THE ORIGINAL
TRADITION
The Power of Reality
1
THE
ORIGINAL TRADITION
The Power of Reality
2
THE
ORIGINAL TRADITION
The Power of Reality
3 |
Our Interreligious Initiative
| Christianity is in great trouble. Increasingly people
turn their back to it. Pastors are faced with stress, fatigue and burn-out, desperately
looking for "new inspiration". Old stories are "revived", repeated ad
nauseam. How painful to see religion degenerate at such an unstoppable pace. Everything is
questioned: the existence of God, the identity of Jesus, the claim of redemption, the
truth of the Bible, the role of the priesthood, the truth of dogma's, the value of Church
rituals, the loyalty of the laity etc., etc. Nothing is spared....One only pretends to
rejoice, while deep in one's heart one daily struggles with meaninglessness and despair.
For long the search for Truth has been abandoned. Instead, people cling to an illusion for
dear life. At the end of the day a painful discovery is waiting for them: an emperor
without any clothes on Many try to revive their dying Church
bodies through participating in interfaith groups. Through the confrontation with other
religions, you somehow feel "meaningful", once again. However, reconciliation
with other faiths pre-supposes reconciliation with your own tradition first. How can you
contribute to openness and clarity, while your own home is still a mess? Indeed, in order
to make peace with others you first have to make peace with yourself. Looking into our own
tradition, the shocking truth cannot be hidden anymore. The former is characterized by
continuous war! Church history is a story of exclusion, rejection, intolerance and
oppression of everybody and everything that didn't submit to the power politics of the
Church. For that we had to give up everything that made us alive! |
The
Original Tradition:
Re-integrating that which was excluded
| In Jungian psychology the phenomenon of the shadow is
emphasized. Everything that you reject becomes part of it. So, everything that is too
embarassing to the ego - all fear, pain, anger, lust for life, joy, surrender, sex,
adventure, dreams - is stored here. It is a process of rejection. Through it the ego
becomes "stronger" and "stronger", not realizing that this is because
more and more life is being excluded. Instead, the latter accumulates in the (unconscious)
shadow. In its turn this content is threatening the "stability" of he ego,
through which the latter becomes even more rigid. It is the psychology of the
"authoritarian personality". However, it can be applied to organizational bodies
too. For 2000 years the Church is such a body. It could maintain itself through ruthless
power. Once this power weakened, like in our times, the Churches' ego is unable to control
its shadow anymore. The latter breaking through like a surge. |
| Our treasures lie dormant in what has been oppressed.
Logically, in the first stages of release the stream had been quite chaotic. Our ego's
were overrun by an uncontrollable flow of new impressions. Instead of ego rigidity ego
weakness dominated our bodyminds. We felt (feel) lost. The culture fails in providing us a
new inner structure. It doesn't offer a replacement, at all. On the contrary, it
deliberately sucks us into the abyss of addiction. How to get out of the morass? Luckily,
as through Divine Grace, we discovered our surplus value. The Church is dead, long live
Spirituality. Through the fertilizing effect of Eastern practices (Buddhism) we
re-discovered our Inner Essence, the Divine Spark (Meister Eckhart) within us. Rather than
rely on our ego only, we found our True Self, a new center of inner stability, a new point
of reference, through which we are able to facilitate the integration of our shadow.
|
The
Original Tradition:
Regenerating Western spirituality and religion
| The Original Tradition is re-integrating everything
that was excluded in the past. Through it the dead corpse of Western religion is
resurrected. What the Church killed (through its own suicidal action) comes to life, once
again. Indeed, reason for great joy! Through us the True Mystery of Life - death and
rebirth - enters a new stage in evolution. So what has been killed in the past? Most of us
have no idea. We live in complete historical-religious amnesia, a spiritual Alzheimer so
to speak. Especially the Churches themselves suffer from it. They seek
"solutions" in repeating the "politically" correct dogma's. Most of
them don't see, that the chance for renewal lies in those areas that were rejected and
excluded in the past. Opening up to those areas will turn the crisis into a chance. The
archetypes of Green Men and Wise Women are crucial in this regard. In England the clergy
are increasingly aware of their renewing role. F.i. great care is given in restoring
sculptures. We - as Original Tradition - see it as our mission to support people, groups,
organizations and churches all over Europe and beyond in regaining their inner vitality.
