by Guardian in Chief Richard A. London
Given in the Blue Star Memorial Temple
September 8, 2024
Who rules, what rules, why rules? In my mind, I can hear “Harmony Rules,” as if when harmony is in charge, we get a taste of heaven. At the same time, I can picture “Harmony Rules” as a list of suggestions or requirements for me to follow.
I’ve heard of God Rules, Nature Rules, Freedom Rules, Money Rules, Fear Rules, and Love Rules. There are scenarios when the Majority Rules and other situations when the Minority Rules. Of course, there is no shortage of lists, either from the Ten Commandments and the Bill of Rights, to the Ten Rules of Discipleship of the 4th Degree of the Great White Lodge.
In contrast, we seem to associate harmony with the fruits of our labor more easily than with the actual act of our working. While we are striving to keep a roof over our heads and put food on our tables, how many of us are truly grateful to be making a living, like every other living thing and creature interacting with Mother Nature?
Throughout my professional life, whenever encountering the letters “HR,” the term “human resources” would first come to mind. There was a time when it was home run, homeroom, hours, honor roll, human race, and human rights. I could go on. Not until composing this talk had I thought about “HR” as Harmony Rules.
So, let’s consider what comes up for us by the juxtaposition of the nature of HR — in this case, Human Resources — and what it means to making a living within the terms of “Harmony Rules.”
By definition, “Human resources are a set of individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector or an economy.” This corresponds with Wall Street’s perception of laboring people as capital assets and their potential for increasing return on investment.
Simultaneously, while working for a living we are also human resources for a variety of noncommercial groups such as our families and neighborhoods, our schools and clubs, our communities and hospitals, our religious affiliations, governments, armed forces, and so on.
At any point in time each one of us may find ourselves connected to any number of groups and in a variety of combinations. Odds are that each group, big or small, is subject to its own unique set of rules.
The possibility of all these peopled complexities simply getting along, let alone harmoniously, at times seems unimaginable. Thanks to Hope, Faith and Charity, “Human Harmony” may be able to overcome the implication of being an oxymoron. Living sincere kindness and courtesy is easier said than done.
Yet, never less than once a month during the Temple Feast of Fulfillment, we have the opportunity to reaffirm our belief in “the harmonious evolution of all creative Force and Consciousness, and in a geometrical plan according to which each atom, molecule, human being, and star must attain development under fixed, inexorable Law, which Law is Love.” We reaffirm our pledge to work in harmony with that Law as far as lies within our power, by merely laying our hands upon or pressing to our lips the bread and water sanctified during this most sacred service.
From the Feast of Fulfillment, we find that “Law is Love.” From the Ten Rules of Discipleship of the 4th Degree of the Great White Lodge, we find that “God is Love and Love is the fundamental source of Being.” From this we may infer that Law is God — although for my atheist friends, “Law is Love” makes more sense.
Depending on use, the interchangeability of words can be confusing or helpful, as the differences can be ever so subtle. In the case of rules vs. laws, one difference might be in the significance of the consequences for the disobeying of either.
The relevance here isn’t so much about whether we know a pronouncement to be a rule or a law, but by the Spirit brought to the making, observing, or enforcement of that rule or law.
It is my belief that the Laws of Centralization, Unity, Karma, Cycles, Polarity and Solidarity are accountable to the Law of Love. Manifesting through this hierarchy of Laws is Fohatic Energy: Sound, Light, Flame, Magnetism (heat), Attraction, Repulsion and Cohesion. Contemplating this, and the Triple Key, may begin to seed our understanding and the ability to correspond the natural harmonious order of things with our own behaviors. For example, at the molecular level through attraction and cohesion, a combination of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom forms what may be the original ménage à trois — a vital ingredient for harmony. This combination makes the very existence of life possible as we know it, as the White Light holds the foundational Colors of our existence.
Comprehending harmony’s relevance to my own evolution, within the context of universal evolution, is a challenging work in progress. Especially when I perceive time marching on, and whether I get along with anyone (including myself) or follow any rules, I find encouragement through believing that my animal instincts are incapable of remaining unchanged forever. It takes courage for me to be self-responsible and aspirational. It takes courage for me to be empathetic and forgiving.
