The fires approach the shadow, yet burn it not. The fire sheath is completed. Let the magician chant the words that blend the fire and water.
[601] We come now to the consideration of the last rule for magic. As we cast our minds back over this long series of instructions certain basic lines of teaching stand out with exceptional clarity, casting lesser lines of instruction into the shade. Students would do well to remember that in the reading of any basic textbook (and this one is so regarded) a definite procedure should be adopted. The student should first of all read the textbook as a whole, in order to grasp its outstanding points, its main lines of teaching, and the three or four propositions upon which its entire structure is founded. Having grasped these, he can then begin to deal with, and to isolate, those subsidiary points which serve to elucidate and clarify the main essentials. After that, he can successfully deal with the details. Students therefore would find it of interest to review these instructions, and gather out of them the major points; then they can proceed to fill in the secondary teachings, and finally arrange the detailed data under the various heads which have emerged. This, when completed would constitute a synopsis of the book and would fix the knowledge it contains firmly in the student’s memory.
One of the main teachings which can be seen most clearly in all instructions of a truly esoteric character, concerns the attitude of the student of the occult. He is supposed to be dealing with things subjective and esoteric; he aims to be a worker in white magic. As such, he must assume and consistently hold the position of the Observer, detached from the mechanism of observation [602] and contact; he must recognise himself as essentially a spiritual entity, different in nature, objectives and methods of working from the bodies which he considers it wise to occupy temporarily and to employ. He must realise his unity and lines of contact with all similar workers and thus arrive at a conscious awareness of his position in the spiritual hierarchy of Beings. So much misinformation has been spread abroad and so much emphasis has been unwisely laid upon status and position in the so-called hierarchy of souls, that sane and balanced disciples now seek to turn their thoughts elsewhere and to eliminate as far as may be all thought of grades and spheres of activity. It is possible, in the swing of the pendulum, to swing too far in the opposite direction and to discount these stages of activity. Do not misunderstand me however; I do not suggest that an attempt be made to place people and to decide where they stand upon the evolutionary ladder. This has been most foolishly done in the past, with much dishonour to the subject, so much so that, in the minds of the public, the whole matter has fallen into disrepute. If these stages are regarded sanely for what they are—states of extended consciousness, and grades of responsibility—then the danger of personality reaction to the terms “accepted disciple, initiate, adept, master” would be negligible and much trouble would be eliminated. It must ever be remembered that individual status is rigidly kept to oneself, and the point of evolution (which may be truthfully recognised as lying ahead of that of the average citizen) will be demonstrated by a life of active unselfish service and by the manifestation of an illumined vision which is ahead of the racial idea.
In the gathering together in the world at this time of the new Group of World Workers, true caution must be preserved. Each worker is responsible for himself and his service and for no one else. It is wise to gauge and [603] approximate the evolutionary status, not upon claims made, but upon work accomplished and the love and wisdom shown. Judgment should be based upon an evidenced knowledge of the plan as it works out in the wise formulation of the next step ahead for the human race; upon a manifested esoteric sense, and upon an influence or an auric power which is wide, constructive and inclusive.
You ask me to define more clearly what I mean by the words “esoteric sense”. I mean essentially the power to live and to function subjectively, to possess a constant inner contact with the soul and the world in which it is found, and this must work out subjectively through love, actively shown; through wisdom, steadily outpoured; and through that capacity to include and to identify oneself with all that breathes and feels which is the outstanding characteristic of all truly functioning sons of God. I mean, therefore, an interiorly held attitude of mind which can orient itself at will in any direction. It can govern and control the emotional sensitiveness, not only of the disciple himself, but of all whom he may contact. By the strength of his silent thought, he can bring light and peace to all. Through that mental power, he can tune in on the world thought, and upon the realm of ideas and can discriminate between and choose those mental agencies and those concepts which will enable him, as a worker under the plan, to influence his environment and to clothe the new ideals in that thought matter which will enable them to be more easily recognised in the world of ordinary everyday thinking and living. This attitude of mind will enable the disciple also to orient himself to the world of souls and in that high place of inspiration and of light, discover his fellow-workers, communicate with them and—in union with them—collaborate in the working out of divine intentions.
This esoteric sense is the main need of the aspirant at [604] this time of the world history. Until aspirants have somewhat grasped it and can use it, they can never form part of the New Group; they can never work as white magicians, and these Instructions will remain for them theoretical and mainly intellectual, instead of being practical and effective.
To cultivate this inner esoteric sense, meditation is needed, and continuous meditation, in the early stages of development. But as time elapses and a man grows spiritually, this daily meditation will perforce give way to a steady spiritual orientation and then meditation as now understood and needed will no longer be required. The detachment between a man and his usable forms will be so complete, that he will live ever in the “seat of the Observer”, and from that point and attitude will direct the activities of the mind and of the emotions and of the energies which make physical expression possible and useful.
The first stage in this development and culture of the esoteric sense consists in the holding of the attitude of constant detached observation.
The new Group of World Workers might well be regarded in its outer ranks as a trained body of organised observers. I would divide the group into three divisions and I do so in order that aspirants and chelas all over the world may be guided in their knowledge as to where they stand individually and may, in sincerity and truth, begin to work with intelligence. They can be thus aided to place themselves.
First, there are the Organised Observers. These aspirants are learning to do two things. They are learning to practice that detachment which will enable them to live as souls in the world of daily affairs and to understand the real significance of the words: to work without attachment. They are also, secondly, those students of world affairs in one or other of the seven departments [605] earlier referred to when I brought the new group to the attention of the world. They are studying the signs of the times. They investigate the great drama of history in order to discover its main trend and so express to the ordinary academic world and to the thinkers of the race what they see and understand.
Running all through human history is a triple thread and in the interplay of these three threads the story of evolution is to be found. One thread guides the thoughts of man as he deals with the development of the form aspect, with the racial trends, and it shows how undeviatingly the forms of races, of countries, and of the fauna and flora of our planetary life have kept pace with the needs of the slowly emerging sons of God. The second thread leads us to an understanding of the growth of consciousness, and indicates emergence from the instinctual stage into that of intellectual awareness, and on to that intuitional illumination which is the present goal of consciousness.
