To assist in your reflection on the Great Invocation, we have provided below both the traditional gendered wording (on the left) and Lucis Trust’s adapted, more inclusive version (on the right). For more on gendered language in mantras, see our Current Topics for Reflection: Mantras.

Light

These lines refer to the Mind of God as a focal point for the divine light. In the human being, this comes through as Soul energy, bringing the light of understanding and spreading enlightenment.

When we invoke the Mind of God and say, “Let light stream forth into human minds. Let Light descend to Earth,” we are voicing one of the great needs of humanity. The theme of light runs through all the world scriptures; the idea of enlightenment is a goal of education, and the thought of more light governs all the confused yearnings of the human spirit.

Light is an active energy, and love is an energy, too. Therefore, when we use this Invocation, we can expect powerful changes in our attitudes. Our life intention, character, and goals will be altered and made spiritually more useful. “As persons think in their hearts, so are they” is a basic law, and the constant turning of our mind to the need for light brings light.

The illumination of our minds, so that we can see things as they are and can apprehend right motives and the way to bring about right human relations, is a major world need. If the energies of light and love are given wider and wider scope, the idea of right human relations will become the ideal of the majority of all peoples and will be reflected in all national, public, and community affairs. The history of humanity has been that of the use of ideas, and now forward-looking concepts must be applied to human living. The two ideas most needed today are light upon our way and practical goodwill.

Love

Here the Heart of God as the source of Love is evoked.

Love is an energy that must flood human hearts with the quality of loving understanding, a combination of love and intelligence.

Humanity needs loving understanding as a basis for right human relations. It was this need that brought the Christ to us before and, whether we believe that He was a human being who lived divinely or a divine being who lived humanly, we all agree that, in His life, He expressed most perfectly the divine quality of loving-understanding.

The return of the Christ means an active flowering of His quality of consciousness among humanity; He will let loose into the world the potency and the distinctive energy of intuitive love. The results of the distribution of this energy of love will be twofold:

The active energy of loving understanding will mobilize a tremendous reaction against the potency of hate. To hate, to be separative, and to be exclusive will come to be regarded as the only “sin,” for it will be recognized that all that we call sin stems from hate or from its product, the anti-social consciousness.

Countless of us in every land will work together in groups to establish right human relations. Our number will be so great that we will form the largest and most influential force in the world.

Will

The great Universe, of which we are a part, is pervaded by an everlasting Life. Science is rapidly discovering the immutable laws that govern the cosmos; and from this, as well as from our own faith, we understand that the universe must have a significant and an ultimate aim.

As we observe the unfolding of natural phenomena, we can see that they obey a law of evolution and progress. We perceive in the stars and in the insect, in the atom and in the heart, the same trend towards a veiled goal. When we have become aware of the power of this universal law, it becomes clear to us how foolish it is to oppose it; and we discover that the true cause of so many failures consists of the unconscious violation of that law. Then there arises in us spontaneously the impulse to obey it and adhere to it.

Here we find a paradox. The individual will, which freely submits to the Universal Will and merges with It and is founded on It, is neither annihilated or diminished. The instant in which it seems to die or ceases to exist, it rises transfigured.

When our individual will has agreed to cooperate harmoniously with the Will that governs the universe, then that Will cooperates and puts at our disposal Its own infinite energies. In the Laws that rule the cosmos, we discover the laws that must underlie our own actions. Thus the will, in becoming good, has at the same time become strong and wise; and from this complete interplay of the three qualities springs spiritual or transcendental will, at one with the Will of God.

Our relationship to the divine will seems to enter a new phase in modern times. In the past, speaking generally, humanity’s highest approach was mainly characterized by submission, a surrendering to the inscrutable will of God. Today, a new attitude within humanity is becoming possible, a conscious acquiescence with that divine Will. Acquiescence has in it the element of an understanding intelligence, and this marks a great step forward. Thus, from a passive submission to that Will, humanity can now move on to a positive acquiescence and even a joyous cooperation with the “center where the Will of God is known.”

The Plan

Having invoked the three aspects, or potencies, of Mind, Love, and Will, we now recognize the anchoring of all these powers in humanity itself, in “the center which we call the human race.”

Here lies the promise of the future and its opportunity.

Here can all the divine qualities express themselves and find fulfillment.

Here can love be truly born, intelligence correctly function, and the Will of God demonstrate its effective goodwill.

Through humanity, alone and unaided except by the divine Spirit in each of us, can the “door where evil dwells” be sealed. This is a symbolic way of expressing the idea of rendering evil purposes both inactive and ineffectual. There is no particular location where evil dwells. The “door where evil dwells” is kept open by humanity through our selfish desires, hatreds, and separativeness, by our greed and racial and national barriers, our competitiveness and love of power and cruelty.

As goodwill and light stream forth into our minds and hearts, the energy of the negative qualities that keeps the “door of evil” open will give place to right human relations, to a determination to create a better and more peaceful world, and to a worldwide expression of the will-to-good. As these energies and qualities take the place of the old and undesirable ones, the “door where evil dwells” will slowly close through sheer weight of public opinion and, simultaneously, the door into the world of spiritual reality will open before us.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

Having invoked or appealed to the mind of God, the love of God, and the will or purpose of God, the last line points out our relation to these three aspects of divine life, and also humankind’s deep responsibility to implement the spread of love and light on Earth in order to advance God’s Plan. Thus is indicated the keynote for the future, and that the day will come when God’s original idea and intention will no longer be frustrated by human free will and evil. The divine Purpose will then, through our changed hearts and goals, be achieved.