Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul - The Rays and the Initiations - Part I

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The Rays and the Initiations - Part One - Fourteen Rules For Group Initiation

As a consequence of all this, great and fundamental readjustments are going on within the Hierarchy itself and within that intervening area of the divine consciousness to which we give the name (as far as humanity is concerned) of the Spiritual Triad - an area covered by the higher mental planes, the buddhic and the atmic levels of awareness and of divine activity. The downpouring avataric stimulation is enabling certain of the Masters to take some of the major initiations, and to do so far earlier than would otherwise have been possible. Thus a great process of ascension and of spiritual attainment is under way, though as yet only its faint beginnings can be traced, owing to the intensity of the point of conflict. Hence also many probationary disciples are finding their way into the ranks of accepted disciples, and many disciples are taking initiation. To this fact of hierarchical upheaval - paralleling and intensifying the upheaval upon the physical plane - can be traced the process of preparation which I have instituted among some disciples, thus hastening the period and point of attainment, provided I receive due cooperation from them. (Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. I. and II.)

As regards the Hierarchy itself, speaking esoterically and technically, its Members (many of Them) are "being abstracted from the middle point of holiness and absorbed into the Council of the Lord." In other words, They are passing onward into higher work and are becoming custodians of the energy of the divine will and not simply the custodians of the energy of love. They will work henceforth as power-units, and not just as units of light. Their work [16] becomes dynamic instead of being attractive and magnetic, and is concerned with the life aspect and not just with the soul or consciousness aspect. Their places are being taken - under the Law of Ascension - by Their senior disciples, the initiates in Their Ashrams, and (under the same great process) the place of these initiates, who are thus being "raised" to more important work, is being taken by disciples and probationers. It is this truth, misinterpreted and shockingly travestied, which lies behind the teaching anent the so-called Ascended Masters, put out by the leaders of the "I AM" movement, thus prostituting and bringing down almost into the realm of cheap comedy one of the most notable happenings which has ever taken place upon our planet.

There is therefore, owing to the inflow of energy from extra-planetary sources, a general shifting of the focus of consciousness of embodied and disembodied lives at this time; this shift is one of the prime factors producing the present disruption. Students today are searching for the causes in human motives, in past history and in karmic relationships. To these they add the so-called factor of wickedness. All these factors of course exist, but are of lesser origin and are inherent in the life of the three worlds. They are themselves set in motion by far deeper seated factors latent in the relationship between spirit and matter and inherent in the dualism of the solar system, and not in its triplicity. This dualism, as far as our planet is concerned, is profoundly affected by the will-purpose of the Lord of the World and by the intensity of His one-pointed thought. He has succeeded in achieving a point of tension, preparatory to bringing about stupendous changes in His life-expression, within His vehicle of manifestation, a planet. This point of invocation will be evocative of great happenings, and will involve every aspect of His nature, including the dense physical; this of necessity involves also all that concerns the human family for "in Him we live and move and have our being." Those three words or phrases express the triplicity of manifestation, for "Being" connotes the Spirit aspect, [17] "moving" the soul or consciousness aspect, and "living" signifies appearance upon the physical plane. Upon that outer plane the basic synthesis of incarnated life is to be found.

It will be apparent to you, therefore, that in this achievement of planetary tension it is not life in the three worlds that is the sphere of this tension, but the realm of hierarchical activity. The shift resulting from this point of tension, the "moving" which is its consequence, is in the realm of soul experience and soul awareness. The secondary effect can be noted in the human consciousness by the awakening which has been going on among men - an awakening to the higher spiritual values, to the trends and ideologies which are everywhere appearing, and to the clear lines of demarcation which have emerged in the realm of human determinations and objectives. These are all the results of great changes in the field of the higher consciousness and are conditioned by the soul of all things, lying largely in the realm of the anima mundi; of this great sumtotal the human soul and the spiritual soul are but aspects or expressions.

It is these changes in the "moving, shifting realities" of the soul consciousness and spiritual awareness of the Members of the Hierarchy which are responsible for the new trends in the life of the Spirit and the new methods in training disciples - in such an experiment, for instance, as externalizing the Ashrams of the Masters. It is this new approach to life conditions, as a result of the inflow of new energies, which is producing the universal trend towards group awareness, and its highest result in the human family is the taking the first steps towards group initiation. Such a thing as group initiation was never heard of prior to the present time, except in connection with the higher initiations emanating from the Shamballa center. Group initiation is based upon a uniform and united group will, consecrated towards the service of humanity and based upon loyalty, cooperation and interdependence. In the past, the emphasis was upon the individual, his training and approach to initiation, and his solitary admittance to the Temple [18] of Initiation. But this individual concentration will, in the future, give place to a group condition which will enable several disciples unitedly to move forward, unitedly to stand before the Initiator, and unitedly and simultaneously to achieve the great realization which is the result and the reward of successful discipleship.

In the first thesis which I presented to the public I outlined the Rules for Applicants, (Initiation, Human and Solar, Page 192-208), summarizing the past propositions and indicating the individual preparation and requirements. These will now apply to the probationary groups of disciples, and not to accepted disciples. They must and will still remain the character and purificatory objectives of the dedicated individual, but are regarded as adequately grasped by humanity; they have been proclaimed by all the great world religions down the centuries and have been recognized as the main conditioning qualities of all disciples.

These same Rules or Formulas of Approach are the lower correspondences of higher rules to which groups of disciples are pledged to conform, and which they must follow and obey together. The Hierarchy into which they will enter when full acceptance and demonstration have been shown will be the same Hierarchy, characterized by the same soul awareness, animated by the same spiritual activity, functioning under the same laws, but conditioned by two progressive and evolutionary developments:

A much closer contact - invocative and evocative - with Shamballa, and therefore a fuller responsiveness to the Will aspect of divinity.
An invocative attitude on the part of humanity, based on a fundamental decentralization of the selfish human consciousness and a rapidly awakening group consciousness.

In reality, this means that the Hierarchy will be more closely related to the Great Council at Shamballa, and very much more closely interrelated with humanity, so that a dual fusion will be taking place. This will bring about that integrative [19] process which will be the quality of the New Age and will inaugurate the Aquarian phase of planetary history.

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