Public Meeting

Stelle, Illinois

July 1972

Is Stelle Abandoning the Rest of the World?

Question:   In building the City of Stelle, it appears to me that you are abandoning the rest of the world—like pulling the leaders out of an Army. What happens to the troops?

Answer:    The way the world is going it seems to move leaders in our direction as if by default. A leader can be no more effective than his followship. If a leader no longer has followers, he has no way to help those people whom he would normally have helped. Therefore, he finds an alternative where he can perhaps advance himself and contribute to something positive. But so long as a leader has people he can help. He will not abandon them. There is sort of a magnetism between persons capable of helping and those who need the help. And often they work together for the benefit of humanity. I do not think that The Stelle Group is going to draw anybody who hasn’t already been abandoned by his potential followers. You may have noticed trends in the world where people are no longer willing to follow anyone, or at least not those who are leading somewhere positive.

Question:   But the element of compassion seems to be missing.

Answer:    The Brotherhoods have devised a plan. They have decided that the only way to save the entire human life wave on this planet is to gather those few who are ready now to hold things together so that there will be a framework upon which a new civilization can be built. So long as you preserve the essential form. something can be done after the cataclysms. If there is not a strong core of those who know why they are building the Nation of God while maintaining a strong determination to continue doing so. then there won’t be anything for the new civilization to integrate upon. Persons who are incarnate now all came to fill a role at this specific time: some to suffer hellish destruction and some to preserve civilization. Each one will do the thing he incarnated to do when the time comes for him to do it. If a person did not decide to incarnate at this time. then obviously he would do so at some other point in time.

This plan of the Brotherhoods can be likened to the compassion of a surgeon when he removes a cancer or even a whole organ from his patient in order that the person survive. We are attracting a special element which is ready to do the Brotherhoods’ work in order that society may survive in the long run. But those who have incarnated for the pain or the certain degradations which will come with the cataclysms are doing so to overcome karmic situations in their life so that by balancing it. they can move on to greater things. One can feel compassion for the pain that people have elected to go through. There is no way to preserve the world as it is. bat there are some who are willing to come together to preserve themselves.

Do You (Richard) Share Decision-Making with the Board of Trustees?

Question:   Do you share decision-making responsibilities with a Board of Trustees and do they have veto power over you? Also, how are they selected?

Answer:    The Board of Trustees does have veto power over me because I have set it up that way. But. I do ask for the persons who could be advisors. and those are the persons who declare their candidacy for election. The membership can nominate trustees. but generally speaking. I prefer that persons who want to be trustees nominate themselves. It is often embarrassing to decline a nomination from the general membership. Since it is an extremely time-consuming job. it can be quite an imposition on a member to nominate him. It also may be an economic hardship for an individual to undertake this duty.

Where Will Stelle Get Business During the Depression?

Question:   From where does Stelle expect to get business during the depression?

Answer:    We can’t expect to get anything from the outside because there won’t be anything to get; therefore, between now and the next few years we must really work hard to build and stockpile all that we will need to keep us going.

What Is Free Will and How Does It Relate to Karma?

Question:   What does free will mean? And, does karma interfere with free will?

Answer:    Free will is the total freedom to do anything that you want, and literally there is nothing that you cannot do if you are willing to pay the price. Every action has its price, regardless of what it is. When it comes to human beings, there is nothing left to chance. We are always at the right place at the right time by virtue of our past actions or our present thoughts. So, if you become an instrument of karma, it is because you worked it out that way; nobody is forcing it on you.

Is Stelle the Only Way to Spiritual Growth?

Question:   If a person is seeking spiritual growth, it seems like you imply in the book that The Stelle Group is the only way to go about it.

Answer:    No. I hope nobody presumes that. The Stelle Group is a unique community where a very special group of people can accomplish a specific task at this time. I have said many times at these meetings that there are hundreds of organizations in the United States which can meet a person’s needs at his present level of growth, and be of most benefit to him while exciting his enthusiasm. There is some organization available for a person to move him from wherever he is now to the next step he is to move up to. He may then find another organization which moves him higher. One may eventually be involved with two, three, or more of these types of organizations. The United States is remarkably rich in opportunities; so if someone says that he was turned down by The Stelle Group, that does not mean that he is outcast from society. We have a specific task to do and it takes a specific type of personality to do that job. It often takes a person coming into The Stelle Group a couple of years to realize whether he is that personality and that this is what he really wants to do. We are not trying to force people into a mold, but rather to bring out what is already there. The educational possibilities in The Stelle Group seem to me to exceed those offered anywhere else. There is a wide range of experiences open to our members in setting up a city. For instance, we obviously do not have all of the best engineers, so those with certain skills must expand those skills with quite a pressure of time upon them to get the job done. They are tackling things they would never have done on the outside.

Why Is Witchcraft Getting So Popular?

Question:   It seems to me that witchcraft is getting popular.

Answer:    Yes, it is reaching almost epidemic proportions. Someone has estimated that there are over 100,000 practicing witches in the Chicago land area. unfortunately, most of them are young people in their twenties. It seems to be quite a fad, especially since one experiences phenomena so quickly. College kids feel that they can control their professor by casting a spell on him so that they get a better grade. They actually form an alliance with one they call “The Horned One” to become the physical channel for spirit powers. They give themselves over to a frankly evil decarnate Ego. This association is one that they cannot get out of either by dying or reincarnating. It is a one-way road.

Is There a Way That You Can Do Good to People?

Question:   It seems that there is another movement that by exercising your mind you can do good to people.

Answer:    Unfortunately, the tool which is used is negative. We may talk of “black” magic and “white” magic as different persons‘ ideas of what is evil or good for other people, but the tool used in either kind of magic is still witchcraft. It involves the control of an incarnate Ego’s Mind by another. That is where the danger lies; and all of it works. Although the same techniques are used, it is only the user’s opinion whether the things he is doing in the name of “white” magic are really for the good of another. Often the spirit control will give the incarnate person the power to do some act which in fact may be for the good of another. Yet this is more or less an enticement, and gradually the decarnate Ego will persuade his medium that the subsequent things he does are also for the good of another while all along these acts are getting more negative. Gradually the incarnate witch may be driven insane.

Are People in Stelle Under the Control of the Brotherhoods?

Question:   As I listen to you talk of witchcraft, I wonder if a comparison can be made between those who practice white or black magic and, say, those people who join Stelle being under the control of the Brotherhoods?

Answer:    First of all, The Stelle Group keeps everything on a conscious level. There are no group meditations or practices that are even slightly occult. All is kept on a purely intellectual level. The reason we stress the intellect so much is because the human Ego is Mind, It is a package of Mind power and its most potent tool is mentation; so that is what we want to deal with: logic, reason, and presenting the facts so that people can deal with them. We expect that if anyone feels that they are being controlled in any way that they will have sense enough to leave The Stelle Group. None of our members are subject to any invisible, controlling spirit. We do believe in invisible Spirits like God and Christ, but we assume that They will not control us. If they wanted to control us, They would have made us puppets instead of giving us free will.

Where Will the Workers Live While They Build Philadelphia?

Question:   Where will people live who are building Philadelphia?

Answer:    They will live there. When they have essentially built the major portion of it, those who are First Degree or higher will stay there and those who are not will come back to Stelle.