28
Rules Group
Commentary
on Rule X Part III
R&I
(191-200)
(All Highlighting, Bolding and Underlining—MDR)
The
second phrase runs as follows:
2.
Let the group widen all the rents within
those veils and thus let in the light.
1.
The group, well aware of the rules which “have
been used”, is to widen the rents already created within the veils of maya. We
note that the injunction is not to tear into the veils creating new rents, but
the less violent task of widening the
rents already created.
2.
It is the group
that must perform this task—no longer simply the individual. If the work to be
accomplished is to be accomplished,
the greater power of the group is needed.
We
come now to a definite group injunction or instruction. The aid of the group is invoked almost in
the form of an order.
3.
If an order is given, the matter must be of
considerable moment.
The point of this formulated injunction is
that in the new era and in the interlude between the past (wherein prominent
disciples worked within the veils of maya) and the New Age (wherein humanity
itself will consciously function upon the etheric plane), the work of the
esoteric groups, under the direction of the New Group of World Servers, is
needed.
4.
We have learned that humanity together will make
a concerted attack against glamour.
When, therefore, the time comes when a very large number of
persons become aware of the condition of world glamour (through discovering it
and dealing with it in their own lives), then we shall have a group approach to
the problem. Then we shall have a
definite attack upon the world glamour, and when this does take
place—speaking esoterically—"an opening will be made which will admit the
light of the solar orb. The fogs will slowly disappear, subdued by the solar
radiance, and the pilgrims will then find the enlightened WAY which leads from
the heart of the fog, straight to the door of light." (GWP 104)
5.
First, however, comes the necessary attach upon
world maya.
6.
In the work within the veils of maya there are
three approaches concerning the past, present and future:
7.
The New Group of World Servers has within it even
initiates of high degree. It is not an organism consisting only of probationary
initiates. We note that the New Group of World Servers is the organism which directs the work of the esoteric groups.
This tells us something about their relative status.
8.
When speaking of the work of the esoteric groups
within the veils of maya we are speaking of that which must be done in the present era.
They will have the capacity to recognise the
distinction between the various veils.
9.
We recall that earlier DK said there was to be no
attempt to distinguish between the various veils, though that Hierarchy,
itself, could do this.
It is not possible or practical to distinguish them one from
the other, except from the angle of the Hierarchy,…(R&I
190)
10.
The implication is that the esoteric groups will
be able to see “from the angle of Hierarchy”.
This is the next needed development.
11.
It may be that present esoteric groups cannot yet distinguish between the veils but
that they must learn to do so.
The groups must focus the energy at the very
centre of the group being;
12.
At the very center of the group, energy may be
concentrated. We note, however, that the group must focus energy “at the very
centre of the group being”. Could the term, “being”, be telling us
something about the use of the first aspect in this focussing?
the group must carry
the force from point to point and from veil to veil;
13.
It is necessary to find the meaning of the term
“point”. Is a “point” a jewel within a particular chakra, or is the term used
more generically to designate any factor within the process—factors such as
chakras, sub-planes, veils, courts, halls, etc.?
14.
There is good reason to relate the points to the jewels in the chakras.
These jewels are centers of power from which projection can occur.
15.
If the force is to be carried “from veil to veil”
it would seem that the esoteric groups working in this manner would be working
on all veils concerned, carrying
force ‘from veil to veil’.
the group must
project the destroying energy and become unitedly aware of what each veil
hides;
16.
The group is clearly working with first ray
energy. When we use the term “project” in the antahkarana process, we are
dealing with a first ray aspect of that process—a phase of the process
producing penetration. The same is true when working within the veils of maya.
17.
What do the veils hide? Are the hidden factors positive
or negative? It would seem that the veils, themselves, are obstructive, and
that if penetrated they admit to areas of etheric structure which can then be
utilized.
the group must
perform the activities (seven in all) of purification;
18.
This is of great interest and might be
overlooked, because nothing further is said about how it is to be done. The
seven acts of purification---
the group must meet, accept and distribute the descending
spiritual energy which will finally consummate the work done.
19.
There is the suggestion that if the descending
energy (presumably from the Ashram) is to be rightly utilized, the group must
do three things—
20.
The group is to be far from passive. What is
entailed in going forth to “meet” the descending energy? A requisite point of
tension.
The group—through the use of that descending
current—will drive the forces of evil back on to the astral plane and will
together work with the three aspects
of the first ray. These are
typified by the Voice, the O.M. and the Sound.
21.
Under normal circumstances we could assign the
“Sound” to the first ray; the “O.M.” to the second ray; and the third ray to
the “Voice”.
22.
In this context we are to understand the Sound as
pertaining to the first aspect of the first ray; and, so it seems, the O.M. to
the second aspect of the first ray; and the Voice to the third aspect of that
ray.
23.
Clearly the Monad, soul and personality
(represented by the Sound, the O.M. and the Voice respectively) must all be
allied and aligned to carry out this work.
24.
Again, we emphasize the astral plane as the
source of evil to be found upon the systemic planes. The source of cosmic evil
is upon the cosmic astral plane, and yet, it must not be imagined that cosmic
evil cannot penetrate the systemic planes; it has done so a number of times.
In
the above you have in reality a great formula for group activity and also a
potent method (once the group can unitedly work together) for the cleansing and the re-organisation of the forces active in
the world today.
25.
This Rule is one of great practicality and will
grow in value as the capacity to work in group formation is solidified in
coming centuries.
26.
We are entering a seventh ray Age and the etheric
levels of the systemic planes are allied to the seventh ray. If our forms of
interaction upon the physical plane
are to be beneficently reorganized, etheric
reorganization is required.
27.
At the moment so much positive energy from higher
planes is rendered chaotic by the chaotic conditions of the ethers and the
obstructiveness of the veils; this can and must change as esoteric groups do
the necessary work.
28.
The two watchwords for such work: cleansing and
reorganization.
These forces are now raging and running wild; their effect is almost tangible
(being in etheric substance) and factually and visibly present under the
control of the Black Lodge.
29.
There is no question but that the Black Lodge can
and does work within the ethers. Thus, their temporary potent effectiveness
upon the physical plane.
30.
On all the eighteen lower sub-planes, the Black
Lodge is apparently more effective than the Great White Lodge and Their
representatives.
This [Page 192] Lodge uses the voices of
lying propaganda, the Word of death (which I shall not give to you for the
O.M., the Word of Life, suffices), and the Sound of the densest aspect in
manifestation—the sound of power in the mineral kingdom.
31.
The “Word of Life” seems to be the monadic Word just as the O.M. pertains
to the level of soul.
32.
We see that the Black Lodge has its own unsavory
counterparts to the Sound, the O.M and the Voice
33.
The Black Lodge is using very material
reflections of the sources of sound used by the White Lodge. They work on the
mental, emotional and etheric-physical
planes
This constitutes an unparalleled condition and
creates a unique concentration of the Forces of Good and the forces of evil
upon the etheric plane.
34.
We are informed that the etheric plane has become
a battle-ground. Good and evil forces are concentrated there. To work with Rule
X in the manner prescribed is definitely to work in an area where evil is
immediately evident. It is not easy work and it carries its own dangers.
The task of all groups which are working
under the Masters of the Wisdom is to let in the light, utilising those rents
which already exist within the Veils of maya.
35.
We are to utilize the rents already made; major
and minor. Does this mean that we are not to create rents of our own? Are we
capable of doing so, in individual or group formation?
36.
The light of the inner planes, and especially of
the soul and spiritual triad, must penetrate the veils and, thus, illuminate
the etheric plane. Can we sense the potential of a condition in which the light
is more etherically available than usually is the case?
Three
major rents within these Veils might here be noted. They are symbolically referred to in The
Bible, though their essential meaning
has not been noted or comprehended.
37.
The Bible, which we have been told, is basically
a text suited for aspirants and those upon the Probationary Path, relates
occult happenings in a symbolic manner.
38.
In our study of occultism we will be increasingly
interested in the “essential meaning” of the three major rents.
The
first major rent was made by the establishment of the Law of God, and this is
portrayed for us symbolically in The Old
Testament in the story of Moses.
39.
One gathers that minor rents had been made before
this time.
40.
If the “Lawgiver” was Moses, then, according to
the usually accepted chronology,
He went up into the Mount of God and there
received the Ten Commandments.
41.
We are told that Moses was born in the sign
Aries. The imagery here is of the sign Capricorn, the personality sign of the
Hebrew race.
It is interesting to note that Mahomet, the founder of the most
militant religion, was born in this sign, and legend says that Moses also was
born in it; Moses, the lawgiver, and Mahomet, the warrior. (LOH 36)
42.
The symbolism is that of the third initiation.
This is the expression of divine law as
adapted for humanity and as needed in the projection of those forces which will
destroy, purify and reorganise.
43.
Law is of the first ray and is received upon the
Mount of God.
44.
Let us tabulate that which the forces received
are to do:
45.
The forces received are clearly shamballic in
nature for from Shamballa come the forces of destruction, purification and
organization (cf. R&I 85-86)
Moses, the Lawgiver, penetrated to one of
the halls within the Veils of maya, and there encountered the glory of the Lord. This was of such a radiance
that, as the Old Commentary puts it:
46.
Moses penetrated only into one of the halls—there
are three. It may be presumed that Moses penetrated one of the veils in order
to reach that particular hall.
47.
That which is to be found within a hall is of a
positive nature: in this case, the “glory of the Lord” of great radiance.
"He
who entered among the first to penetrate within the veils absorbed the light
and knew not how to pass it on.
48.
Light relates to the third aspect of divinity.
Although Moses was upon the first ray (as the “Lawgiver”) this first
penetration seems to carry the quality of the third ray.
49.
The Old Commentary suggests that, though he could
absorb the light, he was unable to pass it on (to those who awaited him at the
foot of the mountain).
Neither he nor they were ready, but the light
was there and likewise the two directing eyes.
50.
It would seem that he did not have the skill to
communicate the light and they did not have the capacity to receive it.
51.
We read of two eyes, to be understood in relation
to the first aspect, because they are
directing eyes. (The eyes can be
understood in relation to all three of the three major aspects.)
52.
Though he could not wield the light with complete
skill, still, it remained with him.
But only one can use, project and send the
light upon its mission.
53.
We are probably not speaking of the third eye or
single eye, but of two eyes, one of which is the eye of the soul and the other
the eye of the personality.
54.
If this is the case, only the eye of the soul can
“project and send the light upon its mission”.
The other must be blinded, and of this fact
the Lawgiver was aware.
55.
The eye of the personality must be blinded.
56.
This thought relates this process of utilization
and blinding to the myth and mystery of the Lion and the Unicorn.
2. The Mystery of the
Lion and the Unicorn. This secret is preserved for us in the ancient
nursery rhyme about the "lion and the unicorn going up to town," and
contains in a peculiar way the secret of initiation and the "going
up" of the human being to the portal of admittance into the Hierarchy as
well as the "mystic raising" of which Masonry holds the key. This
deals with the emergence of the consciousness of the initiate (white and
one-pointed) and the defeat of the king of beasts (the personality) leading to
the triumph of group and world consciousness, of selflessness and illumination
over self-consciousness and selfishness. In the true rendition of this ancient
myth the king of beasts is blinded and killed by the piercing of his eye and
heart by the long horn of the unicorn. (EA 155)
57.
The Unicorn is related to Moses (the initiate)
upon the Mount of God. The Lion, “King of Beasts”, is the personality. The
blinding of the Lion is related to the blinding of the eye of personality. One
can no longer see, think or identify as a personality once one is an initiate
who knows the Law.
He
therefore veiled the light, assuming towards this end a fragment of that which
he had helped destroy, and so descended from the mountain top, back to
the darkness of the earth."
58.
Moses could not convey to the people the entirety
of the revelation he experienced. He had to veil it in a measure of illusion
(“a fragment of that which he had helped to destroy”) so the people could
assimilate it, at least partially.
59.
The Ten Commandments, then, may be considered a
kind of ‘veiled revelation’, somewhat wrapped in illusion, somewhat
representative of the veils of maya.
60.
Moses experience that which every initiate of the
third degree experiences; the initial inability to bring the fullness of the
light back to the darkened veils of Earth.
The
second, and much the most important rent, was made by the power of the second
aspect when the Christ subjected the
Master Jesus to the fourth initiation and Their joint influence was triumphant over death.
61.
This is quite an amazing statement.
62.
The second rent correlated to the second ray.
Both the Christ and Initiate Jesus (in Their soul
nature) were upon the soft-line rays—the Christ upon the second and then Initiate
Jesus (now Master Jesus) upon the
sixth.
63.
We see that the taking of the fourth initiation
was not purely and simply a question of choice on the part of the Master Jesus.
He was “subjected” to it by the Christ. It would appear that the power of the
Christ’s Will was impressed upon Master Jesus to bring Him through the process.
64.
The Crucifixion and the type of Resurrection
which followed it are known to be among the greatest symbols of the conquest of
death. We note that it was not only one or the other who conquered death, but
that both, together, were responsible
for this conquest.
65.
May it be that the resurrection of the body of
Master Jesus was at least in part facilitated by the power of the Christ? These
are mysteries and we shall not penetrate them at this stage of our unfoldment.
66.
May it be that the Christ represented for the
Master Jesus, the Monad in its second aspect. It is the second aspect of the will which brings about destruction at the
time of the fourth initiation.
What, therefore, brings about the destruction of the soul
body? The destroying agent is the second aspect of the Will. The third or lowest aspect of the Will,
working through the mind or the manasic principle, was the sustaining factor in
the long cycle of personality development; it was the principle of intelligent
synthesis, holding the life principle intact and individualised through the
long series of successive incarnations. (R&I 216)
Then we read [Page 193] that the veil of the
67.
The “
68.
The rending of the veil which the causal body
represents must accompany a similar rending on the etheric plane.
The lawgiver assisted at the first rending as the climax to the third initiation,
and there was a somewhat similar process of glorification.
69.
We can consider the first resurrection (not the seventh initiation which is also
named, “Resurrection”) as a glorification. The taking of the third initiation
is a lesser glorification but “somewhat similar”.
70.
Glorification signifies the release of effulgent
light; the light potential of matter is released in this act of destruction. At
the fourth initiation, destruction and glorification occur simultaneously.
71.
The third initiation has a number of phases. The
phase of which we read in relation to Moses and which revealed to him the
“glory of the lord”, was the climax
of the third initiation. We will ask if this was the case in relation to Paul
of Tarsus.
A similar event took place at the
Transfiguration of the Christ, overshadowing or rather working through the
Master Jesus.
72.
Was it the Christ Who
was transfigured or the Master Jesus? If the Christ, then it was a higher type
of transfiguration of which we will read below in chapter XIV.
73.
4. The two highest planes (the monadic and the logoic) are
the planes of transfiguration, from the point of view of the higher
initiate. (R&I 281)
74.
If the Master Jesus, then it was a re-enactment
of the transfiguration initiation which He had taken as Jeshua in an earlier
incarnation.
75.
The term “overshadowing” is often ambiguous. Just
what does it mean? A ‘positioning’ of a great light ‘over the shadow’ which is
the personality? Some prefer the term ‘over-lighting’.
76.
Here, however, the matter is simplified. We may
think of “overshadowing” as a “working through”.
But at the triumph over death and through the
Great Renunciation or Crucifixion episode, a great and major rending took
place.
77.
Jesus (in cooperation with the Christ and before
the journey to
The Law, when rightly kept and interpreted,
defines man's attitude upon the mental plane and serves to make a rent in the
etheric veil, separating the etheric
vehicle in its fourfold aspect from the dense physical form.
78.
Here we have a careful definition of what
occurred in the process of rending impelled by the Lawgiver.
79.
Law is related not only to will but to mind. When
one thinks of Law one thinks of the atmic plane, the energies of which are
related to both will and mind.
80.
The mind is related to the ethers, and the
process which occurred upon the mental plane caused a specific effect within
the etheric sub-planes.
81.
There is a distinction between the etheric
sub-planes and the three gross sub-planes. The recognition and keeping of the
Law has a separating effect upon the sevenfold systemic physical plane,
separating the fourfold etheric part of that plane from the threefold gross levels.
82.
This is another way of saying that the mind
controls the ethers and thus the three sub-planes of the gross physical plane.
83.
Those who are intensely subject to maya have not
differentiated between their etheric body and their dense physical body. There
is no lawful process of ‘holding-back’ impulsed from the etheric levels (as
those levels are governed by the mind).
84.
The initiate can restrain the physical nature
because his physical polarization is upon the etheric sub-planes.
85.
We can imagine that the ability to wield the Law
upon the physical plane (the third
level of the personality, counting from above), is much enhanced at the third initiation.
86.
We can imagine that at the third initiation, the
etheric aspect of the physical plane is much empowered.
87.
On what level of the etheric plane did the rent
made by Moses let in the light? The Christ and Jesus let in light onto the
second level (counting, presumably, from below). When Moses received the Law,
was the light let in on the lowest
level, the strictly etheric sub-plane?
The rending of the second veil at the time of
the Crucifixion let in light on to the second level of the etheric plane, and a new type of illumination was spread
abroad upon the earth.
88.
Can we judge that the level of the etheric plane
affected when light was released at the Crucifixion was the second from below,
or the super-etheric sub-plane?
89.
It would be natural to assume that the
illumination process (although impulsed from above) worked its way through the
lower etheric sub-planes before reaching the higher.
90.
The rent produced by Moses gave illumination to
humanity but it was conditioned by the first and third rays.
91.
The rent produced by Jesus/Christ was, we may
imagine, illumination infused by the principle of love. We can judge that it
was related more to Venus, to the Solar Angel, to Love-Wisdom and the second
ray.
Law
and Love could now penetrate into the consciousness of humanity in a new and
direct manner, as the brain of man became involved through the
substance of the etheric counterpart of the physical brain;
92.
There is a physical brain and an etheric brain. When
the etheric brain is stimulated through the rending process, the potentialities
of the physical brain are also enhanced.
93.
We know that the etheric body is the conduit for
many different kinds of energies and forces. If these energies and forces are
to express on the gross physical levels, they must first pass through the
etheric body.
94.
There are etheric counterparts to Law (Will) and
Love, and a reorganization on etheric levels allows the passage.
95.
We are being told that in order for Law and Love
to penetrate the consciousness of humanity, the brain (the physical brain) must
become involved, which it can by means of stimulation from the etheric
counterpart of the physical brain.
the instinct to
self-preservation (one of the lowest aspects of Law) and the tendency to
sensitivity (feeling or emotion, one of the lowest forms of Love) could be
expressed in a more comprehensive manner.
96.
We are not speaking only of Law and Love per se,
but of the expression of relatively low reflections of these two divine aspects.
97.
The instinct for self-preservation is associated
with the base of the spine center and the sacral center; the tendency toward
sensitivity, feeling and emotion is related to the solar plexus center.
98.
We can imagine that the first ether is most
associated with instinct, and the second with the more emotional response. We
must, however, bear in mind that all the lower chakras are to be found upon the
fourth ether. Naturally, some of them will have resonance with higher chakras
on higher ethers—for instance, the solar plexus center on the fourth ether with
the heart center on the second ether.
99.
These two rents, made by Moses and Jesus/Christ,
release, therefore, not only pure Law and Love into the world, but their lower
reflections and thus affected groups of human beings which could not yet
respond to the purer, higher energy.
Another
rending of the veil, and one of
relatively minor importance, took place when Saul of
100.
Although Law is connected with the first ray, it
is also connected with mind and with the third ray. We remember the energies of
the atmic plane in this respect.
101.
The rents made by Moses and Jesus/Christ were of
greater importance than the rent made by Saul of Tarsus.
102.
We must remember in studying Paul that He had
much of the first ray in his nature, being, we estimate, an individual whose
major monadic ray was the first.
The
"
103.
Paul, too, like Moses, saw the “glory of the
Lord”. There is thus some degree of similarity in the rents made by these two
great Sons of God.
104.
If Paul was a Monad of the first ray, it may be
that Moses was as well, for there is reason to believe that he was an earlier
incarnation of Master Morya.
105.
In the experience of Paul, we are dealing with
the phenomenon of “sudden conversion”. From the time Paul saw the “glory of the
Lord” he was utterly transformed. His orientation and realization changed
entirely. The process of the third initiation had begun. He was no longer Paul the fanatical servant of the
106.
We may assume that the Voice which he heard on
the Road to
His forward moving and potent directness and
sincerity, pushing along "the road to
107.
When we read of “potent directness and sincerity”
we think of the combination of first and sixth rays. The sixth ray may have
been his soul ray at the time and the fifth and first rays, his monadic rays
(sub and major respectively).
108.
Of which veil are we speaking? DK does not
specify, but it may have been one of the veils relating to the esoteric
ethers—the subatomic or atomic sub-planes. We will see if we can gather which
veil it might have been from consulting any evidence that appears further in
the text.
109.
The type of motion associated with the first ray
is “progress onward”. This seemed to characterize the attitude of Paul.
This force, working in Saul, drove him through
the veil which prevented vision, and the rent thereby made brought him a new
revelation.
110.
The result of penetrating a veil is always vision
and revelation. The veils prevent registration of deeper realities.
111.
DK is using very potent words in relation to
Paul’s process: “directness”, “pushing”, “drove”. We are getting the picture of
a kind of ‘frontal assault’.
He was, we are told, completely blinded for
three days, and this the esoteric records corroborate.
112.
The number three
is significant, as we are speaking of the initial processes of the third
initiation.
113.
We see that a Master need accept nothing simply
because it is occult tradition; He is in a position to verify it for Himself.
This is a well-known correspondence to the
three days in the tomb and one recognised by esotericists;
114.
The three days in the tomb were followed by the
blinding light of resurrection.
115.
Were they three full days? This depends upon
which tradition is observed.
it corresponds also to the penetration into
the third heaven to which Paul testified later in his life.
116.
Paul spoke of the “third heaven as it veiled the
seventh”, (DINA II 274)
117.
There are certain numerological themes of great
significance which repeat themselves.
He realised the nature of the Law, as his
later epistles demonstrate;
118.
Again, Paul’s realization accords somewhat with
that of Moses. Both were strongly related to the Law.
he
was brought [Page 194] to the feet of the Initiator through the effect of love,
and thus he availed himself of the two earlier rents in the veil.
119.
We have read of Paul’s driving forward and of his
potent sincerity, yet, withal, the power of love presented him with the
opportunity of taking the third initiation.
120.
This idea suggests that his soul ray may indeed
have been the sixth, turning eventually into the second. Now, as Master
Hilarion, and functioning as a Chohan (and, thus, through the Monad), He
exemplifies the fifth ray and to a degree the first (as His book, Light on the Path demonstrates).
121.
At the time of the blinding Paul was not an
example of the second ray but of the sixth. Later, in His marvellous
descriptions of the energy of love, He demonstrated more and more of the second
ray; it was this demonstration (somewhat later) that brought Him to the “feet
of the Initiator”. Even today, the Master Hilarion has much to do with
stimulating the buddhic energy in humanity.
122.
Again, these thoughts suggest that the blinding
on the Road to
123.
Moses, on the other hand, was a first ray soul.
124.
Paul utilized the earlier rents made through Law
and Love (i.e., through the first and third rays and through the second).
Whilst thus reaching out to the light, he
wrote that epistle about which so much controversy has raged—The Epistle to the
Hebrews.
125.
This statement is evidence that the entirety of
the third initiation was not consummated on the Road to
126.
The reaching out to the light was still part of
the third initiation process; the climaxing part could, therefore, not have
occurred earlier.
In it the results of the rending of the third
veil provide the keynote and express
the first and highest aspect, as the two earlier rents lead to the revelation
of the third and second divine qualities.
127.
Here we have a definite statement about which
veils are involved.
128.
Even though Moses was actuated by the first ray
and rent the first veil, the quality of divinity involved in his great act of
illumination was the third.
129.
The quality represented by the Christ’s rending
was obviously the second.
130.
The rending for which Paul carried responsibility
was characterized by the first divine
quality.
131.
Paul rent the third veil, which we may propose as
the veil associated with the sub-atomic sub-plane of the systemic etheric
plane.
132.
Moses and Paul are both involved in some manner
with the numbers one and three. Christ and Jesus working together
were involved with the numbers two
and six.
133.
When rending occurs divine quality is revealed.
This is to be remembered.
This first aspect is seen as synthesis, as
the Communion of Saints, and as related to the Lord of the World, Melchizedek.
134.
DK gives some important associations related to
the first aspect and the first ray.
135.
The rent provided by Paul contributed to the
eventual impact of the Divine Will. The influence of this great Being
(Melchizedek/Sanat Kumara) is only now beginning to make itself more
consciously felt through the three recent shamballic impacts.
136.
We can imagine that Paul’s rending is presently
of value in relation to these impacts.
Read that epistle in the light of these remarks,
and note how a great initiate
endeavoured to reveal some facts, inherent in the will or power aspect.
137.
DK is telling us that Epistle to the Hebrews (in
the writing of which Paul was reaching out towards the light) carries
revelation concerning the first aspect of divinity and the Lord of the World,
Sanat Kumara.
138.
If Paul was in process of taking the third
initiation and if the Monad is revealed at the third degree, and if His Monad
was on the first ray, we can see why this initiation would, for Him, involve
the revelation of the will or power aspect.
These
were, however, far beyond the ken of the disciples and aspirants of the time,
but can today form a true part of the realisation of humanity.
139.
It is often the fate of great initiates to be
misunderstood by those with whom they must, per force, most closely relate.
140.
It has, it seems, taken some two thousand years
before humanity was ready to receive and understand the revelation accorded to
Paul at that time.
Law, Love, Union or Synthesis—all these great
energies have seeped into the human consciousness and now provide the platform
upon which the new civilisation can be founded, the new approach to God be
taken, and new human relations be implemented.
141.
We have read that Paul (now the Master Hilarion) is
much involved in the promotion of the buddhic energy.
The Master Hilarion will also come forth, and become a focal
point of buddhic energy in the vast spiritualistic movement,…(TCF 759)
142.
In this we can understand His relationship to
Union or Synthesis.
143.
When we consider the idea of “Presented
Attributes” as discussed in Esoteric
Psychology Vol. II, we can see that the rending of the veils is related to
such a presentation. Without the
rending the attributes could not “get through” and be recognized by humanity.
Three great
rents, therefore, now exist, as well as numerous smaller and less important
ones, to which no reference has been or need be made.
144.
Probably these lesser rents are made by initiates
of lesser degree.
145.
One wonders whether the work of Einstein and the
third and fifth ray Ashrams working in the scientific field were responsible
for creating a rent. After all, a “death blow to materialism” has been struck
through the release of atomic energy. The atom bomb, we are told, had a huge
and beneficently destructive effect upon the etheric levels.
Three great Sons of God at the moment of
initiation made a major contribution to the human consciousness through their determined will-to-law,
will-to-love and will-to-synthesis.
146.
Here is an important synthesis of the
achievements of Moses, Jesus/Christ and
147.
We should note that the rents are made at a
moment of initiation. We have been speculating that the third initiation of
Paul required time for completion—assimilation and consolidation. The love that
brought Him to the “feet of the Initiator” needed time to demonstrate.
148.
The rents are a great contribution to humanity.
Here we see how acts of destruction can be acts of elevation—essentially
constructive.
149.
If we wish to know what actuated these great Sons
of God, we are told:
150.
There is a connection between
Mankind was thereby aided to move forward
more easily along the "lighted Way," to pass through the halls of
maya, aided by the light pouring through the rents made in the separating
veils by perfected divine Men at the
very moment of Their triumph.
151.
Here DK speaks of humanity’s progress facilitated
by the initiatory acts of these great Sons of God.
152.
We note that DK speaks here of the “halls of
maya” rather than the “veils of maya”. We are still entertaining the thought
that the halls confer a positive energy on the one who has managed to penetrate
the veils concealing them.
153.
Those who rent the veils are called “perfected
divine Men”. The Christ was surely so at the moment He rent the “veil of the
154.
Needless to say, all perfection is relative.
A fourth great rent still remains to be made
as a result of the energies released and the gained good which the three
earlier rents have made possible. This
fourth major rent will be made by humanity itself, standing with "massed intent," focussed through the groups which are
externalisations of the Ashrams of the Masters. It will therefore be made at the time that
the Hierarchy takes physical shape upon the earth again.
155.
This is a statement full of promise. It relates
to the fourth veil, and will be made by the fourth kingdom, humanity, at a time
when the fourth ray is more fully in incarnation than it is now.
156.
Humanity will probably be led in this act of
rending by the New Group of World Servers, who by then should be in a powerful
position to assist. This group is ruled very much by the fourth ray in relation
to the fourth ray sign Taurus—the sign (the “Mother of Illumination”) which can
contribute mightily to the letting in of the light.
157.
We see that this fourth rending process will
require that the Ashrams of the Masters be externalized through representative
groups. The rending cannot occur, therefore, until the Hierarchy has externalized.
158.
It seems likely that by that time the planet
Vulcan (the planet of spiritual will and the esoteric and hierarchical ruler of
Taurus) will have been discovered and will be utilized by humanity and the
externalized Ashrams to accomplish their task.
159.
This final act may well concern the atomic
sub-plane of the systemic physical plane and, hence, the first ether, which we
have often presumed to be ruled by Vulcan.
160.
We have assumed that the three rents past and the
one to come are achieved in ascending order, starting from the lowest ether and
lowest veil. This cannot be concluded with certainty, however, and we will
examine the evidence.
[Page
195]
Bear
in mind the symbolical nature of this teaching.
161.
The Tibetan tries to prevent us from becoming too
literal, so great is the materializing (and hence, illusive) tendency of the
human mind.
The veils are not actually existing veils in
the usual sense of that term. They are in the nature of opposing
forces and energies which act as inhibitory factors to the aspirant as he seeks
to make progress, and to the entire human family as it moves onward upon the
Path of Evolution.
162.
Here we are told what the veils actually are.
This may help us visualize them in a more accurate manner.
163.
The veils are inhibitory. They are “opposing
forces and energies” and in that respect bear some resemblance to the “Door of
Initiation”, which also inhibits the forward progress of the candidate unless
he can present himself in the proper vibratory condition.
164.
The veils, however, (so it would seem) were, at
least in part, deliberately constructed as inhibitory forces by those who
wished to thwart human progress. Add to this deliberatively negative process
the ongoing ‘creative power of human ignorance’ and we can see that early
humanity, itself, contributed greatly to the problem and, as humanity has
evolved in intelligence and activity, the veils have, unfortunately, been
strengthened.
165.
The veils are so effective in promoting inhibited
progress because they are largely undetected. We live within them so completely
that we do not even notice them, until they are rent, lifted or destroyed.
They are not basically related to
consciousness at all, for in the majority of cases these veils "lie on the
earthward side of being and not upon the side of light";
166.
Is this a hint concerning where we can find the
veil relative to the sub-plane to which it is related and relative to the hall
into which it admits.
167.
Curiously, some veils, it would seem lie upon the
side of the light, otherwise DK would not have spoken of “the majority of
cases”.
168.
It will not be easy to speak conclusively of the
‘position’ of a veil relative to the sub-plane to which it pertains. To do so
would lead to excessive concretization and, further, there is no way, at this
time, to confirm such a ‘position’.
169.
Later in the text of this chapter, greater veils
will be discussed—those which do not pertain to the systemic ethers but may be
more related to the cosmic ethers.
170.
The veils are related to the third or activity
aspect and not to the second aspect. But, once they are destroyed, their
destruction contributes to the augmentation of the consciousness aspect.
171.
When DK speaks of a “majority of cases” is He
confining Himself to a consideration of the veils related to the systemic
ethers or is He including the veils related to the cosmic ethers? We must
remain alert for the answer.
172.
It would seem that a veil could inhibit
penetration from either ‘below’ or above. Those working their way ‘up’ from
below could meet a veil before penetrating to a hall.
173.
Those working from ‘above’ and attempting to
introduce a superior energy into the etheric levels, could meet an inhibitory
veil (‘positioned’, as it were, on the side of the light) which would prevent
the higher energy from reaching the etheric level into which it was meant to be
introduced.
they
are essentially physical forces, and although they are the result of man's own
effort and activity down the ages,
they are largely unrealised, unseen obstacles to his progress.
174.
Here we have the confirmation that the veils are
not natural structures but are man-made; in fact, they may be made by those men
whose deliberate purpose was obstruction. The ignorance of man only
strengthened that which had been more deliberately constructed by members of
the Black Lodge.
175.
Do we detect the veils? Do we realize the nature
of that which inhibits us from full realization and progress? Each can assess
the nature of his own imprisonment.
They
constitute the lowest concentration of forces precipitated from levels of activity
other and higher than the physical, as you understand physical substance.
176.
The veils, in fact, are a precipitation. It would
seem that they are precipitations from the astral and lower mental levels of
the eighteen lower sub-planes.
177.
When glamor began to affect the astral nature and
illusion the mental, conditions were ripe for this precipitation.
178.
It can be questioned whether these veils really
existed during Lemurian times when life was, relatively, simpler, and
kama-manasic focussing had not yet begun.
If
one might use a phrase which, even if true, is misleading, they lie between the subtle inner man, mental and astral, and his
physical brain.
179.
This is the confirmation of that which has been
proposed above.
180.
The veils separate the subtle inner man from his
outer expression on the gross physical plane.
181.
We can see that without the veils, the etheric
body would offer far less resistance to the expression of the astral-mental
fields. The human being on the outer plane would understand his own subtle
nature in his normal waking consciousness. This is not now the case. What we
are as subtle beings is far from fully understood in our waking, personality
consciousness.
They are that which prevents brain
registration of the world of causes and of meaning.
182.
In general the veils prevent registration. Not
only do they prevent the subtle inner
man (focussed astrally and mentally) from “getting through”; they also inhibit
the subjective man. The subjective
man is the soul who lives in the world of causes and of meaning.
183.
There is a difference between the ‘subtle world’
and the ‘subjective world’.
This inner world can be emotional or mental
in its focus and in its force precipitation on to the etheric plane. It can be the fused result of personality
integration and be a combination of energies; or it can be dominated by the
effects of soul energy.
184.
DK is clarifying what is meant by the inner world
which precipitates onto the etheric planes. Let us tabulate:
185.
To each of us the inner world means something
different depending upon our degree of spiritual cultivation.
186.
The point to remember is that this inner world is
inhibited from full physical plane
expression by the obstructiveness of the veils of maya. The force precipitation
of these inner worlds cannot find full expression because of the opposing
forces of the veils.
These, if evoked, can penetrate occultly and
drive out or break down and through the separating veiling forces, thus
producing coordination eventually between soul and brain.
187.
What does the Tibetan mean by “these”? Does He
mean all of the types of force just mentioned or particularly the forces of the
soul?
188.
It would seem that we are speaking, perhaps of
all, but principally of the invocation of soul energy which can
189.
When this driving out, this breaking “down and
through” is accomplished, then soul and brain can be coordinated via the mind.
190.
This will mean a much fuller soul infusion and
the true integration of the soul and personality.
191.
The destructive work here discussed is a
prerequisite to the process of personality integration, and soul infusion.
These
veils are as curtains over the windows of vision.
192.
DK speaks in symbolic terms.
193.
The third initiation seems to be the point at
which major rending begins. The third initiation is associated with vision and
light, and, thus, with Venus and Vulcan.
194.
When the third initiation comes, spiritual vision
emerges and the process of destroying the veils begins in earnest.
They prevent realisation of that which lies
beyond the room or area of average or mediocre experience, and they prevent the
light from penetrating.
195.
From what is said here, many or most of us dwell
within the confines of “mediocre experience”. Something far greater is possible
and the utilization of the offered techniques (especially in group form) can
contribute to a new access to the light. The “glory of the Lord” can be seen.
The work of
the three Sons of God referred to above is not concerned with the rending of
the veils of their own interior life and forces, thus bringing about soul contact
unimpeded and clear, or with the illumination of experience upon the physical
plane. That had long ago been
effected in these special and individual cases.
196.
This is interesting. Certainly the Christ had
long before achieved the third initiation—in Atlantean days, and Jesus had
achieved as the priest, Jeshua.
197.
However, Moses (it would seem) had not achieved
the third degree before his experience on the Mount of God, nor had Paul before
his experience on the Road to
198.
It could, therefore, be said that neither Moses
or Paul had achieved “soul contact unimpeded and clear” before the rending
occurred.
199.
So this statement of the Tibetan (at least with
regard to Moses and Paul) is somewhat enigmatical.
200.
All of them, however, were thinking in impersonal
terms and were not involved with personal
spirituality, per se.
Their service was rendered to humanity and
They made rents in the veils which separated mankind as a whole from the higher
spiritual [Page 196] experience and from
registration of the fact of the existence of the Hierarchy.
201.
The three were (and are) powerful Initiates who
did not work for themselves. The scope of their thought was such that they had
an effect upon great veils and not
microcosmic veils.
202.
The rending in each of these cases was a service
to humanity.
203.
We learn here that unless such veils are rent,
the existence of the Hierarchy is not realized as a fact.
204.
This fact was borne out especially in the life of
Paul, who acknowledged the Christ (Head of the Hierarchy) as a reality after
His experience on the Road to
Theirs was a universal service,
205.
A global, pan-human service.
and made possible further human progress, for until some greater measure of light
had been let in it was not possible for man to see and grasp the necessity to
destroy the obstacles to light.
206.
“In that light we shall see light.” ‘Through that
light, we shall see the barriers to further light.’
207.
Humanity was so blinded that it did not realize
it was blinded. Much the same condition exists today, but the light is rapidly
flowing in and we are beginning to realize the depth of our ignorance.
208.
The period in which there rents were made was
from approximately four thousand years ago to approximately two thousand years
ago. A great cycle of 250,000 was coming to an end, and an entirely new
dispensation was on its way. Today, we are consciously reaping the benefit of
those great acts of beneficent destruction performed on behalf of the entire
human race.
The
veils remain unperceived by the average aspirant until some light appears
through the rents in the "curtain of impediment."
209.
What was true of humanity then continues to be
true of the average aspirant today.
210.
We need a small sufficiency of light to detect
the darkness in which we continually live.
The glory of
the Christ and the uniqueness of His accomplishment lies in the fact that He
was the first to bring about the rending of the veils from "the top to the
bottom."
211.
It would seem that the Christ rent not only the
second ether, but, in away, all of them.
212.
The destruction of the veil which the causal body
represents coincided with the destruction of the etheric veils which prevented
soul energy from reaching human consciousness on the physical plane.
213.
The thought of “from the top to bottom” may suggest
“from the highest to the lowest ether”.
This He could do because He acted as the World
Saviour, outside and independent of
humanity;
214.
Therefore, the Christ was not limited in His
power to rend as were those lesser initiates, Moses and Paul, who still acted
as human beings, within the fourth
kingdom.
215.
The Christ, as a sixth degree initiate when the
rending occurred, was no longer a “man” per se.
He
was free from the aura of the human family
216.
As a Chohan and as the Head of the Hierarchy,
even at that time, He was naturally free from the aura of the human family.
and—again quoting the Old Commentary, as far
as it is possible to translate these archaic terms:
217.
The Tibetan, a great poet as well as great
occultist, does as well as He can, translating from ancient ideographic
languages much more suited to convey the idea.
"From
above He worked and from the further side issued the force which tore its way
into the separating forces,
218.
The Christ did not work from within the veils, but from those higher worlds where He was
focussed as World Saviour and Head of the Hierarchy.
219.
The rending seems (from the language used) an act
of violence.
driving them in a threefold direction, from
the point which is the highest, to the right and to the left, thus letting in that
streaming force which resolved itself as light, as love, as lifting energy.
220.
We are presented with a triangle of destruction.
The work occurs from the point which is the highest and the result is a
division of the obstructing forces to the right and to the left.
221.
It would seem that three different kinds of electricity
are involved, and that, through the rending process, the ‘electrical integrity’
of the opposing forces is being shattered.
222.
When the coherence of that which is obstructive
is destroyed, then light, love and uplift can enter.
223.
What is the “threefold direction” in which the
now disintegrated forces are driven? Could the disruption of ‘electrical
integrity’ involve the three types of electrical polarization—positive,
negative and neutral (all particles returning to their appropriate reservoir)?
224.
In this context, the energy of “uplift” can be
associated with the first ray.
225.
We begin to realize that before these major
rendings, humanity was suffocating.
Thus worked the One for Whom all men must wait.
226.
The Old Commentary speaks of the Christ—“the
Desire of all Nations”.
He is as man, but works not as a man.
227.
He is a man only from one perspective. As a
Chohan, He has transcended the confines of the human race.
He works as light divine, as energy supreme
and as the Saviour of the world of men."
228.
Let us tabulate the three ways that He, the
Christ, works:
229.
We can see from the manner in which He works,
that the three aspects of divinity are represented:
Let
me again quote from the same source and give you the ancient names of the
veils:
230.
The following description is most important and
may help us to distinguish and understand the veils more fully.
"Next
to the earthly plane is found the Veil of Impulsion and then the Hall of
Concentration.
231.
When we compare the nature of the veils and the
halls, I think we will see the veils as obstructive forces and the halls as
characterized by positive qualities which are, it seems, remedies to the
obstructive qualities of the veils.
232.
What might be the nature of the Veil of
Impulsion? The name suggests chaotic action caused by acting on impulse rather
than on the basis of clear thought. The influence of this veil could be to
disorganize patterns on the physical plane due to inadequate planning and
acting without foresight.
233.
When the Veil of Impulsion is penetrated it leads
to the Hall of Concentration. We know that when the mind is concentrated,
unruly forces are restrained and controlled. From this Hall comes the ability
to direct physical plane processes in an order and planned manner.
234.
How do the “courts” fit into the picture? We
cannot be sure. We can hypothesize that the courts lead into the halls, serving
as antechambers. When the veils are damaged, refuse is found within the courts,
which must then be cleansed.
235.
With regard to the positioning of the veils
(whether on the earthward side of the etheric sub-plane or the side of light),
this section from the old commentary indicates that the first veil (the Veil of
Impulsion) is on the earthward side, “next to the earthly plane”.
To that succeeds the Veil of Distortion,
related to the world of glamour as impulsion is to force.
236.
The second veil, presumably working from below to
above, is the Veil of Distortion. This veil is formed by precipitated force
from the astral plane. Astral force precipitated upon the etheric plane becomes
etheric force of a certain kind responsive to astral conditions.
237.
It would seem that the Veil of Impulsion is responsive
to etheric force, per se and that the Veil of Distortion is responsive to that
type of etheric force which is a precipitation from the world or glamour or
which is most responsive to the world of glamour.
238.
If the veils are to respond to forces of the
three lower planes (dense physical/etheric, astral and lower mental) it would
seem they do so through or by means
of precipitated energies of an etheric nature (i.e., precipitated from the
levels of these three planes onto the etheric sub-planes).
239.
The principle behind this thought is that matter
of a given plane (plane “a”) cannot actually exist on another plane (plane “b”)
but can only be represented by a type
of matter of that other plane (plane “b” which is resonant to the matter of the
given plane (plane “a”).
240.
Can that which is ‘below’ influence that which is
‘above’? It would seem so. Interplay is reciprocal and circulates influentially
within the triangle of personality (or the quaternary—depending on the
perspective).
Beyond that veil is found the Hall of Choice.
241.
Again, another hall characterized by a positive
activity.
242.
If concentration serves as a corrective to
impulsion, does choice serve as a corrective to glamor? Right choice certainly
would.
243.
The factor of choice suggests a deliberate,
mental approach and a refusal to be carried away by glamorous magnetisms.
244.
Saturn is the rule of Libra, the sign of
proportion. Distortion is the very opposite of proportion; from the Hall of
Choice, distortions can be objectively assessed and steps deliberately taken to
restore proportion, which is another way of saying steps can be taken to put an
end to glamour.
245.
Thus far, from one point of view, we have proceeded
through the etheric and super-etheric planes, noted the conditions which
obstruct their right use (the Veil of Impulsion and the Veil of Distortion) and,
also noted the energies (concentration and choice) which will contribute to
their right use.
And then we find another veil, the Veil of
Separation, and beyond it lies the Hall of Blinded Men—blinded by light but
facing towards the final veil, the Veil of Aspiration. Four veils, three halls and many men."
246.
The third veil we may hypothesize relates to the
third etheric sub-plane (counting, as we have been doing, from below).
247.
The Veil is Separation is, it would seem, related
to the world of illusion just as the Veil of Distortion is related to the world
of glamour. Illusion is based upon the misperception which appears to reveal
separation where none really exists.
248.
Thus far we have the Veil of Impulsion related,
in general, to the etheric sub-planes, per se and to generic, mayavic
conditions on those sub-planes; the Veil of Distortion related to the astral
sub-planes, per se, and to glamorous conditions on those sub-planes; then the
Veil of Separation related to the lower mental sub-planes, per se, and to
illusory conditions which exist on those sub-planes.
249.
While it is perfectly obvious that concentration
and choice are necessary functions of a positive nature when compared to the
qualities of the first two veils, can we say we note a positive quality in the
“Hall of Blinded Men”?
250.
Much depends on what we mean by “blinded”. If
such men are blinded to the illusion of separation and are participating in a
state “hiding all difference” and “blotting out all form”, then we can
understand the term “blinded” in a positive light.
251.
Two of the three Sons of God who produced the
major rents saw the “glory of the Lord”. We may presume that this glory is blinding. It certainly was in the case
of Paul. We cannot be sure of the effect which that “glory” had on the sight of
Moses.
252.
When one is blinded to all separation (the
quality of the Veil of Separation) one has gone far towards the overcoming of
illusion. The initial stages of this blinding may be (as in the case of Paul) a
literal blinding. Perhaps some
activation within this third hall causes those physical symptoms.
253.
It may be wise to correlate this third hall with
the third initiation and the Veil of Separation as that which serves as an
inhibitor to the successful completion of this initiation.
254.
The initiate of the third degree enters not only
the blinding light (related to Vulcan) but the “supernal light”, related as well
to Venus. Great experiences of light seem to accompany this initiation and
probably accompany access to the third hall as well.
255.
The final veil is the Veil of Aspiration. Is the
condition of aspiration here found soul
induced? Does this veil serve as some sort of obstruction for those who are
approaching the fourth initiation?
256.
At the fourth degree the first or atomic ether is
mastered, and it would seem that this Veil is related to the fourth ether and
to a more direct access to the astral plane.
257.
It seems necessary to relate these veils to the
etheric webs which must be penetrated if there is to be continuity of
consciousness. The webs, of course, are legitimate structures and the veils are
not, but they both serve to prevent access to a higher vibrational dimension.
258.
If we attempt to correlate the veils and halls to
the etheric sub-planes in an anatomical manner, we run into some problems. The
four veils each must relate to the four etheric sub-planes, but what of the
three halls? Do they relate to transitional states between the veils? Or do
they relate to the etheric sub-planes themselves. If so, we are one hall short!
259.
Could we call the halls, ‘positions of control’
in relation to a particular etheric sub-plane and the veil correlated with it?
If so, then the Hall of Concentration would be a ‘position of control’ in
relation to the Veil of Impulsion and the etheric sub-plane; the Hall of Choice
in relation to the Veil of Distortion and the super-etheric sub-plane; the Hall
of Blinded Men in relation to the Veil of Separation and the sub-atomic etheric
sub-plane; and some Hall, not named, would be the ‘position of control’ in
relation to the Veil of Aspiration and the atomic etheric sub-plane.
I
will leave you to make due application of this paragraph [Page 197] of stated
truth and of condensed realisation.
260.
DK is not telling us how to work out the meaning
of the condensed truth which He has presented. Thus, many methods of
interpretation may appear.
261.
He says the paragraph is one of “condensed
realization”. The word “condensed” is close to “precipitated” and something may
be meant by this similarity.
262.
On the other hand, realizations capable of great
expansion are greatly condensed in
this paragraph and are presented in the most succinct manner. It is our task to
understand these condensations and to elaborate them.
263.
Our impression is that, although the work of the
Christ/Jesus related specifically to the second veil, the Veil of Distortion,
and although His work may have contributed much to the revelation of glamour
upon the astral plane, the Christ’s work was broader, and was, effectively, an
attack upon all the veils, permitting
those who benefited from it the virtues of concentration, choice and occult
blindness.
264.
With which veils may we connect the work of Moses
and
265.
From what has been said, Moses was involved with
an attack upon the first veil. We can understand this by thinking of the Law as
a method of reducing the chaos of impulsiveness. Law brings action under
regulation and order—just the opposite of what unregulated impulsion produces.
266.
Moses exemplified the “will-to-law” which would
certainly be a regulatory force upon the Veil of Impulsion. What was the nature
of the concentration he experienced to receive the Law and bring it down from
the mountaintop?
267.
Yet, Moses, too, saw the “glory of the Lord” and
so, may have known something of the Veil of Separation and of the blinding
effect characteristic of the Hall of Blinded men—a hall and veil connected with
the third initiation which Moses was taking.
268.
In the Tibetan’s description, Paul is connected
with the Hall of Blinded Men and the Veil of Separation. His
“will-to-synthesis” would certainly be a force adequate to overcome the
illusion of separation.
269.
He may have passed through the rents earlier made
in order to reach a position from which he could attack the Veil of Separation.
We are told he availed himself of the first and second rents. His attack,
however, was at first somewhat unconscious. Later he deliberately reached out
towards greater light, presumably as the process of the third degree moved
towards its climax through the power of love.
270.
In a way, there may be evidence that Moses
(Saturn in a way) did not move through the Veil of Separation. The Ten
Commandments which he offered to humanity had within them much that was still
separative and illusory. The overcoming of the lower Saturnian ego is not
suggested in these Commandments.
271.
We must not use the concrete mind to become too
systematic in relation to naming the veils and correlating the nature of those
veils with those who penetrated them. As Master DK says, the veils are always
changing under the impact of different energies. Yet, I think we have gathered
at least a somewhat clearer idea of their nature, the manner in which they
obstruct the light and human progress, and the manner in which the energy of
these veils can be overcome.
I would remind you that concentration is one
thing to the aspirant, and a very different thing to the initiate, and that the
choices made by the initiate resemble not those made by the disciple.
272.
DK is attempting to give a higher meaning to
concentration and choice as the ‘rending initiates’ experience them. Lesser
individuals would experience concentration and choice in a very different
manner.
273.
For the initiate, it is the soul that
concentrates and chooses and not the personality consciousness. As each of the
‘renders’ was achieving at least the third initiation, the soul was in charge.
The blinding force referred to can range all
the way from the deep spiritual darkness in which the average man moves,
through the blindness of which Saul of Tarsus was the exponent, up to that
condition which overwhelms the highest Initiate as He awaits entrance into the
Council Chamber of the Lord.
274.
To preserve a sense of proportion, DK tells of
three kinds of blindness. The blindness of Saul of Tarsus was not the most
spiritual of the types mentioned:
Blindness
is a prelude to initiation of no matter what degree.
275.
This fact has been preserved for us in the
initiatory rites of ancient and modern fraternal orders. The eye (given its
present degree of sensitivity) cannot assimilate that which demands a much
greater sensitivity. The eye goes blind in the face higher vibratory
conditions.
It is only at the last and highest initiation
that the "tendency to blindness" comes to a complete end.
276.
Which initiation is meant? The seventh? The
seventh is a truly solar initiation
in which the presence of the Solar Logos plays a significant role.
277.
Or is the ninth initiation (the Initiation of
Refusal) indicated? In this initiation all illusions of the cosmic physical
plane are seen through.
In the early stages of evolution, blindness
is natural, innate, unavoidable and impenetrable. For ages man walks in the dark.
278.
In fact there was a stage when early man had not
even developed eyes—we are told in books about the primeval history of our
planet.
Then comes the stage wherein this normal
blindness is a protection, but has also entered a phase wherein it can be
overcome.
279.
Blindness begins to be recognized as such. It
becomes known as an obstacle to progress, and steps are taken to overcome it.
Technically speaking, the blindness to which I
have referred is something different. From the moment when a human being catches the
first, faint glimpse of the "something other" and sees himself in
juxtaposition to that dimly sensed, distant reality, the blindness with which I have dealt is something imposed by the
soul upon the hastening aspirant, so that the lessons of conscious experience,
of discipleship, and later of initiation may be correctly assimilated and
expressed; by its means, the hurrying seeker is defended from making too rapid
and superficial progress.
280.
We are speaking of “occult blindness”. It is a
veiling process imposed by the soul. This is different from the mending of the
veils engineered by the Black Lodge. They attempt to prevent fully capable
individuals from breaking through into greater light, even when such individuals
are ready to do so.
281.
The blindness imposed by the soul is a guarantee
of the assimilation of newly acquired faculty. This blindness of part of the sanctioned
processes of super-nature, ensuring that the natural world will make secure
rather than superficial progress.
282.
Certain words stand out in this description:
“hastening”, “hurrying”, “too rapid”, “superficial”.
283.
This type of soul-induce blindness is a
‘spiritual restraint’ upon an overly eager personality. It is confinement to a
field of necessary assimilation.
It
is depth and a profound "rootedness" (if I may coin such a word) for
which the inner Teacher and later the Master looks, and "occult
blindness," its need, its wise
handling and its final elimination are part of the curriculum imposed upon the
candidate.
284.
Master DK continues to elaborate the thought. If
depth and a profound “rootedness” are to be achieved, the soul must restrain
the hastening personality.
285.
Of course, at one point of development, occult
blindness will be recognized by the one whom it has restrained. By then, he
will understand the reason why the soul has applied it. Eventually, it will
have to be eliminated (for it is desired that the mature disciple may enter
fully into the available light), but how is this to be done? By following the
methods of wise training laid down over the Ages. By following the sanctioned
methods of progress (whether anciently or newly sanctioned) and doing so in a
steady manner characteristic of one who is deeply rooted in spirituality.
286.
The methods of overcoming blindness have been
given; one will simply need great patience in the overcoming.
This truth is recognised, though not truly
interpreted, by the Masonic Fraternity. In one of the most important and highest
initiations, the candidate enters with unblinded eyes and no hoodwink is
applied. Then, halfway through
the ceremony, he is blinded, and in that condition passes through the terrific
tests, symbolic of a certain high stage upon the Path.
287.
Masons will know to which initiation this
applies. The following statements may prove useful for consideration:
Forget not that the aspirant to the Mysteries proceeds
blindly in the early stages; only after the third initiation do the scales fall
from his eyes. Therefore, follow obediently (though voluntarily) my requests as
I endeavour to teach you the ancient rules. (DINA II 126)
Think not that this indicates the fourth initiation, the
Crucifixion. That initiation has to be faced clear-eyed, free from glamour,
with a heart full of love and a mind released from all criticism. For this, the
second initiation prepares the disciple. (DINA II 527)
[Page
198]
Blindness
is therefore, esoterically speaking, the place of learning and is related to
the eye, throat and heart doctrine.
288.
We must reflect upon blindness as the place of
learning”.
289.
How shall we assign rays to these three
doctrines? The third ray correlates with the throat. We could argue either way
for the doctrine of the eye and of the heart in relation to the first and
second rays.
290.
Ultimately, the Spirit, or first aspect, is
seated in the heart.
It
is not related to the dim vision, the sensing of half truths and the gropings
of the aspirant in the process of learning about himself, or as he visions the
goal and seeks to walk the Path. That is a familiar condition and one to which
all beginners are subjected and which they cannot avoid for it is inherent in
their natures.
291.
DK seeks to elevate the concept of blindness; it
is not what our usual misconceptions would indicate.
292.
The aspirant is hastening, yet, the soul is not
forcing confinement to the field of learning in the same way as when the
disciple is upon the Fixed Cross. Fixity ensures the learning of the necessary
lessons and so does blindness—“occult blindness”, specifically.
293.
The earlier kind of blindness arises from the
inadequacy of the form. Not so with “occult blindness”
Occult blindness is spiritually induced and
"blacks out" the glory and the promised attainment and reward.
294.
“Occult blindness” is of the nature of a
deliberate veiling induced by the soul. It is a creating of an impenetrable
energy field which ‘blacks out promised glory’. Of course, it is not easily
detected, but may be felt simply as an inability to penetrate.
The disciple is thrown back upon
himself. All he can see is his problem,
his tiny field of experience, and his—to him—feeble and limited equipment. It is to this stage that the prophet Isaiah
refers when he speaks of giving to the struggling aspirant "the treasures of darkness."
295.
The Buddha would celebrate this type of blindness
and its purpose, as He constantly called for the Self-reliance of the disciple.
296.
“Occult blindness”, we can see, contributes not
only to Self-reliance but to humility. It counteracts the tendency to spiritual
inflation.
297.
One thinks of Virgo and the “service of the
immediately present”. (EA 258)
298.
The “treasures of darkness” are the treasures of
enforced assimilation.
The beauty of the immediate, the glory of the
present opportunity and the need to focus upon the task and service of the
moment are the rewards of moving forward into the apparently impenetrable
darkness.
299.
We note that the words “immediate” and “present”
are included in this section.
300.
Faith will be required to move into the
impenetrable darkness.
301.
Let us tabulate the rewards of working under the
curriculum of “occult blindness”:
302.
We can see how “occult blindness” is related to
the cultivation of appreciation, a Venusian soul quality. Mars hastens; Venus
appreciates and assimilates.
303.
DK has described blindness as it affects the
aspirant and disciple.
For the initiate, this blindness is still
more esoteric; there remains for him absolutely no light whatsoever—no earth light nor any light within the
three worlds at all. There is
only blackness. To this the mystic has
given the name "the dark night of the soul."
304.
DK addresses blindness as it affects the
initiate. All light is eliminated, at least all light within the three worlds.
305.
If we look carefully at what is written above, we
will see that that which vanishes is “earth light” and the light of the three
worlds.
306.
It is as if the initiate is forced to “look
above” if there is to be any light whatsoever.
307.
The term made famous in the annals of
mysticism—“the dark night of the soul”—is mentioned in relation to this type of
blindness.
The true dark night (of which the mystic's
dark night is only a dim reflection, to speak paradoxically) marks a very
exalted state of Being and stage of development.
308.
DK continues to speak of higher states. The
mystic’s “dark night” is not the same as the “dark night” of the high initiate.
309.
The true “dark night” pertains to beings of the
rank of the Christ.
It
was into the blackness and darkness that Christ penetrated as He overshadowed
one of His Masters, the Master Jesus upon the Cross. This will strike a new note for many, and can
only now be revealed.
310.
The thought presented is unusual. We tend to look
at the spiritual processes which concern us most intimately. The Masters and
Chohans, too, are faced with demanding developmental processes. The Christ was
so faced.
311.
What may have been the blackness and darkness
into which the Christ penetrated as He overshadowed Master Jesus on the Cross?
We will attempt to understand this blackness in relation to the four greater
veils enumerated below.
312.
Of one thing we can be sure: that type of blackness
was the prelude to a light intense beyond our imagining.
It is concerned with the facility with which
a Master participates in the experience, subjectively realised, of the
disciples whom He has prepared for initiation.
313.
Was the Christ penetrating into a blackness which
faced the Master Jesus, or into a blackness occluding the nature of Divine Will
(to which He, the Christ, was beginning to relate)?
314.
Does the Master assist His disciples to penetrate
into the blackness which faces them?
315.
Such penetration (on behalf of the lesser
disciple) would be a great act of ‘beneficent participation’.
It relates also to the still higher identification of the Christ with those initiates
who are taking the fourth and fifth initiations, such as the Master
Jesus in the experience referred to above.
316.
A most profound type of blackness is being
described, and one with an exalted function.
317.
Did the Christ assist the initiate to Jesus
penetrate the darkness which faced him?
318.
Can we think of the penetration which involved
both the Christ and Master Jesus, as a ‘dual penetration’, with two fields of
darkness penetrated?
Christ is no longer the Initiator, but stands
to the initiate as the Master does to the disciple.
319.
The Master supervises and guides the disciple.
Christ is the Initiator for the first two initiations, but we are speaking of a
process involving the fourth (and the sixth) initiations. It is an entirely
different relationship than the relationship of Initiator to candidate.
It is a curious phase of "identical
participation," which evokes no reaction from the Master or the [Page 199]
Master of the Masters, the Christ,
except in so far as it enables the divine Participator Himself to face another
area of darkness, veiling and hiding a still more supernal glory.
320.
We see that the Christ is present, attentive and
supportive in relation to the process through which the Master Jesus was
passing.
321.
Both are participating in a deep process. The
Master Jesus is facilitated by the Christ’s participatory presence, yet at the
same time the Christ is undertaking a far more difficult penetration.
322.
The success of the Christ’s penetration (of
“another area of darkness, veiling and hiding a still more supernal glory”)
contributes directly to the necessity for penetration with which the Master
Jesus is faced.
323.
There is also the reciprocal sense in which the
Christ’s participation in the darkness surrounding the Initiate, Jesus,
facilitates the Christ’s penetration into a still deeper and more intense level
of veiling darkness.
The above paragraph is far beyond the
comprehension of the average student, but will
be comprehended by those whose eyes are open to be blinded.
324.
This refers again to a particular Masonic degree.
Those whose eyes are “open to be blinded” have passed the third degree and are
facing the fourth, in the midst of which process, they will again be blinded,
so that they can say, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
325.
The following section is most important in
relation to the cry of the initiate Jesus upon the Cross:
The interpreters of the Gospel and many disciples of the
Christian dispensation have singularly failed to grasp this revelation; they
have laid the emphasis upon the death of the personality, whereas when Christ
experienced the "great void of darkness" and chanted aloud the occult
mantram "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me," he was
recognising simultaneously the distinction between His "robe of
glory" (symbolised by the partition of His garment by the Roman soldiery)
and also calling the attention of all future disciples and initiates to the
disappearance of the "middle principle," the soul; He was projecting
(into the world consciousness) the recognition which must come of relation to
the Father or the Monad. (DINA II 258-259)
326.
There are other interpretations of what was said,
at this point, upon the Cross. One such has the Master Jesus exclaiming; “The
robe, the robe, the beautiful robe of my strength no longer serves” (EA 315). This
mantram may have been an inner revelation.
Students
must remember that the four veils upon the etheric plane are only the lower
symbolic correspondences to certain great areas of divine expression, and that ever the glory must be approached
through the darkness.
327.
Just as the lower, systemic ethers are
reflections of the four cosmic ethers, so are the lower four veils reflections
of four higher.
328.
A basic principle is laid down for all who would
advance towards glory: “ever the glory must be approached through the
darkness”. This applies to all revelations of the light, beginning with the
first initiation.
Such is the Law. These higher veiling factors can be mentioned
and enumerated, but more information concerning these mysteries, this
separating darkness encountered by the initiate, may not be given:
329.
It will be up to us to interpret the “higher
veiling factors” here presented. As with so much in this chapter, DK leaves it
to the reader to interpret.
330.
We will wish to discover the ‘location’ of these
veils. They may be etheric in the cosmic sense, but perhaps not all of them
are. From another perspective, however, all
the systemic planes are etheric or akashic. It simply depends on how we define
these words.
VEIL
I. That which faces the disciple as he
wrestles with the Dweller on the Threshold and becomes conscious of the Angel
of the Presence, though as yet he sees Him not.
331.
It is at the third initiation that the disciple
catches his first real glimpse of the "Dweller on the Threshold" and
the "Angel of the Presence".
3. In the third initiation, the initiate can employ the
intuition for the right perception of truth, and in that initiation he catches
the first real glimpse of the Dweller on the Threshold and the Angel of the
Presence. (GWP 103)
332.
The wrestling occurs is between that which lies
below the “dotted line” separating the third and fourth sub-planes of the
systemic mental plane, and that which lies above (namely the egoic lotus).
333.
The veil concerned veils the true nature of the
soul which is revealed in a new way once the third initiation is achieved.
334.
This is the greater veil which both Moses and
Paul had to penetrate if the light of the soul was to enter.
335.
When this first of the greater veils is
penetrated, the initiate can polarize his consciousness within the higher
mental plane, and presumably upon the second sub-plane of the higher mental
plane and even, successively, upon the first.
336.
The phase here described cannot occur beyond the
third initiation as the disciple concerned does not yet really “see” the
"Angel of the Presence".
VEIL
II. That which the initiate encounters
at the fourth initiation and which forces him to cry out in his blindness: "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken
me."
337.
Here we have confirmed that there is a
significant form of blindness which occurs in the process of the fourth
initiation. We have already determined that blindness (of the kind experienced
by Paul) occurs during the process of the third.
338.
May it be the fourth initiation process which is
begun with eyes wide open but which entails a phase of blindness in its
concluding phases? It would seem so.
339.
Following the fourth initiation the initiate can
polarize his consciousness on the buddhic plane. Just as there is a separation
between the lower and higher mental planes, so there is a significant
separation between the twenty-one lower sub-planes and the cosmic ethers,
beginning with the buddhic plane.
340.
The twenty-one lower sub-planes are within the
gross physical nature of the Solar Logos, and the superior twenty-eight
sub-planes are within His etheric nature (cosmic etheric).
341.
The initiate crying out “My God, my God, why hast
Thou forsaken me” is in the process of being deprived of his causal body, his
causal nature (the type of Higher Self, with which he has become increasingly
familiar over millions of years). However, he cannot yet register that this
privation is really an endowment (making it possible for him for refocus his
consciousness upon cosmic etheric levels—at first the systemic buddhic plane).
342.
The arupa levels of the cosmic physical plane are
initially as darkness to the initiate deprived of his long familiar causal
limitation.
343.
The “God” who has forsaken him is the Solar Angel
who now is returning to the Heart of the Sun or to the Central Spiritual Sun.
The words uttered by the Christ at that time,
and as the Participator, have been forgotten by the orthodox, though preserved
by the esotericist. To them H.P.B.
refers in The Secret Doctrine.
344.
We have discussed the actual phrase which may
have presented itself inwardly to Jesus (as He was overshadowed by the Christ):
“The robe, the robe, the beautiful robe of my strength no longer serves”.
345.
It seems apparent that the utterances sent forth
from the Cross were utterances of the initiate, Jesus.
VEIL
III. That mysterious blindness which overwhelms the initiate when—as the
Embodiment of all the forces of the Spiritual Triad—He faces the Monad and is
impelled forward by the "devastating Will" of the first aspect. Of this I may not write. It concerns the sixth and seventh
initiations.
346.
This mysterious blindness is that which
(preceding the sixth initiation) may have faced the Christ when He said in the
347.
This blindness obviously concerns the secrets of
initiations higher than those of Master and so, naturally, DK is not permitted
to convey them.
348.
The veil concerned will be ‘located’, so it
seems, between the atmic and monadic planes. It is kind of higher analogy to
the immediately preceding veil separating the mental from the buddhic plane.
349.
The Monad is possessed of “devastating Will”.
These words suggest an entirely new kind of freedom from the deva kingdom. One
would find it profitable to ponder the “deva” in “devastating”.
350.
Esotericists often speak of a separation between
the higher three sub-planes of the atmic plane and the lower four, as if a kind
of elevated causal body existed on those higher atmic planes. This may or may
not be the case, but if it were, there would be a kind of separation on the
atmic plane which corresponds to the separation on the mental plane—between the
levels three and four.
351.
The kind of blindness here discussed is due to
the inability to penetrate into the true nature of the Divine Will and,
perhaps, to the overwhelming effect of being exposed for the first time to a
much fuller measure of Divine Will.
352.
Initial exposure to a much higher vibratory state
is always blinding.
VEIL
IV. That "unknown impenetrable
Void, the utter darkness of negation" which Those Who are in the Council
Chamber of the Lord of the World and Who are focussed in Shamballa face when
the time comes for Them to "negate" our planetary life-expression and
experience altogether.
353.
We are speaking of a blindness which overcomes
those who are facing the ninth initiation of Refusal. This allows Them to
refocus upon the cosmic astral plane and leave the seven planes of the cosmic
physical plane behind.
354.
We must question whether the members of the
Council Chamber (some of them Planetary Logoi in the previous solar system) had
not already passed through the “Great Refusal”.
355.
The veil concerned would thus be found between
the cosmic physical plane and the cosmic astral plane.
356.
The lower veils relating to the systemic physical
plane are obstructions created by the Black Lodge and by humanity through its
own ignorance and in response to the promptings of the Black Lodge
357.
Can we say the same for the higher veils? We have
no real basis for saying we could, even though the true Black Lodge is focussed
upon the cosmic astral plane.
358.
The Council Chamber of the Lord is, we believe,
located on the highest of the cosmic ethers, the logoic plane. There the most
exalted of the shamballic lives are focussed: minimally, the Lord of the World
and the three Buddhas of Activity. Other Lives are polarized there as well.
359.
As initiates pass through the logoic plane, their
next destination is the cosmic astral plane (just as the fifth almost liberated
Creative Hierarchy is in process of breaking free onto the cosmic astral
plane). It would seem, however, that a great developmental gulf separates the
members of the fifth almost liberated Creative Hierarchy from a member of the
fourth Creative Hierarchy who is beginning to focus on the cosmic astral plane.
This can be substantiated by references and inference.
360.
The greatest members of the Council are focussed
on the logoic plane through an act of sacrifice. The upward striving members of
the fourth Creative Hierarchy are focussing there as an ‘act of achievement’.
There is a significant difference in these two orientations.
They must then leave behind all the seven
planes of spiritual and human experience [Page 200] and pass onward and out
into phases of Life and being for which we have no words, and of which we have
no conception.
361.
Those who pass to the cosmic astral plane are
leaving all seven sub-planes of the cosmic physical plane behind. We note the
use of the word “spiritual”.
362.
The Tibetan has hesitated to describe the nature
of the cosmic astral plane because He has not ‘personally’ entered that phase
of divine experience.
They leave through the fourth veil on the
cosmic physical etheric levels (on the highest plane of our seven planes) and
pass on to the cosmic astral plane.
363.
This sentence is a confirmation concerning the
placement of the fourth veil.
364.
This veil is on the lightward side. Is there an
analogy between the placement of this greater veil and the placement of the
highest of the etheric veils, the Veil of Aspiration?
365.
The veil is still ‘on’ the cosmic physical
etheric levels and is not composed of cosmic astral substance. It could,
however, be considered a precipitation of forces from the cosmic astral plane,
just as veils within the systemic ethers were considered precipitations from
higher systemic planes.
366.
If we wish to preserve the analogy completely (an
analogy prompted by a consideration of the precipitating causes of the lower or
systemic etheric veils), this highest of the veils could be consider a precipitation
of cosmic force from the level of cosmic soul.
367.
Of these things it is not wise to speak and they
lie so far from our potential experience.
There
They negate its existence as They have earlier negated the existence of the
astral plane, so familiar an illusion to all of us. The
initiate passes on to the cosmic astral plane and finds—What? Who knows?
I do not.
368.
The experience of advancing initiates (presumably
of the ninth degree) upon the cosmic astral plane contributes to their eventual negation of that level of
existence. This will be a very long process, for, at first, the cosmic astral
plane seems to be the source of what we on the cosmic physical plane consider
the energy of true love.
369.
We note that the Tibetan considers our systemic
astral plane a “familiar…illusion”. One can only imagine that state of cosmic
consciousness which can realistically consider the cosmic astral plane as a
‘familiar illusion’. Would it not be at least the state of consciousness of a
Planetary Logos?
370.
Here, Master DK admits to His own limitations. Of
the modern Initiates, only the Christ is beginning to penetrate into that level
of life.
371.
Are we gathering the impression that the universe
and even our local cosmo-system offer more than sufficient opportunities for
vast spiritual growth and widening participation?
Thus
the veils serve their purpose; blindness nurtures and protects, provided it is innate and natural, soul-imposed or
spiritually engendered.
372.
We can see that even initiates of very high
degree (those of the sixth or ninth initiations) experience that type of
confining “occult blindness” appropriate to their level of development.
373.
The forms of blindness which are wrongly imposed
cannot be called “occult blindness”. “Occult blindness” is—
374.
“Occult blindness” is far different from “imposed
ignorance”.
If it is willfully self-induced, if it
provides an alibi for grasped knowledge, if it is assumed in order to avoid
responsibility, then sin enters in and difficulty ensues. From this may all of you be protected.
375.
These are interesting statements. Let us examine
them.
376.
Willfully self-induced blindness provides “an
alibi for grasped knowledge”. What does this really mean? Perhaps that already
grasped knowledge is considered sufficient and that the limitation which it
represents is embraced; perhaps that no further attempt is made to penetrate
into higher areas of revelation which would put “grasped knowledge” in
proportion.
377.
Self-imposed blindness can also be used as an alibi
to avoid responsibility which exposure to greater light would demand. The
avoiding disciple realizes that if he ‘sees’ more, more will be expect of him
and so remains willfully ignorant to avoid the demands which would come upon
him.
378.
Why is this sin? It is evasion of one’s role in
cosmos and a refusal to bring through that part of the Divine Will which one
essentially is.
379.
We can see
how deep these matters go. Great potential revelations lie ahead and the
methods of accessing them are subject to occult law. There are no short-cuts
and every penetration requires spiritual courage and self-sacrifice.