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RULE FOUR

At the time of the June Full Moon, each year, the love of God, the spiritual essence of solar fire, reaches its highest point of expression.  This it achieves through the instrumentality of the Hierarchy, that great group of souls which has ever been the custodian of the principle of light, of enlightened love, and which always—down the ages—focusses its attention upon the race of men when the spiritual influence is at its height.  This it does through one of the great Sons of God.  The Full Moon of June of 1943 saw this outpouring of divine love reach its highest expression for all time, and at the point of attainment which is, for that particular Son of God, His highest also.  Such is the Law.  When an embodied Christ in time and space reaches [89] His goal of achievement, recognition of this comes to Him at the time of the June Full Moon, for in that sign of Gemini the complete victory of life over form, and of spirit over matter, is consummated and celebrated.

The love of God, focussed in the Christ, seeks to express itself in some act of peculiarly useful service to humanity.  This service has taken different forms down through the ages, but it has always expressed itself through two episodes:  One of them, the first, reveals the Christ in His capacity of the God-Saviour, sacrificing Himself through pure love for His fellowmen.  The annals of the Hierarchy contain many such histories of sacrifice and service, dating far back into the very night of time.  The saving principle of pure love finds its expression at the hour of humanity's greatest need in the work of a World Saviour and "for the salvation of His people, He comes forth."  He thus meets the need, and at the same time strengthens the link which relates the Hierarchy to Humanity.  The task of the Christ (as the expression in time and space of the second divine aspect) is to establish relationships.  Every cyclic Representative of Deity furthers the approach of the Hierarchy to mankind, and seals this service by some final act which becomes the historical nucleus whereby later generations remember Him.

That accomplished, He stays with His people as Head of the Hierarchy until His second opportunity comes, in which as Representative both of Humanity and the Hierarchy, He can relate them both to Shamballa.  This He does through a great act of evocation, seeking to bring about a closer relationship between all the three great planetary centres:  Shamballa, the Hierarchy, and Humanity.  He can do this because the development of the Wisdom aspect in His nature makes it possible.  The major linking agent in the universe is the energy of Love-Wisdom.  Love relates the Hierarchy to Humanity, and Wisdom relates the Hierarchy to Shamballa.  Only when Humanity and the Hierarchy are working together in a practical synthesis, can the Shamballa energy be permitted complete inflow through the medium of the two other centres.

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To aid in this process of gradual perfecting and an eventual bringing about of a complete alignment, the help of the Buddha must be invoked and accepted.  The work of the Christ as God-Saviour can be carried forward by Him alone and unaided.  The work of the Christ as God the Preserver needs the united work, as yet, of the two highest Representatives of the second divine aspect when present together upon the Earth, as is the case today of both the Buddha and the Christ.  This is the first cycle in the history of humanity when this has been the case.  One or the other has been present down the ages, but not the two simultaneously.  The reason for this is that the time has now been reached when Shamballa can be contacted and its energy evoked.  Hence we have the activity of the Buddha at the May Full Moon and that of the Christ at the following June Full Moon.  Their united activity serves to bring about a much closer approach between the Lord of the World and the Hierarchy, via His four Representatives:  the Buddha, the Christ, the Manu, and the Mahachohan—the five points of energy which are creating the five-pointed star of Humanity at this time.

An ancient rule—Rule IV for Applicants gives us in perfect wording the nature of the urge which prompts the present activity of the Christ.  He has accomplished His task as God the Saviour.  The fourth Rule, as it is given to all applicants and probationary disciples, gives His work the following definition:

Let the disciple tend the evocation of the fire, nourish the lesser lives and thus keep the wheel revolving.

It is given in this short form to all who are approaching the Path, in order to convey to them with the utmost brevity and beauty the nature of the life of the Head of the Hierarchy, the Initiator Whom they must face at the time of the first and second initiations, and upon Whose activities they—as individual aspirants—must learn to model their lives.  Only today is it possible to present that work in other terms than those which emphasise the part the Christ plays in the salvaging of man.

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It is now possible, however, to present His true and wider task, because man's sense of proportion, his recognition of others, his growing sense of responsibility, his power to suffer for the good, the beautiful and true, his appropriation of the vision, and his point in evolution warrant a truer picture which—if adequately grasped—will enable the disciple to comprehend the requirements of Rule IV as given for disciples and initiates.  Only as they grasp the nature of the work of Christ, after His final act of service as God-Saviour, can they understand the nature of group service and begin to pattern their lives and natures so as to meet similar requirements in group formation.

