Initiation and Crafts

L'initiation et les métiers, April 1934.

We have often said that the 'profane' conception of the science and the arts, as is now prevalent in the West, is a very modern thing and implies a degeneration from a previous state in which both had a very different character. The same thing can be said also of crafts, and the distinction between arts and crafts, or between 'artist' and 'artisan,' is also specifi- cally modern, as if it were born of this profane deviation and is only made meaningful through this fact. For the ancients, the artifex is the man who exercises an art or craft; in fact, it is neither the artist nor the artisan in the sense that these words have today, it is something more than both, because, originally at least, the activity is attached to principles of a much more profound order.

In every traditional civilization every activity of man, whatever it may be, is always considered as deriving essentially from principles, in this way it is 'transformed,' one might say, and instead of being reduced to what it is as a mere outward manifestation (which is the profane point of view), it is integrated into the tradition and constitutes, for the one who accomplishes it, a means of effectively participating in the tradition. This is even the case from the simple exoteric point of view. For example, if we consider a civilization such as the Islamic civilization, or the Chris- tian civilization of the Middle Ages, nothing is easier than to realize the 'religious' character in the most ordinary acts of existence. This is be- cause religion is not something that occupies a separate place without any relation to everything else, as it is to modern Westerners (for those at least who still consent to admit religion); on the contrary, it permeates the whole existence of the human being, or, to put it better, everything that constitutes this existence, and in particular the social life is found as encompassed in its domain, so that in such conditions there can be noth- ing 'profane' except for that which, for one reason or the other, are out- side the tradition, and whose case represents only a simple anomaly. Elsewhere, where there is nothing to which the name 'religion' properly applies, there is none the less a traditional and 'sacred' legislation which, while having different characters, fulfills the same exact role; these con- siderations may therefore apply to any traditional civilization without exception. But there is still something more: if we move from exoterism to esoterism (we use these words here for convenience, although they are not equally appropriate in all cases), we find, very generally, the ex- istence of an initiation related to crafts that takes them as a base; it is therefore that these crafts are still capable of a superior and more pro- found meaning, and we would like to indicate how they can actually pro- vide a path to the initiatic domain. What best allows us to understand it is the notion of what the Hindu doctrine calls swadharma, that is, the fulfillment by each being of an ac- tivity conforming to its own nature, and it is also by this notion, or by its absence, that the defect of the profane conception is most clearly marked. Indeed, in this conception a man may adopt any profession, and he can even change it at will, as if this profession were something purely outside him, without any real connection with what he really is, with what makes him himself, and with what does not make himself something else. In the traditional conception, on the contrary, everyone must normally fulfill the function for which he is destined by his very nature, and he cannot fulfill another without there being serious disorder, which will have repercussions on the whole social organization of which he is a part; moreover, if such a disorder becomes generalized, it will come to have effects on the cosmic milieu itself, all things being linked together ac- cording to rigorous correspondences. Without further insisting on this last point, which might easily be applied to the conditions of the present age, we will point out that the opposition of the two conceptions may, at least in a certain relation, be reduced to that of the 'qualitative' point of view and a 'quantitative' point of view: in the traditional conception, it is the essential qualities of beings that determine their activity; in the profane conception, individuals are only considered as interchangeable 'units,' as if they were, in themselves, devoid of any quality of their own. This latter conception, which is clearly close to the modern ideas of 'equality' and 'uniformity' (the latter being literally the reverse of true unity, because it implies the pure and 'inorganic' multiplicity of a kind of social 'atomism') can logically only lead to the exercise of a purely 'mechanical' activity, in which there is no longer anything strictly hu- man, and that is indeed what we can see nowadays. It must be under- stood then that the 'mechanical' crafts of the moderns, being only a prod- uct of profane deviation, cannot in any way offer the possibilities of which we are speaking here; to tell the truth, they cannot even be con- sidered as crafts, if we wish to restrict this word to its traditional mean- ing, which is the only one that interests us at present. If the craft is something of the man himself, as a manifestation or ex- pansion of his own nature, it is easy to understand that he could, as we said earlier, serve as a basis for an initiation and it is even best suited for this purpose in most cases. Indeed, if the initiation is essentially to exceed the possibilities of the human individual, it is none the less true that it can take as a starting point only this individual as he is; hence the diversity of the initiatic ways, which is to say, in short, the means implemented as 'supports,' in conformity with the difference of the individual natures, this difference intervening all the less after the beings advances further in his path. The means thus employed can only be effective if they correspond to the very nature of the beings to which they apply, and since it is necessary to proceed from the most accessible to the least accessible, from the exterior to the interior, it is normal to take them into the activity by which this nature manifests itself externally. But it goes without saying that this activity can play such a role only in so far as it really reflects the interior nature; there is thus a real question of 'qualification,' in the initiatic sense of the term, and, under normal conditions, this 'qualification' should be required for very exercise of the craft. At the same time, this affects the fundamental difference between initiatic and profane education: what is simply 'learned' from the outside is without any value here; what is at stake is 'awakening' the latent possibilities the being has within itself (and this is, fundamentally, the true meaning of Plato's 'reminiscence'). We can still understand, by these last considerations, how initiation, taking the craft as 'support,' will have at the same time, and somehow conversely, a repercussion on the exercise of this craft. The being, having fully realized the possibilities of which his professional activity is only an external expression and thus possessing the effective knowledge of what is the very principle of this activity, will consciously accomplish what was firstly an entirely 'instinctive' consequence of his nature; so, if the initiatic knowledge is born of the profession for him, this, in turn, will become the field of application of this knowledge, from which he can no longer be separated. There will then be a perfect correspondence between the interior and the exterior, and the work produced may be, not only the expression to some degree and in a more or less superficial way, but the truly adequate expression of the one who conceived and executed it, which will constitute the 'chef-d'œuvre' in the true sense of the word. This, we see, is far from the so-called unconscious, or subconscious if you will, 'inspiration' in which the modern ones wish to see the mark of the true artist, while looking at it as superior to the artisan, following the more than questionable distinction which they have become accustomed to. Artist or artisan, he who acts under such an ‘inspiration' is only a layman in any case; it undoubtedly shows that he carries with him certain possibilities, but as long as he has not really become aware of them, even if he reaches what is known as 'genius,' that will not change any-thing, and without being able to control these possibilities, his successes will be only accidental, which is commonly recognized by saying that 'inspiration' is sometimes lacking. All that can be said, in order to assim-ilate the case which real knowledge intervenes in, is that the work which, consciously or unconsciously, truly flows from the nature of the person executing it, will never give the impression of a more or less painful ef-fort, which always entails some imperfection, because it is an abnormal things; on the contrary, it will draw its very perfection from its conform-ity with nature, which will imply in an immediate and necessary way, its exact adaptation to the end for which it is destined.

