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RULE TEN - Part 2

When we can identify the Sound and are no longer "moved" by the O.M., then the initiate becomes a Christ in expression and makes His appearance, either in physical form or upon the planes of what to us might be called the "areas of non-appearance."  He can then contain and utilise the energies of which the Spiritual Triad is the custodian and which are the expression of the will and purpose of God.  Though the initiate may not be a part of the planetary government, and though he may not be a member of the Council at Shamballa (for only a limited number of initiates are so placed), he nevertheless has the right to move on identical levels and to prepare himself for those higher evolutionary processes which will give him entrance to the cosmic astral plane.  This will enable him to "see through" [202] and to recognise "cosmic glamour," and will give him the hidden key to the world of feeling and of sentiency of which our feeling-response and our emotional and intuitional sensitivity are but the dim and distorted reflections.  This is a factor of some importance to have in mind if a right sense of proportion is to be developed.  The initiate has learnt on earth that the astral plane is in fact non-existent—at least for those of the higher degrees of initiation.  This knowledge constitutes the first step towards the comprehension of the secret of negation, towards a true understanding of the basis of the ever-existent pairs of opposites, and towards the knowledge which lies behind the significance of negation.  The above sentence is in all probability of little meaning to you, but it nevertheless contains a truth for which the trials, experiences and initiations of planetary existence prepare the initiate.  They endow him with those qualities which will enable him to contact cosmic evil and yet remain untouched, eventually to play his part in bringing the Black Lodge and its Brotherhood to an unholy finish.  The roots of the Black Lodge are on the cosmic astral plane, as the roots of the White Lodge and its Brotherhood are on the cosmic mental plane; this is, in reality, only for the time being and in order to see certain organised activities upon the star Sirius perfected and carried to a consummation.  This has oft been hinted in my writings.

"The Way of the Higher Evolution" leads to the cosmic astral plane, and the goal which carries a man there is the transcendent vision accorded at some of the higher initiations; the quality which enables him to work as a creative factor in the great White Lodge is the developed buddhic faculty.  It is upon the "wings of Sound" that he travels, to use a well-known though little understood metaphor.  This can only be when he can

4. Hear the O.M. as it is sounded forth by Him Who stands and waits at the very centre of the Council Chamber of the Lord.

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These are grave and solemn thoughts, and of small use to the average reader.  It is essential, however, that he avoid the concept that the attainment of the highest initiation upon this planet marks the end or the consummation of a great and final stage.  It only marks the beginning of significance.  This is a statement of esoteric value.  Just as the attainment of physical control sets the neophyte free for the learning of higher lessons in preparation for the major initiations, so the surmounting of the conditions presented by the seven planes of our planetary life sets the initiate (such as the Buddha or the Christ) free for still higher and more important conditioning circumstances.  Their real work as Members of the White Brotherhood is on the point of beginning, and the true purpose of the existence of the Great White Lodge begins faintly to dawn upon Their entranced and amazed understanding.  It is of real value to us, therefore, to endeavour to grasp the continuity of revelation and the vast future or vista of unfolding wonder which, stage by stage, grade by grade and plane by plane, unfolds before the initiate-consciousness.

We enter here into a consideration of realms of advancement of which even advanced humanity has no faintest idea; we are touching upon goals and objectives which confront the advanced Members of the Hierarchy; we are dealing with ideas and concepts for which we have no adequate terminology and which are of such a nature that the human mechanism of thought proves incapable of registering them.  What, for instance, do the words or phrases, "Divine purpose, Shamballa, the Lord of the World, states of registration or awareness which have no relation to sentiency as it expresses itself through consciousness, the Lodge on Sirius" and similar concepts convey to you?  I would venture to suggest that in reality, they represent nothing, and this because the goal of all who read these words is contact with the soul, recognition of and by the Hierarchy, and initiation.  If I say to you that the words "the O.M., as it is sounded forth by Him Who stands within the confines of Shamballa" signify that the one Sound, rounded and full, [204] of O is sounded forth, but that the concluding sound of the M is omitted, does that convey aught to your intelligence?  Again I venture to say that it does not.  It is therefore of small importance for me to enlarge upon this phase of the Rules.  I would be more profitably employed if I elucidated somewhat the meaning of the words "the Council Chamber of the Lord."  Three concepts have perchance taken shape in your minds in connection with Shamballa, if you have sought the true esoteric attitude:

1. That Humanity exists as a great centre of intelligent energy in the substance of the planetary Life. 

2. That the spiritual centre, where attractive, coherent, magnetic energy is focussed and from whence it flows in two directions

a. Towards the three worlds and the four kingdoms of nature,

b. Towards Shamballa and the two higher kingdoms in manifestation

is what we usually call the Hierarchy, the Kingdom of God, the centre of love and of mediating understanding (note these last two words).

3. That there is another centre which is neither spiritual nor human but which is characterised by divinity.  Divinity is the expression of the will or purpose of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being.  That centre where the will of God is focussed and dynamically sent forth to carry out the purpose is Shamballa.

