Initiation is a process marking the entrance (or expansion)
of an individualized human consciousness into a new field of experience.
It implies a more or less lengthy and severe process
of preparation and transition
necessary for a successful taking of his new step of personal growth.
In older societies it was brought to a conscious focus
by tests and 'rites of passage'.
Initiation implies a reordering of energies and purposes
in terms of a new type of experiences
related to a changing kind of functional participation in the community.
It leads to, yet it also requires a change in consciousness.
The preparatory phase of the process
refers to the change that is needed before the initiation;
that is, the ability to desire, to will and to be ready
to take the new step has first to be developed,
and in formal rites of initiation its effectiveness must be demonstrated
by a successful passage through definite tests -
physical, psychological or at least symbolic.
This implies that any kind of initiation is a victory
over the inertia of habits of thinking-feeling and behaving
in terms of what was one normal functioning,
a dying to the past and rebirth to an unfamiliar and uncertain future -
thus a victory over fear and an act of faith in the yet-unknown.
-Directives for New Life
