25. Discipleship in the New Age,Vol. I - 04. SECTION ONE - PART 3 - ALICE BAILEY

SECTION ONE - DISCIPLESHIP IN THE NEW AGE - PART 3

This attitude of non-interference and the refusal to criticise, in no way prevents service to each other or constructive group relations. It does not negate the expression of love or happy group cooperation. There is ever much opportunity for the practice of impersonality in all group relations. In every group there is usually one group member (and perhaps several) who constitute a problem to themselves and to their group brothers. Perhaps you yourself are such an one and know it not. Perhaps you know who, among your co-servers, provides a testing for his fellows. Perhaps you can see clearly what is the group weakness and who it is that is keeping the group back from finer activity. That is well and good, provided that you continue to love and serve and to refrain from criticism. It is a wrong attitude to seek assiduously to straighten out your brother, to chide him or seek to impose your will on him or your point of view, though it is always legitimate to express ideas and make suggestion. Groups of disciples are groups of free and independent souls who submerge their personal interests in service and who seek that inner linking which will fuse the group into an instrument for the service of humanity and of the Hierarchy. Continue with your own soul discipline and leave your brothers to continue theirs.

The question of psychic powers is not so easy to explain. I do not refer to the lower psychic powers which may or may not develop as time goes on and the need for them arises. I refer to the following capacities, inherent in the soul, which must be developed in all of you if you are to do your share in meeting world need, and work for the Hierarchy in the field of world service. Let us briefly enumerate them:

1. Intuitional response to ideas.

2. Sensitiveness to the impression which some member of the Hierarchy may seek to make upon the mind of the disciple. It is for this reason that I am training you to utilise the Full Moon contact.

3. Quick response to real need. You had not regarded this as one of the psychic powers, my brother, had you? I refer not here to a solar plexus reaction but to heart knowledge. Ponder on this distinction.

4. Right observation of reality upon the soul plane. This leads to right mental perception, to freedom from illusion and glamour and to the illumination of the brain.

5. Correct manipulation of force, involving, therefore, an understanding of the types and qualities of force and their right creative weaving into service upon the outer plane.

6. A true comprehension of the time element, with its cyclic ebb and flow and the right seasons for action—a most difficult psychic power to master, my brothers, but one which can be mastered through the use of patient waiting and the elimination of hurry.

All these powers, the disciple must eventually develop, but the process is necessarily slow.

Next comes the quality of mental polarisation. What exactly is this power or quality? For you (at this time) it must express itself in two ways:

1. Through the life of meditation.

2. Through the control of the astral body.

Increasingly must your inner life be lived upon the mental plane. Steadily and without descent must the attitude of meditation be held—not for a few minutes each morning or at specific moments throughout the day, but constantly, all day long. It infers a constant orientation to life and the handling of life from the angle of the soul. This does not refer to what is so often referred to as "turning one's back upon the world." The disciple faces the world but he faces it from the level of the soul, looking clear-eyed upon the world of human affairs. "In the world, yet not of the world" is the right attitude—expressed for us by the Christ. Increasingly must the normal and powerful life of the emotional, astral, desire and glamorous nature be controlled and rendered quiescent by the life of the soul, functioning through the mind. The emotions which are normally self-centred and personal must be transmuted into the realisations of universality and impersonality; the astral body must become the organ through which the love of the soul can pour; desire must give place to aspiration and that, in its turn, must be merged in the group life and the group good; glamour must give place to reality, and the pure light of the mind must pour into all the dark places of the lower nature. These are the results of mental polarisation and are brought about by definite meditation and the cultivation of the meditative attitude. This is not new information for you, but it is something which as yet remains unexpressed practically. If you will ask yourselves the following questions and courageously and truthfully make reply before the bar of your own soul, you will learn much and greatly aid your development:

1. What do you understand by spiritual sensitivity?

a. Have you ever truthfully felt my vibration?

b. Do you respond more rapidly to the quality of a brother's faults than to his divine characteristics?

c. In what way does criticism interfere with true spiritual sensitivity?

d. What do you feel personally hinders your development of this required sensitivity?

2. Define impersonality.

a. Do you know the distinction between the impersonality of the first ray type and true spiritual impersonality?

b. When somebody disagrees with you or you do not like a person's attitude, ideas or proposals, what is the first thing you do? Do you love him? Do you keep silent? Do you discuss him with others? Do you endeavour to put him right? How do you try to do this?

c. If you are impersonal is it the result of training or is it natural to you? Is it simple self-defense? or is it the easiest way to attain peace? or is it a spiritual attainment?

