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Autobiography of Alice A. Bailey - Appendix - The Principles of the Arcane School
IV. The Arcane School Teaches that the "Souls of Men are One" This truth grows normally out of any consideration of the Plan of Evolution and proves to be a developing realization of all who attempt to practice the rules of the spiritual life and so bring themselves under the laws which govern the Kingdom of God. Much teaching has gone out during the past three hundred years about brotherhood and fraternal relationship between men. In the Arcane School, we study the basis of this belief and the inclusiveness of the divine Life, informing as it does all the subhuman kingdoms, the human family and the superhuman lives which stretch beyond the strictly human into the very light of eternity itself. The practical acceptance of this is being developed through the international aspect of the Arcane School. Students belong to every nation and every religion. The school lessons and papers are available in English, French, German, Dutch, Italian and Spanish and are now being translated into Polish, Greek, Roumanian and Armenian. Much progress has been made along these lines. The school secretaries belong to every nationality and the students are assigned frequently to the supervision of a secretary of a different nationality to their own; this is part of the effort to fuse and blend men into a great spiritual brotherhood which knows no distinction of race, nation or religion. The new Invocation which is used by all the students daily has been translated into sixteen different languages. (By 1951 this number had increased to forty-two known languages plus a great number of little known dialects.) In the Arcane School, we make a definite effort to counter the "great heresy of separateness" which is so distinctive of modern thinking and thus lay the foundation for that new world in which there will emerge a civilization based upon the belief that the "souls of men are One." Isolationism, insularity and individualism are all expressions of the deep seated separateness which has been so unhappily distinctive of humanity; it is this which lies at the bottom of all our religious, political and ideological differences and which is the fruitful source of all wars. The solution of this world problem lies in the emergence of a spiritual group (gathered out of all races and nations) which is banded together to tread the Path of Discipleship, to bring into manifestation the Kingdom of God and to demonstrate right human relations. Such a group will recognize similarity [290] of idealism, origin and goal in all other groups and will express a fundamental spiritual unity. They will lay the emphasis upon the points of contact and not upon the points of difference; they will endeavor to cooperate with all groups which have a sane spiritual vision and objective without losing, at the same time, their individuality and integrity. It is for this reason that the Arcane School does not start groups, lodges or organized meetings in the many cities in the world where students are to be found. It has no desire to be a competitive organization with related loyalties to local lodges, local meetings and local leaders. As we said above, our students are free to work in other organizations and are not expected to owe allegiance to anyone in the Arcane School. Its students are taught to realize that the souls of men are one and to try and live in the power and application of this fundamental truth. The attitude which the Arcane School student is encouraged to develop is best summed up in the following lines which constitute the blueprint upon which he is asked to pattern his life: "The souls of men are one and I am one with them. I seek to love, not hate; I seek to serve and not exact due service; I seek to heal, not hurt. Let pain bring due reward of light and love. Let the soul control the outer form And life and all events, And bring to light the Love That underlies the happenings of the time. Let vision come and insight. Let the future stand revealed. Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone. Let love prevail. Let all men love."
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