by Guardian in Chief Richard A. London
Given in the Blue Star Memorial Temple
December 8, 2024
On December 8, 1941, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his “Day that Will Live in Infamy” speech to a joint session of Congress. He was responding to the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan. According to most accounts, World War 2 had begun in 1939 and ended during 1945, with no consensus on the exact date of cessation.
The Soviet Union, which by most accounts suffered nearly one-third of the deaths attributed to World War 2, recognizes May 9, 1945 as Victory Day, their official end of World War 2. Yet, on August 6 of that year the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima and then a second on Nagasaki, Japan just three days later.
So many unimaginable and heartbreaking horrors took place during World War 2. Too many of these atrocities are devoid of worldwide consensus as to the rhyme or reason for their origins.
It is this rhyme or reason that many a historian, philosopher, and willing survivor have debated over the decades with little to no understanding of the Law of Karma.
Most of us learned at some point in our life the Latin phrase ignorantia juris neminem excusat, meaning “ignorance of the law excuses no one.” This legal principle holds that a person who is unaware of a law may not escape liability for violating that law merely by being unaware of its content. This holds true for the Law of Karma.
Despite many of us being familiar with concepts like “As you sow, so shall you reap,” rarely do we equate such axioms with the Law of the Land, as in our choices have consequences whether we know it or not.
This point is made rather succinctly throughout the Ten Rules of Discipleship, beginning with:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. This is the highest law.
Thou shalt obey the laws of Life. The Higher Law will hold thee accountable for the breaking of every lesser law.
These first two Rules offer insight into the workings of Karma and to why we need to “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”
Another Karmic insight as to the admonition for us to judge not lest we be judged comes through the Fifth Rule of Discipleship:
Thou shalt not speak falsely, unnecessarily or critically against thy neighbor and so put in action the converse force of creative sound and word; for the Higher Law will reverse the action of the force thus directed and bring back upon thee, with intensified strength, the results of the broken Law.
Although I took refuge as a child in the phrase, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me,” this old adage underscores the gulf between the outer-sense laws and the inner-realm laws, both of which come under the Law of Karma.
Without delving too deeply into Reincarnation, the Fifth Rule offers some credence to its relationship with Karma as regards the originating expression of the “converse force of creative sound and word” that was put into action. The original intent of that expression remains implanted within each subsequent verbal exchange. By extrapolating the subtle symbiotic nature of Karma and Reincarnation within the Fifth Rule, it is possible to know that our prior choices, actions, and behaviors may share some responsibility for where we find ourselves today.
Coincidentally, of the Ten Commandments, I find that the Fifth invokes the forces of Karma and Reincarnation by admonishing us to “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”
So, might it be possible that centuries of the multitudes speaking falsely, unnecessarily, or critically against their neighbors brought about the “Day of Infamy?” Or that generations of children who are experiencing a waning capacity to honor their moms and dads may have played some role in the first use of an atomic bomb? To simply keep in mind that a grain of sand can become a pearl may encourage more of us to avoid taking for granted the evolution of our thoughts, words, and deeds.
Whether choosing to use a pen, a sword, social media, or a nuclear weapon, the Fifth Rule unequivocally makes clear that the potential for increasing the intensity of adversity depends on the essence of our expression.
Imagine what Hawaii must have been like before western colonization; many of us still consider it to be a paradise. The Theosophical Society had already been in existence for twenty years by the time the indigenous Polynesian people were well on their way to being relegated to second-class status. Centuries of an old way of life had been conquered, never to be the same. By the time Hawaii was in the final stages of being conquered, the Theosophical Society had already begun its advocacy to “form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color.”
The days of conquering our fears by conquering each other would seem to be running its course. While imperialistically conquering each other over the ages may have brought about broad material benefits, it also sowed the seeds that germinated the inevitable Karmic reckoning of Spiritual Forces. The instinctual impulse to be safe by controlling one’s environment has the insidious and consequential side effect of breeding hatred and domination. For the most part, World War 2 was a plethora of battles between various individual creeds endeavoring to either conquer or not be conquered.
Japanese Americans made up nearly 30% of the population on the Hawaiian Islands by February 19, 1942, when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which was meant to prevent the potential for espionage. Military zones were created throughout western states with the largest populations of Japanese Americans. Executive Order 9066 relocated Americans of Japanese descent, from wherever they were making their livings to internment camps. Some 120,000 people were interned, the majority of whom were American citizens.
On August 26, 1942, my great-grandparents, having already been forcibly removed from their home in Berlin, Germany, were put to death in the Theresienstadt Ghetto, a Nazi concentration camp in Terezín, Czechoslovakia. For my mother, living through that period of time left profound and painful memories. Those who have suffered through the ravages of war are highly unlikely to ever take peacetime for granted.
