ORDO BASILEUS
THE MANIFESTO
I. Initiatory traditions have lost their relevance
Any form loses viability and comes to its demise due to natural variability within a given cycle of realization. Initiatory traditions are no exception, they are being distorted and fall into decay.
Any worldview bears an imprint of a certain historical-cultural situation and its developmental level. The change of circumstances should naturally lead to the transformation of views, but due to the rigidity this does not happen.
Under the pressure of a huge volume of information that was not available in earlier times, many doctrines have exposed their inadequacy and became the relics of the past. Their adherents’ appeals to their antiquity, continuance and authorities have become testimonies of these doctrines’ naïveté and impotence.
The initiatory tradition has exhausted itself as a real source of knowledge, now being only a residual form of it. It is no longer a veritable and comprehensive worldview, but only one of many interpretations, partial and narrow.
In such circumstances, there is no sense in obeying obsolete rules, accepting dubious beliefs, or conceding to the restriction of one’s ability to criticize and to create. Such practice would lead to the formation of one-dimensional picture of the world, its cornerstones being indoctrination rather than vision, introjection rather than understanding, and dependence rather than autonomy.
Such a situation demands a thorough re-evaluation of initiatory doctrines, for they should be relegated to the realm of history. Their historical status secures their value, but abolishes their relevance. Such a disruption allows one to start building a new worldview that would be adequate to the initiatory realization in the present time.
II. A human is in need of initiation
Modern humans are in an extremely dire situation, for they are traumatized and blinded by illusions that distort their conception of reality.
They live in an imaginary world of limitless desires and possibilities, which lull to sleep their awareness, relax them and veil the actual order of existence, which is merciless and irreversible.
To avoid falling prey to this order, it is extremely important to have a clear vision based on intuition, realistic assessment of circumstances, and adequate reaction. These abilities are emasculated by the culture that distorts perception by means of oppression and indoctrination.
The general evolution of consciousness only furthers this: it obscures and complicates the compensatory mechanisms and withdraws the sphere of meaning from immediate concreteness, replacing it with fantasies and abstractions.
As a result, human notions become restricted, superficial and devoid of the existential source. The attempts to cope with the devastation often turn into arrogance, addiction and madness.
In order to get out of the disorientation, one needs an initiation, which is an operative practice of attainment aimed at overcoming inner barriers, removing illusions, and gaining the ability to act in an optimal way when facing uncertainty.
The initiation teaches to withstand the world – to be aware of mortality, to accept the irreversible, to understand the objectives, to direct forces and attract luck. It changes the status of an individual and reinforces his or her transition to the new levels of realization.
Through a certain inversion of perception, the initiation transforms complicated into simple, difficult into easy, crude into fine and superficial into profound. This allows an individual to get out of the position of a mere object of the outer order of existence and to become a subject capable to create and expand his or her own universe that would function by his or her own rules.
III. The New Metaphysics is a relevant way of cognition and initiation
Under the current circumstances, the individual is forced to search for the foundations and interpret reality in his or her own specific manner. These attempts are usually doomed because something truly new requires a clear vision and ultimate experience.
A new system of general concepts is needed in this situation, the one that would be able to confront the global worldview crisis. It is embodied in the New Metaphysics, which unfolds on different levels from operative practice and theory to the research approach and a paradigm.
The New Metaphysics is a form of experiencing processes and phenomena of initiatory kind that is distinguished by its aspiration to provide satisfactory explanations. Instead of a preset worldview, it offers an individual the principles and methods for constructing his or her own system of meanings and values in an adequate and realistic manner.
The aim of the New Metaphysics is the formation of a relevant vision necessary for a comprehensive understanding of reality and for the discovery of the new modes of being. The technology of attainment of this aim is based on a specific philosophy, initiation and transcendental practice.
The philosophy is based on the principles of competence, existence and transcendence. They set an ideal configuration of the subject possessing sensitivity, knowledge, abilities, determination and the will directed towards the limits.
The initiation is what puts this configuration to work. It consists of a system of degrees of attainment that are aimed at mastering the operational knowledge of the world, developing a clear vision and begetting an authentic subject.
The transcendental practice allows discovering, expanding, deepening and synthesizing knowledge, through which the existence acquires its highest meaning. There are the two basic kinds of it:
1) The method of deep trances denotes the cognition by means of gradual inward immersion and penetration into the essence of any processes and phenomena;
2) Transgressive hypnosis describes the advancement by moving beyond the limits of states and levels normally accessible to humans.
IV. Ordo Basileus is the vehicle of the New Metaphysics
The Order implements the technology of the New Metaphysics and is the vehicle of it.
It synthesizes the operational knowledge and applies the advanced methods of attainment.
By means of illumination, initiation and transcendental practice, it is designed to lead an individual out of bewilderment and accompany the becoming of an authentic subject aspiring to the new modes of being.
The Order is international and mobile, is not dependent on the territorial boundaries, and is not limited in its ways of organization and activity.
The general structure of the Order has three levels of open membership that are characterized by their specific requirements, tasks, liabilities and benefits:
The Association brings together the people sharing the philosophy;
The Collegium consists of the individuals undergoing the initiation;
The Council incorporates the subjects involved in the transcendental practice.
The acquisition of competence, the attainment of existence, and the realization of transcendence – these are the conventions of anyone able to belong.