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Discipleship in the New Age II - Talks to Disciples - Group Instruction
January 1949 MY BROTHERS: This new year of 1949 is a peculiarly momentous one from the angle of spiritual values. Last year was one of decision - as public affairs have demonstrated - decisions which were not always sound and which infringed the principle of right human relations. It was a year of decision for the Hierarchy as well as for many world leaders, both secular and spiritual. The disciples of the world were under great and peculiar strain, many of them working off and handling severe personal karma, and some of them descending into the very depths of realization - depths where world iniquity and world sorrow confronted them and world issues were made very clear to them. It was therefore a year of peculiar testing and trial, and the more advanced the disciple the greater has been his problem, involving as it has done both personal and world problems. The load upon them has been heavy. To this condition the members of the New Seed Group and those affiliated with them and with my Ashram have been no exception. This new year holds in it great potentialities for expansion and growth and for the progress of all movements, particularly those oriented to the work of the spiritual Hierarchy of our planet. The inflowing force is beneficently potent and the destructive forces which have prevailed during the last few years are not so dynamic. This should be a year of moving forward and of expansion (implemented and directed by the Hierarchy). The spiritual vortex of force which is moving nearer to manifestation will [82] make possible certain moves and will clear away some (though not all) of those forces which have held back the proposed expansion and which have limited the work that disciples all over the world have sought to do. Every disciple has been tested; unsuspected weaknesses have emerged and characteristics which should be straightened out have come to the surface; a few - a very few - have fallen by the way, but a large majority have passed the test. Weaknesses of motivation, of purpose, of technique and of personality faults have been exposed and recognized by truly earnest disciples; this has been necessary, for the incoming energies will render excessive the weaknesses (if they are recognized for what they are) and will enhance the contribution to world service of those disciples who can stand the strain and face themselves with truth and sincerity. The call is going out from every Ashram to all workers to close their ranks and to stand together in the closest comradeship of loyalty and understanding; the challenge is for them to subject themselves (and by that I mean their personalities) to a drastically applied self-discipline, to a purifying process, and to effect those reforms within their own natures which will make them more effective instruments in service. I am impressing the minds of those members of my Ashram of whom you have never heard with these same ideas in connection with the work that they may be doing for the Hierarchy. It was the knowledge of this coming inflow and opportunity for increased usefulness which prompted A.A.B. to put through the reorganization of the Arcane School, to close its ranks and to deepen the proposed trend of the teaching and thus to take those steps which will make the work more effective and potent. She has also taken and will in the near future take the needed steps for the effective functioning of the Arcane School after she passes to the inner side of service. The organizing and work of the Arcane School is the spiritual project of A.A.B. and with it I have nothing whatsoever to do, nor shall I ever in the future guide or take any part in the affairs of the Arcane School. That is the task of those whom A.A.B. will choose to carry on. It is a living [83] organism which will grow of its own inherent potentialities and tinder the spiritual inspiration of the energy coming from the Ashram of the Master K.H. in which A.A.B. is a worker and disciple. I seek now to make a few comments anent the work for which A.A.B. has been responsible and for which F.B. will be responsible when she passes over. During the years in which I have been in touch with all of you, much world work has been started, and the influence of the group of workers whom A.A.B. and F.B. have gathered around them has spread all over the world. I refer here to what they stand for internationally and - as a result of the spread of the teaching for which I am responsible - to the change which has been wrought in the general consciousness. That is far greater than you know. The worldwide spiritual ferment which has been consequently set up has been due to two main causes: The Arcane School as members have adhered to it in every land and have each in turn become distributors of light. The publication and distribution of my books everywhere; they are far more widely read than you have any idea. Out of the apprehension of truth by many thousands in many lands and the need for it to be put to practical use in these days of dire world need, two other modes of work were initiated: the Triangles and the Goodwill work. There is here no need for me to go into details anent these two spiritual enterprises. You know them well, though only a few of you have been truly interested or thrown yourselves, heart and soul, into assisting. The Arcane School is not one of my activities or enterprises, and has never been. In view of the condition of esoteric schools (so called) in the world, when A.A.B. organized the Arcane School she deliberately refused to let me have anything to do with it, and I fully concurred in her decision. The extent of my connection with the School lies in the fact [84] that I outlined for her the degrees of the School, and once or twice - in my instructions used in the Disciples Degree - I appealed to the students for cooperation in some matter. Forget not that these instructions were not School instructions, but were the early form of my books and went out unchanged to the general public. Also, it has only been within the last five years that any correspondence course for, the School has been arranged around one or other of my books. The policy of the School, its principles, curriculum and techniques, have been entirely those of A.A.B., working in conjunction with F.B. and after consultation with one or two senior students living in or around New York or in Europe. There has necessarily been questioning among senior students and in this group as to what will happen when A.A.B. passes on. The past record of this group in effective and steady work would not incite A.A.B. to have much confidence in your leadership. You have shown no organized group ability to take a piece of work embodying some one or other of my suggested spiritual enterprises and effectively work together for its furtherance. What have you done as a group to aid the Triangle work or the Goodwill work, or to throw yourselves successfully behind the work of the School? There are many outside the New Seed Group who have done a more consecrated and selfless task than have you, though there are a few exceptions. But, my brothers, out of fifty-one, how few!! When A.A.B. passes on she will leave the Arcane School and, with my full approval, all the other activities in the hands of F.B. She will leave also, in the departments, dedicated men who will continue to assume, as far as in them lies, the direction of the work, in consultation with F.B. There will be no need whatsoever for any reorganization. Why should there be? A.A.B. has been interested in and has initiated, with F.B., all departments. She has never been a worker in any of them, which may be a new idea to you. When she finishes her job there is no gap in any department. So why reorganization? The work will go on with the same workers, and new ones will be added as need arises. Young workers must be chosen who may not see things as all of [85] you see them, and in that lies the hope of the work's persistence, for most of you are too old for the work of reconstruction and too crystallized; you can, however, form a strong foundation and give courage to the young ones. Most of you are too anxious to see the old methods and modes of work perpetuated. I and A.A.B. are more interested in seeing that the need of the youth of the world is met. The principles of the Ageless Wisdom must be preserved, but all outworn forms must go. The success and growth of the work will depend upon the smooth transition which can be made between the past and the coming new world; it will be dependent upon the determination of the workers to continue with what they are doing, to renew their dedication and above all, their vision; to eliminate all desire for prominence in the work and all ambition, and with a will to meet the need in the new ways, with the expanded truths and with no dogmatism.
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