The aim before this department is to establish a universal understanding of the nature of reality, and to foster the growth of the spiritual consciousness. Though in some ways religious differences are the hardest to bridge or heal, yet real progress has been made in this phase of the Hierarchical work. There is today in the world a very large number of those who fundamentally believe in the brotherhood of religions. Though the unintelligent masses everywhere have little or no idea of things spiritual, they can be more easily brought to believe in the one God and to the idea of a universal faith than to any other idea. Many thousands of them are frankly agnostic or believe in nothing, whilst many other thousands are restive under the control of theological authority. They have nevertheless within them that germ of the spirit of love which is normally inclusive and intuitive. Curiously enough, along this line the seething millions of the Orient present a more serious problem to the Great Ones than do the peoples of the Occident, for ignorance is deeply prevalent among the masses of Asia as to the trend of affairs in the world of religion, owing to the widespread illiteracy of the races, and their consequent easy exploitation and control by the religious demagogues, fervent prophets and reactionaries.

During the next ten years the work of the Fellowship of Religions (of which the outer organizations are an externalization) will greatly increase. Soon we shall have the inner structure of a world-faith so clearly defined in the minds of many thousands that its outer structure will inevitably make its appearance before the end of the century.