Is mystical knowledge a rite or a privilege?

[Briony]

I agree spiritalk. My own thoughts are, that it is like my art. A long time ago i made a commitment to practice and learn and to better myself everyday, over twenty years later people say, "oh I wish I could draw like that". Anyone who commits and puts in time and energy to perfect any craft is deserving of it's rewards, I tell my daughter she can do anything she wants but she has to commit to it first. There have always been privileged people, and most in my observation are self appointed, The rest of us work for our privileges. A long time ago being an artist was not a right, and only a few who studied under masters could claim to be artists, Most were not women because someone decided they were not privileged and did not have a right. Knowledge was repressed for them because woman under the criteria of that day Were not fit to have to many notions or ideas. Free thinking was dangerous for all, male or female.

[SingingBear]

It is neither Right Nor Privilege, In many cases it is a gift but most earn the knowledge and wisdom they have.
"To Become enlightened one Must Chop Wood and Carry Water."
"After Enlightenment One must Chop Wood and Carry Water"

[karlenespellman]

Thank you singingbear. Very well said.

[Rohiniranjan]

[quote="SingingBear"]It is neither Right Nor Privilege, In many cases it is a gift but most earn the knowledge and wisdom they have.
"To Become enlightened one Must Chop Wood and Carry Water."
"After Enlightenment One must Chop Wood and Carry Water"[/quote]


The well-known, oft-repeated and simple but realistic statement that you quoted, Singing Bear interestingly holds an important message, which essentially questions the very caption of this thread which implies and in that sense separates or segregates mystical knowledge from all other knowledge!

We humans tend to glorify things and in doing so separate those from our mundane and daily experience, where they belong! Always did!

Why must mystical knowledge be separated from our so called mundane and daily life, or LIFE <period!>

It is one continuum, daily worldly life and mystical moments within it and so on. Some people even tend to turn mystical reality into a chore, a profession, requiring training, hard word, hermit-like living blah blah blah!

Mysticism is interwoven into our total existence, our each breath, our elemental nature and structure. It is as much a right or privilege as the rest of our life is!

The question, in other words, is flawed and divisive! The world is not separate from the spirit, the spirit is not separate from the world.

I realized that many years ago when painting my fence, a chore I hated and would rather do my astrological musing instead! Pretty soon, after the first pang of anguish and sense of loss of quality time was over, I suddenly found myself looking carefully at the fence and how the cedar fibers showed up individually, the lattice so beautifully created and how easy it was to miss a spot when covering it completely. It must be the aroma of the wood preservative stain or something that soon I began to enjoy each moment of what I was doing. The mind freed of anguish, urgency, having given itself up to the joys of what I was experiencing, what I was earlier trying to control! And a big part of my mind was released and freed to focus on exactly what I at the beginning of painting was considering a loss, or lost time! It was a beautiful beginning of a realization that what we think of or call mind is not a linear processor but a parallel processing entity!

Again, this is not uncommon experience but I just wanted to share that it is true and can be experienced by anyone in a similar situation as I was in on that day -- of opening!

[spiritalk]

I agree spiritalk. My own thoughts are, that it is like my art. A long time ago i made a commitment to practice and learn and to better myself everyday, over twenty years later people say, "oh I wish I could draw like that". Anyone who commits and puts in time and energy to perfect any craft is deserving of it's rewards, I tell my daughter she can do anything she wants but she has to commit to it first. There have always been privileged people, and most in my observation are self appointed, The rest of us work for our privileges. A long time ago being an artist was not a right, and only a few who studied under masters could claim to be artists, Most were not women because someone decided they were not privileged and did not have a right. Knowledge was repressed for them because woman under the criteria of that day Were not fit to have to many notions or ideas. Free thinking was dangerous for all, male or female.

I heard, and am not sure of its validity, that woman do not have as good depth vision of men. &nbsp;I am one who does not. &nbsp;But artists must have a good depth vision to succeed and there are most likely some.

[Briony]

I have never heard that before, I might go on to say, that maybe they were missing a depth of emotion..Lol..But on a serious note, I know people who are born with gifts and have made a life time commitment to developing their knowledge and &nbsp;the gifts they were given, and I feel it is a privilege to be around them. As for artists male or female, I feel we are tapping into the collective conscious the anima mundi, and thats why some images have ability move us or to disturb us. Others have found a way to put forth images that transcend time, could we say then who was a worthy contributer? I think it is really ashame when we don't take the time or make a commitment to develop the gifts we given spiritual or otherwise. In the book In memories, dreams,reflections; Jung wrote that, " the collective unconscious is common to us all; it is the foundation of what the ancients call "the sympathy of all things" &nbsp;this I believe it is everyones right to tap into this.

[spiritalk]

And then to have the talents to translate that collective unconscious into a picture form. &nbsp;That is the real ability.

[budman200236]

you have to be in tune with yourself and everything around you.