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Origins and History
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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