Dear Friend, you sound like a sensible, attentive and realistic person, therefore I would like to widen the boundaries of the frequent pseudo-scientific or pseudo-initiatory inconsistencies that we often have to face …and reject.

By attending to the most varied “circles” of esotericism I’ve faced some incredible phenomena. I’ve seen “Mass media tricks” passed off as new age. Nevertheless, even for the most highly imaginative, incredible or implausible ones, there was always someone willing to queue to “buy” them.

Mysterial initiations, acquisitions of superior powers or the attempt to gain some magical and miraculous qualities have always been a secret ambition for some people.

On this subject we must remember the “miraculous novelties” offered in the last twenty years, or in the last two centuries, or even earlier.
Well, many people think that dreaming makes life better. This is the sense of the “oneiric cultures” (Jung, Op. cit.).

And perhaps it is true, because if we looked at the mirror of truth not everyone would like what’s in it.

Therefore for those who don’t like themselves but don’t dare admitting to it, there’s the need to find alibis or create transfers in order to exorcise inadequacies and weaknesses.

This is the true functionality of “cultural fashions”. They are folkloric myths that promise silver bullets. And even if the “remedy” is expensive, for many people being able to show it off with those who don’t have it justifies the expense (and the effort).

The common denominator of these adventures in miracles is that they must remain unexplained, otherwise the magic will instantly disappear (Popper, The Closed System, op. cit.).

This is why the “initiatory science” is sometimes regarded with aversion both by the sui generis esotericist and the devoted lacking in certainties; they are fascinated by a doctrine and don’t acknowledge the “human, too human” limits of some Leaders.

The “stalls” will keep growing and full of more and more novelties and I think it is fair. Until the time when there will be someone who wants to buy dreams, there will be someone who earns and speculates on their wishes, always offering a way to avoid commitments.

The main thing the “audience” asks for, in fact, is the lack of commitment with work, making decisions, trying hard and fighting to gain some virtues, even small ones.

Although this is the most common paradox for an Initiate, hoping is certainly easier than committing; and maybe, one day, something will actually happen. But is it true?

The illusion of obtaining some virtues only through the “touch of ephemeralness”, maybe even on the “edge of a sword”, is the true magic of credulity. Still today, illusions are very profitable “goods”.