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RULE ELEVEN

I would like to speak, at this point in our discussion of the fourteen rules for initiates, upon the theme of group initiation; these rules are those to which groups that are seeking, in unison, a group expansion of consciousness, must learn to conform.  It is for this reason that I have hitherto omitted to go into detail in relating these rules to the seven centres or, specifically, to the great seven solar initiations.  Of these seven initiations only five concern average humanity.  The remaining two initiations concern only those who are willing to meet certain unusual requirements and to produce that special effort which entitles them to the appellation, "Victors, through the clear pure will."

Group initiation is no easy achievement, particularly as it is practically an untried experiment and constitutes essentially a pioneering effort.  That such a development was inevitable, if the evolutionary growth of humanity proved in any way satisfactory, was early realised by the Hierarchy.  However, it has taken millenia of years to make it seem—as an hypothetical effort—in any way possible, and only tentative experiments have as yet been attempted.  The first objective of these experiments (going on quietly in various places all over the world) is to see if a group of disciples can work together in such a manner that an inner fusion can be seen—by the Masters—to be taking place.  The results, hitherto, have not been encouraging.  It has, for one thing, been difficult to find disciples who are approximately at the same point in evolution, whose rays are "shining through" adequately, and who can evidence some one quality, or some controlling theme (if I may use such a phrase) which they share in unison and which would suffice to hold them together and prove strong enough to offset personality differences, preferences and barriers.  It has not been possible, as yet, to do this.  Group after group has been tried and tested out by different Masters in various parts of the world, and hitherto all such attempts have proved failures.  When I use the word "failure" I mean failure from [209] the angle of the planned objective.  From the angle of the individual growth of any particular disciple there has not necessarily been failure; from the angle of the unwitting, general public, the publication of Discipleship in the New Age will prove in years to come an epochal success.

It might be of value to consider briefly what group initiation involves, and to do this factually and not sentimentally and aspirationally.

One of the problems confronting the Hierarchy in this connection is the elimination of sentiment—that curious, emotional reaction and relationship which links all the members of a group together in the bonds of liking or disliking.  Where there is liking, then too strong a personality relation is established, as far as the good of the group is concerned.  The group equilibrium is disturbed.  Where there is disliking, the inner faculty of rebuff works constantly, and cleavages then occur.  Is it not true, my brothers, that your relation to each other is frequently subjected to the impact of approval or of disapproval?  When that attitude exists, the first steps towards group fusion are absent.  This is what we mean by sentiment, and this emotional reaction must disappear as a preliminary stage.  I speak not at this time anent impersonality.  For some people, impersonality is simply an escape mechanism from responsibility; for others, it connotes suppression and entails such hard labour that the entire time of the disciple is given to the achievement of impersonality, thereby guaranteeing non-success.  That at which you strenuously strive and which assumes undue place in your thinking, in due time becomes itself a prison and merits later destruction.  Such is the occult law.  Impersonality is possible only to the disciple who knows truly how to love, and to him who sees life and its phantasmagoria (including all associated persons) in the light of the Spiritual Triad.

It is to this that Rule XI primarily refers, and it will not be possible for you to comprehend the significance of this rule unless there is a measure of clarity in your minds anent true group relationships.  Such relationships are not [210] based upon personality or impersonality, or upon liking or disliking, or on criticism or non-criticism, but upon a real comprehension of "divine indifference," spiritual detachment and deep, persistent, unchanging love.  To many earnest aspirants the juxtaposition of these phrases will seem paradoxical; but an understanding of the occult paradoxes tends to liberation.  In the comprehension of these basic attitudes lies the first lesson of the aspirant to participation in group initiation.

The second point which the group thus striving has to grasp is the necessity for the utilisation of the force of destruction.

A group is brought together under karmic law, ashramic necessity and soul direction.  Immediately there is presented to the watching Masters an opportunity for the very definite training of some willing aspirants, but also an equally definite point of tension, indicating real difficulty.  There is little, in reality, to link these people except inclination, a joint aspiration and a goal seen and held in unison.  The outstanding characteristic of such a group is spiritual selfishness.  This statement may surprise you until a close scrutiny of your own heart is undergone, and then I venture to predict that you will discover that it is not divine love of humanity that has enabled you to find your way into the outer group of some Ashram but desire for development, for achievement and for liberation.  The first step, therefore, is to recognise this and hence the injunction so oft misunderstood:  Kill out desire.  This has to be the first destructive activity of the disciple.  It is not what the disciple seeks, or wants or desires which should condition him and drive him to what we might call "ashramic acquiescence," but the all-impelling motive of world need.  So the disciple begins to rid himself of desire by a process of attrition.  He does not positively fight desire with a view to its elimination; he does not seek to transmute it (as should the probationary disciple), but he ceases to give it any recognition; he fails to provide it with the needed stimulation of attention, for as ever, energy follows thought; he is preoccupied [211] with world need and with the service he can render, and—almost inadvertently, as it were—desire dies of attrition.

