The second task of this group of disciples is to act as a bridge for forces which are seeking etheric expression and which emanate from soul levels, via the mind. I have earlier pointed out in A Treatise on White Magic that the astral plane is itself an illusion. When the first task of the groups working with world glamor is accomplished this will be evident. I can give you as yet no real idea of the underlying meaning, for you are all working in some measure upon the plane of illusion and of glamor, and for you the world [40] illusion exists and the astral plane is for you a fact. But this I can say: for the initiate members of the Great White Lodge the astral plane does not exist. They do not work on that level of consciousness, for the astral plane is a definite state of awareness even if (from the spiritual angle) it has no true being. It embodies the great creative work of humanity down the ages, and is the product of the 'false' imagination and the work of the lower psychic nature. Its instrument of creative work is the sacral and the solar plexus centers. When the energies, finding expression through these two centers, have been transmuted and carried to the throat and heart by advancing humanity, then the foremost people of the race will know that the astral plane has no true existence; they will then work free from its impression, and the task of freeing humanity from the thralldom of its own creation will proceed apace. In the meantime a group of disciples is being slowly built up (of which this second group is a part and in which it can play an important function, and occupy a key position), which can gradually aid in the task of dispelling the great illusion and can act also as a bridging group so that those who are freeing themselves from glamor can find their way into the vortex of influence wielded by the group, empowered thus to work. Then three things can happen:

1. Those who thus approach the group will find their efforts to live free from glamor greatly helped and intensified by the group assistance.
2. They will swell the number of those so working and hasten the processes of dissipation.
3. The Hierarchy will be enabled then to work more closely upon earth and to approach much nearer to mankind.

The third function of this second group lies in a more distant future. The Hierarchy has necessarily a department of workers whose major task it is to work solely in the world of illusion and with astral matter. This department came into being in Atlantean days when the great controversy [41] took place between those who embodied the consciousness or soul aspect of deity and those who were similarly representative of the matter aspect of deity. Symbolically speaking, the left-hand and the right-hand paths came into being: white and black magic were brought into conflict with each other and the pairs of opposites (always existent in manifestation) became active factors in the consciousness of advanced humanity. The battle of discrimination was opened, and humanity became active upon the field of Kurukshetra. Where there is no conscious response to a condition and no registered awareness, there is no problem of responsibility, as far as the soul is concerned. In Atlantean times, this condition was evoked and hence the problem facing the race today; hence the task of the Hierarchy to free the souls of men from the surrounding glamor and to enable them to achieve liberation. The culmination of the issue and the controversy, then initiated, is now upon us.

From the above analysis of opportunity it is evident how the groups have a definite place in the plans of the Hierarchy. By developing spiritual sensitivity, and achieving freedom from glamor, the disciples who are members of these groups can raise the racial consciousness and bring in illumination. It should be remembered that it is inspiration which is the goal of all true telepathic work, and illumination which is the reward of effort and the real instrument for the dissipation of world glamor. Thus these groups can nurture the germ of the future culture, act also as bridging units, and externalize certain departmental activities of the planetary Hierarchy - the next great desire of its Members.