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INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT

I have called you from refreshment to labour at this time (October 1942) because the coming few days are exceedingly busy ones for me as they are for all members of the Hierarchy.  I seek to give you some further instructions anent the Hierarchy itself. {i}* Students at this time would do well to remember that all basic and fundamental changes taking place upon the physical plane are necessarily the result of inner subjective causes, emanating from some level of the divine consciousness, and therefore from some plane other than the physical.  The fact that tremendous and unusual upheavals are taking place in the kingdoms of nature is attributed by men to other men or to certain forces generated by human thinking, frailty and ambition.

Is it not possible that these changes are being brought about as the result of certain profoundly important happenings upon inner planes of such advanced states of consciousness that all the average disciple can know about them is their word symbols and their much deleted effects—if I may use such a phrase to describe the happenings which are rending humanity today.  The evil that is being wrought today on earth, by certain evil members of the human family, are effects of their response to the inflaming energies and indicate their basic wickedness and their prompt reaction to that which is counter to the good.  Wherever the consciousness is focussed, there is the point of major emphasis and importance, and this is true of the individual man and of humanity as a whole.  The significance of the present happenings is interpreted (and necessarily so) in terms of human awareness and responsiveness.  This world war and its inevitable consequences—good and bad—are looked upon as concerned primarily with humanity, whereas that is not [13] basically so.  Humanity suffers and experiences as a result of the inner occurrences and the meeting of subjective forces and inflaming energies.

It is of course not possible for me to give you any true picture of the interior events and happenings in the life of our planetary Being.  I can only indicate and point out that the world situation is simply an embodiment of the reaction and the response by mankind to great paralleling and originating happenings which involve the following groups:

1. The emanating Avatar and His relationship to the Lord of the World, our planetary Logos.

2. The Lords of Liberation, focussed in Their high place, as They become conscious of the invocation of humanity and become more closely related to the three Buddhas of Activity.

3. The Great Council at Shamballa and the planetary Hierarchy.

4. The Buddha and His Arhats as They unitedly cooperate with the Christ and His disciples, the Masters of the Wisdom.

5. The Hierarchy, the embodiment of the fifth kingdom in nature, and its magnetic attractive rapport with the human kingdom, the fourth.

6. The effect of all these great groups of Lives upon humanity, and the inherent consequences as they work out in the subhuman kingdoms.

A study of the above in terms of forces and energy will give some idea of the underlying synthesis of relationships and the unity of the whole.

There is therefore a line of descending energy which has its origin outside our planetary life altogether; the inflow of this energy, its inevitable effect under cyclic law and its consequences, as they work out upon the physical plane, has produced and is producing all the changes of which mankind is so terribly aware at this time.  This swings into immediate conflict the past and the future, and in this statement I have expressed the deepest esoteric truth which mankind [14] is competent to grasp; it brings into a culminating struggle the Great White Lodge and the Black Lodge and opens the door to great contending energies which we can call spirit and matter, spirituality and materialism, or life and death.  These words are, in the last analysis, as meaningless as the terms good and evil, which have significance only in the human consciousness and its inherent limitations.

These descending energies, as they pass through any of the major levels of consciousness which we call planes, produce reactions and responses, dependent upon the state of the conditioning consciousness, and (strange as this may seem to you and well-nigh unintelligible) the effects upon the Hierarchy are even more compelling and transmuting than they are upon humanity.  I would add also that the point of lowest descent of the energies has now been reached, and the nature of the present opportunity is therefore changing.  These energies have now passed what we might call the turning point and have reached their point of ascension, with all that that phrase implies.  As they descend, they produce stimulation; as they ascend, they produce transmutation and abstraction, and the one effect is as unalterable as the other.  It is upon this inevitability of the ascending energies, and the effects which they will bring about, that the entire hope of the future depends; nothing can arrest their return or their progress through the planes and back again to their source.  Upon this dual process of descent and ascension the whole cyclic panorama of manifestation rests, and upon the inflow and activity of new and higher energies the whole fact of the evolutionary process depends.

It will therefore be apparent to you that the descent of energy brings with it—under the cyclic law—certain new "inspirations," certain new "seeds of hope" for the future, and certain active Agents as well, Who are and will be responsible for the task of preparation, of fertilisation and of all the coming new age enterprises.  These descending energies evoke also the obstructing forces, and I would here remind you that these obstructing evil forces (so-called) are [15] met with upon the highest spiritual levels because they are—in their turn—evoked by the impelling impact of the coming Avatar Whose "note is heard ahead of Him, and His energy spreads before Him."  This is a great mystery and can only be understood (and then merely theoretically) if you bear in mind that all our planes—even the very highest—are the subplanes of the cosmic physical plane.  When this fact is somewhat grasped there comes a simplification of thought.

