Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul - Problems of Humanity - V - The New World Religion







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Problems of Humanity - Chapter V - The Problem of the Churches





V. The New World ReligionIn what way will
this new presentation of religion and its new rituals and ceremonies take form? A new
presentation is deeply desired and hopefully anticipated by those to whom the religious
attitude is of fundamental importance. What are the sips of its coming? What must be the
preliminary first steps? Are there any indications of developing trends which would
incline one to believe in its eventual appearance?
Many such questions arise. Much of what might be said in reply can be regarded by the
skeptical and the orthodox as purely speculative. The present attitude of the churches
would seem to negate any possibility of a universal religion at this time - if ever; the
divergences in doctrine and in the presented approach to God would appear to preclude any
uniformity of approach. Necessarily, the outer structure of the New World Religion will be
long in manifesting; there is [156] little chance of its full emergence during the present
generation. The signs, however, of its rising are already to be seen on the horizon, and
the dawn of true thinking is revealing them; the blueprints are already drawn. The inner
attitude of humanity and a few outer happenings indicate a true inner recognition of the
necessity for a revisal of orthodox religion and a revival of its spiritual influence.
These are ever the preliminary steps to creation. Subjective realization always precedes
the objective manifestation and so it is today in this case.
Humanity is
recognizing the need for a more vital approach to God and one more intelligently
presented; men are tired of doctrinal and dogmatic differences and quarrels; the study of
Comparative Religion has demonstrated that the foundational truths in every faith are
identical. Because of this universality, they evoke recognition and response from all men
everywhere. The only factor in reality which militates against the spiritual unity of all
men everywhere is the existent clerical organizations and their militant attitude to
religions and to faiths other than their own.
In spite of all this, the structure of the New World Religion is being raised by the
dissenting groups within the institutional churches, by the many world groups who present
the concept of God immanent, even when they do so with selfish motive and with an
unwholesome emphasis upon the powers of the indwelling divinity to provide perfect health,
plenty of money, serene business success and unbroken popularity!
The New World Religion is also being brought into expression through the work of the
esoteric groups throughout the world because of their particular emphasis upon the fact of
the spiritual Hierarchy, upon the office and the work of the Christ and upon the
techniques of meditation whereby soul-awareness (or the Christ-consciousness) can be
achieved. Prayer has been [157] expanded into meditation; desire has been lifted into
mental aspiration. This is supplanted by a sense of unity and by the recognition of God
immanent. This leads eventually to at-one-ment with God transcendent.
It is at
this point that the Science of Invocation and Evocation can at times supersede the earlier
techniques. The whole of humanity is moving forward into the area of mental understanding.
The grasping nature of the prayers of the average men (based as they are upon desire for
something) has long disturbed the intelligent; the vagueness of the meditation, taught and
practiced in the East and in the West (with its emphatically selfish note, personal
liberation and personal satisfaction) is likewise causing a revolt. Something bigger and
larger than individual desire and liberation is registered. Many groups are wrestling with
these changes and this is, in itself, most hopeful.
In the aggregate of these groups - within the churches or outside them - is to be found
the nucleus of the New World Religion. To this should be added the activities of the
spiritualistic movement, not from the angle of its emphasis upon phenomena (much of it is
spurious or imaginative, but some of it realistic and true) but from the angle of its
surety about human immortality and the evidence which it has collected. The spiritualists
have not yet succeeded in proving immortality; they have succeeded in proving survival and
have thus made a valuable contribution to the structure of the New World Religion.
The slowly developing powers of telepathic communication and the recognition of
extra-sensory perception by science are also playing their part in demonstration of the
world of non-tangible life and values; all these factors necessitate and
"substand" the demand for a new presentation of religion which will be
inclusive in its scope and not exclusive - as it is today. The religion [158] of the
future will account for the progress of humanity by its recognition of a divine Plan,
historically proved. Scientifically applied discipline and training will enable mankind to
function under the control of the inner divinity, or interior spiritual man; this training
will also reveal to them the fact of God immanent in all forms and will enable them
to participate in that great planetary movement - now slowly taking place - whereby God
immanent is entering into a closer relation with God transcendent, via the spiritual
Hierarchy of the earth.





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