I can hear, see, and feel how joy and beauty would lead to harmony. I struggle at times to appreciate and accept the role of pain and suffering in this process. Endeavoring to be considerate of future generations nurtures my optimism, grace, and gratitude.
To some, evolution can also be an illusion. There are people in my life who claim to be open minded, including me. Yet the value of some new idea seems to elude us as time takes us further away from our youth. This might seem paradoxical were it not for the adage, “with age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.”
The Triple Key — the evolution of Matter, Force and Consciousness — has become an eye-opening thought tool on my journey along the Path. I’ve also found it useful to think of other words in series of threes, as in: “Love, Will and Wisdom,” “Thought, Word and Deed,” “Hope, Faith and Charity,” “Producer, Consumer and Decomposer,” and “Past, Present and Future.” I can imagine the necessity of a harmonious interdependency flowing through and within trinities such as these.
I can also imagine the need for a harmonious interconnectedness between “Religion, Science and Economics,” the Foundation Stones of the Temple of the People. Here we are coming to learn that a true religion needs a scientific basis, and a right economic system needs to be based on a science that is religious and on a religion that is scientific.
An economic system has everything to do with how we make a living, how we go about benefitting from producing, exchanging, and utilizing the things we need and want. It is within this context that we explore the connection between human resources and Harmony Rules.
Here I want to emphasize one of my most memorable childhood Sunday school stories, “The Tower of Babel,” a story relevant to the communication confusion plaguing humanity today. Without arguing the authenticity of this story, it underscores the value of utilizing a universal language as a means for accomplishing mission, in order for a vision to be manifested at the end of some period of time. From a brief biblical point of view, it took ten generations from the time of Adam and Eve for humanity to become wicked enough for Noah to get the impulse to build an Ark. It would seem that the flood was helpful in washing away wickedness, as humanity was getting along well enough to build their way up to God, until their pride aroused a form of communication confusion. It would seem there was a time when humanity could communicate like the diversity of cells and organs we have within our human bodies. Many of us take for granted that our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, fingers, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and so on have the ability to circumvent the paralysis of communication confusion within the organizations of our bodies.
So, if we can assume the potential for cooperative communication exists, I believe that regardless of any one individual’s position within any system of life, there are levels of Morale, Quality, and Profit that have the individual potential for contributing to the degrees of harmony being experienced by any going concern, whether natural or human made.
Morale being attitude, Quality being utility (or usefulness), and Profit being benefit, all have an integrated and interdependent impact on the resonance of the entity’s internal and external harmony.
The strength and weakness of any one of these aspects may come and go over time. Offering a quality product or service does not guarantee a profit, and making a profit and being gratified by one’s work does not guarantee the functioning utility of a product or service.
It is commonplace for an organization’s morale, quality, and profit to be influenced by its Values, Mission, and Vision, as it navigates its way through the marketplace. The phrase “as above so below” may also apply to any group or individual. Simply put, Values drive Missions towards Visions.
Values are beliefs that are shared among the human resources of an organization. Values drive an organization’s culture and priorities, providing context for decision-making, and can be thought of as the essence or substance of the entity.
Mission defines the fundamental purpose of an organization, why it exists and what it does. Mission can be thought of as the means or the journey.
Vision describes what the organization wants to accomplish, either internally or externally, where it wants to be or how it wants its world to be. It looks to the future, can be a source of inspiration, and can be thought of as the ends or the destination. Navigationally speaking, Vision is a North Star.
Values, Mission, and Vision are alive within any entity, whether consciously or not. They are dynamic in their shifting, modifying, and adapting by virtue of experience.
Values are the foundation to missions and visions. For instance, how we value trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship has profound implications on our missions and visions.
Can we enjoy the journey, or is it all about the destination? Do the means justify the ends, or vice versa? Can we or our organizations be successful and balanced without a state of harmony? Can we experience harmony while struggling with adversity?
As human resources — whether individually or through our hierarchical position within an organization — are we living each day with joy in abundance (morale), being most useful (quality), while benefiting ourselves and those around us (profit)? Are we doing this even though clouds and darkness seem to be about us?
