In the New Age and similar movements (including some branches of Paganism, to some extent), this is, to some extent, known through things such as the concept of a 'spirit quest'. In fact, I've used that sort of terminology myself, from time to time - and still do, when I consider it appropriate.
There are a range of explanations for this need to, in a sense, prove oneself worthy. Some I can think of are:
- prove that one is not going to go off the deep end, and abuse the knowledge (e.g., use it for personal gain at the expense of others, or to dominate [control] others);
- proving one has the discipline and determination to be a reasonable chance of succeeding, and that it is therefore worth a teacher making the effort with one (as opposed to working with more worthy students, who are more likely to constructively use what is taught to them - and to assume that teachers should be willing and grateful to work with whoever deigns to turn up is an unbounded arrogance that deserves every type of spiritual rebuke and chastisement);
- prove that one is not likely to go backwards karmically by learning something, and then not applying that knowledge (the example I give of that is, knowing how to swim, but refusing to save someone who is drowning when one could easily and safely);
- there ARE dangers to some forms of development, and thus not all are suited to them;
- and there are no doubt others ...
- going away from one's tribe, putting oneself at risk, and experiencing deprivation to induce a trance type state (what is generally considered to be 'the traditional' type of quest);
- withdrawing from one's worldly duties for a while, to enable one to focus on practicing a skill (what could, perhaps, be considered the way the spiritual quest manifests in the West through paths such as Buddhism);
- going somewhere distant to find rare texts (generally considered to be a pre-Internet approach, but, given the amount of rubbish on the 'net, I sometimes wonder if this isn't still something valid - and I often quip that I insist on email, rather than Facebook, as a form of spirit quest / test of determination for potential students :) );
- being focused on something for long enough to break up some of the energetic patterns of material life (for instance, I still occasionally do DVD quests, such as perhaps watching all the Star Wars DVDs, or all the Harry Potter DVDs [and all looking forward to being able to do all The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings DVDs], or listen to all Beethoven's symphonies - and may do while doing alternate nostril breathing, or in a meditative state, or both);
- and there are unquestionably others ...
- the right to grow and develop spiritually comes as a result of existing - no further testing required, but one is subject to karma if one fails to use one's potential to grow and be spiritual;
- the 'right' to access a particular source's information is dictated by that source, and, in essence, is about proving that one has enough RESPECT for the source to actually shut up, listen and learn;
- there are karmic and spiritual duty aspects to this - ESPECIALLY if the information being sought could either be misused, or if failure to use it will result in one incurring a karmic debt;
- some testing is to determine whether or not one is capable of learning - and, in the same way that penicillin can be lifesaving for most people but fatal to a few, every spiritual / psychic technique is the same (i.e., beneficial for some, neutral for others, harmful perhaps for a few). Furthermore, it is unbridled arrogance to think that a seeker has the right to expect a teacher to be at their beck and call, and fall over backwards to serve the seeker. Apart from having their own life to life, this is very akin to the scene in the film "A Few Good Men" where Colonel Jessup says he thinks he has earned the respect of being addressed a certain way, and the Judge says he has earned the right to be addressed a certain way, and he KNOWS he has earned it. Teachers have earned respect as well;
- people are subject to their personal karma, and may have restricted others' ability to access information or grow and develop in the past, which may come back to haunt them now - just as, if they have helped others in the past, that will also manifest as being helped now;
- the right to grow and develop psychically is subject to qualification, as such abilities have the potential to be abused - or to be unused when they should be.
[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy").
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr, Wéofodthegn
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix
Lux … aka Morinehtar … would-be drýicgan or maga
... )
My "blogiography" (list of all posts and guide as to how to best use this site) is here, and my glossary/index is here.
I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ... See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "Pagans for Peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate-clear for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour, and see also here and be flexible.
I am a Walker upon the Path
of Balanced Positivity, seeking
Spiritual Maturity.
- neither eloquence nor inarticulateness inherently indicates correctness, but, as words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
- Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
- I mourn the desecration of the term 'Light Worker' by commercial interests, and the warping of the word 'Light' away from 'Clear Light' by the "White Lighters".
- Our entire life experience, with all the many wondrous and varied people, places and events in it, is too small a sample for statistical reliability about Life.
- May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
- Being accustomed to interacting via certain rules makes those rules neither right nor universal.
- Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master.
- The means shape the end.
- My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films.
- All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...
Human dignity is
the inherently cumulative holistic
combination of human rights, wellbeing and potential, and all actions or
interaction which promote, realise or facilitate same. The converse also
applies: whatever degrades, diminishes or robs humans of dignity, is inherently
undignified.
Gnwmythr
The “purpose” of spiritual evolution is not
the attainment of “spiritual perfection” - not in the sense of not having to
evolve further, at any rate, since there is no such thing. We need to evolve in
order to grow - but we can take rest breaks (hopefully well earned :) ) along the way. No, the “purpose” of evolution is,
rather, to perfect our ability to learn, and thus grow.
Gnwmythr
Our greatest struggle with, to borrow from
pop culture, the Jedi-Sith scale, is not with the Sith, whether they are hiding
or not: it is with the annoying, snotty-nosed, heroine/hero-worshipping little
kid who keeps intruding, stopping us from being cool enough to be with our
heroines/heroes, the big kids ...
Gnwmythr
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent.
Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called
Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to
infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names
we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious.
Jane Elliott
The only thing necessary for the triumph of
evil is for good [people] to do nothing.
(based on
writing by) Edmund Burke
We didn't inherit the Earth from our
ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children
Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
There are risks and costs to a program of
action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of
comfortable inaction.
John F. Kennedy
Tags: growth, New Age, psychic abilities, psychic damage, psychic development, Spirit Quest, spiritual/psychic rights, spirituality,
First published: Sunnudagr, 8th February, 2015
Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Sunday, 8th February, 2015
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Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither).Copyright © Kayleen White 2007-2024 NO AI
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