Theos-Talk Archives (April 2002 Message tt00149)

Tuesday, April 09, 2002

Dear Larry:

I have read your questions.

As far as I can find out Universal Brotherhood is a statement of
a fact in nature and not the result of a number of fragmented
races, religions, partisan politics etc... coalescing.

It exists as a fundamental principle and is based on the FIRST
FUNDAMENTAL -- the universality of the divine Principle of GOD
as a Spiritual and omnipresent basis.

Our problem is that we have been educated to believe we are all
seriously different and that a constant state of war prevails.

First this is an exaggeration. Second if we step outside we find
that Nature proceeds on exactly the contrary basis.

ALL IS COOPERATIVE.

Diversity adapts itself to continual and mutual support
everywhere.

If we are scientifically inclined, and know how to observe with
care and attention, we find our own bodies to illustrate that
fact. They (our physical bodies) are composed of a harmony of
diversities. The number of cooperating cells and structures is
almost uncountable. Yet, under universal laws they have all
aggregated in each one of us to provide the Mind-Soul with a
habitation that is surprisingly unique as well as flexible and
adaptive.

In fact we may say that there in each physical body two universal
organs: the heart and the brain, and their minute ramifications
spread out and envelop every last cell of the whole physical man
and woman. How and why is this complexity, over which we have no
conscious control developed? What service is performed when it
might seem that uniformity would be so more economical?

Looking further around us, we all share the same air and water.
The Earth does not exhibit any of the artificial political
boundaries and country limits are entirely arbitrary. History
shows they have been altered innumerable times, and the veneer of
languages, cultural traditions, the interaction of religious
concepts, old and new politics and strange beliefs leading to the
separation of the various religions -- all these are shown to
have shifted so many times that any singularity of succession is
rare.

There is a constant movement and an interblending that leads all
individuals to contact with others of similar and dissimilar
natures. And yet the human family can interbreed everywhere. We
can exchange ideas regardless of language barriers. The faiths
we have created or espoused are no barriers to the incursions of
disease. Famine and drought know no man-made barriers an Nature
consistently ignores the arbitrary laws and rules that statutory
governments create.

It is seemingly, as though some vast impelling Force was moving
the whole of humanity through a series of experiences designed to
give each, in time, a feel and a cognizance of the way other
members of the vast human family live, think and conduct their
lives.

I recalled Mr. Judge had spoken in 1893 at the Congress -- the
"Parliament of Religions" held then in Chicago to this subject.
It is so apt and interesting that I desire to reproduce it below
so all of us may enjoy his views -- which are the exposition of
theosophy in practice.

Here it is

------------------------------------

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD - A FACT IN NATURE

by W. Q. Judge




I have been requested to speak on the subject of Universal
Brotherhood as a fact in nature; not as a theory, not as a
Utopian dream which can never be realized; not as a fact in
society, not as a fact in government, but as a fact in nature.

That is, that Universal Brotherhood is an actual thing, whether
it is recognized or whether it is not. Christian priests have
claimed for some years, without right, that Christianity
introduced the idea of Universal Brotherhood. The reason the
claim was made, I suppose, was because those who made it did not
know that other religions at other times had the same doctrine.

It is found in the Buddhist scriptures, it is found in the
Chinese books, it is found in the Parsee books, it is found
everywhere in the history of the world, long before the first
year of the Christian Era began. So it is not a special idea from
the Christian Scriptures.

Every nation, then, every civilization has brought forward this
doctrine, and the facts of history show us that, more than at any
other time, the last eighteen hundred years have seen this
doctrine violated in society, in government, and in nations. So
that at last men have come to say, "Universal Brotherhood is very
beautiful; it is something that we all desire, but it is
impossible to realize." With one word they declare the noble
doctrine, and with the other they deny the possibility of its
ever being realized. Why is this the case? Why is it that
although Christianity and other religions have brought forward
this doctrine, it has been violated?

