You might here ask and rightly so: What is this plan? When I speak of the plan I do not mean such a general one as the plan of evolution or the plan for humanity which we call by the somewhat unmeaning term of soul unfoldment. These two aspects of the scheme for our planet are taken for granted, and are but modes, processes and means to a specific end. The plan as at present sensed, and for which the Masters are steadily working, might be defined as follows: -

It is the production of a subjective synthesis in humanity and of a telepathic interplay which will eventually annihilate time. It will make available to every man all past achievements and knowledges, it will reveal to man the true significance of his mind and brain and make him the master of that equipment and will make him therefore omnipresent and eventually open the door to omniscience.

This next development of the plan will produce in man an [404] understanding - intelligent and cooperative - of the divine purpose for which the One in Whom we live and move and have our being has deemed it wise to submit to incarnation. Think not that I can tell of the plan as it truly is. It is not possible for any man, below the grade of initiate of the third degree, to glimpse it and far less understand it. The development of the mechanism whereby a disciple may be en rapport with Those responsible for the working out of the plans, and the capacity to know (and not just dimly sense) that tiny aspect of the whole which is the immediate step ahead and with which cooperation is possible, that can be achieved by all disciples and should be held as the goal before all aspirants. With the exception of probationary disciples who are not as yet sufficiently stable in their endeavor, all can therefore strive towards achieving continuity of consciousness and at awakening that inner light which, when seen and intelligently used, will serve to reveal other aspects of the Plan and specially that one to which the illumined knower can respond and usefully serve.

To bring this about has been the objective of all training given during the past 400 years, and from this fact you can vision the utter patience of the Knowers of the race. They work slowly and with deliberation, free from any sense of speed, towards Their objective, but - and herein lies the immediate interest of what I have to communicate - They do have a time limit. This is based upon the Law of Cycles. It concerns the operation of certain periods of opportunity which necessarily have their term. During these times of opportunity, forces, influences, and energies are temporarily at work, and of these the Masters seek to make use.

Looking ahead, during the conclave to which I have made reference, the assembled Servers of the race noted the future coming in of the Aquarian age, with its distinctive energies and its amazing opportunities. These [405] They noted and They sought to prepare man for that period which would approximate 2500 years, and which could if duly utilized, bring about the unification, consciously and intelligently, of mankind, and so produce the manifestation of what I prefer to call "scientific brotherhood" in contradistinction to the sentimental connotation of the term now so prevalent.

It appeared to Them at that time that it would be necessary to do two things before the coming potencies of the Aquarian age could profitably be employed. First of all, humanity must have its consciousness elevated to the mental plane; it must be expanded so that it included not only the world of emotion and of feeling but also that of the intellect. The minds of men must be made widely and generally active, and the entire level of human intelligence must be raised. It was necessary, secondly, that something should be done to break down the barriers of separateness, of isolation and of prejudice which were keeping men apart from each other and which They foresaw would increasingly do so. Cycle by cycle, men were becoming more and more wrapped up in their own selves - satisfaction and exclusiveness, and racial pride. The result of this would lead inevitably to wide cleavages and the erection of world barriers between nation and nation, and between race and race.

This determination of the members of the Hierarchy to train the minds of men more rapidly and to build towards a more synthetic unity brought them to a decision which involved the formation of group units, and brought about the emergence of those groups of workers and thinkers who, through their activities, have so largely governed and molded our world for the past three or four centuries. We have therefore, dating from this conclave, the inauguration of definite and specific group work along clearly defined lines, with each group standing [406] for some peculiar presentation of truth and for some aspect of the knowledge of reality.

These groups fall generally into four major divisions; 1. cultural, 2. political, 3. religious, and 4. scientific. In more modern times three other groups have definitely emerged; they are 5. philosophical, 6. psychological, and 7. financial groups. Philosophers have, of course, always been with us, but they have been for the most part isolated units who have founded schools characterized by partisanship and separativeness. Now there are no outstanding figures as in the past, but groups who represent certain ideas. It is of profound importance that the work of these seven groups of thinkers be recognized as part of the hierarchical program, designed to produce a certain situation, to bring about certain preparatory conditions, and as playing a definite part in the work of world evolution as far as humanity is concerned.

Under the influence of the different rays as they cycled in and out of activity, little groups of men emerged, played their part in group formation, and disappeared, often unaware of their inherent synthesis and of their co-workers.

As can be seen in any intelligent historical retrospect, the work that they did for the race and their contribution to the pageant of the progress of mankind stands out with clarity. I have not the time to take this procession of groups, each custodian of a special contribution, and trace for you the work they did or the subjective impulses under which they worked. I can but indicate the trend of their endeavor, and leave to some illumined student of history the delineation of the golden thread of their spiritual work as they raised the mental standard of the race and put man en rapport with the world in which he lived, opening his eyes not only to the nature of matter and of form but also to the hidden depths of his own being. Through their activities we [407] now have a humanity in close relation, though not at-one, and a humanity characterized by three things:

• An amazing interrelation and inter-communication, of which the radio, the press, modern transportation, and the telephone and telegraph are the servants.
• A widespread philanthropic enterprise, and the growth of the sense of responsibility for one's brother, which was totally unknown in the year 1500. Movements such as the Red Cross, educational foundations, hospitals, and the present economic relief measures to be found in every country are its exoteric manifestations.
• A division of the entire human family, consciously or unconsciously, into two basic groups: first, those who stand for the old order of things, who are reactionary, and separative. They represent separative nationalism, boundaries, servitude, and servile obedience; they exemplify religious sectarianism and dependence upon authority. They are against all modern innovations and progress. Secondly, those who vision a unified world wherein love of God means love of one's neighbor, and where the motives underlying all religious, political and educational activities are characterized by a world consciousness and the welfare of the entire body and not of the part.

