Astrology: Winter Solstice December 21, 2023, Part 1 Review

The Prognostic for the Fall was:

There should be less volatile conflict than the Summer, although conflicts of a more deceptive, illusory, fantastical nature could occur. Conversely, there may be a tendency to take people for granted and for failing to give people proper consideration. There is, however, a good opportunity for transformation by learning discrimination and seeing through any illusions, smokescreens, halls of mirrors, moon mist and gaslight in your life. There may also be needs to better balance other people's expectations into your priorities. But for that, it will require patience, investigation, introspection and an open mind to solve the mystery... It could open the doors to distinguishing valid spiritual values from superficial psychic impressions.

The oncoming Russia-Ukraine conflict was easier to predict, because the buildup was highly mediatized. I think that this is the first time that I was surprised at what occurred in the semester, as I didn't really see a Sun opposite Neptune (a T-Square with a Moon square to it) as particularly volatile (although I do find that difficult Moon aspects can be powerful in event charts). Although the Hamas attack occurred a day before an exact Mars square Pluto on October 8, a volatile aspect where pretty much anything can happen.

Perhaps the meaning of 'conflicts of a more deceptive, illusory, fantastical nature could occur' could be related to the surprise, unforeseen nature of the attack (regardless of whether it was really that unforeseeable). Moreover, a very surreptitious, mobile and swift attack on a rave music festival could be considered to fit with the Sun opposite Neptune aspect.  It was a strange twist of fate that a German-Israeli woman with esoteric interests, Shani Louk, would become an iconic figure in the Hamas-Israel war, her final IG post had Hermetic axiom 'As above, so below'. A "convinced pacifist", she refused to undergo compulsory military service. Moreover, ' seeing through any illusions, smokescreens, halls of mirrors, moon mist and gaslight' could correspond to the complicated history of the Israel-Palestine conflict in general and the massive Anti-Semitic and Islamophobia sentiments that the outbreak provoked. There's also the underground tunnel network apparently being used in Palestine.

Another possible effect of the Mars square Pluto aspect was a major Earthquake in Afghanistan.  Two more events in Canada, related to problems in discerning identity, with longstanding links to past events occurred around the same time. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were "credible allegations" of Indian involvement in the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C.. and a former Nazi was somehow applauded in Canadian parliament in the presence of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky. Also in this amazing two-week period, elections in Poland, Switzerland and New Zealand brought in right-wing governments, with a left-wing candidate coming in in Argentina. These occurred around the time of a New Moon Solar Eclipse in Libra, Sat Oct 14 (Mars in Scorpio, water domicile,fully resourced to strive after desires; Venus in Virgo, scrutinize interactions, pinpoint problems, researching solutions).

In the area of artistic fantastical mysteries, on October 14, the long, mysterious saga of the theft of the red slippers from The Wizard of Oz film came to a conclusion as the accused pleaded guilty, but with many unanswered questions remaining. Moreover, the litigation that delayed Dorothy's dress has been cleared up (sort of) and now the dress can go to auction (maybe). One of my astrological questions this year was, after years of announcements of imminent release, will a new Peter Gabriel album finally happen? It did. And it hit no. 1. Coincidentally, a very astrological release scheme, which was punctually maintained up to December 1. Morevoer, the Vancouver Art Gallery has declared that 10 oil sketches supposedly done by the Group of Seven’s J.E.H. MacDonald and donated to the gallery in 2015 are fake.  A bombshell CBC documentary revealed serious doubts about Canadian cultural icon Buffy Sainte-Marie's claims of indigenous descent.

The COP 28 meeting was marked by controversy and confusion as, ' many countries walked away from the talks frustrated at the lack of a clear call for a fossil-fuel “phase-out” this decade – and at a “litany of loopholes” in the text that might enable the production and consumption of coal, oil and gas to continue., although a last-minute breakthrough agreement was achieved, with "nearly every country in the world has agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels” – the main driver of climate change.'One has to wonder about the timing of finalizing an agreement on the beginning of a Mercury retrograde period, December 13. Coincidentally, at the same time, US Congress voted to launch an impeachment inquiry against the president.

