If you don’t know where you’re going and what you’re doing, then you run the risk of being led astray by those who do more about what they know less, improvising their way forth — by trial and error — while remaining clueless about why they are doing what they are doing and where they are going, in a circuitous journey of the blind leading the blind.
Of course, this may sound “disrespectful” to those who think they know more than they really do.
The ignorant ones demand respect; the wise ones never do. The wise ones command respect, but never from the ignorant arrogant (sorry for the redundancy, as arrogance always implies ignorance), but rather, from the teachable ones. These aspirants to knowledge are recognized by those who truly know how to discern the true from the false, the good from the bad, the useful from the useless. We may call them the wise ones.
The Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom Pyramid of Enlightenment (DIKWE) is the upper structure of lower, inverted and dark counterpart, as in an octahedral pyramid,
The Counter Pyramid of Darkness (GMFAD)
Glut Misinformation Fallacies Arrogance
Misrepresenting the truth (mistaken beliefs, fallacies, illusions) is the inevitable outcome of data glut conflated as misunderstood information. Confounded opinions beget the arrogance of the ego-gloated ignorant: data rich, wisdom poor.
Like Theseus, the seeker must follow Ariadne’s Thread — the metaphorical link from raw data to meaningful information to actionable knowledge to useful wisdom — in order to kill the Minotaur of misinformation and weave a lighted way out to the truth. Otherwise, the misguided aspirant is bound to the circuitous maze of the blind leading the blind in the GMFAD Pyramid.
Metaphor associates a target domain of experience, usually more abstract, with another, more concrete, literal domain, called the source domain. Two ubiquitous examples include the metaphors of Knowing Is Seeing and Understanding Is Grasping.
We can place data in storage in databases, or fill a repository. It is discrete, it can pile-up, be recorded and manipulated, or captured and retrieved. Data can be mined for useful information or we can extract data. We can look at the data or experience the tedium of data-entry.
Information is corpuscular, quantifiable, morselized, commoditized, objective and ‘out there,’ transferable, interconvertible, transparent, autonomous and measurable. It has shape and can be processed and accessed, generated and created, transmitted, stored, sent, distributed, produced and consumed, searched for, used, compressed and duplicated.
Knowledge is generally personal, subjective and inherently local – it is found “within the heads” rather than existing objectively without. Knowledge is internalized by the knower, and as such is ‘shaped’ by their existing perceptions and experiences. Thus we have knowledge and can possess knowledge as an individual which is, for example, quite impossible with data. Within the field of knowledge management there exist two quite distinct and widely accepted types of knowledge: tacit (non-codifiable) and explicit (codifiable).
In sum then, knowledge is conceptualized in two very different ways: as both a fluid and a solid. In contrast to the metaphors for information and data, knowledge tends to reside ‘within’ a person thus removing it from the objectivity enjoyed by the others that are seen as objectively outside the body. Whilst we may prefer, and much of the best efforts of the knowledge management field push towards, a more uniformly solid concept to enable us to transfer, share and store it reliably, much of the power and beauty of knowledge lies in its fluidity and ‘leakiness’.
The transformation of data into information… It is commonly assumed that data itself inherently contains no meaning . Information is therefore often seen as “Data with meaning.” Other sources, such as the data mining literature, refer to the transformation of data to information as a process of distillation or pattern recognition.
Knowledge is created by accumulating information. Thus information is a necessary medium or material for eliciting and constructing knowledge.
Adding structure to data makes information, and adding structure to information follows well to create explicit knowledge, but not to create tacit, ‘leaky,’ knowledge.
… the visual metaphor provided by the ‘Knowledge pyramid’ where large amounts of data are distilled to a smaller quantity of information, which is, in turn, aggregated to create yet more distilled, though more widely applicable, knowledge.
[NYT Editorial, 31 Jan 2020] Make no mistake: The Senate may acquit Mr. Trump, but it will not, it cannot, exonerate him. Mr. Trump is the most corrupt president in modern times, a reality Americans will continue to be reminded of — by continuing investigations by the House, which should immediately issue a subpoena to Mr. Bolton; by a trio of cases in the Supreme Court that seek to reveal Mr. Trump’s shady finances; and, of course, by the behavior of the man himself.
Senate Republicans’ indifference to the overwhelming public support for calling witnesses was of a piece with the party’s minority politics. Its president lost the popular vote by three million votes. Its Senate majority represents 15 million fewer Americans than the Democrats’ minority. In states like North Carolina, it rigs the maps to turn popular-vote losses into legislative majorities, then strips power from duly elected Democratic leaders.
The Senate is deeply unrepresentative of the country
According to 2018 Census Bureau estimates, more than half of the US population lives in just nine states. That means that much of the nation is represented by only 18 senators. Less than half of the population controls about 82 percent of the Senate.
It’s going to get worse. By 2040, according to a University of Virginia analysis of census projections, half the population will live in eight states. About 70 percent of people will live in 16 states — which means that 30 percent of the population will control 68 percent of the Senate.
Currently, Democrats control a majority of the Senate seats (26-24) in the most populous half of the states. Republicans owe their majority in the Senate as a whole to their crushing 29-21 lead in the least populous half of the states. Those small states tend to be dominated by white voters who are increasingly likely to identify with the Republican Party.
[David Leonhardt, NYT 31 JAN 2020] The United States is not an authoritarian country. President Trump has failed to carry out many of his authoritarian impulses — like, say, banning Muslims from entering the United States or jailing his political opponents.
And yet, the events that have taken place in the Senate this week would nonetheless have been unimaginable for most of our modern history. They are the makings of authoritarianism — in which the party in power decides it can reject democratic principles for the simple reason that it holds power.
A majority of senators, all Republican, are not interested in hearing evidence of presidential wrongdoing. Many are on the verge of accepting Trump’s argument, made by his lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, that any action a president takes to help his chances of re-election is, by definition, in the national interest. The nation, according to this argument, is indistinguishable from the president.
This defense, the political scientist Brian Klaas writes, is “the kind of thing I have heard in authoritarian countries — that if the leader does it, and they think it’s good for the public, then it’s legitimate.”
Susan Hennessey of Lawfare: “I don’t think people fully grasp the constitutional danger of this moment. If the Senate were to refuse to call relevant witnesses with direct testimony of grave presidential wrongdoing then we can no longer understand impeachment to be a genuine check on executive overreach. … Impeachment is merely a measure of how many members of the president’s party sit in the Senate.”
Dershowitz implausibly tried to claim yesterday that he hadn’t said what everyone heard him say. National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru offered a charitable reading of the attempted walk-back before concluding, “Alan Dershowitz is wrong.”
The one silver lining of this week’s events, argues Jonathan Chait of New York magazine, is that Senate Republicans’ brazenness makes it easier for House Democrats to justify continuing to investigate Trump: “They can keep digging into Trump from next week through fall, keeping public attention not only on his corruption and abuse of power but also on the Republican conviction that abuse of power is permissible.”
Constitutional shockwaves
[Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN 31 Jan 2010] The implied expansion of presidential power that will be left in this impeachment saga’s wake seems to be turning back the clock to before the time of Richard Nixon’s ouster in the Watergate scandal. After that original “long, national nightmare” Congress sought to recover powers from White House that had been abused by the 37th President. But gradually, the presidency has adopted a more imperial mode starting with the Reagan administration through George W. Bush and Barack Obama. But none of those presidents — who were sometimes criticized for overreaching executive authority on issues like union policy, anti-terrorism measures and immigration — made the kind of audacious power grabs that have characterized Trump’s administration and for which he has now been absolved.
Lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff warned on Thursday that the constraining of the presidency in the years after Watergate had now been reversed — to dangerous effect.
“We are right back to where we were a half century ago,” Schiff said. “And I would argue we may be in a worse place.”
“That argument, if the President says that it can’t be illegal, failed,” he continued. “And Richard Nixon was forced to resign. But that argument may succeed here now. That means we’re not back to where we are, we are worse off than where we are. That is the normalization of lawlessness.”
Re: Chuck Schumer @SenSchumer
The @NYTimes report suggests multiple top Trump Admin officials knew the facts and deliberately misled Congress and the American people.
A massive White House cover-up.
