Commentary on Rule IV for Disciples and Initiates

Rule IV: Third Sentence

The lesser wheels must not for aye revolve in time and space. Only the greater Wheel must onward move and turn.” (RI p. 105)

The Sentence

A.                 The lesser wheels must not for aye revolve in time and space. Only the greater Wheel must onward move and turn.”

1.                  All entities are subject to the Law of Periodicity. The Second Fundamental of The Secret Doctrine is expressed in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire as follows: “There is a basic law called the Law of Periodicity(TCF 5)

2.                  Under this law, all entities emerge from subjectivity into objectivity and return again to subjectivity—continually.

3.                  All things that are, are periodic in their manifestation including the ‘Grand Totality’—the Universe itself.

4.                  No thing that is, is in perpetuity. Only THAT, which is no thing (and does not exist in the usual sense of the term) is in perpetuity.

5.                  All things that exist, alternate between negation and ‘position’—the act of being posited. They alternate between being and not-being.

6.                  A symbol for this alternation, this cyclicity, is the wheel and its turning.

7.                  When we observe a turning wheel, we do not know where its cycle began. A wheel in its rolling completes many cycles, but (simply by observing it in the present moment) we do not know which was the first or which will be the last.

8.                  Such are the many cycles, great and minute, of the universe. We do not know with certainty when they began nor do we know when they will end. If we accept the Fundamentals of the Secret Doctrine, however, we do know that such cycles began and that they will end. Scientists also do not know, for the beginning they seek to define deals only with objectivity, and takes no account of a multi-dimensional subjective universe which preceded objectivity nor of the multi-dimensional subjective universe which will remain when objectivity (the usual world of time and space) ceases.

9.                  The Tradition of the Ageless Wisdom tells us that there was a beginning to the subjective universe, but no meaningful date can possibly be given for this beginning, nor is any attempt made to do so.

10.              We are nevertheless assured that, although there was a beginning, it was not the only beginning, but was the ‘infinitudineth’ beginning in an infinitudinous series of universes which never had a beginning.

11.              Therefore the Greatest Event That Ever Is of Ever Can Be (i.e., the appearance of a universe) is, itself, subject to a para-universal Law of Periodicity. For a universe is a thing and no thing is in perpetuity. The universe, however, appears and disappears in perpetuity. In other words, the appearance and disappearance of universes is a perpetual process.

12.              For every type of cycle of appearance and disappearance, the wheel is an appropriate symbol. Let us suppose that a wheel is turning along the ground. If we choose any point on that wheel and mark it for visibility, there will always be a time when that point is touching the ground and an opposite position when the point is as far from the ground as possible (given the dimensions of the wheel).

13.              Our wheel can symbolically describe the life-cycle of an entity, and the point on the wheel symbolically indicates the degree of the entity’s subjective or objective focus. When the point touches the ground, it is analogous to the deepest state of objectivity for that entity. When the point is as far as possible from the ground, it is analogous to the state of the most refined subjectivity possible to that entity.

14.              Every Order of Life is like a wheel with a certain number of points upon it. The number of points is the total number of units within that Order of Life.

15.              The Wheel of Humanity (at least of Earth Humanity) has, the Tibetan tells us, sixty billion points on it. As the Wheel of Humanity turns, all units are either entering manifestation, experiencing deep objectivity, leaving manifestation or experiencing increasingly or decreasingly rarefied subjectivity.

16.              Of course this is a gross oversimplification, as for different individual units in an Order of Life (or Creative Hierarchy) the wheel turns at different rates of speed.

17.              There are (confining ourselves for the moment to a consideration of Humanity) many lesser wheels which turn with the Great Wheel, each at its own rate of speed, speeding up or slowing down according to its own Self-determined process.

18.              The Greatest Wheel for Humanity is the Wheel of the Fourth Creative Hierarchy, representing the descent and reascent of the aggregated monads which constitute that Hierarchy. On this wheel these monads move from the state of deep, interior subjectivity on the second systemic plane, into dense objectivity and back again to the second plane.

19.              There is a mean or average speed for the turning of this Great Wheel, but many lesser wheels are attached to it and may, to a certain extent, change their position on the Great Wheel depending upon the assertion of their free will. The lesser wheels may allow the Great Wheel to move them along at its own predetermined speed, or they may advance their position on the descending or ascending arc of the Greater Wheel. Lesser wheels can even break free from their next largest enclosing wheel, and join the turning or another greater wheel further advanced in the turning of the great wheel, for the greater wheel has (turning with it) many wheels of greater or lesser dimension.

20.              Rootraces are wheels; subraces are wheels; branch races are wheels; and many lesser groups as well. Each will turn at the rate of speed more or less assigned to it by the Divine Plan, but by free will can either turn somewhat faster or slower than expected, thus either turning faster than the Great Wheel would normally carry it, or turning slower, and thus resisting the forward motion of the Great Wheel, and, in fact, turning against it, and moving contrary to its motion.

21.              Lesser wheels turn within greater wheels. The lesser wheels follow their own cycles but move as well moved by the cycle of the greater wheel—borne along.

22.              Within any lesser wheel, a still lesser wheel turns and within it, a still lesser wheel, and so on—though in a finite universe, there is a lower and upper limit to the vastness or diminutive dimensions of wheels.

23.              It would seem that as a lesser wheel turns within a greater wheel, its revolutions may spiral towards the center of the greater wheel, and increase in cyclic speed as they do so.

24.              A lesser wheel arriving at the center of its next-greater wheel, might lose its own ring-pass not and, identifying with the greater wheel, become an aspect of that greater wheel. That is, the lesser wheel might no longer ‘revolved unto itself’

25.              Or having reached the center of the greater wheel, it might be liberated to join the periphery of another ‘more advanced’ greater wheel. This would amount to a change of “Creative Hierarchies” (which are aggregations of monads moving through similar experiences together).. A human unit, for instance, who was a member of the Fourth Creative Hierarchy, might, upon completing that curriculum, be transferred to a more advanced Creative Hierarchy—perhaps the Fifth (and become an apprentice Solar Angel, rotating and revolving on the periphery of that Hierarchy’s wheel).

26.              From a practical perspective, and in terms of discipleship, we have to consider the wheel of individual incarnating man within whom many lesser wheels turn. Each of the elemental vehicles within his system is a wheel with its own cycle, and each tiny atomic life participating in the vehicles of the elemental lives is also a wheel—a still lesser wheel.

27.              Man as a monad is turning at the slowest rate of speed. A monadic revolution can take millions upon millions of years—perhaps billions if we consider ‘inmineralization’, ‘invegitalization’, ‘inzoonation’.  Man as a soul is turning much faster. Fastest of all, is man as a personality, cycling in and out of incarnation in cycles with which we are somewhat familiar—the “four score and ten” being an arc-of-duration within the total cycle which may take a hundred or perhaps a thousand or more years.

28.              Every wheel has a probable number of revolutions—an average, let us say. That average number of revolutions can be shortened or prolonged. The Buddha, probably symbolically, was said to have had 555 incarnations or rotations of the wheel of personality.

29.              When rotation (whether during a phase of development in the evolution of man, or during the entire evolutionary period) continues beyond the probable number of revolutions, there is a problem. Rotary motion is in power and spiral-cyclic motion is not properly elevating the cycling unit. Under spiral-cyclic motion, one keeps pace with evolutionary intension. When rotary motion prevails, one can become a “laggard” and fall behind one’s evolutionary life-wave.

30.              We are dealing here with the phenomenon of absorption—sometimes called obscuration. This is discussed in relation to planets on p. 406 of A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. Obscuration (of any wheel) involves a merging into a greater wheel. Any future turning of the wheel that has merged into a greater, is a turning as an integral part of the greater wheel. The lesser wheel no longer turns unto itself.

31.              When Venus, for instance, enters obscuration and merges into and is absorbed by Neptune, does it still remain Venus, or had it entirely become Neptune? When a personality ray merges into or is absorbed by a soul ray, does it cease to be a personality ray or does it, in some way, remain a personality ray? When a soul ray merges into or is absorbed by a monadic ray, does it cease or continue as a soul ray?

32.              These are the questions to ask about obscuration, merging and absorption.

33.              These are questions which must also be applied to the “lesser wheels” which are part of man, and to man-the-personality as a lesser wheel within a soul wheel, and to man-the-soul/triad as a lesser wheel within the monadic wheel.

34.              In such processes on various different scales, a lesser wheel may return to a reservoir or finally be absorbed. Even if temporarily absorbed, it may be breathed out again into seemingly independent existence during a later cycle.

35.              These perplexing questions are related to the Problem of the One and the Many. Are the many the One, or are they themselves? Or are they themselves and the One?

36.              The lesser wheels cannot ‘turn unto themselves’ for aye (i.e. proceed alone through rotary motion), non-harmoniously related to the turning of the greater wheel of which they should be and are integral parts. There is something about the fundamental rhythm, note, key, or pitch which the lesser wheels must tune to. This is part of absorption.

