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LETTER III - POINTS CONSIDERED WHEN ASSIGNING MEDITATION - Part 1

LETTER III

POINTS CONSIDERED WHEN ASSIGNING MEDITATION.

1—The Ray of the Ego or Higher self.

2—The Ray of the Personality or Lower self.

3—Karmic condition of the threefold man.

4—The condition of the Causal Body.

5—The need of the period and the man's availability.

6—The groups, inner and outer, with which he is affiliated.

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LETTER III

POINTS CONSIDERED WHEN ASSIGNING MEDITATION.

June 4, 1920.

We have dealt with the importance of meditation, and I have suggested for your consideration four reasons out of the many why the practice should he followed.  At this period when meditation is followed by many of you without the guidance of a teacher who is personally acquainted with you on the physical plane, it has been impossible to do more than formulate a plan for practice that carries in it the elements of safety and of universality.

When a teacher is on the spot, differentiated practice may be carried on suited to the temperament of the pupil, and having certain attributes that make that particular meditation the line of least resistance from the physical brain of the personality to the causal body.

In formulating methods of meditation certain factors must be taken into consideration.  These factors I will now enumerate.  I seek not to give you outlines and methods to be followed.  I but indicate the underlying principles that guide the teacher in the choice of method suitable for the pupil.  Later, when the teacher comes and the scientific application of the method to the individual is being demonstrated, you can then see if the rules laid down here are fundamentals or not.  These fundamentals and principles are all I seek to give.  Method and detail must be worked out through the use of discrimination, experience, courage and perseverance.

The factors that must be considered by a teacher when assigning a meditation are six in number, if we deal only with the principal ones.  They are as follows:

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1—The Ray of the pupil's Ego, or Higher Self.

2—The Ray of his Personality or Lower Self.

3—The Karmic condition of his threefold lower nature.

4—The condition of his Causal Body.

5—The immediate need of the period and his availability.

6—The groups, inner and outer, with which he may be affiliated.

We will now take them up and consider them one by one.

1—The Ray of Higher Self.

The ray on which a man's causal body is found, the egoic ray, should determine the type of meditation.  Each ray necessitates a different method of approach, for the aim of all meditation is union with the divine.  At this stage, it is union with the spiritual Triad, that has its lowest reflection on the mental plane.  Let me illustrate briefly:

When the egoic ray is what is termed the Power Ray, the method of approach has to be by the application of the will in a dynamic form to the lower vehicles; it is largely what we term achievement by an intense focusing, a terrific one-pointedness, that inhibits all hindrances and literally forces a channel, thus driving itself into the Triad.

When the egoic ray is the second or the Love-Wisdom Ray, the path of least resistance lies along the line of expansion, of a gradual inclusion.  It is not so much a driving forward as it is a gradual expanding from an inner centre to include the entourage, the environment, the allied souls, and the affiliated groups of pupils under [16] some one Master, until all are included in the consciousness.  Carried to the point of achievement, this expansion results in the final shattering of the causal body at the fourth Initiation.  In the first instance—achievement via the Power Ray—the driving forward and the forcing upward had a like result; the opened channel admitted the downflow of force or fire from the Spirit and the causal body in time is equally destroyed.

When the egoic ray is the third or Activity-adaptability Ray, the method is somewhat different.  Not so much the driving forward, not so much the gradual expansion as the systematic adaptation of all knowledge and of all means to the end in view.  It is in fact the process of the utilisation of the many for the use of the one; it is more the accumulation of needed material and quality for the helping of the world, and the amassing of information through love and discrimination that eventually causes the shattering of the causal body.  In these "Rays of Aspect" or of divine expression, if so I may call them, the shattering is brought about by the widening of the channel, due to the driving power of will in the first case; by the expansion of the lower auric egg, the causal body, in the second case, due to the inclusiveness of the synthetic Ray of Love and Wisdom; and by the breaking of the periphery of the causal body in the third case, due to the accumulative faculty and systematic absorption of the Adaptability Ray.

All these three different methods have the same result, and are fundamentally all forms of the one great method employed in the evolution of love or wisdom,—the goal of endeavour in this present solar system.

You have the will driving a man on to perfection, through realisation of the Higher, and resulting in the service of power through love in activity.

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You have the wisdom or love aspect driving a man on to perfection through the utilisation of his oneness with all that breathes, resulting in the service of love through love in activity.

You have the activity aspect driving a man on to perfection through the utilisation of all in the service of man; first by the utilisation of all for himself, then by the graded steps of the utilisation of all for the family, of all for those he personally loves, of all for his environing associates, and thus on and up till all is utilised in the service of humanity.

