Astrology, 186:
- The Sun
Sign - In this case Sagittarius conditions circumstances, indicating
inheritance and forcing the environment to be declarative in connection
with the subject.
- The
Rising Sign - The ascendant can be one of the other eleven signs.
- The
Mutable Cross - The four energies which meet "at the midway
point" and have a united and definite effect upon the subject. The same
statement applies to the other two Crosses.
- The
Orthodox Planets - These condition the personality. In this case we have
Mercury and Jupiter. The twelve houses governed by the planets are
likewise of prime importance from the angle of the transmitted energy.
- The
Esoteric Planets - These bring in renewed or increased planetary energy
and ray energy in a more dynamic manner. In the case of Sagittarius these
energies are Venus, the Moon, the Earth and Pluto.
- The
Planetary Ruler of a Hierarchy - In this particular case, this planet is
Mars, ruling the sixth Creative Hierarchy, the lunar Lords (the elementals
of the threefold personality) who have to be brought under the control of
the solar Lord.
Astrology, 189:
Both the Earth and Saturn (one a non-sacred and one a sacred planet) are
exponents or expressions of the third Ray of Active Intelligence, and this ray
relationship serves to bring the influences of Capricorn into relationship with
Sagittarius, thus providing a field of energy wherein the one-pointed disciple
can finally become the initiate. This is the set goal of the subject born in
Sagittarius - whether it is the set goal of initiation into some form of
sensuous experience or of spiritual undertaking and consciousness. The result
of all experience in any sign of the zodiac should definitely work out as an
expansion of consciousness and, no matter what form this experience may take,
it consummates in an initiation of some kind or another. Students would do well
to regard initiation as a determining process in life, and should endeavor that
every life experience or cycle of life experiences should work out as an
initiation into a wider field of awareness, of expression and of resultant
contact.
There is little more that I need say and little else upon which I need
at this stage of study to comment. The man who is nearing the path of
discipleship or who is already a disciple - pledged or under observation - will
profit much from a deep and systematic study of this sign. I would suggest
that the student bear in mind the position of this sign. Scorpio stands midway between two signs of balance or of
equilibrium - Sagittarius and Libra. Libra marks an interlude or a notable
point of balance before the strenuous testing and trial of Scorpio. Sagittarius
marks another point of balance which follows after that testing, for the [190]
Archer has to acquire and hold a steady eye, hand and stance prior to firing
the arrow which, when rightly directed and correctly followed, will carry him
through the portal of initiation.
Astrology, 225:
Extremes ever meet in the disciple who
stands at this midway point or at the
center of the Fixed Cross in Scorpio.
The spiritual imagination, which is the factor of greatest service to man,
begins to take the place of the ancient glamor by means of which we have
fabricated the untrue world in which we appear to live and move and have our
being. The self-indulgence which was initiated in Taurus gives way in Scorpio
to the selfless attitude of the disciple; ambition gives place to the executive
activity of the soul, whilst attachment to personality desires, likes and
dislikes is transmuted into the tenacity of soul purpose. The hidden powers of
the soul nature - secret and misused because misunderstood and misapplied and,
therefore, misdirected - are [226] superseded by the mysteries of initiation,
and the practical understanding of the energies thereby conferred upon the
recipient. Such are some of the great transformations which take place in the
life of the disciple who submits intelligently to the tests and
difficulties in Scorpio.
Astrology, 230:
It can, therefore, be regarded as the
"interlude between two activities," which is the explanation given to
that stage in meditation which we call contemplation. In the five stages of
meditation (as usually taught) you have the following: Concentration, meditation, contemplation, illumination and inspiration.
These five stages are paralleled in the five strictly human signs of the
zodiac:
- Leo - Concentration
- Soul life focused in form. Individualization. Self-consciousness.
Undeveloped and average man. Human experience.
- Virgo - Meditation -
Soul life, as sensed in man, the gestation period. The stage of the hidden
Christ. Intelligent man. Personality, as hiding the Christ life.
- Libra -
Contemplation - Life of soul and form is balanced. Neither dominates.
Equilibrium. An interlude wherein the soul organizes itself for battle and
the personality waits. This is the probationary path. Duality known.
- Scorpio -
Illumination - The soul triumphs. Experience in Taurus consummated. Astral
glamor dissipated. [229] Soul light pours in. The Path of Discipleship.
The Disciple.
- Sagittarius -
Inspiration - Preparation for initiation. Soul inspires personality life.
Soul expresses itself through personality. The Initiate.
I would here remind you that, though initiation
is taken in Capricorn, the man is an initiate before he is initiated. This is
the true secret of initiation.
You have, therefore, the activity wherein the
personality grows and develops, and yet at the same time it veils and hides the
hidden "man of the heart," which is the Christ, within each human
form. You have then the interlude wherein the point of balance is reached
between these two and neither is dominant. The "scales tip back and
forth" in either direction or - as it is sometimes expressed - man swings
between the pairs of opposites. Hence the importance of this sign in the life
expression of the man and hence also its peculiar difficulty; it provides the
curious see-saw experience which proves so distressingly bewildering first to
the man who seeks to be entirely human but finds within himself impediments and
urges which drive him on to something which is higher than the human and,
secondly, to the aspirant or the disciple. His focus of interest and his aim is
soul life, yet he finds within himself that which seeks ever to draw him back
to the old ways, the old habits and the old desires.
This sign is sometimes called "the place of judgment" for it
is here that the decision is made and the die is cast which separate the
"sheep from the goats" or those constellations ruled by Aries (the
Ram or Lamb) and those ruled by Capricorn, the Goat. It really marks the
distinction between the ordinary wheel of life and the reversed [230] wheel. In the days
before Leo-Virgo were divided into two signs, Libra was literally the midway point. The situation was then as
follows:
Aries - Taurus - Gemini - Cancer -
Leo-Virgo
LIBRA
Scorpio - Sagittarius - Capricorn - Aquarius - Pisces.
and in this round of the zodiac (as far as
humanity is concerned) you have depicted the entire history of the race. This
involves its mental beginnings in Aries (the will to manifest) and the
start of the outgoing life; you have its directed desire in Taurus, producing
manifestation; the emerges its dual consciousness in Gemini or the
soul-body realization; the processes of physical incarnation go forward in Cancer,
followed by the dual development of the soul-body, or the subjective and
objective consciousness, and the God-man in Leo-Virgo. Next comes Libra,
wherein the point of balance is eventually reached between spiritual man
and personal man and the stage is laid for the final fivefold process which is,
in reality, the subjective correspondence to the outer externalization upon the
Path of Outgoing and which is carried forward upon the Path of Ingoing, or the
Path of Return. Then takes place the reversal of the wheel and the beginning of
the new orientation and of discipleship in Scorpio, the directed, controlled life of the disciple
in Sagittarius, initiation in Capricorn, followed by service in Aquarius
and the work of a world savior in Pisces and final liberation.
Astrology, 253:
In all the great world religions, the Virgin Mother appears and this a
study of any book upon comparative religion would prove. I cannot trace for you
at length this universal recognition of the task of Virgo; it is needless for
me to do so as it has been adequately done by many research scholars. I would,
however, point out that four of the names whereby the Virgin is called are
familiar to all of us, and tell us much as a whole concerning the form nature
of which the Virgin is the symbol. The word
Virgo itself is a descendant of and a corruption of an ancient
Atlantean root name which was applied to the mother principle in those far off
times. This Virgin was the founder of the matriarchate which then dominated
civilization and to which various myths and legends bear evidence and which
have come down to us concerning Lilith, the last of the Virgin Goddesses of
Atlantean times; the same thought is also to be found in the traditionally
accounts of the ancient [253] Amazons, whose queen Hercules defeated, wresting
from her what he sought. This is an allegory, teaching the emergence of the
spiritual man from the control of matter. Three of these goddesses are Eve,
Isis, and Mary. They are of peculiar and significant importance
where our civilization is concerned for they embody in themselves the symbology
of the entire form nature, which, when integrated and functioning as a whole
person, we call the personality. This personality is (as far as humanity is
concerned) the developed and qualified expression of the third aspect of
divinity, that of God the Holy Spirit, the active intelligent and nurturing
principle of the universe. This aspect we shall study in Leo and see there the
unfoldment of that self-conscious entity and personality which in Virgo becomes
the mother of the Christ child. Eve is the symbol of the mental nature,
and of the mind of man attracted by the lure of knowledge to be gained through
the experience of incarnation. Eve, therefore, took the apple of knowledge from
the serpent of matter and started the long human undertaking of experiment,
experience and expression which was initiated - from the mental angle - in our
Aryan times.
Virgo is, therefore, the opposite pole of spirit and stands for the
relation of these two after they have been brought together originally in Aries
and have produced a recognized duality in Gemini.
Astrology, 311:
Cancer, the Crab
This sign is not an easy one for the average
student to understand for it is the polar opposite - psychologically speaking -
of the state of group consciousness towards which humanity is, at this time,
tending. It is difficult for the casual student to distinguish accurately
between mass consciousness and group consciousness. Human beings stand today
at a midway point, generally speaking,
between these two states of mind, though perhaps it might be more correct to
say that a fairly large minority are becoming group conscious, whilst the
majority are emerging out of the mass conscious stage and becoming
self-conscious individuals. [312] This accounts for much
of the present world difficulty and for the clash of idealisms. The two groups
bring a different approach to the world problems as we now find them. We have,
therefore, three signs which (from the angle of consciousness) are closely
connected yet are widely separate and different in effect.
- Cancer -
mass consciousness - instinctual awareness.
- Leo -
self consciousness - intelligent awareness.
- Aquarius
- group consciousness - intuitional awareness.
With much of this we have already dealt and there
is no need for repetition as we study the polar opposites of the signs already
considered. I do not intend to refer unduly and in detail to points with which
you are already familiar, save to bring to your attention the beautiful and
synthetic unfolding of the divine Plan.
This sign is, as you already know, one of the two
gates of the zodiac because through it souls pass into outer manifestation and
to the appropriation of form, and subsequent identification with it for many
long cycles. It is "the gate which stands wide open, broad and easy to
pass through and yet it leads unto the place of death and to that long
imprisonment which precedes the final revolt." It is allied with material
nature, and with the mother of forms, just as the other gate, Capricorn, is allied
with spirit, the father of all that IS.
Astrology, 548:
2. Three Major Planetary Influences Today
Within the solar system itself, three of the
sacred planets are peculiarly active. They are:
1. Uranus. This planet is the exoteric
ruler of Aquarius; it is also the esoteric ruler of Libra and the hierarchical
ruler of Aries. It is peculiarly active at this time and brings in the energy
of the seventh ray. The circulating of its energies can be portrayed by the
following symbol or diagram:
This triple inflow of seventh ray energy, colored
by the force of three great constellations, is potent to effect major changes
in our little planet. It is interesting to realize that Aries, the Inaugurator,
is rendered effective on the Earth through the organizing potency of Uranus.
Aries is the source, the beginning and the initiator of the New Age and its
coming civilizations, of the appearance of the
Astrology, 564:
Until the significance of the
three Crosses is understood more fully and synthetically by astrologers and
astrological investigators, it is almost impossible to find the needed words
which will convey clearly the intended meaning. There has been no real attempt
as yet on the part of astrologers (even the most advanced) to arrive at a
general or synthetic understanding of the effect of the Crosses [564] upon
humanity. All that has as yet been conveyed is the effect of one arm of the Cross
upon the subject born in a particular sign. But
there is a fusion
of energies to be noted
when, esoterically speaking, man "stands at the midway point where the four energies meet." The man whose Sun sign is in Gemini, for instance, is
subjected to the forces flowing through the Cross as whole, unless he is a very
low grade human being; he will be sensitive to the influences of the other
three signs when they sweep into power as the lesser zodiac of the year plays
its part. Later, when the practical value of esoteric astrology is better
understood, men will avail themselves of the three energies of the three other
signs of the Cross in which the Sun sign finds a place. This is a future
development of the science of esoteric astrology. Putting it into the simplest
terms and thereby necessarily limiting significances, a man will endeavor, when
in Sagittarius, to practice one-pointedness along some one line; when in Virgo,
he will know that opportunity to bring the form more under the influence of the
hidden Christ is possible and that, in Pisces, sensitivity to the higher
impression is his right and privilege. All these four possibilities, in regard
to the advanced initiate are beautifully demonstrated for us in the life of
Jesus, the Master on the sixth ray.
Astrology, 581:
This Shamballa force is nevertheless available for right usage but the
power to express it lies in its understanding (as far as may be possible at this midway point in human evolution)
and its group use. It is a unifying, synthetic force, but can be used as
a regimenting, standardizing force. May I repeat those two key words to the use
of the Shamballa energy: Group Use and Understanding.
Mankind has had much difficulty in comprehending the significance of
Love. If that is so, their problem in relation to the Will will naturally be
still more difficult. For the vast majority of men, true love is still only a
theory. Love (as we usually interpret it) works out as kindness but it is
kindness to the form side of life, to the personalities of those around us, and
fulfils itself usually in a desire to carry [582] out our obligations and not
to obstruct in any way those activities and relationships which tend to the
well-being of our fellowmen. It expresses itself in a desire to end abuses and to
bring about happier, material, world conditions; it shows itself in mother
love, in love among friends, but seldom as yet as love among groups and
nations. It is the theme of the Christian teaching, just as Will, divinely
expressed, will be the theme of the coming world religion and has been the
impulse lying behind much of the good work done in the fields of philanthropy
and human welfare, but, factually, love has never yet been expressed - except
by the Christ.
Autobiography, 273:
2. There are also a certain number
of esoteric schools, started by disciples, who are learning, through
their attempt to aid their group, how to teach and serve. These schools are few
in number, compared to those in the first group, and are much smaller
numerically, because the leader adheres more closely to the occult rules and
endeavors to conform to the spiritual requirements. He tries to teach humbly
and with no claim-making; he is aware that he is only himself slowly arriving
at soul knowledge, and that his contact with the Master is still very
infrequent. He is usually academic and theological in his presentation of truth
but not often personally authoritative. His influence and radiation is not yet
very powerful but he is carefully watched by the Master because potentially he
is an asset and can be trusted to learn - usually by his mistakes. He reaches a
much smaller public than the first, noisy group but he gives a sounder training
and grounds beginners in the fundamentals of the Ageless Wisdom. His work comes midway
between the groups now forming and the old groups.
Thus in His first three Words from
the Cross He refers to the first three initiations, and recalls to our minds
the synthesis revealed in Himself and the stages which we must cover if we are
to follow in His steps. It is possible also that the thought was in the
consciousness of the crucified Savior that matter itself, being divine, was
capable of infinite suffering; and in these words there was wrung from Him the
recognition that though God suffers in the Person of His Son, He also suffers
with similar acute agony in the person of that Son's mother, the material form
which has given Him birth. Christ stands midway between the two - the mother and the
Father. Therein is His problem, and therein is [219] found the problem of every
human being. Christ draws the two together - the matter aspect and the spirit
aspect, and the union of these two produces the son. This is humanity's problem
and humanity's opportunity.
Discipleship1, 89:
Discipleship
in the New Age I - Talks to Disciples - Part IX
PART IX
The secret of all true meditation work in its
earlier stages is the power to visualize. This is the first stage to be
mastered. Disciples should lay the emphasis upon this process; in it lies
eventually the ability to use the creative powers of the imagination, plus
mental energy, as a measure to further the ends of the Hierarchy and to carry
out the Divine Plan. All the new processes in meditation techniques (for which
the New Age may be responsible) must and will embody visualization as a primary
step for the following reasons:
1.
Visualization is the
initial step in the demonstration of the occult law that "energy follows
thought." This, of course, everyone interested in occult study recognizes
theoretically. One of the tasks confronting disciples is to achieve factual
knowledge of this. Pictorial visualization (which is a definite feature of the
work in many esoteric schools) is simply an exercise to bring about the power
to visualize. In the work of those disciples who are being trained for
initiation, this external aspect of visualization must give place to an
interior process which is the first step towards the direction of energy. The
visualizing of pictures is intended to focus the aspirant within the head at a
point midway between
the pituitary body and
the pineal gland. In that area, he draws pictures and paints
scenes and thus acquires facility to see - in large and in detail - that which
he desires and for which he intends to work. The visualizing of what might be
called "directed process" goes on in a more focused manner and in the
area directly around the pineal gland. The pineal [90] gland then becomes the
center of a magnetic field which is set in motion - in the first place - by the
power of visualization. At that point, energy is gathered by the disciple and
then directed with intention to one or other of the centers. This focused
thought produces inevitable effects within the etheric body and thus two
aspects of the creative imagination are brought into play.
Discipleship1, 92:
Initiation might be defined at
this point as the moment of crisis wherein the consciousness hovers on the very
borderline [92] of revelation. The demands of the soul and the suggestions of
the Master might be regarded as in conflict with the demands of time and space,
focused in the personality or the lower man. You will have, therefore, in this
situation a tremendous pull between the pairs of opposites; the field of tension or the focus of the effort is to
be found in the disciple "standing at the midway
point." Will he respond and
react consciously to the higher pull and pass on to new and higher areas of
spiritual experience? Or will he fall back into the glamor of time and space
and into the thralldom of the personal life? Will he stand in a static
quiescent condition in which neither the higher trend nor the lower pull will
affect him? One or other of these three conditions must distinguish him and
must succeed upon an earlier and vacillating experience wherein the disciple
vibrates between the higher and the lower decisions. It is at this process, the
Master presides. He is able to do nothing because it is the disciple's
own problem. He can only endeavor to enhance the desire of the soul by the
power of his directed thought. The personality can also do nothing, for at this
point both the physical body and the astral vehicle are simply automatons,
waiting responsively for the decision of the disciple, functioning in his
mental body. Only the disciple can act upon the mental level of consciousness
at this point of endeavor. Once he does so, the die is cast. He either moves
forward towards the door of light where the Master takes his hand and the Angel
of the Presence becomes potent and active in a way which I may not describe to
you, or he drops back temporarily into the life condition of the lower
man; glamor and maya settle down anew upon him and the Dweller on the
Threshold inserts himself between the disciple and the light from the open door
and renews activity. The disciple either awakens suddenly to a wider grasp of
reality and a deeper understanding of the Plan and his part in it, or the
"veils of earth" close over his head; the vision fades and he reverts
into the life of an ordinary human being, probably for the period of the
incarnation wherein the opportunity was offered to him. Should he, however, go
forward through that door, then (according to the initiation which becomes
possible) will be the revelation and its attendant consequences. The revelation
will not the [93] revelation
of possibilities. It is a factual experience, resulting in the evocation of new
powers and capacities and the recognition of new modes and fields of service.
These powers are conditioned by past developments and the presence of these capacities,
plus a freedom of movement "within the bounds of the Hierarchy" which
lie far beyond anything which he may have dreamed, become his. New hierarchical
contacts are now possible to him; new responsibility is laid upon his shoulders
and new "fields of potency" become available for his use in world
service.
Discipleship1, 216:
From the angle of the mind, this soul activity and change of focus will
force your idealistic tendencies to find expression in teaching. Idealism
is the major gift of the sixth ray force. Teaching is an expression of second
ray energy. This combination of idealism and of teaching is for you the way.
