‘In spite of all their culture and science, in spite of so much progress in every area, men and women are more and more troubled and unsure of themselves. They no longer know what to believe or in what direction they should be going.

In my opinion this is because they do not have a true philosophical system. Everyone is free to invent or believe whatever they please, and the result is an extraordinary variety of weird and wonderful opinions and theories to choose from, but there is no one system that everyone can use as a frame of reference.

Peace, happiness and prosperity during the Golden Age
I can remember my life in the far-distant past, so I can compare what goes on today with a time when the Kingdom of God existed on earth and the Golden Age of mankind ensured peace, happiness and prosperity for all. One day, all that disappeared and the world became subject to the rule of anarchy and violence. There is no more room for love, intelligence, kindness and gentleness.

The only God men know now, their only creed, is violence, violence in all its forms. I was not in France during the ‘Events of May,’ in Paris in 1968, when the young people were in revolt, but my whole soul was anxiously keeping watch, for I had a feeling that civil war was not very far off. Mercifully, heaven spared us that tragedy.

Later, I talked to young people about these events and one, in particular, insisted that rebellion was the only way to bring about change, that history showed that men have always had to resort to violence and the use of force in order to achieve greater justice and freedom. The only alternative, said this young man, was to withdraw from the main body of society and form a sub-culture in which one could live according to one’s aspirations.

Alternative ways to bring about change
But let me tell you what I told this young man: that there is an alternative. It is what the people of India did when they pursued their legitimate, logical and intelligent goals in peace and non-violence. These methods were so much admired and acclaimed in other countries that Great Britain was obliged to give in.

Why turn to people like Che Guevara, Fidel Castro or Mao Tse-tung for guidance? Young people need to learn from other sources, from far higher, more luminous beings than these. Besides, policies that have succeeded in one country will not necessarily succeed elsewhere; different methods are needed in different countries.’

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

To be continued…

Complete Works Volume 12, Cosmic Moral Law
Chapter 3, Creative activity as a means of evolution