To speak of time is to speak of the experience, which we have every day, of being immersed in a stream of events and thoughts that seems to flow in a single direction.
Plato defined time as ‘the moving image of eternity’ (1), i.e. that measure of movement inherent to the sensible world in which the concepts of past, present and future are inserted as what gives meaning to the generation and corruption of forms, while eternity is connoted by an eternal motionless present, albeit dynamically pulsating with life.
The Greek world agreed with the cyclical view of time of Eastern thought, which does not speculate on the term; Plato’s words echo the Vedas where we read “Time generated the fateful destiny. In Time the burning Sun shines. In Time the eyes spy from afar. In Time are all existences. In Time is consciousness and life, in Time is concentrated the name”. (2)
The time of the Vedas is that entity which, through the sacred Word and divine Sacrifice, conquers the world and propels it forward; everything in the world of forms is temporal and time, in this world, stands at the origin of all things: “… Time, long ago, generated the things that were and the things that will be. (…) On Time rest all the worlds. (…) Having conquered the worlds with the Sacred Word, Time, the supreme God, advances”. (3)
“There are, we argue, two forms of Brahman: time and timelessness; what is prior to the sun is timelessness; it has no parts. That which begins with the sun, however, is time and this has parts”. (4)
Time, therefore, has to do with corruptible and transient existence, whereas cyclical eternity pertains to the imperishable essence as well understood by the Vedas, which imagined that above Time stands a filled jug, the inexhaustible origin of Time, its timeless and transcendent source.
This source is accessed not through movement or tension but stillness, the repose of being that dwells in man, the peace that whispers in the intimate human depths.
This eternity, which manifests itself through cycles, is also the image of the breath of the cosmos, a breath modulated according to the amplitude of the creative consciousness that emits it: Brahma’s days and nights follow one another with an extent inconceivable to the human mind (5), while within them arise and set lesser cycles, equally inconceivable; the Constellations, to limit ourselves to the Solar System, scan their circular dance in almost 26.000 years (6), divided into twelve steps, while man, on Earth, computes his life in years, hours and breaths, which are the rhythm of his existence.
Man, immersed in the flow of time, pays little attention to the succession of cycles, which mark not only his existence, but above all the turn of cosmic events, and little does he realise the different energies that gradually pour into space and onto the Earth.
This unawareness condemns man not to understand in their essence the phases of passage from one cycle to another; the chaos he sees around him disturbs and frightens him and makes him retreat into the narrow confines of material forms in the hope that everything will pass, while he compulsively clutches in his hands what he believes he possesses.
Instead, it is in the breath of the Constellations that the different phases of the rhythmic pulsation to which we are most closely subjected unfold: we are now in a phase of transition, that perilous phase of ‘travail’ (evident in the state of conflict, confusion, individualism and separate-ness that we notice in the world) that sees the waning of the energy of the Age of Pisces and the rising of the Age of Aquarius.
This shift implies a change in the energy affecting the system and the Earth and the consequent transformation in the substance capable of responding to this incoming flow of energy; the transition from an Age in which the ‘watchwords’ have been compassion, devotional aspiration and sacrificial love to an Age in which brotherhood, unification and service will be emphasised presupposes a radical reorientation of consciousness.
The two Ages, symbolised by the figures of the Saviour and the Server, are now passing the baton on the way to the fulfilment of Man’s inherent spiritual nature.
