Information AboutAlice Bailey |
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Alice Ann Bailey, often known as '''Alice A. Bailey''' or '''AAB''' born as '''Alice LaTrobe Bateman''' ( June 16 , 1880 , Manchester , United Kingdom - December 15 , 1949 ), was a writer and lecturer on Neo-Theosophy . She moved to the United States Of America in 1907, where she spent the rest of her life. She was an author on Occultism and founded an international Esoteric movement. Sir John Sinclair, Bt., gives a commentary on the seminal influence of Alice Bailey, which he says underlies the consciousness growth movement in the 20th century.Sinclair, Sir John R. ''The Alice Bailey Inheritance''. Turnstone Press Limited. 1984. Likewise, in the book ''Perspectives on the New Age'' we find "The most important--though certainly not the only--source of this transformative metaphor, as well as the term "New Age," was Theosophy, particularly as the Theosophical perspective was mediated to the movement by the works of Alice Bailey." Lewis, James R. and J. Gordon Melton. ''Perspectives on the New Age''. SUNY Press. 1992. p xi LIFE Childhood Alice Bailey was born to a wealthy, upper class, British family, and as a member of the Anglican Church , received a thorough Christian education. Of this early life she wrote:
At a very early age Bailey made three attempts to commit suicide, the first when she was five years old: "I just did not find life worth living. The experience of my five years made me feel that things were futile so I decided that if I bumped down the stone kitchen steps from top to bottom (and they were very steep) I would probably be dead at the end. I did not succeed. Bridget, the cook, picked me up and carried me (battered and bruised) upstairs where I met much comforting - but no understanding. Later Life Bailey went on to do Evangelical work in the British Army. This took her to India where, in 1907, where she met her future husband, Walter Evans. Together they moved to America, where W. Evans became an Episcopalian priest. However, this marriage did not last. She stated that her husband mistreated her, and she pushed for and received a divorce. (Bailey, p. 121-122) Bailey broke not only with her Christian husband but with Orthodox Christianity itself. In her autobiography she wrote, “It might be useful to know how a rabid, orthodox Christian worker could become a well-known occult teacher.” (Bailey, p. 1 & p. 47). In the United States, in 1915, Bailey discovered the Theosophical Society and the work of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Bailey, pp 134-136). In 1918 she became a member of the Esoteric section of the this society and highlights what she saw as a key experience there as follows:
The above is in reference to an earlier experience on June 30th, 1895 when she claimed to have had her first visitation from one she later came to identify as a "Masters of Wisdom:"
Bailey wrote much about those she called “Masters of the Wisdom,” which she believed were a brotherhood of enlightened sages who work under the guidance of the Christ. In part, she saw both her biography and subsequent writings as an effort to clarify the nature of the masters and their work.
In 1919 Foster Bailey, who was to be her second husband, became National Secretary of the Theosophical Society while she was editor of the Theosophical Society magazine, The Messenger (Bailey, p. 157). Eventually she broke with the Society, having come to see it as too authoritarian and involved in "lower psychic phenomena." But she continued throughout her life to recognize the importance of Madame Blavatsky's works, and saw her own writings as a continuation and further development of Blavatsky’s teachings (Bailey, pp. 168-177). In 1919 Bailey claimed to be in touch with a Master, Djwhal Khul , also known as The Tibetan:
Bailey states that she was eventually persuaded to write down the communications from this source which she believed was as a Master of Wisdom. She wrote for 30 years (1919 to 1949). The result was 24 published books that give a body of esoteric teachings relating to ancient wisdom, philosophy, religion, contemporary events, science, psychology, the nations, astrology, and healing. In 1923, with the help of Foster Bailey, Alice Bailey founded the Arcane School, which gave (and still gives) a correspondence course based on the teachings in her books (Bailey, pp. 192-193). The Arcane School is part of the Lucis Trust , a not-for-profit foundation that also publishes Bailey's books and shelters such Foster Bailey initiatives as World Goodwill and Triangles. About 100 of Alice Bailey's public talks and private talks to her more advanced Arcane School students are now available online.http://www.esotericstudies.net/talks/index.htm Bailey continued to work right up to the time of her death from leukemia in 1949 Bailey, Alice A. ''The Unfinished Autobiography''. Lucis Trust. 