Lecture by The Master Beinsa Douno, given on August 19, 1920, in Tirnovo
Today I am going to talk to you about The New Humanity. I shall go into this matter from a new point of view. The new in the world is the rising sun, and the old, the setting sun. This is a law of Nature. It is not only I that assert this law, every mother and every father asserts it too. When a maiden and a youth marry, the first child that is born unto them is the rising sun, the hope of their future. If we are of the opinion that the new brings forth mischief, that it disorganizes the community and the whole of humanity, this is a distorted view of those great principles that govern living Nature. But if we cherish faith in the new life, what are those children for who bring only misfortune to their parents? How many days and nights the mother has gone with no rest because of this new child, who still speaks not, this new idea!
The newborn idea is yet undefined but the mother has the ability to catch, to listen and to understand the language of this new being, this little child. So also in a community, in a nation, there are persons with sensitive souls, in whom consciousness is developed, the heart raised to a higher rate, and they grasp this new idea, this child, this new idea which they bring forth. And their contemporaries who do not understand the bearers of this new idea, say: "These men are anarchists, communists, heretics, sectarians!"
But these are names with no sense at all. If we reason thus, I ask them: What is the difference between a communist who lives according to his own understanding, and another who lives according to his old understanding, and still a third who lives according to his new understanding?
The difference is that the one who lives according to his new ideas feels within himself an uplift, energy, life, - growth! and the other, who lives according the old ideas feels himself old, exhausted, his strength failing: he is afraid of the future, he thinks of old age and therefore wants to become rich and starts insuring himself through banks and insurance policy. And I say: those are old people who think of insurance. The best security is Death, the graveyard.
But graveyards bring no new ideas to humanity, they create only misery and misfortune in the world. There in the graveyard are buried kings and priests,musicians and poets - all for their sins. If you ask me why people die, I reply: people die because of their old ideas.
Then how, can humanity be resurrected? I say: be young, become bearers of the new Divine Teaching, the emblem of which is Brotherhood. Brotherhood; but what kind of brotherhood? The one who names himself your brother must be ready to sacrifice his life, his wealth and his worldly honor - everything - for you.
When a great nation comprehends the idea of this kind of Brotherhood, it must be ready to sacrifice all for this idea. Where there is no sacrifice, there is no brotherhood, no equality. When someone preaches the great idea that there is a God but sacrifices not his life, his wealth and his worldly honor for Him, he has not grasped the great teaching of Life. This is Brotherhood and Equality; this is what Christ preached.
Let us goback, let us apply Christ's teaching, because in it is hidden the salvation of the world. What did Christ teach, what did He preach? He taught the great idea about the New Humanity!
What are the characteristics of the man of the New Humanity? The Jewish prophets, being far-sighted, two thousand years ago said that God will create new hearts, made of flesh, and in them His Spirit will be established and all, small and big, will come to know Him. Thereafter nobody will ask whether there is or there is not a God. Every man will lie under his own fig tree with no fear. Peace and love will reign among men; the weapons of war will be turned into tools and ploughs, and the peoples will not make war anymore.
Christ has established two principles; the New and the Old. In correlation we have the story of the wise man who has understood the meaning of Life, and built his house on rock. Winds and floods came but, they could not destroy that house. By "rock" here is understood the sound principles of living Nature. And the unwise man, who has not understood the meaning of Life, built his house on sand and the winds and floods carried it off. Storms and floods are those persons who live without any principles. They provoke all mischief in society, They carry off the house built on sandy foundations.
Therefore, these two cultures, the Old and the New, are founded on two principles. The contemporary old humanity still serves its egoism and that is why there can be no brotherhood. The New Humanity serves altruism. Egoism is predestined to become the servant of humanity.
Therefore, the new ideas include not only the welfare of the individual or of the society, but the welfare of all sentient beings. Under "sentient" beings I mean all beings, because there is no being which is not sentient. If you are deaf and someone talks to you, you do not hear him, and you wonder where lies the mistake. The mistake is not with the one who speaks but with him whose ear is deaf and cannot hear what is being spoken. A blind man cannot comprehend the world. The world is not dark, but the senses of this man are undeveloped.
