A Cosmological Perspective

 

The time-bound necessity of War

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet

Director, Aeon Centre of Cosmology

December 2013

Certain events of enormous historical significance are analysed in this series within a cosmological framework. These are the two World Wars of the last century; and on the subcontinent, the declaration of Emergency (1975) which has coloured the Indian polity ever since. The objective in choosing these apparently disconnected events is for the fact that they provide an opportunity to apply certain formulas of the new cosmology as expressed in two separate diagrams that are major keys of knowledge to help us understand the workings of the Time-Spirit in the evolutionary mechanism.

To begin, I will present a summary of the underlying premise of this analysis. There is a backdrop for events transpiring on Earth which, though ignored, is on the order of a cosmological constant that serves not only as pace setter, but also provides a key to a deeper comprehension of those events. Without this constant a thorough comprehension of the causes of certain happenings is lacking. Foremost is the fact that this backdrop is the element that integrates perception. Our assessments lack the quality of integration – however much we may believe the contrary – that comes with the cosmological perspective, based as it necessarily is on a vision of the Whole and Parts within the Whole. We may believe that historical, political, social or economic analyses are adequate to help us gain a more all-inclusive understanding of our world, but when the new cosmology is revealed the former assessments, which at one time appeared adequate to explain those happenings, in this new light are seen to be shallow. Above all, they lack not only integrality but also a sense of purpose. We participate in an evolutionary process the beginning and end of which we are ignorant.

For this series I have chosen two events as models to demonstrate that every happening on Earth is part of a comprehensive whole. That ‘whole’ is pre-existent. It is a pattern formed by the elements that constitute our solar system, with its ecliptic divided into 12 zodiacal signs/months spread across our 365-day year, and populated by a family of 9 planets that together provide the ‘pulse’ of the Earth, of nations, of individuals. This would be the overall pattern describing the field in which evolution transpires. We have the pattern/field in static form, as it were, but by adding dynamics – or Time as the motor of evolution – we journey through that special field adding each year, each day, each hour the parts required to give expression here on Earth to the harmony provided by the 9 and 12 of our solar system. In this way, by a far more conscious involvement, we begin to set in place a planetary society, the aspiration of enlightened souls across the ages. The time for actualising this ideal is upon us, for it expresses the heart and soul of the content of our current Age of Aquarius.

By adding dynamism via the time factor, one item above all is demanded. We begin with a circle which is the ecliptic where the Earth and other members of the Sun’s planetary family travel. The task before us is to locate the exact entry point into this gigantic cosmic timepiece, its 0 degree; without a precise knowledge that can unveil the Zero Point, as Earth beings we would wander aimlessly in the vast cosmic sea, tossed hither and thither as if compass-less – for indeed that is the situation we find ourselves in at this crossroads of destiny, as participants in total ignorance of both the static and dynamic nature of the cosmos in which we abide. Taking birth on Earth at this particular stage of the journey is significant in that only in our present Age can we become fully aware of this grand harmony we help to express.

To illustrate, I have chosen as the first example the two world wars of the 20th Century; taken together they will not only help to unveil the contours of the field/circle of Earth’s evolutionary trajectory, but in choosing this example the vital importance of locating the correct Zero Point is demonstrated; without that precision the exceptional importance of the World Wars in the history of the planet is not fully appreciated – that is, the role they played or their function in the cosmic scheme. Further, with these two world-changing events we have confirmation of the date I have given for the beginning of the Age of Aquarius – 1926. This analysis will prove the correctness of my calculations.

War as cosmic necessity

The causes of the First World War are less clear than those of the second, and this very fact gives us a clue to the character of that devastating conflict and the role it played in evolution. Without 1926 as the Zero Point of the Aquarian Age, little could be conclusively gleaned of the purpose of World War 1. We do accept certain facts that stand beyond dispute, as, for example, the trigger of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination. But once on its way, the War’s defining characteristic must necessarily be its first-ever global reach: For the first time the major nations straddling the entire globe became engaged in the conflict. It is in this context that the War can be properly assessed; this must per force colour our perception of a conflict that decimated an entire generation.  Seen in a certain light, of all the conflicts the world has known, this, the first with international involvement, appears one of the most noble, as this analysis will establish.

To fully understand what exactly forced this world-wide engagement it is necessary to explain certain aspects of our time experience – namely, past, present and future. These also have to be taken as a composite whole. We experience the flow linearly, a straight arrow from past through present to future, as well we must if we are to be true to our presence on planet Earth. But there is a thread passing through the sequence. It means that the future pulls the events of the present to itself – establishing thereby a secure course and direction. In this way our journey through evolution is not at all aimless and chaotic: the Field this play moves through confers order, cosmos at all times. The only problem is that though actual participants, we are blind to the mechanism as it transpires.

This process holds for individuals as well, with the added proviso that the position an individual occupies within the structure, based on his or her level of development, establishes whether or not that pull forward is direct and single-bodied or a lunging forward into myriad directions or potentials; that is to say, whether or not chance has a role to play. The operation must be viewed as a vertical pole rooted in the horizontal Field that is the same for all creatures and for the entire solar system. For the purposes of this study, the vertical is best viewed as a ladder. The individual component experiences Time from a determined rung on this vertical ladder while the base remains the same. The higher one moves, the wider the perspective and the more comprehensive the understanding of life on Earth.

However, regarding the passage from astrological age to age, chance plays no determining role. This is proven by the two world wars of the last century – a century that brought to a close an entire millennium, making way for a new one. The First World War thus served to close the Age of Pisces (234 BCE to 1926 CE). Given this special placement (in time) the principle characteristic of that devastating global experience is readily seen as a process of dissolution. The First World War can rightly be termed the first conscious experience of cosmic dissolution, with the objective of ridding the world consciousness of any encumbrances that might overburden civilisation to the point of being unable to move forward, relieved of appendages that once served a specific purpose but which, if left in place, would be a useless baggage in the new age that was to open before humanity in just a handful of years.

Those elusive ‘cosmic directions’

To better understand the mechanism, it must be explained that there are two ‘directions’ simultaneously in operation in the cosmos. Evolution is subject to these directions which are experienced as pressures influencing world events according to the strength or weakness of either of the two at any given point on the evolutionary scale. These are Contraction and Expansion, or Vertical (contraction) and Horizontal (expansion). The effect is that until a certain maturity is reached in the progression of human consciousness through the Ages, the Vertical that operates through gravity is experienced as Inertia because it is out of balance with its counterpart. The duller the perceptive capacity of individual or collectivity, the greater the arresting force of Inertia, in which case great shocks or upheavals are required to counter the force of Contraction/gravity so as to free the forward thrust of the Time-Spirit. Such was the situation prevailing at the time of the First World War. The call of the hour was a rapid and decisive advancement into the new Age, during which period great strides would be taken in all spheres of life. The colossal loss of human life and property and the destruction of entire cities, with international consequences, gives an indication of the powerful hold of Inertia that had to be broken.

