Initiation and initiative : an exploration of the life and ideas of Dimitrije Mitrinović

THE SENATE INITIATIVE 155

who grew to know him were sure: he never did anything without purposeand there was usually more than a single purpose. Thus, dining out not only brought friends together and helped relieve the intensity of the group sessions, there was another and deeper reason. The function of senators was to represent the interests of the whole of humanity to those with whom they came into contact, they needed to be able to identify themselves with the whole of mankind. Consequently an important aspect of their training along this path to the universalisation of the individual lay in obtaining an appreciation of different cultures, of the full range of world views held by different nations, races and other groupings in the world. Learning to appreciate the food and wine of different lands, along with their folk tales and music, was part of this process.

If senators were to be world citizens, then it was also important that they could speak the different languages of the world. Different group members studied various languages,—the choice frequently suggested by Mitrinovié himself. One young follower was sent off to visit Margaret Murray, the Egyptologist, to discover how to set about learning the hieroglyphs. He directed Lilian Slade to study Spanish. Another group member, keen to study Indian philosophy, was encouraged to study Sanskrit. He himself was particularly interested in languages and spoke quite a number—he had taught himself sufficient Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese and Sanskrit to read the religious and philosophical texts in the original. Group members were also expected to study and become familiar with the different belief systems that commanded allegiance throughout the world. There were regular study sessions on philosophy and comparative religions, from Hegel and Marx through to the Vedanta, Buddhism and the Kabbala. He would provide his own interpretations of the thought and belief systems of the world, both ancient and modern, East and West; his ‘pupils’ taking notes while he talked. The pupils themselves were also expected to make presentations on the different themes and books which they had covered as part of their course of study. All this taking place in the context of the wider educational process that

was an integral part of the group life. As one associate of Mitrinovié later recalled:

-.. aS a young person at that time (the ‘30s to the outbreak of war) I received in common with my companions a great widening of my general cultural horizonsin music, in art and in literature.

We heard wonderful music from DM’s collection of classical records, including the Serbian Folk songs, and we learned to respect the great composers. I remember that Beethoven’s music was only played on special occasions as he was a composer we learned to regard with extra respect .. .