Navegar por los Capítulos de este Libro

SECTION ONE - INTRODUCTORY REMARKS - Part 2

Groups have always existed in the world, as for instance the family group unit, but they have been predominantly third ray groups with, therefore, a dominant outer expression and control, and originating as the result of desire. [27] Their focus has been outstandingly material, and that has been part of the intended plan. Right objectivity and expression has been the goal, and still is, of the evolutionary process. But the groups now forming are a second ray activity and are building groups—building the forms of expression in the new age. They are not the result of desire, as the term is usually understood, for they are founded basically on a mental impulse. They are subjective in fact and not objective in nature. They are distinguished by quality more than by form. That they may eventually produce potent objective effects is to be desired and such is their intent in our minds, but—at the present stage which is that of germination—they are subjective and (occultly speaking) they are "working in the dark." At some distant date, groups will emerge which will be first ray groups, animated by the will aspect and consequently still more subjective in nature and more esoteric in origin, but with these we need not concern ourselves.

These seed groups are embryonic and therefore, like germinating seeds, their activity is at present dual. Every seed demonstrates its life by putting out two outward evidences of its internal life and activity, and these seed groups are no exception to this universal law. Their activity is evidenced in a relation to the Hierarchy and their relation to each other. Not yet have they succeeded in emerging into outer plane activity. Their inner life is not adequately strong, but they are, as says the scripture, "taking root downwards" in order to "bear fruit upwards."

Should these groups develop as intended, should the corporate life of the members persist in right integral relation and should continuance be their keynote, then these seed groups, tiny as they may be, will come to flower, and—through an eventual "scattering of the seed," succeed finally in "covering the earth with verdure." I am speaking here in the language of symbolism which is, as you well know, the language of truth. One small plant which, in its turn, succeeds in producing a seed, through rightful fruition can thus reproduce itself in multiple order. Be not therefore [28] unduly impressed by the smallness of the effort. A tiny seed is a potent force—if duly tended, rightly nurtured and ripened by sun and water within the soil—its potencies are unpredictable.

Certain germ ideas are emerging into the human consciousness. These differ peculiarly from those of the past, and it is these widely different ideas which are the distinctive characteristics of the new age, the Aquarian Age. Hitherto the great ideas which succeeded finally in controlling a race in any age have been the gift of the intuitive sons of men to their generation. Advanced human beings have then seized upon the intuited idea, subordinated it to the process of mentation, made it desirable, and then have seen it come into being through the "agency of recognition," as it is occultly called. One illumined mind would sense the divine idea, needed for the growth of the racial consciousness, and then would give it form; the few would recognise it and thus foster its growth; the many would eventually desire it and it then could manifest experimentally and sporadically all over the civilised world of any age, wherever culture of any kind made itself felt. Thus the idea was manifested.

Two ways in which these determining ideas in the past came into being and played their part in leading the race onward might be mentioned. One was through the teaching of some teacher who founded a school of thought, thus working through the minds of a chosen few, and through them eventually coloured the thoughts of the men of his time. Of such a teacher, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and many others are outstanding examples. Another method was the evocation of the desire of the masses for that which is deemed desirable and their mass reorientation towards a fuller life expression. This life expression, founded on some voiced idea, was embodied in an ideal life. Thus the work of the Saviours of the world came into expression, and this brought about the emergence of a world religion.

The first method was strictly mental, and even today remains so; the masses, for instance, know little of Plato and his theories in spite of the fact that he has moulded human [29] minds—either through acquiescence in his theories or through refutation of them—down the ages. The other method is strictly emotional and so more easily colours the mass consciousness. An instance of this was the message of the love of God which Christ enunciated and the emotional reaction of the masses to His life, His message, and His sacrifice. Thus the need of the mental few and the emotional many has been met down the ages. In every case, the origin of the work effected and the medium whereby the race has been guided has been a human-divine consciousness; the medium has been a Personality Who knew and felt and was at-one with the world of ideas, with the inner world order, and with God's plan. The result of these two techniques of activity has been the emanation of a stream of force, coming from some layer or level of the world consciousness—the mental or the emotional planes—which are aspects of the consciousness of the manifesting deity. This impact of force has evoked a response from those who function upon one or other of these levels of awareness. Today, as the integration of the human family proceeds and as the mental level of contact becomes more potent, there is to be found a powerful human reaction to schools of thought and a lessened reaction to the methods of orthodox religion. This is due to the fact that the trend of the human consciousness is (if I might so express it) away from the emotional to the mental levels of consciousness, and this, as far as the masses are concerned, will go on increasing.

