A MODERN AGE
(Essay 11 in the Perennial Psychology Series)
‘There is no epoch in history that seems to us as it must have to the people who lived through it. What we live through, in any age, is the effect on us of mass emotions and of social conditions from which it is almost impossible to detach ourselves. Often the mass emotions are those which seem the noblest, best and most beautiful. And yet, inside a year, five years, a decade, five decades, people will be asking, “How could they have believed that?”’
Doris Lessing - Prisons We Choose To Live Inside
Every age, every epoch, has its thinking patterns and modes of behaviour. Each age considers its knowledge to be superior to what has gone before. In each age, people are under the effect of the incumbent conditioning and the mass emotions. It is not easy to detach from these influences, and the majority of people live their lives in obedience to them. It is useful in each age to be aware of those influences which are dominant and that are utilized to popular effect. The perennial psychology takes into account these dominant operative forces and functions in the knowledge of their presence and their likely impacts. The modern seeker in the world of today likewise needs to have a keen awareness of these foremost impacts and forces.
Within each era there are thought models or narratives that are popular. Often, they come as part of the social programming of each given epoch. That is, each era cultivates certain sets and parameters of thinking which are promoted and protected. These then filter down to influence how people’s perceptions, beliefs, and thinking patterns are formed. People may have the ‘belief’ that they have free will, when this is in fact a delusion based on a perceived liberty of behaviour. Just as software programs the parameters and goal definitions of a machine, so does social conditioning program a set of codes into people and their cultures. Once these codes are known it can become fairly easy to predict the attitudes and behaviour of large groups of people. In general, humanity is much less individualized than its members believe themselves to be. The following tale illustrates how each epoch has its way of thinking. It is called ‘Three Epochs’ -
1. Conversation in the 5th century. “It is said that silk is spun by insects and does not grow on trees. And diamonds are hatched from eggs, I suppose? Pay no attention to such an obvious lie.” “But there are surely many wonders in remote islands?” “It is this very craving for the abnormal which produces fantastic invention.” “Yes, I suppose it is obvious when you think about it — that such things are all very well for the East, but could never take root in our logical and civilized society.”
2. In the 6th century. “A man has come from the East, bringing some small live grubs.” “Undoubtedly a charlatan of some kind, I suppose he says that they can cure toothache?” “No, rather more amusing. He says that they can ‘spin silk.’ He has brought them with terrible sufferings, from one Court to another, having obtained them at the risk of his very life.” “This fellow has merely decided to exploit a superstition which was old in my great-grandfather’s time.” “What shall we do with him, my Lord?” “Throw his infernal grubs into the fire, and beat him for his pains until he recants. These fellows are wondrously bold. They need showing that we’re not all ignorant peasants here, willing to listen to any wanderer from the East.”
3. In the 20th century: “You say that there is something in the East which we have not yet discovered here in the West? Everyone has been saying that for thousands of years. But in this century, we’ll try anything: our minds are not closed. Now give me a demonstration. You have fifteen minutes before my next appointment. If you prefer to write it down, here’s a half sheet of paper.”1
We live in a modern age of great distraction as well as incredible promise. There is little doubt that these are indeed testing times. They are testing in regard to grasping what it fully means to be a human being – to be living a life as a conscious, human being. People are blinded to the many creative possibilities and capacities inherent within them. These capacities are dulled by a restrictive social and cultural environment that has become increasingly institutionalized and managed.
Living in a modern world places upon the individual other responsibilities. In part, these responsibilities have to do with finding a sense of one’s self; and for one’s inner life to develop in harmony with external demands. The individual requires a certain amount of independence in order to freely have self-expression. The suppression of self-expression, which is dominant in many cultures, often leads to dependency upon external institutions as well as certain indulgences, such as consumerism or distracting pursuits. These are often a way of escaping anxiety or depression which are emotional and mental responses to the suppression of a person’s inner self. Many people have a sense that their creative capacities are underused, or that they are not given opportunities for full self-expression. The push toward further automated lifestyles, which is predominant in modern industrialized nations, is not conducive to the full self-expression of one’s inner life. Within this environment, a person is compelled to find the necessary conditions that can allow them to be receptive to a developmental path. These are some of the obstacles that face a modern seeker in the world today.
