Group Use and Understanding

The initiate has ever been. The divine Son of God has ever known himself for what he is. An initiate is not the result of the evolutionary process. He is the cause of the evolutionary process.

(The Rays and the Initiations, p. 61)

The work now being done by Shamballa and the Hierarchy on behalf of humanity will tend also to develop group consciousness and the formation of many groups which will be living organisms and not organisations; it will make group initiation possible, and will enable certain aspects of the will to flower forth correctly and with safety.

(Ibid., p. 95)

Group initiation means that the bulk of the members are correctly oriented; that they are proposing to accept the discipline which will prepare them for the next great expansion of consciousness, and that none of them can possibly be deviated from their purpose (note that word with its first ray or Shamballic implications), no matter what is happening in their environment or their personal life. You need to reflect on this if you desire to make the needed progress.

(Ibid., p. 36)

Approaching this subject from another angle, the mental polarisation of the disciple seeking entry into the hierarchical sphere of work is producing a unification of initiatory effort which is new in the spiritual history of the planet and which is the first step being taken at this time upon inner and subtle planes to bring about certain great "Crises of Initiation," involving simultaneously all the three major planetary centres–a thing hitherto unknown. Up to 1875, initiation was a sequential process as well as largely an individual process. This is slowly being changed; groups are being admitted to initiation because of a recognised and sensed relationship which is not that of disciple and Master (as heretofore), but which is based on initiate-relationship in group form, and which is present between Humanity, the Hierarchy and Shamballa. It is this spiritual and subtly sensed relationship which is today finding physical plane expression in the worldwide effort to establish right human relations.

(Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II, pp. 351-2)

The Fourteen Rules for Group Initiation are "Rules or Formulas of Approach", primarily concerned with the Shamballa or life aspect and . . . the expression of the will aspect . . . They deal with the unfoldment of group consciousness, because it is only in group formation that, as yet, the Shamballa force of the will can be tapped . . . Only the group, under the proposed new made of working and group initiation, is capable of invoking Shamballa.

(The Rays and the Initiations, p. 35)

The Group Will

It is these changes in the "moving, shifting realities" of the soul consciousness and spiritual awareness of the Members of the Hierarchy which are responsible for the new trends in the life of the Spirit and the new methods in training disciples–in such an experiment, for instance, as externalising the Ashrams of the Masters. It is this new approach to life conditions, as a result of the inflow of new energies, which is producing the universal trend towards group awareness, and its highest result in the human family is the taking the first steps towards group initiation. Such a thing as group initiation was never heard of prior to the present time, except in connection with the higher initiations emanating from the Shamballa centre. Group initiation is based upon a uniform and united group will, consecrated towards the service of humanity and based upon loyalty, cooperation and interdependence.

(Ibid., p. 17)

The group recognises and works under the pervasive influence of the purpose; the individual initiate works with the plan. The group expression, as far as in it lies at any given moment in time and space, is in line with the will of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being, the Life of all that is . . .The group can be, and frequently is, responsive to the "bright centre," Shamballa, where the initiate by himself and in his own essential identity cannot so respond. The individual must be protected by the group from the terrific potencies which emanate from Shamballa. These must be stepped down for him by the process of distribution, so that their impact is not focussed in any one or all of his centres but is shared by all the group members. Here is the clue to the significance of group work. One of its major functions, esoterically speaking, is to absorb, share, circulate, and then distribute energy.

(Ibid., p. 68)

A group of disciples must be distinguished, as I already told you, by pure reason which will steadily supersede motive, merging eventually into the will aspect of the Monad, its major aspect. It is, technically speaking, Shamballa in direct relation with Humanity. What, therefore, is the group will in any ashram or Master's group? Is it present in any form vital enough to condition the group relations and to unite all into a band of brothers–moving forward into the light? Is the spiritual will of the individual personalities of such strength that it negates the personality relation and leads to spiritual recognition, spiritual interplay and spiritual relation? It is only in consideration of these fundamental effects of standing as a group in the "head's clear light" that it is permissible for a disciple to bring into the picture personal sensitivities of thought, and this only because of a group temporary limitation.

(Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II, pp. 6-7)

1. The Monad relates the initiate to the Will of God, to the Council at Shamballa, to forces active on the planet Pluto, and on another planet which must remain nameless, and also to the Central Spiritual Sun.

2. The Soul relates the initiate to the Love of God, to the consciousness aspect of Deity, to the Hierarchy as a whole, entering it through the Ashram of the Master Who has aided him to take initiation, to the planets Venus and Mercury, to the Sun Sirius, and to the Heart of the Sun.

