74. ALICE BAILEY - Discipleship in the New Age,Vol. II - 15. SECTION THREE - TEACHINGS ON INITIATION - PART 3

SECTION THREE - TEACHINGS ON INITIATION - PART 3

b. Left eye . . . mental energy. Manas. Thought substance.

It is the conscious use of these energies and the intelligent utilisation of this triple mechanism which is the goal of the initiate up to the third initiation. He learns consciously to direct force in the correct manner through the needed organ, doing so as the soul working in full consciousness on its own level, but so fully identified with the personality that the [291] mechanism (now developed within the personality) can be used in the work of the Hierarchy.

Let me now expand the concept further, reminding you of the phrase so oft employed, "the All-seeing Eye." This refers to the power of the planetary Logos to see into all parts, aspects and phases (in time and space) of His planetary vehicle, which is His physical body and to identify Himself with all the reactions and sensitivities of His created world and to participate with full knowledge in all events and happenings. Through what medium does He, on His own high levels, do this? Through what mechanism does He thus "see"? What is His organ of vision? What is the nature of the sight whereby He contacts the seven planes of His manifested universe? What is the organ, employed by Him, which corresponds to the third eye in man? The answer is as follows: the Monad is to the planetary Logos what the third eye is to man; this will become clearer to you if you will bear in mind that our seven planes are only the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane. The monadic world—so-called—is His organ of vision; it is also His directing agent for the life and light which must be poured into the phenomenal world. In the same way, the Monad is to the personality in the three worlds, also the source of its life and light.

There are, therefore, three organs of revelation, as far as the spiritual man is concerned:

1. The human eye, giving "in-sight" into the phenomenal world, letting in the light, and bringing revelation of the environment.

2. The eye of the soul, bringing revelation of the nature of the interior worlds, of the kingdom of God and of the divine plan.

3. The centre within the One Life which we call by the unmeaning word "Monad," the spark within the one Flame. In the final stages of initiation, the Monad becomes the revealer of the purpose of God, of the will of the planetary Logos and of the door which opens on to the Way of the Higher Evolution. This Way leads a man off the cosmic physical plane on to the cosmic [292] astral plane, and therefore into the world of divine sentiency, of which we can have no possible understanding, but for which the development of consciousness has given us the initial steps.

Man has learnt to use the physical eye and to find his way, by its means, around and through his environment. The stage in human evolution wherein he learnt first to "see" lies far behind, but when man saw and could focus and direct his course by sight, it marked a stupendous unfoldment and his first real entrance upon the Path of Light. Ponder on this. It has also interior repercussions and was indeed the result of an invocative interplay between inner centres of power and the groping creature in the phenomenal world.

Man is now learning to use the eye of the soul, and as he does so he brings its correspondence in the head also into functioning activity; this produces fusion and identification, and brings the pineal gland into action. The major result, however, is to enable the disciple to become aware, whilst in the physical body, of a new range of contacts and perceptions. This marks a crisis in his unfoldment of as drastic and important a nature as the attaining of physical sight and the use of the physical eye was in the unfoldment of the curious creature which antedated the most primitive animal man. Things unknown can now be sensed, searched for and finally seen; a new world of being stands apparent, which has always been present though never before known; the life, nature, quality and the phenomena of the kingdom of souls, or of the Hierarchy, become as patent to his vision and as real as is the world of the five physical senses.

Then later, upon the Path of Initiation, the initiate develops his tiny correspondence to the planetary "All-seeing Eye." He unfolds the powers of the Monad. These are related to divine purpose and to the world in which Sanat Kumara moves and which we call Shamballa. I have impressed upon you elsewhere that the state of being of the Monad has naught to do with what we call consciousness; in the same way, there is naught in the world of Shamballa which is of the same nature as the phenomenal world of man in the [293] three worlds, or even of the soul world. It is a world of pure energy, of light and of directed force; it can be seen as streams and centres of force, all forming a pattern of consummate beauty, all potently invocative of the world of the soul and of the world of phenomena; it therefore constitutes in a very real sense the world of causes and of initiation.

As man the human being, man the disciple, and man the initiate gradually move onward on the stream of life, revelation comes step by step, moving from one great point of focus to another until naught more remains to be revealed.

