This is an amazing time to be alive. We all notice how fast days, weeks and even months seem to fly by, how soon the future arrives, and how distant even the recent past seems to be. Theosophy teaches us that humanity is enduring a time of transition, that several cycles of varying dimensions are in the process of rolling over, that a new age is on the horizon, or very nearly there. The tremendous changes that surround us and make up the fabric of our daily lives are the rays of light that announce the imminent dawning of the Age of Peace and Brotherhood. The Temple of the People, and by extension, the members of the Temple, are like John the Baptist of the previous millennium, announcing to the world that the Prince of Peace is coming, anointing the Blessed One in a stream of consciousness of his mission to bring to suffering humanity the knowledge that will bring it surcease, contentment and fulfillment.

This sounds like a very great and glorious mission. Certainly the history and tradition of the last Avataric cycle, that of the Christian era, would suggest that heroic deeds are required to accomplish it. And truly none of us knows what configurations of events and pressures will come to test us in the future. But right now, despite a worldwide intensifying of the occurrence of catastrophe of all descriptions, our lives seem fairly secure, and our days go by untroubled by any unusual demands, aside from the necessity to keep track of the rapidly fleeing hours and days. Most of us do not find ourselves confronted by more than the familiar succession of little emergencies as the weeks and months roll by. So where is the glory? Where is the heroism? Why did our destiny bring us to this crux in evolution and what are we to do to fulfill our potential, to do the job we were brought to this lovely tranquil village in central California to do?

We might ask what the job is. A lot is said about the Master's Work, but one foremost aspect of the mission of The Temple is to spread the teachings of the Great White Lodge to the rest of humanity. Each one of us could tell a different story about how the teachings of Theosophy, of the Temple, have changed our own lives. We may even have differing interpretations of the teachings, and we most assuredly have different ways of living according to what we have been able to understand. But we could probably all agree that finding the Temple, and all that entails, was at least one of the most important occurrences in our lives. And yet, look around. We are a very small organization. We number in the low hundreds, in a world population of 6 billion souls. That is so negligible in statistical terms as to be almost non-existent. How can the power to save the human race from itself come through so tiny and insignificant a point as that represented by this collection of humanity, such as has appeared here this morning? Even if we were all saints, or angels, which I don't think we could quite claim to be, what effect could we have?

One of the most astounding qualities of the times we live in is the proliferation of information. Electronic media, both commercial and private, has made it possible for people to communicate, to gather facts and data, to send and receive information, at a constantly increasing rate of speed and in an exponentially increasing volume. Even if a person is innocent of the internet, which provides an almost effortless opportunity to create and duplicate communication on any subject imaginable to the widest audience ever available to any individual, an occasional glance at television would give him a clue that the world is wired. There may be someplace that video cams and tape recorders can not go, but they will be there soon. One result of this growth in communication is that people everywhere can share their thoughts widely, and the ideas and opinions that circulate are just that, the personal deductions and extrapolations of individuals just like you and me. Some are informed and some are not, but all are available at the touch of a button. We know that thoughts are things, that an idea creates a matrix that will one day produce a material manifestation. The individual seeker after truth becomes a wanderer in a trackless forest. How do we find the path through this wilderness of appearances and opinions? How do we discover what is true and what is false? Because if we are to fulfill our responsibility of sending the truth out into the world, we must first know what constitutes that truth.

Psychic awareness, a partial glimpse of the dawn of a new age, appears to be taking the world by storm. Everywhere are ideas springing up about astral travel, channeling, natural healing practices, transcendental mysticism, UFOs, and powerful sources of energy that may affect us profoundly. Added to that is a very strong trend of intellectualism, which seeks to try to prove deductively any amount of theories about who we are and what we are doing here on earth. It is as if this cycle of transition has created an imbalance in the mind of man, which he seeks to stabilize in any way he can, and once an individual finds something that seems to make sense to him, he begins trying to convince everyone else that this is the answer. There is a kind of intoxication that takes over, and before we know it, many people are filled with a mission, to bring this "new" idea to the forefront, to expose everyone to its possibilities. Of course, there is nothing new under the sun. Whatever we think we have discovered is merely another emergence of some aspect of universal truth whose time for reappearance has come. But we are an egotistical mankind, and we still think that we have power to control our nature, and the nature of all around us. We imagine that our ideas come from ourselves alone, and the prospect of being the bringer of new tidings promises a power that is almost irresistible to the man whose ego reigns supreme in his own cosmogony.