The third thread concerns the Plan itself and here we enter the realm of the truly unknown. What the plan is, and what the goal, is as yet totally unrealised except by the highest adept and the most exalted of the sons of God. Until the illumined mind and the power of intuitional response are developed in the human family, it is not possible for us to grasp the basic concepts which are to be found in the mind of God Himself. Until the highest point of the Mount of Initiation has been climbed, it is not possible to vision the Promised Land as it is. Until the limitations—the necessary limitations—of the three worlds have been surmounted and man can function as a free soul in the spiritual kingdom, that which lies beyond that kingdom must remain hid to man just as much as the human state of being and awareness remains a sealed book to the animal. This is a salutary and needed lesson which all disciples should grasp. [606]
But observers of times and seasons can make rapid progress in intuitional growth if they persevere in their meditation, train their intellects, and endeavour always to think in terms of universals. Let them look at the historical retrospect as part of the emerging preparation which will inaugurate the future. Let them take heart of grace as they recognise the fact that the kingdom of souls is steadily becoming a physical plane phenomenon (do I speak paradoxically?) and will be known eventually as a kingdom of nature and considered so by the scientists before two centuries have passed away. These “Organised Observers” form the outer circle of the new group and their keynote is synthesis, the elimination of non-essentials and the organising of human knowledge. Working in the many fields of human awareness, they are distinguished by a non-sectarian spirit, and by an ability to deal with foundational essentials and to link up varying departments of human investigation into one organised and unified whole.
Second, the next group in the new Group of World Workers is that of the telepathic communicators . These are much fewer in number and are distinguished by their relatively close interrelation with each other. They are primarily a linking or a bridging group. They are gathered out of the more exoteric circle of the organised observers, but have a wider scope of service than they have, for they work in a more truly esoteric manner. They are in touch with each other, and with the organised observers, but they are likewise in touch with the group of men and women who stand at the very centre or heart of the world group. Their work is threefold and very difficult. Steadily they have to cultivate that detachment which characterises the soul which knows itself. Steadily they take the knowledge and information accumulated by the organised observers and adapt it to the need of the world, and give out the teaching. They work effectively [607] but always from behind the scenes, and though they may be known in the world in this early stage of the work of the new group, and though they may be therefore recognised as teachers, writers and workers, later they will recede more and more into the background and will work through the outer circle. They will inspire them, and will place increasing responsibility upon their shoulders; they will nurture the growth of telepathic interplay in the world and thus weave those strands which will eventually bridge the present gap between the seen and the unseen and so make the new world possible—a world in which death as we know it will be abolished and a trained universal continuity of consciousness be established. That is why the emphasis is laid in training the members of this group in the new group, upon telepathic sensitivity. The members of this second circle of workers are taught to develop sensitiveness in three directions: to the thoughts of men in physical incarnation; to the minds of those who have passed over and who are still in mind bodies, and thirdly to the group of spiritual Beings who stand as the custodians of the evolutionary process and through whose hands the three threads of developing life steadily pass.
Their task is exceedingly hard, far harder than that of the first group and harder even than that of the last, for they lack as yet certain powers and needed experience. Their centre of consciousness is the intuition and not that of the synthesising intellect, and their state of awareness is wide and inclusive. They therefore can suffer more than the majority, and few there are who are not at this stage too sensitive for their own comfort and too responsive to vibrations emanating from the form aspect in all three worlds. Their state of detachment is not yet complete. They bridge, and therefore support infinite problems and respond to world pain. They see, if I may so express it, too much, for theirs is not yet the privilege [608] of visioning with clarity the goal that lies two hundred years ahead. They sense the present need. They are responsive to the new tide of spiritual force which is flowing in. They carry the weight of humanity on their shoulders, and because they are somewhat coordinated, they live in all three worlds at once, and this few can do. They are aware of the urgency of the present opportunity and also of the apathy of the many and for these reasons they work under terrific pressure.
Third, the innermost group of all is that of the members of the Hierarchy itself. I care not the least whether these liberated souls are recognised as Elder Brethren of the race, as Masters of the Wisdom, as the Cloud of Witnesses, as the Christ and His Church, as Supermen or under any terms which the inherited tendencies of humanity or tradition may choose to call them. They themselves care less. The petty quarrels as to their personalities and names and status matter not at all. But they are the intelligent forces of the planet; they express, because of their state of expanded consciousness, the Mind of God; they embody the intelligent principle, immutable and unchanging, and through them flows the energy which we call the Will of God, for lack of better understanding. They know far more of the plan than do the two outer circles in the new Group of World Workers, for they see clearly just what is the next step which planetary evolution will guide the race to take during the next two hundred years. They do not occupy themselves with idle speculations as to the ultimate goal at the close of a world age. This may surprise you in view of the many speculations of the uninitiate. But so it is. They know that there is a time and a season for all things, and looking ahead and comprehending intuitively the goal for all kingdoms in the immediate future, all their united effort is bent to one end—the cultivating of the intuitional telepathic responsiveness of the Communicators who bridge the gap [609] between them and the physical world. These latter in their turn seek to employ the Observers, Knowers, Communicators, and Observers—all working in a close if oft-times unrealised unity, and all responsive (according to their degree) to the impulsion of the Mind and Will of the Logos, the solar Deity.
Beyond this triple group stand the Thrones, Principalities, and Powers with whom we need not concern ourselves. On the other side stands humanity torn by the disasters of the past world war, bewildered by the social, religious and economic pressure of the present, sensitive and responsive to the influences and energies pouring in on the new tide of the Aquarian Age; unable to understand and explain, and conscious only of a longing for liberty of thought and of physical condition, snatching at every chance to gain knowledge and so providing a fertile field wherein this new group can work.
We have seen that the objective of all inner training is to develop the esoteric sense, and to unfold that inner sensitive awareness which will enable a man to function, not only as a Son of God in physical incarnation but as one who also possesses that continuity of consciousness which will enable him to be interiorly awake as well as exteriorly active. This is accomplished through developing the power to be a trained Observer. I commend these words to all aspirants. It is persistence in the attitude of right observation that brings about detachment from form, a subsequent power to use form at will and with the end in view of furthering hierarchical plans and consequent usefulness to humanity. When this power to observe has been somewhat brought about, we then have the aspirant joining that intermediate group of trained Communicators who stand between the aforementioned groups (the exoteric groups and the group of spiritual workers on the subjective plane), interpreting the one to the other. It is well to remember that even the members [610] of the Hierarchy profit by the opinions and advice of those disinterested disciples who can be trusted to rightly recognise and interpret the need of the hour.
When this stage has been reached and a man is in conscious touch with the plan then true magical work can begin. Men and women, who are beginning to live as souls, can undertake the magical work of the new age, and can inaugurate those changes and that rebuilding which will bring about the manifestation of the new heavens and the new earth, to which all the Scriptures of the world bear eloquent testimony. They can then work with forces in etheric matter and so bring into being those physical plane creations and organisations which will more adequately embody the life of God in the Aquarian Age which is now upon us. It is to this stage that Rule XV refers.
These words mark the consummation of the magical work, and are equally true of the magical work of a solar Logos, of a planetary Logos, of an incarnating soul, or of that advanced human being who has learnt to work as a white magician under the plan of the great White Lodge. It, of course, refers to the work of those who through intellectual achievement have learnt to work as magicians but on what is called the black side, for the same rules of magical work hold good for both groups, though the motivating impulse differs. But with the work of the black magician we have naught to do. That which they do is powerful in transient effect, using the word transient in its cyclic sense; but these effects must in due time cease, and be subordinated to the claims and the work of the bringers of light and of life.
