Into the “Fiery World” of the Roerichs: Transcendence, union and transformation of consciousness between mystical and esoteric praxis

This paper discusses hybridization of “mystical” and “esoteric” in the thought and action of 20th century mystics Nicholas and Helena Roerich – Russian then cosmopolitan writers, artists, and peace activists. Forced to emigrate from Russia after the Revolution, they lived in Paris, London, and New York, then travelled to Mongolia, China, Tibet, Altai (Siberia), as well as India, where they eventually settled in their later lives. In their world-spanning trajectory, this enigmatic couple inspired Theosophy and New Age movements, gathering many followers of their Agni Yoga (Living Ethics) teachings. Nicholas Roerich was a famed artist, whose paintings have been universally admired as works of genius. Helena Roerich was both a literary artist and the main focus of their revelatory visions. Together, they spent years seeking (and some say, finding) the mysterious place of ascended masters in Tibet, Shambhala, as well as establishing a major peace pact in a troubled, inter-war world. Additionally, they wrote 16 volumes in their series of “Agni Yoga,” as well as numerous diaries of their physical travels and spiritual encounters, many of which have not been analyzed. In their literary and artistic works and deeds, the Roerichs advocated an interfaith mysticism that drew on but transcended Eastern Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. By the time of their deaths (Nicholas in 1947 and Helena in 1955) they had also established a museum, a School of Arts, and Agni Yoga Society, besides having inspired countless seekers of esoteric knowledge.

The Roerichs’ active, international, interfaith, visionary, and truly joint work as a couple sparked considerable controversy. US, British, and Soviet governments occasionally offered support but frequently suspected them as spies, and their teachings were roundly rejected by the Russian Orthodox Church. Academics tend to dismiss the couple’s spiritual quest as unfortunate “fertile imagination,” full of “narcissistic” tendencies. Placing them with other theosophical traditions of the time, critics brush aside many aspects of the Roerichs’ mystical experiences and multi-dimensional lives.

Yet, the Roerichs themselves insisted that their activist, artistic and literary oeuvre was of a piece, motivated by the Masters who gave the couple their visions as well as the monks and teachers who guided them along the way. They attended a great deal to the cosmology of a transcendent reality appearing in their revelations as “Fiery World” (Russian: Mir Ognennyi). “Fiery” does not mean the literal element (although they often depict it that way) but as Active or spiritually energetic, as in the form of halos shown traditionally around the heads of holy figures in Islamic art. But it is not merely imagined: the Fiery World of the Roerichs exists and has all elements of any “world,” with its own topography, flowers, waterfalls, odor, and inhabitants. This formulation converges with many Persianate Sufi traditions, notably the cosmological realm that the famous Islamologist Henry Corbin termed “mundus imaginalis,” the imaginal world inhabited by celestial beings, animals, and plants. In Sufism, this imaginal (not imagined), “eighth clime” is an existing world that possesses extensions, dimensions, figures, and colors, inaccessible to an ordinary physical perception. In between the Fiery Reality and the physical plane of everyday existence lies the Thin (or Subtle) world. Again, there are parallels in Sufi as well as Eastern Christian cosmology, but also in Buddhist ideas, although many of these descriptions have not been contextually translated into English.

Like Corbin’s medieval Sufis, the Roerichs devote great attention to the physical plane of here and now, but the attention is on how one can prepare to access the Fiery World. Ultimately, though, access is only possible for the one whose “fiery” heart is in tune with the energies of the Fiery World. In placing the emphasis on the heart as an “intermediary phenomenon between the Worlds,” the Roerichs are again in dialogue with Corbin’s interpretation of Sufi mysticism that sees the heart as the organ of Active Imagination and perception of the imaginal world. Of course, ethical living is a key component of access, partly for a Buddhist-inspired idea of “karma” and partly to prepare the heart to think non-egotistically. Such formulation also points to a mystical understanding, including from Eastern Christianity, of humans created in the image of God and aspiring to the likeness of Ultimate Reality. In their understanding of the harsh, mystic path and its goal of unification with the Higher World through the sacrifice of the (ego) self, the Roerichs were more in line with the understandings of mystic paths in traditional Sufism or mystical theology of Christianity than with New Age spirituality focusing on the self.

Finally, for the Roerichs, union with the Fiery World leads to practical transformation of consciousness, another category that cuts across esoteric and mystical. At the societal level, they warn against “clouded” and “wild” states of human consciousness that lead to decline and destruction. Societal consciousness can be expanded by cultivating “Art” and “Culture.” Individual consciousness expands as it progresses from the material to the spiritual. When earthly consciousness enters the consciousness of the Subtle World, it can no longer be contained within narrow bounds, and this changes the perception of physical realities for the individual.

In this paper, we probe these descriptions by analyzing three books (Fiery World I, II, and III) in the “Agni Yoga” books series (1924-1938), Nicholas Roerich’s mystical diary on “Shambhala” (1930), and Helena Roerich’s “The Banner of St. Sergius of Radonezh” (1934). We can clearly identity three points around which their descriptions circulate. As above, these are (1) the architecture of transcendent reality, (2) how to access or unite with it, and (3) how this leads to practical transformation of consciousness. These must be considered on a continuum, underlining the point that esoteric or hidden knowledge (in principle discoverable) is contiguous with mystical knowledge (never fully comprehensible). Moreover, the esoteric path of the Roerichs is accessible by one’s efforts but, in the end, it relies on revelation of mystery. Rather than separate out mystical and esoteric categories, we conclude it is more useful to empirically analyze more such cases along these three axes.