All we need is four Republican Senators to get the truth.
“When a man unprincipled in private life desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents, having the ability of military habits—despotic in his ordinary demeanor—known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty—when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity—to join in the cry of danger to liberty—to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion—to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day—It may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.'”
A BEAUTIFUL MIND, A TRUTHFUL HEART AND THE WILL-TO-GOOD,
FOR THE GLORY OF THE ONE.
***
Any “small” effect right now, such as praying and invoking light, can trigger a major political earthquake.
See scientific studies on Real Magic (2018) by Dr. Dean Radin, chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS).
Political forces to remove the unfit and deranged individual currently holding the POTUS Office must be summoned for the good of humanity. Always respecting individual free will, these forces should facilitate impeaching and removing the despotic ruler now, or defeating the WASP Project in the forthcoming presidential elections of November this year. -JB
Surprise, Mr. President. John Bolton Has the Goods.
Who’s telling the truth about Ukraine? There’s one way to find out.
By The Editorial Board Jan. 27, 2020
EXCERPTS
A far more representative attitude in the Republican caucus was expressed by Roy Blunt, of Missouri, who said on Monday, “Unless there’s a witness that’s going to change the outcome, I can’t imagine why we’d want to stretch this out for weeks and months.” With this tautology Senator Blunt gives away the game: All witness testimony to date — all presented as part of the House impeachment proceedings — has only strengthened the case against Mr. Trump, but Republicans will not vote to convict him under any circumstances. By definition, then, no witness in the Senate could possibly change the outcome.
The reporting on Mr. Bolton’s manuscript, which is scheduled for publication in March, has scrambled that strategy.
In a late-night tweet, Mr. Trump angrily denied Mr. Bolton’s allegations. “I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens,” Mr. Trump wrote.
You know what would be a good way to figure out who’s telling the truth? Subpoena Mr. Bolton to testify under oath.
This isn’t a close call. A majority of Americans of all political stripes want to hear from Mr. Bolton, at the least. They believe, as do congressional Democrats, that you can’t vote on whether to remove a president from office without getting the fullest possible account of his alleged offenses.
The most galling part is that Republicans have already admitted how bad the president’s behavior was. Back in September, Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican and one of Mr. Trump’s staunchest defenders, said: “What would’ve been wrong is if the president had suggested to the Ukrainian government that if you don’t do what I want you to do regarding the Bidens, we’re not going to give you the aid. That was the accusation; that did not remotely happen.”
Except that it did, as Mr. Bolton is apparently willing to say under oath. Republicans don’t want him to do that because they don’t want Americans to exercise the simple good judgment that Mr. Graham once did.
John Roberts Can Call Witnesses to Trump’s Trial. Will He?
Democratic House managers should ask the chief justice to issue subpoenas for John Bolton and others.
By Neal K. Katyal, Joshua A. Geltzer and Mickey Edwards
Mr. Katyal and Mr. Geltzer are law professors at Georgetown. Mr. Edwards is a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma. Neal K. Katyal is the author of “Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump.”
EXCERPT
An overwhelming number of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, believe the Senate should hear from relevant witnesses and obtain documents during President Trump’s impeachment trial. Striking new revelations about the president’s role in the Ukraine affair, as reported from an unpublished manuscript by John Bolton, underscore the need for his testimony and that of others.
Yet Republican members of the Senate have signaled that they intend to uphold Mr. Trump’s unprecedented decision to block all of this material.
But it turns out they don’t get to make that choice — Chief Justice John Roberts does. This isn’t a matter of Democrats needing four “moderate” Republicans to vote for subpoenas and witnesses, as the Trump lawyers have been claiming. Rather, the impeachment rules, like all trial systems, put a large thumb on the scale of issuing subpoenas and place that power within the authority of the judge, in this case the chief justice.
Most critically, it would take a two-thirds vote — not a majority — of the Senate to overrule that. This week, Democrats can and should ask the chief justice to issue subpoenas on his authority so that key witnesses of relevance like John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney appear in the Senate, and the Senate should subpoena all relevant documents as well.
President Trump’s allies have tried to distort a separate rule (also still in effect), hoping that it could be stretched to say that a majority of senators can override the chief justice’s decision. Rule VII reads, in the relevant part: “the presiding officer on the trial may rule on all questions of evidence including, but not limited to, questions of relevancy, materiality, and redundancy of evidence and incidental questions, which ruling shall stand as the judgment of the Senate, unless some Member of the Senate shall ask that a formal vote be taken thereon, in which case it shall be submitted to the Senate for decision without debate.” So President Trump’s allies are hoping that last clause authorizes a majority of Senators to overrule the chief justice on matters including subpoena issuance.
But its plain text says otherwise. It’s carefully drawn to be about “questions of evidence”: whether, for example, a line of witness questioning is relevant or not. The issuance of a Rule XXIV subpoena, however, is not a question of evidence. In normal litigation, we’d call it a discovery question.
There’s a reason that, to our knowledge, no chief justice presiding over a president’s impeachment trial has had to confront precisely this issue before: No president has tried to hide all of the facts from Congress before.
The Democrats’ impeachment managers should immediately ask the chief justice to issue subpoenas for key witnesses and documents, insisting that the Senate rules make him and him alone the decision maker about whether to “make and enforce” those subpoenas. That’s his prerogative — and his responsibility, one he can’t simply shift to the senators as permitted for evidentiary questions under the Rule VII carve-out.
What happens next won’t be totally within Democrats’ or the chief justice’s control. As Representative Adam Schiff acknowledged Thursday, the chief justice can decide evidence questions like executive privilege, but his determinations can be overruled by a majority of senators.
Even if you think impeachment requires a crime, as I do, that belief hardly supports the president’s defense or Mr. Dershowitz’s position. President Trump has been accused of a crime. Two in fact: “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress.”
The phrase “abuse of power” appears nowhere in the federal criminal code, which lists thousands of criminal laws passed by Congress over the years. But many crimes aren’t written down in codes. Crimes derived from the “common law” — the body of law developed from judicial opinions and legal treatises rather than statutes — have been a staple of American law for centuries.
Courts from Michigan to Maryland have recently upheld convictions of government officials for committing this common-law crime — despite objections that the crime has never been codified by statute. And the House, in its first article of impeachment, has accused Mr. Trump of exactly what the law prohibits: He “abused the powers of the presidency” for “corrupt purposes in pursuit of a personal political benefit.”
As for “obstruction of Congress,” that’s not only a common-law crime. Versions of the crime have also been listed in the federal criminal code since the 19th century.
Abuse of power may be “unwritten” in any code, and obstruction of Congress may be “implied” by statutes, but these crimes are now as well established, well defined and destructive of the public trust as bribery or treason. If the president did what the House accuses him of doing, he can and should be punished.
APPENDIX:
Climate* Change and Earthquakes
(*applicable to political climate)
Does Climate Change Really Trigger Earthquakes?
The debate around the connection between climate change and earthquakes has been almost as intense as the earthquakes themselves. When professor Bill McGuire released his book “Walking the Giant: How a changing climate triggers earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes,” in 2012, it was deemed to be “science fiction,” according to an article in the British national newspaper The Sunday Times by motor journalist and climate skeptic Jeremy Clarkson. However, by looking more closely at the evidence, McGuire’s work begins to gain some credibility.
In order to make any connection between climate and earthquakes, says Lundgren, you first have to determine what kinds of tectonic processes might be related to climate phenomena. Scientists know earthquakes can be triggered or inhibited by changes in the amount of stress on a fault. The largest climate variable that could change fault stress loads is surface water in the form of rain and snow. Lundgren says several studies have supported such correlations.
What About Droughts?
We know seasonal effects can cause changes on faults, but what about less periodic climate phenomena, like a long-term drought? Might they cause changes too?
As it turns out, changes in stress loads on Earth’s crust from periods of drought can, in fact, be significant.
Similarly, pumping of groundwater from underground aquifers by humans, which is exacerbated during times of drought, has also been shown to impact patterns of stress loads by “unweighting” Earth’s crust.