This has become possible because of the point in the evolutionary process which the Hierarchy has attained.  The attitude and position of the members of the Hierarchy are not static.  All are moving forward.  The Christ Who came two thousand years ago embodied in Himself not only the principle of love in the planetary sense (a thing which Shri Krishna had achieved), but a cosmic principle of love also, and this for the first time in human history.  His achievement was made possible by the fact that the human family had reached a point at which it could produce the perfect Man, Christ, the "eldest in a great family of brothers," a Son of God, the Word made flesh.  The future progress of humanity is also aided and hastened because of the attainment and activity of the Christ, and because He remains with us as God the Preserver.

His task today is threefold, and the Rule states in very simple language these three aspects of His divine activity or phases of His work.  These are:

1. He "tends the evocation of the fire."  His major task as Head of the Hierarchy is to evoke the electric fire of Shamballa, the energy of the divine Will, and this in such a form that the Hierarchy can be drawn nearer to the source of Life, and Humanity can consequently profit by this hierarchical Approach and know eventually the meaning of the words "life more abundantly."  Christ's evocation of the fire of the will was initiated symbolically in the Garden of [92] Gethsemane.  He has twice symbolically shown His individual response to the Shamballa energy:  Once in the Temple of Jerusalem as a child, and again in the Garden as a full grown man at the close of His earthly career.  His third and final response (which climaxes His work from our human angle) covers nine years, from the Full Moon of June, 1936, to the Full Moon of June, 1945.  This period, in reality, constitutes one event to Him Who lives now free in His Own world and free from the limitations of time and space.  Having related Humanity to the Hierarchy (which in the case of individual man means relating the personality to the soul), He now seeks to relate more closely, with the aid of the Buddha, the Hierarchy to Shamballa, love to will, electric fire to solar fire.

2. He "nourishes the lesser lives."  This refers to the task of the Christ which proceeds day by day, in His capacity of God the Preserver.  He "tends the little ones."  The work here referred to concerns His activity as Initiator and His responsibility as Head of the Hierarchy.  The nourishing of the little lives refers primarily to His task as World Teacher and to His responsibility to lead humanity on into the light, with the aid of all the Masters, working, each of Them through His Own Ashram.

3. He "keeps the wheel revolving."  This has a specific relation to His work as the Word of God, which manifests as the Word made flesh.  This refers specifically to the great Wheel of Rebirth whereby, upon that turning wheel, souls are carried down into incarnation and then up and out of the soul's prison; through the turning of the wheel, human beings learn their needed lessons, create cyclically their vehicles of expression (the response apparatus of the soul in the three worlds) and in this way, under soul guidance, and aided by the Hierarchy and its schools of instruction, they arrive at perfection.  This entire process is under the control of the Christ, assisted by the Manu and the Lord of Civilisation.  These three Great Lords thus represent the three divine Aspects in the Hierarchy; They, with the four Lords of Karma, form the seven Who control the whole [93] [93] process of incarnation.  The subject is too vast and intricate to be adequately considered here.  The above truth does, however, give us a clue as to why the Christ made no specific reference to the work of incarnation in His spoken utterances whilst on Earth.  He was then occupied with His task of World Saviour.

His work as Preserver and as Head of the Hierarchy had not then begun.  It was at that time dependent upon the experience in the Garden of Gethsemane and upon the Resurrection initiation.  Some day the gold and the silver threads of the Gospel story will be disentangled, and men will know the two interpretations which can be put upon the events and episodes in the career of Jesus the Christ.  The underlying true events give us great steps and developments in the work of the Christ as He "enveloped humanity in the mantle of love, grasped the rod of initiation on behalf of His brothers, and faced the Lord of Life Himself, unattended, unafraid and in His Own right."  The episodes refer to happenings in the life of Jesus.

At the present time, and at the immediate point of tension, Christ has added to His two immediate and constant tasks that of hastening the coming of the Avatar Who waits for the perfected work of the Hierarchy, focussed in the Christ, and the powerful work of Shamballa, focussed in the Lord of the World.  When the exact moment has arrived, the work of the Buddha, representing Shamballa, and of the Christ, representing the Hierarchy, plus the sincere demand of Humanity, will bring about an arrangement or an alignment which will release an evocative Sound which will be extra-planetary, and then the Avatar will come.

Ask me not for the date or the hour, brother of mine, for I know it not.  It is dependent upon the appeal—the voiceless appeal—of all who stand with massed intent; it is dependent also upon the hour of exact alignment and upon certain aspects of work being done at this time by the senior Members of the Hierarchy, and also upon the steadfastness of the disciples in the world and the initiates—working in their various Ashrams.  To this must be added [94] what Christians call the "inscrutable will of God," the unrecognised purpose of the Lord of the World Who "knows His Own Mind, radiates the highest quality of Love, and focusses His Will in His Own high Place outside the Council Chamber of Shamballa."