In all these spiritual points of crisis or of opportunity for vision, for fresh spiritual in-sight and for revelation (for that is what they are in reality), the thought of struggle is the first one to warrant attention. I used, in this connection, the words "stage of penetration"; the thought which this conveys to the initiate understanding signifies an extension of the struggle which the neophyte makes in order to achieve inner control, and then to use the mind as a searchlight so as to penetrate into new fields of awareness and of recognition. Forget not that recognition involves right interpretation and right relation to that which is seen and contacted. Into all revelation enters the concept of "whole vision" or a synthesis of perception, and then comes recognition of that which is visioned and perceived. It is the mind (the common sense, as it used to be called) which utilises the physical senses of perception, and through their united contribution gets a "whole vision" and a synthesis of perception of the phenomenal world, according to man's point of development, his mental capacity to recognise, rightly interpret and rightly relate that which has been conveyed to him by the activity of the five senses. This is what is meant when we use the phrase "the mind's eye," and this ability is the common possession of humanity in varying degrees of availability.

Later, man uses the "eye of the soul," as we have noted above; it reveals to him a world of subtler phenomena, the kingdom of God or the world of souls. Then the light of the intuition pours in, bringing the power to recognise and rightly interpret and relate.

As the disciple and the initiate progress from stage to [294] stage of revelation, it becomes increasingly difficult to make clear not only what is revealed, but also the processes of revelation, and the methods used to bring the stage of revelation about. The vast mass of mankind throughout the world have no clear idea as to the function of the mind as an organ of vision illumined by the soul; still fewer, only the disciples and initiates, are able to glimpse the purpose of the spiritual eye and its functioning in the light of the intuition. When we come, therefore, to the great organ of universal revelation, the monadic principle, functioning through the medium of an extra-planetary light, we enter realms which are indefinable and for which no terminology has been created, and which only initiates above the third degree are able to consider.

With the sequential stages of polarisation and precipitation I will not today deal; I am desirous that you grasp as far as may be, the idea of penetration, of the struggle involved and the instrument available in the struggle to see, to perceive and to register impression.

What I have given you at this time will provide much ground for thought. Further instruction along this line would be unprofitable until such time as the inner mechanism of progressive revelation is more clearly defined in your consciousness and is at least theoretically understood and hypothetically accepted. If you will think with clarity and with spiritual brooding upon this subject during the coming year, it may be possible for me greatly to enlarge upon the matter in my next instruction.

PART V

I would like in this instruction, my brothers, to make certain suggestions to you anent the approach to discipleship that humanity is making and the approach to initiation which disciples in every country and of all schools of thought and of religious persuasion are today making. I have told you in many places that the techniques for training disciples are changing in order to conform to the rapid progress being made in mass orientation, and that a new light upon the entire [295] theme of initiation is imminent. I would like, if possible, to be somewhat more explicit. You, at least, after these years of training by me, should be susceptible to some increased realisation along these lines.

Humanity—as has oft been said—is now the world disciple. Why is this? Primarily for two reasons:

1. Men are rapidly awakening mentally. The whole world is thinking, primarily along political lines and along lines of current ideologies. Even peoples long dormant are now convulsed by mental processes. This shift in human consciousness involves a rapid focussing of human intention on mental levels. This mental polarisation is essential to discipleship. It is as yet a general trend, but much progress has been made as a result of the tension of war.

2. Men are rapidly developing an understanding goodwill. The world is full of movements for relief and for the amelioration of human distress, and this from the point of small and large communities and also nationally and internationally. To this the Red Cross, UNRRA and many analogous and well-intentioned affiliations of men everywhere bear witness. This indicates not only a mental polarisation but responsiveness to the love nature of God; these together indicate a fusion and a sensitivity which is new in human history and which is most encouraging, testifying as it does to the success, at last, of the evolutionary process.

The time, therefore, when the Hierarchy had to deal almost entirely with the emotional devotee is past, and this has come about far more rapidly than had been anticipated. The task of the Masters before the eighteenth century was to take emotional aspirants and train them in the technique of mental polarisation, prior to permitting them to enter Their Ashrams. This was the best that could be expected, and in the last analysis was all that was required, because mentally polarised aspirants to accepted discipleship would have been of little use in the work of lifting mankind nearer to the light; the Ashrams exist primarily for that purpose. But the [296] mentally focussed humanity of today cannot be reached by emotional workers alone. The mental approach is called for and a higher type of disciple is needed.

The training to be given to aspirants (and this must be begun in our educational centres) will concern the dual use of the mind, the nature of energy, the indication of an evolutionary plan which includes more than the physical forms, and later of a definite and clear purpose for humanity as well as modes and methods of developing the subjective and subtle powers of the human being. This will involve a study of the constitution of man and the relation of its lower and higher threefold nature to the three aspects of divinity. You will note how increasingly, with all of you, I am emphasising man's essential duality and not his temporary triplicity. I would have you try to ascertain and understand my reasons. As this curriculum is firmly established it will revolutionise modern educational systems upon a planetary scale, and then man the reorienting aspirant, will become man the accepted disciple.

