277. Telepathy And The Etheric Vehicle - 03. SECTION ONE - TEACHING ON TELEPATHY - Part 3 - A. BAILEY

SECTION ONE - TEACHING ON TELEPATHY - Part 3

Another point to remember is that this science is the basic Science of Sensitivity; it is the art of all responsiveness to phenomena and is peculiarly applied to the reaction, the recognition, the responsiveness, and the registration of all[60] phenomena to be found throughout the cosmic physical plane. This is the plane whereon our entire threefold planetary Life finds expression and which we have subdivided (for the sake of clear thinking) into the seven planes (so called) of our solar system—from what we call our lowest physical plane up to our highest plane, the logoic. In the earlier stages of responsiveness to the two phases of contact and impact, the first task is to develop the needed apparatus of contact, the medium of learning, the mechanism of registration, and then learning to use it constructively and intelligently. This work proceeds from cycle to cycle, in the earliest stages, with no conscious intention on the part of the unit of life, thus developing; yet field after field of consciousness is slowly recorded, and area after area of the surrounding physical, mental and spiritual worlds come within the arena of perception, and are mastered and controlled, until eventually the unit of life (I know not what else to call it) becomes the human being, self-directed, an individual. Finally the man becomes the Master, controlling and directing within the periphery of His wide awareness, in consonance with the divine Mind and Plan.

But—and this is a point I seek to impress upon you—humanity, subjected to this constant process of expansion from the emergence of the fourth kingdom in nature, the human, has now reached the stage where it can begin to pass out of the control of what has been called the Law of Triple Response into a new phase of unfoldment where a recognised dualism dominates. This is a most important statement. Let me word it in this way and let me commend to you a very careful consideration of my words. I will express what I seek to impart in certain short sentences and in tabulation form:

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1.The advanced man in the three worlds is conscious of two inherent triplicities:

a. The lower man	Physical body.  Astral nature.  Mind.
b. The three periodical vehicles	Monad.  Soul.  Personality.

2. Soul and personality have made contact. He is now technically soul-infused. Two periodical vehicles have been at-oned. Three lower vehicles and the soul are united.

3. The etheric body is at the point of assuming great power. It can now be consciously used as a transmitter of:

a. Energy and forces, consciously directed.

b. Impacts from the highest of the periodical vehicles, working through its instrument, the Spiritual Triad.

4. The etheric body is, therefore, the agent consciously directed, of the rapidly integrating spiritual unity. It can convey into the brain the needed energies and that occult information which together make a man a Master of the Wisdom and eventually a Christ—all-inclusive in HIS developed attractive and magnetic power.

Earlier I made the following statement which, as you study it, will summarise the above detailed analysis. I said, defining impression, that it "concerns the engendering of a magnetic aura on which the highest impressions can play."See Chart The Constitution of Man.  This might also serve as a definition of the art of invocation and evocation. As the man (for we will not consider this science apart from him, as it would include too vast a field) becomes sensitive to his environment, as the forces of evolution [62] play upon him and lead him on from stage to stage, from point to point, from plane to plane, and from height to height, he becomes enriched and increasingly magnetic. As this attractive or magnetic force increases, he himself becomes invocative; this outgoing demand, emanating from or through the aura which he has engendered brings to him a developing revelation. This revelation, in its turn, enriches the magnetic field of his aura so that he becomes a revealing centre to those whose field of experience and aura need the stimulus of his practised assurance.

Finally, it might be said that the entire human kingdom will eventually be a major magnetic centre upon our planet, invoking all the higher kingdoms upon the formless planes and evoking all the lower or subhuman kingdoms upon the planes of form. Some day, two-thirds of the human family will be sensitive to impacts coming from the Mind of God, as that Mind fulfils its intentions and carries out its purposes within our planetary ring-pass-not. In its turn, humanity will provide the area of mind within whose ring-pass-not the subhuman kingdoms will find the correspondence of the Universal Mind which they need for their unfoldment; man, as you well know, is the macrocosm for the microcosm of the lower kingdoms in nature. This is the goal of all human service.

What I have said up to this point anent the Science of Impression, if read also in connection with the teaching on the Points of Revelation,^[x]* will convey much enlightenment. However, deep reflection is called for. The Science of Impression might be regarded, in the last analysis, as the fundamental science of consciousness itself, for the result of contact and impact leads to the awakening and the unfoldment of consciousness and of that growing awareness which distinguishes every form throughout the manifested [63] world.  Every form has its own area of awareness, and evolution is the process whereby forms respond to contact, react to impact, and pass on to greater development, usefulness and effectiveness. The Law of Evolution and the Science of Impression cover the unfoldment of consciousness and bring about adaptability to the immanent soul. Modern science, through its work in the fields of psychology and medicine (to mention only two) and its experiments with forms which have established the modes of constructing and bringing into being the varying mechanisms of contact found in the different kingdoms of nature, has mastered much of the evolutionary development of the exoteric response apparatus. With all this we shall not attempt to deal; it is correct as far as it goes. We shall confine ourselves to a consideration of the contacts and impacts which confront the disciples and initiates of the world today, as they work in the Hierarchy and through an Ashram, and whose path of advance is as a shining light which shineth ever more until full enlightenment has been achieved.

