Contents
"Star Wars: Episode One—The Phantom Menace" as Personal Mythology
By Jonathan Young
The latest film in the Star Wars series, like the earlier ones, is a symbol of our own experience. Allegorical accounts have often served that purpose in the past, but the Star Wars myth has an exceptional appeal for our time.
A New Look at the Three Objects: Part 2, The Second and Third Objects
By Robert Ellwood
The second two Objects of the Theosophical Society are "To encourage the comparative study of religion, philosophy, and science" and "To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in humanity." They relate to the first Object, "To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color," in important and practical ways.
Your Seven Souls: A Sufi View
By Robert Frager
The Sufis analyze the human constitution as consisting of seven souls: mineral, vegetable, animal, personal, human, secret, and secret of secrets. That analysis is similar to Theosophical teachings about the seven human principles
The Hidden Gospel of the Aramaic Jesus
By Neil Douglas-Klotz
The Gospels written in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, differ in tone and implication from the Greek version we know in English translations. For example, "A good tree brings forth good fruit, an evil tree brings forth evil fruit" in our version is "A ripe tree brings forth ripe fruit, an unripe tree brings forth unripe fruit" in Aramaic.
Viewpoint: Termites, Towers, and Nuclei
By John Algeo
Termites, working alone, accomplish very little, but working together, even though the work seems chaotic, they build towers that are marvels of engineering.
Thinking Aloud: Nothingness
By Radha Burnier
We are obsessed with becoming a success, and paradoxically that may block real achievement in our lives. Lao Tzu says that the sage "produces without claiming, acts without dwelling on the action, achieves his ends without resting in them. In doing so, he loses nothing."