When the egoic ray is the attributive Ray of Harmony, the fourth ray, the method will be along the line of the inner realisation of beauty and harmony; it causes the shattering of the causal body by the knowledge of Sound and Colour and the shattering effect of Sound.  It is the process that leads to the realisation of the notes and tones of the solar system, the note and tone of individuals, and the endeavor to harmonise the egoic note with that of others.  When the egoic note is sounded in harmony with other egos, the result is the shattering of the causal body, dissociation from the lower and the attainment of perfection.  Its exponents develop along the line of music, rhythm and painting.  They withdraw within in order to comprehend the life side of the form.  The outer manifestation of that life side in the world is through that which we call art.  The great painters and the superlative musicians are in many cases reaching their goal that way.

When the fifth ray, the Ray of Concrete Science or Knowledge is a man's ray, the method is very interesting.  It takes the form of the intense application of the concrete mind to some problem for the helping of the race; it is the bending of every mental quality and the [18] controlling of the lower nature so that one supreme endeavor is made to pierce through that which hinders the downflow of the higher knowledge.  It involves also the will element (as might be expected) and results in the wresting of the desired information from the source of all knowledge.

As the process is continued, the piercing of the periphery of the causal body becomes so frequent that in the end disintegration is produced and a man is set free.  It is mentality driving a man on to perfection and forcing him to utilise all knowledge in the loving service of his race.

The Ray of Devotion is pre-eminently the ray of sacrifice.  When it is the egoic ray the method of approach through meditation takes the form of one-pointed application, through love of some individual or ideal.  A man learns to include through love of person or ideal; he bends every faculty and every effort to the contemplation of what is required, and in sacrifice for that person or ideal lays even his causal body on the flames of the altar.  It is the method of divine fanaticism that counts all lost apart from the vision, and that eventually sacrifices joyously the entire personality.  The causal body is destroyed through fire, and the liberated life streams upward to the Spirit in divine beatification.

When the egoic ray is the seventh or Ray of Ceremony Law or Magic, the method is that of the glorification and comprehension of form in approach.  As said earlier, the goal of all the meditation practices is approach to the divine within each one, and, through that, approach to the Deity Himself.

The method, therefore, is the bringing under law, order and rule, of every act of the life in all the three bodies, and the building within the causal body of an [19] expanding form that results in the shattering of that body.  It is the building of the Shrine under certain rules into a dwelling place for the Shekinah, and when the spiritual light flames forth, the Temple of Solomon rocks, reels and disintegrates.  It is the study of the law and the consequent comprehension by the man of how that law is wielded and why; it is then the definite application of that law to the body of causes so as to render it needless and thus effect its shattering.  Emancipation is the result, and the man frees himself from the three worlds.  Many occultists are coming in on this ray at this time to continue the liberating process.  It is the method that leads a man to liberation through the understanding and the intelligent application of the law to his own life, and to the ameliorating of conditions in the body of humanity, thus making the man a server of his race.

This suffices for today.

June 5, 1920.

2—The Ray of the Personality.

We have somewhat dealt with the first factor, the egoic ray, in determining the method of meditation.  Today we might take up the function of the personality ray in determining this method.  As you know, the personality ray is ever a sub-ray of the spiritual ray and varies with greater frequency than the egoic ray.  With evolved egos such as may be contacted among the thinkers of the race and among the prominent workers in all departments of world work everywhere, the personality ray may vary from life to life, each life being based on a different note and demonstrating a different colour.  In this way the causal body is more rapidly equipped.  When the reincarnating unit has reached a point where he can consciously choose his mode of expression, he [20] will first review his past lives, and from the knowledge gained thereby, he will guide his choice for the next.  Prior to incarnation he will sound his egoic note and will note the lack of fullness or the discord it may contain; he will then decide upon which note he will base his coming personality vibration.

The whole life, therefore, may be given over to the sounding of a particular note and to the stabilising of one particular vibration.  This note must be sounded and this vibration stabilised in diversity of circumstances.  Hence the necessity in the life of the aspirant or disciple for frequent change, and the explanation of the obvious condition of variety and apparent chaos in which these lives are spent.

When the discord has been corrected and when the vibration becomes steady and is not subject to change, then the needed work is done.  The Ego can call in again his forces, prior to continuing the work of perfecting the causal body and carrying to perfect accuracy and clarity of tone the desired chord.  See then the necessity of adapting the method of meditation to the need of the personality, and of synchronising it at the same time with the first factor, involving the ray of the Ego.

A practical illustration.

Let me illustrate, if in any way I can elucidate the matter; accuracy of comprehension is desired.

