FIFTEEN

THE MODERN RESTORATION OF THE MYSTERIES

One of the major issues to be considered in terms of the future program of human development is the fact that, within the 25,920-year cycle of precession, we are fast approaching the celestial solstice (as described in earlier chapters) and the beginning of a major new astrological cycle. As a direct consequence—like the current of a river flowing toward a narrower elliptical bend in its course—our human society is experiencing a huge amount of turbulence during that approach. Much of the cultural experience of the last century is going around and around in ever faster subcycles, like localized whirlpools and eddies, thereby rendering our present social culture ever more repetitive and superficial from one angle.

In very real and practical terms, however, the “sediment” of historical mores and customs built up in our psychology (as instincts) over the last millennia or so is being shaken loose so that the inner current of intelligence can travel on faster and more freely to join the greater approaching cycle. This chaos will inevitably continue for the next several hundred years at least as the separated psychological sediment settles into its own slower cycle, leaving the faster spiritual flow to those capable of sustaining it and traveling onward with it. The acceleration away from the “bend” of the solstice will itself be substantial, effectively resulting in the psychological separation of a large part of our present human consciousness from the past.

In a very real sense, this approach to the forthcoming Age of Aquarius involves the protracted “Judgment Day” of our present greater cycle. Following this the faster-evolving spiritual nature of humankind will be allowed a period of unfettered progress, at least temporarily detached from the materialism of the immediately past cycle of centuries. Taking these latter issues into account, we shall make an attempt in this last chapter to consider the suggestion that it would be feasible to restore the Mysteries to mankind and, if so, on what basis. This is, self-evidently, a huge proposition, bearing in mind the considerably varied extent and range of human social tradition and religious culture in potential opposition to such change. So where does one start? Is there an existing foundation on which it might perhaps be possible to build? If so, where? Or is it necessary to start completely afresh? If so, how? From the viewpoint of esoteric and occult philosophy, these questions have to be considered first of all from the subjective and not the objective side, for the reasons to be explained in a moment. However, in addition to all this, we have to bear in mind that what is being discussed here applies largely to the Western or at least partially “Westernized” mind, which is more generally aware of the modern gnostic, kabbalistic, and theosophical approaches to esoteric philosophy. Fig. 15.1 may help to provide a common background for what we shall be considering in this chapter, at least by way of cross-correspondence.

One of the most important things to be ever borne in mind by the practicing esotericist-occultist concerned with the evolution of the human race as a whole is the considerable variation to be found in humankind’s own psycho-spiritual makeup. The same applies in relation to the range of natural intelligence to be found—something that has nothing to do with academic IQ. Today’s anthropological and bio-physiological sciences look at the human being from the angle of physical appearance and understandably see little difference, except in terms of color and particular facial characteristics. They then look at brain size and DNA makeup and make their judgments of intelligence based on that extraordinarily limited perspective. What they do not take into account, however, is that the physical human body today is merely the designed end-product of the last great evolutionary cycle, which is itself the result of long preceding psycho-spiritual causes. Even by reference to modern scientific data we can see that it was conceived and evolved many hundreds of thousands of years ago to provide the foundational “equipment” for the potential further development of the humanity of the current cycle, while also representing that which had already been developed prior to it.

Fig. 15.1. Comparison of the various hermeneutic systems

With regard to the general human consciousness of the last (Atlantean) cycle, we are told that:

The astral vehicle was the 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 in no way able to interpret that which they contacted; they were not able to distinguish astral phenomena from ordinary physical life. . . . The interpreting mind revealed nothing to them.1

These, however, are characteristics still very widely found throughout the world today, particularly when the emotions of the individual or group become aroused in conjunction with an only partially developed mind faculty, through mere reaction. Considered thought ceases to function. This is true of individuals and groups of all ethnological types—that is, of both Fourth and early Fifth Races (Third Race or Lemurian consciousness by now being virtually nonexistent)—but appears particularly so with all cultures of a tribal nature, even when found in the middle of modern urban society. (See appendix C for a presentation of the Root Races, which provides explanatory background for this discussion.) Associated physical appearances are of course deceptive (except for the quality of intelligence radiating out through the eyes of the individual) and anyone making generalizations as to evolutionary development based purely on ethnic or ethnological principles will almost certainly be wildly wrong.

However, there are fundamental subjective differences, which arise out of other considerations. For example, the Oriental mind-set is quite different from that of the Occidental, the former being “maternal” and quietly considered relative to the aggressively “paternal” and decisive nature of the latter. The two are, however, complementary, and it is therefore fascinating from the viewpoint of a historian to observe how the influence of one relative to the other in different eras has brought about far-reaching changes in the social traditions of both. The most modern two-way (subjective and objective) results of such interchange are most obvious, for example, in relation to Britain and India, although the karmic flow-back from East to West is much more recent and, in fact, still very self-evidently in progress. Other European influences in their former African empires or colonies have otherwise produced very different results.

Even when it comes to considering the nature of the present Fifth (Indo-Caucasian) Race cycle and its objective human type—now to be found worldwide and of every race and color (or a colloidal mixture of them)—we find left-over characteristics. We are told, for example, that “the responsive sensitivity to creative impression was the outstanding quality of the later Atlantean consciousness and of the early Aryan period”2—the latter by now having extended throughout the world. Hence it is that

although great creative monuments [such as the Egyptian pyramids perhaps?] appeared everywhere upon the planet, they were not the products 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.3

The inference arising out of this is that humankind in general, before the last great cycle, was subjectively incapable of instinctively independent mental creativity per se. It would thus appear that such creativity on any breadth of appreciable scale is something that has only appeared over the course of the last ten thousand years or so, understandably developed within the protective framework of the Sacred Mysteries. However, as we also saw in an earlier chapter, this creativity has itself became progressively split—starting about four to five thousand years ago—into the duality of subjective gnosis (which became what we call “philosophy”) on the one hand and artistic “craft” on the other, the latter devolving in recent times into our modern “technology.” Prior to this, all creative architectural and scientific or engineering knowledge had been contained by the Adept Brotherhood within its local ashramic centers—hence the supposedly different Mystery traditions of India, Persia, Egypt, Greece, and so on.

