Initiatic Organizations

and Secret Societies II Organisations initiatiques et sociétés secrètes II, November 1934.

The distinction between the initiatic organizations and all other more or less secret organizations should be very easy to differentiate between the very purposes of each other, but, indeed, the question is more complex than it may seem at first glance. However, there is one case that cannot be doubted: when one finds oneself in the presence of a group constituted for any purpose and whose origin is entirely known, which is known to have been created from scratch by individualities whose names may be mentioned, therefore it has no traditional attachment, we can be assured that this grouping, whatever its pretentions, has absolutely nothing to do with the initiatic. The existence of ritual forms in some of these group- ings does not change anything, for such forms, borrowed or imitated from initiatic organizations, are then a simple parody devoid of any real value. Moreover, this does not apply only to organizations whose pur- poses are solely political or more generally 'social,' in whatever sense can be attributed to that word, but also to all these modern formations which we have called 'pseudo-initiatic,' including those which invoke a trendy 'ideal' attachment to any tradition; we have already sufficiently explained this last point in previous articles, so that it is not necessary that we insist upon it further.

However, there may be doubt as soon as we are dealing with an or- ganization whose origin is enigmatic and cannot be related to defined individualities; indeed, even if the organization's known manifestations obviously have no initiatic character, it may nonetheless represent a de- viation or degeneration of something that was originally such. This de- viation, which can occur under the influence of social preoccupations especially, supposes that the incomprehension of the first and essential goal has become general among the members of this organization; more- over, it can be more or less complete, and what still remains of initiatic organizations in the Occident, in its current state, represents an interme- diary stage to some extent in this regard. The extreme case will be when ritual and symbolic forms are preserved, however, no one will be conscious of their true initiatic character, so that one will interpret them only according to any contingent application: whether this is legitimate or not, that is not the question, degeneration properly consisting in the fact that nothing is contemplated beyond this application and the more or less external domain to which it especially relates. It is quite clear that in such a case, those who only see things 'from the outside' will be unable to discern what it is in reality and what distinguishes between such organizations and those we talked about in the first place, all the more so when they do not have the purpose for which they were artificially created, consciously at least, both can thus be in more or less direct contact and even sometimes end up intermingling in an inextricable way. To give a better understanding of what we have just said, we shall cite the example of two organizations which, externally, may appear to be quite comparable with each other, however they differ distinctly in their origins, so that they respectively return to each of the categories we have just distinguished: the Illuminati of Bavaria and the Carbonari. With regard to the former, the founders are known and we know how they have developed the 'system' of their own initiative, separate from any attachment to anything preexisting; it is also known by what successive states are passed through in the ranks and rituals, some of which were never practiced and existed only on paper. For everything was put in writing from the beginning and, as the ideas of the founders developed and became clearer, their very plan was thwarted by this fact, which, naturally, related exclusively to the social domain and did not exceed it in any respect. There can be no doubt that this is only the artificial work of a few individuals, and that the forms they adopted could only constitute a simulacrum or a parody of initiation, the traditional attachment being entirely lacking as the truly initiatic goal was never their concern. On the contrary, if we consider Carbonarism, we can see, on the one hand, that it is impossible to assign to it a 'historic' origin of this kind, and, on the other hand, that its rituals clearly present a character of an 'initiation of crafts,' as such being related to Masonry and the Compagnonnage, but, while they have always kept a certain awareness of their initiatic character, though diminished by the intrusion of concerns of the contingent order and the increasing share that has been attributed to them, it seems (though one can never be absolutely affirmative in this regard, a small number of members can always be an exception to the general misunderstanding without making it known) that Carbonarism has finally pushed the degeneration to the extreme, to the point of being nothing more in reality than a simple association of political conspirators of which we know of their actions in the nineteenth century. The Carbo-nari then mingled with other associations of recent foundation and which had nothing initiatic about them, while, on the other hand, many of them belonged to Masonry at the same time, which can be explained both by the original affinity of the two organizations and by a certain relative degeneration of Masonry itself, going in the same direction as Carbonarism. As for the Illuminati, their relations with Masonry had a very different character: those who entered it did so only with the firm intention of acquiring a preponderating influence and using it as an in-strument for realization of their particular designs; speaking in passing, we can see how many who claim to make the Illuminati themselves a 'Masonic' organization. Let us add still that the ambiguity of this appel-lation 'Illuminati' must in no way be an illusion: it was taken only in a strictly 'rationalist' sense, and we must not forget that, in the eighteenth century, the 'enlightenment' had in Germany a significance roughly equivalent to