Aquarius, which is an air sign, represents man and, hence, thought and knowledge. The age of Aquarius will be the age of knowledge …but not the intellectual knowledge that turns human beings into dried up mummies. Nowadays, people are very learned and well informed but they are not alive. Aquarius is represented as an old man pouring water from an urn: the old man is wisdom and the water flowing from his urn is the water of life. The knowledge brought by Aquarius is a knowledge that arouses, awakens and bestows life. Human beings may know everything there is to know about microbes or the stars – yes, they possess everything except the one thing that is essential: the knowledge of how to live.

The water pouring from the urn teaches human beings that everything in and around them must be cared for, nourished and watered and brought to fruition. The emblem of the Brotherhood, the anchor with the stream of water flowing from two hands, is also a symbol of Aquarius. And in Greek mythology Aquarius is represented by Ganymede, the ‘cupbearer of the gods’.

symbol

What human beings need above all else is the water of life, living water. This is why, although Aquarius is a symbol of knowledge, it is not the knowledge of the brain but of the solar plexus, for only the solar plexus can cause the living water to flow in the bosom of man.

However learned your words may be, if they do not contain the living water they will always be theoretical and lifeless. This is the trouble with our culture today: human beings possess a mass of information but it is all superficial; it is not alive. For my part, I would rather possess the science of life than all the knowledge found in books for, once I know how to live, that is to say, once I know how to vibrate in unison and in harmony with the laws of the cosmos, the universe itself will be an open book to me.

This is why the Teaching brings an entirely new element into the world. Human beings display their immense science and I am deeply impressed, it is truly extraordinary, but it is not vital. The only thing that is of vital importance is to live in harmony with the laws of the cosmos.

I have often told you that there are two kinds of knowledge. That which is dispensed in universities and which brings with it social status, money and prestige but which is incapable of transforming you. It leaves you exactly as it found you: if you were sensual you will continue to be sensual; if you were miserly you will continue to be a miser, etc. Then there is the other kind of knowledge, that of the Initiates, and it bestows neither prestige nor wealth but it will not leave you as it found you. And this is the knowledge that Aquarius brings, the knowledge that transforms and vivifies.

To be continued

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov,
Complete Works, Vol. 25, A New Dawn: Society and Politics in the light of Initiatic Science

Image, courtesy Josephine Wall