Sometimes this intoxication takes a very negative direction. The furor over Y2K, which acronym simply means "year two thousand," is a good example. From a reasonable concern about the ability of a computer dependent culture to make a transition from one year to another which was not envisioned by the creators of the original computers, Y2K has become a symbol of the ability of the human race to survive the coming of the millennium. There are people who think that the world as we know it will come to an end, and they will be reduced to standing at the doorways of their shelters with shotguns, protecting their families and their store of survival supplies from everyone who didn't have the foresight to get prepared. A tiny piece of computer data has become a reason for guerrilla warfare. Behind this delusion is the basic fear of change that characterizes our race of humanity. "Better the familiar darkness than the unfamiliar light," is an aphorism that carries a lot of weight in this era. Fear is infectious. The media brings the problem into the households and minds of millions of people who would otherwise never dream that this little problem exists, let alone that it may affect their lives, and suddenly all these millions have a huge problem that casts them into confusion and panic.

Fear eclipses the ability to understand. Fear causes mindless reaction, rather than carefully considered action. Fear masks truth. When faced with fear, we have several choices. We can embrace denial, refuse to even consider the problem as real, and then deal with the unconscious motivations that must result, since our mind knows, whether we choose to allow our consciousness to accept the knowledge or not. We then become depressed, do things we ourselves don't understand, and our lives become uncontrollable. When we are in denial, we are easily persuaded by those who have an agenda that may not be in our better interest. We find ourselves accepting explanations and theories that would make no sense to us were we in a more balanced state. Since our beings seek balance, when we are in a state of fear induced denial and avoidance, we seek to find solace wherever we can, and our modern world has lots to offer in that department: drugs, alcohol, fast driving, conspicuous consumerism, explosions of anger and violence, escape into a fantasy of entertainment, to name a few.

The occultist understands, or at least accepts, that all fear, confusion, panic, and delusion, are the work of the dark forces, that which seek to prevent humanity from evolving to a state of self-responsibility and peace. This may be comforting to some extent, if we can step back and see the big picture, and realize that what happens to each one of us in our private lives is not very important compared to the destiny of the whole race. But we are curious creatures, and even when we can glimpse a wider reality than our own tiny realm of awareness, we live moment by moment, and we are wholeheartedly devoted to that which we care about. The earth is in paroxysms of the birth process, and we are the children being born. Every day we hear of more catastrophes, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, terrible accidents which seem to have no explanation, dreadful suffering caused by war now here and now there. We can comprehend that such events are like pressure release valves, letting off some of the steam of an atrocious build-up of karma which is the result of ages of man's inhumanity to man, and by extension, to all nature. We could see that the proliferation of world-wide suffering is like a safety feature of karma, allowing humanity as a whole to be preserved in order to keep trying to get it right, through the sacrifice of a comparative few. Even a superficial glance at history would show that sufficient pressure could exist, the inevitable result of humanity's collective actions, to cause one vast convulsive eruption which could bring total destruction.

However, if a person has developed any sense of compassion at all, he must be drawn into imagining, when he sees images of those who do suffer from the catastrophes that plague the earth in these days, how he would feel if he and his family were engulfed in such a tragedy. That is a danger point, and a point of opportunity. Here he gets to practice self-control, one of the goals of the occultist. The moment that wave of terror begins, as he suddenly feels the impossible anguish of having to watch his children suffer as other children are suffering right now, he has a choice. Will he fall into the useless and even destructive pattern of fear, denial, and evasion, and begin infecting others with his reactionary emotional malaise, or will he chose another path, that of making a decision to take conscious control of his life and his behavior?

If he chooses the first path, humanity is set back one more time, and evolution must continue to struggle and plod like a dinosaur in a sea of viscous mud. The travail of the birth of the age of peace and brotherhood must drag on that much longer. Pity the poor Mother!

If he chooses the second path, that of deciding to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem, he has his work cut out for him. Where does he start? Here is where the identity of Truth comes in. What does any man know to be true? How does he know? He can for instance examine the data, the statistics. He will realize that the likelihood of such a tragedy happening to those he loves is remote. This may comfort him for awhile, until he realizes that all those who suffer today and all days could have said the same thing to themselves just before their lives blew apart. The intellectual analysis is useful as a method of arranging data, but when faced with the vast and mysterious questing of the human heart, it is sadly lacking in power.

This man who is faced with a crisis of faith, for that is what happens to us when we suddenly come to the edge of the abyss and totter over the void, has only one sky hook to grab on to, and that is Truth. They say that the Truth will make you free, but how do we find out what is true? At this crisis of faith, the occultist, the Temple member, the student of Theosophy, has a great advantage over those who have not stepped foot upon the path to enlightenment. The first step on that path is the vow of poverty. Thy will be done. The student makes a vow to his Higher Self to give up seeking for his own personal advantage in all things and replaces it with a sincere desire to be of help to all, to work according to the Higher Law for the benefit of all life. He has the opportunity to realize that the suffering children half a world away are indeed his children. He may not be able to wipe their tears and comfort their woes, but as he does this for his own children, no matter what their troubles, great or small, he really offers comfort to all the children of man. His access to knowledge of what is happening to a wider and wider circle of his brothers and sisters makes it possible for him to be of greater and greater help to all, since whatever we know, we are in part responsible for.

