AGNI YOGA WEB TV
SERIES
INTRODUCTION TO AGNI YOGA“
BROADCASTING 15
The New World: Administration of Justice, Property Ownership, Cities, Science, Agriculture, Media, Army, Police, Arts, Churches
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We continue our description of the New World.
We shall be considering today further institutions of society, namely
administration of justice, property ownership, cities, science, agriculture,
media, army, police, the arts and the churches.
1. Administration of Justice as a Sacred Act
Gottlieb Doebler „Immanuel Kant“
The great and important area of the
administration of justice (legislation, administration, police, public prosecutors,
judges, lawyers) has to return to its true task: Its sole purpose is to create
justice on earth.
If justice perishes, there
is no longer any value in human beings’ living on earth. (Immanuel Kant)
To enforce the rule of the spiritual principle
of justice against raw violence or material means – this is one of the greatest
achievements of mankind. Justice is – apart from peace
– the highest good that the government has to provide. He who establishes
justice also creates peace, namely legal peace among men.
There is no more noble
activity than peace-making; but it is also a most
burdensome and difficult one. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of
18.04.1935)
The soul actually thirsts for justice. Like the
sick physically, we suffer spiritually whenever we experience injustice – regardless
of whether it is directed against ourselves or against
others. The workers within the legal system are called upon
like doctors to relieve this suffering.
A steed rears under
the lash of the whip. Purusha trembles in the
presence of injustice. (Leaves of Morya’s Garden I,
181 [206])
If we want to create the Kingdom of God on
earth, if the request "Thy kingdom
come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven " (Mt 6, 10) is to
come true, we must above all establish justice down here.
The Fiery World is maintained by justice. (Fiery World III, 547)
He who, as a lawmaker or a judge, imparts justice
to the people, is like a priest who administers a divine gift. In his decision,
a spirit manifests itself: either the divine or an evil spirit.
Through the administration of justice, the principles
of the higher world are supposed to incarnate among men! Therefore, many
cultures do not even distinguish between the theologian and the legal scholar. To
create justice means to realize an aspect of the divine, to recognize and to enforce
the Higher Will on earth.
Justice is corollary
with Divine Will. (Teachings of the Temple, Vol I, Lesson 107 „Stored-up
Memories”)
The administration of justice is a sacred act.
Do we sense anything like this in the Parliament Chambers and courtrooms, in government
offices and law firms? Justice, unfortunately, has fallen among the wolves:
There are the parliamentarians who
represent the interests of power and particular groups; there are civil
servants like judges and public prosecutors who not even know whom or what they
serve; there are the lawyers, who, like businessmen, are only looking for earning
money with their clients; and, finally, there are those who turn to the legal
system not to ask for justice, but to abuse it as a tool to enforce their
selfish, personal interests.
Human judgment
blunders. Laws obstruct the entrance. (Leaves of Morya’s
Garden I, 257 [293])
2. Justice as an absolute Principle
In the reasons stated for enacting a law, in
the court rulings, in the pleadings of lawyers and public prosecutors of our
days, the word "justice" no longer appears at all. The judiciary
restricts itself to defining and weighing the claims that are
raised by way of compromise. The louder someone cries,
the greater is the prospect of his being considered, at least with a part of his
claim. Those who are unable or unwilling to powerfully assert
their demands hardly receive attention.
*****
To create justice means more than just weighing
interests. It requires a clear decision as to which interest is justified and
which is not. Such a judgment can only be made by
recourse to higher principles.
When interests are balanced, they are only measured
one against the other. There wins – wholly or in part – one interest over the
other. "Justice" does not come about thereby, only the rule of interests.
To find justice means to weigh each individual argument not against the
counter-argument, but against the higher principle.
One of the most important paragraphs of Agni
Yoga runs:
The victory of the
spirit is achieved by enforcing immutable principles.
(Heart 71)
It is crucial that you recognize:
The basis of decision-making can only be an absolute value. Relative concepts are
unable to give us orientation.
One can accept only an
unchanging value; thus we shall learn to safeguard
this value and to enforce it. (Fiery World I, 202)
If there is only one truth, in a dispute, only
one of the two parties concerned can be right. The task of the administration
of justice is to find out who is right, and thereby
also to show the right way: namely, to confirm the winner and to guide the defeated
back to the path of virtue.
