Commentary on Rule I for Disciples and Initiates

 

 

Rule I: Fourth Sentence

A.                 Behind the group there stands the Door. Before them opens out the Way.

1.                  In our self-conscious progress as human beings, many “doors” stand ‘behind’ us.

2.                  Even in our progress (as monads) through the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, every graduated ‘step’ is to be considered a “door”—entered, in these cases, unconsciously (at least from the perspective of that sentient, ‘downwardly’ projected ‘ray’ (or emanation) of the monad which is “in-mineralized” in the mineral kingdom, “in-vegetalized” in the vegetable kingdom or “in-zoonated” in the animal kingdom. (Our identity in the lower worlds is the an emanation or ‘raying forth’ of the monad, while  the monadic ray, per se, is different and is the coloring of the emanation

3.                  Even in the process of human evolution which succeeds upon experience in the lower three kingdoms, the passage through many preliminary “doors” is also largely unconscious.

4.                  During the later phases, when the human being becomes more intelligent, there is a more focussed understanding of the moments of progress and passage.

5.                  A “door or initiation” acts as an inhibition to passage from one area of divine expression to another.

6.                  A door may be closed, ajar, or open. The closed door prevents passage; the door ajar (partly opened) invites passage or promises full passage at a later time, and the open door allows passage.

7.                  Some doors may be smashed through, but never the doors of initiation. No force is strong enough to do that, even though the “Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force”. What this means is that one may, as it were, force open the door of initiation through rapid and wilful fulfilment of the initiatory requirements. However apparently ahead of schedule may be the opening of the door, the requirements must have been fulfilled. Divine Law will not allow the opening unless the spiritual work which must take place before the door has been completed. Those who “storm the gates of heaven” (often first ray souls or monads), through dint of will, often fulfil this work more rapidly than others.

8.                  Not only will a door of initiation inhibit passage, but in most cases, a door inhibits sight. That which transpires beyond the door is sealed from the eyes of the one who stands before the door—“hermetically sealed”. Hermes was the guardian of the Mysteries, and, as the esoteric ruler of Aries, “leads into the mysteries” (EA 549) “Mercury heals the blind and restores sight, mental and physical.” (SD II. 571.) In the initiation process there is strict control over what is seen and what is not.

9.                  In our cosmos, the higher dimensions of activity and consciousness are sealed to the lower dimensions (unless the necessary requirements allowing access to the higher dimensions have been fulfilled upon and within the lower dimensions). In most cases, however, the lower dimensions are not sealed to the higher, for the greater ever includes the lesser. It is true, however, that some beings of the higher dimensions can descend only so low (thus is the exalted vibratory condition of their vehicles), yet should they will to know, they may register all that transpires upon those lower planes upon which they may not permanently ‘locate’ themselves. In most cases they do not so will, thus observing the cosmic Law of Economy, which inhibits an unwarranted expenditure of force.

10.              Thus, in cosmos there are many ‘doors’ (‘points of dimensional transition’) and the process whereby access from one dimension to another is prevented might be called ‘dimensional sealing’.

11.              All of evolution can be seen as a series of successive passages through doors or portals, each admitting to a dimension of greater intensity (and hence, of more rapid vibratory frequency) than the one preceding.

12.              All of us have just passed through, are on our way to, or are standing before one “door” or another. It is our responsibility to determine our place in this threefold sequence. Initiation is to be taken seriously—not so seriously that one, egoistically, has one’s individual progress always in mind, but seriously enough to realize that through initiation our power to serve is greatly enhanced, so we had better get on with the task.

13.              To understand the nature of the doors through which we have passed, one needs to assess the virtuous qualities which are firmly established within our nature, and, hence, built into our causal body. Not all doors are doors of the major initiations. There are numerous doors along the way, in relation to which the sequence, “Crisis, Tension, Emergence” is applicable. Before every door there occurs a crisis, as one divests himself or herself of those vibratory tendencies which are not harmonious with conditions on the further side of the door. Then, a point of tension is realized and sustained. To sustain the requisite point of tension is to prove oneself initiate before one is, technically speaking, initiated. Initiation, itself, is the passage through the door, and signifies emergence. Initiation is always a beginning and an end.

14.              All of the higher qualities are “hard won”. Although we have long forgotten the battles which led to their establishment, the presence of virtues signifies triumphs in former battles. The lunar nature resists the building in of virtue, and it is only through “battle” with this lunar nature (whether bloody or subtle and sophisticated) that virtue can take the place of lower tendency. The struggles of St. Paul were just such battles. “Oh wretched man that I am, who will save me from the body of this death?”

15.              We are told that “Behind the group there stands the door”. Three major doors to be considered are 1) the Door to Individualization; 2) the Door of the First Initiation; and 3) the Door to the Third Initiation.

16.              The Door to Individualization admits “animal man” (a representative of the third kingdom) into the human or fourth kingdom of nature. This passage is a great initiation for the monadic units included in what we now call the “Fourth Creative Hierarchy” (for a diagram of the relationship of this Hierarchy to eleven others, cf. Esoteric Astrology 34-35)

17.              The Door of the First Initiation is passed a number of millions of years later (depending upon the occult ‘speed’ of the developing human unit), and admits into what is called the fifth kingdom of nature or the “Kingdom of Souls”. The majority on our planet passed through the Door to Individualization some twenty-one million years ago and have not yet passed through the Door of the First Initiation. Full membership in this fifth kingdom is not achieved until a man becomes a Master of the Wisdom at the fifth initiation. Note that the initiatory degree of the Master carries the same number as the Kingdom of Souls—the number five,  a luminous Sirian and Venusian number..

18.              The Door of the Third Initiation, signifies that one is emerging out of ‘childhood’ in the fifth kingdom of nature and is becoming an adult—though not yet full-grown. This emergence is like reaching the age of twenty-one, also called one’s “majority”—three of five. The third initiation is the first solar initiation, and signifies that one may now be an active and conscious worker within a particular ashram.

19.              It is reasonable to conclude that the “door” referred to in this fourth sentence of Rule I for Disciples and Initiates, is the door of the third initiation. The Rule itself can be reasonably interpreted as referring to the third initiation.

20.              As elsewhere stated, these advanced Rules for Disciples and Initiates focus primarily upon the third initiation and beyond, but have application on a lower turn of the spiral to initiates of the first two degrees. If one has not take the first initiation, the “Birth of the Christ in the Heart”, the more advanced Rules will be, for the most part, beyond comprehension and application.

21.              The “door” is refereed to in a number of the fourteen advanced Rules. Is it always the same “door”? For instance, is the door in Rule I, Rule III and Rule IX the same door? For the most part, I would say, “Yes”, the door to the third initiation.

22.              Confirmation of this thought comes because the sentence immediately following is, “Before them opens out the Way”. It is only after the third initiation is passed that any glimpse of the Way of Higher Evolution is sensed. Before than, it is simply theory accompanied, at best, by enlightened inference and vague anticipation.

23.              But the third initiation is an initiation in which sight is emphasized (thought, to a degree, enhanced sight accompanies every initiation). At the third degree the ajna center receives stimulation from the Rod of Power, and this center, as we well remember, is associated particularly with vision.

24.              So the two thoughts in sentence four—concerning the door left behind and the process which unfolds once that door is left behind—are sequential. Once the candidate passes through the door of the third degree, the monad is beginning more actively to influence his energy system. The Way of Higher Evolution which then begins to ‘appear’ (and for the treading of which a long and necessary preparation can then be commenced) concerns “monadic destiny”—the return of the spirit to its source.