Fire and Ice: Glaciers and Tectonic Processes
Another climate-related phenomenon that’s believed to have connections to tectonic processes is glaciation. The retreat of a glacier can reduce stress loads on Earth’s crust underneath, impacting the movement of subsurface magma. A recent study in the journal Geology on volcanic activity in Iceland between 4,500 and 5,500 years ago, when Earth was much cooler than today, found a link between deglaciation and increased volcanic activity. Conversely, when glacial cover increased, eruptions declined.
Human Uses of Water and Induced Seismicity
Several studies investigating the quakes concluded that fluctuations in the reservoir level, and corresponding changes in the weight of the reservoir, changed the stress loads on a local fault, triggering the quakes. Monitoring of earthquake activity at the reservoir in the years following the quakes established a seasonal correlation between the reservoir’s level and seismicity. Seismicity decreases as the reservoir fills in winter and spring, and the largest earthquakes tend to occur as the reservoir level falls in the summer and fall.
The lack of balance is an example of what John F. Harris of Politico has called “centrist bias.” As he has written, “This bias is marked by an instinctual suspicion of anything suggesting ideological zealotry, an admiration for difference-splitting, a conviction that politics should be a tidier and more rational process than it usually is.” –David Leonhardt (NYT)
There are three statistical measures of central tendency: the arithmetic mean, the median and the mode. The harmonic and the geometric means are other alternative ways to measure the mean.
The arithmetic mean can be heavily influenced by extreme values (outliers). That’s why the Census Bureau usually reports median income as a more reliable measure of central tendency to describe the average income in a population.
Is the proclivity to split differences a biased way to estimate the true mean of a population? It certainly is when averaging outliers.
An analogy may serve to discern between centrist bias and a balanced center.
Centrist bias: tripod with legs of equal length regardless of the surface.
Balanced center: legs of tripod adjusted in length until the air bubble of the level hits the center for a given surface.
NYT: Evangelical Leaders Close Ranks With Trump After Scathing Editorial
Christianity Today’s call for President Trump’s removal gave voice to his evangelical critics. But they remain a minority in a political movement that Mr. Trump has reshaped in his own mold.
In Christianity, the gospel, or the Good News (Latin: Evangelium), is the news of the coming of the Kingdom of God. Most White Evangelicals in the United States today have been deceived to spread the Wrong News of a false prophet selling material success in exchange for their corruption.
Mr. Galli’s Op-Ed in Christianity Todayis among the “hundreds and thousands of disciples working, and thus learning to use the ancient rules for work within the veils of maya.”
Trump Should Be Removed from Office
It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was.
-MARK GALLI, DECEMBER 19, 2019
As instructed by the Master, let’s strengthen the hands of the New Group of World Servers working with Vortices of Sound as a source of Power, wielding the Power of the Light to “widen all the rents within those veils,” preventing the appearance, negating the quality and destroying the life behind the seductive Egregor (Maya) of Materialism obsessing an Evangelical movement which has fallen from the First Awakening to their slumbering Faustian bargain with a morally depraved President now formally impeached for corruption.
-JB
The WILL to save is here. The LOVE to carry forth the work is widely spread abroad. The ACTIVE AID of all who know the truth is also here.
Come forth, O Mighty One, and blend these three. Construct a great defending wall. The rule of evil now must end.
[R&I] Rule X. The rules for work within the veils of maya are known and have been used. Let the group widen all the rents within those veils and thus let in the light. Let the Army of the Voice be no more heard, and let the brothers onward move within the Sound. Then let them [Page 182] know the meaning of the O.M. and let them hear that O.M. as it is sounded forth by Him Who stands and waits at the very centre of the Council Chamber of the Lord.
…our second phrase, “let the group widen all the rents within those veils,” has reference here to disciples and the groups which they have everywhere gathered around themselves. It is these groups, many in number and differing in ray potency, which will lead the world through the post-war period into the New Age. It is their pressure upon the physical plane which has precipitated the crisis between the great White Lodge and the Black Lodge. Their work is to let in the light, and where the light goes the Black Lodge must fade out and disappear. It feeds on glamour and illusion and uses the [Page 190] veils of maya as a protection. Students would do well to avoid naming and differentiating the four veils. The veils themselves are transient and variable. They differ as they come under the impact of the seven rays. It is not possible or practical to distinguish them one from the other, except from the angle of the Hierarchy, and their destruction today (though it was not so earlier) has to come from the dense physical plane, and the attack must be made by personalities and individualities dwelling in physical bodies. This is a somewhat new mode of approach, for hitherto only a very few disciples and initiates have been able so to work. Today, hundreds and thousands of disciples are working, and thus learning to use the ancient rules for work within the veils of maya. Let me here give you some of these rules or formulas as they are to be found in The Masters’ Book of Rules and as I can translate them. Some are untranslatable:
Focus the force at the jewel’s point and find the veil that it can touch.
Carry the force from point to point and then project.
Look for the energy in form behind the veil attacked. A rent within the veil exists. Find it and see.
A path lies through the veils, giving access to the several courts. Walk on that path, wielding destruction and clearing out the refuse in the court. The court of the money changers is the last.
Meet the descending forces and find the current which is yours.
Work with the Sound and know it as the source of power. Use first the Voice; then use the O.M., and later use the Sound. All three together will suffice.
***
***
Evidently leaving little to chance, Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign announced on Friday evening that he would go to Miami on Jan. 3 to start an “Evangelicals for Trump’’ coalition.
According to a recent poll from the Public Religion Research Institute, 77 percent of white evangelical Protestants approves of the job Mr. Trump is doing in office, including half who strongly approves. And nearly all — 98 percent — of Republican white evangelical Protestants said they opposed Mr. Trump’s impeachment, the institute found.
In 2016, 81 percent of them voted for Mr. Trump over Hillary Clinton, most likely helping him carry states like Florida and Michigan, which allowed him to win the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote. The Trump campaign is putting an intense focus on turning them out to vote next year, with groups like Mr. Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition pledging to raise millions of dollars and deploy tens of thousands of volunteers on his behalf.
–Evangelical Leaders Close Ranks With Trump After Scathing Editorial by Elizabeth Dias and Jeremy W. Peters (NYT)
[DN 84] … the British Empire covers the Earth, for there is a close connection between the Earth, as a whole, and Great Britain.
[…]
These energies which we have been considering are released into our planetary life through the medium of certain great inlets. At this time there are five such inlets, scattered over the world. Wherever one of these inlets for spiritual force is found, there will also be present a city of spiritual importance in the same location. These five points of spiritual influx are:
London For the British Empire.
New York For the Western Hemisphere.
Geneva For Europe, including the U.S.S.R.
Tokyo For the Far East.
Darjeeling For India and the greater part of Asia.
Later, two more points for energy will be added to these but the time is not yet. Through these five places and the areas in their neighbourhood the energy of the five rays pours forth, conditioning the world of men, leading to results of profound significance and determining the trend of events. These five points of conditioning energy (in spite of the [Page 93] fact that the energy pouring through Darjeeling has not yet reached its full strength) produce two triangles of force in their inter-relations:
London. New York. Darjeeling.
Tokyo. New York. Geneva.
Geneva and Darjeeling are two centres through which pure spiritual energy can be directed with more facility than through the other three; they, therefore, constitute the higher points of their respective triangles. They are also more subjective in their influence than are London, New York or Tokyo. Together they form the five centres of “impelling energy” today.
It may interest you also to know the governing rays and the astrological signs of these five centres, but it must not be forgotten that the personality rays change from period to period in connection with countries and cities just as with individual human beings:
City
Soul Personality Sign
London
5th ray 7th ray Gemini.
New York
2nd ray 3rd ray Cancer.
Tokyo
6th ray 4th ray Cancer.
Geneva
1st ray 2nd ray Leo.
Darjeeling
2nd ray 5th ray Scorpio.