1951. From the Preface by Foster Bailey, p 1. TEACHINGS Basic Ideas and Comparison with Theosophy Alice Bailey’s repeatedly emphasizes unity. A representative example is: " I will endeavor, above all else, to demonstrate to you that all-pervading unity and that underlying synthesis which is the basis of all religions and of all the many transmitted forces; I will seek to remove you, as individuals, from out of the center of your own stage and consciousness and - without depriving you of individuality and of self-identity - yet show you how you are part of a greater whole of which you can become consciously aware when you can function as souls, but of which you are today unconscious, or at least only registering and sensing the inner reality in which you live and move and have your being."Bailey, Alice A. ''A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Vol 3: Esoteric Astrology''. Lucis Trust. 1951. p 7 She believed her works were part of an unfolding revelation of ageless wisdom to humanity, of which Theosophical teachings were the predecessor and preparation. Bailey, Alice A. ''Discipleship in the New Age, Volume 1''. Lucis Trust. 1944. p 732 Her writings have much in common with Theosophy, and both contain these ideas. Lewis, James R., ''The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements''. Oxford University Press. {Link without Title} . p 446 Frawley, David. ''Tantric Yoga and the Wisdom Goddesses: Spiritual Secrets of Ayurveda.'' Passage Press. 1994. p 22 Rhodes, Ron. ''New Age Movements,'' Zondervan. 1995. p 26 {Link without Title} {Link without Title} {Link without Title}
There are several themes that, in some degree, distinguish her writings from Theosophy and related traditions. These include:Keller , Rosemary Skinner. ''Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America''. Indiana University Press. 2006. p 763 {Link without Title}
Her Concept of One Humanity and World Religion Underlying Alice Bailey's writings are the central concepts of unity and divinity . Bailey, Alice A. ''Esoteric Astrology,'' Lucis Trust. 1951. p 7) And with regard to races and religions she asserted that, "Every class of human beings is a group of brothers. Catholics, Jews, Gentiles, occidentals and orientals are all the sons of God." She believed that an individuals primary allegiance is to humanity and not to any subgroup with it: "I call you to no organizational loyalties, but only to love your fellowmen, be they German, American, Jewish, British, French, Negro or Asiatic." Bailey, Alice A. ''The Externalization of the Hierarchy,'' Lucis Trust. 1957. p 208) She emphasized the equality of all men everywhere, and believed that national and religious affiliations are accidents of birth and they should see their group identifications as something enabling them to contribute to humanity as a whole: "World democracy will take form when men everywhere are regarded in reality as equal; when boys and girls are taught that it does not matter whether a man is an Asiatic, an American, a European, British, a Jew or a Gentile but only that each has an historical background which enables him to contribute something to the good of the whole, that the major requirement is an attitude of goodwill and a constant effort to foster right human relations. World Unity will be a fact when the children of the world are taught that religious differences are largely a matter of birth; that if a man is born in Italy, the probability is that he will be a Roman Catholic; if he is born a Jew, he will follow the Jewish teaching; if born in Asia, he may be a Mohammedan, a Buddhist, or belong to one of the Hindu sects; if born in other countries, he may be a Protestant and so on."Bailey, Alice A. ''Problems of Humanity,'' Lucis Trust. 1947. p 61) She believed that all religions originate from the same spiritual source, and that humanity will eventually come to realize this. As they do so, she claimed that it will result in the emergence of a universal world religion. Then there will be neither Christian nor heathen, neither Jew nor Gentile, but simply one great body of believers, gathered out of all the current religions. They will accept the same truths, not as theological concepts but as essential to spiritual living; they will stand together on the same platform of brotherhood and of human relations; they will recognize divine sonship and will seek unitedly to cooperate with the divine Plan, as it is revealed to them by the spiritual leaders of the race, and as it indicates to them the next step to be taken on the Path of Approach to God. Such a world religion is no idle dream but something which is definitely forming today." (Bailey, p 140) For Bailey, the matter of prime importance was not race or religion but the evolution of consciousness that transcends these: " ... there is no new race in process of appearing, from the territorial angle; there is only a general distribution of those persons who have what have been called the sixth root race characteristics. This state of consciousness will find its expression in people as far apart racially as the Japanese and the American or the Negro and the Russian." Bailey, Alice A. ''The Rays and the Initiations,'' Lucis Trust. 19607. p. 593-594) Her Indictment of Orthodox Christianity Bailey believed in the return of "Christ" but her concept had little in common with that of the orthodox Christian churches. She saw Christ as essentially the energy of love and his "return" as the awakening of that energy in human consciousness. Bailey, Alice A. ''Esoteric Astrology,'' Lucis Trust. 