The borderline (in time) was 1926; as stated, the new age just ahead was exerting its power to counter the pull of Inertia. Encumbrances serve the iron hold of Inertia; they play this role for individuals and for a civilisation in the expression of its destiny. Their usefulness is precisely to keep the movement within a specified time frame; but once the moment arrives for a shift, those once-useful attachments have to be shed. The First World War served this noble purpose.

However, to be noted before continuing is that only when oneness and integrality enter the conscious experience of humanity, even in reduced proportions, can dissolution replace destruction. That is, the process then offers a level of maturity that allows for a transformation of this order to occur. The dismantling then acquires a very different configuration. A certain hitherto unperceived control over the operation springs to the forefront; at which point only a willed blindness could cloud perception, bringing to mind the prophecy of a wise Sufi sage, ‘At this time, if real change is not brought about…then there is a very real danger that the earth will revert to a state of primordial chaos. It could be, if enough work is not done at the highest level soon, that we will see the end of civilisation in our lifetime. Already we have seen such deterioration that it is questionable just how much can be done.’

And further he states, ‘But it is those who have reached the knowledge of their essential unity with God who will forge the way and build a new world. Before this new world can be brought into being, however, it is said that there are to be two confrontations. The first confrontation will be between those who know and those who do not want to know, and the second between those who know and those who will have to know.’¹

To begin the process as revealed in the two World Wars, the Earth must indeed present an integrated image of herself: the full contours of her body must come within the determining experience of life on Earth, which in and of itself indicates the more enhanced capacity of the human being to appreciate the new times we are experiencing. Indeed, the last century closing the Age of Pisces and opening up to the Aquarian Age served to integrate the globe as well as to provide the early impetus for the explorations the Aquarian Age would demand – i.e., space travel. It is not so much that the explorations presently undertaken in space are truly new age and worthy of the demands ahead; they are merely the first stirrings. Before long they will appear to us as stone-age pursuits when the true space age dawns.

The full body of this third planet was explored and uncovered by sea during the Age of Pisces, a sign of the Water element. With that task completed under the influence of the Water element, the emphasis shifted in the new Age of Aquarius: the emphasis is now on the Air element to which Aquarius belongs, and hence the focus on air travel and space exploration.

For now the aspect that is most important to note is not exactly space travel but civilisation’s indomitable thirst to extend boundaries in whatever sphere and in all areas of existence. This is part of the cosmic formula planet Earth adheres to because the passage through the zodiacal ages falls within the embrace of one of the 12 Manifestations. The map below graphically explains our location in the flow of the astrological ages.

We are in the 9^th Manifestation, as the arrow demonstrates, the whole of which belongs to the 9^th sign Sagittarius, noted precisely for its compulsion to extend and exceed boundaries. This more expanded influence colours the three ages that comprise each Manifestation. At our present station these are Pisces, Aquarius and Capricorn, moving backward through the wheel due to the Precession of the Equinox that establishes the direction of the rotation over thousands of years. The location on this time wheel we are analysing is the first and second Ages of the 9^th – that is, the passage from Pisces across the border into Aquarius where we are presently positioned.

The Map of 12 Manifestations
[Click on Image for a better view]

 

Foremost to understand is that there is a Spatial geography and a geography of Time. In this Age of Aquarius our location within the latter has been disclosed, a revelation reserved only for a civilisation that has matured to the point of being in a position to appreciate its significance. We are, in fact, 87 years into the Age of Aquarius, the whole of which consists of 2160 years. The First World War began 12 years before the crossing (1914) and bore the full impact of Dissolution: an entirely new world stood beyond the border and the Spirit of the Age set about quickly to rid civilisation of the many encumbrances that might impede the Aquarian expression that lay just ahead. For instance, one of the main casualties of that War of Dissolution was the monarchical (and feudal) forms of governance, largely based on family dynasties. Contrarily, the new world set the tone for a different type of governance – democracies and similar processes in which the people are engaged. The compulsions of the Piscean Age with its penchant for monarchies, was being dissolved as the Age was nearing its end. Central to the process and perhaps most important of all, it must be added in conclusion, was the focus on the until-then accepted right to colonise and exploit. Once into the Age of Aquarius, the existence of colonies was destined to end.

[Link to Part II]

___________________________
¹ The Last Barrier, Reshad Field, Harper and Row, USA, 1976.

Economic Crises and the New Way – 2

Thea’s response to questions from her group

on the current economic crisis

In these matters it is necessary to provide practical examples, and certainly speculative theory has never satisfied me, nor is it an accepted aspect of the New Way. My point was made in Part 1 that ‘doles’ or schemes for the poor that are simply hand-outs, be this either from government or charitable organisations, is not the way to build a strong, self-reliant society – which should be the aim of all political ideologies. To provide the example, I will describe the creation of Skambha, the small piece of land where the Centre was built because this is where theory was put into practice.

    The location of Skambha was not a haphazard choice. The land was ‘discovered’ after a major yogic breakthrough in 1983-4, a breakthrough which changed the entire course of the Work and made it possible even to write these lines today. With that breakthrough the transformation entered a new phase, central to which was the specific location of the Centre. However, when the land was actually discovered its geo-cosmological relevance was not known; this came shortly after. Thus was born a real and true power point. There are many theories about such places on Earth, but what is not appreciated is that in order to establish or to discover or to unveil such a location on the globe, the yogic process is required beforehand; then the spatial position can be discovered. The one without the other is impossible.

    To be brief, the first stage of the breakthrough occurred on 17 April 1983. It was a part of what I called the Yoga of the Chamber. In 1983 perfect alignment with its resultant centring occurred; this made it possible to locate the place on the globe that would provide the spatial coordinate in harmony with that particular date. Thus, in December 1985 this did come to pass. As could be expected, the location where this perfect synchronisation of time and space occurred, based on the prior yogic breakthrough, was a totally backward area. There were no roads, and certainly no electricity or telephones. It was, in addition, a completely virgin field which seemed in keeping with the third level of the Supramental Manifestation that was taking shape on this planet and which required a new field, distinct from the laboratory Sri Aurobindo and the Mother required for the first two stages of the transformation. Everything about the location revealed the newness we were dealing with and that the ‘construction’ both physically and yogically, had to be from scratch.

    The area in question was sparsely populated. There was a small village nearby, populated entirely by migrant workers – that is, they served the needs of the small coffee estates nestled here and there across the landscape. This meant that they were employed only seasonally when coffee beans needed to be collected, or else pruning was required or fertilising, and so forth. This meant that for the better part of the year the local population had no earning possibility. Hardly any of the estate owners lived on their small coffee plantations. Thus there was not even domestic employment available. The village was not a traditional one with its naturally-formed hierarchy and the usual administration set up by the villagers themselves to attend to their needs, as one finds in the older and more traditional villages on the plains across India. Moreover, there was a migrant worker mentality prevailing throughout, which centrally meant that there was no concept or desire for permanent work. The idea was to work for several months and then enjoy a long period of layoff, during which time working members of the households had to seek employment elsewhere; some would descend onto the plains during these periods but for the most part they preferred to wait it out.