37.              There are three generic phases in the absorption process—the processes by which lesser wheels cease revolving in time and space.

a.       The lesser wheel “turns unto itself” unconsciously influenced by the greater wheel.

b.      The lesser wheel attunes to the greater wheel.

c.       The lesser wheel runs its life cycle and disappears (perhaps at first into a reservoir containing wheels of its own kind; perhaps later into the greater wheel), leaving the great wheel to turn by itself, unencumbered by the lesser wheels.

38.              When we, as lesser wheels, will the will of the greater wheel in which our lesser revolutions occur, we become extensions of the greater wheel.

39.              When such extensions are properly aligned and harmonized with the purpose of the greater wheel (which begins to happen at the end of the evolutionary cycle of the greater wheel) it is increasingly as if only the greater wheel is turning.

40.              During the many, many obscurations which lead to the One Final Universal Obscuration, the lesser wheels cannot be entirely absorbed, as they must be an the Universal End. But the influence of that particular greater wheel which includes them is so dominant with respect to them, that it is as if only the greater wheel turns.

41.              Similarly, within a greater will, there are many lesser wills, which, when thoroughly attuned to the greater will, are like extensions of that greater will. In such a situation, only the greater will is willing—though it wills through many apparently lesser wills.


The Themes Included Under the Sentence 3

B.                 Paragraph 1

(No sentence excised)

There is one point here that I should like to make because it opens the door to new concepts, even if it is not yet possible for these concepts to be defined so that the mass can understand; even the disciples who read these words will fail truly to comprehend.  Only those who have taken the third initiation will rightly interpret.  Constantly in all esoteric literature reference is made to the factors of time and space as if there were a basic distinction between the worlds in which these two hold sway and in which the aspirants and initiates of all degrees freely move.  Constantly the aspirant is reminded that time is cyclic in nature and manifestation, and that "space is an entity."  It is necessary that there should be some comprehension of these terms if that which the will controls (when evoked) is to penetrate into the knowing consciousness of the thinker.

1.                  We see the Tibetan always pushing the present horizon of consciousness—not only for the mass of humanity but, especially, for the disciples whom He is instructing.

2.                  The Tibetan is pointing to the assumed reality of the “World of Time and Space”. The illusion woven together with these two is so pervasive that the consciousness of the average aspirant/disciple can hardly extricate itself. The fish in water does not know that air exists (except, of course, if it is a “flying” fish!).

3.                  That “space is an entity” is a profound and elusive concept, given our usual conception of the word “entity”. What are usually conceptualized are the entities within apparent space. To call the context (within which entities appear) an entity as well, is surprising. However, philosophically, space arises with entification. Universal, multi-dimensional ‘Space’ is the first ‘arising’ out of NO-THING (out of the STATE of NON-ENTIFICATION) and this ‘arising’ is the first ‘Entity’. If there were no being as opposed to BE-NESS, there would be no ‘Space’. So ‘Space’ is not only the commonsense context in which beings seem to “live and move and have their being” but is the ‘Primary Entification’ from which all other entifications are derived through the process of emanation.

4.                  As for “time”, the Tibetan tells us that it is cyclic. This is true even in the most profound sense, and is, thus, a statement which invites the deepest possible reflection. According to the Ageless Wisdom ‘Time’ (in the universal sense) is not continuous but occurs rhythmically. Paradoxically, there are countless times throughout the infinitude of UNIVERSAL DURATION when there is no time. We cannot really speak sensibly of these terms without falling into paradox and contradiction, but ‘during’!? ‘NO-THING-NESS’, there are no ‘things’, and thus, Time, as usually conceived, ceases to exist, for Time is a measure of relative duration which depends on relating the duration of ‘this’ to the duration of  ‘that’, and when there is no ‘this and that’ there can be no relative measures, obviously.

5.                  Our problem arises when we consider a period of timelessness as a ‘this’ in relation to a certain kind of ‘that’—namely, a period in which Time exists.

6.                  ‘Where’ are we ‘standing’ in consciousness when we entertain such a perspective?

7.                  Is there any ‘Observer’ which can really ‘see’ the proposedly perpetual alternation of Time and Timelessness. If so, ‘what’ would  that ‘Observer’ be?

8.                  Such a sequence of alternating Time and Timelessness would be, in any case, only cyclically conceivable, for ‘during’ periods of Timelessness, there would be no ‘Observer’ capable of perception. Thus, recognition of a perpetual sequence of Time and Timelessness occurs only during Time; but from a perspective ‘within Time’, all perception is subject to the illusion of the presence of Time. When, from ‘within Time’, we try to perceive NON-ENTITY, we thereby entify IT by the very act of our attempted perception.

9.                  Let us say that ‘cognition of duration’ occurs only cyclically. We can only infer the possibility of non-cognition. If we think about anything, even NOTHING, we have cognized it. NO-THING is essentially incognisable, un-recognizable. During Time we, automatically and inescapably, reduce NOTHING to something. Thereby, what IT is, in ESSENTIAL ESSENCE, escapes us entirely.

10.              So Time is a concept which exists only when Time is ‘happening’, which, by inference, is not ‘always’ so.

11.              And, perhaps, the whole conception of alternating cycles of Time and Timelessness, is simply a high illusion produced by the inescapable conditions of ‘attempted cognition within Time’.

12.              For practical, ‘in-Universe’ purpose, Time does, indeed, exists, appearing cyclically, and is measured in terms of cycles (compared to each other).

13.              From a deeper perspective, Time does not exist—never has, never does, never will—‘in’ the unfathomable ‘state’ of PERPETUAL BE-NESS.

14.              Obviously, language fails.

 

C.                 Paragraph 2

1.                  Space and substance are synonymous terms; substance is the aggregate of atomic lives out of which all forms are built. (cf. RI p. 105)

2.                  Substance is a soul concept, and is only truly known to the soul. Therefore, after the fourth initiation, when the work of the soul is accomplished and the soul body fades out of the picture, only the quality which it has imparted in substance is left as its contribution—individual, group or planetary—to the sumtotal of manifestation. All that remains is a point of light. This point is conscious, immutable and aware of the two extremes of the divine expression: the sense of individual identity and the sense of universality. These are fused and blended in the ONE. (cf. RI p. 106)

3.                  In the state of being which we call the monadic, it is realised that there is no identity apart from universality and no appreciation of the universal apart from the individual realisation, and this realisation of identification with both the part and the whole finds its point of tension in the will-to-be, which is qualified by the will-to-good and developed (from the consciousness angle) by the will-to-know. (cf. RI p. 106)

4.                  The will-to-be, the will-to-good and the will-to-know are in truth three aspects of the divine will which exists in its perfection in the solar Logos and finds a medium of expression through the planetary Logos. (cf. RI p. 106)

5.                  The will is working out in seven ways, via the living qualities of the seven planetary Logoi Who express Themselves through the seven sacred planets; They are preoccupied with the endeavour of bringing all the forms of life within the orbit of Their influence up to the same measure of recorded recognition and of registered existence. On each of the seven sacred planets one aspect of the divine Will is dominant. (cf. RI p. 106)

Space and substance are synonymous terms; substance is the aggregate of atomic lives out of which all forms are built.  With this the Treatise on Cosmic Fire largely dealt. [Page 106] This is both an occult and a scientific truism. 

1.                  True science and occultism are the same thing.

2.                  We have often discussed the difference between matter and substance. They are relative terms. Substance is ‘substantial’ to matter. Anything that is, can be considered matter or substance depending upon the point of view and the degree of ‘vibrational elevation’ of the viewer.

3.                  Ultimately, as with Spinoza, GOD is that SUBSTANCE, in relation to WHOM there can be nothing substantial. The apparently infinite regression towards ever more refined substantiality (i.e., towards increasingly ‘sub-standing’ substantiality) stops with the BE-NESS of the ULTIMATE DEITY (which is not the same as the Universal Deity, and in fact, infinitely greater).

4.                  In ‘GOD-as-SPACE’ there is no ‘Space’; but God is ‘Space’. (This should be pondered, as in the two spellings of both god and space much is suggested.)

5.                  In more practical, immediately perceptible and cognizable terms, ‘Space’ is utterly dense. In ‘Space’ there is no ‘nothing’—no vacuum. ‘Thingness’ is the opposite of the vacuum, and ‘Space’ (as we know it) is ‘aggregated thingness’.

6.                  The apparent ‘space between things’ is Presence.

7.                  Presence fills ‘spaces’; Presence is ‘Space’.

8.                  Where there is ‘Presence’ there is no vacuum.

9.                  Space/Presence is the ‘vacuumless state’

10.              Presence is Substance; ABSENCE is SUBSTANCE; the IT is the absence of ‘Substance’. (The capitalizations are important).

11.              Presence is Entification; Presence is Substance; Presence is ‘Space’.

12.              ABSENCE is NON-ENTIFICATION; ABSENCE is SUBSTANCE; ABSENCE is SPACE or the VACUUM, and is both non-‘Spatial’ and non-‘Substantial’. Again, the capitalizations are important.