The shadow stage is the dim and uncertain period which is found prior to dense and concrete manifestation. It does not here refer to the shadow as the counterpart in physical manifestation of the soul. It refers to one of the intermediate stages in the creative process. [611] It is technically called the “stage of the waxing and the waning of the nebulae”, and this stage precedes the appearance of the more stabilised and relatively static exoteric form. In the formation of a solar system, this is recognised as a preliminary period and can be seen going on in the starry heavens. It indicates the stage wherein the Great Magician is only in process of carrying forward His work; He has not yet finally chanted those mystic words or those spiritual sounds which will produce concretion and the tangible appearance of form.
The Secret Doctrine refers to the three fires, and these are of ancient usage; the Vishnu Purana gives these fires exactly the same nomenclature as does H.P.B. who borrowed the terms from the ancient Scripture. Electric Fire, Solar Fire and Fire by Friction, when brought into conjunction, produce the manifested macrocosm and microcosm, and to this conjunction my earlier Treatise on Cosmic Fire referred. These fires are esoterically one fire but this fire produces, according to the witnessing consciousness (itself at varying stages of evolutionary development) the effect of differentiated fiery essence. This fiery essence can be known as Life itself, or as the “Self-shining Light,” or it can be known as the active form inherent in the one substance which underlies all phenomena. In this final rule for magic the fires which are considered are those of matter itself which approach the shadow and (as the Old Commentary symbolically expresses it) “rise up from the second darkness at the call of the spirit of light and meet in their appointed place that which will absorb them and raise them to the fiery point from whence the fires of living light and radiant life have come.”
The phrase in Rule XV which says “that blend the fire and water” has reference to the effect produced at the [612] point of condensation, after the great words bringing about that effect have been pronounced. This rule is almost incapable of explanation and it is not permitted to me to give to you the words that effect this process. Only some hints may be given which will serve to encourage the true aspirant to think and may, alas, only irritate the casual thinker who seeks easy and quick methods and formulas through which to work. Heat and moisture are present in the production of all forms of life, but the great mystery (and almost the final mystery to be explained to the adept) is how the merging of three fires can produce moisture or the watery element. This problem and this phenomenon constitute the basis of the Great Illusion to which the ancient books refer; through the agency of the combination, the enveloping maya is produced. There is, in reality, no such thing as water; the watery sphere, the astral plane, is, could you but realise it, an illusory effect and has no real existence. Yet—in time and space and to the understanding of the witnessing consciousness—it is more real than that which it hides and conceals. I cannot make this clearer in words. It is only possible to suggest to the intelligent student that the light of his soul (reflected in his mind) and the energy of form (as expressed in his etheric body) are for him, in the realm of temporary duality, his two basic realities. The watery nature of his astral experience in which these two aspects of divinity seem (again illusion, be it noted) to meet and work is but a glamorous phenomenon and in an occult sense is not based on fact. Any true aspirant knows that his spiritual progress can be gauged in terms of his freedom from this illusion and of his release into the clear air and pure light of his spiritual consciousness. In its consciousness, the animal kingdom works with the second of these two basic realities, and for it the life of the etheric body and the force which governs the animal or material nature are the [613] prime expression of truth. Yet the animal is beginning to sense dimly the world of illusion and possesses certain psychic powers and senses which recognise yet fail to interpret the astral plane. The veil of illusion is beginning to fail before the eyes of the animal but it knows it not. The human being has wandered for ages in the world of illusion, for it is of his own creating. Yet man in his turn, from the standpoint of consciousness, has contact with both the realities and learns little by little to dissipate the illusion by the steady growth of the radiant light of the soul. May I pause here to remind you that duality is only a stage on the evolutionary arc, leading eventually to the realisation of unity.
The veil of illusion resembles the moment before dawn when the world of familiar things is seen through the fogs and the streamers of mist which veil the world form and also veil the rising sun. Then we have that half-time, that mysterious and vague period when the real is hidden by the unreal; then we have that weird and distorted condition when forms are not seen as they truly are but lose their shape and colour and perspective. True vision is then impossible. The astral stage and the vast cycle of time in which the great illusion holds sway can therefore be judged, from the above symbolic approach, to be but temporary and transient. It is not the stage of a definitely divine manifestation; it is not the stage of pure undimmed awareness; it is not the stage of the perfected work. It is that period of time wherein the half-Gods walk; it is the time wherein truth is only dimly sensed, the vision only vaguely and occasionally seen; it is the stage of the half-realised Plan, and when one works on partial knowledge, difficulty and mistakes are bound to supervene. It is also the stage of distortion and of constant mutability: whilst it is in evidence we have the apparently ceaseless pulling hither and thither by forces, working blindly and seemingly without purpose. [614] As far as humanity is concerned, it is the time wherein man is enveloped in mist and fog, and lost in the miasmas arising out of the ground (symbol of the foundational nature of the animal kingdom). Yet at times this stage is seen to be unreal as the dawning light of the spiritual consciousness pierces through the surrounding darkness. It is the interlude between the dominance of the animal consciousness and that of the spiritual, and this interlude of astral illusion is only known in the human family. There is no astral plane except in the consciousness of the fourth kingdom in nature, for man is “under illusion” in a sense different to the conscious awareness of any other kingdom—subhuman or superhuman.
I despair in making my meaning clear. How can one who is subject to the illusions of the senses, as are all human creatures, conceive of the state of consciousness of those who have freed themselves from the illusions of the astral plane or realise the state of awareness of those forms of life which have not yet developed astral consciousness? It is the dual nature of the mind which causes this illusion, for the mind of man presents to him the keys of the kingdom of heaven or locks upon him the door of entrance into the world of spiritual realities. It is the concretising unprincipled mind which brings about all the troubles of humanity. It is the sense of I-ness and the spirit of separative individuality which has brought humanity to its present condition, and yet even that is a part of the great developing process. It is the consciousness of duality, and the subjectively realised and synchronously acknowledged sense of “I am God” and “I am form” which has plunged mankind into the great illusion.
Yet it is this very illusion which renders up to man eventually the secret password into the kingdom of God and brings about his release. It is this maya itself which [615] serves to guide him into truth and knowledge; it is on the plane of the astral that the heresy of separateness has to be overcome, and it is on the field of Kurukshetra that the individual aspiring Arjuna, and the cosmic Arjuna learn the lesson that the knower and the known are one. The secret science of the Master of the Wisdom is the secret of how to dissipate the fogs and mist and darkness and gloom which are produced by the union of the fires in the early stages. The secret of the Master is the discovery that there is no astral plane; he finds that the astral plane is a figment of the imagination and has been created through the uncontrolled use of the creative imagination and the misuse of the magical powers. The work of the hierarchy is primarily to bring to an end the shadows and to dispel the moisture; the aim of the Masters is to let in the light of the soul and to show that spirit and matter are the two realities which constitute the unity and that it is only in time and in space and through the cyclic misuse of the magical and psychic powers that the astral plane of the great illusion has come into being and is now so real a thing that it is—in a certain sense—more real (to man) than the kingdom of light and the kingdom of form. In one most interesting sense it is true that because the human being is a soul and because the light of the soul is found within him and is gradually growing into fuller radiance this itself produces the illusion. Because of this illusion, the magical work has been carried forward along wrong lines and has been based on wrong motives and fitted into a scheme which is stronger than the average worker, for the whole force of the world illusion is against all the efforts of the beginner in white magic.
