Introduction

This is to serve as an introduction to all philosophic, religious or spiritual discussions to follow. If I mention topics such as God or Christ, please understand that I do so not from a dogmatic point of view but from a theological one. After all, Christ’s “generation” has not yet passed away (i.e., we are still living under the influence of his life and actions). Therefore he must be included in any discussion speculating on spiritual truth.

That said, in my more than 10 years researching religious and esoteric schools (at various times I would read any piece of information I could find on an interesting topic) I have discovered one thing: that the bulk of what each school offers is irreconcilable with the others. Even where similarities are discovered, these elements usually cannot be split off and recombined into a new syncretic system. Examples of this are abundant, as we shall shortly see.

Here is a partial list of traditions and literary works which will be included in the discussion: the Holy Bible, Buddhism and Zen, Taoism, the Carlos Castaneda series, the Radu Cinamar series (a Romanian series not available in translation), The Western Lands by W.S. Burroughs, Osho, Gnosticism, Hermetism and many others.