From one angle, that same division of sacred knowledge into subjective and objective faculty itself indicates a historically subjective progression on the part of humanity. In other words, through the wider development of an integrated human personality, there arose the inherent complementarity of craft and gnosis as a duality of which separate and objective advantage could be taken, for either commercial or social gain, or both.

Paradoxically, from the esoteric viewpoint, this attitude of “blind circumstance” giving rise to causes, which then give rise to effects, is fundamentally back-to-front. Everything has a causal base founded on choice or decision at some or other level of consciousness. However, humankind—that is, the intelligentsia of any particular cycle—only recognizes the inherently causal truths in things by coming at them in this retrogressive manner and thereby finding out, through the trial and error of direct experience producing mere effects, what in essence they are not. Thus, we may say, it is historically always the intelligentsia that generates the culture. It is the masses who, in following them, produce the consequent civilization, while all suffer the associated karmic problems.

In practical terms, the Mysteries provide informative knowledge concerning the still sacred. However, this is not given out, per se, simply through ritualized allegory, as is commonly supposed. It is these allegories that make man aware of a mechanism of revelation, which, if properly utilized, contains channels of activity that endow him with magnetic and radiatory (i.e., occult) powers, thereby drawing out and developing his spiritual individuality.4 This is why so much emphasis has been placed in earlier chapters on the invocative and evocative development of human consciousness. Most importantly, from the esoteric and occult viewpoint, invocation and evocation are respectively associated with radiation and magnetism.5 It naturally follows that the Mysteries are, historically speaking, a psychosocial mechanism capable of introducing a spectrum of knowledge and faculty to humanity as a whole, in a manner altogether higher than those to which it has become used over the many previous millennia. From that viewpoint, modern religion on its own is incapable of providing an adequate base for a new Mystery tradition, because it is itself based on purely devotional impulses of an astral character.

In a world where various forms and degrees of fundamentally competitive astral devotion—involving financial acquisitiveness, deific religion, and ancestor worship, plus various forms of tribalism—is still practiced by more than 80 percent of the planet’s population, one has to ask what chance the Mysteries would have today of sheer survival; this is even if carefully and selectively restored, apart from the field of devotional religion. However, in order to answer that question, one must first look at the current state of all these various types of devotion, for they are by no means in a healthy condition and able to continue much longer of their own accord. Before we do that, however, let us first of all get rid of a fundamental misconception regarding the Mysteries and their return, supposedly as a result of the externalization of the Spiritual Hierarchy. This misconception is that the restoration of the Mysteries is purely being brought about for the sake of humanity, on the grounds that humanity has managed to raise itself to a point of evolutionary development that makes it worthwhile. This, however, is only a small part of the story.

THE HIERARCHICAL “CRISIS”

In fact, the evolutionary rhythms and cycles of humankind and those of the Spiritual Hierarchy, as well as their associated goals, are quite different. In this particular instance, therefore, the outward or externalizing movement by the Hierarchy is necessary because it is itself facing an internal crisis of decision, so we are told.6 The rationale for this derives from the little recognized fact that the sixth initiation—whereby the Master becomes a Chohan—itself represents the equilibrium point between the processes of kosmic and systemic involution and evolution. This particular initiation has only become accessible to our humanity over the past 2,500 years, so it would seem. However, the pace of spiritual evolution of our humanity has now reached a point where appreciable numbers of our Adepts are apparently facing or potentially capable of making such a “leap” into the doorway of true kosmic consciousness.

The actual logic of this is quite straightforward. The greater involutionary cycle is determined by the Rays emanating from the plane of Kosmic Buddhi (Mahat) as we saw earlier. These pass into the sevenfold kosmic physical plane through the lens-like agency of the spiritual Monads of both man and deva, the latter more particularly. Consequently, when the Master becomes a Chohan, he recognizes (as a now Self-conscious Monad) where he actually stands from the greater perspective. So, with the powers thus engendered in him, he realizes that these same Rays no longer constrain him. He consequently becomes free to move “onward, upward, and outward,” now aware of why the process of differentiation and its evolutionary reverse take place.7 In so doing, upon the initiation being consummated, the Chohan must choose one of seven kosmic Paths,8 only one of which (the Path of Earth Service) will see him remain within our immediate planetary scheme and involved with its direction through the planetary center at Shamballa. The others will take him to deal with responsibilities in other parts of the body of the Solar Logos. The capacity for the most senior members of the Spiritual Hierarchy to move on, however, must apparently involve their first demonstrating their capacity to control, all together, all the five kosmic physical elements—atma, buddhi, manas, kama, and the physical state—in their entirety, just as man on a lower turn of the spiral has to control the five corresponding planetary elements of aether, fire, air, water, and earth within his own nature. This, however, can only be done by their full and simultaneous expression of perfection in both the objective and subjective sense.9 That in turn necessitates their coming out of their seclusion of the centuries and functioning as modern “demigods,” although with great subtlety and not in the crudely obvious sense that some might consider likely.

It might be worthwhile inserting here a most important quote from one of the Masters regarding the further evolution of the divinity in man, as follows:

[The Individuality in man] . . . to run successfully its sevenfold downward and upward course, has to assimilate to itself the eternal life-power residing but in the seventh [state] and then blend the three (the fourth, fifth and seventh) into one—the [Monadic] sixth. Those who succeed in doing so become Buddhas, Dhyan Chohans, etc. The chief object of our struggles and initiations is to achieve this union while yet on the Earth. Those who will be successful have nothing to fear [i.e., they will be free from “human” reincarnation] during the fifth, sixth and seventh Rounds.10

In effect, the members of the Spiritual Hierarchy must very clearly and effectively demonstrate their ability to be fully receptive to (and expressive of) real kosmic influences of great power while they are in physical manifestation, while not being overcome or in any way unbalanced by them. The natural effect of this, however, will be to render the whole of the objective planetary world hugely stimulated by their presence and activities, a potentially very problematic situation for the other kingdoms of Nature. Consequently, it is essential that the Mysteries are refounded (gradually) in order to ensure that such influences are properly “stepped down” by humanity, under self-control, so as to ensure no uncontrolled damaging side effects. It is also worth remembering here the old adage that “new wine and old bottles do not mix.”

