All who are treading the spiritual path have to face up to the difference – often a very marked difference – between the unsatisfactory state of things as they are and the vision of things as they could be. Getting from the one to the other can actually be said to define the path. In theory it is simply a matter of overriding the old selfish habits with the soul qualities of selfless love and a practical creativity which serves and lifts all in our environment into better understandings and relationships. But as soon as we apply ourselves to achieving this, the magnitude of the task quickly becomes apparent. We are having to bridge what is in effect a major gulf in consciousness. It becomes clear that we have set ourselves a goal which can only be achieved when we continually manifest the very best that is in us. In particular we have to develop a persistence that will keep on keeping on whatever circumstances and setbacks arise, for as well as striving to embody the best within us, we also have to face up to and transmute the worst, because this also lies within each one of us waiting to trip us up or turn us away from our spiritual purpose.

We usually think of this situation in terms of the experience of the individual disciple, but it is, now increasingly obviously, a very clear description of the situation that humanity finds itself in as a whole. On all sides and in every field of human activity we are faced daily with the painful juxtaposition of the unacceptably bad and the (apparently) unachievable good. Yet a brief survey of recent history will quickly show us that huge strides have been made in human betterment and that the ideal of improving human relationships throughout the world is one that NGOs, the international Agencies of the United Nations, many national governments and millions of people around the world are tirelessly and successfully working for.

In the forefront of this work is a group of dedicated servers who have risen from within the ranks of humanity, who are generally well on the way to putting aside personality concerns and who consequently are able as a group to mediate the light of the soul and the radiant architecture of the Plan into the outer thought and desire life of the human family. They are thus able to meet the great contemporary human demand for spiritual light and direction. We need the light of wisdom to understand and profit from the past; we need the searchlight of clear thought to dispel the fogs of illusion and glamour of the present time. And above all we need the light of vision so that, as a species, we can navigate our way forward into a preferred future. Taken together these three aspects of spiritual light are what lies behind the Triangles service initiative. Their daily invocation by the worldwide Triangles group can help transform human consciousness and enable us together to more truly measure up to the benchmark of soul values.