The present society needs to develop new senses. Now this society evolves according to a great law. Nature today is not what it was a million years ago. Every 100 millions of years a great change comes inside Nature. If I ask you how many millions of years our solar system has existed, you will tell me that some of the contemporary men of science say 100 millions of years; others, 200 millions; still others, 500 millions, and so on. Occult science says that from the creation of our solar system to the present age have passed 250 milliards of years. These statements can neither be proved nor disproved. They are only assertions. They can be proved only under certain conditions, accepting some axioms and maximae; but generally, in order for a truth to be understood, some data is necessary. Proved truths are very rare in the world. For instance, suppose you desire to prove an idea very dear to you: whether a man has a soul or not.
Half of the contemporary intelligent people deny this idea and the other half accept it, but neither can prove it or disprove it. When we ask someone if there is a soul and what is its form, he usually replies: "There is a soul but its form I know not." We can prove only things that have form, content, and meaning; and things that have no form, no content, no meaning, we neither prove nor disprove.
I speak of an idea that is near to your souls, what I speak of is inherited by you. You have some ideals, some aspirations, yearnings, but they are being expressed in various ways. And every one of you has his own special aspiration.
The youth, for instance, is looking out for his beloved. The old man will say: "This is foolishness. Once upon a time I also busied myself with such things but now I need not any beloved." But this is not so for the young man. Night after night he sleeps not, gets up early, walks here and there, looking out for his girl with the dark brilliant eyes. His mother and father wonder what is happening to their son. The son says: "The new idea is what will bring forth in me new life - that is what I am looking for." Who is right? I say: the youth.
Once upon a time a fox passed by a tall apple tree and on its highest branch she saw hanging a piece of good cheese. She looked at it, passed on, and said, "that is no good." Why? Because it was high up and she could not reach it. But if it had been down, within her reach, she would have said that a better cheese than this one she had never eaten.
There are hints about the New Humanity in the New Testament and specially in Revelation. The Evangelist John, two thousand years ago, saw the woman pregnant with this great idea, the New Humanity, and fixed the number of the chosen ones, the bearers of this idea at 144 000 persons. If you add these numbers 1+4+4 = 9, the number 9 signifies an evolution of men who have all the positive, noble qualities.
Some would say that these l44 000 persons are in heaven. No, they are now here, on earth; they are incarnated among the intelligent people. Some of them are writers; others, poets or men of science; and all of them push humanity forward on the path toward the new idea, toward the Divine.
These are the enemies of darkness, of the fetters that enchain humanity. And the world-wise unrest, this great change that is coming, is due to them. They will turn this world upside down. Don't take this for a bad omen. In Bulgaria, when a person drinks water and chokes, the Bulgarians, turn him with his head downward so that he may vomit the wrongly swallowed water. Even so people today have swallowed much unclean water, and they must be turned head downward in order that this water might flow out. After everything unclean flows out, they will once more be turned with their head upward and the new life will begin. Some of you may say: "We do not care for this New Humanity, seeing the present sufferings." We must understand that suffering is necessary for the development of man. We have only now, in this age, started to suffer because we have become more sensitive. It is true that contemporary people suffer more, but suffering is noble and it will transform society. Doesn't every pregnant mother pass through some suffering, some painful experience? She suffers until the baby in her womb is formed, but when it is born she is released from suffering.
At present a new age is coming on earth and about this the present occultism says that a new wave will come forth from the sun. If I use new words you will not understand them and my speech would become obscure. This wave which comes forth now touches the human brain and some people under its influence become eccentric. Eccentric is the man who either talks not, or if he talks much, his speech is incoherent. These are extremes which exist among people, but the correct development has its norms. Some say that speech must always be logical. I am of the opinion that there are three types of logic in the world. The first is purely materialistic logic; the second, logic of sensible persons; and the third, Divine Logic. No untruth is allowed in the Divine Logic and therefore in order that man may operate with the last two logics he must have a noble and lofty soul; that is, he must be ready to sacrifice himself for his brothers and live not merely for his own good.
And therefore, the basic idea of the new teaching is brotherhood. Brotherhood must be applied in homes. The mother and father must understand this fundamental law of brotherhood in order that they may create new conditions for bringing up children.