The rules therefore end with the statement that the magician chants the words that “blend the fire and water”—but these are the rules for the aspirant. The rules for initiates of a paralleling kind end with the [616] words: “Let the initiate sound the note that unifies the fires”. This is significant and of much encouragement to the beginner in the magical work. He is still perforce working on the astral plane and he cannot possibly avoid so doing for much time. The mark of growth for him is the steady withdrawal of his consciousness from that plane and his attainment of mental poise and of mental awareness, followed by creative work on the mental plane. There is an interesting and ancient proclamation found in the archives of the adepts which covers some of the stages in the magical work, couched of course in symbolic form:
“Let the magician stand within the great world sea. Let him immerse himself in water and there let him stand his ground. Let him look down into the watery depths. Nothing is seen in form correct. Nothing appears but water. Beneath his feet it moves, around him, and above his head. He cannot speak; he cannot see. Truth disappears in water.
“Let the magician stand within the stream. Around him water flows. His feet stand firm on land and rock, but all the forms he sees are lost in the grey immensity of mist. The water is around his neck, but, feet on rock and head in air, he maketh progress. All is distortion still. He knows he stands, but where to go and how to go he knows not, nor understands. He sounds the words of magic, but muffled, dim and lost, the mist returns them to him, and no true note sounds forth. Around him are the many sounds of many forms, which swallow up his sound.
“Let the magician stand in watery mist, free of the running stream. Some outlines dim appear. He sees a little distance on the Path. Flickers of light break through the clouds of mist and fog. He hears his voice; its note is clearer and more true. The forms of other pilgrims can be seen. Behind him is the sea. Beneath his feet is seen the stream. Around him mist and fog. Above his head no sky is seen nor sun.
“Let the magician stand on higher ground, but in the rain. The drops pour down upon him; the thunder breaks; the lightning flashes in the sky. But as the rain pours down, [617] it dissipates the mist, it washes clean the form and clears the atmosphere.
“Thus forms are seen and sounds are heard, though dim as yet, for loud the thunder roars and heavy is the sound of failing rain. But now the sky is seen; the sun breaks forth and in between the drifting clouds, expanses of the blue of heaven cheer the tired eyes of the disciple.
“Let the magician stand upon the mountain top. Beneath him in the valleys and the plains, water and streams and clouds are seen. Above him is the blue of heaven, the radiance of the rising sun, the pureness of the mountain air. Each sound is clear. The silence speaks with sound.”
Then come the highly significant phrases which give the picture of the consummation:
“Let the magician stand within the sun, looking from thence upon the ball of earth. From that high point of peace serene let him sound forth the words that will create the forms, build worlds and universes and give his life to that which he has made. Let him project the forms created on the mountain top in such a way that they can cleave the clouds which circle round the ball of earth, and carry light and power. These shall dispel the veil of forms which hide the true abode of earth from the eye of the beholder.”
Such is the end of the magical work. It involves the discovery that the astral plane and the astral light so-called are but the cinematographs created by man himself. What man has created he can also destroy.
More as to the magical work I may not at this time give. The words that blend may not under any circumstances be given except under the oath of secrecy which governs automatically the pledged disciple; these oaths are given to no man but are rendered by the aspirant to his own soul when that soul has conveyed to him the words. He finds them for himself as the result of tireless effort and endeavour. He knows that these formulas are the prerogative of all souls and can only be known and safely used by those who have realised the Self as One. He therefore pledges himself never to reveal these [618] words to any one who is not functioning as a soul or who is wandering blinded in the vale of illusion. From this automatic response to knowledge by the knowers of the race, the Hierarchy of Adepts has gathered its personnel.
In closing this treatise on the magical work of the individual aspirant I seek to do two things:
1. Indicate the immediate goal for students in this century, and summarise time steps that they must take.
2. Indicate the things which must be eliminated and overcome and the penalties which overtake the probationer and the disciple when mistakes are made and faults are condoned.
First of all, the immediate goal must be well recognised, if lost effort is to be avoided and real progress achieved. Many well-intentioned aspirants are prone to give undue time to their registered aspirations, and to the formulation of their plans for service. The world aspiration is now so strong and humanity is now so potently orienting itself towards the Path that sensitive people everywhere are being swept into a vortex of spiritual desire, and ardently long for the life of liberation, of spiritual undertakings and of recorded soul consciousness. Their recognition of their own latent possibilities is now so strong that they over-estimate themselves; they give much time to picturing themselves as the ideal mystic or in deploring their lack of spiritual achievement or their failure to achieve a sphere of service. Thus they become lost, on the one hand, in the vague and misty realms of a beautiful idealism, of colourful hypotheses, and of delightful theories; on the other hand, they become engulfed in a dramatisation of themselves as centres of power in a field of fruitful service; they [619] draw up, mentally, plans for world endeavour to see themselves as the pivotal point around which that service will move; they frequently make an effort to work out these plans and produce an organisation, for instance on the physical plane, which is potentially valuable but equally potentially useless, even if not dangerous. They fail to realise that the motivating impulse is primarily due to what the Hindu teachers call a “sense of I-ness”, and that their work is founded on a subjective egoism which must—and will—be eliminated before true service can be rendered.
This tendency to aspiration and to service is right and good and should be seen as forming part of the coming universal consciousness and equipment of the race as a whole. It is steadily coming to the surface owing to the growing strength of the Aquarian influence which (from about the year A.D. 1640) has been gaining in potency and is producing two effects: it is breaking down the crystallised old forms of the Piscean age, and is stimulating the creative faculties, as they express themselves in group concepts, and group plans. As all of you well know, this is the cause of the present disturbed conditions, and these conditions can be summed up in the words: impersonalisation wherein the state, group or groups are regarded as of more importance than the individual and his rights; amalgamation , which is the tendency to fuse, blend, and cohere and to produce that interrelation which must eventually mark the intercourse of humanity and produce that “synthesis of all the single men”, which Browning so truly remarks is the goal of the evolutionary process and marks the conclusion of the journey of the divine prodigal; and sensitive intercommunication between units, groups and combinations of groups, both on the subjective and objective sides of manifestation. In these three words—impersonalisation, amalgamation, and intercommunication—you [620] have summed up for you the outstanding phenomena which are appearing among us at this time. Students are urged to consider the plan as it is thus expressing itself, and to study these growing tendencies in human affairs. The fact that they are so prominent will appear, if the student will take the trouble to consider the panorama of history; he will then note that even the history of five hundred years ago will reveal to him the fact that at that time great individuals were the prominent factors, and that history is concerned largely with the doings of powerful personalities who cast their spell over their time and age; then isolation and separateness governed human affairs and every man fought for his own land and every man forgot his brother and lived selfishly; then there was little interrelation between different races or between human families, and there was no real means of communication, except that of personal contact, which was frequently impossible.