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X. SEQUENTIAL REVELATION OF RELATIONSHIPS

I would like to refer you back to page 52 where I outlined this extra-ordinary science which is—inherently in itself—the evidence of evolution, of the essential dualism in manifestation, and the testimony, unalterable and incontrovertible, to the unfoldment of consciousness. At the same time, it proceeds upon the basic premise that the various phases of consciousness which are steadily and sequentially revealed in time and space are (from the point of view of the Eternal Now) the sum total of the states of consciousness of the "One in Whom we live and move and have our being." All these phases of conscious acceptance of existent phenomena and their related reactions are, to Sanat Kumara, what a day's experience and reactions or the current life experiences are to the intelligent man—only vastly more enveloping and comprehensive.

There were a number of points to which I did not refer then, but which I would like to take up now in the interests of clarity and understanding. I have called this science of rapport and of reaction, the Supreme Science of Contact. That is essentially what it is. The reaction to this contact, whether cosmic as in the case of Sanat Kumara, or planetary as in the case of the Members of the Hierarchy, is nevertheless limited and circumscribed (from the point of view of the informed aspirant), is responsible for the creation of Karma or the setting in motion of causes which must unalterably have their effects—these effects being negated and rendered useless (or innocuous, if you prefer that word) when the entity concerned brings to the engendered circumstances the needed intelligence, wisdom,[65] intuition or will. Ponder on this. Consciousness is inherent in all forms of life. That is an occult platitude. It is an innate potency which forever accompanies life in manifestation. These two, related through manifestation, are in reality atma-buddhi, spirit-reason, dedicated for the term of the creative period to a simultaneous functioning; the first result of their relation is the appearance of that which will enable the Lord of the World to express His Own unknown inscrutable purpose.

During the cycle of manifestation, this combination of life-awareness, spirit-reason, atma-buddhi, is the product of the multiplicity in unity of which we hear so much—demonstrating as activity, quality, ideology, rationality, relationship, unity, and many other expressions of the divine nature. In the earlier part of A Treatise on the Seven Rays, I spoke of life, quality and appearance, mentioning the major triplicity which could be and is already proven and apparent to man. Quality was emphasised as the second aspect, not because on all planes and for all time that is so, but because at the present point in human evolution, quality plus activity appear to be the two lower aspects of divine manifestation. Already, however, two others are, if anything, superseding them in the consciousness of thinking humanity—relationship and ideas. Still others will be rapidly added as the consciousness of man is more effectively employed.

The Science of Contact will not only reveal quality, but is revealing the lines of relationship which underlie all manifestation and of which the etheric body is the symbol. It is also rendering man sensitive to ideas as the unfolding intellect of man permits it. The reaction of humanity to these two revelations (which come, if you could but realise it, as the result, the reward, of contact and of the impact of life-reason upon that manifestation which has always been present though unrealised) will bring about vast [66] changes and more far-reaching results than has the reaction to quality. Curiously enough, the discovery of quality as the second aspect in manifestation (later to be superseded), called for, and developed, the critical faculty in man; this critical faculty (so destructive in its present use) will be correctly expressed when the nature of relationship is better grasped and the true function of ideas is properly understood.

This Supreme Science of Contact governs all reactions to impact. This statement includes the cosmic reactions of Sanat Kumara down to the scarcely discernible reactions (invisible almost even to the eye of the seer) of the infinitesimal atom. For the sake of clarity, I divided this science into three major divisions, basing them upon the reactions of the three major planetary centres to their environment. This is a point which I would have you carefully bear in mind. I could write a treatise longer than this one purely on the creation of the response apparatus which each of these three centres of divine life-reason had to form in order to make the needed contact and to interpret correctly. There are many paradoxes in what I am here giving you, and apparently some contradictions where orthodox occultism is concerned, but that is ever the case as the teaching expands in content and the earlier all- inclusive facts are seen to be minor aspects of still greater facts. You can see, therefore, the significance and the importance of the dictum in The Secret Doctrine that the Hierarchy and all in the Council Chamber of Sanat Kumara (or Shamballa) have invariably passed through the human stage of evolution, for only human beings can perfectly blend and express life-reason, and only human intellect can consciously create what is needed in order to bring the needed stages of manifested life into being.

