We now arrive at the last of the twelve signs which we have been considering and the last of those which affect humanity. It is also the second sign which - after the reorientation preceding discipleship - produces changes and opportunity for the disciple. We come also to the sign which is called "the sign of the major life incentive," because Taurus is the symbol of desire in all its phases. Whether the subjective man is impelled by desire, or the disciple is driven forth upon the path of return by the urge of aspiration, [371] or whether the initiate is controlled by the will to cooperate with the Plan, he is, nevertheless, being responsive to the most potent manifestation of a little known and understood aspect of divinity, to which we give the inadequate name of the Will of God.

Now, as the Shamballa force is beginning to pour into the world, man is seeking another interpretation of God's will which will not involve the hitherto blind acquiescence and unavoidable acceptance of the inscrutable dictates of a potent, inescapable Providence, but which will produce an [372] understanding cooperation with the divine Plan and an enlightened fusion of the individual will with the great, divine will and this for the greater good of the whole. For this desirable attitude there is worldwide preparation going forward in a simple and unobtrusive manner through the gradual fomentation of the will-to-good everywhere and the demand, so universally voiced, that human conditions may be more truly enlightened, more acutely polarized for the benefit of the whole and more definitely subordinated to the innate divine urge for beauty, synthesis and the free expression of the hidden mystery which is to be found at the heart of all forms. It is going forward also through the constant attempt to comprehend and interpret the Plan for humanity, as its broad outlines begin to become apparent to the developing intelligence of man.

This all indicates a growing responsiveness on man's part to the incoming Shamballa influences and the consequent evocation of the will aspect of man's nature. This must produce undesirable as well as desirable results on account of man's present point of evolution and is, therefore, responsible for much that is taking place in the world today. The trembling response of humanity (through the medium of the most enlightened and sensitive people in each country) to this influence and the corresponding magnetic interplay between the great center at Shamballa and the human center is a steadily growing fact, registered and noted by the watching Hierarchy and making certain major changes inevitable and unavoidable. This argues well for the future in spite of temporary misuse of the forces. Necessarily and simultaneously, this interplay evokes response from the unprepared and the unready and from the wrongly oriented and the selfishly polarized person. This stimulates the will-to-power in the individual and fosters personality integration [373] of the wrong kind and its enforced desires. Thus, through these personalities and their wrong emphasis and teachings, nations also are misled - again temporarily - and the Shamballa force is wrongly employed and directed. The result of this dual effect of the Shamballa force at the present time is the precipitation of that cleansing but terrible process which we call War. This war is the consummation of the conflict between the pairs of opposites and the basic duality of manifestation and is not motivated basically as have been all previous wars. When I refer to this conflict I would remind you that to us (the workers on the inner side) the 1914 conflict and this one are two phases of one condition.

The war, when held in a steady focus by the Guides of the race and when not permitted to pursue too long and too terrible a course, can most definitely further the ends of evolution by creating situations which foster mental development under spiritual guidance, necessitating clear thought (a thing rare to find), the removal of undesirable conditions by their emergence into prominence and by the consequent removal of their originating sources and also by the definite effects produced upon the emotional body of humanity by corporate suffering and pain. This suffering, deprivation, anxiety and distress can lead to a reversal of human orientation upon the wheel of life, just as it does in the case of the individual aspirant. It can lead to the focusing of all the life tendencies upon a world of truer values and reality and thus inaugurate the new and better civilization for which we all hope. Looking at the world today if you could but see it as we the teachers on the inner side can see it, you would become aware of such a refocusing and reorienting on all sides.

Again, however, the time element comes in (that brain-conditioned sense of awareness) and the problem with which [374] the Hierarchy is now concerned is to see that the present conflict does not persist unduly long, to awaken all the nations, without exception, to a sense of the dramatic import of the present time and of their right share and their responsibility and thus to engineer a climax wherein the correct world lesson may be learnt; whereby the world may be purified by the elimination of the undesirable elements which hinder the new era and the upspringing of a more spiritual civilization; and whereby the forces of hate, of cruelty, of materialism and of darkness may be driven back (wherever found) before the sweeping onslaught of the Forces of Light.