If students will study this information in connection with that given elsewhere in connection with the nations and other cities, the inter-relations now emerging in world affairs will be seen as the result of the play of these forces and energies and as, therefore, to a certain extent, unavoidable. The use of the energy may be along wrong lines, producing separation and trouble; it may be along right lines, leading [Page 94] to eventual harmony and understanding; but the energy is there and must make its effects felt. As in the individual life, as the results of the play of soul energy upon the form aspect, one or other of the rays will dominate. If the person or the nation is spiritually oriented, the result of the energy impact will be good and will lead towards the working out of the divine plan, and thus be wholly constructive. Where personality force dominates, the effects will be destructive and may temporarily hinder divine Purpose. Nevertheless, even force which is turned to destructive ends can and does finally work towards good, for the trend of the evolutionary force is unalterable, being based on the Will-to-good of Divinity Itself. The inpouring soul energy can be slowed down or speeded on its way according to the purpose, aspiration and the orientation of the entity (human or national); it can express soul purpose or personality selfishness, but the innate urge to betterment will inevitably triumph.
[DN] … in connection with the British Empire, a study will be made of London, Sydney, Johannesburg, Toronto and Vancouver with subsidiary studies of Calcutta, Delhi, Singapore, Jamaica and Madras which are all subjectively related in a manner unforeseen by students at present. Under the plan, and contingent upon the energies pouring through the five planetary centres according to plan, there are three great fusing energies or vital centres present upon our planet:
Russia, fusing and blending eastern Europe and western and northern Asia.
The United States (and later South America), fusing and blending central and western Europe and the entire western hemisphere.
The British Empire, fusing and blending races and men throughout the entire world.
In the hands of these nations lies the destiny of the planet. These are the three major world blocs, from the consciousness angle and from the angle of world synthesis. Other and lesser nations will participate in the process with full independence and cooperation, voluntarily and through the perfecting of their national life in the interests of the whole of humanity and through the desire to express and preserve their soul integrity and their purified national purpose (which purification is now going on). The keynote, however, of human living will be struck by Russia, Great Britain and the United States — not because of their power, their historical past and their material resources or [Page 105] territorial extent, but because they are in a position to fuse and blend the many types, because they are far-visioned in their world purpose, because they are not basically selfish in their intent, and because the government of the peoples reaches down into the depths of each nation and is fundamentally for the people. Their basic Constitution, Magna Charta and Bill of Rights are human. Other nations will be gradually swept into line with these fundamental spiritual requirements, or — if they are already based on these human principles and not on the rule of a powerful minority, exploiting an unhappy majority — they will cooperate freely with these greater nations in a federation of purposes and of interests until such time as all the nations of the world see the vision clear, forego their selfish aims and agree in the unity of the work to be done for the whole. Humanity will then emerge into the light of freedom with a revealed beauty and a spiritual purpose, hitherto unknown.
[EOH 85] London is, of course, the heart centre for Great Britain (and temporarily it is also the head centre, though this will not always be the case), whilst Ottawa is the throat centre and Sydney is the solar plexus centre of the British Empire.
[EOH] I would pause here and solemnly beg you not to make the lines of cleavage wider by placing yourself, and all who follow your form of ideology, upon the side of the Forces of Light and all other people and their ideologies, with which you may not agree, upon the side of the Forces of Darkness. The issue is, in the last analysis, the right to express the will-to-good, the right to express human relationships, untrammelled by territorial barriers and national habits of thought; it involves the right and the felt necessity to shew love to all beings and thus stamp out all hate and separateness. It concerns the right of all nations to live at peace with their neighbours and harmoniously with each other and to express the true and subjective synthesis of humanity, and not place national possessions, frontiers, culture, power and ambition before the general good and the happiness of the world of men. This is the real and underlying issue. All the national challenges and patriotic calls are simply the attempts of the leaders everywhere to hold the people to a particular line of thought and of action. To make the world safe for democracy, to gain room to live, to defend the rights of little nations, to preserve the balance of power, to meet force with force, to restore ancient and historical boundaries, to impose some culture deemed desirable, to prevent economic destruction, to conserve national stakes and interests are all the talking points of the leaders today. But the real issue is the intangible one of Direction. Which way will humanity go? [Page 130] Will it go the way of selflessness, expressed in a willingness to act always in the interests of all, thus promoting world understanding and world unity, or the way of selfishness and aggression, expressed in an intense nationalism, thus sacrificing the true and larger values of liberty, independence and freedom to think. This selfishness may show itself through active aggression or an active neutrality. Those nations who participate in no way in this struggle will lose much and—enhancing their own selfish struggle and clouding the real issue in beautiful words—will help to prolong the struggle and hold back their own people from useful opportunity.
I would point out here also that as in all families, business and organisations there are those who are the focal points of authority and the designers of the planned activities, so within that group or organised body which goes by the name of humanity there are similar focal points or those who plan, direct and produce the outer happenings and events. They are in the period of personality achievement—that time in which human beings, having achieved integration and a blended expression of feeling and perception and mind, are actively and effectively working upon the physical plane. These focal points are used to bring about two major changes in the world; the first is the fusion and blending of peoples and minorities so that coordinated empires and cultural nations are appearing everywhere and, secondly, the changing of frontiers and the altering of boundaries so that a complete re-adjustment of the map of the world in Asia, Europe and Africa can take place.
It will be apparent to you that three major methods or modes of producing these fusions can be noted. Great Britain, the United States of America and the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (the U.S.S.R.) are working out the principle of federation, of relation and of the fusion of bodies into concentrated wholes, responding to the same inspiration but employing their own specialised methods to bring about the desired ends. Be not surprised by my [Page 131] including Russia in this triplicity. Their ideology is fundamentally as sound as that in the other groups, but the difference lies in the factors of personality and the mode of applying the ideology. The control of powerful and dangerous personalities, and the use of the methods of force and cruelty have been avoided in the first two groups of nations, and the reason is based upon the different source of the inspiration producing the effects. Another reason is to be found in the placing of power in the hands of those who are historically unprepared to rule and of those whose past unfoldment has as yet brought them only to the nursery stage of evolution.
Nevertheless in these three groups there is much of interest to be noted. One of them, Great Britain, represents a fusion, the foundations of which have been laid in a long historical past of preparation for government; another, that of the U.S.A. represents a fusion which is unfolding and developing in the present which is new in its experiments, though employing factors from every nation in Europe; the U.S.S.R. in its turn represents a coming fusion or future synthesis. In these three, you have an interesting and immediate expression of the three divine aspects, each of which inspires and colours the embryonic civilisation. Great Britain expresses the will-to-power but on account of age and experience, dearly bought, this is today mellowed by justice and a growing understanding of human need. This, in its turn, is the result of the control for many centuries in the past by the aristocracy, with its paternalism, conservatism and its method of slow adjustment. The U.S.A. expresses the will-to-love, which shows itself in an ability to absorb vastly divergent elements and yet to present equal opportunity to all. This is brought about very largely because the control is, in this federation of states, in the hands of the bourgeoisie, with its financial goals, its power to determine living conditions, and its quick and sympathetic touch upon life. Its method is not that of slow adjustment but of quick assimilation. It is in that country also that people are most sensitive [Page 132] to the influence of the Hierarchy. The U.S.S.R. expresses the will-to-create and to produce new conditions and a new order—planned and determined and foreseen. This has been brought about through cruelty very often, by a willingness to compromise and to change or lower the original ideal. This, in its turn, is brought about by the activity of the proletariat with its inability to govern, its desire to retaliate, and its ignorance of tradition and of inherited procedures.
A most interesting experiment is, therefore, working out in these three groups of interrelated elements and differing national ideals. The U.S.S.R. will eventually place its emphasis and direct its major interest upon Asia [JB: China] , bringing about great changes on that continent, as far as the Pacific The other, Great Britain, through its successful demonstration of the principle of federation, can affect major changes in Europe if there is an awakened insight, a true and sympathetic justice and wise patience. The U.S.A. has a similar task to perform for the Americas [JB: Pan America], calling for statesmanship of a high order and a spirit of understanding.
It will also be apparent to you if you have rightly understood the above suggestions that the Shamballa force is working through that community of federated nations called the British Empire and is expressing the will-towards-synthesis and the will to just and legal procedure. It is the force of the Hierarchy which can express itself increasingly through the United States of America, for an intuitive recognition of subjective realities and a real sense of the higher values can and frequently do control the impulses governing this group of federated states. The will-to-be of Humanity with its almost extravagant emphasis upon human values and the will-to-rule creatively is the contribution of the U.S.S.R., that great federation of republics. Thus the influence of the three great world centres about which I have earlier written can be seen expressing itself through these three groups of nations. At the same time, the Shamballa force is active in all of them, for it produces federation and synthesis. Its first great expression or demonstration [Page 133] of the spirit of fusion took place in the 18th and 19th centuries, and led to the formation of such countries as Italy and Germany which were created out of many smaller states, duchies and kingdoms. A history of the trend towards fusion in the modern world would prove a most illuminating study. It would be found that the first faint indications were felt around 1575 A.D. This was due to the fact that permission for the inflow of this force was given when demanded at the Centennial Conference of the Hierarchy, held in 1425.
