Civilization

LIVING NON-VIOLENTLY IN THE AQUARIAN AGE

Albert Schweitzer wrote, “. . . But civilization can only revive when there shall come into being a number of individuals in a new tone of mind independent of the one prevalent among the crowd and in opposition to it, a tone of mind which will gradually win influence over the collective one, and in the end determine its character.  It is only an ethical movement which can rescue us from the slough of barbarism, and the ethical comes into existence only in individuals”. . . .

In the Aquarian Age, there are those individuals, known and unknown, seen and unseen, who make the transition to a higher consciousness or awareness through exemplifying creative suffering on behalf of the good of humanity.  They consciously offer their ideas and their embodiment of them in their lives in order to pioneer new shifts in humane consciousness.  They suffer for the sake of sharing higher possibilities and truth. Jesus is a high example.  We can practice little by little removing our egocentric motives, replacing them by altruism to and with others in our daily rounds.  We can also non-violently resist unjust laws and policies through accepting and loving our enemies in our common pursuit of truth.

Out of the collective purging or fire of so much suffering—the smoke and flames—something is purified.  It thus wakes up something that is deeper in everyone whether they know it or not, whether in inspirations, deep sleep, dreams, or other modalities, such that individuals take on voluntary suffering, striving to convert necessity and social convention into something more noble and in line with the highest virtues in them and their Teachers.  The Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela are visible examples.  They use their personal, particular, unique suffering (i.e. to bear) and limitations to realize their ignorance, question, search for knowledge, and gain a sense of humor.  They insert and universalize their suffering by identifying with the larger stream of humanity’s suffering (i.e. seeing it as part of the self of all beings), thus reducing ego separateness and becoming more universal instruments of cleansing, naturally performing a luminous function for the globe.

With light comes the shadow.  Yet these great exemplars, however imperfect, initiate and persist in the positive whatever the negative, self-correcting, seeking roots and adjustments of disharmonies in the ever potential of harmony.  They teach that everyone can, for example, forgive their enemies who wish them harm.  And if human beings, whatever their conditions and suffering, from sage-like to depraved, can hit “the pause button”, reflect, and begin a fresh, higher, more inclusive, unconditional line of thinking (i.e. “love thy neighbor as thy self”, non-violence, etc.) toward others and practice it every day toward their neighbors.  Then accumulated, momentous changes in society can occur over time.  Mandela, for example, chose in his life forgiveness over revenge.  Even a pure agnosticism (I do not claim to know what the final “good” is) and humility can change the line of karma, of consciousness, of tonality of a whole nation.  A commonsense expression and realization of the Golden Rule or Karma, when taught and exemplified in myths and stories, can affect children’s intuition—their deepest intimations about ethical action, their questioning.  Youth can reflect a more resplendent mental posture and easier, flexible ways of knowing and relating to each other.  We all can hear the still, small voice of our own intuition, our conscience, and let go of our own excess, our own froth, our outworn stereotypes. We can look calmly within, persist in renouncing our little egotistical self little by little, by seeing others’ faults in ourselves, our tyrant within.  Yet we can shift our attention in favor of realizing our loving, self-moving, inclusive spirit, thus making our natural gratitude to our teachers come alive in gentle and creative acts of compassion in our daily lives. This will have a multiplying effect on the social atmosphere of all living beings, on the tonality of mind and heart in life, as Gandhi and others did.

“Such harmony is in immortal souls;

But whilst this muddy vesture of decay

Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.”

William Shakespeare