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Encyclical On World Good Will

A Report to the Earth

El Morya
Chief of the Darjeeling Council
The Great White Brotherhood


Introduction


The observations and recommendations of this encyclical have been compiled from a long-range study made by me, together with the invaluable assistance of the Darjeeling Council of the Great White Brotherhood. It has long been my desire to present to the people of the earth, in concise documentation, the results of our deliberations on those specific problem areas which, through investigations made from our vantage point, we have found to be in need of immediate attention, if the present world order is to remain intact and forward progress is to be made.

It is our solemn conclusion that there must be increased and widespread dissemination of a precise knowledge and understanding of life and its vital purposes if those leaders in the fields of science, government, religion, education, and social welfare who guide the footsteps of their communities are to properly and effectively serve the crying needs of the hour. We trust therefore that through worldwide application of the nine-point program included herein, together with the incorporation of the recommendations of this encyclical into the motivations and affairs of men, the efforts of "world citizens" will be more constructively channeled into those top-priority areas which we have outlined.

Believing that a clearer understanding of the fulfillment of life's vital purposes can be gained from the encyclical, we trust that all who pause to partake of its contents will be charged with renewed hope for solution of the world's lingering problems and the will to work shoulder to shoulder until the whole leaven in the bread of life is activated to raise the communal loaf of worldwide good will.


Nature Of Problems Under Consideration


Present Resources Sufficient for Present Demands


The presently available resources of the international economy--comprising organized manpower and matériel with the facilities to transport and mobilize their effectiveness, knowledge and skills and the means to communicate their concepts--are sufficient to mend all the world's ills. To this task we have pledged our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

The regrettable trend of purposeless dissipation of mankind's energies and assets into crosscurrents of means and ends in politics, religion, and economics continues to deny to the world community the unity of freedom, the peace of understanding, and the enlightenment of abundance in which all should share. Tensions and dissatisfactions--individual and international, both well and little known--persist; therefore, the demand for renewed study, foresight, and decisive action imbued with universal good will should be our first consideration in the universal good cause for the ennoblement of man.

Honest appraisal of abundant opportunity at hand will reaffirm that the world already has at its disposal the elements necessary and sufficient for the resolving of its difficulties. Therefore, fuller utilization of the matrix of the present is the only sound approach to international order and better living; and this disposition must dispel any tendency to put off till the morrow that which needs attention today if that morrow is to become a desirable reality.


Political and Economic Complications


Direct political-military confrontation of the world's two major power-ideological blocs is unabated in Cuba, Berlin, India, Laos, and Formosa. Increasing ideological conflict for men's affections and actions is evidenced in Asia, the African states, and most especially in Latin America. Common external threats and internal demands have united certain groups to set aside, to a degree, the momentums of provincialism, national honor, and national security, as evidenced in the hesitant economic integration of western Europe and other areas.

While the larger powers increasingly recognize the limits of unilateral action, many newly emergent African and Far Eastern states earnestly seek the glittering laurels of nationhood. The preoccupation with political rivalry by many leaders within and among these states takes the place of the larger humanitarian concerns of caring for their hungry, poverty-stricken, sick, and ignorant peoples and only further postpones long overdue redresses of social, political, and economic imbalance. Lack of adequate standards of impartial public service in many ex-colonial lands, new and old, has resulted in the chaotic conditions so tragically illustrated in the Congo. Fuller integration of all citizens into the body politic of their nations continues despite the opposition of certain elements to true equality before the law.

Demographic problems further complicate this picture, for population increases occur in the very areas least able to support their peoples adequately. Certainly the doctrines of Malthus must not incite fear in man, for Divine Providence is ready and able to release through the instruments of the world's governing bodies the necessary wisdom to cope with every problem. It remains for the training and organization of receptive leaders to be multiplied who will cast aside personal consideration in the interest of the commonweal.


Major Cause of Prolongation of Problems


Strange yet obvious though it may seem, the major underlying cause for the continuation of unrest which must be universally corrected upon earth is the attitude, held far too long, of regarding life as a mere spectator sport. Examination of the historical modes will reveal that difficulties have caused people to become embroiled in struggles which have resulted in needed corrections and reforms. Likewise, the soft living of modern civilization has tended to create indifference and aloofness on the part of the very people who are not only capable to changing the world, but who are also the ones whose natures admirably fit them to the vanguard of constructive and progressive change.


Freedoms and Their Preservation


Significant changes in men's way of life and thinking have been injected into the social structure of the West through the Magna Charta, the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the industrial revolution, treatises on self-government, and tracts in defense of men's individual spiritual awakening during the Renaissance and Reformation. These trends, which reached their peak of expression in English common law, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution of the United States, and many other instruments of freedom, progressively recognized the worth of the individual and his inalienable rights to be governed not arbitrarily, but by conscience.