3. The Personality relates the initiate to the Mind of God, to the intelligence principle of the planetary Life, to humanity as a whole, to Saturn and Mars, and to the physical Sun through its pranic aspect.

4. The Life aspect of the planet, or that great ocean of forces in which all these three aspects live and move and have their being, relates the initiate to that Life which works out through Shamballa, through the Hierarchy and through Humanity, thus forming part of the great sumtotal of manifestation.

(The Rays and the Initiations, pp. 96-7)

As the individual disciple builds the rainbow bridge, the antahkarana, and as a group of disciples build the group antahkarana, they make possible the "Triadal perception" . . . When the disciple has flung one strand of living light (through the power of magnetic love) across the space separating the Triad and the personality, he discovers that he is a part of a group. This group recognition–faulty and unintelligently expressed at first–is the factor which enables him to pass, along the anchored thread, into the Ashram of a Master.

From the angle of the old teaching, the Ashram of the Master and the focus of the Hierarchy were on the higher levels of the mental plane. Today, that is not so. They are on the plane of spiritual love, of the intuition and of buddhi. The Hierarchy is both retreating towards the higher centre of Shamballa, and at the same time advancing towards the lower centre, Humanity. Both these activities have been made possible by man himself; the growing intuitive perception of humanity, in its higher brackets, enables him to function upon the Path of Discipleship and on higher levels than ever before. This the Hierarchy recognises. The growing aspiration of the masses is also drawing the Masters closer to humanity than ever before. This is an instance of the ability of the initiate consciousness to function on initiate levels and also in the three worlds simultaneously. Of this the dual activity of the mind is a symbol, acting as it does as the common sense and so dealing with all matters in the three worlds, and as the spiritual mind at the same time, dealing with all matters connected with the soul, with light and illumination.

The second demand, that the sense of synthesis should be the goal of the training given to applicants in the New Age, is a direct evidence of the new Shamballa contact, because synthesis is an attribute of the divine will and the outstanding quality of Deity. It was inevitable that intelligence and love should be evolutionary objectives on the planet and the first two divine aspects to be developed, for they are qualities of the will; they make the manifestation of the divine will possible; they guarantee its intelligent application and its magnetic power to draw to itself all that is needed for the expression or the manifestation of the divine envisaged purpose, visualised synthetically, and motivated, implemented, engineered and made possible by the dynamic aspect of the same will.

It is interesting to note that there is every evidence in the world today that the Shamballa energy is directly impinging upon the human consciousness and directly producing results. The destroyer aspect of the first Ray of Will or Power is producing worldwide destruction through the use of the first kingdom in nature, the mineral kingdom. That which is made of metals and chemicals is bringing catastrophe and destruction on earth, primarily in the human kingdom. At the same time the second attribute of the will, synthesis, is evoking an equally widespread response. This sense of synthesis has a mass effect earlier than it has an individual effect, and this is a thing of interest and importance to note at this time. Later, the dynamism inherent in the will, wielded by the New Group of World Servers and by the disciples and initiates of the world, will turn that instinctive mass response into factual experience and produce the "appearance" on earth of the new, developed "quality" which "life" seeks in the New Age to demonstrate. In the first volume of this Treatise, I called attention to the three divine aspects: Life, Quality and Appearance. They are now in process of making their appearance in final form for this particular cycle.

(Ibid., pp. 119-20)

Mankind has evolved so well that today the goals and theories, the aims and determinations now expressed in human thinking and writing showed that the will aspect of divinity, in its first embryonic manifestation, was beginning to make its presence felt. Have you followed this hint? Have you realised that the uprisings of the masses and their determination to overcome handicaps and all hindrances to a better world state are indicative of this? Do you grasp the fact that the revolutions of the past two hundred years are signs of the striving of the spirit aspect? That spirit is life and will; the world today is showing signs of new life. Think this out in its modern and immediate implications and see the way that the world is going under the inspiration of the spiritual Will.

(Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II, p. 278)

Group Training

What are some of these newer truths for which I am responsible as transmitting agent to the world of occult students? Let me briefly state them in the order of their relative importance:

1. The Teaching on Shamballa. Little has ever been given on this subject. Only the name was known. This teaching includes:

a. Information as to the nature of the will aspect.

b. Indications as to the underlying purposes of Sanat Kumara.

c. Directions as to the building of the antahkarana, which is the first step towards achieving monadic consciousness, and thus the first step towards the Way of the Higher Evolution.

2. The Teaching on the New Discipleship. This has been revolutionary where the older schools of occultism are concerned . . .

