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1. The Nature of the Will

But all this determination is in most cases simply the expression of a fixed and united desire. It is not the organised use of the will. The secret of the will lies in the recognition of the divine nature of man. Only this can evoke the true expression of the will. It has in fact to be evoked by the soul, as it dominates the human mind and controls the personality. The secret of the will is also closely tied in with the recognition of the unconquerable nature of goodness and the inevitability of the ultimate triumph of good. This is not determination; it is not whipping up and stimulating desire so that it can be transmuted into will; it is not an implacable, unshakable, immovable focussing of all energies in the need to triumph (the enemies of the Forces of Light are adept at that). Victory for the allies did lie in the effort to produce this focussing with better effect than the enemy. The use of the will is not expressed by an iron fixation to stand steady and not yield to evil forces. Determination, the focussing of energy and the demonstration of an all-out effort towards victory were only (where the allies are concerned) the expression of a one-pointed desire for peace and for an ending of [581] the trouble. This type of effort is something which the masses can give and which they did give on both sides in this conflict.

There is, however, a plus, a something else, which swung the tide of victory on to the side of the Allies. It came through an unrealized effort to understand and express the quality of spiritual Will; it was the manifestation of that divine energy which made the first divine aspect of will or power what it is; it is that which is the distinctive feature of the Shamballa force; it is that peculiar and distinctive quality of divinity which is so different that even Christ Himself was unable to express it with facility and understanding. Hence we have the episode in Gethsemane. It is not easy for me to express its significance in words. Two thousand years have gone since Gethsemane and since Christ made His initial contact with the Shamballa force and by this means, and on behalf of humanity, established a relationship which even at the close of twenty centuries is but a thin frail line of connecting energy.

This Shamballa force is nevertheless available for right usage but the power to express it lies in its understanding (as far as may be possible at this midway point in human evolution) and its group use. It is a unifying, synthetic force, but can be used as a regimenting, standardising force. May I repeat those two key words to the use of the Shamballa energy: Group Use and Understanding.

Mankind has had much difficulty in comprehending the significance of Love. If that is so, their problem in relation to the Will will naturally be still more difficult. For the vast majority of men, true love is still only a theory. Love (as we usually interpret it) works out as kindness but it is kindness to the form side of life, to the personalities of those around us, and fulfils itself usually in a desire to carry [582] out our obligations and not to obstruct in any way those activities and relationships which tend to the well-being of our fellowmen. It expresses itself in a desire to end abuses and to bring about happier, material, world conditions; it shows itself in mother love, in love among friends, but seldom as yet as love among groups and nations. It is the theme of the Christian teaching, just as Will, divinely expressed, will be the theme of the coming world religion and has been the impulse lying behind much of the good work done in the fields of philanthropy and human welfare, but, factually, love has never yet been expressed—except by the Christ.

You might ask, why, if this is so, do you emphasise this highest divine aspect? Why not wait until we know more about love and how to manifest it in our environment? Because, in its true expression, the Will today is needed as a propelling, expulsive force, and also as a clarifying, purifying agent.

The first recorded utterance of the Christ was spoken to His mother (the symbol of the substance aspect of divinity) when He said: "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" That business, related by Him to the first divine aspect, the Monad or Father aspect, was the fulfilment of purpose and the carrying out of the intention, the will and the purpose of God. His second utterance came at the time of the Baptism in Jordan when He said to John, the Baptist: "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Here, in this second initiation—which symbolises the conquest of desire—He passes on into the realm of fulfilment, of the completion of planned righteous activity. For His Own personal desire (necessarily of the very highest order on account of His high point in evolution) He substitutes the divine Will. Again at [583] the close of His life, in the Gethsemane experience, He cries out: "Father, not my will but Thine be done." Even then and even for Him, the achievement of the full expression of will seemed well-nigh impossible; He was conscious still of the inherent dualism of His position and of the contrast between His will and God's will. In these three utterances, He demonstrates His recognition of the three emerging aspects of the Shamballa life, quality and energy:

1. The Will which conditions the life aspect.

2. The Will which brings fulfilment of right human relations.

3. The Will which finally conquers death.

These three aspects are all related to the three divine expressions of spirit, soul and body, of life, consciousness and form, of life, quality and appearance. This phase of Christ's life expression has never been properly studied, yet even a little grasp and understanding of it would aid humanity to drive evil (individual, group and planetary) back to the place from whence it came and would aid in the release of humanity from the terror which is today stalking abroad, defying God and man.