It will be apparent to you, therefore, that it will take time for all the members of a group to achieve the destruction of individual desire, and that until some measure of this united liberating process is attained, the group cannot go forward together as a unit on the Way of Initiation.

The next step is the destruction of the ties which link the personalities of the group members.  These must be severed, and the relation between the group members must be on the basis of soul activity, joint pledge to the Master of the Ashram, and a united service given to humanity.  There comes a point of freedom in the group relation which will demonstrate in some definitely planned and united activity, carried forward in the outer world but enriching the life of the Ashram.  Until this stage is reached, the activity of the group corresponds to that of the probationary disciple and not to that of the pledged disciple.  The spontaneously emerging group work, engendered by the group consciousness and fusing the entire group of disciples at a point of tension in service, is the first indication that the group is ready for further teaching, for an intensification of its group potency and for a closer relation to the Master.  This has all been brought about by the group itself, independently of any injunction of the Master, and as a result of the united soul life of the group effectively making its presence felt.  These two spiritually destructive processes—the destruction of desire and the severing of all personality ties—are the first two and essential results of true group work.

The third quality which must be utterly rooted out and destroyed is that of all reaction towards recognition, whether that recognition is accorded by the world of men, by other disciples, or by the Master.  The ability to work without any token of recognition, to see others claim the reward of action taken, and even to be unaware that the results of the good initiated by the individual disciple or [212] his group are claimed by others, are the hallmarks of the hierarchical worker.  The Masters get no recognition for the work done by Their disciples, though They initiated the original impulse and have given both guidance and direction; the disciple carries out the Plan; he shoulders the responsibility; he pays the price, either good or bad, or the karmic results of instituted activity, and he is the one who gains the recognition of the crowd.  But—until the disciple seeks no recognition, until he fails to think in terms of results and is unaware of the reaction of the world to his work as an individual disciple—he has yet far to go in order to gain the higher initiations.  The entire problem becomes increasingly difficult when an entire ashramic group is concerned, for the recognition of the group service seems little to ask from the world which is served; nevertheless, such a demand and such an expectation delay the complete absorption of the group into the inner Ashram.

These are not, however, impossible objectives, or I would not waste your time or mine in their delineation.  The group can measure up to the occult necessity if unitedly they recognise the scope of the endeavour and unitedly strive for complete absorption in service—an absorption so deep that it excludes all other recognitions, particularly those of a personal nature.  We come back, therefore (as is continually the case), to the fact that when a group can arrive at a suitable point of united tension, non-essential reactions disappear and undesirable qualities are automatically removed.

These three types of work along the lines of destruction merit your careful consideration and—because they are along the line of the destroying aspect—it will be apparent to you that the method employed is that of the utilisation of the group Will.  It will be equally apparent that the group Will can only make its appearance under the Law of Occult Continuity when, and if, the group is functioning intelligently and demonstrating love adequately.

We now come to the third factor which group initiation involves.  This is diversity in unity, consciously recognised [213] and utilised.  A group is not composed of disciples all of whom are being prepared for the same initiation.  This is oft a hard saying for group members to accept.  The significance of my earlier statement, that a group is composed of men and women all of whom are at the same point in evolution, is a generalisation and simply means that all of them have reached the point where they are pledged and unalterably committed to the work of the Ashram, under some particular Master.

