RULE ONE

We now begin our study of the fourteen rules for those who are seeking initiation, in one or other of its degrees.  In Initiation, Human and Solar I gave the rules for those proposing to enter the grades of discipleship.  I would like for a minute to deal with the significance of the word "Rule" and give you some idea of its occult meaning.  There is much difference between a Law, an Order or Command, and a Rule, and these distinctions should be pondered with care.  The Laws of the universe are simply the modes of expression, the life impulses and the way of existence or activity of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being.  There is no avoiding these laws in the last analysis, and there is no denying them, for we are eternally swept into activity by them and they govern and control (from the angle of the Eternal Now) all that happens in time and space.  Orders and commands are the feeble interpretations which men give to what they understand by law.  In time and space, and at any given moment and in any given location, these commands are issued by those who are in a position of authority or who seem to dominate or are in a position to enforce their wishes.  Laws are occult and basic.  Orders are indicative of human frailty and limitation.

Rules are, however, different.  They are the result of tried experience and of age-long undertakings and—assuming neither the form of laws nor the limitations of a command—they are recognised by those for whom they exist and hence evoke from them a prompt intuitive response.  They need no enforcement but are voluntarily accepted, and are put to trial in the belief that the witness of the past and the testimony of the ages warrant the effort required for the expressed requirements.

This is true of the fourteen Rules which we are now going to study.  I would remind you that only the initiate consciousness will truly comprehend their significance, but [26] also that your effort so to do will develop in you the beginning of that initiate consciousness, provided you seek to make practical and voluntary application of these rules in your daily lives.  They are susceptible of three forms of application—physical, emotional and mental—and of a fourth application which is best designated by the words "the response of the integrated personality to soul interpretation and understanding."

Another point which I would call to your attention, prior to interpreting this rule, is that your group endeavour must be to seek group application, group meaning and group light.  I would emphatically emphasise the words "group light."  We are dealing, therefore, with something basically new in the field of occult teaching, and the difficulty of intelligent comprehension is consequently great.  The true significances are not the simple ones which appear upon the surface.  The words of these rules would seem to be almost tritely familiar.  If they meant exactly what they appear to mean, there would be no need for me to be giving hints as to their underlying significances and ideas.  But they are not so simple.

To sum up, therefore:  these Rules are to be read with the aid of a developing esoteric sense; they are related to group initiation in spite of their having individual application; they are not what they appear to be on the surface—trite truisms and spiritual platitudes; but they are rules for initiation which, if followed, will take the disciple and the group through a major spiritual experience; they embody the techniques of the New Age, which necessitate group activity, group procedure and united action.  Earlier I said that these rules are the result of tried experience, and my use of the word "new" in this connotation is related to human knowledge but not to the initiatory procedure.  That has always existed and always, at the great crises of initiation, disciples have moved forward in groups, even though they have not been aware of so doing.  Now disciples can become so aware, and the various ray ashrams will not only present their groups (large or small) to the Initiator, but the personnel of [27] these groups will now be aware of the fact of group presentation.  They will also have to grasp the fact of the extent of their knowledge being dependent upon their decentralisation.  I would ask you to ponder and reflect upon this last statement.

Let us now proceed to a consideration of Rule I.

Rule I.

Within the fire of mind, focussed within the head's clear light, let the group stand.  The burning ground has done its work.  The clear cold light shines forth and cold it is and yet the heat—evoked by the group love—permits the warmth of energetic moving out.  Behind the group there stands the Door.  Before them opens out the Way.  Together let the band of brothers onward move—out of the fire, into the cold, and toward a newer tension.

It will be profitable if we take this Rule I sentence by sentence and try to wrest from each its group significance.

1. Within the fire of the mind, focussed within the head's clear light, let the group stand.

In this sentence, you have the idea of intellectual perception and of focussed unity.  Intellectual perception is not mental understanding, but is in reality the clear cold reason, the buddhic principle in action and the focussed attitude of the Spiritual Triad in relation to the personality.  I would call your attention to the following analogies:

In these words you have, therefore, the position of the personality indicated as it stands at the penetrating point of the antahkarana as it contacts the manas or lower mind and is thus the agent of the purpose of the Monad, working through the Spiritual Triad which is—as you know—related to the personality by the antahkarana.

