Prophecy

"Profoundly interesting is this world-tragedy of conflict to those who see in it a necessary preparation, a clearing of the ground, for the coming of the World-Teacher and for the new civilisation... The terrible lesson now being taught, the widespread suffering, the devastation by sword and fire, the poverty caused by the dislocation of trade, the tension, the bankruptcies... But through this Armageddon the world will pass into a realm of peace, of brotherhood, of co-operation, and will forget the darkness and the terrors of the night in the joy that cometh in the morning..."

"Prophecy, n. The art and practice of selling one's credibility for future delivery."

"We are in the Kali Yuga [a Sanskrit term meaning Dark Age] and its fatal influence is a thousand-fold more powerful in the West than it is in the East; hence the easy preys made by the Powers of the Age of Darkness [evil] in this cyclic struggle, and the many delusions under which the world is now laboring. One of these is the relative facility with which men fancy they can get at the "Gate" and cross the threshold of Occultism without any great sacrifice. It is the dream of most Theosophists, one inspired by desire for Power and personal selfishness, and it is not such feelings that can ever lead them to the coveted goal. For, as well said by one believed to have sacrificed himself for Humanity--"Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life" eternal, and therefore "few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:14) So strait indeed, that at the bare mention of some of the preliminary difficulties the affrighted Western candidates turn back and retreat with a shudder... Let them stop here and attempt no more in their great weakness. For if, while turning their backs on the narrow gate, they are dragged by their desire for the Occult one step in the direction of the broad and more inviting gates of that golden mystery which glitters in the light of illusion, woe to them!"

"As the “ Satya-yuga” is always the first in the series of the four ages or Yugas, so the Kali ever comes the last... Anyhow, it is curious to see how prophetic in almost all things was the writer of Vishnu Purâna when foretelling to Maitreya some of the dark influences and sins of this Kali Yug. For after saying that the “barbarians” will be masters of the banks… he adds: “ There will be contemporary monarchs, reigning over the earth— kings of churlish spirit, violent temper, and ever addicted to falsehood and wickedness. They will inflict death on women, children, and cows; they will seize upon the property of their subjects, and be intent upon the wives of others; they will be of unlimited power, their lives will be short, their desires insatiable... People of various countries intermingling with them, will follow their example; and the barbarians being powerful... in the patronage of the princes, while purer tribes are neglected... Wealth and piety will decrease until the world will be wholly depraved. Property alone will confer rank; wealth will be the only source of devotion; passion will be the sole bond of union between the sexes; falsehood will be the only means of success in litigation; and women will be objects merely of sensual gratification."

"Nativity is the enemy of prophecy."

"You don't need no crystal ball, Don't fall for a magic wand. We humans got it all, we perform the miracles."

"Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe, Sadder than owl-songs or the midnight blast; Is that portentous phrase, "I told you so.""

"Chapter I: The Doctrine of the Coming One"

"Right down the ages, in many world cycles and in many countries (and today in all) great points of tension have occurred which have been characterised by a hopeful sense of expectancy. Some one is expected and His coming is anticipated. Always in the past, it has been the religious teachers of the period who have fostered and proclaimed this expectancy and the time has always been one of chaos and difficulty, of a climaxing point at the close of a civilisation or culture and when the resources of the old religions have seemed inadequate to meet men's difficulties or to solve their problems...When the times are ripe, the invocation of the masses is strident enough and the faith of those who know is keen enough, then always He has come and today will be no exception to this ancient rule..."

"When men feel that they have exhausted all their own resources and have come to an end of all their own innate possibilities and that the problems and conditions confronting them are beyond their solving or handling, they are apt to look for a divine Intermediary and for the Mediator Who will plead their cause with God and bring about a rescue. They look for a Saviour."

"This doctrine of Mediators, of Messiahs, of Christs and of Avatars can be found running like a golden thread through all the world faiths and Scriptures and, relating these world Scriptures to some central source of emanation, they are found in rich abundance everywhere. Even the human soul is regarded as an intermediary between man and God; Christ is believed by countless millions to act as the divine mediator between humanity and divinity."

"Ever down the ages, and at every great human crisis, always in the hours of necessity, at the founding of a new race, or in the awakening of a prepared humanity to a new and wider vision, the Heart of God—impelled by the Law of Compassion—sends forth a Teacher, a world Saviour, an Illuminator, an Avatar, a transmitting Intermediary, a Christ. He gives the message which will heal, which will indicate the next step to be taken by the race of men, which will illumine a dark world problem and give to man an expression of some hitherto unrealised aspect of divinity. Upon this fact of the continuity of revelation and upon the sequence of this progressive manifestation of the divine Nature, is based the doctrine of Avatars, divine Messengers, divine Appearances and Saviours. To Them all, history unmistakenly testifies."

"The reason He has not come again is that the needed work has not been done by His followers in all countries. His coming is largely dependent, as we shall later see, upon the establishing of right human relations. This the church has hindered down the centuries, and has not helped because of its fanatical zeal to make "Christians" of all peoples and not followers of the Christ. It has emphasised theological doctrine, and not love and loving understanding as Christ exemplified it."

