Religion

"Men who have not observed proper discipline, and have not gained treasure in their youth, perish like old herons in a lake without fish."

"As all earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life of mortals."

"As rain does not break through a well-thatched house, passion will not break through a well-reflecting mind."

"All our dignity consists in thought, therefore let us contrive to think well; for that is the principle of morals."

"Flattery is a false coin which circulates only because of our vanity."

"From the centre which we call the race of men"

"Let the Plan of Love and Light work out"

"And may it seal the door where evil dwells."

"Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth."

"Some time ago I gave out to the world – under instruction from the Christ – an Invocation that is destined to become of major usefulness in bringing about certain great events. These are:"

"From the point of Love within the Heart of God"

"Let love stream forth into the hearts of men."

"Let light stream forth into the minds of men."

"Let Light descend on Earth."

"May Christ return to Earth."

"From the centre where the Will of God is known"

"From the point of Light within the Mind of God"

"Let purpose guide the little wills of men –"

"Incidentally, these three events are relatively near, and will be brought about by a conscious working out of the immediate phase of the Plan, which it is the divine intention to bring about to a certain extent, before the reappearance of the Christ. The establishing of right human relations, is the immediate task, and is that phase of the Plan of Love and Light to which humanity can most easily respond, and for which they are already evidencing a sense of responsibility."

"The purpose which the Masters know and serve."

"Little attention has been paid to the factor of invocation as expressed by the people of the world; yet down the ages the invocative cry of humanity has risen to the Hierarchy, and brought response. . . ."

"Triangles Meditation"

"At this time, the Great Invocation is the greatest aid to humanity. The fulcrum, the axis of the Great Invocation, is Christ - the reappearance of the great Lord, [the] Christ...a living individual... Mantrams are like chemical or geometrical formulas; changing one word gives the mantram an entirely different result, or makes it misleading, dangerous or useless. Mantrams are transmitters of energy. When the transmitter is not constructed in a particular order, the energies can be destructive or negative, creating confusion and chaos in the subtle planes of human endeavor. Many mental disorders are the result of a misuse of prayers, mantrams and chanting. Let us not forget that the Hierarchy uses the Great Invocation in its original form every day.... Those who, with good intentions, want to change the Great Invocation, would do better to create a totally different invocation of their own - instead of distorting a masterpiece painting with their unskilled brush."

"This invocation is a mantram for "Light and Power" and presents what may be considered a blueprint of the Divine Plan as the Plan is intended to express itself on Earth through the medium of the human race. The Tibetan Teacher and Master of the Wisdom, Djwhal Khul, labored most meticulously with Alice A. Bailey, his amanuensis, to ensure that this ancient Word of power was translated with great exactitude into the English language. Today, this mantram is known all over the world as "The Great Invocation"; it has been translated into over a hundred languages and is used on a daily basis by millions of human beings. Every year, World Invocation Day is dedicated to the ceaseless sounding of The Great Invocation - in almost every country of the world."

"Transmission Meditation"

"The uniqueness connected with the Invocation, consists in the fact that it is, in reality, a great method of integration. It links the Father, the Christ and humanity in one great relationship. . . . The Great Invocation relates the will of the Father (or of Shamballa), the love of the Hierarchy, and the service of Humanity, into one great Triangle of Energies; this triangle will have two major results: the "sealing of the door where evil dwells", and the working out through the Power of God, let loose on earth through the Invocation, of the Plan of Love and Light . . ."

"Now the Great Invocation, as used by the Hierarchy itself, has been given out to the world. So reactionary is human thinking, that the claim made by me, that it is one of the greatest of the world's prayers, and is on a par with the other voiced expressions of spiritual desire and intention, will evoke criticism. That is of no importance . . ."

"The Invocation has been sent out by the combined Ashrams of the Masters and by the entire Hierarchy; it is used by its Members with constancy, exactitude and power. It will serve to integrate the two great centres: the Hierarchy and Humanity, and to relate them both in a new and dynamic manner to the "centre where the Will of God is known"."

"I ask you, therefore, during the coming years, to prepare, to use, and to distribute the Invocation, and make it a major endeavour."

"This new Invocation, if given widespread distribution, can be to the new world religion what the Lord's Prayer has been to Christianity and the 23rd Psalm has been to the spiritually minded Jew."

"Your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice."

"Settle in your mind, that no sermon is worth much in which the Lord is not the principal speaker. There may be poetry, refinement, historic truth, moral truth, pathos, and all the charms of rhetoric; but all will be lost, for the purposes of preaching, if the word of the Lord is not the staple of the discourse."

"We assert a posture of zero-tolerance for any "white man's shaman" who rises from within our own communities to "authorize" the expropriation of our ceremonial ways by non-Indians; all such "plastic medicine men" are enemies of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people."

"Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else's culture without permission. This can include unauthorized use of another culture's dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. It is most likely to be harmful when the source community is a minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g. sacred objects."

"'Dressing up as "another culture", is racist, and an act of privilege. Not only does it lead to offensive, inaccurate, and stereotypical portrayals of other people's culture ... but is also an act of appropriation in which someone who does not experience that oppression is able to "play", temporarily, an "exotic" other, without experience any of the daily discriminations faced by other cultures.'"