I wonder whether you have ever considered the widespread effect of all the reflective thinking, the aspirational prayers and the meditation work—untrained or as the result of training—done by people in their millions down the ages through the entire planet? Its quality is altering; its strength is increasing; its livingness is producing changes in the human organism. The tide of spiritual life is today so strong and striving that the next one hundred and fifty years will demonstrate the factual nature of the Kingdom of Souls or of God. This, as you can surely appreciate, will produce fundamental changes also in the immediate objectives before human progress, and in the Masters' plans, in the teaching given, and in the training presented.

This brings me to the objectives which are now before disciples in training for initiation. Instead of the past objectives—contact with the soul and entrance into an Ashram—the following might be listed, but must be understood esoterically and not literally:

1. A sense of planetary relationships. Instead of the emphasis [Page 297] being laid upon the relation of the individual to his soul, to his Master and to the Ashram, his consciousness is consciously expanded (if I may use such an apparently redundant phrase) in order to bring about a realisation upwards into kingdoms hitherto unseen and unknown, downwards into kingdoms which we call subhuman, outwards into the human environment and into the human kingdom, and inwards (a meaningless word, my brother) toward divinity itself. This means towards synthesis, towards wholeness, towards the sense of the entire, towards totality. For all these four directions (of which north, south, east and west are symbols) there are specific techniques, but today I may only indicate direction.

2. A sense of "intelligent supervision". This must be esoterically understood. What does this mean? One of the most deeply spiritual qualities which would-be initiates must unfold is the constant recognition of a focussed control upon daily life, circumstance, the future and fate. This is as yet an embryonic sense or entirely new avenue of perception and relatively close to and an aspect of the will aspect of divinity. It makes man conscious of his destiny, develops in him predictive power and gives him initiate insight into purpose and its unfolding plan. It is a faculty which you would do well to consider and try to imagine as a step towards development.

3. The sense of orientation to humanity. I presume you will recognise the truth of what I say when I express the opinion that your individual or personal love of humanity and the focus of your attention upon human need is very largely theoretical. It is transitory and experimental in practice. Your intentions are good and fine but you have not yet the habit of correct orientation and much that you do is the result of imposed sacrifice and at a cost; it is not natural to you; it is still the result of hopeful endeavour; you are still bewildered over the problem of how to be oriented to the Hierarchy and your soul, and at the same time to be oriented to humanity and your fellowmen. But the time will come when you are personally so decentralised that automatically the sense of "others" is [298] far stronger in you than the sense of personality or of the lower self. Let your imagination run wild for a moment, picturing the condition of the world when the majority of human beings are occupied with the good of others and not with their own selfish goals. Such a play of imaginative thought is good and constructive and will aid in bringing out into manifestation that new world and that new type of humanity which the future will inevitably demonstrate. On this I shall not enlarge; the practice of goodwill will lay the foundation for this new type of sensitivity.

4. The sense of registered impression. With this new feeling out towards the unknown and towards that which requires a sensitive expansion of consciousness I shall not deal at this moment. It concerns the theme of training in telepathy; I shall deal with it as we consider that Science of Impression ^[xvi]* which will eventually be the major objective of the educational systems which will be functioning at the close of the New Age, so rapidly approaching. Only now have those forces been permitted entrance into our planetary life which will present the new subjective environment which has ever been there though unrealised. The reason for this new sensitivity being the objective of hierarchical cultural training is that it is realised by the Hierarchy that man is now adequately intelligent to be trained in right interpretation.

5. The evocation of the will. This is, for disciples particularly, the new and most necessary development. As I oft have told you, the average aspirant confounds will with determination, with fixed intention, with self-will and one-pointed attention. He does not realise that the will is that divine aspect in man that puts him en rapport with and then controlled by divine purpose, intelligently understood in time and space and implemented by the soul as the expression of loving application. The mode par excellence by which the will can be developed is the cultivation of the recognition of the divine Plan down the ages. This produces a sense of synthesis and this sense of [299]synthesis ties the man into the plan through recognition of:

a. Its inevitability, therefore demanding cooperation.

b. Its success, therefore evoking wise activity.

c. Its immediate objective—to which all the past has led.

d. Its rightness—to which the intuition testifies.

It is not easy for the disciple in training to associate the sense of synthesis and the use of the will together and to realise that a cultivation of this first ray perception is a potent mode by which the highest aspects of the spiritual will (as yet embryonic within him) can be unfolded. Elsewhere I deal in greater detail with the will, its nature and what it is.

