Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

GOLDEN AGE

A symbol of the cycle of Involution which preceded the present cycle of Evolution. It is the age of archetypal perfection.

"During the happy reign of Yima, there was neither cold nor heat, neither decay nor death, nor malice produced by the demons; Father and Son walked forth, each fifteen years old in appearance." - The Homa Yasht, HAUG, Essays.

“Yima" represents the primordial Self, the Spirit in its descent into matter of the higher planes. The "happy reign" refers to the Golden Age during which all contrasts, good and evil, and the like, were non-existent. Decay and death are consequent upon evolution, not involution. Malice implies the opposite of love, and the demons are those powers which are concerned with its administration: the evil powers had not yet functioned. The " Father and Son " signify the First and Second Logoi, or Divine outpourings. The "fifteen years" refers to the early part of the cycle of involution, which is on both the atmic and buddhic planes. Involution does not yet occur lower than these planes,-not until the Third Logos functions.

“During the Third Dynasty (man's), human beings among whom respectful manners and pure customs prevailed occupied one territory. The kingly office was not mere pageantry; nor were the functions of state ministers empty show. Good government was established by rulers, and correct instruction diffused among the people." - Chinese Mythology. KIDD, China, p. 101.

And now it is that the nascent humanity of the Golden Age,-the early type in which the absence of all relative experience appears as Edenic perfection,-is developed. The "territory" is a symbol of limitation imposed upon the race by the Absolute through whom humanity is formed and organised. At this stage no self-consciousness has been arrived at, that is, things could not be other than they are. Necessity is at this stage of being imperative. The "kingly office" signifies the Divine Will, and the "state ministers those agents through whom Divine Will is executed. At this period of involution all the principles or laws of the universe are, as it were, laid down and worked out ideally, and these serve for the guiding of the process of evolution which is to follow.

"In the age of perfect virtue they (the spirit-like men) attached no value to wisdom, nor employed men of ability. Superiors were but as the higher branches of a tree; and the people were like the deer of the wild. They were upright and correct, without knowing that to be so was Righteousness; they loved one another, without knowing that to do so was Benevolence; they were honest and leal-hearted, without knowing that it was Loyalty; they fulfilled their engagements, without knowing that to do so was Good Faith; in their simple movements they employed the services of one another, without thinking that they were conferring or receiving any gift. Therefore their actions left no trace, and there was no record of their affairs." - KWANGTZE, Writings, Bk. XII. 2, 5, 13, S. B. of E.

The Age is that of Involution and of prototypal perfection. The "spirit-like men represent the inner nature of humanity being formed on the planes of atma-buddhi. Mentality (men of ability) was not yet operative. The buddhic virtues were practiced without thought of any contrary action. Perfect inner harmony was established through the perfect adjustment of all conditions. There was no sense of moral evil and therefore no appreciation of goodness. There was no karma, and therefore no fruits of action, nor individual responsibility.

"In times past, the divine nature flourished in men; but, at length, being mixed with mortal custom, it fell into ruin; hence an inundation of evils in the race." - PLATO, Critias, p. 400.

"In the beginning, All-father appointed rulers, and bade them judge with him the fate of men, and regulate the government of the celestial city. They met for this purpose in a place called Idavoll, which is in the centre of the divine abode. Their first work was to erect a court or hall wherein are twelve seats for them. selves, besides the throne which is occupied by All-father. This hall is the largest and most magnificent in the universe, being resplendent on all sides, both within and without, with the finest gold. Its name is Gladsheim. They also erected another hall for the sanctuary of the goddesses. It is a very fair structure, and called by men Vingolf. Lastly they built a smithy, and furnished it with hammers, tongs, and anvils, and with these made all the other requisite instruments, with which they worked in metal, stone, and wood, and composed so large a quantity of the metal called gold that they made all their moveables of it. Hence that age was named the Golden Age. This was the age that lasted until the arrival of the women out of Jotunheim, who corrupted it" (Prose Edda). - MALLET North. Antiq., p. 409.

At the commencement of the cycle of involution, the Supreme co-ordinates the primal forces and conditions of manifestation that they might work together with him in the development of human souls and their perfectionment on the higher planes. They began their operations upon the higher buddhic plane (Idavoll), and from a centre thereon the Soul or higher causal-body (Gladsheim) was constructed. This had twelve divisions corresponding to twelve stages of the cycle (Zodiac), and twelve powers. The potential Soul was made perfect on the buddhic plane, or in Wisdom (gold). There was also formed the buddhic vehicle (Vingolf) as centralising the higher emotions (goddesses). The "smithy etc." refers to the activities of the higher mind, which being allied with buddhi produced in perfection the buddhic qualities (moveables of gold), perfect on the higher plane in this Golden Age of involution. This age of harmony lasted until the mind was attracted downwards, and the lower emotions ( (women) from the astromental evolution entered into it and filled it with turmoil and suffering.

“If now we associate the four elements in their regular order with the corresponding Ages of man in their regular order, the dominating element during the Golden Age will be fire, during the Silver Age, air, during the Brazen Age, water, and during the Iron Age, earth. The conclusion of this is that the descent of man himself is due to his ever-increasing distance, so to speak, from the Divine fire." - K. F. SMITH, "Ages," Ency. of Religion and Ethics.

This is very true; and if the esoteric meaning of each element is also borne in mind, the entire correspondence is very striking indeed. Fire stands for the buddhic plane-the real arena of the Golden Age: Air for the mental plane, the next below: Water for the astral plane: and Earth for the physical plane, the lowest of all, and furthest from the Divine. The physical plane is the most in evidence in the present Iron Age. The spiritual ego (man) descends to incarnate and expressed itself on the lowest plane, in an age of suffering and sorrow.

"You would know nothing either of good or evil if you were absolutely free from all restraint or coercion; it is just because you are not free that you have such a battle to fight between the lower and the higher. The ideal life, the unconditioned life of God, the life eternal, knows nothing of the conflict between right and wrong, for there is nothing to give rise to it." - R. J. CAMPBELL, Serm., God's Life in Man.

"Not merely revelation to those who received it, but even human reason to those who have made it their teacher, has always signified that the wrong was an importation, an intrusion, an invasion in the world. That there was a time when it was not, there was a moment when it began to be. This has been always one of the dearest and most precious thoughts of men, one that they laid hold of the most eagerly, one that they let go of last. And men have always seemed to carry a certain sort of proof of their idea about with them in the very pictures and ideals of perfect goodness,— which all ages have treasured and kept alive. I suppose there is no other way of explaining the strange fact that amid all the personal badness, and social corruption that is in the world, the human mind has been able to preserve the ideal of a pure society and a perfect life, to dream of it, sometimes to strive after it, except by acknowledging the reality of an entrance of iniquity into the world, and looking back to a time before that invasion when the world was sinless." - PHILLIPS BROOKS, Mystery of Iniquity, p. 4.

See Also

ADAM (Lower)
BONDAGE
BUDDHIC PLANE
CIVILISING PEOPLE
CRIPPLES
DEMONS
DWELLINGS
DYNASTY
EDEN
ELEMENTS, FIVE
EVOLUTION
GARDEN
GIMLE
GOOD (light)
GOVERNMENT
INVOLUTION
IRON AGE
GOLDEN JOTUNHEIM
Kali-yuga
MaNCO CAPAC
METALS
MINISTERS
OANNES
OHONAMOCHI
PEOPLE
PYLUS
RACES OF MEN
RAGHA LAND
RESPECTFUL MANNERS
SETTLEMENTS
VARA
VISTASP (king)
WORLDS (five)
YAO
YIMA
ZODIAC