“The result of what is happening today [written in the Fifties] must, sooner or later, produce an at-one-ment between all nations and peoples. At-one-ment is ever (under evolutionary law) the consequence of sacrifice. Of this, Christ’s sacrifice was the symbol and the guarantee, impulsed as His life and activities were by the Spirit of Peace. As He made ‘of twain, one new man, so making peace’ (Ephesians 2:15) so today out of the duality of soul and body, humanity is achieving the same ends and the result of this final stage of the Piscean Age will be the fusion in consciousness of soul and body. The Aquarian Age will demonstrate an increasing expression of this at-one-ment, wrought out in the crucifixion of humanity at the present time. The difference between this coming stage and that of the past is that, in the past, the soul has sought this development and at-one-ment and (from the angle of evolution) it has been slowly and gradually attained, but in the future, it will be consciously sought, achieved and recognised by man upon the physical plane as a result of the present period of ‘giving-for’ the whole, of the best which the individual can give.” (7)
The energy of the Age of Aquarius, bolstered by the ordering flow of the 7th Ray, which gradually strengthens its manifestation, and by the emergence, from 2025 onwards, of the 4th Ray, will therefore be directed into a ‘scientific’ and conscious understanding of the essential principles behind phenomenal appearances, while ushering in a cycle of new creative activity.
Such understanding will be underpinned by the realisation that only right human relationships, cooperation, brotherhood and unity are the corrective remedies for these times of separateness, dispersion, fear and deception: “Laboring for the future means transforming the present. If people understood that only the future exists, cooperation would draw near.” (8)
These corrective measures will reveal themselves as the founding pillars of a New Culture and Civilization which will have as key energies Joy, image of the brilliance of solar Intelligence, and Strength, or the ability to bring the supreme Will into manifestation: “So you should not waste time seeking after the commonplace, when there are so many possibilities that draw you upward. The heart’s joy lies in striving upward.” (9)
If the fruit of the Age of Pisces is that “… at last the power of physical death is definitely broken and the signature of the Resurrection is revealed” (10), here can unfold an Age in which the divine spirit that animates every man can not only be recognised, understood and nurtured but above all legitimised as the unifying element of all Humanity, that element capable of transforming the selfishness of the small self into the Service of the higher Self.
“Service is not in furthering ordinary felicity but in bringing benefit to humanity. It may be difficult to admit individual personalities, but the face of all humanity will be acceptable.” (11)
“This word [unity] is uttered often, but rarely is it applied to action. Can many people get together in unity? No sooner does the principle of labor bring them together, than occasions for discord arise. It is impossible to explain what unity is if in the heart there is no conception of Great Service.” (12)
Not only that.
The gift of the Age of Aquarius will be the replacement of the reign of personal consciousness, however necessary it may be at an early stage of the journey, with the group consciousness, the ‘Christ consciousness’, which will allow the progressive materialisation of Brotherhood in the human race.
We can already see today the first impulses and the first results of the movement triggered by this process of transition from one Era to another:
“The time has now come when there are enough people to be found who—having themselves made the religious and the mental approaches to truth definite factors in their consciousness in some small measure, and having established enough soul contact so that they can begin to touch the world of ideas (upon the intuitional levels of consciousness)—can employ a new technique. (…) Together and as a group they can establish the ideals and develop the techniques and methods of the new schools of thought which will determine the new culture; together and as a group they can bring these ideas and ideals into the consciousness of the masses, so that schools of thought and world religions can be blended into one, and the new civilisation can emerge. It will be the product of the mental and emotional fusion of the techniques of the Piscean Age, and it will thus produce an eventual manifestation upon the physical plane of the plan of God for the immediate future. (…) The effort of the future will be to bring down into manifestation the consciousness of the soul through the pioneering efforts of certain groups. It has therefore, as you will readily understand, to be a group effort because the soul is group conscious and not individually conscious; the newer truths of the Aquarian Age can only be grasped as a result of group endeavour. This is relatively a new thing. (…) Today many are seeing the vision, sensing the plan, and dreaming dreams which they can work out together. This they can do because they recognise each other, because they are beginning to know themselves and each other as souls, because their understanding is united and because (and this is of prime importance) the light of the intellect, the light of knowledge, the light of the intuition and the light of understanding is evoked within them; it enters not from without; and in that light, together, they see Light. It is a group activity, a group recognition, and the result of group at-one-ment.” (13)
At this epochal juncture, therefore, it is urgent to turn to the higher Models capable of anchoring the human consciousness to the cosmic Laws: the Heavens, the first model of communion and concord; the Hierarchy, ruled precisely by the Sign of Aquarius, which as a luminous chain of Brotherhood runs through Space and guides on the path of return to the One; Harmony, which invites each consciousness to participate in the majestic creative chorus of the universe.