The Shamballa energy is, therefore, that which is related to the livingness (through consciousness and form) of humanity; we need not consider its relation to the rest of the manifested world; it concerns the establishing of right human relations and is that condition of being which eventually negates the power of death. It is, therefore, incentive and not impulse; it is realised purpose and not the expression of desire. Desire works from and through the material form upwards; Will works downwards into form, bending form consciously to divine purpose. The one [584] is invocative and the other is evocative. Desire, when massed and focussed, can invoke will; will, when evoked, ends desire and becomes an immanent, propulsive, driving force, stabilising, clarifying, and—among other things—finally destroying. It is much more than this, but this is all that man can grasp at this time and all for which he has, as yet, the mechanism of comprehension. It is this will—aroused by invocation—which must be focussed in the light of the soul, and dedicated to the purposes of light and for the purpose of establishing right human relations which must be used (in love) to destroy all that is hindering the free flow of human life and that is bringing death (spiritual and real) to humanity. This Will must be invoked and evoked.

I am not referring here to the use of either of the two Great Invocations or to the third which has lately been given. I refer to the focussed consciousness of the men and women of goodwill, whose lives are conditioned by the will to carry forward the purposes of God in love, who seek selflessly to understand those purposes, and who are fearless of death.

There are two great handicaps to the free expression of the Shamballa force in its true nature. One is the sensitivity of the lower nature to its impact and its consequent prostitution to selfish ends, as in the case of the sensitive, negative German people and its use by the Axis nations for material objectives. The second is the blocking, hindering, muddled but massed opposition of the well-meaning people of the world who talk vaguely and beautifully about love, but refuse to consider the techniques of the will of God in operation. According to them, that will is something with which they personally have naught to do; they refuse to recognise that God works out His will through men, just [585] as He is ever seeking to express His love through men; they will not believe that that will could possibly express itself through the destruction of evil with all the material consequences of that evil. They cannot believe that a God of Love could possibly employ the first divine aspect to destroy the forms which are obstructing the free play of the divine spirit; that will must not infringe upon their interpretation of love. Such people are individually of small moment and of no importance but their massed negativity was a real detriment to the ending of this war, just as the massed negativity of the German people and their inability to take right action when Hitler's purposes were disclosed made possible the great inflow of ancient and focussed evil which has brought the present catastrophe to man. Such people are like a millstone around the neck of humanity, crippling true effort, murmuring "Let us love God and each other," but doing nothing but murmuring prayers and platitudes whilst humanity is dying.

You can easily appreciate the fact that the evocation of the energy of the will and its effect upon the unprepared, materialistically minded person might and would prove a disaster. It would simply serve to focus and strengthen the lower self-will, which is the name we give to realised and determined desire. It could then create such a driving force, directed to selfish ends, that the person might become a monster of wickedness. In the history of the race, one or two advanced personalities have done this with dire results both to themselves and to the people of their time. One such figure in ancient times was Nero; the modern example is Hitler. What, however, has made the latter so dangerous an enemy of the human family is that during the last two thousand years mankind has advanced to a point where it can also be responsive to certain aspects of this first ray [586] force. Hitler, therefore, found associates and co-operators who added their receptivity to his so that an entire group became the responsive agents of the destructive energy, expressing itself in its lowest aspect. This is what enabled them to work ruthlessly, powerfully, selfishly, cruelly and successfully at the destruction of all that attempted to impede their projects and desires.

There is only one way in which focussed evil will, with its responsiveness to the Shamballa force, can be overcome and that is by the opposition of an equally focussed spiritual will, displayed by responsive men and women of goodwill who can train themselves to be sensitive to this type of new incoming energy and can learn how to invoke and evoke it.