THE FURTHER EVOLUTION OF OUR HUMANITY

In conjunction with this, we perhaps need to deny one further common belief—that, given sufficient time, humanity will generate a real “Heaven on Earth” purely as a result of its own humanistically orientated efforts. As earlier indicated, the spiritual evolution of all kingdoms of Nature is actually derived through the influences received “from above,” once that kingdom has itself reached a certain point of development—hence the “Judgment Day” in each greater cycle inevitably preceding any “New Age.”11 That same development, however, is itself achieved through due preparation (also “from above”) of its more advanced types to become “vehicles” for such higher influences.

Then and only then does there take place an emanation from a higher state of being, enabling a small part of the latter’s nature to manifest (as a new kingdom of Nature). That is because the greater Potency is itself far too powerful to manifest as a complete individuality in its own right. This is otherwise described for us in the tradition of our own humankind’s first appearance on Earth, in Lemurian times.12 The associated potency is in fact so great that such transitions are always accompanied by hugely disruptive events (e.g., cataclysms and electrical storms of vast magnitude) in the short term as the deva and elemental natures strive to adjust to the presence of the new influence.

It naturally follows, in relation to humankind, that the aim of the Spiritual Hierarchy is to anchor permanently on Earth certain immensely powerful kosmic Potencies, which can then be annually invoked and thus “tapped” to release their forces (in the ceremonials and rituals of the new world religion), mainly during the Taurean and Geminian full moon periods. These great Intelligences have already been contacted by the Hierarchy, so we are told, but the necessary further close link between the Hierarchy and humankind needed to bring them right through, thereby involving all the lower kingdoms of Nature, has not yet been established. Hence the need for the externalization of the Hierarchy, as a result of which the new Mysteries and the new world religion can be developed. Thus the forces required to bring about the great changes needed for the future world age(s)—including the objective appearance of new kingdoms of Nature—can be gradually and progressively drawn down.13

One might perhaps add that, by virtue of the principle that “Nature abhors a vacuum” (or evolutionary hiatus), the Spiritual Hierarchy of any great age has to provide for an alternative to take its place when its own superior members need to move on to fulfill their own evolutionary development and range of wider responsibilities (i.e., their destiny) within the body of the Logos. They effectively could not move on without doing so first in such a way that the overall evolutionary sequence in our planetary and solar system is not disrupted. Consequently, there is a straightforward logic in this next stage and our having previously been told that a major kosmic Potency was invoked during the Second World War. This was done in order to help overcome the “Powers of Darkness,” the latter’s instinctual involutionary aim being the maintenance of the world of form, at the expense of the evolutionary development of consciousness.14

CONSIDERING THE WIDER EFFECTS

The results on humanity of the Spiritual Hierarchy again becoming objective will inevitably vary according to the evolutionary development of those concerned. Those already “on the Path” (by now in the millions) will be highly stimulated by the spiritual potencies thus unfurled. Those of average to higher intelligence who have not yet developed a real spiritual orientation will become (at least temporarily) confused because of the large-scale social and cultural reorientation taking place in front of their very eyes. Those of undeveloped and still highly self-centered mentality will respond by subjectively “closing down” in a sort of inertial self-defense of resistance against change, thus automatically causing the retardation of their own intelligence during the remainder of the cycle in question.15 They will need to be restimulated in a later cycle in order to continue their own further evolutionary progress.

It is perhaps also worth adding here the firm statement by the Adepts that

peace is not the goal for our race or time, no matter what many men think. This is a cycle of steadily growing activity, with the aim in view of establishing right human relations, intelligently carried forward. Such activity and intense change is not consonant with what is usually understood as peace.16

That itself coincides with the biblical idea found in Revelations that the avataric “Rider on the White Horse” comes armed not with peace but “with a sword.”

By virtue of international financial crashes arising out of modern “democratic” ideals of a high “quality of life,” financial selfishness has by now widely come to be seen (at least in the more intelligent Western mind) as the unacceptable cause of all sorts of other basic problems in the world. However, in India, China, and Africa in particular—containing two-thirds of the world’s population in a state of economic deprivation—this experience still has to be learned among the masses. But as their own internal economic development is necessary in order to generate a democratic stability, which will itself destroy the deeply embedded but now well out-of-date religious or other belief systems found there (e.g., the Hindu caste system), the one will logically have to follow the other over the next two thousand years or so. However, the Occidental world has itself a further major behavioral concern to relearn from the maternal Orient, involving the principle of caring and sharing inherent in its family traditions.

THE IMMEDIATE CRISIS FACING ORTHODOX RELIGION

Where religion itself is concerned, major changes are already well under way. Christianity is already at a second major crossroads (the Reformation having been the first) by virtue of two things. First of all, Protestantism has temporarily lost its way in its pursuit of a “democracy” that has nothing whatsoever to do with spirituality. This has resulted in arguments over priestly homosexuality and the ordination of women priests while, despite the efforts of ecumenists, much vitality has been wasted in paying attention to completely superficial forms of so-called charismatic worship, which actually need to be shown as entirely superficial and self-centered in nature. Expansive evangelical (e.g., “Pentecostal”) Christianity is, in fact, far more interested in the worldly returns supposedly to be provided by the Holy Spirit, in response to the overexuberant style of its invocative “worship,” and associated commercial marketing, than it is in the development of quietly reflective pursuit of real Christian ethics and spiritual principles.

Roman Catholicism, with its foundations in secretive politics and banking commerce, plus its promotion across the world of objective educational ignorance in favor of blind faith, needs to “open up” generally. It has otherwise only recently suffered a major setback in relation to priestly sexual interference with children, from which it will never recover lost trust. Zionistic Judaism, with its essential separateness from all other religions and its consequently perennial paranoia about persecution, needs to move toward the liberal Jewish identity found in the West, and thus forget its spiritual self-isolation.

Islam, while appearing to be a growth religion (largely because of fascination with personal involvement in its forms of devotional ritual) is already in the very first throes of its own Reformation. Its insistence upon inconsistent Sharia law and suppression of women, its lack of internal discipline allowing constant infighting between Shias and Sunnis, plus widespread support of so-called jihadism supported by Gulf state finance (notwithstanding the foolish short-sightedness of American foreign policy), have all given it a widespread mantle of mistrust. It would not be too far-fetched to conceive of a Moslem equivalent of Martin Luther appearing (on behalf of the Spiritual Hierarchy) during the next century to trigger major changes in Islamic belief and custom.