From the angle of the emotional body, this transition marks a vital
change from personal to impersonal work. This capacity to be impersonal has
been greatly developed in you by your first ray lower nature which renders you
easily impersonal - if you so choose. But for you the lesson of all disciples
must be learned which is to be impersonally personal. That is not easy of
attainment. An attached detachment is for you the goal. It is in order to aid
you in learning this lesson that you have been placed in my group of disciples,
which can (for the time at least) provide the "playground" for your
soul. To love your co-disciples, impersonally to identify yourself with the
subjective life of the group and to work in rhythm with them is somewhat
difficult for you, but most valuable. I ask you to attempt it, my brother, and
to pursue this objective in spite of all personality objections. In a few
years' time, you will better understand my plans for you.
From the angle of the etheric body, this soul transition or refocusing
of energies from the soul plane will produce the transfer of energies, gathered up and
poured through the central clearing-house of the solar plexus center - through
that midway station between the higher and the lower centers - to
the head and heart. This will be carried forward as
you seek to live more consciously in the soul realm and to be more
definitely oriented - as a soul - to the world. This will in no way change your
outer activities but will surely produce a deepened relation to your
fellowmen. Increasingly will you see them in us and us [217] in them. Ponder on
these ideas for I seek to see you working with even more effectiveness and liberation.
Discipleship1, 529:
There are brackets in the open
sides of the pagoda, containing sweet-smelling flowers, mignonette and
heliotrope. There is a circular seat around the wall, and rugs of some eastern
grass on the floor. On either side of the entrance there are panels with
shelves, containing scrolls and occult manuscripts for reference. Just outside
are four beautiful spruce trees, two [529] on each side of the doorway,
and firs and pines continue to the back of the pagoda, and go down the entire
length of the long south walk, forming a plantation about twenty-five feet
wide, including native mountain trees, and our dogwood and small oaks. There is
a path through this plantation, which is full of ferns, rocks and wood flowers.
Between two rocks is a spring. It is a place of repose and peace for those who
love the woods. Although one cannot see the lawn, one can come out on it when
one wishes, over the pine-needles and moss, leaving behind the cool shade, and
the birds and shy, small creatures - who sometimes follow - and then one sees, a few feet away, midway
between the woods and the stream, a long flower border set right in the lawn,
and containing every flower one ever loved! They are of every color and every fragrance, except
that red is not predominant, because of the red peonies and rose bushes across
the stream.
Discipleship2, 45:
In my previous instruction I
stressed three points to which I would like again to refer in the light of the
emerging opportunity. My task is not to change you or to give you orders and
commands. I have only one task, and that is to find and test out those who can
serve the race under inspiration from the Ashrams of the Masters. I referred at
that time to the loneliness which is one of the first things that
indicates to a disciple that he is being prepared for initiation. It will be
apparent, therefore, that the loneliness to which I refer is not that which is
incident to those weaknesses of character which repel one's fellowmen, to an
aloof or disagreeable nature, or to any form of self-interest which is so
emphasized that it antagonizes other people. There is much loneliness in a
disciple's life which is entirely his own fault and which is subject to cure if
he employs the right measure of self-discipline. With these he must deal
himself, for they concern the personality, and with your personalities I have
no affair. I refer to the loneliness which comes
when the accepting disciple becomes the pledged disciple and steps out of a
life of physical plane concentration, and of identification with the forms of
existence in the three worlds, and finds himself in the midway place, between the world of outer affairs and the inner
world of meaning. His first reaction
then is that he is alone; he has broken with the past; he is hopeful but not
sure of the future; the tangible world to which he is accustomed must, he
knows, be superseded by the intangible world of values, involving a new sense
of proportion, a new range of values and new responsibilities. This world he
believes [46] exists, and he steps forward bravely and theoretically, but it
remains for a while wholly intangible; he finds few who think and feel as he
does and the mechanism of sure contact only exists within him in embryo. He is
breaking loose from the mass consciousness with which he has been merged
hitherto, but has not yet found his group, into which he will eventually be
consciously absorbed. Therefore, he is lonely and feels deserted and bereft.
Some of you feel this loneliness; few of you have, for instance, reached the
point where you feel yourselves to be a definite, integral part of the group;
only two or three of you realize - briefly and fleetingly at times - the close
link with the Ashram; your attitude is largely one of hope, coupled with the
idea that it is your physical limitations which prevent your realizing all that
truly is, in connection with
your inner affiliations. But, my brothers, such a sense of loneliness is only
another form of self-consciousness, of undue self-interest, and (as you make
progress upon the Path) you will find it disappearing. If you therefore feel
lonely, you must learn to look upon it as a glamor or illusion and as a
limitation which must be overcome. You must begin to act as if it were not. If
only more disciples would learn the value of acting "as if." There is no time for any
of you to be lonely these days, for there is no time for you to think about
yourselves.
Discipleship2, 127:
In connection with your Full Moon work, I seek to
change the process which has been followed by you for so long - the process of
entering my study and there contacting me. I will give you another symbolic
process which will follow five stages: [127]
- At the
time of the Full Moon (covering five days) picture to yourselves an ocean
of blue and upon the horizon can be seen slowly rising a blazing sun.
- Picture
yourself as throwing yourself into the ocean, free of all encumbrances,
worries, anxieties and cares, and as swimming towards
a rowboat, lying midway between you
and the rising Sun. As you swim, you become aware of
your group brothers, also swimming in the same direction. You recognize,
know and love each other.
- Then
visualize yourself as climbing into the boat. When all of the group are
in, then see yourselves as each grasping an oar, and together,
rhythmically and steadily, rowing towards the rising Sun. There is harmony
of stroke, of purpose and of direction.
- Then see
- between you and the rising Sun - a figure moving toward you. It will be
myself (the Master D.K.), coming from the light, in your direction. In the
clear pathway of the light you can see me distinctly. You see me together.
- Then
say, inaudibly, yet as a group:
"Into the light we move, beckoned thereto by
thee. Out of the dark we come, driven thereto by the soul of all. Up from the
earth we spring and into the ocean of light we plunge. Together we come.
Together we move, guided and led by the soul we serve and by thee, the Master
we know. The Master within and the Master without are One. That One are
we. The One is all - my soul, thy soul, the Master and the soul of all."
Discipleship2, 211:
Discipleship in the New Age II - Teachings on
Meditation - Part XIII
5. The Hierarchy of Masters, the
Masters of the Wisdom and the Lords of Compassion.
This group, which stands midway between
Shamballa and Humanity, is subject to impression from Shamballa, via the
Nirmanakayas, and its Members are themselves the agents for the impression of
Humanity. They embody and
express the love aspect of the divine purpose; they wield, direct and control
the Law of Attraction - the motivating energy which swings the Law of Evolution
into activity in the three worlds. Much is known by you anent this group of
divine and spiritual Workers, and I will not enlarge upon it here. Basically, they
work through directed meditation and each Ashram is a center of meditation to
which every disciple, initiate and Master contributes. I would have you bear
this in mind and endeavor to realize, as disciples, that your meditation - both
individual and group meditation - if it is of an adequate nature and quality -
will be absorbed into and become part of the ashramic meditation. The theme of
the hierarchical meditation is the Plan, as it embodies the divine Purpose.
Discipleship2, 251:
Now for the formula itself:
"A line of fire between two blazing points. A stream of water blue
- again a line - emerging from the earth - and ending in the ocean. A tree with
root above and flowers below. [251]
"Out
of the fire, and always at the midway
point, appears the eye of God (Shiva). Upon the stream, between the two
extremes, there floats the eye of vision - a thread of light unites the two.
"Deep in the tree, between the root and flowers, the eye again is
seen. The eye that knows, the eye that sees, the directing eye - one made of
fire, one fluid as the sea, and two which look from here to there. Fire, water
and the earth - all need the vital air. The air is life. The air is God."
Discipleship2, 254:
I would like here, my brother, to list for you
the most important of the statements made by me in the previous instruction,
indicating those which embody important hints and showing you, this one time,
with what care I prepare that which I seek to impart and how, therefore, I
expect from you a careful study of my words. Here are these key thoughts:
- Only that which you
know for yourself and consciously experience is of importance. This refers especially to
the following:
- Your perception of
the vision.
- Your contact with
me, your Master.
- Your recognition of
the initiatory process.
I told you, therefore, that you must have (for
the goal) the demonstrating of the initiate-consciousness through both mind and
brain and consequently upon the physical plane. [254]
- Initiation
is, as far as you are at present concerned, a "moment of crisis
wherein the consciousness hovers upon the border line of revelation."
This involves consequently:
- A tremendous pull
between the pairs of opposites.
- The existence, as a
result, of a field of tension.
- The effort to stand
firm at the midway point.
I would remind you that this does not refer to
the man upon the path of life, pulled as he is between the pairs of opposites
upon the plane of desire, but to the soul standing at the midway point between the monad and the
personality and preparing to make the Great Renunciation - a
renunciation which the personality makes possible - and to disappear, leaving
the two (personality and monad) perfectly at-one. It is the man, as the soul,
in full waking consciousness who takes initiation. Hence the emphasis upon soul
contact when a man is upon the Probationary Path and passing through the early
stages of discipleship. This leads, later, to the emphasis placed upon the need
for two major activities - before the man can take the higher initiations:
- Upon alignment.
- Upon the scientific
building of the antahkarana.
- The revelation,
given to the initiate, is not a vision of possibilities, but a factual
experience, leading to:
- The evocation of
new powers.
- The recognition of
new modes and fields of service.
- Freedom of movement
within the bounds of the Hierarchy.
- New hierarchical
contacts and new responsibilities which face the initiate.
He, therefore, realizes what
- Four lines of
teaching were emphasized in past centuries and up until the year 1875:
- Hints as to the
changing of personality character as preparatory to initiation.
- Teaching as to the
oneness of Deity and of the universal order.
- Instruction as to
the creative process.
- Laya yoga or the
yoga of energy, working through force centers.
Discipleship2, 262:
The Formulas
Now that you have, presumably, brooded for some
months on my instructions on the Formulas, I will seek to impart to you some of
the deeper implications.
Formula One.
"A line of fire between two
blazing points. A stream of water blue, again a line, emerging from the
earth and ending in the ocean. A tree with root above and flowers below.
"Out of the fire and always at the midway
point appears the eye of God (Shiva). Upon the stream, between the two
extremes, there floats the eye of vision; a thread of light unites the two.
"Deep in the tree, between the root and
flowers, the eye again is seen. The eye that knows, the eye that sees, the
directing eye - one made of fire, one fluid as the sea, and two which look from
here to there. Fire, water and the earth - all need the vital air. The air is
life. The air is God."
Discipleship2, 337:
Before the end of this century,
thousands will stand before the Initiator and take initiation in group form;
they will pass through the door of initiation together and together take
their vows. This statement applies to the second and the third initiations. The
higher initiations will still be taken individually or in groups of three, but
not more. When the Masters take the sixth
initiation, they perforce take it alone at the "midway point" between Shamballa and the Hierarchy,
apparently deserted by both attentive groups. There, in complete silence and in a condition of
"isolated unity," they will make their great decision. Then and only
then will they become aware of the vast attentive spiritual audience which has
awaited their will.
Discipleship2, 478:
Stage I. The Diadem.
- The
establishing of relation between:
- The heart center
and the head center.
- The heart center in
the head and the ajna center.
Thus a lesser triangle of energy or of "lighted, living relation" is established: heart, head and ajna centers. - The waiting,
dedicated, devoted personality and the soul.
Thus a greater triangle is established: soul, head and heart.
Visualize these triangles as relating and focusing your consciousness as far as may be in the head, midway between the soul and the heart center up the spine - and therefore using as that midway point the heart center in the head. Avoid concentrating upon location. Just imagine the point of attainment as that of the Diadem. - Then
reflect quietly upon the directive power of the soul:
- Working within the
symbolic "diadem of attainment."
- Using the impelling
"eye of the soul" as a directing agent, i.e., the ajna center,
or the center between the eyebrows. [479]
- Then say the
following words with full intent: "May that soul of mine whose
nature is love and wisdom direct events, impel to action, and guide my
every word and deed."
Discipleship2, 522:
The call of Shamballa, the call of my Ashram, and the call of your own
exoteric group (mark those words, my brother) have sounded forth in your ears
and you have been bewildered; you have forgotten perhaps that if you stand at the midway point (which is my Ashram) you have
immediate access to both "points of call."
I have here given ou an important hint and I want you to endeavor to grasp its
significance.
You have been drastically tested in your physical vehicle, and that is
hard, my brother, because it is difficult to preserve one's equanimity and
one's balance under those circumstances. You need, however, to understand
better than you do the "distortions" for which physical sickness is
responsible, and thus learn more wisely to discount yourself and to pay less
attention to the glamorous of the lower self. This would simplify your life,
and I told you earlier that simplification was a needed attribute for you.
You have also been sorely tested in the emotional nature; surely, my beloved
brother, you know by this time that when a definite transition is being made by
the soul - as is the case where you are concerned - from one ray to another,
that abnormal testing is automatically inevitable? This will be particularly
the case when a disciple is moving on to the second ray, owing, to its close
relationship with the emotional-intuitive nature, and when also you have - as
you know - three first ray controls in your personality equipment.
This necessarily engenders a serious problem. You have also been cruelly
tested in your mental nature by the war and through your intense grasp of human
pain, as well as by your understanding of psychological reactions. These have
served to enhance your problem, and your entire emotional and mental reaction
to war and its happenings has well-nigh crippled your essential (not your
apparent) usefulness. You [523] have, within yourself, questioned the
foundations of all things, and life has been most complicated for you -
physically, emotionally and mentally. Owing to the dominance of the first ray
in your equipment, you have successfully withdrawn yourself from your group
brothers; you have considered that they had naught to give you, and you
realized that - feeling this way - you had naught for them. Detachment is the
path of least resistance for a first ray nature, and (if you will permit me to
say so and will accept this statement) indicates definitely the dominance at
this time of personality reactions. Your second ray soul does not sanction
detachment, and hence the conflict being waged within your consciousness.
Yet, my brother and my comrade, the deep and lasting love of two of your
group brothers has steadily protected you during this time of trial and of
difficulty, as has the love of A.A.B. She asks me not to tell you this, indeed
she begs me not to do so, for she is sensitive interiorly to all that affects
you. It is, however, right that you should know.
So, brother of mine, we come back to the question of the reason for all
this harshness in life and to the initiation for which you are preparing. In
connection with this I would say: Get back to the "midway
point" and to the protecting love of the Ashram.
Then the strength of Shamballa to which you so easily respond can safely pour
in; then, too, will come the wisdom which will enable you to render better
service to the world. See therefore how simple is the message which I have for
you at this time, and remember that I told you last year that simplicity held
for you the key to all success. You are not truly successful just at present.
Simplicity does not rule.
Discipleship2, 610:
At this Middle Point there is a coming and a going; there is relation
and contact; there is increased opportunity and inspiration; there are focal
points of transmutation, of transition and of transformation. It is towards
this area of merging [610] and of fusion that you are now asked to move.
Reflect upon this and get the deep spiritual implications which this picture of
relationship between the Ashrams can convey to you. By your effort, your
determination and your understanding you can form part of the group which
stands in this "Middle Chamber" (to use Masonic terminology) and can
work from this point in the ashramic life. This important little diagram can be
applied also to the relation between the Hierarchy and Humanity - the New Group
of World Servers occupying this lower midway
point.
It will be obvious to you also how the symbolism of an eclipse will come
into your mind, for when the merging is complete, humanity and the Hierarchy
will be one; there will be no outer or inner and no middle chamber, but only
complete unity. Later in our planetary history, this design will also depict
the relation of Shamballa to the Hierarchy. It can also be applied most
usefully to the relationship between soul and personality, wherein the
"encroaching light of the soul obliterates the dim light of the
personality, and within that lighted area the disciple learns to stand."
Discipleship2, 615:
It is not my habit to touch upon
the relations on the physical plane of personalities; however, this attitude of
yours has created an ashramic situation, because of your relation in the past
to the Ashram of K.H. and to the work which it had been planned that you should do as liaison officer standing at the midway point. A.A.B. has a definite position in K.H.'s Ashram and
would normally be the one to act in collaboration with you. The situation is,
therefore, changed, and becomes something to be adjusted. It has to be adjusted
from your side, and herein lies the difficulty.
This is enough on this distressing subject. It relates at present only
to this life, but it has its roots in the past, and - unless you clear it up - will have to be dealt
with again by you in a coming incarnation. Again I reiterate, this is largely
due to your failure to refine the physical body.
You are an earnest disciple, my brother; you are oriented to and serve
the Hierarchy; you are dedicated and have much, very much, to give. Fit
yourself, therefore, for a richer giving. Drop self-pity and the sense of
magnanimous superiority you have lately been cultivating, and just (how can I
put it to you in such a way that I can help?) - just be sorry, truly sorry, for
the trouble you have caused.
I am giving you no meditation outline. What you need at this time is a
period of quiet reflection. I asked K.H. if he had any word for you, as he had
sensed the situation, though he has no time for the details. He replied: "Tell
R.S.U. to move to the periphery of your Ashram, away from the midway point, and there learn truly to love - and love the little ones." [616]
I can leave you with no better thought at this time, my beloved brother. I am
steadily standing by - as is A.A.B.
Externalisation, 333:
One of the difficulties which
comes to the server immersed in the thick of the undertaking is that of
preserving contact with the vision. I refer to the vision itself and not to its
materialization. Perhaps I can make my meaning clear if I point out that, just
as long as the contact is a vertical one,
the work is fairly simple, the next step is apparent and plain, the line of
activity to be followed is clear and the inspiration [333] is fresh and vital. But
the moment that the consciousness of the disciple becomes inclusive
horizontally (and that must take place), then the difficulty becomes
great, and the disciple begins to understand - for the first time - the true
significance of the words, "the Cross of the Savior." Yet if he can train himself to stand where the
four arms meet (I am here speaking symbolically) he will discover that he
stands in the place of power, and at the "midway
point." Then he can truly
begin (again speaking symbolically) to look off to the four corners of the
earth, both subjectively and objectively, and with reality; immediately the
strain is terrific.
Externalisation, 343:
This Will force is nevertheless
available for right usage, but the power to express it lies in its
understanding (as far as may be
possible at this midway point in human
evolution), and in its group use. It is a unifying, synthetic force, but can be used
as a regimenting, standardizing force. May [344] I repeat those two key words
to the use of this Shamballa energy: Group Use and Understanding.
Fire, 28:
Stanza X
The Fifth progresseth and from the remnants of
the Fourth multiplied and reproduced. The waters arose. All sank and was
submerged. The sacred remnant, in the place appointed, emerged at later date
from out the zone of safety.
The waters dissipated. The solid ground emerged
in certain destined places. The Fifth o'er-ran the Sacred Land, and in their
fivefold groups developed the lower Fifth.
They passed from stage to stage. The watching
Lords, recognizing the rupas formed, gave a sign to the circulating Fourth and
it speeded faster on its way. When the lesser Fifth had midway passed and all the lesser four were
peopling the land, the Lords of Dark Intent arose. They said:
"Not so shall go the force. The forms and rupas of the third and fourth,
within the corresponding Fifth, approach too close the archetype. The work is
far too good."