The time has now come when there are enough people to be found who—having themselves made the religious and the mental approaches to truth definite factors in their consciousness in some small measure, and having established enough soul contact so that they can begin to touch the world of ideas (upon the intuitional levels of consciousness)—can employ a new technique. Together and as a group they can become sensitive to the incoming new ideas which it is intended should condition the new age that is upon us; together and as a group they can establish the ideals and develop the techniques and methods of the new schools of [30] thought which will determine the new culture; together and as a group they can bring these ideas and ideals into the consciousness of the masses, so that schools of thought and world religions can be blended into one, and the new civilisation can emerge. It will be the product of the mental and emotional fusion of the techniques of the Piscean Age, and it will thus produce an eventual manifestation upon the physical plane of the plan of God for the immediate future. This is the vision which lies behind the experiment being carried on in the new seed groups.

Looking at the whole problem from another angle, it might be stated that the effort of the past has been to raise the consciousness of humanity through the pioneering efforts of its foremost sons. The effort of the future will be to bring down into manifestation the consciousness of the soul through the pioneering efforts of certain groups. It has therefore, as you will readily understand, to be a group effort because the soul is group conscious and not individually conscious; the newer truths of the Aquarian Age can only be grasped as a result of group endeavour. This is relatively a new thing. In the past, a man had a vision and sought to materialise it with the aid of those whom he could impress and influence to think as he did; a man sensed an idea or intuited an idea and then tried to give it form, later calling in the help of those who saw his idea as an ideal; a man had a great ambition which was, in reality, a dim grasping of a part of God's general plan, and he then became a group leader or a ruler, with the assistance of those who succumbed to his power or to his right to guide, lead and dominate them. And so, progressively, the race has been led from point to point and from stage to stage of unfoldment until today many are seeing the vision, sensing the plan, and dreaming dreams which they can work out together. This they can do because they recognise each other, because they are beginning to know themselves and each other as souls, because their understanding is united and because (and this is of prime importance) the light of the intellect, the light of knowledge, the light of the intuition and the light of understanding is [31] evoked within them; it enters not from without; and in that light, together, they see Light. It is a group activity, a group recognition, and the result of group at-one-ment.

All this is, however, so new and relatively so rare that these groups remain as yet in an embryonic stage. We call them the seed groups of the new age. There are many such, as I told you before, but all as yet so small and so undeveloped that the success of their effort remains for the future to decide. This applies also to the groups which I began to build in 1931 (Discipleship in the New Age, Vols. I and II).

It will be apparent to you therefore why it was necessary for the initial or first group to lay the emphasis upon telepathic rapport, because upon that rapport, understandingly cultivated and developed, the success of these seed groups must depend. It does not mean that their success depends upon the established success of the first group, but upon the comprehension by all the groups of the meaning and purpose and techniques of telepathy. (See Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle)

The founding upon the inner planes of a school of telepathy to which humanity can become sensitive, even if unconsciously so, is part of the task which the first group, the Telepathic Communicators, has undertaken. They are the custodians of the group purpose, and work on mental levels. The second group, the Trained Observers, has the objective to see clearly through the use of the intuition; they serve on astral levels. The third group, the Magnetic Healers, has the objective of working with forces on the physical plane. The other six groups will be mentioned later.

You have become somewhat accustomed to the concept of these groups. The novelty is dying out and you are apt to ask yourselves whether there is, in the last analysis, anything really new in them. I will give you further on three reasons for the fact of their being a step in advance of anything hitherto possible on the physical plane. This may re-establish their importance in your minds and enable you to carry forward your work with fresh ardour. I have stated [32] that these groups constitute an experiment and that they are connected paramountly with the work of the new age as it will express itself through the coming civilisation and the future culture. It might be of value here if I pointed out the distinction which exists between a civilisation and a culture.

A civilisation is an expression of a mass level of consciousness as that consciousness works out in physical plane awareness, physical plane adjustments, relationships and methods of living. A culture is essentially an expression of the intellectually and vitally mental significances and the state of consciousness of the mentally polarised people of the race, of the intelligentsia or of those who constitute the link between the inner world of soul life and the outer world of tangible phenomena. In those words the raison d'être of the mental plane is concisely stated. Its function in this connection will be increasingly understood during the next few decades.

