260. The Reappearance Of The Christ - 06. CHAPTER FOUR - THE WORK OF THE CHRIST TODAY AND IN THE FUTURE - Part 2 - A. BAILEY

CHAPTER FOUR - THE WORK OF THE CHRIST TODAY AND IN THE FUTURE - Part 2

During the first three months of the period of crisis through which Christ and the Hierarchy passed and which [89]was ended by His announced decision, certain great Energies, or fundamental streams of force were made available to Christ and His disciples. Today, the fact that energy is the basic substance in the universe, that all forms of life are energy forms, living within greater energy forms, and that all such forms—great or small—use energy and act as distributors of energy is a well-known and generally accepted fact by thinking and intelligent people. Speech, the written word, and motivated activity are all expressions of energy, lead to the spread of energy and to activities which are all expressions of energy and the cause of energy distribution. Governments, churches, organisations and groups are all energy distributors, and also storehouses of energy. Humanity itself is a great centre of energy, affecting all the subhuman kingdoms, and forming likewise within itself a great system of inter-related energies. The same thing is true of the individual who, by his acts and words, employs energy, produces effects which are energy effects and acts as a distributor of energy. Where the undeveloped individual is concerned, he realises none of this and the energy which he manipulates is of relatively small importance. As evolution proceeds, and individual men and women achieve power and expression, their use of energy is frequently of major importance; they become dynamic centres of energy distribution and their words (spoken or written), plus their activities, produce wide effects and momentous results. The Hierarchy is a great energy centre and, through the Christ, its energy reaches humanity; this is the significance of His words "I am come that they might have life." Life and energy are synonymous terms.

During the war (1914-1945), the Christ and the Hierarchy looked on at a dying world; men and forms were dying on every hand; old ideals, organisations and [90] groups were passing away and the spectre of death stalked on every hand. Destruction characterised the phenomenal world, as well as the subtler worlds of feeling and of thought; life was withdrawn and death resulted. The problem of Christ and His disciples was to see that the old and the undesirable were not revivified. Their task was not the resuscitation of the dead and the useless; the directed inflow of life, carrying the capacity to build anew and the energy which could produce a new world and a new civilisation—there lay Their opportunity and Their responsibility.

The reactionary forces of the world—political and religious—desired the resurrection of the old and dead forms; they threw their weight and their influence (which is only another name for energy) against all that was new. This, they are still doing. The progressive forces fight only for that which is new, and seek not the preservation of any of the old forms, even if they could serve a useful purpose. Their energetic denial of all that is of the past, and the destroying energy which they direct against anything which is of the old regime are likewise handicapping the efforts of the Hierarchy. In these progressive forces, hope does indeed lie, but they sadly lack skill in action and have too great a love for destruction. The New Group of World Servers holds steadily to the "Noble Middle Way" (as the Buddha called it) and seeks the decent burial of old forms, the implementation of that which is new and the restoration of that which has, in the past, proved useful and good and which could form the living germ of the new creation.

At the time of the Full Moon of April 1945, during the Easter season of that year and covering approximately a period of five weeks, the Forces of Restoration began their work, emerging first upon the subtler planes [91] of human experience. This type of energy is peculiarly creative in nature and carries the "life which produces the birth of forms." It poured into the Hierarchy, via certain of the Masters and Their groups of disciples, and was immediately transmitted by Them to humanity as a whole. This energy is a mass energy and is related to the stimulation of the mass intelligence; it is not the energy which we have earlier considered when dealing with the Christ consciousness in man. This is the energy which makes men think, plan and take action; it produces neither bad nor good results but simply brings about the awakening of men's minds so that they take intelligent action. That action is necessarily dependent upon the type of mind of the man who responds to the forces of restoration, conditioned by his point in evolution, his racial and national background, his tradition and his religious and civilised reactions. These forces are active now in every land, frequently producing increased initial difficulties but leading eventually to a definite reorganisation of the national or planetary life. Their effects will be primarily physical; they will bring about a new world in which the evidences of war will have disappeared, the physical health of men and animals will be bettered, and cities and villages will be rebuilt. Their objective is the production of the new Earth and all the outer evidences of an inflowing new life.

