RULE NINE

As we proceed with the study of these rules the difficulty of interpreting and explaining them becomes increasingly great.  We have arrived at a section of the rules which requires initiate-consciousness for right and true comprehension; we are studying ideas for which we have, as yet, no adequate language.  Briefly, we have considered certain of the lower aspects of the Laws of Life as they appear to the initiate and are interpreted by him within the sphere of his normal consciousness—that of the Spiritual Triad.  The presentation which I gave you had to be confined within the area of consciousness which we call "manasic awareness," which is that of the abstract mind.  Just in so far as that abstract mind is developed in you and the antahkarana tenuously constructed will be your understanding of my words.

The difficulty becomes still greater as we arrive at the study of Rule IX.  It was of real difficulty when presented in its lower form to applicants.  That rule, as you may remember, ran as follows:

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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.

Three major ideas appear in this easier rule:

1. The idea of complete identity with all other selves.

2. The idea of the uniformity of their spiritual presentation to the world when unity is established.

3. The idea that—as a result of the two above achievements—the group force, as a real and focussed energy, can then be used.

Glibly the neophyte talks of identifying himself with others, and eagerly he endeavours to ascertain his group and merge with it; yet in so doing the constant concept of duality is ever present—himself and all other selves, himself and the group, himself and the group energy which he may now wield.  Yet this is not so in reality.  Where true identity is achieved, there is no sense of this and that; where the merging is complete, there is no recognition of individual activity within the group, because the will of the merged soul is identical with that of the group and automatic in its working; where true unity is present, the individual applicant becomes only a channel for the group will and activity, and this with no effort of his own but simply as a spontaneous reaction.

I have emphasised the above because in the rule for disciples and initiates, this will be found to be still more the case and the results are brought about by a conscious use of the will which is divine synthesis in action; also, the group referred to is not the Ashram of some particular Master, but that of all Ashrams as they in their entirety reflect the purpose of Shamballa and work out the Plan within the active sphere of the hierarchical consciousness.

Ashrams of the Masters are to be found on every level of consciousness in the threefold world of the Spiritual Triad.  Some Masters pre-eminently occupy themselves with the mind aspect within all forms, and therefore their Ashrams are conditioned by the manasic consciousness; they are [169] the Ashrams of those initiates who have taken the fourth initiation but who are not yet Masters.  They are largely adepts upon the third and fifth rays, and work with the manas or mind as it is developing in all forms.  They do foundational work of great importance, but are little understood and their lives are consequently lives of great sacrifice and the term of their service in this particular connection is relatively short.  Certain aspects of their developed consciousness have to be kept in abeyance and must remain temporarily unexpressed in order to permit them to work with substance and specifically with the consciousness of the atoms which constitute the forms in all the subhuman kingdoms of nature.  They do very little work with humanity, except with certain advanced members of humanity who are on the scientific line, drawing to their Ashrams only those who are on the third and fifth rays and who can continue with the work, being trained along peculiar and special lines.

The Ashrams of the Masters (to be found on all the rays) Who work in particular with humanity, are mostly to be found upon the buddhic levels of the triadal consciousness.  There the note of "loving understanding" predominates, but even these words must be interpreted esoterically and not according to their usual and obvious meaning.  It is not a case of "I understand because I love," or that "this," with love, understands "that."  It is something far deeper, involving the idea of identification, of participation, and of synthetic realisation—lovely euphonious words, but meaning little to the non-initiates.

On atmic levels, the levels of the spiritual will, are to be found the Ashrams of those Masters Who are interpreting the will of Shamballa and to Whom is committed the task of transmitting the purpose and organising the plans whereby that purpose can be fulfilled.  As on manasic levels the Ashrams as a whole are presided over by the Master R., the Lord of Civilisation, so on buddhic levels all Ashrams are supervised by the Master K.H., with the aid of myself (the Master D.K.) and three senior and initiated [170] disciples; the objective is the unfoldment of group awareness and of loving understanding, in order that the forms prepared and conditioned under the supervision of the Master R. may be sensitised and become increasingly conscious of reality through the development of an inner mechanism of light which—in its turn—will condition and develop the outer mechanism of contact.  Ashrams on atmic levels are under the control of the Master M., Who fosters the will aspect within the developed forms and Who (as the Old Commentary expresses it) "adds darkness unto light so that the stars appear, for in the light the stars shine not, but in the darkness light diffused is not, but only focussed points of radiance."  The symbolism will be obvious to you though not the full significance.

