Brotherhood

In your world "Brotherhood" is considered as that great fraternity which is used, or was meant to be used, as a protecting cloak for all times of trouble, stress or common danger. Very few have been able to reach more than a proportion of the ideal which they set out to be their aim and purpose. If you look at the use, or misuse, of that word "brotherhood" you will find that even with the most idealistic its borders are narrow and that it has serious limitations. The most serious being that it confines itself to a certain section and does not admit the general public into a share of the benefits reserved for the few.

All those attempts to form unions or societies for the protection of this or that; or for the development of action in the way of well organised thought, all these movements have a very great value. According to the effort put into them so will the members rejoice hereafter that they heard the call; from whatever direction it might have come.

Move on from the earth point of view to the spiritual. Realise that this banding together, this concentrated effort, is symbolical of what is happening on the Spirit side in a gigantic way. But there is one great difference. In the World of Spirit people of similar sympathies naturally congregate together, just as they do upon earth. At the same time they are not so conservative as you are; they have not got that selective feeling which so often with the children of the earth makes great barriers. Indeed these barriers are so definite that they have the effect of separating one from the other and making those who were firm friends enemies in a permanent sense, which they will bitterly regret once they pass over and see things as they are.

All these unions and societies are but outward forms of that great, deeply-embedded instinct of brotherhood; in which, of course, includes sisterhood as well. Imagine the difference between the spiritual and the mental aspects of those banded together in great movements for the betterment of humanity. Consider the different methods adopted by those in the Spirit World and those who, when they were on earth, did much in that way to strengthen the ties of sympathy; not only between individuals but very often between peoples and nations as well.

The first thing that such a one has to learn on the Spirit side is to get rid of their exclusiveness; to work out of their mind that feeling, either of criticism or of alienation, which they experienced towards those who differed from them entirely, or to the extent that they refused to join that which was so near to their own heart.

When you get spiritual sight you realise how these differences crop up; you see at once that it is not always obstinacy or deliberate blindness, as the physical mind imagines so often.  In the composition of this one or that there are such fundamental differences of character that it is almost impossible for them to see eye to eye even with the friend they once prized so much.

In defending the outsider there is no blaming the one who strives so hard to convince. But when both outsider and insider meet in the Realms of the Spirit they will, if they have the love of God in their hearts in any degree, be the first to laugh at their own points of view; and then hurry on the linking up of that which will make the once flawed sympathy perfect and complete, as God intended.

You must have a very wide, open mind in regard to everything because, consciously or unconsciously, you belong to the Great Brotherhood of Humanity; not to a sect, a belief, a race or a creed. These divisions fall to the ground when you see things as they are, for whether you recognise it or not all belong to the great brotherhood under the Christ. Whatever their belief, whatever their opinions may have been or will be in the days to come, you are kin to humanity and humanity is kin to you.

You must have a very wide, open mind in regard to everything because, consciously or unconsciously, you belong to the Great Brotherhood of Humanity; not to a sect, a belief, a race or a creed.

Do not get a false impression to the formation of such movements on the Spirit Side. The Spirits are just as systematic and as business-like as you are on earth, but it is not necessary to draw up forms of membership or long lists of rules; indeed such things would embarrass the Spirits more than you can imagine. Thought and individuality wipe out for all time those "materialisations" of thought and being which are necessary when the real self is hidden, or only partly revealed, by the body. That, perhaps, is a little difficult for you to understand. But get it clear in your mind that although the Spirits have an uncountable host of such movements on the Spirit side, they differ so enormously that it is impossible to parallel them with what you have on earth.

Human nature does not change. In some respects those qualities which were possessed during the earth's experience are enormously stronger when they are allowed to have full development, unrestricted by the limitations of the physical mind. Therefore someone who did good, or wished to do good while on earth, immediately finds their way in the Spirit World. They concentrate not only on doing the same good but, having spiritual sight, on getting nearer, much nearer, to the idea than was possible when they were in the body.

Build up in your mind some faint conception of the power there is in you. The power not only to do while you are in your present environment; but also the hidden resources which are stored up in a person's soul and which can, almost instantly, be put into action in a way previously undreamt of, even by the most advanced, before they pass over and see what lies behind creative thought.

This does not apply simply and solely to those religious or social movements which were born in the minds of men and women during their physical experience. It also applies to those which were more on a destructive than constructive side. Consider how wonderfully God's will is worked out here. Those who were out to pull down, inspired no doubt by the very best motives there could be, and whose tendency was to strike at the work of others, see when they pass over what true brotherhood can mean. It is rather a shock, not to any one sect or another but to all. Unfortunately, in the world there has always been that criticism of another's methods which has led to strife and persecution towards it.

Spiritual sight is not reserved for one here and there. All who have wished to do something that mattered; to add even in a misguided way something to the building up of that greater self within, all these when they pass over, if they have any wish to learn, are given that most precious gift of spiritual sight. Then sometimes they laugh at their own foolishness and sometimes they sorrow instead. But the result is always the same. To bring about with as little delay as possible that readjustment of ideas, throwing away the rubbish and gathering up the treasure of the good grain; knowing that even in their blindness, very often, they were able to construct something which belonged to the Christ.

Always remember that, whether you like it or not, whether you are willing to accept His words or not, that you are now and forever a member of the Great Brotherhood of Humanity. You cannot sever that tie however much you may wish to do so or however much it goes against the grain. This does not destroy your hopes of harmony in the World of the Spirit, indeed it shows you the only way in which it can be maintained. The discord upon earth; the disputes, the hatred, the real deep-seated hostility even between those who should know better; all this has a disastrous effect on those beautiful vibrations of peace which are brought down into your midst and into the midst of mankind in a way impossible for you to imagine.

People exclaim at the unrest there is in the world today. Ever since the world started they have said the same thing, and it has been true in a way that would make the Spirits sorrowful if they did not see that out of the strife and the discord there were those who were strong enough to raise themselves above it and to find God in spite of all.

Peace was brought into your midst. Take this thought and make it your own, if you can: Picture to yourself, for you must have a physical illustration, peace as a beautiful cloud of gold and pink and blue. The names of your colours are such a crude expression of what the Spirits are trying to convey. Picture to yourself peace, beautiful beyond anything that can be imagined by the physical mind. This beauty is sent down from the bright spheres, not now and again when a war is on or when disease has humanity in its grip, but always. Every day, every hour, every minute this wonderful, beneficent, peace comes from God Himself; in an unlimited way and unceasingly will until humanity finds their peace in the Christ at last.

Beauty is sent down from the bright spheres, not now and again when a war is on or when disease has humanity in its grip, but always.

It must seem to you sometimes that it has very little effect upon the minds and hearts of those who are responsible for the running of the world. Yet is it not so that many discords, many differences of opinion are healed over and over again; that agreements are come to in spite of the most bitter opposition which held the ground in the first instance. Is it not true that even in war the longing for peace comes to both sides at last? Were it not for this wonderful gift from the Most High you would not be able to say the same. So you see that you have overlooked the fact that evil does not hold the world in its grip, as might appear at first glance. For is it not so that quarrels of all kinds are smoothed out, that anger dies down, and that bitterness loses its sting? You see it on all sides, not only in your great world, as it seems to you, but in the centre of family life; even amongst the children there is the desire to be friends!

See in these little earth signs the first tiny seeds of preparation for what is, and must be, in the realms of the Spirit where harmony is in command. All love the sound of "harmony" because it represents, so often, that which you are without or which has come to you in such a pathetically limited way that you have hardly grasped it when other forces have snatched it from you. Therefore, by its very illusiveness it has grown doubly precious to you. Try and build up in your mind the impression that although harmony may escape you now, by the fact that you love harmony you are bringing it into your conditions in a way absolutely un-thought of. Those conditions will provide your environment hereafter, and that which was absent during part of the physical stage shall be your own possession in all its loveliness and power when the body is laid aside.

Though people in your world are rather limited in their sympathies and in their understanding, in the Spirit World those differences will be laid aside. Both you and they will realise that all the time you were linked together as children of the Christ. Because of this most sacred tie you, in turn, will do your part to build up something of that spirit of brotherhood, which would turn this sad old world of yours into a haven of love and peace. It can't be done of course, but even still the wish that it might be possible helps a little towards the ideal. Because strife and discord and disagreements seem almost terribly prominent now it does not free you and it does not free them from that responsibility of linking up of one life with the other and the banding together of all under the great Fatherhood of God.

This message was first given in 1924 through Winifred Moyes.

© The Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association 2026

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