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The Basket of Tolerance
PREFACE:
THE GATHERING OF THE SEVEN
SCHOOLS OF GOD-TALK
The Basket of Tolerance – On the
Seven Schools Of The One And Great Tradition Of
God-Talk
A Reader’s Introduction to the
Historical Traditions of Truly Human Culture, Practical
self-Discipline, Perennial Religion, Universal Religious
Mysticism, “Estoteric” Spirituality, and Transcendtal
Wisdom, Complied, Annotated, and Presented by Heart-Master
Da Free John (Adi Da Samraj) – Produced by The Free Daist
Communion (Adidam), April 1988.
Nalanda University Library
The
Basket Of Tolerance is an essential gathering of traditional
and modern literature, which I offer to all students and
practitioners of the Way of the Heart (and all students of
the traditions of mankind) as a useful and valuable resource
for study of the historical traditions of human culture,
practical self-discipline, religion, religious mysticism,
“esoteric” Spirituality, and Transcendental Wisdom. I have
selected, arranged, and commented upon the many books listed
here, in order to provide a basic, inclusive, and
comprehensive (but not overlong) representation (and
Revelation) of the “Great Tradition” (or common
Wisdom-Inheritance) of mankind.
The texts I have selected for
inclusion in The Basket Of Tolerance were originally (or
otherwise simultaneously) chosen by me for inclusion in “The
Seven Schools Of God-Talk” (an extensive bibliography,
consisting of several thousand volumes). “The Seven Schools
Of God-Talk” was selected (and is continuously being
developed) to fully (and rather exhaustively) represent (or
Reveal) the total “Great Tradition” of truly human culture,
practical self-discipline, perennial religion, universal
religious mysticism, “esoteric” Spirituality, and
Transcendental Wisdom. The Basket Of Tolerance epitomizes
the “Great Tradition” (and “The Seven Schools Of God-Talk”)
with approximately twelve hundred books.
My most fundamental intention
relative to the books included in this essential gathering
(as well as in “The Seven Schools Of God-Talk” as a whole)
is that they should be studied with discrimination, in the
context of formal study (and either simultaneous or eventual
practice) of the Way of the Heart (which I have thoroughly
described in my own Teaching literature).
Although the various texts in this
essential gathering may be read individually (either for
information or for inspiration and enjoyment), formal study
of this literature should be done systematically, by
studying the books in the progressive order I have indicated
(according to the groupings indicated by the various
headings). Such study will itself likely be progressive,
first developing an overview of the entire list, and then,
by degrees, developing a more and more extensive
acquaintance with each and every part. As such study
progresses (even over many years), the approach should
remain orderly and consecutive. Some books may be read
completely and others may be read in part. And the study
should be served by the help of good instructors.
For the sake of further simplicity
and economy of study, I have indicated a smaller number of
books in each section, marked by asterisks. These books,
taken together, represent a shorter course of communicative
literature that should, in general, be readily accessible to
all and usable by all. As in the case of the larger
gathering of listed books, this selection from the whole
should be read in the order given, group by group, and
although full study of the larger gathering of books grants
more detail to one’s comprehension of the “Message” of the
“Great Tradition”, the discriminative and rightly guided
study of this more select group of books, along with the
study and consideration of The Basket Of Tolerance (in
itself, including all its commentaries and headings, and the
description of titles and authors given in each entry), is
certainly and happily recommended.
I have also indicated a small number
of books with double asterisks. (Likewise, for convenient
reference, these few books are listed together in a separate
section, entitled “The Epitome of Traditional Esotericism”.)
The texts in this very condensed selection are intended for
special study by practicing devotees in the Way of the Heart
(and even by any one who has developed a basic overview of
the seven stages of life in the “Great Tradition” through
earlier study of The Basket Of Tolerance and the traditional
and practical literatures listed within it). This small
group of specially selected books represents an epitome of
the esotericism of the “Great Tradition” in the form of
documents that uniquely summarize and convey the traditional
Primal Teachings relative to the fourth, fifth, sixth, and
seventh stages of life. The selection in the case of these
few books is not intended to be inclusive of all historical
traditions, but it is intended to represent the primary
essentials of esotericism itself (which primary essentials
appear, in various forms, in the many historical
traditions).
The order and the groupings of the
various texts listed in The Basket Of Tolerance generate,
from beginning to end, book by book, a continuous and
progressive “Grand Argument”. This “Grand Argument”,
followed with sensitivity and intelligent understanding,
guided by the framework and the considerations developed in
my own Teaching literature, should give the serious student
a sufficient “basic education” in the total “Great
Tradition” and all the traditional fundamentals that must be
considered even by modern practitioners of the Wisdom
Way.
The “Great Tradition” as a whole is
the (one and inclusive) tradition acknowledged and embraced
(as the common, or commonly inherited, tradition of mankind)
by practitioners of the Way of the Heart. No one part of
that “Great Tradition” is sufficient by itself. Likewise,
the individual books listed in this essential gathering are
not, in any single case, self-sufficient. No one tradition
among many, no one traditional text among many, and no
partial (or non-inclusive) group of traditions and
traditional texts is sufficient or of exclusively ultimate
importance in the study of the “Great Tradition”. Only all
these traditions and texts (or an inclusive and
comprehensive gathering of the “Great Tradition”), taken
together, as a whole, is a sufficient Revelation to the
mind, and that Revelation in mind is a useful preparatory
foundation (or traditional inspiration) for those who would
otherwise Awaken to the Ultimate Revelation that transcends
even the mind itself.
Therefore, study this gathered Word
of the “Great Tradition”, book by book “Listen” to the
“Grand Argument” of its totality (or “Whole Body”), and (by
understanding yourself in the context of real practice)
“hear” the summary “Message” of its Heart. In this manner
(and by many means), prepare yourself also to “see” That
Which Is Revealed only by Grace and by stages of Realization
in the necessary ordeal of real and inspired
practice.
Likewise, by this study (and by
“listening”, by “hearing”, by “seeing”, by practice, and by
Realization) learn the lesson of tolerance. The display of
many books in this essential gathering demonstrates the
traditional range of divergent views that may, each in their
moment, seem to you (or to any one) to be necessary,
sufficient, and even absolute. Individuals and cultures all
stand and change within a single but progressively
developing range of characteristic possibilities (or “seven
stages of life”). The ideas or persuasions of any individual
or culture are a direct expression of the state of life (or
Realization) that is, to that moment (or in that moment),
Realized. Therefore, understand. Understand yourself,
understand al others, and, by your speech and activity,
promote the culture of tolerance, which understands and
allows all temporary views and calls every one to self-study
and constant growth and outgrowing, until the conditional
self and the conditional worlds are “Outshined” in their
Source.
Adi Da Samraj – Preface: The
Gathering of The Seven Schools of God-Talk, The Basket of
Tolerance, March 1988. The Free Daist Communion
(Adidam).
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