The weakness of our time no longer believes in
the one truth, in the validity of immutable principles. It considers justice a
relative, not an absolute concept.
People mistakenly
presume that justice is a relative concept, that everyone has his own justice
and his own good. Such a misconception can cause irreparable harm. Justice and
good seem to be undefined concepts, but one must look deeply into the essence
of consciousness to sense the indestructible Foundations of Be-ness. (Supermundane
820)
People invent many
so-called justices. They know personal, family, national, tribal and racial
justice. They hide behind official, school, and professional justice. One
cannot enumerate all the many views of justice! (Supermundane, 610)
This view is wrong. "Justice" is a
principle of the higher world, which lies hidden in every individual case and must be carved out by the servants within the legal system.
Either there rules justice or injustice – there is no relativity, no midpoint between
both.
*****
An example: If I demand payment of € 100 from
you and you reject my claim, only one of us can be right. There is no
"middle way" in between. It may be that you owe me only € 25, but
that is another matter: Then I am right regarding € 25 and wrong with regard to
€ 75. But in a question that has to be answered with
"yes" or "no", both positions cannot be right, not even in
part.
Hypocrites will
contend that injustice is a relative concept. Answer firmly that in every instance injustice is clearly evident, and a person with a
sensitive heart can discern clearly the borderline. (Br II, 601)
3. Judges
Nicolas Poussin „The Judgment of Solomon“
The judges and their assistants should neither be
civil servants, nor scientists, nor businessmen, but wise
men like Solomon, who are able to recognize the essence of a man, or of a
situation, and thus the justice hidden within it, with the straight knowledge
of their heart.
Prospective judges should be examined not only for the knowledge of paragraphs,
but above all regarding their ability to recognize the human heart. Various
experts may be involved, but the judges themselves must have a sufficiently
enlightened consciousness. The leader has to examine the consciousness of the judges
himself. The administration of justice is an expression of a noble construction
of the state. (Words of Guidance for a Leader 19)
One must perceive
through the heart the essence of what is taking place. (Fiery World II,
277)
Verily, only the heart
is able to penetrate into all actions, into all motives, into all beings, mani-festing discernment. (Fiery World III, 101)
This requires, above all, psychic energy, which,
as we had already said, (Series "Introduction to Agni Yoga", Broadcasting
14 "Psychic Energy"), is able to infallibly find out the truth.
We call psychic energy
“justice”. Since, through the reactions of the energy, it is possible to
determine the different qualities of people, it surely will be the path of
justice. Knowing how to summon psychic energy to his assistance will be the
true adornment of a judge. (AUM 475)
Already Plato taught: The sages must lead the
state. Likewise, the Bible says: The pure, the wise,
the saints are the true judges.
Dare any of you,
having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before
the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? Is it so,
that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge
between his brethren? (1. Corinthians 6, 1, 2, 5)
Only he who knows the cosmic laws as well as the
goal and the destiny of man is able to enact earthly laws and to administer
justice.
Can lawyers and judges
administer earthly laws if they have no concept of the laws of the Universe?
How can they establish earthly law without thinking of universal justice? It is
impossible to isolate Earth from all the worlds. It is necessary to understand
the interaction of the earthly world and the Subtle World in order to acquire
the right to judge people’s conduct. Without a clear picture of the
evolutionary situation the court will err. Verily, the
judge takes upon himself a great responsibility if he is to remain at the helm
of universal justice. (AUM 298)
We cannot, of course, exclude
the possibility that even wise and selfless servants might come to different
opinions as to the justice of a case. This does not mean, however, that there
are different kinds of justice, but only that man's ability to recognize the
truth is limited.
The truth is always
the same, but the connections vary in accordance with the consciousness. (Heart
5)
The way out is the principle of Hierarchy: The
supreme courts, which ultimately have the last word, must consist of spiritually
high standing judges who are so close to the supermundane
world that we can hope that they will be able to find the right decision.
Beyond earthly laws,
the just ones know where the truth is. (Fiery World I, 364)
Judges should be
knowledgeable and honest. One can evaluate the level of consciousness of an
entire nation by its judges. (Supermundane 194)
4. Administration of Justice in the Interest of the Common Good
Honoré Daumier „Lawyers“
The attitude of the old man is:
“I pursue my personal interests by all legal means without regard to their
legitimacy.”
