The Guild System & Spiritual Development
Our economic work should not be separate from our religious life. Everything should be dominated and unified by our attitudes to the hidden world, including and especially our work. It is of no consequence whether or not you are an atheist.
Obtaining mastery in a skill or trade is a facet of our spiritual development, and should be formally managed from that point of view. This is why the hierarchical guild system was superior in every sense to our present system of ‘corporations’, which themselves destroyed the ancient guilds in favour of mass production and short-sighted greed. The guilds worked on a format of natural development, guided by esoteric ritual, where the apprentice developed gradually with age, not just in his craft, but in the mastery of his mind and spirit. Under the guidance of masters who imparting knowledge over generations, their ‘careers’ consisted of a material and spiritual exploration and maturation.
In a corporate system you only learn skills (to a limited degree) in order to increase profit for the company, not to elevate your community or yourself spiritually, but to have your creative energies stolen for the soulless profit of a machine, who’s only purpose is making more money. Which is not a true purpose.
When the economy is secondary to the sacred, when a theological truth dominates your work, the result of your work is imbued with a positive spiritual force, which elevates the people in your community as a byproduct of the elevation of your Self. This is why contemporary cults must hold as sacrosanct the reestablishment of the guild system: with initiatory rites, dedicated patron divinity, and paid apprentice-to-master vocational progress in a studio devoted to the craft of interest. The novice starts out cleaning things and fetching coffee, and in maturity becomes a respected master, elevating his trade which he leaves as legacy to the trainees beneath him. Spiritually connecting the past (ancestry) to the future (descendants). There is no need for relativism or confusing Modernism in this process, as there is no need for corporate middle-men or overseas sweat-shops. Communities would once again flourish when organically supported by an unquestionable spiritual foundation, which relegates commercial concern, an admitted necessity, to its proper subordinate ranking.
Without masters, spiritual development is not possible. All the listed benefits are completely apart from the masterfully crafted and colloquially imbued objects and daily use items resulting from a local guild practice. This is the essence of culture, and tradition. Such work uplifts our souls, whether it be painting, tailoring, music, metalworking, making tools, glass-making, carpentry, cobbling, etc.
Corporations control distribution and money-flow, and have no concern for a craft itself, or its quality. A guild is the authority on the craft it practices, in every sense. And there is no reason material facets of our technological age should not be similarly overseen by sacred inherited fraternities (the rockets guild, the computer guild, etc).
The religious guild system makes our work holy, even mundane work, since it is ultimately dedicated to the hidden world, the forces of divinity. And religious traditions in turn can not evolve without capable practitioners who hold the arcane guild secrets required in the creating of glorious things.
Spiritual development is material development.
