IN THE LIGHT OF THEOSOPHY
The Theosophical Movement - a magazine devoted to the living
of the higher life.
Vol. 69- No. 12 - October 1999
"Peace is much more than absence of conflict. It involves,
above all, democracy and development." These were the words
of UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor at the opening of a
culture of peace conference in Moscow this May. (Unesco Sources,June
1999)
Representatives from different parts of the world attended the
International Forum for "a Culture of Peace and Dialogue
among Civilizations in the Third Millennium." The forum
aimed to draw the attention of public opinion to the fact that
a culture of peace and dialogue between different peoples and
civilizations requires the acquisition of a general culture-cultural,
civic and social awareness-and civil society therefore plays
an important role in establishing the conditions allowing for
the development of this culture of peace and dialogue.
Culture is the equivalent of the use by the Romans of the word
for the humanities, humanitas. To humanize is to render
humane, to mellow, to make gentle by overcoming cruelty, indifference,
brutality. To be cultured is to be made more humane; to unfold
the sensibilities common to humanity; to bring out the kind feelings,
dispositions and sympathies of human beings. Culture is thus
truly the cultivation-that is its derivation, from the Latin,
cultura-of the nobler qualities; the training, the refining
of the moral and intellectual nature.
And whence springs such humane culture? From the intellectual
recognition that humanity is a great Brotherhood. Humanity is
one and indivisible, but the mind must perceive this fact, must
understand the Laws of Brotherhood, must realize the Great Self
of which we are all integral parts. There is an intimate connection
between true culture and peace. Both are of the spirit. When
people recognize and practise Brotherhood, they will cease to
follow the law of the jungle, which is that of violence, and
will exemplify instead the Law of Love. In mutual co-operation
they will become true brothers and when Brotherhood is lived
up to, Peace will be established. We all dream of a World Order,
of World Unity, of Concord and Understanding. These will all
come when human minds recognize the reality of the One Self and
begin to act for and as the Self of all creatures.
Thus the Peace of the Spirit and the Culture rooted in Brotherhood
are so intimately related that the one cannot be without the
other. It is Culture that transcends all differentiations and
varieties of form which is the foundation for lasting Peace.
Countless cultures around the world have disappeared, along
with the myths that once united them. Authors Stanley Krippner,
Ann Mortifee and David Feinstein write in The Futurist
of the need of creating a new unifying mythic vision for the
future-using the word "myth" in the sense of an expression
of the customs, traditions, institutions, attitudes, etc., of
a people:
If we are going to avoid the fate of the Easter Islanders,
we must change the myths that are leading us toward extinction
and find inspiring visions of a plausible and appealing future.
The old myths have collapsed, but no new ones have emerged to
fill the vacuum. For transformation to occur, human beings must
actively shape the future, an enterprise that goes to the heart
of mythmaking. If we are each a cell in what Peter Russell calls
"The Global Brain", then this is an individual as well
as a collective venture.
Framing a problem in mythological terms can point toward solutions
at deeper mythic levels. For centuries, the guiding myth of Western
culture has been what might be called the "Grand Narrative
of Progress." It is the story of movement toward a goal-achievement,
improvement, and conquest. Modern science and technology have
propelled this myth, extending the human life-span, harnessing
natural resources and the power of the atom, carrying sounds
through the atmosphere, and exploring outer space by defying
gravity itself….
But as the Grand Narrative of Progress came to dominate other
values and views, it cast a malignant shadow….Indeed, the
Grand Narrative of Progress is a myth that stands in need of
criticism…
Philosopher Sam Keen has urged us to shift from the myth of progress
to a myth of sustainable growth in order to create the compassionate
political order needed to avert humanity from its self-destructive
course. Keen has identified some of the radical changes in values
and principles of political action needed to achieve the myth
of sustainable growth. They include:
Shifting personal identity from the egocentric to the community-rooted
person.
Shifting from competition to economic co-operation.
Shifting from sanctified violence and the myth of just wars to
peaceful means of conflict resolution.
Shifting from population explosion to zero population growth.
Shifting from a secular view of nature as raw material to the
belief that nature is sacred.
Shifting from a world divided between the poor and the rich to
a more just distribution of wealth and resources….
Yet, if systems design and policy planning veer away from the
Scylla of the Grand Narrative of Progress and the Charybdis of
the a Millennium Myths, it is still possible to foster mythologies
based on sustainability and connection. The inhabitants of Island
Earth can avoid the fate of the Easter Islanders as we set sail
for the twenty-first century.
The belief that natural phenomena and objects, like rocks,
trees, the wind, heavenly bodies, etc., are alive and have souls,
is ingrained in tribal societies. This view that all life is
produced by a spiritual force separate from matter is called
animism by anthropologists.
Some present-day investigators portray animism as a useful and
universal human tendency. Despite Western canons of thought that
rigidly divide animate and inanimate, human and non-human, natural
and social, people in modern societies tend to hold animistic
convictions with no less fervour than members of primitive nonliterate
societies. As stated by Bruce Bower (Science News, June
5):
In hunter-gatherer societies, according to this view, keen
attunement to the subtleties of trees, stones, heavenly bodies,
and other facets of the world becomes a kind of conversation
with these entities; it amounts to socializing with them as beings
in their own right….
"Habitual movements of the sun in the heavens, of trees
in the wind, of animals and humans as they go about their everyday
tasks take place as part of a total life process of continuous
birth, through which the world itself is forever coming into
being," Tim Ingold [of the University of Manchester in England]
maintains. "In short, living beings do not move upon the
world but move along with it."…
Consider the ease with which people see life forms in the smudgy
blots of a Rorschach inkblot test and name and talk to ears,
computers, and other valued possessions. Think of the many writers
and poets who avidly animate the natural world and human-made
objects in literary descriptions. Even scientists find it difficult
not to assume that nonhuman animals, natural phenomena, and theoretical
entities operate on the basis of intentions and beliefs….