Responsible, informed, and thinking citizens of democratic countries recognize that streamlined communication and transportation have reshaped the interplay of social, political, and military forces and the more remote areas of the globe, creating thereby the parallel need for a modern approach to world unity and good will in order to actively preserve hard-won liberties.

Certain it is that power blocs do not contemplate yielding to one another; neither does stalemate appeal to the aggressive and communistic states who see in the expansion of their own doctrines a reinforcement of the progressive rights of man. Scientific considerations have solved some problems while augmenting others; yet the rise of humanitarianism is in the minority of the people, while apathy is multiplied by the mass mind in the unenlightened self-interest policies of the very social organs and individuals best equipped to give assistance to the community. Throughout history the accent on personal gain has denied to the world its victory laurels of peace and achievement. Now it is vital that present opportunities, as well as the net gains of the past, are not robbed from mankind by these same sensual misdirections.


Nature Of Solution To Problems Under Consideration


World Commonwealth Supersedes World Communism


It is unthinkable that a world commonwealth fail to be established ultimately, for it is the only proper way to merge authority under responsible law and administration. The unyielding attitudes of the nations of the world who prefer to maintain their sovereign interests and ideologies have set the stage for war in the past. The only actual deterrent to war to which nations pay heed today seems to be the threat of annihilation by those nations who possess the capabilities of nuclear strike. I am certain that democracy and freedom must be enshrined in any acceptable world commonwealth which would derive its power from the consent of the governed. Such a foundation automatically excludes Communism and those military dictatorships which deny in fact freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and public assembly to the people.


To create and knit together a world commonwealth based on acceptable principles before God and man requires the nourishment and cooperation of the rank and file of humanity. Realistic and working forms of the present world order must be retained and built upon by those who are positively unwilling to sit complacently by while their very inheritance is nibbled away by self-willed rodents of deception who masquerade as purveyors of good. Such reactionaries to true progress ever seek the destruction of man's right to exalt and preserve his hard-won democratic freedoms, together with such reforms as are necessary.


Advocates of World Communism are unwilling to modify existing forms of lawful government through the democratic and orderly path of progressive evolution. They prefer to create in anarchy and in some cases, even by apparent civilized and orderly methods, a form of world mutiny. This, regardless of the philosophy of Lenin or Marx, is based on a bourgeois and pseudo-culture of sheer piracy without the benefit and safeguards to humanity of centuries-old codified law. They seek literally to enslave the world's laboring classes, promising them freedom but giving them a new and terrible despotism which, like a gnawing cancer of growing proportion, remains visible in nation after nation upon earth. Thus World Communism stands as the greatest threat ever posed against man and society.


Universal Brotherhood
Fostered by New-Age Culture
and Exemplary Government


The total international constituency ought, then, to strive collectively to release man from the sense of being a mere spectator in world affairs and to encourage the natural inclinations of the hearts of men toward becoming more and more their brothers' keepers. A genuine heartfelt love for one's fellowmen engenders constructive and active interest in civic, domestic, and international problems and gives to men the strength to summon those valiant responses which will help them to brave historical inequities, sometimes in the face of militant and entrenched evils.


Vain considerations which keep men bound in a round of activities of questionable yield must be minimized and replaced by the founding of a new-age culture. It should be the prime goal of such a true culture to mold in the attitudes of the people, from earliest days of childhood, the feeling of being at home in a compassionate world wherein the universal purpose is to ease the burdens of men and raise them to the state of conscious manifestation of the virtues of their own comprehensive faith and individual fulfillment. How can people feel at home in a hostile world?


The present-day advent of orbital flight will have greater meaning and universal purpose to mankind when a more reasonable state of harmony among nations and peoples becomes a reality. While brotherhood is usually advocated by most of the constructive religions of the world, it is essential that a real and living universal brotherhood based on a sincere love of the heart permeate the total thinking, feelings, motives, and acts of each individual. World leaders, who command so clear a viewing and reviewing upon the world stage, ought to display a more than usual quantity of exemplary qualities. If such be not the case, let the common man--and those who are considered uncommon--by the power of united action, decree that more perfect men and women be the governing authority for the earth.


World Progress through World Honesty


Mutual understanding which is not based on deception or the seemingly necessary deceptive counterplays enacted in international diplomacy must supplant selfishly rationalized tactical measures. World honesty is the balm of Gilead to world progress. Even in their state of semi-apathy, citizens discern more of such questionable tactics than they care to struggle with. All the more reason, then, that men of good faith should replace all who are not striving to manifest in the forum of right action superb qualities of highest statesmanship. Virtue in government and in social intercourse can only become the universally accepted standard of conduct and contract as the result of the unwavering and uncompromising demands of the people for truth, integrity, and justice.


