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Discipleship in the New Age II - Teachings on Initiation - Part X
The Hierarchy was faced with the fact that thousands of aspirants have been coming into incarnation with much of this primary mental work well accomplished and with a substantial measure of soul contact already satisfactorily established; the ancient method, therefore, began to prove futile. The entire process was too easy and did not constitute a test of the disciple's intuition. When this was grasped, the whole subject was shifted, within hierarchical circles, from the mental plane to that of buddhi or of pure reason. This led to the discarding of a hint as a means of mental unfoldment and to the development of a new process whereby the presented [413] hint was invocative of the intuition. The standard of requirements was consequently raised. The minds of men met this new challenge, and the consciousness of those who stood on the periphery of the Hierarchy, and in line, therefore, for ashramic training, was recognized as being now basically mental, with a growing sensitivity to intuitional understanding. It was realized in hierarchical Ashrams that the light of the soul was, speaking generally, beginning to flood the aura of the fourth kingdom in nature, and that there were many thousands of aspirants who were developing responsiveness to the light of the Spiritual Triad. The Masters, therefore, withdrew their attention from aspirants upon the Probationary Path, and left them to be trained by disciples in some one or other Ashram, and gave their attention primarily to those upon the mental plane who could be attracted by triadal expression and energy, and who were not entirely interested in the task of soul contact. The problem confronting the Hierarchy was interesting. This new type of aspirant was responsive to three types of light: The light of substance, or the innate light of the personality. The light of the soul, attuned to the light of love, which dominates the Hierarchy. The light of the Triad, which is an aspect of the spiritual Will, and which streams from Shamballa. The first thing, therefore, which the aspirant must be taught is to know, past all interior controversy, where he stands upon that part of the Path of Evolution which stretches across the mental plane into the plane of buddhi, and thus is on the Way of the Higher Evolution. I am here using words symbolically. He must know which of the lights (to which he finds himself responsive) is the light which he must use to make further progress. Is the light of the personality to be trained upon the point of soul contact, so that the lower mind becomes the searchlight of revelation? Or has the point been reached where the light of the soul, which is the pure [414] energy of love, can be turned upon all life and circumstances in the three worlds, thus enabling the disciple to become a soul-infused personality and thus permitted entrance into the appropriate Ashram? Or has a still higher point been reached, and the light of the Spiritual Triad can begin to be directed upon the soul-infused personality, via the antahkarana? These are the problems which the modern aspirant has to face, and therefore he must himself discover the hint which is related to his highest point in consciousness. I would ask you here to bear in mind that the point in consciousness is not necessarily identical with the point in evolution. A high point in evolution can be reached unconsciously and the disciple is frequently not truly aware of what he IS. He has to become consciously aware of his exact point of attainment before he can really know what the next step is which he must consciously take. He is presented at this stage with a vast body or structure of truth; his mental appreciation of these stages and principles can be very real, but there is apt to be much confusion when the concrete mind is unduly dominant (as it so often is); the abstract mind is likewise active, and faint indications of the functioning of the intuition and of the higher modes of knowledge and of realization are given. The disciple then passes through the stage wherein he appropriates everything that comes his way; he seeks to use everything he knows or even senses in his effort to advance, to develop usefulness and to pass through the door of initiation. It is at this point that the new training in this new era of hierarchical activity is applied to the modern disciple. Being naturally a mental type, he is unfolding rapidly a correct sense of proportion, and is therefore urged by ashramic activity and by the aura of the Ashram in which he is now permitted to work, to discover for himself that hint or veiled information which will clarify his way. He begins to understand that the lower mind, with its multiplicity of differentiations and its tabulating, analyzing and complicated approach to truth, is only a foundation upon which he can take a firm stand, but that he is faced with a profound simplicity; [415] he realizes that he must find out for himself that hint (which his own ray equipment hides but also reveals) which will enable him to substitute the pure reason for the many complexities of the lower mind. He has to wrestle with the problem of this simplicity, with its penetrating potency, and with its swift comprehension of the basic truth underlying the many truths; he learns, finally, to substitute the intuition - with its swiftness and its infallibility - for the slow and laborious work of the mind, with its deviousness, its illusions, its errors, its dogmatisms and its separative thinking and cultures. He finds out - as a preliminary step - the nature of his rays; he begins to discriminate between intelligence, love and what he believes, theoretically, the will may be, but he knows that he has as yet no real experience of this highest divine aspect. His developing intelligence is the result and the reward of experience; his understanding of love, the second divine aspect, is also in the experimental stage and his knowledge is not reliable; the fused expression of intelligence and love (of personality and soul, to be specific) can only be possible when the will aspect in some measure is beginning to function.
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