The heart as an aspect of pure reason requires careful consideration.  It is usually considered the organ of pure love [28] but—from the angle of the esoteric sciences—love and reason are synonymous terms, and I would have you reflect upon why this should be.  Love is essentially a word for the underlying motive of creation.  Motive, however, presupposes purpose leading to action, and hence in the group-life task of the incarnating Monad there comes a time when motive (heart and soul) becomes spiritually obsolete because purpose has reached a point of fulfillment and the activity set in motion is such that purpose cannot be arrested or stopped.  The disciple cannot then be deterred, and no hindrance or difficulty is hard enough to prevent his moving forward.  Then we have eventual destruction of what Theosophists call the causal body and the establishing of a direct relation between the Monad and its tangible expression upon the physical plane.  The head centre and the centre at the base of the spine will be in direct unimpeded relation; monadic will and personality will likewise will be in a similar unimpeded relation, via the antahkarana.  I would have you remember that the will aspect is the final dominating principle.

In the group application of these ideas the same basic and profound development must take place, and a group of disciples must be distinguished by pure reason, which will steadily supersede motive, merging eventually into the will aspect of the Monad—its major aspect.  It is, technically speaking, Shamballa in direct relation with humanity.

What, therefore, is the group will in any ashram or Master's group?  Is it present in any form vital enough to condition the group relations and to unite its members into a band of brothers—moving forward into the light?  Is the spiritual will of the individual personalities of such strength that it negates the personality relation and leads to spiritual recognition, spiritual interplay and spiritual relation?  It is only in consideration of these fundamental effects of standing as a group in "the head's clear light" that it is permissible for disciples to bring into the picture personal sensitivities and thought, and this only because of a group temporary limitation.

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What is it, therefore, which prevents a disciple—as an individual—from having direct approach and direct contact with the Master without being dependent upon an intermediary?  Let me illustrate:  In the group I have under training (Discipleship in the New Age, Vols. I and II) two or three have direct approach and others have it but know it not; still others are well intentioned and hard driving disciples, but never for a second do they forget themselves; one has had a problem of glamour but now is preoccupied with the problem of spiritual ambition—a spiritual ambition which is working through a very small personality; some could make rapid progress but are too prone to inertia—perhaps I could say that they do not care enough.  Each of them (and every other disciple) can place himself.  All of them desire to move forward and possess a strong inner spiritual life—hence my finding the time to work with them.  But the group antahkarana is still incomplete and the aspect of pure reason and of the heart does not control.  The evocative power of the Spiritual Triad is not, therefore, adequate to hold the personality steady and the invocative power of the personality is non-existent—speaking from the angle of the group personalities which make up the personality aspect of the ashram.  This is a factor with which they oft feel I have not to deal.  It can only become a potent factor if certain personality relations are adjusted and inertia is overcome.  Then and only then can "the group stand."

2. The burning ground has done its work.

Here there is quite apt to be misunderstanding.  To most people the burning ground stands for one of two things:

a. Either the fire of the mind, burning up those things in the lower nature of which it becomes increasingly aware.

b. Or the burning ground of sorrow, agony, horror and pain which is the characteristic quality of life in the three worlds, particularly at this time.

But the burning ground referred to here is something [30] very different.  When the blazing light of the sun is correctly focussed on or through a glass it can cause ignition.  When the blazing light of the Monad is focussed directly upon the personality, via the antahkarana and not specifically through the soul, it produces a blazing fire which burns up all hindrances in a steady, sequential process.  Wording it otherwise, when the will aspect streams from the Monad and focusses through the personal will (as the mind can grasp and realise it) it destroys as by fire all elements of self-will.  As the energy of Shamballa streams out and makes a direct contact with humanity (omitting the transmission via the Hierarchy, which has hitherto been customary), you have what has been seen in the world today, a destructive conflagration or a world burning ground.  When the antahkarana of a group is rightly constructed, then the individualised group-will will disappear in the full consciousness of the monadic purpose or clear directed will.  These are points which the disciple preparing for initiation has to consider as he prepares for the higher initiations, and these are the points which any group or ashram in preparation for initiation has also to consider.

The secret of the higher initiations lies in the trained use of the higher will.  It does not lie in purification or in self-discipline or in any of the expedients which have acted in the past as interceptors of the truth.  This whole problem of the Shamballic will is in process of revelation, and will eventually alter the entire approach of the disciple in the New Age to initiation.  The theme of "the Way into Shamballa" requires reflective study and esoteric understanding.  In this concept of the new and future section (if I may so call it) of the Way or Path with which the modern disciple is faced lies the secret of the coming revelation and of the spiritual dispensation which will emerge as humanity constructs the new world civilisation and begins to formulate the new culture.  The burning, purifying, destructive effects of the monadic will upon its distorted reflection, the individual will, deeply deserves consideration.