[EOH] Behind all this diversity of governmental methods, certain clear outlines are emerging which indicate wider fusions and a tendency to bring about certain syntheses. Various basic trends of thought are appearing which, in the new world order, will unfold into that major synthesis so much desired by the spiritual Hierarchy of the planet, and which, whilst preserving the large national and racial outlines, will produce an underlying and subjective state of mind which will end the age of separateness. Desire is today being evoked for the Federated States of Europe, modelled on the lines of the British Commonwealth of Nations or the United States of America; there is talk of a new order in Asia, of the Good Neighbour policy in America, of a Federal Union of the democratic nations; there is also the steady spread of the Soviet Socialist Republics. Certain major groupings [Page 200] would seem possible and probably advisable. They might be divided as follows:
A Federal Union of the great democracies after the war. This might include the British Empire as a whole, the United States, the Scandinavian countries and certain northern European nations, including Germany.
A Union of the Latin countries, including France, Spain, all the Mediterranean countries, the Balkan countries (except one or two which might be absorbed into the U.S.S.R.), and South America.
The United Soviet Socialist Republics and certain Asiatic nations working in collaboration with them, such as China, and later Japan.
These three great blocs would not be antagonistic blocs but simply geographical spheres of influence. They would all three work in the closest unity and economic relation. Each nation within the three blocs would preserve its sovereign independence, but between these independent nations and between these blocs there would be identity of purpose, unity of effort and the recognition of the economic control of a league of nations. This league, being formed of the representatives of all the nations and its inner governing body being chosen by the three blocs, would control all sources of supply, distribute all such supplies and determine all economic policies.
With the details of these future adjustments I shall not deal. They must be wrought out by the men and women of goodwill in the crucible of experiment and experience. Only universal disaster could have brought men to a state of mind wherein such propositions and solutions could be presented. The general recognition that the old order has lamentably failed is most valuable.
[JB] The Teachings of the Tibetan Master D.K. penned by Alice A. Bailey refer to the United Kingdom (UK) as Great Britain, a part of the former British Empire, later named the British Commonwealth of Nations.
Furthermore, according to these Teachings, the international political future of humanity will probably be shaped by three geographical spheres of influence comprising a league of nations that “would control all sources of supply, distribute all such supplies and determine all economic policies.”
A careful study of the above quotes may enlighten our stance on Brexit. The scheduled election on Thursday December 12 would probably determine if the UK would remain or exit the European Union (EU).
How can the New Group of World Servers (NGWS) assist the Soul of the U.K. in inspiring its current Personality — exercising its free will — to wisely decide, according to our best understanding of the Hierarchical Plan of Light and Love for Humanity?
First and foremost, the NGWS should always stand for certain principles and values. These have been enumerated by the Lucis Trust.
Values to Live By
A Love of Truth—essential for a just, inclusive and progressive society;
A Sense of Justice—recognition of the rights and needs, of all.
Spirit of Cooperation—based on active goodwill and the principle of right human relationships;
A Sense of Personal Responsibility—for group, community and national affairs;
Serving the Common Good—through the sacrifice of selfishness. Only what is good for all is good for each one.
These are spiritual values, inspiring the conscience and the consciousness of those who serve to create a better way of life.
THE FATE OF ALL PEOPLES AND NATIONS IS DETERMINED BY THE VALUES WHICH GOVERN THEIR DECISIONS
Observance of these values would impel us to unreservedly reject the populist, selfish and nationalistic demagoguery of the political leaders currently promoting Brexit.
Still, a careful study of the Teachings would leave an earnest student with the impression that the EU is not the only way that the U.K. can tread to fulfill its predestined role as the center of one of the three major geographical spheres of influence governing the worldwide league of nations prophesied by the Tibetan Master. Much pain and suffering would result if Brexit triumphs, particularly a hard Brexit, but the free will of the British Personality needs to be respected, even if that will is not really free from the deceptive manipulations of its populist leaders, the short-sighted economic interests of the power elites and the subservient media.
Therefore, even if — for the wrong reasons — the Brexit forces would win the forthcoming British elections, the Hierarchical (strategic) Plan for Humanity is (tactically) adaptable. “With the details of these future adjustments,” the Tibetan Master tells us, “I shall not deal. They must be wrought out by the men and women of goodwill in the crucible of experiment and experience.”
Of course, a favorable outcome for the U.K. remaining in the EU is to be preferred. However, even after Brexit, there would be options for the UK to exert its influence according to the Plan. It may be a “reunited” UK (after Scotland and Ireland revise their bonds with the Kingdom), a renewed EU in search for its identity, or new international agreements with different blocs of nations. According to the Tibetan Master, the Plan for Humanity is quite flexible in its details while remaining coherent in its overarching strategic goal: the UNITY of Humanity, unity in diversity, the often painful Fourth Ray approach to human relations.
May the Forces of Light and Love illumine and inspire the British people in aligning their little wills with the Purpose which the Masters know and serve, favoring the spiritual values we all should live by.
May the Plan of Love and Light work out, sealing the door where the evils of deceit and separateness dwell.
May the liberating Light of Truth, the infinite Love of Beauty and the unconquerable Power of the Will-to-Good restore God’s Plan on Earth: for the UK, for the EU and the whole world.
Moody’s Analytics 2020 Presidential Election Model is the best predictive model I’ve seen to date. This sophisticated and updated statistical model describes very well the political and economic factors operating in our American democracy. Furthermore, it reliably predicts a Trump victory if voter turnout is low or normal.
A maximum voter turnout is needed to defeat Fascism in the USA in 2020.
The unfolding Trump impeachment inquiry will probably NOT significantly shift the support from his base. It’s the most stable since FDR due to the propaganda machine of Fox News. Even Nixon would have been acquitted if he had been able to control the mass production of alternative facts.
Therefore, I suggest that the major focus of our political meditation for the USA throughout this period until 2020 Election Day, particularly during the forthcoming Festival Week of the New Group of World Servers, would be to invoke the Triangle currently over-lighting the Christ (Lord Buddha, the Spirit of Peace and the Avatar of Synthesis) to inspire and move people to vote, producing the highest voter turnout in the history of the USA.
The principal strategy of the currently darkened White House is to discourage people to vote by obfuscating the facts leading people to cynically believe that wrong is normal, by surreptitiously using voter suppression tactics and by obstructing law enforcement in lengthy court proceedings to wear down the voters’ short attention span. A divided political opposition, without a clear and consistent message, is also playing into the hands of the Forces of Darkness.
The future of democracy is at stake, in the USA and worldwide. We urgently need the assistance of extra planetary Forces of Light, Love and Power. With “massed intent,” we should use the Great Invocation, emphasizing its “bottom line.”
Aquarian Mantra of Synthesis
“May the liberating Light of Lord Buddha, The infinite Love of the Spirit of Peace, And the unfathomable Power of the Avatar of Synthesis Restore God’s Plan on Earth.”
[EH 662] “The capitalistic spirit and the latent fascism of the United States are at this time a definite menace to world peace, and the capitalists are blocking the efforts of the men of goodwill … The healing will be brought about through the medium of the New Group of World Servers and by the men of goodwill, aided by the Hierarchy, from which planetary centre the healing energies will be drawn. Imperfection has been drawn to the surface; the evils to be eliminated are known to everybody, and this has all taken place under the influence of the Law of Perfection.”
Moody’s Analytics 2020 Presidential Election Model
Excerpts:
“The explanatory variables in our model specifications can be divided into two groups: politics and economics (see Table 1). Although economics are critical to deciphering the behavior of the marginal voter and thus usually the outcome of the election, political variables remain the most potent for predicting the large majority of votes on a state-by-state basis.”
