We are living in an age of unprecedented technical achievement leading to a more and more complete mastery of the forces of nature and annihilation of time and space. But this development, while contributing to our comfort, convenience and safety of existence, is not in the direction of true culture and enlightenment. On the contrary, it is destructive of ideals.”
– Nikola Tesla in “A Machine to End War,” from Liberty magazine, 1937
We might be inclined to say that success, status, or economic prosperity are ideals, yet they belong to the material sphere. In contemporary society, they may appear to function as immaterial aspirations, but through the framework of Tesla’s doctrine we come to understand that they are part of social problems.
Ideals, therefore, must be a spiritual category in order to strive toward genuine and meaningful progress…
If ideals become part of our everyday lives—something close to us, something we can actively work on—we need additional support in order to mentally shape how ideals are applied in life. In the opening quotation, Tesla mentions not only ideals but also true culture. The adjective “true” further emphasizes the importance of reflecting on this concept.
Today, culture appears as a highly complex term with multiple contexts and a multitude of definitions. When you search for “culture” on the Cambridge website, many of the listed definitions refer to groups of people. However, within the framework of Tesla’s doctrine, the definition of true culture must be a global and universal category.
We have already established that ideals belong to the immaterial sphere, and the same applies to culture. What we need, therefore, is a definition of culture as a spiritual category.
A few years ago, my father Branimir mentioned culture to me as “devoted nurturing,” a definition by the author Béla Hamvas that he found in the book Scientia Sacra. At the time, although I was delighted that my father was engaging with such significant topics, I did not attach much importance to that explanation. I now place great emphasis on it and consider it highly applicable to a person’s spiritual development.
Devotion implies a strong commitment to something—focus, direction, and work in the name of a greater goal. Nurturing is often associated with sensitivity, with the emotion a mother feels toward her child. However, even when combined, these two concepts can be detrimental if they lack proper direction.
Therefore, culture as devoted nurturing gains meaning only when it is applied toward the realization of ideals that support genuine civilizational progress.
Therefore, everything we support as cultural should be examined through the prism of ideals. If we have said that devoted nurturing is a powerful tool and that ideals are a powerful form of direction, why should we not devote ourselves to the cultivation of ideals? And what helps us nurture them with devotion? Freedom through self-control perhaps is a true definition of freedom…
Ideals and true culture trough the lens of Tesla doctrine
We are living in an age of unprecedented technical achievement leading to a more and more complete mastery of the forces of nature and annihilation of time and space. But this development, while contributing to our comfort, convenience and safety of existence, is not in the direction of true culture and enlightenment. On the contrary, it is destructive of ideals.”
– Nikola Tesla in “A Machine to End War,” from Liberty magazine, 1937
We might be inclined to say that success, status, or economic prosperity are ideals, yet they belong to the material sphere. In contemporary society, they may appear to function as immaterial aspirations, but through the framework of Tesla’s doctrine we come to understand that they are part of social problems.
Ideals, therefore, must be a spiritual category in order to strive toward genuine and meaningful progress…
If ideals become part of our everyday lives—something close to us, something we can actively work on—we need additional support in order to mentally shape how ideals are applied in life. In the opening quotation, Tesla mentions not only ideals but also true culture. The adjective “true” further emphasizes the importance of reflecting on this concept.
Today, culture appears as a highly complex term with multiple contexts and a multitude of definitions. When you search for “culture” on the Cambridge website, many of the listed definitions refer to groups of people. However, within the framework of Tesla’s doctrine, the definition of true culture must be a global and universal category.
We have already established that ideals belong to the immaterial sphere, and the same applies to culture. What we need, therefore, is a definition of culture as a spiritual category.
A few years ago, my father Branimir mentioned culture to me as “devoted nurturing,” a definition by the author Béla Hamvas that he found in the book Scientia Sacra. At the time, although I was delighted that my father was engaging with such significant topics, I did not attach much importance to that explanation. I now place great emphasis on it and consider it highly applicable to a person’s spiritual development.
Devotion implies a strong commitment to something—focus, direction, and work in the name of a greater goal. Nurturing is often associated with sensitivity, with the emotion a mother feels toward her child. However, even when combined, these two concepts can be detrimental if they lack proper direction.
Therefore, culture as devoted nurturing gains meaning only when it is applied toward the realization of ideals that support genuine civilizational progress.
Therefore, everything we support as cultural should be examined through the prism of ideals. If we have said that devoted nurturing is a powerful tool and that ideals are a powerful form of direction, why should we not devote ourselves to the cultivation of ideals? And what helps us nurture them with devotion? Freedom through self-control perhaps is a true definition of freedom…