This ideal when first approached from an intellectual standpoint presents no great encouragement for the realization of its truth; its consideration must be accompanied by the receptive faculty which lies in the heart, that feeling of natural unrestrained sympathy which arises out of the inner nature of man when not tainted by selfish motives. Even a superficial investigation, however, leads us into a labyrinth of thought in which there is no logical escape from the conclusion that somehow a unity exists between all human beings.
If we once begin to analyze the feelings we experience in our daily contact with our fellow-men; and take into consideration the natural promptings of the heart, we find ourselves possessed of much brotherly sympathy with the welfare of others. A scene of affliction instantly quickens the tender fellow-feeling; see how people rush to the assistance of a falling child; how they shudder at an accident; the unfailing pity — deep down — with the diseased; why, who would say the world is so depraved as not to recognize this? Only the rush for personal joys and pleasures causes us to forget it.
Let us wait. When the new religion of “Brotherhood” shall have taken root, then we will not fail in our duty and forget; the same energy which is now active in competition and strife will be directed instead to mutual helpfulness.
Poor fools, who do not yet know that to do the most good is productive of the greatest amount of happiness. No settled belief exists in the immutability of natural law or the unity underlying boundless Nature, hence the unphilosophic mind does not concern itself with the possible relation which it bears to all existing things. The Unity of all things is no empty phrase. It pervades all departments of nature. Even in the material world scientific research has led to the conclusion that matter is homogeneous as Substance. Elements are found to be compounds, greater differentiation is discovered step by step and it is seen that by changing the molecular arrangement, one form of matter is transformable into another. This shows the underlying synthetic union in the invisible essence of matter. The separateness of mankind is analogous to this, division is apparent but not real, its union is also contained in one invisible essence — God — or the great Self which is the synthesis of all.
In the process of evolution humanity has differentiated from the great homogeneous ocean of consciousness in order that the soul may gain experience in matter; being now on the outer circle of manifestation, it appears to be apart, but it is destined in its natural course to return to the primal unity from whence it came. The thread which has spun itself out from unity into differentiation connects each individual with the parent source, and through it with all else; and the innate qualities of the soul — Love, Sympathy and Charity — are the manifestations thereof in man; these reside in the Heart.
According to the Esoteric Philosophy, the race has fortunately reached the outermost stage of realization of separateness, the time is at hand for the ascent on the return arc, the pendulum is swinging back and will bring with it an awakening towards spirituality. A psychic wave has already begun to sweep over the globe; in its course it will rouse the latent spiritual faculties of mankind and develop intuition to a degree that will cause great changes in the Social Economy and produce a realization of our birthright, “The Universal Brotherhood of Man.”
Neither Science nor Religion, with their present-day dogmatic methods, will greatly help in the evolution of this new faculty; a more potent and convincing agent has to be called into service to educe a revelation of the truth which is spread upon the wings of time. This agent is the power of direct perception of Truth from within, where all knowledge and wisdom reside. Its first fruits will be born from the blossoms of “love of mankind”; its second; from independence of thought and the courage to rely on one’s own intuitions; these will remove the shackles of preconceived notions and the veils which we have gathered and surrounded ourselves with on our journey through matter during many lives.
The psychic force, active now, has touched millions of people; the spiritual fires are being lit all over the earth, and presently the soul of man will breathe freedom from its fetters and each man or woman will become conscious of his or her spiritual equality with the best of the living.
Every man is a potential God! This is not believed by many, nor is the nobility of their calling known to them or even suspected; cowed into subjection by custom and conventionality, they think themselves slaves still, who must obey that self-created master, or perish. How different would be the conditions of men if they had no fear of their neighbor’s opinion. Fear has no place in the religion of Brotherhood; its doctrine is founded on supreme universal justice, where every man works out his own destiny and gets his desserts according as he himself has earned them. In this there is nothing and no one to fear, certainly not our fellow-traveller, who is one with ourselves and bent upon the homeward journey towards union with the all.
The divine nature of man is obscured at the present stage of evolution by his material rind, and though it may be difficult to comprehend why the “Divine Self” should have surrounded itself with such apparently inappropriate vehicles of expression as we meet with sometimes in human garb, yet the knowledge of the spiritual thread which binds us to all should enable us to regard the outward appearances as only part of what the soul really is. It will be admitted that our standard of judgment is only our own state of enlightenment. As we are so do we see others. We have no faculty at present with which to see and judge the real man, the soul; we may sense it when our intuitions are active, but were we to see the real man and know him with all his past and realize our own spiritual inseparability from him, our opinion would be changed regarding him.
To have even a slight grasp of the subject of Spiritual Unity of all mankind induces broader views, and a more philosophic attitude towards social and individual problems; it opens up the latent but natural resources of the heart-consciousness from which flows universal compassion — the most potent of beneficent forces harmonizing within and without; it not only promotes a wider sweep of moral influence but also furnishes the key to conduct and duty; it leads to a knowledge of universal laws and problems and to wisdom; for, within the heart is the corresponding centre of all Life and Light.