[self-moderated split] Mystery Schools, STO principles, and My Personal Distortions

[Black Dragon]

RE: [split] Mystery Schools and Initiation
I have a LOT of questions(please bare with me my post might get a little big), confusion, and quite a few biases and distortions when it comes to the topic, and this thread looks to have the right people with some actual firsthand experience and knowledge that could help me clear a few things up. I'm going to be candid on how I feel about some things and why(and I'm sorry it won't all necessarily be sunshine and rainbows), but I'm not here to soapbox. I genuinely acknowledge my own ignorance. I'm just here hoping to get a clearer perspective, and put to rest some of these possible personal misconceptions that are bothering me morally, intellectually, and emotionally about the topic of mystery schools.

First, the more or less objective and neutral part. My actual level of knowledge, familiarity, and experience with mystery schools and occult traditions. Admittedly, not much. Myself and my family do not have any(visible, direct, that I know of) ties to any sort of mystery schools. They have never been a direct presence in my life. I had an interesting 6th grade teacher, looking back with what I know now, where there seemed to be odd indicators that he could possibly have ties to that sort of thing. On these forums when I started posting earlier this year, I have private messaged by a member who never used the account for any other purpose, and I won't go into long detail unless asked(I can talk about it in PM)-who said and knew some pretty profound things to me in a way only a real adept could, that makes me believe this was probably such a person. They seemed excited to open a dialogue, but then never responded again.(In, excuse me for what's maybe my ignorance, what I see as their typical, annoyingly fickle and aloof fashion).

In my own seeking, besides the Law of One/Ra material, I have studied a bit of the mysteries over the past few years, mainly Manly P. Hall's " The Secret Teachings of All Ages", and recently, The Kybalion and Emerald Tablets of Hermes. I've also read the late 19th/early 20th century books "A Dweller on Two Planets" and "An Earth Dweller's Return" which deal with Atlantis and reincarnation, but which seem to be pretty closely inline with cosmology and philosophy of more "mainstream" occult materials and the Law of One.

Every spiritual advancement I've made in my life has come from looking within, from spontaneous openings/inherent "gifts" and wanderer stuff, and from some openings that were hard and well earned from actually processing catalyst and using life and observations/experiences to evolve my own perspective. There is none of that at any point in my life that I can(knowingly) attribute to the guidance, protection, or teaching of any mystery school. Such a thing was absent in my life, although there are many times such a community could have been helpful and would have made my life easier growing up.

Even without any direct intervention, there were times when I really could have used some psychic help, a little ministry and healing and comfort/encouragement, and most of all, some protection. There are times as a ten to twelve year old child that I suffered the most brutal and debilitating psychic attacks imaginable. It was a mental/emotional/spiritual/existential hell I wouldn't wish on anyone, no matter how bad a person they were. It still sometimes leaves me wondering how the creator can even be love if it's possible to feel things as horrible as I did, especially doing that to a child. Where were these wonderful mystery schools(or these "good ET's" for that matter, but that's a different topic) when I needed them most? Absent.

That's how it seems to be for anyone not "initiated" into one of their little secret clubs-unworthy. Unworthy of support, of protection, and 100% deserving of every ill that comes their way, by nature of their distortion and impurity. In the Kybalion, it talks of not casting "pearls before swine". Is that how these mystery schools view the masses of other-selves that cohabitate this planet with them, and are also the creator? I could maybe see calling those dedicated to the STS path "swine", but really, the uninitiated masses, struggling valiantly in the dust with their own catalyst, having been caught in the maelstrom without the PRIVILLEGE or opportunity, to know the right people and have the right connections to train for initiation into a mystery school from an early age...the majority of the Earth population, including all the wanderers outside the sphere of influence of these schools, all of those people are unworthy swine?

I really hope that's not how they view their other selves, otherwise they might as well look in the mirror if they want to see "unworthy swine", in my opinion. Anyone with firsthand experience or interactions with mystery schools, do you know where they stand and how they feel about humanity in general, the "uninitiated masses"? Do they have a heart felt love, and feel a humanitarian obligation to their other-selves, or do they feel superior/elite? Are their principles and ethics really based on the heart, on love, or do they have a cold/intellectual/mechanistic code of conduct on what the "Right Hand Path" means to them? I'd like to be wrong, and correct me if I am, but it seems to me to be more the latter, and not much from the heart.

I'm really hoping these are just my misconceptions, otherwise, these mystery schools are actually part of the problem, and they are not worthy of any praise or veneration, and certainly not worthy of any of the occult knowledge they possess.

The next question. What do they actually do to uplift humanity? I get that it's probably not something so visible. Maybe they are dedicatedly sending out love and light, working with people in dream states, tweaking morphic fields, and working for the most part in ways that aren't visible or acknowledged, but nonetheless vital, expecting no praise? I really hope so. To me, the world just seems such a messed up place, that if there really people working for good behind the scenes, they must not be having much success.

