“True it is ‘faith that saves,’ but the faith that is without understanding is not faith, but credulity.” (Edward Maitland. Selected Texts, Quotes and Glossary. See Preface, The Story of Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland and of The New Gospel of Interpretation; emphasis added)
Categoria: Metaphysics: its Importance
Two Things About the Christian Religion
“At the present moment there are two things about the Christian religion which must be obvious to every percipient person; one, that men cannot do without it; the other, that they cannot do with it as it is.” [Matthew Arnold, quoted in The Perfect Way p. 6 — see also in Selected Texts, Quotes and… Read More
(It Is) Necessary a Greater, Wiser, and More Benevolent Intermingling of the High and Low of Society: Without the Soothing Influence of a Brotherhood, and the Practical Application of the Buddha’s Esoteric Doctrines the World Will Not Avoid Hitherto Unheard-of Disasters, Cruelty and Enormities
“To achieve the proposed object, a greater, wiser, and specially a more benevolent intermingling of the high and low, of the Alpha and the Omega of society, was determined upon. The white race must be the first to stretch out the hand of fellowship to the dark nations, to call the poor and despised “nigger”… Read More
(The) Communist Party Developed a Pyramidal Structure of Remarkable Organizational Efficiency: We May Regret the Application of the Tool, But We Have to Admire Its Technical Perfection
“We may think many things of the Communist Party: but we must recognize that the mechanisms it developed are of remarkable efficiency, and that we cannot deny them a democratic character, due to their constant care in keeping in touch with the bases, and of always ‘listening to the masses.’ (…) The strength of the… Read More
Fetish of Mass Suffrage Without Any Qualification Whatsoever
“Undoubtedly each man is competent in his own sphere, to say what he wants for his town or village and who will serve it best among those he knows. But when it comes to a question of deciding intricate issues of national and international import, it is but common sense that only those should exercise… Read More
Proposal of a System in Harmony with the Law of the Universal Brotherhood (Annie Besant, N. Sri Ram and Jai Prakash Narain)
“Some time ago Pandit Nehru, in one of his speeches, threw out rather vaguely the idea that some day, instead of the present manner of elections to the Indian Parliament, some system, less direct and more suited to conditions in India, might be considered. Since then, Mr. Jai Prakash Narain (…) has more definitely proposed,… Read More
India Should Evolve a New Model of Democracy
“If India can evolve a form of democracy in which there is some chance for the needed wisdom to come to the top, she will thereby be serving the best interests of her own people, as well as setting an example that might help and inspire other peoples.” (N. Sri Ram. On the Watch Tower, p.… Read More
Participatory Democracy (or the Democracy of the Future), in the Vision of Professor C.B. Macpherson
“Let me turn finally to the question of how a participatory democracy might be run if we did achieve the prerequisites. How participatory could it be, given that at any level beyond the neighbourhood it would have to be an indirect or representative system rather than face-do-face direct democracy? If one looks at the question… Read More
Principle of the Democracy of the Future in One of the Oldest Books: the I CHING
A worldview that contemplates an essential unity in relation to the deep nature of human beings’ consciences and, at the same time, a great diversity of capabilities, is certainly not something new. Millennia ago this same general notion, about the decisive importance of a clear perception, as well as a fair equation and a harmonization… Read More
Above All Things Teach the Doctrine of the Spiritual Grades or Levels, Which Have No Relation to the Outward Condition of Life
“Above all things teach the doctrine of the Spiritual Grades or Levels. The Christians made a serious mistake in requiring the same rule of all persons. Castes are as ladders whereby to ascend from the lower to the higher. They are properly spiritual grades, and have no relation to the outward condition of life. Like… Read More