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Letters on Occult Meditation - Letter V - Dangers to be avoided in Meditation
Three Types of Affiliated Groups Perhaps I could here give some indications of the groups on the various planes to which a man is assigned. These groups are many and diverse and at different periods of a man's life may change and differ, as he works out from under the obligating karma that governs the affiliations. Let us remember too that as a man enlarges his capacity to serve he at the same time increases the size and number of the groups he contacts till he reaches a point in some later incarnation when the world [116] itself is his sphere of service and the multitude those whom he assists. He has to serve in a threefold manner before he is permitted to change his line of action and pass on to other work, - planetary, systemic or cosmic. He serves first through activity, through the use of his intelligence, using the high faculties of mind and the product of his genius to aid the sons of men. He builds slowly great powers of intellect and in the building overcomes the snare of pride. He takes, then, that active intelligence of his and lays it at the feet of collective humanity, giving of his best for the helping of the race. He serves through love, becoming, as time elapses, one of the saviors of men, spending his life and giving of his all through perfect love of his brothers. A life then comes when the utmost sacrifice is made and in love he dies that others may live. He serves then through power. Proved in the furnace to have no thought save the good of all around, he is trusted with the power that follows from active love intelligently applied. He works with the law, and bends all his will to make the power of the law felt in the threefold realms of death. In all these three branches of service you will notice that the faculty of working with groups is one of paramount importance. These groups are diverse, as before I have said, and vary on different planes. Let us briefly enumerate them: 1. On the physical plane: The following groups will be found: His family group to which he is usually affiliated for two reasons, one to work out karma and repay his debts; the second, to receive a certain type of physical vehicle that the Ego needs for adequate expression. [117] His associates and friends; the people his environment throws him with, his business associates, his church affiliations, his acquaintances and casual friends, and the people he touches for a brief period and then sees no more. His work with them is twofold again; first to repay an obligation should such a debt have been incurred; and secondly to test out his powers to influence for good those around him, to recognize responsibility and to direct or help. In doing thus, the Guides of the race find out the actions and reactions of a man, his capacity for service, and his response to any surrounding need. His associated band of servers, the group under some Great One that is definitely united for work of an occult and spiritual nature. It may be either a band of church workers among the orthodox (beginners are tried out here); it may be in social work such as in the labor movements or in the political arena; or it may be in the more definitely pioneer movements of the world, such as the Theosophical Society, the Christian Science movement, the New Thought workers and the Spiritualists. I would add to this, one branch of endeavor that may surprise you, - I mean the movement of the Soviet in Russia and all the aggressive radical bodies that sincerely serve under their leaders (even when misguided and unbalanced) for the betterment of the condition of the masses. Thus on the physical plane you have three groups to which a man belongs. He owes a duty to them and he must play his part. Now wherein could danger enter through meditation? Simply in this: that as long as a man's karma holds him to some particular group the thing that he must aim at is to play his part perfectly, so that he may work out from under karmic obligation [118] and advance toward ultimate liberation; besides this he must carry on his group with him to greater heights and usefulness. Therefore, if through meditation of an unsuitable nature he neglects his proper obligation he delays the purpose of his life, and in another incarnation he will have to play it out. If he builds into that group's causal body (the composite product of the several lines) aught that has not its place properly there, he aids not but hinders, and again that involves danger. Let me illustrate, for clarity is desired: A student is affiliated with a group that has an over-preponderance of devotees, and he has come in for the express purpose of balancing that quality with another factor, that of wise discrimination and mental balance. If he permits himself to be overcome by the group thought-forms and becomes himself a devotee, following a devotional meditation and unwisely omitting to balance that group's causal body, he runs into a danger that hurts not only himself but the group to which he belongs. 2. On the emotional plane: Here be belongs to several groups such as: His emotional plane family group, which is more thoroughly his own group than the family into which he happens to be born on the physical plane. You will see this demonstrated many times in life when members of an emotional plane family contact each other on the physical plane. Instant recognition ensues. The class within the Hall of Learning to which he is assigned and in which he receives much instruction. The band of Invisible Helpers with whom he may be working and the band of Servers. All these groups involve obligation and work and all must be allowed for in studying the wise use of meditation. [119] Meditation should increase a man's capacity to discharge his karmic debts, giving clear vision, wise judgment and a comprehension of the work of the immediate moment. Anything that militates against this is dangerous. 3. On the mental plane: The groups to be found there may be enumerated as follows: The groups of pupils of some one Master to Whom he may be attached, and with Whom he may be working. This is usually only the case when the man is rapidly working out his karma and is nearing the entrance to the Path. His meditation, therefore, should be directly under the guidance of his Master, and any formula followed that is not adjusted to a man's need carries with it elements of danger, for the vibrations set up on the mental plane and the forces engendered there are so much more potent than on the lower levels. The egoic group to which he belongs. This is most important for it involves the consideration of the man's ray in the apportioning of meditation. This matter has already been somewhat touched upon. As you will see, I have not specified certain dangers attacking any particular body. It is not possible to cover the subject thus. In later days, when occult meditation is more comprehended and the matter scientifically studied, students will prepare the necessary data and treatises covering the entire subject as far as then may be. I sound, however, a note of warning, I indicate the way, - the teachers on the inner side seldom do more. We aim at developing thinkers and men of clear vision, capable of logical reasoning. To do this we teach men to develop themselves, to do their own thinking, reason out their own problems, and build their own characters. Such is the Path... [120]
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