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THE CREATIVE WORK OF SOUND

Before centering our attention upon this rule, it would be well to recollect certain things, so that our reflection on the rule may proceed with profit.

First, the rule we are at present considering concerns work on the mental plane, and before such work is possible it is important to have a developed mind, a well-nurtured intelligence, and also to have achieved some measure of mind control.  These rules are not for beginners in the occult sciences; they are for those who are ready for magical work and for labour on the plane of mind.  Love is the great unifier, the prime attractive impulse, cosmic and microcosmic, but the mind is the main creative factor and the utiliser of the energies of the cosmos.  Love attracts, but the mind attracts, repels and co-ordinates, so that its potency is inconceivable.  Is it not possible dimly to sense a state of affairs in mental realms analogous to that now seen in the emotional?  Can we picture the condition of the world when the intellect is as potent and as compelling as is the emotional nature at this time?  The race is progressing into an era wherein men will function as minds; when intelligence will be stronger than desire, and when thought powers will be used for appeal and for the guidance of the world, as now physical and emotional means are employed.

There lies in this thought a profoundly necessary incentive for a right understanding of the laws of thought, and a correct instruction to be given of the use of mental [126] matter, and the building of that matter into thought forms.

These rules concern themselves with this information.  The second necessary recollection is that the worker in magic and the potent entity wielding these forces must be the soul, the spiritual man, and this for the following reasons:

1. Only the soul has a direct and clear understanding of the creative purpose and of the plan.

2. Only the soul, whose nature is intelligent love can be trusted with the knowledge, the symbols and the formulas which are necessary to the correct conditioning of the magical work.

3. Only the soul has power to work in all three worlds at once, and yet remain detached, and therefore karmically free from the results of such work.

4. Only the soul is truly group-conscious and actuated by pure unselfish purpose.

5. Only the soul, with the open eye of vision, can see the end from the beginning, and can hold in steadiness the true picture of the ultimate consummation.

You ask, whether workers in black magic possess not an equal power?  I answer, no.  They can work in the three worlds, but they work from and in the plane of mind, and do not function, therefore, outside their field of endeavour, as does the soul.  They can achieve, from their proximity and identification with their working materials, results more potent temporarily and more rapid in accomplishment than the worker in the White Brotherhood, but the results are ephemeral; they carry destruction and disaster in their wake, and the black magician is eventually submerged in the resulting cataclysm.

Let us therefore remember the necessity of a correct [127] use of the mind, and (at the same time) let us ever hold a position beyond and detached from the creative work of our minds, desires and physical accomplishment.

Four words stand forth as one considers Rule IV.  First, sound, the formula, or word of power which the soul communicates and so starts the work.  This word is dual.  It is sounded forth on the note to which the soul responds, his own peculiar note, blended with that of his personality.  This chord of two notes is the producer of the resulting effects, and is more important than the set phrase composing the word of power.

Herein lies the problem—to sound these two notes synchronously and with the mind focussed.  Herein lies a clue to the significance of the AUM or OM.  In the early stages of meditation work, the word is sounded audibly, whilst later it is sounded inaudibly.  This training in the sound of the AUM is an unconscious preparation for the dual work of spiritual creation; and facility comes as the attentive aspirant accustoms himself to hear within his brain the soundless sound of OM.

I would suggest here, that students accustom themselves to work in this manner, sounding the word audibly and with much frequency at the close of the morning meditation, but emphasizing in the early part that close attention to the inaudible hearing which will develop the sensitivity of the inner ear, the etheric ear.  Later, when the personal note or sound is established and the inner sound is sensed, there can be definite practise in blending the two.  This entails the closest attention and the power to perform two activities simultaneously, with the mental attitude of attention to both.

Students whose aspiration is keen and clear would do well to face the issue where the magical work is concerned, and study their aptitude in meditation and their willingness to proceed with stability and caution with the needed discipline.  To facilitate this I would suggest [128] that any who are deeply concerned in the work should study and answer the following questions in the light of their souls, and to their higher selves make reply.

1. Do you feel you have reached the stage wherein you can:

a. Eliminate the meditation form as you now have it.

b. Enter with relative facility into the state of contemplation.

c. Recognize the vibration of your own soul.

