The Rays and the Initiations

by Alice A Bailey

  We could paraphrase the last two sentences of this fourth rule as follows: The evocation of the will involves identity with the larger purpose. The little will of the little lives must be merged in the larger will of the whole. Individual purpose must be identified with group purpose, which is as much of the purpose of the Whole or the One Life as the little life can grasp at any given point in time [108] and space. It is in this sense, esoterically understood, that time is an event—which philosophy now points out, groping towards an expression of the initiate consciousness.

  In the long run, literally when the path of evolution is trodden to its end, what remains will be the divine purpose and the all-enveloping Life as it materialises the plan in time and space. This is the result of the turning of the greater Wheel of life, causing all the lesser wheels—in time and space—also to turn. In the meantime, the human being is first of all driven by desire, then by aspiration towards some visioned goal, then by his selfish will, which reveals to him the nature of the will: persistent application to some purpose, seen as desirable and to which every power is bent. Having exhausted all tangible goals, the inner life forces the man on towards the intangible, and the quality of his will begins to change. He discovers a larger will than his own and begins slowly to identify himself with it, proceeding stage by stage from one realised purpose to another higher one, each step removing him further from his own so-called will and bringing him nearer to an appreciation of the significance of the divine will or purpose.

  It might be stated, in an effort to clarify the method whereby this is done, that by the carrying out of the plan the disciple learns the nature of the purpose, but that the purpose itself can only be grasped by one who is developing monadic consciousness. Monadic consciousness is not consciousness as human beings understand it, but is that state of apprehension which is not consciousness or realisation, as the mystic feels it, or identification, as the occultist terms it, but something that appears when all of these three are appreciated and registered in a moment of time within the orbit of space.

  Now, having said this, I would ask you if you are much the wiser, or of what profit it is for me to write these words if you understand them not? For two reasons I write. One of my functions and duties (as a Master of the Wisdom) is to anchor ideas in the mind of man and carry down into the realm of words certain emerging concepts so that they may [109] begin to influence the higher level of thinkers. These latter are responsible for precipitating the ideas deep into the human consciousness. Secondly, I write for the generation which will come into active thought expression at the end of this century; they will inaugurate the framework, structure and fabric of the New Age which will start with certain premises which today are the dream of the more exalted dreamers and which will develop the civilisation of the Aquarian Age. This coming age will be as predominantly the age of group interplay, group idealism and group consciousness as the Piscean Age has been one of personality unfoldment and emphasis, personality focus and personality consciousness. Selfishness, as we now understand it, will gradually disappear, for the will of the individual will voluntarily be blended into the group will. It will be obvious to you, therefore, that this could well bring about a still more dangerous situation, because a group would be a combination of focussed energies, and unless these energies are directed towards the fulfillment of the Plan (which coordinates and makes possible the divine purpose) we shall have the gradual consolidation of the forces of evil or of materialism on Earth. I am not speaking lightly, but am endeavouring to show the necessity for the steadfast consecration of the spiritually minded to the task of developing the will-to-good on Earth and the absolute importance of fostering goodwill among the masses. If this is not done after the terrific global housecleaning that has gone on, the last state will be worse than the first. We shall have individual selfishness superseded by group selfishness, which will be consequently still more potent in its evil dedication, focus and results. The little wheels can continue to revolve in time and space, hindering the onward progress of the great Wheel which—again in time and space—is the wheel of humanity. The Heavenly Man and the human being upon that Wheel are developing divine qualities and attributes.

  The will aspect of divinity can find expression only through humanity, for the fourth kingdom in nature is intended to be the agent of the will to the three subhuman [110] kingdoms. It was therefore essential that the spirit of inclusiveness and the tendency to spiritual identification should be developed in humanity as a step preparatory to the development of response to divine purpose. It is absolutely essential that the will-to-good be unfolded by the disciples of the world so that goodwill can be expressed by the rank and file of mankind. The will-to-good of the world knowers is the magnetic seed of the future. The will-to-good is the Father aspect, whilst goodwill is the Mother aspect, and from the relation of these two the new civilisation, based on sound spiritual (but utterly different) lines, can be founded. I would commend this thought to your consciousness, for it means that two aspects of spiritual work must be nurtured in the immediate future, for on them the more distant hope of happiness and of world peace depends. The New Group of World Servers must be reached and the will-to-good developed in them, and the masses simultaneously must be reached with the message of goodwill. The will-to-good is dynamic, powerful and effective; it is based on realisation of the plan and on reaction to the purpose as sensed by those who are either initiate, and consciously in touch with Shamballa, or disciples who are likewise a part of the Hierarchy but are not yet able to contact the central Purpose or Life. Not yet having taken the third initiation, the monadic vibration is to them largely unknown. It would be just as dangerous for them to be able to reach Shamballa (prior to the third initiation when all personality tendencies are obliterated) as it would be to teach the masses of men today techniques of will which would render their still selfish will effective. The main difficulty would be that the disciples would destroy themselves, whilst the ordinary man would damage himself.