It seems that maybe these mystery schools take themselves way too seriously and judge the rest of the world way too harshly, when they really don't do much for humanity besides admire the smell of their own farts and pass judgment on the impurity and unworthiness of everyone else, while those unworthy masses bust their buts down in the trenches of the maelstrom dealing with rough catalyst and a societal system rigged against them with no help, guidance or support from the world of "secretive little self-important clubs". Also, while wanderers come down and bust their butts in the same conditions with the same lack of support from these mystery schools.

I'd really like to be wrong about this, and that these people are better than I'm giving them credit for. Those with direct experience, how does your conception vary from mine? Do you feel with certainty that these mystery schools are seriously dedicated to the upliftment of humanity, rather than elitism, judgment, and self-righteous vanity? How do they view the general population, and how do they view wanderers?

It seems to me that maybe they would not only have an apathy, but develop a disdain for wanderers, especially those outside the scope of their membership/influence. Wanderers, with our natural and spontaneous openings into higher knowledge, other dimensions, and other natural gifts and affinities that to the mystery schools would be seen as things which are "earned" diligently and with great discipline and the approval of some authority-having met their conditions(yada yada yada), would perhaps be seen as unworthy and even dangerous?

To me, I understand the danger in spiritual progression, spontaneous openings, and things generally of a magical nature where there is a lack of experience or vibration required to handle it properly, but on the flip side, I also believe that a person's magical personality is not some privilege one earns from a school or authority figure, but actually every sentient being's birthright, and up to each individual to be responsible for the way they approach it, without needing the judgment, approval, or initiation of some authority figure or school. It seems to me that some of these mystery schools might not feel that way. How can this be reconciled for the benefit of humanity?

Yahweh tried giving knowledge to the hands of an elect few and withholding it from the rest of the general "swine". How did that work out? It's an abject lesson that exclusionism, secrecy, and putting all the "goods" in the hands of an elect few while withholding it from everyone else, and then expecting that elect few to do the right thing...none of this works. All it does is lay the groundwork for negative influence and elitist distortions which snowball into the kind of full-blown tyranny we experience here on Earth.

So, those of you more familiar with mystery schools-how far off the actual mark am I, and why? Do there motives and principles come from the heart, from genuine green ray love, or is it all just sort of like this big, impersonal "by the book" deal, this sort of cold and intellectual adherence to some set of rules and dogmas?

While I intellectually understand the need in some instances for secrecy, I don't like it. My heart doesn't agree. If I, let's say, miraculously got rid of enough distortions by tomorrow morning for one of these guys to show up at my door and initiate me(I know that's probably now quite how it works, but for example)...I would probably have to turn them down out of my own principles and integrity and feelings from the heart, because I'd feel so shamefully bad and guilty of being on the "inside" of that world and receiving its benefits, while other-selves just as worthy as me were turned away, ignored, left to suffer in the maelstrom because they don't quite "make the cut". Surely that sentiment doesn't make me an unenlightened churl, or some unworthy swine?

[Aion]

Well, I would first say for myself personally that I do not represent any organization and any thoughts I share on this forum are strictly my own, I say this to clarify in case I ever have given the impression that I have any sort of authority on these matters, as I do not.

To answer to what I feel is the heart of your question, the truth is that there are tons of different 'mystery schools' and such organizations that operate in secrecy and engage in occult studies. Some of them lean positive, some of them lean negative, some of them just do what they do without a care either way. Some think the way you think they do, unfortunately the ones that like to amass resources, but there are definitely ones that are nothing like that. There are earnest and sincere seekers still in the world. There are organizations where there are very few material "perks", if anything, except to have peers that are also seeking and shared knowledge resources. The real benefit in these cases is fraternity.

Equally so, you will find that within such organizations there is also a wide variety of types of people. There is no one group which I think is "pure" in either direction, I'm not sure humans are capable of that yet. Thus, these human organizations have all the boons and downfalls of any other variation of organization. People join them for a variety of reasons.

It is for that reason that I don't think you see some secret organization "saving the world", I don't think it's that unified of a thing. It's a clusterfeck out there.

The biggest issue I see with most 'armchair' assessments of these things is they leave out so much of the human element involved. It is easy to imagine some archetypal villain character whom looks down on everyone else, or some saintly being whom goes around blessing and teaching everyone. I don't think that has anything to do with reality.

One thing I will agree with and am somewhat sad to admit is that the effort is all an uphill battle. It's true, those who are willing to cleave towards a positive path of spiritual development are not so common and there are organizations aplenty which will sweep people up on their negative turn. There are also still many places in the world where having certain beliefs or following certain ideas can straight up get you killed. Of course, not always the case, but for those who are just trying to explore the mysteries there are still very real threats in the world. This is the roots of the secrecy that a lot of organizations continue to hold.

A final thought is that, you would never have a positively oriented organization come to your door, seeking you out. If you did, turning those people down would be a very smart idea.
Rather, I have found that more often than not positive meetings are serendipitous and organic. I don't think everyone gravitates towards that sort of thing and when people seek in a similar direction the universe has a way of crossing their paths.