For long, aspirants have noted and have been taught the effect of the will upon the astral, or emotional body.  It [31] is one of the primary and most elementary of the initial tensions, and is taught upon the Probationary Path.  It leads to the purifying and the re-organising of the entire psychic and emotional life, as the result of its destructive action.  "If you will only think," "if you will only use a little will," and "if you will only remember that you have a mind," we say to the children of the race and to beginners upon the Path of conscious Return.  Little by little, then, the focus and the orientation shift out of the astral life and from the emotional level of consciousness into the mental, and consequently into the reflection of the world of purpose, found in the three worlds.  When that stage has been somewhat developed, then there follows, upon the Path of Discipleship and of preparation for initiation, an effort to grasp and understand the higher aspects of this mental process, and the will aspect of the egoic life begins to influence the disciple.  The "petals of sacrifice" unfold and the sacred sacrificial aspect of life is revealed in its beauty, purity, simplicity and in its revolutionising quality.

Upon the Path of Initiation, the monadic will (of which the egoic will is the reflection and the individual self-will is the distortion) is gradually transmitted, via the antahkarana, direct to the man upon the physical plane.  This produces the higher correspondence of those qualities so glibly spoken of by the well-trained but dense esotericist—transmutation and transformation.  The result is the assimilation of the individual will and the egoic will into the purpose of the Monad which is the purpose—undeviating and unalterable—of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being.  This is the field of the true burning, for our "God is a consuming Fire."  This is the burning bush or the burning tree of life of Biblical symbolism.  This highest of all the fires, this deeply spiritual and hitherto seldom recognised burning-ground, has its effects summed up for us in the next phrase or sentence of Rule I.

3. The clear cold light shines forth and cold it is and yet the heat—evoked by the group love—permits the warmth of energetic moving out.

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In these words you have the key to group initiation.  The light of the higher initiations can stream in when it is evoked by the group love.  That light is clear and cold, but produces the needed "heat," which is a symbolic word used in many of the world Scriptures to express living, spiritual energy.  I said "spiritual energy" and not soul force, and herein lies a distinction which you will some day have to grasp.

This group love is based upon the egoic aspect of the will to which we give the name "sacrificial love."  This does not connote happy relationships between individual members of the group.  It might, presumably, lead to unhappy outer, superficial interplay, but basically it leads to an unalterably staunch loyalty, underlying the surface of the outer life.  The Master's influence, as He seeks to aid His disciple, always produces transitory turmoil—transitory from the angle of the soul, but frequently appalling from the angle of the personality.  Similarly, the projection of the life and influence of any senior disciple into the periphery or aura of the aspirant or lesser disciple is—in its degree—likewise disturbing and upsetting; this is a point which should be carefully borne in mind, both as regards the disciple's own reactions and training, and as regards any effect which he may call forth in the life of a probationary disciple or lesser disciple in his own sphere of influence.  These intrusive influences and their consequent effects which are produced upon an individual or a group by a Master or a senior disciple are usually interpreted in personality terms, and are very little understood.  They are nevertheless aspects of the higher will in some higher disciple and are beating upon the personality will and evoking the sacrificial will of the Ego, and hence lead to a period of temporary discomfort.  This the aspirant and the inexperienced disciple resent and blame the evoking sources for their discomfort, instead of learning the needed lesson of receiving and handling force.

Where, however, real love exists, it will produce the lessening of the personality will, the evocation of the sacrificial egoic will, and a constantly growing capacity to identify [33] the group with the will or purpose of the Monad.  The progress of the group is, therefore, from one burning ground to another—each burning ground being colder and clearer than the preceding one but producing sequentially the burning fire, the clear cold lighted fire, and the consuming divine fire.

Thus in parables the truth goes out, and gradually the initiate grasps the uses of heat, warmth, light and energy; he arrives at an understanding of self-will, sacrificial will and Shamballic purpose, and only Love (self-love, group love, and finally, divine love) can reveal the significance of these symbolic words and the occult paradoxes which confront the true aspirant as he attempts to tread the Way.

As we continue our studies of the rules to be followed by those receiving initiate-training, I would remind you of certain things, some of them already touched upon but requiring re-emphasis.  Any usefulness which these Rules may have for you will be dependent upon your grasping a few basic ideas and then proceeding to make them factual as far as in you lies.