Today (14) in the outer and inner Heavens vibrates the fiery loving trine between Pluto in Aquarius and Jupiter in Gemini; the two Luminaries ‘move’ the aerial substance of the Signs in which they dwell and are preparing to regenerate consciousnesses from the depths through the magnetic power of Love, ‘the Victorious’.
And to be able to fully grasp these flashes of light, we must be vigilant and reach out to the future with all the tension we are capable of: “Dream of the future and you will see the regeneration of the world.” (15)
This is why we turn once again to ancient wisdom that distinguished between Chronos, the god of time understood as the linear flow of the temporal flux that generates and devours everything, and Kairos, the elusive god that signified the present moment to be seized at once and in full awareness, otherwise it would be lost forever.
Let us therefore grasp the signs of the times with open eyes, mind and heart:
“The morning is oft misty and the chill penetrates the heart.
But you know that happiness is coming.
Be warmed by the fire of consciousness of the future.
Twilight does not last.
Yes, yes, yes!
The battle rages furiously.
The ear clearly discerns the stamping of hooves.
Yes, yes, yes!
Be imbued with strength!”
(Leaves of Morya’s Garden – The Call § 248)
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1. We refer to the Platonic doctrine of time as expressed in the Timaeus, 37d-38c.
2. Atharva-Veda XIX, 53, 6-7
3. Atharva-Veda XIX, 54, 3-6
4. Maitri-Upanishad VI, 15
5. Madame Blavatsky, in Cosmogenesis, mentions these great cycles pointing out that a Day, and a Night, of Brahma consists of 4.320.000.000 mortal years. A year of Brahma is made of 360 days and 360 nights of Brahma, while a Maha-kalpa or Great Era consists of 100 years of Brahma, for a total of 311.040.000.000.000 years. These days and nights of Brahma are “… the name given to the Periods called Manvantara (Manvantara, or between the Manus) and Pralaya (Dissolution); one referring to the active periods of the Universe, the other to its times of relative and complete rest — according to whether they occur at the end of a “Day,” or an “Age” (a life) of Brahma. These periods, which follow each other in regular succession, are also called Kalpas, small and great, the minor and the Maha Kalpa; though, properly speaking, the Maha Kalpa is never a “day”, but a whole life or age of Brahma, for it is said in the Brahma Vaivarta: Chronologers compute a Kalpa by the Life of Brahma; minor Kalpas, as Samvarta and the rest, are numerous. In sober truth they are infinite; as they have never had a commencement, i.e., there never was a first Kalpa, nor will there ever be a last one, in Eternity.” (Helena P. Blavatsky, Cosmogenesis)
6. By precessional cycle is meant that astronomical phenomenon, the ‘precession of the equinoxes’, whereby the apparent Sun, seen from Earth, on the day of the March Equinox, sights a different zodiacal Constellation every approximately 2,160 years (a period of time defined as an Era), currently pointing between the stars of Pisces and Aquarius. The complete cycle is therefore about 25,920 Earth years, called in ancient times the Year of the Pleiades as the name was probably coined at the time when the March Equinox coincided with the Pleiades (between 2,170 and 2,250 BC).
7. Alice A. Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 168
8. Agni Yoga Series, Leaves of Morya’s Garden – Illumination § 226
9. Agni Yoga Series, Heart § 39
10. Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age II, p. 249
11. Agni Yoga Series, Brotherhood § 102
12. Agni Yoga Series, Brotherhood § 297
13. Alice A. Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 30-31
14. Today, according to the heliocentric perspective, the trine between Pluto in Aquarius and Jupiter in Gemini is active. The Lords of Will and Regeneration and Love/Wisdom distribute their gifts in the systemic space and ignite the yearning for renewal in all hearts.
15. Agni Yoga Series, Leaves of Morya’s Garden – The Call § 333
Thank you for this scintillating work!