[Agua]

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[Black Dragon]

Thanks for the thoughtful perspectives and responses so far. It's a lot to consider, to feel out, from any standpoint-emotional, mental, spiritual. It will take some going within to really come to some workable answers, but at least already your perspectives have helped me step beyond my own narrow one just a bit, and see other possible ways of looking at the subject of mystery schools, and of looking at my own biases and feelings. I'll give it a bit of time and just process, so hopefully I can come to a better understanding.

[Vasilisa]

We are all very, very different. I believe that my religious instinct was hindered by communication with an analytical psychologist and created some kind of resistance and disharmony, but in this incarnation I apparently work on wisdom... Everyone has their own path, their own tasks, their own sense of connection with the deep self. The Divine Spark.

However, such things as trauma, resistance, and transference do exist. And I believe that you should not only work with them, but also know very well about this phenomenon from an Intellectual point of view! I am against underestimating the intellectual side of a person Both sides of the Tree must be equal and balanced.

[Agua]

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[Black Dragon]

We are all very, very different. I believe that my religious instinct was hindered by communication with an analytical psychologist and created some kind of resistance and disharmony, but in this incarnation I apparently work on wisdom... Everyone has their own path, their own tasks, their own sense of connection with the deep self. The Divine Spark.

However, such things as trauma, resistance, and transference do exist. And I believe that you should not only work with them, but also know very well about this phenomenon from an Intellectual point of view! I am against underestimating the intellectual side of a person Both sides of the Tree must be equal and balanced.

I think maybe you misunderstand me a bit based on some elements of this one post. No fault of your own, we just have not conversed enough for you to know that much about me. I'm also against underestimating the intellect. It is good, it is germane, it's there, it exists, and it should be valued and used with integrity. Many, many times I've come out in favor of more intellect, more wisdom-based approaches to things. I've mentioned many times about using the wisdom and intellect to co-create, rather than being completely mushy/accepting and getting pushed over through blind love not balanced with wisdom.

Some people would even go as far as to say that I'm very left brained/cognitive/intellectual myself, and they wouldn't be completely wrong, they just don't have the whole picture. Others would see me as very emotional, intuitive, conceptual-very right brained and feeling oriented. My mother is very right brained, spiritual, and heart-centered. My father is an engineer. He is agnostic, very left-brained and somewhat on a cynic. I have "Aspergers"/high functioning autism, and both sides of my brain are very strong, but they do not always communicate smoothly. There is cognitive dissonance and internal conflict often between the two. This is what causes the internal struggle and sort of "bumptious" flip-flopping, and going around in circles that is apparent in some of my posts.

What I meant in my criticisms wasn't about the presence of intellect/wisdom, but the ABSENCE of love. I was criticizing what I see as coldness, apathy, and a machine way of thinking unbalanced by any emotion. Now, I may not have been correct about lumping all the mystery schools in that bag, that's one thing, but I wasn't undervaluing or condemning the intellect, just an apparent lack of love and empathy.

Wisdom and intellect are great, but they have to go hand-in-hand with love. Love without wisdom is misguided and prone to getting stepped on, which sucks as I've stated many times, but wisdom without love is a whooooole lot worse from my point of view. Look at it this way: The universe could be the most marvelous, mechanically and intellectually perfect thing, and if there was no emotion...nobody to feel...who would give a fat steaming s***! What would it matter? For all it's beauty, all its sophistry, It would be nothing but gears and chicken wire, with no inherent worth or meaning. Feeling is what gives it that meaning, that beauty, and feeling is sorely undervalued in both the earthly "veiled" society, and in many spiritual and philosophical trains thought.

[Dtris]

My own 2 cents. To be clear I have not been initiated into a mystery school, apparently where I am the Golden Dawn type school doesn't have enough traction to keep a group together. It wasn't for lack of trying and I spent much time on other forums discussing the occult with other people, including members of mystery schools.

The average person who is attracted to the occult is in my experience, young, naive to a degree, looking for meaning, while feeling out of control.

What this creates is many people who read the material, and do a few things, never actually follow the instructions, and talk a lot, and think they know it all. They eventually grow up and move on, actually become serious and start practicing, or keep doing the bare minimum and thinking they are great.

For many people the occult world is as much of an escape from their reality as any other. It is common for people to be drawn to chaos magic, because it doesn't have all those pesky correspondences to memorize, or summoning of demons, or curses and other negative magic. Theurgy is considered as a necessary practice to get to the cool stuff.

While Right Hand Path and Left Hand Path are often discussed, the actual concept of polarization is missing from any discussion I ever saw or had. Even from people who claimed to be 8=3. Negative magic was to be avoided because of things like the threefold law, not because of any other reasons.

Even with all of that there were individuals who were genuinely trying to teach, people who offered sincere advice and help, and those who attempted to steer the discussions towards Gnosis.

As Aion said, the human element is always present and IMO, most schools are not polarized either way, nor are the majority of members. I do not doubt that there is some schools who are highly polarized, but honestly a group like L/L Research is probably a great example of a positive school. Even though most everything is public there is still a ton of mystery.

