Originally, the four nations had their own roads, their traditions.
It is said in the tradition that human beings had their respective ways: those from East to West, those who lived on the old continent and those who glorified reason.
According to oral teaching, each people had to follow its own path and was impervious to other traditions: in fact, the archetypes and the customs were too different to understand a way that came from another people.
Then people traveled a bit, then a lot and very soon everyone went everywhere.
The mix of peoples in all parts of the world put very different people and traditions in contact: in these conditions, who can learn what?
Also, unable to be satisfied with what one has, there is a greater attraction inside us for the "non-local" teachings.
There are several laws to make it possible to evolve into a tradition that doesn’t have its roots in our close environment:
- the teaching must be global
- the teacher should not be a researcher on what he passes down
- the Way has to make sense in one's own culture
The teaching must be global
In a global tradition, the study has a human dimension: from there, it is a way of the human being and it transcends time and space.
Wherever the tradition takes its roots, if it deals with all aspects of how the human being works, then it is a way of evolution that will work for everyone.
If it is colored by its native culture and omits too many things regarding the targeted human group and its specific needs, then this way is not suitable for all.
The teachings that come from religious people living away from the world are difficult to adapt to our highly charged life and the constant contact with too many of our fellow men.
The teachings based on taking hallucinogenic drugs, which are often illegal and dangerous, and come from initiatic rites supposed to be done only once in a lifetime, should not turn into a very poor excuse to "get high".
Or, yet again, esoteric techniques which are surpassed by our human evolution: in a humanity who is educating itself on ecology and the importance of integrating the concepts of happiness and self-discovery, believing in unicorns and magic wands is limited...
Some traditions have grown up with a precise goal that is no longer relevant: martial arts intending to be non-violent in a post-war world, breathing techniques which were based on an ignorance of the workings of our brain, or even religious movements seeking a way to muster the people to revolt.
The Way has to be timeless, where each person recognizes himself as if the words were written for him.
The teacher should not be a researcher on what he passes down
If it is very important that the teacher keeps searching and evolving, he must not be in the process of learning what he is imparting.
The Way passed down must be understood in its entirety, deeply, otherwise one becomes a thief and a liar.
Reality shows us that it is possible not to know anything and to teach it openly, but it's not because it exists that it is acceptable.
It is not possible to be fooled: if we ask ourselves questions, if we try and if we watch the teacher, it is fairly easy to feel whether he is coherent or not.
Not knowing a style or a teaching is not a reason to forget to use common sense and the few values that we all have.
The tradition must be clear, precise and understandable through simple words: if it is not possible, then it is not understood.
The teacher should have gone through what he teaches, he should not be a researcher but a practitioner.
The idea of learning to impart is not right: the training courses of "future master of the way" do not make sense, they are modern aberrations.
The Way must make sense in one’s own culture
It's silly to have to turn into someone else to enter a path, to have to learn a language or to wear weird clothes: the Way will transform us within our natural state.
If we feel compelled to imitate another tradition to better understand our own way, then the latter is not global or the one who practices it is lazy: indeed, one aspect of laziness is to ape in order not to have to do, to imitate as to create a spiritual persona instead of exposing oneself to a real transformation.
If it is intellectually interesting to ask cultural and historical questions about one’s tradition, the need to immerse oneself in it in order to practice is not right.
All words, all concepts and all exercises must be able to make sense in one’s own tradition and culture, in one’s original language.
It is important to clearly explain to a neophyte the goals and researches of his way, without needing to use specific words or concepts which are absent in the common sense of the interlocutor.
Be careful with the ways that will make you lose time, with the need to dress in orange, with the living room filled with incense smoke, life is not infinite and the Way is long: we are on a long road, an uphill road, chased by shadows that can catch up with us...
Good practice to you all, whatever your Way is.
