Life in the New Age
by the Master –, through Benjamin Creme

Much has been written about life in the future; much fictional writing is devoted to a description, imaginatively conceived, of the life ahead for humanity. Almost without exception, these writings describe a life and environment dominated by technology and scientifically organized systems. A chilling, mechanistic view of the future is held before the reader who could be forgiven for preferring the present, with all its uncertainties and dangers, to such an inhospitable prospect.

However, the future need not be so bleak and barren of human warmth as that presented by writers of fiction. That science and technology will flourish, there is no doubt; we are entering an age in which the mysteries of life will be revealed, and the energies of the universe will be controlled, through the discoveries of science. Our technology, too, will become ever more sophisticated as it adapts to the challenges posed by these discoveries. We must ensure that a proper balance is maintained, and that the achievements and resources of science are channelled along lines that serve, rather than are served by, mankind.

We will help you to do this. Ours will be the task to oversee the development of the new society along paths that preserve correct balance, and naught that infringes human need will receive Our recommendation. Beauty and sense of fittingness will be the touchstone. All that is ugly, mechanical, and harmful to the human spirit will be eschewed. The aim will be to maintain, in full freedom and harmony, a right relationship between man and his environment; to ensure that every technological and scientific advance is seen as serving better man's needs and knowing better the nature of Reality.

In this way, you may be sure, the needed safeguards will be built into the new structures. All that pertains to the enhancement of life and the beautifying of its forms will know Our blessing; every manifestation which serves the common weal will gain Our support.

The time is coming when man will develop a new relation to his environment. In keeping with his sense that man, nature and God are One, he will build forms which allow him to manifest that truth. The closest contact and free interchange between all aspects of the Whole will be achieved; a sure knowledge of the meaning and purpose of life will replace the present confusion and lead to a demonstration of beauty hitherto unknown. The true, the good and the beautiful will become a reality in men's lives.

All of this presupposes, and depends on, a change in direction from the present chaos. Naught of good can emerge without a fundamental restructuring of social forms along lines more compatible with human needs. Were man to realize how much of his God-given potential is sacrificed to the present unholy order, he would delay not one moment in making the needed changes. Were he to sense but an inkling of the glory of that potential, naught would be allowed to bar his way to its achievement. The future calls man to his finest efforts, his noblest aspiration, his grandest vision.

Let man build a future in which his sacrifice is not of his divinity but of his separated self. Let him embrace his brothers in love and make himself whole.