At all times and in all places, certain human beings have succeeded in experimenting with spiritual awakening and have sought to share their knowledge with their neighbours. These messengers have often been confronted by the cruelty of the ignorant and the obscure.

Faced by retrogressive traditions scornful of the value of the human being, the priority was previously to protect – rather than to direct – the carnal shell. The messengers attempted to promote a civilisation based on social values and fine morals. Physical survival and human dignity came to be assured before it was possible to convey enlightened thoughts or to open up the horizons of spiritual evolution. Just as the conditions of life were not improved, the fundamental question of the direction in which existence should point failed to find fertile earth in which to grow.

In an age in which human beings were aware neither of the value of their own lives, nor of the nature of their being, the risk of confronting their incomprehension and denial made it premature to elaborate a form of knowledge which went beyond the merely material. From that time on, many factors limited the content of their message to moral directives. The spiritual dimension was barely touched.

These moral and social rules were adapted uniquely to a given social group. Equally, this instruction was not valid except for a limited period of time. Unfortunately, wars of conquest have often had as their result the propagation and imposition of dogmas unsuited to conquered peoples. The conflicts generated by this inadequacy have gravely brought prejudice onto the entire spiritual path.

Humanity is beginning to go through an important stage in its evolution in forming a global civilisation and in creating a social structure guaranteeing the protection of the physical body. The importance of the integrity of thought has become more and more evident. The urgency attached to physical survival has given way to that attached to the survival of the soul.

Henceforth, the intellectual evolution of humanity allows for the wider dissemination of the great ladder of knowledge previously reserved only for initiates. It is important that each human being becomes aware of their essence so that they might find their own direction, realise who they are, and see where they are going.

Recently, the earth has experienced an unprecedented activity from enlightened individuals who have attempted to communicate a message to humanity, inciting it to turn its attention from its mere existence towards the essential, that precious kernel which resides within each being.

Messages have always been fragmented and scattered across different continents. At times, a flawed interpretation of these messages has constituted an important obstacle in the path of progress towards the sublime soul.

Faced with this confusion, brilliant spiritual lights shining forth from the four corners of the world have decided to compose the present work in order to light the way of universal spirituality clearly. It has taken the authors many decades to find themselves and to write these pages. Each has been the bearer of one part of this fundamental knowledge.

This synthetic approach allows us to have a unified, clearer view of that which, from such a global point of view, is truly essential.
Numerous pearls that have contributed to the conception of the book have passed away. They will continue to shine through every word in this work.

In commonplace thought, the authority of a message often depends on its author. People adhere most readily to the utterances of a person who is commonly recognised as an authority in spiritual matters.
This approach to spirituality is fatal, because the person aspiring to enlightenment surrenders his capacity for rational thought and judgement into the hands of the messenger. Yet the messenger himself condemns precisely this delegation of responsibility and instead attempts to encourage the reader to attain his full capacity for life, until the point is reached at which, supported by an alert and independent faith, he may choose in complete liberty.

The way of spiritual progress is, above all, the way of autonomy, of the personal pursuit of the agent’s being and fulfilment. No-one can accomplish this objective on another’s behalf. The mere fact of “following” entails the negation of “being”.
The authors of this magnificent work do not wish to have followers. They wish only for each individual to become a master capable of training other independent, secure, and powerful masters. For this reason, the names of the authors will not be revealed so that the authority of the present book is established by the clarity of its exposition and the logic of its reasoning.
This logical argument naturally requires that the reader adopts a critical approach. His approach should no longer motivated by the desire to conform either to the injunctions of a dominant mindset or to the dogmatic positions of a system of belief. It should be the result of an autonomous and free choice based on his own alert and conscious reason. The individual should become his own point of reference and should refrain from surrendering himself to a third party.

Spiritual autonomy is the aptitude indispensible to the extraordinary actualisation of the sublime soul. The flavours of liberty and authenticity fill the reader and lead him to the fullness of that which itself opens the doors of the future.

The first part of this book examines the material, social, and spiritual evolution of humanity, at the level of the individual as much as at that of the collective. The chapter “Spiritual Adventure” explains the processes which lead to the self-realisation of a Sublime Soul.

The second part tackles the meaning of existence. This is a fundamental question, because everything follows from it. It revolutionises our world-vision and lead the human being towards his fulfilment.
In order to understand the reason for creation better, the reader must, above all else, endeavour to put himself in the place of the Source of All. By understanding the meaning of creation, all individuals may find the meaning of their own lives.

The third part examines spiritual paths from material and ethereal perspectives. The spiritual beginning emerges from a formidable variety of evolutionary and developmental paths.

The fourth part is devoted to studying different philosophical concepts which allow the intellectual to open up to the sensible. The birth of faith often entails the rejection of rationality. This rejection is prejudicial, since an individual finds himself disarmed in the face of distractions and obscurantism.
Faith is a force which can make itself felt in every direction. It is reason which allows for the orientation of this force towards the realisation of the spiritual soul. It is thus preferable that rationality makes conscience the very core of a universal philosophy.

Many ancestral human beliefs traditionally accorded an inferior, if not negligible, place to half of humanity. By contrast, this work will talk not about “man”, but about “human beings” so that it may encompass all of humanity and to eliminate forever all doubt as to the absolutely equal value of women and men in a spiritual context.

The significance of the initial represented on the cover of this book is explained in the fourth part (“The study of philosophical concepts”) in the chapter “The symmetry and the cyclical movement of the universe”.

The present book will be read and reread such that it eventually becomes a loyal and constant companion, the very model of a friend.