Educational Program Based on the Golden Rule


In correcting ingrained social errors and initiating a new and better way of life upon the moving screen of civilization, I am urging that there be established a new program of carefully planned education for the children of the world. This program should accentuate the attitude of noblesse oblige, engender dignity of self, and incorporate a soundly revealed faith in universal purpose, such teleological concepts quite naturally being dispensed through the manifold religions of the world with the understandable addendum of sectarian slants. Let the scholastic curricula of the public educational systems of the world place greater emphasis upon the ethical training and exercises in courtesy as the natural expression of kindness and a thoughtful regard and respect for others. As a rule of behavior in all types of relations between individuals and political units, the golden rule remains the guide to positive acts that infuse the moral structure of society with the vitality which makes for a responsible citizenry.


Reverence for Life, the Soul of Applied Religion and Science


Juvenile delinquency and rising waves of crime should indicate to mankind the need for a deeper consideration of those so-called social outcasts and barren lives which spawn upon the world scene the bleak result of wanton selfishness which culminates in a state of personal recklessness. Universal reverence for life, wherever manifest, must topple the walls of racial prejudice, caste, bigotry, political abuse, ideological polarities, and untempered religious zeal. Reverence for life, for man as its supreme representative upon earth, should be the soul of applied religion and science.


Inferior motives of conquest and control over that which can never be bound--namely, the free will of man--must go down before liberty of conscience and man's freedom to multiply his God-given talents. When rightly understood as means of uplifting the spiritual morale of the people, enlightening their consciousness, and lightening men's burdens, the common goals of religion and science will supplant their divergent philosophies and methodologies; hence the union of these two branches of the Tree of Life will be for the healing of the nations.


Good And Evil In Man And Society


Nature of Evil


Evil, whether posing as a social or personal threat, is neither universal nor real. However widespread, diabolical, or insidious it may appear, it is temporary and exists just so long as it is not corrected and replaced by virtue. Evil is error, ignorant or malicious. Error is found in high places and low, within church and state; yet it can be permanently overcome only through the establishment and maintenance of good in its place. Good, remaining undefined, may have the appearance of evil or error, simply because of the latter's seeming innocuousness. Likewise, a vacuum of harmlessness, unproductive of good, easily becomes prey to manifest iniquity.


Nature of Good


Thus in order for good to retain the essence of goodness, it must be alive in consecrated, positive action and, when necessary, militantly defended. The character of right belief, then, is right action. As the gap between pure motives and noble deeds, ideals, and their pragmatic counterparts is narrowed, the unity and continuity of good will unmask the infamous impostor whose lies always bear the earmarks of separatism and unproductivity. It follows that the practical effects of united world faith in God ought to express as a giant teamwork wherein the world's religious leaders pledge their common faith to eradicate the causes and results of centuries of vain competition and divisionary labors.


Admonition


Oh, that men might let go of the crutches of fear and doubt which bind them as invalids to the invalid oppressions of disunity couched in intellectual schisms and social inequities! Oh, that men might accept the inherent power of the Christ light of world good will t penetrate the density of human reason and resolve their many refractive ideas into one grand more powerful concept, even as the sun focused through the lens of universal truth is resplendent with more intense effectivity!


Interplay Of Forces In Man And Society


Yin and Yang


As the contrast of light and darkness provides men with a daily balance of rest and motion, so in the arena of both politics and religion the interplay of forces can best be understood within the framework of the principle of yin and yang. This concept, dealing with the positive and negative polarities of life, also serves to set in relief the meaning of experience, of action and inaction, of thesis and antithesis, the ebb and flow of the tide of human affairs and the individual currents which determine the movement of the larger mass.


From the man in the street to the more complex organizations of business, government, and society, men feel the need to position themselves in interest groups from left to right on a scale of attitudes pro and con the passing events of the times. In politics and religion men are arrayed--in many cases fiercely immovable--in fixed positions classified as "liberal" or "conservative." At the other extreme, however, unbridled and imprudent use of freedom of choice and uninformed assessment of acts result in an unhealthy fluctuation along the entire range of the scale.


Stable Reality through Synthesis of Universal Truth
If the whole personality of man be tethered to a stable reality, greater progress can be forthcoming through rightly exercising the prerogative of choice. Men feel the need to embrace an entire system of thought simply because some of its elements or most of them agree with their inner convictions; conversely, they frequently reject whole systems because they do not agree with one or more of their tenets. Let men accept truth for truth's sake alone and reject all else. Likewise, men must learn to disassociate personality from concepts when assessing the value of truth and abstain from criticizing any system of religion or philosophy simply because the professed followers may or may not live up to proffered ideals.