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Here again emerges another reason for the importance of the "centre which we call the race of men"; upon the shoulders of humanity rests unbelievable responsibility. Therefore, whether we are dealing with simple telepathy, or with invocation and evocation, or with impression, we are in reality considering the effect of life-reason as it manifests in relation to the available and suitable environment. Note this phrase. All this takes place through men in process of being made perfect, through men who have attained a relative perfection, and through men who—in the majority of cases—arrived at perfection elsewhere than in this present manifesting cycle. This should indicate to you the potentiality hidden in the very lowest of the human family, and the future of wonder and of usefulness which lies ahead for each and all in due time and after due effort.

Technically speaking, it is the Hierarchy which is "impressed" from Shamballa, and Humanity which is reached by the Hierarchy via the method of invocation and evocation. Within the human family two things occur as the result of this received and recognised activity of a phase of the Science of Contact.

Linking Groups Within the Planetary Life

1. Telepathic relationship is set up. This, my brother, has ever existed between members of the human family and, as previously explained, is of two kinds: Solar plexus telepathy, instinctual, uncontrolled, widely prevalent and allied to many of the surprising activities of forms of life other than the human, i. e., the instinct of the homing pigeon or the method whereby cats and dogs and horses will find their homes over immense distances. The telepathic interplay between a mother and her children is instinctual and seated in the animal nature. Mental telepathy is now being recognised and studied. This is the activity and rapport established from mind to mind; it also includes the telepathic response to current [68] thoughtforms and thought conditions in the world today. Interest in this is already very great.

2. Intuitional telepathy begins to manifest increasingly among advanced human beings in all lands and all races. This indicates soul contact and the consequent awakening of group consciousness, for sensitivity to intuitional impressions has to do only with group concerns.

This Science of Contact governs relations within our entire planetary life and includes, for instance, the rapport being established between humanity and the domesticated animals. These animals are to their own kingdom what the New Group of World Servers is to humanity. The New Group of World Servers is the linking bridge and the mode of communication between the Hierarchy (the fifth kingdom) and Humanity (the fourth kingdom) under the present divine Plan; the domesticated animals fulfil, therefore, an analogous function between Humanity (the fourth kingdom) and the animal kingdom (the third). These analogies are often fertile fields of illumination.

As regards Shamballa, the impression there received is not the result of invocation which in due course evokes extra-planetary response, as is the case between the Hierarchy and Shamballa, and the Hierarchy and Humanity, with certain changes during the process of stepping down or of descent. That which impresses Shamballa and is received by the Grand Council of the Lord of the World, comes via Sanat Kumara because HE is in close contact with other planetary Logoi or groups of planetary Logoi, wielding a united, focussed, intelligent Will. It is Sanat Kumara Whose task it is to impress the Lives Who meet periodically in the Council Chamber with the next phase of unfolding Purpose. This Purpose is later "occultly reduced" or stepped down until it emerges as the hierarchical Plan. This Plan is contingent upon imminence, atmic realisation [69] and pure reason, as the Hierarchy has termed these three "aspects of reaction" to impression from Shamballa. Let me make myself clear. The Hierarchy is no group of mystical workers; only those aspects of divine Purpose which can be immediately grasped and developed and which are patently valuable to humanity—when presented in right form by the Hierarchy—are registered by Them. They know what consciously to "repudiate" as it is occultly called, and They act ever in response to a Law of Imminence or of occult prevision which is almost unrecognisable and indefinable by advanced humanity. The words, "atmic realisation" are most interesting, for they refer to the quality and the mass of will energy which could be made available by the pledged and unified Hierarchy to carry out the imminent Plan. Never forget that in considering Shamballa and the Plan, we are thinking entirely within the limits of the expression of the WILL aspect of the Lord of the World, and this—except for advanced initiates—is well-nigh impossible. This factor has to be accepted theoretically, even if not yet understood.

To these two unalterable requirements the Hierarchy contributes the faculty of pure reason, which is the governing faculty of the Hierarchy and which brings into activity the quality to which man has erroneously given the name of "love". This emphasises the sentimental aspect and signifies to the majority, very largely, simply the sentimental and emotional aspect, which is entirely of an astral nature. Pure reason, which is the supreme characteristic of the Members of the Hierarchy, will ever express itself in right action and right human relations, and that will manifest—when present—what love in reality is. Pure love is a quality or effect of pure reason.

The pure reason of the hierarchical response is needed for the grasping and the comprehension of the Purpose as[70] it works out through the Plan sponsored at any one time by the Hierarchy, and the quality of pure love is needed and demanded (even if unrealised) by a waiting humanity.

