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The Externalization of the Hierarchy - Section IV - Stages in the Externalization
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 practice 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 organizing 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 realize 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 materialize 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 [630] metaphysical schools are focused 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 organization 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 organization. The organizations so demanding must work with the minimum of overhead and central plant, and the workers for the minimum yet reasonable salary. Not many such organizations 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 emphasized 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 it. [631] 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 energize you and those whom you can reach, there is nothing that I can say which will be of any use.
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