The Theosophical Society,
The Writings of Annie Besant
(1847 -1933)
The Destinies of Nations
From "The Theosophical Review,"
Volume XXXVII
Certain
great ideas, necessary for the evolution of the race, may be said to
belong
especially to the civilisations of the East, and those ideas were in
danger
of being trampled out by the advancing western civilisations. That was a
danger
to humanity at large, the ideals of both eastern and western
civilisations
being necessary in the future of the world; and it became
necessary
for some definite interference to take place to re-establish the
balance
of thought. I want to draw attention to the nature of that interference,
to
show what lies behind the destinies of nations, and what forces guide the
current
of affairs, so that we may see through the veil of events to the forces
that
guide them. The great world-drama is not written by the pen of chance, but
by
the thought of the LOGOS, guiding His world along the road of evolution. In
the
course of that evolution many beings are concerned. We have to look on this
world
as part of a chain of worlds all closely interlinked, all the inhabitants
of
these different worlds having something to say in those parts of the drama
which
are being worked out in each. We are all living in three different worlds,
and
not only in one; and whether in the physical world, or in the next world,
the
astral, or in the third, the heaven world, the inhabitants are busy with the
general
conduct of affairs which affect all three. Life becomes enormously more
interesting
when we recognise that it is shaped not only in the physical world
but
in other worlds as well, and that when we trace the destinies of nations we
find
that those destinies stretch backward, and that the working out in the
present
is largely conditioned by the energies of the past.
Let
us look for a moment on the rough plan of the whole. Let me put it as though it
were a great drama written by a divine pen. The story of the world, and the
various parts of the actors on the stage, are all therein written. What is not
laid
down is who the actors shall be, and with regard to this a large amount of
what
is called choice comes in. This drama is the manifestation of certain great
ideas
in the Divine Mind, ideas written, as it were, in the heavens; for it is
suggested
in very ancient thought that what we call the signs of the zodiac have
a
definite connection with the course of human affairs. Of that, in the broad
outline,
there is no doubt in the minds of any who have penetrated somewhat
behind
the veil. The importance of these starry influences cannot be
over-estimated;
for inasmuch as human beings are related in the composition of
their
physical and other subtler bodies to the worlds among which they move in
space,
there must be magnetic relations existing between them and the system of
which
they form a part, and at certain epochs in the history of evolution there
will
be one or another dominating influence present in the atmosphere in which
men
think and act, and they can no more escape that influence than their bodies
can
escape the influence of the far-off sun. The great drama, then, is the grand
plan
of human evolution. It is full of parts which are to be played by the
nations,
but not necessarily by this or that nation; for the nation qualifies
itself
to play a certain part which may be offered to more than one nation, and
one
or another may rise to the height of its great opportunity.
Leaving
that for a moment, let us ask a question as to the forces which help to
adapt
players to parts. Are there to be found, in what seems the great chaos of
human
wills, any guiding forces which bring the actor and the part together? You
cannot
well have a drama vast as the world-process, as evolution, and then a
great
gap between the Author of so vast a plan and the individual players who
make
up the nations and choose the parts. How is the right player to be brought
into
touch with his part in the history of the nation, in the history of
individual
successive births and deaths? That is the next point to grasp.
Now
the vast machinery for bringing together the parts and the players is found
in
the hierarchies of superhuman Intelligences recognised in all the religions
of
the world, and in the occult teaching on which they are founded. Not one
great
religion of the past or of the present that does not see surrounding the
world
and mingling in its affairs the vast hierarchies of spiritual
Intelligences
into whose hands is put the work of bringing together the players
and
the parts. You will see, if you turn to the religions of the nations of the
past,
how they have recognised these workings as playing a great part in the
practical
shaping of the destinies of nations. Not one great people of antiquity
that
did not have its own national "Gods."
The
word "Gods," however, as used in the English tongue, is very
confusing, for it is applied not only to those great hosts of Intelligences,
but also to the
Supreme,
the LOGOS, the Author of the drama. Now in the nations that have other
religions than the Christian this confusion does not arise. It is when the
Christian
is contemplating those whom he calls the "heathen" that the greatest
confusion
arises, for over the whole of their vast theology he uses the one name
"God."
And yet he might easily escape that by remembering that his own cosmogony is
only a reproduction of the older thoughts of these more ancient peoples. In the
East there is one name which is used for these Intelligences--the name
"Devas," from the root "div," to "shine" or to
"play"; the "shining ones," or the "playing
ones," would be the English translation. When Bunyan so often used the
term "shining ones" he was using a quite eastern phrase, for it is by
that
name
that the East knows this great hierarchy of Intelligences. Among the
Christians
and Mussulmans, whose religions are drawn largely from the Jewish,
the
name "Angel" is used, the terms "Angel," "
"Seraphim,"
and so on, being represented in the older faiths either by the word
"Deva"
or by a word derived therefrom. "God," in the Christian sense, is
known
by
other names, and no confusion arises.
