Redacted Alice Bailey, from Problems of Humanity

It recently came to the attention of the esoteric community (Hat tip to Phillip Lindsay, see comments under Phillip’s article) that portions of Alice A. Bailey’s book, Problems of Humanity has been redacted and altered over the years. The 1^st edition came out in 1947, just after WWII, with at least two more editions to follow – 1953 and 1964. Alice had passed on when those two later editions came out, so we don’t know exactly why the text was redacted. However, the redactions reflected the changes in the world order since the 1st edition. But times, events and humanity have changed since 1964. Neither the present world order nor the Western powers who led that order resemble what they were in 1964. There was an introduction in the 1^st edition from 1944, while the war was still ongoing. There have been redactions at both later editions. The purpose of showing the redactions and also insertions from the 1^st edition is as follows:

• The conditions that existed at the end of WWII have resurfaced to a degree, albeit in different forms. There is a major conflict in Europe yet again, this time limited to Ukraine in terms of military action, but outside Ukraine (and across Europe) economically and culturally. It is apparent that at the conclusion of WWII ‘the door where evil dwells’ was not kept closed, and in fact was allowed to be reopened. This was apparent in the creation of the Zionist state of Israel, for instance, mentioned below. Old antagonisms, jealousies and covetous emotions by the elites of the Western powers regarding the territory of Russia, for another example, have resurfaced, too, resulting in the present war, noting there are no blameless parties here.

The Western powers of the US, Canada and Western Europe – and in particular the UK – are on the sites of old Atlantis, when the war between the spiritual and materialistic (‘White’ and ‘Black’, resp.) Lodges was raging. The major crime in old Atlantis was theft. For a description of the battle, see HP Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine II, starting at page 423. There are also sequential maps of Atlantis. The island of Atlantis at its greatest extent stretched from modern-day Scotland to the Midwest in the US in the north and to the southernmost parts of Brazil in the south. This is mentioned here because the present conflict has its roots in theft, with the major antagonists being found in Washington and London, and in Germany and France, the latter two in lesser degree.

• The world of international relations is itself undergoing historic change, with Western powers receding in influence and Eastern powers asserting their sovereignty. Pax Americana, as it had existed from the end of WWII to the start of this decade is quickly coming to an end, with all the attendant turbulence and uncertainty for the Western public.
• Western nations are sliding into recession one-by-one, creating domestic turbulence, which in all likelihood will result in a change in the political spectrum across the West. The recessions are being caused by a variety of factors, foremost of which are poor foreign policy, the results of deregulated capitalism (itself have a strong basis in theft), political corruption and the effort to sever ties with Russia, and increasingly China, across the board.
• In West Asia, the creation of a Zionist state, based upon ancient and outmoded beliefs, which has brought its own undue influence to bear upon Western governments, most especially in Western Europe and the US. This was warned against in other of Alice Bailey’s books and has reached a point of real crisis in Palestine and the surrounding region. The disappearance of Zionism will do much to bring healing and prosperity to West Asia and go toward resolving the political affairs of the West.
• The culture of inculcating hatred in children toward certain groups, primarily in Eastern Europe, and specifically in Ukraine. Such hatred is imbued heavily with old Nazi ideology, which has been allowed to flourish since the fall of the Soviet Union, and in fact has been encouraged covertly by factions within Western governments, with the aim of creating antagonisms between Slavic peoples across Eastern Europe.
• The rise of a new financial order, in process of being instituted across Asia and in parts of Africa and South America. This is one of the main factors in the economic war being waged by the vested interests in the West against the rising Eastern powers.

There are other reasons for posting these redactions/insertions, but the above are the main points. One can download a Word document with all the points highlighted HERE. Nothing in the text of the 1st edition has been altered. There is also a PDF version. They will appear according to the settings in your word processing program, which can be altered. What follows gives a brief taste of what, in my opinion, is worthy of reconsidering in light of recent international relations and developments. The following introductory statement is from the 1st edition and was redacted from the ’53 and ’64 editions:

___________

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT

When I last wrote upon this subject, the war was at a critical point and it was still uncertain how long it would last or whether the Forces of Light could implement a complete victory. Today, the situation is very different. The Forces of Evil are already in flight not only upon the inner planes but upon the physical plane as well. The victory will be complete.

It still remains to be seen, however, if the psychological victory will be as great as the physical. This is dependent upon mankind appreciating the nature of the problems involved and then taking those steps which will ensure the kind of peace which the practical yet spiritually minded people desire and the best and most liberal of humanity wants. I propose today to indicate the lines along which our thinking and planning should run. This in its turn should materialize in clear thought upon the world problems and right speech, thereby helping the unthinking to take the right action. This they will do if enough of those impressed by the real values utter the needed words with adequate force. This will take courage.