    When we entered the scene it was obvious that the local population was weak and sickly. Clearly the inhabitants were not even getting one solid meal a day. The children of these house-holds were underfed and emaciated, as were their parents. But most distressing of all was the mental attitude of the labour force – such as it was – that did not understand the benefit of steady employment. They were used to doles from either missionaries in quest of conversions, or other forces that in some way could exploit this backwardness. My policy from the beginning was not to feed this arrangement in any way; obviously this would create problems initially when it was expected of Aeon Trust that more doles would be forthcoming. When this was not the case, rebellion was the first response; later on this frustration was used by certain unsavoury elements that sought to occupy the land we had acquired when development was on its way and the prospect of an easy occupation was enticing. In such a fertile soil the local population could be manipulated into believing that exploitation was the name of the game, since ignorance was widespread and the locals did not initially realise that Aeon Trust was actually providing an avenue out of the extreme poverty and backwardness that they had come to accept as their way of life. But this is another story that can be told at a later date for it reveals the method of true exploitation of power of many hues that seek to take advantage of backwardness and ignorance for their own designs.

    The Centre had to be built from scratch. There was no proper road, as mentioned, therefore just getting supplies to the spot was a formidable task. But the means to uplift the local population was evident from the beginning: all that was required was steady work. However, this was not to the liking of the locals, perhaps because hardly any were in condition physically to sustain permanent construction employment; it was not long though before improvement was evident: there was food on the table on a regular basis, not through doles to the poor but by the constant work offered throughout the year and not merely seasonally as had been the case until then. Aeon Trust was the first new player in the field to introduce this practice. As it turned out, we had to sustain a lengthy period of education until the benefits of steady employment would produce results that doles could never do. This produced difficulties initially, but the results were so obviously beneficial that we realised it was just a question of time before acceptance would be forthcoming. In the meantime, there were those infamous ‘vested interests’ to contend with because these areas of backwardness were fertile grounds for manipulation of all sorts, to suit whatever the cause or ideology. If added to this was a policy of no bribing, our difficulties were compounded a hundredfold. Those groups, furthermore, were not lacking in funds at all, whereas Aeon Trust was operating on a shoestring budget. To begin with, we could not compete with the lavish amounts poured into the area to keep it backward and submissive – the ultimate goal, rather then to foment self-reliance and a thirst for self-respect and dignity. These questions were not even prominent in the minds of the locals; they were entirely accustomed to exploitation which they came to equate with generosity – i.e. a compassionate charity. It was evident from the earliest days that what we had been plummeted into was a classic case of exploitation of ignorance on many levels.

    The problem we faced was to hold fast during the education period, which lasted almost a decade in fact, for the benefits of steady employment over doles to be appreciated. The result today after 27 years of maintaining the same policy is that the local population has changed entirely. The area is no longer considered backward, where before there were shacks as living habitation, we now see stone and brick houses with proper roofs, and the invariable motorcycle parked at the door, the ultimate sign of an increasing prosperity. We see the young all attending school where earlier they could not because of the extreme poverty of the household. Physically the change has been remarkable. In the beginning we were faced with a population that could hardly be called a work force because of its weak and sickly condition. Today this situation is a thing of the past that can hardly be remembered. The young are taller and stronger than their parents, school-going – and even working at Skambha on the weekends to earn pocket money or to help out their families. Had we given in to their demands for charity, to which they had been accustomed, we would have been simply feeding a monster that needs to be completely eradicated at the earliest.

    Mention should be made of the smaller family norm that came with education and uplifting. While the older generation had families of four and five, all the youth who have grown up in the atmosphere of the Skambha initiative have families of no more than two offspring; not one of the many young couples who have come of age in this environment have broken this self-established formula. Government inducements were not required, simply education and better nutrition.

    This makes it clear why doles are a convenient mechanism to enchain (enslave?) a population and to encourage weakness and lack of self-respect and dignity. The problem is that such hand-outs give immediate results. No one wants to wait out the long period required to change those wrong expectations. Truly it is an educative process with no shortcuts. One has to build up a new consciousness, not just of an elite that seeks God realisation but right from the grass roots level. If we wish to transform conditions on Earth that will allow the manifestation of higher principles to take hold, the entire population has to be made a part of the process, but each at its own level, each thing in its rightful place. Yet the methodology is always the same.

    It was this foundational knowledge that lay at the heart of the ancient caste system: each thing in its place. Naturally over the years this structure degenerated, most probably when quick and easy exploitation became desirable. I do not buy the facile argument that the degeneration was to be laid at the feet of the Brahmin caste entirely; but certainly the ruling classes do bear the responsibility of allowing for the degeneration, and being the highest caste we naturally expect that corrective measures should have come from that section – but they did not. The reasons why have been treated extensively in the course of my exposition of the new cosmology and need not be repeated. Let it be stated simply that the degeneration did set in at the highest quarter but not as an exploitative measure; it was simply the wrong direction the spiritual endeavour took which left the field below, here on Earth, at the mercy of elements in the population that were only too happy to exploit this abandonment. Indeed, the degeneration we live in the midst of today has its roots in that wrong turn spirituality took in India at least two millennia ago.

    There is no easy way out now. The structures protecting the old and deformed collective consciousness need to be dismantled. That requires warrior types and is not a labour for the faint hearted.

   

Economic Crises and the New Way – 1

Thea’s response to questions from her group

on the current economic crisis
(followed by commentary)

PH: David Rieff published a blog titled “A Battle for the Soul of India” on The National Interest (http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/battle-the-soul-india-8993). As I read it, I found his summary of the debate between our two Indian economists, Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati, to be both fascinating and puzzling. Help me out on the terms…

REW: What it boils down to is a disagreement between the Conservative and Liberal schools of economics…  what you are seeing in India and all around the globe is precisely the catastrophe of the currency system….For me this goes back to what the Mother once wrote about the future financial system. It follows almost exactly what she said about Science and Spirituality and the ‘Third Thing’ beyond them both that alone could solve the problem. "The age of Capitalism and business is drawing to a close. But the age of Communism, too, will pass. For Communism as it is preached is not constructive, it is a weapon to combat plutocracy. But when the battle is over and the armies are disbanded for want of employment, then Communism, having no more utility, will be transformed into something else that will express a higher truth. We know this truth, and we are working for it so that it may reign upon earth."

You can see something of this situation being played out in the dialog between Sen and Bhagwati. As the article says: “… the fate of hundreds of millions of Indians depends to a significant extent on whether the Indian government signs on to the basic premises behind the economic and social policies Bhagwati has been recommending, or instead to the one Sen has championed.”

What you write about economics is truly of great interest. This is an area that must be articulated. I have not done so yet – at least according to the ‘third thing’. Of course like every right-thinking person I realise that neither capitalism nor socialism can bring the answers we seek. But if there is a choice forced between the two I will always choose capitalism because whatever its faults it fosters what I believe to be the most important feature of the New Way: freedom.

    You may argue that this is a fictitious freedom and that it exists only to manipulate society – the consumerist society – so that more goods are purchased to fill greedy coffers, etc. This is a simplistic way of putting it because the ramifications are extensive, as we all know; but it will do for now. The only point I am making is that fictitious or not it does allow room for the voice of the people to be heard. In the midst of the collapse we see around us (and I use this word differently than you do perhaps) voices are heard. You have mentioned a few in your comments to X. Actually, the so-called collapse is simply the dissolution of both systems; this is what is taking place. One would have to be blind not to see what lies behind the economic crises we are living through.

