2.3 The Lies Of Esotericism
Last modified 06/28/2008
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It is interesting that the Gurdjieff initiative is associated via
Ouspensky's Tertium Organon with the works of Kant. Ouspensky is of the type,
beginning with Hegel, of those who wish to penetrate the 'noumenal', a task
considered impossible by that critic of metaphysics. It is appropriate to be
aware of the critique, and its associated materials, in approaching the two
efforts of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff to 'break the bank', and make claims on what
surpasses the capacity of the human perception. A great edifice of hidden wisdom
content to declare the existence of all sorts of supernatural processes and
beings is constructed by figures clearly nervous about what they can get away
with in the context of the Kantian challenge to metaphysical speculation.
Here the deceptions of esotericism foot the bill, and convey the impression that 'men of higher consciousness' can penetrate the noumena. Maybe so, maybe not, but not likely to the degree of producing real knowledge thereto. A very dubious claim indeed. Gautama the Buddha was very wary to a fault of such claims. Students of Ouspensky are so burdened with strange concoctions of ideas that they can hardly function. Travel light, this is not real knowledge. It is essential for a student to try to assess skeptically such knowledge claims, so obviously based on the hope such students won't be so informed as to know anything of Kant. How foolish of Ouspensky to raise the issue! It is worth noting the resemblance between Gautama Buddha and Kant. Gautama created a religious formulation that adopted the proper wariness as to the metaphysics of the noumenal, sufficing to adopt practical gestures of self-effort without commitment to grand cosmological schemes. Gurdjieff in some oblivion saw no difficulty in making pronouncements about the nature of reality and the universe by positing entities, energies, and domains beyond the realm of observation, and then legitimating that with appeals to esotericism for their proof and demonstration. The result is in the end a series of worthless metaphysical presumptions. Trying to break new ground would be one thing, but to declare such questionable thinking true in advance on the grounds of its esoteric character is simply a deception. |
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