|
| In order to be healed open discussion about the past
is a sine qua non. We have to know the character of our wounds, as a pre-requisite for
cure. After all, our regeneration lies in accepting our shadow, the place where our
suffering is stored. So, some (very) painful facts have to be elaborated. Such as: The
Church did not shy away from using all possible means to force people to believe in the
"Christian" faith. You had to fully accept the dogma's and teachings. The one's
who didn't were intimidated, sent into exile, excommunicated, persecuted, tortured or put
to death. It was he Churches' ongoing crusade against freedom of religion. An entire
culture suffered from the threat of oppression. In a sense, we were (are) all the
"wretched of the earth". Our true spiritual longings couldn't be fulfilled.
Nowadays, Church elites have been replaced by political ones. Aren't we denied to
participate in society as well? The majority is deliberately excluded from equal
cultural/social and political chances. In a way, whole populations are still excluded,
rejected, exploited and oppressed. It started with religion. In order to heal our
"souls" it is to religion we have to return first. That's why The Original
Tradition is taking the lead with initiating the healing process |
The Original Tradition:
Successor to Christianity
The
First Treasure
We celebrate the Cosmic Mother, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven as
the Ultimate Reality from Which the entire universe originates. She is the unfathomable
bottomless Mystery of All Life, giving birth to both the Divine ("God", the
Light) - Her Light Body - as well as the world (the universe, the earth) - Her Material
Body - both continuously returning to their Maternal Origin, where they are
uninterruptedly reborn
The Second
Treasure
We celebrate the unbroken tradition - The Original Tradition -
ranging from the earliest of times in which the Mother and Her Divine Sons/Daughters are
worshipped as a unity. Christianity isn't that unique beginning - as claimed by the Church
- but a continuation of Divine Revelation through Goddesses and Dying and Resurrecting
Gods. Think of Inanna and Tammuz, Isis and Osiris, Anat and Baal, Astarte and Jahweh,
Cybele and Attis, Zeus, the heavenly Bull, Son of the Mother, Aphrodite and Adonis,
Dionysos and yes....Mary Magdalene and Jesus. There appears to be an ongoing link between
Jesus and his predecessors, a fact that the Church has tried to hide with all means.
Ironically, almost every part of the Churches' tradition had been stolen from ancient
times, subsequently distorted to suit the Churches' purpose. We, on the other hand, are
aiming to restore the original ongoing Revelation and Realization, renewing the tradition
while at the same time returning to its roots.
The Third
Treasure
We celebrate the Truth as the ultimate Goal of our Path. In a world
totally corrupted by lies only an uncompromising surrender to Divine Reality can save us.
Only the Truth can stop the decay e.g. the degeneration on all levels of existence. The
source is the corruption of religion. Therefore, we have to unmask all Church
manipulations, with the purpose to reveal the sufferings we have gone through.
Subsequently, we celebrate all saints, all those (or their teachings) that have been
persecuted by the Church because of the testimony of their inner Truth: from Simon Magus
to Mary Magdalene, from Montanus to Origenes, from Hermes Trismegistos to Emperor Julian
the "Apostate", from Pelagius to Julian of Eclanus, from the Brothers and
Sisters of the Free Spirit to Meister Eckhart, from the Cathars to the Templars and the
Grail Legend, from the Troubadours to the worship of the Black Madonna's, from the
Beguines and female Mystics (a.o. Hildegard of Bingen, Birgitta of Sweden) to the
"Witches", from Giordano Bruno to Thomas Müntzer, etc. etc.