The work, however, requires a diversity of quality and of potencies in order to be effective in manifestation upon the outer plane.  It needs those who are in close contact with the Master, and are therefore initiates of a certain standing; it needs also those who have facility of relationship with the inner Ashram and are therefore senior disciples, though not necessarily high initiates; it needs also those not so advanced upon the Path of Discipleship because they have, or can establish, a close connection with ordinary humanity in the life of everyday.  A group of disciples such as this is consequently a miniature hierarchy, and a hierarchy exists in its various degrees in order to permit of a wide range of effective relationships.  Ponder on this statement.  You can see now why there is necessity for the elimination of personality reactions, for only thus could the groups function as a coordinated unit with the various members recognising each other's status and yet not moved to jealousy or belittlement thereby; the work is then carried forward on the basis of inspiration, coordination and practical application.  The senior members of the group, and those with the most advanced status (whatever that may be), provide the incentive of the Plan as they receive it from the Master; the more experienced among the disciples then coordinate the Plan within the group, relating it to the Ashram and indicating its approach to the world of men; the neophytes—pledged and dedicated though yet without experience—carry out the Plan upon the physical plane.  This entails, as you can see, smooth and effective coordination, a proper attention to the general picture, and an application of the detail of [214] work to the immediate necessity.  It is a hard task for a group of intensely individualistic disciples (and all disciples are individual) to begin to take the first steps towards these attitudes and the relationships which distinguish the Hierarchy as a whole.

Still another important factor in the group preparation for initiation is the cultivation of silence.  How, we ask ourselves at times when the functioning of the Ashram is under discussion, can we train our disciples to realise that, essentially, silence is not refraining from speech.  So many disciples seem to think that it is, and that they have to learn not to talk if they hope to take initiation.  Some would do a great deal better if they talked more than they do—along right lines.  The silence imposed in an Ashram is refraining from certain lines of thought, the elimination of reverie and the unwholesome use of the creative imagination.  Speech is consequently controlled at its source, because speech is the result of certain inner sources of ideas, of thought and of imagination; it is the precipitation (at a certain point of saturation, if I might so express it) of inner reservoirs which overflow on to the physical plane.  The retention of speech and the suppression of words, if they are the result of a realisation that what is to be said is wrong, or undesirable, or unwise, or wasteful, of energy will simply increase the inner banking up and will lead eventually to a still more violent display of words at a later date; it may also bring about serious and disastrous conditions within the astral body of the disciple.  The silence of thought is to be cultivated and, my brothers, I do not mean silent thinking.  I mean that certain lines of thought are refused admission; certain habits of thinking are eradicated and certain approaches to ideas are not developed.  This is done by a process of substitution, and not by a violent process of suppression.  The initiate learns to keep his thought apparatus in a certain effective condition.  His thoughts do not intermingle the one with the other, but are contained (if I may thus pictorially word it) in separate compartments or carefully filed for reference and later use.  There are certain [215] layers of thought (again speaking symbolically) which are held within the Ashram itself and are never permitted to enter the mind of the disciple or the initiate when not consciously working in the Ashram; others are related to the group and its work and are given free play within the group ring-pass-not; still others are of a more mundane nature and govern the daily life and relationships of the disciple with personalities and with the affairs of civilised living and physical plane events.  These are only indications of what I mean, but will suffice to show (if you duly meditate) a little of what is meant by the silence of the initiate.  Within the permitted levels of contact, speech is free and unimpeded; outside those levels, no indication is given that the other spheres of thought activity, with their conditioning speech, even exist.  Such is the silence of the initiated disciple.

We have therefore considered briefly but suggestively four qualities which a group preparing for initiation needs to develop, to consider and unitedly to achieve.  They are:

1. The achieving of a non-sentimental group interrelation.

2. Learning how to use the forces of destruction constructively.

3. Attaining the power to work as a miniature Hierarchy, and as a group to exemplify unity in diversity. 

4. Cultivating the potency of occult silence.

We now come, after these preliminary remarks, to a consideration of the next rule.

Rule XI.

Let the group together move the fire within the Jewel in the Lotus into the Triad and 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.

On first reading this rule it is obvious that it concerns the fourth initiation and the consequent destruction of the [216] causal body—the vehicle through the means of which the Monad has created first of all the personality, and then an instrument for the expression of the second divine aspect.  We are therefore dealing with one of the major initiations.  I would here call to your recollection the fact that (from the angle of the Hierarchy) this initiation is the second major initiation, and not the fourth, as it is regarded from the human angle; the third initiation is technically regarded as the first major initiation.  The major initiations are really possible only after the transfiguration of the personality.