As a consequence of all this, great and fundamental readjustments are going on within the Hierarchy itself and within that intervening area of the divine consciousness to which we give the name (as far as humanity is concerned) of the Spiritual Triad—an area covered by the higher mental planes, the buddhic and the atmic levels of awareness and of divine activity.  The downpouring avataric stimulation is enabling certain of the Masters to take some of the major initiations, and to do so far earlier than would otherwise have been possible.  Thus a great process of ascension and of spiritual attainment is under way, though as yet only its faint beginnings can be traced, owing to the intensity of the point of conflict.  Hence also many probationary disciples are finding their way into the ranks of accepted disciples, and many disciples are taking initiation.  To this fact of hierarchical upheaval—paralleling and intensifying the upheaval upon the physical plane—can be traced the process of preparation which I have instituted among some disciples, thus hastening the period and point of attainment, provided I receive due cooperation from them.  (Discipleship in the New Age, Vols. I and II.)

As regards the Hierarchy itself, speaking esoterically and technically, its Members (many of Them) are "being abstracted from the middle point of holiness and absorbed into the Council of the Lord."  In other words, They are passing onward into higher work and are becoming custodians of the energy of the divine will and not simply the custodians of the energy of love.  They will work henceforth as power-units, and not just as units of light.  Their work [16] becomes dynamic instead of being attractive and magnetic, and is concerned with the life aspect and not just with the soul or consciousness aspect.  Their places are being taken—under the Law of Ascension—by Their senior disciples, the initiates in Their Ashrams, and (under the same great process) the place of these initiates, who are thus being "raised" to more important work, is being taken by disciples and probationers.  It is this truth, misinterpreted and shockingly travestied, which lies behind the teaching anent the so-called Ascended Masters, put out by the leaders of the "I AM" movement, thus prostituting and bringing down almost into the realm of cheap comedy one of the most notable happenings which has ever taken place upon our planet.

There is therefore, owing to the inflow of energy from extra-planetary sources, a general shifting of the focus of consciousness of embodied and disembodied lives at this time; this shift is one of the prime factors producing the present disruption.  Students today are searching for the causes in human motives, in past history and in karmic relationships.  To these they add the so-called factor of wickedness.  All these factors of course exist, but are of lesser origin and are inherent in the life of the three worlds.  They are themselves set in motion by far deeper-seated factors latent in the relationship between spirit and matter and inherent in the dualism of the solar system, and not in its triplicity.  This dualism, as far as our planet is concerned, is profoundly affected by the will-purpose of the Lord of the World and by the intensity of His one-pointed thought.  He has succeeded in achieving a point of tension, preparatory to bringing about stupendous changes in His life-expression, within His vehicle of manifestation, a planet.  This point of invocation will be evocative of great happenings, and will involve every aspect of His nature, including the dense physical; this of necessity involves also all that concerns the human family for "in Him we live and move and have our being."  Those three words or phrases express the triplicity of manifestation, for "Being" connotes the Spirit aspect, [17] "moving" the soul or consciousness aspect, and "living" signifies appearance upon the physical plane.  Upon that outer plane the basic synthesis of incarnated life is to be found.

It will be apparent to you, therefore, that in this achievement of planetary tension it is not life in the three worlds that is the sphere of this tension, but the realm of hierarchical activity.  The shift resulting from this point of tension, the "moving" which is its consequence, is in the realm of soul experience and soul awareness.  The secondary effect can be noted in the human consciousness by the awakening which has been going on among men—an awakening to the higher spiritual values, to the trends and ideologies which are everywhere appearing, and to the clear lines of demarcation which have emerged in the realm of human determinations and objectives.  These are all the results of great changes in the field of the higher consciousness and are conditioned by the soul of all things, lying largely in the realm of the anima mundi; of this great sumtotal the human soul and the spiritual soul are but aspects or expressions.

It is these changes in the "moving, shifting realities" of the soul consciousness and spiritual awareness of the Members of the Hierarchy which are responsible for the new trends in the life of the Spirit and the new methods in training disciples—in such an experiment, for instance, as externalising the Ashrams of the Masters.  It is this new approach to life conditions, as a result of the inflow of new energies, which is producing the universal trend towards group awareness, and its highest result in the human family is the taking the first steps towards group initiation.  Such a thing as group initiation was never heard of prior to the present time, except in connection with the higher initiations emanating from the Shamballa centre.  Group initiation is based upon a uniform and united group will, consecrated towards the service of humanity and based upon loyalty, cooperation and interdependence.  In the past, the emphasis was upon the individual, his training and approach to initiation, and his solitary admittance to the Temple [18] of Initiation.  But this individual concentration will, in the future, give place to a group condition which will enable several disciples unitedly to move forward, unitedly to stand before the Initiator, and unitedly and simultaneously to achieve the great realisation which is the result and the reward of successful discipleship.

