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The Externalization of the Hierarchy - Section IV - Stages in the Externalization
2. The Lack of Money for the Work of Preparation

We come now to the second of the major hindrances: the lack of financial support for the Christ's workers and disciples in all lands as they endeavor to release spiritual energy and bring a new order out of the present world chaos. This is perhaps the major difficulty, and it appears at times an insuperable one; it involves the problem of true financial trusteeship and the deflection of adequate sums of money into channels which will definitely aid in the work of preparation for the return of the Christ. It is for this reason that I closed the previous section of this article with the words "right human relations."

The problem is therefore a peculiarly hard one, for the [624] spiritual workers of the world have not only to train people to give according to the need and their means, but in many cases they have first of all to provide them with a motive so magnetic in its appeal that they must perforce give; they have also to provide the trust, foundation and organization through which the money given may be administered. This presents them with a most impressively difficult task and one which is responsible for the present impasse. The impasse is not, however, based only on the novelty of raising funds in preparation for the return of the Christ, but it is based also on the trained selfishness of the majority of those who own the world's wealth and who - even if they give - do so because it fosters prestige or indicates financial success. It must be remembered here that every generalization presupposes exceptions.

Generalizing, and therefore over-simplifying the subject, we can assume that money finds its way into four main channels of expenditures:

  1. Into the myriad homes of the world in the form of wages, salaries or inherited wealth. All this is at present most unevenly balanced, producing extreme riches and extreme poverty.
  2. Into great capitalistic systems and monopolies to be found as towering structures in most lands. Whether this capital is owned by the government, or by a municipality, or by a handful of wealthy men or by the great labor unions matters not. Little of it is yet spent in reality for the betterment of human living, or for the inculcation of the values which will lead to right human relations.
  3. Into the churches and religious groups throughout the world. Here (again speaking in general terms and at the same time recognizing the existence of a small spiritually-minded minority) the money is deflected into the material aspects of the work, into [625] the multiplying and preservation of ecclesiastical structures, into salaries and general overhead, and only a percentage of it really goes into the teaching of the people, into a living demonstration of the fact of His return - for centuries a definite doctrine of the churches. That return has been anticipated down the ages, and might have occurred ere now had the churches and religious organizations everywhere done their duty.
  4. Into philanthropic, educational and medical work. All of this has been exceedingly good and greatly needed, and the debt of the world to the public-spirited men who have made these institutions possible is great indeed. All of this has been a step in the right direction and an expression of the divine will-to-good. It is, however, frequently money misused and misdirected and the values developed have been largely institutional and concrete. They have been limited by the separative tenets of the donors or the religious prejudices of those who control the disbursement of the funds. In the quarreling over ideas, religious theories and ideologies, the true assistance of the One Humanity is overlooked.

The fact remains that had the directing agencies through whose hands the money of the world is channeled any vision of the spiritual realities, of the one humanity and the one world, and had their objective been the stimulation of right human relations, the mass of men everywhere would be responding to a vision very different from the present one; we would not be faced as we are today with the expenditures - running into countless billions - necessitated by the need to restore physically, not only the physical bodies of countless millions of men, but entire cities, transportation systems and centers responsible for the reorganization of human living.

Equally, it can be said that if the spiritual values and the spiritual responsibilities attached to money (in large [626] quantities or in small) had been properly appreciated and taught in homes and schools, we would not have had the appalling statistics of the money spent, prior to the war in every country in the world (and spent today in the Western Hemisphere), on candy, liquor, cigarettes, recreation, unnecessary clothes and luxuries. These statistics run into hundreds of millions of dollars every year. A quota of this money, necessitating the minimum of sacrifice, would enable the disciples of the Christ and the New Group of World Servers to prepare the way for His coming and to educate the minds and hearts of men in every land in right human relations.
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