When men's idols fall as the result of an attempt at the personification of ideals and disillusionment follows limited vision, it is well to remember that the human organization is the proving ground rather than the standard for those ultimate principles of truth which live independently of men's partial understanding or unsuccessful practice of them. Unity is the effective means of combating the common problems which beset the race. Individuals are needed who will dare to raise the banner of brotherhood as the symbol of common responsibility to erase the blights of disease, poverty, or any form of imperfection whatsoever, irrespective of its raid on self or neighbor. Objectivity, then, is the open door to peace and victory in "one-world truth" made manifest as divine stability.


Just as much of the good stated in various doctrines in found in many facets of expression according to the modes of the times, so in the case of Marx and Lenin and the whole fabric of Communism, much of the good framed therein is not exclusive to that system. Rather is it included in the universal ethic of the present civilization and specifically in the Christian and democratic ways of life. The blatant adulteration of essential truth through dialectical materialism, however, renders Communism, as a pattern for individual or national evolution, wholly unacceptable to the honest of heart.


America and other democracies have already adapted some progressive ideas of so-called communistic origin in state-supported welfare, social security, and federal subsidies in housing, highways, and interstate projects such as the Tennessee Valley Authority. Likewise, Communist states, notwithstanding their avowed opposition to democracy, are susceptible to the fresh winds of freedom through mass education according to ability, which throughout history has been the beginning of the emancipation of the people. The synthesis of elements of opposing systems is the adaptation universal truth wherever found, to current social demands; and this must never be misconstrued as compromise or peaceful coexistence with error.


Disciplined Love and Divine Discrimination
Adjust Imbalances


It must be remembered that Communists throughout the world, as well as the Russian people, in all their stolid devotion to service, are as much victims of the international horror of Communism as anyone. And they must be loved for their essential humanity rather than despised for their indoctrinations and misplaced fervor. Love, then, must be actively used to create a cradle of understanding which will avoid the imbalanced yin and yang of alternate feelings of revulsion and exultation. With the calm measuring instrument of a disciplined mind and heart, men must weigh the right and left aspects of life and remain unswayed, emotionally or mentally, by disturbing forces.


The golden mean of pure truth embodied in the words "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is a far more facile and articulate phrasing of the just law than the most complex sociological or philosophical system. The right understanding of the matter of outer conditions is that the yin and yang are merely aspects of the whole law in manifestation and, as such, these aspects are neither good nor evil, such qualification depending upon whether the idea being propounded is appropriate and adequate to serve the purposes of the world order.


The current state of the world in power politics, philosophy, and even in religion has created a hectic and emotional maelstrom or critical dilemma to which the individual is expected to respond with manifest allegiance to one or another side. In reality, man is intended to express the balance of divine discrimination whereby in a natural, fluidic state of freewill choice he can select, preselect, and, if necessary, reject any sequence of ideas or authoritative system which is incompatible with the law of his own being, true happiness, or inner guidance.


This freedom, which must never be yielded, we assert is more important than outer, temporary conditions. As Esau's birthright was sold for a bowl of soup, so hungry men are being mustered into the camp of Communism while organized religion stands by in defense of holy principles, but frequently remains absent from active encounter with the very apathy which has lulled their freedom-loving hearts into slumber. . Thus men's own lullaby of neglect is responsible for this dangerous status quo of lack.


Golden-Age Blueprint


Order and Perfection


Out of the fires of the idea of world perfection and true order and from the rubble of an outgrown and discarded yin and yang civilization (witnessed by two seemingly opposing forces) shall arise the phoenix bird of the golden-age civilization. Thesis and antithesis of right and left positions and oppositions shall be resolved in the synthesis of balanced integration and interaction of man's individual endowments with those of the whole community.


Accelerated Deliverance, Communion of Hearts


An accelerated tempo of deliverance to all humanity ought now to impart that divine impulse which restores natural harmony to the outer spheres of the family of nations by reestablishing a deep line of inner communication between hearts the world around. Such communion is in that full measure which leaves no room for separatism, but makes of the common quest for perfection a scientific law of purest accuracy defined by the proof of united action, bound by a fierce, unyielding universal integrity.


One Life, One Body


Christians, other religionists, and nonrelgionists must overthrow the weights of indifference and inertia wherever they are found to be impeding the free flow of spiritual energies so needed to revitalize the democratic world. It is the very stagnation of self-satisfaction that has made acceptable to the dulled senses of society those conditions of hunger, ignorance, suffering, and disease which exist side by side with abundance and opportunity.


