Religious Traditions, Cycles of Civilization, and the Anticipation of a World Teacher
By Roberto Assagioli
Published in The Beacon, April 1954
An address delivered in Rome and read in Venice, Florence, and Bologna, June 1952 — also given in German in Zurich, September 1952.
Editorial Note:
The abstract, subtitle, and cross-sections have been added by the editor for clarity and navigational purposes. The original wording of the text has been preserved.
Abstract
Roberto Assagioli examines the widespread phenomenon of messianic expectation across cultures and religious traditions. He argues that throughout history, periods of civilizational crisis have been accompanied by the emergence of great spiritual teachers who inaugurate new cultural and spiritual cycles. Surveying traditions from Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and modern esoteric movements, Assagioli identifies a shared anticipation of a coming world teacher or spiritual messenger. He further explores the symbolic interpretations of historical cycles, the psychological and spiritual significance of such expectations, and the role humanity must play in preparing for a new era characterized by unity, cooperation, and spiritual awakening.
A feature of contemporary life that markedly distinguishes it from the past is the amplitude and rapidity of communication. What happens in any part of the world is immediately transmitted to and known by people everywhere. The great news services and the army of newspaper correspondents transmit by a multitude of means the facts, the opinions, and even the photographic pictures of the day.
The Neglected Religious Dimension of Modern Life
But there is an aspect of human life about which news stories are scarce and generally neglected by journalists the religious. Largely only the notices which deal with peculiarities and oddities are drawn to the attention of the public for example that a Mohammedan sect annually offers to its Head, the Aga Khan, his own bodily weight in precious metal. For the rest the stories deal with the political and social repercussions of Church actions or with its spectacular ceremonies. The same can be said about leading periodicals and magazines.
All this explains why the public (including the intelligentsia for the most part ignores a fact of great significance: the expectation of a great religious revival. Generally, it is related to the invocation and the expectation of the coming of a divine Messenger, a Prophet, an Instructor, a Savior or even a divine Incarnation.
The Worldwide Rise of Messianic Expectation
This “messianic” expectancy is not new, but of late it has assumed world-wide proportions, being present in many parts of the world, and has evoked a vast undertaking of active preparation and of specific invocation.
Historical Examples of Spiritual Teachers
The expectation is based on indisputable historical facts. In each Age and to each race have appeared men of exceptionally high spirituality: founders of religions, sages, teachers, prophets. Omitting the more or less mythical figures, one has merely to recall Confucius and Lao-tze in China; Buddha in India; Zoroaster in Persia; Solon, Plato, and Pythagoras in Greece; Moses, Isaiah.
Jesus, Mohammed, and among the moderns — Baha-u-llah, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Gandhi, Aurobindo.
Esoteric Traditions of Spiritual Hierarchies
According to esoteric traditions, in addition to these Beings on the public stage, there exists an Order, a Hierarchy, a Brotherhood of Initiates, called variously Rishis, Mahatmas, Masters, who live unknown and ignored “behind the world scene”, but who gather and train disciples and who, incognito, beneficently intervene in the affairs of men.
Among others, the legend of the Holy Grail refers to these Men, the legend from which Richard Wagner extracted his subject matter for Lohengrin and Parsifal. In these operas, the Initiated are pictured as Knights of the Order of the Holy Grail, who live apart in a castle on a mountain top, but who, in response to the invocation of men, descend to protect the weak and vanquish the powerful and unjust.
There are numerous traditions regarding these Beings; as for example those concerning Christian Rosenkreutz, the presumed Founder of the Order of the Rose-Cross ; the Count Saint Germain, who is said to have played an historical part in France before the Revolution; the “Masters of Wisdom and Compassion” living in the Himalayas, testified to by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (who is said to have lived for some years with them), Colonel Olcott, Alice Bailey, Nicholas Roerich and others.
Three Types of Divine Messengers
These spiritual Messengers have been different from one another and just as different have been the various ways in which They presented Themselves, and were considered by the people among whom They accomplished Their missions. We may say that principally there have been three such ways.
The first is chiefly represented by the Buddha, who in his life and message gave evidence. that by himself, without outer help and only after long seeking, trials and errors, he arrived at truth and received illumination. While actively engaged in teaching, he founded a monastic order and gathered disciples together. He offered more a way (the “Noble Eightfold Path”) than a doctrine, and urged men to follow the same path themselves.
A second group of Teachers announced themselves, and were so accepted, as messengers, prophets, sent by God to teach His laws, spread His word and admonitions, and to indicate His will.
