Tradition and initiation

We cannot speak of Traditions, be they chivalric, masonic or any other kind, without speaking of Primordial Tradition, or that Tradition of the origins, not elaborated by man, but received by the latter through elements of knowledge superior to those concerning the human condition and inspired by intuition, through “higher states of being”, in a remote and indefinable epoch, internalized in order to be used as a tool to transcend, therefore to rise from one’s human condition and not simply “perfect” it, as how contemporary schools of thought aim to do; the individual traditions are nothing other than multiple versions of the Primordial Tradition, which with different systems illustrate the same truth.

The perennial danger for the Tradition is that collateral and physiological pollutions caused by those who over time have arrogated to themselves the right and the power to be able to revisit the Tradition itself, could corrupt it and causing it to degenerate into an arbitrary and illusory modern invention. Just as the water gushing from the source collects debris and impurities on its arrival downstream, so the Tradition is subject to persistent and periodic pollution the more it moves away, in temporal terms, from its origin.

The true initiate is therefore certainly a guardian of Tradition, so that it is not corrupted or diluted through the times and to do this, the true guardian and depositary, must be able to recognize what is coherent with the nature of the traditional elements and what is not; only in this way will he be able to unmask those elements that have been arbitrarily introduced later on.

In the modern panorama, there are many self-styled initiatory associations, which are established without a legitimate transmission of any kind, therefore without any connection with history and with the Primordial Tradition and it is precisely in these associations that it is easier to witness debasement and crippling of the Tradition itself, since there is no one among the members duly qualified and legitimated to be able to act as guardian of the Tradition, as well as not having a right deriving from an authentic and legitimate initiatory transmission.

It is not possible to embrace only some single and isolated traditional elements while one decides not to accept or distort others of cardinal importance, because one proves not to have knowledge of the overall picture relating to the meaning of Tradition itself.

Therefore, one cannot define oneself as Knights, Freemasons, Rosicrucians or any other type of initiate, if the term does not describe what one really is. The initiatory systems, if authentic and regular, are sciences oriented to precise applications, that is, to ensure that man understands himself, understands what his function and nature are from an ontological point of view, ascending to a condition superior to the human one, the latter being in reality the lowest category of its own manifestation and not a point of arrival. Success in the application of this science determines and gives meaning to the attainment of degrees and consequently justifies belonging to an initiatory Order rather than to another; only these factors, together with a regular initiatory transmission, can determine or not, the legitimacy and truthfulness of a belonging to an initiatory body, as well as the importance and depth of the latter, once its legitimacy has been proven.

Authentic initiatory institutions can therefore, in some ways, be compared to real schools, which inherit specific knowledge and methodologies from the authentic previous holders who received them through an uninterrupted chain that dates back to the original Tradition and for this reason it is understandable the reason why legitimacy and regularity are at the basis of the judgment regarding the structure in question, as receiving initiations and rank elevations from self-styled obediences or Orders, can in some way be compared to degrees granted by unrecognized institutes , where there is no certainty of the qualification of the structure, nor of who is part of it.