The unification to which the forward looking people aspire does not involve the neglect of any part, but it does involve the care and nurture of each part in order that it may contribute to the well being of the entire organism. It involves, for instance, the right government and proper development of every national unit so that it can adequately perform its international duties, and thus form part of a world brotherhood of nations. [408] This concept does not even involve the formation of a world state, but it does involve the development of a universal public consciousness which realizes the unity of the whole, and thus produces the determination that each must be for all and all for each as it has been said. Only in this way can there be brought about an international synthesis which will be characterized by political and national unselfishness. This universal state of mind will not again inevitably involve the founding of a world or universal religion. It requires simply the recognition that all formulations of truth and of belief are only partial in time and space, and are temporarily suited to the temperaments and conditions of the age and race. Those who favor some particular approach to the truth will nevertheless achieve the realization that other approaches and other modes of expression and terminologies, and other ways of defining deity can be equally correct and in themselves constitute aspects of a truth which is greater and vaster than man's present equipment can grasp and express. Even the Great Ones Themselves but dimly sense reality and though They are aware of deeper underlying purposes than are Their chelas, yet even They see not the ultimate goal. They too are forced to use such unmeaning terms in Their teaching as Absolute Reality, and Ultimate Realization.

Hence, during the past three centuries, group after group has appeared and played its part, and we today reap the benefit of their accomplishment. Under the cultural group for instance we find emerging the poets of the Elizabethan age, and the musicians of Germany and of the Victorian era. Groups of artists are likewise to be found, giving us the famous schools which are the glory of Europe. Two famous groups, one cultural and the other political, also played their parts, the one producing the Renaissance and the other bringing about the French Revolution. The effects of their work are still [409] to be felt, for the modern humanistic movement with its emphasis upon the past which is completed in the present, and its search for the roots of man's equipment in the earlier trends, harks back to the Renaissance. Revolution and the determination to fight for the divine rights of man find their prime inaugurating influence and impetus in the revolution in France. Revolt, the formation of political parties, the class warfare which is so rampant today, and the splitting of every country into warring political groups, though sporadic always, have become universal during the past two hundred years, and are all the results of the group activity started by the Masters. Men have grown thereby and have learnt how to think, and even though they may think wrongly and may initiate disastrous experiments, the ultimate good is inevitable and unavoidable. Temporary discomforts, passing depressions, war and bloodshed, penury and vice may lead the unthinking into the depths of pessimism. But those who know and who sense the inner guiding hand of the Hierarchy are aware that the heart of humanity is sound and that out of the present chaos and perhaps largely because of it, there will emerge those competent to deal with the situation and adequate to the task of unification and synthesis. This period has been occultly called the "age of restoration of what has been broken by the fall". The time has come when the separate parts can be reunited and the whole stand together again in its earlier perfection.

The religious groups have likewise been many, - so many that their enumeration is hopeless. We have the groups of Catholic mystics who are the glory of the occident, there are also the protesting Lutherans, Calvinists and Methodists, the Pilgrim Fathers - those sour and earnest men - the Huguenot and Moravian martyrs, and the thousands of modern sects in every group. These have all served their purpose and have led man to the [410] point of revolt and away from acquiescence in authority. They have driven man to the stage of thinking for himself by the force of their unique example. They stood for freedom and the personal right to know.

These latter groups have acted largely under the influence of the sixth and second rays. The cultural emerged under that of the fourth ray, whilst the first ray has impelled the political activities which have brought such changes in the nations. Under the fifth and third ray impulses, groups of scientific investigators have arisen, working with the forces and energies that constitute the divine Life, dealing with the outer garment of God, searching from without towards the within, and demonstrating to man his essential unity with all creation and his relationship, intrinsic and vital, with all forms of life. The names of the individuals in any group are legion and of relatively no importance. It is the group and its interrelated work that counts. It is interesting to note that in the scientific group the underlying unity is particularly noticeable, for its members are singularly free from sectarianism and selfish competition. This cannot be said of the religious and political groups.

