Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul - The Rays and the Initiations - Part II - Section II - Initiation II

To Netnews Homepage Previous Next Index Table of Contents

The Rays and the Initiations - Part Two - Section Two - The Aspirant and the Major Initiations

The result, however, of the modern initiatory process is of a much higher order. This statement is related to the emerging fact that the Hierarchy and its personnel in process of assembling will be of a much higher order than that previously responsible for human guidance. A more advanced humanity demands a more advanced Hierarchy and hierarchical supervision; this has ever been the case. The evolutionary process covers all that is. Even Sanat Kumara is learning and advancing from a relative imperfection to perfection.

This baptism of fire (to which reference is made in [676] the Western Scriptures) carries with it inevitably the connotation of pain, and this to an extent hitherto unknown. Even a casual glance at world affairs will reveal the truth of this statement.

What, therefore, is really happening, and what are the major facts involved? Much will depend upon my answer and upon your interpretation of it. I would ask you consequently to give careful consideration to my reply to these two questions.

Under the influence of the Piscean cycle which is now in process of termination, the sixth Ray of Idealism or Devotion was predominantly active. This is the ray of one-pointed determination and - from one angle - it is the ray of blind procedure. The individual, the group or humanity, sees only one aspect of reality at any one time, and (because of man's present point in the evolutionary process) usually the least desirable aspect. All else is sealed to them; they vision only one picture; their horizon is limited to only one point of the compass (speaking esoterically). To the mass of humanity, the aspect of reality which was visioned and for which men lived and died was the material world, material comfort, material possessions and material enterprises; to this the labor movement today and the tendencies already apparent in the United Nations bear incontrovertible testimony. To a much smaller group of human beings the world of the intelligence appears paramount, and the concrete mind is the desired ruler or controlling factor. All, therefore, remains within the area of material control and interest.

The solar plexus center is consequently the dominant factor, because - even in the case of the intelligentsia - it is desire for material well-being, for territorial possessions and for planned governmental and economic material decisions which control and motivate the individual, the group or the nation. These are not necessarily wrong, but (under the present emotional-desire concept) they are placed in the foremost position and are regarded as causal in their nature; nevertheless they are fundamentally secondary [677] in their nature, and are effectual in their essential nature, placing the emphasis upon the word "effect." Humanity, even in its advanced brackets, is not yet able to think on causal levels.

What is the basic goal of the initiate who has taken the second initiation? I would ask you to transit in consciousness from the concept that the process of initiation is a consummation of effort, to the higher and better concept that it is initiatory in effect and marks a beginning and not a consummation. What, therefore, lies ahead of the initiate who has entered the purificatory water, or rather, fire? To what is he pledged? What is to happen within "the area of livingness" (I want you to familiarize yourselves with that phrase) and what results will take place within the mechanism with which he approaches the place of initiation? These are the factors of importance, and these are the aspects of the life process which should condition him. At the close of the initiatory process certain energies and divine aspects should be recognized by him as now playing a part in his thinking and his purposes - energies which heretofore (even if present) were quiescent and not controlling.

To Netnews Homepage Previous Next Index Table of Contents