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Continued from Community:
"Esoteric viewpoints are often viewed with suspicion for a variety of reasons. First, they tend to only enter mainstream awareness when something has gone wrong, or when they have been scrubbed of all connection to esoterica. Due to this, they are often viewed as abnormal, dangerous, and ‘fringe’. This does not combine well with the bad reputation of religion cultivated by its mainstream counterparts. Further, secrecy and initiatory rites are commonalities in the esoteric, and which are viewed as inherently suspect. These behaviours are explicable, however, both as pragmatic choices and vehicles for spiritual significance."
Secrecy
"The tendency to secrecy in esoteric tradition has many reasons, but they can, in the main, be organised into the pragmatic and what we will call the ‘symbolic’. These, of course, are arbitrary categories and there exists overlap.
"As regards the pragmatic, this can be seen in a need/desire for privacy and control over one’s reputation. For the former, one only has to consider the treatment of those involved in esoteric groups; and in the following paragraph on the symbolic aspect, and in following subsection. The desire for privacy does not imply there is something to be hid, as much as it may feel so in our share-everything age, but more often a distrust of the motives and intentions of those keen to know the intimate details of private lives. For the latter, consider the aftermath of Mathers handing over HOGD documents to con-artists. Our ‘beliefs’ (we are not a literalist bunch) are inherently heterodoxical and there is no central authority, therefore it is necessary to do what we can to avoid bad actors attempting to speak on our behalf.
"There is also a ‘symbolic’, for lack of a better term, reasoning behind secrecy. The first is an extension of the pragmatic - Spirituality, in our view at least, is a private matter. We aren’t under the impression we hold some Secret Sacred Knowledge; beyond the outlined view of symbol sets as a communal touchstone, what resonates with someone has more to do with them than the symbol itself. The object of faith is simply a focal point and is relatively arbitrary, as it is the relation which matters. Don Gately prays to his ceiling fan, and an atheist can get something out of externalising the inner in a similar way. When we class something as ‘Sacred’, we are establishing its position in our lives. The experiential moment is Sacred & Holy not by its own right, but because it is something we choose to value - we’re indubitably here, and would prefer to celebrate, rather than lament, that fact. The symbolism of the ‘Secrecy of Sacred Knowledge’, or whathaveyou, is that it is ineffable, and has personal significance. Most people have something important to them they’d rather not have broadcast to the world - although in in social media age ‘many’ may be a more accurate quantifier.
"There is also the root nature of the esoteric, “from the Greed [word] for ‘inner’ or ‘within’, and applie[d] to something taught to or understood by the initiated only” (A Brief Guide to Secret Religions, David Barrett). The only things not in this are names, kept to members for reasons outlined above; initiatory procedures, explained below; and items not unique to Thelemic Spiritism, which are mentioned in infosheets as they become useful. More broadly, some amount of secrecy comes with the nature of an initiatory group, and for some it isn’t so much secrecy as specificity (and the specialist nature of) terminology (ibid.)."
Initiation
"Other groups can speak for themselves, but for us initiation is a matter of pragmatic administrative organisation. Any Grade above Neophyte has requirements to ensure it is a suitable placement of an individual qualified to the associated responsibilities.
"Some illustrative examples:
"And so on. Note the absence of the word official: there is no central body. Everything is built locally, from the ground up, and therefore administrative authority must be based on clearly demonstrated qualification. NB no one is more ‘godly’, this is not a spiritual hierarchy, but a practical distribution of responsibility. To based on need, from based on ability, is the simple maxim at play.
"That said, we may attend to initiation as a symbolic act. It is best described as a play in which the candidate is both the main audience, and the main actor. It is a shared experience, as conversion rituals in any other religion, in which membership is conferred and, properly done, represents the Grade and gives material to be pondered thereof.
"To recap: initiation is a dramatised conferring of membership, and/or administrative qualification. It is kept private both to symbolically affirm its significance, and limit the damage done by bad actors. It is not a spiritual hierarchy, and is in no way essential to the practice itself - beyond the advantage of experienced practitioners taking on organisational responsibilities. We’re not cops, you can start practising based solely on the information provided in this document. So long as you aren’t hurting anybody (including trying to force what should be a personal matter onto others), there’s not really a wrong way to engage with the spiritual experience; and, regardless of specific viewpoint, it can be a powerfully beneficial dimension to add to one’s life. Or at least that has been our experience."
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