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The Rays and the Initiations - Part One - Fourteen Rules For Group Initiation
Let us now proceed, after these few preliminary remarks, to take this tenth rule sentence by sentence. These are five in number, and the first which we will consider is: The rules for work within the veils of maya are known and have been used. Students should remember that the work of the Hierarchy is constantly conditioned by the point in evolution of the human hierarchy. In the early days of human history, thinking and progress had practically no place, and therefore little or no effect upon the forces and energies which were active upon etheric levels. At that period, they were left in a relatively quiescent state or else were swept into activity by definite and planned impression from the Hierarchy; any effect coming from the human kingdom was due solely to mass impulse or impression. This was very little, owing to the lack of coordinated relation between units and groups within the human family. Later, as family units massed together and formed tribes, and then tribe united with tribe to form larger tribes or embryonic nations, this mass effect increased, but there was still but little thinking or direction connected with it; it was largely instinctive and - if I might so express it - the etheric plane was in reality more in the nature of a matrix surrounding a valuable creation, and was essentially protective, separating and slightly energizing. In Atlantean days, the plane whereon humanity received its major direction or unfoldment was such that the [186] emotional, impulsive nature and the field of maturing desire became dominantly active. Then the real difficulty within the realm of maya started. Hitherto only two energies had been felt upon the etheric plane: the energy of life itself, via the sutratma, as it passed through the etheric plane in order to produce exoteric livingness upon the physical plane, and secondly, the energy of the Hierarchy as a whole, producing a slow, broad, though somewhat negative organization of the prevalent forces. But then a third and most potent force, generated by humanity, was beginning to make an impact upon the etheric forces. Men were beginning, at this early period of human history, to desire, and this desire was not, as hitherto, of a purely animal nature and hence an emanation from dense physical substance (and, therefore, not related to a principle), but it embodied a new type of energy and was - in reality - man's first expression of the highest divine aspect. Desire is the lowest reflection within the human consciousness of the will aspect. This potent vibration of desire was evoked by men who were as yet without any spiritual vision of any kind; they were purely material in their instinctive reactions (and rightly so at that particular time), and these reactions attracted the attention of certain purely evil energies or Beings. These Beings availed themselves of the situation in order to satisfy their desire for power - again a distortion of the will or first aspect. Thus the Black Lodge was founded. It fed upon human desire and resembled a vast over-shadowing vampire. It vitiated human living and increased the growth of desire far beyond normal expectancy or hierarchical planning, thus creating false goals and standards, building a barrier between the lowest planetary center, Humanity, and the "middle point" or center, the Hierarchy. It will be apparent, therefore, that the following energies were let loose within the realm of maya: The instinctive force of animal desire. This was not wrong in itself and is subject to negation in time, and normally is controlled. [187] The stream of descending life, and this in two aspects: The life aspect, as it bestows being. The life aspect, as it preserves form. The steady impact of the attractive power of the soul, implemented by the Hierarchy and increasing in potency as time elapses. The impelling power of material desire, focused in the Black Lodge, both feeding human desire and drawing a form of life from the massed desire of humanity. Human development along astral lines, expressing itself as certain well-defined energies or force directions: Material desire for possessions. Desire for that which is owned by others. To this the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" has reference. Personality aims and ambitions; these constitute a form of focused desire of a compelling, life-determining nature. Aspiration, leading to vision and to the mystic Way. Purification, the conscious handling of desire upon the Probationary Path. Initiation. The first two initiations are taken, as you know, upon the astral plane, and bring complete release both from that plane of glamor and from the realm of maya. All throughout this period, the organization of the etheric plane has been going on, subject to the impact of energies and forces as listed above, plus certain other energies (latent or potent) with which we have no immediate concern. Both the great White Lodge and its opponent, the Black Lodge, increased steadily in potency. Gradually the forces took organized form and the four "veils of maya" or the seven separating energies became well-defined. When this differentiation was complete, two great planetary events (if I might call them so) were consummated: [188] The seven centers in the human body (five up the spine and two in the head) were esoterically "in shape." The seven lotuses, or chakras were functioning, some powerfully, whilst others remained unawakened. These seven were now visible to clairvoyant vision. The seven Ashrams of the Masters in Their seven groups (conditioned by the seven Rays) appeared, motivated from Shamballa, organized at this time upon the higher levels of the mental plane, and gradually supplied with personnel from the ranks of humanity itself, as one by one men achieved initiation.
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