The Seeker is a balding man, bearded, tall and sinewy, standing on the lower left of the card, facing right. His eyes are bound in a black cloth. He has laid down his staff, and his robes lie about his feet. He stretches out his arms as if to feel the fire on top the distant mountain. A path winds off to the left, across water and up the mountain. Another path leads right to a distant city. On that path is a robed woman, carrying a handful of riches and followed by an open book. The Seeker is on the left path, which winds up the mountain, past a bright cloud, to the fire. Those who are Seekers have already known the woman, had the riches, read the book, and visited the city, in this lifetime or before. They have succeeded at all the usual tasks, found all the conventional rewards, and outgrown them. One can become weary with fame, weighted down with possessions, and bored with entertainment. Some people are born this way, and never show much interest in worldly values. When you reach that point, when your spirit (if not your body) feels withered, aged, and dried up, then take up the life of the Seeker. A greater change cannot be imagined. The path up the mountain is long and winding. Be prepared to spend five years full time as a Seeker before you are ready to receive the fire. We know from the Book of the Deliverer what the path consists in. It is nothing more than spending a lot of time in Earth-Roots and Bathing in the Waters. In other words, solitude in nature, and daydreaming. It is as simple as that. Yet, it is difficult to find these conditions for even an hour each day in our modern existence. To take up the life of the Seeker is to make a more radical commitment to this path. It requires a total change of lifestyle, yet that is the only difficult part, the decision to change. Seeking solitude, and nature, you will go where there are no roads, so you will need no car. Wishing to blend into nature and not to harm her, you will be invisible and can stay anywhere there is room to spread a blanket. Since the Seeker must of necessity carry all possessions on his back, house-payments and rent are avoided. If you carry a solar cooker, you will need no fuel, so the question of 'affording' the life of the Seeker comes down to this: can you afford the food? Now, as it happens, the most condensed, most easily preserved, and most nutritious food is also the cheapest, if you know where to find it. The only problem is that it requires a lot of processing time, but since you are looking for work-meditation, that is an advantage. Grinding grain and carrying water are perfect examples of the pleasantly monotonous tasks I've called work-meditation. The perfect food is grain, and the cheap place to get it is from a farmer, or from a grain coop. An adult requires a pound of solid food a day. There are 30 to 60 pounds in a bushel, depending on the type of grain, and the average price per bushel in the early 1980's is under $5 per bushel. In fact $5 or less has been the price for over a hundred years. So, your total yearly expenditure would be under $100. In our society, that is essentially free. If you sold any one of your possessions, that would provide enough to live 5 years. The life of the Seeker is free. Is it healthy? We would all benefit from more exercise and less additives, processed foods, and meat. The staple vegan diet of grains is one of just enough and balance, so you need to take some care. You must balance the amino acids of grains and beans to make a complete protein. You need to keep some sprouts going for vitamin C. You have to have some food derived from animal sources to provide vitamin B-12. The 'animals' could be micro-bial. A little powdered milk or hard cheese or brewer's yeast would provide it. An adult male needs no minerals unless he loses considerable blood. But make sure you adjust to a low mineral diet gradually, over several months. Women can get enough iron by cooking everything in a cast iron skillet (though to save weight, you might prefer to buy iron pills). Tofu, from soybeans, is high in calcium, and can be made anywhere. If you went from city life to full time life out-of-doors in one swoop, you might die of exposure. The skin must be conditioned to the dry outside air gradually. Especially in dry areas, you must plan ahead for water supplies. With plastic, you can create solar stills to make use of sea-water, or brackish water. You can build cisterns for sustained life in the desert. Even in the driest north American deserts several inches of rain fall a year. It is possible to catch runoff from several acres and divert it to a deep waterproof cistern and maintain this water year around. In cold and mountainous areas, you must plan ahead for sudden winter storms and snow and ice. Mere survival becomes an adventure, but it is not inherently difficult. At first you would feel lonely and foolish. Next you might become bored. That is perhaps the point at which the mind turns inward and begins to slough off, like dirty clothes, the mental garbage that swamps us from 'civilization'. Thousands of other wholy ones in other paths have sat under these same stars, and eventually some of them thought grand thoughts, experienced wonderful things, and returned to their civilizations as Deliverers, transforming societies and creating new worlds. I shall join you when I can. Happy wandering, Seeker, you are the future. |
"From the dark deeps arisen are the feelings of ancient time. Such feeling is fully apart from the individual. Its coming from the well leaves less to be lighted. A proper understanding of these dredgings permits love-feelings to resume normal flow. Such under-standing must come to all during times of upheaval... Ye are Seekers."