A third type instead has been held to be a direct manifestation of God His – actual incarnation. This occurred in Hinduism which believes in the various “Avatars” of Vishnu, and also in Christianity.
Our purpose is not to examine the validity of these respective positions, but to direct attention to the characteristics in common which they present. These Beings have frequently appeared to initiate a new cycle of civilisation and culture; they have taught and illumined; they have related and united diverse peoples and groups ; they have been witnesses and living examples of the Spirit; they have constituted a potent ferment; they have sown living seeds which later gave rise to spiritual movements and to the various religions. They have come almost always at times of grave religious, social and moral crises, either of a people or of an Age and in periods of transition from one Age to the next.
This has been clearly expressed in the words attributed to Krishna, an incarnation of the Supreme Spirit, in the great Indian poem, the Bhagavad Gita (The Song of the Lord) :
Whenever there is a withering of the law and licence reigns, then I manifest Myself.
“For the salvation of the good and the destruction of the wicked, to firmly institute the law, I incarnate from age to age.” (IV, 7-9)a
In the same way, the advent of the Messiah awaited by the Jews and the return of the Christ expected by Christians would be preceded by a period of wars and desolations, called “apocalyptic”, because of the vivid description of it contained in the Apocalypse (The Book of Revelation).
The Hindu Doctrine of Avatars
Among the various religions, Hinduism has most developed the doctrine of divine Messengers or Avatars. According to Monier-Williams’ Sanskrit dictionary, avatar signifies “descending from very far “. The root av seems to denote the idea of protection from on High; we can therefore say that the word “avatar” means “descending with the approval of the superior source and with beneficent intent in the place of arrival”.
According to Hinduism, Vishnu himself, who represented the second aspect of the divine Trimurti or Trinity (the Preserver), manifests cyclically as Saviour.
At present the Hindus are awaiting the Tenth Avatar or incarnation of Vishnu, called Kalki. They depict Him in the form of a white horse. According to Shri Aurobindo, the great Teacher who recently disappeared, the horse (ashva) already mentioned in the very ancient Vedic hymns, represents force. The colour white, synthesis of all colours, indicates fullness, totality (purna). Thus the white horse would symbolise the fullness of power.
This symbol of the white horse is also found, with an interesting coincidence, in the Apocalypse, Chapter 19:
” And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called the Faithful and the True (v.11) …. And the armies which were in heaven followed him on white horses …. (v.I4).”
Buddhist Prophecy of the Future Buddha
Regarding Buddhism, we shall quote first an interesting prophecy made by Gautama Buddha himself at the close of his earthly life:
“There will come a time, 0 monks, in which there will arise a Buddha’ (Illuminated) called ‘Maitreya’ (the Benevolent), a saint graced with wisdom in conduct, who will know the world, an incomparable guide of men who are disciplined, a Master of angels and of men, a blessed Buddha. All that he has known as his supreme cognitions he will make known to this world, with its angels, spirits and archangels, and to the race of philosophers and Brahmins, princes and peoples. He will teach his religion, glorious in origin, glorious in gradations, glorious in goal, in the spirit and the letter. He will proclaim a religious life, entirely perfect and perfectly pure.”
The famous Russian painter and writer, Nicholas Roerich, has also given various indications of the advent of the Maitreya. He conducted long and difficult explorations in Central Asia, and in his book The Heart of Asia he speaks at length of the Messianic expectancy widely held by the oriental peoples and of the mysterious City or Centre of Shamballa, from which would come the future Spiritual Teacher and where the New Age is being prepared.
Other indications on these themes can be found in the books of F. Ossendowski, Beasts, Men and Gods and of Alice Bailey Initiation Human and Solar. In this last, among other things, it Is said:
“Shamballa exists… in matter of the ethers higher than the physical world and only when man has developed etheric vision will the mystery beyond the Himalayas be unveiled.”
Jewish Messianic Expectation
In Judaism, the Messianic expectancy has a central place. As a foremost exponent of Jewish thought and spirituality, Martin Buber said:
” The messianic expectation is the most profound idea … of Judaism.” (Seven Talks on Judaism).
One of the thirteen principles of faith formulated by Maimoinides in the XII century: ” I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Messiah, and if He delays, I will wait each day until He comes.”
Since so much weight is given to this Messianic doctrine, it is well to understand the significance that the Jews have attributed to it.
The Hebrew word ” mashiach ” means ” anointed “, i.e. elected, invested with authority, initiate. This appellation was given not only to kings, to priests and to patriarchs, but also to a non-Hebrew sovereign, Cirus, King of the Persians, who permitted the return of the exiled Jews to Babylonia. The word subsequently was used to indicate an ideal king of the race of David — and also, in some passages of the Bible, the entire people of Israel.
