Creating the Blueprint of the Next Civilisation

Amid the turmoil of our current world and the increasing humanitarian crises unfolding through the seemingly intractable dynamic of conflict, where does our thinking lead? Are we using our capacity for thought in a consciously constructive and purposeful way? We are thinkers first and foremost and yet thinking is so inherent in us that we can be unaware of its potency. “Energy follows thought” is the underlying principle of all manifestation as indicated in these evocative words:

“Great is the mystery of thought!
The word went forth to all the sons of men, the Sons of God: Think on the past, the future, and on that which is today. Learn that through thought the Way into the innermost can stand revealed. God thought, and all the worlds emerged and ran their courses. Man, in his distant radiant past, before his life on earth, the past that was before all time and space, evolved a thought. Forth into the light of day he came and ran his course. He runs until today.” [Discipleship in the New Age II, page 767]

Thought has directing power. It triggers action and so is always creating what will appear in the next, future moment. And at this moment we are in process of creating the new world, understanding more and more clearly how that world will be. The Agni Yoga teachings guide the needed direction of our thoughts:

“I rejoice to see in the midst of your thoughts flashes of insight into how the people’s welfare can be improved. Such thoughts need to be projected into space. If only you could spare half an hour each day for the future! Truly, the bonfire of your thoughts would receive Our welcome.
It does not matter much if everyday objects disappear, so long as the country of the future be embodied in thought.
And what cleanses the spirit more completely than thoughts about the welfare of others? And what steels the armor of steadfastness more strongly than the wish to lead others to Light? And what weaves a better smile than the desire to see the very last child laughing? So I urge you to think about the future, to place each day a pearl in the necklace of the Mother of the World. And so, concisely and straightforwardly think about how to beautify the hearth of the world.
You should not make comparisons with the past, for a wrinkle from the past is usually a nest of errors. You can sail right past the shores with which you have no connection; you need only feast your eyes on the world of light given to everything alive. Light is the best bridge between the visible and the Invisible.
When you are able to think about the future not by the evening fire but in the radiance of the sun, then dewdrops of prana will bestow illumination on your thinking brow.” [Leaves of Morya’s Garden II 301]

We are currently living through the dissolution of an old world that is coming to its inevitable end, yet a new world is already emerging through enlightened thinkers. World crises are expanding realisation, and our thinking is already creating the blueprint of the next civilisation. If we maintain the direction of our thought towards a future for the good of the whole, it becomes empowered with the force of divine intention.  If we look backwards, we can be drawn back into old tidal swings of pain and pleasure or lulled by the desires of personal comfort, and so create temporary blockages to the inevitable flow.

An expanded thinking takes us out of the confines of the past, out of the small world of the little personal self, into a vaster world wherein our true being is revealed as a co-creative force for the good of the whole. It requires a redirection of our thinking – substituting the greater vista for past limited perspectives.

Thinking only within a past context simply recycles the old thoughts and creates a veil over the future, effectively imprisoning us in thoughtforms that have been superseded, have passed their “use by” date. Such thoughts can draw us down into outmoded patterns that drain away our creative force. The Old Testament account of Lot’s wife [Genisis 19:26] reminds us that looking back anchors us in the old which is now visibly crumbling back into dust. The urgency of these times requires us to look forward only to what is emerging and to focus our thought there with all its creative power and compassion. As the teaching explains:

“Many pillars of salt are spread upon the face of Earth. Not only did Lot’s wife turn back to the past but numberless are those who have looked back. What did they expect to see in the burning city? Perhaps they wished to bid farewell to the old temple? Perhaps they looked for their cozy hearth? Perhaps they looked in anticipation of seeing the house of their hated neighbor collapse? Certainly, the past chained them for a long time. Thus, one must strive onward for enlightenment and health and for the strength of the future. Thus it should be always; but there may be cosmic knots when an impetuous onward motion is urgent. One should not be disconcerted and mourn over the past. Even mistakes are obvious, yet the caravan does not wait, and the very events press onward. We hurry, and We summon to hasten. The future is crowded, but there is no darkness ahead!” [Hierarchy 347]

At this time of transition between the ages, there is an increased urgency to direct our thought into the new world – like a lifeline that magnetically draws us there, into the safe haven we are co-creating with divine forces.  Our thinking is a powerful tool and can be used for good or ill. We are responsible for how we use it in each context within which we live, personally and collectively. Responsibly controlling thought leads to right action and thence to right human relations, the foundation for peace and progress. The Tibetan Master reminds us of how to consciously and responsibly manage our thinking:

“The silence of thought is to be cultivated and, my brothers, I do not mean silent thinking.  I mean that certain lines of thought are refused admission; certain habits of thinking are eradicated and certain approaches to ideas are not developed.  This is done by a process of substitution, and not by a violent process of suppression.  The initiate learns to keep his thought apparatus in a certain effective condition.  His thoughts do not intermingle the one with the other, but are contained (if I may thus pictorially word it) in separate compartments or carefully filed for reference and later use.  There are certain layers of thought …which are held within the Ashram itself and are never permitted to enter the mind of the disciple or the initiate when not consciously working in the Ashram; others are related to the group and its work and are given free play within the group ring-pass-not; still others are of a more mundane nature and govern the daily life and relationships of the disciple with personalities and with the affairs of civilised living and physical plane events.” [The Rays and the Initiations, page 214-215]