Theos-Talk Archives (September 2006 Message tt00005)

Dear Friends, 
 
Not long ago, a  fellow theosophist sent me a CD with a great variety of theosophical texts. 
 
That included the amazing text which you will see below.  In it,  Boris de Zirkoff   examines the opportunities hidden in the recurrent moments of crisis our civilization has lived.    
 
This text was first published in 1944 in "Theosophia", but it seems perfectly valid for the period 2001-2012.  
 
In May/June 1944, the WWII was getting nearer to its end. The victory of democracies was already  foreseeable --  and we see a note of Optimism about the Future,  in this text 
-- an optimism we still need to recover in 2006-2007.  Take a look at it,  and tell me whether this is not inspiring today.  Boris was, no doubt,  one of the great workers in the 20th century. 
 
( By the way, I will be grateful to anyone who  can provide any basic biographical data about B. de Z., with stated sources if possible. The data I have are rather scarce. )     
 
Best regards, Carlos.   
 
 
 
THEOSOPHY:  THE NEED OF THE HOUR
                                                                        
 Boris de Zirkoff
 
            "In the crisis of our age is heralded the birth of a new civilization.  Out of the ashes rises, Phoenix-like, the shape of things to come.  The temporary dissolution of ethical standards, the wide-spread suppression of Truth, and the suicidal gospel of brute force and opportunism, are here neither denied nor disregarded.  But to the eyes of a deeper observer they are only the scum rising to the surface of the boiling cauldron wherein is enacted the alchemical process of racial transmutation, a spiritual regeneration of the vital streams of Humanity.
            That which seems to be the debasement of many a lofty ideal, or the stormy overthrow of once noble traditions, is but the clearing of the ground upon which nobler ideals and more enduring traditions will be erected in the course of cycling years.  The psychical and intellectual conflagration which dissipates into impalpable ashes what some had mistaken for unshakable edifices of Thought and Conduct releases at the same time the pent-up flood of a new spiritual vigor with which to build a brighter future for all men.  And while, in the dismal gloom of a temporary spiritual blackout, we see ancient and familiar lights going out one by one, greater and more effulgent Beacons already now pierce the enfolding darkness with their shafts of redeeming light.
            The crisis we are in must be faced and overcome.  None can seclude himself behind an imaginary wall of intellectual isolation.  Humanity is one and indivisible.  Every man or woman is an integral part of the Karman of the race, and has contributed his constructive or disruptive part towards the shaping of this or any other crisis.  The appalling misery of today is our own handiwork.  The World of Tomorrow will not be built for us by some Gracious divinities descending into our midst from a modern Olympus.  If it is ever to become an actuality, it will have to be erected, stone by stone, through our own self-devised efforts and under the guidance of our own spiritual manhood.  There is no other way!
            There is a road which leads into the dawning light of a New Era.  There is a message which fully answers the yearning of men for peace.  There is a knowledge which can solve our baffling problems and a code of conduct which can provide an unshakable foundation for a better and nobler World to be.  That road, the message and that Knowledge is Theosophy, the ageless universal spiritual tradition which no cataclysm has ever been able to obliterate.
            The lofty metaphysics of the Ancient Wisdom are only for the few, though they may be many.  The simple teachings of that timeless wisdom are, however, for the broad masses of the people, and they can be understood by all, rich and poor, educated and illiterate.
            Cause and Effect, the potential Divinity of man, Reincarnation, Ethical Responsibility, the Unity of all Life, the Solidarity of all the peoples of the Earth, their indissoluble Brotherhood or Oneness, the true nature of Death, the great precepts of conduct which the Sages of all times have outlined for us - these and other simple teachings, presented in understandable language and with the conviciton of the heart, striking a responsible fire in the hearts of others, could usher in a new Order of the Ages and accomplish that inner change of minds and hearts which neither centuries of organized religion, nor generations of scientific research, periodically prostituting its findings to the wholesale destruction of the human race, have been able to bring about. (...)  (...)" 

 
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[Initially published in THEOSOPHIA, Vol. I, No. 1, May - June 1944. A magazine published every two months under the auspices of Lodge No. 60, American-Canadian Section, Theosophical Society  (International Headquarters, Covina, California). Editors:  Weno R. Bergstron, Boris de Zirkoff ]
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