Initiation of renunciation (Esotericism)

The liberating experience associated with this initiation is that of freedom from all self-interest, and the renouncing of the personal life in the interest of the larger whole. Even soul-consciousness ceases to be of importance and a more universal awareness, and one closer to the divine mind, takes its place. Part of the crisis of this experience is the major sense of abandonment that is suffered until the lower dependence is renounced. The sacrifice made is one through which the individual is made holy and set apart for spiritual development and service. The individual dies to all that is material and physical. Prior to renunciation conflict is always present. It is replaced by crises of decision, based on perceptions of the most appropriate form of action, and leading to right discrimination. The individual is presented with a battleground and a field of experience in which he makes great experimental choices through which right orientation is learnt. The cleavage between desirable spiritual values and undesirable material values becomes clear. The individual begins to act entirely out of intuition, enabling him to live in the light of direct knowledge, expressing wisdom itself in all affairs. A rapport is thus established between intuitive understanding and the physical world. He learns to define the wholeness which is his divine right and prerogative.

The fourth initiation in the tradition of western esotericism.