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SECTION ONE - INTRODUCTORY REMARKS - Part 3

Let it not be forgotten that the objective of all true governmental control is right synthesis, leading to right national and interior group activity. The problem resolves itself into a dual one. First of all, we have the problem of the type of authority which should be recognised by the peoples; and secondly, we have the problem of the methods which should be employed, so that the chosen authoritative measures will proceed either by the method of enforced control, or would be of such a nature that they will evoke a generously rendered and recognised cooperation. Between these two ways of working, many changes can be rung, though the system of cooperation, willingly rendered by an intelligent majority, has never yet been seen. But we are moving towards such a condition of world consciousness and are on our way towards experimenting with it.

Let me here briefly indicate to you some of the modes of government which have been tried out, or will be tried out in the future.

1. Government by a recognised Spiritual Hierarchy. This Hierarchy will be related to the masses of the people by a chain of developed men and women who will act as the intermediaries between the ruling spiritual body and a people who are oriented to a world of right values. This form of world control lies indefinitely ahead. When it becomes possible so to govern, the planetary Hierarchy will have made a major Approach to earth, and there will then be thousands of men and women in touch with Their organisation because they will be developed enough to be sensitive to Its thoughts and ideas.

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2. Government by an oligarchy of illumined minds, recognised as such by the massed thinkers, and therefore chosen by them to rule. This they will do through the education of the thinkers of the race in group ideas and in their right application. The system of education, then prevalent, will be utilised as the medium of reaching the masses and swinging them into line with the major ideas and this will be done not by force, but through right understanding, through analysis, discussion and experiment. Curiously enough (from the point of view of many) the spiritual Hierarchy will then work largely through the world scientists who, being by that time convinced of the factual reality of the soul and wise in the uses of the forces of the soul and of nature, will constitute a linking body of occultists.

3. Government by a true democracy. This again will be made possible through a right use of the systems of education and by a steady training of the people to recognise the finer values, the more correct point of view, the higher idealism, and the spirit of synthesis and of cooperative unity. Cooperative unity differs from an enforced unity in that the subjective spirit and the objective form are functioning towards one recognised end. Today, such a thing as a true democracy is unknown, and the mass of the people in the democratic countries are as much at the mercy of the politicians and of the financial forces as are the people under the rule of dictatorships, enlightened or unenlightened. These latter might be regarded as selfish idealists. But I would have you here note the word "idealist"! When, however, the world has in it more truly awakened people and more thinking men and women, we shall see a purification of the political field taking place, and a cleansing of our processes of representation instituted, as well as a more exacting accounting required from the people of those whom they have chosen to put in authority. There must eventually be a closer tie-up between the educational system, the legal system and the government, but it will all be directed to an effort to work out the best ideals of the thinkers of the [53] day. This period does not lie so far ahead as you might imagine, particularly if the first move in this direction is made by the New Group of World Servers.

This first move involves a right comprehension of goodwill. These three systems, which are the three major systems, correspond to the three major rays of synthesis, of idealism, and of intelligence, which are only other names for the rays of Will or Power, of Love-Wisdom and of Active Intelligence.

4. Government by dictatorship. This type of government divides itself into three parts:

a. Rule by a monarchy, limited usually today by the will of the people, or rather by the politicians of the period, but symbolic of the ultimate rule of the Hierarchy under the Kingship of the Lord of the World.

b. Rule by the leader of some democratic country, who is usually called a president, or by some statesman (no matter by what name he may choose to be called) who is frequently an idealist, though limited by his faulty human nature, by the period in which he lives, by his advisors, and by the widespread corruption and selfishness. A study of such men who have held office in this capacity, made by a fair-minded neutral, will usually demonstrate the fact that they held office under the influence of some idea, which was in itself intrinsically right (no matter how applied), which was forward-moving in its concept, and belonged to the then new age. This relates them to the second ray.

c. Rule by dictators, whose animating principle is not one of the new age ideals, emerging in their particular time, but an idealism of a more material kind—a generally recognised present idealism. They are not usually reactionary nor are they found among the intuitive workers of their age, but they take what is grounded, settled and easily available—made so by the thinkers of their time—and then give it a material, national and selfish twist and objective, and so force it on the masses [54] by fear, warlike means and material promises. They belong, therefore, more practically to the third ray methods of work, for they are intelligent, expedient, and materially constructive. True idealism, involving as it must the new age patterns, and religious incentives are lacking in their techniques. Nevertheless, they do lead the race on another step, for they have a mass effect in evoking thought, and sometimes eventual resistance, as the result of that thought.