This messianic concept varied according to its exponents. Some emphasised the expectation of a personal Messiah, others the prophetic hope of a messianic age. But in general the idea has three essential characteristics in common :
- Its universality. The awaited era of peace and justice will come not only for Israel, but for all peoples.
- Its realisation here, on the earth. The coming of the Kingdom of God will consist of a regeneration, symbolically indicated by Isaiah with the expression “new heavens and a new earth ” (65, 17), but not only as a spiritual renewal, a conversion, a return to God, but visibly as social justice, as peace among men. According to the famous phrase of Isaiah, “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruninghooks.”
- The active cooperation of men necessary to attract the grace of God, His intervention. ” The universal redemption “, writes Dante Lanes, ” must be the product of the suffering, of the passion, of the action of men “, (Apologia dell’.Abraismo, p. 65).
There is also another interesting concept in Jewish mysticism in the messianic era, what was esoteric or mysterious doctrine will become universal knowledge. Sholen (Les Grands Courants de la Mystique Juive, pp. 85-86).
The Christian Doctrine of the Second Coming
In Christianity, the doctrine of the Second Coming or return of the Christ is an important part of His message, that which constitutes its crown, indicating the necessary completion of His mission as Saviour. In fact, references to the return of the Christ are copious in the New Testament; 319 of them have been found.
It is not easy to understand the significance of all those passages; many are expressed in symbolic form and some in a way that seems obscure or veiled. We should not then be surprised that the interpretations which have been made, in the past and at present, are diverse and conflicting. Here we must limit ourselves to pointing out only a few essential points. Let us take first of all what interests us most, the time of the Advent. Those who cling to the actual letter of the text believe that the Advent will signify “the end of the times “, either immediately or after a millenium, and with it the last judgment. According to others, however, that expression is to be understood in a relative and symbolic sense. The “end ” therefore would signify the end not of the world but of a world; i.e., of an era, a cycle, a civilisation.
Zodiacal Cycles and Historical Ages
This interpretation is in harmony with the astronomical computation of zodiacal cycles. As it is known, because of the “precession of equinoxes” approximately every 2200 years, the sun enters on March 21st into a new zodiacal constellation. Thus in the two thousand years before Christ the sun passed through Aries, while in the two thousand years preceding it passed through the Sign of Taurus. During the Christian era the sun has passed through the Sign of Pisces; while at present the sun has entered, or is entering, the Sign of Aquarius.
It is interesting to note how the religious symbolism of the various eras contains the symbols and reflects the characteristics attributed to the corresponding zodiacal Sign. Thus during the cycle of Taurus we find the cult of Mithras with its slaying of the bull, and in Egypt we find Apis having the head of a bull, representing Osiris.
In the subsequent cycle of Aries, there flourished in Egypt the cult of Amon-Ra, a divinity with the head of a ram; in the Jewish religion the symbol of the scapegoat and the use of the shofar, a trumpet made from a ram’s horn ; in ancient Rome the legend of Romulus and Remus being the children of Mars, related to the homonymous planet which governs the Sign of Aries.
In the life of Jesus and in the Christian religion the symbolism of the fish appears repeatedly. Among his disciples there were fishermen who then became ” fishers of men “. The early Christians used the design of a fish to symbolize the Christ. The mitre of bishops has the form of a fish’s head.
We find then in the prophecies regarding the new advent of the Christ clear concordances with the symbolism of the Sign of Aquarius and with the psycho-spiritual characteristics attributed to it. He Himself; foreseeing the mission He had to accomplish during the Aquarian Age, availed Himself in a significent manner of the symbolism of the Sign. He told His disciples they would meet a man carrying a pitcher of water and that they should follow him into the upper room to prepare the Easter dinner at which He would participate. (Luke 22, 10). Now the symbol of Aquarius is of a man pouring water from a vase. The spiritual quality of Aquarius is brotherhood, cooperation, communion between peoples and between men; they will therefore symbolically seat themselves together in the presence of the Christ and divide among themselves the bread and the wine, the symbols of nourishment, material and spiritual.
Also of extreme interest are the indications of the manner or method of Christ’s Advent two of them above all. It is said repeatedly that He will come “on the clouds of the sky and that” “all men will see Him”. In reference to this, our thought goes to the modern means of transportation, and of seeing — the airplane and television. To those who are restrained by conventional ideas it will seem strange or even blasphemous to think of such possibilities. But an objective. consideration will lead one to conclude that the expected Messenger will avail Himself of all the means of modern technique in order to facilitate and strengthen His mission. If even today Cardinals find it convenient to use airplanes and the Pope the radio, it would seem strange if the Christ could not or would not use the means that are now available to Him.