[Black Dragon]

I've given this all some more thought. Looking inward, I find a few main reasons for my anger and judgment. As Agua said, the feeling of having not been protected, and projecting what I feel about those who attacked me on mystery schools. I don't even know the exact identity of anyone responsible for the psychic assaults I've suffered. For all I know, they could be STS occultists, black ops/psychotronic weapons, negative ET's/ultra-terrestrials, or even just from somebody incarnate I've met or who's in my life who is very toxic, but this last one I doubt, because the intensity was way too much to just be a person I know with hard feelings.

I feel like those attacks were almost certainly part of "that world"-the world of the occult, of extra terrestrials, of mystery schools, of that which is slightly behind the veil of every day consensus reality-a world that I, as an incarnate 3d human and 10 year old child(even a wanderer) had no clue how to navigate, to make sense of, to defend myself in...I feel like that same world should have protected me, because I was unable to protect myself. That isn't respective of free will to let an incarnate child suffer such an attack like that and not protect them. It is cheap and underhanded to let beings with occult power psychically torture a child and not intervene. There is no way around that, it's just plain despicable, like a crowd of people watching a 14 year old getting gang raped in a alley and not doing a thing. But is all that the fault of every mystery school out there that's just trying to seek? No, I doubt it-I'll admit I was unfair to lump them all in the same box.

Another reason is alienation. I already feel alienated from Earth consensus reality, but then there's this whole other world wanderers experience whether they want to or not, and I feel alienated from that world too to roughly the same degree, putting me in this sort of limbo that sometimes in unbearable.

The rest of my reasons for anger, I can see now, are more or less bullshit. A big one came from feeling that these mystery schools had power over me. Not only that, but I felt that they had something they could hold over my head, like they could deny me something, or prevent me from something. When I really examine that belief it's angeringly stupid, because that something I feel they can deny me really...isn't...because it's not theirs to give or deny, It's mine to seek within.

Anything they have achieved and more, I could achieve between me and my own higher self and consciousness without the need for their approval. Not saying it's going to be handed to me on a platter or that I won't have to put in the same level of personal effort that they do-but if I do-nobody's stopping me or withholding anything. It's impossible for anyone outside me or my higher self to withhold enlightenment or dictate its conditions.

And with that idea that they really have no power over me and can't deny me anything I can seek for myself, I can start to see them(barring the dedicated STS ones of course) as less of a threat to my freedom and dignity, and more as just people following their own path of seeking, which I should respect their right to do, and we can have mutual respect and agree to disagree about approaches/methodology to seeking or whatever...in other words, just live and let live.

So, now I can start to disengage some of my energy from this useless anger at mystery schools, and let some previously held prejudices go. But then what? That's really the question. The damages done to me have been done, and so far there's no sign of healing or justice or alleviation. So how do I go about that?

[Agua]

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[Vasilisa]

Apart from that, you neve know what is „right“ for a certain person.
If you habe been on a path for a couple of years and your life has significantly improved, I would say, its just perfect for you.
If you cannot seem to move forward and things dont improve, this might eventually be an area worth considering.

Here I agree with you that there is no one correct recipe for everyone, due to the individual characteristics and uniqueness of each person. And we really can't fully enter into the other person's state. To find out what will be really useful and correct for them, only the person can decide what they choose and what they react to. I was not talking about rationalization, which is used as a protective mechanism of avoidance, but about an expanded as possible intelligent panoramic view. Getting a large amount of data when it is possible to compare these data with each other. Because it seems to me that the main mechanism of human learning is imitation, identification and comparison.

As for the Mystery school, in particular the Golden Dawn, it should be remembered that the result of training was the practice of working with the Enochian alphabet and communicating with spiritual beings in altered States of consciousness. The same goes for Crowley's Thelema, Stellam Matutinam, and even Martinism.

Yes, of course, the nuances of the psychological organization of a person affect the order team as a social unit, and this can be discussed for a long time. But, I wanted to say that the main ingredient for working in the fields of Theurgy and Higher Magic, personally in my perception, is the religious instinct with all that follows from it.

[Vasilisa]

Some people would even go as far as to say that I'm very left brained/cognitive/intellectual myself, and they wouldn't be completely wrong, they just don't have the whole picture. Others would see me as very emotional, intuitive, conceptual-very right brained and feeling oriented. My mother is very right brained, spiritual, and heart-centered. My father is an engineer. He is agnostic, very left-brained and somewhat on a cynic. I have "Aspergers"/high functioning autism, and both sides of my brain are very strong, but they do not always communicate smoothly. There is cognitive dissonance and internal conflict often between the two. This is what causes the internal struggle and sort of "bumptious" flip-flopping, and going around in circles that is apparent in some of my posts.

To have not a whole, but at least an approximate picture of a person, you need to live with them, or work together. See each other every day, communicate. You can't do this on the forum. Both my son and I have a lot of points in behavior that can be attributed to the Asperger's symptom, but in Russia, not in the capitals, they do not work with this in any way. And a person has to adapt himself, without help. It is good if parents, teachers, and the environment understand the child's difficulties, but most often they do not. This is also a very broad topic.