2. Does the Sacred Word mean anything to you, and could you formulate clearly the reason you sound it?

3. Are you anxious to proceed in this work because your personality aspires, or because your soul is beginning consciously to utilize its mechanism?

In connection with this last question, a close analysis is called for, and I conjure you to speak truth to yourself and thus clearly ascertain the true position.  This question lies between a man's soul and himself.

I would like to interpolate here a few words in connection with myself.  Students can side-track their energies in idle speculation as to my identity.  Of what moment is it?  My province in relation to the group is to give needed assistance to those who seek to fit themselves for active work as disciples.  I am a disciple and, having progressed further along the Path of Return than the aspirants who study these instructions, know somewhat the pitfalls, understand what is needed, and can aid in the preparation for the momentous moment when they pass the portal.  Is more necessary?  Is not truth of equal value if enunciated by an aspirant, a disciple or a Master, or e'en a Christ?  Mayhap the nearer I am to you the greater may be my usefulness.  My anonymity will not be broken and speculations as to my identity are fruitless [129] waste of time.  Suffice it that I am an Oriental, that I am on the Teaching Ray, and closely associated with the Master K. H., that part of my work is the steady search for aspirants of strong heart, fervent devotion and trained minds, and that I am a disciple, as are all from the humblest probationer up to the greatest of the Great Ones.  One lesson all aspirants need to learn and to learn early and that is, that concentration upon the personality of the Teacher, hoping for personal contact with him, and constant visioning of that condition called "accepted chelaship" serves to postpone that contact and delay the acceptance.  Seek to equip your instrument, learn to function in quietness, fulfill your obligations and do your duty, develop restraint of speech and that calm poise that comes from an unselfish life motive and forget the selfish satisfaction that might well up in the heart when recognition of faithfulness comes from the watching Hierarchy.

Give this Instruction careful consideration.  These are days wherein many adjustments and changes are being wrought in the world of men.  In the resulting confusion, individuals are appreciating the necessity for the uniting of their forces and for cooperation in their efforts, and the need for group work is more apparent than ever before.  These are days, therefore, wherein quietness and confidence must be your strength, and wherein the only safeguard lies in a close searching of all underlying motives.  As seen on the surface, many apparently diverse principles emerge and the surge of battle appears to go, first one way and then another.  As seen on the inner side, the emerging factors are simpler.  The contest leads primarily to a testing of motives, and through this testing it is made apparent (to the watching Guides) who, in every group, are capable of clear thinking, accurate discrimination, patient endurance, and an ability to proceed along the probationary path toward the portal of initiation, [130] untrammelled and undisturbed in their inner life by the upheavals on the surface.  Could you but see it, the unrest and difficulty everywhere is producing a good which far outweighs the seeming evil.  Souls are finding themselves and learning dependence upon the inner Ruler.  When all outward props fail and when all the apparent authorities differ in the solution proffered, then souls are thrown back upon themselves and learn to seek within.  This inner contact with the higher self is becoming apparent in gradually unfolding degree, and leads to that self-reliance and inward calm which is based upon the rule of the inner God and which, therefore, makes a man an instrument for service in the world.

Several things are apparent at this juncture to the careful thoughtful student of men and of motives.

First:  That idealism and the sensing of the plan for humanity have a close relationship.  Idealism is analogous to the thought that precedes creation.  The capacity for abstract thought and for concentration on the ideal is only now in process of development, for this capacity involves the utilization of certain atoms, the employment of matter of the higher sub-planes and the ability to synchronize one's vibrations with the Great Ones.  Only a few people in the race are true idealists (though their numbers are increasing); the small minority only, employ the concrete mind; while the masses are swayed entirely by the emotions.  The time is coming when the intuitional body (the buddhic vehicle) will be organized, utilizing the higher spiritual mind as its medium.  When that organization is completed the lower concrete mind will be nothing but a transmitter or an interpreter.  Even abstract or concrete thought will be superseded, and we shall have simply the inflow of the intuition, taking form through the medium of the mind stuff.  We shall, therefore, have the apprehension of much that is now incomprehensible to our lower plane vision.

