Intellect or Blind Faith?- Understanding Illumination

When it comes to spirituality, faith, or occultism, it seems the same rule is being taught: In order to know God, divinity, or transcendental reality, it is necessary to put aside the mind — only through a special state of consciousness it is possible to connect with the Divine Within and without.

The above is excellent advice, except it is only half of a whole, and that half has been vastly misunderstood or twisted, that it has brought forth many so-called masters or leaders who often end up causing more damage to the mind and soul. for they, too, are focused on negation or repression. You see, to navigate the Esoteric Realm (spiritual, occult) one needs to prepare; preparation is not the same as repetition or memorizing concepts without analysis, introspection, questioning, testing, etc. After preparing one needs to LIVE the experience to reach a special state of consciousness. To listen to only half the truth of this ancient teaching, is no different than the student who only memorizes concepts in order to pass an exam vs. the one who seeks to understand and tests what he or she is being taught (experience). Faith was never to be blind faith–for we all know what happens when the blind lead the blind.

Back in ancient times, an initiate was prepared through intellect and experience, not just blind faith. The desire to wash away from our self-responsibilities and the desire to run away from our shadow, and wounds, as well as the false sense of needing to seem normal and fit in, has led to much deterioration of sacred concepts; it has also caused many people to be taken advantage of by so-called masters, pastors, guides and more–people who often hide their own denial of self or ignorance on the subject, by simply stating that all one needs to do is to blindly believe and repeat niceties and echo concepts they have not analyze nor contrast, much less understand. Fanaticism (which comes from the desire to run away from self or desperation; never understanding) is the reason we find so many passive-aggressive people within many of these disciplines. When presented with valid and meaningful questions or data that contradicts their teachings, people often get agitated, condescending, or label one as heretic or worse–if you ask me, it’s not a very good sign of a person who is supposed to channel wisdom and unconditional love. 

Sethian Gnosticism (seeking knowledge and understanding without falling prey to extremes) is an excellent source to remind us of the danger of extremes.  To Sethians, what we now call faith is really blind faith, which is what it’s called dogma.  A person with a dogmatic mind is one who has become rigid; as such, it cannot flow, much less integrate any concepts, for it is more concerned with being right than getting as close to the truth of self and life as one possible can.  Sethians used to say we should beware life has extremes on either side (good or bad) and those extremes are detrimental to a person  — the labels “Good”, “Bad”, “right”, “wrong”, “dark”, “light” are simply man-made created concepts in an attempt to try to mold reality so as to try to make sense of it all.  But the power of origin, the primordial laws of life do not hold labels, they all exist for one’s own benefit, if one is willing to become self-responsible versus seeking to sacrifice their divine fire upon any altar that claims will absolve them of the guilt, pain or shame accumulated from running away from one’s own shadow. 

Within the emerald tablets is a great teaching: if you want to reach illumination (which is the integration of one’s own light and dark- not seeking to eradicate one or the other), you must first reach wisdom.  To reach wisdom, you must be willing to walk and familiarize yourself with the dark…for that is where the Gem of wisdom awaits.  Interesting, to say the least, as it holds echoes of original Greek or Gaelic Mythologies, which vary tremendously from the common mythology we have heard in later centuries.  In ancient Greek myths, the hero was not the one who cut Medusa’s head, but faced her; facing meant not being turned to stone and dying, but killing the fire of dogma and becoming a man of the cool fire—a warrior of stone.  It did not mean dying; it meant becoming a creator, not a servant.  Likewise, the process of going to Hades was not a perpetual hell with fire where one was to burn through eternity but to go into the subconscious and confront one’s own terrors and come out “reborn,” a stronger, wiser, freer version.  Regarding Gaelics, the original stories had nothing to do with slaying the dragon but with conquering the dragon – which is a representation of self —  and using its might to serve the now hero.  Some would say, why would the stories have been changed, twisted, or outright inverted?- well simple: the old stories encourage the individual to become exactly that, an individual; connected yes but not a servant to the world- or what later some religions use as “in the world but not of the world”.  Psychology and sciences have proven that our minds understand symbology better than any other language, followed only by metaphors – if you can understand what I just said, then you can understand why it would serve the interests of many to taint ancient myths.  The ancient myths seek to liberate, the “modern” ones seek to subjugate – this is why learning to expand our point of reference and discernment are deeply important.

People who hide behind a particular belief out of a desire to run away from their pain are very different in attitude from those who choose a particular path to help them improve their way of life or to give purpose to their life--as life on its own can be terrifying. This means there are very good people within any discipline who intuitively understand there are many paths to divinity, divinity’s unconditional love, and who do not hide nor negate the reality of who they are at their core in an attempt to be more agreeable. My personal experience with the latter has always been pleasant, interesting, and enriching (for we exchange concepts with a genuine desire to enrich our lives). Because they are not running from themselves, one can tell their genuineness and lack of rigidity.

