LeyOutline and an Evocationla Rael - The Essential Rudhyar - An

8/13/2019 LeyOutline and an Evocationla Rael - The Essential Rudhyar - An

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I. FOUNDATIONS

1. EXPERIENTIAL: THE CYCLE/THE SEED

Dane Rudhyar wa !"rn #n Par#$ Fran%e$ "n &ar%h '($ 1)*+$ into a middle-class

family of Norman and Celtic ancestry. His youth was marred only by ill health, which led in1908 to a life-threatening operation that remoed his left !idney and adrenal gland, and the

sudden, untimely death of his father in 1911. "he period of conalescence following surgery

permitted his nascent mind and imagination to deelop in peaceful solitude. #t the age of

si$teen, shortly after his father%s death, he had an intuitie reali&ation of the cyclic nature of

all e$istence ' of all natural organisms and especially cultures and their artistic

manifestations. He felt that the (uropean culture was passing through the )autumnal) phase

of its cycle and that the music of *ebussy particularly represented the poignant but

ephemeral and decadent beauty of such a phase. "he outbrea! of +orld +ar was for him

an )euinoctial storm) confirming his intuition.

rom /udhyar%s point of iew, then and now, any person liing at such a time faces a basic

choice. "hat is, symbolically spea!ing, he or she can identify himself or herself either with

)the realm of the leaes) ' with the glowing but soon decaying products of the ending cycle

' or with the small, inconspicuous seeds that hold the promise of new life the following

)spring.) "o identify oneself with the )realm of the seed) means to utterly dedicate oneself

to the new life of one%s species by condensing within oneself the )harest) of one%s natal but

dying culture, to seer oneself from that culture and become self-sufficient yet open to a

basic )mutation,) and to wor! to lay the symbolic and conceptual foundations for a new

cycle of culture when conditions for it are right.

/udhyar%s choice was )seedhood.) n 191, as soon as he became twenty-one, he left aris,

seered himself as completely as possible from his natal rench culture, language, family,

mental conditioning, and name, and came to #merica. He identified himself as )a seed

blown across the ocean . . . to sow itself in the fertile, irgin soil of a %New +orld.)% n

reali&ing the symbolic nature of his intuitions and acts, he also reali&ed the significance of

symbols2 far from being )unreal) they constitute the root-reality affecting the mentality and

behaior of human beings. n #merica in the 1930s and %40s he tried to promote the idea of

a )new #merican ciili&ation) ' to which no one responded. "he )winds) of preailing

opinion held against the )seed)2 there was only Ciili&ation 5with a capital C ' +estern

Ciili&ation6, and it was what came at the end of the long, linear march of )rogress) haingstarted with )barbarism.) "he )New +orld) seemed to offer only roc!y, unreceptie ground.

7et the seed, too, was unready. t contained certain innate faculties which could be used

constructiely only when their function and field of operation became clear. /udhyar had to

pass through periods of inner deelopment, seere testing, and maturation. #mbialent

e$periences could be used constructiely, but of course they need not. He also had to find

some connection with the new ground, #merica ' a way to ma!e an impression, to become


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!nown.

"he initial way was music. /udhyar came to #merica as a composer of orchestral and piano

music and as a writer of boo!s and articles about music. He wrote about the music and

musicians of the time he !new and also about riental music, which then was totally

un!nown and unappreciated in the +est. ater on, when his musical endeaors were madefutile by the :reat *epression, the Neoclassical moement, and +orld +ar ll, the field of

astrology opened as an unsought aenue of contact with the #merican consciousness. 7et

whether the means be music or astrology, what /udhyar had to bring could be e$plained

and understood only on the basis of a new philosophical outloo! which too! many years to

mature fully. t started in 191; with a daily study of boo!s at the New 7or! ublic ibrary.


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'. PHILOSOPHICAL:

ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHIES AND THEOSOPHY

,e-ween 1*1 and 1*') Rudhyar ade an #n0de-h -udy "2 "%%u3- and 4ar#"u

Or#en-a3 h#3""h#e5he always stresses that Hindu philosophy in particular is not

monolithic, the ndian subcontinent haing produced many types of philosophy, some

almost entirely materialistic, others focusing almost entirely on transcendent realities6. His

studies confirmed his early intuition about the importance and uniersality of cycles. The

Se%re- D"%-r#neof H. .


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II. CONCEPTUAL FOR&ULATIONS

A a h#3""her$ Rudhyar8 #n-en- ha !een -" 2"ru3a-e, as inclusiely as he could,

a )new) frame of reference for understanding what it means to be human, especially in a

time of crisis and potential transformation such as we are passing through today ' not to

establish a dogma or )school) of philosophy per se. He has tried to formulate a set of

eocatie and consistent images enabling indiiduals who are ready, to ta!e the ne$t step in

their eolution, as indiiduals, as members of the (uro-#merican culture, and as

participants in the actuali&ation of the human potential on the planet earth. n relation to

the way human consciousness has deeloped during the two millennia of +estern

ciili&ation, his wor! follows the precedent set by the founders of the si$ great >chools

5darshanas6 of ndian philosophies, and of other #sian systems haing behaioral,

psychological, and mental implications and applications2 each system addressed the leel of

consciousness and the biopsychic needs of a particular race, type, or class of human beings

and represented a practical, realistic way for them to reach the ne$t possible eolutionarycondition? each system and its practical applications was offered to persons ready and eager

to transcend the limitations of the culture which had formed their minds and patterns of

behaior.

1. THE EXPERIENCE OF CHAN9E

F"r Rudhyar$ -he eer#en%e "2 %han7e # -he "- 2undaen-a3 "2 a33 huan

eer#en%e.His philosophy and approach to psychology studies the way the e$perience of

change gies rise to the awareness of repetitie changes, to the sense of time, and to theentiti&ing of repeated changes into persons and ob@ects.

"he e$perience of repetitie changes leads to the awareness that time is cyclic ' that is,

that it operates in units integrating a multiplicity of actiities and eents. "he e$perience of

repeated relations with the sources of changes gies rise to the reali&ation of wholes in

space ' both to the awareness of ob@ectie wholes to which the e$periencer is related and

to the e$periencer%s sub@ectie reali&ation of being a whole himself or herself. >pace is the

generali&ation and abstraction of this e$perience of relationship.


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'. 6HOLES IN TI&E: CYCLES

E#-en%e #3#e a%-#4#-y and %han7e; %y%3e are er#e "2 "rdered %han7e.# cycle

is a whole in time haing a more or less well-defined beginning, middle 5culmination6, and

end. t begins in a )seed condition,) with a release of potentialities which will be actuali&ed

5at least to some e$tent6 during the )spring) and )summer) uarters of the cycle. "he

culmination of the cycle, its symbolic )flowering,) reeals its harest of positie

accomplishment, its failure to actuali&e some potentialities, and the by-products and waste

of its course of deelopment. *uring its )autumnal) and )winter) phases new )seeds) are

formed, out of which a new cycle will proceed the following )spring,) while )leaes)

5ineitable by-products6 decay to proide raw materials for the new cycle. "he ne$t cycle

5be it cosmic or personal6 proceeds in answer to the need of these raw materials to be gien

a )second chance) for harmonious embodiment.

+hile succeeding cycles proceed according to the same pattern, which is characteristic of all

cycles, whateer their scope or leel of operation, the contents of two cycles are neere$actly the same. "his is because the relatedness of the multiplicity of factors operating

within a cycle introduces an element of unpredictability or indeterminacy. Hence, for

/udhyar, there can be no Niet&schean eternal return? cycles follow and build upon one

another in a spirallic way. Aoreoer, for him,

)"he concept of the cycle is at least potentially the most inclusie of all symbols, because it

%constitutes a frame of reference for all symbols Band e$periences? it enables us to situate

and to gie a structural meaning to any and all symbols Band e$periences. t answers

perhaps to the most profound need of the human mind, the need to harmoni&e, within an

intelligible pattern of order and significance, ideas and beliefs, modes of feeling and

behaing, which though radically different must be granted an ob@ectie and historical-

geographical alue.) 5P3ane-ar#5a-#"n "2 C"n%#"une$p. 3486
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(. 6HOLES IN SPACE: ENTITIES

6h#3e %y%3e -ru%-ure -he r"%ee "2 e#-en%e #n -#e$ e#-en%e an#2e-

a-#a33y #n wh"3e' limited fields of interrelated functional actiities. +holes are

)cyclocosms)? they hae boundaries in time 5a life-cycle or span of e$istence6 and in space

5cosmos D a life-field6.

ntegrating the multiplicity of elements and functions of all e$istential wholes is a principle

of unity, N( or >( 5/udhyar normally uses these words with all letters capitali&ed6. n

The P3ane-ar#5a-#"n "2 C"n%#"une$he calls it the rinciple of +holeness and li!ens it

to the Hindu principle atman2 in itself N( is nothing 5no thing6 and does nothing, yet

without it nothing 5no whole6 could e$ist.
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+. HOLARCHY AND DHAR&A

Rudhyar ha %"#ned -he -er h"3ar%hy -" re2er -" -h# h#erar%hy "2 wh"3e w#-h#n

wh"3e w#-h#n wh"3e. . . cycles within cycles within cycles. t is a hierarchy of

containment, not 5as in goernmental, corporate, and military hierarchies6 of command2

esser 5less inclusie6 wholes Bor cycles operate within greater 5more inclusie6 wholes

Bcycles, and greater wholes Bcycles regulate the actiities and rhythms of lesser wholes

Bcycles, each of which, by performing a function within the greater whole Bcycle of which it

is a differentiated part 5but also a whole6, actuali&es an aspect of the greater whole Bcycle.