First, I would call your attention to what should be the basic attitude of the would-be initiate:  It should be one of purpose, governed by pure reason and working out in spiritual activity.  That is a sentence easily written, but what specifically does it convey to you?  Let me enlarge upon it somewhat.  The attitude of the initiate-in-training should be one of right spiritual motive—the motive being the intelligent fulfillment of the will aspect of divinity, or of the Monad.  This involves the merging of his personality self-will into that of the sacrificial will of the soul; and this, when accomplished, will lead to the revelation of the divine Will.  Of this Will, no one who is not an initiate has any conception.  It means, secondly, the release of the faculty of spiritual perception and of intuitive understanding, which involves the negation of the activity of the lower or concrete mind, of the lower personal self, and the subordination of the knowledge aspect of the soul to the clear pure light of the divine understanding.  When these two factors are beginning to be [34] active, you will have the emergence of true spiritual activity upon the physical plane, motivated from the high source of the Monad, and implemented by the pure reason of the intuition.

It will be apparent to you, therefore, that these higher spiritual faculties can only be brought into play when the bridging antahkarana is beginning to play its part.  Hence the teaching which I am giving on the construction of the rainbow bridge.

These Rules are in reality great Formulas of Approach, but they indicate approach to a specific section of the Path and not approach to the Initiator.  I would have you reflect upon this distinction.  The "Way of the Higher Evolution" lies open to the aspirant to the Greater Mysteries, but he is oft bewildered in the beginning and frequently questions in his mind the difference between the progress or evolution of the personality towards soul consciousness and the nature of the progress which lies ahead and which is essentially different to the unfoldment of pure consciousness.  Had you grasped the fact that after the third initiation, the initiate is not concerned with consciousness at all, but with the fusion of his individual will with the divine will.  He is not then occupied with increasing his sensitivity to contact, or with his conscious response to environing conditions, but is becoming increasingly aware of the dynamics of the Science of the Service of the Plan.  This distinctive realisation can only come when his fused and blended personality and soul expression of will has disappeared in the blazing light of the divine Purpose—a purpose which cannot be frustrated even if at times delayed, as it has been during the past fifty-five years.  (Written in February, 1943.)

Much of what I have said above will seem meaningless to you because the finished contact between soul and personality has not been brought about and the will aspect in manifestation is not yet understood in its three phases: Personality, Egoic and Monadic.  But, as I have earlier told you, I write for those disciples and initiates who are now coming into incarnation and who will be in the full flower of their [35] consciousness and service at the latter end of this century.  But the effort you make to understand will have its effect, even if the brain registers it not.

In the last analysis, these Rules or Formulas of Approach are primarily concerned with the Shamballa or life aspect.  They are the only Formulas or embodied techniques at present extant which have in them the quality which will enable the aspirant to understand and eventually express the significance of the words of Christ, "Life more abundantly."  These words relate to contact with Shamballa; the result will be the expression of the will aspect.  The whole process of invocation and evocation is tied up with the idea.  The lesser aspect is ever the invoking factor, and this constitutes an unalterable law lying behind the entire evolutionary process.  It is necessarily a reciprocal process, but in time and space it might be broadly said that the lesser ever invokes the higher, and higher factors are then evoked and respond according to the measure of understanding and the dynamic tension displayed by the invoking element.  This many fail to realise.  You do not work at the evocative process.  That word simply connotes the response of that which has been reached.  The task of the lesser aspect or group is invocative, and the success of the invocative rite is called evocation.

When, therefore, your life is fundamentally invocative, then there will come the evocation of the will.  It is only truly invocative when personality and soul are fused and functioning as a consciously blended and focussed unit.

The next point which I seek to make is that these Formulas of Approach or Rules deal with the unfoldment of group consciousness, because it is only in group formation that, as yet, the Shamballa force of the will can be tapped.  They are useless to the individual under the new initiatory dispensation.  Only the group, under the proposed new mode of working and of group initiation, is capable of invoking Shamballa.  That is why Hitler, the exponent of the reversed reaction to Shamballa (and consequently the evil reaction) had to gather around him a group of like-minded people or [36] personalities.  On the upper arc of the evocative cycle (Hitler being the expression of the invocative arc of the Shamballa force) it requires a group to bring about evocation.

