INITIATIC REGULARITY
We have said that affiliation with a regular traditional organization is not only a necessary condition of initiation but even constitutes initiation itself in the strictest sense as defined by the etymology of the word, and which is everywhere represented as a 'second birth' or as a 'regeneration': a 'second birth' because it opens to the being a world other than that in which the activity of its corporeal modality is exercised, a world that will provide the field for the development of its higher possibilities; and a 'regeneration' because it re-establishes for this being the prerogatives that were natural and normal in the first ages of humanity, when man had not yet fallen away from his original spirituality, as he would do in later ages, to sink ever deeper into materiality, and because, as the first step in his realization, it will lead to the restoration in him of the 'primordial state', which is the fullness and perfection of human individuality lying at the unique and invariable center from which the being can thereafter rise to higher states.
We must now re-emphasize a key point: this affiliation must be real and effective, and a so-called 'ideal' affiliation, as is sometimes fancied today, is wholly vain and ineffectual. [1] This is easy to understand since it necessarily involves the transmission of a spiritual influence which must be effected according to definite laws. These
laws, while obviously different from those that govern the forces of the corporeal world, are no less rigorous, and despite profound differences there is a certain analogy between them in virtue of the continuity and the correspondence obtaining among all the states or degrees of universal Existence. It is this analogy that allows us to speak for example of a 'vibration' in regard to the Fiat Lux, by which the chaos of spiritual potentialities is illuminated and ordered, although this in no way involves vibrations of a perceptible kind like those studied by physicists, any more than the 'light' in question can be identified with that grasped by the visual faculty of the corporeal organism. [2] But while these ways of speaking are necessarily symbolic since they are founded on analogy or correspondence, they are nonetheless legitimate and strictly justified in that such analogy and correspondence does truly exist in the very nature of things, and in a certain sense even extends much further than might be supposed. [3] We shall have to return to these considerations more fully when we come to initiatic rites and their efficacy; for the moment it will suffice to recall that the laws in question must be taken into account, lacking which the end in view could no more be attained than could a physical effect be produced outside the conditions required by the laws governing its production. And as soon as it is a matter of an effective transmission there must obviously be a real
contact, whatever may be the modalities by which this contact is established -modalities that will naturally be determined by the laws governing the action of spiritual influences to which we have just alluded.
Several important consequences, both for the individual who aspires to initiation and for initiatic organizations themselves, result immediately from this necessity for an cffective affiliation, and it is these consequences that we now propose to examine. We know that for some, and perhaps for many, these considerations will be quite unpleasant, either because they will disturb the too comfortable and overly 'simplistic' notion they have formed of initiation, or because they will destroy certain unjustified claims and more or less selfseeking assertions that lack any authority; but these are things we could not even in the least refrain from saying, since here as elsewhere we are, and could only be, concerned with the truth.
First of all, as to the individual, it is evident from what we have just said that even if he really has the intention of affilating himself with a tradition of which he may have some 'exterior' knowledge, his intent to undergo initiation in no way suffices by itself for true initiation. [4] Initiation has nothing to do with 'erudition', which, as with everything that relates to profane knowledge, is without value here; neither has it anything to do with dreams or fantasies, any more than with sentimental aspirations of some kind. It would truly be all too easy if, in order to say one is initiated, it was enough to read books, even if they were the sacred scriptures of an orthodox tradition, accompanied if one likes by their most deeply esoteric commentaries; or vaguely to imagine some past or present organization to which one complacently attributes (and all the more easily the less well it is known) one's own 'ideal', a word used indiscriminately nowadays for anything and everything, and which really means nothing at all. This would also do away entirely with the preliminary question of 'qualification', for each person, being naturally
inclined to consider himself 'well and duly qualified', and standing thus as both judge and jury in his own case, would without difficulty surely find excellent reasons (excellent at least in his own eyes and according to his own particular fancies) for considering himself initiated without further formalities; and we see no reason why he should stop while things are going so well and not claim for himself at one fell blow the most transcendent degrees as well. Have those who imagine that they can 'initiate themselves' really reflected on these rather awkward consequences that their position implies? Under these conditions there would be no more selection or control, no more 'means of recognition' in the sense in which we have already used this expression, no more hierarchy, and, of course, no more transmission of anything at all; in a word, no remnant of what essentially characterizes initiation and of what in fact makes it what it is; and yet this is what some people, with an astonishing ignorance, dare to put forward as a 'modern' conception of initiation (very modern indeed, and most worthy of secular, democratic, and egalitarian 'ideals'), without cven suspecting that, instead of having to do with at least 'virtual' initiates-which, after all, is still some-thing-one would thereby be reduced to the merely profane wrongfully posing as initiates.
But let us end these digressions which can appear trifling. If we feel obliged to speak of them briefly, it is because the incomprehension and intellectual disorder that unhappily characterize our time permit their propagation with a deplorable ease. What must be clearly understood is that initiation has to do exclusively with serious matters and 'positive' realities ('positive' being a word we would willingly use had profane 'scientists' not so abused it). Either one accepts things as they are or one no longer speaks of initiation, for there is no possible middle ground between these two attitudes, and it is better to frankly renounce initiation altogether than to give its name to what is only a vain parody of it, one without even the outward appearances that certain other counterfeits, of which we shall have to speak shortly, at least make an effort to retain.
To return to the starting-point of this digression, we will say that the individual must not only have the intention of being initiated
but he must be 'accepted' by a regular traditional organization that is qualified to confer initiation on him, [5] that is, to transmit the spiritual influence without the help of which he could never, despite all his efforts, free himself from the limitations and impediments of the profane world. It may happen that, by reason of a lack of 'qualifications', his intention, however sincere, may meet with no response, for it is not a question of sincerity, nor of 'morality', but it is solely a matter of 'technical' rules relating to 'positive' laws (a word we employ again for want of one more adequate) that impose themselves with as incluctable a necessity as do, in another order, the physical and mental conditions indispensable to the exercise of certain professions. Such a person can never consider himself initiated, whatever may be the theoretical knowledge he otherwise acquires; and one must in any case presume that even in this respect he will never go very far (naturally we are speaking of a true though still exterior knowledge and not of mere erudition, that is, of an accumulation of notions requiring the memory alone, as in profane teaching); for beyond a certain degree theoretical knowledge itself normally presupposes the requisite 'qualification' for initiation that will enable him to transform theory, by interior 'realization', into an effective knowledge. Thus no one can be prevented from developing the possibilities he truly bears within himself; in short, only those are turned away who deceive themselves about their own qualifications and believe they can receive something that is really incompatible with their individual nature.
Passing now to the other side of the question, that concerning initiatic organizations themselves, we will say this: it is all too evident that one can only transmit what one possesses; it is necessary, then, that an organization truly be the repository of a spiritual influence if it is to be able to communicate this influence to those attached to it;
and this immediately excludes all the pseudo-initiatic groups, so common in our time, that lack any authentically traditional character. Under these conditions an initiatic organization could hardly be the product of an individual fantasy; unlike a profane association it cannot be established by the initiative of a few people who decide to meet after adopting certain forms. Even if these forms are not wholly invented but are borrowed from truly traditional rites of which the founders have some acquaintance through their 'crudition', this will not make them any the more valid, for without a regular filiation the transmission of the spiritual influence is impossible and non-existent, so much so that in such cases there can only be a common counterfeit of initiation. With all the more reason is this so for the purely hypothetical, not to say imaginary, reconstitutions of traditional forms long since disappeared, like those of ancient Egypt or Chaldea for example; even if these forms were seriously meant to establish a link to the tradition to which they belonged they would be no more efficacious, for in reality one can only attach oneself to something that actually exists, and even then it is necessary, as we said in regard to individuals, to be 'accepted' by the authorized representatives of the tradition in question, so that an apparently new organization will only be legitimate if it is as it were a prolongation of a pre-existing organization, maintaining without interruption the continuity of the initiatic 'chain'.
In all of this we are after all only expressing in other words and more explicitly what we have already said above about the necessity for an effective and direct affiliation, and the vanity of an 'ideal' one; and no one should be duped in this regard by the names certain organizations adopt without warrant, hoping thereby to lend themselves an air of authenticity. Thus, to take an example that we have already cited elsewhere, there exist a multitude of groups of recent origin who call themselves 'Rosicrucian' without having even indirect and roundabout contact with the true Brotherhood of the Rose-Cross, and without even knowing what this really was since they almost invariably imagine it as a 'society', which is a gross and indeed a specifically modern error. For the most part one should see nothing more here than the desire to put on an imposing title, or to impress the gullible; but even in the most favorable case, that is to
say when it is conceded that some of these groups arise from a sincere desire to attach themselves 'ideally' to the Brotherhood of the Rose-Cross, this would still essentially amount to nothing from the initiatic point of view. What we are saying about this particular example applies equally to all the organizations invented by occultists and 'neo-spiritualists' of every sort, who, whatever their claims, can truly be classified only as 'pseudo-initiatic' because they have absolutely nothing real to transmit, for what they offer is nothing but a counterfeit and all too often even a parody or a caricature of initiation. [6]
As another consequence of the foregoing let us add that even where an initiatic organization is in fact involved, the members have no power to change its forms at whim or to alter them in their essentials. This does not exclude certain possibilities of adaptation to circumstances, but these are much rather imposed on individuals than willed by them, and they are circumscribed by the need not to injure the means that ensure the conservation and transmission of the spiritual influence of which the organization in question is the repository. If this condition is not met, the result will be a veritable rupture with the tradition and the organization will thereby lose its 'regularity'. Besides, an initiatic organization cannot validly incorporate in its own rites elements borrowed from traditional forms other than that in which it is itself established; [7] such elements could only be adopted in a wholly artificial way and would represent nothing more than superfluous fantasies without any initiatic efficacy; they would consequently add absolutely nothing real, although, because of their heterogeneity, their presence could occasion trouble and disharmony. Moreover, the danger of such mingling is far from being limited to the initiatic domain, and this is a point important enough to merit separate treatment. The laws that direct the handling of spiritual influences are too complex and delicate for those without sufficient knowledge of them to modify ritual forms arbitrarily and with impunity, where everything has its purpose, the exact import of which is very likely to escape them.
The clear result of all this is the nullity of individual initiatives with respect to the establishment of initiatic organizations, whether it be a question of their origin or of the forms they adopt, and it can be noted here that in fact there exist no traditional ritual forms to which any specific individual authors can be assigned. It is casy to understand why this must be so if one considers that the essential and final goal of initiation transcends the domain of the individuality and its particular possibilities, something impossible were one
reduced to means of a purely human order. From this simple observation, and without even going to the heart of the matter, it can therefore be immediately concluded that the presence of a 'nonhuman' element is necessary, such indeed being the character of the spiritual influence whose transmission constitutes initiation strictly speaking.