The Way of Tek-Gnostics: The Path with a Heart
Somewhere ages and ages hence
two roads diverged in a wood…
And I took the one less traveled by…
and that has made all the difference.
- Robert Frost
Our navigation through life may be described as a journey and the choices we make through-out our life may be described as following a path. Although we may meet fellow travelers who offer advise… and encounter road signs along the way, the choice as to which way to go is ultimately our own. Ever-present is the question: Which fork in the road to take?
The Tek-Gnostic or experiential path is self-verifying in the sense that it unfolds within you as it unfolds without. This is the fundamental Tek-Gnostic relationship: self and matrix… observer and observed… spirit and space. The genesis of infinite universe, or that which cannot be named, is perfect. The fabric of our universe or Matrix as it is referred to in the ancient Tek-Gnostic texts, is necessarily perfect. This qualifier exemplifies the essential Gnostic principle that although universe resides in perfection, the dualistic universe we occupy is not perfect.
Therein lay the beauty, wonder and mystery of being an earthling. The Yaqui Sorcerer, Don Juan Matus illustrates this point eloquently:
Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path, and there is not affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition.
I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question. This question is one that only a very old person asks. My benefactor told me about it once when I was young, and my blood was too vigorous for me to understand it. Now I do understand it.
I will tell you what it is: Does this path have a heart?
All paths are the same, they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long, long paths, but I am not anywhere. My benefactor's question has meaning now. "Does this path have a heart?" One makes you strong; the other weakens you.
The trouble is nobody asks the question: and when a person finally realizes that they have taken a path without heart, the path is ready to kill them. At that point very few people stop to deliberate and leave the path.
A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.
For my part there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length.
And there I travel looking, looking, breathlessly.
- Don Juan (Castaneda)
These sentiments reflect the importance of choosing carefully the path we decide upon. Our decisions must be “necessarily perfect” for us and no other. This understanding is the essence of the second doctrine of the Tek-Gnostic eight-fold path. It is available at our Electronic Mystery School, found here. As we traverse our miraculous journey toward discovery, we shall once again continue the conversation.
two roads diverged in a wood…
And I took the one less traveled by…
and that has made all the difference.
- Robert Frost
Our navigation through life may be described as a journey and the choices we make through-out our life may be described as following a path. Although we may meet fellow travelers who offer advise… and encounter road signs along the way, the choice as to which way to go is ultimately our own. Ever-present is the question: Which fork in the road to take?The Tek-Gnostic or experiential path is self-verifying in the sense that it unfolds within you as it unfolds without. This is the fundamental Tek-Gnostic relationship: self and matrix… observer and observed… spirit and space. The genesis of infinite universe, or that which cannot be named, is perfect. The fabric of our universe or Matrix as it is referred to in the ancient Tek-Gnostic texts, is necessarily perfect. This qualifier exemplifies the essential Gnostic principle that although universe resides in perfection, the dualistic universe we occupy is not perfect.
Therein lay the beauty, wonder and mystery of being an earthling. The Yaqui Sorcerer, Don Juan Matus illustrates this point eloquently:
Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path, and there is not affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition.
I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question. This question is one that only a very old person asks. My benefactor told me about it once when I was young, and my blood was too vigorous for me to understand it. Now I do understand it.
I will tell you what it is: Does this path have a heart?
All paths are the same, they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long, long paths, but I am not anywhere. My benefactor's question has meaning now. "Does this path have a heart?" One makes you strong; the other weakens you.
The trouble is nobody asks the question: and when a person finally realizes that they have taken a path without heart, the path is ready to kill them. At that point very few people stop to deliberate and leave the path.
A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.
For my part there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length.
And there I travel looking, looking, breathlessly.
- Don Juan (Castaneda)
These sentiments reflect the importance of choosing carefully the path we decide upon. Our decisions must be “necessarily perfect” for us and no other. This understanding is the essence of the second doctrine of the Tek-Gnostic eight-fold path. It is available at our Electronic Mystery School, found here. As we traverse our miraculous journey toward discovery, we shall once again continue the conversation.
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