    To reach that point of dissolution both socialism and capitalism had to be brought to their extremes. For example, communism was the extreme form of socialism and it ended in an almost total rejection of individual freedom, to the point of becoming a grotesque caricature of what it originally set out to do which was to free the oppressed classes from an oligarchy of the rich and the dynastic rule they had been subjected to for centuries. Brought to its extreme the only way it could survive was by completely stifling that freedom. When it was forced to collapse – in an apparent victory of capitalism – communism sought a more benign face in order to make itself acceptable to the spirit of the new times. Communism went to the people as pure socialism wedded to democracy. But that sealed its fate because it then became just another end of the pole of tension between the two forces: communism/socialism and capitalism. At the heart of the struggle lies, as ever, the collapse of the binary system. That is what underlies the problems on the economic front. Most people view the struggle as between these two systems; in effect, it is the binary creation that has to give way to the unitary. That has been the entire focus of my work since 1990 – centred almost entirely on the Yoga of the Horse, as you are aware.

    So, we have to be clear about what we are dealing with. You have nicely analysed the two poles in your discussion about Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati, two faces – but for me OF THE SAME COIN. That is the crux of the problem. Clearly what is necessary is indeed that ‘third thing’ – but can we agree on what that should be? Perhaps it is too early to do so. However, a word of caution is necessary: for the New Way to operate the key feature has to be a growth from within, as a flower opening up and gradually, organically occupying the inner spaces, and in this act it pushes out, slowly but definitively and surely, the old order. This means that in the just terms of the New Way THERE IS NEVER A COLLAPSE because there is NEVER A VOID. If such were the case, we could not speak of a NEW way, much less of a ‘third thing’. The cornerstone of my work (which was never explained by the Mother or Sri Aurobindo in full, except to indicate what we must strive for, that ‘third thing’) is that I consciously ‘filled the void’. This was done cosmically, as in a cosmological formula, but through the Individual. Hence it was of the Earth, for the Earth. I knew at that time, right when it was transpiring in my Yoga, that the work WAS DONE. It was just a question of time before that tiniest point would give forth in an increasing measure the tools required for the new order to become established. But it is indeed a NEW order. That means centrally that there will never more be any experience of total collapse because there is no Void as in earlier times before the Void was filled. It is impossible now. What has to happen is that conditions have to conspire to allow for the Third Thing to flower and fill those empty spaces left by the dissolution taking place. This has been the focus of the Yoga of the Horse, and by extension, the Cow as well. Both go hand in hand. But the warriors of the piece are the horses – out there on the battle field directly, not a question of sending their products to do the work while they remain nestled in the comforting womb of the Centre. And this too is in the just order of things. The Cow is undifferentiated Consciousness; the Horse steps in and creates those periods that form our Year (hence the vital importance of the correct calendar.) Then alone can we tackle the Falsehood. Throughout history this has been the heroic role of the Horse: to do battle upfront, face to face with the enemy. The Yoga of the Horse is no different.

    Back to economics. Capitalism has followed the same course as socialism over the past few decades. India is a case in point, caught in the confusion of the two systems and not able to come up with answers as yet. Of course she cannot because until now she too has been as if on a seesaw – or seeking to find accommodation on one or the other end of the binary pole. Clearly, India cannot engage in anything that resembles the old order; she cannot solve her crises on this basis. But, is there any hint that she knows how to get out of the binary trap in a NEW way? The first essential would be an opening to Sri Aurobindo’s work because that is where the answers are to be found. And the next is that she admits there is a third way beyond both binary poles. Capitalism has revealed itself incapable of solving the problems because carried to its extremes we have what we see around us: the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. India has now fallen back on the socialist answer: doles. Any right-thinking person knows that that cannot ever be the answer because it goes against the premises of the third way which is to foster growth FROM WITHIN. This applies cosmically, individually, and in society as a whole. Therefore the way has to be found to stimulate that inner development from the proverbial grass roots: doles, schemes for the poor, and all the rest of it, can only produce further debt in an economy that is already overburdened. More than that, it creates a weak and wimpish society – indeed, what India has known for decades because of the socialist formulas of former regimes. There is definitely a way to avoid these pitfalls – provided, however, that there is a will to find the solution, and especially the ability to think ‘out of the box’. This means to find solutions that honour the deepest dharma of nations, particularly India that has to lead the world.

    I find nothing wrong in your analyses of the two systems; it is just that I know you expect, as many do, a total collapse of the world economy, without realising that if this were to take place, it would mean that the Earth has forsaken her place in the harmonious scheme of things and that she could not provide the field where these issues can and will be resolved – IN A NEW WAY. The expectation of a mortal human race under the rule of Death is that complete destruction must take place before the new can manifest. This is what civilisations across the world have known throughout our recorded history. The reason why the Rig Veda cannot be understood by any Indian today is because its hymns were the product of a race of Immortal Ones. This is the only reason why its secrets remain closed behind steel doors – the doors protecting the Ignorance, keeping the human race subjugated to the rule of Death. When Death is the finality of course the only ‘solution’ we can fathom is destruction, obliteration of the Eye that Sees, oblivion, and all the rest of it down the line. This is the purpose of war. In a society ruled by Death and the Ignorance, of course war is legitimate. To believe otherwise is to live in a fool’s paradise. We have to accept our position and condition realistically; otherwise we are simply living in denial. Like programmes for addicts, the first thing is to admit you are an addict. Then you can begin to come out of your predicament.

    In this case we must see that the totality of conditions demands the war response. However, and this is the blessing, if we have a means to help us ‘see in understanding’ via the new cosmology, then we also know that our comfort zone of war is also part of the dissolution. It is just not the same anymore. It never gives a conclusive result. Since the 1960s this has been the case in every single war we have fought. We go on trying, relying on the old responses; but they will increasingly bring us to face the fact that in this too a NEW way is demanded. I am not advocating the weakness of comprise – rather, harmony based on strength. There is a huge difference. India is a case in point. Her present condition – leaving aside her economic woes – cannot introduce anything other than the weakness we observe everyday and the subjugation to the dictates of her enemies. Another case in point, to call those enemies ‘friends’ just because we believe that is the noble and religious way (as in forgive your enemies, or do unto others as you would have done unto yourself), is equally a falsehood. Strength comes from the inner resolve of that innermost truth. We must allow that to carry the day and stop fantasising about making friends of enemies. It will never happen, it is not meant to happen. However, I must qualify this statement: the answer will come shortly when ‘each thing is put in its rightful place’. Then there can never be any such categorisation of ‘we’ and ‘them’, enemies and friends. It is simply the lesson of Mahasaraswati: each thing in its place – and that is HARMONY. Thereafter integration occurs: each thing in its place.

    But let’s forget those of the moneyed class: they will never get it. All they know is to further the Binary System.

    We have a long, long way to go.

