We are told that during the Festival of Humanity:
"a. Students of meditation and of the Ageless Wisdom will use the Great Invocation and make efforts to spread it all over the world as the nucleus of the Plan for the New Age.
b. Men and women of goodwill will unite in every city and stress the meaning of goodwill and the importance of right human relations. They will direct their attention to the highest vision of humanity as an arrow of invocation flying toward the Source of Life.
c. They will distribute the energies contacted and accumulated in the Chalice to humanity as streams of light, love and power to bring about right human relations, goodwill, understanding and cooperation among all people, among all nations, everywhere." 1
The members of the White Mountain Education Group invite you, at the moment of the full moon, local time on June 12, to link up in thought with the dedicated servers and co-workers throughout the world to sound the Great Invocation and to think about the following prayer:
We invite and encourage your questions, comments and thoughts about the ideas contained in this and other issues of Meditation Monthly International, or about the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom in general. Please send your mail by FAX: 1 (520) 776-4005,
e-mail: wtmtn@primenet.com, or to the
White Mountain Education Association, P.O. Box 11975, Prescott, AZ 86303.
Shanti,
Joleen D. Du Bois
President
joleen@wmea-world.org
________________________
1. Torkom Saraydarian, Symphony of the Zodiac (Aquarian Education
Group, 1980),p. 135.
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Having lived in India for some time, I recently returned to Australia
for a month. Everything seemed so orderly, clean, spacious and abundant,
yet there was something missing which I could not quite identify. One day,
staring out the window of a bus, I realized that the absence of animals
in the streets had caused a feeling of bereftness, sterilty and ugliness.
There was no excrement on the pavements, but neither were there the creatures
- the flocks of goats, the cattle lying on the footpaths and culverts,
the pony and horse carts, the camel and bullock carts stopped at the lights
beside cars, the elephant and his mahout,
the teams of donkeys carrying bricks, and of course the street dogs in their thousands, feeding on piles of rubbish, or lying in the shade of a wall. Many travelers to India try to describe the intangible peaceful atmosphere that prevails, despite the heat, traffic, dust, crowded roads, poverty of the villages and materialism of the middle classes. I suspect that this drifting dreaminess is in large part due to the presence of animals, and, in particular, cattle.
In Rajasthan, cattle are more like friendly pets. A family may have one or two animals which are kept chained outside in the courtyard, but which are let free to wander the streets and eat waste vegetable matter during the day. You can walk up to a street cow, extend your hand, murmur a word of affection and find that your communication is returned with a lick of the tongue and an extended wet muzzle, which curiously sniffs you to see if you are carrying a gift of food. There is no running away, no fear, no mistrust. There is an ancient, age-old understanding between humans and cattle, in which humans acknowledge their debt to these animals that have helped them to build a civilization. At our animal shelter in Jaipur, we have many cows in advanced states of suffering. In Rajasthan, a very traditional state, the law is unclear, but it is generally not acceptable to euthanase cattle. If the animal is suffering, we can anesthetise it so that it remains unconscious until it dies a natural death.
Domestic animals comprise the heart of the animal kingdom. One could almost speculate that domestic breeds decided to give themselves to the service of humans. It is indeed anthropocentric to think that domestication was a purely human achievement. Animals, too, must have decided in some way to share their lives with humans, to work for humans, to become their slaves and companions. Although we have exploited the human/animal interrelation in a most shameful way, still animals love us with a loyalty and faithfulness that is quite exceptional.
The urge for humans to experience the natural world, untouched by the clamour and agitation of the city, has led to the movement for the preservation of wilderness and national parks. Science is just beginning to accept the fact that the companionship of animals is also beneficial to humans. Studies show that people who own pets have less heart attacks and high blood pressure. The work with animals and the disabled as as a form of therapy in hospitals and prisons is serving to increase our awareness of the benefits of animals. As humans become more humble in their relationship to the animal kingdom, as we recognize we have much to learn about life and death from the animals, then we also will being to benefit from the new knowledge which animals can give us about ourselves and our modes of consciousness.
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Aung San Suu Kyi: "At the root of human responsibility is the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path if not to the end at least the distance needed to rise above individual limitations and environmental impediments."
Aung San Suu Kyi (pronouned - Awng San Sue Chee) was born
in Rangoon, the capital of Burma,
on June 19, 1945, the youngest of three children of Aung San and Khin Kyi. Her father, Aung San, gained national stature for his leadership of the Burmese nationalist movement in the 1940s. It was a movement that culminated in the nation attaining its independence in 1948 after more than half a century of British rule and three years of Japanese occupation. "The term by which he was widely known - Bogyoke (Great General) - was an expression of admiration for what he had achieved for Burma and of respect for his selfless attitude towards power." 1 Bogyoke Aung San met with an untimely death in 1947 at age 32, just months before the independence that he had orchestrated. On the day he was assassinated, he was leading the constituent assembly in writing a constitution for an independent Burma.
