RENEWING THE NOUSThe Inner Tradition is a tradition of spirituality in a quite exact way. Its practical basis lies in ways of forming or re-forming the spiritual nature of the individual in such a way that we become able to obtain a different and spiritual kind of knowledge. We begin as men and women 'of the psyche'; people who perceive, decide and so on with their psyche, but with little or no spiritual perception ... a form of perception that sees different things in a different way from how we are normally accustomed to perceive - that sees more deeply within ourselves. A human in the incomplete or natural state, on the other hand, is someone who still judges according to the limited perceptions of his animal nature, so that he is ruled by his animal heritage, was described by Saint Paul as the ‘natural’ man or man of the psyche. The man who has transcended this state so that he obtains knowledge from outside the repetitive circle of the past is the ‘spiritual man’ (Gr: pnevmaticos). Saint Paul wrote about this: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16 (KJV) If we rephrase that in terms of recent discoveries, it translates better as: “But a man of the psyche (psychikos) does not receive the things of the Spirit (pnevmatos) of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are discerned or recognised (pnevmatikis) through the spirit. “But he that is spiritual (pnevmatikos) judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no-one. For who can instruct someone who has known the nous of the Lord? For we have the nous of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16.) | 
