Printed in the Summer 2021 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Hoeller, Stephan A., "Members Forum: The Drama of Spiritual Struggle " Quest 108:3, pg 12
Stephan A. Hoeller
Among the philosophical dramatic works of the world, a singular position belongs to the late nineteenth-century Hungarian play The Tragedy of Man by Imre Madach. Not very well known outside of Hungary, it is nevertheless regarded as part of the broad European tradition represented by the works of such great figures as Goethe, Milton, Byron, and Ibsen. Whether it may be regarded as a preexistentialist work, a document of the tragic sense of life, or an esoteric allegory built on the theory of reincarnation, its quintessential message is undoubtedly the need for psychospiritual struggle in human consciousness.
The Tragedy of Man consists of fifteen scenes, beginning and ending with scenes in the Garden of Paradise. Between these two points we are led through the entire history of humanity as envisioned by Adam and Eve in their embodiments (reincarnations) in various historical periods. In each epoch, the first human pair experiences a struggle involving suffering and the longing for a better future, which, however, upon coming to pass, reveals itself as yet another time of struggle and disappointment. In the final scene, we find Adam standing on a precipice, ready to take a suicidal plunge into the Abyss in order to prevent this future struggle, but Eve prevents him from doing so by disclosing that she is pregnant. The promptings to despair communicated to Adam by Lucifer thus fall on deaf ears. The sorrowful history of humanity will now take place. The grand philosophical message of the play is proclaimed at the play’s end by the voice of the Creator: “I have told thee, Man, to struggle and to hope mightily!”
The philosopher-playwright was not alone in his view of the existential reality and the utility of the struggle. Another great Hungarian poet, Mihaly Vorosmarty, wrote: “What is our task in the world? To struggle and give nourishment to our soul’s desires.”
Many of us reach a point in our lives where we struggle with becoming the spiritual beings we know we can be. We intend to improve our spiritual character, but we find influences impinging on us that are opposed to such improvement. Many of us, unable to endure the suffering of this struggle, settle for minimal progress and thus leave our earthly embodiment frustrated and disappointed.
Throughout history, many systems of psychospiritual development have been proclaimed. Most of them pertain to the great religions: the Law of Judaism, the imitatio Christi in Christianity, the yoga systems in Hinduism. Theosophy, conforming to nineteenth-century thinking, adapted Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to the ideal of spiritual progress. For some of us, the idea of evolution (even when thus spiritualized) has largely lost its appeal, but it would probably be an extreme position to say that the theory of spiritual evolution is without merit.
Perhaps it may be useful to consider that a slow, almost imperceptible, development of consciousness may be underlying the turbulent and sorrowful course of history. The late Boris de Zirkoff, a relative and interpreter of H.P. Blavatsky, adapting certain Theosophical theories, advocated self-directed evolution. This process requires contact with an authentic, wise Self, which may become both the activating agent and the goal of such development. Recalling Shakespeare’s words, “To thine own self be true,” we may be able to move closer to the ontological Self, the central archetype of our being.
To remain true to what Theosophical terminology calls the Higher Self takes us to a battlefield of struggle. Perhaps never has this struggle been more dramatically manifested to us than with the recent pandemic, which has flooded us with loneliness, isolation, anxiety, depression, and despair. Only a mighty hope nourished by the higher power of being, the deific reality of the true Self, will bring victory in this great struggle. The Hungarian dramatist may have been right: we need to struggle while hoping mightily.
Stephan A. Hoeller was born and raised in Hungary and was educated for the monastic priesthood in his earlier years. A member of the Theosophical Society since 1952, he has lectured in the U.S. as well as in Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. He served as a professor of religion at the College of Oriental Studies for a number of years and is the author of four books published by Quest Books: The Fool’s Pilgrimage: Kabbalistic Meditations on the Tarot; Jung and the Lost Gospels: Insights into the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library; The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead; and Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing. He has been associated with the Besant Lodge of the TSA in Hollywood for many years and has been a bishop of the Gnostic Church (Ecclesia Gnostica) since 1967.