“Voters who had not traditionally come out to the polls, particularly in the industrial Midwest and more rural counties, showed up in larger than expected numbers to support Trump, and many reliably Democratic voters did not turn out for Clinton. Thus, the inclusion of the turnout variable is intended to capture sentiment that may be unmeasurable by more traditional economic and political metrics.”
“… a shortening of voter attention spans in 2016, the second major factor that appears to have contributed to forecast error in the last election, outside of turnout.”
[EOH 126] “The lines of cleavage have grown steadily until now they can be expressed in terms of a humanity which is oriented towards the higher spiritual and altruistic values and whose keynotes are sacrifice, group good and world understanding, and those whose focus is predominantly material and whose aims are selfish, animated by ambition and the spirit of acquisition.
“It was the acuteness of this situation, and the wide extent of the cleavage, which induced the watching Hierarchy to permit a direct inflow of the Shamballa force (in spite of its attendant risks) to pour into the world. The objective was to stimulate the free will of the masses; the result upon them has been relatively good as it has led to the formulation and expression of the great world ideologies—Fascism, [Page 127] Democracy and Communism as well as that peculiarly distorted blend of Fascism and Communism which goes by the name of Hitlerism or Nazism. All these ideologies are fostered by the desire of the masses for the betterment of the condition in which the populace in any country lives and it has become focussed, expressive and creative by the force of the Shamballa influence. But another result of this inflow of the will-to-power has been to stimulate a certain group of outstanding personalities in many lands so that they have assumed control of the masses and can thus determine the policies and methods—religious, political and social—of the different nations. In every nation a relatively small group of people decide all important issues and determine all major national activities. This they do either by force, terror and deception or by persuasion, fair words and the application of ideological motives. Of this situation in the world the Lords of Destiny are availing themselves in order to bring the ancient conflict to an end and so enable humanity to pass into the new Aquarian Age relatively free and with a clearer understanding of right human aims, right relationships and man’s predestined future.”
[AR] The dark forces keep forcing, manipulating and trying to wear down the opposition. The light forces are managing to resist and hold their ground.
[JB] First phase: Resistance (electrical): incandescent light (rational fire by friction)
An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament (resistor) heated to such a high temperature that it glows with visible light (incandescence).
Second phase: LED light bulb (intuitive clear cold light)
An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light for use in light fixtures that produces light using one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps have a lifespan many times longer than equivalent incandescent lamps and are significantly more efficient.
“As a soul I work in light and darkness cannot touch me. I take my stand within the light. I work and from that point I never move.”
“Radiance are we and power. We stand forever with our hands stretched out, linking the heavens and the earth, the inner world of meaning and the subtle world of glamour. We reach into the light and bring it down to meet the need. We reach into the silent Place and bring from thence the gift of understanding. Thus, with the light we work and turn the darkness into day.”
Power is a (kinetic) rate of doing work (per unit of time). Power is a measure of how quickly work can be done (according to the Plan).
Energy is the capacity for doing work in a period of time (according to the Plan). Energy is stored in electrical batteries.
A battery is a device consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections provided to power electrical devices. The usage of “battery” to describe a group of electrical devices dates to Benjamin Franklin, who in 1748 described multiple Leyden jars by analogy to a battery of cannon. Benjamin Franklin borrowed the term “battery” from the military, which refers to weapons functioning together. [Source: wikipedia]
Energy is generated and stored in the “silent place” where the Will of God is known. The batteries of the New Group of World Servers need to be periodically recharged, every 7 years, from the Central Power Station in Shamballa, by the Lord of the World wielding His Rod of Initiation, so that…
will not be moved by ambition to power but by aspiration for altruistic service.
will not compete for power but, in sacrifice, acquiesce to the will of the soul of their country.
will not misuse power to impose the little wills of human minds but will use it to implement the Plan according to the Purpose which the Masters know and serve.
Politics is about POWER, the kinetic energy propelling the potential force of LOVE.
LOVE is the substrate on which POWER operates: its motive, its compass, its magnet.
Enlightened, intelligent activity is the skill in action needed to implement the PLAN, “that measure of possibility of immediate importance which the divine Purpose can present at any given moment in time and space.” (TEL 132)
We need compassionate and enlightened wielders of POWER in the field of politics, wearing incorruptible shields of Light and Love.
[EOH] In September 1940 I gave an interpretation of a new Stanza of the Great Invocation, and in that communication I spoke of Divine Embodiments as the highest type of Avatar for which humanity could look at this point in its evolution. I spoke of the activity of the Hierarchy and of Shamballa, should these two divine Agencies decide that intervention in the form of a widespread cataclysm (engulfing all peoples) was necessary, and I referred to the emergence of inspired leadership as another and lower aspect of divine guidance and participation.[Page 301]
Such inspired leadership is now being given to humanity by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, in contra-distinction to the focussed leadership of the forces of materialism through Hitler and another man in his group … Such leadership is called forth by elements present in humanity itself.
The “dynamic energy of the divine Will” (TEL 122) needs the “the duty and the responsibility of the [server in the field of politics], working under the inspiration of the Ashram, to “modify, qualify and adapt” the proposed Plan of Shamballa (for which the Ashrams are responsible) in connection with the coming civilisation and culture.”(DINA II, 278)
I have a dream… that one day… POLITICIANS will be sworn in to their elected office with this pledge, in sealing the door where evil dwells:
“In the centre of the will of God I stand.
Naught shall deflect my will from His.
I implement that will by love.
I turn towards the field of service.
I, the Triangle divine, work out that will
Within the square and serve my fellowmen.”
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth, a Plan of Right Human Relations (social justice) leading to a permanent PEACE on Earth.
[JB] More recently, I have advocated for esoteric scholars to become more engaged in the “battle for the enlightenment of the post-modern collective mind.” Occultism is being portrayed [as of 2017] as the “metaphysics of the dunces” and HPB is mispresented as an advocate for a racial hierarchy, rendered harmless if ignored but dangerous if studied by the uneducated.
The Nazis Were Obsessed With Magic
What can their fascination with the supernatural teach us about life in our own post-truth times?
In France, you don’t see the equivalent politicization and racialization of it. You have theosophy in Britain and America. But it’s a relatively harmless movement, where people get together in a drawing room and try to connect with spirits and write novels about Atlantis. But the concept of root races, which [H.P.] Blavatsky, the Russian progenitor of theosophy, talked about, never gets brought up as an actual basis for belief in “superior breeding” or race war among the liberal or conservative parties that run the government in Britain and America. It clearly is not influencing Roosevelt or Churchill’s view of social policy or foreign policy.
In the Nazi case,… when you look at how they argue about race, with the Jews being monstrous and the Slavs “sub-human,” while Indian, Japanese, and perhaps even Persian and Arab civilizations are deemed at least partially Indo-Aryan, it’s all this stuff that’s wrapped up with ariosophy, theosophy, anthroposophy—these major occult doctrines that were prominent in Austria and Germany. It had so little to do with actual empirical science, or even pseudoscience practiced elsewhere during the first half of the 20th century, that it opened the way for all these fantastical policies.
[JB] The doctrine of the root races must be presented in a new light to the intellectuals of humanity. Today’s NYT editorial, on the wake of the mass shooting aimed at Mexican-Americans in El Paso, confirms the urgency of my request to devote our minds and hearts, here and now, to reintroduce HPB’s Secret Doctrine, and AAB’s neo-theosophy, to the academic discourse devoid of any doctrine of racial supremacy, as it was originally intended.
It’s no longer only a generic problem of gun violence in the USA; it’s now also a specific and international “White Nationalist Terrorist Problem.” This is part of the “battle of democracy” currently being fought in the USA, as prophesied in the AAB-DK books. This “civil war” is now being waged worldwide. -JB
NYT August 4, 2019 Editorial
We Have a White Nationalist Terrorist Problem
Mass shootings like the one in El Paso
should be condemned by Americaʼs leaders as terrorism.
EXCERPTS
White supremacy … is a violent, interconnected transnational ideology. Its adherents are gathering in anonymous, online forums to spread their ideas, plotting attacks and cheering on acts of terrorism.
