Gnosis is a Lonely Path
Jan. 21st, 2019 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
causticusIt goes without saying that Gnosis is not for the faint of heart (to put it lightly). And it's certainly not a path for extroverts or really anyone who requires a lot of interpersonal attention and social validation in their everyday bumblings. It's not the path for those who have the proverbial "ants in their pants" and are thus prone to constant action at the expense of contemplation and self-reflection. The so called "man of action" and the aspiring Gnostic will seldom see eye-to-eye on much of anything.
There's a very good reason why spiritual seekers throughout history often preferred to cloister themselves away from the general public. Asceticism has always been a logical defense against the temptations, corruptions and vulgarities of the mundane world. However this act of running away comes with a downside. The cloistered ascetic may become totally out of touch with the general society and thus become incapable of rendering any useful service to others. We see this enough with Ivory Tower intellectuals who fancy themselves as far above the common rabble and often assume to know what's best for them.
So there needs to be a happy and harmonious middle-ground. That is: shield myself from the malignant influences of daily life, but still engage in the surrounding social fabric, in a limited capacity. I shall, to the best of my abilities, only interact meaningfully with people of sound and temperate character. And when I am able to, offer help and assistance to those in need, granted this assistance does not devolve into over-personalized interactions. In other words, keep the walking wounded at arm's length. But first, do everything possible to not myself be one of the walking wounded.
The long and short of it: there's very few people out there who earnestly pursue spirituality the great mysteries. That is, people who embark on a spiritual path that is divorced from religious dogma. And for those who wish to undertake this journey, there are countless obstacles, pitfalls and distractions along the way. The many wayward paths usually lead to places like: conspiracy theory rabbit holes chock full of paranoid parallelomania; religious fanaticism and fundamentalism that rapidly falls upon immature persons who develop a false sense of certitude with regard to a specific doctrine or set of teachings; New Age nonsense and other forms of milquetoast modern pseudo-spirituality; and then of course the sort of crushing nihilism and hedonistic materialism that may result from too many fruitless searches.
It's all very lonely until you find the right friends. But when those friends do materialize, it's life's most ultimate adventure.
There's a very good reason why spiritual seekers throughout history often preferred to cloister themselves away from the general public. Asceticism has always been a logical defense against the temptations, corruptions and vulgarities of the mundane world. However this act of running away comes with a downside. The cloistered ascetic may become totally out of touch with the general society and thus become incapable of rendering any useful service to others. We see this enough with Ivory Tower intellectuals who fancy themselves as far above the common rabble and often assume to know what's best for them.
So there needs to be a happy and harmonious middle-ground. That is: shield myself from the malignant influences of daily life, but still engage in the surrounding social fabric, in a limited capacity. I shall, to the best of my abilities, only interact meaningfully with people of sound and temperate character. And when I am able to, offer help and assistance to those in need, granted this assistance does not devolve into over-personalized interactions. In other words, keep the walking wounded at arm's length. But first, do everything possible to not myself be one of the walking wounded.
The long and short of it: there's very few people out there who earnestly pursue spirituality the great mysteries. That is, people who embark on a spiritual path that is divorced from religious dogma. And for those who wish to undertake this journey, there are countless obstacles, pitfalls and distractions along the way. The many wayward paths usually lead to places like: conspiracy theory rabbit holes chock full of paranoid parallelomania; religious fanaticism and fundamentalism that rapidly falls upon immature persons who develop a false sense of certitude with regard to a specific doctrine or set of teachings; New Age nonsense and other forms of milquetoast modern pseudo-spirituality; and then of course the sort of crushing nihilism and hedonistic materialism that may result from too many fruitless searches.
It's all very lonely until you find the right friends. But when those friends do materialize, it's life's most ultimate adventure.
