When I grew up in the 1950s:

Esotericism mostly meant to me "Secret Teachings" and since I was raised from birth in the Saint Germain Foundation, most teachings I received were somewhat secret so I understood this. But, I also understood that the Masonic Order had secret teachings and that Rosicrucians had secret teachings and Theosophy had secret teachings.

So, I associated (at least in the Christian or New Age Christian world I grew up in in California and Washington State) that Esotericism or "Secret Teachings" were a part of what my parents believed in.

In some ways I viewed then being Catholic as "Secret Teachings" too because the masses were all in Latin so ONLY the priests at that time really knew what was actually being said and sometimes not even then.

So, the 1950s were a time of great ignorance in many ways with very few people knowing about Spirituality or about their bodies or about medicine or about diet. So, I watched people die a lot in the church I was raised in because they didn't believe in doctors or vaccinations either. And at that time you could get a religious waiver so you didn't have to have any shots in Washington and California.

Even though this right has been stolen from the American people now in many areas of the country.

But, for me, I had no shots at all until I was 15 and that was a legally required Tetanus shot after being bit by a very old dog that was blind when I reached down to pet it on a job I was working on as an electrician with my father who was an Electrical Contractor on a weekend. (I went to High School during the week and worked weekends and summers with my father.)

So, as I watched many people die from not going to doctors this seemed kind of crazy to me because of being an electrician and into building things and it just didn't seem practical to me to die instead of going to a doctor. But, then again people didn't trust doctors at all in the 1950s so they died like flies even in California and Washington State then.

Even as an adult my immune system was just so superior from not having any vaccinations that I never had anti-biotics or even went to doctors at all until my mid to late 40s when my present wife made sure I had health insurance which saved my life at age 50 when I got a heart virus and almost died for 8 months and was forced to retire then.

So, basically I never used anti-biotics at all until my late 40s and I never took pain killers 99% of the time either because I wanted my body to work still when I was 100 years old. And I might at this point make it there partly because of this attitude.

Even now at 71 I ONLY take a pain killer like maybe Advil if I'm in too much pain to sleep at night. This is the only reason usually I ever take something like an Advil which also can reduce swelling in whatever part of your body is ailing you at the time.