The Path — The Silent Society

The path of the Society is divided, by long custom, into three degrees. They mark stages of formation, not honours. They describe what a member has undertaken — not what they have become.

Each degree is entered by patient work and the counsel of senior members. No degree is ever, in the proper sense, a destination.

Gradus Primus

Discipulus

The Student

The first degree is that of the student. It is entered upon acceptance of petition, and may last several years. The Discipulus is concerned with foundations: with the reading of the principal texts, the establishment of personal discipline, and the formation of habits of attention.

They work under the guidance of a Magister, with whom they correspond regularly. The expectation of this degree is not insight; it is fidelity — the daily return to the reading, the daily ordering of the life.

Gradus Secundus

Socius

The Companion

The second degree is that of the companion. It is entered when a Discipulus has, over a sustained period, shown steady practice of the disciplines and acquired sufficient command of the canon to enter into substantive discussion with senior members.

The Socius is a full member of the Society, participating in its work and corresponding privately with other Socii and Magistri. The principal labour of this degree is the integration of study and practice — the slow conversion of read texts into ways of being.

This is the longest degree, and most members of the Society do not progress beyond it. To remain a Socius for life is no failure; it is the ordinary, honourable course.

Gradus Tertius

Magister

The Master

The third degree is conferred only by the unanimous counsel of standing Magistri, and only upon those who have given evidence — over many years — of integrated practice, of mature judgement, and of the capacity to give counsel.

The title confers no authority over others. It confers an obligation — to give counsel when it is sought, to maintain the canon and customs of the Society, and to bear, with care, the formation of those who come after.

A Magister continues to study, to contemplate, and to serve. The degree marks not the completion of the work, but the assumption of its weight.

The degrees of the Society are private. A member's degree is known to those who require to know it, and to no others. The Society does not announce promotions; it does not publish rolls.

Festina lente. — Make haste slowly.