25.              What will be the condition of the group if “behind the group there stands the Door”? On the lower turn of the spiral, if the door were that of the first degree, then all (or most) group members would be qualified by the following characteristics.

“Members of the New Group of World Servers should watch with care for all those who show signs of having passed through the ‘birth’ experience and should help them toward a greater maturity.  They should assume that all those who truly love their fellowmen, who are interested in the esoteric teaching, and who seek to discipline themselves in order to attain greater beauty of life, are initiate and have undergone the first initiation.  When they discover those who are seeking mental polarisation and who evidence a desire and aspiration to think and to know, coupled with the distinguishing marks of those who have taken the first initiation, they can, in all probability, safely assume that such people have taken the second initiation or are on the verge of so doing.  Their duty will then be clear.  It is by this close observation on the part of the world servers that the ranks of the New Group are filled.  Today, the opportunity and the stimulation are so great that all servers must keep alert, developing in themselves the ability to register the quality for which search must be made, and giving the help and guidance which will weld into one cooperative band those disciples and initiates who should prepare the way for the Christ”. (R&I 667)

Were the door the door of the second degree, the distinguishing characteristics of the group personnel are also listed immediately above. Just because some or even many within a group have achieved the first or second degree does not necessarily mean that the group as a whole is a first or second degree group.

26.              The development of a first or second degree group would indicate another and further step.

27.              Individual achievement is one thing, group achievement another, though of course related to the achievements of the personnel contained within the group.

28.              It is possible to have a number of initiates of various degrees within a group, and yet the group many, in itself, stand at a relatively low level, not yet having achieved the integration of the group personality and infusion by the group soul. Group dynamics parallel those of the progressing individual.

29.              Since the more advanced Rules pertain to the group it may be assumed that the accomplishments here discussed are group accomplishments, and so indicate a quite advanced point of progress. To find even first degree groups is relatively rare, and second degree groups are rarer still. Again, I am not speaking of the accomplishments of individual members within such a group, but of the group as a whole.

30.              If the group referred to in sentence four has, as a group, passed the third degree, one can see how advanced this Rule really is and that its major period of usefulness lies ahead.

31.              For a group to fulfil the requirements of this Rules does not necessary mean that all members of the group will have passed the third degree, though if the group is to have a third degree impact upon the world, the majority will have done so. Some may be closer to the second degree, but the overall ‘tone’ and ‘note’ and world-impact of the group will be that of the third degree.

32.              Thus, such a group will be composed of illumined minds in which the spiritual intuition is awakening. The group as a whole will have achieved the capacity to think together within the light of the soul, the group antahkarana will be completed in its first phase (connecting the group mental unit with the group mental permanent atom), and the process of fusing manas with buddhi (intuition) will have begun.

33.              Such a group would definitely be standing, as a group, upon the periphery of some ashram, and in fact, would be included within this periphery.

34.              For such a group, note of the ashram would be ringing clearly, the will of the ashram would be known, accepted and enacted, and the will of the Master would be coming increasingly clear.

35.              For such a group, the perception of unity would be a fact of consciousness, and the Divine Plan would be known with directness—at least those aspects of the Plan accessible to those whose consciousness is polarized within the sphere of receptivity of the third degree.

36.              Just as an individual who stands at the third degree not only expresses the Divine Plan but can reveal the factual nature of unity, so, such a group, would be a revealer of factual unity. The consciousness of such a group would be “planetarized” (in the words of the astrologer, Dane Rudhyar, who wrote The Planetarization of Consciousness).

37.              One can imagine how ‘rich’ such a group would be, and the degree of synthesized thought which would characterize it. Such a group would be polarized upon the level of abstract mind—thus the necessity for the completion of the first phase of the antahkarana in the great majority of its personnel.

38.              Certainly somewhere in the continuity of group development is to be found a third degree group. The phenomenon would be quite rare and not readily visible in groups known generally to the world. However, since there are visible second degree groups (selfless and idealistic), and visible fourth degree groups (such as the group of arhats whom the Buddha gathered around Himself), there must as well be detectable third degree groups. Maybe, some such may be quite specialized and working closely in touch with some ashram or another. Perhaps the inner group surrounding an arhat (such as the inner group around the Dalai Lama) would be a third degree group. Probably the group that surrounded the Hindu sage, Ramakrishna (himself certainly at least a fourth degree initiate) would also have been of the third degree, for all of them were seeking to become true renunciants or arhats—fourth degree initiates. We are told that certain arhats of the fourth degree, associated with the third and fifth rays and directing “manasic” ashrams, train certain advanced scientific specialists who may be working in small, inconspicuous third degree groups. Right now, third degree groups are more likely to be quite limited in the number of their personnel and relatively remote, than external and before the eyes of many.

39.              Whenever a “door” stands truly “behind”, the members of the group may take their stand upon the accomplishments of the vibratory level to which they have been admitted. When once a door is passed, it is rare indeed for the individuals or the group who have passed through that door to revert permanently to the vibratory level left behind. To do so would be a ‘devolution’. This type of degeneration may gradually happen to those who deliberately choose the left-hand path; qualities associated with the animal kingdom may even begin to reappear.

40.              That the door is left behind indicates a condition of relative freedom. The group which has passed the third degree is a group disciple in relation to the Lodge of Sirius—though not yet even a Sirian Initiate of the first degree. A group of Masters could be considered a group initiate of the first degree in relation to the Lodge of Sirius. We know that the Law of Freedom emanates from Sirius and that freedom is a Uranian condition—i.e., promoted by the energy of the planet Uranus. The mountain of usual karma has been transcended by fulfilling Saturn at the third degree, and the restrictions of Saturn begin to give way to the dynamic, spontaneous and free approach characterized by the planet, Uranus.

41.              From another perspective, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus rule the third, fourth and fifth degrees respectively, so the task of the group after the third degree is to blend Saturn (abstract mind) with Neptune (buddhi), in an approach to atma (Uranus). There are ways that both Saturn and Uranus and be considered connected to both the abstract mind and atma (spiritual will).

42.              The group which has left the door behind, is now focussed upon the task of communicating with and eventually polarizing upon the middle and highest levels of the spiritual triad.

43.              They are not yet ready to tread the “Way”, and will not be ready until they take the sixth degree—probably thousands of years later.

44.              But they are newly engaged with the curriculum of the monad, and are liberating themselves from the “desert” (in this case the desert of the higher mental plane)—an oasis for many, but increasingly a desert for those who search for the life and heart of the buddhic plane.

45.              With regard to the Way of the Higher Evolution (trodden by those who have taken the sixth degree), it is the monad who sees the way ahead. Thus, it is only at the third degree, when the monad is becoming a factual presence (and not just a theoretical anticipation) that this Way can be glimpsed. Some small fragment of what the monad sees is capable of being registered by the consciousness of the third degree initiate.

46.              At this point, the group has what might be called an ‘appreciation of monadic destiny’, but many developments within the spiritual triad and in relation to the monad are necessary before the actual treading of that Greater Path can begin.

47.              As we may know, there are seven main Paths upon the Way of the Higher Evolution, and now (following, probably, the refocalization of many ashrams upon the buddhic plane around 1925 at the time of the last Great Centennial Conclave) two paths in addition are offered.

48.              This is not the place to begin a study of the seven or nine higher Paths, through a few generalities may be offered.

49.              Essentially, these are Paths which lead away from our solar system altogether. Only one Path, the Path of Earth Service, keeps the monad confined to the sphere of our planetary scheme.

