NEWS PERSPECTIVES: America At The Crossroads Whose values?+quot; was the question fairly s

NEWS PERSPECTIVES: America At The Crossroads Whose values?" was the question fairly screaming from Newsweek's cover.1 Inside, a discussion of "the coming debate over values" focused on the 60s and their fateful fruitage. For that was the decade, according to Senior Editor Joe Klein, when catastrophic change convulsed America. Previously, "there was a time when America's culture was hegemonic, placid and family oriented." Too, "the pristine image wasn't entirely a myth." But with the dawn of the 60s, according to the article, things began to hasten downhill. For instance, as the divorce rate sky-rocketed, it produced a pernicious plethora of problems, primarily for the children: "80 percent of the adolescents in psychiatric hospitals" were "from broken families," also "three out of four teenage suicides." Their "ability to learn is impaired"; they are "20 to 30 percent more likely to be injured in an accident." The article quoted a social historian: "We have conducted a 30-year experiment in desublimation" which "has caused a moral hangover"; "the $4 trillion national debt" is "a metaphor for the moral deficit incurred during the nation's 30-year spree."2 It is refreshing to find a leading news journal, known for past criticisms of traditional morality, come out so strongly in favor of what had been the accepted moral norm in the nation's first 181/2 decades. Only a fraction of a small paragraph in the article elaborated on the concept that "hegemony" (the pre-1960 moral climate) had its "downside." But don't, for that matter, all things mundane? Missing from Newsweek's piece was any real explanation why, after 181/2 decades, America suddenly began to turn its back on a value system that had hoisted it from a 5th-rate nation to a superpower which for a brief post- World-War-II interlude not only held greater global sway than any other nation ever, but also was producing half the world's goods and services though but 1/20 of the population. Newsweek suggests that "the slivering of America," as it called what happened during the 60s, came because "common values are impossible in so diverse a country." But is that really so? The degree of diversity had not increased between the 1920s Ä when immigration was first restricted Ä and the middle 60s. The 1965 Immigration Act set out to drastically change things, but it can be argued that its real impact was not felt for a few years. There's occult light on the cause and course of the 60s. For most of that decade, the powerful Uranus-Pluto conjunction transited the heavens. Uranus negatively3 is the planet of rebellion; Pluto intensifies all it touches. The conjunction occurred in the sign Virgo which, in the U.S. chart, holds Neptune. Thus in the U.S. natus three "malefic" planets4 were "together," compounding the problem. Too, in 1962 there was a powerful conjunction in Aquarius which, on the downside, produces rebellious behavior. No wonder there was reaction against the past. But why? During all the decade, Neptune was transiting the sign Scorpio. It, negatively, leads to self-indulgence. Neptune, for those unable to respond to its vibrations constructively, is a deceptive influence. It casts a false glamor over that which is sinister and seductive, making it appear a source of gratification and gain whereas actually it is the very opposite. A well-known Bible story illustrates this, When King David saw Bath- sheba, Uriah's wife, he was attracted by her beauty, Bath-sheba means "fulfillment."5 The "now generation" of the 60s, like David of old drawn to the illicit, believed that by throwing off the restraints of traditional values and violating cosmic/moral law, it would find "fulfillment." But even as David's fling brought disaster and death, the promiscuity unleashed in the 60s produced broken homes, venereal disease, AIDS, etc. Some called the 60s' life style "free love." Life teaches that often one pays most dearly for that which one thought to obtain "free"; also that wisdom flees the pleasure that bites tomorrow. America's birth map clearly shows that adherence to the principle of home and family is best for it. Venus is the planet of values; it is in Cancer, sign of the traditional, on the cusp of the 2nd house off material possessions, along with Jupiter of prosperity. Language can't be clearer, nor the record more so that probity produces prosperity. It was when traditional values began to be repudiated that national indebtedness began getting out of control.6 There can be no doubt Ä the 60s syndrome was not good for America. That's why it is extra important to address a still lingering misconception regarding that decade. It is, that somehow the "new morality" then "introduced" and the "new age" are closely related. Times without number, both the electronic and print media have referred to the drug scene of Haight-Ashbury, the drugs-and-rock-and-roll "event" at Woodstock etc. as the dawning of Aquarius Ä incorrectly.7 Nothing could be further from the truth. Just because they share the word "new" does not necessarily mean they have anything else in common: For instance, there are Indians in Kansas and Indians in Calcutta; identical name, yet entirely different. Or, both liberals and conservatives in the U.S. would resent being