The New Group of World Servers

Let us drop our antagonisms and our antipathies, and think in terms of the one family, the one life, and the one humanity.

Humanity is not following a haphazard or uncharted course--there is a Plan.

Humanity determines the speed of its own evolution and the fulfilling of its own destiny under the Plan.
The success of the Plan depends upon the intelligent co-operation of all men and women of goodwill everywhere in the world.

Men of goodwill who co-operate form part of the New Group of World Servers which is working to implement the Plan.

The leaders of the New Group of World Servers are those who initiate and carry forward activities which benefit humanity as a whole. These leaders are known by their harmless, constructive and inclusive qualities. They provide the vision and mould public opinion.

Behind these leaders and the co-operating men of goodwill are the Custodians of the Plan, "the inner spiritual Government of the Planet."

Working in all the main fields of human activity and in all countries everywhere in the world, the New Group of World Servers acts as a synthesising factor within humanity and lays the foundations for right human relations and ultimate world unity.

The New Group of World Servers needs a more widespread recognition, co-operation and support in its work for humanity. Every one of us, therefore, can share in the action of the New Group of World Servers and in the working out of the Plan.

The New Group of World Servers

The Fact of Their Existence

Out of the medley of ideas, beliefs and systems in the world-political, economic, social and religious-two emerging patterns can be recognised. First, those people who, clinging to reactionary methods of finding and expressing truth, prefer obedience to authority to clear thinking and the self-imposed guidance of their own soul.

Second, those who, while affirming the fundamental truths by which humanity has evolved, are sensitive to soul impression, and recognise that response to human need and spiritual unfoldment are the determining factors which will lead humanity into a new age of peace and plenty. These are the New Group of World Servers whose outer expression are the men and women of goodwill. They belong to no one race, colour or creed and realise that separative, competitive methods cause conflict and prevent the establishing of
right human relations.

The New Group of World Servers is not an organisation. It has no headquarters, president, list of officers or members. It has only servers of humanity in every country occupied with the task of discovering and aiding all men and women of goodwill.

Who are They?

Every man and woman in every country who is working to heal the breaches between people, to evoke the sense of brotherhood, to foster the sense of mutual interrelation and interdependence, and who sees no racial, national or religious barriers, is a part of the New Group of World Servers, even if he has never heard of it by name.

The New Group of World Servers are gathered from all branches of human enterprise. They will be found among the creative workers, the industrialists, in ordinary homes, and in the ranks of labour. There are scientists who, although repudiating violently the unproven, are giving all they have of scientific ability and knowledge to the service of humanity -- each in his chosen scientific field; there are men of financial stature who regard money as a responsibility to be dispensed wisely in the service of others; there are educators, preoccupied with wise formulations of knowledge and with an encyclopaedic understanding of the garnered wisdom of the ages, which they seek to utilise in fitting the younger generation to live beautifully, constructively and creatively; there are churchmen and religious leaders; in all of these the spirit of light is found and they intelligently love their fellowmen.

These world servers are the men and women who have an international vision, which in no way interferes with their good citizenship in the country which claims their allegiance, and which in no way militates against their active participation in the religious faith which may appeal to them and claim their service. They are found working today in every country in the world and in many organizations--religious, political, scientific and racial. Above everything else, they are distinguished by their ability to work along constructive lines.

These workers emphasise the points of contact and not the points of difference. They foster no sectarian divisions and they work to end racial hatreds and the many class distinctions. They call attention to the good and true and enunciate the principles of brotherly understanding, mutual goodwill and the fatherhood of God, upon which all true brotherhood must be based. They represent an attitude of mind.

When active in the field of international politics, they do not forget that each nation may have something of value to contribute to the family of nations; the idea governing their activity is therefore world service. When active in the religious field, they heal differences and recognise the universality of truth. They attack no people, classes or systems, and under no circumstances do they ever condemn or criticise any race or nation. Thus they seek today the foundation of the international understanding which will bring in a world of peace and they point to that spiritual relationship to God and to each other which will bring our religious differences to an end.