In
all the old religions these Devas played an enormous part, and each nation
had
its own particular set of Devas. The Egyptians regarded certain superhuman
Intelligences
as their earliest law-givers, and the connection between the human
law-giver,
the Divine King, and the Deva is always clearly marked. Every
civilisation
takes its rise in a little group, partly human, partly superhuman,
to
which it looks back and from which it draws its laws. The Greek had his
Demigods
or Heroes, and his Gods or Devas. So among the Chinese, the Japanese, the
Persians, the Indians, the same idea is found of the nation being founded by
the group which contained the human law-giver and the Deva who worked with him
in the building of the nation. Celsus hints that the Beings "to whom was
allotted the office of superintending the country which was being legislated
for, enacted the laws of each land in co-operation with its legislators.
He
appears then to indicate that both the country of the Jews, and the nation
which inhabits it, are superintended by one or more beings . . . co-operated
with
Moses,
and enacted the laws of the Jews" (Origen. Con. Cel. V. xxv.).
Now
the Divine Kings, the Heroes, passed, but the Deva remains still at the head
of
each nation, a real existence in the astral and heavenly worlds, with a crowd
of
less developed Intelligences under his guiding hand. And when you come to the
Jews you find that idea very clearly laid down in their scriptures. I pause for
a
moment upon it, because the sentence I am going to take from the Old
Testament,
from Deuteronomy, gives exactly the idea which I want us to take in
considering
the working out of a nation's destinies: "When the Most High divided the
nations, when He dispersed the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people
according to the number of the angels of God; and the Lord's portion was his
people Jacob" (Deut. xxxii. 8, 9, Septuagint). To many modern readers the
latter part of that sentence, "the Lord," may sound surprising, for
they are accustomed to connect that word with the Supreme God; but we can see
from the whole of the sentence that it is the name "Most High" which
indicates the LOGOS, the manifested God, and He divides all the nations of the
world according to the number of the angels, and to one great angel, "the
Lord," He gives Jacob, Israel, as his peculiar portion. Origen, in dealing
with this, alludes to the "reasons relating to the arrangement of
terrestrial affairs," and points out
that
in Grecian history "certain of those considered to be Gods are introduced
as
having contended with each other about the possession of
writings
of the Greek poets also some who are called Gods are represented as
acknowledging
that certain places here are preferred by them before others"
(Con.
Cel. V. xxix.). And so he points out that after what he regards as the
symbolical
dispersion, at the building of the
nations
were given to these groups of celestial beings (Ibid. xxx.). These
beings
were worshipped in their respective nations, who followed their own
"Gods,"
and not those of other peoples (Ibid. xxxiv.).
This
idea of "the ministry of angels" is very general among the early
Christians;
thus we have in Hermas the vision of the building of a tower:
"And
I answering said unto her, These things are very admirable; but, lady, who
are
those six young men that build?
"They
are, said she, the angels of God, which were first appointed, and to whom the
Lord has delivered all his creatures, to frame and build them up, and to rule
over them. For by these the building of the tower shall be finished.
"And
who are the rest who bring them stones?
"They
also are the holy angels of the Lord; but the other are more excellent
than
these. Wherefore when the whole building of the tower shall be finished,
they
shall all feast together beside the tower, and shall glorify God, because
the
structure of the tower is finished" (lst Book of Hermas, Vision iii.,
43-46).
Clement (1st Epistle, xiii. 7) quotes the text above referred to. Also the
following
remark about Jesus, made by Satan to the Prince of Hell, is
noteworthy:
"As for me, I tempted him, and stirred up my old people the Jews
with
zeal and anger against him" (Gospel of Nicodemus, xv. 9). The Jews were
under
Saturn, or Jehovah, according to Origen. The same idea is taught among the
Mussulmans. They regard the angels as taking a very active part in the affairs
of
men. And it is hardly necessary to remind you that in the great epic poems of
affairs
of men, so that when great quarrels are to be decided they manifestly
take
part in the strife, each struggling for the particular tribe or nation
placed
in his hands for its evolution. A correspondent, Mr. Tudor Pole, of
all
the "Inner Rulers," the angels, of the nations assemble before the
Council
of
the Gods to receive their orders for the coming year; each has his request to
make
as to the destiny of his nation during the coming year; the Council
arranges
the part that each nation shall play during the ensuing year, and the
Great
Lords are consulted. Finally, the Rulers disperse, some with music and
joy,
some weeping, some in great agony.
