The teacher training that we have in mind to develop at Eleusis will be inclusive and non-sectarian. We envisage spiritual guidance both in terms of the character development of the person and in skills and knowledge in areas of priestly practice, character education and pastoral guidance. These areas include ritual, ethics, counselling, group building, worship, community leadership, creativity and depth of faith. A person who is to be a guide needs themself to overcome negativities and inner boundaries, to learn how to entrust themself to higher powers, to have a generosity and openness of spirit, and a deep sense of common humanity. We do not think that these characteristics are the exclusive property of any one faith community or religion. They are generic. The gods of all times and climes smile upon those who exhibit such traits.
We shall develop training programmes intended to assist individuals to progress on their path within this general ethos and will delineate progression with certain initiations, trials and mysteries, but one should not think that the spiritual path can be mapped out like an academic syllabus nor that it is actually possible in advance to specify how long such a course will extend or what hoops a person must jump through in order to make the grade. Spiritual training is a confrontation with the existential reality of life and an exploration of its transcendence and this involves walking the path rather than merely studying it. One cannot predict when the koan will ripen nor when the real trials of life will occur, nor whether they will, in a particular case, be overcome.
The guide is a servant to the errant soul but the soul must struggle with its own particular dragons and triumph or not as the case may be. Not everyone is ready for the passage. Some become stranded for a time or distracted by by-ways. We trust that the meetings that a sould requires will occur at the appropriate time, but we are not here considering a progress that can be forced. The adept must, therefore, perforce, trust the judgement of their guide but also go forth on their own quest and return periodically to tell the tale.
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