Initiation and initiative : an exploration of the life and ideas of Dimitrije Mitrinović

THE SENATE INITIATIVE 163

interpretation of an aspect of ancient mythology, gnostic scripture, or western philosophy introduced to them by Mitrinovic. There were ‘inner circles’ which were so secret from one another that the persons in each of them thought that those in the other were really ‘outer.’ However, any sense of self-importance that the ‘inners’ might enjoy rarely lasted long. A newcomer might, within a matter of days, be invited to join the innermost circle. Contrariwise, someone who had been very close to Mitrinovic might find themselves excluded for a time. Nothing was ever allowed to remain unchanged for long. Nothing was ever final. The secrecy and the secret circles were always temporary and provisional. After a time he always revealed the ‘secrets’ to a wider audience and thus broke up the circles, only to create new ones.

Was it all a game with a Serbian magus deciding the rules as he went along to satisfy his own whims and pleasure? It can certainly be interpreted as such. Alan Watts, for example, likened Mitrinovi¢ to Gurdjieff as “a great magician and ‘rascal-guru, ” claiming that his own Buddhist and Theosophical friends were of the opinion that Mitrinovic was a black magician.27 There is another explanation, however. As one of those who participated in this merry-go-round of ‘secret’ circles and groups expressed it:

This sounds rather like a game, but a game and a serious exercise have this in common, that they are both carried on with self-imposed and freely accepted rules. There was always a real content and meaning to each such ‘secret’ and those who heard it had its significance impressed more strongly on them by the observance of secrecy. Furthermore such secrets never stayed secret for long and Mitrinovié never pretended that he was thereby imparting some mysterious revelation or ‘occult’ knowledge. It is in the sense of training in discrimination that secrecy as Mitrinovic used it should be understood and not as a love of the esoteric, of the occult or of mystery, nor .. . as a conspiratorial passion and a love of secret societies.

“Training in discrimination” refers to the development of the proper use of one’s power of critical judgement. One form of discrimination resides in the awareness that we cannot communicate on the same level with everyone. People have different aptitudes and possess different levels of understanding and awareness in different areas. There is no point in divulging certain things to people who cannot understand them or are likely to misunderstand for one reason or another. Hence it is possible to interpret Mitrinovi¢’s uses of secrecy and secret circles as a means of training those around him to