Students should therefore ponder on these words which will be found to become of increasing importance during the next fifty years. This is far enough ahead for the average student to look and to plan, and in their recognition of this phase of the working out of the divine Purpose, they would do well to study their individual life expression and to ask themselves the following questions:
1. Are they wasting time in mystical dreams, or are they occupied in a practical application of the sensed spiritual truths, thus making them part of their daily experience?
2. Do they find that their reaction to the growing impersonality of the age is one of resentment, or do they find that this relatively new attitude of personal detachment is tending to solve their own personal problems? [621]
3. Can they register an increasing ability to sense the thoughts and ideas of others, and do they find that they are becoming more sensitive and therefore more able to swing into the great tide of intercommunication?
4. How much is the faculty of dramatisation governing their daily life? Do they find that they are the centre of the universe, which revolves automatically around them, or are they working at the problem of decentralising themselves and at absorption in the whole?
These and other questions which will arise may serve to indicate the responsiveness of the aspirant to the coming in of the new age.
In this treatise on individual development and on astral control, a vision has been given and a rule of life expounded which holds in it the needed instruction for the interlude between the two great ages—the Piscean and the Aquarian. A part of the underlying purpose has been expressed in words—a purpose which is recognised by many all over the world and which is working out in practically every department of human life. It is subconsciously registered and intuitively followed by many who know nothing of the technicalities of the plan. Those who guide the human race are not particularly concerned as to the success of the emerging new conditions. That is most definitely assured, and the growth of human realisation and of the spiritual consciousness of non-separateness cannot be arrested. The problem is what means to continue to employ to bring these desired ends about in such a way that the form nature can be keyed up and prepared to handle its new responsibilities, and deal with its new knowledges without undue suffering and those painful cleavages and hours of agony which attract more attention than the more subtle and [622] successful growth of divine awareness. Every time there is a tendency towards synthesis and understanding in the world, every time the lesser is merged in the greater and the unit is blended in the whole, every time great and universal concepts make their impact upon the minds of the masses, there is a subsequent disaster and cataclysm and breaking down of the form aspect and of that which might prevent those concepts becoming physical plane facts. This is therefore the problem of the hierarchical workers:—how to avert the dreaded suffering and carry man along whilst the tidal wave of this spiritual realisation sweeps over the world and does its needed work. Hence the present call to service which is sounding like a trumpet in the ear of all attentive disciples.
This call to service usually meets with a response, but that response is coloured by the personality of the aspirant and tinctured with his pride, and his ambition. Need is truly realised. The desire to meet the need is genuine and sincere; the longing to serve and lift is real. Steps are taken which are intended by the aspirant to enable him to fit in with the plan. But the trouble with which we on the inner side have perforce to deal is, that though there is no question as to willingness and desire to serve, the characters and temperaments are such that well nigh insuperable difficulties are presented. Through these aspirants we have to work, and the material they present gives us much trouble frequently.
These latent characteristics often do not make their appearance until after the service has been undertaken. That they are there, the watching guides may suspect, but even they have not the right to withhold opportunity. When there is this delayed appearance the tragedy is that many others suffer besides the aspirant concerned. As the human fabric makes itself felt and stands out of the mist of idealism, of lovely plans and much talk and arranging, many are in the meantime attracted by synchronous [623] idealism, and gather around the server. When the hidden weaknesses appear, they suffer as well as he. The method of the Great Ones, which is to seek out those who have trained themselves somewhat in sensitive response and to work through them, carries with it certain dangers. The ordinary well-meaning aspirant is not in such danger as the more advanced and active disciple. He is in danger in three directions and can be swept off his feet in three ways:
1. His whole nature is under undue stimulation on account of his inner contacts and the spiritual forces with which he is in touch, and this carries with it real danger, for he hardly knows as yet how to handle himself, and is scarcely aware of the risk entailed.
2. The people with whom he is working, in their turn, make his problem. Their greed, their adulation, and praise, and their criticism tend to becloud his way. Because he is not sufficiently detached and spiritually advanced, he walks bemused in a cloud of thought-forms, and knows it not. Thus he loses his way and wanders from the original intent and again he knows it not.
3. His latent weaknesses must emerge under the pressure of the work, and inevitably he will show signs of cracking at times, if I may use such a word. The personality faults become strengthened as he seeks to carry his particular form of service to the world. I refer to that service which is self-sought and formulated on a background of personal ambition and love of power, even if only partially recognised or not recognised at all. He is under strain naturally, and—like a man carrying a heavy load up a steep hill—he discovers points of strain, and evinces a tendency to break [624] down physically, or to lower his ideal so as to conform to weaknesses.
To all this must be added the strain of the period itself, and the general condition of unhappy humanity. This subconsciously has its effect on all disciples, and upon all who are now working in the world. Some are showing signs of physical pressure, though the inner life remains poised and normal, sane and rightly oriented. Others are breaking up emotionally and this produces two effects according to the point of development of the aspirant to service. He is either, through the strain, learning detachment, and this curiously enough is what might be called the “defense mechanism” of the soul in this present period of world unfoldment, or he is becoming increasingly nervous and is on the way to become a neurotic. Others, again, are feeling the pressure in the mental body. They become bewildered in some cases and no clear truth appears. They then work on without inspiration, and because they know it to be right and they also have the rhythm of work. Others are grasping opportunity as they see it and, to do so, fall back on innate self-assertion (which is the outstanding fault of the mental types) and build up a structure around their service, and construct a form which in reality embodies what they desire, what they think to be right, but which is separative and the child of their minds and not the child of their souls. Some, in their turn, more potent and more coordinated, feel the pressure of the entire personality; the versatile psychic nature responds both to need and to the theory of the plan; they realise their truly valuable assets and know they have somewhat to contribute. They are still, however, so full of what is called personality that their service is gradually and steadily stepped down to the level of that personality, and is consequently coloured by their personality reactions, their likes and dislikes, [625] and their individual life tendencies and habits. These eventually assert themselves and there is then a worker, doing good work but spoiling it all by this unrealised separateness and individual methods. This means that such a worker gathers to himself only those whom he can subordinate and govern. His group is not coloured by the impulses of the new age, but by the separative instincts of the worker at the centre. The danger here is so subtle that much care must be taken by a disciple in self-analysis. It is so easy to be glamoured by the beauty of one’s own ideals and vision, and by the supposed rectitude of one’s own position, and yet all the time be influenced subjectively by love of personal power, individual ambition, jealousy of other workers, and the many traps which catch the feet of the unwary disciple.