"his actuali&ation constitutes the dhara5destiny or truth-of-being6 of the lesser whole.

"wo types of relationship thus operate within the holarchic unierse2

a. 4er-#%a3 re3a-#"nh#between lesser wholes and greater wholes of which they area part, the wholeness of the greater whole 5its actiity and consciousness6 including

the wholeness 5actiity and consciousness6 of the lesser whole? and

b. h"r#5"n-a3 re3a-#"nh#between wholes operating at the same leel.


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>. E?OLUTION AND THE T6O06AY COS&IC PROCESS

6h#3e "-her -h#n@er5for e$ample, >muts, +hyte, Eoestler, on muts and Fung considered the presentday human condition 5which they called

)ersonality)6 to be the ape$ or ultimate product of eolution, the )highest) or most

comple$, most refined, and most sensitie whole, /udhyar beliees that man!ind is still )in

the ma!ing,) still responding to a process of eolution which, in time, will transfigure

humanity and lead it to reali&e a transhuman stage.

'./udhyar sees no logical reason not to e$tend the eolutionary seuence to include

species, human races and cultures, planets, solar systems, gala$ies, and so on. or/udhyar, a society and its culture is an integrated whole 5a culture-whole6 operating

primarily at a psychic leel 5as a psychic organism6 through religious and secular symbols,

images, assumptions, and paradigms. Aost importantly, he considers the earth as the

physical body of a planetary whole, "erra 5or :aia6, also operating and eoling at psychic,

mental, and spiritual leels.

(.n contrast to the one-directional picture of eolution presented not only by *arwin and

his +estern predecessors and successors, but also in ancient ndia 5) was a stone,

became a plant,) and so on6, /udhyar stresses the reality of a )two-way) process

integrating the )descent) or inolution of spiritual archetypes 5principles, forms, and

formulas of organi&ation6 and a synchronous )ascent) or eolution 5a progressie

comple$ification and refinement6 of material substances and systems coming to embody

these archetypes.

f /udhyar has called this twofold process of inolution-eolution a )two-way eolution,) it is

because both moements ' the inolutionary )descent) of unitarian spirit and integratie

forms of organi&ation, and the eolutionary )ascent) or progressie refinement of material

systems ' imply a process of differentiation. t can be considered only one process

according to which a principle of Gnity gradually yields to a principle of Aultiplicity 5see

sections 9, 10, and 11 below6.


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. THE CHALLEN9E OF =TRANSFINITE= 6HOLENESS TO FINITE 6HOLES

The ue-#"n ra#ed !y -he %"n%e- "2 a h#erar%h#%a3 er#e "2 wh"3e #$can one

conceie of an end to the series s there a greatest whole of which there would be no

greater >imilarly, is there an ultimately )smallest) whole or /udhyar, this is only an

intellectual and abstract problem, because liing e$perience presents to human beings only

3e4e3 "2 wh"3ene' spheres and conditions of being which are to some degree higher

5more inclusie6 or lower 5less inclusie6 than the ones in which human beings function.

nly the intellectual mind eer deals with the abstract possibility of )greatest) or )smallest,)

neither of which has realistic meaning. or /udhyar, reality is where one stands, and it is

ineitably conditioned and limited by the leel at which one operates. Neertheless, the

wholeness in any whole can )resonate) to the wholeness in any other whole 5although the

resonating whole%s e$perience of the wholeness of the greater whole is still conditioned by

its own leel of wholeness6.

"hus, for /udhyar, the challenge facing human beings is to e$perience the plenitude orfulness of wholeness of being at the human leel, to try to understand the meaning of the

human condition in relation to the greater wholes human beings can e$perience, and to ta!e

the ne$t step in human eolution that is possible at the time one lies ' not to chase after

intellectual phantoms seeming to promise escape from the fact of being a finite whole

operating at the human leel.


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). ACTI?ITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS

6h#3e re%en- and %"n-e"rary y%h"3"7#e and h#3""h#e "2-en -re

%"n%#"uneas the primary ground of being, /udhyar%s approach differs from them in

that he considers consciousness indissolubly associated with and the concomitant of actiity.

or him, a liing being is a whole ' an organi&ed system of actiity within definite limits '

and actiity within such an organi&ed system generates consciousness. (ach leel of

organi&ation ' thus of wholeness ' implies a particular type of consciousness as well as

actiity2 there is consciousness in an atom, a planet, and a gala$y, as well as in a human

being, because each is an organi&ed system of actiity, a consistent and eoling whole.

n other words, consciousness is the sub@ectie side of actiity, and actiity is the ob@ectie

side of consciousness. "hus all wholes are both actie and conscious. "he actiity and

consciousness of a greater whole encompasses and includes the actiity and consciousness

of the lesser wholes it contains. (ery whole is simultaneously an e$periencing sub@ect and

an ob@ect to other sub@ects? eery )one) is part of the category of )many) for other )ones.)


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*. THE PRINCIPLES OF UNITY AND &ULTIPLICITY

Fr" -he #n-er3ay "2 #n4"3u-#"n and e4"3u-#"n$consciousness and actiity, sub@ectiity

and ob@ectiity, oneness and manyness, /udhyar deries two principles inherent and

coactie in +holeness, the r#n%#3e "2 Un#-yand the r#n%#3e "2 &u3-#3#%#-y. n

Chinese philosophy they are called 7in and 7ang 5and /udhyar%s philosophical approach is

perhaps closer in spirit to Chinese than to Hindu Aetaphysics, although it includes elements

from both6.


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1B. THE &O?E&ENT OF 6HOLENESS

A -he r#ary 2a%- "2 huan eer#en%e # %han7e, the relationship between the

principles of Gnity and Aultiplicity is dynamic and ceaselessly changing. /udhyar calls it the

&"4een- "2 6h"3ene. i!e 7in and 7ang within the symbol "ai-Chi, the principle of

Gnity wa$es as the principle of Aultiplicity wanes and ice ersa. Neither can eer totally

oerpower the other and absolutely control the Aoement. (ach principle can only attain a

ma$imum of relatie predominance? as soon as either principle achiees this ma$imum

strength, the trend of the Aoement reerses itself and the other principle surges bac! and

begins to rise.

Hence, for /udhyar, there can be no absolute sub@ectiity, no absolute >ub@ect, )the ne.)

Neither can there be absolute multiplicity2 if no principle of Gnity were in operation, there

could be no unity of being, only an undifferentiated, infinite e$tension of nameless

substance? no e$periencing sub@ects because no wholes with defining boundaries, no

e$periences because no e$periencers.+hen the principle of Aultiplicity is stronger than the principle of Gnity, being 5that is,

actiity and consciousness6 is more ob@ectie than sub@ectie? when the principle of unity

predominates, being is predominantly sub@ectie.


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11. THE CYCLE OF ,EIN9

The "- 2undaen-a3 e-ahy#%a3 ue-#"n #$ why # -here a un#4ere n other

words, why is there anything 5being6 instead of nothing 5nonbeing6 "he religious mind

as!s, why did :od 5or spirit in a nonpersonal sense6 create the unierse "he typical Hindu

answer is that creation is the lay 5lila6 of on to redeem sinful humanity. Aodern science

offers the scenario of an originating ignificant turning points and uadrants result from the cyclic and symmetrical motion

of two opposite forces within a finite field of actiity, one wa$ing as the other wanes. #t two

points in the cycle, the forces are of eual strength, with one definitely wa$ing and the

other on the wane. #t two others, one force reaches the ma$imum of its power while the

other is as wea! as it can be. "he symbolism attached to the resulting turning points,

hemicycles, and uadrants is based on the diurnal cycle, but one must !eep in mind that in

this application of it the )light) of day is neer totally absent from the )dar!ness) of night

and ice ersa.

