It is not enough to plunge into mysticism, you still need to competently answer oneself to the question: “What was that?”. Each person in his/her experience may come across something inexplicable and mysterious. Sometimes, if an experienced phenomenon fascinates with its beauty, grace and wisdom, one does not want to deeply comprehend it, since the element of miracle will disappear. But what if esotericism or mysticism is a person’s profession or a key element of his worldview? Wouldn’t a deep understanding of what is happening then be a necessary criterion of professionalism?
The more I study various esoteric trends, the more I notice that, unfortunately, we move further and further away from the need to be aware of our work and experience. I understand those clients who came for a miracle. The less explanation they receive, the more enthusiastic they will leave the practitioner’s office. And what about the practitioners themselves? Of course, it is very flattering when a client loyally looks at us as an omniscient and omnipotent figure who is able to suggest a solution to any problem. But then, if we are so omniscient and omnipotent, why are we so reluctant to show the details of our work to colleagues? With colleagues, the conversation will be equal, and they will not be fooled by the effect of a miracle, since they themselves create such miracles quite well. But the likelihood that they will disagree, challenge or criticize the work is very high.
For some reason, some esotericists, whatever they do, believe that they have invented a new trend in which they work. Most of the esoteric trends are of a rather venerable age, as well as hundreds of predecessors who also worked in this field, received experience and wrote about it. However, a rare esoteric book begins with an analysis of the work of its predecessors. It appears as if from a vacuum, from the depths of the exclusive experience of the mystic, although it is quite obvious that thousands of pages have already been written on any esoteric topic. Of course, to read them, to get acquainted with the experience of predecessors is a rather meticulous work. And it is even more difficult to realize and formulate how much one’s own experience is consistent with or contradicts the experience of others, what a new person brings into this sphere, presenting his/her experience, and also what are his/her weaknesses.
What boring thoughts!!! Yes, it probably is. But I am deeply convinced that if the received mystical and seemingly such experience were subjected to serious reflection, the amount of esoteric literature on the modern market would decrease 10 times. The same would happen with the practitioners of esotericism, some of which would simply “leave the game”, since the conceptualization of the experience I am writing about requires a serious intellectual load. And some esoteric service providers are just too lazy to strain once again.
Someone will say: “Our clients spoil us!” But really, why strive for quality when the client is simply unable to distinguish an esoteric from a charlatan? It is enough to pretend, learn the “basic vocabulary”, purchase a sufficient number of props and write your “mystical biography” on the Internet, as you can be a “practitioner” for a long time and successfully, accepting crowds of naive people. But let’s imagine that a so-called “unpleasant client” comes to an appointment with an esotericist. What awaits us in this case?
And there are a lot of questions awaiting us, which many esotericists will find extremely uncomfortable. And these are not questions asked to devalue you. These are common questions that a person has every right to if he/she enters into a monetary relationship with you and is going to pay for your service. This is the right to informed consent, when a person needs to understand what they are consenting to. If the practitioner does not want, or, oh, my God, cannot answer them, then does the client not have the right to doubt not only a particular practitioner, but also in the whole sphere as a whole?
Many esotericists are often offended that they are not taken seriously in their views on the world order and way of life. It’s easy to blame everything on systems competition. Of course, there is such competition, but it seems to me that this is not the main problem. Tell me, would you send your child to a school whose representatives do not want or cannot answer important questions for you? Instead, they tell you: “We are the best school, with hereditary teachers!” Somehow, this answer does not suit. If you are the best school, what other schools do you know? How are you different? What fundamentally different do you do in your work? Are you innovators? How exactly? What are your traditions? What is your status in the education system?
Try to translate these questions into the perspective of a possible dialogue between the esoteric practitioner and his/her client. A rare esoteric practitioner understands how he/she differs from the colleagues. To do this, you need to know what your colleagues are doing, and this is not always possible. If you are an innovator, then at the very least you need to understand what was happening in your field before you entered it. Many esoteric practitioners have read nothing but the literature recommended by their teachers. You can hide behind the concept of “initiation,” but let’s not fool ourselves. This is a noble and ancient tradition, but in the modern world, initiation often hides not a new mystical level of development at all, but a banal increase in the teacher’s fee or another empty title. The very word “esotericism”, it would seem, has outlived its usefulness, since what is today called this word is public knowledge.
All real experts are “esoteric” in their own way, as their level of competence far exceeds the knowledge of an ordinary user. From the outside it seems that they have hidden knowledge. But even any classical physicist seems to me to be an “initiated esotericist”, since I myself have already forgotten almost everything that I went through in the course of school physics. But then initiation is not necessarily a single ritual, but simply a long and painstaking preparation and training in any field of activity.
The reputation of esotericism is in the hands of the esotericists themselves. I will never agree that it is necessary to introduce general norms and rules for all practitioners, or force them to think the same way. But I would very much like esotericists to be able to deeply and competently conceptualize their experience, so that they can critically relate it to the experience of colleagues and opponents. Perhaps then quantity will gradually develop into quality?
Henadzi Bialiauski