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In all great movements you have some thought or aggregation of thoughts cast into the minds of the so-called idealists by the Great White Brotherhood.  The idea is sounded forth by Them.  They choose a man or a group of men and cast into their minds some idea.  There it germinates and is embodied by them in other thoughts, not so pure or so wise but necessarily colored by the individuality of the thinker.  These thought-forms are, in their turn, picked up by the concrete thinkers of the world who—grasping the main outline of the idea—crystallize it and build it into more definite shape, into one more easily apprehended by the general public.  It has therefore now reached the lower levels of the mental plane, and a further development becomes possible.  It is then seized upon as desirable by those who are focussed upon the astral plane; to them it makes an emotional appeal, becoming public opinion.  It is now practically ready to take shape upon the physical plane, and we have the practical adaptation of an ideal to the needs of the physical life.  It has been stepped down; it has lost much of its original beauty; it is not as pure and as lovely as when first conceived, and it is distorted from its original shape but it is, nevertheless, more adapted to public use and can be employed as a stepping-stone to higher things.

Secondly:  In this sensing of the plan and its later materialization, human units are involved and men have perforce to be employed.  A vision is given of tremendous possibilities and indications are also granted of the manner in which these possibilities may become facts, but beyond that the Great Ones do not go.  The detail and the method of concretizing the ideal and the necessary work is left to the sons of men.  To the disciple who is an organizer and transmitter of the Plan falls the work of filling in the details and of taking the necessary action.  At this point it is wise for him to remember that he comes (with his little plans) under the same law as do the Great [132] Ones in Their large endeavours, and that it is in his dealings with people and his manipulation of the human equation that the difficulties arise.

Units for work fall into three groups:

(a) Those who can sense the plan and are commissioned to work it out.

(b) Those who can be used but who are blind to the greater issues.

(c) Those who can sense nothing except those things which concern their own selfish interests.

The first group the Masters can contact.  They work with these units of the human family and expect fair promise of average success.  These both hear the sound, and vision the Plan.  The second group have to be utilized as best may be, by the disciples of the world.  The final group are frequently to be offset from the energy standpoint, and only used when necessary.

One of the primary conditions that a disciple has to cultivate, in order to sense the plan and be used by the Master, is solitude.  In solitude the rose of the soul flourishes; in solitude the divine self can speak; in solitude the faculties and the graces of the higher self can take root and blossom in the personality.  In solitude also the Master can approach and impress upon the quiescent soul the knowledge that He seeks to impart, the lesson that must be learnt, the method and plan for work that the disciple must grasp.  In solitude the sound is heard.  The Great Ones have to work through human instruments and the plan and the vision are much handicapped by failure on the part of these instruments.

Third:  This brings me to the third point, the problems and the difficulties with which the Masters have to contend as They seek to further the plans of evolution through the medium of the sons of men.  In conclave wise They make Their plans; with judgment, after due [133] discussion, They apportion the tasks; then, to those who offer themselves for service and who have some measure of soul contact, They seek to transmit as much of the plan as possible.  They impress the plan and some suggestion as to its scope upon the mind of some man or some woman upon the physical plane.  If that mind is unstable or oversatisfied, if it is filled with pride, with despair, or with self-depreciation, the vision does not come through with clarity of outline; if the emotional body is vibrating violently with some rhythm set up by the personality, or if the physical vehicle is ailing and concentrated attention is therefore prevented, what will happen?  The Master will turn sadly away, distressed to think of the opportunity for service that the worker has lost through his own fault, and He will seek someone else to fill the need,—someone perhaps not so fundamentally suitable, but the only one available on account of the failure of the first one approached.

It might incidentally be of value here to remind aspirants to service that much work done by many is the result of over-zealousness and is not a carrying forward of the Master's work.  With wise discrimination He apportions the work and never lays upon one human being more than he can adequately accomplish.  He can and does train His disciple so that it appears to the on-looking world as if he accomplishes miracles but forget not that the vast amount of work accomplished by one useful disciple only becomes possible when the control of all his three bodies is co-ordinated and his alignment accomplished.  He who has a stable mental body that is strongly positive in reception from above, whilst negative to lower vibrations, he who has an astral body that is clear, uncoloured and still, he who also has a physical body with steady nerves and stable rhythm (it will be like a casket, beautiful, yet strong as steel) will serve as a vessel meet for the Master's use, a channel [134] through which He can unhindered pour His blessing upon the world.

Fourth:  It should be noted that even the Great Ones Themselves have to lay Their plans largely allowing for the lack of perception of those on the physical plane through whom They have to work.  They are handicapped and dependent upon Their physical plane instruments and Their main trouble concerns the point of evolution reached by the mass of men in the Occident.

Remember that this point is indicative of the success of the evolutionary process and not of its failure but, because much yet remains to be done, the work of the Lodge is often hindered.  The point reached at this time might be expressed as a swinging from the rank materialism of the past into a growing and profound realization of the unseen worlds without the balance that comes from self-acquired knowledge.  The forces that have been set in motion by the thinkers—the scientists of the world, the truly advanced religious men, the Spiritualists, the Christian Scientists, the New Thought workers, the Theosophists and the modern philosophers and workers in other fields of human thought—are gradually and steadily affecting the subtler bodies of humanity and are bringing them to a point where they are beginning to realize three things:

a. The reality of the unseen worlds.

b. The terrific power of thought.

c. The need for scientific knowledge on these two matters.

Fifth:  Certain dangers which aspirants must watch as they seek to be of use should here be mentioned:

They must guard against overemphasizing one aspect at the expense of another part of the plan or vision.

They must avoid unequal concentration of thought [135] upon that part of the plan which appeals the most to them personally.

They must recognize the inability of the workers to continue to bring through the plans and to work together peacefully and steadily.  Friction is oft unavoidable.

They must watch for the creeping in of self-interest and of ambition.

They must guard against fatigue, due to long effort in materializing the plan and the strain incident upon high endeavour.

They must develop the capacity to recognize those who are sent to help them in the work.

They must above all watch against failure to keep in touch with the higher self and with the Master.

Another point that has to be remembered is that the problem to be solved by all who are seeking to co-operate with the Great White Lodge has four objects in view.

First, that in the working out of the plan there is also the working out of karma.  This karma is not merely individual nor purely national, but is part of the total working out of world karma.

Second.  Another object is the preparing of an instrument for service in the inauguration of the New Age during the next two hundred years.  The integration of a group of knowers and of mystics is going on steadily in all parts of the world and in all organizations.  One group is being gathered but its members belong to many groups.  To this group of knowers and mystics is given the opportunity of being the channel through which the Hierarchy can work, and through which the Great Ones can send Their illuminating thought.  Through it also they can work for the uplift (in the occult sense) of humanity and thus aid evolution on every plane.  According to the response of disciples, of mystics and of knowers everywhere, so will be the rapid coming in of the New Age.

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I here seek to sound a word of warning:  In the failure to respond, in the failure to adjust, construct and refine, in the failure to turn the inner ear to those voices on the subtler planes which utter "the Words of Reconstruction" may come the ultimate transference of the forces of reconstruction to other channels, the consequent withholding of opportunities and the ultimate discarding of the instrumentality of the group as a medium of service.  I would like to emphasize the statement anent "the words of Reconstruction," begging all of you who earnestly desire to hear these words to study the Introduction to the book, Light on the Path.  Let it be remembered that if the Great Ones have to change Their plans as to this integrating group of mystics, it will be changed by the mystics themselves—viewed as a group.

The third objective is the development of the intuition and discrimination of the disciples in the world, and their ability to sense the higher vision and to achieve at the cost of the lower, the consciousness of that higher plane.  They will have to remember that the lower objective, owing to its proximity, will loom in many ways more attractive, and can only be transcended at infinite cost.  Intuition must be developed in many people, and their sense of values adequately adjusted before this group, which must inaugurate the New Age, can measure up to the requirements.

Present day troubles are largely due to the lack of intuitive perception in the past and this fault lies primarily among the mystics of the world and not so much among the lower aspirants.  The trouble has not lain in lack of idealism or even in a lack of intelligence and sincerity, it consists in the failure to sacrifice the personality at all times in order to make the intuitive realization demonstrate its realities.  Compromise has been permitted and in the occult world compromise is forbidden.  When indulged in, it leads to disaster and sweeps away eventually, [137] in ruin and in storm, the personalities of those who so stoop.  People have sought to adjust the truth to the hour instead of adjusting the hour to the truth, and in diplomacy they have endeavored to bring about as much of the reality as they deem wise.  The Masters are looking out for those with clear vision, uncompromising adherence to the truth as sensed, and capacity to drive steadily forward toward the ideal.  This entails the following factors:

1. A recognition of that ideal through meditation.

2. Its application to the present through one-pointedness.

3. Removal of the old and hindering thought-forms through self-sacrifice.

4. A refusal to compromise, through clear vision.

5. A discrimination that enables the disciple always to distinguish between the acts of an individual and the individual himself.

