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To say that we modern human beings are confused and without a center or a ground for our being is to repeat clichés already overworked in the literature of existentialism. Still we see our world exploding and expanding with a frightening degree of complexity and multiplicity.
A world of multiplicity that produces ever increasing levels of anxiety due to meaningless existence through a lack of inner harmony holds the first group in captivity to an objective consciousness. In this perspective such human beings are the center and goal of their value system, their motivation and moving force behind their thoughts, words, and deeds.
This growth neither depends on nor provides an increase in worldly knowledge, skill and possessions, but aims at closer contact with supra-worldly Being. This requires a different kind of knowledge, a knowledge that is based on a special kind of experience, penetrates the mystery of Being, and bears within itself the way that leads to Being. It is, as Dr. Karlfried Graf Durckheim calls it, “initiatory” knowledge.
To “initiate” means to open the way to the mystery of one’s true nature in union with the inner Center that knows no circumference, Being itself.
The path of initiation is a continued process, but begins with a new awakening of one’s essential or true nature grounded in experiencing Being as the center of life. The goal of such initiation is to achieve a new structure whose every shift and ripple lets the Absolute show through. Experience of the Divine always remains a gift and a grace from Ultimate Being and there is nothing we can do to bring such experience about. Yet the way to transformation demands the cross of inner discipline and inner attentiveness to achieve a state of mind and being that is a sign of the conscious level of union with Life already realized.
This path of initiation means sacrificing everything that prevents us from serving the Absolute and unconditionally accepting everything that helps us to do so. The spirituality and transformative process along which Durckheim guides anyone who wishes to follow his teaching is not for the dilettante or for one who seeks some exotic way of transformation without the cross.
America. He has often repeated in his writings the truth commonly taught in all true religions: that once the disciple has made contact experientially with the Inner Master, he/she will then discover the outside master to lead one farther.
Graf Durckheim was for me “THE” master who made it possible to discover the only true Master, Jesus-Christ! It was the great turning point of my life.
Graf Durckheim was the key which opened the door to experience; my “knowledge” became Life, intelligence descended into the “heart”, the Word became flesh within in the great vivifying movement of the Spirit toward the unique Source of all Life which is the Father. Now I was discovering experientially the divine Trinity confessed mentally for so many years! From that moment on, the door was wide open. It opened onto a space which gave birth to all the experiences which shook my life afterwards: in particular, it led to a radically different understanding of the Bible and of the Tradition which made it possible to rediscover the Fathers of the Church and I progressively rooted myself in Orthodoxy.
Can words translate his extraordinary force and this ageless youth, his fiery temperament, his look at once full of tenderness and yet piercing you to your depths, his often overwhelming smile which illuminated his face, his voice in turn melodious and passionate, his bursts of laughter and his humor…No text could ever render the essence of this encounter! Thank you, Graf Durckheim, for the marvelous time spend at your side, thank you for the wealth which you communicated to us, thank you for what you did not say but which the intimacy of your presence revealed to us, thank you for the love which you gave us and which will always be alive within us.
AI Summary
The Path of Initiation by Alphonse Goettmann and Theodore and Rebecca Nottingham presents key insights from the Taoism tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
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