Navigate the Chapters of this Book

SECTION ONE - THE ASPIRANT AND THE MYSTERIES OF INITIATION - Part 8

a. The achieving of right orientation

Towards the soul

Towards the Spiritual Triad

b. A mental understanding of the work to be done is necessary.

c. A ring-pass-not of consciously gathered energies must be created and held in a state of tension.

d. A period of clear thinking anent this process of Intention must be attempted.

e. Then follows the preservation of a point of tension.

2. Visualisation.

a. The use of the creative imagination or the picture-making faculty.

b. Response to intuitional or buddhic impression.

c. Preoccupation with two energies:

The energy held at a point of tension within the previously created ring-pass-not.

The active picture-forming energy brought into action by the mind of the builder.

3. Projection.

a. The calling in of the will through the method appropriate to the Ray of the disciple, the soul ray.

b. The simultaneous preservation of three lines of thought:

Awareness of the blended personality and soul.

Awareness of the point of focussed tension.

Awareness of the Ray energy in its will aspect.

c. The use of one or other of the seven Ray methods of projection, according to the Ray of the disciple.

d. The use of a Word of Power.

4. Invocation and Evocation.

a. The blended soul and personality are now invocative, and their united intention is expressed in the previous three stages.

b. Then a response comes from the Spiritual Triad, which that intention, propelled by an act of will from a point of tension has evoked.

5. Stabilisation.

This is bought about by long patient use of the four [513] previous processes and followed by a conscious use of the antahkarana.

6. Resurrection and Ascension.

This is the rising up of the consciousness out of soul and personality limitations (from the angle of the monad) and its passing into that of the Spiritual Triad.

Here I would touch upon one important point connected with all Words of Power.  I could give you these words in their ancient Sensa form, but it would not be possible for me to teach, through the medium of writing, their ancient and peculiar pronunciation or the note upon which they should be sounded forth.  This used to be regarded of supreme importance.  Today, disciples are being taught to work far more upon the inner planes of meaning and not to depend, as heretofore, upon the outer activity of sound.  Remember that you are not creating now upon the outer plane.  The physical sound or sounds are therefore of relatively no importance.  What does matter is the ability of the disciple to feel the meaning of the Word of Power as he silently utters it.  It is the quality of his idea which will bring the right effect, and not the way in which he makes a sound with the aid of his vocal cords and his mouth.  Students have been taught that the A.U.M. sounded inaudibly and listened for, is of greater potency than when sounded audibly.  This was preparatory to the utterance of these Words of Power.  They have been learning the significance of the O.M., even if they did not realise it.  This was all in preparation for the use of the Ray Words.  It is the thought behind the form, the registered feeling anent the words, and the understanding of their significance which are of importance; it is the ability to think, to feel and silently to send out the call of quality to quality, of meaning to meaning, of nature to nature, of form to spirit which matters, remembering ever that that which is found upon the physical plane is not a principle.  The physical sound is not that which will lead to a successful building of the antahkarana.  It is the quality of a particular [514] type of subjective nature (the soul ray as it dominates the personality ray) which makes appeal to that which is still more subjective; that is what in truth accomplishes the work.  It should be borne in mind that from the angle of the Spiritual Triad the soul nature is definitely objective.  This is a statement of occult fact which will be better understood when the nature of man (as taught in the occult sciences) is admitted by thinkers, scientists and psychologists.

The point I wish to make is that no particular word is going to be given by me, because it would be useless.  The O.M. is useless to most people, even though trained students may now be deriving benefit from its use.  This general uselessness is caused not only because people do not use the Word correctly, but also because, even when using it they are not holding its significance firmly in their consciousness.  So it is with a Word of Power.  Of what use would it be if I attempted to give the Word of the first ray, which looks (when presented in its symbolic written form) something like this—UKRTAPKLSTI?  Certain sounds in this word-form are omitted because there is no way of depicting them, since they are neither vowels nor consonants.  Correctly sounded, the above forms three words.  But I can give, as far as possible, the English equivalent in meaning, and it is this meaning which I ask you to have in mind as you mentally utter the sound or Word of Power and visually attempt to see it performing the esoteric miracle of bridge building.

The first ray disciple has, therefore, to meet the requirements to the best of his ability and to follow the four stages of the technique of projection (pages 489-493, 509).  When he has faithfully followed this outlined routine, personality and soul fusion has to be consciously attempted and to some measure achieved, and then these blended factors are held steady in the triadal light.  Another point of focussed intention is now brought about, resulting in a new and still more dynamic tension.  In the completed silence which results, the act of projecting the antahkarana is performed, [515] and it is then carried forward on the impetus of a Word of Power.  The symbolism connected with this lies behind the Masonic usage of the words, translated into English, "So mote it be," uttered with the right hand stretched forth and signifying the embodied will of the Lodge, itself a symbol of the Will and Purpose of the Most High.