That the Avatar will come is a predictable certainty.  That His forerunner will be the Christ is equally sure.  When Christ comes it will be for the advanced units of the human family; they will recognise Him because He has always been with us, whilst His advent will evoke a responsive vibration from the masses, but not straight recognition.  In connection with the Avatar, it will be a process of hierarchical recognition of an overshadowing Presence within Whose aura the planetary Logos will take His stand as the planetary Representative.  Then from Shamballa will descend a stream of spiritual potency, qualified by the will-to-good, and this will reach the attentive Hierarchy.  The Members of this Group will, through the medium of the Christ, pour light and healing energy upon the Earth and peculiarly into the consciousness of men.  I am not able to express the effect of the outpouring from Shamballa in clearer terms.  We are told in the Bible that Christ will come in the air, and that He will bring the "healing of the nations" in His wings.  I would call your attention to this thought and to its appositeness to this day and generation.  I make no prophetical predictions, I only indicate possibility.

When the Avatar has made His appearance, then will the

"Sons of men who are now the Sons of God withdraw Their faces from the shining light and radiate that light upon the sons of men who know not yet they are the Sons of God.  Then shall the Coming One appear, His footsteps hastened through the valley of the shadow by the One of awful power Who stands upon the mountain top, breathing out love eternal, light supernal and peaceful silent Will.

"Then will the sons of men respond.  Then will a newer light shine forth into the dismal weary vale of [95] earth.  Then will new life course through the veins of men, and then will their vision compass all the ways of what may be.

"So peace will come again on earth, but a peace unlike aught known before.  Then will the will-to-good flower forth as understanding, and understanding blossom as goodwill in men."

So speaks a prophetic passage in the ancient Archives of the Hierarchy which deals with the present cycle of distress (written in June, 1943).  For this time men must prepare.  You will know when the Avatar links up with the planetary Logos because I will then give you the final Stanza of the Great Invocation (given out in April, 1945).  Its use will serve to bring the Coming One to recognition and enable Him to draw upon the resources of the Avatar in the task of world reorganisation and regeneration.  He will again come as the World Saviour, but owing to the stupendous nature of the work ahead, He will be fortified and buttressed by the "silent Avatar" Who (occultly speaking) will "keep His eye upon Him, His hand beneath, and His heart in unison with His."

The keynote of Christ's mission will be to evoke from humanity a response to that influence, and an unfoldment on a large scale of intuitive perception.  When He came before, He evoked from humanity a gradual response to truth, and mental understanding.  That is why at the end of the cycle, which He inaugurated, we have formulated doctrine and mental development.

The work now being done by Shamballa and the Hierarchy on behalf of humanity will tend also to develop group consciousness and the formation of many groups which will be living organisms and not organisations; it will make group initiation possible and will enable certain aspects of the will to flower forth correctly and with safety.  The tendency to overlook the distinction between groups and organisations is still very deep-seated; the coming of the Christ will throw much light upon this problem.  A study of Rule IV as given to disciples and initiates will also serve [96] to clarify this matter, and with that we shall now concern ourselves.

Rule IV.

Let the group see that all the eighteen fires die down and that the lesser lives return unto the reservoir of life.  This they must bring about through the evocation of the Will.  The lesser wheels must not for aye revolve in time and space.  Only the greater Wheel must onward move and turn.

This is a rule peculiarly related to the fourth Creative Hierarchy, embodying its goal as the Aryan rootrace can sense and approximate it.  It is peculiarly related also to the quaternary to which we give the name "personality," composed of a vital or etheric body, a sumtotal of emotional states and a mind, plus that integrated something which we call the whole man.  Rightly understood and followed, this rule reveals the nature of the fourth plane or fourth state of consciousness, that of buddhi or the plane of pure reason, the intuition.  From the angle of the higher initiate, this rule is related to the activity of Monad, Soul and body within the planetary Life, and covers a great mystery and an entire system of relationships of which man in the three worlds is a dim and uncertain shadow.  Some clue to the higher quaternary dealt with in this rule will emerge dimly in your consciousness (more is not yet possible) if you will attempt to realise the following:

1. The Monad relates the initiate to the Will of God, to the Council at Shamballa, to forces active on the planet Pluto, and on another planet which must remain nameless, and also to the Central Spiritual Sun.

