Here is a wonderful talk between Ike Baker of Arcanum Podcast and Instructor for the Institute for Hermetic Studies on the future, sustainability, and what it all means to students of esotericism. Sit a spell and listen in.
With Ike Baker of Arcanum Podcast – Self Here & Now, Future Sustainability & Lifting the Weight
Jupiter and Saturn are planets whose scope of time offer us the benefit of perspective – if we are willing to pay attention to it. Often in these writings here and elsewhere from the Institute for Hermetic Studies I have talked about time, time management, and taking time to examine statements from the perspective of historical experiences. Is something possible? Yes, no, maybe, but is it plausible? Is it probable? Knowledge of past experiences help us to answer those questions, be it immediately in front of us, or under the more relaxed time frame of reading an astrological chart, or interpreting any form of divination. Time provides experiences, experiences can provide knowledge, knowledge can provide insight, and from that wisdom, and then Illumination or Enlightenment. It is a chain of connection and causation.
Thus, we are sometimes told that all beings will get enlightened – even if it takes a billion or two years. Or there is the initiatic paths which allows us to take control of our destiny and speed up the process. Of course, and we must mention this, some schools state that not everyone will get enlightened and some will get ‘recycled’ – that is, reabsorbed into the undifferentiated cosmic mass for ‘failure to launch’ so to speak. An unpleasant thought, but one that is a possibility for some who simply never undertake the journey on the Path of Return of their own free will and accord.
We have often told you, and will tell you again, that Jean Dubuis stated that “indifference” was the greatest obstacle to a broader human enlightenment. To this we said, indifference is a form of laziness, and laziness is a form of selfishness, an expression of fear. They are all related and express the same emotional value.
A few years prior to Dubuis’s making this comment an interview with Kenneth Grant, the less well known and often more interesting disciple of Aleister Crowley appeared in “Occult Review” (Autumn 1990, Issue #3) Grant of course went his own way, and what a strange and wild way it was, and as a result is widely misunderstood. Grant stated that a defective moral element was responsible for the current conditions (again, 1990) that threaten humanity with catastrophe. This is no different than what Fulcanelli is reported to have told Jacques Bergier in the laboratory of the Paris Gas Works in the 1930s (see: Morning of the Magicians).
Grant elaborated by saying this defective element was “The Will. The development of man’s will is in excess of his other moral faculties. He is strong willed but weak minded” Or in short, that people want things and will go to any length to get them irregardless of the cost to others. Again, we are brought to the notion of selfishness as the root cause of human problems.
What then is the antidote? It is obvious. To be less selfish, to be more selfless in a healthy way – that is – connected to the transcendent and not simply a doormat for others. It means to organize your life in an effective and meaningful manner, and to take responsibility for yourself, and fulfill your duties as previously discussed. Here however, is where the problems begin. Desires are confused with duties, or at least conveniently so. Duties to one, two, or maybe three are fulfilled, but the fourth – again, connection to the transcendent – is conveniently left out.
Many are unaware of their duties, or are ignorant of how to effectively fulfill them in a relaxed, effective, and dare we say – enlightened manner? This lack of role models or teachers is a cascading effect. It compounds on itself. The reverse is true as well. As each of us fulfill ALL of our duties, we become an example for others in not only what is to be done, but how and why it is to be done. This moves us from theory and “the land of good intentions” into effective action.
So, go forth, and fulfill your duties and progress on the Path of the Hero, the Children of Jupiter, the Path of Return.
Upcoming course of interest:
Four-Fifteen: The Foundations of Personal Success
Legacy Project
IHS Collection at the WM Library