We will assume that the egoic ray of A is that of the Love or Wisdom Ray, whilst the ray of his lower self is that of the fifth or the Ray of Concrete Knowledge.  A in past lives has demonstrated love and has made real progress in the method of the synthetic ray, that of expansion.  He loves much and expands with fair facility his consciousness to include a just part of his environing [21] circumstances.  But, though of average intelligence, he lacks the stabilising vibration that attaches to the fifth ray.  He has not that concentration that forces results, and he needs the basic foundation of facts before he can wisely and safely proceed much further.  The wise teacher, in apprehending this necessity, uses the method of expansion inherent in the egoic ray and applies it to the expansion of the mental body.  By a wisely adjudicated method, he will apply the faculty of expansion (hitherto used only to include others through love) to the one-pointed effort likewise to expand for the purpose of apprehending knowledge.  When this is done, every effort of the personal life may apparently (in one particular incarnation) be given to the acquirement of scientific position and to the development of mind.  Intellectual progress may seem of too paramount importance to the uninstructed onlooker; yet, after all, the work proceeds as desired by the inner guide, and only the life succeeding will demonstrate the wisdom of the egoic choice.

Intellectual expansion by the combination of second ray methods with fifth ray application will be achieved.  Have I made this matter clear?  I write for clarity for this question of meditation is of much vital importance to many.

It will, therefore, be clear to you on careful perusal, that as one knows more, one judges less.  A person may be well-developed on the love side, yet in some particular incarnation that side may lie in abeyance, and the line of development most apparent may be the purely intellectual.  Reservation of opinion is the best line for the wise onlooker to take, for he has not yet the inner vision that sees the colour, nor the occult hearing that recognises the note.

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June 7, 1920.

3—The Karmic Condition of the Threefold Man.

Today the karmic condition of the threefold man and his place in evolution comes up for consideration under our discussion of "Methods of Meditation."  It is our third point and of real moment in deciding wisely upon a method suitable for the individual.  We have up till now considered first the importance of meditation; then we touched briefly upon the part the egoic ray plays in deciding upon that method, incidentally bringing out a point not much emphasized hitherto that the real goal of meditation is the gradual fracturing, breaking and shattering of the egoic body.  Each ray necessitated, we saw, a different process.  Then we took up the function of the personality ray in combination with the egoic ray, and saw how in wise consideration of the two factors a method could wisely be apportioned.

Now we take up more specifically the factor of time.  Karma and time are more synonymous terms than is oft realised.  Occult meditation and the definite commencement of the work of liberating the individual from the periphery of the causal body can only be begun when a certain point in evolution has been attained, and when (through its content) the causal body is of a certain specific gravity, and when the circumference of that body measures up to certain requirements.  The whole process is one of Law and not, as is so oft considered, one purely of aspiration and lofty desire.  Consider wisely this sentence I have just written upon the karmic condition of the threefold man and his place on the ladder of evolution.  What have I specified?  Three factors for your consideration:

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a—The point in evolution.

b—The specific gravity of the causal body.

c—The size and circumference of the causal body.

Later I intend definitely taking up with you the question of the mental plane and its three higher subplanes, which are the planes of the Ego.  We will deal with the position of the causal body on these planes and with the relationship of the causal body to other bodies on the same plane.  In this letter I deal only with the three above-mentioned points.  I deal, therefore, with the causal body itself, with the egoic consciousness and its relationship to the lower self.  Later I will deal with the same consciousness on its own plane and its relationship to other egos and to the Hierarchy.  Keep this clearly in mind:—the development of the egoic consciousness within the Personality is my main theme at this time.  Do not confuse the two.  We might word it otherwise:—I will deal with the relationship of the Higher Self to the threefold lower man, and the gradually increasing strength of that relationship through meditation.  This increase is coincident with the three factors above named.  Let us take them in order.

The Point in Evolution.

The life of the evolving personality might be divided into five divisions.  Ours is, after all, a fivefold evolution, and the life of the man (as a human being and prior to taking the fifth Initiation) may be considered as a series of five gradual steps, each step being gauged by the condition of the indwelling Flame of Spirit.  From the standpoint of our occult planetary Hierarchy, as before I have told you, we are measured by our light.

The first division of progress might be measured from the moment when animal-man became a thinking entity, [24] a human being, to that of the conscious functioning of the emotional body or to the point where the emotions are very largely paramount.  It corresponds to the period covered by the Lemurian and early Atlantean days.  During this period, the man is polarised in his physical body and is learning to be controlled by his desire body, the body of feeling or of emotion.  He has no aspirations save such as pander to the pleasures of the body; he lives for his physical nature, and has no thought for aught that may be higher.  This period parallels that of the child from one to seven years.  At this time the watching Teachers of the race see the indwelling Flame as a tiny pin-point, and the permanent atom of the physical plane holds the polarisation.  No attention is called for from the Teachers, for the instinctive force inherent in the Higher Self does the work, and the driving force of evolution carries all on to perfection.