13.              For practical purposes, and in terms of the discussion the Tibetan is bringing forward, if there were not many little ‘lives’, there would be no Space.

14.              But far more deeply, if there were not the assertion or ‘SELF-Objectification’ of THAT—which assertion we call the Presence—there would be no ‘Space’—only SPACE.


Substance is, however, a soul concept, and is only truly known to the soul.  Therefore, after the fourth initiation, when the work of the soul is accomplished and the soul body fades out of the picture, only the quality which it has imparted in substance is left as its contribution—individual, group or planetary—to the sumtotal of manifestation.  All that remains is a point of light.  This point is conscious, immutable and aware of the two extremes of the divine expression:  the sense of individual identity and the sense of universality.  These are fused and blended in the ONE.  Of this ONE the divine Hermaphrodite is the concrete symbol—the union in one of the pairs of opposites, negative and positive, male and female. 

1.                  The term “substance” is here being used more scientifically than philosophically.

2.                  Soul concepts arise from a consciousness that is ‘imprisoned’ in that state of limitation we call “soul”.

3.                  When we (rays of the Universal Consciousness) function within the causal body, we think in terms of materiel and that which substands it, and of that which substands that which substands.  We are not yet thinking in terms of the “Life”, but, rather, in terms of the many material/substantial expressions which Life assumes.

4.                  At the fourth initiation, the work of the soul is accomplished. Really, it is the work of the Solar Angel that is accomplished with respect to man.

5.                  Notice that it is the “soul body[ital. MDR) that fades out. Essential soul must always remain, because soul is a universal principle—inescapable in cosmos.

6.                  However, the “special case” of Universal Soul (which we have been calling “the soul”), alters its consciousness at this high initiation, becoming freer, less bound by ‘subtle objectivity’.

7.                  The soul is said to impart “quality” to “substance”. What does this really mean? Imparted quality is really a rearrangement of pattern and an alteration of vibration. Quality is quantity and pattern. The frequencies and patterns characteristic of the world of the Solar Angel are much higher and more refined that the frequencies and patterns characteristic of substance (as here discussed). The impartation of quality (frequency and pattern) elevates the quality of substance. We are speaking of a ‘vibratory gift’ (a vibratory “contribution”) from that which is ‘above’ to that which is ‘below’.

8.                  With the destruction of the causal body, we are told that a “point of light” remains. This statement must be examined.

9.                  We are used to the idea that the spiritual triad remains after the destruction of the causal body; why is the phrase “point of light” used?

10.              That “point of light” is, very conceivably, the monad and its threefold expression, the spiritual triad. We do not really imagine that the triangular shape by which the spiritual triad is customarily depicted in our literature is anything but symbolic.

11.              Although the monad and the spiritual triad are really a ‘three-in-one’, this ‘three-in-one’ is even more essentially a ‘one’, and can be conceived as a point of light. Phenomenally, to the ‘Eye’ of the Master, it probably appears as a point of light.

12.              The fact that the point of light is “immutable” and “conscious” confirms that it is the monad, for the monad, in essence, is immutable, whereas the spiritual triad is not (thought the principle of the ‘Trinity’ is immutable in cosmos—i.e., there will always be a three which is essentially a one.

13.              The Master, therefore, is speaking of monadic realizations which follow upon the destruction of the causal body.

14.              The “point of light” is aware to two extremes of divine expression—“the sense of individual identity and the sense of universality”.

15.              As long as the monad exists, there will be an awareness of these two extremes.

16.              They will cease to be extremes when the consummation of the cosmos is achieved; then individual identity and the sense of universality will merge, because the only Conscious Individual in cosmos will be the Universal Logos, the Consciousness of Whom is undivided by ‘Self-reflective emanation’. This is clearly a moment of absorption analogous to the moment when the emanatory process, with all its division into numerous emanated entities, began.

17.              It is said that for the monad (which is here described as the “point of light”) the individual and the universal are already blended in the ONE. However, it is not quite logical that the simultaneous experience of individuality and universality would be consummatory for the human monad. The human monad cannot experience the highest degree of this blending experience. One can envision a progressive intensification of such experiences (with ever lessening dualism) for beings greater than the human monad (beings into which the human monad merges) until, at last, the most intense possible non-dual experience is reached (the most intense within any given cosmos). This would be the moment of the Self-realization of all lesser cosmic B/beings as the Universal Logos or, really, as the Universal Monad. This experience lies ahead for all emanated monads regardless of their present level of ‘prakritic immersion’. [cf. Infinitization of Selfhood—Glossary]

18.              On our own planetary level (quite lowly from a more cosmic perspective), the symbol of this great Union is the “Divine Hermaphrodite”, which symbolizes the blending of spirit and matter.

19.              When the Tibetan speaks of the “ONE”, He may not, at this point in the text, mean the ‘Universal ONE’, but rather the normal ring-pass-not of the human monad (the Planetary Logos). It is always a question of judgment to evaluate just how much ‘ultimacy’ is indicated by the terms which are used to designate the ultimate. In this case, how much of the ‘Universal ONE’ is meant by the term here used—the “ONE”? Where does the Tibetan draw His boundary?

20.              It is interesting to note that in the case of the “Divine Hermaphrodite” here referenced, Venus (Aphrodite) plays the role of the feminine energy and of matter, whereas Mercury (Hermes) is understood as allied with the masculine energy and with spirit.

 

In the state of being which we call the monadic, no difference is recognised between these two because (if I can bring such ideas down to the level of the intelligence of the aspirant) it is realised that there is no identity apart from universality and no appreciation of the universal apart from the individual realisation, and this realisation of identification with both the part and the whole finds its point of tension in the will-to-be, which is qualified by the will-to-good and developed (from the consciousness angle) by the will-to-know.  These are in truth three aspects of the divine will which exists in its perfection in the solar Logos and finds a medium of expression through the planetary Logos. 

1.                  We are considering here a tremendous sentence about the nature of monadic awareness.

2.                  The Tibetan is attempting to bring certain realizations down to the level of intelligence of the aspirant. ‘We’ (serious students of the Tibetan’s thoughts) are most definitely the “aspirant” in this case—aspirants to the “mysteries of being” (in which mysteries, the Tibetan is an initiate).

3.                  Monadic awareness is a very special state—intensely focussed, yet all-embracing.

4.                  The Tibetan makes a definite statement which must be understood (if we can):

there is no identity apart from universality and no appreciation of the universal apart from the individual realisation”.            

If we dig deeply enough into the nature of individuality, we shall never find only individuality; individuality is not a terminal state; it always ends in universality, because every individual is, at length, an emanation of the Universal—i.e., of the Universal Logos.

5.                  Similarly, when looking for who or what might be able to appreciate the universal, we shall find that all appreciators are individual, because all appreciators are emanations. Even the ‘Final Appreciator’ (the Universal Logos) is a kind of Emanation (or “flashing forth’) of the One RAY OF The ABSOLUTE. How the Universal Logos comes to be is shrouded in presently-impenetrable mystery (perhaps forever-impenetrable mystery).

6.                  So whether “I”, the apparently tiny human monad appreciate the Universal, or whether the Planetary or Solar Logoi, appreciate the Universal, or whether some far vaster Being (as vast as even the Universal Logos) appreciates the Universal, all A/appreciators are E/entities, and, hence, individual. The only non-individual is THAT—the GREAT NON-ENTITY (which I just entified by calling it THAT!)

7.                  Then comes a most profound statement, again needing interpretation:

“this realisation of identification with both the part and the whole finds its point of tension in the will-to-be, which is qualified by the will-to-good and developed (from the consciousness angle) by the will-to-know.”
  

It is the “will-to-be” which is particularly characteristic of the monad; it can reasonably be considered the first aspect of the Divine Will. The monad is imbued with the factor of persistence; it is possessed of the will to endure as itself throughout great durations, perhaps throughout the entirety of cosmos (though if this latter type of persistence were true, certain philosophical questions would have to be answered. [see again, Infinitization of Selfhood]) The “will-to-good” as here expressed (qualifying the “will-to-be”) is the factor of will associated first with what we call soul-consciousness (and then, when that soul consciousness is free of the causal body, associated with triadal consciousness). “Being” itself, has no quality; it simply is. Of course, the monad (as manifesting on the cosmic physical plane) is not pure being, and definitely has quality; the essence of the monad is, however, pure being.

8.                  Whatever quality the monad may express (one of the three major rays, qualified by subrays that may be any one of the seven), the descent of its expressiveness upon the lower three cosmic ethers is further qualified by will, love and intelligence, in various combinations and permutations. Still, in this descent, we are in the realm of quality, and are not yet speaking of any tangible expression through the form.

9.                  A word should be said about why the “will-to-good” is related to quality, and to the second aspect of the will. The “Good” is related to fulfillment, to the rounding out and mutual enhancement of all qualities within any whole. The “will-to-fulfillment” is the second type of will in the series, “will-to-create”, “will-to-good”, “will-that-conquers-death”.  There is, therefore, a relationship between the “will-to-good” and the “will-to-fulfillment”, for, essentially, “fulfillment” is the “good”. The “Good” arises through right relationships reflective of the Divine Archetype. The “will-to-good” is the will to the achievement or fulfillment of that Archetype. This is much different than the pure will to be or simply to persist (really a more fundamental quality of the will than the “will-to-good”).

