Problems of Humanity
There are several of the Alice A. Bailey books that have been redacted or altered in various ways. This page will list those books, starting with one that has recently (Sept.2023) come to many people’s attention in the author’s Virgo 2023 newsletter, using the quote:
“I have no interest in helping or teaching those who divorce the affairs of the world and of humanity from spiritual teaching and selfless living. I have no use for mystical visionaries and esoteric students who love to wander in the high realms of abstract thinking and amass details of occult or mystical information, but who refuse to understand that the changing of the old order, the awakening of humanity to the new possibilities and the purification of the political and economic arena are today the factors of the greatest spiritual value.
That is spiritual which has for motive the establishing of the Kingdom of God on Earth; that cannot take place until much has been changed in human affairs and living.”1
The original 1947 hardcover version.
Problems of Humanity 1st ed. – 1947, 260 p.
2nd ed., revised – 1953, 221 p. (A 39 page reduction.)
3rd ed., further revised – 1964, 181 p. (A further 40 page reduction = 79 pages total.)
The reasons for redactions in subsequent editions may have been several:
1. That someone felt it was AAB’s voice and not DK’s.
2. Political correctness for nations that the Arcane School communicated to in the 1950’s and 60’s.
3. As there are some tough criticisms of some countries – or mention of the difficulties of some races, editors might have thought worthy in a post WWII climate to eliminate any perceived statements of division between nations.
In the forward to the 1993 reprint of the 1964 edition, the publisher stated the dilemma of the original edition and referred to “outdated” material which bypasses some of the reasons proposed above.
The Ageless Wisdom teachings from a Master of the Wisdom are never outdated because they are “ageless”. The original 1947 edition of this book was written between 1944 and 1946, with the complete text revised for publication in book form by September 1947.
“Foreword
The first edition of this book, published in 1947, contained essays on the basic problems of humanity. These had originally been issued in pamphlet form between October 1944 and December 1946, and dealt essentially with conditions during and immediately after the war years of 1939-45.
In 1953 a second edition was published which omitted outdated material. A further revision was made for the third edition in 1964. Since then, the progress made by humanity has been such that the nature of the problems has changed to a marked degree. For example, problems relating to the world’s children continue to exist but in different forms and under different conditions to those of the postwar period. The problems of capital, labor and employment have changed greatly in an increasingly automated and computerized world. Significant developments within the many branches of orthodox religion are presenting new problems within the world’s faiths.
Similar comments can be made on all the problems considered. In addition, new problems are arising under present day conditions, although these can usefully be viewed as variations and extensions of the basic six problems discussed in this book.
So now, in 1993, when we need to reprint the book again, we have had to consider whether it would be better to cut the original text to the bone and graft onto the skeletal structure factual data and information supplied by other writers, or whether we should reprint the book as it stands. Because the basic teaching on all the problems is still as sound, as dynamic and as necessary as it was when originally written, we have decided to do the latter.
But it is important that those who study this book are aware of its history so that the essential teaching can be recognized and absorbed and the irrelevant factors ignored. The spiritual principles to be applied to the problems of humanity as discussed in this book are valid today and remain largely ignored by the majority of humanity. The contribution of esoteric students in creating “the thought-form of solution” to human problems in a world at crisis point is a vital and practical service.” (LUCIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, New York, London – 1993.)
The original 1947 version is priceless in its entirety, as it provides an unique perspective of the war and post WWII – regarding all nations. The Tibetan does not spare the sword for some nations like Germany and Japan, but makes equally trenchant remarks about the other Western nations that allowed the war to take place.
Likewise in the rest of the series of books like Externalisaton of the Hierarchy and The Destiny of the Nations, The Tibetan makes equally direct statements about all nations.
Here follow two PDF files – the original document of the 1947 edition, and another that shows all redacted parts. They are both browsable only at this point, until a download option is figured out!
Original 1947
PH 1947
Redactions (Thanks to Malvin Artley)
PH redactions
- Problems of Humanity, Alice A. Bailey. p.247. The original unexpurgated version: 1st Edition 1947. [↩]
Thank you – as you know, I have the first editions of all AABs books, and redactions are numerous. None more so than Letters on Occult Meditation, which is hugely redacted with DK’s comments on Leadbeater removed (for example). The principal editor was Regina Keller, who, ironically, was kicked out of the Lucis Trust later.
It’s remarkable that the following paragraph was redacted, in light of how this problem has only grown worse in the past 4 or 5 decades. “The Problem of International Unity: The goal in view must be the good of all, great and small, with complete justice and fairness. The keynote is basically economic and involves right sharing. There must be freedom from want, and the products of the planet must belong to all, under some wise system of general participation. All men must eat and live free from anxiety. This is no idle and visionary dream. It is a problem which will yield to wise statesmanship in the field of economics and the distribution of needed commodities; it will require a firm attitude on the part of all leaders so that those that have will share with those that have not, so that the surplus products of the earth are not exploited for the financial gain of the few. Fair and correctly planned distribution of wheat, oil, minerals and needed foodstuffs must be undertaken by all nations for the good of all.”
The latest version says more or less the same thing:
“THE PROBLEM OF INTERNATIONAL UNITY
“The distribution of the world’s resources and the settled unity of the peoples of the world are in reality one and the same thing, for behind all modern wars lies a fundamental economic problem. Solve that and wars will very largely cease. In considering, therefore, the preservation of peace, as sought for and emphasized by the United Nations at this time, it becomes immediately apparent that peace, security and world stability are primarily tied up with the economic problem. When there is freedom from want, one of the major causes of war will disappear. Where there is uneven distribution of the world’s riches and where there is a situation in which some nations have or take everything and other nations lack the necessities of life, it is obvious that there is a trouble-breeding factor there and that something must be done. Therefore we should deal with world unity and peace primarily from the angle of the economic problem.”