It is imperative that any person seeking a developmental path have a deep sense of self-worth. Otherwise, it may be the case that what they are seeking is a substitute for their own lack of self-worth. This state is not only non-conducive to any real learning path but is detrimental to interior growth. Life in the modern era is accustomed to providing for a sense of lack. Modern societies promote the feeling or sense of lack in order to be able to provide a customized, consumptive lifestyle as a means of compensation. The sense of lacking self-worth leads to unhealthy behaviour and must be avoided at all costs. Self-worth is the individual’s own measuring stick and can guide through the uncertainties that both life and the inner path throws up. At times, one’s own self-worth is the only thing that lights the way forward. It must be nourished and cherished, and others forbidden from attempting to diminish it or take it away.
Although the modern era is characterized by mass communications and connections, there is a considerable absence in the concept of service. Within most societies, there is a lack in the understanding of service as a greater good. Service is often provided in terms of commercial care or paid assistance, yet not in human heart-centered interactions. The perennial tradition stresses that human service is a fundamental part of the path. What the aspirant seeks for themselves must be found through what they can give back, both as an individual as well as part of the bigger picture. The developmental path is a reciprocal process, and perennial psychology has deep knowledge about what genuine universal service requires.
Genuine service is only possible when a person has become individualized; that is, operating from the essential self rather than from cultural norms and expectations. Each culture has its own values on what it deems to be service. For example, acting out of a desire to feel generous or worthy is not true service as the person is participating in the hope of reward – in this case, to receive a sense of self-worth. A person must already have a balanced degree of self-worth in order to move ahead on a path of development. To move ahead by gaining emotional rewards upon the way will prove more detrimental than beneficial. Unfortunately, most modern cultures, in the western hemisphere at least, place high value and esteem upon such acts that generate emotional gratitude and social inclusion. In fact, there are many award ceremonies and glamorized spectacles that praise such ‘socially worthy’ actions. To any serious aspirant and seeker, these are but distractions upon the path. The perennial psychology rather views ‘invisible service’ as being the correct path.
One formulation of the function of service has been named as adab. This term has been used in the past to represent a code of conduct within some circles. The original root meaning of the term adab means ‘to prepare a banquet; to invite to a meal.’ It’s more general and cultural meanings have come to represent politeness, courtesy, good manners, respect, correct behaviour, proper conduct, discipline, and service. Adab is courtesy, respect, and appropriateness. It is not formality but a code of conduct – of being – that adheres to the specific context in which a person operates. As it states, it is a respectful appropriateness. This implies that the individual is fully aware of their cultural surroundings and adjusts their conduct to apply to the situation. This could be in terms of relationship between friends, in relation to family members, in relation to the society and cultural milieu, etc. In some quarters, it has been referred to as ‘beautiful action.’
There are many varied aspects to the concept of adab – conduct upon the Path – and they act as important guidelines to the seeker in any age. Such conduct is timeless, and is essential regardless of time, place, and culture. Some of these aspects may be described as the following:
· To make one’s practices inwardly sincere, rather than outwardly apparent.
· To recognize one’s own faults, rather than finding faults with others.
· To recognize one’s own ego and to struggle against its overt manifestation by remembering that our greatest ally is Love.
· To limit one’s preoccupation, worry, vanity and ambition over the world and the worldly.
· To seek to heal any wrong that may have been caused to another, and to correct any misunderstanding as soon as possible.
· To remember that no good will come out of the expression of anger or excessive amusement.
· To be patient with difficulties.
· To recognize and remember that all people are members of the same family.
· To avoid gossip and bad-mouthing.
· To be indifferent to favour or benefit for oneself. To show responsibility for receiving what is one’s due.
· To be free of envy and ambition, including the desires to lead or instruct others.
· To do what one does in terms of genuine service - not for the desire for reward or the fear of punishment.
