Adept ( lat. Adeptus "achieved, helping") - a follower, usually a zealous supporter of any teaching, ideas, knowledge, helping to understand the idea and knowledge. The concept can determine not only the attitude towards the doctrine, the individual or the organization, but also the degree of this attitude. Since the 19th century, the term has been actively used in theosophy , occultism , esotericism and among the Rosicrucians , where it most often means passed initiation or a certain degree of hierarchy, the level of a person’s dedication to secret knowledge. The term is also used in the anti-cult movement , where it has a negative connotation and, according to some scholars [1] , has the character of social stigmatization (“adherent of the sect”) in relation to certain groups of religious minorities .
Adept has great abilities. All human qualities are maximally developed in it. [2]
Notes
- ↑ Kanterov I. Ya. “Destructive, totalitarian” and further everywhere (the emergence of new religious organizations) // Religion and Law . Information and analytical magazine. - M., 2002. - № 1. - p. 27-29
- ↑ Charles W. Leadbeater. The Masters and the Path. - Rough Draft Printing, 2012. - p. 8. - 248 p. - ISBN 978-1603865104 .
Links
- Adept / / Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 extra.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.