Social inequities must be abolished once and for all through wise and loving care freely given to every part of the world body with the compassion which knows that the whole cannot be made whole while one of its members is left unaided. Did not the great master Jesus state the supreme law of universal brotherhood based on the inherent unity of all life when he said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me"?


Pragmatic Preservation of Energy


Now is the time. Unless world citizens shall come forward with dispatch to supply the needs of others--educationally, spiritually, and economically--presently enjoyed freedoms may be lost for posterity to the Moloch of human greed. The penalty for apathy and self-deceit would then be exacted upon all of the members of the world body, including the free religious communities.


The energies of the world's leaders are already taxed enough, it is true. On the other hand, conflict of interest among nations and peoples, in business organizations, political systems, and even between religious and cultural institutions--competition itself--is so keen as to utilize about 50 percent of the world's constructive energy! If this energy and the potential it represents were redirected into the scale of right and justice to balance world affairs, ills would be cured rather than endured, as is presently the case.


Social Ills And Their Cures


Business Deceit Corrected through Law of Returns


Among the more serious problems of business today is the rising trend to produce by deliberate intent inferior merchandise for the repeat trade. Engineering know-how has been used to defraud the consumer not only of the superior products that it is capable of producing, but also of the benefits of increased leisure hours which would result from the manufacture and distribution of commodities made to pass the test of excellence. Instead of assuming the increased responsibility attendant with increased knowledge, mankind have flaunted the higher law and the precious gifts of wisdom to outsmart the public and fill private purses.


Scientific invention and skills ought to be used in their most effective manner for the general welfare of mankind instead of being suppressed by competitive economic interest. The abuses of child labor in the cotton mills of England may be long ended, but much of the world still dwells in the twilight zone of nugacious effort. Let the world be freed from needless drudgery through the harnessing of its scientific resources to serve humanity's needs. Clothing, machinery, and other so-called durable commodities should be made to wear not to a minimum, but rather to a maximum greed of service.


The merchants of Babylon have in dishonor sacked the people of the world by aborting divine purpose in ignorance of the universal law of sympathetic attraction. They have closed their eyes to the truth that all good rendered unto life returns to the one sending it forth. If men are not motivated by essential humanitarianism, they should at least pay their respects to this irrevocable law on the basis of enlightened self-interest!


Natural Law Corrects Abuses Imposed upon Life


Cataclysm on a planetary scale has been forestalled more than once by the power of Divine Love expressing through the world's spiritual leaders and the mighty prayer force they muster. Mankind owe a continual debt of gratitude to the true spiritual guardians of the race, whose unceasing prayers have interceded in their behalf. People of earth, this cannot go on forever! Individual responsibility for distortions imposed upon the earth shall be exacted by natural law.


When people do not respond to God's laws through the orderly processes of Love's gentle ministrations, they set in motion the only alternate method whereby Nature can correct those abuses; then natural law operates through disaster, fire, flood, and mass epidemics as the earth convulsively shrugs off men's perverted creations in order that the nobler image may once more be brought forth. We make plain: the law ever prefers the gentler way!


Divine Inheritance Preserved by World Good Will


Men and women of this blessed planet, you must rise in a united effort to throw off all chains of violence, warfare, greed, deceitful advertising, harmful habits, and the insatiable desire for trash in entertainment! Replace these plunderers of your divine inheritance by those spiritual and cultural pursuits which will expand for the individual soul a more permanent state of happiness resulting from new horizons of truth and wondrous revelations concerning the total being of each individual and his place in the universal order.


Crime will diminish in direct proportion to the unbiased application of proper cultural and religious training through the world's vast networks of communication systems. There is no excuse for ignorance or immorality in America, where drama and instruction bearing the high concepts of integrity and justice may be brought to the most humble shack through radio and television.


Because the individual and the family are linked with the state and because personal security is of great importance to the individual, it is essential that personal integrity be the example maintained at the grass-roots level as the standard for public servants at all echelons of government. Ministers holding public office should keep faith with the people and thus help the people to keep faith with them.


Most problems are centered in the marketplace of life's basic necessities. Therefore, give knowledge, bread, and opportunity to all, and strengthen thereby the most natural deterrents to war and Communism. Reduced to its simplest expression, the formula for world good will and happiness is this: Feed the hungry, teach the ignorant, and love the people of the whole world as yourself. Sponsor this unity of good will, and the earth will prosper.


Disarming Power Of Revitalized Spirituality


Application of Religion to Politics


The application of true religion to the politics of the free world is the strongest defense any nation can possess, and I affirm this regardless of the truism that religion and politics ought not to mix. I say mix them! But mix them well and let both the religion and the politics be above the mediocrity of smallness and factions, dedicated rather to honesty, unity, and the commonweal. I therefore advocate, as a solution to the world's problems of war and peace, the disarming power of revitalized spirituality, no matter the various power of revitalized spirituality, no matter the various branches and numbers of religious groups participating--preferably all--for this action cannot be overdone.


