Sunday, September 18, 2016

Collaging Baba


Below is a discourse given as if by Meher Baba in the book Gems from the Discourses of Meher Baba, published by Elizabeth C. Patterson (New York) 1945. The discourse is titled The New Humanity. You needn't read it. Simply scroll down past it to see the point being made.

THE NEW HUMANITY

In the hour of trial, let the thought of everyone be not for the limited self, but for others—not for the claims of the ego-life, but for the claims of the Divine Self which is equally in all. It is a mistake to ignore human suffering as merely a part of the illusory universe. Not by ignoring human suffering, but by handling it with Creative Love, is the Gateway opened for Life Eternal; and not through callous indifference, but through active and selfless service, is secured the attainment of that transcendental and illimitable Truth, which is at the heart of the illusory universe.

Material adjustment is only a part of the wider problem of establishing spiritual adjustment: but spiritual adjustment requires the elimination of the self not only from the material aspects of life but also from those spheres which affect the intellectual, emotional and cultural life of man.

To understand the problem of humanity as merely the problem of bread is to reduce humanity to the level of animality. But, even when man sets himself to the limited task of securing purely material adjustment, he can only succeed in this attempt if he has spiritual understanding.

What we get, in identification with a narrow group
[16]

or section or with some limited ideal, is not a real merging of the separative self but only an appearance of such merging. A real merging of the limited self in the ocean of universal life involves complete surrender of separative existence in all its forms.

The New Humanity will come into existence through a release of love in measureless abundance; and this release of love itself can come through the spiritual awakening brought about by the Masters. Love cannot be born of mere determination: through the exercise of will, one can at best be dutiful. One may, through struggle and effort, succeed in securing that his external action is in conformity with his conception of what is right: but such action is spiritually barren, because it lacks the inward beauty of spontaneous love. Love has to spring spontaneously from within: and it is in no way am enable to any form of inner or outer force. Love and coercion can never go together; but, though love cannot be forced upon any one,  it can be awakened in him through love itself. Love is essentially self-communicative: those who do not have it, catch it from those who have it. True love is unconquerable and irresistible; and it goes on gathering power and spreading itself, until eventually it transforms everyone whom it touches. Humanity will attain a new mode of being and life through the free and unhampered interplay of pure love from heart to heart.

When it is recognized that there are no claims greater than the claims of the Universal Divine Life which without exception  includes every one and everything, love shall not only establish peace, har-
[17]

mony and happiness in social, national and international spheres, but it will shine in its own purity and beauty. Divine Love is unassailable by the onslaughts of duality and is an expression of divinity itself; and it is through Divine Love, that the New  Humanity will co me in tune with the Divine Plan. Divine Love will not only introduce imperishable sweetness and infinite bliss in personal life, but it will also make possible an era of New  Humanity. Through Divine Love, the New Humanity will learn the art of cooperative and harmonious life; it will free itself from the tyranny of dead forms and release the creative life of spiritual wisdom; it will shed all illusions and get established in the Truth; it will enjoy peace and abiding happiness; it will be initiated in the life of Eternity.

A hodge-podge of collected ideas can never be a substitute for a direct and fresh perception of the Goal. The new world-culture will have to emerge from an integral vision of the Truth independent of existing traditions and not from the laborious process of selection and compilation of conserved values.

The vast vision of the Truth cannot be limited by any creed, dogma or sect: however, it helps men to transcend these limitations, not by blind and total denial of any value to the existing creeds, dogmas and sects, but by discovering, accentuating, unfolding and developing such facets of the Truth as might have been hidden in them.

All narrowness limits love. In every part of the world, humanity is breaking itself into narrow groups
[18]


Reading the above discourse, one would assume it is the same discourse by the same name in the Discourses (1967), or as it originally appeared in the November 1940 issue of Meher Baba Journal. But in fact it is a collage of the discourse in the Journal and another message Baba had prepared and read out to a group of Indian politicians in 1942 titled The Spiritual Significance of The Present War.

Below I have shown exactly how the collage was put together. I have highlighted with blue the parts from the Journal, and in red the parts from the 1942 message.



    The New Humanity 

    —It begins with a paragraph lifted from the middle of the 1942 message. You can find the line here in the new and continually revised online LM.