3. I have defined for you the psychic powers. I listed six of them. Please study them and then make a clear, concise statement to yourself as to your own capacity:

a. To demonstrate them.

b. To develop them, outlining your method of so doing.

4. Just how do you feel that you succeed in keeping a mental grip on life?

a. In an emotional stress do you transmute the condition through love?

b. Do you inhibit the display of emotion and why?

c. Do you call in the mind and handle your problems from the mental level?

d. Do you know what glamour is and can you recognise it when it displays itself to you?

These questions have a twofold purpose. They will, if you answer them truthfully and face them clearly, lead you to deal with yourself as a group member and so ascertain the measure of your contribution to the group need and to our need of workers. If you will write down and answer these questions and share the replies with your co-disciples, it will give them an opportunity to know each other better.

There is an occult process which reaches its culmination in one of the higher initiations—with which initiation you have as yet no concern. It is called "a bringing forth into the light." An accepted disciple is one who is in process of preparation for initiation and that is one of the tasks with which I am engaged at this time. I have, therefore, to begin to lay the foundation for this esoteric "unearthing" or "revelation of that which is hidden." I am consequently proffering to you, through these questions, the opportunity to practise early in your training this "distressing revelation" which will later take place in a higher state of consciousness.

What is it that I and Those Who are working on the inner side are seeking to do with these groups? What is the larger objective? The groups have not been formed to train individuals. They have been formed (each of them) as seed groups for a definite and specific end. They are organised to provide channels in the world for the distribution of certain peculiar types of force which will work out into manifestation in specific ways. Energy has always been manipulated by the Hierarchy and distributed in the world of men. I refer to the energies used in relation to the awakening of the human consciousness, to the integration of the world of souls with the world of men; I refer to the activities whereby the human kingdom can become a great station of light and a powerhouse  of spiritual force, distributing it to the other kingdoms in nature.

The statement is of vital importance; it expresses our immediate objectives and the nature of the field of service in which you—as a group and not as individuals—can function. This manipulation of energies has (for centuries) been carried forward by us but its effects have only been registered unconsciously by man. We have (speaking symbolically) rayed forth the light and distributed the water of life in a wide and general distribution with here and there (and rarely) some one isolated individual, responding actively and consciously. He thus became a tiny focal point of spiritual energy and light. Now it has seemed to us possible to focus the light and knowledge much more definitely and to form groups on earth—composed of the isolated, responding individuals—so that more light and more knowledge can be spread abroad. This we decided to do in two ways:

1. Through the collaboration of all the Masters of the Great White Lodge, working through Their Own disciples.

2. Through the specifically focussed activity of the Masters Morya and Koot Hoomi and myself, Their servant and disciple.

Through the first method, the New Group of World Servers came into being and the disciples and aspirants of the world, working on all the rays and under the guidance—consciously or unconsciously recognised—of the Masters Who are specifically pledged to help humanity. Thus a vast powerhouse and station of light has been formed. It is a diffused and widespread light and its channels are to be found all over the world, in every country and in every major city. This you know and with this branch of the work (to which I am personally pledged) you are actively cooperating and should cooperate.

But it was felt that it should also be possible to focus the light still more intensively through smaller and more carefully chosen and selected groups. Through these much smaller groups of disciples, the phenomenal appearance of certain types of energy could be expressed; certain powers could be unfolded and a more specialised experiment be possible. Peculiar powers could be studied and focussed, intensified light and power could be so clearly demonstrated that the sons of men would come to recognise the influence and to give proof of the supernormal which is the heritage of future centuries.

To this particular branch of hierarchical work, I pledged myself; it would provide the nucleus for the coming types of civilisation and the characteristics and activities which could be unfolded under the incoming new major influences. These have always interested me and I have specialised in them. Naturally, I looked around among those whose lives I have been watching—sometimes for several incarnations. Among these were those of you who are now working with me. These groups constitute the germ of a great experiment. If successful, they will, in the course of the next 275 years:

1. Anchor on earth certain types of the higher forces which the race needs and which are not yet active.

2. Develop the six supernormal powers to which I have referred above.

3. Train the group members in that synthetic relation which characterises the Hierarchy and so prepare them for initiation.

