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Discipleship in the New Age II - Teachings on Initiation - Part II
I am at this time carrying the current teaching upon initiation a step forward and am seeking to show that it is not essentially a process of soul-personality fusion (though that has to be a preliminary step) but of monad-personality integration, carried forward because of an attained alignment with the soul. Initiation is in fact the essential and inevitable process of transferring the primary triplicity of manifestation into the basic duality of spirit-matter. It is the "dissolution of the intermediary," and to this the crucifixion and death of the Christ was dedicated and intended to be the revelation, to the initiates of the past 2000 years, of the transmutation of the trinity of manifestation into the duality of purpose. I cannot word this in any other way but the enlightened will comprehend my meaning. The interpreters of the Gospel and many disciples of the Christian dispensation have singularly failed to grasp this revelation; they have laid the emphasis upon the death of the personality, whereas when Christ experienced the "great void of darkness" and chanted aloud the occult mantram "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me," he was recognizing simultaneously the distinction between his "robe of glory" (symbolized by the [259] partition of his garment by the Roman soldiery) and also calling the attention of all future disciples and initiates to the disappearance of the "middle principle," the soul; he was projecting (into the world consciousness) the recognition which must come of relation to the Father or the Monad. This great dissolution is culminated for us at the time of the third initiation when the Light of the Monad obliterates the light of the soul and the material atomic light of the threefold personality. But - and here is the point - the recognition of this death and its effects is only symbolically enacted and recognized at the time of the fourth initiation, the Crucifixion. All lesser dissolutions, deaths, renunciations and disappearances of that to which the lower nature holds and is held are enacted in relation to the accustomed aspects of form-life, and of conscious sensitivity and awareness; they are simply preparatory to and symbolic of the final great dissolution of the causal body, consummated at the Crucifixion. This leads to the resurrection or uprising of the personality-soul consciousness (duly fused and blended) into that of the monad. This is finally carried to the point of solar perfection at the Ascension initiation. I have given you this teaching in terms of the Christian presentation as it may be simpler for you to grasp, but there are many other formulations and approaches to these truths and the newer they are the more difficult necessarily are they to present. Only those who are on the immediate verge of initiation will understand; the others will prefer to interpret these truths to themselves in the easier and well-known formulas of the preparatory stage of the at-one-ing of soul and personality. The stage of recognizing the revelation which is accorded to the initiate of the major Mysteries is itself divided into lesser phases. These might be described as three in number though much is dependent upon the initiation to be taken and the ray of the prepared disciple. These are: 1. The Stage of Penetration. This refers to the piercing through the world glamor and thereby effecting two objectives: [260] The Light of the Spiritual Triad streams into the consciousness of the initiate, via the antahkarana, so that the Plan for humanity and the divine Purpose in relation to the planet become increasingly clear. This initiates relation to Shamballa. Part of the world glamor is thus dissipated and thus a clarifying of the astral plane takes place and humanity is consequently served. Every disciple who arrives at a recognition of the initiate-revelation releases light and dissipates a part of the glamor which blinds the mass of men. The sixth ray disciple takes far longer over this stage of penetration than do disciples on the other rays but only in this world cycle. 2. The Stage of Polarization. This is the stage wherein the initiate, having let in the light and penetrated through the dense fogs and mists of the world of glamor, suddenly realizes just what he has done and takes a firm stand, correctly oriented towards the vision (or to word it otherwise towards Shamballa). One of the things which must be grasped is that as the initiate is a point of hierarchical life (either on the periphery of the Hierarchy, or within the circle or at the center) he is a definite part of the hierarchical effort. That effort is directed towards an orientation to the greater center of life - Shamballa. Students are apt to believe that the orientation of the Hierarchy is towards humanity. That is not so. They respond to human need when the demand is effective, and are custodians of the Plan; but the orientation of the entire hierarchical group is towards the first aspect, as it expresses the Will of the Logos and manifests through Shamballa. Just as the disciple has to do two things: polarize his position by establishing right human relations and at the same time become a conscious, practicing member of the Kingdom of God, the Hierarchy, so the initiate - upon a higher turn of the spiral - has to establish right relations with the Hierarchy and become simultaneously conscious of Shamballa. All I can impart here is the desired point of attainment [261] but the phraseology is relatively meaningless, except to those who are experienced in the processes of initiation to a greater or less degree, according to the initiations already taken. This polarization, this point of focused effort and this attained orientation is the basic idea lying behind the phrase "the Mountain of Initiation." The initiate "plants his feet upon the mountain top and from that point of altitude perceives the thought of God, visions the dream within the Mind of God, follows God's eye from central point to outer goal and sees himself as all that is and yet within the whole." 3. The Stage of Precipitation. Having thus identified himself through penetration and polarization with the Plan and with the Will of God (which is the key to Shamballa), he then proceeds - as a result of this triple recognition - to do his share in materializing the Plan and in bringing through into outer manifestation and expression as much of that Plan as he can. He thus becomes first of all an outpost of the Hierarchy (which of necessity means sensitivity to the Shamballa energy), and then increasingly an Agent of Light - the Light universal, or the Light of the Monad. I have no more to say today anent initiation. Ponder upon that which I have given and grasp as far as you imaginatively can the magnificence of the initiatory process - so vastly more inclusive than has been indicated by any of the teaching given hitherto. After the war is over and the new world, with its coming civilization and culture begins to take shape, an increasing emphasis will be laid upon the purpose of the Controlling Deity or basic Life or Energy as it is working out through humanity. This will be done by those who are trained esotericists. Much that is now being said by world leaders and serving workers in every nation is an indication of an unconscious response to the Shamballa energy. Towards the end of the century and during the first few decades of the twenty-first century, teaching anent Shamballa will be given forth. The effort of the abstract mind of man will be towards the comprehension of this, just as the [262] goal of hierarchical contact marks the present effort of the disciple. Glamor is disappearing; illusions are being dissipated; the stage of penetration into a new dimension, into a new phase of effort and of attainment is rapidly being promulgated. This is being done in spite of all the horror and agony and will be one of the first results of respite from war. The war itself is shattering illusions, revealing the need for change and producing a demand for a future new world and a coming beauty in living which will be revolutionary and a material response to an intensive initiation process in which all disciples can share and for which advanced aspirants can prepare themselves.
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