Following this inflow, at the time of the Full Moon of the Buddha in May 1945, the forces of enlightenment became active, and light began to stream into the minds of men. These are, in reality, the energies which initiate the new world education. Those first to be affected by them are the great educational movements, the forums of the people in all lands and the values which are now unfolding through the radio and the moving picture industry; [92] others deeply affected are the press, the publishers of world literature, speakers, writers, radio commentators, newspaper men and social workers. These effects may not yet be apparent for little time has as yet elapsed, but all these movements and people are the recipients today of the energies of enlightenment if they are prompt to recognise new emerging ideas; they are the custodians of this energy and its distributing agents, channelling it and directing it so that the masses of the people everywhere come under its influence. Progressive and liberal churchmen in all the world religions are also responsive to this energy, but their usefulness is greatly handicapped, owing to the reactionary nature of the setting or field in which they have to work; they are confronted with a well-nigh impossible task.

These energies of enlightenment reach humanity, via the New Group of World Servers who are very susceptible to their impact, and who are in a position to distribute them, because they are to be found working in all the fields of activity mentioned above.

The forces of restoration are related to and emanate from the Mind of God and are connected with the intelligent principle in the divine nature; the intellect is that divine aspect which distinguishes man from all other forms in nature. The forces of enlightenment come from the Heart of God and are related to divine understanding and can, therefore, reach and strengthen all those who love and serve their fellowmen. This energy is related to the second aspect or principle of divinity, love-wisdom, of which the Buddha and the Christ are the two outstanding divine expressions. It is mainly through Them and Their disciples, or the Masters on the same line of divine expression, that these energies reach humanity, channelled by the New Group of World Servers.

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The Christ and the Buddha combined the Way of the Mind and the Way of the Heart in Their perfection, and towered above their fellowmen from the heights of Their achievement. They swayed hemispheres and centuries, whereas lesser sons of God sway countries and shorter periods of time. They still have some consummating work to carry through, though the indicated work lies not so much with the forms which embody Their enunciated divine principles—light and love—as with the souls who have evolved through the application of these principles.

In June 1945, Christ set in motion the forces of reconstruction which are related to the Will aspect of divinity and which remain as yet the least powerful of the three streams of energy, released during the three Full Moon Festivals in 1945. These forces of reconstruction are effective mainly in relation to those entities which we call nations. The Hierarchy is at this time attempting to channel them into the Assembly of the United Nations; the use made of these impersonal energies is dependent upon the quality and the nature of the recipient nation, on its measure of true enlightenment and on its point in evolution. Nations are the expression today of the massed self-centredness of a people and of their instinct to self-preservation. These energies can, therefore, increase that aspect of their lives. They can, however, and in spite of this, increase the potency of the objective which the United Nations (at present)theoretically hold before the eyes of men everywhere. The main object of the Hierarchy is so to distribute these constructive, synthesising energies that the theory of unity may slowly be turned into practice, and the word "United" may come to have a true significance and meaning. It is with this type of energy that the Avatar of Synthesis is peculiarly allied. He will convey to humanity, with the aid of the Christ, [94] something for which we have as yet no name. It is neither love nor will, as we understand them. Only a phrase of several words will bring to us something of the meaning. This phrase is "the principle of directed Purpose." This principle involves three things:

1. Understanding—intuitive and spiritually instinctual, but intelligently interpreted—of the Plan, as it can be worked out in the immediate future by the Christ and His disciples.

2. Focussed intention, based upon the above and emphasising an aspect of the will, hitherto undeveloped in man.

3. Capacity to direct energy (through understanding and intent) towards a recognised and desired end, overcoming all obstacles and destroying all that stands in its way. This is not the destruction of forms by force such as we have seen imposed upon the world, but a destruction brought about by the greatly strengthened life within the form.

The significance of these divine principles will make little sense to us today; we are dealing with major mysteries. A mystery remains a mystery only when ignorance or unbelief exist. There is no mystery where there is knowledge and faith. All we know at this time is that the Christ will fuse and blend within Himself three principles of divinity; when He appears "the light that always has been will be seen; the love that never ceases will be realised, and the radiance, deep concealed, will break forth into Being." We shall then have a new world—one which will express the light, the love and the knowledge of God in a crescendo of revelation.