2. The Soul relates the initiate to the Love of God, to the consciousness aspect of Deity, to the Hierarchy as a whole, entering it through the Ashram of the Master Who has aided him to take initiation, to the planets Venus and Mercury, to the Sun Sirius, and to the Heart of the Sun.

3. The Personality relates the initiate to the Mind [97] of God, to the intelligence principle of the planetary Life, to humanity as a whole, to Saturn and Mars, and to the physical Sun through its pranic aspect.

4. The Life aspect of the planet, or that great ocean of forces in which all these three aspects live and move and have their being, relates the initiate to that Life which works out through Shamballa, through the Hierarchy and through Humanity, thus forming part of the great sumtotal of manifestation.

It is to these major quaternaries that Rule IV refers, and their relationships only emerge as the initiate keeps the rules.  Let us now take this rule stanza by stanza, and so get some understanding of its basic significances.

1. Let the group see that all the eighteen fires die down and that the lesser lives return unto the reservoir of life.

A very casual consideration will show the student that this rule contains four sentences which refer to one or other of the four aspects we have been considering.  Bear this in mind as we study significances, interpretations and carry our thoughts into the world of meaning.

A very cursory reading of the Rule leads one to the surmise that one of the most important hints concerns the effect of the group life and radiation upon the individual in the group.  "Let the group see that all the eighteen fires die down and that the lesser lives return unto the reservoir of life."  These words deal with the group personality, composed of all the personalities of its members.  It should be borne in mind that a group is in itself an entity, having form, substance, soul and purpose or objective, and that none of these is better or greater, or more developed than the aggregate of group lives which compose it.  Though individuals of varying points in evolution form the group, none of them is below the level of disciples upon the evolutionary ladder.  A Master's Ashram has in it disciples and initiates of all degrees, but no probationary disciples at all.  No one below the rank of disciples—accepted and dedicated—is admitted.  This is one of the first Rules given to an accepted [98] disciple when first admitted into the Ashram, and it is from that angle that we should now consider it.

The three Rules we have earlier considered are general in nature and relate to certain broad themes or demanded hypotheses which must govern the consciousness of the disciple in the future.  In this particular Rule we enter the realm of the specific, and are presented with certain "intentional" activities which must govern the disciple's life now that he is an integral part of the Ashram.  He is faced with the proposition of making his life of such a nature that it furthers the group purpose, enhances the group strength, eliminates all that might hinder group usefulness, and brings closer the objective for which the group was formed—the carrying out of the Master's plans.  It was the disciple's innate, instinctual and individual response to this ray objective, and his effort to subordinate his personality to the dimly sensed soul dedication, which led the Master in the first instance to recognise him and incorporate him into his Ashram.  The moment that happened, the disciple came not only under an increased impact of egoic force and egoic impulsive intention (using those words in their occult sense), but the group radiation began its beneficent work upon him.  The magnetic "pulling" power which had hitherto led him forward is now superseded by a radiating stimulating potency; this effects great changes in him, and produces both eliminating and substituting results.  The effect of the life of the Ashram, as far as the group which forms it is concerned and apart from the Master's Own potency, can be described as follows:

1. The life of the personality is steadily weakened, and its grip upon the soul is definitely loosened.  The soul begins to dominate in a very real sense.

2. The necessity of incarnation becomes appreciably less, and finally life in the three worlds of human manifestation becomes needless.  All the lessons have been learnt and the soul objective has been attained.

3. The Will of the Monad begins to be sensed; the will aspect blends with the love aspect and makes the [99] intelligence aspect fruitful and effective for the carrying out of divine purpose, focussed for the disciple through the Ashram.

4. The purposes of time and space, of events and extension, of matter and consciousness have been achieved and are eventually superseded by something for which we have as yet no term and of which we have no conception.  It is that which begins to express itself after the third initiation, when the Father aspect "comes into view"—I know not how else to word it.

5. The whole is seen to be of more vital importance than the part, and this not as a dream, a vision, a theory, a process of wishful thinking, an hypothesis or an urge.  It is realised as an innate necessity and as inevitable.  It connotes death, but death as beauty, as joy, as spirit in action, as the consummation of all good.

