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Discipleship in the New Age II - Personal Instructions to Disciples - D.L.R.
August 1946 MY DISCIPLE: I would have you note the change in the manner in which I am addressing you. It has significance and my word to you in this instruction is simply this: Give to the years ahead a deep study in order to ascertain the implications and the opportunities that this word - given you at this particular time - implies; study the consequent effectiveness in contact (upward, inward, and outward, if one may use such inadequate terms!) that will result. Occultly speaking, you stand alone; you lead a lonely life, for there is no single person in your environment who shares with you the same quality or grade of spiritual perception. This you may deny, for your life is very full. Life has its constant points of revelation, some of which we recognize, and others pass by unnoted. The revelation of a certain type of spiritual loneliness is one through which all disciples have to pass; it is a test of that occult detachment which every disciple has to master. This solitariness has to be faced and understood, and it results in two realizations: first of all, a realization of your exact point on the ladder of evolution, or on the Path; and secondly, an intuitive perception of the point in evolution of those we contact along the way of life. For quite a long time every disciple refuses to do either of these two things. A false humility, which in reality borders on a lack of truthfulness, [763] keeps him from clear-eyed recognition of status - a recognition which necessarily involves more intelligence and sounds out no call to pride. Few too dare trust themselves to see their fellowmen as they really are, for fear of a critical spirit - so hard it is to develop the true practice of loving understanding which leads to the seeing of all people in truth, with their faults and their virtues, their pettiness and their grandeurs, and still to love them as before and even more. This occult solitariness must be consciously developed by you, and not left to circumstances. It is a solitariness which rests on soul attainment and upon no spirit of separateness; it is a solitariness which boasts of many friends and many interruptions, but of these many, few - if any - are admitted to the point of sacred peace; it is a solitariness that shuts none out, but which withholds the secrets of the Ashram from those who seek to penetrate. It is, finally, a solitariness which opens wide the door into the Ashram. This is the factor you need the most to cultivate at this time. It will necessitate a conscious and definite withdrawal of yourself, and at the same time will lead to a still warmer expression of love upon the outer plane of life. The closing of this outer group may enable you the more easily to do this, and may deepen your inner life immeasurably. Welcome, therefore, this opportunity. As regards the outer group, I would ask you to keep in close touch, however, through correspondence, with J.S.P.; she is a group brother who sorely needs your strength and knowledge. She has suffered far more than any of you and sorely needs lifting into a sense of security and peace. I commend her to you, and she will be good for you as you for her. As for your meditation work, my brother, I would have you adhere to the Full Moon procedure outlined earlier by me, and I would ask you to keep this practice up for the remainder of your life. I would have you add to this monthly work a daily practice, founded upon the theme of a chosen solitariness. Note the word "chosen." It is wiser to cultivate the quality of spiritual solitude than to have it forced upon you - as so often happens to so many. I will suggest only the themes for your meditation, leaving you to work out the form [764] or procedure to suit yourself, or to do without any form if it seems better to you. Themes For Meditation. One for each month, to be reviewed year by year. The nature of solitude. The difference between solitude, loneliness, separateness and isolation. I would refer you to Patanjali (The Light of the Soul, Book III:50.) who speaks of "isolated unity." Solitude and the daily life. Solitude and the soul. Solitude as a quality of the interior life of an Ashram. The solitude of spiritual perception. The solitude necessitated by the service of the Plan. Solitude as the background of a radiant life. Solitude and contact with the Master. The rewards of solitude. The voices heard in the silence of solitude. The silence of the Spheres. In this solitude there is no morbidness, there is no harsh withdrawing, and there is no aspect of separateness. There is only the "place where the disciple stands, detached and unafraid, and in that place of utter quiet the Master comes and solitude is not." [767]
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