As opposed to that, the New Man, the immortal recognizes: Justice is a principle whose rule benefits all
human beings. If it is violated in one case, the whole
system and thus each individual member suffers! So, in
the long run, he who is involved in violating the law and undermining the
system of justice, hurts himself.
If one party to a
controversy persists in ignoring any means which might
prove his adversary in the right, and so persists because he desires to carry
some personal desire or opinion into effect, he not only wrongs his adversary
but he builds up a wall between himself and his God. Prove your boasted desire
for justice by being just to each other. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lessons
“Your Choice” and “Divine Law”)
The seemingly isolated case of an infringement
of the law is a disease that spreads: The opponent who is
being deprived of justice may conclude that in future he, too, will
enforce his egotistic interests without regard for their legitimacy. The judge is corrupted by the deviation from the iron principle and might
decide the next time more easily in a wrong way again. Others hear of the case
and will say to themselves: Justice does not count
anymore, now we must no longer respect it either. In this way, injustice enters
society to the detriment of all members.
*****
The legal system is
strengthened to the true benefit of all members of society, when in
every individual dispute all parties concerned strive to respect, to uphold and
to realize justice. It is weakened to the detriment of
all of us, when they violate justice by egotism or other low motives.
*****
If we want to create the New World, we all must
overcome our selfishness and adopt a completely new attitude: The impulse:
"I demand my right" is the old, outdated, selfish principle. The New
Man says: "Let us seek together the justice of
the case."
The existing contradictory legal system with
attorneys unworthily quarrelling with one another is antiquated: In the New
World, the parties will no longer fight each other, but work together in order
to find truth and justice.
*****
We see: Justice is a regime that comes true
when everyone strives to realize it in his ordinary everyday life. On the other
hand, when the individual betrays the foundations, injustice gains the upper hand.
The struggle between spirit and materialism is to be fought
particularly in this area.
5. New Order of Property Ownership
We had already talked about the new rules
regarding property ownership in the Video on "Selflessness" (Series "The
10 Pillars of the practice of Agni Yoga", 6th Pillar).
All we possess, we have to administer as
trustees in the name and on behalf of Hierarchy, and to selflessly use it for
the service to the common good and the progress of evolution.
6. Megacities unsuitable
It is in accordance with the nature of man to
live in small communities with equally minded friends. The lifestyle of the big
cities is, in truth, unsuitable for him. Their poisoned atmosphere, in which
men, squeezed together by millions, mutually intensify their lower aspirations,
is unbearable for a spiritual disciple.
A disciple who has
reached a certain degree of spiritual development is unable to remain too long
in the polluted atmosphere of the cities and is obliged to retire into nature
in order to accumulate prana and lead a more or less
retired life. Christ, Buddha, and other great Teachers often used to retire to
the desert, and never stayed long in one place. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. II,
letter of 22.02.1936)
It is not healthy for the king of the earth to leave
large parts of the planet uninhabited and to crowd together in a few centres
under unworthy conditions.
Your judgment is
correct in regard to the need for an exodus from the festering
cities and for a proportionate distribution of the population of the planet. If
humanity is fundamentally a fire-bearer, is it possible not to understand how
very necessary is the wise distribution of this element? It must be understood
that the illness of the planet depends to a great extent
upon human balance. One should not abandon vast spaces and gather in
fratricidal congestion on infected and blood-soaked sites. (Fiery World I, 323)
Humans must spread evenly over the earth and
live as much as possible in nature.
Multitudes will have
to spread out from the cities into nature. (Fiery World I, 321)
There are many cases of city dwellers who take jobs as farm laborers to escape the sickening environment of the big
cities. This is a praiseworthy decision if
one knows how to avoid crowds in the new environment. (Br II, 340)
Life in the countryside will become attractive
again. Today's technical possibilities no longer require living in big cities.
Life in nature must be arranged attractively and considered self-evident.
The new inventions permit the use of cultural achievements even in far-off
places. When the schools show the meaning of life in self-improvement, people
will also increasingly seek a life in the open nature. (Words of Guidance for a
Leader, 99)
For the spiritual men, the village is the
appropriate way of life. Here they live simply, in harmony with nature and
environmentally friendly. Here, they produce what they need more or less themselves,
and also govern themselves on their own to a large
extent.