This "impression" emanating from Shamballa takes the form of a focussed emanation which employs the higher aspect of the antahkarana as its channel of contact. I refer not here to the thread as built by the disciple between the mental unit and the abstract mind. I refer to its continuation through the buddhic and atmic levels of consciousness into the area of magnetised consciousness (I use this word as we have not yet the necessary word to express the exact nature of this higher awareness, and the term "identification" seems somewhat unsuitable) which surrounds and protects the true Shamballa centre. It is essential that you here bear in mind that just as the mass of men do not know, recognise or respond to the Hierarchy, so—within the Hierarchy itself—you have a group analogous to this mass of men. There are many lesser members of the Hierarchy and many, very many, disciples who do not know, recognise or as yet respond to the influence or the potency of Shamballa.

Within the Hierarchy, the Science of Impression conditions the relation between senior and junior members in the various Ashrams. All do not respond in the same way, for in its higher aspects it is a science in process of mastering. It might be said, in order that you may understand more easily, that "impression" governs and conditions all those within the Hierarchy whose abstract mind is highly developed. It is not fully developed in the case of many disciples in the Ashram, and hence only certain Members of the Hierarchy (the Masters, the Adepts and Initiates of the third degree) are permitted to know the details of the Plan; these are protected by means of this very Science [71] of Impression. The remaining members of the Hierarchy take their orders from their seniors.

Mind the Focus of Planetary Development

I would ask you to remember that, in our planetary development, the emphasis of the entire evolutionary process is on the MIND and on the various aspects of the mind—intelligence, mental perception, the Son of Mind, the lower mind, the abstract mind, the mind as will, the Universal Mind. The three which are of major importance and which form an esoteric triangle requiring to be brought into a vital inter-relation are the Son of Mind, the abstract mind, and the Universal Mind. They are, when fully related and active, the factors which engineer divine purpose and step it down into such form that we call it the hierarchical Plan and can act upon it. Only when the initiate has attained, through monadic contact, a touch of the Universal Mind can the Purpose be sensed by him; this involves also the development of the abstract mind, plus the residue of mental perception which the Son of Mind (the soul) has bequeathed to him; through all this unfoldment he can join the group who are the Formulators of the Plan. We are dealing here with most difficult and complex matters, inherent in the initiate consciousness and for which we have as yet no correct terminology. Also, the average aspirant has no idea what is the nature of the awareness or the reactions to contact of Those Who have passed beyond the third initiation; these limitations of the average student must constantly be borne in mind.

The Science of Invocation and Evocation—which embodies the technique of interplay within the Hierarchy itself, to a certain degree between Shamballa and the Hierarchy, and to an increasing extent between Humanity and the Hierarchy—is based entirely on a sense of relation. Therefore only a certain level of conscious Lives can invoke Shamballa and evoke response, and this because They [72] have Themselves developed some of the aspects of that type of mental understanding which is the hierarchical expression of the Universal Mind. The light and futile talk of certain writers and thinkers anent the cosmic consciousness, and their flippant use of such phrases as "tuning in with the Infinite" or "tapping the Universal Mind" serve only to show how very little is known in reality about the responses and the reactions of those of high initiate rank or of those on the highest levels of hierarchical life.

True capacity to invoke and evoke (within initiate ranks) is based upon a mysterious development—impossible before the time of the third initiation—of the esoteric sense. The active use of the esoteric sense in the occult training offered to aspirants, disciples and initiates of lesser degree produces certain changes within the brain, with corresponding changes within the buddhic vehicle; these changes enable one at will (after the third Initiation of Transfiguration) to contact the Being, Life, or the monadic POINT of contact with Whom he will be increasingly affiliated, or the Member of the Hierarchy Whom he may desire to consult. It does not involve the use of speech or words but is simply a technical method whereby an initiate within the Hierarchy or en rapport with Shamballa can make his presence felt and certain ideas can be presented by him. Upon this I will not further enlarge.

For average humanity, the development of the intuition is the lower correspondence to this type of esoteric sense employed by initiates of high degree—or this mode of perceptive intercourse, as it is sometimes called. Within the Ashrams, advanced disciples are taught how to discover within themselves and to use this new potency and thus develop the needed mechanism. They can know simultaneously both the demand and the answer or response which their invocation application has evoked. All disciples who [73] have taken the third initiation have the power to invoke and to be evoked, and hence this technique is not permitted to those of lower status. A highly developed discriminative faculty is here needed. It is in reality an advanced part of the technique whereby—in the earliest stages—the disciple is permitted to attract the attention of the Master. This he does through the very importunity of his desire; later, through the use of his acquired knowledge, he proceeds to what is called "the regulated nature of his appeal." The appeal is then less regulated by desire and more under the control of will.