6. The sense of that which is imminent. This concerns the "raincloud of knowable things." I would call your attention to the word knowable. It is not the recognition of that which is imminent in man, in nature, or latent in manifestation. Speculation along this line might be and frequently is of no true importance. It is what is spiritually imminent which concerns the true disciple, if I may be permitted this play on words. One of the first lessons in the esoteric field is the sense of timing, with which that which is imminent or impending is connected; the disciple has to awaken to that which is on the very verge of precipitation into human thinking, life and circumstance; he has to take those occult steps which will enable him to recognise not only that which is hovering over humanity on the point of revelation or of karmic usefulness (note the phrase), but also enable him to handle himself so correctly and wisely that he becomes a cooperator, step by step, in the process of aiding in this task of revelation. More light on this subject will come as we study the Science of Impression. The point, however, I seek to make here is that sensitivity to the overshadowing cloud presupposed the subjective existence of a power or divine faculty hitherto not consciously used by disciples but which can now be intelligently developed, producing more rapid vision and a more acute revelatory perception. [300] That power has always been present; it is an aspect of the force of evolution and has led man on from one point of revelation to another, from one power to another, one sense to another, and from point to point of understanding. It first of all produced the physical senses; it led man on to emotional expression and to mental development; it is the secret behind spiritual understanding, but it has never yet been consciously employed. It is to the mind what the mind, as the common-sense, has been to all the five senses. Think that out.

This raincloud is hovering, heavy with portent and knowledge, over a world today in process of reorganisation and regeneration. The Masters are seeking to hasten in Their disciples this recognition of that which is imminent, so that they can be the intelligent agents whereby the needed precipitations can be brought about. There is a definite technique for producing this peculiar form of cooperation, but it will not be possible to work with it or apply it for another twenty-five years.

Here I have very briefly outlined for you the new developments which are possible if the disciple is rightly focussed and oriented. There are within latent possibilities. If you will pause and consider, you will realise that the task of the Master in the past, as He sought to prepare the disciple for initiation, was largely concerned with awakening him to the need for occult obedience, for right orientation, for persistence, and for devotion to his objective. But all that lies far behind the true modern disciple. Today, the Master indicates to him the overshadowing cloud of knowable things; He assures him that he has within him undreamt of powers which will, when brought to the surface of consciousness, demonstrate to him his own essential adeptship and enable him to share in the great hierarchical task of illumining, precipitating, and lifting. Today the Master—having done the above—leaves the disciple to work through to knowledge and cooperative usefulness; He neither pushes him into premature action nor constantly supervises him; He surrounds him with the aura of His presence and the protection and [301] stimulation of His Ashram; He gives him occasional hints, and as the disciple acts and works upon the hinted suggestions, the hint becomes a clear direction and a luminous area of enlightenment.

ON HINTS

I have been working with all of you in this manner for more than ten years now; I have sought to bring about a definite awakening to latent possibilities and to those capacities for cooperation which must be eventually realised by the disciple. I am not discouraged, because apart from my realisation of the inevitable limitations which encompass each of you individually, I am also aware that you have placed yourselves in my Ashram for training in the most difficult period in the entire history of humanity—a period in which the whole of humanity is passing through the reorientation required by the time cycle and through an entirely new adjustment to a higher rhythm and area of expression. This has greatly enhanced all your difficulties, and mine also, as I work with you. However, the next one hundred years will see great developments in my Ashram. It is, as I have told you, one of the newest of the Ashrams and is only now finding its own format, enunciating its own note, and taking on its own quality. This situation has also greatly increased your problem, for you are helping me to form something new.

Up to the present time, I have given you four hints which might be summarised as follows:

1. That the great changes being brought about in the Hierarchy, and in order to make the work of the New Age adequate and to establish a closer rapport with Shamballa, have been the result of the work done by the working disciples of the world. Why the working disciples, brother of mine, and not by the Masters? A hint ever evokes a question, and it is in the answering of these questions that the disciples learn and eventually become Masters.

[302]

2. That human planning and thinking, as the future is faced, are the first indications in the history of mankind of the emergence of the will aspect. Can you answer the question: Why is this indicated?

3. That disciples in all Ashrams have the task of "modifying, qualifying, and adapting the divine plan." Why has this to be so? This is a most significant and useful question. Why, brother of mine, is the plan not imposed? What are the distinctions between quality, modifications, and adaptations—for there is a distinction in each and every one of them.

4. That the initiate knows because he works. Christ gave the same hint to His disciples when He told them that if they wanted to know the doctrine they must carry out God's will. Do these words convey any true meaning to you?