"he cycle of being neer begins or ends, but to tal! about it one has to choose a point at

which to start. #t the symbolic >unrise, the principles of Gnity and Aultiplicity are in

euilibrium, with the principle of Aultiplicity wa$ing and beginning to surpass the strength

of the principle of Gnity. Cosmologically, this is Creation, the )birth) of a unierse. unrise and >unset, the principle of Aultiplicity is stronger than the principle of

Gnity. Hence this *ay hemicycle represents what we e$perience as the world of e$istence,

which is dominated by ob@ectiity but which includes internali&ed sub@ectie actiities

represented by the less powerful but eer present principle of Gnity. 5or a human being,

>unrise represents the moment of birth? >unset, the death of the physical body.6

#t the symbolic >unset, the principles of Gnity and Aultiplicity are again of eual strength,

but the principle of Gnity, which has been wa$ing since the symbolic Noon, soon surpasses

the strength of the principle of Aultiplicity. "he Night hemicycle from >unset to >unrise,


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during which the principle of Gnity is stronger than the principle of Aultiplicity, represents a

condition of being which usually is spo!en of in negatie terms ' nonbeing, none$istence,

nonmanifestation, changeless, timeless. or /udhyar, howeer, these terms are

unfortunate2 the Aoement of +holeness is an all-inclusie and total affirmation of being?

there can be no )nonbeing) in the )cycle of being.) Hence this half of the cycle represents acondition of predominantly sub@ectie being dominated by sub@ectie actiity 5which is not,

howeer, )nonactiity)6. #s the principle of Aultiplicity is neer absolutely inoperatie, this

Night hemicycle implies a transphysical substance, less ob@ectie than physical matter ' an

increasingly subtle and homogenous 5nondifferentiated6 !ind of matter. n contrast to the

word e#-en%e, which applies to the *ay hemicycle, /udhyar has coined the term

#n#-en%eto refer to the Night portion of the cycle.

>unrise symboli&es the state of potentiality in which a cycle of e$istence 5which is one half

of the total cycle of being6 begins. t represents a )seed condition) 5the )cosmic (gg)6. "his

alpha condition is )form endowed with power.) "his power is the energy of the Aoement of

+holeness itself. /eligions refer to this power and condition as :od, the Creator. or

/udhyar, howeer, :od is not )outside) the Aoement of +holeness, which is truly all-

inclusie 5what could be )outside) of +holeness6, but a phase of and an action in it 5as is

Aan6. "his idea ' seeing :od and diine actiity as a series of phases and states within the

cycle of being ' is indeed reolutionary. t may be the most stri!ing idea /udhyar has
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presented. He symboli&es this phase as unpersonifiably as possible by using the term

%rea-#4e 6"rdor L"7".

"he creatie +ord is formulated between Aidnight and >unrise by what /udhyar calls the

d#4#ne nd' the predominantly sub@ectie actiity occurring when the principle of Gnity

is stronger than the principle of Aultiplicity, which is neertheless wa$ing. "his processrefers to the actiity of what religious and esoteric cosmogonies call creatie Hierarchies of

beings which build the archetypal foundations for the material unierse.

rom >unrise to Noon, when the strength of the principle of Aultiplicity is greater than that

of the principle of Gnity, the creatie +ord cyclically )descends) and differentiates

5inolution6 into specific )etters) which acuire an increasingly limited focus as

ar%he-ye. "hese principles, forms, and formulas of organi&ation progressiely relate to

and structure synchronously eoling 5responding, also differentiating6 material substances

and systems. "his matter is the nearly 5but not uite6 absolute chaos of decayed waste

products from the preious cycle. #t first it is almost totally indifferent to principles of

organi&ation. #s archetypes )descend) and differentiate, they organi&e and find material

embodiment in gradually responding matter and material systems 5atoms, gala$ies, solar

systems, planets6, then in material organi&ations sufficiently comple$, refined, and sensitie

to respond at the leel of organi&ation we call 3#2e.

#t the symbolic Noon, the principle of Aultiplicity reaches its ma$imum strength.

*ifferentiation )triumphs) when life produces the e$tremely comple$, refined, and sensitie

biological species Homo sapiens, which /udhyar calls Na-ura3 &an. +hen protohuman

beings begin to respond to the )descent) of truly human 5that is, mental6 archetypes, the

process of human eolution begins.

t ends, and the entire cycle of being culminates, at the symbolic >unset, in an omegacondition fully actuali&ing the alpha condition symboli&ed by >unrise. /udhyar calls the state

of perfection symboli&ed by >unset I33u#ned &an. n relation to the human condition

today, it is a state of superhuman or transhuman actiity? in terms of the whole process of

human eolution, it is the full actuali&ation of the human potential ' that is, of the

archetype Aan 5#nthropos6. llumined Aan is the planetary collectiity of beings who reach

this state. unset, differentiation of purpose, actiity, and will balance oneness of consciousness in this

collectiity.

#fter the symbolic >unset, as the principle of Gnity surpasses the strength of the principle of

Aultiplicity, this collectiity becomes increasingly unified and unanimous 5literally, )of one

soul)6. /udhyar refers to this state as the P3er"a' an old :nostic term meaning

fulfillment or plenitude of being. "he leroma state eoles in a mostly sub@ectie way,

balancing, as it were, the period of material eolution of the cosmos 5from >unrise to

Noon6. "here are leromas after leromas, each cosmically more inclusie than the other.

#t the symbolic Aidnight, this eolution reaches an almost 5but not uite6 static degree of

sub@ectiity and oneness which /udhyar calls the 9"dhead -a-e. He does not spea! of the


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:odhead as )the #bsolute) as many mystics, philosophers, and theologians do? for him, if

one can spea! of )the #bsolute) at all, the term would refer to +holeness. Neither does he

refer to this state of ma$imum unity and sub@ectiity as )/eality) in contrast to the

)unreality) or )illusion) of the e$istential world2 for /udhyar, unity is no more )real) than

multiplicity? reality is the cyclic interplay between them. Neither is the :odhead a supremeunrise6 born 5although time does not e$ist during the hemicycle of inistence ' one can

only say that it )inists) or that processes of change )endure)6. or while the cycle of being

culminates in the state of llumined Aan, all human beings do not reach this state? many

partially or totally fail to actuali&e the potential inherent in the archetype Aan. 5ailure in

most cases is only partial when seen in relation to perfection? it encompasses a continuum

from total failure to almost perfection. "hese failures are, as it were, built in to the system.

"hose who reach perfection need them and are responsible for them2 seeds awaiting

germination during winter needed green leaes and flowers to be produced. 7et ineitably,

flowers and leaes wither and die and brea! down into humus from which they differentiate

and from which future generations of plants will draw nourishment. "he nearly 5but not

uite6 absolute oneness of the :odhead state encompasses the responsibility for and the

need of these by-products? their ery presence 5)inistence)6 calls forth the compassion of

the :odhead to conceie of a new unierse in which they will hae a )second chance) to

reach llumination.

n relation to this Night period, the terms )hemicycle) and )half cycle) should not be

interpreted uantitatiely? they do not refer to a definite period of measurable time such as

human beings e$perience in a physical, e$istential unierse of moing celestial bodies.

b@ectie, measurable time depends on the rhythm and apparent speed of ob@ectie actiity

to an e$periencer differentiated from it.


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1'. HU&AN E?OLUTION REINCARNATION 6ITHIN THE CYCLE OF ,EIN9

A- -he y!"3#% N""n "2 -he %y%3e "2 !e#n7$ 3#2e r"du%e -he !#"3"7#%a3 e%#e

H"" a#en' natural Aan, the result of the )triumph) of the principle of Aultiplicity

oer the principle of Gnity, which is then at its lowest ebb. "he resurgence of the principle of

Gnity represents a radical reersal of the Aoement of +holeness and refers to the

beginning of the )descent) and focusing 5inolution6 of a set of truly human 5that is, mental6

potentialities which /udhyar calls #nthropos, the ar%he-ye &an. n the one hand, this

archetype is inherent in the creatie +ord 5ogos6 beginning the e$istential process at

>unrise. n the other, beginning at the symbolic Noon, it is )fi$ed) into the )soil) of eoling

earth-materials by a series of a4a-aracting as agents for the Aoement of +holeness and

the )descending) archetype Aan. "hese aatars also can be considered )pro@ections) into

the world of e$istence of the compassion of the :odhead state. "hey )graft) the potentiality

for truly human deelopment ' mind and the potentiality of indiidual selfhood ' onto the

)stoc!) of Natural Aan."he beginning of this process is symboli&ed in the :ree! myth of rometheus, who

bestowed the gift of diine fire 5mind and the capacity for self-consciousness6 on nascent

man!ind. >imilarly, the traditions of ndia spea! of the coming to earth of the Eumaras

5also called #gnishattas, ehicles of fire, and Aanasaputras, progenitors of mind6. >uch an

eent is said to hae occurred in the remotest past, presumably millions of years ago. #lso

mentioned are lesser aatars appearing throughout the ages. n successie epochs and

periods 5cycles within cycles within cycles, each of which, while a phase of the cycle of

being, also passes through a complete cyclic pattern itself6, successie aataric personages

restate and reeal successie aspects of this mental potential. /udhyar relates this process

of mental fecundation to what he calls the r"%e "2 %#4#3#5a-#"n5see section 1 to

follow6.