In the Far East, Hinduism will, through ever more widespread commercial force majeure, move progressively away from the caste system that has bound it in shackles for so many millennia. One can see this already beginning in and around the main cities all over the country, as “untouchables” are increasingly seen to possess useful commercial instincts. Furthermore, the spread of modern education (particularly where science is concerned) will slowly but progressively give rise to a general mistrust of the false “magic and miracles” of the exoteric yogi fraternity that still characterizes Indian culture today.

Even Buddhism now faces the need for a subjective adjustment, which must take into account the factor of worldwide business interplay. This will involve retention of its central principle of harmlessness to all, paradoxically in coordination with a major development of economic growth and intellectual (rather than devotional) stimulation. It is small wonder (particularly in view of direct Chinese influence in Tibet) that, though there has been for so long a tradition, the present Dalai Lama will be the last one. Although regarded by many as a religious and humanitarian disaster, in the longer term and from the wider viewpoint of the future of humankind in the mass, this may actually prove beneficial. Old-style Buddhism has quite self-evidently had its day and, other things considered, it seems not improbable that another form (and yet higher quality) of the Divine Avatar of Enlightenment will instead become the focus of attention and concern in the not-too-distant future.

THE PROBLEM OF “GOD”

It follows from everything already said that, if a new view of Divinity is to become universally accepted throughout the world, the problem of a “God” that is personal to some, impersonal to others, transcendent to some, and immanent to others, must be finally sorted out. Bearing in mind that the three “Religions of the Book”—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—all take their standpoint on the foundation provided by Hebrew biblical tradition (itself founded on distorted earlier sacred traditions), we can make a start by understanding where and why these actually differ without actually understanding why.

Perhaps the most concise answer to the problem is given by Gershom Scholem in his book The Messianic Idea in Judaism. Here he tells us that the fundamental difference between Alexandrian gnostic philosophy and rabbinical Judaism was that “the impersonal First Cause”—which supposedly gave rise to the creative Demiurge—is (at least as regarded by Judaism) “not the concern of religion at all, for it has nothing to do with the affairs of this world or its creation and exerts no influence on it for good or bad.”17 Scholem then goes on rather remarkably to castigate several historical Jewish philosophers (such as the famous Maimonides) as misleading subsequent Jewish thought for centuries past in this very respect.18

Now both Christianity and Islam hold firmly to the idea of the “First Cause” as synonymous with the “One God” who is supposedly the “Creator of All,” whereas ancient philosophy (even long before the Alexandrian gnostics) saw this as fundamentally illogical. To the latter, that which created a world or universe in which imperfections and evils of all sorts were self-evidently rampant could not be either perfect or ultimately “Good.” Therefore, that aspect of Divinity that was only partial in its nature was also logically imperfect. Hence, the insistence by Judaic theology that its God was the sole Creator persuaded the Alexandrian gnostics—who had already otherwise completely misinterpreted its function—to regard it as evil.

The other curiosity—if Scholem is correct in otherwise stating that Judaism acknowledges “The Hidden Principle” or “First Cause”—is that Judaism is commonly regarded as monotheistic. The fact that it believes in only one god—that is, the tribal “God of Israel”—does not actually render it monotheistic in the commonly accepted sense adopted by Christians and Moslems, or otherwise by general public interpretation and acknowledgment. This should be much more widely appreciated.

If by reference to Plato (and the later gnostics) we acknowledge the existence of both “the Good” (i.e., the “Causeless First Cause”) on the one hand and the creative Demiurge on the other, the latter as the primordial emanation of the former, there is no fundamental problem—except for those bent on devotional worship of a supposedly ultimate Deity. However, if we acknowledge the “Causeless First Cause” merely as a state (or the primary state) within a Universal Organism, of which we can have no faint conception, the problem is rather nearer resolution. From the viewpoint of esoteric philosophy we can say with conviction that Scholem’s suggestion that the Causeless Cause “exerts no influence on the world for good or bad” is sheer nonsense. It may not do so directly. However, the Demiurge (the “God of Israel”) is itself permanently dependent on the “First Cause” for the continuity of its very existence. This is quite apart from the fact that constant cyclical emanations of a celestial nature necessarily emanate from it and bring themselves to bear on the lesser entity, thereby forcing it to create or modify its creations on an ever-constant basis.

In short, modern orthodox Judaism does not understand its own Deity, while both Christianity and Islam have a complete misconception about theirs as well, each supposedly in its own favor. This altogether ludicrous situation, however, forms the very basis of all Western and much Middle-Eastern religious belief, both of which are essentially self-blinded in nature, through their own philosophical ignorance.

Having said all this, it would be frankly absurd to imagine that the forthcoming New Age is suddenly going to see the end of all devotion to a Deity. Those of a naturally humanistic tendency and those with the benefit of esoteric training will undoubtedly do so on the basis of understanding that an infinitude of celestial hierarchies of greater and greater Intelligence does not constitute an ultimate God figure. However, the vast majority of the world’s population will not fit into either of these categories and will therefore seek a continuing focus for their religious observances, certainly still orientated toward a “personal” God.

With that in mind, it seems that the Spiritual Hierarchy might perhaps be quite willing to accept that the Planetary Logos should be regarded by the masses as fitting the role. This would explain why we find the Adept DK, in Bailey’s works, constantly using the term “God” in this same sense when it had previously been made clear by both Blavatsky and the Chohans Morya and Kuthumi that the personal “God” concept was totally foreign to their way of thought and their own experience. The fact that many modern theosophists strongly object to the use of the term or concept of “God”—particularly when used in a personal religious sense—is neither here nor there. Neither does it constitute a proof that the esoteric philosophy contained in the Bailey works should automatically be considered suspect because of it. We have to accept the fact that not all our humanity moves forward at the same speed, or in precisely the same way. Therefore, it is up to those with a greater vision to show to others a rather more considerate and broadminded approach on this particular issue, so long as this causes no wider distortions.