1951. p. 471) She introduces the radical idea that the new Christ might be, "no particular faith at all:" "The development of spiritual recognition is the great need today in preparation for His reappearance; no one knows in what nation He will come; He may appear as an Englishman, a Russian, a Negro, a Latin, a Turk, a Hindu, or any other nationality. Who can say which? He may be a Christian or a Hindu by faith, a Buddhist or of no particular faith at all; He will not come as the restorer of any of the ancient religions, including Christianity, but He will come to restore man's faith in the Father's love, in the fact of the livingness of the Christ and in the close, subjective and unbreakable relationship of all men everywhere." Bailey, Alice A. ''The Reappearance of the Christ,'' p 190) In Bailey's thought, no one group can claim him--the New Age Christ belongs to whole world and not to Christians or any nation or group. Bailey was highly critical of orthodox Christianity, and according to her, the Church-based theology about Christ's return is false: "He will not come to convert the 'heathen' world for, in the eyes of the Christ and of His true disciples, no such world exists and the so-called heathen have demonstrated historically less of the evil of vicious conflict than has the militant Christian world. The history of the Christian nations and of the Christian church has been one of an aggressive militancy - the last thing desired by the Christ when He sought to establish the church on earth." (Bailey, p 110) Her Criticism of National and Racial Allegiances In addition to her critical attack on orthodox Christianity, Alice Bailey criticized many nations, groups and religions based on what she believed were violations of the spirit of unity and brotherhood. For example, while praising them in some respects, in the United States and France she saw political corruption. Bailey, Alice A. '' Esoteric Astrology.'' Lucis Trust. 1947 p 526 Bailey, Alice A. ''Problems of Humanity.'' Lucis Trust. 1947 p 16 She regarded the talk about a free press as largely an illusory ideal and stated, "...particularly is it absent in the United States, where parties and publishers dictate newspaper policies." Bailey, Alice A. ''The Externalization of the Hierarchy .'' Lucis Trust. 1947 p 452 She believed the source of human problems is the spirit of separation that causes individuals and groups to set themselves apart from the rest of humanity: "We could take the nations, one by one, and observe how this nationalistic, separative or isolationist spirit, emerging out of an historical past, out of racial complexes, out of territorial position, out of revolt and out of possession of material resources, has brought about the present world crisis and cleavage and this global clash of interests and ideals." (Bailey, p. 375) In this connection she criticized the Jews and spoke against Zionism, believing it to be, "... contrary to the lasting good of mankind." (Bailey p. 680). At the same time she spoke out strongly against hatred of the Jews and believed in a future in which they would "fuse and blend with the rest of mankind." Bailey, Alice A. ''Esoteric Psychology I .'' Lucis Trust. 1936 p 401 Bailey also critisized the cruelty of the Gentile for his treatment of the Jews: "God has made all men equal; the Jew is a man and a brother, and every right that the Gentile owns is his also, inalienably and intrinsically his. This the Gentile has forgotten and great is his responsibility for wrong doing and cruel action." (Bailey, p. 401) While advocating intermarriage with the Jews, she believed that intermarriage would not solve the Negro problem " Bailey, Alice A. ''Esoteric Healing.'' Lucis Trust. 1953 p 267 Along with this she cited the cruelty of the whites in relation to the Negros and believed the Negro's were largely blameless: "...in the case of the Negro, the separative instinct derives from the white people; the Negro is struggling to end it and, therefore, the spiritual forces of the world are on the side of the Negro." Bailey, Alice A. ''Problems of Humanity,'' Lucis Trust. 1947. p. 96, 85 & 110 Her Criticisms of Fanaticism and Intolerance Alice Bailey spoke out strongly against all forms of fanaticism and intolerance."Bailey, Alice A. ''The Externalization of the Hierarchy,'' Lucis Trust. 1957. pp 17, 384) She saw this fanaticism both in churches in nationalism and in competing esoteric schools. (Bailey pp. 15 & 453) Bailey, Alice A. ''Problems of Humanity,'' Lucis Trust. 1947. p. 120 She associated this fanaticism with unintelligent devotion: "Those who look back to the past, who hang on to the old ways, the ancient theologie... These are the followers of a Church and a government, who are distinguished by a pure devotion and love, but refuse recognition to the divine intelligence with which they are gifted. Their devotion, their love of God, their strict but misguided conscience, their intolerance mark them out as devotees, but they are blinded by their own devotion and their growth is limited by their fanaticism. They belong mostly to the older generation and the hope for them lies in their devotion and the fact that evolution itself will carry them forward..." Bailey, Alice A. ''A Treatise on White Magic,'' Lucis Trust. 