021-026
[21] THE CHRIST: THE REAPPEARANCE OF-,
[22] COLOUR,
[23] CONSCIOUSNESS,
[24] THE CONSTITUION OF MAN,
[26] CREMATION
[21]
THE CHRIST: THE REAPPEARANCE OF-
(1) Everywhere we find the spirit of expectancy, and the demand for a manifestation and a symbolic happening, which we call by various names, but which is usually referred to as the advent of Christ. This, as you know, may be an actual physical coming, as before in Palestine, or it may connote a definite overshadowing of His disciples and lovers by the Great Lord of Life. The overshadowing will call forth a response from all those who are in any way spiritually awakened. Or again, the coming may take the form of a tremendous inflow of the Christ principle, the Christ life and love, working out through the human family. Perhaps all three possibilities may be found simultaneously on our planet very shortly. (14 – 281).
(2) He (the Risen Christ) will not this time demonstrate the perfected life of a Son of God, which was His main mission before; He will appear as the supreme Head of the Spiritual Hierarchy, meeting the need of the thirsty nations of the world – thirsty for truth, for right human relations, and for loving understanding. He will be recognised this time by all, and in His Own Person testify to the fact of the resurrection, and hence demonstrate the paralleling fact of the immortality of the soul, of the spiritual man. The emphasis during the past two thousand years has been on death; it has coloured all the teaching of the orthodox churches; only one day in the year has been dedicated to the thought of the resurrection. (9 – 151).
(3) The preparation of the world on a large scale for the coming of the World Teacher, and the taking of the necessary steps before They Themselves (the Masters) come out among men, as many of Them surely will towards the close of this century. A special group is forming amongst Them now Who are definitely preparing Themselves for this work. The Master M., the Master K.H. and the Master Jesus will be specially concerned with the movement towards the last quarter of the century. Other Masters will participate also, but these are the ones with Whose names and offices people should familiarise themselves, wherever possible. . . . Very definitely may the assurance be given here, that prior to the coming of the Christ, adjustments will be made so that at the head of all great organisations will be found either a Master, or an initiate who has taken the third initiation. At the head of certain of the great occult groups, of the Freemasons of the world, and of the various great divisions of the Church, and resident in many of the great nations, will be found initiates or Masters. (1 –61/2).
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(4) When He comes at the close of this century and makes His power felt, He will come as the Teacher of Love and Unity, and the keynote He will strike will be regeneration through love poured forth on all. As He will work primarily on the astral plane, this will demonstrate on the physical plane in the formation of active groups in every city of any size, and in every country, which will work aggressively for unity, co-operation and brotherhood in every department of life – economic, religious, social and scientific. (3 – 755).
(5) Let me make the facts somewhat clearer, and enlarge somewhat upon the three modes of His appearing, of His coming, His advent, and of His physical recognition by humanity:
1. By His overshadowing of all initiates and disciples who are today, or will be at the time of His arrival, active in the three worlds of human evolution. This involves His influencing their minds telepathically. This overshadowing or influencing, will be His primary work upon the mental plane. This will constitute one of His most effective methods in His proposed spiritual interference in world affairs. Through the medium of these members or affiliates of the Hierarchy, He will have outposts of His consciousness in every nation. Through them He can work.
2. By the pouring out of the Christ life or consciousness upon the masses everywhere, and in every nation. This spiritual inflow will bring about the reorienting of human desire, and will evoke the emotional reaction to His Presence. This therefore brings the astral plane within the active sphere of His influence; this involves the release of the energy of goodwill into the hearts of men, predisposing them towards right human relations. It is this establishing of right relations which is the major objective of His coming triple activity. The masses everywhere will be responsive to the work and the message of Christ, as it is implemented from the mental plane by the disciples and initiates, overshadowed by the mind of Christ.
3. By His physical appearance among men. Through His Own immediate appearance, He can establish a potent focal point of hierarchical energy upon Earth, in a manner not hitherto possible. He has never deserted humanity, and has always kept His promise to stay with us all the days, even unto the end of the age. Men in all lands will know where He can be found. The locale of this focal point of His threefold spiritual activity, cannot here be disclosed, for it is contingent upon the results of the sequential processes of overshadowing and outpouring. (18 – 615/6).