Out of these groups will be picked those who can be definitely prepared for certain expansions of consciousness and who can be trusted to contact aspects of the Plan, hitherto not revealed. As you make progress in this work and as you seek to understand the group implications, it will become ever more clear to you what the Plan really is. It is as difficult for me to explain the underlying purpose of this group work to you as it would be to explain decimal fractions to a seven year old child, no matter how brilliant he might be. But if you have the needed patience, the willingness to work impersonally and proceed with love, if you will submerge your personalities in the group life, you will know, you will perceive and the light will break in; the power to work will come to you. We shall then have radiant focal points or light bearers and channels for the planned distribution of force—a thing which has never yet been, upon the scale which we now contemplate.

PART VI

I do not intend to continue giving you only reiterated advice upon the treading of the Path of Discipleship. You are adult men and women and know the Way. The practical application of the ancient Rules is your personal responsibility. What you do is your own affair. You have reached maturity and should be ready for the next step. That step will be taken when you have transmuted knowledge and theory into wisdom, practice and expression.

It is only in a spirit of real detachment that the best work of a disciple is done. The disciple comes to realise that because of this detachment he is (for the remainder of his life) simply a worker—one of a great army of hierarchical workers—with supposedly no personality inclinations, objectives, or wishes. There is for him nothing but constant work and constant association with other people. He may be a naturally isolated person, with a deep craving for solitude but that matters not. It is the penalty he must pay for the opportunity to meet the need of the hour. The hardest organised push of the Hierarchy is now taking place and its objective is to offset the tendency of the race to crystallise into separativeness, for separation is the line of least resistance to people and nations at this time. Hence the formation of these working groups of disciples, giving an expression of group work and group cohesion and of non-separativeness.

A few—relatively a very few—of the disciples and intuitives of the world today are standing together in a twofold activity: one activity is to sense and touch with greater accuracy the steadily unfolding subjective plan; the other is to speak and teach with greater clarity and to choose with wiser exactitude the right words (written and spoken) by which to express the truth. The presentation of the sensed realities will then lead the thinking people of the world to arrest their present trend of thought and to cooperate more fully and freely in the enlightenment of the world. I use the word "enlightenment" in its occult sense. The full measure of what can be done depends (as far as the individual disciple is concerned) upon his inner power to live each day as a soul—free from fear, free from self-consciousness and free from those reactions which stir the astral or emotional body into organised activity, based on ancient habits. For the disciple and for the success of his work, an astral body of stillness and of acquiescence, sensitive to impressions from the soul and from the Master, and reflecting the vision with as much purity of outline as may be possible, is the goal. It should be remembered that when the disciple is fully occupied in living the life of service on all three planes, there is little that can be said or should be said to him. But a thought may be of aid.

Let him seek, in the strenuousness of his life, to preserve the synthesis of the personality and the integration of all parts of his equipment. Often in the stress of activity in one body or another and on one plane or another, the emphasis may be temporarily so strong in some one direction that he may lose sight for a moment of the synthetic point of view of both the Plan and the group. Physically, he is working under great pressure; emotionally, he may be learning the difficult lesson of detachment and may consequently be full of a temporary rebellion. Yet on the mental plane, he is aware of a mental clarity and of a power to think which keeps him incessantly and constructively active. The following three terms, therefore, express quite frequently the disciple's situation where his lower nature is concerned: excessive fatigue, emotional rebellion and mental lucidity. How must he deal with this problem? Physical fatigue need not necessarily impair in any way his usefulness. With many people, physical conditions impair their work for their attention becomes focussed on the undesirable physical situation; disciples, however, often have a curious capacity to continue with their work no matter what may be happening to them physically. The physical brain can be so much the reflector of the mental life that he will remain essentially unaffected by any outer conditions. The disciple learns to live with his physical liabilities under adverse conditions and his work maintains its usual high level.

The emotional problem may be the hardest. But only the disciple can handle his own self-pity and free himself from the inner emotional storm in which he finds himself living. He must recognise that his integration is weak, for he is working in two phases or sections:

Physical . . . . . . emotional.

and

Mental . . . . . . . . . . . soul.