The main astrological  factor that I look to in the outbreaks of the Russian-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine wars is the culmination of Pluto's transit through Capricorn.  Pluto has been hovering on the cusp of Capricorn and Aquarius all year and will continue to do so for all of next year (although its entrance into Aquarius in January for most of the year, should help improve things), and this position is considered to be one of high energy. Moreover, when a planet leaves a sign, it can be considered a period of squaring of accounts, a kind of final act in the cause and effects that marked its run through Capricorn since 2008, which saw the emergence of reform movements such as occupy Wall street, #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, and #FridaysForFuture, and on a more extreme side, an increase in right-wing authoritarian government repression. Indeed, it was around the time of Pluto's arrival in Capricorn that Hamas came to power in Palestine, and the attack occurred almost exactly 50 years after the 1973 Israel-Palestine war. The Mars square Pluto aspect on October 8 and the ongoing US Pluto return could be further indications of the Pluto nature of these events.

Wake up the dawn and ask her why
A dreamer dreams she never dies
Wipe that tear away now from your eye 

Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky

Part 2

Through the Gates of Gold 2 Mabel Collins Chapters 2-3

Through the Gatesof Gold : A Fragment of Thought is a wonderful, profound, eloquent work, the study of which offers many insights and valuable seeds of inspiration… Intimately linked with that well-regarded spiritual classic, Light on the Path, and they are often packaged together; indeed, studying this text in relation to corresponding passages in Light on the Path is recommended, and in general, can be viewed as a good introduction to that more demanding text. We are also indebted to Mabel Collins for a third theosophical classic, The Idyll of the White Lotus, of which T. Subba Row has written a remarkable commentary, nigh indispensable for unlocking the profundities of that fascinating work.

Information on Mabel Collins and the possible original author of this work:
http://blavatskyarchives.com/sisson1.htm

Part 1 

Chapter 2 The Mystery of Threshold

Part 1 A man must be his own schoolmaster. With each drop of the divine draught which is put into the cup of pleasure something is purged away from that cup to make room for the magic drop. For Nature deals with her children generously: man’s cup is always full to the brim; and if he chooses to taste of the fine and life-giving essence, he must cast away something of the grosser and less sensitive part of himself.

This has to be done daily, hourly, momently, in order that the draught of life may steadily increase. And to do this unflinchingly, a man must be his own schoolmaster, must recognize that he is always in need of wisdom, must be ready to practise any austerities, to use the birch-rod unhesitatingly against himself, in order to gain his end.

Part 2 Perceiving beyond matter. There is no doubt that a man must educate himself to perceive that which is beyond matter, just as he must educate himself to perceive that which is in matter. Every one knows that the early life of a child is one long process of adjustment, of learning to understand the use of the senses with regard to their special provinces, and of practice in the exercise of difficult, complex, yet imperfect organs entirely in reference to the perception of the world of matter.

Part 3 The Gates of Gold is the spiritual path. When once one has considered the meaning of those Gates, it is evident that there is no other way out of this form of life except through them. They only can admit man to the place where he becomes the fruit of which manhood is the blossom.

On the mental steps of a million men Buddha passed through the Gates of Gold; and because a great crowd pressed about the threshold he was able to leave behind him words which prove that those Gates will open.

Chapter 3 – The Initial Effort

Part 1 The hardest task: freedom from prejudice and positive will. Undoubtedly it is the hardest task we have yet seen set us in life, that which we are now talking of, — to free a man of all prejudice, of all crystallized thought or feeling, of all limitations, yet develop within him the positive will. It seems too much of a miracle; for in ordinary life positive will is always associated with crystallized ideas. But many things which have appeared to be too much of a miracle for accomplishment have yet been done, even in the narrow experience of life given to our present humanity. All the past shows us that difficulty is no excuse for dejection, much less for despair; else the world would have been without the many wonders of civilization.