The perennial psychology is a system of great compassion, although seldom recognized for being so. This is because it does not engage in outward show, or cultural forms of what are considered to be compassion or ‘compassionate acts.’ In general assessment, compassion is seen as sympathizing for the suffering of others. It is regarded as showing concern for the physical, emotional, and mental state of others and to act for their well-being. Compassion is therefore something that is shown – it is expressed and can be recognized as a virtue by observers. The perennial psychology functions in recognition of the well-being of others although does not necessarily express or manifest this publicly or in ways commonly recognized. This is partly because emotions are greatly manipulated within external environments. Societies and cultures have shown misplaced emphasis upon the evaluation, and conditioning, of various emotional behaviour and responses. Also, that to engage in culturally sanctioned modes of compassion, which may attract praise and recognition, can prove detrimental to the inner development of the individual.
The modern age, with its global media communications and overt commerciality and consumerism, specifically targets peoples’ emotional states. Compassion has been exploited as another form to gain financial advantage. It must also be recognized that the perennial perspective operates within a broader scope than most people can realize, and its concerns are not only for the here and now. The lens through which modern society evaluates certain value sets is distinctly limited in terms of the perennial perspective. It would be advisable for the aspirant in today’s world to be aware of these subjective value sets and how they are utilized (or manipulated) in various contexts.
The seeker will find it necessary to exercise great patience and flexibility when dealing with the everyday obstacles and chaos that life throws up. Modern life is one of bombardment in terms of impacts and stimuli. The environment of the human senses has become vastly crowded in recent years with an influx of electromagnetic energy, electronic sounds and noise, as well as high levels of deliberate misinformation and targeted messages. In a world of mass communication, we are constantly being told what we should want, or believe, or that we need certain things. The simple truth is that all people share a similar longing, a similar hunger, as this next story shows. It can be called ‘The Story of the Grapes’ –
Four travellers – a Persian, a Turk, an Arab, and a Greek – had agreed to travel together as companions for some time in order to share the road. They had spent the morning walking a great distance and had arrived at a village feeling very hungry. They found that they only had a small amount of money between them and had thus decided to use it to buy some food for them all. This had started them arguing over what food they should buy.
‘I want to buy angur,’ said the Persian.
‘I want uzum,’ said the Turk.
‘We should buy inab,’ said the Arab.
‘No, we need to buy stafil,’ said the Greek.
Another traveller who was passing by happened to be a linguist and he said to them, ‘Give me your money and I will be able to buy food to satisfy all your desires.’
At first the group of four travellers were distrustful of the new traveller, yet finally they agreed to let him have their money to buy some food for them all. The man went to a fruit shop and bought four bunches of grapes which he returned to the group.
‘This is my augur,’ said the Persian.
‘And this is what we call uzum,’ said the Turk.
‘You’ve brought me inab,’ said the Arab.
‘No, this is what we call stafil in my language,’ said the Greek.
The grapes were equally eaten between the four travellers and they soon realized that their argument had been due to their lack of understanding in the language of the others.
The travellers are like the ordinary person in the world. The linguist is similar to a guide upon the perennial path. People recognize that they need something because of an inner hunger, yet they often give different names to this longing. Yet despite the different names attributed to it, it is the same thing. It may be called different names by religious institutions, or by philosophers or theorists. However, it is only when a person of knowledge appears (as in this case the linguist) that such hunger can be provided for with the correct nourishment. It can be said that people do not fully know what they need. Or they are unable to articulate their need due to a lack of self-knowledge or awareness.
Similarly, the perennial tradition is the wine made from the grapes. This longing for grapes represents the initial stage. The wine is not yet offered until the earlier stage has been absorbed and understood. This wine is the fruit of wisdom. The grapes are the earlier need for knowledge. Knowledge and wisdom are not the same, although modern society often confuses the two together. Likewise, modern life generally takes information to mean knowledge. Again, these are two distinct forms. Contemporary society has little understanding of wisdom. Although the word is familiar, yet few people can grasp what it really means. The modern age has steered away from the concept of essentialism. It prefers to view things in terms of relativity. Yet this shift into anti-essentialism is also a drift away from seeking meaning. Modern life (or ‘post-modern’ life) has a plurality of ‘possible meanings’ yet they lack depth. The perennial path identifies an ultimate Truth rather than a series of lesser truths that are relative. Because this Truth must be experienced to be understood, it cannot be adequately expressed in words.
