CYCLE EIGHT

1. Hinduism (the world's oldest religion) and its offshoot Buddhism could be defined as being at One with Alpha God (the Creator/Clear Light of the Void), whereas Judaism is more about men vis-à-vis a Creator, with whom no complete identification is possible. Likewise, Mohammedanism rejects direct identification with the Creator, but does so rather more in terms of man (Mohammed) vis-à-vis Alpha God, so that it stands to Judaism as phenomenal to noumenal or, rather, individual to collective, or even the lunar to the planar (worldly). By contrast to Mohammedanism, Christianity, essentially another 'lunar' faith, turns man around (rebirth) so that his relationship is rather more vis-à-vis an Omega God (the 'Kingdom of Heaven' within the self), who thus stands in a 'transvaluated' lunar light vis-à-vis 'the Infidel', or those without any faith in Christ. Yet if Christianity is essentially individualistic, then Socialism, the next significant religious development, is collectivistic, since it is more worldly than lunar in character and thus affirms the relationship between men and an Omega God (the Millennium of classless futurity), which is no less phenomenal than Christianity/Mohammedanism or, for that matter, Judaism, with which it forms a sort of worldly pole, given its omega orientation. Beyond Socialism, however, there is only one possibility - namely a noumenal identification, necessarily antithetical to Hinduism/Buddhism, with Omega God (the Holy Spirit of Heaven), which is the ultimate religion, as superior to Christianity and Socialism as ... Hinduism was to Judaism and Mohammedanism, the True World Religion, one might say, of Social Transcendentalism. It is this being at One with Omega God which will bring religion to its evolutionary consummation, putting Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Mohammedanism completely 'beneath the pale' of its omega-oriented integrity, an integrity wherein men are overcome in and by the Holy Spirit of Heaven, thereby becoming divine.

2. To contrast the noumenal absolutism of cosmic Fundamentalism with the noumenal absolutism of Social Transcendentalism, the alpha and omega of religion, which encompasses all the difference between the Clear Light of the Void and the Holy Spirit of Heaven - the former illusory (space), the latter true (air).

3. The devolution of alpha-oriented religions from Hinduism and Buddhism to Judaism and Mohammedanism ... contrasts with the evolution of omega-oriented religions from Christianity and Socialism to Social Transcendentalism/Super-transcendentalism. By and large, it is the East which is devolutionary and the West evolutionary, though this is hardly true of the Far East and the Far West (as America might well be called), which are rather more evolutionary (Socialism) and devolutionary (Buddhism) respectively.

4. The American psyche is conditioned to an alpha orientation by a combination of factors, including the 'stars' on its national flag, the indigenous traditions of historical America, the vast open spaces, the desert sun, and so on.

5. I would say that whereas Indian spirituality tends, by and large, towards the light, Chinese spirituality tends, by contrast, towards the air (witness the Tao) and is thus less illusory than truthful. Certainly the Chinese, with their socialist faith, are no great admirers of Hinduism/Buddhism, but, at times, ruthless opponents of this alpha-oriented religion, as in Tibet. Could it be that, with their slant-eyed racial disposition, the Chinese are less optically-biased than, say, the Indians, and more inclined, in consequence, to favour a progressive spirituality? This is my hunch, at any rate, and I believe it is confirmed by their greater respect for the air, not least of all in regard to truth.

6. Regrettable extent to which American music, Jazz in particular, is rarely 'horn free', to use a phrase I have recently coined for Rock albums and the like which are beyond recourse to such fundamentalist instruments as saxophones, trumpets, trombones, etc. No doubt, America's almost fatalistic predisposition towards horn instruments derives from its quite boundless respect for heathen influences, not the least of which stem from non-European traditions, as in Jazz. This is not to say that Americans are invariably heathen, still less devotees of Jazz! But significant numbers of them do seem to favour an alpha-oriented culture, which necessarily requires recourse to a variety of wind instruments, and ensures that the result, be it in Jazz or Rock, Soul or Blues, is closer to the Clear Light of the Void than to the Holy Spirit of Heaven.