that of philosophy' in France; that is to say, we could not conceive of anything more profane or even more formally contrary to any initiatic spirit. Let us upon a parenthesis about this last remark: if it happens that 'philosophic' and more or less ‘rationalist' ideas infiltrate into an initiatic organization, we must see here only the effect of an individual (or col-lective) error of its members, due to their inability to understand its true nature, and therefore to guarantee itself of any profane 'contamination'; naturally, this error in no way affects the very principle of the organiza-tion, but it is one of the symptoms of this degeneracy of fact which we have spoken of, whether it has reached a more or less advanced degree. We will say the same regarding 'sentimentalism' and 'moralism' in all their forms, things which are no less profane by their very nature; more-over, the rest is, in general, more or less closely linked to a predominance of social occupations; it is especially so when these come to take a spe-cifically 'political' form, in the narrowest sense of the word, that the de-generation risks becoming almost irremediable. One of the strangest phe-nomena of this kind is the penetration of ‘democratic' ideas into Western initiatic organizations (and, naturally, we think especially here of Ma-sonry, or at least some of its parts), without their members seeming able to perceive that there is a contradiction pure and simple, and even in a dual way: indeed, by definition, any initiatic organization is in formal opposition to the 'democratic' and 'egalitarian' conception first, in rela-tion to the profane world, to which it constitutes, in the most precise sense of this term, a separate and closed ‘elite,' and then within itself, by the hierarchy of grades and of functions which it necessarily established between its own members. Moreover, this phenomenon is only one of the manifestations of the deviation of the modern Western mind, which extends and penetrates everywhere, even where it should meet irreduci-ble resistance; this does not apply only to the initiatic point of view, but just as much from the religious point of view, which is to say, all that has a truly traditional character.

Thus, besides the organizations which have remained purely initiatic, there are those which, for one reason or another, have degenerated or deviated more or less completely, but which nevertheless remain initiatic always in their profound essence, however misunderstood it may be in their present state. Then there are those that are only counterfeits or car-icatures, which is to say the 'pseudo-initiatic' organizations, and finally there are other organizations of a more or less secret nature, but which have no pretentions of this kind, and which proposes only aims which obviously have no relation to the initiatic domain. But it must be under-stood that, whatever appearances, the 'pseudo-initiatic' organizations are in fact just as profane as the latter, and that is why we have gathered them from the beginning to form only a single group, as opposed to ini-tiatic organizations, either pure or 'contaminated' with profane influ-ences. But to all this, we must add another category, that of the organi-zations that come under what we have called ‘counter-initiation'; having sufficiently explained what is meant by this, we will limit ourselves to only mentioning them, otherwise our enumeration would present a seri-ous deficiency, especially since the organizations in this category are cer-tainly of far greater importance than would commonly tempted to as-sume. We will only point out a new complication that results from their existence: in some cases they may have a more or less direct influence on profane organizations, especially the 'pseudo-initiatic'; hence another difficulty in exactly determining the real character of this or that organ-ization; of course, we are not concerned here with the examination of particular cases, and it suffices for us to have indicated quite clearly the classifications which is to be established in a general manner.

However, that is not all: there are organizations which, while having in themselves only a goal of the contingent order, have a real traditional connection, because they proceed from initiatic organizations of which they are an emanation of some sort, and by which they are 'invisibly' directed, even though their apparent leaders are entirely unknown to it. This case, as we have already indicated elsewhere, is particularly to be found in the Far Eastern secret organizations: constituted only for a spe-cial purpose, these are generally only in existence temporarily, and they disappear without leaving a trace as soon as their mission is accom-plished; they represent the last echelon in reality, and the outermost, of a hierarchy rising step by step to the most pure and inaccessible initiatic organizations in the eyes of the profane organization. It is therefore no longer a matter of a degeneration of initiatic organizations, but of for- mations expressly desired by them, without themselves descending to this contingent level and mingling with the action exercised therein, and this for purposes which, naturally, are very different from all that a su- perficial observer can see or suppose. We will recall what we have al- ready said on this subject, that the outermost of these organizations may sometimes be in opposition and even in struggle with each other, and nevertheless have a common direction or inspiration, this direction being beyond the domain where their opposition asserts itself and for which it is valid; perhaps this would also find its application elsewhere than in the Far East, although such a hierarchy of superimposed organizations is probably nowhere as clear and complete as in the Taoist tradition. Here we have organizations of a ‘mixed' character, of which we cannot say that they are properly initiatic, nor are they merely profane, since their attachment to higher organizations confers on them an involvement, even if it is indirect and unconscious, to a tradition whose essence is purely initiatic; something of this essence is always found in their rites and symbols for those who know how to penetrate their most profound meaning.

