The Esoteric Practice

“If teachings, as theory, attempt to lay out the terrain of Truth, mark the guideposts and suggest a path, then exercises and meditations are vehicles to carry consciousness to higher ground.

The primary work, however, is to cleanse our personality so that we can see clearly where we currently stand and where we are headed. Only after an individual has situated himself within his personality (which is no small feat) is he able to move on to heavenly matters. Hand in hand with the expansion of consciousness, is the need to refine and direct our conscious awareness. […]

We are fortunate that the pursuit of Truth has been dear to the hearts of many who have gone before us. Sages, masters, prophets and teachers from all over the world and in every epoch have bestowed great treasures upon us. Each path and each religion reflects another face of the great gem of Truth. There exists a huge corpus of written and oral teachings devoted to the common eternal Truth. All have contributed invaluably to our developing understanding of Absolute Beingness and the Divine Plan. […]

Esoteric Christianity is not the privilege of the few, but a faithful reflection of the Soul of each of us. The meaning of the term ‘esoteric’ has become severed from its Greek roots. In Greek εσωτερικό (esoteriko) indicates knowledge found within us, ‘for nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest’ (Luke 8:17). Inner Christianity, as ‘the secrets of his heart made manifest’ (1 Cor. 14:25), is less a religion and more the very nature of life – a clear, concise and complete mirror of the Truth. Let us review what we believe to be the way things are.”

The esoteric is not hidden from you but within you; cleanse the personality until the light of the Soul shines through.

The Esoteric Practice is a two-part manual compiled from the recorded lessons of Christian mystic and extraordinary healer, Dr. Stylianos Atteshlis, known as Daskalos (‘teacher’). Part One of the book outlines the theoretical framework for his “System for the Research of Truth,” Daskalos’ approach to esoteric Christianity. Part Two delivers its practical curriculum in over thirty exercises and meditations, followed by a glossary of terms defining the system’s distinctive vocabulary. Daskalos presents the human being as a fourfold Selfhood descending from Spirit-Ego-Being through Self-aware Soul and Permanent Personality to the present-day personality of each incarnation. The central work is to cleanse that personality of elementals – the thought-forms generated by ungoverned emotion and desire – so that it becomes an instrument for the expansion of consciousness. Whatever your starting point – seeker, healer, or simply someone who suspects the present-day personality is not the whole of who you are – The Esoteric Practice introduces a sophisticated framework, complete enough to orient a lifetime of inner work, with accessible exercises through which you can conduct your own research of Truth.

In The Esoteric Practice, Daskalos’ key teaching is that you cannot truly understand what you have not tested in your own experience. The result is a comprehensive manual that takes neither the theory nor the practice for granted.

Part One – Gnosis: Esoteric Christian Wisdom – provides the theoretical framework. After a conversation with Daskalos on the purpose and method of exercise and meditation, it introduces “The Seven Promises” – the vows of all Researchers of Truth. These promises illustrate how one lives this system in daily life:

“To serve at all times and in all places
Absolute Beingness to whom
I whole-heartedly belong.

To be ready at all times and
in all places to serve the Divine Plan.

To make good use of the Divine Gifts
of thought and word at all times,
in all places and under all circumstances.

To endure patiently, without complaining,
all forms of trials and tribulation which the most wise
Divine Law may bestow upon me.

To love and serve my fellow human beings
sincerely from the depths of my heart and Soul,
no matter what their behaviour may be towards me. 

To meditate and to contemplate daily
Absolute Beingness, with the objective of total
coordination of my thoughts, desires, words
and actions with Its Divine Will.

To investigate and check every night whether
all my thoughts, desires, words and actions
are in absolute harmony with the Divine Law.”

What follows is an overview of the system’s cosmology: the nature of Absolute Beingness, the Archangelic Orders who build and sustain the universes, and the fourfold architecture of the human Selfhood. Of that architecture, it is the fourth level – the present-day personality – that the exercises address first. The personality is the sum total of elementals generated across this and previous incarnations, and it must be cleansed before the higher work can be safely done. Daskalos offers a foundational image for why: “The light from its source is pure and luminous. Filtered down through Ideas, universes, and layers of the Selfhood, it remains the same light, only diffused. It is as if numerous lampshades had been placed over a bright bulb. Exercises and meditations, coupled with sound theoretical underfootings, can do much to clean these shades, help us draw nearer to the source of the Light, and allow the Light from above to reflect more fully within our personalities.”

Part Two – Practice: Exercises and Meditations – opens with breathing. The Basic Breathing Technique is timed to your own heartbeat: three counts in, three out, rising over time to four, six, or eight – with one count Daskalos specifically warns against: five, which can have adverse psychic effects. From there the exercises progress through observation and visualisation; the development of the etheric double; the construction of etheric arms and hands; and healing with balls of coloured light. The sequence broadens into the work of forgiveness and into meditations on communal prayer and the natural cycles of possibility and growth. Daskalos says, simply, at the head of the “Loving Your Enemies” exercise, that “Those that truly love have nothing to forgive”: one of the most concise summaries of what the whole system points toward.

The foundational exercise for Daskalos is daily introspection: each night before sleep, a review of the day using six paired questions – what you thought, said, and did that you should not have, and what you failed to think, say, and do that you should have – undertaken “with full impunity and leniency towards yourself and others.” Not to judge, but to observe.

Daskalos preferred not to be treated as a Master or a Guru, but as “a Brother Guide and friend, always willing to help others in their search.” For those looking for more of Daskalos' guidance and teachings, his family oversees the official website for the Researchers of Truth worldwide.