In the first thesis which I presented to the public I outlined the Rules for Applicants, (Initiation, Human and Solar, pp. 192-208), summarising the past propositions and indicating the individual preparation and requirements.  These will now apply to the probationary groups of disciples, and not to accepted disciples.  They must and will still remain the character and purificatory objectives of the dedicated individual, but are regarded as adequately grasped by humanity; they have been proclaimed by all the great world religions down the centuries and have been recognised as the main conditioning qualities of all disciples.

These same Rules or Formulas of Approach are the lower correspondences of higher rules to which groups of disciples are pledged to conform, and which they must follow and obey together.  The Hierarchy into which they will enter when full acceptance and demonstration have been shown will be the same Hierarchy, characterised by the same soul awareness, animated by the same spiritual activity, functioning under the same laws, but conditioned by two progressive and evolutionary developments:

1. A much closer contact—invocative and evocative—with Shamballa, and therefore a fuller responsiveness to the Will aspect of divinity.

2. An invocative attitude on the part of humanity, based on a fundamental decentralisation of the selfish human consciousness and a rapidly awakening group consciousness.

In reality, this means that the Hierarchy will be more closely related to the Great Council at Shamballa, and very much more closely interrelated with humanity, so that a dual fusion will be taking place.  This will bring about that integrative [19] process which will be the quality of the New Age and will inaugurate the Aquarian phase of planetary history.

I would now like to bring into a close relation the earlier imparted Rules for Applicants and the new Rules for Disciples, embodying the new group activity and group discipleship, resulting in group initiation.

These Rules are fourteen in number.  Today I will simply give you, first of all the rule for the individual disciple, and then its higher corresponding rule for groups in preparation for group initiation, reminding you that such groups are ever composed of those who have taken the first initiation, and the name of these is legion.  They are to be found in every country.  There are not, however, so many who are ready for the new era of group initiation.

Rule I.

For Applicants:  Let the disciple search within the heart's deep cave.  If there the fire burns bright, warming his brother yet heating not himself, the hour has come for making application to stand before the door.

For Disciples and Initiates:  Within the fire of mind, focussed within the head's clear light, let the group stand.  The burning ground has done its work.  The clear cold light shines forth and cold it is and yet the heat—evoked by the group love—permits the warmth of energetic moving out.  Behind the group there stands the Door.  Before them opens out the Way.  Together let the band of brothers onward move—out of the fire, into the cold, and toward a newer tension.

Rule II.

For Applicants:  When application has been made in triple form, then let the disciple withdraw that application and forget it has been made.

For Disciples and Initiates:  The Word has now gone forth from the great point of tension:  Accepted as a group.  Withdraw not now your application.  You could not, if you [20] would; but add to it three great demands and forward move.  Let there be no recollection and yet let memory rule.  Work from the point of all that is within the content of the group's united life.

Rule III.

For Applicants:  Triple the call must be and long it takes to sound it forth.  Let the disciple sound the call across the desert, over all the seas and through the fires which separate him from the veiled and hidden door.

For Disciples and Initiates:  Dual the moving forward.  The Door is left behind.  That is a happening of the past.  Let the cry of invocation issue forth from the deep centre of the group's clear cold light.  Let it evoke response from the bright centre, lying far ahead.  When the demand and the response are lost in one great SOUND, move outward from the desert, leave the seas behind and know that God is Fire.

Rule IV.

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

For Disciples and Initiates:  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.

Rule V.

For Applicants:  Let the applicant see to it that the Solar Angel dims the light of the lunar angels, remaining the sole luminary in the microcosmic sky.

For Disciples and Initiates:  In unison let the group perceive the Triad shining forth, dimming the light of the soul and blotting out the light of form.  The macrocosmic Whole is all there is.  Let the group perceive that Whole and then no longer use the thought "My soul and thine."

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Rule VI.

For Applicants:  The purificatory fires burn dim and low when the third is sacrificed to the fourth.  Therefore let the disciple refrain from taking life and let him nourish that which is lowest with the produce of the second.

For Disciples and Initiates:  Let the group know that life is one and naught can ever take or touch that life.  Let the group know the vivid, flaming, drenching Life that floods the fourth when the fifth is known.  The fifth feeds on the fourth.  Let then the group—merged in the fifth—be nourished by the sixth and seventh and realise that all the lesser rules are rules in time and space and cannot hold the group.  It onward moves in life.