equated with their namesakes in Mainland China! Language can conceal truth just as easily as reveal it, as Voltaire correctly asserted; trying to equate "new morality" with "new age" is a case in point. The New Age message is really only new in the sense of being an adaptation of the ageless Ancient Wisdom, which "has never been completely obliterated from the world."8 And the "new morality" so called, is basically just the old immorality, new in but two respects: it has at its disposal the sophisticated tools of the 20th century, and it is frighteningly brazen: previously in America, devious behavior generally had a guilt complex about it; nowadays it vigorously vies for acceptance as an alternate life style. Regrettably, some adherents of the "new morality" have professed to be New Agers. Obviously, this had made it easier to believe there actually is a link between "new morality" and "new age." But just because someone talks about the stars and steers clear of steak does not make one a New Age Christian. Hitler didn't eat meat for fear of cancer and until May, 1941, is said to have had at least five astrologers, but surely nobody would call him a New Ager: Not what's in the mouth and mind but in the heart and therefore the life decides whether one is on the Path: "The fundamental aim of New Age religion is to awaken the Christ within man,"9 and this calls for strict personal holiness. The Bible confirms this. Isaiah was the prophet of the New Age,10 and no Old Testament seer has given us a more exalted vision of God's holiness than he in the sixth chapter of his prophecy, which also contains the human response thereto. The spiritual state of exaltation there described in no way harmonizes with the pathetic permissiveness of the "new morality." There's another reason why the morality of the 60s and "New Age" must never in any way be associated. Not only are their ethics and morality as different as night and day, but while the "new morality" tends to lower society's standards as a whole, the genuine New Age message can raise them in a way nothing else can: How? By shedding light on those areas of "orthodox" theology that tend to undercut traditional morality. To be specific: multitudes are finding it difficult in the extreme to accept the literal six-day creation account. Neither can they embrace the idea that a God of Love would consign multitudes who never even had a chance to hear His message to an eternity of torment. Because of this inability to wholeheartedly believe the old traditional theology, they cannot help but wonder whether the traditional morality that goes along with it deserves their full adherence, The Western Wisdom message, by revealing the harmony between science and religion as well as explaining the hidden (occult) truth and beauty of those portions of Scripture that cause the unenlightened to stumble, can reinforce peoplet's faith in the pillars of Christianity. Nothing more than this will help an America hesitant at the crossroads to choose the right road.11 --A Probationer l. Newsweek, June 8, 1992. 2. One lesson and only one, history may be said to repeat with distinctness: that the world is built somehow on moral foundations; that in the long run, it is well with the good; in the long run, it is ill with the wicked." Successful Christian Living, Harry Emerson Fosdick, p. 159, quoting historian James Froude. "We are born into a moral order... and if we defy that order, our end is darkness." The New American, Volume 6, Number 19, p. 38. "If there is no God, all is permitted." Ivan Karamazov, in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. "Only the policy that is morally right is victorious." Eduard Shevardnadze, former foreign minister of the Soviet Union, New York Times Book Review, September 22, 1991, p. 7. "Democracy demands more obedience to the moral law than any other form of government." Louis D. Brandeis, late associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1916- 39), Treasury of Inspirational Anecdotes, E. Paul Hovey, p. 148. "To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." Theodore Roosevelt, E. Paul Hovey, op. cit., p. 160. "There is not one great American in history who was born in a home of infidelity." Wilbur M. Smith, I Quote, Virginia Ely, ed., p. 129. 3. At this stage of human evolution, the masses cannot respond creatively to the outer orbs' high-octave vibrations. See Astrology and its Practical Application, Else Parker, p. 121; The Spiral of Life, Wickenburg and Meyer, p. 21; Alan Oken's Complete Astrology, Alan Oken, p. 224. 4. No planets are intrinsically "malefic," but some have been described thus due to human difficulty presently to respond to them aright. 5. 2 Samuel 11; Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, p. 99. 6. U.S. News & World Report, June 1, 1992, p. 72. 7. See "New Age and Hippies," Newsweek, June 15, 1992, p. 41. 8. The New Age Bible Interpretation, Old Testament. Volume I, Corinne Heline, pp. 71, 72. 9. The New Age Bible Interpretation, Old Testament, Volume III, Corinne Heline, p. 65. 10. The New Age Bible Interpretation, Old Testament. Volume IIl, Corinne Heline, p, 280. 