10.              The “will-to-know” is obviously connected with the third aspect of divinity. It is not enough for the identification of the part and the whole to remain simply that—an identification. This identification must have results—specific results—‘below’. Triadal qualification is the first step towards specificity, but the monad becomes really effective in relation to the worlds of form by means of the “will-to-know”. We are saying that the simultaneous realization of part and whole is “developed” by means of the “will-to-know”. What can the term “developed” mean in this context”? We can say that, through this development, the realization of part and whole is eventually made pervasive in all lower states of matter. This realization does not remain only on its own high planes—it descends, until, eventually, God knows Himself as He is, thoroughly, on all planes. There is surely much that remains to be “developed” (“from the consciousness angle”) before the primary focus of the residual “point of light” focusses purely monadically and, subsequently, with what can justifiably be called “universality”.

11.              But, lest we think that these three aspects of the will have a purely microcosmic application, the Tibetan assures us that in the being of the Solar Logos, these three types of will are expressing in perfection. Their “medium of expression” is the Planetary Logos. Their expression through man is quite tertiary and seems almost an incidental—resulting because the monad is a constituent of one or other center in a Planetary Logos.

12.              We can see however that to the extent we can participate in the “will-to-be”, the “will-to-good” and the “will-to-know”, we will be functioning increasingly as a factor of significance within the Planetary Logos.

 

This will is therefore working out in seven ways, via the living qualities of the seven planetary Logoi Who express Themselves through the seven sacred planets; They are preoccupied with the endeavour of bringing all the forms of life within the orbit of Their influence up to the same measure of recorded recognition and of registered existence.  It will be obvious to you, consequently, that on each of the seven sacred planets one aspect of the divine Will will be dominant.

1.                  The Planetary Logoi in this solar system are functioning predominantly through Their soul aspect, for this is (from one method of enumeration) the second of three major solar systems. It would seem that Planetary Logoi, like human beings, are found on only three major monadic rays, though there would be a potential for seven subrays monadically considered, and these subrays would be of great importance.

2.                  Such planets as Venus (which can be hypothesized as having a monad on the sixth ray) would, in terms of its major monadic ray, be on the second, whereas a planet like Mercury, with a proposed fifth ray monad, would be, in terms of its major monadic ray, upon the third. Some very interesting speculations can arise from this line of thought.

3.                  We note that the will expresses in seven “ways” and thus, through seven “rays”.

4.                  In the case of the majority of the sacred planets (and perhaps, at this time, for all) it is the will-to-good which is primarily in expression, emanating from the Solar Logos and reflected through the Planetary Logoi:

5.                  We gather that the Planetary Logoi are attempting to raise all forms of life within the orbit of Their influence up to the same measure of recorded recognition as their own. This is a stupendous idea. And says something about the level of sacrifice typical of their functioning.

6.                  Could we devise conceptions about the seven kinds of will working out through the seven sacred planets? Here are some propositions (while admitting the hopelessness of stating the will of a great Logos in terms of a simple word or two)

a.       Uranus: the will to archetypalize (to transform existing patterns into patterns reflective of archetypes).
b.      Neptune: the will to transcendence (to permeate and transcend)
c.       Saturn: the will to law
d.      Vulcan: the will to impress
e.       Mercury: the will to correlate
f.        Venus: the will to refine
g.       Jupiter: the will to fuse into wholeness

 

D.                Paragraph 3

1.                  The significance of Space is the field wherein states of Being are brought to the stage of recognition. (cf. RI p. 106)

2.                  When that stage has been reached and the Knower, the Soul, is fully aware and fully conscious, then there enters in a new factor which also affects space but which is related to the monadic Life. That factor is Time. (cf. RI p. 106-107)

3.                  Time is related to the will aspect and is dependent upon the dynamic life, self-directed, which produces persistence and which demonstrates persistence in that dynamic focus of intention by periodic or cyclic appearance. (cf. RI p. 107)

This is the significance of Space—the field wherein states of Being are brought to the stage of recognition.  When that stage has been reached and the Knower, the Soul, is fully aware and fully conscious, then there enters [Page 107] in a new factor which also affects space—though in a different way—but which is related to the monadic Life.  That factor is Time.  Time is related to the will aspect and is dependent upon the dynamic life, self-directed, which produces persistence and which demonstrates persistence in that dynamic focus of intention by periodic or cyclic appearance.

1.                  This is a brilliant definition of Space. A “state of Being” is a sustained state of vibration. Many are such vibratory levels, but they exist in a state of non-recognition with respect to the multitudinous beings who function at ‘lower’ levels of vibration.

2.                  In this definition, we see the blending of Being and Consciousness, for a “state of recognition” is a state of consciousness.

3.                  Things “are as they are” and Being, simply, is, but what is registered, recorded and acknowledged about that which is?

4.                  Note that DK uses the word “significance” rather than “meaning”, showing us that He is thinking in relation to purpose.

5.                  If we wish to speak of the purpose of Space or of a particular field of Space, that purpose is the elevation of the consciousnesses confined to that field.

6.                  Being is what it is, but what it is has to be discovered, cognised. It is consciousness which (in any field, system or cosmos) is the factor of growth. Pure Being does not grow, but the realization of Being intensifies and grows.

7.                  In this discussion we are dealing with the “sutratma” which is related to Being, and with the antahkarana, related to Consciousness.

8.                  Additionally, we are dealing with the function of two aspects of man within the field of Space. First, we are dealing with the manner in which soul functions within the field of Space; soul brings that which is (namely, Being) into consciousness, into the light.

9.                  Then, a new factor related to monadic life, enters our consideration. That factor is Time. We are interested here not just in Time, per se, but in the manner in which Time functions within the field of Space

10.              As a generalization, we can say that Time is related to monadic life and Space is related to soul life. Time, then, is related to sutratma and Space to antahkarana.

11.              It is interesting here that Time is related to “dynamic life” which, itself, produces “persistence”—persistence in a “dynamic focus of intention” which demonstrates through periodicity and cyclicity.

12.              There is a continuous Will behind the constantly recurring cycles of appearance and disappearance.

13.              Then how is it that Time affects Space, for in a way, Time is an aspect superior to Space? (In another way Time and Space—with Motion—are equal and coeval.)

14.              We can say that Time (dependent upon and supported by “dynamic life” ) can be called ‘sustained entification’. Time, in essence is ‘will-sustained-entification’ by means of which states of Being can be brought to the stage of recognition. This kind of fulfilment, via the Will-to-Good “takes time”. The completion of all processes takes time—requires time. Without Time no process is possible

15.              We might say that ‘Time sustains Space’, just as the Father (“Father Time”) is the sustaining aspect—sustaining the Mother.

16.              Time is related to the monad, and, simply understood, the monad is the sustaining aspect of the human constitution. The monad (in a way, related to Vulcan) provides endurance and sustainment-through-time of those ‘relationships in space’ which are the human being. All human vehicles are ‘relationships in space’.

17.              Microcosmically, and simply understood, the monad provides time, in which its intended processes can come to fulfilment. Each of the monad’s emanated aspects (spiritual triad, soul and the personality) has an ‘intended program of fulfillment’, and the monad provides the ‘sustainment-in-existence’ by means of which this can happen. The monad is much more a temporal factor than a spatial one.

18.              It has been said that “Time is God’s way of ensuring that everything does not happen at once!”

19.              Time is necessitated by entification, and entification is equivalent to limitation. Time is necessitated by the Principle of Limitation, which, in a way, creates Time through its cyclic appearance. The one thing which THAT ‘DOES’ is limit ITSELF (apparently).

20.              Consciousness, when it cyclically exists, can only conceive in terms of Time. The conception of Time is an inescapable ‘Category of Perception’ The moment there are ‘this’ and ‘that’, the Factor of Time forces itself into consciousness as inescapable. When there no longer ‘this’ and ‘that’, Time ceases to exist.

 

E.                 Paragraph 4

From the angle of the Will or the Father, these appearances in time and through space are so small a part of the experience of the living Entity Whose life is lived on planes other than the physical, emotional or mental, that they are regarded as no life. To understand this, we must seek to understand the sum total in the light of the part, the Macrocosm in the light of the Microcosm. (cf. RI p. 107)

From the angle of the Will or the Father, these appearances in time and through space are so small a part of the experience of the living Entity Whose life is lived on planes other than the physical, emotional or mental, that they are regarded as no life.  To understand this, I would remind you again that we must seek to understand the sum total in the light of the part, the Macrocosm in the light of the Microcosm.  That is no easy task and is necessarily most limited.

1.                  The Tibetan, whose consciousness is, presumably, monadic (or very nearly so) tries to give us a sense of proportion.