Agua wrote a great post about healing, he is a master of healing! Everything he wrote is true. I would call the final action of initiation healing and Enlightenment. And when a person is enlightened, he understands the Creator within himself and laughs with happiness.

Enlightenment itself is the armor of the soul, even if on the physical plane a person is being abused, as it was in Russia during the times of repression. When many Church Fathers were exiled to hard labor. What supported a person at such moments? Steady faith on the edge of the impossible. Read "Psychologist in a concentration camp" by Viktor Frankl. Read Marguerite Seshey "Diary of a schizophrenic". There is a lot of great literature that opens our eyes to how different people can interpret the world. Antti Revonsuo perfectly reveals the problem of interpretation.

[meadow-foreigner]

Okay, so let's lay out the cards on the table about how the situation of things on Earth is right now and the probable and possible future outcomes, lest society as a whole — especially the ones at the top — raise and/or refine their frequency level.

As always, the good old disclaimer is fitting: these are just ideas; use them, discard them; it's up to you.

Earth is a big farm. Much like an animal farm, though also on a human level.

Human emotions are used as fuel much like the fruits you eat to fuel your body. As much as there are different flavors of fruits, there are different flavors of emotions. Some prefer the sweet, some would rather indulge in the sour, and so on.

It just so happens that the ones at the management of Earth are actually much more fond of dissonant emotions than harmonic ones. It is what it is.

This 3D life, especially on Earth, is also an experiment; much like one would simulate virtually the scientific conditions of a hypothesis, so it is done so with human beings, behavior, emotions, etc.

Why would someone incarnate here then, if not for a benefit that is not attainable or present elsewhere? Figure that out.

Where were these wonderful mystery schools(or these "good ET's" for that matter, but that's a different topic) when I needed them most? Absent.

How can you be so sure of that? Also, wouldn't you rather choose to create "present" conditions, instead of "absent" conditions in your life? Wouldn't you rather give birth to the things you need the most, instead of relying on the farmers to fetch you those?

You could read and study Epictetus' life to get a fairly accurate outlook about the manifested thoughts of a person in a slave condition, and if you think that there is not a single human being who isn't enslaved somehow — even the ones at the top — think again. People are enslaved even by their own beliefs, if not for physical shackles.

In the Kybalion, it talks of not casting "pearls before swine". Is that how these mystery schools view the masses of other-selves that cohabitate this planet with them, and are also the creator?

How much time would you give an uncoordinated toddler to spend inside a nuclear facility's control room filled with menacing buttons? On average.

That's what would happen if you cast a pearl before a swine. A waste, at best; a mismatch between the aptitude of the animal you cast the pearl to, and its capacity to process it.

That's, of course, the pearls' owners mentality. What is often overlooked is that everyone, at some level, is an uncoordinated toddler in some area of the Creation.

Even the topmost Earthen hierarchy, the ones that hold the most power in humankind: they are also lacking in development in many areas, and because of the power that is withheld by them, they postpone their own refinement and, what is worse, other human beings' refinement as well; for the ones with power have many more tools available to shape and form the world that humanity lives.

They are the card dealers, unbeknownst to the fact that they are bound to the games they play themselves.

I really hope that's not how they view their other selves, otherwise they might as well look in the mirror if they want to see "unworthy swine", in my opinion. Anyone with firsthand experience or interactions with mystery schools, do you know where they stand and how they feel about humanity in general, the "uninitiated masses"?

I'd rather wait for someone with firsthand experience to tell you that; however, if one carefully observes, the answer might not be hard to perceive: they feel disdain and the feeling of burden towards the masses much like an unwilling and cranky farmer would treat his cattle. They've gone so far in the dissonant path that their own decision is unsettling to their own Higher Selves; a state that leads to entropy, or dissolution.

So they resort to their 'fuel' to keep them from being dissolved back to the elementary states: human emotions.

What is done is not an unnatural process, by the way.

A tree produces fruit naturally as much as human beings produce emotions from the processing of catalyst.

However: what kind of taste one would rather prefer to experience, and for how long? Would one be so obnoxious and dull that one would only indulge in "negative" emotions, postponing the inevitable inner spiritual evolution, for that All Is One?

And if so, for how long? Eventually, the experience brought by these entropic states of being will no longer suffice, and movement towards Unity will resume. It's up to each individual to decide when to tread the path to realization, for if it wasn't Earth, the same scenario that happens here would happen in whatever any other planet in the Universe.

Do they have a heart felt love, and feel a humanitarian obligation to their other-selves, or do they feel superior/elite?

They are mostly eugenic in their mentality, which is the very same reason for their undoing.

Are their principles and ethics really based on the heart, on love, or do they have a cold/intellectual/mechanistic code of conduct on what the "Right Hand Path" means to them?

They don't necessarily abide by ethical constructs, and they have a utilitarian view of people since they perceive human beings as mere producers of their fuel for existence and satisfaction.

The next question. What do they actually do to uplift humanity?

"Uplift" is not the best term. They simply manipulate humanity to provide them with the progressively, ever-growing need for satisfaction in their quest to the progression to the idea of perfection that they believe.

