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THE RETURN OF THE CHRIST - Part 2

The knowledge that He is ready and anxious publicly to appear to His loved humanity only adds to the sense of general frustration, and another very vital question arises: For what period of time must we endure, struggle and fight? The reply comes with clarity; He will come unfailingly when a measure of peace has been restored, when the principle of sharing is at least in process of controlling economic affairs, and when the churches have begun to clean house. Then He can and will come; then the Kingdom of God will be publicly recognised and will no longer be a thing of dreams and of ideals.

Aspirants are prone to ask the question as to why the Christ does not come—in the pomp and ceremony which the churches ascribe to the event—and by His coming demonstrate His divine power, prove convincingly the authority and the potency of God, and thus end the cycle of agony and distress. The answers to this are many. It must be remembered that the main objective of the Christ will not be to demonstrate power but to make public the already existent Kingdom of God. Again, when He came before He was unrecognised, and is there any guarantee that this time it would be different? You may ask why would He not be recognised? Because men's eyes are blinded with the tears of self-pity and not of contrition; because the hearts of men are still corroded with a selfishness which the agony of war has not cured; because the standards of value are the same as in the corrupt Roman Empire which saw His first appearance, only in those days these standards were localised and not universal; because those who could recognise Him and who hope and long for His coming are not willing to make the needed sacrifices, and thus ensure the success of His advent.

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Another factor militating against His being recognised, and one which will probably surprise you, is the fact that there are so many exceedingly good people in the world today, so many selfless workers and disciples and so many truly saintly people, that the spiritual competition would call forth a degree of holiness on His part which would negate His appropriation of a physical body of a calibre which would enable Him to manifest among men. This was not the case two thousand years ago; it is, however, the case today, so great is human advancement and the success of the evolutionary process. To enable Him today to walk among men requires a world which will have in it enough effective workers and spiritually-minded people to change the atmosphere of our planet; then and only then, the Christ can and will, come. I am not, however, presenting you with an impossibility.

Modern esotericism and the success of scientific, spiritual living are now so widely recognised that the consciousness of men everywhere has been profoundly affected; this will be increasingly so as the hope of His coming and the preparation for it spread among men. The situation indicates no divine frustration (of which that of the world disciples might be the reflection), nor does it indicate any inability to appear. Rather, it indicates the wonder of the divinity in man and the success of the divine plan for man. Divinity, however, awaits the expression of man's free will.

Another answer is that when Christ comes forth from the Place of Power, bringing His disciples, the Masters of the Wisdom, with Him, that Place of Love and Power will be situated on earth, and will be publicly recognised; the effects of that appearance and of that recognition will be terrific, calling forth an equally terrific onslaught and effort by the Forces of Evil—unless humanity itself has first sealed "the door where evil dwells." This must be done by the establishing of right human relations.

Still another reply, upon which I would ask you to ponder, is that Christ and the spiritual Hierarchy never—no matter what the incentive may be—infringe upon the [618] divine right of humanity to achieve freedom by fighting for freedom, individually, nationally and internationally. When true freedom covers the earth, we shall see the end of tyranny, politically and religiously. I refer here not to modern democracy, which is at present a philosophy of wishful thinking, but to that state of the realm in which the people themselves will rule; these people will not tolerate authoritarianism in any church, or totalitarianism in any political system or government; they will not accept or permit the rule of any body of men who undertake to tell them what they must believe in order to be saved, or what government they must accept. I say not that these desirable objectives must be accomplished facts on earth before Christ comes. I do say that this attitude to religion and politics must be generally accepted as necessary to all men, and that steps must have been successfully taken in the direction of right human relations.

These are the things which the New Group of World Servers, the disciples, the aspirants and the men of goodwill everywhere must believe and teach in preparation for His coming.

There is, therefore, nothing to offset the sense of frustration (which is undeniably present and based on factual conditions) but the acceptance and the development of a state of mind which will be founded on a belief in the veracity of the historical records which bear witness to many advents at crucial times in human affairs, and to many world Saviours—of Whom the Christ was the greatest. The right and constructive attitude must also be based on an innate recognition of the existence of the Christ and of His Presence with us at all times; it must be grounded in the knowledge that the war—with all its unspeakable horrors, its cruelties and its cataclysmic disasters—was but the broom of the Father of all, sweeping away obstructions in the path of His returning Son. It would have been well-nigh impossible to prepare for the coming in the face of the pre-war conditions. Upon these facts the New Group of World Servers must today take their stand. They must recognise the obstructing factors, [619] but must also refuse to be frustrated by them; they must be aware of the hindrances (many of them financial and based on material greed), and then employ such skill in action and such business acumen that these hindrances will be overcome; they must walk clear-eyed through world difficulties and—holding His five-pointed star before them—pass unscathed and successful through the midst of all frustrating factors.