The masses are negative to the plane of desire and of feeling, and the civilisation of any age is largely the exteriorisation of that particular level of consciousness. The intelligentsia are positive and their positive mental orientation produces the culture of their time, or their race or their community. We have therefore in the human family:

Masses . . . Negative . . . responsive to desire . . . Civilisation

Intellectuals . . . Positive . . . responsive to mind . . . Culture

In these you have the two poles which distinguish the race, and it is through the interplay between these two that human activity, progress and development is generated and carried forward.

There is another grouping which should not be overlooked. The spiritually minded people of the world are negative to the higher spiritual world as it expresses itself through or calls forth the higher type of desire which we call aspiration. This produces those exponents of the spiritual nature who constitute—in the aggregate—the Church of Christ or the world religions in the exoteric sense and in any [33] race or time. Positive to this group and giving them the keynote of the culture of their particular age on this higher turn of the spiral are the esotericists and aspirants throughout the world. These are responsive to the mind aspect. In this way the spiritual culture and the resultant civilisation comes into being and to it the lower becomes responsive. You have, therefore, the masses and the intellectuals together negative in their turn to the positive impression of the deeper civilisation and culture as it is expressed through the religions of the world and the groups of idealistic esoteric seekers after reality. These latter are the glory of every age and the positive germ of the subjective unfolding impulse which is basically the source of all current phenomenal appearance.

This group of religionists and esoteric aspirants in their turn constitute the negative pole to the positive impression and energy of the planetary or occult Hierarchy. Consequently, we have:

Negative Groups                                  Positive Groups
The Masses                                         The Intelligentsia
The Churches and religions              The Esotericists, aspirants and occultists
The Esotericists, in their turn           The Planetary Hierarchy

Broadly speaking, these groups divide themselves into the extroverted groups and the introverted groups, into the objective and the subjective levels of consciousness, and into the major divisions of the phenomenal world and the world of spiritual realities.

The problem before the Hierarchy at the beginning of the new or Aquarian Age was how to fuse and blend these two distinct groups, attitudes or states of consciousness so that from their fusion a third group could emerge which would be exterior in its activity and yet consciously alive to the interior values; they should be able to function upon the outer plane of appearances and, at the same time, be equally awake and active upon the inner plane of reality and of spiritual living.

This type of dual functioning is the easiest activity for [34] the Members of the Hierarchy and constitutes the sine qua non prior to association with that Hierarchy. It was realised that many people could be trained in the appreciation of this possibility and slowly developed to the point where theory could pass into practice. Yet these people would not be equipped throughout their natures in such a way that they were ready to become part of the occult Hierarchy, even in the stage of accepted disciples.

It was the realisation of the need for a bridging group which would be neither entirely negative nor entirely positive which prompted some of the Masters (Who are connected with the Hierarchy) to form the New Group of World Servers. These people belong to neither group and yet they can function more or less in relation to both. This, as you well know, has been done with quite a measure of success and this large group now exists and is magnetic enough to draw forth response from the mass of world aspirants and servers (who represent the current civilisation and current culture) and at the same time to absorb and thus transmit knowledge, wisdom, force and light from the Planetary Hierarchy.

It has now been deemed possible to form groups within the New Group of World Servers whose members can begin to prepare themselves to express both the phenomenal and the impulsive, the negative and the positive, the material and the spiritual with such a measure of success that, in due time, there can exist on earth a replica of the Hierarchy, its methods and techniques of work. Such is the purpose of the groups which I have formed, and of other groups throughout the world who—in a different way and form, and employing perchance a different phraseology—yet are motivated and actuated as are the seed groups for which I have made myself responsible.

The three reasons for their importance might therefore be stated as follows:

1. They constitute the germ of life which will result in the emergence of the Hierarchy at a later date [35] upon earth, coming forth from the seclusion of the ages to function again in the light of physical day.

2. They are a bridging group, bridging between the negative mass of mankind and the positive agency of the Hierarchy. That is the reason why, in these groups, emphasis is laid upon service because that embodies response to the mass and its need, and upon soul contact because that embodies response to the world of souls, as typified for us in the occult Hierarchy.

3. They also hold within themselves as a group the seeds of the coming civilisation and the germ of the new culture. The germ of the life of the new age is there, within the husk of the old age and the old forms. Hence the opportunity, the service and the problems of these groups.

Let me endeavour to indicate to you in what manner these groups can measure up to the threefold demand or opportunity mentioned above.

1. They conceal and nurture the germ or seed of the new civilisation of the Aquarian Age.

2. They bridge between the old groups and the new group, between the mass of men (of whom the foremost find their way into the New Group of World Servers) and the Planetary Hierarchy.

