The word "occult" is frequently associated with a secret society,
and it is given a negative twist by pitting it against organized "clean"
religion or "totally rational" science.
But the Latin root of the word comes from the verb, "to hide." That's all.
Occult Man means man who is hiding something. And it really means man
who is hiding something from himself. What would that be?
Occult man is hiding his true nature from himself.
In order to discover what that true nature is, he would already need to
be free from the belief that he owes his time, energy, and life to
another person or an idea. He would need to be free from the
self-debasing concept of spiritual debt---regardless of how fashionable
it might be to incur (or pretend to incur) such a negative balance
sheet.
Legion are those who invent these "debt scenarios" for themselves, and
they rarely give them up, regardless of the consequences. They prefer
to imagine they "win by losing."
When Occult Man embarks on the journey to find his true nature, he
enters a labyrinth. Sooner or later, he needs to realize the maze is
composed of all possible answers to his self-inquiry. How to choose one
answer above all others? How to discern?
Nevertheless, despite the difficulties, he will choose. He will clutch
an answer, he will adopt it, and he will begin to live on that basis.
He will say, "
This is my true nature," he will climb into that conveyance and drive it down the road.
After a certain period, he will see its limitations, he will experience
first-hand the pressure of those restrictions, and he will look for a
more inclusive answer to his inquiry.
As this process of accepting, testing, and rejecting answers continues,
he will become aware that each solution to what-is-my-true-nature gives
birth to a space that is defined---and his primary role is to fit
himself into that space.
In the majority of cases, Occult Man eventually talks himself into accepting a
space and learning how to adapt to his position in it. It is as if, all along, he has been asking himself, "What is my place?"
Relatively few people are prepared to admit this is a loaded question.
They would rather adhere to one of thousands of "philosophies" which are
determined to tell Occult Man what his place is.
According to this sort of guidance, Occult Man is supposed to take pride in finding that place.
For those who can avoid this end, there remains a less-defined path. "Where do I go? What do I do? What am I looking for?"
What about looking within? As interesting as this option may seem, and as rooted in tradition, what results does it confer?
Either Occult Man looks within and sees, disappointingly, spaces
populated by random objects and ideas, or he presupposes what he is
going to discover, and then discovers it. Needless to say, such sleight
of hand isn't the means for finding his true nature.
What now?
Now we come to the threshold of a shift into another dimension of
experience. Regardless of how long the journey has taken so far, now
Occult Man begins to examine his very role as the searcher. The
seeker. The discoverer.
Is the whole paradigm of question-inquirer-answer able to yield up the effect of finding his true nature?
And in parallel, can he harken back to some past tradition and say,
"Well, my conundrum triggers answers put forth by this body of wisdom or
that body of wisdom or this enlightened master..." Do these references
give him what he wants?
At every turn, it seems as if he's been looking for some sort of content
or material or information that will unlock the door. Or perhaps he
needs an experience that will shock his system into a new realm of
perception.
All along, he has been searching for some kind of reality that is
already there. A deeper reality, a more elevated reality. Concealed,
out of view. Hidden.
Which is why he is Occult Man. Because of the way he has been proceeding.
No comments:
Post a Comment