Saturday, September 7, 2013

Education vs. Skepticism & Cynicism

This journey I am on has no clear roads. It is much more like walking a rocky river bed, upriver. Some times the water is calm in deep eddies, sometimes it is a strong ripping force with only slippery stones to brace against the current. So I am hoping I am not slipping into gullibility as I look in different places for methods that will help me find my way.
I am a skeptic. More than that I tend to be a bit of a cynic, thinking more often that people who sell "enlightenment" are con artists and roadside swindlers. The difficult part of this is that I am looking for information that it seems to be lacking in most common people. I want to believe, but the church of men has failed me. So I turn to a friend, and find her finding solace and wisdom through the Modern Mystery School. When I hear their pitch, I am half intrigued, and half dismissive. Their sales pitch has sold me in some areas, but then I consider more and I am left with questions that fail to support their selling points.
Now, this skepticism, and these questions could have two different sources. The first is the obvious distrust of snake oil salesmen. The second is knowledge that I am stubborn, and I hold to my beliefs of how the world works tightly. Is the skepticism founded in distrust, or is it realized in the mind's protective ways, holding fast to its illusions and delusions?

These questions come to mind after last night I attended an informative sales pitch from the Modern Mystery School.  The event was called Education for the Soul: Mastery in the New Paradigm. Ultimately, it claims to teach from oral traditions, passed down from the time of King Solomon, using healing and spiritual models extracted and combined from a multitude of different cultures. This, in their eyes, is what the value and treasure of King Solomon's Temple, and is his legacy and gift to us in the world.
In the opening to the presentation, a short visual exercise was initiated to suggest that a goal of being a better and more successful healing soul was suddenly achieved. In this world, after this miracle had occurred, what was the first thing I noticed had changed.
I saw nothing.
I heard nothing.
In fact what I noticed was Silence. When I wrote it down in my notes, it was under the auspice that I had somehow failed to fully visualize and join in the experience as suggested. By the end I had come to connect the silence to the silencing of the doubts and those occasions of low self esteem within my own head... That silence would be welcome indeed.

Mastery in the new paradigm is about mastering the self; as Leonardo da Vinci said, "Know thyself". We cannot cause a great effect in the world save for the effect we can cause in our own hearts. This also was addressed in the idea that we all wear masks. How we present ourselves to the world is one thing, but to do so in the mirror, and attempt to deceive ourselves is a danger, not just to our own souls, but to world around us. The instructors did not suggest to not wear masks, but to be aware what masks we wear, and why we wear them.
The one thing that was mentioned in the event that may have sold me more than any other was the idea that Life Activation can have an effect on not just myself, but on my genetic lineage, in both directions. And the idea that it might help me find healing and forgiveness in my relationship with my children. That possibility alone makes it easier to look beyond my skepticism, but I do come back to the hesitation, and hope that I am not being sold on a weakness in my heart by a roadside swindler. 

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