Part 2 The man of genius and the subtle senses. It is the essential characteristic of the man of genius that he is comparatively indifferent to that fruit which is just within touch, and hungers for that which is afar on the hills. In fact he does not need the sense of contact to arouse longing. He knows that this distant fruit, which he perceives without the aid of the physical senses, is a subtler and a stronger food than any which appeals to them. And how is he rewarded! When he tastes that fruit, how strong and sweet is its flavor, and what a new sense of life rushes upon him! For in recognizing that flavor he has recognized the existence of the subtile senses, those which feed the life of the inner man; and it is by the strength of that inner man, and by his strength only, that the latch of the Golden Gates can be lifted.

Part 3 Lifting the iron bar from the heart. But before this fountain can be tasted, or any other spring reached, any source found, a heavy weight has to be lifted from the heart, an iron bar which holds it down and prevents it from arising in its strength. The man who recognizes the flow of sweetness from its source through Nature, through all forms of life, he has lifted this, he has raised himself into that state in which there is no bondage. 

Part 3

Uddhava Gita (Hamsa) and the Elements (Tattvas) (Bhagavata Purana, 11, 6-29)

There are a total of 60 gitas in Hinduism, such as the Bhagavad Gita,  Anu Gita, Ashtavakra Gita . Why not try the Uddhava Gita? All the beautiful eastern poetics of the Dnyaneshwari, only not as lengthy, with a full exposition of all the main doctrines of the Sanātana Dharma 

Hamsa Gita (also referred to as Uddhava Gita) consists of Krishna's final discourse to Uddhava before Krishna draws his worldly 'descent' (Sanskrit: avatar) and 'pastimes' (Sanskrit: lila) to completion. Though the Uddhava Gita is often published singularly as a stand-alone work, it is also evident in the Eleventh Canto of the Bhagavata Purana commencing from verse 40 section 6 through to the end of section 29, comprising more than 1000 'verses' (Sanskrit: shloka) and is considered part of the Purana literature proper. Below are some samples of nature-based eastern poetic imagery based mainly on the elements (tattvas) of Hindu natural philosophy.

Earth, Mountain, Tree

From the earth I learned the rule that a learned person should not deviate from the path and keep steady, however much he is harassed by his fellow living beings who simply follow what is arranged by fate. Uddhava (Hamsa) Gita, 2, 37 Anand Aadhar, tr. (Bhagavata Purana, 11, 6-29)

From the mountain one must learn to be always there for others, that one must devote all one's actions to the welfare of others. (2, 38 )

In following the example of a tree, for a pious person to be dedicated to others constitutes the sole reason for his existence. [see also 10.22: 31-35, Śrī Śrī Śikṣāṣṭaka-3 and B.G. 17: 20-22]  (Gita, 2, 38)

Water

A sage who by nature is a pure, softhearted, sweet and gentle place of pilgrimage for human beings, sanctifies, just like water, the souls who gather [the friends], by being seen by them, touched and honored (2, 44)

Air, Wind

A yogi free from selfhood should, just like the wind, never get entangled in relating to the objects of the senses and all their different favorable and unfavorable qualities. (2, 40)

When a self-realized soul has entered different bodies made of earth [elements] in this world & is endowed with their different qualities, he, well aware of himself, will not connect himself with these qualities, just like the wind does not with different odors (2,41)

Fire

The Almighty One assumes the identity of each after, just like fire appearing in firewood, having entered the different types of bodies of the higher and lower life forms He created by His potency ['true' and 'untrue' ones, god or animal]. (2, 47)

 

as with flames which one cannot see apart from a fire, individual souls cannot be seen separately from the bodies that constantly die & are born again, also the absolute of Time itself cannot be seen, despite the relativity of its speeding, compelling stream

(2, 49)

 

