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RULE FIVE

Rule V, which we are now purposing to consider, is one of great interest and practicality.  I would remind you that one of the new things which the coming era of spiritual expansion will see is the inauguration of something entirely new:  Group Initiation.  Hitherto, one by one, units of the human family have found their way through the Door of Initiation.  If this system is to persist, and considering the vast numbers of souls in and out of incarnation who must eventually achieve the goal—two-thirds of the total in this world cycle—even the greater cycles which include many world cycles would prove too short a time.  The space-time schedule of the planetary Logos Himself would be upset, for He has such a schedule for the cycle of His present incarnation.  There is a term set for the appearance of His body of manifestation, our planet, just as there is for the human body.  He therefore has to work out His plans within a certain time limit, and this factor conditions the experience of all the lives that move within the radius of His expression, including the human kingdom.

It must be remembered also that as humanity develops and more and more people begin to function as souls, the nature of the soul (which is relationship) begins to have an effect; men become larger in their outlook and their vision.  The outlook of the separated self vanishes, and group relationship and group interest supersede that intense personal and interior relationship and interest which have made evolving man what he is:  first of all an integrated personality, and then a disciple—a candidate for initiation.  As more and more disciples come into group realisation it will become increasingly possible for the Hierarchy to admit such disciples in group formation.  That is one reason necessitating the re-establishing of the Ancient Mysteries on Earth.  That group relation has to be demonstrated in the three worlds and expressed by disciples in their group life upon the physical plane.  Hence the new experiment being undertaken by the Hierarchy of externalising Their Ashrams.  This process [112] involves immense difficulty, owing to the astralism, the ambitions and the growing personality influence of so many people.  Many groups, under self-seeking leaders, will react to this experiment and will proclaim themselves as Masters with Ashrams and as occupied with training people for initiation.  Signs of this can already be seen.

The Hierarchy has been confronted with definite difficulty in this matter, for on the one hand the Masters were faced with the glamour-making tendency and astralism of the majority of people and, secondly, with the rapid advance of the human consciousness into the realm of group relationship, group life, group reactions and group activity.  This has brought about the intention of the Hierarchy to train such ready minds and hearts for a united moving forward through the Door of Light onto the Lighted Way.  That externalisation has not yet taken place.  Tentative experiments are being made with some success and some discouragement.

Two things have therefore been decided upon by the Masters as They face the future of humanity and prepare to take the required steps to meet man's advancing aspiration.  I have chosen these two words with care.  These two requirements have been demanded of the Hierarchy by Shamballa in order to safeguard the Mysteries and prevent a too premature precipitation of the hierarchical life upon the Earth.  Both these requirements are expressed in this fifth Rule.

Rule V.

In unison let the group perceive the Triad shining forth, dimming the light of the soul and blotting out the light of form.  The macrocosmic Whole is all there is.  Let the group perceive that Whole and then no longer use the thought, "My soul and thine."

The first demand made by Shamballa is that the groups being prepared for initiation should consist only of those who are in process of building the antahkarana, the bridge between the Triad and the personality; the second demand is that those being prepared should show some signs of the sense of synthesis.

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You will note, therefore, some of the factors that have controlled the presentation of the truth which I have sought to give, down the years.  The teaching on the Antahkarana (briefly hinted at by H.P.B.) has been expanded by me in the book, Education in the New Age and in this fifth volume of A Treatise on the Seven Rays (Part II), and has already been given to a number of senior aspirants in the hope that they would profit thereby; the need for synthesis has also been emphasised by me, and is closely related to the will-aspect, the first divine aspect.  In the past, during the cycle of mysticism through which all aspirants very properly pass, they were taught to "see the vision"—a vision of the goal, of the beauty to be sought, of the loved one to be known, of liberation to be achieved, of spiritual satisfaction and an opened door to greater wonders.  In the occult age which has now definitely dawned, the neophyte will be taught to see the picture whole, to think in the larger terms, to emerge out of the normal separative consciousness into the broad state of awareness that "sees no difference."  The goal, or rather the result of the mystic and occult way, is the merging of the vertical way of life with the horizontal way of service, and it is this merging which Shamballa demands should condition the attempt now in process of training those who will together seek initiation, will together pass through the Portal on to the Way, and who can together be presented to the One Initiator as a "unit of Light."  This sense of synthesis (which must be increasingly demonstrated as each initiation is taken in group formation) is possible only to those who have bridged the gap between the concrete lower mind and the higher mind or—to word it technically and in the language of academic occult science—between the mental unit and the manasic permanent atom.