(6) The heart centre of humanity is created by the sum total of the hearts (symbolically speaking) of all these men of goodwill (in or out [Page 48] of the churches, and irrespective of their political concepts), who are serving their fellowmen, sponsoring human welfare movements, working for the establishing of right human relations, and constantly off-setting the separa-tiveness of the human mind through the inclusiveness of the divine love nature. You have, therefore, as a guarantee of the return of Christ into public recognition, an implementing of a great alignment. This alignment, when effectively concluded, will bring about a clear channel or pathway of return, or line of light or magnetic power between:
1. The centre where the will of God is known. This is Shamballa, where the will-to-good originates. This will-to-good is essential love.
2. The Hierarchy, which is the planetary heart centre.
3. The Christ, the very heart of love within the Hierarchy.
4. The initiates, disciples and aspirants who form the New Group of World Servers, seeking to embody the love and light needed in the world today.
5. The hearts of the men of goodwill in all lands, who are responsive to love as it can express itself through right human relations.
6. The focal point through which the Lord of Love will work on Earth. If you will study this sixfold progression of divine love, from the highest manifestation of Deity, down to its appearance through the medium of some focal point in our known modern world, it will be apparent to you that a very definite "structure of approach" has been created, and that a "Path of Return" is being constructed, which will bring the long-awaited Christ into our midst. Nothing can stop or prevent His return today; the evidence of this structure can be seen everywhere. (18 – 619/20).
(7) His reappearance and His consequent work cannot be confined to one small locality or domain, unheard of by the great majority, as was the case when He was here before. The radio, the press, and the dissemination of news, will make His coming different to that of any previous Messenger; the swift modes of transportation will make Him available to countless millions, and by boat, rail and plane they can reach Him: through television, His face can be made familiar to all, and verily "every eye shall see Him". (8 – 16).
(8) He may reappear in a totally unexpected guise; who is to say whether He will come as a politician, an economist, a leader of the people (arising from the midst of them), a scientist or an artist? (8 – 17).
(9) Always down the centuries, at the hour of man's greatest need, and in
response to his voiced demand, a divine Son of God has come forth, and under many different names. (8 – 41).
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(10) The time is known only to the two or three, but "in such an hour as ye think not, He will come." (Matt, xxiv 44), (8 – 43).
(11) The mass of straight goodness and vision in the world is enormous, and the amount of clear, humanitarian thinking is unbounded; it is in the hands of the masses of good little men, and the millions of right thinking people in every land, that the salvation of the world lies, and by them the preparatory work for the Coming of the Christ will be done. Numerically, they are adequate to the task, and need only reassurance and wise co-ordination to prepare them for the service required. (8 – 162).
(12) He will come unfailingly when a measure of peace has been restored, when the principle of sharing is at least in process of controlling economic affairs, and when churches and political groups have begun to clean house. Then He can and will come; then the Kingdom of God will be publicly recognised, and will no longer be a thing of dreams and of wishful thinking and orthodox hope. (8 – 163).
(13) When He comes Whom angels and men await, and Whose work it is to inaugurate the New Age and so complete the work He began in Palestine two thousand years ago, He will bring with Him some of the great Angels, as well as certain of the Masters. (13 – 508).
(14) It can be expected that the orthodox Christian will at first reject the theories about the Christ which occultism presents; at the same time, this same orthodox Christian will find it increasingly difficult to induce the intelligent masses of people to accept the impossible Deity and the feeble Christ, which historical Christianity has endorsed. A Christ Who is present and living, Who is known to those who follow Him, Who is a strong and able executive, and not a sweet and sentimental sufferer, Who has never left us but Who has worked for two thousand years through the medium of His disciples, the inspired men and women of all faiths, all religions, and all religious persuasions; Who has no use for fanaticism or hysterical devotion, but Who loves all men persistently, intelligently and optimistically, Who sees divinity in them all, and Who comprehends the techniques of the evolutionary development of the human consciousness (mental, emotional and physical, producing civilisations and cultures appropriate to a particular point in evolution) – these ideas the intelligent public can and will accept.