I seek not here to deal with the usual spiritual frustrations or wish to waste time with the ordinary platitudes and the well understood replies, which do not aid because they remain platitudes and are not translated into action. I shall deal here with only two factors which condition the present opportunity; these can be regarded as so completely hindering that, unless they are removed, there will be a long delay before Christ can return. They are:

1. The inertia of the average aspirant or spiritually-minded man.

2. The lack of money for the work of preparation.

Both these hindrances are fundamentally based on one and the same thing: materialism—one on the materialism of physical effort, and the other on that of a world attitude.

Let us keep these themes simple and down on the level at which most people work and think today; let us be intensely practical and force ourselves to look at conditions as they are, thus arriving at a better knowledge of ourselves and of our motives.

1. The Inertia of the Average Spiritually-Minded Man

The average aspirant, man of goodwill, or disciple, is constantly aware of the challenge of the times and the opportunity which spiritual events may offer. The desire to do good and to accomplish spiritual ends is ceaselessly gnawing away within his consciousness. No one who loves his fellowmen, who has a dream of seeing the Kingdom of [620] God materialise on earth, or who is conscious of the awakening of the masses—slow though it may be—to the higher spiritual values, but is thoroughly dissatisfied. He realises that what he contributes of help to these desirable objectives is little indeed. He knows that his spiritual life is a side issue; it is something which he keeps carefully to himself and which he is frequently afraid to mention to his nearest and his dearest; he tries to dovetail his spiritual efforts into his ordinary outer life, struggling to find time and opportunity for it in a gentle, futile and innocuous manner. He finds himself helpless before the task of organising and rearranging his affairs so that the spiritual way of living may dominate; he searches for alibis for himself and eventually rationalises himself so successfully that he ends by deciding that he is doing the best he can in the given circumstances. The truth is that he is doing so little that probably one hour out of the twenty-four (or perhaps two) would cover the time given to the Master's work; he hides behind the alibi that his home obligations prevent his doing more, and he does not realise that—given tact and loving understanding—his home environment can and must be the field in which he triumphs; he forgets that there exist no circumstances in which the spirit of man can be defeated or in which the aspirant cannot meditate, think, talk and prepare the way for the coming of the Christ, provided he cares enough and knows the meaning of sacrifice and silence. Circumstances and environment offer no true obstacle to the spiritual life.

Perhaps he hides behind the alibi of poor health, and frequently behind that of imaginary ills. He gives so much time to the care of himself that the hours which could be given to the Master's work are directly and seriously curtailed; he is so preoccupied with feeling tired, or tending a cold, or with fancied heart difficulties, that his "body consciousness" steadily develops until it eventually dominates his life; it is then too late to do anything. This is particularly the case with people who have reached their fiftieth year or over; the trouble then is predominantly with women. It is [621] an alibi which it is hard not to use, for many feel tired and ailing and this, as the years go by, is apt to get worse. The only cure for the creeping inertia is to ignore the body and take your joy in the livingness of service. This leads to a longer life. I speak here not of definite disease or of serious physical liabilities; to these right care and attention must be duly given; I speak to the thousands of ailing men and women who are preoccupied with taking care of themselves, and so waste hours of the time which could be given to the service of humanity. I ask those who are seeking to tread the Path of Discipleship to release those many hours spent in needless self-care into the service of the Hierarchy.

Still another alibi leading to inertia is the fear people have of speaking about the things of the Kingdom of God to others; they are afraid of being rebuffed, or of being thought peculiar, or of intruding. They therefore preserve silence, lose opportunity, and never discover how ready people are for the discussion of realities, for the comfort and hope which the thought of Christ's return can bring, or for the sharing of spiritual light. This is essentially a form of spiritual cowardice, but it is so widespread that it is responsible for the loss of millions of hours of world service.

There are, brother of mine, other alibis, but the three above noted are the most common; the release of the majority of aspirants from these hindering conditions would bring to the service of the Christ (to use the language of the labour union) so many man-hours and so much overtime endeavour that the task of those who admit no alibis would be greatly lightened and the coming of the Christ would be much nearer than it is today. What we call inertia is not simply psychological in nature. The qualities of matter or substance itself are involved. Inertia is the slowest and the lowest aspect of material substance and is called in the Eastern philosophy, the quality of tamas. It has to be transmuted into a higher quality, that of activity or (giving it its technical term) its rajasic quality, and this leads later on to the highest quality of rhythm or sattva. To the rhythm of life under which the Christ and the spiritual Hierarchy operate, and which [622] vibrates in harmony with human need and hierarchical response, I call you not. I do, however, call you to demonstrate the quality of activity and to refuse to hide behind alibis. It is essential that all aspirants recognise that in the place where they now are, among the people who are their karmic associates, and with the psychological and physical equipment with which they are endowed, they can and must work. I shall not labour this subject. There is no possible coercion or undue pressure exerted in the service of the Hierarchy. The situation is clear and simple. There are at the present time three great activities going on:

First, the activity to be felt in the "centre where the will of God is known," that will-to-good which has carried all creation on toward a greater glory and a steadily deepening, intelligent responsiveness; this today is creatively endeavouring to bring in the new world order, the order of the Kingdom of God under the physical supervision of the Christ. This might be regarded as the externalisation of the spiritual Hierarchy of our planet. Of this, the return of the Christ to visible activity will be the sign and the symbol.

Secondly, the critical activity which is conditioning the spiritual Hierarchy, from the Christ Himself down to the lowest aspirant to be found on the periphery of that centre where the love of God has full play. There it is fully realised that (in the words of St. Paul) "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God". It is for that manifestation that They now prepare, these "Sons of God Who are the Sons of Men"; it is for this coming forth to outer active service that They are already—one by one—entering into outer activity upon the physical plane. They are not recognised for what They are, but They go about the Father's business, demonstrating goodwill, seeking to enlarge the horizon of humanity, and thus prepare the way for the One Whom They serve, the Christ, the Master of all the Masters and the Teacher alike of angels and of men.

Thirdly, there is humanity itself, "the centre which we call the race of men"—a centre at present full of chaos, turmoil [623] and confusion, a humanity full of pain, bewilderment, disturbance, yet mentally aware of infinite possibilities, emotionally fighting for that plan which seems to them to be the best, but with no sense of coherency or any realisation that it must be the one world for the one humanity. They desire simply emotional peace, security in which to live and work, and a vision of a future which will satisfy some inchoate sense of divine persistence. They are physically ill, deprived for the most part of the essentials of normal wholesome living, wracked with the sense of financial insecurity and—consciously or unconsciously—invoking the Father of all on behalf of themselves and of the rest of the world.

The solution is the return of the Christ. This is the ascertained will of God; it is the desire of Christ Himself and of His disciples, the Masters of the Wisdom; it is the unrealised demand of men in all lands. Where there is unification of purpose, of spiritual intention and of realised need, then there is only one thing which can arrest that return, and that is the failure of mankind to prepare the stage for that stupendous event, to clear the highways, familiarise the people with the idea, and bring about the required measure of peace on Earth—a peace based upon right human relations.

2. The Lack of Money for the Work of Preparation

We come now to the second of the major hindrances: the lack of financial support for the Christ's workers and disciples in all lands as they endeavour to release spiritual energy and bring a new order out of the present world chaos. This is perhaps the major difficulty, and it appears at times an insuperable one; it involves the problem of true financial trusteeship and the deflection of adequate sums of money into channels which will definitely aid in the work of preparation for the return of the Christ. It is for this reason that I closed the previous section of this article with the words "right human relations."

The problem is therefore a peculiarly hard one, for the [624] spiritual workers of the world have not only to train people to give according to the need and their means, but in many cases they have first of all to provide them with a motive so magnetic in its appeal that they must perforce give; they have also to provide the trust, foundation and organisation through which the money given may be administered. This presents them with a most impressively difficult task and one which is responsible for the present impasse. The impasse is not, however, based only on the novelty of raising funds in preparation for the return of the Christ, but it is based also on the trained selfishness of the majority of those who own the world's wealth and who—even if they give—do so because it fosters prestige or indicates financial success. It must be remembered here that every generalisation presupposes exceptions.

Generalising, and therefore over-simplifying the subject, we can assume that money finds its way into four main channels of expenditures:

1. Into the myriad homes of the world in the form of wages, salaries or inherited wealth. All this is at present most unevenly balanced, producing extreme riches and extreme poverty.

2. Into great capitalistic systems and monopolies to be found as towering structures in most lands. Whether this capital is owned by the government, or by a municipality, or by a handful of wealthy men or by the great labour unions matters not. Little of it is yet spent in reality for the betterment of human living, or for the inculcation of the values which will lead to right human relations.

3. Into the churches and religious groups throughout the world. Here (again speaking in general terms and at the same time recognising the existence of a small spiritually-minded minority) the money is deflected into the material aspects of the work, into [625] the multiplying and preservation of ecclesiastical structures, into salaries and general overhead, and only a percentage of it really goes into the teaching of the people, into a living demonstration of the fact of His return—for centuries a definite doctrine of the churches. That return has been anticipated down the ages, and might have occurred ere now had the churches and religious organisations everywhere done their duty.