Thea [Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet]

Director, Aeon Centre of Cosmology

18 September 2013

---

HK: I would put it this way. The current financial system based on debt, is basically founded upon VOID, as debt is the absence of money, and they have given us promissory notes (greenbacks), just as [they] assure us of a heaven afterwards, after struggling here (to pay off the debts). Money is created out of NOTHING, backed only by the eleven aircraft carriers, and since there is NO CENTRE to fall back upon, this system is destined to implode.
    In a NEW WAY economics, I would say that money would be based on something solid and tangible like GOLD, or something valuable. And even this value would be backed up by people's contributions to society, and so ultimately the people would be the centre of the economy and not money. The SOUL would take its place as the CENTRE, and since it is always there (eternal, undying), the economy is constantly rejuvenating, taking new forms according to the needs of the situation (rather than dependent on mental ideas like capitalism, communism).


Thea: … It is along these lines that the new order must arise. Really, there is no such bracketing together by separating items like economy, military, education, etc.. It is truly all one, once the base is established. It would all find its rightful place within the system that provides for all the needs in the correct proportion.
   The key here is not to build on a void but rather Fullness. This issue is how to translate that to the whole of society as in a new order? I don't see that gold could be that 'solid' something we need on its own. The idea of the basis being the PEOPLE is the right course, just as it is at Skambha (perhaps the only true 'communism' in existence). But all this implies a society living in the soul - of course this is what the Mother had envisioned for the city-consciousness. Truly, all we have to do is to use the keys she left and we have the answers: The chamber/temple as representative of that soul, of that 'centre that fills the void', the city stabilised on that Point, drawing all sustenance AND REPLENISHMENT from that centre which is the connection 'to the other side', as in the new scientific paradigm I formulated.
    It is all so simple, yet none of our so-called leaders can come up with something true, real - and bountiful. Poverty, penury IS NOT THE NEW WAY. That is clear. Poverty is an aberration. It exists in India largely because of corruption, which is the way of Death. It indicates ego interests as central: the me, myself and I syndrome, the perversion of the Third Principle: the individual out for himself alone, his family, his clan, with all his insecurities and fears. But once the 'hole' is 'plugged' all of this comes into being so naturally. This is why the zillion new alternative energy sources that bright people are discovering almost on a daily basis cannot actually fructify. We blame the failing on those dratted oil companies and their vested interests. Yes, but why do THEY exist? In the New Way they simply could not. That is the key: they could not because those twists and knots are transformed to display their truthful core, their truthful and uncontaminated essence. In a word, the energy they hoard away - as in the Rig Vedic myth - is released. That is the key: to get those knots undone and the energy they hoard for ego interests released.
    Actually, Skambha runs along these lines. But we stand quite alone.

The Mother on money
[The] Mother's Agenda
Vol. 1, 4.10.1958

       Money belongs to the one who spends it; that is an absolute law. You may pile up money, but it doesn't belong to you until you spend it. Then you have the merit, the glory, the joy, the pleasure of spending it!
    Money is meant to circulate. What should remain constant is the progressive movement of an increase in the earth's production and ever-expanding progressive movement to increase the earth's production and improve existence on earth. It is the material improvement of terrestrial life and the growth of the earth's production that must go on expanding, enlarging, and not this silly paper or this inert metal that is amassed and lifeless.
    Money is not meant to generate money; money should generate an increase in production, an improvement in the conditions of life and a progress in human consciousness. This is its true use. What I call an improvement in consciousness, a progress in consciousness, is everything that education in all its forms can provide not as it's generally understood, but as we understand it here: education in art, education in ... from the education of the body, from the most material progress, to the spiritual education and progress through yoga; the whole spectrum, everything that leads humanity towards its future realisation. Money should serve to augment that and to augment the material base for the earth's progress, the best use of what the earth can give its intelligent utilisation, not the utilisation that wastes and loses energy. The use that allows energies to be replenished.
    In the universe there is an inexhaustible source of energy that asks only to be replenished; if you know how to go about it, it is replenished. Instead of draining life and the energies of our earth and making of it something parched and inert, we must know the practical exercise for replenishing the energy constantly. And these are not just words; I know how it's to be done, and science is in the process of thoroughly finding out ˗ it has found out most admirably. But instead of using it to satisfy human passions, instead of using what science has found so that men may destroy each other more effectively than they are presently doing, it must be used to enrich the earth: to enrich the earth, to make the earth richer and richer, more active, generous, productive and to make all life grow towards its maximum efficiency. This is the true use of money. And if it's not used like that, it's a vice ˗ a short circuit and a vice.
       But how many people know how to use it in this way? Very few, which is why they have to be taught. What I call teach is to show, to give the example. We want to be the example of true living in the world. It's a challenge I am placing before the whole financial world: I am telling them that they are in the process of withering and ruining the earth with their idiotic system; and with even less than they are now spending for useless things merely for inflating something that has no inherent life, that should be only an instrument at the service of life, that has no reality in itself, that is only a means and not an end (they make an end of something that is only a means) well then, instead of making it an end, they should make it the means. With what they have at their disposal they could ... oh, transform the earth so quickly! Transform it, put it into contact, truly into contact, with the supramental forces that would make life bountiful and, indeed, constantly renewed instead of becoming withered, stagnant, shrivelled up: a future moon. A dead moon.

   
Even
After
All this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,

"You owe me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz

LT: This has long been of my favourite poems ... a short and powerful reminder that exchanges of energy (in whatever form), are quite different from a Solar perspective than from the egoic perspective. When people’s baseline experience becomes abundance and perfection will there even be an economy? It just seems that money (in whatever form) represents wealth or value ... so what happens when people simply experience wealth or value directly. I just think of animals, and how they function perfectly well without an economy. There’s a different hierarchy in place, in terms of the food chain ... but there are no representations or symbols of wealth to be exchanged. Things just are what they are, and the play unfolds accordingly to the specific traits and capacities of each life form. Nothing gets compensated for being what it is or for contributing what it contributes to the Ecosystem.            
       Then comes Man who doesn’t really know what is what on planet Earth (or who is who), and out of our many needs, limited knowledge, limited capacities and pervasive sense of scarcity and insecurity we spontaneously create our economy which is ever more out of tune with the Earth's actual ecosystem and the human soul. And so we have our increasingly painful and unsustainable egonomy/egosystem at odds with the natural order ... the natural law/divine law.
       I just looked up the etymology of the word economy. Eco is traced back to 'house' and nomy to 'law' ... 'the law of the house'. Then I thought of the similarity between eco, and eka which is the Sanskrit word meaning One. Thankfully the Law of the One is designed to replace the insane 'law of the house' or law of the ego in due course of time. Now it occurs that the root word for horse, equi (from the Greek word iqo), is also tied into this interesting word play.
       Awhile back I did an etymological search on the word 'ego' [from the Greek word eko] ... imagining it had something to do with the Sanskrit word go meaning light or body of light as in cow, earth, mother, sun. In the Sanskrit dictionary, I found the word ago, the only definition of which was given was 'not cow'! Well our economy is certainly not the 'cow of plenty' (Kamadhenu) however much we wish it would be.