"It is not for us yet to know the date or the hour of the reappearance of the Christ. His coming is dependent upon the appeal (the often voiceless appeal) of all who stand with massed intent; it is dependent also upon the better establishment of right human relations and upon certain work being done at this time by senior Members of the Kingdom of God, the Church Invisible, the spiritual Hierarchy of our planet; it is dependent also upon the steadfastness of the Christ's disciples in the world at this time and His initiate-workers—all working in the many groups, religious, political and economic."

"When the Christ, the Avatar of Love, makes His reappearance then will the Sons of men who are now the Sons of God withdraw Their faces from the shining light and radiate that light upon the sons of men who know not yet they are the Sons of God. Then shall the Coming One appear, His footsteps hastened through the valley of the shadow by the One of awful power Who stands upon the mountain top, breathing out love eternal, light supernal and peaceful, silent Will. Then will the sons of men respond. Then will a newer light shine forth into the dismal, weary vale of earth. Then will new life course through the veins of men, and then will their vision compass all the ways of what may be. So peace will come again on earth, but a peace unlike aught known before. Then will the will-to-good flower forth as understanding, and understanding blossom as goodwill in men."

"Prophecy, however honest, is generally a poor substitute for experience."

"Thus, those who sought to penetrate the future cannot even see in front of themselves; they attempted to move themselves forward in time, so must they go backwards through all eternity; and as the arts of sorcery are a distortion of God's law, so are their bodies distorted in Hell."

"But we had to go believe a prophecy instead of our own eyes, elf! There’s no good ever came of listening to wizards. Half of them are crazy and the other half are so old they sound crazy. And we listened! We’re the craziest of the lot."

"Now in those days, brethren, there shall arise in the world an Exalted One by name Maitreya (the Kindly One) an Arhat, a Fully Enlightened One, endowed with wisdom and righteousness, a Happy One, a World-knower, the Peerless Charioteer of men to be tamed, a teacher of the devas (angels) and mankind, an Exalted One, a Buddha like myself. He of His own abnormal powers shall realize and make known the world, and the worlds of the devas, with their Maras, their Brahmas, the host of recluses and brahmins, of devas and mankind alike, even as I do now. He shall proclaim the norm, lovely in its beginning, lovely in its middle, and lovely in the end thereof. He shall make known the wholly perfect life of righteousness in all its purity, both in the spirit and in the letter of it, even as I do now. He shall lead an Order of Brethren numbering many thousands, even as I do now lead an order of Brethren numbering many hundreds."

"At the beginning and end of the discourse, the Buddha exhorts his monks to 'keep to their own preserves' by the practice of mindfulness. Then he tells of a 'wheel-turning monarch' (a righteous ruler) who had the sacred Wheel Treasure, which had to be carefully guarded. He was followed by a line of righteous kings, but eventually they degenerated, and society went from bad to worse, while the human life-span sank to ten years and all sense of morality was lost. After a brief but dreadful 'sword-interval' things improved, and finally another Buddha, Metteyya (Sanskrit: Maitreya) will appear. (26)"

"Dreams, something like prophecy, are the offspring of imaginations and comparisons which we may form whilst awake."

"Prophets don't know everything!"

"Muad'Dib could indeed see the Future, but you must understand the limits of this power. Think of sight. You have eyes, yet cannot see without light. If you are on the floor of a valley, you cannot see beyond your valley. Just so, Muad'Dib could not always choose to look across the mysterious terrain. He tells us that a single obscure decision of prophecy, perhaps the choice of one word over another, could change the entire aspect of the future. He tells us "The vision of time is broad, but when you pass through it, time becomes a narrow door." And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning "That path leads ever down into stagnation.""

"Prophecy and prescience — How can they be put to the test in the face of the unanswered questions? Consider: How much is actual prediction of the "wave form" (as Muad'Dib referred to his vision-image) and how much is the prophet shaping the future to fit the prophecy? What of the harmonics inherent in the act of prophecy? Does the prophet see the future or does he see a line of weakness, a fault or cleavage that he may shatter with words or decisions as a diamond-cutter shatters his gem with a blow of a knife?"

"The trance-state of prophecy is like no other visionary experience. It is not a retreat from the raw exposure of the senses (as many trance states) but an immersion in a multitude of new movements. Things move. It is an ultimate pragmatism in the midst of Infinity, a demanding consciousness where you come at last into the unbroken awareness that the universe moves of itself, that it changes, that its rules change, that nothing remains permanent or absolute throughout all such movement, that mechanical explanations for anything can work only within precise confinements and, once the walls are broken down, the old explanations shatter and dissolve, blown away by new movements. The things you see in this trance are sobering, often shattering. They demand your utmost effort to remain whole, and even so, you emerge from that state profoundly changed."