50.              There is some question concerning whether Path V, the Ray Path, leads our of our system or to our Sun (as at least one theorist has suggested). I would suggest that this fifth Path may lead to involvement with the Seven Suns of which ours is one, and thus to what has been called the “Seven Solar Systems”.

51.              The Paths in order are:

a.                   The Path of Earth Service
b.                  The Path of Magnetic Work
c.                   The Path of the Planetary Logoi
d.                  The Path to Sirius
e.                   The Ray Path
f.                    The Path of the Solar Logoi
g.                   The Path of Absolute Sonship
h.                   Unknown
i.                     Unknown

52.              Eventually all Paths lead to the Central Spiritual Sun (interpreted in this case to mean the “Hub of the Wheel” or the star cluster known as the Pleiades—not just the seven or nine familiar Pleiads, but the entire cluster consisting of a number of hundreds of stars {all informed by Solar Logoi}—perhaps four or five hundred).

53.              On one level of interpretation, the central star of the Pleiades, Alcyone, can be considered the “Central Spiritual Sun”. From a vaster perspective, the entire cluster and the vast Being that informs it, can be understood as the “Central Spiritual Sun”. The term “Central Spiritual Sun” is generic and has even galactic applications.

54.              It is interesting with respect to these cosmic Paths to realize that there are normally seven Pleiades to consider, and that these are called the “Seven Sisters”. If , however, Atlas and Pleione (father and mother, respectively) are added, the number becomes nine. These seven or nine stars may well have a correlation with the seven or nine Paths to be trodden. It would be surprising if they did not.

55.              The specifics of these Paths are not so important to us, however intensely interesting they may be. Such specifics are not even of immediate import to an initiate or a group-initiate of the third degree (behind whom and behind which stands the “door”).

56.              What is important is to realize that a vast destiny lies before the adventuring monad, and that the third degree initiate (both individual and group) is beginning training to fulfil this destiny.

57.              “Where there is no vision the people perish”. Thus it is important, at every point along the Endless Way, to be possessed by a sense of ‘divine incentive’, presenting vistas of new dimensional levels to be attained.

58.              Just as the soul and spiritual triad serve as inspiring incentives to those who stand at our level of evolution, so the monad and a vision of the wider cosmic vistas to which it will eventually have access, can inspire the initiate and initiate group for whom the door of the third degree is left behind.

59.              Progress is ever onward from one point of tension to another still higher.

60.              Many teachings, in their enumeration of attainable divine possibilities, stop short of revealing a fuller truth by limiting their focus to the states of “Nirvana”, “Satori” or “Enlightenment”. For those who are, strictly speaking, human beings, such states may seem to be ultimates. But the humanity of today will become lives of a higher order (super-human lives) in days to come, and always vistas of new and greater possibilities must be presented to provide a continuity of inspiration. Nirvana is but the “beginning of the Endless Way”. It is not a vision of Nirvana which will inspire the Master of the Wisdom or the adventuring Chohan.

61.              Perhaps in our darker moments, when the point of tension is not all that it might be, we can hearten ourselves and others by anticipation of the unknown dimensions toward which our destined Path will lead. An inspiring vision of the future can lighten the present.

62.              Every monad is a Ray of the Absolute, emanated from the Central Universal Source, and tending to ‘re-become’ the universe, the Entirety reflective of that Central Source. The monad is, in fact and in essence, the Central Universal Source—a stupendous and apparently paradoxical though. Treading the Way of the Higher Evolution can be expected to bring added confirmation of this intuition which is but dimly apprehended by those who stand where we now stand.

63.              Thus progress leads us as monads (and at long length) to the one and only Point of Original Universal Emanation. The great mystery is that (for all our apparent multidimensional ‘travels’) we never left that Point and even now are ‘there’.

 

The Themes Included Under the Sentence 4

B.                 The “door” symbology (cf. RI, p. 42)

Note how this passage reverses the usual presentation.  Hitherto, in the occult books, the Door of Initiation has been presented as ever moving forward ahead of the initiate.  He passes through door after door into a wider experience and expansion of consciousness.  But in the initiate consciousness, after the first two initiations, this is not the realisation.  It is simply the adhering to an old form of symbolism with the implied limitations of the truth.  I would here remind you that the third initiation is regarded by the Hierarchy as the first major initiation, and that the first and second initiations are initiations of the Threshold.  For the bulk of humanity, these first two initiations will for a very long time constitute major initiatory experiences, but in the life and realisation of the initiate-soul, they are not.  After the two initiations of the threshold have been undergone the attitude of the initiate changes and he sees possibilities and factors and revelations which have hitherto [Page 42] been totally unrealised and unknown, even to his consciousness at his highest moments.

1.                  It is important to realize that in The Rays and the Initiations, we are dealing with a presentation of the truth which is quite new, and which reverses many of the images presented in the standard Theosophical works.

2.                  This book is written from the perspective of the initiate consciousness. Most manuals on initiation are written for those who aspire towards initiation—often pointing to the attainment of the first two initiations, which are considered by the Masters only initiations of the threshold. This book is written from a perspective which assumes the achievement of that towards which the usual disciple aspires.

3.                  Early Theosophical presentations were aimed mostly at those upon the Probationary Path. In the Alice Bailey works, the Tibetan also gives much attention to the needs of the probationer and the average disciple, but He extends the possibilities, giving also that which initiates (and even initiates of high degree) can find spiritual nourishing. It is said, for instance, that A Treatise on Cosmic Fire can truly be understood only by the initiate consciousness—this means, the consciousness of the third degree. Note that initiation is always a question of consciousness (though the matter aspect as well will reflect changes in accordance with the level of initiation).

4.                  It is important for the student of spirituality to use for training the level of symbolism appropriate to his or her level of unfoldment. Symbols can be interpreted on many different levels, but some of the standard symbols (in this case, the “door”) will one day have to be replaced by more suitable symbols. For instance, a familiar symbol for an advanced initiation is the “eye of the needle”.

5.                  It may be that the symbolism of the “door” is suitable for those who are, to some degree, still trapped in the consciousness of the lower ego and, therefore, have not perceived subject and object as one.

6.                  When we learn that the first two initiations are considered “initiations of the Threshold”, we have to ask, “the Threshold of what?” In this case we would answer, “of the Hierarchy, itself”. Initiates of the third degree are potentially, and very often actually, conscious members of a particular ashram. They have entered hierarchical life, have defeated the Moon and Mars (which together symbolize the lower eighteen subplanes which embody the personality, and the lower personal ego). They are no longer on the threshold of solar life but, since the third initiation is the first solar initiation, have entered it. They are almost fully infused by the solar principle (represented by the Solar Angel), and have symbolically transferred their consciousness from the domain of the Moon to that of the Sun. That which the Solar Angel has sought to see accomplished over millions of years of supervision has well nigh been accomplished (for further soul infusion will occur between the third and fourth degrees). The third degree initiate is no longer “profane” (standing outside the gates of the temple). Such an initiate has departed from the “outer court” (the vibratory dimensions of personality) and has entered the “Holy Place”, though he or she is not yet polarized within the “Holy of Holies”. Note the following from p. 633 of Esoteric Astrology.:

“I. Ray I. The Holy of Holies. Shamballa.
The Dwelling Place of the Most High.
Spirit. Life. Energy.
Will. Identification.

II. Ray II. The Holy Place. Hierarchy.
The Secret Place where Light dwelleth.
Soul. Consciousness. Light.
Love. Initiation.

III. Ray III. The Outer Court. Humanity.
Christ in us, the hope of glory.
Form. Appearance. Body.
Intelligence. Individuality.”

7.                  We have to realize that the bulk of humanity will not be interested in this more advanced teaching. They have much to do to achieve the standards of the first two initiations. Even the majority of disciples today find themselves somewhere between the first and second initiations—a span covering quite a few lives. Yet, we must learn to think ahead and envision future possibilities.

8.                  The Tibetan tells us that the first two initiations will provide sufficient incentive for the advanced individuals for a “very long time”. (Obviously, the great majority of human beings is not yet ready for initiated life, though humanity itself is on the verge of the first initiation—a paradox to be solved.) How long will that “time” be? Certainly for the duration of the Aquarian Age in which initiatory possibilities will be concentrated on the first two degrees. The cleansing of the Augean Stables (the Herculean Labor in Aquarius) can be seen as equivalent to the Baptism or Purification—the second degree, so a relatively large number of second degree initiates will appear during the next two thousand or so years. When considering the “bulk of humanity”, however, that very long time may last for thousands upon thousands of years, for even two fifths of those who began their human evolution on the Moon Chain ages ago, will not tread the spiritual Path until the fifth round! This indicates the great duration of the program of spiritual development.

9.                  Actually, two thousand years, though the span may seem a “very long time” to the consciousness of the personality, is but a brief moment in the aeonial progress of the soul. Though many will be initiated during the Age of Aquarius, this “many” represents only a relatively small proportion of the human race—yet their spiritual weight can be sufficient to swing humanity into an entirely new program of rapid development.

10.              Aquarius is sign also associated the third degree and so the program of initiation to occur during the coming Age will not be confined to the first two initiations, though, naturally, the major emphasis will be there.

11.              During the succeeding, Age of Capricorn, the third initiation may be relevant to a growing number of probationary initiates—naturally, to those who have achieved the second degree during the Age of Aquarius. Capricorn, we may realize, is a sign associated with all five of the first initiations, but particularly with the third initiation.

12.              Notice the Tibetan’s use of the term, “initiate soul”. This may be considered a rather technical term, and refers to a state of consciousness developing within candidate for the third degree, and actually achieved by the initiate of that degree. At that degree one realizes oneself quite fully as the soul manifesting within the lower three worlds and not as simply as an aspiring personality or disciple. An initiate-soul is possessed of “intuitive instinct” or “spiritual perception”, and is beginning to access the buddhic plane, just as the second degree initiate is distinguished by “an illumined mind and spiritual intelligence” and is accessing the higher three subplanes of the mental plane with some facility, and the first degree initiate is characterized by “spiritual instinct” and is beginning to utilize the mind to regulate the physical-etheric and emotional natures. Let us remember that the sacrifice petals of the egoic lotus, which begin to unfold when the initiation process is begun, are all related to the mental plane, and their unfoldment indicates a growing radiation of soul light within the mental apparatus of the candidate. The astral and etheric-physical vehicles will, naturally, also receive the infusion of soul influence. True initiation ever is related to the growth of mental polarization (which does not mean that one is “smart” or that mind and emotion are divided from each other).

13.              The Tibetan speaks of a change in attitude and realization of the one who has passed through the second initiation. He seems to suggest an availability of new perceptions which were entirely unsuspected while the initiations of the threshold were still his objective. This refinement in perception occurs because the consciousness of the initiate is entering the “arupa” or formless realms, and is being prepared for impression from the worlds of the spiritual triad and spirit. Concentration upon form has climaxed at the second degree. The Moon, or “mother of the form” has, at that degree, symbolically entered Scorpio and has, again symbolically, “died”—at least the desire for form life has waned significantly. Thus, ‘space in consciousness’ is cleared for entirely new patterns of apprehension, and the truths of the formless worlds begin to reveal themselves.

 

The door of initiation looms large in the consciousness of the neophyte; the higher Way is the determining factor in the life of the initiate of the third degree.  It is the Transfiguration; and a new glory pours through the transfigured initiate who has been released from every type of grip by either the personality or the soul.  For the first time, the goal of the higher Way and the attainment of Nirvana (as the Oriental calls it) appears before him, and he knows that no forms and no spiritual complexes and no pull by either soul or form, or by both united, can have any effect upon his attaining his final destination.

1.                  In this paragraph the Tibetan describes what seems to be a very exalted state of consciousness, yet is simply that which characterizes the initiate of the third degree. This will, perhaps, cause some adjustment of ideas in the minds of those who think that the attainment of this degree is of no special difficulty.

2.                  What “looms large” in our consciousness? We might pause to ask. With what are our thoughts preoccupied? Do we think of the “doors” which we will encounter as we progress? Or do we think of the “needles eye” and the possibilities upon the Endless Way?

3.                  Necessarily, the majority must think in terms of “doors” and the requirements for their passage.

4.                  Notice that the Tibetan speaks of the Higher Way as a “determining factor” in the life of the initiate of the third degree. The word, “determination” suggests will, which is rapidly increasing in potency after the third degree is passed. Great will combined with love will be required of the one who seeks to pass the “needles eye”.

5.                  The particular Higher Path which one is destined to tread—for such treading is a matter of “monadic destiny”—is an impelling (and, perhaps, even a compelling) factor in the life of the initiate of the third degree. That the Path is destined does not, however, mean that it will be trodden. Mistakes can be made.

Though the treading of these Paths are yet, for him (the initiate of the third degree), experiences in the relatively distant future, the substance (i.e., vibratory influence) of these Paths begin to exert their effect because the monad, itself, is becoming increasingly influential. I suspect that the particular destined Path to be freely chosen, is determined by the ray and origin of the monad. At least this ray is related to the Path which it is right and correct for the initiate of the sixth degree to follow. Note the paradox that there is one correct Path (the right Path) and yet the choice of Path is a completely free choice. As we one day achieve Mastership, it will be for us to resolve this apparent contradiction.

6.                  The Tibetan speaks of the Transfiguration, and the “new glory” that pours through the transfigured initiate. Glory might be defined as a great ‘harmonic vibratory enhancement’. Everything in the initiate’s higher nature is enhanced, its frequency increased. The increase of frequency, however, is not a cacophonous overstimulation (as has been earlier experienced in relation to the lunar vehicles), but an harmonious unification of mutually enhancing energies resulting in a great outpouring of radiation.

7.                  This glory is also, quite simply, a great intensification within the human energy system of light from the Solar Angel and spiritual triad, and even the monad itself adds its quota to the stimulation. It is the light aspect of the monad which is first encountered in the process of taking the solar initiations, with the intensification of the love and will aspects reserved for succeeding initiations—the fourth and fifth.

8.                  I find it almost surprising that the initiate is said to be released from “every type of grip by either the personality or the soul”. Certainly the grip of the personality upon the consciousness has been defeated, for both Mars and the Moon have been symbolically subdued, and the personality no longer acts as a lunar and obstructive force once this first of solar initiations has been achieved.

But freedom from the grip of the soul as well? Perhaps, here, we are dealing with an ideal—a desirable state of freedom which the third degree initiate experiences once he has made certain important internal determinations which liberate him to successfully pursue the fourth degree, at which point all the eighteen lower subplanes must be relinquished. Before that point, the grip of the soul upon the third degree initiate may still be a factor to be reckoned with, and he may still fail the test, thus becoming the “rich young man who went sadly away” for the very reason that he was serving soul behest rather than the far more impersonal Divine Plan accessed upon the planes of the spiritual triad.

9.                  Perhaps, as well, at the actual climaxing moment of the third degree the initiate is free of all grip of the soul, and clearly sees the way ahead, but must, during the interval between the third and fourth, prove that this sensed freedom and vision is a reality, and hence the struggle—for it is a great struggle for the third degree initiate to renounce all.

10.              Then follows this important sentence:

“For the first time, the goal of the higher Way and the attainment of Nirvana (as the Oriental calls it) appears before him, and he knows that no forms and no spiritual complexes and no pull by either soul or form, or by both united, can have any effect upon his attaining his final destination”.

It is said that “Nirvana is but the beginning of the endless Way”. Of course, in a finite universe, the Way cannot be, strictly speaking, “endless”, but for all practical purposes, and in terms of human “time”, it is so. The appreciation of the real meaning of Nirvana begins, therefore, after the taking of the third degree.

Because the number three, in rayological terms, is resonant with the number five, the initiate, after the third degree, is put en rapport with the energy of the fifth degree and the atmic plane—the plane which has been called the “Nirvanic” plane. We must remember that in former days, the Great Decision was taken by the Master of the fifth degree and not by the Chohan of the sixth. In those earlier days (and under the former initiatory dispensation), the Master would see and choose the Higher Path to follow. Under our present initiatory dispensation the requirements have been raised and the choice deferred until the sixth degree.

11.              It is important to realize that the transfigured initiate knows that no forms or spiritual complexes can hold him back from his eventual destination. Both (either separately or together) will, necessarily, be overcome. Nevertheless, once he descends from the inner initiatory event and the vision of his future which it confers, he will have a fight on his hands. The fourth degree has its own very exacting burning ground which, it might be said, ‘reduces extension to a point and consciousness to essential life’. That he will succeed, he knows. How he will succeed is a matter for grave experiment.

12.              How might we define a “spiritual complexes”? Perhaps, as special and individual orientations towards the spiritual path, or as preferred methods of spiritual attainment. These, though useful along the way, can be part of the panoply of an elevated individualism, and are related to “personal wisdom” (long accumulated) which inheres in the causal body.

13.              Only the energies of the spiritual triad and, ultimately, of the spirit itself are safe guides in the attainment of the higher initiatory achievements. Soul (considered in a limited sense) and form can ever threaten to pull the initiate off the Path which leads to still higher objectives. Personality and soul perspectives are still, respectively, personal or supra-personal rather than transcendent. The transcendent point of view, in this case, pertains to the revelations of the spiritual triad and spirit, from which perspectives the mind, heart and will of God-the-Logos stand increasingly revealed. The distortions and refractions of personalism and reflections and lesser refractions of ‘supra-personalism’ are left behind.

14.              As we are all still involved in the task of building ‘supra-personalism’ (that which must be relinquished by the transfigured initiate as he faces the fourth degree), I think we can see how much remains to be done.

 

I would like for a moment to refer here to the door symbology as the initiate begins to grasp the inner meaning of those simple words.  For long the teaching, given in the clear cold light, anent the door and the emphasis put upon the presentation of the door lying ahead of the aspirant has been made familiar, but that has been working with the lower aspects of the symbolism, even if aspirants did not realise it; they have been taught the fact of the light in the head, which is the personality correspondence to the clear cold light to which I refer.  At the very centre of that light, as many aspirants know theoretically or factually by inconstant experience, is a centre or point of dark indigo blue—midnight blue.  Note the significance of this in view of what I have been saying anent the "dark night," the midnight hour, the zero hour in the life of the soul.  That centre is in reality an opening, a door leading somewhere, a way of escape, a place through which the soul imprisoned in the body can emerge and pass into higher states of consciousness, untrammelled by form limitations; it has also been called "the funnel or the channel for the sound"; it has been named the "trumpet through which the escaping A.U.M. can pass."  The ability to use this door or channel is brought about by the practice of alignment; hence the emphasis laid upon this exercise in the attempt to train aspirants and disciples.

1.                  The preceding paragraph is both explicitly and implicitly very occult. A strong hint is here given about the cultivation of the technical spiritual practices which lead, factually, to release onto the higher planes.

2.                  The Tibetan is here deepening the usual presentation of the truth, and giving the occult physical-etheric correspondence to a teaching which has been thought to refer principally to the inner worlds. Of course, the inner worlds are still very much involved in the “door symbolism”, but occult facts are given which concretize the idea of the “door” and bring it far closer to the etheric-physical plane.

3.                  The new teachings on occultism (teachings which will put practical occultism within the grasp of those who have been properly prepared) will focus on many apparently simple etheric-physical facts which place the attainment of various occult “siddhis” or powers within reach of the disciplined practitioner. These are the secrets most carefully guarded because they render occultism operational.

4.                  The Tibetan is telling us that the “door” to the inner worlds and, thence, to the higher planes is to be found in the center of the etheric head.

5.                  The light in the head is, essentially, an etheric phenomenon, and the “door” of midnight blue is part of that phenomenon—an instrument to be used.

6.                  Apprehension of this door is at first inconstant, but any occult meditator can ascertain its reality. It may appear now and then; awareness of its presence may be promoted by visualization; but, at length, after much practice, its presence becomes a constant registration and its utilization for access to the inner and higher worlds becomes possible at will.

7.                  This indigo door is a factor in the initiation process. The “dark night of the soul” may be relieved by the finding of this door through correct meditation, because the “dark night” is a condition of feeling cut off or bereft of higher contact, and this indigo door admits of contact with those states for which the imprisoned human soul longs. The “dark night” is, however, based upon the inconstant experience of the higher dimensions and the painful contrast of one’s habitual focus with the revelations of those higher dimensions.

8.                  The fact that the door is “indigo blue” or “midnight blue” connects it to the second ray and, hence, to the expansion of consciousness, for the second ray is the ray of consciousness. In this paragraph, we are being given a piece of technical information which will factually assist with the expansion of consciousness.

9.                  In some teachings, this door of indigo has been called the “cave”. The thought of the “cave” suggests the “cave of initiation”. Thus, we are learning that the true cave of initiation is not a physical place or chamber in which an initiation ceremony is being enacted, but a location and energy-condition within the subtle anatomy of the human being. Even the awareness that such a door exists will bring it into focus and will promote its eventual utilization.

10.              Right alignment, steadily practiced and maintained, will reveal the door. Hence, the importance of  alignment. Well should we heed the Tibetan’s admonition that we seldom present conditions in meditation through which our Solar Angel can work. Often the Tibetan speaks of how weak is the alignment of certain disciples; He may well be speaking to us, and we should see to it that correction is made. Certainly, the incentive is sufficient.

11.              The Tibetan speaks of the significance of the “midnight hour”. The “midnight hour” is the hour of initiation—the hour of the symbolic “midnight sun”. The midnight hour occurs when one can find and use the door of midnight blue. Clearly, much practice is needed, and the disciple is “initiate” before he is “initiated”.

12.              It may be remembered that the Tibetan gives a Full Moon meditation in which a disk of golden light is to be visualized, this disk having an indigo center. Within this indigo center the beckoning Master is to be found. We have been taught that, through proper meditation, it is possible to find the “Master within the Heart”. May it not also be possible that we can find the ‘Master within the Head”?

13.              We know from normal physical plane life that caves are there to be explored. What occult treasures would be discovered by those who seek to penetrate the indigo disk and explore the ‘cave’ to which it leads. Secrets anent the development of many of the higher siddhis (conscious clairvoyance and clairaudience, for instance) are suggested in the esoteric hints given above by the Tibetan.

14.              As for the “zero of midnight hour”, the word “zero” is interesting. First of all, it suggests the shape of the indigo disk. The “zero” and the “o” are both associated with a combination of the first and second rays. The rounded “o” can be considered a symbol of the inclusive second ray. Interestingly, Rudolph Steiner assigns the vowel, “o” to Jupiter, a principal conveyer of the second ray and a planet which rules all round or spherical things. The “o” is also a symbol of completion and abstraction. The indigo door is the concrete way into the state of abstraction. Samadhi, in which the energies are gathered into the highest head center, and there retained in a state of abstraction, may well be a state entered through this indigo door. The idea of the “eye of the needle” also has its correspondences to the indigo door, and their association would repay contemplation.

15.              We are told that that centre is really an opening or way of escape leading to dimensions of life free from form. The antahkarana is also called a “way of escape”. We must, therefore, conclude that the building of the antahkarana is related to the indigo door and to the cave. Probably, access to the base of the antahkarana is achieve through the door and the cave. This invites experiment for the more experienced meditators.

16.              There is no question that physical plane life is a prison for most. It is to be made into a glorious garden, but this is difficult to do unless one visits the “Gardener” Who dwells upon the higher planes. Perhaps the door to the Gardener’s home is the indigo door.

17.              Because the soul, no matter what its conditioning ray, is a center essentially responsive to and conditioned by the second ray (the color of which is indigo or midnight blue), constant cultivation of contact and interplay with the soul (Solar Angel) will, at length, reveal the door.

18.              Another association is importance. In A Treatise on Cosmic Fire and in A Treatise on White Magic we are given a number of requirements for the opening of the third eye—the “Eye of Shiva”, the “synthesis eye”. May it not be that the full opening of the third eye and the full opening of the indigo door are largely equivalent matters. At a certain period in the life of every disciple, he realizes that he has been standing outside the inner temple door, and he seeks to enter. Purification and occult meditation are the ways in.

19.              The other names for this indigo center are also most interesting and occult:

“ ‘the funnel or the channel for the sound’; it has been named the ‘trumpet through which the escaping A.U.M. can pass’.”

The idea of the funnel is found in both these descriptions, for the shape of the “trumpet” contains the funnel. A funnel is, geometrically, a cone—a point expanding to an opening. A truncated cone would have a small opening also expanding to a much larger opening. The indigo door and cave are like the small opening, admitting to ever expanding possibilities of contact on the higher planes or dimensions.

The “sound” can be considered either the Word of the Soul (the O.M.) or the still higher “Sound” (the “O”). The door or cave not only admits that which is low to that which is high, but vice-versa as well. Heaven must come to earth, and the higher sounds (the O.M. and the O) must descend into the world of the A.U.M.

When considering the trumpet or funnel, it is also possible to think of the door or cave as the larger opening, and the soul as the trumpeter, blowing the notes of the O.M. or O into the lower worlds. Both models work.

20.              In later Rules we will study the relation between the O, the O.M. and the A.U.M. For now it is sufficient to realize that the A.U.M. has at least two meanings. In one way it is an all-inclusive Word, containing spirit, soul and personality (the A, the U and the M, respectively). In another way, is the symbol of that state of consciousness which is limited by the perceptions of the world of personality. Thus it is that the A.U.M. (the limited consciousness) must “escape” via the funnel or trumpet to be expanded in the higher worlds, where it will realize that it is not just personality consciousness, but soul consciousness and spirit awareness as well.

21.              Thus, the A.U.M. is both a sound and a condition of consciousness. Usually we think that the lower ego or lower consciousness must escape its limited condition and rise into a fuller state of consciousness. From another perspective (that of sound), the lower word or sound, must rise, merge and blend with the higher Words and Sounds (first the O.M. and then the O). Interestingly, the higher and simpler sounds contain the lower and more complex sounds. The greater, in this case, is the simpler.  The O contains the O.M. and the A.U.M. We can also infer that the “A” contains the “O”, and all inferior sounds as well—such as the O.M. and the A.U.M.

22.              From a technical standpoint, the A.U.M and the O.M. are considered “words”. The “O” is considered the Sound. Also, the “A” must be considered a Sound even more advanced that the “O”.

23.              The mysteries of sound are very great and will be revealed with the mysteries of initiation. Yet the apparatus to produce these sounds is always in our possession. We have lungs, vocal cords, a mouth and a tongue, plus the ability to produce sound on the mental plane without the use of these particular organs. The “Mysteries of Initiation”, in fact, inhere within our very body of manifestation. Thus far, we use our organs of speech, song and thought largely unconsciously, but this largely unconscious approach is ripe for change. The in-coming of the fourth ray in 2025 will bring with it methods by which words and song can be used to access the higher planes. The building of the antahkarana will thus be facilitated.

24.              Let us remember that both Mercury and Venus are involved in the building of the antahkarana, and Mercury, the principal planet of the fourth ray, is also the planet of speech. When combined with Venus, song results. Venus, as well, confers sensitivity to color, which can be used with speech and song (or chanting) to strengthen the building and use of the antahkarana.

25.              In all these matters we are speaking of attunement (which is another way of speaking of alignment). Note the “tune” in “attunement”. The art of attunement will be greatly enhanced in the coming cycle of the fourth ray.

 

C.                 The light in the head, which is the personality correspondence to clear cold light in the head; at the very centre of that light is a centre or point of dark indigo blue (cf. RI, p. 42)

Once alignment has been achieved, it will be realised [Page 43] (remembering the symbolism of the head, the light and the central opening) that many occasions arise in meditation when "behind the group there stands the door; before them opens out the Way."  This is the lower correspondence of the higher initiate-experience with which our rule is dealing.

1.                  Still more occult hints are given.

2.                  The first alignment suggested is that with the soul (or Solar Angel). During this type of alignment, it is possible to pass through the door and enter the cave. Then, indeed, the door of admittance stands “behind”, and the consciousness of the meditator is preoccupied with new dimensions of awareness.

3.                  But what might be this higher “door”? Can we think of it as the “jewel in the lotus”, itself, which, once penetrated, admits the consciousness of the initiate into the world of the spiritual triad and into greater responsiveness to the monad?

4.                  Another and intermediary “door” might be the mental unit, found upon the fourth subplane of the mental plane. This door would still be located within the eighteen lower subplanes, but at their summit. Passage through this door would admit into causal consciousness. Some Vedantins call the causal body the “body of bliss”, but “bliss” is a relative term.

5.                  The Tibetan tells us that we are often “glib”, which means superficial in our speech and, hence, in our thought. It is not so easy a matter to achieve true causal consciousness. While it is very possible to align with the causal body and be impressed by its influence, to actually see within the causal periphery, and experience its content at first hand, requires a form of higher psychism (which involves passing through a higher ‘door’—in this case the door on the fourth subplane of the mental plane).

6.                  It might be said that passage through any door is facilitated, not by concentration upon the door itself, but by trying to bring into focus that which lies beyond the door. By tuning out all things which lie on the closer side of the door, that which lies on the farther side of the door begins to come into view.

7.                  Thus, passage requires both a tuning-out and a tuning-in. Consequently, it is achieved through an exclusionary consciousness followed by an inclusionary consciousness. The power to concentrate is ever the key. Concentration may be considered the very first of the stages of meditation, but it is necessitated in every phase. Alignment, also, is both the beginning and the end.

 

D.                The cold light reveals ‘a terrible though beautiful experiment’ which requires to build a bridge (the Antahkarana) between the door which lies behind and the door which lies ahead (cf. RI, p. 43)

Again, this time in relation to the soul, comes the repetition of the discovery of the Door, its use and its appearance, finally, behind the initiate.  This time the door must be found upon the mental plane, and not as earlier upon the etheric level; this is brought about by the aid of the soul and of the lower mind and through the revealing power of the clear cold light of the reason.  When discovered, the "revelation of a terrible though beautiful experiment" faces the initiate.  He finds that this time alignment is not his need, but the definite undertaking of a creative work—the building of a bridge between the door which lies behind and the door which lies ahead.  This involves the construction of what is technically the antahkarana, the rainbow bridge.  This is built by the disciple-in-training upon the basis of his past experience; it is anchored in the past and firmly grounded in the highest, rightly oriented aspect of the personality.  As the disciple then creatively works, he finds that there is a reciprocal action on the part of the Presence, the Monad—the unity which stands behind the Door.  He discovers that one span of the bridge (if I might so call it) is being built or pushed forward from the other side of the gulf separating him from experience in the life of the Spiritual Triad.  This Spiritual Triad is essentially, to the initiate, what the threefold personality is to the man in physical incarnation.

1.                  This paragraph deals with the discovery of one of the further “doors”. We might say that this door admits into the three subplanes of the higher mental plane, the part of the mental plane upon which the causal body is found and upon which the Solar Angel focuses its lowest aspects.

2.                  The method of its discovery is interesting and important:

this is brought about by the aid of the soul and of the lower mind and through the revealing power of the clear cold light of the reason”.

The mind, at this stage of evolution, is capable of intensity and “intention” (the first phase in the building of the antahkarana). The soul (Solar Angel) is accessible and is progressively illuminating the mind. The power to reason abstractly is growing, and man knows (at least by enlightened inference) something of the higher worlds. As well, flashes of intuition may be sparking across the ‘gap’ between the spiritual triad and the highest aspects of progressively soul-illumined personal consciousness.

3.                  Passage through the first of these higher doors admits into the arupa levels of the mental plane, and man knows himself as a soul on its own plane (and not merely as a human soul in incarnation).

4.                  Passage through a still higher door (should we call it the “needle’s eye”?), which is accessible (to a growing extent) after the third initiation is taken, may give some familiarity with the buddhic plane, but the consciousness cannot establish itself permanently upon this plane until the causal body is destroyed and the development of the antahkarana is well progressed.

5.                  Once the world of the causal body is somewhat entered (i.e., the world of accumulated virtue), the possibility of a further achievement is revealed. The door which the Tibetan references is very probably connected with the fourfold mental unit on the fourth subplane of the mental plane. Passage through it admits to the soul but also, once the antahkarana is built to triadal realms. The thought that the “jewel in the lotus” may also be a kind of door should also be pondered.

6.                  The Tibetan speaks of the discovery of second door (connected to the mental unit), and presumably of passage through it. Two worlds are revealed through this passage: first, the world of the soul (seen directly) but then, and increasingly, the vision of the spiritual triad which the antahkarana accesses. Immediately below, the Tibetan speaks of the consequences of discovering the second door:

When discovered, the ‘revelation of a terrible though beautiful experiment’ faces the initiate”.

Not only are the beauties of the soul field revealed, but inconstant flashes of intuition reveal the livingness of a world beyond the world of accumulated virtue (or of “tested accumulations”, as Master Morya has put it). The attempt merely to align will not, in and of itself, produce the ability to pass into that world. Right alignment has led into the world of the soul, but sustained alignment plus an ongoing creative effort are needed for passage into the world of the spiritual triad. The “ongoing creative effort” is, of course, the building of the antahkarana.

6.                  It is one thing to be told in books that one should build the antahkarana, and quite another to realize within oneself (through rare glimpses of lofty spiritual possibilities) the necessity for doing so.

7.                  What is the nature of this “terrible through beautiful experiment”? Everyone must answer this for himself or herself, but a few ideas can be offered.

8.                  It is an “experiment” because there is no sure and certain prescription for success. The way across the gap has been created countless times by those who have gone before, but each individual must weave the antahkarana out of his own substance, and find within himself the way of doing so. Yes, formulas and Words of Power can be given, but the way of rendering these effective must be individually wrought out. The adventuring disciple does not know what he or she will encounter. The process calls for stepping into the unknown—in an way, into an abyss, a “no man’s land” which lies between personal consciousness and impersonal consciousness, and, yet, this mid-way consciousness is not exactly the consciousness of the soul which is “bypasses” (to use the Tibetan’s interesting world).

9.                  The terror exists because if the experiment is successful, the disciple will “lose his all”, renouncing all that is familiar in favor of the unproven advantages of an unknown world (or dimension). Eventually, one’s spiritual ‘home’, the causal body, will be destroyed, and then what?

The individual who is established in personal consciousness, or in soul-infused personal consciousness is, at least, on familiar ground. But he is being asked, in the process of building and using the antahkarana, to symbolically “step off the cliff”, and proceed to the “other side” on an apparently insubstantial ‘cable of light’. Surely a developing esoteric sense, which establishes unquestionably the reality of very subtle realities, is necessary if the courage to venture forth is to be summoned. Fortunately, with correct occult meditation, study and service, this esoteric sense does develop, and that which hitherto had seemed unreal and insubstantial takes on a reality far more vivid than the worlds of form left behind.

10.              Why is the experiment “beautiful”? Reality is always beautiful (i.e., archetypal) when compared to glamor and illusion. However beautiful the causal body and its virtuous contents may seem to the average disciple (and this body is relatively beautiful—even “gorgeous” according to the Tibetan), its beauty is as nothing compared to that of the world of the spiritual triad. We must remember that stepping through the door which leaves the causal body behind, will lead to the buddhic plane which, is the plane of beauty and harmony.

The now initiate is stepping into the world of God’s Design, harmoniously portrayed upon the buddhic plane. It is not until one can apprehend somewhat the buddhic plane that the beauty of right relations can be seen and understood. These are not just right relations between human beings, but between all beings on this planet, and eventually beyond. We remember that the second ray (so powerful upon the buddhic plane and so related to the sixth principle, buddhi) is the ray of “Beauty in Relationship”. Thus, simply, the antahkarana gives sustained access to the buddhic plane, the first real world of Beauty (of which all lower forms of beauty are but a somewhat distorted reflection).

11.              Note that the antahkarana is not built in the abstract, but is anchored in the man’s past, utilizing this past as a foundation. Nothing really is being left behind; all is to be used, supporting the ascending energies of the soul infused personality and offered up to the descending higher energies which will be contacted as the building process is successful.

12.              As well, the bridge is “firmly grounded in the highest, rightly oriented aspect of the personality”. We come to realize that the personality cannot be dismissed as only the opponent of the soul/Solar Angel, but is one day to become the cooperative subray of the soul. In Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II, the Tibetan speaks of the higher aspects of the personality ray. It is this which emerges as the process of soul-infusion progresses, and it is these higher aspects of the personality (oriented upward) which provide the grounding for the antahkarana. The higher aspects of the personality ray are focussed in and around the mental unit on the fourth subplane of the mental plane. In order for this grounding to occur, the human being must be mentally polarized. He must know how to think and how to sustain that thought in a condition which is illumined by the soul and impressionable to a higher will. There is no building of the antahkarana for those who are not somewhat mentally illumined; hence, real success with this process begins to occur near the time of the second initiation when an illumined mind and spiritual intelligence are in evidence.

13.              A strong hint about the nature of the door under discussion is then given, for it is the monad, or the Presence which stands as a unity behind the door. We see therefore, that the door discussed is not just the door into the causal realm, but a door which at least admits into the highest level of the mental plane (the first mental subplane) which is the lowest plane of the spiritual triad. Once one begins to deal with the spiritual triad, one is, in a way, dealing with the monad, for the spiritual triad is the expression or ‘personality’ of the monad.

14.              Then, something very interesting is discussed—the idea of reciprocity in the building of the antahkarana.

He discovers that one span of the bridge (if I might so call it) is being built or pushed forward from the other side of the gulf separating him from experience in the life of the Spiritual Triad”.

We see that the spiritual triad is very much alive and has a life of its own. It is not as if a human being has to go ‘there’ to help make the Triad live. The monad/triad is responding evocatively to the invocation which the building of the antahkarana by the man represents. This is where faith enters. The tiny human unit does not have to attempt to enter the higher worlds “all by himself”. The higher aspects of himself (monad/triad) are also at work to ensure that the process is successful. Thus, there is a sense of ‘entering into’ and yet being ‘entered into’.

15.              At first, (is seems reasonable to infer) it is the activity aspect of the monad working through triadal manas which pushes forward to meet the disciple’s rising invocation. Next the wisdom aspect of the monad through triadal buddhi makes its impact. Finally, the will aspect of the monad through triadal atma intrudes into the consciousness of the questing disciple, but only at and beyond the fourth degree.

16.              When is the antahkarana process completed? In a way, never, until the universe itself is once again “all in all”, but for practical human purposes, we might say that this process is completed at the fifth initiation (an atmic initiation) at which time “Mercury and the Sun are one”. We remember that Mercury is the foremost ruler of the antahkarana. At the fifth degree the human consciousness is fully monadically infused. (The Master, let us remember, is still a “man” whereas a Chohan is not.) This, on a higher turn of the spiral, is an analogy to the soul-infused personality at the time of the third degree. The fourth and sixth degrees correspond, and always indicate a relinquishment of form. At the fourth degree the man becomes the spiritual triad on its own plane. At the sixth degree the man becomes the monad on its own plane.

17.              Would it make a difference to us if we realized that the building of the antahkarana is, essentially, a cooperative enterprise, being undertaken by two aspects of ourselves simultaneously?

18.              The sense that one does not have to “do it all”, relaxes the ‘cramp’ of ego consciousness, and allows higher states of identification and higher perceptions of identity to supervene more easily.

 

E.                 IDENTIFICATION as the complete unity which is finally achieved (cf. RI, p. 44)

I wonder if I have succeeded in giving you at least a general idea of the possibilities lying ahead of the disciple, and incited you to definite conscious response to those possibilities.  I cannot do other than speak in terms of consciousness, even though the life of the Triad—leading in its turn to identification with the Monad, as the personality life leads eventually to soul control and expression—has naught to do with consciousness or sensitivity as those terms are [Page 44] commonly understood.  Yet remember how, in all my teachings upon occult unfoldment, I have used the word IDENTIFICATION.  This is the only word I have found which can in any way convey the complete unity which is finally achieved by those who develop a sense of unity, and who refuse to accept isolation; separateness then fades out entirely.  The isolated unity achieved is unity with the Whole, with Being in its totality (and this cannot as yet convey much to you).

1.                  The Tibetan ever seeks to widen the range of our thought and make real for us possibilities we almost certainly would not have conceived on our own. This vision of possibilities gives us new incentive and the courage to act upon it. There are so many ways of becoming distracted and preoccupied with circumstantial factors, but the vision lies ever on ahead, and helps to free us from attachments which delay. In the last analysis, all that has been given in the Ageless Wisdom Teaching is to speed us upon our way, at the same time rendering our service more genuine and effective.

2.                  We are often reminded that life within the spiritual triad and monad has nothing to do with consciousness—as that term is commonly understood. The qualifier is important, for consciousness in one form or another is a constant in cosmos—in fact, one of the members of the Primeval Universal Trinity.

3.                  Consciousness is based upon subject, object and the relation between, being most identified with the latter. Consciousness is the faculty by which we, the subject, ‘touch’ or become sensitive or impressionable to, the object. In all of cosmos, consciousness, generically, is the medium or method of contact.

4.                  Yet a new form of consciousness (which we might not recognize as consciousness) develops after subject and object have been unified by means of contemplation. Then the stage is set for the emergence of what the Tibetan calls “life” instead of “consciousness”.

5.                  It is after this unification that the stage of identification emerges. The ordinary sense of differences and cleavages disappears, and every apparently separate thing becomes ‘resolvable’ into its Source. Can we look upon apparent difference and resolve it at will?

6.                  Identification is not a faculty or state associated with the consciousness within the causal body. In causal consciousness, there is a great sense of connectedness and harmony, but the sense of identicality is not yet developed. The realization of identicality is a triadal perception consummated, finally, within the monad, presumably at the sixth degree.

7.                  The Tibetan tells us that identification

is the only word I have found which can in any way convey the complete unity which is finally achieved by those who develop a sense of unity, and who refuse to accept isolation; separateness then fades out entirely”.

Notice that on the way to identification the sense of unity must be developed.  Effort is required. As well, the will is required, for the act of refusal (refusing to accept isolation) is an act of will.

8.                  Three related phases indicate the progress of the expanding and identifying consciousness: Isolated Individuality, Isolated Identity and Isolated Unity. (cf. DINA I 717)

9.                  How does one refuse to accept to accept isolation? Perhaps it is a matter of constantly, as it were, ‘pushing against’ the ring-pass-not of one’s consciousness. Perhaps it involves the ‘will-to-include’, characteristic of the second ray. Perhaps it involves such intense concentration upon the center that the isolative periphery disappears. There simply comes a time when one realizes that one is subject to the ‘curse’ of isolation, an apparently ineradicable factor in one’s daily consciousness. One then undertakes to deconstruct this consciousness, to dismantle it, so that its ‘difference-making’ faculty is no longer compulsively operative. Differences will still be perceived, but it will be realized that they are ‘no real differences’.

10.              There is a difference between “complete unity” and what we might call an ‘harmonious unity’. Complete unity is of the spiritual triad and, even more, of the monad. Harmonious unity is a soul realization fed by buddhic energy from the buddhi plane—the plane of harmony. The sense of identicality is missing from harmonious unity, yet such unity is still a very advanced state.

11.              The Tibetan tells us,

The isolated unity achieved is unity with the Whole, with Being in its totality (and this cannot as yet convey much to you).”

These are more of those “lovely, euphonious words”, and He is not very sanguine about our possibilities of understanding. Still, platitudinous though these thoughts may be, there arises within the initiate-to-be a determination that these states must be achieved. Anything less would be a falling short. Much of worldly effectiveness may be sacrificed during the arduous process of dissolving the known world for the sake of “unity with the Whole and with Being in its totality”. In my estimation, this can be successfully undertaken at the arhat initiation, the fourth—one of the “death” initiations. (“death unto life”). By the time the fifth initiation is taken, the world must be reconstituted and form utilized masterfully. Before initiation, the mountain; during initiation no mountain; after initiation, the mountain.

12.              Along the way, various states of consciousness become unacceptably limiting to us; when they become intensely unacceptable we are forced into a still closer approximation of synthesis. It is a very great skill to look in all directions and “see no difference”.