But if true impersonality is cultivated, if the power to stand steady is developed, if every situation is handled in a spirit of love and if there is a refusal to take hasty action and to permit separation to creep in, then there will be the growth of a group of true servers, and the gathering out of those who can materialise the plan and bring to birth the new age and its attendant wonders.
To do this, there must be courage of the rarest kind. Fear holds the world in thrall, and no one is exempt from its influence. For the aspirant and for the disciple are two kinds of fear which require to be especially considered. The fears that we dealt with in the earlier part of the treatise, and the fears that are inherent, as you know, in existence itself are familiar to all of us. They have their root in the instinctual nature (economic fears, fears arising out of the sex life, physical fear and terror, fear of the unknown, with that dominating fear of death which colours so many lives) and have been the subject of much psychological investigation. With them I do not seek to deal. They are to be overcome by the life of the soul as it permeates and transforms the daily life, [626] and by the refusal of the aspirant to accord them any recognition. The first method builds towards future strength of character, and prevents the coming in of any new fears. They cannot exist when the soul is consciously controlling life and its situations. The second negatives the old thought forms and brings about eventually their destruction through lack of nourishment. A dual process is therefore carried forward, producing a genuine manifestation of the qualities of the spiritual man and a growing freedom from the thralldom of age-old fear concepts. The student finds himself becoming steadily detached from the prime governing instincts which have hitherto served to weld him into the general scheme of the elementary planetary life. It might be valuable here to point out that all the major instincts have their roots in that peculiar quality of the planetary life,—fear reactions, leading to activity of some kind. As you know the psychologists list five main and dominant instincts, and we will very briefly touch upon them.
The instinct of self-preservation has its roots in an innate fear of death; through the presence of this fear, the race has fought its way to its present point of longevity and endurance. The sciences which concern themselves with the preservation of life, the medical knowledge of the day, and the achievements of civilised comfort have all grown out of this basic fear. All has tended to the persistence of the individual, and to his preserved condition of being. Humanity persists, as a race and as a kingdom in nature, as a result of this fear tendency, this instinctual reaction of the human unit to self-perpetuation.
The instinct of sex has its main root in the fear of separateness and of isolation, and in a revolt against separative unity on the physical plane, against aloneness; and it has resulted in the carrying forward of the race and [627] the persistence and propagation of the forms through which the race can come into manifestation.
The herd instinct can easily be seen to have its root in a similar reaction; for the sense of safety and for convinced assured security—based on numerical aggregations—men have always sought their own kind and herded themselves together for defense and for economic stability. Out of this instinctual reaction of the race as a whole, our modern civilisation is the result; its vast centres, its huge cities and its massed tenements have emerged, and we have modern herding, carried to the n th degree.
The fourth great instinct, that of self-assertion , is also based on fear; it connotes the fear of the individual that he will fail of recognition and thus lose much that would otherwise be his. As time has progressed, the selfishness of the race has thus grown; its sense of acquisitiveness has developed and the power to grasp has emerged (the “will to power” in some form or another) until today we have the intense individualism and the positive sense of importance which have produced much of the modern economic and national troubles. We have fostered self-determination, self-assertion and self-interest until we are presented with a well-nigh insuperable problem. But out of it all, much good has come and will come, for no individual is of value until he realises that value for himself, and then with definiteness sacrifices the acquired values for the good of the whole.
The instinct to enquire in its turn is based on fear of the unknown, but out of this fear has emerged—as a result of age-long enquiry—our present educational and cultural systems and the entire structure of scientific investigation.
These tendencies, based on fear have (because man is divine) acted as a tremendous stimulation of his entire nature, and have carried him forward to his present point [628] of wide comprehension and usefulness; they have produced our modern civilisation with all its defects and yet with all its indicated divinity. Out of these instincts carried forward into infinity, and out of the process of their transmutation into their higher correspondences the full flower of soul expression will emerge. I would like to point out the following:
The instinct of self-presentation finds its consummation in assured immortality, and of this the work undertaken by the spiritualists and psychic investigators right down the ages is the mode of approach and the inevitable guarantee.
The sex instinct has worked out and finds its logical consummation in the relationship—consciously realised—of the soul and the body. This is the keynote of mysticism and religion, which is today, as ever, the expression of the Law of Attraction, not as it expresses itself through physical plane marriage, but as it finds its consummation (for man) in the sublime marriage carried forward with conscious intent between the positive soul and the negative and receptive form.
The herd instinct finds its divine consummation in an awakened group consciousness, which is evidenced today in the general tendency towards amalgamations, and the widespread fusing and blending which are going on everywhere. It demonstrates in the ability to think in terms of internationalism, of universal concepts, which will eventually result in the establishing of universal brotherhood.
The instinct of self-assertion, in its turn, has given to our modern civilisation its intense individualism, the cult of the personality, and the production of ancestor and hero-worship. It is leading, however, to the assertion of the Self, of the divine inner Ruler, and out of our newest science, psychology, will emerge a knowledge of the assertive and dominant spiritual Self, and lead [629] finally to the manifestation of the kingdom of souls on earth.
And what of the instinct to enquire? Transmuted into divine investigation and transformed by the application of the light of the soul in the realm of enquiry, we shall have humanity carried forward into the Hall of Wisdom and thus man will leave behind the experiences of the Hall of Knowledge. Our great educational centres will become schools for the development of intuitive perception and of spiritual awareness.
| Instinct | Correspondence | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Self-preservation | Immortality | Spiritualistic Research. |
| 2. Sex | Spiritual union At-one-ment | Religion. Mysticism. |
| 3. Herd | Group consciousness | Brotherhood. |
| 4. Self-Assertion | Assertion of the Self | Psychology. |
| 5. Enquiry | Intuition | Education. |
The table above should be carefully studied by the student:
Thus the fears which beset humanity, having their roots in instincts, seem nevertheless to be divine characteristics, misapplied and misused. When, however, they are rightly understood and used, and transmuted by the knowing soul, they produce awareness and are the source of growth and that which conveys to the dormant sou-—in time and space—the needed impulse, impetus and urge to progress which have carried man forward from the caveman stage and the prehistoric cycle, through the long period of history, and can be trusted today to carry him forward with increasing rapidity, as he now arrives at intellectual comprehension and can apply himself to the problem of progress in full awareness.
Students need to realise more deeply that the whole process is a divine one, and that evil, so-called, is but an illusion and an inherent part of duality, giving place in [630] time and out of time to a divine unity. Evil is due to wrong perception and erroneous interpretation of that which is perceived. The achievement of true vision, plus right understanding, brings about freedom from the instinctual reactions and evokes that inner detachment which enables a man to walk at liberty in the kingdom of God.
