The Fire and the Stones by Nicholas Hagger

The Fire and the Stones: A Grand Unified Theory of World History and Religion (The Vision of God in Twenty-Five Civilisations) by Nicholas Hagger

The Fire and the Stones is Nicholas Hagger’s monumental Grand Unified Theory of world history and religion. Written in the tradition of Gibbon, Spengler and Toynbee, it demonstrates how all civilizations are born and grow by means of a vision of the metaphysical Fire or Light which created the Universe; and how, conversely, when the vision wanes and the culture turns secular, civilizations decline and their stones (temples, cathedrals, mosques) become mere tourist attractions.

In Part One Nicholas Hagger explores the Tradition of the Fire or Light as experienced and interpreted by mystics over a period of 5,000 years. (Experiences of spiritual illumination have been recorded since the beginning of history.) The book opens with the vision of the French philosopher Pascal, whose life-changing experience of the Fire on Monday 23rd November 1654 made such an impact that he sewed the date and time into his doublet and wore it for the rest of his life.

Part Two moves from religion to history and covers the growth and decay of the world’s civilizations from their origins in visions of the Fire or Light. It ends with a chapter on the future of Western civilization, in which Nicholas Hagger raises the theme of hidden history, in particular humanity’s age-old compulsive drive towards world government.  A 7-foot long chart that accompanies the book shows 25 civilizations passing through 61 stages.  The book predicted the end of Communism in Russia, and forecasted the conglomerate that became the European Union.

Part One of The Fire and the Stones tells the story of man’s experience of the metaphysical Fire and of the temples, cathedrals and mosques – the stones – it inspired. Starting in early shamanistic times with Central Asia and the Indo-European Kurgans, and then proceeding chronologically through a 5,000 year long tradition, Nicholas Hagger gives a comprehensive account of all the best-known recorded experiences of the mystical Fire or Light, which is widely regarded as the vision of God. The Sumerian ziggurats, the Egyptian pyramids, the Greek mysteries, the Iranian Fire-temples and the Chinese cult of heaven, along with the Buddha’s Enlightenment, Christ’s Light of the World, the Quaker Inner Light and the esoteric spiritual sun are just some of the many expressions of the experience of the Fire which has been known in all cultures and civilizations at all times, and which has inspired the world’s religions.

In Part Two, Nicholas Hagger presents the vision of the Fire as the central idea of 25 civilizations. The Fire is seen by a contemplative mystic such as Mohammed and passes into a new religion such as Islam, which spreads as the civilization expands. Nicholas Hagger offers a Grand Unified Theory of world history and religion and a new explanation (Universalism) for the rise and fall of civilizations, a theme that has occupied Gibbon, Spengler and Toynbee. Quite simply, civilizations grow round a human response to the vision of God as the Fire, which passes into their religions, and they decline through progressively secularizing stages then their central idea of the Fire becomes lost. There are tables for each of the 61 stages which can be readily assimilated. The whole pattern can therefore be grasped rapidly at first reading, and detailed study of each table and stage can follow later. Because living civilizations follow the same stages that dead civilizations have been through, quite detailed predictions are possible. A free fold-out chart 2.5 metres long (possibly the longest ever such chart) accompanying the book shows 25 dead and living civilizations passing through 61 parallel Fire-based stages and enables the whole scheme to be absorbed at a glance.

The Fire and Stones shows that contemplative mystics, not generals or economists, are the true heroes of civilizations because they perpetuate and transmit the central idea of their civilizations, the Fire. The rediscovery of the existential experience of the metaphysical Fire in this work revives the metaphysical vision and effects a Metaphysical Revolution in our time.