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Letters on Occult Meditation - Letter IX - Future Schools of Meditation
4. The Grades and Classes October 29th, 1920 Our fourth point comes up for consideration today, and in its discussion I will give you somewhat concerning the preparatory occult school but little concerning the advanced. This fourth point is one anent the grades and classes. We have, in an earlier letter, touched upon the curriculum of the preparatory schools and have seen that that curriculum deals much with the development of lower [325] mind, with the laying of the foundations upon which to build the later work, and with the formulation, the study, and the memorizing of the theories and occult laws upon which the true occultist will later base his practical work. We saw also that much that was taught was necessarily closely allied with the exoteric teaching of the world, and necessitated the school being in close touch with the centers of modern thought. Today I seek to point out certain things that will be seen in the scheme of the student's work and to show the method whereby he is gradually led on until he is fit to pass on into the more advanced college. We will as usual divide our subject into three heads: The times of study. The types of work. The transformation of potential faculty into active powers through practice. a. The Times of Study All the work of the school will be based upon an occult knowledge of times and seasons, and two things will be carefully adhered to: 1. The school year will be divided into two halves, one half wherein the pupils are strenuously acquiring knowledge, that period being that in which the sun moves northward or the earlier half of the year, and a second half - separated from the earlier by an interval of six weeks - wherein he assimilates and puts, into practice that - which earlier was imparted. During the earlier months of the year he goes through a drastic system of reception, of learning, of hard study, of accumulation of facts and of concrete knowledge. He attends lectures, he wades through many books, he studies in the laboratory, and with the aid of the microscope and of the [326] telescope he widens the range of his vision, and builds into his mental body a vast store of scientific data. During the six weeks' vacation he is recommended to rest entirely from all mental effort save that associated with the practice of the imparted occult meditation. He mentally follows the cycle and goes into pralaya temporarily. At the end of six weeks he returns to his work with the object in view of systematizing the mass of information, of perfecting his comprehension of the facts earlier studied, of practicing that part of the occult lore permissible, with the object in view of becoming proficient and to discover his weak points. He writes during the "dark period" of the year the themes and essays, the books and pamphlets that will embody the product of the assimilated information. The best of these books will be published yearly by the college, for the use of the public. In this way be serves his time and generation and educates the race in the higher knowledge. 2. In exactly the same way his studies each month will be so arranged that the harder part (dealing with the higher mind) will be undertaken during the part of the month which is called the bright half, whilst the work of the dark half will be more given over to the things concerning lower mind and to an effort to hold the gain of the earlier weeks. Each day will be likewise divided into set times, the earlier hours being those in which the more abstract and occult data will be given, the latter part of the day being given over to a more practical type of work. The basis of all occult growth is meditation, or those periods of silent gestation in which the soul grows in the silence. Therefore, during the day there will be for every pupil in the school three periods of meditation - at sunrise, at midday, and at sunset. During the earlier part of the pupil's attendance at the school these periods will be for [327] thirty minutes each. Later he will give one hour to the practice of occult meditation three times a day, and during his final year he will be expected to give five hours a day to meditation. When he can do this and get results he will be able to pass on into the advanced school. It is the great test and mark of readiness. The hours of the school will begin with sunrise and end with sunset. After the sun sets, and for one hour after each of the other two periods of meditation, the pupil is permitted to relax, take his meals and recreate himself. All pupils will be required to retire to rest at night by ten o'clock, after thirty minutes of careful revision of the day's work and the filling in of certain charts that go to the completion of his record. The length of a pupil's stay in the school depends entirely upon the progress made, the inner powers of assimilation and the outer life of service. It depends therefore upon the point in evolution at which he enters the school. Those just entering the Path of Probation will be there for five to seven years and on occasion even longer; those who are old disciples and those who have taken initiation in earlier lives will be there but a brief time, pushing rapidly through the curriculum and simply learning to produce for use the knowledge earlier stored. The period of their stay will be anywhere from one to five years, usually about three. Their innate knowledge will be developed by encouraging them to teach the younger brethren. A pupil passes out of the school, not as a result of an exoteric examination but simply on the notification of the Head of the School, who bases his decision upon esoteric results in the bodies of the pupil, upon the clarity of his auric colors and upon the tone of his life and the key of his vibration. [328]
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