Here in the Arroyo Grande area, our Japanese neighbors were forced to leave their homes, schools, jobs, and very productive farms for several years. While there are many stories to tell, I find most heartwarming the ones about local folks who continued looking after the farms owned by their Japanese neighbors during this mass internment period and until their return.
As the pendulum of life continues to swing from heartwarming to heartbreaking and back again, there remains much to be resolved if more war is to be avoided. Unraveling the years of egregious conquering would seem to be too unrealistic, and the cure-all pill of forgiveness would seem yet too big for many of us to swallow.
Which brings me to Creeds Disappear, Hearts Remain, the motto of the Temple of the People, which is based on the belief that God is Love, and Love is the fundamental source of being.
Imagine having had the opportunity to be sitting here in the Blue Star Memorial Temple on Sunday, August 2, 1942, in the midst of World War 2. You would have heard Pearl F. Dower, Gold Star, the third Guardian in Chief, read the following Master’s Message to the 43rd Temple Convention.
The Master’s Message to the 1942 Convention
My Children:
My love and warmest greetings to you all, individually and collectively, here and elsewhere and, at this your annual assembly, let us pause for a time and review life’s complexities in the spirit of Love, Compassion, and Understanding for all creatures, and be lifted out of the turmoils, uncertainties, and troubles into the realm of peace and calm.
The clock of Kronos ticks off another hour in the destiny of man as the Cosmic wheel takes another turn: an hour of prophecy fulfilled; an hour of inevitable world-wide precipitation when the energy of the fiery flames, released in warfare, covers the earth with devastation and destruction; an hour when the Souls of men are in the fiery furnace, burning out the dross of the lower nature, that a purified essence may emerge; an hour of realization by all of the actual participation of every phase of life, inner and outer, in this Cosmic War; an hour of great opportunity for the children of man as the Light of the Christos dawns on the earth’s aura, ready and waiting to do its constructive work when the evil that man has done has become exhausted.
When the Advent of the Avatar was announced in the beginning of the Temple work, you were told that a high evolutionary force was released which would revolutionize the world. This announcement, cosmic in scope, stirred up the latent forces of rebellion, which otherwise might have lain dormant for a long period of time. Thus, there was aroused a very strong force for evil as well as for good, so those working for evil purposes would bring disasters to mankind and those working for the good of humanity would receive greater benefit. Owing to the magnitude of this universal announcement, the antagonistic and malicious forces have gathered momentum throughout the years, preparing for the overthrow and destruction of this planet. The elemental forces of the old dispensation, which could be held back no longer, had to be released in preparation for the approaching New Order; and, as a result, the dawning light of the New Day is bringing the refuse to the surface, and all the evils and insidious plots are being exposed and uncovered, as the Light of the Christos comes closer to the earth. This inner and outer struggle between the Sons of Light and the Brothers of the Shadow for spiritual supremacy affects every atom, man, and star in the solar system.
As you all review the past warnings and prophecies given by us many and many times to you, you can now realize and understand the deep interior reason for this struggle and its inevitable outer manifestation. The evolutionary law released these higher forces to open the hearts and minds of humanity for a New Day of Universal Brotherhood of all the races of the earth.
It is well to consider Brotherhood in its true aspect at this time, since the world today is more aware of the necessity of such a universal relationship to correct the failures of the old order. More are attuned to these higher forces, and more are conscious of the necessity of a world-wide freedom based on a true brotherhood for all. This ideal form, eternal in essence, has stood, and ever will stand, ready interiorly to be brought about exteriorly when the right spiritual impulse is sufficiently awakened, as well as a right channel opened through which the Lodge can work between God and man. These divine forces must actuate all higher orders of living. There can be no real brotherhood without the presence of deific forces.
The fundamental truth expressed by the word Brotherhood has been little understood by the great majority in the, past, and the efforts and attempts to enlighten man have been thwarted again and again because of this lack of understanding. In its totality, Brotherhood expresses all that is high, true, pure, and holy; a harmonious and understanding interaction between the Higher and the lower self. It is a fact in nature as well as in Spirit. It unites God with man, and man with man, in harmonious attunement. No matter how much the word Brotherhood has been misused for selfish gains under a guise of brotherhood, its intrinsic value ever stands ready to come forth and shed its rays of light on all alike. Its ideal form awaits the time and opportunity to enter the earth’s arena when the spiritual impulse is strong enough in the hearts of men to maintain and sustain it; then its inherent divinity will become a part of all of life’s outer activities.