Universal Spirituality Excludes Competitive Religion


Hitherto, attempts to infuse the churches with new life have only been underdone or adulterated by platitudes and partial inertia. The very dimension of universal spirituality excludes competition between sects for the attention and loyalty of the people. Contrary to popular belief, often rooted in fear instead of illumined faith, the strength and vitality of the church do not lie in numbers, but in purity of heart, mind, and purpose. Where life and consciousness are consecrated to healing and good works fortified by holy contemplation, there is the place prepared to receive mighty currents of spiritual power which can be mobilized for the salvation of cities, nations, and continents.


Purity Determines Spiritual Balance of Power


Thus a handful of dedicated, selfless individuals can make the difference in the spiritual balance of power for the entire planet, irrespective of the particular religious edifice they may or may not occupy; for God has planted his seeds in the waste places and in the gardens which flourish, that all may be blessed with the abundance of every good and perfect gift. That God is no respecter of persons or systems is attested to by the saints in heaven who have arisen from every age and walk of life under the common banner of charity whose tenet is supreme allegiance to that life which is God and that God which is love in action.


Bonds of Common Service


Men and nations have proven their ability to unite on the battlefield in the face of a common danger during times of war and crisis. Now let them prove their ability in the fields golden with the ripened grain of a spiritual harvest awaiting volunteers who will forswear doctrinal division for the immediate goals of universal freedom, liberty, and brotherhood. And let them not so much as wipe the sweat from their brows until the inalienable rights of every man, woman, and child are made secure through law and impartial justice upholding "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."


Then and only then dare a man stop to consider if his brother agree with his personal credo. Then and only then will men find that they were in agreement all the while. The bonds of common service are stronger than the divisionary lines of doctrinal interpretations or hairsplitting casuistry. The prophecy of Isaiah "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift sword against nation;, neither shall they learn war any more" will be fulfilled when men keep their eyes on the universal purpose of one world, laying aside lesser aims for the good of the whole.


Let participants in any forthcoming ecumenical conference take this truth to heart as their star of Bethlehem whose brilliant promise, so magnificent, makes hesitation for inferior objectives unthinkable. When the brotherhood of man is achieved, the settling of disputes concerning doctrinal tenets will seem less urgent. Any choice which destroys harmony between neighbors or nations is unworthy of man and unrepresentative of the will of God for the earth.


The poet-sage wisely observed, "As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth." The life of man is eternally locked within the heart of the Creator, but his sojourn upon earth is framed within the temporal realm of hours and years. Therefore, let him make full use of that brief opportunity to externalize the City of God among the children of men and in so doing find for himself a just reward in one of the Father's many mansions through the life everlasting. When the concept of the commonweal is wholeheartedly embraced, the angelic song "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" will be on the lips of one and all, a testimony to living truth and brotherly love.
In religion as in politics, the attitude of the spectator sport replaces what should be a total self-immersion in the permanent realities of life. What is needed is for men to become imbued with a greater sense of active participation in world good will. This sense of world good will must naturally express, as it is wont to do, in a more profound universal amity paramount to an apparent universal disunity.


Document Effective


While some men aver that documentation if ineffective, the many successful instruments of liberty attest not only to their far-reaching influence, but also to the necessity for such documents. At crucial periods throughout history, they have served in focusing attention on the noble ideals which have carried nations forward when without such vision the people would have perished.


Therefore, I am promulgating this encyclical with just that vision of God-victory in mind. I trust that it will be truthfully and accurately translated and distributed around the world; for the good that it contains brims from the hearts of the members of the Darjeeling Council, whose every thought is literally charged with good will and devotion to the liberation of mankind from every form of tyranny.


Let none entertain the discouraging suggestion that because abuses have not been remedied in the past, they cannot now be remedied or that this document cannot be effective. If the kernel of its intent is respected and implemented by millions, it can well make possible a universal injunction of right action until, like a snowball rolling down the Himalayan hills, the magnetic force of such right action, imbued with the vitality of divine love, will gather enough momentum to bear an avalanche of progress to the whole world. Such is our hope.
I respectfully and lovingly submit the following program as practical steps in effectuating my expressed ideas. These ideas, if given root and purpose in the days to come, will mightily affect the course of natural events, promote tranquility, and establish great affection between hearts.