3. They will constitute in the future an aspect of the Hierarchy and its work upon the outer physical plane.

You will note that the first opportunity concerns the spirit aspect or the vital impulsive life aspect of divinity; that the second concerns the soul aspect or the subjective consciousness aspect of divinity; whilst the third concerns the body aspect or the physical expression, through consciousness, of the divine life. The first three groups which I have formed are intended to be small reflections of these three aspects from the angle of modern need and the meeting of that need.

[36]

I have indicated somewhat the intended work of the first group from the angle of telepathic interplay (Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle). The method of communication between the Members of the Hierarchy has to be externalised, eventually, upon earth and this is one of the tasks of the group. It might be of service to you if I outlined a little more clearly what is the purpose of the new seed groups, in terms of the new age civilisation and culture so that the practical results might be visioned with clarity and some new ideals emerge as to the quality of the coming new world order.

The second group, the trained observers, will inaugurate the era of light and of a free control of the astral plane, with its quality of freedom from illusion and glamour. This freedom will be brought about when "right observation" takes the place of the disturbed vision of the present, and glamour will be dissipated through the "right direction" of the light of the soul throughout the plane of illusion. The Aquarian Age will be predominantly the age of synthesis and light.

The third group carries the initial impulse through "into the light of day" and will bring the physical world into a condition whereby "the healing of the nations through the arising of the sun of righteousness" will become possible, because the laws of healing (which are basic and fundamental) can be applied and worked out in all departments of life upon the outer levels of appearance—for disease is only found in the world of phenomena.

As regards telepathic communication between the Members of the Hierarchy: Within itself, the Hierarchy functions practically entirely on the plane of mind. This is necessarily essential and for two reasons:

1. The members of the Hierarchy have freed themselves from the limitations of brain activity and brain consciousness. They can, therefore, in their essential Selves and when they so choose, carry on simultaneously two different lines of activity—both [37] of real import. They can pursue their normal avocations upon the physical plane (if functioning in physical bodies) and when so doing are conditioned in the performance of those activities by the brain limitations of time consciousness and space consciousness. But they can also work upon the mental plane with the chitta or mind stuff, and can do this at the same time as they are conditioned and limited by their physical mechanism. They are then entirely freed from the time consciousness and from any such limitations as space relations within the solar system.

2. The focus of their polarisation is on the mental plane and they function there as sons of mind or of manas. Their normal mode of intercourse is through the medium of telepathic understanding. This is the normal technique of a divine and free manasaputra.

This is all made possible when a human being has polarised himself in the soul consciousness, when the egoic lotus is unfolding and when, therefore, the mental method of working is that of mental relationship or telepathy.

I earlier told you that, as the race achieves increasingly a mental polarisation through the developing attractive power of the mental principle, the use of language for the conveying of thoughts between equals or of communicating with superiors will fall into disuse. It will continue to be used in reaching the masses and those not functioning on the plane of mind. Already voiceless prayer and aspiration and worship are deemed of higher value than the pleadings and proclamations of voiced expression. It is for this stage in the unfoldment of the race for which preparation must be made, and the laws, techniques and processes of telepathic communication must be made plain so that they can be intelligently and theoretically understood. The method of communication between members of the Hierarchy is a tenfold process, and only in the contribution of the ten [38] groups (the nine and the synthesising tenth) will their share in the externalising process, as it is to take place in the world, be completed.

From certain angles the work of the second group (the Trained Observers) is exceedingly hard, harder perhaps than that of any other group—except that which is engaged in political work. In the latter field the work of the first Ray of Will or Power is beginning to make its presence felt, and hence the great difficulty. The energy which works out in political activity is not yet understood. The work of the Destroyer Aspect has been kept relatively in the background and only during the past half century has it become definitely active. This became possible because the whole world, practically speaking, was involved and only in the region or realm of synthesis can the first Ray function. This is a point to be remembered and one that is little grasped as yet. I wonder if you can appreciate the importance of the two statements anent the first Ray found in this short paragraph? I oft give you so much real information of which you remain oblivious.

The second group is wrestling with glamour. The processes of light and their relation to group glamour and to individual glamour form a very close connection. Right illumination—which is another name or aspect of right direction—will take the place of glamour, and the objective (personally considered) of this group of disciples is to bring "light into dark places" and illumination into their lives. It is not my intention here to deal with the problem of glamour. With that I have concerned myself in the instructions to this group (Glamour: A World Problem).