Life’s pages show man’s inhumanity and unbrotherliness down the ages. These accumulated forces of evil have bound men together by their own selfish desires; and, so bound by the chains of suffering and distress, they are unable to see or realize anything beneficent about the Law of Karma and its reaction. But as the great majority become more enlightened and realize the true meaning of brotherhood, wars will cease, differences will be settled in tolerance and understanding, and the peoples of all nations will work together as brothers in unselfishness and love for one another, and not in hate and intolerance. Brotherhood will be a fact in nature and spirit. It will mean in truth the application of “Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you,” in all walks of life. Today many more are realizing this fundamental principle as the result of terrific suffering. The false ideals that have oppressed the world for so long are fast crumbling to pieces; and, as the Great Light of the Christos, now appearing in the distance, sheds its radiance on man, his consciousness will be lifted to a higher rate of vibration.
After disintegration, selfishness and dissolution have done their work over the earth, the Higher Law and Order will enter to bring about the processes of regeneration and reconstruction on true lines of evolution. All the lower forces, old forms, ideals and traditions must be broken and destroyed to give way to the higher ideals of truth based on the eternal verities. The fires of destruction must become exhausted, and the reconstructive forces of Christ take their Place, based on the ideal form of a true universal brotherhood of all peoples.
The coming of an Avatar requires the time, place and cycle for such a manifestation in the hearts and minds of humanity at the cyclic time. In man’s quest for the Great Light he must find it from the synthetic angle. This Cosmical Entity may appear as an actual event, but not necessarily in form on this plane. It is a universal force which has and will affect the whole world for good by raising the vibrations of humanity higher in the cosmic scale of life.
It may come to an individual, to a nation, to all nature, to the stars in the heavens, or in many ways. It is a symbol of God manifesting in matter; it is a symbol of the Light dawning at a new era; it is a symbol of His Holy Presence in the Sacred Temple. It matters not where or how you see or feel the Presence of that Great Entity, but it does matter how much you do in conscious effort to bring about a more harmonious state of affairs in the lives of all you contact, and what the final effect of that Presence on you will be because of your effort.
The Path of Brotherhood is the Path chosen by you as Templars. Much has been given to you in regard to this Universal Principle, and you should, each and every one, realize your responsibility in this cosmic struggle of today. Unity is the Law of Brotherhood and comprises the forces of the Avatar in action. Hold strongly to this Principle, that all life may be raised to a higher plane in the cosmic scale. The help, encouragement, sympathy, love and understanding given to your brother and sister gauge your status and development on the path you are all striving to ascend and will enable you to keep aligned with the constructive forces. Work with the higher evolutionary powers which cannot be delayed. In this rapidly moving age, events for the higher evolution, or against it, call for quick decisions of positive action. Accounts must be balanced everywhere that freedom may live and continue to live: a freedom based on natural and divine law; freedom for the oppressed that they may worship God as they choose; freedom based on true progression of government and religion with equality and justice for all; a freedom based on the holy bonds of a Universal Brotherhood of Souls bound together by sacred ties of unity, harmony and love.
All through the years you have been told never to underestimate the disintegrating forces which have been gathering, and now, as they have precipitated in full fury, you must be prepared for them. Cultivate the qualities of courage, faith, trust, assurance and endurance which will sustain you and others who need help in the days to come. There is no place for negative forces at such times. The positive forces are necessary to meet the inevitable conditions. Do your work in this spirit wherever you are called to action. The Spirit of Unity must abide everywhere for a Spiritual Victory. Universal Brotherhood and its practical application will be the result of cultivating these positive qualities.
I place my blessing and protection on you all at this time and in the days to come; and, as you enter another year, stay close together, that the forces of Light, Love, and Wisdom may guide you and watch over you as you carry on in positive courage, trust, faith, assurance, and endurance.
Your Father-Brother,
HILARION
I will close with the Tenth Rule of Discipleship:
When the Law of Love — of Karma — has brought thee out of the morass of spiritual darkness to the beginning of the path which leads to spiritual illumination, woe be unto thee if thou obstruct that path for thyself or others, by refusing to obey the Master to whose feet that law has brought thee.
Only by implicit obedience to the commands of the Master-Teacher shalt thou be able to lift one foot after another while treading that path of discipleship.
Commune long and earnestly with the God within thyself ere thou darest to make demand to tread that path, for once thou hast entered it, thou canst no more return to thy former state of irresponsibility than thou canst re-enter thy mother’s womb.
Behold the Path before thee; a clean life, pure aspiration and unselfish service. Art thou prepared to tread that Path?
— Richard A. London
6th Guardian in Chief