2.                  We are again speaking microcosmically. The “appearances in time and through space” (or ‘by the instrumentality of space’) are the appearances of our vehicles of expression—especially those in the lower three worlds.

3.                  The experience of “the living Entity’ (the monad) is vast beyond our conception. The work of study with which we are engaged, is a piece of work undertaken ‘from below’ (as it were). As the lesser cannot include the greater, this work is subject to the probability of considerable error.

4.                  But such study, though inescapably subject to illusions, is a necessary aspect of the return of the part to the whole, and of the Mother/Son aspect to the Father aspect.

 

F.                  Paragraph 5

1.                  The disciple knows or is learning to know that he is not this or that, but Life Itself. (cf. RI p. 107)

2.                  The disciple is not the physical body or its emotional nature; he is not, in the last analysis (a most occult phrase) the mind or that by which he knows. He is learning that that too must be transcended and superseded by intelligent love (only truly possible after the mind has been developed), and he begins to realise himself as the soul. (cf. RI p. 107)

3.                  Later, comes the awful "moment in time" when, pendant in space, the disciple discovers that he is not the soul. What then is he? A point of divine dynamic will, focussed in the soul and arriving at awareness of Being through the use of form. (cf. RI p. 107)

4.                  The disciple realises that he is Will, the ruler of time and the organiser, in time, of space. (cf. RI p. 107)

5.                  Time and space are the "divine playthings" and can be used or not at will. (cf. RI p. 107)

The disciple knows or is learning to know that he is not this or that, but Life Itself.  He is not the physical body or its emotional nature; he is not, in the last analysis (a most occult phrase) the mind or that by which he knows.  He is learning that that too must be transcended and superseded by intelligent love (only truly possible after the mind has been developed), and he begins to realise himself as the soul.  Then, later, comes the awful "moment in time" when, pendant in space, he discovers that he is not the soul.  What then is he?  A point of divine dynamic will, focussed in the soul and arriving at awareness of Being through the use of form.  He is Will, the ruler of time and the organiser, in time, of space.  This he does, but ever with the reservation that time and space are the "divine playthings" and can be used or not at will.

1.                  This, of course, is a major learning.  It is a fundamental discrimination—not a discrimination ‘within’ the worlds of form, revealing how this aspect of form is different from that aspect of form, but, rather, a discrimination between different orders of being It is, fundamentally, the discrimination of unity/wholeness from duality/partiality.

2.                  The Tibetan offers a little hint: He calls the phrase, “in the last analysis”, “a most occult phrase”. Perhaps, there is a phase of analysis which immediately precedes realization. The “last analysis” represents the point at which manas is ready to transition into buddhi. Once the “last analysis” is reached, no further analysis is possible. A different faculty has to be used if there is to be further penetration into reality—the faculty of intuition.

3.                  This paragraph deals with the disidentification process, the successive repudiation of illusory ‘points of identification’.

4.                  We note that mind is to be transcended or superseded by “intelligent” love and not just by love. This is an important transitional phase on the way to the pure love of the buddhic plane.

5.                  When we think of “intelligent” love, we necessarily think of Venus—a planet representing the blending of the manasic and the love aspects. Venus, for us, is the foremost planet of the soul. What we normally call “soul” is a blend of light and love, of intelligence and love—it is the second or “love” aspect focussed on the manasic  plane (though the “power” aspect is also somewhat present). Neptune, perhaps, should be considered a planet of pure love—at least the higher aspects of Neptune relate to love in all its purity.

6.                  It is interesting that, in Rule IV, which deals with attaining freedom from the lesser lives, and with the dispersal or return of those lives to the “reservoir of life”, the Tibetan says so many profound things about the human being’s true monadic identity.

7.                  All of us will one day experience an “awful moment in time”, when we discover that we are not the soul. The meaning is that it will be a moment ‘full of awe’ and amazement—rather than a moment which is negatively terrible.

8.                  The unexpected will “come into view”, and we shall feel both small, indeed, and yet far more vast than ever before.

9.                  What does it mean that we shall be “pendant in space” during this “awful moment in time”? To be “pendant” means to be hanging or suspended. This is no mere figure of speech, for indeed the spark hangs from the flame by the most refined “thread of Fohat”. No matter where we are in the ‘Sphere of Space’ we are “pendant” from the monad, which, itself, it pendant from the Universal Spirit.

10.              When one is “pendant”, it is as if one has lost one’s foundation (at least a foundation found ‘below’—the normal place for foundations). At such a moment, one feels that one has lost one’s ‘basis’, the ‘place whereon one stands’. One feels oneself to be in a ‘fathomless’ situation, with no way to be ‘upheld’. One may, for a ‘time’ feel lost, until it is realized that the foundation must be sought ‘above’, within one’s true Source, and that that from which one is pendant is the true Foundation and Root.

11.              All such realizations are the result of a Great Abstraction (deriving from the first aspect of divinity).

12.              What am I? What are we? This is one of the places in which the Tibetan offers an arresting definition of the Self.    

A point of divine dynamic will, focussed in the soul and arriving at awareness of Being through the use of form.”    

When it comes to identity, the idea of the “point” is inescapable. As a monad we are a “point” which is a ‘dimensionless presence possessed of will, love and intelligence’. This point is dynamic because within it is power and the ability to move things.

13.              For that point to be focussed in the soul means that it is experiencing relationship on a certain level of vibration. (Somehow, in cosmos, the experience of relationship on some vibratory level or another is inevitable.)

14.              Why is it that this “point of dynamic will” has to arrive at “awareness of Being”? Is it not, intrinsically, aware of Being, since essentially, it is Being, itself? We are reminded that in the Field of Space “states of Being are brought to the stage of recognition”.

15.              It seems most reasonable to think that the monad is, indeed, essentially Self-aware, but it is not necessarily aware of itself as ‘Being within form’, for form obscures awareness of Being until form is overcome by Consciousness.

16.              The disciple-as-monad is further aware of himself in the following way:

“He is Will, the ruler of time and the organiser, in time, of space.  This he does, but ever with the reservation that time and space are the ‘divine playthings’ and can be used or not at will”.

17.              Why is the Will the “ruler of time”? Time will cease unless the Will sustains cosmic duration. Time is simply the ‘will-sustained-continuation of the Cosmic Process’. There is discontinuance if and when the Process ceases. The Process will cease if the Will does not will the Process to continue. Thus Will causes continuance and continuance is Time, Therefore, Will is the “ruler of time” (as here stated). Will determines the appearance of Time.

18.              Will is also said to be the “organizer in time of space”.  All things that ‘happen’, happen ‘in time’ Nothing can ‘happen’ outside the medium of Time. Time provides the possibility of limited occurrence, and since all occurrence is limited, Time provides the possibility of occurrence.

19.              PURE, ETERNAL DURATION is immeasurable. Time requires Maya and is measurable.

20.              What does it mean that space is to be organized? If ‘Space is Substance’, and Substance is the ‘mutual perception of all aggregated entities’, then it is the Will which determines (with the aid of its instrument, manas) how those entities shall be related. Space is Substance and Substance is the ‘mutual perception of aggregated entities’, but the patterns of aggregation are decided by Will (really, by the ‘Ultimate Perceiver’ ‘behind’ Will) as it surveys the possibilities of combination offered by Mind.

21.              The concept of Time and Space as playthings is novel and important. The Creator/Manipulator (which God-the-Monad essentially is) stands detached. Nothing the M/monad does can alter what it is.

22.              We human beings “play” when what we do is for the pleasure of doing it. To play is sheer creativity, performed “for the fun of it”, ‘for the joy of it’. At the end of play we can say, “it was only a game”. Essence remains and has not been touched or altered by play.

23.              If Time and Space can be used or not at will, the monad-Creator must be content and adequate within itself. Its world is other than the world of Time and Space, and it need not ‘take up” these “divine playthings”. The monad-Creator can do so if it will, but there is no compulsion to do so.

24.              One’s view of the seriousness of life is entirely changed. Those immersed in Time and Space are immersed in the Creation and take it seriously because they have no conscious point of view ‘outside’ the Creation. Involvement in the World-Process is both serious and not serious. Its outcome makes no difference except in relation to  the Process itself.

25.              The Master or Chohan (as conscious monad) is focussed outside of Time and Space (as these two “categories of perception” are usually considered). They are utterly secure in their sense of being, and realize that they have had, and will have, an endlessness of creativity using Time and Space as the media of creation.

26.              They are detached and blissful in Their detachment. They have become consciously a part of the Universal Creative Process.

 

G.                Paragraph 6

1.                  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 and space. (cf. RI p. 107-108)

2.                  It is in this sense, esoterically understood, that time is an event. (cf. RI p. 108)

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 [Page 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.

1.                  Purpose is a ‘Will-sustained pattern that is to manifest’.

2.                  When the disciple-as-monad realizes that Purpose as his own, he is identified with it. Purpose is no longer something outside him. Purpose is, as it were, his creation.

