Theorem One - Commentary του Cristofidis

Introduction

Before presenting this particular 'opinion' on theorem one, we quietly remind the reader that this text merely represents the personal point of view of the author in question. As noted previously, the main purpose of initiation is for the adherent to make their own commentaries and to come to their own conclusions, and to apply this 'truth' to their own self.

Commentary του Cristofidis

Out of the 100 or so questions that make up the Cristofidis' commentary, we have selected a number of questions that represent, in general, the overall thrust of the 'questions and answers' that is associated with this particular approach to initiation.

I: Some Introductory Questions

A: Why is it necessary to introduce the theorems to the adherent prior to starting the transmission of THEOREMS?
An introduction to the theorems is convenient and indispensable in order to proceed smoothly and not abruptly into the initiatic avenue which is without end. Just as with the breath, initiation is never ever settled, except when we quit this world of tribulation, because initiation is a way of life.

B: What is the goal of studying the theorems?
The goal of the individual is their REBIRTH, because Man lived and still lives as an unnatural manifestation and consequently he ignores what his purpose is on Earth. This clearly shows that we are not rational beings and we should not brag that we are reasonable and conscious.

C: What do the theorems cover?
The first 15 theorems are divided into three parts:
a) Theorems 1 and 2, and 5 to 11 cover the moral perfecting of the individual.
b) Theorems 3 and 4: The study of nature.
c) Theorems 12 to 15: The study of society (sociology)

D: What is Freedom?
Freedom is inherent to Man. A satisfactory definition of freedom is "the divine trait of Man", precisely because the origin of Man is the divine and is not the worldly level.

The material level is our temporary residence and we pass through it like a traveller in transit, as our permanent residence is somewhere else. Because of his divine place of origin, Man does not accept uncomplainingly, the infringements of his freedom, which is resulting in a deed of violence that is exclusively a trait of the material level. If Man were born of this level, he would accept uncomplainingly infliction of violence against him.

E: Do we know ourselves? What are the indications that we do or do not know ourselves?
If we knew ourselves we would be very happy, but unfortunately we do not nor are we happy. Within us reigns anxiety, disharmony, fear, ignorance, the imbalance between our hypostases, and in general, a certain negation, which clearly shows that our evolution (here is found happiness) is noticeably lacking. We have some education and, because we are not humble, we think we are great. But at the bottom of it all, we are hollow. Thus we appear to be happy to other people, but we are wretched. This is something that we know very well, as does God.

F: Does a person think? Do they think correctly? Do all people think? When are we conscious?
Certainly Man can think, but unfortunately, most of the time he does not. To think is a law and no one can violate this law.

We are conscious, not when we realize that we are doing something, but when we know the reason why we do it. Moreover, we are conscious when we are in a position to support what we do with reasoned arguments.

It is a fact that that we have excellent relations with copying, superficiality, imitating and parroting. This is because we are not used to thinking for ourselves and to settle upon our own personal conclusions. So by copying others we are ridiculous, a-conscious and uncritical as we adopt something that previously we have uncritically rejected. Christ said that we have eyes not to see, and ears not to hear. The late commander of the Order added, we have a mind not to think.

G: Who is responsible for misguiding society? How are we misguided?
Without exception, the responsibility for being lead astray weighs down upon each and every one of us. But there are extenuating circumstances. We have the overwhelming negative legacy from those who lived prior to us, who gave humanity unhealthy foundations (parents, education, religion, polity, etc.). This situation and those constructs that have been bequeathed to us, are sufficiently binding so as to prevent individuals from manifest themselves freely and naturally.

Thanks to the law of uniformity, all people were constructed alike. However, this law has been misconstrued. Thus, in order to serve their interests and to satisfy their authoritarianism, the decision-makers and those who are responsible, in general, applied the law of similarity to human manifestations, which are actually governed by another law. That law is the law of dissimilarity. So, everything is upside down in our society. Humanity is unhappy and will remain unhappy, as long as these two laws are misinterpreted and violated.

Undoubtedly, the gathering of people in a society was both a dire need and a great good. If it had not happened, the gratification of the triple needs of Man would be impossible. However, at the same time of this benefit, this gathering also instigated a great evil in Man. Man is moulded by everything that is around him, so in a large percentage of people, this gathering deprives each person of their freedom and makes them simply part of a line of individuals. Namely, a conglomeration of nature without personality.

Dissimilarity regulates and embellishes human manifestations. When dissimilarity gives way to similarity, Man loses his worth - that brings him joy and happiness - and is transformed into a conglomeration that floods his human dignity. Whatever is a collective, it is a negative element to the formation of a free and independent personality. And God created us free not as a conglomeration.

H: What kind of work must we do, to see the benefits from the teaching of our Order?
a) A daily effort. Our goal is not knowledge or learning, but our evolution that is a way of life. This includes all our positive activities, such as reading, studying, meditating, writing, practicing charity at all three levels and what other evolution exists.

b) Application. The Order does not impose anything. We apply ourselves, because we want to and not because we are told to by others. The acquisition of personality is a personal affair, all the more so as it is an internal need rather than an obligation.

c) Written work. By impressing our thoughts in writing, we confront ourselves and we debate it on a firm basis and not with words that are made of air (spoken words). The benefit of writing is enormous and is why in our Order, we recommend writing.

d) The love towards the work. If we do not love the work, our progression will be slow and contrary. Without love, nothing thrives.

e) Respect towards our neighbour. Whoever respects their neighbour man, respects themselves and by respecting our neighbour, the degree of our consciousness is elevated.

II: Questions on Theorem One

1: As you read the theorem, are there any words that require further explanation?

Yes, the following words: Personality, Dissimilarity, Manifest, Affirm, Experience, Environment (free or not), Degree of experience ... and so on.

2: Give your definition for the term 'personality'? Compare 'personality' to 'character'.

a) Personality' is the particular characteristics of all our manifestations.
b)'Personality' is our particular characteristics combined with our conscious individuality.

To understand the term 'personality', we are obliged to have recourse to a detailed analysis that broadens our horizons. Specifically, we need to determine what the various manifestations of personality are, and from that, to acquire a good idea for the term personality.

Personality is our inherent predispositions along with what we have acquired by living in the material world. What we have acquired can alter our character as our character can be strengthen. So on top of the template of our character, the edifice of our personality is built, which is the best we can achieve in this life. In other words, personality is not only the dowry that we brought with us when we were born - against our will, but is also what we have created down here on Earth - with our own will, for which we are is responsible for greatly.

Character is our inherent predispositions, our natural 'fillings'. There are three fillings:

Character is well and truly inherent, but it can be modified and adapted. It is not inflexible whenever the character is altered for the sake of good or evil, by training, education, endeavour.

So Character is our various predispositions with which we were hallmarked at birth. By predisposition we mean our various inclinations, tendencies and propensities or our particular material-psychical-spiritual idiosyncrasies. These triple idiosyncrasies direct our personality, they do not constitute our personality.

Now only a certain percentage of people know about their character, but not completely. This is because inevitably factors intervene, that we will examine later, which alters, manipulate, misrepresent and deform our inherent predispositions.

If in our 100 or so inherent tendencies there is also an evil one, let us be prudent and responsible and take care to isolate and confine it. Following from that, let us master it on a permanent basis, so that we do not lose face, and fail in our purpose on Earth.

There is so much difference between an 'excellent character' and 'good personality' the two can hardly be compared. Man is incarnated on Earth to acquire a personality and not a character. So Man brings a character with him. If his character is excellent, it is easiest thing for a Man to distort and make it unrecognizable. The value of Man is found in the hatching of a genuine inherent character, to make of it a savoury and pure fruit, because if his personality is not based on his inherent character, his personality is false and without worth. Character is a gift that is given to Man and he lives with it throughout his life. In contrast, personality is purely his own creation which, in order for it to be genuinely crystallised, he will get extremely tired and it is not at all certain that he will succeed in doing so. In the character, 'will' plays no role, while for personality, it plays a fundamental and paramount role.

3: Identify the different types of manifestation that someone has? give examples.