As long as man
continues to pile structure upon structure and crowd countless numbers of
people in a small area, the world must suffer. But if
right methods prevailed there would be no occasion for crowding into cities. If
we would follow the advice of the Masters, go back to the land, live in normal,
natural ways, construct our business centers aright,
Nature would work with and for us instead of against us. (Teachings of the
Temple, Vol. II, Lesson “The Earthquake”)
The village is a manageable community in which can
best be realized the basic principle: Everyone contributes according to his
possibilities as much as possible to the wealth of the community and claims
from the goods owned by all as little as possible, according to his needs.
*****
The personal relationship existing between all
members allows to assume immediate responsibility for the neighbour; to care
for the needy, especially the youngest and the elders, in a natural way; it
grants every man his proper and dignified place; it avoids the
basically inhuman gigantic systems of social security, big industry and
mass consumption.
*****
The village can become a new form of monastery,
a modern spiritual centre: Like-minded spirits live together with their
families according to fixed rules and devote themselves to contemplation,
education and service while preserving their individuality and privacy.
When the time comes that you can obtain a large enough acreage of ground,
create a true home center in the midst of that land,
and gather around that center a sufficient number of
young people who can be rightly educated in every sense of the word, you will
have done more for the world by far than the most notable college that the
world contains, has ever done.
A co-operative farm, where a definite number of the hours of each day
shall be devoted to study, practical work and recreation, where intelligence
and skill can combine with mere physical energy, and where all the healthy,
life-giving exercises can be turned into hours of recreation; where there can
be turned out the most practical horticulturists, agriculturists, fruiterers
and foresters – those upon whom the world, then as now, will depend for all
that makes life worth living, in an esoteric sense – here is a work outlined
for true Templars, a work for which millions yet unborn may sometime arise to
call them blessed.
If many of these
thousands of college bred failures had been kept in their country homes, and
had been taught farming as a science, they would be today among the army of
happy, contented producers instead of the indolent, useless, consumers of the
food, clothing and shelter that other and better men have produced.
Hundreds of thousands
of acres of land are lying today uncultivated, because there are no men at hand
to cultivate them, and the cities are crowded to suffocation with this unproductive
element. (Teachings of the Temple, Vol. II, Lesson “The Cultivation of the Soil”)
7. Science
A completely new spirit must enter science. Science
should selflessly serve the common good and seek nothing but the truth. To
unearth new, higher knowledge is a sacred act!
*****
The New Age needs researchers of a new kind:
Today's scientist is vainly and selfishly striving to
push his personal achievement to the foreground at all costs. Will it not be
much more fruitful to work towards the truth in collaboration with others?
The Commandments of
the Fundamentals will give an invincible enthusiasm to the scholar who, freed
of egoism, with honesty continues his researches for the benefit of humanity.
(Fiery World I, 666)
Scientific opinions in the interests of a
sponsor endanger the independence and the exclusive obligation of the
researcher to truth. The New Order must make sure that the
sciences are run by persons who do not succumb to such dangers.
We are not against
laboratories and Western methods, but We ask that
honesty, efficiency, and the courage of impartiality be added to them. (Hierarchy
71)
In the New World the character, the reliability
of a scientist will be even more important than his professional competence.
The community entrusts him with decisions of the utmost importance: Let us think
of nuclear energy or genetic engineering only. It has a right that its questions
be answered by persons whose integrity and sole obligation towards truth are
beyond any doubt.
The difficulty now being faced is that many of the people gathering ostensibly
in the name of science are undeserving of trust. (Heart 422)
A hierarchy of the best scientists must be in a
position to come to a unanimous recommendation to the community even on a
difficult question – if and when all persons concerned
work together and look for nothing but the truth. Only on such a decision can the
community rely.
*****
The new divine science, of which we had already
spoken (Series “Introduction to Agni Yoga”, Broadcasting 3 "Expansion of
Consciousness"), requires a synthesis of religious and intellectual knowledge.
Accordingly, the scholars of the New World must have spiritual abilities as
well.
Religion and science must not be considered separate in their essential nature.
Therefore, it is so important that scholars should be in possession of subtle
occult receptivity. But only a refined organism can
possess this divine perception which is not developed from without but from
within. Therefore, all the great discoveries for the good of humanity will not
emanate from enormous laboratories, but will be discovered
by the spirit of scholars who are in possession of the synthesis. (Fiery World
III, 60)
8. Agriculture
Agriculture is the only one of the institutions
of society for which there already exists a living model of the New Order:
Organic agriculture shows how we can practice our profession on an ethical
basis in the service to the common good. Here the old, irresponsible abuse of nature
is overcome.