He is sometimes one and sometimes the other and usually very thoroughly in either case. This duality must be brought into a closer relation and this is the point to which he must attend as he seeks to establish and preserve the needed synthesis and personality-soul integration. When will disciples learn that the attitude which involves a certain "don't care" reaction and a form of indifference is one of the quickest ways by which to release the Self from personality claims? This is not the "don't care" spirit which will affect the disciple's attitude to other people. It is the attitude of the integrated thinking personality of the disciple towards the astral or emotional body. It leads him to assume the position that not one single thing which produces any reaction of pain or distress in the emotional body matters in the very least. These reactions are simply recognised, lived through, tolerated and not permitted to produce any limitation. All disciples would do well to ponder what I have just said. The whole process is based on a deep-seated belief in the persistence of the immortal Being within the forms of soul and personality.

This inner realisation grows with the development of power in meditation whether it is individual meditation or group work. Meditation is essential for establishing a freer inner spiritual interplay—again whether as a soul in relation to the personality or a group of disciples in relation to their Master or each other. You might here well ask: Why is this sensitive interplay between the disciples in a Master's group regarded as necessary? Is not life complicated enough without too much awareness of the conditions, the personalities and the soul contacts of those with whom we are associated and with whom we seek to walk as fellow disciples? I would like here to remind you that, as disciples, you are in preparation for initiation and that impending condition of consciousness implies three things:

1. Increased awareness and sensitivity to experience and to life in all forms.

2. The power to do for others what I have attempted to do for you, at present on a lesser scale and later, in other lives, as I now do it.

3. The courage and the strength to know all, to realise all and to love with patient wisdom and unchanging sincerity.

This must surely be apparent to you. In the group work in which disciples are now called to participate, you have an opportunity offered which can aid in the inducing of all the qualities which are needed by you as candidates for initiation, at no such very distant date, as we view time on the inner side.

The teaching has always been given that the disciple or the initiate must adapt himself to, and learn from, the conditions in which he finds himself and from the setting and environment with which his physical plane life puts him in daily touch. This is one of the initial platitudes of the Path. It was, however, at one time as new a concept to the aspirant and the disciple under training as is the teaching which I seek to give this group of my disciples and the opportunity which I would have you seize. The training, hitherto carried forward upon the inner planes, and unrealised oft in the waking consciousness of the accepted disciple, has now to be grasped, used and mastered in his waking consciousness and physical brain. The disciple in the past sought to establish harmonious relations with his environment—harmony being one of the liberating forces which must precede the release of energy for use after initiation. He practised patience and forbearance and helpfulness and rendered service and this was worked out through the process of right external conduct based upon right inner orientation and attitude. But under the new system (made necessary by achieved racial progress) this process of right external adjustments must be paralleled in the New Age by right inner relations, consciously established and consciously held and recognised for what they are by the conscious mind and brain of the disciple. This, therefore, involves true knowledge of the disciple's inner group relation, spiritual penetration to the inner life of a brother disciple and the consequent fusion in the heart-mind-brain of the disciple, simultaneously, of all that is known on both the outer and the inner planes. This has not hitherto been the case. It is one of the major reasons for the forming of these groups as far as the individual group members are concerned. It will be brought about gradually and safely by the daily use of the group meditations which I may assign you, by a renewed interest in the subject of telepathic work and by a closer and deeper love, cultivated by all of you.

Three things are of great importance and constitute your individual responsibility:

1. Facility of rapport. As a member of my group, it is essential that you cultivate two aspects of the "art of rapport" which is based, eternally, on loving attraction.

a. Rapport or contact with the soul through a cultivated alignment and correct meditation.

b. Rapport or contact with your group brothers; this lays the foundation for constructive, united work.

2. Impersonality. Is there aught more that I can say on this theme? You must learn to view what is said or suggested by any group brother with a complete and carefully developed "divine indifference." Note the use of the word "divine," for it holds the clue to the needed attitude. It is a different thing to the indifference of not caring, or the indifference of a psychologically developed "way of escape" from that which is not pleasant; nor is it the indifference of superiority. It is the indifference which accepts all that is offered, uses what is serviceable, learns what can be learnt but is not held back by personality reactions. It is the normal attitude of the soul or self to the not-self. It is the negation of prejudice, of all narrow preconceived ideas, of all personality tradition, influence or background. It is the process of detachment from "the world, the flesh and the devil" of which The New Testament speaks.

3. Love. Love is that inclusive, non-critical, magnetic comprehension and attitude which (in group work) preserves the group integrity, fosters the group rhythm and permits no secondary personality happenings or attitudes to mar the group work.

Contact, impersonality and love—these three constitute the individual objectives which I set before each and all of you.