What, therefore, brings about the destruction of the soul body?  The destroying agent is the second aspect of the Will.  The third or lowest aspect of the Will, working through the mind or the manasic principle, was the sustaining factor in the long cycle of personality development; it was the principle of intelligent synthesis, holding the life principle intact and individualised through the long series of successive incarnations.  During that cycle the will demonstrated first as the lower man; then it focussed itself in the Son of Mind, the divine Agnishvatta, the soul, and became increasingly a factor of potency.  Later, as the disciple builds the antahkarana and thus establishes a direct channel of communication between the Monad and the personality, the lower mind becomes fused with the abstract mind or higher mind (the manasic principle, sublimated and purified), and gradually the soul is—to use a peculiar but sensitively expressing word—by-passed.  It has by now served its purpose.  Love and light are in expression in the physical plane life.  Neither the personality vehicle nor the soul body is required, as under the old conditions.  Their place can now be taken by the Spiritual Triad and the Monad; the essential life of both the lower aspects (creative in nature and expressive of loving intent as to purpose) can now be withdrawn.  Triplicity, from the angle of the three periodical vehicles—Monad, soul and personality—is resolved into duality, and the Monad (reflected in the Triad) can now work upon the lower planes through the medium of a definitely created personality or "point of tension" in the [217] three worlds.  It is to this that the rule applies when studied in terms of the individual initiate, whilst the life in which the soul is "by-passed" and its ring-pass-not is destroyed, is of such profound difficulty that it is called the life of crucifixion or of renunciation.

We are, however, concerned with the interpretation of the rule as it affects a group which is preparing for the joint initiation of its members.  It is by adhering to the ancient dictum that "as it is with the Macrocosm so will it be with the microcosm," and by the application, therefore, of the Law of Analogy, that we shall eventually arrive at understanding.  I cannot hope to do more than indicate significances, but it will now be clear to you why I have dealt with the four qualities which a group must develop in unison prior to initiation.  We shall find it useful to relate these qualities to the various phrases or injunctions in this Rule XI.  We must consider each of them separately.  Let us now look at the first sentence.

1. Let the group together move the fire within the Jewel in the Lotus into the Triad.

Let me first remind you that fire always connotes the first aspect and this, as you know, is the life aspect.  To this let me add the well-known fact that "Our God is a consuming fire," and call to your recollection that the first aspect is the destroyer aspect.  You have immediately established a relation between the first two qualities with which we have been dealing and the work of the crucifixion as a symbolic expression of the fourth initiation.  The achieving of a selfless and impersonal group interrelation was the first prerequisite, and the word "together" in this rule deals with the work of the group when—as a closely knit unit—it can move forward.  This transference of the life or of the fire has to be the result of united action, taken by the group when full interior unity has been attained.  It cannot take place prior to this, any more than an individual initiate can take this particular initiation until such time as complete fusion of the three bodies and the soul has been effectually [218] brought about and divine indifference has been achieved to all lower reactions of the component parts of the fused and interrelated instrument.  So must it be with the group.

The group life must express itself upon the physical plane and in group formation.  It will possess a sensitive feeling apparatus, corresponding to the astral body, and the group mind will be well organised and functioning rhythmically.  Thus the group "personality" will be active, but divinely active, by the time this particular stage is reached.  The group soul will also be in full flower as an expression of the inner Ashram, and at the very heart of the group life, veiled and hidden by its outer personality expression and by its vibrant loving soul, will be a point of living fire or life which—in due time and under right conditions—must be transferred into the inner Ashram, found on triadal levels.  This may or may not mean the destruction of the group causal body and the establishing of a direct line of relationship between the pure Ashram and a group of disciples.  It will undoubtedly mean, during the stages preliminary to that desirable attainment, a definite change of focus and the gradual establishing of a point of tension upon slowly realised higher levels, carried on until the transference is completed.

All the time that this is taking place, the fire at the heart of the group life is becoming more and more vital, and consequently more and more spiritually destructive.  The second quality which we considered, the constructive planned use of the forces of destruction, can now be seen as active.  It is these forces which are often responsible for the upheavals, the cleavages, the dispersions and the fatalities which are so frequently the characteristics of the group life in its early stages.  The fire is then working under the stimulation of the Spiritual Triad, but is not consciously being manipulated by the group itself.  The group becomes esoterically "a burning ground," and much time would be saved and much unnecessary distress and pain and suffering would be eliminated if the group members would realise [219] what was happening to them and would simply stand steady until such time as the "purification so as by fire" has been completed and the life principle in the group heart can shine forth with both brilliance and radiance.  It is this quality of patient endurance which is so sorely needed by the members of a group being prepared for initiation.  Once, however, the purpose underlying all distressing events and disrupted personnel is grasped, rapid progress can be made—again by the simple practice of divine indifference.  This divine indifference was the outstanding quality of the Master upon the Cross at Calvary.  The seven words from the Cross were concerned with others, with His mission, with world need, and with relationship with the Father or with the Monad.  But disciples and aspirants are so intensely preoccupied with themselves, their effect upon others, their endurances and pain, or with criticism of their brothers or of themselves!  The goal and the main objective is not adequately emphasised in their consciousness.  The group personality is often functioning with potency, but the fusing love of the soul is absent and the shattering inflow of the life at the heart of the Jewel is not permitted full sway.  It is blocked and intercepted by group conditions, and until there is at least some united will to take together what is needed in order to shift the life of the group to higher levels of awareness and into the Ashram on buddhic levels, the technique of transference will not be committed to the group by the Master.  That is what is meant by the next sentence in the rule:

2. Let them find the Word which will carry out that task.

What is this technique of transference?  It falls into three stages, each one of which has to be arrived at by the group in unison.  The first is the stage of united tension or the attaining of such a focal point of planned and focussed intent that the group is undeviatingly oriented to the immediate task to be done and is functioning from the angle of purpose as one individual.  This is perhaps the hardest stage, but it has to be mastered prior to the assistance of [220] the Master in the inner Ashram; He is to the group what the Monad is to the disciple, ever seeking to bring about the esoteric "renunciation" of the causal vehicle.  This point of tension has to be held in high vibratory activity all through the process of transference.  I would remind you that the outstanding characteristic of Jesus of Nazareth, throughout the period prior to the crucifixion, was one of complete silence; here is where the efficacy of the fourth quality mentioned by me appears.  The group, at this stage, is so preoccupied with the task ahead and so conscious of the need for preserving a united and uniform tension, that "the silence of the secret place" settles on it and the work can then proceed apace.  When this point has been attained, then the third quality manifests with power to work as a miniature hierarchy, and this becomes increasingly noticeable.

Now comes the result of all these preliminary stages, and it comes spontaneously and automatically.  I want to emphasise that the group does not wait in expectancy for a Word to be given to it; it does not search and strive to discover a Word; it does not take some Word as may be suggested by a helpful disciple and then proceed to "empower it."  The Word is the result of the point of tension; it emerges from the silence and its first expression is simply the slowly rising tempo of the group "Sound" or note.  As you know, every individual and every group of individuals have their own peculiar note or sound which is the creative agent of the focussed group life.

At this point we again touch the fringe of the coming Science of Invocation.  This group sound, rising as the tension increases and stabilises, is invocatory in effect and draws forth response eventually from the inner Ashram, owing to its relation to the outer group.  When the response of the Master is registered in the group consciousness and His potency is added to the potency of the group, the sound emitted by the group changes in quality, is amplified and diversified, is enriched and then precipitated outside the ring-pass-not of the group life; this precipitation takes the [221] form of a Word.  This Word, being the result of group activity; focus and tension, plus the aid of the Master, brings about three results:

1. It produces fusion between the outer group and the inner Ashram.

2. It enables the group life to be transferred along the group antahkarana and focusses it once and for all in the Master's Ashram.

3. The result of this transference is twofold:

a. The outer group dies, occultly speaking. 

b. The soul of the group, being now merged with the life aspect on levels higher than those on which the causal body exists, is no longer of major importance; the Great Renunciation takes place, and the causal body—having served its purpose—dies and is destroyed.  So died, according to theological injunction, the Christ upon the Cross.  Yet He died not, and still lives, and by His life are all souls saved.

It is hard for esoteric students to realise that the emphasis of the coming Schools of Enlightenment will be upon the life aspect, and not upon contact with the soul.  The goal will be transference and not union.  Aspirants and disciples today are largely the result of the old order of teaching and are the flower of the processes to which humanity has been subjected.  This is a vital transition period; disciples and aspirants in the world at this time are, figuratively speaking, at the same stage as the group which we are considering—the stage of the transference of the life from the outer form into the inner being.  Hence the difficulty with which you are all faced, and the arduous task it is to comprehend realistically that which I am attempting to convey.  The problem of soul contact is something which you can and do grasp, at least theoretically.  The problem of life transference from the highest point of present attainment into some vague and mystical spiritual focus is not so easy to understand.  Forget not, I am not looking for understanding for I write for those who will come after you, and —[222] for those who will be the reincarnated aspects of your present selves.