During the century of the Christian era, the expectancy of the New Advent remained dormant for long periods, but at various moments it emerged again in an intense manner. The “millenium ” during which the Christ would reign on earth was understood in diverse ways. Towards the year 1000 this date became significant in a literal sense and therefore the end of the world was expected with great terror. At present in many Christians there is the hope, the faith, the invocation of the return of the Christ. The movement in which this messianic hope is most prominent is that of the ” Adventists “.
In Catholicism, this fact is not officially given prominence, but for many Catholics there exists the expectation and the hope of a Second Coming. The French Catholic writer Francois Mauriac, in an article entitled “Unc attente commune“, has written : ” We have a common expectancy : the faithful Jews hope that the Messiah will come and we hope that He will return. That which for us will be a return for them will be a coming.” (‘ Le Figaro“,29th November, 1948).
Some years before Abbot Valet in an article printed in the periodical ” Le Catholique Francais ” had written : “The enlightened Christians must cry more than ever towards Christ : May Thy Kingdom come! They must invoke with ardent wishes the Coming of the Saviour, Who can reestablish all things in justice. The Holy Spirit who gives them this hope urges them to repeat constantly this prayer. The Church, its Spouse, a widow more desolate than ever, must invoke, above all, His Advent.”
Islamic Expectations of the Mahdi
In the religion founded by Mohammed there is also the expectancy of the coming of a prophet sent by God. In this regard, I am referring to material furnished by Professor Bausani, of the University of Rome. There are in this religion two somewhat different currents or traditions. According to one, the Mahdi (which means ” the man well guided by God “), He who is coming, would be the self-same Jesus. He will appear on a minaret over the Mosque in Damascus at the end of the time, in order to convert the world to Islam in its original purity. In the last century there was a self-proclaimed Mahdi in the Sudan who put himself at the head of a revolt against the English. Another was Mirza Ghulam Amad who initiated the pacifistic reform movement of Ahumadiyya.
The second tradition accentuates the human-divine character of the prophets and particularly of the legitimate descendants of Mohammed, called Imam. According to this tradition, the Imam Mahdi expected will be the twelfth descendant of Mohammed, who disappeared in the year 874, and who is actually “hidden”.
The reform movements of Islam have had and have today the tendency to spiritualise the legends regarding the Mahdi and to consider the future Mahdi as a spiritual reviver or a founder of a new spiritual or prophetic cycle. Moreover, Nicholas Roerich, in the book already cited, refers to the Musulmen of Persia, Arabia and Turkestan believing in the coming advent of Muntazar, who will lay down the basis for the New Age.
The Baháʼí Interpretation of Progressive Revelation
According to the Bahai movement, which is spreading also in Europe and in America, its initiator, Mirza-Ali-Mohammed, proclaimed Mahdi or Prophet, was called Bab (i.e., ” gate “). His successor, Mims. Husayn-Ali, called Baha’u’llah (Glory of God) took the position of a spiritual Teacher inspired by God. His message is wide and universal. According to him, all religions are of divine origin, correspond in their essential points and represent different facets of the One Reality. Divine revelation is a continuous and progressive process. For that reason he did not consider his own revelation or message as final, but said that a major measure of truth would become revealed in the future unfolding an un¬limited evolution of humanity. (See: Shoghi Effendi, ” The Faith of Baha’u’llah”, World Order Magazine, October, 1947),
Secular Prophecies of a New Age
Outside of organised religion, there is at present a restless and anxious search throughout humanity, the sense of having arrived at a turning point, at a decisive moment in human affairs. And, next to the doubts and fears of a final catastrophe, there are hopes and intuitions of the beginning of a new era. Among the lay prophets of this sort the most interesting is Hermann Keyserling, who in his book Die Neuentstehnmade Welt (Le Monde qui Nait) gave some previsions which have already been confirmed. In his other books, especially Das Buch vom personlichen Leben, he describes at length the particular features of the cycle which is now commencing.
There is also, among others, Jon Marlin, to whom Camillo Pellizzi referred in an article published in La Nazione, july, 1951. He states in conclusion:
“Marlin says that the history of men moves in cycles of about 500 years each, and because Christ began one of these periods which we call aeons, the progression of the cycles corresponds to the half-milleniums of the Christian calendar. Now each aeon has its own dominating spirit which is antithetical to the spirit of the cycle that precedes it and which follows it. When an aeon nears its end, the social and, spiritual presuppositions on which our existence is based are all in, confusion and nearly in collapse; men then feel that the end of the world is near; but what is approaching, in reality, is only the end of that cultural, social, civil and moral world in which they have lived and by which they have formed their judgments and evaluations.”