The time has now come when a distinction must be made by esotericists between the words "spiritual" and "divine."  They are not the same, nor do they have the same significance.  The quality of spirituality is Love.  The quality of divinity is Will.  There is a definite distinction between the two and the mediating principle (or that which relates or unites the two qualities) is Wisdom.  Of that Wisdom the Buddha was the expression in time and space; that means that there was only a relative and limited manifestation of that fusing linking principle.  His great achievement, unrealised [205] by Him, was an innate and (at that time, not now) unconscious recognition of the distinction between love and will, and an ability to express in Himself a fusing, blending energy which could and did bring together love and will, soul and Monad.  At the same time (and later in full expression in Palestine) the Christ demonstrated—for the teaching of humanity—the at-one-ment of love and intelligence, of soul and personality.  These are points of real importance to have in mind.

Embodying, therefore, divinity in a sense and form incomprehensible to disciples, and which constitutes the goal of such advanced individuals as the Christ, are a group of Lives or focussed integrated Beings Who stand around Sanat Kumara, the Lord of the World.

As I have earlier said, Sanat Kumara is to the Planetary Logos what the personality, plus soul, is to the disciple.  He is also the coherent force within the planet, holding, through His radiatory influence, all forms and all substances in the planetary form so that they constitute one coherent, energised and functioning whole.  A parallel to this, though on a much smaller scale, can be seen in the radiatory influence of the Christ as it permeates, energises and holds in coherent expression the Christian Church in all its many aspects in the world; a still smaller analogy can be seen in the influence wielded by a disciple who stands at the centre of a group and holds it also in coherent and useful manifestation.  Intermediate between these two symbols of will and love, united in manifestation (the Christ and a disciple), is the work of a world disciple, for the influence is wider and more far-reaching than that of a disciple, yet not as potent or comprehensive as that of the Christ.

Coherency, affecting lives, forms and substances, is an expression of will and purpose, motivated by love and implemented intelligently in carrying forward the plans through which the Purpose seeks expression.  When, however, you arrive at the potency of such a Being as Sanat Kumara, you find His individual potency enhanced and [206] amplified by the fused ability of a group of Lives Who—though not as far advanced as He is upon the Path of Evolution which stretches before the Planetary Logoi—are yet greatly in advance of the most developed members of the spiritual Hierarchy.  It is these Lives Who constitute the innermost circle of the Council Chamber of the Lord of the World.  Their normal contacts are extra-planetary and are very seldom of a planetary nature.  They are in direct rapport with the Planetary Logos upon His own high plane, the cosmic mental plane; this great and Unknown Being uses Sanat Kumara as the soul uses a temporary personality when that personality is at an advanced stage of initiate consciousness.  This is only a parallel and an analogy and must not be unduly elaborated in the detail of relationship.

The major characteristic of these Lives is Will or Purpose.  They embody and consciously know and intelligently appreciate what is the motivating idea which the Planetary Logos—working consciously on His own high level—seeks to work out and achieve in His planned incarnation through a planet.  He functions when in incarnation on the cosmic physical plane, and embodies the seven principles of which we know, and all is focussed in and through the Individuality of Sanat Kumara, implemented and energised through the seven planetary centres.  The three Buddhas of Activity (Who are also Members of the Great Council) are expressions of the counterparts on cosmic levels of the energies latent in the three permanent atoms in the three worlds of human endeavour.  This is again a dangerous parallel to propose for—as a symbol—it lacks any true analogy.

The Seven Spirits before the Throne of God are also Members of the Council, and each of Them is in close rapport and contact with one or other of the seven sacred planets in our solar system, and can thus draw upon the energies which they embody.

It will therefore be apparent to you inferentially, how comparatively few of the Members of our Hierarchy have yet been able to reach the state or condition of development which would warrant Their forming a part of the [207] great Council, or which would enable them to respond to the O, sounded out at intervals of one hundred years by Sanat Kumara.  It is this sound which gathers together the responsive Units into the Council.  This Council is held at one hundred year intervals, and as far as our modern humanity is concerned, these Councils have been held—under our arbitrary dates—in 1725, 1825, 1925.

At these Councils, Those Who are responsible for the planetary development, along certain predetermined lines, make Their reports; decision is made as to new unfoldments; certain types of energy, cosmic and solar, are made available for the carrying forward of the Plans which implement the Purpose; the evolution of consciousness in the three worlds receives, necessarily, major attention.

I would have you remember that this refers not only to the human kingdom and its unfoldment, but to the three subhuman kingdoms also which are—from many points of view—of equal importance to the human.  This is a hard saying for humanity to accept.

It is these great goals which slowly dawn on the consciousness of the initiate as he advances step by step along the Path of Initiation.  They must perforce be noted here, even if dealing with matters incomprehensible to the reader; initiation otherwise would be apt to be regarded as the attainment of a relatively static condition and would land the initiate in an eternal impasse or impassable cul-de-sac.  Initiation is in fact the recognition of the goals which are implemented from Shamballa.  It is not a process whereby a man becomes solely a Member of the Spiritual Hierarchy.  Initiation (as the candidate understands it) is in reality only incidental and preparatory to the Path of the Higher Evolution.

There is little more that I can tell you anent this Rule.  The subject is, as you can see, too advanced even for the initiate who, in a few decades, will read and study these instructions.  That your vision may expand, and your power to think and reflect abstractly may grow, is my hope and wish for you.

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