Access to Knowledge

In the past an individual had to go through many levels of initiation before he was allowed to help with the spiritual work for humanity. The training was long and arduous, and many failed to reach the required degree of purity and selflessness. Although no one was excluded, many slipped by the wayside, and their path remained within the sphere of individual development. This has changed. Instructions have been given by those who look after the destiny of humanity to allow anyone who is sincere to have access to the secrets of initiation, to be given an understanding of the energy structure of the world, in order to help in this time of transition. Of course there is the danger that this knowledge will be misused, that even sincere seekers will be misled by the subtle intrigues of the ego and its desires. This does not matter. This danger has already been taken into account by those who look out for humanity. We are being given the opportunity to take the next step in our development as human beings, to take more responsibility for ourself and our planet. True spiritual work is always an individual effort, and this will not change. Just as true maturity is an individual step, so is spiritual evolution. Only as individuals standing on our feet can we make a valid contribution to the collective. Otherwise we remain caught in the collective and its patterns of co-dependency that block any real change or development. Taking responsibility for our inner and outer life is necessary if we are to participate creatively in the life of the whole. The knowledge that is being made available will necessarily confront us with our own inadequacies and a pull to retreat into the familiar patterns of the past. For example, many spiritual seekers are identified with the notion of a spiritual journey that needs to be completed, an inner work that needs to be accomplished. It is not easy to step aside from such long-held beliefs, particularly those that engender spiritual well-being. Those spiritual practitioners who have achieved some degree of spiritual position which supports them will have the most to lose. The spiritual security that comes from having been on a path or engaged in spiritual activities for a number of years can also be a hindrance to change. Christ tells a story about the owner of a vineyard who went out in the early morning to hire some men, agreeing to pay them a penny for a day’s work. Then three hours later the owner went to the marketplace and hired some more men, offering to pay them what was right. He did the same at noon and at three in the afternoon. Then, an hour before sunset, he went again to the marketplace, and finding others idle, offered them work in his vineyard. At the end of the day he told his steward to pay each man a penny for his work, beginning with those who were hired last. When each was paid a penny, those who had worked from the early morning complained that those who had just been working one hour before sunset were paid the same as those who had worked all day. But the owner answered, saying that he had given them what he had promised. They should take their penny and go, and he would give to the last the same as to the first. Each of those who works in the vineyard of the Lord is given a penny, a symbol of his own wholeness. This is the gift for spiritual work: we are given ourselves. It is given to all those who participate. Those who have worked since dawn and “borne the heat and burden of the day” may complain, but they do not understand that to participate in the work of the whole for even an instant is to be given access to one’s own wholeness. This is the experience that is now being offered to all who are drawn into the sphere of spiritual life. As a culture we are so identified with patterns of hierarchy and their levels of exclusion that we overlook the primary truth that the dimension of oneness is all-inclusive. The moment we turn our focus away from our own ego-self and participate in the work of the whole, we step into the circle of our own wholeness. There are no levels of initiation: one is either in or out. And someone who has just begun on the path is given as much access as someone who has been engaged in spiritual practice for many years.[] (Llewellyn Vaughan Lee. “Working With Oneness”. The Golden Sufi Center. California, 2002. p. 6-9)