The second period covers a point in development when the polarisation is largely in the emotional body and when lower mind desire is being developed.  Later Atlantean days hold the analogy hid.  The desires are not so purely physical, for mind is beginning to permeate, much as yeast causes a movement and a rising in a mass of dough.  The man is conscious of vague pleasures not associated with his physical body; he is capable of a deep love for teachers and guides wiser than himself, of a wild unreasoning devotion for his environing associates, and of an equally wild and unreasoning hatred, for the equilibrium that mind achieves, and the balance that is the result of mental action, is wanting in his make-up.  He suffers from extremes.

The polarisation lies now in the emotional permanent atom but, (when this point of development is reached) a light plays between the two atoms that have [25] known polarisation—the emotional and the physical.  What I am seeking to bring out at this stage is that the mental unit has not known the force of polarisation, the emotional is holding it, and the result is an integral difference within the periphery of the atom itself.  The electronic combinations that compose the atom which has suffered polarisation are grouped in a different geometrical form to those which have not yet experienced the process.  It is the effect of the life of the Ego, playing on the matter of the atom and causing various approximations and differentiations unseen in a non-polarised atom.  The matter is abstruse and complex.

This period is an analogous one to that in the life of a child from seven to fourteen years, or that period when adolescence is traversed and the child is maturing.  This maturity is the product of emotional and physical polarisation in alignment.  Alignment is now easily achieved between the physical and emotional bodies.  The problem is to bring both under alignment with the mental and later with the egoic bodies.

To the watching Guides of the race, the indwelling Flame or Light can be seen slightly more enlarged, but still so small as to be inappreciable.  But, if I can in any way make clear without misleading by the use of words—whereas in the first period the physical atom could be seen illuminated, now in the second period the emotional atom is similarly lit up, a signal to the Teachers that the work progresses.  All this covers a vast period of time, for progress at this period is inexpressibly slow.  My allusion to the Atlantean and Lemurian races was but to trace analogy in object, and not analogy in time.

Now, on entering the third period, comes the most vital point in the development of the man, that in which [26] mind is developing and the polarising life shifts to the mental unit.  Speaking in terms of the solar system and viewing humanity as a unit, all of whose permanent atoms form the molecules in a corresponding cosmic atom, the work has progressed from physical to emotional polarisation and remains there.  Not till the seventh cycle of the greater cycle, not till the calling of the system into obscuration and out of manifestation will the cosmic mental atom in the body of the Logos achieve polarisation.  Here and there individuals are, as units, accomplishing the work and demonstrating therefore the hope for all.

This period corresponds to that between the ages fourteen and twenty-eight.  The period here is longer for there is much to be done.  Two atoms have felt polarisation, and one is receiving the shifting.  It is the middle point.  At this time the light plays between the three atoms (outlining the personality triangle).  But the focal point is gradually shifting more and more into the mental unit, and the egoic body is becoming gradually more rounded out, and assuming its proportions.

The man has control of the physical body and each life he builds a better; he has a desire body of more refined requirements (note the occult significance of that word); he realizes the joys of intellect and strives ever for a mental body of greater adequacy; his desires turn upward instead of downward, and become transmuted into aspiration,—at first aspiration towards the things of mind, and later towards that which is more abstract and synthetic.  The indwelling egoic Flame or Light now radiates from an inner centre to the periphery, lighting the causal body and giving indication of burning.  To the on-looking Hierarchy it is apparent that the divine fire is permeating and warming and radiating throughout [27] the causal body, and that the Ego is becoming ever more conscious on his own plane, and ever more interested—via the permanent atoms,—in the life of the Personality.  The physical brain of the Personality is not yet aware of the difference between inherent mental capacity and the directed impress of the indwelling Ego, but the time is becoming ripe for a change of some kind, and evolution is moving with rapidity.  The fourth period approaches.  I would here sound a warning.  All this proceeds not in ordered sections, if so I may term it.  It proceeds as proceeds the greater system, with constant overlapping, and with parallelism, due to the inherent ray of the Spirit or Monad, to cyclic changes, to diversity of forces playing astrologically and oft from unknown cosmic centres upon the palpitating life within the atoms....

