How to Take the Mystery Out of a Mystery School

How to Take the Mystery Out of a Mystery School

I often share with students that the mystery school teachings aren’t intended to be secret. The mysterious and esoteric nature of the teachings can appear like they are secret, but this is not intentional. Our teachers aren’t trying to hide sacred knowledge, indeed they’re trying to spread it! The Dalai Lama made it very clear to our Founder that this is the “time of no more secrets.”

The issue with understanding esoteric knowledge is with our own consciousness. Can we actually understand what it is that our teachers are saying? Do we perceive the information with a clear and open mind? Can we receive knowledge without prior knowledge clouding our clear vision of what is being shared? Are our ‘impurities’ getting in the way of us truly realizing the depth of what is being shared?

We can only acquire the deeper, secret teachings of mystery schools through self-discipline, concentration, and meditation that leads to insight. Upon hearing a teaching, a surface level understanding of the information is usually not sufficient for understanding the entirety of what is being shared. We must reach down into the depths of our own experience and view the information from a variety of different perspectives in order to assimilate into our consciousness the full benefit of the teachings. Experiencing the teaching in life “as lived” which is to say, in the everyday moments of our existence, is where the true (and lasting) benefits can emerge.

Gaining secret teachings and applying them for benefit in our own lives does require effort. In sitting with our mystery school teachers, we are not guaranteed learning. The only thing that is guaranteed is that if we do the work, take the actions our teachers recommend, live our life according to the principles they teach (as best as we can perceive them), then we will get results. Our spiritual progression is up to us, our teachers are waiting for us to understand what they are already delivering to us in every moment. We need to be ready to receive.

What mystery school practices do you engage in to prep yourself for deeper teachings and insights?