By Patricia Briggs
When I first started searching for esoteric knowledge about spirituality in my early twenties and thirties, the spirituality/esoteric sections of the bookstores at most contained twenty current books. By far, they were the most lacking sections in the bookstores. It was relatively easy to be up to date with all the current reading because the choices were limited. The information was limited.
I was forced to put on my detective hat and carry along a special magnifying glass to find what I was searching for.
By reading one book, I might get the title of another. I would have to special order any new title because most were old, sometimes out of date books. I got very good at reading and understanding old English. Much of my earlier spiritual knowledge, believe it or not, at that time was actualized through the nuggets of gold I found hidden within the fiction section. It’s true!
The spiritual information inside esoteric books was intentionally not obvious to the reader.
One had to search through what was written to find the gold underneath. The books had their own special code. Certain words meant certain things. Sometimes directions were shifted a degree and would not work if you didn’t know to shift everything back a degree.
Consider all the hidden information within the pictures of traditional tarot cards. The esoteric information is present on the cards in symbols, but to the untrained eye the cards just hold pretty pictures. The earlier books were the same. The key information was present but hidden from the untrained eye.
The common theme of the day was the esoteric information would be revealed to those who were ready to receive it. In this manner, the knowledge could not be misused by someone who didn’t have the proper foundation for using it correctly. This added a mysticism to the knowledge; it was out of reach for the common person.
I was forced to read, reflect on what was written, and many times use my intuition, in order to uncover the hidden meaning, or gold within the written words. Once I had the gold in hand, I then had to integrate the understanding of this new knowledge with what I already knew and believed, and then apply it in my life. Through this slow process it became mine; I internalized and evolved. This understanding of knowledge evolved my personal wisdom.
Wisdom comes through the understanding, integration, and application of new knowledge.
I had to work hard to gain this personal wisdom. The lack of choices forced me to learn the skills to discern the key knowledge bits that I could later turn into wisdom. Today, people have the opposite problem. They are inundated with information and the choices are many. For example, our spirituality/esoteric sections in bookstores are overflowing with many books to choose from, with multiple books on each topic. Some books are worthwhile, and others are a waste of space on the shelf.
The first level of discernment now comes in finding the gold within so many choices. The need to ferret out basic information still exists; the process is just different. Authors are no longer consciously writing everything in code, like they did in my earlier years, by switching things up. Letting go of that layer of confusion is clearly a good thing. It only muddied the waters and I think it was done more out of fear, than from any special mystical reason.
Multiple layers of understanding are still attached to the esoteric knowledge. That has not changed.
Please, don’t let the overabundance of information hide the layers of understanding, the knowledge has to offer you. Don’t stop at the written words. It seems to be a common theme today. Keep looking. There is a reason it is called esoteric. Nuggets of gold are still there for those who seek them. If you are willing to look and take the time to reflect on what you read, you will find them beneath the written word. They can be your source for your own personal wisdom.
Happy hunting!
Comments