It will be obvious, therefore, that the interpretation of these Rules must involve capacity to pass beyond the usual attitudes and what one might call the usual metaphysical and theosophical platitudes, and to see life as the Hierarchy sees it.  This means that life is approached from the angle of the Observer and not from that of a participator in actual experiment and experience in the three worlds.  This Observer is different to the Observer on the probationary Path.  Most of the experiment and experience has been left behind, and a new orientation to a world of values, higher than even the world of meaning, has set in.  This attitude might well be described as the mode of approach of all who form a part of an Ashram.  Those who form the Ashram are living in the three worlds of experience if they are accepted disciples, but the focus of their attention is not there.  If they are initiated disciples, they are increasingly unaware of the activities and reactions of their personalities, because certain aspects of the lower nature are now so controlled and purified that they have dropped below the threshold of consciousness and have entered the world of instinct; therefore there is no more awareness of them than a man asleep is conscious of the rhythmic functioning of his sleeping [100] physical vehicle.  This is a deep and largely unrealised truth.  It is related to the entire process of death and might be regarded as one of the definitions of death; it holds the clue to the mysterious words "the reservoir of life."  Death is in reality unconsciousness of that which may be functioning in some form or another, but in a form of which the spiritual entity is totally unaware.  The reservoir of life is the place of death, and this is the first lesson the disciple learns.

The eighteen fires refer to the eighteen states of matter which constitute the personality.  They are:  seven physical states of matter, seven emotional states, enabling the astral body to function on the seven subplanes of the astral plane, and four states of matter for each of the four conditions of the concrete mind—(7, 7, 4, = 18).  These are eighteen grades of substance, eighteen vibratory groups of atoms, and eighteen aggregates of life which form the bodies of the lunar lords (as The Secret Doctrine calls them) which in their totality, form the body of the Lunar Lord, the Personality.  The above is the very a b c of occultism and a familiar truth to all of you.  What is referred to here has, however, no reference to processes of purification, of control or of discipline.  These have been much earlier considered and are regarded as the necessary processes instituted upon the probationary path, and should have reached a point prior to the stage of accepted discipleship where—rapid or slow in expression—they are nevertheless automatic in action, sure and inevitable.

The first sentence in this fourth rule refers to Detachment—the detachment of the soul from the body or the institution of those activities which bring about what is called in the Bible "the second death."  It is not detachment as the aspirant practices it.  It is the scientific breaking of all links and the ending (through completed use) of all contacts which are now regarded as militating against liberation.  It is in reality a scientific process of ending karma; it is individual and national karma which brings a man back into a physical vehicle and clothes him with the qualities and aspects of substance.  This must end whilst he is a member [101] of the Master's Ashram and is preparing himself for the triumph of the fourth initiation.  This is brought about by the automatic, ceaseless and unquestioning fulfillment of duty, from the angle of recognised service.

It might be stated that an intelligent understanding of this sentence will lead to those actions which "produce the death and dissipation and final dissolution of the personality through the ending of karma."  It must be remembered that a Master has no personality at all.  His divine nature is all that He has.  The form through which He works (if he is working through and living in a physical vehicle) is a created image, the product of a focussed will and the creative imagination; it is not the product of desire, as in the case of a human being.  This is an important distinction and one which warrants careful thinking.  The lesser lives (which are governed by the Moon) have been dispersed.  They no longer respond to the ancient call of the reincarnating soul, which again and again has gathered to itself the lives which it has touched and coloured by its quality in the past.  The soul and the causal body no longer exist by the time the fourth initiation is undergone.  What is left is the Monad and the thread, the antahkarana which it has spun out of its own life and consciousness down the ages and which it can focus at will upon the physical plane, where it can create a body of pure substance and radiant light for all that the Master may require.  This will be a perfect body, utterly adapted to the need, the plan and the purpose of the Master.  None of the lesser lives (as we understand the term) form part of it, for they can only be summoned by desire.  In the Master there is no desire left, and this is the thought held before the disciple as he begins to master the significance of the fourth Rule.

In this Rule two main ideas are to be found, both of them connected with the first divine aspect:  the thought of Death and the nature of the Will.  In the coming century, death and the will inevitably will be seen to have new meanings for humanity, and many of the old ideas will vanish.  Death, to the average thinking man, is a point of [102] catastrophic crisis.  It is the cessation and the ending of all that has been loved, all that is familiar and to be desired; it is a crashing entrance into the unknown, into uncertainty, and the abrupt conclusion of all plans and projects.  No matter how much true faith in the spiritual values may be present, no matter how clear the rationalising of the mind may be anent immortality, no matter how conclusive the evidence of persistence and eternity, there still remains a questioning, a recognition of the possibility of complete finality and negation and an end to all activity, of all heart reactions, of all thought, emotion, desire, aspiration, and the intentions which focus around the central core of a man's being.  The longing and the determination to persist and the sense of continuity still rest, even to the most determined believer, upon probability, upon an unstable foundation, and upon the testimony of others—who have never in reality returned to tell the truth.  The emphasis of all thought on this subject concerns the central "I" or the integrity of Deity.