Some youth is violent, makes mischief. How is he being dealt with according to the old type of education? He is punished and imprisoned. In the prison he loses his health and later the State must take care of him. This youth could become an excellent citizen. It is only that he has an outburst of energy which must be wisely channeled into work. You say about him: "Yes, but he is a sinner, a criminal." Society has created conditions which he cannot cope with.
And instead of studying the Living God, the Living Nature and dealing accordingly, we oppose one another, thinking that there are many laws in the world. No, Living Nature has only one law which applies both to rich and to poor. The poor say: "This rich man has everything he desires to eat and to drink, lives richly, and I have nothing." But you do not know that this man's suffering is only put off for forty or fifty years. Doesn't Nature take equally the fat of the poor and of the rich? What does Nature wish to say by taking the fat of people? Nature tells them: "You have not yet learned the law of Brotherhood."
If you read the first chapter of Genesis you will see that God says to Adam and Eve: "You will eat of all fruits except one and the day you eat of this one fruit, you will die. "The forbidden fruit is egoism."A person who wants people to work for him, who lives on their backs, a person who takes the bread out of the mouths of widows and orphans, a person who wishes to fight many nations - he eats from the forbidden fruit. Therefore, we all must be followers of the Great Teaching. Has Christ ever taught to wage war, to fight each other, or to pray that God will help one of the fighting sides? A thousand or two thousand years ago this had some meaning, but now it has outlived its time. Where is that orthodoxy which is being paraded as true Christianity? I speak to those who term themselves true Christians; they must act according to their beliefs and laws. Someone says: "I am not a Christian." What are then the laws and beliefs according which you live? "I am a free thinker." Then act according to your free thought. We must give the right of free thought to every person because there is something good, something noble in each soul. Give opportunity to every man and he will raise himself up. If he lives under unfavorable conditions - he falls down.
I have given this example before and I shall give it now again. An Italian painter wanted to paint the image of Christ and walked around the town looking attentively at all faces, hoping to find the suitable one. And he found a youth of about twenty and painted Christ after his image. The work was good. Ten years later the same painter decided to paint Judas and started looking for a suitable face. He found a young man in prison and asked him to pose for the picture. The young man said: "Sir, it is strange, ten years ago I posed to you for the image of Christ, now you want me to pose for Judas!" Inside these ten years the sinful life he had lead has so much changed the face of the youth that he looked like Judas.
If a young woman walks in the sinful paths of life and comes to a brothel, Won't this kind of life stamp her face? Such a dissolute woman told me one day that while she had money her husband lived with her, and after he used up all her money, he left her to her fate and she turned to evil paths. She said: "I want to go to church but they do not accept me there." This woman has the craving for a pure life and when her conditions change she will raise up herself.
And of those free women who wish to serve their sensuality, people say: "Such women are needed in the world."I say: No, we must take out of the brothels these our sisters and put them on the right path and show them how to live. The bearers of the new idea, of altruistic feeling, of the idea of the Divine Teaching, are coming now, and they are the ones who will intercede for all fallen and unjustly treated.
These people are not just anybody, they have sings on their faces, in their eyes, on their hands, You will recognize them. Here are their sings: if the bearer of the New Teaching is a doctor when he comes to your home he will bring all the medicine you need and will take from you no money but will say: "I serve for nothing." If he is a priest, when you ask him to baptize your child or read a burial service he will not accept any money but will only say: "I serve the New Teaching." If he is a trader, he will trade honestly; if he is a teacher, he will teach for nothing. You will object: "If we all work for nothing the world will be bankrupted." Yes, the present world will be changed but new beliefs will spring forth. Some will ask: "How is it possible to work for nothing, how shall we live without money?" I ask, how many thousands are being paid to the mother and the father to rear and feed and educate four or five children? Is there a law which decrees that the mother and the father get up five or six times a night and watch over their little children? There is no such law and no such enforcement, and in spite of this, such work goes on more smoothly and naturally than other work subjected to laws issued by the State.
Therefore, the mother and father show us the first law which we have to obey. I say: If you live as parents and children live in a home or as brothers and sisters, you are on the right path. From the point of view of the New Humanity no great catastrophe awaits us. It is true, a great collision is forthcoming in the world, but it is for those buildings which have no solid foundations, for all those rotten trees which have no healthy roots. A great idea is forthcoming which will overthrow them; this is a law, a ventilation which will clean up everything rotten and only the healthy will remain in the world.
