2-6-98 GEORG HEGEL

The decline of western philosophy as a strong influence on our lives has been widely recognized and commented upon. In falling victim to the doctrine of specialization, which is largely generated by a materialistic understanding of life, many modern-day philosophers have reduced their sphere of influence to discussions over word meanings and the nature and interpretation of sensory data. The "supersensible" realms were left to the already ostracized philosophical idealists, who were no longer considered engaged in "real philosophy" anyway.

In many respects, idealistic philosophers deserved the label "pie in the sky metaphysicians". Although their insights often came from genuine spiritual intuition, they lacked a methodology for allowing others to replicate these experiences. In other words, they were unscientific --

assuming the word scientific can be extended to the supersensible realms, which I, and others such as Rudolph Steiner, have spent a lifetime trying to demonstrate.

Georg Hegel was an idealist of the highest type, and by that I do not mean an idealist like Kant, who, in his own way, supported the already existing conceptual mind-body or subjective-objective split, but one who profoundly bridged this gap through his triadic conception of universality, particularity and individuality.

My own interpretation of this triad and its implications can be summarized as follows: a fundamental duality such as yin and yang, or shiva and shakti, becomes unified in the pure awareness of non-duality. This is the final goal and the fulfillment of the involution of Spirit into matter and the evolution of matter into Spirit.

Was Hegel able to offer a methodology, or better yet, the full gamut of spiritual science, for achieving this non-dual state? No. This is the task of The Art of Multi-Dimensional Living (TM) and other burgeoning forms of spiritual science.

However, a man of Hegel's vision will never be forgotten. His doctrines will be resurrected by those souls subtle enough to penetrate the spiritual core of his message. Recently, Ken Wilber, the increasingly popular "transpersonalist," has given much credit to Hegel for his own extensive insights into the nature of human evolution. I look forward to more on this subject from Wilber. I find Wilber's contributions to the field of transpersonal studies to be enormous in scope and depth. Unfortunately, many of his "orienting generalizations" are also quite defective. I will get quite specific about both his contributions and defects in future articles.

Any meaningful discussion about the lives of great people must be in the context of world evolution. Hegel's "Philosophy of History" is, thus, an important work for students of "The Art of Multi-Dimensional Living." For Hegel, if the ideal State provides true freedom, then four categories of Individuals provide the will and "passion" necessary for Spirit to attain its end: 1)the "citizen"; 2)the "person"; 3)the "hero"; and 4) the "victim." I would suggest that these four types of people are the same as the archetypal Vaishyas, Brahmins, Kyshatriyas and Shudras (including outcastes) of the ancient caste system of India.

Of the five great people discussed so far, Lincoln fits the "Hero" category and the four others, Wagner, Krishnamurti, Wright and Gauguin, the category of Persons, or those who rise about the conventional morality of their day.

I submit that Hegel's "Philosophy of History" is defective in not including a perspective of how great individuals affect history through many lives rather than just one. Such a perspective was given by Rudolph Steiner in his series of lectures entitled "Karmic Relationships." Steiner's understanding has been verified through the technology of The Art of Multi-Dimensional Living.

None of what I have just said detracts from the greatness of Hegel. Hegel's cognitions restore the fullness of Spirit, where Spirit is not only fully transcendent, but also fully immanent. For this contribution, he deserves our honor and respect.