3.                  Identification with Purpose is then the ‘evocation of one’s own will-as-Will’.

4.                  All acts of will are ‘wayward’ until they derive from one’s own essential will-as-Will. As long as purpose is not one’s own, one is not truly engaged in Will.

5.                  True Will grows out of an elevation of the sense of identity. The merging of one’s own little will with a larger will, is the discovery that the larger Will is, in fact, one’s own will.

6.                  The Tibetan stratifies purpose into individual purpose, group purpose and finally the purpose of the Whole—whatever that Whole that might be.

7.                  As human beings, we are on our way to identifying with the Purpose of the Whole, but, in truth, that ‘day’ will not come until the “End Time”. Every larger whole with which we identify is not the Whole at all, but only a larger group.

8.                  At all points in time throughout the Cosmic Process (except for the ‘Moment of the End’) it is only possible to be identified with “group purpose”—but we must learn to interpret all great entities as groups. The Whole is not, per se, a group, as there are “none like unto it”, but it is composed of many groups.

9.                  Group affiliation is always an opportunity for merging with a larger and more powerful context. As the individual is always really more than an individual, to merge progressively with groups is to expand the self until it becomes truer to its own nature. An individual self is a great limitation upon Self.

10.              The closer we come to merging with the purpose of the Whole, the greater the scope and power of the groups with which we find ourselves identified. Identification with the group called Hierarchy is one phase in the progress towards identification with the whole. Identification with Shamballa is a further phrase. Then there is the identification with the Group called the Planetary Whole, and eventually with the group called the Solar Systemic Whole. These vast wholes are nonetheless miniscule when compared to identification with the Whole, or with the One Life—the Universal Logos.

 

H.                Paragraph 7

1.                  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. (cf. RI p. 108)

2.                  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. (cf. RI p. 108)

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.

1.                  The Tibetan is essentializing for us. He is telling us what will remain after many eliminations have occurred,

2.                  From a practical perspective, the “all-enveloping Life”, is the Life of the Planetary Logos. That will be more than sufficient for our purposes.

3.                  The Life, its Will and Plan, and the act of materializing that Plan (through Will) in Time and Space will preoccupy us for millennia to come, and we shall gradually merge with that Life, our will becoming its Will and our plan, its Plan.

4.                  Our identification at the time of consummation will be with the Great Life and, therefore, with a far Greater Wheel than the little wheels which comprise our individual self. . The smaller lives and the smaller wheels will no longer be successful in holding our sense of identity captive.

5.                  Here the Tibetan states the idea that was developed in the first part of this Commentary: the turning of the Greater Wheel causes all the lesser wheels to turn.

6.                  A wonderful description of human progress then follows. We can realize that the Tibetan is also describing the turning of lesser wheels within greater and greater wheels?

7.                  We note that in this process, selfishness comes first, and selfish will is necessary in order to reveal the nature of will.

8.                  We also notice that the quality of will begins to change as the objectives which the will pursues become more intangible.

9.                  A very important principle of progress is suggestion: the exhaustion of the tangible leads to the pursuit of the intangible.

10.              The important thing to emerge in this description is the contrast between an individual’s “so-called will” and what the Will really is.

11.              Something of vital moment occurs during this process: the discovery of a larger Will than one’s own.

12.              We should pause and recollect: have we had such moments of discovery?

13.              Such moments also bring with them the sense of the Entity to Whom the larger Will belongs—for will, per se, is secondary to the Presence which sustains it.

14.              The process described is, generically, threefold: identification with one’s own will; the apprehension of a greater Will and the process of contrasting that greater Will with one’s own; the merging  of one’s own will with the greater Will, or the transformation of one’s own will into the greater Will, or the discovery that the greater Will  is really one’s own true will.

15.              In all this we have to remember that we are larger than we may have suspected, that that the largeness that we essentially are has a Will which is greater and more encompassing that the ‘smallness’ which we thought ourselves to be.

 

I.                   Paragraph 8

1.                  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. (cf. RI p. 1089

2.                  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. (cf. RI p. 108)

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.

1.                  Practical advice is given. First carry out the Plan and Purpose will reveal itself. Plan is more a sequence of necessary steps to be accomplished in time. Purpose is the Pattern (sustained in the Mind and by the Will of God—the Planetary Logos) towards the consummation of which the execution of the Plan leads.

2.                  Purpose, we learn, is monadic in its nature. The plane whereon the monad is focussed is a great ‘Plane of Archetypal Patterning’ (as far as the cosmic physical plane is concerned). The apprehension of the highest purpose for man-as-man requires that man be monadically sensitive and finally monadically focussed. To be monadically focussed means to be more aware of that which can be seen when identified as a monad than aware of anything else—which is hardly yet the case for the vast majority of those who form part of the Fourth Creative Hierarchy.

3.                  Another ultra-profound definition is here offered: monadic consciousness is not any one state; a number of factors contribute to making it what it is. It is consciousness and realization as the mystic feels these; it is also identification as the occultist terms it. But all three of these must be present simultaneously, appreciated and registered “in a moment of time within the orbit of space”.

4.                  With respect to consciousness, one is sensitive to that which is apprehended, knowing all about it, registering all there is to know about it (through participation in its nature).

5.                  Through realization one is impressed by the reality and significance of that of which one is fully conscious.

6.                  Through identification, one not only knows deeply and sees, simultaneously, significance and purpose; one is that of which one is conscious and about which one realizes.

7.                  And monadic awareness is all of these high acts or processes in simultaneous occurrence.

8.                  Monadic awareness is apprehension of the thing-in-itself; the thing-in-context; the thing-as-oneself—and all of these together and simultaneously.

9.                  There are no other times than “moments” of time. The moment is the ‘medium of revelation’. Revelation comes only in moments.

10.              There are moments of obscurity and moments of revelation. Moments are temporal apertures through which comes change of apprehension, ‘change of touch’.

11.              All consciousness has a “ring-pass-not”. All units of consciousness turn in an orbit (symbolically speaking). There is a cyclic nature to consciousness; it is not merely non-repetitively progressive. As consciousness widens, its orbit widens and rises in a spiral.

12.              But in any given ‘moment’, consciousness apprehends a section of space within a given orbit.

13.              The “orbit of space” might be alternatively defined.  The purpose of an orbit is ‘cyclic exposure to a central source’. Space (even ‘Great Space’) is never completely exposed to its Central Source. Space symbolically turns (rotates or revolves) in its ‘orbit’ to receive that which, at any particular moment, must impregnate Space.

14.              Thus, every ‘field of space’ within Space has its central source and rotates revolves symbolically around this source, receiving its pulsations in a gradual, repetitive yet progressive manner. Rotation relates to the center of an entity’s ‘proprietary space’; revolution defines a relationship with the center of the ‘proprietary space’ of a still greater entity. ‘Great Space’ can only rotate, it cannot revolve. All other ‘spaces’ within Universal Space or ‘Great Space’, both rotate and revolve.

15.              It is justifiable to consider that ‘Great Space’ (the Universal Totality), has its own kind of ‘orbit’, otherwise the Cosmic Process would occur instantaneously. Instead there is an incremental reception of the rhythmic impulsions of the Great Center occurring in Time.

16.              ‘Great Space’ may have only one rotation per universal cycle.

17.              If we ponder on the true meaning of monadic awareness (consciousness, realization, identification) we may come closer to an apprehension of its real nature. It is surely a type of awareness which has little to do with our normal preoccupation with the usual “contents of consciousness”.

 

J.                  Paragraph 9

1.                  One of the duties of a Master of the Wisdom:

2.                  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 [Page 109] begin to influence the higher level of thinkers. These latter are responsible for precipitating the ideas deep into the human consciousness. (cf. RI p. 108-109)

3.                  The generation which will come into active thought expression at the end of the 20th century 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. (cf. RI p. 109)

4.                  The Aquarian 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. (cf. RI p. 109)

5.                  Selfishness, as we now understand it, will gradually disappear in the Aquarian Age, for the will of the individual will voluntarily be blended into the group will. (cf. RI p. 109)

6.                  The Aquarian Age might give rise to group selfishness. 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 fulfilment 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. (cf. RI p. 109)

7.                  There is the absolute 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. (cf. RI p. 109)

8.                  If 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. (cf. RI p. 109)

9.                  The Heavenly Man and the human being upon that Wheel are developing divine qualities and attributes. (cf. RI p. 109)

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 [Page 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. 

1.                  The Tibetan is well aware of the abstract nature of what He has just conveyed. Right interpretation requires access to the Spiritual Triad via the Antahkarana.

2.                  Are we any wiser for having read what He has written? We may pause to assess.

3.                  The Tibetan clarifies the nature of those for whom He writes—presumably (in the case of these Rules) those who are not only capable of abstract thought, but of blending abstract thought with, at least, nascent intuition.

4.                  Why, when dealing with such thoughts, are words necessary? It is simply a matter of the present level of evolution reached by evolving man. The Masters can communicate about such matters (among Themselves) without the use of words. Human beings have not yet become capable of doing so.