The New Group of World Servers are not, however, a band of impractical mystics. They know exactly what they seek to do; they are discovering and bringing together the men and women of goodwill all over the world. Their united demand is that these people of goodwill should stand together in complete understanding and thus constitute a slowly growing body whose interest is shown on behalf of humanity and not primarily on behalf of their own immediate environment. The larger interest will not, however, prevent them from being good citizens of the country where their destiny has cast them. They will conform to and accept the situation in which they find themselves, but will (in that situation and under that government or religious order) work for goodwill, for the breaking down of barriers, and for world peace. They will avoid all attack of existing regimes and personalities; they will keep the laws of the land in which they have to live, but they will cultivate the spirit of co-operation, utilising every opportunity to emphasise the brotherhood of nations, the unity of faith, and economic interdependence.

These are the broad generalities governing the conduct of people of goodwill co-operating in and with the work being done by the New Group of World Servers. They can be regarded as the embodiment of the emerging kingdom of God on earth, but it should be remembered that this kingdom is not a Christian kingdom or an earthly government. It is a grouping of all those who--belonging as they do to every world religion and every nation and race and type of political party--are free from the spirit of hatred and separativeness, and who seek to see right conditions established on earth through mutual goodwill among all men everywhere in the world.

The Immediate World Problem

The ferment in the world has now permeated to the very lowest depths of humanity and all fields of human thought are involved in the divisions and in the confusion. Our strifes today are based primarily on our economic needs and, secondly, upon great and differing ideologies. For this there are obvious objective reasons. Over-population, trade barriers, the inequalities of supply and demand and the uneven distribution of wealth are responsible for the upheaval, plus our unco-ordinated higher education and the ambitious and the well-intentioned experiments of influential individuals.

The immediate causes are generally recognised, though the true reason is deep-seated and not so easily grasped. The world thinkers today, however, are beginning to see the outline clearly. This reason is the conflict between certain great ideals, all of them based on spiritual ideas, but all of them prostituted to ends which lead to separativeness, hatreds, party strife, widespread economic distress and to fear of the possibility of another general conflagration.

Men are dedicating their lives to the defence of some principle which to them seems of paramount importance, or to the overthrow of some principle which to their brothers seems equally important. Attack on personalities, defamation of character, the imputation of motives and the stirring up of hatred are a recognised part of the technique of those who (frequently with good intention) are attempting to salvage the world, to bring order out of chaos and to defend the right as they see it.

Fortunately there is a demand for a solution which is not negative but is wholly positive. The demand, on every hand, is to change the old order which has failed and to bring in a new era of economic comfort and peaceful living. There is a desire to discover what is basically at fault and thus release mankind to a new life of liberty and happiness. It is clear that success rests primarily on two things:

First, efforts hitherto wasted in dealing with effects must be directed towards the underlying causes. The negative approach to expose evils, to blame individuals or governments, and to attack organisations, groups, parties, religious and national policies, has led to a futile expenditure of time, strength and money.

Second, more effective world-wide effort must be made to find and blend into one unified body the people of goodwill, of peaceful, loving intention, intelligent kindliness and goodness in the world, so that they can act together in their vast masses in right and specific directions. They have watched the relative futility of the organised groups which have sought to end war, and the apparent helplessness of the various groups dealing with the economic situation, and they are beginning to realise that only in their massed strength and goodwill lies the attainment of world betterment and human good.

Who is to Solve it?

People in the world at this time can be divided into four groups. This is of course a wide generalisation and there are many bridging groups intermediate between the four major divisions.

First the uninformed masses. These through poverty, illiteracy, hunger, lack of employment, without leisure or means for cultural advancement are in an inflamed condition. They are, however, enough developed to respond to the mental suggestion and control of more advanced people.

