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Discipleship in the New Age II - Teachings on Initiation - Part VII
2. We come now to our second point, that initiation veils a secret and that the revelation of that secret is imminent. Just what this secret is, I may not reveal, but it is concerned with a peculiar type of energy which can be induced at a moment of supreme tension. The only possible hint I can give you in connection with this mysterious matter is that it is closely related to the "Blinding Light" which Saul of Tarsus saw on the road to Damascus and the "blinding light" which accompanied the discharge of energy from the atomic bomb. The "Blinding Light" which ever accompanies true conversion (a rare and sudden happening always when true and real) and which is an attendant demonstration of all Lives who have passed the human stage of consciousness - according to their degree - and the light which is released by the fission of the atom are one and the same expression on different levels of consciousness, and are definitely related to the processes and effects of initiation. This will not even make sense to you until certain initiate-experiences have been undergone by you. It is not easy for the average aspirant to realize that progressive stages upon the Path indicate a progressive ability to "take the Light." When the aspirant prays in the new Invocation: "Let Light descend on Earth" he is invoking something which humanity will have to learn to handle; this is one of the things for which the disciples of the world must begin to prepare the race of men. All these planetary developments are attended by risks, and none more so than that of the absorption of light - on a worldwide scale - by humanity, with a subsequent reflex action on the three subhuman kingdoms. Nothing which affects humanity or which stimulates it to a forward-moving activity is without its inevitable effect upon the three lower kingdoms in nature. Forget not! Mankind is the macrocosm to this threefold lower microcosm. This as you may well surmise, can be among the secrets [328] of the initiatory process. The "principle of absorption" emerges as one of the subjects to be studied, understood and mastered between initiations, for each initiation carries the subject another step forward. At present, the physical effects of the fission of the atom and its subsequent constructive use is the immediate problem before modern science, and (I would remind you) it is now an exoteric problem. Its use, or corresponding use on esoteric levels, still remains one of the secrets of initiation. 3. I stated as our third point that every initiation indicated a closer sharing in all forms of the hierarchical life. Do you realize in any measure what that statement means or what the implications are? I am dealing with a point not only of profound significance but of major testing. There is a spiritual counterpart or higher correspondence of the economic life of our planet to be found in the Hierarchy. Sharing is associated with that which is of value, which should be shared if justice is to be demonstrated, and basically, with those values which are life-giving. The sharing to which I am here referring is the sharing in all reactions, of all attitudes, of all types of wisdom, of all problems and difficulties and limitations, so that they become constructive in the group sense and cease to be destructive. Nothing destructive has place in any Ashram, but disciples can and do use ashramic force in their work in a destructive manner, and in the three worlds. This is not easy to understand. Perhaps I can make it clearer to you if I point out that this sharing involves complete knowledge of all the personality reactions of all the members of the Ashram, i.e., of all preparing for the lesser initiations, and therefore of all below a certain degree. There is nothing secret which will not be known, and you can understand that the discovery of the factual nature of this constitutes a major test for all disciples. There is nothing in the mind of a disciple which cannot be telepathically known to all the other members of the Ashram who are at the same degree of development or to all of a higher degree, for it is a law that the greater can always include the lesser. I wish students would consider this fact with great intelligence and closer attention; they would then arrive at the [329] knowledge that their limitations definitely provide a problem for those less limited. The time has to come wherein candidates for admission into an Ashram, and later, for initiation, must realize that their limitations, their relatively petty points of view and their circumscribed attitudes are a hindrance to ashramic progressive events. If the principle of sharing has any significance whatsoever, these are points of great importance and are supremely worthy of consideration. An illustration of this can be seen in the response of this group to the work which I have asked you to undertake over the years. A tiny handful of you have responded and have made sacrifices and worked hard to further the Triangle work, to spread the Invocation and to help in the Goodwill work, but it is a very tiny minority. The rest have either been interested intellectually but could not make the needed sacrifices, or they refused to put first things first, and secondary issues occupied their lives. This limitation, as you may realize, has handicapped the ashramic plans, and those who whole-heartedly have worked (and they know I know who they are) have had to share - with pain and distress - in the limitation. I have frequently stated that on entrance into an Ashram the disciple leaves behind him his personality life and enters as a soul. What I have stated in the above paragraph in no way contradicts this fact. It must, however, be remembered that a disciple has become what he is as a result of his personality aspiration, his struggles in the three worlds, and an attained point of spiritual unfoldment. Therefore, though he may leave behind his personality with its faults and problems, he indicates clearly to his co-disciples and to those more advanced than he is, exactly what is lacking in his equipment, what is his point in evolution, and what stage of discipleship he has achieved. In this connection, I recommend the rereading of all that is said anent the six stages of discipleship in Discipleship in the New Age (Vol. I); the material given there is of great importance here. At first the disciple may have little to share, and instead presents a great deal for senior disciples to record, for which they must make allowance and which they have to offset. They have also to regulate the energy which plays upon the [330] entering disciple so that it is adjusted to his point of development and to his ray and nature. The group of disciples within the Ashram who are of equal development with the new disciple, act as a safeguarding group, and this is true, no matter what the degree, where higher incoming energy is concerned. When a disciple is temporarily bewildered, this safeguarding becomes a major necessity, and where glamor is present in a disciple's life, it places a real strain upon his co-disciples. They have to share the charge and shoulder untidily the protection; it is not the task of the Master, but is carried forward under his interested and wise instruction. This ashramic sharing is one of the great compensations of discipleship. By means of it added light can be "occultly endured." I would like to have you ponder on that phrase. Great united strength can be brought to the service of the Plan, and the occult significance of the words: "My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure" can be grasped. The perfected strength of the Ashram (symbolized by the number 10) becomes available to the disciple whose purity of heart has enabled him to penetrate into the Ashram; his knowledge becomes more rapidly transmuted into wisdom as his mind is subjected to the play of the higher understanding of those with whom he is associated; gradually he begins to contribute his own quota of light and of understanding to those just entering and to those who are his equals. The strength, availability and usefulness of an Ashram is that of the sumtotal of all that its members can contribute, plus that which those above the third degree of initiation can "import" from still higher sources or the Masters of the Ashrams can make available at need. Students are apt to think that an Ashram has only one initiate of the fifth degree (that of Master) within it. Such is seldom the case. There are usually three "cooperating Masters" in every Ashram, with one at the apex of the triangle; he acts as the Master of the Ashram and is responsible for the preparation of disciples for initiation; frequently there are also "associated Masters," particularly during cycles of rapid initiation, as is the case [331] today. There are also Masters who are preparing for the sixth initiation. This "sharing" process does not involve what is usually understood as the "sharing of trouble." Personality difficulties and personality problems are not permitted entrance into an Ashram; only evolutionary limitations and lack of perfection (limitations in soul expression, indicating the grade or stage of discipleship) are recognized. If, however, disciples act or react in a way that brings attack upon the Ashram, that is naturally recognized, but these issues are fortunately very rare; they may become more common as the spiritual inspiration to which humanity is now subjected and reacting brings far greater numbers of disciples into relation with the Hierarchy. In the case where a disciple has opened a door of attack upon an Ashram - and this has happened, as you know, in the case of my Ashram - the work of the united disciples is to "seal the door" against the menacing evil, to withdraw themselves from the usual confidence shown to an erring disciple, but to stand at the same time in steadfast love beside him until such time as he has learned the error of his ways and has himself taken the needed steps to arrest the evil which he was responsible in starting.
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