There are three types of manifestation because we have three hypostases. This is a law of creation that is called the law of ternary. We encounter this law everywhere in both our individual manifestations and in our constitutional make up. Everything that applies to us also applies to creation. Since we have three hypostases, three origins or sources, it is natural to have three kinds of manifestations. So things are very simple, but we like to get into a tangle so that they become difficult and complex.

Question: Does a person exist who does not think, feel or act?
Doesn't this simple argument show us clearly that we have three hypostases?

4: What is the environment? Give some examples. How does it impact us? How can we change it?

The environment is that which surrounds us and more specifically, it is the stereotypical way of thinking, feeling and behaving based on a certain set of people.

Family, religion, society, clan, habits, traditions, customs, school, friends, relatives as well as everything else that exists outside us is the environment.

All of this has a tangible influence on our personality, which is why it is altered to some extent and makes it lose its originality and authenticity.

In order to change ourselves we must access the inherent, the genuine, the original, the starting point, the Alpha. That is, s by using reverse measurement {going repeatedly from the effect back to the cause}. It will be realised with continuous introspection. That is, with the intimate and extremely careful monitoring of ALL of our manifestations. So, slowly and with patient endeavour - it's a job of years rather than days - we will release ourselves from those manifestations that are, as we will determine, not dependant on our physical propensities, but are instigated by bad habits, acquaintances, negations, defects, conventions that our environment and materialism have bequeathed to us.

Thus, by dominating these obstacles, we will begin to see more clearly and by using exclusively our own means of perception and comprehension, we will gradually acquire individual experience. In this way, once we realize the confinements of the environment, we will be finally able to dominate them and to thus manifest our genuine personality, by the leverage of our experience.

We can rectify society by the application of a healthy education given individually to people, with complete respect for their freedom and by the individual putting into practice this teaching with their own will without any imposition by anyone else. Education that is given to people in groups, as if they were flocks of sheep, is doomed to failure.

So only with a healthy education will the environment become free. For the special features of this work, we will talk about the 15 theorems of the Adherent, particularly the first ones. What we have to do is to understand the teaching and assimilate it through application. If this does not happen exactly as it is formulated, I'm very afraid that nothing will change in ourselves and in society.

Even though the environment is an alien body for us, it nevertheless becomes part of our nature. Thus when drunk, we act under its influence and effect. Consequently, frequently or constantly, we battle "the a-conscious" for things that are completely incompatible with our character and desires.

This unthinkable and fickle situation certainly leads us to misfortune and perhaps catastrophe. However, after distorting our nature, we rather enjoy it, like the drug addict who is blissful when he injects his body, even though at the same time he is digging his own grave.

So this great evil that the environment contributes to us, replaces all our cherished and solid gold adornments - our inherent and genuine character - with tin which, although it shines, lacks any intrinsic value because it is false.

This happens when we live unnaturally, a-consciously and without a notable personality. Outwardly we seem happy, but deep down we are very miserable. Many times, feeling the need to manifest ourselves differently from others, we avoid doing so because we find it unreasonable, as everything around us is moulded and standardised.

So, our genuine nature is strangled. Morality, freedom, love, fashion and so on, all are standardised and interferes with all spontaneity.

It's not easy change the environment. On the contrary, it is terribly difficult. But that does not mean that we have to fatally accept and surrender to it. At our level, what is useless and unnecessary is easy to change, while on the contrary, the physiologically normal is difficult to change. This is because that endeavour is a law at the worldly level.

It is very painful to change the environment and its influences, because we have been suckled by it. It is the milk with which we were watered from our birth, so the environment has become part of our cells and bloods. Is it easy to change such things?

5: Based on the theorem itself, and from our discussions so far, what is the primary law that governs everything?
The primary law is the law of ternary. This law is essential both for the creation of forms and for their manifestations.

So no sooner than we want to ascertain what 'one' is, right away this 'one' transforms into three or it transfers its position to three. God, Man, creation, personality are monads. If we examine, analyse and research them, we come up against 3 or the law of ternary, because 'one' says nothing to us. So we have:

6: How can you convince yourself, and your fellow man, that every human being has a 'dissimilar' personality?
Does dissimilarity exist? What is the benefit of dissimilarity? or why are people dissimilar?