One final thing to be taken into consideration here is the issue of anti-Semitism, or to be more precise, anti-Judaism, because the Jews are by no means the only Semites. This problem too must be dealt with before the Mysteries and any new world religion come happily into being. However, the issue needs to be properly understood, for it did not originate, as many seem to think, with the idea of deicide—that the Jews were responsible for killing the Avatar of the Christians, who is also bizarrely equated by the latter as their own God manifest. In fact, it seems to have started with the Jews/Hebrews themselves misinterpreting the ancient sacred philosophy (concerning divine mankind in general) and thereby coming to regard themselves as the “Chosen People,” sacredly distinct from all others. One can safely suggest that this attitude would hardly have been likely to ingratiate them with anybody else.

However, when also taking the standpoint that their God (Jahve-Elohim) was effectively the creative Demiurge, it gave the less intelligent of the Alexandrian gnostics the perfect opportunity to label them effectively as self-confessed “children of a devilish deity.” This plus the charge of deicide would then have been seen by early Christians, trying to set up their own religion but having as yet little or no supporting theology of their own, as perfect ammunition to downgrade the Jews and thereby hoist themselves upward in the divine scale. This tripartite historical foolishness needs to be openly recognized and come to terms with by all sides concerned. Otherwise the present political nonsense and bloodshed in Palestine and Israel will continue with eventually really dire results, because the rest of the world has lost patience.

The blind belief inherent in all orthodox (i.e., purely devotional) religion must thus come to an end, and it is here that the general adoption of science (or rather, of scientifically and esoterically orientated philosophy) must inevitably play a major, reconstructive part, although not in an atheistic sense. It will do so by confirming in ever-increasing detail that the universe is guided and maintained by an intelligently disciplined order, which necessitates the existence of moderation and sharing in all areas of life. It will also confirm the existence of a universal spectrum of Divine Intelligence quite distinct from the presumed Deity of theologians and the “gods” of untutored native belief. This progress is already well under way because mainstream science itself is at a point where it cannot resolve its many current paradoxes with merely materialistic reasoning. Similarly, the merely devotional approach of orthodox religion is already seen to be widely in denial of straightforward reason, while positive ecumenism is simultaneously on the rise.

Finally, in relation to ancestor worship—which is an Atlantean form of religion still practiced in native communities throughout Central and South America, Africa, China, and parts of Southeast Asia—we can reasonably suggest that, with a scientific approach, this too will die out gradually by mere attrition. Although associated with modern spiritualism, it has no philosophical or theological basis capable of standing on its own. At the same time, worship of other human beings (whether dead or alive)—particularly for reasons of supposedly continuing financial support—is no longer considered culturally acceptable.

WHAT FORMS WOULD THE FUTURE MYSTERIES TAKE?

In endeavoring to answer this question, we need first of all to ask what the ancient Mysteries were intended to achieve and whether this, resuscitated, would be appropriate in the modern era. Therefore, the first observation we can make is that the ancient Mysteries existed in a social environment quite different from our own with its immediately worldwide, media-driven capacities. The ancient outer Mysteries did not involve monotheism—devotion to a single God—simply because such a transcendent Deity would have been beyond all experience and imagination as far as the masses were concerned. Instead, on their behalf, various forms of ritualized devotional obeisance to “the gods” as a whole were devised, these rituals being orientated toward the varied phenomenal expression (as Universal Nature) of what was recognized by true initiates as the Unknowable Deity. In so doing, the masses were able to experience—through sacred metaphor and allegory used in ritual—a partial but personal, local involvement of a semi-spiritual nature, shared in common with their peers, thereby maintaining and regulating the coherence of their society.

That does not mean to say, however, that ancient religion ceased at this point. The more spiritually prescient or sensitive members of such societies were always encouraged to pursue a more direct involvement with less obvious aspects of Deity. Hence there arose the development of progressively more subtle forms of ritual and ascetic practice (including meditation) to stir the more spiritually subtle inner nature of the individual. This then is the whole basis of progressive initiatory practice in the Mysteries, a far cry from the blind belief attributed to ancient society by modern academic scholarship.

In a very real sense, the ancient orientation between the Spiritual Hierarchy and the masses of humankind involved the former sending out its disciples and agents (like Pythagoras and Plato) to stir and raise the consciousness of localized individuals in their own study groups or ashrams. However, that looks to be quite different to what is now evidently being considered. The orientation of effort is now to utilize those same groups—trained over previous incarnations—to act as coworkers in generating the invocative network needed to draw down higher (i.e., celestial) soul influences and anchor them permanently on Earth.19 If one considers the analogical parallel of using many interconnected astronomical satellite dishes scattered over a large surface area to draw down and focus major celestial radio or other waves, the underlying idea will perhaps become more self-apparent. It is for this reason that the present reapproach by the Adept Hierarchy also lays such emphasis on group effort.

The second thing that we need to bear in mind is that there has never been a time when humankind in general was entirely on its own in a Darwinian sense, so to speak, in terms of lacking intelligent parental or pastoral care “from above.” In the first place, so we are told, leaders—divine kings and priests—were provided by the Guides of our planetary Life from their own ranks.20 Only much later, as our humanity began to progress creatively on the Path, were a few human individuals, here and there, allowed to participate in that leadership. Such participation inevitably expanded as time went on until eventually the Guides withdrew entirely into the background. Then, as with our own human teenagers, almost the whole responsibility for such autonomous leadership and social management was passed over to humanity to test its powers of self-control and responsibility. The Guides meanwhile remained silently in the background, dealing with wider interplanetary affairs, yet ready to take action if any situation became seriously threatening or out of control. That is roughly where we stand today.

We otherwise need to bear in mind that the current aim of the Adept Hierarchy, as already explained, is to take humankind’s general evolutionary development an important stage further. This will involve modern humankind’s full emergence onto the Path at the stage of “accepted discipleship,” details of which we considered in chapters 8 and 9. In some cultures this will inevitably prove far more difficult than in others. While comparisons are generally odious, let us by way of example consider some of those countries historically influenced by Spain and the Catholic Church—such as the Philippines and parts of Central and South America. Here the practice of Roman Catholic ritual is still strongly, even morbidly, orientated toward fascination with blood sacrifice. In most of western Europe, this is viewed with distaste and there is far greater, natural orientation toward the concept of resurrection and transcendence of death, although Christian priesthoods in general still seem rather apathetic in pursuing it more effectively.

