New Acropolis : Its
beginnings
The New
Acropolis Cultural Association was created 47 years ago, in 1957. Ever
since then, it aims to provide young people with the best kind of
philosophical education - one that is suited to our modern times,
independant and unrestricted by any religious, political or
socio-economic influences.
Initiated by Professor Jorge Angel Livraga Rizzi, together with a
group of young university teachers and students, the project soon
attracted leading personalities from the world of arts and culture.
The focus that brought them all together was an idea and a movement
which were both enriching for the mind and promising for all.
At the beginning of the Seventies, the extent of its social and
cultural activities led to the Association's recognition as a
state-approved organization in Argentina. At around the same time, it
began to take on an international dimension.
Today, the New Acropolis Cultural Association is present in over forty
countries around the world. Its over 10,000 active members and
hundreds of thousands of supporters express themselves in more than
fifteen languages and come from a wide range of religious
denominations, ethnic origins and cultural backgrounds, offering a
fine example of fraternal co-existence and mutual understanding.
Its Founder
Jorge Ángel Livraga Rizzi was born in
Buenos Aires (Argentina) on September 3rd 1930 and died in
Madrid on October 7th 1991. Both his mother, Victoria Rizzi,
and his father, Ángel Livraga, an industrial engineer, were of Italian
extraction. Both their families were of peasant origins and had
emigrated to Argentina at the end of the 19th century. This
family relationship later enabled him to obtain Italian nationality.
The early death of his father, when Jorge was only fifteen, brought
about a profound crisis which led him to become interested in esoteric
philosophy. He came into contact with the Argentine Theosophical
Society, where he embarked on studies of the History of Religions and
Symbolism, combining them with his training at the Medical Faculty of
the University of Buenos Aires. At the same time, his interest in
history, archaeology and art led him to take courses in these subjects
at the same university. He also cultivated poetry and, in 1951, won
the Argentine National Poetry Prize with his book “Lotuses”.
In 1956 he founded the magazine “Estudios Teosóficos” (Theosophical
Studies), which was intended to make the works of H.P. Blavatsky more
widely known among university students, by comparing them with the new
scientific discoveries of the 20th century. In the
following year, on the instructions of the renowned theosophist Sri
Ram, he took this work a step further by creating “New Acropolis”, an
Association intended to promote Philosophy among young people, along
the lines of the classical Schools of Philosophy, such as Plato’s
Academy and the Neoplatonic School. “We realised that humanity
possessed an immense treasure of Wisdom, which had been hidden and
forgotten, and lay beyond the reach of young people. A Wisdom that
provides answers about the meaning of life and ways in which society -
the world around us - can be improved”, he recalled on one occasion.
A few years later, the Association’s international vocation led it to
establish its first centre outside Argentina, in Montevideo (Uruguay).
This first step, which was soon followed by others, took New Acropolis
to other countries on the American continent, such as Mexico, Peru,
Chile and Venezuela. In 1972 Livraga decided to take his philosophical
ideal to Europe, first to Spain, then to France and the United Kingdom.
New Acropolis has continued to expand ever since and today is present
in around fifty countries across Europe, America and Asia.
It could be said that the life and work of Jorge Ángel Livraga were
bound up with that of the movement he had founded. He focussed on
establishing a well-developed and rigorous base of knowledge, a
synthesis of the great systems of thought at the root of the many
civilisations and cultures of history. He was a tireless traveller and
regularly visited the countries where the Association had centres,
promoting cultural activities, giving classes, writing articles and
coming into direct contact with the widest variety of people.
His prime concern was to ensure that this treasure of knowledge was
applied in a practical way, proposing philosophy as a way of living
accessible to all kinds of people of different mentalities and from
various social backgrounds all over the world. In that sense, he used
to define his task as the creation of a survival module”, helping to
foster a better individual, who in turn could build a better world.
The barriers which tend to separate human beings and set them against
one another, such as violence, dogmatism, racism and exclusion of all
kinds, could cease to have their devastating effects if another way of
life was to be promoted – tolerant and educated, firmly based on a
solid philosophical education, capable of awakening the latent
qualities that lie within every human being.
His works
The aim
of bringing knowledge and philosophy to the widest possible audience
is paramount in the works of Jorge Ángel Livraga, which have a clearly
educational content. As a result, a considerable part of his
intellectual output consists of compilations of his classes and
lectures, given to the most varied audiences and on the widest range
of topics, although always guided by a single thread: the need to
awaken the individual consciousness in each human being and to develop
a sense of responsibility for creating a more just and caring world,
in which everyone would have access to education and culture.
Jorge Ángel Livraga reflected on the times in which he lived and
argued for the need to exercise freedom of thought and individual
independence in the face of the manipulation and deceit of the
powerful. His lectures are collected into a four-volume work entitled
“Magic, Religion and Science for the 21st Century”.
His first works were in the genre of historical narrative, such as his
first novel, “Ankor the Disciple”. In this he narrates the adventures
of a young aspirant to esoteric wisdom, in the imagined atmosphere of
the time just before the sinking of Poseidonis, the last vestige of
the mythical Atlantis, according to the dialogues of Plato. In this
youthful work, Livraga presents the teachings which he himself had
received during his own philosophical training. He returned to the
genre of historical narrative in “The Alchemist”, a work which
recreates the atmosphere of the secret fraternities that arose in
Europe in the 16th century and at the same time offers an
impassioned defence of freedom of thought.
The explanation of natural phenomena sums up the contents of one of
his most translated works: “The Spirits of Nature”. The same approach
was extended to every area of Esoteric Philosophy in “Introduction to
Eastern Wisdom”, a real guidebook for those wishing to begin their
quest for the underlying knowledge behind phenomena, philosophies and
religions. Another work in this educational line is “Letters to Delia
and Fernando”, a series of dialogues with two of his closest disciples
on the questions that arise for young people when they adopt a
philosophical point of view, enlivened by the original approach of the
founder of New Acropolis.
Insights into the events of our times are expressed in two works of
particular interest. One of them, “Myths of the 20th
Century”, takes a retrospective look at the high-sounding words which
have been used to justify many outrages, injustices and
contradictions, and invites the reader to enter the 21st
century with greater independence and freedom of opinion. In “Moassy
the Dog” he reiterates that criticism, using the fiction of a dog with
the appearance of a man, who confronts human irrationality with his
logical, dog-like simplicity.
His love for archaeology and his in-depth knowledge of Egyptian
civilisation made him choose Thebes, the ancient capital of the Middle
Kingdom, to interpret some of the features of that far-off, yet
familiar world, since, as the author somewhat enigmatically states,
“Thebes is a state of consciousness”.
As a way of transmitting his understanding of the soul of Greece,
Livraga chose the subject of theatre and its genres, in his work “The
Mystery Theatre.Tragedy”. Through his analysis of this art form he
provides deep insights into the world of the soul and unveils some of
its keys, always in the light of the greatness of the inner hero who
lies hidden within every human being. It was the first of a series of
studies which he left unfinished.
These works have been translated into many languages, including
French, English, Portuguese, Greek, Russian, Czech and German.
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