The meaning of the Word of Power to be used at this point of accomplished projection might be summed up in the words:  "I ASSERT THE FACT."  This is the nearest form I can give you for the word-form earlier mentioned.  A little deep reflection on these words will show that if uttered with an understanding of their meaning, they are of terrific potency.  The disciple who utters them assumes and then asserts:

1. The Spiritual Triad is a fact.

2. The relation between the fused and blended personality and the soul is a fact.

3. The antahkarana is also a fact.

4. The dual expression of the basic duality of manifestation—personality or form and Monad or Spirit—is a fact.

5. The will of the Monad is the factor to be evoked.

6. The knowing, purposeful One can be depended upon to contact the instrument of its will upon the physical plane.

7. The work is done.

This factual assumption is not faith, but knowledge and conviction, and upon this realised conviction the disciple rests, acts and depends.  It becomes an unalterable and unchangeable attitude.  The meaning of the above seven-fold statement will become clearer if the disciple will ponder the distinction between faith and conviction.  It is this divine assertion which holds the universe in being; it is this divine assertion which is the embodied summation of all knowledge and love, and the first ray disciple must begin to use this technique, resting back upon his divine prerogative of assertion.  Ponder on this statement.  It is the [516] technique of Shamballa and the established right, prerogative and privilege of all first ray souls.

Ray Two . . . Love-Wisdom

Again the first two stages of Intention and Visualisation have been carefully followed and the four stages of the Projection have been carried through to their highest point.  The vivid light of the second ray soul (the most vivid in this second ray solar system) dominates the light of form and radiates out to the triadal light.  Then comes a moment of intense concentration and the peculiar Word of Power of the second ray is enunciated.  Of this Word, the dual symbol SXPRULXS takes form in the mind of the disciple and signifies the assertion:  "I SEE THE GREATEST LIGHT."  This statement has relation to the Central Spiritual Sun and not to the Heart of the Sun; it involves, if I might so express it, the most intense effort to see in the light the relation of the whole, and this is one of the most potent experiences to which the disciple can be subjected.  It is not vision or even aspiration to see the vision.  It is complete sight and of this the Masonic symbol of the "Eye of God," the "All-Seeing Eye," is the expression.  It involves realisation of the light of the divine countenance; of this the light of the soul is the dim reflection.  The disciple has learnt the significance of solar and lunar light (soul and form light), but this is something other.  It is the great obliterating light of reality itself, revealing the fact of the higher Lighted Way which leads to Nirvana; Of this, the projected antahkarana is the stage first consciously realised by the disciple.

I am faced with difficulty in making these Words of Power clear to you, because essentially it is the Word made flesh or the soul in incarnation which at this point registers power; it is the symbol (the form aspect) and the power (the Spirit aspect) which acts as a great creative agency and bridges across all barriers and separative states of consciousness, thus establishing complete unity.

I have indicated to you certain vowels and consonants [517] which are the nearest approach which I can make to making these Words clear, and I have done so in the case of the first and second rays.  I shall give you no others, as it is entirely useless.  I shall only give you the significances, the concepts involved and the meaning of which these archaic word-forms (which I have attempted to portray in Anglo-Saxon letters) are the embodiment.  As the race passes more and more into the world of meaning, these word-forms assume less and less importance, and only the concentrated thought, based on understanding comprehension, can achieve the results.  It is into this somewhat new form of work we are now pioneering.

Ray Three . . . Active Intelligence

The processes of Intention and Visualisation have been followed, and again the four stages of the Projection technique have been concluded.  At the point of highest tension, the disciple utters the Word of Power for the third ray.  It is not easy for the disciple on this ray to achieve the necessary focal point of silence; his intense fluidity leads to many words or to great mental activity, frequently carried forward under the impulse of glamour.  This lessens the potency of what he seeks to do.  But when he has succeeded in achieving "mental silence" and is simply a point of intelligent concentration, then he can use the Word of Power with great effectiveness.  The difficulty is that he has to overcome the tendency to use it with the idea of physical plane results in his consciousness.  Always he works from the angle of that divine quality which characterises matter; just as the second ray disciple works always from the angle of quality and the first ray disciple from the positivity of spirit.  But once he intuitively comprehends and factually grasps the concept that spirit-matter are one reality, and once he has achieved within himself the sublimation of matter, then he can divorce himself from all that the human being understands in relation to form.  He can then utter the Word of Power which will make possible his complete identification with spirit, via the antahkarana.  This word is "PURPOSE ITSELF AM I"

[518]

As regards the other and remaining Words of Power connected with the four Rays of Attribute, I shall simply list them, as there is little that I can say about them.  They can be comprehended in the light of what I have said anent the three Words of Power used upon the Rays of Aspect.

