Today,
humanity stands at a peculiar and unique middle point, between an unhappy past
and a future which is full of promise if the reappearance of the Christ is
recognised and preparation for His coming is undertaken. The present is full of
promise and also full of difficulty; in the hands of human beings today and in
the immediate present, lies the destiny of the world and—if it may be
reverently said—the immediate activity of the Christ. The agony of the war, and
the distress of the entire human family led Christ, in the year 1945, to come
to a great decision—a decision which found expression in two most important
statements. He announced to the assembled spiritual Hierarchy and to all His
servants and disciples on Earth that He had decided to emerge again into
physical contact with humanity, if they would bring about the initial stages of establishing right human relations;
secondly, He gave to the world (for the use of the "man in the
street") one of the oldest prayers ever known, but one which hitherto had
not been permitted to be used except by the most exalted, spiritual Beings. He
used it Himself for the first time, we are told, at the time of the Full Moon
of June, 1945, which is recognised as the Full Moon of the Christ, just as the
Full Moon of May is that of the Buddha. It was not easy to translate these
ancient phrases (so ancient that they are without date or background of any
kind) into modern words, but it has been done, and the great Invocation, which
may eventually become the world prayer, was pronounced by Him and taken down by
His disciples. It has been translated as follows:
From the
point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light
stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light
descend on Earth.
From the
point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love
stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ
return to Earth.
From the
centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose
guide the little wills of men—
The purpose
which the Masters know and serve.
From the
centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan
of Love and Light work out
And may it
seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and
Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
Its
extraordinary potency can be seen in the fact that hundreds of thousands of
people are already using it day by day and many times a day; it is (1947)
translated into eighteen different
languages and used by people in all those languages; in the jungles of Africa,
groups of natives are using it and it can be seen on the desks of great
executives in our major cities; it goes forth over the radio in Europe and in
America and there is no country or island in the world where its use is
unknown. All this has taken place in the space of eighteen months.
This new
Invocation, if given widespread distribution, can be to the new world religion
what the Lord's Prayer has been to Christianity and the 23rd Psalm has been to
the spiritually minded Jew. There are three approaches to this great Prayer or
Invocation:
1. That of
the general public.
2. That of
the esotericists, or of the aspirants and the disciples of the world.
3. That of
the Members of the Hierarchy.
First, the
general public will regard it as a prayer to God Transcendent. They will not
recognise Him yet as immanent in His creation; they will send it forth on the
wings of hope—hope for light and love and peace, for which they ceaselessly
long. They will also regard it as a prayer for the enlightenment of all rulers
and leaders in all groups who are handling world matters; as a prayer for the
inflow of love and understanding among men, so that they may live in peace with
one another; as a demand for the working out of the will of God—a will of which
they can know nothing and which ever seems to them so inscrutable and so
all-inclusive that their normal reaction is patience and a willingness to
refrain from questioning; as a prayer for the strengthening of human
responsibility in order that the recognised evils of today—which so distress
and trouble mankind—may be done away
with and some vague source of evil may be harnessed. They will regard it
finally as a prayer that some equally vague primeval condition of blissful
happiness may be restored and all unhappiness and pain disappear from the
earth. This is, for them, entirely good and helpful and all that is immediately
possible.
Secondly,
esotericists, aspirants and spiritually minded people will have a deeper and
more understanding approach. To them it will convey the recognition of the
world of causes and of Those Who stand subjectively behind world affairs, the
spiritual Directors of our life. They stand ready to strengthen those with true
vision, ready to indicate not only the reason for events in the various departments
of human living, but also to make those revelations which will enable humanity
to move forward out of darkness into light. With this fundamental attitude, the
necessity for a widespread expression of these underlying facts will be
apparent and an era of spiritual propaganda, engineered by disciples and
carried forward by esotericists, will mature. This era began in 1875 when the
fact of the existence of the Masters of the Wisdom was proclaimed. It has been
carried forward in spite of misrepresentation, attack upon the concept, and
scorn. Recognition of the substantial nature of the available evidence and the
appearance of an intuitive response by occult students and many of the
intelligentsia throughout the world has been helpful.
A new type of
mystic is coming to be recognised; he differs from the mystics of the past by
his practical interest in current world affairs and not in religious and church
matters only; he is distinguished by his lack of interest in his own personal
development, by his ability to see God immanent in all faiths and not just in
his own particular brand of religious
belief, and also by his capacity to live his life in the light of the divine
Presence. All mystics have been able to do this to a greater or less degree, but
the modern mystic differs from those in the past in that he is able clearly to
indicate to others the techniques of the Path; he combines both head and heart,
intelligence and feeling, plus an intuitive perception, hitherto lacking. The
clear light of the Spiritual Hierarchy now illumines the way of the modern
mystic, and not simply the light of his own soul; this will be increasingly the
case.
Thirdly, both
of these groups—the general public and the world aspirants in their varying
degrees—have, among them those who stand out from the general average as
possessing a deeper insight and understanding; they occupy a no-man's-land,
intermediate on the one hand between the masses and the esotericists and, on
the other, between the esotericists and the Members of the Hierarchy. Forget
not, They also use this great Invocation and that not a day goes by that the
Christ Himself does not sound it forth.
On the
surface, the beauty and the strength of this Invocation lie in its simplicity
and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and
normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we
vaguely give the name of God; the truth that, behind all outer seeming, the
motivating power of the universe is love; the truth that a great Individuality
came to earth, called by Christians the Christ, and embodied that love so that
we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of
what is called the will of God, and finally the self-evident truth that only
through humanity itself can the divine Plan work out.
This Plan
calls mankind to the expression of Love and challenges men to "let their
light shine." Then comes the final solemn demand that this Plan of Love
and Light, working through mankind, may "seal the door where evil
dwells." The final line then contains the idea of restoration, indicating
the keynote for the future and that the day will come when God's original idea
and His initial intention will no longer be frustrated by human free will and
evil—pure materialism and selfishness; the divine purpose will then, through
the changed hearts and goals of humanity, be achieved.
This is the
obvious and simple meaning and it ties in with the spiritual aspiration of all
men everywhere.
The use of
this Invocation or Prayer and the rising expectancy of the coming of the Christ
hold out the greatest hope for mankind today. If this is not so, then prayer is
no use and only an hallucination, and the Scriptures of the world, with their
proved forecasting. are useless and deceiving. The testimony of the ages proves
that none of this is so. Prayer always is answered and always has been; great
Sons of God have ever come on humanity's demand and always will, and He for
Whom all men wait today is on His way.
Alice Bailey: THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE CHRIST, pp.
30-35
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