Competition, supply, and demand can alter the dynamics of morale, quality, and profit and the organization’s propensity for sustainability or being a going concern. Motivation, knowledge, and resiliency are keys to harmony. Influenced by the relationship between risk and reward, speculation plays a significant role in the level of time, energy, and resources we are willing to invest in our values, missions, and visions.
Hard work to the point of exhaustion, without hope of meeting life’s basic needs and performance quotas, is not necessarily in the best interest of values, mission, and vision. We may conclude that morale, quality, and profit would eventually suffer under such working conditions. In fact, a form of slavery comes to mind were one not legally able to “quit.”
However, with the introduction of a little respect, gratitude, and a greater share of the profits, the burden of hard work, fear and exhaustion can be miraculously lifted in the “twinkling of an eye.”
No matter which microcosm one belongs to in the macrocosm of life, every entity has a responsibility for their share of the morale, quality, and profit of life, no matter the values, missions, and visions one finds themselves connected to.
No organization, group, or individual having high morale, a great product or service, and making a profit is, as John Donne wrote, “…an island entire of itself; every individual is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…”
In many organizations, profit or benefit is altruistic. It is through external service that inward harmony is manifested, and a contribution to outer harmony is made.
No matter the group or organization it all boils down to the individual, to you and me. When an emphasis on “what’s in it for us” is more prevalent in our thoughts than “what’s in it for me,” we increase the possibility of harmony.
Without the divine values, mission, and vision of the Honeybees, we can only begin to imagine the dissonance that may arise in the absence of their harmonic pollinating expression. Is it really progress when science figures out the means for creating synthetic honey without any need for Honeybees? Be it the Passenger Pigeon — once several billion strong when the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock, now extinct since 1914 — or the California Condor — one of some 100 species to appear in 1967 on one of the first lists of endangered species — all have been endeavoring to harmonize through the pursuit of their versions of Divine Morale, Utility, and Profit within the Symphony of Nature.
Within the Symphony of Nature, there seems to be only one player who can manipulate the scientific, economic, and religious aspects of Harmony, especially when shortsighted conveniences and selfish profits are beckoning. It is the one instrument whose presence, on the surface, does not appear necessary for our ancient planetary magnum opus to continue playing on. I do not mean to imply that humanity hasn’t been endeavoring to create value for the advancement of the common good. In many cases motives have been pure and quite noble; in tune, if you will.
However, it remains to be seen how many chairs in the Orchestra of Life will go vacant at the behest of those aspects of humanity’s religious piety, scientific arrogance, and economic deceptiveness. Out of all the life forms here on Earth, humankind may be the only one that appears to offer little to no ecological necessity or even utility, either instinctively or as a matter of intentional coexistence, to the physical well-being of the macrocosm of Nature.
So, if the microcosm of billions of human beings and groups of human beings living their values, missions, and visions in pursuit of morale, quality, and profit, were to lose its chair in the Symphony of Nature, most likely the Honeybees’ melody would continue to nourish the Song of Life.
So, what do the birds and the bees have to do with Harmony Rules and human resources? Well, many cultures have used the birds and the bees to explain to their children the facts of life and that their behavior comes with day-to-day responsibilities and lifelong consequences.
Yet, when it comes to religion, science and economics, humanity struggles to find consensus about the facts of life. From a religious standpoint, many of us hold human life sacred, yet war remains an option for settling our differences. From a scientific standpoint, many of us know what it takes to nurture well-being, yet we choose unhealthy behaviors. From an economic standpoint, many of us hold integrity in high regard, yet we are willing to sell out the environment in the name of personal gain and profit. Too often the emphasis on freedom and rights blurs the greater need for consideration and accountability.
Sure, there are examples of climate change, habitat destruction, and species extinction taking place over the millennia without the influence of humankind. But there is a reason we think of ourselves as evolving into the image of God — although for my Christian friends, “created” in the image of God makes more sense.
When it comes to humans as a resource to Mother Earth, our microcosm, what does our species contribute to the macrocosm that is in the best interest of every other living thing and creature? How many species are there that add to the Orchestra of Life, but without them the Symphony of Nature would be unable to continue? Thousands of species are now listed as critically endangered — might not that fact — give more of us pause?