11. Proverbs 14:34; 29:2. Valentine's Day: A New Age Look Salesclerk: "Can I help you, Sir?" Customer: "I'm looking for half a dozen cards with the message 'To my one and only Valentine.'" Just about everybody knows that seven weeks after Christmas it is time to send a gift to that very special person. Few know why, or how it all got started. The basic facts are these: Around 270 A.D. there lived a Christian priest in Rome named Valentine who encouraged believers amid the persecutions of Emperor Claudius II ("Gothicus"). Eventually he was apprehended and, on refusing to recant, tortured to death. Decades later, a Bishop of Rome generally known as Pope Julius I (337-52 A.D.), in whose time Christianity in the Empire was legal, built in his honor the church Porta del Popolo; he was later declared a martyr-saint and duly honored. It so happened there was also a Valentine, bishop of Terni, in the Italian region of Umbria, who was also martyred. That helps explain why February 14 later began to be called Valentine's Day, rather than by some other name. But what has all that to do with the present-day practice of sending gifts and "Valentines"? Amazingly little. One theory holds that Valentine's Day is merely an adaptation of a pagan festival to the Roman goddess Februata Juno, during which boys and girls drew lots as to who would be their special friend. Eventually the names of "saints" were substituted by the Church for those of youngsters, and the name "Valentine" won out in the end. Another theory has it that mid-February generally brings the first omens of spring and this should be celebrated; that birds are said to start their mating season then; that it is supposed to go along with Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), the celebration that in some places (in the U.S., especially in New Orleans) marks the start of Lent. To summarize: there simply is no complete/definitive account Or Valentine's Day's origin.1 But this much is certain: "The [Christian] feasts of the year have the very deepest occult significance."2 True, one might think of the martyrs and their courage, especially when singing such hymns as "Faith of Our Fathers living still, in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword."3 But that, inspiring as it may be, is not "the very deepest occult significance" that should be attached to February 14. Then what is? We find a clue in the very next sentence after "the very deepest occult significance." It speaks of "the planets. . . going about in their orbits." Would astrology, which unlocks so much of Life's mystery, also be of help in searching for "the very deepest occult significance" of Valentine's Day? Indeed. "Humanity enters the Aquarian Age via its Libra-ruled decanate."4 As students of the stellar science know, the 30 degrees of the Zodiac allotted to each sign are divided into three 10-degree portions, called decans or decanates, because each has 10 degrees. The first is totally controlled by the same sign that "owns" the entire 30 degrees, the following one by the next sign of the same element, and the third by the last sign of the same element. In the case of Aquarius, an air sign, the first decan obviously is "double Aquarius," the second is under the sub- influence of Gemini, and the third under that of Libra, is ruled by Venus of love, the planet most closely identified with Valentine's Day. In other words, we are led to conclude February 14 has a New Age significance. What? A somewhat frivolous occasion like February 14 is tied in with that transcendent far-off Divine Event toward which all the world is moving, Aquaria's appearance? In a way. How? February 14 is about as close as one can come to the middle, or heart, of February, which ordinarily has 28 day except for 29 in leap year. Even as February 14 has a special name, so does the entire month. It is called Brotherhood Month, very appropriate because the first two-thirds of February is under Aquarius' sway, and it is the sign of brotherhood. The last third is under Pisces' aegis, the sign that dissolves barriers, including those that need to be dissolved to bring about brotherhood. All that is no "accident," for "there is no such thing as an accident."5 So what does that give us? Right in the middle, or heart, of Brotherhood Month is a day set aside for giving! In the very center of brotherhood is the idea of benevolence! That, indisputably, is the great lesson of February 14! For the "heart" of the New Age ideal is the desire on the part of people to be helpful, benevolent, giving Ä rather than taking, as is the majority's practice now.6 Life confirms this. History reveals that brotherhood's great bane has always been the fact that some have been desirous to take from others, making brotherhood impossible, for it is posited on the idea of equality. Surely America's most egregious example of "anti-brotherhood" has been slavery, in the practice of which the victim has been deprived of the fruits of his labors and liberty. There was master and slave, superior and inferior, a relationship diametrically opposed to brotherhood. In parts of America, slavery was followed by segregation, which deprived its victims of their human dignity. As someone put it: We send money and missionaries overseas so the people there might go to heaven, but we don't think they're good enough to sit down beside us here. World-famous Billy Graham used to say, 11 A.M. Sunday is America's most segregated hour of the week. But even as the rising Sun dispels the nocturnal