According to this example, we must offer in our
professions ethically pure services for all the needs of body and soul of our
fellow human beings. This is possible and necessary even in the cities.
9. Media
Truth is the foundation of every higher creation.
Souls thirst for truth. He who imparts the
truth to the people is like a priest who administers a divine good.
The truth alone can
work redemption for that world, and every willful
deviation from the truth can but increase the weight of woe and defer the day
of release; as every bravely uttered truth must decrease the load of sorrow and
hasten that coming day. (Teachings of the Temple, Vol. II, Lesson “The Lie”)
The spiritual degeneration of modern society is
clearly visible in the role of the media. In addition to legislation,
administration and jurisprudence, they are assigned
the important task of a "fourth power" in the state: A supervisory
institution that monitors the government bodies, the functioning of social
life, and keeps the power in check by its purely spiritual authority. The mission
of the media is to serve the uncovering of the truth.
Only selfhood impels
the spirit to the suppressing of truth. Not to conceal but to reveal is the
most primary duty of the servant of Light. (Fiery World III, 277)
Unfortunately, we are a long way from that. The
spirit of egotism and profit-making has corrupted most
of the media. They are aiming no longer at quality, but only at sales or
audience ratings. Produced is that what can be sold. Thereby the truth transpires,
if at all, only accidentally.
The columns of
newspapers, in most cases, are at present filled with such calumny, coarseness,
and vulgarity that there is even a joke: although it was in the papers it proved to be true. The printed word has lost its
one-time unfailing authority and the high significance of bringing light to
broad masses. There are not a few newspapers at present which are not
disseminators of enlightenment, but, alas, hotbeds of all kinds of deception,
to put it mildly. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. II, letter of 26.01.1939)
Overall, a distorted image of reality is shown.
From the small to the
great, humanity perverts all Truths. (Fiery World III, 153)
The world is covered with the ulcers of human vices and monstrosities.
One of the greatest ulcers is untruthfulness. (FW III, 285)
Nothing, however, causes so much damage and
works as destructively as a lie: Truth, like justice, is a system that is either strengthened or undermined by the daily thoughts, words,
and actions of every one of us. This principle, too, asserts itself only
when we human beings strive to realize it in our daily life on earth.
Let people become
accustomed to ejecting from their lives the multitude of petty lies and to
learning to apply truth to life. Nothing is as destructive as a consciously
injurious distortion of reality. (Hierarchy 332)
If the majority of the people constantly
deviates from the truth, it cannot rule down here – which will work in the end
to the detriment of all of us.
"A social convenience,"
"a business necessity," "a pardonable evasion," so say ye,
one to another, to cover that which ye dare not face. "A little oiling of
the springs of life," "a saving of self-respect;" yet withal, say
I – a lie. (Teachings of the Temple, Vol. II, Lesson “The Lie” 346)
10. Entertainment
Most of that what is nowadays
spread as "information" with a high pretension of importance, is
without any meaning for the higher nature of man.
The dirt and garbage with which newspapers,
magazines, radio and television daily flood our homes actually, in a spiritual
sense, poison the atmosphere. Just imagine all these unclean
waves that the stations send out into space incessantly, and how they penetrate
your home and you yourself. With this regard, many media are today, consciously
or unconsciously, tools of the forces of darkness.
*****
Modern mass media play a particularly harmful
role in the spreading of that sweet spiritual poison: distraction. They lure
people round the clock with their entertainment and temptations. In doing so,
they prevent quiet contemplation, the concentration on the essential, the
serious occupation with a valuable purpose and the service to a high task.
People substitute
amusements for concentration. But was distraction
ordained? Everywhere action was prescribed, but not
the chaos of scattering and dissipation. (Herz
439)
They distract from the higher self and the true
needs of man. They seduce you no longer to dream yourselves, but to consume the
dreams of others. They pamper us in such a way that in the end we shy away from
the hard work required to realize a dream.
*****
Free yourself! Be creative yourself! The world
that you find within your own interior; the world which you enter in
meditation; the world you create for yourself, living as a disciple in the Ashram
of your teacher – this world is incomparably more beautiful and fruitful than
the illusionary world of artificial emotions that others prepare for you and offer
you ready for consumption.