The modern age places great faith and trust in words and language; that is, in external expressions. This perspective has resulted in the human mind developing to adapt to these strengths, whilst other functions have become atrophied. Any mechanism can only function for those uses it has been prepared for. This applies also for human cognition. People tend to take information and attempt to turn it into wisdom. That is partly why modern life is so bad at formulating the fundamental questions about who we are, where we are going, and what is the meaning of life. To process these questions the modern mind seeks to disentangle threads of information. It is largely unprepared for grasping insights of wisdom. It is for this reason, amongst others, that the modern seeker of truth will find themselves within the minority. This has always been the case.
The modern mind, to speak in general terms, has reached a functional level of stability, which is in-keeping with the overall stabilization of human societies. Yet at the same time, the human mind is underused in so many ways. People have become accustomed, and largely satisfied, to deal with information rather than pushing further ahead to transmute this into knowledge and then wisdom. These are stages of a process and are not given or ‘received’ without due diligence, effort, and conscious intent. Within the last century, for example, there has been a shift from having black and white televisions to receiving broadcasts in colour. Current technology now boasts high-definition, plasma, and high-resolution pixel reproduction. This shift can be seen as an analogy with how human consciousness operates. The television broadcast was only received initially in black and white because of the lack of sensitivity of the TV (our minds). This black and white transmission may be equated with information. By developing the sensitivity and capacity of the receiver (i.e., the human being), then the broadcast can be received in full colour – this may be called as knowledge. To transmute this colour definition into ‘high-definition’ requires an extra level of technology (i.e., a ‘developmental technology’), which can be referred to as the transformation of knowledge into wisdom.
The modern age tends to deal with this question of capacity by activating two general responses: i) to develop the intellect – this also includes pushing the technological side; and ii) to play with emotions and emotionalism. The effects of these strategies are that: i) there is a vast increase in the accumulation of information and data. This data collection lacks purpose and meaning and further isolates human society; and ii) emotionalism becomes further exploited and manipulated through media, propaganda, and popular distractions.
Both these responses lack any understanding of purpose and meaning, which is fast becoming a feature of the modern era. This is one of the reasons why the perennial psychology – as a modern expression of the perennial tradition – is so important at this time. There is a great need for the developmental path to be operative within the modern world. The idea of gnosis (direct experience) and of transcendence (inner development) have become discarded in recent times in favour of materialism and material consumption. The modern dominant paradigm is one that strives to construct an artificial world that is self-enclosing – a reality that has no place for the metaphysical or the intangible (the non-material). The dilemma for the seeker of today is that modern life lacks awareness of the metaphysical. Life has become like a hall of mirrors, each reflecting a viewpoint, a perspective, a hypothesis, that is vying for attention and control. It could be said that the modern age has attempted to excommunicate the presence of the esoteric, the science of wisdom. Yet the inner vision, the perennial Truth, can never be extinguished - only eclipsed. Now, within this barren landscape, it may be that the perennial tradition is finding greater need amongst people. The perennial psychology answers this need by presenting the ancient science of wisdom in a context and language appropriate for the times.
It can be stated that in each historical age, those working within the perennial tradition have made knowledge of the developmental path available to society in general. This knowledge has served to assist social advancement and cultural development, whether through institutions, organizations, academies, or projects. This is an example of how the practical use of external systems and groupings can be utilized for the transmission of higher knowledge. At the same time, the deeper wisdom has always been made available to the few who showed the capacity to receive. The modern seeker can find what they are in need of within all times and places – if they know how to look. In the modern age, there are new currents to attend to upon the seeker’s path.
Taken from ‘THE MODERN SEEKER: A Perennial Psychology for Contemporary Times’ (Beautiful Traitor Books, 2020). Available online as print & ebook.
References
1 Shah, Idries. 1995. The Magic Monastery. London: The Octagon Press, p25
The mind, conditioned by mass information and technological advancement, has lost its sensitivity to wisdom...