Seeking the Path I
Teachings of the Sea Gods
The Adept and the Path
By
Valerie Bonwick
And
Jonathon Bigras
To students seeking a Teacher,
The obvious is often propounded as if profound,
But by a Master, the profound is stated simply.
Seeking the Path is a quest with which each and every one of us can empathize and enthuse; it is of principal concern to any Quester of sincere intent. Countless generations of Questers have been told traditionally that, “When the student is ready, the Teacher appears.” But in these days of accelerated pressure, particularly in the West, it is understandable that there are some Questers who tend to force the issue, if at all possible. To those of you who are inclined to pursue any action rather than no action at all, we most sincerely advise that it is better to learn from the written word if in your own heart it rings true, rather than from a teacher whom you are unsure is worthy of your trust.
Reconstruction
There are some Questers who present a “meek and goodly countenance“ to the outside world, to use biblical terms, because their lives are devoid of challenge and their dreamlike torpor is the result of habitually expressing the line of least resistance, not the serenity of attainment, which is neither dreamlike or torpid. If you suspect that this description could fit your behavior at anytime, then wake-up and study well the Parable of the Talents. (Matthew Ch.25:14-30)
Reconstruction must be the keynote of your life at this time. The life of any Quester, who is not fully alert, contains some elements of negativity in its field of expression and you cannot progress by the simple avoidance of negativity, you progress by the decisive projection of positivity. It is not possible to progress spiritually by default or omission.
Therefore, you may find as you progress, that the stage of your life will become littered with dead and dying scenarios and as your real self takes center stage, the many characters that you play must be laid to rest like so many stage props and the artifice which spotlights your actions must be extinguished. But within this phase of your life, you will eventually feel the relief that is experienced, such as when you come forth into the reality of day from a darkened theater. You cannot phantasize anymore. Reality must be one of the cornerstones of your reconstruction.
Within the confines that you build for yourself, I use the word “confines“ deliberately, because at first, you grasp of reality is a very private personal experience of your inner being, you must posit your attention protectively, as if it is concentrated upon a seed of power which nothing must disturb in its serenity. Remember, by pushing outwards slowly and surely, a giant oak tree from a tiny acorn grows.
Conditioning
Many Questers possess layers of artifice that are the result of conditioning that has been in progress since the day you were born. Some of this conditioning is unfortunately inevitable, but that does not imply that it is necessarily destructive or negative.
Consider for instance, the conditioning by your family, environment, schools and education, race, religion and values that you have learned to accept as part of the adult world, without necessarily questioning them or believing in them.
Unfortunately, some of you allow your lives to slide by, accepting the self-image which has been created for you by your conditioning from various sources, without ever exploring the possibility that there is a real you, one that has never emerged into the forefront of your consciousness, but has been stifled into the role of a compliant, unobtrusive observer.
Your conditioned responses serve you in presenting the face by which you wish to be recognized, in each of the areas of life in which you participate. There is the business-you, the sociable-you, the nature-loving you, the sports-participation you, the family-conscious you, the pop-metaphysical you, but any “you“ that you present to the world is a result of conditioning, not the real you.
Awakening Your Real Self
It is by awakening your real self that you succeed in progressing beyond the world of illusion. This awakening, you must accomplish for yourself, for any interference by well-meaning help from others, will only produce a response in you that is a reflection of your relationship with them.
When you first awake to reality, you may be appalled at the robot-like subjective existence of your colleagues, you may be tempted in understandable criticism of their plight to interfere in their lives, instead of directing your own life on to the next step of the Path, leading you into more useful channels of effort.
More than ever this is the time to keep your own goal in sight. There are sometimes discussions and speculations from Questers in regards to seeking the Path, but consider an honest confrontation between your recognition of your true self and finding the Path as synonymous.
Therefore, your immediate preparation is to:
For instance: a small daughter of elderly parents, whose old fashioned behavior is charming in the extreme, is sad to behold when she has become a grown women in the prime of life, sharing the habits and goals of the aged.
Similarly, the prettily mannered son of a doting mother may be a joy to encounter, but if he remains immature, he will be completely unsuited to guide a younger generation when he is a man.
These are attitudes which are superimposed upon one by others, but they are, like all attitudes, responsive to honest evaluation and subject to self-imposed change.
Perhaps there are certain attitudes you express in order to impress others, there may also be attitudes that you express in order to avoid unpleasantness or evade responsibilities and there may be many more attitudes that you assume in order to meet whatever situation may arise. Yet, amongst all those false selves, your real self may elude you.
