The following is Heart-Master Da Love-Ananda’s preface to
the manuscript edition of The Basket Of Tolerance dated May
31, 1987:
Preface:
The Gathering of The Seven Schools Of God-Talk
1987 The Free Daist Communion, All rights reserved.
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 relative to the historical
traditions of human culture, practical self-discipline,
religion, religious mysticism, “esoteric” Spirituality, and
Transcendental Wisdom. I have selected, arranged, and
annotated (or 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 selfdiscipline,
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 one
thousand 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
consecutively, reading some completely and others in part
(with the help of good instructors), but reading every one,
and reading each and all according to the groupings
indicated by the various headings. (For the sake of those
who may have only limited possible access to the books
listed here, or who otherwise have a less developed
disposition toward extensive formal, or even academic,
study, I have indicated a smaller number of books in each
section, marked by an asterisk. These books, taken together,
represent a kind of “short course” of communicative
literature that should be most easily accessible to all and
usable by all. They should, as in the case of the larger
gathering of listed books, be read in the order given, group
by group, and although full study of the larger gathering of
books is preferred, and, indeed, necessary, for the fullest
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 list itself, including all its
commentaries and headings, and the description of titles and
authors given in each entry, is certainly and happily
recommended.) The order and the groupings of these various
texts 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 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 stage of life (or Realization) that
is, to that moment (or in that moment), Realized. Therefore,
understand. Understand yourself, understand all 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). 22
22. Heart-Master Da Love-Ananda, The
Basket Of Tolerance manuscript, version dated May 31,
1987.
Introduction to Basket of Tolerance
My
First Word – Foreword to The
Basket of Tolerance