Ray Four . . . Harmony through Conflict

"TWO MERGE WITH ONE"

Ray Five . . . Concrete Knowledge or Science

"THREE MINDS UNITE"

(This asserts the fact that the Universal Mind, the higher mind and the lower concrete mind are blended through the projected antahkarana.)

Ray Six . . . Devotion or Idealism

"THE HIGHEST LIGHT CONTROLS"

Ray Seven . . . Ceremonial Law or Order

"THE HIGHEST AND THE LOWEST MEET"

You will note that in all these Words of Power, two obvious thoughts emerge; first, that the goal of all activity is the complete fusion of the three Aspects, and secondly, that consciousness of this comes through the building and use of the bridge between the Spiritual Triad and the Personality.  You will note that these are all definite assertions, based on knowledge leading to conviction.  The various schools of affirmation found today throughout the world are but the distorted efforts of humanity to arrive at the affirmative position which the blended soul and personality always necessarily assumes, and demonstrate a kind of instinctual reaction to a new realisation which is coming into the consciousness of humanity, via its disciples and initiates.

We have practically concluded our study of the antahkarana; however, I want to enlarge a little further upon the three final stages of the building process as dealt with and outlined earlier.  These three stages were most briefly considered, owing to their abstract nature.  They are part, however, of the six building methods.  The first [519] three were considered in greater detail than the last three, and I have felt that it might serve a useful purpose if I gave more teaching anent Invocation and Evocation in particular, for it will condition—consciously and exoterically—the new world religion, as it has hitherto conditioned it esoterically and unconsciously.

Invocation and Evocation (continued from pages 493-495):

These two words are descriptive of that mysterious something—emanation, voiceless appeal, inherent urge towards the light—which is innate in all forms, which produces interplay and relationship, and which is the cause of all progress or pushing forward along the path of an expanding consciousness and a penetration into the light.  This is true of a plant pushing its way out of the darkness of earth into the light of the sun, a child extricating itself under the life impulse from the womb of its mother, of the human being pushing himself into realms of greater knowledge and effective physical living, of the aspirant driving forward out of the Hall of Learning into the Hall of Wisdom, of the disciple penetrating into the realm of soul light and life, of the initiate passing from grade to grade in the Hierarchy of Liberation, of the Christ moving on into the Council Chamber of Shamballa, and of the Lord of the World Himself undertaking those processes which will lead Him into realms of divine life—of which even the highest initiate on our planet has no conception.  All comes about as part of a great system of invocation and evocation, of appeal and response, and all are distinctive of the "mode of Life" which governs the entire graded hierarchy of Being upon our planet.

This evolutionary pushing forward along the Lighted Way, out of darkness into light, from the unreal to the real, and from death to immortality, is an inherent urge in all forms.  It constitutes one of the most subtle and one of the least understood laws of the universe, being related to the Life principle, of which we know as yet naught; it underlies the Law of Evolution as well as the Law of Karma [520] and is, in reality, the Law of the Life Purpose of the planetary Logos; it is an expression of His dynamic intention as it forces all substance in manifestation and in time and space to act and react in conformity to His Will.  He thus enables His form—the planet which is a compound of all the seven kingdoms in nature—to express logoic intention for the "duration of the Great Breath"; of this breath, time and space are the two aspects.  It affects the tiniest atom and the most exalted Being within the sphere of His consciousness and the scope of His livingness; it affects the subhuman kingdoms, unconsciously to them, and is (in relation to them) sometimes spoken of as "the Law of Life of the Sun."  The human family, after the stage of personality integration is reached, reacts with increasing consciousness of the divine purpose.  Once the antahkarana is constructed and the higher initiations are taken, the initiate then cooperates with that purpose in full understanding and intention.  He no longer simply reacts to his own interior urges, which force him ever to invoke the higher aspect of life and of consciousness which he senses on ahead.  He now knows.  He sees; he participates in the Plan; he relates himself to the divine Intention through an understanding of the doctrine or Science of Tension; he makes the divine Intention his, as far as he can grasp it.  This reciprocal interplay produces the mutability of form and the immutability of the divine nature which is distinctive of those liberated Consciousnesses which have freed Themselves from the prison of form.

Elsewhere [xii]* I said that "The definition of religion, which will in the future prove of greater accuracy than any yet formulated by the theologians, might be expressed as follows:

Religion is the name given to the invocative appeal of humanity and the evocative response of the greater Life to that cry.