+hile the beginning of this inolutionary process is an )eent) of planetary scope, the

eolutionary aspect of it proceeds at different paces and places in different epochs. #t first

human eolution proceeds primarily collectiely, through the deelopment of a series of

successie and simultaneous cultures which /udhyar, in order to stress their ob@ectie and

organic character, calls %u3-ure0wh"3e. Culture-wholes are born, mature, and

disintegrate, much as biological organisms do? in the process, they leae a )seed harest)

and wasteproducts 5!arma6 to their successors.

n the one hand, culture-wholes are rooted in the particular climatic, geographic, and racial

)soil) of a group of biologically related human beings, whose consciousness translates these

enironmental and biological characteristics into symbols. "hese symbols feed the

deelopment of what /udhyar calls %"33e%-#4e y%h#. Collectie psychism is to the

integration of a culture what the life-force 5prana or chi6 is to a biological organism2 a

culture-whole is a psychic organism integrating and molding the actiities and

consciousness of its human members. #t first collectie psychism is an )oertone) of the


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biological relatedness of the people? the members of the culture-whole deelop a strongly

e$clusiistic attitude and consider anything that was not born within their life-space and of

their bloodline, anything that does not act, feel, and thin! as they do, foreign and a

potential enemy. "aboos and myths arise on the basis of collectie e$perience and deeply

felt needs? collectie wholeness is pro@ected and deified as the tribal ancestor or god.n the other hand, such a unifying image embodies a spiritual impulse or archetype

emanated through an agent for the archetype Aan, an aatar. >uch a figure or personage

may be an aspect of the harest of a preious cycle of culture, a )seed) in which a basic

)mutation) 5a )grafting) of a new aspect of the creatie mental potential inherent in the

archetype Aan6 has ta!en place. 5/udhyar refuses to discount the nearly uniersal

traditions according to which diine !ings or instructors brought language, agriculture, and

the arts to nascent man!ind? )seed being) summing up the harest of a preiously

)flowering) cycle of culture would indeed seem )diine) to the relatiely crude )raw

materials) of a nascent culture-whole. "he aataric personage%s deeds and teachings

5)diine reelation)6 become the foundation for the deeloping culture%s religion ' its

)collectie soul) ' which becomes a most powerful factor in the lies and psychomental

deelopment of its members.

unctioning within culture-wholes, human beings become what /udhyar calls er"n,

)specimen) of a culture ' that is, human beings whose minds, psyches, and behaior are

molded by and function almost totally within the culture%s collectie psychism, within the

ta!en-for-granted frame of reference of the culture%s language, myths, symbols, images,

religion, and way of life. or /udhyar, without participation in a society and its culture, there

can be no personhood? without actie or passie participation in a culture-whole, a human

being is merely a biological organism, a member of the species Homo sapiens with thepotentiality for becoming a person ' but potentiality is not actuality.

"he behaior and consciousness of a person are structured and )managed) by an e7"'

which for /udhyar is not an entity but a set of functional actiities. or him, the ego

constitutes an interface and mechanism of ad@ustment between the human biological

organism%s instinct for surial and the psychosocial pressures of its cultural and family

enironment. "he deelopment of an ego presupposes the e$istence of both a powerful

enironment and a sub@ectie principle see!ing to manifest as personhood.

"his principle, N( or >(, is the )presence) of the principle of Gnity in the multiplicity-

dominated e$istential organism. t is what is at the root of the )feeling-of-be-ness) distinct

from other ))s. #t the strictly biological leel of human organi&ation, it has an instinctual,

generic character e$perienced as a sense of organic wholeness 5the )wisdom of the body)6?

it manifests as a particular temperament 5that is, as a uality of itality associated with

such biological factors as body type6. #t the psychosocial leel, the ego deelops a

particular form according to the way the particular temperament interacts with preailing

psychosocial pressures, presumably also reflecting the indiidual sub@ectie principle.

(entually, as a culture-whole comple$ities, and especially when it interacts with other


21/73

culture-wholes structured by a different type of collectie psychism and way of life, it begins

to be affected by the r"%e "2 #nd#4#dua3#5a-#"n. "hrough the introduction of alien

beliefs, concepts, and practices 5ia trael, commerce, conuest, or inasion6 the integrity

of the culture%s collectie psychism begins to brea! down and to lose its capacity to mold,

hold together, and dominate the consciousness of its members. ersons of a rebellious orcritical temperament, or whose egos hae deeloped cynically or insecurely in reaction to

the brea!down of cultural paradigms, mores, and norms, are the first to respond to this

process ' which is polari&ed and dynami&ed by an increasing )descent) and focusing of

#r#-ua3 ua3#-#e, which may be considered the many )etters) of the original creatie

+ord. "hese Iualities see! a one-to-one relationship with ' and eentually total

embodiment in ' a sufficiently responsie human organism and indiiduali&ed mind. #s the

process 5inolution-eolution6 accelerates, indiiduals emerge from the cultural matri$.

"heir minds and wills become at least relatiely autonomous and independent from both

biological compulsion and collectie cultural imperaties? they become increasingly able

5potentially, that is6 to respond to the spiritual Iuality see!ing eentually to manifest

concretely through them.

"he process of indiiduali&ation, howeer, inoles many dangers and pitfalls. t is

inherently tragic and ineitably generates tension, conflict, strife, and a sense of isolation

and alienation 5du!!a in ooner or later, indiiduals tire of conflict or reali&e its inherently self-defeating nature and

results. ndiiduality must be seen as aluable only within a greater whole to which it

contributes constructiely. "he indiidual may enision this greater whole as humanity or

the planet earth, or he or she may relate it to the spiritual Iuality 5often called the )higher

>elf) in contrast to the personality or bodyJmind comple$ or )lower self)6 attempting to

establish contact with him or her. or while the spiritual Iuality represents the highest

uality of indiiduality potential within a human being, because it is a highly differentiated

)etter) of the original creatie +ord it is an aspect of the greater whole #nthropos, the

archetype Aan.

# spiritual Iuality%s attempt to establish a one-to-one relationship with an indiiduali&ed

person operates cyclically and constitutes for /udhyar the true meaning of

)re#n%arna-#"n.) n its process of differentiation, a spiritual Iuality see!s and establishes

arious degrees of relationship with a series of human personalities, whose lies are lin!ed

in that they are all related to the same spiritual Iuality. "he process has as its goal, as its


22/73

fully actuali&ed symbolic >unset, the total union or )d#4#ne arr#a7e) of a spiritual Iuality

and a fully adeuate indiiduali&ed person totally embodying its meaning and function.

"hus, from /udhyar%s point of iew, reincarnation is not the periodic reappearance of the

same person, nor is it actually reincarnation. >trictly spea!ing, from his point of iew, there

is only one full incarnation ' the one that culminates in complete union, the )diinemarriage.)

/udhyar beliees that, collectiely spea!ing, man!ind today has reached a point about

halfway between the symbolic Noon and >unset of the present cycle of human deelopment.

"hus, the most significant factor operating in human eolution today is the gradual rise of

the principle of Gnity. t manifests, on the one hand, in an increasing indiiduali&ation of

human consciousness and actiity in response to the increasing )descent) and focusing of

spiritual Iualities? and on the other, as an increasing )planetari&ation) of it ' that is an

increasing capacity for human beings to be detached from a particular local space and racial

temperament and to operate 5at least potentially and in consciousness6 in terms of the

whole planet earth.

articular indiiduals 5and cultures6 may be )ahead of) or )behind) the )norm) defined by

their position within a particular subcycle and sub-subcycle. ndiiduals significantly ahead

of the collectie pace already hae reached the condition of llumined Aan. n their

togetherness, they constitute what esoteric traditions call the +hite odge, which /udhyar

refers to as the leroma ' the collectiity of illumined, formerly human beings whose

centers of consciousness interpenetrate and resonate in unanimity of purpose but retain the

indiiduality and functional nature of the particular spiritual Iuality each represents. "hese

illumined beings 5Aasters, Aahatmas, (lder


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1(. THE CONSTITUTION AND

ENTIRE CYCLE OF HU&AN ,EIN9

The !r"ad3y %"#% and e4"3u-#"nary #n-erre-a-#"n "2 -he %y%3e "2 !e#n7 5the

Aoement of +holeness6 presented in sections 11 and 13 aboe does not preclude the

pattern%s application to the cycle of being of a particular human being during and after his or

her bodily e$istence. t also has definite releance to the 3=-hour cycle of personal

e$istence during wa!ing and sleep. (ach night in deep, dreamless sleep, the sleeper reaches

a condition of relatie :odhead? but in the daily personal-e$istential cycle, the principle of

Aultiplicity and the power of ob@ectie e$istence as a biological organism is so strong that

on awa!ening the sleeper has no remembrance of the moment of ma$imum sub@ectiity he

or she reached in %"n%#"unewhile his or her body was rebuilding its potential of

organic a%-#4#-y. Neither does a human being )remember) the relatie :odhead state of the

slightly larger sub-subcycle of the cycle of being that resulted in the birth of a physical body

he or she has come to identify as to )mine.)


