american chapters（美国的章节）.docVIP

A Citizen’s Reflections on Our American Life American Chapters I “Without a Vision, the People perish” Forward to the Series These Chapters deal with an unusual theme; they describe and reconcile important elements of the ongoing European and American Mystery Traditions – within the framework of modern social-political conditions. Some of the ideas may therefore seem strange if you have no background for them. My approach is eclectic; I do not work from any doctrine, and I have made every effort to give credit where credit is due – there is a lot of that! Just as one cannot make a meal from one ingredient, neither have I attempted to derive everything from one source, or from one point of view. Nonetheless, the results and any mistakes herein are my own, and can only reflect my state of understanding at this snapshot in time. My research is constantly accelerating state of flux; I reserve the right to revise my descriptions as new information is assimilated and old understandings continue to develop. New editions, easily made and accessed digitally, will be available through the Files section of my discussion list All Our Relations, which concerns itself with such matters as you will find analyzed herein. Those understandings have gone through enough consistent transformations that their fundamental nature has become ever more clear; clear enough to warrant their publication. Neither the topics nor my treatment of them lend themselves to a novelistic or gee-whiz approach, so those of us spoiled by either high literature or television may have a bit of a tough time with it. In compensation, I anticipate that the content itself is such that the reader will find him- or her-self engaged. As my inspirers require – and as Wittgenstein states: “I should not like my writing to spare people the trouble of thinking.” Our crises are deep and manifold; our solutions will not be obtained without the most rigorous