Later we shall study these and other ways of governing, and analyse their ordinary modern expressions and future spiritual correspondences. These will some day appear on earth as a result of the many experiments today going on. Remember this.

As I earlier said, the processes of education, of law and of government are so closely allied and so definitely related that if ever the work of this fifth group reaches a stage where it is indeed a germ of a new age organism (and many such groups will necessarily appear in the different countries of the world), it will be found that they will act as a clearing house or a linking body between the educators of the time, those whose task it is to enforce the law, and the statesmen who are chosen by the educated masses to formulate the laws whereby they should be governed. It will be apparent, therefore, along what three lines of study and work the members of this fifth group will proceed. These I will not further elaborate in this place.

In view of the steady progress towards religious unity which has proceeded apace during the past 150 years, the work of the sixth group (religion in the new age), as is also the case with the first group (telepathic communication) promises rapid results. This is, however, necessarily dependent upon the "skill in action" and the willingness of the group members and allied groups to proceed with slowness and tact.

The moment any idea enters the religious field, it gains immediate momentum from the fact that the outstanding [55] characteristic of the human consciousness is the sense of the Innermost or the Real, a recognition of subjective destiny, and an innate knowledge of and reaching out to the Unknown God. Therefore, any truth or presentation of truth or method which has in it the possibility of producing a nearer approach to divinity or a more rapid understanding of the "deeper Being" evokes an immediate response and reaction. There is consequently much need for caution and considered action.

I have already indicated to you the form that the religion of the new age will take (See The Reappearance of the Christ). It will be built around the periods of the Full Moon, wherein certain great Approaches will be made to the world of reality, also around two periods of massed Approaches to be made at the time of the major eclipse of the moon and of the sun during the year. The two major Full Moon Approaches will be those of the Wesak Full Moon and the Full Moon of June—one hitherto consecrated to the Buddha Who embodied the wisdom of God, and the other to the Bodhisattva (known to Christians as the Christ) Who embodied the love of God.

The platform of the new world religion will have in it three major presentations of truth, or three major doctrines, if such an undesirable word can be permitted. It is with the elaboration of these three points of view, or evocations of truth, that the work of the sixth group of disciples will be concerned. They are:

1. The fact of the Spirit of God, both transcendent and immanent, will be demonstrated, and also a similar fact in relation to man. The mode of their approach to each other, via the soul, will be indicated. This aspect of the emerging truth might be called Transcendental Mysticism.

2. The fact of the divine quality of the Forces in nature and in man and the method of their utilisation for divine purposes by man. This might be called Transcendental Occultism.

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3. The fact, implied in the first, that Humanity, as a Whole, is an expression of divinity, a complete expression, plus the allied fact of the divine nature and work of the planetary Hierarchy, and the mode of the Approach of these two groups, in group form, to each other. This might be called Transcendental Religion.

More than this I will not here indicate as I seek to touch briefly upon the remaining three groups. I will, however, point out that we shall elaborate somewhat the Technique of the Presence of God, approaching it from a new angle, that of the Group, and also upon the Technique of Light. Two lesser Techniques I have at times called to your attention and with these we will later deal, for they are in the nature of approaches to the other two—the Technique of Indifference and the Technique of Service (See Glamour: A World Problem). As we study the divine Approaches, we shall see that they involve two parties or two groups—those found on the objective and those on the subjective side of life.

The work of the seventh group, which is in the field of science, is closely allied to that of the seventh ray and is one with a most practical physical purpose. It is strictly magical in its technique, and this technique is intended to produce a synthesis between the three aspects of divinity upon the physical plane, or between life, the solar energies and the lunar forces. This involves a difficult task and much understanding; the work to be done is not easy to comprehend. It will be carried forward by first ray workers, assisted by seventh ray aspirants, but using fifth ray methods. They will thus combine, in their personnel, the work of the destroyer of outgrown forms, the findings of the scientists who penetrated behind the outer form to its motivating energy, and the practical work of the magician who—under the law—creates the new forms, as expressions of the inflowing life.

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This group of disciples will make a close study of the problem of evil, and they will bring about a better understanding of the purpose existing in matter or substance, and the inflowing enlightened and different purpose of the soul aspect. That is why (in my earlier discussion of the subject) I linked the results of religion and of science together; religion is concerned with the awakening to conscious purpose of the soul in man or form, whilst science is concerned with the activity of the outer form as it lives its own life, yet slowly becomes subservient to that purpose and to soul impress. This is the thought contained in the words "scientific service" as used by me. The work of this group is therefore a triple one:

1. They will take the most advanced inferences of the workers in the field of science, and will then formulate the new hypotheses upon which the next immediate steps forward in any particular scientific field will be founded.