As a young girl of five, Suu Kyi left Burma three years following her father's death to travel to India where her mother had been appointed the Burmese ambassador. There, Aung San Suu Kyi received a formal education, where she was influenced by the teachings of non-violence exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi. As a young woman, she entered St. Hugh's College at Oxford University in England, where she majored in politics, philosophy and economics. She choose these three main subjects believing they would best prepare her to aid in the development of her homeland.
After gaining her BA degree, Suu Kyi worked briefly as a teacher and historical research assistant. Though she arrived in New York City in the late Sixties to do post-graduate studies at New York University, she soon opted to postpone her studies in order to accept a position with the United Nations. Due to her financial expertise, she was placed on a select advisory committee that influenced the budget and administrative decisions for United Nations programs.
At the end of her third year of service for the United Nations, Suu Kyi made another choice. "She decided that a husband and children would be greatly preferable to a career in the U.N., however brilliant it was promising to be." 2 In 1972, she married Michael Aris, a British scholar of Tibetan civilization, who she had met five years previously while both were attending Oxford University. She returned with her husband to the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, where he had been working as a translator for the government and tutor for the royal family. One year later, Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband returned to England for the birth of their first son, Alexander. Four years later, another son, Kim, was born.
While her husband pursued an academic career at Oxford, Aung San Suu Kyi dedicated herself not only to motherhood, but to the researching of her father's life. "I began to learn what he had really been like, " she said, "and how much he had managed to achieve in his thirty-two years...I developed a strong sense of empathy as I discovered many similarities in our attitudes. It is perhaps because of this strong bond that I came to feel such a deep sense of responsibility for the welfare of my country."3 All of her life, Aung San Suu Kyi had an inner sense that one day she would be called to serve her country. Because of this inner knowingness, she had been mentally preparing herself for years to face the challenge of returning to Burma to serve her people in their time of need.
In 1988, destiny returned Suu Kyi to Burma to care for
her dying mother. It was a time of great upheaval, and it led to Suu Kyi's
instrumental involvement in the formation of a democratic movement, of
which she was elected leader. This resulted in her being placed under house
arrest. The year was 1989. The following year, she won a landslide victory
in national elections. Remaining
under house arrest, she refused the alternative of complete exile from her country as "totally unacceptable."
"I felt tremendous humility and tremendous gratitude," replied Aung San Suu Kyi upon hearing the news that she had been awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Such a selfless attitude reflects the dedication to both her deep Buddhist beliefs and the struggle for greater social justice in her native land of Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi first discovered the news while listening to a BBC broadcast on her shortwave radio, her only means of contact with the outside world. It was her son, Kim, 13, who accepted the award for her.
Acknowledged internationally as a leader in the tradition of non-violence, Aung San Suu Kyi has received many honors, including the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the Marisa Bellisario Prize. Suu Kyi is noted for her tolerance, patience and goodwill toward any opposition she faces. As a married mother with two sons, who set aside family life to represent the ideals of freedom, justice and personal dignity, Aung San Suu Kyi's life continues to be an example of sacrifice and perseverance for the Common Good.
by Richard Woodard
___________________________________
1. Philip Kreager, 1992 Current Biography Yearbook, p. 28.
2. Ma Than E, "A Flowering of the Spirit - Memories of Suu and Her
Family." In Freedom from Fear, Aung San Suu Kyi (Penguin Books,
1991), p. 253.
3. " In Freedom from Fear, Aung San Suu Kyi (Penguin Books,
1991), p. 292
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It is essential to understand the Banner of Peace and Culture as the greatest symbol. Yes, I can see that in the very near future the League of Culture will be established, in which will gather all the best representatives of thought , knowledge and creativeness..." Helena Roerich - August 21, 1931
It was a time in Russia not long before the revolution that an artist by the name of Nicholas Roerich approached Czar Nicholas II with an idea of protecting the country's cultural treasures in the event that, during armed conflict, looting and devastation should occur. The idea of safeguarding culture was the focal point of Nicholas Roerich's life, not only in the physical protection of culture, but in the spreading and sharing of culture as a means of increasing human unity. Through his worldwide travels and studies, Nicholas Roerich became known as a "cultural scientist." He spent most of his life not only learning about other cultures, but bringing the beauty of diverse cultures to others through his writings, paintings and lecturing. He propounded the ideal of peace and international brotherhood. His dedicated labor toward this end took form in the creation of the Roerich Peace Pact and the symbol of cultural protection known as the Banner of Peace.
Roerich's idea of establishing worldwide peace through the understanding of our globally diverse cultures and shared cultural heritage became reactivated in 1989, when the Writer's Union of the former USSR held a conference and decided to utilize Roerich's dream as a foundation for the formation of a new organization. With the support of the country's leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and his wife, Raissa, the International Association "Peace Through Culture" was born. Three years later, an International Congress of Peace Through Culture was held in Alma-Ata/Kazakhstan of the former USSR. The theme was "Towards Spiritual Concord,"and the congress was attended by international representatives of philosophical and religious groups in the diverse fields of science, politics and economy, among others. The congress was sponsored by PTC International Moscow, in conjunction with PTC Europe (headquartered in Germany) and PTC Kasachstan, under the auspices of the Kasach government. A basis for future cooperation was accepted based on the formula that "God, the Universe, and Cosmos" are synonymous concepts. It was also agreed that a common ethical platform, which would combine all cultures, be established.
