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The Rays and the Initiations - Part Two - Introductory Remarks
PART TWO - THE RAYS AND THE INITIATIONS Introductory Remarks We now come to the final part of A Treatise on the Seven Rays and I have in mind three things which it appears to me to be necessary to do; these three will make this Treatise not only the textbook of the new psychology but also a more vital factor in the human consciousness, because the fact of initiation will be emphasized. These three are: I propose to deal with the theme of Initiation in order to prepare the world of men for the restoration of the Mysteries. I will give some definite teaching on the Centers from the planetary angle and also from the angle of the individual aspirant. I will endeavor to relate the seven Ray energies to the five and the seven Initiations and to the three and the seven centers in a new and more arresting manner. This is a large order and one not easy to fulfil because so much has already been given out anent initiation; the subject is dangerously familiar. By that I mean that certain preconceived ideas are already present in men's minds and many of these are not factual in nature and need to be discarded or, at the best, reinterpreted. I have myself dealt in a broad and general way with the subject of initiation in one of my earliest books: Initiation, Human and Solar; also, scattered through all my writings over the years is a mass of information which needs collating and bringing together as a basis for the instruction of disciples in training for an initiation. In Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. I, I gave out much more upon this subject and also information of a deeply esoteric nature anent the Ashrams of the Masters. The second volume of the book also contains much that is new and should serve to bring this whole subject much closer to public understanding. In the instructions now to be given, however, I shall endeavor to cover the ground [324] not already considered, and look at the subject of initiation from the angle of the seven rays, from the effect upon the centers, planetary and individual, and from the point of view of the esoteric training of the accepted aspirant or disciple. (These instructions were begun in March 1946 and completed in March 1949.) This final volume of A Treatise on the Seven Rays will eventually change the attitude of men's minds towards the Mysteries and towards the activity of spiritual transference, which is one of the names given by the Masters to the basic mystery of initiation. In due time our educational centers, particularly those concerned with adult education, will take into calculation, normally and customarily, the fact of future initiation where their students are concerned, and will study their graduates from this angle in order to give advice or recommendation. In these institutions the elements of true esotericism will be taught, though they will not be then regarded as esoteric. It will be apparent to you that this long Treatise is in the nature of a preparatory thesis covering a vast field or area of information. The first two volumes dealt with the sevenfold nature of man and with the influence of the seven basic energies or rays upon his unfoldment and his history, and (in a briefer manner) upon the world in which he lives and upon the environment which aids and conditions him. In the third volume we took into consideration the influences of the constellations and planets upon the man and upon our planet, the Earth, and gave much time to the consideration of esoteric astrology; the rays, the signs, the constellations and the planets are all of them closely interrelated and the human being is the recipient of the energies and forces which they emanate or distribute. This makes the man what he essentially is at any one time whilst in incarnation. We next considered the subject of healing because of the necessity of understanding the limitations - psychological and physical - which restrict man's free expression of divinity. We dealt with a major condition which has to be faced [325] and comprehended if humanity is ever to step off the ordinary path of evolution on to the path of discipleship and of initiation. Man has to become aware of the ray effects, of the place the centers play in his advance and unfoldment, and of the play of energies and forces which produce the difficulties and the diseases, and can at the same time cure them and bring about the liberation of the man. From the consideration of limitations we passed on to an entirely new theme and an entirely new concept as regards man's education when he has reached a relatively very advanced stage of unfoldment. I gave you the new teaching anent the antahkarana or the mode and method whereby the initiate could relate in one great fusion or at-one-ment not only the soul and the personality, but monad, soul, and personality. This teaching has carried all that has hitherto been given, down the ages, another step further on and indicated the next stage of development ahead of the disciple. The time has come, as the Hierarchy had foreseen, for further light upon the endless Way.
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