[95] The beauty of this synthesis which Christ will manifest, and the wonder of the presented opportunity, must surely be apparent to all of us. Great Forces, under potent spiritual Leadership, are standing ready to precipitate themselves into this world of chaos, of confusion, of aspiration, of hope and of bewilderment. These groups of energies are ready for focussing and distribution by the Hierarchy and that Hierarchy, under its Great Leader, the Christ, is closer to mankind than ever before in human history. The New Group of World Servers are also standing attentive to direction in every country in the world, united in their idealism, in their humanitarian objectives, in their sensitivity to spiritual impression, in their united, subjective purpose, in their love of their fellowmen and in their dedication to selfless service. The men and women of goodwill are also to be found everywhere, ready to be guided into constructive activity and to be the agents, gradually trained and educated, for the establishing of that which has never yet before truly existed—right human relations.

Thus from the highest spiritual Being upon our planet, through the graded spiritual groups of enlightened and perfected men who work upon the inner side of life, on into the outer world of daily living where thinking, loving men and women serve, the tide of the new life sweeps. The Plan is ready for immediate application and intelligent implementing; the workers are there and the power to work is adequate to the need. Above all else, the Hierarchy stands and the Christ stands ready to issue forth and demonstrate reality.

IV. Christ, as the Unifier of East and West

This is a hard saying for the orthodox and narrow Christian churchman to accept; it means primarily that [96] Christ will work in the closest cooperation with the Buddha until this fusion and reconstruction have truly taken place. The Buddha is closely allied with the Christ in this process of His reappearing, though He will not be involved or active during the entire period of Christ's coming, active work on earth. As you know, He, too, has not relinquished His contact and relationship with humanity, though He relinquished His physical body centuries ago. He did this in order to accomplish certain assigned work which had in it (besides many things unknown to humanity) activities connected with the work of the Christ, with the immediacy of His coming and with certain plans for the coming civilisation of the Aquarian Age. As many millions in the world know, each year (at the time of the Wesak Festival at the May Full Moon) He communicates with humanity, via the Christ and the assembled, attentive Hierarchy. He acts in this way as an agent bringing about relationship between the "centre where the will of God is known" and the "centre which we call the race of men." These two descriptive phrases are used advisedly because all the work now being done by these two great Sons of God is concerned with the distribution of energy—the energy of light and the energy of love. It is through the Triangle, earlier mentioned, that the energy of will eventually will be distributed and one of these divine distributors is the Buddha.

Actually the work of the Buddha for humanity is nearly over, and His long alliance with the race of men has nearly come to an end. The moment that the appearance of the Christ is an accomplished fact, and the rule of right human relations is beginning definitely to condition human living, then the Buddha will pass to the work which awaits Him. One of the senior disciples of the Christ, ranking next to the Christ in hierarchical status, [97] will take His place and carry on the work, connected with mankind.

By the time this particular Master takes over His task, the intelligent principle or knowledge, which is the outstanding characteristic of humanity, will have been to a large extent transmuted into wisdom by the world intelligentsia, though not as yet by the masses of men. Wisdom is the predominant characteristic of the Buddha and the momentum of this wisdom energy will eventually be so strong that it will need no further distribution or control by the Buddha. He can then re-orient Himself to higher spheres of activity where His true work lies, and begin to work with an aspect of wisdom of which we know nothing but of which both knowledge and wisdom have been expressing themselves through the Christ and the Buddha; later, through the cooperation of the Avatar of Synthesis, Christ will be able to blend within Himself both of these major divine energies, and thus be a pure expression of love and wisdom, of right relationship and intuitive understanding.

In order to make this possible and thus release His spiritual Brother from the arduous task of relating humanity to the "centre where the will of God is known" (Shamballa), Christ is subjecting Himself at this time to an unique process of training. Of this training, His thirty years of work in the carpenter's shop in Palestine has ever been the hitherto unrecognised symbol. The word "carpenter" is significant of building, of construction, and means (in its derivation) someone who is an artificer in timber or a builder of wooden houses. This is the true meaning of the Biblical story of Christ's being crucified upon the cross of wood or the tree. It is related in reality to the decision made by Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane to take over the building or reconstruction work in Aquarius, and thus complete the task which He attempted to do in the Piscean Age. He and His disciples and the New Group of World Servers are the pledged builders of the new civilisation, the new "house of humanity." The preparatory work He is now doing will fit Him to demonstrate in wisdom (and not only through love) the nature of the hierarchical Plans, wise constructive measures, wise choice of builders and correct methods of construction.