You will note that in this Rule, the emphasis shifts from the "I" to the constituent parts which form the garment of the Self, and this is a point worth noting.  The information given to the disciple is to work for the dissipation of this garment and for the return of the lesser lives to the general reservoir of living substance.  The ocean of Being is nowhere referred to.  Careful thought will here show that this ordered process of detachment, which the group life makes effective in the case of the individual, is one of the strongest arguments for the fact of continuity and for individual identifiable persistence.  Note those words.  The focus of activity shifts from the active body to the active entity within that body, the master of his surroundings, the director of his possessions, and the one who is the breath itself, despatching the lives to the reservoir of substance, or recalling them at will to resume their relation to him.

Putting it this way, you will note how the disciple is really enjoined to recognise (with the assistance of his group) that he is essentially the Father aspect himself, the first cause, the creative will and the breath of life within the [103] form.  This is a somewhat new attitude which he is asked to take, because hitherto the emphasis upon his focus has been to regard himself as the soul, reincarnating when desire calls and withdrawing when need arises.  The group life as a whole is here needed to make possible this shift in realisation away from form and consciousness to the will and life aspect or principle.  When this has begun to take place, one of the first recognitions of the initiate-disciple is that form, and his consciousness of form and its contacts (which we call knowledge), have in themselves produced a great thought-form which has summed up in itself his entire relation to form, to existence and experience in the three worlds, to matter, to desire and to all that incarnation has brought him.  The whole matter looms, therefore, over-large in his consciousness.  The detaching of himself from this ancient thoughtform—the final form which the Dweller on the Threshold takes—is called by him Death.  Only at the fourth initiation does he realise that death is nothing but the severing of a thread which links him to the ring-pass-not within which he has chosen to circumscribe himself.  He discovers that the "last enemy to be destroyed" is brought to that final destruction by the first aspect in himself, the Father or Monad (which moved originally to create that form), the Life, the Breath, the directing energising Will.  It is the will that, in the last analysis, produces orientation, focus, emphasis, the world of form, and above all else (because of its relation to the world of cause), the world of meaning.

Average man lives and has his being in the world of meaning; the initiate and the Master have their focus in the world of Being.  They are then naught but will, illumined by love which links them with the world of meaning, and capable of intelligent activity which links them with the world of form, and is the indication of life.  But the desire of the initiate is not now for activity, or even for the expression of love.  These qualities are integral parts of his equipment and expression but have dropped below the threshold of consciousness (a higher correspondence of the automatic [104] activities of the physical body which proceed upon their work without any realised consciousness on the part of the man).  His effort is towards something which means little as yet to those of you who read these words; it is for the realisation of Being, immovable, immutable, living and only to be comprehended in terms which embody the concept of "It is not this; it is not that."  It is No-Thing; it is not thought or desire.  It is life, Being, the whole, the One.  It is not expressed by the words "I am" or by the words "I am not."  It is expressed by the words "I am that I am."  Having said that, know you what I mean?  It is the will-to-be which has found itself through the will-to-good.

Therefore, the eighteen fires must die down; the lesser lives (embodying the principle of form, of desire and of thought, the sum total of creativity, based upon magnetic love) must return to the reservoir of life and naught be left but that which caused them to be, the central will which is known by the effects of its radiation or breath.  This dispersal, death or dissolution is in reality a great effect produced by the central Cause, and the injunction is consequently:

2. This they must bring about through the evocation of the Will.

This type of death is ever brought about by a group, because it is from the earliest moment the one unmistakable expression of soul activity—as influenced consciously by the Monad or Father—and this activity is a group activity which wills the return of the lesser lives to the general reservoir from the very first moment that it has become apparent that the form experience has served its purpose and that the form has reached a point of such resilience and capacity that perfection has been practically achieved.  This is definitely consummated at the fourth initiation.  Now, at the end of the great life cycle of the soul, persisting for aeons, the time is nearing when form-taking and experience in the three worlds must end.  The disciple finds his group in the Master's Ashram, and consciously and with full understanding, [105] masters death—the long-feared enemy of existence.  He discovers that death is simply an effect produced by life and by his conscious will, and is a mode whereby he directs substance and controls matter.  This becomes consciously possible because, having developed awareness of two divine aspects—creative activity and love—he is now focussed in the highest aspect and knows himself to be the Will, the Life, the Father, the Monad, the One.

In concluding our study of Rule IV, we are to consider two things:

The method of evoking the Will aspect.

The process of recognising the Life aspect,

the Monad, the Father in Heaven.