The task of this group of disciples is closely connected with the astral task of the Hierarchy. This is, at this time, the dissipation of the world illusion. That has been its problem since Atlantean times, and the climaxing of its effort is imminent and immediate. It takes the form (for all illusions take to themselves form of some kind or other) of the "pouring in of light," esoterically understood. This is an illusion and at the same time a great and significant [39] spiritual fact. Hence we have today upon the physical plane the emergence of much light everywhere; we have festivals of illumination, and a consistent endeavour on the part of all spiritual workers to enlighten mankind, and a great deal of talk on the part of educators anent illumination of a mental kind. The keynote of this effort to eliminate world glamour was sounded by Christ when He said (following the example of Hermes, Who initiated the process of enlightenment for our race, the Aryan), "I am the Light of the World."

Disciples must learn the significance of illumination, received in meditation, and the necessity to work with light as a group for the dissipation of glamour. Hermes and Christ undertook this work of astral enlightenment and are constantly occupied with this task. Their work in the new age is to be aided by the intensive activity of certain groups of which this second group is one. Later, when the new civilisation is nearing appearance, these groups will all have in them two key persons or points of energy through which the forces of Hermes and the will of Christ will be focussed, and through which They will be enabled to work. When this takes place, the task of dissipating the world glamour will be much more rapid than it is today. In the meantime groups of disciples can "nurture and conceal," thus protecting from trouble the germ or seed of the new Aquarian culture and civilisation along this particular line of freedom. Again, I repeat, they must do this along with other groups, working along similar lines, either consciously or unconsciously.

The second task of this group of disciples is to act as a bridge for forces which are seeking etheric expression and which emanate from soul levels, via the mind. I have earlier pointed out in A Treatise on White Magic that the astral plane is itself an illusion. When the first task of the groups working with world glamour is accomplished this will be evident. I can give you as yet no real idea of the underlying meaning, for you are all working in some measure upon the plane of illusion and of glamour, and for you the world [40] illusion exists and the astral plane is for you a fact. But this I can say: for the initiate members of the Great White Lodge the astral plane does not exist. They do not work on that level of consciousness, for the astral plane is a definite state of awareness even if (from the spiritual angle) it has no true being. It embodies the great creative work of humanity down the ages, and is the product of the 'false' imagination and the work of the lower psychic nature. Its instrument of creative work is the sacral and the solar plexus centres. When the energies, finding expression through these two centres, have been transmuted and carried to the throat and heart by advancing humanity, then the foremost people of the race will know that the astral plane has no true existence; they will then work free from its impression, and the task of freeing humanity from the thraldom of its own creation will proceed apace. In the meantime a group of disciples is being slowly built up (of which this second group is a part and in which it can play an important function, and occupy a key position), which can gradually aid in the task of dispelling the great illusion and can act also as a bridging group so that those who are freeing themselves from glamour can find their way into the vortex of influence wielded by the group, empowered thus to work. Then three things can happen:

1. Those who thus approach the group will find their efforts to live free from glamour greatly helped and intensified by the group assistance.

2. They will swell the number of those so working and hasten the processes of dissipation.

3. The Hierarchy will be enabled then to work more closely upon earth and to approach much nearer to mankind.

The third function of this second group lies in a more distant future. The Hierarchy has necessarily a department of workers whose major task it is to work solely in the world of illusion and with astral matter. This department came into being in Atlantean days when the great controversy [41] took place between those who embodied the consciousness or soul aspect of deity and those who were similarly representative of the matter aspect of deity. Symbolically speaking, the left-hand and the right-hand paths came into being; white and black magic were brought into conflict with each other and the pairs of opposites (always existent in manifestation) became active factors in the consciousness of advanced humanity. The battle of discrimination was opened, and humanity became active upon the field of Kurukshetra. Where there is no conscious response to a condition and no registered awareness, there is no problem of responsibility, as far as the soul is concerned. In Atlantean times, this condition was evoked and hence the problem facing the race today; hence the task of the Hierarchy to free the souls of men from the surrounding glamour and to enable them to achieve liberation. The culmination of the issue and the controversy, then initiated, is now upon us.

The third function, therefore, of the group can be grasped at this time, and eventually this branch of the hierarchical effort can find due expression upon earth.

From the above analysis of opportunity it is evident how the groups have a definite place in the plans of the Hierarchy. By developing spiritual sensitivity, and achieving freedom from glamour, the disciples who are members of these groups can raise the racial consciousness and bring in illumination. It should be remembered that it is inspiration which is the goal of all true telepathic work, and illumination which is the reward of effort and the real instrument for the dissipation of world glamour. Thus these groups can nurture the germ of the future culture, act also as bridging units, and externalise certain departmental activities of the planetary Hierarchy—the next great desire of its Members.