*****
Dissatisfaction with the conditions in which we
are compelled to live explains to some extent the willingness to indulge in such
illusions. The better solution, however, is to develop your own ideas of a
higher world and to implement them down here on earth.
11. Army and Police
Peace and justice are the highest goods the government
has to administer. When they rule on earth, the divine spirit reigns. When they
succumb, evil governs.
The government must therefore apply the means
necessary to enforce peace and justice against the forces of chaos. Even violence
is admissible, if attacks cannot be repelled otherwise.
By no means do We intend to present the spectacle of defenseless
sheep! (Community 186)
Of course, violence must remain the last resort
if all other means fail.
In this sense, even the use of force by
soldiers or the police is service to God.
Certainly the defense
of one’s country is the direct duty of every man. Blessed is the soldier of
that country which is not the aggressor. Defense of one’s own country requires various means and defensive measures,
no one can deny this. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. II,
letter of 1.07.1937)
The fight against the dark forces, however,
must be led first of all in such a way that as many as
possible of those who are on the wrong side are being brought back to the right
track. A suitable concept for this is as yet missing.
In particular, today’s prisons do not serve
this purpose. They are among the worst dens of vice. Instead of elevating the
offenders, they lead them even further down on their downward path.
It is inconsistent to
treat as criminals those in need of medical attention. (Teachings of the Temple
Volume I, Lesson 172 “Vibratory Changes”)
There is only one effective means for making good
injustice: work for the common good. And there is only
one hope to improve wrongdoers: to integrate them into the healthy discipline
of an ordered, meaningful working life.
Is not the prison the
brother of the cemetery? Labor opens the prisons. (Community
236)
The prisons of the future will therefore be
more like labour camps where the practice of a better life is
taught and an opportunity for valuable work is offered. The goal must be
to heal the disease of the criminal.
12. The Arts
W. Kandinsky „Riding Couple“
He who bestows beauty on the people is like a
priest who administers a divine gift. The divine spirit reveals itself in
beauty.
Beauty, like truth and justice, is a principle which is promoted or suppressed by the thoughts,
words, and actions of every one of us. It becomes a reality only when we
emulate it.
*****
The artist senses the acting of the spirit in
the material world. He uncovers a deeper truth than that which we ordinary
people are able to perceive. The letters and observations of the great artists
show that they all were spiritually high standing beings.
Art reveals the spirit in all matter and its
connection with the higher spheres. It shows the spiritual reality which exists
beyond the material one.
In Beauty will
Infinity be manifested. In Beauty
the teachings of the seekers of the spirit are illumined. Each realization is
born in Beauty. (Leaves of Morya’s Garden II, 318
[322])
The arts bring a reality of the spiritual world
to material expression.
By striving for beauty, we create a link
between the higher and our earthly world.
Indeed, the bridge
between the two Worlds can be made real if the actions
are filled with beauty. (Fiery World III, 115)
The path to the Fiery
World leads through the heart and through beauty. (Fiery World III, 250)
True art is never intellectual – it enlightens
and transforms, it elevates our spirit.
Art is the highest
stimulus for the regeneration of the spirit. The wondrous pearls of art can
actually uplift and transmute the spirit instantaneously. (Hierarchy 359)
The vitality of art,
which guards the divine fire, gives to humanity the saturation by that fire
which kindles the spirit and imbues all worlds. We have seen how the creations
of art have transformed men—something all the book-learning
in the world cannot do. (Hierarchy 366)
Art is indeed a means to improve people.
To listen to the
Beautiful and to look at the Beautiful, means to
better oneself. (Supermundane 608)
By showing us the beauty, the perfection of the
higher spheres, the arts awaken our longing for better conditions down here on
earth as well.
Art awakens our
longing for beauty, for the Highest; and here is its chief and great
significance. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 19.06.1933)
Art inspires us to pursue the Spiritual Path,
to strive for perfection, and to approach the earth to heaven.
The World is striving
for crowning perfection. Manifold are the paths of the search. The closest path
to perfection will be the one of Beauty. (Fiery World III, 23)
If we assimilate the spirit of the arts and
preserve it within us, instead of betraying it once we leave the museum or the
concert hall, our earthly life will be completely transformed.
