Theos-Talk Archives (September 2006 Message tt00060)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "carlosaveline" 
<carlosaveline@...> wrote:
>
> 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. (...)  
(...)" 
> 
>  
>             ******************
>  
>  
> [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 ]
> --------
> 
> 
>Carlos -

A collection of articles by De Zirkoff ( Feb.22,1901 - March 4, 1981)
can be found in "The Dream That Never Dies" published by Point Loma 
Publications ( www.wisdomtraditions.com ) including 22 pages of 
autobiographical notes by Boris on how he first encountered 
Theosophy, escaped Russia during the revolution, arriving in Sweden, 
meeting Katherine Tingley, arriving at Point Loma. His comments on 
Katherine Tingley and G . de Purucker etc. The book includes essays 
on the Theosophical Movement, HPB, Judge and others, basic 
Theosophical teachings, Science and Theosophy, letter from Nicholas 
Roerich to deZirkoff in 1939 etc.

Ken