Above all, you must open your hearts to Nature and feel your mutual bonds, feel that you are a part of Nature. When you open your heart to the divine current flowing through the universe you are establishing the perfect relationship of exchange, a totally new intelligence begins to awaken within you and you begin to grasp even the most subtle philosophical thoughts.

No doubt it is excellent to be able to quote the wisdom of philosophers but it is far better to be able to give proof of their wisdom from your own experience. Instead of reading a lot of books, therefore, it is better to establish a bond with the only truly inexhaustible, immortal source: Nature.

You can learn more from a genuine master in five minutes…

A great Master or initiate is someone who understands exactly how man is built, and who has an intimate knowledge of the whole of Nature. He can, therefore, explain how man should exchange with Nature through his thoughts, feelings and actions. Orientals say that you can learn more by spending five minutes with a genuine Master than in twenty years in the best universities of the world.

University teaches about the superficial aspects

A Master can teach you the science of Life, for a great Master possesses true Life. The major difference between what you learn at a university and what you learn in an initiatic school is that a university can teach you everything about the superficial, exterior aspects of life, everything, that is, except life itself.

After years and years of studying at a university you find yourself exactly as you were when you began, with the same faults and failings. True, you have perhaps become a very distinguished scholar. You have learned to use complicated instruments, to quote from many different authors, to use your tongue to great effect and even to earn a great deal of money. But your ability to have a harmful influence on other people’s minds has also increased.

To be continued…

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov,
Izvor Book 216, The Living Book of Nature
Chapter 1, The Living Book of Nature