The group requirements which must be met and preserved by the group, as a group, are as follows:

1. Group integrity. This grows out of right integration and refers to the delicate balance which must be preserved amongst the members of the group. This is of such a nature that there emerges eventually a group steadiness and a group freedom from "oscillation" which will permit of uninterrupted group work and interplay. It will come if each of the group members will simply mind his own business and permit his group brothers to mind theirs; it will come if you keep your personality affairs, your private concerns and troubles out of the group life; it will come if you refrain from discussion of each other and of each other's affairs and attitudes. This is of supreme importance at this stage of the group work; it will mean—if you can achieve success in this—that you will be able to keep your minds clear of all lesser things which concern the personality life. This means that your minds will be free, therefore, for group work.

2. Fusion. By this I mean the ability of the group to work as a unit. This is dependent upon the achieving of right individual attitudes and (when working) the attainment of the capacity to lose sight of everything except the work to be done and a deeply sensed love of your brothers.

3. Understanding. I use this word in reference to your comprehension of the work to be undertaken. I do not use the word in reference to your attitude to yourself or to your group brothers. It means that each group works wisely and understandingly at its own appointed task, knowing that it contributes to a whole which exists in the mind of the Master.

Integrity, fusion and understanding—this is the order of the work and the sequence of development. All groups, working in the outer world in relation to the Ashrams of the Masters, will follow certain initial and final stages in their work and these will be uniform for all the groups, no matter what their specific and individual group work may be. Thus there will be brought about an inter-group relation and a consequent strengthening of the individual groups. The third stage of the work to be done will be special and particular, differing for each group and to be followed by the group with meticulous care. I would ask all the various groups which may be working under my direction to attend to their own individual group business and not to speculate as to the nature of the work being done by the other groups.

Let me outline for you the stages to be followed:

STAGE ONE. Alignment. Soul contact. Spiritual poise. Poise is the steady holding of the achieved soul contact.

a. Then, the conscious relinquishing of personality reactions.

b. Next, the recognition of the fact of love as an expression of that soul contact—expressed through the medium of the personality.

c. Finally, the imaginative fusion of the egoic and personality rays.

This constitutes the vertical stage.

STAGE TWO. The above is followed by group integration and group fusion, carried forward consciously:

a. By bringing each group member into conscious rapport through naming and loving.

b. By seeing all the group members as a circle of living points of light along with yourself in the circle, but not at the centre of the circle.

c. By imagining all these points of light as fusing and blending to make a radiant sun, with rays of light going out towards the four corners of the earth.

This constitutes the horizontal stage.

STAGE THREE. There follows next a careful consideration of group purpose and technique. This technique will be different for each group; by a dynamic, unremitting following of the particular, indicated technique will the results be achieved. This technique must not be changed by anyone except myself.

Stages I and II should be rapidly effective and almost instantaneous in their results, after three months' careful work has been done. I request that you give careful, patient attention to them so that they develop eventually into stable habits and so give you no trouble and further difficulty. The initial stages in this type of work are of paramount importance.

STAGE FOUR. Having finished the special group work under Stage III, the members of the group will then endeavour to link up with the other groups in the same manner in which they linked up with the members of their own group. In this case, however, disciples will not concern themselves with the personnel of any of the groups, including their own, but only—as a group—link their group with the other groups. Thus the concepts of illusion and of separateness, and the realisation of fusion, will assume correct proportions in your minds.

a. Next, as a group, say the Great Invocation three times:

"Let the Forces of Light bring illumination to mankind.

Let the Spirit of Peace be spread abroad.

May Men of Goodwill everywhere meet in a spirit of cooperation.

Let Power attend the efforts of the Great Ones."

b. Then sound the Sacred Word, the O.M. three times.

c. Close with the prayer of the personality to the soul:

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight, Oh Soul, my Lord and my Redeemer."

PART VII

The need for telepathic sensitivity in every group, composed of disciples, is based upon three necessities; I would like you to understand this more clearly.

1. The cultivation of an inter-relation of a telepathic nature upon the mental plane is essential. This has always been an established fact or condition in the case of a Master and His disciple and between the senior disciples in any group of accepted disciples. The time has now come when this group quality must—for the sake of a needy world—be developed by disciples of lesser attainment in the group.

2. This telepathic unfoldment will lead to a greater sensitivity to others. This is the secret of a Master's work and the factor which enables Him to work through His disciples, using them as outposts of His consciousness. To do this with exactitude, He must be able to know their condition (mental, psychical and physical) when He chooses so to know. He can thus discover whether they are available or not for any specific service, whether they can be safely used or not and whether their sensitivity is such and their interpretation of what they sense is of sufficient accuracy so that they will respond intelligently to the need. Have I not had to study all of you this way? Think this out and ponder upon the implications.

