Are You Part of a Tradition?

Many of you have been studying spiritual philosophies and practices for many years now, even decades, so it is excusable for those newer to the Path to be uncertain or answer in the negative the following question, “Are you part of a tradition?”

“Are you part of a tradition?”

The question of tradition is of particular importance to us today as we must ask ourselves, what is it? How does it present itself and manifest in the world as we live in it?

In all areas of human activity – be it plumbing, art, or atomic physics – there is an element of tradition, or something that is handed down or re-created orally for no other reason than because the human element involves the creative act of speech. This speech is voluntary, and involves contact and relationships, it is both personal and impersonal simultaneously. With the communication of sound there is the unspoken part that accompanies, frames, supports, even surpasses the spoken.

In this regard, tradition is a cultural inheritance that is more than of the physical senses, but instead which leads the senses inward, and even abandons them completely in the depths of metaphysical experience and direct contact. Like an inheritance of blood (genetics), land, and wealth through families, an esoteric or spiritual inheritance has no guarantee of survival. Effort must be put into making it from one generation to the next with a clear understanding of the importance of why it deserves to survive. Once this is done then the questions of how it is to survive and thrive can be addressed.

From this we can see that spiritual or esoteric tradition is about something far bigger then ourselves and our personal problems, objectives, and desires – even when that desire is our own liberation from suffering, Illumination, or desire to experience Knowledge and Conversation with our Holy Guardian Angel. Tradition sees and expresses the interconnectedness of Thought, Word, and Deed and with it Past, Present, and Future or in a word “karma/action” – cause and effect.

If you are part of a tradition then you are the present living link in the present to the past, and that means the future depends on you. Your actions decide if their is a future, if there is a new link in the “Chain of Tradition.”

Like a new candidate going off to Officers Candidate School on their way to being a freshly minted Second Lieutenant, you must “learn to follow if you are to know how to lead.” Various spiritual practices say, “You must learn to serve if you are to be served by the invisible.”

To this end we ask you again, “Are you part of a Tradition?” Are you that vital link in the living Chain of teaching and practice or the broken link of what could have been? The saving grace is that even if we are the ‘broken link’ that so long as we live and breath that break can be repaired or welded anew through exercising conviction and actions towards its repair. This of course is rooted in our dedication to our daily practice and developing a deep foundation in service, generosity, and work, along with honest inner exploration. We cannot simply say we are part of a tradition, we must be able to point to our specific actions that make its continuity viable, otherwise we are a member of a group or believer in an idea, but not part of the tradition – at least not yet.

To this end we remind you of the following video, available in our course: Unfolding the Rose – Developing Compassion in Wester Esotericism. This video is entitled, “How to Practice: Some Advice for the Path” and can be found here and has been made available as a free preview (you can watch it without enrolling) if you would like to share it.

https://institute-for-hermetic-studies.teachable.com/p/unfolding-the-rose