is clearly superior or has the attributes of a winner One who defeats another; a victor One whose teachings or concepts are accepted by students and initiates A male or female teacher An artist or performer of great and exemplary skill A craftsman qualified to teach apprentices and carry on the craft independently One serving as a model to be imitated or compared; related meaning: An original, such as an original document or audio or video recording, from which copies can be made Though "Master" is a masculine title in English, the "office" of Master can be carried out by a male or female. The word "Master" is chosen instead of such a word as "Warrior," to avoid using the nomenclature of battle and armed conflict. 3 Overcome: defeat, conquer, master, overwhelm, overthrow, undo, subdue, rout, overpower, quell, triumph over, best, get the better of, vanquish, surmount, prevail over, render incapable, render powerless, be victorious over I'm using the word "overcoming" to refer to defeating demonic forces, prevailing over them, and rendering them powerless in the separate "world" or dimension in which Perennialist Seer-Masters have their being.
4 Quietism is the belief that man's highest perfection consists in completely passive contemplation through withdrawal from the physical world.
5 Realize: make real or concrete; give reality to; be fully aware or cognizant of
6 "I've saved energy and that makes me impeccable. To understand this, you have to save enough energy yourself. . . One of the first concerns of Masters is to free that energy in order to face the unknown with it. . . The action of rechanneling that energy is impeccability." Sayings of don Juan in Carlos Castaneda, The Fire From Within
7 Polity: a form of government or organization of a state, church, or society
8 Ernst Cassirer, The Myth of the State
9 Such as Boethius in his The Emboldening of Philosophy
10 Utopias:
- Plato, Commonwealth, 380 BCE
- Panchaea, Island of Euhemerus (3rd century BCE) in his book, Sacred History
- Augustine, City of God, 413-426 CE
- Tao Hua Yuan, Tao Hua Yuan, 421 CE
- Al-Farabi, Al-Madina al-Fadila, 874-950 CE
- Thomas More, Utopia, 1516 CE
- Johann Valentin Andrea, Christianopolis, 1619 CE
- Tommaso Campanella, The City of the Sun, 1623 CE
- Francis Bacon, New Atlantis, 1627 CE
- Samuel Butler, Erewhon, 1872 CE
- William Morris, News from Nowhere, 1892 CE
- Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward, 1888 CE
- Lady Florence Dixie, Gloriana, or the Revolution of 1900, 1890 CE
- Eric Frank Russell, The Great Explosion, 1963
11 Consensus reality: The term is usually used disparagingly as by implication it may mean little more than "what a group or culture chooses to believe," and may bear little or no relationship to any "true reality," and, indeed, challenges the notion of "true reality." For example, Steven Yates in his book Our Money System: Your Dollar Bill is a Lie!, has characterized the idea that the United States Federal Reserve Notes (not "backed" by anything) are "part of what we might call our consensus-reality, [not] real reality."