The goal of the Probationary Path is made beautifully clear in the fifth Rule as given earlier in Initiation, Human and Solar.  It says:

Let the applicant see to it that the solar Angel dims the light of the lunar angels, remaining the sole luminary in the microcosmic sky.

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The soul must be seen by the probationer as the sun of the life.  All lesser lights must be put out by the light of the central luminary; all little fires must be obliterated by solar fire.  The solar Angel controls the personality life and its forces.  This, in the New Age, is the goal of the probationary path and of the applicant for discipleship.  Hitherto it has been the goal of all the teaching given anent the Path of Discipleship, but the higher rate of intelligence of the modern applicant warrants a change, and as time goes on the present requirements for disciples, up to and including the second initiation, will be the requirements for the Probationary Path.

This will necessitate a clearer understanding of the Path of Discipleship.  On that path, the major teaching given in the future will concern:

1. The building of the rainbow bridge, the antahkarana.

2. The nature of the intuition and its development, as it supersedes the mind in its two aspects:  concrete and abstract, lower and higher.

3. The nature of life as the Monad expresses it.

In these three approaches to truth the new revelation lies hid; it will take the place of the teaching upon the soul for the neophytes and disciples of the world, and the emphasis will be laid—for them—on the life aspect and not so much on the love aspect.  The reason for this is that more and more people will be living as souls and therefore expressing love, and for them the nature of life and of monadic experience will constitute the normal next revelation—one that is, however, possible only to those who do attempt to live as souls, who cultivate love or the sense of non-separateness, and who are at least dwelling upon the periphery of the hierarchical world.  It would therefore be inevitable that—to those so dwelling or treading the Path of Discipleship—the factors which inspire all hierarchical effort would begin to be dimly apparent and that, slowly, these factors would also assume for them the outlines of a dim and distant goal.

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The two parts of this rule are consequently expressive of the new demands for disciples—not applicants.  This becomes apparent when you study the two rules:  one for applicants and one for disciples.  The applicant is referred to the microcosm.  The Macrocosm is held before the vision of the disciple.

The two demands are expressed in Rule V as follows:

1. In unison let the group perceive the Triad shining forth, dimming the light of the soul and blotting out the light of form.

This is the demand for the building of the antahkarana which relates the disciple in his personality to the Triad.

2. The macrocosmic Whole is all there is.  Let the group perceive that Whole and then no longer use the thought, "My soul and thine."

This is the demand for a sense of synthesis which is occult vision and not mystic vision.  These two demands will be the two basic requirements for the new schools of occultism.

In view of all the instructions given earlier in this volume, and in view also of the clarity of the statement made above, there is little that it will be necessary for me to say anent this first demand.  The word "demand" which has been used perhaps requires explanation.  In considering this subject it should be remembered that admittance to Shamballa and a divine expression in life and service of the first great divine aspect, the will aspect, is the goal held before the members of the Hierarchy.  They too are on the way of evolution, and Their goal is to pass through the "eye of the needle," on Their way to the higher evolution.  This higher evolution is that which opens up before a Master of the Wisdom.  The use of this esoteric term by Christ in The New Testament story gives us a hint as to the nature of the exalted consciousness which He expressed.  Faced by the rich young man who possessed so much, Christ indicated that he needed to prepare himself for a great negation and for a step forward.  The true significance of this has never [116] been grasped and lies in the fact that the phrase "rich young man" is in reality a technical term which is frequently applied to an initiate of the third degree, just as the words "little ones" or "little child" apply to an initiate of the first or second degree.  This rich young man was rich in his range of awareness, rich in his personality equipment, rich in his aspiration and in his recognition; he was rich as the result of age-long experience and evolutionary development.  He is told by the Christ that he must now prepare himself for what is called in Rule V "the Triad shining forth"; he must now prepare for the unfoldment of the monadic consciousness and for the fourth initiation.  In that initiation, the causal body, the body wherein the soul experiences and reaps the fruit of experience, must be and will be destroyed.  This has to take place before the initiate can enter into the Council Chamber of the Most High and express the will-to-good and the will of God in fulfillment of the purposes of God.  The will of this particular "rich young man," initiate though he was, was not yet adequate to the requirements, so he went sadly away; he had to prepare himself for the fourth initiation, the Great Renunciation, the Crucifixion, and thus fit himself to pass through the needle's eye.

