Quest Magazine

A Rebirth of Christianity

By Alvin Boyd Kuhn
Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 2005, Paperback, xiii + 267 pages.

Alvin Boyd Kuhn, who died in 1970-seven years before the initial publication of A Rebirth of Christianity would be pleased to note the prescient nature of his book's title. Since then there has been a dramatic increase in biblical scholarship delving into the allegorical and mystical aspects of Christian scriptures with such texts as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene.

"The modern world is only now beginning to recognize a fact that is bound to have profound effects upon Christianity: the fact that the ancient and revered scriptures of antiquity are not history, but rather spiritual truth dramatized and illustrated by some history," Kuhn writes. The early church fathers -Clement, Origen, Augustine-were well acquainted with the allegorical mode of writing, but that Christianity soon took a crucial "misdirection" when biblical exegesis became burdened by "the shackles of a literal and historical dogmatism."

This loss of the ability to "interpret the divine allegories committed the succeeding ages to a mental darkness" that has had profound consequences. Kuhn suggests that Christianity may now be on the verge of a reawakening, pointing to the discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Gospel of Thomas, and the Second Vatican Council's legitimizing of allegorical interpretation. "The task now confronting modern intelligence is to throw off the blinders of a shallow realism that have obscured mystical vision and to awaken the long-stifled faculties of insight into noumenal verities."

An accomplished student of Egyptian hieroglyphics, Kuhn identifies themes from the Gospels, which can be traced back to the literature of Palestine, Persia, or Egypt. Many of the rites and symbols of the Christianity can be found in earlier religions. Under modern scholarship, of which Kuhn cites numerous examples, "the edifice of historical interpretation is fast crumbling." But if the Christian can no longer read the Bible as pure history, what is left? "What is lost as history will come back with immeasurable gain as spiritual allegory," he assures us.

Whether the esoteric approach to Christianity will ultimately gain wider acceptance within the Christian world or remain the province of a few Gnostic scholars remains to be seen. Many are wedded to the literal approach. Lest we become overly optimistic, the words of the Roman Emperor Julian bear repeating: "There is no wild beast like an angry theologian."

-DAVID P. BRUCE

March/April 2006

The End of Karma: 40 Days to Perfect Peace, Tranquility, and Joy

By Dharma Singh Khalsa
Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc., 2005, Paperback, 248pages.

In The End of Karma: 40 Days to Perfect Peace, Tranquility, and Joy, Tucson anesthesiologist: Dharma Singh Khalsa writes that karma is not what many people think it is. Khalsa tells us that karma is a very real cosmic mechanism and the root of most human difficulties, but, contrary to popular opinion, it's not really about paying off debts from past lifetimes. Instead, he says, it's more about our actions and their consequences in this life.

Khalsa, a Sikh, says he has gone from putting people to sleep to trying to wake them up and "heal their body, mind, and soul." He declares that it doesn't take countless lifetimes to eradicate karma. It will dissolve, he contends, almost instantly when we get in touch with a reservoir of divine energy that exists inside everyone. Khalsa, who is also the president/medical director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Foundation International and an expert in the treatment and prevention of memory loss, affirms that simply meditating on this book will open the floodgates to extraordinary power.

The book revolves around a collection of forty poems written by Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, (Sikhism appeared in India in the sixteenth century and is a mixture of devotional Hinduism and Sufism, teaching that God is the only reality.) Each poem is accompanied by Khalsa's brief but penetrating reflections. The book also contains many simple affirmations, visualizations, and meditative exercises.

Nanak's pithy hymns embody the same rhapsodic, devotional tone manifested by Rumi and other mystic poets, They expound on the power and vastness of the Creator and the benefits of awakening to divine presence. Khalsa contends that Nanak's verses alone have the ability to transform our lives.

"These words," he writes, "have magical power, and reading and contemplating them will deliver you to your soul and the God within yourself."

Nanak's songs of praise certainly help center attention on transcendental ideas, but it is Khalsa's lucid, insight-inducing commentary that will likely forge the strongest link to the heart.

This book could easily be read in an afternoon, but Khalsa suggests a much slower pace, taking as many as forty days per chapter. He recommends the best time to read and meditate is at dawn.

"The world is still and quiet early in the morning," he writes, "and the static of life has yet to interfere with your ability to touch your soul."

Khalsa notes that the ego, the human tendency to feel isolated from the wholeness of life, is a significant stumbling block to self-realization.

