Concerning The Ageless Wisdom Writings On The Jewish People

The following thoughts are offered for consideration by people of goodwill who seek to reconcile their interest in and respect for the books of Alice Bailey with the occasionally controversial statements found in the books about the role of the Jewish people in the divine Plan for our world.

Comments on the Jews, found in many of the books that Alice Bailey wrote under dictation from a Master of the Wisdom known as Djwhal Khul and often referred to simply as "D.K." or "the Tibetan", have raised questions in the minds of many people of goodwill ever since the books began to be published eighty some years ago. However, because that material existed in printed form, it was accessible, for the most part, only within its proper context and the reader studied it within the larger parameters of the Ageless Wisdom: the ancient spiritual teaching handed down from time immemorial and undiluted by the contemporary trends or culture of any particular period in human history. Now the growth of technology has made it possible to offer the books in CD-ROM format, with its easy and rapid search capabilities. Material that once was available only in its proper and larger context can now be extracted and given worldwide distribution on its own, and this phenomenon is happening via the Internet. There are a number of websites devoted to attacking the writings of Alice Bailey and the Tibetan, and as the publisher and holder of copyright for those books, we are asked to respond to inquiries questioning the spiritual legitimacy of these teachings.

An additional factor to consider is society’s increasing sensitivity to and respect for differences of race, religion and culture, which makes some of the Tibetan’s comments seem even more surprising. In part, this is an effect of the growth of "political correctness", and surely the increasing awareness of the effects of words, and their origin in thought, is contributing to the greater good of all. However, the Masters of the Wisdom, known collectively as the Hierarchy, have never attempted to adapt Their teaching to politically correct standards. A Master speaks from the level of pure Truth because his vision encompasses the vast sweep of the Plan through history and of our planet’s role in that Plan.

The Writings of Alice A. Bailey

The books that the Tibetan wrote with the cooperation of Alice Bailey between 1919-1949 were intended to be the intermediate phase of a three-part release of the Ageless Wisdom planned by the Hierarchy to precede and condition the New Age, the Aquarian age. As we look at the world scene, we can see the enormous significance of the role played by the Jewish people and the State of Israel particularly in the last one hundred years. This may explain, in part, why the Tibetan focused such special attention on the Jews. Because the establishing of right relationships between all aspects of our planetary life is the goal of the Plan, this makes the achieving of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East—the pivotal point for so much of the world’s conflict today—essential.

Some people wonder why, when human history is replete with examples of "man’s inhumanity to man", the Tibetan seemed to single out the Jews for special criticism. Everything that the Tibetan wrote needs to be studied in the context of the entire body of teachings which promote goodwill, tolerance and mutual respect. Comments on the Jewish people must be read in their entirety, which includes mention of the splendid contribution of the Jewish people in many departments of human life. Criticism of separative tendencies in Zionism must be read in the context of biting comments on the subterfuge of the Vatican, materialism in the Christian churches, and "churchianity" in general. He was also outspoken in his opposition to American isolationism, Soviet totalitarianism, fascism, Nazism and the great evil embodied by Hitler and his closest associates, and to pacifism during the World War—all of which compromised the essential oneness of humanity and the spirit of responsible freedom.

It is that spirit of love and of inclusive identification which seeks to evoke the understanding and cooperation of the esoteric group in healing the fundamental human problem of separatism. Many people of goodwill are working diligently to find a solution. However, the unique aspect of esoteric teaching is that it challenges the student to penetrate to the causal level of all human problems, where the spiritual origins of the problems can be identified and lasting solutions can be precipitated into human consciousness. Perhaps that is why the Tibetan was unstinting in his criticism of Zionism, which sought to solve the problem of the stigmatisation of the Jewish people by giving them their own homeland rather than working for their integration into existing nations.

History as Interpreted by the Ageless Wisdom

A study of the history of the Jews as presented in the Ageless Wisdom may bring a deeper understanding of both the greatness of their achievement and their karmic debt. The origins of the Jewish people date back, the Tibetan says, to a period far earlier than what is related for us in the Old Testament. So ancient is the place of the Jews in the destiny of the human race that the Tibetan says "the Jew embodies in himself, symbolically, the history of humanity".

History, as interpreted by the Ageless Wisdom, covers a span of time so vast as to be incomprehensible to the human mind. Within the Plan, humanity, as the fourth and mediating kingdom in the evolutionary unfoldment of life on earth from densest matter to pure spirit, plays a crucial and pivotal role. Modern humanity, according to the Ageless Wisdom, is entering a new age known as Aquarius. In a much earlier epoch, governed by the constellation Gemini, the zenith of human achievement for that time was achieved by a group of Jewish disciples who are said to have been the founders of the modern Jewish people. According to ancient spiritual teaching, this highly developed group rebelled against "the command to enter, free and untrammelled, the place where light is to be found. They sought to hold that which they had gathered and to dedicate it to the service of God" (Esoteric Psychology, Volume I, p. 397). Three of this group who "revolted from the drama of detachment" became the founders of the modern Jewish people.