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during the person%s life. #s the principle of Gnity wa$es and dominates the principle of

Aultiplicity . . . depending upon their degree of integration during the person%s life. #s the

principle of Gnity wa$es and dominates the principle of Aultiplicity after the symbolic >unset

5physical death6, these psychic remains are )e$perienced) 5imperienced6 as sub@ectie

memories. #s the cycle nears its symbolic Aidnight, they gradually fade away, somewhat asleaes decay during winter. f the person has achieed an indiiduali&ed condition during life

' perhaps een establishing a degree of conscious attunement with the spiritual Iuality '

the )harest) 5positie and negatie6 of the life%s indiidual e$periences are )ta!en up) by

the spiritual Iuality. >uccessie harests generate around the spiritual Iuality what

/udhyar calls a S"u3 F#e3d. "he harests and sub@ectie memories it contains become the

!arma of the ne$t personality to become associated with it.

+hen the sub-subcycle of being constituted by an indiidual person reaches its phases of

greatest sub@ectiity ' its own relatie :odhead state ' the spiritual entity that sought to

enter into at least partial relationship with the once-alie person is moed by compassion

and compelled by !arma to contact a new human being and to formulate the archetypal

structure of a new dharma. rom the point of iew of the spiritual Iuality, the new human

being%s tas! will be to perform this dharma, which will bring it into a closer relationship with

the >oul ield than the preious personality achieed. "he fulfillment of the new

personality%s dharma will inole the neutrali&ation and )redemption) of the failures and the

completion of the unfinished business of the old personality5ies6. imilarly, the president of a

corporation )succeeds) his predecessor and inherits his !arma ' the problems he failed to

sole ' as well as the constructiely functioning aspects of the organi&ation he deeloped.

"he latter refer primarily to the leel of mental deelopment the preious personality

achieed.

"hus, from /udhyar%s point of iew, when a person says, ) was such-and-such person in a

preious life,) the person identifies with the dead person%s !arma 5unfinished business and

failures6. +hat one ought to do instead is to try to understand, identify with, and perform

one%s present dharma, which, automatically, will neutrali&e this !arma, moe one forward in

the eolutionary process, and attune one to the rising principle of Gnity see!ing to unite

person 5lesser whole6 and spiritual Iuality 5aspect of the greater whole #nthropos or

archetypal Aan6.


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1uch a dualism

has been duplicated in the latonic contrast between a realm of changeless archetypes and

an e$istential world as unreal as flic!ering shadows pro@ected on the wall of a cae? and in

the Christian contrast between diine spirit and sinful human nature. unrise, mind

balances the principles of Gnity and Aultiplicity by focusing into broadly-defined archetypal

forms and formulas of relationship the supreme compassion radiating from the :odhead

state. Aind is thus inolutionary and operates through arious creatie Hierarchies that

religions call by arious names 5e.g., angels6. unrise and Noon, the results of this

cosmogenic mental actiity sere as it )guiding fields) for the deelopment of cosmic

material systems 5gala$ies, solar systems, planets6 and for the eolution of biological

orders, families, genera, and species. #fter the symbolic Noon, the coming of Natural Aan,

and his mental fecundation through the aataric process ' which /udhyar enisions as a


26/73

pro@ection of the :odhead%s )ision-imaging) of a new unierse into a ):od seed) potential

within human beings ' mind deelops in its generic, cultural, indiidual, and superindiidual

human modes.

#t the biological leel of human eolution, mind operates almost e$clusiely as the serant

of instincts see!ing to perpetuate life. t is a generic type of mind. #s mind becomessociocutural, it formulates words, language, religious symbols and myths, philosophical

concepts, and a way of life. "he function of this )mind of culture) is to gie order and

meaning to personal e$perience by referring it to the culture%s collectie frame of

reference.

#s the separatie ego-will isolates the human person from its cultural matri$, mind also

indiiduali&es and tries not to refer personal e$perience to a collectie frame of reference.

#t first, the indiiduali&ing mind is the critical, analytical, discursie intellect, glorifying the

principle of measurement and uantitatie calculations at the e$pense of ualitatie alues.

"he abstract concepts of reason, logic, and natural )law) 5an ambiguous term6 replace the

traditional symbols, myths, and taboos of the culture. #s the intellect analy&es comple$

realities, it reduces them to )nothing but) component entities and patterns of relationship.

(entually it analy&es away the organic wholeness of integral entities and processes.

Gnguided by ualitatie alues, the intellectual mind produces and wields a mighty

technology which eentually runs amo!? incalculable destruction and collectie and

indiidual suffering ensue.

(entually, mind begins to build frames of reference which, though haing an indiidual

character, are conditioned by a reali&ation of belonging to a metacultural, metaindiidual

whole. "he )mind of wholeness) beings to operate and to supersede the analytical intellect.

nstead of reducing comple$ realities to components, the mind of wholeness deduces themeaning of situations from the interaction of seeral interpenetrating leels of actiity. t

begins to see the )ground) out of which particularities differentiate and their inherent

interrelatedness. n another sense, /udhyar calls this !ind of mental actiity )e"n#%

%"n%#"une) 5eon meaning a cycle of time6. t is reuired to disentangle seeral

comple$, interpenetrating patterns or sets of relations, but it retains an understanding of

the whole without reductionary analysis. t sees, both, the whole of a cycle of deelopment

and its constituting phases and entities and their comple$ interrelationships. t is with this

!ind of mind that /udhyar e$amines human history and eolution as these processes

proceed within the planetary life-field of the earth.

f spiritual teachers see!ing to lead human beings to the ath of transformation hae

presented mind as something to be transcended ' een as )the slayer of the /eal) ' it is

because the forms mind builds hae inertia. #ll sociocultural images and institutions resist

change. +hen change is necessary, mind tends to resist it, to attempt to perpetuate

unchanged the forms it had earlier engendered or reealed. "he refusal to change when


27/73

change is needed is always polari&ed by the catabolic actiity of reolutionaries, political or

spiritual2 inertia and the rise of anarchy are two aspects of the same situation. nly by total

nonattachment to any form, een if one ineitably must use forms of thin!ing and behaior,

can one escape being caught up in the riptide of destruction dominating the last phases of a

cycle, be it personal, cultural, or e$istential.


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1+. THE PLANETARY 6HOLE AND THE PLACE AND FUNCTION OF HU&AN

E?OLUTION 6ITHIN IT

On -he "ne hand$ 2"r Rudhyar$ -he ear-h # -he hy#%a3 !"dy "2 a 3ane-ary wh"3e

5now at times called :aia or "erra6 also operating and eoling at psychomental and

spiritual leels. 5/udhyar was an early adocate of global organi&ation as a sociopolitical

reflection of this reality, and fifty years before the terms became fashionable he spo!e of

)+orld Ausic) and )man%s common humanity.)6 "he character of the function which

humanity performs within the total field of actiity and consciousness of our planet might be

eo!ed by comparing it to the wor! of the cerebrospinal nerous system and front-brain of

a human being2 man!ind%s function is thus to consciously formulate and gie meaning to all

the actiities ta!ing place on, in, or around the earth. "his implies discoering the principles

on which these actiities are based and applying these principles to fulfill consciously

determined purposes. "he great problem of human eolution is, howeer, how and in

relation to what frame of reference 5what alues6 are these purposes to be determinedn the other, the earth%s biosphere is the planetary lifefield in which the archetype Aan

deelops its potentialities through the biological species Homo sapiens and through its

deelopment in culture-wholes giing rise to arious types of persons and indiiduals. "he

actiity, consciousness and eolution of humanity may be said to build the )psychosphere)

and )noosphere) of our planet. "he former 5similar to the )astral plane) of popular

occultism6 refers to the psychism, collectie and indiidual, of cultures and persons. "he

latter 5a term deised by "eithard de Chardin6 refers to the actiity and eolution of the

rational aspect of the human mind. #boe the psychosphere and noosphere, /udhyar also

conceies of a )pneumosphere) 5spiritual sphere6 being actuali&ed by leroma beings

according to the directions of still higher entities. "he pneumosphere presumably enelops

and contains the whole planet. 5n all cases the term )sphere) may be confusing if one

imagines geometrically concentric spheres separate from each other.6


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1>. RHYTH&S OF CULTURE AND CI?ILIATION

In 3#ne w#-h -he #a7e "2 -he ear-h8 y%h"here and n""here, another new and

stri!ing concept which /udhyar presents deals with the relationship between what he calls

the r"%e "2 %#4#3#5a-#"nand the many culture-wholes which are born, mature, and

decay and which bring their cyclic harests of symbols, institutions, and art forms to the

gradual deelopment of the earth%s psychosphere. or /udhyar, ciili&ation is a planetary

process bringing separate cultures into contact with one another, thereby creating a

psychic-cultural ferment into which new potentialities of mind can be released. Hence the

process of ciili&ation refers to the deelopment of the earth%s noosphere.

n contrast to culture, which is local, e$clusiistic, and anabolic 5Kishnu6, the process of

ciili&ation is global, inclusie, and 5at least in its early stages and in relation to e$clusiistic

and inertial cultural structures6 catabolic-transformatie 5>hia6. t operates by uantum

leaps to release new mental energies, which fecundate and are absorbed by the

psychomental substance of a culture-whole. "he noetic function of the culture-whole is toembody the new mental uality.


