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Discipleship in the New Age II - Teachings on Meditation - Part X - Meditation VII
Meditation VII - The Cross - Spiritual Position It is an occult truism to say that the disciple is crucified upon the Fixed Cross of the Heavens. This he is prepared always to accept, for he knows from bitter experience how true it is; he lives in the recognition that the life of the disciple is hard and its exigencies are inescapable. Curiously enough, a good deal of this recognition is based upon an unconscious and unrealized self-pity. To offset this unrecognized habit of thought, this meditation is intended to teach the disciple to create - with deliberate intention - his own cross, and in this manner do away with his idea (again unrealized) that the cross is the result of his point in evolution, that it is imposed upon him by astrological conditions, and that through it the Lords of Karma work, exacting from him the full price for all past misdeeds. This, in reality, is not so. By the time a man is admitted into an Ashram he has already worked off a very great deal of his karma, both good and bad, and is now ready to build his own cross upon which he takes his stand - with his hands stretched out in blessing. That is the idea underlying this seventh meditation on the vertical and the horizontal position of the practicing disciple. In this meditation you therefore have: The Vertical Life God, or the divine Reality, veiled by all forms. The polar opposite to this, i.e., the matter in which this divine nature is expressed. The method, based on ray tendencies, of this revelation. [190] The polar opposite, i.e., achievement. The trained disciple works always from the angle of achievement, of attained success. This attitude he assumes as regards himself, the serving disciple, and the work to be done. The Horizontal Life 1. Unity. As a result of his successful vertical life, the disciple feels himself at-one with all life in all forms and with humanity in particular. 2. This works out naturally in understanding. Because there are absolutely no barriers present, and there is also no realization of difference, the disciple can "tune in" on the life in all forms, and therefore enter into a full measure of inclusiveness, with all that that word implies. 3. His motivation is that of goodwill, which is a growing potency as the will-to-good (which he contacts indirectly in the Ashramic life) begins to affect him. Ponder on this statement. The goodwill of the masses is based on innate divine tendency; that of the disciple is based on knowledge and receptivity to certain energies from Shamballa. 4. This goodwill - as it is released - produces a normal expression upon the physical plane. You have, consequently, the crosses (+ X) which - when superimposed, provide a most interesting chart for the disciple's life. This meditation, therefore, provides a complete and rounded-out form for the disciple to follow; it will suffice him for many years to come. I have given you only a few hints in the above analysis, but you can arrive at much greater light on the matter if you will definitely realize that your daily life is based on a vertical attitude and a horizontal effectiveness. In these seven meditations, my brothers, you have all you need in order to make progress in your own life and also in the group life - functioning subjectively at present. If you [191] follow these meditations with care in the years to come, you will find that they will lead to an extension of your service, which (as far as the majority of you are concerned) has not been of great importance. These seven meditations make a perfect synthesis of recognitions, of unfoldment and of spiritual direction; if they are followed with care, they will eliminate selfishness and build in ashramic quality.
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