darkness, so the dawn of the New Age of Aquarius has been the reason why during this century more barriers to brotherhood have fallen than at any other time in recorded history. Not just in America. At this century's start, over 90% of Africa was under European sway, as were also many regions of what nowaday is called the "Third World." In China, Westerners sold opium at the point of a gun, exploited native labor to the hilt, and rubbed salt into deep scars by cynically carousing in clubs whose front doors sported signs like "dogs and Chinese (note the order) not admitted." Why is so much of the "Third World" so deeply in debt to the West? The latter realized years ago that the former could not buy its goods if it remained in poverty, which would also eventually bring poverty to itself. Hence huge loans were made. Now, their recipients have a hard time repaying the $1.4 trillion owed. If the "First World" had not kept the "Third World" down for so long, the latter would not have needed to borrow so much in the first place, and wouldn't be owing so much now. As Booker T. Washington wisely said, If you want to keep a man down, you have to stay down with him.7 This might be paraphrased, By taking from another, one is taking from oneself. Conversely by giving to another, one is giving to oneself. There's an object lesson of all this here in the U.S. The areas where segregation once prevailed have for long been the poorest. By keeping a part of the population in a sort of second-rate citizenship, others as well were being dragged down. A major reason why the world, especially economically, is in the shape it is in, is because there has been too much "what's in it for me" thinking. "Selfishness is the prime cause of diseases, sorrows, and pains. Selfishness is the supreme besetting sin."8 That calls for the transformation that produces the sort of individual who "lives only that he may give, not only of his worldly possessions, be they great or small, but his very self, in service to others."9 That is what Valentine's Day should remind us of, being, as it is, right in the middle, or heart, of Brotherhood Month. --A Probationer 1. Butler's Lives of the Saints, Volume I, pp. 332-334; The Encyclopedia of Catholic Saints, Volume 2, pp. 89-93. 2. The Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questions and Answers, Volume I, Max Heindel, p. 178. 3. Max Heindel, op. cit., pp. 235, 236. 4. Astrology, The Divine Science, Moore and Douglas, p. 703. 5. Max Heindel, op. cit., p. 122. 6. New Age Bible Interpretation, Old Testament, Volume III, Corinne Heline, p. 266. 7. For occult comments on the life of this great man, see The Rosicrucian Christianity Lectures, Max Heindel, p. 336. 8. The Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questions and Answers, Volume II, Max Heindel, p. 143. 9. The New Age Bible Interpretation, Volume IV, The New Testament, Part I, Corinne Heline, p. 120. Bosnia, Serbia, Aquaria For years astrologers have been telling us that when the heavy orbs, Uranus and Neptune, will start their transit through Aquarius later this decade, there would be an upsurge of New Age activity and ideals, especially related to "the Brotherhood of Man."1 For a brief moment after Communism's collapse in the late 80s, it was believed by some that global fraternity had arrived. But what have we now? A slew of civil strife. Within the former Soviet Union, multitudes have been killed in Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaidzhan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia, and Abkhazia. Attempts by Turkey and Iran to compete for ascendancy in Central Asia have also been destabilizing. Things are far worse in former Yugoslavia, whose breakup was also caused by Communism's demise,2 whose wars took over 6,000 lives the first six months alone3 and by mid-1992 had created over two million refugees.4 Also recently the Scots have clamored to leave England and Quebec's Francophones to quit Canada. Slovakia has already withdrawn from Czechoslovakia. So here we are, on the eve of Uranus' entry into its own sign, Aquarius, to be followed shortly by Neptune, and an argument can be made that Aquarian ideals, when "men everywhere will learn finally to live as brothers,"5 seem at least as elusive as ever. Based on surface appearance. But even as in homiletics a Biblical text without its context may be just a pretext, so current events must be put in their proper setting. According to an authoritative astrological voice, Neptune transits produce "devaluation of no longer adequate or relevant ideals."6 Since the middle of the 80s, Neptune has been transiting Capricorn, sign of government.7 We also know that Aquarius is the sign of Truth Ä the genuine.8 And the trouble spots mentioned above are all in artificial situations Ä "no longer adequate or relevant." The old U.S.S.R. consisted of scores of minorities all forcefully incorporated by the biggest group. Yugoslavia was created artificially after World War I out of the remnants of the defeated Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman (Turkish) empires plus Serbia and Montenegro. Some parts of it considered themselves as Western, others as Eastern Ä obviously with little in common. The country was said to have had six republics; five (major) ethnic groups; four (major) languages; three (major) religions; two