You will note that all of these four hints or seed ideas (for much expanded thinking, leading to renewed activity) have to do with humanity and not with the individual man. This is a point of importance to bear in mind, for it again indicates the distinction between the training being given now and that which was given in the past. I, for instance, am not (in these group instructions) giving you individual hints as to your own lives. This I have done in the past, as have all Ashrams today, as they make their transition between the old and the new, emerging techniques; they have to employ compromise and adapt to that which is coming; the future will see, therefore, a gradual cessation of personality hints. In the future, the true method will be to develop in the disciple the sense of synthesis and of "place" in the One World, and thus decentralise him. The theme of direction underlies the system of instructing by means of hints. It is apparently a slow technique, but there is a point which esotericists would do well to remember. If information as to the nature of the microcosm and the macrocosm, as to divine Purpose and the spiritual Plan, as to occult events in time and space, and as to future or immediate possibilities were given out in plain terms (even if the needed language were available) there would be little understanding. I could, for [303] instance, tell you much that would be as useful to you as the following statement might have been to unevolved prehistoric man: "There is naught in the world but energy. The Atom of atoms is only energy and God Himself is naught but energy." The phrases would have conveyed to their slow-moving brains absolutely nothing. Primitive man had not the mechanism whereby comprehension would have been possible. A key to the correct interpretation of a hint lies in its association with the idea of direction in time and space. And, my brother, in the above sentence I give you the hint which I have in mind for your consideration this year. The word "direction" is the key to the evolutionary process, to the concept of light, to the secret of Masonry, and to the motivating power behind manifestation. More I will not indicate, but I seek your intelligent assent to that word.

It will become increasingly apparent to you that the entire life of a disciple becomes one of reflective meditation. Meditation forms may at some point of unfoldment drop away, but the habit of meditation will become a permanent and considered habit and will know finally no termination; when that point is reached, the idea of direction will take on divine significance. Here is a second hint on the same theme. You will recollect that in my last Instruction the whole subject of meditation was summarised for you as follows:

1. A preliminary stage wherein the theme of meditation was recognised.

2. Receptivity in attitude, so that the possible and esoteric teaching may be recognised and absorbed.

3. The transmission of ideas in some form or another to the brain after they have been registered by the mind in the form of seed thoughts, hints or presented themes and concepts.

4. The deliberate focussing of thought upon these ideas.

5. As these ideas are considered and developed, they are subjected to analysis and take shape eventually as created thoughtforms.

6. They are then subjected to a process of unification through the conscious and constant use of a mantram.

[304]

If this outline for thinking is carefully considered, it will be apparent to you that it is suitable for all true thought processes, all mental moods, and all analysis and application of occult hints. I wanted you to realise the essential simplicity of all divine processes and to note the ultimate fact that such processes culminate in a spiritual identification, proving past all controversy that separateness is fundamentally non-existent. This is true also of the formulas which we have been considering.

THE FORMULAS

As I told you in my last Instruction, the meaning and even the format of these formulas are so difficult to convey in words that I have hesitated several times in proceeding even with so brief an attempted elucidation on the subject. But even if I can convey but little of their significance, I can at least build in your minds the concept of these formulas. They are second ray presentations of soul ideas. We are told that God geometrises, when referring to the activity of the second aspect, and that a subtle geometrical form lies behind the exoteric manifestation. These forms convey to the occult student the symbolism of the world of meaning. Behind the mathematics and the geometrical designs, and behind the numerology which attempts (hitherto quite unsuccessfully) to convey the truth, but which in a mysterious manner conditions the creative work, are certain formulas which—as I have pointed out—express significance, intention, meaning. With three of the formulas we have spent a short time in consideration. Broadly speaking, these three condition the evolutionary process through the forms which are the result of the correct use of these formulas in such a way that a directive is given. I know not how else to express it. The three directives, therefore, already dealt with, embody and express the oldest invocative appeal in the world and (because of the age of this appeal) these three formulas have given a direction that naught can offset; the resultant conditions are inevitable:

[305]

Formula I . . . . Lead us from darkness to Light.

Formula II . . . .Lead us from the unreal to the Real.

Formula III . . . Lead us from death to Immortality.

This brings us to a statement of the next formula and a consideration of its meaning:

Formula IV . . . Lead us from chaos to Beauty.

This formula is presented in the form of a symbol—one which is in such constant movement that it is most difficult to describe or to make it live before you.