All the categories of organizations which we have envisaged have only the fact of holding a secret in common, whatever the nature of it may be; it goes without saying that, from one to the other, it can be ex- tremely different: between the true initiatic secret and a political design that is kept hidden, or the concealment of the existence of an association of names of its members for reasons of simple caution, there is obviously no possible comparison. Still, we are not speaking of these fanciful groupings, as there are so many in our day, especially in the Anglo-Saxon countries, which in 'mimicking' the initiatic organizations, adopt forms that cover absolutely nothing, which are genuinely devoid of any scope or significance, over which they claim to keep a secret which is not jus- tified by any serious reason. This last case is of interest only in that it shows quite clearly the mistake that is commonly made in the mind of the profane public, regarding the nature of the initiatic secret; it is imag- ined that it is simply about the rites, as well as the words and signs used as a means of recognition, which would make it a secret as external and artificial as any other secret, a secret which in sum would only be such by convention. Now, if such a secret exists in most initiatic organizations, it is nevertheless only a very secondary and accidental element, and, to tell the truth, it has only one symbolic value per its relation to the true initiatic secret, which itself is so by the very nature of things, and which consequently can never be betrayed in any way, being of a purely internal order and, as we have already said, residing properly in the 'incommunicable.' On this point, we think that some clear points will not be useless; it will therefore be the subject of a future article, which will complete the present exposé in this regard.

Initiatic Secrecy Du secret initiatique, December 1934.

As a follow-up to our previous articles, we must further clarify the true nature of initiatic secrecy, which is distinguished from all other types of external secrets that we encounter in the various organizations which, for this reason, are described as secret in the most general sense. Indeed, we have said that this qualification only means for us that such organi- zations possess a secret of whatever nature; we have already explained that, according to the purpose proposed by these organizations, this se- cret can relate naturally to the most diverse of things and take the most varied forms. In any case, any secret other than the properly initiatic se- cret always has a conventional character; by this we mean that it is only by virtue of an express agreement, and not by the very nature of things. On the contrary, the initiatic secret is such because it cannot be other- wise, being of a purely internal order and consisting exclusively of the ‘inexpressible,' which, consequently, is necessarily also the 'incommuni- cable'; therefore it is absolutely independent of any convention, and thus, if the initiatic organizations are secret, this character is not artificial and does not result from any arbitrary decision on the part of anybody. This point is therefore particularly important to distinguish, on the one hand, the initiatic organizations from all other secret organizations of any kind, and on the other hand, from the initiatic organizations themselves, which constitutes the essential all that may accidentally be added to them; we must now focus on developing some of the consequences of this. The first of these consequences, which we have already indicated be- fore, is that, while any secret of the external order can always be be- trayed, the initiatic secret along can never be betrayed in any way, since, in itself and by definition, it is inaccessible and elusive for the profane and cannot be penetrated by them, its knowledge can only be the conse- quence of the initiatic itself. Indeed, this secret is of a nature such that words cannot express it; this is why, as we have explained on another occasion, initiatic teaching can only make use of rites and symbols, which it suggests instead of the ordinary sense of this word. Properly speaking, what is transmitted by initiation is not the secret itself, since it is communicable, but the 'spiritual influence' which takes the rites as 'vehicle,' and which makes possible the interior work through which, by taking the symbols as a base and support, each will reach this secret and penetrate it completely, more or less profoundly, according to the extent of his own possibilities of understanding and realization. Whatever one may think of other secret organizations, one cannot, in any case, blame initiatic organizations for having this character, since their secret is not something they voluntarily hide for any reason, legit- imate or otherwise, and always are less subject to discussion and appre- ciation as anything that belongs to the profane domain, ^[405] but something that is not in anyone's power, even if he wished to reveal and communi- cate the secret with others. As for the fact that these organizations are 'closed,' which is to say that they do not admit everyone indistinctly, it is simply explained by the need to possess certain 'qualifications,' with- out which no real benefit can be derived from an attachment to such an organization. Moreover, when it becomes too 'open' and insufficiently strict in this regard, it runs the risk of degenerating as a result of the incomprehension of those whom it admits so recklessly, and who, espe- cially when they become the majority