alphabets (Roman and Cyrillic); but no unity Ä hence the breakup. Scotland also did not come under English control voluntarily. After many wars between them, there was a dynastic union in 1603 when James VI of Scotland became James I of Britain. The French people of Quebec came under London's rule after the Seven Years' War (1756-63). Slovakia had been joined to its neighbor in the West under an arrangement between U.S. President Wilson and T. G. Masaryk, a Czech "freedom fighter," made in Washington, D.C. The idea was idealistic; the reality artificial. So, it can be seen, what has been happening has been the unravelling of that which was less than genuine.9 It had to happen; what is regrettable is that it was not achieved peacefully. Suppose one were to drive a car 10,000 miles and then add fresh oil without removing the old Ä wouldn't that be a mess Ä even as infusing new ideas into crystallized political patterns. Old bottles cannot hold new wine, the Master told us.10 Health authorities advise us to "detoxify before you fortify."11 It is unwise to "load up" on vitamin and mineral supplements if the human body is still full of toxic matter; the same principle also holds true for the body politic. Not only are developments in earth's trouble spots basically (that is, minus the violence) in harmony with the approach of an Aquarian era,12 so is very much else presently transpiring. Never before, for instance, have nations banded together altruistically to carry out joint peace-keeping operations. Previously, nations have used unrest on their borders as excuse to occupy to "restore" order. Thus Hitler actually helped foment unrest in Czechoslovakia in 1938-39 as an alibi to take over. Never before have earth's nations been as closely linked as now thanks to hi-tech; what happens in one place can be heard and seen elsewhere almost instantaneously. The Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit of June '92 also was significant. Not only because it was the first of its kind, but also because definite plans were laid to enlist all the world in ecological cooperation. For unless all do work together, the efforts of just some will be futile. With the possibility of 14 billion people by next century Ä the equivalent of China's population is currently being added each decade Ä continued environmental and atmospheric pollution will make life on earth precarious at best and unmanageable at worst. Never before in human history has the actual choice been between global cooperation and extermination. Pure, enlightened self- interest will inevitably force global interaction. "The battle to save the world's precious environment needs all of our support."13 Also unprecedented is the formation of the European Economic Community and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).14 Both are symptomatic of the emerging global market.15 Thus IBM's employees are 40% foreign, those of Whirlpool over 50%; GE has its logo on microwaves made in South Korea; Chrysler buys cars from Mitsubishi and sells them as its own.16 It is very doubtful that there are any cars all of whose parts are made in just one country; "made in. . ." is no longer the same as "made of. . . ." Time magazine is not exactly an Aquarian advocate, and its veteran editor-at-large is a cautious realist. Yet in his "The Birth of the Global Nation" he wrote that "within the next hundred years. . . all states will recognize a single, global authority," citing as his main reason that "humanity has discovered, through much trial and horrendous error, that differences need not divide."17 And the CEO of a big computer company, pointing to its experience, declared, "Globalism is the future."18 That is something new Ä New Age --A Probationer l. Astrology, The Divine Science, Moore and Douglas, p. 277. 2. Rob Armstrong on CBS's "Capitol Ideas," August 23, 1992. 3. National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition," August 23, 1992. 4. Newsweek, August 17, 1992, p. 43. 5. Time, July 27, 1992, p. 12. 6. The Sun is Also a Star, Dane Rudhyar, p. 127. 7. Astrology Rulerships, Doris Chase Doane, p. 26. This reference gives the 10th house; of course Capricorn is the analogous sign and hence conveys the same meaning. 8. Astrology, Ronald C. Davison, p. 40. 9. On the plus side, it should not be overlooked that the reunification of Germany in 1990 ended the artificial 45-year existence of two separate German states. 10. Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37, 38. 11. Empty Harvest, Dr. Bernard Jensen and Mark Anderson, chapter 7. 12. Not to be confused with the Aquarian Age. 13. Christian Science Monitor, July 23, 1992, p. 20. 14. Christian Science Monitor, July 24, 1992, p. 8. 15. "Economics and politics go hand in hand." CBS's "This Morning in Business," August 24, 1992. Hence, cooperation in one leads to the same in the other. Both the political unity of the 13 American colonies in 1789 and the 39 German states in 1871 was preceded by powerful economic ties. 16. See The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism, by Robert Reich, Harvard economist. 17. Strobe Talbott in Time, July 20, 1992, pp. 70, 71. 18. U.S. News & World Report, July 27, 1992, p. 10. "The world's financial markets are so intertwined that when one itches, the others scratch." Time, August 3, 1992, p.25.