" Furthermore, this submission is no more than a simple 'pedagogic’ method, one could say, of entirely transitory necessity; not only would a true spiritual teacher never abuse it, but he would use it only to enable his disciple to free himself from it as soon as possible, [...] Initiation ought precisely to lead to the fully realized and effective consciousness of the ‘Self, which can obviously be the case neither with children in the nursery nor with psychic automata. The initiatic ‘chain’ is not meant to bind the being, but on the contrary to furnish a support that allows it to raise itself indefinitely and to go beyond its limits as an individual and conditioned being. Even when there are contingent applications that can coexist secondarily with its essential goal, an initiatic organization has no use for blind and passive instruments, whose normal place could in any case only be in the profane world, since they lack all qualification. What must exist among all its members at all levels and in all functions is a conscious and voluntary collaboration that implies all the effective understanding of which each is capable; and no true hierarchy can be realized or maintained on any other basis than this. "
― René Guénon , Perspectives on Initiation
![René Guénon quote : Furthermore, this submission is no more than a simple 'pedagogic’ method, one could say, of entirely transitory necessity; not only would a true spiritual teacher never abuse it, but he would use it only to enable his disciple to free himself from it as soon as possible, [...] Initiation ought precisely to lead to the fully realized and effective consciousness of the ‘Self, which can obviously be the case neither with children in the nursery nor with psychic automata. The initiatic ‘chain’ is not meant to bind the being, but on the contrary to furnish a support that allows it to raise itself indefinitely and to go beyond its limits as an individual and conditioned being. Even when there are contingent applications that can coexist secondarily with its essential goal, an initiatic organization has no use for blind and passive instruments, whose normal place could in any case only be in the profane world, since they lack all qualification. What must exist among all its members at all levels and in all functions is a conscious and voluntary collaboration that implies all the effective understanding of which each is capable; and no true hierarchy can be realized or maintained on any other basis than this.](/image/2295977.jpg)