Teaching Style
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Do the teachings follow a syllabus? No. This is not a set course leading to a certificate; it is more like driving lessons that lead to a licence. Yes, a group of students could learn certain topics together the Highway Code, engine maintenance and so on but each one has different strengths and weaknesses and requires individual lessons that are tailored to suit. Each one follows his own prescribed path, even though you and your fellows may see each other often. Moreover, since there is only the one Sacred Mountain, and everyone is climbing up it, there will be long stretches where you will be working together. At each fork or turning though the paths may separate again. This is why it is a bad idea for students to compare notes or for one to give extra lessons to another.
Is there a common core or fact? Yes, and this is why students meet together in congenial groups for certain lessons. They may listen to recorded talks, watch videos, or discuss projects just like any other school, in fact and when a Master visits, he provides the opportunity for private chats. Help is given when you need it and important points are repeated many times, to make sure that you have understood.
You have to appreciate the difference between two kinds of knowledge. The first consists of a body of knowledge where a list of known facts has to be learned, e.g., the number of oils in aromatherapy and what each of them does. The second is an approach that has to become second nature (where actions are done or ideas are reflected upon, e.g., brain surgery or writing music). The first kind of knowledge can be mastered by anyone who has the patience to apply him or herself. Only those with certain talents and aptitudes can master the second.
Is teaching done in an academic style? A Master uses whatever style is appropriate formal, casual, stiff or jocular. He will shock you, shake you, or make you jump out of your shoes. He tries to crack your complacency and wreck your assumptions. He will play both clown and Caligula according to your needs. If you react badly to criticism, he will probably pull your leg! If your courage goes, he will patch it up. If you need a breather, he will make you pause. He will do all in his power to ensure that you climb higher. Rather like the medieval master of a craft guild who takes on an apprentice, he guarantees to see matters through.
Can I be sure that he will do the job? He would not accept you as his student unless he was confident about the outcome. A lot depends on you and on your willingness to co-operate, which is why you promise always to obey his instructions. He will weigh the chances of your both arriving at the necessary 'harmony of spirit' or magical complicity in order to forge the necessary rapport. Mostly, if he takes you on then he feels reasonably sure of ultimate success.
What is the guiding principle? Masters differ, but all wish to help you find your original self. Then they assist you to change the person you are, into the person you would have been (if all had gone well and no one had fucked you up). The final step is learning 'self-mastery'. The process is not as complex as it sounds and taken as a whole it is called 'self-fulfilment'. It is not possible to estimate how long this process would take. Everything depends on individual qualities. Some go quickly while others go slowly; some find it easy while others make heavy weather of it. It is because people differ so widely that they need the personal supervision of someone who cares about the outcome.
Is it a kind of psychotherapy? Up to a point, but much cheaper and a lot quicker. However, if a Master uses psychology at all it comes more from a magical framework rather than a scientific one. If you realised the extent to which modern science makes use of ancient techniques you would be surprised. In the Stone Age, men drilled holes in sick people's skulls. Today we call it trepanning. We do it to relieve pressure on the brain, whereas they did it to release evil spirits. However, as Romeo said: what does it matter what you call it as long as it does you good?
Do we learn practical magic and rituals? Not as much as people would like. We do not let children play with bombs either! If Magic and Ritual are your main aims then you will be disappointed. You are not ready for it yet. I would not let a sick person have a key to the medicine cupboard either and I discourage you from doing what you cannot handle. A Master gives you what you need, but not always what you want. There is a big difference.
But the whole object is to practice magic? It might be your object now, but it is not the be-all and end-all of a Magician. Why do we build electricity generators? To manufacture energy, you say; but we would not go to all that trouble unless there was an industrial call for it. Magic exists in order to that we might achieve certain ends, i.e., it has its reasons for being there. You do not just invoke it, willy-nilly. There are times when it is right and proper to use such powers, and there are times when to do so would be improper and dangerous.
However, why worry about matters that do not yet concern you? Your Master would train you in such matters and get you ready. He would raise each subject at its appropriate time, as and when your understanding and your talents ripened. Then there will be no limit and no restriction. You will go as far and as high as you wish. The only determinants will be your will and your commitment.
Is oral teaching sufficient? It is all that is necessary and it is far more reliable than any other means of keeping the knowledge of truth alive. Paper can burn, digital recordings can be erased, and even tablets of stone can crumble, but truth that is handed by one mind to another, like a flame passing from candle to candle that lives. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as the saying goes, and the fact that we do possess knowledge today is ample evidence that yesterday's Teachers knew what they were doing.
My father told me that his books were worthless, and I tell you myself that my writings- this book included- cannot possibly substitute for the voice of a living Master. The method does seem to work. Now you have not yet tried it. You have not had the experience. Forgive my rudeness, but it is a bit premature to criticise the vitamin content of a meal before the soup has arrived from the kitchen.
Consider this one fact: could anyone write a book, a guide to magic, which met all the needs of every student? They are all different. They may look equally dense and un-teachable, but in fact, they vary enormously. No two persons are alike. Even the Open University complements its broadcast lessons by tutorials and summer schools. Face to face contact - or soul dancing with soul in astral dreams - this is the sine qua non-the indispensable ingredient.
Is truth accessible to everyone? If it really is Truth then, yes, it ought to be! You will notice that I do not just accept students with university degrees. I am not in the business of skimming off the cream, or collecting clots. All I insist on is an open mind, the ability to think clearly, and a modicum of common sense. It is not my intention to divide people into those doomed to be sheep and those who would make good shepherd material. The days are gone when a docile peasantry would allow itself to be ruled by a caste of priests. There are Occultists who still see the world through elitist, fascist-type lenses, with a hierarchy and (theoretic) grades of advancement. However, I am more of your Occult Communist, so to speak. I see all people as having equal potential and equal value. I am not a Master who runs residential brainwashing sessions at a superior kind of Staff College. The only thing that counts is "readiness".
Shall I like what you teach? You will have to forgive me, but I find that kind of question to be irrelevant. In terms of law, yes, you are free to choose anything according to your own, personal criteria, but in terms of the eternal truth, such a choice is not a matter of individual taste. God, the Beyond, and the Path ... these are matters which will not be changed by anything you may do or say. If you do not understand this point fully right now, we would show patience and sympathy when teaching you and make sure that you did understand before moving on.
Should you be nice to customers? I do not have customers. I have nothing for sale and therefore there is nothing for you to buy. Look here though: if you view life as purely some sort of commercial transaction then that fact alone suggests that you are not really ready to undertake the spiritual journey. I do not blame you for being contaminated by the values that are so common in the world around us. It is not your fault. Even so, you will need to display some spiritual initiative of your own by shaking off these clinging intellectual tendrils.
Are you for real? I can also understand your being slightly cynical. I too have seen how the world works and met a great many of its weirdest inhabitants. Indeed, it is difficult remaining aloof myself. However, if you are so deeply affected by the malaise of modern society that you now take everything 'with a pinch of salt' if you trust no one, and believe in nothing then I doubt if I could help you. I could not guarantee success, you see.
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