Western Civilization - Or My Lack Thereof

I don't know how I did it. Somehow, I grew up without discovering the Grail Romances, the Mystery Cults that gave birth in Egypt, continued in Greece and flourished in Rome, the Legends of the Philosopher's Stone, Jason and the Argonauts discovering the Golden Fleece. It is a sad state of affairs when I have just discovered the theory of modernism when we're living in a postmodern age. I've only just recently discovered that knowledge is power, and that money can be made in many more ways than the classical model of 'work = force times distance'.

But I have made progress. I am familiar, now, with the West's notion of Beauty, the mimesis of drama and comedy, the sordid and heartbreaking history of Christianity, and the idea of a Gnosis that has been passed down uninterrupted through the ages.

Due to experience, I have become far less proud, much more tolerant, more appreciative of the Beauty at hand and the pleasure of small things. The deep satisfaction that I love and am loved, and that deeper satisfaction that I have generated, and my son will go further, faster and smarter than I ever could have.

I don't know why it is only in my early forties that I have been initiated, but I was indeed initiated.