To put this event in historical context is virtually impossible, the Tibetan says. "So ancient is the race that nevertheless today no nation in the world but has its roots in that group which—in old Lemuria—had advanced so far that all its foremost people stood upon the path of discipleship. There are no racial strains in the Western world which are not offshoots of this oldest select people, with the exception of the Finns, Lapps and those nations which show definite mongoloid strains." The original three disciples and their family groups were the ancestors of three major racial groups, which can be generalised as follows:

1. The Semitic race or races of Biblical and modern times; the Arabs, the Afghans, the Moors and the offshoots and affiliations of those peoples, including the modern Egyptians. These are all descended from the eldest of the three disciples.

2. The Latin peoples and their various branches throughout the world, and also the Celtic races wherever found. These are descended from the second of the three disciples.

3. The Teutons, the Scandinavians, and the Anglo-Saxons, who are the descendants of the third of the three disciples.

(See Esoteric Psychology, Volume I, p. 400)

This common origin, this karmic history shared by so many of the world’s people today, has been lost to sight, and clearly this view which precedes documented history cannot be verified by science. But if one approaches this teaching intuitively, it can help to shed light on why the Ageless Wisdom views the role of the Jews, which constitute only a small percentage of the world’s current population, as so significant.

It also helps to clarify why the Jews, "as a whole, constitute the solar plexus of the planetary Logos; their problem is being used today to focus, qualify and condition the world feeling-nature and the emotional reactions of the sensitive nature of humanity and of the planetary Logos. Forget not that the Personality of our planetary Logos is not yet perfect, hence the fact that His body of manifestation, the planet, is not reckoned as being one of the sacred planets. Through the Jewish people throughout the world, feeling—sympathetic or antagonistic, expressive of love or conditioned by hate—is being gathered to a focus in the planetary solar plexus centre, preparatory to a great and permanent change. It is for this reason that I have said to some of my pupils that when humanity will have solved correctly the Jewish problem, and when it has been resolved in a humanitarian and sound manner, then the energy of the planetary solar plexus centre will have been raised to the heart and a great transmutation will have taken place" (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 87).

We would stress the Tibetan’s statement, "Through the Jewish people throughout the world, feeling…is being gathered…". This implies that the feeling nature of all human beings, not just those currently incarnated in Jewish bodies, is being stimulated through their reaction to the problems centred in the situation of the Jews. We have all had a hand in the creation of this problem over the millennia, and it is up to all people of goodwill to solve it by right thinking, loving attitudes, and an unwavering identification with the fact of the one humanity.

Race in the Ageless Wisdom

Another frequent misinterpretation of the Ageless Wisdom centres on the term "Aryan", the name given to the Indo-European family of languages and speakers of those languages, and much later distorted in Nazi Germany to apply to a specific race. Esoteric teaching uses this term in its application to an evolutionary stage in consciousness. To quote the Tibetan on this:

"When I use the word ‘race’ I deal not with man-made or pseudo-scientific differentiations of nations and races or types. I deal with a state of consciousness which is the Aryan or mental consciousness or state of thinking; this finds its exponents and its ‘race members’ in every nation, without any distinction or omissions. This I would have you carefully remember, for there is no new race in process of appearing, from the territorial angle; there is only a general distribution of those persons who have what have been called the sixth root race characteristics. This state of consciousness will find its expression in people as far apart racially as the Japanese and the American or the Negro and the Russian. It posits an ability to function with clarity upon the mental plane, to collate information, rightly to interpret and relate that information, and to create the needed thoughtforms or concepts for those interpretations" (The Rays and the Initiations, pp. 593-94).

Another point of concern for many is the Tibetan’s unwavering opposition to Zionism. He believed that the Jewish problem could be solved only by their integration into the world’s nations, not by setting the Jews further apart in a separate nation. However, almost all the writing that developed from his collaboration with Alice Bailey was completed before the state of Israel was founded in 1948, and Israel has been a reality for sixty years. The situation is not helped by critical, hateful thinking towards either the Israeli citizens or their neighbours. Rather, all people of goodwill are obligated to bring loving understanding and compassion to all affected by the suffering resulting from the long-standing conflict in the Middle East. All who espouse spiritual values must approach the situation of the Middle East with a realistic appraisal of present circumstances and a focus on creative change leading to better conditions for all concerned. It is a difficult challenge but not an impossible one. And it is worth every ounce of effort we can bring to bear upon a just resolution, for "When humanity has solved the Jewish problem (with the understanding cooperation of the Jew) and overcome ancient antipathies and hatreds, it will do so by fusing the problem in one vast humanitarian situation" (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 77).

Goodwill and Free Will in the Ageless Wisdom

Under the divine Plan for our world, humanity is left free to work out its own destiny. To quote the Tibetan a final time: "The Jewish race is a symbol of humanity in its mass sense; in the resolution of its conflict and in the taking of right action, a great step forward in human liberation will take place" (The Rays and the Initiations, p. 640).