While its modern roots predate the Trump administration by many decades, white nationalism has attained a new mainstream legitimacy during Mr. Trump’s time in office.
Discussions of Americans being “replaced” by immigrants, for instance, are a recurring feature on some programs on Fox News. Fox hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, for example, return to these themes frequently. Democrats, Ms. Ingraham told viewers last year, “want to replace you, the American voters, with newly amnestied citizens and an ever-increasing number of chain migrants.”
“You will not replace us,” white nationalists proudly chanted at Charlottesville in 2017. (Mr. Trump himself proclaimed that there were “fine people” on both sides of that deadly event.)
In May, bemoaning an “invasion” of immigrants, Mr. Trump asked how immigrants could be stopped during a rally in Florida. “Shoot them,” someone in the crowd yelled. Mr. Trump gave a smirk and said, “That’s only in the Panhandle you can get away with that stuff,” as the crowd exploded in ghoulish laughter.
Far more Americans have died at the hands of domestic terrorists than at the hands of Islamic extremists since 2001, according to the F.B.I. The agency’s resources, however, are still overwhelmingly weighted toward thwarting international terrorism.
The nation owed a debt to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, to take action against the vile infrastructure that allowed the terrorists to achieve their goals that horrible Tuesday. We owe no less of a debt to the victims in El Paso and to the hundreds of other victims of white nationalist terrorism around the nation.
There can be no middle ground when it comes to white nationalism and the terrorism it inspires. You’re either for it or against it.
The “ideology behind the democratic ideal constitutes a response to the universality which the love of the Hierarchy prompts it to express” (Destiny of the Nations, 22). Modern democracy is at present “a philosophy of wishful thinking and an unachieved ideal” to be superseded by the rule of “enlightened people” who “will not tolerate authoritarianism in any church or totalitarianism in any political system” (The Reappearance of the Christ, 164).
“True Democracy awaits the time when an educated and enlightened public opinion will bring it to power; towards that spiritual event, mankind is hastening. The battle of Democracy will be fought out in the United States.” (The Rays and the Initiations, 746).
The Plan for externalization of the planetary spiritual Hierarchy and the reappearance of the Christ includes “the presentation of those ideas which will eventually lead to a fusion of those principles which govern a democracy and which also condition the hierarchical method—which is somewhat different.” (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, 575). The fusion of these principles, and certain major and spiritual premises lying back of all efforts to formulate a “new world order” (ibid, 190), will be addressed in this talk, as well as how the revelatory yoga of synthesis, Agni Yoga, can support “the duty and the responsibility of the disciple, working under the inspiration of the Ashram, to “modify, qualify and adapt” the proposed plan of Shamballa (for which the Ashrams are responsible) in connection with the coming civilisation and culture (Discipleship in the New Age II, 278).
Slides:
#1: Title slide. Read quotes from abstract.
We are in CRISIS. How can the esoteric community assist the NGWS in solving it? Should we be a reflection of the divisions in our societies or should we set the example of unification? What’s our responsibility when faced with misinformation and mistrust?
#2-3: Flashback 1. Attending EIS conference in Atlanta this week. Identify myself as an EIS alumn (1985). My mission: serve as a bridge: English/Spanish; Science-Spirituality.
#4-6: My forthcoming book (outline written Thursday morning at the conference; inspired by the uplifting talk by Dr. Hanna-Attisha on Wed afternoon). Her book “What the Eyes Don’t See” inspired my intro on the invisible worlds studied by esotericists; her activism on behalf of the community relates to my quest to discuss and engage in nonpartisan activities in the political field of service of the New Group of World Servers.
#7: Flashback 2. My childhood (~12 y/o) experience accompanying my father to social clubs. What is esoteric training good for if we can’t address nonpartisan politics? [Aristotle: affairs of the polis]
Spiritual DISCERNMENT (truth, falsity).
#8: First take home message
Why should the esoteric community abide by such rule (slide #7) after decades of discipleship training to develop spiritual discernment and the practice of harmlessness?
#9: A nonpartisan framework to discuss and engage in nonpartisan activities in the political field of service of the New Group of World servers.
#10: Transition slide to define the PLAN (a major point of the talk) and introduce three case studies for the application of the proposed nonpartisan framework. These are: a) the current (constitutional) crisis of democracy in the USA (Trump administration); b) Brexit and the emergence of the European xenophobic, nationalistic, fascist right (recently defeated in Spain), and 3) the neutrality of the LatAm political left on the current Venezuelan crisis of democracy.
#11-13: Framing the U.S. political spectrum according to the Labor of Hercules in the sign of Scorpio (November is when elections are usually held in the USA).
Principles. AAB-DK framework: spiritual values to live by vs personal opinions; read slides.
#14: Transition slide; reminder of the nonpartisan framework against which contrasts should be drawn (instead of arguing about personal opinions). Of course, the framework itself is subject to change based on the Teachings uniting the esoteric community.
NGWS: nonpartisan politics as a (First Ray) field of service; the center may appear as far right or left to those in the far right or left.
The “third party:” the Voice of the Center of the NGWS.
The harmlessness of neutrality and silence. Pope Francis silence on Venezuela vs. Dalai Lama’s activism on Tibet. Silence can be complicit and harmful.
Non-partisanship (DK quotes on USA racism, Nazism, Jewish “problem”, Russia, Hiroshima)
#15: Brexit. The UN is flawed, and so is the EU. Is disintegration the answer?
I authored the mantra shown, adapting stanzas from the Great Invocation and the formula for the dissipation of glamor (as practiced by the esoteric community). Is it a “partisan” use of the Invocation and the formula?
#16: Transition slide; reminder of the nonpartisan framework against which contrasts should be drawn (instead of arguing about personal opinions). Of course, the framework itself is subject to change based on the Teachings uniting the esoteric community.
#17: Venezuela. I insist in using the term “evil” (which is L-I-V-E spelled backwards). Quote on RESISTANCE to EVIL.
#18: Take home message #2
Here I explain (with a quote from the Teachings) my use of the term “evil” as a RELATIVE concept with respect to the TIME factor, a crucial component in the practice of Agni Yoga, the yoga developing the intuitive sense.
#19: Quote on how the INTUITION relates to acquiring the “right perspective:” a “right sense of VALUES and of TIME.”
Premature implementation of the Plan may derail it.
#20: Transition slide bringing us back to the title and subject of the talk.
Discuss my recently published books: how I integrated DK’s Technique of the Presence with VBA’s Second Ray approach to Agni Yoga (agniyoga.info) .
#21: Application of principles. Agni Yoga “the science of self-evident truths.” (a new definition dawning on me during the conference).
AY takes off from the final stages of Raja Yoga. Critical thinking skills (mind development) relates to Raja Yoga (the traditional meditation practice of sitting cross-legged to concentrate and meditate on seed thoughts achieving a contemplative state of mind). Agni Yoga (practice of the presence of mind or mindfulness) is the practice of constant contemplation (spiritual reading of life as a sequence of symbols, mindfully applying Jung’s synchronicity principle) as we go in our daily lives.
Examples of practical exercises to hone our critical thinking and intuitive skills.
Test for discerning false equivalence … What’s missing is the constant of proportionality (normal variants versus outliers). Principle of ANALOGY and the development of the intuitive sense.
#22: Transition slide bringing us back to the title and the main purpose of the talk: the need to redefine democracy (using the principles of Raja and Agni Yoga) to prepare the world for the externalization of the spiritual Hierarchy of Masters of Compassion and Wisdom, and the imminent physical reappearance of the Christ in the outer world of human affairs (the Christ is an Office of the spiritual Hierarchy held by Lord Maitreya since he “overshadowed” Master Jesus 2,000 years ago in the Bethlehem-Calvary story narrated by the Gospels).
#23: Take home message #3.
Latest update in my efforts, in collaboration with others, to redefine a democracy suitable for spiritual (nonreligious) work. The highlighted terms are the changes from the previous version (presented at the same conference 2 years ago). Ray 3 (Light) is the keynote of the current conference).
Hierarchy (order) vs. anarchy (populism) vs. the rule of “enlightened people” (hierarchical democracy) by “enlightened leaders” (light will be etherically VISIBLE). Can we do this within the esoteric community?
