The emergence of imperfection and the planned effort of evil have been paralleled by the appearance of the New Group of World Servers and by the preparation which the Hierarchy is making towards its externalization upon the [668] physical plane. The Hierarchy is at this time exceedingly powerful; its Ashrams are full of initiates and disciples, and its periphery or magnetic field is drawing countless thousands of aspirants towards it. The war struck a mortal blow to material evil, and its hold on humanity is greatly weakened.

Confound not evil with the activities of the gangster or the criminal. Criminals and gangsters are the result of the emerging massed imperfections; they are the victims of ignorance, mishandling when children and misunderstanding down the ages of right human relations; the Law of Rebirth will eventually lead them on the way to good. Those men are truly evil who seek to enforce a return to the bad old ways, who endeavor to keep their fellowmen in slavery of some kind or another, who block the expression of one or all of the Four Freedoms, who gain material riches at the expense of the exploited, or who seek to hold for themselves and for gain the produce of the earth, and thus make the cost of life's necessities prohibitive to those not richly endowed. Those who thus work, think and plan are to be found in every nation, and are usually of prominence because of their riches and influence; however, they sin against light and not through ignorance; their goals are material and not spiritual. They are relatively few compared to the countless millions of men, but are exceedingly powerful; they are highly intelligent but unscrupulous, and it is through them that the Forces of Evil work, holding back progress, promoting poverty, breeding hatred and class distinctions, fostering racial differences for their own ends, and keeping ignorance in power. Their sin is great and it is hard for them to change, because power and the will-to-power (as it militates against the will-to-good) is a dominant all-controlling factor in their lives; these men are today working against the unity of the United Nations, [669] through their greed, their determination to own the resources of the earth (such as oil, mineral wealth and food) and thus keep the people weak and with inadequate food. These men, who are found in every nation, thoroughly understand each other and are working together in great combines to exploit the riches of the earth at the expense of humanity.

I have used the above illustration so as to make my theme somewhat clearer. The whole problem of evil is, however, too vast to contemplate here, nor is it advisable or wise to discuss the source of evil (not of imperfection), the Black Lodge. Energy follows thought, and the spoken word can be potently evocative; therefore, until one is a member of the Great White Lodge, it is the part of wisdom to avoid consideration of forces potent enough intelligently to use the latent imperfection in humanity and to impose the vast evil of war, with all its results and far-reaching effects, upon humanity. The Black Lodge is the problem of the White Lodge, and not the problem of humanity; for aeons the Hierarchy has handled this problem, and is now in process of solving it. It is essentially, however, the main consideration and problem of Shamballa, for it is connected with the will aspect, and only the will-to-good will suffice to blot out and annihilate the will-to-evil. Goodwill will not suffice, though the united and invocative appeal of the [670] men of goodwill throughout the world - increasingly voiced through the Great Invocation - will serve "to seal the door where evil dwells."

It is behind that door and in dealing with the forces there concealed (and mobilized) that the Hierarchy is effective; the methods and modes whereby They protect humanity from mobilized evil, and are gradually driving the evil back, would not be understood by you who have not yet passed through the door which leads to the Way of the Higher Evolution.