They constructed other forms. They called for
cosmic fire. The seven deep pits of hell belched forth the animating shades.
The incoming seventh reduced to order all the forms, - the white, the dark, the
red, and shaded brown.
The period of destruction extended far on either
hand. The work was sadly marred. The Chohans of the highest plane gazed in
silence on the work. The Asuras and the Chaitans, the Sons of Cosmic Evil, and
the Rishis of the darkest constellations, [29] gathered their lesser hosts, the
darkest spawn of hell. They darkened all the space.
Fire, 135:
I. Kundalini and the three
Triangles
The fire energizing the triangle in the head is the higher
correspondence to the triangle of prana, midway
in the body, and its lower reflection at the base of the spine. We have,
therefore, in the human unit three important triangles:
- In the head: The triangle of the
three major centers,
- The pineal gland,
- The pituitary body,
- The alta major center.
- In the body: The triangle of
prana,
- Between the shoulders,
- Above the diaphragm,
- The spleen.
- At the base of the
spine: The three lower centers,
- A point at the
bottom of the spinal column.
- and c. The two
major sex organs in the male and female. 62 [136]
60 "Kundalini, the serpent power or
mystic fire; it is called the serpentine or annular power on account of its
spiral-like working or progress in the body of the ascetic developing the power
in himself. It is an electric fiery occult, or fohatic power, the great
pristine force which underlies all organic and inorganic matter."
- H. P. Blavatsky.
61 "Kundalini is the
static form of the creative energy in bodies which are the source of all
energies including Prana...
"This word comes from the adjective
Kundalin, or "coiled." She is spoken of as "coiled" because
she is sleeping, lies coiled; and because the nature of her power is
spiraline...
"In other words, this Kundalini shakti is
that which, when it moves to manifest itself, appears as the Universe. To say
that it is "coiled" is to say that it is at rest - that is, in the form
of static potential energy...
"Kundalini shakti in individual bodies is
power at rest, or the static center round which every form of existence, as
moving power, revolves."
- The Serpent Power, by Arthur
Avalon.
62 It is not my intention to
lay any stress on the sex side of this subject, for these are organs with which
the occultist has nothing to do. I will not therefore enumerate them in detail.
I would only point out that in the transference of the fire at the base of the
spine and the turning of its attention to the two higher triangles comes the
redemption of man.
Fire, 155:
A
Treatise on Cosmic Fire - Section One - Division E - Motion on the Physical and
Astral Planes 4. Absorption, through that depression which is seen in all
whirling spheres of atomic matter at whichever surface in the sphere
corresponds to the point called in a planet the North Pole. Some idea of the
intention that I seek to convey may be grasped by a study of the atom as
portrayed in Babbitt's "Principles of Light and Color," and
later in Mrs. Besant's "Occult Chemistry." This depression is produced by radiations which proceed counter to the
rotations of the sphere and pass down from the north southwards to a midway point. From there
they tend to increase the latent heat, to produce added momentum and to give
specific quality according to the source from which the radiation comes. This
absorption of extra-spheroidal emanation is the secret of the dependence of one
sphere upon another, and has its correspondence in the cycling of a ray through
any plane sphere. Every atom, though termed spheroidal, is more accurately a
sphere slightly depressed at one location, [156] that location being the place
through which flows the force which animates the matter of the sphere. This is
true of all spheres, from the solar down to the atom of matter that we call the
cell in the body physical. Through the depression in the physical atom flows
the vitalizing force from without. Every atom is both positive and negative; it
is receptive or negative where the inflowing force is concerned, and positive
or radiatory where its own emanations are concerned, and in connection with its
effect upon its environment.
This can be predicated likewise of the entire
ring-pass-not of the solar system in relation to its cosmic environment. Force
flows into the solar system from three directions via three channels:
- The sun Sirius,
- The Pleiades,
- The Great Bear.
Fire, 178:
The third period, wherein the
monadic ray makes itself felt on the physical plane, is by far the shortest,
and covers the period in which the sixth triangle holds sway. It marks the
period of achievement, of liberation, and therefore, although it is the
shortest period when viewed from below upward, it is the period of comparative
permanence when viewed from the plane of the Monad. It covers the totality of
time remaining in the one hundred years of Brahma, or the remainder of the
process of manifestation.
When we study, therefore, the sets of triangles
earlier referred to and the periods of ray dominance, we will find much room
for thought. Let me here point out, however, that the six groups of triangles
are in all but five if we eliminate the pranic triangle which has to do with
matter itself and is not counted any more than the dense physical is counted a
principle. Therefore we have:
- Two triangles
brought to vivification by the personality ray.
- Two triangles
brought to vivification by the egoic ray.
- The synthesizing
triangle of the Monad.
We must, nevertheless, recollect that the
complexity is increased by the fact that the
personality triangles will be brought to full activity according to the ray of
the Monad or Spirit. Therefore, no hard or fast rule can be laid
down about development. The egoic triangles are dependent largely upon the
reflection in the personality of the spiritual life force. They are the midway point, just as the causal or egoic body
is the transmitting point (when sufficiently equipped and built) between the
higher and the lower.
Fire, 240:
This Entity, Whom we call the
solar Logos, is in no sense the same as the personal God of the Christian, who
is no more nor less than man himself, expanded into a being of awful power, and
subject to the virtues and vices of man himself. The solar Logos is more than
man, for He is the sumtotal of all the evolutions within the entire solar
system, including the human, which is an evolution standing at a middle point
in relation to the other evolutions. On one side of him are ranged hosts of
beings who are more than human, and who, in [240] past kalpas, reached and
passed the stage where man now is; on the other side are hosts of the subhuman
evolutions who in future kalpas will achieve the stage of humanity. Man stands midway
between the two, and is at the point of balance; herein lies his problem. He
does not partake wholly of the material side of evolution, nor is he wholly the
expression of the third Logos, the Brahma aspect of the Deity, Who is an
expression of pure energy or intelligence, motivating that tenuous something
which we call substance. He is
not wholly Spirit, the expression of the first Logos, the Mahadeva aspect,
which is an expression of pure will or necessitous desire, impelling to
manifestation. It is the fundamental motive itself or the great will to be. Man
is a product of the union of the two; he is the meeting place of matter or
active intelligent substance, and of Spirit or the basic will. He is the child
born of their marriage or at-one-ment. He assumes objectivity in order to
express that which is in each of the two opposites, plus the result of their
merging in himself.
Fire, 384:
It might here be stated in connection with the
planetary Logos of our scheme that:
- He is in physical
incarnation.
- He is midway through His career upon the cosmic
Path of Initiation, and consequently is to take the fourth Initiation in
this chain. Well may this globe, therefore, be
considered the globe of sorrow and of pain, for through it our planetary
Logos is undergoing that which the mystic calls "the
Crucifixion."
- The cells in His
body - those cells through which He feels, and senses, and experiences, -
are, in this world period, rent by pain and suffering, for His is the
consciousness at the center of the Body, and theirs is the capacity to
suffer, so that by means of them He may learn the meaning of systemic
dispassion, be dissociated from all forms and material substance, and upon
the cross of matter eventually find liberation and the freedom of the
Spirit.
Fire, 415:
In due course of time another merging in the
scheme will eventuate and then Uranus (the chain of that name in our scheme)
will flash into objectivity. Forget not that the schemes manifest as seven, as
ten, as three from the angle of the Eternal Now, or - from the point of view of
a Heavenly Man - the manifestation may be written as 
. In time and space the
order might be stated to be 7-3-10, and at certain stages 10-7-3. As [415] the
opposites merge the ten become the seven and the three, and it is during this
process that entire chains and globes, and eventually schemes, will apparently
vanish from objectivity, and drop out of sight. They will be simply absorbed.
During the twofold process of evolution, it might be numerically expressed as:
- During
involution the sequence is seen as three, then seven and finally ten.
- During
evolution the sequence is ten, then seven and finally three.
The involutionary process is over practically and the evolutionary is
approximately midway through. This will be
marked by the disappearance or absorption of certain chains as they find their
polar opposites, and a simultaneous appearance of the more subtle chains or
globes as the manasic principle enables man to see them. The moon chain is in
process of disappearance, and only a decaying body is left; the life of the
second and the first Logos has been withdrawn from it, and only the latent life
of matter itself remains. Simultaneously Neptune arose over the horizon, and
took its place as one of the seven manifesting chains of the planetary Logos.
We are here dealing with the Neptune chain of the earth scheme.
Fire, 582:
Another illustration of the same
thing can be found on the physical plane. When a man has reached the point
where he can sense and see the fourth ether, he is
ready for the burning away of the etheric web, which has its location midway between the third and second subplane
matter which composes his physical body. When this disintegration is effected,
the man merges with his astral vehicle, establishing a consequent continuity of
consciousness. This correspondence,
and this disintegration, can be traced on each plane, till finally on the atmic
level on its third subplane comes the final disintegration, which results in a
merging with the monadic consciousness.
Fire, 671:
As says the old Commentary again:
"When Father approaches Mother, that which will be taketh form. The
union of the two concealeth the true mystery of Being.
When the two great devas seek each other, when they meet and merge, the
promise of life is fulfiled.
When the one
who sees and knows stands midway between
his parents, then can be seen the fruition of knowledge, and all is known upon
the planes of consciousness.
When Anu, the infinitesimal, is seen to contain Ishvara in His potency,
when the lesser spheres and cycles expand into the [672] circle of the Heavens,
then shall the essential Unity be cognized and manifested fully.
When the One that holds the life becomes the three behind which that
life is hidden; when the three by revolution become the seven and the ten; when
the thirty million crores of deva lives repeat the revolution; when the central
point is reached and reveals the three, the nine, and the inner blazing JEWEL,
then is the circle of manifestation consummated, and the One again becomes the
ten, the seven, the three and the point."
Fire, 840:
On the third subplane of
the mental plane:
- Bud egos. Our planetary scheme, being at the midway point in its evolution, there are
therefore no unopened "buds" strictly speaking. All the egoic
lotuses have at least one petal open. All the lotuses are organized, but
there are vast differences among those of small development, [841] showing
forth in the brilliancy of the permanent atoms, and in the stage of petal
unfoldment.
- Brahmic lotuses in which the first
or knowledge petal is fully unfolded. They are so called as they represent
on the physical plane the fully active intelligent unity, the man of small
mental development, the lowest type of workers, agriculturists, and
peasants on every continent. They are also, called "third class
creators," as they express themselves only through the act of
physical creation on the physical plane, and their function is largely to
provide vehicles for those of their own group.
- The lotuses of Brahman, in which the
second petal is showing signs of opening and the second aspect in its
lowest manifestation is showing signs of demonstration. They stand as
representing certain groups of Egos from certain planetary schemes,
notably Jupiter and Venus, who are a grade higher than the class above,
but which have as yet a long way to go. They are called "second class
creators," for though they demonstrate on the physical plane in the act
of physical creation, yet they are more swayed by love than by animal
instinct as in the first case. They are to be found incarnating at this
time in the Orient, particularly in India and in the Latin countries, and
just lately in America.
- Primary lotuses. These are a group
of special interest brought in under the influence of the Lord of the
fifth Ray, and therefore fundamentally allied to the energy which is the
special manifestation in this system and the basis of all achievement,
that is, manas. They were quiescent during the Atlantean root-race but
have come in during the fourth and fifth subraces of this root-race. They
are a group a good deal more advanced than the earlier classes but need
much to develop the second petal. With them the first and the third petals
in the first circle are opening, but the middle petal is yet shut. The
middle tier also shows no signs of vitality. Owing [842] to conditions in
their emanating planet, their development has been one-sided, and hence
their entering on a wave of energy into this scheme in order to
"round" themselves out, as it is called. They may be seen in the
purely intellectual selfish scientific type. They are responsible for much
of the advanced application of mechanical science to the needs of men, and
for the introduction of certain types of machinery; they work largely in
connection with the energy of the mineral kingdom. By this it must be
inferred that the solar Lords who embody this type are linked with a group
of lunar Lords who respond magnetically to the devas of the mineral
kingdom. Their work for the race has at present a deleterious effect, but
when the second petal is opened, the wonders then to be achieved by them
in loving service along their own particular line will be one of the
factors which will regenerate the fourth kingdom. They will achieve
emancipation in the fifth round, four fifths of them passing on to the
Path and one fifth set back for another cycle.
- Lotuses of passion or desire. They
are so called because their fundamental nature is embodied love in some
one or other form. The bulk of the Monads of Love are among this large
group and they are to be seen incarnating in the bulk of the well-to-do,
kindly people of the world. They are divided into five groups, of whom
three individualized upon this planet, and two were the very latest to
individualize upon the moon chain. They have two petals unfolded and the
third is for them at this time the object of their attention. Many may
succeed in unfolding it before the seventh root-race of this round but the
bulk of them will unfold it in the second root-race of the next round, and
will stand ready before the close of the round to pass on to the
probationary path, having unfolded one tier of petals, and organized the
second. All these lotuses of the first circle are divided into groups but
interplay goes on between them; energy in any center [843] produces reflex
energy in another. It must be remembered that in closing the door in
Atlantean times to the animal kingdom, and the consequent temporary
cessation of the forming of any more "bud lotuses" the effect
was dual, in directions other than the human or the animal. It was the
result of the internal decision on the part of the planetary Logos to turn
His attention away from the act of creation on the systemic mental plane
to the work of progressive evolution. This caused a cessation of certain
types of activity, producing a quiescence in certain of His centers, and
an increased activity in others. It also had an effect upon the solar
Angels, and consequently upon the Heart of the solar system from whence
they are drawn. Floods of energy or streams of force from the heart of the
sun (the subjective Sun) were arrested and directed elsewhere, while the
Pitris already active began to center their attention upon the work begun,
and temporarily new beginnings were out of order. It must not be forgotten
here that the work of the solar Pitris from their point of view, is
not primarily the evolution of man, but is the process of their own
development within the plan of the solar Logos. The evolution of the human
race is, for them, but a method.
Fire, 1014:
RULE VIII
The Agnisuryans respond to the sound. The waters
ebb and flow. Let the magician guard himself from drowning at the point where
land and water meet. The midway
spot which is neither dry nor wet must provide the standing place whereon his
feet are set. When water, land and air meet there is the place
for magic to be wrought.
It will be noted that in this rule, no mention is
made of the fourth element, fire. The reason for this is that the magician has
to accomplish the stupendous task of generating the needed fire at this triple
"meeting place." This is one of the most occult and most puzzling of
the [1015] rules. Some light is thrown on it by the following three sentences
from the old Commentary:
"When the fire is drawn from the inmost
point within the heart the waters suffice not to subdue it. Like a stream of
flame it issues forth, and traverses the waters, which disappear before it.
Thus the goal is found."
"When the fire descends from the One Who
watches above, the wind suffices not to blow it out. The very winds protect,
shield and aid the work, guiding the falling fire unto the point of
entrance."
"When the fire emanates from the mouth of the
one who thinks and sees, then the earth sufficeth not to hide or kill the
flame. It feeds the flame, causing a growth and magnitude of fire which reaches
to the narrow door of entrance."
Fire, 1023:
RULE XII
The web pulsates. It contracts and expands. Let the
magician seize the midway point and thus
release those, "prisoners of the planet" whose note is right and
justly tuned to that which must be made.
It is necessary for the magician here to remember
that all that takes place upon the earth is to be found within the planetary
etheric web. The worker in white magic, being an occultist, deals in
universals, and starts his magical work on the confines of the physical etheric
sphere. His problem is to locate those lesser lives, within the web, who are of
the right order to be built into the proposed thought vehicle. Such work can
necessarily only be done by the man who, through the severance of the confining
web of his own etheric web, can reach out to that which is consciously
recognized by him as the planetary vital body. Only he who is free can control and utilize those
who are prisoners. This is an occult axiom [1024] of real moment,
and much of the failure undergone by would-be workers in magic is to be traced
to the fact that they themselves are not free. The "prisoners of the
planet" are those myriads of deva lives who form the planetary pranic
body, and are swept in on the floods of vital force emanating from the physical
sun.
Fire, 1270-1272:
STANZA XVII
(From Archaic Formulas. No. 49)
PATH II. The Path of Magnetic Work.
The cosmic Burning-ground of living fire lieth in
the nethermost part of the western heavens. Its smoke riseth unto that high
place where dwell the Sacred Lhas to Whom the triple Unity within our solar
space tender Their offerings and Their fealty. Its scent of spices sweet and
faint aroma of incandescent... reach to the utmost confines of the starry
vault.
The Two arise and pass the essential Flame
through Their burning-ground, blending Their lesser smoke with the greater.
This smoke formeth a Path which reacheth forth
unto those spheres within the radiant form of that Attractive Life, to Whom the
sons of being and of men in all their many grades offer their prayers, their
life and adoration.
The Master on this sphere, which is known as the
fourth and is not holy, seeth the fiery WAY; He respondeth to its heat and
seeks to warm Himself within its waves of radiant fire electric.
A center at the midway point
within the great Kumaric Body formeth the pyre. It pulsates and it glows. It
becomes a sea of living fire and draws within itself its own. The smoke which
issues from this fiery wheel formeth a living WAY, veiling the steps ahead. [1271]
The Master - with the midway
wheel on fire - enters within the smoke, and enters blind. He sees no step
ahead. He hears no voice. He feels no guiding hand. Only the fifth and latest
known aids Him to forward grope, and pass straight onward through the veiling
clouds; only the awakening of His wheel may indicate His progress through the
new magnetic field.
Only the sons of... (GEMINI) know the way in; only the sons with
blazing fire, issuing from the midway
point, may enter in. They throw their beams ahead to illuminate
the WAY. The Adept of the funeral pyre, the Master of the blazing sphere
consumes Himself. Offering Himself the One that is, the new-made threefold
Word, the sacred OM, the fire of God, He treads the burning-ground, and blazes
forth to those who watch as a radiant flaming sun.
He... and draws the people onward to their goal,
warming their hearts, producing dual fire, and leading all towards the portal
of the sun and thence to... (GEMINI).
The mystic Word is veiled by letters four - E, M,
and A and O -. In the significance of their numbers and the utilization of
their colors is the smoke dissipated. [1272]
Glamour, 269:
For many lives, the disciple has been dwelling
upon the threshold. He himself is the Dweller. Behind the slowly opening door
he senses life, energy, spiritual embodiment, and the fact of the Angel. Between
him and that door is a burning-ground; this he faces, and this he knows he has
to cross if he seeks to pass through the door. The question for him to answer
is whether his will to achieve is strong enough for him to submit his personal
lower self to the fires of the final purification. The personal self is now
very highly developed; it is a useful instrument which the soul can use; it is
a highly trained agent for service; it is essentially a piece of adequate and
useful equipment. It has, however, its points of weakness which are liable at
any time to present points of crisis; it has likewise its points of strength
which can be transmuted with relative ease into points of tension; on the
whole, it is a dependable instrument and one which can render good service. Can
it and should it be sacrificed so that (esoterically speaking) its life is lost
and in its place consecration and devotion are substituted? This is a hard
problem for all disciples to solve, to understand and to make effectively
practical. Only by crossing the burning ground three successive times are all
impediments to the free use of the will destroyed. The relation between the
Angel and the Dweller must be released, by means of the will, to full
expression. I here refer to the spiritual will and to its three aspects which
[269] must be brought into play before the divine will can begin to control.