"The limitless soul is restricted by ego," he says, "and its outlook becomes narrow. You then can't see reality clearly because a barrier is created between you and God."

Khalsa explains that the product of this limited vision is karma, the revolving door of self-serving and often self-defeating behavior we frequently get stuck in that also creates a form of reincarnation in this life. He writes, "You wander from one error or misdeed to another. The result is that you have to be reborn and perhaps reborn again-not necessarily in another life, but in this one until you get on the right track."

Opening up to our deeper nature-a process that Khalsa refers to as dharma---produces an intuitive knowledge that will help guide us out of dysfunctional ruts.

"Dharma eats up karma," he states, "simply because dharma is a higher plane of existence. It's spiritual living in action,"

This book is a journey to the spiritual heart of Sikhism (there's little mention of some of the more legalistic elements of the faith involving matters of attire, grooming, and personal accoutrements), and its universal tone and non-dogmatic approach will likely resonate with a wide range of spiritual searchers.

Khalsa is the ideal spiritual mentor. He is earnest, optimistic, and supportive, but never preachy. He encourages us to let go of our underlying assumptions about reality, especially the concept of sin, telling us that enlightenment is open to all.

“It doesn't matter if you're successful, or if you're a criminal, a drug addict, or the lowest of the low in your mind. You're ready to become exalted."

Interestingly, Khalsa asserts that good actions alone don't hasten spiritual growth. In fact, he states, too much emphasis on behavior can actually hinder development.

"The consideration of actions, whether thought to be good or bad, fails to bring you much closer to your depth, because it keeps you attached or focused on the outer-centered world rather than on your inner-most soul."

The End of Karma: 40 Days to Perfect Peace, Tranquility, and Joy is full of fresh perspectives and beautiful thoughts. It urges us to be in the world but not of it, taking us deep inside ourselves where Khalsa says we have everything we need to be happy.

"It's your true mission in life," he counsels, "to let your spirit shine and your soul glow."

-PAUL WINE

March/April 2006

Signs of the Times: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of World Events

By Ray Grasse
Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing, 2002. Paperback, 297pages

As Dane Rudhyar writes in his Occult Preparation for a New Age, "When doors are open between two deeply different realms of existence and consciousness, attempts to explain what comes in and what goes out of the door are nearly always confused, for the explanation has to be formulated in terms of the culture which has developed on our side of the door." As Ray Grasse adds in Signs of the Times: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of World Events, "If one hopes to uncover the 'signs of the times' one must sometimes look in seemingly unlikely places."

Thus each major writer who analyzes the transition from the Piscean period to the Age of Aquarius does so by looking at what he feels are the key signs of transition but also in terms of the ideas and discipline with which he is most at home. C. G. Jung's important analysis Aion stresses psychological archetypes and the role of symbols. Sri Aurobindo, although he had withdrawn from active anti-colonial politics, saw in political events such as the rise of Hitler and the independence of India the signs of the passing of one age and the start of the next. Marilyn Ferguson, active in mind/brain studies, stresses shifts in consciousness in her well-known book The Aquarian Conspiracy. While drawing to an extent on all these earlier writers, Ray Grasse, trained in film making and analysis, highlights popular culture, especially films, as a reflection of the fading of Piscean values and the progressive flowing of the Aquarian age.

Grasse quotes the poet Ezra Pound, who once remarked that artists are the antennae of a society. Thus, by studying the recurring themes already surfacing throughout popular culture, we can discern the broad trends that are forming deep in the collective unconscious and will continue to take shape in the millennia to come.

Among those who analyze history within the framework of Great Ages, there is widespread agreement, as Grasse notes, that humanity is "leaving the Piscean Age and about to enter the Aquarian Age. Like vast tectonic plates shifting deep within the collective unconscious, this epochal transition has already begun manifesting as a series of historic changes in our world, as the symbols of an older order make way for those of a radically new one, and our attention is transfixed by a different set of issues and values." The Piscean period, which we can date from plus or minus year one of the common era to the year 2000, is the only Great Age for which we have real, worldwide historical records. For the two earlier ages-Aries (2000 BCE to 1 CE) and Taurus (4000 BCE to 2000 BCE) ---we have archeological evidence and some art from a few regions. On the basis of this very limited evidence, all sorts of theories such as those on the role of the Egyptian pyramids or the Sphinx-not to mention visitors from space-have been made, yet there is no common agreement on them. Thus, to be on solid ground, we must base Great Age analysis on the study of the most recent two thousand years. We see the start of the Piscean period in the Mediterranean area - to be expected from a sign represented by two fish-·a nearly closed sea around which flowered major societies: classic and Hellenistic Greece and Rome, followed by Spain, Portugal, France, and England-all became politically great powers with worldwide cultural influences. The Piscean period is marked by two religious cultural systems: Christianity-the birth of Jesus is often used as the major symbolic start of the Piscean period and the second Piscean faith, Islam.