Moon

The state of the body [one undergoes] from one's birth until one's death, changes by the course of Time that itself cannot be seen; it is the body that changes, not the soul, just as the phases of the moon [change, but not the moon itself (see B.G. 2:13) (2, 48)

 

Sun

When the sun seems to have fallen apart in its reflections one, unless one is dull-witted, does not consider its original form as being different. Similarly the soul, despite of having entered in reflections [of different selves], is not seen as different (2, 51)

A yogi with his senses accepts and forsakes sense objects depending the moment [according to the cakra order] and does not attach to them, just as the sun, with its rays engaged in [evaporating and returning] bodies of water, is not ruled by them. (2, 50)

 

Ether, Akasha

A sage should meditate on the soul stretched out in all moving and nonmoving living beings, and thereby, with his different contacts [embodiments], consider himself a pure spirit, equal to the ether that expands everywhere [see also B.G. 2: 24, 3:15] (2, 42)

Just as the realm of the ether is not touched by the winds that blow the clouds, a person [in his real self] is not affected by his physical bodies consisting of fire, water & earth, that are moved by the basic qualities of nature created by Time (2, 43)

 

Book Review: Youssef Ishaghpour - Orson Welles, cinéaste, une caméra visible I

Popular productions such as cinema can say a lot about society, the collective consciousness of a given place and period, as well as the collective unconscious. Since the U.S. is experiencing it's first Pluto return, I thought that this review of a French book would be a good reminder of the considerable socio-cultural legacy that the country has built over the 20th century, which it seems to be in danger of losing sight of: Youssef Ishaghpour, Orson Welles, cinéaste, une caméra visible I (Mais notre dépendance à l'image est énorme...), Éditions de la Différence, 2001, a monumental 3-volume work by an erudite and prolific Iranian-French film and art historian.

Youssef Ishaghpour

The book is a massive compendium of essays examining various aspects of Welles' career - there are two other large volumes - dealing more specifically with Welles' career chronologically. This post is a brief summary of first two sections of this book - the other sections deal with Welles and film theory, Welles as public figure, actor, and director, Welles in theatre and radio, and ends with an analysis of Welles' Heart of Darkness project. The broad, eclectic, dense erudition can be quite daunting, but I feel that an English translation of the first two sections of this book would make for a useful, viable, interesting tome, of interest well beyond the film theory field.

This impressive tome begins with a 30-page general intro - then a 60-page general intro on art and history as it relates to the modern world. Then he begins a section on Welles and modernity.

Welles and modernity

Starting with the the notion of individualism as it was in the Renaissance, referencing Ernst Cassirer - Modern individualism begins, he says, when there's a break from the Renaissance notion of individualism, a crisis that can be seen in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, the first great theatrical role for Welles... He mentions Cervantes and Shakespeare in the next section - (and talks about Warhol in the following section) in a part on Mannerism and Baroque periods of art. He cites Erwin Panosfsky among several others. 

He makes a case for Welles being an exponent of a Mannerism perspective. Looking at artists like Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, El Greco, one can see a number of 'cinematic' effects that they use. (i.e. chiaroscuro lighting, various compositional elements that emphasize certain dramatic and emotional points, ...) The rest of the section basically outlines the development of modernism from the Renaissance to the present. He cites such authors as Descartes, Kant, and Heidegger and touches on such modern notions as representation, subjectivity, reflexivity, capitalism, the enlightenment, individualism, the autonomy of art, art and the marketplace, the commercial promotion of genius as begun in the romantic period via Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Carlyle, etc.. the notion of the 'Byronic hero' and Lord Byron are examined... 

