|
The Quest - Your Path to Western Enlightenment The quest is an open and positive engagement with life that purposely views everything as a learning experience. Life is seen as the classroom for human development. The goal is not a diploma, but the attainment of personal authenticity, and then applying that authenticity to improve life for everyone. The quest has been mythologized as a journey wrought with challenges and learning experiences that results in the creation of an adept hero of change. Because of its pertinent universality, Joseph Campbell referred to the person who quests as the Hero with a Thousand Faces. This commonality provides the means to unite us all. How does the quest work in our daily lives? It is an attitude through which we reflect upon situations that we encounter in order to learn their deeper meanings, while cultivating virtue at the same time. This process is how human nature produces mature, unique individuals. Nothing is more natural than learning through experience. This is why we recognize the systematic value of the quest as relevant for everyone. Problems crop up when we fixate on one particular lesson to the exclusion of all others, and failing to see how they interrelate. When we obsess on a single and often misguided conclusion, and build it into a dominating life principle, it becomes the anchor point at which our journey prematurely ends. We cease to grow and authenticity cannot be achieved. This cannot lead to a life of wisdom and balance. When we allow one insight to control and define all other perceptions, it leads to extremes, to insecurities, neuroses, fanaticism - in other words, to the stunted growth of a mind that is closed to the important insights that life teaches. When that happens, our humanity becomes crippled, no matter how successful we may otherwise seem. We get trapped obsessing about gossip, or wealth, or political ideologies, or possessions, or ego, or sex, or chemical escapes. Instead of returning as a hero, we may become predators, or perpetual victims, or addicts, or sad, faceless people lost in the crowd. This is why the quest dynamic is so important in Chivalry-Now. We consider it our sacred charge to protect and encourage this time-tested process through which authentic human beings are made. We want to make sure that every child is set on his or her own unique course with adequate preparations and support. In this way, society will also evolve, creating a world of peace and understanding so that human progress can leap forward from its present stagnation, as it should. The prospect is both personally and universally exciting. Approaching life as a quest gives the concept of freedom its greatest meaning. What is the value of freedom, after all, if not the ability to live life fully in the cultivation of virtue? This is how human nature fulfills itself. If you would like engage your quest now, the process is simple. Open your mind. Live in the present. Learn from all experiences, even the most mundane and repetitive. As you continue to grow and learn, develop your own code of ethics. If you find yourself on a misguided path that does not honor the rich spontaneity of life, a path dictated by some traumatic or even jubilant experience of the past, find another path. Better yet, make your own. Stop determining the values of things by how they profit only your ego, or fill your bank accounts, or give you power over others. Try seeing things as they really are, and how they relate to others beside yourself. Be open to personal growth as you learn. Seek it on every highway and in moments of solitary silence. Think "wisdom" rather than "expediency," "compassion" rather than "exploitation." Make a difference in people's lives. Pause to help them. Learn from them as well. Meet each challenging adventure with a responsive heart and mind. Know well how important your quest is. No one else's quest is exactly the same as yours. No one responds the way you will. You are irreplaceable in that regard - an irreplaceable hero who should not be wasted. Chivalry-Now is here to help you with time-tested guidelines from the past. It offers the 12 Trusts, a code of ethics that can help you build your life from a sound, cultural foundation. For those who seek more, we offer a treasure trove of concepts that shed light on the deeper meaning of truth (aletheia), the greatest good (areté), the impulse toward destiny (telos), personal transformation (anagnorisis), our relationship with nature (ordo mundi), the impetus of reason and conscience (Nature's Law), the requirements of the coming age (Kairos), and more. To learn more,
please explore this website.
Read the books. Join online conservations on our Open
Forum. Connect with us on Facebook on both our main
and group
pages. |
|
|
 |
|
|