Thus, to advance the hypothesis of a Piscean-to-Aquarian progression, we should look for a shift away from the Mediterranean-influenced civilization and for signs of a fading of both Christianity and Islam. The shift in symbols for the age would also indicate a geographic shift in power and influence from the Piscean fish (the sea) to Aquarius -a person pouring water, indicating land in need of irrigation or water conservation. We can look for signs of a shift toward states or combinations of states with large plains in need of water management for prosperity. Such a hypothesis would indicate at least four states with large plains that would take the lead in the transition to a new era: the United States, Russia, China, India, and perhaps Brazil. There is less agreement by the general consensus on the fading of Christianity and Islam given the emotional attachment that some have toward the religions and the energy with which some spread the faiths. Yet as Ray Grasse notes, "The Aquarian Age will probably sweep away many of the emotional and religious trappings that characterized Piscean-Age consciousness and replace them with a more sober and clear-eyed approach to reality." He goes on to describe the shift from the Piscean climate that has been largely pleasure-denying in character even to the extent of fostering guilt over experiences of pleasure toward self-realization, happiness, and freedom. The Aquarian Age ushers in a more self-affirming philosophy and a greater emphasis on personal empowerment.

Yet as we analyze the ending of the Age of Aries at the time of the birth of Jesus, we see that there was suffering. Every transition between two Great Ages results in suffering, and the suffering is greatest when fear, a clinging to the past, or an exuberant eagerness to race ahead introduces tensions, inner conflicts, and false expectations. For a new age to emerge, there must be courageous servants of the cyclic purpose. All deep and radical transformations require an illumined mind and an all-encompassing heart.

Ray Grasse's book and his useful bibliography make an important contribution to the study of this period of transition. If the dawning of the Age of Aquarius is to mean more to us than a line from a popular song, it will require more efforts along the lines of Ray Grasse's serious and even approach.

-RENE WADLOW

March/April 2006

The Way of Story: The Craft and Soul of Writing

By Cathrine Ann Jones
Ojai, CA: Prasana Press, 2004. Paperback, 195 pages.

The Way of Story: The Craft and Soul of Writing By Cathrine Ann Jones will appeal to anyone interested in an intuitive approach to effective writing by drawing from personal experience. The book also teaches writers how to share one's inner journey with others through the medium of story. Jones, a successful New York playwright and Hollywood screenwriter, inspires the reader to write what one feels passionately about and also gives guidance to develop the solid skills necessary for successful story writing. This balanced approach to the writing process can have a healing influence on the writer, as well as on a fractured society in need of spiritual connection.

To reveal the essential elements of what creates a memorable story, the author delves into the inner workings of the art of storytelling. At its best, writing, and the writer as shaman, act as a bridge between spirit and earth. From this perspective, it is seen that the work must begin within, in knowing one's self, and being able to feel at the heart level. In order to serve the soul, feeling and emotion, rather than knowledge, must be the raw material to work With. One must begin with a passion for what one writes, then, use the craft to contain it in a story to be shared with others, People read stories or go to movies in order to feel something. Having an emotional identification with what one writes can only help the reader make an emotional connection with the story and its characters, and through that, to their own humanity.

Practical advice and techniques on the craft of writing are organized in chapters on topics of re-writing, character development, dialogue, and scenes, Examples are given from the author's own work to illustrate the points made and writing exercises at the end of each chapter reinforce the material presented.

Jones also leads "The Way of Story" experiential workshops, one of which I was fortunate to attend. I was impressed by her ability to individually work with participants, bringing them to their next stage of development, regardless of whether they were interested novices or seasoned professionals. This was accomplished through guiding the participants to arrive at their own insights through exercises and reflective work, rather than feeding them information. The Way of Story: The Craft and Soul of Writing is a valuable presentation of the author's understanding that truly transformational work begins from within, through experience absorbed through the heart and not the head.

-EILEEN SETO

January/February 2006