'Welles' in America 

Moby Dick, Herman Melville

This section is 'a study of the American zeitgeist during Welles' lifetime. It begins with a comparison of a Norman Mailer article on JFK, followed by a discussion on the Puritan notion's of individualism and success in America and a segment on the Age of enlightenment, mainly citing Harold Laski, moving on to the transcendentalist movement with Emerson. There's a substantial passage on Melville, with some interesting comparisons between him and Welles. There's a section on Walt Whitman, all of these brief segments serve to illustrate the development of the American zeitgeist via it's literary and cultural exponents. Henry James is used to illustrate a period that Mark Twain had termed 'the gilded age' , the age of the robber barons, business moguls, mentioning as an example Theodore Dreiser's novel, the Financier. This is followed by a section on the cinema and the writer's known as the 'lost generation', starting with Dos Passos, comparing the structure of U.S.A. with Kane. Then a section on Fitzgerald and Hemingway that are more direct comparisons with Welles' career. Then a section on Faulkner which notes a structural similarity with Absalom! Absalom! and Kane. Then we arrive at the period where Welles' career begins with a section on the great depression and the New Deal that goes into the efforts of Roosevelt, Henry Wallace, & Keynes to counter the monopolistic tendencies of capitalism.

Antifascism and the Popular Front  

The next 40 pages or so deals mainly with Welles' theatre period wherein is discussed the fear of the threat of fascism following the depression and subsequent growth of the Popular Front movement and Welles' involvement. Welles political activism his status as artist representing political values is touched upon. The Work Progress Administration and the Federal Theatre Project are examined - Lewis Mumford and James Agee are mentioned. Discussion of Welles' relationship to the communist movement and to Archibald McLeish are dealt with along with an account of The Cradle Will Rock and Welles' relationship with Marc Blitzstein and how the political elements in Buchner's Danton's Death served to alienate the various very political conscious factions of the Mercury Theatre audience. The Welles radio episode, 'His Honor, The Mayor' is discussed - The political strictures of Hollywood and how most of Welles' stories would be considered too controversial to film. It is noted that Welles arrived at a very favorable time - i.e. a motivated and attentive public, a militant press, and state sponsored organization and how his arrival in Hollywood marked a different period with less favorable conditions and how the Magnificant Ambersons, It's All True, and The Stranger reflect that situation. The Lady of Shanghai is viewed as a commentary of Welles' alienation from Hollywood and the notion of estrangement i.e. the alienation of the American intellectual.

Estrangement - the alienation of the American intellectual 

Orson Welles painting

In 1947, Welles, who had been called the Emperor of the United States a decade earlier is now being called America's youngest has-been. Welles' problem is seen as having tried unsuccessfully to bring intellectual and artistic content to the the mass market context of Hollywood, which left him alienated from both Hollywood and  American intellectuals. He cites an interesting book, 'The New radicalism in America 1889-1963', by  Christopher Lasch. There is much mention of the New York School, i.e. the avant garde of American intelligentsia of writers and painters. The romantic notion of the artist in isolation and rebellion i.e. art for art's sake, the purity of the artistic vision is discussed. Welles is in a paradoxical position between art and mass communication. Jackson Pollock is celebrated for the same excentricities that Welles is reproached for. Welles liberal radicalism partly explains his estrangement from American intellectuals.  

Joseph Conrad

Between popular and elite culture  

Prior to the 20th century, there did not exist the pronounced opposition between high and low culture, i.e. Shakespeare was still appreciated by all classes. By embracing elements of high and low culture, Welles was unable to interest either sides. He is compared to Joseph Conrad in that respect. The separation of art and the cultural industry is examined in relation to Welles' career. MacBeth is seen in terms of contemporary political and cultural climate.  

Welles political commitment- Wallace and the defeat of the Liberals 

Welles works are seen as meeting ground of contradictions that are in opposition (Sovereignist and democratic tendencies, etc.). The decline in Welles' career is compared with the political decline of the Liberals and Henry Wallace. Themes in Othello and the contemporary socio-political climate are examined. Welles' political writings are examined, mainly his articles for the Free World. The question of the Liberals relationship with communism and the Soviet Union and Wallace's founding of the Progressive Party are discussed. Welles' support of the United Nations and how his political values are present in Touch of Evil, with mention of Welles' 1952 'Dialogue of the XXth century' article.

