School of initiates
Symbolically, the students are well fed so that they can till their own soil
October 27th 2025
Practising philosophy, the sciences or the arts will get you nowhere unless you are alive and well nourished to begin with. So, what matters above all else is to be well nourished and alive, and then, if you have the time and the inclination, you can practise all the disciplines you wish.
In universities and academies, students are given a great deal of knowledge but no nourishment. That is why students are unsteady on their legs, have empty hearts and a fog before their eyes. At the school of the great initiates, it is just the opposite: students are well fed, and once they become strong and robust they are given a plough, taught how to till the land, and put to work. You may say, ‘But we don’t want to till the soil!’ Obviously, this is symbolic: in this case, the soil is something we all possess—our minds.
Those who know how to work their own soil and plant good seed in it will eat their fill to the end of their days. Others will reap only thistles, thorn bushes and brambles, which are not only useless, but also harmful, both to themselves and to those around them.*
* Related reading:
In universities and academies, students are given a great deal of knowledge but no nourishment. That is why students are unsteady on their legs, have empty hearts and a fog before their eyes. At the school of the great initiates, it is just the opposite: students are well fed, and once they become strong and robust they are given a plough, taught how to till the land, and put to work. You may say, ‘But we don’t want to till the soil!’ Obviously, this is symbolic: in this case, the soil is something we all possess—our minds.
Those who know how to work their own soil and plant good seed in it will eat their fill to the end of their days. Others will reap only thistles, thorn bushes and brambles, which are not only useless, but also harmful, both to themselves and to those around them.*
* Related reading:
