Synthesis as an evolutionary instrument
by Athos A. Altomonte
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Q : ...the humankind is going through a period of involution and a new ‘man' will rise from the ashes of the old one... ...A great knowledge has been lost in the mists of times... ...the Atlantean race was destined to the development of the Astral body and so on going back to the others...

A : Dear Friend, I imagine the advancing of the humankind through eras as a passage between apparently separated containers that communicate by osmosis. They are communicating vessels joined by levels, where the top height of a container is the bottom of another. Even if we remain on the subject of humankind, from this variation of level we have a feeling of going from apex to bottom. It is not progress or regress (it is the optical illusion of appearance) but moving from a ‘container' of conscience that invests a temporal-space to another of different kind, viz. whose contents are different and bigger than the previous one. Therefore, beyond the illusion given by appearance, we always deal with the ‘same topics', although on bigger spirals. And for many people this is obvious.

Q: …in this sense the physical body represents the great mystery for the esotericist….

A : For the same reason, the esotericist, as you say (but I don't think he's an esotericist) in order to find himself, becomes aware of the physical aspect first, then of the aspect of passion, emotion, mind, intellect, intuition, etc..., thinking that he can find himself in each of them. But in actual fact it is not so. He is all this plus the sum of everything. Therefore the true identity of each of us is not in any of these compartments. Not even by manipulating, censoring or moralizing some of these individual fragments, man will be able to reflect his own image. All these inner worlds, which must be discovered first, must communicate among them. And only through harmonious communication they will reveal the Unity which the esotericist is instinctively part of. Therefore it is by adding and joining, rather than by amputating, that the initiate reveals to himself the inner unity that reflects his own identity.

Q : … our efforts should aim at recovery, integration and development rather than regret for an ancient knowledge…

A: Ancient knowledge, though, refers to planes of conscience other than the present ones. Therefore any ancient ‘training' must be reinterpreted according to new principles. In confirmation of this, rank masters strongly advise against the enterprise of ancient forms of yoga such as Hata, because it is suitable to a totally physical conscience. They are ancient forms not suitable any more to the need of the present form of conscience of the humankind. Therefore they are not only obsolete, but even detrimental and harmful!

Remaining on the subject, the existing yoga is Raja, the mental unity that includes all the previous forms. But the most advanced members of the human family already venture in Agni Yoga, which is its higher evolution. In the future era, Agni Yoga will be replaced by Indra yoga, which is its natural continuation. As you can see, top and bottom follow each other in crescendo.

Q : ...to the ancient initiates of Atlantis (I hope that nobody will be put off by the mention of the lost continent)...

A: I tend to interpret this point as a state of conscience. Atlantis, as well as heaven, hell and Eden , are all (exoteric) allegories of (esoteric) states of conscience, which cannot be found in physical places. On the contrary, they are representations of a state of latent interiority that can be perceived through a spiritual or at least ascetic experience.

Shambhala, the white Island etc..., are as many interpretations of inner realities at different levels. By level we mean (since you mention psychoanalysis) peak experiences (see Assagioli) that can be encouraged and reached by all those who ‘follow the right indications'. That is by those who undergo a correct education. As you can see, experimental anarchy is not taken into consideration.

Q: ...what should interest us is not the object of knowledge (perhaps the character of the school we belong to)...

A: Recognizing the character of a school, on the other hand, is of utmost importance because each school defines a path that, on its turn, synthesizes the specific nature of a human character. To mistake a school (a path) for another leads the neophyte to inner confusion. This confusion is very important; it can cause him to get lost in the maze of inner disharmony, which is the prelude to spiritual unhappiness.

Esotericism and science agree in classifying human nature in seven categories. The seven classes were the origins of Hindu classes, a concept that degenerated in the class concept of racial separation.

We find the same division in human conscience (which is not social classes), in the seven chakras of occult physiology (see caduceus of Hermes) that found its expression in the principles of seven Yogas interpreted by as many schools. Psychoanalysis deals with seven human typologies in a different form. (Updated) Theosophy deals with seven rays or cosmic energies that affect any natural structure. Every energetic center (chakra) or nervous ganglion (typology) (for the esotericist the sense of a concept has more value than the form used to express it) has, for the same postulates, other seven stations of reference.