Correspondingly, in Islam, there is such widespread dependence on the concept of “If Allah wills it” that psychological inertia is the main problem. In Hinduism, the caste system, plus an equally apathetic view of karma, still exerts the most powerful influence in inhibiting creative self-expression. However, this is just beginning to show definite signs of change as a result of the widespread arising of a creative business sense in all classes. This will destroy the caste system faster than any merely religious or legal form of insistence.

A yet further point of consideration is that human beings differ widely in their capacities for and qualities of spiritual response. In chapter 5, we saw that there are ten different stages of development of human intelligence apparent in the world today. Notwithstanding this, human society throughout the world is organized and run these days by the upper and lower middle classes, largely involving what we might call “the commercial intelligentsia,” or professional and merchant classes. Not surprisingly therefore, the main orientation of human society tends to be toward financial comfort, with spiritual (i.e., religious) issues usually taking a second place. This is not quite the same in Islam, however, that fact being one of the main sources of contention between its followers and the world of Christianity.

The vast majority of humanity is so concerned with merely making a reasonable living in the face of generally quite intense market competition, or otherwise in the face of sheer environmental depredation, that spiritual concerns inevitably tend to become secondary. This has changed dramatically over the millennia. Originally, all surplus wealth was held in trust for society in general by the leaders of the temple and distributed accordingly as need required. There was no profiteering and, consequently, there was no need for theft. The latter has only developed as the leaders of human society developed personal political ambitions, necessitating their ability to maintain their followers by mercenary handouts of one sort or another. This in turn has produced its own range of also mercenary subcultures and psychologies.

As human society expanded and developed ever greater complexity, intercommunity trading inevitably expanded, thereby putting individualized wealth into the hands of the few. That in turn gave rise to the practice of material self-indulgence, with large houses (or palaces), retinues of servants, and the practice of self-centered political influence, which inevitably became interactively combative in nature. That in further turn gave rise to tribalism and, again inevitably, tribalism gave rise to the desire for personalized aspects of Deity and the sense of needing to subordinate other tribes to the same psychological orientations. Taken to the extreme of further development in historical terms, it is small wonder that human society today is so generally self-centered. Yet, peculiarly, this has also led to an internationalization of interest by the more intelligent in other cultures and the way they are run and have historically developed.

It is logical to assume that the future Mysteries—as with the ancient ones—will take a threefold form. That is to say, the lowest and most general form will involve universal practice by the whole community in every land and will thus take the form of a common, because universal, religion. This would perhaps, in some respects, be not unlike the Eleusynian Mysteries in Greece or the Rites of Osiris and Isis in Egypt, thereby involving an “ecological” orientation, concerned with involving the other kingdoms of Nature, as well as the human—although not possessing a wholly devotional approach as such. It would otherwise also involve baptismal and later confirmatory rituals acknowledging the point of spiritual development of the individual.

However, because of the eventually exoteric recognition of Shamballa and the Spiritual Hierarchy (rather than that of an unknown and purely theoretical “God”), it is suggested that the orientation of these progressive recognitions or acknowledgments would in fact be much more akin to the ritualistic approach of the Craft degrees in Freemasonry.21 It follows almost without stating the obvious that this would involve major change from the style of the present, almost completely corrupted Masonic system. It would necessarily change into one involving processes of ritual invocation and evocation, which would themselves take the place of worship and prayer.22 The first initiation in these revised Mysteries (equivalent to that of the Masonic “Entered Apprentice”) would then logically form the common basis or ritualistic aim of the new world religion.23 This is by virtue of the fact that humanity in the main would by then be regarded as firmly “on the Path” and thus to be seen as “accepted disciples” in the sense described earlier, in chapter 8.

Although the suggestion is entirely speculative, the two higher stages of the Mysteries (parallel to the Orphic Mysteries of Greece) would logically involve the second and third initiations. How soon these would become a more overt part of the new world religion is debatable. However, the highest (parallel to the Dionysian Mysteries of Greece), involving the fourth, fifth, and sixth initiations, would undoubtedly remain within the framework of the Inner Mysteries and thus well outside the immediate framework of the new world religion. The whole essence of world “religious” practice would in this sequentially organized manner again turn firmly in the direction of preparation for actual spiritual change in line with that evolutionary Purpose defined by the Higher Path.

RACE DIFFERENTIATION AND INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE

It was mentioned earlier on that the Occidental and Oriental natures are quite different and it would thus be quite fair to ask how that might itself make the emergence of a common Mystery tradition possible. We are told, however, that the Hierarchy of the Trans-Himalayan Adept Lodge attaches so much importance to the spiritual stimulation of humanity as a whole that one of its Adepts previously known as Confucius will incarnate in order to superintend the work as it affects those leading Egos of the Fourth Race,24 the peak of this intended effort supposedly being in the middle of the twenty-first century.25

With that in mind, one can already see, within the past decade, a sudden and very marked acceleration of business-related development in Brazil and China in particular, and now India too, the latter two providing between them over one third of the world’s total population. This acceleration will inevitably continue with the resultant emergence, over the next century or two, of a worldwide economy based on new principles, which will outstrip the present one by a huge extent and will just as inevitably bring the Oriental and Occidental races much closer together. As also mentioned earlier on, successful business necessitates trust, and trust forms the basis of all relationships in Nature.

One of the related effects of this will be to demonstrate that corporate internationalism will form one of the most important aspects of the world of the future—although very different in nature from the present, merely profit-orientated system with which we are so familiar. Nationalism (itself a rather more extended form of tribalism) will be increasingly seen as incapable of providing by itself an adequate politico-socio-economic base for human intercourse in general. This is already widely evident, many of the larger international corporations having a financial base of far greater strength and influence than many minor countries. The sense of internationalism and “family” generated by working within such organizations is itself what will gradually destroy all remaining sense of tribalism in human nature.

A vocational, socially concerned attitude and a much more professionally trained approach toward a business career will necessarily become prevalent, as also an accompanying international rule of law, which today is only manifest as a seed of what it must someday become. It is already apparent, and will necessarily become generally self-evident within the next two generations, that such a generally reliable, international legal framework is essential to maintain social as well as economic order throughout the world.