There lies before the investigator a square or oblong, composed of a kaleidoscopic mass of inchoate colours, moving, pulsating and in constant indescribable confusion. Superimposed upon this square is a radiant sun with a penumbra composed of the seven prismatic colours; these radiate from the sun in regular rhythmic bands and produce a marvellous blaze of colour. The background of the square appears to have its confusion of colours shown of a heavy, brilliant kind and quality; the scheme of beauty emerging (even if it appears as superimposed) is translucent and delicate and radiantly living in hue. The heavier background can be distinctly seen through the translucence. This formula differs according to the polarisation of the one who visions it and who studies it. If he is focussed in the personality, and is therefore conditioned by his personality ray, one type of energy will impinge upon his consciousness; if he is soul conscious and soul focussed, another type of energy will have its effect. Thus two different pictures will emerge. Both will be correct, but the interpreting agent will be different.

This formula, if carefully considered and studied for a number of years, will become a key form by means of which aspects of the creative process will come to the attention of the student, plus revelation as to some of the divine objectives which are wider and of greater and richer implication than has yet been realised. I would here remind you that these formulas are not symbols of what already is, but are [306] indicatory key forms of what may or shall be—a very different matter and one which you should bear in mind. They are symbols of the future and not of the past; they are predictive and not consummating; they reveal what is on the way as the result of the divine thought and are not pictorial presentations of what already is.

Therefore, they are not easy to grasp and interpret, because it is only the activity of the intuition which will enable you to understand and move forward into the new impulsive causal area. Difficult though this task may be (and, my brother, is), it is of major importance to disciples in training for initiation, because it will steadily tend to facilitate their entry into the world of causes and their emergence from the world of effects. You can see also from this that this formula is related to the Law of Karma; in fact, in the ancient records from which these formulas are taken, Formula IV has the symbol of one of the four Lords of Karma at the four corners of this square or oblong design. This formula is sometimes called that of "the Sun upon the Square." I have no more to say anent this theme at this time or about this formula in this Instruction. All that I am giving you is intended to be suggestive and to develop in you the power to use the interpretive sense—one of the new senses as far as experience and experiment are concerned, but which is latent in every man.

POINTS OF REVELATION

Little as you may realise it, these words "Points of Revelation" summarise a most definite technique in the training of disciples for initiation. All life is intended to take the form of a progressive series of awakenings. Progress, movement, awakening, expansion, enlightenment, evolution, growth—these words are but a few of those applied to the effects, both within and without, of the creative process. What is this creative process but the working out into progressive demonstration of the divine intention as it assumes form? This intention is a fully comprehended scheme in the Universal Mind; we call it Purpose when considering the grasp by Shamballa of the synthesis of this comprehensive intention, [307] and we call it the Plan when considering the work of the Hierarchy in bringing this Purpose as fully as possible into expression.

In our studies over the years and in the books which I have put before the public with the help of A.A.B. and of F.B. and of all of you who have cooperated with them, we have primarily considered the effect of this divine Intention, Purpose and Plan upon Humanity, and this because the Plan—emanating from the Hierarchy—has to be implemented by mankind. Hence the importance of their grasp and their understanding of the entire proposed programme. What, therefore, will be the quality of their reaction to what their developed understanding will reveal? What can they expect and what aspects or forms can the revelation be expected to take? Are they to look for a sudden blaze of light, or should they expect a gradual and progressive series of lesser lights? What is the relation of these revelations to the life of the occultist, and must he first of all register and accept what is conveyed to him as inexplicable but to be admitted, and to be viewed as incontrovertible though beyond comprehension? Or what?

Let me reiterate to you the well-known truth that no man is an initiate apart from understanding, that the life of the initiate is one of constant registration of new knowledge which must be transmuted into practical wisdom, of occult facts which must take intelligent place in the life-service of the initiate, and of new inclusions of areas of consciousness; these latter must become the normal field of experience and of expression; they then become the ground for further expansion. Every revelation has to be mastered from four angles:

1. The mental, occult, spiritual, hierarchical and triadal facts it embodies. Every revelation has its own format, for all our planes—so steadily being revealed—are the subplanes of the cosmic physical plane.

2. The meaning which the facts and the format veil and hide and for which the one who is being enlightened must search.

[308]

3. The effect which the revelation is intended to make in the daily life and service and the ashramic relationships of the disciple or initiate.

4. The germ, seed thought, key form and invocative potency of that which has been revealed. Every revelation has its place in a great series of revelations and enlightenments; the disciple has to find, within the form of the revelation, that which he must use in order to achieve the next destined point of attained revelation.