The above guidelines are not an easy tightrope to walk, but for those of you who possess unfulfilled aspirations to travel the Path, they may help you to point the way. This is a personal search, one that will take you on a journey from your outer selves to the inner you when you commence the personal transformation that will take you on to the Path, it will eventually reflect itself in your outer life as fact.
Your False Selves
The stripping away of so many layers of veneer in order to arrive at your real self is an essential step. Each layer represents a false self, a conditioned response to circumstance and environment, an automatic “you“ which you switch on in response to interaction with your fellow man and which differs in quality according to each individual relationship.
The sum total of these false selves provides a field of operation for the conditioned you, which is quite likely to remain unawakened while the real you remains undisturbed, except for an emergency or crisis which may shock and awaken you into momentary contact with your real self.
Caution is advised to safeguard yourself from using the new attitude of your awakened self as an excuse, a psychological coat hanger, upon which to hang all your disagreeable reactions to your fellow companions on the Way, especially when you perceive them reflected your own faults for the first time.
This exercise in developing an instinctual honesty and an ever-present sincerity expressed in full consciousness, is in no way intended to encourage you to begin an “open season“ of criticism regarding your colleagues’ faults and failings. Concentrate upon eliminating your own flaws of character, that usually keeps one busy enough for a while and remember that honesty does not invest you with a license it to hurt. There are many degrees, inflections and tones of voice that you can use to answer, “yes“ or “no,“ which in no way detracts from the fidelity of their meaning.
Style of Presentation
The meditation techniques and visualization exercises we share with you in the chapters that follow, Part Three and Part One of Training of an Adept, have been presented in a rather relaxed literary form, but they are quite precise in content and direction. This is deliberate in intent and deserves some explanation.
Each Quester brings to the study of the Ladder Path his or her personal character traits and sounds a note that is distinctive to the individual concerned. The steps which form the Ladder Path are dedicated to enhancing the timber of that note for the good of all.
It is not our intention to suffocate an individual’s temperament in tightly rigid meditative attitudes that could result in devotees who are unable or unwilling to think for themselves. You are encouraged to study this teaching, absorb its ideas, stretch your mind skills and decide for yourselves the details of how best to implement your self-training.
Several provisos we insist upon, to be honest with yourself and completely truthful in keeping your journal of progress, which is for your own perusal only. It is also essential that to implement common sense decisions in regard to your life style and personal habits.
Skills of the Future
There is a very good reason for the rather free approach to treading the Path as suggested. It is not because it will make treading the Path any easier for you, indeed, we have discovered that the most sincere Questers are much harder task masters when monitoring themselves than any regulations imposed from without could be. In fact, this freedom tends to separate truly dedicated Questers, from spiritual dilettantes who merely desire a Teacher’s attention.
The most important reason for our present teaching approach is that we do not wish you to lose or diminish any emerging skills which might be important, not only to you, but to the next subrace or to this present Age. Each Quester endures similar tests, but emerges from those tests sounding a slightly different note from his or her colleagues, although it may well be one which contributes to that harmonious chord which sounds forth whenever-ashramic participation is involved in furthering of hierarchical venture.
Some qualities which may yet evolve are as yet tiny seeds which might not begin to surface until the next subrace. Therefore, we choose to nurture the positivity of emerging qualities that may enrich the weave which forms the fabric of the hierarchical structure. We prefer to teach you with less imposition of the rules of the road, while providing you with all that is necessary for your journey, rather than have you leave behind as unnecessary baggage some rare quality of virtue that is waiting to express itself in a future moment in time.
Diverse Paths
You will discover that many paths are advertised and most of them profess foolproof maps to the treasured goal, but some paths serve to sidetrack you or mislead you by introducing the doctrinal complexities that counter your instincts of right or wrong. It very often happens that once your training expresses itself as an improvement in your physical, emotional or mental well-being as the result of your spiritual progress, you find yourself invited to participate in diverse areas of occult interest that distract you from your goal and tempt you to stray from your chosen Path.
A word of warning however, to those of you who prefer to pursue their studies within a group. Because one is drawn towards certain groups by vibrating “like unto like,“ ensure by your own high standards and sincere efforts to become worthy of advanced teaching, that you are attracted only to genuine groups of Questers whose own spiritual standards are above reproach.
From personal observation, we have often watched how a complex social structure of a declared school, sometimes defeats itself when stretched to provide spiritual needs while struggling for material survival. Either the one or the other suffers. The quality of available teaching under such circumstances becomes hurried, resulting in too few safeguards against the entrance of unsuitable candidates who should not be trusted with knowledge that can be used unwisely. In such a situation, the sincere Quester often suffers the most, losing valuable time in waiting for promised esoteric training which is not forthcoming.
Pages 148-156
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