December 2010

The race as a whole stands now at the very entrance to the Path of Discipleship. The racial gaze is forward to the vision, whether it is the vision of the soul, a vision of a better life, of an improved economic situation, or of better inter-racial relationship. That this vision is oft distorted, that it is materially oriented, or only partially seen, is sadly true; but in some form or another there exists today an appreciable grasp of the "new and desirable" by the masses - a thing hitherto unknown. In the past, it was the intelligentsia or the elect, who were privileged to have the vision. Today, it is the mass of men. Humanity, therefore, as a whole stands ready for a general alignment process… The "sharp shears of sorrow must separate the real from the unreal; the lash of pain must awaken the sleepy soul to exquisite life; the wrenching away of the roots of life from the soil of selfish desire must be undergone, and then the man stands free"... (The Rays and the Initiations, pp. 498/9)