Nine-Point Program


1) International Citizenship
and Responsibility through Education


Draft an educational program embodying principles of international citizen ship, stressing the importance of a world-wide outlook from early childhood to be attained through free exposure to customs, folklore, and languages of a variety of nations and cultures. This attitude, instead of destroying loyalty to one's native land, will enable children to compare their own way of life with that of children in other lands and thus develop greater appreciation for their own heritage while sharing the joys of other peoples. Seek to enlarge the borders of children's affections without concern for an alienation of those affections through exposure to new ideas and modes of living.


Let this draft be reviewed by the world's leading educational policymakers, teachers, and every adult interested in the future of youth and country. Let this program be considered in international committees, national agencies, and by state and local school boards and religious organizations. And let every responsible citizen make it his duty to give greater understanding of life and its vital purposes through international awareness to the few or many young people he may daily find entering his sphere of influence.


Let all understand their responsibility to other nations in the same light as they accept responsibility for their countries and individual members of their families. Develop the habit of caring about the problems indigenous to other nations and of working towards their solution as earnestly as if they were matters confronting one's own household or clan. Teach children to pray not only for the playmates whose familiar faces they greet each day, but also for other millions they know not. And above all, teach them that their prayers are answered for the many as effectively as for the few.


2) Individual Expression through Essays on Integrity


Let civic, religious, and cultural groups sponsor contests for the best essays on "Why Integrity Is Essential to World Good Will." Let the best fruits of these efforts be printed in a series of articles, later to become a permanent part of the world's literary heritage. The purpose of these writings will be to create a new moral climate in which neither Communism, greed, nor ego-induced motives can abide. Men and women who determine to add to the archives of earth's wisdom a tablet inscribed with a defense of virtue and truth will surely deserve the honor of heaven.


3) Universal Conscience through Universal
Participation in Current World Affairs


Let every receptive organization constitute itself ipso facto a round-table peace and good will corps by setting aside a portion of each meeting to the constructive discussion, research, and analysis of the major causes of the present lack of world harmony. Let each group present their joint solutions and resolutions to their representatives in international forums, as well as in their national, state, or local governments, depending on the nature of the problem they undertake to explore. This assistance will add the pressure of many constructive minds to those in offices responsible for shaping and carrying out policies of great consequence. Thus there will be created an enormous wave of constructive and illuminating thought power in world affairs which will assist the evolution of the individuals participating as much as it will benefit the various governing bodies.


Mass participation in political and cultural affairs was the basis of the glory of the Greek city-states. Their downfall was caused by disunity and rivalry. If the latter can be eliminated and the former reinstated, the world will see the dawn of a golden age unparalleled in recorded history. This is universal conscience in action.


4) United Faith through United Action


At all forthcoming ecumenical and religious conferences, let the steering committees thereof sublimate less important personal doctrines and stress those tenets of faith which are of universal agreement. Let them determine in the interest of world harmony to sacrifice, if necessary, some measure of organizational advantage in order to implement long-overdue programs of good will which will unite the hearts of the faithful everywhere in the strengthening bonds of service.
Let all such conferences be founded upon the purpose of discovering and putting into action joint humanitarian endeavors to raise standards of living and instill wider cultural appreciation and an emulation of the lives and works of the many avatars, saints, and prophets who have graced the earth. Men can well afford postponement of doctrinal agreement until, through the baptism of ordered service, they all come together in one accord, face to face with the knowledge of the true law of life and its application in the resolution of all human difficulties.


5) World Citizenship through Cultural Exchange Programs


Recognizing that the only real disarmament is the outgoing feeling of brotherly love, let such love be nurtured through a continuous expansion of all cultural exchange programs between nations. Let these programs be geared to the youth of the world, and make participation therein, in some form, a part of their required educational curricula.


Establish an international agency to coordinate the free exchange of you people in schools, universities, and working situations throughout the globe. Let students en masse learn to study and work and play together with their counterparts abroad and become, through associations with many types of individuals and surroundings, citizens of the world at home in Paris, Calcutta, Tokyo, Sidney, Buenos Aires, or Los Angeles.
Let such exchanges also take place on professional levels with cooperation in the fields of science and the universal languages of music, art, and good theater. Trends already working in this direction should be reinforced by greater financial assistance from national governments, as well as from private foundations, to give fuller opportunity to millions more who have never ventured beyond their own doorsteps.


6) Social Evils Attacked through
Examination of Monetary Systems


Let the monetary systems of the world come under closer scrutiny. The use of money is a presently necessary evil, and therefore it should be kept under the microscope of man's focused attention in order to determine where it is hindering the expression of a more perfect civilization upon earth.