They will prepare and work for conditions in the world in which Christ can move freely among men, in bodily Presence; He need not then remain in His present retreat in Central Asia. They can and will accept with ease the unity of all faiths, when the relationship of the Buddha and the Christ is [Page 50] correctly represented; then the picture of a Christ demanding a unique position, to the exclusion of all other sons of God, will fade out in the wonder of the true apostolic succession, in which many sons of God, on different rays, of differing nationalities and with varying missions, are to be seen historically leading humanity along the path of divine unfoldment and nearer to God, the Source. (13 – 589/90).
See also: "Reflective meditation upon Preparation for the Reappearance of the Christ." (6 – 226/8).
[22]
COLOUR
(1) All colours emanate from one source, or one primary colour – in this solar system, the cosmic ray of indigo, veiling cosmic love or wisdom – and then split into three major colours, and thence into the four minor, making the seven colours of the spectrum. (2 – 238).
(2) Colours as manifested on the physical plane, show at their crudest and harshest. Even the most exquisite of shades as seen by the physical eye, is hard and harsh, compared to those on the emotional plane, and as the finer matter of the other planes is contacted, the beauty, the softness and the exquisite quality of the different hues, grow with each transition. When the ultimate and synthetic colour is reached, the beauty transcends all conception. (2 – 209).
(3) I appreciate your feeling that even these hints but lead apparently to greater confusion. But by constant application to the subject in hand, by frequent brooding and meditation on the colours, and by an endeavour to attain their esoteric significance, and their microcosmic application, will gradually appear the thread that will lead the student out of his confusion into the clear light of perfect knowledge. Have, therefore, courage, a broad elasticity of view, and an ability to reserve opinion until further facts are demonstrated, and also an avoidance of dogmatic assertion. These will be your best guides in the early days of your search. Many have, through meditation, and a receptiveness to higher teaching found their way out of the Hall of Learning into the Hall of Wisdom. Only in the Hall of Wisdom can the esoteric interpretation of the colours be truly known. The Hall is entered through meditation which prepares the student for that initiation which opens to him the door. Therefore, hold fast to meditation and falter not in purpose. (2 – 231).
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[23]
CONSCIOUSNESS
(1) We can do no more than sense a fraction of some wonderful whole, utterly beyond the reach of our consciousness – a whole that the highest Angel or Perfected Being is but beginning to realise. When we recognise the fact that the average man is as yet fully conscious only on the physical plane, nearly conscious on the emotional plane, and only developing the consciousness of the mental plane, it is obvious that his comprehension of cosmic data can be but rudimentary. When we recognise the further fact, that to be conscious on a plane and to have control on that plane are two very different conditions, it becomes apparent how remote is the possibility of our approximating more than the general trend of the cosmic scheme. (1 – 4)
(2) The development of the human being is but the passing from one state of consciousness to another. It is a succession of expansions, a growth of that faculty of awareness that constitutes the predominant characteristic of the indwelling Thinker. It is the progressing from consciousness polarised in the higher self, ego, or soul, thence to a polarisation in the Monad, or Spirit, till the consciousness eventually is Divine. (1 – 7).
(3) All progression in the realm of consciousness, is naturally by a graded series of awakenings, but this would proceed much more gradually and cover a longer period of time than is the case under our present planetary conditions. This particular mode of developing the consciousness of the human family was initiated by the Hierarchy during the Atlantean root-race at the latter end of the fourth sub-race, and will persist until the middle of the next round. At that time the needed stimulus will have been imparted, and as three-fifths of the human family will then have esoterically "set their feet upon the path", and a large percentage of them will then be in process of becoming the Path itself, the more normal routine will again be resumed (1 – 94).
(4) These realisations, or apprehended expansions of consciousness, are under natural law, and come in due course of time to every soul without exception. (1 – 176).