  This exegesis of Rule IV is necessarily brief because it is of such deep significance that it requires careful study, sentence by sentence, and even so it is very largely beyond the grasp of the majority of readers. It will, however, be useful for disciples to reflect upon the various meanings (there are several) and upon the esoteric implications.

  RULE FIVE

  [111] Rule V, which we are now purposing to consider, is one of great interest and practicality. I would remind you that one of the new things which the coming era of spiritual expansion will see is the inauguration of something entirely new: Group Initiation. Hitherto, one by one, units of the human family have found their way through the Door of Initiation. If this system is to persist, and considering the vast numbers of souls in and out of incarnation who must eventually achieve the goal—two-thirds of the total in this world cycle—even the greater cycles which include many world cycles would prove too short a time. The space-time schedule of the planetary Logos Himself would be upset, for He has such a schedule for the cycle of His present incarnation. There is a term set for the appearance of His body of manifestation, our planet, just as there is for the human body. He therefore has to work out His plans within a certain time limit, and this factor conditions the experience of all the lives that move within the radius of His expression, including the human kingdom.

  It must be remembered also that as humanity develops and more and more people begin to function as souls, the nature of the soul (which is relationship) begins to have an effect; men become larger in their outlook and their vision. The outlook of the separated self vanishes, and group relationship and group interest supersede that intense personal and interior relationship and interest which have made evolving man what he is: first of all an integrated personality, and then a disciple—a candidate for initiation. As more and more disciples come into group realisation it will become increasingly possible for the Hierarchy to admit such disciples in group formation. That is one reason necessitating the re-esta
blishing of the Ancient Mysteries on Earth. That group relation has to be demonstrated in the three worlds and expressed by disciples in their group life upon the physical plane. Hence the new experiment being undertaken by the Hierarchy of externalising Their Ashrams. This process [112] involves immense difficulty, owing to the astralism, the ambitions and the growing personality influence of so many people. Many groups, under self-seeking leaders, will react to this experiment and will proclaim themselves as Masters with Ashrams and as occupied with training people for initiation. Signs of this can already be seen.

  The Hierarchy has been confronted with definite difficulty in this matter, for on the one hand the Masters were faced with the glamour-making tendency and astralism of the majority of people and, secondly, with the rapid advance of the human consciousness into the realm of group relationship, group life, group reactions and group activity. This has brought about the intention of the Hierarchy to train such ready minds and hearts for a united moving forward through the Door of Light onto the Lighted Way. That externalisation has not yet taken place. Tentative experiments are being made with some success and some discouragement.

  Two things have therefore been decided upon by the Masters as They face the future of humanity and prepare to take the required steps to meet man’s advancing aspiration. I have chosen these two words with care. These two requirements have been demanded of the Hierarchy by Shamballa in order to safeguard the Mysteries and prevent a too premature precipitation of the hierarchical life upon the Earth. Both these requirements are expressed in this fifth Rule.

  Rule V.

  In unison let the group perceive the Triad shining forth, dimming the light of the soul and blotting out the light of form. The macrocosmic Whole is all there is. Let the group perceive that Whole and then no longer use the thought, “My soul and thine.”

  The first demand made by Shamballa is that the groups being prepared for initiation should consist only of those who are in process of building the antahkarana, the bridge between the Triad and the personality; the second demand is that those being prepared should show some signs of the sense of synthesis.

  [113] You will note, therefore, some of the factors that have controlled the presentation of the truth which I have sought to give, down the years. The teaching on the Antahkarana (briefly hinted at by H.P.B.) has been expanded by me in the book, Education in the New Age and in this fifth volume of A Treatise on the Seven Rays (Part II), and has already been given to a number of senior aspirants in the hope that they would profit thereby; the need for synthesis has also been emphasised by me, and is closely related to the will-aspect, the first divine aspect. In the past, during the cycle of mysticism through which all aspirants very properly pass, they were taught to “see the vision”—a vision of the goal, of the beauty to be sought, of the loved one to be known, of liberation to be achieved, of spiritual satisfaction and an opened door to greater wonders. In the occult age which has now definitely dawned, the neophyte will be taught to see the picture whole, to think in the larger terms, to emerge out of the normal separative consciousness into the broad state of awareness that “sees no difference.” The goal, or rather the result of the mystic and occult way, is the merging of the vertical way of life with the horizontal way of service, and it is this merging which Shamballa demands should condition the attempt now in process of training those who will together seek initiation, will together pass through the Portal on to the Way, and who can together be presented to the One Initiator as a “unit of Light.” This sense of synthesis (which must be increasingly demonstrated as each initiation is taken in group formation) is possible only to those who have bridged the gap between the concrete lower mind and the higher mind or—to word it technically and in the language of academic occult science—between the mental unit and the manasic permanent atom.