When suffering comes your way don't ask the reason. I say: The sun is the reason for all misfortune and for all happiness on earth; it gives birth to all floods, all epidemics and all diseases in the world; it calls forth all earthquakes, it is the reason for everything that is being done in the whole of Nature. And the sun says: "If you are wise, you will wisely use my energy and I shall shower on you all blessings; if you are not wise, I shall inflict on you the greatest suffering." The sun can change its energy but it will always shine and the earth will always rotate. I tell you this: In the high mechanics of the occult science there is a statement that in the movement of a wheel, once in every 100 million rotations there is an exception. Our earth is also such a wheel. And when it rotates around the sun 100 million times an exception will come to pass in its movement too, which exception will be expressed either along a descending line, disastrously, or along an ascending line, beneficially. Such exceptions have happened before and such an exception is forthcoming. Our earth has made so many rotations and is very near to the exception. I shall not fix the date when this exception is to take place. You will not believe me now but when this day comes, then you will believe.
We can also apply this occult law to the sun. When it makes 100 million rotations, an exception occurs. The contemporary men of science say that the sun needs many millions of years for one revolution. Do you know what will become of the world when the sun shall make such an exception? If this exception falls into the descending line, the whole solar system will be extinguished, our sun will be darkened and all life will cease. If the exception falls into an ascending line, the sun's energy will be increased tenfold and then people on earth must watch out!
Therefore, at hand is an approximate coincidence: the sun and the earth both have made their 100 million rotations and their two exceptions are forthcoming. This is a statement which I can prove mathematically with facts and data but not here at this moment. Time is needed to prove to you the formulae and the facts which the occult science uses. I do not intend to instill fear but I say that there are exceptions and every man must be ready at his post to meet them. Christ says: "Blessed is that servant who is awake and watching so that when his Lord comes he will not find him asleep." If you think that in eating and drinking, life will flow on peacefully and quietly, you are being deceived.
Some men of science insist that man has not lived on earth for more than eight thousand years but here occult science is also at variance. It declares that man has lived much longer than this.
That man has lived for more than eight thousand years is being proved by the bones and skulls left over from those times, and he has really lived much longer still - but the proof will not be accepted by the public. Even if such facts be made public, the connection between them is so delicate that it can be said that there is almost no connection. In one of my lectures I once said that the thumb defines the development of man's will. Some say that this is illogical. But truly, the thumb is the result of man's will. In times of old when they wanted to punish some thickheaded man, to make him stop his offenses, they cut off his two thumbs. Then I ask: Why is the thumb of some persons longer than that of others? - Why do some have better formed thumbs than others? All this has some meaning, it points to the development of the will and reason in man.
If you look a man's thumb you will see how the development of this soul goes on. If the development is correct, the thumb is correct too, and there is no crookedness;if there is crookedness,there is deformation in his character. If your nose, your eyes and mouth are crooked this has significance. The doctor says: "Here is an abnormality, en apoplexy." I say: "Here is a disharmony between the organs of the body, between the connections of the forces, between the thoughts and feelings which act in the man." If I develop this new science only theoretically and do not include practice, it makes no sense. Every reality must have a form. I speak of realities which are fixed quantities, the way the mathematicians deal with formulae; the chemists, with molecules and atoms; the physicists, with forces; as with something fixed and defined, not abstract.
We say that man has a soul. Is soul a fixed unit; where does it live? In the brain, in the heart, in the lungs or in the stomach, where can it be found? The contemporary science can say nothing about the soul.
Now let me go back to my trend of thought. The New Humanity must begin with Man's anatomy. When you begin to build a house, first of all you set up the woodwork of the building, then you prepare the scaffolding of the building, and then you start to build. The scaffolding - is anatomy. Some say: "We need no anatomy!" No, you cannot go without it. There is no child, no mother or father who does not learn anatomy. When you sew a garment, you start again with anatomy. The patterns are anatomical signs and according to these you cut the garment. Therefore, people do study life anatomically: they always cut. What is incision?
