It is the duty of pioneer thinkers to help mankind move up towards a higher life. This duty will be made clearer when the implications of the destructive period through which the world is passing are made plain. The ideals of pacifism are for those who have renounced the world. For all others the full discharge of responsibilities is necessary. The truth is that the present crisis has no parallel in history except that which preceded the destruction of Atlantis. For present-day circumstances are the material objectifications of the struggle between unseen powers representing good and evil, light and darkness. In the last war, the Nazis and the Japanese were the focal points for an attack upon the highest ideals of mankind, were the human instruments for a vile eruption of evil and lying spirits. It is the duty of those who care for these ideals to protect them. This can only be done by fighting and defeating the instruments of the forces of darkness. This battle must be waged in an impersonal spirit without hatred and with deep recognition that mankind without exception forms one great spiritual family and with the consciousness that this must constitute the ultimate ethical ideal for every nation. Thus mankind must first be purged by suffering and later healed by love.
-- Notebooks Category 6: Emotions and Ethics > Chapter 7 : Miscellaneous Ethical Issues > # 35