The fourth period is that within which co-ordination of the Personality is completed, and that wherein the man comes to himself (as did the prodigal in the far country) and says:  "I will arise and go to my Father."  This is the result of the first meditation.  The three permanent atoms are functioning and the man is an active, feeling, thinking entity.  He reaches the consummation of the personality life and he begins to shift consciously his polarisation from the personality life to the egoic.  He stands upon the Path of Discipleship or Probation, or is close to it.  He commences the work of transmutation; he laboriously, painfully and carefully, forces his consciousness higher and to expand at will; at any cost he determines to dominate and function in full liberation on the three lower planes; he realises that the Ego must have perfect expression,—physical, emotional and mental,—and he makes, therefore, at infinite cost, the necessary channel.  He attracts the attention of the Teachers.  [28] In what way does he do this?  The causal body begins to radiate the indwelling Light.  It has been constructed to a point where it is fine enough to act as a transparency and, where the contact of the Ego is made with the Triad, a point of Flame appears....The light is no longer under the bushel, but suddenly flames forth, and catches the eager eye of the Master.

This marks the period between twenty-eight and thirty-five in the life of the adult.  It is the period wherein a man finds himself, discovers what his line of activity may be, what he can accomplish, and from the worldly standpoint, comes into his own.

During the fifth period the Flame gradually breaks through the periphery of the causal body, and the "path of the just shineth ever more and more unto the perfect day."  It is in the fourth period that meditation commences,—the mystic meditation that leads, in the fifth period, to that occult meditation that brings about results, being under the law and hence following the line of the ray.  It is by meditation that the man—as a Personality—feels out the vibration of the Ego, and seeks to reach up to the Ego and bring the egoic consciousness ever more and more down, so as to include consciously the physical plane.  It is by meditation or by retreating within that the man learns the significance of Fire, and applies that fire to all the bodies, till naught is left save the fire itself.  It is by meditation, or the reaching from the concrete to the abstract, that the causal consciousness is entered, and man—during this final period—becomes the Higher self and not the Personality.

The polarisation shifts during the fifth period (the period of the Path of Initiation) entirely from the Personality to the Ego, until, at the close of that period, liberation is complete, and the man is set free.  Even the [29] causal body is known as a limitation and the emancipation is completed.  The polarisation then shifts higher into the Triad—the shifting beginning at the third Initiation.  The physical permanent atom goes and the polarisation becomes higher mental; the emotional permanent atom goes and the polarisation becomes intuitional; the mental unit goes and the polarisation becomes spiritual.  The man then becomes a Master of the Wisdom and is of the symbolic age of forty-two, the point of perfected maturity in the solar system.

A still later period comes, corresponding to the ages forty-two to forty-nine, wherein the sixth and seventh Initiations may be taken, but this period concerns not the readers of these letters....

June 9, 1920.

The Specific Gravity and Content of the Causal Body.

This subject, anent the causal body, opens up for the thinker much food for speculation.  The literal figures and the dimensional lines cannot be given.  They form one of the secrets of initiation but certain ideas may be suggested and submitted to the consideration of all interested.

Just what do you mean when you speak of the causal body?  Say not glibly, the body of causes, for words thus spoken are oft but nebulous and vague.  Let us now consider the causal body and find out its component parts.

On the involutionary path you have what is termed the Group Soul, aptly described (as far as earth words permit) as a collection of triads, enclosed in a triple envelop of monadic essence.  On the evolutionary path, groups of causal bodies correspond and are similarly composed, three factors entering in.

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The causal body is a collection of permanent atoms, three in all, enclosed in an envelop of mental essence.... What happens at the moment when animal-man becomes a thinking entity, a human being?  The approximation of the self and the not-self by means of mind, for man is "that being in whom highest spirit and lowest matter are linked together by intelligence."  What do I mean by this phrase?  Just this:  that when animal-man had reached a point of adequacy; when his physical body was sufficiently co-ordinated, when he had an emotional or desire nature sufficiently strong to form a basis for existence, and to guide it by means of instinct, and when the germ of mentality was sufficiently implanted to have donated the instinctive memory and correlation of ideas that can be seen in the average domesticated animal, then the descending Spirit (which had taken to itself an atom on the mental plane) judged the time ripe for taking possession of the lower vehicles.  The Lords of the Flame were called in and they effected the transfer of polarisation from the lower atom of the Triad to the lowest atom of the Personality.  Even then, the indwelling Flame could come no lower than the third subplane of the mental plane.  There the two met and became one and the causal body was formed.  All in nature is interdependent, and the indwelling Thinker cannot control in the three lower worlds without the aid of the lower self.  The life of the first Logos must be blended with that of the second Logos and based on the activity of the third Logos.