Yes dissimilarity exists, since we differ in our individual details as well as in our personalities. We therefore necessarily differ as a whole and are therefore dissimilar. It follows that dissimilarity exists all round us.

Examples of unique differences between us are: a) Fingerprints. (b) Handwriting. c) Physiognomy. d) Voice e) Gait. g) Laughter. h) A billion people without any two being absolutely the same. i) Two identical cigarettes, trees or their leaves, etc. Two identical things do not exist.

Dissimilarity is due to the fact that there are no two identical 'moments' in creation as everything continually flows.

Are there any disadvantages associated with dissimilarity? I do not think there are any disadvantages, but there are countless advantages, such as: complementarity or cooperation, courteous competition, reciprocity, variety, inter-transactions and exchanges, progress, joy, harmony, pleasure, order, balance, serenity, originality, avoidance of confusion (owing to similarity), beauty and so on.

The amazing variety of human manifestations in all domains, but also in creation, makes life attractive and pleasant. If dissimilarity did not prevail in the manifestations of humanity, what would reign would be a withering away, a tediousness, desperate routine, confusion, disharmony, stagnation or even death. Life will be very dull and we note that suicide is quite a common phenomenon.

Now we can see dissimilarity in the very form of Man, in his structure. The material from which the body of each and every person is constructed, is the same. Likewise, the matériel from which the soul of each and every person is constructed is the same. The same also holds for the spirit. Consequently, we are all identical or better, we are all constructed alike. This is due to another law of creation that is called the law of uniformity or law of similarity. Once Man is constituted as a form, the position of the law of similarity is taken by the law of dissimilarity. The law of dissimilarity well and truly masters all its manifestations to the point where, as we have said, no two 'identical' things exist.

7: What do we mean by the term experience or better, 'lived experience' or 'individual experience'?
In the Order, the term "experience" does not mean the happy or unhappy events of our life and the arbitrary interpretations that we, many times, we give to them.

So, the term experience means the continuous use of our individual natural potentials that the creator has endowed us with. The purpose being to know ourselves and the world in which we were summoned to live and which are both governed by laws.

Individual experience is the factor that permits the authenticity of our manifestations so as to affirm our personality. When Man lacks individual experience, he also lacks a true personality, so his personality is essentially false and unworthy. Individual experience is the keystone of personality.

A person who simply has an experience, knows what they know superficially and is unable to support their position by knowing what they think, feel, say or accomplish, with endurance, reasoning and persuasion.

A person who has an 'individual experience' knows in depth what he says or does, because he acquired it with hard work and endeavour, using his personal means of communication, perception, comprehension etc. So the content of his personality is genuine because it is not the result of knowledge or the knowledge and opinion of others.

The difference between the two is enormous, incomparable and is the difference between real and counterfeit jewellery.

A person lacks individual experience for many reasons. Here are some:
a) We have not learned to think for ourselves and deligate this worry to others, from whom we expect the resolution of our individual problems.
b) We are lazy and the material environment in which we live, incites us to inactive.
c) We are busy most of the time with things that are not at all essential and necessary.
d) We have expanded some of our needs and we have stifled others. Consequently, we have violated the harmonious and balanced coexistence of our three hypostases.
e) We live abnormally and circumvent the life law that governs our form. Thus, we are unfortunate.
f) When we imitate and copy others, the consequence is our originality fades.
g) We have misinterpreted the toil and our purpose here on Earth. Instead of heading down the avenue that leads to the Truth, we pursue pathways that lead to darkness.

To acquire 'individual experience', do we not discard all the achievments of Mankind because such an attitude would constitute a high degree of nonsense and is an unrealistic position.

What is needed and what counts, is we own and supply our personality only as we find it. That is, so that it agrees with our natural tendencies and propensities while in parallel, unbinding and polishing it with the potentialities of our soul and spirit and giving it all the requisite time for it to mature.

The attitudes of others should never be final to us, to shape our own position, opinion, view, experience, belief.

III: Some Open Questions and Activities

¤ Back to - Exposition of Theorem One