First, that
the general public serves or is dominated by the concrete mind and is unable to
grasp abstractions. It is the form which matters to them the most, for they are
conservative and cling to the familiar. The church is intended to serve the
masses and is not intended to be of use (except as a field of service) to the
esotericists of the world, for they heed not the form to the same extent, having
contacted somewhat the inner compelling life.
Secondly,
the church movement, like all else, is but a temporary expedient and serves but
as a transient resting place for the evolving life. Eventually, there will
appear the Church Universal, and its definite outlines will appear towards the
close of this century. In this connection, forget not the wise prophecy of
H.P.B. as touching events at the close of this century. This Church will be
nurtured into activity by the Christ and His disciples when the outpouring of
the Christ principle, the true second Coming, has been accomplished. No date
for the advent do I set, but the time will not be long.
The
Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a
voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world
illumination may be accomplished. I indicate the hope. I do not assert a fact.
Its work is intended to be the holding of a broad platform. The church must
show a wide tolerance, and teach no revolutionary doctrines or cling to any
reactionary ideas. The [Page 511] church as a
teaching factor should take the great basic doctrines and (shattering the old
forms in which they are expressed and held) show their true and inner spiritual
significance. The prime work of the church is to teach, and teach ceaselessly,
preserving the outer appearance in order to reach the many who are accustomed
to church usages. Teachers must be trained; Bible knowledge must be spread; the
sacraments must be mystically interpreted, and the power of the church to heal
must be demonstrated.
The three
main channels through which the preparation for the new age is going on might
be regarded as the Church, the Masonic Fraternity and the educational field.
All of them are as yet in relatively static condition, and all are as yet
failing to meet the need and to respond to the inner pressure. But in all of
these three movements, disciples of the Great Ones are to be found and they are
steadily gathering momentum and will before long enter upon their designated
task.
The Masonic
Movement when it can be divorced from politics and social ends and from its
present paralysing condition of inertia, will meet the need of those who can,
and should, wield power. It is the custodian of the law; it is the home of the
Mysteries and the seat of initiation. It holds in its symbolism the ritual of
Deity, and the way of salvation is pictorially preserved in its work. The
methods of Deity are demonstrated in its Temples, and under the All-seeing Eye
the work can go forward. It is a far more occult organisation than can be
realised, and is intended to be the training school for the coming advanced
occultists. In its ceremonials lies hid the wielding of the forces connected
with the growth and life of the kingdoms of nature and the unfoldment of the
divine aspects in man. In the comprehension of its symbolism will come the
power to cooperate with the divine plan. It meets the need of those who work on
the first Ray of Will or Power.
The Church
finds its mission in the helping of the devotee, in aiding the great public
which is innately religious and of good will. It hides in its heart those who
vibrate to [Page 512] the great love ray, the
second Ray of Love-Wisdom. Christ Himself works through it and by its means
seeks to contact the vast Christian public. It is the leaven in His hands to
leaven the whole lump, and being in a form comprehended by the people, it can
touch the great masses of seeking souls.
By means of
the educational work of the world, the Great Lord seeks to reach those of the
intelligent public who cannot be reached by means of ceremonial and symbolism,
as in Masonry, or by religious means and ritual, as in the Church. It touches
the masses and those in whom the intelligence aspect predominates to the lessening
of the other two aspects. It aids those men who are predominantly on the third
Ray of Intelligent Activity.
In all
these bodies there are to be found esoteric groups who are the custodians of
the inner teaching and whose uniformity in aspiration and in technique is one.
These inner groups consist of occult students and of those who are in direct or
occasional touch with the Masters and of those whose souls are in sufficient
control so that the will of the Hierarchy may be communicated and gradually filter
down to the channel of the physical brain. These groups which constitute the
true inner esoteric group are many, but their membership is yet small, for the
fact that a student may belong to any of the outer esoteric groups so-called is
no indication of his true esoteric status. When the few who are the true
esoteric students of the world know the difference between etheric and astral
forms, between mental clairaudience and clairvoyance and their astral
counterparts, between the elementals of thought and the elementals of nature,
then will the Christ and His church have a real esoteric group on the physical
plane and the outer organisations receive the needed stimulation. That is why
it is necessary to work with the students at this time and train them in the
nature of true occultism. When we understand better the significance of time in
prevision, and of force in movement, and when we comprehend more fully the laws
that control the subtler bodies, and through them therefore the laws that
function on the planes whereon those bodies express [Page
513] themselves, then will there be more intelligent and more useful
work offered in cooperation with the Occult Hierarchy.