3. This telepathic sensitivity will also lead to the new science of inter-communication which, in the New Age, will reach general use and comprehension. Of this condition, the radio is the outer physical symbol.

Certain questions now arise and it might be well to formulate the answers to some of them. It could be wisely asked if anyone has the right to work telepathically upon the mind of any person? The answer is that you are doing it all the time, consciously or unconsciously, and without skill or purpose or—if there is a purpose—it is usually a personality purpose. It is through telepathy that ideas have been disseminated in the world by the process of mentally impressing the mind of some disciple or sensitive person. It is then their task to find and direct the mind and activities of those individuals whose task is not only to be responsive to this impression but to bring it out into the consciousness of the world thinkers. Have you ever asked yourselves what are the aspects of the work, in connection with telepathy, which raise questions in your mind? Is it not distrust of personality intention or point of view and a questioning also as to your own sincerity or motives? Unless this work is carried forward selflessly and with complete freedom from personal prejudice and personal choices—political or religious—there can be no safe work along this line. That is why I emphasise to you the need of doing this work at the highest united point of meditation and with complete obedience to my decisions in the matter.

Another question could well be: What is the difference between this work which I am suggesting to you and the work of the Lodge of the Lords of Form? None whatsoever, except in motive and the point from which you must endeavour to work. The Lords of Form work entirely on and from the lower levels of the mental plane and with the energy of knowledge. The love aspect of the soul itself is inactive and, therefore, from the angle and vision of the Great White Lodge, motives are wrong and the objectives are selfish ones. This is true both of individuals and groups. Forget not that these Lords of Form are souls of great age and unique blindness. But that later, in some far distant cycle, and when karma has worked upon them and the Great Law has exacted full payment for all wrong done, that they too will begin to develop the love aspect and to transmute their motives. You too must work from mental levels but knowledge and love must be called into play together, producing only those results which are harmoniously and intelligently in line with the Plan. Disciples are not permitted to call into play and functioning activity the Will aspect of the soul, unless they are initiates of the third degree. Prior to that, they seldom realise the distinction between the imposition of the will and the directed impression of ideas. There is too much desire (which is embryonic will) in their equipment for them to be trusted as yet with this higher aspect of mental activity. I would ask you to get clearly in your minds in connection with any telepathic work which these groups (working under me) should do, that it is the impression of ideas and not imposed direction which is the group ideal—a very different thing, my brother.

You might also ask: How can this collective impressing go on and yet leave a man free? Because it will be kept clear of all directed will-force; all that workers and disciples in my groups will seek to do is to impress certain minds with the outlines or suggestions as to the Plan; these ideas will deal particularly with the concept that separation is a thing of the past and that unity is the goal of the immediate future; that hatred is retro-active and undesirable and that goodwill is the touchstone which will transform the world.

How then can you keep your minds free from your own desires and from your own interpretations? By achieving that poised and positive negativity on the part of the two lower aspects of the personality—the astral body and the brain as well as the etheric brain; these determine the reactions of the lower centres, particularly of the solar plexus centre. The mind will then be left free to fulfil three functions:

1. That of soul contact; this will result in illumination and a working knowledge of the immediate aspects of the Plan.

2. That of thought formulation and thoughtform creation. Then a clear thoughtform can be constructed with definiteness, and it can be positively directed.

3. That of working on mental levels with your group brothers so that your thoughtform is a part of their thoughtform and you can, therefore, unitedly produce a living, embodied form which can be directed as I may determine.

Another question might here arise: Are there any specific and brief rules which should be obeyed? The following might be given, but I would remind you that it is what you are that counts in this work more powerfully than anything else. The controlling factor is harmlessness in thought and word; the practice of this, with proper observation, will greatly help all of you. Next comes arefusal to think unkindly or with criticism; this is essential in connection with those whose minds you seek to impress. Silence, complete and unbroken as to what you are doing, is also a vital factor; the utterance of words in connection with this most subtle and confidential work (or even discussion of the work with a fellow disciple) can shatter the delicate thoughtform which you are attempting to build. It can render the work of weeks abortive. A balanced attitude in relation to those in power throughout the world must also be cultivated; they need above all else the inspiration which can be brought to them from the Hierarchy.