Turning now to the work of the third group, we find ourselves concerned with the task of the magnetic healers of the world. This has been dealt with elsewhere (Esoteric Healing). I will here refer to one or two points of more general interest, and to their threefold opportunity. It is [42] of interest to note that the work of this group is perhaps one of the hardest to carry through, although from another angle it is far easier than the task of most of the other groups, because the consciousness of the bulk of humanity is found to be predominantly upon the plane of illusion and therefore, as the Old Commentary says:

"They who work to bring in light and yet are surrounded by the maya of the senses, work from the point of present being and need not to move out or in, or up or down. They simply stand."

The healers of the world upon the physical plane have to work upon that plane and their task is that of bringing through the energies of life, emanating from the soul plane, via the mind, but excluding the emotional. These energies have to be brought through into physical consciousness and, from the physical level, do their necessary and magnetic work. The task of the healers, if successful, involves:

1. The bringing through of healing divine energy.

2. The exclusion of the astral world, and therefore illusion.

3. The utilisation of the healing energy in full waking consciousness upon the physical plane.

Most of the healers in the world are working as follows:

1. As purely physical healers, dealing with the vital forces of the physical body, and with their own consciousness polarised in the etheric body.

2. As emotional astral psychics, with the consciousness polarised upon the astral plane, and utilising the astral body and working in and with glamour and illusion. The effect of their work, if successful (and I would have you note that "if," for I deal with the idea of relative permanency) may be one of two things:

a. They may cure the physical ills in the patient which are of such a nature that the inner astral desire (and [43] therefore the lower desire) has eventuated in physical disease, experienced in some aspect or organ of the physical body.

b. They may intensify the effect of the illusion of desire in the physical brain consciousness and cause such a violent increase of the active energies that death may occur before so very long. This is quite a frequent happening. Nevertheless death is a cure, remember this.

Under these two categories the bulk of the world healers are found—sometimes doing good, oft doing harm, even if not realising it, and even if (as is usually the case) of good intention. There are three other categories of healers, however, to add to the two above:

3. Mental healers in the true sense of the word. Most mental healers unduly flatter themselves and work not with their minds at all. They have much mental theory and astral methods. Desire is the motivating power and not mental impulse. The true mental healer only brings about his results when he knows something of illumination in the technical and academic sense, and of the power of light to dispel illusion. Disease is not an illusion; it is a definite effect of a real cause from the standpoint of average humanity. When healers can work mentally, they deal with the causes of disease and not with the effects.

4. Those healers whose soul contact is established and who work through the souls of people, enabling them therefore:

a. To stand in spiritual being

b. To work, free from illusion

c. To achieve true perspective upon the physical plane

d. To coordinate the personality and the soul so that the will of the inner spiritual man can work out upon the physical plane.

5. Those who can work (as is eventually intended that this third group should work) definitely as outposts of the consciousness [44] of the Hierarchy of Masters. This work will be done in group formation and with a united synthesised effort. The personal effect of such healers is therefore:

a. To coordinate the personality of the patient. They are themselves coordinated.

b. To bring about contact with the soul, on the part of the patient. They are themselves vitally in contact.

c. To fuse and blend the personality and the soul and thus provide an instrument for the distribution of spiritual energy. They are themselves thus fused.

d. To understand and use the laws of true spiritual healing through intelligent activity upon the mental plane, through freedom from glamour, and through such a right use of force that the instrument of the soul (the personality) becomes vitally magnetic.

I would remind you that such effort in the early stages (and those stages are the present ones) results inevitably in the development of a critical spirit through the intelligent effort being made and the discriminative recognition of glamour in many cases, because only through such an effort can analysis of a right kind eventually be achieved and criticism be eliminated. In the meantime, those thus in training are oft a difficulty and a problem both to themselves and to their friends and co-workers. But this phase is temporary and leads to a more lasting relationship and to the emergence of that true magnetic link and love which must heal and lift and stimulate all that it may contact.

