Five Major Ideas

It is a truism to remark that the history of the world is based on the emergence of ideas, their acceptance, their transformation into ideals, and their eventual superseding by the next imposition of ideas. It is in this realm of ideas that humanity is not a free agent. Thisi is an important point to note. Once an idea becomes an ideal, humanity can freely reject or accept it, but ideas come from a higher source and are imposed upon the racial mind, whether men want them or not. Upon the use made of these ideas (which are in the nature of divine emanations, embodying the divine plan for planetary progress) will depend the rapidity of humanity\s progress or its retardation for lack of understanding.

Humanity is today more sensitive to ideas thanever before, and hence the many warrying ideololies and hence the fact that - in defence of their plans - even the most recalcitrant of the nations has to discover some idealistic excuse to put before the other nations when occupied with the any infringement of recognized law. This is a fact of great significance to the Hierarchy for it indicates a point reached. The major ideas in the world ideas in the world today fall into five categories which it would be well for you to bear in mind:

1. The ancient and inherited ideas which have controlled the racial life for centuries - aggression for the sake of possession and the authority of a man or a group or a church which represents the State. For purposes of policy such powers may work behind the scenes but their tenets and motives are easily recognisable - selfish ambition and a violently imposed authority.
2. Those ideas which are relatively new such as Nazism, Fascism, and Communism, though they are not really as new as people are opt to think. They are alike on one important thing, i.e., the State or community of human beings counts as of importance whilst the individual does not; he can be sacrificed at any time for the good of the State or for so-called general good.
3. The idea, neither old nor particularly new, of democracy in which (supposedly but yet never factually) the people govern and the government represents the will of the people.
4. The idea of a world state, divided into various great sections. This is the dream of the inclusively-minded few, for which many regard humanity as yet unready. Towards this the entire world is headed in spite of its many ideologies, each fighting with each other for supremacy and oblivious of the important fact that all these ideologies may be temporaly adapted to the groups or nations who adopt them. They are none of them suitable for general use (and I say this equally of democracy as of any other ideology); they suit well in all probability the nations who accept them and mould their national life on their premises; they are only transitory substitutes in this transition period between the Piscean and the Aquarian ages and cannot permanently last. Nothing as yet is permanent. When permanency is reached, evolution will cease and God's plan will be consummated. And then? The greatest revelation of all will come at the close of this world period when the human mind, intuition and soul consciousness is such that understanding will be possible.
5. The idea of a spiritual Hierarchy which will govern the people throughout the world and will embody in itself the best elements of the monarchial, the democratic, the totalitarian and the communistic regimes. Most of these groups of ideologies have latent in them much beauty, strength and wisdom, and also a profound and valuable contribution to make to the whole. Each will eventually see its contribution embodied under the control of the Hierarchy of the Lords of Compassion and the Masters of the Wisdom. The restoration of the ancient Atlantean control by the spiritual forces is still in the future but the Aquarean Age will see the restitution of this inner and spiritual guidance on a higher turn of the spiral.

All this must inevitably be brought about by the work of those who function on one or other of the five controlling rays to which I have reffered above. Nothing can stop or truly impede their united effect. This is a point I would have you remember. Modern man is apt to condemn the ideology which is not familiar to him and for which he has no use. He repudiates those ideas which do not lie at the back of his national or personal life or tradition and which would not suit him as an individual nor meet the need of the nation to which he belongs.

The recognition of these facts would lead to two results if correctly applied: first, the individual who accept and is devoted to a particular ideology would cease fighting other ideologies for he would remember that the accident of birth and of background is largely responsible for making him - as an individual - what he is and determining his beliefs. And, secondly, it would bring to an end the attempt to impose a personally or nationally accepted ideology (political or religious) on other nations and persons. These are basic steps towards eventual peace and understanding and hence I emphasise them today. (The Destiny of the Nations, pp. 7-10)