30/73

e$istence that engendered du!!a.

ie L00-year cycles later brings us to the beginning of our own tumultuous century, which

so far has seen the intermingling and destruction 5or at least de-structuring6 of all the

world%s cultures through two world wars and the technological deelopments that allowed

human beings to reali&e the interchangeability of matter and energy and to see thewholeness of the earth-globe from space. "he latter especially has fecundated the human

mind and imagination with new possibilities, many of which are concentrated in the terms

)transformation) and )transpersonal.)

ther significant turning points in the process of ciili&ation in the interim are represented

by the monotheistic reform of #!hnaton in (gypt and the period of the Gpanishads in ndia

' both in the second millennium un-disc.


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1. THE PROCESS OF TRANSFOR&ATION

The r"%e "2 -ran2"ra-#"n reu#re #nd#4#dua3#5a-#"n a a 2"unda-#"n. t is the

process whereby separatie, self-centered indiiduals ' often still bound to or rebelling

against their natal cultures, are mostly in a state of disarray and disintegration, their myths,

symbols, and images haing lost the power to wholesomely integrate the collectie

psychism and their way of life brea!ing down ' reorient their minds and feeling-natures

toward an awareness of the primacy of the whole and consecrate themseles to the serice

of humanity. "his does not, howeer, mean that they must )sae the world) or )do good)

for others? it means that they must, first, consciously attune themseles to the performance

of their own dharma, on behalf of the greater whole, archetypal Aan, which is trying to

contact them.

+hile the process of transformation has immense psychological implications, for /udhyar it

is essentially an occult process often called )-he Pa-h.) t is supported by well-organi&ed

5but historically ignored, materiali&ed, or psychologi&ed6 spiritual and metaphysical forces.ts goal is the transindiidual leel ' leroma consciousness.


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1). TRANSPERSONAL ACTI?ITY

6h#3e y%h"3"7#- and h#3""her n"w ue -he -er =-raner"na3=to refer to

e$periences or states of consciousness !ey"nd the usual human range, /udhyar has always

used it to refer to the deliberate, focused, and functional action of spiritual forces -hr"u7h

a human being. He probably was the first to use the term in (nglish, in 1940 in an article

published in the maga&ine The 93a H#4e2

)nstead of impersonal, let us use another word more telling ' transpersonal. # personal

behaior 5or feeling or thought6 is one rooted in the substance and conditioned form of the

personality. # transpersonal behaior is one starting from the uniersal, unconditioned self

in Aan and using the personality merely as an instrument.)

Hence the source of transersonal actiity may be interpreted as being the spiritual Iuality

see!ing to contact an indiidual person? the archetype Aan see!ing to reeal a particular

aspect of anthropic potentiality to humanity or to a particular culture-whole through him or

her? or the leroma see!ing to guide, test, or assist an indiidual or group of indiidualstreading the ath of transformation. Holarchically spea!ing, transpersonal actiity

represents a focusing of power from a greater through a lesser whole.

or /udhyar, howeer, transpersonal actiity is not mere )channelling) or passie

mediumship. or him, the latter operates primarily at the leel of psychism 5collectie or

indiidual6, while the former must be focused by an indiidual%s well-formed mind if it is to

be truly transpersonal. >ymbolically spea!ing, the mind of the true transpersonal agent

operates not merely as a pane of glass allowing the passage of diffuse light, but as a clear

lens bringing light to a sharp focus. or while light passing through a window does so

relatiely unchanged, light focused through a lens can ignite material. at the focal point.

"hus is )light) 5spirit6 concentrated into )heat) 5symbol. of increasing speed of motion and

change6 and eentually into the incandescence of the leroma state.
http://www.khaldea.com/rudhyar/per_imper.shtml


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1*. THE PROCESS OF DECONDITIONIN9 AND RENE6AL

6hen a@ed h"w he 2ee3 "r wha- he -h#n@ a!"u- r"e%- ahead 2"r an@#nd,

/udhyar often replies that he is pessimistic in the short run and optimistic in the long run.

He was among the first to reali&e that in this century humanity faces a ma@or crisis of

transformation on all fronts, but he has no doubt that sooner or later, in one place, century,

or culture or another, humanity will meet the challenge ' but the uality of the

transformation and the number of human beings affected positiely by it could be greatly

diminished, depending on how humanity collectiely responds to circumstances in the ne$t

decades. /udhyar%s oerall iew of human cultural deelopment can be e$pressed in

dialectical terms2 thesis, antithesis, synthesis. "ribal society ' and all it implies in terms of

psychic unanimity and a sense of the sacred ' represents the thesis. +estern indiidualism

and the dominance of a highly intellectuali&ed, abstract mind producing and greedily

wielding a destructie technology represent the antithesis. "he synthesis is yet ahead and

should incorporate the basic alues of the two preceding stages ' but within a moreinclusie 5planetary . . . and beyond6 frame of reference and within a spirit-oriented

consciousness. or /udhyar, much that is progressie in society today ' for e$amples

attempts to integrate (astern and +estern culture and religion, science and spirituality '

represent stages in a necessary process of de%"nd#-#"n#n75)deculturali&ation) or

)dis(uropeani&ation)6. age that allows all life, eents, and relationships to

pass through its structured openness and in so passing acuire ean#n7. "his )new)

mentality would also operate as the )cosmogenic mind) able to see the potentialities of and

pro@ect order upon the apparent chaos of presentday social and cultural e$istence.


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III. RUDHYAR8S INTE9RATION OF EXPERIENCE AND CONCEPTS

1. THE ARTS

Rudhyar8 a%-#4#-#e #n -he ar- a3way ha4e !een a "n-ane"u, ery personal '

yet transpersonal ' e$pression, unburdened by prolonged technical training or

conditioning? and they unselfconsciously e$emplify his philosophy and demonstrate his

oerall attitude to life.

or /udhyar, art ' its production and e$perience, has a different function at different

stages of cultural deelopment. "he si$ leels of art-actiity that follow can be adapted to

apply to all the arts 5poetry, literature, drama, music, painting, and sculpture6 and

correspond to stages in the deelopment of a culture-whole2

1. Ar- a re3eae "2 "wer -hr"u7h a7#%a3 2"r

Aagical or so-called primitie art has as its aim the )purposeful release of focali&ed power

through an effectie form in answer to a need.) rimitie art is essentially a means for

magical action2 magical ob@ects are functional 5intended to !ill, tame, control, eo!e

animals or natural or elemental forces6? they do not aim to be beautiful according to

esthetic standards, for culture has not yet deeloped these.

'. Ar- a de%"ra-#4e enhan%een- "2 4a3ue

Not essentially different from magical, but meant to display the s!ill of the ma!er andJor thewealth and taste of the owner? bridge between purely magical-functional art and esthetic

art.

(. Ar- a e-he-#% enG"yen- "2 %u3-ura3 2"r

#rt e$pressing the classical period of a culture? appreciated according to culturally-defined

esthetic alues, the main function of which is to reeal the principles of order and proportion

that gie members of the culture a sense of peace, security, or e$altation. (entually leads

to )art for art%s sa!e.)


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+. Ar- a %a-har# and an-ra "2 re!#r-h

"he art of a culture in crisis? artists act as agents for catabolic action, eentually destroying

what is left of the disintegrating collectie psychism. (entually leads to reactionary

moements ' neoprimitiism, neoscholasticism, neoclassicism.

>. Ar- a -raner"na3J H#er"hany

#rt as a transcultural factor 5wor!ing through culture but not of culture6 . "his type of art

could be called )transcrete) art that is, meaning )grows through) or is reealed through its

forms. /udhyar also calls it mythopoetic seed art, which pro@ects into the planetary psyche

new images to galani&e a new consciousness and new culture.


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A. POETRY

"he following is uoted from the oreword of O2 ?#!ran%y and Pea%e519;6, an anthology

of poems from 191 to 1932

)Ay poetry was not written with the iew of conforming to a literary tradition and to fit intoesthetically appreciable forms. t is the uite spontaneous e$pression of my inner life? it was

written in most cases of time of great stress, of challenging, perhaps deastating emotional

andJor spiritual e$periences. t was meant to e$press and to communicate the feror and

intensity of what psychologists now often call %pea! e$periences% . . .

)"he poet Bin the original sense of the :ree! term is he who acts as %moer and sha!er% of

souls, stimulating his audience to feel more deeply, more totally than their ordinary lies

allow . . . He opens new istas, new leels of ision, new depths of relationship ' of loe,

pain or ecstasy. He presents new images, connects in new ways until then distant facets of

human e$perience. He eo!es new dawns, e$pands man%s consciousness ' and man%s

eagerness to reach into the un!nown.)