But what of those who have not stepped foot upon the path, who have not yet realized that All Life is One, and that there are no little things? Must they fall into the abyss of despair when they perceive the tragedy that is the inheritance of mankind? Who reaches out a hand to grasp their hand when the ground crumbles under their feet?

This is where the small membership of the Temple, and all the honest seekers of knowledge of the world have tremendous power. Each one is an example, touching the lives of all the people he encounters throughout his life, with the light of what he has learned through his own personal trials and failures and ultimate successes. We never know when a glance, a smile, a pat on the shoulder, or even a well-directed thought, might be the one turning point for another. Usually we don't ever know it has happened. But if we look back over our own lives, we can find many times when some tiny gesture on the part of someone else changed the course of our future. In fact, if our heart feels it knows a truth, which does not need proof, if we have faith in anything, it is because we have been lent a hand at a time of need, and thereby crossed through some experience that has taught us forever that this thing at least is true. What else can we do but continue to pass on that comfort, that compassion, that Love of God, which is absolute Truth, whatever its earthly guise?

They say that there are only six degrees of separation between any two humans on earth. If you think of all the people you know, then all the people all of them know, and do this six times, you will have encompassed all of humanity. It becomes easy to imagine how a small group of right-minded honest-hearted people could do a tremendous amount of good in the world, simply by holding themselves ready to do so and taking advantage of any opportunity to stretch out that helping hand.

If we spend a little time remembering all the times others have helped us in our lives, we might find that we have occasion for gratitude so great that it could eclipse all negative emotions and thoughts. We have to be honest about this, because it might be that something that happened in the past looked pretty bad at the time, but in retrospect we can see that even that event created conditions that helped us to learn, to become stronger, to understand more. We know that gratitude is an integral part of the creative process, so if we consider what would happen if all the people in the world sent grateful thoughts to all the helpers they had ever had, we can see that the current of positive energy so generated would be unimaginably immense. That flow of gratitude would make it possible for the Love of God to shower every life with blessings, called forth by the giving of love by each one of us.

When we try to understand what is Truth, we have to avoid the temptation to attach importance to this truth or that truth. Truth can be a pretty slippery thing. What is true for one may not be true for another, and vice versa. If we try to help each other by explaining things in the light of our own understanding, we may succeed in nothing but in making the other person stop listening to us. If a person doesn't believe in reincarnation, even if that is the most important thing we understand, then explaining his trials and tribulations in terms of karma and self-responsibility will be worse than meaningless to him. Reincarnation might not be his truth. If we cannot come together in the particulars, we go to the generalities. "Whenever difficulty of understanding comes upon you, always climb higher…" Find the principle that applies, and submerge your own need to be right in that.

In the last analysis it is not at all important who is right or wrong, who figures things out better than who, who can produce an airtight case that proves his theory to be superior. In the last analysis, all that matters is if humanity can learn to be kind to each other. Anyone who has been the victim of a know-it-all who will not stop until you give up trying to represent your own point of view knows how destructive it can be to try to force your truth on another, and how painful it is to be the recipient of such attention. Who wants to inflict that kind of pain?

Ultimately there is only one Absolute Truth, the Absolute Unknowable, the forever Unmanifest we call God. God is Love and Love is Light. This doesn't sound very learned, and it certainly is not something that can be proved, but the amazing thing is that if we live our lives in that Light, dedicated to sharing its brilliance and warmth wherever we can, we gain more and more insight into the things that puzzled and tormented us for ages. We cease to worry and fret about what may happen, whether we will be able to endure. Our fears become insubstantial and our problems recede into perspective. We become content. And anyone who has ever known a truly contented person knows that to be in their presence alone is a very healing thing.

What brings a person to the acceptance of the first principle, the Unity of all Life, from which all comprehension of the great realities comes? Who can say? It must be a mystery, for it dwells within the veils of karma of the individual. How is it that one person finds in his heart the unshakable assurance that God is Love, and that if he offers all he is and all he can be to that Love, his very being will be suffused with courage and tranquility? Who can know, unless he try? Whence comes the knowledge that Gratitude completes the circuit over which blessings flow into the lives of humanity? All we can say is that the heart that has learned this lesson has bled rivers in the effort. We cannot pass on the knowledge that we have earned with our life's blood. All we can do is be examples of that which we know to be true. And that is no little thing.

Just as milliards of bright sparks dance on the waters of an ocean above which one and the same moon is shining, so our evanescent personalities - the illusive envelopes of the immortal MONAD-EGO - twinkle and dance on the waves of Maya. They last and appear, as the thousands of sparks produced by the moon-beam, only so long as the Queen of the Night radiates her lustre on the running waters of life: the period of a Manvantara; and then they disappear, the beams - symbols of our eternal spiritual egos - alone surviving, re-merged in, and being, as they were before, one with the Mother-Source.

-- Secret Doctrine Vol I page 237. By Helena Blavatsky, 1888.