The ageless wisdom

Esoteric and exoteric

If we have a closer look at the spiritual impulses we will see that they have always been presented at two levels at the same time, so that both the general public as well as the more mature souls were able to catch their contents. The teaching was communicated both at an inner, esoteric and at an outer, exoteric level. Eso-teric means “inner” or “reserved for those with special qualifications”. Esoteric shall here especially mean that it is a matter of the underlying, which is not directly visible or accessible. The exo-teric, however, is the tangible or directly accessible, which is available to everyone without special qualifications or knowledge. In the ancient Egypt the hierophants kept the wisdom for the candidates, who went through the temple schooling and the consecrations.

In Greece the Orphic mystery tradition lived side by side with the Platonic Academy and the Eleusinian mysteries. Pythagoras travelled to the South Italian island Crotana and founded his famous mystery school. The Persian insight was passed on by the late Mithraism, and in India the teaching was communicated at the teaching locations or ashrams of the great mahatmas. In Tibet the wisdom was taught in outlying monasteries, and in the Middle East it was among others the Essenes and the Neo-Platonists, who communicated the spiritual enlightenment to the courageous candidates. Everywhere we find traces from the ageless wisdom, which makes its way up through time till today. From time to time it seems as if the thread is lost, however it appears again in new, unexpected connections, characterized by both continuity as well as renewed vigour.