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The Externalization of the Hierarchy - Section II - The General World Picture
The Great Invokation - Stanza Two

September 1940

It has seemed to me after due thought that it would serve a most useful purpose if I elucidated somewhat the theme of the new Invocation and dealt also with the idea of divine intervention. There is much loose thinking in this connection, due to the truth as well as the misinterpretation of the Christian teaching anent the return of the Christ. Men's theological, analytical minds have distorted God's revelation, and I would like to do something to produce a wiser attitude to the reality of this inevitable return. This loose thinking prevents much intelligent and cooperative work. I would remind you that the success of invocation and the true efficacy of prayer are dependent upon clear thinking and not upon emotional desire or a powerful wish complex. They are dependent, too, upon a certain dynamic freshness and enthusiasm which it is hard to attain in a time of stress and strain. The present time is peculiarly hard. Perhaps a clearer understanding of the nature and purpose of divine intervention may clarify somewhat the issue.

To the casual thinker and the untrained occult student it might appear that - given an almighty Deity or Planetary Logos - He could with little trouble and much usefulness and compassion intervene in this sad world situation and bring to an end the warring of the nations through the medium of some spectacular happening, some dramatic cataclysm of natural process or some supreme appearing which [252] would work much good. It might, it could be argued, conclusively convince the attacking, aggressive groups that their day is ended and that their efforts had better be drawn to an immediate finish. Would that it were so relatively simple a matter; but the laws of nature, the free will of humanity itself and the inevitability of karma combine to prevent an intervention in just these terms. This does not mean that some form of intervention may not be possible but it must conform to law; it must not interfere with humanity's right to handle its own affairs, and it must be timed in such a way that the best and maximum results can be attained.

I would like first of all to touch upon the three points which I have made above - natural law, free will and karma. In so doing I may succeed in clearing up some of the confused thinking of many students.

Natural law is the inevitable working out upon the physical plane of forces and energies which have long been generated. People are apt to think that these must lie outside of human control and constitute part of the inscrutable will of God, and that with them man has naught to do. When it is realized that certain aspects of natural law are concerned purely with the forces - subterranean, superficial and aerial - of our planet, the premise will be seen as correct in the present condition of the mental attitudes of the race and will remain so for a very long time. There are, nevertheless, causes and effects which can come under the category of natural law which are yet not so far removed from human control. For ages man has generated energies which must inevitably produce events upon the physical plane, evoke response upon the plane of the emotions, and induce mental reactions. It is here that natural law and the law of karma meet and interact upon each other.

There are many people today who find an alibi for themselves in the present world situation, and a consequent release from definite action and responsibility, by saying that what is today happening is simply karma or the working out of cause and effect, and that there is nothing, therefore, that they can do about it; they take the position that [253] it is not their affair, and that in due course of time the process will be worked out and everything will be all right again. The slate will then be cleaner and incidentally they will not have been embroiled, but will have safely (even if uncomfortably) looked on. In so doing they overlook the third aspect of this same law, to which we have given the name of free will. It is the right use of free will and its understanding expression which must eventually straighten out and adjust the working out of karma and transmute that which now works such evil and havoc in the world into a demonstration of good and of the successful foundation for the pursuit of true happiness. Therefore, those who are looking on at the tragic sufferings of humanity and who refuse to be implicated, and thus succeed in evading responsibility as an integral part of the human family, are definitely storing up for themselves much evil karma. In some way they must learn participation, because the present situation has in it the seeds of release for humanity when the nature of evil is somewhat grasped, and above all when the oneness of humanity and the rights of human beings are truly recognized. Those who war against the race of men and who seek to wrest from them their God-given goal of freedom must be driven back from whence they came. Those who refuse to share in that struggle for freedom will be left out of the gains of freedom, even if it only means within their own home limits, in their life habits and in their private circumstances. When I here speak of "being driven back from whence they came" I am using phrases in both the simple and the occult sense.
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