This takes the number of variables to take into consideration to 49. The forty-three variables (octave sound) of seven major tones (according to the laws of Harmonics) that make the whole habitat of the reality we can perceive: in energy-sound-form and color.

The 49 initiatory paths originate in order to give ‘body' to all the 43 minor tones of seven major schools; they lead to as many kinds of particular esotericism which eventually lead to the synthesis of a unique path called major Initiation.

The high number of ramifications necessary for the specialization of such a consistent number of characters allows a realistic vision of how complex and complicated it is to find the right ‘principle of the journey' for a neophyte or aspirant. This goes back to what you, quite rightly, observed: confusion, personalism, intolerance and conflicts generated in the so-called esoteric or presumed initiatory environments. But the conflicts arising from resourceful aspirants is caused by the fact that every neophyte thinks he is absolutely right and not, as it should be clear, relatively right .

Not having yet the perception of synthesis , the neophyte (especially who has been deserted and can only rely on the commercial offer of the ‘esotericism' product) is convinced that the ‘variant' on which he finds himself for ‘elective affinity' is an absolute generator and not, as it is in actual fact, a small chord of a complex harmony. But this view changes with time.

As far as I am concerned, the position I have always held is of ‘absolute protest' of the fragmentary partition, unlinked up to being ‘sectarian', of the different initiatory realities. This is not because I don't believe or consider useful the so-called lesser initiations, which, on the contrary, cause misfortune to their ‘admirers'.

Although I think that it is desirable to progress in small steps, starting from the closest to the ‘present' of each individual reality, I strongly believe that the aspirant must be educated straight away to recognize all the ‘keys of the piano' without falling into unreasonable sympathies that might cause him to think that ‘his own piano' needs only one note played by ‘his own key'.

This would be the demonstration of a perverse personalism and of an ‘initiatory aberration' that is transmitted through the empirical way. But anarchy doesn't pay in any field, especially in extreme territories such as the inner way. The ‘solitary' part of the ‘initiatory desert' is the synthesis among all the elements that make human identity and therefore the reaching of one's own synthesis. The synthesis of oneself is the uniqueness of inner identity that is reflected in a formal and exterior image that has the same value as the reflection of an image on a mirror: real but relative.

Synthesis, then, is the common principle that destroys any difference that divides dissimilar items making them opposite; this way the diversity of opposites , which is the matrix of initiatory brotherhood, falls. Without reaching it, the journey through the inner Maze cannot start. Indeed, only a conscious and equipped initiate can become a capable traveler of the inner universe, otherwise there will only be short trips in caves frequented by eso-tourists in search of ‘transcendental' emotions.

Q: …rather let's take care of knowing, the inner movement that generates whilst we understand…

A: We have already touched this topic. The act of knowing and its inner movement are in actual fact the expression of an act of will. The act of will is the generator of reality in every form and expression. Good and evil wouldn't be able to express themselves without the will for good or evil. Likewise there wouldn't be motion without thrust. Nothing would change without transformation and the transformation is the evolutionary drive that moves any natural process of life and (so-called) death.

Q: ... Becoming and change have a huge latent power. We all know that behind the divine aspect of destruction lies renovation. But we also know that knowledge doesn't imply need.

A: I don't know if destruction or renovation are divine, because I find it really difficult to distinguish between material and divine and between divine and material which to my eyes are two measures of the same unity, but I think that they are both the result of a cosmic-natural drive or will that ‘defines' any form and ‘soul' in any energetic structure, determining its quality and quantity.

On the contrary, I don't agree with your last statement. As far as I am concerned it is a need and any need implies the germ of transformation. If I can dare a philosophical equation (B. Russel willing) I would say that knowledge moves conscience, which generates a transformation that changes the structure of psyche-conscience (forgive the verboseness of the term). Each voluntary or involuntary change has a consequence on the physical (psychosomatic) plane. Therefore the need (drive) for knowledge that originates from a motion of curiosity or desire to know produces an effect that is still movement, and so on.