The Teaching of the Masters Helps Us
Think About the Present Human Situation
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
The Mahatma Letters, TUP edition, and a few Andean llamas
From the point of view of theosophy, human evolution unfolds in various long-term phases that run parallel to geological time.
Esoteric philosophy says: in one level of such evolution – which is simultaneously planetary and spiritual – that human souls, all of them, pass through seven races.
Of course a “race” here is not something merely physical, and it is not exclusionary. A “race” includes or will include sooner or later humanity as a whole. Through reincarnation, every human soul will be born in each “race”. Theosophy teaches universal brotherhood because mankind is one sole inclusive process. We are not separate from one another, as we are not separate from trees, animals, stars, the soil, dust, or planets.
Having said that, one should consider that according to theosophy the seven races are seven Mantric and Karmic Notes, or seven Tones in the music of the spheres: in other words, in the music of the soul’s evolution.
Theosophy says that the Andean nations and Central and North American indigenous peoples are descendants of the fourth race. And the fourth race develops especially the fourth principle or level of consciousness, in human beings, which means their emotional center.
The present materialistic civilization was built by or under the influence of Western Europe and post 16th century North America. It has developed the fifth principle of consciousness – thought and mind. It has expanded thought often while separating it from feelings, therefore disconnecting it from the fourth, emotional principle.
The cruelty of the Europeans regarding the indigenous peoples in the Americas, during the colonial period, is explained in part by this “separation” between thought and feeling. Of course there was cruelty during the fourth race but we will not examine this right now. It is enough to say that in the world of emotions, the fourth principle, there can be also separation. Mental fragmentation is often associated with emotional fragmentation. The various forms of the illusion of separateness lead to cruelty, masochism, sadism, and so on.
Fortunately, there are higher levels of perception.
In the Western culture, the sixth principle of human consciousness is symbolized by Jesus Christ. The sixth principle is the center of universal compassion, present in each of us. “Christ lives in every heart” because “Christ” means the spiritual soul of each human being, to use Christian terminology.
In the Letter XXIII-b, in “The Mahatma Letters” [1], one sees something interesting by the end of the answer to question number two.
The Master of the Wisdom says that “… the few of the old [fourth race] survivors, now in their second infancy, wait but for their Messiah – the sixth race – to resurrect to a new life and start anew with the coming stronger along the path of a new cycle”.
This means that the sixth race – the race of the sixth principle of consciousness, the race of universal compassion and planetary brotherhood, the next series of civilizations – is the Messiah, the saviour, the loving Brother of the remnants of the fourth race; among them, the Andean nations.
In other words, evolution unfolds in spiral.
You have to love your past in order to see your future, and to love and to build it as a healthy process.
The forerunners of the future come to the rescue of the wisdom, of voluntary simplicity, of the love of nature and other spiritual qualities present in the humble nations that are descendants of the fourth stage of human evolution.
By observing and purifying our emotions – fourth principle – we expand the connection to our own spiritual soul and divine intuition.
The Western “developed” nations are but the children of Ancient societies. They should be humble before Time, and grateful to the past; and should ask themselves why is it that every civilization must cease to exist after some time of apparent “glory”.
A “race” or “root-race”, in theosophy, corresponds to a much longer period of human evolution than we would normally think of. A root-race has to do with various geological cycles, which go far beyond the time-framework of our conventional anthropology.
During the first races of the present cycle of our humanity, for instance, we lived “in the Garden of Eden”.
The inspiring paradise of the Garden of the Lord and its pre-Adamic mankind is a myth or symbolic narrative which describes humanity before it needed to be fully physical. The separation of sexes and the eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge marked the moment when human life became entirely material and its mind emerged as a priority. Before that, says esoteric philosophy, we were mainly spiritual beings. The leap forward to physical existence occurred by the middle of the third race.
The fourth race – another very long period of time – occurred when Atlantis dominated world culture. The glorious times of Andean past are Atlantean. The same applies to the indigenous nations of Central and North America. From this single fact we can infer that it is a blessing to be a friend or a member of the Andean nations. Such an experience gives us a feeling of Duration, of a transcendent notion of Time – the father of wisdom. The Andean nations and other indigenous communities are the elder sisters and cousins of the Greco-Roman culture, and deserve profound respect.