5.                  The “emerging concepts” of which the Tibetan speaks are part of that portion of the Divine Plan slated for revelation at this time of humanity’s development. These concepts are ‘stored’ (as it were) within the intuitive level of the Spiritual Triad and are incapable of revelation to any except those who have developed the antahkarana to a sufficient degree.

6.                  The “higher level of thinkers” have a responsibility for rendering that which is abstract into thought which is more concrete and, thus, apprehensible by intelligent thinkers whose access to the Spiritual Triad is not yet appreciable.

7.                  We see a constant ‘chain of descent’ or ‘chain of precipitation’ as that which is intangible moves and is moved towards a useful tangibility.

8.                  The second reason that Master D.K. writes of that which could not yet be adequately understood by His then readers is that He was not writing only for them, but for that group which should have entered “active thought expression” at the end of the twentieth century and is now entering such expression at the beginning of the twenty-first. The members of groups of this nature (the 28 Rules Group, for instance) should be among those for whom He has written.

9.                  The obvious question arises: “Can we actually understand and appreciate what He has written?” “Or are we in exactly the same condition as that group of disciples for whom the text was originally written?” This will not be easy to assess. The world has changed profoundly over the last sixty years (written 2003) and much is built into the structure of our understanding which was then, perhaps, rather more theoretical.

10.              Of course, those who will inaugurate the “framework, structure and fabric of the New Age” are also those who will live during the next one hundred or so years. The Aquarian Age will not (according to the astronomical data given by the Tibetan) begin until the year 2117, and even then, there will be an overlap period of 250 years during which the Piscean energy slowly recedes.

11.              As we think and speculate, do we, in fact, start with certain premises which were the dreams of the more exalted dreamers of, say, sixty years ago? Perhaps, to a degree. Certainly, the tendency to base one’s thought upon such premises will only increase as the twenty-first century unfolds.

12.              We are led to understand something about how a Master considers time. Masters are consciously immortal beings who have achieved an imperturbable continuity of consciousness. They know where They have been and where They are going; They think in terms of centuries and even of millennia and are not limited in their thought to the few short decades which probably loom overly large in the consciousness of the average disciple.

13.              It would be wise for us to begin to cultivate the kind of ‘time-sense’ possessed by the Great Ones. We will not immediately succeed, but it will be easier to apply the factor of Wisdom to our work, and we will probably work with a truer sense of values and with fewer errors.

14.              When a lesser eye ascends to the perspective of a greater ‘Eye’, life is understood with increasing breadth and profundity.

15.              Daily we should pause to evaluate the ‘pinnacle of our perspective’ and see whether it might be raised. Thus will our sense of time and space alter in a way inconceivable by the strictly concrete mind.

 

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. 

1.                  The Tibetan contrasts the Aquarian and Piscean Ages in terms of consciousness—group consciousness versus individual consciousness.

2.                  We might wonder why there has been so much developing individualism during the Piscean Age, for the sign Pisces, by itself, does not confer it. Virgo, however, has also been active (as the sign opposite the sign which rules a precessional age ever is), and Virgo confers a quality of mentality and analysis which contribute to personality integration and to individualism.

3.                  During the latter part of the Piscean Age the seventh and fifth rays have emerged into prominence and these, too, have potentized the distinct individual and his/her expression.

4.                  The Tibetan predicts the disappearance of selfishness, “as we now understand it”. This is an important exception, for there are other kinds of selfishness than individual selfishness.

5.                  The perspective or point of view of the average consciousness will so expand during the Aquarian Age that the tiny individual will be seen in a larger context and ordinary selfishness will become untenable to those who are capable of reasonable thought. When ignorance flourishes, the vision typical of the lower ego is much more prominent; the lines of causation are not seen and the derivative, dependent nature of the individual is not understood. Aquarius is such an encompassing energy that, accompanied by an intensifying fifth and seventh rays (the fifth revealing causation and the seventh, lineage), the illusion of the isolated individual will be largely undermined. With the devaluation of the concept of the reality of the lower ego, ordinary selfishness will also fade. This is a general statement, of course, because the New Age is also the Age of Aquarius-Leo, and a number of very selfish individuals will emerge under the cleavages induced by the fifth ray and the materialism possible to those upon the seventh ray.

6.                  After predicting the end of ordinary selfishness, the Tibetan sounds a rather ominous warning: individual selfishness can give way to group selfishness. Signs of this can already be seen and His prophecy has been, to a degree, fulfilled. A group is a kind of individual (and is treated as such in the legal system of some countries.). The group is an encompassing entity, and it is, perhaps, more difficult for group members to see into the egoistic nature of groups to which they give their loyalty and which, in turn, offer them protection, sustenance and individual advancement.

7.                  So, a still further range of vision is required—the power to see beyond the insularity of one’s own group. In the modern era this ability tends to differentiate those who are blindly nationalistic and those who see their nation as a member of a community of nations. Within the business field, there is a contrast between those who seek to see their business or corporation succeed no matter what the repercussions may be on other members of the same business community, and those who think in terms of the welfare of a national and, even, world economy.

8.                  The Tibetan warns of a possible “gradual consolidation of the forces of evil or of materialism upon the Earth”. From an astrological perspective, we may expect tendencies of this nature when the planet representing focussed evil (Pluto) enters the sign of consolidation (Capricorn) on January 25th 2008. Humanity and our planet have much testing, trial and housecleaning ahead, as we enter the period immediately preceding the laying of hierarchical plans for the Externalization of the Hierarchy and the Reappearance of the Christ.

 

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.

1.                  The warning given then should be taken to heart by those of us who are endeavoring to labor in the present field of human glamor and illusion. The text above was written as World War II was turning for the better and hope for a better future was emerging.. The results of mishandling the peace, however, are with us, and dire possibilities loom on humanity’s present horizon.

2.                  The need for the “will-to-good” among the spiritually minded, and of goodwill among the masses, is today even more pressing than at the time the Tibetan wrote these words.

3.                  The emphasis upon both of these aspects of the will must be intensified as we move towards the year 2025. If, as students of occultism and servers of humanity, we find that our individual and group relations are not characterized by these aspects of the will, we must immediately make amends. The times are too dangerous for us to hesitate.

4.                  The Tibetan warns us of the effect of laziness following upon the “terrific housecleaning” which World War II represented. We are reminded of Christ’s parable of the man who swept his house clean and was thus rid of many devils only to succumb to an even greater possession. Has this happened? As humanity, do we find ourselves now in the undesirable state which the Master foresaw as a possibility?

5.                  We are dealing with a Rule which speaks of lesser wheels and a “Greater Wheel”. Here the Tibetan names that greater wheel as humanity, itself. Selfish individuals and selfish groups are lesser wheels, which, in their turning, inhibit the correct turning of the “Greater Wheel”, humanity.

6.                  When we offer our allegiance to the Greater Wheel and its turning, we, the lesser wheels, begin to develop “divine qualities and attributes”. Selfishness cannot develop such qualities.

7.                  Many opportunities for the relinquishment of selfishness will be offered to us in years immediately ahead. May we take those opportunities and, thus, facilitate the turning of the “Greater Wheel” and even of the “Great Wheel”—however we may conceive it to be. Perhaps it is the Wheel of our Planetary Life in which the right relation between Shamballa, Hierarchy and Humanity is in process of fulfillment.

 

K.                Paragraph 10

A.                 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 kingdoms. (cf. RI p. 109-110)

B.                 It is 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. (cf. RI p. 110)

C.                 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. (cf. RI p. 110)

D.                The will-to-good of the world knowers is the magnetic seed of the future. (cf. RI p. 110)

E.                 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. (cf. RI p. 110)

F.                  The will-to-good and goodwill must be nurtured in the immediate future, for on them the more distant hope of happiness and of world peace depends. (cf. RI p. 110)

G.                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. (cf. RI p. 110)

H.                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. (cf. RI p. 110)

I.                   It would be dangerous for disciples to reach Shamballa (prior to the third initiation when all personality tendencies are obliterated). They would destroy themselves. (cf. RI p. 110)

J.                  It would be as dangerous for the ordinary man to reach Shamballa (prior to the third initiation when all personality tendencies are obliterated). He damage himself. (cf. RI p. 110)

K.                To teach the masses of men today techniques-of-will would render their still selfish will effective. (cf. RI p. 110)

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 [Page 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.

1.                  This paragraph opens with a very interesting statement and one which seems implausible at first. Perhaps the word “expression” is the key, for expression occurs within the lower worlds upon which humanity focuses and in which the three lower kingdoms “live and move and have their being”.

2.                  The higher kingdoms are surely endowed with the will, and to a far greater extent than humanity or any of the lower kingdoms, but these kingdoms focus in areas of the planetary life which are not, technically, arenas of “expression”—a ‘pressing outwards’ and ‘downwards’.

3.                  We are now talking about how the Divine Plan will work out through the three lower kingdoms, and humanity’s role in that outworking. The Divine Plan must work out purposefully, hence the need for “the spirit of inclusiveness” and “spiritual identification” within humanity; only these two capacities of consciousness will conduce to the correct registration of the Divine Purpose—which is vastly inclusive and based upon the apprehension of the fundamental Oneness of all participants within the planetary ring-pass-not.