In the New Humanity you will study not only anatomy but physiology also. How do you study physiology when you are building your house? You put windows and chimneys so that more air flows through. What is the subject of physiology? The functions of the various organs,the function of the heart, the circulation of the blood. To obtain more favorable conditions in our life, physiology is needed in every home. You that now build your house: do you have big windows? I recommend to you: make bigger windows and doors on your houses, open larger chimneys. I like big chimneys and I am against these stoves which are being used now. You say: "My grandfather and my grandmother once upon a time were very healthy persons." Yes, but your grandfather has big chimneys in his house, ventilation was good; and you slide backward, you live in carbon dioxide and of course you will not be healthy. Good ventilation is necessary.
What do the Bulgarians? They clog up their windows with paper so that no draft comes in, they are afraid of catching cold. It is better to catch cold than to breathe carbon dioxide. The men of the New Humanity are already living; they will increase in order to carry over the world their new ideas. You, all of you, might, become members of this New Humanity. Who does not like brotherhood and equality? Is there a father who does not wish his son to become educated, and not to remain ignorant? The New Humanity requires of every man to be honest, to subdue his egoism, to be just, wise and good. And not only on the surface, but to have these qualities absolutely; to be so honest that he will never sacrifice somebody else's interest for his own good, but always his interest for fellow's good. You might say, if we apply this, we shall be overtaken by suffering and misfortunes. I ask, is there happiness through the application of the present-day ideas? Were not thirty millions killed in the war, are not the prisons full?
And this very day people die because they serve the old culture, which teaches that man must be wolf to man. But Christ says: "You are brethren."
Do I create this Teaching? I say: If you are not willing to obey Christ's Teaching, obey Moses's, if you are not, willing to obey Moses's, then obey the laws of your country, anyway, act as an honest and just man, do not break your word. And obey either Moses or Christ. You mix up the laws. Some ask me: "Do you always say the truth?" Yes, I have thought over every word I say. If I speak honestly, justly I speak for my good; I do not wish to pollute my honor; I wish neither to disgrace my brothers, nor the name of God, but I hope when I meet you some day you will know that I have always been honest and just in my soul and mind, and that you also walk in this path. Only in this way, through this teaching, can the mothers and fathers become better; any other teaching brings suffering, suffering, suffering.
This brotherhood is being practiced There are fixed forms and laws in the occult science. The laws of the White Brotherhood, of these 144000 bright souls, have not been changed a particle during these 100 millions of years. That is why I say that the laws of Nature are wise and unchangeable. Every thought can give a result thousands of years later. If you plant a bad thought it can cause your death. If I explain your life with its everyday incidents, I can consider it from the standpoint of the Hindus, from the point of view of the occultists, and also from a Christian point of view. And in all these points of view the truth will remain one and the same. For instance, you meet a man and he kills you. In this case, we, the contemporary Christians,say: "God has willed it so." I say: God never said, neither wrote, that I kill somebody, I did this and God only allowed it. The Hindu law explains it thus: you have killed him in former life and therefore when he meets you now, he kills you, who had killed him.
You can accept either one or the other explanation. You may say: "This is a heretical teaching, can a man be reborn?" He can and he cannot. As much as the one is right, so is the other. The belief in this is of no importance. The soul has the strength to create all its forms. It can come and live on earth as many times as it wills. If the soul wills to come to earth, God will sanctify its wish. That soul which wishes to be reborn, is reborn.
Therefore, in this respect, both Hindu and Christians are right. By "Soul" I mean that conscious divine soul which can return here as many times as it wishes. There is also another law in the world, which explains things in another way, so that they become plain and a common moral is originated. For instance, somebody commits a crime, he steals something from someone and says: "In the darkness nobody saw that I stole." Yes, but after the theft he looks around, he is afraid. Why? Conscience bathers him, it will torment him. What is conscience? These 144 000 persons, members of the White Brotherhood, say: "Sir, we saw the crime you committed and according our law which never changes, we sentence you and you will suffer the consequences of your deed. " Then this gentleman in order to relieve his conscience, goes into seclusion, fasts ten or twenty days and after that he goes to a priest to have something read over his head in order to be calmed. The priest must act according to the new teaching, and say: "Brother, you must confess before God. Wanting to redeem your crime with a ten or twenty days fast, is not right in the eyes of God."
And so, Christ must permeate the world. This is what the Brotherhood preached. And those shining Brothers are coming down now. They shall use these two exceptions, the exception of the sun and of the earth, and a new miracle will be realized as written in the Scripture: that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and a New Humanity. I say: We must put an end to the old humanity, and in the future we shall live under the laws of the New Humanity. This is what the Brotherhood demands.
I do not preach some dead god. If you ask me: "Where is God? ", I shall answer: He is not in the heaven which you see. Some say: "Prove to us where God is." God needs no proving. The ant with its lower consciousness has no sense with which to know that man exists. When you take up an ant between your two fingers or when it climbs upon your head, it says to itself: "On what a high hill I managed to climb." It looks over life from this height and when it goes back to his fellows says unto them: "Today I climbed a very high mountain." Thus God takes us between His two fingers and we ask: "Is there a God?" Yes, He is these two fingers and tells us: "On my head you cannot climb." If you see not the living God in your brothers, you do not understand this teaching. If I do not see God in you, my teaching is a lie. If I do not love you and am not ready to sacrifice myself for you, I preach a false teaching. And you must sacrifice yourselves.
There must be brotherhood in this world. You must accept this teaching. It is being preached by all good people, by all mothers and fathers, by all brothers and sisters. This world needs self-sacrifice. Enough of lies! Some one asks: "How much will I be paid if I serve?" No need of payment. I speak for those that consider themselves Christians, I do not speak for the others. That is why Christ says: "Who are not Christians let them go out, so that it be known who are for and who are against."
I shall give you an example. In old times, in the so-called Golden Age, there were two kingdoms: the kingdom of the Espertites and the kingdom of the Menezites. The king of the Espertites had a son and according to the custom of the time called the wise men to ascertain his future. One of those great wise men made his calculations and said to the king: "About the age of twenty your son will pass through a crisis. For this reason you must send him to be a shepherd in another kingdom so that there he may learn the great laws of Living Nature. The father believed in the indications of the wise man and said to his son: "My son, henceforth you must earn your living with your own hands," and sent him off to be a shepherd in the kingdom of the Menezites. There the youth lived for ten years and he studied the laws of Nature. During the eleventh year of his sojourn in this kingdom the daughter of the king of the Menezites came to this place riding a white horse. She was accompanied by her servants, but tempted by the beauty of nature strode away alone, and a cobra came out from among the stones and bit her hand. The shepherd, the prince, seeing this, and knowing the laws of Nature, ran to her, put his mouth to her hand and sucked out the poison, but her servants, watching from afar thought that he was offending the king's daughter, and bent their bows and sent a poisonous shaft into his left hand. When the king's daughter saw this she came quickly to him, tore the sleeve of his shirt, put her mouth to his arm and sucked out the poison. I ask, who was saved by whom? The young man saved the maiden from the snake's poison, but the maiden saved him from the poison of the shaft. The young man said to the maiden: "You suffered from the snake's poison and I from the human poison."
Now, women suffer from the poison of the snake. Do you know what is the snake? It is their extreme egoism. Woman and man must save each other from this poison. Woman must suck out the poison of man's egoism and man must suck out the poison of woman's distorted heart. Only in this way women and men can join hands, can come to know that they live together and can begin to understand each other.
And I believe that a great warmth is coming which will melt away the ice. Vapors will rise up from the mountains and clear, pure brooks will flow down. Then luxuriant growths will come forth, the seeds planted thousands of years ago will sprout, will bloom, and will give fruit, and the nations of the entire white race will join hands with each other. This new culture for which man scarcely dares to hope shall come into the world. And all shall be citizens of the new culture, of this New Humanity.
I would like that all of you may be guests at the dinner table of this New Humanity. You are all invited, but please, do not refuse, as two thousand years ago, when Christ invited many people to a feast, they refused under so many pretexts: some had to plough their fields, others had just bought five pairs of oxen and had to try them, still others were going to be married. What they were all really saying was: "We denounce your new culture! "
Christ comes again and again and asks the white race to take up this new teaching. Now we shall take as divine all the good people who have for five centuries pastured herds and shall use them for the erecting of this great Divine Building, this Temple of the New Humanity; for Life is not built of but one stone. And when we build our Temple of the New Humanity then at last Wisdom and Love shall come to the earth. There will be music and poetry; there will be beauty. And only then shall there be justice for all, and order shall reign. Only then shall there be understanding among all peoples. Only then can we give one another a sacred kiss through which we feel the joy that angels feel.
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