3. The Teaching on the Seven Rays . . .

4. The Teaching on the new Astrology . . .

5. Information about the New Group of World Servers and their work . . .

6. The attempt to form an exoteric branch of the inner Ashrams. This is evidenced in the work I have done with a special group of aspirants and accepted disciples whose instructions, emanating from my Ashram, have been embodied in the book Discipleship in the New Age.

7. Teaching upon the new world religion, with its emphasis upon the three major Full Moon periods (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, falling usually in April, May and June respectively) and the nine (occasionally ten) minor Full Moons each year.

(The Rays and the Initiations, pp. 251-4)

It is hard for esoteric students to realise that the emphasis of the coming Schools of Enlightenment will be upon the life aspect, and not upon contact with the soul. The goal will be transference and not union. Aspirants and disciples today are largely the result of the old order of teaching and are the flower of the processes to which humanity has been subjected. This is a vital transition period; disciples and aspirants in the world at this time are, figuratively speaking, at the same stage as the group which we are considering–the stage of the transference of the life from the outer form into the inner being. Hence the difficulty with which you are all faced, and the arduous task it is to comprehend realistically that which I am attempting to convey. The problem of soul contact is something which you can and do grasp, at least theoretically. The problem of life transference from the highest point of present attainment into some vague and mystical spiritual focus is not so easy to understand.

(Ibid., pp. 221-2)

The individual disciple, seeking initiation, is with deliberation and with his full and free consent merged into the group; he achieves this fusion by his own individual effort and is (throughout the entire process) an absolutely free agent, moving forward and becoming mentally inclusive, as rapidly or as slowly as he chooses. He determines the time and the event himself without interference or obstruction from any outside force.

This is the relatively new spiritual technique, and it is a technique accepted by initiates and disciples of all degrees in all three divine centres.

(Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II, p. 353)

The stage of recognising the revelation which is accorded to the initiate of the major Mysteries is itself divided into lesser phases. These might be described as three in number though much is dependent upon the initiation to be taken and the ray of the prepared disciple. These are:

1. The Stage of Penetration. This refers to the piercing through the world glamour and thereby effecting two objectives:

a. The Light of the Spiritual Triad streams into the consciousness of the initiate, via the antahkarana, so that the Plan for humanity and the divine Purpose in relation to the planet become increasingly clear. This initiates relation to Shamballa.

b. Part of the world glamour is thus dissipated and thus a clarifying of the astral plane takes place and humanity is consequently served. Every disciple who arrives at a recognition of the initiate-revelation releases light and dissipates a part of the glamour which blinds the mass of men. The sixth ray disciple takes far longer over this stage of penetration than do disciples on the other rays but only in this world cycle.

2. The Stage of Polarisation. This is the stage wherein the initiate, having let in the light and penetrated through the dense fogs and mists of the world of glamour, suddenly realises just what he has done and takes a firm stand, correctly oriented towards the vision (or to word it otherwise towards Shamballa). One of the things which must be grasped is that as the initiate is a point of hierarchical life (either on the periphery of the Hierarchy, or within the circle or at the centre) he is a definite part of the hierarchical effort. That effort is directed towards an orientation to the greater centre of life–Shamballa. Students are apt to believe that the orientation of the Hierarchy is towards humanity. That is not so. They respond to human need when the demand is effective, and are custodians of the Plan; but the orientation of the entire hierarchical group is towards the first aspect, as it expresses the Will of the Logos and manifests through Shamballa. Just as the disciple has to do two things: polarise his position by establishing right human relations and at the same time become a conscious, practising member of the Kingdom of God, the Hierarchy, so the initiate upon a higher turn of the spiral has to establish right relations with the Hierarchy and become simultaneously conscious of Shamballa.

All I can impart here is the desired point of attainment but the phraseology is relatively meaningless, except to those who are experienced in the processes of initiation to a greater or less degree, according to the initiations already taken. This polarisation, this point of focussed effort and this attained orientation is the basic idea lying behind the phrase "the Mountain of Initiation." The initiate "plants his feet upon the mountain top and from that point of altitude perceives the thought of God, visions the dream within the Mind of God, follows God's eye from central point to outer goal and sees himself as all that is and yet within the whole."

3. The Stage of Precipitation. Having thus identified himself through penetration and polarisation with the Plan and with the Will of God (which is the key to Shamballa), he then proceeds–as a result of this triple recognition–to do his share in materialising the Plan and in bringing through into outer manifestation and expression as much of that Plan as he can. He thus becomes first of all an outpost of the Hierarchy (which of necessity means sensitivity to the Shamballa energy), and then increasingly an Agent of Light–the Light universal, or the Light of the Monad.

