It is not for everyone, this path of the mysteries. Those whose interests center on getting or keeping some particular standard of living, with its privileges and comforts, usually find it unappealing at best. . . . For those who hear the call, however, the doors of the mystery schools are open today as they were in centuries past. No matter what changes shake the world, as our civilization comes belatedly face to face with the consequences of its own mistaken decisions, the patient work of the mysteries and the gradual ripening of human potential remain what they have always been.
—John Michael Greer, Mystery Teachings from the Living Earth
This rich passage from Greer’s 2012 book contains several valuable nuggets of wisdom. First, as we know, emotional and spiritual preparation for the collapse of industrial civilization is widely rejected and rarely embraced. Whether a result of denial or a particular status, nothing about it appeals to the masses.
Yet this has always been so. Be it the Eleusinian Mysteries; Plato’s mystery school; or myriad Christian, Muslim, or Jewish mysteries, exploring mystery demands sacrifice. Authentic students of mystery are always those who are willing to forego privilege, status, and monetary comforts for the sake of the treasures they believe the mysteries hold for them.
Greer also suggests that following the mysteries is a response to a calling. Naturally, when we are encumbered with possessions and deafened by the cacophony of industrial civilization, it is difficult to hear the call, let alone respond to it.
The mysteries are no longer esoteric teachings “out there” for which we need to uproot our lives in order to respond to the call. Our lives are being uprooted daily, as larger systems around us crumble. There is no longer anywhere we need to go in order to find the mysteries. In fact, they have come to us. They are present in the throes of the unraveling and the multifarious manifestations of it in our lives and in the lives of everyone around us. Meanwhile, they patiently await our receptivity and our ripening.