There is a symbolic utterance in the Old Commentary which throws light upon the great opportunities which are found in the critical moments in the life of the soul as it experiences incarnation and becomes enriched thereby:

"Within the womb of time and circumscribed by space and limited by darkness—though sustained always by warmth—the life evolves.  It develops faculty.  It becomes in miniature that which it is.  It takes on form and knows the divinity of separation.  Such is its goal.  Reflect.  Knowledge will come.

"Beyond the door is greater light and life.  It knows itself for what it is.  It suffices not unto itself and knows that it is That—part of the Whole, divinely one with others.  Reflect.  Union will come.

"Before the rampart of the place of God Himself, a [117] Son Of God comes forth.  He stands before the needle's eye and seeks to pass the hindering wall.  He is not circumscribed by time or space, but light and life are his.  He realises beauty and he knows that That exists.  Instead of time and space and all the rich inducements of the form, he knows himself as rich in love, in knowledge, wisdom, insight, and all the panoply of God (as he can grasp it), except one thing.  Reflect.  Purpose will reveal itself; the Whole will stand revealed and then the soul—loaded with riches and the fruits of labour long—will vanish as the mist and only God, the living One, be left."

There is still another set of phrases dealing with that through which the perfected Sons of God in Their high place must pass when Their work is done on Earth and a greater glory reveals itself ahead.  But this I give not.  I give only three symbols, which are:

The womb . . . individualisation . . . separation.

   Leading to personality integration and self-realisation.

      Climaxing on the Path of Initiation . . . the birth of the Christ.

         Producing intelligent activity.

            Initiation.

The two-leaved door . . . initiation . . . group consciousness.

   Leading to soul expression.

      Climaxing in the third initiation.

         Producing loving living.

            The third initiation.

The eye of the needle . . . higher evolution . . . monadic consciousness.

   Leading to life expression.

      Climaxing in the fifth initiation.

         Producing purposeful life.

            Consummation.

Such are the three points of entrance to the three planetary centres:  Humanity, Hierarchy and Shamballa.

This first demand is, curiously enough, the first expression of recognition—directly accorded—that the Great [118] Lives at Shamballa are now in direct relation with humanity.  Hitherto that contact has not been direct, and They have not been in touch with current developments.  Hitherto, all contacts and spiritual impulses from this highest centre have reached humanity via the Hierarchy, and vice versa.  This demand concerns the negation, the obliteration, the absorption, the putting out or the synthesis of the lesser lights by the greater.  All the words which I have employed are efforts to express the truth and all are entirely inadequate.

The moment the initiate or the disciple sees, even dimly, the light of the Spiritual Triad which veils and hides the Central Spiritual Sun, he realises that all other lights—that of the atom of matter, that of the form and that of the soul itself—must inevitably fade out in the stupendous glory and brilliance which emanate from God Himself and which he senses as in process of revelation.  He becomes absorbed—intellectually, intuitively, spiritually and finally factually—in that Light.  Here I would remind you that just as the light of the soul revealed to the struggling aspirant a new vision, set for him new goals, enhanced all qualities present in his equipment, and revealed the past, the present and the future of the individual, so this still greater light reveals to the initiate a horizon so vast that it has hitherto escaped his capacity and is yet but possible to vision by an initiate of the third degree, endows him with an occult perception hitherto not realised as existing—a perception which permits him to penetrate increasingly and to cooperate understandingly in the purpose of the Lord of the World.  It enables him later to develop the equipment—qualities and gifts of a divine nature—which will eventually enable him to take his place in the Council Chamber at Shamballa and work in full unanimity with the Lords of Karma.