Maybe they are dedicatedly sending out love and light, working with people in dream states, tweaking morphic fields, and working for the most part in ways that aren't visible or acknowledged, but nonetheless vital, expecting no praise?

Maybe they are actually only working to their respective families' best interests instead of The Whole's benefit.

Do you feel with certainty that these mystery schools are seriously dedicated to the upliftment of humanity, rather than elitism, judgment, and self-righteous vanity?

No, up to this point.

How do they view the general population, and how do they view wanderers?

The former they view as cattle; the latter as annoying cattle.

Wanderers, with our natural and spontaneous openings into higher knowledge, other dimensions, and other natural gifts and affinities that to the mystery schools would be seen as things which are "earned" diligently and with great discipline and the approval of some authority-having met their conditions(yada yada yada), would perhaps be seen as unworthy and even dangerous?

Because of their 'emotional diet', they presume that whoever gets to know the Truth will automatically and inexorably be an enemy towards them. A naïve mindset. Another cause of their undoing.

How can this be reconciled for the benefit of humanity?

The main reason for humanity's downfall is rooted in the belief and the display of power; as well as the attachment to ephemeral illusions of desire, which in turn cast a certain light at specific characteristics of The Creation. If 'desire' is hardwired into one's self at Earth, how would you make the best out of it?

The answer lies in the reconciliation of the Self within the Self and also in relation to selflessness.
Once one attains this, one could then proceed to reconcile the Self from the most to the least appealing other-Selves in The Creation, for, after all, The Creator is all that there is.

There are many families that base their organization on mimicking the so-called "natural laws".

But why should society necessarily mimic nature?

All our efforts with civilization have been to shift away from being beholden to the constraints of nature.

We have the intelligence to organize resources in a manner that could provide optimal living conditions for all.

The other problem we see with the appeal to social Darwinism is that the traits selected for success by the idea of a free market aren't always beneficial to modern society.

Let's say for example we introduce a new standardized test; it's a jigsaw puzzle.
Nobody gets a degree (or, in this regard, a social validation to employ one's intrinsic ability) without first solving the puzzle within the allotted time.

In some way, it's an added selection pressure.

It ought to add value to the degree, right? You know the folks that have the degree are so much more qualified.

But there's a cost to it. It's also a confounding variable when it comes to assembling a candidate pool for employers to select from.

Folks that are very competent at the field of their major (or who have their innate ability well-developed) but poor at jigsaw puzzles will not receive the credential attesting to the former (or worse, might not even have the opportunity to benefit society by tapping into one's own ability/potential).

If one is the greatest chemical engineer of all time, but due to some intellectual quirk he or she was born with difficulty with jigsaw puzzles, it does society harm if the institutions that exist don't allow one to leverage one's engineering prowess because of lack of puzzle skills.

It does society harm to not benefit from any kind of prowesses existent within individuals, and it does happen precisely, but not limited to, decorative credentials and social consensus, which in turn are often based on presumptions and intransigence so the new or unknown.

In an analogous manner, should the next Marie Curie be allowed to perish if she can't afford her optimal living conditions and attend university at the same time?

Affordance benefits both society and who affords, for that once work is laid, everyone within society, including the afforders, can tap and benefit from it.

It's not only important to select for traits, but also important for society's competence to select for the right traits as accurately as possible.

Even if someone has no skills worth leveraging, forcing them to live an impoverished life doesn't get rid of them.

Poverty isn't eugenics. It doesn't prevent them from progeny.

It's just an additional sentience that will suffer despite society's ability to reduce or eliminate that suffering. Furthermore, the suffering of the impoverished — or nécessiteux, if you will — begets destructive counter-measures such as crime and terror tactics, effectively jeopardizing society as a whole.

[sillypumpkins]

Regarding the secretive methods of mystery schools, I wonder if this is a product of potential persecution towards those practicing magic. Especially when you think back on older points of time in history, it's clear to me that there was a real danger in practicing these things openly. Perhaps a part of the "secretiveness" is a product of those times, although I wouldn't count on that being the only explanation for the secretive ways.

With that being said, I do see us breaking out of these ways. Practicing magic is no longer (at least, in the west, I can only speak from that perspective) a danger in that way, and for that reason I do see the potential for mystery schools becoming relics of the past.

Just my two cents on a small part of what you're saying

[jafar]

In my own seeking, besides the Law of One/Ra material, I have studied a bit of the mysteries over the past few years, mainly Manly P. Hall's " The Secret Teachings of All Ages", and recently, The Kybalion and Emerald Tablets of Hermes. I've also read the late 19th/early 20th century books "A Dweller on Two Planets" and "An Earth Dweller's Return" which deal with Atlantis and reincarnation, but which seem to be pretty closely inline with cosmology and philosophy of more "mainstream" occult materials and the Law of One.

Every spiritual advancement I've made in my life has come from looking within, from spontaneous openings/inherent "gifts" and wanderer stuff, and from some openings that were hard and well earned from actually processing catalyst and using life and observations/experiences to evolve my own perspective. There is none of that at any point in my life that I can(knowingly) attribute to the guidance, protection, or teaching of any mystery school. Such a thing was absent in my life, although there are many times such a community could have been helpful and would have made my life easier growing up.

