Here, my brothers, is a picture of possibility. I seek to present it to you today because of world need; here is the ground for a sound, optimistic approach to the future; here is the assurance that the world can be rebuilt, that constructive action can be successfully taken, that enlightenment will increasingly make its presence obvious, and that humanity will indeed rise out of its unhappy past into a new world of understanding, of tranquility, of cooperation and of renewed spiritual impulse.

It will not be easy. The spiritual energies which will be released will inevitably evoke opposition. Selfishness and hate, with their secondary effects of greed, cruelty and nationalism, are not dead nor will they die for a long time to come. In the postwar world these conditions must be ignored and the new group of world servers and the men and women of goodwill must work together for an enlightened education, for a cooperative economic life, for right human relations in all departments of human experience, for clean political activity, for disinterested service, and for a world religion which will restore Christ to His rightful place in the hearts of men, which will take the pomp, the materialism and the politics out of the churches, and which will unify the spiritual intention of all the religions to be found in both hemispheres. This is a vast program, but the number of enlightened men and women is also very great, and the power at their disposal ensures the ultimate triumph of their spiritual idealism.

Long patience will be needed. Mistakes will be made. There will be periods of indecision, of ineffective action and of negative yet deep discouragement. Workers will be prone to attitudes of despair, and at times the task will appear to them to demand too much, to be too difficult and the forces opposing what they seek to do too strong. But behind all the reconstruction with which humanity is faced is the potency of inevitable resurrection, the constant flow of enlightened thinking into and directing the mass consciousness, plus a growing realization that humanity is not alone, that the spiritual values are the only real values, and that the Hierarchy stands, immovable in its spiritual strength, steadily oriented towards world salvation, and acting ever under the direction of that great divine yet human Leader, the Christ. The Christ has passed through all human experiences, and has never left us; with His disciples, the Masters of the Wisdom, He is drawing closer to humanity decade after decade; when He said at the Ascension Initiation, "Lo, I am with you always even until the end of the age," He meant no vague or general idea of helping humanity from some distant locality called "the Throne of God in Heaven." He meant just what He said - that He was staying with us. The fact of His Presence upon earth in physical form is known today by many hundreds of thousands, and will eventually be realized by as many millions.