We cannot deny that it has been. The history of even the last few
years proves it. The history of the last forty years in America,
without going any farther back, proves that this doctrine has
been violated in the West. How could it have been a doctrine that
the Americans believed in when they had slavery in their midst?
How could it have been believed in by the French when they
stretched out their hand and demanded of Siam, a weak and
powerless nation, that it must give up to them its own property?
How could it have been believed in by the Germans and French when
they constructed engines of war and went into battle and
destroyed each other by the thousand? Does not the American War
of the Rebellion and the vast amount of treasure wasted and the
thousands slain in that civil war prove conclusively that
Universal Brotherhood has not been practiced? It has been
professed but not practiced.

Now, go further back, go back in the history of the nations in
Europe, without going to any other country, and what do you find?
Do you not find sectarian prejudice? Their view of Universal
Brotherhood has for years prevented the progress of science. Is
it not true that only since science became materialized -- a most
remarkable thing, but it is true -- I insist that since then only
science has made progress.

If Universal Brotherhood had been a belief of this nation, then
we would not have had the burning of witches in America; nor in
other countries would we have had the burning of Catholics by
Protestants, nor the burning of Protestants by Catholics; we
would not have had the persecutions that have stained the pages
of history; and yet we have always claimed that we have had
Universal Brotherhood. We have had the theory but not the
practice. Now, then, has there not been something wanting?

It is a beautiful doctrine. It is the only doctrine of the
Theosophical Society, the only thing that any man is asked by us
to subscribe to. What, then, is the matter with it? Why so many
men who say that it is beautiful, but it is impossible, simply
impossible? There are even some branches of the Christian church
which say, "There is Jesus; why, the altruistic, noble teachings
of Christ are beautiful; but no State could live three months
under such doctrine." The reason that it has not prevailed in
practice is that it has been denied in the heart.

The Theosophist who knows anything about life insists that
Universal Brotherhood is not a mere theory. It is a fact, a
living ever present fact, from which no nation can hope to
escape; no man can escape from it, and every man who violates it
violates a law, violates the greatest law of nature, which will
react upon him and make him suffer.

And that is why we have had suffering; that is why you have in
Chicago, in London, in New York, in Berlin, in all the great
cities of the world, masses of people who are claiming with
violence what they call their rights and saying they must have
them, and that another class is oppressing them; and danger lurks
in every corner because men are insisting on Universal
Brotherhood. This noble doctrine has already become a danger. The
reason of all these things is that men have denied the fact. Now,
we propose to show you, if we can, that it is a fact.

If you will notice you will find that when it rains over a
certain area vast numbers of men are affected similarly. The rain
has to fall on the fields in order that the harvest may grow, so
that afterwards it may be gathered, and all the farmers are
affected together by the rain. If you examine society you will
find that at the same hour every day almost all the people are
doing exactly the same thing. At a certain hour in the morning
thousands of your citizens are going down that railway or rush
all together to catch the train and at another few moments
afterward they are rushing out of the train to get to business,
all doing the same thing, one common thought inspiring them.

That is one of the proofs -- a small one -- in social and
business life that they are affected together, they are all
united. Then in the evening they will come home at the same hour,
and if you could see, at the same hour you would see them all
eating together and digesting together, and then later on they
are all lying down together at the same hour. Are they not united
even in their social life? Brothers even in that? And what do we
see here in business? Lately I have felt it; every man has felt
it, and many women; doubtless all have felt it; lately we have
had a financial crisis, perhaps have it yet, in which dollars
have been scarce, during which men have discovered that there are
only just so many dollars and half dollars to each person in the
country, and we have altogether been suffering from that panic
all over this vast country. Suffering, why? Because commercially
we are united and cannot get out of it. China even is affected by
it, and Japan. India, they say, was the cause of it. Some men say
the reason for this panic is that India put the price of rupees
down, and we who produce so much silver began to feel it.

But I think there is another cause. I think the American nation
is so fond of luxury, so fond of fine clothes, so fond of having
a heap of money, that it has gone too far and there was bound to
come a reaction, because it is all united together with the whole
world, and when it spread itself out too far the slightest touch
broke the fabric. That is the reason, and that is another proof
of Universal Brotherhood. We are all united, not only with each
other here, but with the entire world.