The result of these two is given in the two closing phrases of this rule:

3. The lesser wheels must not for aye revolve in time and space.  Only the greater Wheel must onward move and turn.

There is one point here that I should like to make because it opens the door to new concepts, even if it is not yet possible for these concepts to be defined so that the mass can understand; even the disciples who read these words will fail truly to comprehend.  Only those who have taken the third initiation will rightly interpret.  Constantly in all esoteric literature reference is made to the factors of time and space as if there were a basic distinction between the worlds in which these two hold sway and in which the aspirants and initiates of all degrees freely move.  Constantly the aspirant is reminded that time is cyclic in nature and manifestation, and that "space is an entity."  It is necessary that there should be some comprehension of these terms if that which the will controls (when evoked) is to penetrate into the knowing consciousness of the thinker.

Space and substance are synonymous terms; substance is the aggregate of atomic lives out of which all forms are built.  With this the Treatise on Cosmic Fire largely dealt. [106] This is both an occult and a scientific truism.  Substance is, however, a soul concept, and is only truly known to the soul.  Therefore, after the fourth initiation, when the work of the soul is accomplished and the soul body fades out of the picture, only the quality which it has imparted in substance is left as its contribution—individual, group or planetary—to the sumtotal of manifestation.  All that remains is a point of light.  This point is conscious, immutable and aware of the two extremes of the divine expression:  the sense of individual identity and the sense of universality.  These are fused and blended in the ONE.  Of this ONE the divine Hermaphrodite is the concrete symbol—the union in one of the pairs of opposites, negative and positive, male and female.  In the state of being which we call the monadic, no difference is recognised between these two because (if I can bring such ideas down to the level of the intelligence of the aspirant) it is realised that there is no identity apart from universality and no appreciation of the universal apart from the individual realisation, and this realisation of identification with both the part and the whole finds its point of tension in the will-to-be, which is qualified by the will-to-good and developed (from the consciousness angle) by the will-to-know.  These are in truth three aspects of the divine will which exists in its perfection in the solar Logos and finds a medium of expression through the planetary Logos.  This will is therefore working out in seven ways, via the living qualities of the seven planetary Logoi Who express Themselves through the seven sacred planets; They are preoccupied with the endeavour of bringing all the forms of life within the orbit of Their influence up to the same measure of recorded recognition and of registered existence.  It will be obvious to you, consequently, that on each of the seven sacred planets one aspect of the divine Will will be dominant.

This is the significance of Space—the field wherein states of Being are brought to the stage of recognition.  When that stage has been reached and the Knower, the Soul, is fully aware and fully conscious, then there enters [107] in a new factor which also affects space—though in a different way—but which is related to the monadic Life.  That factor is Time.  Time is related to the will aspect and is dependent upon the dynamic life, self-directed, which produces persistence and which demonstrates persistence in that dynamic focus of intention by periodic or cyclic appearance.

From the angle of the Will or the Father, these appearances in time and through space are so small a part of the experience of the living Entity Whose life is lived on planes other than the physical, emotional or mental, that they are regarded as no life.  To understand this, I would remind you again that we must seek to understand the sum total in the light of the part, the Macrocosm in the light of the Microcosm.  That is no easy task and is necessarily most limited.

The disciple knows or is learning to know that he is not this or that, but Life Itself.  He is not the physical body or its emotional nature; he is not, in the last analysis (a most occult phrase) the mind or that by which he knows.  He is learning that that too must be transcended and superseded by intelligent love (only truly possible after the mind has been developed), and he begins to realise himself as the soul.  Then, later, comes the awful "moment in time" when, pendant in space, he discovers that he is not the soul.  What then is he?  A point of divine dynamic will, focussed in the soul and arriving at awareness of Being through the use of form.  He is Will, the ruler of time and the organiser, in time, of space.  This he does, but ever with the reservation that time and space are the "divine playthings" and can be used or not at will.

We could paraphrase the last two sentences of this fourth rule as follows:  The evocation of the will involves identity with the larger purpose.  The little will of the little lives must be merged in the larger will of the whole.  Individual purpose must be identified with group purpose, which is as much of the purpose of the Whole or the One Life as the little life can grasp at any given point in time [108] and space.  It is in this sense, esoterically understood, that time is an event—which philosophy now points out, groping towards an expression of the initiate consciousness.