These qualities and gifts concern divine attributes and capacities for which we have as yet no words as they lie beyond the scope of human consciousness, being utterly unknown even to advanced human beings.  They only begin to manifest as tendencies between the second and the third [119] initiations, in the same way as the instincts in a small child are, in reality, the germs of later intellectual attitudes and activities.  It is needless, therefore, for me to enlarge upon them; unless you are an initiate of the third degree, my words would be meaningless to you and would convey naught.  The clue lies for you in understanding the three words—Happiness, Joy, Bliss.  Do you, as you speak of bliss, understand wherein it differs from happiness and joy?  Bliss is associated with complete Being; it concerns the interior attitude of the Whole.

As the individual disciple builds the rainbow bridge, the antahkarana, and as a group of disciples build the group antahkarana, they make possible the "Triadal perception" referred to above.  When the disciple has flung one strand of living light (through the power of magnetic love) across the space separating the Triad and the personality, he discovers that he is a part of a group.  This group recognition—faulty and unintelligently expressed at first—is the factor which enables him to pass, along the anchored thread, into the Ashram of a Master.

From the angle of the old teaching, the Ashram of the Master and the focus of the Hierarchy were on the higher levels of the mental plane.  Today, that is not so.  They are on the plane of spiritual love, of the intuition and of buddhi.  The Hierarchy is both retreating towards the higher centre of Shamballa, and at the same time advancing towards the lower centre, Humanity.  Both these activities have been made possible by man himself; the growing intuitive perception of humanity, in its higher brackets, enables him to function upon the Path of Discipleship and on higher levels than ever before.  This the Hierarchy recognises.  The growing aspiration of the masses is also drawing the Masters closer to humanity than ever before.  This is an instance of the ability of the initiate consciousness to function on initiate levels and also in the three worlds simultaneously.  Of this the dual activity of the mind is a symbol, acting as it does as the common sense and so dealing with all matters in the three worlds, and as the spiritual [120] mind at the same time, dealing with all matters connected with the soul, with light and illumination.

The second demand, that the sense of synthesis should be the goal of the training given to applicants in the New Age, is a direct evidence of the new Shamballa contact, because synthesis is an attribute of the divine will and the outstanding quality of Deity.  It was inevitable that intelligence and love should be evolutionary objectives on the planet and the first two divine aspects to be developed, for they are qualities of the will; they make the manifestation of the divine will possible; they guarantee its intelligent application and its magnetic power to draw to itself all that is needed for the expression or the manifestation of the divine envisaged purpose, visualised synthetically, and motivated, implemented, engineered and made possible by the dynamic aspect of the same will.

It is interesting to note that there is every evidence in the world today that the Shamballa energy is directly impinging upon the human consciousness and directly producing results.  The destroyer aspect of the first Ray of Will or Power is producing worldwide destruction through the use of the first kingdom in nature, the mineral kingdom.  That which is made of metals and chemicals is bringing catastrophe and destruction on earth, primarily in the human kingdom.  At the same time the second attribute of the will, synthesis, is evoking an equally widespread response.  This sense of synthesis has a mass effect earlier than it has an individual effect, and this is a thing of interest and importance to note at this time.  Later, the dynamism inherent in the will, wielded by the New Group of World Servers and by the disciples and initiates of the world, will turn that instinctive mass response into factual experience and produce the "appearance" on earth of the new, developed "quality" which "life" seeks in the New Age to demonstrate.  In the first volume of this Treatise, I called attention to the three divine aspects:  Life, Quality and Appearance.  They are now in process of making their appearance in final form for this particular cycle.

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Synthesis dictates the trend of all the evolutionary processes today; all is working towards larger unified blocs, towards amalgamations, international relationships, global planning, brotherhood, economic fusion, the free flow of commodities everywhere, interdependence, fellowship of faiths, movements based upon the welfare of humanity as a whole, and ideological concepts which deal with wholes and which militate against division, separation and isolation.

