Disclosure of High Knowledge through Perennialist Art

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The Perennial Tradition is the hidden secret of human re-birth through initiation which has been transmitted through all the world's authentic mystical systems. Teachers such as Hermes, Plato, Jesus, Rumi, Francis of Assisi, and Shakespeare reformulated and reintroduced this single stream of esoteric wisdom in succeeding generations. This unitary line of teaching is adapted to the specific needs of the people of each historic era.

Following the death of the original teacher, unenlightened disciples codify the teachings, which become largely fossilized and useless--as in the case of organized religions. But certain other followers of the teacher, who understand the genuine teachings and processes, preserve and transmit the Perennialist line. These genuine teachers disclose the Perennial Tradition through specially designed art objects.


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Our scholastic predispositions lead us to look at a book, for example, as a simple collection of words expressing ideas. It is difficult for us to conceive of a genuine science contained in Perennialist books which would be capable of producing evolutionary transformations in human beings.

Within the Perennialist Tradition, the seeker's path to knowledge is through illuminating experience prescribed by an external or inner teacher. The true teacher's approach to knowledge is the very opposite of that developed by some of the seventeenth and eighteenth century Enlightenment thinkers such as Francis Bacon. Bacon's conception of knowledge was to force nature to yield its secrets. The Perennial Tradition teaches that knowledge comes from preparing oneself to discern what is to be perceived in nature--the apparent and the hidden.


http://www.hermes-press.com/Perennial_Tradition/PT_disclose.htm



From the beginning of recorded history, we have mention of sacred teachings concerning the rebirth of humans into a Higher Consciousness. In classical literature, reference is frequently made to "the Mysteries," (ta musteria), which became the technical term for secret rites and methods known and practiced only by the priest/hierophants who had been initiated.

These sacred teachings were found in the empires of India, Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Mysteries were taught in specially created Schools by priest-hierophants who developed extraordinary techniques to assist select candidates achieve a higher state of consciousness.



It's difficult for us to understand just who these hierophants were, since our concept of priesthood is so different from those earlier times. In the Western world, a priest is merely a cleric who has studied his religion's scriptures and leads those who follow its dogmas. The concept of priesthood has degenerated to the point where some priests conform completely to the ideology of the secular state, even if the state, as in the case of Nazi Germany, is a fascist tyranny.

In the Mystery tradition, the title "hierophant" indicated that the priest had himself experienced initiation into all levels of the Mysteries. The Mystery priesthood therefore functioned as a closed elite whose knowledge and practices were held in secret.

http://www.hermes-press.com/high_myst.htm