Where, I wonder, is free thinking taught today? Nowadays it is libertine thinking that is in fashion, although freedom of thought has been a problem for centuries, if not millennia. Francis Bacon (1561–1626) wrote of it thus in 1620, in Book I of the Novum Organum:
XC. The customs and principles of the schools, academies, colleges and other institutions that serve as seats for learned men and were founded to increase learning likewise all hinder the progress of the sciences. The lessons and exercises are so arranged that, as far as possible, it should occur to no one to rack his brains over any subject departing from the customary material. But if someone should nonetheless stubbornly insist on using his reason freely, he would have to undertake it all alone: he could hope for no help from his companions. Were he to bear even this, he would find that his diligence and courage would greatly hinder his advancement. For in such places studies languish in the prison cells of the writings of barely one or two authors, and if anyone voices an opinion that differs from theirs, he is at once branded a quarrelsome rebel. (Francis Bacon: Aphorisms Concerning the Interpretation of Nature and the Kingdom of Man)
It is true that Bacon sought to establish an outlook grounded in materialism, and perhaps he was rebelling against religious dogmatism, but taken out of the circumstances of his time, the message of his words still holds today. Although the scientific outlook now prevails in place of the religious world view, and in many places the idea of liberal and egalitarian democracy has taken the place of the authoritarian, hierarchical view of society, these newer views are often proclaimed as the one right solution just as exclusively as their predecessors were. In time the roles are reversed, and the freethinking scientist slowly turns into a fundamentalist Pharisee, while the once heretical teachings become necessary elements of spiritual rebirth and advancement.
Mystical insights bring about great changes. Chaos theory states that a small impulse has immeasurably great consequences. This is also true of spiritual insights, of enlightenment, though what grows here in man's consciousness is not chaos. And yet one must become fit to receive spiritual experiences. To this end it is important to cultivate our intuitive faculty. Many say that nothing else is needed at all, and that the only requirement is that there is no requirement. Even so, it is wise to follow a few recommendations: the right teaching, learnt from the right source, must be followed in the right way, and then one may count on the result in full. Belonging to a tradition, to a spiritual school, following the teacher, exercises in self-discipline and inquiry, meditation, prayer, the harmony of theory and practice – so many precepts that make it safer to follow the soul's unfolding.
The Upanishads declare: that must be sought, by knowing which everything becomes known, that must be attained, by attaining which everything is attained. Whoever reaches the source will always have water in plenty, and whoever reaches the source of the universe may, through the whole system of cause and effect, enter into genuine mystical connection with everything, with the universe. On the web of metaphysical consciousness everything is connected with everything, and this, we may say, is the fabric of the universe. Law, truth, love – all are woven into the universe, and the only question is which thread one takes hold of? It is said that everyone comes to the insight that accords with his faith, his conviction. This is what the verse speaks of:
Do you believe God unreal? You will become unreal yourself.
But if He exists for you, you yourself are existent too. (Taittiriya Upanishad 2.6.1)