It is, in fact, the recognition by the part of its relationship to the Whole, plus a constantly growing demand for increased [521] awareness of that relation; it draws forth the recognition of the Whole that the demand has been made.  It is the impact of the vibration of humanity—oriented specifically to the Great Life of which it feels itself a part—upon that Life, and the responsive impact of that "All surrounding Love" upon the lesser vibration.  It is only now that the impact of the human vibration can dimly be sensed in Shamballa; hitherto its most potent activity has only reached the Hierarchy.  Religion, the science of invocation and evocation as far as humanity is concerned, is the approach (in the coming New Age) of a mentally polarised humanity.  In the past, religion has had an entirely emotional appeal.  It concerned the relation of the individual to the world of reality, of the seeking aspirant to the sought-for divinity.  Its technique was the process of fitting oneself for the revelation of that divinity, of achieving a perfection which would warrant that revelation, and of developing a sensitivity and a loving response to the ideal Man, summarised for present day humanity in the Christ.

Christ came to end the cycle of this emotional approach which had existed since Atlantean days; He demonstrated in Himself the visioned perfection and then presented to humanity an example—in full manifestation—of every possibility latent in man up to that time.  The achieving of the perfection of the Christ-consciousness became the emphasised goal of humanity."

The activity of all previous Teachers and demonstrating Sons of God became only the presentation of the various aspects of a divine perfection which the Christ summarised in Himself.  But He did far more than just this.  Had this been all that He accomplished, He would have presented to humanity a picture of a static achievement, a culmination of perfection such as the evolutionary status of man at that time demanded; He would have given us, in fact, a Figure of very great, but at the same time, arrested development.  This was of course impossible, but the religion which He founded has never recognised this fact or considered what lay beyond Christ, what was the nature of His [522] subjective background and what was His point of achievement, and whether He still had other possibilities.  This was perhaps an unavoidable omission owing to the fact that the idea of evolution was unknown until relatively very late, in the human consciousness.  Orthodox religion has been preoccupied with an emotional and aspirational approach to this Figure of Perfection; it has not looked beyond the Figure to the Reality which He represents.  This Christ Himself foresaw as a possibility, and sought to obviate when He pointed out to His disciples that they could do "greater things" than He had done, because He was going "to the Father."  He, in those words, pointed beyond Himself to the One Who was responsible for His Being, and to the Way of the Higher Evolution—a subject with which the church has never satisfactorily dealt.  In the above words He indicated a state of being which He had never demonstrated on earth, owing to the unpreparedness of man, and also to the fact that He Himself was only "on His Way."

The Way of the Higher Evolution has also its two phases, as has the Lighted Way.  In the early stages of the unfoldment of the Christ consciousness and in the attainment of the third initiation, the Transfiguration, the aspirant and the initiate-disciple pass along the first part of the Path of Discipleship.  In the treading of the Way of the Higher Evolution (for which we have as yet only this somewhat cumbersome name) the initiate-disciple treads the Way of Antahkarana and the Way of the Higher Initiations.  In making this statement I would again remind you that the third initiation is regarded by the Hierarchy as the first major initiation, whilst the two previous initiations are considered as only preparatory in their nature.  The training given in preparation for them, and the consequent expansions of consciousness, reveal to the initiate the nature of the soul, the scope (widespread and universal) of the divine consciousness, and his relation to the Father, the Monad.  They enable him to become the soul in manifestation to such an extent that his awareness is definitely and unalterably [523] that of the soul; at the fourth initiation the soul-body, the causal vehicle, is no longer needed, and it then disappears, dissipates, and is entirely destroyed, thus leaving the initiate free to tread the Way of the Higher Evolution and to follow in the footsteps of the Christ.  He was the first of our planetary humanity to blaze the trail (is not that a phrase much used?) to the higher spheres of revelation.

I would here also remind you that, during this stage of human evolution, all these various phases exist simultaneously; this largely accounts for the relative differences and difficulties which characterise all the religions of the world and all relationships.  Emotional appeal is needed by the masses, and their goal—some way ahead—is soul consciousness and soul control.  It is the mystical way and the way of the early and preparatory stages of the science of Invocation and Evocation.  It is the method to be followed by average humanity at this time, because men are largely Atlantean in their approach and their natures; they must learn to tread the Path by becoming the Path Itself, and in this way develop the mechanism and the capacities which are inherent in the divine Mind, which "spins the thread of connecting light and relates all beings within the planetary ring-pass-not into Itself."

By becoming the Path, symbolically speaking, and by a process of reorientation, the aspirant who is seeking to tread the Lighted Way of purification and of discipleship reaches a point where that light and that path have brought him to a specific goal.  Then the light which he has generated from within himself, and is learning rapidly to use, reveals to him the Way of the Higher Evolution, the fact of a still greater goal further on ahead—called by the Christ "the Father's House."

