{"id":7644,"date":"2014-11-07T00:34:48","date_gmt":"2014-11-07T05:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gornahoor.net\/?p=7644"},"modified":"2020-11-07T07:15:10","modified_gmt":"2020-11-07T12:15:10","slug":"sos-save-our-souls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=7644","title":{"rendered":"SOS Save Our Souls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nEvery unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. From Anna Karenina<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The international distress signal is dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot, or SOS for short. It is easy to remember as \u201cSave our ship\u201d or \u201cSave our souls\u201d. In the latter case, there should be many more such signals.<\/p>\n

At least SOS is organic, and Morse code adepts could identify the sender based on his style. 911, as the emergency number, is not so; the best I could come up with is ZAB, but it may never catch on. It is not even international. Europeans have BAD instead.<\/p>\n

Apart from the rare cases of those predestined to righteousness, most people seek out a spiritual path following a boundary situation or an inner collapse from suffering, guilt, illness, anxiety, despair, and the like. The majority of them will gravitate to an exoteric religion or its equivalent. They want an easy way to save their souls from that collapse. Moreover, they are attracted to promises of a pretty wife or rich husband, a nice car, a better job, perfect health, etc.<\/p>\n

Those who are naturally blessed with such things are seldom so motivated. Or else they treat their spirituality as if it were a pretty ornament, to add some \u201cstyle\u201d to their characters. Their spirituality is \u201cbought and paid for\u201d; they pay for a shaman, a Jungian analyst, a weekend seminar, a course on the \u201claw of attraction\u201d, and so on. Unfortunately, what they want cannot be bought.<\/p>\n

Escapism<\/h2>\n

Those who choose a path are often accused of \u201cescapism\u201d. Clearly, when the house is on fire, is not escape a sound instinct? Real escapism is pretending the danger does not exist. Such people think that the fire is still far away, or there will always be time later on.<\/p>\n

The Buddha famously came to the realization that all life is suffering. He therefore gave up his family, his throne, his wealth, his power in order to escape from that suffering. What did he see that few in his position can see? Nothing significant has changed.<\/p>\n

Moment of Decision<\/h2>\n

An esoteric path, unlike an exoteric path, promises something different. There is an effort required to \u201csave one\u2019s soul\u201d. This means that the crucifixion and descent into hell comes before resurrection. For them, salvation and liberation is achieved by developing a Real Self, Consciousness, and a True Will. That has little appeal because people assume they already have those things.<\/p>\n

Hermetists are indistinguishable<\/a> by sight. That is why they used to pose as horse traders or street performers, etc. Anything to give them cover, and freedom of movement, for their real task. They will appear, seemingly randomly, at various times and places. Those who truly desire an esoteric path will seize on those opportunities, since they are rare and hard to find. Yet most men are stragglers. They dream of such a path, yet refuse to actually enter on the Way. They have a consumer mentality and believe that such paths will always be available to them, since the supermarkets have an abundance of milk and iPhones are everywhere.<\/p>\n