Now, then, go further still materially and you find that all men
are alike. We have the same sort of bodies, a little different
perhaps in height, weight, and extension, but as human beings we
are all alike, all the same color in one country, all the same
shape in any country, so that as mere bodies of flesh they are
united, they are the same.

We know every man and woman has exuding from him or her what is
called perspiration. The doctors will tell you there is a finer
perspiration you cannot see, the invisible perspiration which
goes out a short distance around about us; we know it comes out
from every person and the emanations of each person are affecting
every other person, being interchanged always. All those in this
room are being affected by these emanations and also by the ideas
of each other, and the ideas of the speakers speaking to you. So
it is in every direction; wherever you go, wherever you look, we
are united; in whatever plane, the plane of mind as well as the
plane of the body; then plane of the emotions, of the spirit,
what not, we are all united, and it is a fact from which we
cannot escape.

Now, then, further: science is beginning to admit what the old
Theosophists have always said, that there is going on every
minute in every person a death, a dissolution, a disappearance.
It used to be taught and thought in the West that we could see
matter, that this table is made of matter. It is admitted today
by your best scientific men in every part of Western civilization
that you do not see matter at all; it is only the phenomena of
matter we see; and it is my senses which enable me to perceive
these phenomena. It is not matter at all, and so we do not see
matter.

Now admitting that, they go further and say there is a constant
change in matter so-called; that is, this table is in motion.
This is not a purely Theosophical theory. Go to any doctor of
Physics and he will admit to you as I have stated it. This table
is in motion; every molecule is separate from every other, and
there is space between them, and they are moving. So it is with
every man; he is made of atoms and they are in motion.

Then how is it we remain the same size and weight nearly always
from the moment of maturity until death? We eat tons of meat and
vegetables but remain the same. It is not because of the things
you have eaten. In addition to that the atoms are alive,
constantly moving, coming and going from one person to another;
and this is the modern doctrine today as well as it was the
doctrine of ancient India. They call it the momentary dissolution
of atoms; that is to say, to put it another way, I am losing, all
of you in this room are losing, a certain number of atoms, but
they are being replaced by other atoms.

Now, where do these other atoms come from? Do they not come from
the people in this room? These atoms help to rebuild your body as
well as does the food you eat. And we are excluding atoms from
our minds, and we are receiving into ourselves the atoms other
men have used. For, remember, science teaches you, and Theosophy
has always insisted, that matter is invisible before it is turned
into this combination of the life cycle, which makes it visible,
makes it tangible to us.

So these atoms leave us in a stream and rush into other people.
And therefore the atoms of good men go into bad men, the atoms
impressed by bad men go into good men, and vice versā. In that
way as well as others we are affecting everybody in this world;
and the people in Chicago who are living mean, selfish lives are
impressing these invisible atoms with mean and selfish
characters, and these mean and selfish atoms will be distributed
by other men, and by you again to your and their detriment. That
is another phase of Universal Brotherhood. It teaches us to be
careful to see that we use and keep the atoms in our charge in
such a condition that they shall benefit others to whom they
shall go.

There is another view of Universal Brotherhood, and I don't
pretend to exhaust the argument on this point, for I have not the
time nor force to state all that is put forward in the
Theosophical books and literature and thought.

That is, that there is in this world an actual Universal
Brotherhood of men and women, of souls, a brotherhood of beings
who practice Universal Brotherhood by always trying to influence
the souls of men for their good.

I bring to you the message of these men; I bring to you the words
of that brotherhood. Why will you longer call yourselves
miserable men and women who are willing to go to a Heaven where
you will do nothing? Do you not like to be gods? Do you not want
to be gods? I hear some men say, "What, a god! Impossible!"
Perhaps they do not like the responsibility. Why, when you get to
that position you will understand the responsibility. This actual
Brotherhood of living men says:

"Why, men of the West, why will you so long refuse to believe you
are gods? We are your brothers and we are gods with you. Be then
as gods! Believe that you are gods, and then, after experience
and attainment, you will have a place consciously in the great
Brotherhood which governs the entire world, but cannot go against
the law."