Animism in modern societies arises through a process of attaining
familiarity with specific aspects of one's surroundings. In the
high-tech world, however, it may be mechanical and electronic
entities that are treated as at least potentially conscious.
The distance from a chess-playing computer to a silicon comrade,
for example, seems particularly short.
Ingold agrees that as people forge closer relation with features
of their environment, animism flourishes.
There is a growing belief, endorsed by some scientists, that
there is nothing inanimate in nature and in the universe. Every
natural phenomenon, every object, every entity, is thrilling
and throbbing with life.
There are certain common symbols recognizable in most of the
world's cultures, and the dragon is one of them. Yet, in different
traditions it has acquired different connotations. Rachel Hajar
writes in The World and I of the beliefs associated with
the dragon.
Today, we tend to dismiss mythical beasts as relics from a
superstitious past. Yet, in modern fiction and art worldwide,
dragons survive. Myths are more than simple tales from a primitive
past. They are an important means of validating that our ways
of governing and organizing ourselves are part of the natural
order. Linking and incorporating a variety of perceptions and
themes, myths can have multilayered meanings. Myths endure because
they belong to the realm of the sacred; they reflect in symbols
the deepest concerns of our minds.
Dragons figure prominently in recitals of the creation, maintenance,
destruction, and restoration of cosmic order. Whether negative
or positive, dragons remain potent symbols of nature beyond man's
control. Besides reflecting the role of cosmic order in human
affairs, there is another dimension to dragon lore, and that
is our struggle to master the dark, demonic forces of our nature
to attain harmony with our true inner self.
Many today think of the dragon as the incarnation of evil,
darkness and other negative forces, yet in antiquity it had quite
a different connotation. "No peoples or nations except the
Christians gave the significance to the Dragon that is given
to it now," says The Secret Doctrine (I, 657).
In Occult symbolism, the Dragon, or Serpent, represents Divine
Wisdom.
We find….the "Dragons" held throughout all antiquity
as the symbols of Immortality and Wisdom, of secret knowledge
and of Eternity; and the hierophants of Egypt, of Babylon, and
India, styling themselves generally the "Sons of the Dragon"
and "Serpents." (S.D., II, 379)
The "Dragon of Wisdom" is the One, the "Eka"
(Sanskrit) or Saka…The "One" and the Dragon are
expressions used by the ancients in connection with their respective
Logoi. Jehovah-esoterically (as Elohim)-is also the Serpent of
Dragon that tempted Eve, and the "Dragon" is an old
glyph for "Astral Light" (Primordial Principle), "which
is the Wisdom of Chaos." Archaic philosophy, recognizing
neither Good nor Evil as a fundamental or independent power,
but starting from the Absolute ALL (Universal Perfection eternally),
traced both through the course of natural evolution to pure Light
condensing gradually into form, hence becoming Matter or Evil.
It was left with the early and ignorant Christian fathers to
degrade the philosophical and highly scientific idea of this
emblem (the Dragon) into the absurd superstition called the "Devil."…The
Pagans have always shown a philosophical discrimination in their
symbols. The Primitive symbol of the serpent symbolized divine
Wisdom and Perfection, and had always stood for psychical Regeneration
and Immortality….Yet they all made a difference between
the good and the bad Serpent (the Astral Light of the Kabalists)-between
the former, the embodiment of divine Wisdom in the region of
the Spiritual, and the latter, Evil, on the plane of matter.
Jesus accepted the serpent as a synonym of Wisdom, and this formed
part of his teaching: "Be ye wise as serpents," he
says. (I, 73-74)
Materialistic people are lonely, according to Dr. H. B. Danesh,
a psychiatrist. "They are alone in the journey of life,
in their struggle for existence, and in their happiness and sadness.
They are preoccupied with themselves, their health, their success,
their position in society, their acceptance by others, their
need to love and be loved." Such people seek power in their
quest for security and become competitive in their attempt to
feel worthy. Power and competition combined in the lives of the
lonely and the insecure, become potent sources of destruction
and violence, according to Dr. Danesh.
Detailing the theme in this book, The Psychology of Spirituality,
he argues that
The materialistic approach does not help in fostering positive
human relationships. Such people drift apart, become suspicious
of one another and become incapable of meaningful communication
and intimacy. Alienation and mistrust are the end results.
The spiritual person, on the other hand, acts on the premise
that man is made for relationships. He is conscious of the interdependence
and unity of the human race. Spiritual people feel a closeness
to one another as they look to the same source for meaning, inspiration
and love. Relationships among them may remain loving and secure.
It is easy for them to overlook the shortcomings of one another;
not to be unduly disappointed or angry when expectations are
not fulfilled….
In the case of the spiritually-minded, the power of love functions
as a magnet that draws people together, eradicates estrangement
and service….The root of many problems in interpersonal,
marital, familial and international relationships today is the
absence of fidelity….
Dr. Danesh feels that we are approaching a new era in which science
and religion are reconciled and a profound change in attitudes
and habits is needed. This would mean diligently searching for
the truth, wherever it comes from; unconditionally loving one
another; and seeing planet Earth as our collective home rather
than as a battlefield of divergent ideologies, interests and
backgrounds. (The Times of India, August 17)
PEACE is not absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind,
a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
-SPINOZA
[From The Theosophical Movement, October 1999. ]
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