In 1993, a multi-religious congress was sponsored by PTC India and supported by the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, the Metropolit of Delhi, was held in the holy town of the Hindus, Rishikesh, to set forth spiritual concord worldwide." The result of this conference was the establishment of Peace Through Culture branches in Japan, South Africa, Austria, Italy , France and the United States.
At a recent introductory meeting of the United States branch of Peace Through Culture, Willie Augustat, president of Peace Through Culture Europe, and vice-president of Peace Through Culture International, met with the head of the United States organization, Gita Saraydarian, and a gathering of interested people. Augustat presented an overview of Peace Through Culture, its origin, current struggles, successes, and future goals.
In speaking about the importance of culture, Augustat offered the following food for thought:
"Culture is the key to understanding, to insight, to heart. Our culture includes our family, our work environment, as well as our nation. But our understanding of culture should grow as we learn about other cultures - not how they look from the outside, but from the inside. We learn to respect other cultures through our study of them. No government can say tomorrow that there will be peace between two nations. Nations need to learn that other nations are not monsters. Only when we are able to enter into a dialog with others can true understanding take place.
"The main work must be done by all of us. Round-table meetings can be held once a month, in which religious, philosophical and cultural groups are given the opportunity to represent themselves, to tell about their philosophy, their ethical points of view. Culture is not only art, but ethics expressed through our own thoughts and feelings and by the way we act. We need to build Peace through Culture within ourselves."
When Nicholas Roerich was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1929, those who presented his name to the Nobel committe, stated "We firmly believe that eventual and lasting international peace will come only through the education of the people and through that steady and impressive propaganda for brotherhood created by culture, by poetry and by beauty in every field."
by Kathryn Agrell
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More and more often we see the expression "Global Consciousness." But do we actually know what it is? One day while pondering upon this, I fell across a list of words from Ina Crawford's book, A Guide to the Mysteries. Looking up the word consciousness, it said: " A man's cognition of his thoughts, feelings and actions - the virtue that makes him alert, aware or knowing. Consciousness is not only the sense of identity or self-consciousness, but also concerns the sense of the self's solidarity with everyone." 1
Well, one can ask oneself, what kind of shift or spring will take us from consciousness to global consciousness? We perhaps can have an idea about our globe as a living being, having its own consciousness as we have ours. But if we talk about ourselves as having global consciousness, then what? Perhaps one fine day, after years and years of hard work and striving, it may be possible that we can become conscious in such a way that we are also globally conscious. Then we will surely know all about our planet and it's out-of-the-way corners. We also will have experienced all we can upon this planet, thereby becoming aware, and wholeheartedly cooperating with, not only humanity, but also with the other realms: the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, and the Kingdom of Light, Love and Power, which we refer to as the Higher Worlds.
In the midst of my reflections, I had the opportunity
of presenting this question of global consciousness
to others - a large group of people, in fact, who came together in March at the Non-Governmental Organizations World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, Denmark. I felt so privileged to be a part of a group of people who are engaged in work that is precious and unselfish. Here are but a few of the responses I received from the question, "What does global consciousness mean to you?"
A co-worker from India's Ambedkar Centre for Justice and Peace: "We must become absolutely conscious of the problems of other people and make efforts to help where we can, especially to those in great need who cannot help themselves."
A Swedish doctor from Medecins Du Monde: "We are human beings together, all together on this Planet Earth, and we must meet and help each other."
A co-worker from Rumaeniensprojektet AF 1992 (A Roumanian project to aid neglected children): We should unite all our efforts now to do everything possible to help those in need."
A young man in Butik Salam: "It's better to help people to help themselves, to make it possible for them to earn their daily living through what they create."
A co-worker from Amnesty International: "Be aware of the silent speech in the world, of what's really going on out there...We must look farther than our own nose."
A co-worker from the Danish Interfaith Forum: "I feel as if I am a world citizen, and happen to be, not by chance, born in Denmark at this time. I look at Mother Earth, Gaia, as a living being."
Co-worker from the United Nations Bookstand: "In daily life, when making decisions, remember to think of the Wholeness."
A co-worker from the Lucis Trust: "Global consciousness has many levels... and there are a great many varieties of units in the wholeness coming to one great Unit."
Looking back at this meeting, I cannot but have the impression that many, many people around the world are thinking of humanity, and through goodwill are making an effort to help as many people as possible. Many are thinking about the planet itself and are striving to envision and work for what is best in terms of the Wholeness.
One of the greatest ways we can help in our striving for wholeness is through the sounding and spreading of The Great Invocation, so that more and more people can join in and circulate the frequencies of true Light and Love and Power.
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1. A Guide to the Mysteries, Ina Crawford (Lucis Trust, 1990).
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