Little as people realise it, these concepts are relatively new factors in the human consciousness, and the fact that they are the result of a new and direct relation between Those Who implement the will of God and humanity everywhere is the guarantee of the inevitability of their expression in the future.  It is only in the immediate interim—a period of one hundred fifty years—that delay may seem the rule.  Such, however, will not really be the case.  The forms through which these new and impending ideas must take shape and manifest have yet to be created, and that takes time, for they are built by the power of thought and due process of educating the public consciousness until that consciousness becomes confirmed conviction and demonstrates as an immovable public opinion.

This sense of synthesis is one of the things which the new esoteric schools will develop in their students and neophytes, for it will be the people trained interiorly in these schools who will be the builders of the new world and the trainers of future public opinion.  The labels and the names whereby these schools may call themselves mean but little.  Many will proclaim themselves as esoteric schools and will communicate nothing of a truly esoteric nature.  They will but attract to themselves the gullible and the foolish.  There are many such functioning in this manner today.  Others may refrain from all outer indication of esoteric and occult training, and yet convey the needed teaching.  They will seek to relate the One, the Monad, to the personality, and to evoke in their students a true sense of synthesis.

It is the sense of synthesis, putting it very simply, which will be the goal of all the educational movements, once the [122] New Age idealism is firmly established.  Physical coordination, personal integrity (which involves primarily the control and later the negation of the astral body), and personality integration will be the essential first steps.  To this will succeed processes whereby the fusion of the personality with the soul, of the lower self with the higher Self, and of form with the divine Dweller in the form will follow next.  Then the truly esoteric phase of the educational process will be attempted when the earlier steps or stages have been satisfactorily grasped and there is indication of some measure of real success.  By that time the school of the Mysteries and the Halls of preparation for initiation will be generally recognised by the thinking people and believed in by the expectant masses.

In those schools, those who are beginning to function as souls will be led on to take their next step.  Their developed soul nature will be expressing itself through intelligent love and a sense of group fellowship; these two divine qualities will form a basis or foundation from which the next unfoldment can emerge and on which a more spiritual superstructure can be built.  The Science of Meditation and the conscious building of the antahkarana will be the first two preliminary stages in the esoteric curriculum.  Today, the true teaching of meditation and the construction of the bridge of light between the Triad and the personality are the most advanced teaching given anywhere.

Humanity is, however, ready for exceedingly rapid development and this readiness will demonstrate increasingly in the postwar period, and for it the disciples of the world must make ready.  Two factors will bring this about:  the first is the tremendous stimulation which the war, its demands and its consequences have given to the human consciousness and, secondly, the coming in of very advanced souls ever since the year 1925.  These souls will be ready to give the needed training and instruction when the right time comes, having brought it over with them when they came into incarnation, and knowing normally and naturally [123] what the modern esoteric student is struggling to grasp and understand.

A study of what I have here outlined as basic requirements will show that the esoteric schools about which I wrote in Letters on Occult Meditation lie far ahead in the distant future.  The work of the preparatory schools must come first, and their work will proceed until such time that the work of the Ashrams of the Masters is recognised as forming part of an outer hierarchical activity.  This in due time will lead to the giving of the first initiation publicly, as a part of the great service ritual of the then prevalent universal religion.  The race of men will then—in its most advanced brackets and groups in every country in the world—be normally clairvoyant, and will therefore see for themselves the light within the candidates; they will know then that the first initiation is justifiably undergone, and they will also see the same light in thousands who in previous incarnations have taken that initiation.

One thing only will I add to the above and to the elucidation of the significance of Rule V.  The clue to all this esoteric work demanded by Shamballa is to be found in the development of the Art of Visualisation.  Through visualisation, three expressions of the human consciousness will become possible:

1. The antahkarana can be built and the shining of the Triad be definitely seen.  Such will be the new vision—an outcome of the development of the sense of vision.

2. Groups, large wholes and major syntheses will also be visualised, and this will lead to a definite expansion of consciousness.  Thus the sense of synthesis will be unfolded.

3. All creative art will be fostered by this training, and the new art of the future in all departments of creativity will be rapidly developed as the training proceeds.  The unfoldment of the sense of vision and of the sense of synthesis, through visualisation, will lead to a sense of livingness in form.

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