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.

Even as recently as 50 years ago people generally had
no trouble with the idea of "do what 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 or 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

Ideas for discussion:
1. Do you understand the above? Should I explain
anything more fully?
2. Do you agree or disagree with any of it?
3. The above is a very rough sketch. Can you supply
some details?
4. Can you supply some examples to add to the points
above?
5. Do you have any personal experiences of any of the
above?
6. Are there any weaknesses in the above?
7. Are these ideas for discussion at the end of this
post useful? Should I continue this or not?

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