The Future of the Baba World

First of all, the United States Baba world, as it is currently put together, has no future at all. Throughout history, numerous minor religions and cults have vanished due to cultural shifts or outright self-destruction. Examples from the ancient past include Neoplatonism, Manichaeism, Donatism and the Adamites. More modern examples include the Peoples Temple, Branch Davidians, Aum Shinrikyo, and Heaven's Gate. An example of a dying religion is the Shakers, who have dwindled from thousands in the 1800s to only two remaining members as of recent records.

The Baba followers will not commit suicide, nor will they be exterminated or banned by any authorities. The reason for their disappearance will be loss of interest. The Baba followers are 70-90 years old. Their children drifted away long ago and there are no new converts.

Why the loss of interest? 

The current surviving followers of Baba came from the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. They were adverse to authority, certainty, any fixed orthodox interpretations of Baba's writings, and anything they perceive as organized. This is a recipe for extinction as no one agrees on anything except that the community never organize into a religion. There is no positive conception of what they are. They also happened to be hostile to young people and fresh ideas due to a kind of generational narcissism common to their generation. They were also adverse to relinquishing positions. So instead of retiring, they just lost their vitality. Essentially they were afraid of the future and wishing things to remain stagnant. They became a very uninteresting gerontocracy with no clear ideas. 

So, why is this paper titled The Future of the Baba World? For while I think the Baba community in its current state is doomed to die out, I see Baba himself leaving behind a legacy that will endure. It simply needs to be rediscovered by a generation in the future. When they do die off this will liberate enormous potential to be put together in numerous vigorous and interesting ways.

Why would anyone bother? What would be the allure? Why would it spread? And what would the consequences of such a vibrant movement, based on Baba's actual teachings, be? A lot of good questions. I'm going to try to answer each one.

Andre Rieu playing Romeo and Juliet

Looking for Dumb Ideas to Improve

It sounds terrible, but philosophy would not exist if there weren't people who need straightening out. A philosopher doesn't think in a vacuum, but most of his deeper thoughts are inspired from hearing other people say the most absurd things, and his desire to help them with those thoughts. There is no better example of this than Socrates, who walked with his followers in the streets of Athens helping people with their thinking -- and in doing so leaving the first great written legacy of wisdom on nearly every subject. Philosophy can actually be described as hearing thinking and seeking to improve upon it. So a philosopher should never condemn ignorance, but be grateful for it. As it is his life's blood.

This of course will never thrill the people around a philosopher. Socrates was, after all, sentenced to death for his efforts. And rather than discouraging future thinkers his sacrifice only inspired more to want to be like him. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake. Galileo spent the last years of his life under house arrest. 

Most people don't like to hear they might be wrong, though real contemplatives enjoy learning they are wrong, for it opens up new vistas.

Socrates condemned to drink hemlock for his words

The First Avatar to Emphasize the West

Meher Baba is the first avatar to focus on the West. 

Baba was born in British India in 1894. London was the new Rome. Baba's Discourses were worked up from his notes by Dr. Deshmukh, a philosopher with his Ph.D. from the University of London. In 1944 at Breton Woods the capital of the Anglo-American Empire turned to the USA. God Speaks was published in the U.S.

While Baba toured the world during his lifetime, he spent the most continuous time in the U.K., the U.S.A. and Australia. All of these are considered Western nations, and all speak English.

All of Baba's books were originally published in English.

In his lifetime most of Baba's followers were in India and the English speaking West. 

At the time of Mohammad the seats of world power were the Eastern Roman Empire and the Persian Empire. England at that time was just a collection of competing Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, not a major power. The Americas and Australia had not even been discovered yet. 

So it makes sense that Baba was the first Avatar to stress the West. 

Meher Baba in London's Chinatown, April 1932

"And did those feet in ancient time / Walk upon England’s mountains green: / And was the holy Lamb of God, / On England’s pleasant pastures seen?" – William Blake