 Maccarthysme  

This section begins with Welles' 1947 departure from the US due to reasons of income tax problems and suspicions of communism by the FBI and and the California committee for Un-American activities. Hearst was a strong MacCarthy supporter. The communist witch hunt period is examined in some detail. Touch of Evil and The Trial are seen partly as a commentary on that political climate. 

'The age of conformity' and the birth of the counter-culture 

Chimes at Midnight

This part begins with Welles' denunciation of Henry Luce's Life Magazine manifesto and the decline of the American intellectual is examined, with a quote from Christopher Lasch's 'The Agony of the American Left' among others. The rise of the beat generation and the counter culture movement is touched upon - Chimes at Midnight and the figure of Falstaff is considered as a reflection of this period. Communication and Welles ' dual image of media personality and artist is discussed. The author identifies the end of the modern period with Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup prints (ironically establishing a link with Welles' Campbell-sponsored radio series). The problems of the post-modern mass media consumer society are examined, including the position of art in mass production marketplace as exemplified by Warhol. F for Fake is seen as a reflection of this period.

Helen Keller on Universal Brother/Sisterhood

Helen Keller's spiritual perspective was influenced by the writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg, she was also influenced by the social and religious movements of her time:

In drawing inspiration for her politics from elements of Christianity, Keller was far from alone within the socialist movement of that time. Eugene Debs, for instance, also often interspersed religious allusions in his writings and campaign speeches. He equated the “great moral worth” of socialist ideals to the “early days of Christianity,” and argued that under the classless society that socialism would introduce, “Human Brotherhood, as taught by Christ nineteen centuries ago, will for the first time begin to be realized.”  

Keith Rosenthal, The politics of Helen Keller

Socialism and disability, ISR, Issue #96

https://isreview.org/issue/96/politics-helen-keller/index.html 

 

See also After the Miracle, the Political Crusades of Helen Keller (2023) by Max Wallace, draws on groundbreaking research to reframe Helen Keller's journey after the miracle at the water pump, vividly bringing to light her rarely discussed, lifelong fight for social justice across gender, class, race, and ability.

The sun and the air are God’s free gifts to all, we say; but are they so? In yonder city’s dingy alleys the sun shines not, and the air is foul. Oh, man, how dost thou forget and obstruct thy brother man, and say, “Give us this day our daily bread,” when he has none! Oh, would that men would leave the city, its splendor and its tumult and its gold, and return to wood and field and simple, honest living! Then would their children grow stately as these noble trees, and their thoughts sweet and pure as these wayside flowers.

Bishop Brooks taught me no special creed or dogma; but he impressed upon my mind two great ideas — the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and made me feel that these truths underlie all creeds and forms of worship. God is love, God is our father, we are His children; therefore the darkest clouds will break, and though right be worsted, wrong shall not triumph. I am too happy in this world to think much about the future except to remember that I have cherished friends awaiting me there in God’s beautiful Somewhere. In spite of the lapse of years, they seem so close to me that I should not think it strange if at any moment they should clasp my hand and speak words of endearment as they used to before they went away. Since Bishop Brooks died I have read the Bible through; also some philosophical works on religion, among them Swedenborg’s “Heaven and Hell” and Drummond’s “Ascent of Man,” and I have found no creed or system more soul-satisfying than Bishop Brooks’s creed of love. I knew Mr. Henry Drummond, too, and the memory of his strong, warm hand-clasp is like a benediction. He was the most charming and delightful of companions. He knew so much, he had conquered so much, he had seen life from so many sides that it was impossible to feel dull or despairing in his presence.

