UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD A FACT
IN NATURE
I HAVE been requested to speak on the subject of Universal
Brotherhood as a fact in nature; not as a theory, not as a Utopian
dream which can never be realized; not as a fact in society,
not as a fact in government, but as a fact in nature. That is,
that Universal Brotherhood is an actual thing, whether it is
recognized or whether it is not. Christian priests have claimed
for some years, without right, that Christianity introduced the
idea of Universal Brotherhood. The reason the claim was made,
I suppose, was because those who made it did not know that other
religions at other times had the same doctrine. It is found in
the Buddhist scriptures, it is found in the Chinese books, it
is found in the Parsee books, it is found everywhere in the history
of the world, long before the first year of the Christian Era
began. So it is not a special idea from the Christian Scriptures.
Every nation, then, every civilization has brought forward this
doctrine, and the facts of history show us that, more than at
any other time, the last eighteen hundred years have seen this
doctrine violated in society, in government, and in nations.
So that at last men have come to say, "Universal Brotherhood
is very beautiful; it is something that we all desire, but it
is impossible to realize." With one word they declare the
noble doctrine, and with the other they deny the possibility
of its ever being realized.
Why is this the case? Why is it that although Christianity
and other religions have brought forward this doctrine, it has
been violated? We cannot deny that it has been. The history of
even the last few years proves it. The history of the last forty
years in America, without going any farther back, proves that
this doctrine has been violated in the West. How could it have
been a doctrine that the Americans believed in when they had
slavery in their midst? How could it have been believed in by
the French when they stretched out their hand and demanded of
Siam, a weak and powerless nation, that it must give up to them
its own property? How could it have been believed in by the Germans
and French when they constructed engines of war and went into
battle and destroyed each other by the thousand? Does not the
American War of the Rebellion and the vast amount of treasure
wasted and the thousands slain in that civil war prove conclusively
that Universal Brotherhood has not been practiced? It has been
professed but not practiced. Now, go further back, go back in
the history of the nations in Europe, without going to any other
country, and what do you find? Do you not find sectarian prejudice?
Their view of Universal Brotherhood has for years prevented the
progress of science. Is it not true that only since science became
materialized--a most remarkable thing, but it is true--I insist
that since then only science has made progress. If Universal
Brotherhood had been a belief of this nation, then we would not
have had the burning of witches in America; nor in other countries
would we have had the burning of Catholics by Protestants, nor
the burning of Protestants by Catholics; we would not have had
the persecutions that have stained the pages of history; and
yet we have always claimed that we have had Universal Brotherhood.
We have had the theory but not the practice. Now, then, has there
not been something wanting? It is a beautiful doctrine. It is
the only doctrine of the Theosophical Society, the only thing
that any man is asked by us to subscribe to. What, then, is the
matter with it? Why so many men who say that it is beautiful,
but it is impossible, simply impossible? There are even some
branches of the Christian church which say, "There is Jesus;
why, the altruistic, noble teachings of Christ are beautiful;
but no State could live three months under such doctrine."
The reason that it has not prevailed in practice is that it has
been denied in the heart.
The Theosophist who knows anything about life insists that
Universal Brotherhood is not a mere theory. It is a fact, a living
ever present fact, from which no nation can hope to escape; no
man can escape from it, and every man who violates it violates
a law, violates the greatest law of nature, which will react
upon him and make him suffer. And that is why we have had suffering;
that is why you have in Chicago, in London, in New York, in Berlin,
in all the great cities of the world, masses of people who are
claiming with violence what they call their rights and saying
they must have them, and that another class is oppressing them;
and danger lurks in every corner because men are insisting on
Universal Brotherhood. This noble doctrine has already become
a danger. The reason of all these things is that men have denied
the fact. Now, we propose to show you, if we can, that it is
a fact.
If you will notice you will find that when it rains over a
certain area vast numbers of men are affected similarly. The
rain has to fall on the fields in order that the harvest may
grow, so that afterwards it may be gathered, and all the farmers
are affected together by the rain. If you examine society you
will find that at the same hour every day almost all the people
are doing exactly the same thing. At a certain hour in the morning
thousands of your citizens are going down that railway or rush
all together to catch the train and at another few moments afterward
they are rushing out of the train to get to business, all doing
the same thing, one common thought inspiring them. That is one
of the proofs--a small one--in social and business life that
they are affected together, they are all united. Then in the
evening they will come home at the same hour, and if you could
see, at the same hour you would see them all eating together
and digesting together, and then later on they are all lying
down together at the same hour. Are they not united even in their
social life? Brothers even in that? And what do we see here in
business? Lately I have felt it; every man has felt it, and many
women; doubtless all have felt it; lately we have had a financial
crisis, perhaps have it yet, in which dollars have been scarce,
during which men have discovered that there are only just so
many dollars and half dollars to each person in the country,
and we have altogether been suffering from that panic all over
this vast country. Suffering, why? Because commercially we are
united and cannot get out of it. China even is affected by it,
and Japan. India, they say, was the cause of it. Some men say
the reason for this panic is that India put the price of rupees
down, and we who produce so much silver began to feel it. I do
not know that is the reason. But I think there is another cause.
I think the American nation is so fond of luxury, so fond of
fine clothes, so fond of having a heap of money, that it has
gone too far and there was bound to come a reaction, because
it is all united together with the whole world, and when it spread
itself out too far the slightest touch broke the fabric. That
is the reason, and that is another proof of Universal Brotherhood.
We are all united, not only with each other here, but with the
entire world.
Now, then, go further still materially and you find that all
men are alike. We have the same sort of bodies, a little different
perhaps in height, weight, and extension, but as human beings
we are all alike, all the same color in one country, all the
same shape in any country, so that as mere bodies of flesh they
are united, they are the same. We know every man and woman has
exuding from him or her what is called perspiration. The doctors
will tell you there is a finer perspiration you cannot see, the
invisible perspiration which goes out a short distance around
about us; we know it comes out from every person, and the emanations
of each person are affecting every other person, being interchanged
always. All those in this room are being affected by these emanations
and also by the ideas of each other, and the ideas of the speakers
speaking to you. So it is in every direction; wherever you go,
wherever you look, we are united; in whatever plane, the plane
of mind as well as the plane of the body; the plane of the emotions,
of the spirit, what not, we are all united, and it is a fact
from which we cannot escape. Now, then, further: science is beginning
to admit what the old Theosophists have always said, that there
is going on every minute in every person a death, a dissolution,
a disappearance. It used to be taught and thought in the West
that we could see matter, that this table is made of matter.
It is admitted today by your best scientific men in every part
of Western civilization that you do not see matter at all; it
is only the phenomena of matter we see; and it is my senses which
enable me to perceive these phenomena. It is not matter at all,
and so we do not see matter. Now admitting that, they go further
and say there is a constant change in matter so-called; that
is, this table is in motion. This is not a purely Theosophical
theory. Go to any doctor of Physics and he will admit to you
as I have stated it. This table is in motion; every molecule
is separate from every other, and there is space between them,
and they are moving. So it is with every man; he is made of atoms
and they are in motion. Then how is it we remain the same size
and weight nearly always from the moment of maturity until death?
We eat tons of meat and vegetables but remain the same. It is
not because of the things you have eaten. In addition to that
the atoms are alive, constantly moving, coming and going from
one person to another; and this is the modern doctrine today
as well as it was the doctrine of ancient India. They call it
the momentary dissolution of atoms; that is to say, to put it
in another way, I am losing, all of you in this room are losing,
a certain number of atoms, but they are being replaced by other
atoms. Now, where do these other atoms come from? Do they not
come from the people in this room? These atoms help to rebuild
your body as well as does the food you eat. And we are exuding
atoms from our minds, and we are receiving into ourselves the
atoms other men have used. For, remember, science teaches you,
and Theosophy has always insisted, that matter is invisible before
it is turned into this combination of the life cycle, which makes
it visible, makes it tangible to us. So these atoms leave us
in a stream and rush into other people. And therefore the atoms
of good men go into bad men, the atoms impressed by bad men go
into good men, and vice versa. In that way as well as
others we are affecting everybody in this world; and the people
in Chicago who are living mean, selfish lives are impressing
these invisible atoms with mean and selfish characters, and these
mean and selfish atoms will be distributed by other men, and
by you again to your and their detriment. That is another phase
of Universal Brotherhood. It teaches us to be careful to see
that we use and keep the atoms in our charge in such a condition
that they shall benefit others to whom they shall go.
There is another view of Universal Brotherhood, and I don't
pretend to exhaust the argument on this point, for I have not
the time nor force to state all that is put forward in the Theosophical
books and literature and thought. That is, that there is in this
world an actual Universal Brotherhood of men and women, of souls,
a brotherhood of beings who practice Universal Brotherhood by
always trying to influence the souls of men for their good. I
bring to you the message of these men; I bring to you the words
of that brotherhood. Why will you longer call yourselves miserable
men and women who are willing to go to a Heaven where you will
do nothing? Do you not like to be gods? Do you not want to be
gods? I hear some men say, "What, a god! Impossible!"
Perhaps they do not like the responsibility. Why, when you get
to that position you will understand the responsibility. This
actual Brotherhood of living men says, Why, men of the West,
why will you so long refuse to believe you are gods? We are your
brothers and we are gods with you. Be then as gods! Believe that
you are gods, and then, after experience and attainment, you
will have a place consciously in the great Brotherhood which
governs the entire world, but cannot go against the law. This
great Brotherhood of living men, living souls, would, if they
could, alter the face of civilization; they would, if they could,
come down and make saints of every one of you; but evolution
is the law and they cannot violate it; they must wait for you.
And why will you so long be satisfied to believe that you are
born in original sin and cannot escape? I do not believe in any
such doctrine as that. I do not believe I was born in original
sin. I believe that I am pretty bad, but that potentially I am
a god, and I propose to take the inheritance if it is possible.
For what purpose? So that I may help all the rest to do the same
thing, for that is the law of Universal Brotherhood; and the
Theosophical Society wishes to enforce it on the West, to make
it see this great truth, that we are as gods, and are only prevented
from being so in fact by our own insanity, ignorance, and fear
to take the position.
So, then, we insist that Universal Brotherhood is a fact in
nature. It is a fact for the lowest part of nature; for the animal
kingdom, for the vegetable kingdom, and the mineral kingdom.
We are all atoms, obeying the law together. Our denying it does
not disprove it. It simply puts off the day of reward and keeps
us miserable, poor, and selfish. Why, just think of it! If all
in Chicago, in the United States, would act as Jesus has said,
as Buddha has said, as Confucius said, as all the great ethical
teachers of the world have said, "Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you," would there be any necessity
for legal measures and policemen with clubs in this park as you
had them the other day? No, I think there would be no necessity,
and that is what one of this great Brotherhood has said. He said
all the troubles of the world would disappear in a moment if
men would only do one-quarter of what they could and what they
ought. It is not God who is to damn you to death, to misery.
It is yourself. And the Theosophical Society desires above all
things, not that you should understand spiritualism, not that
wonderful occult works should be performed, but to understand
the constitution of matter and of Life as they are, which we
can never understand but by practicing right ethics. Live with
each other as brothers; for the misery and the trouble of the
world are of more importance than all the scientific progress
that may be imagined. I conclude by calling upon you by all that
humanity holds dear to remember what I say, and whether Christians,
Atheists, Jews, Pagans, Heathen, or Theosophists, try to practice
Universal Brotherhood, which is the universal duty of all men.
NOTE--Address given by Wm.Q. Judge
at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1893.
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