But what of the two fears with which the aspirant has peculiar concern? What of the fear of public opinion, and fear of failure? These are two potent factors in the life of service, and hinder many.
Those who are beginning to work in cooperation with the plan and are learning the significance of service are prone to fear that what they do will be criticised and misjudged, or fall a victim to the reverse idea that what they do will not be sufficiently liked, appreciated and understood. They demand liking and praise. They gauge success by numbers and by response. They dislike to have their motives impugned and misjudged, and rush violently into explanation; they are unhappy if their methods, the personnel of their group, and the way in which their service is rendered comes under the tongue of criticism. The false objectives of numbers, of power or of a formulated doctrine control them. Unless what they do measures up to the standards or conforms to the technique of the group of minds which surrounds them or appeals the most to them, they are unhappy and consequently frequently change their plans, alter their viewpoint, and lower their standard until it conforms to their immediate mass psychology, or their chosen counsellors.
The true disciple sees the vision. He then seeks to keep so closely in touch with his soul that he can stand with steadiness whilst he endeavours to make that vision a reality; he aims to achieve what, from the standpoint of the world seems to be impossible, knowing that the vision is not materialised through expediency and undue [631] adaptation of the suggested ideas of worldly or intellectual counsellors. Public opinion and the advice of those who are Piscean in their tendencies and not Aquarian are carefully considered but not unduly so, and when advice is found to be separative and tends to eliminate harmony, and produces a lack of brotherly love and understanding, it is discarded at once. When there is evidenced a constantly critical attitude towards other workers in the field of world service and where there is a capacity to see only selfishness and fault and to impute wrong motives and to believe evil, then the true aspirant refuses to be swayed and goes serenely on his way.
In the coming cycle I emphatically tell you that the true work will be carried forward (the work of spiritually welding the world into a synthesis and the production of a recognised brotherhood of souls) only by those who refuse to be separative and whose words are watched so that no evil is spoken; these are the workers who see the divine in all and refuse to think evil and impute evil; they work with sealed lips; they deal not with their brothers affairs, nor reveal that which concerns them; their lives are coloured by understanding and by love; their minds are characterised by a trained spiritual perception and that spiritual awareness which employs a keen intellect as the corollary of a loving spirit.
May I repeat in other words this theme, for its importance is vital and the effect of the work of these instruments on the world is immense. These men and women whose mission it is to inaugurate the New Age have learned the secret of silence; they are animated ceaselessly by a spirit of inclusive love; their tongues lead them not astray into the field of ordinary criticism, and they permit no condemnation of others; they are animated by the spirit of protection. To them will be committed the work of fostering the life of the New Age. [632]
To those who have not yet reached this point in evolution and whose vision is not so clear, nor their natures so disciplined, there remains the important work, on a lower level, of working with their kind. Their attributes and qualities bring to them those who resemble them; they do not work in such loneliness and their work is more outwardly successful, though not always so.
It must be remembered that all work, in the sight of the Great Ones, is of equal importance. For those souls who are at the stage where a home or office provides sufficient experience, that is for them the supreme effort; their attempt to work is—on its own level—as great an achievement as to fulfill the destiny of a Christ or a Napoleon. Forget this not and seek to see life truly and not with its distinctions—men-made and dangerous. A disciple who has not yet the fuller vision of a more trained worker and who is only just learning the ABC of public work may, with all his failures and dense stupidities, be doing as well as an older disciple with his wider knowledge and experience.
To those of us who are working on the inner side, the workers in the world fall into three groups:
1. Those, few and far between, who are true Aquarians. These work under real difficulties, for their vision is beyond the grasp of the majority, and they meet often lack of understanding, frequent disappointment in their fellow workers, and much loneliness.
2. Those who are straight Pisceans. These work with much greater facility and find a more rapid response from those around them. Their work is more doctrinal, less inclusive and coloured by the spirit of separation. They include the mass of [633] world workers in all the various departments of human thought and welfare.
3. Those Pisceans who are enough developed to respond to the Aquarian message, but who—as yet—cannot trust themselves to employ the real Aquarian methods of work and message.
For instance, they have in the political field, a sense of internationalism, but they cannot apply it when it comes to the understanding of others. They think they have a universal consciousness, but when it comes to a test, they discriminate and eliminate. They constitute a much smaller group than the true Pisceans and are doing good work and filling a much needed place. The problem they present however to the Aquarian worker lies in the fact that though they respond to the ideal and regard themselves as of the new age, they are not truly so. They see a bit of the vision and have grasped the theory but cannot express it in action.
Thus we have these three groups doing much needed work and reaching through their united undertakings the mass of people and fulfilling thus their dharma. One group works necessarily under the glamour of public opinion. The intermediate group has a most difficult task to perform, for where there is no clear vision the voice of their chosen environment and the voice of the inner group of world Knowers are often in conflict and they are pulled hither and thither as they respond first to one and then to the other. The group of those who respond more fully to the incoming Aquarian vibration register the voices of the leaders of the other two groups, but the voice of the guiding Masters and the voice of the group of world Masters serve to guide them unerringly forward.
I have sought to explain the above modes and methods [634] of work, for the times are hard and clarity of thought is needed if the work is to go forward as desired. Even such triple distinctions as exist between the groups are themselves of a separative tincture, and it is yet impossible to preserve any idea in its true and synthetic relation. It is a gain when the many thousands of separative groups can be grouped into three comprehensive ones and the mind of the disciple be thus freed from the detailed analysis of the world situation among the workers with the Plan.
The second great test of the sensitive disciple is fear of failure. This is based on past experience (for all have failed), on a realisation of the immediate need and opportunity, and on an acute appreciation of individual limitation and deficiency. It is the result oft times of a response to the lowered spiritual and physical vitality of the race today. Never before has there been a time when fear of failure has more widely haunted the human family. Another cause of this reaction is to be found in the fact that mankind as a whole and for the first time in the history of the race, senses the vision and has therefore a truer sense of relative values than ever before. Men know themselves to be divine, and this is becoming increasingly a universal realisation. Hence the present unrest and revolt from tramelling conditions. It is however a serious waste of time for a disciple to ponder upon a failure or to fear failing. There is no such thing as failure; there can only be loss of time. That in itself is serious in these days of dire world need, but the disciple must inevitably some day make good and retrieve his past failures. I need not point out that we learn by failure, for that is a well known truth, and is known as such by all who are attempting to live as souls. Nor need the disciple sorrow over the failures, apparent or real, of his fellow disciples. The sense of time produces glamour and disappointment, whereas the work goes truly [635] forward, and a lesson learnt by failure acts as a safeguard for the future. Thus it leads to rapid growth. An honest disciple may be momentarily glamoured, but in the long run nothing can really deter him. What are a few brief years in a comparative cycle of aeons? What is a second of time in a span of man’s allotted seventy years? To the individual disciple they appear most important; to the onlooking soul, they seem as nothing at all. For the world perhaps, a temporary failure may connote delay in expected help, but that again is brief, and help will come from other sources, for the Plan goes unerringly forward.