4. Into philanthropic, educational and medical work. All of this has been exceedingly good and greatly needed, and the debt of the world to the public-spirited men who have made these institutions possible is great indeed. All of this has been a step in the right direction and an expression of the divine will-to-good. It is, however, frequently money misused and misdirected and the values developed have been largely institutional and concrete. They have been limited by the separative tenets of the donors or the religious prejudices of those who control the disbursement of the funds. In the quarrelling over ideas, religious theories and ideologies, the true assistance of the One Humanity is overlooked.

The fact remains that had the directing agencies through whose hands the money of the world is channelled any vision of the spiritual realities, of the one humanity and the one world, and had their objective been the stimulation of right human relations, the mass of men everywhere would be responding to a vision very different from the present one; we would not be faced as we are today with the expenditures—running into countless billions—necessitated by the need to restore physically, not only the physical bodies of countless millions of men, but entire cities, transportation systems and centres responsible for the reorganisation of human living.

Equally, it can be said that if the spiritual values and the spiritual responsibilities attached to money (in large [626] quantities or in small) had been properly appreciated and taught in homes and schools, we would not have had the appalling statistics of the money spent, prior to the war in every country in the world (and spent today in the Western Hemisphere), on candy, liquor, cigarettes, recreation, unnecessary clothes and luxuries. These statistics run into hundreds of millions of dollars every year. A quota of this money, necessitating the minimum of sacrifice, would enable the disciples of the Christ and the New Group of World Servers to prepare the way for His coming and to educate the minds and hearts of men in every land in right human relations.

Money—as with all else in human living—has been tainted by selfishness and grabbed for selfish individual or national ends. Of this, the world war (1914-1945) is the proof, for although there was much talk of "saving the world for democracy" and "fighting a war to end war," the main motive was self-protection and self-preservation, the hope of gain, the satisfaction of ancient hatreds, and the regaining of territory. The two years which have elapsed since the war have proved this to be so. The United Nations is occupied with rapacious demands from all sides, with the angling of the nations for place and power, and for the possession of the natural resources of the Earth—coal, oil, etc., and also with the underground activities of the great Powers and of the capitalists which they all create.

Yet all the time, the one humanity—no matter what the place of residence, what the colour of the skin, or what the religious beliefs—is clamouring for peace, justice and a sense of security. All this, the right use of money and a realisation on the part of many of their financial responsibility (a responsibility based on the spiritual values) would rapidly give them. With the exception of a few great far-sighted philanthropists, and of a mere handful of enlightened statesmen, churchmen and educators, this sense of financial responsibility is to be found nowhere.

The time has now come when money must be re-valued and its usefulness channelled into new directions. The voice [627] of the people must prevail, but it must be a people educated in the true values, in the significances of a right culture, and in the need for right human relations. It is therefore essentially a question of right education and correct training in world citizenship—a thing that has not yet been undertaken. Who can give this training? Russia would gladly train the world in the ideals of communism, and would gather all the money in the world into the coffers of the proletariat, eventually producing the greatest capitalistic system the world has ever seen. Great Britain would gladly train the world in the British concepts of justice and fair play and world trade, and would do it more cleverly than any other nation because of vast experience. The United States would also gladly undertake to force the American brand of democracy upon the world, using her vast capital and resources in so doing, and gathering into her banks the financial results of her wide-spread financial dealings, preserving them safely by the threat of the atomic bomb and the shaking of the mailed fist over the rest of the world. France will keep Europe in a state of unrest as she seeks to regain her lost prestige and garner all she can from the victory of the other allied nations. Thus, my brother, the story goes—each nation fighting for itself and rating each other in terms of resources and finance. In the meantime, humanity starves, remains uneducated, is brought up on false values and the wrong use of money; until these things are being righted, the return of the Christ is not possible.

In the face of this disturbing financial situation, what is the answer to the problem? There are men and women to be found in every land, every government, every church and religion, and every educational foundation who have the answer. What hope is there for them and for the work with which they have been entrusted? How can the people of the world, the men of goodwill and of spiritual vision help? Is there anything they can do to change the thinking of the world in regard to money, and to deflect it into channels where it will be rightly used? The answer lies within these people themselves.

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There are two groups who can do much: those already using the financial resources of the world, if they will catch the new vision and also see the handwriting on the wall which is bringing the old order down in destruction; and secondly, the mass of the good, kindly people in all classes and spheres of influence.

The power of the little man and of the unimportant citizen is not yet truly grasped, yet there is a vast opportunity before them if they have the courage and the patience to do the needed work.