"he following is paraphrased 5interspersed with uotations6 from /udhyar%s unpublished

autobiography 5198062

oetry means something different in each period of a culture. )n the early stages of a

culture%s deelopment poetry always has an essentially magical, epic or sacred character.

Aantrams and magical or theurgic formulas are the initial sources of what later becomes

epic and religious poetry.) #t first )poetry and music are hardly distinguishable.) "he poet is

the bard who intones poems 5lin!ed with dramatic gestures6 narrating the culture%s mythsand legends. "he poet thus builds and later helps to maintain the collectie psychism of the

culture.

nly when a culture reaches the /omantic phase of its deelopment does the poet act as an

indiidual for whom poetry is a means for %self-e$pression. nstead of narrating the lies and

deeds of legendary heroes, the poet becomes the central figure whose life, passions,

sufferings and @oys poetry reeal. "his self-e$pression, howeer, also means %self-reelation%

' a eiling in symbolic forms what the poet has either e$perienced "r # una!3e -" a%-

"u-.

)"he ma@ority of my poems hae e$teriori&ed in symbolic words and images what in me had

been unable to find manifestation in concrete eeryday liing and actual interpersonal

relationships. "hey reeal potentialities whose actuali&ation was but too often made

impossible by the outer circumstances andJor inner pressures of my life. "hey reeal a leel

of my inner life which could be made concrete only in symbols rather than in actual physical

happenings.)

)"he reason for this is far more basic than one initially might thin! . . . # great many human

beings . . . succeed relatiely well in actuali&ing their birth potential, because the latter fits


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rather smoothly into the collectie framewor! of family, culture, and religion . . . n times of

transition between historical cycles and under special circumstances . . . other indiiduals

are born with a far aster potential of being than can be actuali&ed at the time and in the

place they were born. +e say that they are %ahead of their times, % pioneers of a future type

of consciousness and interpersonal relationship. "he result is that they face the near-impossibility of actuali&ing their inner potential ' their dharma, their essential being. #s

they are so often unable to resole the tension of the polar forces within their personality in

terms of actual and fulfilling e$periences, they are drien by an inner power to produce a

liberating solution at the symbolic leel of literature or of another artistic or concept-

formulating actiity.

)# culture haing reached the last stage of its deelopment needsuch indiiduals. n a

ery real sense, their frustrations and apparent failures at the leel of actual sociocultural

happenings are the ery roots of their spiritual successes as transformatie agents. "hrough

their attempts to proide concrete e$istential solutions to their actually insoluble inner

tensions ... they create poems, music, paintings, etc., giing symbolic forms to future

sociocultural processes. "hey thus release eed "2 2u-ur#-y' archetypes that eentually

will become the paradigms of a new society andJor culture.)


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,. LITERATURE

/udhyar%s two main noels are Ran#a5written in 1939 but not published until 19;=6 and

Re-urn 2r" N"0Re-urn5written in 19L4 but not published until 19;462

Ran#ais the )epic narratie) of a woman%s life, from )passionate spring) through )spiritualflowering) and the )sacrifice of the seed) 5uoted are the subtitles of the boo!%s three

sections or )moements)6.

Ran#awas written during three intense wee!s in Chicago in Fanuary 1939. t incorporates

e$periences /udhyar had in Carmel and in Hollywood%s motion picture world he had been

an e$tra and bit player in silent and early sound pictures. "he plot is centered around

magnified features in which are telescoped and integrated features of people he had !nown?

as he wrote it he intuited that he was on the threshold of a new period of his life he met

the woman who became his first wife shortly thereafter.

"hese personal e$periences and memories are magnified into archetypal images operating

within an eually archetypal plot2 the inter-and-intrapersonal struggle between forces of

light and dar!ness, resoled by the redeeming sacrifice. "o gie the narratie an epic

uality, /udhyar used the deice of poetic stan&as with repeated lines? the stan&as become

longer as the action deelops, gradually coalescing into prose paragraphs but the poetic

deice returns at the end.

Re-urn 2r" N"0Re-urnis a metaphysical science fiction noel. t is set in the twenty-

second century, on earth and in intergalactic and )interincarnational) space. t weaes

together the drama of a global crisis, an intense story of transpersonal loe, and a

presentation of an esoteric concept of space and the possibility of integral e$istence beyond

physical death.Common to both noels are heroic, spiritually-oriented female protagonists whose spiritual

triumphs and failures are portrayed sympathetically, and the redemptie power of unselfish,

transpersonal loe. Aany young women hae especially identified with /ania, and a

professor of literature once commented that it read as if it had been written by C. :. Fung,

A. (sther Harding, and *. H. awrence then rewritten by Aadame tar +ars,) but as there

seemed no possibility of ma!ing a commercially iable film without losing the wor!%s

essential ualities, the pro@ect was stopped.


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C. &USIC

"here was absolutely no musical 5or artistic or literary6 precedence for /udhyar%s creatiity

in his family bac!ground ' a relatiely well-to-do middle class arisian family. He receied

early lessons in piano and solfege with distaste, and they soon were stopped due to life-threatening illness. oul ield6. His first e$periences of orchestral music fascinated him.

He intuited that *ebussy and his music were representatie of the closing 5)autumnal)6

phase of (uropean culture. ut of this intuition came his first boo!, )Claude *ebussy and

the Cycle of Ausical Ciili&ation,) which he wrote at the age of si$teen. # reised ersion of

the first part of it ' sans philosophy ' was published by *urand, *ebussy%s publisher,

along with /udhyar%s first three piano compositions 51916.

Ausic proided the means for /udhyar to come to #merica ' a performance of an

ultramodern type of multimedia presentation 5dance, music, light, color, incense6, for which

/udhyar had written the orchestral music, was gien at the Aetropolitan pera in New 7or!

in #pril 191;.


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harmonic series of fundamental and oertones modified by the timbre or

characteristic tone-uality of particular instruments or relating bodies6.

3. Ausic, on the other hand, is an art2 the organi&ation of sounds a particular culturedeelops. +hat is acceptable in music therefore aries from culture to culture and

from stage to stage in a culture%s deelopment.

)"he historical deelopment of music follows and can be understood only in terms of

the unfoldment of the human mind, which builds the systems of organi&ation giing

stable structures to the sounds the people of any culture need for communicating

their collectie needs and responses.

"hus, for /udhyar, music is a culturally-conditioned language for communication at

the psychic leel ' the leel of the culture%s collectie psychism. ong before

riental music was acceptable to +estern musicians and musicologists ' they called

it )barbaric noise) ' /udhyar stressed that riental music was as alid and seres

the same function in riental cultures as +estern music does in +estern cultures."he uestion of whether music can eer be a truly uniersal language is, for

/udhyar, an open uestion, depending upon how cultures and minds respond to the

new mental ibrations of the all-human process of ciili&ation.

4. Notes ersus "ones2 or /udhyar, the tonality-dominated notes of +estern musicare abstract entities haing musical meaning only in relation to one another? as they

can be transposed or played on a ariety of instruments without altering their

musical meaning, they do not refer to the e$perience of actual, particular sounds.

Aoreoer, in the +est music resides more in the written score than in the actual

e$perience of hearing it. +estern musical wor!s are )ob@ects) whose formal

structures and deelopmental patterns are to be appreciated more by the eyes and

intellect than by the ears and psyche.

=. n early tribal societies, on the other hand, tones were used for magical purposes 'that is, for the transmission of will and the sub@ugation of biological energies. Notes

and interals were not )spatiali&ed) by being written down, but were dealt with

instinctiely and psychically.

L. n the early magical use of tones, sonic progressions 5what we call )scales)6 were feltto descend 5that is, to proceed naturally from high to low pitch6. "his use of tones by

early peoples reflected the )descent) of inaudible >ound in the cosmogenic process.

"he great eolutionary change in human consciousness that occurred in the si$th

and fifth centuries


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the monochord, ythagoras was attempting to demonstrate the operation of

impersonal, metabiological principles of number and form as the foundation of

e$istence. His teachings and reform in :reece paralleled the actiity of his

contemporary, :autama criabin, by trying to pour a mystical consciousness into old forms and

instruments? >atie, by spoofing musical conentions and thereby becoming the

precursor of *adaism and the anarchic type of aant-garde? >trains!y, by stunning

the (uropean aristocracy with the neoprimitiism of his )/ite of >pring,) thereby

opening the possibility of a renewed sacromagical use of sound 5but, frightened by

the primal power of what he had released, he sought refuge in retreat '

neoclassicism6? and >choenberg, by abandoning tonality altogether 5but he replaced

it with other rigid intellectual rules that were, for /udhyar, )li!e substituting

totalitarianism to the diine right of !ings) .

9. f the arious trends of aant-garde music deeloped since +orld +ar , /udhyarbeliees that most are a continuation of the cathartic, catabolic process of

deconditioning.


42/73

same way about most trends in contemporary society.

"he current )minimalism) in aant-garde music, especially )meditation music)

composed of simple, highly repetitie statements simulating ancient magical

practices ' haing been strongly influenced by its composers% e$periences of

psychedelic drugs and riental philosophies and practices 5often highly modified for+estern consumption6, also represents mainly a deconditioning process.