We now come to my third point in relation to the Rules or Formulas and their objective.  They are concerned—above everything else—with group initiation.  They have other applications, but for the present here lies their usefulness.  What, you may ask, is group initiation?  Does it involve the taking of initiation by every member in the group?  Can one person have so extensive an influence that he can hold up or delay or even prevent (in time and space) the group initiation?  The group need not necessarily contain members who have all taken the same initiation.  By this I mean that the necessary initiation of all the members simultaneously into the same group development is not required.  Basically, what I am endeavouring to say anent these Rules has relation to the third initiation—the initiation of the integrated personality.  They necessarily, however, have a correspondence to the second initiation, and are consequently of more general interest, for it is that initiation which faces so many aspirants today—the demonstration of the control of the formidable emotional nature.

I would ask you to think much about this point which I have just made.  Group initiation means that the bulk of the members are correctly oriented; that they are proposing to accept the discipline which will prepare them for the next great expansion of consciousness, and that none of them can possibly be deviated from their purpose (note that word with its first ray or Shamballic implications), no matter what is happening in their environment or their personal life.  You need to reflect on this if you desire to make the needed progress.

In these short instructions, which aim only at a "tentative indication" (note that phrase), it is not necessary to enter into explicit details.  In any case, if the Formulas or Rules are not intuitively clear to your minds, anything I could say would only hinder and frustrate my purpose.

Finally, these Formulas or Rules are susceptible of [37] three forms of application or interpretation and I would have you remember this, because you can thereby discover where your individual focus of attention is and if you are consequently functioning as an integrated personality.  Remember always that only an integrated personality can achieve the needed soul focus.  This is a fundamental requirement.  These three forms of application are physical, emotional and mental in nature.  But those words in their simplest connotation have true reference to the task of achieving one or other of the higher initiations.  The only way their significance can truly appear is by grasping the following meanings:

1. The physical application refers to the usage by the group of the given knowledge and intuitively perceived information in such a way that the needs of the larger group, of which the group itself is a part, are constructively served.  The consummation of this ideal is to be found in the activity of the Hierarchy itself which, from progressive point to progressive point, finds itself in the position of intuitive interpreter and force transmitter between the centre of Shamballa and Humanity.  The individual initiate, on the way to one or other of the higher initiations, has in his lesser degree to achieve the same dual function and thereby fit himself for the wider cooperation.

2. The emotional application has definite reference to the world of meaning, interpreted in a group sense.  At present, well-meaning aspirants are satisfied if they are able to interpret their personality conditions, events and happenings in terms of their real meaning.  But that still remains an individual reaction.  The aspirant who is seeking to comprehend these Rules is more interested in seeing the situations which he contacts in terms of a world whole, and in searching for their meaning in terms of their group significance.  This serves to decentralise him and to convey into his consciousness some aspect of that larger whole, and this in its turn contributes to the expansion of the consciousness of humanity as a whole.

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3. The mental application has to be grasped and considered in terms of the "great light." It must be remembered that the mind is the organ of illumination.  Therefore it might be asked:  Do the united mental processes of the group as a whole tend to throw light on human problems and situations?  How much does the light of the individual group member aid in this process?  How much light do you, as an individual, register and therefore contribute to the greater light?  Is the group light a dim flicker or a blazing sun?

Such are some of the implications lying behind the use of these familiar words, and the careful consideration of their meaning might bring about a definite expansion of consciousness.  This expansion normally follows certain clear and definite stages:

1. A recognition of the goal.  This goal is often expressed under the word "the door."  A door permits entrance into some place larger than the area covered by the standing room of the would-be initiate.  This statement refers to the "door of incarnation" through which the incarnating soul enters into life—limited and restricted from the angle of the soul.  The door of initiation admits "into a larger room" or sphere of extended expression.

2. The approach, under regulated and imposed and well-tried rules, of the entering one towards a visioned goal.  This involves conformity to that which has been tried, known and demonstrated by all previous initiates.

3. The arresting of the steps of the initiate before the door in order that he may "prove himself to be initiate" prior to entry.

4. The passing of certain tests in order to demonstrate fitness.

5. Then comes the stage of entrance—under due and set rules and yet with full freedom of action.  You will see, therefore, why ever the need for understanding is emphasised.

Before proceeding to study the final phrases of Rule [39] One, I would call your attention to the fact that the initiate has faced two major tests, symbolically described as "the burning ground" and the "clear cold light."  Only after he has successfully passed these can he—or the group, when considering group initiation—move forward and outward into the wider reaches of the divine consciousness.  These tests are applied when the soul grips the personality and the fire of divine love destroys the loves and desires of the integrated personality.  Two factors tend to bring this about:  the slow moving forward of the innate conscience into greater control, and the steady development of the "fiery aspiration" to which Patanjali ^[ii]* makes reference.  These two factors, when brought into living activity, bring the disciple into the centre of the burning ground which separates the Angel of the Presence from the Dweller on the Threshold.  The burning ground is found upon the threshold of every new advance, until the third initiation has been taken.