In
their
philosophy, took the matter as real, not as fairy-tale, although the
philosophers
in
Of
course, in modern times this idea has disappeared, and it must seem like a
fairy
tale to modern readers when one brings such thoughts into touch with what
may
seem to them such much more real things, the strifes of Kings, and the
politics
of the modern world. And yet behind all these the co-ordinating forces
are
still continually at work; and when the time comes for a nation to play a
triumphant
part in the current history of the world, then, many years before the
time
of the triumph, there are guided into that nation by the Devas souls which
are
fitted for its building up and guidance in the coming struggle. And when the
time
comes for a nation to sink low in the current history of the world, there
are
guided to incarnation there souls that are weak, undeveloped, cruel,
tyrannical,
having fitted themselves to fill such actors' parts in the great
national
drama. Let us keep, then, that theory in mind: the drama on the one
side;
this great co-ordinating agency on the other, guiding the self-chosen
actors
to their appointed parts.
And
now let us look at some of the nations themselves, and see how far the
destinies
that they are working out fit in with this view of a guiding hand
behind
the veil. Let us take for one instance the building up of a mighty
western
empire, so that the great Fifth Race, with its evolution of the concrete
mind,
might play its part in the drama for the benefit of humanity at large. And
let
us see, if we can, whether certain definite currents may not be traced which
show
a plan definitely worked out, and not the mere mingling of the chaotic
wills,
ambitions, and selfishnesses of nations.
Slowly
was prepared this part of a nation to stand high above the nations of the
world.
The first nation to whom that part was offered was
preparing
for it by a very marked and extraordinary evolution. Into her was
poured
the great flood of learning which linked itself with the dying philosophy
of
Greece, and drew its rich stores from the Neo-Platonic schools; into Southern
Spain came the great incursion from Arabia, rich with all the knowledge brought
from the mighty schools of Bagdad, which spread over Southern Spain and thence
over Europe. To her was sent Columbus, who made it possible for her to spread her
conquering troops across the
How
did
their
ancient civillsations, outworn and ready for destruction. She had laid
upon
her shoulders the task of building up in that new world a civilisation
based
on the solid foundation left there by Atlantis, capable of supporting the
structure
of the new thought and knowledge. All know how she missed her
opportunity,
how she drove out from her own country the Moors and the Jews, the
inheritors
of the knowledge, the philosophy, and the science; and how, in the
new
world, with her greed of gold, she cared nothing for the peoples placed in
her
hands but trampled them into the dust. So her part in the drama was taken
away
and offered to another people.
Another
nation became a candidate--a nation which, with many faults, had also
many
great virtues.
placing
is not good to read, and many crimes were wrought, yet on the whole the nation
tried to do its best and to correct the oppressions wrought in
Warren
Hastings, when she brought him to trial for his evil deeds, in the face
of
the world.
So,
despite many faults, she was allowed to climb higher and higher in the eastern world,
partly also because she offered, with her growing colonies and language, the
most effective world-instrument for spreading the thought of the East over the
civilisations of the West. All know how far that has gone, how all over
Northern America, in far-off Australasia, as well as in her own land, eastern
thought and philosophy have everywhere penetrated, so that the treasures of
Sanskrit learning, kept so jealously until the time was ripe for their
dispersion, are being spread over the surface of the globe.
Continually,
by lessons ever repeated, those Higher Ones who guide the nation
are
striving to impress upon
a
nation be exalted in the long run And in a critical moment, when luxury was
growing
too enervating, too selfish, the terrible lesson of
on
the English conscience the lesson that duty and right must go before luxury.
Through
the fires of disaster a lesson was taught to England which, may God
grant,
she has learned for her future guidance.
And
then there came the question of what nation should be chosen for the work of
lifting up those ideals of the East of which I wrote last month.
stage
of the world's history, could not do the necessary service: she was
learning
her lessons under a conqueror; but there was a nation in the
which
had within it the possibility of learning the lesson, and the Devas of the
nation
began to concern themselves with the attempt to train up in that far-off
island
a people who should be fit for the mighty task of uplifting eastern
thought,
of showing that conquest might go hand-in-hand with gentleness and
self-control,
and that a nation might spring into a mighty power without losing
its
sense of duty. The work began by a change in the education of the people,
which
might make a nation conscious of itself, and then into the soil thus
prepared
a group of heroic souls was born.
The
Mikado of Japan, a mighty soul, fit to incarnate for that nation its own
greatness,
fit to use such power that in brief space of years he might transform
the
nation, put it into new shape, evolved it in unknown forces, and at the same
time
showed out a personality so wonderful that all that nation look to him as
ruler
by Divine Right, from whose sacred person flow the powers which in the
nation
are shown forth, every triumph reflecting new glory on his personality.