Therefore, you have at the moment of individualisation, which is the term used to express this hour of contact, on the third subplane of the mental plane a point of light, enclosing three atoms, and itself enclosed in a [31] sheath of mental matter.  The work then to be done consists of:

1. Causing that point of light to become a flame, by steadily fanning the spark and feeding the fire.

2. Causing the causal body to grow and expand from being a colourless ovoid, holding the Ego like a yolk within the egg-shell, to a thing of rare beauty, containing within itself all the colour of the rainbow.  This is an occult fact.  The causal body will palpitate in due course of time with an inner irradiation, and an inner glowing flame that will gradually work its way from the centre to the periphery.  It will then pierce through that periphery, using the body (that product of millennia of lives of pain and endeavour) as fuel for its flames.  It will burn all up, it will mount upward to the Triad, and (becoming one with that Triad) will be re-absorbed into the spiritual consciousness,—will carry with it—using heat as the symbol—an intensity of heat or quality of colour or vibration that before were lacking.

Therefore the work of the Personality—for we have to view all from that angle until egoic vision may be ours,—is first to beautify, build and expand the causal body; secondly to withdraw within it the life of the Personality, sucking the good out of the personal life and storing it in the body of the Ego.  We might term this the Divine Vampirism, for always evil is but the other side of good.  Then, having accomplished this, comes the application of the flame to the causal body itself and the joyous standing by whilst the work of destruction goes on, and the Flame—the live inner man and the spirit of divine life—is set free and mounts to its source.

The specific gravity of the causal body fixes the moment of emancipation and marks the time when the work of beautifying and building is completed, when the [32] Temple of Solomon is erected, and when the weight (occultly understood) of the causal body measures up to the standard looked for by the Hierarchy.  Then the work of destruction supervenes and liberation approaches.  Spring has been experienced, the full verdure of summer has succeeded, now must be felt the disintegrating force of autumn,—only this time it is felt and applied on mental levels and not on physical.  The axe is laid to the root of the tree, but the life essence is garnered into the divine storehouse.

The content of the causal body is the accumulation by slow and gradual process of the good in each life.  The building proceeds slowly at first, but towards the end of incarnation—on the Probationary Path and on the Path of Initiation—the work proceeds rapidly.  The structure has been reared, and each stone quarried in the personal life.  On the Path, in each of its two divisions, the work of completing and beautifying the Temple proceeds with greater rapidity....

Briefly and in conclusion of this matter, I would seek to point out that the circumference of the causal body varies according to type and ray.  Some egoic bodies are of a form more circular than others; some are more ovoid, and others more elongated in shape.  It is the content and the pliability that matter, and above all the occult permeability of the lower auric egg that permits of contact with other egos, yet retains identity; that merges itself with its fellows, yet preserves individuality; and that absorbs all that is desirable, yet keeps ever its own shape.

June 16, 1920.

4—Condition of the Causal Body.

The fourth factor underlying the choice of a method [33] of meditation is our subject today and consists of the condition of the causal body.

We have dealt with the causal body in its relationship to the Personality or lower self, showing the interplay between the two and their interdependence.  Through steady application to occult meditation, and through the gradual stilling of the lower mind, through concentration and the wise following of the egoic ray meditation, balanced by the personality ray mediation, we found that the relationship of the causal body to the Personality became ever closer and the channel connecting the two became ever more clear and adequate.  This resulted eventually, we saw, in a shifting of polarisation from the lower to the higher and later to complete emancipation from both,—centralisation ensuing then in the spiritual consciousness.  We dealt with the matter from the lower point of view, seeing it from the standpoint of a man in the three worlds.

Today we will deal with the matter from the standpoint of the Higher Self, from the egoic level, and consider the relationship of that Self to the Hierarchy, to surrounding egos, and to the Spirit.  It will be difficult to do more than give some few hints, for much that I could say would be little comprehended, and much be too occult and dangerous for general communication.

Three things may be imparted, which—when wisely meditated upon—may lead to illumination:

The Ego on its own plane, realises consciously its relationship to the Master, and seeks to transmit that consciousness to the Personality.

The Higher Self on its own plane, is not trammelled by time and space, and (knowing the future as well as that which is past) seeks to bring the desired end nearer and make it more rapidly a fact.

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The Higher Self or Ego on its own plane has direct relationship with other egos on the same ray, and on a corresponding concrete or abstract ray, and—realising that progress is made in group formation—works on that plane at the helping of his kind.  These facts are already half apprehended among students but by a slight elaboration I may make it clearer.

Relationship of the Ego to the Hierarchy.

