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you remember. These two—the Belgian father and the German mother—were also credulous, as the world uses the word, and their children were credulous, too. Had the nations been equally credulous of the power of love, there would have been no war; for there would have been no armies to make war. I am not preaching against armies. I am only preaching love and faith. When love and faith grow greater, armies will grow smaller, and war will be at an end. I asked the Belgian father how he felt about the war, and he looked toward his German wife; I asked the German mother how she felt about the war, and she looked toward her Belgian husband. Neither would speak for fear of wounding the other.
    How should I feel now if my nation were at war, you wonder? But since the eyes of my memory opened and I saw my past lives, I realize that I have had so many nations, have fought in so many armies, have lain in the lap of so many mothers of mine in so many lands, that my spirit is uprooted. I have joined the great White Brotherhood, to which all men are brothers and all women sisters. It would be difficult for you to see with my eyes. I watch and wait, like the parents of the two old maids in Belgium, and so far the house of my faith stands untouched by the fires of war. In the great White Brotherhood there are members from many races, there are members from the races now at war. Do you fancy that they looked askance at one another when the world went mad? They did not look askance at one another. Each stood guard where he could do the most good. Each sought to soften the blow to the brethren of his brother, each sought to soften the hearts of his own blood brethren. But as this war was written in the stars, the Teachers of the world could not prevent it when the hour struck.
    Do you know what it means to be a member of the great White Brotherhood? It means to work for the welfare of the human race, for the good of the planet as a whole. And there is another thing I want to tell you. You have heard of a Black Brotherhood. It is a misnomer. Brotherhood is never black. There is no Black Brotherhood. There are many Black Masters, for Mastership, like a garment, may be either white or black. In this war the black forces who have inspired hatred in men have worked for one end, and that very fact will weaken their power to do evil for a long time, when the results of their present labors are over. Do you get my meaning? A combination of evil forces, in the very act of combining, weakens the individual power of its members; for evil is strongest when individual. Two who are full of love may work together with the power of four; but two who work together for evil have only the power of—shall I say one and a half? And one and a half against four! If you love power, use power for good and increase it.
    It is because of the multitude of elementary evil forces, all hurling their malice at the world, not because of their combination, that this madness was made possible. Hate is a disintegrating force. Those who hate after this war will disintegrate themselves. Those who love after this war will grow strong. France especially will grow strong, because there is more love than hate in France. France loves so much that even her enemies do not hate her. It is not merely because she is not so brutally strong as her great enemy. Love your enemies. That is the surest way to overcome them. 
    March 29

Letter 10
    One Day as a Thousand Years
    As I am writing about war, I wish to talk to those who have lost their loved ones in this war. You who grieve for the untimely dead, have you not read that one day shall be as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day? We must start on the basis of rebirth, whose other name is rhythm, and whose course is immortality. Immortality presupposes no beginning and looks forward to no end. The spirit always was and always will be. In the life of the spirit one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as one day.