9.23 Initiations rituals: A journey through Perception Spheres
Human maturation and self-knowledge typically unfold as a movement between or within the Perception Spheres:
A child transitions from the realm of the purely Concrete Sphere of immediate relationships into the General Sphere of gender identity and value roles. Many people remain stuck in the General Sphere and a value-based identity for life, but some come to realize the Autonomous, principled layer of the shared human condition and the fact that being truly human is what connects us all. Only when one genuinely becomes a human being can self-knowledge emerge and a conscious connection be established with the “fourth layer,” the Essential Sphere, i.e., the Source of Life.
It is unlikely that minds “stuck” in the second sphere could perceive their identity as a reflection of the fourth layer. Nevertheless, if individuals dedicate their attention to the fourth layer, they simultaneously work to “establish” themselves in the third layer, in their authentic humanity.
The maturation of the human mind, therefore, occurs within the first three spheres “in the background” and in connection with the fourth sphere. The natural process of maturation proceeds “from left to right.”
“Primitive” nations support this process through initiation rituals, as a result of which a child becomes an adult and acquires their general gender identity. Some communities perform initiations for both boys and girls, while others only for boys, believing that a girl becomes a woman through menstruation or childbirth. The entire community cooperates in the initiation; for instance, the mother demonstrably “gives up” her son, “breaks” the bond with him, and “drives” him into the community of men, where the boy undergoes a demanding ritual involving pain and overcoming the fear of death, thereby becoming a man.
By performing this ritualistic transitional “violence” upon oneself, the perpetration of violence in the normal life of the community is prevented. Simultaneously, the human order based on the immutable cyclical nature of Life is maintained.
In modern societies, initiation rituals are either not performed at all or have mutated into pseudo-rituals (in the army, street gangs, etc.). Religious rituals are performed as a dedication to the Source of life, but these are mostly unable to replace the missing ritual for the transition from the first to the second phase, as evidenced by gender and sexual problems within the church itself.
Modern societies have even inverted the natural direction of human identity maturation. It no longer necessarily occurs “from left to right,” i.e.:
child > man / woman > human being <<>> Source of Life
Instead, the individual, with the support of societal trends, decides their own “non-ritualistic” transition from one value role and from one gender to another:
child <. (multi)genders < human being << Source of Life
Furthermore, the absence of authentic transition rituals from childhood to adulthood leads to a dangerous infantilization of modern society. This societal infantilization results in a diminished capacity for discernment regarding what is of quality versus what is superficial, what is essential versus what is trivial, and what is moral versus what is immoral. Such a society struggles to make mature judgments, becoming vulnerable to superficiality and confusion. A striking manifestation of this danger is the election of infantile politicians who give the impression of a small child driving a tank, leaving any sensible person dreading what they will demolish in the city. These infantile politicians are inherently populist, and the rise of populism is, in essence, a direct manifestation of society’s intensifying infantilization. The political center of gravity retrogrades from the General (second) Sphere of shared values to the Concrete (first) Sphere of raw power relationships. Previously, who led a political party was secondary to its enduring values, which were passed down like a baton. Today’s political parties are often hollowed out of values, dominated by populists who view the party as their personal property, free to change “values” according to their momentary need for power.
Initiation rituals serve as a powerful testament to the fact that Perception Spheres are inherently spheres of creation. This is evidenced by the individual’s journey: a boy may remain a boy, creating a childish perception of the world and the world itself throughout his life. However, if he undergoes a ritual (even a self-initiated one, driven by the soul’s longing, with aid from the Source of Life), he transforms into a man, and an adult, masculine world begins to form for him – a new reality.