Keep looking within yourselves..

2500 years ago, a chinese dude wrote this.

Since before time and space were, the Tao is.
It is beyond is and is not.
How do I know this is true?
I look inside myself and see.
-- Tao The Ching

Even without any direct intervention, there were times when I really could have used some psychic help, a little ministry and healing and comfort/encouragement, and most of all, some protection. There are times as a ten to twelve year old child that I suffered the most brutal and debilitating psychic attacks imaginable. It was a mental/emotional/spiritual/existential hell I wouldn't wish on anyone, no matter how bad a person they were. It still sometimes leaves me wondering how the creator can even be love if it's possible to feel things as horrible as I did, especially doing that to a child. Where were these wonderful mystery schools(or these "good ET's" for that matter, but that's a different topic) when I needed them most? Absent.

Looking back on those personal experience of yours in the past, what kind of lessons and learning that you can derive from it?

That's how it seems to be for anyone not "initiated" into one of their little secret clubs-unworthy. Unworthy of support, of protection, and 100% deserving of every ill that comes their way, by nature of their distortion and impurity. In the Kybalion, it talks of not casting "pearls before swine". Is that how these mystery schools view the masses of other-selves that cohabitate this planet with them, and are also the creator? I could maybe see calling those dedicated to the STS path "swine", but really, the uninitiated masses, struggling valiantly in the dust with their own catalyst, having been caught in the maelstrom without the PRIVILLEGE or opportunity, to know the right people and have the right connections to train for initiation into a mystery school from an early age...the majority of the Earth population, including all the wanderers outside the sphere of influence of these schools, all of those people are unworthy swine?

Well if you (or anyone) else viewed "The STS" (or any other label) as among 'them' and not among 'us'. Then most probably you are adopting the STS path. Nothing wrong with that.. it's merely a matter of choice and taste.

The term "STO" and "STS" might be misleading, at the higher definition I tend to view it as "Path Of Unity" and "Path Of Separation". The path of STS is the path of separation, seeing 'others' as separated from 'his/her own self'. STS characteristics and viewpoint do not have anything to stand on when one view that everyone and everything is interconnected and actually the same 'self'. Anything you do to to 'others' is anything that you do to your own 'self'. Thus when one alienated 'others' it is the same as alienated it's own 'self'.

Although separation is actually merely an illusion but both path, unity and separation are valid, and actually enriching the overall experience to the self. Through experiencing the "IS NOT" then one can recognize the "IS". By experiencing fear one can recognize courage, by experiencing hatred one can recognize love, by experiencing separation one can recognize unity etc...

And that explain that there will be a certain stage where the illusion of separation just cannot be held anymore and all of those who walk along the path of separation will eventually merged, bringing the IS NOT side of their experience, to the self.

I really hope that's not how they view their other selves, otherwise they might as well look in the mirror if they want to see "unworthy swine", in my opinion.

It's very much possible that among those within the group you call as 'them', some are adopting the Path Of Unity while same others are adopting the Path Of Separation. As mentioned above, both path are valid.

Anyone with firsthand experience or interactions with mystery schools, do you know where they stand and how they feel about humanity in general, the "uninitiated masses"? Do they have a heart felt love, and feel a humanitarian obligation to their other-selves, or do they feel superior/elite? Are their principles and ethics really based on the heart, on love, or do they have a cold/intellectual/mechanistic code of conduct on what the "Right Hand Path" means to them? I'd like to be wrong, and correct me if I am, but it seems to me to be more the latter, and not much from the heart.

I don't know your exact definition of 'mystery schools'.
But it's very much possible and actually very common that you will find the fine mixture of "Unity" and "Separation" within any group.

Superiority / Elitism is among key characteristic of "Separation", because in Unity where one see everyone and everything as the same self, such characteristic will not have any foundation to stand upon.

The same thing goes to those who heart somehow do not feel love or humanitarian (actually it goes beyond merely viewing other human but other beings as well) obligation to other selves, such is also the key characteristic of "Separation". Because in Unity there are no "other" selves.

I'm really hoping these are just my misconceptions, otherwise, these mystery schools are actually part of the problem, and they are not worthy of any praise or veneration, and certainly not worthy of any of the occult knowledge they possess.

It is what it is, it's not a problem, both path are valid.

Again I don't understand who or what do you mean by 'mystery schools', to me it just yet another labelling or group definition. And it actually doesn't matter as it's very common to find degree of "Unity" and "Separation" mixed up in any group. That's actually the beauty of this universe..

And those who 'seek' praise or veneration is also a key characteristic of "Separation", "Unity" do not seek praise or veneration but they love to give praise and gratefulness to other selves, as they're fully aware any praise and gratefulness that they give to other selves are actually they give towards themselves.

"Unity" will have no problem even when they were not given any praise or veneration, as that is not what they're seeking for or in need of.  Even when they were given condemnation and hatred, that will not bother them at all, as they're aware that those who gave them condemnation and hatred are also part of their own self.

