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Separativeness and race relations

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Posted on: Tuesday 27 February 2007 12:31:49 pm

THIS MESSAGE IS CROSS-POSTED IN BOTH THE RACIAL MINORITIES AND SEPARATIVENESS FORUMS

It is bridging work which has now to be done - bridging between what is today and what can be in the future. If, during the coming years, we develop this technique of bridging the many cleavages found in the human family and in offsetting the racial hatreds and the separative attitudes of nations and people, we shall have succeeded in constructing a world in which war will be impossible and humanity will be realizing itself as one human family and not as a fighting aggregate of many nations and peoples, competitively engaged in getting the best of each other and successfully fostering prejudices and hatred.
Alice Bailey, Problems of Humanity p.63

The guidelines for right human relationships have been given by the enlightened teachers of the world in the simplest of terms. We are to love one another, to practise right thoughts, words and deeds. These spiritual principles are the foundations of global cooperation, justice and security.

The social ills that blight contemporary human affairs evidence very different guidelines, working in opposition to these higher impulses. This opposition is rooted in separateness, in the sense of "them" versus "us" and in the urge to put "me" first.
Nowhere has the life-destroying effect of separateness been more clearly shown than in the field of race relations. Wherever it is found, racism creates deep and crippling lines of cleavage.

Moulded by our historical backgrounds, the spirit of separateness still potently conditions our world-view. We are quick to criticise differences and slow to value healing and unifying influences at work in world affairs. Through mass literacy, the spread of education and the impact of such profound change agents as the media, the intellectual capacity of humanity is now developed to such an extent, that it is imperative that spiritual values are strengthened. If held in check by spiritual values, the intellect serves the greater good. However, if materialistic values hold sway, the line of least resistance for the intellect is that of critical, separative and self-centred thought.

In our world today spiritual values find expression in all that is being done to create a better world in every area of human endeavour. At the same time materialistic values flourish in myriad concerns that seek to benefit the part at the expense of the whole. The challenge is to see that spiritual values triumph.

The spiritual perspective is always characterised by inclusiveness, the striving towards unity-in-diversity, the values of co-operation and personal integrity. These qualities are the expression of the soul, that part of our nature known by many names: the Christ within, the higher faculties of mind and heart to which the pinnacle of creative human achievement bears witness, the true Self. The soul illumines the mind, revealing its intuitive and abstract powers. It awakens the heart, releasing the energy of goodwill and unfolding the capacity to love and serve. In the light of the soul, the wholeness and synthesis of life is sensed. If this is the perspective held, the concern of the individual or group will be to promote justice, equality and respect for all cultures and peoples. The human race as a whole will be the significant factor.

A solution to separateness in race relations depends upon bringing the spiritual "down to earth", thus increasing the influence of soul values in human affairs through their deliberate cultivation in the life of the individual.

The bridge-builders are the men and women of goodwill who, in their untold numbers, are committed to work for a better world. They are the global group of all who love humanity, and have responded to the inner soul impulse to serve. Working in every area of need, these bridge-builders give living expression to spiritual values. In race relations they stand by the principles of human rights and unity-in-diversity, and they heal the cleavages that divide and separate.

The bridge that is being built incorporates ideas, aspirations, vision and actions. It unites in its common purpose all individual servers who pioneer the new in the place where they live and work. It affirms the fact of the One Humanity throughout the fabric of society. Through this network of all people of goodwill, the values and principles upon which a new world order must be based are being anchored in everyday life.
The extraordinary progress being made in bringing spiritual values "down to earth" is reflected in the vast planetary network of service that seeks to meet real human and world need. It is reflected in the way in which such real issues as poverty, injustice and pollution are now subject to ceaseless debate on the world stage. And it is reflected in the many initiatives to create more healthy approaches to this contentious issue of race relations.