Sabian Symbols: An embassy ball
An embassy ball
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This universal idea is best expressed through planets in
12th degree of Scorpio (11° - 12°)DIPLOMATIC SABRE RATTLING
Rather ironically the display of power is an aspect of keeping the peace - there is a greater disinclination to attack a strong neighbour! In contrast to our willingness for self-sacrifice, we also have an inclination to form hierarchy. By this is created a firm social structure that supports privilege, leadership and obedience. Notwithstanding the inherent high risk of corruption, it provides a platform for diplomacy where the ruling elite are able to struggle for supremacy amongst themselves and against foreign powers without resorting to physical violence. It is necessary because until ‘the chips are down’ allegiances are not tested and proved – and this is a requirement to experience group consciousness.
Rudhyar: AN OFFICIAL EMBASSY BALL |
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An official embassy ball
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Loyalties enable us to experience devotion
It is irrelevant to animals and angels what we wear, or say, at an embassy ball, although to ourselves and the other guests, these things actually classify who and what we are. Our very individuality has no definition except as it is framed by the general background of what society values. A stable and fulfilling life requires us to develop and maintain loyalties, and anyway without this, our need to demonstrate devotion is thwarted. Such loyalties are all too easily misplaced and need continual reappraisal. Any inappropriate allegiances formed earlier – perhaps naively in the mistaken folly of youthful permissiveness – need to be re-evaluated and corrected. How we choose to behave eventually comes down to what has practical worth. A meaningful series of choices is arrived at by the process of discarding what is meaningless, for example empty shows of conformity. Yet without some degree of self-dedication to our community and its shared values, we will find ourselves eventually unsupported, alone and adrift. From time to time it is meaningful and healthy to show where our commitments lie. Such display is the authentic externalisation of an evolving inner truth, and which we could never even know clearly were they not made obvious as a public statement. Civilisation evolves within the creative tension between the haves and have-nots. High-achievers at the ball may feel the need for recognition and reward, in order to be motivated to their highest efforts to raise society, but if this degenerates to a smug demand for privilege, then certainly decay and exploitative corruption are close at hand. The politics of exploitation are disguised with empty words, false smiles and crocodile tears. The idealism of youth is of course tempered by the experience of how power operates in reality, yet if there is to be justice and the general sense of well-being that goes with it, those of privilege must prioritize the use of their resources with good conscience. By the time we become sufficiently mature to shoulder the burden of collective responsibilities, we will have developed the ability to influence collective morality by demonstrating not only that our own life is stable, but also that we can moderate both our idealism and our ambition. |