The Fourth
Treasure
We celebrate the (Gnostic) Teachings of God-Realization, our own
Divine Nature within. Contrary to Church dogma ("original sin") we are
inherently good, born from and through Original Grace. Therefore, we follow the teachings
of Jesus, where he emphasizes this very fact. "The Light is within you" and
"The Kingdom of Heaven is among us". Not in a "christological" sense,
though, which is an attempt to return to Church dogma (in which people speak of
"Christ within me"). No, it is the Divine itself, exceeding every limitation,
that is at our Innermost Core. Thus, follow Jesus, yes!, provided you not only copy his
virtues, but also and foremost realize his Cosmic Essence, from which these virtues are
arising. Holiness should be a pre-requisite for everyone who claims to guide others on the
spiritual Path. Additionally, we reject the Churches' manipulations with the Bible,
resulting in the fact that only approximately 15% is genuine. Instead, we embrace the
Truth of the original scriptures of all traditions - to begin with classical, mystery,
neoplatonic, gnostic and hermetic texts - as equal paths to Unity
The Fifth
Treasure
We celebrate The Universal Way, sharing a common spiritual practice,
aiming at Self-Realization, Healing and Integration. Practice is leading to Unity with the
Divine and with each other, while theorizing - concepts, convictions, ideas - is leading
to division and separation. It is due to Buddhism that the West got to know about
awareness as one's innermost Core. To Christianity, the idea that deep within we are all
Divine was the greatest possible sin ("blasphemy"). Buddhism - Vipassana and Zen
- and Vedanta have broken this taboo. Reason to be eternally grateful. Crucial is not to
(mis)use these practices in order to once again strengthen old beliefs and dogma's, but to
accept the challenge of total renewal. To this purpose the Divine granted me the gift of
guiding you on your spiritual Path. The Way consists of an integrated approach of 7 steps*
* See: "The
Universal Way"
The Sixth
Treasure
We celebrate the sacredness of nature. For 2000 years the Church has
denounced, villified, cursed, demonized and destroyed nature, calling it the source of all
evil. Its ruthlessness with regard to cutting holy trees, sacred groves, poisoning holy
wells, destroying altars and other sacred objects in nature has no equivalent. It was
Christianity that desecrated nature! Stories about "heroic" missionaries like
Boniface, Ludger and Amand are legendary. Famous is the story in which a blind woman was
cured (sic...) from blindness, after she had been forced to cut a sacred tree. The
consequences were grave. Seeing that the Church was "victorious" over the forces
of nature, people lost their awe for them e.g. started exploiting the latter. Instead of
being part of nature people were seeking dominion over her. Despite that, in the Middle
Ages, Green Men emerged in and on churches. The Original Spirit of Oneness with the earth
proved to be still there. A great triumph, indeed! Hence, Green Men and Wise Women are the
hopefuls in restoring the sacredness of nature, indeed a New Step in Evolution*
* See: "Sacred
Heritage"
The Seventh
Treasure
We celebrate the Transformation of Self and Society. Isn't the
global crisis a symptom of the collapse of a blown-up ego? Because the Church has
prevented us from becoming deeply Ourselves, we replaced Being by having. Deep within we
long for the Divine within us, though. In fact, the Divine is longing for us! By
preventing God unifying Itself with us the Church committed a major crime. It blocked the
road to God-Realization as our innermost Core, this in order to dominate our souls. Once
the road to our Spirit was blocked - the inquisition terrorized us for many centuries - we
started yearning for a substitute. We became addicted to money, status and power. The
latter can never satisfy our original longing, though, hence our additiction becoming an
obsession. Everything was eventually dragged down by it, resulting into an ego-centric,
individualistic, materialistic, injust, violent and destructive society. Society being the
manifestation e.g. reflection of our ego's! Realizing this, we have accepted our
responsibility toward healing the world through taking the lead with our Healing the
Planet Initiative*
* See: "Transformation/Healing
the Planet in 7 Steps" |
A New (Wo)Man for A New World
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Last revising: 08/09/12 |