EFFECTS OF EXTERNALIZATION OF SENIOR MEMBERS OF THE HIERARCHY

One might perhaps ask why it should be so important for even senior members of the Adept Hierarchy to incarnate and externalize, as apparently intended, and how this would be related to the Mysteries. Although we are not yet provided with any sort of detail, one might perhaps draw a speculative parallel from the world of physics, bearing in mind that our occult concerns involve the greater world of energies and forces, including the spiritual ones. So, bearing in mind that the seventh degree of the Adept Hierarchy in a sense represents the union of personal consciousness with the demiurgic Ring-Pass-Not of our planetary Life, we may reasonably suggest that their aim is to extend their field of influence beyond that, as a group on the Higher Way—something that must necessarily affect humanity too. Therefore, we may also infer that their physical incarnations and active existence in working with lesser initiates will put a terrific torsion (i.e., a compressed tension, like that of a coiled spring) into the whole field of world consciousness. That in turn will affect all the other kingdoms of Nature.

The associated intention is clearly to unite the consciousness of humankind much more closely with their own—which is itself already connected to Shamballa—for two reasons. First of all, as mentioned a little earlier, the prototypal fifth kingdom in Nature consciousness will begin to appear within the very next zodiacal era and it will need to be protected and encouraged in its development. Secondly, when the most senior Adepts decide that their own immediate work is done, their eventually final departure from Earth life will generate an immense expansion of consciousness of humanity as a whole, far beyond its natural limits at present. At the same time, it is inferred, Shamballa will correspondingly transfer its own existence to a yet higher state than that in which it is currently located. That will naturally also affect all the other kingdoms of Nature as well, thereby bringing about an almost unimaginable range of fundamental change.

In brief, and as already suggested, what is now already in process would seem to involve the eventual “Judgment Day” of our Fifth Race cycle within the course of the next two millennia or so. That itself will trigger the next planetary “Round,” hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of years hence, involving the appearance of completely new types of form in all kingdoms of Nature. As well as this, it will (much later) enable many of today’s domesticated and other advanced animal species to make the eventual leap of consciousness necessary to attain the primitively early human state, which our own humanity achieved in ancient Lemurian times.

Although many modern commentators in academia and the media conceive of the New Age fascination with mysticism, esotericism, and the occult merely as a historical phenomenon that has arisen in the light of failed orthodox religion, it can now be seen that the underlying reality extends far further. The sheer extent of associated numbers of lesser initiates today, right across the globe, tells us rather more. Whereas until the nineteenth century the numbers showing such interest were few and far between, they now exist literally in the millions, even if general esoteric understanding still remains publicly somewhat limited.

As a consequence of this, the Adept Hierarchy realized that the old and accepted style of teaching—privately in an ashram or, before that, in the caverns and rooms of the Mysteries—just could not accommodate such numbers. Consequently, spearheaded by major advances in public education and literacy in the West, it was evidently decided to open up the teachings on a grandly open scale, to see if self-education in esotericism and occult science could be achieved through book learning, allied to explanations given out more occasionally by advanced initiates.

It is to this end, essentially, that the works of Blavatsky and Bailey in particular have self-evidently been aimed by the Spiritual Hierarchy. Just as Blavatsky brought explanatory innovation with the concept that karma and reincarnation were essentially interlinked, so Bailey brought forth the illuminative teaching as to the Seven Rays, which condition the evolutionary purpose and development of humankind in general. The next stages will evidently involve a logical further progression, involving the mere mystic idealisms of the past giving way to the firm spiritual perceptions of the future.

There is no intention here to go into any further attempted detail concerning the prospective format and structure of the new world religion or the revived Mysteries that will form an intrinsic attachment to it. Much other information has already been provided in Bailey’s works with such clarity that any further comment by this author at this present stage would be altogether superfluous. The intention here, so far, has been merely to provide a range of explanatory suggestions concerning the logic of what must happen next in our human world culture over the next few centuries, as a matter of natural progression. That progression will involve the “bringing down to earth” of spiritual knowledge and higher influences upon all in practical ways, rather than the attempted raising of consciousness to spiritual levels pursued by the few over so many past millennia. With that specifically in mind, it is important to understand that information concerning the Mysteries has to be considered in conjunction with the issue of world education in the New Age. This has been neglected in relation to the masses over thousands of years and that must change.

THE VITAL SIGNIFICANCE OF MASS EDUCATION

The separation of education from the original Mysteries, which has taken place over the last two thousand years or so, has from one angle been irrational, despite its usefulness in developing a real and perhaps more focused sense of greater human potential. During that time, it has involved concentration on developing the faculty of logically organized memory above all else. However, as observed in chapter 5, intellectual memory and its organization involve using merely the lowest two subplanes of matter of the mental plane. The third involves the analytic or discriminatively logical function, which enables the individual actually to think with any degree of rational coherence, while the fourth—that of the integrated personality—involves creative coordination of all the lower three, with real and considered thought.

A salutary example of the effects of misusing the mind function in religion is to be seen in the products of the Islamist mudrassahs. These misguided schools of extremism teach the memorization of nothing but the Qur’an—and even this in purely parrot fashion, without any attempt to consider or question the meaning of the verses in any breadth or depth (often without the young individual even understanding the associated Arabic). Consequently, the minds of those “schooled” in this way have no even basic cultural depth or breadth of perspective with which to face the world. Small wonder that fatalism and blind religious extremism are the result. But the same problem is to be found resulting from an overliteralistic approach to the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible, the latter particularly in America, where it breeds just the same superficiality and extremism. In fact, so we are told, the whole problem of modern “fundamentalist” schools of thought—in religious, political, and even scientific environments—is due to psychically sensitive Sixth Ray devotees misusing early incoming Seventh Ray energies of which they are not even aware.26 This influence will naturally pass and we must therefore be patient, while not allowing it to take further root.