In the coming Aquarian Age we shall see humanity producing a culture which is sensitive to the finer and higher spiritual values, a civilisation which is free from glamour and from much of the illusion which today colours the Aryan peoples, and a racial life which will be embodied in those forms which will bridge the gap at present existing; it will be free from what we now know as disease of the worst kind, though death and certain forms of bodily breakdown which may eventually end in death will, of course, still be prevalent. The overcoming of death is not contingent upon the elimination [45] of bodily ills, but upon the establishing of that continuity of consciousness which carries over from the physical plane of life to the inner subjective existence. Of this state of being, groups such as this third group can be the custodian and their problem is therefore:

1. To establish that state of personality development which will lead to magnetic living upon the physical plane.

2. To study the laws of life, which are the laws of health and of right relationship.

3. To develop that continuity of consciousness which will "open the doors of life and dispel the fear of the known and of that which disappears."

From the angle of the work of the world healers, the above is a statement of opportunity. This they face as the nucleus or one of the germs or seeds of the new civilisation and the coming culture. It embodies the objective of all their work, and their contribution to the united work of the groups.

Equally so, they can bridge the gap at present existing in the racial consciousness between

1. Life and death.

2. The sick and the well. This is between

a. The physically sick and the inwardly well, which is the case with a few—a very few—of the advanced people, or the disciples of the world and the senior aspirants.

b. The physically well and the psychically sick, which is sometimes the case, but of singular rarity.

c. The physically sick, the psychologically sick, and the overshadowing soul. This situation is often found today.

3. The physical plane and the world of souls, because of the development of a sound instrument and the dissipation of those causes which work out as effects in the physical body as disease, and act as barriers to the inflow of soul energy and the entrance of soul awareness into the brain activity.

[46]

This bridging work, when it occurs today, is often simply a fortunate but fortuitous happening and is not the result of a consciously planned bridging work. But it is the intent of the Hierarchy that the groups which will be later formed, and which are today in process of forming (including this third group of mine) can aid in this process, if such is the will of the constituent parts.

Finally, every initiate is a magnetic healer. This is a statement of fact. Though the members of the Hierarchy have each of Them Their duly appointed functions and Their planned activity (dependent upon Ray, upon race and upon dedication) there is one activity which They share in common and that is the power to heal. Their ability to act as magnetic healers works out in various ways, predominantly in the realm of psychological readjustments and psychic disentanglements, and—only incidentally and as a result of the two above activities—in the processes of bodily healing. You will note from the above, that the healing work done by the initiate members of the Great White Lodge is threefold—psychological, bringing in the soul; psychic, releasing the lower psychic nature from illusion so that the psyche or soul can have full sway; physical, as the result of the inner psychological and psychic adjustments.

This triple healing activity is intended to be the objective of all groups working as this third group, the magnetic healers, should work; thus will be brought about an emergence of hierarchical effort into outer activity. Thus you will note, my brother, that the work of the first three groups just discussed, and viewing them as constituting one unit, produces a synthetic endeavour in the three worlds, and leads from the plane of the soul to the plane of outer expression.

THE WORK OF THE SEED GROUPS

January 1938

We have been endeavouring to apprehend a little more intelligently the work of the new age seed groups, their interrelation [47] and their work as part of the new age "set-up," if I might employ such a term. We considered with some care the three major groups. We saw that each of them had three tasks to perform and we attempted a slight analysis of their planned undertakings. Now we can do the same with the remaining groups, particularly with the fourth and fifth which have education and political work as their projects. And then we will only briefly indicate the triple intended purpose of the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth groups. We will not take time to consider the tenth, which will be composed of the key people in the other groups, beyond stating that when its twenty-seven members (three from each group) are chosen and put in rapport with each other, there should come to all the groups such a quickening of their life that they will become one living vibrant organism.

The fourth group has ahead of it a rich and most interesting course of study and an illuminating objective. Its instructions (See Education in the New Age) will evoke more interested response from a larger group of readers than perhaps will be the case in the instructions of any of the other groups, except those of the sixth whose subject is religion in the new age, and the third (See Esoteric Healing). I give them in the order of their importance. They will be more definitely popular and meet a more general need. The interest which the teaching on education will evoke will be owing to the fact that education is today widely recognised as the major moulding factor, next to economic pressure and circumstance, and there is a widespread interest in progressive education and in the new ideals which should—and will—eventually govern educators.

There is a definite stirring among the masses and the life of the mind (note that phrase) is now more active and potent than ever before. For this there is an occult reason of a most interesting nature.

