January-March 2022

CONTENTS:

Editorial — Lift up your Hearts!
This ringing exhortation can be heard at the beginning of many Christian rituals. It is a useful reminder to us all that we need spend only some of the time contemplating the mistakes, the wrong motives and the difficul­ties that have led to the crises that humanity is now facing. Instead, it is not only wise but essential that we lift our hearts and minds to the soul’s love which holds the vision of the Plan of right relationships before us all. This is the immediate and achievable goal for the human kingdom, the centre of planetary creativity.

Time and the Duality of the Disciple ― Djwhal Khul
I have divided this theme into two parts, owing to the fact that the dualism displayed by a Master and that demonstrated by a disciple are not identical or one and the same thing at advancing points of distinction. The subject, when you first approach it, seems of a relative simplicity, but a closer consideration of it will present great and unexpected dissimilarities.

In connection with the dual life of the disciple, the factors involved are the threefold personality (with an awakening or onlooking consciousness centred or focussed in the brain), the soul which seems at first the ultimate goal of attainment but is later seen as simply a system or collection of fusing spiritual attributes, and the lowest aspect of the Spiritual Triad, the abstract mind. The disciple feels that, if he can attain the immediate and fused consciousness of the three, he has attained; he realises also that this involves the construction of the antahkarana.

The Rhythm of the Christ Life ― Christine Morgan
Only the Christ vibration can truly communicate the living reality of the Kingdom of God from heart to heart, but in our anxiety to set free the communicating spirit of the Christ within, we should also be wary of too rapid and intense an approach. In all sound spiritual training, rhythm and ritual are the safeguards that steadily condition and raise the vibration of the lower vehicles to withstand the terrific charge of the electric and solar fire that the Christ life carries. Too fast a pace in esoteric work is literally an unthinking rush into fire that inevitably leads to burnout requiring much time and rest for the lower vehicles to recuperate.

Awakening to Angels ― Wendy Berg
The angel Gabriel is one of the few figures who is revered in more than one religious tradition. In Islam, Gabriel or Jibreel acts as an intermediary between God and humanity and as a bearer of revelation to the prophets. He is believed to have revealed the Qur’an to Muhammed, and belief in angels continues to be an important article of faith in Islam. In the Christian tradition, angels are frequently referred to in the Bible although, perhaps surprisingly, Gabriel is one of only two angels who are actually named, the other being Michael. Gabriel’s appearance in the New Testament is well-known: he is responsible for the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary of the imminent divine conception of Jesus. The birth is later described as: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Inner Jewel ― Eduardo Gramaglia
When the “heart is heavier than iron”, the weight is not the heart, but the burden we carry, with which – in our illusion of despair – we would not part. But sooner or later, the surprising emptiness of that which we once considered solid and “full” stands revealed. It starts with the feeling that “something is very wrong”, that the shell which has given us comfort and sheltered us for ages has become a prison. We cannot breathe. The same old paths, the same old circles, the same old narrow-mindedness. In ourselves, or in the people that surround us? Is there a difference? The moment we realize we have been confusing quality with appearance, we might even get to the point when we acknowledge death as life, as the Ephesian philosopher did.

Who am I? What am I? ― Wendy Boyd
I stand alone, yet unify.
When the point of alignment seeks my foothold I am always there,
When the point of tension begins to slacken, I gather in the triple thread.
I am a living paradox of doing little yet achieving much.
Through me being and doing are fused, for I both defy and resolve the pairs of opposites.

Esoteric Training and Psychic Unfoldment, Part 1 ― Barbara Allen
According to the Tibetan, the approach for all who endeavor to grasp or teach esotericism is to lay emphasis on the world of energies that constantly ‘seek impact upon or contact with the world of phenomena under spiritual direction in order to implement the Plan’. Energies ‘move and work under the Law of Cause and Effect’ (karma) in the three worlds of human evolution. In other words, spiritual or ‘universal energy’ is the cause of all that normally appears in the physical world of existence as well as that considered paranormal on the mental-astral or psychic planes of human experience.

The Path – the Elevation of Fiery Intention ― Michael Brehme
Tension expressed and differentiated is the observable form, the outcome, the appearance. It arises as sensitivity, its perceptible form is not causal but an effect. And, as we know and understand, immersion and identification with effect is how the attention is imprisoned, i.e. if we project the livingness of our attention upon that which is not causal – authentic to the soul – but a karmic effect, an impression of the real, we “switch off” to inspiration.
The effort to raise our life-tension by raising our intention to arrive at the point of highest attention – consciousness in perfect alignment – is the Path. The outcome of this effort is the unfolding tension from knowledge to wisdom – spiritualisation.

Incommensurable ― John Rasmussen
In 1962, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn was published. This book concerned paradigm changes, which occur when periods of normal science enter into crisis with the discovery of anomalies that cannot be resolved by the existing paradigm. These crises are crucibles in which new paradigms are created. Some anomalies may be resolved by incremental changes to the current theory; they do not shift the paradigm. But theoretical systems, when they are unable to solve new problems, break down and open the way for a scientific revolution. Kuhn is arguing against the belief that science is linear, where new theories are added to old ones in an accumulation of attempts to more perfectly express some truth of the material world. On his view, breakthroughs happen when the failure of a theory leads scientists to question, not only the theory itself, but also the paradigm on which it is based.

Rabindranath Tagore – a Forerunner ― Thomas Koshy
As part of his education at home, Tagore was introduced by his father to the Upanishads, the great mystical/occult literature of India. According to Tagore, God is the Supreme Entity seated in the hearts of all, and one’s spiritual quest is for the union with that Infinite God. He saw the Divine in all beings and all forms in the universe. Tagore viewed poetry’s mission as a sublime tool to illumine people’s minds and their lives. His underlying ideals and thoughts, reflected in his poems and songs, transcend all religion and all limits, and hold true even today.

“The connection of love is total. In love the difference disappears and the human soul accomplishes its object in perfection, exceeding its own boundaries, and traversing the threshold of Infinity.”