The philosophy of Falco Tarassaco could be summed up in a statement: what is important in life is “to find, not just search“. Spirituality, he said, is made up of practical choices, based on principles that guide our daily behavior. Often, he added, people spend their lives exploring all the different philosophies, all religions, visiting many spiritual communities and ashrams, without ever deciding which one is right for them. In this way, by spending their lives searching but never finding the right path, they do not go very far.
Searching is important, of course, and knowing the most diverse religions, philosophies, and spiritual experiences is fundamental to making choices that are not superficial, but a choice must be made, because it is through the choice that we give a direction to our life.
The truth, in the Damanhurian vision, is a crystal with a thousand faces. To know the content of the crystal it is not necessary to contemplate all the faces but to observe carefully one with intention and purity of mind. Through it, like an open window to knowledge, we can reach the heart of the crystal.
Finding, says Falco, requires courage. Searching is certainly challenging, because it requires to be constantly open to different visions, but finding is a precise act of will that sanctions our exit from spiritual adolescence and makes us enter adulthood. To find means to say that a certain path is the right one for us. Towards other paths we will have respect, we will study the meanings and we will be friends with those who practice them but they will not represent the path along which we will seek our growth.
One road at a time
Sometimes the Damanhurians get asked the question of whether it is possible to be Damanhurians and Christians at the same time, or Damanhurians and sannyasins and so on. From the point of view of the teaching of Falco this is not possible, because each of these experiences represents a spiritual path and following a path excludes the others. In Italy there is a proverb, dating back to the era of the Roman Empire, which says, “All roads lead to Rome”. Well, this means that the goal is one but to reach it, you can only travel one way at a time, and this is also true in the field of spirituality.
All spiritual paths, religious, initiatory, philosophical, dogmatic, and lay are equally valid, beautiful and important and deserve profound respect. Choosing the one that best suits you can be challenging, because it means putting others in the background. But precisely this is what can make us creatures capable of using free will, free to choose, because we know that only through choice it’s possible to respect oneself, others and life. For this reason, Falco’s teachings encourage making a choice, a decision, and having the will to “find” not only search.
Act, choose, find
Damanhur is a spiritual road that often crosses with other roads, collaborates in common experiences and promotes ethical research as an element of life: not by chance Damanhur is among the founding groups of Conacreis, an association that gathers the experiences of secular spiritual research groups and protects spiritual freedom as a patrimony of the whole society.
Finding your path also means knowing how to appreciate the choices of all those who found their own.
How many times, in work, in relationships, or in meditation, you wait for the “right” opportunity, the one that seems perfect to you, and in this way you never choose? We are the ones who must choose, and not be chosen. The choice is one of the elements of action, and action is one of the foundations of spirituality. Acting, choosing, and finding are the steps in the path of one’s growth, so let’s get going!