1934. p. 328 INFLUENCE In 1923, with the help of Foster Bailey, Alice Bailey founded the Arcane School, which gave (and still gives) a correspondence course based on the teachings in her books (Bailey, pp. 192-193). The Arcane School is part of the Lucis Trust , a not-for-profit foundation that also publishes Bailey's books and shelters such Foster Bailey initiatives as World Goodwill and Triangles. About 100 of Alice Bailey's public talks and private talks to her more advanced Arcane School students are now available online.http://www.esotericstudies.net/talks/index.htm Bailey continued to work right up to the time of her death from leukemia in 1949 Bailey, Alice A. ''The Unfinished Autobiography''. Lucis Trust. 1951. From the Preface by Foster Bailey, p 1. In a book on history of the Bollingen Foundation and its pervasive influence on American intellectual life, William McGuire wrote: "In 1928 Olga {Link without Title} built a lecture hall on her grounds, overlooking the lake, for a purpose not yet revealed to her, and a guest house which she named Casa Shanti in a Hindu ceremony. A year or two later, she went to the United States and sought out Alice A. Bailey, in Stamford, Connecticut, a former Theosophists who led a movement called the Arcane School. Mrs Bailey, whom Nancy Wilson Ross has described as a woman of great dignity, kindness, and integrity, aimed like Olga Froebe at the raising of consciousness and the bridging of the East and West. She lived with a mystic presence, ‘the Tibetan,’ presumably one of the Theosophical Masters, who used her as an instrument to write a number of books devoted to Higher Truth…” McGuire, William. ''An Adventure in Collecting the Past''. Princeton University Press. 1989, p 23 Bailey's thought has had an infuence in the field of Psychotherapy and Healing. "In Tansley as in Brennan you will find descriptions of a hierarchy of subtle bodies called the etheric, emotional, mental and spiritual that surround the physical body. (Interestingly Tansley attributed the source of his model to Alice Bailey’s theosophical commentary on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the locus classicus of Hindu teaching.)"Woolger, Roger J. ''The Presence of Other Worlds In Psychotherapy and Healing'' from a paper delivered at the Beyond the Brain Conference held at St. John’s College, Cambridge University, England, 1999. Pdf Dr G. D. Chryssides of the University of Wolverhampton, cites Bailey's importance in Templarism. Chryssides, George D. An untitled paper presented at the CESNUR Conference held in Palermo, Sicily, 2005. See ( Templar ) An article in Encyclopedia Britannica says that Alice Bailey founded the Arcane School to disseminated spiritual teachings and that she organized a world-wide 'Triangles' program to bring people together in groups of three for daily meditation. Their belief was that they received divine energy through meditation and this energy is transmitted to humanity, so raising spiritual awareness. "After Bailey's death, former members of the Arcane School created a host of new independent theosophical groups within which hopes of a New Age flourished. These groups claimed the ability to transmit spiritual energy to the world and allegedly received channeled messages from various preternatural beings..." "New Age Movement," subsection "Origins," in ''Encylcopedia Britannica.'' 2003 Alice Bailey's influence is seen in the many groups currently disseminating her teachings and practicing her meditation methods. A large number of these have an active presence on the web. A few representative ones are:
CONTROVERSIES Charges of racism and antisemitism Critics of Alice Bailey have charged her with Racism and Antisemitism . In 1998, Dr. Victor Shnirelman, a . ''The Racist Legacy of Alice Bailey''] in ''From the Flames - Radical Feminism with Spirit'' issue 22. Winter 1998/1999. Retrieved 2007-08-22 . The . ''Antisemitic Stereotypes in Alice Bailey's Writings''. 1997, revised 2005]. Retrieved 2007-08-22 . Religious criticism Bailey has been criticized by some religious writers because she wrote of Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Theosophical beliefs with authority while expressing non-conformity to the orthodox belief systems of these varied religious traditions. Groothuis, Douglas . ''Unmasking the New Age''. InterVarsity Press. 1986; p. 120. Parker, Reba and Timothy Oliver. ''Alice Bailey Profile'' in ''The Watchman Expositor''. Watchman Fellowship. 1996. Retrieved 2007-08-22 . Bailey's books have also been criticized as a form of . BIBLIOGRAPHY The Lucis Trust is the official publisher of Alice Bailey's books. A few books of Alice Bailey that are no longer under copyright are also available online at independent web sites. Credited to Alice Bailey (works containing the prefatory ''Extract from a Statement by the Tibetan'', generally taken to indicate the book was a "received" work):
Credited to Alice A. Bailey alone (works in which Bailey claims sole authorship of the material):
SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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