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The Rays and the Initiations - Part Two - Section One - The Aspirant and the Mysteries of Initiation
But both groups of aspirants (the black and the white) stand before the door of initiation and take the needed steps to open it on two similar occasions. Both overcome glamor after the second initiation, and see their way clearly ahead; but their goals emerge as widely different; one treads the broad way which leads ever deeper into matter and materialism, into darkness and "black power"; the other leads to the straight and narrow way, to the razor-edged path which leads into light and life. One group has never freed itself from the principles which governed the first solar system. They were principles entirely related to matter and substance, and were at that time and in that period (so remote that the number of years of distance can be stated only in super-astronomical figures) the conditioning factors for the initiation of the time. Certain units of humanity - then existent - were so completely conditioned by these material principles and so deliberately unready for moving on to the comprehension of another set of principles (more expressive of the divine nature) that they remained of "fixed and selfish material purpose" and a planned distortion of the divine will was intelligently created by them. You have here a hint as to the nature of evil and a clue to a part (though only a part) of the mystery to be noted in the statement that evil and good are reverse aspects of the same one reality, and evil is that good which we should have left behind, passing on to greater and more inclusive good. Forget not that the black magicians of today were the initiates of a previous solar system. When the door of initiation is ready to open for the third time, the parting of the ways takes place. Some follow selfish intention and the fixed determination to remain with the separative condition of matter; and to others, the divine will is clearly impressed upon them and becomes the motivating power in their lives. It was under instructions from the Great White Lodge on Sirius that the door remains [351] closed the third time to the dark brothers. Evil, as we understand it, has absolutely no place on Sirius. To the black magician, at this third opportunity, the door of initiation presents an insuperable barrier and obstacle; to the true spiritual neophyte, the door connotes "overcoming." We shall not consider further the approach of the black brothers to that door, but shall confine ourselves to a consideration of the initiations of the Great White Lodge. This door of initiation is connected with the great problem of what H.P.B. calls the "mystery of electricity"; the door is itself an electrical phenomenon essentially. Having said this, even if you do not understand my meaning, you can, however, grasp the possibility that (being electrical in nature) it can easily present an obstructing force, a repelling energy to the approach of the aspirant; this is the correct way to look at it. It is only when the electrical energy of which the door is constituted and that of which the man is constructed at any particular time synchronize and vibrate in unison that the aspirant can pass through to greater light. This gives you a somewhat new and rather abstruse definition of initiation. Nevertheless, as science arrives at a better understanding of the human being as an electrical unit of power and light, and of his triple mechanism as created of three aspects of electricity, a truer comprehension of the significance of initiation will eventuate. The three fires of which all things are made are electrical in nature and - speaking symbolically - it is only when "fire by friction" is dominated by "solar fire" that the first four initiations can be taken, culminating in the fifth initiation in which these two fires are subordinated to "electric fire" emanating from the monad and giving a new revelation. This monadic process begins at the third initiation. It might be added that the third initiation (culminating in the Transfiguration) is taken on the three higher levels of the mental plane, and that it is therefore upon the fourth level of the mental plane that the aspirant first of all stands before the door, seeking initiation. That electrical unit or phenomenon of electricity [352] which we call the fourth kingdom in nature, on this fourth subplane of the mental plane esoterically "ejects" the unit of electricity which is ready to be absorbed by the higher form of electricity. Fire by friction dies out and solar fire takes its place, and the relationship between the two higher forms of electricity becomes established. It is solar fire which forms and likewise guards the door of initiation for the first four initiations. It is the electrical fire which forms the door of initiation for those initiations which guard the Way to the Higher Evolution. There are four types of fire by friction which create the "obstructing door" in unison with solar fire, of which it is essentially created. These are as follows: Electrical energy, composed of two forces of electricity: the innate, inert and latent force of the physical plane atoms of the dense physical vehicle, and the force which we call prana which is an aspect of the energy composing the etheric body. These two blend, combine and form the "door" through which the spiritual man must pass when he undergoes the first initiation. This provocative energy tests out every part of his physical equipment and - as he passes the test - the door opens, the opposing energies symbolically "die out," and he can pass on to the Path of Initiation, free from that type of obstruction. The physical body no longer rules him, either through its limitations and faults or through the physical disciplines which have been hitherto needed but are no longer required. The electrical energy of the astral or emotional body next confronts him as he prepares to take the second initiation. You can call this energy, if you so choose, the sum total of all the glamors; a glamor is essentially a bewildering, deceiving and illusory energy-form which seeks to sidetrack and mislead the neophyte and which is attracted to him by ancient habit and old controls. He is therefore responsible for the impact of this energy. This type of energy takes form, and the massed forms of these glamors constitute the opposing door and oppose the passing of the [353] aspirant on to the next phase of the Path. With this electrical energy he must deal before he takes the second initiation. These particular energies are not thought-forms; they are drifting, undefined and exceedingly fluid. Of this type of energy water is the symbol, and this is one reason why this second initiation is called the Baptism initiation, or the initiation of "entering the stream." The electrical energy of the mind now creates the door for the third initiation, and the obstruction which confronts the initiate is that of the electrical figments of his own thinking, shining with a light which is all their own (for they are of the highest order and type), but veiling the pure light which shines behind them. They constitute the sumtotal of illusion. This "door" is formed by the coming together of the three types of energy: fire by friction, solar fire (playing in full force at this third initiation), and electrical fire from the Spiritual Triad, making its first impact on the other two fires, for all three are in full activity at this initiatory crisis. All are localized and concentrated in that symbol of progress, the "door of initiation." It should be becoming increasingly clear to you why the initiate is ever portrayed as one who works with the forces and energies of the planet and the system. To him, there is naught else. The fourth type of "fire by friction" which confronts the initiate as he stands prepared for that initiation which we call the Great Renunciation is the electric energy of the entire integrated personality. That which is the product of every incarnation - the highly developed, powerful and "clear-eyed" personality (as it is called) - is the final event and presents the final great obstruction.
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