Entering these fields, in some way seriously, is habitually considered a folly,

superstition or even a disrespect. Let’s exemplify each one of these (generalizing):

the literate individual considers these topics a folly, a stupidity; a result of pure

superstition is thought by the illiterate or popular person although is less pig-

headed than the first and last one; the last apply to the religious or fanatic people

who consider anything that is out of reach for explanation on their holly book

(usually the Bible) comes from the devil. In all three cases there is usually a

stubbornness that, in the given case these things existed, closes and blinds the

senses for new experiences or knowledge. The following text may aid us to

understand a little better the superstitious mind, or as some others call it: the magic

mind.

 A documentary produced by Scott Onstott1 denominated Secrets in Plain Sight has

been recently translated by me to Spanish (not finished yet) and it broadened my

mind and shed some light on it. It deals with on purposed hidden knowledge,

secret architecture and many other topics bordering the esoteric. Having this term

mentioned is definitely essential to make clear its definition, as it is often

misunderstood and more often dreaded. Esoteric, as any other word, has over one

meaning and is defined by the Oxford dictionary as: [ad. Gr. ἐσωτερικ-ός, f.

ἐσωτέρω, compar. of ἔσω within.] a. Not openly avowed. b Pertaining to a select

circle; private, confidential. c. Designed for, or appropriate to, an inner circle of

advanced or privileged disciples. So here we have that esoteric  has nothing to do,

1 Architect and film producer from the University of California.

 

or at least originally, with all the implications we lay on it, like evil deeds or

knowledge, demons, witches or tarot.

The foregoing is in terms of language and etymology although we cannot deny that

nowadays is overloaded of wicked (I’d better say misunderstood) shady

background. If we briefly analyze the history of the esoteric currents we can see

that they are the foundation of most religions. The Christian creed for instance is

claimed to be derived from an even earlier knowledge dating back to the Ancient

Egypt and still Eastern religions. The Catholic Church is said to be overburdened

with esoteric symbolism as a result of all the converts during its dark period of

searching for supremacy. The very famous Evangelicalism of today is also a

derivate of the Catholic Church and it is amusing to see how they stop doing

mundane things because they go against the Scripture, ignoring that most of their

lives are impregnated with ancient customs and even rites that would they hardly

prove wrong. One example is the celebration of one’s birthday, a rite celebrated in

olden times which is closely related to the studies of Astrology.

Everybody has ever had one of those moments where no explanation fits.

Examples are weird noises, shades, flying things and even physical involvement.

To the last one I have a very close example; for questions of time I can’t spread too

long but the thing is that one uncle of mine used to live in an utterly old house in

 Anserma, Caldas. Strange things used to happen inside there though the peak of

quirkiness came when one day my cousin asked to sleep with my uncle and his

wife; while in the middle and trying all to sleep my cousin was pulled from his legs,

(as we say in Colombia) and was released in the middle of the bed. Later on my

 

uncle discovered there was a skull buried under the lavadero. In this cases is when

we hear the skeptic cry: ¡Oh, my God! ¡Mercy!

So the important thing here is not to close our senses and minds to the unknown,

maybe there is something beyond our understanding that just a few are able to

deal with and someday we will or are as well.