If we now wish to more strictly define the domain of what we can call the initiation of crafts, we will say that they belong to the order of the 'lesser mysteries,' referring to the development of the possibilities which properly belong to the state of the human being, which is not the ultimate goal of initiation, but at least obligatorily constitutes the first phase. In fact, it is necessary that this development must first be accomplished in its entirety, to then allow the being to go beyond the human state, but, beyond this, it is obvious that the individual differences, on which these initiations of crafts are based, disappear entirely and can no longer play any role. As we have explained on other occasions, the 'lesser mysteries' lead to the restoration of what traditional doctrines refer to as the 'pri-mordial state,' but, as soon as the being has reached this state, which still belongs to the domain of human individuality (and which is the point of communication of it with the higher states), the differentiations which give rise to the various 'specialized' functions have disappeared, alt-hough all these functions also have their common source which is indeed a question of returning to the full possession that is involved in the ex-ercise of any function.

If we contemplate the history of mankind as taught by traditional doc-trines, in accordance with cyclic laws, we must say that, originally, man having full possession of his state of existence, naturally had the possi-bilities corresponding to all the functions prior to any distinction. The division of these functions occurred at a later stage, representing a state already inferior to the 'primordial state,' but in which each human being, while having only certain definite possibilities, spontaneously had the effective consciousness of these possibilities. It was only in a period of greater obscuration that this consciousness became lost, and from then on initiation became necessary to allow the man to find, with this con-sciousness, the previous state which was inherent; this is indeed the first of its goals, the one it proposes most immediately. To be possible, this implies a remontant transmission, by an uninterrupted 'chain,' to the state which is a question of restoration, and thus, from near to far, to the 'primordial state' itself; still, initiation does not stop there and the ‘lesser mysteries' being only the preparation for the 'greater mysteries,' which is to say, taking possession of the higher states of being we must go back even beyond the origins of humanity. Indeed, there is no true initiation, even at the most inferior level, even at the most inferior and elementary level, without the intervention of a ‘non-human' element, which is, ac- cording to what we have exposed previously in other articles, the 'spir- itual influence' communicated regularly by the initiatic rite. If this is so, there is obviously no need to look 'historically' at the origin of initiation, a question which appears from then on as meaningless, nor at the origins of the crafts, arts, and sciences, envisaged in their traditional and 'legiti- mate' conception, because all, through multiple, but secondary, differen- tiations and adaptations derive from the 'primordial state,' which con- tains them all in principle, and hence they are connected to other orders of existence, beyond humanity itself, which is necessary so that they can effectively contribute to the realization of the plan of the Great Architect of the Universe each in their own ranks and according to their own measures.

'Verbum, Lux, and Vita' « Verbum, Lux et Vita », May 1934.