The problems with which humanity, after the war, will have to deal might be roughly enumerated as follows:

1. The Problem of the Physical Reconstruction of the World.

The destruction which has taken place is far greater than was ever anticipated by the most pessimistic foreboder, [page2] though not greater than the clear-sighted had foreseen and prophecy down the ages had foretold. Few cities of any size in Europe are left intact, and many of them are reduced to rubble. The people of Europe are homeless on a very large scale. Privacy has disappeared; people are herded together in the towns and villages which are left. For example, seventeen thousand homes were destroyed or seriously damaged in Great Britain by the robot bombs, sometimes at the rate of 800 every twenty-four hours, and this without actual invasion.

The physical rehabilitation of the shattered populations, their immediate feeding and housing and their restoration to their own cities and lands will and must occupy the full attention of the armies of liberation and the relief associations of all the peoples for a long time to come. The restoration of the means of transportation and of communication presents a critical situation; the reconstruction of systems of sanitation, of water and of lighting presents enormous problems, for their destruction has been very widespread and their non-existence in so many places holds in it the threat of disease and epidemics. The temporary measures instituted by the marching armies of the Allied Nations must be made permanent and lasting.

The supply of the material means for restoration must also be found, and then these must be transported and the work of reconstruction implemented. This is only the first of the major problems with which the United Nations will be confronted and with which, later, the Axis nations will also have to deal, as well as the satellite nations. The minor problems, incident to these major cases, are too numerous to mention. [page 3]

2. The Problem of the Psychological Rehabilitation of the Nations.

Millions in Europe, Great Britain, Asia and the Pacific have suffered almost past human endurance and the triumph of the human spirit is one of the greatest victories of the war. But an end must come to this demand for endurance and a term set to humanity’s sufferings. Peace and security are basic human rights and these the United Nations will also have to implement. The problem falls into four main categories:

a. The problem as it concerns the ravaged nations, those which have been occupied by Germany or overrun by Japan, those which have been the victims of war and of destruction by military means through Allied or German or Japanese armies, and those which have agonized under the barbarous methods of the Forces of Evil, working unhindered through the German and Japanese people.

b. The problem as faced by those United Nations which remain strong and whose territories have not been violated or only partially so. I refer here to the United States of America, to the British Commonwealth of Nations and to the United Soviet Socialist Republics. Great Britain has suffered cruelly but her Allied Nations, the Dominions, remain untouched. Russia has also suffered terribly in her Western areas but her territory remains for the most part untouched. The United States has suffered the least of all, except in certain distant outposts in the Pacific, and there is little need for rehabilitation in the same sense as it is needed elsewhere.

The problem of these rich and powerful peoples will be that of wise and understanding action and imaginative perception, selflessly implemented with a view to the good of all the peoples of all the world. [page 4]

c. The problem as faced by those countries which remained neutral and particularly the problem which the neutral countries of Europe have to face. With the exception of Switzerland, these countries have had to face (and will continue to face) considerable criticism for their neutrality, and their carefully assumed position of onlookers at humanity’s distress. This they will have to live down by full cooperation in the work of salvage, and by silence at the Peace Table. Their future security and opportunity has been assured through the sacrifice of the lives of other nations but not by any action of their own. They remain debtors to the Forces of Light, and their debt must be paid in service to the remainder of the world. Switzerland is in a different category and remains ever the symbol of service, through its Red Cross work, of cooperation, through the ability of its nations —Italians, German and French— to live together in peace, of democracy through its form of government, and of spiritual synthesis, through the relation of Catholics and Protestants within its borders.

The problem of the South American Republics is somewhat different. Their relation to the war elsewhere has been relatively slight with the exception of Brazil which has taken an active part on the side of the Forces of Light, and of the Argentine which, through its government, sided with the Forces of Evil, and has thus offered a centre to which they can retreat.

d. The problem of Germany and of Japan presents very special difficulties. They present, from the angle of psychological reconstruction, a most challenging opportunity. It will require much understanding and wisdom to handle it at all, much freedom from the national glamours of the Allied Nations (and such glamours exist), swift [page 5] repudiation of the specious pleas of the appeasers and pacifists of the world and at times much ruthless handling if the safety and security of the world is to be safeguarded for coming generations. The thoughtform of aggression, of self pity and the doctrines of the National Socialist Party are so deeply ingrained in the German consciousness that it will take several decades to eradicate them.