2. They will avail themselves of the sensitive reactions which the new spiritual Approaches (as taught by the world religion of the time) will have made possible and—utilising the inferences thus made available in connection with the inner world of spirit—will outline the nature of the incoming forces which will determine and motivate the culture of the time.

3. Taking the substance or material, and the spiritual inferences and the scientific hypotheses, they will formulate those forms of service on the physical plane which will precipitate with rapidity the Plan for the immediate present. They will release through this blend of scientific knowledge and intuitive idealism, those energies which will further human interests, relate the subhuman to the human through a right interplay of forces, and thus clear the way of those intellectual impediments which will (and always have) blocked man's approach to the superhuman world.

I doubt that it will be possible to do much in connection with the forming of this group, and this for several reasons. [58] [58] The first is that such a group cannot be formed until a certain scientific discovery has been made of such moment that our present scientific inhibition in recognising the fact of the soul as a creative factor, will disappear. This discovery will be part of the acknowledged "facts of science" by the year 1975. Secondly, A.A.B. has not the necessary scientific knowledge to do more than grasp the broader outlines of the intended work, and then only primarily from the angle of the more mystical and philosophical approaches. Nor, my brothers, have I. It will take a fifth or seventh ray initiate to deal with this matter, and though I could invoke the assistance of such a brother, it does not seem to me a profitable expenditure of force at this time. The sigh of relief from A.A.B. as she grasps the fact that there is one less group to tackle on my and your behalf would almost warrant my making this a major reason!

Let us now pass on to a brief indication of the work of the eighth group, which is psychological service. In this field the work will be lifted out of the realm of the strictly human and will concern itself with wider issues—for, my brothers—there are wider issues than those which concern the human family alone. The work of these disciples will cover the following three issues:

1. The relation of the human soul to the subhuman kingdoms in nature and the place of the human kingdom as an intermediary between the three higher kingdoms and the three lower.

2. The quality of the soul in the three subhuman kingdoms, with particular emphasis upon the animal and the vegetable kingdoms. The consciousness of the mineral kingdom is so far removed from the human that it is not possible for us to formulate anything about it in words, or to identify ourselves with it until after the expansion of consciousness which takes place after the third initiation—that of the Transfiguration.

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3. A study of the Plan, as it appears at this time to be working out in the five kingdoms in nature. It will be apparent to you that the teaching connected with this group will be more definitely and academically occult in its significance than will be the case in the others, for it will be based upon information contained in The Secret Doctrine and in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. It will be founded upon certain premises contained in those volumes. Therefore, the members of this group of disciples will be of the more orthodox persuasion; they will be theosophists by nature, and academic by disposition.

The nature of the anima mundi, the fact of the subjective consciousness found in all forms without exception, and the existence of an interplay between these forms, through the medium of the soul, will be the major theme. Soul sensitivity and reaction to the energy in any form will be the training objective of the group members. Owing to the difficulty of this task, the members of this eighth group will be chosen from the personnel of the other groups, for they will have had a fair measure of training in their preliminary work. Two groups will then be interlocking groups—that which is formed of the key people in all the groups, and this one.

The ninth group, whose project is financial service, will be one of the most practical and interesting from the standpoint of the present world situation and modern conditions. I may begin to organise this group before long, provided some of my disciples show me the subjective signs for which I look, which involves a right understanding and spiritual appreciation of money. By this I do not mean that any of you who do show such signs will be in this group, but you will provide the right conditions which will make its inception possible; one or two of the key people, however, may form part of the financial service group if the plan works out as hoped and intended.

The task to be undertaken by this group is to study the significance of money as directed and appropriated [60] [60] energy. This direction of force produces concretisation, and the work is then in the field of magical endeavour. As with the work of the other groups, the task to be carried out falls into three categories of endeavour:

1. The effort to understand the nature of prana or of vital etheric energy, and the three qualities which distinguish it; these are (as you well know) inertia, activity and rhythm or—giving them their Hindu names—tamas, rajas and sattva. When the mineral wealth of the world was undiscovered and unused, we had the stage of tamas at its deepest and most inert point. Much concerning money today is related to the karma and destiny of the mineral kingdom. With this, however, we need not here concern ourselves. The processes of the pranic life were originally carried out in the realm of barter and the exchange of that which is found upon the surface of the earth and later went down into the depths, thus bringing into fluidity the deepest and densest expression (from the human standpoint) of divinity. This is a point to be remembered.

