A Prominent Group:
In the study of history we tend to focus on prominent individuals who are the movers and shakers of change. This is of course necessary to understand what drives these individuals to do what they do. But as the esoteric teachings point out, what appears to be individuals in incarnation is really more a group expression because the one soul on its own high plane of life is group conscious and it is this group quality of mind that initiates any movement of service into the physical world. The soul does not individualize until it emerges into a physical personality. So it would be beneficial if we could see the group nature of those individual lives who initiated the Renaissance. It is unlikely that any of them saw themselves as participating in a group service since they obviously acted alone. But from the higher soul perspective, it was certainly a group effort planned in advance of their coming into the world.
Also, we might consider this: Renaissance in Latin means “rebirth”. So it seems quite possible (at least from an esoteric perspective) that the soul group which initiated the Renaissance and brought more light into human consciousness in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries had acted in a similar group effort at some earlier period in history. (The service of initiate souls is to initiate). Remember, Hierarchy’s primary focus has always been on awakening human consciousness. The outer physical effects of human actions in the world are of less importance. Outer physical actions are driven by emotional and mental decisions. Therefore, the group who initiated the awakening in consciousness at the end of the Piscean Age, in the 15th and 16th centuries, could have been along the same group line that manifested at the end of the previous age of Aries during the Roman Empire. What occurred in the 15th century was like a rebirth or a new cycle for the same group soul, but this time with the added experience and wisdom gained in the earlier cycle. There is some evidence for this idea. In speaking about the relationship between countries, the Tibetan reminds us: “Rome was the great road builder and road maker of Europe in the far distant past; today the British race (who are largely re-incarnated Romans and hence the friendly feeling which basically exists between the two countries [Italy and Britain] in spite of outer appearances) are the original railroad makers”.4
One of the first ideas to emerge in the 14th century was the great push for a return to a study of the ancient classics—in the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and many others. This was the beginning of establishing a new culture of Humanism. In effect, it was the rebirth of the same impulse that previously brought new light into ancient Rome. It was essentially a new group effort to refine the greater public consciousness which at that time was considered rather uneducated and crude. Humanism—the ism of being human—grew rapidly over the next two hundred years and many new schools for learning the classics and the classic style of speaking were established.
4 Alice Bailey, Destiny of the Nations, p. 59
(to be continued)