I believe that through the grace of Reincarnation and Karma, our Humanity is inheriting, even earning, the gift of becoming more accountable for our individual and group choices, whether intentionally conscientious or not. As near as I can tell, to this period of time we have been blessed with no essential role critical to the balance of Nature, except perhaps to do no harm. Most likely, without us the Honeybees would continue to do their business and the Passenger Pigeons would still be flying around.
Within the Producer-Consumer-Decomposer relationship, we tend to forget that as producers we add little to the life cycle in the way of the Honeybee’s pollination and the Passenger Pigeon’s position within the food chain. Yet we are experts in consumption, with not enough regard for the entire system. On the one hand it’s regrettable how we’ve developed a taste for the artificial. On the other hand, that may prove useful in the short run if we fail to become more respectful of the natural and more proficient in the application of responsible stewardship.
So here we are as human resources, individually and collectively, within our groups and organizations, feeling really good — or not — about our work (morale), doing our part to be our best — or not — in the production and distribution of goods and services (quality), while benefiting — or not — ourselves and each other (profit).
To what end are our values, missions, and visions utilizing the resources of this planet? Where are they taking us, and whose rules are we following?
Although many of us talk centralization, many of us walk decentralization. Although many of us talk unification, many of us walk separation. Come to think of it, one could make a case that it’s hypocrisy that rules! This is not to demonize dissonance nor to minimize the value that the decentralizing and polarizing forces have on developing our resiliency for connection with our Higher Selves.
It appears to me that increasing numbers of our humankind are finding it difficult not to realize that we are getting further out of balance and further out of order, personally, organizationally, locally, and globally. I believe the turning point came in 1928 when the Temple Feast of Expectation became the Feast of Fulfillment.
So how do we plug into the “harmonious evolution of all creative Force and Consciousness”? How do we work in harmony with the Law of Love? What are the rules? There must be a reason for humankind’s capacity to be conscious of its consciousness and endowed with the privilege of choice.
I find one strategy to be living one day at a time, with hourly gratitude and alertness, as our experiences ever so slowly evolve our Love, Will and Wisdom. Through Joyful Mindfulness (morale), offering Service with a Smile (quality), while staying present with the Sacredness in our Sacrifices (profit), may we live the Golden Rule (values) while endeavoring to realize the presence of the Avatar as a living Power in our lives (mission), by aspiring towards Universal Kinship (vision).
From generation to generation, from past tribes through present day organizations and groups, towards individually advancing the common good, it all boils down to one rule. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. This is the highest law.” This is the Spirit of the Golden Rule.
While there are billions and billions of paths to the Mountain Top, no one can get there without living by the Golden Rule, for True Harmony Rules by the Golden Rule.
Without Harmony, the “rebalancing pendulum” is forced to swing extreme. We may know balance for a time without Harmony, but there is no True Harmony without being in balance. When Harmony Rules we are in Divine Balance. This is what happens when we walk the talk. This is what it means to be living practical Theosophy. This is what it means to be in Harmony, to be One with the Law of Love.
I will begin my closing with these “Words of Harmony,” in volume 3 of From the Mountain Top:
“Preserve Harmony in your soul and it will flow out to all others, for it is more powerful than you understand and more far-reaching.
“Sink all thought of self, all personal ambition, the small jealousies and suspicion which mar the heart’s melodies, in love of the work and devotion to the cause. Listen to the great song of love, compassion, tenderness; and losing yourself in that, forget the passing shadows.
“United, harmonious, your power is limitless; without these you can do nothing. See to it then that your tone in the great instrument be pure and clear, else discord will result. Behind all sin and suffering — shadows these — lie the divine harmonies of reality. These seek and finding, lose not.”
We have yet to learn the lesson offered by the Tower of Babel: speaking the same language, while identifying with different meanings of words, will continue to lead us into confounding confusion. Unfortunately, not only is our pride still competing with God, our pride is also battling over our interpretations of the past, with little to no regard for the Law of Karma.
There will come a time when we, as human resources, must come to terms with the fact that Harmony Rules. And that’s no babble.
— Richard A. London
6th Guardian in Chief