This great Brotherhood of living men, living souls, would, if
they could, alter the face of civilization; they would, if they
could, come down and make saints of every one of you; but
evolution is the law and they cannot violate it; they must wait
for you. And why will you so long be satisfied to believe that
you are born in original sin and cannot escape?

I do not believe in any such doctrine as that. I do not believe I
was born in original sin. I believe that I am pretty bad, but
that potentially I am a god, and I propose to take the
inheritance if it is possible. For what purpose? So that I may
help all the rest to do the same thing, for that is the law of
Universal Brotherhood; and the Theosophical Society wishes to
enforce it on the West, to make it see this great truth, that we
are as gods, and are only prevented from being so in fact by our
own insanity, ignorance, and fear to take the position.

So, then, we insist that Universal Brotherhood is a fact in
nature. It is a fact for the lowest part of nature; for the
animal kingdom, for the vegetable kingdom, and the mineral
kingdom. We are all atoms, obeying the law together. Our denying
it does not disprove it. It simply puts off the day of reward and
keeps us miserable, poor, and selfish. Why, just think of it! if
all in Chicago, in the United States, would act as Jesus has
said, as Buddha has said, as Confucius said, as all the great
ethical teachers of the world have said, "Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you," would there be any necessity for
legal measures and policemen with clubs in this park as you had
them the other day? No, I think there would be no necessity, and
that is what one of this great Brotherhood has said. He said:
"...all the troubles of the world would disappear in a moment if
men would only do one-quarter of what they could and what they
ought. It is not God who is to damn you to death, to misery. It
is yourself."

And the Theosophical Society desires above all things, not that
you should understand spiritualism, not that wonderful occult
works should be performed, but to understand the constitution of
matter and of Life as they are, which we can never understand but
by practicing right ethics.

Live with each other as brothers; for the misery and the trouble
of the world are of more importance than all the scientific
progress that may be imagined.

I conclude by calling upon you by all that humanity holds dear to
remember what I say, and whether Christians, Atheists, Jews,
Pagans, Heathen, or Theosophists, try to practice Universal
Brotherhood, which is the universal duty of all men.

William Q. Judge

Address given by Wm. Q. Judge at the Parliament of Religions,
Chicago, 1893.


------------------------------------

As I review this I am struck by the profound impact of the THREE
FUNDAMENTALS [ GOD as a UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE, LAW as a UNIVERSAL
ORGANIZER, and EVOLUTION as a cosmic TEACHER. ] these three are
essential and co-exist. Without any combination of them, nothing
can live.

Of course there remain dozens of questions which can only be
resolved with a more intimate understanding of these and their
cooperative and mutually supportive work. But, that is what the
study of Theosophy leads us all to. We are to discover for
ourselves that logic and reasonableness of our situation, and
thus may be able to lead our minds to consider the possible
futures we may yet meet, as we create them with our minds and
will.

Best wishes,

as always,

Dallas

-----Original Message-----
From: Larry F Kolts [mailto:llkingston2@juno.com]
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 2:24 PM
To: study@blavatsky.net
Subject: [bn-study] Universal Brotherhood

Dear friends,

I would like to go into the subject of Universal Brotherhood a
little
further if we could. Let me ask some questions.

Is Universal Brotherhood something that comes naturally or can
it be
cultivated?

If it comes naturally, then how can someone who does nor possess
it
aquire it?

If it can be cultivated, then what does one have to do to do so?

9/11 put a big strain on feelings in general. Is it easier to
feel
universal brotherhood towards our friends then those who would be
our
enemies?

Is something outside of universal brotherhood coming into play in
situations such as 9/11?

Can we react to things such as terrorism, murder, rape, etc.,
take care
of that situation, yet still be acting under the cover of
universal
brotherhood?

We went into how theosophists should react shortly after 9/11. I
don't
want to rehash all that, but just touch on it as it relates to
universal
brotherhood.

Larry