Man is uplifted when
he associates with the Beautiful, looks at the Beautiful, listens to the Beautiful,
thinks in the ways of the Beautiful. It can be understood that without assimilation of the Beautiful
there can be no evolution. (Supermundane 783)
However, mankind still
needs to learn to deal with the great works of art in accordance with their purpose
– that is, consciously use them. They are destined not for entertainment, but
for elevation, consolation, strengthening and enlightenment.
It must
be understood that the products of art are for education, not for diversion.
(Community 63)
The crisis of the arts in our time points to
the crisis of a society that has lost wisdom and the knowledge of the higher
reality. We have exactly that art caught in the external, the material, which a
society deprived of spirit deserves.
13. Churches
The crisis of our spiritual life is reflected in the crisis of the churches.
It is amazing to what
an extent people fill themselves with interpretations in which they do not
believe. The contemporary churches are the best example of why the highest
manifestation does not alter life. (Hierarchy 103)
They have lost their influence to the extent
that they have averted themselves from the concern for the salvation of man's
higher nature. A church that is caught in the material
sphere is unfit serve as an intermediary to the spiritual worlds.
The representatives of
the church promise people salvation of the soul, but beyond the physical world they do not go. (Fiery World III, 334)
The return to the powerful concept of the
immortality of the soul will renew the churches. They can regain spiritual
authority when they revert to their true mission: To lead people to the higher
worlds, to the Spiritual Path of the elevation of the soul to God. They are destined
to heal, nourish, care for, and elevate the soul, not to look after the
perishable body.
*****
Churches, temples, sacred places and centres of
faith are needed more than ever as a counterweight to
materialism. They fulfill their mission, however,
only as places of pure spirituality.
The original
instigators to the building of such sacred places well knew what final purpose would be served. They knew they were creating centers of communication through which the White Lodge
forces might work, and that all pure, unselfish souls could
in reality communicate with the Higher Powers by such means.
And this is why, when a congregation
and a priest or minister become befouled and sensualized or commercialized,
there is such a loss of spiritual power. The current between that group and the
spiritual center is cut off
by the destruction of the center of communication. (Teachings
of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “Centers of
Consciousness”)
The faith proclaimed in church must offer
concrete help and spiritual guidance in all matters of everyday life. It is the firm basis upon which our whole life rests. If the
churches are unable to provide such a fundament, they lose their function in
society.
To be true, religion
and philosophy must offer the solution of every problem. (Mahatma Letters,
Letter of the Mahachohan, 1881,)
A faith that does not
guide one’s entire life is worthless. (Fiery World I, 340)
14. Priests
Nicholas Roerich „Zarathustra“
The priests form the highest level of human
society. They are sacred men. They have advanced so far on the Spiritual Path, who
have learned so thoroughly from their own superiorsk
that they can point this path, walk on it, and lead the others upwards.
A Teaching is good
only when it is in worthy hands. (Supermundane 564)
As a trailblazer, the priest must not point a
direction into which he himself does not go at all. He is a model of obedience,
for otherwise he would not be able to convince mankind
of the usefulness of submitting to the higher Commandments.
Someone gives lectures
about cleanliness, yet is himself extremely filthy. Will such an instruction be
convincing? Or a lazy man summons to labor, but who will give heed to him? (Brotherhood
450)
He is not to make many words, but to show us by
his example how we can reach salvation and build the Kingdom of God on earth.
But I keep under my
body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have
preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (1. Corinthians 9, 27)
A priest is someone closer to the higher world
than the others. He must be able to actually
impart the divine blessing to us. Only he can be a true leader of souls and
guide people on the way to God who awakens the divine in them and teaches them
the spiritual life, the communion with the higher spheres.
Rembrandt: "The Mennonite Preacher Anslo und his Wife"
The clergy fulfills
in the community the important task of interpreting the Holy Scriptures. People
have at all times sought inspired leaders who explain to them the words of the
Lord and their application to the questions of the time. Through truly authorized
priests, the Mahatmas Themselves speak to Their
followers.
*****
The priests know, proclaim, convey and explain the
Will of God. Therefore, they are spiritual leaders in all areas of human life –
from politics and economy down to everyday family life. They are to make sure
that the Higher Will is actually carried out everywhere at any time.
*****
Only the best, most sensitive spirits, real
authorities may be admitted to priesthood. Their
education and qualification should not be of a scientific or intellectual
nature. They must rather train and prepare their hearts for the higher
communion, from which alone they themselves receive the necessary guidance.