I am not here dealing with invocation and evocation as it is carried on between Humanity and the Hierarchy. I gave much along this line when I made public the various Invocations whereby I have been attempting to substitute the invocative method for the selfish use of prayer and the limiting mode of the average meditation process. It is a slow process by means of which this method of intercourse must be learnt and mastered, and no textbook or information on the subject is of much use. Nor am I going to deal with the ordinary telepathy prevalent among men and natural to so many, as this has been dealt with earlier in this book. But at this point I should like to emphasise something which applies to every human being. When animal-man passed through the door of individualisation and became a human being he came possessed of an innate potency of sight; for aeons he has seen in the three worlds, and many have for several lives sought after the vision which stabilises the aspirant upon the Path. Through the door of initiation, having attained the mystical vision, each aspirant will become aware of that within himself which permits of a spiritual perception of such an expansive nature that he gets his first real and individual glimpse of the divine Plan; from that moment his entire life is altered. Later (and this [74] I cannot expect the student to understand; if he thinks he does, he is being misled by words), he will pass through the door of identification. This is a perfectly meaningless phrase, since its significance is most carefully guarded. Symbolically speaking and in order to preserve the concept of this door in the mind of humanity, true esoteric meetings are entered on the password. Only the WORD can enter through this door—this highest and widest of all doors. Once through that door and once eligible to the Council Chamber of the Great Lord, the Initiate will comprehend what is meant by "monadic impression." It is not impression by a Monad (that meaningless term) upon the brain of a man who has constructed the antahkarana and passed the fourth initiation. It is an innate responsiveness to the Purpose of the Universal Mind of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being.

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XI. RESULTS OF CONTACT AND RECEPTIVITY

I am not indicating in any way how an individual can become telepathic. All those developments within the area or region of progressive contacts are only useful and truly available when they are developed normally and naturally and are not the result of premature unfoldment. When the development is premature there is always the danger of wrong, erroneous and self-centred interpretations. The telepathic information can be of purely selfish or personal import and that type of telepathy has no place in what I am seeking to impart. People today frequently evidence a telepathic tendency or capacity. They tune in (a phrase they regard as more euphonious than the words "telepathic rapport") with something or someone, though they know not what it is. Everything that they purport to register is regarded by them as of major importance: it is usually self-related and not due to their high point of spiritual unfoldment which warrants their being the custodians of mysterious spiritual messages—usually of a most unimportant and platitudinous nature. There are many sources of these messages and it might be useful if I here mentioned some of them; what I have to say may prove to be of value to the general occult public.

1. Messages emanating from the relatively nice, well-trained subconscious nature of the recipient. These well up from the subconscious but are regarded by the recipient as coming from an outside source. Introspective people frequently penetrate into the layer of subconscious recollection and are quite unaware of so doing. Their interest in themselves is so intense. Not knowing that they have done this, [76] they regard what they find as unusual, beautiful and important, and then proceed to formulate it into messages, which they expect their friends and the general public to regard as spiritually based. These messages are normally innocuous, sometimes beautiful, because they are a mixture of what the recipients have read and gathered from the mystical writing or have heard from Christian sources and the Bible. It is really the content of their right thinking along spiritual lines and can do no one any harm, but is of no true importance whatsoever. It accounts, however, for eighty-five percent (85%) of the so-called telepathic or inspired writings so prevalent at this time.

2. Impressions from the soul, which are translated into concepts and written down by the personality; the recipient is deeply impressed by the relatively high vibration which accompanies them, forgetting that the vibration of the soul is that of a Master, for the soul is a Master on its own plane. These are true soul impressions but usually have in them nothing new or of major importance; they are, again, the result of past ages of soul development (as far as the personality is concerned); they are, therefore, that which an awakening personality has contributed to the soul of the good, the true and the beautiful, plus that which has entered into the personality consciousness as a result of soul contact. This accounts for eight percent (8%) of the writings and communications put before the general public by aspirants today.

3. Teachings given by a senior or more advanced disciple on the inner planes to a disciple under training or who has just been admitted into an Ashram. These teachings bear the impress and conclusions of the senior disciple and are frequently of value; they may—and often do—contain information of which the recipient is totally unaware. The criterion here is that nothing (literally nothing) will concern [77] the recipient, either spiritually or mentally or in any other way connected with his personality, nor will they contain the platitudes of the religious background of the recipient. They will account for five percent (5%) of the teaching given, but this is in relation to the entire world and the percentage does not refer to some one occult group, one religious faith or one nation. The recognition of this is of vital importance.

4. Communications from a Master to His disciple. This accounts for two percent (2%) of the entire telepathic receptivity, demonstrated by humanity as a whole throughout the entire world. Western students would here do well to remember that the subjective Eastern student is far more prone to telepathic receptivity than is his Western brother; this has a definite bearing on all the above classifications, which is somewhat humiliating for the Western mystic and occult student. The World Scriptures emanate from another department of the second ray teaching faculty. In this statement I do not include The Old Testament except such passages as the Twenty-third Psalm and certain passages out of the Prophets, particularly the Prophet Isaiah. The World Scriptures were written for mystics, occupied with beauty, comfort, and encouragement, and were not written for occultists. I would call this to your attention.