Embracing, fusing and unifying the endeavour of all these groups of Ashrams, stands the living Christ, the Head of all Ashrams and the Master of the Masters, the Mediator between Shamballa and the Hierarchy and between the Hierarchy and Humanity.  Will you gain some insight into the all-pervading conditions if I state that His work of mediating between humanity and the Hierarchy was perfected by Him and carried to a conclusion when He was last on Earth, and that He is now achieving facility in the higher mediatorship which will bring about a closer relation of the Hierarchy with Shamballa at this time.  This mediatory work, based on the blending of the spiritual will (which He has already developed) with the universal will (which He is developing), marks for Him a goal which will be consummated when He takes the ninth initiation.  These are great mysteries and I only indicate them in order to convey to you a sense of the synthesis of the whole scheme and a recognition of the urge-to-good which pervades every aspect of the planetary Life from the smallest atom of substance, through all the intermediate living forms, on and up to the planetary Logos Himself.

The will is too often regarded as a power by means of which things are done, activities are instituted and plans worked out.  This general definition is the easiest for men [171] to formulate because it is understood by them in terms of their own self-will, the will to individual self-betterment—selfish and misunderstood at first but tending eventually to selflessness as evolution carries out its beneficent task.  Then the will is interpreted in terms of the hierarchical plan, and the effort of the individual man becomes that of negating his self-will and seeking to merge his will with that of the group, the group being itself an aspect of the hierarchical effort.  This is a great step onward in orientation and will lead to a change in consciousness eventually.  This last sentence is of importance.

It is at this stage that most aspirants today find themselves.  However, the will is in reality something very different to these expressions of it which exist in the human consciousness as men attempt to interpret the divine will in terms of their present point in evolution.  The clue to understanding (the clue which will be the easiest for you to understand) is to be found in the words "blotting out all form."  When the lure of substance is overcome and desire dies, then the attractive power of the soul becomes dominant and the emphasis for so long laid upon individual form and individual living and activity gives place to group form and group purpose.  Then the attractive power of the Hierarchy and of the Ashrams of the Masters supersedes the lower attractions and the lesser focal points of interest.  When these, in their turn, assume their rightful place in consciousness then the dynamic "pull" of Shamballa can be felt, entirely unrelated to form or forms, to a group or groups.  Only a group sense of "well-Being," esoterically understood is realised, for it is comprehended as the will-to-good.  No forms can then hold; no group or Ashram can then confine the consciousness of the initiate, and all differences of every kind disappear.  This preamble is given in an effort to clarify your minds before we study Rule IX care-fully and arrive at its essential meaning.

Rule IX.

Let the group know there are no other selves.  Let the group know there is no colour, only light; and then let [172] 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 first the Door was passed.

The greatest problem facing aspirants and disciples prior to the third initiation is that of comprehending the nature of identification.  This concerns (in the first instance) the relation of the self to the Self and of all selves to the all-inclusive SELF.  It involves the mystery of duality with which they are occupied, and the very moment that theory as to essential unity becomes definite realisation, then the realm of synthesis is entered.  For that type of realisation, language as we now have it has no words, and it is therefore impossible to formulate concepts to interpret the consequent and resultant state of being.  "Identification with" is the phrase which approaches the closest to the initial idea, and until man has grasped his identical at-one-ness with even one human being, it is not possible for him even to think about it in any truly constructive manner.  The complete fusion of the negative and the positive aspects in marriage, at the moment that life is transmitted and transferred, is the only tangible though unsatisfactory symbol of this life-sharing process which takes place when an individual or a group knows actually and not simply theoretically that "there are no other selves."