“From this disintegration, not atomic but spiritual, many men will save themselves, and some peoples: they will be saved who are humble, to whom has been promised, even before the glory of the skies, the peace of the heart while on earth.”
A significant confirmation has recently been reported by Guido Piovene, correspondent of the Corriere della Sera. in an article from Paris, dated May 27th, 1952, he writes :
“Comedies with a religious foundation become frequent. if they do not treat religious questions in a strict sense, they deal with what is called the human condition It is noteworthy that the book selling most in France in 1951 has been the Bible.” ” Signs of the Times “, observes Piovene.
Theosophical Announcements of a World Teacher
But the more important data regarding the new advent can be found in the teachings of various modern esoteric movements. it is known that in the first years of this century the Theosophical Movement announced the expected appearance of a “World Teacher” and there was formed the ” Order of the Star in the East ” to prepare the Coming. In the beginning many believed to recognise such a Teacher in Krishnamurti, but after a short time he himself denied such an allegation and dissolved the “Order of the Star”.
In order to interpret this fact, which disturbed many people, and provoked a crisis in the Theosophical Society, it is necessary to examine the different ways in which the advent may take place. This examination is helpful, even necessary, in order to understand and to evaluate correctly also other facts, whether of the recent past or of our day.
Four Modes of the Spiritual Advent
The advent manifests itself in several ways, which (let us note well) do not exclude each other, but which seem all to be part of the divine plan. They are, in the main, four:
- An influx of spiritual energy from the higher planes; above all a current of love which will produce goodwill, communion, brotherhood; also, certain great, principles or dominant ideas, among which is that of the advent of a divine Messenger.
- The coming of the “forerunners”, represented by disciples and initiates of various grades. Given the world wide proportions of the present crisis, it seems obvious that one or a few forerunners will not suffice, but that there will be needed and there will come a greater number and in many fields.
- The “overshadowing”, or direct influencing, more or less complete and lasting, of the: “agents of God “.
- The visible presence and public action of “Him Who Comes”.
These various possibilities permit us to interpret the “Krishnamurti case”, as well as various others. He may have been one of the forerunners and been “overshadowed “, in some way and for some time, at the beginning of his work as teacher. His teaching served to break down old forms, external and internal, to which men cling for support. Such a task is useful to clear the ground where the new construction will rise, and thus it too is a part of the preparation.
The various methods of the advent help us also to explain the “fact that in numerous mediumistic or inspirational groups the presumed “entities” present themselves in the name of the Christ or even as He Himself. This latter pretence is of course an illusion, but there may be some element of truth in the first affirmation, in the sense that the “entities” appearing before the group, or the superconscious of the person receiving the communications, may have tuned in on the current and messages which constitute the first method of the advent. The essential content can express the truth, but the impersonations, the added colouring and precise details can be in error, the product of interference from other currents of a psychic nature or from the recipients themselves.
But by far the most important and complete information has been given by an Oriental Teacher with the cooperation of Alice A. Bailey in the book The Reappearance of the Christ (Lucis Publishing Co., New York, and Lucis Press, Tunbridge Wells, England).
The Role of Human Cooperation
I should like now to, emphasise an aspect of the teachings which has an immediate application. It is that hope, passive waiting are not enough, but that there is required an active cooperation on the part of humanity. It is up to all of us “to prepare the ways” of the Lord. This will facilitate, hasten, or even actually make possible His coming.
Invocation as Preparation for the New Age
Among the various methods of preparing “the ways”, the first essential— as is well known — is the use of the invocative method and particularly of an Invocation now used throughout the world. This Invocation in fact addresses itself to the three fundamental aspects of Divinity: Light (wisdom); Love and Will ; and by using it we too can put to work all three aspects which exist in us as well as in us who are sons made “in the image and likeness of God”.
Moreover, the conscious use of this Invocation has the power to direct all the more or less indeterminate massed forces of aspiration, hope, and prayer of humanity to its goal: the Christ and the House of the Father. Performing an act of invocation has great importance. In a certain sense, today should not be considered as a point of arrival or conclusion, but as a new start , a new cycle: The Aquarian Age is just at its dawn: the new civilization and the new culture are to be created. As the Tibetan Teacher pointed out, the Invocation which we use will be the prayer of all humanity for the Aquarian Age. For that reason it is essential that all those who aspire to serve humanity should consider it their duty and obligation to spread the Invocation and promote its daily use.