In this section of the teaching I am dealing with the nature and results of contact, of receptivity. I am giving no rules for individual development, and would not, if I could. Humanity today is developing receivers of every kind of concept, beginning with the lowest of them all—the masses of men who, through demagogues, the newspapers, the radio, books and lectures, are conditioned by many minds, according to their ray type of receptivity. As true intelligence develops and as love begins to permeate human thinking, these conditioning factors will get increasingly [78] less attractive. This means when the soul becomes of greater life importance and man-made ideas (if such a phrase is permissible) of less importance. There are, in reality, no man-made ideas. There are only ideas as grasped by the intelligentsia and then as "stepped down" by humanity's constant reaction to glamour, to emotional or astral conclusions, and to selfish interpretations.

It must be remembered that the activity of all these "impressing agencies" is felt in a wide and general sense throughout the entire planet and the planetary aura. No kingdom in nature escapes this impact, and it is thus that the purpose of the Lord of the World is carried out. Being, Coherence and Activity are thus blended into one created and creative whole; life, quality and appearance respond unitedly to the imposed intention of the planetary Logos and yet, at the same time, remain creatively free as regards their reaction to these contacted impressions; this reaction is necessarily dependent upon the type and quality of the mechanism which registers the impression. This mechanism has been developed by the life within the form throughout the creative period and—as far as the time element has been involved—the indwelling entity in any kingdom in nature has been free, and the time has been long or short, and the reaction to impression has been rapid or slow, according to the will of the controlling life. In the mineral kingdom, this reaction is very slow, for inertia or tamas controls the spiritual life within the mineral form; in the vegetable kingdom, it is more rapid, and under the invocative appeal of the lives in that kingdom the deva world is invoked and greatly aids and hastens the unfoldment of the vegetable consciousness; this is one reason for its relative sinlessness and extraordinary purity.

The major impression registered in the second kingdom of nature emanates from the angel worlds and from the[79] deva hierarchy. The angels and devas are to the vegetable kingdom what the spiritual Hierarchy is to humanity. This is, of course, a mystery with which you have no concern. But impressions and reactions are to be found in both these kingdoms, and upon such response depends the evolution of the indwelling consciousness.

The animal kingdom has a peculiar relation to the fourth kingdom in nature, and the unfolding of the animal consciousness proceeds along lines paralleling, yet dissimilar to that of the human being who is beginning to respond to the kingdom of souls, the fifth kingdom. It is the karma and destiny of the fourth kingdom to be the impressing agent for the third; the problem is complicated, however, by the fact that the animal kingdom antedates the human and had, therefore, generated a measure of karma—both good and evil—prior to the appearance of mankind. The "impressing process" carried forward by humanity is modified and often negated by two factors:

1. Human ignorance and selfishness, plus inability to work consciously and intelligently with the embryonic minds within animal forms; this is true except in a few (a very few) cases which involve the domestic animals. When humanity is itself further advanced, its intelligent impression upon the consciousness of the animal kingdom will produce planetary results. At present this is not so. It will only come when the animal kingdom (as a result of human understanding) becomes invocative.

2.The self-generated karma of the animal kingdom which is largely being worked off in its relation to mankind today. The karmic entity—holding a type of rule within the third kingdom—is a part of the planetary Dweller on the Threshold.

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Planetary Sequence of Impression

You will note, therefore, the amazing planetary sequence of impression—all of it emanating from the highest possible sources, though stepped down and regulated to the receiving factors; all of it concerned to a greater or less degree (according to the quality of the mechanism of reception) with the will and purpose of Sanat Kumara; all of it, during the aeons, achieving a group potency and a responding sensitivity.

The main factor preventing a completely unimpeded sequence of impression from Shamballa straight down into the mineral kingdom, via all the other kingdoms, is the factor of freewill, resulting in karmic responsibility. This can be either good or bad. It is interesting to note here that both the good and the bad karma produce conditions which not only have to be worked out, but that they lead to conditions which delay what we—from our limited point of view—might look upon as the liberation of the planet. The generating of good karma necessitates the "living through" of conditions where everything (for the man responsible or for any other form within its limitations) is good, happy, beneficent and useful. The evil karma generated in any kingdom in relation to the "realm where dwelleth the planetary Dweller on the Threshold" stands between the cosmic Door of Initiation and our planetary Logos. This Dweller represents all the mistakes and errors due to wrong reactions, unrecognised contacts, deliberate choices made in defiance of known good, and mass movements and mass activities which are temporarily not progressive in time and space. I realise that where these facts apply to the subhuman kingdoms in nature you are not aware of what I mean, but that does not alter the law or movements which are in no way related to human evolution. In connection with the planetary Logos I would like to add that in that great planetary struggle and His subsequent [81] initiation, we are all implicated—from the atom of substance up to and including all the Lives which form the Council Chamber of the Lord of the World; it is this titanic effort which is made by the sum total of all the living processes and entities that compose the manifestation of Sanat Kumara which is responsible for the creative evolutionary processes; it is also responsible for what we call time, with all that that concept involves of events, opportunity, the past, the present and the future, the good and the evil.

