character discussion: introduction

[Hans Andréa]

No: HPFGUIDX 120324

Before starting the discussion of the main characters I want to explain the
basic premise behind my theory of the spiritual foundation of Harry Potter.

Centuries ago there was no universal, free education and the human intellect
was not developed to the extent it is today. The masses were more or less in
a state of semi-slavery or serfdom and in any case without mechanisation
there wasn't much time to think about anything. The exceptions were the
aristocracy and the clergy and a few rich merchants etc. Nor was it easy to
communicate with other people without modern postal services etc.

Even as recently as 50 years ago people generally had no trouble with the
idea of "do as you're told!" For example it never entered the heads of
children at school to disobey their teachers, and that attitude prevailed
until very recently. Obedience was instilled during childhood and stayed
during adulthood. "Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die".
People were just very obedient and they didn't question the whys and
wherefores of life.

It was the same thing in the churches. People were told what to think and
the priest or minister knew what was right for his people. "Don't ask
questions!" People in the middle ages couldn't read, and later when people
started to learn to read, the Catholic Church actively discouraged people
from reading the Bible until recently.

That's our heritage: ignorance, obedience, acceptance of authority. This is
not our heritage: think for yourself, experiment, read, discuss, argue with
your religious or intellectual superiors. These things are very recent
developments in terms of human history.

In addition, until recently people generally had a very different
consciousness than we have today. Most of us are very self-conscious in the
sense of being aware of ourselves as individualised entities. Before and
right through the middle ages people had more of a collective type of
consciousness. They were conscious of being part of a group, a tribe, a
family, a guild, a clan etc. They were regarded and treated as such by
others. The renaissance brought the first signs of change, but that was only
among the intellectuals and the aristocracy. Today many people in western
countries are almost totally individualised but of course in some societies
people are still group-conscious to some extent. A good book on this is "The
Identity Society" by William Glasser.

The point I'm trying to make is that presenting humanity with abstract
concepts to enable people to go the path of liberation would have been a
waste of time until very recently, assuming that people would even have
wanted to go that Path.

And yet those people I call the Masters of Compassion made attempts to help
people absorb these highly abstract spiritual concepts albeit
subconsciously. They did this by introducing into the world the facts of
liberation in the form of stories using symbols and PERSONIFICATION.

Basically there is only ONE story: the Fall from the Real World, our present
(self-)imprisonment, and the return journey to the Real World. The
Brotherhood of Liberation, the Lohans, the Communion of Saints, the
Brotherhood of Shamballa, call them what you like, has sent into the world
innumerable stories, gospels, fairy tales, fables, myths, legends, epic
poems, etc. to drive into the collective unconscious of millions of people
the Great Trilogy (I just invented that term). Each of these stories uses
the same technique: personification and symbolism.

And so we have the great epics and gospels: King Arthur, the Holy Grail, the
Wendidad, Grimm's Fairy Tales, the Greek legends, the Song of the Pearl, the
New Testament, etc. AND: HARRY POTTER! Despite the fact that we can now ask
questions, challenge authorities, change religion every week if we want to,
divorce our parents, you name it, you can do it, Harry Potter uses the same
symbols and personification as all the old stories given to humanity by the
Masters of Compassion. There is hardly anything new in Harry
Potter as far as symbolism and personification goes. Of course there
couldn't be, because if there were, it wouldn't resonate in the subconscious
so powerfully. But one thing has changed: people are more
individualised, as described above.

Harry Potter speaks to children because they are open to these symbols and
archetypes of the collective subconscious. Many adults also are enchanted by
Harry's heroic journey. But so far few people have really woken up to what
Harry Potter is really about. However the point is, today people CAN
understand the process of alchemical liberation. People CAN see that there
is only one way to change the mess we're in: self-revolution.

This is the superhuman genius behind Harry Potter: first invade the world
with a hero everyone can fall in love with, and his epic struggle for
liberation. Cram this story full of symbols, archetypes and personification.
And gradually some people will wake up to what's really going on: that Harry
Potter is a new attempt by our elder brothers and sisters to help us realise
we've fallen out of the Real World, we're
imprisoned in a closed off part of the universe, and there IS a way back.
That's the hidden agenda of Harry Potter, but it's an agenda of love and
compassion, of insight into reality, and of true faith, hope and love. It's
a great conspiracy to help us go the return journey to the Real World, to
Nirvana, to Tao, to the Kingdom of Heaven, to Shamballa. Until now only a
few people have cottoned on to the fact that this is not the Real World and
that we're being hoodwinked into thinking our life here on earth is all
there is.

Now to get back to the "method behind the madness" of Harry potter:
personification is the way to turn highly abstract forces, influences and
aspects of the process of liberation into understandable concrete characters
that we can identify with and love. If you want to understand my theory that
Harry Potter is an allegory of the process of liberation, you have to
realise that we as a person have many voices speaking into our mental ears.
There are not only the voices of good and evil, but also of our culture, our
ancestors, and of the Coming New Man who is born in the heart as the result
of taking the first step on the Path: Harry James Potter.

In addition please also keep in mind the precept from "The Emerald Tablet"
of Hermes Trismegistus: "As above, so below". The human microcosm has the
same basic structure as the cosmos around us, i.e. the world. The Great
Trilogy applies both to our own life as well as the life of humanity in
general. I'll come back to that later in the series.

In my first character discussion I'll introduce to you: Lily Evans-Potter.
Remember: she's not a real person but an abstract influence in our lives.
But just because something is abstract it doesn't mean it's not real. Lily
is extremely real and immensely powerful, as I hope I'll be able to prove!

Hans

=====
Hans Rieuwers 
see you at Harry Potter for Seekers 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/harrypotterforseekers/
 


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