I have no more to say today anent initiation. Ponder upon that which I have given and grasp as far as you imaginatively can the magnificence of the initiatory process–so vastly more inclusive than has been indicated by any of the teaching given hitherto. After the war is over and the new world, with its coming civilisation and culture begins to take shape, an increasing emphasis will be laid upon the purpose of the Controlling Deity or basic Life or Energy as it is working out through humanity. This will be done by those who are trained esotericists. Much that is now being said by world leaders and serving workers in every nation is an indication of an unconscious response to the Shamballa energy. Towards the end of the century and during the first few decades of the twenty-first century, teaching anent Shamballa will be given forth. The effort of the abstract mind of man will be towards the comprehension of this, just as the goal of hierarchical contact marks the present effort of the disciple. Glamour is disappearing; illusions are being dissipated; the stage of penetration into a new dimension, into a new phase of effort and of attainment is rapidly being promulgated. This is being done in spite of all the horror and agony and will be one of the first results of respite from war. The war itself is shattering illusions, revealing the need for change and producing a demand for a future new world and a coming beauty in living which will be revolutionary and a material response to an intensive initiation process in which all disciples can share and for which advanced aspirants can prepare themselves.

(Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II, pp. 259-62)

The secret of the higher initiations lies in the trained use of the higher will. It does not lie in purification or in self-discipline or in any of the expedients which have acted in the past as interceptors of the truth. This whole problem of the Shamballic will is in process of revelation, and will eventually alter the entire approach of the disciple in the New Age to initiation. The theme of "the Way into Shamballa" requires reflective study and esoteric understanding. In this concept of the new and future section (if I may so call it) of the Way or Path with which the modern disciple is faced lies the secret of the coming revelation and of the spiritual dispensation which will emerge as humanity constructs the new world civilisation and begins to formulate the new culture. The burning, purifying, destructive effects of the monadic will upon its distorted reflection, the individual will, deeply deserves consideration.

(The Rays and the Initiations, p. 30)

Will governs the Way into Shamballa and is the foundation for all approach to, appreciation of and identification with, Being.

(Ibid., p. 46)

There are three doors into Shamballa, speaking figuratively:

1. There is the door of the reason, of pure perception of truth. Christ gave the clue to this teaching when He said "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." Of that Way we know much, because upon the Way a vast body of teaching has been given, and that teaching, if followed, brings a man into the Hierarchy. He then becomes a factual part of the hierarchical membership. Of that Truth, we know (as aspirants) relatively very little. Truth–as we understand it during the early treading of the Path of Discipleship–is concerned with great verities which are (from the insight of the Enlightened Ones) only the a b c of life. These truths are:

a. The manifestation of divinity on the physical plane.

b. The doctrine of Avatars. This religious history reveals.

c. The nature of consciousness, through the development of psychology.

d. The doctrine of the Trinity, as it expresses itself through the aspects and the attributes.

These four expressions of truth will be found to convey all the knowledge with which the initiate must stand equipped when he climbs the Mount of Transfiguration at the time of the third initiation. They have given him a spiritual perception of the Plan.
Of that Life, we know nothing whatsoever. The contemplation of its significance belongs to Those Who can move at will within the "precincts of the Lord of Life"–in Shamballa itself. All we can know about it is its lowest step. This enables us to study the impulse or instinct which enables all forms of life to function, which embodies the principles of responsiveness to contacts and to environment, and which embodies itself in the breath of life; this is also related to the air in some mysterious manner, and also to fire. More anent this subject it would be useless for me to say.

There is also the door of the will. This is a penetrating power which relates Plan to Purpose and which has in it the faculty of coherent persistence. The reason for this persistence is that it is not dependent upon the content of the form–whether it is the form of an atom, of a man or of a planet–but upon a vital dynamic and immutable purpose, latent in the consciousness of the planetary Being Who, "having pervaded this entire universe with a fragment" of Himself, REMAINS–greater, more inscrutable and "firmer in intent" than any of His creations, even the most advanced and the closest to Him. Only those have clear perception of His divine purpose who do not belong to our earth humanity at all; these are the Lives who came with Him to this planet when He came, and Who remain with Him as "the prisoners of loving intention" until the last "weary pilgrim has found his way home."

This spiritual will is something of which humanity knows nothing; it is hidden and veiled by the self-will of the individual and the group will of the soul. Through both of these experiences the human being moves until his individual will is developed and grounded, focussed and reoriented, and his group will is unfolded so that it includes and swallows up the dedicated, conscious, individual will. When this fusion has taken place (at the third initiation) a great revelation unfolds itself, and for the first time the initiate senses and then contacts the universal will; from that moment the initiate says, "Father, not my will but Thine be done." Just a little of what that will includes may emerge as we study this seventh rule and some of the succeeding rules.