In the long run, literally when the path of evolution is trodden to its end, what remains will be the divine purpose and the all-enveloping Life as it materialises the plan in time and space.  This is the result of the turning of the greater Wheel of life, causing all the lesser wheels—in time and space—also to turn.  In the meantime, the human being is first of all driven by desire, then by aspiration towards some visioned goal, then by his selfish will, which reveals to him the nature of the will:  persistent application to some purpose, seen as desirable and to which every power is bent.  Having exhausted all tangible goals, the inner life forces the man on towards the intangible, and the quality of his will begins to change.  He discovers a larger will than his own and begins slowly to identify himself with it, proceeding stage by stage from one realised purpose to another higher one, each step removing him further from his own so-called will and bringing him nearer to an appreciation of the significance of the divine will or purpose.

It might be stated, in an effort to clarify the method whereby this is done, that by the carrying out of the plan the disciple learns the nature of the purpose, but that the purpose itself can only be grasped by one who is developing monadic consciousness.  Monadic consciousness is not consciousness as human beings understand it, but is that state of apprehension which is not consciousness or realisation, as the mystic feels it, or identification, as the occultist terms it, but something that appears when all of these three are appreciated and registered in a moment of time within the orbit of space.

Now, having said this, I would ask you if you are much the wiser, or of what profit it is for me to write these words if you understand them not?  For two reasons I write.  One of my functions and duties (as a Master of the Wisdom) is to anchor ideas in the mind of man and carry down into the realm of words certain emerging concepts so that they may [109] begin to influence the higher level of thinkers.  These latter are responsible for precipitating the ideas deep into the human consciousness.  Secondly, I write for the generation which will come into active thought expression at the end of this century; they will inaugurate the framework, structure and fabric of the New Age which will start with certain premises which today are the dream of the more exalted dreamers and which will develop the civilisation of the Aquarian Age.  This coming age will be as predominantly the age of group interplay, group idealism and group consciousness as the Piscean Age has been one of personality unfoldment and emphasis, personality focus and personality consciousness.  Selfishness, as we now understand it, will gradually disappear, for the will of the individual will voluntarily be blended into the group will.  It will be obvious to you, therefore, that this could well bring about a still more dangerous situation, because a group would be a combination of focussed energies, and unless these energies are directed towards the fulfillment of the Plan (which coordinates and makes possible the divine purpose) we shall have the gradual consolidation of the forces of evil or of materialism on Earth.  I am not speaking lightly, but am endeavouring to show the necessity for the steadfast consecration of the spiritually minded to the task of developing the will-to-good on Earth and the absolute importance of fostering goodwill among the masses.  If this is not done after the terrific global housecleaning that has gone on, the last state will be worse than the first.  We shall have individual selfishness superseded by group selfishness, which will be consequently still more potent in its evil dedication, focus and results.  The little wheels can continue to revolve in time and space, hindering the onward progress of the great Wheel which—again in time and space—is the wheel of humanity.  The Heavenly Man and the human being upon that Wheel are developing divine qualities and attributes.

The will aspect of divinity can find expression only through humanity, for the fourth kingdom in nature is intended to be the agent of the will to the three subhuman [110] kingdoms.  It was therefore essential that the spirit of inclusiveness and the tendency to spiritual identification should be developed in humanity as a step preparatory to the development of response to divine purpose.  It is absolutely essential that the will-to-good be unfolded by the disciples of the world so that goodwill can be expressed by the rank and file of mankind.  The will-to-good of the world knowers is the magnetic seed of the future.  The will-to-good is the Father aspect, whilst goodwill is the Mother aspect, and from the relation of these two the new civilisation, based on sound spiritual (but utterly different) lines, can be founded.  I would commend this thought to your consciousness, for it means that two aspects of spiritual work must be nurtured in the immediate future, for on them the more distant hope of happiness and of world peace depends.  The New Group of World Servers must be reached and the will-to-good developed in them, and the masses simultaneously must be reached with the message of goodwill.  The will-to-good is dynamic, powerful and effective; it is based on realisation of the plan and on reaction to the purpose as sensed by those who are either initiate, and consciously in touch with Shamballa, or disciples who are likewise a part of the Hierarchy but are not yet able to contact the central Purpose or Life.  Not yet having taken the third initiation, the monadic vibration is to them largely unknown.  It would be just as dangerous for them to be able to reach Shamballa (prior to the third initiation when all personality tendencies are obliterated) as it would be to teach the masses of men today techniques of will which would render their still selfish will effective.  The main difficulty would be that the disciples would destroy themselves, whilst the ordinary man would damage himself.

This exegesis of Rule IV is necessarily brief because it is of such deep significance that it requires careful study, sentence by sentence, and even so it is very largely beyond the grasp of the majority of readers.  It will, however, be useful for disciples to reflect upon the various meanings (there are several) and upon the esoteric implications.

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