The ageless wisdom

Outer culture and inner schooling

The outer, exoteric current has been manifested in the official religion, cultic structure or organisation found in all cultural relations. We may call this outer, visible manifestation the official religion or the outer cultural impulse. The purpose of the outer expression has been education of the masses, and in the beginning the leading positions were always entrusted the right teachers, but gradually as the successors took over, free rein was often available for the more selfish tendencies, and here we see the root of the exploitation and suppression, to which the many established religions and sects have exposed their followers. The abuse of power, the doctrines and the traditional interpretations are always a demonstration of a religion’s outer period of decline and at the same time indirectly the introduction of the initialisation of a new, reformed impulse.

Behind the outer manifestation all religious guides and spiritual leaders have had an inner message, a deeper teaching, which was only reserved the few. Let us call this the esoteric teaching. This knowledge or enlightenment was presented to a small, specially prepared group, who was able to understand the profound perspectives of the impulse and capable to control this knowledge in a proper way. Jesus indicates in the Gospels several times that the masses cannot bear the direct teaching but have to “hear it in parables”, whereupon he goes to a remote place with his disciples to share with them. St Paul, who was among the highly trusted, speaks in his letters of “the mystery of Christ” (Colossians 4:3)and “the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:2) and he emphasizes: “ But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom…” (1 Corinthians 2:7).

Later he amplifies this and says that he and his fellow disciples do not speak in words that come from human wisdom, but in words that come from the spirit, as they interpret “spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:13). Obviously there is a difference at which levels the individuals are in their lives, and we can now understand that the mysterious secretiveness of the inner teaching had a reasonable purpose. Trying to share the enlightenment with people who are not prepared or ready to take the consequences will always be doomed to failure and at worst be disastrous, if the knowledge handed down is misused. The separatism, the conflicts and doctrines have always been expressed in the outer manifestations of the official religions. However, the inner schools have carefully preserved the enlightenment, which was entrusted them, and they have educated people to take on leading roles and perform renewing work for the society, in which they lived. When you follow the spiritual impulses, you will realize that what in previous cultures was esoteric – i.e. concealed to the public – today is accepted facts, which are accessible to the public. What was previously esoteric later became exoteric or exteriorised. In this way evolution progressed.

The esoteric knowledge was merely reserved the few because there were not many who were able to use it, whereas the exoteric knowledge was the directly accessible knowledge, which could be turned into social activities and initiatives. In reality you may see the progress of history as a description of the implementation of the esoteric impulses into everyday life, and we are all more or less active participants in this process. The road to visibility will always follow three steps, where the first phase is that one or several esoteric persons receive the impulse from within or through a spiritual guide, whereupon they will be instructed in its aspects at a more confidential level. In the second phase the enlightened thinkers of the time, the so-called intelligentsia, will catch the impulse from the esoteric persons and begin to adapt and integrate it in various areas of the social life, which will lead to innovation and creation. Finally the impulse will be exteriorised in the public’s accept of the works of the enlightened thinkers. At this stage we can finally say that the impulse has become exoteric.