Rule VII.

For Applicants:  Let the disciple turn his attention to the enunciating of those sounds which echo in the hall where walks the Master.  Let him not sound the lesser notes which awaken vibration within the halls of Maya.

For Disciples and Initiates:  Let the group life emit the Word of invocation and thus evoke response within those distant Ashrams where move the Chohans of the race of men.  They are no longer men as are the Masters but having passed beyond that lesser stage, have linked Themselves with the Great Council in the highest Secret Place.  Let the group sound a dual chord, reverberating in the halls where move the Masters but finding pause and prolongation within those radiant halls where move the Lights which carry out the Will of God.

Rule VIII.

For Applicants:  When the disciple nears the Portal, the greater seven must awaken and bring forth response from the lesser seven upon the double circle.

For Disciples and Initiates:  Let the group find within itself response to the greater seven groups which carry out the hierarchical will with love and understanding.  The group contains all seven, the perfect group.  The lesser seven, [22] the greater seven and the planetary seven form one great whole, and these the group must know.  When this is realised and the Law of the Supplementary Seven is understood let the group understand the Three and then the ONE.  This they can do with the united breath and the unified rhythm.

Rule IX.

For Applicants:  Let the disciple merge himself within the circle of the other selves.  Let but one colour blend them and their unity appear.  Only when the group is known and sensed can energy be wisely emanated.

For Disciples and Initiates:  Let the group know there are no other selves.  Let the group know there is no colour, only light; and then let darkness take the place of light, hiding all difference, blotting out all form.  Then—at the place of tension, and at that darkest point—let the group see a point of clear cold fire, and in the fire (right at its very heart) let the One Initiator appear Whose star shone forth when the Door first was passed.

Rule X.

For Applicants:  The Army of the Voice, the devas in their serried ranks work ceaselessly.  Let the disciple apply himself to a consideration of their methods; let him learn the rules whereby the Army works within the veils of maya.

For Disciples and Initiates:  The rules for work within the veils of maya are known and have been used.  Let the group widen all the rents within those veils and thus let in the light.  Let the Army of the Voice be no more heard and let the brothers onward move within the Sound.  Then let them know the meaning of the O.M. and let them hear that O.M. as it is sounded forth by Him Who stands and waits at the very centre of the Council Chamber of the Lord.

Rule XI.

For Applicants:  Let the disciple transfer the fire from the lower triangle to the higher and preserve that which is created through the fire at the midway point.

For Disciples and Initiates:  Let the group together move the fire within the Jewel in the Lotus into the Triad and [23] let them find the Word which will carry out that task.  Let them destroy by their dynamic Will that which has been created at the midway point.  When the point of tension is reached by the brothers at the fourth great cycle of attainment, then will this work be done.

Rule XII.

For Applicants:  Let the disciple learn to use the hand in service; let him seek the mark of the Messenger in his feet and let him learn to see with the eye which looks out from between the two.

For Disciples and Initiates:  Let the group serve as Aquarius indicates; let Mercury speed the group upon the upward Way and let Taurus bring illumination and the attainment of the vision; let the mark of the Saviour, as the group toils in Pisces, be seen above the aura of the group.

Rule XIII.

For Applicants:  Four things the disciple must learn and comprehend before he can be shown the inmost mystery:  first, the laws of that which radiates; the five meanings of magnetisation make the second; the third is transmutation or the secret lost of alchemy; and lastly, the first letter of the Word which has been imparted, or the hidden name egoic.

For Disciples and Initiates:  Let the group get ready to reveal the hidden mystery.  Let the group demonstrate the higher meaning of the lessons learnt, and these are four and yet are one.  Let the group understand the Law of Synthesis, of unity and fusion; let the threefold mode of working with that which is dynamic carry the group together towards the Higher Three where the Will of God holds sway; let Transfiguration follow Transformation and may Transmutation disappear.  Let the O.M. be heard right at the centre of the group, proclaiming God is All.

Rule XIV.

For Applicants:  Listen, touch, see, apply, know.

For Disciples and Initiates:  Know, express, reveal, destroy and resurrect.

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These are the rules for group initiation and I am dealing with them to give you a fuller understanding of the Laws of Group Life with which I dealt in some of my other books.

I will take these rules and expound for you somewhat of their meaning and indicate their significances as far as these can be grasped now.  These instructions are written for future disciples towards the end of this century.  They form part of the last volume of A Treatise on the Seven Rays and will, therefore, go out to the general public who will not understand, but thus the needed teaching will be preserved.

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