4.                  If the will-to-good is to be unfolded within the disciples of the world, how will it be recognized? It will not be only a heart response. The will-inspired mind must be involved and some idea of what really constitutes the “Good” must be alive in the consciousness. The “Good” is the synthesis of all the many ‘goods’, and its appreciation requires considerable philosophical understanding. The point is that the consciousness of disciples must be considerably broadened if they are to appreciate the will-to-good.

5.                  Another of D.K.’s memorable statements is offered as follows: “The will-to-good of the world knowers is the magnetic seed of the future.” It is as if the will-to-good magnetically draws into relationship all the many ‘goods’ which will constitute the “Good”. Note that one must be a “knower” to possess the will-to-good. Only what who knows somewhat as the Solar Angel knows, can apprehend a reasonable portion of the “Good”.

6.                  We can, however, gather this—that if we are truly animated by the will-to-good, that which we do, speak and think will have the effect of bringing into manifestation the ‘good which ought to be’. If we wish to know, then, how to bring forward the divinely-intended future, the simple answer is, “Be animated by the will-to-good, and act upon it”.

7.                  We learn that the new civilization is a kind of ‘Son’ born from Father and Mother—Father seen as the “will-to-good” and Mother seen as “goodwill”. This is an important slant on the birthing of the new and spiritual civilization—far more spiritual than has been possible in the past.

8.                  We might ask ourselves, “How are the ‘will-to-good’ and ‘goodwill’ to interact? As the greater will ever include the lesser, the expression of the will-to-good must be done, as much as possible, via the medium of goodwill. This is not necessarily a foregone conclusion, as the “good” may call for the imposition of patterns which seem to violate the principle of “goodwill”. When this is the case, the reason for the necessary imposition must be carefully explained to that the will-to-good may be accepted by those who cannot usually understand it, and for whom it is a task even to understand the nature and value of goodwill.

9.                  It would seem that much intelligent adaptability is required if those who are animated by the will-to-good are to effectively mobilize those for whom goodwill is more compelling. Interpretive Mercury and appreciative Venus play their role in the appropriate interface between these two types of will.

10.              The Tibetan commends these considerations to our “consciousness”, not only to our minds. The consciousness is deeper than the mind and includes it.  He is calling for a deep understanding of the two types of will, suggesting that the future happiness (and, even, peace) of humanity depends upon their proper nurturing. Thus, these two factors are vitally important.

11.              How does one go about nurturing the will-to-good and goodwill? First of all by understanding them, valuing them and explaining their nature and value to others. Even more importantly, one has to demonstrate them in one’s life. Goodwill as “love in action” is, of the two, the easier to understand. No great mental development or expansions of consciousness are necessary as in relation to the will-to-good.

12.              The nurturance of the will-to-good requires a constantly intuitive orientation for only from the realm of intuition can the nature of the will-to-good be apprehended, this being the case because the intuition reveals the “good” and, at length (in a planetary sense) the “Good”.

13.              The paragraph under study was written in the early to mid 1940’s. We can see that humanity, as a whole, is not yet happy. Perhaps it is too soon. The requisite work has not been done. There is far too little of both the will-to-good and goodwill alive and active in the world. Many years of nurturance and cultivation lie ahead of us.

 

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.

1.                  How many people are members of the New Group of World Servers? In the 1930’s there were only a few thousands. Today there may be hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions. The Hierarchy (which can infallibly recognize those who are members) is in a position to know with accuracy. We are not.

2.                  The will-to-good will mean one thing to the average member of the NGWS, another to a disciple trained in occultism, and still another to initiates and members of the Spiritual Hierarchy. It becomes clear, however, that even average members of the NGWS can be trained sufficiently to recognize planetary good that the will-to-good can arise within their consciousness. The way to achieve this is to offer an increasingly clear vision of planetary possibilities—possibilities which are not too occult or dependent upon an understanding of occult technicalities. The “good” (conceived in planetary terms) is already the property-in-consciousness of many servers of the race. They do not and cannot see the whole picture, and perhaps they conceive of the good only in relation to the work of a particular Ashram (which, unknown to them, inspires them), but some aspect of the ‘planetary good’ has, at least, taken shape within their consciousness.

3.                  The Tibetan describes the will-to-good as “dynamic, powerful and effective”. He offers us two types of reaction to this will—one characteristic of initiates and the other of disciples. Disciples can realize the Plan, but only react to the Purpose. The soul-influenced consciousness is sufficiently wide and deep to embrace the Plan with reasonable entirety (at least with respect to their particular field of service) but not yet adequate to a realization of the greater Purpose which substands the Plan. The apprehension of Divine Purpose requires ‘occult distance vision’, a realization of whence, whither and wherefore which far beyond the ken of even the astute disciple.

4.                  Always knowing that there is much more to see and understand, we must be reasonably content with the scope of apprehension presently available to us, and then act upon the apprehension. We will apprehend more as we act according to what we presently know.

5.                  Since those who are technically disciples have not yet taken the third initiation, they cannot realize the Divine Purpose. After the third initiation, some contact with Shamballa begins, though it is but a faint contact. The monad, however, is that state of awareness which apprehends purpose, and thus the third degree at which time monadic contact becomes conscious is the ante-chamber to the realization of Divine Purpose.

6.                  The paragraph concludes with a most powerful and revelatory section:

“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.”         

Two types of danger are cited—one based upon selfishness and the other, less selfish, but still highly inadvisable.

7.                  We learn something of real importance: at the third initiation “all personality tendencies are obliterated”. This is an uncompromising statement which should give pause to many who think they have attained to this degree.

8.                  Selfishness is always destructive, both to victim and perpetrator. When members of the mass are selfish, karma brings its correctives and the cost of selfishness is driven home.

9.                  When a well-intended (though still personal) disciple becomes over-driven by the will, the motive for action may be good but the intensity of application will be unwise—too much for the personality to handle. The energy of love (conferred in abundance by the Solar Angel at the third degree) does not serve as a buffering, moderating influence. During the Second World War we saw certain members of the Axis group driven by immoderate will, and their paths ended in destruction. These individuals, however, were selfishly motivated in the extreme, and so the forces of retributive karma were also activated, making their unhappy and unholy end even more certain.

10.              Dynamic will (impulsed from Shamballa) tends to overlook the limitations of the form unless the second ray (the Preserver of the Form) is functioning simultaneously. Personalities prior to the third degree are, however, incompletely soul-infused and thus incompletely protected by the second ray. Even for the well-intended, the Shamballic Will would become so strong as to run roughshod over the legitimate needs of the form; thus, the inevitable destruction.

11.              No wonder that Shamballa and its ‘Residents’ are so careful in making un-buffered contact with humanity and human beings; such contact is inevitably destructive of the form. Premature contact will destroy those forms which are not ‘ready for destruction’.

12.              In reading this final statement, we come to realize the potency of will. Shamballic Will added to a will but little developed would be damaging though not destroying. Shamballic Will added to the highly developed personal will of an incompletely soul-infused personality would lead to its destruction.

13.              The inexperienced long to “play with fire” for the rapid development which it promises. Their ambition and naïveté lead, however, to lives of retardation than to the envisioned rapid progress. Progress along the Path of Occultism must be wisely measured if it is not to lead to disaster and delay.

 

L.                 Paragraph 11

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.

1.                  This exegesis is perhaps no more brief than those for the other Rules, but Master D.K. knows, it would seem, what else might be said.

2.                  We have been working through Rule IV carefully, studying not only the Rule but D.K.’s commentary almost sentence by sentence.

3.                  We realize that we are studying matters beyond our grasp, but our very effort to do so bring true understanding closer. Master D.K. has assured us that this is so.

4.                  We realize that no one interpretation can reveal but a small portion of what may be extracted from these Rules. A number of meanings emerge even in this analysis. As the greater group turns its attention to interpreting and explaining, a number of suggestive interpretations will emerge.

5.                  Our task is not only to survey a number of possible meanings, but to find the meanings most pertinent to the development of our group and to our own development—something which we may know better than our fellow students.

6.                  Perhaps, after careful consideration of this Rule, we will find that our ‘orbit of consciousness’ has increased its radius, and that our tendency is to identify with the turning of the “Greater Wheel” rather than with the more egoistic turnings of lesser wheels, including that of our own personality.

7.                  Not only do we wish to expand our ring-pass-not, but we wish to increase our orbit of consciousness. Perhaps this is done by ‘changing center’. When we discover that we are actually revolving around a ‘center more remote’ (and thus spiritually ‘higher’), we discover that the orbit of our consciousness has also increased. When, at great length, the center of that orbit becomes the highest of all possible centers, we shall discover that but One Wheel is turning and that we are identified as that Wheel. This would represent a point of ultimate consummation. For the time being, it is sufficient to find centers ever more spiritual, subtle and thus more ‘spiritually distant’ (thus increasing the orbit of our consciousness).