 

 “In the story of my life here presented to the readers of The Ladies’ Home Journal, I have tried to show that afflictions may be looked at in such a way that they become privileges.” Cambridge, 1902

https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/issues/keller-helen-story-life-part-6/

 

The idea of brotherhood redawns upon the world with a broader significance than the narrow association of members in a sect or creed, and thinkers of great soul like Lessing challenge the world to say which is more godlike, the hatred and tooth-and-nail grapple of conflicting religions, or sweet accord and mutual helpfulness. Ancient prejudice of man against his brother-man wavers and retreats before the radiance of a more generous sentiment, which will not sacrifice men to forms, or rob them of the comfort and strength they find in their own beliefs. The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next. Mere tolerance has given place to a sentiment of brotherhood between sincere men of all denominations. The optimist rejoices in the affectionate sympathy between Catholic heart and Protestant heart which finds a gratifying expression in the universal respect and warm admiration for Leo XIII on the part of good men the world over. The centenary celebrations of the births of Emerson and Charming are beautiful examples of the tribute which men of all creeds pay to the memory of a pure soul.  

Optimism: An Essay 1903

https://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/lib/detail.html?id=2382&page=all

 

Surely the things that the workers demand are not unreasonable. It cannot be unreasonable to ask of society a fair chance for all. It cannot be unreasonable to demand the protection of women and little children and an honest wage for all who give their time and energy to industrial occupations. When indeed shall we learn that we are all related one to the other, that we are all members of one body? Until the spirit of love for our fellowmen, regardless of race, colour or creed, shall fill the world, making real in our lives and our deeds the actuality of human brotherhood -- until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained. 

The Worker's Right Out Of The Dark, 1920 *A letter written to the strikers at Little Falls, N. Y., November, 1912.

https://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/lib/detail.html?id=2496&print=1

 

We shall not see the end of capitalism and the triumph of democracy until men and women work together in the solving of their political, social, and economic problems. I realize that the vote is only one of many weapons in our fight for the freedom of all. But every means is precious and, equipped with the vote, men and women together will hasten the day when the age-long dream of liberty, equality, and brotherhood shall be realized upon earth.

“Why Men Need Woman Suffrage,” which was originally published in the Socialist Party newspaper, New York Call, on October 17, 1913. The version of the text that appears here is from the 1967 International Publishers book,

Helen Keller: Her Socialist Years.

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/the-woman-peril-is-at-the-door/

 

When we inquire why things are as they are, the answer is: The foundation of society is laid upon a basis of individualism, conquest, and exploitation, with a total disregard of the good of the whole.

The structure of a society built upon such wrong basic principles is bound to retard the development of all men, even the most successful ones, because it tends to divert man’s energies into useless channels and to degrade his character. . . . 

This unmoral state of society will continue as long as we live under a system of universal competition for the means of existence. . . .  It must, therefore, be changed, it must be destroyed, and a better, saner, kinder social order established. Competition must give place to co-operation, and class antagonism to brotherhood.

Helen Keller, “Blind Leaders,” Outlook for the Blind 105 (September 27, 1913) in Nielsen, Helen Keller: Selected Writings, 63–64.

 

I look upon the world as my Fatherland, and every war has for me the horror of a family feud. I hold true patriotism to be the brotherhood and mutual service of all men. The preparedness I believe in is right thinking, efficiency, knowledge, and courage to follow the highest ideals. When true history replaces the lies and false teachings of the schools, the true call to patriotism will be a call to brotherhood, and not a call to arms.

Helen Keller Finds Defense Plans Bad December 20, 1915 The New York Times

https://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/lib/detail.html?id=2626

 

I think that every honest belief should be treated with fairness, yet I cry out against people who uphold the empire of gold. I am aware of moods when the prefect state of peace, brotherhood and universal love seems so far off that I turn to division, pugnacity and the pageant of war. I am just like St. Paul when he says, "I delight in the Law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind." I am perfectly sure that love will bring everything right in the end, but I cannot help sympathizing with the oppressed who feel driven to use force to gain the rights that belong to them.