"The prophet is not diverted by illusions of past, present and future. The fixity of language determines such linear distinctions. Prophets hold a key to the lock in a language. The mechanical image remains only an image to them. This is not a mechanical universe. The linear progression of events is imposed by the observer. Cause and effect? That's not it at all. The prophet utters fateful words. You glimpse a thing "destined to occur." But the prophetic instant releases something of infinite portent and power. The universe undergoes a ghostly shift. Thus, the wise prophet conceals actuality behind shimmering labels. The uninitiated then believe the prophetic language is ambiguous. The listener distrusts the prophetic messenger. Instinct tells you how the utterance blunts the power of such words. The best prophets lead you up to the curtain and let you peer through for yourself."

"A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his own house."

"Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

"Whenever...there is a decline in religious practice... I descend Myself. To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium."

"The Future … is like a puzzle — with missing pieces — difficult to read, and never, NEVER, what you think."

"The Future is a puzzle, with many pieces to be sorted. In Time you will learn to separate what can be from what will be."

"Everybody makes the same mistake. Fortune-telling doesn't reveal the future; it mirrors the present. It resonates against what your subconscious already knows and hauls it up out of the darkness so you can get a good look at it."

"Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 22:42 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 22:44"

"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 22:42 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.22:44"

"The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behaviour which makes the original false conception come "true". This specious validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuates a reign of error. For the prophet will cite the actual course of events as proof that he was right from the very beginning."

"Armageddon has already begun—the end of 1931 saw the start of the Great Battle, and I did not conceal it from you. So the Battle cannot end now, but must reach a victorious conclusion. Of course, when the flaming pentagram must be uplifted as a shield, all the sensations of the Battle affect the heart. You should not be surprised that events are piling up, for the earthly battle is following the heavenly. A great deal has been said about the Heavenly Host, about Michael the Archistrategus, the Supreme General, about the manifestation of the affirmed Leader, and about all the perturbations. That is why I say, “Caution!”"

"Those who understand Armageddon to be a field in which signs of the highest energy manifest are correct. This battlefield cannot be something that arises accidentally; rather, it is like a magnet that attracts opposing energies. The field of the future City of Light is destined to act as a counterbalance to this battlefield. Just as the existence of the field of Armageddon is proclaimed by the clash and clatter of arms, the existence of the field of the City of Light is proclaimed by the peal of bells. According to the contrast, one can judge the dimensions of the destined. So you might turn your ears to the din of the battle in order to hear the ringing of the bells."

"Pure thinking is the best disinfectant. It is high time that thinking was accepted as a chemical process. Likewise, the manifestation of Armageddon should not only be understood as a war in the conventional sense but should also be viewed in terms of all the events in life. The epidemic of possession is a phenomenon that characterizes the time of the Great Battle. Certainly, our convulsed planet is overrun with suicides as well as physical and spiritual calamities. Amidst humanity can be found unusual diseases of the brain and nerves, as well as every sort of perversion. The vacillations of the spirit may be truly astonishing. One may feel indignant about the way in which the finest people are greeted with threats and hatred. It is as if the soil itself were speeding to destruction! Of course, the mad ones do not see all the luminous warriors, and they allow the dark forces to drag them into the abyss. So every seeker must summon up all his strength in fortifying himself on the foundation of the Hierarchy. Even on an ordinary battlefield a warrior must not let his communications get cut off."

"Kali Yuga Predictions"

"O thou foremost of all speakers, O Muni of Bhrigu's race, that which we have heard from thee about the destruction and re-birth of all things at the end of the Yuga, is, indeed, full of wonder! I am filled with curiosity, however, in respect of what may happen in the Kali age. When morality and virtue will be at an end, what will remain... tell me all in detail, O Muni, for all that thou narratest is varied and delightful...(Section CLXXXIX, p. 387)"

"Thus addressed, that foremost of Munis began his discourse... listen to me as I narrate the future history of the world during the sinful age. O bull of the Bharata race, in the Krita age, everything was free from deceit and guile and avarice and covetousness; and morality like a bull was among men, with all the four legs complete... In the dark age (of Kali)... morality mixed with three parts of sin liveth by the side of men... men in general will deceive their fellows..."

"And men with false reputation of learning will... cause truth to be contracted and concealed. And in consequence of the shortness of their lives they will not be able to acquire much knowledge. And in consequence of the littleness of their knowledge, they will have no wisdom. And for this, covetousness and avarice will overwhelm them all. And wedded to avarice and wrath and ignorance and lust men will entertain animosities towards one another, desiring to take one another's lives. (Section CLXXXIX, p. 387)"

"And the lowest orders of men will rise to the position of the intermediate ones, and those in intermediate stations will, without doubt, descend to the level of the lowest ones... And towards that period, even they that are always observant of vows, will become covetous... People will become atheists and thieves... the kings of the earth, with hearts wedded to sin without knowledge and always boastful of their wisdom, will challenge one another... (Section CLXXXIX, p. 388)"

"And the Kshatriyas [military caste] also towards the end of such a period will become the thorns of the earth. And filled with avarice and swelling with pride and vanity... And attacking and repeating their attacks upon the good and the honest, and feeling no pity for the latter.. the Kshatriyas will, O Bharata, rob these of their wives and wealth..."

"And no one will ask for a girl (for purposes of marriage) and no one will give away a girl (for such purposes), but the girls will themselves choose their lords, when the end of the Yuga comes..."