At the fourth initiation he becomes aware, for the first time in his experience, that there is a hiatus or gap separating him from his distant goal.  This constituted the major part of the agony upon the Cross.  There was a fusion of agonies at that supreme moment, if I might attempt to express what occurred.  The Master Jesus, crucified there, [524] [524] felt the agony of human need and renounced His own life and gave His all (again symbolically speaking) to meet that need.  The Christ, at that time over-shadowing His great Disciple, also passed simultaneously through a great initiatory experience.  The agony of His yearning for revelation and increased enlightenment (in order to enhance His equipment as World Saviour) revealed to Him the new possibilities, from which—when confronted with them dimly in the garden of Gethsemane and later upon the Cross—His whole nature shrank.

Great as is this mystery to you, and impossible as it is for you to comprehend that whereof I speak, it is wise to establish the fact in your consciousness that at the Crucifixion initiation, the Master Jesus took the fourth initiation and the Christ took the sixth initiation.  The Master Jesus reached the culminating experience of the Lighted Way, whilst the Christ made that final effort which enabled Him entirely to complete and traverse the "rainbow bridge" and to "go to the Father" (as He told His disciples), thus moving forward on to the first stage of the Way of the Higher Evolution.

The practical point for aspirants and disciples to remember is that the Science of Invocation and Evocation entered a new phase when Christ came and presented Himself before humanity; He then gave the teaching which summarised all the past and indicated the new aspects of the future teaching.  He opened the door to the Way of the Higher Evolution, hitherto closed, just as the Buddha epitomised in Himself the achievements of the Lighted Way and the attainment of all knowledge and wisdom.  Christ, in opening this "greater door beyond the lesser door," anchored—if I may so inadequately express it—the Will of God on Earth, particularly in relation to the consciousness of men.  He lifted the entire Science of Invocation and Evocation to the mental plane and made possible a new approach to divinity.  It is difficult to give you a symbol which could clarify this matter in your mind.  But the one given may carry some enlightenment:

[525]

See Diagram

[526]

It must be remembered that intelligence and love were present upon Earth, the first in greater degree than the second, and that the task of all the great World Saviours (emerging from the Secret Place, from the illimitable past until the present time) has been to anchor, organise, and implement these divine aspects, energies, attributes, and to further their development within the body of the planetary Logos. They also, from time to time, demonstrated to the humanity of Their period of appearing, the point in that development which had been reached.  These Representatives of Deity have been of all grades, degrees and differing points of spiritual unfoldment; They have been chosen for Their aptitude to respond to invocation, to manifest certain divine qualities, and to attract around Themselves those who had latent the same divine qualities, and who could therefore step down the teaching that the World Saviour came to give, and translate into human equivalents as much of the divine inspiration as was possible.  Many of Them have been forgotten even if Their work was successful.  Others have been resolved into myths by the thoughtform-making faculty of man but Their work is still thereby remembered, and to this, monuments and tradition constantly testify; greater Sons of God possessed a potency and a love of humanity which, even at the close of many centuries, evokes the attention of mankind and conditions even yet the reactions of millions of people.

Vyasa—the original Vyasa, Who was the Great Individuality evoked by the invocation of the early animal-men—is still more than just a name, even though He has passed out of our planetary scheme millions of years ago.  He opened a door into the human kingdom through His response to the animal kingdom in its higher invocative ranks; His work brought about the process known as individualisation.  Down through the ages, these Sons of God have come, evoked by human invocation; in Their turn, They have invoked certain aspects of the divine nature, deeply hidden in mankind—all related hitherto to consciousness and to responsiveness of the part to the Whole.  [527] Eventually Hercules came forth and opened the door on to the Path of Discipleship, His work being preserved for us in the Twelve Labours of Hercules.  These epitomised the various tests to which all disciples are subjected, prior to the various initiations.  Shri Krishna came and opened the door through which mankind could pass to the Second Initiation.  The Buddha, a still greater Figure, the One Who is known as the "Enlightened One," also came and demonstrated to humanity the nature of the Lighted Way, its revelations and its effects in consciousness.  He enacted for us the supreme achievements of the mystic way.  Then came the Christ and performed a triple work:

1. He opened the door to the third initiation. 

2. He anchored on Earth "the Will of God in the matrix of love" (as it has been esoterically called). 

3. He pointed the way through "the needle's eye" which gives entrance to the passage through the Pyramid (the symbol of the Spiritual Triad in this case.  A.A.B.) which leads out on to the Way which terminates in Shamballa.

His work was of a major consummating nature; He demonstrated in Himself two divine aspects, thus giving "shape and substance to love"; this had been sequentially fostered by several preceding lesser World Saviours, of Whom Shri Krishna was the greatest.

