Pekka Ervast

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Pekka Ervast in the 1920s.

Pekka Elias Ervast (born December 26, 1875 in Helsinki , † May 22, 1934 there ) was a Finnish author . He authored numerous theosophical books and was the first President of the Finnish Section of the Theosophical Society . In 1920 he founded the Ruusu Risti Association with his supporters .

Life

Childhood and youth

Pekka Ervast was born in Helsinki on December 26, 1875 and was given the first name Petter Elias when he was baptized. His father was Petter Edvard Ervast, a master of philosophy and senior official on the Finnish Railways . The mother was Hilma Natalia, nee Törnroos. The family belonged to the Finnish Swedes and spoke Swedish. Pekka was the oldest of five children, only three of whom reached adulthood. The mother died when Pekka was eight years old. The family was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . According to his own statements, Jesus Christ appeared to him on December 24, 1893 in Helsinki Cathedral during the Eucharist . In the same year he began to study Romance languages ​​and Renaissance literature at the University of Helsinki after successfully completing his Abitur . Later German and English as well as the theory of poetry, the history of moral philosophy, psychology, the history of Indian religion, Sanskrit and philosophy were added.

In January 1894 he read his first theosophical books, including the Swedish translations of the works "The Occult World" and "The Esoteric Buddhism" by AP Sinnett and "The Mystery of the Ages Contained in the Secret Doctrine of All Religions" by Countess Marie Sinclair Caithness. In autumn 1895 he joined the Theosophical Society . In the same year, the company split. The followers of WQ Judge , the head of the American section of the Theosophical Society, formed their own theosophical society, which separated from the parent company. Shortly afterwards he came into contact with the teachings of Lev Tolstoy and discovered for himself the deeper meaning of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount . In his opinion, the commandments of the Sermon on the Mount were instructions by which a seeker of truth should guide his life. He then became a vegetarian and a strict adherent of pacifism . He named October 13th 1896 as the date of his spiritual rebirth . He left the university because there was no serious search for the true meaning of life there. After a conversation with the Finnish writer Arvid Järnefelt , he decided to take up physical work. He did an apprenticeship as a carpenter , but broke off knowing that writing was his real job.

His reading included the “Secret Doctrine” by HP Blavatsky and “The White and Black Magic” by Franz Hartmann, as well as the magazine “ Lotusblüthen ” published by Hartmann . He also read works by Plato , Meister Eckhart , Heinrich Seuse , Johannes Tauler , Agrippa von Nettesheim , Paracelsus , Giordano Bruno , Jacob Böhme and Emanuel Swedenborg . He began his real work for theosophy in 1897. He wrote newspaper articles, gave theosophical lectures and published his first book. At first he worked more in Swedish than Finnish and made several trips to Sweden. It was not until the early twentieth century that he began to increasingly write and give lectures in the Finnish language, since he had come to believe that his work was intended for the entire Finnish population.

President of the Finnish Section of the Theosophical Society

In 1907 the Finnish section of the Theosophical Society was founded in Helsinki. Pekka Ervast was unanimously elected chairman. In 1911 the leadership of the Theosophical Society founded the "Order of the Star of the East", which propagated the Indian Jiddu Krishnamurti as the incarnation of Jesus and the future world teacher. Thereupon Ervast began to harbor doubts about the leadership of the Theosophical Society. In April 1912 Rudolf Steiner , the head of the German Theosophical Society at that time, made a trip to Finland and took part in the annual meeting of the Finnish section of the Theosophical Society. One of the participants at this annual meeting was Johan Richard Hannula, who later became a loyal colleague and close friend of Ervast and, after his death, wrote several books on the spiritual position of Pekka Ervast.

Foundation of the Ruusu Risti Society

When the First World War broke out , the leadership of the International Theosophical Society declared that the Masters of Wisdom would stand on the side of the Allies and against the Central Powers in war. Pekka Ervast was accused of not disclosing the point of view of the leading figures of the Theosophical Society to his readers in the theosophical journal "Tietäjä", which he published. Ervast believed that it was blasphemy to associate God, Christ or the Masters of Wisdom with the bloody deeds of the armies in any way. The differences of opinion finally led Ervast to leave the Theosophical Society with his followers and on November 14, 1920 founded a new society under the name Ruusu-Risti . The name is the Finnish equivalent of the word Rosicrucian and contains a reference to the mystical brotherhood of the Rosicrucians, which has been known since the 17th century . The Ruusu Risti Society of Pekka Ervast, however, set itself the task of representing the "original spirit of theosophy" of HP Blavatskys. At the same time, it was based on esoteric Christianity and the ethical principles of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

Ervast justifies the name as follows: “The name Rosenkreuz contains the reference to the religious task of the new society: it researches all religions and mythologies, reaches the mysteries of Jesus Christ in its research and strives to live in its spirit. It also enlivens the essential spirit of Christian faith and helps the Western churches to understand the symbolic, mystical and occult meaning of their doctrines. As a living stream of the Spirit, it cleanses and renews the inner and outer life of the believer. ”Later Ervast also called his theosophy“ Christosophy ”. In 1921 he wrote an English-language circular with the title The Mission of the Theosophical Society , which was sent to around 900 addresses around the world, mainly to the lodges of the Theosophical Society. It contained his proposal for the establishment of a general association or an association of theosophical and like-minded societies with an international office and a magazine, as well as regular world conferences. However, this project was not carried out.

USA travel and death

In the fall of 1933 Ervast traveled to the United States and spent the winter in the small town of Ojai , California , to rest and write his autobiographical novel "Suuri seikkailu" (Eng. "The Great Adventure"). At the beginning of May 1934 he returned to Finland. His health had deteriorated along the way. On May 22nd, he signed the contract granting the rights to his novel written in California. He died at home that same evening.

legacy

Life's work and influence on Finnish culture

Pekka Ervast's life's work includes around 100 books, including works that were summarized on the basis of the shorthand notes from his oral lectures. During his theosophical work he gave more than 1,300 public lectures and translated several books from English into Finnish, e. B. Tao-Te-King and Dhammapada .

One of the visions of Pekka Ervast was the founding of residential communities in which people who seriously seek the truth could accelerate their spiritual development and work together for the goals of theosophy. This idea was realized in Finland by Martta Horjander . In 1978 she founded the association "Ihmisyyden tunnustajat" (Eng. "The Confessors of Humanity"). In the shared apartments (Väinölä, Toukola and Sampola) that she founded and are currently based in Mänttä-Vilppula in Finland, with a total of around 40 members, the aim is to implement Pekka Ervast's ideas in everyday life as well as through diverse cultural work and in practice. In addition, the work of Pekka Ervast in Finland is continued by the Ruusu-Risti (German Rosicrucian ) and Kristosofia (German Christosophy ) associations.

Works (German translations)

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Pekka Ervast  - Sources and full texts (Finnish)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ My way to the source of truth.
  2. ↑ Association "Ihmisyyden tunnustajat"
personal data
SURNAME Ervast, Pekka
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ervast, Pekka Elias (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish author
DATE OF BIRTH December 26, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Helsinki
DATE OF DEATH May 22, 1934
Place of death Helsinki