'Kamadhenu is a divine bovine-goddess described in Hindu mythology as the mother of all cows. She is a miraculous "cow of plenty" who provides her owner whatever he desires and is often portrayed as the mother of other cattle as well as the eleven Rudras. In iconography, she is generally depicted as a white cow with a female head and breasts or as a white cow containing various deities within her body. All cows are venerated in Hinduism as the earthly embodiment of the Kamadhenu. As such, Kamadhenu is not worshipped independently as a goddess, and temples are not dedicated to her honor alone; rather, she is honored by the veneration of cows in general throughout the observant Hindu population.
       'Hindu scriptures provide diverse accounts of the birth of Kamadhenu. While some narrate that she emerged from the churning of the cosmic ocean ... and that kings who tried to steal her from the sage ultimately faced dire consequences for their actions. Kamadhenu plays the important role of providing milk and milk products to be used in her sage-master's oblations; she is also capable of producing fierce warriors to protect him. In addition to dwelling in the sage's hermitage, she is also described as dwelling in Goloka - the realm of the cows - and Patala, the netherworld.'

Here is a passage from Sri Aurobindo's Hymns to the Mystic Fire that speak to the Vedic conception of treasure, wealth and the robbers and coverers of the Light that IS.

"Thought," says the Rishi, "has nourished for us human things in the Immortals, in the Great Heavens; it is the milch-cow which milks of itself the wealth of many forms" ˗ the many kinds of wealth, cows, horses and the rest for which the sacrificer prays; evidently this is no material wealth, it is something which Thought, the Thought embodied in the Mantra, can give and it is the result of the same Thought that nourishes our human things in the Immortals, in the Great Heavens. A process of divinisation, and of a bringing down of great and luminous riches, treasures won from the Gods by the inner work of sacrifice, is hinted at in terms necessarily covert but still for one who knows how to read these secret words, ninya vacamsi, sufficiently expressive, kavaye nivacana. Again, Night and Dawn the eternal sisters are like "joyful weaving women weaving the weft of our perfected works into the form of a sacrifice". Again, words with a mystic form and meaning, but there could hardly be a more positive statement of the psychological character of the Sacrifice, the real meaning of the Cow, of the riches sought for, the plenitudes of the Great Treasure.

The question of the Symbol and what it Symbolizes seems to me to be somehow central to the whole issue of wealth and whether or not one can experience value and security within reality as it is presented and lived. It seems that our conception of wealth - what it IS, what the symbols we use for it, what creates it - will undergo a serious uplifting as the symbol and the thing it symbolizes begins to align more clearly in our consciousness ... so that the Treasures generated by the harmonies of Space and Time (by Being and Becoming) are more accessible and available as compelling food and energy for the upward journey of individuals and the collective.

The Birth Process of a Supramental Creation

[The following transcript is Part Three of a 1986 discussion with Thea, was originally published in The Vishaal Newsletter, Volume 1, Number 4, August 1986. Link to Part One or Part Two]

 

Discussions with Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet

15 June 1986, Stone Ridge, New York

Part Three

                           

       Well now, your teachings. Could they have been taught in the Piscean Age?

       Definitely not.

       That's right. The time is right.

       Oh, absolutely. It would have been impossible. Out of that Age came what we have! And it is as clear as a bell that that is the way it had to be. No. It is only now...and remember, it is very interesting, this whole period, because if you've read The Gnostic Circle one of the key factors is the 9th Manifestation of Sagittarius. This is what most of these new age groups fail to appreciate, that, yes, it is the Aquarian Age, but we are in this larger arc of the 9th Manifestation. And that's what answers a lot of the questions. Otherwise, just by looking at it in terms of Aquarius, you cannot understand what is happening. You cannot understand this total breakdown. But if you understand it in terms of the birth process: 9 months, 9 ages, 9 manifestations, and either you live or you die — but there is a new creation that comes out. It is very simple and very clear. Then you begin to understand why.

       Just because it is the Aquarian Age doesn't mean that we have to be going through this hell. And poised on the brink. You understand? Where the only solution is a new birth. The only solution is a new creation. There is no other, because we cannot find a solution based on any of the old pillars that we've clung to for so long.

       So this is the big key. The Piscean Age, the Aquarian Age. Yes, this is important. It is clear: space travel. Before it was discovery of the Earth by sea; now it is into space. All this, the openings to new things...but the real key is this larger arc of six thousand and some odd years, which is this 9th Manifestation, which is the time of the Birth. And, you see, we are dealing with a long arc of time.

       But this is the turning point.

       Of course. In this very Age.

       Are we going to make it?

       Well, I have no doubt about it. But just because I have no doubt doesn't mean that we don't experience difficulties. Good Lord, just in my work, the difficulties...you cannot imagine. So, it is difficult, but as long as you can see what is going on, as long as you know, then somehow you have the strength from that; and you go on.

       You can imagine. This being a new work, the difficulties that it faces are tremendous. You have to literally open a path...and what are you opening? You are opening through a...

       A jungle!

       So, it is not easy at all.

       If I understand it, it is not a question of will we make it, because the fact that you have written and given us that message, is a sign that we have made it.

       Well, this is the way I feel about it. That you would not be able to formulate things like this if it was not already done, let's say, and manifested in time in certain levels. Of course. That's the whole point. So, that's why I can sit here and laugh about it.

       On the mental plane, it exists. The battle is bringing it down into the physical, before the planet is destroyed.

       Yes, of course. It is like two things are joining, a new heaven and a new earth. You see, so they have to reach the same point. This is what is happening now. But what she says is absolutely right. And that is what I felt: that it would be impossible to even formulate...you see, I always talk about this work in terms of a language, which is the formulation of a new synthetic language. And people don't perhaps realise what that means. It means that you could not create this language if all the elements were not there to make it possible. And those, being there already, means that that creation exists, in seed form. It must grow and overtake the other.

       You know, when you look at it in these long cycles, then it is immaterial. Because, as I say, if you see it in the moment, this is your greatest joy — because you realise that you are participating. Even if you're not connected consciously with a work like this, you just bear in mind that you are living in the times when this magnificent thing is being decided and is getting done.

       So, whatever...somewhere in your being It knows that, or you would not have taken birth now, you see?

       Is there something unique about this planet? In terms of a mission in the universe, or a function?

       Well, I feel that way. I feel that way very strongly, because it all has to do with the soul, what is the nature of the soul. That being so utterly wonderful, this question of the soul, what it is...well, definitely in this solar system that is the contribution of the Earth. Whether in another solar system the same process exists.... It may. But it would be still different. And then there is a beauty here, a certain combination that has come together: its position in the solar system.

       When you think about it, the immense combination of circumstances that had to come about in order to allow for such a manifestation. It boggles the mind. And that makes it very unique. Very unique. So, for me it is a grace to be born on this planet. In matter...just to take birth, for me is a grace. Quite the contrary to what people think, that it is a hell. It is only here that you can become conscious, that you live the experience consciously, and the process to evolve and understand that evolution, and enjoy the whole process. On other planes you cannot. You don't evolve. There are planes where there may be perceptions that are even, let's say, closer to the Divine. But there they do not evolve. And then when you go even higher, you obliterate the capacity. You see? And this is what is so unique that takes place in a body. And that is what the ego is all about. It serves its purpose; it provides you with a separate instrument of perception; but at the same time then you have to surpass the ego.