Those who have succumbed to blind faith have come to despise the intellect as if this was cause for all harm–in other words, they despise the part of themselves they are afraid to confront. To be afraid is natural, as it is the right to choose not to navigate the internal waters of the subconscious or shadow; however, if this choice is not done consciously or in “good faith”, it only leads to serious mental and spiritual complications, division, passive-aggressive behavior and hatred–in which one is willing to do anything to defend a particular belief or faith (which should be a personal experience) to the point of abusing or murdering our own neighbors–history is full of these. Such conduct does not necessarily reflect divinity, but it is the opposite.

The intellect is like a boat; you use it to navigate from one point to another–you wouldn’t just attempt to swim in the middle of nowhere (the vastness of the ocean) without being prepared now, would you?…that would be foolish. The intellect is that tool that helps us navigate the Maya (illusions of life); as such, it holds value.

“The intellect is the capacity of the human mind to deal with analysis and discernment” –with the intellect, we are capable of classifying, categorizing, reasoning, discerning, separating, interrelating and drawing conclusions–in fact, neuroscientists have placed it in the frontal part of the brain; it has a specific activity which can be traced. With the intellect, we are able to follow patterns of learning and teaching; it is even responsible for our beliefs when uniting ideas with emotions. The intellect is the most important tool we have for our own prosperity and our survival. This doesn’t mean one is to overvalue the intellect and punish or belittle the spiritual aspect of our being. Our intellect, body, emotions, and ether (soul) have a deep inter-relationship–they are all part of our being, and each offers a piece of the puzzle for connecting divinity and liberating the spirit. As such, they all need to be valued and their gifts (lessons) respected.

The simplest way to look at the above is this: your body could not properly function without the brain, could it? neither could your brain function in this life without the rest of your body, and neither one of those could function without the ether (soul)–nor could the soul experience this life without the body and the functioning of the brain–it is all connected; as such, to nullify or exalt only one aspect is not only foolish but counterproductive.

The intellect is not the same as consciousness; this is why to exalt the intellect as king and the only way to look at the world, is to make a huge mistake and to cage oneself within a limited world. Our consciousness is the most profound part of our being and the only path to our spirit (let us not confuse soul with spirit). We need the soul, intellect, and body to help us navigate the physical and nonphysical world; as we do this, our level of consciousness expands–this is a process and one that is not achieved by the majority of us during our lifetime.

In psychology, when it talks about the conscious and the unconscious, it is evident the “conscious” represents but the tip of the iceberg–the majority of consciousness is hidden within the dark, beautiful waters of the unconscious or shadow. As such, the ability to properly train ourselves to understand complicated concepts, allegories, myths, philosophies, and so forth requires proper education–for education is to the intellect what physical exercise is to muscles–and proper education is not basic schooling but a lifetime process of various disciplines and concepts + experience. This means that if we follow people who are not properly educated (rounded education) and who are not training themselves, we run the risk of falling prey to charlatans, cults or dogmas–in other words, we run the risk of falling into very rigid ways of living and losing our real selves; for we sacrifice upon their altars our divinity in exchange for feeling that we belong.

The need to belong, to be a part of a community, is innate; for just like in life, everything physical and non-physical is connected. However, a tree doesn’t have to act like the ocean in order to be part of life’s divinity. Nor does a dove have to behave like a tiger in order to be part of life. Nature understands this clearly…why are we so eager to melt into one? Why are we so eager to believe that to be connected to our fellow humans, to life, to divinity, means to give up our unique way of expression? We are part of the whole already, let’s get that straight; if the divine omnipotent consciousness wanted us to be all the same, it would have made us all the same and given us the exact experiences– wanting us all to be the same but failing to make us the same, would challenge the concept of all-knowing and powerful.

We are unique expressions of a divine consciousness. If you want to give it a name, a title, a gender, or whatever it is that makes you feel more connected, go ahead. Just don’t assume that because something works for you and you alone, it means your path is the only path. And just because you may want to melt does not mean it is divinity’s wish. As I said in my previous articles, at the end of the day we only know very little; we have lots of theories (paths) including the ones I offer in this blog–none of it means that I or you, have the only undisputable truth–if we did, we would not be here.

The bottom line is this: do not fear the intellect, do not despise or abuse your own body, and do not exalt the soul–they are all part of you–use them. As per your beliefs, if they make you a better human vs a rigid one, then all the more power to you–remember that a “better human” is not one who sees himself as above others or below others; he recognizes his value–because of that, he does not need to force others to walk the same path nor mock or condemn them. If at the end of the day, your actions show very little concern for another human being, or if your actions are only there to show off and get accolades or hide your shortcomings, then no amount of niceties or sweet language, will cover the fact that you are more concerned with theory than with walking the path back to your own divinity–for to be a better human is to be genuinely humane; and this should not be confused with being always agreeable–it is all about balance, for that is the dance of life!