It is apparent, therefore, that this greatest of the Sons of God, the Christ, Representative of humanity and of the second divine aspect, will demonstrate within Himself, during the Aquarian Age and after His reappearance, certain major fused and blended dualities. It would profit us to study them and know which they are:

1. The fusion of the second divine aspect of Love and the first divine aspect of Will—the Will-to-good.

2. The fusion of love and wisdom, enabling Him to be the Builder of the new age and civilisation.

3. The fusion of Piscean energy, generated during the past two thousand years of Christ's spiritual activity and the Aquarian energies to be generated and active on Earth during the next two thousand years, or two thousand five hundred.

It is for this process of fusion and all that it entails that He now subjects Himself to training. When this is completed, He can become in a sense hitherto unknown to Him the focal point and the transmitting Agent for all these five divine energies:

1. The energy of Love.

2. The energy of Will.

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3. The energy of Wisdom.

4. Piscean energy, generated during the Christian era.

5. Aquarian energy, already generating upon the inner planes of thought and feeling, and to be generated during the centuries ahead of us.

The lines which His training follows are known only to Christ, to the Buddha and to the Avatar of Synthesis. All esoteric or spiritual training has to be self-applied; this is as true of the Christ as it is of the humblest aspirant. Into the processes of Christ's thinking, reactions and planning, it is not possible for us to enter.

In Palestine, His appearance was mainly prophetic and His work primarily that of laying the foundation for the activities which will follow His reappearance, plus the sowing of the seed, the harvest of which He will garner in the new age. The tragedy of His appearance two thousand years ago has coloured the presentation of truth by the theologians and made them posit an unhappy story, producing a miserable and unhappy world. This tragedy was based on:

1. His discovery that humanity was not ready for that which He came to give and that for centuries much experience, teaching, trial and testing would be needed before His real work could begin.

2. His recognition that He Himself needed a deeper relation with that centre which He always referred to as "the Father's House"; it was this realisation which led to His comment that His disciples could and would do "greater things" than He had done and that He had to go to His Father.

3. His arriving at the conclusion that He must have more trained and dedicated workers and agents [100] than at that time was possible, or has proved possible since. Hence the gathering out and the training of the New Group of World Servers. When there are enough of these servers and enlightened workers, He will come and nothing can arrest His approach.

4. He discovered also that men were not then desperate enough to "take the Kingdom of Heaven by violence"; it is only in desperation and when completely at the end of his tether that the disciple finds his way into that Kingdom and is ready to relinquish the old ways. What is true of the individual must also be true, on a larger scale, of humanity.

It is to the whole world that Christ comes and not just to the Christian world. He comes to the East and to the West, and has foreseen this "time of the end," with its planetary catastrophes, phenomenal disasters, despair and invocation—arising from both the East and West. He knew that in the time of final crisis and tension, humanity itself would force His emergence. The New Testament story is true and correct; it is only the man-made interpretations which have misled humanity.

In the East there is an ancient legend which has an application today and which holds the clue to the relation of the Christ and of the Buddha; it concerns a service which, the legend says, the Buddha will render Christ. In symbolic form, the legend runs that when the Buddha reached enlightenment, and experience on Earth could teach Him no more, He looked ahead to the time when His Brother, the Christ, would be active in the Great Service—as it is called. In order, therefore, to aid the Christ, He left behind Him (for His use) what are mysteriously called "His vestures." He bequeathed and left [101] in some safe place the sum total of His emotional-intuitive nature, called by some the astral body and the sum total of His knowledge and His thought, called His mind or mental body. These, the legend says, will be assumed by the Coming One and prove of service, supplementing Christ's Own emotional and mental equipment and providing Him with what He needs as the Teacher of the East as well as of the West. He can then with strength and success contemplate His future work and choose His workers. There is something of this same idea latent in the injunction given in The New Testament, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ." (Phil. II:5.)

Thus the Christ, with the fused energies of love and wisdom, with the aid of the Avatar of Synthesis and of the Buddha and under the influence of the Spirit of Peace and of Equilibrium, can implement and direct the energies which will produce the coming new civilisation. He will see, demonstrating before His eyes the true resurrection—the emergence of mankind from the imprisoning cave of materialism. Thus He will "see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied." (Is. LIII.11.)