The Mysteries, however, are concerned with spiritual orientation and thus with sensitivity to the influences of the higher mental subplanes, plus the buddhic state—that of the kosmic etheric double of the Logos, the importance of which has already been mentioned. Consequently, as reliable walls are only built on reliably strong foundations, the new approach to public education must necessarily involve a recognition of the fact that it is essentially subsidiary to the Mysteries and not just there for maximizing career intentions, as at present. Then, with the personality imbued with the understanding of its own self-discipline under the Spiritual Ego, the development of the higher mental path of consciousness (that of the antahkarana) will become far more straightforward than it is today.27

However, it is equally important to recognize that intellectual development should not be rushed. The average child is involved in a thoroughly natural sequence of astral/feeling development during the first fourteen years of life (between seven to fourteen in particular), when its senses of mystery and inner, imaginative creativity are at their most sensitive and where emotional balance, consistency, and order are developed. These are all of immense importance in the individual’s overall range of developed faculty. It follows quite logically that real intellectual stimulation should not be attempted before the age of seventeen, nor real spiritual stimulation (via Higher Education) before the age of twenty-one. Similarly, no introduction to practical involvement in the Inner Mysteries should be considered before the twenty-eighth year. The latter is itself a really crucial age in the integrated relationship between the Spiritual Ego and its human expression. Having said all this, however, it must be acknowledged that there will always be a few unusual exceptions to the general rule.

It naturally follows from what has just been described in very general terms that New Age society (throughout the psychologically “Westernized” world) will itself have to change dramatically over the next few centuries in order to take full advantage of the incoming new spiritual influences on a large scale. However, as the old saying goes, “Many are called, but [relatively] few are actually chosen.” The approach to the Mysteries has necessarily to be based upon an increasingly ascetic self-discipline (based, however, on common sense), and there is very little of that currently apparent in modern (especially Western) society.

Nevertheless, there is a huge expansion of idealism apparent in the worldwide younger generations of today (especially where politics is concerned). This—generating greater subjective freedom and creativity—must in turn be for the better in the long term, although in the shorter term it will inevitably result in much social strife through their trying to “kick over the traces.” That is particularly so in relation to those who merely indulge in wealth and also those governmental political structures where the so-called “ruling classes” are corruptly self-concerned to maintain their own socioeconomic positions at the literal expense of the masses. In that respect we live in interestingly turbulent times of very real psychological and social crisis, which seem likely to continue for many generations yet to come.

ACTUAL REINTRODUCTION OF THE MYSTERIES

The final point we have to deal with here involves the question “When will the Mysteries be reintroduced?” The answer, as given to us, is not precise, although we are told that later in this twenty-first century:

When the Seventh Ray has achieved complete manifestation and the Piscean influence is completely removed, the Seventh Ray Avatar will appear [and that] He will be largely instrumental in producing those conditions which will permit of the reappearance upon Earth of the Mysteries of Initiation, of which the Hierarchy is the custodian.28

To this we find added: “The work done during the next two centuries in the field of education is definitely temporary and balancing, and that out of the fulfillment of the task assigned to education will grow those more permanent systems which, in the new age, will be found flourishing everywhere.”29

These comments were given out well over half a century ago, during the 1940s, but we can already see their practical development as more than mere theory. In addition, the implicit but fairly clear suggestion in all this is that, because of the time needed to clear up the worldwide political, religious, and socioeconomic mess in our present civilization, and also because of the aggressively retentive nature of the Sixth Ray influence, the Mysteries are unlikely to become in any degree seriously objective until at least the second half of the twenty-second century CE. That, however, involves a matter of only seven to eight generations from now, which means that a few of the grandchildren (if not also some of the children) of today’s own youth may live to see the dawn of this great era unfold. However, one final complementary quote from the Masters needs to be borne in mind in conclusively answering this question:

The Schools of the Mysteries . . . will come into being and practice; but this will be temporarily a secondary activity; the full expression of ashramic activity will be directed to practical world affairs, to the education of the general public, and not in the early stages to esoteric matters.30

Despite this, we are otherwise told that schools of esotericism will progressively be set up in the following areas:

Preparatory Grades, leading to . . . Advanced Schools
1	Greece or Syria		Egypt
2	Midwest, USA		California
3	Southern France		Italy
4	Scotland or Wales		Ireland
5	Sweden		Russia
6	New Zealand		Australia31

Not altogether surprisingly, in conformity with occult principles, a seventh school is also intended, the preparatory part of which will be in Japan while the advanced part will be in western China, both of these being under the watchful supervisory eye of the Manu of the Fourth Race32 (and his counterpart on the Teaching Ray). Perhaps surprisingly to some, it seems that no such schools are intended in either South America or southern Africa, these apparently being intended to follow at a much later date.33 That is because the predominant (tribal) consciousness of the native peoples in either instance is quite different from that of the Western mind. Similarly, no such school is apparently intended for India, despite its immense historic background of learning in the fields of esotericism and occultism. This might at first seem highly illogical. However, the deep-rooted pride and intellectual inertia of the Brahmin tradition, regarding itself as the epitome of possible knowledge in these fields, plus the social intractability of the caste system, would probably render abortive all attempts at sowing any new thought there for some time yet. The ruthlessly self-concerned manner in which Buddhism (both exoteric and esoteric) was historically driven out of India by the Brahmins two thousand years ago might otherwise be partly responsible for this deliberate omission as well. However, the underlying instinct of so many of the peoples of India toward magic in all aspects of life would also make it potentially very dangerous indeed—and thus impossible for practical consideration for some time to come.

There will undoubtedly be those shallow or spiritually lazy commentators who will see in all this little but supposedly arbitrary wishful thinking. For them all truly radical forward thinking is based upon elitism, favoritism, and lack of egalitarian consideration. Yet it is quite logical that the students of these various schools—based on those Ray affiliations described in earlier chapters—will come from widely different ethnic groups all over the world, as they already do at university level today, to deal with particular academic subjects. However, in answer to these critics, one can probably do no better than provide the following Adept quote, which sweeps away all of the usual blind modern sentimentalism about true concern for human development in the round:

Search for the Path to Manhood both within and without yourself. It lies within, for within your nature all men and all things exist. It lies without, for the Life that is yours is the Life of the world also. It is within all things, but it cannot be found in any one thing alone, for each thing is a part of every other. You will seek it in many things and in many ways, and in all things and all ways united; but not until you and all become one will you find the Way to Manhood.34