You will note, therefore, how the four qualities dealt with (page 215) have enabled the group to achieve the sounding of the Word.  That Word, now emitted by them as a group under the inspiration of the Master (and I use the word "inspiration" advisedly), has gone forth; it has passed beyond the sphere of the immediate group influence; it has made its initial impact upon the soul of the group and has vitalised to a new potency the life aspect, the Jewel in the Lotus of the soul.  Now comes the possibility of fulfilling the third great injunction contained in this rule:

3. Let them destroy by their dynamic Will that which has been created at the midway point.

In the fulfillment of the requirement here enjoined, the group enters upon its major test in this work of transference.  The group members have unitedly preserved the point of tension; unitedly they have created the antahkarana; unitedly they have invoked by the group sound the attention of the Master and of the Master's Ashram; unitedly that sound has taken the form of a Word, and that Word has made an impact upon the life aspect of the group within the form of the group soul; it has energised it so that the destruction of the causal body is now in order.  The tendency of the group would then be to relax, and this quite normally; the irretrievable Word has gone forth and all is well and safely accomplished.  But it is not so in verity.  By the power of their united love, the group has mastered personnel difficulties and has developed together the four qualities; it has also found the Word which can affect the soul—for the Word is ever related to the second aspect, and because of that it can reach and energise the soul, the second aspect per se.

But now, in the final stages of the great work of transference, the group has to arrive at a new point of tension and of united attainment.  It has to use the dynamic will, the energy of the first aspect, and so bring about the final [223] destruction of the causal body.  The life within the causal body has been stimulated and vitalised and is now seeking to break out of its confining form.  The vehicle of the soul is being subjected to pressure from within but then—both in the case of the individual initiate and of the initiated group—the final blow has to be struck also from without, by an act of the united will; this corresponds to the great cry of the Christ upon the Cross when He exclaimed "It is finished."  With these words, we are told, the veil of the Temple was rent from the top to the bottom, and the life of the Christ ascended to the Father.  Ponder upon the significances of these phrases.  "That which has been created at the midway point" is no longer needed.  No mediating principle or intermediary between man and the Father is any longer required; the Monad and the personality are in complete at-one-ment and have achieved perfected relationship; triplicity has given place to duality, and the Way of the Higher Evolution stands open before the initiate.

It will be obvious that this phase of group attainment can as yet be only a hope.  It lies far ahead of the present day groups, just as the fourth initiation lies far ahead of the average aspirant or disciple.  But groups must have their goals and must strive towards the vision, just as the individual must; I am laying the foundation for the phase of group living and united striving which will be so distinctive an aspect of the coming era.  There are three further points which I seek to make:

First, the attainment of the ability to use the group will dynamically can be more easily understood if it is realised that it means the extension of the point of tension into realms which involve the super-consciousness of the disciple; also that the release of the life aspect from the confines of the causal body produces a new cycle of invocation and invocative activity.  This brings about an inflow of the destroyer aspect of the divine Will, and consequently the complete destruction of the causal vehicle.

Secondly, it is not to be inferred that all in the group must be disciples who are in process of taking the fourth [224] initiation.  A group can be composed of disciples and initiates of all degrees, though there must be among the group personnel at least one disciple who has taken the initiation of crucifixion.  This necessity is symbolised for us in the close relation which existed between Jesus as He took this initiation and the Christ Who had taken it in an earlier state of life.  The more diversified the group, the richer its life and possibilities.  Forget this not.  One hint I can give you upon this difficult subject.  When the results of the first point of tension, prior to the emergence of the Word, have been reached, initiates of the fourth degree within the Ashram lend their aid and do much to make possible the attainment of the goal by the group.

Thirdly, I would have you note that I have given you much in a brief form and have added much of new information anent the fourth initiation.  What I have said is applicable both to the individual aspirant and to a group seeking initiation.  Read what I have said with attention, but remember that it is not yet possible for you to differentiate between what is symbolic and what may be factual.  The secrets of initiation are thus guarded with care.

One simple rule towards comprehension and attainment ever holds good.  The Great Renunciation becomes possible only when the practice of the little renunciations governs the life of a disciple and a group.  The renouncing of ambition, of all personality ties, and the renunciation of all that hinders progress as it is revealed to the eye of the soul, lays a sound foundation for the final great transference, based upon the renunciation of that which for aeons has connoted beauty, truth and goodness, and which has seemed the ultimate goal of all aspirational effort.  The endeavour to see that which lies ahead and beyond the apparent finality of soul fusion faces disciples, among them some of you, at this time; and that all of you may penetrate beyond the veil of the soul and eventually see that veil "rent from the top to the bottom," and thus be enabled to say with those of like degree "It is finished" is my earnest hope.  Then will open for you as for others, the Way of the [225] Higher Evolution, and the glory of the Lord will be seen in a new light—a light which will dim and throw into the shade all previous goals and visions.