I can find no words to express the nature of the third door. Let us, in default of a better term, call it the door of the monadic sense of essential duality. Body and life, soul and personality, the Spiritual Triad and its expression, the Christ in incarnation all these dualities have played their part. Man has passed from one expansion of consciousness to another. Now he comes to the final duality of spirit and matter, prior to their resolution into something to which the terms "isolated unity" and "universal synthesis" give only faint and inadequate clues. To the development of this system of identification the initiate of the degree of Master of the Wisdom, and also (on a higher turn of the spiral) of the degree of the Christ, are focussing all Their efforts. Up to the fourth initiation, the term "system of expansions" would seem illuminating; after that great initiation, the term "system of identification" would appear more appropriate.

When the initiate has passed through the three doors, symbolically speaking, he then faces all life, all events, all pre-determinations, all wisdom, all activity and all that the future may hold of service and progress from the angle of the pure reason (infallible and immutable), of true spiritual will (completely identified with the purpose of the planetary Logos), and of the highest possible focussed relation. The mystery of relationship becomes revealed to him. Then the entire scheme of evolution and of the intention of the One in Whom he lives and moves and has his being becomes clear to him; he has no more to learn within this planetary scheme; he has become universal in his attitude to all forms of life, and is also identified with the "isolated unity" of Sanat Kumara. Few of the great Lives Who form the inner group of the Council Chamber at Shamballa are now of greater advancement than he; the "Supernal Three," the "Radiant Seven," the "Lives embodying the forty-nine Fires," the "Buddhas of Activity," and certain "Eternal Spirits" from such centres of dynamic spiritual life as Sirius, or from the constellation which at any one time forms a triangle with our Sun and Sirius" and a Representative from Venus are of greater–far greater–advancement. Otherwise, all initiates of the sixth degree, and a few of the Masters Who have undergone specialised training because They are upon the first Ray of Will or Power (the ray conditioning Shamballa itself), form part of the Great Council. Many Masters and Chohans, however, after serving upon the planet in various capacities, working with the Law of Evolution, pass out of our planetary life altogether.
(Ibid., pp. 139-42)

The clue to all this esoteric work demanded by Shamballa is to be found in the development of the Art of Visualisation. Through visualisation, three expressions of the human consciousness will become possible.
- 1. The antahkarana can be built and the shining of the Triad be definitely seen. Such will be the new vision–an outcome of the development of the sense of vision.
- 2. Groups, large wholes and major syntheses will also be visualised, and this will lead to a definite expansion of consciousness. Thus the sense of synthesis will be unfolded.
- 3. All creative art will be fostered by this training, and the new art of the future in all departments of creativity will be rapidly developed as the training proceeds. The unfoldment of the sense of vision and of the sense of synthesis, through visualisation, will lead to a sense of livingness in form.
(Ibid., p. 123)

Initiation can now be taken in group form; this is something entirely new in the work of the Hierarchy. Not one by one do candidates stand before the Initiator, but many so stand simultaneously. Together they can think in complete accord; together they are tested, and together they reach the "point of triumph" which supersedes the "point of tension"; together they see the "Star shine forth," and together the energy emanating from the Rod of Initiation fits them for the reception of specialised energy, to be later used in their future world service. This group approach, this group intention, this "group silent reticence and vocal recognition," and this group dedication and vision are no longer in the experimental stage. This group achievement (I refer not here to your particular group which has not been outstandingly successful) marks the point where there can be the inauguration of a new phase of activity in Shamballa. This will enable the Lord of the World to become the Ruler of a Sacred Planet which, up to date, has not been the case. Our Earth can now become a Sacred Planet, if all right conditions are fulfilled. A new divine quality (as yet unrevealed and which we would not at this time recognise if presented with it) is slowly crystallising into expression, through the medium of this hastened initiation process. Disciples are today witnessing the emergence of a solar characteristic, through the medium of their planetary Logos, just as the "Lives of similar Intention"–as it is esoterically called–witnessed it many aeons ago. It is to this unknown and mysterious quality that the "shining forth" of the Star refers.
(Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II, pp. 325-6)

. . . There is naught in the world of Shamballa which is of the same nature as the phenomenal world of man in the three worlds, or even of the soul world. It is a world of pure energy, of light and of directed force; it can be seen as streams and centres of force, all forming a pattern of consummate beauty, all potently invocative of the world of the soul and of the world of phenomena; it therefore constitutes in a very real sense the world of causes and of initiation.
(Ibid., pp. 292-3)

(Concluded) Contents page