These men and women of goodwill and spiritual inclination must reject the thought of their relative uselessness, insignificance and futility, and realise that now (in the critical and crucial moment that has come) they can work potently. The Forces of Evil are defeated, though not yet "sealed" behind the door where humanity can put them and which the New Testament foretold would happen. The world is in the balance again. Evil is seeking every avenue available for a new approach but—and this I say with confidence and insistence—the little people of the world, enlightened and selfless in their viewpoint, exist in sufficient numbers to make their power felt—if they will. There are millions of spiritually-minded men and women in every country who, when they come to the point of approaching in mass formation this question of money, can permanently rechannel it. There are writers and thinkers in all lands who can add their powerful help, and who will if correctly approached. There are esoteric students and devoted church people to whom appeal can be made for aid in preparing the way for the return of the Christ, particularly if the aid required is the expenditure of money and time for the establishing of right human relations and the growth and spread of goodwill.

A great campaign to raise money is not demanded, but the selfless work of thousands of apparently unimportant people is required. I would say, my brothers, that the most needed quality is courage; it takes courage to put aside diffidence, shyness and the dislike of presenting a point of view, particularly a point of view connected with money. It is here [629] that the majority fail. It is relatively easy today to raise money for the Red Cross, for hospitals and for educational institutions. It is exceedingly difficult to raise money for the spread of goodwill, or to secure financial sources and the right use of money for forward looking ideas, such as the return of the Christ. Therefore I say that the first prerequisite is courage.

The second requirement for the workers of the Christ is to make those sacrifices and arrangements which will enable them to give to the limit of their capacity; there must not be simply a trained ability to present the subject, but each worker must practise what he preaches. If, for instance, the millions of people who love the Christ and seek to serve His cause gave at least a tiny sum of money each year, there would be adequate funds for His work; the needed trusts and the spiritually-minded trustees would then automatically appear. The difficulty is not with the organising of the money and work; it lies with the seeming inability of people to give. For one reason or another, they give little or nothing, even when interested in such a cause as that of the return of the Christ; fear, or the love of purchasing, or the desire to give presents, or failure to realise that many small sums mount up into very large sums—all these things militate against financial generosity, and the reason always seems adequate. Therefore, the second prerequisite is for everyone to give as they can.

Thirdly, the metaphysical schools and the esoteric groups have given much thought to this business of directing money into channels which appeal to them. The question is often asked: Why do the Unity School of thought, the Christian Science Church, and many New Thought movements always manage to accumulate the required funds, whilst other groups, and particularly the esoteric groups, do not? Why do truly spiritual workers seem unable to materialise what they need? The answer is a simple one. Those groups and workers who are the closest to the spiritual ideal are as a house divided against itself. Their main interest is on abstract spiritual levels, and they have not apparently grasped the fact that the physical plane, when motivated from the spiritual levels, is of equal importance. The large metaphysical [630] schools are focussed on making a material demonstration, and so great is their emphasis and so one-pointed is their approach that they get what they demand; they have to learn that the demand and its answer must be the result of spiritual purpose, and that that which is demanded must not be for the use of the separated self or for a separative organisation or church. In the new age which is upon us, prior to the return of the Christ, the demand for financial support must be for the bringing about of right human relations and goodwill, and not for the growth of any particular organisation. The organisations so demanding must work with the minimum of overhead and central plant, and the workers for the minimum yet reasonable salary. Not many such organisations exist today, but the few now functioning can set an example which will be rapidly followed, as the desire for the return of the Christ grows. Therefore the third prerequisite is the service of the one humanity.

The fourth prerequisite must be the careful presentation of the cause for which the financial support is required. People may have the courage to speak, but an intelligent presentation is of equal importance. The major point to be emphasised in the preparatory work for the return of Christ is the establishing of right human relations. This has already been started by men of goodwill all over the world, under their many names, and here I have done naught but indicate another motive for presentation.

We come now to the fifth prerequisite: a vital and sure belief in humanity as a whole. There must be no pessimism as to the future of mankind or distress over the disappearance of the old order. The good, the true and the beautiful is on its way, and for it mankind is responsible, and not some outer divine intervention. Humanity is sound and rapidly awakening. We are passing through the stage where everything is being proclaimed from the housetops—as the Christ stated would be the case—and as we listen or read of the flood of filth, crime, sensual pleasure or luxury buying, we are apt to be discouraged; it is wise to remember that it is wholesome for all this to come to the surface and for us all to know about [631] it. It is like the psychological cleansing of the subconscious to which individuals submit themselves, and it presages the inauguration of a new and better day.

There is work to do, and the men of goodwill, of spiritual instinct, and of truly Christian training must do it. They must inaugurate the era of the use of money for the spiritual Hierarchy, and carry that need into the realms of invocation. Invocation is the highest type of prayer there is, and a new form of divine appeal which a knowledge of meditation has now made possible. To this end I will give you a short form of spiritual demand which I would ask you all to use in the place of any prayer, meditation or invocation for money which you may have hitherto used. It is short and powerful, but requires a unified group or a truly integrated personality to use it....