Identification (to use the only word available for our purpose) is connected with dynamic life, with conscious enhancement, with completion and with creative sharing, plus process.  It is a process of participation—consciously and constructively undertaken—in the life actions and reactions of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being; it is related to the network of life channels which keep the form aspect of the planetary Logos functioning as a "Divine Representation."  Note that wording.  It is connected with the circulation of that "life more abundantly" to which the Christ referred when dealing with the true nature of His [173] mission.  It might be said that as He uttered this phrase this mission dawned on Him and He made a preliminary effort to serve Shamballa, instead of the Hierarchy of which He was even then the Head.  Later, He enunciated as best He could the extent of this realisation, in the words so familiar to Christians, "I and the Father are One."  This He also attempted to elucidate in the seventeenth chapter of St. John's Gospel.  There is no other passage in the literature of the world which has exactly the same quality.  Oneness, unity, synthesis and identification exist today as words related to consciousness and as expressing what is at present unattainable to the mass of men.  This manifesto or declaration of the Christ constitutes the first attempt to convey reaction to contact with Shamballa, and can be correctly interpreted only by initiates of some standing and experience.  A concept of unity, leading to cooperation, to impersonality, to group work and to realisation, plus a growing absorption in the Plan are some of the terms which can be used to express soul awareness in relation to the Hierarchy.  These reactions to the united Ashrams which constitute the Hierarchy are steadily increasing and are beneficently conditioning the consciousness of the leading members of the forefront of the human wave at present in process of evolution.

Beyond this state of awareness there lies a state of being which is as far removed from the consciousness of Members of the Hierarchy as that is, in its turn, removed from the consciousness of the mass of men.  Endeavour to grasp this, even if your brain and your power to formulate thought rejects the possibility of this exalted livingness.  Be not discouraged at this inability to understand; remember that this state of being embraces the goal towards which the Masters strive, and which the Christ Himself is only now attaining.

It is for this reason that the symbolism of light and darkness is used in the words:  Let the group know there is no colour, only light; and then let darkness take the place of light.

Just as the individual has to pass through the stage wherein all "colour" goes out of life as he emerges out of [174] the glamour which conditions the astral plane, so groups in preparation for initiation must go through the same devastating process.  Glamour disappears, and for the first time the group (as is the case with the individual) walks in the light.  As the group thus walks, unitedly its units learn a lesson (one clearly enunciated by modern science) that light and substance are synonymous terms; the true nature of substance as a field and medium of activity becomes clear to the initiate-members of the group.  To this H.P.B. referred when he said that the true occultist works entirely in the field of forces and energies.

The next lesson which the group unitedly apprehends is the significance of the words that "darkness is pure spirit."  This recognition, realisation, apprehensive, comprehensive (call it what you will) is so overwhelming and all-embracing that distinctions and differences disappear.  The disciple realises that they are only the result of the activity of substance in its form-making capacity and are consequently illusion and non-existent, from the angle of the spirit at rest in its own centre.  The only realisation left is that of pure Being Itself.

This realisation necessarily comes to the disciple through the means of graded revelation and in balanced sequence; each contact with the Initiator leads the initiate closer to the centre of pure darkness—a darkness which is the very antithesis of darkness as the non-initiate and the unenlightened understand.  It is a centre or point of such intense brilliance that everything fades out and at the place of tension, and at that darkest point, let the group see a point of clear cold fire.

It is a tension and a point of attainment that is only possible in group formation.  Even in the earlier initiations, and when the initiate has proved his right to be initiated, the process is still a group proceeding; it is undergone in the protective presence of initiates of the same standing and unfoldment.  It is their united focus that enables the candidate for initiation to see the point of clear cold light and their united will that "brings him upright, [175] standing, unafraid, with open eye before the One Who from the very first has conferred on him the gifts of life and light, and Who now—with lifted rod, surrounded by the fire, reveals to him the significance of life and the purpose of the light."  It is that of which the minds of men know naught, and which even the highest intellect is unable to grasp or even sense.

In the familiar words (familiar to all esotericists) which are so often said or chanted at moments of highest spiritual aspiration, the neophyte refers to the time when "we stand where the One Initiator is invoked, when we see His star shine forth."  Two ideas then stand forth:  the idea of invocation and of the result of that invocation, which is the sudden and unexpected shining forth of the Star.  This star is simply a point of vivid light.  This invocation, though used as the affirmation of a fixed objective by the aspirant to initiation, is nevertheless a mantram definitely appropriate to the third initiation.  It is only effective in its invocative appeal when used in conjunction with a Word of Power.  This Word of Power is communicated to the candidate (ever an initiate of the second degree) by the Christ Who has initiated him in the first two initiations but Whose protective aura (in conjunction with the initiate's Master and another Master or an adept of the fourth initiation) is required before the star can shine forth—the focussed light of the One Initiator.  For the first time the expanded consciousness of the initiate can contact Shamballa and the One Who rules there, the Lord of the World.  For the first time, the focussed purpose which brought Sanat Kumara into incarnation makes an impact upon the enlightened brain of the initiate, bringing something new and different into his equipment, into his nature and his consciousness.  I know not how else to express these ideas.  It is a blinding conviction of an unalterable will, carrying all before it, oblivious of time and space, aware only of intensity of direction, and carrying with it two major qualifications or basic recognitions to the initiate:  a sense of essential being which obliterates all the actions and reactions of time and [176] space, and a focussed will-to-good which is so dynamic in its effect that evil disappears.  Evil is after all only an impelling sense of difference, leading inevitably to separative action.