Every race must go through seven sub-races during its lifetime, and different sub-races coexist most of the time. The ancient Andean and Central and North American indigenous nations correspond to one or two sub-races of the fourth root-race of our mankind. The ancient Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian and Far Eastern communities correspond to other sub-races. Ancient India, on the other hand, is the birthplace of the Fifth race. Souls need to learn from different situations, and he who is born in some race or sub-race today, may be born in a different one at a later time. Hence brotherhood and mutual help is the universal law.
Understanding the past is simultaneous to understanding the future. Your horizon must expand in both directions. Therefore, despising one’s past would only close the door to a sane future. Loving your grandparents and learning from them enables you to better love and understand your grandchildren, when the time comes for that.
A sub-race is a shorter phase of human evolution than a race, but it is not too short since it corresponds to a long series of civilizations.
In the Mahatma Letters, a master of the Eastern wisdom tries to explain to Alfred Sinnett, his lay disciple, that he has no reason to be too proud of Western material progress. Progress and especially a feeling of anxiety about material progress usually precede and prepare the end of a civilization. The master compares the cycle of native societies in the Americas with the cycle of present materialistic civilization:
“What do you know of America, for instance, before the invasion of that [region] by the Spaniards? Less than two centuries prior to the arrival of Cortez there was as great a ‘rush’ towards progress among the sub-races of Peru and Mexico as there is now in Europe and the U.S.A. Their sub-race ended in nearly total annihilation through causes generated by itself; so will yours at the end of its cycle.” [2]
Eternal time is cyclic. By having a “dialogue” with eternity, we can learn sacred lessons from past, near and distant, and thus live at least in part in syntony with the wisdom that transcends the ups and downs of human history.
Later in the same letter the Master says:
“The approach of every new ‘obscuration’ is always signaled by cataclysms – of either fire or water. But, apart from this, every ‘Ring’ or Root Race has to be cut in two, so to say, by either one or the other.” (Mahatma Letters, p. 156)
The last time, the cataclysm got to Atlantis by Water. Next time, it should be through Fire. And Fire as a source of destruction for civilizations, is linked to the excess of CO2 or carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; to the burning of forests, and the spreading of volcanic activity. This is something for us to take note of, and observe.
The master goes on:
“Thus, having reached the apex of its development and glory the fourth Race – the Atlanteans were destroyed by water; you find now but their degenerated, fallen remnants, whose sub-races, nevertheless, aye – each of them, had its palmy days of glory and relative greatness. What they are now – you will be some day, the law of cycles being one and immutable.”
And the Raja Yogi adds, regarding the timing of the process:
“When your race – the fifth – will have reached at its zenith of physical intellectuality, and developed the highest civilization (…); unable to go any higher in its own cycle – its progress towards absolute evil will be arrested (as its predecessors the Lemurians and Atlanteans, the men of the third and fourth races were arrested in their progress toward the same) by one of such cataclysmic changes; its great civilization destroyed (…).” [3]
Such a destruction will not be necessarily sudden. It has no precise date or time to occur. While the downfall of Atlantis, for instance, had its decisive moments, it was gradual in fact, and took a very long time. An open mind is an essential factor in searching for truth. We may learn more by asking good questions than by making an effort to believe in this or that possible answer.
We know that up to a certain extent the present civilization is spiritually blind. Its life is marked by fear and anxiety, largely because it is the prisoner of a short-term perception of time. Many of its citizens even ignore the basic process of reincarnation of spiritual souls, which takes place in strict accordance with the universal law of Karma and Justice.
How can human evolution get rid of such sociological limitations?
The master of the wisdom gives a few indications above. Many other hints and elements of information are found in a number of key passages in the teachings of authentic theosophy. Earnest students have much to observe and research about these days, and the Andean culture and traditions are a profound source of learning.
Some of our readers are familiar already with the fact that, according to Helena Blavatsky, there are great sages living in the Andean region; and that the masters and disciples of the Andes are close friends with the disciples and mahatmas of the Himalayas. [4] Such a mystery deserves a calm, wordless, contemplative investigation. It also requires philosophical and historical studies. It is by syntony and affinity that one gradually approaches the higher and more accurate levels of perception.
NOTES:
[1] See the lower half of p. 150 at the Mahatma Letters.
[2] From the lower half of page 149 at the Mahatma Letters.
[3] From pages 156-157 of the Mahatma Letters.
[4] “Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A.P. Sinnett”, TUP, Pasadena, California, USA, page 85.
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The article “The Andes and the Future” was published at the associated websites on 26 November 2021.
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Click to see the items of our section dedicated to the Andean Wisdom: La Sabiduría de los Andes (Textos en Varios Idiomas).
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Examine other articles by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
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