“Goodwill is the touchstone that will transform the world”. “Goodwill is love in action”.
These are familiar aphorisms to World Goodwill readers. But like most aphorisms they have several layers of meaning and significance. It is said that goodwill is the key to the transformation of human consciousness; it is also the deepest expression of divine love that humanity has been able to achieve thus far in its evolutionary history. Goodwill is a rapidly growing expression throughout the world (as we are told, it is “contagious”), and this is significant because it means that human consciousness is beginning to conform to the great cosmic principle of love.
This cosmic principle originates on what is esoterically called the cosmic astral plane—an astral plane that is several spirals higher than our own human astral/emotional level. Cosmic love—which might be viewed as the universal love expressed by God—is at present, quite beyond our limited understanding of love. It is primarily a vast dynamic, attractive, electrical power. And it is this dynamic, universal principle that humanity is destined to express on earth in the distant future. But our current, very distorted expression of astral love and goodwill is nevertheless the connecting link with this cosmic principle.
It is important to know—based on what we can absorb from the esoteric teachings—that the content of the human astral plane—is largely made up of created thoughtforms or “figments of the imagination” built up over the millions of years of human history. This is made clear in a significant statement in The Rays and the Initiations: “it must be born in mind that the reason glamour predominates and illusion functions in the three worlds [physical, astral and mental nature] is due to the fact that men identify themselves with the dense physical brain, and interpret life in terms of experience in the three worlds. There is no true astral plane, from the angle of personality identifications, but only what might be regarded as the figments of the imagination; yet fundamentally and sub-standing what we know as the astral plane is the reflection of the cosmic principle of love" (pp. 357-358).
The word “reflection” holds the key to understanding the problem of glamour in human consciousness. When you stand in front of a mirror you see a reflection of yourself, but the image is reversed; left and right are the opposite of you, the original form. And the image in the mirror has no life of its own; the reflection lacks a basic reality. The only life the image appears to have is the life you give to it—it moves when you move. How the mirror expresses your image is similar to what the astral plane does to the original principle of cosmic love—it reverses the energy flow. The original intention of dynamic, cosmic love is reversed as this energy flows into dense, human brain consciousness. In the stepping down process from cosmic to human, universal love is reversed and expressed as personal and self-centred love, just the opposite of divine intention.
This is not to say that our distorted and very personal expression of glamourous love is necessarily wrong; it is simply inevitable, given the limited stage in our evolutionary development. And as a mirror reflects in reverse, so does our astral/emotional nature. The astral plane is where so much of humanity's focus lies at the present time. Energy follows the direction of thought. However, as humanity's mental focus becomes more sensitive to higher impressions, it is able to transcend the astral level altogether and bring through a more accurate image of the principle of cosmic love, i.e., goodwill and universal brotherhood. This is what is beginning to happen today throughout the world. It is said that goodwill is the lower expression of divine love; it is about all humanity is capable of expressing at the present time. But that is a significant step forward toward our destined goal. As we move upward and expand in consciousness, the image in the astral mirror becomes less distorted. If you stretch your imagination you can see a time in the future when the image is no longer reversed. That will happen as you realise that all that astral phenomena is unreal and should be left behind, to fade away from disuse.
It is important to realise that every human being is essentially an electrical unit, that our life is part of the electrical life circuit of God—an electrical essence that animates all forms, including human forms upon this planet. The astral mirror is also electrical; it is essentially made up of distorted human thoughtforms that--because they are human made--vibrate at a rate much slower than that of cosmic love. Fortunately the energy of goodwill vibrates at a rate more closely in sync with our cosmic connection, the original source of human love. This is why goodwill is a more refined expression than that of self-centred love and why it will eventually transform the world. Goodwill is redirecting human freewill to correspond more closely with the divine Will of God. And the image in the electric mirror will then reflect the true intent of the cosmic principle of love. The refined energy of goodwill acts as a corrective lens that reverses the distorted astral image in the mirror. Active goodwill is evidence that a reorienting of human desire is slowly but surely transforming human consciousness. It is necessary that this process continue so that humanity is adequately prepared as it enters a new, dynamic age.