  The goal of the Probationary Path is made beautifully clear in the fifth Rule as given earlier in Initiation, Human and Solar. It says:

  Let the applicant see to it that the solar Angel dims the light of the lunar angels, remaining the sole luminary in the microcosmic sky.

  [114] The soul must be seen by the probationer as the sun of the life. All lesser lights must be put out by the light of the central luminary; all little fires must be obliterated by solar fire. The solar Angel controls the personality life and its forces. This, in the New Age, is the goal of the probationary path and of the applicant for discipleship. Hitherto it has been the goal of all the teaching given anent the Path of Discipleship, but the higher rate of intelligence of the modern applicant warrants a change, and as time goes on the present requirements for disciples, up to and including the second initiation, will be the requirements for the Probationary Path.

  This will necessitate a clearer understanding of the Path of Discipleship. On that path, the major teaching given in the future will concern:

  1. The building of the rainbow bridge, the antahkarana.

  2. The nature of the intuition and its development, as it supersedes the mind in its two aspects: concrete and abstract, lower and higher.

  3. The nature of life as the Monad expresses it.

  In these three approaches to truth the new revelation lies hid; it will take the place of the teaching upon the soul for the neophytes and disciples of the world, and the emphasis will be laid—for them—on the life aspect and not so much on the love aspect. The reason for this is that more and more people will be living as souls and therefore expressing love, and for them the nature of life and of monadic experience will constitute the normal next revelation—one that is, however, possible only to those who do attempt to live as souls, who cultivate love or the sense of non-separateness, and who are at least dwelling upon the periphery of the hierarchical world. It would therefore be inevitable that—to those so dwelling or treading the Path of Discipleship—the factors which inspire all hierarchical effort would begin to be dimly apparent and that, slowly, these factors would also assume for them the outlines of a dim and distant goal.

  [115] The two parts of this rule are consequently expressive of the new demands for disciples—not applicants. This becomes apparent when you study the two rules: one for applicants and one for disciples. The applicant is referred to the microcosm. The Macrocosm is held before the vision of the disciple.

  The two demands are expressed in Rule V as follows:

  1. In unison let the group receive the Triad shining forth, dimming the light of the soul and blotting out the light of form.

  This is the demand for the building of the antahkarana which relates the disciple in his personality to the Triad.

  2. The Macrocosmic Whole is all there is. Let the group perceive that Whole and then no longer use the thought, “My soul and thine.”

  This is the demand for a sense of synthesis which is occult vision and not mystic vision. These two demands will be the two basic requirements for the new schools of occultism.

  In view of all the instructions given earlier in this volume, and in view also of the clarity of the statement made above, there is little that it will be necessary for me to say anent this first demand. The word “demand” which has been used perhaps requires explanation. In considering this subject it should be remembered that admittance to Shamballa and a divine expression in life and service of the first great divine aspect, the will aspect, is the goal held before the members of the Hierarchy. They too are on the way of evolution, and Their goal is to pass through the “eye of the needle,” on Their way to the higher evolution. This higher evolution is that which opens up before a Master of the Wisdom. The use of this esoteric term by Christ in The New Testament story gives us a hint as to the nature of the exalted consciousness which He expressed. Faced by the rich young man who possessed so much, Christ indicated that he needed to prepare himself for a great negation and for a step forward. The true significance of this has never [116] been grasped and lies in the fact that the phrase “rich young man” is in reality a technical term which is frequently applied to an init
iate of the third degree, just as the words “little ones” or “little child” apply to an initiate of the first or second degree. This rich young man was rich in his range of awareness, rich in his personality equipment, rich in his aspiration and in his recognition; he was rich as the result of age-long experience and evolutionary development. He is told by the Christ that he must now prepare himself for what is called in Rule V “the Triad shining forth”; he must now prepare for the unfoldment of the monadic consciousness and for the fourth initiation. In that initiation, the causal body, the body wherein the soul experiences and reaps the fruit of experience, must be and will be destroyed. This has to take place before the initiate can enter into the Council Chamber of the Most High and express the will-to-good and the will of God in fulfillment of the purposes of God. The will of this particular “rich young man,” initiate though he was, was not yet adequate to the requirements, so he went sadly away; he had to prepare himself for the fourth initiation, the Great Renunciation, the Crucifixion, and thus fit himself to pass through the needle’s eye.

  There is a symbolic utterance in the Old Commentary which throws light upon the great opportunities which are found in the critical moments in the life of the soul as it experiences incarnation and becomes enriched thereby: