Recently we had a student ask us a couple of interesting, albeit blunt, questions regarding the roles of teacher and student in the A.’.A.’.: “What kind of a ‘student’ needs a teacher, and what kind of a ‘teacher’ instructs students?”
A student must have cultivated enough humility and self-awareness to know that a guide is needed—sometimes to the extent of keeping them from becoming overwhelmed or even going insane (although a person with these tendencies is usually excluded by means of the application process itself). The student must also want to learn and, to do so, must also trust that their teacher has both the Knowledge and Understanding (Gnosis) to assist them on their journey.
As for the teacher’s need to teach, one main reason is like that expressed by a Bodhisattva when asked why he or she vows to return and help others: Namely, that “while even one person remains in prison, I cannot be absolutely free”. To desire to assist others and accompany them on their journey, the teacher must have empathy and compassion for them. These emotions must be genuine and not merely idealistic aims—i.e., cultivated because of one’s own efforts of piety and ego dissolution, although it may begin merely as a thought.
In pondering the rigorous training often needed before the Aspirant becomes an official Adept of Our Order—and oftentimes then a teacher, aren’t we essentially implying that everyone should reincarnate this instant as perfectly spherical balls of light?
If only it were that easy… To be honest, if shortcuts in ascending the Tree of Life were possible, it would probably end up manifesting in an evolutionary cul-de-sac whereby those who hadn’t worked to achieve spiritual progress would undeservedly succeed—i.e., those lacking in Devotion (Bhakti), Understanding (K. & C. of the H.G.A.), and Knowledge—to name a few. In the case of those who are of the “dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and whosoever loveth to make a lie” (Liber Agape) this would especially be a reprehensible error in judgment. Using religious concepts and figures more specific to Western cultures, the new role of every man is to become worthy of being chosen to embody the Messiah, who then seems to have the task of weeding the proverbial “Garden” alongside the woman who is a manifestation of Earth itself during this Aeon in the threefold configuration of God-Man-Woman (see Ida Craddock’s idea of “Psychic Wedlock” (orgasm without ejaculation), which is the third stage after “Alpha-ism” (abstinence) and “Diana” (no male orgasm); as is the case in the A.A., Chastity (male) and Virginity (female) are implicit requirements, alongside a list of others).
Ida Craddock
Perhaps here there is an underlying implication that judgement has already been passed such that only those who are “of the highest” can possibly succeed, or at least that only a limited number of people are prepared to undergo the trials leading up to this stage, but the progress of evolution increases daily so it’s hard to tell what the future will hold.