The Initiatory Community
by Athos A. Altomonte
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According to the principles of our School, the (initiatory) Community is made of ‘Groups' of Aspirants that ‘revolve' around a central nucleus ruled by an Older Brother, who irradiates harmony (love) and knowledge and who is ‘recognized' as a Master. Both an advanced Brother – a Master – that rules a Community, and an Instructor – an advanced Disciple – that rules a Group of Aspirants, or lesser initiates, don't represent in any way themselves, an ideology, or a personal point of view made of opinions. Indeed, they both represent a bigger and bigger ‘ability' to reflect the Hierarchic Teaching on their Brothers.

A Teaching that takes shape from the experience on the ‘ Sense of Life ' made and passed on by the Members of the same humankind.

It is a Community of advanced Initiates called ‘ Hierarchy ' that stands out essentially for a hierarchy of inner, metaphysical and spiritual values, born from the renewed link between the part of conscience immersed in the matter of the physical Triad and its counterpart that is outside it: the animic and monadic Triads.

The initiatory Teaching is different from the multiple ‘esoteric opinions' matured by the speculative imagination of the non-introduced to the Mysteries, especially for its unchanged presence in the field of knowledge of the humankind since archaic times. The ‘wisdom' that reaches the Aspirant today has crossed, unchanged, the continuum of knowledge of all times and all the stages of search for the truth that the adepts of mysteriosophic and devotional Orders have experienced. By changing their cognitive abilities, they also continuously changed the (psychological) ‘languages' of knowledge and conscience, appearing as hermetic, mystic, alchemic etc. Nevertheless this ended up passing on the ‘traditional' confusion between the (apparently) different philosophical ideologies that made the body of the many exoteric interpretations of esotericism.

The Teaching as we mean it is speculative only in the propaedeutic stage, which in the ancient Tradition was called of the ‘Threshold'. It is so called because it introduces the Aspirant to the Path of Initiation, turning him into a Disciple in probation, viz. an Aspirant that starts facing the trials determined by the line of his own personal progress (evolution).

The line of personal progress is affected more or less consciously by two elements. The first is unconscious and belongs to the profane; it is a good or bad orientation. The second is conscious and belongs to the advanced Disciples; it is the re-orientation, but this time on the vertical plane. It occurs between man's personality and his soul, the most visible part of which is the Ego (Psichè, the intelligent activity of the soul). It is immediately evident that the Teaching as we mean it is an extremely operative reality, once we have learnt its terms.

Since the practice for a particular kind of mental activity is assimilated in the different planes of conscience of the Disciple, it ends up changing his ‘animal' characteristics (emotional: impulses-instinct and desire-passion) in rational and logical characteristics, reaching intuition and intellect. This is the truly ‘esoteric' sense of the ‘Metamorphosis' of the Disciple. Later, through intuition the (‘solar') ‘Light' of one's own metaphysical (spiritual) essence illuminates one's own phenomenal (material) existence , personality (always ‘humid and passive').

Intuition (inspiration, vocation, illumination and inner revelation) is the fundament of intelligence (not to be confused with mere erudition, archive of the physical reason) and these two elements can be symbolically considered the two supports of the ‘ Bridge ' that allows to start the Work of integration between the physical mind and the so called pure reason, viz. the thought of the soul. In the transmutation the Apprentice lets out through his gestures, actions and words, the inner balance (the justice aspect), therefore the Teaching is ‘reflected' with effects visible outside man as a living being. Therefore in its manifestation the Teaching stops being only a theoretical and speculative element, although skilfully crafted, and becomes living Ethics . Living Ethics is, in other words, the Teaching embodied in man that lives by manifesting itself through his thought and his actions.

The Hierarchy of the Masters is a Community of very advanced men that works for the Benefit of the Humankind, also acting as Guides of men among the most capable and willing; they are mostly keen on changing themselves, accepting to abandon preconceived opinions and relative and separating ideologies, but also determined to abandon masks, roles, habits and models that will be ‘demonstrated' to be delusional and imaginary (Maya) and use as reference models given by the ‘esoteric Realism' (that for the moment we desist from defining).

In conclusion of this short introduction to the meanings of ‘living Ethics', we would like to highlight how in the ancient times the Teaching was defined by the term of ‘Tradition' (not to be confused with the popular ‘traditionalisms') that Disciples and lesser initiates exoterically called ‘initiatory science'. Also, we would like to point out for some ‘inattentive' readers that the term used is ‘science' and nothing else. Like the most patient people will be able to find out, initiatory science and ceremonial Magic (spiritual theurgy, not to be confused with ‘practical' theurgy, symbolic and representative used in the rites of churches and in the temples of devotional cults) have nothing to do with the magic of popular esotericism carried out by ‘practitioners' that work outside the (universal) Order and its Hierarchy). Today the elements of the same science are recognizable in the arguments of the different concrete sciences, unfortunately still separated from each other. It is as if they were parts of the same body but ‘dissected', therefore not alive and efficient as it should be and it will be tomorrow.

The ordinary man (please do not sense any disdain in this term) is a thought-form unconscious of himself (of his own Self) and of what he generates with his words, gestures and actions. On the contrary, the advanced Disciple is already a self-conscious thought-form able to self-determine the forms that he generates through his thought, word, gesture and action. The Initiate generates with discernment every action and opportunity deciding what, how, where, when and to whom he finds fair, useful and economical to ‘give or do'. A ‘realist' philosopher said that is foolish to try and help fools. This is why an Instructor, or a Master, will not start a Work ‘if the workmen are not truly ready'.

The advanced Disciple and the Initiate, although to a different extent, are both conscious of Self as a spiritual and physical thought-form. The advanced Disciple learns that it is natural to build his own thought-forms to be used to the advantage of his own Service. Therefore it is understandable why it is said that the Initiate enflames the space around him with his words and moves the energy of the space with his actions. This is true and possible for every Initiate.

We will offer a last hint to highlight the transmuting will of the initiatory Teaching as we mean it by quoting an extract of the Commentary of a Master: ‘…the Mysteries are revealed not by receiving information about them and their process, but by action of certain processes carried out in the ethereal body of the Disciple (the event of communicating between soul and personality is said ‘revelation' in popular esotericism. Technically, this event is recognized by esoteric science as the sign of a certain kind of inner ‘telepathy' that ‘joins' two elements of conscience, the physical and animic mind [the Buddhic plane] that belong to the ‘same area of conscience'; without it the true link with the Aura of the Master, viz. the constant link rather than the occasional one, will be impossible to achieve – Note of the Author. ) … they allow him to know what is hidden; they give him a mechanism of revelation and make him aware that he has certain ‘irradiating and magnetic' powers or energies that constitute channels of activity and methods through which he can acquire what is the privilege of the Initiate to own and use…'.