I would ask you, therefore, to practise purging the content of your minds of all critical and unkind thoughts so that you can achieve an attitude of divine indifference to the ephemeral and fleeting personalities and to the chaos everywhere to be seen and so endeavour to tune in on the attitude of the Hierarchy. This involves the emphasis of the consciousness-aspect and the careful observation of all that goes on beneath the surface—awakening, arousing and stimulating to a pronounced mental activity, the hitherto unconscious masses. The events which are happening in every country are bringing this about with much rapidity; humanity is coming alive and its consciousness is awakening to the subjective values. The Hierarchy is sore beset to meet humanity's emerging need of guidance. The sensitivity of the human race (as the result of economic insufficiency, of war, anxiety and pain) is becoming so acute that we who work on the inner side must hasten to impress sensitive, awakening psychics with the right impression. Hence our effort to create these groups, and to use people like yourselves who are (theoretically) harmless but actually full of prejudice and hasty judgments. We have to use the material which lies to hand and are greatly handicapped at all times.

After you have worked consciously at the purification of the mind and after you have attempted to free yourselves from prejudice, from preconceived ideas and hasty judgments and determinations (based upon your own background, tradition, social and racial status), you will then brood consciously on the process of thoughtform making; you will remember that—for group purposes and for simplicity—the following three stages are of importance:

1. The stage of pondering over the idea which is to be impressed upon the mind of some individual. This pondering and carefully directed thinking produces construction; it is a creative activity and is the first real stage in our work. I do not want you to endeavour to build thoughtforms. I want you to think clearly along lines which I may indicate. Then the desired thoughtform will automatically take shape and all of you will have contributed something to it.

2. When the thoughtform is thus built in your mind, there will follow a period wherein it comes alive. It slowly becomes the living embodiment of the desired idea—vibrant, active and ready for service.

3. When this stage is reached, you can then—as a group—proceed with the stage of direction. Having carefully in mind the person to be impressed and the fact of your group as the impressing agency (thus providing the two poles between which interplay is desired), you will try to see the living embodied idea, playing back and forth between the two poles. You will send it out on the wings of love, impelled by the wise desire to serve and in obedience to my directions. Time and again, it may return to you for revivifying and enrichment before its task is satisfactorily accomplished.

The externalised groups of disciples are all of them intended to be expressions of a type of group relation which will be better known and understood when the world has entered into the next cycle and era of peace. Certain types of force are, as you know, to be later utilised by the groups for specific group ends and for world service. The motive for all such service must not be forgotten by you, as you study and work in a Master's group. The objective is not your individual assistance and unfoldment but your training in certain group alignments and activities which will enable these groups of disciples to work in a definite and specific manner. The fact, however, that one group will work with one type of force and another group of disciples will employ a different kind must not in any sense be deemed to indicate separate activity or separative interests. All will be working towards one objective or goal and all will work with the same divine energy, differentiated into varying forces for the purposes of service in one department of life or another. I would ask you to ponder deeply upon the various aspects of the outlined plan or system of group work which I have brought to you, for it is a tentative endeavour to externalise upon earth, certain phases of hierarchical endeavour.

The energy used in the telepathic work is the "chitta" (as the Hindus call it) or the mind-stuff which underlies and is the very substance of manifestation itself. God, the planetary Life or Logos, however, works with the higher correspondence of this mind-stuff and the forces of the mental plane are the reflection or rather the densification of this higher mental substance. These forces, this mind-stuff, is constantly in flux and in motion. This produces that thoughtform-making activity of the mental world which is set in motion by minds—working either individually or in group formation. In true telepathic work (carried forward without error and correctly and from a poised point of action) the currents of this mind-stuff are set in motion between certain points by the will and the carefully expressed and formulated idea in the mind of the thinker. A certain portion of this mind-stuff (already in motion) is built into form and then travels along the current, as set up between the two points. The telepathic worker, such as, for instance, myself, works from the angle of the mind of the transmitter and that of the recipient, establishing first of all a current of rapport (which you sometimes call "sensing the Tibetan's vibration"); along that current, I send the impression, the idea or the thoughtform which I seek to see impinging first of all upon your minds and then—if you are capable of such alignment—upon your brains. This process can be either rapid or slow. Where the alignment is good, there can be an almost immediate response to my thought; where it is not good, it may take days and even weeks for the impression to be finally realised and consciously registered on the disciple's mind and brain.