       There is an aphorism of Sri Aurobindo: ‘The ego was the helper, the ego is the bar.’ That's the point. It allows you to evolve this instrument that grants you the capacity to have this conscious experience of the Divine, this evolution. And at the same time, of course, you have to surpass it at a certain point, if you really want to attain the new consciousness.

       So for me it is completely the opposite. So completely that, I tell you, it gets to be a problem now, because everything is just so old. You know, I look at all of this and I say: It's just so OLD. How can they presume that that is going to be the solution. You know, it is something for me that is like coming out of the Dark Ages. Whereas the other is so simple. So clear. So new. Because it is a new manifestation. We have had it in seed form. But we have not consciously lived it yet. And this is what we are doing in this Manifestation.

       I haven't read The New Way, but does it then obliterate what I have understood every religion is, the ancient wisdom which has been passed down through, I don't know, small circles? So, the New Way just obliterates the ancient teachings?

       I don't think so. I think rather it's just simply carrying all that forward into this new thing, because I often refer to certain teachings — myths, especially, where you really have very profound truths. Because in these myths you always are dealing with the soul of the Earth, the soul of the species.

       No, I wouldn't say that it obliterates them, but I would say that it certainly does make a lot of sense out of what all these things were for. Why they did manifest. But at the same time, it is giving you the New Way. It is saying: That is what it was all about up until that point. Now we are dealing with something new. But this has evolved from that. And you cannot disconnect it from its past also.

        It's like the birth of a child. While it is a foetus it is one thing. But when it is born, it is a new thing. And it's a thing on its own. Complete in itself. Any woman can understand that. Your experience of it in the womb is one thing, and this is exactly what we have known as a civilisation: we are a civilisation as yet unborn. And it is very clear...but of course it will be much clearer once we have gone through this period. But the important thing is to see it while it is happening, because the process of birth is so exciting. All the conditions that are forcing this Birth.

    I think the question that I asked earlier was, will this new consciousness be able to come to our planet? Or will the planet be destroyed before that can take place? And if the planet really is destroyed, does it really matter?

       Definitely it does matter. This is a very interesting question, because it comes up all the time, in the sense that even in the work in terms of this microcosmic element that I am dealing with, for example, there were crucial points in this process where you said, ‘Well, one has got to overtake the other at some point.’ As a matter of fact, I just briefly referred to a certain work that I was doing in India in 1983 and 1984...and there, as a matter of fact, this whole point was really at stake. Well, what is going to emerge? Is one thing going to overtake the other? And I can happily say that, in terms of the modest yoga that was being performed individually and collectively, we got through that period and something really very fantastic did happen, which was the big breakthrough. In other words, now, that new consciousness overtakes the other, and the danger, I feel, is passed entirely. In fact, that is the only reason why I am here today. It is because it did succeed, otherwise it would have been useless and irrelevant to go anywhere and open my mouth about anything.

       Is there any way we can make a dent in the minds of our world leaders?

       I think that is again irrelevant.

                (Laughter)

In the sense that...I mean, they are just going to be carried along by a process, and what seems to be the way is that those things will go on, the old forms will continue like this.

       Now, what I was telling you about just briefly was something on the seed level. A breakthrough occurred on the seed level. And this is the most important thing, because if it doesn't occur there, it doesn't occur anywhere else. I could go into this in very great detail, but now is not the time, and I don't know if it ever will be in this type of.... It concerns a very intense collective process that went on. But it can be described very accurately.

       All of the other things are simply ‘influenced’ then, they are carried along in the process, and they go on and on and on. I can tell you, for example, when you are dealing with individuals — you asked this before. You said this; that we are serving even though we are not perfect. This is what you mentioned before... It is the same condition, where a person is used as an instrument. Let's say Ronald Reagan, — and he is totally unconscious of what he is doing. But he is used to create a lot of tension in the world — the arms build up, and all of that. The moment he came in power I said, ‘This is it: this man is there to create this particular tension.’ And he is doing it beautifully. Now, he can be unconscious, or at a certain point he can have a choice where he can do his role consciously, which of course would change his role entirely. But those people generally remain unconscious instruments.

       But you take people, for example, who are involved in this microcosmic element, that are people who are working on themselves and they are really offering themselves. They get bogged down in their difficulties so they don't see their instrumentation; and they suffer from that. Now these people, they are used also. They are instruments in this. But there comes a point where they are no longer needed because that work is done.

       Take what happened in the work we were doing. Those people served the purpose at that time. Now, after that, it becomes a personal choice. Up until that point they are helpless; they are made to serve that function, like Reagan is in the White House, like Gorbachev over there, like this one and that one. But after that work is done, they are really no longer needed in that sense, and then it becomes a totally personal choice. Then they fall back into a sort of individual instrument where they can choose to continue that way, or they can fall off completely and they are not taken up again.

       So, that's the whole point. You see, it is virtually impossible that Ronald Reagan is going to open up to the new way! I mean it would never...it is simply not in his ‘style’, his role.

       I have had certain things to do with so-called politicians in India because they were involved. That was something entirely different though. And those people were rather conscious of what they were doing. And of course it was India also: you can talk to anybody about these things, no matter who. The Prime Minister, the President and on downward. They listen and they understand, and deep inside they know that that is where the solution lies. They know it because it is in their tradition. The Brahmin was the highest caste and he had spiritual knowledge and he was above the king, and he advised the king.

       So, we start from a different level which is nonexistent here in the United States, for example. When you go into this thing about influencing:  Yes, influence. But you have to influence indirectly, I think in this case. And that is by working on processes where the work is really done; and these people are simply carried along. In other words, it is important to get on with the work.

       There are groups that pray that the minds of world leaders will be opened.

       Have they been opened? I believe we are going to get into another delicate subject, about prayers like that, and all. Well, everybody has to do what they feel is right, but usually...you see, if these things are not done with knowledge, real knowledge, then they make them feel good, the ones who are praying; that is positive in itself. But actually changing...?

       Is that a manifestation of ego, that we think we can change things?

       Well, also. But also there are a lot of people who are sincere and they really want to do something, but they don't know. They have no knowledge...

       I wanted to ask you, in terms of being an unconscious instrument and getting on with the work, do you think that many people do work while they sleep? Or do you have to be in your body?

       Yes, they do. This is a fact. I find it a very important part of the work, in dreams, conscious dreaming, coming out of the body, and all these things. But these again are stages that one reaches by work on oneself, by having that knowledge to deal with these things. But the sleep element is very important. Far more important than what many yogas consider. Let's face it; we spend an awful lot of time sleeping, so if you're unconscious when you're awake, you will be equally unconscious when you sleep. We have gone into that, PH and I, about conscious dreaming and what it is all about. I mean, coming into a dream state consciously. This is quite different, — very different, your experience of it. But it is no different than you experience in life, it's no different than that. You can be caught in the outer whirlwind of life in the waking state, and the same in dreams. In dream you can stand as a witness and everything revolves around you, if you are poised and conscious in life, you see? In the waking state. Then when you go into the dream state, you can go into it in the same condition and your dreams will become entirely different. They are more objective, and they influence — because in dreams of course you are touching very deep levels of the unconscious and the subconscious.

