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To Men of Good Will in All Lands:
The physical framework of the world, consisting of the planetary platform of mountains and plain, of the strata of the rock and the verdure of nature, including the torrid regions of the earth and the snow-capped mountain heights, reflects but a rock-ribbed dignity, a plane for human endeavors, a world stage upon which events array themselves.
Man possessed with his God-given right of mobility moves to and fro upon the earth just as his consciousness traverses the realm of manifold experience. But wherever he goes, he utilizes the one Consciousness, the one Flow of the generosity of God which gives to embodied mankind the gift of access to the Mind of God, to the Mind of Christ. And it is through the Mind of God and the Mind of Christ that he is able to achieve at last the perspective that enables him to rule the kingdom of nature as well as the realm of selfhood.
Do you not realize, O blessed mankind, that the fabric and outreach of the mind are a specific endowment of God which is given to mankind in order that he may integrate his consciousness with the Holy Spirit in nature and in man? What folly it is then for mankind to play the peacock and strut about as though his endowment were greater than that of another. All should come to the humble realization of the grace of God shining in the face of nature and behind the screens of the human monad with all of its selfishness and deceit. For of old and to the present day the greatest grief is brought to mankind, as well as an outpouring of the vials1 of his own karma, strictly because of his unending tolerance of human greed within heart and mind.
Is it not recorded that the love of money is the root of all evil?2 The summation of the propensity to love money can be perceived in world commerce and world thought. It is not necessary that mankind despise that medium of exchange which they have called money, but rather that they learn its correct use as my Son taught it two thousand years ago.3 For through the correct use of money mankind will understand that money is but a little part of the abundance of God. It is a medium of exchange between nations and peoples, intended never to be manipulated but always to be expanded as a breaking of the loaf4 of God's substance by the action of the flame of God-maturity among men, that the crumbs that fall from the Master's table5 should be given to all as a part of the whole loaf of universal abundance.
When individuals allow themselves to be attached to mortal things, when they permit their mind and consciousness to become involved in elements of human greed until all other considerations of life are excluded, they will most certainly lose sight of the abundant Life. All fleshly gain should be seen in the light of the statement "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away."6 For unless man understands that all that can be attached to his being, to his soul, to his individuality is grace, he will not understand the proper use of either money or the energies of Life.
The reason the Brotherhood deems it desirable to call these matters to the attention of the students at this time is to avoid their becoming a part of the world struggle for the control of money and the economies of the nations. Money of itself would be of little value if men were an hungred and could find no bread, if they were in need of shelter and could find no home. What is needed then by all is a correct understanding of Life and its abundance.
Some men may ask why it is that I choose to discourse on the love of money and its effect on monetary releases. Don't you see, beloved ones, how important it is to the evolution of humanity that men understand, not only in words but also in spirit, the need to establish themselves in God and His goodness? The fashions of the times change and men are no sooner born than the process of decay sets in. They no sooner acquire a vast storehouse of worldly wisdom, of nomenclature and much superficial knowledge of all things than they are borne from the world to which they have become attached.
Freedom from the love of money, which is the root of all evil, will free men from those attachments which have created such a quantity of discord and darkness in the world. Furthermore, it will bring to everyone who is able to free himself from this love, from this attachment, from this grossness, the refining and ennoblement of his spirit. The reason it is so wrong for humanity to become attached to the love of money is that the quality of possessiveness of things deprives humanity of the promise of the Christ "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."7 Indeed it is God's good pleasure to give to mankind all dominion, all power, and all glory once he has demonstrated his willingness to use these gifts as a wise steward of the grace of God.
In gazing at the record of mankind's doings through the ages, ever and anon the love of money has shown its ugly head as the serpentine force which creates in the labyrinth of human life those tortuous movements which enslave mankind the world around. Thus the love of money prevents mankind from entering into the kingdom simply because the very things that God would so gladly give to all are denied to the many because this or that one desires to keep, to retain, to hold in esteem the things of the world above the things of the kingdom of God.
In this series I have felt it necessary to touch the heart of heaven in order that I might also learn what specific quality of understanding or assistance can be imparted unto mankind that will enable him to move with the avant-garde into the advancing era of the kingdom of God.
For me to say that the churches of the world have not over the centuries involved themselves or allowed themselves to be involved in the activities of human greed and injustice would be sheer falsehood. In my Son's name, in my name, and in the name of Heaven acts have been committed again and again which are a perversity of the Spirit, which have denied bread to the hungry while erecting altars of gold and silver. Yet in the eyes of Heaven there is some justification for the adorning of the temples of God and the honoring of the hosts of heaven with the abundance of God that the matrix of His supply might be expanded for all upon the altar of the Lord.
Therefore, in dividing the word of righteousness men must understand that condemnation of any act of man must be tempered not only by justice and mercy, but also by the higher criticism of the Divine Logos. Men must love God above all things. For in loving God first, they will come to love all things, all men, all the adornments of nature and the graces of life, both seen and unseen, as the manifestation of God; and they will be free of the desire to covet. Hence, wise is the man who does not judge his neighbor but understands the nature of service to his God, to his home, to his church, and to his fellowmen.
By spreading abroad the sense of the abundance of God as attainable by every man - "but my God shall supply all your need"8 - each man is imbued with the fire of sacred trust whereby he sees the world as an abode of usefulness where dwell the Spirit of God and the spirit of usefulness and the harmony of the artisans that can work together and spread the balm of the true kingdom everywhere.
Let perish from your mind, then, the thoughts of darkness, of greed, and the condemnation of human greed. For by the illuminating sense that gives to each one the true knowledge of the right attitudes of the spiritual thoughts that are the thoughts of Christ, man can at last ascend in consciousness to the place where true Christhood does manifest.