I have naught to add in the way of an appeal for funds, courage or understanding. If the courage of the Christ, as He faces return to this physical outer world, if the need of humanity for right human relations, and the sacrificing work of the disciples of the Christ are not enough to fire you and to energise you and those whom you can reach, there is nothing that I can say which will be of any use.

WORK IN THE COMING DECADES

April 1948

This is the last Wesak Message which I intend to give you. In 1949, I shall have completed thirty years of carefully planned and meticulously outlined work; this work I undertook under cyclic law (related to the periodical giving out of the esoteric teaching) in order to aid humanity and the work of the Hierarchy, to both of which I happen to belong.

On November 19th, 1919, I made my first contact with A.A.B. (much to her distress and dismay), and I have worked steadily with her ever since. The books which I then planned have been well-nigh finished; the various phases of the work which were a part of the preparation for the reappearance of [632] the Christ have taken form and should go forward with gathering momentum during the next twenty years.

The two major ideas which it was my task to bring to the attention of humanity everywhere throughout the world have been securely anchored (if I may be permitted to use such a term), and these constitute by far the most important aspect of the work which I have done. These formulated ideas are:

1. The announcement of the existence (hitherto unrecognised) of the New Group of World Servers. This is an effective group of workers, intermediate between Humanity and the spiritual Hierarchy of the planet.

2. The statement, sent out lately, in connection with the Reappearance of the Christ, and for the immediate consolidation of the work of preparation.

All else that I have done in the service of the Hierarchy is of secondary importance to these two statements of spiritual fact.

The fifth volume of A Treatise on the Seven Rays remains to be finished, as does the second volume of Discipleship in the New Age; there is nothing else; what remains, therefore, can easily be accomplished before my term of thirty years comes to an end. Other work awaits me under the reorganisation of all the hierarchical efforts incident to the reappearance of the Christ and the closer relationship which will then be established between humanity and the Hierarchy. The work of hierarchical reorganisation is at present largely internal and concerns not humanity at this time.

I have made it entirely clear to all of you what is the work which you should do and I have no intention (in this final message) of pleading with you to do it—beyond asking you to carry on where I leave off. I refer of course to my exoteric work.

That the work which I am now doing was definitely ending [633] in 1949 was quite unknown to A.A.B. and has no relation whatsoever to the fact that her health is precarious. It has, however, some relation to the fact that she has resumed more active work as a disciple in the Ashram of her own Master, after twenty-eight years of service in mine. Before I began the work of the past three decades, I knew exactly the time I had in which to bring about the results desired by the Hierarchy; all has been meticulously carried out under a most clearly visioned plan.

First, there was the necessity to find the nucleus of people through whom I had to work; the first step was therefore the writing of certain books which would carry the new teaching, and act therefore as a selective agent for the discovery of those who would work in the new emerging cycle.

The starting of the Arcane School by A.A.B. was only incidental to this objective; its aim is to train those disciples who can implement the Plan and thus prepare for the reappearance of the Christ; the Arcane School can therefore provide a trained body of workers.

Ten years after that, I began to expand the range of contacts, and the teaching began to reach thinkers on continents other than the American. As a result, I began to form my own Ashram and to find people in all countries who were disciples, qualified as such, but who needed the impact of the influence of a second ray Ashram. When this was done, the major part of the second decade of my work became possible, and I therefore wrote a pamphlet entitled The New Group of World Servers. In it I called attention to the fact that there existed upon the Earth, in every nation, men and women who (in some form or another) recognised the spiritual Hierarchy of the planet, who had a quality of non-separateness, definitely present or else rapidly developing, and who were gathered together in no limiting organisation but primarily by their trend of thought and the habit of their activity. They constituted a group who were subjectively, spiritually, practically and openly creating a new form of human relationship. This new relation resulted in mutual understanding and a mental cooperation which recognised [634] no barriers or national limitations. On the inner side of spiritual incentive and endeavour, they work today as one group; on the outer side of world affairs, they may not be aware of each other physically, or arrive at any open contact, yet they are animated by the same principles and are carrying forward—in all nations and in every great department of human thinking and planning—a similar work.