The relationship of the Ego to some one Master is at this stage consciously realised, but is nevertheless, itself of evolutionary development.  As we have been told, there are sixty thousand million units of consciousness or spirits in the evolving human hierarchy.  These are found on causal levels, though the numbers are slightly less now, owing to the attainment of the fourth Initiation by individuals from time to time.  These egos at different stages of development are all linked with their Monad, Spirit or Father in Heaven, in much the same way (only in finer matter) as the Ego is linked with the Personality.

All the Monads are, as you know, under the control, or rather form part, of the consciousness of one of the Planetary Spirits.  On egoic levels, the egos are in a similar condition.  An Adept of their ray supervises their general evolution, dealing with them in groups.  These groups are formed under three conditions:

a—As to sub-ray of the egoic ray.

b—As to period of individualisation or of entrance into the human kingdom.

c—As to point of attainment.

The Adept of their ray handles the general supervision but under Him work the Masters each on His own ray, and with Their own individual groups, who are affiliated with Them through period, through karma and [35] through point of vibration.  Under the Masters work the disciples who have the consciousness of the Higher Self, and are therefore able to work on causal levels and aid in the development of those egos whose causal bodies are less developed than their own.

All is beautifully subject to law, and as the work of developing the egoic body is dependent upon the progress made in the threefold personality, the Ego is consequently aided on lower levels by two different disciples, one working on emotional levels and reporting to another disciple who works upon the mental vehicle.  He in his turn reports to the disciple with causal consciousness, who reports again to the Master.  All this is done with the co-operation of the indwelling consciousness in the causal body.  This, as you see, entails five factors concerning themselves with the aiding of the Ego in his evolutionary development:

1—The Adept of his Ray.

2—The Master of his group.

3—A disciple with causal consciousness.

4—A disciple on the mental plane.

5—A helper on the emotional plane.

For a long period of lives the Ego remains practically unconscious of the Personality.  The magnetic link exists, but that is all until the time comes when the personal life reaches a point where it has somewhat to add to the content of the causal body—a body at first small, colourless and insignificant.  But the hour comes when the stones are first brought perfected from the quarry of the personal life, and the first colours are painted in by the man, the builder and the artist.  Then the Ego begins to give attention, rarely at first, but with increasing frequency, until lives come around in which the Ego [36] definitely works at the subjugation of the lower self, at the enlargement of the communicating channel, and at the transmission to the physical brain consciousness of the fact of its existence and the goal of its being.  Once that is accomplished, and the inner fire is freer in its passage, lives are then given to the stabilising of that impression, and to the making of that inner consciousness a part of the conscious life.  The flame radiates downward more and more until gradually the different vehicles come into line, and the man stands on the Probationary Path.  He is ignorant yet of what lies ahead, and is conscious only of wild and earnest aspiration and of innate divine longings.  He is eager to make good, longing to know, and dreaming always of someone or something higher than himself.  All this is backed by the profound conviction that in service to humanity will the dreamed-of goal be reached, will the vision become reality, the longing fructify into satisfaction, and aspiration be merged in sight.

The Hierarchy begins to take action and his instruction is carried out as aforesaid.... Until now the Teachers have only watched and guided without definitely dealing with the man himself; all has been left to the Ego and the life divine to carry out the plan, the attention of the Masters being directed to the Ego on his own plane.  The Ego bends every effort to quicken vibration, and to force the oft-rebelling lower vehicles to respond and measure up to the rapidly increasing force.  It is largely a matter of increased fire or heat, and consequent intensification of vibratory capacity.  The egoic fire waxes ever greater until the work is done, and the purificatory fire becomes the Light of Illumination.  Ponder on this sentence.  As above, so below; on each rung of the ladder the process is repeated; the [37] Monad, at the third Initiation, begins itself to be conscious of the Ego.  The work, then, is more rapid owing to the rarity of the material and to the fact that resistance is a factor in the three worlds but not elsewhere.

Hence, pain ceases for a Master.  That is, pain as we know it on earth, which is largely pain in matter.  The pain that lies hid in comprehension, not resistance, is felt to the highest circles, yea, it reaches to the Logos Himself.  But this is beside the point and well-nigh incomprehensible to you who are yet trammelled by matter.

Relationship of the Ego to its own development.

The Ego seeks to bring about the desired end in three ways:—

1—By definite work on abstract levels.  It aspires to contact and enclose the permanent atom, its first direct approach to the Triad.

2—By definite work on colour and sound with the aim in view of stimulation and vivification, working thus in groups and under the guidance of a Master.