The disciple brings the two aspects of his nature together in full
consciousness and with clear intention through a planned act of the will, and
this act produces a
point of tension in the "center of the burning-ground wherein the two can
meet," as the ancient Archives put it. I would call your
attention to the fact that it is at a "midway
point" that the great submission of the lower to the higher takes place. It does not happen
when the disciple hovers uncertainly upon the periphery of the burning-ground
or when he stands before the door with the burning ground experience behind
him. The essential point of crisis, producing the needed point of tension, is
the result of the "invocative decision" of the personality which, in
time, produces an "evocative response" from the Angel. The two
factors involved (and forget not, my brother, that all this takes place within
the field of consciousness of the disciple) move together and towards each
other. In the center of the burning ground they meet, and then the lesser light
(a true light in its own right) of the personality is absorbed into the greater
light of the Angel or soul. The Angel, therefore, "occultly
obliterates" the Dweller who becomes lost to sight in the radiant aura of
the Angel. This has been symbolically portrayed for us in the picture book of
the heavens when, according to Catholic Festivals, the Assumption of the Virgin
takes place and the constellation Virgo is lost to sight in the radiance of the
sun. There you have the three factors:
- The
Virgin - material form - personality - Dweller.
- The Sun
- spiritual nature - soul - Angel.
- The
Earth - aspiring man - the disciple.
The personality remains; it still exists but it is
seen no more as of old. The light of the Angel envelops it; the burning ground
has done its work and the personality is now nothing [270] more or less than
the purified shell or form through which the light, the radiance, the quality
and the characteristics of the Angel can shine. It is a fusion of lights, with
the stronger and the more powerful obliterating the lesser.
Healing, 171:
All this, however, is facilitated by the advanced
development of the solar plexus in the aspirant, which has its own effect upon
the heart and a reciprocal effect upon the ajna center. There are,
consequently, two important triangles to consider: [170]
Just as there is, astrologically, a Science of
Triangles, so there will later be developed a science of triangles in relation
to the human system. But the time is not yet. I but give occasional indications
of such a science upon which the intuition of disciples may play.
- The solar plexus is
a reflection in the personality of the "heart of the sun," just
as the heart center is. It is the central factor in the life of the
personality for all humanity below the grade of probationary disciple. At
that point the mind definitely begins to function, however faintly. It is
the outlet - if such a word can be used - of the astral body into the
outer world, and the instrument through which emotional energy flows. It
is the organ of desire. It is of supreme importance in the life of the
average man, and its control is a vital goal for the aspirant. He must transmute desire into aspiration.
- The solar plexus
came into full functioning in Atlantean times, during the period wherein
the second great human race was developing. These lower centers are not so
specifically related to initiations as are the centers above the
diaphragm, for they are personality centers and have [171] to be under the
full control of the soul when initiations of a certain degree are taken.
- The solar plexus
center is the great clearing-house for all energies below the diaphragm.
This refers to the three major centers and the minor centers which were
enumerated on page 72. The relation of this center to the astral
plane is (to use a peculiar but most expressive word) acute. It is
the recipient of all emotional reactions and of desire impulses and
energies and, because humanity is today becoming active in a group sense
and is more inclusive than ever before in human history, the situation is
one of acute and extreme difficulty. Mankind, through the individual and
also through the collective solar plexus, is being subjected to almost
unendurable pressure. Such are the tests of initiation! It is not my
intention to deal here with the processes of attracting the lower
energies, the mode of centralizing them in the solar plexus, and there
transmuting them and refining them to the point where transference into
the heart center becomes possible. Much of this is connected with the
training given to accepted disciples, prior to the second initiation. It
would be too intricate a matter to discuss, as well as carrying with it
certain peculiar dangers for those not ready for the process; it is,
however, one that - under living effort - goes forward almost
automatically. The solar plexus is thus the most separate of all the
centers (except the ajna center, in the case of the man on the
left-hand path) because it stands at the midway
point, between the throat and the heart centers - above the diaphragm -
and the sacral and basic centers - below the diaphragm. This is a consideration of
major importance.
- The solar plexus is
the center in the etheric vehicle through which humanity (average,
unenlightened humanity) [172] lives and moves and has its being. Humanity
is conditioned by desire - good desire, selfish desire, wrong desire, and
spiritual desire. It is the center through which most of the energies flow
which make a man progressive because he is ambitious, selfish because his
personal desires are of importance, and fluidic because astrally
polarized. Through it the "bright light generated in Atlantis"
is poured, and the astral light is contacted. It is therefore the center
through which most mediums work and clairvoyants function. Later, these
people will learn to work as intermediaries, consciously and intelligently
using their powers; they will possess clear perception, and this will supersede
clairvoyance. They will then be polarized in the ajna center. It is
consequently a most disturbing center in the body, and is a basic
cause of the majority of stomach complaints and troubles connected with
the liver. The entire area immediately below the diaphragm is in a
constant state of turmoil, where average man is concerned; this is due to
individual and collective causes.
Healing, 208:
Coming midway
between the centers and the corresponding endocrine glands, and acting as the
agent for the distribution of energy, is the nervous system. Here, however, difficulty is usually to be found.
There is a lack of adequate flow of energy; the energy distributed by its means
to the body, via the centers, is unevenly distributed; some centers receive an
undue supply; others receive an inadequate amount; some centers are still
unawakened, and therefore are non-receptive; others are prematurely developed
and transmit too much force to the areas they govern. In esoteric medicine and
its philosophical interpretation (which is in the last analysis the effective
and practical application [209] of the known facts) it is the cerebro-spinal
aspect which conditions and governs the entire nervous system, for it is by
means of this aspect and through its agency that the centers work and affect
the bodily organism, supplying the body with the needed vital energy; thus the
nervous system becomes eventually responsive, via the seven centers, to the
seven major energies or the seven ray forces.
Healing, 301:
Esoteric
Healing - Chapter III - Our Karmic Liabilities
- "The
Great One fought and entered into combat. All that He met appeared to Him
a subject for display of power. Within the fourth He found a field of
battle and settled down to fight. He saw the right and
knew the wrong and vibrated between the two, fighting first one and then
the other, but missing all the time that midway
point where battle is not known. There harmony, ease, rest and peaceful
silence will be found. He weakened all the
forms which used His strength and power. Yet all the time He sought for
beauty; searched for loveliness; and yearned for peace. Despair overtook
Him in His courses, and with despair the will-to-live could not survive. Yet all the
time the loveliness was there."
Here we have a strong indication as to the reason
why humanity (the fourth kingdom in nature) succumbs with such rapidity and
such ease to disease. The conflicts to which humanity is so constantly
summoned, both in group form and as individuals, lead - until understood and
used as a means to triumph and progress - to a condition of constant
devitalization. Where this is present, resistance to disease fades out and
practically all forms of ill health and bodily ills become possible. Diffusion
of energy leads to a constant lessening of this resistance. As a result you
have debility, quick and bad reaction to the disease indigenous in the planet
itself, and a rapid taking on of infections and of contagious diseases. It is
this energy which lies behind what we call epidemics, and influenza is one of
its main expressions. [302]
Healing, 302:
Esoteric
Healing - Chapter III - Our Karmic Liabilities
- "The
Great One arose in His wrath and separated Himself. He swept aside the
great dualities and saw primarily the field of multiplicity. He produced
cleavage on every hand. He wrought with potent thought for separative
action. He established barriers with joy. He brooked no understanding; He
knew no unity, for He was cold, austere, ascetic and forever cruel. He
stood between the tender, loving center of all lives and the outer court
of writhing, living men. Yet He stood not
at the midway point, and naught He
did sufficed to heal the breach. He widened all cleavages, erected
barriers, and sought to make still wider gaps."
It has been most difficult to describe the nature
of the imperfection of the energy of the Lord of the fifth ray. In the activity
of this energy which demonstrates primarily upon the fifth or mental plane will
be found eventually the source of many psychological disorders and mental trouble.
Cleavage is the outstanding characteristic - cleavage within the individual or
between the individual and his group, rendering him anti-social. I have dealt
with this in an earlier part of this treatise and need not further enlarge upon
the difficulties here (In Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II, A Treatise on the Seven
Rays). Other results are certain forms of insanities, brain lesions and
those gaps in the relation of the physical body to the subtle bodies which show
as imbecilities and psychological troubles. Another form of disease, emerging
as a result of this fifth ray force is migraine, which is caused by a lack of
relationship between the energy around the pineal gland and that around the
pituitary body.
Healing, 662:
The method employed under the Law of Perfection
is called "perfect harmlessness," and that was ever the method used
[661] by the Christ, the Perfect One. It is not the harmlessness enjoined so
often by me as I speak to aspirants, but a harmlessness imposed by the
spiritual man and by his natural destiny. It is an ignoring of the effect or
the result upon the form nature. Frequently I have told you that the Hierarchy
works only with the spiritual nature or with the soul of humanity, and that -
to the Master - the form is regarded as relatively of no importance. Release
from the threefold form is ever regarded by the spiritual man as the greatest
possible good, provided it comes to him under law, as the result of his
spiritual destiny and of karmic decision; it must not come as an arbitrary act,
or as an escape from life and its consequences upon the physical plane, or as
self-imposed. Of this strange working of the Law of Perfection (strange to
man's limited point of view), the war (1914-1945) was a striking instance.
Millions died; more millions suffered cruelly in their form nature, and many
more millions underwent (and are still undergoing) the mental agony of
insecurity, suspense and poverty. Nevertheless, two major results of a
spiritual nature, working under the Law of Perfection, resulted:
- Souls
were released from a backward and decaying civilization - for such is your
vaunted civilization from the angle of the Hierarchy - and will return in
better bodies to a civilization and a culture more in conformity with the
needs of the spiritual man. The main reason why there has been such a
complete destruction of the old forms (physical, emotional and mental) is
that they constituted a complete imprisonment of the soul and negated all
true growth for the masses of men.
- From the
rich to the poor, from the intelligent to the ignorant, one thing is now
clearly grasped and will increasingly color human thinking: happiness and
[662] success are not dependent upon the possession of things or upon
material good. That idea is the mistake of organized labor as it fights
and strikes for more money in order to live more richly; it is also the
mistake of the general public as it reacts to the action of labor, for it
rebels against the curtailment of the steady inflow of material goods.
Humanity has made this mistake for untold ages, and has erred grievously
in its emphasis upon that which benefits the form. This is the good in the
Russian position as it wars on capitalism and lays an emphasis upon
education. However, its ruthlessness and cruelty and (above all else) its
suppression of the rights of the individual citizen to certain of the
essential freedoms may eventually negate the beauty and the hope of the
initial idealism. Russia is right in her idealism, but terribly and
basically wrong in her techniques. The United States
and Great Britain are at a midway
point. They have a vision but know not how
to materialize it and make it true, for they favor not (and rightly) a
totalitarian regime. The capitalistic spirit and the latent fascism of the
United States are at this time a definite menace to world peace, and the
capitalists are blocking the efforts of the men of goodwill. Great Britain
is at present impotent, financially ruined, her old imperialistic policies
entirely in the discard, and her people discouraged; she is therefore so
preoccupied with the struggle to live (and she will live) that there is
little time, interest or energy left to make the vision true.
Hercules, 132:
The
Labors of Hercules - Labor VII Like a busy spider, the
Libran is perpetually spinning threads of relationships, creating a sensitive
network of meanings. The result of such activity is synthesis. Between the
concrete and the abstract he stands, trying to relate the two. Always there is
a [132] discrepancy, always the gap between the end envisioned and the goal
achieved; and yet, the web glows luminously and assumes a pattern of intricate
beauty.
Halfway between heaven and earth the Libran
waits. Looking above, he sees the vision, the golden dawn gilding a snow-capped
mountain-top; gazing downwards, he beholds the sloughs and the mire through
which the sons of men pass. On the one hand, he cognizes high ideals;
on the other, he perceives them repudiated. At this midway point he must stand and work. If he rises towards the
ideal world, he loses touch with common things; if he descends to the level of
materialistic activity, he loses the precious perceptions that are the
mainspring of his being. Between these two worlds he is poised in order that he
might gain understanding; an understanding that includes the highest and the
lowest, the good and the bad, the lofty and the insignificant. This is
compassion.
Initiation, 204:
Rule 11
Let the disciple transfer the fire from the lower triangle to the
higher, and preserve that which is created through the fire of the midway point.
This means, literally, the control by the
initiate of the sex impulse, as usually understood, and the transference of the
fire which now normally vitalizes the generative organs to the throat center,
thus leading to creation upon the mental plane through the agency of mind. That
which is to be created must then be nourished and sustained by the love energy
of nature issuing from the heart center.
The lower triangle referred to is:
- The solar plexus.
- The base of the spine.
- The generative organs.
Whilst the higher one is, as pointed out:
- The head.
- The throat.
- The heart.
Intellect, 53:
These three premises are:
First: There is a soul in every human form, and
that soul uses the lower aspects of man simply as vehicles of expression. The
objective of the evolutionary process is to enhance and deepen the control of
the soul over this instrument. When this is complete, we have a divine
incarnation.
Secondly: The sum total of these lower aspects,
when developed and coordinated we call the Personality. This unity is composed
of the mental and emotional states of being, the vital energy and the physical
response apparatus, and these "mask" or hide the soul. These aspects
develop sequentially and progressively, according to the eastern philosophy,
and only on reaching a relatively high state of unfoldment does it become
possible for man to [52] coordinate them and later to unify them, in
consciousness, with the indwelling soul. Later comes control by the soul, and a
steadily increasing expression of the nature of the soul. This is sometimes
symbolically expressed as a light in a lamp. At first the lamp gives forth no
radiance, but gradually the light makes its presence felt, till the meaning of
the words of the Christ becomes clear. He said, "I am the light of the
world," and enjoined upon His disciples to "let your light shine that
man may see."
Thirdly: When the life of the soul, acting under
the Law of Rebirth, has brought the personality to such a condition that it is
an integrated and coordinated unit, then there is set up between the two a more
intensive interaction. This interaction is brought about through the processes
of self-discipline, an active will towards spiritual Being, unselfish service
(for that is the mode in which the group-conscious soul manifests itself) and
meditation. The consummation of the work is the conscious realization of union
- called, in Christian terminology, the at-one-ment.
These three hypotheses must be accepted, at any
rate, tentatively, if this process of education through meditation is to be
rendered effective. In Webster's Dictionary, the soul is defined in line with
these theories, and the definition runs as follows:
"An entity conceived as the essence,
substance, or actuating cause of individual life, especially of life manifested
in psychical activities; the vehicle of individual existence, [53] separate in
nature from the body and usually held to be separable in existence."
Webster adds the following comment which is
appropriate in its application to our theme that
"some conceptions, such as that of Fechner, that the soul is the
whole unitary spiritual process in conjunction with the whole unitary bodily
process, appear to stand midway between
the idealistic and materialistic views."
- Webster's New International Dictionary, Edition of 1923.
Magic, 235,236:
RULE EIGHT
The Agnisuryans respond to the sound. The waters
ebb and flow. Let the magician guard himself from drowning, at the point where land
and water meet. The midway spot, which
is neither dry nor wet, must provide the standing place whereon his feet are
set. When water, land and air meet there is the place for magic to be wrought.
Types of Astral Force
It would be advisable for the student to read
with care the commentary on this rule as given in the Treatise on Cosmic
Fire. It will be noted how extremely abstruse it is and how full of almost
blind occult information. This should however be studied. The word "astral
plane" should also be looked up and a general idea gained as to its nature
and its function as the battleground of the senses, and as the place from which
magic is wrought. The intelligent and constructive desire of the white
magician, acting under the instruction of his own soul and therefore occupied
with group work, is the motivating power back of all magical phenomena. This
magical work is begun in the magician's own life, extends to the world of the
astral plane and from thence (when potent there) can begin to demonstrate on
the physical plane and on the higher planes eventually.
We shall, therefore, take a good deal of time
over this rule for it covers the immediate work and activity of the intelligent
aspirant. It is the most important in the book from the standpoint of the
average student. It cannot be understood where there is no soul contact, nor
can the magical force of the soul work out in manifestation upon the physical
plane until the meaning of its esoteric phrases has been somewhat wrought out
in the inner experience of the magician.
Most true aspirants are now at the midway
spot, and can either drown (and so make no further progress this life), stand
and so hold the ground gained, or become true practicing magicians, efficient
in white magic, which is [236] based on love, animated by wisdom and
intelligently applied to forms.
We will, therefore, divide this rule into several
parts, the more easily to study it and take them up step by step, so as to
grasp their application to the average life of the probationary disciple, and
to gain a wise understanding of their wide implications.
These three divisions are:
- The response of the
astral elementals and the consequent ebb and flow of the waters.
- The dangers of the midway spot, its nature and the
opportunity it affords.
- The place where
magic is wrought.
Magic, 242:
Humanity is now at the midway point as this rule shows. Man is swept by selfish desire and by ambition, for
all of us have first ray qualities. He is racked by fear - his own, family
fears, national fears and racial, for all of us swing to the rhythm of the second
ray. He is dominated by sex and by money which is another manifestation of the
energy of matter and hence has a triple problem with which he is well equipped
to deal through the medium of his triple vehicle and the triple potencies of
his divine soul. Let us close the instruction on that note - well equipped to
deal. We can overcome mental inertia and begin to function as souls in command
of our environment. The soul is omniscient and omnipotent.
Magic, 244:
There is also an ebb and flow in soul experience on any one plane and
this, in the early stages of development, will cover many lives. They are
usually quite extreme in [244] their expression. A study of the racial ebb and
flow will make this clearer. In Lemurian days the "flow", or the
outward going cycle, spent itself on the physical plane and the ebb carried the
life aspect right back to the soul itself, and there was no secondary ebb and
flow on the astral or mental planes.
Later, the tide broke on the shores of the astral plane, though including
the physical in less degree. The flow directed its attention to the emotional
life, and the drift back to the center took no account of the mental life at
all. This was at its height for humanity in Atlantean days and is true also of
many today. Now the ebb and flow is increasingly inclusive, and the mental
experience has its place so that all three aspects are swept by the life of the
soul; all are included in the outgoing energy of the incarnating soul, and for
many lives and series of lives this cyclic force spends itself. Within the
aspirant there arises an understanding of what is going on and he awakens to
the desire to control consciously this ebb and flow or (to put it in simple
words) to turn the forces of the outgoing energy in any direction he chooses,
or to withdraw to his center at will. He seeks to arrest this process of being
swept out into incarnation without having any conscious purpose, and refuses to
see the tide of his life beat out on emotional or mental spheres of existence,
and then again see that life withdrawn without his conscious volition. He stands at
the midway point and wants to control
his own cycles, the "ebb and flow" as he himself may determine it. With
conscious purpose he longs to walk in the dark places of incarnated existence
and with equally conscious purpose he seeks to withdraw into his own center. Hence
he becomes an aspirant.
Magic, 245:
A
Treatise on White Magic - Rule Eight - Cyclic Ebb and Flow
The life of the aspirant begins to repeat earlier cycles. He is assailed
by a sudden stimulation of the physical nature and violently swept by ancient
desires and lusts. [245] This may be succeeded by a cycle wherein the physical
body is conscious of the flowing away from it of vital energy and is
devitalized, because not the subject of attention. This accounts for much of
the sickness and lack of vitality of many of our most cherished servers. The
same process can affect the emotional body, and periods of exaltation and of
highest aspiration alternate with periods of the deepest depression and lack of
interest. The flow may pass on to the mental body and produce a cycle of
intense mental activity. Constant study, much thought, keen investigation and a
steady intellectual urge will characterize the mind of the aspirant. To this
may succeed a cycle wherein all study is distasteful, and the mind seems to lie
entirely fallow and inert. It is an effort to think, and the futility of phases
of thought assail the mind. The aspirant decides that to be is better far than to do. "Can these dry
bones live?" he asks, and has no desire to see them revitalized.
All true seekers after truth are conscious of
this unstable experience and frequently regard it as a sin or as a condition to
be strenuously fought. Then is the time to appreciate that "the midway spot which is neither dry nor wet must
provide the standing place whereon his feet are set."
This is a symbolic way of saying that he needs to
realize two things:
- That states of
feeling are quite immaterial and are no indication of the state of
the soul. The aspirant must center himself in the soul consciousness,
refuse to be influenced by the alternating conditions to which he seems
subjected, and simply "stand in spiritual being" and then
"having done all, stand."
- That the achievement
of equilibrium is only possible where alternation has been the rule, and
that the cyclic ebb and flow will continue just as long as the soul's
[246] attention fluctuates between one or other aspect of the form and the
true spiritual man.
The ideal is to achieve such a condition of
conscious control that at will a man may be focused in his soul consciousness
or focused in his form aspect, - each act of focused attention being brought
about through a realized and specific objective, necessitating such a focusing.
Later when the words of the great Christian
teacher have significance, he will be able to say "whether in the body or
out of the body" is a matter of no moment. The act of service to be
rendered will determine the point where the self is concentrated, but it will
be the same self, whether freed temporarily from the form consciousness or
immersed in the form in order to function in different aspects of the divine
whole. The spiritual man seeks for the furthering of the plan and to identify
himself with the divine mind in nature. Withdrawing to the midway spot, he endeavors to realize his
divinity and then, having done so, he focuses himself in his mental form which
puts him en rapport with the Universal Mind. He endures
limitation so that thereby he may know and serve. He seeks to reach the hearts
of men and to carry to them "inspiration" from the depths of the
heart of spiritual being. Again he asserts the fact of his divinity and then,
through a temporary identification with his body of sensory perception, of
feeling, and of emotion, he finds himself at-one with the sensitive apparatus
of divine manifestation which carries the love of God to all forms on the
physical plane.
Again he seeks to aid in the materializing of the
divine plan on the physical plane. He knows that all forms are the product of
energy rightly used and directed. With full knowledge of his divine Sonship and
a potent mind realization of all that that term conveys, he focuses his forces
in the vital body and becomes a focal point for the transmission of divine
energy and hence a builder in [247] union with the building energies of
the Cosmos. He carries the energy of illumined thought and sanctified desire
down into the body of ether, and so works with intelligent devotion.
Magic, 247:
A Treatise
on White Magic - Rule Eight - Cyclic Ebb and Flow
You ask for a clearer definition of the midway
spot.
- For the probationer
it is the emotional plane, the Kurukshetra, or the plane of illusion,
where land (physical nature) and water (emotional nature) meet.
- For the disciple it
is the mental plane where form and soul make contact and the great
transition becomes possible.
- For the advanced
disciple and the initiate, the midway
spot is the causal body, the karana sarira, the spiritual body of the
soul, standing as the intermediary between Spirit and matter, Life and
form, the monad and the personality.
This can also be discussed and understood in
terms of the centers.
As every student knows,
there are two centers in the head. One center is between the eyebrows and has
the pituitary body as its objective manifestation. The other is in the region
at the top of the head and has the pineal gland as its concrete aspect. The
pure mystic has his consciousness centered in the top of the head, almost
entirely in the etheric body. The advanced worldly man is centered in the
pituitary region. When, through occult unfoldment and
esoteric knowledge, the relation between the personality and the soul is
established there is a midway spot in
the center of the head in the magnetic field which is called the "light in
the head", and it is here that the aspirant takes his stand. This is the
spot of vital import. It is neither land or physical, nor water or emotional.
It might be regarded as the vital or etheric body which has become the field of
conscious service, of directed control, and of force utilization towards
specific ends.
Here the magician takes his stand and through the
[248] medium of his force or energy body performs the magical creative work.
One point is rather abstrusely dealt with in this
rule, but it clarifies, if the words are studied with care. At the close of the
rule we are told that when "water, land and air meet" there is the
place for the working of magic. Curiously in these phrases the idea of location
is omitted and only the time equation considered.
Air is the symbol of the
buddhic vehicle, of the plane of spiritual love, and when the three above
enumerated (in their energy aspects) meet, it is indicative of a focusing in
the soul consciousness and a centralization of the man in the spiritual body. From that
point of power, outside of form, from the central sphere of unification and
from the focused point within that circle of consciousness, the spiritual man
projects his consciousness into the midway
spot within the brain cavity where the magical work must, in relation to the
physical plane, be carried out. This ability to project
the consciousness from the plane of soul realization into that of creative
magical work on the etheric subplanes is gradually made possible as the student
in his meditation work develops facility in focusing his attention in one or
other of the centers in the body. This is accomplished through the medium of
the force centers in the etheric body. He gradually gains that plasticity and
that fluidity of the self-directed consciousness which will enable him to play
on the centers, as a musician utilizes the seven notes of music. When this has
been achieved he can begin to train himself in wider and more extended focusing
and must learn to withdraw his consciousness, not only to the brain, but to the
soul on its own plane and thence redirect his energies in the performance of
the magical work of the soul.
The fundamental secret of the cycles lies in this
withdrawal and the subsequent refocusing of attention and [249] it must be
remembered in this connection that the basic law underlying all magical
work is that "energy follows thought". If aspirants would remember
this they would live through their periods of aridity with greater ease and
would be conscious of the underlying purpose.
Magic, 249:
A
Treatise on White Magic - Rule Eight - Cyclic Ebb and Flow It might here
be asked what are the dangers of this midway
spot?
The dangers of too
violent fluctuation between land and water, or between the emotional response
to life and truth or life on the physical plane. Some aspirants are too
emotional in their reactions; others too materialistic. The effect of
this is felt in the midway spot and
produces a violent instability. This instability has a direct effect on the
solar plexus center which was the "midway
spot" in early Atlantean times, and is still the midway point in the transmutation processes of the aspiring
personality. It transmutes and transmits the energies of the
sacral center and of the center at the base of the spine, and is the clearing
house for all energies focused in the centers below the diaphragm.
The dangers incident to a premature and
uncontrolled pouring in of pure spiritual energy to the mechanism of the
personality. That vital spiritual force enters through the cranial aperture,
and pours into the head centers. From them will follow the line of least
resistance which is determined by the daily trend of the aspirant's thought
life.
Another and rather potent danger is the result,
literally, of the bringing together of the land and water. It demonstrates as
the pouring into the brain consciousness (the land aspect) of the knowledges of
the astral plane. One of the first things an aspirant becomes aware of is a
tendency to the lower psychism. It is a reaction from the solar plexus center. But this midway point can be utilized as a
"jumping off place" into the world of astral phenomena. This will
produce "death by drowning [250] for the aspirant's spiritual life
can be swamped and entirely submerged in the interests of the lower psychical
experiences. It is here that many worthy aspirants go astray - temporarily it
may be, but the times are so critical that it is a matter to be deplored if any
time is lost in futile experimentation and the retracing of any path chosen.
A clue to the significance of these words is to
be found in the recognition of the following occult fact. The place where water
and land meet is the solar plexus center. The place where water, land and air
meet is in the head. Land is the symbol of the physical plane life, and of the
exoteric form. Water is the symbol of the emotional nature. It is from the
great center of the personality life, the solar plexus, that the life is
usually ruled and government administered. When the center of direction lies
below the diaphragm there is no magic possible. The animal soul controls and
the spiritual soul is perforce quiescent. Air is the symbol of the higher life
in which the Christ principle dominates, in which freedom is experienced and
the soul comes to full expression. It is the symbol of the buddhic plane, as
water is of the emotional. When the life of the personality is carried up into
Heaven, and the life of the soul comes down on to earth, there is the place of
meeting, and there the work of transcendental magic becomes possible.
This meeting place is the place of fire, the
plane of mind. Fire is the symbol of the intellect and all magical work is an
intelligent process, carried out in the strength of the soul, and by the use of
the mind. To make itself felt on the physical plane, a brain is required which
is receptive to higher impulses and which can be impressed by the soul
utilizing the "chitta" or mental substance in order to create the
needed thought forms, and so express the ideas and purposes of the intelligent
loving soul. These are recognized by the brain and are [251] photographed upon
the "vital airs" found in the brain cavity. When these vital
airs can be sensed by the magician in meditation, and the thought-forms
imprinted on this miniature reflection of the astral light, then the real
potency in magic can begin to make itself felt. The brain has "heard"
occultly the injunctions and instructions of the mind as it relays the behests
of the soul. The vital airs are swept into form-making activity just as their
higher correspondence, the "modifications of the thinking principle, the
mind stuff" (as Patanjali calls it), are thrown into an analogous
form-making activity. These can then be seen interiorly by the man who is
seeking to perform the magical work and much of his success is dependent upon
his ability to register impressions exactly, and to see with clarity the forms of the process in magic
which he is seeking to demonstrate as magical work in the outer world.
It might therefore be said that there are three
stages in the form-making process. First, the soul or spiritual man, centered
in the soul consciousness and functioning in "the secret place of the Most
High", visualizes the work to be done. This is not a sequential act, but
the finished completed work of magic is visioned by a process that does
not involve the time element or spatial concepts at all. Secondly, the mind
responds to the soul (calling attention to the work to be performed), and is
swept into thought-form making activity by this impression. According to the
lucidity and illumination of the mind-stuff so will be the response to the
impression. If the mind is a true reflector and receiver of soul impress, the
corresponding thought-form will be true to its prototype. If it is not true (as
is usually the case in the early stages of the work) then the thought-form
created will be distorted and incorrect, unbalanced and "out of
drawing".
Magic, 263:
Fundamental Forms
The simplicity of this Rule nine is such that in
a few words the entire process of creative evolution is summarized. On the
mental plane an idea takes form. On [262] the desire plane sentient energy
pervades that form. Under the evolutionary process the form "swells and
grows". Through the right direction of the form and its orientation in the
needed direction, the purpose of the thinker is fulfiled.
All life is vibration and the result of vibration
is form, dense or subtle, and ever subtler as ascension takes place. As the
pulsating life progresses its rate of vibration changes, and in this changing
of vibration lies hid the secret of form-shattering and form-building. Forms
are of four kinds in this era of the fourth round:
1. The Form of the Personality, that
vehicle of physical, astral and mental matter that provides the means of
contact in the three worlds. It is built in each life, the key of the vibration
being set up in the life preceding the present. That form proves adequate for
the average man and serves him till death. The man who is entering on the
occult path starts with the vehicle provided, but during incarnation builds for
himself ever a newer and better vehicle, and the more progressed he is the more
consciously he works. Hence eventuates that constant turmoil and frequent
ill-health of the beginner in the occult life. He senses the law, he realizes
the need of raising his key, and frequently he begins with mistakes. He starts
to build anew his physical body by diet and discipline, instead of working from
the inner outward. In the careful discipline of the mind and the manipulation
of thought-matter and in transmutation of emotion comes the working out on the
physical plane. Add to the two above, physical plane purity as to food and
manner of life, and in seven years time the man has built for himself three new
bodies around the permanent atoms.
2. The Form of the Environment. This is
really the evolutionary working out of the involutionary group soul. It relates
to our contacts, not just exterior, but on the inner planes as well. In
similarity of vibration [263] comes coherency. When therefore a man raises his
vibration and builds anew from the beginning, and alters consequently his key,
it results in dissonance in his surroundings and subsequent discord. Therefore
- under the law - there comes always to the striver after the Mysteries and the
manipulator of the law, a period of aloneness and of sorrow when no man
stands by and isolation is his lot. In lesser degree this comes to all, and to
the arhat (or initiate of the fourth degree) this complete isolation is a
characteristic feature. He stands midway between life in the three worlds and
that in the world of adepts. His vibration does not
synchronize, prior to initiation, with the vibrations of either group. Under
the law he is alone. But this is only temporary. When the environment satisfies
then is the moment of anxiety; it indicates stagnation. The application of the
law causes primary disruption.
3. The Form of the Devotee. Yes, I mean
just that word, for it expresses an abstract idea. Each person of every degree
has his devotion, that for which he lives, that for which - in ignorance, in
knowledge or in wisdom - he wields as much of the law as he can grasp. Purely
physical may that devotion be, centered in flesh, in lust for gold, in
possessions concrete. He bends all his energies to the search for the
satisfaction of that concrete form and thereby learns. Purely astral maybe the
aim of the devotee - love of wife or child, or family, pride of race, love of
popularity, or lust of some kind - to them he devotes the whole of his energy,
using the physical body to fulfil the desire of the astral.
Magic, 507:
RULE TWELVE
The web pulsates. It
contracts and expands. Let the magician seize the midway
point and thus release those "prisoners of the planet" whose note is
right and justly tuned to that which must be made.
Interludes and Cycles
We now come to the four rules which concern the physical plane. In many
ways their understanding is far more difficult than was the case in the other
rules, in just the same way that practical application is far harder than
theorizing. We can frequently think with clarity and desire rightly but the
working out into physical plane manifestation of the subjective ideas, under
law and constructively, is never an easy thing to do. It is however just at
this point that a white magician begins to do his real work, and it is just
here that he encounters failure and finds that his inner grasp of reality does
not necessarily result in correct creative activity. In A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, there
will be found certain points of interest for us to consider, and I would like
to quote a few words from them:
"It might be useful here to remember that in the work of creation
the white magician avails himself of the current ray influences. When the
fifth, third and seventh rays are in power, either coming in, at full meridian,
or passing out, the work is much easier than when the second, sixth or fourth
are dominant. At the present time, the seventh ray, as we know is rapidly
dominating, and it is one of the easiest of the forces with which man has to
work. Under this ray it will be possible to build a new structure for the
rapidly decaying civilization, and to erect the new temple desired for the
religious impulse. Under its influence the work of the numerous unconscious
magicians will be much facilitated." Pages 1021-1022.
It is apparent therefore that the day of opportunity is with us, and
that the coming generation can, if it so wishes, perform the magical work with
many of the [512] factors present which will tend to produce satisfactory
results. The fifth ray is passing out, but its influence can still be felt; the
third ray is at full meridian, and the seventh ray is rapidly coming into right
activity. Much will consequently occur to make man successful, provided he can
preserve constantly a right orientation, purity of motive and of life, a
stabilized and receptive emotional body and that inner alignment which will
make his personality a true vehicle for his soul or self.
A very interesting analogy works out as we study the words: "The
web pulsates. It contracts and expands". The underlying thought is that of
pulsation, of diastole and systole, of ebb and flow, of cyclic activity, of the
day of opportunity and the night of inactivity, of inflow and output, and of
those many appearances and disappearances which mark the sweep of all lives in
all kingdoms and dimensions. This day and night cycle which is the inevitable
mark of manifested existence has to be recognized. One of the things which
every disciple has to learn (putting the truth in the simplest terms) is to
achieve that wisdom which is based on a knowledge of when to work and when to
refrain, and on an understanding of those periods or interludes which are characterized
by speech and by silence. It is here that mistakes are made and here that many
workers fail to make good.
This entire rule might be given in the following paraphrase which will
merit careful thought and which I will elucidate somewhat.
God breathes and His pulsating life emanates from the divine heart and
manifests as the vital energy of all forms. It flows, pulsating in its cycles,
throughout all nature. This constitutes the divine inhalation and exhalation.
Between this breathing out and the breathing in comes a period of silence and
the moment for effective work. If disciples can learn to utilize these
interludes, they can then release the "prisoners of the planet,"
which [513] is the objective of all magical work, performed during this world
period.
With the manner in which this One Life of the solar system works in
these vast interludes of meditative silence, called technically a pralaya, we
need not concern ourselves. The activity of the Universal Mind and its
comprehensive purpose can only be perceived when each son of God enters
consciously into his divine heritage. The mode of working by means of which our
planetary Life utilizes the cycles of silence concerns Him alone, and it must
be remembered that each planetary Logos has a different pulsation, a varying
periodic interlude, and His Own unique method of procedure.
Magic, 518:
A
Treatise on White Magic - Rule Twelve - Interludes and Cycles Students of
occultism who have demonstrated their devotion and their mental poise, and who
(to use the ancient formula of the schools of meditation) have kept the five
commandments and the five rules, and have achieved right poise, can begin to
use the interludes between the two aspects of physical breathing for intense
activity and the use of the power of will to produce magical [518] effects. The
consciousness, focused in the brain and having participated in the work of
contemplation can now proceed to the work of materializing the plan upon the
physical plane by the focused energy of will, used in the silence by the
conscious man. As can be seen, these breathing interludes are also two in
number, after inhalation and after exhalation and the more experienced the
disciple, the longer will be the interlude and the greater the opportunity
therefore for focused magical work and for the utterance of those words of
power which will make divine purpose to be.
It would not be right nor proper for me to
enlarge here upon the work of utilizing these "midway points", as they are called in Rule XII, which the
magician seizes and which he employs in constructive work. In them he
consciously uses energy, directing it as he sees fit; in them, he consciously
comes in contact with those forces and lives which he can employ and command to
bring to him what he requires for the furtherance of spiritual purposes and for
the work of constructing those forms and organisms which may be needed; in
them, he goes forward with the work of releasing the "prisoners of the
planet"; and in them he becomes conscious of his fellow workers, of the
group of world mystics, and of the hierarchy of souls.
Magic, 521:
The Prisoners of the Planet
Having dealt with the work of the magician
in his own interior consciousness and with the need for him to learn the
importance of seizing the "midway
point" in his work of using the interludes, both major and minor, we come now
to the consideration of the objective of all his work, that is if he is a true
white magician. It is stated clearly that this is to release the
"prisoners of the planet". It would profit us therefore to study who
these prisoners are and what is the mode of their release to be employed by the
working disciple.
These prisoners of the planet fall into two major
groups, which embody necessarily certain subdivisions. Inclusively they constitute
all forms of life that we usually call subhuman, but these words must be given
a [522] wider connotation than is normally the case. They must be extended to
include all lives which are embodied in forms.
The two divisions are as follows:
First, the substance of all forms, or the
multiplicity of tiny atomic lives which, through the power of thought, are
drawn into the form aspect through which all existences or all souls, mineral,
vegetable, animal and the animal body of man, express themselves. This opens up
a wide horizon and covers practically the work of creation on the physical
plane so that we cannot even touch upon it. Under the Law of Magnetic
Attraction and owing to the impulsive activity of the Universal Mind as it
works out the purposes of the solar Logos or of the planetary Logos these
constituents of the matter of space, these atoms of substance, are drawn
together, manipulated in a rhythmic manner and held together in form. Through
this mode of creation, existences come into manifestation, participate in the
experience of their particular cycle, whether it is ephemeral, like the life of
a butterfly or relatively permanent like the ensouling life of the planetary
deity, and vanish. The two aspects concerned, spirit and matter, are brought thus
into a close rapport, and necessarily exert an effect upon each other. Matter,
so-called, is energized or "lifted up" in the occult sense of the
term by its contact with spirit so-called. Spirit, in its turn, is enabled to
enhance its vibration through the medium of its experience in matter. The
bringing together of these two divine aspects results in the emergence of a
third, which we call the soul, and through the medium of the soul, spirit
develops a sentiency and a conscious awareness and capacity to respond which
remains its permanent possession when the divorce between the two comes around
eventually and cyclically.
Magic, 526:
In the terminology of the Ageless Wisdom, these three are called
electric fire, solar fire, and fire by friction, and their purpose in relation
to each other is summed up for us in the words of The Secret Doctrine as
follows:
"Matter is the Vehicle for the manifestation of Soul on this plane
of existence, and Soul is the Vehicle on a higher plane for the manifestation
of Spirit and these three are a Trinity, synthesized by Life which pervades
them all." S.D.I. 80.
Humanity, being the meeting-place for all the three
types of energy, constitutes therefore a "midway
point," [527] in the consciousness of the Creator. This "midway point" has to be seized by the
active creating agent in some such manner as the aspirant has to learn to seize
his midway points in the tiny bit of
magical and creative work which he is seeking to carry forward.
Humanity is intended to be the medium wherein certain activities can be
instituted. It is in reality the brain of the planetary Deity, its many units
being analogous to the brain cells in the human apparatus. Just as the human
brain, made up of an infinite number of sentient responsive cells, can be
suitably impressed when quiescence has been achieved, and can become the medium
of expression for the plans and purposes of the soul, transmitting its ideas
via the mind, so the planetary Deity, working under the inspiration of the
Universal Mind, can impress humanity with the purposes of God and produce
consequent effects in the world of phenomena.
Patanjali, 90:
The
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 1 - The Problem of Union
40. Thus his realization extends from the
infinitely small to the infinitely great, and from annu (the atom or speck) to
atma (or spirit) his knowledge is perfected.
This translation does not adhere to the exact
Sanskrit terms. It conveys nevertheless the exact meaning of the original which
is the one thing [89] of vital importance. An old verse from one of the hidden
scriptures runs as follows and serves to elucidate the idea of this sutra:
"Within the speck God can be seen. Within
the man God can reign. Within Brahma both are found; yet all is one. The atom
is as God, God as the atom."
It is an occult truism that as a man arrives at a
knowledge of himself, under the great law of analogy he arrives at the
knowledge of God. This knowledge covers five great aspects:
- Forms,
- The constituents of form,
- Forces,
- Groups,
- Energy.
Man must understand the nature of his body and of
all his sheaths. This concerns his knowledge of form. He discovers that forms
are made of atoms or "points of energy" and that all forms are alike
in this respect. This knowledge concerns the constituents of form. He arrives
next at an understanding of the aggregate of the energy of the atoms which
constitute his forms, or, in other words, at a knowledge of the varying forces;
the nature of these forces is determined by the rhythm, the activity and the
quality of the atoms which form the sheath or sheaths. This knowledge concerns
forces. Later he discovers analogous forms with analogous vibration and force
demonstration, and this knowledge concerns groups. Consequently he finds his
place and knows his work. Finally he arrives at a knowledge [90] of that which
concerns all forms, controls all forces and is the motive power of all groups.
This knowledge concerns energy; it has to do with the nature of spirit.
Through. the medium of these five realizations man arrives at mastery, for
realization entails certain factors which might be enumerated as follows:
- Aspiration,
- Study and investigation,
- Experiment,
- Discovery,
- Identification,
- Realization.
The adept can identify
himself with or enter into the consciousness of the infinitesimally small. He
can identify himself with the atom of substance and he knows what is as yet
unknown to modern scientists. He realizes also that as the human
kingdom (composed of human atoms) is the midway
point or station on the ladder of evolution, therefore the infinitely small is
as far away from him relatively as the infinitely great. It is as far
a road to travel to embrace the consciousness of the minutest of all God's
manifestations as it is to embrace the greatest, a solar system. Nevertheless,
in all these ranges of consciousness, the method of mastery is the same -
perfectly concentrated meditation, leading to perfected power over the mind.
The mind is so constituted that it serves the purpose of both a telescope,
bringing the seer into touch with the macrocosm, and a microscope bringing him
into touch also with the minutest atom. [91]
Patanjali, 216:
The
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 2 - The Steps to Union
48. When this is
attained, the pairs of opposites no longer limit.
The pairs of opposites concern the desire body
and it is significant that in the preceding sutra [216] only the mind and the
physical body were dealt with. In this sutra the emotional nature, expressing
itself through desire fails to be influenced by the pull of any attractive force.
The astral body becomes quiescent and non-assertive, unresponsive to any lure
from the world of illusion.
There is a great mystery concerned with the
astral body of man and with the astral light, and the nature of the mystery is
still only known to advanced initiates. The astral light is thrown into
objectivity by two producing factors, and the astral body of a man is
responsive to two types of energy. They seem essentially in themselves to lack
character or form but to be dependent for manifestation upon "that which
is above and that which is below." The desire nature of man, for instance,
seems to respond to the lure of the great world of illusion, the maya of the
senses, or to the voice of the ego, using the mental body. Vibrations reach the
astral body from the physical plane and from the mental world, and according to
the nature of the man and to the point in evolution which he has reached, so
will be the response to the higher or the lower call.
The astral body is either
attentive to the egoic impression or swayed by the million voices of earth. It
apparently has no voice of its own, no character of its own. This has
been pictured for us in the Gita where Arjuna stands midway between the two opposing forces of good and evil and
searches for the right attitude to both. The astral plane is the battleground
of the soul, the place of victory or the place of defeat; it is the [217]
kurukshetra, upon which the great choice is made.
In these sutras concerning posture, the same idea
lies latent. The physical plane and the mental plane are emphasized and it is
brought out that when they are adjusted rightly, when poise on the physical
plane and one pointedness on the mental plane are attained, then the pairs of
opposites no longer limit. The point of balance is reached and the man is
liberated. The scales of a man's life are absolutely adjusted and he stands
free.
Patanjali, 244:
The
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 3 - Union achieved and its Results
1. Concentration is the fixing of the chitta
(mind stuff) upon a particular object. This is dharana.
We have now reached the part of the Yoga Sutras
which deals specifically with mind control and with the effect of that control.
The first fifteen sutras are given to the control of the mind and how it is to
be attained and the remaining forty sutras concern the results which take place
after this control has been gained. Twenty-four results are enumerated, and
these are all along the line of expansions of consciousness and the
demonstration of psychic faculties, both lower and higher.
The first step towards this unfoldment is
concentration, or the ability to hold the mind steadily and unwaveringly upon
that which the aspirant chooses. This first step is one of the most difficult
[244] stages in the meditation process and involves constant unremitting
ability to keep bringing the mind back to that "object" upon which
the aspirant has chosen to concentrate. The stages in concentration are
themselves well marked and can be stated as follows:
- The choice of some
"object" upon which to concentrate,
- The withdrawing of
the mind-consciousness from the periphery of the body, so that the avenues
of outer perception and contact (the five senses) are stilled, and the
consciousness is no longer outgoing,
- The centering of the consciousness and
its steadying within the head at a point midway
between the eyebrows,
- The application of
the mind, or the paying of close attention to the object chosen for
concentration,
- The visualization of
that object, imaginative perception of it and logical reasoning about it,
- The extension of the
mental concepts which have been formed from the specific and particular to
the general and the universal or cosmic,
- An attempt to arrive
at that which lies back of the form considered, or to reach the idea which
is responsible for the form.
This process gradually steps up the consciousness
and enables the aspirant to arrive at the life side of manifestation instead of
the form side. He begins however with the form or "object." Objects
upon which to concentrate are of four kinds: [245]
- External objects, such as images of
the deity, pictures or forms in nature,
- Internal objects, such as the centers
in the etheric body,
- Qualities, such as the various
virtues, with the intent to awaken desire for these virtues and thus to
build them into the content of the personal life,
- Mental concepts or those
ideas which embody the ideals lying back of all animated forms. These may
take the form of symbols or of words.
In one of the Puranas the idea embodied in
concentration is expressed most beautifully. The aspirant is told, after he has
made use of the first five means of yoga (dealt with in Book II), that he
"should make a localization of the mind stuff upon some auspicious
support" and this localization is illustrated by a description of the
fixing of the attention upon a form of God.
"The incarnated form of the Exalted One
leaves one without desire for any other support. This should be understood to
be fixed, attention, when the mind stuff is fixed upon this form. And what is
this incarnate form of Hari on which one should ponder, let that be heard by
thee, 0 Ruler of Men. Fixed attention is not possible without something on
which to fix it." (Vishnu Purana V 1. 7. 75-85.)
Then follows a description of the incarnated form
of the Exalted One, concluding with these words:
"...upon Him let the yogin ponder; and lost
in Him, concentrate his own mind until, 0, King, the fixed attention becomes
firmly fixed upon Him only. While [246] performing this or while doing, as he
wills, some other action wherein his mind does not wander, he should then deem
this fixed attention to be perfected." (Naradiya Purana LXVII. 54-62.)
It is the realization of the necessity for
"objects" in concentration that originated the demand for images,
sacred sculptures and pictures. All these objects entail the use of the lower
concrete mind and this is the necessary preliminary stage. Their use brings the
mind into a controlled condition so that the aspirant can make it adjust what
he chooses. The four types of objects mentioned above carry the aspirant
gradually inwards and enable him to transfer his consciousness from the
physical plane into the etheric realm, from thence into the world of desire or
of the emotions, and so into the world of mental ideas and concepts. This
process, which is carried on within the brain, brings the entire lower man into
a state of one-pointed coherent attention, all parts of his nature being
directed to the attainment of fixed attention or a concentration of all the
mental faculties. The mind then is no longer scattering, unsteady and outgoing,
but is fully "fixed in attention." Vivekananda translates
"dharana" as "holding the mind to one thought for twelve
seconds." This clear, one-pointed, still perception of an object, without
any other object or thought entering into one's consciousness is most difficult
of achievement, and when it can be done for the space of twelve seconds, true
concentration is being achieved. [247]
Problems, 120:
Goodwill
is far more widespread throughout the world than people think; it simply needs
to be discovered, educated and set to work. It must not be exploited, however,
by groups working for their own ends, no matter how honestly, correctly or
sincerely. It would, if that was done, be diverted
into a partisan effort. The men of goodwill stand midway
between opposing groups where such exist, in order to create a condition in
which discussion and compromise can become happily possible. They tread constantly the "noble middle
path" of the Buddha which runs between the pairs of opposites, straight to
the very heart of God; they tread the "narrow way" of love of which
Christ spoke, and they indicate they are treading it by an expression of the
only aspect of love which humanity can at present understand: Goodwill.
Psychology1, 28:
May I interpolate here the comment that
modern thinkers would do well to bear in mind that the importance of
Christianity lies in the realization that it is a bridging religion. This is
symbolized for us by the fact that the Master of all the Masters took
incarnation in Palestine, that slice of land which is midway between Asia and Europe, and which partakes of the
character of both. Christianity is the religion of
the transitional period which links the era of self-conscious existence with
that of a group-conscious world. It is extant in the age which will see that
type of thought prevailing which (when rightly applied) will serve as the
connecting link between the worlds of concrete and of abstract mind. The Old Commentary
puts it thus:
"When the hour arrives wherein the light of the soul reveals the
antahkarana (the bridge between the personality consciousness and the soul
consciousness, A.A.B.) then shall men be known by their knowledge, be colored
by the despair of desire unappeased, be divided into those who recognize their
dharma (meet all implied obligations and duties) and those who only see the
working out of karma, and from the very nature of their need find light and
peace at last." [29]
Psychology1, 222:
As
this treatise is intended to be a practical attempt to elucidate the new
psychology, and as its objective is to increase man's understanding of himself,
it is not my intention to do more than convey a few ideas anent the rays and
their relation to the three subhuman kingdoms in nature. In all esoteric
writings it is necessary to show the synthesis and the continuity of the whole
process of evolution, for only as man
appreciates his position, midway between
the higher three kingdoms and the lower three, will the true significance of
the contribution of the fourth kingdom to the entire scheme of evolution
appear. I have given several
tabulations of correspondences and of the ray influences, and these warrant
careful study. It is, for instance, apparent that if the seventh ray is now
coming into power, and if its effect upon the lower kingdoms is beginning to be
felt, then humanity must be prepared for such changes as are inevitable.
Psychology1, 250:
The
two factors which are of major importance, during manifestation, are the evolving
consciousness and the manifesting life. When this is borne in mind, it will be
noted how each stage upon the way can be seen whole as a kingdom in nature.
Each of these kingdoms carries the consciousness aspect forward to a greater
stage of perfection, and demonstrates a greater sensitivity and responsiveness
to outer and inner environing conditions, than does the preceding kingdom. Each
manifests a fuller revelation of the inner and hidden glory. When, however, a
unit of life is immersed in form, and when the consciousness is identified (in
time and space) with any particular form, it is not possible for it to realize
its divinity or to express it consciously. Its psychology is that of the
partial and the particular, and not that of the universal and the whole. The
greater and closer the identification with the form aspect, the greater is the
lower unity and synthesis, but at the same time, the greater the darkness and,
speaking symbolically, the denser is the prison. Such is the consciousness in
the lower or subhuman kingdoms in nature. The more the unit of life is
identified with "the one who is conscious," the greater again is the
higher, yet different, unity and synthesis. Such also is the consciousness of
the three higher kingdoms, the superhuman. The tragedy, the problem and the
glory of man is that he can identify himself with both aspects - the form and
the life; and his psychological state is such that during the period wherein he
forms part of the human kingdom, his kingdom, [250] his consciousness
fluctuates between these pairs of opposites. He can identify himself with the
subhuman forms, and this he invariably does in the early stages. He can
identify himself with the life aspect, and this he does in the final stages. In the midway
stage of the average man, he is torn violently between both, and is himself the
battleground.
Psychology1, 312:
Man
stands midway between heaven and earth,
with his feet deep in the mud of material life and his head in heaven. In the majority of cases his eyes are closed, and he
sees not the beauty of the heavenly vision, or they are open but fixed upon the
mud and slime with which his feet are covered. But when his open eyes are
lifted for a brief moment, and see the world of reality and of spiritual
values, then the torn and distracted life of the aspirant begins.
Psychology1, 346:
Esoterically speaking (and not speaking
symbolically, for there is a distinction between these two forms which students
would do well to note), when the lines of forces are adjusted and there is free
interplay of energies and a straight aligned channel between the various
aspects of divinity, then there is achievement and beauty. This is the theme of
the [346] above symbolical and ancient formulation of truth, which is in the
nature of a symbolical prophecy. The same idea has been expressed in a still
more ancient and terse statement which has to be understood and reduced to a
mantric formula when the fourth initiation is taken:
"When the forces of the four, three times
repeated, become the four, then the Life of... reveals Itself in beauty."
It is interesting to note that the numerical
value of the word "four" is the same in detail as that of the word
"force", if you eliminate the number five. For humanity, it is the
fifth energy which leads to the battlefield, the energy of the discriminating
mind, and when that has been in due time used, controlled and transmuted,
"only the four remains and force has gone." Note the detail of
the numbering:
- F 0 R C E.
- 6 6 9 3 5 - 29
11. Number of adept, using energy. - F 0 U R.
- 6 6 3 9 - 24
6. The creator, unifying the subjective and the objective.
It is apparent that force in the first
group ends in separativeness, for five is the number of the mind and of man. Number
nine, the number of initiation, is hidden midway
in force, but the climaxing figures indicate activity and separation. In the
second group of figures, activity precedes the nine of initiation, and that
nine is the culmination. But five is left out. Man is no longer really
human or separative. He is the perfected four of the lower three and the soul.
Putting the truth quite simply, let it be borne in mind that mankind, the
fourth kingdom, which is an expression of the fourth creative hierarchy of
human monads, is swept by the instinct or impulse towards harmony, and is thus
primarily under the influence of the fourth ray. This harmony is achieved [347]
through the use of the energy of the fifth ray of knowledge. Then through
gained and applied knowledge, the result is beauty and the power to create. Then
the ray of the fifth Lord will be withdrawn from the major cycle governing
humanity, and wisdom and intuitional buddhic response will characterize
humanity. There is a close interplay in this major cycle, as far as mankind is
concerned, between the two ray Lords of Harmony and of Knowledge. It is again
in this numerical relation of four and five that the number nine emerges, which
is the number of initiation. An adept of the fifth initiation is one who has
achieved complete harmony through right knowledge. This takes place at the
fourth initiation and is demonstrated or proven at the fifth.
Psychology1, 403:
7. The Ray of the Ego
In starting our study of the ray of the Ego or
Soul, certain major premises might be briefly stated and incorporated into a series
of propositions, fourteen in number. They are as follows:
- The egos of all
human beings are to be found upon one or another of the seven rays. [402]
- All egos
found upon the fourth, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh rays must
eventually, after the third initiation, blend with the three major rays,
or monadic rays.
- The
monadic ray of every ego is one of the three rays of aspect, and the sons
of men are either monads of power, monads of love, or monads of
intelligence.
- For our
specific purposes, we shall confine our attention to the seven groups of
souls found upon one or other of the seven rays or streams of divine
energy.
- For the
major part of our racial and life experience we are governed sequentially,
and later simultaneously by:
- The physical body, which
is dominated by the ray governing the sum total of the atoms of that
body.
- The emotional
desire nature, which is to be found influenced and controlled by the ray
which colors the totality of astral atoms.
- The mind body or
mental nature, and the caliber and quality of the ray determining its
atomic value.
- Later, on the
physical plane, the soul ray begins to work in and with the sum total of
the three bodies, which constitute - when aligned and functioning in
unison - the personality. The effect of that general integration is
actively to produce an incarnation and incarnations wherein the
personality ray emerges clearly, and the three bodies or selves
constitute the three aspects or rays of the lower personal self.
- When the personality ray becomes
pronounced and dominant, and the three body rays are subordinated to it,
then the great fight takes place between the egoic ray or soul and the
personality ray. The differentiation becomes clearly marked, and the sense
of duality becomes more definitely established. The experiences detailed
in the Bhagavad Gita become the experiences [403] of the path of
discipleship; Arjuna stands
"at the midway point" on
the field of Kurukshetra, between the two opposing forces, and, owing to
the smoke of the battle, finds himself unable to see clearly.
- Eventually,
the soul ray or influence becomes the dominating factor, and the rays of
the lower bodies become the subrays of this controlling ray. This last
sentence is of basic importance, for it indicates the true relation of the
personality to the ego or soul. The disciple who understands this relation
and conforms to it is ready to tread the path of initiation.
- Each of
the seven groups of souls is responsive to one of the seven types of
force, and all of them are responsive to the ray of the planetary Logos of
our planet, which is the third Ray of Active Intelligence. All are
therefore upon a subray of this ray, but it must never be forgotten that
the planetary Logos is also upon a ray, which is a subray of the second
Ray of Love-Wisdom.
Psychology2, 17:
Initiation carried to
its consummation, as far as humanity is concerned, produces the liberated
Master of the Wisdom, free from the limitations of the individual, garnering
the fruits of the individualization process and functioning increasingly as the
solar angel, because focused primarily in the inner spiritual body. Awareness
of the Presence is thus steadily developed. This fact merits the deep study and
meditation [17] of all disciples. As the three rays which govern the lower
triplicity blend and synthesize and produce the vital personality, and as they
in their turn dominate the ray of the dense physical body, the lower man enters
into a prolonged condition of conflict. Gradually and increasingly, the soul
ray, "the ray of persistent and magnetic grasp", as it is occultly
called, begins to become more active; in the brain of the man who is a
developed personality, an increased awareness of vibration is set up. There are
many degrees and stages in this experience, and they cover many lives. The
personality ray and the egoic ray at first seem to clash, and then later a
steady warfare is set up with the disciple as the onlooker - and dramatic
participator. Arjuna emerges into the arena of the battlefield. Midway between the two
forces he stands, a conscious tiny point of sentient awareness and of light.
Around him and in him and through him the energies of the two rays pour and
conflict. Gradually, as the battle continues to rage, he becomes a more active
factor, and drops the attitude of the detached and uninterested onlooker. When
he is definitely aware of the issues involved, and definitely throws the weight
of his influence, desires, and mind on to the side of the soul, he can take the
first initiation. When the ray of the soul focuses itself
fully through him, and all his centers are controlled by that focused soul ray,
then he becomes the transfigured Initiate, and takes the third initiation. The
ray of the personality is occultly "extinguished" or absorbed by the
ray of the soul, and all the potencies and attributes of the lower rays become
subsidiary to and colored by the soul ray. The disciple becomes a "man of
God", - a person whose powers are controlled by the dominant vibration of
the soul ray and whose inner, sensitive mechanism is vibrating to the measure
of that soul ray which - in its turn - is being itself [18] reoriented to, and
controlled by, the monadic ray.
Psychology2, 37:
Ray Four
"The Blessed One rushed forth to combat. He saw
existence as two warring forces, and fought them both. Loaded with the panoply
of war, he stood midway, looking two
ways. The clash of battle, the many weapons he had learned to use, the longing
not to fight, the thrill of finding those he fought were but brothers and
himself, the anguish of defeat, the paean of his victory, - these held him
down.
The Blessed One paused and questioned: 'Whence come the victory and
whence defeat? Am I not the Blessed One Himself? I will invoke the angels to my
aid!
The trumpet sound went forth: 'Rise up and fight, and reconcile the
armies of the Lord. There is no battle. Force the conflict to subside; send for
the invocation for the peace of all; form out of two, one army of the Lord; let
victory crown the efforts of the Blessed One by harmonizing all. Peace lies
behind the warring energies.' "
Psychology2, 47:
Ray Five
"The Angel of the Presence serves the three - the
One above, the one below, and the One who ever is. (This refers to the fact
that on the fifth plane the Angel is definitely met and known, and the three
aspects of the higher triad, buddhi, the abstract mind and spirit, plus the ego
in the causal body, and the lower mind are here blended and fused.) [47]
The great Triangle begins its revolutions, and its rays reach out in all
directions, and permeate the Whole.
The man and Angel face each other, and
know themselves to be the same. The light that radiates from the heart, the throat,
and from the center which stands midway
meet and merge. The two are one.
The Voice that speaks within the silence can be heard: 'The power that
reaches from the highest point has reached the lowest. The Plan can now be
known. The Whole can stand revealed. The love that stretches from the heart,
the life that issues forth from God, have served the Plan. The mind that gathers
all with wisdom into the boundaries of the Plan has reached the outer limits of
the sphere of God's activity. That power informs my life. That love inspires my
heart. That mind enlightens all my world. I therefore serve the Plan.' "
Ray Six
"The
Angel of the Presence reaches down, and, at the midway
point, pierces the fog of glamor. The Path stands clear.
The One who treads the path and stops to fight, who wrestles blindly
with the two who seek to hinder and to blind, sees the Way free. It stands revealed.
He ceases from the clamor and the fight. He finds his way into the Presence.
Knee to knee, and foot to foot, they stand. Hand to hand, and breast to
breast, forehead to forehead, see them stand. And thus they merge and blend.
The trumpet call goes forth: 'The warfare is no more. The battle ends.
The glamor and the clouds have disappeared. The light and glory of the Day is here. That light reveals
the Plan. The Whole is with us now. The purpose is revealed. With all I have, I
serve that Plan.' "
Psychology2, 243:
These ancient rules,
or determining factors - the essential conditioning laws in the life of the
Soul - are in their nature basically psychological. For that reason, they
warrant our study. On its own plane, the soul knows no separation, and the
factor of synthesis governs all soul relations. The soul is occupied not only
with the form that the vision of its objective may take, but with the quality
or the meaning which that vision veils or hides. The soul knows the Plan; its
form, outline, methods and objective are known. Through the use of the creative
imagination, the soul creates; it builds thought-forms on the mental plane and
objectifies desire on the astral plane. It proceeds there to externalize its
thought and its desire upon the physical plane through applied force,
creatively actuated by the imagination of the etheric or vital vehicle. Yet
because the soul is intelligence, motivated by love, it can (within the
realized synthesis which governs its activities) analyze, discriminate and divide.
The soul likewise aspires to that which is greater
than itself, and reaches out to the world of divine ideas, and thus itself
occupies a midway position between the
world of ideation and the world of forms. This is its difficulty and its
opportunity.
Psychology2, 244:
In this way the life of the soul is affirmed in terms of its
conditioning factors. The value of this lies in the fact that, upon the Path of
Discipleship, these factors must begin to play their part in the life of the
personality. They must begin to condition the lower man so that his life, his
habits, his [244] desires and his thoughts are brought into line with the
higher impulses initiated by the soul. This is only another way of dealing with
those expressions of the spiritual life which every initiate must demonstrate.
Every aspirant must, as time elapses, develop the
power to see the whole and not only the part, and to view his life and sphere
of influence in terms of its corporate relationships and not in terms of the
separated self. He must not only see the vision (for that the mystic has always
done) but he must penetrate behind it to those essential qualities which give
meaning to the vision. The instinct to formulate plans, inherent in all and so
dominant in the highly evolved, must give way to the tendency to make plans in
tune with the Plan of God, as expressed through the planetary Hierarchy. This
in time will produce the urge to create those forms, conveying meaning, which
will transmute evil into good and produce the transfiguration of life.
But to do this within the
Plan and at the same time to recognize the basic synthesis in which we live and
move, the disciple must learn to analyze, discriminate and discern those
aspects, qualities and forces which must be creatively used in the
materialization of the intuited Plan, based on the sensed vision. We might well
ponder on this rapport between the man, and the Hierarchy, via a man's own
soul. The Hierarchy exists in order to render possible in form that sensed Plan
and divine Vision. To produce
this emergence of truth, the man stands also at the midway point, and in handling the great dualities of life, must
produce the new world.
Psychology2, 276:
We are told that a long time transpires between the first initiation
(wherein the crisis of appropriation on the Path of Ascent, finds its
culmination) and the second initiation. Here again there is a correspondence to
earlier happenings, for much time has transpired since individualization,
technically understood, has taken place. That individualization, the first
great soul approach took place either in Lemurian days or in a still earlier
crisis upon that dead planet, the moon. Today, just as the form of animal man
had to reach a certain level of development, so the human form has to reach the
level of personality integration before the re-enactment of the Approach of
Appropriation can be consciously carried forward.
Next there comes a period in the life of
the aspirant when he shifts off the probationary path and moves on to the path
of discipleship. This is the result of an activity which is a reflection in his
individual personality life of the Approach of Acquiescence. This takes place
upon the battlefield of the astral plane. There the disciple acquiesces
consciously in the inevitable process of transmutation which takes place before
the personality can be a fit instrument for the soul. He stands [276] between
the pairs of opposites, learning the secret of duality, and like Arjuna
(fixed at the midway point) he seeks the
way out, eventually acquiescing in the task ahead. This is the stage of
submission to which every disciple subjects himself.
Psychology2, 363:
Ray Four
" 'Midway I stand between the forces which oppose
each other. Longing am I for harmony and peace, and for the beauty which
results from unity. I see the two. I see naught else but
forces ranged opposing, and I, the one, who stands within the circle at the
center. Peace I demand. My mind is bent upon it. Oneness with all I seek, yet
form divides. War upon every side I find, and separation. Alone I stand and am.
I know too much.'
The love of unity must
dominate, and love of peace and harmony. Yet not that love, based on a longing
for relief, for peace to self, for unity because it carries with it that which
is pleasantness.
The word goes forth from soul to
form. 'Both sides are one. There is no war, no difference and no isolation. The
warring forces seem to war from the point at which you stand. Move on a pace.
See truly with the opened eye of inner vision and you will find, not two but
one; not war but peace; not isolation but a heart which rests upon the center.
Thus shall the beauty of the Lord shine forth. The hour is now.' "
Psychology2, 377:
Ray Seven
" 'I seek to bring the two together. The
plan is in my hands. How shall I work? Where lay the emphasis? In the far
distance stands the One Who Is. Here at my
hand is form, activity, substance, and desire. Can I relate these and fashion
thus a form for God? Where shall I send my thought, my power the word that I
can speak?
'I, at the center, stand, the worker in the field
of magic. I know some rules, some magical controls, some Words of Power, some
forces which I can direct. What shall I do? Danger there is. The task that I
have undertaken is not easy of accomplishment, yet I love power. I love to see
the forms emerge, created by my mind, and do their work, fulfil the plan and
disappear. I can create. The rituals of the Temple of the Lord are known to me.
How shall I work?
'Love not the work. Let love of
God's eternal Plan control [376] your life, your mind, your hand, your eye.
Work towards the unity of plan and purpose which must find its lasting place on
earth. Work with the Plan; focus upon your share in that great work.'
The word goes forth from soul to
form: 'Stand in the center of the pentagram, drawn upon that high place in the
East within the light which ever shines. From that illumined center work. Leave
not the pentagram. Stand steady in the midst. Then draw a line from that which
is without to that which is within and see the Plan take form.' "
It is not possible to be
more explicit than this. This great and powerful ray is now coming into
manifestation and it brings new energies to man of so potent a nature that the
disciples of today must move and work with care. They are literally handling
fire. It is the children who are now coming into incarnation who will
eventually work more safely and more correctly with these new potencies. There
is much, however, to be done in the meantime, and the disciples upon this
seventh ray can ponder on this formula and seek their own interpretation of it,
endeavoring first of all to stand in the East, within the protection of the
pentagram. As he realizes the task to be carried out and the nature of the work
to be done by the seventh ray worker, and appreciates the fact that it is the
magical work of producing those forms on earth which will embody the spirit of
God (and in our particular time, this necessitates the building of new forms),
each seventh ray disciple will see himself as a relating agent, as the one who
stands in the midst of the building processes, attending to his portion of the
task. This, if really grasped and deeply considered will have the effect of
producing alignment. The moment that this alignment is achieved, then let
the disciple remember that it will mean a tremendous inflow of power, of energy
from both the aligned points, from both directions, converging upon him, as he
stands in the [377] midway place. Ponder
deeply upon this truth, for it is this fact which always evokes a seventh ray
crisis. It will be obvious what this crisis is. If the man
concerned is materially minded, selfishly ambitious and unloving, the inpouring
energy will stimulate the personality nature and he will immediately be warring
furiously with all that we mean by the instinctual, psychic, intellectual
nature. When all these three are stimulated, the disciple is often for a time
swung off the center into a maelstrom of magical work of the lower kind - sex
magic and many forms of black magic. He is glamored by the beauty of his
motive, and deceived by the acquired potency of his personality.
If, however, he is warned of the danger and
aware of the possibility, he will stand steady at the center within the
mystical pentagram, and there suffer
until the light in the East rises upon his darkness, discovering him still at
the midway point. Then comes the
revelation of the Plan, for this has ever to be the motivating power of the
seventh ray disciple. He works on earth, upon the outer plane of
manifestation, with the construction of those forms through which the divine
will can express itself. In the field of religion, he works in collaboration
with the second and sixth ray disciples. In the field of government he labors,
building those forms which will enable the first ray activity to be expressed.
In the field of business, he cooperates with third ray energies and the
executives of the Plan. In the field of science, he aids and assists the fifth
ray workers. He is the expression of the builder, and the creator, bringing
into outer manifestation God's Plan. He begins, however, with himself, and
seeks to bring into expression the plan of his soul in his own setting and
worldly situation. Until he can do this, he is unable to stand in the East
within the pentagram.
It is occultly said that "the pentagram is
open and a place [378] of danger when the disciple knows not order within his
own life, and when the ritual of the soul is not imposed and its rhythm not
obeyed. The pentagram is closed when order is restored and the ritual of the
Master is imposed." The writing goes on to say that "if the disciple
enters through the open pentagram, he dies. If he passes over into the closed
pentagram, he lives. If he transmutes the pentagram into a ring of fire, he
serves the Plan."
Psychology2, 527:
There are, consequently, two points to be borne
in mind as we study the mystic and his difficulties; first of all, the period
of awakening and subsequent utilization of the centers and, secondly, the
period of the transference of energy from the solar plexus to the heart, and
then from all the four centers up the spine to the throat center, prior to the
focusing of the energy of all the centers in the ajna center (between the eye
brows). This center is the controlling one in the personality life and from it
goes all personality direction and guidance to the five lower centers which it
synthesizes. Each of these stages brings with it its own difficulties and
problems. We shall, how ever, concern ourselves with these problems only as
they affect present opportunity or hinder the man who finds himself upon the
Path and is, therefore, taking his own evolution in hand. Then he stands "midway between the pairs of opposites"
and this means (as far as our particular interest at this time is concerned)
that we shall find three stages in the mystical work, each of which will mark a
definite point of crisis, with its attendant tests and trials:
- The
stage wherein transference is made of all the lower [528] energies into
the solar plexus, preparatory to carrying them to the throat and heart
centers above the diaphragm. This stage covers not only the process of
transference but also that of focusing the forces in the higher centers.
- Period - The
later stages of the Path of Probation and the early stages of the Path of
Discipleship.
- Keynote - Discipline.
- Objective -
Idealism, plus personality effort. Purification and control.
- The
stage wherein transference is made into the ajna center and the
personality life becomes integrated and powerful.
- Period - The
later stages of the Path of Discipleship and up till the time of the
third initiation.
- Keynote -
Expression of the soul, through the medium of the personality.
- Objective - The
understanding of the Plan and consequent cooperation with it.
Psychology2, 638:
The strength of the New Group of World Servers
lies in three factors:
- They occupy a midway position between the masses of men and the inner
subjective world government.
- They draw their
membership (if such an inadequate word can be used) from all classes, -
the aristocracy, the intelligentsia, the bourgeoisie, higher and lower,
and the upper layer of the proletariat. They are therefore truly representative.
- They are closely
interrelated, and in constant contact and rapport with each other, through
unity of objective, [639] definiteness of method, and uniformity in
technique and good will.
Psychology2, 743:
As you know, the New Group of World Servers has its members in every
land. A vast number are known. They are practical intelligent people, not visionary
idealistic mystics, working towards an object which may appear inaccessible,
but towards one which is capable of immediate and practical application. They
are talking of understanding and cooperation in all fields of human thought and
life, and are emphasizing the future and unavoidable expression of such love -
unavoidable under the evolutionary law. It is the next great human development.
Behind, in the distant past of the race,
humanity faced such a crisis as is now upon us. The race was then fecundated
with intellect, if I may use such a phrase, and the human or fourth kingdom
came into being. The great latent power of self-consciousness was born, and men
became individuals. Now the race faces another fecundation, this time with Love
and the fifth kingdom in nature, the kingdom of God can be born and can
function upon the outer world of manifestation. Group consciousness will be
seen and the power to identify oneself with the group and not with one's own
selfish interests. The New Group of World Servers, standing at a midway point between the spiritual Hierarchy
and the world of men, are the agents of this process and can lead men out of
the crisis which it has brought about. They are
expressions of the intended good will and a leavening force in their
environment. They do and say nothing which could increase the existing
cleavages among people, races and religions. Let us leave it at that, for it is
a simple statement of a simple way to lay the ground for needed changes. [744]
Rays, 6:
A close study of the needed transmutation of
astral and emotional energy into love, the energy of love. This involves
the sublimation of personal feeling into group realization or consciousness,
and when carried out successfully produces in time the construction of a higher
and subtler body, the buddhic sheath. When this sheath is thus materialized a
very high stage of advancement is marked, but the earlier stages can be
intelligently approached by any earnest student and probationer. To transmute
emotion into love the following realizations will be found necessary:
- A realization that
all moods, all display of sorrow, of pain, or of happy excitement are due
to our identification with the objects of desire, with the form aspect,
and with that which is material.
- An understanding of
the emotional or astral body and the place it plays in the student's
development. It should be recognized as the shadow of the monad, and a
connection should be traced between
The Astral Sheath - 6th Plane
The Buddhic Sheath - 4th Plane
The Monadic Sheath - 2nd Plane
and the place the love petals in the egoic lotus
play should also be carefully considered.
- A
comprehension of the potency of the astral sheath owing to its undivided
nature.
- A study of the purpose of the solar
plexus, and the part it plays as an organ of transference of energy from
the three great centers below the diaphragm to the three higher [6]
centers. There is a very close analogy here to the solar lotus, the
egoic body, occupying a midway
point between the threefold Monad and the threefold lower man. The more
advanced should follow this.
The development of the faculty of mind control, so that
the Thinker grips and holds steady the mental processes and learns to regard
the mind as the interpreter of the states of consciousness, as the transmitter
of egoic intent to the physical brain and as the window through which the Ego,
the real Man looks out upon vast and (to the majority) unknown fields of
knowledge.
Rays, 10:
The adept can enter the world of form, can contact it,
work in it and remain unaffected by it because there is nothing in him to
respond to it. He sees through the illusion to the reality behind and, knowing
where he stands himself, there is naught in the appeal and the demand of these
lunar lords to attract him. He stands midway
between the pairs of opposites. In the realization of
the nature of this world of form, in a comprehension of the lives which compose
it, and in an ability to hear the voice of the "formless One" above
the strife of all the lower voices, comes the opportunity for the aspirant to
escape from the dominance of matter.
This is the true magical work, my brothers, the understanding of the
sounds of all beings, and the ability to speak the language of the soul is the
clue to the work. These faculties rightly used impose upon these lesser lives
that control which will lead to the final liberation, and which will in due
time, lead these lives themselves into the realm of self-consciousness. This
aspect of the matter is as yet but little comprehended by the sons of men. If
they but realized that by a disposition to fall under lunar control they drive
the tiny lives in their little system deeper into the darkness of ignorance,
they might more rapidly assume their just responsibilities; if they realized that
by the constant attempt to impose the rhythm of the solar Lord upon the
aggregate of the lunar lords, they were driving these lives onward to
self-conscious unfoldment, they might proceed more earnestly and more
intelligently. This is the message that must [11] go forth, for all the varying
aspects of the life of God are interdependent and not one proceeds onward into
fuller realization without benefiting the entire group.
Rays, 22-23:
Rule XI
- For Applicants: Let the disciple
transfer the fire from the lower triangle to the higher and preserve that
which is created through the fire at the midway
point.
- For Disciples and Initiates: Let the group
together move the fire within the jewel in the Lotus into the Triad and
[23] let
them find the Word which will carry out that task. Let them destroy by
their dynamic Will that which has been created at the midway point. When the point of
tension is reached by the brothers at the fourth great cycle of
attainment, then will this work be done.
Rays, 62:
We now arrive at a point which it is
difficult for disciples to grasp. The initiate or disciple has reached a point
in his evolution in which triplicity gives place to duality, prior to the
attainment of complete unity. Only two factors are of concern to him as he
"stands at the midway point,"
and these are Spirit and Matter. Their complete identification within his
consciousness becomes his major goal, but only in reference to the whole
creative process and not now in reference to the separated self.
It is this thought which motivates the service of the initiate, and it is this
concept of wholeness gradually creeping into the world consciousness [63] which
is indicating that humanity is on the verge of initiation. Therefore, it is the
material aspect, "the perfected third of the Personality," which
makes possible the activity of the initiate as he sounds out his three demands.
The "dominant fifth of the ego" makes itself heard at the third
initiation, marking the attainment of at-one-ment, and this fades out at the
fourth initiation. At that time the egoic vehicle, the causal body, disappears.
Then only two divine aspects remain; the perfected, radiant, organized and
active substance through which the initiate can work in full control, the
matter aspect, and the dynamic life principle, the spirit aspect, with which
that "substantial divine Reality" still awaits identification. It is
this thought which underlies the initiate's three demands which (according to
the Rule earlier given to aspirants and disciples) must sound forth "across
the desert, over all the seas and through the fires."
Rays, 215:
We now come, after these preliminary remarks, to a consideration of
the next rule.
Rule XI
Let the group together move the fire within the jewel in the Lotus into the
Triad and let them find the Word which will carry out that task. Let them
destroy by their dynamic Will that which has been created at the midway point. When the
point of tension is reached by the brothers at the fourth great cycle of
attainment, then will this work be done.
Rays, 222-223:
Now comes the possibility of fulfiling the third great injunction
contained in this rule:
- Let them destroy by their dynamic Will
that which has been created at the midway
point.
In the fulfilment of the requirement here
enjoined, the group enters upon its major test in this work of transference.
The group members have unitedly preserved the point of tension; unitedly they
have created the antahkarana; unitedly they have invoked by the group sound the
attention of the Master and of the Master's Ashram; unitedly that sound has
taken the form of a Word, and that Word has made an impact upon the life aspect
of the group within the form of the group soul; it has energized it so that the
destruction of the causal body is now in order. The tendency of the group would
then be to relax, and this quite normally; the irretrievable Word has gone
forth and all is well and safely accomplished. But it is not so in verity. By
the power of their united love, the group has mastered personnel difficulties and
has developed together the four qualities; it has also found the Word which can
affect the soul - for the Word is ever related to the second aspect, and
because of that it can reach and energize the soul, the second aspect per se.
But now, in the final stages
of the great work of transference, the group has to arrive at a new point of
tension and of united attainment. It has to use the dynamic will, the energy of
the first aspect, and so bring about the final [223] destruction of the causal
body. The life within the causal body has been stimulated and vitalized and is
now seeking to break out of its confining form. The vehicle of the soul is
being subjected to pressure from within but then - both in the case of the
individual initiate and of the initiated group - the final blow has to be
struck also from without, by an act of the united will; this corresponds to the
great cry of the Christ upon the Cross when He exclaimed "It is
finished." With these words, we are told, the veil of the Temple was rent
from the top to the bottom, and the life of the Christ ascended to the Father.
Ponder upon the significances of these phrases. "That which has been
created at the midway point" is no
longer needed. No mediating principle or intermediary between man and the Father
is any longer required; the Monad and the personality are in complete
at-one-ment and have achieved perfected relationship; triplicity has given
place to duality, and the Way of the Higher Evolution stands open before the
initiate.
Rays, 236:
These forces and energies
- from the zodiac or from one or other of the seven rays - have poured into and
through our planetary Life for countless aeons. Each time that they cyclically
make their appearance, the forms and substance in the three worlds upon which
they impinge and through which they pass are different in the degree of
evolutionary response and of sensitive reaction to impact. The response and the
reactions of the human family as a whole, or of the individual within that
whole, will differ from that of the previous cycle; with these factors the
Hierarchy has to contend, changing cyclically its technique and altering its
modes of work in order to meet the changing need. Bear this in mind. This has
never been more evident to the Masters than today. The war might be regarded as
a revolt by the form side of nature against the old conditions, and [236]
against the new incoming conditioning factors on the part of the Black Lodge. Between the
two forces - one sensitive, onward moving, ready for that which is new and
better, and the other reactionary, static and determined to pin a strangle hold
upon the life within the form - the Hierarchy stands at the midway point:
- Throwing
all its weight on the side of that which is new, spiritual and desirable.
- Adapting
itself simultaneously to new conditions and new emerging factors.
- Standing
like a wall of steel, unshatterable and immovable between humanity and the
forces of evil.
Rays, 333:
The tests for the first initiation, as far as humanity (the world
disciple) is concerned, are well-nigh over and the hour of the birth of the
Christ as an expression of the fourth kingdom in nature and the consummation of
the work of the Fourth Creative Hierarchy is at hand. This there is no
gainsaying; the birth hour may be long and the form may be "in labor"
for much time, but the Christ will be born and the nature of the Christ and His
consciousness will permeate and color all human affairs. It is this condition -
so imminent and so desirable and long foretold and anticipated - which will
make possible the return of the Hierarchy and the restoration of the Mysteries.
These occurrences are not only dependent
upon the fitness of humanity to provide the right setting and upon the
inevitability of evolutionary development itself, but the reappearance of the
Hierarchy and that which its Members will accomplish is related also (and
primarily) to the interior life and the spiritual impulses within the Hierarchy
itself and unrelated to mankind altogether. The Hierarchy pursues its own line
of spiritual unfoldment as a paralleling activity to its services on Earth in
connection with planetary evolution. Men are so apt to regard their own lives
and destiny and the unfoldment of the human consciousness as the factor of only
and paramount importance upon Earth and in the evolutionary processes of the
planet. These conditions are of importance, but they are not the only
factors of importance, nor does humanity stand alone and isolated. Humanity
occupies a midway point between the
subhuman and the superhuman kingdoms, and each of these groups of evolving
lives has its own important destiny - important to all contained within the
group ring-pass-not. They have their own chosen and
differing modes, methods and ways of achievement. Just as individual man has to
learn the art or science of relationship to other men and to his environment,
so humanity as a whole has to learn its relationship to that which lies
above and beyond mankind and with that which is below and left behind. This
involves a sense of proportion which can be attained only by the mind principle
in man [334] and by those who are beginning to be mentally polarized. This
sense of proportion will reveal to men their place upon the ladder of evolution
and lead them to the recognition of the peculiar destiny and unique goals of
other kingdoms in nature, including the fifth kingdom, the Kingdom of God, the
spiritual Hierarchy of our planet.
Rays, 382:
The time came in those distant aeons when a
certain percentage of human beings reached, through their own efforts, the
stage (at that time demanded) of preparedness for initiation. This attainment
brought surprising results:
- It became possible
for certain of the Masters to "return from whence They came."
- It became necessary
to provide conditions where [382] these men "accepted for unfettered
enlightenment" could receive the needed training.
- The process of creation had reached
the evolutionary stage where the centers of the Lord of the World were
differentiated; function and radiatory activity were established, and this
produced a stronger "pull" and placed the Hierarchy "at the
midway point." A station of light
and power was formed. All this was made possible because humanity could
now produce its own "enlightened ones."
Rays, 600:
The personality is now possessed of knowledge, for fifth ray energy
has done its needed work; the disciple is also aware that he is in possession
of the wisdom which enables him to use knowledge in the furtherance of the
Plan, and therefore to work as an illuminating factor in the world of men. He
knows clearly what has been [600] accomplished and senses something of what
lies ahead. The great principle of cleavage (which the fifth ray governs) is
the dominating factor in his time sense; he now differentiates sharply
between past and present and that which has to be ascertained in the future.
Cleavage, in the sense of separateness, is finished for him and he now feels
and knows something of the essential unity of all manifested life; therefore,
from the angle of space, he has
dominated and overcome cleavage and division; in the sense of time he
has not. The great heresy of separateness no longer exists in his
consciousness; the consciousness of the initiatory process is not yet over,
however for that involves the recognition of time.
During the initiatory
process between the second and the third initiations, the initiate has to
battle with illusion in exactly the same sense as he earlier had to battle with
glamor. Illusion is, in the last analysis, the control of the mental processes
by great and massive thought-forms; this conflict persists from the moment that
the disciple has achieved mental polarization (at a midway point between the second and the third initiations) until
he stands before the Initiator at the sixth Initiation of Decision, when the
last illusion disappears. You will feel and
comment that the Masters are therefore subject to illusion. This They
definitely are, and there are great and basic illusions governing life within
the Hierarchy. Nevertheless, they are illusions of such a high order that - for
advanced humanity - they would signify achievement. I may not give you more
than one instance of such illusion, but that should prove clear and sufficient.
It is not until the sixth Initiation of Decision that the illusion of the
planetary ring-pass-not finally disappears. The Master then knows that such a
limitation is non-existent. For Him, the choice between the seven Paths becomes
possible. This basic illusion constitutes for mankind a great hierarchical
mystery and is based upon the Principle of Privation, by means of which the
planetary Logos chooses to circumscribe His freedom and to limit His
activities. [601]
Rays, 734-735:
… there is a group of Contemplative Initiates,
called in the Eastern phraseology "Nirmanakayas," Who function
in deep meditation at a point midway
between the Hierarchy and Shamballa, so this much
higher group of Ray Lords function in the deepest cosmic meditation between our
planet, the Earth, and our sister planet, Venus. You would find it useful to
read with care The Secret Doctrine and A Treatise on Cosmic Fire and
refresh your minds as to this relationship. A lower correspondence
to these two important groups has been forming midway
between the Hierarchy and Humanity, and to it we give the name of the New Group
of World Servers. All these three groups are fundamentally
"transmitters of energy"; the two highest are exceedingly susceptible
to cosmic impression and to the vibratory quality of the extra-planetary body
of Avatars Who hold Themselves in readiness to function as destroying or
building Energies in any part of our solar system and are under the direction
of the Solar Logos.
The Avatar of Synthesis, Who is working in
cooperation with the Christ, is one of Them. Bear in mind that these extra-planetary
Avatars have not arrived at Their high state of spiritual unfoldment on our
planet or even in our solar system. Their origin, source and spiritual
relationships are a great mystery even to the planetary Logoi - to Whose help
They go when the invocative appeal of any planet is adequate. Think not that
They come to put wrong right or to arrest evil. A few, a very few, may do so,
but They work along the line of the seven ray energies in the solar system and
produce certain energy effects desired at any particular time; the constructive
work of the Avatar of Synthesis will be apparent to you in the name He is known
by; He is coming to the Earth in order to further the manifestation of unity,
of oneness and of interrelation, and He comes, therefore, to wield and apply
first ray energy. He will charge or galvanize the three groups - the directing
Agents in Shamballa, the Nirmanakayas and the New Group of World Servers - with
dynamic energy and, in a mysterious way, relate them to each other so that a [735]
new synthesis and alignment will be present upon the Earth. All these Avatars
embody energy to the extent that any particular planet is capable of receiving
it.
These are interesting
items of information but are only of value in so far as they convey to you a
sense of planetary integrity and of solar synthesis, and present to you a
closer spiritual interrelation in which you, as individuals, can share if you are linking your
fate and service to that of the New Group of World Servers. Then you will be in
the direct line of spiritual descent, of divine energy; in this thought you
have the clue to the doctrine (so travestied and misused) of the Apostolic
Succession. The details, the personnel and the techniques of the two higher
groups lie beyond your ken; They work in cooperation with the planetary Logos
Himself, and Those Who compose these groups are all initiates of degrees higher
than the fifth. Most of the Nirmanakayas have taken the
sixth and the seventh initiations, whilst the group which functions midway between the Earth and Venus have all
taken the eighth and ninth initiations. Some of
Them, as I mentioned earlier, aid the initiate of the seventh degree; a still
larger group of them participate in the activities of the two final
initiations.
Rays, 767:
The
Rays and the Initiations - Appendix
The Crucifixion
In the mystic Heart, with its two lobes,
lies the key to the reservoir. In the outgoing and the return the cross is
made. Midway it stands, with the right
hand and the left hand path on either side. There the
man is crucified, with the two on either hand - one on the right and one on the
left. In the apprehension of the key, in the opening and shutting of doors,
lies life eternal. Know you and understand.
Soul, 74:
As one investigates the different interpretations as to the nature of
the soul, three points of view emerge and these have been well summarized for
us in Webster's Dictionary:
"First, the soul has been treated as an entity or subject,
manifested especially in man's volitional thinking activities; it is the
subject of the experience meditated by the body; it is not the mind, but that
which thinks and wills.
"Second, the soul is identified with the mind or with conscious
experience; this is the usual sense of the word in psychology, and is the
general conception of idealists.
"Third, the soul is treated as a function or the sum of the
functions of the brain; thus Pierre J. G. Cabanis (1757-1808), taught that the
brain secretes thought as the stomach digests food."
Webster adds the following comment which is appropriate in its
application to the present trend of world thought:
"Some conceptions, such as that of
Fechner, that the soul is the whole unitary, spiritual process in
conjunction with the whole unitary bodily process, appear to stand midway between the idealistic and
materialistic views."
Telepathy, 119:
The next key-thought which is of importance is found in the words:
3. "The Plan is the dynamic substance, providing
the content of the reservoir upon which the impressing agent can draw and to
which the recipient of the impression must become sensitive."
This sentence requires probably a quite serious
readjustment in the thinking of most students. The concept of the Plan as
Substance will assuredly be new to them, and new perhaps also to you. It is
nevertheless a concept which they must endeavor to grasp. Let me phrase it
somewhat differently: The Plan constitutes or is composed of the substance
in which the Members of the Hierarchy consistently work. Let us take this
important concept and break it up into its component parts for the sake of
clarity. I am strongly emphasizing these words because this concept is of an
importance almost beyond human comprehension, and because its understanding may
revise and revitalize your entire approach to the Plan, and you will therefore
be enabled to work in a fresh and in an entirely new manner:
- The Plan IS
substance. It is essentially substantial energy. And energy is substance
and nothing else.
- The substance (which
is the Plan) is dynamic in nature, and is therefore impregnated with the
energy of WILL. [119]
- The Plan constitutes
a reservoir of energized substance, held in solution by the WILL of Sanat
Kumara and embodying His intangible purpose (intangible to us but not
intangible to Him).
- It is this planetary
Substance upon which the "impressing agents" must draw - the
Nirmanakayas, the Members of the Hierarchy and the working disciples of
the world, plus all spiritual sensitives of a certain degree.
- Recipients
of the desired impression must become sensitive to this substantial
energy.
This entire proposition can be referred back to
the originating Thinker Who brought our manifested world into being, and Who
sequentially and under the Law of Evolution is bringing to fruition the
objective of His thinking. In the larger and wider sense, it is that sumtotal
of the ocean of energies in which "we live and move and have our
being." This is the sevenfold body of the planetary Logos.
We are not here, however,
considering the larger Whole, but we are dealing with
a specific and focused area of the planetary consciousness. This is found midway between the highest plane whereon the
Council Chamber of the Great Lord is found and the three planes which form the
active arena for hierarchical work - the three levels of consciousness of the
Spiritual Triad. This "focused area" has been
precipitated by the Agents of the divine Will; They know the ultimate purpose
of Sanat Kumara and hold it steadfastly in view, making it available to those
Masters of the Wisdom Who can act as the "impressing Agents of Sanat
Kumara's Will." These are the Manu, the Christ, and the Mahachohan, the
Lord of Civilization.
Telepathy, 157:
Telepathy
and the Etheric Vehicle - The Basis of Non-Separateness Each of the
four ethers, as they are sometimes called, is intended - as far as man is
concerned - to be a channel or expression of the four cosmic ethers. At present
this is very far from being the case. It can only truly be so when the
antahkarana is built and acts, therefore, as a direct channel for the cosmic
ethers to which we have given the names of universal life, monadic intensity,
divine purpose and pure reason. Ponder for a while on these types of energy and
creatively imagine their effect when, in due course of time and spiritual
unfoldment, they can pour unrestrictedly into and through the etheric body of a
human being. At present, the etheric body is responsive to energies from:
- The physical world.
These are not principles but are the feeders and controllers of the animal
appetites.
- The astral world,
determining the desires, emotions and aspirations which the man will
express and go after upon the physical plane.
- The lower mental
plane, the lower mind, developing self-will, selfishness, separateness and
the direction and trend of the life upon the physical plane. It is [157]
this directive instinct which, when turned to higher matters, eventually
opens the door to the higher cosmic etheric energies.
- The soul, the principle of individualism, the reflection in the
microcosm of the divine intention and - speaking symbolically - being to
the entire monadic expression that which "stands at the midway point," the instrument of
true sensitivity, of responsive ability, the spiritual counterpart of the
solar plexus center which is found at the midway
point between that which lies above the diaphragm and that which is found
below it.
When the antahkarana is constructed and the
higher three are directly related to the lower three, then the soul is no
longer needed. Then, reflecting this event, the four etheric levels become
simply the transmitters of the energy emanating from the four cosmic etheric
levels. The channel is then direct, completed and unimpeded; the etheric
network of light is then of great brilliance, and all the centers in the body
are awakened and functioning in unison and rhythm. Then - corresponding to the
directly related Monad and Personality - the head center, the thousand-petalled
lotus, the brahmarandra, is as directly related to the center at the base of
the spine. Thus complete dualism, in place of the previous triple nature of the
divine manifestation, is established:
- Monad - Personality.
With the threefold soul no longer needed. - Head center - Center
at base of spine.
With the intermediate five centers no longer required. [158]
The Old
Commentary says, in this connection:
"Then the three that ranked as all that was,
functioning as one and controlling all the seven, no longer are. The seven who
responded to the three, responding to the One, no longer hear the triple call
which determined all that was. Only the two remain to show the world the beauty
of the living God, the wonder of the Will-to-Good, the Love which animates the
Whole. These two are One, and thus the work, completed, stands. And then the
Angels sing." [159]