Second, the middle classes--both higher and lower. These constitute the bulk of any nation--intelligent, diligent, often narrow-minded, enquiring, essentially religious; they are torn by economic and ideological conflicts and, because they can read and discuss and are beginning to think, they form the most powerful element in any nation.

Third, the thinkers everywhere. These are the intellectual, highly educated men and women who sense ideas and can formulate them into ideals. They utilise all the known methods to reach the general public. They stir the middle class to activity and, through them, arouse the masses. The part they play is of paramount importance. They are steadily influencing world affairs--sometimes for good and
sometimes for selfish ends.

Fourth, the New Group of World Servers. These are the people who are building the new world order. They are all of them definitely serving humanity, and are, through the power of their response to the spiritual opportunity, tide and note, emerging out of every class, group, church, party, race and nation, and are therefore truly representative. They speak all languages; they embrace all religions, all sciences and all philosophies. Their characteristics are synthesis, inclusiveness, intellectuality, and fine mental development. They say nothing and write no word which could feed the fires of hatred and thus tend to separate man from man and nation from nation. They own to no creed, save the creed of Brotherhood, based on the One Life. They recognise no authority save that of their own souls. They make no clamour about their own ideas, discoveries and theories, but because they are so inclusive in their outlook and so wide in their interpretation of truth they see the hand of God in all happenings, His imprint upon all forms and His note sounding forth through every channel of communication between the subjective reality and the objective outer form.

Behind this four-fold division of humanity stand those Enlightened Ones whose right and privilege it is to watch over human evolution and to guide the destinies of men. In the West we call them Christ and His disciples. In the theologies of the East they are called by many names. They are also known as the Agents of God, or the Hierarchy of liberated souls, who seek ceaselessly to aid and help humanity. This they do through the implanting of ideas in the minds of the world thinkers, so that these ideas in due time receive recognition and eventually become controlling factors in human life.

In the aggregate of this playing with ideas and in the constant impact upon the human consciousness of the great concepts which lie back of our evolutionary process, the human race is developing the power to think, to choose, and to build a sure foundation for human living. Through the evolutionary presentation of ideas, there is a steady march towards a liberty of thought (through the method of experiment, of discard and of renewed effort with ever newer concepts) which will enable mankind to build true to the great thought patterns which underlie the outer structure of our world.

There is a Plan for Humanity

The world structure emerges from and is built upon certain inner thought patterns, and it is these patterns which are producing the present flood of governmental experiments in every nation. But today, there is no training in the art of contacting the world of patterns and in the true interpretation of ideas, and hence the problems. Later, when humanity sees its problems with greater clarity, it will act with wisdom, and train its observers and communicators more carefully and perfectly. These men and women will be those in whom the intuition has awakened at the behest of an urgent intellect; they will be people whose minds are so subordinated to the group good and so free from all sense of separateness that their minds present no impediment to contact with the world of reality and of inner truth. They will not necessarily be people who could be termed "religious" in the ordinary sense of the word, but they will be people of goodwill, of high mental calibre, with minds well stocked and equipped; they will be free from personal ambition and selfishness, animated by love of humanity and a desire to help the race. Such a man is a spiritual man.

The determination of the spiritual Hierarchy of the planet to train the minds of men more rapidly and to build towards a more synthetic unity brought about a decision which involved the formation of group units, and the emergence of those groups of workers and thinkers who, through their activities, have so largely governed and moulded our world for the past three or four centuries. We have, therefore, dating from the fifteenth century, the inauguration of definite and specific group work along clearly defined lines, with each group standing for some peculiar presentation of truth and for some aspect of the knowledge of reality.

These groups fall generally into four major divisions, cultural, political, religious and scientific. In the more modern times three other groups have definitely emerged; they are the philosophical, the psychological and the financial groups.