And
round him gathers one great one after another, for the labour of raising up
the
nation, until at every point of importance you see a statesman, a general,
an
admiral, fit to lead a people from triumph to triumph. A group of strong
souls
is guided to incarnate there, in order that the nation may fulfil its
destiny;
for no nation can be great unless at the centre there be an ideal, and
a
perfect loyalty and self-devotion. It is no mere lip phrase, but voices a
feeling
deep in the heart of the soldier and of the general, when they thank
their
Ruler for the victory in the field, and with the eastern devotion say that
he
is the representative of God amongst them.
Glance
at the other nation in the great duel which is being fought in Eastern
being
guided through the frightful valley of humiliation. The preparation for
that
calamitous part in the drama lies in that which has gone before, even
within
the limits of our own lives. There was a moment, some twenty-five or
thirty
years since, when a wondrous opportunity came in
The
divine compassion of those youths and girls was met by the fortress of Peter
and Paul, by the mines, and deserts, and snows of
Driven
by despair, their attempts to uplift in all gentleness met with the knout
and
the underground dungeon, with starvation for the men, with dishonour for the
women,
what wonder some of them went mad! What wonder that some of them at last, after
years of patience, after cruellest sufferings, answered with the bomb to the
knout! This state of affairs was created in the first place by the
bureaucracy
and not by the victims. Thousands upon thousands of those who would have
redeemed Russia died on the scaffolds, were slaughtered in those frightful
mines, until at last the patience of the Gods grew exhausted, and the time came
for the government to learn that governments exist for the helping and not for
the crushing of their peoples.
So
that
the
stage of the world. Against her are all the forces that make for progress;
against
her from the astral world the myriads that she sent there before their
time--all
her martyrs, all her victims, are struggling against her. Hence the
record
of unexampled defeat. And at home, revolution, anarchy, assassination and
mutiny are threatening her government fabric from every side, until for Russia
at the moment there is only that Valley of the Shadow of Death to be trodden
from end to end; and with pain at heart, but with steady hands, her angelic
guardians guide her through the defeat and the disaster, willing that their
charge
should learn her lessons whatever the price she pays. For in those
clearer
eyes the nation s agony for the moment matters little, beside the
lessons
that through that agony are learned; and until the tyranny itself is
crushed,
and the rulers of
still
tread the winepress of the divine wrath.
And
see how
but
weakness is born into its governing classes, so that those who would not
rule
aright may lose the power to rule. And on those terrible battlefields of
which
we have read records in the daily press, is there anything more pathetic
than
the dauntless courage of the soldiers, and the hopeless incompetence of the
officers?
It is not that the soldiers do not fight, but that they are led by men
who
know not how to lead.
It
is thus that nations are guided from above, and into the nation that has to
go
downward those are guided who inevitably drag it downwards. The same was the
case in
And
how are these leaders chosen? The are chosen by their own lives in the past. A
man is found unselfish, brave, and noble, and such a one, in the countless
choices of his daily life, is making the choice for the splendid part that
hereafter
in humanity he shall play. And so with those who are great outside,
but
have to play a sordid part. By countless selfishness and preferring of
themselves,
by taking ever that lower path instead of the higher, those men
choose
also their parts in history.
Thus
it is that the Occultist looks on human history, and sees preparing around
him
on every side the men and women who are to be the players of the future in
the
more prominent parts of the world-drama. For none forces upon us any part,
nor
imposes upon us any special place in the world-drama. We choose for
ourselves.
We build up ourselves for glory or for shame, and as we build so
hereafter
shall we inevitably be. Hence it follows that for a nation to be great
its
citizens must slowly build up greatness in themselves. Hence it is that the
greatness
that you see now in
her
ordinary men and women, who are willing to sacrifice all that is dearest for
the
sake of their country and the glory of their chief.
And
so with
the
near future. She must build up her sons and daughters on heroic models, by
placing
righteousness above luxury, thought above enjoyment; by choosing the
strenuous,
the heroic, the self-sacrificing in daily life, and not petty
enjoyments,
small luxuries, and miserable sensual gratifications. Out of rotten
bricks
no great building can be built, and out of poor material no mighty nation
may
be shaped. The destinies of nations lie in the homes of which the nations
are
composed, and noble men, women and children have in them the promise of the
future national greatness. And as we make our conditions better, higher and
more evolved souls shall be born amongst us. While we have slums and miserable
places we are making habitations for little evolved souls, whom we draw into
the nation.
Under
the ground the root grows, out of which the flower and fruit will come, and
poor the gardening science which places a rotten root in the ground and expects
from it a perfect flower and a splendid fruit. If we would have
servant
of humanity at large, we must cultivate the soil of character, plant the
sound
roots of noble, righteous, simple living, and then the destiny is
inevitable,
and the nation will be cast for an imperial part in the drama of the
world.
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