I have here given you, in a very brief form, one of the new techniques for disciples in the New Age and one of the modes of meditation whereby the processes of revelation can be hastened. Hitherto in the past, revelation has come unexpectedly, as it did to Saul of Tarsus in the Biblical narrative. In sincerity, the disciple struggles and works and serves; blindly he goes forward, and oft in much bewilderment he seeks knowledge and receives it at unexpected moments, and these frequently increase, at least temporarily, his bewilderment. But during the coming New Age, disciples will be taught how to work consciously and knowingly for light; they will be shown how to realise what will happen to them before they take the needed steps and follow initiation. This will save much time and "focus the light in the desired place" far more rapidly than hitherto.

You will see, therefore, why I have included this teaching upon the Points of Revelation in what I have to give you anent the processes of preparing for initiation. It is essential that the modern disciple no longer goes forward blindly but that he cooperates intelligently in the new systems of training. You will note the relation (if you call it no more than that) between the two phrases "points of revelation" and "mountain of initiation." In the Old Commentary, these are brought together in a very illumined statement—illuminating if duly reflected upon:

"The disciple climbs the mountain, its five peaks illumined by the Sun and hiding the other two.

[309]

From point to point he goes and the Way moves upward all the time—out of the dark into the light, from the jungle to the open space, from night to dawn.

From point to point he moves and at each point he gets new revelation. Five are the mountain peaks, and as he mounts towards each peak he receives five times the light. Five to the five and so from five to five till five fives have brought him light. Ten lie ahead, but these concern him not as yet."

What is meant here (to bring it down to the bare factual outline) is that there are five initiations ahead of the disciple, with two more ahead of the Master, making in all seven initiations, and that prior to each initiation—symbolically or factually speaking—there are five great revelations, making a total of twenty-five, with ten later to be registered by the Master.

I have indicated to you in my past instructions three of these revelations. They are, if you will remember:

1. Energy follows thought and the eye directs that energy. This has been an occult platitude ever since the days of H.P.B., during whose time it was decided that this was the first of the points of revelation which could safely be given to the general public. The assertion of this revealed fact was an essential piece of knowledge in the world, prior to the externalisation of the Ashrams—or, my brother, of the Hierarchy. The thought that all is energy has already been accepted by modern science, and the concept of vision (the first step towards understanding the use of the spiritual eye) is already part of the teaching of modern philosophy and of many of the metaphysical schools.

2. The Will is fundamentally an expression of the Law of Sacrifice. Paradoxically we found that when the spiritual will was—even in a small measure—expressing itself, there was no such thing as sacrifice. Incidentally, we considered the great exponents and the great field of sacrifice, considering the great Life in which we all, as well as all other forms, live and move and have our being.

[310]

I would like here to quote something I said to you in connection with this subject: "These few thoughts upon the significance of sacrifice, or upon the `taking over,' through identification, of the task of salvage, of revitalising and of presenting opportunity, are important to all disciples, as a goal and as a vision." (Page 288.)

3. The Monad is to the planetary Logos what the third eye is to man, esoterically understood. This is a most abstruse statement for all of you and will require much concentrated reflection and serene meditation. The vision of the solar Logos and of the planetary Logos is closely related to intention and purpose, and is the cause of the Plan. It is, however, beyond and different to the Plan. I leave this thought for your consideration and meditation, but can assure you that you will come to no easy or early comprehension.

Later on, as the years slip away and as students come and go, a clearer grasp of the techniques of comprehension—these emerging Points of Revelation—will form themes for prolonged meditation and doors of entrance to the new occultism. The foundations for this new occultism are well and soundly laid; the superstructure can be erected now, slowly and with due care, in conformity with the divine blueprints and in response to a sensitive reaction to spiritual impression.

I have also told you that, in connection with these Points of Revelation, there are three stages of activity which, when properly carried forward, will make that which is revealed of service to the disciple in his contribution to the salvaging of humanity. These three are Penetration, Polarisation and Precipitation. Let us now consider these three for a short reflective period.

You should realise that all phases of training—those that are associated with life itself and that specialised training which is given to initiates—are interlocking and interdependent. It is training, brother of mine, not strictly education. Educational processes, concerning knowledge as they do, may be specialised, and teaching can be taken in such isolated fields as conchology, biology or history. But in initiate [311] training, where the objective is wisdom and (above all else) the development of spiritual sensitivity, every phase of approach to the divine unfoldment, and all expansions of consciousness, develop so that divinity is embraced, and every unfoldment of the understanding reveals to the initiate one major Reality—the fact of Being. Therefore, this consideration of our Points of Revelation is closely related to another of our themes: Training in Telepathy or the Science of Impression. Certain aspects of these two activities are the same, particularly the three points which we are considering here. The difficulty consists in this, that in relation to the Points of Revelation the initiate is presumed to work from a more advanced standpoint of comprehension than does the man who is taking the training which makes him sensitive to Impression. He knows the technique of Penetration, comprehends the process of Polarisation at the point penetrated, and—after due acceptance—understands how to utilise it and precipitate it into the human field of service; he consciously employs that which he has learnt, grasped and appropriated. It matters not, in this case, what word you use.