6. Realization that, in the occult work, it is not permitted to interfere with personal karma any more than it is permitted to shield from the consequences of action.  This entails therefore a refusal to interfere in anyone's business—that is, as regards the personality life, and yet involves a refusal to shirk the business of the larger cause.  It is essential that the workers learn to discriminate between the factors which make for personal liberty and those which militate against group liberty.

The fourth result to be brought about by the present opportunity to work is the bringing in the new cycle and the new group of participants.  Workers in the new era will be drawn from all groups and the test of their choice depends largely upon the measure of impersonality with which they work and the strength of their [138] inner contact with the soul.  It is not easy for any of you, therefore, submerged as you are in the smoke and roar of battle, to judge results with accuracy or to judge people with perfect propriety.  These things have to be dealt with on the inner planes and are noted by the watching guides of the race.  I would like here briefly to point out a few of the things for which the Great Ones look.

They look to see whether the inner flame—the result of effort wisely to work and think and do—burns with increased brilliance; they note whether it remains hidden and dim through the whirl of astral currents and by thought forms of personal antagonism, ambition and envy.  As a result of world work some will be drawn into closer connection with the work of the Hierarchy, and others will be temporarily set back.  Capacity to dominate the astral and to work from mental levels will largely count.

They look to see who can struggle and contend for principle with personalities, and yet keep the link of love intact.  This counts perhaps more than men realize and a man who can stand for principle and yet love all human beings—refusing compromise and yet refusing hate—has something rare to offer in these days and the Great Ones can use him.  See to it, therefore, all of you who work, that with clear vision, upright purpose and firm undeviating action you forge ahead.  See to it that you deal with patience and forbearance with those of your brothers who choose the lesser principle and the lesser right, who sacrifice the good of the group for their own personal ends or who use unworthy methods.  Give to them love and care and a ready helping hand, for they will stumble on the way and sound the depth of the law.  Stand ready then to lift them up and to offer to them opportunities for service, knowing that service is the great healer and teacher.

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The Great Ones look to see the faculty of pliability and adaptability working out, that faculty of adaptation that is one of the fundamental laws of species which nature so wonderfully demonstrates.  The transference of this law to the inner planes and its working out in the new cycle of effort must be undertaken.  This law of adaptation involves the appreciation of the need, the recognition of the new force coming in with the new cycle and the consequent bringing together in wide synthesis of the need and of the force, regarding the personal self simply as a focal point for action and transmutation.  It involves the transmutation of the five senses and their extension into the subtler planes so that sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell are welded into one synthetic cooperating whole, for use in the great work.  On the physical plane, these tend to the unification of the personal life and to the adaptation of the physical world to the needs of the personal self.  On the subtler planes they must be transmuted until they are adequate to the needs of the group of which the individual forms a fragmentary part.  The ability to do this is one of the things that the Great Ones look for in those individuals whose privilege it may be to inaugurate the New Age.

Above all, They look for an enlarged channel from the soul to the physical brain, via the mind.  Such an enlarged channel indicates that a man can be used.  One might almost express it by saying that They look for the perfecting of the antaskarana, that channel of communication between the soul consciousness and the brain whose possessor is one whom the Masters can successfully use.  They are guided in their choice of workers by a man's personally achieved capacity and by his own hard won ability.  When there is capacity, ability, and faculty, then the Great Ones joyfully employ him.  The wrong angle has been, at times, over-emphasized and the reverse of this taught.  The Masters must not be sought [140] because a man seeks capacity.  They will be found when a man has capacity—capacity that makes him available for group work and that can be extended under careful instruction into the higher powers of the soul.  Leadership in groups controlling the work of the New Age will grow out of the discipline of the individual, and leaders will be found among those who sense the inner issue.  Leadership that endures does not come to those who strive for place and power nor for those who have their eyes only on outward conditions and overlook the underlying causes.  Leadership does not come to those who place the personal self and its position and power before the good of the group.  It comes enduringly to those who seek nothing for the separated self, to those who lose themselves in the good of the whole.