Today the process is being reversed and money is connected with the produce of the vegetable kingdom in the form of paper money, founded upon the mineral wealth of the world. This is an interesting subjective reality to have in mind.

2. A study of the processes whereby money has been steadily deflected from personal uses, both in the good and in the evil sense.

I do not, however, intend to write a treatise upon finance. It would largely be a record of man's dire selfishness, but I seek to deal with money as the Hierarchy sees the problem, and to consider it as a form of energy, prostituted at this time to material ends or to the selfish aspirations and ambitions of well-meaning servers. They are limited in their view and need to get a picture of the possibilities inherent in the present situation which could deflect much of this form of concretised divine energy into constructive channels and "ways of light."

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3. A study of the Law of Supply and Demand, so that there can be made available for the Masters' work through the medium of the world disciples (of pure motive and skill in action and tried responsibility) that which is needed, and, my brothers, sorely needed by Them.

Money has been deflected into entirely material ends, even in its philanthropic objectives. The most spiritual use now to be found in the world is the application of money to the purposes of education. When it is turned away from the construction of the form side and the bringing about solely of material well-being of humanity and deflected from its present channels into truly spiritual foundations much good will be done, the philanthropic ends and the educational objectives will not suffer, and a step forward will be made. This time is not yet, but the spiritualising of money and its massing in quantities for the work of the Great Ones, the Disciples of the Christ, is part of a much needed world service and can now make a satisfactory beginning; but it must be carried forward with spiritual insight, right technique and true understanding. Purity of motive and selflessness are taken for granted.

THE IMMEDIATE TASK

September 28, 1938

The Hierarchy is deeply concerned over world events. I am asked to request you to continue with the goodwill work at all costs and in the face of all obstacles. The nucleus already formed must be preserved. The New Group of World Servers must preserve its integrity and work undismayed. All is not yet lost. The steadiness of those who know God's Plan will help humanity and aid the efforts of the Elder Brothers. They are those who love and do not hate and who work for unity—both subjective and spiritual.

This is all I can say at this time, for the Hierarchy itself knows not which forces will prevail. They know that good must ultimately triumph but They do not know what [62] the immediate future holds for humanity because men determine their own courses. The Law of Cause and Effect can seldom be offset. In those cases where it has been offset, it has required the intervention of Forces greater than those available at this time upon the planet. Those greater Forces can intervene if the world aspirants make their voices penetrate. Will this be possible? The forces of destruction, militating against the Forces of good, have (to use your American phrase) "cornered" the money assets of the world and have turned the tide of prana—which automatically crystallises into money and in the financial wealth of the world—towards entirely material, separative and personal ends. It is not easily available, therefore, for the spread and culture of goodwill and this applies equally to the money which is in the hands of aspirants, as in the hands of those who are purely selfishly minded. So many aspirants have not learnt to give with sacrifice. If you can reach some of the financial abundance and deflect it towards the ends of the Great White Lodge of which the Christ is the Master, it will be, at this time, one of the most constructive things you can do to help.

In this time of stress and strain, my brothers, I would remind all aspirants and disciples that there is no need for the sense of futility or for the registration of littleness. The seed groups that will function in the new age are, at this time, in the dark and growing stage and in the process of expansion, working silently. This stage is, however, most important for according to the healthiness of the seeds and their ability to cast strong roots downwards and to penetrate slowly and steadily upwards into the light, so will be the adequacy of their contribution to the new age which is upon us. I would emphasise that fact to you. The New Age is upon us and we are witnessing the birth pangs of the new culture and the new civilisation. This is now in progress. That which is old and undesirable must go and of these undesirable things, hatred and the spirit of separation must be the first to go.

I told you before that accidents to individuals are the [63] result, usually, of an explosion of force and that these explosions are caused by the hatreds and the unkind thoughts and the critical words of those involved in the accident. The world situation today is not caused by the ambitions of any one person or race, or by the materialism, aggression and pride of any particular nation. It is not basically the result of the wrong economic conditions existing in the world at this time. It is caused entirely by the widespread hatred in the world—hatred of people and of races, hatred of individuals and of those in power, or of influence, and hatred of ideas and of religious beliefs. Fundamentally, it is caused by the separative attitudes of all peoples and races who, down the centuries and also today, have hated each other and loved themselves. It is caused by people in every country, who have sought to cast the blame for conditions on everyone except themselves, and who have diligently sought for scapegoats whereby they may feel personal immunity for their share in the wrong thinking, the wrong speaking and the wrong doing.