"One need not look far to see that Hollywood often fails to provide both representation of, and employment to, members of marginalized communities. Movements like #OscarsSoWhite, and continued pushback against cisgender actors playing trans roles, have been increasingly covered in media the past few years. Yet the Gay for Pay Problem has not had the same attention, at least in the recent past, as other ways that Hollywood is willing to tell stories from marginalized groups without hiring marginalized people."

"What happens further in the Plastic Shaman's [fictitious] story is highly irritating from a perspective of cultural hegemony. The Injun elder does not only willingly share their spirituality with the white intruder but, in fact, must come to the conclusion that this intruder is as good an Indian as they are themselves. Regarding Indian spirituality, the Plastic Shaman even out-Indians the actual ones. The messianic element, which Plastic Shamanism financially draws on, is installed in the Yoda-like elder themselves. They are the ones – while melodramatically parting from their spiritual offshoot – who urge the Plastic Shaman to share their gift with the rest of the world. Thus Plastic Shamans wipe their hands clean of any megalomaniac or missionizing undertones. Licensed by the authority of an Indian elder, they now have every right to spread their wisdom, and if they make (quite more than) a buck with it, then so be it.—The neocolonial ideology attached to this scenario leaves less room for cynicism."

"The [western] intellectual property rights system and the (mis)appropriation of Indigenous knowledge without the prior knowledge and consent of Indigenous peoples evoke feelings of anger, or being cheated."

"But what is cultural appropriation and exchange? Would it have made a difference if the traveler’s kaffiyeh had been manufactured and purchased in, say, Kuwait City, instead of an Urban Outfitters store in Toronto? Determining such a distinction is also, as with so many things, dependent on intent. Appropriations are expressions of ignorance or aggression, when objects, ideas, lived experiences or points of view are not so much examined as exploited and performed. Exchanges, conversely, suggest a certain sort of generosity, an openness to discussion and an invitation to reciprocity."

"Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions."

"The problem is, as with most everything, there’s a certain subjectivity to the entire affair. Intent can be difficult to discern, and it’s certainly not quantifiable in any precise way. But what I do know is that underlying the idea of appropriation is the sense that something — or someone — is just there for the taking: A style of dress, a personal narrative, an entire continent. You can’t always prove appropriation. But you usually know it when you see it."

"…the truths of Christianity are constant, unchanging, and meant for all people, times, and places. But the methods by which truth is articulated and practiced must be culturally appropriated, and therefore constantly translated …if doctrine is constant and practice is constantly changing, the result is living orthodoxy."

"To be entirely against taking anything from another culture would be to condemn everything to memoir — and of all the genres of literature, I think memoir deserves the reputation for being the least true. It’s awkward to recognize that “Madame Bovary” couldn’t be better written by a French housewife. Flaubert himself identified with Emma just enough. RZA (who with his friends referred to Staten Island as “Shaolin”) saw himself, just enough, in tales of underground kung fu rebellion leaders. But most of us instinctively have more faith in what someone outside the center of power has to say; what of this instinct is legitimate, and what of it is too blunt? We remember that it was a gay, bourgeois Jew who best portrayed the French aristocracy, and not the reverse. Even though we also know that Tolstoy, from his family estate, could write any character, from peasants to princes. In the case of Wu-Tang Clan, the distribution of power between the culture they came from and the culture they borrowed from is usefully unclear."

"The “exchange” in cultural exchange suggests you give something in return for having taken something. If it’s culture that’s taken, then presumably what’s given back is the art. In which case the difference between appropriation and exchange, to be (maybe absurdly) logical about it, would have to lie with an assessment of the value of the art itself. Of course we can’t really quantify the value of what is taken or the value of the art, but that would be the logic. The more you take, the more you have to give back — the better the work has to be. Maybe when we say it’s wrong to take something, we really mean, What you’ve given back is far too poor, too mediocre — it’s bad art. I’ve never heard anyone accuse the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan of appropriating Chinese culture. This may be because I haven’t talked to enough people. But maybe it is because the music that came from a group of hip-hop kids from Staten Island who watched a lot of kung fu movies in trips to Times Square was that good."

"Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ecclesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom."

"The prophets in Hebrew Scripture and Jesus in the Gospels are figures in conflict with the religious establishment. They denounce the use of religion to sacralize unjust privilege and to ignore the needs of the people. Prophetic faith announces a God who is active in history, to overturn an unjust social order and to transform the world into a new social order where there will be no more war, no more injustice, where justice between people and harmony with nature has been restored and all creation will be in communion with God."

"Unhappily, a love of walls has seized you; unhappily, the Church of God which you venerate exists in houses and buildings; unhappily, under these you find the name of peace. Is it doubtful that in these Antichrist will have his seat? Safer to me are mountains, and woods, and lakes, and dungeons, and whirlpools; since in these prophets, dwelling or immersed, did prophesy."

"Wilson himself argued that it would be in the best interest of humanity if organized religions as we know them would disappear. There is, however, a misunderstanding. Wilson was not an atheist, nor was he against asking religious questions. Since his main interest were ants, it is to his interesting we should turn to understand more about his ideas on religion."

"The hinges on which the controversy turns are these: first, in their contending that the form of the Church is always visible and apparent; and, secondly, in their placing this form in the see of the Church of Rome and its hierarchy. We, on the contrary, maintain, both that the Church may exist without any apparent form, and, moreover, that the form is not ascertained by that external splendour which they foolishly admire, but by a very different mark, namely, by the pure preaching of the word of God, and the due administration of the sacraments."

"Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ecclesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom."