B.i. Introductory Remarks

We now come to the final part of A Treatise on the Seven Rays and I have in mind three things which it appears to me to be necessary to do; these three will make this Treatise not only the textbook of the new psychology but also a more vital factor in the human consciousness, because the fact of initiation will be emphasized. These three are:

1. I propose to deal with the theme of Initiation in order to prepare the world of men for the restoration of the Mysteries.
2. I will give some definite teaching on the Centers from the planetary angle and also from the angle of the individual aspirant.
3. I will endeavor to relate the seven Ray energies to the five and the seven Initiations and to the three and the seven centers in a new and more arresting manner.

This is a large order and one not easy to fulfil because so much has already been given out anent initiation; the subject is dangerously familiar. By that I mean that certain preconceived ideas are already present in men's minds and many of these are not factual in nature and need to be discarded or, at the best, reinterpreted. I have myself dealt in a broad and general way with the subject of initiation in one of my earliest books: Initiation, Human and Solar; also, scattered through all my writings over the years is a mass of information which needs collating and bringing together as a basis for the instruction of disciples in training for an initiation.

In Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. I, I gave out much more upon this subject and also information of a deeply esoteric nature anent the Ashrams of the Masters. The second volume of the book also contains much that is new and should serve to bring this whole subject much closer to public understanding. In the instructions now to be given, however, I shall endeavor to cover the ground [324] not already considered, and look at the subject of initiation from the angle of the seven rays, from the effect upon the centers, planetary and individual, and from the point of view of the esoteric training of the accepted aspirant or disciple. (These instructions were begun in March 1946 and completed in March 1949.)

This final volume of A Treatise on the Seven Rays will eventually change the attitude of men's minds towards the Mysteries and towards the activity of spiritual transference, which is one of the names given by the Masters to the basic mystery of initiation. In due time our educational centers, particularly those concerned with adult education, will take into calculation, normally and customarily, the fact of future initiation where their students are concerned, and will study their graduates from this angle in order to give advice or recommendation. In these institutions the elements of true esotericism will be taught, though they will not be then regarded as esoteric.

It will be apparent to you that this long Treatise is in the nature of a preparatory thesis covering a vast field or area of information. The first two volumes dealt with the sevenfold nature of man and with the influence of the seven basic energies or rays upon his unfoldment and his history, and (in a briefer manner) upon the world in which he lives and upon the environment which aids and conditions him. In the third volume we took into consideration the influences of the constellations and planets upon the man and upon our planet, the Earth, and gave much time to the consideration of esoteric astrology; the rays, the signs, the constellations and the planets are all of them closely interrelated and the human being is the recipient of the energies and forces which they emanate or distribute. This makes the man what he essentially is at any one time whilst in incarnation.

We next considered the subject of healing because of the necessity of understanding the limitations - psychological and physical - which restrict man's free expression of divinity. We dealt with a major condition which has to be faced [325] and comprehended if humanity is ever to step off the ordinary path of evolution on to the path of discipleship and of initiation. Man has to become aware of the ray effects, of the place the centers play in his advance and unfoldment, and of the play of energies and forces which produce the difficulties and the diseases, and can at the same time cure them and bring about the liberation of the man.

From the consideration of limitations we passed on to an entirely new theme and an entirely new concept as regards man's education when he has reached a relatively very advanced stage of unfoldment. I gave you the new teaching anent the antahkarana or the mode and method whereby the initiate could relate in one great fusion or at-one-ment not only the soul and the personality, but monad, soul, and personality. This teaching has carried all that has hitherto been given, down the ages, another step further on and indicated the next stage of development ahead of the disciple. The time has come, as the Hierarchy had foreseen, for further light upon the endless Way.

Teaching anent the five initiations which confront all aspirants has long been given and has become public property; it has meant very little for most people and nothing at all to the mass of men; it has been regarded by the intelligentsia as vague and visionary nonsense; some few have admitted that these initiations may be possible, and others say that they are simply symbolic modes of indicating some final achievement which mankind faces; still others have accepted this teaching and have come to regard the initiations as goals and have then taken the necessary steps to prove the veridical nature of their beliefs; they have proved it, have become initiate, and have attained the status of Master of the Wisdom and taken their place within the Hierarchy. There is, therefore, a certain familiarity about these goals, the service they could entail and the consummation of the hierarchical possibilities; this itself indicates that the time had come when certain faint indications of that which lies behind the Mysteries and of that which is to be seen ahead of those who have achieved initiation should [326] be somewhat clarified; I therefore started to impart three phases of information:

I. I gave out teaching which indicated the mode of bridging the gap between the lower three worlds and the world of the Spiritual Triad. In doing this, it became apparent that there were three groupings or levels of consciousness which had to be recognized:

1. The three worlds of human evolution.
   1. The mental plane.
   2. The astral plane.
   3. The physical plane.
2. The three levels of the mental plane.
   1. The level of the concretizing mind, the lower mind.
   2. The level on which the soul is to be found.
   3. The level of the abstract or higher mind.
3. The three worlds of superhuman evolution, the levels of the Spiritual Triad: atma-buddhi-manas.

Between the higher three and the lower three and embracing the mental plane was a definite gap, a break in the continuity of conscious contact or an area where there was no channeling for the inpouring of higher energies. Here the teaching of the conscious building of the antahkarana was required; thus the gap between the mental unit and the manasic permanent atom, between the personality (indwelt by the soul) and the Spiritual Triad could be bridged by the aspirant himself.

II. I found it necessary also to indicate the nature of the Way of the Higher Evolution which had been hinted at but about which absolutely no information had been given. It is the Way which opens out before the Master of the Wisdom, leading to states of identification and levels of awareness which lie outside our planetary sphere altogether. The following of this Way enables the Master to "abstract" Himself from the seven planes of our planetary life and divest Himself of all we understand as material existence. [327] Forget not that our seven planes are only the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane.

III. I therefore opened up the subject of the possibility of the higher initiations which confront the Members of the Hierarchy. In this connection it is useful to remember that:

1. The Council Chamber at Shamballa provides a goal for the Members of the Hierarchy, but not an abiding place.
2. The seven Paths which stretch out before a Master are entered by the treading of the Way of the Higher Evolution.
3. The so-called third initiation, the Transfiguration, is only the first major initiation, from the standpoint of the Hierarchy; it marks the moment in time and space when the initiate sees truly and for the first time the door which opens on to this higher Way. Then - if he chooses the Path that the Christ chose (and there is no reason that he should) - he will "set his face to go up to Jerusalem."

These are some of the things which I have hinted at in past writings; they have been touched upon, vaguely and mysteriously, by past teachers and somewhat more explicitly by myself; I propose to be a little more definite in this new section.

Teaching, if true, must be in line with the past and must provide scope for endeavor in the present and must also hold out further enlightenment for those who have succeeded or are succeeding in attaining the indicated goals. There must be a spiritual future indicated. It is that which is required now, for many are attaining the goals proposed by the Hierarchy, and others are working towards them. The taking of initiation is now often to be seen and is far more frequent today than at any other time in the history of the race; for those who have thus succeeded, the next step forward and the new spiritual enticement must be clearly disclosed. Evolution is not a static thing; death cannot be the [328] reward of living effort. To be static, to have attained all that can be attained, and to be at a complete standstill would be utter death and, my brothers, there is no death. There is only progress from glory to glory, a moving forward from point to point on the divine Way, and from revelation to revelation towards those points and revelations which, are perhaps part of the Goal of God Himself. What the goals are upon the Higher Way is as yet utterly unknown to you; what divine qualities and objectives may be revealed to the Master and to the Christ as They tread the Way which leads Them off the cosmic physical plane altogether, you cannot know or sense, and if you could, you would not comprehend the meaning. "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard" the things which God will reveal to those who tread the way to the innermost center, to those who love. This ancient writing can be paraphrased as follows: It is impossible to realize the wonder of the future which the planetary Logos will unfold before those who have unfolded the second divine aspect, Love, and who are therefore full Members of the Hierarchy, the center where the energy of Love is anchored.

It is interesting to realize that the unfoldment of the love nature is that which opens the door which leads to the Way of the Higher Evolution and that nothing else will open it. This Way leads the Master off the cosmic physical plane on to the cosmic astral plane or to a level of cosmic awareness whereon is generated that cosmic impulse which we call Love.

It will be obvious to you that as this Treatise is not written to instruct Members of the Hierarchy, but only for aspirants and disciples and initiates below the grade of the third initiation, much that I will say will be somewhat "blind" or veiled in symbol; much that I could say (if words existed of an adequate nature) will not be said. Those that have eyes to see and ears to hear will read between the lines and correctly interpret my symbols, hints and references. To many what I will say will be as meaningless as A Treatise on Cosmic Fire is to the average reader and as the entire theme of initiation is to the ignorant and the undeveloped [329] man. Much, however, should be of practical service to the struggling disciple, and I want in these concluding pages to fire his zeal, deepen his understanding, stimulate his capacity to love, and enlighten his mind. Such is what I seek to do. On his part, let him approach this subject with deep humility, with a meditative and reflective attitude, and with a refusal to materialize the presented concepts, as is so easy a thing to do. Let him refuse to step down the teaching to the level of his physical consciousness. In these words I have conveyed a basic hint.

Love and light are the great revealers, and if the student truly seeks to understand and profit by what I am endeavoring to teach, let him love all men more deeply and let him see to it that his light shines forth in a dark place, for "in that light shall he see Light." It is the lesser light within that reveals the greater light; when the light of the soul combines with the light of the lower man, then that fused and blended light will enable the aspirant to see the Door which opens upon the Way of the Higher Evolution.

In considering our theme I propose to divide what I have to say, according to my usual custom as follows:

• The Aspirant and the Mysteries of Initiation

The entering of the two Doors
The entering of the Ashrams
The dual life of the initiatory process
The science of the Antahkarana

• The Aspirant and the Major Initiations

The relation of the seven Rays to the Initiations
The significance of the initiations

• The Aspirant and the seven Centers

I have given you here and elsewhere in my writings all that it is at this time possible to give anent the planetary centers and the rays, including the rays of nations and of races. You will find a wealth of information hidden in my various books if due search is made and the material is gathered together into a coherent whole. I suggest that you study and compare, read and search topically and extract all that I have said about the various nations, their governing [330] constellations and their planetary rulers. This will facilitate research into the relation of the planetary centers to the systemic centers, the sacred planets and the energies pouring through them from the constellations which they "rule" in the esoteric sense. This is one of the paradoxes of occultism but it can be understood if the student remembers that the centers in his etheric body rule in so far as they are receptive or non-receptive to the influences emanating from the planet, via the planetary centers. It would not be advisable for me to give out the relation of the planetary centers to the centers of the human being; there is not enough love present as yet to balance such knowledge and to offset any possible misuse with its dire consequences. The reason I include them in the above outline is to show the organic wholeness of our theme, for the life of man encompasses the abstract and subjective as well as the outer physical levels of the manifested world.

I have made two affirmations during the past years anent the Hierarchy. One was that as a result of the cleansing of the Earth through the medium of the world war (1914-1945) and through the suffering to which humanity has been subjected (with a consequent purifying effect which will demonstrate later), it will be possible for the Hierarchy to externalize itself and function openly upon the physical plane. This will indicate a return to the situation which existed in Atlantean days when (using the Biblical symbolism) God Himself walked among men - divinity was present in physical form because the Members of the Hierarchy were guiding and directing the affairs of humanity as far as innate free will permitted. On a higher turn of the spiral, this again will happen. The Masters will walk openly among men. Secondly, the Hierarchy will then restore the ancient Mysteries, the ancient landmarks so earnestly preserved by the Masonic tradition and which have been securely embalmed in the Masonic ritual, awaiting the day of resurrection.

These ancient Mysteries were originally given to humanity by the Hierarchy, and were - in their turn - received [331] by the Hierarchy from the Great White Lodge on Sirius. They contain the clue to the evolutionary process, hidden in numbers and in words; they veil the secret of man's origin and destiny, picturing for him in rite and ritual the long, long path which he must tread. They provide also, when rightly interpreted and correctly presented,

the teaching which humanity needs in order to progress

from darkness to Light,
from the unreal to the Real
and from death to Immortality.

Any true Mason who understands, even if only to a slight degree, the implications of that in which he participates will recognize this most ancient of Oriental prayers, giving the key to the three degrees of the Blue Lodge. I mention here the Masonic purpose because it is closely related to the restoration of the Mysteries and has held the clue - down the ages - to that long-awaited restoration, to the platform upon which the restored teaching can be based, and the structure which can express, in powerful ritual and in organized detailed rites, the history of man's moving forward upon the Path of Return.

The Mysteries will be restored in other ways also, for they contain much besides that which the Masonic rites can reveal or that religious rituals and ceremonies can disclose; they contain within their teaching and formulas the key to the science which will unlock the mystery of electricity - that mystery of which H.P.B. spoke; though much progress has already been made by science along this line, it is as yet only embryonic in nature, and only when the Hierarchy is present visibly on earth, and the Mysteries of which the Masters are the Custodians are given openly to man, will the true secret and nature of electrical phenomena be revealed.

The Mysteries are, in reality, the true source of revelation, and it can be only when the mind and the will-to-good are closely blended and conditioning human behavior that the extent of the coming revelation will be grasped, for only then can humanity be trusted with these secrets. They concern those capacities which enable the Members of the Hierarchy to work consciously with the energies of the planet and of the solar system and to control forces within the [332] planet; they will put the ordinary psychic powers (today so stupidly approached and so little understood) in their rightful place and guide man towards their helpful usage.

The Mysteries will restore color and music as they essentially are to the world and do it in such a manner that the creative art of today will be to this new creative art what a child's building of wooden blocks is to a great cathedral such as Durham or Milan. The Mysteries, when restored, will make real - in a sense incomprehensible to you at present - the nature of religion, the purpose of science and the goal of education. These are not what you think today.

The ground is being prepared at this time for this great restoration. The Churches and Masonry are today before the judgment seat of humanity's critical mind and the word has gone forth from that mass mind that both of them failed in their divinely assigned tasks. It is realized everywhere that new life must be poured in and great changes wrought in the awareness and in the training of those who work through and in these two media of truth. Those changes have not yet been carried out, for it will take a new vision and a new approach to life experience, and this only the coming generation is capable of giving; they and they alone can bring about the needed alterations and the revitalization, but it can and will be done:

"That which is a mystery shall no longer be so, and that which has been veiled will now be revealed; that which has been withdrawn will emerge into the light, and all men shall see and together they shall rejoice. That time will come when desolation has wrought its beneficent work, when all things have been destroyed, and men, through suffering, have sought to be impressed by that which they had discarded in vain pursuit of that which was near at hand and easy of attainment. Possessed, it proved to be an agency of death - yet men sought life, not death."

So runs the Old Commentary when referring to the present cycle through which mankind is passing. [333]

The tests for the first initiation, as far as humanity (the world disciple) is concerned, are well-nigh over and the hour of the birth of the Christ as an expression of the fourth kingdom in nature and the consummation of the work of the Fourth Creative Hierarchy is at hand. This there is no gainsaying; the birth hour may be long and the form may be "in labor" for much time, but the Christ will be born and the nature of the Christ and His consciousness will permeate and color all human affairs. It is this condition - so imminent and so desirable and long foretold and anticipated - which will make possible the return of the Hierarchy and the restoration of the Mysteries.

These occurrences are not only dependent upon the fitness of humanity to provide the right setting and upon the inevitability of evolutionary development itself, but the reappearance of the Hierarchy and that which its Members will accomplish is related also (and primarily) to the interior life and the spiritual impulses within the Hierarchy itself and unrelated to mankind altogether. The Hierarchy pursues its own line of spiritual unfoldment as a paralleling activity to its services on Earth in connection with planetary evolution. Men are so apt to regard their own lives and destiny and the unfoldment of the human consciousness as the factor of only and paramount importance upon Earth and in the evolutionary processes of the planet. These conditions are of importance, but they are not the only factors of importance, nor does humanity stand alone and isolated. Humanity occupies a midway point between the subhuman and the superhuman kingdoms, and each of these groups of evolving lives has its own important destiny - important to all contained within the group ring-pass-not. They have their own chosen and differing modes, methods and ways of achievement. Just as individual man has to learn the art or science of relationship to other men and to his environment, so humanity as a whole has to learn its relationship to that which lies above and beyond mankind and with that which is below and left behind. This involves a sense of proportion which can be attained only by the mind principle in man [334] and by those who are beginning to be mentally polarized. This sense of proportion will reveal to men their place upon the ladder of evolution and lead them to the recognition of the peculiar destiny and unique goals of other kingdoms in nature, including the fifth kingdom, the Kingdom of God, the spiritual Hierarchy of our planet.

The Hierarchy is itself also at a point of spiritual crisis. Its initiates stand before the Door which leads to the Way of the Higher Evolution and the entire personnel of the Hierarchy waits to make a united move forward, paralleling - on its own level - the move forward which humanity is also destined to make.

But, my brothers, here is the point of interest. Under the great law of synthetic expression (called by us the Law of Synthesis, the law governing the first divine aspect) the Hierarchy must move forward in such a manner that the effort must encompass the physical plane as well as the higher planes. The activity engineered must cover the three worlds of human evolution as well as the three worlds of the Spiritual Triad. Forget not the overlapping of these two worlds which takes place upon the mental plane and warrants the well-known phrase "the five worlds of superhuman evolution." Hence, therefore, the necessity for the externalization of the Hierarchy and the demonstration of Their united ability to work from the physical plane up to the highest, in order to move unitedly through this Door on to the Way. Speaking symbolically, this externalization is for the Members of the Hierarchy an act of sacrificial service, but it is also a symbolic gesture. The Hierarchy incarnates on Earth again, and for the first time since its last incarnation in Atlantean days. It is, however, a group incarnation and not the incarnation of individual Members. This is probably a subtle point too difficult for you to grasp.

The externalization of the Hierarchy, therefore, and the restoration of the Mysteries, are not something done for humanity or simply carried out because men have earned a closer contact, have the right to some reward or are now so spiritual that the Hierarchy can have a good and useful time [335] helping them. The picture is entirely different. What looms with such importance in the consciousness of men is, in reality, quite secondary in relation to the hierarchical crisis which we are considering. This reappearance upon the physical plane and the consequent life of service (involving factors of profound significance to men) are an expression of the inherent spiritual impulse which is impelling hierarchical action in two directions but involving one unified movement, embracing all the five planes of superhuman evolution and necessitating a group recapitulation of incarnated process.

The Hierarchy has its own life and its own goals and objectives, its own evolutionary rhythm and its own spiritual expansions; these are not the same as those of the human kingdom. These goals and rhythms will become more familiar to thinking men as the Hierarchy approaches closer to the physical plane.

This inclusive and planned activity of the Hierarchy is related to spiritual incentives which have their roots in Shamballa. There the life aspect is being almost violently stimulated through the action of the Lords of Liberation Who have swept into planetary activity because of the use of the second Stanza of the great Invocation - which was used potently by Members of the Hierarchy. Again, it was not used by Them solely on behalf of humanity or for the liberation of mankind; it had hierarchical implications also and was in part a demand by the Hierarchy for permission to move along the Way. The releasing of the "saving force" because the hour of service had arrived, permitted (at the same time) the inflow of an aspect of energy which never reached humanity at all and was not intended for strictly human use, but which was retained by the Hierarchy for the vitalizing into renewed livingness of the seven major Ashrams, thus enabling the entire Ashram of the Christ to lift itself on to a higher spiritual level and closer to the door which leads to Life.

These statements veil deep hierarchical mysteries and are not in any way related to the Mysteries which will concern [336] humanity when the Hierarchy is externalized. These mysteries will not be revealed to men. Only a general statement of the effects upon the Hierarchy of certain mysterious activities is permissible. They serve to show the steady pulsation of the evolutionary rhythm which permeates every atom, form, group and center upon our planet, producing effects upon the lowest forms of existence and on and up to the very highest; there is naught anywhere but progress and a steady moving forward into clearer light and greater livingness.

In these instructions I am dealing with the entire theme of initiation from its broad and general angle and from the angle of definition; it is not my intention, therefore, to duplicate here what is given in Discipleship in the New Age,Vol. II. Our approach will be somewhat different in this final section of our Treatise; we will confine ourselves to the effect of the rays upon the initiate and to the relation existing between the ray energies and various initiations which I have already outlined. In this section also I do not intend to deal with the scientific awakening of the centers or with the technicalities of bringing them into the desired balance and activity. I have already given what is necessary in my various books, where a very great deal of information is given and will be found scattered through all of them. By means of this diffusion and scattering, the teaching is protected and cannot constitute a danger to the general public. Students in the immediate future will have to search out the teaching in all the many volumes and hunt most carefully for the details of the science of the centers and for information anent their nature and processes. The whole subject of the centers is dangerous if misunderstood; the centers constitute a menace when prematurely awakened or unduly energized, and this entire subject can prove most dangerous to the curiosity-impelled man and to the ignorant experimenter. The time is not yet ripe for the presentation of this subject in a fully coordinated manner; students are warned against publishing a clear correlated thesis on the subject as a result of their researches in my books. Nevertheless, [337] the true aspirant must be given the needed information.

The Mysteries are revealed, not primarily by the reception of information anent them and their processes, but by the action of certain processes, carried out within the etheric body of the disciple; these enable him to know that which is hidden; they put him in possession of a mechanism of revelation and make him aware of certain radiatory and magnetic powers or energies within himself which constitute channels of activity and modes whereby he may acquire that which it is the privilege of the initiate to own and to use.

The disciple upon the Probationary Path starts off on his quest for the door of initiation, and for that which he will contact after passing through that door, with a definite equipment and created mechanism. This has been acquired, and facility in its use has been attained, through many cycles of incarnation. An incarnation is a definitely determined period (from the angle of the soul) wherein Experiment, Experience and Expression are the keynotes in each incarnation. Each successive incarnation continues the experiment, deepens the experience and relates the expression more closely to the latent unfolding divinity.

The same three words - in greatly enhanced interpretation and with the emphasis upon a much fuller opportunity - can be used to describe the progress of the initiate upon the final stages of the Path; with this we shall be partly engaged in this section. I would ask you, whilst reading and pondering upon all that I say, to have these three words in mind. Every initiation is approached by the disciple or initiate in a spirit of divine experimentation, but with a scientific aspect, because an initiation is a culminating moment of achievement, and success is a graded series of experiments with energy.

Having garnered the fruit of the experiment above indicated, there follows a certain period wherein experience in the use of the related potencies takes place. This occupies the interlude between one initiation and another. This may cover a period of many lives or prove relatively short. The results of the experiment of initiation and of experience [338] with the then endowed energies emerge as the ability of the initiate to express divinity more fully than heretofore; this means that he increasingly can function as a divine creator in relation to the hierarchical Plan, as the manipulator of the attractive energies of love, and as one who determines - under the impelling will of Shamballa - the phase or aspect of the divine purpose with which he must himself be occupied in relation to the manifestation of the planetary Logos. You will note that I do not say in relation to humanity. The initiate works in many fields of divine creativity of which the field of mankind is only one.

These three words will therefore indicate the first type of approach to our subject; what I have to say will therefore, in every case, have them in mind.

Secondly, I would have you consider with me the various aspects of our sectional theme from the angle of the seven rays. By this I mean that disciples upon the different rays will all have the same goal, make the same experiments, go through the same experience and arrive equally at divine expression. However, their qualities and their modes of approach, their reactions and their distinctive natures will differ according to their ray type; this constitutes a most interesting and little known phase of our study of initiation. Initiation has been a blanket happening, and no note has been made of the ray implications. This I propose to remedy.

Each of the seven initiations, for instance, is an exemplification or a revealer of one of the seven ray qualities or tendencies; it is governed and conditioned always by a certain ray, and this is one of the factors which disciples have to learn and grasp whilst preparing for an initiation, because it involves success in handling and manipulating certain types of divine energy.

Each of the initiations brings one or other of the seven centers into full functioning activity, not from the angle of awakening or of stimulation, but from the angle of a "wheel turning upon itself." This is an Old Testament expression [339] and is wholly inadequate, but I can find none other to substitute. The wording is totally blind and inadequate and will prove to you somewhat meaningless, except to the initiate who has experienced that turning.

As esoteric astrologers know well, there comes a life cycle wherein the disciple reverses himself upon the Wheel of Life (the zodiacal wheel) and from going clockwise around the zodiac, he now begins to go anti-clockwise; he learns that the substance aspect of his nature may still be conditioned by the forces flowing through them sequentially and serially, and according to his horoscope and according to the exoteric mode of the zodiacal revolution; at the same time, the disciple is receiving energy currents from the reversed wheel whereon he, as a soul, finds himself. He is consequently the recipient of two currents of energy, going in reverse directions; hence the increased conflict in his life and circumstances; these constitute the reason for the tests of initiation.

This, on a tiny scale, is true of the centers in the etheric body of the disciple; they too evidence the same dual activity, once the Path of Discipleship is trodden and the Path of Initiation is entered. The zodiacal wheel is itself essentially a cosmic center; it is a twelve-petalled lotus, but it is a twelve-petalled lotus within the thousand-petalled lotus of an unknown cosmic Entity, the One referred to in my earlier books as the One about Whom naught may be said.

The multiplicity of zodiacal influences have eventually a dual effect: one upon Shamballa (the planetary head center) and the other upon the Hierarchy (the planetary heart center); the effect is also felt in the head center and the heart center of every initiate. This final dual activity is registered by the initiate of the highest degrees when he undergoes the eighth and ninth initiations; the other seven initiations are governed by the seven rays.

You have, therefore: [340]

Initation 1. Birth	Sacral center	7th ray	Physical plane	Beginnings	Relationship	Sex Magic
Initiation 2. Baptism	Solar plexus center	6th ray	Astral plane	Dedication	Glamor	Devotion
Initiation 3. Transfiguration	Ajna center	5th ray	Mental plane	Integration	Direction	Science
Initiation 4. Renunciation	Heart center	4th ray	Buddhic plane	Crucifixion	Sacrifice	Harmony
Initiation 5. Revelation	Base of spine	1st ray	Atmic plane	Emergence	Will	Purpose
Initiation 6. Decision	Throat center	3rd ray	Monadic plane	Fixation	Intelligent cooperation	Creativity
Initiation 7. Resurrection	Head center	2nd ray	Logoic plane	The Eternal Pilgrim	Love-Wisdom	Attraction
Initiation 8. Transition	Hierarchy	Four minor rays	Planetary	Choice	Consciousness	Sensitivity
Initiation 9. Refusal	Shamballa	Three major rays	Systemic	Seven Paths	Being	Existence

It will not be possible for you to comprehend the synthesis which governs the four final initiations, and for these experiences we have as yet no adequate language. All that is possible is to indicate certain spiritual trends and tendencies and - as this section is written primarily for those who have taken or who are preparing to take one or other of the initiations - I can only hope that some meaning will be conveyed to those persons who are ready.

A careful study of the above tabulation should give you [341] a somewhat different idea anent the whole subject of initiation. The concept which has to supersede the one at present extant is that of group initiation, and not that of the initiation of an individual aspirant. In the past, and in order to get the idea of initiation into the minds of the people, the Hierarchy chose the mode (now obsolete) of holding out the prospect of initiation before the earnest disciple; upon this they placed an early emphasis of its peculiarity, its rewarding nature, its ritual and ceremonies, and its place in the scale of evolution. Since the fact of initiation had been grasped by many and achieved by some, it has become possible today to reveal what has always been implied, that initiation is a group event. If clear thinking had taken the place of a selfish individual aspiration, the fact of group initiation would have been obvious and for the following reasons, inherent and implied in the whole situation:

1. The soul - in its own nature - is group conscious and has no individual ambitions or individual interests, and is not at all interested in the aims of its personality. It is the soul which is the initiate. Initiation is a process whereby the spiritual man within the personality becomes aware of himself as the soul, with soul powers, soul relationships, and soul purpose. The moment a man realizes this, even in a small measure, it is the group of which he is conscious.
2. Only the man whose sense of identity is beginning to expand and become inclusive can "take initiation" (as it is erroneously termed). If initiation were a purely personal achievement, it would throw the man back into the separate consciousness, out of which he is endeavoring to escape. This would not be spiritual progression. Every step upon the Path of Initiation increases group recognition. Initiation is essentially an expanding series of inclusive recognitions.
3. Initiation admits the aspirant into membership in the Hierarchy. This involves, speaking esoterically, the relinquishing of all separate personality reactions in a series of progressive renunciations; these culminate [342] in the fourth initiation, and are again mysteriously emphasized at the ninth initiation.

It dawns on the initiate, as he proceeds from one initiation to another, that each time he moves forward on the path or penetrates into the heart of the Mysteries in company with those who are as he is, who share with him the same point in evolution, and who are working with him towards the same goal, that he is not alone; that it is a joint effort that is being made. This is in fact the keynote of an Ashram, conditioning its formation. It is composed of disciples and initiates at various stages of initiate-unfoldment who have arrived at their point of ashramic consciousness together, and who will proceed together until they arrive at that complete liberation which comes when the cosmic physical plane drops below the threshold of consciousness or of sensitive awareness and no longer holds any point of interest for the initiate.

This is one of the new factors in hierarchical methods and techniques which I have had the responsibility of bringing to public attention, and so correcting the erroneous teaching of those trained under orthodox (so called) schools of occultism. The Master K.H., in one of the few (the very few) paragraphs in The Mahatma Letters which are genuine and not simply the work of H.P.B., gave a hint to aspirants of that time when He said that so many of them were so "spiritually selfish." This spiritual selfishness has led the average esoteric student to appropriate initiation and to make it personal and individual. Yet one of the prime prerequisites for initiation is a clear and concise recognition of one's own group, not through a process of wishful thinking, but through factual cooperation and work upon the physical plane. I said group, my brother, and not organization, for they are two very different things.

Have carefully in mind, therefore, the fact of group initiation, and forego the process of considered thought anent your preparation for initiation. Some groups are being prepared for initiation in which the following factors control - as far as the individual is concerned: [343]

1. A group of men and women whose souls are on some one ray are gathered together subjectively by a Master on the same ray, for group training.
2. Opportunity is given to such people to contact on the physical plane some of those who are thus subjectively linked, and thus mutually convey a sense of group solidarity. The subjective relationship is assured by an objective contact. Recognition is therefore a preliminary test of initiation, and this should be remembered.
3. Such people thus being trained and related are, from the angle of the initiation to be taken, at the same point in evolution. They are taking the same initiation and are being subjected to the same tests and difficulties. These tests and difficulties are due to the fact of the personality ray which may be (and usually is) quite different to the soul ray. It is the personality ray which works to prevent contact, to mislead in recognition, to retard progress and to misinterpret information. As long as a disciple in training is focused in his personality, group initiation will not be possible for him, his recognition of co-aspirants, will be fleeting and rapidly disturbed by the critical lower mind, and a wall of thought-forms, created by the personality, anent the group members, will be thrown up and prevent a united moving forward through the Door of Initiation.
4. Group initiation cannot be achieved by a group in training until the members, as a group, have developed their particular "spiritual enterprise." It is the law of the spirit that the disciple must appear before the Initiator empty-handed, but that in group formation the group members unitedly contribute something to the enrichment of the Ashram. This may take the form of some considered project in line with the Plan, whereby they testify to their comprehension of that Plan and demonstrate to the initiate-company in which they find themselves, and those senior disciples to whose contact they are to be admitted, that they have already proven their fitness for acceptance and have proven it along the line of service. It has to be a group [344] enterprise, a group service and a group contribution. The specific contribution of the individual does not appear.

This thought of group initiation must be remembered, for it will color all that I shall seek to convey to your minds and will hasten the day of your own acceptance.

No one is admitted (through the processes of initiation) into the Ashram of the Christ (the Hierarchy) until such time as he is beginning to think and live in terms of group relationships and group activities. Some well-meaning aspirants interpret the group idea as the instruction to them that they should make an effort to form groups - their own group or groups. This is not the idea as it is presented in the Aquarian Age, so close today; it was the mode of approach during the Piscean Age, now passed. Today, the entire approach is totally different. No man today is expected to stand at the center of his little world and work to become a focal point for a group. His task now is to discover the group of aspirants with which he should affiliate himself and with whom he must travel upon the Path of Initiation - a very different matter and a far more difficult one. He needs to bear in mind the meaning of the following words from the Archives of the Masters, given in question and answer form. The questions are addressed to the neophyte who is getting his first glimpse of group relations leading to group initiation:

• "And dost thou see the Door, O Chela in the light?

I see the door and hear a calling voice. What should I do, O Master of my life?

• Go through that Door and waste not time in backward glances at the road just trodden. Go forward into light.

The door is far too narrow, O Master of my life. I fear I cannot pass. [345]

• Go closer to the Door and take the hand in thine of another pilgrim on the way of life. Go closer to the Door; seek not to enter it alone.

I cannot see the door, now that I grasp the hand of the brother on the right and the brother on the left. I seem surrounded by the pilgrims on the way. Alike they seem, their note is one; they seem like unto me, and press around on every side. I cannot see the door.

• Move forward on the Path, O pilgrim in the light, and stand together, hand in hand, before the Door of Light. What seest thou?

The door again appears, and wide it seems, not narrow as before. What was that I saw before? It was not like the door which now confronts this band of brothers as we stand together on the Path.

• The door you saw before was a figment of your mind; a thought-form of your separative creation, something that cuts you off from truth - too narrow for your passing yet full of wrong allure. Only the man who holds his brother's hand can see the Door in truth; only the man, surrounded by the many who are one, can enter by that Door which shuts itself upon the man who seeks to enter it alone."

In Lemurian days, initiates entered alone and one by one, and then only a few managed to attain the goal and one at a time were admitted to the Mysteries. In Atlantean times, when the Door of Initiation stood wide open, the aspirants to the Mysteries were admitted in groups of seven, but had not contacted their fellow group members in physical consciousness; the emphasis was still (during the training period) upon individual attainment and achievement. Today, so rapidly is man making spiritual progress, the Hierarchy is admitting groups all the time, particularly in connection with those rays which are at present in incarnation. This means that the three major rays (which are always [346] predominantly active though they may have varying cycles of increased or decreased activity) have large groups undergoing their preparatory training for some one initiation. This group admission will develop rapidly as the world settles back into a cycle of peaceful growth and unfoldment after the drastic experience of the world war (1914-1945); it is for this that information such as I am here attempting to give must be made available.

One other point I would seek to make clear. As you know, an Ashram has in it disciples and initiates at all points of evolutionary development and of all grades and degrees; these all work together in perfect unison and yet - within their differentiated ranks, for each degree stands alone yet united with all the others - with their own established rapport, their coded telepathic interplay, and a shared occult secrecy and silence which guard the secrets and knowledges of one grade from another and from the unready. Similarly, when an aspirant, seeking upon the physical plane to find those who will share with him the mystery of his next immediate step or demonstrated expansion, discovers his own group, he will find that it has in it those who have not reached his particular point of wisdom and those also who have already left him far behind. He will be drawn into a vortex of force and a field of service simultaneously. Ponder on this statement. He will learn, therefore, the lessons required by one who is to work in an Ashram and will know how to handle himself with those who may not yet share with him the secrets which he already knows, and with those who have penetrated deeper into the Mysteries than he has. [347]

B.I. The Aspirant and the Mysteries of Initiation

B.I.1. The Entering of the two Doors of Initiation

Let us now take up our first point in this section and see what is really meant by the hackneyed words "door of initiation," and what constitutes the difference between the door which faces the disciple and that which confronts the Master.

It is of course obvious to you that the use of the word "door" is purely symbolic; the interpretation given to the word by the ordinary esoteric student and the orthodox Theosophist is that of a point of entry, and the significance of it to him is that it offers an opportunity to pass to new experience and fresh revelation - much of which is regarded by him as due reward for discipline and aspiration. That is largely an interpretation based on wishful thinking and is of quite secondary importance.

B.I.1.a. The Door of Initiation

The real meaning underlying the phrase "door of initiation" is that of obstruction, of something which bars the way, of that which must be opened, or of that which hides or stands between the aspirant and his objective. This is a much more exact significance and one much more useful for [348] the aspirant to grasp. The picture of a man moving along the Path of Evolution until suddenly one day he stands before an open door through which he may joyously pass has no faintest resemblance to the truth; the idea that a man of a nice disposition and possessing certain character developments such as those portrayed in such books (by Annie Besant) as The Open Court and the Path of Discipleship, which condition the theosophical aspirants, is exceedingly misleading. These books are very useful and should be carefully studied by the man upon the Path of Probation, but are not so useful to the disciple, for they lead him to put the emphasis in the wrong direction and to focus upon that which should already have been developed. Naturally, the character development must be present and assumed to be stable in the man's equipment; these characteristics have, however, little bearing on initiation and passing through the "door" on the Path. They are indicative of the point reached upon the Path of Evolution, as a result of experiment, experience and continuous expression, and should be common to all aspirants who have reached the point of facing discipleship; they are unavoidable developments and connote simply the reaction of the personality to time and experience. It is eternally true that no one may pass through this door unless these character indications are developed, but that is due to the fact that the aspirant has progressed to a certain stage of unfoldment and automatically now has a measure of self-control, of mental understanding and of purity.

I would point out also that even the black magician possesses these qualities, for they are the sine qua non of all magical art, both black and white; the black magician passes through the door of initiation as it opens twice for the first two initiations. He passes through on the strength of his will and his character accomplishments and because the group conscious aspect of the soul is active in him as in his brother seeking affiliation with the Great White Lodge. The love aspect is, however, lacking in the black magician. Forget not that all is energy and there is nothing else. The energy which [349] is an aspect of the soul and which we call magnetic attraction (the group-building quality) he shares with the spiritual aspirant. He is essentially group conscious, and though his motives are separative, his methods are those of the group, and these he can get only from the soul.

You see again another reason why the first and second initiations are not regarded by the Lodge of Masters as major initiations. Only the third is so regarded, because at that initiation the entire personality life is flooded with energy coming from the Spiritual Triad, via the "sacrifice petals" of the will and purpose aspect of the soul. To this type of energy the black magician is not responsive. He can and does respond to the knowledge - most ancient and hardly won - stored up in the "knowledge petals" of the soul; he can appropriate and utilize the energy of attraction (erroneously called love by some students) stored up in the "love petals" of the soul, but he cannot respond to and use the energy of divine love, working out in the divine Plan which controls all knowledge and converts it into wisdom, and which actuates and clarifies the motive which brings loving magnetic attraction into action and which we call true group consciousness and group cohesion. It is at this point that the two ways - of darkness and of light - become widely divergent. Until the third initiation is taken, glamor may condition the attitude of those seeking to understand the life of a man upon the Path, and they may mistake the spurious for the real. The black magician leads a disciplined life, analogous to that of the spiritual aspirant; he practices purity for his own safeguarding and not in order that he may become a channel for the energy of light; he works with power (the power of magnetic attraction) with and in groups, but he does this for his own selfish ends and for the fulfilment of his own ambitious purposes. But at the third initiation there comes to the true spiritual initiate the revelation which is the reward of perseverance and purity rightly motivated - the revelation of the divine purpose, as the soul records it in terms of the hierarchical plan, though not yet in terms of the Monad. To this purpose and [350] to the loving Will of God (to use a trite Christian phrase) the black brother cannot respond; his aims are different. You have here the true meaning of the oft-used and misunderstood phrase, "the parting of the ways."

But both groups of aspirants (the black and the white) stand before the door of initiation and take the needed steps to open it on two similar occasions. Both overcome glamor after the second initiation, and see their way clearly ahead; but their goals emerge as widely different; one treads the broad way which leads ever deeper into matter and materialism, into darkness and "black power"; the other leads to the straight and narrow way, to the razor-edged path which leads into light and life. One group has never freed itself from the principles which governed the first solar system. They were principles entirely related to matter and substance, and were at that time and in that period (so remote that the number of years of distance can be stated only in super-astronomical figures) the conditioning factors for the initiation of the time. Certain units of humanity - then existent - were so completely conditioned by these material principles and so deliberately unready for moving on to the comprehension of another set of principles (more expressive of the divine nature) that they remained of "fixed and selfish material purpose" and a planned distortion of the divine will was intelligently created by them. You have here a hint as to the nature of evil and a clue to a part (though only a part) of the mystery to be noted in the statement that evil and good are reverse aspects of the same one reality, and evil is that good which we should have left behind, passing on to greater and more inclusive good. Forget not that the black magicians of today were the initiates of a previous solar system. When the door of initiation is ready to open for the third time, the parting of the ways takes place. Some follow selfish intention and the fixed determination to remain with the separative condition of matter; and to others, the divine will is clearly impressed upon them and becomes the motivating power in their lives. It was under instructions from the Great White Lodge on Sirius that the door remains [351] closed the third time to the dark brothers. Evil, as we understand it, has absolutely no place on Sirius.

To the black magician, at this third opportunity, the door of initiation presents an insuperable barrier and obstacle; to the true spiritual neophyte, the door connotes  "overcoming." We shall not consider further the approach of the black brothers to that door, but shall confine ourselves to a consideration of the initiations of the Great White Lodge.

This door of initiation is connected with the great problem of what H.P.B. calls the "mystery of electricity"; the door is itself an electrical phenomenon essentially. Having said this, even if you do not understand my meaning, you can, however, grasp the possibility that (being electrical in nature) it can easily present an obstructing force, a repelling energy to the approach of the aspirant; this is the correct way to look at it. It is only when the electrical energy of which the door is constituted and that of which the man is constructed at any particular time synchronize and vibrate in unison that the aspirant can pass through to greater light. This gives you a somewhat new and rather abstruse definition of initiation. Nevertheless, as science arrives at a better understanding of the human being as an electrical unit of power and light, and of his triple mechanism as created of three aspects of electricity, a truer comprehension of the significance of initiation will eventuate. The three fires of which all things are made are electrical in nature and - speaking symbolically - it is only when "fire by friction" is dominated by "solar fire" that the first four initiations can be taken, culminating in the fifth initiation in which these two fires are subordinated to "electric fire" emanating from the monad and giving a new revelation. This monadic process begins at the third initiation. It might be added that the third initiation (culminating in the Transfiguration) is taken on the three higher levels of the mental plane, and that it is therefore upon the fourth level of the mental plane that the aspirant first of all stands before the door, seeking initiation. That electrical unit or phenomenon of electricity [352] which we call the fourth kingdom in nature, on this fourth subplane of the mental plane esoterically "ejects" the unit of electricity which is ready to be absorbed by the higher form of electricity. Fire by friction dies out and solar fire takes its place, and the relationship between the two higher forms of electricity becomes established.

It is solar fire which forms and likewise guards the door of initiation for the first four initiations. It is the electrical fire which forms the door of initiation for those initiations which guard the Way to the Higher Evolution.

There are four types of fire by friction which create the "obstructing door" in unison with solar fire, of which it is essentially created. These are as follows:

1. Electrical energy, composed of two forces of electricity: the innate, inert and latent force of the physical plane atoms of the dense physical vehicle, and the force which we call prana which is an aspect of the energy composing the etheric body. These two blend, combine and form the "door" through which the spiritual man must pass when he undergoes the first initiation. This provocative energy tests out every part of his physical equipment and - as he passes the test - the door opens, the opposing energies symbolically "die out," and he can pass on to the Path of Initiation, free from that type of obstruction. The physical body no longer rules him, either through its limitations and faults or through the physical disciplines which have been hitherto needed but are no longer required.
2. The electrical energy of the astral or emotional body next confronts him as he prepares to take the second initiation. You can call this energy, if you so choose, the sum total of all the glamors; a glamor is essentially a bewildering, deceiving and illusory energy-form which seeks to sidetrack and mislead the neophyte and which is attracted to him by ancient habit and old controls. He is therefore responsible for the impact of this energy. This type of energy takes form, and the massed forms of these glamors constitute the opposing door and oppose the passing of the [353] aspirant on to the next phase of the Path. With this electrical energy he must deal before he takes the second initiation. These particular energies are not thought-forms; they are drifting, undefined and exceedingly fluid. Of this type of energy water is the symbol, and this is one reason why this second initiation is called the Baptism initiation, or the initiation of "entering the stream."
3. The electrical energy of the mind now creates the door for the third initiation, and the obstruction which confronts the initiate is that of the electrical figments of his own thinking, shining with a light which is all their own (for they are of the highest order and type), but veiling the pure light which shines behind them. They constitute the sumtotal of illusion. This "door" is formed by the coming together of the three types of energy: fire by friction, solar fire (playing in full force at this third initiation), and electrical fire from the Spiritual Triad, making its first impact on the other two fires, for all three are in full activity at this initiatory crisis. All are localized and concentrated in that symbol of progress, the "door of initiation."
   It should be becoming increasingly clear to you why the initiate is ever portrayed as one who works with the forces and energies of the planet and the system. To him, there is naught else.
4. The fourth type of "fire by friction" which confronts the initiate as he stands prepared for that initiation which we call the Great Renunciation is the electric energy of the entire integrated personality. That which is the product of every incarnation - the highly developed, powerful and "clear-eyed" personality (as it is called) - is the final event and presents the final great obstruction.

In the Gospel story there are two major episodes in the life of the Master Jesus which throw some light upon this fourth entrance through the door of initiation: the Transfiguration and the Crucifixion. In both of them the three aspects of the personality are symbolized. In the first case, they are symbolized by the three apostles who in bewilderment and profound humility took part in the third initiation, [354] the Transfiguration; in the second case, the three were depicted by the three Crosses - the two thieves and the central Master. The difference in the fourth initiation is definite; it lies in the fact that the four aspects of the personality (counting the dense physical body as one aspect and the etheric vehicle as a second aspect of the physical body) are involved, for this fourth emanation of fire by friction has a potent and destructive effect upon the dense physical body. The Great Renunciation involves the rejection of the physical life at any cost, and that cost frequently involves its physical death.

The Great Renunciation or fourth initiation has, therefore, two aspects: the outer involvement or objective happening in the eyes of the physical plane onlooker, and the subjective aspect, portrayed symbolically by the three Crosses and those who hung upon them.

The implications emerging out of this symbolism are not easy to see, even when the superficial meaning is apparent, because that superficial meaning hides and veils a universal reality. The Master Jesus passed through the door of the fourth initiation and overcame the final hindrances offered by His perfected personality. He died upon the Cross. All the four aspects of His personality participated in the event, and all four aspects electrically obstructed His passing through this door, even to the point of their complete destruction - bringing a final liberation. Something universal was also symbolized which had naught to do with the Initiated Master Jesus.

This symbolism and its meaning are related to the three Crosses which stood side by side and to the relationship between those who hung upon them. In the three figures humanity itself is portrayed and also related to the Hierarchy, and this "pictorial event" is a parallel to the one already considered - the initiation of the Master Jesus. In the Crucifixion, in this fourth passing through the door of initiation and in the staging of this event, two great and different individualities - the Master Jesus and the World Savior, the Christ - are implicated; two major happenings [355] are indicated, and the Christian Church has confused the two and related both of them without discrimination to the Master Jesus. Yet one event was a hierarchical occurrence and the other was a great human crisis; one was the entrance of an initiate into the Mysteries of death, involving in the process all the four aspects of His nature; the other was a dramatic portrayal to mankind of three groups to be found within the human family:

1. Unregenerate man, pictured by the unrepentant thief.
2. The struggling aspirant, moving consciously towards liberation, symbolized for us in the repentant thief.
3. The Hierarchy, composed of all who have passed to liberation through the medium of human experience, and thereby representing to us a guarantee of achievement.

Students would do well to keep this fourfold picture and this threefold symbol clearly distinguished in their minds, for individual attainment and the group possibilities are both involved; each is, however, distinct; in the one case the Master Jesus is the participator, and in the other and the more esoteric occurrence it is the One Who over-shadows Him, the Christ. It was the Master Jesus who "died" and entered into the tomb, thus climaxing His long series of incarnations and ending - by destruction - the hold of matter on the spirit; through the tomb He passed into the Hierarchy, and the destiny of the Christian Church was committed to Him; that destiny still lies in His hands. But in the Gospel story, it is the Christ Who is indicated as appearing after the resurrection and not the Master Jesus, except in the one brief episode wherein He appeared to Mary, weeping outside the door of the sepulchre. The other episodes are universal in their implications, as indicated by:

1. Christ walking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus - a symbol of the essential dualism of spirit and matter, as embodied in a world Savior.
2. Christ appearing to the disciples in the upper room, [356] symbolizing the zodiac, for Judas Iscariot was there, standing for the sign at the time in power; the other eleven disciples representing the remaining signs through which the sun must pass.
3. Pentecost. This event does not portray the triumph of orthodox Christianity (as the theologians believe and teach), but signifies the universal dissemination of the Christ consciousness throughout all time in the heart of every human being; to this the words and promise, "Lo, I am with you all the days, even until the end of the world," bear witness.

It is owing to the deeply esoteric meaning of the Resurrection and the Ascension and their major significance, referring to the consciousness of the Christ, that nothing much is told us about these initiations in The New Testament, except the vaguest generalities, in contradistinction to the wealth of detail given anent the other four initiations. Four of these initiations are related to the "door of initiation" as occultly understood and with the interpretation of which we are familiar; these four are related also to the electrical "fire by friction" of which that door is constructed, and which spreads to and creates the burning ground across which the initiate must four times move in order to "enter through that door."

The other two initiations (vaguely called the Resurrection and the Ascension) are related to the second so-called "door." This door is not in the same sense an obstruction as is the first door; it opens on to the Way of the Higher Evolution. The first door symbolically admits the initiate into the "heart of the Sun," whilst the second door - in a most mysterious sense - indicates the route which must be followed by the liberated initiate who seeks to penetrate to the Central Spiritual Sun - to which all the seven Paths eventually lead.

B.I.1.b. The Door to the Way of the Higher Evolution

I write now for those initiates who have taken the third initiation, whose personality is soul-dominated and who [357] "walk ever in the light." It will therefore be obvious that there is relatively little that I can say at this point which will be comprehensible, as far as the true meaning goes, to you who have not as yet achieved that state. The key to your understanding lies in the realization that our seven planes are only the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane, and that all that now transpires in the life of the initiate simply releases him from physical experience (technically physical, even on the atmic, monadic and logoic planes), into that vortex of force which we know and understand as Love, or onto the cosmic astral plane. The note, the quality and the influence of the cosmic astral plane is love - the higher correspondence of emotion as experienced upon the astral plane of the planetary or solar manifestation. It is therefore to be realized that the Hierarchy is definitely under the impact of energies emanating from the cosmic astral plane, whilst Shamballa reacts to influences coming from the cosmic mental plane. The related stream of energy can therefore be seen to be from:

1. The cosmic astral plane.
2. The solar buddhic plane, reflected in our planetary buddhic plane.
3. The astral plane, the plane of glamor in the three worlds.

In relation to the mind, you have:

1. The cosmic mental plane.
2. The solar atmic plane, reflected in our planetary atmic plane.
3. The mental plane, the plane of illusion.

In connection with the references to glamor and illusion, (see Glamor: a World Problem) it must be borne in mind that the reason glamor predominates and illusion functions in the three worlds is due to the fact that men identify themselves with the dense physical brain, and interpret life in terms of experience in the three worlds. There is no true astral plane, from the angle of personality identifications, but only what might be regarded as the figments of the imagination; yet fundamentally and substanding what [358] we know as the astral plane is the reflection of the cosmic principle of love. However, being essentially a reflection, it lacks basic reality from the angle of the true disciple and must be ignored as an expression of fundamental truth; at the same time, the astral plane exists from the angle of the Master, because it is an expression in dense physical cosmic substance of cosmic love. Its potency is, however, so great that it produces glamor in those who are not yet liberated. Students should remember that focused power produces glamor where wrong identification is involved, but only reality and truth where there is freedom from the factor of form life. Therefore, temporarily, there is no astral plane for the disciple who is withdrawing identification; there is a field of service for the Master Who has no longer the power to identify His consciousness with anything in the three worlds; He can, however, relate cosmic sources with planetary and solar expressions of energy.

As we study the whole subject of initiation and the advanced initiations, it will be found necessary to remember always the relation of our seven planes to the cosmic range of planes. It is necessary also to bear in mind a fact oft forgotten, but which has been known and taught ever since modern occultism began to influence human thinking: the four planes which connote the highest possible spiritual influences, as far as humanity is concerned, are only - in the last analysis - the four etheric subplanes of the cosmic physical plane. These highest planes of our planetary life are, therefore, the source of all energy and all originating activity in our entire planetary expression and experience. These four planes are (as you already know):

1. The highest plane - Adi Life - Logoic plane - 1st aspect - Will
2. The monadic plane - Human monads - Universal - 2nd aspect - Love
3. The atmic plane - 3rd aspect - Intelligence
4. The buddhic plane -  Pure reason - Intuition

This 4th or buddhic is a fusion of 2 and 3, of love and [359] intelligence, and produces understanding and intuitive perception.

All influences and energies, therefore, which are prevalent in our planetary existence, flow through and create the four above mentioned planes and thus determine the nature of the evolutionary process at any given time in the three worlds. From the standpoint of a Master, the four planes are composed of forces which are basically responsive to, and finally conditioned by, the energies wielded by the Hierarchy and directed by Shamballa. In a peculiar manner, and under the Law of Correspondences, the three lower planes - mental, emotional and physical - constitute the three dense physical subplanes of the cosmic physical plane and are not, consequently, regarded as embodying principles. H.P.B. says, in connection with our physical plane (the lowest subplane of the cosmic physical plane), that it is not a principle, and this holds good also for the greater whole. The dense physical plane is matter conditioned by a previous solar system, and is almost automatic in its response to etheric energies; these constitute the etheric bodies of all forms created out of this "unprincipled substance," as it is occultly called.

The three lower planes of our seven planes are, from the angle of the esotericist, the equally unprincipled dense cosmic substance; the mark or indication of the true initiate is the transfer of his life and his point of identification from unprincipled substance and substantial forms to "principled" substance and etheric forms. The tendency of the occult student to think ever in terms of spiritual abstraction can (and often does) militate against a grasp of the truth and presents a false picture to the intelligence; the facts which I have just emphasized have much to do with the nature of the higher initiations. I would ask you to remember this.

The third initiation, therefore, releases the initiate from the planes of unprincipled substance (the lower subplanes of the cosmic physical plane), whilst the next two initiations make it possible for him to work with intelligence [360] and love on the two lower levels of the cosmic etheric plane - the buddhic and the atmic, the planes of spiritual love and intelligent will. The Way of the Higher Evolution leads through the monadic and logoic planes (the two highest levels of the cosmic physical plane); when the four planes of the cosmic etheric plane are completely mastered and under occult direction, the initiate is faced with the seven Paths and with the choice to tread one or other of them. His choice is naturally dependent upon ray determinations and past activity but is nevertheless a free choice, because all limitation has been removed, all wrong identification with physical forms is now impossible, and the initiate's only limitation is that imposed by entrance into cosmic levels of awareness with which he is still unfamiliar. Bear, therefore, continually in mind that the highest spiritual attainment upon and within the seven planes of our recognized planetary life is entirely conditioned by the fact that they are the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane and are composed of the three dense physical planes (our three worlds of human evolution) and the four cosmic etheric planes (the four levels of so-called spiritual development); these are conditioned by three forces and four energies. I have emphasized this by constant repetition on account of the great importance the recognition of these facts will play in any grasp you may achieve anent the Way of the Higher Evolution.

After the Master has taken the fifth initiation, He has - as you know - covered and mastered the ordinary field of evolution for humanity; that means the three worlds of ordinary human experience and the two worlds of superhuman effort, making the five fields of the spiritual activity of man. Love and intelligence are now perfectly developed in Him, though their expression and emphasis may vary according to His rays; He is aware of the fact of the Will or of the first divine aspect, with its two qualities (veiling a third) of destruction and of purpose; He is becoming active on the second plane of our planetary life, the monadic plane, and that great center of life, Shamballa, is having a [361] definite vibratory effect upon Him; also (and this will be incomprehensible to you) He is becoming sensitive to a range of energies and influences which can now be registered by Him, owing to His increasing monadic polarization and His contact with Shamballa.

The cosmic astral plane becomes, for the Master, a definite objective; He is beginning to develop a great sensitivity to that level of awareness, but consciousness of that within the planetary life - as He knows it - prevents Him from registering this energy of pure cosmic love as He later will. It is this sense of limitation which is the cause of His recognition of the Door on to the Way of the Higher Evolution, for the fifth and sixth initiations liberate Him into the atmic and monadic states of awareness; these initiations are to the initiate at this stage of development what the first and second initiations are to the disciple who is seeking to tread the earlier stages of the Path of Initiation. They might therefore be regarded as initiations of the threshold - one leading to the awareness of the higher levels of conscious unfoldment which the third initiation (the first major initiation) inaugurates, and the other to those levels of impression, of contact and of future ascension which are the sevenfold goal set before the Master when the sixth initiation (the true ascension) is consummated. It is for this reason that this particular initiation is called the Initiation of Decision. The Master then chooses which of the seven Ways or Paths He will follow, because His aeonial experience has enabled Him to choose any of them and know that He has chosen aright. Though these seven Paths, being one of the septenates, are necessarily related to the seven rays, they are not ray paths, nor are they governed by the seven rays. Any one of them is open to a Master of the Wisdom, and His choice will not be dependent upon His ray type, though He will take that factor into consideration. They are more definitely related to the seven cosmic planes than to the seven rays; this we will consider in greater detail when dealing with the factor of the seven Ashrams which are "proving" grounds for all the Masters confronted with the Initiation of Decision. [362]

Disciples are more apt to be interested in the Ashrams from the angle of their own development; they are not prone to remember that the life progress and purpose of the Master not only determines the quality of the Ashram but that His own development and His eventual decisions are closely related to the Ashram which He controls. It is not easy for students to shift their attention away from the relation of the Ashram to humanity as a whole, or to realize that this relation is secondary to the Master Whose primary preoccupation is the unfoldment of the purposes of Sanat Kumara and the attainment of that state of Being which is significant of Shamballa. Students need to bear in mind that one phase of preparation for future work is that which will succeed the Initiation of Decision, and that this is dependent upon the type, quality and service rendered by the Master as He conditions and controls His Ashram. This I will attempt to enlarge upon under our next heading. It is useful however, for aspirants to discipleship, and above all for those preparing for initiation and consequently already working in an Ashram, to get this different point of view and begin to unfold within themselves a new sensitivity to impression coming from sources higher than the Hierarchy itself. This involves in them a new and higher type of orientation, and though it remains as yet impossible of attainment there is definite developing value in a grasp of the concept and the effort of the abstract mind and the intuitive perception to seize upon and reflect upon a new and entirely foreign concept. This higher reflective process is to the disciple who is working in an Ashram what aspiration is to the student upon the Probationary Path and the early stages of the Path of Discipleship.

In the latter case, the aspirant's emotional body becomes responsive to the principle of buddhi, reaching him via the love petals of the egoic lotus; in the more exalted situation, the disciple becomes aware (for that is all it is) of the possibility of an impression reaching him from the cosmic astral plane, via monadic levels of awareness. Note what I say - simply the possibility; for there is at this stage no assured [363] recognition of this goal; it is an impression which is to the disciple preparing for one of the higher initiations what an occult theory is to an aspirant on very much lower levels. The only way in which I can give any faintest idea of the higher reaches of the initiate consciousness will be through reference to lower grasped capacities and the presentation of undefinable truths in terms of that which has been defined and which (to these higher states of awareness) are in the nature of seed thoughts.

Some small grasp of the nature of the consciousness of Shamballa will emerge as we study this section of the Treatise, for the higher levels of the cosmic etheric plane are permeated with energies emanating from the cosmic astral plane and the cosmic mental plane; these energies, playing through and directed by the great Lives Who form a permanent nucleus of the Council Chamber at Shamballa, do condition and are the impelling, motivating and relating power behind all the evolutionary processes on lower levels.

Yet, the life and consciousness of the Hierarchy are very different to the life and consciousness of Those Who constitute the great center called Shamballa; the developing sensitivity to increasingly high impression, which is the result of each stage of the final initiatory process, is the only way in which the distinction and the goal become apparent. Just as those who read and study these ideas are occupied with concepts and thoughts totally unrealized and wholly inexplicable and sometimes even senseless, to the ordinary everyday businessman in the street, so there are also ranges of thought and eternal extra-planetary concepts which are equally unknown and temporarily inexplicable to the initiate working in an Ashram under some Master. When the student realizes that the great universal Oneness which he associates with monadic consciousness, is only the registration of impressions localized (and therefore limited) and defined within the etheric levels of the cosmic physical plane, he can perhaps grasp the implications of the wonder which will be revealed to the initiate who can transcend the entire cosmic physical plane (our seven planes of the [364] human, superhuman and the divine worlds) and function upon another cosmic level. This is what the treading of the Way of the Higher Evolution enables a Master eventually to do.

One interesting fact emerges out of all this comparative work and this mode of analogical teaching, and that is that the word "spiritual" refers neither to religious matters (so-called) nor to the Path of Discipleship or the Path of the major or higher initiations, but to the relationships on every level of the cosmic physical plane, to every level from the lowest to the highest. The word "spiritual" relates to attitudes, to relationships, to the moving forward from one level of consciousness (no matter how low or gross, from the point of view of a higher level of contact) to the next; it is related to the power to see the vision, even if that vision is materialistic as seen from the angle of a higher registration of possibility; the word "spiritual" refers to every effect of the evolutionary process as it drives man forward from one range of sensitivity and of responsiveness to impression to another; it relates to the expansion of consciousness, so that the unfoldment of the organs of sensory perception in primitive man or in the awakening infant are just as surely spiritual events as participation in an initiatory process; the development of the so-called irreligious man into a sound and effective businessman, with all the necessary perception and equipment for success, is as much a spiritual unfoldment - in that individual's experience - as the taking of an initiation by a disciple in an Ashram.

The assumption by orthodox church people that the word "spiritual" connotes profound and effective interest in orthodox religion is not borne out by the facts of the spiritual life. Some day, when the world is increasingly led by its initiates, this erroneous assumption will be discarded, and it will be realized that all activity which drives the human being forward towards some form of development (physical, emotional, intuitional, and so forth) is essentially spiritual in nature and is indicative of the livingness of the inner divine entity. [365]

I have felt it necessary to point this out because it will become apparent as we read and study this section of the Treatise that the Master - moving forward into higher areas of impressionability - may not and frequently will not express this development in terms of what is now regarded as "spiritual" by the religious devotee and by the man used to the wording and the terminology of the churchmen of all faiths. The discoveries of science, my brother, or the production of some great work in literature or in the field of art, are just as much an evidence of "spiritual" unfoldment as the rhapsodies of the mystic or the registration by the so-called occultist of a contact with the Hierarchy.

There will, however, come a point in the experience of all those thus making a spiritual approach along some specialized line, where a meeting place will become apparent, where a joint goal will be unitedly recognized, where essential unity under diversity of forms, of methods and of techniques will be acknowledged, and where pilgrims on all ways of approach will know themselves to be one band of demonstrators of the divine.

One such meeting place is upon the periphery of the Hierarchy during the stage immediately prior to acceptance into an Ashram. It is interesting to note that - on a worldwide scale - the world disciple, Humanity, is today on the verge of this major awakening and joint registration of a unity not hitherto reached; the growth of the spirit of internationalism, the inclusiveness of the scientific attitude, and the spread of a universal humanitarian welfare movement are all indicative of this meeting place.

Another such meeting place is recorded and entered (symbolically speaking) when the third initiation is taken, and still another is realized at the time of the seventh initiation. These all register development in group awareness, as well as in the recognition of the individual initiate, as to what is happening within the consciousness aspect of humanity. [366]

The door into the Way of the Higher Evolution simply permits the entrance of the sensitive initiate into "spheres of intimacy" (as they are sometimes called) which are this time cosmic in their implications, planetary in their effects, and which give to the initiate what has been called the "key to the Sun" - as it conditions the solar system - just as the door to initiation gives to the aspirant the "key to the kingdom of God."

We have dealt in the foregoing pages with deep matters and have touched upon topics too high for the understanding of the average student or probationary disciple; dim recognitions, based on past acceptances are, however, possible to some of you. We have seen, among other things, that the so-called "door of initiation" presents obstacles whose purpose is to block entrance and to draw out the latent will of the applicant; an initiate is one who succeeds in penetrating to the further side of the door, where recognition awaits him. We will now concern ourselves with the basic theme of the Ashram itself.

B.I.2. The Entering of the Ashram

This theme necessarily has great interest for all aspirants and would-be disciples, but I am not at first going to deal with the subject from the angle of humanity and its effort to establish contact with the Ashram. I desire first of all to speak of the Ashram as a whole, constituted of many Ashrams and creating an "invoking area" of relationship for the supreme Head of the Ashram, Sanat Kumara, the Lord of the World. I seek to enter into no discussion of this leading Life of our entire planet. He is to a still greater Being, the One referred to elsewhere as "the One about Whom naught may be said," what the vehicle of a Master in physical incarnation is to Him, and on a less accurate basis, what your personality is to you; it is an expression of the soul or of the Monad when a disciple has attained initiate-consciousness. [367] All the qualities, the love and the purpose of a supreme Entity, referred to in The New Testament as the "Unknown God," are focused in Sanat Kumara. Some gauge of the unfoldments which can lie ahead of humanity will enter the human consciousness when:

1. The fact of the Hierarchy,
2. The nature of its relationship to Shamballa,
3. The spiritual nature of Those Who respond in reverent obedience to the slightest wish of the Lord of the World,

are among the accepted truths whereby men live. This will happen after the externalization of the Hierarchy.

This Lord of the World is the sole repository of the will and purpose of the One of Whom He is an expression; this again can be understood by you as evoking the same relation to the "unknown God" as your personality - when expressing adequately the soul and later the Monad - conditions your perception, knowledge, plans and purpose, and controls the quality of your life and directs the energy which you express.

His vehicle of manifestation is the planet with its seven centers, of which only three are yet recognized by the occult student: Shamballa, His head center, the Hierarchy, His heart center, and Humanity, His throat center. The other four centers are concerned with evolutions which are reached, controlled and related from one or other of these three major centers. The solar plexus is dominated by the Hierarchy, the heart center of Sanat Kumara, and has a close relation to the deva evolution, hinted at by me in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. The vastness of this subject will be understood by my use of the word "hint" in reference to what I have earlier written on the subject.

The center which we call Shamballa controls that mysterious center which is the correspondence to that which we call "the center at the base of the spine"; this is the inadequate name given to the reservoir of threefold fire, latent and quiescent, which is found at the base of the human spine; it is entirely inactive except in those people who have [368] taken the third initiation. The planetary center is related to the three fires (electric fire, solar fire, and fire by friction) which are the source of the life, warmth, moisture and growth of all forms upon our planet. It may seem curious and inexplicable to you, but the center of creativity is affected, and I had almost said guarded, by the "center which we call the race of men"; the reference in the serious occult books to the future of humanity as the Savior of all the subhuman kingdoms has relation to this fact.

The ajna center of the Lord of the World is just beginning to express itself in a recognizable manner through the New Group of World Servers. This intermediate group - between the Hierarchy and Humanity - is a carrier of the energy which makes the Plan possible (the Plan of which the Hierarchy is the custodian). This Plan implements the Purpose, and later, when the New Group of World Servers is organized and is recognized as a living organism, it will definitely receive energy from Shamballa in a direct reception, via the Hierarchy. This information is, I realize, of little immediate importance to you, but - towards the end of the century - it will be found explanatory of much.

Though the Christ is the Head of the Hierarchy, it is Sanat Kumara, the Ancient of Days, Whose Ashram it truly is. The Christ (I am using one of His official names) is indeed the Master of all the Masters. and the Coordinator of the entire life of the great Ashram, in conjunction with the two other hierarchical Officials, the Manu and the Mahachohan. The information I gave as to the constitution of the Hierarchy, in Initiation, Human and Solar, was along the same line. The Hierarchy is the Ashram of Sanat Kumara, but He has delegated His authority, right down the ages, to the so-called World Saviors successively; Their life expression embodied in every case the goal of the period during which They held office.

In the early days of the Hierarchy, millennia of years ago, neither the official Directors of the Hierarchy nor the Masters were of the caliber which They are today. Had They been so, They would have been too far removed from [369] the factual life of the cycle, and therefore useless for the cycle of divine life which existed. The growth of humanity and its evolutionary status (when compared with primordial and primitive man) can be seen in the quality of the Hierarchy today, which humanity produced and towards which it looks for guidance and teaching. This is an interesting point which I offer for your consideration. Never forget, my brothers, that as it is humanity which has furnished the personnel of the Hierarchy - including the Christ, the first of our humanity to achieve divinity - we have, therefore, the guarantee and the assurance of humanity's ultimate success.

The three major Executives of the Hierarchy:

1. The Christ, representing the second Ray of Love-Wisdom,
2. The Manu, representing the first Ray of Will or Power,
3. The Mahachohan, representing the third Ray of Active Intelligence,

are responsible to the Lord of the World for the processing of the life and impulse which condition the evolutionary process. This statement is made without any further definition by me because the whole subject is too abstruse and it would require another Treatise like that on Cosmic Fire to make it even a little clearer.

Humanity can only be the recipient of this type of information after the first Ray of Will or Power has become more active; this will take place when the work of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom has reached its next cyclic crisis point. The crisis points of a ray are ever indicative of success and have in them the quality of joy. Mankind will then be much freer from the spirit of separateness, and a measure of peace, unity and cooperation will be conditioning human relations. There is a constant shifting in the state of the planetary consciousness and this, though implemented from Shamballa, is produced by humanity itself; this unfolding human consciousness leads mankind eventually out of the fourth kingdom in nature into the fifth, the hierarchy of souls, and - at the same time - raises the level of consciousness [370] in all the three subhuman kingdoms. This series of happenings will remain for a long time inexplicable to man, though the results can be seen in the effect which humanity has had on the animal kingdom, through domestication; on the vegetable kingdom, through specialization and science; and on the mineral kingdom, through the skilled utilization of metals and the widespread use of the mineral products of the earth.

It must be borne in mind that the Council Chamber of the Lord at Shamballa is a unit, but that the Hierarchy is a differentiation of this basic unity into the seven major Ashrams and the forty-nine Ashrams which are gradually forming. The Hierarchy is, however, a unity within itself, for the entire ashramic life is guarded by a ring-pass-not, created by its radiation; the seven and the forty-nine Ashrams are held together by the magnetic interplay of the whole. It is this radiation which affects by its quality the senior aspirants in the world, and draws them gradually into relationship with itself and finally into its magnetic field. This is aided by the clarity of perception, the intensification of the livingness of the rightly oriented aspirant. I prefer the word "livingness" to that of "vibration," so widely used in modern occultism.

There is therefore a dual inflow into the Ashram of Sanat Kumara, controlled and directed by the three hierarchical Directors:

1. From Shamballa itself. This is a flow of energizing life or of what we might call "unfettered enlightenment"; this impresses the purpose or the will of the Lord of the World upon the united Hierarchy in a manner incomprehensible to you; it also creates a dynamic magnetic impulse which enables the graded initiates, through the medium of the Ashrams, to organize the Plan and set it in motion, so that the Purpose gradually materializes on earth. Because the senior initiates, from the Christ down to initiates of the fourth degree, are conscious in varying ways (according to ray) of the Eternal Now, and can work free from the compulsion of time, They can see the impressed Purpose as a [371] more complete whole than can initiates of lesser degree and development. It is this capacity which makes Them responsive to Shamballa, where the living will of the "Unknown God" (for a period of a life cycle) is seen in completeness and is already existent. The Hierarchy is, however, handicapped in its activity by the time sense and the materialistic focus of the "center which we call the race of men."
2. From Humanity. There is a constant (and increasing) flow of reoriented human energy penetrating into and beyond the radiatory periphery. This penetrating energy, implemented by the individual aspirant and disciple, is that of intelligent activity and - little as you may have realized it - it is this constant inflow which aids in the intelligent application of the Plan to human affairs. The Science of Impression, which governs the technique of Shamballa, functions through the three different centers in three different ways:
   1. Shamballa - dynamic impression
   2. The Hierarchy - magnetic telepathy
   3. Humanity - radiatory sensitivity

yet these three are only manifestations of the will of God as it works out in the activities of His three major centers.

One point should here be made: the entry of a member of the human family into the ranks of the initiates and his participation in the activity of some one or other of the Ashrams produces a movement out of the Hierarchy of some Master and into the highest center of all; it has this effect only after the entering initiate has taken the third initiation, and can therefore take his part in the hierarchical life as a monadic expression susceptible to impression from Shamballa. When a Master thus emerges He is immediately confronted with the choice between the seven Paths. With this development and decision we shall later deal. The seven Paths are all concerned with purpose, just as the seven Ashrams are all concerned with the plan. There is, as you will later see, a direct relation between the seven Paths and the seven Ashrams. Though we shall not deal with the subject at all, there is likewise a correspondence in the third [372] major center, Humanity. You have, therefore, curiously interrelated:

• The seven Paths
• The seven Rays
• The seven Ashrams
• The seven Races

Students would do well to bear in mind that these relationships are the result of the involutionary activity of the life expression of the Lord of the World. The key to the mystery of differentiation is found by the Master when He is faced by the choice of the seven Paths. At that high point of will expression, He discovers the secret of that evolutionary process which proceeds from unity to differentiation, and from differentiation to unity again. Individualization, Initiation and Identification are the three main stages in the evolutionary activity of the life of God and condition the quality of each of the three divine centers. The four related septenates, enumerated above, eventually produce a synthesis which will consummate upon the cosmic mental plane. This is of course beyond my powers to teach or to explain, as I am not yet a liberated Master, though I am a liberated human being.

In the human center, the man becomes identified with himself; in the Hierarchy, he becomes identified with the group; in Shamballa, He becomes identified with the planetary Whole. When that takes place, He is then aware for the first time that other identifications - lying beyond the planetary ring-pass-not - confront Him; His choice of one or other of the Paths is conditioned by the quality of His previous identifications, which are in their turn conditioned by His ray type.

Passing from these broad generalizations, which in reality lie far beyond our present grasp but which will have their future usefulness, let us now consider the Hierarchy as it exists (in the consciousness of Sanat Kumara, as His Ashram) and as it constitutes "the noble middle Path" to which the Buddha refers, and fills the intermediate and the [373] mediating place between Shamballa and Humanity. This position of the Hierarchy must never be forgotten.

B.I.2.a. The Seven Groups of Ashrams within the Hierarchy

It is because the first Ray of Will or Power, through its Ashram, is related to Shamballa, that the Master Morya is the Head of all truly esoteric schools. In the esoteric enterprise and in the work done by disciples in the Ashrams, the Will is developed so that the Purpose may eventually be understood. He relates the three points of the triangle composed of the Hierarchy, the world of souls on the mental plane, and those human souls who (on all Rays) are ready for contact with the Hierarchy. They have made contact with their souls, and this is registered in the Hierarchy. The triangle is, therefore, as follows:

As the externalization of the Ashram proceeds, those souls upon the physical plane who are ready for enlightenment will find their way into the New Group of World Servers; this group will increasingly assume potent relation between the units of life within its periphery, the Ashram, and humanity. From one point of view, the New Group of World Servers can be regarded not only as a relating group, but also as a great transforming station, dowered later (though not noticeably so at the present time) with two functions in relation to the Ashram:

1. One function is to enable "externalizing units of perfection" (the higher initiates and the Masters) to step down Their individual potency to such a degree that They will be able to work in physical objectivity on the earth, with no undesirable effects upon humanity. I refer to average and undeveloped human beings. Students should bear in mind that contact with Those Who are initiates of high degree [374] and members of an Ashram, has the following three effects upon humanity:
   1. On evolved men, aspirants, probationers and disciples, the effect is stimulating and magnetic.
   2. On average human beings, capable of little response yet susceptible to impact and sensitive to impression, the effect is not helpful and is often destructive, because their etheric bodies are not competent to entertain and employ such high vibrations.
   3. On undeveloped humanity, the effect has been called "condensation or concretization"; all their natural qualities (the qualified substance of their three bodies) are solidified; thus they create an automatic barrier to the entry of the too high impulses and vibrations.
2. The second function is to enable those who are making definite soul contact, reorienting themselves and nearing the periphery of the Ashram, to absorb with profit the radiation of the Hierarchy.

I would like at this point to refer back to the time sense in relation to the Hierarchy and its work, to which I referred a few pages back. It involves the inability of the average disciple to think in terms of the Ashram - the Ashram of the Christ, representing Sanat Kumara. When he turns his thoughts to the Master and the radiatory and magnetic group which He has attracted to Himself, the disciple almost inevitably thinks in terms of "my Master and His Ashram." Yet this is not in any sense a statement of truth. There is one great Ashram, the Hierarchy, radiating (after due absorption of light, understanding and power from Shamballa, and this inflow is adequate to hierarchical need) as it seeks to aid not only the human evolution but all the other evolutions, of which humanity, in several cases, knows nothing, The great Ashram is likewise magnetic in its effect, and through its magnetic potency (brought about by an inflow of first ray power) "units of life and devotion" - human beings - are brought into the Ashram as disciples in preparation for initiation. People are apt to regard magnetic [375] potency as evidence of love; it is, in reality, evidence of the radiation of love when enhanced and strengthened by first ray energy. It is the admixture (if I may use such a peculiar term) of love and will which produces radiation. It is the conscious use by the Hierarchy of the power coming from Shamballa which results in the magnetic impact and the spiritual "pull" which draws the soul, incarnated in the body, towards the Ashram. This pull is directed towards the world of souls which is, through its manifesting units, undergoing experience in the school of life, yet over-shadowed by the soul on its own level. It is this over-shadowing soul which absorbs and utilizes the magnetic power and which, from soul levels, transfers it to the souls of men.

There is still another point upon which I would like to touch. Owing to the fact that the Law which governs the Hierarchy is the second systemic law, the Law of Attraction, students are apt to think that magnetism is a second ray quality. They are right in so far that all the systemic laws are expressions of the life of God through the medium, at this time, of the second ray, which makes our solar system a second ray system. All other laws and qualities (for a law from the divine angle is the motivating, qualified agent of the divine will, as understood in Shamballa) are related to the second ray as it manifests through our planetary Logos. Nevertheless, magnetic action is more closely allied to first ray functioning than it is to the second ray, and is an aspect or quality of the Law of Synthesis. It was this magnetic power of the first ray to which the Christ referred when He said "I, if I be lifted up (The Ascension Initiation. A.A.B.), will draw all men unto me." He faced then those initiations which would qualify Him to become what is esoterically called "a Shamballa recipient." There is, in magnetic action, more of the element of the will and of an expressing purpose. In explanation it might be said that the radiation of the Hierarchy, which is definitely second ray in nature, and which is projected as attractive radiation, is implemented by the magnetic aspect. This - as the Old Commentary puts it - is

"a point of focused fire, found in the center of the jewel. [376] It stirs to life the quality of love which permeates the Ashram of the Lord. Radiation then can penetrate to other centers and to other lives, and thus the Lord is served."

It is this point of focused dynamic will at the very heart of the Hierarchy which in reality implements the Plan.

To put the matter as simply as possible - too simply to be entirely exact, yet near enough to the truth to be clarifying and helpful - it is this magnetic potency, this dynamic active and energizing will, which enables the Hierarchy to move forward upon the eternal Path. Its functions might be listed as follows:

1. It is the connecting energy which comes from Shamballa and "enlivens" (literally and occultly understood) the Ashram of Sanat Kumara. It is, in one sense, the higher correspondence to the prana which "enlivens" the dense physical body of man.
2. It is the stimulating factor which produces cohesion among the various Ashrams, and is one of the sources of hierarchical unity. Putting it in other words, it is the service of the Plan which binds the seven Ashrams, with their subsidiary Ashrams, coherently into the one great Ashram. The Plan is the expression of the Purpose or the Will of God.
3. This Shamballic magnetism not only relates the Ashrams to each other, but it is also the potency which evokes the will or the first ray nature inherent in every man but which is only consciously and definitely unfolded within the periphery of the great Ashram.
4. In a mysterious sense, it is the life of that seed or germ which will come to fruition in the third solar system:
   1. In the "center which we call the race of men" the potency of intelligence (developed in a previous solar system) is brought to fruition and the stirrings, of the potency of love are felt.
   2. In the "center which is nearest to the Lord" the potencies of intelligence and love are expressed, and at the third initiation the magnetic pull of the potency of will is felt. [377]
   3. In the "center where the will of God is known" the intelligent loving Master, now responsive to the energy of the will, is faced with the seven Paths whereon that will can come to fruition and the "units of love can be transferred because they also will and know." They can then form part of the third solar system which will be definitely under the influences coming from the cosmic mental plane, just as, in this solar system, the energies coming from the cosmic astral plane have been the major influence.
      All this is, of course, an inadequate expression of abstruse truth. The cosmic astral plane is not an illusion, as is the astral plane with which we are all so unhappily acquainted. The reason for this lies in the fact that all our planes constitute the cosmic physical plane and are therefore regarded - as far as three worlds of human evolution are concerned - as illusion, for the dense physical substance is not a principle. This you have oft been told. The cosmic astral plane is a reservoir of love energy, pouring into two of our planes which constitute part of the cosmic etheric body - the monadic plane and the buddhic plane.
5. It is that which permeates the radiation from the Hierarchy to which humanity is responsive. No disciple or aspirant can be drawn into the periphery of the Hierarchy, and from thence into an Ashram, without finding that his will nature is being affected. It will only show itself at this stage as persistence and determination. Persistence is a quality of life and related to immortality, whilst determination is the lowest aspect of the will. Their development produces a reorientation which becomes a permanent attitude, and the disciple then becomes responsive not only to the "vitalized radiation" coming from the periphery of the Hierarchy but also, in an increasing measure, to the "magnetic pull" which emanates from the Hierarchy itself, and in particular from the Ashram to which he must eventually find his way.

If you will make a close study of all the above information, you may find some measure of enlightenment. It is the great simplicities which must be ever kept in mind: the [378] three great divine aspects, the septenates of the evolutionary process, the divine qualities or principles, and the relation of energy to force. With these clearly held in mind, the detail is of small moment; the intuition rapidly assimilates and relates the detail, if there be need to do so, to the manifesting whole.

To return to our theme, which is the expression of the great Ashram through the medium of the seven Ashrams, it is this magnetic energy of the first aspect which is found at the heart of the seven Ashrams, energized and enlightened from the reservoir of will energy found at the heart of the great Ashram itself. This reservoir is fed from the "center where the will of God is known," and the directing agent of this energy, within the Hierarchy itself, is the Christ and His two Associates, the Manu and the Mahachohan. The forty-nine subsidiary Ashrams (not all of which are yet functioning) are energized by the potency of will from the reservoir of energy at the heart of each major Ashram, these in their turn being fed from the central reservoir. The correspondence of this in the human centers is called the "jewel in the lotus."

Let us now study the formation of the great Ashram and then (this will have more meaning for you) the gradual formation of the seven Ashrams under direct ray activity. This process lies in the past history of humanity and I shall only briefly touch upon it. Once formed, it became the task of these seven Ashrams to produce the forty-two Ashrams. These seven Ashrams express ray qualities, and the whole forty-nine are expressive of the forty-nine fires, referred to in The Secret Doctrine; through these fires, the God of Fire seeks to make Himself known.

As we study some of the esoteric details connected with the life, the quality and, later, the appearance of the Ashrams of the Masters, I would remind you of certain points I have already made; your minds then will be predisposed to right thinking and interpretation. I am anxious for your approach to the subject to be correct. I have given you a number of definitions of an Ashram in the previous pages [379] and in my other books, and I would have you bear these in mind. The concept of a college group, of a band of workers or of a number of men and women working under the supervision of a Master is too apt to color your thoughts. The complete freedom from all coercion or from any supervision of daily activity, the instinctive reaction of all within the Ashram to the ray influence and to the "breath of the prevailing Will" (as it is called) is something very different. I seek in what I intend to impart to you to give a very different impression. In our next section, on the dual life of the initiatory process, the newer concepts may emerge more clearly. The points I want you to bear in mind are as follows:

1. The great Ashram, the Hierarchy, is composed of many Ashrams, creating an "invoking area" of relationship for Sanat Kumara.
2. The Christ, aided by the Manu and the Mahachohan, is the Coordinator of the entire life of the great Ashram.
3. The personnel of the great Ashram is today entirely provided from the ranks of humanity. This was not so in the earlier cycles.
4. The great Ashram is formed of seven major Ashrams and forty-two secondary Ashrams which are gradually forming.
5. The entire Ashram is a unity, for the ashramic life in its differentiated groups is guarded by a ring-pass-not.
6. This ring-pass-not is provided by radiation.
7. The forty-two lesser Ashrams are held together by the magnetic interplay of the whole.
8. Aspirants are drawn into relation with the Ashram through its radiation and enter finally into its magnetic field.
9. There is a dual flow of energy or force into the great Ashram:
   1. Energizing life from Shamballa or what is called "unfettered enlightenment." [380]
   2. The energy of active intelligence from Humanity, thus enabling the Masters to formulate the Plan.
10. The seven Ashrams are all concerned with the Plan.
11. The Master Morya is the Head of all esoteric schools which truly prepare an aspirant for ashramic contact and work. The reason that a first ray Master is thus the Head is because it is the Will aspect which is developed within the Ashram.
12. It is the service of the Plan which binds the seven Ashrams, with their subsidiary Ashrams, into the one great Ashram.
13. It is only within his ray Ashram that the will of the disciple is developed.
14. The magnetic, dynamic energy of the first aspect of divinity is found at the heart of each of the seven Ashrams, fed from a reservoir of will energy which is found at the heart of the great Ashram itself.
15. The forty-two subsidiary Ashrams are energized by the reservoir of will energy found at the heart of each of the major Ashrams.
16. The seven Ashrams express each the quality of their ray, one of the seven ray types.

If you will have these points in mind, the whole hierarchical theme will be recognized and correctly interpreted by you.

There was a time when (in the early history of the planet) there was no Hierarchy; there were only two major centers in the expression of the life of the Lord of the World: Shamballa and His embryonic throat center, Humanity. Shamballa was the head center. There was no humanity, such as we now know it, but only something so primitive that it is well-nigh impossible for you to grasp its significance or factual expression. But the life of God was there, plus an inherent "urge" and a dynamic "pull." These two factors rendered the mass of men (if one may call them so) inchoately invocative, thus drawing from high spiritual centers certain developed and informed Lives Who - in [381] increasing numbers - "walked among men" and led them slowly, very slowly, forward into increasing light. The early history of the Hierarchy falls into two historical eras in the process of its becoming a "mediating Center":

• First: The time when the relating, mediating, enlightening correspondences to Those we now call the Masters trod the earth with men and were not withdrawn and apparently invisible, as is now the case. Their task was to bring the primitive intelligence of humanity to the point where there could be the presentation of the Plan, with eventual cooperation. In occult parlance, Their work was the establishing of a rapport between the unrevealed second aspect (to which They were responsive) and Humanity. In this They succeeded, but the matter aspect and quality - that of active intelligence - was so strong that the second historical phase became essential.
• Second: The time when the Hierarchy was created as we know it today; the heart center of Sanat Kumara came into its own life, formed its own magnetic field, possessed its own ring-pass-not, and became a dynamic mediating center between Shamballa and Humanity.

It has oft been told in occult and theosophical literature that the Hierarchy withdrew as a penalizing measure because of the wickedness of mankind. This is only superficially true and is an instance of a man-made interpretation, giving us the first example of the fear-and-punishment psychology which - from that time on - has conditioned all religious teaching. The withdrawing Masters had Their Paul to distort the truth, just as had the Christ, Their august Head today. The truth was far otherwise.

The time came in those distant aeons when a certain percentage of human beings reached, through their own efforts, the stage (at that time demanded) of preparedness for initiation. This attainment brought surprising results:

1. It became possible for certain of the Masters to "return from whence They came."
2. It became necessary to provide conditions where [382] these men "accepted for unfettered enlightenment" could receive the needed training.
3. The process of creation had reached the evolutionary stage where the centers of the Lord of the World were differentiated; function and radiatory activity were established, and this produced a stronger "pull" and placed the Hierarchy "at the midway point." A station of light and power was formed. All this was made possible because humanity could now produce its own "enlightened ones."

These two historical periods (not events, except in so far that all Time is a sequence or pattern of events) covered vast cycles; aeon by aeon, the work went on until we have today the three major centers in the planet, demonstrating great activity, much more closely related than ever before, and ready now to enter into a third historical period. In this coming cycle we shall see the first stages of the great spiritual fusion towards which all evolution tends; it will take the form of the externalization of the Ashram, so that the Hierarchy (or the center where the love of God is known and the purpose of Sanat Kumara is formulated into the Plan) and Humanity will meet on the physical plane and occultly know each other. Two centers then will be "visible in the light" - the Hierarchy and Humanity. When these two centers can work in full cooperation, then Shamballa will take form and will no longer be found existing only in cosmic etheric substance, as is now the case.

What this means, how it will be accomplished, and what the implications are, will be revealed in such a distant future that we need waste no time considering it. We are working and living in the initial stages of the period wherein preparation is being made for the emergence of the Hierarchy into the world of men. This emergence is at present purely on to mental levels, but when the thought-form of exoteric existence is created by Humanity itself and the invocative cry is intense enough, then the Great Ashram will slowly make its appearance upon the physical plane.

On that plane, the distinction between the two centers [383] will be preserved, but the inner relationship and the spiritual fusion will steadily proceed until:

• Soul and personality are one,
• Love and intelligence are coordinated,
• Plan and fulfilment are achieved.

All this will be brought about through the invocative spirit in man, plus the initiatory process, carried on in the Ashrams of the great Ashram. What this coming process will entail of change in civilization, in human nature and in the group expression of the human spirit - religions, society and politics - it is not possible here to say; so much lies hidden in the free will and right timing of mankind. But that future of spiritual cooperation and interplay within and without the great Ashram is assured, and for it all true disciples are working. The world situation today is therefore one of great interest. Humanity, the world disciple, is in process of recovering from a major test, prior to a great step forward towards a conscious approach to more spiritual living; this, factually, means a definite approach to the Hierarchy.

In the meantime the Hierarchy is orienting itself to a much closer rapport with humanity, and to an interior reorganization which will make it possible to admit disciples in large numbers into the great Ashram. This will lead to the implementation of the lesser Ashrams and also to a preparation for the transmission of more of the Will energy, through the great Ashram, into the throat center of Sanat Kumara, Humanity.

The seven major Ashrams are each responsive to one of seven types of ray energy and are focal points in the Hierarchy of the seven rays. The central, senior and major Ashram is (at this time) the repository of second ray energy, as this ray governs this second solar system. It is the Ashram of Love-Wisdom - the Ashram in which the Buddha and the Christ received Their initiations and through which each of Them works. It will be obvious that if the process of invocation and evocation governs the interplay of the planetary centers, you have in this fact another reason why the senior Ashram is second ray in quality. Invocation is related [384] to radiation. Evocation is related to magnetism. These are two points worthy of your consideration.

The other six major Ashrams came sequentially into being as the invocation of primitive man reached such a point of intensity of expression that a response was evoked from Shamballa, via its ray Representatives, working with directed energy in the three worlds. A "point of radiatory force" was established, at first in relation to the second ray Ashram, and later to the other Ashrams. One by one, as the rays cycled into activity in the three worlds and eventually on the physical plane, the seven Ashrams were founded, developed and expanded until the time arrived - several aeons ago - when all seven Ashrams were fully organized, and through them passed a steady flow of human beings liberating themselves from the three worlds.

In the earliest times this flow of disciples was exceedingly small. One by one, individual aspirants found their way out of the ranks of humanity and inside the ring-pass-not of the Hierarchy. In the beginning, only the first two initiations were given and only through the instrumentality of the second ray; and at these initiations the World Teacher of the period officiated.

Then at a time when the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Order (the ray which plays so potent and mysterious a part in the phase of discipleship called initiation) was in cyclic activity, a much greater number of disciples appeared, prepared for initiation; the initiatory process was then administered in a seventh ray Ashram; this seventh ray Ashram was the second to be formed, owing to the fact that the seventh ray is the relating factor between life and matter upon the form side. Again, so the ancient Archives tell us, there came a great crisis in the evolution of humanity; this necessitated one of the rare cyclic changes which have distinguished the fluid policy of the Hierarchy. Men began to demonstrate responsiveness to the Law of Integration and personality appeared with all its potentiality for good and evil. Man became an integrated unit in the three worlds. A great possibility then emerged; man could, through training [385] and the use of the mind, make contact with the soul. This had not hitherto been done except to a slight degree. This crisis therefore led to the creation, or rather to the appearance, of the initiatory process to which we have given the name of the third initiation.

The Hierarchy for the first time realized the complete success of the vast work, carried on in the human center for millions of years. Soul and personality could be and were intelligently fused. This is one of the reasons why the Hierarchy regards the third initiation as the first major initiation; it marked a point of complete soul-personality integration. In the earlier initiations, the soul was present but was still only occasionally in control; constant failure in the three worlds was still possible, and the relation between the man in the three worlds and his soul was nebulous and largely potential. You will realize what I mean when I point out that many thousands of people in the world today have taken the first initiation and are oriented towards the spiritual life and the service of their fellowmen; their lives, however, frequently leave much to be desired, and the soul is obviously not in constant control; a great struggle is still being waged to achieve purification on all three levels. The lives of these initiates are faulty and their inexperience great, and a major attempt is instituted in this particular cycle to achieve soul fusion. When that is attained, then the third initiation (the first, hierarchically speaking) is taken. Today this triple process of preparation, purification and fusion is the ordinary practice of the disciple and the process has prevailed for untold years; but when this fusion first occurred, it marked a great hierarchical event. It was a crisis of supreme spiritual import.

As you know, the first human being out of that "center which we call the race of men" to achieve this point was the Christ; in that first great demonstration of His point of attainment (through the medium of what was then a new type of initiation) the Christ was joined by the Buddha. The Buddha had attained this same point prior to the creation of our planetary life, but conditions for taking the third initiation [386] were not then available, and He and the Christ took the initiation together. At this initiation, and since then for all initiates of that degree of attainment, They stood in the Presence of the One Initiator, the Lord of the World, and not in the Presence of the Initiate Who was then Head of the Hierarchy. This third initiation was taken in a fourth ray Ashram, the Ray of Harmony through Conflict. This Ashram had taken form and attained functioning activity some time earlier. You can see, under the Law of Correspondences, why this was so. The first human being in the fourth kingdom in nature to take this initiation did so in a fourth ray Ashram and then, esoterically speaking, "the Way lay open toward the Cross"; the initiate faced the process of extension on the Cross, and from that vantage point could view the three worlds. The fourth initiation then became a possibility; the crucifixion faced the disciple of the third degree with its promise of complete liberation and final resurrection.

You can see, therefore, what a tremendous crisis took place in the relation between Humanity and the Hierarchy - a crisis of such importance that Shamballa became involved and the Lord of the World Himself admitted the initiate to the higher contacts. Between that time and the crucifixion of the Master Jesus, the sixth ray Ashram, the fifth and the third, have all been formed around the nucleus of light, started by the ray Lords much earlier. The point of light and of will energy at the center of each Ashram has existed for untold millennia of years, but the Ashrams themselves were only slowly formed around the nucleus as the various types of energy swept into manifestation and brought with them human types responsive to the ray energy.

When the Master Jesus took the Crucifixion Initiation, another crisis arose of equally great import, if not greater. The crisis was brought about because simultaneously with the crucifixion of the Master, the Head of the Hierarchy, the Christ, took two initiations in one: the Resurrection Initiation and that of the Ascension. These are the fifth and sixth initiations, according to the Christian terminology. [387] This was possible because the first ray Ashram was now active, making entry into the Council Chamber at Shamballa possible. When the Christ achieved this, He was deemed worthy of embodying in Himself a new principle in evolution and of revealing to the world the nature of the second ray aspect - the divine principle of love (as humanity calls it) or of pure reason (as the Hierarchy calls it).

Since that time, all the seven major Ashrams have been fully organized and are steadily increasing in radiatory activity. As you will have noted, the order of their appearance - under ray activity - was 2, 7, 4, 6, 5, 3, 1. In giving this item of ashramic information I am giving you more hints than you will immediately realize.

Each Ashram, as you know, expresses ray quality in its purest and most essential form. During the process of creating the seven Ashrams, they have shifted their focus (or location) from the lowest of the three levels of the abstract mental plane at each major crisis, until today the Ashrams are to be found on the buddhic plane and not on the mental plane at all. This marks the triumph of the hierarchical work, because pure reason-through the second ray - is now the dominant quality in all the Ashrams. Forget not in this connection that all the rays are subrays of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom, but that in the early days of hierarchical activity, it was the particular quality of the ray which dominated an Ashram that first demonstrated, and not the quality of the great major ray of which they were all a part.

Today this is all changing, though the process is not yet perfected, and pure reason or true love is beginning to manifest itself through the quality of all the rays, functioning through their respective Ashrams. The secondary ray quality will not die out or in any way be lessened, but each ray quality will serve to implement the expression of pure love, which is the essential and - at this time - the primary quality of the Lord of the World, Sanat Kumara.

As the centuries have slipped away and the potency of the rays has increased on Earth, humanity has become more and more invocative; this has necessitated the expansion of [388] the Hierarchy itself, and each Ashram has become the creator of six other Ashrams (few of them as yet complete, and some entirely embryonic), so that, in fact, all the forty-nine Ashrams are in the making. The second ray, for instance, has five affiliated Ashrams and one of which only the nucleus exists, and all these are working under its inspiration and through the effect of the second ray central fire. All have at their center a second ray disciple. The third ray has already two subsidiary Ashrams; the sixth has four, and so on. The first ray is the only one at this time with no subsidiary fully functioning Ashram, and this because the will aspect is as yet very little understood and few initiates can meet the requirements of the first ray initiation. This is no reflection upon humanity. It is a question of divine timing and expediency, and Shamballa is not yet prepared for an influx of first ray initiates. Ages must pass before this Will aspect will have reached the stage of unfoldment and expression on the physical plane and through the medium of mankind which will warrant the fusing of six first ray fires - the purest fires there are.

If you will add all the above information as a background to what you know about ashramic work today, you will have a more complete picture of evocative and spiritual reality. You know much (for I have told you much) anent the Ashrams open today and the requirements for acceptance. It is essential that the uniqueness of the initiatory process be discounted. Down the ages men have achieved, are achieving and will achieve. The only difference is that - as the intellect of man develops - the requirements for initiation become more drastic and exacting, and the initiate therefore becomes of a distinctly higher order. The Master today is infinitely wiser and more full of love and more "occultly reasonable" than was the Master in Atlantean times. This in itself constitutes a reasonable fact, does it not, my brothers?

In considering the work carried forward in the Ashram as it affects the Masters Themselves, two ideas automatically emerge: [389]

1. The Masters are also subject to limitation. The general idea of all aspirants is that They represent Those Who have achieved freedom, have been liberated, and are therefore held by no limiting circumstances whatsoever. This is not true, though - speaking relatively, or so far as humanity is concerned - it is a fact that the limitations by which They were held as human beings are no longer present. But one achieved freedom only opens the door to another and wider freedom on ahead, and the ring-pass-not of our planetary Life in itself constitutes a powerful limitation. Speaking symbolically, somewhere in that great dividing wall of our planetary circumference, the Master must find an exit and discover a door which will permit Him to enter the Way of the Higher Evolution in its more cosmic stages. This Way leads Them in awareness and consciousness and experience into that "life more abundantly" of which Christ spoke; the origin and source of this more abundant life is to be found on cosmic levels, and not on the levels of the cosmic physical plane to which humanity and the Masters have hitherto been confined.
2. I am dealing with states of awareness and with experiences and spiritual undertakings which lie outside my own personal realization. But in spite of this truth, just as you in the position of aspirants and disciples know much about the Hierarchy, its life, aims and conditioning rules, so do I, a Master of the fifth degree, know much concerning what lies ahead of me; I can therefore endeavor to make some small part of these essential truths clearer to those who can profit by them. Such people will necessarily be initiated disciples.

Years ago (in 1922) when I gave the names of the seven Paths along one of which a Master must go (Initiation, Human and Solar), it was felt by Those for Whom I was working that humanity was not ready for the information which I now propose to give. I would here remind you that I have ever stated that even the Hierarchy does not know exactly how humanity will react or what progress they will make within a given time. Since I gave the earlier exoteric information, the world war took place, the forces of hidden evil [390] emerged for a short period and were then routed, and humanity has awakened to truer values and spiritual perception to a totally unexpected extent. Men have been so aroused by the past agony that never again will they fall asleep; they may move slowly but they are, for the first time on a large scale, really thinking and visioning. For this reason, it is now possible to give out teaching hitherto regarded as too advanced. There are those alive today who will understand; there are those coming into incarnation during the next fifty years whose feet are already set upon this Higher Way, and it is for them I write.

There are certain preliminary statements which would be useful here, if there is to be any real and true measure of clear thinking and understanding. Their significance will emerge as we study the Seven Paths and the Nine Initiations. I shall do no more than state them, but you must regard them as basic:

1. Our seven planes - the mastery of which is our idealized spiritual goal - are after all only the lowest cosmic plane, the cosmic physical plane. From the cosmic angle, the Masters are only beginners, and even our deeply desired initiations (from the first to the sixth) are simply preparatory initiations for those to be taken later on upon the Way of the Higher Evolution.
2. This Higher Way is a sevenfold Way. The seven Paths form its seven modes of approach to the One Way and together create it. These seven Paths are not ray-conditioned. By that I mean that entering one or another of them is not in any way dependent upon the ray which conditioned the Master earlier. The Masters and the still higher initiates, such as the Christ, can choose any Path which makes its appeal in such a manner that complete rightness is registered in the initiate's consciousness and He knows that He can go no other way.
3. At the sixth initiation, called the Initiation of Decision, the Initiate makes His final choice as to the Way that He will go, and from that decision there is no turning back. [391]
4. Three things will necessarily color any decision the Initiate may make; His ray, which still determines Him, His past activities as they may fit Him for specialized work, plus a sense of freedom hitherto unrealized. The decision might be regarded as the first gesture of the advancing Master toward liberation from all ray limitations. As He moves forward on the Higher Way, He will find Himself, as a result of the new training and field of experience, able to work on any ray.
5. The fifth initiation is usually called that of the Resurrection by the orthodox Christian, but this is not its real name; it is in reality the Initiation of Revelation, because the Initiate gains His first vision of the Door through which He must pass on to the seven Paths. He glimpses it and that is all, but between that initiation and the next in which He must perforce make His decision, He comes to understand the nature of the energy which each Path expresses and which will eventually evoke from Him a decisive activity.
6. By passing through the second great Door of Initiation, the Initiate begins to learn the significance and the attractive potency of the Central Spiritual Sun, to which all the Paths eventually lead.
7. The fifth and sixth initiations are to the Master what the first and second are to the disciple - simply initiations of the threshold and not true initiations from the cosmic angle. The first true initiation upon the Higher Way is called the Initiation of Resurrection; this has no reference to the fifth initiation.
8. The decision made by the Master enables Him to take the required training to enter His chosen Path, and this training is taken entirely upon cosmic etheric levels - the four highest subplanes of the cosmic physical plane - the buddhic, atmic, monadic and logoic planes.
9. On these planes the spiritual and the divine will is developed and brought into use; these are aspects of that undefinable purpose to which we give the simple name: the Will of God. Intelligence and love have been fully unfolded in the Master, but the will is embryonic still, from the [392] standpoint of Those responsible for training the Master and the higher Initiate. It is only by means of the divine will that the Master begins to free Himself from ray limitations.
10. I would remind you of an earlier statement that the Hierarchy reacts or responds to the energies and influences coming from the cosmic astral plane; from that level of spiritual life true divine love pours into it. Shamballa reacts to the cosmic mental plane, and therefore to the nature and purposes of the Mind of God; the expression of That which over-shadows Sanat Kumara is similar to the soul over-shadowing the incarnated spiritual man.

If you will bear these facts in mind, some light may break through and, in any case, when the student or disciple returns to incarnation, this imparted knowledge (stored in the soul's content) will then be usefully available.

I would like to enlarge somewhat upon an earlier remark. I stated that the "seven Ashrams are 'proving grounds' for all the Masters confronted with the sixth Initiation of Decision."

This constitutes part of the problem facing the Masters Who are thus to move forward; it is particularly crucial for Those Who have chosen the first Path, the Path of Earth Service, and for all in preparation for the sixth initiation. This process of changing for a final, conditioning decision - in line, consciously realized, with divine Purpose and entailing responsiveness to Shamballa - is a major undertaking; it is related to the development of understanding the Will, and concerns the spirit or life aspect; it involves an increasing revelation of the purpose and the "fixed intention" of the planetary Logos but (even more than that) it has relation to extra-planetary sources and energies and to those cosmic conditions which are responsible for the Presence of Sanat Kumara upon the Earth. It is will which has brought Him here, and the unfoldment of the will nature of the Masters and still higher Initiates admits Them into His inner deliberations by means of the highest form of telepathic rapport or impression to be found upon our planet. [393] This impression is, however, made possible by the development of the intuition, and has no relation to the mind nature.

This training in decision is given by forcing the Master to make basic decisions within His Ashram affecting world work and involving all within the Ashram. It is given by His admission to the conclave of the Masters, meeting every seven years. At that conclave They make decisions which concern all forms of life in all the kingdoms in the three worlds and their evolutionary progress; it is put to the test in group form when the entire Hierarchy meets at Its centennial conference and - at that time - decides what form of crisis, on what level of consciousness, and involving what group of lives, must be implemented and presented to humanity, though the other kingdoms of nature will be necessarily implicated. The reason for this is that the meeting of such a planned crisis will hasten certain realizations. Forget not that humanity grows through the presentation of moments of crisis. These moments of crisis, based on past karma, conditioned by the point in evolution already achieved, and on the presence in the three worlds of certain appropriate ray forces, are brought to the point of precipitation by united decision in the conclave of the Masters.

These decisions do not affect man's free will, for the Hierarchy does nothing to condition man's approach to the crisis and, occultly speaking, Their "attitude is deliberately turned to other things" during the period of man's decision; thus the potency of Their thinking does not affect the human mind. Once the precipitation of the crisis is complete, and humanity has begun to take action of some kind, then the full attention of the Masters, working through Their Ashrams, is committed to the giving of full assistance to all those who are seeking to guide humanity along correct lines - a relative few among the countless millions of the ignorant.

While these centennial conclaves are being held at the close of the first twenty-five years of every century, the Lord of the World with the Members of His Council watch the process of decision in order to see how far the will of the [394] Hierarchy conforms to that aspect of the divine will which should be expressed in the three worlds as the result of Their decision. They watch also Those particular Masters Who should in a short time be ready for the sixth initiation, in order to see how much of that divine will They register and what is the nature and quality of Their use of it. By recording that quality, the Council at Shamballa is able to determine with great accuracy which of the seven Paths a certain Initiate will choose. In this manner They become aware of how many senior disciples will be needed to take over the headship of an Ashram, with a consequent admittance of many disciples to the initiation next in order for them. At the same time, aspirants on the periphery of an Ashram are enabled to move forward into full ashramic participation.

All this should give you some idea of the synthesis which expresses itself through the three planetary centers: Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity. These are responsible for the conditioning of the other planetary centers and the consequent demonstration of divine intention. The basic purpose of Sanat Kumara is to bring about right relations in every field of His manifested life. The encouraging factor is today that the activity of humanity itself is, for the first time, concerned with the entire subject of right human relations and how to bring it about. I would have you reflect on this, for it means that, again for the first time, humanity is consciously responding to the will and intention of Shamballa, even though without realizing the esoteric implications. This is of far greater importance than you can imagine, for it signifies a new relationship of a spiritual nature and deeply spiritual results.

The preparation of the Masters for this sixth initiation is exceedingly strenuous. They find it as difficult to achieve Their goal as does the average disciple as he looks ahead at the initiation which immediately confronts him. They have to master the technique of handling the most potent energy and influence in the world, that of the intelligence. They have to penetrate into the mystery of electricity and implement [395] its expression in the creative process under the directive of Shamballa; They have to learn to work with electric fire in the same way as - much earlier - They worked with fire by friction as personalities, and with solar fire as disciples and lesser initiates. In this way, They become familiarized with what is meant by the words the "Central Spiritual Sun," just as They were familiar with the appearance of the physical Sun when members of the human family, and with the "Heart of the Sun" as Members of the Hierarchy. Again you can see the same unfolding synthesis - a synthesis which originates in that focal point of attractive dynamic energy, known to us as the Sun and its planets.

Thus within His Ashram the Master learns "occultly to decide" and to condition the creative center for which He is responsible. He has to do this with the Ashram, surrounded by all those who are in training and who are the agents of His will. Through them He must act, and they thereby limit necessarily the vision to which He reacts, and step down the rate and quality of the energy of which He is the focal point. This energy constitutes the animating life of the Ashram as well as the force which the disciples and initiates must use in their work in the world, this of course in cooperation with the energy which each disciple within himself "occultly generates" and for which he - in his lesser degree - is responsible.

More anent this subject will be given when we study specifically the nine initiations wherein another synthesis, interlocking with the synthesis of the Will, will appear.

B.I.3. The Seven Paths confronting the Master

It will be apparent to you now that the Master confronts two crises:

1. The crisis of the will, as it demonstrates in unalterable decision.
2. The crisis of the new step which will probably "cast Him adrift upon the shore of some distant sphere wherein His will must be expressed in love." These ambiguous words of the Old Commentary mean that [396] His decision will (with one exception) take Him away from all that He has hitherto known.

The majority of the Masters then enter into realms wherein They are needed "to impart, strengthen and enlighten that which is already fused, already strong and already full of light, but which needs that which He brings in order to express the all-encompassing whole."

I have to leave you with these words as food for reflection as there is little further that I may say upon this point. In any case and for all deciding groups of Masters, the work with the Hierarchy is over, except for the few Who choose Path I. Part of the mistake which the Buddha made was connected with this subject of decision. He loved humanity so much that He felt He could not and did not choose the Path which He was in reality ordained to follow; He chose instead the Path of Earth Service - which was not His Path at all. This He knows and will in due time pass on to His rightful Path. This little incident will demonstrate the complete freedom of choice which distinguishes the sixth initiation.

The seven Paths are, as you know from your study of Initiation, Human and Solar the following:

1. The Path of Earth Service.
2. The Path of Magnetic Work.
3. The Path of Training for Planetary Logoi.
4. The Path to Sirius.
5. The Ray Path.
6. The Path on which our Logos is found.
7. The Path of Absolute Sonship.

In that first book which I wrote for the world, I gave a simple definition of the exoteric significance of these Paths - so simple as to convey but little. I wrote then for the general public. I will now endeavor to convey some of the deeper meanings, writing as I do for advanced disciples and for initiates who - reading between the lines and understanding the symbolism involved - will comprehend according to their point in evolution. [397]

As we approach the subject of the seven Paths, I would point out that the only basic point which can be presented to you is that of relationship. All these seven Paths lead to some objective which is thereby put in touch with our planetary life; these objectives - with the life and conditions they represent - present to the Master a vision of possibility. This vision is adequate to the task of drawing Him forth from the hierarchical Ashram, except in one case where vacancies in Shamballa need to be filled. The progressive experience of the greater Lives Who work in the Council Chamber of Sanat Kumara form no part of our studies. Many of these supreme Workers, as you have read in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, found Their way to our planet from our sister planet, Venus, thereby in Their turn establishing relationship. Remember also that all the seven rays are the subrays of the great cosmic Ray of Love-Wisdom, which is ever expressive of relationship, implemented under the Law of Attraction; it is this form of esoteric attraction which draws the Master forth from His Ashram, conditions His decision and eventually leads to His passing through the door which opens on to other spheres and planes of activity.

Let us now consider - very briefly and necessarily inadequately - these seven Paths, taking them one by one:

B.I.3.a. The Path of Earth Service

This is the only Path which the Lord of the World regards as within the field of His spiritual interference. He reserves the right to retain in the service of the Hierarchy, and consequently of Humanity and the subsidiary evolutions, Those Masters Whom He regards at any one time as essential to the work to be done. This He does by asking Them to record Their decision when taking the sixth initiation, but to postpone moving on to one or other of the Paths until He gives the word. This word He has lately given in the case of the Buddha, Who has expiated His most understandable mistake and will now move forward - in His own good time - on to the Path which will lead Him to His rightful field of expression. In due time also, though [398] not for some time, the Christ will move forward "to the place which calls Him," and the Master K.H. will assume the role of World Teacher. All these moves present their unique problems; they produce vacancies in the ranks of the Hierarchy which must be filled; they lead constantly to the inflow of new and powerful energies, for it must be recognized that these energies reach us along Paths leading to our planet as well as away from it. The invocative note of our united evolution at stated times and cycles sounds out and reaches Those Who are waiting for spiritual opportunity and service. They then follow the Path to our planet. From other spheres and planes They emerge along the lines of Their destiny and intention; we then call Them Avatars or Great Enlighteners or Planetary Saviors or Spiritual Regents; They act at the request of Sanat Kumara, given on higher cosmic levels.

It is nevertheless a statement of fact that in due time even Those Who choose the Path of Earth Service and remain in hierarchical work are eventually given the right to follow Their decision and pass to extra-planetary service. The Hierarchy, as we have seen, gives the needed training for that wider service, and the theme of what I might call the educational process to which the Masters submit is the unfoldment of the consciousness of the relationships which lie beyond the aura of our planet; this is, in reality, a higher and most abstruse branch of the Science of Impression, which disciples upon their lower level have to master. This aspect of impression is, however, concerned with the formless worlds, whereas all the impressions to which the disciple has to learn to react emanate from and within the cosmic physical plane, of which all our seven planes are an integral part; our highest spiritual world is a part of the substantial world. The Masters, therefore, are working at a conscious receptivity or sensitivity to the cosmic astral plane, the source of the spirit or energy of love. There is a fundamental connection between the Hierarchy (the source of expression of love on Earth) and the cosmic astral plane, and it is towards this objective that the Masters work Who choose the Path [399] of Earth Service. The major ray of our solar system is that of love-wisdom, and there is no better field on which to master the preliminary stages of that divine unfoldment and receive the needed development and education than on the Earth.

On the Earth, the Masters have overcome glamor and illusion, and for Them no astral plane exists. Now ahead of Them, and owing to Their freedom from these "bewilderments," will come the opportunity to enter into the Heart of God, the center of pure love, and from that center to tread the way of love. All these seven Paths lead either to the cosmic astral plane or to the cosmic mental plane, according to the decision made at the sixth initiation. Upon the cosmic astral plane there is no glamor, but instead a great vortex of energy - the energy of pure love - under the domination of the Law of Attraction. It might be stated that:

• Path 1. The Path of Earth Service leads to the cosmic astral plane.
• Path 2. The Path of Magnetic Work leads to the cosmic astral plane.
• Path 3. The Path for Training for Planetary Logoi leads to the higher levels of the cosmic mental plane.
• Path 4. The Path to Sirius leads to the cosmic astral plane.
• Path 5. The Ray Path leads to the cosmic mental plane.
• Path 6. The Path the Logos Himself is on leads to the cosmic buddhic plane.
• Path 7. The Path of Absolute Sonship leads to the cosmic mental plane.

Three Paths, therefore, lead to the realm of loving attractive energy; one Path leads to its higher correspondence, the cosmic level of pure reason; three lead to the realm of divine Mind. Four of the Paths relate the advancing Master to the Heart of the Great Life Who functions through this solar system, and three to His Mind nature. All of them lead the initiate eventually to the Central Spiritual Sun. [400] All Who work in Shamballa find Their way to this supreme center by the three most arduous ways, whilst the remainder reach the same goal via the way of love.

The unfoldment of the will has much to do with Their decision. It must not be thought that Those Masters Who are on the first, third and fifth rays, for instance, follow the Path numerically the same; such is not the case; nor that Those Who are predominantly on the second line of energy find the cosmic astral plane Their goal. Such again is not the case. Their response and decision is based on a realization of cosmic need - a need of which you can know nothing, any more than it is possible for you to comprehend the nature of cosmic evil.

As to the detail of the work of Those Who choose - until released - to stay on Earth and work in or with the Hierarchy, is there more that I can tell you? You know much anent this subject for I have given much - far more than has ever been given before. I have not dealt with the work of the Hierarchy in relation to evolutions other than the human, for two reasons:

• Your unfoldment is still such that you do not and cannot yet include or register the consciousness or nature of the subhuman kingdoms.
• The work done by the Hierarchy in those kingdoms is largely carried forward via humanity and modern scientific development.

There are many Masters Who do not work with the human kingdom at all, but are fully occupied with carrying out the divine Will in other kingdoms. With this work we have, at present, no concern. When any one takes the sixth initiation and makes his decision to follow the Path of Earth Service (either temporarily at the request of Sanat Kumara, or until the end - of the world cycle), he will find himself faced with a secondary decision as to which of the four kingdoms will profitably provide the field of his sacrifice and service. We will now consider: [401]

B.I.3.b. The Path of Magnetic Work

In referring to this Path, I have stated that Those Who find Their way on to this Path work with fohat, or with the essential energy of our solar system which differentiates into seven major types of energy. Our planet with its ruling Lord is an integral part of the life expression of a still greater Entity, the solar Logos, and it is with the astral energy incident to His cosmic nature that the Master has to work. He learns to direct the currents of this essential energy, and because of His past relation to the Earth, He is part of the directing agency for astral energy within the planetary ring-pass-not. I also said that many Masters Who have reached liberation upon the fifth ray find Their way to this Path, thus proving the statement that it is not the ray which determines decision. These fifth ray Masters (among many others, of course) will be working in a great second ray vortex of energy.

It must be pointed out that, in its original state, this pure astral energy, directed under law into our planetary life, is free from all that is at present associated with the astral plane: glamor and delusion, emotional fog and poisonous deceiving phenomena. These well-known aspects of the astral plane are all the creation of humanity down the ages and present, therefore, an increasingly difficult problem to all aspirants. The tormenting turmoil and chaos of the astral plane are due largely to three factors:

• The force of the constantly developing glamor as self-centered and undeveloped human beings create it.
• The force of those aspirants and disciples who are seeking to combat this in their own lives and in the lives of others.
• The inflow of pure solar astral energy, under cyclic law and the direction of the Master working on the second Path.

These three factors create great trouble; during the past crisis of the world war (1914-1945) it reached most serious proportions. The hierarchical crisis to which I have earlier [402] referred was involved, and many Masters from the various Ashrams made a decision to work on this second Path in order to bring order out of chaos by pouring into the planetary astral plane pure astral energy, untainted by glamor and revelatory of pure love. They were experts in timing and in energy manipulation.

You will also note how three types of astral energy are therefore related:

• The astral force of our planet, distinctive of the planetary astral plane in the three worlds of human enterprise.
• The astral force of the solar Logos, the true God of Love.
• The astral energy of the cosmic astral plane.

These forces are symbolized to the manipulating Master by a triangle. In the Old Commentary it says:

"The Master throws Himself - under the liberating Law of Sacrifice - into the vortex of the astral life of the One to Whom our Lord relates Himself with humble joy. And as the Master works, there forms before His eyes a triangle of force in shades of varying rose. By His magnetic power, He concentrates the energy required. Then through this triangle of force, as through an open door, He sends the potency of love into our planet, and till His cycle ends He thus must work."

This is but a rough translation of some very ancient phrases, and is perhaps less symbolic than it may appear. It is in connection with this Path that the work of the Triangles which I initiated is related; the function of these Triangles is in reality to facilitate the work of distributing the pure incoming love energy (expressing itself as light and as goodwill) into the Hierarchy and Humanity. This deeply esoteric purpose of the Triangles will not be understood by the general public, but some of you who read this will appreciate the opportunity to serve in this manner consciously.

The Path of Magnetic Work takes the Master, first of all, to the Heart of the Sun, and from thence to the cosmic [403] mental plane, passing through and pausing temporarily upon the cosmic astral plane. The above statement does not in reality refer to progress from point to point in an ordered sequence. It refers to high states of awareness and to a form of cosmic contact which is registered by the Master from the point at which He stands upon this second Path, for all the planes are interpenetrating. This has been somewhat easy to understand in connection with our seven planes, as the rarer substances could be visualized as interpenetrating the denser. It is not so easy to comprehend, however, when we pass out of the cosmic physical plane (in our imagination, needless to say) and enter those planes of which we know nothing and of whose composition and substance (if they are substantial, as we understand the term) we are totally ignorant; besides that, we are not in a position to ascertain the truth.

The method of the Master's work upon this Path is also not easily understood. It can be summed up in the following words which may bring some light via their united meaning (each phrase contributing an idea), if due reflection is brought to bear upon them:

• Isolated Unity - the position of the Master
• A positive Focus - the mental attitude
• Sound, under the Law of Attraction - the means employed
• Precipitation - the intention visited
• Passage through the Triangle - the projection ensuing
• Directive work under the Law of Distribution - direction towards the goal

These phrases may give some vague idea of a process, based on "reception, then direction, producing rejection and impact where the rejecting agency ordained."

Another aspect of the work done by the Master on the second Path is the drawing off of those phases of glamor which no longer have the power to deceive mankind. They are not allowed to accumulate or to remain upon the astral plane. They are therefore, through the magnetic power of the Master, withdrawn from our planetary life and are  [404] "occultly absorbed" by the Master; the substance of the glamor, purified and freed from all that conditioned it on the planetary astral plane, and with only the pure essence retained, sets the law in motion which draws this purified remainder into the cosmic astral plane.

Constantly, therefore, this great circulatory process goes on, demonstrating anew the essential synthesis underlying all life - human, planetary, systemic and cosmic; it reveals also that the Law of Attraction, the Law of Magnetic Work, and the cosmic Law of Synthesis are three aspects of one Law for which, as yet, we have no name.

It might be said that the Masters working on the second Path are working in relation to and in contact with certain great Lives Who work on the periphery of the constellation Libra, the Balances. This is due to the fact that Those Masters Who can work with magnetic energies, and with the three above Laws, have achieved a point of balance which makes Their work possible; it involves also a poised attention and directive power, permitting the inflow of energies from Libra which could not otherwise enter our planetary life at all. These Libran energies enter our solar system via the Heart of the Sun and are peculiarly amenable to magnetic attraction and distribution.

All these Paths gradually came into being when our planetary Logos created the Earth and started the involutionary process of creation, leading in due time but much later, to evolution. They are therefore, all of Them, Paths of Return. This second Path was one of the first to be used and (again quoting the Old Commentary) "the door once opening inward now opens outward and permits the exit of those who hold the key because they entered by that door in aeons long gone by."

All the Masters (and not only Those upon the fifth ray) receive careful training in the manipulation of energies, and hence the statement of the Master K.H. to His disciples that the occultist has to learn to master and control the forces and energies within himself; the disciple and the initiate work with hierarchical energies and with the forces [405] of the kingdoms of nature in the three worlds; the Master receives instruction in the handling of the energies which are extra-planetary but within the solar ring-pass-not. Those Masters Whose decision it is to tread the second Path are taught the control and direction of systemic energies and of certain energies emanating from Libra and from one of the stars in the constellation of the Great Bear. In the more advanced stages of Their work, and when the Master is far more advanced than the word indicates, He works consciously upon the cosmic mental plane; His activities will then be concerned with the relation of the energies of the Great Bear to the Pleiades, and their dual relationship (a higher correspondence to atma-buddhi) to the solar system and only incidentally to our Earth. Great is the interlocking, the interdependence and the interpenetration!

B.I.3.c. The Path of Training for Planetary Logoi

It is obviously impossible to say much about this Path. Those Masters Who tread it find Their way to the various schools for the training of planetary Logoi which are found within certain of the major planetary schemes, as stated in Initiation, Human and Solar. They are necessarily few in number, and a small group of Them remains to study in our particular planetary enterprise under Sanat Kumara. This They do after making Their decision and passing through the door on the periphery of our planetary ring-pass-not. Then - out of incarnation and working through the medium of the higher telepathy - They receive instruction of a nature incomprehensible to us, from the Members of the Council Chamber at Shamballa, and primarily from two of the Buddhas of Activity. Having learnt the technique and having passed certain tests, They move into the planetary life of Venus, our Earth's Alter-Ego, and there They complete Their training, as far as our solar system can give it, finding Their way eventually on to the cosmic mental plane.

Two things should be borne in mind in connection with this abstruse subject:

First: These Masters work primarily with the "psyche" [406] or the soul aspect within the solar system. They are occupied with the subtler expressions of consciousness, with occult impressibility and that acute sensitivity which produces instant and accurate registration of all soul reactions within any particular planetary life. These kingdoms are not necessarily identical with those found on the Earth, but they are, in all cases, vast groups of living forms which are manifestations or expressions of the nature of any particular planetary Logos. The Masters taking this training are not occupied with individual states of consciousness within any group. It is the consciousness of the whole, and its responsiveness to cosmic impacts, that engages Their attention. They are not (if I might so express it) interested in any individual unit of any kind or in its individual reactions, responsiveness or susceptibility to impression. They are only concerned with those higher processes of identification which indicate an advanced state of evolutionary development. Their work is to further progressive development of identification. They begin with the identification of the Monad within our planetary sphere with the Purpose and the Will of the Lord of the World, and proceed - as Their training produces the desired capabilities - with greater identifications within the solar system. Beyond that we need not proceed.

Their whole training is concerned with the planetary, systemic and cosmic building of the antahkarana, for it is via the antahkarana that spirit works, that life processes are controlled, and the will of all developing aspects of Deity function. Forget not that 'relating our planet to the planet Venus is a planetary antahkarana, passing from thence to the Heart of the Sun and later to the cosmic mental plane. There are "rainbow bridges" carrying the sevenfold energies of the seven rays from planet to planet, from system to system, and from plane to plane on cosmic levels. It is over these bridges that the will of the related spiritual Identities is projected, producing that synthesis of effort which is distinctive of the cooperative systemic life. The work of the Masters in training from our planet is, among other [407] things, to unfold within Themselves not only sensitivity to systemic purpose, but the ability to transmit that Purpose to the Council Chamber at Shamballa. They have - in an extra-planetary sense - a definite correspondence with and relation to the group of Nirmanakayas within our planet Who work in contemplative activity with the antahkarana which connects the Hierarchy with Shamballa and Humanity with the Hierarchy.

As planetary Logoi when Their Own time comes, these Masters will be concerned with the registration of the Purpose and expressed Will of some solar Logos. They will then, through the planetary and systemic antahkarana, supervise the gradual evolutionary importation of that Will (which is now Theirs) to all the forms through which They function in any particular planet for which They have assumed responsibility. This definitely involves working with the soul aspect and with the unfoldment of conscious responsiveness and sensitive reaction to all the higher impressions.

Second: These Masters are the directing builders and Creators eventually of all forms of planetary life - forms embodying qualities and intentions as yet undreamed of by us. They have developed in Themselves a perfected synthesis of the two energies of atma-buddhi, or of spiritual will and spiritual love, completely unified and energetically active in a comprehensive condition seldom attained by any other group of Masters in training.

It must be realized that the Buddhas of Activity, of Whom there are only three on our planet, are similarly active. They are active love-wisdom or a complete synthesis of active intelligence, active love and active will. The Masters on this third Path will, therefore, some day complete Their training for planetary Logoi by attaining the status of Buddhas of Activity, and will for a period serve in that capacity in some planetary scheme, before taking the control and guidance of Their Own body of manifestation.

The training of these Masters on the third Path might be described as an intensive study of a most exalted form of the Science of Impression. The supreme task of a planetary [408] Logos is to impress His sevenfold body of manifestation, via its seven states of consciousness and the seven centers, with His will and intention; these are progressively imparted as the etheric body is brought into an increasing state of receptivity through the awakening of the seven planetary centers, primarily the three major centers. The Masters thus in training gain experience of the methods used by the planetary Logoi of all the seven sacred planets, and the training is therefore an exceedingly lengthy one. It must be remembered however that - except in dense physical incarnation and, therefore, conditioned by the brain and its special limitations - the spiritual man is not conscious of time, once He is separated from the physical body. Time is the sequential registration by the brain of states of awareness and of progressive contacts with phenomena. There is no such thing as time on the inner planes, as humanity understands it. There are only cycles of activity or of non-activity; this non-activity for Masters on the third Path takes the form of cyclic periods of contemplation and mental activity, followed by active periods of energy direction to impress the will of certain planetary Logoi and Their agents upon the Council Chamber of our planet in particular, and upon other planets, as Their training is perfected.

It is the impulsive incentive of these Masters which bridges and links between the Monad on the monadic plane and the three worlds of dense expression on the cosmic physical plane; in this process the antahkarana between the spiritual man in incarnation and the Spiritual Triad is aided and finally constructed, but this is only incidental to the far greater work of relating Shamballa to all kingdoms in nature and to other planets.

The number of Masters deciding on this Path is, as I said, not large; the training is peculiarly arduous and is followed, when opportunity is offered to function as a planetary Logos, by an act of sacrifice which confines Them indefinitely to the limitations of the ring-pass-not of Their body of manifestation, a planet. It is for this reason that Sanat Kumara has ever been called "The Great Sacrifice." [409]

B.I.4. Certain Hierarchical Changes

Before proceeding with our consideration of the seven cosmic Paths, I would like to pause here and clarify your mind, A.A.B., and answer certain questions which you are formulating.

Some years ago (in 1925) I gave out to the world through your instrumentality A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. In that volume I elaborated upon the very elementary information given upon this subject in Initiation, Human and Solar - a book published earlier (in 1922). In both these volumes I touched upon the cosmic Paths. I gave (in very abstruse terms) some information; the terms were so abstruse that few can understand their meaning. The true significance is only for advanced initiates, of which I am not one, from Their point of view, though from yours I may be. In Initiation, Human and Solar very little was said, because the book was written for the general public and thus only a few ideas were indicated to point direction. Now, in A Treatise on the Seven Rays I have added to that already given; this book is, however, intended for a much larger number than those who read (and claim, erroneously, to understand) A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. In what I have to say, the teaching is carefully guarded. Two things should, however, be pointed out here in order to save confusion:

1. It had not been the intention of the Hierarchy to give any further information anent these Paths; it was felt that enough had been said about this naturally incomprehensible subject. Owing, however, to the fundamental changes in the hierarchical plans, this decision was altered. I was permitted to add to that already given. This was due to two causes:

1. The tremendous unfoldment of the human consciousness during the last twenty-five years warrants more information; so many aspirants were being admitted to the Path of Discipleship and were finding their way into the Ashrams, thus forcing  the passage of many initiates on to the Way of the Higher Evolution. [410] This in itself is a most joyous happening, but necessitated many ashramic adjustments.
2. Owing to this advancement, owing to the increased sensitivity of the human mechanism, and owing to the decisions humanity is in process of making (as a result of the frightful testing period of the war, 1914-1945), the Hierarchy - far earlier than had been hoped or anticipated - has prepared Itself for physical plane manifestation, or for what is called by Them "the process of externalization."

This has necessarily produced problems, and among them the strictly hierarchical problem of the passage of the initiate of the sixth degree on to the cosmic Paths. You will find, if you study closely the three presentations of the teaching (in Initiation, Human and Solar, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, and A Treatise on the Seven Rays) what may appear to you as contradictions or differences. This is not truly so, but the casual reader may feel them to be present even though the differences are apparent more than real. Two causes account for this:

1. The decision to throw open initiations higher than the fifth to the ready Master, and to familiarize the world of aspirants with their existence. Little has ever been given beyond the fifth initiation. Many initiates are becoming Masters, and many disciples are achieving the first initiation, and this fact confronts the three Great Lords Who rule the Hierarchy with a definite problem.
2. To make the sixth initiation and not the fifth initiation the Initiation of Decision. Here I must state the existence of a hierarchical problem: the use of the will aspect in the unfoldment of the initiate. It must be remembered that this first ray aspect is:

• A definite and most potent energy. It is the most potent energy in the planetary life and is carefully held in leash by Those Who are in a position to wield it. [411]
• The medium whereby the purpose of creation is finally revealed.
• The force which enables the Hierarchy to present the Plan in the three worlds.
• The needed dynamic whereby the "deciding" Master sets His foot upon the Path of the Higher Evolution.

Owing to the success of the influence of this Shamballa energy upon humanity when the experiment was made to test its impact without stepping it down through the medium of the Hierarchy, the entire course of man's spiritual history was most peculiarly altered. This had not been anticipated, for - as oft I have told you - the Masters know not which way mankind will go, nor may They interfere by action or thinking in humanity's decision. It was therefore necessary to control more definitely the passage of initiates on to the seven Paths; only a certain number are required to fulfil cosmic intention; it was therefore decided to make the rules of entrance more difficult and more rigid.

Forget not, brother of mine, that this is not this first time that this has happened. Changes were made in Atlantean times; the door of entrance for the animal kingdom or for animal man into the human kingdom was stopped. No more units have since then been admitted from the third kingdom into the fourth, except in a few cases and for specific reasons. Here, however, you have a reverse situation. The Hierarchy, owing to its constitution at that time and to the fact that very few, relatively, of our Earth humanity were members of the Hierarchy, could not influence directly the more developed human beings or train more aspirants. They therefore closed the door. That particular condition does not now exist, and the supreme Directors of the seven cosmic Paths are today in the same position as was the Hierarchy then; the word has gone forth to our three Great Lords - the Manu, the Christ and the Mahachohan - via the three Buddhas of Activity, to act in order to tighten up on requirements, to make the sixth initiation and not the fifth, the decisive one, and to present those on the seven rays with [412] a wider range of choices and a greater diversity of choice. Thus the Masters will have nine choices to face when They face Their decision; there will then be no need for Those on certain rays to pass to certain already determined Paths, but They can move forward under Their Own inspiration and with greater freedom. The cosmic mental plane is not barred to Them, as has hitherto been the case.

All these changes have been due to the successful response of our planetary life, expressed through the human kingdom at this time, to the processes of evolution and to the inflow (since 1825) of the will energy from Shamballa. This, in its turn, is due to the progress of Sanat Kumara Himself, within His Own identified life upon the cosmic Path which emerges from the cosmic mental plane. All that we can contact and know is interdependent, and the unfoldment of the Life in Whom we live and move and have our being affects every aspect and department of His manifestation, just as the successful spiritual unfoldment of a human being and his ability to contact his soul produces incredible changes in the personality and affects every aspect and organ of his little manifestation upon the physical plane.

2. The intelligence of humanity now is of such a nature that certain earlier initiations no longer exist, and mankind has shown itself to possess the potentialities which will enable its individual units to tread not only the one or two cosmic Paths hitherto open to them, but all of them, if given the right training. This the premature discovery of the release of atomic energy has well demonstrated to the Hierarchy.

All these factors have forced a reorganization in the Plans at Shamballa and, in a unique conference, in that far greater Council Chamber over which our Solar Logos presides; greater opportunity was consequently offered to the Members of our planetary Hierarchy. I stress that point: the opportunity was not offered or presented to the fourth kingdom in nature, but to the fifth kingdom.

It is all these facts which have caused what may look to you like discrepancies and limitations in what I have given and [413] in comparison with that given in the earlier volumes of this Treatise, but they are not so in reality. The Master of the fifth initiation even if now He does not at that time make His decision, faces intelligently and with some understanding of the choices to be made, the sixth initiation and its decisions. He begins to take also the particular training, and to this the teaching in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire now applies. He is shewn the newer opportunity, the modes of decision, and the limitations which are no longer legitimate. I would like to point out here that these changes are a cause of deep joy to the Hierarchy and to the Great Lives in the Council Chamber at Shamballa, for they indicate the strength and potency of Sanat Kumara's success and the incredible progress made in the consciousness of humanity as a consequence; this will lead also to future paralleling decisions on the physical plane in human affairs; this deeply spiritual and mysterious success (mysterious because the human mind knows naught about it) was also the reason for the violent attempt of the Forces of Evil to gain control, and their resultant failure.

B.I.4.d. The Path to Sirius

I have frequently hinted in my various books that the Sun, Sirius, is closely related to our planetary Life; much is known in the Hierarchy anent this connection, and the particular relationship of this fourth Path to humanity, the fourth kingdom in nature, but little can be communicated to the general public. I may, however, tell you certain things which may make your imaginative rangings (if I may use so strange a phrase) creatively profitable to you.

This great Sun which is to our solar Logos what the Monad is to the spiritual man, has a peculiar part to play where our Earth is concerned. It might be considered by those with a sound sense of occult proportion that our tiny planet with its planetary Logos (one of the "imperfect Gods" of The Secret Doctrine) would be too small to enter in the slightest way into the consciousness of that Supreme Illumined Entity Who is greater even than our Solar Logos. [414] Such, however, is the case. There is a relationship of very ancient date between our Lord of the World, Sanat Kumara, and the Lord of Sirius, and this exists in spite of the fact that our planet is not a sacred planet. It might be added that our planet is, in the immediate cycle, owing to the factors I have lately considered with you, rapidly passing out of this category, and on the inner planes and subjectively considered is a sacred planet; the effects of this transition from non-sacred to sacred have not fully demonstrated themselves objectively. The mystery of this relationship is partially revealed at one of the higher initiations and it is then realized by the initiates that there is a good and adequate reason for the relation and that the following esoteric events, relations and happenings are simply consequences:

1. The majority of liberated humanity, and therefore a large number of the initiates who have to make decision, choose this way to the cosmic center.

2. The relationship as it expresses itself is between the Hierarchy and Sirius, and not between Shamballa and that stupendous Sun. The energy evoked in response to this relationship enters the Hierarchy via the Heart of the Sun, creating as a consequence a triangle of spiritual energy of enormous potency. You have, therefore:

Sirius
*
   The Hierarchy *  * Heart of the Sun

3. As progress is made in the course of taking the higher initiations, it becomes apparent to the initiate that two major streams of energy enter our planetary life:

1. A stream of energy coming from the cosmic mental plane and from that focal point which is to Sanat Kumara what the egoic lotus, the soul, is to the spiritual man; it carries the life principle of our planet and centers itself in Shamballa. From there it is dispersed throughout all forms upon the planet and we call it Life. It must be remembered that this life principle embodies or is impregnated with the will and purpose [415] of That which over-shadows Sanat Kumara as the soul over-shadows the personality.
2. A stream of energy coming from the sun, Sirius; this enters directly into the Hierarchy and carries with it the principle of buddhi, of cosmic love. This, in a mysterious way, is the principle found at the heart of every atom.

The life principle follows the line of 1.3.5.7, whilst the buddhic flow follows the line of 2.4.6. Thus atma-buddhi becomes the blended reality which is brought to full unfoldment as evolution proceeds. The energy of Sirius by-passes (to use a modern word) Shamballa and is focused in the Hierarchy. Its effect is not felt until after the third initiation, though the Masters use this energy whilst training disciples for the second, the fourth and the sixth initiations.

4. The entire work of the Great White Lodge is controlled from Sirius; the Ashrams are subjected to its cyclic inflow; the higher initiations are taken under its stimulation, for the principle of buddhi, of pure love (i.e., love-wisdom) must be active in the heart of every initiate prior to the initiation of the great decision; it is therefore only initiates of the fifth, sixth and higher initiations who can work consciously with the potent buddhic "livingness" which permeates all Ashrams, though unrecognized by the average disciple.

5. This Sirian influence was not recognized, and little of it was definitely focused in the Hierarchy, until Christ came and revealed the love of God to humanity. He is the expression, par excellence, of a Sirian initiation, and it is to that high place He will eventually go - no matter what duties or hierarchical obligations may take Him elsewhere between that time and now. The Buddha was originally to have chosen the fourth Path but other plans confront Him now and will probably claim His choice.

6. Sanat Kumara is not on the Sirian line but - to speak in symbols, not too deeply veiled - Lucifer, Son of the Morning, is closely related, and hence the large number of human beings who will become disciples in the Sirian Lodge. This [416] is the true "Blue Lodge," and to become a candidate in that Lodge, the initiate of the third degree has to become a lowly aspirant, with all the true and full initiations awaiting him "within the sunshine of the major Sun."

7. None of the above facts indicates divergence of view between Shamballa and the Hierarchy, nor do they signify cleavage or differing aims and goals. The whole subject is reflected in such minor relations on Earth as those between:

1. The Spiritual Triad and the Personality.
2. The mental unit and the manasic permanent atom.
3. Atma-Buddhi.
4. The Christ and the Buddha.

The above somewhat uncorrelated items of information will give you a general idea of the significant connection between our unimportant little planet and that vast expression of divinity, the Life which is manifesting through Sirius; it is an expression which is organized and vital beyond anything man can vision and which is free to a completely unlimited extent, again beyond the power of man to comprehend. The principle of freedom is a leavening energy which can permeate substance in a unique manner; this divine principle represents an aspect of the influence which Sirius exerts on our solar system and particularly on our planet. This principle of freedom is one of the attributes of Deity (like will, love and mind) of which humanity knows as yet little. The freedom for which men fight is one of the lowest aspects of this cosmic freedom, which is related to certain great evolutionary developments that enable the life or spirit aspect to free itself from the impact, the contact and the influence of substance.

It is the principle of freedom which enables Sanat Kumara to dwell on the Earth and yet stand free from all contacts, except with Those Who have trodden the Path of Liberation and now stand free upon the cosmic physical plane; it is that which enables the initiate to achieve a state of "isolated unity"; it is that which lies behind the Spirit of Death and forms the motivating power of that great releasing Agency; it is that which provides a "pathway of power" [417] between our Hierarchy and the distant sun, Sirius, and gives the incentive towards the "culture of freedom" or of liberation which motivates the work of the Masters of the Wisdom; it is that which produced the ferment and the vortex of conflict in far distant ages and which has been recognized in the present through the results of the Law of Evolution in every kingdom in nature; this is that which "substands" or lies under or behind all progress. This mysteriously "exerted influence," this "pulling away" from form (as we might simply call it), emanates from Sirius and for it we have no name; it is the law of which the three cosmic laws - the Laws of Synthesis, of Attraction and of Economy - are only aspects. None of these three subsidiary laws imposes any rule or limitation upon the Lord of the World. The Law of Freedom, however, does impose certain restrictions, if one can use such a paradoxical phrase. It is responsible for His being known as the "Great Sacrifice," for (under the control of this law) He created our planetary life and all that is within and upon it, in order to learn to wield this law with full understanding, in full consciousness, and yet at the same time to bring release to the myriad forms of His creation.

The Law of Economy affects humanity as a whole today throughout every phase of its life; the Law of Attraction is beginning to gain some control, particularly in the work which the Hierarchy undertakes to do; and many initiates and senior disciples are becoming aware of the significance of the Law of Synthesis and are reacting to its impact. Later on, when moving to one of the seven Paths, the Master will work with the Law of Freedom. This is not, as you may well surmise, its true name, for in the last analysis, freedom and liberation are effects of its activity. This unique and mysterious law governs the Life and the Lives upon Sirius, and it is to that unknown "sphere of functioning and intelligent activity" what the Law of Economy is to our planet - the lowest of the laws controlling existence in planetary form.

This Law of Economy includes, as you know from my earlier writings, many lesser or subsidiary laws; it might therefore be stated that this Law of Freedom also does the [418] same. Until more divine attributes are realized as existing and recognized as aspects, it is not possible for the name of the law which embodies the Law of Freedom to be given, for there is no word in our language adequately available. The above information will, however, link Sirius and our little planet, the Earth, in your minds.

Masonry, as originally instituted far back in the very night of time and long antedating the Jewish dispensation, was organized under direct Sirian influence and modeled as far as possible on certain Sirian institutions and bearing a slight resemblance also to our hierarchical life - as seen in the light of the Eternal Now. Its "Blue Lodge" with its three degrees is related to the three major groups of Lives on Sirius, for there are there no kingdoms of nature, such as we possess; these groups receive all Those Who choose the fourth Path, and train Them in the mode of existence and the type of livingness which is found on Sirius. This will make it plain to you that the least developed of the Sirian Lives are - from our standpoint - all of Them initiates of very high degree. Masonry is, therefore, connected in a peculiar way with the fourth Path. Down the ages, the Masonic tradition has been preserved, changing its nomenclature from time to time, reinterpreting its Words of Power, and consequently getting further and further removed from its original beauty and intent.

The time has now come, under cyclic law and in preparation for the New Age, for certain changes to be worked by Masons with spiritual understanding. The present Jewish coloring of Masonry is completely out of date and has been preserved far too long, for it is today either Jewish or Christian and should be neither. The Blue Lodge degrees are entirely Jewish in phrasing and wording, and this should be altered. The Higher Degrees are predominantly Christian, though permeated with Jewish names and words. This too should end. This Jewish coloring is today one of the main hindrances to the full expression of Masonic intention and should be changed, whilst preserving the facts and detail and structure of the Masonic symbolism intact. Whatever [419] form the new nomenclature will take (and this change will inevitably come), that too will pass away after due service rendered. Thus the cyclic transformation will proceed until such time as the bulk of humanity, standing upon the fourth Path, will pass through the initiatory process on Sirius, of which our E.-. A.-. degree is a faint reflection.

B.I.4.e. The Ray Path

The history of evolution upon the Earth, from the angle of humanity is one of progress, emphatic revolutionary decisions and climaxing crises. Without such a history we should not realize the progress made and the steady though gradual growth of sensitive response to environment, to contact and to impressions - mental and spiritual. The history of evolution is in reality and from the occult point of view the history of the freeing of the spirit by the mode of steadily developing forms which - in orderly unfoldment and at the demand of spirit - meet its requirements in any particular cycle and at every stage of growth, consequent upon the response of substance to spiritual impact and impression.

This impact and this impression relate to the bringing together of substance and spirit, of form and matter, and is also closely connected with the cyclic appearance of the rays, with their varying ray influences, qualities and intentions, for they all contribute to the evolutionary process as they cycle in and out of manifested expression. It should be recognized that each ray Lord, whilst following His own path of development, has certain qualities to express and certain aspects of life to unfold and manifest. The effect of these intentions of the ray Lords or Lives upon our planet is, from Their angle, purely incidental and takes place without planning, being due to definite cyclic, circulatory and cosmic activities wherein They are eternally engaged. Their intention and purposes are not, therefore, in any way related to humanity - a fact which men are apt to forget.

It is, however, with these ray intentions that the Initiate of the sixth degree is occupied when He passes on to the fifth or Ray Path. His decision and the intention of the ray [420] Lord at first, and the united intention of all of Them eventually, are curiously and uniquely connected. The Master on this Path works at the comprehension of the intention and the life purposes of the ray Lords. Many first ray souls find their way on to this Path, for there is a close connection between the decision at the sixth initiation and this fifth Path; this might be expected for two reasons: one, that every Master is on one of the three major rays, and secondly, every Master has to develop an understanding of the world of cosmic Purpose. It is a connection based upon the use of the will; it is the will-to-power, the will-to-love and the will-to-know, plus the other four aspects of will (A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Vol. III. Esoteric Astrology, Pages 599-601.) which form the elementary basis of the training given on this fifth Path. Souls from other rays reach the same goal and occasionally choose this Path, but it is not the one which constitutes for Them the line of least resistance, as it often is for Masters on the first ray.

Masters from the first ray and the second ray tread it often, and each of Them has a different mode of approach, technique and type of realization:

1. First ray souls have to negate their "isolated unity" and study the beauty and value of differentiation. This period of training is followed by a mysterious process called "multiple identification." Note how the adjective here conveys the many and the plural whilst the noun gives the concept of unity and the singular. In these two words, apparently contradictory though esoterically significant, there is embodied one aspect of the initiation to be experienced on this ray Path.
2. The second ray Master who decides to go this way has to negate his attractive, magnetic tendencies and learn the meaning of "isolated intention with a multiplicity of goals." I know not how else to translate the archaic phrase which describes the objective of the Master's training on this Path. The exclusive has to become the inclusive in an [421] entirely newly apprehended world of realization, whilst the inclusive has to master the technique of exclusiveness and become exclusive in a new realm of realization; it is an exclusiveness which has in it no slightest element of the great heresy of separateness.

I may not here even indicate the type or quality of the intentions of the ray Lords which the Master of the sixth initiation has to learn to comprehend. The training given Him ends in another tremendous decision which will place Him in a group of Lives on some sacred planet or in some solar system which will be a correspondence to Shamballa on our little planet. Shamballa embodies the will or purpose of our planetary Logos. The goal which these initiates (trained on the ray Path) eventually reach is some sphere of activity wherein sublime purposes and divine intentions are worked out.

B.I.4.f. The Path the Logos Himself is on

It should be remembered as this peculiarly abstruse subject is approached that the Solar Logos is as far removed (in the evolutionary sense) from our planetary Logos as the latter is from the point of attainment of an accepted disciple. Yet the two are linked by a subjective unity and similarity of objective. At certain points upon the Way of the Higher Evolution Their two lines of energy meet and blend. Our Solar Logos also plays a peculiarly interesting part in the development of our entire planetary life. For the sake of clarity, yet at the same time speaking symbolically, Sanat Kumara might be regarded as a personal disciple of the Solar Logos, with all that that indicates of cosmic responsibility.

We had much difficulty in considering understandingly the path trodden by Those Masters Who decided to tread the Path of training for planetary Logoi. It is therefore far more difficult and practically impossible to say anything anent this Path which is trodden by Those Great Beings Who are in training for Solar Logoi. Of These, Sanat Kumara [422] is One. Not all the planetary Logoi tread the Path of Solar Logoi, for just as exalted positions await Them elsewhere in the universe. Those Masters, as I have said in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Who tread this Path are rare indeed, and hitherto have had to enter this Path via the angel or deva evolution and by transference then to the fifth or ray Path. Changes have however been made, and a Master can now pass on to this sixth Path directly and without entering the deva evolution.

This sixth Path is one on which the Masters in training have to work with the devas who are so frequently the mobile agents of the creative process in solar creation. The Masters Who enter upon this Path, eventually and as part of Their training, enter the Council Chamber of some of the sacred planets, before transferring into the group which guides our Solar Logos; this in its turn is only a temporary phase, though in both cases the time embraced may cover vast periods, from the point of view of humanity. They work with principles unknown to us on Earth, though two of these principles will later be revealed; many of them are controlling factors on other spheres and in other planetary schemes which are more advanced than ours; the Master in training then acts as the custodian of these "energetic principles" or as distributing agent; in this way Venus was the custodian of what we call the principle of Mind and brought it as a pure gift to embryonic humanity.

B.I.4.g. The Path of Absolute Sonship

As I have previously pointed out, not much can be given out concerning this mysterious Path which leads into a triangle (if I may so express it) formed of three lines of energy of differing and greatly varying vibratory effectiveness. This triangle is in the nature of an open door, presenting unique and unprecedented opportunity to Those Who discover this Path. Just as one of the seven Paths produced ultimately relationship to the Pleiades, so this Path relates our solar system to the constellation of the Great Bear. You have, therefore, the following triangle composed [423] of one stream of energy emanating from the Great Bear, another stream of energy issuing from the Heart of the Sun or from our Solar Logos, and the base line constituted of the seven streams of energy which come from our seven sacred planets. The potency and the effectiveness of this triangle is therefore unique and apparent; it produces relation between our system, our planets and the universe. This "open" triangle presents opportunity to Those Lives Who, from the other side of the triangle to that presented to our solar system and its contents, seek to help our solar system and bring the non-sacred planets to the point of liberation which is their particular goal. Through this triangular door all the great Avatars enter our system and "find the Point where They can serve."

The inflow of extra-solar energy is what produces the seven cosmic Paths. There is no such grouping as the seven solar Paths. In most cases, the Paths lead away from our solar system altogether.

If you will study the more abstruse teaching (more veiled and more symbolic than this) you will find certain statements made which - to the esotericist - will throw much light on the simpler presentations in this Treatise on the Seven Rays. It is simpler because only those points are given which carry in them the germ of possible enlightenment to the general public. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire is not written for the general public; it is strictly a presentation of truth for the initiated disciple. Its line is strictly a first ray and third ray presentation, whilst this Treatise is strictly a second ray approach. This is a statement warranting careful thought, and one that has as yet received no recognition. [424]

Among the changes necessitated by the abnormally rapid development of mankind, with its consequent stepping up of the qualities of disciples, is the fact that no longer does the Master - faced at the sixth initiation with a stupendous decision to make - enter upon the indicated Path entirely blindly, as heretofore. He is now given a revelation of the true united goal of the seven Paths and likewise a vision of their varying intermediate, individual goals. Hence the name of the fifth initiation is that of the "Initiation of Revelation." He can thus make His decision with opened eyes and unblended by the glory.

One point requires elucidation here. The whole standard of the mental equipment of entering disciples is so much higher than it used to be, owing to the mental and intuitive development of man, that this fact has forced corresponding changes within the Hierarchy itself. The Masters Who are now moving forward on to the Path of the Higher Evolution are equally of much greater unfoldment; the will aspect is present to a great degree (little as you may realize it), and this is a new factor, conditioning much. Love and intelligence distinguished the Masters up to three hundred years ago. Love and intelligence and will distinguish Them today. This again is another reason for the comprehensive changes made and it is interesting to note that the bulk of the changes are due to the response of men to the hierarchical work. It is humanity that has forced these events of so far-reaching a nature; mankind has also forced revelations which it had been believed could not be given to men for thousands of years or until the sixth root-race had come into being. An instance of the expansion of the information given can be noted in connection with the second Path. Nothing is mentioned in my earlier presentation of the seven Paths in Initiation, Human and Solar of a conditioning constellation. In A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, I mention that energy enters our system from an unknown source, via Gemini. In this latest contribution on the subject I mention that Libra, the Balances, is involved. Thus there are found on this Path of [425] Magnetic Work two blended influences, those of Gemini and Libra. You have, therefore:

The dual energy of Gemini is brought to a point of balance by means of the influence of Libra, and this balanced and dual energy is released then into our solar system. This entering stream of balanced energies forms the second Path. I have given you much information in the above statement.

I have asked A.A.B. to incorporate at the close of this instruction a passage from A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, for this teaching anent the seven Paths is as a climaxing comment. I shall not enlarge upon it, but if you have spiritual imagination and speculative ability you can comprehend much. I have also asked A.A.B. to add to this instruction the seven tabulations earlier given so as to complete and round out this triple presentation. I do not urge you to study or to give much time to the consideration of the seven paths. The treading of one or other of those Paths lies far ahead of you, and it would be a waste of time. I would however remind you that every effort to live rightly, beautifully and usefully, to control the mind and to achieve loving understanding, lays the foundation for right decision at the sixth initiation; some day you too will stand at this point of unique choice and it is what you do here and now which will determine the way which you will go.

An Extract from A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Pages 1243-1266

The seven Paths, at a certain stage which may not be defined, become the four Paths, owing to the fact that our solar system is one of the fourth order. This merging is [426] effected in the following way:

• The initiates upon Path I "fight their way" on to Path VI.
• The initiates upon Path II "alchemise themselves" on to Path VII.
• The initiates upon Path III through "piercing the veil" find Themselves upon Path V.
• This leaves Path IV to be accounted for. Upon this Path pass all those who, through devotion and activity combined, achieve the goal but who lack as yet the full development of the manasic principle. This being the solar system of love-wisdom or of astral-buddhic development, the fourth Path includes the larger number of the sons of men. In the Hierarchy of our planet the "Lords of Compassion" are numerically greater than the "Masters of the Wisdom." The former must therefore pass to the sun Sirius there to undergo a tremendous manasic stimulation, for Sirius is the emanating source of manas. There the mystic must go and become what is called "a spark of mahatic electricity."

These seven Paths are not concerned with nature or the balancing of the pairs of opposites. They are concerned only with unity, with that which utilizes the pairs of opposites as factors in the production of Light.

PATH I. EARTH SERVICE
Attributes	Wise compassion
Source	Constellation of the Dragon, via Libra
Methode	Twelve cosmic Indentifications
Hierarchy	The sixth
Symbol	A green dragon issuing from the center of a blazing sun. Behind the sun and over-topping it can be seen two pillars on either side of a closed door.
Quality gained	Luminosity
PATH II. PATH OF MAGNETIC WORK
Attributes	Responsiveness to heat and knowledge of rhythm
Source	An unknown constellation, via Gemini
Methode	The entering of the burning-ground [427]
Hierarchy	The third and fourth
Symbol	A funeral pyre, four torches, and a fivefold star mounting towards the sun
Quality gained	Electrical velocity
PATH III. PATH OF TRAINING FOR PLANETARY LOGOS
Attributes	Cosmic vision, deva hearing and psychic correlation
Source	Betelgeuse, via the sign Sagittarius
Hierarchy	The fifth
Method	Prismatic identification
Symbol	A colored cross with a star at the center and backed by a blazing sun, surmounted by a Sensa Word
Quality gained	Cosmic etheric vision or septenary clairvoyance
PATH IV. THE PATH TO SIRIUS
Attributes	Cosmic rapture and rhythmic bliss
Source	Sirius via the Sun which veils a zodiacal sign
Hierarchy	Veiled by the numbers 14 and 17
Method	Duplex rotary motion and rhythmic dancing upon the square
Symbol	Two wheels of electric fire, revolving around an orange Cross, with an emerald at the center
Quality gained	Unrevealed
PATH V. THE RAY PATH
Attributes	A sense of cosmic direction
Source	The Pole Star via Aquarius
Hierarchy	The first and the second
Method	A process of electrical insulation and the imprisonment of polar magnetism
Symbol	Five balls of fire enclosed within a sphere. Sphere is formed of a serpent inscribed with the mantram of insulation
Quality gained	Cosmic stability and magnetic equilibrium
PATH VI. THE PATH OF THE SOLAR LOGOS
Not given	Not given
PATH VII. THE PATH OF ABSOLUTE SONSHIP
Not given	Not given [428]

B.I.5. The World Tension Analyzed

The tension in the world today, (written in April 1947) particularly in the Hierarchy, is such that it will produce another and perhaps ultimate world crisis, or else such a speeding up of the spiritual life of the planet that the coming in of the long-looked-for New Age conditions will be amazingly hastened. I would have you consider carefully what I have said here, remembering what I have told you in the past anent points of tension. This present tension constitutes a major problem for the disciple in training, and therefore our particular theme in this instruction is peculiarly apposite.

There is a great deal of glamor in the world today and a great deal of that glamor is concentrated in Russia, owing to the youth and the basic political inexperience of that people. The United States of America is also young and inexperienced, but not to the same extent as are the Russian people. Today, the Russians are suffering from the glamor of power, the glamor of planning, the glamor of what they consider a great ideal (and such it is), the glamor of prestige and the inevitable - but ephemeral - glamor of totalitarianism. It is this same totalitarianism which also constitutes their weakest point, because it leads inexorably to a revolt of the human spirit. That human spirit is to be found in Russia to exactly the same extent as it is to be found in any other country in the world.

Freedom is an essentially spiritual attribute, underlying the entire evolutionary process; this should always be remembered as a strengthening and conditioning reality by all men everywhere. It has survived aeons of opposition from the principle of enslaving selfishness and is largely responsible, at this time, for the struggle in which we are all participating.

The country which is the most free from selfishness today is Great Britain; she is experienced, old, and therefore mature in her thinking; she has learnt much in a relatively short time and her judgment is sound. The most [429] selfish country in the world today is France, with the United States (though along totally different lines) running her a close second; both are materially selfish and capitalistically engrossed. Russia is also selfish but it is the selfishness of a fanatical ideal, held by an immature, a too young a people. The selfishness of the United States is also due to youth, but it will eventually yield to experience and to suffering; there is - fortunately for the soul of this great people - much suffering in store for the United States. The selfishness of France is less excusable; France too is old and experienced; again and again she has been the victim of the armed forces of Germany and cries aloud to the world about it. France forgets that she frequently overran central Europe in the Middle Ages, and the Napoleonic conquests are relatively modern history. Her evil destiny (as she regards it) does, nevertheless, give her the opportunity to become spiritual in her life and attitudes, instead of grossly and intellectually (though brilliantly) material. She has not yet learned her lesson, and as yet shows little inclination to do so. Strain, economic privations and anxiety may teach her; the result will be stability.

In the hands of the United States, Great Britain and Russia, and also in the hands of France, lies the destiny of the world disciple, Humanity. Humanity has been passing through the tests which are preparatory to the first initiation; they have been hard and cruel and are not yet entirely over. The Lords of Karma (four in number) are today working through these four Great Powers; it is, however, a karma which seeks to liberate, as does all karma. In the coming crisis, true vision and a new freedom, plus a wider spiritual horizon may be attained. The crisis, if rightly handled, need not again reach the ultimate horror.

The area of difficulty - as is well known - is the Near East and Palestine. The Jews, by their illegal and terrorist activities, have laid a foundation of great difficulty for those who are seeking to promote world peace. As a Jewish member of my Ashram pointed out (and I commend him on his soul vision), the Jews have partially again opened the door [430] to the Forces of Evil, which worked originally through Hitler and his evil gang. The "sealing" of that door had not been successfully accomplished, and it is the part of wisdom to discover this in time. These Forces of Evil work through a triangle of evil, one point of which is to be found in the Zionist Movement in the United States, another in central Europe, and the third in Palestine. Palestine is no longer a Holy Land and should not be so regarded.

I would have you bear these points in mind while you investigate the world picture. This picture is taking shape and warrants recognition. It involves the Jews (who are not a nation but a religious group) the Near East and Russia. In the maps which are to be found in the Archives of the spiritual Hierarchy, the entire area of the Near East and Europe - Greece, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Palestine, the Arab States, Egypt and Russia - are under a heavy over-shadowing cloud. Can that cloud be dissipated by the right thinking and planning of Great Britain, the United States and the majority of the United Nations or - must it break in disaster over the world? Will it present a task too hard for correct handling by that inexperienced disciple - Humanity?

In what I have written above you have the picture of the true situation; it is one which finds Great Britain temporarily weakened and ineffective (except for the clear thinking of her people and her political maturity); it finds the United States, unused to power, somewhat arrogant, with a strong superiority complex, inexperienced and yet at the same time exceedingly well-intentioned and fundamentally sound. It is the mass of the people who are sound in their thinking and not their representatives in Congress.

It is not for me to tell you what will happen, although the Hierarchy knows. Humanity must (as must all disciples) be left entirely free to settle its own destiny. Humanity has not yet learned the difficult lesson which all disciples have to master: the lesson of the dual life of the man whose soul is functioning and whose physical brain is constantly aware of this fact. [431]

B.I.6. The Dual Life of the Initiatory Process

In all the many books which I have written, I have said relatively little about the brain and its relation to the personality and the soul. It is not possible to enlarge at any length on that theme here, but I will make certain statements without which this whole process of dual living would be most difficult to explain. I will sum up what I have to say in the form of three basic statements:

1. The brain is a most delicate receiving and transmitting apparatus:
   1. It is responsive to information relayed to it, via the senses, from the emotional plane and from the mind.
   2. Through its medium the personal lower self becomes aware of its environment, of the nature of its desires, and of its mental peculiarities, as well as of the emotional states and the thoughts of the people contacted in the environment.
2. The brain is largely conditioned by the endocrine system, and this far more than the endocrinologists would care to admit:
   1. It is powerfully conditioned by three major glands which are found in close relation to the brain substance. These are the pituitary body, the pineal gland and the carotid gland.
   2. These form a triangle, practically unrelated in primitive man, occasionally related in average man, and closely related in the spiritual man.
   3. These glands are objective correspondences of the three energy centers, by means of which the soul, or the indwelling spiritual man, controls his physical vehicle.
   4. Where the relation is close between the three glands - as is increasingly the case where disciples are concerned - a triangle of circulating energies is always established.
   5. This triangle, through the carotid gland in the [432] medulla oblongata, becomes related to other glands and centers.
3. The brain, as transmitter, becomes a powerful directing agency:
   1. As a recipient and transmitter of pure energy or life it uses the carotid gland controlled by the alta major center, and establishes a close relation with the heart and the heart center.
   2. As a recipient of mental energy or of energy from the soul, the ajna center becomes the directing agency; this is the center which controls the pituitary body.
   3. These energies are received via the head center, which controls the pineal gland. Emotional energy enters the personality system via the solar plexus center, where it either controls or is transmuted and elevated.

It is this triple mechanism in the head - both objective and subjective - which uses the physical brain as a receiving agent and as a transmitting agent. It is this which is brought into creative activity and thus under the control of the disciple in training or in process of being prepared for initiation. I have not hitherto emphasized this, nor do I wish to do so, for it is not desirable for the disciple or aspirant consciously and deliberately to deal with the mechanism in the head. Let him learn to control and consciously employ the mind; let him train his mind to receive communications from three sources:

• The three worlds of ordinary living, thus enabling the mind to act as the "common sense."
• The soul, and thus consciously become the disciple, the worker in an Ashram, illumined by the wisdom of the soul, and superseding gradually the knowledge gained in the three worlds. That knowledge, rightly applied, becomes wisdom.
• The Spiritual Triad, acting as the intermediary between the Monad and the brain of the personality. This can eventually take place, because the soul and personality [433] are fused and blended into one functioning unit, this superseding again what we mean when we use the erroneous phrase "the soul." Duality then takes the place of the original triplicity.

It has been necessary to make these somewhat elementary remarks and to clarify these points, if there is to be true understanding as to what constitutes the dual life of the disciple or the Master, and wherein they differ.

One of the tests of the initiatory process is a hitherto totally unexpected one. Tests which are expected and for which preparation has been made do not constitute true tests in the real sense of the word, esoterically understood. It is a test - imposed with increasing rigidity as initiation after initiation is taken - to see just how far the initiate is capable of retaining or preserving in his brain consciousness the registered facts of several worlds or planes of consciousness; i.e., the three worlds of human endeavor and the world of soul consciousness, or both of these and the world of the Ashram; or again these and the activity of the Hierarchy itself, viewing it as a complete whole; or again, all of these and the world of Triadal experience, until the point is reached where a straight continuity of consciousness can be registered and held which comes directly from the Council Chamber of the Lord of the World to Those Masters Who are functioning in a physical body and must therefore use a physical brain. In every single case the test (in order to be passed correctly) must involve the brain consciousness; the facts, registered upon the subtler planes, must be correctly registered, recognized and interpreted simultaneously upon the physical plane.

You can see for yourselves that this is a major and most necessary indication of a developing awareness; a Master has to be aware at any time on any plane and at will. It will also be obvious to you that this will be a growing and an increasing perception for which the intermediate stages, between initiations, prepare the initiate. Gradually, each one of the five senses, plus the common sense (the mind), has to demonstrate the effectiveness of its higher correspondence [434] and thus of a developing subtle apparatus. Through this apparatus the initiate is put in touch with widening areas of the divine "state of mind" or with the planetary consciousness, until "the mind that is in Christ" becomes truly the mind of the initiate, with all that those words entail of meaning and esoteric significance. Consciousness, Sensitivity, Awareness, Planetary Rapport, Universal Consciousness - these are the words which we must consider, sequentially developed and in their truly esoteric sense.

You have here a wide and general picture, involving the goal, the means or mode, the testing point and the physical brain; these are four factors which have received little or no attention where initiation has been dealt with in the occult writings. They are nevertheless of major importance. I am dealing with them here because of the stage of development now reached by the human mind, because of their increasingly close relation to the physical brain, and because there are now so many aspirants ready to tread the Path of Discipleship, the Path of Initiatory Training. They are now in a position to work consciously at the task of a dual and constant process of spiritual and physical recognitions.

B.I.6.a. The Dual Life of the Disciple

I have divided this theme into two parts, owing to the fact that the dualism displayed by a Master and that demonstrated by a disciple are not identical or one and the same thing at advancing points of distinction. The subject, when you first approach it, seems of a relative simplicity, but a closer consideration of it will present great and unexpected dissimilarities.

In connection with the dual life of the disciple, the factors involved are the threefold personality (with an awakening or onlooking consciousness centered or focused in the brain), the soul which seems at first the ultimate goal of attainment but is later seen as simply a system or collection of fusing spiritual attributes, and the lowest aspect of the Spiritual Triad, the abstract mind. The disciple feels that, if he can attain the immediate and fused consciousness [435] of the three, he has attained; he realizes also that this involves the construction of the antahkarana. All these factors, for one who has just been admitted to the Path of Discipleship and who is just finding his place within an Ashram, seem an adequately difficult undertaking and one that engrosses every power which he possesses.

This, for the time being, is true and - until the third initiation - these objectives, their conscious fusion, plus a recognition of the divine planes of awareness to which they all admit him, indicate the disciple's task and keep him fully occupied. To the recognitions entailed he has to add a growing capacity to work on the levels of consciousness involved, remembering always that a plane and a state of consciousness are synonymous terms, and that he is making progress, becoming aware, building the antahkarana, training as a hierarchical worker within an Ashram, familiarizing himself with new and opening spiritual environments, widening his horizon, stabilizing himself upon the Path, and living upon the physical plane the life of an intelligent man within the world of men. He is demonstrating also no freakish peculiarities, but appears as a man of goodwill, of benevolent intelligence, of unalterable goodness, and of stem and unchangeable spiritual purpose. Is that enough of a goal for a disciple? Does it seem well-nigh impossible of accomplishment? Can you undertake such a proposition and make good your undertaking?

Most assuredly you can, for the factor of time enters in and the disciple is free to submit to its conditioning, particularly in the early stages of his discipleship; this he usually does at first, knowing nothing else to do, but the speed or the sattvic or rhythmic nature of the spiritual life eventually changes this attitude; he then works with no true consciousness of time except as it affects other people and his associates upon the physical plane.

At first, his registration of that which is sensed or seen upon the subtler planes or the soul plane is slow; it takes time for contacts and for knowledge gained to penetrate from the higher levels to his physical brain. This fact (when [436] he discovers it) tends to upset his time-awareness, and the first step is therefore taken on the path of timelessness, speaking symbolically. He gains also the capacity to work with greater rapidity and mental coordination than does the average intelligent man; in this way he learns the limitations of time as a brain condition, and learns also how to offset it and to work in such a way that he does more within a set time limit than is possible to the average man, no matter how ardently he may pursue the effort. The overcoming of time and the demonstration of spiritual speed are indications that the dual life of discipleship is superseding the integrated life of the personality, though leading in its turn to a still greater synthesis and higher integration.

The dual life which all disciples lead produces also a rapidity of mental interpretation which is essential to the sane registration of the phenomenal life of the various higher planes and states of consciousness. Forget not that all our planes are subplanes of the cosmic physical plane, and are therefore phenomenal in nature. As they are contacted and recorded and the knowledge is transmitted to the physical brain, via the mind, there must always accompany them a true interpretation and a correct recognition of "things as they are." It is here that the non-disciple and the psychic go wrong, for their interpretation is almost always fundamentally in error, and it takes time (coming within that cycle of limitation) intelligently to interpret and truly register what the perceiving consciousness has contacted. When the time factor no longer controls, the interpretations registered by the brain are infallibly correct. I have here given you a major piece of information.

You will see, therefore, that in the earlier initiatory process, the factor of time is noted by the initiate and also by the presenting Masters. An instance of a slow permeation of information from the plane of initiation to the physical brain can be seen in the fact that very few aspirants and disciples register the fact that they have already taken the first initiation, the birth of the Christ in the cave of the heart. That they have taken it is evidenced by their deliberate [437] treading of the Way, by their love of the Christ - no matter by what name they may call Him - and by their effort to serve and help their fellowmen; they are still, however, surprised when told that the first initiation lies behind them. This is due entirely to the factor of time, leading to their inability to "bring through" past events with accuracy, by a false humility as well (inculcated by the Christian Church, as it attempts to keep people subjugated by the sin idea), and by the intensely forward-looking anticipatory consciousness of the average aspirant. When a true perspective and a balanced point of view have been attained, and some awareness of the Eternal Now is beginning to penetrate into their understanding, then the past, the present and the future will be lost to sight in the consciousness of the inclusiveness of the moment that Is; then the limitations of time will be ending and the Law of Karma will be negated; it is at present so closely related to past and future. The dual life of the disciple will then be ended, giving place to the cosmic dualism of the Master. The Master is free from the limitations of time, though not of space, because space is an eternal Entity.

You will see, therefore, the great necessity for a constant emphasis, at this stage in the training of the average aspirant, on the need for alignment, or for the creation of a channel of direct relation from the brain to the desired point of contact. To this trained alignment must eventually be added the building of the antahkarana and its subsequent use in a growing system of alignments. The antahkarana must be completed and direct contact must be established with the Spiritual Triad by the time the third initiation has been taken. Then follows the fourth initiation with its destruction of the egoic, causal or soul body, owing to the complete fusion of soul and personality. The dual life of the disciple ends.

B.I.6.b. The Dual Existence of the Master

I would have you note here the difference between the two headings. I refer in one place to the dual life of the [438] disciple but in another to the dual existence of the Master. That distinction is deliberate and intentional. The disciple lives in the three worlds and, until the third initiation, he demonstrates his livingness strictly in relation to the soul and the personality, and therefore strictly to the phenomenal world and to the various levels of the dense cosmic physical plane.

The Master functions on the plane of Being and demonstrates the fact that He eternally Is, that He exists as a divine aspect upon the formless levels of the cosmic etheric planes; this is a very different matter to the life of the disciple and to which little attention has been paid. Existence, Being, Essential Life, Dynamic Energy, Electric Fire are all of them distinctive of the higher initiations; they produce basic distinctions between their constitution and mode of life expression and that of those who live, who are in process of becoming, who express quality, and who fuse and blend solar fire and fire by friction. Being and Existence are not the same as Becoming or of Qualified Appearance. It is largely a question of emphases. A Master has synthesized within Himself all for which the advancing disciple longs to express, all that is possible as Expansion, plus an emphasis upon the dynamic life aspect, plus an ability to stand immovable in pure Being. Here again I find it hard to express that for which no words are to be found.

In the Master, all the divine aspects are proved capable of expression in accordance with this particular time, in this particular round and chain (reverting to the old symbolism of The Secret Doctrine) and through any particular racial expression. These divine characteristics - viewed from the angle of time and space - are shewn in a definitely relative form; later cycles and time periods will show these aspects in a still more perfected form. But the relativity of these matters does not really concern us, and the perfection is - from, the angle of the human disciple today - exactly what we understand by perfection. The Masters know, however, that a higher, deeper and more intensive manifestation of divinity is potentially possible, but it causes Them no [439] concern or strain, no anxiety or fiery aspiration; They know, as no disciple can know, the workings of the Law of Inevitability. This Law releases the Masters (under the accompanying Law of Service), at the sixth initiation, into a wider field of experience, with all the divine assets and qualities so developed within Them that They know that Their equipment is adequate to the undertaking and that They can, without hesitancy and concern, take the next required steps.

It is hard for the disciple - struggling with glamor and illusion - to realize that the higher initiations are free from all concern and from any emotional or self-centered reactions to the work which lies ahead or to the form side of manifestation; it is well-nigh impossible for the neophyte to vision a time when he will be free from all reactions engendered by life on the dense cosmic physical planes and from all the limitations of life in the three worlds. Today, aspiration provides a constant source of anxious questioning, of painful deliberations and of high voltage spiritual ambition, with their consequent limitations and moments of sensed failure and lack of achievement. The Master has left all this behind, knowing that even this so-called "spiritual responsiveness" is a form of self-centered attitude. Eventually - and disciples should take courage and hope from this statement - all this agonizing reaction to the spiritual urge will be left behind. The Master knows the Law and is entirely free from any consideration of the time equation, as far as He Himself is concerned. He only regards time as it may affect the working of the Plan in the three worlds.

The dual existence of the Master involves what we might call the two poles: that of the monadic consciousness, whatever that may be, and that of the self-created form which He may use as a member of the Hierarchy and a worker in the three worlds of human enterprise. I would here remind you that there are many groups and types of Masters, and most of Them are quite unknown to occult students either from Their work or from rumor or from knowledge of the many evolutionary processes of which the human is only [440] one. Not all the Masters work in the three worlds; not all the Masters need or possess physical bodies; not all the Masters "have Their faces turned towards the realm of dark light, but many face for aeons towards the clear cold light of spiritual existence"; not all the Masters make or are required to make the sacrifices which work for the fourth kingdom in nature entails. Not all souls liberated or limited constitute the Kingdom of God in the sense which that phrase conveys to us; that term is limited to the soul which informs units in the human family; not all the Masters work under the great Buddha of Activity Who is responsible to Sanat Kumara for the Plan working out in connection with Humanity. He works through the three Great Lords of the Eternal Ashram of Sanat Kumara, but His two Brothers have Each of Them an equally important work and are responsible - as He is - to the Council Chamber. Each of Them also works through a triangle of energies with grouped subsidiary forces working in seven departments and differentiated also into forty-nine lesser departments, as is the Ashram which we call the Hierarchy. Forget not, there are many Hierarchies and the Human Hierarchy is but one.

This whole theme is one of great complexity and yet at the same time so simple that when the simplicity of the planetary constitution is truly grasped and the analytic disputations of the concrete mind are overcome, the liberated Master enters a world of spiritual endeavor which is free from forms and symbols or the veils which hide the basic truth and the underlying mystery.

Being is simple, free, unlimited and unimpeded and in that world the Master moves and works. Becoming is complex, imprisoning, limited and subjected to hindrances, and in that world the disciple and the lesser initiates live and move and have their being. The Master works simultaneously in two worlds or states of awareness; i.e., that related to pure existence, to the untrammelled life of the planes controlled by the Monad, and also by the Hierarchy. There naught but the Plan engrosses His attention.

He deals safely with "the simplicity which is Shamballa" and its [441] sphere or aura of influence and "with the field of relationships which are nurtured from the Ashram of the Christ." I am here quoting one of the Masters Who was endeavoring to explain to a disciple the simplicity of the life which a Master expresses.

B.I.7. The Science of the Anatahkarana

As we enter on the consideration of "The dual life of the initiatory process" I would call your attention to the wording used, and particularly to its significance in reference to the initiatory process. This deals, as we shall see, not with the effort of the disciple to live simultaneously the life of the spiritual world and the practical life of physical plane service, but entirely with the preparation of the disciple for initiation, and therefore with his mental life and attitudes.

This statement might be regarded as concerning itself primarily with two major aspects of his mental life and not with the life of relation between soul and personality. It is proper, consequently, to see a duality existing in the consciousness of the disciple, and both of its aspects existing side by side:

1. The life of awareness in which he expresses the soul attitude, soul awareness and soul consciousness, through the medium of the personality upon the physical plane; this he learns to register and express consciously.
2. The intensely private and purely subjective life in which he - the soul-infused personality - oriented upon the mental plane, brings into increasing rapport:
   1. His lower concrete mind and the higher abstract mind.
   2. Himself and the Master of his ray group, thus developing the ashramic consciousness.
   3. Himself and the Hierarchy as a whole, becoming increasingly aware of the spiritual synthesis underlying the united Ashrams. He thus consciously and steadily approaches the radiant Center of this solar Ashram, the Christ Himself, the first Initiator. [442]

This inner life with its three slowly revealed objectives concerns essentially the life of preparation for initiation.

There is no initiation for the disciple until he has begun consciously to build the antahkarana, thus bringing the Spiritual Triad and the mind as the highest aspect in the three worlds into a close relationship; later, he brings his physical brain into a position of a recording agent upon the physical plane, thus again demonstrating a clear alignment and a direct channel from the Spiritual Triad straight through to the brain via the antahkarana which has linked the higher mind and the lower.

This involves much work, much interpretive capacity and much power to visualize. I am choosing my words with care. This visualization is not necessarily concerned with form and with concrete mental presentations; it is concerned with a pictorial and symbolic sensitivity which expresses interpretively the spiritual understanding, conveyed by the awakening intuition - the agent of the Spiritual Triad. The meaning of this becomes clearer as the work proceeds. It is difficult for the man who is beginning the work of constructing the antahkarana to grasp the meaning of visualization as it is seen to be related to a growing responsiveness to that which the ashramic group conveys to him, to his emerging vision of the divine Plan as it exists in reality, and to that which is committed to him as the effect or the result of each successive initiation. I prefer the word "effect" to the word "result," for the initiate increasingly works consciously with the Law of Cause and Effect on planes other than the physical. We use the word "result" to express the consequences of that great cosmic Law as they demonstrate in the three worlds of human evolution.

It is in connection with this effort that he discovers the value, uses and purpose of the creative imagination. This creative imagination is all that remains to him eventually of the active and intensely powerful astral life which he has lived for so many lives; as evolution proceeds, his astral body becomes a mechanism of transformation, desire being transformed into aspiration and aspiration itself being transformed [443] into a growing and expressive intuitive faculty. The reality of this process is demonstrated in the emergence of that basic quality which has always been inherent in desire itself: the imaginative quality of the soul, implementing desire and steadily becoming a higher creative faculty as desire shifts into ever higher states and leads to ever higher realizations. This faculty eventually invokes the energies of the mind, and the mind, plus the imagination, becomes in time a great invocative and creative agent. It is thus that the Spiritual Triad is brought into rapport with the threefold personality.

I have told you in earlier writings that basically the astral plane is non-existent as a part of the divine Plan; it is fundamentally the product of glamor, of kama-manas - a glamor which humanity itself has created and in which it has lived practically entirely since early Atlantean days. The effect of an increasing soul contact has not simply been to dispel the mists of glamor, but it has also served to consolidate and to bring into effective use, therefore, the imagination with its overwhelmingly powerful creative faculty. This creative energy, when implemented by an illumined mind (with its thought-form making ability), is then wielded by the disciple in order to make contacts higher than with the soul, and to bring into symbolic form that of which he becomes aware through the medium of a line of energy - the antahkarana - which he is steadily and scientifically creating.

It might be said (equally symbolically) that at each initiation he tests the connecting bridge and discovers gradually the soundness of that which he has created under the inspiration of the Spiritual Triad and with the aid of the three aspects of his mind (the abstract mind, the soul or the Son of Mind, and the lower concrete mind), combined with the intelligent cooperation of his soul-infused personality. In the early stages of his invocative work, the instrument used is the creative imagination. This enables him at the very beginning to act as if he were capable of thus creating; then, when the as if imaginative consciousness is no longer [444] useful, he becomes consciously aware of that which he has - with hope and spiritual expectancy - sought to create; he discovers this as an existent fact and knows past all controversy that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

B.I.7.a. Building the Antahkarana

With the introductory teaching on the science of the Antahkarana we shall not here deal, for the student will find it in the book, Education in the New Age. That preliminary presentation should be studied before taking up the more advanced stage which begins here. Let us now consider, step by step this science which is already proving a useful source of experiment and testing.

The human soul (in contradistinction to the soul as it functions in its own kingdom, free from the limitations of human life) is imprisoned and subject to the control of the lower three energies for the major part of its experience. Then, upon the Path of Probation, the dual energy of soul begins to be increasingly active, and the man seeks to use his mind consciously, and to express love-wisdom on the physical plane. This is a simple statement of the objective of all aspirants. When the five energies are beginning to be used, consciously and wisely in service, a rhythm is then set up between the Personality and the Soul. It is as if a magnetic field were then established and these two vibrating and magnetic units, or grouped energies, swung into each other's field of influence. This happens only occasionally and rarely in the early stages; later it occurs more constantly, and thus a path of contact is established which eventually becomes the line of least resistance, "the way of familiar approach," as it is sometimes called. Thus is the first half of the "bridge," the antahkarana, constructed. By the time the third initiation is completed, this Way is completed, and the initiate can "pass to higher worlds at will, leaving the lower worlds far behind; or he can come again and pass upon the way that leads from dark to light, from light to dark, and from the under lower worlds into the realms of light." [445]

Thus the two are one, and the first great union upon the Path of Return is completed. A second stage of the Way has then to be trodden, leading to a second union of still further importance in that it leads to complete liberation from the three worlds. It must be remembered that the soul, in its turn, is a union of three energies of which the lower three are the reflection. It is a synthesis of the energy of Life itself (which demonstrates as the life-principle within the world of forms), of the energy of the intuition or spiritual love-wisdom or understanding (this demonstrates as sensitivity and feeling in the astral body), and spiritual mind, whose reflection in the lower nature is the mind or the principle of intelligence in the form world. In these three we have the atma-buddhi-manas of the theosophical literature - that higher triplicity which is reflected in the lower three, and which focuses through the soul body on the higher levels of the mental plane before being precipitated into incarnation - as it is esoterically called.

Modernizing the concept, we might say that the energies which animate the physical body and the intelligent life of the atom, the sensitive emotional states, and the intelligent mind, have eventually to be blended with and transmuted into the energies which animate the soul. These are the spiritual mind, conveying illumination; the intuitive nature, conferring spiritual perception; and divine livingness.

After the third initiation the "Way" is carried forward with great rapidity, and the "bridge" is finished which links perfectly the higher spiritual Triad and the lower material reflection. The three worlds of the Soul and the three worlds of the Personality become one world wherein the initiate works and functions, seeing no distinction, regarding one world as the world of inspiration and the other world as constituting the field of service, yet regarding both together as forming one world of activity. Of these two worlds, the subjective etheric body (or the body of vital inspiration) and the dense physical body are symbols on the external plane.

How is this bridging antahkarana to be built? Where [446] are the steps which the disciple must follow? I deal not here with the Path of Probation whereon the major faults should be eliminated and whereon the major virtues should be developed. Much of the instruction given in the past has laid down the rules for the cultivation of the virtues and qualifications for discipleship, and also the necessity for self-control, for tolerance and for unselfishness. But these are elementary stages and should be taken for granted by the students. Such students should be occupied not only with the establishment of the character aspect of discipleship, but with the more abstruse and difficult requirements for those whose eventual goal is initiation.

It is with the work of the "bridge-builders" that we are concerned. First, let me assure you that the real building of the antahkarana takes place only when the disciple is beginning to be definitely focused upon mental levels, and when therefore his mind is intelligently and consciously functioning. He must begin at this stage to have some more exact idea than has hitherto been the case as to the distinctions existing between the thinker, the apparatus of thought, and thought itself, beginning with its dual esoteric function which is:

1. The recognition and receptivity to Ideas.
2. The creative faculty of conscious thought-form building.

This necessarily involves a strong mental attitude and reorientation of the mind to reality. As the disciple begins to focus himself on the mental plane (and this is the prime intent of the meditation work), he starts working in mental matter and trains himself in the powers and uses of thought. He achieves a measure of mind control; he can turn the searchlight of the mind in two directions, into the world of human endeavor and into the world of soul activity. Just as the soul makes a way for itself by projecting itself in a thread or stream of energy into the three worlds, so the disciple begins consciously to project himself into the higher worlds. His energy goes forth, through the medium of the controlled and directed mind, into the world of the higher [447] spiritual mind and into the realm of the intuition. A reciprocal activity is thus set up. This response between the higher and the lower mind is symbolically spoken of in terms of light, and the "lighted way" comes into being between the personality and the spiritual Triad, via the soul body, just as the soul came into definite contact with the brain via the mind. This "lighted way" is the illumined bridge. It is built through meditation; it is constructed through the constant effort to draw forth the intuition, through subservience and obedience to the Plan (which begins to be recognized as soon as the intuition and the mind are en rapport), and through a conscious incorporation into the group in service and for purposes of assimilation into the whole. All these qualities and activities are based upon the foundation of good character and the qualities developed upon the Probationary Path.

The effort to draw forth the intuition requires directed occult (but not aspirational) meditation. It requires a trained intelligence, so that the line of demarcation between intuitive realization and the forms of the higher psychism may be clearly seen. It requires a constant disciplining of the mind, so that it can "hold itself steady in the light," and the development of a cultured right interpretation, so that the intuitive knowledge achieved may then clothe itself in the right thought-forms.

It might also be stated here that the construction of the bridge whereby the consciousness can function with facility, both in the higher worlds and in the lower, is primarily brought about by a definitely directed life-tendency, which steadily sends the man in the direction of the world of spiritual realities, plus certain movements of planned and carefully timed and directed reorientation or focusing. In this last process the gain of the past months or years is closely assessed; the effect of that gain upon the daily life and in the bodily mechanism is as carefully studied; and the will-to-live as a spiritual being is brought into the consciousness with a definiteness and a determination that makes for immediate progress. [448]

This building of the antahkarana is most assuredly proceeding in the case of every earnest student. When the work is carried on intelligently and with full awareness of the desired purpose, and when the aspirant is not only aware of the process but alert and active in its fulfilment, then the work proceeds apace and the bridge is built.

It is wise to accept the fact that humanity is now in a position to begin the definite process of constructing the link or bridge between the various aspects of man's nature, so that instead of differentiation there will be unity, and instead of a fluid, moving attention, directed here and there into the field of material living and emotional relationships, we shall have learnt to control the mind and to have bridged the divisions, and so can direct at will the lower attention in any desired manner. Thus all aspects of man, spiritual and natural, can be focused where needed.

This bridging work has in part already been done. Humanity has as a whole already bridged the gap between the emotional-astral nature and the physical man. It should be noted here that the bridging has to be done in the consciousness aspect, and concerns the continuity of man's awareness of life in all its various aspects. The energy which is used in connecting, in consciousness, the physical man and the astral body is focused in the solar plexus. Many today, speaking in symbolical terms, are carrying that bridge forward and linking the mind with the two aspects already linked. This thread of energy emanates from or is anchored in the head. Some people, fewer of course in number, are steadily linking the soul and the mind, which in its turn is linked with the other two aspects. The soul energy, when linked with the other threads has its anchor in the heart. A very few people, the initiates of the world, having effected all the lower syntheses, are now occupied with bringing about a still higher union, with that triple Reality which uses the soul as its medium of expression, just as the soul in its turn is endeavoring to use its shadow, the threefold lower man.

These distinctions and unifications are matters of form, [449] symbols in speech, and are used to express events and happenings in the world of energies and forces, in connection with which man is definitely implicated. It is to these unifications that we refer when the subject of initiation is under consideration.

It will be useful if we repeat here a few statements made in an earlier book:

Students should train themselves to distinguish between the sutratma and the antahkarana, between the life thread and the thread of consciousness. The one thread is the basis of immortality and the other the basis of continuity. Herein lies a fine distinction for the investigator. One thread (the sutratma) links and vivifies all forms into one functioning whole, and embodies in itself the will and the purpose of the expressing entity, be it man, God or a crystal. The other thread (the  antahkarana) embodies the response of the consciousness within the form to a steadily expanding range of contacts within the environing whole. One is the direct stream of life, unbroken and immutable, which can be regarded symbolically as a direct stream of living energy flowing from the center to the periphery, and from the source to the outer expression, or the phenomenal appearance. It is the life. It produces the individual process and the evolutionary unfoldment of all forms.

It is, therefore, the path of life, which reaches from the Monad to the personality, via the soul. This is the thread soul and it is one and indivisible. It conveys the energy of life and finds its final anchor in the center of the human heart and at some central focal point in all forms of divine expression. Naught is and naught remains but life. The consciousness thread (antahkarana) is the result of the union of life and substance or of the basic energies which constitute the first differentiation in time and space; this produces something different, which only emerges as a third divine manifestation after the union of the basic dualities has taken place.

The life thread, the silver cord or the sutratma is, as far as man is concerned, dual in nature. The life thread [450] proper, which is one of the two threads which constitute the sutratma, is anchored in the heart, whilst the other thread, which embodies the principle of consciousness, is anchored in the head. This you already know, but this I feel the need to constantly reiterate. In the work of the evolutionary cycle, however, man has to repeat what God has already done. He must himself create, both in the world of consciousness and of life. Like a spider, man spins connecting threads, and thus bridges and makes contact with his environment, thereby gaining experience and sustenance. The spider symbol is often used in the ancient occult books and the scriptures of India in connection with this activity of the human being. These threads, which man creates, are triple in number, and with the two basic threads which have been created by the soul, constitute the five types of energy which make man a conscious human being.

The triple threads created by man are anchored in the solar plexus, the head and the heart. When the astral body and the mind nature are beginning to function as a unit, and the soul also is consciously connected (do not forget that it is always unconsciously linked), an extension of this fivefold thread - the basic two and the human three - is carried to the throat center, and when that occurs man can become a conscious creator on the physical plane. From these major lines of energy lesser lines can radiate at will. It is upon this knowledge that all future intelligent psychic unfoldment must be based.

In the above paragraph and its implications you have a brief and inadequate statement as to the Science of the Antahkarana. I have endeavored to express this in terms, symbolic if you will, which will convey a general idea to your minds. We can learn much through the use of the pictorial and visual imagination. This bridging must take place:

1. From the physical to the vital or etheric body. This is really an extension of the life thread between the heart and the spleen.
2. From the physical and the vital, regarding them as a [451] unity, to the astral or emotional vehicle. This thread emanates from, or is anchored in, the solar plexus, and is carried upwards, by means of the aspiration, till it anchors itself in the love petals of the egoic Lotus.
3. From the physical and astral vehicles to the mental body. One terminus is anchored in the head, and the other in the knowledge petals of the egoic Lotus, being carried forward by an act of the will.

Advanced humanity is in process of linking the three lower aspects, which we call the personality, with the soul itself, through meditation, discipline, service and directed attention. When this has been accomplished, a definite relation is established between the sacrifice or will petals of the egoic Lotus and the head and heart centers, thus producing a synthesis between consciousness, the soul and the life principle. The process of establishing this interlinking and interrelation, and the strengthening of the bridge thus constructed, goes on until the Third Initiation. The lines of force are then so interrelated that the soul and its mechanism of expression are a unity. A higher blending and fusing can then go on.

I can perhaps indicate the nature of this process in the following manner: I have stated here and elsewhere that the soul anchors itself in the body at two points:

1. There is a thread of energy, which we call the life or spirit aspect, anchored in the heart. It uses the blood stream, as is well known, as its distributing agency, and through the medium of the blood, life energy is carried to every part of the mechanism. This life energy carries the regenerating power and coordinating energy to all the physical organisms and keeps the body "whole."
2. There is a thread of energy, which we call the consciousness aspect or the faculty of soul knowledge, anchored in the center of the head. It controls that response mechanism which we call the brain, and through its medium it directs activity and induces awareness throughout the body by means of the nervous system. [452]

These two energy factors, which are recognized by the human being as knowledge and life, or as intelligence and living energy, are the two poles of his being. The task ahead of him now is to develop consciously the middle or balancing aspect, which is love or group relationship. (See Education in the New Age, Pages 26-27, 32-33, 92.)

B.I.7.b. The Nature of the Antahkarana

One of the difficulties connected with this study of the antahkarana is the fact that hitherto the work done upon the antahkarana has been entirely unconscious. Therefore, the concept in men's minds relating to this form of creative work and this construction of the bridge meets at first with little response from the mind nature; also, in order to express these ideas, we have practically to create a new terminology, for there are no words suitable to define our meaning. Just as modern sciences have evolved a complete new terminology of their own during the past forty years, so this science must develop its own peculiar vocabulary. In the meantime, we must do the best we can with the words at our disposal.

The second point I would make is to ask those who are studying along these lines to realize that in time they will arrive at understanding, but that at present all that they can do is to depend upon the unalterable tendency of the subconscious nature to penetrate to the surface of consciousness as a reflex activity in the establishing of continuity of consciousness. This reflex activity of the lower nature corresponds to the development of continuity between the superconscious and the consciousness which develops upon the Path of Discipleship. It is all a part - in three stages - of the integrating process, proving to the disciple that all of life is (in terms of consciousness) one of revelation. Ponder on this.

Another of the difficulties in considering any of these esoteric sciences that deal with what has been called the "conscious unfoldment of the divine recognitions" (which is true awareness) is the ancient habit of humanity to materialize [453] all knowledge. Everything man learns is applied - as the centuries pass - to the world of natural phenomena and of natural process, and not to the recognition of the Self, the Knower, the Beholder, the Observer. When, therefore, man enters upon the Path, he has to educate himself in the process of using knowledge in reference to the conscious self-aware Identity, or to the self-contained, self-initiating Individual. When he can do this, he is transmuting knowledge into wisdom.

Previously I spoke of "knowledge-wisdom" which are words synonymous with "force-energy." Knowledge used is force expressing itself; wisdom used is energy in action. In these words you have the expression of a great spiritual law, one which you would do well to consider carefully. Knowledge-force concerns the personality and the world of material values; wisdom-energy expresses itself through the consciousness thread and the creative thread, as they constitute in themselves a woven dual strand. They are (for the disciple) a fusion of the past (consciousness thread) and the present (the creative thread), and together they form what is usually called, upon the Path of Return, the Antahkarana. This is not entirely accurate. The wisdom-energy thread is the sutratma or life thread, for the sutratma (when blended with the consciousness thread) is again also called the antahkarana. Perhaps it might clarify the issue somewhat if I pointed out that though these threads eternally exist in time and space, they appear distinct and separate until a man is a probationary disciple, and therefore becoming conscious of himself and not only of the not-self. There is the life thread or sutratma and the consciousness thread - the one anchored in the heart and the other in the head. Throughout all the past centuries, the creative thread, in one or other of its three aspects, has been slowly woven by the man; of this fact in nature his creative activity during the past two hundred years is an indication, so that today the creative thread is a unity, generally speaking, as regards humanity as a whole and specifically of the individual disciple, and forms a strong closely woven thread upon the mental plane. [454]

These three major threads which are in reality six, if the creative thread is differentiated into its component parts, form the antahkarana. They embody past and present experience and are so recognized by the aspirant. It is only upon the Path itself that the phrase "building the antahkarana" becomes accurate and appropriate. It is in this connection that confusion is apt to arise in the mind of the student. He forgets that it is a purely arbitrary distinction of the lower analyzing mind to call this stream of energy the sutratma, and another stream of energy the consciousness thread and a third stream of energy the creative thread. They are essentially, all three of them together, the antahkarana in process of forming. It is equally arbitrary to call the bridge which the disciple builds from the lower mental plane - via the egoic, central vortex of force - the antahkarana. But for purposes of comprehending study and practical experience, we will define the antahkarana as the extension of the threefold thread (hitherto woven unconsciously, through life experimentation and the response of consciousness to environment) through the process of projecting consciously the triple blended energies of the personality as they are impulsed by the soul, across a gap in consciousness which has hitherto existed. Two events can then occur:

1. The magnetic response of the Spiritual Triad (atma-buddhi-manas), which is the expression of the Monad, is evoked. A triple stream of spiritual energy is slowly projected towards the egoic lotus and towards the lower man.
2. The personality then begins to bridge the gap which exists on its side between the manasic permanent atom and the mental unit, between the higher abstract mind and the lower mind.

Technically, and upon the Path of Discipleship, this bridge between the personality in its three aspects and the monad and its three aspects is called the antahkarana.

This antahkarana is the product of the united effort of soul and personality, working together consciously to produce [455] this bridge. When it is completed, there is a perfect rapport between the monad and its physical plane expression, the initiate in the outer world. The third initiation marks the consummation of the process, and there is then a straight line of relationship between the monad and the lower personal self. The fourth initiation marks the complete realization of this relation by the initiate. It enables him to say: "I and my Father are one." It is for this reason that the crucifixion, or the Great Renunciation, takes place. Forget not that it is the soul that is crucified. It is Christ Who "dies." It is not the man; it is not Jesus. The causal body disappears. The man is monadically conscious. The soul-body no longer serves any useful purpose; it is no more needed. Nothing is left but the sutratma, qualified by consciousness - a consciousness which still preserves identity whilst merged in the whole. Another qualification is creativity; thus consciousness can be focused at will on the physical plane in an outer body or form. This body is will-created by the Master.

But in this task of unfoldment, of evolution and of development, the mind of man has to understand, analyze, formulate and distinguish; therefore the temporary differentiations are of profound and useful importance. We might therefore conclude that the task of the disciple is:

1. To become conscious of the following situations (if I may use such a word):
   1. Process in combination with force.
   2. Status upon the path, or recognition of the available qualifying agencies, or energies.
   3. Fusion or integration of the consciousness thread with the creative thread and with the life thread.
   4. Creative activity. This is essential, for it is not only through the development of creative ability in the three worlds that the necessary focal point is created, but this also leads to the building of the antahkarana, its "creation."
2. To construct the antahkarana between the Spiritual Triad and the personality - with the cooperation of the [456] soul. These three points of divine energy might be symbolized thus:

In this simple symbol you have a picture of the disciple's task upon the Path.

Another diagram may serve to clarify:

In these you have the "nine of initiation" or the transmuting of nine forces into divine energies: [457]

B.I.7.c. The Bridge between the three Aspects of the Mind

There is one point which I would like to clarify if I can, for - on this point - there is much confusion in the minds of aspirants, and this is necessarily so.

Let us for a moment, therefore, consider just where the aspirant stands when he starts consciously to build the antahkarana. Behind him lie a long series of existences, the experience of which has brought him to the point where he is able consciously to assess his condition and arrive at some understanding of his point in evolution. He can consequently undertake - in cooperation with his steadily awakening and focusing consciousness - to take the next step, which is that of accepted discipleship. In the present, he is oriented towards the soul; he, through meditation and the mystical experience, does have occasional contact with the soul, and this happens with increasing frequency; he is becoming somewhat creative upon the physical plane, both in his thinking and in his actions; at times, even if rarely, he has a genuine intuitive experience. This intuitive experience serves to anchor the "first tenuous thread spun by the Weaver in fohatic enterprise," as the Old Commentary puts it. It is the first cable, projected from the Spiritual Triad in response to the emanation of the personality, and this is the result of the growing magnetic potency of both these aspects of the Monad in manifestation.

It will be obvious to you that when the personality is becoming adequately magnetized from the spiritual angle, its note or sound will go forth and will evoke response from the soul on its own plane. Later the personality note and the soul note in unison will produce a definitely attractive effect upon the Spiritual Triad. This Spiritual Triad in its turn has been exerting an increasingly magnetic effect upon the personality. This begins at the time of the first conscious soul contact. The response of the Triad is transmitted necessarily, in this early stage, via the sutratma and produces inevitably the awakening of the head center. That is why the heart doctrine begins to supersede the doctrine of the eye. [458] The heart doctrine governs occult development; the eye doctrine - which is the doctrine of the eye of vision - governs the mystical experience; the heart doctrine is based upon the universal nature of the soul, conditioned by the Monad, the One, and involves reality; the eye doctrine is based on the dual relation between soul and personality. It involves the spiritual relationships, but the attitude of dualism or of the recognition of the polar opposites is implicit in it. These are important points to remember as this new science becomes more widely known.

The aspirant eventually arrives at the point where the three threads - of life, of consciousness and of creativity - are being focused, recognized as energy streams, and utilized deliberately by the aspiring disciple upon the lower mental plane. There - esoterically speaking - "he takes his stand, and looking upward sees a promised land of beauty, love and future vision."

But there exists a gap in consciousness, though not in fact. The sutratmic strand of energy bridges the gap, and tenuously relates monad, soul and personality. But the consciousness thread extends only from soul to personality - from the involutionary sense. From the evolutionary angle (using a paradoxical phrase) there is only a very little conscious awareness existing between the soul and the personality, from the standpoint of the personality upon the evolutionary arc of the Path of Return. A man's whole effort is to become aware of the soul and to transmute his consciousness into that of the soul, whilst still preserving the consciousness of the personality. As the fusion of soul and personality is strengthened, the creative thread becomes increasingly active, and thus the three threads steadily fuse, blend, become dominant, and the aspirant is then ready to bridge the gap and unite the Spiritual Triad and the personality, through the medium of the soul. This involves a direct effort at divine creative work. The clue to understanding lies perhaps in the thought that hitherto the relation between soul and personality has been steadily carried forward, primarily by the soul, as it stimulated the personality [459] to effort, vision and expansion. Now - at this stage - the integrated, rapidly developing personality becomes consciously active, and (in unison with the soul) starts building the antahkarana - a fusion of the three threads and a projection of them into the "higher wider reaches" of the mental plane, until the abstract mind and the lower concrete mind are related by the triple cable.

It is to this process that our studies are related; earlier experience in relation to the three threads is logically regarded as having occurred normally. The man now stands, holding the mind steady in the light; he has some knowledge of meditation, much devotion, and also recognition of the next step. Knowledge of process gradually becomes clearer; a growing soul contact is established; occasional flashes of intuitive perception from the Triad occur. All these recognitions are not present in the case of every disciple; some are present; some are not. I am seeking to give a general picture. Individual application and future realization have to be worked out by the disciple in the crucible of experience.

The goal towards which the average disciple has worked in the past has been soul contact, leading eventually to what has been called "hierarchical inclusion." The reward of the disciple's effort has been admittance into the Ashram of some Master, increased opportunity to serve in the world, and also the taking of certain initiations. The goal towards which higher disciples are working involves not only soul contact as its primary objective (for that has to some measure been attained), but the building of the bridge from the personality to the Spiritual Triad, with consequent monadic realization and the opening up to the initiate of the Way to the Higher Evolution in its various branches and with its differing goals and objectives. The distinction (I said not "difference," and would have you note this) between the two ways can be seen in the following listed comparisons:

Desire - Aspiration	Mind - Projection
The 1st an 2nd Initiations	The 3rd and 4th Initiations
Universal Love and Intuition	Universal Will an Mind
Path of Light	The Way of the Higher Evolution
The Point of Contact	The Antahkarana of Bridge
The Plan	The Purpose
The Three Layers of the Egoic Petals	The Spiritual Triad
The Hierarchy	Shamballa
The Master's Ashram	The Council Chamber
The Seven Paths	The Seven Paths

In reality, you have here the two major approaches to God or to the Divine Whole, both merging at the time of the fifth initiation in the one Way, which in itself combines all Ways. Forget not a statement which I have several times made, that the four minor rays must merge eventually into the third ray, and that all five must then finally merge into the second and the first rays; bear also in mind that all these rays or modes of Being are aspects or subrays of the second cosmic Ray of Love and of Fire.

I would like here also to point out some further relationships. You know well that upon the mental plane the three aspects of mind, or the three focal points of mental perception and activity, are to be found:

1. The lower concrete mind. This expresses itself most completely through the fifth Ray of Concrete Science, reflecting the lower phase of the will aspect of divinity and summarizing within itself all knowledge as well as the egoic memory. This lower concrete mind is related to the knowledge petals of the egoic lotus and is capable of pronounced soul illumination, proving eventually to be the searchlight of the soul. It can be brought under control through the processes of concentration. It is transient in time and space. Through conscious, creative work, it can be related to the manasic permanent atom or to the abstract mind.
2. The Son of Mind. This is the soul itself, governed by the second aspect of all the seven rays - a point I would ask you seriously to register. It reflects the lower phase of the love aspect of divinity and summarizes in itself the results of all accumulated knowledge which is wisdom, illuminated [461] by the light of the intuition. Another way of expressing this is to describe it as love, availing itself of experience and knowledge. It expresses itself most fully through the love petals of its innate being. Through dedicated and devoted service it brings the divine Plan into activity in the three worlds of human accomplishment. It is therefore related to the second aspect of the Spiritual Triad and is brought into functioning activity through meditation. It then controls and utilizes for its own spiritual ends the consecrated personality, via the illumined mind, referred to above. It is eternal in time and space.
3. The abstract mind. This reveals itself most completely under the influence of the first Ray of Will or Power, reflecting the higher aspect of the will of divinity or of the atmic principle; it summarizes in itself when fully developed the purpose of Deity, and thus becomes responsible for the emergence of the Plan. It energizes the will petals until such time as the eternal life of the soul is absorbed into that which is neither transient nor eternal but which is endless, boundless and unknown. It is brought into conscious functioning through the building of the antahkarana. This "radiant rainbow bridge" unites the illumined personality, focused in the mind body, motivated by the love of the soul, with the Monad or with the One Life, and thus enables the divine manifesting Son of God to express the significance of the words: God is Love and God is a consuming Fire. This fire, energized by love, has burnt out all personality qualities, leaving only a purified instrument, colored by the soul ray and no longer necessitating the existence of a soul body. The personality has by this time completely Absorbed the soul, or to put it perhaps more accurately, both soul and personality have been fused and blended into one instrument for the use of the One Life.

This is but a picture or a symbolic use of words in order to express the unifying goal of material and spiritual evolution, as it is carried to its conclusion - for this world cycle - through the development of the three aspects of mind upon [462] the mental plane. The cosmic implications will not be lost to you, but it profits us not to dwell upon them. As this process is carried forward, three great aspects of divine manifestation emerge upon the theatre of world life and on the physical plane. These are Humanity, the Hierarchy and Shamballa.

Humanity is already the dominant kingdom in nature; the fact of the Hierarchy and of its imminent approach into physical appearance is becoming well known to hundreds of thousands of people today. Its recognized appearance will later set the stage for the needed preparatory phases which will finally lead to the exoteric rule of the Lord of the World, emerging from His aeonial seclusion in Shamballa, and coming forth into outer expression at the end of this world cycle.

Here is the vast and necessary picture, presented in order to give reason and power to the next stage of human evolution.

The point which I seek to emphasize is that only when the aspirant takes his stand with definiteness upon the mental plane, and keeps his "focus of awareness" increasingly there, does it become possible for him to make real progress in the work of divine bridge building, the work of invocation, and the establishing of a conscious rapport between the Triad, the soul and the personality. The period covered by the conscious building of the antahkarana is that from the final stages of the Path of Probation to the third initiation.

In considering this process it is necessary, in the early stages, to recognize the three aspects of the mind as they express themselves upon the mental plane and produce the varying states of consciousness upon that plane. It is interesting here to note that, having reached the developed human stage (integrated, aspiring, oriented and devoted), the man stands firmly upon the lower levels of that mental plane; he is then faced by the seven subplanes of that plane with their corresponding states of consciousness. He is therefore entering upon a new cycle where - this time equipped with full self-consciousness - he has seven states of mental awareness [463] to develop; these are all innate or inherent in him, and all (when mastered) lead to one or other of the seven major initiations. These seven states of consciousness are - beginning from the first or lowest:

 

Mental Plane

1. Lower mental awareness. The development of true mental perception.
2. Soul awareness or soul perception. This is not the perception of the soul by the personality, but the registering of that which the soul perceives by the soul itself. This is later registered by the lower mind. This soul perception is, therefore, the reversal of the usual attitude of mind.
3. Higher abstract awareness. The unfoldment of the intuition and the recognition of intuitive process by the lower mind.

Buddhic Plane

4. Persistent, conscious, spiritual awareness. This is the full consciousness of the buddhic or intuitional level. This is the perceptive consciousness which is the outstanding characteristic of the Hierarchy. The life focus of the man shifts to the buddhic plane. This is the fourth or middle state of consciousness.

Atmic Plane

5. The consciousness of the spiritual will as it is expressed and experienced upon atmic levels or upon the third plane of divine manifestation. There is little that I can say about this condition of awareness; its state of nirvanic awareness can mean but little to the average disciple.

Monadic Plane

6. The inclusive awareness of the Monad upon its own plane, the second plane of our planetary and solar life.

Logoic Plane

7. Divine consciousness. This is the awareness of the whole on the highest plane of our planetary manifestation. This is also an aspect of solar awareness upon the same plane.

As we strive to arrive at some dim comprehension of the nature of the work to be done in building the antahkarana it might be wise, as a preliminary step, to consider the nature [464] of the substance out of which the "bridge of shining mind stuff" has to be built by the conscious aspirant. The oriental term for this "mind stuff" is chitta; it exists in three types of substance, all basically identical but all qualified or conditioned differently. It is a fundamental law in this solar system, and therefore in our planetary life experience, that the substance through which divinity (in time and space) expresses itself is karmically conditioned; it is impregnated by those qualities and aspects which are the product of earlier manifestations of that Being in Whom we live and move and have our being. This is the basic fact lying behind the expression of that Trinity or Triad of Aspects with which all the world religions have made us familiar. This trinity is as follows:

Utilizes the sutratma:
1. The Father Aspect	This is the underlying Plan of God
The Will Aspect	The essential Cause of Being
Purpose	Life purpose, motivating evolution The note of synthetic sound
Utilizes the consciousness thread:
2. The Son Aspect	The quality of sensitivity
The Love Aspect	The nature of relationship
Wisdom. Understanding	The method of evolution
Consciousness. Soul	The note of attractive sound
Develops the creative thread:
3. The Mother Aspect	The intelligence of substance
The Intelligence Aspect	The nature of form
The Holy Spirit	Response to evolution The note of Nature

The mental plane which must be bridged is like a great stream of consciousness or of conscious substance, and across this stream the antahkarana must be constructed. This is the concept which lies behind this teaching and behind the symbolism of the Path. Before a man can tread the Path, he must become that Path himself. Out of the substance of his own life he must construct this rainbow bridge, this Lighted Way. He spins it and anchors it as a spider spins a thread [465] along which it can travel. Each of his three divine aspects contributes to that bridge, and the time of this building is indicated when his lower nature is:

1. Becoming oriented, regulated and creative.
2. Recognizing and reacting to soul contact and control.
3. Sensitive to the first impression of the Monad. This sensitivity is indicated where there is:
   1. Submission to the "will of God" or of the greater Whole.
   2. Unfoldment of the inner spiritual will, overcoming all obstacles.
   3. Cooperation with the purpose of the Hierarchy, the interpreting will of God as expressed in love.

I have enumerated these three responses to the totality of the divine aspects because they are related to the antahkarana and must become defined and conditioned upon the mental plane. They are there to be found expressing themselves in substance:

1. The lower concrete mind.
   The receptive common sense.
   The highest aspect of the form nature.
   The reflection of atma, the spiritual will.
   The throat center.
   Knowledge.
2. The individualized mind.
   The soul or spiritual ego.
   The middle principle. Buddhi-manas.
   The reflection in mental substance of the Monad.
   Spiritual love-wisdom.
   The heart center.
   Love.
3. The higher abstract mind.
   The transmitter of buddhi.
   The reflection of the divine nature.
   Intuitive love, understanding, inclusiveness.
   The head center.
   Sacrifice. [466]

There are necessarily other arrangements of these aspects in manifestation, but the above will serve to indicate the relation of Monad-soul-personality as they express themselves through certain focused stations or points of power upon the mental plane.

In humanity, however, the major realization to be grasped at the present point in human evolution is the need to relate - consciously and effectively - the spiritual Triad, the soul on its own plane and the personality in its threefold nature. This is done through the creative work of the personality, the magnetic power of the Triad, and the conscious activity of the soul, utilizing the triple thread.

You can see, therefore, why so much emphasis is laid by esotericists upon fusion, unity or blending; only when this is intelligently realized can the disciple begin to weave the threads into a bridge of light which eventually becomes the Lighted Way across which he can pass into the higher worlds of being. Thus he liberates himself from the three worlds. It is - in this world cycle - pre-eminently a question of fusion and expressing (in full waking awareness) three major states of consciousness:

1. The Shamballa Consciousness.
   Awareness of the unity and purpose of Life.
   Recognition and cooperation with the Plan.
   Will. Direction. Oneness.
   The influence of the Triad.
2. The Hierarchical Consciousness.
   Awareness of the Self, the Soul.
   Recognition and cooperation with divinity.
   Love. Attraction. Relation.
   The influence of the Soul.
3. The Human Consciousness.
   Awareness of the soul within the form.
   Recognition and cooperation with the soul.
   Intelligence. Action. Expression.
   The influence of the consecrated personality.

The man who finally builds the antahkarana across the mental [467] plane connects or relates these three divine aspects, so that progressively at each initiation they are more closely fused into one divine expression in full and radiant manifestation. Putting it in other words, the disciple treads the path of return, builds the antahkarana, crosses the Lighted Way, and achieves the freedom of the Path of Life.

One of the points which it is essential that students should grasp is the deeply esoteric fact that this antahkarana is built through the medium of a conscious effort within consciousness itself, and not just by attempting to be good, or to express goodwill, or to demonstrate the qualities of unselfishness and high aspiration. Many esotericists seem to regard the treading of the Path as the conscious effort to overcome the lower nature and to express life in terms of right living and thinking, love and intelligent understanding. It is all that, but it is something far more. Good character and good spiritual aspiration are basic essentials. But these are taken for granted by the Master Who has a disciple under training; their foundation and their recognition and development are the objectives upon the Path of Probation.

But to build the antahkarana is to relate the three divine aspects. This involves intense mental activity; it necessitates the power to imagine and to visualize, plus a dramatic attempt to build the Lighted Way in mental substance. This mental substance is - as we have seen - of three qualities or natures, and the bridge of living light is a composite creation, having in it:

1. Force, focused and projected from the fused and blended forces of the personality.
2. Energy, drawn from the egoic body by, a conscious effort.
3. Energy, abstracted from the Spiritual Triad.

It is essentially, however, an activity of the integrated and dedicated personality. Esotericists must not take the position that all they have to do is to await negatively some activity by the soul which will automatically take place after a certain measure of soul contact has been achieved, and that consequently and in time this activity will evoke response [468] both from the personality and the Triad. This is not the case. The work of the building of the antahkarana is primarily an activity of the personality, aided by the soul; this in time evokes a reaction from the Triad. There is far too much inertia demonstrated by aspirants at this time.

One might also look at this matter from another angle. The personality is beginning to transmute knowledge into wisdom, and when this takes place the focus of the personality life is then upon the mental plane, because the transmutation process (with its stages of understanding, analysis, recognition and application) is fundamentally a mental process. The personality is also beginning to comprehend the significance of love and to interpret it in terms of the group well-being, and not in terms of the personal self, of desire or even of aspiration. True love is rightly understood only by the mental type who is spiritually oriented. The personality is also arriving at the realization that there is in reality no such thing as sacrifice. Sacrifice is usually only the thwarted desire of the lower nature, willingly endured by the aspirant, but - in this phase - a misinterpretation and limitation. Sacrifice is really complete conformity to the will of God because the spiritual will of the man and the divine will (as he recognizes it in the Plan) is his will. There is a growing identification in purpose. Therefore, self-will, desire and those intelligent activities which are dually motivated are seen and recognized as only the lower expression of the three divine aspects, and the effort is to express these in terms of the soul and not, as hitherto, in terms of a dedicated and rightly oriented personality. This becomes possible in its true sense only when the focus of the life is in the mental vehicle and the head as well as the heart is becoming active. In this process, the stages of character building are seen as essential and effective, and are willingly and consciously undertaken. But - when these foundations of good character and intelligent activity are firmly established - something still higher and more subtle must be erected on the substructure.

• Knowledge-wisdom must be superseded by intuitive [469] understanding; this is, in reality, inclusive participation in the creative activity of divinity. The divine idea must become the possible ideal, and this ideal must become unfolded and manifested in substance upon the physical plane. The creative thread, now somewhat ready, must be brought into conscious functioning and activity.
• Desire-love must be interpreted in terms of divine attraction, involving the right use or misuse of energies and forces. This process puts the disciple in touch with divinity as a progressively revealed Whole. The part, through the magnetic development of its own nature, comes into touch gradually with all that Is. The disciple becomes aware of this sum total in increasingly vivid expansions of consciousness, leading to initiation, realization and identification. These are the three stages of initiation.
  The consciousness thread, in cooperation with the creative thread and the life thread, awakens to a fully aware process of participation in the divine creative Plan - a Plan which is motivated by love and intelligently carried forward.
• Direction-Will (which are words describing the orientation produced by the understanding of the two processes of knowledge-wisdom and desire-love) must produce the final orientation of the personality and the soul, fused and blended and at-one, towards the freedom of the Spiritual Triad; then the conscious attempt to use these three energies eventuates in creating the antahkarana upon the mental plane. You will note that at this early stage of the process I am emphasizing the words "orientation" and "attempt." They simply indicate the final control of substance by the initiate.

One of the indications that a man is no longer upon the Probationary Path is his emerging from the realm of aspiration and devotion into the world of the focused will. Another indication is that he begins to interpret life in terms of energy and forces, and not in terms of quality and desire. This marks a definite step forward. There is too little use of the spiritual will, as the result of right orientation, in the life of disciples today. [470]

In the future, this Science of the Antahkarana and its lower correspondence, the Science of Social Evolution (which is the joint or united antahkarana of humanity as a whole), will be known as the Science of Invocation and Evocation. It is in reality the Science of Magnetic Rapport, in which right relationship is brought about by mutual invocation, producing a responsive process which is one of evocation. It is this science which lies behind all conscious awakening of the centers and their interrelation; it lies behind the rapport between man and man, group and group, and eventually between nation and nation. It is this invocation, and the consequent evocation, which eventually relate soul and personality and soul and monad. It is the outstanding objective of humanity's appeal to God, to the Hierarchy and to the Spiritual Powers of the cosmos, no matter by what name you call them. The appeal goes forth. The invocation of humanity can and will and must evoke response from the spiritual Hierarchy and give the first demonstration upon a large scale of this new esoteric science - esoteric because it is based upon sound. Hence the use of the OM. Into this science I cannot here go; we must confine our attention to our theme, which is the Science of the Antahkarana.

B.I.7.d. The Bridge as the Agent of Alignment

The word "alignment" is used much in modern esoteric training. I would point out that in making his alignment, the aspirant is only establishing the first stage of his process of realization; he is establishing in his own consciousness the fact of his essential dualism. I would also point out that the critical aspect of this process is only arrived at when the distinction is sharply defined and recognized between the integrated and potent personality and the soul. It is an occult truism to state that the aspirant is to be recognized by or triplicity; the disciple by or recognized duality and the initiate by or unity. Note that the symbol of duality for undeveloped humanity is in which the separation of the higher nature from the lower is depicted; in the case of the disciple, it is showing the "path across" or the [471] narrow razor-edged Path between the pairs of opposites, forming later the antahkarana. These symbols, simple as they are, embody and convey vast truths to the illumined mind.

Relatively speaking, and speaking in terms of the mental consciousness, the realization of duality is only to be found in the three worlds and on the mental plane. When the third initiation is taken, the power of the lower pair of opposites is no longer felt and exists no more. A liberated consciousness and an unrestricted awareness - unrestricted as regards the initiate, moving within the orbit of the planetary Logos (though not unrestricted as regards that greater Life which moves within still other and greater defined limits) - are both understood and expressed. Within the planetary ring-pass-not the initiate moves with freedom and knows no limitation in consciousness. That is why the higher levels of our planetary and systemic planes are called formless. It is this which is the true symbol of alignment, involving as it does the sense of duality but indicating at the same time the way through what are called "the walls of limitation."

Students would do well to consider the building of the antahkarana as an extension in consciousness. This extension is the first definite effort made upon the Path to bring in the monadic influence with full awareness, and finally directly. This process constitutes the individual parallel to the present inflow of force from Shamballa, about which I have elsewhere spoken. That highest Center of energy upon our planet is now having a definite effect upon that center which we call Humanity. This is brought about by direct alignment, and not via the Hierarchy as has hitherto been the case. When the individual antahkarana has been successfully started, and there is even a tenuous thread of living energy connecting the threefold personality and the Spiritual Triad, then the inflow of the will-energy becomes possible. This, in the early stages, can be most dangerous when not offset by the love energy of the soul. Only one thread of the threefold antahkarana passes through the egoic lotus. [472]

The other two threads relate themselves directly with the Triad, and hence eventually with the Monad, the source of the triadal life. This is true of the individual and of humanity as a whole, and the effects of this alignment can be seen demonstrating in the world at this time.

This rather unexpected responsive activity has necessitated much increased activity on the part of the Hierarchy, in order to offset the consequences of any premature inflow of the will force. After the third initiation, when the soul body, the causal body, starts to dissipate, the line of relation or of connection can be and is direct. The initiate then "stands in the ocean of love, and through him pours that love; his will is love and he can safely work, for love divine will color all his will, and he can wisely serve." Love and intelligence then become the servants of the will. Soul energy and personality force contribute to the experience of the Monad in the three worlds of life service, and then the agelong task of the incarnating spiritual man is finally accomplished. He is ready for Nirvana, which is but the Way into new fields of spiritual experience and of divine development - incomprehensible as yet, even to the initiate of the third degree. This Way is revealed only when the antahkarana is built and completed and the man becomes focused in the Triad as consciously as he is now focused in the threefold lower nature.

Then, and then only, is the true dualism of the divine nature apparent and the illusory duality disappears. Then you have Spirit-matter, Life-form. For this the triple experience of the unfolding consciousness is only preparatory. Through the unfolding consciousness, the initiate knows the significance of life and the uses of form, but stands completely unidentified with either, though blending these dualities in himself into a conscious synthesis. The attempt to convey his state of mind, in words that but limit and confuse, leads to apparent contradictions, and this is one of the peculiar paradoxes of the occult science. Do the above imparted facts make sense to you? Have they meaning for your mind? I think not. You have not yet the needed equipment [473] through which the type of implied awareness can work, or the realization of that true Self-consciousness which would produce in you an understanding reaction. I simply, make the esoteric assertion; later will come apprehension of the truth and that consequent energizing which always comes when any abstract truth is truly appreciated and assimilated. But the time has not yet come for the comprehension of the above information. Disciples and aspirants grow through the means of a presented vision - unattainable as yet but definitely an extension of the known and previously grasped. Such is the mode of evolution, for it is ever a pressing forward towards the sensed.

Today, through human effort and hierarchical endeavor, a great alignment and linking up is taking place, and Monad-Soul-Personality are being more directly related than has hitherto been possible. One reason fort this is that there are present in incarnation upon the planet many more initiates of the third degree than ever before; there are many more disciples being prepared for the third initiation; and in this third strictly human race, the Aryan (using this term in its generic sense and not in its prostituted German connotation), the three aspects of the personality are now so potent that their magnetic influence and their creative effect are making the building of the antahkarana an out standing achievement, thus linking and aligning the three aspects in man. The same is true of the three divine centers in the planet which embody these divine qualities: Shamballa, Hierarchy, and Humanity. These are now closely aligned, thus producing a fusion of energies which is causing an inflow of the spiritual will, as well as a demonstration of the Destroyer aspect.

I have here indicated much of interest; I have pointed out a goal and indicated a Way. I have related (in consciousness) the Hierarchy and Shamballa. This signifies a great and critical moment in human affairs and an opportunity hitherto unparalleled in history. The need for a due appreciation of this will be evident, and should incite all who read to renewed effort and to fresh endeavor. Students must [474] seek to meet all the planetary changes and opportunities with corresponding changes in their own lives. They must seek those new attitudes and those new creative approaches which will result not alone in the building of the individual antahkarana, but also in the fusion of the many "radiant strands" which will produce those "connecting cables," speaking symbolically, which will relate the planetary centers and present the medium along which can pass the fiery will and the predetermined purpose of Deity. This will bring about the reconstruction of the manifested worlds, and in this task each and every one of you can have his share.

Let us now take up our next point in this section and indicate the technique for the constructing of the antahkarana. This will constitute an intensely practical teaching for which all that I have hitherto given should prove a firm foundation.

B.I.7.e. The Technique of Construction

It is my intention to be very practical. The building of the antahkarana (which is consciously undertaken upon the Path of Discipleship) is a process which is followed under certain ancient and proven rules. When these rules are correctly followed, the sequence of events and the appearance of the desired results are inevitable and unavoidable. There is much that I could say which would be of small use to the average aspirant, as it would be concerned with subjective realities which - though existent and occult facts in a natural process - are as yet unrealizable. My problem is to present the process in such a manner that - towards the end of this century - educators will be thinking, speaking and teaching in terms of bridging, and thus approaching basic statements which have a definite bearing upon this point which we are considering. I would like here very succinctly to recall a few of them to your attention:

1. Knowledge-force expresses itself through the consciousness thread and the creative thread.
2. These two threads are, for the disciple, a fusion of [475] past knowledge (the consciousness thread) and the present (the creative thread).
3. The life thread or sutratma proper is closely blended with these two. You then have atma-buddhi-manas (the latter being the agent of creation) functioning to a certain degree consciously in the aspirant.
4. The fusion of personality and soul is in process, but when it has reached a certain point it becomes apparent that a creativity or a creative activity of the Will is needed to bridge between the Spiritual Triad and the personality, via the soul.
5. The bridge which must be constructed is called, technically, the antahkarana.
6. This bridge has to be built by the aspirant who is focused upon the mental plane, because it is mental substance (in three grades) which must be used, and the three aspects of the mind - the manasic permanent atom, the Son of Mind or Ego, and the mental unit - are all involved in the process.

Students would do well to learn that this process of building the antahkarana is one of the means whereby man, the trinity, becomes a duality. When the task is completed and the antahkarana is definitely built - thus producing perfect alignment between the Monad and its expression upon the physical plane - the body of the soul (the causal body) is completely and finally destroyed by the fire of the Monad, pouring down the antahkarana. There is then complete reciprocity between the Monad and the fully conscious soul on the physical plane. The "divine intermediary" is no longer required. The "Son of God Who is the Son of Mind" dies; the "veil of the temple is rent in twain from the top to the bottom"; the fourth initiation is passed, and there then comes the revelation of the Father.

This is the final and far-reaching result of the building of the bridge which is, in reality, the establishing of a line of light between Monad and personality as a full expression of the soul - between spirit and matter, between Father and Mother. It is evidence that "spirit has mounted on the [476] shoulders of matter" to that high place from whence it originally came, plus the gain of experience and of full knowledge, and of all that life in material form could give and all that conscious experience could confer. The Son has done His work. The task of the Savior or of the Mediator has been completed. The unity of all things is known to be a fact in consciousness, and a human spirit can say with intention and with understanding: "I and my Father are one."

The above is a brief and probably meaningless statement except theoretically, but it summarizes the task which lies ahead and the work of the disciple who is in process of constructing the antahkarana. There is a close connection between the fourth initiation, the quaternary in its evolved condition - vital body, emotional vehicle, mind and soul - and this fourth technical stage of building consciously the "rainbow bridge." You have therefore:

1. The Quaternary, the creative factor on Earth.
2. The fourth initiation, that of the Crucifixion.
3. The fourth technical stage of building the Antahkarana:
   1. Sutratma, the life thread.
   2. The consciousness thread.
   3. The creative thread, itself threefold.
   4. The technical antahkarana, bridging between the threefold personality and the Spiritual Triad.
4. The four stages of the Path of Return:
   1. The stage of evolution itself.
   2. The stage of the Probationary Path.
   3. The stage of the Path of Discipleship.
   4. The stage of the Path of Initiation.

Yet it is one and the same entity which participates in and is responsible for all the differentiated aspects, steps and stages - experimenting, experiencing and expressing consciously in every one of these stages or modes of life, until the fourth initiation. Then consciousness itself gives place to life, and yet remains itself. To the above statement, add [477] the fact that it is the fourth kingdom in nature which undergoes all that is indicated above and is conditioned by the four aspects of the one sutratma. Once this is grasped, the beauty of the symbolism and the numerological relationships emerge significantly.

B.I.7.e.i. The Construction of the Antahkarana - Past

In connection with this there is no need for elaboration, as it must be obvious that only the man who is the product of a very long and fruitful past experience is equipped to undertake the task of bridge building. The process involves much scientific experience in the art of living, and only the highly trained human enquirer can soundly and safely build the bridge between the highest and the lowest. Each of the major human races has been responsible for the expression and the employment of the threads which together form the antahkarana:

1. In ancient Lemuria, the life thread, the sutratma per se, was the dominant factor in the life expression; the physical body, the animal form nature, and the dense outer factor was the focus of life exuberant, productive and vital.

2. In old Atlantis, the consciousness thread began to function in a way unrealized in Lemuria. Sensitivity, awareness and - as a result - desire and reaction were the keynotes. Active sensitivity as a prelude to full consciousness distinguished the human being. The astral vehicle was a controlling factor. The mind was relatively quiescent, except where the foremost members of the human race were concerned. The humanity of that world cycle were, however, all of them extremely psychic and mediumistic; they were "sensitives," in the modern use of the term. The state of awareness was astral, and human beings were - as a race - clairaudient and clairvoyant, though in no way able to interpret that which they contacted; they were not able to distinguish astral phenomena from ordinary physical life (particularly in the middle period of their racial history), and the interpreting mind revealed nothing to them. They [478] simply lived and felt. Such was their life history. Two of the threads were functioning; one was not functioning at all. The bridge was not built.

3. In our modern Aryan race - modern as far as racial histories are concerned - the third thread, the creative thread, comes into active expression and use. I would remind you that all these threads exist from the beginning of human existence, and that all these three streams of energy have been indissolubly present from the beginning of human consciousness. But for the greater part of human history, up to the present, men remained unaware of them, and quite unconsciously made use of and continued to make use of their presence. The process of recognizing creative ability and of opportunity falls into two phases or stages:

1. The stage wherein the mind principle is developed and unfolded and man becomes a mental creature. This produces the full activity of the mental unit, the integration of the three aspects of the personality, and the consequent awareness of the Son of Mind or soul.
2. The stage of creative activity wherein the creative thread is brought into full use. This personality use of the thread - as distinguished from racial use - is characteristic of the Aryan race. It is only during the past five thousand years that it has gradually become the outstanding quality of mankind. In the other two races, and in the early stages of the Aryan race, although great creative monuments appeared everywhere upon the planet, they were not the product of the minds of the men of the time, but were the imposition of the creative will of the planetary Hierarchy upon those who were sensitive to the higher impression. The responsive sensitivity to creative impression was the outstanding quality of the later Atlantean consciousness and of the early Aryan period. It is today giving place to individual creativity, and consequently to the conscious creation of the bridging [479] antahkarana, which is the outcome of the fused and blended threefold thread.

This brief summation of the past process is intended simply to give a synthetic background to all the work now to be done, and to convey to you an almost visual concept of the method whereby man has reached the stage of conscious life, of full self-awareness and creative expression. All of these were the expression of divine energy as it poured into his mechanism, via the silver thread of divine potency. This might be regarded as a threefold demonstration of the vertical life which becomes the horizontal life through the expression of creativity. Man then indeed becomes the Cross. When, however, he succeeds in constructing the rainbow bridge (which can only be done when man is upon the Fixed Cross), then finally the Cross gives place to the line. This takes place after the fourth initiation - that of the Crucifixion. There remains then only the vertical line "reaching from Heaven to Hell." The goal of the initiate (between the fourth and the seventh initiations) is to resolve the line into the circle, and thus fulfil the law and the "rounding out" of the evolutionary process.

Another summation of the entire process may be found in the lines from Stanzas for Disciples which I gave out some time ago (June 1930) and which will also be found elsewhere in this volume.

"In the Cross is hidden Light. The vertical and horizontal in mutual friction create; a vibrant Cross scintillates, and motion originates. When the vertical assumes the horizontal, pralaya supervenes. Evolution is the movement of the horizontal to upright positiveness. In the secret of direction lies the hidden wisdom; in the doctrine of absorption lies the healing faculty; in the point becoming the line, and the line becoming the cross is evolution. In the cross swinging to the horizontal lies salvation and pralayic peace."

It might be said that few, very few, people are today at the Lemurian stage of consciousness wherein the life thread, [480] with its physical implications, is the dominant factor. Many, very many, people are at the Atlantean stage of development of "auric sensitivity." A few - a very few in comparison with the untold masses of human beings - are utilizing the results of the triple construction of energy within their own aura of awareness and their area of influence, in order to build, construct and utilize the bridge which links the various aspects of the mental plane. These three aspects they must employ simultaneously, and then later supersede them in such a manner that personality and ego disappear and only the Monad and its form upon the physical plane remain. In this connection, my earlier statement on the nature of form may be useful and lead to increased insight and understanding:

"The physical plane is a complete reflection of the mental; the lowest three subplanes reflect the abstract subplanes, and the four etheric subplanes reflect the four mental concrete planes. The manifestation of the Ego on the mental plane (or the causal body) is not the result of energy emanating from the permanent atoms as a nucleus of force, but is the result of different forces, and primarily of group force. It is predominantly marked by an act of an exterior force, and is lost in the mysteries of planetary karma. This is equally true of man's lowest manifestations. It is the result of reflex action, and is based on the force of the group of etheric centers through which man (as an aggregate of lives) is functioning. The activity of these centers sets up an answering vibration in the three lowest subplanes of the physical plane, and the interaction between the two causes an adherence to, or aggregation around, the etheric body of particles of what we erroneously term 'dense substance'. This type of energized substance is swept up in the vortex of force currents issuing from the centers and cannot escape. These units of force, therefore, pile up according to the energy direction around and within the etheric sheath till it is hidden and concealed, yet interpenetrating. An inexorable law, the law of matter itself, brings this [481] about, and only those can escape the effect of the vitality of their own centers who are definitely 'Lords of Yoga' and can - through the conscious will of their own being - escape the compelling force of the Law of Attraction working on the lowest cosmic physical subplane." (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, page 789).

I have earlier told you that the astral body is an illusion. It is eventually discovered to be non-existent by the man who has achieved the consciousness of the initiate. When buddhi reigns, the lower psychic nature fades out.

When the antahkarana is built, and the mental unit is superseded by the manasic permanent atom, and the causal body disappears, then the adept knows that the lower mind, the mental body, is also an illusion and is, for him, non-existent. There are then - as far as his individual consciousness is concerned - only three focal points or anchorages (both of these expressions are inadequate to express the full meaning):

1. Humanity, in which he can focus himself at will through the medium of what is called technically the "mayavirupa" - a bodily form which he creates for the fulfilment of monadic purpose.
   He then fully expresses all the energies of the Mutable Cross. (See Esoteric Astrology, Chapter VI.)
2. The Hierarchy. Here, as a focused unit of all-inclusive buddhic awareness, he finds his place and mode of service, conditioned by his monadic ray.
   He then expresses the values of the Fixed Cross. (See Esoteric Astrology, Chapter VI.)
3. Shamballa. This is his highest point of focus, the goal of the exertions of all initiates of the higher degrees and the source of the sutratma, through which (and its differentiations) he can now consciously work.
   Here he finds himself still crucified, but on the Cardinal Cross. (See Esoteric Astrology, Chapter VI.)

The task with which the human being in all his stages [482] of unfoldment has been occupied might therefore be stated to be the bridging of the gap between:

1. The Mutable Cross and the Fixed Cross.
2. Humanity and the Hierarchy.
3. The lower triplicity, the personality, and the Spiritual Triad.
4. The Monad on its own plane and the outer objective world.

This he does through a process of Intention, Visualization, Projection, Invocation and Evocation, Stabilization and Resurrection. With these various stages, we will now deal.

B.I.7.e.ii. The Construction of the Antahkarana in the Aryan Race- Present

I would like to pause here and make a few remarks anent this relatively new process of building the antahkarana. It has been known and followed by those who were training for affiliation with the Hierarchy, but it has not been given out before to the general public. There are two things which it is essential that the student should note: One is that unless it is borne in mind that we are concerned with energy, and with energy which must be scientifically used, this whole teaching will prove futile. Secondly, it must be remembered that we are dealing with a technique and process which are dependent upon the use of the creative imagination. When these two factors are brought together (consciously and deliberately) - the factor of energy substance and the factor of planned impulse - you have started a creative process which will be productive of major results. The human being lives in a world of varied energies which are sometimes expressing themselves as dynamic, positive energies, as receptive, negative energies, or as magnetic, attractive forces. An understanding of this statement will substantiate that made by H.P.B. that "matter is spirit at its lowest point," and the reverse is equally true. The whole process is one of establishing constructive relations between negative and positive energies and the subsequent production of magnetic force. This is the creative process. [483] It is true of the activity of a solar Logos, of a planetary Logos and of a human being - the only conscious creators in the universe. It must prove true of the disciple, who is attempting to bring into a constructive relation the Monad and the human expression in the three worlds of human evolution.

There has been much emphasis upon the life of the soul and its expression upon the physical plane; this has been necessary and a part of the evolutionary development of the human consciousness. The kingdom of souls must eventually give place to the rule of the spirit; the energy of the Hierarchy must become a force, receptive to the energy of Shamballa, just as the force of humanity has to become receptive to the energy of the kingdom of souls. Today all three processes are going on simultaneously, though the receptivity of the Hierarchy to the second aspect of the Shamballa energy is only now beginning to be recognizable. The Hierarchy has for long been receptive to the third or creative aspect of the Shamballa energy, and - at some very distant period - it will be responsive to the first aspect of that same energy. The triple nature of the divine manifestation must also express itself as a duality. This can be understood in a faint way when the disciple realizes that (after the third initiation) he too must learn to function as a duality - Monad (spirit) and form (matter) - in direct rapport with the consciousness aspect, the mediating soul being absorbed into both of these two aspects of divine expression, but not functioning itself as a middle factor. When this has been achieved, the true nature of Nirvana will be comprehended, the beginning of that endless Way which leads to the One; this is the Way whereon duality is resolved into unity, the Way that Members of the Hierarchy are seeking to tread and for which They are preparing.

The initial step towards bringing about this dualism is the building of the antahkarana, and this is consciously undertaken only when the disciple is preparing for the second initiation. As I have already said, there are literally [484] thousands so preparing, because it can be assumed that all earnest and true aspirants and disciples who work undeviatingly for spiritual advancement (with pure motive), and who are oriented unswervingly towards the soul, have taken the first initiation. This simply connotes the birth of the infant Christ within the heart, speaking symbolically. There should be many who are preparing to begin this task of building the rainbow bridge and who, under the influence of the Ageless Wisdom, are grasping the necessity and the importance of the revelation which this process conveys. What I am here writing has, therefore, a definite and useful purpose. My task has been for a long time the giving out, in book form, information anent the next stage of intelligent and spiritual recognition for humanity. Therefore, again, the understanding of the method of building the antahkarana is essential if humanity is to move forward as planned, and in this moving forward the disciples and aspirants must and do form the vanguard. Humanity will awaken steadily and as a whole to the incoming spiritual urge; an overwhelming impulse towards spiritual light and towards a major orientation will take place. Just as the individual disciple has to reverse himself upon the wheel of life and tread the Way counter-clockwise, so must humanity; and so humanity will. The two-thirds who will make the goal of evolution in this world cycle are already beginning to do so.

In the process, however, the third divine aspect - that of the Creative Actor - comes into activity. It was so in the creative process where the tangible universe was concerned. It must also be when the individual disciple becomes the creating agent. For aeons, he has built and has used his vehicles of manifestation in the three worlds. Then came a time when advanced people began to create upon the mental plane; they dreamed dreams; they saw a vision; they contacted intangible beauty; they touched the Mind of God and returned to earth with an idea. To this idea they gave form and became creators upon the mental plane; they became artists in some form of creative effort. In the task [485] of building the antahkarana the disciple has to work also on mental levels, and that which he there constructs will be of so fine a substance that it may not and cannot appear on physical levels. Because of his fixed orientation, that which he builds will "move upwards toward the center of life," and not "downwards toward the center of consciousness or toward light appearance."

Herein lies the difficulty for the beginner. He has, so to speak, to work in the dark, and is not in a position to verify the existence of that which he is attempting to construct. His physical brain is unable to register his creation as an accomplished fact. He has to depend entirely upon the proved technique of the work outlined, and to proceed by faith. The only evidence of success may be slow in coming, for the sensitivity of the brain is involved, and frequently where there is very real success the brain cells are not of the caliber which can register it. The possible evidences at this stage may be a flash of the spiritual intuition or the sudden realization of the will-to-good in a dynamic and group form; it may also be simply an ability to understand and to make others understand certain spiritual and occult fundamentals; it may be a "facility of revelation," both receptive and conditioning or distributing, and so world effective.

I am attempting to make a very abstruse subject clear, and words prove inadequate. I can but outline to you process and method and a consequent hope for the future; on your side, you can only experiment, obey, have confidence in the experience of those who teach, and then wait patiently for results.

B.I.7.e.iii. The Six Stages of the Building Process

I have employed six Words to express this process and its resultant condition. It might prove useful to study them from the angle of their occult significance - a significance which is not usually apparent except to the trained disciple who has been taught to penetrate into the world of meaning and to see interpretations not apparent to the neophyte. [486] Perhaps by the time we have investigated these words, the method of construction and the means whereby the antahkarana is built will appear with greater clarity.

These words cover a building technique or a process of energy manipulation which brings into being a rapport between the Monad and a human being who is aspiring towards full liberation and is treading the Path of Discipleship and Initiation; it can create a channel of light and life between the higher and the lower divine aspects and can produce a bridge between the world of spiritual life and the world of daily physical plane living. It is a technique for producing the highest form of dualism and of eliminating the threefold expression of divinity, thereby intensifying the divine expression and bringing man nearer to his ultimate goal. Disciples must always remember that soul consciousness is an intermediate stage. It is also a process whereby - from the angle of the subhuman kingdoms in nature - humanity itself becomes the divine intermediary and the transmitter of spiritual energy to those lives whose stages of consciousness are below that of self-consciousness. Humanity becomes to these lives - in their totality - what the Hierarchy is to humanity. This service only becomes possible when a sufficient number of the human race are distinguished by the knowledge of the higher duality and are increasingly soul-conscious and not just self-conscious. They can then make this transmission possible, and it is done by means of the antahkarana.

Let us, therefore, take these six aspects of a basic building technique and endeavor to arrive at their occult and creative significance.

1. Intention. By this is not meant a mental decision, wish or determination. The idea is more literally the focusing of energy upon the mental plane at the point of greatest possible tension. It signifies the bringing about of a condition in the disciple's consciousness which is analogous to that of the Logos when - on His much vaster scale - He concentrated within a ring-pass-not (defining His desired [487] sphere of influence) the energy-substance needed to carry out His purpose in manifesting. This the disciple must also do, gathering his forces (to use a common expression) into the highest point of his mental consciousness and holding them there in a state of absolute tension. You can now see the purpose lying behind some of the meditation processes and techniques as embodied in the words so often used in the meditation outlines: "raise the consciousness to the head center"; "hold the consciousness at the highest possible point"; "endeavor to hold the mind steady in the light"; and many similar phrases. They are all concerned with the task of bringing the disciple to the point where he can achieve the desired point of tension and of energy-focusing. This will enable him to begin the conscious task of constructing the antahkarana. It is this thought which really lies unrecognized behind the word "intention," used so often by Roman Catholics and Anglo-Catholics when preparing candidates for communion. They indicate a different direction, however, for the orientation they desire is not that towards the Monad or spirit, but towards the soul, in an effort to bring about better character equipment in the personality and an intensification of the mystical approach.

In the "intention" of the disciple who is consciously occupied with the rainbow bridge, the first necessary steps are:

1. The achievement of right orientation; and this must take place in two stages: first, towards the soul as one aspect of the building energy, and second, towards the Triad.
2. A mental understanding of the task to be carried out. This involves the use of the mind in two ways: responsiveness to buddhic or intuitional impression and an act of the creative imagination.
3. A process of energy gathering or of force absorption, in order that the needed energies are confined within a mental ring-pass-not, prior to the later process of visualization and projection. [488]
4. A period of clear thinking anent process and intention, so that the dedicated bridge-builder may clearly perceive what is being done.
5. The steady preservation of tension without undue physical strain upon the brain cells.

When this has been accomplished there will be found to be present a focal point of mental energy which previously had been non-existent; the mind will be held steady in the light, and there will also be the alignment of a receptive attentive personality and a soul oriented towards the personality and in a state of constant, directed perception. I would remind you that the soul (as it lives its own life on its own level of awareness) is not always constantly aware of its shadow, the personality, in the three worlds. When the antahkarana is being built, this awareness must be present alongside the intention of the personality.

2. Visualization. Up to this point the activity has been of a mental nature. The creative imagination has been relatively quiescent; the disciple has been occupied within the mind and upon mental levels, and has "looked neither up nor down." But now the right point of tension has been reached; the reservoir or pool of needed energy has been restrained within the carefully delimited ring-pass-not, and the bridge-builder is ready for the next step. He therefore proceeds at this point to construct the blue print of the work to be done, by drawing upon the imagination and its faculties as they are to be found upon the highest level of his astral, or sensitive vehicle. This does not relate to the emotions. Imagination is, as you know, the lowest aspect of the intuition, and this fact must be remembered at all times. Sensitivity, as an expression of the astral body, is the opposite pole to buddhic sensitivity. The disciple has purified and refined his imaginative faculties so that they are now responsive to the impression of the buddhic principle or of the intuitive perception - perception, apart from sight or any recorded possible vision. According to the responsiveness of the astral vehicle to the [489] buddhic impression, so will be the accuracy of the "plans" laid for the building of the antahkarana and the visualizing of the bridge of light in all its beauty and completeness.

The creative imagination has to be stepped up in its vibratory nature so that it can affect the "pool of energy" or the energy-substance which has been gathered for the building of the bridge. The creative activity of the imagination is the first organizing influence which works upon and within the ring-pass-not of accumulated energies, held in a state of tension by the "intention" of the disciple. Ponder upon this occult and significant statement.

The creative imagination is in the nature of an active energy, drawn up into relationship with the point of tension; it there and then produces effects in mental substance. The tension is thereby increased, and the more potent and the clearer the visualization process, the more beautiful and strong will be the bridge. Visualization is the process whereby the creative imagination is rendered active and becomes responsive to and attracted by the point of tension upon the mental plane.

At this stage the disciple is occupied with two energies: one, quiescent and held within a ring-pass-not, but at a point of extreme tension, and the other active, picture-forming, outgoing and responsive to the mind of the bridge-builder. In this connection it should be remembered that the second aspect of the divine Trinity is the form-building aspect, and thus, under the Law of Analogy, it is the second aspect of the personality and the second aspect of the Spiritual Triad which are becoming creatively active. The disciple is now proceeding with the second stage of his building work, and so the numerical significance will become apparent to you. He must work slowly at this point, picturing what he wants to do, why he has to do it, what are the stages of his work, what will be the resultant effects of his planned activity, and what are the materials with which he has to work. He endeavors to visualize the entire process, and by this means sets up a definite rapport (if successful) between the buddhic intuition and the creative imagination [490] of the astral body. Consequently, you will have at this point:

• The buddhic activity of impression.
• The tension of the mental vehicle, as it holds the needed energy-substance at the point of projection.
• The imaginative processes of the astral body.

When the disciple has trained himself to be consciously aware of the simultaneity of this threefold work, then it goes forward successfully and almost automatically. This he does through the power of visualization. A current of force is set up between these pairs of opposites (astral-buddhic) and - as it passes through the reservoir of force upon the mental plane - it produces an interior activity and an organization of the substance present. There then supervenes a steadily mounting potency, until the third stage is reached and the work passes out of the phase of subjectivity into that of objective reality - objective from the standpoint of the spiritual man.

3. Projection. The task of the disciple has now reached a most critical point. Many aspirants reach this particular stage and - having developed a real capacity to visualize, and having therefore constructed by its means the desired form, and organized the substance which is to be employed in this later phase of the building process - find themselves unable to proceed any further. What then is the matter? Primarily, an inability to use the Will in the process of projection. This process is a combination of will, further and continued visualization, and the use of the ray Word of Power. Up to the present stage in the process, the method for all the seven rays is identical; but at this point there comes a change. Each disciple, having successfully organized the bridge substance, having brought into activity the will aspect, and being consciously aware of process and performance, proceeds now to move the organized substance forward, so that from the center of force which he has succeeded in accumulating there appears a line of light-substance or projection. This is sent forward upon a [491] Word of Power, as in the logoic creative process. This is in reality a reversal of the process of the Monad when It sent forth the thread of life which finally anchored itself in the soul. The soul, in reality, came into being through the means of this anchoring; then came the later process, when the soul in its turn sent forth a dual thread which finally found anchorage in the head and the heart of the lower threefold man, the personality. The disciple is focused in the center which he has constructed upon the mental plane, and is drawing all his resources (those of the threefold personality and the soul combined) into activity; he now projects a line towards the Monad.

It is along this line that the final withdrawal of the forces takes place, the forces which - upon the downward way or the involutionary path - focused themselves in the personality and the soul. The antahkarana per se, completed by the bridge built by the disciple, is the final medium of abstraction or of the great withdrawal. It is with the antahkarana that the initiate is concerned in the fourth initiation, called sometimes the Great Renunciation - the renunciation or the withdrawal from form life, both personal and egoic. After this initiation neither of these aspects can hold the Monad any more. The "veil of the Temple" is rent in twain from the top to the bottom - that veil which separated the Outer Court (the personality life) from the Holy Place (the soul) and from the Holy of Holies (the Monad) in the Temple at Jerusalem. The implications and the analogies will necessarily be clear to you.

In order, therefore, to bring about the needed projection of the accumulated energies, organized by the creative imagination and brought to a point of excessive tension by the focusing of the mental impulse (an aspect of the will), the disciple then calls upon the resources of his soul, stored up in what is technically called "the jewel in the lotus." This is the anchorage of the Monad - a point which must not be forgotten. The aspects of the soul which we call knowledge, love and sacrifice, and which are expressions of the causal body, are only effects of this monadic radiation. [492]

Therefore, before the bridge can be truly built and "projected on the upward way, providing safe travelling for the pilgrim's weary feet" (as the Old Commentary puts it), the disciple must begin to react in response to the closed lotus bud or jewel at the center of the opened lotus. This he does when the sacrifice petals of the egoic lotus are assuming control in his life, when his knowledge is being transmuted into wisdom, and his love for the whole is growing; to these is being added the "power to renounce." These three egoic qualities - when functioning with a measure of potency - produce an increased activity at the very center of soul life, the heart of the lotus. It should be remembered that the correspondences in the egoic lotus to the three planetary centers are as follows:

• Shamballa - The jewel in the lotus.
• Hierarchy - The three groups of petals.
• Humanity - The three permanent atoms within the aura of the lotus.

Students should also bear in mind that they need to rid themselves of the usual idea of sacrifice as a process of giving-up, or renunciation of all that makes life worth living. Sacrifice is, technically speaking, the achievement of a state of bliss and of ecstasy because it is the realization of another divine aspect, hidden hitherto by both the soul and the personality. It is understanding and recognition of the will-to-good which made creation possible and inevitable, and which was the true cause of manifestation. Ponder on this, for it is very different in its significance to the usual concepts anent sacrifice.

When the disciple has gained the fruit of experience which is knowledge and is learning to transmute it into wisdom, when his objective is to live truly and in reality, and when the will-to-good is the crowning goal of his daily life, then he can begin to evoke the Will. This will make the link between the lower and the higher minds, between spirit and matter and between Monad and personality a definite and existent fact. Duality then supervenes upon [493] triplicity, and the potency of the central nucleus in the egoic vehicle destroys - at the fourth initiation - the three surrounding expressions. They disappear, and then the so-called destruction of the causal body has taken place. This is the true "second death" - death to form altogether.

This is practically all that I can tell you anent the process of projection. It is a living process, growing out of the conscious daily experience and dependent upon the expression of the divine aspects in the life upon the physical plane, as far as is possible. Where there is an attempt to approximate the personality life to the demands of the soul and to use the intellect on behalf of humanity, love is beginning to control; and then the significance of the "divine sacrifice" is increasingly understood and becomes a natural, spontaneous expression of individual intention. Then it becomes possible to project the bridge. The vibration is then set up on lower levels of divine manifestation and becomes strong enough to produce response from the higher. Then, when the Word of Power is known and rightly used, the bridge is rapidly built.

Students need feel in no way discouraged by this picture. Much can happen on the inner planes where there is right intention, as well as occult intention (purpose and tension combined), and the bridge reaches stages of definite outline and structure long before the disciple is aware of it.

4. Invocation and Evocation. The three preceding stages mark, in reality, the three stages of personality work. The remaining three are expressions of response from higher levels of the spiritual life; beyond briefly indicating them, there is very little that I can put into words. The task of Invocation, based on Intention, Visualization and Projection, has been carefully undertaken by the disciple and he has at least some measure of clear perception as to the work he has done by the dual means of spiritual living and scientific, technical, occult work. He is therefore himself invocative. His life effect is registered upon the higher levels of consciousness and he is recognized as "a point of invocative tension." This tension and this [494] reservoir of living energy, which is the disciple himself, is set in motion by projected thought, the use of the will and a sounded Word or Phrase of Power.

The result is that his developed potency and its radius of influence are now sufficiently strong to call out a response from the Spiritual Triad. There is then a going forth towards the aspect of the antahkarana, constructed by the disciple, along which the life of soul and body can travel. The Father (Monad), working through the thread, now goes forth to meet the Son (the soul, enriched by the experience of personality life in the three worlds), and from the higher levels a line of responsive projection of energy is sent forth which will eventually make contact with the lower projection. Thus the antahkarana is built. The tension of the lower evokes the attention of the higher.

This is the technical process of invocation and evocation. There is a gradual approach from both the divine aspects. Little by little, the vibration of both becomes stronger reciprocally. There comes then a moment when contact between the two projections is made in meditation. This is not a contact between soul and personality (the goal of the average aspirant), but a contact between the fused soul and personality energy and the energy of the Monad, working through the Spiritual Triad. This does not constitute a moment of crisis, but is in the nature of a Flame of Light, a realization of liberation, and a recognition of the esoteric fact that a man is himself the Way. There is no longer the sense of personality and soul or of ego and form, but simply the One, functioning on all planes as a point of spiritual energy and arriving at the one sphere of planned activity by means of the path of Light. In considering this process, words prove completely inadequate. At this stage, when very advanced, there is no form attracting the Monad outwards into manifestation. There is no way in which the call of matter or of form can evoke a response from the Monad. There remains only the great pull of the consciousness of humanity as a whole and to this, response can be made via the completed antahkarana. Down - or rather [495] across - this bridge, descent can be made at will, in order to serve humanity and to carry out the will of Shamballa.

This is a statement of the final consummation. But before that can take place in its perfected completion, there must be a long period of gradual approach of the two aspects of the bridge - the higher, emanating from the Spiritual Triad, in response to monadic impulse, and the lower, emanating from the personality, aided by the soul - across the chasm of the separating mind. Finally, contact between that which the Monad projects and that which the disciple is projecting is made, and then come the fifth and sixth stages.

5. and 6. Stabilization and Resurrection. The bridge is now built. Thin and tenuous may be its strands at the beginning, but time and active understanding will slowly weave thread after thread until the bridge stands finished, stable and strong and capable of being used. It must perforce be used, because there is now no other medium of intercourse between the initiate and the One Whom he now knows to be himself. He ascends in full consciousness into the sphere of monadic life; he is resurrected from the dark cave of the personality life into the blazing light of divinity; he is no longer only a part of humanity and a member also of the Hierarchy, but he belongs to the great company of Those Whose will is consciously divine and Who are the Custodians of the Plan. They are responsive to impression from Shamballa and are under the direction of the Heads of the Hierarchy.

The "freedom of the three Centers" is Theirs. They can express at will the triple energy of Humanity, the dual energy of the Hierarchy, and the one energy of Shamballa.

Such, my brothers, is the goal of the disciple as he begins to work at the building of the antahkarana. Reflect upon these matters and proceed with the work.

(In some Talks to Disciples, the Tibetan makes the following remarks which apply here with peculiar force. A.A.B.) [496]

"Your major need is for an intensification of your inner spiritual aspiration. You need to work more definitely from what might be called a point of tension. Study what is said about tension and intensity. It is intensity of purpose which will change you from the plodding fairly satisfactory aspirant into the disciple whose heart and mind are aflame. Perhaps, however, you prefer to go forward steadily, with no group effort, making your work for me and for the group an ordered part of the daily life, which you can adjust pretty much as you like, and in which the life of the spirit receives its reasonable share, in which the service aspect is not neglected, and your life presentation is neatly balanced and carried forward without much real strain. When this is the case, it may be your personality choice or your soul decision for a specific life, but it means that you are not the disciple, with everything subordinated to the life of discipleship.

"I would like here to point out two things. First: if you can so change your tension that you are driven by the life of the spirit, it will entail a galvanic upheaval in your inner life. For this, are you prepared? Secondly: it will not produce any outer change in your environing relationships. Your outer obligations and interests must continue to be met, but I am talking in terms of inner orientations, dynamic inner decisions, and an interior organizing for service and for sacrifice. Perhaps you prefer the slower and easier way? If that is so, it is entirely your own affair, and you are still on your way. You are still a constructive and useful person. I am simply here facing you with one of the crises which come in the life of all disciples, wherein choices have to be made that are determining for a cycle, but for a cycle only. It is pre-eminently a question of speed and of organizing for speed. This means eliminating the non-essentials and concentrating on the essentials - the inner essentials, as they concern the soul and its relation to the personality, and the outer ones as they concern you and your environment.

"I would give you three key thoughts for deep reflection [497] during the next six months; will you ponder on them, one each month for three months, within the head, and during the second three months brood on them in the heart. These key thoughts are:
1. The necessity for speed.
2. The reorganization of standards of thought and of living.
3. The expression of: Sincerity, Sacrifice, Simplicity." (Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. I. Page 538)

In the many strands of light, woven by the aspirants, disciples and initiates of the world, we can see the group antahkarana gradually appearing - that bridge whereby humanity as a whole will be able to abstract itself from matter and form. This building of the antahkarana is the great and ultimate service which all true aspirants can render.

B.I.7.e.iv. The Immediate Task Ahead

What I have now to say is in the nature of a generalization. I would like to indicate, as far as possible (asking you to remember that all generalizations are basically sound but erroneous in detail), the point where humanity stands in relation to the antahkarana. It might be said that the whole goal of normal evolution is to bring humanity to the point where a direct line of contact is established between the personality and the Spiritual Triad, via the soul - or rather, through the medium of using the soul consciousness to achieve this awareness. This is consummated at the time of the third initiation. We will now for a minute consider the Monad.

I would remind you that there is an analogy in the relation between personality and soul, to that between the Triad and the Monad. This is an analogy that is essentially complete, from the standpoint of consciousness, but not from the standpoint of form. What finally takes place at the most advanced stage of development is the complete fusion of the unified personality and soul with the unified Monad and Spiritual Triad. Only when this has been truly [498] accomplished is there the complete release of the Lives informing our solar system from all form control. Bear this carefully in mind, realizing the significance of the word Service, used so frequently in the occult science, and realizing also the fact that, for aspirants and disciples, the immediate task ahead is:

1. To bring about the at-one-ment of soul and body, through the medium of alignment.
2. To build the antahkarana, using the six modes or means outlined by me previously, and thus evoke response to the Triad. The thought of Alignment-Invocation- Evocation are the three major ideas for you to hold in mind as we proceed with this study.

The reason that I am giving out what was earlier regarded as some of the preparatory work prior to the third initiation is due to the fact that the race is now at the point of development which warrants complete change in the approach to divinity as taught by the Hierarchy. This does not mean that past teaching is abrogated, but it is shifted back to the earlier stages on the Path of Discipleship, whilst the teaching given in those stages now becomes the work done by the aspirants upon the Probationary Path. Emphasis has been laid upon purification, upon the need for the development of the Christ life, upon the mystical vision and upon philosophy. Occult truths have been given to the race and have evoked much interest, criticism and discussion; they have appealed to all types of mind; they have been distorted and misapplied. Nevertheless, they have been instrumental in aiding advanced aspirants to move forward on to the Path of Discipleship, with a paralleling moving forward of accepted disciples. Once firmly established upon the Path, the truths become self-evident and individual application and verification can be made, leading the disciple inevitably to the Portal of Initiation.

The race as a whole stands now at the very entrance to the Path of Discipleship. The racial gaze is forward to the vision, whether it is the vision of the soul, a vision of a better way of life, of an improved economic situation, or of [499] better interracial relationship. That this vision is oft distorted, that it is materially oriented or only partially seen is sadly true; but in some form or another there exists today an appreciable grasp of the "new and desirable" by the masses - a thing hitherto unknown. In the past, it was the intelligentsia or the elect who were privileged to have the vision. Today, it is the mass of men. Humanity, therefore, as a whole stands ready for a general alignment process, and that is the spiritual reason which lay behind the world war. The "sharp shears of sorrow must separate the real from the unreal; the lash of pain must awaken the sleepy soul to exquisite life; the wrenching away of the roots of life from the soil of selfish desire must be undergone, and then the man stands free." So runs the Old Commentary in one of its more mystical stanzas. Thus it points prophetically to the close of the Aryan Race - not a close in the sense of completion, but a closing of a cycle of mental perfecting, preparatory to a cycle wherein the mind will be rightly used as an instrument of alignment, then as the searchlight of the soul, and as the controller of the personality.

For the masses - under the slow processes of evolution - the next step forward is the aligning of the soul and the form, so that there can be a blending in consciousness, following on a mental appreciation of the Christ principle and its deep expression in the life of the race. This is something which can be seen quite clearly emerging, if you have the eyes to see. It is evident in the universal interest in goodwill, leading eventually to peace; this desire for peace may be based on individual or national selfishness, or upon a true desire to see a happier world wherein man can lead a fuller spiritual life and base his efforts on truer values; it can be seen in all the planning which is going on for a new world order, based on human liberty, belief in human rights and right human relations; it is demonstrating also in the work of the great humanitarian movements, the welfare organizations, and the widespread evocation of the human mind through the network of educational institutions throughout the world. The Christ spirit is expressively present, [500] and the failure to recognize this fact has been largely due to the prevalent human effort to explain and interpret this phrase solely in terms of religion, whereas the religious interpretation is but one mode of understanding Reality. There are others of equal importance. All the great avenues of approach to Reality are spiritual in nature and interpretive of divine purpose, and whether the religious Christian speaks of the Kingdom of God, or the humanitarian emphasizes the brotherhood of man, or the leaders against evil head the fight for the new world order or for the Four Freedoms or the Atlantic Charter, they all express the emergence of the love of God in its form of the spirit of Christ.

Humanity in the mass has therefore reached a point of emergence from darkness; it has itself evoked the reaction of the powers of evil, and hence their attempt to arrest the progress of the human spirit and to stop the onward march of the good, the true and the beautiful.

Aspirants and probationary disciples are occupied with a definite process of focusing their consciousness in the soul. This process falls into two parts:

• An intensification of the personality life, so that it is developed to its highest individualistic powers.
• A process of moving forward into the light and of conscious soul contact.

This involves the earlier stage of the alignment process, which is a mode of focused, concentrated effort, according to the ray and life purpose of the soul. This may take the form of a profound application to some scientific endeavor or a deep concentration on the spiritual work of the world, or it may be a complete dedication to humanitarian effort; it matters not. I would call your attention to that statement. In every case the motivating power must be betterment; it must be carried forward by extreme effort; but - given right motive and the effort to develop simultaneously a good character and a stable purpose - the aspirant or probationary disciple will eventually find that he has succeeded in establishing a definite soul relation; he will have discovered that [501] the path of contact between soul and brain, via the mind, has been opened, and that he has mastered the first stage in the needed alignment process.

When this has been accomplished, the man passes on to the Path of Discipleship and can undertake the work I am outlining for you in this treatise. Thus you can see how the entire human family has reached a central and most important point upon the evolutionary path. The immediate path ahead for all - each in his own place - is to stand with right orientation, undeterred by circumstances, and then unflinchingly move forward.

I have given you the six methods of building the antahkarana, and as we proceed to take up our next point, I would have you refer to them at frequent intervals. The ray methods with which we shall be concerned are the methods, uniquely possible on the seven major lines of emanatory energy, which differing ray types will bring to bear on these six stages of the building process. All disciples on all these seven rays use the same building technique of Intention, Visualization, Projection, Invocation and Evocation, Stabilization and Resurrection. Of these the first two are uniform in technique for all the rays, but when the stage of Projection is reached, then the ray techniques begin to differ, and it is these techniques or methods of ray work, coupled with the seven Words of Power, which we shall now proceed to consider.

B.I.7.e.v. The Seven Ray Methods used in the Construction Process

Until the stage of projection is reached, the methods employed by all disciples on all rays are identical. Their intention is one, and they all have to attain the same measure of tension and of preparation for the construction of the bridge by gathering the needed energy from two sources - the personality and the soul. By this focusing and its resultant tension, by thus evoking the Spiritual Triad and starting the dual process of building from both ends of the bridge (if such a phrase is possible and permissible), the work goes forward uniformly. The use of the creative imagination [502] is now called forth and this forms the second stage. This presents a real difficulty for the first ray and the seventh ray aspirants. Neither type can with facility organize the material energy, orient energy currents, and see their objective clearly in the mind's eye pictorially. It is a process which is profoundly difficult for them. It must, however, in some way be done, because the use of the visual imagination is an essential factor in the building process and one of the major means of focusing, prior to projection.

This process of projection falls into three main activities:

1. After due focusing and after careful, sequential and systematic picturing the "rainbow bridge," the disciple - by a distinct and separate effort - calls in the will aspect of his nature, as far as he can in this incarnation. It is in this connection that the differing ray methods make their appearance, the difference being determined by the quality of the ray life.
2. The disciple has to preserve steadily the triple consciousness, not simply theoretically but also factually, so that three paralleling lines of thought, or three streams of active energy, are used by him simultaneously:
   1. He is aware of himself, personality and soul, as occupied with the process of bridge building. He never for one second loses his sense of conscious identity.
   2. He is aware of the point of focused tension which he has succeeded in producing and that three streams of energy have contributed to it - the focused energy of the personality, poised in the lower concrete mind, the inflowing magnetic energy of the soul, streaming out from the twelve petals of the three tiers plus the innermost tier of the egoic lotus, and the energy of the "jewel in the lotus" - all streaming into the center of tension on the mental levels of the lower mind.
   3. He is aware of as much of the consciousness of his ray energy as can enter into his awareness; this is his egoic ray energy and not personality force. He endeavors to see himself as a point of particular energy [503] colored by his ray life, and carefully bears in mind that the energy of his egoic ray is the major energy through which the Monad is attempting to express itself, and also that his threefold egoic vehicle is a reflection of and closely related to the three aspects of the Spiritual Triad. It is this relation (and its conscious interplay and effect) which is evoked by the building of the antahkarana, and which eventually (when it is powerful enough) brings into radiant activity the "jewel in the lotus."
3. When these three stages of realization have been completed as far as the disciple feels he is capable of carrying them, then and only then does he prepare himself for the distinctive use of his ray method in preparing for the "projecting sound" or Word of Power.

You can see from all the above that this constitutes a definitely planned process of a basic scientific nature, and requires as careful following as the procedure of any scientist in search of some advanced chemical formula. The only difference, scientifically speaking, is that the whole process is carried forward upon subjective levels and in the realm of consciousness, thus requiring a consciousness and a concentration not needed when working more tangibly on the outer plane of awareness. At first it seems complicated, as the disciple tries to master the different stages of the process, but it all becomes entirely automatic when once mastered. Here is a summary of process up to the point of definite projection:

1. Intention, producing focusing and tension.
2. Visualization, produced by:
   1. The buddhic activity of "impression."
   2. The tension of the mental body.
   3. The imaginative processes of the astral body..
3. Projection:
   1. The calling in of the Will aspect.
   2. The preservation of a triple state of awareness in order that: [504]
      1. The disciple is aware constantly of his own identity.
      2. He is conscious of a fixed point of tension.
      3. He is aware actively of his soul ray or his soul energy.
   3. He starts in to use that distinctive ray energy correctly.
   4. He then, when all the above is completed, uses the Word of Power which is the agent of his Will.

This short tabulation should aid in the process, and you can see how stage grows out of stage and how, once familiarity has been established, it should be possible for the preliminary work to be rapidly carried forward.

When, however, the distinctive methods of the ray energy of the disciple reach the point of definite use, it is not so simple as it sounds. Success in the building process is dependent upon the ability of the disciple to do three things:

1. Hold the mind steady in the light, i.e., preserving the point of tension at its highest possible point at any given time in the disciple's unfoldment and building activity.
2. Register consciousness of soul contact, thus bringing about an increasing fusion between the soul and the personality, so that complete at-one-ment is increasingly attained. Technically, this means that the energy of the soul ray and of the personality ray merge together, with the soul ray dominating always.
3. Hold in mind, specifically and in detail, the method to be employed in building the bridge, according to the particular ray technique, and with the objective in view of relating (in a new and significant manner, factually and not just theoretically) the Spiritual Triad and the personality.

The soul, therefore, as a separate entity, is fading slowly out of the picture because it is being absorbed into and by the personality, which is becoming more and more the soul in incarnation. Eventually the relation is established [505] between spirit (Monad) and personality (form or matter), with a tiny point of consciousness eternally present which is aware of both these factors and yet preserves inviolate its own identity. This latter realization is the result of aeonian work, carried forward by the soul. Paradoxically, we say that the soul fades or drops out, yet in the last analysis it remains, for in this solar system there is naught else but only this consciousness of being.

One point I would touch upon here before taking up the seven ray methods of projection. The bridge to be built is called frequently the "rainbow bridge" because it is constituted of all the colors of the seven rays. Speaking specifically and from the angle of the disciple, the bridge which he builds between the personality and the Spiritual Triad is composed of seven strands of energy, or seven streams of force; he uses all the seven rays, having gained facility in so doing because again and again his personality has (in the long cycle of incarnations) been on all the seven rays many times. But his soul ray dominates eventually, and in the rainbow bridge the "colors of his rays are heard vibrating; the note of his ray is seen." The bridge built by humanity as a whole is one bridge composed of the multiplicity of individual bridges, built by the many disciples. It is therefore formed eventually of seven strands or streams of energy coming from the seven egoic groups (one group of each ray type). To this bridge the creative work of all human beings who reach the stage of soul contact contributes. Their dominant strands of light fuse into one whole and their lesser strands are lost to sight in the radiant light of the sevenfold bridge which humanity will eventually complete.

Even in this finally completed bridge - at the end of the world cycle - one ray light and color will predominate, the second ray, with the fourth ray as the subsidiary ray. The fourth ray might be symbolically called "the main cable" for humanity, because it is the dominant note of the Fourth Creative Hierarchy. Now let us take up the seven ray methods, one by one. [506]

As we consider these seven ray techniques with their accompanying Words of Power, you must bear carefully in mind that we are dealing entirely with the Will aspect. This necessitates a higher process of alignment and the evocation of a divine aspect hitherto relatively quiescent, except in so far as the will finds its reflection in the activity of the sacrifice petals of the egoic lotus, plus its distorted shadow in the mind nature. This consequently posits a fairly high stage of spiritual unfoldment upon the part of the builder of the antahkarana; it means that there are indications of it (to say the least) between the mind, the sacrifice petals and the atmic principle. This may be simply the most tenuous thread imaginable, a thousand times finer than a gossamer web, but it must inevitably be present. When, from the angle of the esotericist, this is a tangible fact, you will then have the following direct contact:

This contact, when completed, marks an entire unit of spiritual work, if I might so word it, bringing the man upon the physical plane into complete alignment; this unity is consummated at the time of the fourth initiation, the Great Renunciation at which time the first aspect begins to dominate the other two.

Then the soul life - as hitherto understood - fades out and the causal body disappears. The sum total of memory, [507] quality and acquirements is then absorbed into the Monad. The words "I and my Father are one" become true. The astral body also vanishes in the same great process of renunciation, and the physical body (as an automatic agent of the vital body) is no longer needed, though it persists and serves a purpose when so required by the Monad. From the form aspect, you then have the Monad, the sphere of the Spiritual Triad and the etheric body upon the physical plane. I would here remind you that the levels of conscious existence which we regard as formless are only relatively so, because our seven planes are the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane. The center of consciousness is now in the Will nature, when this point of attainment is reached, and is no longer in the love nature. Activity and love are still present in full measure, but the focus of the initiate's attention is in the will aspect of divinity.

It has been said in an ancient book belonging to the Masters' Archives that:

"The preservation of values is the task of the initiate of the first ray; the attainment of positively is the goal of the initiate of the second ray. He who works upon the third ray must reach the path from here to there.
The initiate of the fourth ray arrives at the will aspect when conflict steps into its rightful place and causes no undue concern. These four attainments mark the goal for men and sway them all upon the lower point of consciousness. The ray of vision and of application indicates the way direct, evokes the will to follow, and welds the love of God, the love of man and all that breathes into the purpose underlying all, and towards that purpose and its earthly consummation the seventh ray gives all it has."

It has not been easy to put these abstruse ideas, expressed in the most archaic language and symbolism, into modern terms and words. I have but conveyed the general idea - the collaboration of all the seven rays in the building processes of Deity and their planned interaction, on a tiny scale, [508] infinitesimal in comparison with the great Whole. Man responds within the circle of humanity, enclosed within the greater circle of the Hierarchy, and becomes conscious of this fusion and uses the potencies of both groups of lives, through the medium of the antahkarana. The moment the disciple approaches that point in consciousness and the antahkarana is firmly anchored (even if as yet but a tenuous structure), he becomes aware of the factor of the greater circle which encloses the other two - Shamballa, the Secret Place where the will of God is formulated for the immediate present and for the long range future.

With this vision and suggested preamble let us now ascertain the seven techniques to be employed at the projection stage of the building process.

• Ray One - Will or Power

To understand the first ray technique, the basic quality of the ray must be grasped. It is dynamic. The point at the center is the First Ray of Power, and its technique is never to move from the center but from that point to work dynamically. Perhaps the word that would best express its mode of work is Inspiration. The Father inspires response from the material aspect, or from the Mother if you like that symbolism, but it accomplishes this by remaining immovably itself. From the point where he is, the Builder (human or divine) works, not by the Law of Attraction, as does the second ray, but by the Law of Synthesis, by a fiat of the will, based on a clearly formulated purpose and program. You will see, therefore, that the first ray personality has to ascertain (as in fact do all disciples) which aspect he himself is of a particular ray. It is not possible for any disciple who has not taken the third initiation to ascertain his monadic ray, but any disciple building the antahkarana, and who has reached the stage of projection, should know his soul ray and his personality ray, and should remember that their fused or blended potency must perform the act of projection. The energy of the Monad can be evoked, but it results in a downpouring towards its [509] working agent and it is not an act of projection per se. The act of projection is the work of the "shadow and the reflection." The Old Commentary says in this connection, when dealing with the Word of Power for each ray:

"When there is no shadow, for the Sun is clear, and no reflection for the water is no more, then naught remains but the one who stands with eyes directing life and form. The threefold shadow now is one. The three of self exists no more. The higher three descends and all the nine are one. Await the time."

When, therefore, the ray of the soul dominates the ray of the personality, then the self becomes the acting agent, aided by the ray of the lower self. The rays of the three vehicles are no longer active, but only the basic duality of soul and personality remains, and there is no lesser differentiation.

In considering all these seven rays, I seek to do three things in every case:

1. Give the technique of projection. This technique falls into four stages:
   1. The preparatory stage in which the consciousness becomes focused in the soul ray.
   2. An interlude in which the projecting agent realizes with intensity the existence of the "point of tension" and the finished product of the visualization process.
   3. A focused activity of the will, according to the ray, in which a line of light or of living substance is imaginatively and creatively sent out or projected from the mental unit, as far as possible towards the Spiritual Triad, using constantly the creative imagination.
   4. This line of light (this strand or bridge) is then pictured as colored by the two ray qualities, and it is held stably aligned in the light of the Spiritual Triad - not the light of the soul. This corresponds to the much earlier stage of development in which the mind was held steady in the light. The mind still is held in this manner, but the mind (as the agent of the soul and the [510] personality) is no longer quiescent, but itself becomes an active holding agent.
2. Indicate briefly the effect of the Word of Power. When adequate stability has been acquired, the disciple utters a Word of Power which serves to carry the light still further on and up. When correctly uttered, this Word produces three effects:
   1. It keeps the channel for the descending light of the Spiritual Triad clear of all impediments.
   2. It reaches (by means of its vibratory activity) the center of power which we call the Spiritual Triad, focused temporarily in the manasic permanent atom, and evokes a response in the form of a thread of descending triadal light.
   3. It causes a vibration throughout the antahkarana which in its turn evokes response from the "rainbow bridge" as built by all other disciples. Thus the work of constructing the racial antahkarana is furthered.

I am here doing two things - speaking to you in symbols. There is, literally speaking, no up or down or higher and lower, as you know, nor do any of the separative actions as outlined by the occult sciences exist. Yet the truth has to be thus presented owing to the mind consciousness of the disciple. I have also been giving in human terms the outline of a process which, if adequately followed, will enable you to make real progress in the preparatory understanding required by all who hope some day to take initiation.

3. This brings us to the third point, the nature of initiation. Initiation falls really into three major expansions of consciousness.
   1. The expansion of consciousness of the dedicated personality into that of the soul; this is completely consummated at the third initiation.
   2. The expansion of this fused and blended consciousness [511] into that of the Spiritual Triad, completely consummated at the fifth initiation.
   3. The expansion of consciousness toward which the Masters are working, which is consummated at the seventh initiation.

Students today have made much progress towards the control of the personality, and the disciples in the world are now so numerous that the hierarchical emphasis is today upon the states of consciousness which follow the third initiation. Hence the giving out to the public of the teaching upon the antahkarana.

You will find below, in tabulated form, the teaching anent the six stages so that you may have a visual picture of the intended process. The following of the process is, of course, another matter and its success is dependent upon more than a theoretical grasp of process. It is dependent upon your ability to live more definitely in the world of meaning than hitherto, upon your knowledge of your soul and personality rays and upon your capacity to focus in your blended consciousness, and from that point - holding the mind steady in the light - utter the Word of Power which will carry your created thread of light forward towards the Spiritual Triad.

B.I.7.e.vi. Outline for Reflective Contemplation on Constructing the Antahkarana

I. Points to have in mind.

This work of construction concerns the handling of energy. Students should ponder upon the distinction between energy and force.
It is dependent upon the use of the creative imagination. Students would do well to reflect upon the relationship of the imagination to the intuition and of both to the mind.
The work of building the antahkarana must be done with as much conscious understanding as possible. [512]

II. The six steps or methods of building the Antahkarana.

1. Intention.
   1. The achieving of right orientation
      Towards the soul
      Towards the Spiritual Triad.
   2. A mental understanding of the work to be done is necessary.
   3. A ring-pass-not of consciously gathered energies must be created and held in a state of tension.
   4. A period of clear thinking anent this process of Intention must be attempted.
   5. Then follows the preservation of a point of tension.
2. Visualization.
   1. The use of the creative imagination or the picture-making faculty.
   2. Response to intuitional or buddhic impression.
   3. Preoccupation with two energies:
      The energy held at a point of tension within the previously created ring-pass-not.
      The active picture-forming energy brought into action by the mind of the builder.
3. Projection.
   1. The calling in of the will through the method appropriate to the Ray of the disciple, the soul ray.
   2. The simultaneous preservation of three lines of thought:
      Awareness of the blended personality and soul.
      Awareness of the point of focused tension.
      Awareness of the Ray energy in its will aspect.
   3. The use of one or other of the seven Ray methods of projection, according to the Ray of the disciple.
   4. The use of a Word of Power.
4. Invocation and Evocation.
   1. The blended soul and personality are now invocative, and their united intention is expressed in the previous three stages.
   2. Then a response comes from the Spiritual Triad, which that intention, propelled by an act of will from a point of tension has evoked.
5. Stabilization.
   This is brought about by long patient use of the four [513] previous processes and followed by a conscious use of the antahkarana.
6. Resurrection and Ascension.
   This is the rising up of the consciousness out of soul and personality limitations (from the angle of the Monad) and its passing into that of the Spiritual Triad.

Here I would touch upon one important point connected with all Words of Power. I could give you these words in their ancient Sensa form, but it would not be possible for me to teach, through the medium of writing, their ancient and peculiar pronunciation or the note upon which they should be sounded forth. This used to be regarded of supreme importance. Today, disciples are being taught to work far more upon the inner planes of meaning and not to depend, as heretofore, upon the outer activity of sound. Remember that you are not creating now upon the outer plane. The physical sound or sounds are therefore of relatively no importance. What does matter is the ability of the disciple to feel the meaning of the Word of Power as he silently utters it. It is the quality of his idea which will bring the right effect, and not the way in which he makes a sound with the aid of his vocal cords and his mouth. Students have been taught that the AUM sounded inaudibly and listened for, is of greater potency than when sounded audibly. This was preparatory to the utterance of these Words of Power. They have been learning the significance of the OM, even if they did not realize it. This was all in preparation for the use of the Ray Words. It is the thought behind the form, the registered feeling anent the words, and the understanding of their significance which are of importance; it is the ability to think, to feel and silently to send out the call of quality to quality, of meaning to meaning, of nature to nature, of form to spirit which matters, remembering ever that that which is found upon the physical plane is not a principle. The physical sound is not that which will lead to a successful building of the antahkarana. It is the quality of a particular [514] type of subjective nature (the soul ray as it dominates the personality ray) which makes appeal to that which is still more subjective; that is what in truth accomplishes the work. It should be borne in mind that from the angle of the Spiritual Triad the soul nature is definitely objective. This is a statement of occult fact which will be better understood when the nature of man (as taught in the occult sciences) is admitted by thinkers, scientists and psychologists.

The point I wish to make is that no particular word is going to be given by me, because it would be useless. The OM is useless to most people, even though trained students may now be deriving benefit from its use. This general uselessness is caused not only because people do not use the Word correctly, but also because, even when using it they are not holding its significance firmly in their consciousness. So it is with a Word of Power. Of what use would it be if I attempted to give the Word of the first ray, which looks (when presented in its symbolic written form) something like this - Ukrtapklsti? Certain sounds in this word-form are omitted because there is no way of depicting them, since they are neither vowels nor consonants. Correctly sounded, the above forms three words. But I can give, as far as possible, the English equivalent in meaning, and it is this meaning which I ask you to have in mind as you mentally utter the sound or Word of Power and visually attempt to see it performing the esoteric miracle of bridge building.

The first ray disciple has, therefore, to meet the requirements to the best of his ability and to follow the four stages of the technique of projection (pages 489-493, 509). When he has faithfully followed this outlined routine, personality and soul fusion has to be consciously attempted and to some measure achieved, and then these blended factors are held steady in the triadal light. Another point of focused intention is now brought about, resulting in a new and still more dynamic tension. In the completed silence which results, the act of projecting the antahkarana is performed, [515] and it is then carried forward on the impetus of a Word of Power. The symbolism connected with this lies behind the Masonic usage of the words, translated into English, "So mote it be," uttered with the right hand stretched forth and signifying the embodied will of the Lodge, itself a symbol of the Will and Purpose of the Most High.

The meaning of the Word of Power to be used at this point of accomplished projection might be summed up in the words: "I assert the Fact." This is the nearest form I can give you for the word-form earlier mentioned. A little deep reflection on these words will show that if uttered with an understanding of their meaning, they are of terrific potency. The disciple who utters them assumes and then asserts:

1. The Spiritual Triad is a fact.
2. The relation between the fused and blended personality and the soul is a fact.
3. The antahkarana is also a fact.
4. The dual expression of the basic duality of manifestation - personality or form and Monad or Spirit - is a fact.
5. The will of the Monad is the factor to be evoked.
6. The knowing, purposeful One can be depended upon to contact the instrument of its will upon the physical plane.
7. The work is done.

This factual assumption is not faith, but knowledge and conviction, and upon this realized conviction the disciple rests, acts and depends. It becomes an unalterable and unchangeable attitude. The meaning of the above sevenfold statement will become clearer if the disciple will ponder the distinction between faith and conviction. It is this divine assertion which holds the universe in being; it is this divine assertion which is the embodied summation of all knowledge and love, and the first ray disciple must begin to use this technique, resting back upon his divine prerogative of assertion. Ponder on this statement. It is the [516] technique of Shamballa and the established right, prerogative and privilege of all first ray souls.

• Ray Two - Love-Wisdom

Again the first two stages of Intention and Visualization have been carefully followed and the four stages of the Projection have been carried through to their highest point. The vivid light of the second ray soul (the most vivid in this second ray solar system) dominates the light of form and radiates out to the triadal light. Then comes a moment of intense concentration and the peculiar Word of Power of the second ray is enunciated. Of this Word, the dual symbol Sxprulxs takes form in the mind of the disciple and signifies the assertion: "I see the greatest Light." This statement has relation to the Central Spiritual Sun and not to the Heart of the Sun; it involves, if I might so express it, the most intense effort to see in the light the relation of the whole, and this is one of the most potent experiences to which the disciple can be subjected. It is not vision or even aspiration to see the vision. It is complete sight and of this the Masonic symbol of the "Eye of God," the "All-Seeing Eye," is the expression. It involves realization of the light of the divine countenance; of this the light of the soul is the dim reflection. The disciple has learnt the significance of solar and lunar light (soul and form light), but this is something other. It is the great obliterating light of reality itself, revealing the fact of the higher Lighted Way which leads to Nirvana. Of this, the projected antahkarana is the stage first consciously realized by the disciple.

I am faced with difficulty in making these Words of Power clear to you, because essentially it is the Word made flesh or the soul in incarnation which at this point registers power; it is the symbol (the form aspect) and the power (the Spirit aspect) which acts as a great creative agency and bridges across all barriers and separative states of consciousness, thus establishing complete unity.

I have indicated to you certain vowels and consonants [517] which are the nearest approach which I can make to making these Words clear, and I have done so in the case of the first and second rays. I shall give you no others, as it is entirely useless. I shall only give you the significances, the concepts involved and the meaning of which these archaic word-forms (which I have attempted to portray in Anglo-Saxon letters) are the embodiment. As the race passes more and more into the world of meaning, these word-forms assume less and less importance, and only the concentrated thought, based on understanding comprehension, can achieve the results. It is into this somewhat new form of work we are now pioneering.

• Ray Three - Active Intelligence

The processes of Intention and Visualization have been followed, and again the four stages of the Projection technique have been concluded. At the point of highest tension, the disciple utters the Word of Power for the third ray. It is not easy for the disciple on this ray to achieve the necessary focal point of silence; his intense fluidity leads to many words or to great mental activity, frequently carried forward under the impulse of glamor. This lessens the potency of what he seeks to do. But when he has succeeded in achieving "mental silence" and is simply a point of intelligent concentration, then he can use the Word of Power with great effectiveness. The difficulty is that he has to overcome the tendency to use it with the idea of physical plane results in his consciousness. Always he works from the angle of that divine quality which characterizes matter; just as the second ray disciple works always from the angle of quality and the first ray disciple from the positivity of spirit. But once he intuitively comprehends and factually grasps the concept that spirit-matter are one reality, and once he has achieved within himself the sublimation of matter, then he can divorce himself from all that the human being understands in relation to form. He can then utter the Word of Power which will make possible his complete identification with spirit, via the antahkarana. This word is "Purpose itself am I." [518]

As regards the other and remaining Words of Power connected with the four Rays of Attribute, I shall simply list them, as there is little that I can say about them. They can be comprehended in the light of what I have said anent the three Words of Power used upon the Rays of Aspect.

• Ray Four - Harmony through Conflict - "Two merge with One"
• Ray Five - Concrete Knowledge or Science - "Three Minds unite"
  (This asserts the fact that the Universal Mind, the higher mind and the lower concrete mind are blended through the projected antahkarana.)
• Ray Six - Devotion or Idealism - "The highest Light controls"
• Ray Seven - Ceremonial Law or Order - "The highest and the lowest meet"

You will note that in all these Words of Power, two obvious thoughts emerge; first, that the goal of all activity is the complete fusion of the three Aspects, and secondly, that consciousness of this comes through the building and use of the bridge between the Spiritual Triad and the Personality. You will note that these are all definite assertions, based on knowledge leading to conviction. The various schools of affirmation found today throughout the world are but the distorted efforts of humanity to arrive at the affirmative position which the blended soul and personality always necessarily assumes, and demonstrate a kind of instinctual reaction to a new realization which is coming into the consciousness of humanity, via its disciples and initiates.

We have practically concluded our study of the antahkarana; however, I want to enlarge a little further upon the three final stages of the building process as dealt with and outlined earlier. These three stages were most briefly considered, owing to their abstract nature. They are part, however, of the six building methods. The first [519] three were considered in greater detail than the last three, and I have felt that it might serve a useful purpose if I gave more teaching anent Invocation and Evocation in particular, for it will condition - consciously and exoterically - the new world religion, as it has hitherto conditioned it esoterically and unconsciously.

4. Invocation and Evocation (continued from Pages 493-495):

These two words are descriptive of that mysterious something - emanation, voiceless appeal, inherent urge towards the light - which is innate in all forms, which produces interplay and relationship, and which is the cause of all progress or pushing forward along the path of an expanding consciousness and a penetration into the light. This is true of a plant pushing its way out of the darkness of earth into the light of the sun, a child extricating itself under the life impulse from the womb of its mother, of the human being pushing himself into realms of greater knowledge and effective physical living, of the aspirant driving forward out of the Hall of Learning into the Hall of Wisdom, of the disciple penetrating into the realm of soul light and life, of the initiate passing from grade to grade in the Hierarchy of Liberation, of the Christ moving on into the Council Chamber of Shamballa, and of the Lord of the World Himself undertaking those processes which will lead Him into realms of divine life - of which even the highest initiate on our planet has no conception. All comes about as part of a great system of invocation and evocation, of appeal and response, and all are distinctive of the "mode of Life" which governs the entire graded hierarchy of Being upon our planet.

This evolutionary pushing forward along the Lighted Way, out of darkness into light, from the unreal to the real, and from death to immortality, is an inherent urge in all forms. It constitutes one of the most subtle and one of the least understood laws of the universe, being related to the Life principle, of which we know as yet naught; it underlies the Law of Evolution as well as the Law of Karma [520] and is, in reality, the Law of the Life Purpose of the planetary Logos; it is an expression of His dynamic intention as it forces all substance in manifestation and in time and space to act and react in conformity to His Will. He thus enables His form - the planet which is a compound of all the seven kingdoms in nature - to express logoic intention for the "duration of the Great Breath"; of this breath, time and space are the two aspects. It affects the tiniest atom and the most exalted Being within the sphere of His consciousness and the scope of His livingness; it affects the subhuman kingdoms, unconsciously to them, and is (in relation to them) sometimes spoken of as "the Law of Life of the Sun." The human family, after the stage of personality integration is reached, reacts with increasing consciousness of the divine purpose. Once the antahkarana is constructed and the higher initiations are taken, the initiate then cooperates with that purpose in full understanding and intention. He no longer simply reacts to his own interior urges, which force him ever to invoke the higher aspect of life and of consciousness which he senses on ahead. He now knows. He sees; he participates in the Plan; he relates himself to the divine Intention through an understanding of the doctrine or Science of Tension; he makes the divine Intention his, as far as he can grasp it. This reciprocal interplay produces the mutability of form and the immutability of the divine nature which is distinctive of, those liberated Consciousness which have freed Themselves from the prison of form.

Elsewhere (The Reappearance of the Christ, Pages 157-158) I said that "The definition of religion, which will in the future prove of greater accuracy than any yet formulated by the theologians, might be expressed as follows:

Religion is the name given to the invocative appeal of humanity and the evocative response of the greater Life to that cry.

It is, in fact, the recognition by the part of its relationship to the Whole, plus a constantly growing demand for increased [521] awareness of that relation; it draws forth the recognition of the Whole that the demand has been made. It is the impact of the vibration of humanity - oriented specifically to the Great Life of which it feels itself a part - upon that Life, and the responsive impact of that "All surrounding Love" upon the lesser vibration. It is only now that the impact of the human vibration can dimly be sensed in Shamballa; hitherto its most potent activity has only reached the Hierarchy. Religion, the science of invocation and evocation as far as humanity is concerned, is the approach (in the coming New Age) of a mentally polarized humanity. In the past, religion has had an entirely emotional appeal. It concerned the relation of the individual to the world of reality, of the seeking aspirant to the sought-for divinity. Its technique was the process of fitting oneself for the revelation of that divinity, of achieving a perfection which would warrant that revelation, and of developing a sensitivity and a loving response to the ideal Man, summarized for present day humanity in the Christ.

Christ came to end the cycle of this emotional approach which had existed since Atlantean days; He demonstrated in Himself the visited perfection and then presented to humanity an example - in full manifestation - of every possibility latent in man up to that time. The achieving of the perfection of the Christ-consciousness became the emphasized goal of humanity."

The activity of all previous Teachers and demonstrating Sons of God became only the presentation of the various aspects of a divine perfection which the Christ summarized in Himself. But He did far more than just this. Had this been all that He accomplished, He would have presented to humanity a picture of a static achievement, a culmination of perfection such as the evolutionary status of man at that time demanded; He would have given us, in fact, a Figure of very great, but at the same time, arrested development. This was of course impossible, but the religion which He founded has never recognized this fact or considered what lay beyond Christ, what was the nature of His [522] subjective background and what was His point of achievement, and whether He still had other possibilities. This was perhaps an unavoidable omission owing to the fact that the idea of evolution was unknown until relatively very late, in the human consciousness. Orthodox religion has been preoccupied with an emotional and aspirational approach to this Figure of Perfection; it has not looked beyond the Figure to the Reality which He represents. This Christ Himself foresaw as a possibility, and sought to obviate when He pointed out to His disciples that they could do "greater things" than He had done, because He was going "to the Father." He, in those words, pointed beyond Himself to the One Who was responsible for His Being, and to the Way of the Higher Evolution - a subject with which the church has never satisfactorily dealt. In the above words He indicated a state of being which He had never demonstrated on earth, owing to the unpreparedness of man, and also to the fact that He Himself was only "on His Way."

The Way of the Higher Evolution has also its two phases, as has the Lighted Way. In the early stages of the unfoldment of the Christ consciousness and in the attainment of the third initiation, the Transfiguration, the aspirant and the initiate-disciple pass along the first part of the Path of Discipleship. In the treading of the Way of the Higher Evolution (for which we have as yet only this somewhat cumbersome name) the initiate-disciple treads the Way of Antahkarana and the Way of the Higher Initiations. In making this statement I would again remind you that the third initiation is regarded by the Hierarchy as the first major initiation, whilst the two previous initiations are considered as only preparatory in their nature. The training given in preparation for them, and the consequent expansions of consciousness, reveal to the initiate the nature of the soul, the scope (widespread and universal) of the divine consciousness, and his relation to the Father, the Monad. They enable him to become the soul in manifestation to such an extent that his awareness is definitely and unalterably [523] that of the soul; at the fourth initiation the soul-body, the causal vehicle, is no longer needed, and it then disappears, dissipates, and is entirely destroyed, thus leaving the initiate free to tread the Way of the Higher Evolution and to follow in the footsteps of the Christ. He was the first of our planetary humanity to blaze the trail (is not that a phrase much used?) to the higher spheres of revelation.

I would here also remind you that, during this stage of human evolution, all these various phases exist simultaneously; this largely accounts for the relative differences and difficulties which characterize all the religions of the world and all relationships. Emotional appeal is needed by the masses, and their goal - some way ahead - is soul consciousness and soul control. It is the mystical way and the way of the early and preparatory stages of the science of Invocation and Evocation. It is the method to be followed by average humanity at this time, because men are largely Atlantean in their approach and their natures; they must learn to tread the Path by becoming the Path Itself, and in this way develop the mechanism and the capacities which are inherent in the divine Mind, which "spins the thread of connecting light and relates all beings within the planetary ring-pass-not into Itself."

By becoming the Path, symbolically speaking, and by a process of reorientation, the aspirant who is seeking to tread the Lighted Way of purification and of discipleship reaches a point where that light and that path have brought him to a specific goal. Then the light which he has generated from within himself, and is learning rapidly to use, reveals to him the Way of the Higher Evolution, the fact of a still greater goal further on ahead - called by the Christ "the Father's House."

At the fourth initiation he becomes aware, for the first time in his experience, that there is a hiatus or gap separating him from his distant goal. This constituted the major part of the agony upon the Cross. There was a fusion of agonies at that supreme moment, if I might attempt to express what occurred. The Master Jesus, crucified there, [524] felt the agony of human need and renounced His own life and gave His all (again symbolically speaking) to meet that need. The Christ, at that time over-shadowing His great Disciple, also passed simultaneously through a great initiatory experience. The agony of His yearning for revelation and increased enlightenment (in order to enhance His equipment as World Savior) revealed to Him the new possibilities, from which - when confronted with them dimly in the garden of Gethsemane and later upon the Cross - His whole nature shrank.

Great as is this mystery to your and impossible as it is for you to comprehend that whereof I speak, it is wise to establish the fact in your consciousness that at the Crucifixion initiation, the Master Jesus took the fourth initiation and the Christ took the sixth initiation. The Master Jesus reached the culminating experience of the Lighted Way, whilst the Christ made that final effort which enabled Him entirely to complete and traverse the "rainbow bridge" and to "go to the Father" (as He told His disciples), thus moving forward on to the first stage of the Way of the Higher Evolution.

The practical point for aspirants and disciples to remember is that the Science of Invocation and Evocation entered a new phase when Christ came and presented Himself before humanity; He then gave the teaching which summarized all the past and indicated the new aspects of the future teaching. He opened the door to the Way of the Higher Evolution, hitherto closed, just as the Buddha epitomized in Himself the achievements of the Lighted Way and the attainment of all knowledge and wisdom. Christ, in opening this "greater door beyond the lesser door," anchored - if I may so inadequately express it - the Will of God on Earth, particularly in relation to the consciousness of men. He lifted the entire Science of Invocation and Evocation to the mental plane and made possible a new approach to divinity. It is difficult to give you a symbol which could clarify this matter in your mind. But the one given may carry some enlightenment: [525]

[526]

It must be remembered that intelligence and love were present upon Earth, the first in greater degree than the second, and that the task of all the great World Saviors (emerging from the Secret Place, from the illimitable past until the present time) has been to anchor, organize, and implement these divine aspects, energies, attributes, and to further their development within the body of the planetary Logos. They also, from time to time, demonstrated to the humanity of Their period of appearing, the point in that development which had been reached. These Representatives of Deity have been of all grades, degrees and differing points of spiritual unfoldment; They have been chosen for Their aptitude to respond to invocation, to manifest certain divine qualities, and to attract around Themselves those who had latent the same divine qualities, and who could therefore step down the teaching that the World Savior came to give, and translate into human equivalents as much of the divine inspiration as was possible. Many of Them have been forgotten even if Their work was successful. Others have been resolved into myths by the thought-form-making faculty of man but Their work is still thereby remembered, and to this, monuments and tradition constantly testify; greater Sons of God possessed a potency and a love of humanity which, even at the close of many centuries, evokes the attention of mankind and conditions even yet the reactions of millions of people.

Vyasa - the original Vyasa, Who was the Great Individuality evoked by the invocation of the early animal-men - is still more than just a name, even though He has passed out of our planetary scheme millions of years ago. He opened a door into the human kingdom through His response to the animal kingdom in its higher invocative ranks; His work brought about the process known as individualization. Down through the ages, these Sons of God have come, evoked by human invocation; in Their turn, They have invoked certain aspects of the divine nature, deeply hidden in mankind - all related hitherto to consciousness and to responsiveness of the part to the Whole. [527] Eventually Hercules came forth and opened the door on to the Path of Discipleship, His work being preserved for us in the Twelve Labors of Hercules. These epitomized the various tests to which all disciples are subjected, prior to the various initiations. Shri Krishna came and opened the door through which mankind could pass to the Second Initiation. The Buddha, a still greater Figure, the One Who is known as the "Enlightened One," also came and demonstrated to humanity the nature of the Lighted Way, its revelations and its effects in consciousness. He enacted for us the supreme achievements of the mystic way. Then came the Christ and performed a triple work:

1. He opened the door to the third initiation.
2. He anchored on Earth "the Will of God in the matrix of love" (as it has been esoterically called).
3. He pointed the way through "the needle's eye" which gives entrance to the passage through the Pyramid (the symbol of the Spiritual Triad in this case. A.A.B.) which leads out on to the Way which terminates in Shamballa.

His work was of a major consummating nature; He demonstrated in Himself two divine aspects, thus giving "shape and substance to love"; this had been sequentially fostered by several preceding lesser World Saviors, of Whom Shri Krishna was the greatest.

The Christ completed the work of the Buddha by manifesting in its fullness the nature of love, thus permitting the full expression of love-wisdom in its dual aspect - the one aspect demonstrated by the Buddha and the other by the Christ. But His greatest work has not yet been emphasized in the worlds of thought and of religion - the revelation of the Way of the Higher Evolution. This entails the bringing through of pure divine will and the relating of the spiritual Hierarchy to the great Council at Shamballa. It will be apparent to you, therefore, that He was the first to carry through - from stage to stage - the complete revelation of humanity to the Hierarchy and of the Hierarchy to Shamballa. This He did by virtue of a [528] completely finished and constructed antahkarana, and thus He facilitated the work of all future aspirants and disciples. He made possible their unimpeded progress, as far as the opening of each stage of the planetary antahkarana is concerned. He presented the "first thread of living substance, irradiated by love, intelligently woven and energized by will" which any human being of our Earth humanity had interwoven with the planetary antahkarana. Here lies the secret of the sixth initiation, which has not yet received the attention of the occultist.

Here comes a climaxing note. The whole evolutionary scheme is based upon a series of ascensions. These ascensions are the result of a process, a technique, a method (choose which word you will) of invocation by the lesser individual, group or kingdom, and the evocation of that which is greater, more inclusive and more enlightened. This is true, whether it concerns a lonely aspirant upon the Way or an entire kingdom in nature. The greatest of the incarnating Sons of God are necessarily Those Who can include whole kingdoms or states of divine Being in Their consciousness. Here is the key as to why the invocation by a group "standing with massed intent" can bring forth, and has done so many times in our planetary history, One Who could meet the need which the invocation voiced, upon "a way of escape," and embody in Himself the required vision or goal.

You will note here that I have carried the teaching (earlier given upon the subject) into the realm of the whole. Previously, I dealt with the process as it applied to the disciple invoking his soul; later I carried the concept farther, and we considered the disciple invoking his Father in Heaven, the Monad. Now, we have briefly touched upon humanity as a whole, standing at a great point of invocation wherein the entire human kingdom is involved. Thus you have the final three of the six great stages in the process we are considering: Invocation, leading to Evocation, to Revelation (at the Fifth initiation) and to Decision (at the sixth). [529]

To sum up. We have carried our study of the esoteric aspects of mental unfoldment to a point where we have lifted the entire spiritual man into realms which are neither those of the soul nor of the personality; they are those which make him an integral part of monadic experience. We are therefore dealing definitely with initiate experience. That the personality remains as an instrument or vehicle of expression for the one universal soul in its many aspects upon the physical plane has been duly emphasized; that the soul per se has been lost to consciousness in the sea of universal realization has also been made clear; that the state of being which the initiate has now reached, as a result of the six stages of conscious building of the antahkarana, has been detailed; but I have pointed out in this connection that what has transpired lies beyond what we call consciousness, and is consequently undefinable by the human intellect. We have dealt with certain high stages of unfoldment which remain impossible to any human comprehension outside that of Those Who can function in the Courts of Shamballa. When these stages have been passed, then the goal of all the evolutionary processes has been reached, as far as humanity is concerned. These concepts cover our presentation of truth and of our theme up to the present point. Further we cannot go, for it would be profitless; nor would the human constitution prove adequate to the imposed task.

I have in these previous sections carried our theme to the point where it climaxes all that has been hitherto given out anent the human mind and its capabilities. I have indicated the method whereby the mind, trained in meditation, and therefore soul-conscious, can - through the construction of the antahkarana - reach heights and stages of inclusiveness which will introduce to it certain aspects of the so-called Universal Mind, the mind of God, as it is familiarly called. What I have really done is to deal very briefly with the mode whereby the disciple or the initiate can, with increasing power, tune in on the mind of the planetary Logos, Sanat Kumara. Just as the disciple can, [530] when soul conscious, tune in on the mind of his Master, so the initiate, upon a higher turn of the spiral, can register the thoughts of the divine Being in Whom we all live and move and have our being.

Through the development of the antahkarana and its conscious, scientific use, the initiate becomes aware of what transpires in the Council Chamber of Shamballa; he can then efficiently begin to work as an exponent of the Will aspect of divinity. Yet all this time we have confined ourselves entirely to the consideration of the mind aspect in its three phases upon the mental plane, and with their extension into states of being unknown to all except trained disciples and initiates. It has been my intention thus to give a theoretical, though not yet practical insight into modes of activity and possible states of being to which you can some day aspire and eventually attain.

B.I.8. The Meaning of the Initiatory Process

Before proceeding with our next point concerning the fusion of the Master's consciousness with that of His disciple, I would like to refer to the significance of the words I earlier emphasized, "the initiatory process." I have dealt at length with the theme of initiation in many of my books and have endeavored to present the subject in such a manner that it becomes apparent that it fits into the evolutionary process as a normal and inevitable procedure. Initiation has been so frequently presented as being a ceremony that I have felt it necessary to offset strenuously that erroneous significance. If, however, you are to comprehend that which I have to say, you will have to call in what measures of enlightened understanding you may possess.

Initiation is only a ceremony in so far that there comes a climaxing point in the initiatory process in which the disciple's consciousness becomes dramatically aware of the personnel of the Hierarchy and of his own position in relation to it. This realization he symbolizes to himself - successively and on an increasingly large scale - as a great [531] rhythmic ceremonial of progressive revelation in which he, as a candidate, is the center of the hierarchical stage. This is definitely so (from the ceremonial angle) in the first two initiations, and in relation to the Christ as the Initiator. After the third initiation, the ceremonial angle lessens in his consciousness because the higher initiations are not registered by the mind (with its ability to reduce realization into symbolic form) and thus transmitted to the brain, but they reach the brain and are there registered via the antahkarana; the results of the experience of expansion are now definitely of such a nature that they cannot be reduced to symbols or to symbolic happenings; they are formless and remain in the higher consciousness.

I am not here saying that the teachings given in the past by various occult groups, or in my book Initiation, Human and Solar, are not correct or do not recount accurately what the candidate believes has taken place. The point I seek to make is that the ceremonial aspect is due to the thought-form-making capacity of the disciple and (which is of major importance) constitutes his contribution to the future externalization of the initiatory process in its earlier stages. When an adequate number of disciples will have succeeded in relating the Spiritual Triad to the soul-infused personality and have occultly "precipitated" the energies of the Monad through the medium of the antahkarana, then the first and second initiations can be "ceremoniously" enacted on earth.

The higher initiations cannot be thus presented but will be enacted on the mental plane, through the medium of symbols and not through the details of ceremonious happenings. This symbolic representation will hold good for the third, the fourth and the fifth initiations. After these five great expansions have taken place, the initiations will no longer be registered as factual ceremonials on earth or as symbolic visualizations on the mental plane. It is hard to find a word or a phrase which can express what occurs; the nearest I can approach to the truth is the "existence of illumination through revelation." You [532] will note in this connection that the fifth initiation is given the name of Revelation. You therefore have a sequence of consequences or of the results of spiritual attainment which are as follows:

1. Factual Ceremonials, based on externalization.
   Initiation 1 - The Birth.
   Initiation 2 - The Baptism.
2. Symbolic Representation, based on spiritual visualization.
   Initiation 3 - The Transfiguration.
   Initiation 4 - The Renunciation.
   Initiation 5 - The Revelation.
3. Illumination through Revelation, based on living Light.
   Initiation 6 - Decision.
   Initiation 7 - Resurrection.
   Initiation 8 - Transition.
   Initiation 9 - Refusal.

It will be obvious that these three attempts to define the process of initiation present only the outer form aspect; each initiation has three aspects, as has all else in nature, for initiation is a natural process. There is first, its form aspect; then its soul or consciousness aspect; and finally, its life aspect.

The form aspect culminates experience and presents the disciple's comprehension of the initiatory process; the consciousness aspect indicates in a mysterious manner the rate of expansion as the disciple has undergone the process; the life aspect permits of extra-planetary contact, thus indicating the possible future and the eventual processes of identification. It might be added that the factual ceremonial admits the disciple into full fellowship with the Hierarchy; that the symbolic representation indicates to the disciple the Way into Shamballa, and that illumined revelation presents to the initiate the bridge between our cosmic physical plane and the inner subjective and cosmic worlds; this entrance to the bridge (I am speaking in symbols) [533] reveals the existence of the cosmic Antahkarana, created by the Lord of the World and His group of Executives.

This information concerning the initiatory process is coordinating in its nature and is of service to you only in this connection. It demonstrates the underlying solar synthesis which was the fundamental platform I gave out in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. Beyond that implication, the information is of no use to you. It enables you, however, to begin to develop the esoteric sense of synthesis.

These three grades of appreciation or of comprehension of the initiatory process are hinted at in the Masonic Work. The ceremonial aspect can be related to the degrees of Entered Apprentice and of Fellow Craft, plus certain little-practiced degrees, as for instance that of Mark Mason degree and one or two others; these are expansions of the implied teaching. The initiations, covered by the term symbolic representation, find their first hint in the sublime third degree, that of Master Mason, in the Holy Royal Arch and in one or two succeeding degrees; the higher degrees of the Scottish Rite constitute a vague and nebulous attempt to hold before the Masons of the world those expansions of consciousness and of growth into the Light which are experienced in the remaining higher initiations - those subject to the process called illumination through revelation.

The Masonic Work is an ancient and laudable attempt to preserve in some germinal form the spiritual truth anent initiation. In spite of distortion, some loss of the Ancient Landmarks and a deplorable crystallization, the truth is there and at a later date (in the early part of the next century) a group of enlightened Masons will rearrange the rituals and adapt the present forms and formulas in such a manner that the spiritual possibilities, symbolically indicated, will emerge with greater clarity and a deepened spiritual potency; the coming form of Masonry in the New Age will necessarily rest upon the foundation of a newly interpreted and enlightened Christianity, having no relation to theology and being universal in [534] nature. Its present form, resting as it does on a Jewish foundation which is nearly five thousand years old, must disappear. This must take place, not because it is Jewish, but because it is old and reactionary and has not followed the evolutionary passage of the sun through the zodiac. That passage should and does symbolize human evolution, and just as the sin of the children of Israel in the wilderness was their reverting to a dispensation and religious ritual which had passed and gone (the religion of the people in the time of Taurus, the Bull, symbolized by their falling down and worshipping the golden calf), so today modern Masonry is in line to do the same; and the ancient usages and forms, consistent and right in the Jewish dispensation, are now obsolete and should be abrogated. It is equally true of the Jewish race that in the rejection of the Christ as the Messiah they have remained, metaphorically and practically, in the sign of Aries, the Ram, or of the Scapegoat; they have yet to pass into the sign (again speaking symbolically) of Pisces, the Fishes, and recognize their Messiah when He again comes in the sign Aquarius. Otherwise they are repeating their ancient sin of non-response to the evolutionary process.

Let us now consider what the initiatory process signifies to the disciple as he seeks to lead the dual life which it demands. You will note that I call it a process in contradistinction to the theosophical definition which regards it as a culminating ceremony of a period of training.

The initiatory process is in reality the result of the activity of three energies:

1. The energy generated by the disciple as he seeks to serve humanity.
2. The energy made available to the disciple as he succeeds in building the antahkarana.
3. The energy of the hierarchical Ashram into which he is being "absorbed" or integrated.

It is these three energies, each with its own mode of expression and each producing its own specific results, which implement or engineer the initiatory process; these [535] energies are evoked by the disciple himself, and their increasing strength and revelatory capacity depend largely upon the disciple's determination, purpose and will, his persistence and spiritual integrity. It is through his understanding of the word "process" that the disciple discovers the true meaning of the occult statement that "before a man can tread the Path he must become that Path himself." Increasingly the disciple finds what it is to become a creative agent, using the creative faculties of the mind and conforming increasingly (as he creates) to the Plan of the Creator, the Lord of the World.

The first three initiations are definitely and in a most mysterious way concerned with the creative work, and with the spiritual expression in a human being of the third aspect of divinity, that of intelligent activity. The fourth, fifth and sixth initiations are as definitely related to the second aspect of love-wisdom as it expresses itself through created forms; the seventh, eighth and ninth initiations are occultly "inspired" by the first divine aspect, that of the Will. Only, therefore, at the ninth initiation is the human being a full and true expression of divinity; he then realizes that in him all the divine aspects meet. Through them he is consciously, creatively and constructively en rapport with the consciousness of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being. All this is the result of a process and the effect of the inherent livingness which is found in all forms of life from the tiny atom up to Those great Lives Who are little more than names to the disciple.

This initiation process governs the dual life of the disciple in three ways:

1. It is expressed in the results effected in the three worlds and in the tangible and growing proof he gives of definitely defined areas of attainment.
2. It is demonstrated as effects in his consciousness in the form of an increasing fusion of soul and personality as well as growing power to invoke the inflow of the higher light, through the medium of the antahkarana. [536]
3. It is revealed both through the Spiritual Triad and the soul-infused personality as they unitedly prove the livingness of the divine Love-Nature. As this revelation takes hold of the disciple's consciousness and conditions his expressive form of service, it initiates him into that mysterious area of the divine consciousness which we call the "Heart of God"; this is our planetary correspondence to the "Heart of the Sun." The heart of God, i.e., of our planetary Logos, and the heart of the Sun, i.e., the solar Logos, are mysteriously related, and it is through this sustained relation that it becomes possible for human beings to enter the Hierarchy. Forget not that the Hierarchy is the expression of the energy of love. The relationship also enables them eventually to pass off the cosmic physical plane on to the cosmic astral plane.

Each divine aspect has three subsidiary aspects, and in our planet and on the cosmic physical plane the lowest aspect of love (that which we call the Will-to-Good) is revealed. For humanity, struggling upon this cosmic physical plane, we subdivide unconsciously this will-to-good into three aspects; these we are only today beginning to grasp as existent possibilities. The lowest aspect we call goodwill, little realizing the attitude to the universal goal which it sets; the second aspect we vaguely call love and hope to demonstrate that we do demonstrate love through our affiliation with the Hierarchy; the highest we call the will-to-good and leave it undefined because it is in no way possible, even for initiates of the fifth initiation, truly to comprehend what is the nature and purpose of the will-to-good. which conditions divine activity.

The emphasis in the earlier teaching was upon character as the determining factor in deciding whether a man could "take initiation" (as it was called), and this was another of the presentations which have greatly misled aspirants. Character is of major importance - of such recognized importance that it is not necessary to dwell upon it. It is character, however, which enables a man to become a disciple with the aim in view of eventually entering [537] the Ashram of a Master and passing then through the processes of initiation. It is character which is rightly regarded as the first requirement when a man steps off the Probationary Path on to the Path of Discipleship. But he is still, however, a long way from his goal, and a long way from being accepted by a Master as a disciple. The truth might be expressed this way: When the disciple's eyes are removed from himself and his functioning in the three worlds is becoming spiritually controlled (or is in process of being controlled), then he is faced with becoming a truly mental being, with the focus of his life upon the mental level where it is subject to soul control; it then in turn becomes the directing agent of the man upon the physical plane. This does not mean that he is occupied with making his lower concrete mind active, directing and illumined; that is taking place gradually and automatically through the pressure of the higher influences pouring into and through him. He is occupied with the task of becoming aware of the activities of his higher or abstract mind and of the pure reason which controls and animates the buddhic plane, and which is itself susceptible to impression from the Monad. That plane has to become the one toward which his mental consciousness looks and upon which it focuses its attention. There it must be polarized, in the same sense as the consciousness of average humanity is today polarized on the plane of the emotions and of astral activity but is shifting with rapidity on to the mental plane.

This involves a dual activity; the lower mind becomes a potent factor in directing the service activities of the disciple. These activities become the major motivating potency in the disciple's life and are a consequence of a growing soul fusion with the personality, thus developing and unfolding his sense of inclusiveness. Inclusiveness is the supreme key to the understanding of consciousness. At the same time, the higher mind is impressing the lower mind and drawing it into a higher fusion with itself.

This process of unfoldment creates certain major points of successive fusions, with consequent points of tension; [538] these points of tension (when consciously attained) become the actuating energy which enables the disciple to "stand in the light and in that light see greater Light; within that greater Light he knows and sees, grasps and absorbs that which has hitherto been dark and secret and unknown." This is initiation.

Periods of search, periods of pain, periods of detachment, periods of revelation producing points of fusion, points of tension and points of energy projection - such is the story of the Path of Initiation.

Initiation is in truth the name given to the revelation or new vision which ever draws the disciple onward into greater light; it is not something conferred upon him or given to him. It is a process of light recognition and of light utilization in order to enter into ever clearer light. Progress from a dimly lighted area in the divine manifestation into one of supernal glory is the story of the Path of Evolution.

In the Masters' Archives there are some Rules for Disciples of very ancient origin. Among them is one that is so old and so abstruse that it is only now possible to bring it to the attention of humanity, owing to the increased mental and spiritual perception of the modern aspirant. It can be inadequately translated as follows:

"The light is seen, a tiny point of piercing light. This light is warm and red. It nearer draws as it reveals the things that are, the things which may be. It pierces the third center and removes all glamor and desire.
"A light is seen through the medium of the lower light - a light of warmth and heat. It pierces to the heart and in that light all forms are seen pervaded by a glowing light. The world of lighted forms is now perceived, linked each to each by light. This light is blue, and flaming is its nature. Between the warm and reddish light and this clear light there burns a glow of flame - a flame which must be entered, ere the light of blue is entered and is used. [539]
"Another light is then perceived, the clear cold light which is not light but darkness in its purest purity - the Light of God Himself. It renders dark all else beside Itself; all forms fade out and yet the whole of life is there. It is not light as we know light. It is that pure essential essence of that Light which reveals Itself through light."

It was the second light to which the Buddha and the Christ both referred when They said: "I am the light of the world." It is the Light of God Himself, the Lord of the Worlds, in which the Lives within the Council Chamber of Shamballa live and move and have Their Being.

It is the recognition of the varying "lights" upon the Lighted Way that signifies readiness for initiation. The initiate enters into light in a peculiar sense; it permeates his nature according to his development at any point in time and space; it enables him to contact and see the hitherto unseen, and on the basis of the newly acquired knowledge to direct his steps still further.

I am not here speaking in symbols. Each initiation dims the light already acquired and used, and then immerses the initiate in a higher light. Each initiation enables the disciple to perceive an area of divine consciousness hitherto unknown but which, when the disciple has familiarized himself with it and with its unique phenomena, vibratory quality and interrelations, becomes for him a normal field of experience and activity. Thus (if I may so express it) the "worlds of living forms and formless lives become his own." Again duality enters into his mental perception, for he is now aware of the lighted area from which he comes to the point of tension or of initiation; through the initiatory process he discovers a new and more brilliantly lighted area into which he may now enter. This involves no leaving of the former field of activity in which he has worked and lived; it simply means that new fields of responsibility and of opportunity confront him because he is - through his own effort - able to see more light, to walk in a greater light, to prove more adequately than [540] heretofore his capacities within the greatly increased area of possibility.

Initiation is, therefore, a constant fusion of the lights, progressively entered, thus enabling the initiate to see further, deeper and more inclusively. As one of the Masters has said: "The light must enter vertically and be diffused or radiated horizontally." This creates the cross of service upon which the disciple is pendant until the Cross of Sanat Kumara is revealed to him; he knows then why this planet is - for wise and adequate reasons - the planet of distress, dispassion and detachment. When he knows this, he knows all that our planetary life can tell him and reveal to him. He has transmuted knowledge into wisdom.

It is at the center of this cross of service that the point of fusion and the point of tension must be found. The point of fusion is created by the focusing of all the power, aims and desires of the disciple dynamically upon the mental plane; the point of tension is created when the invocative power of this focal point becomes capable of evoking response from that which is invoked. For the average aspirant and for the disciple, this is either the soul or the Spiritual Triad. The meeting of the two focused energies produces a point of tension. Disciples should not focus their attention upon the task of producing a point of tension. They should remember the life of dual activity; i.e., that which he is at any given moment of endeavor, and that with which he can fuse and blend this sum total of his achieved development. The potency of his thinking along these dual lines will automatically produce the point of tension, through the medium of the fusion of the appropriate dualities. It is through the activity of the lower mind that fusion with the soul is brought about, with successive, intensifying points of tension; it is through the activity established between higher and lower mind that fusion with the Spiritual Triad becomes possible, with points of tension arising at many points along the bridge, the antahkarana; it is through the activity of pure reason that fusion with the Hierarchy becomes possible, and it [541] is that which produces those points of tension which we call Initiations. There are necessarily still higher points of tension, but it is with those called initiations that we are dealing at this time.

Light may enter your mind in this connection if you will constantly bear in mind the essential duality of manifestation itself; the negative and the positive poles present within the consciousness of every form. The achieved point of fusion (the result of active and positive work and effort) is rendered negative to that which is being invoked, and by this means another and positive point of tension can be achieved. Initiation - a dramatic and a major point of tension - connotes essentially the fusion of the negative and the positive aspects. Owing to this, in all initiatory processes, it is the will of the disciple which is active and which produces, first of all, a fusion and (as a consequence) the appearance of a point of tension.

Let me illustrate. In the work of creating the antahkarana, the disciple first of all and as far as in him lies, through the medium of positive mental labor, focuses himself upon the mental plane. The fusion of the soul and of the personality is then present and is the result of a positive activity. The quality and the vibratory nature of that positive focal point is then rendered negative to that higher vibration or contact which is invoked by the existent radiance and potency. The response from the opposite pole is (if the disciple could but realize it) immediate and to the extent possible, determined by the disciple's point of attainment.

This invocative-evocative activity produces a point of tension but not - as yet - a point of fusion with the positive pole. From that point of tension the disciple works at the creation of the antahkarana; this will eventually bring about the desired fusion between the soul-infused personality and the Spiritual Triad. The same general process dictates all the desired fusions and produces those points of tension which are the secret of all growth. These [542] points of fusion and of tension the disciple consciously endeavors to bring about.

These are the broad and general lines governing the initiatory process; the work here indicated is followed by all disciple-initiates of all degrees, and even by the Lord of the World Himself. He, in His high Place, holds the manifested world of energies in a state of fusion; points of tension successively occur as a consequence of a growing divine realization within these forms of intelligent activity, of love-wisdom and of the will-to-good. These points of tension vary according to the divine purpose and the individual initiatory problem of Sanat Kumara Himself, as He submits to a cosmic initiatory process. Such a point of tension, of stupendous magnitude, is present in the world today; the intention behind this realized fusion and tension is to enable humanity (as an integral part of the divine body of manifestation) to move forward into greater light and nearer to the "heart of love," which is the Hierarchy. As this takes place - and it is taking place - the Hierarchy Itself moves nearer to a conscious fusion with Humanity. The point of tension thereby achieved - and this has not yet appeared - will produce the Kingdom of God on Earth in exoteric form.

We will now consider one of the lesser, though essential, fusions which must be achieved by the disciple, producing consequently in his life a point or points of tension.

B.I.8.a. Fusion of the Master's Consciousness with that of the Disciple

Earlier I stated that the disciple's private life automatically falls (once he has been accepted by the Master) into three stages:

1. The stage in which the lower concrete mind and the higher mind are related in such a manner that the lower mind is not only soul-illumined but is subject also to impression from the Spiritual Triad.
2. His relation to the Master is the next and some times paralleling stage and involves the bringing [543] together of the Master's consciousness and his own. This has to be slowly developed and consciously grasped, with very interesting consequences.
3. Later comes the stage when the disciple's consciousness can be gradually brought into a rapport with the Hierarchy as a whole. It might be mentioned, in clarification somewhat of this rather vague statement, that the disciple is absorbed into the Hierarchy and - at the same time - he assimilates in a new and mysterious manner certain united hierarchical impressions.

The disciple by now has made his approach to the Ashram and has demonstrated his ability to serve and thereby utilize any ashramic energy which he may contact and occultly include. He is slowly becoming aware of three vibratory impressions which are slightly differing though colored by the ray which they express. First of all, he is aware of the vibration of his own soul; then he registers that of the Ashram, in the early stages focused for him through the mediation of some disciple senior to him; and finally, he becomes conscious of the vibration of the Master. Slowly he learns to distinguish them and know them as constituting three different channels whereby energy reaches him. They contact his consciousness upon the mental plane; later, he discovers that contact with them is facilitated once he can register them consciously upon their appropriate plane and through the appropriate center; it naturally takes time to develop this facility and (until he passes through the third initiation when major changes take place) he is expected to "retain the impression" upon the mental plane.

The development of sensitivity to contact, and the registering of "that which is other than the Self and yet which is the Self itself," are part of the great Science of Impression. This development - in the early stages of human evolution - is carried forward through the medium of the five senses and is to be found in the animal kingdom also. With this well-known and well-studied unfoldment I shall not deal, beyond saying that these five (in reality [544] seven) senses constitute avenues of spiritual approach to varying aspects of the divine manifestation in the three or five worlds of human evolution. It might here be pointed out that (in a mysterious manner) the seven centers in the etheric body are correspondences to the seven senses, for they are responsive to vibrations coming from the world soul or the human soul, from the Ashram and from the Master, as well as registering eventually the energies of all the seven rays; these pour into the disciple and through him as part of the great circulatory system of the sevenfold divine energy which is the basis of manifestation. I dealt with these senses and the circulating energies somewhat at length in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.

With the theme of the fusion of the soul and the personality I have dealt adequately in other writings and in the teaching on the antahkarana. I will confine myself here to the fusion of the Master's consciousness (as it is conditioned to the human kingdom) with that of the disciple. There is no fusion possible or comprehensible between the Master's higher or Shamballic consciousness and that of any disciple who has not taken the fourth initiation. The completeness of the fusion to which I refer is not possible in the early stages of the disciple's unfoldment; there again, the teaching hitherto presented by occult groups in connection with a Master's relation to His disciple has been erroneous and the result of wishful thinking.

The disciple is only permitted to have contact with the Master's mind when his spiritual life has become habitual to him and when he can, at will, flood his personality with soul energy. Those who make occasional and rare soul contacts (and there are many who do) in their meditation work are not so privileged. It is the disciple who has established a usable contact with his soul, of which he can avail himself at any time he so chooses, who can begin to register impressions coming directly to him from the Master.

Aspirants must not confuse teaching given to them by the Master in the work of the Ashram with this later [545] fusion of consciousness. In group formation, disciples are gathered together at times to receive instruction and are thereby protected within the group aura from the tremendous potency of the Master's presence. It is difficult for the average aspirant to realize the necessity for this, yet even disciples themselves, and in the early stages of their admission to the Ashram and of their training, have a potent effect upon those whom they may contact. The effect is produced without intention and is caused by the higher quality of the disciple's vibration or radiance to that of the person or group he contacts. The impression he makes produces stimulation - a stimulation which the person frequently finds it very difficult to handle, evoking not only good but also bad effects.

The application of this radiant energy is a definite mode of spiritual service and activity, but until a disciple has advanced in knowledge and can control his radiation (permitting only those streams of energy to escape from him which are appropriate to the need) the "passing-by" of a disciple can produce much difficulty, both for the individual and for the group.

It will be obvious to you, therefore, that the presence of a Master will have a potent effect where an individual disciple is concerned. I have employed that separative term "individual disciple" because it indicates the cause of the possible difficulty or even danger. Such difficulty is always possible as long as any separative or self-centered instincts exist in the disciple; it takes a long time for a disciple to attain that disinterestedness and that inclusive spirit which will enable him to stand in the presence of the Master and present no barriers to direct contact with the Master's mind. This contact, leading to the desired fusion, falls into certain clearly defined stages:

1. Occasionally in the disciple's hours of meditation, at a moment of great tension or in a crisis (related to his service activities), there may occur a momentary fusion of the minds of the disciple and the Master. This can only [546] occur when the mental focus is so steady and so firmly directed in intention that emotional reactions or the intrusion of personality affairs are eliminated.
2. Later on in his training, the Master may attempt to impress his mind unexpectedly, and thus train him to recognize what we might regard as a direct call from the Center of the Ashram.
3. As the disciple proves his value and demonstrates that he is desiring nothing for the separated self, the interrelation between the two minds - of the Master of the Ashram and the disciple - finds no impediment; there is consequently no risk of over-stimulation, of self-satisfaction or of the emergence of qualities which would disturb the rhythm of the Ashram. There can take place (as the Master wills it) a flow of thought between the two. At first, the impression is carried forward entirely on the side of the Master, and the disciple is simply an agent who can be impressed by ideas and instructed along some particular line which may be of service to humanity; he can, however, produce no current of thought flowing back to the Master. Later on, as a disciple moves forward into light and is simultaneously a server, he can be permitted to reach the Master with his own reaction to the impression.
4. Then comes the final stage wherein the disciple can be trusted to be the initiatory agent of impression and of contact and is allowed to evoke the Master's attention and to penetrate to the Center of the Ashram. Students would do well to relate these four stages to the Six Stages of Discipleship, dealt with, in the latter part of Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. I; these four stages correspond to the final four considered in that book.

These contacts are naturally in the field of telepathy, which is an aspect of the Science of Impression, and are entirely in the realm of mental interplay. I have dealt with the basic science itself in the book Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle. The relation considered above is between the instrument of contact used by the Master - that of the higher or abstract mind, for the Masters do not work [547] through the lower mind at all - and the lower or concretizing mind of the disciple. The Masters are therefore dependent upon the use of the antahkarana which the disciple is in process of building; this is rapidly becoming a part of the group Antahkarana, built by disciples (working in the three worlds but on mental levels) who have been admitted into the Ashram. You can see why, therefore, the teaching anent the Antahkarana was deemed by us to be timely and wise. Relationship to the Ashram and contact with the Master are dependent upon the existence of the Antahkarana. In the early stages of its creative construction, the Antahkarana is adequate to permit some contact with the Ashram and with certain of the disciples, though not with those of very high degree. Later, as the Antahkarana perfects itself, higher and more durable contacts become possible.

The results of these developed and registered contacts are finally seen in the complete impressibility - at any time and without any effort on either side - of the disciple's mind. It is now so attuned to the Ashram and to the Master's ray quality that his mind is one with that of the Master at the center. Reciprocal activity becomes possible.

It is needless, surely, for me to point out that the theme of all impressions coming from the Master to the disciple, and from the disciple to the Master, is the service of the Plan, the problems connected with group work in the Aquarian Age, or with the life and relationships within the Ashram. Forget not that the Ashram has its own objectives, intentions and inner techniques which are unconnected with the disciple's life and his service in the three worlds. The work of the disciple in preparation for initiation is not basically concerned with his daily world service, though there would be no initiation for him if that life of service were lacking. His life of service is, in reality, an expression of the particular initiation for which he is being prepared. This is a theme too vast for us to consider here, but it is an idea upon which you could well ponder. [548]

One hint I will give you, based on the life of the Christ. The life history and the experiences of the great Initiates are rarely given, but much has been communicated to us anent the life of the Christ, both in the Gospels and in connection with His earlier incarnations. As you know, He took one of the greatest of the initiations (the sixth initiation, that of Decision). This initiation is related to the throat center and also to its higher correspondence, the throat center of the planetary Logos; this is the center which we call Humanity. Thus "the Word came forth." He had a dual mission to fulfil in order to prove His fitness (if one may use such a word in connection with an initiate of His exalted standing). He had, first of all, to give a great impetus to human evolution by proclaiming two things:

1. That "the blood is the life."
2. That all men everywhere are sons of God, and therefore divine.

Secondly, He had to bring to an end the Jewish dispensation which should have climaxed and passed away with the movement of the sun out of Aries into Pisces. He therefore presented Himself to them as their Messiah, which was His reason for manifesting through the Jewish race. They not only rejected Him, but have succeeded in perpetuating the Jewish dispensation through the medium of its religious presentation throughout the era of the Christian dispensation. This lies at the root of their trouble and is the cause of their constant emphasis upon the past - a past which is based on their experiences in Aries and not upon their growth in Pisces.

This entire subject of the telepathic interplay between the disciple and the Ashram, and between the Master and the disciple, is one of unique interest. It is part of the dual life which all disciples must lead. It is that which intensifies the life of introspection which is only rightly understood and carried forward when the man is in truth a soul-infused personality. It is the source or origin of the extraverted life which the disciple must also lead, producing an intense activity in the three worlds - an activity [549] which in no way disturbs the calm procedures of the life of ashramic contacts. Rightly followed, it produces the possibility with which our third point deals.

B.I.8.b. Impression on the Mind of the Disciple of Hierarchical Intent

This is something far greater and more inclusive than the ability of the mind of the disciple to register the content of the minds within the Ashram with which he is affiliated or even the mind of the Master. The purpose aspect of the Plan begins to impress his now highly illumined abstract mind, for the integrated purpose - as far as the Hierarchy is concerned - begins slowly to impress him. Little by little, he begins to register impressions from Shamballa. With this I cannot deal; it concerns the growth which follows the fourth and fifth initiations, and therefore training given to a Master. With it you have no concern.

Your major task, as aspirants, is to cultivate the higher sensitivity; to render yourselves so pure and selfless that your minds remain undisturbed by the happenings in the three worlds; to seek that attentive spiritual sense which will enable you to be impressed, and then to interpret correctly the impressions received.

I have said that initiation is in reality a great experiment with energy. The life of the occult student is consciously lived in the world of energies. Those energies have always been present, for the whole of existence in all the kingdoms of nature is manifested energy, but men are not aware of this. They are not conscious, for instance, when they succumb to irritation and find themselves voicing that irritation in loud words or in angry thoughts, that they are taking astral energy and using it. The use of this energy admits them with ease to a level of astral living which is not suitable for them; continual use of this energy brings about what the Master Morya has called "habits of residence which imperil the resident." It is when the aspirant recognizes that he himself is composed of energy units - held in coherent expression by a still stronger energy, that of integration - that he begins consciously to [550] work in a world of forces similarly composed; he then begins to use energy of a certain kind, and selectively, and takes one of the initial steps towards becoming a true occultist. This world of energy in which he lives and moves and has his being is the living, organized vehicle of manifestation of the planetary Logos. Through it energies are circulating all the time and are in constant movement, being directed and controlled by the head center of the planetary Logos; they create great vortices of force or major points of tension throughout His body of manifestation. The Spiritual Hierarchy of our planet is such a vortex; Humanity itself is another, and one which is today in a condition of almost violent activity, owing to its becoming a focus of divine attention.

Certain great readjustments are going on in that center, for it is beginning to conform at long last to divine intention. I have elsewhere pointed out that for the first time in the long history of human development, energy from Shamballa has made a direct impact upon this third planetary center. This is not due entirely to the point in evolution attained by mankind; this attainment is only a secondary reason or cause. It is due to the will of Sanat Kumara Himself as He prepares for a certain cosmic initiation. This initiation requires the reorganization of the energies flowing through and composing that "center which we call the race of men"; this creates a rearrangement within the center itself, and thus brings into manifested expression certain aspects and qualities - always inherent in those energies - which have not hitherto been recognized. This creative crisis has been made possible by three major happenings:

1. The conclusion of a twenty-five thousand year cycle or movement around what is called the lesser zodiac. This connotes a major cycle of experience in the life of our planetary Logos. It is related to the interplay between the planetary Logos and the solar Logos as the latter responds to energies emanating from the twelve zodiacal constellations. [551]
2. The end of the Piscean Age. This simply means that the energies coming from Pisces during the last two thousand years are now being rapidly superseded by energies coming from Aquarius. These result in major changes in the life of the planetary Logos and potently affect His body of manifestation through the medium of His three major centers: Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity.
3. The increasingly dominant activity of the seventh Ray of Order or Ceremonial Magic, as it is somewhat erroneously called. This ray is now coming into manifestation and is in close cooperation with the two above factors; it produces also the lessening of the power of the sixth Ray of Idealism. This has had a long cycle and has greatly hastened the evolutionary process; it demonstrates its effective work in the emergence today of the great world ideologies. I am necessarily considering these energies only in relation to the human consciousness.

There are other factors present in our planet today, but these are the ones which will (in a vague sense) mean something to you, as you think and seek to understand.

The great cosmic initiation through which our planetary Logos is passing (forget not my words, "initiatory process") produces an entire reorganization of all the energies of which His body of manifestation is composed; it heightens the quality or the vibration of certain of the ray energies, and lessens the potency of others. Direction also enters in; certain planetary centers become the recipients (in a new and vital manner) of the redirected ray potencies. Among these, at this time, the human family (or the third vital center) becomes a prime objective. The three major centers in the body of the planetary Logos are:

• The head center - Shamballa - 1st Ray of Will
• The heart center - Hierarchy - 2nd Ray of Love-Wisdom
• The throat center - Humanity - 3rd Ray of Active Intelligence

The impact of the new incoming energies upon Humanity [552] will result from a planned redirection. This will bring in an era of greatly enhanced creative activity; it will be an activity such as has never been seen before, and which will express itself in every department of human living.

In this connection I would remind you of the relation existing between the sacral center (the physical creative center) and the throat center, and of the teaching anent the raising of the energies from this lower center to the throat center. This can be seen happening in the human being as he progresses along the Path of Evolution, and is equally present in the life and experience of the planetary Logos.

This progressive "creative raising" necessarily produces a cycle of tremendous difficulty in the life of the aspirant to initiation, for the microcosm undergoes - in his minute living process - what the planetary Logos undergoes in a cosmic process. When - as is the case today - Humanity itself is in process of becoming creative in the higher sense, and when this synchronizes with a major creative planetary activity, then a cycle of very great disturbance eventuates which necessarily affects every individual within "the race of men." Hence the sexual disturbance to be seen everywhere, with the license present in every country and the apparent breakdown of the marriage relation. This indicates the emergence eventually of a creativity of such wondrous dimensions that the world will stand amazed; nothing like it will have been seen before. A creative planning for human well-being and a political expression, implementing this planning, will demonstrate in every country; a creative thinking will be apparent which will express itself in writing and in poetry; creative imagining will produce the new art, the new colors, the new architecture and the new culture; a creative responsiveness to the "music of the spheres" will bring forth the new music. All this will be in response to the creative reorganization and the newly directed energies which are engaging the attention of the planetary Logos at this time. [553]

All this reorganization and redirection of energies is carried forward in the realm of the divine third aspect, that of divine active intelligence. Therefore the human center registers this major aspect and becomes intensely invocative; this invocative appeal, being unitedly directed towards the second major center, the Hierarchy, inevitably evokes a response. Invocation, accompanied by the creative imagination, will produce that new creative activity which will bring "the new heavens and the new earth" into being.

Three points I would like to make here; they have a definite bearing upon our subject:

1. This intense creative activity falls into two parts:
   1. A destructive cycle, wherein the old order passes away and that which has been created - human civilization with its accompanying institutions - is destroyed. With this destructive action Humanity is today occupying itself - mostly unconsciously. The major creative agents are the intelligentsia of the race.
   2. A cycle of restoration, with many accompanying difficulties in which the mass of men take part, under the influence and inspiration of a regenerated intelligentsia.
2. This process received its initial impulse as a result of a group decision within the Hierarchy itself. Certain Masters Who were facing the sixth Initiation of Decision at the time - a relatively small but powerful group - decided together to tread the Path of Earth Service (technically understood) in order to bring about the changes which They sensed as desirable and as already existing within the consciousness of the One Initiator, the planetary Logos. It was Their decision, taken early in this century, which precipitated - in the center which we call "the race of men" - those potencies and stimulating energies which produced that major destructive agency, the world war (1914-1945). As these energies occultly "fell into the center," the effect produced was both good and bad. Human unity and unanimity, human planning for group welfare, and human [554] creativity (expressed primarily at this time through science) received a tremendous stimulation. Simultaneously, the entering potencies released by this decision produced an upsurging of evil in the hearts of men so inclined, leading to an analogous or paralleling unity, unanimity and creative activity of separative and hateful evil. This, in its turn, "opened the door where evil dwelt" and let loose on earth the full fury of the Black Lodge.
   That this would be the result the Masters knew when making Their decision; They consciously struck a blow at the materialism which was binding humanity and imprisoning the human spirit. This evoked a prompt reaction from the Forces of Evil which had created and "held in being" the modern materialistic world, with its emphasis upon forms and money. The Masters had confidence that the human spirit would be able to live through the period of upheaval and emerge eventually into the new era, ready to build the new world and to reorganize all human resources - material, mental and spiritual.
3. The response of humanity, from the angle of a spiritual realization of the presented opportunity, was the emergence of the New Group of World Servers. They appeared in every country, conscious of their task of crystallizing and making effective human goodwill, though generally unconscious of their hierarchical relationship. Their appearance evoked an immediate reaction from the Spiritual Hierarchy, and experienced disciples made their appearance in the ranks of the New Group of World Servers, directing their efforts, voicing their aims and stimulating their understanding. The new group worked in and through every department of human thinking, human welfare and human planning; as a result, and almost immediately, the men of goodwill everywhere in the world took heart of grace (a most appropriate phrase) and became active.

The three points made here will demonstrate to you the factual nature of the circulation of energies. All these happenings are part of a process of planetary initiation; [555] such an initiation cannot take place without important effects, both in the Hierarchy and in the human family. In old Atlantean days, it was the Masters (facing the same sixth initiation) Who "decided" to bring that ancient civilization to an end; They therefore sacrificed the form aspect of manifestation and created a situation in which the soul of humanity was liberated from the prison in which it found itself. Today, a material catastrophe, such as the flood, has not been deemed necessary; it is believed that humanity can and will find its own way out of the world difficulties. [556]

B.II. The Aspirant and the Major Initiations

We now approach the second part of our theme, dealing with the major initiations; we will do so primarily from the standpoint of the ray energies, considering the subject from the initiate's point of view. I wonder if you realize, my brother, that this has never before been done? The teaching hitherto given out on initiation has been pictorially and symbolically presented; the understanding of the process was dependent upon right interpretation. In this materialistic age, that interpretation has been largely material in nature; emphasis has been laid upon the tangible and supposed form aspect of initiation.

I here propose a different approach, and would ask you to keep in mind some words out of the ancient Archives which are as follows:

"Energy is all there is, O Chela in the Light, but is not known. It is the cause of knowledge and its application and its comprehension lead to expanded understanding.
Through energy the worlds were made and through that energy they make progression; through energy the forms unfold and die; through energy the kingdoms manifest and disappear below the threshold of the world which ever is and which will be forever.
Through energy the Cross is mounted and from the vortex of the four uniting forces, the initiate passes through the door and is propelled into the Light - a light which grows from cycle unto cycle and is known as supernal Energy Itself."

I shall not be able to avoid a measure of symbolic approach and I am forced to use words which will fail to express the truth. The extent of your understanding will be based upon your point in evolution, upon your attitude [557] of mind as you approach this theme, and upon the point of tension you are able to achieve.

Initiation is (in its simplest definition) an understanding of the Way, for understanding is a revealing energy which permits you to achieve. Initiation is a growth in experience and the attainment thereby of a point of tension. Holding that point of tension, the initiate sees that which lies ahead. Initiation permits a progressive entry into the mind of the creating Logos. This last definition is perhaps one of the most important I have ever given. Ponder on my words.

Initiation is a system or a scientific process whereby the septenate of energies which compose the sum total of all the existences within our planetary Life are realized and consciously used for the working out of the divine Plan. It might also be stated that initiation is a method whereby the circulation of energies is furthered by the opening or the awakening of certain planetary and human centers to the impact of their ray quality, potency and divine intention. It is this statement which lies at the heart of the teaching on Laya Yoga or the Science of the Centers.

B.II.1. The Relation of the Seven Rays to the Initiations

It will be obvious to you that, as energy is the basis of our entire manifested world, an initiation is a condition of consciousness wherein the fully prepared disciple utilizes the available energies (at the time of initiation) to bring about changes within consciousness of a momentous and revelatory nature. Each initiation puts the initiate in a position to control certain related energies and enables him to become increasingly a trained manipulator of those energies; each initiation gives him understanding of the related energy and of its field of activity; each initiation reveals to him the quality and the type of stimulation to be evoked when brought into contact with any particular ray energy; each initiation establishes relationship between the initiate and the ray energy involved, so that gradually [558] (no matter what may be his soul ray or his personality ray) he can work with the quality and the creative aspect of all the rays, though ever retaining a greater facility to work on his own soul ray, and later with the ray of the Monad - one of the three major Rays of Aspect.

I would ask you to remember that all human beings must finally express the quality and livingness of one of the three Rays of Aspect, even if - in time and space - their souls may originally be upon one of the four Rays of Attribute. It might be useful here to enumerate the rays, and thus refresh the memory of the neophyte:

Rays of Aspect:

1. The Ray of Power, Will or Purpose
2. The Ray of Love-Wisdom
3. The Ray of Active Creative Intelligence

Rays of Attribute:

4. The Ray of Harmony through Conflict
5. The Ray of Concrete Science or Knowledge
6. The Ray of Idealism or Devotion
7. The Ray of Order or Ceremonial Magic

It is contact with the energy of the third Ray of Active Intelligence or (as it is sometimes called) the "acute energy of divine mental perception" which admits the consciousness of the initiate into the "secrets of the Mind of God." It is the four Rays of Attribute which, in the evolutionary cycle, condition his character (or apparatus of contact) and evoke his essential quality. The three Rays of Aspect enable him to take the four higher initiations - initiations 6, 7, 8, 9 - and are connected purely with Shamballa. The four Rays of Attribute, particularly as they are synthesized through the medium of the third Ray of Aspect, are related more definitely to the Hierarchy, and therefore are related to the first five initiations. The Rays of Aspect are essentially related to the life or will aspect of divinity; the Rays of Attribute are related to the consciousness aspect.

Every human being, in the earlier stages of his development (in ancient Lemuria and Atlantis, or possessing [559] today the Lemurian or Atlantean state of consciousness - and there are many such), comes into incarnation upon one of the four Rays of Attribute, because these rays are peculiarly and uniquely related to the fourth kingdom in nature, and therefore to the fourth Creative Hierarchy. During the long, long cycle of the present fifth race, the so-called Aryan race, there came a period (lying now in the far distant and forgotten past) when individuals who had attained a certain state of consciousness transferred on to one of the three Rays of Aspect, according to the predominance of the energy or the line of force which was conditioned by these rays. One of the Rays of Aspect and two of the Rays of Attribute (rays 3, 5, 7) are conditioned by the first Ray of Power or Will, whilst rays 4 and 6 are conditioned by the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. This I much earlier pointed out. A cycle of lives upon the third Ray of Creative Intelligence (as I prefer to call it) always precedes this transference. This ray experience covers a vast period of time. Except in the occult teaching and the Archives which remain in the custody of the Masters, history - as we know it and as it expresses the emergence from primitive and primeval times - does not exist. From the angle of occultism, history only covers the emergence of those cultures and civilizations which are called the fifth root-race, only a small part of it being recognized as Aryan; the latter is simply a modern and scientific nomenclature covering a small period of modern history. The Aryan cycle covers the period of the relation between groups and nations though positing (as a necessary hypothesis) previous but unknown cycles of human living wherein primitive man roamed the earth; or positing sometimes the existence of previous civilizations, which have completely disappeared, leaving behind them faint traces of ancient organized civilizations and cultural remains, plus indications of inter-world relationships of which there is no positive proof; these, it is suggested, must have existed owing to the similarity of architecture, language roots, traditions and the myths of religions. [560]

During these earlier periods all human beings were conditioned by the four Rays of Attribute; both as souls and as incarnated persons they were upon one of these four rays. Towards the middle of the Atlantean cycle (untold millions of years ago) the influence of the third Ray of Active Intelligence became exceedingly potent. Certain of the advanced humanity of the period gradually found their way on to, or rather into, the stream of divine energy which we call the third ray. The possibility, therefore, of their becoming integrated personalities was for the first time recognized, and humanly recognized. Such an integration must ever precede conscious human initiation.

Forget not my earlier statement that all the Rays of Attribute are focused in and absorbed by the third Ray of Aspect. A study of the charts which I gave and permitted to appear in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire will help you to understand this. They will prove helpful, provided that you remember always that they are only symbolic in nature and constitute attempts to indicate visually a truth.

The Atlantean race was predominantly a race wherein its leading exponents (the "flower of the race" or the "crest wave," as it is called) expressed an active intelligence. It was intelligence which its initiates had to demonstrate, and not love-wisdom, as is the case today. This expressed itself in a mental focus, a trained mind capable of illumination, and great creative ability. In the Aryan race, which from the occult point of view can be regarded as encompassing practically the totality of history as we have it, the influence of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom is slowly becoming the dominating factor; men are rapidly finding their way on to that ray, and the number of people found upon that line of energy is already very great, though not yet as great as those upon the third ray, as it today expresses itself through one of the four Rays of Attribute. This latest of the human races (again through its foremost exponents) has to manifest the spirit of love through wisdom; the basis of this expression is an unfolding inclusiveness, a developing understanding, and a heightened spiritual [561] perception which is capable of envisaging that which lies beyond the three worlds of human evolution.

It might here be said that the one-pointed life of the focused intellectual (that life which the higher initiates demonstrated in the Atlantean initiations) and the extensive inclusive life of the modern or Aryan initiate, is the objective held before the disciple upon the Path of Discipleship and in the Masters' ashrams. The presence in humanity today of an ardent intelligence and a growing inclusiveness is symbolized under the words "the vertical and the horizontal life"; it is therefore visually portrayed under the symbol of the Cross. I have here indicated to you, therefore, that the Cross is strictly the symbol of Aryan unfoldment. The symbol of old Atlantis was a line, indicating the vertical line of mental unfoldment and aspiration. The Christian consciousness, or the consciousness of the soul, is the perfecting and control of the mind, plus the demonstration of love in service; these are the outstanding characteristics of the Hierarchy and the essential qualities of those who form the kingdom of God.

In the coming race, which lies still far ahead and of which only initiates of degrees higher than the fifth are the expression, the Ray of Aspect which embodies the Will of God will gradually become dominant. Its symbol cannot yet be revealed. There will then come a blending of divine will energy with the developed and manifesting energies of intelligence and love. In the final race (lying untold ages ahead) there will appear a creative synthesis of all these three Rays of Aspect. Then all souls will be upon one of these three rays, and all personalities on one of the four Rays of Attribute. There will then be a perfect expression - through Humanity, the third divine planetary center - of the livingness, the quality and the creative potency of all the rays.

These are facts which I would have you bear in mind as we consider the relation of the seven rays to initiation in this particular world period and during the cycle of treading the Paths of Discipleship and Initiation. Great [562] transitions are then made; the power to include and to love in the truly esoteric sense automatically produces changes and a basic refocusing in the life of the accepted disciple and of the initiate; these changes, transitions and reactions are brought about by the action of the ray potencies during the period of initiation; the initiate then enters into relationship with rays which are conditioning him at the time. They affect his soul-infused personality, and also the ashram with which he is affiliated. The quality and potency of an ashram is definitely affected by the admission of an initiate; he brings into it not only his own potency and ray qualities as a soul, but also the energy of the rays which produced the changes and which conditioned him during the initiatory process he has just undergone. He then moves into a new stage of conscious contact within the Ashram. This new state of perceptive spirituality permits the initiate to enter into a relation with all those who have undergone a similar initiation. He therefore becomes increasingly a constructive and creative agent in the ashram.

It is this which necessitates his careful preparation, which must be paralleled by a demonstration of his understanding of the initiatory process upon the outer plane of activity in service. He cannot be permitted to enter the life of the ashram and become the recipient of exceedingly active energies until he has proved that these energies will not be "occultly retained" by him but will become the "strength and potency" of his service among men.

We are entering now upon a somewhat close analysis of the energies of the seven rays and their effects upon the initiatory processes which face the disciple. Every initiate enters upon the period of initiatory process possessed of a certain definite energy equipment. His personality is expressing itself within the periphery of the three worlds through clearly defined ray forms and relationships. He is a personality through the integration of his mind, his emotional nature and his physical body - the energy of the latter phenomenal factor being focused in the physical [563] brain. All of these are composed of and conditioned by the energy units of which they are constituted, and all of them "focus their intention" through the medium of the physical brain, thus enabling the personality to be a self-directed entity upon the physical plane. To this personality a fifth major energy must be added: the energy of the soul. Each of these personality expressions is composed of and governed by one of the seven ray energies, so that a great and dynamic synthesis is present which - at the time when the initiatory process is begun - is in reality a composite of five energies:

1. The energy of the soul, in itself a threefold energy.
2. The energies of the personality which is of such a potency (being a fusion of three ray energies) that it has evoked a ray which dominates the personality and is called the personality ray:
   1. The energy composing the mental vehicle.
   2. The energy which demonstrates as the emotional nature.
   3. The energy of the physical body, focused on the physical plane and conditioning the brain.

All this information is elementary, but I repeat it for the sake of clarity and in order that we may know what it is that we are considering. In the case of the accepted disciple who is in preparation for initiation, the term applied to this system of integrated energies is "soul-infused personality." The fusion is necessarily not complete, but enough soul energy is present to guarantee that minimum of soul control which will make the initiatory process effective.

It might also be said that this system of integrated energies is (through the initiatory process) confronted with still higher fusions, because initiation is a process whereby successive integrations - attended by consequent expansions of consciousness - become possible. These are - in their broader significance, seven, though entailing many minor points of integration - as follows: [564]

1. Fusion of the energies of the soul-infused personality with the triple energies of the Spiritual Triad.
2. Fusion with the Monad - of which the Spiritual Triad is an expression.
3. Fusion with the world consciousness of the planetary Logos to a degree which makes the planetary life, with all its states of consciousness and phenomena, a major confining and constricting form for the initiate.

In connection with this final fusion, it is worth while to point out that, when this stage of development is attained, it then becomes possible to enter into the "exalted state of mind" which holds the planetary Logos focused in the consciousness of the sacrifice which He has made by means of the entire process of manifestation. As The Secret Doctrine has pointed out, this sacrifice which He has made on behalf of the untold myriad of lives which compose His body of manifestation, holds Him in physical expression until "the last weary pilgrim" has found his way home.

The extent and essential purpose of this divine sacrifice become increasingly clear to the initiate after the fifth initiation and constitute one of the prime factors which are considered by him when he faces the Initiation of Decision (the sixth initiation). At no stage of his unfoldment does he comprehend the basic purpose and (speaking occultly) the "dynamic extent" of this sacrifice, as it is implemented by the will of the planetary Logos. Nevertheless, he does respond to a mental understanding of the lowest objective aspect of this sacrifice and to the nature of the periphery, or to the imprisoning form (the sum total) in which the planetary Logos has chosen to imprison Himself. For the first time in his life experience he arrives at a comprehension of the principle of limitation. Beyond this exalted state of mental perception the initiate is not yet able to penetrate; he is limited by that sphere of activity which we call the seven planes, and which in their totality constitute the cosmic physical plane.

Many lesser fusions take place within the phase of initiatory development which intervenes between initiation [565] and initiation - a triple mental fusion between the three aspects of the mind (the lower mental vehicle, the soul or the Son of Mind, and the higher or abstract mind), fusion with the Master's consciousness, fusion with the ashram created by the ray energy which conditions his soul, fusion in consciousness with the sum total of the integrated ashrams which form the Ashram of Sanat Kumara. These successive and subsidiary fusions reveal to him the phenomena and quality of the two higher states of consciousness of the Spiritual Triad: the buddhic or the state of pure reason and the atmic or state of spiritually direct will intention. In giving you some insight into the relationship of the rays and the initiations, I find it essential to discover new and arresting words and word phrases by which to express the familiar hints and indications given by the occult groups who have sought to awaken the modern consciousness to the fact and purposes of initiation.

Initiation is a progressive sequence of directed energy impacts, characterized by points of crisis and of tension and governed - in a sense not hitherto realized - by the Law of Cause and Effect. This Law of Cause and Effect (from the spiritual angle) appears to the progressing initiate to reverse the process which has up till now governed his life. Instead of his being impelled forward on the path of evolution by spiritual energies which from higher spheres invoke and evoke his response and a developing expansion of consciousness, each successive initiation undergone, understood and demonstrated upon the physical plane becomes the cause and influence which propels the initiate forward upon the Path of Initiation. In one case the cause of progression is a streaming downward of the energies, producing effects in that which is thus stimulated; in the other case, the cause is to be found in the soul-infused personality and constitutes an upward movement of the initiatory self-directed activity, of the measure of love energy which his soul can express, and of the energy of will which is in itself the result of all the fusions he has at any given moment been capable of consciously focusing [566] and using. These are points which it will be difficult for you to grasp but which are of major importance.

The human being is influenced upon the path of evolution from above downwards; the initiate is directed from within upwards. It is this which formulates the underlying significance of the energy of free will and is something only truly possible through self-direction; this can be seen struggling for expression today in that great world disciple, Humanity.

These concepts are worthy of your careful consideration. The sevenfold energy which is today agitating mankind marks a turning point in human history and indicates the possibility of the transition of humanity on to the Path of Discipleship; on that Path freedom of expression and conscious self-directed living will become increasingly possible.

B.II.2. The Rays and the Five Initiations confronting Humanity

Let us now consider our theme of the rays and initiation. This signifies in reality a study of the rays as they actively condition the Path of Initiation. Forget not, we are dealing here with the Path of Initiation and not primarily with the Path of Discipleship, even though the two paths are very closely related; we are not dealing with the disciple's character and actions. We are considering one thing only: the type of ray energy which makes any specific initiation possible, irrespective of the rays of the initiate.

We are in fact considering initiation as a planetary process, and not that process as it affects the individual initiate. That we shall consider under our point "The Significance of the Initiations." Then we shall take each initiation and consider it as outlined on page 340. This you will probably find more interesting, but you will comprehend what I then say with greater facility if you grasp some of the implications - as far as in you lies - of what I have now to impart. [567]

These five initiations are under the energy impulses of Rays 7, 6, 5, 4, plus the dynamic influence of Ray I at the time of the fifth initiation. You will note, therefore, that these initiations which confront average humanity are all of them conditioned by a minor ray, yet finally bring in the energy of the highest Ray of Aspect, that of Will or Power. This dynamic electric energy has to act in a new and different sense if the four higher initiations are to become living objectives in the initiate's consciousness. It is for this reason that the fifth initiation is called the Initiation of Revelation. Some understanding of the first or will aspect is "conceded" at this initiation, and for the first time the nature of divine Purpose is revealed to the initiate; hitherto he has been preoccupied with the nature of the Plan, which is after all an effect of the Purpose.

In these five preliminary initiations the true nature of the minor rays, in their creative aspect and as expressions of the quality of the manifested world, begins progressively to dawn upon the initiate. In the higher four initiations he slowly arrives at a dim understanding of the purpose of creation; the true purpose, however, and the nature of the will of the planetary Logos will only be revealed in the next solar system wherein the soul-infused Personality of the planetary Logos will demonstrate living purpose within the ring-pass-not of the three lower cosmic planes.

With these abstruse ideas we need not concern ourselves. Let us study the energy conditions wherein the initiate proceeds from one initiation to another until he stands at the portal of revelation.

Initiation I - The Birth at Bethlehem - Ray VII

The Energy of Order or Ceremonial Magic.

First of all, let us consider the type of energy which the seventh ray expresses and wherein lies its potency and efficacy, from the angle of the initiation. As we study these initiations and their conditioning rays, we will divide our ideas into three parts: [568]

1. The type of energy and its quality in relation to the processes of the particular initiation with which it is associated.
2. Its effect upon humanity, regarding humanity as a world disciple.
3. The stimulating nature of the energy as it expresses itself:
   1. In the three aspects of the initiate's nature - mental, astral and physical.
   2. Through the soul-infused personality, the initiate "in good standing" - a phrase of the deepest occult implication.

At this particular time in world history, seventh ray energy is of a growing potency because it is the new and incoming ray, superseding the sixth ray which has for so long held sway. When we speak of ray energy we are in reality considering the quality and the will-purpose aspect of a certain great Life to Whom we give the name "Lord of a Ray." You will find much about these Ray Lords in the earlier volumes of A Treatise on the Seven Rays. His divine intention, will, purpose, or the determined projection of His mind, creates a radiation or stream of energy which - according to type and quality - plays upon all forms of manifested life within our planetary ring-pass-not. These Lords of the Rays are the creating and sustaining energies which implement the Will of the planetary Logos. They cooperate with Him in the defining and the expression of His supreme purpose. Their radiating emanations are cyclically objectified and are cyclically withdrawn. As they radiate forth into the three worlds, the impacting energies produce changes, disturbances, progress and unfoldment; they create the needed new forms and vitalize and qualify that through which the immediate divine intention is expressing itself; they intensify both the quality and the receptivity of consciousness.

At other times, during the process of being withdrawn "to their own place," they cause the fading out or the dying of form aspects, of institutions, and the "organizing [569] organisms" (to use a peculiar phrase); they therefore produce cycles of destruction and of cessation and thus make room for those new forms and life expressions which an incoming ray will produce. It has been the gradual withdrawing of the sixth Ray of Idealism and of one-pointed Devotion which has been responsible for the ferment, crystallization, destruction, death and cleavages of the past century; old things are passing away as the Lord of the sixth Ray withdraws His attention, and therefore His energy; His radiation is today no longer centered or focused in the life of the three worlds. Simultaneously, the energy and radiation of the Lord of the seventh Ray are becoming steadily more powerful in the three worlds.

This incoming of a ray always produces an intensified period of initiatory activity, and this is the case today. The major effect, as far as humanity is concerned, is to make possible the presentation of thousands of aspirants and applicants for the first initiation; men on a large scale and in mass formation can today pass through the experience of the Birth Initiation. Thousands of human beings can experience the birth of the Christ within themselves and can realize that the Christ life, the Christ nature and the Christ consciousness are theirs. This "new birth" initiation of the human family will take place in Bethlehem, symbolically understood, for Bethlehem is the "house of bread" - an occult term signifying physical plane experience. These great initiations, implemented by the ray energies, must be registered in the physical brain and recorded by the waking consciousness of the initiate, and this must be the case in this amazing period wherein - for the first time since humanity appeared on Earth - there can take place a mass initiation. The experience need not be expressed in occult terms, and in the majority of cases will not be; the individual initiate who takes this initiation is aware of great changes in his attitude to himself, to his fellowmen, to circumstances and to his interpretation of life events. These are peculiarly the reactions which attend the first initiation; a new orientation to life and a new [570] world of thought are registered by the initiate. This will be equally true on a large scale where modern man, the world initiate of the first degree, is concerned. Men will recognize the evidences in many lives of the emergence of the Christ-consciousness, and the standard of living will increasingly be adjusted to the truth as it exists in the teachings of the Christ.

This developing Christ-consciousness in the masses of men will create necessarily a ferment in the daily life of peoples everywhere; the life of the personality, oriented hitherto to the attaining of material and purely selfish ends, will be at war with the new and inner realization; the "carnal" man (to use the words of Paul, the initiate) will be battling the spiritual man, each seeking to achieve control. In the early stages, after the "birth" and during the "infancy of the Christ-Child" (again speaking in symbols), the material aspect is triumphant. Later, the Christ life triumphs. This you well know. Each initiation indicates a stage in the growth and the development of this new factor in the human consciousness and expression, and this continues until the third initiation, when there emerges the "full-grown man in Christ." The initiate is then ready, at the fifth initiation, to register, realize and record the long awaited revelation.

In connection with the individual and the first initiation, the seventh ray is always active and the man is enabled consciously to register the fact of initiation because either the brain or the mind (and frequently both) are controlled by the seventh ray. It is this fact which is of importance today in connection with humanity, for it will enable mankind to pass through the door admitting them to the first initiatory process. It will be apparent to you why the present period in which human beings (in large groups) can take the first initiation corresponds to a situation in which bread is the major interest of men everywhere. Humanity will pass through this "birth" initiation and manifest the Christ life on a large scale for the first time during a period of economic adjustment of [571] which the word "bread" is but a symbol. This period started in the year 1825 and will continue until the end of this century. The unfoldment of the Christ life - as a result of the presence and activities of the second divine aspect of love - will result in the ending of economic fear, and the "house of bread" will become the "house of plenty." Bread - as the symbol of material human need - will eventually be controlled by a vast group of initiates of the first initiation - by those whose lives are beginning to be controlled by the Christ-consciousness, which is the consciousness of responsibility and service. These initiates exist in their thousands today; they will be present in their millions by the time the year 2025 arrives. All this, reorientation and unfoldment will be the result of the activity of the seventh ray and of the impact of its radiation upon humanity.

The seventh ray is, par excellence, the medium of relationship. It brings together the two fundamental aspects of spirit and matter. It relates soul and form and, where humanity is concerned, it relates soul and personality. In the first initiation, it makes the initiate aware of that relation; it enables him to take advantage of this "approaching duality" and - by the perfecting of the contact - to produce upon the physical plane the emergence into manifestation of the "new man." At the first initiation, through the stimulation brought about by seventh ray energy, the personality of the initiate and the hovering over-shadowing soul are consciously brought together; the initiate then knows that he is - for the first time - a soul-infused personality. His task is now to grow into the likeness of what he essentially is. This development is demonstrated at the third initiation, that of the Transfiguration.

The major function of this seventh ray is to bring together the negative and positive aspects of the natural processes. It consequently governs the sex relationship of all forms; it is the potency underlying the marriage relation, and hence as this ray comes into manifestation in this world cycle, we have the appearance of fundamental sex [572] problems - license, disturbance in the marriage relation, divorce and the setting in motion of those forces which will eventually produce a new attitude to sex and the establishing of those practices, attitudes and moral perceptions which will govern the relation between the sexes during the coming New Age.

The first initiation is therefore closely related to this problem. The seventh ray governs the sacral center and the sublimation of its energy into the throat or into the higher creative center; this ray is therefore setting in motion a period of tremendous creative activity, both on the material plane through the stimulation of the sex life of all peoples and in the three worlds through the stimulation brought about when soul and form are consciously related. The first major proof that humanity (through the medium of the majority of its advanced people) has undergone the first initiation will be the appearance of a cycle of entirely new creative art. This creative urge will take forms which will express the new incoming energies. Just as the period governed by the sixth ray has culminated in a world wherein men work in great workshops and factories to produce the plethora of objects men deem needful for their happiness and well-being, so in the seventh ray cycle we shall see men engaged on an even larger scale in the field of creative art. Devotion to objects will eventually be superseded by the creation of that which will more truly express the Real; ugliness and materiality will give place to beauty and reality. On a large scale, humanity has already been "led from darkness to light" and the light of knowledge fills the land. In the period which lies ahead and under the influencing radiation of the seventh ray, humanity will be "led from the unreal to the Real." This the first initiation makes possible for the individual and will make possible for the mass of men.

Seventh ray energy is the energy needed to bring order out of chaos and rhythm to replace disorder. It is this energy which will bring in the new world order for which all men wait; it will restore the ancient landmarks, indicate [573] the new institutions and forms of civilization and culture which human progress demands, and nurture the new life and the new states of consciousness which advanced humanity will increasingly register. Nothing can arrest this activity; all that is happening today as men search for the new ways, for organized unity and peaceful security, is being implemented through the incoming Ray of Order or Ceremonial Magic. The white magic of right human relations cannot be stopped; it must inevitably demonstrate effectively, because the energy of this seventh ray is present, and the Lord of the Ray is cooperating with the Lord of the World to bring about the needed "reforming." Soul-infused personalities, acting under this ray influence, will create the new world, express the new qualities and institute those new regimes and organized modes of creative activity which will demonstrate the new livingness and the new techniques of living. It is the distortion of these seventh ray ideals and the prostitution of this incoming energy to serve the unenlightened and selfish ambitions of greedy men which has produced those totalitarian systems which today so terribly imprison the free spirit of men.

To sum up what I have said:

1. The energy of the seventh ray is the potent agent of initiation when taken on the physical plane, that is, during the process of the first initiation.
2. Its effect upon humanity will be:
   1. To bring about the birth of the Christ-consciousness among the masses of intelligently aspiring human beings.
   2. To set in motion certain relatively new evolutionary processes which will transform humanity (the world disciple) into humanity (the world initiate).
   3. To establish in a new and intelligible manner the ever-existent sense of relationship and thus bring about upon the physical plane right human relations. The agent of this is goodwill, a reflection [574] of the will-to-good of the first divine aspect. Of this first Ray of Will or Purpose, goodwill is the reflection.
   4. To readjust negative and positive relationships, and - today - this will be carried forward primarily in connection with the sex relation and marriage.
   5. To intensify human creativity and thus bring in the new art as a basis for the new culture and as a conditioning factor in the new civilization.
   6. To reorganize world affairs and so initiate the new world order. This is definitely in the realm of ceremonial magic.
3. The stimulation of this seventh ray will, in relation to the individual initiate,
   1. Bring into being upon the mental plane a widespread and recognized relation between the soul and the mind.
   2. Produce a measure of order in the emotional processes of the initiate, thus aiding the preparatory work of the second initiation.
   3. Enable the initiate - upon the physical plane - to establish certain service relationships, to learn the practice of elementary white magic, and to demonstrate the first stage of a truly creative life.

As far as the individual initiate is concerned, the effect of seventh ray energy in his life is potent in the extreme; this is easily realized, owing to the fact that his mind and his brain are conditioned by the seventh ray at the time that the initiatory process is consciously taking place. The effect of this upon the mental plane is similar to that seen - on a much larger scale - in the planet, for it was this ray energy which the planetary Logos utilized when He brought together the major dualities of spirit and matter at the commencement of His creative work. The two aspects of the mind (the lower concrete mind and the soul, the Son of Mind) become more closely related and enter eventually into a conscious, recognized association [575] on the astral plane; it is the seventh ray which restores order within the astral consciousness, and (on the mental plane) it is this influence which produces creativity, the organizing of the life, and the bringing together "within the head" of the lower and higher energies in such a manner that "the Christ is born." This latter point we shall consider in some detail when we take up the significance of the initiations; we shall then find that the relationship between the pituitary body and the pineal gland is involved.

Finally, it is seventh ray energy which - in the initiatory process between the first and the second initiations - enables the initiate (in his physical plane life) to demonstrate a developing sense of order and of organization, to express consciously and increasingly a desire to help his fellowmen, and thereby establish relationship with them, and to make his life creative in many ways.

All these factors are embryonic in his nature, but he now begins to consciously lay the foundation for the future initiatory work; the physical disciplines are at this time of great importance, though their value is frequently over-emphasized and their effect is not always good; the relationships established and fostered are sometimes of small value, owing to the disciple being usually self-centered and thus lacking - from ignorance and lack of discrimination - complete purity of motive. Nevertheless, the changes brought about by the influence of this ray become increasingly effective from life to life; the disciple's relation to the Hierarchy, the reorganizing of his life on the physical plane, and his growing effort to demonstrate the esoteric sense of white magic will become more and more vital, until he is ready for the second initiation.

Initiation II - The Baptism in Jordan - Ray VI

The Energy of Idealism and Devotion.

In the initiatory process between the first initiation of the Birth of the Christ and the beginning of the conscious unfoldment of the Christ life and awareness, the life of the initiate has undergone a pronounced reorientation. [576] He is now capable of an equally pronounced and often fanatical adherence to the program of aspiration and of devotion to the good (as he sees it at this stage). This is symbolized for us in the story of the twelve year old Jesus Who was so conscious that He "must be about His Father's business" that He defied His parents, caused them distress, and astonished those older than He by His spiritual poise and knowledge. This He offset by going down to Galilee and being "subservient" to His parents. A somewhat similar attitude (without the developed and inclusive understanding manifested by the Christ) can be seen expressing itself in the disciple during the period wherein the new orientation is taking place; the disciple is learning to discipline his lower nature and to achieve a measure of mastery over his physical inclinations; he thus releases physical energy and brings order into his life. This takes a very long time and may cover a cycle of many incarnations. He is constantly fighting against his lower nature, and the requirements of his soul (as he somewhat ignorantly interprets them) are in constant session against the animal nature, and increasingly in relation to the emotional nature.

Above all, he becomes aware of a secondary relation, involving a most difficult problem and one which enhances the fight and intensifies his problem. He discovers that his emotional nature, his lower psychic faculties, his astral development and the potency of glamor are now all arrayed against him.

The reorientation with which he is now faced has to be brought about primarily upon the astral plane, because that has been for untold aeons the level of his major polarization and the sphere of activity and the state of consciousness which has dominated him. The physical body is not a principle; his etheric body has, since Atlantean days, been the agent of his astral energy, for the mind nature is not yet developed and cannot, therefore, adequately take control. He discovers that he lives in a chaos of emotional reactions and of conditioning glamorous. He slowly begins [577] to realize that in order to take the second initiation he must demonstrate emotional control; he realizes also that he must have some knowledge of those spiritual energies which will dissipate glamor, plus an understanding of the technique whereby illumination from the mind - as the transmitting agent of the light of the soul - can dispel these glamors and thus "clarify the atmosphere," in the technical sense.

I might emphasize that as yet no initiate demonstrates complete control during the intermediate period between any initiation and the next higher initiation; the intermediate period is regarded as "a cycle of perfecting." That which is being left behind and subordinated to the higher realization is slowly dominated by energies which are to be released into the consciousness of the initiate at the initiation for which he is being prepared. This interim period is always one of great difficulty. The energies being registered, made active and finally used, are steadily increasing in number and potency at each initiation; these impacts upon the rays of the soul and the personality rays of the initiate, and on the subsidiary vehicles through which he works in the three worlds and upon their individual conditioning rays, produce at first tremendous difficulties; these the initiate must master and the problems involved he must solve. He thereby becomes a Master, and the process, as it goes forward from initiation to initiation, becomes (after the third initiation, the Transfiguration) less hard and distressing; the reason for this is that he is increasingly master of his own individual situation. He is, however, occultly involved in the difficulties and the problems of the group and of that totality of groups which we call humanity.

The initiatory process between the first and the second initiations is for many the worst time of distress, difficulty, realization of problems and the constant effort to "clear himself" (as it is occultly called), to which the disciple is at any time subjected. The phrase stating that the objective of the initiate is "to clear himself" is perhaps the most [578] arresting and illuminating of all possible definitions of the task to be undertaken. The storm aroused by his emotional nature, the dark clouds and mists in which he constantly walks and which he has created throughout the entire cycle of incarnated living, have all to be cleared away in order that the initiate can say that - for him - the astral plane no longer exists, and that all that remains of that ancient and potent aspect of his being is aspiration, a sensitive response to all forms of divine life and a form through which the lowest aspect of divine love, goodwill, can flow without impediment.

From the larger point of view, it is this struggle to clear the world atmosphere which will confront humanity after the first initiation, so close at hand today. You will see, therefore, why the Christ must come at this time, for He is the One Who presides at the first and second initiations, and it is His coming which will indicate that humanity has taken the first initiation, which will confirm and consolidate the work done and which will inaugurate the world cycle and period in which the task of reorganizing the emotional and psychic life of humanity will take place; this period will release the energy of goodwill and thus automatically bring about right human relations.

As regards humanity as a whole, polarized as it is in the emotional nature, the effect of this sixth ray is potent in the extreme. Its energy has been playing upon men ever since it came into incarnation, and the last one hundred fifty years have seen that potency become extremely effective. Two factors have enhanced this effect:

1. The sixth Ray of Idealism or of Devotion is the ray which normally governs the astral plane, controlling its phenomena and coloring its glamor.
2. The stream of energy, coming into our planetary life from the constellation Pisces, has for two thousand years conditioned human experience and is peculiarly fitted to blend with and complement this sixth ray energy and to produce exactly the situation which is today governing world affairs. [579]

The united activity of these two great streams of cosmic energy, playing upon and through the third planetary center, Humanity, has created the unique condition in which "the race of men" can stand before the planetary Initiator, the Christ, and under the focused stimulation of the Hierarchy, pass through the appropriate initiation.

It should here be remembered that the masses of men can and will take the first initiation, but that a very large group of aspirants (far larger than is realized) will pass through the experience of the second initiation, that of the purifying Baptism. These are the people who express the essential qualities of ideological recognition, devoted adherence to truth as sensed, profound reaction to the physical disciplines (imposed since they participated in the first initiation many lives earlier) and a growing responsiveness to the aspirational aspect of the astral body; this aspiration is occupied with reaching out towards contact with and expression of the mental principle. This particular group in the human family are "kama-manasic" initiates, just as those taking the first initiation are "physico-etheric" initiates.

It is the activity of this sixth ray which has brought out into the light of day the growing ideological tendencies of mankind. These world ideologies (of which there are many present in the world today) are created by a triple reaction to the two streams of energy mentioned above:

1. The unfoldment of the mental principle in mankind during this Aryan Age has forced desire into the form of great mass concepts; these unitedly are governing the mass tendency toward mental unfoldment.
2. The steadily growing soul influence, working like a leaven on the astral plane, has lifted kama or desire out of its purely self-centered focus and brought in a new and hitherto unexpressed group emotional consciousness; this leads the fused emotional nature of men into great ideological mass expression, still selfishly expressed and impulsed as yet by emotional excesses, but indicating new and better goals. These goals will assume clearer and more desirable [580] outlines when the second initiation is undergone by the world aspirant.
3. The influence generated by the Shamballa energy which has, for the first time, made direct contact with Humanity, is producing an emotional vortex in which old ideals and institutions are seen divorced from their hitherto controlling glamors, thus permitting the new and better ideologies to emerge in the consciousness of the race.

All these factors are responsible for the world situation at this time; great ideologies, potent groupings of workers and thinkers dedicated to the changing of the old order, and massed efforts to end separativeness are all present simultaneously. The essential etheric world unity (of which the telephone, the radio and the airplane are the tangible expression) is swinging vast groups of men everywhere into united emotional activity, thus creating those preliminary testings which ever precede initiation, and by means of which those capable of taking the second initiation are today passing.

I cannot here enlarge upon the various ideologies which are presenting themselves to the world of men - impulsed by the Hierarchy, precipitated into the human consciousness from the mental plane by the new group of world servers, implemented by the energy of the sixth ray, by the dominant Piscean energy and by the organizing energy of the incoming seventh ray, and responded to emotionally by the masses of men focused on the astral plane. To all intelligent observers, this ideological situation is clear; it is a needed and preliminary stage to the creation of the new world order; it provides a point of crisis and the required point of tension which will enable those aspirants who are ready today, in their thousands, to pass through the experience of the second initiation and to undergo the purification of the fluid emotional nature in the Baptism Initiation. Through this experience the kama-manasic aspirant will be in a positive and spiritual condition to bring about (on the astral plane) those fundamental changes, rearrangements and readjustments which will [581] bring that level of planetary consciousness into line with the immediate divine purpose: the manifestation of the Kingdom of God.

The work of sixth ray energy, the result of the long cycle of Piscean energy, and the impact of the incoming Aquarian energy will bring a potent transformation in the "watery realm" of the astral plane. The symbol of that plane has ever been water - fluid, stormy, reflecting all impressions, the source of mist and fog, and yet ever essential to human living. The Piscean Age, now in process of passing away, is also closely related to this plane and to the symbol of water; it fixed in the human consciousness the realization that "men are as fishes, immersed in the sea of emotions." Aquarius is also known by the symbol of water, for Aquarius is the "water-carrier." The sixth ray will bring together all these energies in time and space: ray energy, Piscean energy, Aquarian energy and the energy of the astral plane itself; this again produces a vortex of force which is invocative of mental energy; it is a controlling factor, which has plunged humanity into a tumultuous awareness of clashing ideologies, which has precipitated a reflected vortex in the world war, and which is responsible for the present crisis and point of tension. This critical point of tension will enable groups of aspirants who - having passed through the first initiation - can undergo the Baptism experience, again a word identified with water. Simultaneously, large masses of men will take the first initiation and "in the house of bread" stand before the Initiator.

The coming Christ will therefore initiate two groups of aspirants within the near future and in preparation for His coming; it is the closer approach of the Christ and of the Hierarchy of Masters to humanity which is implementing the initiatory energies, which is crystallizing the ideologies present today in the human consciousness, and fostering - if I may so express it - the latent ideology of the Kingdom of God.

As regards the individual initiate who is to undergo the initiation of the Baptism, the effect of sixth ray energy [582] upon his nature is easily apparent, owing to the extreme potency of the second aspect of the personality in the three worlds, his astral body or nature. In the early stages of the impact of sixth ray energy upon his emotional nature a perfect vortex of force is generated, his emotional reactions are violent and compelling, his glamors are intensified and controlling, and his aspiration steadily mounts, but is at the same time limited and hindered by the strength of his devotion to some sensed ideology. Later, under the influence of an increasing soul contact (itself the second aspect of his essential divinity), his emotional, kamic and aspirational nature becomes quieter and is more controlled through the agency of the mind; his alignment becomes astral-mental-soul. When this state of consciousness has been achieved and the "waters" of the astral body are quiet and can reflect the beautiful and the true, and when his emotions have been purified by intense self-effort, then the disciple can step into the baptismal waters; he is then subjected to an intense purificatory experience which, occultly speaking, enables him "for ever to step out of the waters and be no longer in danger of drowning or of submergence"; he can now "walk on the surface of the sea and with safety proceed onward towards his goal."

The effect of sixth ray activity upon the mental nature is, as you may imagine, a tendency - first of all - to the crystallizing of thought, a reaction to imprisoning ideologies, and a fanatical mental adherence to mass ideals, with no understanding of their relationship to the need of the time or to their intended creative aspects. Later, as the disciple prepares for the second initiation, these tendencies are transformed into spiritual devotion to human welfare and to a one-pointed adherence to the Plan of the Hierarchy; all emotional reaction to the Hierarchy of Masters fades out, and the disciple can now work without being hindered by constant astral disturbances.

The effect of sixth ray energy upon the integrated personality of the disciple can only be described as producing a condition wherein he is definitely astral-buddhic [583] in his nature; gradually his one-pointed emotional effort towards orientation to the soul makes him "an aspiring point of tension, oblivious of crisis and firmly anchored in the love which streams forth from the soul."

Let me sum up what I have said anent the effect of sixth ray energy:

1. The energy of the sixth ray produces two major results:
   1. An embryonic realization of the will nature which determines the life of the initiate.
   2. A pronounced conflict between the lower and the higher self. This reveals to the initiate the ancient conflict between the emotional nature and true realization.
      This brings about a basic reorientation of the life of the initiate and of humanity as a whole.
2. In connection with humanity, the effects of the sixth ray are as follows:
   1. The development of a tendency to clarify the world atmosphere, thus releasing the energy of goodwill.
   2. The production of a condition wherein "the race of men" can take either the first or the second initiation.
   3. The sudden and powerful emergence of the world ideologies.
   4. A basic transformation within the astral plane itself which is producing points of crisis and a point of tension.
3. In relation to the individual initiate, the sixth ray produces:
   1. An acute situation wherein a vortex of force is generated.
   2. In this vortex all the emotional and ideological reactions of the aspirant are intensified.
   3. Later, when this subsides, the initiate's alignment becomes astral-mental-soul.
   4. There takes place, in connection with his mental vehicle, a crystallization of all thought and a fanatical adherence to mass idealism. [584]
   5. These tendencies are later transformed into spiritual devotion to human welfare.
   6. The personality becomes definitely astral-buddhic in nature and expression.

You will see, therefore, how immediate and important is the opportunity confronting humanity today. Vast numbers of men will take the first step towards the unfolding of the Christ consciousness and thus pass through the first initiation. This often (I might well say usually) takes place without the conscious realization of the physical brain. This first initiation is - and always has been - mass initiation, even when individually registered and recorded. Thousands of aspirants in every country (as a result of conscious effort to understand) will stand before the initiator and undergo the Baptism Initiation; bread and water are the symbols of these first two initiations; both are basic essentials for life in the physical sense, and are equally basic in their implications spiritually; this the initiate knows. These two initiations are the only two of significant importance at this time, owing to their relative immediacy.

It is the return of the Christ which has brought these subjective spiritual tendencies of mankind to the surface and made these two initiations possible; it is the activity of the seventh Ray of Order and of the sixth Ray of Idealism which has generated the tendency in humanity towards the white magic of right human relations. They have fostered the trend to ideological control of the human consciousness. It is the passing out of the Piscean Age with its type of energy, and the coming into power of the Aquarian Age (with its potent purificatory energies and its quality of synthesis and universality) which will make the new world order possible. It is therefore apparent that the opportunity confronting humanity has never been so promising and that the corporate relation and fusion of all these energies makes the manifestation of the Sons of God and the appearance of the Kingdom of God an inevitable happening in our planetary life. [585]

As we study the other ray energies and their initiatory effect, we shall not be able to indicate a great deal in relation to humanity itself. Only the first two initiations which are implemented by the Christ and which are "under the supervisory probation of the spiritual Hierarchy" are as yet possible to humanity. The initiation of the Transfiguration is not yet for the mass of men. We can, however, study the effects of these rays where the individual disciple is concerned, because the later initiations - from the third initiation onward - are administered by the Lord of the World from His high place in Shamballa; in the present world period, these initiations are individually administered and registered, and are undergone consciously and with an entirely awakened awareness.

It will be apparent to you that I shall necessarily have more to say anent the first three initiations and the ray effects upon the initiate and upon humanity than will be possible when the higher initiations come under consideration. The effects of ray impacts in the first three initiations come via the soul, and the initiate is - during this period - a struggling aspirant, under the inspiration and the stimulation of the Hierarchy of which he is becoming increasingly aware. After the third initiation, which is in reality as you well know, the first major initiation, the ray energy is applied (if I may use such an inadequate word) via the Spiritual Triad, utilizing the antahkarana.

After the fourth initiation, the effects are felt predominantly in the initiate's group and in his field of service; there, he constitutes a point of tension and precipitates great points of crisis. His own points of crisis and of tension are existent but, mysteriously, only in relation to his consciousness of the group in which he plays an increasingly potent part.

The groups affected by the progressive initiatory process to which the disciple is being subjected are three in number, and these effects differentiate and condition his group service, according to the initiation being undergone; it is from this angle we must study the initiation, [586] the ray effects, and the results produced within the three groups. These are:

1. The group in which the initiate is working upon the physical plane and which is an externalization (existing on the mental and astral planes) of some phase of work sponsored by the New Group of World Servers. All disciples and initiates in physical manifestation are at this time members of that group, which is the focal point of the present effort being made by the Hierarchy. Through it spiritual energy from five of the Ashrams is flowing. These five are:
   1. The Ashram of the Master K.H., particularly in regard to the work of education.
   2. The Ashram of the Master D.K. (myself), particularly in regard to aspirants for initiation.
   3. The Ashram of the Master R., particularly in regard to the reorganizing and the reconstruction of Europe, from the point of view of economics.
   4. The Ashram of the Master Morya, as He seeks to find, influence and direct the activities of workers in the political field throughout the planet.
   5. The Ashram of the Master Hilarion, as He supervises the discoveries (and the application of such discoveries) of the scientific movement in the world today.
      You will note, therefore, the profound and widespread interest of this field of energy wherein ray energy is now active.
2. The group which may regard itself consciously as the initiate's own group, in the sense that he is slowly influencing those around him, collecting the personnel and forming the nucleus of the Ashram by means of which he may some day serve the world. All those who are taking initiation do not necessarily create their own ashrams, though a large number do so. The work of those initiates who do not form an ashram is mysterious in the extreme, from the point of view of aspiring humanity, and there is little that I may say about the subject. These initiates work [587] in connection with plans emanating from Shamballa, of which humanity can know nothing; they work with the three subhuman kingdoms in nature, each of which has its own peculiar and specific band of initiate-workers. If they do not do this, they transfer into certain groups of workers who are engaged in activities connected with the deva or angel evolution, or in relation to the manifestation of energies about which I can tell you nothing. We shall deal only with the expansion of consciousness and the experience of those initiates who remain - in their activities and aims - related to humanity and to the Hierarchy. It might here be pointed out that:
   1. The work of the deva evolution comes under the ray energy of the third Buddha of Activity.
   2. The work with humanity comes under the influence of the ray energy of the second Buddha of Activity, Who embodies in a most peculiar sense the conditioning energy of the Hierarchy.
   3. The work with the subhuman kingdoms of nature is under the energy stimulation of the first Buddha of Activity.

Each of these great energizing Lives works through certain Masters and Initiates of the sixth initiation; these Masters work in full consciousness upon the atmic plane, the plane of the spiritual will; from that high level, They function as transmitting agents for the energy of one of the three Buddhas of Activity. These three Buddhas are the creative Agents of the planetary Logos and are Wielders of the Law of Evolution.

3. The ashramic group of which the initiate is a part and within which his influence or spiritual radiation is increasingly felt.

The awareness of the initiate and his ability to work consciously within this triplicity of groups becomes the major objective of all his efforts, once the third initiation is left behind. His magnetic radiation and the expression of his controlling energies - prior to this stage of unfoldment - is [588] that of the soul, working through the personality. After the third initiation this radiation and the energy expressed become increasingly monadic and subject to three stages:

1. The stage wherein the lowest aspect of the Spiritual Triad (that of the abstract mind) becomes potent as the conveyor of ideas; these are transformed by the initiate into ideals for the service of humanity.
2. The stage wherein pure reason, plus the spiritual will, makes him an effective server of the Plan and a transmitter, in a progressive manner, of the Purpose underlying the Plan.
3. The stage wherein pure monadic energy pours through him, focusing the will-to-good, as registered by the Hierarchy, and the sense of universality (not a vague phrase, but a specific potency) upon the physical plane.

A close study of these developing ranges of activity and of expanded consciousness will indicate why and how our planetary life is one immense synthesis of ordered activity.

The ray energies, utilizing the created form world and the "world of formless forms" (that is, the cosmic etheric levels of activity), constitute a great and applied process of initiatory activity, governing, controlling and conditioning every expression of divine life in all the kingdoms of nature - subhuman, human and superhuman. It is into this world of active moving energies that the initiate penetrates and within which he must consciously play his part. As you well know, the work of the aspirant today is to become a conscious, self-controlled and spiritual worker in energy within the ring-pass-not of the three worlds and - as I have frequently pointed out - to function, first of all, in control of his physical instrument, demonstrating this at the first initiation and during the succeeding initiatory processes; secondly, to control his emotional, feeling nature, demonstrating that control at the second initiation; at the third initiation, he has to bring into visible activity the mental element, and thus function in the three worlds as a soul-infused personality, utilizing the illumined mind as the fusing and synthesizing factor. These things [589] accomplished, he can - again in full consciousness - begin to be active as "a radiating point of crisis and a producer of the needed tension."

These three groups are essentially points of planetary tension and are producers of crisis in the lives of the individuals influenced and in the Hierarchy, as well as in the planetary life. Thus the conditions are created which make evolution possible. Some day the story of the evolutionary process will be written by an initiate of the great White Lodge, from the angle of its points of crisis and the subsequent points of tension. This enables the living forms, under this dual impact, to emerge into larger areas of consciousness. Each kingdom in nature can itself be regarded as a point of tension within the sphere of Being of the planetary Logos, and each - in time and space - is in process of generating those points of crisis which will produce a potent (and often sudden) moving forward upon the Path of Evolution. Humanity is today, in its present situation as a point of planetary crisis, generating such a point of tension that it will shortly be enabled to move forward into the new age dispensation, culture and civilization. The study of the individual aspirant parallels this.

These thoughts and ideas must be borne in mind as we study the remaining three major initiations confronting average humanity.

Initiation III - The Transfiguration - Ray V

The Energy of Concrete Knowledge.

As all disciples have to be focused on the mental plane and must operate from that level of consciousness, the understanding of this type of consciousness is one of major importance. It is glibly and most easily said that disciples and (necessarily so) initiates must use the mind, and that their polarization must be mental. But what does this mean? Let me give you some concise definitions of this ray energy, leaving you to make your own individual application, and from your study of these concepts anent the mind, learn to gauge your own mental condition. [590]

1. The energy of what is so peculiarly called "concrete science" is the quality or the conditioning nature of the fifth ray.
2. It is pre-eminently the substance of the mental plane. This plane corresponds to the third subplane of the physical plane, and is therefore gaseous in nature - if you care to use its correspondence as a symbol of its nature. It is volatile, easily dispersed, is the receptive agent of illumination, and can be poisonous in its effect, for there are undoubtedly conditions in which "the mind is the slayer of the Real."
3. This energy is characterized by three qualities:
   1. The quality which is the result of relationship with the Spiritual Triad. We call this "abstract mind" and the impact which affects it comes from the atmic level of the Spiritual Triad, that of spiritual will.
   2. The quality which in this solar system is easily responsive to the major ray of the planet, that of love-wisdom. So responsive is it that - in conjunction with emanations from the three worlds - it has produced the one existent form upon the mental plane. This form (in the planetary sense) is that of the Kingdom of God and, in the individual sense, is that of the ego or soul.
   3. The quality which is basically related to the emanations or vibrations arising from the three worlds; these creatively result in the myriads of thought-forms which are found upon the lower levels of the mental plane. It might therefore be said that these qualities or aspects of the fifth ray of spiritual energy produce:
                     Pure thought
                     The thinker or the Son of Mind
                     Thought-forms
4. This energy (as far as mankind is concerned) is the thought-form making energy, and all impressions from the physical, etheric and astral planes force it into activity on the level of concrete knowledge, with a resultant kaleidoscopic presentation of thought-forms. [591]
5. It is fundamentally the most potent energy at this time in the planet, because it was brought to maturity in the first solar system, that of active intelligence.
6. It is the energy which admits humanity (and particularly the trained disciple or initiate) into the mysteries of the Mind of God Himself. It is the "substantial" key to the Universal Mind.
7. It is profoundly susceptible to the energy of Love-Wisdom, and its fusion with the love aspect is given the name of "wisdom" by us, because all wisdom is knowledge gained by experience and implemented by love.
8. This energy, in its three aspects, is related in a peculiar sense to the three Buddhas of Activity. These great Lives reached Their present state of development in the previous solar system.
9. This energy, in so far as it is considered as the mental energy of a human being - and this is one of its minor limitations though a major one for a human being - is the higher correspondence of the physical brain. It might be said that the brain exists because the mind exists and needs a brain as its focal point upon the physical plane.
10. The quality of this energy of concrete knowledge or science is twofold:
    1. It is extraordinarily responsive to impressions coming from some source or other.
    2. It is rapidly thrown into forms in response to impression.
11. The impressions received come from three sources and are sequentially revealed to man. These three are:
    1. Impressions from the three worlds; these come, first of all, from the individual and then, secondly, from the levels of planetary consciousness.
    2. Impressions from the soul, the Son of Mind, upon the level of mentality itself.
    3. Impressions from the Spiritual Triad, via the antahkarana; these come when the antahkarana is constructed or in process of construction. [592]
12. This energy is essentially a light-bearer. It responds - again sequentially in time and space - to the light of the Logos. It is for this reason that the mind is regarded both as illumined when higher contacts are present and as an illuminator where the lower planes are concerned.
13. This energy is (from the human standpoint) awakened and brought into activity through the action of the five senses which are the conveyors of information from the three worlds to the mental plane. It might be said that
    1. Five streams of informative energy, therefore, make their impact upon the concrete mind and emanate from the physic-astral plane.
    2. Three streams of energy, coming from the soul, also make an impression upon the concrete mind.
    3. One stream of energy - during the initiatory process - contacts the mind. This comes from the Spiritual Triad and utilizes the antahkarana.
14. The energy of this fifth ray might be regarded as the common sense, because it receives all these impacts of varying energies, synthesizes them, produces order out of the many ceaseless impacts and interprets them, thus creating the multiplicity of forms to which we give the name of "world thought."
15. This energy transforms the divine ideas into human ideals, relating the knowledges, and sciences of humanity to these ideals, thus making them workable factors in human evolution, its cultures and civilizations.

There is much more that I could add, but the above gives you a series of simple definitions of value as you study the mental unfoldment of the disciple, as he undergoes the initiatory process which is our theme at this time. It also throws light upon the ray effects upon humanity as a whole. This ray energy is indeed sadly concrete in its expression in our Aryan race - a race, however, which will see more people take initiation than ever before in human history, and which will, in a peculiar sense, see the descent of the Kingdom of God to Earth as a result of the ascent of so many upon the ladder of evolution. Just as the [593] disciple or the initiate is a soul-infused personality, so will humanity - upon the physical plane - be also soul-infused, thus precipitating the Kingdom of God and giving birth to a new kingdom in nature. This great spiritual descent will be prefaced (if I may use such a word) by the appearance of the Christ among the peoples of the world and by a stupendous inflow of love-wisdom. There is a tendency in the minds of esotericists always to refer to the great lines of force: 1-3-5-7 and 2-4-6. I would have you remember with still greater emphasis the relation of rays II and V and of the second plane, the monadic plane, and the fifth plane, the mental plane; it is the relation of these major energies which makes the initiation of the Transfiguration possible.

What is the effect of this ray upon humanity as a whole and at this time? The effect of these influences is very great and of supreme importance in this fifth root race, the Aryan race, in this second solar system. Again you can see the clarity of the correspondences which are emerging. I would have you note them again.

1. Ray II, the Ray of Love-Wisdom; and Ray V, the Ray of Concrete Knowledge or Science.
2. The second plane, the monadic plane; and the fifth plane, the mental plane.
3. The second solar system of love; and the fifth root race, the Aryan race, of active intelligence.

In all these basic relationships, that which is the fifth in order is destined to be the instrument, the vehicle or the implementing factor for the second. The Universal Mind, as it works through all the planes of our conscious planetary life, is the creative agent and the form-building factor which makes the revelation of love possible.

Today in our Aryan age and race, we see the vital expression of this fifth ray energy. When I use the word "race" I deal not with man-made or pseudo-scientific differentiations of nations and races or types. I deal with a state of consciousness which is the Aryan or mental consciousness or state of thinking; this finds its exponents and [594] its "race members" in every nation, without any distinction or omissions. This I would have you carefully remember, for there is no new race in process of appearing, from the territorial angle; there is only a general distribution of those persons who have what have been called the sixth root race characteristics. This state of consciousness will find its expression in people as far apart racially as the Japanese and the American or the Negro and the Russian. It posits an ability to function with clarity upon the mental plane, to collate information, rightly to interpret and relate that information, and to create the needed thought-forms or concepts for those interpretations.

These thought-forms fall into three major fields of thought or thought-form areas of consciousness:

1. Science. Under this word I include all that which the educational processes cover or are supposed to cover, and such a useful science as medicine.
2. Philosophy, with its presentation of great conditioning ideas.
3. Psychology, with its effort to account for humanity and to discover what man is essentially and how he functions.

You will note that I have not included religion in this analysis. The reason for this is that If the world religions were really controlled by concrete knowledge or science, they would not be the vague, speculative, mystical and glamor-controlled systems which they are at present. Some day the minds of men - illumined by the light of the soul - will formulate the one universal religion, recognizable by all. Then the Kingdom of God will be known for what it is, another kingdom in nature. Speculation, wishful thinking and hopeful aspiration will disappear. The science of occultism is the first step upon the way of true religion, and the scientific investigation of human psychology will greatly help toward this end.

Today we find this ray energy expressing itself mainly through science - a science sadly debased and corrupted by materialism and human greed, but a science which (when [595] animated entirely by goodwill) will lift humanity on to higher levels of consciousness, thus laying the foundation for that time when humanity on a large scale can pass through the Transfiguration Initiation. Steps in this direction are already being laid and the existence of the press, the radio and the rapid means of transportation have done much to further the revelation of that unity and that Oneness which is the major characteristic of the Universal Mind.

These developments can be regarded as the initial steps of the initiatory process for the third initiation - far ahead as that initiation may lie for the mass of men. It is unification and a growing sense of oneness which is required in order to take this initiation, and it is the integrated personality which takes it. The major sin of Russia, and that which has prostituted and warped the initial divine impulse underlying the ideology of that country, is the determination she demonstrates at this time to be separate and to shut the Russian people away from world contact, using the implements of deception and the withholding of information. It is not the totalitarian nature of the Russian government which is the prime disaster; it is the refusal to develop the universal consciousness. Many governments today are totalitarian in nature, either openly or subtly, but - at the same time - their peoples have free access to press and radio and are not kept in ignorance of world events. Russia is drifting into a pronounced expression of the great heresy of separateness. There lies her problem - a problem which is refused recognition by her rulers.

The existence of a closed mind on a national scale is dangerous in the extreme, just as the individual is in a dangerous "state of mind" when he closes it to world contact, world news and world understanding, and when he refuses to admit new ideas and new modes of behavior. Fortunately, the influence of this fifth ray energy - which is always present, whether the ray is in incarnation or not - is steadily leading humanity towards illumination. [596]

This ray energy operates always in connection with the Law of Cleavages. Today, tremendous cleavages between the past and the present are in order. The importance of this statement is to be found in the fact that - for the first time in human history - humanity is aware of cleavage at the time it is being brought about. Hitherto cleavages have been noted during an historical retrospect. Today, all men everywhere are conscious of the fact that the old order, the old cultures and civilizations are rapidly passing away, and they are universally clamoring for the new. Everywhere men are laying the foundation for the new order, the coming of which is threatened only by one country, Russia, owing to its separativeness (and not because of its ideology), and by one world group in every country, those guilty of financial greed and consequent aggressiveness.

Before humanity can pass through the Transfiguration Initiation the new world order must be functioning and the coming civilization must be at its height. It is useless for me to consider with you this third initiation in connection with humanity as a whole, or its preparatory or subsequent initiatory process. All this lies too far ahead for even advanced humanity to consider; there are, however, senior disciples who are preparing for this initiation, just as there are a few who are passing through the initiatory process, prior to taking the fourth initiation.

The outstanding expression of this fifth ray energy can be seen in the rapid formulating of the many ideologies which have taken place since the year 1900. Such words as Fascism, Communism, National Socialism, Socialism as the British accept it, and the names of many schools of psychology and philosophy, were unknown one hundred years ago; today they are the common talk and phrases of the man in the street. The inflow of this mental energy into the world of men, the attainment in consciousness of mental ability by many thousands, and the achievement of mental polarization by aspirants all the world over, are all due to the activity of this fifth ray energy; this may be [597] regarded as preparatory work for the first and the second initiations. Some of this success is due also to a little-realized function of this fifth ray energy - that of telepathic interplay. Few people realize in the slightest degree how naturally telepathic every human being is or how impressionable are their minds; this again is an effect of fifth ray influence.

The creation (and, I should add, the over-creation) of the millions of material things which men everywhere regard as essential to their well-being is also the result of the creative activity of the fifth ray consciousness. This is, of course, as it demonstrates upon the physical plane. When it demonstrates upon the mental plane, we then talk of ideas, concepts, philosophies and ideologies. When it demonstrates upon the astral plane, we are aware of the religious impulse, of mysticism and of the emotional and conditioning desires. All these aspects are present in the consciousness of men everywhere today. Everything is crystallizing in human consciousness, and this takes place in order to make man aware of where he stands upon the ladder of evolution, and of what is wrong and what is right. All this again is due to the influence of fifth ray energy. This will begin to transform human living and human desires and also human affairs and attitudes, and will lead eventually (in the middle of the sixth root race) to the great Transfiguration Initiation in which the reality that lies behind all human phenomena will stand revealed.

Let us now consider the effect of this ray energy upon the life of the individual, as he faces the third initiation. This third initiation is, as earlier said, the first initiation, from the angle of the Hierarchy; it is the one in which the spiritual man demonstrates his complete control of the personality. The physical body has been controlled through the medium of the physical disciplines; the emotional nature has been reorganized and made receptive to spiritual impression coming from the plane of pure reason (the buddhic plane) through the transforming processes of the mind or the fifth principle. In this connection, the mind has acted as an organizer of astral reaction and as a [598] dispeller of glamor. The disciple is now focused in his everyday consciousness upon the mental plane, and the triangular relation of the three aspects of the mind upon this plane is now dominant. In the next initiation, the Renunciation, this relationship becomes a dual one instead of a triangular one, through the destruction of the soul vehicle which is no longer needed. Soul fusion with the personality is now completed.

During the initiatory process preceding the third initiation, the mind works in a new manner. Its transmuting work with the physical body has been accomplished; its transforming work with the emotional nature has been successful, and now its transfiguring work with the personality as a whole is carried forward, making the initiation of the Transfiguration possible. It is of value to the student to consider these three activities of the mind. The transmuting agent in the first case is the lower or concrete mind; the transforming agent is the soul, whilst the transfiguring agent is the Spiritual Triad, working through the higher or abstract mind. You will here note the wonderful synthesis of the spiritual work. When this work is concluded, you have the initiation of the third degree made possible. This produces impelling and new contacts. It should here be remembered that when I use the word "new" I mean that which is new in consciousness, for the basic synthesis and fundamental relationship always exists in factual recognition, but is only progressively realized by the evolving spiritual man.

It is well nigh impossible to differentiate the results of fifth ray energy in the various aspects of the personality, for the reason that the initiate is now functioning as a soul-infused personality, and therefore the three aspects of that personality are nothing more or less than agents of the soul, and thus are progressively responsive to the inflow of triadal energy. It might therefore be said that, as a result of the Transfiguration Initiation - the culminating point of strictly human unfoldment - the three types of energy which are expressed through the Spiritual Triad [599] can begin - only begin - to flow through the reflection of itself in the three worlds. Let me state this as follows:

1. The directing energy of the higher mind is - as a result of the Transfiguration Initiation and via the antahkarana - thrown into the brain; therefore the man upon the physical plane is guided, directed and controlled by group purpose and by the hierarchical plan.
2. The illuminating energy of pure reason, emanating from the buddhic plane, pours down into the clarified and organized body of sensitive response which is all that remains of what has been called the astral body. This produces complete freedom from glamor and the creation of "a limpid pool of such reasonable response to the love of divine relationship" that the initiate becomes a sensitive revealer of that love.
3. The dynamic energy from the atmic plane (the highest aspect of the Spiritual Triad) pours into the mind and begins slowly to reveal the will-to-good, which is essentially the will of God.

Behind these three differentiations which are all of them expressions or aspects of the divine or the universal mind, the initiate dimly senses or becomes consciously aware of what has been called the Monad or Spirit or Life. This is subtly revealed in the Transfiguration Initiation of the Master Jesus Who re-enacted all the five human initiations for the benefit of humanity. In this dramatic picturing of the third initiation, the three disciples (or the three vehicles of the personality) prostrate themselves upon the ground and the Master Himself (the glorified personality) is transfigured before them. At this climaxing point they hear that which is called "the voice of the Father" speaking to the transfigured Jesus.

The personality is now possessed of knowledge, for fifth ray energy has done its needed work; the disciple is also aware that he is in possession of the wisdom which enables him to use knowledge in the furtherance of the Plan, and therefore to work as an illuminating factor in the world of men. He knows clearly what has been [600] accomplished and senses something of what lies ahead. The great principle of cleavage (which the fifth ray governs) is the dominating factor in his time sense; he now differentiates sharply between past and present and that which has to be ascertained in the future. Cleavage, in the sense of separateness, is finished for him and he now feels and knows something of the essential unity of all manifested life; therefore, from the angle of space, he has dominated and overcome cleavage and division; in the sense of time he has not. The great heresy of separateness no longer exists in his consciousness; the consciousness of the initiatory process is not yet over, however for that involves the recognition of time.

During the initiatory process between the second and the third initiations, the initiate has to battle with illusion in exactly the same sense as he earlier had to battle with glamor. Illusion is, in the last analysis, the control of the mental processes by great and massive thought-forms; this conflict persists from the moment that the disciple has achieved mental polarization (at a midway point between the second and the third initiations) until he stands before the Initiator at the sixth Initiation of Decision, when the last illusion disappears. You will feel and comment that the Masters are therefore subject to illusion. This They definitely are, and there are great and basic illusions governing life within the Hierarchy. Nevertheless, they are illusions of such a high order that - for advanced humanity - they would signify achievement. I may not give you more than one instance of such illusion, but that should prove clear and sufficient. It is not until the sixth Initiation of Decision that the illusion of the planetary ring-pass-not finally disappears. The Master then knows that such a limitation is non-existent. For Him, the choice between the seven Paths becomes possible. This basic illusion constitutes for mankind a great hierarchical mystery and is based upon the Principle of Privation, by means of which the planetary Logos chooses to circumscribe His freedom and to limit His activities. [601]

This curious freedom from successive limitations is experienced at the third, the sixth and the ninth initiations; these are, all three of them, related in a mysterious manner to each other. Transfiguration leads eventually to Decision, which culminates in due time with a final refusal to accept any planetary limitations whatsoever.

It will be obvious to you that the higher the initiation, the less will any involved energy have a personality control or connection. Progressive and recognized fusions have taken place as one initiation after another is undergone; the effect of the energy involved will be noted in relation to humanity as a whole, to the work of the Ashram within the Hierarchy and to the planetary life. This must ever be borne in mind and must necessarily limit the scope of the teaching which I am able to give you.

Let me now summarize the effects of this fifth ray energy in relation to humanity and to the individual initiate:

1. I gave, first of all, fifteen items of information anent this fifth ray energy, or fifteen definitions of its activity. These will warrant careful study.
2. The effect of this fifth ray energy upon humanity in this fifth root race was considered; it was noted that this Aryan effect was dominant and dynamic in the extreme and that it has greatly hastened human evolution.
3. I pointed out the close relation between love and mind, as follows:
   1. Ray II and Ray V
   2. Plane II and plane V
   3. Solar system II and root race V

In all of these relationships, the fifth in order is the prime agent and the revealer of the second type of spiritual energy.

4. The fifth ray energy produces three major areas of thought, or three prime conditions wherein the thought-form-making energy expresses itself:
   1. Science - education - medicine
   2. Philosophy - ideas - ideals
   3. Psychology - in process of modern development [602]
5. This fifth ray energy operates in connection with the Law of Cleavages.
6. It is also responsible for the rapid formation of great conditioning ideologies.
7. This fifth ray energy is the important factor in making possible the first major initiation, the Transfiguration Initiation.
8. Fifth ray energy works in three ways in connection with the three aspects of the personality:
   1. As the transmuting agent - the physical body
   2. As the transforming agent - the astral body
   3. As the transfiguring agent - the mental body

This gives you much food for thought; it indicates the personality goal and the mode whereby it is attained. After the third initiation, we reach out in consciousness to higher expansions of consciousness and will then enter a realm of ideas which are not yet easy for the disciple to appreciate or to understand. Much that I will have to say anent ray energy and the higher initiations will mean little to many, but it will mean much to the initiate-consciousness. The world initiates will be coming into incarnation at this time, and will read my words towards the end of this century with great understanding.

Initiation IV - The Renunciation - Ray IV

The Energy of Harmony through Conflict.

Our study today is of profound interest and has a great bearing on the present world situation. I would like to make clear two important facts:

1. The fact that the world war (1914-1945) was quite unavoidable, though the conflict might have been retained upon mental levels, had humanity decided rightly.
2. The fact of the inevitability of the return of the Christ in this era and in the relatively immediate future. We are here dealing with immutable law, for the energies of the various rays move under law; humanity can therefore do naught but accept, determining only what I might [603] call the locale, or the sphere of activity, of both these major events. The determination of mankind to fight out the issues involved in the world war upon the physical plane, at the same time automatically determined the sphere of Christ's activity - as I shall attempt to show you. In many ways, this particular instruction is one of the most important I have yet given because of its essential and obvious implications. We will therefore study the fourth initiation and its relation to the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict.

This fourth ray, as you have several times been told, is out of incarnation, as far as the reincarnating egos or souls of men are concerned. From another angle, however, it is always active and ever present, because it is the ray which governs the fourth kingdom in nature, the human kingdom in the three worlds of strictly human evolution.

It is the dominant energy, always exerting pressure upon the fourth kingdom; this pressure began to exert itself primarily towards the end of the fourth human race, the Atlantean race of men; at that time men began to give evidence of a growing sense of responsibility, and therefore of the power to demonstrate discriminative choice. This led to the great war in the fourth race which culminated in the Flood, to which all parts of the world testify and to which the majority of the world Scriptures bear evidence. In that era, in which the then known world of men was extensively involved, the Black and the White Lodges of adepts were also implicated, and the first major fight between the demonstrators of evil and the Forces of Light took place; it was inconclusive, with the evidence for defeat to be found on the side of the good more than on the side of evil. Under the symbolism of the Flood, it is apparent to students that the fight was focused primarily upon the astral plane, though fought out historically upon the physical plane; it resulted in the destruction of the world by water, as it might be symbolically expressed.

In the climaxing war of the immediate past, the mental plane was the focus of the amalgamated forces, for [604] the war was in reality a clash of ideologies and has been far more the result of man's thinking than of man's emotional desires. It therefore automatically involved the three levels of human activity and was fought out upon the physical plane, although it was impulsed from the mental plane. The symbol of fire was this time involved, instead of water, and this fire led to the destruction of men and of cities by fire (literally, "fire from heaven"), by the evocation of the fiery emotions so prevalent in the councils of men at this time, and by the drought of the year 1947 which burnt up the terrain in Europe and in Great Britain, being - curiously enough - preceded by the floods and waters of the earlier spring, thus evidencing the repetition of cycles; this repetition is distinctive of natural process, leaving each stage of man's evolution depicted, but producing a climaxing point which is indicative of the past and of the present, but leaving (as is the case today) the future locked in the determinative processes of man's thinking and planning. As man thinks and decides "in his heart," so will the future of humanity prove to be, for it is the same process for mankind as a whole as it is for the individual.

I would like to cover this theme by dividing my subject into the following parts:

1. The particular type of energy involved and its initiatory effect. This concerns the Principle of Conflict as contained in the activity of this fourth ray.
2. The effect upon humanity as a whole. The "Renunciation Initiation" is an expression of the result of the activity of this Principle.
3. The factor of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom as it basically controls Ray IV and implements the return of the Christ, because the potency of the heart center is involved.
4. The effect of this Ray IV in the modern world of nations and of fundamental organizations.
5. The result of this fourth ray activity upon the individual disciple: [605]
   1. In the three aspects of his nature, physical, emotional and mental.
   2. Upon the soul-infused personality.
6. Summation of the whole theme and a forecast of future possibilities.

I shall attempt to deal with this as concisely as possible, and will keep the handling of this subject exceedingly brief, or as brief as its historical importance will permit and its definitive angle will allow. The whole of human history has been conditioned by the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict, and it is this ray which has determined the ring-pass-not within which humanity must work.

At this time, the effect of this ray is predominantly of a group nature, and there are - except in the ranks of disciples of the Great White Lodge - no fourth ray souls in incarnation. Once humanity has decided upon the goal and the method of reconstruction and of reorganization which is to take place within the periphery of the fourth ray ring-pass-not, then (if humanity's decision is correct and is not postponed) many fourth ray souls will resume incarnation, and so implement human decision. This will mark a great turning point in human history and will enable seventh ray energy to be turned to the best advantage.

B.II.2.d.i. The Particular Type of Energy involved and itsInitiatory Effect

Here we are confronted with a basic problem, i.e., the nature of the Principle of Conflict which is the outstanding characteristic of this fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict. This is by no means an easy subject to handle or to make clear, for the correctness of conflict, its naturally separative and eliminative effect and its power to condition not only Humanity but also the Hierarchy, will have to be considered. When we study the fourth initiation, that of the Renunciation, the effects of its activity will emerge more clearly.

Fundamentally, this fourth ray is that which is responsible [606] for the strains and the stresses, and for the initial conflict between the major pair of opposites to which we give the name of spirit-matter. It is this fourth ray energy which makes apparent the distinction (so often misunderstood by man) between good and evil. In Atlantean days, the leaders of men, under the influence of this paramount fourth ray energy, made a decision which laid the emphasis upon the matter aspect, according to their desire and their emotional reaction, which is present in the essential duality of manifestation, and thus inaugurated the Age of Materialism. This age has wrought itself out through its accompanying greeds, hate, separativeness and aggression. During the present century, this materialism led to the world war which was in reality the expression of a shifting orientation, and therefore to a certain extent, of a coming triumph of Good.

The balance is slowly, very slowly, swinging over to the side of the spirit aspect of the duality; it has not yet swung, even in intention, completely over, but the issues are becoming increasingly clearer in men's minds and the indications are that man will eventually decide correctly, will attain a point of balance or equilibrium, and will finally throw the weight of public opinion on the side of spiritual values, thus leading to a collective renunciation of materialism, particularly in its grosser and physical forms. The time is not yet, but a great awakening is in process; men, however, will only see correctly when this Principle of Conflict is properly evaluated as a spiritual necessity and is used by humanity as an instrument to bring about emergence from the wrong controls and principles. Just as the individual disciple uses it to emerge out of the control of matter in the three worlds, beginning with the emergence from the control of the physical body, passing out of the control of the emotional nature, and formulating for himself a spiritual ideology which enables him to pass out of the control of the three worlds of forms, and so begin to function as a soul-infused personality, so mankind also has to do the same in mass formation. [607]

This whole process culminates when the fourth initiation, the Great Renunciation, is taken by man today, and by humanity in some distant future; this "point of emergence" is reached by right decision and as a result of a right use of the Principle of Conflict.

It will be obvious to you that this Principle of Conflict is closely related to death. By death, I mean extraction from form conditions - physical, emotional or mental; I mean cessation of contact (temporarily or permanently) with physical form, with astral glamor and with mental illusion; I mean the rejection of Maya, the name of that all-inclusive effect which overwhelms a man who is immersed in materialism of any kind, and is therefore overcome (from the soul angle) by life in the three worlds. It is the Principle of Conflict, latent in every atom of substance, which produces, first of all, conflict, then renunciation, and finally emancipation; which produces war in some form or another, then rejection, and finally liberation. This principle is, as you can well see, closely linked to the law of Karma; it is to this principle that Mrs. Besant refers when she speaks in one of her books of the fact that the substance whereof all forms are made is already - from the very dawn of the creative process - tinged with karma. There is deep occult significance to the thought, often voiced, that death is the great Liberator; it means that the Principle of Conflict has succeeded in bringing about conditions wherein the spirit aspect is released (temporarily or permanently) from imprisonment in some kind of form life, either individual or group.

You will all, as disciples or aspirants, be able to interpret the working of this principle as you watch the effect, in your own lives, of the action of the strains and stresses, the points of crisis or of tension which the conflict between soul and personality produces. Conflict is always present prior to renunciation, and it is only at this fourth great spiritual crisis that conflict, as we understand it, ends. In the realms of formless living wherein the Hierarchy lives and moves and has its being, conflict, which has developed [608] in man the sense of discriminative choice, is superseded by crises of decision - not decision based upon discriminative perception between right and wrong or between spirituality and materialism, but crises of decision based upon perception of the Plan, participation in the Purpose, and the prevention of evil. I would have you ponder on these three phrases which distinguish the crises of decision which confront the Master after the fourth initiation, and which take the place of the crises of discrimination which precede that stage:

• Perception of the Plan.
• Participation in the Purpose.
• Prevention of evil.

These decisions are based, first of all, on goodwill to all forms in the three worlds, and secondly, upon the will-to-good which impulses and implements the three creative and manifesting aspects of divinity.

These are deep things whereof we speak; it is wise to remember that all crises in the material world - individual crises and those related to humanity as a whole - are governed by the Principle of Conflict, whilst crises in the spiritual world are controlled by the esoteric Principle of Decision.

The Principle of Conflict is the prime factor lying behind the evolution of form as the field of experience for the soul in the four kingdoms in nature: the human and the three subhuman. It is based on the intellectual factor of discrimination which is inherent in the smallest atom of substance, and which reaches its fullest expression in advanced humanity; the indications that it has achieved its purpose, as far as humanity is concerned, are to be found in the passing through the Initiation of Renunciation. The Principle of Decision which controls the Master governs His work within the Hierarchy, in relation to Shamballa and in connection with all the service rendered in the three worlds; it is based on the energy of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom, just as the Principle of Conflict is based on the energy of the third Ray of Active Intelligence. [609]

This Principle of Decision, as a controlling factor, is put to the test at the sixth initiation, the Initiation of Decision; at that time, the will aspect of divinity summarizes in a unique manner all past achievements of the two principles and brings in a final cycle of unfoldment to which I can give no truly appropriate name, but which climaxes in the ninth Initiation of Refusal. You have, therefore, in relation to these principles (which are all related to the Law of Karma) three great initiations at which the effectiveness of the liberation brought about by their inherent action is finally tested:

1. The Initiation of Renunciation - 4th Initiation

• The Principle of Conflict
• Governed by Ray IV
• Active in the Human Kingdom, the 4th
• Leading to right Discrimination

2. The Initiation of Decision - 6th Initiation

• The Principle of Decision
• Governed by Ray III
• Active in the Hierarchy
• Leading to right Perception and Participation

3. The Initiation of Refusal -  9th Initiation

• The Principle of liberated Being (shall we call it thus?)
• Governed by all three major Rays
• Active in Shamballa
• Leading to one or other of the 7 Paths

In the above tabulation you have a wide and general picture of three major Principles, leading to three great spiritual events, each of which is an expression of the personality, the soul and the Monad. Where humanity as a whole is involved, the effect is upon the reincarnating soul of the human kingdom, then on the liberated souls of the members of the Hierarchy, and finally on the Being which is distinctive of the Council at Shamballa.

A planned synthesis thus appears, producing [610] immutability, inevitability and correct prevision; it is also the result of the liberation of free will, and in no way infringes the right of the individual man or disciple to make free choice, once the Principle of Conflict has made him aware of the basic dualism of the manifested worlds. This presents him with a battleground and a field of experience wherein he makes great experimental choices and comes eventually to correct orientation and to the door of initiation, progressively revealed to him as the result of right choice, right perception and right decision. Thus the nine initiations are covered.

The Principle of Conflict has a close connection with the Path of Discipleship, and here lies the reason for the inclusive and synthetic aspect of the present world conflict; though the physical aspects of the conflict are today greatly lessened (but are still present on a small scale in various parts of the world), the conflict is by no means over or yet resolved. It is still being violently waged by advanced human beings upon the mental plane and by the masses upon the plane of emotional reactions; it will be some time before the war truly is brought to a finish.

There could, however, be no disaster more serious than a too abrupt ending of this clash of the emotional reactions of humanity and of the current ideologies. It is essential that the issues become still clearer in the minds of men, prior to any final choice or decision. This must be remembered, and students would do well to avoid discouragement and train themselves to wait with spiritual optimism for the way of humanity to clear. Too prompt a choice at this time might prove only a make-shift decision and one based on expediency and impatience. The Hierarchy is in no way discouraged, though somewhat concerned that the factor of timing may not prove correct.

This Principle of Conflict is a familiar one to every struggling aspirant and conditions his whole life, producing crises and tensions, sometimes almost past endurance; they indicate nevertheless rapid development and steady progress. The activity of this principle is greatly increased [611] at this time through the medium of the following spiritual events (the full discussion appears on pages 741-760):

1. The crisis of the ideologies.
2. The awakening of humanity to better understanding.
3. The growth of goodwill which leads to the presentation of certain fundamental cleavages which must be bridged by human effort.
4. The partial "sealing of the door where evil dwells."
5. The use of the Great Invocation with its extraordinary and rapid effects, at present unrealized by you.
6. The gradual approach of the Hierarchy to a closer and more intimate relation to Humanity.
7. The imminent return of the Christ.

There are other factors, but these will be adequate to demonstrate to you the increased expression of conflict on all the three levels of strictly human evolution. It is a conflict which has engulfed the masses in every land, which is still producing physical conflict, emotional strain and tremendous mental issues, and which will greatly lessen when the masses of people everywhere are convinced that right human relations are of far greater importance than greed, human pride, territorial grabbing, and material possessions.

B.II.2.d.ii. The Effect of the Energy of Harmony through Conflictupon Humanity

It will be obvious that this ray energy, embodying the Principle of Conflict, has a unique and curious effect upon relationships. This is due to the interrelation of this Ray of Harmony through Conflict and the second Ray of Love-Wisdom; this second ray is primarily the ray of right human relations - as far as the fourth kingdom in nature is concerned. The energy of love governs all relations between souls and controls the Hierarchy, the Kingdom of Souls; the energy of wisdom should govern all relations within the fourth kingdom, the human; some day it will inevitably do so, hence the emphasis laid upon the need for soul-infused personalities in the world today, as promulgated by all true esoteric schools. [612]

It might be said that the effect of the Principle of Conflict, operating under Ray IV and controlled by Ray II, will be - as far as humanity is concerned - to bring about right human relations and the growth of the universal spirit of goodwill among men. Only the most benighted and uncouth of thinkers would fail to see that these two results of the conflict, engendered at this time, are the two most desirable factors for which all men of goodwill should work. The inflow of energy into humanity at this time is all in favor of such efforts, and the Principle of Conflict has worked so effectively that all men are desiring harmony, peace, equilibrium, right adjustment to life and circumstances, and right and balanced human relations.

In every country and among all types of men - sincerely or insincerely - the talk of the newspapers, on the radio and upon the lecture platforms is on behalf of harmony and a widespread recognition of the needed adjustments. Even the evil forces which still remain active hide their greedy purposes behind a spurious desire for world unity, world harmony and right human relations. The masses of the people in all lands have been convinced by the evidence made available by the Principle of Conflict that basic changes in man's attitude and goals must be brought about if humanity is to survive; they are, in their own ways (wisely or unwisely), seeking a solution.

The war has produced much good - in spite of the destruction of forms. The causes of war are better understood; the issues involved are slowly being clarified; information about all nations - even when incorrectly presented - has awakened mankind to the fact of the One World; the community of pain, sorrow, anxiety, starvation and despair have brought all men closer together, and this relation is a far greater breeder of harmony than man realizes; the world of men today is more closely knit subjectively (in spite of all outer cleavages and conflicts) than ever before in human history; there is a firmer determination to establish right human relations and a clearer perception of the factors involved; the new Principle of Sharing, [613] inherent in the second Ray of Love-Wisdom which is concerned so fundamentally with relationships, is gaining ground, and its potency is being released by the activity of the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict. This Principle of Sharing, though still divorced from any official sanctions, is under consideration and will some day be the governing factor in the economic life of the world, regulated and controlled by those men who are alert to human need upon the physical plane.

This Principle of Conflict is also active in all institutions, groups and organizations in all lands and in every department of human thought. Its results are, first, the awakening of humanity to certain major human developments and possibilities, and secondly, it will lead to certain basic renunciations, once the issues are clearly seen and the cleavage which exists in reality between the desirable spiritual values and the undesirable material values has been made clear. In politics, for instance, the two-party system is based upon a correct premise, but it is not at present a satisfactory system because of human stupidity. It stands in truth for the reactionary groups in any land and also for the progressive party who are alert to the new possibilities; one party aims at the holding back of the life of the spirit, at clarifying by obstruction and at holding back or preventing the too rapid rushing forward of the impatient and the immature; the progressive party should be composed of those who are aware of the unneeded and old issues, and who pioneer all the time, even though frequently without much skill in action. Such a clear line of demarcation between the two basic world parties is not yet possible, nor are the spiritual values of either group appreciated by the unthinking masses. Today, party politics are as selfish, and therefore as reactionary, as are the mass of men; the real good of humanity is not the goal of the average politician in either group, for usually only his own selfish ambition and the desire to preserve a certain political ideology which has put him into power are the goal of his efforts. [614]

The Principle of Conflict is working also in the churches, but more slowly, unfortunately, owing to the corruption and soporific effect of theological churchianity; I would have you note my choice of words; I said not "of Christianity," for true Christianity, as Christ taught it, is free from theological abuses and must and will be restored or - perhaps more accurately - reach its first stage of expression.

Everywhere the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict is active in the human family and is dominating human affairs; everywhere in the life of the individual, in the lives of groups, organizations and churches, in the life of nations and in the life of mankind as a whole, the issues are being clarified, and humanity is being led from one renunciation to another, until some day the human kingdom will unitedly take the fourth initiation and the Great Renunciation will be accepted; this step, lying far ahead as yet in the future, will affiliate humanity with the Hierarchy and release millions of men from the thralldom of materialism. This moment in human history will inevitably come. The first indication that the distant vision has been glimpsed might perhaps be noted in the prevalent instinct to share, motivated at present by the instinct to self-preservation, but definitely developing as a possible mode of action upon the far horizon of man's thinking. True sharing definitely involves many little renunciations, and it is upon these small renunciations that the capacity for freedom is slowly being generated and the habit of renunciation can eventually be stabilized; this capacity and these habits, these unselfish activities and these spiritual habitual attitudes are the preparatory stages for the Initiation of Renunciation, just as the effort to serve one's fellowmen is preparatory to the taking of the third Initiation, of the Transfiguration.

B.II.2.d.iii. The Factor of the Ray of Love-Wisdom as it controlsthe Ray of Harmony through Conflict and implements the Return of the Christ

In the first paragraph of this instruction, I ascribed the inevitability of Christ's imminent return to the decision [615] of humanity to precipitate the existent conflict on to the physical plane, thus determining the sphere of Christ's activity. In earlier teachings also I have pointed out that He might come in one of three ways or in all three of them simultaneously. The issues which have emerged as the result of the conflict upon the physical plane, and of its shifting (by man's decision) today on to the mental plane, have made completely evident the fact that the locale of Christ's influence will be, therefore, the entire three worlds of human evolution, which naturally includes the physical levels of experience and demands His physical Presence.

Let me make the facts somewhat clearer and enlarge somewhat upon these three modes of His appearing, of His coming, His advent and of His physical recognition by humanity:

1. By His over-shadowing of all initiates and disciples who are today, or will be at the time of His arrival, active in the three worlds of human evolution. This involves His influencing their minds telepathically. This over-shadowing or influencing will be His primary work upon the mental plane. This will constitute one of His most effective methods in His proposed spiritual interference in world affairs. Through the medium of these members or affiliates of the Hierarchy, He will have outposts of His consciousness in every nation. Through them He can work.
2. By the pouring out of the Christ life or consciousness upon the masses everywhere and in every nation. This spiritual inflow will bring about the reorienting of human desire and will evoke the emotional reaction to His Presence. This therefore brings the astral plane within the active sphere of His influence; this involves the release of the energy of goodwill into the hearts of men, predisposing them towards right human relations. It is this establishing of right relations which is the major objective of His coming triple activity. The masses everywhere will be responsive to the work and the message of the Christ, as it is [616] implemented from the mental plane by the disciples and initiates, over-shadowed by the mind of Christ.
3. By His physical appearance among men. Through His Own immediate appearance, He can establish a potent focal point of hierarchical energy upon Earth in a manner not hitherto possible. He has never deserted humanity and has always kept His promise to stay with us all the days, even unto the end of the age. Men in all lands will know where He can be found. The locale of this focal point of His threefold spiritual activity cannot here be disclosed, for it is contingent upon the results of the sequential processes of over-shadowing and outpouring.

The first of the methods which will lead to the eventual physical reappearance of the Christ has already been set in motion; disciples and initiates in all lands are starting the work preparatory to the outpouring of the Christ spiritual force, leading to the awakening of the Christ consciousness (as it is usually called) in the hearts of men. This outpouring will come as the result of three activities:

1. The work and the teaching of the trained disciples and initiates, as each of them, in his own way, points out the surety of Christ's coming and thus implements the innate expectancy of the masses.
2. The evocation of a united hierarchical response through the use of the Great Invocation. You will note how this invocation can be interpreted in terms of the three modes of the return of the Christ:
   1. "Let Light stream forth into the minds of men."
      The influencing of the minds of disciples.
      The enlightening of intelligent humanity.
      The mental plane.
      Stanza I.
   2. "Let Love stream forth into the hearts of men."
      The influencing of the masses everywhere.
      The outpouring of the Christ spirit.
      The astral plane.
      Stanza II. [617]
   3. "The Purpose which the Masters know and serve."
      The anchoring of hierarchical energy on Earth.
      The physical appearance of the Christ.
      The physical plane.
      Stanza III.

What this divine purpose may be the Christ Himself will reveal upon His arrival; the focal point of His activity will be dependent upon the medium used by Him to implement that purpose - known only to Him and to the senior members of the Hierarchy. Should politics be the medium through which He best can serve, that then will determine the locality of the focal point; if it should be the religious organizations of the world, it may prove to be elsewhere; if the field of economics or of the social sciences, then still another locality may prove appropriate. The determining factor in all cases, and that which will indicate to Him the appropriate place for this focal point, will be the number and the ability and status of the disciples found active in the chosen field. More, I may not suggest.

3. The demand or prayer or outgoing desire of the masses for the appearance of a Liberator and for the establishing of right human relations, plus the work of all the spiritually-minded people in all nations and of all faiths. All these three factors are today present but have not yet the needed potency to prove immediately effective. This triple nucleus of determining factors is, however, already firmly established; in this fact is to be found a sure ground for a sane optimism.

It should be pointed out that the Principle of Conflict is motivated strongly by these same factors. The over-shadowing of all disciples and initiates, and the consequent stimulation of their natures and of their environment, must inevitably produce conflict; the outpouring of the stimulating love of God into the hearts of men must equally and inevitably produce conflict; the line of cleavage between men of goodwill and the unresponsive natures of those uninfluenced by this quality will be made abundantly, usefully and constructively clear. It will be obvious also [618] that when Christ establishes the "center or focal point of the divine Purpose" in some definite place on Earth, its radiation and implementers potency will also produce the needed conflict which precedes the clarification and the renunciation of obstructions.

But there will come a point in all these three spheres of Christ's proposed activity when conflict will be superseded by harmony; this is due to the fact that the energy of harmony through conflict is under the control or influence of the energy of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. As far as humanity as a sum total is concerned, the conflict of ideas and of emotional desire is today so acute that it will finally exhaust itself, and men will turn, with relief and with a longing to escape from further turmoil, towards right human relations; this will constitute the first major human decision leading to the longed-for harmony. The attitude of the masses will then be soundly tending towards harmony, owing to the work of the men and women of goodwill as they implement the "streaming forth of the love of God into the hearts of men."

We have now reached a point where the inevitability of Christ's return is established, scientifically and under law; this constitutes a call which He may not deny and one which He must obey. This fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict works (where the initiatory process is concerned) through the heart, or through what esotericists call "the heart center - the focal point through which the energy of love can flow. When the Christ founds His focal point on Earth, it will be in the nature of a tiny heart center through which the love energy of the Hierarchy can persistently flow. The harmony (which the Principle of Conflict produces) causes an alignment, so that the love - streaming forth from the Heart of God - enters the hearts of men; so that the Hierarchy (which is the heart center or the place where love prevails upon our planet) is brought into relationship with humanity; so that the New Group of World Servers (implementing the love of God and enlightened by the Mind of God) are brought also into relation with the [619] men and women of goodwill in all lands whose task it is to make men's hearts responsive to and receptive of the love of God; this is another way of saying receptive to the consciousness of the Christ.

This alignment is now in process of being made; it will be brought about automatically when the effectiveness of the Principle of Conflict in producing liberation is generally recognized. Thus the hearts of men, the heart of the planet, i.e., the Hierarchy, and the heart of the Hierarchy, the Christ, are in a state of positive contact; when this channel is open and unobstructed, then the Christ will come. Nothing can stop His appearance and - under law - He may not turn His back upon the presented opportunity.

Thus, eventually, the Lord of Love - in response to the invocative cry of humanity, aroused by the Principle of Conflict - must "proceed again to the high place of sacrifice and walk openly with men on Earth." His heart, embodying as it does the love of God, is drawn forth from the heart of the planet (the Hierarchy) to the hearts of men, and the path of His return to Earth service stands unchallenged and unobstructed. Again, under law, a profound optimism is engendered and may be rightly developed.

The heart center of humanity is created by the sum total of the hearts (symbolically speaking) of all those men of goodwill (in or out of the churches and irrespective of their political concepts) who are serving their fellowmen, sponsoring human welfare movements, working for the establishing of right human relations, and constantly offsetting the separativeness of the human mind through the inclusiveness of the divine love nature. You have, therefore, as a guarantee of the return of Christ into public recognition, an implementing of a great alignment. This alignment, when effectively concluded, will bring about a clear channel or pathway of return or line of light or magnetic power between:

1. The center where the will of God is known. This is Shamballa where the will-to-good originates. This will-to-good is essential love. [620]
2. The Hierarchy, which is the planetary heart center.
3. The Christ, the very heart of love within the Hierarchy.
4. The initiates, disciples and aspirants who form the New Group of World Servers, seeking to embody the love and light needed in the world today.
5. The hearts of the men of goodwill in all lands who are responsive to love as it can express itself through right human relations.
6. The focal point through which the Lord of Love will work on Earth.

If you will study this sixfold progression of divine love from the highest manifestation of Deity down to its appearance through the medium of some focal point in our known modern world, it will be apparent to you that a very definite "structure of approach" has been created, and that a "Path of Return" is being constructed which will bring the long-awaited Christ into our midst. Nothing can stop or prevent His return today; the evidence of this structure can be seen everywhere.

B.II.2.d.iv. The Effect of the Ray of Harmony through Conflict inthe modern World of Nations

As we approach what some may regard as a highly controversial subject, I would remind you that we must attempt to see the picture whole in some such manner as the Agents of the divine Will see it, embracing the past of the nations involved (a past which is seldom good), seeing the effects of that past as they work out in the present and as they are the inevitable result of the Law of Cause and Effect, and attempting also to foresee the future in terms of lessons learnt and new habits of a better nature established (written in 1948). I would remind you also that the governing principle of this ray is conditioning all the nations and has done so with increasing potency since the year 1850. Just in the same manner as this principle of conflict controls the battling life of the aspirant and of the world aspirant, the entire human family, so it must [621] inevitably control the life of nations to a greater or lesser degree, according to their materialistic or their spiritual status, according to the type of energy which may be expressing itself through them, and according to the age of the nation under consideration. From certain angles, the youngest of the nations are Germany and Italy, for they only arrived at nationhood in the nineteenth century; the oldest nation with the clearest unified record is Japan. The United States of America is always regarded as a young nation, but from the angle of a unified central government, the two Axis Powers are still younger, and this has had a definite bearing on their activities.

In the world at this time the two aspects of this fourth ray - the aspect or Principle of Conflict and the aspect or Principle of Harmony - are struggling to bring about the liberation into equilibrium of mankind. Until quite lately, the Principle of Conflict has grown increasingly in power, yet as a result of this conflict a definite trend towards harmony can be seen emerging in human thinking; the concept of harmony through the establishing of right human relations is slowly coming into recognition. The activities of mankind, and particularly of governments, have been ignobly selfish and controlled by the concepts of fighting, aggression and competition for untold millennia; the territories of the planet have changed hands many times and the earth has been the playground of a long succession of conquerors; the heroes of the race - perpetuated in history, stone and human thinking - have been the warriors, and conquest has been an ideal. The world war (1914-1945) marked a culminating point in the work of the Principle of Conflict and, as I have shown, the results of this work are today inaugurating a new era of harmony and cooperation because the trend of human thinking is towards the cessation of conflict. This is an event of major importance and should be regarded as indicating a turning point in human affairs. This trend is impulsed by a weariness of fighting, by a changing rating as to the values in human accomplishment, and by a recognition that true greatness [622] is not expressed through such activities as those of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon or Hitler, but by those who see life, humanity and the world as one united whole, interrelated, cooperative and harmonized. Those who struggle for this world unity, and who educate the race in the Principles of Harmony and of right human relations, will some day be recognized as the true heroes.

The factor that must and will relate the Principle of Conflict to the expression of harmony and bring about the new world order, the new civilization and culture, is the trend and the voice of public opinion, and the opportunity offered to people everywhere to bring about social security and right human relations. It is not the government of any nation which will bring this about, but the innate rightness of the people themselves when they have been educated to see the issues clearly, the relationships which should be established, and the immense subjective unity of mankind. This will not come about without an intensive period of planned education, of a truly free press and radio - both free to speak the exact truth and to present the facts as they occur, without being controlled or influenced by governmental interference, pressure groups, religious organizations, or by any dictating parties or dictators. The sin of the Roman Catholic Church is its effort to dictate to people what they should think - theologically and politically - what they should do, read and wear; this, to a still greater extent, is the crime of Russia. The mass of the people in the strictly Catholic countries are not as free in their thinking as are those living in the Protestant lands; the Russian people know no freedom and have no opportunity to form their own point of view; commercial interests and expediency impose restrictions in other countries. By means of these sources of control, the growth of true understanding is prevented, distorted or stunted.

Curiously enough, the intention of the dictating agents, in both the Catholic Church and in Russia, is basically good; they believe that the uneducated masses are not fitted to decide for themselves what they should hear, think or [623] decide; they must therefore be protected - in the one case by decrees and prohibitions from the Vatican (via the organized priesthood) as to right attitude and right action to be followed without questioning; and in the other, by withholding the truth as to events and happenings. But men are awakening everywhere and - given some sound leadership, which at present is not to be found in any country in the world - they can be trusted to swing the tide into a great harmonizing and unifying movement.

As we study the effect of the Principle of Conflict as the instigator of eventual harmony in relation to the nations, let us remember that the widespread extent of the conflict is indicative of climax, that the "points of crisis" which express the conflict are today well known to all men, that a "point of tension" has now been reached (of which the United Nations is a symbol) which will eventually prove to be the agent that will bring about a "point of emergence." I would ask you to keep these three phrases - descriptive of the working of the Ray of Harmony through conflict - constantly in mind in relation to developments in your own life, in the life of your nation or of any nation, and in the life of humanity as a whole. They embody the technique whereby the spiritual Hierarchy of our planet brings good out of evil without originating the evil or infringing the free will of mankind.

There are certain nations which are necessarily more responsive to the energy of this fourth ray than some of the others, because it is either the energy which is conditioning their personality activities or that which conditions their soul expression. Forget not that nations are like individuals, expressive of soul and body. The nations responsive to this ray energy are:

India, whose personality or material ray is that of Harmony through Conflict. This could be seen in full expression in that unhappy country during the years 1947-1948. India is old and crystallized in her separativeness, in her myriads of diversified sects and religious groups, in her manifold languages and in her ancient antagonisms; [624] it will be long before there is any basic synthesis or harmony. There lies her problem, and unfortunately she lacks pure disinterested leadership; as is the case elsewhere in the world, party politics and religious cleavages condition her many peoples. The soul energy of India is that of the Will to Power or government, but that spiritual energy will not come into true activity until she has resolved her many differences and has returned to the old ways of spiritual understanding and of enlightened wisdom which distinguished her many centuries ago. India has nearly lost the light, but when she has passed through the coming points of crisis, and has achieved a point of united tension, then she will find the door or point of emergence into light.

The ray governing the soul expression of the German race is that of Harmony through Conflict, but her materialistic personality, focused in the emotional nature and not yet under control of the soul, is conditioned by the first Ray of Power. Germany as a nation is too young, immature, and negative to realize the true uses of power; she lacks the wisdom to use power, and her sense of inferiority (based on youth) leads her to misuse it when she has it. The German race is very old, and the German leaders during the past one hundred years have confused racial issues and national ambitions. Races are basically subjective, and nations are basically objective. Their leaders have permitted the ideal of power (which is a great spiritual responsibility) to lead them to make the Germanic race synchronize with the German nation. It was this immaturity and this misguided and almost childish ambition which set the Principle of Conflict operating violently through the world war (1914-1945) in order to bring to an end the increasing nationalism of Germany and of all the nations. Great Britain is at the point of emergence from the nationalistic thought-form; the United States and Russia are arriving - the first at the point of tension where the concept is concerned, and the other at the point of crisis. Germany's point of crisis and of tension led to the explosion of the world war; nevertheless, after due process of pain, of [625] re-education and of training in right human relations, the German people will discover their soul, and then the soul-infused personality of the German people will demonstrate in a unique manner the significance of harmony. The basic and subjective synthesis of the Germanic race must not be confused with the separate nation of the German people, and the underlying emotional and sentimental unity (using the word "sentimental" in its correct sense) must not be confounded with territorial unity. There is a racial and subjective unity between the British Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America, but this in turn must not be confused with the outer national groupings and aims.

Italy also is influenced by the Ray of Harmony through Conflict because her personality or material expression is conditioned by this ray. During the world war, Italy had a king, a dictator, and a pope, and this produced a vortex of conflict in the highly intelligent Italian people. The dictator is no longer there; the monarchy has also disappeared, and only the continuing voice of the Vatican is left, but - curiously enough - receives less attention in Italy than in the other Catholic countries. Conflict during the centuries has done much for the Italian people, and their highly extroverted psychology has produced in them a balance which may prove most promising in the future. The conflict of thought through which they have passed during the past one hundred years has worked well for them. Torn as they are by party politics, in revolt against ecclesiasticism, and lacking leadership, they are nevertheless well on the way to the resolution of their problem.

When the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict is the energy expressing itself through the soul, the indications are that the country concerned is nearing the Path of Discipleship or the Path of Probation. Austria and Germany are nearing the Path of Discipleship; Brazil is on the Path of Probation and will rapidly move forward; Austria is nearer true discipleship than is Germany and, spiritually, Austria has much eventually to give, Spiritual [626] leadership will not be lacking once a measure of security and better living conditions have been assured. Germany has a bitter price to pay because her immaturity and childish interpretation of world affairs, her lack of thinking capacity and her curious innate cruelty permitted the Forces of Evil (temporarily) to work through Germany and precipitate the world conflict. But Germany will recover, provided she does not again permit herself to become a battleground, owing to her strategic position in central Europe. It is for this recovery that all men of goodwill must work.

It is perhaps appropriate to point out here that the spiritual forces of the planet do not greatly fear a renewed outbreak of war upon the physical plane. There are many chances that it can be averted because the mounting revolt of the masses against physical plane war, the general fatigue of the nations and the use of the United Nations councils for the ventilation of difficulties and problems may prove effective.

Each of the three Great Powers has its own internal conflict, conditioned by its historical tradition, its national emphases, and its developed habits of thought or - as the case may be - of feeling.

The major conflict in Great Britain at this time is between the reactionary thinkers and those unskilled laborers in the political field who favor the socialistic ideology. This conflict goes deep and is undermining and destroying old forms and producing intense national friction in all groups and parties. One group is fighting to preserve the old order; the other group is fighting fiercely to abolish all the old ways in the shortest possible time; other groups are fighting for their various ideologies and complicating the problem. The interesting thing is that the conflict is largely between party leaders and their immediate convinced followers, with the mass of people questioning the wisdom, the capacity and the activities of both groups and slowly deciding that they like and desire neither of them, but (lacking real leadership) they know not what [627] to do. The predisposing characteristic of the British is a sense of justice and it is for this that the people seek. They find, however, that neither party has an effective plan or program, that both are animated by party politics, and that the interests of the people as a whole which could be served by a wise coalition are not of major importance to the present party leaders. This internal conflict is slowly, however, going to produce a harmony of purpose and of intention within the mind of the population; this will largely be the result of the increasing power of women in the land and their increasing penetration in municipal and national politics. The quality of the British historical retrospect has been predominantly masculine. Today the balancing factor of feminine interpretation and the feminine point of view is needed and will be provided. Great Britain, from the angle of its personality or material problem, is governed by the energy or Ray of Will or Power, whilst the soul of the country is conditioned by the Ray of Love-Wisdom. In this you have the presentation of a positive and a negative energy, and when they are fused and blended you will have a balance and a wisdom which is at present lacking.

In France, where the contributing rays are both along the line of the intellect, you have necessarily and naturally a strong materialistic influence and the conflict there is hard to resolve. It is ever the mind aspect which produces all the separativeness, the cleavages and the differences in the human arena in France, making it the playground of untold numbers of conflicting ideas, a diversity of groups and of clashing personalities, and leading to an intense preoccupation with France and its welfare; there is small interest in anything else, or in any other nations or groups, except as they affect France or the French people. The French are in no way as yet ready to balance conflict with harmony, even interiorly. The qualities of the mind - pride, self-centeredness, a separative attitude, a selfish planning and a materialism which penetrates deep into the mass consciousness - are dominating in their activity and are [628] focused upon the material well-being of France. There is no dominant ideology, so that the conflict is not lifted on to the ideological level, and until a recognized idealism begins to sway the French mind and the mass consciousness, France cannot grow; there is no basic religious or spiritual sense to be found on a large scale, because the mind which can so inspiringly illumine the plane of the spirit is focused primarily upon the three worlds of material living. This pronounced activity of the intellect, of which the French are so proud, is largely responsible for the situation in the political and economic fields in France, plus the difficulties which they share with all the nations which were implicated in the war. Any prospect of internal harmony is still far away but it will come. Forget not what I wrote much earlier in one of my books that it is France which will eventually reveal the true nature of the soul or of the psyche and inaugurate the era of true esoteric psychology. To do this she must inevitably find her own soul, and in finding it - through the medium of the illumined mind - she will bring light to humanity. The conflict now raging in France will eventually be resolved into harmony, and France will awaken to the higher spiritual values. Once her soul ray of pure knowledge is active, it will dominate her personality or material Ray of Active Intelligence, once the most powerful of all the rays. The task of the Ray of Harmony through Conflict is to bring this about, thus releasing France into the light.

In the United States, this fourth energy is peculiarly active, because of the conflict of races, nations, ideas, political theories, immature development, corrupt politics, and childish selfishness; this is more prevalent among the leaders in the municipalities and in politics than it is among the masses of little people in every state, who are basically sound though easily misled by their so-called leaders; the southern states are, however, almost unbelievably degenerated and deluded. Remember always, as we look at these various nations dispassionately, that we are concerned with the same trends and ideas which are to be [629] found in each individual aspirant - the conflict of ingrained personality habits and thoughts and faults, with a steadily increasing soul pressure. The United States, though one of the younger nations, is - owing to the many racial types represented - one of the oldest; this curious balancing must inevitably lead to a rapid development, with a consequent assumption of power, a growing incentive to love and a shouldering of responsibility.

The conflict in the United States is between a love of freedom which amounts almost to irresponsibility and license, and a growing humanitarian ideology which will result in world service and non-separateness. The rays of energy governing the United States are the 6th Ray of Idealism, which is the energy of the country's personality, and the 2nd Ray of Love-Wisdom, which governs the soul of the country. I would here point out to you that it is the soul ray of the United States which relates it to Great Britain. The sixth ray personality energy (at the present stage of unfoldment) produces an idealism which requires transmuting and changing from an idealism intensely preoccupied with the preservation of a high standard of living and physical comfort to an idealistic appreciation of the real spiritual values; these are at present veiled and hidden in the material philosophy of the country. The youthful interpretation of this idealism can be seen in the complete conviction of the American people that everything in the United States is better than anything anywhere else, in its willingness to tell all the world what should or should not be done, in its revolt from all controls, in its unthinking acceptance of any information which falls in with its preconceived ideas and prejudices; the mature aspect of American idealism leads its people to a prompt response to the good, the beautiful and the true, to the expression of an active humanitarianism and an invocative spiritual approach to reality.

It is interesting to note the unusual alignment of ray energies to be found at this time in the United States: [630]

The energy of the soul	Ray of Love-Wisdom	Ray II
The energy of the personality	Ray of Idealism	Ray VI
The energy of relating the two	Ray of Harmony through conflict	Ray IV

These Rays - 2, 4, 6 - are all on the second line of spiritual energy and lack all the stiffening and strengthening qualities of the first line of ray energy - 1, 3, 5, 7 - which are governed by Will or Power. The American civilization, with all its clamor of youthful precocity, is in reality the heir of the passing sixth ray civilization, the Piscean; therefore, you have here the reason for the tendency of the American people to adopt violently conditioning idealisms and ideologies. It is the idealistic tendency in conflict with pronounced materialistic trends of this particular modern era which will finally evoke the harmony which will liberate the spirit of America, which will reveal to its people that it is one world and which will enable the people of this land to harmonize with the rest of the world and draw forth the loving response of other nations. It is for this that the men of goodwill must work.

Russia is, if you could but realize it, a battleground today within her own sealed walls. Her iron curtain is to Russia what the Monroe Doctrine was to the American people. In connection with all the three Great Powers - the U.S.S.R., the U.S.A. and the U.K. - certain major conflicts are being specifically precipitated; these will fundamentally affect the destiny of humanity. These three nations constitute the three points of a most potent world triangle of energy, and once there is a free circulation and a true understanding established between them, then world peace will be assured and the Christ can come. This understanding and this free harmony (if I may use such a term) will come as the result of each of the three Nations arriving at a real measure of internal harmony as a result of its own particular conflict, and then moving forward in an effort to harmonize with each other and the rest of the world.

Russia has the same personality ray as the United States [631] and her seventh ray soul (conditioned by the Ray of Order) is closely related to the personality ray of Great Britain, the first Ray of Will or Power; the will aspect of divinity works out on the physical plane as the seventh Ray of Order or of conformity to the inner divine will.

The interior problem of the U.S.S.R. is the conflict raging between the imposed, arrogant will of a handful of powerful dictators and the fluid, unstable and ignorant reaction of a people from whom the truth is constantly withheld; they therefore have to fight blindly for their freedom, to fight instinctively and without knowledge of the facts. They are not yet waging a successful fight.

The point, however, which is of major importance to us is the recognition that each of these three nations is distinguished by:

1. A similarity of problem.
2. A battleground which is leading to the formation of a triangle of relationships brought about through the Principle of Conflict.

The similarity of problems consists in the fact that each of these three nations is essentially composite in nature and is formed by an amalgamation of many nations, of many peoples speaking many different languages, and is consequently staging a great experiment in fusion.

1. The U.K. is the nucleus or the living germ of the British Commonwealth of Nations wherein a great experiment in free government is being tried out; this gives complete internal freedom and choice to each related Dominion, plus an equally complete and free interrelationship. The Dominions are all of them independent nations, but belong to a united Commonwealth; a pattern is thereby presented for world consideration.
2. The U.S.A. is a fusing center wherein all nationalities are represented and are being slowly blended into a miniature One Humanity. A great experiment in right relationships is being undertaken and is making real progress. A culture and a civilization will emerge which will be the [632] result of right human relations and which can provide a world pattern in relationships. I refer here to the presentation of democracy. There is nothing satisfactory yet in the presentation of the dreamed-of democracy. France and Great Britain are equally democratic, and more successful because more mature and experienced, but the "melting pot" of the U.S.A. will provide eventually the outstanding experiment in right relations because of its many races and nationalities - all blended together within the borders of one country.
3. The U.S.S.R. is also seeking to blend and unite into one great national project many diverse nations and races - European and Asiatic - and the effort is still largely embryonic. In Russia a world ideology is being wrought out which (when proven) can be presented to the world as a model system; this, however, will not come as a result of dictatorship, nor can it be presented aggressively to the world. Russia is in reality - whether she realizes it or not at present - undertaking a great experiment in education and, in spite of evil methods and sinning against the soul of human freedom, eventually this educational process will prove convincing to the world and provide a world model. This can only take place when the present group of dictators and arrogant men have passed away or been forced out of power by an awakening people.

In these three great nations, therefore, the three major divine aspects are being brought into manifestation, thus laying the foundation for the new world order. All three are of equal importance.

• In Great Britain - right human government - Will or Power
• In the USA. - right human relations - Love-Wisdom
• In the U.S.S.R. - right use of the mind - Intelligence

This must be remembered and taught, and men of goodwill everywhere should work for a closer relationship between these three peoples. These three points of a divine triangle of energy should not be isolated points, each holding its own point of tension; they should be related points, each point distributing strengthening energy to the other [633] points and admitting a free circulation between all points around the triangle.

These great world problems are also being worked out in each of these three nations:

1. In Great Britain, the problem of socialism is being resolved and the sound judgment of the people will eventually balance the two conditions of a socialist program and free enterprise; this needs doing, for the extreme position in either case is untenable. This today presents a conflict which all the world is watching. The transition period between group living (in the true and spiritual sense) and the present and past period of an intense individualism is not easy, and in Great Britain the whole matter is being put to the test. The bridge will be built.
2. In the U.S.A. you have the problem of the relationship between capital and labor awaiting solution; the conflict is fierce but a compromise will eventually be worked out if capital concedes certain arrogant powers, recognizes the rights of other human beings and demonstrates less selfish greed, and if labor will work with less selfishness, prove less exacting and evince a more understanding spirit. The bridge between these two great groups must and will be built.
3. In the U.S.S.R. you have the problem of the leveling of the masses in all classes; this leveling has produced a low standard of living and the work to be done is to raise more than to bridge. This leveling produces serious conflict and one that is little realized by those who cannot penetrate into the sealed citadel which is Russia. It is really a conflict between the mounting human spirit and the force of the totalitarian regime which seeks to hold it down, killing individualism. The innate strength of the human spirit to rise has never yet failed, and this conflict will prove the agent in harmonizing many factors.

Within the comity of nations, certain of them have ever been prime agents for producing conflict. This is largely owing to their fiery temperament and their strong [634] emotional bias and condition. The Poles and the Irish are prime "catalysts of conflict" and are constantly instigating difficulties between peoples. Such has ever been their history. French aggression in the Middle Ages has also caused difficulty, and in later days, Germany became the prime agent of conflict. Today the Jewish people are engineering trouble, and it is interesting to note that the main contention in the past of Poland, lately of the Irish, and today of the Jews, is territory, thus evidencing a most distorted sense of values. There is in the last analysis but one world and one humanity, and in a shorter time than you may think boundaries and territories will mean but little. World citizenship will be the only factor of importance.

The Jews are governed by the third Ray of Active Intelligence, the energy which permeates and controls matter or substance. They were also, during the years immediately following the war, under the control of a glamor imposed by the Zionist Dictators, who were attempting (somewhat unsuccessfully) to be to the Jewish people what Stalin and his group, and Hitler and his gang, have been to their people. They worked through the same methods - terrorizing, withholding information, browbeating their opponents, making false claims and bribing and corrupting. They were and are a minority, but a powerful minority because of their great wealth and their being in positions of power. They are claiming a land to which they have no possible right and which the Jews have ignored for two thousand years. Their attitude is perhaps the culminating aggressive action of the age and marks a climaxing point; it has produced a serious world tension, but out of this good may come and a "point of emergence for mankind" be reached. The issue of aggression can be more clearly seen because of their activities. Very few lands today are in the possession of their original inhabitants, and if restoration is made to all original inhabitants (which is not possible) an impossible situation would be brought about just as legitimate as the Zionist position. If the Zionist claims are to be considered (and they have been) they in their turn [635] should realize that (if The Old Testament is to be believed) they originally took the land of Palestine away from its original owners nearly three thousand years ago, at the point of the sword and through an unprovoked aggression.

This conflict which the Zionists have precipitated is basic and useful. It constitutes a test case, being based upon physical plane aggression, being fought with the most violent emotional disturbance and being founded upon completely illogical premises. The Jew has ever been (could he but usefully remember it) the symbol of humanity - evolving, seeking, restless, materialistic, separative and greedy. He is the symbol of the mass consciousness, presenting this consciousness in an exaggerated form; he is ever seeking and searching a home and is the true Prodigal Son of The New Testament.

Curiously enough, the Jews have never been a fighting race since the time of the sorry story of the conquest of the early tribes in Palestine; they have been persecuted and repudiated down the centuries, but have retaliated simply by moving on - the wandering Jew seeking a home, wandering humanity, saying always, "I must arise and go to my Father." The motive given to the Prodigal Son in the Gospel story is a strictly material one, and we have here an outstanding instance of the prophetic knowledge of the Christ.

The Jewish people have not only repudiated the Messiah (which their race produced), but they have forgotten their unique relation to humanity; they forget that millions in the world today have suffered as they have suffered and that - for instance - there are eighty per cent of other people in the concentration camps of Europe and only twenty per cent Jews. The Jew, however, fought only for himself, and largely ignored the sufferings of his fellowmen in the concentration camps.

I have enlarged thus upon the Jewish conflict because it is the symbol of all past conflicts in human history, based upon universal selfishness and the greed of undeveloped humanity, and because the crucial test of the nations and [636] of the United Nations Assembly is to be found in the decisions which they made and may make concerning Palestine.

The test, as far as the nations are concerned, lies in their willingness to give refuge to the Jews, and such a refuge would have been offered if the partitioning of Palestine had been refused. The unwillingness of the nations to admit the Jews (though many have willingly offered), and particularly the refusal of the United States to admit them, is separative, wrong and based upon political expediency. The test, as far as the United Nations is concerned, was whether they would endorse partition, and thus perpetuate the spirit of aggression and territorial greed, against which the Forces of Light were arrayed in the last war. The United Nations has already made a major mistake by their original admittance of Russia - a totalitarian power, as was Germany - to their councils. Now they have made another. In the first mistake they precipitated into the United Nations the element of conflict and that spirit of "fanatical imposition" which is distinctive of the totalitarian ideology; in this second case, through the endorsement of partition, they perpetuate the ancient technique of taking what is wanted (with force of arms, if necessary) from the rightful owners. It was a test for the United States, for it is the American Jews who have created the situation, with relatively little help or endorsement from the Jews of other nations. The United States, urged by expediency, by the financial weight of the Zionists, and by the strategic position of Palestine, have thrown the weight of their influence into the conflict on the side of aggression and of territorial theft. They could have worked for the Principle of Harmony and permitted time and the non-separativeness of the nations to adjust and solve the Jewish problem.

More I will not say; the symbolic nature of this basic world problem and its dynamic importance to humanity have led me thus to enlarge. The decision anent the Jews is one of hierarchical importance, owing to the karmic relation of the Christ to the Jewish race, to the fact that they repudiated Him as the Messiah and are still doing so, [637] and of the interpretive nature of the Jewish problem as far as the whole of humanity is concerned.

B.II.2.d.v. The Results of Fourth Ray Activity upon the individualDisciple

The disciples of the world today are submerged in an ocean of warring energies; the Principle of Conflict touches every life, is potent in the consciousness of each individual aspirant, and is conditioning the mass consciousness of mankind. Emotionally and physically, the masses in every land are roused by this conflict; the disciples on earth and the thinking people everywhere are aroused mentally, as well as emotionally and physically, and hence the intensity of their problem. The points of crisis in the lives of disciples have - during the past few decades - been many; a point of tension has now been reached of an extreme nature; how rapidly can this tension bring about the needed point of emergence?

It is not my intention to deal at length with the effect of this conflict in the life of disciples. It deals with the most familiar story to all of them; the aspirants and the disciples are, from the angle of evolution, the most strictly human beings to be found in the fourth kingdom in nature, for the reason that mind, emotion and physical activity are integrated or are in process of integration into one functioning whole. The disciple knows, however, that - as a result of conflict - the complete harmonizing of his entire nature will be brought about; the fusion of soul and personality will be consummated, and for this he works. The same principle can also be applied by him in his consideration of general human affairs; he needs to see in all world conflict the needed steps towards an eventual harmony - a harmony based upon a true mental perception and a sound idealism. It is this process of developing mental understanding and a sound rational yet spiritual attitude which is now going on; the emergence of the many ideologies are the guarantee that the true idealism will eventually appear  and control - the ideal of right human relations; it is the [638] struggle between emotional control and a steadily developing mind control which is conditioning mankind at this time. When a mental, an emotional and a physical conflict are raging simultaneously, the results must necessarily be difficult, but they are surmountable.

Today, the conflicts are numerous, vital and unavoidable; they are present in the individual consciousness and in the mass consciousness; they present constant points of crises and are today bringing about a point of world tension which seems well-nigh unbearable. But ahead of the individual disciple and of humanity lies a point of emergence.

What must the disciple do whilst the point of tension is dominating him and his fellowmen? The answer is a simple one. Let each disciple and all groups of disciples develop the ability to think sanely, with right orientation and a broad point of view; let them think truly, evading no issues, but preserving always a calm, dispassionate and loving understanding; let them demonstrate in their environment the qualities which will establish right human relations and show on a small scale the behavior which will some day characterize enlightened humanity; let them not be discouraged, but let them hold firmly to the conviction of the inevitable spiritual destiny of humanity; let them realize practically that "the souls of men are one" and learn to look beyond the immediate outer seeming to the inner (and sometimes remote) spiritual consciousness; let them know that the present world conflict will be terminated.

The perfect outcome of the conflict will necessarily be lacking, for perfection is not yet possible to man; nevertheless, a situation can be brought about which will permit the return of the Christ into objective relation with mankind, and which will enable Him to set about His task of resurrecting the human spirit, out of the tomb of materialism into the clear light of spiritual perception. For this, all men must work. [639]

B.II.2.d.vi. A Summation and Forecast

Let me now summarize for you some of the points of importance in this instruction:

1. The fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict is a controlling factor in human affairs at all times, and peculiarly today.
2. The Principle of Conflict is the agent of the Principle of Harmony and produces the strains and the stresses which will lead, finally, to liberation.
3. The great initiation of the Renunciation, plus the many smaller renunciations, is the result of inner conflict and ever precedes liberation into harmony and peace.
4. Conflict produces: War - Renunciation - Liberation.
5. Humanity is subjected to crises of discrimination, leading to right choice. That is the problem confronting humanity today, leading to a crisis within the United Nations.
6. The Hierarchy is subjected to crises of decision, leading to perception of the Plan, participation in the Purpose, and the prevention of evil.
7. The Principle of Conflict is today active in all nations, in all religions, in all organizations, leading to the emergence of the New Age.
8. Conflict produces points of crisis, then a point of tension, and eventually a point of emergence.
9. This Principle of Conflict is preparing the way for the return of the Christ, Who will inaugurate the new era of harmony.
10. Christ will come in three different ways:
    1. Through the over-shadowing, on the mental plane, of all disciples and aspirants.
    2. Through the pouring out of love or of the Christ consciousness upon the masses on the emotional plane.
    3. Through His recognized physical Presence upon Earth.
11. Certain nations are today torn with conflict but are [640] moving toward harmony. Other nations are focal points of discord and thereby serve the Principle of Conflict.
12. The U.S.S.R., the U.S.A., and the U.K. constitute a governing triangle of energy which, when right relations have been established, can and will create and foster right human relations among men.
13. The Jewish race is a symbol of humanity in its mass sense; in the resolution of its conflict and in the taking of right action, a great step forward in human liberation will take place.
14. As the individual disciple learns to harmonize himself through conflict, he sets an example which is of definite aid to humanity as a whole.

What can I prophesy? What may I foretell in relation to human affairs and of the future ahead of the race?

I would remind you that even the Hierarchy of spiritual and liberated souls, the Church of God invisible, knows not the way that humanity will choose to go. General trends are watched and possibilities are considered; the energies pouring into the human family are directed and manipulated, and conditions can frequently be adjusted, but men decide for themselves direct action; they make their own choices and exert unimpeded the free will with which they may at any time be equipped. I prophecy not, because I do not know. I can, however, say that the issues at stake are now becoming so clear that right decision is more possible than at any other time in human history. Unless, therefore, emotional stresses are too acute, humanity will decide upon right action eventually. Emotions are, however, running high and the spiritual people of the world are not sufficiently aroused as yet to handle them. It is the arousing and the awakening to the critical nature of the time and to the world problems which is immediately needed, and this all men of goodwill should regard as their paramount duty.

As I earlier remarked, if the trends which are today being established are rightly developed, the Hierarchy does not foresee the immediacy of war; war can be averted if [641] the nations are fully occupied with the task of reconstruction and if an educational program in right human relations is launched and systematically and most carefully carried out. If the subjective relations between the nations are emphasized and the outer frictions and the objective disagreements are ignored, a great fusion of human interests can take place; this will be binding and lasting; if the cleavage between separateness and right relations is clearly to be seen, men will know of themselves what action they should take.

In the war raging today between conflicting ideas, it is essential that this cleavage be made abundantly clear. Only the voice of a trained public opinion and the intelligent demand of the masses for right human relations can save the world from chaos. If this is so, then the duty of each individual disciple, man of goodwill and intelligent thinker is also clear. Let me bring the theme to a close with this thought and this indicated action.

B.II.3. The Rays of Aspect and the Higher Initiations

We completed our consideration of the effect of the four Rays of Attribute upon humanity as a whole and upon the individual disciple. If you will study the relationship of these rays to each other, you will discover that the energies which made their impact upon the would-be initiate were, first of all, two rays: the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Order and the fifth Ray of Science which are both along the line of the first Ray of Will or Power, plus two other rays, the sixth Ray of Devotion or Idealism and the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict, which are both along the line of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. All these Rays of Attribute were - in connection with the initiations concerned - functioning within the realm of knowledge; it is a knowledge, however, dedicated eventually to spiritual intent and attained through conflict.

We come now to the consideration of the three Rays of Aspect and their general and momentous effect upon [642] mankind in this cycle, and upon the disciple preparing for initiation. We are dealing, therefore, with

• Ray I.    - Will or Power, active in connection with the 5th Initiation.
• Ray II.   - Love-Wisdom, active in connection with the 7th Initiation.
• Ray III. - Active Intelligence, active in connection with the 6th Initiation.

The united activity of these rays lifts humanity to the higher, spiritual realm and concerns those initiations which lie a long way ahead of mankind. They lie also a considerable distance on the Path from the present point of the average disciple. I am dealing with them, however, as best I can, because the next one hundred years will see a demonstrable orientation of trained disciples towards the higher perception. You must make what you can of this information; it concerns primarily action within the Ashram - action which is, however, concerned with human development and welfare.

The 8th and the 9th initiations, governed by the four Rays of Attribute working in synthesis with the three Rays of Aspect (and working simultaneously), will necessarily be far beyond our comprehension; there is little I shall be able to tell you because I know but little myself.

Does this last remark surprise you? It should not. From the exoteric angle, evolution means growth and development and is largely applied to the form side of nature, and the term "evolution" might thus be confined entirely to the evolution of the form nature. It might also be applied to development within the three worlds and to the third aspect of the divine Life. However, from the esoteric angle, evolution means a steadily increasing sensitivity to light and illumination. A Master may not possess all knowledge possible from the exoteric angle; this He does not need because (after evolution, along the line of knowledge, decided for Him by His ray type) He is on the "way of light," and the light which is in Him and in which He lives and moves and functions serves a dual purpose: [643]

1. It can be used to ascertain whatever is needed in the realm of knowledge by the revelation of where the needed information can be found; this is far more literally so than you realize. (It was through the use of this form of light that I, for instance, found A.A.B.; I was searching for a secretary with more than the usual education and perception generally to be found, and the light revealed her from the personality angle in the three worlds.)
2. It can be used also to reveal to the Master that which lies ahead for Him, and those further reaches of awareness to which He knows He must eventually attain.

The lower aspects of this light are in reality generated by the soul, whilst the higher are those which emanate from the Monad. When an initiate takes the fifth initiation (with which we are now going to deal) he has to demonstrate his facility in using the "light available" by initiating some new project in line with the hierarchical Plan and in tune with his own ray impulses. This project must have both an exoteric side and esoteric. (To illustrate further: The exoteric side of the work which I - as a newly made Master - had purposed to do can be seen in the activities which I have been enabled to accomplish in the outer world through the books which A.A.B. has taken down for me and by the establishing of the Service Activities, associated with the Arcane School. The esoteric side is of course known to me, but an analysis of it would be of no service to you, as you are not yet of the required initiate-consciousness.)

You can see, however, how the above information can throw light upon our immediate theme:

Initiation V - Revelation - Ray I

The Energy of the Will-to-Good. Power.

This initiation has always been called in the Christian church by the name of the Resurrection, whereas it is the seventh initiation which is the true resurrection. The correct name for the fifth initiation is the Initiation of Revelation; this signifies the power to wield light as [644] the carrier of life to all in the three worlds, and to know likewise the next step to be taken upon the Way of the Higher Evolution. This Way is revealed to the initiate in a new light and with an entirely different significance when the fifth initiation is taken. It is the true time of emergence from the tomb of darkness and constitutes an entrance into a light of an entirely different nature to any hitherto experienced.

Development and revelation or (if you so prefer it) a developing revelation, form essentially the entire theme and objective of all activity upon our planet. This gives us a clue to the goal of the planetary Logos. All life, from the first descent of the soul into incarnation, is only a series of revelations, all of which lead up to the revelation accorded at the fifth initiation. The relation between the fifth and the seventh initiations is exceedingly deep and mysterious. It is the revelation accorded in the fifth initiation which makes the seventh initiation possible. The Master, as He emerges at the fifth initiation into the light of day, realizes in that light:

1. The true and hitherto unknown significance of the three worlds which he has viewed almost entirely from the angle of meaning. Now its significance is apparent, and the revelation is so tremendous that "he withdraws into the world of light and joins his brothers. He gathers all his forces and seeks new light upon the Plan. That light shines forth and with the force of its revealing power, new loyalties arise, new goals are seen, and that which shall be and the thing which is, both become lost in the radiant light of revelation."
2. That the first vibration or influencing energy of the cosmic ray of prevailing energy in its highest aspect is the Ray of Love-Wisdom, and this is now contacted; this is made possible by the Master's response to the first Ray of Power or of the Will-to-Good, experienced in its second aspect at the fifth initiation. Forget not that all rays have three aspects, and that all three can be contacted by the human consciousness of the spiritual man, thus [645] placing at his disposal the energies of the seven rays and of the twenty-one forces. It is this synthesis which is revealed at the fifth initiation and - as I said above - the combination of these forces produces the Ascension; this is an exceeding great mystery and one which cannot as yet be grasped by you. From the height of the Mount of Ascension light is thrown upon the hierarchical Plan in such a manner that the purpose in the mind of the planetary Logos is (for the first time) truly grasped.
3. From that height also, the mystery of the human soul is revealed and a great triangular pattern will be seen, relating the human spirit to the world of forms, to the united Hierarchy and to the Council Chamber of the Lord. Upon this I may not here enlarge, for we must not diverge too far from our study. One thing only can be said: from that high place, atma-buddhi-manas (will, love and intelligent action) can be seen in united activity and the theory of an existing Plan and the belief in the three divine aspects, or in the Trinity of Energies, is factually demonstrated.

The first Ray of Will or Power is distinguished by the highest known divine quality (there are others still higher). In the word, Goodwill, the secret purpose of the planetary Logos is hidden. It is being slowly brought to the attention of humanity by means of the three phrases: God is Love. Goodwill. The Will-to-Good. These three phrases, in reality concern the three aspects of the first ray.

When a Master takes the fifth initiation He already knows the significance of the first two aspects, and must become consciously aware of the highest aspect: the Will-to-Good. He has developed in Himself "the love necessary to salvation, His own and that of those He loves, His fellowmen;" all His actions and His thinking are qualified by goodwill, in its esoteric sense, and the significance of the Will-to-Good lies ahead of Him and will be later revealed.

As this first ray is not in incarnation at this time, and therefore souls who can fully express it are absent, the entire theme anent this type of energy, and its influence [646] and quality when related to the energies and the forces, is most difficult to express. Each great ray, as it comes into incarnation, transforms the speech of the cycle, enriches the existent vocabulary, and brings new knowledge to humanity; the many civilizations - past and present - are the result of this.

I would ask you to consider the relation of the fifth initiation, the fifth Ray of Science and the first Ray of Will, for there lies the key to the revelation accorded to the initiate-Master.

As you can see, we are venturing into realms far beyond your comprehension; but the effort to grasp the unattainable and to exercise the mind along the line of abstract thought is ever of value.

It must be remembered therefore (and I reiterate) that the revelation accorded to the disciple-initiate is along the line of the first Ray of Will or Power, and that is a ray which is as yet a long way from full manifestation. From one angle, it is of course always in manifestation for it is the ray which holds the planet and all that is upon it in one coherent manifesting whole; the reason for this coherent synthesis is the evolutionary effort to work out divine purpose. The first ray ever implements that purpose. From another angle, it is cyclic in its manifestation; here I mean from the angle of recognized manifestation - and such is the case at this time.

B.II.3.e.i. The Effect of Ray I on Humanity Today

Owing to extra-planetary stimulation, to the immediate planetary crisis and to the present invocative cry of humanity, energy from Shamballa has been permitted to play upon the "center which is called the race of men" and has produced two potent results: first, the world war was precipitated and, secondly, the fission of the atom, resulting in the atomic bomb, was brought about. Both these events were made possible by the pouring-in of the energy and power of the third aspect of the first Ray of Power or Will. This is the lowest aspect, and definite [647] material effects were produced. The destroyer aspect was therefore the first aspect to take effect. It split the thought-form of materialistic living (which was governing and controlling humanity everywhere) upon the mental plane and, at the same time, it produced a great agent of destruction upon the physical plane.

Thus was the new era ushered in; thus was the stage set for a better future. This was the intent and the purpose of Those Who compose the Council Chamber of the Lord. It rests with humanity itself to take advantage of the proffered opportunity which this destructive manifestation made possible.

Shamballa having acted in this manner, it is nevertheless the Hierarchy which will bring into expression a measure of the second aspect of the first Ray of Will or Power, and it is for this that the Hierarchy is preparing; it is for this event that the Christ is fitting Himself to be the distributing Agent and the directing Factor, with the concentrated assistance of the united Hierarchy; it is this that will begin to manifest when He appears. You have here the true reason for His proclaimed Coming or Reappearance. The distinction between material living and spiritual living will be clearly demonstrated. This is made possible by the cleavage of the ancient materialistic thought-form on mental levels; the reorientation of human thinking, as this fact is grasped, will have its first results upon emotional levels through the focused expression of human goodwill; this is the lowest aspect of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom, implemented and strengthened by the second aspect of the first Ray of Will.

On the physical plane, the great scientific discovery, called colloquially the "splitting of the atom," will be turned eventually to the production of those conditions which will enable mankind to follow the good, the beautiful and the true. This men will then be able to do, freed from the dread presence of purely materialistic thinking. This is no idle vision or vague dream. Many scientists today (and particularly those who love their fellowmen) [648] are not only visioning the non-destructive aspect of atomic energy but are already engaged in harnessing - for the good of humanity - some of its products and its radioactive properties.

Curiously enough, it is the wise, controlled use of the results of this scientific adventure in connection with the atomic bomb which will eventually bring about a specific revelation of the nature of certain forces in relation to light; this event will transform world thinking and lead to a new type of transmutative process, as far as man is concerned.

It must not be inferred from the above that humanity, as a whole, will be taking the fifth initiation, for such is not the case. Many advanced souls (perhaps amounting to many thousands) may and will take this initiation, but the masses of men everywhere, constituting the sum total of the world disciple, will eventually take either the first or the second initiation. The effect however of hierarchical happenings, in conjunction with Shamballa, will lead finally to the great stimulation of the fifth Principle of manas, the intelligence principle in man. A revelation which is not perceived, which remains unrelated and unexpressed, is of no true service to mankind, except from a purely subjective standpoint; nevertheless, through the proposed stimulation, through the efforts of those who have taken or who will take the fifth initiation, and through the new direction of first ray energy from Shamballa, the mental plane will receive such an inflow of energy that the thinking principle, the reasoning factor within humanity, will reach new heights. Thus will the "light stream forth into the minds of men," and the first stanza of the Invocation prove that it can and does receive an answer to its invocative appeal.

It would be good to let your spiritual imagination look forward into the future, and then vision - if you can - what is the true significance of the tremendous activity of the Hierarchy. One of the signs of the coming of this new light and energy inflow is a definitely curious one; it is [649] to be found in the instability of the human mental mechanism and the human thinking processes at this time. This is due to their premature response to the new incoming potency. It is a mass reaction, and therefore the statistical returns are somewhat misleading. It is the unready who thus react, and this entails no possible reflection upon those thus distressed (and they are to be found today in all classes and nations). The Law of Rebirth will take care of this reaction, and in the next incarnation these same people will enter a physical body with a better equipment. In reality, it is this energy from Shamballa in its third and destructive aspect which is acting upon certain members of the human family and unfortunately evoking a ready response. I tell you this for your encouragement; destruction always evokes questioning in minds attuned to human welfare and in those thinkers who are apprehensive of the suffering to which their fellowmen are subjected.

One of the most difficult things for the average thinking man to understand and to interpret is the destructive processes of what he (for lack of a better name) calls "the will of God." This is one of the results (and only one) of a purely materialistic civilization which has laid all its emphasis upon the form side of experience and thus regards physical well-being and physical comfort, plus material possessions, as the true goal of all human effort. It is upon this widespread attitude and reaction that the new incoming light will concentrate itself; as the light reveals reality, the world of phenomena and the world of spiritual values will enter into a better, directed relation.

From all the above, you will note that some of the effects upon humanity as a whole and the skeleton structure of the new and beautiful future will take place as a result of the new incoming first ray activity. No details can yet be given, but enough has been written down anent the basic, predisposing cause to enable you who read to ponder upon the possible effect, spiritually speaking. What is coming is a civilization of a different yet still material nature, but animated by a growing registration by the masses [650] everywhere of an emerging spiritual objective which will transform all life and give new value and purpose to that which is material.

Next we must consider what will be the effect of this first ray energy upon the individual disciple as he prepares for and undergoes the fifth initiation, and keys himself up for the promised revelation, thus laying himself open to an entirely new inflow of force. This he must do consciously. It is conscious absorption of energy and its conscious assimilation, plus its conscious use which distinguishes the initiate from the rest of mankind; there are of course many degrees of this desired consciousness. What the initiate will receive as a result of first ray energy will be an inflow of the second aspect of this ray - a blazing forth of the light which will focus clearly for him, and in a flash of time, the significance of that which is slowly being revealed on Earth; he sees this vision in toto for the first time. At the fourth initiation, he responds to the third aspect of this ray, the aspect of destruction; this divested him of everything, and finally and eternally destroyed all that which held him in the three worlds of human endeavor. Thus was harmony produced through conflict, and the success of the individual initiate is the guarantee of the final success of the world disciple.

When it comes to a consideration of the effect of this ray at the time of the fifth initiation, you must bear in mind that the disciple has passed, in a previous incarnation, through the Initiation of Renunciation, and has established within himself a condition of complete harmony as a result of conflict - a conflict which has been raging for millennia of years and whose goal has ever been revelation. Just as a camera has to be correctly focused in order to register correctly that which is visioned, so this harmony, once finally achieved, can be regarded as a form of focused orientation. Throughout the many lives the disciple has lived, there have been many such moments, but they were brief and passing, serving only to stir the aspiration into activity. With the disciple of the fourth initiation, [651] submitting himself to the fifth initiation, the orientation and the focus attained remains a permanent condition. This prefaces an entirely new cycle of spiritual experience - the experience of the higher evolution - leading to that great moment when the revelation of the seven Paths is accorded to him at the following or sixth Initiation of Decision.

Where the ordinary everyday man is concerned, the propelling aspiration (if I may use such an unusual phrase) is of a material nature and concerns his successful progress in the world of everyday physical plane life. It might be wise to consider ambition as the lower expression of aspiration; this ambition covers all the many phases of the Path of Evolution, from the ambition of the raw savage in primeval times to gain food and shelter for himself and family to the ambition of the modern business man to reach the height of financial gain or power. Having achieved that goal, it frequently happens that, on the way to the higher octave of ambition (aspiration), there may come a cycle of lives where the ambition is directed to the creative arts. Next comes gradually the transmutation of all these ambitions into a steadily growing and consciously spiritual aspiration. The man treads then the Probationary Path and eventually the Path of Discipleship, and as his spiritual ambition grows and is paralleled by an equally steady growth in mental realization, he passes from initiation to initiation, until there comes the culminating fifth initiation.

All his past realizations - both his material and also his spiritual realization - have been renounced. He stands entirely free from every aspect of desire. The spiritual will has been substituted for desire. Then, reinforced by the inflow of the first ray Shamballic energy, and offering no obstructions or hindrances from within himself, as a personality, he is in a position to receive the stimulation which will enable him "to see that which is to be revealed and to accept revelation," transmuting it into that definite realization which will enable him to live by means of its light. You have, therefore, certain words which are [652] concerned with the method whereby the vision is accorded and revelation given:

1. Ambition, implemented by determination.
2. Aspiration, implemented by devotion or one-pointed attention.
3. Revelation, implemented by the will in its two lower aspects.
4. Realization, implemented by the will in its highest aspect.

That, briefly, is the evolutionary story of the "initiate in good standing" and it is basically the story of the will to self-betterment, the will to human service, goodwill, and finally, the will-to-good. You can see, therefore, how the great first aspect of divinity, through its three aspects, is the hidden, basic, motivating potency of life and of evolution, from the very dawn of the evolutionary cycle.

The initiate in good standing looks into the heart of things; he has forced his way to the very "Heart of the Sun" (using those words in a "planetary" and not in a "solar" sense) and - from that vantage point - he becomes aware of the "Central Spiritual Sun" and the Way of the Higher Evolution which leads inevitably to that assured center of the Most High. The three worlds of material living and the inner world of meaning which the soul has revealed to him are now left behind; he is suddenly confronted with the world of significances, with the true world of causes and of origination, and by the realm of the universal. He discovers that all he had thought anent the Law of Cause and Effect was so limited that - in the light of this Higher Evolution - it has practically become meaningless, except as the ABC whereby he can teach the children of men. He realizes, through the revelation accorded, more clearly than has hitherto been possible, the Purpose of the planetary Logos. From the time of the third initiation, this purpose has been gradually revealing itself; he sees it expressing itself through Sanat Kumara, Who is the Personality expression of the planetary Logos. During the coming interval and cycle of preparation for the sixth [653] initiation, that purpose will burst upon him in blazing and synthetic glory.

The way to the Central Spiritual Sun is therefore revealed to him, and he knows that he faces a period of intense preparation (not training, as that word is usually understood) for a length of time determined by world need, the nature of his service and certain undefinable ray conditions.

He has to fulfil the magnetic condition which will enable him to form his own Ashram; he has to unfold a new phase of selective spiritual discrimination. The word discrimination is, however, misleading, because the form of it which he can now express carries no quality of rejection or of separation. It is a right knowledge and understanding of those karmically linked to him, a right use of an impelling attractive force which will, occultly speaking, attract the attention of those who should enter his Ashram, plus an esoteric process of blending himself and his Ashram into the full body of the Hierarchy. New Ashrams within the Hierarchy present much the same type of difficulty and problems as the entrance of a new disciple into an Ashram.

It might be said that that which holds the Hierarchy together, and that which produces a coherent Ashram, is the revelation, received in the light which that revelation produced and which leads to realization. Ashramic responsibility, constant service within the planetary Life and the subjection of Himself and of His Ashram to cyclic stimulation from Shamballa, plus certain mysterious processes which have naught to do with form or consciousness, but with the "sensitivity of the universe," occupy the interim between the fifth and the sixth initiations.

Initiation VI - Decision - Ray III

We have concluded our study of the rays and the five initiations, and there is little more that I can tell you about the remaining four initiations, except one or two points anent the sixth Initiation of Decision; this [654] initiation is governed by the third Ray of Active Intelligence.

The only reason that I am making a few comments upon the sixth initiation is that at this time a number of the Masters are taking this great step, and it has a most peculiar application to the time of the reappearance of the Christ.

At this Initiation of Decision the Master concerned decides usually which of the seven Paths He intends to tread; some Masters decide to remain until the close of our planetary Life, at which time the "last weary Pilgrim will have found his way home"; the Earth can then be prepared for a new Humanity. When this happens, our planet will no longer be known as the planet of sorrow and of pain, but will be distinguished by a quality of tranquility and by an aura of calm potency wherein the will of God (to be demonstrated in the next solar system) will be focused; this - in some mysterious way - will enable the solar Logos (not the planetary Logos) to bring the first great divine aspect, that of Will or Power, into expression throughout the solar system. Instead, therefore, of the statement which explains our present solar system, "God is Love," we shall have a dynamic expression of the will-to-good - an energy which will have been generated to some extent upon our Earth. This is the reward which the present Earth humanity will reap, and this is the consummation of the preordained task of our planetary Logos. He undertook, when He came into incarnation (through the medium of our little planet), to aid the work of the Solar Logos in expressing the will aspect of divinity.

It might be simpler if I said that the experiment of manifesting the first divine aspect, through the medium of form and through a humanity which has behind it the experience of five initiations (and is therefore expressing intelligent love), will be attempted. This statement is necessarily misleading, but it embodies a truth and indicates the unfinished story of solar expression.

Today, however, in taking this sixth initiation, all of the Masters so doing and under the suggestion of the Christ, [655] continue to make the decision which will control Their future progress on one of the seven Paths of the Higher Evolution, but - at the same time - all of Them are postponing this proposed progress upon Their chosen Path in order, for a brief time, to implement and aid the work of the Christ and help towards the externalization of the Hierarchy, through the medium of certain of its Ashrams; They will also form a protecting wall around the Christ, and act as liaison officers between Their great Leader and the Avatar of Synthesis.

Christ Himself took this initiation some time ago and passed through the Resurrection Initiation and the experience of the seventh initiation. These Masters can, in a mysterious fashion, implement the expression of the divine will-to-good on Earth. They will work in collaboration with Those Masters Whose Ashrams will be the first to be anchored on Earth in the sense of physical expression because, esoterically speaking, it is "the will of God which holds them there."

For ages, the potency of that which lies behind the fifth initiation - in the planetary sense and not in connection with the individual initiation with its revelation indicating first ray purpose - has held sway on Earth. Knowledge, the revealing of the Mysteries, the attainment of scientific achievement, producing the activity of the fifth plane of mind, has governed human thinking and advancement; God in nature (i.e., the planetary Logos in concrete and material expression) has been revealed, and this has culminated in that tremendous expression of power - the atomic bomb.

Now, the potency of that which lies behind the sixth initiation will take hold of the evolutionary process and will implement divine purpose. What that potency in truth may be, we cannot yet know; we do know, however, that it is closely related to the will-to-synthesis; this will enable the Christ to break down the barriers and the separating walls which selfish, self-centered and materialistic humanity (largely with the aid of the churches of the world, with their materialistic bias) has built, thereby letting in the [656] light of understanding and clearing the way for a fuller expression of the will of God.

I felt that the practical aspect of what the Masters are doing might prove useful to you. As to the remaining three initiations:

• Initiation VII - The Resurrection - Ray II
• Initiation VIII - The Great Transition - Rays IV, V, VI, VII (the four minor Rays)
• Initiation IX - The Refusal - Rays I, II, III (the three major Rays)

an analysis of them would prove to you that your comprehension has not yet been developed to the point where understanding is possible; it would therefore be a waste of time further to consider them. If you will reread the instructions earlier given upon the seven Paths (pages 395 - 427) you may glean some ideas about these later initiations; they would still, however, be impossible of application and practical usefulness at your particular stage of evolutionary development.

B.II.4. The Seven and the Nine Initiations of our Planetary Life

Now let us look at these initiations from the angle of the planetary Life, as far as in us lies. We have for long looked at them from the angle of humanity, the world disciple, as well as from the angle of the individual initiate, but it must not be forgotten that these initiations have also a planetary significance. From the standpoint of the Hierarchy and of Shamballa, they constitute the major factors which make possible the initiatory process on Earth among men.

This naturally means in relation to our planetary Logos. It must never be forgotten that it is the progress forward upon His chosen cosmic Path which makes the entire evolutionary process possible. Just as a Master Who has taken the fifth initiation has to project His own specific undertaking, through the medium of His Ashram, thus [657] proving His response to the will aspect of the planetary Logos and making Himself responsible for a phase of the planetary Plan, so a planetary Logos has likewise - under the Law of Synthesis - to carry forward a specific project in line with the will of the Solar Logos. This our planetary Logos, Sanat Kumara, is in process of doing, providing a definite culture wherein the germ of the solar will can be fostered in one of its aspects. Then - in conjunction with a similar project going on in two other planets, thus fostering two other aspects - the nucleus of the third solar system will be brought eventually into expression.

It is hard for the human mind to appreciate this basic synthesis and this relationship which exists throughout the entire solar system, with the planetary Logoi implementing divine purpose; men cannot yet grasp the relations within the personality aspect of our planetary Logos - the Earth and all that is therein. But that synthesis exists and is the relating factor between our Earth and the Sun, between the various planetary Logoi and the Solar Logos. All that we can do is to get a general picture of the planetary initiations, the seven initiations and the nine.

The only manner in which we can grasp even a small measure of planetary intention is through a study of the great civilizations which have been developed by humanity under impression from the highest spiritual sources on our planet; these have hitherto reached us via the Hierarchy. To these civilizations must be added the cultures which have evolved out of them. This obviously we cannot do, for it would require research into all the known and the unknown historical periods and cycles, plus a consideration of all the evidence - anthropological, architectural and sociological. To this approach to the intent and the purpose of the planetary Logos must be added a consideration of certain crises in the life of mankind which are in the nature of minor initiations to which the planetary Logos has subjected Himself, in the sense that He is the Initiator. Humanity, being the most highly developed evolutionary product upon our planet, reacts to these initiations; they [658] produce world events, and those stupendous points of crisis which (up to date) have worked destructively where the form aspect is concerned, but which have developed into those stages of sensitive unfoldment and progression when the work of the Builders (the second divine aspect) is added to and takes advantage of the liberty or release brought about by the Destroyer (the first aspect). There are always these two phases.

Through the past civilizations and their eventual catastrophic destruction, the planetary Logos has gradually prepared the ground or planetary field for the "planting of the germ of Will" - the nurturing of which is a future part of human destiny. The seven major phases of the unfoldment of the human race (of which our modern Aryan race is the fifth) are in the nature of seven planetary initiations or unfoldments; the word "initiation" is not to be understood in the exact sense in which human initiations are understood and interpreted. Men are initiated into phases of the divine consciousness through applied stimulation, whereby their vehicles evidence readiness; in connection with the planetary Logos, it is He Who initiated a new process in seven phases, preparatory to the expected divine planting. It must be borne in mind that the use of the word "planting" is purely symbolic. Each phase brings the original divine purpose or spiritual project nearer to fruition, and it is for this that Sanat Kumara came into manifestation or incarnation.

Each of these phases affects all the four kingdoms in nature, producing a higher stage of sensitivity in each successive one, but it is only in the fourth kingdom, the human, that there exists the possibility of a conscious registering and recognition of divine intent and a faint vibrating response to the will aspect of divinity. It has taken a millennia of years to bring this about. When you remember that it has only been in the present world crisis that the planetary Logos dared subject the forms in all the four kingdoms to the direct stimulation of His impelling will, you will realize the long, long patience which is perhaps [659] His most distinctive characteristic. Patience is a quality of will; it is of the nature of a strict adherence to a fixed intention. At each transition from one civilization to another (each being built upon the cultural seed of the preceding one, after a due flowering of the civilization) we could say of Sanat Kumara what has been said of the Christ, that "He sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied." So blind are men that when a civilization comes to an end, when the familiar mode of cultural expression is brought (as is usual) under the hand of the destroyer, humanity regards it as a major disaster and dreads and fears the ruin which usually surrounds such an event. But from the standpoint of the world of significances, progress is seen and the day of fulfilment draws much nearer.

Our modern civilization today (under the hammer of the destroyer aspect) is being changed; old things are passing away, having served their purpose. The new thing is not yet noted or appreciated, though already present. The work of preparation for the planting of the germ or seed of the divine will on Earth is nearly over; when the Hierarchy is externalized, and men as a whole recognize the position on Earth of the Christ and of His church "invisible" (the union of all souls made perfect, which is a true description of the Hierarchy), then - in a manner unforeseen by humanity - Shamballa will assume control, and from the Council Chamber of Sanat Kumara will issue forth the Sower of the seed; He will sow it within the ground prepared by humanity, and thus the future is assured, not for the planetary Logos alone, but for that greater Whole in which our planet plays its little part. That moment lies ahead in the civilization which shall be, and in the next great race which will emerge out of all our modern races and nations, the sowing will take place. The next race will be a fusion of the whole, and a worldwide recognition of the One Humanity is an essential prerequisite of the sowing. It is the creation of this universal recognition which will be one of the major tasks of the reappearing Christ and His attendant Hierarchy. When the "little wills of men" [660] are beginning to respond on a measurably large scale to the greater Will of the divine Life, then the major task of Shamballa will become possible; nevertheless, prior to that, humanity must respond to the light and the love which are the preparatory streams of spiritual energy and which are already pouring forth in response to human invocation.

In comprehending the planetary initiatory processes as instituted by the planetary Logos, men must relate them to the great crises which have occurred in all the races of men. Just as the initiate-disciple passes from one initiation to another through a process of continuously leaving behind those aspects of the form life which have been destroyed by him as useless, so humanity leaves behind civilization after civilization under the stimulus of the evolving purpose of Sanat Kumara Who initiates constantly that which is new and that which will better serve His will. Men are apt to think that the whole evolutionary process - including the development of the subhuman kingdoms in nature - is merely a mode whereby men can reach perfection and develop better forms through which to manifest that perfection. But in the last analysis, human progress is purely relative and incidental. The factor of supreme importance is the ability of the planetary Logos to carry out His primary intention and bring His "project" to a sound consummation, thus fulfiling the task given to Him by His great superior, the Solar Logos.

The eighth and the ninth initiations (of which neither you nor I can know practically anything) relate to the initiations of those methods and techniques whereby the "seed of will," which will later flower into the third solar system, can be nurtured and fostered and its growth promoted. This nurturing and fostering will be the task of a group of Masters (to be developed in the next major race) Who, at the Initiation of Decision, the sixth initiation, will dedicate Themselves, as a group, to the Path of Earth Service. They will specifically and with full enlightenment pledge Themselves to the promotion of Sanat Kumara's project. With this our present group of Masters are not specifically [661] concerned; Their task is the application of the evolutionary process with a view to the preparation of the field of the world for the future divine sowing.

More I cannot tell you. All I have done is to give you a hint as to the significance of the initiations, instituted by the Lord of the World. These are not, may I repeat, initiations to which the planetary Logos is Himself subjected. The world crises, which ever precede initiation on a planetary scale, are part of the preparatory work, tests and trials which make possible some cosmic initiation to which He has been and will eventually be subjected. With them we have no concern, nor would you understand if I were to be in any way explicit. The Law of Analogy and of Correspondences breaks down at a certain point upon the path of understanding, and something new and utterly different enters in. The Law of Analogy holds good when considering the microcosm within the life of the Macrocosm, but if you ventured outside that limited and manifested Life (if that were possible, which it is not) you would contact other Laws and other approaches to truth, existent on cosmic levels.

There is little more that I can tell you anent the planetary initiations or - as they might be more correctly called - the planetary initiatory processes. These affect our entire planetary life but are not essentially initiations as we understand the term, or as that word could be applied to Sanat Kumara. They are a definite part of cosmic process and particularly of solar evolution, but they are, as we have seen, only preparatory to that initiation for which our world was made - the manifestation on Earth of the highest of the three aspects: the Will of God, as it is universally called.

B.II.5. The Significance of the Initiations

We now start our consideration of the nine initiations, only this time we shall be occupied with the relationship and the detail connected with each initiation, [662] viewing them when possible from the angle of the Hierarchy and its effort on behalf of the evolutionary progress of the race, and not so much from the angle of the soul-infused personality of the disciple. It must be remembered from the start that no disciple can pass through the initiatory experience unless he is a soul-infused individual and is consciously aware on soul levels of the various happenings, possibilities, undertakings and implications.

In all the many books which I have given to the world I have taught much anent initiation; I have sought to bring a saner, more reasonable presentation of these great crises in the life of every disciple. It is wise to note that an initiation is in reality a crisis, a climaxing event, and is only truly brought about when the disciple has learnt patience, endurance and sagacity in emerging from the many preceding and less important crises. An initiation is a culminating episode, made possible because of the self-inspired discipline to which the disciple has forced himself to conform.

Much has been said in the occult books about the preparatory work to be done and the effort which such a task entails, plus the realization of the consequences initiated and expressing themselves through the individual aspirant. Little has been said anent the more important truth that initiation admits a man into some area or level of the divine consciousness - into a plane or rather a state of being hitherto regarded as sealed and closed.

I shall not touch upon the ray effects, because we have already considered them, and because each level of consciousness, each phase or revealed area of the "lighted Way" is open to souls on all the rays and to every type of initiate.

From the standpoint of the Hierarchy, it is not the individual initiate who is of importance, but the groups in every land who face initiation, and who fall into three categories:

1. Those in the group who have caught the vision, who accept the fact of the Hierarchy and of proffered [663] opportunity, but who are nevertheless quite unready for their next step and must be taught and prepared to take it. Yet they are "set apart for fulfilment," as it is esoterically called, and in spite of fluctuations and the many vicissitudes of the Path, they will eventually attain their goal.
2. Those in preparation for some specific initiation, particularly the first initiation to the third (inclusive). They have set their hands to the plow - another way of saying symbolically that they are toiling for and serving their fellowmen.
3. Those who have had the needed training and await the hour of initiation. As I have said, the first two initiations - those of the Birth and the Baptism - are not regarded by the Hierarchy as major initiations. They are in the nature of initiations of the threshold and are simply phases of, or preparatory to, the third initiation (as occult students call it), which is in reality the first major initiation. This must be most carefully held in mind, for these initiations indicate the process through which the personality can become soul-infused and the energy of the Spiritual Triad can make its presence felt.

For the sake of clarity, however, and because the Birth and Baptism initiations have been counted in with the true major initiations by the modern teachers of theosophy and similar occult bodies, and because people are therefore accustomed so to consider them, we will preserve the old method of counting them. The thought of soul-infusion must be held in mind - a soul-indwelling which culminates at the third initiation, and of monadic control which increasingly possesses the soul-infused personality. This higher possessiveness steadily increases from the time of the third initiation until the seventh initiation; after the seventh initiation a condition can be seen which is extra-planetary in nature and of which little can be known. This brings in - for the first time - a registration or recognition of cosmic consciousness.

Let us now consider these initiations, one by one. [664]

Initiation I - The Birth at Bethlehem

I have preserved the above Christian nomenclature because of its familiarity and because (symbolically speaking) it conveys an aspect of a major truth. Just as the birth of a child is an entrance into light, literally speaking, and the beginning of an entirely new way of life, so each successive initiation is in an exactly similar manner an entrance into light, involving the revelation of a different world to the one hitherto known, and the undergoing of entirely new experiences. If students would keep this symbology and this definition carefully in mind, they would arrive at a keener concept of the processes which lie ahead of them. This is particularly true in connection with this first initiation; the analogy holds good from the very dawn of history, where humanity is considered.

In ancient Lemuria, with the coming in of the mental idea and mechanism, the low grade animal life (which, to a certain extent, looked human but was definitely mindless, unknowing and unseeing) became suddenly aware of that which threw light upon its way. It meant little to the animal men of those days, but it came increasingly to have significance as millennia of years elapsed; civilizations came and went; races developed and disappeared. In Lemurian days, the indwelling light of perception (though it was a perception so remote from ours as to be practically inconceivable) revealed the physical world and that found upon it which the human being of that time would deem desirable. Later, in Atlantean times, that same indwelling light and unfolding light of the mind served to reveal the world of emotions, and in the later half of that period it revealed the more aesthetic values; the arts began to flourish; color and beauty were registered. In our more modern Aryan race, the light has revealed the world of thought and has brought us to a synthesis of the senses; these senses were developed in earlier cycles of human living. Each of these three races, in a mysterious manner, has a correspondence on a racial scale to the first three initiations. [665]

Today, as we enter the new era, the symbology of the fourth initiation, that of the Renunciation, has application; men face the necessity of renouncing the material values and of substituting the spiritual. The ferment of the initiation process goes on all the time, undermining the materialism of the race of men, revealing more and more of the reality underlying the phenomenal world (the only world recognized by the Lemurians) and - at the same time - providing that cultural field of experience in which those sons of men who are ready to do so can undergo the five initiations, technically understood. This is the factor of importance. This, therefore, is our starting point.

The historical process can (and will) reveal the gradual entrance of mankind into ever-expanding "lighted areas" of consciousness; into these areas the way of evolutionary unfoldment has led the race of men right up to the point where there are many, many thousands (and millions if you consider all of humanity - those in incarnation today and those that are out of incarnation upon the inner planes) who have been enabled to step out of the lighted field of the three worlds into another area where the light of the mind can be blended with the still greater light of the soul. They have (in past lives, even though recollection may be lacking) undergone the birth experience and initiation, and as a result of this, that which can reveal what the mind is unable to illumine is now developing and functioning within them. The "light of life" is now available, in a sense far more literally true than you can at this time perceive, and each successive initiation will see this fact more clearly demonstrated. The Birth Initiation lies behind in the experience of many, and this is factually proved by the lives of those who are consciously and willingly oriented towards the light, who see a wider world than that of their own selfish interests, who are sensitive to the Christ life and to the spiritual consciousness in their fellowmen and who see an horizon and vistas of contact unperceived by the average man; they realize a possible spiritual achievement, unknown and undesired by those whose [666] lives are conditioned entirely by either the emotions or the lower concrete mind. At this stage of unfoldment they have a sense of conscious dualism, knowing the fact of the existence of that "something other" than the phenomenal, emotional and mental self.

The first initiation might be regarded as the goal and the reward of the mystical experience; it is fundamentally not an occult experience in the true sense of the term, for it is seldom accurately realized or consciously prepared for, as is the case of the later initiations, and this is why the first two initiations are not considered major initiations. In the mystical realization there is naturally and normally an emphasis upon dualism, but in the new area of unfoldment - visioned and later to be struggled for and attained, initiation by initiation - unity is achieved and dualism disappears. Students should therefore have in mind the following definite occult concept: The mystical Way leads to the first initiation. Having achieved its purpose, it is then renounced, and the "lighted Way" of occultism is then followed, leading to the lighted areas of the higher states of consciousness.

Thus both ways are seen to be essential; the mystical way is for the majority at this time, and an increasingly large number of mystics will emerge out of the modern masses of men; paralleling this, the occult way is attracting more and more of the world intelligentsia. Its experience is not basically religious, as the orthodox churchman understands the word. The way of science is as deeply needed by mankind as is the way of religion, for "God" is found equally on both ways. The scientific way leads the aspirant into the world of energies and forces, which is the true world of occult endeavor, revealing the Universal Mind and the workings of that great Intelligence which created the manifested universe. The "new man" who has come to birth at the first initiation must and will tread the occult or scientific way, which inevitably leads him out of the world of mysticism into the scientific and assured perception of God as life or energy. [667]

The first initiation marks the beginning of a totally new life and mode of living; it marks the commencement of a new manner of thinking and of conscious perception. The life of the personality in the three worlds has for aeons nurtured the germ of this new life and fostered the tiny spark of light within the relative darkness of the lower nature. This process is now being brought to a close, though it is not at this stage entirely discontinued, for the "new man" has to learn to walk, to talk, and to create; the consciousness is now, however, being focused elsewhere. This leads to much pain and suffering until the definite choice is made, a new dedication to service is vouchsafed, and the initiate is ready to undergo the Baptism Initiation.

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 polarization 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.

The first initiation should be regarded as instituting a new attitude towards relationships. This is not yet the case. The relationships hitherto recognized, speaking generally, [668] have been those karmically, physically and emotionally instituted; they are largely objective and predominantly concern the phenomenal plane with its contacts, duties, responsibilities and obligations. The new relationships however, to be increasingly recognized, are subjective and may have but little phenomenal indication. They embrace the recognition of those who must be served; they involve the expansion of the individual consciousness into a growing group awareness; they lead eventually to an eager response to hierarchical quality and to the magnetic pull of the Ashram. Such a development in the recognition of relationships leads finally to a recognition of the Presence of the Christ and to relationship with Him. With the recognition of and the relationship to the planetary Logos we need not at this point deal. All these relationships begin, in their truest connotation and with a correctly realized objective, at the birth of the "new man." To this the Christ referred when He said: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." I am here using the Christian terminology but prefer to speak of the "new man" rather than the strictly Christian phrase "the birth of the Christ Child in the heart." It is by means of the touchstone of relationships that world servers can contact the initiates and the accepted disciples in the world, and can discover those aspirants who can be helped and trained.

Let me bring another point to your attention. In the phenomenal world of the average human being who has not yet passed through the initiatory experience of the rebirth, the emphasis has ever been and is today upon the dual relationship of the sexes and to this our novels, plays, movies and affairs of all men bear testimony. Creativity expresses itself mainly through the propagation of the race, brought about through the relation of male and female, or of the positive and negative poles in the human family. This is right and good and part of the divine Plan. Even though men have prostituted their capacities and debased their relationships, the basic plan is divine and ideal. After the first initiation, the entire sex relationship shifts [669] gradually and steadily into its proper place as simply a natural phase of existence in the three worlds and as one of the normal and correct appetites, but the emphasis changes. The higher experience and correspondence, that of which physical sex is only the symbol, becomes apparent. Instead of male and female, there emerges the magnetic relationship between the now negative personality and the positive soul, with consequent creativity upon the higher planes. Of this relationship the head center and the center between the eyebrows (the ajna center) are the agents and eventually - through the medium of the pituitary body and the pineal gland - they condition the personality, rendering it soul-infused.

I have given you so much information anent initiation and the rays and centers in my many books that there is no need for me to repeat it here; there is, however, great need for you to collect and tabulate the scattered information so that you can register it as a whole. Many who read these instructions and who study the books I have written are in process of preparation for one or other of the initiations, and the entire theme should therefore be of major interest to you. You should decide (at least tentatively) which initiation lies ahead of you and then discover all you possibly can about it and its prerequisites, endeavoring to make practical application of the imparted information; either that which I give to you is true or it is not; if true, it is vital to your future progress and you should aim at achieving a measure of real understanding.

You have been taught that the activity or the inactivity of the centers conditions the personality, working through the endocrine system; the energies which the centers channel and the forces which they generate can be controlled and directed by the soul, by the spiritual man. You have likewise been told that the energy of the sacral center (the center most implicated and active at the time of the first initiation) has to be transmuted and raised to the throat center, thereby transforming the physical creative act into the creative process of producing the good, [670] the beautiful and the true. This is the ABC of your fundamental knowledge: the transmutation of sex. In that transmutative process men have greatly erred and have approached the subject from two angles:

1. They have sought to stamp out natural desire and have endeavored to emphasize an enforced celibacy; they have thus frequently warped the nature and subjected the "natural man" to rules and regulations which were not of divine intent.
2. They have tried - at the other extreme - to exhaust normal sexual desire by promiscuity, license and perversions, damaging themselves and laying up the basis for trouble for many incarnations ahead.

True transmutation is in reality the achieving of a correct sense of proportion in relation to any phase of human life, and for the race of men today has particular reference to the sacral center and the energies which bring it into activity. When a proper recognition of the place the sex life should play in the daily life is paralleled by the concentration of thought anent the throat center, that center becomes automatically magnetic and attracts the forces of the sacral center upward through the spine into "the place of creative building"; the normal sex life is then regulated and not atrophied, and is relegated to its rightful place as one of the usual faculties or appetites with which man is endowed; it is brought under control through the lack of directed interest and is subordinated to the law of the land as regards its relation to its opposite pole - either negative and feminine or masculine and positive. To the aspirant it becomes mainly the agent for the creation of the vehicles needed for reincarnating souls. Thus by force of example, by the avoiding of all extremes, by the dedication of the bodily energies to the higher uses, and by the acceptance of the law of the land in any given country and at any given time, the present disorder and the current misuse of the sex principle will give way to orderly living and to the right use of this major bodily function.

This regulated physical life comes about when the [671] personality is sufficiently integrated and coordinated and the ajna center (the center between the eyebrows) is active and is coming under the control of the soul. This has an immediate effect - automatically induced - upon the gland associated with this center; it becomes a balanced part of the general endocrine system and past imbalance is avoided. Simultaneously, the head center becomes active as a result of the aspirant's mental perception, meditation and service; this brings the allied gland, the pineal gland, into action. All this is again only the ABC of occultism.

What is oft omitted from normal consideration is the fact that the increasing activity of these two "points of light within the head" is basically related to what is occurring in the sacral and throat centers, as the transmutative process proceeds and the energies of the sacral center are gathered up into the throat center - without, however, withdrawing all the energy from the lower center; thus its normal activity is properly preserved. The two centers in the head then become correspondingly active; the negative and the positive elements affect each other, and the light in the head shines forth; a line of light, permitting free interplay, is established between the ajna center and the head center, and therefore between the pituitary body and the pineal gland. When this line of light is present and there is an unobstructed relation between the two centers and the two glands, then the first initiation becomes possible. When this takes place, it must not be inferred that the task of transmutation going on between the lower and the higher centers and the relationship between the two head centers is fully and finally completed and established. The line of light is still tenuous and unstable, but it is in existence. It is the energy let loose at the first initiation and distributed into the sacral and the throat centers (via the slowly awakening head center) which brings the transmutation process to a successful conclusion and stabilizes the relationship within the head. This process may take several lives of steadily intensifying effort on the part of the initiate-disciple. [672]

Thus the work of magical reformation starts, and it is here that the influence of the seventh ray (which governs the first initiation) enters in; one of the functions of this ray is to bring together soul and body, the higher and the lower, life and form, spirit and matter. This is the creative task confronting the disciple who is engaged in lifting the energies of the sacral center to the throat center and of establishing a right relation between the personality and the soul. Just as the antahkarana has to be constructed and established as a bridge of light between the Spiritual Triad and the soul-infused personality, so a similar bridge or correspondence is established between the soul and the personality, and, in connection with the mechanism of the disciple, between the two head centers and the two glands within the head.

When that line of light has related the higher spiritual aspects and the lower, and when the sacral center and the throat center are in true related alignment, the initiate-disciple becomes a creative worker under the divine Plan and a "magical exponent" of the divine building work; he is then a constructive force, wielding energy consciously on the physical plane. He creates forms as expressions of reality. This is the true work of magic.

You can see, therefore, that in the creative work three energies are brought into a related activity:

1. The energy concentrated in the ajna center and which is indicative of the personality life.
2. The energy concentrated in the head center as a result of soul activity.
3. The energy of the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Order or Magic, making possible true creative activity under the divine Plan.

There is nothing spectacular to be told anent the first initiation; the initiate-disciple still works in the dimly lit "cave of the spiritual birth"; he has to continue his struggle to reveal divinity, primarily on the physical plane - symbolized for us in the word "Bethlehem" which means the "house of bread"; he has to learn the dual function of [673] "lifting up the lower energies into the light" and - at the same time - of "bringing down the higher energies into bodily expression." Thus he becomes a white magician.

At this initiation he sees, for the first time, what are the major energies which he must bring into expression, and this vision is summed up for him in the Old Commentary in the following words:

"When the Rod of Initiation descends and touches the lower part of the spine, there is a lifting up; when the eyes are opened in the light, that which must be lowered into form is now perceived. The vision is acknowledged. The burden of the future is assumed. The cave is lighted up and the new man issues forth."

That this may be true of all of you who read these words is the prayer and the wish of your friend and counselor.

Initiation II - The Baptism in Jordan

The initiation which we are now to study is perhaps one of the most important, because it concerns that aspect of the personality which gives the most difficulty to everybody: the emotional or astral body. Today the mass of men are swept by the emotions and by a sensitive response to circumstance; they are not swept usually by an intelligent reaction to life as it is. The normal and usually violent reaction serves only to increase the confusion and the attending difficulties, producing vortices of uncontrolled energies, glamor and delusion. Even though it may at the same time produce a saving aspect in some cases, the violence of the astral testing and the potency of the astral temptation (as it might well be called) leads to a greatly increased sphere of suffering. To this must be added the materialistic bias of the many presented solutions, bringing in the force of the world maya and thus greatly complicating the problem.

Distressing as all this may be, and significant of the end of this age and the cessation of the Atlantean vibration and quality which has carried over so potently into [674] this Aryan cycle, it is however indicative of the attainment of a definitely racial opportunity. Humanity - on a relatively large scale - faces the second initiation, or the Baptism Initiation.

The concept of baptism is ever associated with that of purification. Water has ever been the symbol of that which purifies; it is also the symbol of the astral plane, with its instability, its storms, its tranquillities, its overwhelming emotional reactions and its pliability, which makes it such a good agent for the deceptive thought-forming faculties of the unregenerate man. It reacts to every impulse, every desire and every possible magnetic "pull" coming from the material or substantial form side of nature. In its cycles of tranquility it reflects equally the good as well as the bad; it is the agent, therefore, of deception when manipulated by the Black Lodge, or of aspirational reaction when influenced by the great White Lodge, the spiritual Hierarchy of our planet. It is the battleground between the pairs of opposites; the problem is complicated by the fact that men have to learn to recognize these opposites before right choice, leading to spiritual victory, is theirs.

Today, desire for peace at any price, for adequate food, warmth and housing, for the restoration of stability and security and for the cessation of anxiety controls the mass of human reactions and makes the astral plane loom so large in men's affairs and in world decisions. This is so dominantly so that the realization which the mind could reveal and of which the intelligentsia are the custodians is lost to sight and has small influence.

At the third initiation the control of the soul-illumined mind is finally established, and the soul itself assumes the dominant position and not the phenomenal form. All the limits of the form nature are then transcended. It is the vision of this transcendence which is communicated at the time of the second initiation under the symbolism of a positively applied purification.

I am not here emphasizing the Biblical account of that purificatory process. That summarized symbolically [675] the watery nature of the astral plane and the "washing by water" of the initiate. It expressed the purely Atlantean form of the initiatory process, giving us the concept of a descent into water and of ascent out of water in response to a Word of Power from on high. The Aryan approach to this same initiation has not yet been fully understood.

This second initiation - as now undergone - is to some extent one of the most difficult. It involves purification, but it is purification by fire, symbolically understood. The occult "application of fire to water" produces certain most serious and devastating results. The water, under the action of fire, "is resolved into steam and the initiate is immersed in the fogs and miasmas, the glamors and the mists" thus caused. Out of this fog and out of the glamors, the initiate must emerge; out of the present fog of human affairs humanity will also emerge eventually. The success of the individual initiate is the guarantee of the racial destiny. The complications, produced by water in conjunction with fire in these Aryan days, are far greater than those produced entirely by water in Atlantean times; this age is kama-manasic and not simply kamic or strictly astral. Remember therefore as you read these words that I am speaking symbolically. The fire of mind today has to be reckoned with in conjunction with the water of desire, and it is owing to this that much of humanity's problem develops. It is because of this that the second initiation has become one of the most difficult which the modern disciple has to take.

The result, however, of the modern initiatory process is of a much higher order. This statement is related to the emerging fact that the Hierarchy and its personnel in process of assembling will be of a much higher order than that previously responsible for human guidance. A more advanced humanity demands a more advanced Hierarchy and hierarchical supervision; this has ever been the case. The evolutionary process covers all that is. Even Sanat Kumara is learning and advancing from a relative imperfection to perfection.

This baptism of fire (to which reference is made in [676] the Western Scriptures) carries with it inevitably the connotation of pain, and this to an extent hitherto unknown. Even a casual glance at world affairs will reveal the truth of this statement.

What, therefore, is really happening, and what are the major facts involved? Much will depend upon my answer and upon your interpretation of it. I would ask you consequently to give careful consideration to my reply to these two questions.

Under the influence of the Piscean cycle which is now in process of termination, the sixth Ray of Idealism or Devotion was predominantly active. This is the ray of one-pointed determination and - from one angle - it is the ray of blind procedure. The individual, the group or humanity, sees only one aspect of reality at any one time, and (because of man's present point in the evolutionary process) usually the least desirable aspect. All else is sealed to them; they vision only one picture; their horizon is limited to only one point of the compass (speaking esoterically). To the mass of humanity, the aspect of reality which was visioned and for which men lived and died was the material world, material comfort, material possessions and material enterprises; to this the labor movement today and the tendencies already apparent in the United Nations bear incontrovertible testimony. To a much smaller group of human beings the world of the intelligence appears paramount, and the concrete mind is the desired ruler or controlling factor. All, therefore, remains within the area of material control and interest.

The solar plexus center is consequently the dominant factor, because - even in the case of the intelligentsia - it is desire for material well-being, for territorial possessions and for planned governmental and economic material decisions which control and motivate the individual, the group or the nation. These are not necessarily wrong, but (under the present emotional-desire concept) they are placed in the foremost position and are regarded as causal in their nature; nevertheless they are fundamentally secondary [677] in their nature, and are effectual in their essential nature, placing the emphasis upon the word "effect." Humanity, even in its advanced brackets, is not yet able to think on causal levels.

What is the basic goal of the initiate who has taken the second initiation? I would ask you to transit in consciousness from the concept that the process of initiation is a consummation of effort, to the higher and better concept that it is initiatory in effect and marks a beginning and not a consummation. What, therefore, lies ahead of the initiate who has entered the purificatory water, or rather, fire? To what is he pledged? What is to happen within "the area of livingness" (I want you to familiarize yourselves with that phrase) and what results will take place within the mechanism with which he approaches the place of initiation? These are the factors of importance, and these are the aspects of the life process which should condition him. At the close of the initiatory process certain energies and divine aspects should be recognized by him as now playing a part in his thinking and his purposes - energies which heretofore (even if present) were quiescent and not controlling.

Before him lies the third Initiation of the Transfiguration. Facing him is a great transition from an emotional aspirational focus to an intelligent, thinking focus. He has, theoretically at least, cast off the control of the astral body and nature; much still remains to be done; old desires, ancient astral reactions and habitual emotions are still powerful, but he has developed a new attitude to them and a new perspective to the astral body. Water, fire, steam, glamor, delusion, misinterpretation and emotional continuity still mean something specific and undesirable to him. He is now negative to their appeal and positive to the higher demanding focus. That which he now loves and longs for, desires and plans for, lies in another and higher dimension. He has, through his willingness to pass through the second initiation, struck the first blow at his innate selfishness and has demonstrated his determination to think [678] in wider and more inclusive terms. The group begins to mean more to him than himself.

What has happened, technically speaking? The energies of the solar plexus center are being transferred from the major clearing house below the diaphragm to the heart center - one of the three major centers into which all the lower energies must transfer. At the first initiation he was granted a vision of a higher creativity and the energy of the sacral center began its slow ascent to the throat center. At the second initiation, he is granted a vision of a higher focus, and his place in the larger whole begins slowly to reveal itself. A new creativity and a new focus become his immediate goals, and for him life can never again be the same. The old physical attitudes and desires may still at times assume control; selfishness may continue to play a potent part in his life expression, but - underlying these and subordinating them - will be found a deep dissatisfaction about things as they are and an agonizing realization of failure. It is at this point that the disciple begins to learn the uses of failure and to know certain fundamental distinctions between that which is natural and objective and that which is supernatural and subjective.

Do these ideas make the concept of initiation more useful to you and more practical? Any initiation which does not find interpretation in daily reactions is of small service and basically unreal. It is the unreality of its presentation which has led to the rejection of the Theosophical Society as an agent of the Hierarchy at this time. Earlier and prior to its ridiculous emphasis upon initiation and initiates, and prior to its recognition of the probationary disciples as full initiates, the Society did good work. It however failed to recognize mediocrity and to realize that no one "takes" initiation and passes through these crises without a previous demonstration of a wide usefulness and of a trained intelligent capacity. This may not be the case where the first initiation is concerned, but where the second initiation is involved there must ever be the background of a useful dedicated life and an expressed determination [679] to enter the field of world service. There must also be humility and a voiced realization of the divinity in all men. To these requirements, the so-called initiate of the Theosophical Society (with the exception of Mrs. Besant) did not conform. I would not call attention to their prideful demonstration, were it not that the same claims are being made and the same delusions presented to the public.

The problem of freedom from the limitations of matter should now be considered and the entire theme be rendered practical.

There is perhaps an ultimate opinion that it is the realm of the emotions and the susceptibility to emotional reactions which constitute the major human limitation - both from the individual angle and also from that of the national angle. It is everywhere realized that the demagogue, for instance, who sways public opinion, is one who also and emphatically plays on human emotions as well as upon human selfishness. As the race progresses towards mental expression, this distorting influence will become increasingly less important, and once the masses (composed of the millions of so-called "men in the street") begin definitely to think, the power of the demagogic approach will have disappeared. The major battle in the world today is that of the freedom of the average citizen to think for himself and to come to his own decisions and conclusions. It is here that the major quarrel between the Great White Lodge and the Black Lodge is to be found. It is a battle in which humanity itself is the decisive factor, and for this reason the Black Lodge is working through the group which is controlling the destiny of Russia and also through the Zionist movement. The leaders of the U.S.S.R. are working intelligently and potently against human freedom and particularly against freedom of thought. Communism per se has no such objective; it is the totalitarian policies of the national rulers which are so disastrous, plus their ambition and their hatred of true freedom. Zionism today stands for aggression and for the use of force, and the keynote is permission to take what you want [680] irrespective of other people or of their inalienable rights. These points of view are against the position of the spiritual leaders of humanity, and therefore the leaders of the Zionist movement, and the group of men who direct and control the policies of Russia, are against the policies of the spiritual Hierarchy and are contrary to the lasting good of mankind.

The freedom of the human spirit, the freedom to think, govern and worship as innate, instinctual human desire may dictate, under the influence of the evolutionary process, the liberty to decide on the required form of government or of religion - these are the rightful prerogatives of mankind. Any group of men or any form of government which fails to recognize this inherent right runs counter to the principle which governs the Great White Lodge. The menace to world freedom today lies in the known policies of the rulers of the U.S.S.R. and in the devious and lying machinations of the Zionists. In neither group is there any true spiritual potency, and both are doomed to failure even though they may succeed from the angle of material gain; from the spiritual angle, they are doomed. The leaders of the Russian enterprise against the freedom of the individual are doomed, because inherently man is free and fundamentally divine, and it is assured (from the long range vision) that masses of men in Russia and in the communistically inclined "satellite states" will inevitably react divinely and potently. The true communistic platform is sound; it is brotherhood in action and it does not - in its original platform - run counter to the spirit of Christ. The imposition of intellectual and formal communism by a group of ambitious and sometimes evil men is not sound; it does not adhere to the true communistic platform, but is based on personal ambitions, love of power and on interpretations of the writings of Lenin and Marx which are also personal and run counter to the meaning of these two men, just as the theologians of the Church interpret the words of Christ in a fashion which has no relation to His original intention. The rulers of Russia are not truly working for the good of the people, any more [681] than academic Zionism is working and carrying out its projects for any humanitarian reasons. But the people hold the ultimate triumph in their hands, for the heart of the people in all nations is basically sound, fundamentally good and God-inclined. This the rulers of the communistic regime forget.

The leaders of the Zionist movement of aggression constitute a real danger to world peace and human development and their activities have been endorsed by the expediency policy of the U.S.A. and, in a secondary degree, by Great Britain, under the influence of the U.S.A. It is the Zionists who have defied the United Nations, lowered its prestige and made its position both negative and negligible to the world. It is the Zionists who have perpetrated the major act of aggression since the formation of the United Nations, and who were clever enough to gain the endorsement of the United Nations, turning the original "recommendation" of the United Nations into an order. The rule of force, of aggression and of territorial conquest by force of arms is demonstrated today by the Zionists in Palestine, as well as the demonstration of the power of money to purchase governments. These activities run counter to all the plans of the spiritual Hierarchy and mark a point of triumph of the forces of evil. I am emphasizing the activities of these two countries because through the leaders of these groups of aggressive men the forces of evil - dammed back temporarily by the defeat of the evil group which Hitler gathered around him - have again organized their attack on the spiritual development of humanity.

The world today still remains divided into people of evil intention and great power and their victims, plus the negative reactions of the remaining nations. There is no nation in the United Nations which has attempted to swing the tide of evil by ranging itself and other nations on the side of freedom. There are only groups of unillumined men who seek to control national destinies. There is still emotional reaction to situations and the emotional exploitation of individuals and nations by those who are in [682] no way emotional but who are mentally convinced that certain lines of activity must be followed, leading to their own individual good but which - in the long run - are not good for the peoples involved.

We therefore come back to the problems of the astral plane, of the emotional level of consciousness, and to the second initiation; this initiation releases men from emotional control and enables them to shift their consciousness on to mental levels, and from that higher point of focus to control their normal and well developed emotional attitudes.

If you will turn back to page 340, you will find that the three keynotes are given for this second initiation and for its technique. I would like to call your attention to them because they present those keynotes which give us the clue to the world problems and indicate at the same time the solution and the way out of the present impasse. These three words are: Dedication. Glamor. Devotion.

It is the dedication of the aspirant which invokes the fire. You have here a statement of major importance. The aspirant upon the higher levels of the astral plane is swept by the "fire of dedication." This immediately focuses his will as it demonstrates on the mental plane, and this focusing in due time starts the serious undertaking of the shifting of his consciousness on to mental levels. Then immediately the "fire" works, and the first reaction (as I have earlier pointed out) is the "meeting of fire and water," and consequently the production of fog, mist, of glamor and illusion. All of these four words must be understood symbolically. The glamors thus induced are dependent upon the ray and the point of evolution of the individual and the nation. It is essential that you learn to think in the widest possible terms. With these I shall not deal. Individuals are rapidly discovering the nature of their glamors, once their "spiritual intention" is determined; also national glamor is well recognized by onlookers, though seldom yet by the nations involved. The factor which leads to the dissipation of glamor is devotion - devotion to an [683] individual, to a Master (as taught by the Theosophical Society) or to some idealistic project. It is finally an unlimited devotion to the Way, to the treading of the Path at any cost, and to the unswerving attachment to service - as constituting the major technique of the Path.

Dedication, resulting in glamor, which is dissipated by devotion - these are the keynotes of the second initiation. Forget not that nationalism is the result of dedication to a particular national set-up and produces the glamors which lead to world difficulty.

These three aspects of evolutionary unfoldment must be recognized by every aspirant; their existence determines his place upon the Path, the initiation for which he is being prepared and the nature of his service for humanity.

And what will be the result of the combination in one's life of these three factors? Primarily two things:

1. The solar plexus center will be brought, first of all, into a condition of almost violent and compelling activity. This activity is induced by dedication and produces glamor inevitably.
2. The violent energies of the solar plexus center will eventually be controlled by the quality of devotion. It is this quality which transforms the solar plexus center into the great clearing house for all emotional reactions and for all glamors, and makes it temporarily a cause of disaster, of conflict, of pain and of distress.

As a result of both of these, a great transforming agency is set in motion by the quality of devotion, and the solar plexus center becomes not only a clearing house but the main factor in lifting both physical and emotional active energies from below the diaphragm into the heart center. This constitutes a long process which the aspirant is forced to face in the interim between initiations. We are told (and it is factually true) that the longest period between initiations is that to be found between the first and the second initiations. This is a truth which must be faced, but it should also be remembered that it is by no means the hardest period. The hardest period for the sensitive, feeling [684] aspirant is to be found between the second and the third initiations.

It is a period of intense suffering, of the penalty of applying factors of glamor and illusion, of pronounced involvement in situations which, for a long time, remain unclarified, and of a steady moving forward as best the beleaguered aspirant can - under the influence of right direction and spiritual determination. This he has usually to do in the dark, working under the action of the logical and understanding mind, but seldom under the influence of inspiration. Nevertheless, the good work goes on. The emotions are brought under control, and necessarily the factor of the mind assumes an increasingly right importance. Light - flickering and as yet uncertain and unpredictable - pours occasionally in from the soul, via the mind, adding frequently to the complications but producing eventually the needed control which will lead to and result in freedom.

Ponder on these things. Freedom is the keynote of the individual who is facing the second initiation and its aftermath - preparation for the third initiation. Freedom is the keynote for the world disciple today, and it is freedom to live, freedom to think and freedom to know and plan, which humanity demands at this time.

The initiation (that of the Transfiguration) which we are next to study is one of the most important of them all. From one particular angle, it is peculiarly related to the fifth Initiation of Revelation and to the seventh Initiation of Resurrection. All three are concerned with freedom: freedom from the personality, freedom from blindness, or freedom from all the seven planes of our planetary existence - the planes which are sometimes referred to as the planes of human and superhuman evolution. You will have noted that lately I have been emphasizing an aspect of initiation hitherto little emphasized - the aspect of freedom. The Path of Initiation has at times been called the Path of Liberation, and it is to this essential aspect of the initiatory process that I am seeking to call your attention. I have [685] pointed out continuously that initiation is not really the curious mixture of self-satisfied attainment, ceremonial, and hierarchical recognition as portrayed by the major occult groups. It is far more a process of excessively hard work, during which process the initiate becomes what he is. This may entail hierarchical recognition, but not in the form usually pictured. The initiate finds himself in the company of those who have preceded him, and he is not rejected but is seen and noted and then put to work.

It is also a graded series of liberations, resulting in the attainment of increased freedom from that which lies behind in his experience; this carries with it the permission (soul enjoined or given) to proceed further on the Way. These freedoms are the result of Detachment, Dispassion, and Discrimination. At the same time Discipline enforces and makes possible the hard work required to pass the grade. All these four techniques (for that is what they are) are preceded by a series of disillusionments which, when realized and comprehended, leave the aspirant no choice but to move forward into greater light.

I would like to have you study initiation from the angle of liberation, looking upon it as a process of strenuously attained freedoms. This basic aspect of initiation - when realized by the initiate - ties his experience into a firm relation with that of the whole of humanity, whose fundamental struggle is the attainment of that freedom "whereby the soul and its powers can unfold and all men be free because of an individually attained freedom."

If you will study the nine initiations and look upon them from this angle, you will see how each does most definitely mark a point of attainment, and therefore the entire subject of initiation takes on a new beauty and appears more worthy of the pain and struggle of attainment. Let me give you an indication (no more than that) of what I mean.

• Initiation I. - Birth. Freedom from the control of the physical body and its appetites.
• Initiation II. - Baptism. Freedom from the control of [686] the emotional nature and the selfish sensitivity of the lower self.
• Initiation III. - Transfiguration. Freedom from the ancient authority of the threefold personality, marking a climaxing moment in the history of all initiates.
• Initiation IV. - Renunciation. Freedom from all self-interest, and the renouncing of the personal life in the interest of a larger whole. Even soul-consciousness ceases to be of importance and a more universal awareness, and one closer to the divine Mind, takes its place.
• Initiation V. - Revelation. Freedom from blindness - a liberation which enables the initiate to see a new vision. This vision concerns the Reality lying beyond any hitherto sensed or known.
• Initiation VI. - Decision. Freedom of choice. I have dealt with these choices in an earlier part of this book.
• Initiation VII. - Resurrection. Freedom from the hold of the phenomenal life of the seven planes of our planetary Life. It is in reality a "lifting out of or above" the cosmic physical plane.
• Initiation VIII. - Transition. Freedom from the reaction of consciousness (as that word is understood by you) and a liberation into a state of awareness, a form of conscious recognition which has no relation to consciousness, as you understand that term. It might be regarded as complete freedom from sensitivity, yet with a full flowering of that quality to which we give the inadequate name "compassion." More I cannot say. [687]
• Initiation IX. - Refusal. Freedom from all possible forms of enticement, particularly with reference to the higher planes. It must constantly be remembered (and hence my constant reiteration) that our seven planes are the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane.

This goal of freedom is in reality the main incentive to tread the Path of Return. One of the most spiritually exciting things taking place in the world today is the use, in every country, of the word Freedom; it was that great disciple, F. D. Roosevelt, who "anchored" the word in a new and more universal sense. It now has a fuller and deeper meaning to humanity.

Initiation III - The Transfiguration

There is no need for me to enter into the symbolic details anent this initiation. The whole theme is adequately dealt with in a book written by A.A.B. entitled From Bethlehem to Calvary - a book to which I gave my approval and endorsement as presenting the subject of the five initiations in a form suitable for the Christian West. I would like to recall to you the fact that this third initiation is in reality the first of the major initiations and is so regarded by the emanating Source of our planetary Logos, Sanat Kumara, and in the two great planetary centers, Shamballa and the Hierarchy. I refer to that stupendous Source of our entire planetary life, the sun Sirius, and to the Lodge of Divine Beings Who work from this heavenly Center.

The first two initiations - regarded simply as initiations of the threshold - are experiences which have prepared the body of the initiate for the reception of the terrific voltage of this third initiation. This voltage is passed through the body of the initiate under the direction of the planetary Logos, before Whom the initiate stands for the first time. The Rod of Initiation is used as the transferring agent. The second initiation freed the initiate from the astral [688] level of consciousness, the astral plane - the plane of glamor, of illusion and of distortion. This was an essential experience because the initiate (standing before the One Initiator for the first time at the third initiation) must be freed from any magnetic or attractive "pull" emanating from the personality.

The mechanism of the personality must be so purified and so insensitive to the material attractions of the three worlds that there is henceforth nothing in the initiate which could offset the divine initiatory activity. The physical appetites are subdued and relegated to their rightful place; the desire nature is controlled and purified; the mind is responsive primarily to ideas, intuitions and impulses coming from the soul, and begins its true task as an interpreter of divine truth and a transmitter of ashramic intention.

You will note, therefore, how this third initiation is a climaxing point and also inaugurates a new cycle of activity leading to the seventh Initiation of Resurrection. I would call your attention to the fact that the third, fifth and seventh initiations are under the control of the fifth, first and second rays. These, as you might expect, will constitute the emanating energies transmitted through the application of the Rod of Initiation.

• Initiation III. The fifth Ray of Science. This inflowing energy produces its major effects upon the mind, or upon manas, the fifth principle; it enables the initiate to use the mind as its major instrument in the work to be done, prior to passing through the fourth and fifth initiations.
• Initiation V. The first Ray of Will or Power. At this initiation the disciple appreciates for the first time the significance of the will and uses it to relate the head center and the center at the base of the spine, thus completing the integration started at the third initiation.
• Initiation VII. The second Ray of Love-Wisdom is here active, as the major planetary ray. The application of the Rod of Initiation by the Initiator (working this time from the highest plane, the logoic plane) produces in a [689] mysterious way an effect on the totality of humanity and - to a lesser extent - upon the allied kingdoms. The effect is similar to that produced in the individual at the fifth initiation, wherein the head center and the center at the base of the spine became closely en rapport - through the use of the will.

Aspirants and disciples should remember that after the third initiation, the effects of the initiation which they may be undergoing are not confined simply to the individual initiate, but that henceforth at all the later initiations he becomes the transmitter of the energy which will pour through him with increasing potency at each application of the Rod. He acts primarily as an agent for the transmission, for the stepping down and for the consequent safe distribution of energy to the masses. Each time a disciple achieves an initiation and stands before the Initiator, he becomes simply an instrument whereby the planetary Logos can reach humanity and bring to men fresh life and energy. The work done prior to and at the third initiation is purely preparatory to this type of service required from an "energy transmitter." That is why, at the seventh initiation, the dominating ray of our planet - the second Ray of Love-Wisdom - is employed. There is no energy upon our planet of equal potency, and no expression of it has so pure and constructive a quality as that to which the initiate is subjected at the seventh initiation. This seventh initiatory climax marks another culminating point in the career of the initiate, and indicates his entrance into an entirely different cycle of experience.

You will have noted, if you are comparing these instructions with the outline given by me on page 340, that in this third initiation it is the ajna center (the center between the eyebrows) which is stimulated. This is a fact of great interest, because it is at this initiation that the disciple begins consciously and creatively to direct the energies being made available to him, doing so via the ajna center and directed towards humanity as a whole. These energies are: [690]

1. The energy of his own soul. This has a purely group effect and though working through his personality, is consciously directed outward into the world - after the transforming process brought about as the energy received permeates his threefold mechanism.
2. The energy of the Ashram to which he belongs. Both this energy and the one above mentioned are necessarily the energy of his soul ray and of the Ashram which is representative of that ray. The effect produced - according to his capacity of absorption and direction - will further the working out of the divine Plan.
3. The energy of the Hierarchy Itself. The Hierarchy is primarily controlled by the energy of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom, though this dominant ray is modified and enriched through blending with the other six rays. His use of this energy will at first be largely an unconscious use and he will register at this point no definite intention. This is due to the magnitude of the great reservoir of energies; he is a recipient of the incoming energy largely because he is an initiated member of the Hierarchy and is also a pure channel for transmission.
4. The peculiar energy which is transmitted to him by Sanat Kumara at the time of his initiation. This is a totally different energy to that transmitted to him at the earlier initiations. It comes from Shamballa and is uniquely (in a sense undefinable and hence incomprehensible to you) the energy of the planetary Logos Himself. He directs extra-planetary energy (in the initiations which follow the third initiation) from the ajna center of which He is possessed, to the head center of the initiate and from thence immediately to the ajna center of the initiate. Then this energy is directed outward into its destined field of service. This energy is of so high a quality that there is nothing of a registering mechanism in the initiate's equipment capable of registering its admission and circulation through his three head centers. Nevertheless, this energy does pour through him and out into the world, in spite of the fact that he remains unconscious of its presence. [691]

The ajna center is the "center of direction"; it is placed symbolically between the two eyes, signifying the twofold direction of the life energy of the initiate - outward into the world of men and upward towards the divine Life and Source of all Being. Where the direction of the energy is consciously undertaken (and there are certain energies of which the initiate is constantly aware), the ajna center is controlled and dominated by the indwelling spirit of man; this spiritual man bases all action in relation to these entering energies on the ancient premise that "energy follows thought." His thought life becomes, therefore, the field of his major effort, for he knows that the mind is the agent of direction; he endeavors to concentrate within himself so that eventually he may consciously control and direct all the incoming divine energies. This is, in reality, the major hierarchical endeavor and the work to which the Masters are pledged and for which They are in constant training. As the evolutionary process proceeds, new and higher energies become available. This is particularly the case now, as They prepare for the reappearance of the Christ.

There are three words which are directive words for the disciple as he handles his life, his environment and his circumstances. They are: Integration, Direction, Science. His task - as he faces it after the third initiation - is to produce a greater personal integration so that he becomes increasingly a soul-infused personality, and also to integrate himself with his environment for service purposes. To this must be added the subtler task of integrating himself into the Ashram so that he becomes an integral part of the Master's band of workers.

As the work of integration proceeds, he is striving all the time to learn the uses of the ajna center and consciously and with right understanding to work with, absorb, transmute and distribute energy as his major ashramic service. His keynote is right direction as the result of right reaction to hierarchical intention and the injunctions of his own soul. Both integration and direction, he discovers, require [692] understanding of occult, scientific knowledge. He works then as a scientist, and for this reason all the three keynotes of his life as an initiate - before and immediately after the third initiation - are conditioned by and directed by the mind; the mental plane becomes the field of his major endeavor as a server.

Again you see that I am presenting you with no glamorous picture of the initiatory process but only one of hard work, constant effort and strenuous mental and spiritual living. There is much here for you to consider, and what I have here given warrants sound reflection and much thought. It is my earnest hope and wish that you may realize that the teaching here given can be appropriated by you and that the initiatory process is one that eventually you will understand and in which you will participate.

Initiation IV - The Great Renunciation or Crucifixion

This initiation of renunciation (called "The Crucifixion" by Christian believers) is so familiar to the majority of people that I am hard put to it to say that which will arrest your attention, and thus offset a familiarity which necessarily lessens the importance of the theme in your consciousness. The idea of crucifixion is associated in your minds with death and torture, whereas neither concept underlies the true meaning. Let us consider some of the significances connected with this fourth initiation.

The sign of the Cross - associated in the Western world with this initiation and with the Christian faith - is in reality a cosmic symbol, long antedating the Christian era. It is one of the major signs to be found in the consciousness of Those advanced Beings Who, from the distant sun, Sirius, the seat of the true Great White Lodge, watch over the destinies of our solar system, but Who pay particular attention (why They do so is not yet revealed) to our relatively little and apparently unimportant planet, the Earth.

The word "crucifixion" comes from two Latin words signifying to "fix on a cross" (I have asked A.A.B. to look this word up in the dictionary so that you can have a sense [693] of surety). The cross referred to in reference to this particular initiation is the Cardinal Cross of the heavens. It is to this cross that the disciple shifts at the fourth initiation, from the Fixed Cross of the heavens. This fixed cross is the one on which he has been crucified from the moment he found himself upon the Path of Probation and passed from thence on to the Path of Discipleship. On that Path - having transcended the world of phenomena and established an unbroken contact with the Monad, via the antahkarana - he renounces the Mutable Cross of existence in the three worlds (the world of appearances), and after a period of time he transfers from that cross on to the Fixed Cross, which is set up in the world of meaning where he has steadily learnt to dwell. This covers the period of the first three initiations. Now, being liberated through renunciation, he needs no longer to undergo the tests, trials, and difficulties which crucifixion on the Fixed Cross inevitably entails; he can now take his place upon the Cardinal Cross, with all its cosmic implications and opportunities which are then conferred. This - as far as the individual is concerned - is necessarily symbolic and figurative in its teaching. As far as the Heavenly Man is concerned, however, the application is not symbolic. It is far more factual. From the angle of the supreme Masters on Sirius, our planetary Logos, Sanat Kumara, is still on the Fixed Cross; He mounted the Mutable Cross in the first solar system; the Fixed Cross still holds Him in this solar system "fixed in His place"; in the next solar system, He will transfer Himself to the Cardinal Cross, and from "thence return to that High Place from whence He came." You can see, therefore, why I emphasize the fact that these three crosses are simply symbols of experience in relation to the individual disciple. Let us consider this a little more closely:

1. The Mutable Cross governs the three worlds and the astral plane in particular. On this cross the average man is "crucified" until he achieves the needed experience and consciously reorients himself to another phase of unfoldment. [694]
2. The Fixed Cross governs the five worlds of human development and conditions the experiences of all disciples. Through the discipline and the experiences thus gained whilst on this cross, the disciple passes from one renunciation to another until complete freedom and liberation has been achieved.
3. The Cardinal Cross governs the Master as He passes through the remaining five initiations; the fourth initiation is, curiously enough, governed by neither the Fixed Cross nor the Cardinal Cross. The disciple is descending from the Fixed Cross and seeking to mount the Cardinal Cross, and it is this transition period and experience which practically govern Him. It might therefore be noted that there are three initiations which test the disciple as to knowledge and experience: the first, the second and the third; then there comes an initiation of transition, followed by five initiations which the Master undergoes upon the Cardinal Cross.

It should be remembered that the distinctive nature of the man upon the Mutable Cross is that of self-consciousness; that the disciple upon the Fixed Cross is rapidly becoming group conscious when the experiences undergone have been rightly assimilated; and that the Master on the Cardinal Cross is distinguished by a universal consciousness which passes finally into cosmic consciousness - a state of being unknown to you, even in the wildest flights of your imagination. The first hint of the growth of cosmic consciousness comes when the disciple passes through the sixth Initiation of Decision. He determines then (by means of His enlightened will and not His mind) which of the seven Paths He will decide to follow. From that time on, the consciousness of the greater Life which enfolds our planetary Logos, as He enfolds humanity within His consciousness, increasingly controls the attitude, the awareness and the activities of the Master.

You can see, therefore, how this initiation of crucifixion (which the Christian world has appropriated for itself) is far vaster in its implications than students suspect. [695] Yet this appropriation was intentional under the divine Plan of the Hierarchy, for always some great Teacher - by His life and teaching - will call attention to some particular initiation. The Buddha, for instance, in His Four Noble Truths, stated in reality the platform upon which the initiate of the third initiation takes his stand. He desires nothing of a personal nature; he is liberated from the three worlds. The Christ pictured for us and emphasized the fourth initiation with its tremendous transition from the Fixed Cross to the Mount of Ascension, symbol of transition, through initiation.

This crucifixion initiation has a major instructive feature. This is preserved for us in the name which is frequently given to this fourth initiation: the Great Renunciation. One tremendous experience is vouchsafed to the initiate at this time; he realizes (because he sees and knows) that the antahkarana has been successfully completed and that there is a direct line of energy from the Spiritual Triad, via the antahkarana, to his mind and brain. This brings to the forefront of his consciousness the sudden and appalling recognition that the soul itself, the egoic body on its own level, and that which for ages has been the supposed source of his existence and his guide and mentor, is no longer needed; his relation, as a soul-infused personality, is now directly with the Monad. He feels bereft and is apt to cry out - as did the Master Jesus - "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" But he makes the needed renunciation, and the causal body, the soul body, is relinquished and disappears. This is the culminating renunciation and the climaxing gesture of ages of small renunciations; renunciation marks the career of all aspirants and disciples - renunciation, consciously faced, understood and consciously made.

I have hinted earlier to you that this fourth or Renunciation Initiation is closely linked with the sixth initiation and with the ninth. The sixth initiation is only possible when the initiate has definitely made the needed renunciations; the reward is that he is then permitted to make a [696] perfectly free choice and thus demonstrate his essential and gained freedom. The ninth initiation (that of the Refusal) has in it no element of renunciation. It is not a refusal to hold, for the initiate is at the point where he asks and holds nothing for the separated self. At that final planetary initiation the Master is brought face to face with what might be called cosmic evil, with that reservoir of evil which cyclically overflows the world, and also with the massed group of masters of the Black Lodge. He refuses recognition. This I will deal with later when we take up that particular initiation.

In connection with this Initiation of Renunciation there are some most interesting correspondences which throw a bright, illuminating light upon its significance. They are known to you in some measure, because I have dealt with the significance of the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict, and the fourth kingdom, the human, in my earlier writings; it might, however, serve some useful purpose if I bring some of them together and show how this Initiation of Renunciation is of supreme importance to humanity and to the individual initiate who is, of course, a member of the fourth kingdom. First of all, this great act of renunciation marks the moment when the disciple has nothing in him which relates him to the three worlds of human evolution. His contact with those worlds in the future will be purely voluntary and for purposes of service. I prefer the word "renunciation" to the word "crucifixion" because the last word simply emphasizes the suffering undergone by the initiate as he renounces all that is of a material nature and becomes a permanent and (if I may use such a term) a non-fluctuating and unchanging member of the fifth kingdom in nature, the kingdom of God, called by us the Hierarchy. Forget not that the three worlds of ordinary evolution constitute the dense physical subplanes of the cosmic physical plane.

Crucifixion embodies the concept of extreme physical suffering of a protracted nature, its last "three hours" according to the Bible story, typifying the three planes of [697] our evolution. On all three planes, the disciple renounces; on all three planes he is, therefore, crucified. It connotes the ending of a life and - from the cosmic angle - of the personality life of the soul through many incarnations. If it is a statement of fact that the time sense is the response of the brain to a succession of states of consciousness or of events, and if it is equally true that (to the soul) there is no such factor in consciousness as time but only the Eternal Now is known, then the three worlds of incarnated being constitute one unit of experience in the life of the soul - an experience which ends at the crucifixion, because the soul in incarnation definitely, consciously and by the use of the enduring will, renounces all, and turns his back upon the material world, finally and for ever. He has mastered all the uses of the three worlds of experiment, experience and expression (to use three terms with which I have familiarized you in my other books), and now stands liberated.

Each initiate who makes this renunciation and undergoes the consequent crucifixion is in a position to say with the first of our humanity to do so, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." So spoke the Christ. The initiate is lifted up by his renunciation - which he makes through the "blood of the heart" - out of the world of material phenomena, because he has freed himself from any desire for them, from any interest in them and from any hold they may ever have had over him. He is completely detached. It is interesting to note that the Master Jesus underwent the renunciation initiation whilst at the same time the Christ was raised up at the seventh or Resurrection Initiation. So the two stories of these two great Disciples are parallel - One so obediently serving the Greater, and the Christ submitting His will to that of His Father in Heaven.

This initiation is therefore, in a unique sense, a culminating experience and a point of entrance into a new life for which all the past has been a preparation. After the ninth initiation, the Refusal Initiation, there comes a cosmic repetition of the Renunciation experience, this time [698] devoid of the crucifixion aspect; the initiate at that great moment renounces or refuses contact with the cosmic physical plane on all its seven levels of awareness, unless he has chosen (at the sixth Initiation of Decision) the Path of World Service.

During the experience of the initiatory process in its first three phases, the initiate rejects control of the energies which are seated in the three centers below the diaphragm; he renounces their use for personality or selfish reasons. The center at the base of the spine has received and distributed the energy of self-will (the will of the lower self) and is emptied and stands ready for the dynamic reception of the higher will which - using the spinal channel as the pathway or the symbol of the antahkarana - will pour into it from the highest head center. The sacral center which has received and distributed the energy which has fed the physical appetites to a far greater extent than is at present realized, is also under control - a control which is related to normal and proper direction from the throat center and to the preservation of life on the physical plane, if the initiate chooses to incarnate for service ends. The solar plexus center, which has received and distributed the energy of the astral plane, the energy of desire and of emotion, is likewise cleansed and purified; its energy is transmuted to such an extent that it can pass under the complete control of the heart center, which henceforth and until the seventh Initiation of the Resurrection is "that whereby the initiate performs his hierarchical obligations." Therefore, at the Great Renunciation, the three lower centers reach a point of utter purification or speaking symbolically - of utter emptiness. No energy of their own (related to the selfish aeonial past) is left; they are simply pure receptacles for the energies of the three higher centers. The three lower centers are related to the three worlds of personality evolution; the three higher centers are related to hierarchical work and living and are under the control of the initiate - a control which becomes increasingly perfect until the seventh Initiation of Resurrection. At that [699] momentous resurrection, they become no longer of service; the Master needs no energy centers, and His consciousness is transcended and transformed into a type of awareness of which those who have not experienced these initiations know nothing. If He chooses to take a physical vehicle (as many will when the Christ reappears and the Hierarchy is externalized on Earth), the Master will "function from the above to the below" and not (as is the case today with all disciples, though naturally not with the Masters) on "the below towards the above." I am here quoting ancient phrases to be found in the archives of the Hierarchy. They will therefore need no centers on the etheric levels of our planetary physical plane.

At this fourth initiation the initiate begins to function entirely and always upon the fourth plane, the buddhic levels of the cosmic physical plane - our intuitional plane. This is the case whether you count from below upwards or from above downwards. You have here again an indication of the central position of this initiation and of its importance. It is preceded by three initiations and succeeded by three initiations, leading up to that of the seventh or final planetary initiation, because the remaining two initiations are fundamentally not related in any way to our planetary Life. It is because of this permanent transition of the initiate's "living focus" - lifted out of the three worlds on to the buddhic plane - that the concept of resurrection has crept into the Christian teaching so that the Crucifixion Initiation is portrayed as preceding the Resurrection Initiation; this is in reality not the case, except in a lesser degree and as symbol of future experience.

In the same way, the concept of sacrifice has permeated all the teaching anent the Crucifixion or the Renunciation Initiation, both in the East and in the West. This is a sacrifice idea associated with the concept of pain, agony, suffering, patience, prolongation and death. Yet the true root of the word remains the same and gives the true significance: "Sacer," to make holy; that is what in truth happens to the initiate; he is "made holy"; he is "set apart" [700] for spiritual development and service. He is separated off from that which is natural, material, transmitted and handicapping, trammeling and destructive, and from that which lessens right activity for that which is new. He learns to define the Wholeness which is his divine right and prerogative.

The beauty of the interpretation of this initiation and the reward to those who attempt to penetrate to its true meaning and significance are untold; it requires, however, the teaching of the East and of the West to arrive at the true understanding of the experience. The concept of a clean break with the old life in the three worlds of experience which has characterized the work of the soul for so long is obvious. It is death in its truest and most useful form; every death, as it takes place today and on the physical plane, is therefore symbolic in nature, pointing to the time when the soul finally "dies" to all that is material and physical, just as the human being dies to all contact in the three worlds before resuming incarnated living.

On the buddhic or intuitional plane (the fourth level of the cosmic physical plane) the mind nature - even that of the higher mind or the level of abstract thought - loses its control over the initiate and is henceforth only useful in service. The intuition, the pure reason, complete knowledge illumined by the loving purpose of the divine Mind - to mention some of the names of this fourth level of awareness or of spiritual sensitivity - takes its place and the initiate lives henceforth in the light of correct or straight knowledge, expressing itself as wisdom in all affairs - hence the titles of Master of the Wisdom or Lord of Compassion given to Those Who have taken the fourth and the fifth initiations; these follow very closely upon each other. From the buddhic level of awareness, the Master works; on it, He lives His life, undertakes His service and furthers the Plan in the three worlds and for the four kingdoms in nature. Let this not be forgotten. Also, let it be remembered that this achievement of focus and this attained freedom are [701] not the result of a symbolic ceremony, but are the result of lives of suffering, of minor renunciations and of conscious experience. This conscious experience, leading to the fourth initiation, is a definitely planned undertaking, arrived at as true vision is gradually conferred, the divine Plan is sensed and receives cooperation, and intelligent aspiration takes the place of vague longings and sporadic efforts "to be good," as it is normally expressed by aspirants.

It will be clear to you, therefore, why this fourth initiation is ruled or governed by the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict. The harmonizing of the lower centers with the higher, the harmonizing or establishing of right relations between the three worlds of human evolution and the buddhic plane, the rapport gradually being brought about by each succeeding initiation, between humanity and the Hierarchy, plus the service of establishing right human relations among men - these are some of the results which you even now grasp theoretically; these you will also grasp practically and substantially one day in your own experience. It is with this ray energy that the initiate works as he makes the Great Renunciation and is transferred thereby to the Cardinal Cross of the Heavens. This is the energy which enables him to live in the Eternal Now and to renounce the bindings of time. Through the entire experience he fights against that which is material; under the law of our planet (and, if you only knew, under the law of our solar system) nothing is achieved except by struggle and conflict - struggle and conflict associated on our planet with pain and suffering but which, after this fourth initiation, is devoid of suffering. A hint as to the purpose for which our little planet exists and its unique position in the scheme of things can here be noted.

As I mentioned earlier, the initiate now works from "above downwards." This is only a symbolic mode of speech. Like his great Master, the Christ, when he seeks to serve humanity he "descends into hell" which is the hell of materialism and of physical plane life, and there labors for the furtherance of the Plan. We read in the Christian [702] teaching that "Christ descended into hell and taught the spirits which are in prison" for three days. This means that He worked with humanity in the three worlds (for time and the process of events are regarded by philosophers as synonymous in meaning) for a brief period of time, but was called (on account of His unique task of embodying for the first time in world history the love principle of divinity) to be the Head of the Hierarchy.

The same concept of working in the three worlds of physical plane existence (in the cosmic sense) is embodied for us in the phrase found in the New Testament that "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." This is the veil which, symbolically speaking, divides or shuts off humanity from participation in the kingdom of God. This was rent by the Christ - an unique service which He rendered both to humanity and to the spiritual Hierarchy; He made it easier for a much quicker communication to be set up between those two great centers, of divine life.

I would ask you to ponder this Initiation of Renunciation, remembering ever in your daily life that this process of renunciation, entailing the crucifixion of the lower self, is only made possible by the practice of detachment every day. The word "detachment" is only the Eastern term for our word "renunciation." That is the practical use of such information which I have here given to you. I would ask you also (curious as it may seem) to get used to crucifixion, if you care to use that word; to permit yourself to get accustomed to suffering with detachment, knowing that the soul suffers not at all, and that there is no pain or agony for the Master Who has attained liberation. The Masters have each and all renounced that which is material; They have been lifted out of the three worlds by Their Own effort; They have detached Themselves from all hindrances; They have left hell behind and the term "spirits that are in prison" no longer applies to Them. This They have done for no selfish purpose. In the early days of the Probationary Path, selfish aspiration is foremost in the consciousness [703] of the aspirant; however, as he treads the path, and likewise the Path of Discipleship, he leaves all such motives behind (a minor renunciation) and his one aim, in seeking liberation and freedom from the three worlds, is to aid and help humanity. This dedication to service is the mark of the Hierarchy.

You can see, therefore, how the Buddha prepared the way for the Initiation of Renunciation or of Crucifixion by His teaching and His emphasis upon detachment. Think on these things and study the great continuity of effort and cooperation which distinguishes the Members of the spiritual Hierarchy. My prayer and wish is that your goal may be clear to your vision and that the "strength of your heart" may be adequate to the undertaking.

Initiation V -  The Revelation

As we undertake the consideration of the next initiation, you will find that three factors will emerge in a new light in your consciousness. That they are factors related to past experiences, and yet which have reference to experiences which lie far ahead of you upon the Path, will also be inferred from what I say; these will not necessarily meet with your real understanding. These factors are:

• The factor of Blindness, leading to revelation.
• The factor of the Will, producing synthesis.
• The factor of the Purpose, externalizing itself through the Plan.

These are all implicit in this new initiatory experience, but they should be approached by you with as much use of the intuition as you can employ; your effort will have to be that you endeavor to think as if you had taken the higher initiations. You have to bear in mind that each initiation enables the initiate to "see ahead" a little further, for revelation is always a constant factor in human experience. The whole of life is revelation; the evolutionary process is, in relation to consciousness, a process of leading the blind out of darkened areas of consciousness into greater light, and therefore into a vaster vision. [704]

As you know, this particular initiation has been called the "Resurrection" by the Christian world, emphasizing that aspect in the experience of the initiate which leads to revelation; i.e., his "rising out of the ocean of matter into the clear light of day." The thought of revelation can be seen also in the Christian teaching anent the "Ascension" - an initiation which has no factual existence and should not be called an initiation. You have, therefore, the following sequence, connected with the fourth and fifth initiations:

1. Renunciation, producing crucifixion and leading to
2. Ascension, or a complete "rising out of," or "mounting higher," leading to
3. Revelation, giving vision, the reward of the two above stages.

Christian theologians have made three distinct episodes out of these two initiations, but this has in no way mattered (as the initiate in the West soon learns); he now knows that the whole series of initiations, with their causes, their effects and their resultant intentions are only a sequence of processes, leading from the one to the other. A corresponding sequence can be seen in the unfoldment of the consciousness of the human being from infancy to full maturity; each unfoldment is part of a series of revelations, as his vision of life and his capacity to experience develops. This is true of all men from the most primitive to the advanced initiate, the difference consisting in that which each brings to the experience as the result of past effort, his point in consciousness and the quality of the vehicles through which that consciousness is developing. With the initiate-disciple this is also the case; he enters consciously into each experience; they are integral parts of his intention.

Having renounced the three worlds, and having returned - back from a contact of great importance and interest - to those three worlds and with all that is familiar in them, the initiate suddenly realizes that he has indeed been liberated, that he is indeed free, that he has been raised out of darkness and is now free in a new world of experiences. [705] He knows that he has climbed to the mountain-top or has "ascended" to the buddhic plane, from which plane he must permanently work and not just occasionally, as has been the method hitherto.

He can work through a physical body (with its subtler sheaths) or not, as he sees fit. He realizes that he, as an individual, no longer needs a physical body or an astral consciousness, and that the mind is only a service instrument. The body in which he now functions is a body of light which has its own type of substance. The Master, however, can build a body through which He can approach His incoming disciples and those who have not taken the higher initiations; He will normally build this body in semblance of the human form, doing so instantaneously and by an act of the will, when required. The majority of the Masters who are definitely working with humanity either preserve the old body in which They took the fifth initiation or else They build the "mayavirupa" or body of maya, of physical substance. This body will appear in the original form in which They took initiation. This I personally did in reference to the first case; i.e., preserving the body in which I took initiation. This the Master K.H. did in creating a body which was made in the form in which He took the fifth initiation.

It may interest you to know that the Christ has not yet decided what type of physical vehicle He will employ should He take physical form and work definitely upon the physical plane. He waits to see what nation or group of nations do the most work, and the most convincing work, in preparation for His reappearance. He will not, however, take a Jewish body as He did before, for the Jews have forfeited that privilege. The Messiah for Whom they wait will be one of Christ's senior disciples, but it will not be, as originally intended, the Christ. Symbolically, the Jews represent (from the point of view of the Hierarchy) that from which all Masters of the Wisdom and Lords of Compassion emerge: materialism, cruelty and a spiritual conservatism, so that today they live in Old Testament times and are [706] under the domination of the separative, selfish, lower concrete mind.

But their opportunity will come again, and they may change all this when the fires of suffering at last succeed in purifying them and burning away their ancient crystallization, thus liberating them to the extent that they can recognize their Messiah, Who will not, however, be the world Messiah. The Jews need humility more than any other nation. By humility they may learn something of value as well as a needed sense of proportion. They are dear to the heart of the Christ for - in the performance of His greatest work - He chose a Jewish body, but their materialism and their repudiation of spiritual opportunity has negated His use of their racial type again. It would provide too great a handicap. The probability is that the Master Jesus will assume (under instruction from the Christ) the part of the Messiah.

The Master, standing symbolically upon the Mount of Ascension, is equipped with a full realization of the past, with a sound appreciation of what He has to offer to the service of humanity, and with a sense of expectancy. During the preceding cycle of lives of initiatory service to humanity, He has several times heard "the Voice of the Father." This is a symbolical phrase, indicating contact with that aspect of himself which was responsible for the appearance of his soul and for its long, long cycle of incarnation: the Monad, the Spirit, the One, the Life, the Father. Each time that that Voice spoke, it gave him recognition. It is in reality the voice of the Initiator in Whom we live and move and have our being. All of the Master's previous visions have led Him to this high point of expectancy; He knows now where His field of service lies - within the Hierarchy, working on behalf of all living beings. He knows also that He Himself has still to make progress, to move forward, and that there faces Him a great Initiation of Decision (the sixth) for which He must prepare. He knows that this entails for Him right choice, but also that right choice depends upon right understanding, right perception, right willingness and [707] right vision or revelation. So He stands again upon the mountain-top, awaiting again the Presence. He realizes that something more is needed if He is to serve rightly and, simultaneously, make spiritual progress Himself.

It is not possible for me here to indicate the nature of the revelation which is accorded to the initiate of the fifth initiation. It is too closely related to Shamballa, and I have not myself done more this life than take the fifth initiation and climb the Mount of Ascension. The revelation for me is not completed and - in any case - my lips are sealed. I can, however, take up two points with you which may clarify your vision. I would remind you again that what I am here writing in this last volume of A Treatise on the Seven Rays is written for disciples and initiates. Disciples will see some of the significances behind the symbol and will make interpretations according to the point they have attained upon the Path. You need to remember that the world of men today is full of those who have taken one or other of the initiations and that there are great disciples, from all the rays, working on the physical plane as senior workers for humanity under the Hierarchy; there will be many more during the next one hundred years. (Written in 1949.) Some of these do not know their particular hierarchical status in their physical brains, having deliberately relinquished this knowledge in order to do certain work. That which I here write is intended - during the next forty years - to find its way into their hands with the deliberate intent of bringing to the surface of their brain consciousness who and what they are in truth. This is a part of the program planned by the Hierarchy, prior to the externalization of the Ashrams. The Masters feel that these senior disciples and initiates (being on the spot) should soon begin to work with more authority. This does not mean that they will assert their spiritual identity and claim initiate status. This they could not do on account of their point on the ladder of spiritual evolution. But - knowing who they are from the angle of the Hierarchy and what is expected of them - they will strengthen their work, bring [708] in more energy, and point the way with greater clarity. Their wisdom will be recognized as well as their compassion, but they themselves will recede into the background; they may even appear to be less active outwardly, and so be misjudged, but their spiritual influence will be growing; they care not what others think about them. They recognize also the mistaken views of all the modern religions anent the Christ; some may even be persecuted in their homes or by those they seek to help. None of this will matter to them. Their way is clear and their term of service is known to them.

The two points with which I shall now deal are as follows:

1. The part which energy plays in inducing revelation.
2. The place the Will plays in the revelatory sequence: Revelation. Interpretation. Intention. Will.

These must be looked at from the angle of discipleship and are not to be considered on their face value or in the ordinary manner. They must be approached from the angle of the world of meaning and, if possible, from the world of significances; otherwise, the teaching will be so exoteric that its occult nature will not appear.

B.II.5.e.i. The Part which Energy Plays in Inducing Revelation

You will get a hint as to what I have to say if you will refer back to an earlier statement (page 534). There you will find the inference that three energies are necessary for the initiate to employ if he seeks revelation; no matter what the revelation may be or the status of the disciple or the initiation he faces, these same three energies will be brought into play. They are:

1. The energy generated by the disciple.
2. The energy coming from the Spiritual Triad.
3. The energy of the Ashram with which he is affiliated.

These are the three essential energies and without their synthesis in the disciple's mind or in one of the three [709] higher centers, there can be no true revelation of the higher order or related to the processes of initiation.

In connection with the energy generated by the disciple, it will be obvious that this will include the energy of the soul ray, until the fifth initiation when it will be superseded by the energy of the Monad. This will reach him, first of all, as the energy of the Spiritual Triad, and later that (in its turn) will be superseded by the direct energy of the Monad itself; the initiate will then know practically (and not just theoretically) what Christ meant when He said, "I and my Father are one."

In the earlier stages on the Path of Discipleship, the disciple works with that measure of the energy of his soul ray to which he can be receptive, plus as much of the energy of the personality ray as is responsive to that soul energy. In doing this a great measure of discrimination can be developed, and it is one of the first places where the value of the injunction, "Know thyself" can be seen. The nature of the soul ray at this time determines the nature of the revelation; the nature of the personality and its ray is, at the same time, either helpful or a hindrance.

To the energies which he has generated within himself the disciple learns to add that of the group which he has attempted to serve with love and understanding. All disciples of any standing gather around them the few or the many that they have found themselves able to aid; the purity of the energy generated by this group depends upon their selflessness, their freedom from authority or the control of the disciple, and the quality of their spiritual aspiration. As the disciple or the Master has helped them to generate this energy, and as all will necessarily synchronize with his, it becomes available as a pure stream of force, flowing through him at all times. This he can learn to focus and incorporate with his own energy (also focused) in order to prepare himself for further vision, provided always that his motive is likewise selfless.

The second group of energies are those coming to the disciple from the Spiritual Triad. These are relatively new [710] to him and embody divine qualities of which he has hitherto known nothing; even theoretically he knows little, and his attitude towards them has hitherto been largely speculative. Since he first put his foot upon the Path, he has been trying to build the antahkarana. Even that has meant for him an act of faith, and he proceeds in the early stages with the work of building, yet scarcely knowing what he does. He follows blindly the ancient rules and attempts to accept as factual that which has not been proven to him to be a fact but which is testified to by countless thousands down the ages. The whole process is in the nature of a culminating triumph of that innate sense of Deity which has driven man forward from the most primitive experiences and physical adventures to this great adventure of constructing a pathway for himself from the dense material world into the spiritual. These higher spiritual energies have hitherto been recognized by him through their effects; now he has to learn to handle them, first of all, by letting them pour into and through him, via the antahkarana, and then to direct them towards the immediate objective of the divine plan.

Hitherto he has worked primarily with the thread of consciousness; this is anchored in the head, and through that consciousness his personality and his soul are linked together until he has become a soul-infused personality; he has then attained unity with his higher self. Through the building of the antahkarana another thread is added to the soul-infused personality, and the true spiritual individual is linked with and comes under the direction of the Spiritual Triad. At the fourth initiation the soul body, the causal body (so called) disappears, and the thread of consciousness is occultly snapped; neither the soul body nor the thread are any longer required; they become now only the symbols of a non-existent duality. The soul is no longer the repository of the consciousness aspect as hitherto. All that the soul has stored up of knowledge, science, wisdom and experience (garnered in the life cycle of many aeons of incarnation) are now the sole possession of the individual [711] spiritual man. He transfers them into the higher correspondence of the sensory perceptive apparatus, the instinctual nature, on the three planes of the three worlds.

Nevertheless he still possesses awareness of all past events and knows now why he is what he is; much of the information anent the past he discards; it has served its purpose, leaving him with the residue of experienced wisdom. His life takes on a new coloring, totally unrelated to the three worlds of his past experience. He, the sum total of that past, faces new spiritual adventures, and has now to tread the Path which leads him away from normal human evolution on to the Way of the Higher Evolution. This new experience he is well equipped to face.

Three major energies begin to make an impact upon his lower mind. They are:

1. The impulsive energy of ideas, coming to him from the abstract mind and travelling along the antahkarana; these make contact with his now illumined lower mind which, at this point, transforms them into ideals so that the divine ideas - implementing the divine purpose - may become the heritage of the race of men. The better trained and the more controlled the mind, the easier it will be to handle this type of energy. It is by means of this impulsive energy that the Hierarchy (upon the buddhic plane) leads humanity onwards.
2. The energy of the intuition, which is the word we use to describe a direct contact with the Mind of God at some relatively high level of experience. The effect of this energy upon the soul-infused personality is to give to the mind (already receptive to the energy of ideas) some faint glimmering and brief revelation of the purpose of the ideas which underlie all hierarchical activity on behalf of humanity. The intuition is entirely concerned with group activity; it is never interested in or directed to the revelation of anything concerned with the personality life. The growth of what we might call the buddhic vehicle (though that is a misnomer) prepares the man for the ninth or the final initiation, which enables the initiate - in a manner [712] incomprehensible  to us - to "intuit" (in a blazing light) the true nature of the cosmic astral plane. Forget not, the buddhic plane is closely allied with the cosmic astral plane, and that all intuitions when regulated require the use of the creative imagination in their working out or in their presentation to the thoughts of men. Speaking generally, the Masters intuit those phases of the divine intention which are immediate; these constitute the "over-shadowing cloud of knowable things." These They transform into the Plan; then Their disciples - with their intuitional capacity developing slowly but steadily - begin themselves to intuit these ideas, to present them as ideals to the masses, and thus precipitate the needed aspects of the Plan on to the physical plane.
3. The dynamic energy of the will follows next, and (as the disciple perfects the antahkarana) it sweeps through the medium of contact into the mind of the soul-infused personality, and from thence it finds its way to the brain. I am of course referring here to the disciple in training and not to the Masters Themselves Who work at the center of these energies; the Hierarchy is a great reception point for these three aspects of the Spiritual Triad - the spiritual will, the intuition or pure reason, and the abstract mind.

It is in the Ashrams of the Masters that the disciple comes into direct relation with these dynamic, revealing and impulsive energies. These three energies focus through and are directed by the three Heads of the Hierarchy: the Manu, the Christ, and the Mahachohan. The Manu is receptive to, and the agent of, the energy of the divine will for humanity; the Christ is the agent for the distribution of the energy which brings intuitive revelation; the Mahachohan is responsible for the inflow of ideas into the consciousness of the disciple, the aspirant and the intelligentsia. I would beg you to remember that the main effort of the spiritual Hierarchy is on behalf of humanity, because the fourth Kingdom in Nature is the Macrocosm of the threefold Microcosm of the three lower kingdoms in nature.

This whole subject is too vast to be entered into here, [713] but I have given you much along these lines in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. Much more than I can possibly give you is revealed to the initiate at the time of the fifth initiation. The clues, the thoughts, the abstract concepts, the fleeting ideas of which all disciples are aware are at this initiation resolved into certainty, and the Master can now take His place as a distributor of Triadal energy. The major problem confronting Him is not the distribution of ideas or the use of the intuition in grasping the stage of the divine Purpose at any particular time; it consists in the development of the spiritual will, in its comprehension and its use in world service. Just as the disciple has to learn to use the mind in two ways:

• As a common sense, a resolver of information so that a life pattern and a life service, planned and directed, may eventuate, and a perception of relationships,
• As a searchlight, bringing into the light those ideas and intuitions which are needed,

so the Master has to learn the uses of the will. A natural sequence can be seen closely related to the idea of revelation.

On the mountain-top of Ascension, following the experience of "teaching the spirits which are in prison," the Master receives a revelation; this is His right and due and something for which the long previous cycle of initiation has prepared Him. The revelation must be followed by realization and recognition:

1. He realizes that the right interpretation of the revelation is the first essential.
2. He then comes to the understanding that the next step is for Him to formulate His intention, based upon the revelation and directed towards His world service.
3. Having received the revelation, interpreted it and determined within Himself what He intends to do, He next realizes that the factor of the will must now be employed if He and those He seeks to help are to profit by the revelation. [714]

This opens up the whole subject of the Will, its nature and relationships and this we must study for a while: the sequence of Revelation. Interpretation. Intention. Will.

B.II.5.e.ii. The Place that the Will Plays in Inducing Revelation

There are three words connected with this initiation which are of real importance to its correct understanding. They are: Emergence. Will. Purpose. With the emergence aspect we have already dealt under the term "raising up" or the "transition" from the darkness of matter to the light of the Spirit. But of the Will, its uses and its function, as yet we know little. Knowledge as to the nature of the will in any true sense only comes after the third initiation. From that time on the initiate demonstrates increasingly and steadily the first divine aspect, that of the Will and the right use of Power. This first aspect of divinity is necessarily closely associated with the first Ray of Power or Will. I shall, however, only consider the ray angle incidentally, for I want to elucidate for you the nature of the will in some clear measure, though complete understanding is not possible.

The Lord of the World is, we are told, the sole repository of the will and the purpose of His over-shadowing, cosmic soul. These two words - will and purpose - are not identical in meaning. Sanat Kumara and His Council at Shamballa are the only Beings upon our planet Who know just what is the nature of the divine purpose. It is Their function and obligation to work that purpose out into manifestation, and this They do by the use of the will. The will ever implements the purpose. The repository of the will aspect of man's innate divinity is to be found at the base of the spine; this can only function correctly and be the agent of the divine will after the third initiation. The head center is the one which is the custodian of the purpose; the center at the base of the spine indicates the will as it implements the purpose. The purpose is slowly, very slowly, revealed to the initiate during the final five [715] initiations and this only becomes possible after the Initiation of Renunciation. At that time the initiate says, in unison with the great head of the Hierarchy, the Christ: "Father, not my will but Thine be done." Then comes the initiation of emergence out of matter and, from that point on, the initiate begins to glimpse the purpose of the planetary Logos; hitherto he has only seen the plan, and to the service of the plan he has been dedicated. Hitherto also, he has only sought to be an exponent of the love of God; now he must express, with increasing fullness, the will of God.

Earlier in these pages (Page 410) we are told that the problem which confronts the Hierarchy as it seeks to prepare disciples for the successive initiations is the right use of the will, both Their Own use of the will in relation to the initiate, and the initiate's use of the will as he works for the Plan as that Plan implements Purpose. To produce this, a direct, understanding and powerful expression of this first aspect is demanded. There are several reasons why the will presents a problem. Let us list a few of them and thereby get understanding.

1. This energy of the will is the most potent energy in the whole scheme of planetary existence. It is called the "Shamballa Force," and it is that which holds all things together in life. It is, in reality, life itself. This life force or divine will (implementing divine intention) is that by means of which Sanat Kumara arrives at His goal. On a tiny scale, it is the use of one of the lowest aspects of the will (human self-will) which enables a man to carry out his plans and attain his fixed purpose - if he has one. Where the will is lacking, the plan dies out and the purpose is not achieved. Even in relation to self-will, it is veritably the "life of the project." The moment Sanat Kumara has attained His planetary purpose, He will withdraw this potent energy, and (in this withdrawing) destruction will set in. This Shamballa force is steadily held in leash for fear of too great an impact upon the unprepared kingdoms in nature. This has reference to its impact also upon humanity. [716]

You have been told that this force has - during this century - made its first direct impact upon humanity; heretofore, it reached mankind in the three worlds after being stepped down and modified by transit through the great planetary center to which we give the name of the Hierarchy. This direct impact will again take place in 1975, and also in the year 2000, but the risks will then not be so great as in the first impact, owing to the spiritual growth of mankind. Each time this energy strikes into the human consciousness some fuller aspect of the divine plan appears. It is the energy which brings about synthesis, which holds all things within the circle of the divine love. Since its impact during the past few years, human thinking has been more concerned with the production of unity and the attainment of synthesis in all human relations than ever before, and one result of this energy has been the forming of the United Nations.

2. It will be apparent to you, therefore, that this energy is the agent for the revelation of the divine purpose. It may surprise you that this is regarded as presenting a problem to the Hierarchy, but if this power - impersonal and potent - should fall into the hands of the Black Lodge, the results would be disastrous indeed. Most of the members of this center of cosmic evil are upon the first ray itself, and some of the divine purpose is known to a few of them, for - in their due place and in the initiatory regime - they too are initiates of high degree, but dedicated to selfishness and separativeness. Their particular form of selfishness is far worse than anything which you can imagine, because they are completely detached and divorced from all contact with the energy to which we give the name of love. They have cut themselves off from the spiritual Hierarchy, through Whom the love of the planetary Logos reaches the forms in the three worlds and all that is contained therein. These evil but powerful beings know well the uses of the will, but only in its destructive aspect.

We have spoken much of the purpose of the planetary Logos. When I use the word "purpose" I am indicating the [717] answer to the question: Why did the planetary Logos create this world and start the evolutionary, creative process? Only one answer has as yet been permitted to be given. Sanat Kumara has created this planet and all that moves and lives therein in order to bring about a planetary synthesis and an integrated system whereby a tremendous solar revelation can be seen. Having said that, we have not really penetrated any distance into the meaning of the divine purpose; we have only indicated the method whereby it is being attained, but the true objective remains still an obscure mystery - guarded rigidly in the Council Chamber of Sanat Kumara. It is this mystery and this divine planetary "secret" which is the goal of all the work being done by the Black Lodge. They are not yet sure of the purpose, and all their efforts are directed to the discovery of the nature of the mystery. Hence the hierarchical problem.

3. It is this energy of the will, rightly focused, that enables the senior Members of the Hierarchy to implement that purpose. Only initiates of a certain standing can receive this energy, focus it within the Hierarchy, and then direct its potency to certain ends known only to Them. Speaking symbolically, the Hierarchy has within it, under the custody of its most advanced Members, what might be called a "reservoir of divine intention." It is the higher correspondence of that to which Patanjali refers under the words, "the raincloud of knowable things" which hovers over the head of all disciples who can see somewhat in the Light. Just as advanced humanity can precipitate the rain of knowledge from this cloud of knowable things (the divine ideas, working out as intuitions in all the many areas of human thinking), so the lesser initiates and disciples within the Hierarchy can begin to precipitate into their consciousness some of this "divine intention." It is this reservoir of power which embodies some of the Purpose and implements the Plan. One of the problems of the Hierarchy is, therefore, right timing in the revelation of divine intention and in the direction of the thinking and the planning done in Their Ashrams by the recipients: initiates and disciples. [718] Again we come back to the same necessity for right interpretation of the revelation or of the vision.

4. The problem is also one that each Master has to face in connection with His Own spiritual development, for this energy is the needed dynamic or potency which enables Him to tread the Way of the Higher Evolution. On the way to liberation and in treading the Path of Discipleship and the Path of Initiation, the human being has to use the dynamic or the potency of the Love of God; on the Way of the Higher Evolution, it must be the dynamic and the potency of Will.

I would ask you all, therefore, to ponder on the distinction which exists between:

1. Self-will
2. Determination
3. Fixity of purpose
4. The will
5. The spiritual will
6. The divine will

I shall not attempt to discuss these words with you. They each indicate a certain aspect of the will; you will learn more on this point by doing your own thinking and defining.

All that I can hope and pray is that your individual will can be merged into the divine will, that revelation will be increasingly yours, and that you will with increased steadfastness tread the Path from darkness to light and from death to immortality.

Initiation VI - The Decision

We have been studying along three lines which, in spite of the unavoidable abstruseness of the subject, have meant much to the earnest individual disciple because the words used to express the initiations concerned have been: Renunciation. Ascension. Revelation. All these convey practical and useful concepts to the mind, and yet - at the same time - their true meaning involves a detachment, a divine indifference and the spiritual perception of which no disciple has had more than a glimpse and a dim sensing of possibility. I then lifted these three ideas on to wider levels and endeavored to show how the crises through which humanity is today passing and will continue to pass [719] during the next fifty years (though with lessening effects of discomfort, if right attitude is assumed) can also be related to these three words. I do not wish you to infer that mankind is, in fact, undergoing these initiatory experiences. The renunciation is being imposed by circumstances and is not a free undertaking; the moving onward is the result of a somewhat inchoate and uncontrolled momentum and is not the effort of a liberated soul. The revelation which is to come will be the result of hierarchical activity, focused through the Christ, though not presented by His coming; it will come as a result of His work and hierarchical activity.

All these initiations have their lower correspondences, and the one we are to consider at this time is no exception; all of them can appeal to the aspirant as embodying for him some immediate goal, but the concept is only preparatory in its nature; this can be illustrated by pointing out that the Great Renunciation becomes possible because, for many lives, the disciple has learnt to renounce and - when treading the Path of Initiation - to renounce consciously and with a formulated purpose. In the same manner, the sixth Initiation of Decision also becomes possible because the initiate has, since his affiliation with the Hierarchy, learnt to make right choice, and his ability to do that emerges out of his effort whilst on the Probationary Path and on the earlier stages of the Path of Discipleship to make correct choices and spiritually motivated decisions. I am pointing this out because, as we now begin to study the final four initiations (which are far beyond the understanding of even the advanced disciple), it will not be waste of time; in spite of a lack of true comprehension, qualities and attributes and certain needed lessons will be indicated to the true aspirant, and these he can now begin to develop.

I would like first of all to point out that the sixth initiation is to the Master Who stands before the planetary Logos what the second initiation is to the disciple; the fifth Initiation of Revelation and the sixth Initiation of Decision are the higher correspondences to the first two initiations which are regarded by the Lodge on Sirius as initiations of the [720] Threshold. Have this carefully in mind. Much earlier in this treatise (page 361) I made the comment that the second initiation with its evidenced control of desire (indicating right choice) was "the threshold...to those levels of impression, of contact and of future ascension which are the sevenfold goal set before the Master when the sixth initiation (the true ascension) is consummated. It is for this reason that this initiation is called the Initiation of Decision."

This is a point of real interest and of practical value; it reveals in a new sense and quite definitely that all happenings on our planet are in truth simply preparatory to other much greater events and opportunities. They put the Master or the Chohan (we seem to have no word to express the type of consciousness of the initiate who has taken the five initiations of strictly human evolution) in a position where at each initiation He expresses the sum total of all past attainment. His entire past is involved in what He demonstrates. This is not consciously so. All that He is or knows has dropped below the threshold of consciousness, in the same way that the instinctual nature of man is today automatic and spontaneous and not consciously used. In spite of this subjective activity, men are nevertheless in full possession of a definite part of their equipment. So it is with the Master; all that He has been in the spiritual sense and in wisdom, perception and full comprehension is now instinctual, and the powers, knowledges, attributes involved are instantaneously His without effort or conscious activity. He can depend fully upon what He is and has, and - as a result of initiation - He is free from the questionings, the doubts and the uncertainties which are so distinctive of the disciple.

Earlier (Page 396) I pointed out that the Masters, at the sixth Initiation of Decision, face realms of service where They will have to "impart, strengthen and enlighten that which is already fused, already strong, and already full of light but which needs that which They bring in order to express the all-encompassing Whole." This is, of course, a mysterious and rather paradoxical statement, but [721] a certain measure of light can be thrown upon it if it is remembered that this sixth initiation is related, in a peculiar way, to Path VI. This is the Path upon which our planetary Logos is found. This Path is necessarily related to the sixth Ray of Devotion or Idealism, and also to the sixth plane, the astral plane - he plane of glamor and of desire. I would have you bear these relationships in mind, but I would have you also remember that at this Initiation of Decision the Master can move forward on any one of the seven Paths which He may decide is, for Him, the field of His future service. This expression of His choice is, as you know, not dependent upon His ray energy or upon what might be the impelling force of the planetary rays; i.e., that of the planet itself (the personality ray of the planetary Logos) or upon the soul ray of Sanat Kumara. It is not for me to tell you whether this dominating ray is His soul ray or the monadic or universal ray.

It is of interest to have in mind also that at this sixth initiation a great moment of basically historic interest occurs. All the Masters Who are initiates of the sixth degree meet in conclave and together, and before making Their final decision (which will probably remove Them from the Path of Earth Service), decide what measures They propose the Hierarchy should take which will drastically and permanently affect the planet on which They have lived and for which They have worked. You will notice that I have here called Them "initiates of the sixth degree," bringing to your minds the fact that before a man takes an initiation of any degree, He is already an initiate of that degree. They in Their totality - at any given time - are the group which makes final decision anent human affairs. It was a decision made by this group of initiates during the ancient Atlantean civilization which brought it to an end; the decision which They will make now will produce great changes in our modern civilization. The Masters, however, do not "take this initiation" whenever They are ready to "make decision." The opportunity comes to the Hierarchy every forty-nine years, and the year 1952 will see a group of these [722] higher initiates choose the Path of Their future livingness and Being, but They will do so only after setting in motion certain energy forces which will creatively change matters on Earth. They thereby prove two things: Their grasp of world need and Their recognition of man's free will to make decision. The last initiation of this kind was therefore held in 1903. Those prepared to pass through this initiation were faced with the fact of the emerging forces of cosmic evil; They had then to decide in what manner They should bring aid to humanity and what situation They should bring about so that mankind would be forced to recognize conditions and also make free choice and decision. What They decided to do led to the world war, to a demonstrated cleavage between right and wrong, between imprisonment and freedom, and which, in 1952 will lead to a decision - the outcome of which is hidden in the consciousness of Those Who will at that time, make it. (Written in 1949.)

At this sixth initiation the Masters Who participate in it no longer come under the jurisdiction of the Hierarchy. They have moved out from under it. Their long connection with the Hierarchy is translated to a higher center and is transferred to Shamballa, unless (as in the case of the Christ) They choose the Path of Earth Service and return to work with the evolutions upon our planet; there are many such evolutions and several kingdoms in nature besides the human, including the deva or angel evolution.

The sixth Initiation of Decision is preparatory to the true Initiation of the Resurrection, the seventh initiation. This can only be undergone when the will of the Master is completely merged in that of the planetary Logos. Between the sixth and the seventh initiations "an interim of divine fusion" takes place; an elementary and somewhat distorted picture of this critical fusion is given to us in The New Testament, where we read of the experience of the Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. There again - as in the fourth Initiation of Renunciation - the human element of suffering is emphasized, whereas in the true symbolical "garden" between the sixth and the seventh initiations there is no [723] aspect of suffering. Suffering and pain enter not into the consciousness of the Master. Where it says in The New Testament that, "angels came and ministered unto" the Christ, the correct implication is that Those Who dwell and work in Shamballa use this period to instruct the initiate who has made his decision through an expression of his divine nature and in the significance of the divine purpose; this concerns the relation of our planetary Logos to the solar system, and decision is made through the development of that higher sensitivity which leads inevitably to cosmic perception. We have no adequate word for this quality or type of sensitivity, for it is not something which we can consciously understand, nor is it a form of conscious reaction; neither is it awareness as we use that term. It has been occultly defined as something akin to "immersion in a realized state of Being," because the initiate is a conscious aspect of that of which he forms an integral part. By means of this statement you will see how impossible it is for me to explain certain things, to make clear certain unknown types of consciousness or to indicate areas of perception which lie beyond the ken even of a Master.

Revelation is a progressive matter. Disciples are not really able to understand the extensive significances of the third initiation, for instance; in like manner, even high initiates fail to comprehend that which lies plainly before Them. Disciples can, however, dimly sense the nature of the Transfiguration which characterizes them, from the hierarchical point of view, and Masters can also dimly sense the nature of the decision with which They are faced. It is this preparatory sensitivity in the disciple which produces true perception at all the various initiatory stages. This is a statement of major importance and links sensitivity, its interpretation and control, with the everyday life of the ordinary disciple. It is important because of its inclusiveness and because each stage upon the Path of Initiation has in it the germ of comprehension and an understanding (deeply hidden) of the various steps which have to be taken upon the Way of the Higher Evolution. Upon this Way [724] the Master intelligently embarks when He has made His final decision; earlier stages are simply revelatory of the Way.

Initiation has been defined as "a progressive sequence of directed energy impacts." These impacts are characterized by points of tension, and these lead inevitably to points of crisis; the whole process is governed by the Law of Cause and Effect. It is this latter point which I seek now to emphasize, because it has a definite and mysterious relation to this sixth initiation. The Master, as He makes His decision and chooses one of the seven Paths which unitedly form the planetary antahkarana, is forced thereto by the accumulation of past karma. All evil karma has necessarily been worked off, but His accumulated good karma makes His final decision inevitable; from that instant of decision He stands entirely free and liberated from all aspects and all forms of planetary karma, which is greater and more vast than his little individual karma, be it good or bad. He is then - in Himself - the summation of all past experience. Unless He deliberately chooses the Path of Earth Service and decides to remain within the field, scope or influence of the planetary Life, He faces a solar or a cosmic future of which He knows relatively little, but for which the Path of Evolution, the Path of Discipleship and the Path of Initiation have fitted Him. Even He does not know the conditions into which His "decision" commits Him, or those into which He will have to penetrate; He does know, however, and "appropriates the fact and the faculties" (as one Master has expressed it) of complete revelation and future opportunity.

You have oft been told that there are four Lords of Karma associated with the Council Chamber at Shamballa. They represent - in Their totality - the three Rays of Aspect, and one of Them represents the four minor Rays of Attribute. It is the Lord of Karma Who implements the destinies of Those Who are conditioned by the third Ray of Active Intelligence (and this is ever the case with Those Who are taking the sixth initiation) and Who - symbolically speaking - "wipes clean the slate" of this particular group [725] of initiates at this particular time. Karma no longer holds Them.

The revelation accorded to the Initiate in the first stage of the initiation gives Him a complete picture "in a flash of endless time" of the processes which have brought Him to this creative moment of decision. Immediately He achieves a point of tension which He will continue to hold until the final or ninth initiation, the Initiation of Refusal, wherein He rejects, refuses or repudiates His entire past and enters upon His chosen path entirely "free of recollected concepts, but exhibiting to Those Great Lives Who welcome Him upon the new and untried path all that He is and the essence of His Being."

In dealing with these higher initiations of which I myself have no experience, there is naught for me to do but clarify your minds, and mine also, through the use of ancient phrases and the oral teaching which is permitted to escape into the minds of men.

The point of crisis which ever follows the attainment of tension is the expressed moment of the final decision. Then follows the revelation of what may be, and the initiate knows that he faces the final resurrection and that from being the eternal pilgrim or the planetary wanderer, he now becomes a fixed point upon another cosmic plane, for the physical is, for him, eternally left behind.

This initiation is therefore governed by the third ray, the Ray of Intelligent Activity. This ray is closely related to the mental plane of our planetary life, to the Law of Fixation and the Law of Cleavages. Much anent this I have written earlier, and a search for the significance of certain passages in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire may bring enlightenment. Fixation is not permitted to the eternal pilgrim upon our little planet, the Earth, but when that is left behind entirely at the ninth initiation the initiate becomes a "fixed or stationary point of light within his chosen Place, the Place of the Most High and the point of fire upon the mountain-top. From that point he will no more go out." [726]

The concept of cleavage is latent here also. The Master severs all connection with the past and with the planet, but never with the One Life which permeates all spheres and forms of being, which makes possible all states of consciousness and leads to endless activity.

Creativity was one of the three words which I gave you earlier (see page 340) in connection with this sixth initiation. The final four initiations are all distinguished by a "revelation in the living light." At the sixth initiation the Master is brought to an understanding of the nature of creation, of the reason for the intelligent manifestation of substantial forms and their creation to provide forms for Being and for Life, and of the quality of that which He - in the future - must and will create. At the seventh Initiation of Resurrection, He is accorded a revelation of the quality which must express itself through all created forms: the quality of love-wisdom which has animated our planetary Logos and is the basic quality of our entire solar system. In other spheres and in other solar systems and on other cosmic planes, other qualities, unknown to us, may be demonstrated by the appropriate initiates; but those who attain resurrection and liberation upon our planet will always be spiritually qualified by divine love, and that will also be the underlying quality of all that they may later create when freed from our planet. You can see, therefore, why the phrase "God is Love" is really our planetary keynote.

At the eighth Initiation of Transition the purpose of all our planetary activity is revealed to the Master, and all Masters or initiates of this eighth initiation (working either through the Hierarchy or in Shamballa) are needed at this initiation so as to stimulate the point of tension of the new initiate in order to make the revelation possible.

It might be said that They act like a lens through which the living light flows which makes the revelation possible, and They also fulfil the need of acting as a protecting factor. This protection is needed because at this initiation the initiate is shown not only the eternal good [727] underlying planetary purpose, but he is allowed "to see that which is hidden behind the fast sealed door and be in touch with cosmic evil for it can no longer hurt him." He needs nevertheless the protection of Those with Whom he has fitted himself to associate. What the planetary purpose is I know not; when I say that part of the purpose is to liberate light and love into a wider universe and to free the solar system from the attacks of cosmic evil, I am stating a truth, but a truth which remains as yet meaningless to those who have not been put in touch with the completed purpose; it remains a mystery, for the true nature of light, the mystery of electricity, the constitution of the good, the beautiful and the true, the origin of evil, the nature and purpose of the Black Lodge, the place which that Lodge plays within the divine scheme of being, are all unknown to you in their essential significance. Remember that when a Member of the Hierarchy uses the word essential, He does not mean (as you oft do) that which is needed or necessary; He is referring to the inmost essence which is found at the heart of all things - both the good and the evil. Therefore, when I say to you also that at this eighth initiation the nature and the purpose of duality is revealed to the initiate, it is again meaningless.

At these three final initiations, therefore, the significance of creation, of quality and of purpose are successively revealed to the Master, and that which makes the revelation possible is not only the action of the One Initiator and of the initiating group (when such a group is required), but the major factor is the developed sensitivity of the initiate himself - a sensitivity which has developed through many aeons of lives and of vital experience.

The objective of the evolutionary process to which all lives on our planet have to submit has been to develop this sensitivity which will make revelation possible, and it might be said that (from one definite angle) the goal of all experience has been revelation - each revelation "carrying the initiate closer to the Heart of the Sun wherein all things are known and felt, and through which all forms, [728] all beings and all things can be bathed in love." Ponder on these words, for the microcosmic correspondence to the macrocosmic fact is full of teaching value. See to it that "each lesson learned each day, each revelation grasped and understood, makes your heart full of love and enables you to love your fellowmen with ardent, fiery warmth." I am quoting some ancient aphorisms for disciples.

At the ninth Initiation of Refusal, the revelation presented to the Master concerns the nature of Being and of existence. There is naught I can say to you which could be in any way explanatory of Being, for Being is related to That which creates, to the universal point of planetary or solar Life which is, and has ever been, responsible for the life of all forms from the greatest manifestation to the smallest. When that revelation is accorded to the initiate, he for the first time receives his initial contact with what is called in the occult and esoteric books "the Central Spiritual Sun." He realizes for himself that those words concern a basic fact and are related to the purpose of the solar system, just as "the Heart of the Sun" revealed to him the quality of the solar system. When it is realized that our planetary purpose is mysteriously related to the revelation of love upon our little planet, the Earth, through the process of creation, the concept emerges that there is the probability that our planet has a unique relation to the Heart of the Sun. There are many hints for you in what I have said; they are hints to me also, only I can bring to their expansion into ascertained fact a wider knowledge than is as yet your possession.

There is little more that I can say anent this crucial and decisive sixth initiation. It embodies the Master's recognition of liberation, and in its processes He demonstrates that liberation by making free decision anent His future state of Being and of purpose. The future, for the average person and for the average disciple, is contained within his past and is implemented in his present. This is not so with the initiate of the sixth initiation. He is entirely liberated from his past; the Law of Karma no longer [729] has any hold over Him; He makes free decision, and His future is decided by Him not on the basis of its inevitability or as providing Him with a field in which to work off karma, but on the basis solely of qualification for service. This creates a very different situation. The decision once made is a fixed decision, and there is no turning back or relinquishment of it, nor (so free is the Master from all possible hindrances) is there any desire to turn back or possibility that He could do so.

The remaining three initiations demonstrate these points still more clearly and definitely, and the light in which the initiate walks waxes ever brighter and brighter. Light reveals to him the nature and the purpose of the cosmic etheric physical planes (the four highest planes of our planetary Life); this light brings to his attention the nature of certain extra-planetary conditions, and for the first time these become factual to him and not simply hypothetical; the light reveals to him his future opportunities once his final choice or decision is made, and - as said above - it also reveals to him the nature of divine purpose as our planetary Logos conceives it under the inspiration of the solar Logos.

He can now express himself fully upon the monadic plane, the plane of universal life; the great heresy of separateness has slipped away from him and he knows nothing but love, unity, spiritual identification and a universal awareness. Because of this, he can become a creator, for creation is the expression of life, love and purpose, and all these three he can now understand and fully express.

He is now an intelligent cooperator with the Building Forces of the planet and also of the solar system, and upon his chosen ray he will carry out his creative intentions.

Initiation VII - The Resurrection

There is no idea more cultivated subjectively by humanity than that of the resurrection; when life seems hard and circumstances carry in them no grounds for happiness, and when nothing calls to one of such a nature that one [730] goes forth happily to the day's enterprises, and when the nights of sleep are haunted nights, the thought of rising up and out of all these circumstances, of leaving all behind and of entering into a new life, carries with it strength and hope. In the West, the Festival of the year which is regarded as of the most importance is that of Easter Day - the Day of Resurrection. Yet two thousand years ago the Christ did not rise out of a rocky sepulchre and reassume His discarded body. He passed through the great seventh initiation which we will consider today, and knew the secret of life, of which immortality is only one of its many attributes. Humanity lays emphasis so frequently upon attribute, quality and reactions, and not upon that which is the basic underlying reality; men deal with effects and not with causes; for instance, mankind is concerned with war and with horrified preparations for more war, and is not primarily occupied with that which causes war and which, if rightly handled, would prevent war. Let us consider some few aspects of the seventh initiation.

The word "resurrection" has deep significance latent in its derivation and one that is not often emphasized. The usual interpretation has been that the word comes from "re," again, and "surgere," to rise, therefore to rise again. Yet a consultation with the dictionary shows that the prefix means "back to an original state" by rising. This return to an original state is pictured for us in The New Testament under the story of the Prodigal Son, who said "I will arise and go to my Father," and by the story of the resurrection in which the Master Jesus arose out of the tomb; the chains of death could not hold Him. At that time of His "rising," a far more important event took place and the Christ passed through the seventh Initiation of Resurrection and returned back to His original state of Being - to remain there throughout all the eternities. This is the true and final resurrection. The Son of God has found His way back to the Father and to His originating Source, that state of Existence to which we have given the name Shamballa. The consciousness of the Universal Life is His; this [731] is far more than simply the consciousness of immortality, because the idea or concept of mortality is not contained within it at all. There have been many deaths within the aeonial life cycle of the initiate:

1. The familiar and constantly recurring death of the physical body, incarnation after incarnation.
2. The deaths of the astral and the mental vehicles, as the undying soul discards them life after life - only to create new ones until mastery is attained.
3. Then - as a result of the incarnating process and its evolutionary effects - there comes the death of desire and its replacing by a growing spiritual aspiration.
4. Then, through right use of the mind, comes the "death" of the personality or, rather, its repudiation and renouncing of all that is material.
5. This is followed by the death or destruction of the causal or soul body at the great Initiation of Renunciation.

This process of death and resurrection goes on ceaselessly in all the kingdoms of nature; each death prepares the way for a greater loveliness and livingness, and each death (if you analyze it with care) prefaces resurrection in some form or another until we come to this final resurrection and into the position of final attainment.

I will not here elaborate upon this process of constant death followed by constant resurrection, but it is the evolutionary keynote and the evolutionary technique, and only because men love unduly that which is material and hate to lose contact with the form aspect of nature do they fear death. It is wise to remember that immortality is an aspect of the living spiritual being, and is not an end in itself, as men seek to make it. To the Knowers of Life such a phrase as "I am an immortal Soul" is not even true. To say "I am Life Itself and, therefore, am immortal" approaches closer to the truth, but even that sentence is (from the angle of the initiate) only a part of a larger truth. Symbolically, nature is ever portraying to us the essential facts in the annual progress of the four seasons, in the cycles of light and dark and in the wonder of the emergence of beauty or [732] color or useful function out of a seed which has struggled - because of its inherent life - into the light of the sun.

The fear of death is one of the great abnormalities or distortions of divine truth for which the Lords of Cosmic Evil are responsible. When in early Atlantean times they emerged from the place where they had been confined, and forced temporarily the retirement of the Great White Lodge to subjective levels, their first great act of distortion was to implant in human beings fear, beginning with the fear of death. From that time on, men have laid the emphasis upon death and not life, and have been ridden by fear all their days.

One of the initial acts of the reappearing Christ and of the Hierarchy will be to erase this particular fear and to confirm in peoples' minds the idea that incarnation and the taking of a form is the true place of darkness to the divine spirit which is man; it is death to the spirit temporarily, and imprisonment. Evolution, men will be taught, is in itself an initiatory process leading from one living experience to another, culminating in the fifth Initiation of Revelation and in the seventh Initiation of Resurrection.

At the fifth initiation it is revealed to the initiate that life in form is indeed death, and he then knows this truth in a manner which my few short words cannot convey. Form dies for him and he knows a new expansion of life and undergoes (if I may so express it) a new understanding of living. The seventh initiation is divorced from all considerations of form, and the initiate becomes a concentrated point of living light; he knows in a manner indescribable that life is all that Is, and that it is this life and its real fullness which makes him a part of That which lies outside of our planetary Life; he may now share in that extra-planetary Existence in which our planetary Logos lives and moves and has His being. This is the "life more abundantly" of which Christ spoke and which only an initiate of the seventh degree can understand or convey.

After the fifth initiation, the initiate has slowly been sensing the nature of this greater Life, the Life of [733] "The  Unknown God," as it has been called, which enfolds all livingness and all forms upon and within our planet and yet remains - greater than our planetary Life, more all-encompassing than is our planetary Logos, and Whose greatness, beauty, goodness and knowledge are to our planetary Logos what His life is to the lowest form of life in the third or animal kingdom. It is only by such inadequate comparisons that one can arrive at some faint comprehension of that great Whole in which our planet and our planetary Logos are but a part. It is this revelation which is accorded to the initiate at this seventh Initiation of Resurrection. He takes this initiation upon what (for lack of a better phrase) we call the "logoic plane," or on the level of consciousness of the Lord of the World.

At this initiation the Initiator is attended by two groups of Beings; one is a small group of the "Knowers of the Purpose, the Custodians of the Will," and the other is a much larger group, the personnel of which are known as "The Wise Ones and the Attractive Energies of Shamballa." I am of course endeavoring to translate certain brief words and intricate symbols into phrases which you can understand and which only dimly convey the true significance of Those Who function on this highest level of the cosmic physical plane. On this level, dynamic electricity is held as in a great reservoir of potency and is directed by these two groups which embody the will and the quality of the will of Deity, called by us the Will-to-Good. They are the directing Agents and are a correspondence to the ajna center of mankind, only here it is the ajna center of the planetary Logos, in the same sense as Shamballa is His head center, the Hierarchy His heart center and Humanity His creative throat center. Motion, planned activity and the seven great creative ray energies are directed into action by Them under the influence of the seven Ray Lords; the Ray Lords are embodied livingness qualified by the seven aspects of Love, but Who are Themselves of so high an order that They cannot function as directing creative Agents but work through Their trained and developed Representatives. [734]

Just as there is a group of Contemplative Initiates, called in the Eastern phraseology "Nirmanakayas," Who function in deep meditation at a point midway between the Hierarchy and Shamballa, so this much higher group of Ray Lords function in the deepest cosmic meditation between our planet, the Earth, and our sister planet, Venus. You would find it useful to read with care The Secret Doctrine and A Treatise on Cosmic Fire and refresh your minds as to this relationship. A lower correspondence to these two important groups has been forming midway between the Hierarchy and Humanity, and to it we give the name of the New Group of World Servers. All these three groups are fundamentally "transmitters of energy"; the two highest are exceedingly susceptible to cosmic impression and to the vibratory quality of the extra-planetary body of Avatars Who hold Themselves in readiness to function as destroying or building Energies in any part of our solar system and are under the direction of the Solar Logos.

The Avatar of Synthesis, Who is working in cooperation with the Christ, is one of Them. Bear in mind that these extra-planetary Avatars have not arrived at Their high state of spiritual unfoldment on our planet or even in our solar system. Their origin, source and spiritual relationships are a great mystery even to the planetary Logoi - to Whose help They go when the invocative appeal of any planet is adequate. Think not that They come to put wrong right or to arrest evil. A few, a very few, may do so, but They work along the line of the seven ray energies in the solar system and produce certain energy effects desired at any particular time; the constructive work of the Avatar of Synthesis will be apparent to you in the name He is known by; He is coming to the Earth in order to further the manifestation of unity, of oneness and of interrelation, and He comes, therefore, to wield and apply first ray energy. He will charge or galvanize the three groups - the directing Agents in Shamballa, the Nirmanakayas and the New Group of World Servers - with dynamic energy and, in a mysterious way, relate them to each other so that a [735] new synthesis and alignment will be present upon the Earth. All these Avatars embody energy to the extent that any particular planet is capable of receiving it.

These are interesting items of information but are only of value in so far as they convey to you a sense of planetary integrity and of solar synthesis, and present to you a closer spiritual interrelation in which you, as individuals, can share if you are linking your fate and service to that of the New Group of World Servers. Then you will be in the direct line of spiritual descent, of divine energy; in this thought you have the clue to the doctrine (so travestied and misused) of the Apostolic Succession. The details, the personnel and the techniques of the two higher groups lie beyond your ken; They work in cooperation with the planetary Logos Himself, and Those Who compose these groups are all initiates of degrees higher than the fifth. Most of the Nirmanakayas have taken the sixth and the seventh initiations, whilst the group which functions midway between the Earth and Venus have all taken the eighth and ninth initiations. Some of Them, as I mentioned earlier, aid the initiate of the seventh degree; a still larger group of them participate in the activities of the two final initiations.

This seventh initiation gives the initiate the right to "come and go in the courts of Shamballa" as Their work may dictate and Their service may require. It is there also that he goes for the needed periodic or cyclic rechargings which enable him to work.

There is one aspect of initiation which is apt to be overlooked. Every initiation is a process of energy transmission from a higher center of energy to a lower; every initiation charges the initiate with electrical force, and this charging and recharging is related to what H.P.B. calls "the mystery of electricity." These transmissions of energy enhance the magnetic-attractive force of the initiate, and at the same time are eliminative in their effects. In this fact lies a great planetary truth and the key to the science of planetary redemption. When the spiritual and the [736] electrical charging of the three major centers on the planet - Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity - has reached a high stage of receptive efficiency, a certain cosmic Avatar will "become conscious of the vibratory quality of the little point of light within the solar sphere" and will then "turn His gaze and send His force unto that point of light, and cosmic evil will be driven out and find no more a place on Earth."

Two more initiations remain to be considered, but so high is their potency and so mysterious their working that I find myself unable to deal with them in any way. They are:

Initiation VIII -  The Great Transition
Initiation IX - The Refusal

It will of course be apparent that the Transition referred to is related to the sixth Initiation of Decision, when the Master decides which of the seven Paths He will follow to His destined place. I know not what the Great Refusal involves. One thing only I know: It indicates the Initiate's last contact with what we understand as cosmic evil, manifesting on this planet and in relation to the planet. He is accorded this last contact, but such a contact is not based upon anything analogous to evil within Him, but is based upon the "planetary appeal for liberation." This appeal is so strong that the Initiate - because His heart is on fire with love - is tempted to go back upon His decision and stay upon the planet with Those World Saviors Who have chosen the Path of Earth Service. This He may not do, and in the sight of the assembled Initiates He makes His refusal and "does His whole duty as He journeys to the sacred Feet of the One Who stands at the end of His chosen Path."

Again, we come up against the outstanding planetary characteristic which has been presented to us under many differing words, i.e., the sensitivity which in some form or another distinguishes each initiation. We know it also as attraction, the sensitivity which moves outward until it attracts and draws to itself those forms of being which the initiate can instruct or aid; we know it also as the [737] overall activity conferring that spiritual sensory perception which makes the initiate aware - in a universal sense - of all that concerns the sphere of influence of the Will of God. This demonstrates particularly at the eighth Initiation of Transition. In the ninth Initiation of Refusal, this heightened spiritual perception is presented to us under the word "Existence," for existence is a livingness coupled with awareness which "finds its own place and the spiritual house of its Being which is the true home of all Beings, but of this - our planetary forms know naught." This the initiate has at last learnt to find, after the struggle with evil in himself, after the struggle with materialism and with evil in the human family, and after his struggle to aid in the "closing of the door where evil dwells" and his refusal to make any contact (even with good intention) with cosmic evil.

The planetary Lodge of Masters has absorbed Him and, at the final initiation, the Great Lodge on Sirius has recognized Him, and with the Black Lodge of Adepts He will have nothing to do. He will mitigate its evil effects and will struggle to offset its results, but He knows that the final overcoming of cosmic physical evil must be undertaken by Existences much further advanced than even the Members of the Council Chamber at Shamballa; certain solar Entities and certain great Lives from Sirius are dealing with the problem.

The theme of the living consciousness of the planetary Logos is forever and unchangeably the great Hierarchy of Being, that chain of life in which the smallest link is of importance, and the greatest link is related to the smallest through the electrical interplay of spiritual energy. There is naught - from one important angle of life - but Hierarchy, linking sun with sun, star with star, solar system with solar system, planet with planet and all planetary lives with each other. The major keynote of every single planetary initiation, even to the very highest, is Relationship. What other qualities may be revealed to the Initiate on other paths we know not, but the goal of all endeavor upon our planet is right relations between man and man [738] and between man and God, between all expressions of divine life, from the tiniest atom up and on into infinity.

From the standpoint of our planetary evolution, there is naught but love, naught but goodwill and the will-to-good. This exists already, and its true manifestation is nearer today than at any time in planetary history.

From stage to stage, from crisis to crisis, from point to point and from center to center, the life of God progresses, leaving greater beauty behind it as it moves through one form after another and from kingdom to kingdom. One attainment leads to another; out of the lower kingdoms man has emerged, and (as a result of human struggle) the kingdom of God will also appear. The bringing in of that kingdom is all that truly concerns humanity today, and all living processes in mankind are bent towards preparing each individual human being to pass into that kingdom. The knowledge that there may be greater manifestations than even the kingdom of God may be inspiring, but that is all. The manifestation of the Kingdom of God on Earth, the preparing of the way for its great Inaugurator, the Christ, the making possible the externalization of the Hierarchy upon Earth give us each and all a fully adequate task and something for which to live and work, to dream and to aspire.

The five volumes composing A Treatise on the Seven Rays are now completed, my brothers. It has been for me a labor of love and for A.A.B. a labor! It will suffice for study for many years to come.

May light and love and power shine upon your ways, and may you in due time and with as little delay as possible stand before the Initiator and join the ranks of Those Who - actively and consciously - love Their fellowmen, work as reconstructive and regenerative Energies and forever - Serve.

I sign myself, because it has been given out who I am, as the Master Djwhal Khul.

The Tibetan [741]