Wisdom of today : Manly P Hall and Plato in The Secret Destiny of America.

Thousands of years before the beginning of the Christian era many enlightened thinkers discov­ered the will of God as expressed through Nature in the affairs of men. They made known their discoveries in terms of religions, philosophies, sciences, arts, and political systems. These first statements are now the admired monuments of ancient learning. Available to men of today, they are generally ignored.

Years of research among the records of olden peoples available in libraries, museums, and shrines of ancient cultures, has convinced me that there exists in the world today, and has existed for thou­sands of years, a body of enlightened humans un­ited in what might be termed, an Order of the Quest. It is composed of those whose intellectual and spiritual perceptions have revealed to them that civilization has a Secret Destiny--secret, I say, because this high purpose is not realized by the many; the great masses of peoples still live along without any knowledge whatsoever that they are part of a Universal Motion in time and space.

Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed are among the greatest names re­corded in history; but it is not customary to re­gard the men who bore these names as statesmen or sociologists. They are thought of as philos­ophers, sages, seers, and mystics, whose doctrines have no application to the political needs of an industrial civilization. Yet it is men like Plato and Buddha who still exercise the most powerful force in mortal affairs toward the perpetuation and pre­servation of a civilized state among all nations.

All of the great leaders of ancient times realized and taught that the establishment of a state of per­manent peace among the nations depended upon the release of human ideals, but through properly trained and disciplined minds capable of interpret­ing these ideals in terms of the common good.

World democracy was the secret dream of the great classical philosophers. Toward the accom­plishment of this greatest of all human ends they outlined programs of education, religion, and so­cial conduct directed to the ultimate achievement of a practical and universal brotherhood. And in order to accomplish their purposes more effectively, these ancient scholars bound themselves with cer­tain mystic ties into a broad confraternity. In Egypt, Greece, India, and China, the State Mys­teries came into existence. Orders of initiated priest­philosophers were formed as a sovereign body to instruct, advise, and direct the rulers of the States.

Thousands of years ago, in Egypt, these mystical orders were aware of the existence of the western hemisphere and the great continent which we call America. The bold resolution was made that this western continent should become the site of the philosophic empire. Just when this was done it is impossible now to say, but certainly the decision was reached prior to the time of Plato, for a thinly veiled statement of this resolution is the substance of his treatise on the Atlantic Islands.

Plato describes the government of the Golden Age, in which men live on earth ac­cording to the laws of heaven.

By the three great continents of Atlantis are to be understood, Europe, Asia, and Africa; and by the seven islands, all the lesser peoples of the earth. The league of the ten kings is the cooperative com­monwealth of mankind, the natural and proper form of human government. The Atlantis, there­fore, is the archetype or the pattern of right gov­ernment, which existed in ancient days but was destroyed by the selfishness and ignorance of men.

Plato, it must be remembered, was a monarchist by philosophic conviction, but his ideal king was the wise man perfect in the virtues and the natural ruler of those less informed than himself. This king was the father of his people, impersonal and unselfish, dedicated to the public good, a servant of both the gods and his fellow men. This king was descended of a divine race; that is, he be­longed to the Order of the Illumined; for those who come to a state of wisdom then belong to the family of the heroes--perfected human beings.

Plato's monarchy was therefore a philosophic democracy; for all men had the right to become wise through self-discipline and self-improvement. One who achieved this state was by virtue of his own action a superior man, and this superiority was the only aristocracy recognized by Natural Law.

Competition is natural to the ignorant; and co­operation is natural to the wise. Obeying the pattern established by the gods, the divine kings bound themselves into the common league to obey its laws, preserve the peace, and punish any whose ambition might impel them to tyranny or conquest.
Here then, is a pattern of world government to insure the prosperity of all peoples and activate the preservation of the peace.

Plato describes at some length the prosperity of the Atlantic Isles under this benevolent rulership. The citizens were happy, and poverty was un­known. A world trade was established, and the ships of the Atlantean marine traveled the seven seas, bringing rich treasures to the motherland. There was little crime; the arts flourished; and the sciences were cultivated in great universities. Men had no enemies, and war was unknown.

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