       In this yoga, for example, there are stages where your dream work is very important. And generally it is important. You may keep a record of your dreams, the dates when they occur, and like that. As you would do in psychotherapy.

       When you said, ‘This yoga’, is ‘yoga’ just a synonym for ‘work’?

       In the way I am using it now, yes, of course. I use that term interchangeably; I am usually referring to Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga, but with something else now which is the Supramental Yoga that he was alluding to, really, because he never really described it. So, that is the different phase that we are coming into now. When I say ‘the work’, I mean work on oneself within the framework of this particular discipline.

       What would you suggest for people who haven't read your work? Where would one start?

       I always say The Magical Carousel, because I think that is so easy. It's like cosmology without tears! But nobody else seems to realise that! They always seem to go to The Gnostic Circle. To me it seems so easy. Everything is there, in that little story, with the Commentaries especially. But most people like The Gnostic Circle. It really depends also on the type of person. I personally think The New Way can be read even first. That is because of the way it is written.

       That's your latest.

       Another thing is the Newsletter that's coming out now. This, I have to say, is a very exciting development, because...it came out not because it was a mental decision: ‘Well, now we're going to print a newsletter!’ But because we had made that transition, and then came the time to start contacting people and creating a certain ‘web’ around the world, with people connected in the process. So that was the purpose of the Newsletter.

       The Newsletter is giving out immediate...I mean, every two months it is coming out, and I am writing things on the immediate yoga. What is being done. So there is a process at work there. Of course, people, they read it, they may not realise this in the beginning; but later on, after the first few, you will see what an impact that will make.

       That's another thing. That has carried it [the work] now to another, very immediate stage, because it is possible now to contact people, after a certain nucleus is solidly there. And draw them into the process.

       So there are various things. I think you have to just let yourself be guided in that, and what you feel. It is very difficult to be dogmatic on that: start with this, start with that. I think you have to make the selection yourself. Maybe have the books with you so that you can, at a given moment; and maybe in your conversations, if you refer to things, then you gradually get into it.

       I picked up The Hidden Manna early, and simply couldn’t read it, it was so overwhelming. But now a year later I am reading it. It’s interesting. I had all the books at home, and some of them, like that, I couldn’t go to. It wasn’t the right time. And then I picked it up recently...

       But, you see, you can probably understand why in your particular case that was so. Because of your Catholic background.

       That's right. I had to work through some emotional thing, about letting go of St. John and the Revelation.

       And being ready to understand it in a different...and not afraid of it! That you are going to be pulled back into it again? If you feel that, you must follow your feelings. You must always follow your inner promptings, even if it is a negative manifestation. As long as you are sincere, as long as you really want THAT, you know, you will find your way. That is why you have to be very careful: no dogmas, no mental formulas.

       I think it is like a new language, and if one is willing to take it up and not try to dissect every word, but let it really seep inside, and get the deeper meaning; that is the important thing about your work. It is affecting all the levels, and not to worry if you don’t understand the language. Don’t worry about it, not understanding the language. Because then you come back a year later, and you absolutely know the language.

       That's true, and why? Because I said it is really...if you could label it anything, it is an applied cosmology, an applied ‘language’. So that language doesn't exist for you unless it is applied. Not applied mentally. Not that you sit there with the Gnostic Circle and you say, ‘Today, we are at this point, this and this is going to happen, this is what I must do.’ That's not the point. The circumstances of your life must bring that alive. In other words, you are going to see the Divine in every circumstance of your life, and you grow then into that Consciousness. The Gnostic Circle is a blueprint of a “consciousness” which you are growing into. You are becoming That. And the Gnostic Circle is like the ‘ABC’. I have always said this; it is the ABC of this work, of this cosmology, and The New Way was making the sentences with it, creating, writing the whole book based on this. So, essentially one should be, or could be, read before the other, but not necessarily.

       I tried to start with The Magical Carousel, but I really didn’t understand it; and as I read it, I knew I was going to have to have the whole thing explained to me. So it didn’t seem worthwhile to continue. I went on to The Gnostic Circle, which I really liked very much, much better. I haven’t finished it yet, it is slow going, but it has a lot of rich things in it for me, and 1 really...I wanted to ask you, do you sense yourself evolving? Do you sense the evolution occurring?

       In myself?

       Yes.

       Well, what I sense is: hewing the path. And that is a process that is evolving. Of course. Very much so. And in all my books that ‘growth’ is there. The Magical Carousel was the first one, that was the ‘seed’, you know, mythic; and all that was there. And then they have all evolved out of that. Certainly there is a growth. But I must say that I started...well, can I say...the total vision was there, and then just different aspects of it came up. But, you see, for me that was the most important part. Because I remember in 1972, I was in the Ashram [in Pondicherry], and I had this overwhelming experience which in India is called the Brahman Consciousness, when you go into That. Of course it was something magnificent. It lasted for a number of days...in that state, which in other yogas is the height. You attain that and that's it. Well, for me, at that time, I said, ‘Well, this is It.’ I didn't even formulate it to myself like that. But I was in that state where it seemed to me that that was the totality. Because it was everything. The Fullness. It was no ‘void’, at all.

       But, fortunately, as luck would have it, the Mother was there, and she just kept pushing me on; of course, without any resistance on my part, because I am made that way. And the beauty of it was what evolved out of that; and later on I realised that that was really just a ‘seed’. So, this ‘growth’...but it has come from that, and then just develops like a flower, on and on and on and on and on. So the growth is there.

       What 1 meant was more like when you refer to the Divine gelling in the material. That's what I meant, in terms of the evolution. Because some of the people have been talking about evolving to another level.

       But, in what sense? Were you asking this personally?

       Yes. Do you experience that? Do you experience that, the way...

       I don't think I have got the question. Which probably means I haven't done it!

                 (Laughter)

       ...the Spiritual, not manifesting on a higher plane but on a physical plane. That kind of thing.

       Oh yes, definitely, that has taken place. I mean, that is the Consciousness. Period. That is the reason why I find myself at odds completely with everything else that is going on now, because this direction is so totally different. You see? I would have no work, I would be ‘jobless’!

       Yes, that notion is what really struck me in your work. I think that, to me, was the central point.

       I have to say...perhaps this will clarify too, that I never write anything on the basis of speculation. Every line has been a direct experience. Because I don't write unless that has come. It is the ‘yoga’ that is performed, the experience that comes. And then out of that...it just so happens that it took the form of writing, because that is the medium today. We can communicate like that. But nothing is written that has not been experienced. Even in seed form. It may not be the full aspect of it, but the seed, which is enough for me to see the development of that particular process that I may be discussing. So every single thing has been a lived experience; and I think that that does come across in the books. I know that in a certain sense that is what may disturb people too. Someone who is writing from a lived experience and is not quoting this one or that one, and the endless bibliographies, and they feel a little bit at sea. They don't know.

***

This concludes our transcript of

15 June 1986 Talks with Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet