by Harold E. Forgostein
Presented by Richard A. London, 6th Guardian in Chief
July 17, 2025 in the Blue Star Memorial Temple
INTRODUCTION
When I was learning accounting while embarking on the unknown aspirations of my budding career, I came across a couple of sayings that remain dear to me. One was “Timing is Everything” and the other, “Without numbers, nothing would add up.” Hence, it’s not surprising to me that unassuming aspects of numerical relationships continue to catch my attention.
Last year marked 100 years since construction was completed on the Blue Star Memorial Temple. In six years, the Temple will have been conducting the Noon Healing Service for 100 years. The first volume of the Teachings of the Temple, which our Friday Class is currently studying, was originally published in 1925, also 100 years ago!
From centuries and centennials, to water boiling at 100 degrees Celsius, to the United States having 100 Senators, I am 100 percent certain that one-hundred is a most significant number.
During last Sunday’s Enter the Silence Service, we heard the Master’s Message to the 1925 Convention. The Message opened with these words:
“Children of the Temple: Half a century ago, we sent our first Messenger into the world, unsealing inner truths to the end that the heart and mind of this humanity might be prepared for a Great Event soon to occur. That event has already occurred on inner planes, and the outer correspondence will in a few years take place on this physical plane. This event signifies the advent and resurrection in the Temple of Humanity of the Avatar and the Divine in the nature of humanity. Then will the Temple of Man be truly lighted by the Holy Presences shining from within.”
The 100-year anniversary of that Message will take place next month, during our 126th Convention. I find the 1925 Master’s Message profoundly relevant to our present times, in particular the following sentence: “That event has already occurred on inner planes, and the outer correspondence will in a few years take place on this physical plane.”
Looking back, we find the timing reference “in a few years” culminating in 1928, thirty years from the inception of the Temple of the People. That is when the “outer correspondence” was acknowledged, as the Feast of Expectation became the Feast of Fulfillment, which continues into these present times. And now we find ourselves three years away from having conducted the Feast of Fulfillment for 100 years.
As I consider the timing of everything, I can’t help taking stock of experiencing my first Noon Healing Service, thirty years ago, on August 2, 1995.
With this preface, I will now read a talk entitled “Hundred Year Cycle,” given by Harold E. Forgostein on April 17, 1955, thirteen years prior to his becoming Violet Star, the 4th Guardian in Chief.
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HUNDRED YEAR CYCLE
by Harold E. Forgostein
Given in the Blue Star Memorial Temple on April 17, 1955
In 1889, Helena P. Blavatsky published The Key to Theosophy, a question-and-answer treatise on the vital issue of the theosophical movement. It included some very prophetic material that has been greatly misunderstood. Concerning questions as to the future of Theosophy, HPB says, “As it has existed eternally in the Past, so it will ever exist throughout the infinitudes of the Future because Theosophy is synonymous with Everlasting Truth.” Concerning the Theosophical Society, HPB said, “Its future will depend almost entirely upon the degree of selflessness, earnestness, devotion, and last but not least, in the amount of knowledge and wisdom possessed by those on whom it will fall to carry on the work and to direct the Society after the death of its founder.”
To us in the Temple, it seems incredible that the great numbers of people who have taken up Theosophy have failed to see in the Temple the continued existence of those very qualities on which rest the Temple and the Theosophical Society, making them easy victims of the dangers pointed out by HPB.
In the answer to another question put to her concerning this required knowledge, HPB said: “I do not refer to technical knowledge of the esoteric doctrine, though that is most important; I hope rather of the great need which the successors in the guidance of the society will have of unbound and clear judgment. Every such attempt as the T.S. has hitherto ended in failure, because sooner or later it has degenerated into a sect and set up hard and fast dogmas of its own, and so lost by imperceptible degrees that vitality which living truth alone can impart. You must remember that all our members have been born and bred in some creed or religion; that all are more or less of their generation, both physically and mentally; and consequently that their judgment is but too likely to be warped and uncommonly biased by one or all of these influences. If then they cannot be freed from such inherent bias, or at least taught to recognize its instantly and so avoid being led away by it, the result can only be that the Society will drift on to some sandbank of thought or another, and there remain a stranded carcass, to moulder and die.” A familiar picture.
And to the question, “but if this danger be averted,” Madame Blavatsky replies with what was then a prophecy and which we are seeing now as its fulfillment: “Then,” she says, “the Society will live on into and through the twentieth century. It will gradually leaven and permeate the great masses of thinking and intelligent people with its large-minded and noble ideas of religion, duty, and philanthropy. Slowly but surely, it will burst asunder the iron fetters of creeds and dogmas, of social caste prejudices.
It will break down social and national antipathies and barriers, and it will open the way to the practical realization of the Brotherhood of all mankind. Through its teachings, through its philosophy, which it has rendered accessible and intelligible to the modern mind, the West will learn to understand and appreciate the East at its true value. Further, the development of psychic powers and faculties, the premonitory symptoms of which are already visible in America, will proceed healthily and normally. Mankind will be saved from the terrible dangers, both mental and bodily, which are inevitable when that unfolding takes place, as it threatens to do, in a hotbed of selfish and evil passions. Man’s mental and psychic growth will proceed in harmony with his moral improvement; while his material surroundings will reflect the peace and fraternal goodwill which reigns in his mind instead of the discard and strife which are everywhere apparent around us today.”
The deep insight into cause and effect contained in this answer seems lost on the questioner who exclaims, “A truly delightful picture! But tell me, do you really expect all this to be accomplished in one short century?” This is answered as follows:
“Scarcely. But I must tell you that during the last quarter of every 100 years, an attempt is made by those teachers of whom I have spoken to help the spiritual progress of humanity to a marked and definite way. Toward the close of each century, you will invariably find that an outpouring or upheaval of Spirituality — or Mysticism, call it if you prefer — has taken place.
Save one or more persons have appeared in the world as their agents, and a greater or lesser amount of occult knowledge and teaching has been given out. If you care to do so, you can trace these movements back, century by century, as far as our detailed historical results extend.”
To the discriminating mind, the last of this answer is a simple statement of the appearance of the Temple. The questioner wants to know how all this bears upon the future of the T.S., Madame Blavatsky answers:
“If the present attempts in the form of our Society succeed better than its predecessors have done, then it will be in existence as an organized living and healthy body, when the time comes for the effort of the twentieth century. The general condition of man’s minds and hearts will have been improved and purified by the spread of its teachings; and as I have said, their prejudices and dogmatic illnesses will have been, to some extent at least, renewed. Not only so, but besides a large and accessible literature ready to man’s hands, the next impulse will find a numerous and united body of people ready to welcome the new torch-bearer of Truth. He will find the minds of man prepared for his message; a language ready for him in which to clothe the new truths he will bring; and an organization awaiting his approval, which will remove the merely mechanical material obstacles and difficulties from his path. Think how much those to whom such an opportunity has been given could accomplish.
Measure it by comparison with what the T.S. actually has achieved in the last 14 years, without any of these advantages, and surrounded by hosts of hindrances which would not hamper this new leader. Consider all this, and then tell me whether I am too sanguine when I say that if the T.S. survives and lives true to its mission, to its original impulses through the next 100 years — tell me, I say, if I go too far in asserting that Earth will be a heaven in the 21st century in comparison with what it is now.”
In the light of such wise words, the subsequent actions of subscribers to Theosophy can only be written off to the very dangers and obstacles referred to before. On the one hand, or on the other, the continued fulfillment of the prophesies as represented by the formation of the Temple and its accomplished missions promises to realize the essential forces for human evolution, through the focal point of the Temple Organization. With such specific references and positive statements concerning plans, intentions, ideas, and effort as represented by the Master of the Great White Lodge and its agents, it seems that energy spent in merely trying to convince the skeptics that this is all factual is sincerely justified, especially when these same people readily accept the basic general structure of what might be called “popular theosophy.” Even so, to relieve doubt in the minds of the students, William Quan Judge deals specifically with the power of doubt and disbelief, the question provoked by misunderstanding of the references to the outpouring of mysticism in the last quarter of each century.
This looking forward to the favored period is even reflected in the minds of many students. But in the known facts since the pronouncement of those words by HPB, the implied hiatus of help is conclusive in all but a rationalization of the attitude of indifference and disregard.
Mr. Judge states — answers — the question, “Will Masters Help Be Withdrawn in 1898 until 1975?” This then should dispose of the question of Lodge allegiance and help, for all who feel the need of an official statement. And the precise logic of the paper should constitute an aid to all minds that are groping with the problem of the Lodge and humanity’s response to it. The constancy, the unremitting effort of the Masters to help humanity proceeds with the steadfast and immutable law of cycles, greater and lesser. The moon daily affects the waters of the world, but the oceans do not disappear with the tide, even the low ones. In tracing out the cause and effect as might be represented by those produced in the last quarter of any century, considerably more discrimination is needed than is shown in the conclusion that only in those years are human affairs molded and that one might as well wait until such time to get in on the excitement.
The Temple Teachings have pointed out a number of interesting facts that help to understand the Lodge work. One of the greatest of these was referred to in HPB’s answers quoted before. A literature and a language have been made accessible and intelligible to humanity.
For in the printed volumes of the Teachings of the Temple, there are no glyphs or forbidding symbols, no mental barriers of any sort. The few Sanskrit terms occasionally used are carefully defined. The truths presented are offered in some of the more exact English ever written, and in no instance is the reader ever left in ignorance, blocked by statements that are beyond the scope of the student’s ability. On the contrary, the information presented deals with the most vital and ultimate everyday problems of direct and immediate concern. Light is thrown on the darkness of one’s own being, and the heart is warmed with encouragement and faith and love. The very highest and greatest possibility within is aroused, appealed to, and drawn to a greater realization of that being. There is neither negation nor denial in the entire issue of Temple literature. On the contrary, it represents more information than has before been given to a group of students. Such is the literal fulfillment of prophecy.
Other factors should be considered. For one, a hard and fast preconceived program of achievement was not and is not part of the Lodge’s efforts; therefore, the quick judgment as to the success or failure of their work is only a reflection on the one pronouncing judgment, and the qualities that exist rather in that one’s own mind. Again, these are the barriers and dangers warned against by Madame Blavatsky.
Concerning the progress of the work, the Masters have said that within the first few years of the founding of the Temple, they had completely changed its plans.
Templars have been told specifically that they have no cause for self-congratulations, and that what might have been is far greater than the present status. But the Lodge can scarcely be charged with the failure of humanity’s own shortcomings, especially when such are the result of individual will and choice. The greatest human possibilities are always appealed to, and their realization is the goal and is in the realms of definite possibility; no parent or teacher would expect a child or student to solve a problem for which they had not been equipped.
Other important considerations needed for judging the success or failure of the work are the elements of time and expenditure of forces. In 1899 the Master said, “The accumulated evil of the age has reached the zenith of its power, and readjustment must follow. A short day of grace is still ours — a single century — for if before the end of that century, the peoples of the earth have not awakened sufficiently to enable them to behold the canker in the bud of their so-called great civilizations and destroy that canker, nothing can save them from decay and annihilation.”
The concentration of power in this zenith of 100 years means that much more will happen than could have prior to or following such a cycle of 100 years. Templars have been told that in this period, events and deeds may transpire and be achieved literally a thousandfold more than in other such passages at times; and this we have surely seen happen with increasing intensity.
We need only compare the world of our childhood with the world of the present to realize the profound truth of the Temple Teachings. The technological side which, as Madame B. has pointed out, reflects the peace and fraternal goodwill which signs in man’s own mind, is most familiar — so familiar, in fact, that its wonder is too often taken for granted and most certainly not used to its fullest constructive advantage. That newest household wonder, our television, is the practical realization of a dream entertained only by specialized minds a few years ago. Daily discoveries of vaccines and medications are slowly but surely eliminating one or another form of suffering that other forms may follow; this should not be an argument against such research.
While there seems to be a spiritual deficiency as compared to our technical achievements, there are nevertheless tremendous efforts being put forth at leavening the mass of the people’s thinking. In the report to the 6th annual convention, the official head of the Temple points out:
“The Temple is the direct continuation of the works started by the Great Lodge in 1875 through their agent, H.P. Blavatsky. Through her, a further impulse was given to the Lodge work for the cycle now on. The society started by her is broken into many fragments, and the great truths more widely disseminated as a result; so that in consequence, we have the so-called New Thought — in reality the most ancient of thought — permeating the worlds, and under various names, people are accepting fundamental truths that they never would have accepted under the term ‘theosophical,’ though it is the same truth as we put out under that title. Wonderful are the ways of the Masters of Wisdom.”
Dr. Dower’s observations may be readily projected fifty years into the future. Some leaders in all religious fields propound the same regenerated truths. Their works become bestsellers in the publication fields, widely read and popularly interpreted in the movie industry, and equally well sustained on radio and television. Their personal appearance attracts tens of thousands of people.
An illustration of this projection is realized in the cultural field, where a recent single TV presentation of Macbeth presented by Maurice Evans and Judith Anderson played to more people than Edwin Booth (a famous English Shakespearean actor) played to in his entire lifetime.
And again, that these leaders of religious fields do not represent all of the truth, or that they misrepresent some of it, or that it is disturbed by those who receive it, is scarcely an argument against the prodigiously widespread proclamations of so-called new ideas. The iron curtain of orthodoxy is being penetrated with wide and long gaps. Not long ago, different comedy quiz programs read prayers of a profoundly sincere non-denominational order. Seventy million people who do not usually attend church received a convincing change of truth for their consideration.
The Teachings of the Temple points out that the time of the founding of the Temple marked the closing and opening of many vast cycles of varying numbers of years.
In no way did this concurrence clash with the hundred-year cycle as implied by the Theosophical students who have extolled the year 1875 and awaited the year 1975. Now that cycle is offset by the one which commenced in 1899. But a fuller realization of what has been transpiring in our day can only serve to enhance the future of any cycle; the opposite attitude can but diminish its possibilities.
In the generation and release of spiritual powers for the world, the great struggle between good and evil has seen unprecedented release of the power of good in our time. For surely, no cycle can do more than witness the advent and work of the Avatar, the Christos, the first-born son of God. Great and wonderful beyond the barest comprehension of their work and power are the sons of God, the Lodge of Masters who are dedicated to the work of the Christ and who live in His unified power. And we have been on this earth while He who is the Master of Masters has impressed the power of God upon this very physical plane of our existence — here and now in our own day.
The mission of the Temple is dedicated to the works of the Avatar. The announcement of His coming, the making possible of this coming, the provision for His coming, all have been and are the responsibility of Templars. This service has been theirs, both the knowledge of it and its execution, from the very beginning of the Temple. Successive years since that time have witnessed the harking of a cyclic Path, true and continuous whereon the Avatar walks, and where the Temple — which is all humanity — follows.
This is a cyclic Path that leads through the treachery of betrayal and disloyalty in the world to the beginning of a United Nations. Thus is the cycle that leads through the materialism of science to the preferred application by most of its devotees to the alleviation of human misery, hardship, and suffering. This is the cycle that leads through the quagmire of negative qualities to the creative effort involved by innate response to Beauty. This is the cycle that has transmuted the daily cycle of works and labor to one of service and privilege. This is the cycle that has led all the world safely through and past its greatest dangers to date. And this is the cycle whereby the continued safe progress of humanity is being determined in the face of still greater strife to come.
For this is the cycle of the zenith of powers, for evil and for good. International warfare among nations and raging fevers within their peoples symbolize the realism of the struggle of the cycle. The Temple, as the focal point for this Lodge effort, offers an increasing opportunity to partake of the realization of the Lodge work, the scope of which overwhelms the perception of today’s mind. Daily is the demonstration that no problem can be solved without the indwelling love which is in each person’s heart. The cycle of love flowing from the Father-Mother to the Child must now flow from all God’s Children back to the Father-Mother. All people must partake of this vast daily exchange, as they color and impel the air they breathe and the ground they walk on with the impulse of brotherhood — or not.
This is the cycle wherein has come the change of the Avatar’s Feast of Expectation to the Avatar’s Feast of Fulfillment.
— Harold E. Forgostein
April 17, 1955
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Let us remember that our “Windows of Opportunity” are Heavenly influenced by Timing and Numbers. May we also remember to find the strength, patience, and forgiveness to endure and learn from our missed opportunities, and to never cease endeavoring to realize the Presence of the Avatar as a living Power in our lives. Amen.
— Richard A. London
6th Guardian in Chief