While preparing this encyclical, I make such an investigation and found the financial systems of the world of such a nature as to almost defy probing, especially as to the far-reaching effects these systems have upon human affairs. Upon discovering a great measure of the causes and effects involved, I discovered with the facts that so much confusion would be introduced by revealing these matters in their entirety that they were better left unsaid for the time being. I therefore recommend that mankind, who created these conditions, ought to bite off little by little as many of the pieces of the economic puzzle as they can reasonably and properly digest, correcting their ills as rapidly as possible and thus ending the root cause of most other social and moral evils upon earth. Men of good will, accept the challenge!


7) Speedy Adjustment of Civil Inequities
through Ombudsman


The courts of every nation are, in the main, backlogged with hearings and investigations, making the attainment of swift justice nearly impossible in many cases and therefore discouraging judicial redress. The Ombudsman system used in the Scandinavian countries fulfills the purpose of alleviating much of this distress and other bureaucratic ills. The Ombudsman is a special parliamentary commissioner appointed for a specific term of office. He receives complaints of citizens aggrieved by official or judicial action and is fully empowered to investigate and, when necessary, seek direct legal or legislative assistance.


Such a clearinghouse for complaints not only reconciles citizens to government, but also prevents dedicated civil servants from unwarranted public attacks and arbitrary action by their own departmental superiors. It is an implement of freedom and ought to be examined by all nations and instituted within the framework of their governmental systems as a safety valve and means of direct action to prevent tyranny and tragedy from holding sway while the mills of justice slowly and painfully continue to grind away with the passing of years.


8) Universal Equality before the Law
through the Public-Defender System


Tales of innocent men executed for crimes they did not commit have haunted the conscience of every honest judge and juror and have been the theme of many a fair tale. The expansion of population and increased crowding of cities and land with a teeming multitude has not lessened the possibility of justice miscarrying through human channels, no matter how carefully the ashes of truth are sifted.


Poverty and uncertainly continue to plague many who are honest but poor, and the use of the public-defender system should be widely introduced and universally proclaimed. The providing of public counsel dedicated to the honest defense of the accused and the securing for him of every right to which he is entitled under law ought to be the province of good government everywhere. This function of government is a vital touchstone to securing the rights of liberty, life, and happiness to all.


9) Byword of Universal Good Will:
"I AM My Brother's Keeper"


My ninth and final recommendation is a personal one, and I urge that it be widely considered by individuals and organizations as well, especially those whose bylaws and purposes fit them to serve in creating a better world.


Your life is a doorway to reality which is too often closed by misunderstanding. Most barriers between the individual and right understanding have their origin in the imitation of another's thoughts or actions. The wise and observing will seek to sift the ashes of human thought and feeling in order to extract the precious treasure of those immortal concepts which people must learn to enjoy because of their internal worth. Conversely, men must realize that through habit they have learned much which is in reality false. This you must unlearn, if your sense of values is to reflect that nobility which is your true birthright. Astronomy will eventually reveal that worlds without end exist in an infinitude so vast as to defy human comprehension.


Mankind, functioning as they do in the three-dimensional world, must strive to master themselves in the world of the present and, above all, secure that emotional control which will prevent them from falling prey to every false form of dominion. By the power of freedom the entire world shall overcome all wrong ideas and evolve for each person a concept of beauty of such dimensions as to make all harmonious within the diversified world society while creating a society that is in harmony with the individual.


The universal key sought after by all religions is to be found in an understanding love which not only tolerates progress in another but also encourages it. Let all then, in a spirit of compassion and liberty, remain their brothers' keepers.


Farewell


In closing, I would emphasize that neither right nor left elements of world society, neither orthodox nor unorthodox elements of religion possess in evidential manifestation the complete solution to the whole of the world's problems: and yet in many facets of their ideas and doctrines, they hold promise of great good and enlightenment to men.


No promise can be kept, however, unless faith in the promise be active in the lives of those who profess to believe in it. I hold with the right of each man or organization to think that he or it has the solution to the world's ills, in either doctrine or authority. I do not seek to influence human will, but pray the favor of Almighty God to intercede his divine will and supreme understanding upon the minds and hearts of all.


With the strands of a tolerant unity, a permanent and universal oneness can be woven. To do this well, wisely, and presently, it must be recognized that the faith that unity can be achieved is needed, beginning with the blessed international good will which summons from the confusion of elemental divergence the clarity that evokes right action.


Let love--that spiritual love which is neither dissimulative nor disappointing to the yearnings of mankind--expand in every life until that degree of universal understanding manifests which, although yet but a small part of the mind of God, is able to generate and regenerate upon earth enough of that stuff of which dreams of the golden age are made of!


I remain and I AM by the grace of God


El Morya


April 9, 1963

 

Copyright © 1963, Summit University Press, P.O. Box 5000, Corwin Springs, Montana 59030-5000. (406) 848-9500. Web site: http://www.tsl.org.


 

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