This fact should be grasped and faced by all aspirants and disciples, including the members of the seed groups. They are not immune from the prevalent failings and many of them have sought to apportion the blame for world conditions and to criticise those who are seeking, in their own way and fashion, to deal with the situation. Clear thinking, a clear appraisal of causes and a loving outgoing to all, should distinguish all disciples at this time. Where this attitude does not exist, there is ever the danger of absorption into the vortex of hatred and separativeness and the divorcing of the person by this (even if only temporarily) from the vortex of love. This spells danger and glamour. The very fact that disciples are all so pronouncedly individual, intensifies their reactions, good and bad.

I stand almost bewildered (did I not know and love human nature so well) at the little advance in loving thinking that some disciples have shown. It is time now, in the face of the difficulty and seeming inadequacy, to begin the intended group work, if such a beginning is ever to be made. [64] Each group has been organised to fulfil a specific task. This united group work has not yet been started. That task must be begun.

Group One can telepathically influence leading people and speak to their minds so that they may be impressed with the need which has been described by one of the Great Ones as "the loving salvage of the world." They must be led to realise that their policies must be determined by world good. The success that the group had in helping ... indicated their ability to be constructively useful.

Group Two can work, if they are willing, in a constructive fashion to end some of the world glamour. This they can do because several of the group members have successfully fought glamour in their lives.

Group Three can begin group healing under direction, once certain interior adjustments have been made.

Group Four can attempt to aid in the building of the world antahkarana, working of course in group formation. This they can do if they divorce themselves, as individuals, from all separative ideas and learn to work in the spirit of love and with a conscious decentralisation of their personalities.

There are, my brothers, weaknesses to be found in all the group members. Personality tendencies and errors exist and the mistakes which involve, primarily, a man's own interests and his own internal life; but these constitute no serious detriment to group work, for they can be overcome or rendered entirely superficial with a very little effort. Impatience with the results already achieved, a feeling of smug superiority, certain physical failings and personal ambitions of a superficial kind are present in several members in all of the groups. And in each group, at this time, there is one member whose difficulties are of a more serious nature, because they constitute a true detriment to the group life, providing (as they do) entrance for forces which do, most definitely, hold back the flow of spiritual life and prevent the work of a group nature moving forward to accomplishment. In these cases, what can I do?

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First of all, I must exert infinite patience and give to each person full time for change. This I have done—for years in some cases, and have thereby taxed the patience of the group members who were not implicated in the particular situation and weakness, and who longed to begin group work. The lesson of patience has not been lost and I would remind the group members that if they ever hope to have hierarchical standing, they must learn that love and that patience which can wait—thinking no evil and fostering only good.

I made clear to you this year that a drastic reorganisation might be in order and that the groups might have to be rearranged somewhat before the united group work could be carried forward. This reorganisation seems now to me to be unavoidable. It is not final. It does not touch the enduring, unchanging relation which has been established and which will persist among all of you eternally. Nothing can basically separate you.

The objective of the work of these seed groups is to familiarise people with the hierarchical Plan as it is working out today in this time of crisis. In these last three words you have the theme which is of paramount importance to you at this time. Is it? Your work is partly to dispel illusion, but primarily to impress the Plan upon the consciousness of the leading people in the world. It has seemed to us that this crisis is more keenly realised by worldly people than it is by world aspirants, who do have a slight vision of the objectives. Those who are not oriented to the spiritual Hierarchy and to the Path are now largely dedicated to activities of a world nature (either good or what you call bad) and this is not true of the world aspirants. They, instead of working actively to bring about the accomplishment of the ends indicated by the Plan (which are of a spiritual nature and unifying in their effect, breeding not hatred and separativeness, but world understanding and fusion) spend their time in speculation, in criticism of the various world leaders and in fearful foreboding—none of which is in the least helpful and, in the last analysis, is definitely [66] harmful. This harmfulness is due to a powerfully directed thoughtform, constructed by men and women of a certain aptitude in spiritual advancement.

The responsibility of thought is little grasped as yet by those who are numbered among the world aspirants; yet their thought-making activity is now either definitely constructive or potentially destructive. I hesitate to enlarge upon this theme, owing to the probable personality reactions which those who read these words may generate. I am, therefore, speaking here of the world in general and not so specifically of the world aspirants and pledged workers.