To resume our consideration of the AUM.  The Sound or the Sacred Word when correctly used has various effects which might be touched upon here.

OM sounded forth, with intent thought behind it, acts as a disturber, a loosener of the coarse matter of the body of thought, of emotion, and of the physical body.  When sounded forth with intense spiritual aspiration behind it, it acts as an attractive medium, and gathers in particles of pure matter to fill the places of those earlier thrown out.  Students should strive to have these two activities in their minds as they use the Word in their meditation.  This utilization of the Word is of practical value, and results in the building of good bodies for the use of the soul.

The use of the OM serves also to indicate to the workers on the universal planes, and to those in the outer world who are gifted with spiritual perception that a disciple is available for work and can be utilized actively in the needed places of the earth.  This should be borne in mind by all aspirants and should serve as an [141] incentive in making the outer phenomenal life coincide with the spiritual impulse.

The use of the Sacred Word has its place also in the magical work of the Hierarchy.  Thought forms are created for the embodiment of ideas and these embodied forms are sent forth to contact the minds of the disciples who are responsible in the group of a Master for the carrying forward of the plan.

Through the cultivated receptivity of the developed and controlled mental body, aspirants become aware of the ideas which the Masters bring through from the plane of the Universal Mind, and hence are in a position to co-operate intelligently.  They, in their turn, as this Rule seeks to indicate, create thought forms of those received ideas, and utilize them in their groups for the helping of the world.  The main work of a disciple on the mental plane is to train himself to do four things:

1. To be receptive to the mind of the Master.

2. To cultivate a right intuitive understanding of the thoughts sent him by the Master.

3. To embody the ideas received in such form as will be suitable for those he is engaged in helping.

4. Through sound, light and vibration to make his thought form active (embodying as much of the universal thought as is desirable) so that other minds may contact it.

Thus are groups gathered, organized, taught and lifted, and thus the Hierarchy of Adepts can reach the world.

There are many other uses, of course, but if the students will ponder on these three they will make it possible for further uses to be imparted later.

May I add, that the sound is only truly potent when the disciple has learnt to subordinate the lesser sounds.  Only as the sounds he sends forth normally into the [142] three worlds are reduced in volume and in activity, as well as in quantity will it be possible for the Sound to be heard, and so to accomplish its purpose.  Only as the multitude of spoken words is reduced, and silence in speech is cultivated, will it be possible for the Word to make its power felt on the physical plane.  Only when the many voices of the lower nature and of our environment are silenced, will the "Voice that speaketh in the stillness" make its presence felt.  Only when the sound of many waters dies away in the adjustment of the emotions will the clear note of the God of the waters be heard.

People seldom realize the potency of a word, yet it is stated, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.  Without Him was not anything made that was made."  When therefore we read those words our minds go back to the dawn of the creative process when, through the medium of sound, God spoke and the worlds were made.

It has been said that, "the chief agency by which Nature's wheel is moved in a phenomenal direction is sound," for the original sound or word sets in vibration the matter of which all forms are made and initiates that activity which characterizes even the atom of substance.

The literature and the scriptures of all the ancient nations and great religions bear testimony to the efficacy of sound in producing all that is tangible and visible.  The Hindus say very beautifully that "the Great Singer built the worlds, and the Universe is His Song."  This is another way of expressing the same idea.  If this is realized and the science of this concept somewhat understood, the significance of our own words and the utterance of sound in speech, becomes almost a momentous happening.

Sound or speech and the use of words have been regarded [143] by the ancient philosophers (and are increasingly so regarded by modern thinkers) as the highest agent used by man in moulding himself and his surroundings.  Thought, speech and the resultant activity on the physical plane complete the triplicity which make a man what he is, and place him where he is.

The purpose of all speech is to clothe thought and thus make our thoughts available for others.  When we speak we evoke a thought and make it present, and we bring that which is concealed within us into audible expression.  Speech reveals, and right speech can create a form of beneficent purpose, just as wrong speech can produce a form which has a malignant objective.  Without realizing this, however, ceaselessly and irresponsibly, day after day, we speak; we use words; we multiply sounds; and surround ourselves with form worlds of our own creation.  Is it not essential, therefore, that before we speak we should think, thus remembering the injunction, "You must attain to knowledge, ere you can attain to speech"?  Having thought, let us then choose the right words to express the right thought, attempting to give correct pronunciation, proper values, and true tonal quality to every word we utter.

Then will our spoken word create a thought form which will embody the idea we have in our minds.  Then too will our words carry no discord, but will add their quota to that great harmonizing chord or unifying word which it is the function of mankind ultimately to utter.  Wrong speech separates, and it is interesting to bear in mind that the word, the symbol of unity, is divine, whereas speech in its many diversifications is human.

As evolution proceeds, and the human family rises into its true position in the great plan of the universe, right and correct speech will be increasingly cultivated, because we shall think more before we utter words, or, as a great teacher has said, "through meditation we shall [144] rectify the mistakes of wrong speech;" and the significance of word forms, true and correct sounds, and vocal quality will become ever more apparent.

The second word of importance in this fourth Rule is the word light.  First the sound and then the first effect of sound, the pouring forth of light, causing the revelation of the thought form.

Light is known by what is revealed.  The absence of light produces the fading away, into apparent non-existence, of the phenomenal world.

The thought form created by the Sound is intended to be a source of revelation.  It must reveal truth, and bring an aspect of reality to the cognisance of the onlooker.  Hence the second quality of the thought form in its highest use is that it brings light to those who need it, to those who walk in darkness.

I deal not here with light as the soul, cosmically or individually.  I touch not upon light as the universal second aspect of divinity.  I seek only in these Instructions to deal with that aspect of truth which will make the aspirant a practical worker, and so enable him to work with intelligence.  His main work (and increasingly he will find this to be so) is to create thought-forms to carry revelation to thinking human beings.  To do this he must work occultly, and through the sound of his breathed forth work, through the truth revealed in form, will he carry light and illumination into the dark places of the earth.

Then he finally makes his thought form live through the power of his own assurance, spiritual understanding and vitality.  Thus the significance of the third word, vibration, appears.  His message is heard, for it is sounded forth; it carries illumination, for it conveys the Truth and reveals Reality; it is of vital import, for it vibrates with the life of its creator, and is held in being as long as his thought and sound and intelligence animate [145] it.  This is true of a message, of an organization, and of all forms of life, which are but the embodied ideas of a cosmic or a human creator.

Students would find it of value to take these three vital words and trace their relation to all embodied thought forms—a cosmos, a plane, a kingdom in nature, a race, a nation, a human being.  Consider the diverse groups of creating agencies—solar Logoi, solar Angels, human beings, and others.  Consider the spheres of the creative process and see how true the Old Commentary is when it says:

"The sound reverberated amidst varying wheels of uncreated matter; and lo, the sun and all the lesser wheels appeared.  The light shone forth amidst the many wheels, and thus the many forms of God, the diverse aspects of his radiant robe blazed forth.

"The vibrant palpitating wheels turned over.  Life, in its many stages and in its many grades commenced the process of unfolding, and lo, the law began to work.  Forms arose, and disappeared, but life moved on.  Kingdoms arose, holding their many forms which drew together, turned together, and later separated, but still the life moved on.

"Mankind, hiding the Son of God, the Word incarnate, broke forth into the light of revelation.  Races appeared and disappeared.  The forms, veiling the radiant soul, emerged, achieved their purpose and vanished into night, but lo, the life moved on, blended this time with light.  Life merged with light, both blending to reveal a beauty and a power, an active liberating force, a wisdom and a love that we call a Son of God.

"Through the many Sons of God, who in their inmost centre are but one, God in his Fatherhood is known.  Yet still that lighted life moved on to a dread point of power, of force creative, concerning which we say:  It is the All, the Container of the Universe, the persistent centre of the Spheres, the One."

We have touched upon two words of significance in the fourth Rule,—sound and light,—and one paramount idea emerges.  The soul is to be known as light, as the [146] revealer, whilst the Spirit aspect will later be recognized as sound.  Complete light and illumination is the right of the disciple who attains to the third initiation, whilst the true comprehension of the sound, of the triple AUM, the synthesizing factor in manifestation appears only to the one who stands master of the three worlds.

The word vibration must next engage our attention but it may not be dissociated from the next word in the sequence form.  Vibration, the effect of divine activity, is two-fold.  There is the first effect in which the vibration (issuing from the realm of subjectivity in response to sound and light) produces response in matter, and therefore attracts or calls together the atoms out of which molecules, cells, organisms and finally the integrated form can be built.  This effected, the aspect of vibration is to be noted as a duality.

The form, through the medium of the five senses, becomes aware of the vibratory aspect of all forms in the environment wherein it, itself, is a functioning entity.  Later, in time and space, that functioning form becomes increasingly aware of its own interior vibration, and by tracing back that vibration to its originating source becomes aware of the Self, and later of the Kingdom of the Self.  Humanity as a whole is aware of its environment and, through the information conveyed by the sense of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell, the phenomenal world, the outer garment of God, is known, and communication between the Self and what we call the natural world is set up.  As the mind appropriates and synthesizes this knowledge, the dweller in the form passes through the following stages:

1. Vibration is registered, and the environment has its effect upon the form.

2. This effect is noted, but not understood.  The man, under the slow and steady impact of this vibratory [147] effect, slowly awakens to consciousness or awareness.

3. The environment begins to interest the man and he regards it as desirable.  Steadily the attraction of the three worlds grows and holds the man in reiterated incarnation.  (The word "re-iterated" is literally and more academically correct than the word "repeated."  Each of us is really a re-iterated word, sounding in time and space.)

4. Later, when the vibration of the environing forms of the natural world becomes monotonous through constant impact over many lives, the man begins to turn a deaf ear and an un-seeing eye upon the familiar phenomenal world of desire.  He becomes insensitive to its vibratory impact and increasingly aware of the vibration of the Self.

5. Later, on the Path of Probation and of Discipleship, this subtler vibratory activity exerts an increasing allure.  The outer world ceases to attract.  The inner world of the self assumes paramount place in the desire nature.

6. Little by little, using the language of modern psychology, within the outer form, which is the response apparatus for the process of becoming aware of the phenomenal world, the disciple builds a new subtler response apparatus whereby the subjective worlds can be known.

When this stage is reached there ensues a steady turning away from vibratory contact with the outer worlds of form, and an atrophying of desire in that direction.  All seems arid and undesirable, and all fails to satisfy the ardent and aspiring soul.  The difficult process of re-orientation toward a new world, a new state of being and a new condition of awareness is set up, and because the inner subtle response apparatus is only in an embryonic [148] condition there is a devastating sense of loss, a groping in the dark, and a period of spiritual wrestling and exploration that tests the endurance and steadfastness of purpose of the aspirant to the very limits.

But (and this is the encouraging point to be remembered) all "proceedeth under the law and naught can hinder the work from going forward."  Note these words in Rule IV.  There comes a stage when a man is verily and indeed "founded on the rock," and though he may experience the alternation of light and shade, though the waves of the purifying waters may roll over him, and threaten to sweep him off his feet, and though he may feel himself deaf and dumb and blind, naught can ultimately defeat the purpose of the soul.  All that is lacking is the developed spiritual body which is equipped to respond to the vibration of the inner spiritual world.  It exists in embryo, and the secret of its use lies in the attitude of the brain to the functions of the etheric body, as it exists as an intermediary between the brain, nervous system and the mind, or between the soul, mind and the brain.  This cannot be elaborated here but the hint can be given for the reflection of the keen aspirant.

We have therefore the following stages dealt with in Rule IV and pointed out with lucid clarity, yet with that parsimony of phrase which distinguishes all occult and symbolic writings:

1. The integration of the form, as the result of the activity of the soul, through the use of

a. Sound,

b. Light,

c. Vibration.

2. The development of a response apparatus for use in the phenomenal world.

3. The eventual turning away from the phenomenal world, as the result of use and consequent satiety, [149] and the gradual use of the subtler response apparatus.

4. The response apparatus of the soul—mind, etheric body, brain and nervous system—is re-oriented, and the man becomes aware of the kingdom of the soul, another kingdom in nature.

5. The turning away from the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of the soul becomes an esoteric habit, and in this thought lies hid the secret of esoteric psychology.  The man is stabilized in the spiritual life.  Naught can now hinder.