I have studied many spiritual movements, and I have seen that they tend to stick to their antiquated ideas. They do not seem to realize that we need something new today, because life is new, life has changed. The forms and rhythms of life today are so different that the methods of the past can no longer help people to become better.

It is because human beings themselves are not the same that the old forms and old explanations offered by the Church no longer satisfy them. Young people especially need something new; something that the Church is incapable of giving them, because it has no real will to change.

Much spiritual nourishment today was dried and salted thousands of years ago
All the established Churches and doctrines try to nourish people with `tinned food’, spiritual nourishment that was dried or salted or bottled thousands of years ago! But there are no tinned foods on the menu in the Brotherhood; on the contrary, in this restaurant all the fruit and vegetables are freshly picked and the bread is just out of the oven!

Here we are in communion with the divine forces of today
Archaeology is very fashionable today. In fact it sets the tone in every area, and people are being fed on archaeological remains—tinned foods! If someone tells me that they are a painter, a musician or a philosopher, I know that this means that they are an archaeologist; they are only interested in old ideas. But here in the Brotherhood we breathe and eat the sun; we contemplate living nature; we are in communion with the divine forces of today.

What is the point of cutting oneself off from the living reality of today in order to go and look for what has been extinct for ten thousand years? All that is dead and gone! What is it that makes people want to scratch around among the decaying remains of the past? Of course, you must not misunderstand me. Archaeology is a legitimate science, and there have been archaeologists who have made some extraordinary discoveries. What I have said about archaeology must be understood symbolically.

The new message that God is sending man today
I can see that this point of view is new and rather surprising to you. Yes, because we are talking about what is new. Everything I tell you is new and will always be new—one day you will find this out for yourselves. Do you know why it is all new? Because I am not an archaeologist; because the water I give you to drink is always fresh, newly drawn from the source.

Everybody chases off nowadays to study the ancient Egyptians and Persians, the Druids, Bogomils or Cathars, and never thinks of studying the realities of today. They are proud to be seen as people of the past. They have no interest in learning about what is new; about the new life springing from the fountainhead; about the new message that God is sending man today.

People glorify those who are dead and despise the living
They cannot see that God is still with us, that the same truths are still with us today; and the reason why they cannot see this is that they are archaeologists. In fact, if an initiate came with even more to offer than the Bogomils, Cathars and Albigensians, they still would not recognize him, simply because he was alive!

Everybody is eager to seek out the dead; the living are of no interest to anyone. People glorify those who are dead and gone and despise the living. They wait until they are dead before building temples in their honour! Yes, this mentality is truly amazing.

Opening ourselves up to a fresh spirituality
Of course, when I was young I was an archaeologist like everybody else, but the truths taught by the initiates of the past are accessible to me today because I am open to what is new. And this can be true for all those who open themselves to what is new. The truths that I see all around me will become visible to them too. Why have they never been able to see them before?

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

To be continued…

Complete Works Volume 26, A New Dawn, Society and Politics in the Light of Initiatic Science
Chapter 3, The Concept of a Pan-world

Lyon, March 6, 1966