The "clear cold light" is the light of pure reason, of infallible intuitive perception and its unremitting, intensive and revealing light constitutes a major test in its effects.  The initiate discovers the depths of evil, and at the same time is enticed forward by the heights of a growing sense of divinity.  The clear cold light reveals two things:

A. The omnipresence of God throughout nature, and therefore throughout the entire personality life of the initiate or of the initiate group.  The scales fall from the eyes, bringing about—paradoxically—the "dark night of the soul" and the sense of being alone and bereft of all help.  This led (in the case of the Christ, for instance) to that appalling moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, and which was consummated on the Cross, when the will of personality-soul clashed with the divine will of the Monad.  The revelation to the initiate of the ages of severance from the Central Reality, and of all its attendant implications, descends upon the one who is attempting to stand "in isolated Unity," as Patanjali (to quote him a second time) calls the experience. ^[iii]**

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The omnipresence of divinity within all forms pours in upon the consciousness of the initiate, and the mystery of time, space and electricity stands revealed.  The major effect of this revelation (prior to the third initiation) is to bring to the disciple a realisation of the "great heresy of separateness," as it focusses in him, the separated fully conscious individual—aware of his past, conscious now of his ray and its conditioning power, focussed in his own aspiration, and yet part of the great whole of nature.  From that moment onward he knows that divinity is all there is, and this he learns through the revelation of the inherent separativeness of the form life, through the processes of "the dark night of the soul" and its culminating lesson of the significance of isolation and the freeing process which brings about the merging into unity through the emission of the sound, the cry, the invocation, such as the cry of the Christ upon the Cross symbolised.  His exact words have not been transmitted to us.  They vary for each ray, but all bring about the recognition of divine merging, in which all separating veils are "rent from the top to the bottom" (as The New Testament expresses it).

B. The omniscience of the divine Whole is also brought home to the initiate through the medium of the clear cold light, and the phases of "isolated experience," as it is sometimes occultly called, is forever ended.  I would have you realise what this can mean in so far as possible to your present consciousness.  Up till the present, the initiate-disciple has been functioning as a duality and as a fusion of soul-energy and personality-force.  Now these forms of life stand exposed to him for what they essentially are, and he knows that—as directing agencies and as transitory gods—they no longer have any hold over him.  He is being gradually translated into another divine aspect, taking with him all that he has received during the ages of close relation and identification with the third aspect, form, and the second aspect, consciousness.  A sense of being bereft, deserted and alone descends upon him as he realises that the control of form and soul must also disappear.  Here lies the agony [41] of isolation and the overpowering sense of loneliness.  But the truths revealed by the clear cold light of the divine reason leave him no choice.  He must relinquish all that holds him away from the Central Reality; he must gain life and "life more abundantly."  This constitutes the supreme test in the life cycle of the incarnating Monad; and "when the very heart of this experience enters into the heart of the initiate, then he moves outward through that heart into full life expression."  Such is the way that the Old Commentary expresses this.  I know no other way in which to bring the idea before you.  The experience undergone is not related to form, nor is it connected with consciousness or with even the higher psychic sensitivity.  It consists of pure identification with divine purpose.  This is made possible because the self-will of the personality and the enlightened will of the soul have both equally been relinquished.

4. Behind the group there stands the Door.  Before them opens out the Way.

Note how this passage reverses the usual presentation.  Hitherto, in the occult books, the Door of Initiation has been presented as ever moving forward ahead of the initiate.  He passes through door after door into a wider experience and expansion of consciousness.  But in the initiate consciousness, after the first two initiations, this is not the realisation.  It is simply the adhering to an old form of symbolism with the implied limitations of the truth.  I would here remind you that the third initiation is regarded by the Hierarchy as the first major initiation, and that the first and second initiations are initiations of the Threshold.  For the bulk of humanity, these first two initiations will for a very long time constitute major initiatory experiences, but in the life and realisation of the initiate-soul, they are not.  After the two initiations of the threshold have been undergone the attitude of the initiate changes and he sees possibilities and factors and revelations which have hitherto [42] been totally unrealised and unknown, even to his consciousness at his highest moments.

