People are born with different abilities and potential. As we will see later, our innate endowments provide a kind of determinate framework for our development, but within that framework we have a certain freedom of movement. 

Neither literacy nor the acquisition of knowledge can be exclusively linked to the school system. It is within everyone's reach, through books or the internet, to have access to the right information. However, the school system is essential for acquiring the basic literacy that enables a person to select from the flood of information in his/her environment. I will not go into the reasons why the school system cannot fulfil its role. The individual alone cannot do much to change the zeitgeist. If the zeitgeist does not reward literacy and knowledge, it is difficult to work against these trends. Difficult, but not impossible. In this chapter, I want to review the basic knowledge that is essential to safely embark on the path of spiritual development and to become a spiritual seeker. 

I mean by literacy that the person has a broad knowledge of the basic sciences and arts. This does not mean lexical knowledge, which is almost impossible and unnecessary to acquire as a permanent state. The state of what and where to look and what and where to find would be enough to achieve. Why am I highlighting science and the arts? The sciences (especially the natural sciences) teach us two important methods to work with, analysis and synthesis. 

Analysis means breaking something down into its component parts. In the field of chemistry, compounds; in physics, atoms; in linguistics, sentences. We can look at the components separately, gain knowledge about them, and then use the method of synthesis, where we put the components back together again, but in a different order. In the field of chemistry, we will get different compounds, in the field of physics different atoms, in the field of linguistics different sentences with different meanings. We can practice these two methods well by cultivating of the sciences. Why is this important? Because we want to improve. To do this, we need to analyze ourselves and our life situations. We need to examine what qualities we have. We need to dissect each of our components, our reactions, until we feel we can no longer disassemble and we have uncovered the root causes of our behavior. Once the root causes have been uncovered, the understanding is born that allows us to examine our components, our qualities, one by one, and then put ourselves back together again in a different order and quality. What will be the result? You guessed it! A different personality. 

The other important pillar is artistic knowledge. Here again, I don’t mean that someone from memory knows who created what and when. It would be enough for the seeker to have a deeper knowledge of a single field of art. Whereas in the sciences we used the left brain, here we need to engage the right brain. The aim is to get a feel for the arts. What did the artist want to express, what symbolism did he/she use, and how does impress the used symbolism? What is the metaphorical meaning of the actual symbolism, what meaning does it have for us? Proficiency in symbolism can be acquired through the acquisition of a basic knowledge of art (art analysis, e.g. poetry analysis) and is essential to unlocking the true meaning and deeper significance of the scriptures. 

There is only one important step left to develop the logical skills. This is best achieved through the study of mathematics, which is everyone should learn anyway. So, what we need:

- analytical ability

- synthetical ability

- knowledge and living through of symbolism

- logical ability. 

Knowledge means having concrete cognition. It is useful to have specific knowledge in at least one area of the material world. Not only to be able to make a living from something, but also because this will be our most important relationship with the material world beyond the maintenance of our physical body, of course. One who has no material knowledge of any branch of the material world he/she has no method of cognition the spiritual world. He/she has no base of reference, no foothold to help him/her to comprehend a much more complex science, the spiritual science. Here and now I mean by spiritual science, that the seeker must gain knowledge of himself/herself and the Universe through spiritual research within own personality. Intelligence is not the same as either education or knowledge. Rather, it is closest to their creative application. It means being able to use the knowledge we have in ways that maximize our survival and spiritual development in this world. Despite all the contrary information, intelligence can be developed even at the oldest age, and does not require special practices and tools, but it requires will. 

It is clear from the foregoing that I have not sharply separated literacy, knowledge and intelligence concerning to the physical world from their spiritual counterparts. Although we often find that someone has one and lacks the other. The scientists of our time do not necessarily have spiritual knowledge. They may be doing well in their field and successful people, but they are most certainly not happy, and their lives are spent in the race against time that makes their discoveries obsolete in some years. No one has ever been able to create an epoch-maker without spiritual knowledge, because they were simply not open to that level of spirit. On the other hand, there are those who have considerable spiritual knowledge without knowledge of the material world. A good example of this is the countless Indian yogis who could not impart any of their spiritual knowledge to the world because they could not find a common language with the scientist of the material world or because they were not interested in it. They wrote down their inner experiences in some kind of spiritual flowery language, what nobody else can understand! 

Those who choose a synthesis of the two approach have certainly understood the call of the zeitgeist.

Margaret Rhasoda-Varga
UCCM head-master
(The art of living life I. excerpt)