In this decade of my work, two major activities were inaugurated: the creation of the Triangles and the formation of Men of Goodwill, [xiii]* and these are just on the verge of a major creative activity. They constitute an effort to energise and relate members and adherents of the New Group of World Servers (and particularly in the organisation of men of goodwill), to find and mobilise the groups formed by the New Group of World Servers throughout the world, so as to bring added strength to all of them by swinging into a massed effort men of prayer, men of good intention, and those who believe in the divine will-to-good, plus those who implement it through love—no matter what they mean by that vague term. Thus a nucleus of a great synthesis was brought about in this second decade, and it will have lasting effects upon human living and design. Owing to planetary frustration and the enhanced activity of the Forces of Evil, the work of the Triangles and of the men of goodwill has been more slowly formulated than had been originally expected, but this has been through no fault of theirs; this period of frustration will be over before very long and a greatly increased momentum will be the result. For this increased response upon the part of the public, you should now lay your plans.

In the third and final decade of my work, the time and opportunity came to announce, in a new and more emphatic manner, what all the world religions have proclaimed, that—with due preparation and the establishment of a pronounced tendency towards right human relations—the time had come when the Christ could again appear and take His rightful place as World Teacher. The emphasis has never before been [635] laid upon the needed work of preparation. The results of this pronouncement have not yet had time to make themselves felt, but the next ten years will reveal the full import of what has been done.

With that pronouncement my planned work was brought to a finish; the book [xiv]* which will indicate the proximity of this happening and the lines along which the new world religion will be promoted is now in the press. I would call your attention to the fact that the general concept of a World Saviour (always attached to the office of the Christ, no matter by what name the exalted Son of God may be called in any world cycle) is in reality closely related to the far more important function of World Teacher. People love to be saved, for it ignores their own immediate responsibility, which teaching definitely emphasises. It must be remembered that it is the teaching given by the Christ which saves humanity—not any symbolic death upon a cross. Men must save themselves by their reaction and their response to the teaching given in its purity by the Christ; this is a point which should be forcefully instilled by all of you; it is not man-made interpretations which save a man, but his self-initiated application of his own understanding of the teaching. This must be brought today to the consciousness of as many human beings as the followers of the Christ can reach.

Here you have a brief account of the work which I undertook on behalf of the Hierarchy and for the Christ, Whom I most reverently regard as my Master. This work has not been unsuccessfully carried forward; many of you who read these words have done what you could to help and of this I am not unmindful nor is the Hierarchy ungrateful. Perhaps—with a still clearer picture in your minds—you will find yourselves able to do still more.

I intend to indicate (still briefly) what should be done in the next two decades, but would like first of all to touch upon the state of the world and refer to its condition, because they have both handicapped hierarchical effort and particularly what I sought to do (which was a major hierarchical [636] enterprise), and yet at the same time they have cleared the way in a most extra-ordinary manner for the appearance of the Christ.

When I began my exoteric work in 1919, I had not expected to be frustrated by the second world war, or rather by the final phase of World War I. The Hierarchy had hoped that the lesson had been severe enough to force those changes which were essential to the future of mankind. But humanity had not learned the needed lessons. As I have often told you, the Hierarchy—because of the divine principle of free will in humanity—cannot foretell how men will act in times of crisis; the Hierarchy cannot enforce the good way of life against normal human desire, for this good way of action must come from out the very depths of human thinking and feeling, and must emerge as a free and non-supervised endeavour; the Hierarchy may not take those possible steps which will prevent men making mistakes, for it is through those mistakes that men learn "by the means of evil that good is best," as your great initiate-poet has expressed it. All that the Hierarchy can do is to present the needed teaching which will direct man's thinking along right lines, to point the way of true relationships, and at the same time demonstrate objectively the nature of the bad way. This the Hierarchy has always done. As a spiritual group, They can and do set Their faces against selfishness, greed, and against all that seeks to imprison the human spirit and impair its freedom. To illustrate—the Hierarchy demonstrated against the totalitarianism which the two great Powers, Germany and Japan expressed when they precipitated the second world war. This They still do and will continue to do when any aspect of totalitarian greed and aggressiveness in any form (subtle and undeclared or openly demonstrated) attempts to limit the freedom of the individual, the free spiritual man, no matter what his point in evolution.

Toward the end of the second decade of my work, totalitarianism reared anew its most evil head, and perforce, the Hierarchy took sides against this primary principle of evil, though never against any group of human beings. Please [637] note this. The point I seek to make is that the Hierarchy is inflexibly against any demonstration of the principle of non- freedom, no matter what form it takes, but is ever on the side of humanity. The spirit of evil which animated German actions evoked every possible opposition from the Forces of Light and from their source, the Hierarchy. Today this totalitarian evil is expressing itself through the planning of the Russian oligarchy, through the Zionist movement, and through all groups which seek to fetter and imprison the spirit of man; but the people under the sway of this evil influence and the scheming of these evil groups are never regarded in any light different to that of the rest of mankind. They are looked upon as glamoured, or as weak and ignorant (which they undoubtedly are), but they are never separated off in the thinking and planning of the Hierarchy from the rest of mankind. The evil must not be permitted or allowed to triumph, but the unhappy and glamoured exponents of this evil are loved, along with the rest of mankind. This is a point which is hard for the illogical thinker to understand, but it expresses most truly the attitude of the Christ and of all who serve His cause.

