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The Rays and the Initiations - Part Two - Section One - The Aspirant and the Mysteries of Initiation
The emphasis in the earlier teaching was upon character as the determining factor in deciding whether a man could "take initiation" (as it was called), and this was another of the presentations which have greatly misled aspirants. Character is of major importance - of such recognized importance that it is not necessary to dwell upon it. It is character, however, which enables a man to become a disciple with the aim in view of eventually entering [537] the Ashram of a Master and passing then through the processes of initiation. It is character which is rightly regarded as the first requirement when a man steps off the Probationary Path on to the Path of Discipleship. But he is still, however, a long way from his goal, and a long way from being accepted by a Master as a disciple. The truth might be expressed this way: When the disciple's eyes are removed from himself and his functioning in the three worlds is becoming spiritually controlled (or is in process of being controlled), then he is faced with becoming a truly mental being, with the focus of his life upon the mental level where it is subject to soul control; it then in turn becomes the directing agent of the man upon the physical plane. This does not mean that he is occupied with making his lower concrete mind active, directing and illumined; that is taking place gradually and automatically through the pressure of the higher influences pouring into and through him. He is occupied with the task of becoming aware of the activities of his higher or abstract mind and of the pure reason which controls and animates the buddhic plane, and which is itself susceptible to impression from the Monad. That plane has to become the one toward which his mental consciousness looks and upon which it focuses its attention. There it must be polarized, in the same sense as the consciousness of average humanity is today polarized on the plane of the emotions and of astral activity but is shifting with rapidity on to the mental plane. This involves a dual activity; the lower mind becomes a potent factor in directing the service activities of the disciple. These activities become the major motivating potency in the disciple's life and are a consequence of a growing soul fusion with the personality, thus developing and unfolding his sense of inclusiveness. Inclusiveness is the supreme key to the understanding of consciousness. At the same time, the higher mind is impressing the lower mind and drawing it into a higher fusion with itself. This process of unfoldment creates certain major points of successive fusions, with consequent points of tension; [538] these points of tension (when consciously attained) become the actuating energy which enables the disciple to "stand in the light and in that light see greater Light; within that greater Light he knows and sees, grasps and absorbs that which has hitherto been dark and secret and unknown." This is initiation. Periods of search, periods of pain, periods of detachment, periods of revelation producing points of fusion, points of tension and points of energy projection - such is the story of the Path of Initiation. Initiation is in truth the name given to the revelation or new vision which ever draws the disciple onward into greater light; it is not something conferred upon him or given to him. It is a process of light recognition and of light utilization in order to enter into ever clearer light. Progress from a dimly lighted area in the divine manifestation into one of supernal glory is the story of the Path of Evolution. In the Masters' Archives there are some Rules for Disciples of very ancient origin. Among them is one that is so old and so abstruse that it is only now possible to bring it to the attention of humanity, owing to the increased mental and spiritual perception of the modern aspirant. It can be inadequately translated as follows: "The light is seen, a tiny point of piercing light. This light is warm and red. It nearer draws as it reveals the things that are, the things which may be. It pierces the third center and removes all glamor and desire. "A light is seen through the medium of the lower light - a light of warmth and heat. It pierces to the heart and in that light all forms are seen pervaded by a glowing light. The world of lighted forms is now perceived, linked each to each by light. This light is blue, and flaming is its nature. Between the warm and reddish light and this clear light there burns a glow of flame - a flame which must be entered, ere the light of blue is entered and is used. [539] "Another light is then perceived, the clear cold light which is not light but darkness in its purest purity - the Light of God Himself. It renders dark all else beside Itself; all forms fade out and yet the whole of life is there. It is not light as we know light. It is that pure essential essence of that Light which reveals Itself through light." It was the second light to which the Buddha and the Christ both referred when They said: "I am the light of the world." It is the Light of God Himself, the Lord of the Worlds, in which the Lives within the Council Chamber of Shamballa live and move and have Their Being. It is the recognition of the varying "lights" upon the Lighted Way that signifies readiness for initiation. The initiate enters into light in a peculiar sense; it permeates his nature according to his development at any point in time and space; it enables him to contact and see the hitherto unseen, and on the basis of the newly acquired knowledge to direct his steps still further. I am not here speaking in symbols. Each initiation dims the light already acquired and used, and then immerses the initiate in a higher light. Each initiation enables the disciple to perceive an area of divine consciousness hitherto unknown but which, when the disciple has familiarized himself with it and with its unique phenomena, vibratory quality and interrelations, becomes for him a normal field of experience and activity. Thus (if I may so express it) the "worlds of living forms and formless lives become his own." Again duality enters into his mental perception, for he is now aware of the lighted area from which he comes to the point of tension or of initiation; through the initiatory process he discovers a new and more brilliantly lighted area into which he may now enter. This involves no leaving of the former field of activity in which he has worked and lived; it simply means that new fields of responsibility and of opportunity confront him because he is - through his own effort - able to see more light, to walk in a greater light, to prove more adequately than [540] heretofore his capacities within the greatly increased area of possibility.
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