The door of initiation looms large in the consciousness of the neophyte; the higher Way is the determining factor in the life of the initiate of the third degree.  It is the Transfiguration; and a new glory pours through the transfigured initiate who has been released from every type of grip by either the personality or the soul.  For the first time, the goal of the higher Way and the attainment of Nirvana (as the Oriental calls it) appears before him, and he knows that no forms and no spiritual complexes and no pull by either soul or form, or by both united, can have any effect upon his attaining his final destination.

I would like for a moment to refer here to the door symbology as the initiate begins to grasp the inner meaning of those simple words.  For long the teaching, given in the clear cold light, anent the door and the emphasis put upon the presentation of the door lying ahead of the aspirant has been made familiar, but that has been working with the lower aspects of the symbolism, even if aspirants did not realise it; they have been taught the fact of the light in the head, which is the personality correspondence to the clear cold light to which I refer.  At the very centre of that light, as many aspirants know theoretically or factually by inconstant experience, is a centre or point of dark indigo blue—midnight blue.  Note the significance of this in view of what I have been saying anent the "dark night," the midnight hour, the zero hour in the life of the soul.  That centre is in reality an opening, a door leading somewhere, a way of escape, a place through which the soul imprisoned in the body can emerge and pass into higher states of consciousness, untrammelled by form limitations; it has also been called "the funnel or the channel for the sound"; it has been named the "trumpet through which the escaping A.U.M. can pass."  The ability to use this door or channel is brought about by the practice of alignment; hence the emphasis laid upon this exercise in the attempt to train aspirants and disciples.

Once alignment has been achieved, it will be realised [43] (remembering the symbolism of the head, the light and the central opening) that many occasions arise in meditation when "behind the group there stands the door; before them opens out the Way."  This is the lower correspondence of the higher initiate-experience with which our rule is dealing.

Again, this time in relation to the soul, comes the repetition of the discovery of the Door, its use and its appearance, finally, behind the initiate.  This time the door must be found upon the mental plane, and not as earlier upon the etheric level; this is brought about by the aid of the soul and of the lower mind and through the revealing power of the clear cold light of the reason.  When discovered, the "revelation of a terrible though beautiful experiment" faces the initiate.  He finds that this time alignment is not his need, but the definite undertaking of a creative work—the building of a bridge between the door which lies behind and the door which lies ahead.  This involves the construction of what is technically the antahkarana, the rainbow bridge.  This is built by the disciple-in-training upon the basis of his past experience; it is anchored in the past and firmly grounded in the highest, rightly oriented aspect of the personality.  As the disciple then creatively works, he finds that there is a reciprocal action on the part of the Presence, the Monad—the unity which stands behind the Door.  He discovers that one span of the bridge (if I might so call it) is being built or pushed forward from the other side of the gulf separating him from experience in the life of the Spiritual Triad.  This Spiritual Triad is essentially, to the initiate, what the threefold personality is to the man in physical incarnation.

I wonder if I have succeeded in giving you at least a general idea of the possibilities lying ahead of the disciple, and incited you to definite conscious response to those possibilities.  I cannot do other than speak in terms of consciousness, even though the life of the Triad—leading in its turn to identification with the Monad, as the personality life leads eventually to soul control and expression—has naught to do with consciousness or sensitivity as those terms are [44] commonly understood.  Yet remember how, in all my teachings upon occult unfoldment, I have used the word IDENTIFICATION.  This is the only word I have found which can in any way convey the complete unity which is finally achieved by those who develop a sense of unity, and who refuse to accept isolation; separateness then fades out entirely.  The isolated unity achieved is unity with the Whole, with Being in its totality (and this cannot as yet convey much to you).

5. Together let the band of brothers onward move—out of the fire, into the cold, and toward a newer tension.

Here, in very brief form, certain basic instructions are given.  Each of them indicates the new attitudes imposed upon all who have taken initiation.  They cannot be interpreted in terms of the Path of Discipleship or of Probation.  The ordinary and easily-arrived-at significances mean little to the initiate mind.  Let me briefly consider them so that clarity of concept, though not of detail, may prevail.

a. Out of the fire.  This is a symbolic way of indicating that the personality life is definitely and finally left behind.  It is this phrase which gives the clue to the initiation which is referred to in this Rule.  Each of these Rules contains within itself the clue to the particular initiation to which reference is being made.  The Rules are not placed in their right order, having sequential reference to the seven initiations.  The intuition of the aspirant must be invoked if he is to arrive at right knowledge.  I shall sometimes indicate the initiation involved, but not always, as it would profit not.  The clue to the seventh initiation which lies ahead for such high Beings as the Christ would be of no service to you at all.  The clue to the initiation of the Transfiguration can be of importance, as it involves the personality, and many of you in the not so distant future (from the angle of the aeonial life cycle of the soul) will face that.  The secret of the third initiation is the demonstration of complete freedom from the claims and demands of the personality.  It does not involve the achievement of [45] a completely perfect expression of the spiritual life, but it does indicate that the service of the initiate and his life demonstration—regarded in a broad and general way, from the angle of the life-tendency and of entire dedication to humanity—remains untouched by the limitations, still existent, of the personal lower self.