    In the hour of trial, let the thought of everyone be not for the limited self, but for others—not for the claims of the ego-life, but for the claims of the Divine Self which is equally in all. It is a mistake to ignore human suffering as merely a part of the illusory universe. Not by ignoring human suffering, but by handling it with Creative Love, is the Gateway opened for Life Eternal; and not through callous indifference, but through active and selfless service, is secured the attainment of that transcendental and illimitable Truth, which is at the heart of the illusory universe.

    — Here it switches to the 1940 Journal article

    Material adjustment is only a part of the wider problem of establishing spiritual adjustment: but spiritual adjustment requires the elimination of the self not only from the material aspects of life but also from those spheres which affect the intellectual, emotional and cultural life of man. To understand the problem of humanity as merely the problem of bread is to reduce humanity to the level of animality. But, even when man sets himself to the limited task of securing purely material adjustment, he can only succeed in this attempt if he has spiritual understanding.


    —About three pages of the article are omitted here

    What we get, in identification with a narrow group or section or with some limited ideal, is not a real merging of the separative self but only an appearance of such merging. A real merging of the limited self in the ocean of universal life involves complete surrender of separative existence in all its forms.


    —About one page is omitted

    The New Humanity will come into existence through a release of love in measureless abundance; and this release of love itself can come through the spiritual awakening brought about by the Masters. Love cannot be born of mere determination: through the exercise of will, one can at best be dutiful. One may, through struggle and effort, succeed in securing that his external action is in conformity with his conception of what is right: but such action is spiritually barren, because it lacks the inward beauty of spontaneous love. Love has to spring spontaneously from within: and it is in no way am enable to any form of inner or outer force. Love and coercion can never go together; but, though love cannot be forced upon any one, it can be awakened in him through love itself. Love is essentially self-communicative: those who do not have it, catch it from those who have it. True love is unconquerable and irresistible; and it goes on gathering power and spreading itself, until eventually it transforms everyone whom it touches. Humanity will attain a new mode of being and life through the free and unhampered interplay of pure love from heart to heart. When it is recognized that there are no claims greater than the claims of the Universal Divine Life which without exception includes every one and everything, love shall not only establish peace, harmony and happiness in social, national and international spheres, but it will shine in its own purity and beauty. Divine Love is unassailable by the onslaughts of duality and is an expression of divinity itself; and it is through Divine Love, that the New Humanity will co me in tune with the Divine Plan. Divine Love will not only introduce imperishable sweetness and infinite bliss in personal life, but it will also make possible an era of New Humanity. Through Divine Love, the New Humanity will learn the art of cooperative and harmonious life; it will free itself from the tyranny of dead forms and release the creative life of spiritual wisdom; it will shed all illusions and get established in the Truth; it will enjoy peace and abiding happiness; it will be initiated in the life of Eternity.

    — Now it switches back to the message to Indian politicians

    A hodge-podge of collected ideas can never be a substitute for a direct and fresh perception of the Goal. The new world-culture will have to emerge from an integral vision of the Truth independent of existing traditions and not from the laborious process of selection and compilation of conserved values.


    — Here some of that message is omitted

    The vast vision of the Truth cannot be limited by any creed, dogma or sect: however, it helps men to transcend these limitations, not by blind and total denial of any value to the existing creeds, dogmas and sects, but by discovering, accentuating, unfolding and developing such facets of the Truth as might have been hidden in them.

    — One more page is omitted

    All narrowness limits love. In every part of the world, humanity is breaking itself into narrow groups based upon the superficial and ultimately false differences of caste, creed, race, nationality, religion or culture: and since these groups have been long accustomed to separative distrust and fear , they have indifference, contempt or hostility towards each other. All this is due to ignorance, prejudice and selfishness: and it can only be mended by fostering the spirit of mutuality which breaks through artificial isolationism, and which derives its strength from the sense of the inviolable unity of life as a whole. Creative leadership will have to recognize and emphasize the fact that all men are already united with each other not only by their co-partnership in the Great Divine Plan for Earth, but also by virtue of their all being equally the expression of One Life. No line of action can be really helpful or fruitful, unless it is in en tire harmony with this deep Truth. The Future of Humanity is in the hands of those who have vision.


    Blue is from the 1940 issue of the Meher Baba Journal
    Red is from the 1942 message The Spiritual Significance of The Present War.

    No comments:

    Post a Comment