"The master doesn’t talk, he acts. When his work is done, the people say: ‘amazing, we did it all by ourselves!’"
-- Tao The Ching

They don't seek credit or praise to themselves, but they don't hesitate to give credit and praise to others.

"The fool thinks he has won a battle when he bullies with harsh speech,
But knowing how to be forbearing- that makes one victorious.
The worse of the two is he who, when abused, retaliates.
One who does not retaliate wins a battle hard to win.

Knowing that the other person is angry, one who remains mindful and calm
Acts for his own best interest and for the other's interest, too.
He is a healer of both himself and the other person also."
-- Dhammapada

The next question. What do they actually do to uplift humanity?

If you're in "Unity" you will not bother too much on such question, but refocus the question more towards "What I can actually do to uplift humanity?" as 'humanity' itself is the other part of my own self?" And some individuals might NOT choose 'humanity' at all, they might focus on animal kingdom or plant kingdom, as animal and plants are actually part of one self.

Ask then such question, and you will find the answer that is appropriate within your own context.
Because the answer will not be a common answer, it varies in accordance to one's context.
Ranging from giving love to my own parent and family, helping the pigmies in Congo up to helping strayed dogs.

It's not a race or a competition of "who are better and bigger in Unity", it's working together in accordance to each respective life context. The variety of experiences of each differentiated life context will enriched the overall experiences of the path of Unity.

The view of "Who is better and bigger or more righteous" is a key characteristic of the path of "Separation", which of course it's also a valid path for one to took as mentioned above.

To me, the world just seems such a messed up place, that if there really people working for good behind the scenes, they must not be having much success.

There is nothing wrong with 'the world', the world is beautiful and complete with all of it's polarities.
Some of those 'polarity' you may see as 'messed up'.

It seems that maybe these mystery schools take themselves way too seriously and judge the rest of the world way too harshly, when they really don't do much for humanity besides admire the smell of their own farts and pass judgment on the impurity and unworthiness of everyone else, while those unworthy masses bust their buts down in the trenches of the maelstrom dealing with rough catalyst and a societal system rigged against them with no help, guidance or support from the world of "secretive little self-important clubs". Also, while wanderers come down and bust their butts in the same conditions with the same lack of support from these mystery schools.

As mentioned, self-righteous, superiority, judging others are key characteristic of the Path of Separation. Which is also a valid path for one to took.

Wanderers, with our natural and spontaneous openings into higher knowledge, other dimensions, and other natural gifts and affinities that to the mystery schools would be seen as things which are "earned" diligently and with great discipline and the approval of some authority-having met their conditions(yada yada yada), would perhaps be seen as unworthy and even dangerous?

It's possible that there are "Wanderers" who took the path of Separation as well..

To me, I understand the danger in spiritual progression, spontaneous openings, and things generally of a magical nature where there is a lack of experience or vibration required to handle it properly, but on the flip side, I also believe that a person's magical personality is not some privilege one earns from a school or authority figure, but actually every sentient being's birthright, and up to each individual to be responsible for the way they approach it, without needing the judgment, approval, or initiation of some authority figure or school. It seems to me that some of these mystery schools might not feel that way. How can this be reconciled for the benefit of humanity?

There is actually no danger, danger itself is an illusion, which might enriched the overall experience.
You are always safe, and so does everyone else...

The metaphor will be like playing a VR games? The 'danger' in VR Games is actually an illusion which enriched the overall experience of being fully immersed inside the game. Took off the VR headset and one can then see that he or she is always safe.

Again playing the game of 'authority' is also a key characteristic of those who took the path of Separation.

Yahweh tried giving knowledge to the hands of an elect few and withholding it from the rest of the general "swine". How did that work out? It's an abject lesson that exclusionism, secrecy, and putting all the "goods" in the hands of an elect few while withholding it from everyone else, and then expecting that elect few to do the right thing...none of this works. All it does is lay the groundwork for negative influence and elitist distortions which snowball into the kind of full-blown tyranny we experience here on Earth.

I think Ra mentioned Yahweh as well in the material. I forgot where.. I tend to agree with his comment.

I found the Tanakh (the material which mentioned Yahweh) to be a mixed bag of messages which both contain the message of Unity and also the message of Separation. A catalyst for both path.

While I intellectually understand the need in some instances for secrecy, I don't like it. My heart doesn't agree. If I, let's say, miraculously got rid of enough distortions by tomorrow morning for one of these guys to show up at my door and initiate me(I know that's probably now quite how it works, but for example)...I would probably have to turn them down out of my own principles and integrity and feelings from the heart, because I'd feel so shamefully bad and guilty of being on the "inside" of that world and receiving its benefits, while other-selves just as worthy as me were turned away, ignored, left to suffer in the maelstrom because they don't quite "make the cut". Surely that sentiment doesn't make me an unenlightened churl, or some unworthy swine?

If it doesn't resonate well with you, then don't do it.
But mind you that there might be others that might find the things that doesn't resonate well with you to be suitable and resonating well with them.
Everybody and everything has their own path, which in turn shall enrich the variety of overall experiences.