In the
esoteric group, which is composed of the true spiritual esotericists found in
all exoteric occult groups, in the church, by whatever name it may be called,
and in Masonry you have the three paths leading to initiation. As yet they are
not used, and one of the things that will eventuate—when the new universal
religion has sway and the nature of esotericism is understood—will be the
utilisation of the banded esoteric organisms, the Masonic organism and the
Church organism as initiating centres. These three groups converge as their
inner sanctuaries are approached. There is no dissociation between the One
Universal Church, the sacred inner Lodge of all true Masons, and the innermost
circles of the esoteric societies. Three types of men have their need met,
three major rays are expressed, and the three paths to the Master are trodden,
leading all three to the same portal and the same Hierophant.
It must not
be forgotten that only those souls who are on the Probationary Path or the Path
of Discipleship will form the nucleus of the coming world religion. It exists
on the inner planes for the purpose of gathering out of all the churches those
who have reached the point in evolution where they can consciously and of their
own free will place their feet upon that PATH which leads to the centre of
peace; who can in full awareness turn their eyes upon the Great Lord, and
transmute the life of worldly endeavour into the life of service. The first
detachment gathered into the coming Church will be found to be a part of the
present great band of servers. These have, down the ages, been associated with
the Christ in His work. Remember always the fact of the work He did in
connection with the last advent, and remember likewise that in the turning of
the cyclic wheel, in the evolution of the spiral, similar conditions will
eventuate, the same needs arise, and the same egos incarnate that were present
in the days of old in Palestine. The numbers of those associated with Him will
be greatly increased, [Page 514] for all who
knew Him in earlier incarnations in the ancient East, all whom He cured or
taught, all who contacted Him or in any way incurred karma with Him or with the
Master Jesus, will have the opportunity to cooperate at this time. Each sincere
aspirant who is closely connected with the present Church organisations, who
feels a close link with the Christ and who loves Him, can be practically sure
that in Palestine they saw Him, knew Him and mayhap served and loved Him.
The
sacraments, properly understood, serve to strengthen this link and realisation,
and such a one as that of Baptism (when entered upon with understanding) will
draw forth oft a response from the Great Lord Himself. It is almost as if a
golden strand were directed from His heart to the heart of the servant—a strand
unbreakable and unfathomable and which, with each administration of any of the
holy rites in the succession of lives, becomes stronger, broader and brighter.
Eventually these many strands will become reabsorbed into their source when the
Body of the Christ—one of the seven Heavenly Men on the second or monadic
plane—is completed in full expression, for each one linked to Him becomes, in a
vital sense, a cell in His Body. This the initiate Paul truly sensed and knew.
Via this strand passes the power to strengthen, to stimulate, to vivify and to
bless, and this is the true apostolic succession. All true disciples are
priests unto the Lord.
There is no
question therefore that the work to be done in familiarising the general public
with the nature of the Mysteries is of paramount importance at this time. These
Mysteries will be restored to outer expression through the medium of the Church
and the Masonic Fraternity, if those groups leave off being organisations with
material purpose, and become organisms with living objectives. When the Great
One comes with His disciples and initiates we shall have (after a period of
intensive work on the physical plane beginning around the year 1940) the
restoration of the Mysteries and their exoteric presentation, as a consequence
of the first initiation. Why can this be so? Because the Christ, [Page 515] as you know, is the Hierophant of the first
and second initiations and He will, if the preparatory work is faithfully and
well done, administer the first initiation in the inner sanctuaries of those
two bodies. Many faithful workers will, during His period of work on earth,
take this first initiation, and some few will take the second. The race has now
reached a point where many souls are on the Probationary Path and need but the
heightening of their vibration (made possible by His Presence) to reach the
portal of the Path itself.
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