Those of you who have studied The Secret Doctrine will remember that in that momentous period wherein animal-man made the great transition into the human family and [48] humanity came into being, developing the germ of individuality, the seed of self-consciousness and embryo intellect, we are told that this event was brought about in three ways:

1. The seed of mind was implanted in some of the aspiring animal-men by the Hierarchy, and these animal men became human beings, of a very low order to be sure, but still men. They were "sparked," if I might so express it, and a point of light appeared where before there was none. Before there was only a diffused atomic light but no central point of light within the head, and no indication of the higher centres. These individuals, along with the more advanced humanity which came to the planet in Atlantean times (having individualised elsewhere), constitute the most advanced humanity of our present period. They represent culture and understanding, no matter where it is found, or in what class or race.

2. The instinctual nature of animal-man (found active among those who had not reached the stage of any conscious aspiration) was suddenly stimulated or vitalised by the coming into expression of the first group and the directed attention of the Hierarchy, working under the ancient Law that "energy follows thought." Thus gradually, with a remarkable rapidity, instinct became blended into, or resolved into, its higher expression—the intellect. Thus in due course of time a large group of animal-men became human beings. They today represent civilisation and the masses of ordinary intelligent people, educated under the mass systems of the present time, able occasionally to think and rise to mental emergencies, yet not highly cultured. They constitute the so-called general public which we designate by the words "upper and lower middle class" people, the professional classes and the bourgeoisie everywhere.

3. At the same time there is to be found a vast number of people who are human beings but who are not the result of either of these two processes. They are the product of the slow moving influences of life itself, of what we are apt to call the evolutionary urge, innate in matter itself. They [49] have painfully and with infinitely slow processes evolved out of the animal condition into that of human beings, with an awakening conscience, an urge to betterment, and an embryonic mind of such a nature that it can respond to simple educational processes, when available, and is so responding. They are the illiterate masses, the still savage races and the low grade human beings who are met with in their millions on our planet.

The cause for the momentous situation which calls for a re-alignment of our educational systems and processes, and for a readjustment of our present concepts of education, is to be found in the fact that the light of knowledge and the benefits which accrue from it have penetrated to the lowest grades of these slowly evolving people; all three groups are now strictly human and not simply the first two. The highest of them is therefore nearing the stage of demonstrating that which is superhuman and the lowest is separating itself (by almost imperceptible stages) from the animal condition. This necessarily causes a cleavage but it is one of which the highest group and the Hierarchy itself is cognisant, and which they "heal by their own inclusiveness." Forget not, that the greater can always include the lesser and thus bridge all gaps.

It is the education of these three groups which will be considered by the fourth group which has as its project education in the new age. Here again we touch the threefold purpose which each group has to hold before itself and which in the present instance consists of:

1. The educating of the lowest of these groups into which humanity divides itself, so that they can become strictly and consciously human. This was the objective of the impulse which inspired the Renaissance and which lay behind the work of Rousseau, that great initiate, and this is the impulse which is today responsible for modern Humanism with its apparent materialism and yet its deeply spiritual subjective programme and purpose. This eventually produces civilisation by the inflow of the light of knowledge.

[50]

2. The education of the second group so that it may be stimulated by the inflow of the light of wisdom and thus constitute a bridging group between the other two, being—as it is—strictly human and self-conscious. This process will make of its members cultural aspirants, with a new sense of values, with a recognition of spiritual objectives and with a developed ability to make them the moulders of public opinion. They will then be the most important group, expressing the culture of the new age. They will set the standard of values for the masses.

3. The education of the advanced thinkers, of the aspirants and world disciples in applied knowledge, expressed wisdom and occult understanding. This group synthesises all that is available in the other two groups and thus forms the nucleus of the Kingdom of God, of the fifth kingdom which is so rapidly coming into being.

I cannot do more than indicate these points, for their proper theme and their elucidation will be dealt with in the group's instructions. What I have stated, however, will serve to indicate to you the general theme of the new education and point the way to some of the considerations which are prompting my handling of this subject.

The work to be done (political service) by the fifth group of disciples is by far the most difficult of any for it is in many ways far less advanced. This is due to two facts:

1. The masses of men are, as yet, relatively so little evolved that the task of this group of workers must therefore necessarily be dependent upon the success of the educational work of the world, as it will eventually be exemplified by the ideals and point of view of the fourth group and similar groups everywhere.

2. So few truly first ray people are manifesting on the planet at this time and, when they do, their work perforce proves destructive, owing to the unevolved condition of the masses of men. That is why revolutions [51] so seldom, if ever, can be carried out without bloodshed, for the intended ideas have to be imposed upon the masses and are not immediately recognised and adopted by those masses, they evoke counter responses which arouse those in authority to wrong activity. The above ideas should arouse you to careful thought.