You can consequently see why there was more than the casual use of a current word in my mind when the terms of goodwill and of the will-to-good were discussed. All the time, I had in my thoughts not just kindness and good intention, but the focussed will-to-good which can and must evoke the Shamballa energy and use it for the arresting of the forces of evil.

This, I realise, is a relatively new idea to many of you; to others of you it will mean little or nothing; others again may have faint glimmerings of this new approach to God and service which—again I say—can and must remake, rebuild, and rehabilitate the world. I would like here to point out that the will aspect can be contacted only from the mental plane and only those, therefore, who are working with and through the mind can begin to appropriate this energy. Those who seek to evoke the Shamballa force are approaching close to the energy of fire. Fire is the symbol and the quality of the mental plane. Fire is an aspect of the divine nature. Fire was an outstanding aspect [587] of the war. Fire is produced by physical means and the aid of the mineral kingdom and this was the great menacing and chosen means of destruction in this war. This is a fulfilment of the ancient prophecy that the attempt to destroy the Aryan race will be by means of fire, just as ancient Atlantis was destroyed by water. But, fiery goodwill and the conscious focussed use of the Shamballa force can counter fire by fire and this must be done.

I cannot give you more upon this subject until you have given time to its consideration and have sought to understand the use of the will, its nature, purpose and its relation to what you understand by the human will. You must ponder upon how it should be employed and in what manner aspirants and disciples who are mentally polarised can focus that will and safely shoulder the responsibility for its wise use. Later when you know more about it, I can give you further knowledge upon the matter. I would however like to make one practical suggestion. Might there not be organised a group who would take this subject as the theme of their meditation and who would try to fit themselves—by right understanding —to contact and use the Shamballa energy? Would it not be possible gradually to elaborate this theme of the revelation of the divine will so that the general subject may be ready for presentation to the thinking public when peace truly comes? There is much to be considered in this connection. There is the demonstration of the three aspects of the will as enumerated above; there is the preparation of the individual for the expression of this energy; there is a mature consideration to be given to the relation of the Hierarchy to Shamballa, carried forward as the Masters attempt to work out divine purpose and to be the distributing Agents of the will energy. There is the effort to be made to comprehend somewhat the nature of [588] the direct impact of the first aspect upon the human consciousness, apart from the hierarchical centre altogether—an impact made without any of the absorbing and stepping-down process to which the Hierarchy subjects it. I have referred to this direct contact elsewhere; it can be more direct and complete when there is greater safety brought about by a more understanding human approach.

One of the causes lying behind World War II is to be found in a premature contact—a contact made by certain selfish minds of a relatively high quality, aided by the Black Lodge. To offset this and eventually bring about the elimination of the influence of the dark forces from our planet must come the active, conscious use of the Shamballa force by the White Lodge, aided by the men and women whose will-to-good is strong enough to safeguard them from personal peril in their work and from being deflected on to wrong and dangerous lines. This aid necessitates a certain definite and planned contact and interplay between the two centres: Humanity and Hierarchy. When this is better established, there can be organised and known cooperation and the members of both great centres can "stand together with massed intent." This massed intent will be the correspondence upon the mental plane of the massed intent of the general public who stand with the power of appeal upon their lips and in their hearts. To this appeal must be added the focussed will of the world thinkers and intuitives who will use their minds and brains in the affirmation of right.

It was for the reason that the will aspect was involved that I made our last point in our consideration of the seven rays to be a consideration of the Rays, Constellations and Planets, as given in Tabulation X. The inter-relation there given concerns the first aspect of the will, as I have [589] here indicated. The analysis of this tabulation will complete our consideration of esoteric astrology.

The seven stars of the Great Bear are the originating sources of the seven rays of our solar system. The seven Rishis of the Great Bear express Themselves through the medium of the seven planetary Logoi Who are Their Representatives and to whom they stand in the relation of Prototype. These seven planetary Spirits manifest through the medium of the seven sacred planets.

Each of these seven rays, coming from the Great Bear, are transmitted into our solar system through the medium of three constellations and their ruling planets. The following tabulation will make this clear, but must be interpreted only in terms of the present turn of the great zodiacal wheel of 25,000 years.