In relation to the many nations and the myriads of men on earth, these molding groups under the various divisions are few in number. Their personnel, their contribution to the growth of human expression, and their place in the plan can quite easily be traced. The point to be emphasized is that they have all been motivated from the inner subjective side of life; they have come forth under a divine urge and with a specific work to accomplish; they have all been composed in the primary stage of disciples and initiates of the lesser degrees; they have all been subjectively guided step by step by their own souls, which have, in their turn, been cooperating consciously with the Hierarchy of Knowers. This has [411] been the case even when the individual man has been totally unaware himself of his place in the group and that group's divine mission. Let it be remembered also that there has not been a single failure, though again and again the individual has not been cognizant of success. The mark of these workers is that they build for posterity. That those who have followed them have failed, and that those who have responded to this work have not been true to the ideal is disastrously true, but the initial group has uniformly achieved. This surely negates pessimism and demonstrates the exceeding potency of the subjective activity.

The three groups to which I earlier referred require a word of comment. Their work is curiously different to that of the other groups and their ranks are recruited from all the ray groups, though the members of the third group (that of the financiers) are found primarily upon the seventh ray, that of ceremonial organization. In the order of their emergence, they are the groups of philosophers, psychologists and business men.

The group of philosophers of more modern date are already powerfully molding thought, whilst the ancient schools of Asiatic philosophers are just beginning to influence western ideas. Through analysis, correlation and synthesis, the thought power of man is developed and the abstract mind can be unified with the concrete. Through their work therefore that interesting sensitivity of man, with its three outstanding characteristics of instinct, intellect and intuition is brought to a condition of intelligent coordination. Instinct relates man to the animal world, intellect unites him to his fellow men, whilst the intuition reveals to him the life of divinity. All these three are the subject matter of philosophical investigation, for the theme of the philosophers is the nature of reality and the means of knowledge.

The two most modern groups are the psychologists [412] who work under the Delphic injunction "Man, know thyself", and the financiers who are the custodians of the means whereby man can live upon the physical plane. These two groups necessarily, and in spite of apparent divergences and differences are more synthetic in their foundational aspects, than any of the others. One group concerns itself with mankind, with the varying types of humanity, the mechanism employed, and man's urges, characteristics, and with the purpose - apparent or hidden - of his being. The other group controls and orders the means whereby he exists, controlling all that can be converted into energy, and constituting a dictatorship over all modes of intercourse, commerce and exchange. They control the multiplicity of form-objects which modern man regards as essential to his mode of life. Money, as I have before said, is only crystallized energy or vitality, - what the oriental student calls pranic energy. It is a concretization of etheric force. It is therefore vital energy externalized, and this form of energy is under the direction of the financial group. They are the latest group in point of date, and their work (it should be borne in mind) is most definitely planned by the Hierarchy. They are bringing about effects upon the earth which are most far reaching.

Now that centuries have elapsed since the conclave in the sixteenth century, these external groups have played their part and performed most notable service. The results achieved have reached a stage where they are internationally effective, and their influence is not confined to one nation or race. The Hierarchy is now faced with another situation which requires careful handling. They must gather up and weld together the various threads of influencing energy and the differing trends of thought power which the work of the groups since the year 1500 has produced. They have also now to offset some of the effects which are tending towards a further differentiation. [413] This must inevitably be so when force is brought into contact with the material world. Initial impulses have in them potency both for good and for evil. As long as the form remains of secondary importance and relatively negligible, we call it good. Then the idea and not its expression controls. As time elapses and the energy of the thought makes its impact upon matter and lesser minds seize upon the particular type of energy or are vitalized by it, then evil begins to make its presence felt. This finally demonstrates as selfishness, separateness, pride and those characteristics which have produced so much harm in the world.

About seventeen years ago the Masters met and came to a momentous decision. Just as it had been decided at the earlier conclave to gather out of the inchoate masses of men, groups of workers along various lines, and set them the task of elevating humanity and expanding the human consciousness, so now it was felt wise to gather out of the many groups, a group which should contain (as does the Hierarchy itself) men of all races, of all types and tendencies. This group has a specific mission, and some of the facts about it might be stated as follows:

It is first of all an attempt at an externalization of the Hierarchy upon the physical plane, or a small working replica of this essentially subjective body. Its members are all in physical bodies but must work entirely subjectively, thus utilizing the inner sensitive apparatus and the intuition. It is to be composed of men and women of all nations and ages, but each one must be spiritually oriented, all must be conscious servers, all must be mentally polarized and alert, and all must be inclusive.

One of the essential conditions imposed upon the personnel of the group is that they must be willing to work without recognition, on the subjective levels. They must work behind the scenes as do the Great Ones. Its [414] members therefore must be free from all taint of ambition, and from all pride of race and of accomplishment. They must be also sensitively aware of their fellowmen and of their thoughts and conditioning environment.

It is a group that has no exoteric organization of any kind, no headquarters, no publicity, no group name. It is a band of obedient workers and servers of the WORD - obedient to their own souls and to group need. All true servers everywhere therefore belong to this group, whether their line of service is cultural, political, scientific, religious, philosophical, psychological or financial. They constitute part of the inner group of workers for humanity, and of the world mystics, whether they know it or not. They will be thus recognized by their fellow group members when contacted in the casual ways of world intercourse.

This group gives to the word "spiritual" a wide significance; they believe it to mean an inclusive endeavor towards human betterment, uplift and understanding; they give it the connotation of tolerance, international synthetic communion, religious inclusiveness, and all trends of thought which concern the esoteric development of the human being.