During our recent study on Kundalini-Yoga, ^[383] we have been lead to point out the close connection which exists between sound and light from the cosmogonic point of view; we recalled in speaking of this association, and even the identification established, at the beginning of the Gospel of Saint John, between the terms Verbum, Lux, and Vita. We propose to de- velop this information on this point, without however claiming to treat completely the subject which it touches, directly or indirectly, with a multitude of other more or less complex questions, as one can easily see from a study, however brief it may be, of what relates to it in the different traditional doctrines. We know that the Hindu doctrine affirms the primordiality of sound among the sensory qualities, as corresponding to Ether among the ele- ments, but, at the same time, this affirmation, thus enunciated, immedi- ately refers to the corporeal world, it is likely to be transposition into other domains, for it translates the very process of universal manifesta- tion with regards to this corporeal world which is only a simple case. If we consider this in its entirety, this same affirmation becomes the pro- duction of all things, in any state whatsoever, by the Divine Verb or the Divine Word, which is thus at the commencement or the principle of every manifestation. This is also expressly stated at the beginning of the Hebrew Genesis, and we see that the first uttered word, as the starting point of the manifestation, is the Fiat Lux, by which the chaos of possi- bilities is illuminated and organized; this precisely establishes the direct relation which exists, in the principal order, between what can be desig- nated analogically as sound and light, which is to say in sum, what sound and light are as respective expressions in our world. Here, it is necessary to make an important remark: the word 'amar, which is used in the Biblical text, and which is usually translated as 'to say,' has for its principle meaning in Hebrew, as in Arabic, that of 'to command' or 'to order;' the Divine Word is the 'order' ('amr) by which the creation is effected, which is to say, the production of the universal manifestation. Also according to the Islamic tradition, the first creation is that of Light (An-Nūr), which is also called min amrillāhī, resulting directly from the divine commandment, and this creation is situated, so to speak, in the 'world,' which is to say, the state or degree of existence, which for this reason is also called 'ālam al-'amr, and which is properly speaking the 'spiritual world.' Indeed, the intelligible Light is the essence (dhāt) of the 'Spirit' (Ar-Rūh), and this, when considered in the universal sense, identifies with the Light itself; this is why the terms An-Nūr al- Muhammadī and Ar-Rūh al-Muhammadiyyah are equivalent, both denot- ing the principal and total form of the 'Universal Man, '^[384] who is awwal khalqillāhī, 'the first of the divine creation.' This is the true 'Heart of the World,' whose expansion produces the manifestation of all beings, while its contradiction finally brings them back to their Principle, and so he is both 'the First and the Last' (Al-Awwal wa Al-Akhir) in relation to the creation, as Allāh Himself is 'the First and the Last' in the absolute sense. 'Heart of hearts and Spirit of spirits' (Qalb al-qulūbī wa Rūh al-'arwāh), it is in its midst that the particular 'spirits,' the angels (al-malaʻikah) and the 'separate spirits' (al-'arwāh al-mujarradah), which are thus formed of the Primordial Light as their only essence, without a mixture of the elements representing the determining conditions of the lower degrees of existence.^[385] If we now continue to the more particular consideration of our 'world,' which is to say the degree of existence to which the human state belongs, we must find there, as 'center,' a principal corresponding to this 'Universal Heart' and which is somehow only the specification in rela- tion to the state in question. It is in this principle that the Hindu doctrine designates as Hiranyagarbha: it is an aspect of Brahma, which is to say, the Word that produces the manifestation, and at the same time it is also 'Light,' as indicated by the designation Taijasa given to the subtle state which constitutes its own ‘world,' and of which it contains in itself all possibilities.^[386] It is here that we find the third of terms we mentioned at the beginning: this Cosmic Light, for the beings manifested in this do- main, and in conformity with their particular conditions of existence, ap- pear as 'Life;' Et Vita erat Lux hominum, the Gospel of Saint John says exactly in this sense. Hiranyagarbha is therefore, in this regard, the 'vital principle' of this whole world, and that is why it is called jiva-ghana, the word ghana indicates that we find here the 'global' principal form of which we speak above, so that the 'Life' appears as an image or a reflec- tion of the 'Spirit' at a certain level of manifestation;^[387] this same form is still that of the 'Egg of the World' (Brahmanda), of which Hiranyagarbha is the vivifying 'germ.'

In a certain state, corresponding to this first subtle mode of the human order which constitutes the world of Hiranyagarbha, the being feels itself like a wave of the 'Primordial Ocean,' without it being possible to say whether this wave is a sound vibration or a light wave; in reality, it is both at once indissolubly united in principle, beyond any differentiation which occurs only at a later stage in the development of manifestation. We speak here analogically, of course, because it is obvious that in the subtle state there can be no question of sound and light in the ordinary sense, which is to say, as sensory qualities, but only of what they proceed respectively, furthermore, the vibration or the undulation, in its literal sense, is only a movement which, as such, necessarily implies the condi- tions of space and time which are peculiar to the domain of the corporeal existence; the analogy is none the accurate and it is the only possible mode of expression here. The state in question is therefore directly re- lated to the very principle of life;^[388] it is found as an image in the essential manifestations of organic life itself, both in the pulsations of the heart and in the alternative movements of respiration, and we will indicate, without being able to insist upon it at this point, that this is the true foundation of the many applications of the ‘science of rhythm.' This nat- urally includes the mantra-vidya, which corresponds here to the 'sonic' aspect, and, on the other hand, the 'luminous' aspect appears more par- ticularly in the nadis of the 'subtle form' (sukshma-sharira), we can see without difficulty the relation of all this to the dual nature of Kundalini, who, at the same time, lies in the human being as a 'life force. '^[389] Thus we find the three terms Verbum, Lux, and Vita, are inseparable from each other at the very principle of the human state, and on this point, as on all others, we find the perfect agreement of the different traditional doctrines, which are only the various expressions of the one Truth.