>ince young composers opposed to the materialism of +estern culture hae to face

the difficult problem of haing their wor!s performed by highly paid professional

musicians, they often resort to electronic instruments ' products of the ery

technological mentality they decry ' the actual tones of which sound, to /udhyar,

hollow and deoid of a human, e$pressie, or ensouling uality. n the other hand,

while the actual tones produced by some composer- musicians wor!ing with

acoustically resonant instruments 5gongs or bells, for e$ample6 hae this ensouling

uality and beauty, the organi&ation of sounds into music lac!s cohesion and

inspiration and often banali&es the tones used.

10.or /udhyar, any truly significant rebirth or transformation in music must integratewithin a broader, more inclusie frame of reference and organi&ed consciousness

alues of both non-+estern, sacromagical music and features of the +estern mental

approach based on proportion and form. Needed for the deelopment of a new

musical consciousness and thus a truly new music are2

a new sense of musical space paralleling a new philosophical andmetaphysical understanding of space2 space as fulness of being rather than

space as an empty container in which unrelated material entities act and react

according to )natural laws)?

a renewed sense of the sacred in sound? a new sense of )holistic resonance) of actual tones? a new sense of organi&ation in music.

11.Consonant ersus *issonant Harmony2 >ince 193L /udhyar has spo!en )of thedifference between consonant and dissonant harmony, a distinction which applies not

only to music, but to all types of relationships. spo!e therefore of the Consonant

and *issonant rders of relationships.

)+hile the Consonant rder finds its unifying principle in a unity of origin 5the

fundamental tone, No. 16, the *issonant rder e$periences unity 5or rather, u3-#0

un#-y6 in the cooperatie association of eual entities, each with a different

character. n terms of social organi&ation, the Consonant rder manifests as the


43/73

tribal order, spiritually, if not biologically, rooted in a common :reat #ncestor who

lied in a more or less mythical a-? the *issonant rder refers to the true

democratic Bor companionate order in which indiiduals who are basically different

and eual come together in order to wor! out a common purpose to be fulfilled in the

2u-ure.)# typically consonant, tonal music is ruled by the tonic and the dominant, @ust as

ancient monarchies were ruled by the !ing and the prime minister . . . (erything in

the realm theoretically belonged to the !ing, and all deelopments followed a

formalistic principle embodying ariations on a root unity. "he emphasis was on

loo!ing bac! to the original one.

)"he dissonant approach to music, to society, and to human e$istence in general

moes in an opposite direction. Gnity is not gien, it is to be made in the

consciousness of the auditors. ife and music constitute, from this point of iew, a

problem of integration. ne can still spea! of a unity of origin in a metaphysical or

occult sense, but this dissonant approach is e$istential in that it deals with what

e$ists now ' that is, with separate indiiduals engaged today in a ast process of a

global. harmoni&ation, indiiduals see!ing to organi&e their differences, so as to

reach a state of all-inclusie integration, a state of plenitude.)

/ecently, /udhyar has begun to thin! about substituting the term )transsonant) for

dissonant, to eo!e the possibility of a dissonant, highly resonant sound acting as a

ehicle -hr"u7h wh#%hinspiriting meaning could be transmitted. Aore than new

deelopments in composition, performance techniue, or instruments, howeer, a

transsonant use of sound would depend primarily on the leel of consciousness of

the composer-performer and the hearers.

13.+hile /udhyar has written orchestral and chamber music, he has composed mainlyfor the piano, pioneering a techniue which he calls )orchestral pianism,) in which

the total resonance of tone produced is more significant than separate notes and

formal articulation. or him, the basic sonic material produced by a piano comes

from the )holistic resonance) of its entire sounding board rather than from the

separate ibrations of its strings. Aoreoer, for him, the )physical world of human

e$perience is not unli!e an immense sounding board? and the sounding board of a

piano is the best illustration or symbol afforded by +estern music, because the

seen octaes of the symboli&e the normal e$tension of our practically usable

musical space.)

or /udhyar, it is significant that one person at the piano can )directly manipulate

the . . . whole musical space to which human beings can respond,) and can

)fecundate) it with his or her creatie will and indiiduali&ed psychism. "his act of

fecundation parallels in human e$perience the descending actiity of cosmogenic

5inaudible6 >ound2 the creatie will and emotions of the performer impact the !eys


44/73

of the piano, and the resonant material of the piano%s sounding board produces

audible tone carrying the )message) of the creatie intent.


45/73

D. PAINTIN9

/udhyar began to paint in >anta e, New Ae$ico, in 1948 5age =46. #t the time, his musical

actiity had been completely stopped 5mostly because he )strenuously opposed)

neoclassicism in music, and a group of influential neoclassical musicians controlled the)musical scene) in terms of performances, grants, and commissions ' and because the

:reat *epression and the graduated income ta$ discouraged wealthy patrons from

supporting independent creatie artists as they preiously had6. He found himself among

painters, participating in discussions concerning art, the attitude of the artist, the alue of

techniue, the relation of esthetics to spirituality, and so on. He felt he should demonstrate

in practice some of the points he had made in these discussions. "he following is uoted

from his unpublished autobiography 5198062

)ne of them was my belief that a truly creatie artist should be able to create significant

and original ' een if not technically masterful ' wor!s in anyart . . . # period of

familiari&ation with the materials used in the new art, and particularly of establishing

reliable muscular connections through the neres between the brain centers and the hand

used in the creatie process, would obiously be needed? yet any material can be %in-

spirited% by the same creatie power acting -hr"u7hthe creatie person and his or her

physical body . . .

)n cultural periods where a %style% ' a collectie social factor ' is a more or less

inescapable reality, and any budding artist must become subserient to its dictates, which

he dare alter somewhat only after he is established and een then at his ris! and peril, the

situation is different.


46/73

) soon became aware that the proper term to characteri&e my paintings was -ran%re-e

art, because they were not ob@ects haing meaning in themseles as much as forms

translucent to the light of meaning. "he word %transcrete% is made of the atin roots trans

5through6 and %re%ere5to grow6. Aeaning grows out of the transcrete form as a plant

grows out of a seed. "he term, diaphanous, could also be used, because the forms in mypaintings are 5or at least purport to be6 reelations of a transcendent uality or archetype of

being . . .

)"he problem one faces in dealing with such an approach to creatiity deals with the part

which the mind and the personal ego of the artist plays in the creatie process2 *oes the

process begin with the artist%s emotional reactions or desire for success, etc. , or has it its

source at a deeper leel transcending the personality #s creatie actiity deals with

materials 5brushes, paint, pencils, canas, paper, etc.6, the ego, haing learned to deal with

earth-materials and eeryday circumstances ' for this is its function ' is needed to watch

oer and guide what is ta!ing place between the hand and the materials it also should hae

acuired certain consciously accepted principles of balance and cyclic structure which can . .

. be guiding elements which, for e$ample, may suggest when the deelopment can be best

concluded or how a certain emphasis could be made stronger by a compensating factor.


47/73

conersant with the precise, intellectually formulated and listed meanings gien to specific

symbols, either in reudian or Fungian psychologies or in the clearly catalogued teachings of

#sian, Eabbalistic or >ufi philosophies . . .

)+hen facing my paintings, a person%s reaction is often that must hae used such

geometrical or biologically suggestie symbols deliberately, !nowing e$actly why usedthem. eople freuently are shoc!ed when tell them that did not hae precise intentions

and did not thin! of traditional meanings. "hen they often want to spea! of %the

unconscious% ' my personal unconscious or the %collectie unconscious% with its @ungian

archetypes ' guiding my hand in a psychological sense. f the onloo!ers are ... interested

in occult symbolism or metaphysics, the interpretations they gie in most instances seem

strange to me. B"hey seem not to see what in seeral of my paintings or drawings is rather

clearly an archetypal structure based on the interplay of forces within the human body. "his

has been Bespecially the case Bwith )Creatie Aan,) )Aeditation on ower)...or )#atar.)

)n my large pencil- drawing, )"he #lchemist,) centers and currents of energy are clearly

eo!ed by curing lines and geometrical forms.


48/73

'. ASTROLO9Y

#ny person haing the possibility of wor!ing, consciously or unconsciously, at whateer

leel, as an agent for sociocultural transformation has somehow to establish an effectie

relation with some deeloping trend in the society whose collectie or group consciousness

is to be transformed. +hile the fields of music and the philosophy of culture were the first in

which /udhyar demonstrated his transformatie ision, when he came to #merica

5Noember 191 to New 7or!, Fanuary 1930 to os #ngeles6, these fields were most

undeeloped, and the response to his reolutionary ideas was minimal. #fter 1943,

/udhyar%s actiity in the field of astrology, which barely e$isted in #merica at the time,

became the means to establish the necessary contact with a potentially large #merican

public. "his contact was made possible by aul Clancy, who offered to /udhyar the pages of

his new maga&ine #merican #strology, which soon became successful. Clancy gae

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