#24: A summary slide.
#25: Personal contact info (I’ll be distributing my new presentation card at the conference this year).
Q: Perfect adaptability versus RESISTING evil? A: Be ductile as water: relentless as the course of a river; adaptable to navigate obstacles, until you reach your destiny.
José Becerra, MD, MPH, FACPM. Since his professional retirement, Dr. Becerra has become a full-time student of the four classical disciplines (Quadrivium) of number, geometry, music and cosmology applied to solve the problems of humanity. Since 1999, Dr. Becerra has devoted his esoteric work (http://www.ngsm.org/2017/home.html) to the study and practice of Agni Yoga, having recently translated the book Introduction to Agni Yoga by Vicente Beltrán-Anglada (https://agniyoga.info/). Dr. Becerra has worked along with the New Group of World Servers in the fields of government, medicine, international health and mathematical epidemiology (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbecerramd/).
Quotes:
“Hierarchy is not coercion, it is the law of the Universe. It is not a threat, but the call of the heart and a fiery admonition directing toward the General Good. Thus, let us cognize the Hierarchy of Light.” – Hierarchy. Agni Yoga Series. 1931.
DN 22: Is it not possible that the ideologies which we have been discussing are the response — distorted and yet a definite and determined, sensitive reaction — to the energies playing upon humanity from the two higher major centres? I would like to suggest that the ideology which is embodied in the vision of the totalitarian states is an erroneous but clear-cut response to the Shamballa influence of will; that the ideology behind the democratic ideal constitutes a similar response to the UNIVERSALITY which the [Hierarchy’s (Aquarian?) principle of LOVE]of the Hierarchy promptsitto express, and that communism is of human origin, embodying that ideology which humanity has formulated in its own right. Thus the three aspects of God’s nature are beginning to take form as three major ideas and what we see upon the planet at this time are the distorted human reactions to spiritual impulses, emanating from three different centres, but all equally divine in their essential natures, and in their essences. Ponder on this.
KEYNOTE: The balance of power in the Congress of the United States must shift to support the spiritual values of Men and Women of Goodwill.
A Love of Truth – essential for a just, inclusive and progressive society.
A Sense of Justice – recognition of the rights and needs of all.
A Spirit of Cooperation – based on active goodwill and the principle of right human relationships.
A Sense of Personal Responsibility – for group, community, national and international affairs.
Serving the Common Good – through the sacrifice of selfishness. Only what is good for all is good for each one.
These are spiritual values, inspiring the conscience and the consciousness of those who serve to create a better way of life.
Grammar teaches the mechanics of language to the student. This is the step where the student “comes to terms,” defining the objects and information perceived by the five senses. Hence, the Law of Identity: a tree is a tree, and not a cat.
Logic (also dialectic) is the “mechanics” of thought and of analysis, the process of identifying fallacious arguments and statements and so systematically removing contradictions, thereby producing factual knowledge that can be trusted.
Rhetoric is the application of language in order to instruct and to persuade the listener and the reader. It is the knowledge (grammar) now understood (logic) and being transmitted outwards as wisdom (rhetoric).
The unfoldment of this faculty will bring about a world recognition of the Plan and this is the greatest achievement of the intuition in this present world cycle. When that Plan is sensed, there comes the realisation of the unity of all beings, of the synthesis of world evolution and of the unity of the divine objective. All life and all forms are seen then in their true perspective; a right sense of values and of time then eventuates. When the Plan is truly intuited and at first hand, then constructive effort becomes inevitable and there is no lost motion. It is the partial realisation of the Plan and its interpretation at second or third hand by the ignorant which is responsible for the wasted effort and the foolish impulses which characterise the present occult and world organisations.
–DINA I, 25
GWP 171-72:
1. The Technique of the Presence. By means of this technique, the soul assumes control of the integrated personality and of its relations, horizontal and vertical. This technique involves the unfolding of the flower of the intuition, dispelling illusion, revealing the Angel, indicating the Presence, and opening up to the disciple the world of ideas and the door of the higher initiations. Through the disciple’s grasp and application of these divine ideas or seed thoughts, he becomes initiate and the third initiation becomes possible as an immediate goal. The intuition is the applied power of transfiguration. This technique is related to the little known yoga called Agni Yoga or the yoga of fire.
…the mode of handling world affairs, states of consciousness and conditions in the three worlds is one in which the disciple and initiate work from above downwards. The method is in reality a repetition of the involutionary arc in which—like the Creator, from a vantage point of exterior direction—energy, force and forces are directed into the world of phenomena and produce definite effects upon the substance of the three planes. This is a point which should be most carefully remembered; and it is for this reason that the Technique of the Presence must always be employed, prior to all other techniques. It establishes contact with the directing spiritual Agent and enables the disciple to assume the attitude of the detached Observer and an agent of the Plan. When this technique is correctly followed, it brings the intuition into play and the world of meaning (lying behind the world of phenomena) stands revealed, thereby dispelling illusion. Truth, as it is, is seen and known. Forms in the outer world of phenomena (outer from the angle of the soul and therefore encompassing the three worlds of our familiar daily living) are seen to be but symbols of an inward and spiritual Reality. -190
2. The Technique of Light. By means of this technique, the illumined mind assumes control over the astral or emotional body and dissipates glamour. When light pours in, glamour fades out. Illumination dominates and the vision [Page 172] of reality can be seen. This technique is related to Raja Yoga and its goal is the second initiation; it produces ability to tread the Path of Discipleship, and enables the man to “live a life, enlightened by divinity.” Illumination is the applied power of transformation.
3. The Technique of Indifference. By means of this technique, maya is ended; for the control of the purified astral vehicle is consciously and technically brought into activity, producing the freeing of the energies of the etheric body from the control of matter or force-substance, and bringing men in large numbers on to the Probationary Path. Where there is “divine indifference” to the call or pull of matter, then inspiration becomes possible. This technique is related to Karma Yoga in its most practical form and the use of matter with complete impersonality. The goal of this technique is the first initiation, which enables man to “live a life, inspired by God.” Inspiration is the applied power of transmission.
EP I, 359: I speak not of non-resistance, but of that positive attitude of mind which thinks no evil.
EP II, 691: Your major job at this time [re: NGWS] is not to wrestle with the powers of evil and the forces of darkness, but to awaken an interest in and mobilise the forces of light and the resources of men of good will, and of right inclination in the world today. Resist not evil, but so organise and mobilise the good, and so strengthen the hands of the workers on the side of righteousness and love, that evil will find less opportunity.
EA: The Law of the Universe (and what is law but the working out of the purposes of these all-embracing Lives, of Their impulses and Their plans?) is to all eternity the good of the whole and naught can arrest this happening; for who can arrest the impact of these energies which play upon and through our planet. When I say this, I would at the same time point out that the attitude of many students, inevitably participants in world events, that “such is the Law and such is the Karma of people and nations and such is the pre-determined destiny” [Page 444] is far from right. They believe—sometimes sincerely—that all that should be done is simply to wait for results to appear and for karma and destiny to fulfil itself. Then and not till then, all will be well. But they forget that karma fulfils itself in relation to the form nature upon which it expends its energy and that where there is a static condition and a quiescent attitude, the process moves but slowly; the life then within the form fails to experience the needed, forceful awakening; inevitably then there lies ahead a repetition of the process until the time comes when activity and response is evoked. This then leads to resistance to the apparent karmic necessity and this brings about liberation.Only through resistance to evil(and in this world period and in this kali-yuga, as the Eastern teachers call it, it is an essential basic attitude)can karma be brought to an end. The law of matter still governs in the three worlds of human experience and “fire by friction” must burn up that which veils the steadily increasing brilliance of solar fire. It is the recognition of “solar fire”—as it shows itself in a transcendental idealism and radiance—by the unintelligent idealist, and his simultaneous refusal to cooperate in this period of karmic necessity, that is prolonging the difficult and cruel situation and leading him individually to sink deep into glamour. The simplification of the world’s problem in terms of matter comes through a recognition of the essential dualism underlying events. I commend this thought to all students, suggesting that they base optimism on the long range vision, endorsed by the Heavens and corroborated by the activity of the stars, and thus feel sure of the ending of this immediate tragic situation.
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