(5) Let me assure you that under the pressure of modern life, under the strain of the imposed present conditions and civilisation, plus the mental concern, the terror of marching armies, the thunder of the many voices, and the stress of world wide economic stringency, the human consciousness is rapidly awakening from its long sleep. That great and fundamental [Page 52] reality, which we call the "human state of mind", is just beginning to focus itself upon the things which matter, and to express itself in a living fashion. (9 – 26).
(6) Evolution, as we understand it, and as it must be studied by the human intellect, is the story of the evolution of consciousness, and not the story of the evolution of the form. This latter evolution is implicit in the other, and of secondary importance from the occult angle. (15 – 57).
(7) The energies of the twelve constellations are blended with those of the twelve planets, but their power to evoke response, and to be consciously received, recognised, and employed, is dependent entirely upon the type of response mechanism of the planetary life, and of the individual man. It has been rightly said that the consciousness is dependent upon the vehicles of consciousness, upon their point of development, and upon the ability of the individual to identify himself with the energies and impulses which are reaching him, and is not dependent only upon that which is already a recognised part or aspect of himself. It might be said that the higher response to the realities and qualities revealed and made possible by the impact of energy from the zodiacal signs, is somewhat dependent upon the waning influence of the planets to hold down the consciousness aspect of the man. Ponder upon this, for it embodies a deep esoteric truth. (16 – 53/4).
(8) So often in our studies, one is apt to forget that it is not possible for any unit of consciousness, within the planetary sphere of influence, to conceive of conditions as they exist apart from the Earth, because that small planet is inevitably, for that unit, the very centre of his known universe, and – under the Great Illusion – the constellations with their rulers, and with their prototypal counterparts, revolve around the Earth. When man has progressed further, and his consciousness is beginning to awaken to reality, the nature of this illusion will become apparent to him, but at present this is
not possible. (16 – 359).
(9) That ancient occult truism remains accurate: "Consciousness is dependent upon its vehicle for expression, and both are dependent upon life and energy for existence." This remains an immutable law. (16 – 527).
(10) You must always bear in mind that the consciousness remains the same, whether in physical incarnation or out of incarnation, and that development can be carried on with even greater ease than when limited and conditioned by the brain consciousness (5 – 81), (17 – 413).
(11) It is the expansion of consciousness and the production of increased sensitivity and perceptive awareness, which is the goal of all divine and [Page 53] hierarchical effort. The goal is not for betterment of material conditions. These will automatically follow when the sense of awareness is steadily unfolded. The future of humanity is determined by its aspiration and ability to respond to the idealism which is today flooding the world (12 – 103).
[24]
THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN
The constitution of man ... is basically threefold, as follows:
I. The Monad, or pure Spirit, the Father in Heaven.
This aspect reflects the three aspects of the Godhead:
1. Will or Power The Father.
2. Love-Wisdom The Son.
3. Active Intelligence The Holy Spirit.
and is only contacted at the final initiations, when man is nearing the end of his journey and is perfected. The Monad reflects itself again in
II. The Ego, Higher Self, or Individuality.
This aspect is potentially:
1. Spiritual Will Atma.
2. Intuition Buddhi, Love - Wisdom, the Christ principle.
3. Higher or Abstract Mind Higher Manas.
The Ego begins to make its power felt in advanced men, and increasingly on the Probationary Path, until by the third initiation the control of the lower self by the higher is perfected, and the highest aspect begins to make its energy felt.
The Ego reflects itself in:
III. The Personality, or lower self, physical plane man. This aspect is also threefold:
1. A mental body lower manas.
2. An emotional body astral body.
3. A physical body the dense physical and the etheric body.
The aim of evolution is
therefore to bring man to the realisation of the
egoic aspect and to bring the lower nature under its control. (1 – xv), (2 – 1).