It should therefore be borne in mind that in this connection we are considering the point of experience where light pours in, bringing revelation, conveying information, evoking the intuition and drawing into the waiting consciousness of the initiate those spiritual laws, those rules of the creative process, those ray conditions and those new energies and forces for which the humanity of any particular period waits, and which are fundamentally needed if the race of men is to move forward into greater spiritual culture and out of the relative darkness in which it at present moves.

What we are dealing with here, in connection with initiate training, is the impending realisation for which any opening cycle attests its waiting, and for the new truths and the expanded spiritual presentations which it is the destiny of the initiate to bring to the people. You will note that I choose the word "destiny" in preference to the word "karma" because in this type of work the initiate is working and practising and progressing under a Law of Destiny. This law affects the Ashram and the Hierarchy as a whole, and neither [312] is under the Law of Karma, as usually understood. This Law of Destiny has been brought into being since the foundation of the Hierarchy on Earth; it is the result of the pledged and united dedication to service which is the outstanding note of the united Ashrams. It is therefore a sevenfold law, for it takes on the seven colours of the seven rays, the seven qualities, modes and methods, techniques and energy expressions of all the seven rays. It is therefore, as far as humanity is concerned, free from all evil, because it is selflessly motivated and is—in a measure—a difficult law for you to comprehend. Pure destiny, devoid of all evil intent, is an enigma to the average disciple. It appears to contravene other laws with which he is familiar. As the race of men achieves increasing purity in the three worlds, this pure destiny will become correspondingly effective. This is an important point upon which to reflect.

This penetration makes an event in the life of the initiate. It is indicative of success and of contact and presents the opening up of a new opportunity. The two succeeding words indicate effects of this penetration; they are then inevitable and cannot be arrested. By that you may infer that once the initiate has penetrated to the point where revelation becomes possible he automatically attains the needed fixation, concentration, poise, polarisation and focus which will enable him to translate what has been revealed to him in terms and symbols which will convey significance to the intelligentsia with whom all initiates principally work. I wanted to make this clear because students almost inevitably think in terms of sequence. The effects of penetration (in this case two in number) are simultaneous and not sequential. The polarisation of the consciousness of the initiate, and the consequent condensation of truth, produce an unavoidable precipitation which occurs in a flash of time; it results in an instantaneous intuitive perception, and this is one of the early aspects of this dual process. Think this out and remember in this connection that the initiate—in process of receiving revelation—is working outside of time and space, as you understand it.

His consciousness is free, as compared with that of the [313] average man, and the most urgent and the most difficult part of his task is correctly to apprehend the precipitating truth, information or revelation, and then to give it an equally correct format so that it can meet the immediate human need. You will see, consequently, that the initiate learns to penetrate into the realm of pure reason from the realm of mind, and there he polarises himself, and truth precipitates. He has learnt thus to penetrate, and the three stages preceding penetration have been necessarily sequential, until he has gained such facility that they can instantaneously be transcended. He has learnt through life in the three worlds, to penetrate into the world of mind and the lower concrete mind has become his instrument, integrating his personality, opening up to him the world of thought, and putting into his power the processes of thoughtform creation; he has learnt through meditation to make contact with the soul, the Son of Mind, Who is himself, and has in time identified himself with that soul; he becomes the soul in fact, and can create in the world of thought those living forms which bring light and help and truth to others; thus he serves; he learns also, through unfolding perception, to penetrate into the levels of abstract thought, the antechamber to the world of pure reason, and through these three aspects of mind he discovers that he possesses the "three keys" which will permit him to delve into the knowledge, wisdom and reason of the Universal Mind. This is what is revealed to him as he penetrates deeper into what is called the Arcana of Wisdom, the Mind of God, the third divine Aspect. This is essentially what is covered by the symbolic and pictorial phrase "the raincloud of knowable things." The raincloud is a symbol of that area of the as yet unrevealed purposes of God which can be immediately revealed if the world disciples and initiates care to "penetrate to the point of precipitation."

This idea should in the future lie behind all you do in your meditation work. Your meditation should now be regarded by you as a process of penetration, carried forward as an act of service, with the intent to bring enlightenment to others. I have been dealing with these Points of Revelation today from the angle of vision of the initiate. Process and [314] techniques do their work, and these are followed by the recognition which the disciple accords within himself to that which has been accomplished.