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Autobiography of Alice A. Bailey - Chapter VI
For this the disruption of the present world war has effectively cleared the stage. The evils of wrong human relations, the wickedness of aggression and racial discrimination are made so apparent that only the stupid and unintelligent can fail to see the necessity for active goodwill. [235] So many people of good intentions theoretically accept the fact that God is love and blissfully hope that He will make that love apparent in humanity. Thus the New Group of World Servers was launched into the consciousness of modern humanity. The pamphlet outlining this ideal received the widest distribution and it was followed by other pamphlets on the same subject written by the Tibetan and enlarging upon the basic theme of spiritual purpose and goodwill. The Tibetan in these pamphlets outlined a definite procedure for us to follow. He advocated the building up of mailing lists of the men and women of goodwill in the various countries in the world. He suggested our organizing what He called Units of Service in as many countries in the world as possible. He outlined for us the nature of the teaching which they should receive and these suggestions and injunctions we immediately proceeded to carry out. From 1933 until 1939 we occupied ourselves with the spreading of the doctrine of goodwill, with the organizing of Units of Service in nineteen different countries and in finding those men and women who responded to the vision of the Tibetan and were willing to do what they could to promote right human relations and spread the idea of goodwill amongst men. Foster and I have always been dissatisfied with the emphasis laid upon peace. For years the peace groups in the world have been occupied in spreading the idea of peace, piling up mailing-lists of people who endorsed the idea of peace - and who doesn't - and in spreading everywhere the demand that peace become a compulsory thing. We have felt very strongly that this was putting the cart before the horse. In the days of violent peace propaganda between World War I and World War II the idea of peace made great [236] strides. Millions of names appeared on lists demanding peace. The Axis nations welcomed the idea of peace propaganda for it represented a soporific condition in which no steps would be taken to arm the nations against possible aggressors. The fact that war is largely incidental to rotten economic conditions led to little real activity to put these conditions right. People continued to starve; many continued to be underpaid in all parts of the world; child labor was not wiped out in any country though great strides were made in the endeavor so to do; the over-population of the world steadily increased the difficulties. All conditions that might incite to war were present everywhere even while the cry was going up "let there be peace on earth." When the angels sang at Bethlehem they said, "Glory to God in the highest" - the final consummation and goal. Then "Peace on earth" - where humanity as a whole is concerned and, as the first and absolutely necessary step, "Goodwill towards men." Goodwill has to come first if there is ever to come peace and this has been forgotten. People have attempted to initiate a period of peace before there has been any demonstration of goodwill. There can be no peace until goodwill is a conditioning factor in all human relations. Another revolutionary thing that the Tibetan did was when He dictated the contents of A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. In this book He gave what H.P.B. prophesied He would give, the psychological key to cosmic creation. H.P.B. stated that in the 20th century a disciple would come who would give information concerning the three fires with which The Secret Doctrine deals: electric fire, solar fire and fire by friction. This prophecy was fulfiled when A Treatise on Cosmic Fire was given out to the public. This book concerns the fire of pure spirit or life; the fire of the mind that vitalizes every atom of the solar system [237] and creates the medium through which the Sons of God develop. It also concerns the fire of matter producing that attraction and repulsion which is the basic law of evolution, and holding forms together so as to provide vehicles for the evolving life and later, when they have served their purpose, repulsing those forms so that the evolving lives can move on their way to higher evolution. The true significance of this book will only be appreciated towards the close of this century. It is of a profundity and a depth of technical knowledge which lies beyond the understanding of the ordinary reader. It is also a bridging book because it takes certain basic, oriental ideas and phrases and introduces them to the occidental student, whilst at the same time it makes practical the sometimes vague, metaphysical concepts of the East.
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