Daskalos (Stylianos Atteshlis) - The Practice and Perils of Introspection (1994) [1 DVD - 1 AVI]Screenshot![]()
Homepage:http://stoa-series.com/products/20/Duration: 1 hour 17 minutes
This is a talk that Daskalos gave (in English only) in 1994.
The location was the Stoa - a small lecture hall and garden full of olive trees and cacti at the back of his house in Strovolos, Cyprus.
The Practice and Perils of Introspection (looking inward), focusses on the technique and pitfalls of turning our attention inward in order to transmute our limited "time and place self" and achieve what Daskalos calls the "most precious" fruit of introspection - to know and express who we really are.
Daskalos begins by discussing the "circle of possibilities" of the "time and place self" - circumscribed as it is by the limitations of the gross material world - and how the spirit-soul-ego being is expressed, (subconsciously at first), through that self, eventually transmuting it through the process of
theosis.
He describes how the surrender of the ego-self comes about through compassion and understanding - rather than by conflict and confrontation - and explains how to deal with the ego's tricks and deceptions in order to disenergize the negative elementals (thought-forms) that impede our spiritual progress.
He also discusses the nature of our true being and the practice of exomatosis (out-of-body experience).
I've found this talk to be of great value and no matter how often I hear it, new insights always seem to arise.
Try to tune into the vibrations of Daskalos's voice and listen with your heart as well as with your head.
Really, the idea is to tune into the elemental of the talk, which exists eternally and contains the full meaning of Daskalos's teaching.
Much knowledge and understanding can come in this way.
Daskalos
Dr. Stylianos Atteshlis, better known as "Daskalos", (Greek for "teacher"), was a great Greek Cypriot Christian mystic and healer.
That's my assessment, not his.
He had no patience with anyone who wanted to call him "Master", insisting that he was no more than a fellow student of the mysteries.
Nor did he ever insist that he alone knew the truth. On the contrary, he advised his students to investigate everything for themselves and never to accept anything as true merely because he said so.
He also encouraged them to explore other religions and philosophies if they felt so inclined.
Buddhists, Jews, Muslims and even atheists attended his talks (he once said that he could have a more honest and sensible discussion with a sincere atheist than with a religious fanatic).
Professor Kyriacos Markides of Maine University has written a trilogy of excellent books about Daskalos's extraordinary life and teachings.
Although Daskalos only really approved of the first volume - The Magus of Strovolos - all three contain invaluable insights into his uniquely profound and coherent me
taphysical system.
I recommend, The Magus of Strovolos, as a way into Daskalos's thought, (although he disliked being called a "magus" and preferred the term "mystic").
It's on the tracker here:
http://theoccult.bz/details.php?id=31429
Most English translations of his own writings leave much to be desired, although a new, professionally translated collection of his talks, Words of Truth, is excellent.
The Esoteric Practice, also contains many simple but powerful practical exercises. It's on the tracker too:
http://theoccult.bz/details.php?id=43653
For me, Daskalos's teachings represent the most profound and transformative system of knowledge that I've ever encountered in several decades of spiritual search that began with Kabbalism and progressed, through Zen Buddhism, to pure mysticism.
There's a saying in Western magic that: "All magicians become mystics in the end".
My own experience certainly bears this out.
In my teens I wanted to use magic to manipulate the world to suit my own ends.
Now I understand that what I really wanted was to change the way I felt inside.
I thought I could achieve that through manipulating the world, but it's so much simpler and more effective to work directly on one's consciousness, which is the whole point of mysticism - to exchange separation and insecurity for what Daskalos called "at-one-ment" or Theosis.
Daskalos has a somewhat unusual style of delivery which takes a little getting used to, but it's well worth the effort as much of the material here is not available elsewhere, to the best of my knowledge.
A website called: The Researchers of Truth, is run by some of Daskslos's students here:
http://www.researchersoftruth.org/
It contains many transcripts of his talks and much else besides.
Quote:
=== File Information ===
File Name: Daskalos - The Practice and Perils of Introspection.avi
Duration: 01:18:14 (117,359 fr)
File Size: 554 MB (or 568,210 KB or 581,847,040 bytes) bytes
=== Video Information ===
Video Codec Name: XviD
Video Bitrate: 857 kb/s
Bits / Pixel: 0.090 bits/pixel
Resolution: 704x544 (1.29:1) [=22:17]
frames Per Second: 25.000 fps
=== Audio Information ===
Audio Codec: 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3
Audio Bitrate: 128 kb/s (64/ch, stereo) CBR |
MsSVig