I seek not to deal with these problems at this time, but only to indicate what must be faced by the nations everywhere.

3. The Problem of the Children of the World.

How can these young people again be given a sense of security, of stability and of a future full of opportunity and happiness? How can their broken bodies, their shattered nerves and their scarred souls be restored so that they can be fitted for ordinary peaceful human living and to be the parents of the next generation? How can they be educated so that their ideals and objectives can be higher and different to those which have conditioned the past? How can they be given a sense of the “one humanity” and taught to live cooperatively, with kindness to all and with goodwill in their hearts? How can they be given a sense also of the integrity and the importance of the individual and of the part which the individual can voluntarily play in the group or the national life? How can what they have seen and heard in their short lives be eradicated and a new vision of human life be substituted?

These are some of the possibilities ahead and the difficulties which appear so great —owing to the war, to ancient wrong thinking, to the prejudiced nationalisms in which they live and to the innate selfishness of all nations, without [page 6] exception— are not insuperable. The future is dependent upon the educators of the world taking hold of the presented situation with long vision, far-sighted wisdom and sound commonsense. Can the children of the Western hemisphere, almost pathetically immune from the pain which has overwhelmed the children elsewhere in the world, be trained to recognize their relation to all young people everywhere and their joint responsibility for the future world, along with the children of other lands?

4. The Problem of Labor, of Capital and of Employment.

These three interlocking problems are very grave and are closely related to the economic life of every nation, to the standard of living for all people, to the economic future of everybody, and the inter-relation along sound lines of goodwill between labor and capital. The old ways must go —the ways of exploitation and of greed, the amassing of large fortunes by “bosses” in either labor or capital. Then right human relations will be established. This problem also concerns that of unemployment, so critically feared, but which —in view of the tasks of rehabilitation and reconstruction lying ahead— can be handled with a minimum of suffering and distress.

The whole solution lies in this: Can capital and labor be induced in every land to work for the good of all humanity, and not for the good of their particular party, group or nation, or cause. Much difficulty lies right here, owing to ancient hatreds, much lying propaganda, sincere nationalistic differences and the greed of certain big groups; these have gathered much power into their hands in spite of the war and will fight before they can be induced to relinquish it. [page 7]

5. The Problem of the Racial Minorities.

I refer here particularly to the two most outstanding, menacing problems, that of the Jews and of the Negroes. Until the problem of these two races has been solved, mankind is faced with failure. They will have to be solved through the active cooperation of the minorities with the overwhelming majorities.

The Jewish problem is planetary in scope and very old. The Negro problem is increasingly dangerous, owing to the growing understanding of the colored peoples. The Jewish problem will have to be solved through the intelligent cooperation of Jews and Gentiles, working together with goodwill. The Negro problem is largely one for the right activity of the white races among whom the Negro race finds itself, and by their recognition that there is one Father, one family, and one humanity. This recognition must lead to practical changes in relationships and a correct implementing of the solution. It will need cooperation on both sides, of course, but in the case of the Negroes, the white people are largely to blame by refusing opportunity, understanding and education.

6. The Problem of the Churches.

What is the solution of this intricate and difficult relationship throughout the world? A new presentation of truth, because God is not a fundamentalist; a new approach to divinity, because God is ever accessible and requires no outer intermediaries today; a new mode of interpreting the ancient spiritual teaching, because man has evolved and what was suitable for infant humanity is today unsuitable for adult mankind. These are imperative changes. Nothing can prevent the new world religion from [page 8] eventually emerging. It always has down the ages and it always will. There is no finality in the presentation of truth; it develops and grows to meet man’s growing demand for light. It will be implemented and developed by the spiritually minded in all Churches, whose minds are open to the new inspirations of God’s Love and Mind, are liberal and kind, and whose individual lives are pure and aspiring. It will be hindered by the fundamentalists, the narrow-minded and the theologians in all the world religions, by those who refuse to let go the old interpretations and methods, who love the old doctrines and men’s thoughts about them, and by those who lay the emphasis upon forms, upon rites and ceremonies, upon ritual and pomp, on authority and the building of stone edifices in these days of man’s extremity, his starvation and his need.

The Catholic Church here faces her greatest opportunity and also her greatest crisis. Catholicism is founded in ancient tradition, is assertive of ecclesiastical authority, is responsive to outer forms and rituals and —in spite of a wide and beneficent philanthropy— is quite unable to leave her children free. If the Catholic Church can change her techniques, can relinquish authority over the souls of men (which she has never truly had) and can really follow the way of the Saviour, of the humble Carpenter of Nazareth, she can render a world service and set an example which will serve to enlighten the followers of every faith and of every branch of Christianity.

The problem of the freedom of the human soul and its individual relation to God Immanent and God Transcendent is the spiritual problem, facing all the world religions at this time. No longer must the Churches interpose their authority and their interpretations between God and man. The time for that is past. This problem has been slowly [page 9] shaping up for centuries, developing with the growth of the human intellect and the self-consciousness of the human being and it is one which now cries aloud for solution.

7. The Problem of International Unity.

The goal in view must be the good of all, great and small, with complete justice and fairness. The keynote is basically economic and involves right sharing. There must be freedom from want, and the products of the planet must belong to all, under some wise system of general participation. All men must eat and live free from anxiety. This is no idle and visionary dream. It is a problem which will yield to wise statesmanship in the field of economics and the distribution of needed commodities; it will require a firm attitude on the part of all leaders so that those that have will share with those that have not, so that the surplus products of the earth are not exploited for the financial gain of the few. Fair and correctly planned distribution of wheat, oil, minerals and needed foodstuffs must be undertaken by all nations for the good of all.

The Alternative Is Another War

There are necessarily many lesser problems but these cover the major ones with which humanity is at this time confronted, and which must find some solution during the next twenty-five years. If no progress is made and these problems remain unsolved, at least in some measure, and if humanity slips back into the status existing prior to the war, then nothing can stop the next war. If it comes, it will bring the final death blow to the human race. Mankind as we know it, could not survive, nor would it be right and good that it should. The death of a race might then be decreed and the long process of nurturing a race of men [page 10] who would finally express divinity would have to be started all over again. These are not idle words, but the formulation of a possibility which can be clearly visioned, but which need never materialize if humanity learns the lesson of this war, recognizes its mistakes, and sets in deliberately to take those steps which will make such a happening as the past war (1914-1945) an impossibility. This will have to be done by the simple method (simple to write but difficult to implement) of establishing right human relations between men and between nations.

I have pointed out seven problems with which man must deal. They concern the material and the psychological fields of human enterprise. When I use these words I include the educational field, and the ecclesiastical. Let me point out, however, the immediate spiritual problem with which all are faced. It is the problem of gradually offsetting hate and initiating the new technique of trained, imaginative, creative and practical goodwill.

The Technique of Goodwill

Goodwill is man’s first attempt to express the love of God. Its results on earth will be peace. It is so simple and practical that people fail to appreciate its potency or its scientific and dynamic effect. One person sincerely practicing goodwill in a family can completely change its attitudes. Goodwill really practiced among groups in any nations, by political and religious parties in any nation and among the nations of the world can in fifteen years time revolutionize the world. Again I would point out that this is no idle statement. It is a technique which has never yet been tried on any large scale.

Let us ponder on these problems and arrive at some clear formulation of our own ideas on these matters. Having [page11] done so, we should have the courage to speak of these problems and of their solution in our own environment —not fanatically, but with wisdom and discretion.

In an earlier writing on the subject of humanity I gave the key to the problem in the following words:

—“The key to humanity’s trouble (focussing as it has in the economic difficulties of the past two hundred years and in the theological impasse of the orthodox churches) has been to take and not give, to accept and not share, to grasp and not to distribute. This has involved the breaking of a law which has placed humanity in a position of positive guilt. War is the dire penalty which mankind has had to pay for this great sin of separateness. Impressions from the Hierarchy have been received, distorted, misapplied and misinterpreted and the task of the New Group of World Servers is to offset this evil.”

Humanity has never really lived up to the teaching given it. Spiritual impression, whether conveyed by the Christ, by Krishna or by Buddha (and passed on to the masses by Their disciples) has not yet been expressed as it was hoped. Men do not live up to what they already know; they fail to make practical their information; they short circuit the light; they do not discipline themselves; greedy desire and unlawful ambition control and not the inner knowledge. To put it scientifically and from the esoteric angle: Spiritual impression has been interrupted and there has been interference with the divine circulatory flow. It is the task of the disciples of the world to restore this flow and to stop this interference. This is the major problem facing spiritual people at this time.

October1944

_______________

You can retrieve the text as a Word document or as a PDF HERE. The same material is also available on Phillip’s site, along with additional material. Just enter ‘Problems’ at the Subscriber Archives on this site (without the quote marks) in the search field or press ‘Published’ once or twice and both versions will both pop up.