3—By frequent attempts to definitely control the lower self, a thing distasteful to the Ego, whose tendency is to rest content with consciousness and aspiration on its own plane.  Forget not that the Ego itself has somewhat to wrestle with.  The refusal to incarnate is not found only on spiritual levels, but is found also on that of the Higher Self.  Certain developments also, incidental to the factors of time and space (as understood in the three worlds) are aimed at by the Ego, such as the increase of the causal periphery through the study of divine telepathy, systemic psychology and the knowledge of the laws of fire.

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Relationship of the Ego to other egos.

Certain things need to be remembered:—

The factor of periodicity.  Egos that are in incarnation, and egos that are out of incarnation are differentiated and capable of different work.  Egos whose reflections are in incarnation are more limited than those who are not.  It is almost as if the Higher Self were directed downwards, or willingly circumscribing itself to three-dimensioned existence, whereas the egos out of incarnation are not so limited but work in another direction or dimension.  The difference lies in the focusing of attention, during physical plane life.  The matter is hard for you to grasp, is it not so?  I scarcely know how to express the difference more clearly.  It is perhaps as if the incarnating egos were more positive, and the non-incarnating egos more negative.

The factor of activity.  This is largely a matter of ray, and affects closely the relationship between egos.  Those on similar rays coalesce and vibrate more readily to each other than those on different rays, and it is only as the second or wisdom aspect is developed that synthesis becomes possible.

On the third subplane of the mental plane egos are separated into groups—individual separation exists not, but group separation can be felt, incidental to ray and point in evolution.

On the second subplane the groups become merged and blend, and from their forty-nine groups are formed (by merging) forty-two.  The process of synthesis might be tabulated as follows:

Mental plane (    1st subplane............................................. 35 groups, 7 x 5
(    2nd subplane............................................ 42 groups, 7 x 6
(    3rd subplane............................................. 49 groups, 7 x 7 [39]
Buddhic plane (    3rd subplane............................................. 28 groups, 7 x 4
(    1st subplane.............................................. 21 groups, 7 x 3
Atmic plane       Atomic subplane....................................... 14 groups, 7 x 2
Monadic plane........... ........................................................................   7 great groups

 

I have given a few hints here.  It is so little, compared with what will later be known when those of you now studying expand the consciousness still further, but it is all I can as yet impart, and only this has been given with the intent of showing how much has to be considered, when meditation forms are duly set by a Master.  He has to take into wise consideration the egoic ray, and the condition of the causal body in its relationship to the lower self and to the Hierarchy.  The state of the body must be known, and its content; its relationship to other egos must be duly considered, for all is in group formation.  Meditation must therefore be given which is in line with the group to which the Ego is assigned, for as each man meditates he contacts not only his own Ego but also his egoic group, and through that group the Master to Whom he is consequently linked, though the efficacy of a meditation depends upon the work being done in an occult manner and under law.  The group significance of meditation is little understood, but the above thoughts are commended to you for your wise study.

June 17, 1920

5—Immediate Need of Period and Man's Availability.

Today we will consider factor five in deciding methods of Meditation, and will deal with the need of the particular period and the suitability of the man to meet the need.

Let us first of all briefly recapitulate, for the value of reiteration is profound.  We have taken up briefly the [40] factor of the egoic ray, as it is considered by a teacher in assigning a meditation, and we have seen how each ray aimed at the same goal along a different route, and that each ray necessitated a different type of meditation.  We have touched on the modification of the meditation through consideration of the personality ray.  Then we took up the factor of time as shown in the causal body, its point of development, and the relationship of that body to its three lower expressions, finishing yesterday with a few brief hints anent the causal body on its own level and its scope of consciousness.  All this will have indicated to you how wise must be the teacher who presumes to indicate meditation.  One point I would here interpolate:—No meditation that is truly and occultly suitable can be assigned by a teacher who has not the capacity of causal consciousness and contact.  When the teacher knows the note, the rate of vibration and the colour, then he can wisely assign, but not before.  Before that time, generalisation only is possible, and a meditation given that may approximate the need and also be safe.

Another factor enters now,—a factor that varies somewhat according to the need of the period.  All cycles are not as fundamentally important.  The periods in a cycle that are of real moment are the termini, and those where overlapping and merging occur.  They demonstrate on the physical plane in great revolutions, gigantic cataclysms, and fundamental upheavals in all three departments of the Hierarchy,—the department of the World Teacher, that of the Head of a root-race and that of the Ruler of civilisation or of force.  At the points of merging in a cycle, cross-currents are found, and all the system seems to be in a chaotic condition.  The middle part of a cycle where the incoming vibration is stabilised and the [41] old has passed away, manifests in a period of calm and apparent equilibrium.