There are other groups which are consciously working with the energy which can dispel glamour and illusion. This is the energy of the highest level of the astral plane. This level is  susceptible to reaction or response to that type of energy which we call the energy of the intuition or of buddhi, if you like the oriental terminology. It is the energy of wisdom. This wisdom energy is the only type of force which is adequate to dispel the miasmas, the fogs and the mists of the world of glamour. Those disciples who are working in these groups have to learn to use this energy, to work wisely, to think with wisdom and to realise that wisdom itself is a force. It is this realisation which makes a person seek out another person with wisdom when he is in trouble and difficulty and is anxious to see with clarity the way that he should go. It is this realisation which drives the members of the human family to the Masters of the Wisdom.

In Atlantean days (I am here telling you something of interest and something which should evoke a sense of responsibility), the major task of the Masters of the Wisdom was with the great world illusion or rather, glamour. They worked then primarily upon the astral plane and had They not done so, human life and conditions would not be so good as they are—for they are in reality full of beauty, the beauty of potentiality, hovering upon the verge of immediacy of expression.

Today, They are working primarily upon the mental plane, dealing with ideas and with their impression upon the minds of Their disciples and advanced humanity; it is the problem of humanity itself, as a whole, to work in the world glamour; it is the responsibility of the aspirants of the world to guide humanity out of the valley of glamour. Men must learn to understand it and eventually—aided by the senior disciples of the world, trained by the Masters of the Wisdom—to transmute and dispel it.

You should, therefore, bear in mind that the task before the modern disciple is to carry forward into the New Age the idea of the bringing of glamour and of the great illusion into the light. In the light, it will disappear. In this age, we have mastered, too well perhaps, the forces of nature and have brought out for our own benefit the material resources of the physical plane. We have conquered them and bent them to our will and use, often selfishly, yet sometimes with good and pure intent. In the New Age, a paralleling control will take place over the world of astral phenomena and over the forces of glamour and illusion. We seek to control them today mentally and theoretically. But only the energy of wisdom will suffice to dispel the forces of the world glamour and the world illusion. Practise wisdom, my brothers, and thus aid humanity and shorten its astral struggle.

Other groups have the task of working with the energy which is the well known and much discussed prana or life energy—the energy of vitality. The right use of the pranic energies (and they are seven in number) will most assuredly dissipate disease and bodily ills and will cure the pains of the human physical vehicle. But in connection with this, two things are essential and these are seldom found together:

1. The energy of the soul—like the energy of the universal mind and the energy of buddhi, or the intuition—has to be set in action upon the physical plane by the one to be healed and by the healer. Both have to work in cooperation.

2. There must be right understanding of the disease and its cause, plus the karmic status of the patient and the condition of his centres, his alignment and his point in evolution.

As yet we are only dealing with the a.b.c. of these relatively new sciences and much of our initial work must be of a clarifying nature because there is so much distorted sensing of these occult systems of energy utilisation and so much misuse of these powers.

Other groups are associated in a peculiar manner with the number four, and they are occupied with the bridging work carried forward between the personality and the Monad (the triple lower man and the Spiritual Triad) and also between the lower mind, the soul and the higher mind—thus linking that relatively lower triplicity with the unity, the Spiritual Triad. The fourth kingdom in nature is, in its turn, a bridging kingdom between the three superhuman kingdoms and the three subhuman. Again, the fourth plane (which must be reached by the bridge of light, the antahkarana) is the link between the three higher worlds of spiritual being and the three lower worlds of human endeavour and experience. The energy with which the group of disciples along this line of activity has to work is the Light of the soul, remembering ever that light is substance; their effort is to create—as individuals and also as a group of disciples—a great pathway of light between the personality and the Spiritual Triad (atma-buddhi-manas or spiritual will, intuitive understanding and the higher mind).

I have not dealt with some of the activities of these groups of disciples in the New Age or pointed out the energies with which they must work in order to emphasise again to you the plans for my own groups of disciples. These groups with which I am engaged as part of the activity of my Ashram are essentially Seed Groups. They are intended to be outposts of the hierarchical consciousness as it focusses itself through me in the same sense as an individual accepted disciple is an outpost of his Master's consciousness in the world. That is the connection which I seek to emphasise—the externalisation of the inner work of the planetary Hierarchy for the first time in history and a precipitation (if you like that term) of an inner and ready condition. The New Age is upon us and the integration of humanity in the three worlds warrants definite changes in technique though not in the basic plans.