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The Rays and the Initiations - Part Two - Section Two - The Aspirant and the Major Initiations
Before him lies the third Initiation of the Transfiguration. Facing him is a great transition from an emotional aspirational focus to an intelligent, thinking focus. He has, theoretically at least, cast off the control of the astral body and nature; much still remains to be done; old desires, ancient astral reactions and habitual emotions are still powerful, but he has developed a new attitude to them and a new perspective to the astral body. Water, fire, steam, glamor, delusion, misinterpretation and emotional continuity still mean something specific and undesirable to him. He is now negative to their appeal and positive to the higher demanding focus. That which he now loves and longs for, desires and plans for, lies in another and higher dimension. He has, through his willingness to pass through the second initiation, struck the first blow at his innate selfishness and has demonstrated his determination to think [678] in wider and more inclusive terms. The group begins to mean more to him than himself. What has happened, technically speaking? The energies of the solar plexus center are being transferred from the major clearing house below the diaphragm to the heart center - one of the three major centers into which all the lower energies must transfer. At the first initiation he was granted a vision of a higher creativity and the energy of the sacral center began its slow ascent to the throat center. At the second initiation, he is granted a vision of a higher focus, and his place in the larger whole begins slowly to reveal itself. A new creativity and a new focus become his immediate goals, and for him life can never again be the same. The old physical attitudes and desires may still at times assume control; selfishness may continue to play a potent part in his life expression, but - underlying these and subordinating them - will be found a deep dissatisfaction about things as they are and an agonizing realization of failure. It is at this point that the disciple begins to learn the uses of failure and to know certain fundamental distinctions between that which is natural and objective and that which is supernatural and subjective. Do these ideas make the concept of initiation more useful to you and more practical? Any initiation which does not find interpretation in daily reactions is of small service and basically unreal. It is the unreality of its presentation which has led to the rejection of the Theosophical Society as an agent of the Hierarchy at this time. Earlier and prior to its ridiculous emphasis upon initiation and initiates, and prior to its recognition of the probationary disciples as full initiates, the Society did good work. It however failed to recognize mediocrity and to realize that no one "takes" initiation and passes through these crises without a previous demonstration of a wide usefulness and of a trained intelligent capacity. This may not be the case where the first initiation is concerned, but where the second initiation is involved there must ever be the background of a useful dedicated life and an expressed determination [679] to enter the field of world service. There must also be humility and a voiced realization of the divinity in all men. To these requirements, the so-called initiate of the Theosophical Society (with the exception of Mrs. Besant) did not conform. I would not call attention to their prideful demonstration, were it not that the same claims are being made and the same delusions presented to the public. The problem of freedom from the limitations of matter should now be considered and the entire theme be rendered practical. There is perhaps an ultimate opinion that it is the realm of the emotions and the susceptibility to emotional reactions which constitute the major human limitation - both from the individual angle and also from that of the national angle. It is everywhere realized that the demagogue, for instance, who sways public opinion, is one who also and emphatically plays on human emotions as well as upon human selfishness. As the race progresses towards mental expression, this distorting influence will become increasingly less important, and once the masses (composed of the millions of so-called "men in the street") begin definitely to think, the power of the demagogic approach will have disappeared. The major battle in the world today is that of the freedom of the average citizen to think for himself and to come to his own decisions and conclusions. It is here that the major quarrel between the Great White Lodge and the Black Lodge is to be found. It is a battle in which humanity itself is the decisive factor, and for this reason the Black Lodge is working through the group which is controlling the destiny of Russia and also through the Zionist movement. The leaders of the U.S.S.R. are working intelligently and potently against human freedom and particularly against freedom of thought. Communism per se has no such objective; it is the totalitarian policies of the national rulers which are so disastrous, plus their ambition and their hatred of true freedom. Zionism today stands for aggression and for the use of force, and the keynote is permission to take what you want [680] irrespective of other people or of their inalienable rights. These points of view are against the position of the spiritual leaders of humanity, and therefore the leaders of the Zionist movement, and the group of men who direct and control the policies of Russia, are against the policies of the spiritual Hierarchy and are contrary to the lasting good of mankind.
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