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[25]
COURAGE
It takes courage to make spiritual decisions and to abide by them; it takes courage to adjust your lives – daily and in all relations – to the need of the hour and to the service of mankind; it takes courage to demonstrate to those around you that the present world catastrophe is of more importance to you than the petty affairs of your individual lives and your humdrum contacts; it takes courage to discard the alibis which have prevented you from participating to date in the all-out effort which characterises today the activities of the Hierarchy; it takes courage to make sacrifices, to refuse time to non-essential activities, and to deal with the physical body as if it were free from all impediments; it takes courage to ignore frailties which may be present, the tiredness incident to a long life, the physical tendencies which handicap and limit your service, the sleeplessness which comes from world pressures or from a badly regulated life programme, and the nervousness and strain which are the common lot today; it takes courage to attack life on behalf of others, and to obliterate your own wishes in the emergency and need. (6 – 42).
[26]
CREMATION
(1) These taints to which humanity is prone, are found in the soil, and their presence there is largely due to burial, down the ages, of millions of corpses. By the increased use of the processes of cremation, this condition will be steadily improved. Gradually, very gradually, the taint will thus die out. It is therefore highly desirable that there be as much propaganda as possible for the use of this method of disposing of the discarded physical vehicles of the souls who are passing out of incarnation. As the soil becomes less tainted, and as soul contact is established, we can hope to see a steady decrease in the number of those who succumb to the inherited taints. (17 – 61/2).
(2) Much good will be brought about through the growing custom to cremate those forms which the indwelling life has vacated; when it is an universal custom, we shall see a definite minimising of disease, leading to longevity and increased vitality. (17 – 249).
(3) It is a fortunate and happy thing that cremation is becoming increasingly the rule. Before so very long, burial in the ground will be [Page 55] against the law, and cremation will be enforced, and this as a health and sanitation measure. Those unhealthy, psychic spots, called cemeteries, will eventually disappear, just as ancestor worship is passing out, both in the Orient – with its ancestor cults – and in the Occident – with its equally foolish cult of hereditary position.
By the use of fire, all forms are dissolved; the quicker the human physical vehicle is destroyed, the quicker is its hold upon the withdrawing soul broken. A great deal of nonsense has been told in current theosophical literature about the time equation in relation to the sequential destruction of the subtle bodies. It should be stated, however, that the moment that true death is scientifically established (by the orthodox doctor in charge of the case), and it has been ascertained that no spark of life remains in the physical body, cremation is then possible. This complete or true death eventuates when the thread of consciousness and the thread of life, are completely withdrawn from the head and the heart. At the same time, reverence and an unhurried attitude have their rightful place in the process. The family of the dead person need a few hours in which to adjust themselves to the fact of the imminent disappearance of the outer and usually loved form; due care must also be given to the formalities required by the state or municipality. This time element has reference mainly to those who are left behind, to the living and not to the dead. The claim that the etheric body must not be rushed into the cremating flames, and the belief that it must be left to drift around for a stated period of several days, have also no true basis at all. There is no etheric need for delay. When the inner man withdraws from his physical vehicle, he withdraws simultaneously from the etheric body. It is true that the etheric body is apt to linger for a long time on the "field of emanation" when the physical body is interred, and it will frequently persist until complete disintegration of the dense body has taken place. The process of mummifying, as practised in Egypt, and of embalming, as practised in the West, have been responsible for the perpetuation of the etheric body, sometimes for centuries. This is particularly the case when the mummy or embalmed person was of an evil character during life; the hovering etheric body is then often "possessed" by an evil entity or force. This is the cause of the attacks and disasters which often dog the steps of those who discover ancient tombs and their inhabitants, ancient mummies, and bring them and their possessions to light. Where cremation is the rule, there is not only the immediate destruction of the physical body, and its restitution to the fount of substance, but the vital body is also promptly dissolved, and its forces swept away by the current of flame into the reservoir [Page 56] of vital energies. Of that reservoir it has ever been an inherent part, either in form or in a formless condition. After death and cremation these forces will exist, but are absorbed into the analogous whole. Ponder on this statement, for it will give you the clue to the creative work of the human spirit. If delay is necessary from family feeling or municipal requirements, cremation should follow death within thirty-six hours; where no reason for delay exists, cremation can be rightly permitted in twelve hours. It is wise, however, to wait twelve hours in order to ensure true death. (17 – 483/5). See also: (17 – 251, 470).