b. Into the cold.  This means that the focus of the life is now in the realm of clear truth and of pure reason.  The life of the initiate is being rapidly transferred out of the egoic centre, the soul vehicle, on to the level of the buddhic life or state of being.  Note, I do not say "of consciousness."  This is formless, but preserves the fruitage of form experience.  It is being oriented towards a realised unity and identification with the life aspect of divinity, and yet preserves its own recognised and achieved identity.  On this level of pure impersonality and of right orientation the group stands, obedient to the rule which governs this particular stage of development.

c. Toward a newer tension.  The interpretation of the phrase presents difficulty.  This is owing to the false impression which the word "tension" conveys at this time.  It is associated in the minds of the reading public with the thought of nerves, with points of crisis, with courage and with fatigue.  Is this not so?  But in reality tension, occultly understood, is not associated with these aspects of personality reaction at all.  The esoteric significance of tension (as far as I can explain it by limiting words) is "focussed immovable Will."  Right tension is the identification of brain and soul with the will aspect, and the preservation of that identification—unchanged and immovable—no matter what the circumstances and the difficulties.

You can see, therefore, how far ahead of present attitudes and goals this teaching is.  Identification with the soul and with the Hierarchy is dependent upon the ability of the disciple rightly to love.  It is the emergence of the second divine aspect, for love is the expression of group life, and [46] that is rare indeed to find in these days.  Right tension indicates the emergence of the first aspect, of the will, and this is seldom to be found as yet, save among the more advanced disciples and initiate members of the Hierarchy.

Love governs the Way into the life of the Hierarchy and is the foundation for all approach to, and appreciation and acceptance of truth.

Will governs the Way into Shamballa and is the foundation for all approach to, appreciation of and identification with, Being.

This developed will expresses itself as tension, esoterically understood.  It embodies the ideas of orientation, implacable determination, ability to wait and to preserve intention and orientation unmoved by aught which may occur.  It also involves the determination to take the intended action (always of a creative nature and based on loving understanding) at the psychological moment (right timing), or that exact moment which the psyche or soul determines to be correct.  Here you have one of the interesting transferences of meaning and of relationship which occur in the Ageless Wisdom.  The Son or soul emerges into manifestation with the concurrence and aid of the Mother or of the matter aspect.  This is to you a most familiar truth.  In the next stage, that of initiate-development, the Son, in its turn, becomes the feminine or negative aspect and, demonstrating as the Psyche, enables the initiate to bring into expression another divine aspect—that of the will.  Until the fourth initiation is undergone, it is the soul as a "focal point for descending light and for ascending radiance."  This dual activity reveals the nature of the will.  Note how this phrase from an ancient writing describes the antahkarana.

It is not possible in these brief instructions to deal adequately with the will aspect of divinity, nor would it profit at this time.  Aspirants have to learn the nature of the will by the power of inner illumination and by certain intelligent recognitions.  They learn the nature of the self through the aid of the personality, the shadow or distortion of the divine will.  They pass from the expression of the will which [47] is purely selfish, self-sufficient and self-focussed, to the grasp of the group will and to the effort to embody that group will.  This group will is always concerned with that which is not the will of the separated self.

As this ability to be selflessly decentralised grows and develops, the aspirant reaches a point where the group life and the group good is seen as an integral part of a much greater Whole.  This greater Whole is Being Itself, divorced from form but ever working through form whilst in manifestation, and working with planned purpose.  The realisation then grows that intelligence and love are not enough, but that they must be supplemented and implemented by will, which is active intelligent purpose, lovingly applied.

The difficulty of this subject is inherent in the fact that basically (no matter how strange this may seem) love is the line of least resistance for the developed human being.  It is the governing principle of the present solar system.  Will is the governing principle of the next or coming solar system, which will be brought into manifestation through the agency of those human beings who—in this solar system—arrive at the full expression of the will aspect.  Then, in the coming consummating manifestation, love will be to the will aspect what intelligence is, in this solar system, to love.