The dualities are then resolved in synthesis and, again for the first time, the initiate comprehends the meaning of the ancient words, so inappropriately translated "isolated unity."  To him, in the future, there is no light or dark, no good or evil, no difference or separation.  The star that has shone forth, veiling and standing between him and the Lord of the World, the Ancient of Days, is seen as the entrance or doorway and as the admitting agency into something other and larger than simply the planetary life.  In the earlier two initiations, the Angel of the Presence stood between the disciple-candidate and the Presence.  At the later initiations, the Angel of the Presence is the Christ Himself, one with the soul of the candidate (the individual Angel of the Presence).  Through the heart of Christ passes the dynamic power of the One Initiator, as a stream of light, stepped down or toned down by the Christ in order that the candidate can appropriate its potency without risk or danger.

After the third initiation, the candidate must face the One Initiator alone, with no protective Individual standing between him and the eternal source of all-power.  The Christ is present, supporting and attentive.  He stands directly behind the initiate so as to arrest and distribute the potency passing through the initiate's body and centres; the candidate is also flanked on either side by a Master.  Nevertheless, he faces the Initiator alone and unprotected.  Even now, at this much later initiation, he cannot see "eye to eye"—as the phrase goes.  He becomes aware of a growing point of light which, from a pin-point of intensest brilliance develops before him into a five-pointed star.  At the fourth initiation, it is not a star which shines forth before him, but a triangle; and within that triangle he will perceive an eye regarding him, and for the first time he does see the Most High "eye to eye."  At the fifth initiation no [177] symbol or light substance separates or protects him, but he stands before the Initiator face to face, and the freedom of the City of God is his.  He is not yet a Member of the Great Council, but he has the right of entrance into Shamballa, and from that point he passes on to a more intimate relation, if that is his chosen destiny.  He may not even finally become a Member of the Great Council; that is reserved for relatively few and for Those Who can take even still higher initiations within the ring-pass-not of our planet—a task of profound difficulty.  There are other and interesting alternatives, as I have elsewhere told you.  The initiate may pass out of this planetary life altogether along one or other of the various Paths by means of which a Master can start upon the Path of the Higher Evolution and for which all that has transpired in the past will have prepared Him.  Whichever Way He goes, the Master remains a part of the purpose; He knows forever the secret of the darkness which brings light, and the "inscrutable will of God" is no longer a mystery to Him.  He comprehends the divine idea and can now cooperate with it; He has reached a point of realisation which enables Him to fathom what lies behind the Plan for which the Hierarchy has worked for aeons.

Just as the disciple enters the world of meaning and so can interpret events, just as the Hierarchy works in the world of mediation, applying the Plan which the world of meaning has revealed, so the higher initiate works consciously in the world of purpose which the Plan implements, the world of meaning interprets, and the world of events expresses in sequential order and under the evolutionary Law.

The symbol which expresses the door of evolution is the crescent moon; that of the process of evolution—as it affects the material or substantial life of the man—is the waxing and the waning moon—the symbol of growing desire and of the dying out of desire.  The symbol of the world of meaning is Light—the light which shines upon the ways of men, interpreting events and bestowing revelation.  The [178] symbol of the world of mediation is the revolving Cross, whilst the symbol of the world of purpose is a twofold one:  the five-pointed star and then the radiant heart of the Sun.  Remember that when we talk and think in symbols, we are placing something between ourselves and reality—something protective, interpretive and significant, but something nevertheless veiling and hiding.  After the fifth initiation all veils are rent and naught stands between the initiate and Essential Being.