With the focussed entrance of greed and of totalitarian ruthlessness into the world arena, much that I had planned and much that all of you were attempting to do, met with frustration; the work of all disciples was in many ways greatly hindered and handicapped, though not from the long range vision, but only from the angle of short range action. I would ask you to have this in mind. The vision stands even when immediate action is blocked.

Today it would appear, from all the indications and from the dominant world trends, that the still unconquered greed of certain of the more powerful nations is undeniably rampant, and that we are therefore facing another period of frustration and of major world difficulty. Feeling against Russia is running high among the Western Powers and is largely her own fault, though it is primarily based upon two main factors—one of them bad and the other good.

The bad reaction is based on the same old triplicity of [638] fear, greed and jealousy and—from the angle of those three phases of selfishness—is entirely justified. That fact, in itself, supplies a major difficulty. Think this out.

The good reaction is based on the frustration of the idea or concept of developing a unified peaceful world—a world in which there would be no war and in which men could live at peace with each other and in security, and in which men everywhere could work, relatively unopposed, towards right human relations. This super-world and this unified humanity is a true ideal, but is not a feasible project.

Spiritual workers should face the various world alternatives:

1. An all-dominant Russia, whose regime would cover the planet, enforcing her totalitarian interpretation of communistic doctrine (there is a right and true interpretation), refusing freedom to the individual in the interest of the State, and—because of a low opinion of the human masses—everywhere standardising her interpretation of democracy.

2. A world in which all nations live in an armed armistice, in which distrust is forever rampant and in which science is prostituted to the art of destruction. In this world an explosion must and will eventually take place which will destroy humanity as once before it was destroyed, according to the Bible and the other world Scriptures and the hierarchical records.

3. A world in which the United States proves itself to be the controlling factor, after wiping out Russia, which she can well do if she acts now. It will be a predominantly capitalistic world, run by several nations but headed by the United States. A capitalistic nation is not necessarily wrong; capital has its place, and Russia (the enemy of capitalism) is by no means free from capitalistic bias. The motives of the United States are very mixed motives: greed of money or its equivalent, such as oil, and at the same time sincerely good intentions for the establishment of human freedom in a democratic world—modelled, of course, on American democracy. Other motives are an appreciation of the armed fist and, at [639] the same time, a longing for economic sharing and for that essential kindness which is such a strong American characteristic—a mass characteristic. These mixed motives will produce eventually a very confused world, one in which it will be found that humanity has learned very little as the result of the World War (1914-1945) and is acquiescent to the cycle of well-intentioned money control.

4. A world divided into "blocs" for mutual aid and economic sharing. Of this, the proposed treaty between Great Britain, France and the Benelux countries is a tentative sample, though tainted by objectionable motives, from the angle of the Hierarchy. Fear is the major factor producing this treaty, but it has in it nevertheless the seeds of hope. There is nothing intrinsically wrong in any group of nations standing together for mutual aid and economic cooperation. The wrong factor comes in when they stand united against any other group of nations, and therefore against any group of human beings. It is this attitude, engineered and fostered by Russia, which has lead to the relatively new concept of blocs against. Along this line, and with this attitude of antagonistic groupings, only disaster can lie.

Blocs in themselves can be good and proper if they follow lines of natural cleavages, of language differences and of cultural distinctions. They can be essentially right if they are formed for economic, educational, religious and social aims and can therefore provide no true cause for alarm. Such blocs would be cultural and not militaristic, economic and not greedy, and they could provide a normal and progressive movement away from the separative nationalism of the past and towards the distant creation of the One World, and the One Humanity. This will some day be seen, but the time is not yet. Mankind is not ready for some super-government, nor can it yet provide the unselfish and trained statesmen that such a government would require. As yet, there are more seeds of danger in this concept than there are of helpfulness. Nevertheless, it is a dream which will some day materialise, after the creation and the functioning of blocs have proved how men should work and live together.

[640]

The United Nations is still the hope of the world and can remain so; it is a great field of experimentation, but is suffering today from an initial error. That error was the admitting of a totalitarian Power into its nations. For seven long and terrible years the Forces of Light had been fighting totalitarianism. In the early days of the post-war period the Nations compromised with principles and admitted Russia to the United Nations. Had they proceeded to unite all the other nations of the world on the sure ground of economic reform, of needed national reorganisation and of regional groups (a better term than "blocs"), Russia would have been forced to conform, for her very existence would have been at stake. An initial error can lead to much trouble, and it is this type of trouble which the United Nations today faces.