May I in all earnest offer to you the paradoxical injunction to work with utter earnestness, and yet at the same time to refuse to work with such earnestness, and not to take yourself so earnestly? Those who stand on the inner side and study the work of the world aspirants today see an almost pitiful distress of individual deficiency, a sustained and strenuous effort on their part to “make themselves what they ought to be”, and yet at the same time a distressing lack of proportion, and no sense of humour whatsoever. I urge upon you to cultivate both these qualities. Do not take yourself so seriously, and you will find that you will release yourself for freer and more potent work. Take the Plan seriously and the call to serve, but waste not time in constant self-analysis.
Therefore the immediate goal for all aspiring disciples at this time can be seen to be as follows:
1. An achievement of clarity of thought as to their own personal and immediate problems and primarily the problem as to their objective in service. This is to be done through meditation.
2. The development of sensitivity to the new impulses which are flooding the world at this time. This is [636] to be brought about by loving all men more and through love and understanding contacting them with greater facility. Love reveals.
3. The rendering of service with complete impersonality. This is done by eliminating personal ambition and love of power.
4. The refusal to pay attention to public opinion or to failure. This is done by the application of strict attention to the voice of the soul, and by an endeavour to dwell ever in the secret place of the Most High.
We have merged our first point as to the immediate goal and the steps to be taken to reach it with our second point as to conduct and the factors which must be eliminated. It only remains therefore to point out the penalties which will overtake the probationary disciple and the trained worker should he give way to the glamour and to the faults inherent in his nature and permit them to hinder his work and come between him and the visioned goal.
It might be pointed out that there are three main points of danger in the life of service. I am not here dealing with the individual training of the disciple but with his life of service, and with the activities in which he is engaged as a worker. His temperament, equipment of characteristics (physical, emotional, and mental) do have a potent effect on his environment and on the people he seeks to help, and also his family background, his world training and his speech.
The first point of danger is his physical condition. On this I cannot enlarge beyond begging all disciples to act with wisdom to give themselves sufficient sleep, right food (which must vary for each individual), and those surroundings, if possible, which will enable them to work with the greatest facility. The penalty for the infringing [637] of these suggestions works out in lack of power in service and in the growing thralldom of the physical body. Where the physical body is in poor condition, the disciple has to add the liabilities incident upon the bringing in of force which he finds himself unable to handle.
The second point of danger is to be found in the astral illusion in which all humanity lives, and its power to glamour even experienced workers. I have considered this at length in this treatise, which is, as you know, a treatise on the control of the astral body and a right understanding of its laws. Only mental control, plus true spiritual perception, will suffice to pierce this illusory astral miasma, and reveal to the man that he is a spiritual entity in incarnation and in touch—through his mind—with the Universal Mind. The penalty which overtakes the disciple who persistently permits himself to be glamoured is obvious. His vision becomes fogged and misty and he “loses the sense of touch” as it is called in the old commentaries. He wanders “down the lanes of life and misses that straight highway which will lead him to his goal.”
The third danger (and one that is very prevalent at this time) is that of mental pride and consequent inability to work in group formation. The penalty for this is often a temporary success and an enforced working with a group, which has been devitalised of its best elements and which has in it only those people who feed the personality of the head of the group. Because of the emphasis upon his own ideas and his own methods of working, a disciple finds that his group lacks those factors and those people who would have rounded it out, who would have balanced his endeavour, and given to his undertaking those qualities which he himself lacks. This is, in itself, a sufficient punishment, and quickly brings the honest disciple to his senses. Let a disciple who is [638] intelligent, honest and basically true so err, and in time he will awaken to the fact that the group he has gathered around him are moulded by him or he is moulded by them; they are oft embodiments of himself and repeat him. The law works rapidly in the case of a disciple, and thus adjustments are speedily made.
I would like to point out to the student that, having with steadfastness gone forward he will discover that the exoteric and esoteric linking of the outer schools and inner school or rank of knowers of truth is so close that not one earnest student goes totally unrecognised. In the press of the work and in the burden and toil of the day’s labours it is an encouragement to know that there are those who watch, and that every loving deed, every aspiring thought and every unselfish reaction is noted and known. Bear in mind, however, that it comes to the recognition of the Helpers through the increased vibration of the aspirant and not through a specific knowledge of the deed accomplished or the thought sent out. Those who teach are occupied with principles of truth, with vibratory rates and with the quality of the light to be seen. They are not aware of, nor have they the time to consider, specific deeds, words and conditions, and the sooner students grasp this and put out of their minds any hope of contacting a phenomenal individual whom they call a Master, with so much leisure, of such developed powers that he can occupy himself with their trivial affairs in time and space, the more rapidly will they progress.
Where, however, there is steady growth, an application to occult principles so that definite changes are produced in the bodies used, and an increasing radiatory light, it is known and recorded, and the aspirant is rewarded by increased opportunity to serve his fellowmen. They do not reward by commendation, by patting on the [639] head, or by expressing their pleasure in words. They are occupied in making knowers and masters out of everyday men and women by:
1. Teaching them to know themselves.
2. Setting them free from authority by awakening interest and enquiry in their minds, and then indicating (not more than that) the direction in which the answer should be sought.
3. Giving them those conditions which will force them to stand on their own feet and rely on their own souls and not on any human being, be he a beloved friend, teacher, or a Master of the Wisdom.
I seek not to repeat myself. Most of the points that concern the work of the aspirant today I have considered earlier in this treatise. It remains now for all of you to study it with care. I close with an appeal to all who read these instructions to rally their forces, to renew their vows of dedication to the service of humanity, to subordinate their own ideas and wishes to the group good, to take their eyes off themselves and fix them anew upon the vision, to guard their tongues from idle speech and criticism, from gossip and inuendo, and to read and study so that the work may go intelligently forward. Let all students make up their minds in this day of emergency and of rapid unfolding opportunity to sacrifice all they have to the helping of humanity. Now is the need and the demand. The urgency of the hour is upon us, and I call upon all of you whom I am seeking to help, to join the strenuous effort of the Great Ones. They are working day and night in an effort to relieve humanity and to offset those evils and disasters which are immanent in the present situation. I offer to you opportunity and I tell you that you are needed—even the very least of you. I assure you that groups of students, working in [640] unison and with deep and unfaltering love for each other, can achieve significant results.
That each of you may so work, and that each of you may lose sight of self in the realisation of world need, is the earnest prayer and deepest aspiration of your brother, THE TIBETAN.