do not fail to introduce all kinds of profane views and divert their activity towards goals which have noth- ing in common with the initiatic domain, as we see all too often in our times, there are still such organizations of this kind in the Occident. Thus, and this is a second consequence of what we have stated at the beginning, the initiatic secret in itself and the 'closed' character of the organizations which hold the secret (or, to speak more precisely, who hold the means by which it is possible for those who are 'qualified' to have access to it) are two quite indistinct things and should not be con- fused in any way. With regards to the first, it is to completely disregard the essence and scope of invoking reasons of 'prudence' as is sometimes done; as for the second, on the contrary, owes its character to the general nature of man and not to that of the initiatic organization, one can speak to a certain extent of 'prudence' in the sense that the organizations de- fends itself, not again ʻindiscretions' which are impossible in its essential nature, but against the danger of degeneration of which we have just spoken. This is still not the primary reason, the latter being none other than the perfect uselessness of admitting individuals for whom initiation would never be anything except for a 'dead letter,' which is to say an empty formality without any real effect. As for the 'prudence' vis-à-vis the exterior world, as it is most often understood, this can only be an altogether incidental consideration, although it is certainly legitimate in the presence of a more or less completely hostile milieu, the profane incomprehension seldom stopping at a kind of indifference and changing all too easily into a hatred whose manifestations constitute a danger which is certainly not illusory; however, this cannot reach the initiatic organization itself, which is, as we have said, is truly ‘elusive.' Therefore, the precautions in this regard will be all the more necessary since this organization will already be more ‘externalized,' and therefore less purely initiatic; moreover, it is only in this case that it can be in direct contact with the profane world, which otherwise could simply ignore it. We shall not speak here of a danger of another order, which may result from the existence of what we have called 'counter-initiation,' and to which the mere measures of 'prudence' cannot obviate; these are valid only against the profane world, whose reactions, we repeat, are to be feared only if the organization has taken an external form such as that of a 'society' or has been dragged more or less completely into an action exercised outside of the initiatic domain, all things of which can only be regarded as having a merely accidental and contingent character. ^[406] Thus we arrive at another consequence of the nature of initiatic secrecy: it may happen that, in addition to this secret which it alone is essential to it, an initiatic organization also possesses secondary, and without losing its own character, other secrets which are not of the same order, but are of a more or less external and contingent order; these are purely accessory secrets which, being necessarily the only ones apparent to the observer from the outside, will be liable to give rise to the confusion we pointed out at the end of our previous article. These secrets may come from the 'contamination' of which we have spoken, in other words the addition of goals which are not initiatic, and which can be attributed a more or less importance, since, in this sort of degeneracy all degrees are possible; it is not always so, and it may happen that such secrets relate to contingent, but legitimate, applications of the initiatic doctrine itself, which are considered to be ‘reserved' for reasons that may be very diverse, and which would have to be determined in each case. The secrets to which we are referring here are those concerning the sciences and the traditional arts especially; what can be said in the most general way in this regard is that, since these sciences and arts cannot be truly understood apart from the initiation in which they have their principle, their 'vulgarization' could only have disadvantages, because it would inevitably lead to a distortion or even a denaturation, of the kind that gave rise to the sciences and profane arts, as we have explained in other circum- stances. In this same category of accessory and non-essential secrets, we must also classify another kind of secret which exists very generally in initiatic organizations, and which is the one which most commonly causes, among the profane, this mistake on which we have previously called at- tention to: this secret is the one that bears, either on all the rites and symbols used in such an organization, or, more specifically and in a more strict way than is common, on certain words and signs used as a 'means of recognition,' to allow its members to distinguish themselves from the profane. It goes without saying that any secret of this nature has only conventional and relative value, and, because it concerns external forms, it can always be discovered or betrayed, which will quite naturally be more of a risk than a more rigorously ‘closed' organization; so we must insist on this, not only can this secret be in no way confused with the true initiatic secret, except by those who do not have the slightest idea of the nature of it, but that even there is nothing essential, so that its presence or absence cannot be invoked to define an organization as pos- sessing an initiatic character or to define it otherwise. In fact, the same, or something similar, also exists in most other secret organizations which are not initiatic, although the reasons are different: it can be either to imitate the initiatic organizations in their outermost appearances, as is the case with the associations we have described as ‘pseudo-initiatic' and those certain fanciful groups that do not deserve even this name, or simply to guarantee as much indiscretion as possible, in the most vulgar sense of the word, as happens for political associations especially which is easily understandable. On the other hand, the existence of a secret of this sort is not necessary for the initiatic organizations; even in these they have even less importance because they are of a purer and higher character, because they are then all the freer from all external forms and all that is inessential. So it happens that, which may seem paradoxical at first glance, but which is nonetheless very logical at the heart of it: the use of 'means of recognition' by an organization is a consequence of its 'closed' character, but in those which are precisely the most 'closed' of all these means are reduced to the point of disappearing altogether, be- cause there is no longer any need of them since their utility, being di- rectly linked to a certain degree of 'externality' of the organizations that uses it, reaches its peak when the organization has a ‘semi-profane' as- pect, where the form of 'society' is the most typical example, because it is then that its opportunities of contact with the exterior world are the most extensive and multiple, and this, consequently, is most important for it to distinguish itself from the world by means which are themselves of the external order. The existence of such an external and secondary secret in the most widespread initiatic organizations is justified by other reasons: some at- tribute to it above all a 'pedagogic' role, if it is permissible to express oneself thus; in other words, the 'discipline of secrecy' would constitute a kind of 'training' or exercise as part of the methods peculiar to these organizations, and one could see in this, as it were, an attenuated and restricted form of the 'discipline of silence' that was used in some ancient schools, especially among the Pythagoreans. ^[407] This point of view is cer- tainly correct, provided that it is not exclusive. It is to be remarked that in this regard the value of the secret is completely independent of the things which it bears; secrets of the most insignificant things will have, as 'discipline,' the same efficacity as a secret that is important unto itself. This should be a sufficient answer to the profane who, in this regard, accuse the initiatic organizations of 'puerility,' failing to understand that the words or signs on which the secret is imposed have a symbolic value of their own; if they are incapable of going as far as considerations of this last order, that which we have just indicated is at least within their reach, and certainly does not require a great effort of understanding. But it is, in reality, a deeper reason, based precisely on the symbolic character we have just mentioned, and which makes what we call 'means of recognition' not only that, but also, at the same timer, something more: these are really symbols like all others, whose meaning must be medi- tated and deepened in the same way, and which thus forms an integral part of the initiatic teaching. The same is true of all the forms used by initiatic organizations, and, more generally, of all those which have a tra- ditional character (including religious forms): they are always, funda- mentally, something other than what they seem to be on the outside, and that is what distinguishes them essentially from profane forms, where the external appearance is everything and does not cover any reality of another order. From this point of view, the secret in question is itself a symbol, that of the true initiatic secret, which is obviously much more than a mere 'pedagogic' means;^[408] but, of course, here as anywhere else, the symbol should not be confused with what is symbolized, and it is this confusion that profane ignorance emerges, because it does not know to see what is behind the appearance, and it does not even conceive that there can be anything other than what falls under the senses, which is practically equivalent to the pure and simple negation of all symbolism. Finally, we will indicate a final consideration that could still give rise to other developments: the secret of the external order, in the initiatic organizations where it exists, is properly part of the ritual, since what is the object is communication under the corresponding obligation of si- lence, even in the course of initiation at each degree or at the completion; it thus constitutes, not only a symbol as we have just said, but also a true rite, with all the proper virtue which is essentially inherent to it as such. Moreover, to tell the truth, the rite and the symbol are, in call cases, closely linked by their very nature, for every rite necessarily implies a symbolic meaning in all its constitutive elements, and, conversely, every symbol produced for the one who meditates with the necessary aptitudes and dispositions, effects which are strictly comparable to those of rites proper, subject, of course, to the starting point of this work of meditation and as a precondition, the regular initiatic transmission, outside of which, the rites would be only a vain simulacrum, as it happens in the parodies of the ‘pseudo-initiation.'