The Christ completed the work of the Buddha by manifesting in its fullness the nature of love, thus permitting the full expression of love-wisdom in its dual aspect—the one aspect demonstrated by the Buddha and the other by the Christ.  But His greatest work has not yet been emphasised in the worlds of thought and of religion—the revelation of the Way of the Higher Evolution.  This entails the bringing through of pure divine will and the relating of the spiritual Hierarchy to the great Council at Shamballa.  It will be apparent to you, therefore, that He was the first to carry through—from stage to stage—the complete revelation of humanity to the Hierarchy and of the Hierarchy to Shamballa.  This He did by virtue of a [528] completely finished and constructed antahkarana, and thus He facilitated the work of all future aspirants and disciples.  He made possible their unimpeded progress, as far as the opening of each stage of the planetary antahkarana is concerned.  He presented the "first thread of living substance, irradiated by love, intelligently woven and energised by will" which any human being of our Earth humanity had interwoven with the planetary antahkarana.  Here lies the secret of the sixth initiation, which has not yet received the attention of the occultist—it is that of the Ascension.

Here comes a climaxing note.  The whole evolutionary scheme is based upon a series of ascensions.  These ascensions are the result of a process, a technique, a method (choose which word you will) of invocation by the lesser individual, group or kingdom, and the evocation of that which is greater, more inclusive and more enlightened.  This is true, whether it concerns a lonely aspirant upon the Way or an entire kingdom in nature.  The greatest of the incarnating Sons of God are necessarily Those Who can include whole kingdoms or states of divine Being in Their consciousness.  Here is the key as to why the invocation by a group "standing with massed intent" can bring forth, and has done so many times in our planetary history, One Who could meet the need which the invocation voiced, upon "a way of escape," and embody in Himself the required vision or goal.

You will note here that I have carried the teaching (earlier given upon the subject) into the realm of the whole.  Previously, I dealt with the process as it applied to the disciple invoking his soul; later I carried the concept farther, and we considered the disciple invoking his Father in Heaven, the Monad.  Now, we have briefly touched upon humanity as a whole, standing at a great point of invocation wherein the entire human kingdom is involved.  Thus you have the final three of the six great stages in the process we are considering:  Invocation, leading to Evocation, to Revelation (at the Fifth initiation) and to Decision (at the sixth).

[529]

To sum up.  We have carried our study of the esoteric aspects of mental unfoldment to a point where we have lifted the entire spiritual man into realms which are neither those of the soul nor of the personality; they are those which make him an integral part of monadic experience.  We are therefore dealing definitely with initiate experience.  That the personality remains as an instrument or vehicle of expression for the one universal soul in its many personality aspects upon the physical plane has been duly emphasised; that the soul per se has been lost to consciousness in the sea of universal realisation has also been made clear; that the state of being which the initiate has now reached, as a result of the six stages of conscious building of the antahkarana, has been detailed; but I have pointed out in this connection that what has transpired lies beyond what we call consciousness, and is consequently undefinable by the human intellect.  We have dealt with certain high stages of unfoldment which remain impossible to any human comprehension outside that of Those Who can function in the Courts of Shamballa.  When these stages have been passed, then the goal of all the evolutionary processes has been reached, as far as humanity is concerned.  These concepts cover our presentation of truth and of our theme up to the present point.  Further we cannot go, for it would be profitless; nor would the human constitution prove adequate to the imposed task.

I have in these previous sections carried our theme to the point where it climaxes all that has been hitherto given out anent the human mind and its capabilities.  I have indicated the method whereby the mind, trained in meditation, and therefore soul-conscious, can—through the construction of the antahkarana—reach heights and stages of inclusiveness which will introduce to it certain aspects of the so-called Universal Mind, the mind of God, as it is familiarly called.  What I have really done is to deal very briefly with the mode whereby the disciple or the initiate can, with increasing power, tune in on the mind of the planetary Logos, Sanat Kumara.  Just as the disciple can, [530] when soul conscious, tune in on the mind of his Master, so the initiate, upon a higher turn of the spiral, can register the thoughts of the divine Being in Whom we all live and move and have our being.

Through the development of the antahkarana and its conscious, scientific use, the initiate becomes aware of what transpires in the Council Chamber of Shamballa; he can then efficiently begin to work as an exponent of the Will aspect of divinity.  Yet all this time we have confined ourselves entirely to the consideration of the mind aspect in its three phases upon the mental plane, and with their extension into states of being unknown to all except trained disciples and initiates.  It has been my intention thus to give a theoretical, though not yet practical insight into modes of activity and possible states of being to which you can some day aspire and eventually attain.

The Meaning of the Initiatory Process

Before proceeding with our next point concerning the fusion of the Master's consciousness with that of His disciple, I would like to refer to the significance of the words I earlier emphasised, "the initiatory process."  I have dealt at length with the theme of initiation in many of my books and have endeavoured to present the subject in such a manner that it becomes apparent that it fits into the evolutionary process as a normal and inevitable procedure.  Initiation has been so frequently presented as being a ceremony that I have felt it necessary to offset strenuously that erroneous significance.  If, however, you are to comprehend that which I have to say, you will have to call in what measures of enlightened understanding you may possess.

Initiation is only a ceremony in so far that there comes a climaxing point in the initiatory process in which the disciple's consciousness becomes dramatically aware of the personnel of the Hierarchy and of his own position in relation to it.  This realisation he symbolises to himself—successively and on an increasingly large scale—as a great [531] rhythmic ceremonial of progressive revelation in which he, as a candidate, is the centre of the hierarchical stage.  This is definitely so (from the ceremonial angle) in the first two initiations, and in relation to the Christ as the Initiator.  After the third initiation, the ceremonial angle lessens in his consciousness because the higher initiations are not registered by the mind (with its ability to reduce realisation into symbolic form) and thus transmitted to the brain, but they reach the brain and are there registered via the antahkarana; the results of the experience of expansion are now definitely of such a nature that they cannot be reduced to symbols or to symbolic happenings; they are formless and remain in the higher consciousness.

I am not here saying that the teachings given in the past by various occult groups, or in my book Initiation, Human and Solar, are not correct or do not recount accurately what the candidate believes has taken place.  The point I seek to make is that the ceremonial aspect is due to the thoughtform-making capacity of the disciple and (which is of major importance) constitutes his contribution to the future externalisation of the initiatory process in its earlier stages.  When an adequate number of disciples will have succeeded in relating the Spiritual Triad to the soul-infused personality and have occultly "precipitated" the energies of the Monad through the medium of the antahkarana, then the first and second initiations can be "ceremoniously" enacted on earth.

The higher initiations cannot be thus presented but will be enacted on the mental plane, through the medium of symbols and not through the details of ceremonious happenings.  This symbolic representation will hold good for the third, the fourth and the fifth initiations.  After these five great expansions have taken place, the initiations will no longer be registered as factual ceremonials on earth or as symbolic visualisations on the mental plane.  It is hard to find a word or a phrase which can express what occurs; the nearest I can approach to the truth is the "existence of illumination through revelation." You [532] will note in this connection that the fifth initiation is given the name of Revelation.  You therefore have a sequence of consequences or of the results of spiritual attainment which are as follows:

1. Factual Ceremonials, based on externalisation. 

Initiation 1—The Birth.

Initiation 2—The Baptism.

2. Symbolic Representation, based on spiritual visualisation.

Initiation 3—The Transfiguration.

Initiation 4—The Renunciation.

Initiation 5—The Revelation. 

3. Illumination through Revelation, based on living Light.

Initiation 6—Decision.

Initiation 7—Resurrection.

Initiation 8—Transition.

Initiation 9—Refusal.

It will be obvious that these three attempts to define the process of initiation present only the outer form aspect; each initiation has three aspects, as has all else in nature, for initiation is a natural process.  There is first, its form aspect; then its soul or consciousness aspect; and finally, its life aspect.

The form aspect culminates experience and presents the disciple's comprehension of the initiatory process; the consciousness aspect indicates in a mysterious manner the rate of expansion as the disciple has undergone the process; the life aspect permits of extra-planetary contact, thus indicating the possible future and the eventual processes of identification.  It might be added that the factual ceremonial admits the disciple into full fellowship with the Hierarchy; that the symbolic representation indicates to the disciple the Way into Shamballa, and that illumined revelation presents to the initiate the bridge between our cosmic physical plane and the inner subjective and cosmic worlds; this entrance to the bridge (I am speaking in symbols) [533] reveals the existence of the cosmic Antahkarana, created by the Lord of the World and His group of Executives.

This information concerning the initiatory process is coordinating in its nature and is of service to you only in this connection.  It demonstrates the underlying solar synthesis which was the fundamental platform I gave out in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.  Beyond that implication, the information is of no use to you.  It enables you, however, to begin to develop the esoteric sense of synthesis.

These three grades of appreciation or of comprehension of the initiatory process are hinted at in the Masonic Work.  The ceremonial aspect can be related to the degrees of Entered Apprentice and of Fellow Craft, plus certain little-practiced degrees, as for instance that of Mark Mason degree and one or two others; these are expansions of the implied teaching.  The initiations, covered by the term symbolic representation, find their first hint in the sublime third degree, that of Master Mason, in the Holy Royal Arch and in one or two succeeding degrees; the higher degrees of the Scottish Rite constitute a vague and nebulous attempt to hold before the Masons of the world those expansions of consciousness and of growth into the Light which are experienced in the remaining higher initiations—those subject to the process called illumination through revelation.

The Masonic Work is an ancient and laudable attempt to preserve in some germinal form the spiritual truth anent initiation.  In spite of distortion, some loss of the Ancient Landmarks and a deplorable crystallisation, the truth is there and at a later date (in the early part of the next century) a group of enlightened Masons will re-arrange the rituals and adapt the present forms and formulas in such a manner that the spiritual possibilities, symbolically indicated, will emerge with greater clarity and a deepened spiritual potency; the coming form of Masonry in the New Age will necessarily rest upon the foundation of a newly interpreted and enlightened Christianity, having no relation to theology and being universal in [534] nature.  Its present form, resting as it does on a Jewish foundation which is nearly five thousand years old, must disappear.  This must take place, not because it is Jewish, but because it is old and reactionary and has not followed the evolutionary passage of the sun through the zodiac.  That passage should and does symbolise human evolution, and just as the sin of the children of Israel in the wilderness was their reverting to a dispensation and religious ritual which had passed and gone (the religion of the people in the time of Taurus, the Bull, symbolised by their falling down and worshipping the golden calf), so today modern Masonry is in line to do the same; and the ancient usages and forms, consistent and right in the Jewish dispensation, are now obsolete and should be abrogated.  It is equally true of the Jewish race that in the rejection of the Christ as the Messiah they have remained, metaphorically and practically, in the sign of Aries, the Ram, or of the Scapegoat; they have yet to pass into the sign (again speaking symbolically) of Pisces, the Fishes, and recognise their Messiah when He again comes in the sign Aquarius.  Otherwise they are repeating their ancient sin of non-response to the evolutionary process.

Let us now consider what the initiatory process signifies to the disciple as he seeks to lead the dual life which it demands.  You will note that I call it a process in contradistinction to the theosophical definition which regards it as a culminating ceremony of a period of training.

The initiatory process is in reality the result of the activity of three energies:

1. The energy generated by the disciple as he seeks to serve humanity.

2. The energy made available to the disciple as he succeeds in building the antahkarana. 

3. The energy of the hierarchical Ashram into which he is being "absorbed" or integrated.

It is these three energies, each with its own mode of expression and each producing its own specific results, which implement or engineer the initiatory process; these [535] energies are evoked by the disciple himself, and their increasing strength and revelatory capacity depend largely upon the disciple's determination, purpose and will, his persistence and spiritual integrity.  It is through his understanding of the word "process" that the disciple discovers the true meaning of the occult statement that "before a man can tread the Path he must become that Path himself."  Increasingly the disciple finds what it is to become a creative agent, using the creative faculties of the mind and conforming increasingly (as he creates) to the Plan of the Creator, the Lord of the World.

The first three initiations are definitely and in a most mysterious way concerned with the creative work, and with the spiritual expression in a human being of the third aspect of divinity, that of intelligent activity.  The fourth, fifth and sixth initiations are as definitely related to the second aspect of love-wisdom as it expresses itself through created forms; the seventh, eighth and ninth initiations are occultly "inspired" by the first divine aspect, that of the Will.  Only, therefore, at the ninth initiation is the human being a full and true expression of divinity; he then realises that in him all the divine aspects meet.  Through them he is consciously, creatively and constructively en rapport with the consciousness of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being.  All this is the result of a process and the effect of the inherent livingness which is found in all forms of life from the tiny atom up to Those great Lives Who are little more than names to the disciple.

This initiation process governs the dual life of the disciple in three ways:

1. It is expressed in the results effected in the three worlds and in the tangible and growing proof he gives of definitely defined areas of attainment.

2. It is demonstrated as effects in his consciousness in the form of an increasing fusion of soul and personality as well as growing power to invoke the inflow of the higher light, through the medium of the antahkarana.

[536]

3. It is revealed both through the Spiritual Triad and the soul-infused personality as they unitedly prove the livingness of the divine Love-Nature.  As this revelation takes hold of the disciple's consciousness and conditions his expressive form of service, it initiates him into that mysterious area of the divine consciousness which we call the "Heart of God"; this is our planetary correspondence to the "Heart of the Sun." The heart of God, i.e., of our planetary Logos, and the heart of the Sun, i.e., the solar Logos, are mysteriously related, and it is through this sustained relation that it becomes possible for human beings to enter the Hierarchy.  Forget not that the Hierarchy is the expression of the energy of love. The relationship also enables them eventually to pass off the cosmic physical plane on to the cosmic astral plane.

Each divine aspect has three subsidiary aspects, and in our planet and on the cosmic physical plane the lowest aspect of love (that which we call the Will-to-Good) is revealed.  For humanity, struggling upon this cosmic physical plane, we subdivide unconsciously this will-to-good into three aspects; these we are only today beginning to grasp as existent possibilities. The lowest aspect we call goodwill.  little realising the attitude to the universal goal which it sets; the second aspect we vaguely call love and hope to demonstrate that we do demonstrate love through our affiliation with the Hierarchy; the highest we call the will-to-good and leave it undefined because it is in no way possible, even for initiates of the fifth initiation, truly to comprehend what is the nature and purpose of the will-to-good which conditions divine activity.