The dynamic impression which emanates from Shamballa reaches forth in great cycles and cyclic waves; these are impulsed from extra-planetary sources, as demanded or invoked by the Lord of the World and His Associates; they emanate in response to the "acclaimed will" of Sanat Kumara in the Council Chamber.

This high spiritual and ultimate impression moves outward along the seven rays, viewing them as seven streams of spiritual energy, qualified and coloured by the Shamballic impression; this process repeats itself when hierarchical invocation is effective and successfully established.

This again is repeated between the Hierarchy and Humanity in response to human invocation; this is becoming increasingly intelligent, potent and evocative.

The problem of the human kingdom is, however, very great. Humanity is the recipient of so many impacts, so many impressions, so many telepathic and mental currents and so many qualified vibratory impressions from all the seven kingdoms in nature that aeons have elapsed in developing the adequate discriminative sensitivity and in establishing the certitude of the point in evolution from which conscious invocation must arise and upon which the evoked impression must be registered. Unconscious invocation proceeds all the time; when it becomes conscious, it becomes exceedingly powerful.

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The entire human family is today an amazing receiver of impressions, owing to its myriad types of susceptible mechanisms. These impressionable instruments are capable of registering tamasic impressions, coming from the sub-human kingdoms, particularly the third and the first; they record rajasic impressions coming from mental sources of all kinds; they are also—to a much less degree—responsive to sattvic or rhythmic impressions. Their response to these high impressions and their registration of truth, light and quality, coming from the highest sources is, however, growing.

It is because of this that the human kingdom (the great middle kingdom whose function it is to mediate between the higher and the lower) is the subject of much divine impression, conveying the Purpose of Sanat Kumara. This you know. I have taught you much along this line in A Treatise on the Seven Rays and also in the earlier A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. In these present instructions I am dealing with group possibilities, with groups which can be trained to record, register and be impressed by the Hierarchy. Such a group can be in the position of being able to invoke the Hierarchy with power if it so choose. I am again bringing these things to your attention as aspirants and disciples, but from an angle different to those in my earlier writings. The responsibility of impressionability, of telepathic registration and of invocative appeal is very great; hence what I have written here.

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XII. RELATION OF THE HUMAN TO THE HIERARCHICAL CENTRE

True telepathic rapport is part of the Supreme Science of Contact and has peculiar and definite reference to humanity. Many different terms might be used in the effort to convey some understanding of this subtle, subjective mode of relationship, and I have used among others the following:

1. The Science of Contact.

2. The Science of Impression.

3. The Science of Invocation and Evocation.

4. The Science of Relationship.

5. The Science of Sensitivity.

All these terms convey different aspects of the reaction of form or forms to contact, to impression, to impact, to environment, to the thought context of various minds, to ascending and descending energies, to the invocation of agents and the evocation of their response. The whole planetary system is in reality a vast interlocking, inter-dependent and inter-related complexity of vehicles communicating or responsive to communication.

The moment that this inter-related and communicating system is studied from the angle of relationships, then the processes of evolution and the goal of the spirit of man (which is in reality the Spirit of the planetary Logos) become of vital and supreme importance, but are at the same time most difficult to comprehend. So immense is the theme that it is profitless for us to do more than deal with two factors:

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1. The Science of Impression in relation to mankind.

2. The impressing Centres, as they affect the understanding of relationship.

The many modes of contact between the many subhuman and superhuman forms, groupings, and kingdoms are too intricate in their nature to be grasped at this time by students, and—which is more important—the information would be of small use to them. We will, therefore, confine ourselves to the Science of Impression and the Science of Invocation and Evocation only in so far as they affect humanity. These—from the human angle—cover reception of impression and of ideas, and expressions of the consequences of sensitivity at this time and in this particular cycle.

We are to consider, therefore, the relation of the human centre to the hierarchical centre and the growing responsiveness of humanity to the "Centre where the Will of God is known". As I said before, it is not my intention to give here the rules governing telepathic intercourse. Such intercourse is found between man and man and groups and groups. The relationship is slowly and normally developed and requires no hastening. It is developing as the other senses of man and his apparatus of perception have developed. Humanity is, however, outstripping telepathic development in the rapid responsiveness of entire groups, and of human beings en masse, to group impression and to group impartation of ideas. The sudden response of groups and nations to mass ideologies has been both unexpected and difficult to handle wisely and constructively. It was not anticipated by either Shamballa or the Hierarchy that mass impression would develop more quickly than that of individual sensitivity, but it has happened that way. The individual within a group and working within a group is far [85] more correctly sensitive than is the man struggling alone to render himself sensitive to impression.