Through these seven groups we now have a humanity in close relation, though not at one, a humanity characterised by three things:

1. An amazing interrelation and intercommunication of which the radio, the press, modern transportation and the telephone and telegraph are the servants.
2. A widespread philanthropic enterprise, and the growth of the sense of responsibility for one's brother, which was totally unknown in the year 1500. Movements such as the Red Cross, educational foundations, hospitals, and the present economic relief measures to be found in every country are its exoteric manifestations.
3. A division of the entire human family, consciously or unconsciously, into the basic groups which can be identified as conservative and progressive.

    

Immediate Objectives of the Plan

The immediate objective of the plan might be stated as follows:

1. To raise the level of human consciousness so that intelligent thinking men and women will be consciously in touch with the world of ideas and the realm of intuitive perception. This means that they will be oriented towards reality.Average men and women will then be led definitely to shift their attention from the world of the emotions in which they have hitherto lived, and will begin to live more in their mental natures, and to think clearly and wisely. They will find their living conditions so ameliorated and wisely ordered that the present state of fear and of intense competitive struggle for existence will be superseded by a real measure of stability and security. A more leisured life will consequently be possible and this will enable men to unfold their powers--mental and spiritual--normally. This is no picture of an immediate Utopia.

2. The clarifying of the international situation. It is necessary that each nation should realise two things:First, the importance of attending to its own business and its own internal problems which are those of beautifying the national life by the production of order, stabilisation and, above all, freedom. This must be done by the wise consideration of the needs of the entire people, excepting no part of the national life.

   Second, the prime importance of each nation realising its responsibility to all other nations, and the interrelation of all parts of the life of our world. This realisation will bring about a reciprocal interplay in the field of economics on which are based practically all world problems and differences.

3. The third objective is the growth of the group idea with a consequent general emphasis upon group good, group understanding, group interrelation and group goodwill.

    

Functions of the New Group of World Servers

To hold the vision of the Plan before the eyes of men, for "where there is no vision, the people perish."

To act as an intermediate group between the Hierarchy and humanity, receiving light and power and then using both of these, under the inspiration of love, to build the new world of tomorrow.

Summation

All true servers everywhere belong to the New Group of World Servers, whether their line of service is cultural, political, scientific, religious, philosophical, psychological or financial. They constitute part of the inner group of workers for humanity, and of the world mystics, whether they know it or not.

This group gives to the word "spiritual" a wide significance; they believe it to mean an inclusive endeavour towards human betterment, uplift and understanding; they give it the connotation of tolerance, international synthetic communion, religious inclusiveness, and of all trends of thought which concern the integrating development of the human being.

It is a group therefore without a terminology or bible of any kind; it has no creed nor any dogmatic formulations of truth. The motivating impulse of each and all is love of God as it works out in love for one's fellowmen.

The materialising of ideas, which have hitherto remained theoretical, is the prime function of the New Group of World Servers. They have to remove the whole theory from the realm of sentiment, of idealism, and of mystical aspiration and must bring the question, as a concrete demonstrated factor, before the public.

They must place the emphasis upon the expression of goodwill and the fulfilment of the law of love and not upon affiliation with organisations, with their labels and their doctrines.

The power which the New Group of World Servers will eventually wield, will be drawn from two sources: -- first, from that inner centre or subjective world government, whose members are responsible for the spread of those ideals and ideas which have led humanity onwards from age to age. This inner centre has always existed and the great leaders of the race, in every field, have been connected with it. The great idealists and world workers (such as the Christ and His great brother, the Buddha, and those lesser workers, such as Plato, Spinoza, Abraham Lincoln, or Florence Nightingale) have all been associated with this centre. The range of these associates is tremendous and the grades of these workers are many, but self sacrificing work for the betterment of human living and love of their fellowmen have distinguished them all. These great souls are primarily distinguished by the fact that they know no mental limitation, and their inclusiveness is such that for them there are no racial distinctions nor any religious differences.

The second source from which the New Group of World Servers will draw its power will be from the men of goodwill in the world at any given time. They will be able to swing into activity at any moment such a weight of thought and such a momentous public opinion that they will eventually be in a position definitely to affect world affairs.