The Spirit of Lenin Midstream: My Later Life, 1929

Helen Keller: Her Socialist Years (International Publishers, 1967)

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/keller-helen/works/1920s/29_x01.htm

 

More on universal brother/sisterhood 

Selected Writings

Rumi on the Secret Doctrine of Spiritual Evolution: Stone, Plant, Animal, Human

In describing the process of spiritual evolution, Blavatsky evokes a Kabalist aphorism, axiom, saying, related to mineral, vegetable and animal life:

 

The well-known Kabalistic aphorism runs: -- "A stone becomes a plant; a plant, a beast; the beast, a man; a man a spirit; and the spirit a god." The "spark" animates all the kingdoms in turn before it enters into and informs divine man, between whom and his predecessor, animal man, there is all the difference in the world Secret Doctrine I, I, 7b, p. 246

 

This explains also the hidden Kabalistic meaning of the saying: “The Breath becomes a stone; the stone, a plant; the plant, an animal; the animal, a man; the man, a spirit; and the spirit, a god.” The Mind-born Sons, the Rishis, the Builders, etc., were all men – of whatever forms and shapes – in other worlds and the preceding Manvantaras. Secret Doctrine I, I, 5.1, p. 107

 

That man originates like other animals in a cell and develops "through stages undistinguishable from those of fish, reptile, and mammal until the cell attains the highly specialized development of the quadrumanous and at last the human type," is an Occult axiom thousands of years old. The Kabalistic axiom: "A stone becomes a plant; a plant a beast; a beast a man; a man a God," holds good throughout the ages.  Secret Doctrine 2 I, 10, 258

 

It's difficult to find a specific reference for this. There is a Hasidic text:

 

The Holy Sparks that fell when G-d built and destroyed the world should be purified and lifted up by man: from stone to plant, from plant to animal, from animal to the speaking being, he should cleanse the Holy Spark, which is surrounded by power of the shell. This is the essential meaning of everyone’s service in Israel.  (Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer so called Baal Shem Tov, or Master of the Good Name, instruction on G-d / compiled by Martin Buber, transl. Jan Doktór, Warsaw 1993, p. 13)

 

It can also be found in poetry of Rumi:

 

I died to the inorganic state and became endowed with growth, and [then] I died to [vegetable] growth and attained to the animal.

I died from animality and became Adam: why, then, should I fear? When have I become less by dying?

At the next remove I shall die to man, that I may soar and lift up my head amongst the angels;

And I must escape even from the angel: everything is perishing except His Face.

[Q 55, 26–27]

Rūmī, Ğalāl al-Dīn. 1973. Divani Shamsi Tabrizi. Translated by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson. San Francisco: Rainbow Bridge.

The passage below, although included in Nicholson's edition, is not present in the earliest Persian manuscripts, and so is generally considered apocryphal. Whoever the composer may have been, it is quite esoteric and theosophical.

A Garden Beyond Paradise

 Everything you see has its roots

 in the unseen world.

 The forms may change,

 yet the essence remains the same.

 Every wondrous sight will vanish,

 every sweet word will fade.

 But do not be disheartened,

 The Source they come from is eternal--

 growing, branching out,

 giving new life and new joy.

 Why do you weep?--

 That Source is within you,

 and this whole world

 is springing up from it.

 The Source is full,

 its waters are ever-flowing;

 Do not grieve,

 drink your fill!

 Don't think it will ever run dry--

 This is the endless Ocean!

 From the moment you came into this world,

 a ladder was placed in front of you

 that you might transcend it.

 From earth, you became plant,

 from plant you became animal.

 Afterwards you became a human being,

 endowed with knowledge, intellect and faith.

 Behold the body, born of dust--

 how perfect it has become!

 Why should you fear its end?

 When were you ever made less by dying?

 When you pass beyond this human form,

 no doubt you will become an angel

 and soar through the heavens!

 But don't stop there.

 Even heavenly bodies grow old.

 Pass again from the heavenly realm

 and plunge into the ocean of Consciousness.

 Let the drop of water that is you

 become a hundred mighty seas.

 But do not think that the drop alone

 becomes the Ocean--

the Ocean, too, becomes the drop!

Divani Shamsi Tabrizi, #12, (Nicholson,1898, pp. 46-49) not in critical editions