One of the factors militating against personal telepathic development lies in the fact that the strong, potent and modern ascension of the spirit in man—as a whole—frequently offsets personality reactions, and telepathy is a personality matter depending upon contact between mind and mind. The moment, however, that man tries to be telepathic, he is immediately swept into a vortex of abstract energies which condition him for spiritual impression far more than they fit him for personal relationships telepathically established.

This surprising development freed the supervising Masters for some of Their plans and led Them to abandon the training of individual disciples in telepathic rapport and to recognise the opportunity to train and develop invocative groups. Instead of working in lower mental substance with picked aspirants, They changed the medium of contact to that of the soul and launched the relatively new Science of Invocation and Evocation. The lower mind then became simply an interpreter of impressions with the emphasis upon the group mind, the group purpose and the group will. This developing system of trained invocatives made the mind a positive acting factor and tuned out all tendency to negativity.

This hierarchical decision then necessarily led to the instituting of the processes of group initiation, thus shifting the area of training and the whole of the teaching process and of preparation for initiation on to higher levels. The experiment of giving mankind the Great Invocation was tried and is proving successful, though much yet remains to be done.

It might be said, therefore, that the four requirements which are needed to aid the disciple to meet the demands of[86] the initiatory process are "the ability to be impressed, the capacity accurately to register the impression, the power to record what has been given, and then to give it word forms in the mind consciousness." On the basis of the information received, the disciple must then properly invoke the needed energies and learn through experience to produce a responsive evocation. My earlier statement on this subject a few pages back was intended to lead up to this teaching and I repeat it here:

"The entire human family is today an amazing receiver of impressions, owing to the myriad types of susceptible mechanisms.... It is because of this that the human kingdom (the great middle kingdom whose function it is to mediate between the higher and the lower) is the subject of so much divine impression, conveying the purpose of Sanat Kumara.... In these present instructions I am dealing with group possibilities, with groups which can be trained to record, register and be impressed by the Hierarchy. Such a group can be in the position of being able to invoke the Hierarchy with power if it so choose. I am again bringing these things to your attention as aspirants and disciples, but from an angle different to those in my earlier writings. The responsibility of impressionability, of telepathic registration and of invocative appeal is very great."

Sources of Impression for the Disciple

For the aspirant and particularly for the conscious disciple, the impression to be considered comes from four sources:

1. From the disciple's own soul.

2. From the Ashram with which he is to be affiliated.

3. Directly from the Master.

4. From the Spiritual Triad, via the antahkarana.

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The first two stages cover the period of the first two initiations; the third precedes the third initiation and persists until the disciple is himself a Master; the fourth type of informative impression can be registered after the third initiation and reach the disciple in the Ashram; he then has the task himself of impressing his mind with what he has been told and known within the Ashram; eventually, as a Master of an Ashram, he starts upon one of the major hierarchical tasks of mastering the Science of Impression. There are therefore, two aspects to this work of impression: one deals with the capacity to be impressed; the other with the ability to be an impressing agent. The disciple is not permitted to practise the art of impressing until he himself is among those who receive Triadal impression and therefore impression from Shamballa, within the protective area or aura of the Ashram with which he is affiliated. It must be remembered that this Science of Impression is in reality the science of thoughtform-making, thoughtform vitalisation and thoughtform direction; and only a disciple who has passed through the processes of Transfiguration and is no longer the victim of his own personality can be entrusted with so dangerous a cycle of powers. As long as there exists any desire for selfish power, for unspiritual control and for influence over the minds of other human beings or over groups, the disciple cannot be trusted, under the hierarchical rules, with the deliberate creation of thoughtforms designed to produce specific effects, and with their dispersal to men and groups. After he has passed the tests of the Transfiguration Initiation he may do so.

The Science of Impression is the bedrock or the foundation for the practice of telepathy. If a major world test were to be made, those receptive to impression would be found to fall into two groups:

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1. Those possessing unconscious receptivity to telepathic impression. They at present constitute a majority wherein the impression is received via the solar plexus, and the thoughtforms thus generated are dispatched from the throat centre of the one who is the impressing agent.

2. Those who are developing or have developed a conscious receptivity wherein the impression is, first of all, received by the mind and then imparted to and registered by the brain. The one who is the impressing agent in this case works via the centre between the eyebrows, the ajna centre.

The first group of recipients are purely personality grounded or focussed. In some cases they are only physically aware of the life processes and of some contact which remains for them unrecognised and unchecked or uncontrolled in any way. Under this group we must, therefore, class all mediumistic phenomena, even those of the highest astral or spiritual nature, plus the messages received from the usually beautiful subconscious of the average person upon the Probationary Path. Messages from the disciple's own soul are intermediate between those mediumistic expressions and those which are definitely mental in nature.