Before moving on to the third initiation, in this post (and may be next few) we shall ponder on the phrases from DINA volumes by the tibetan pertaining to the experiment of group initiation of his disciples.
Initiation might be defined as the moment of crisis wherein the consciousness hovers on the very border-line of revelation. The demands of the soul and the suggestions of the Master might be regarded as in conflict with the demands of time and space, focussed in the personality or the lower man. You will have, therefore, in this situation a tremendous pull between the pairs of opposites; the field of tension or the focus of the effort is to be found in the disciple "standing at the midway point." Will he respond and react consciously to the higher pull and pass on to new and higher areas of spiritual experience? Or will he fall back into the glamour of time and space and into the thraldom of the personal life? Will he stand in a static quiescent condition in which neither the higher trend nor the lower pull will affect him?
The disciple either awakens suddenly to a wider grasp of reality and a deeper understanding of the Plan and his part in it, or the "veils of earth" close over his head; the vision fades and he reverts into the life of an ordinary human being, probably for the period of the incarnation wherein the opportunity was offered to him. Should he, however, go forward through that door, then (according to the initiation which becomes possible) will be the revelation and its attendant consequences.
1. Group initiation, made possible by the self-initiated effort of individual disciples, following out the injunctions of the Christ and leading to a complete subordination of the personality and of the unit to group interest and group good.
2. I have felt that a linking up of your minds in connection with the work of the Buddha and of the Christ might serve a useful purpose and give you all a glimpse and an indication of Their two systems of unfoldment—one preparatory to accepted discipleship and the other to initiation—which would be sequential and inter-related. The synthesis of Their work is easily seen by us who work with a fuller vision and a less impeded outlook than is as yet possible to you.
3. This is a group formed to inaugurate the methods of the New Age as regards group work, and the training of disciples and their preparation for initiation, along with other groups all over the world who have caught the new vision and are working under the inspiration and the impression of the Masters. The foundation of these schools of the Mysteries which will later be restored to the world and to which I referred in Letters on Occult Meditation may be possible if all of you measure up to opportunity. The experiment may fail. Whether it does or not, real profit will in any case eventuate....
4. Those who are in preparation for initiation must learn to work consciously with glamour; they must work effectively with the presented truth, ignoring any pain or suffering or mental questioning which is incident to personality rebellion and limitation; they must cultivate that "divine indifference" to personal considerations which is the outstanding hallmark of the trained initiate.
5. The forming of the skeleton structure of the new groups of disciples, the externalisation in embryo of the inner Ashrams. These in the New Age will multiply and so carry forward the work of integrating the inner and the outer groups and fostering the growth of the Kingdom of God on earth. This will bring to public attention the fact of the restoration of the Mysteries of Initiation.
6. The knowledges of initiation cannot be passed on by word of mouth within the initiate ranks, for they are not communicated in speech or by letters. Only those who possess certain transcendental senses can take initiation and should they try to communicate the secrets and mysteries of initiation in symbol or form, you would fail to react to or to understand their meaning.
7. I looked around among those whose lives I have been watching—sometimes for several incarnations. Among these were those of you who are now working with me. These groups constitute the germ of a great experiment. If successful, they will, in the course of the next 275 years:
A. Anchor on earth certain types of the higher forces which the race needs and which are not yet active.
B. Develop the six supernormal powers to which I have referred above.
C. Train the group members in that synthetic relation which characterises the Hierarchy and so prepare them for initiation.
8. I would like here to remind you that, as disciples, you are in preparation for initiation and that impending condition of consciousness implies three things:
A. Increased awareness and sensitivity to experience and to life in all forms. B. The power to do for others what I have attempted to do for you, at present on a lesser scale and later, in other lives, as I now do it. C. The courage and the strength to know all, to realise all and to love with patient wisdom and unchanging sincerity.
9. You are in this particular group of disciples for preparatory training for initiation. I am entering upon an experiment in group initiation and this is somewhat a new enterprise for the Hierarchy to undertake, though in line with evolutionary development. In future ages, men and women will pass through the Portal of Initiation together, instead of alone and singly as has hitherto been the case. Group progress can, therefore, in this connection be furthered or held back by the effort of the individual group member.
10. You will comprehend then that a line of exclusion may spiritually exist, indicating those who can pass on to the preparatory stage of group initiation and those who must approach that great event singly and alone. These latter belong predominantly to the Piscean Age. They take initiation as separate identities; you can take initiation in group formation. None of us who do the work of preparing candidates for initiation are in a position to pronounce as to time; that has to be determined by each individual aspirant. See to it, however, as individuals, that your group is not held back through your inability to see, by your personal glamours, by your individual problem or by your slow reactions to known truth.
11. Silence is one of the prime prerequisites for initiation and something which every disciple must perforce learn. There is, therefore, the necessity for the test. Many of you are already interiorly convinced of my identity. You have not voiced your belief in this connection except to A.A.B. who has not responded with any corroborating evidence or comments. If you cannot be trusted to keep silence and to preserve a detached and independent attitude, then you are not ready for that which I have to give and the sooner we discover this the better. If you are unable to retain a silent tongue—even among yourselves—then you are unfit to be trusted and that I should dislike to believe.
12. "Think outwardly towards each other in love. Just simply that, my brothers—simply and humbly that and no more than that at present. Can you accept such a simple rule—apparently simple?"... This is the shifting of consciousness of all integrated human beings in increasingly large numbers on to the etheric levels of consciousness and activity. This entails conscious work on those levels as energy units, each contributing his individual share and his special quota of energy to the sum total of available etheric energy and doing this both consciously and intelligently. When this is done, the man is then ready for the first initiation and is a true occultist—working with energy under hierarchical guidance.
13. The group initiation is itself of real import and is dependent upon the unit in the group fitting himself for initiation and at the same time learning to subordinate his spiritual ambition and desires to the group pace and to the necessity of right timing where his fellow disciples are concerned. It involves, therefore, a dual attitude towards the processes of initiation: the adapting of oneself to the needed integration and, secondly, to the development of spiritual responsiveness to impressions from the level of the soul and of the spiritual Hierarchy. It also involves the cultivation of judgment and of wisdom in the establishment of a right inter-relation with the group of disciples.
14. A study of the subject of initiation will lead to a consideration of its secondary development and its basic objective of a progressive identification with the soul of the disciple, with the soul of the group, with the soul of humanity as a whole and with the soul in all forms.
15. The initiate considers service as the spontaneous, easy expression of a definite soul contact, brought down on to the physical plane and giving insight, practicality and inspiration to the disciple as he works on the outer plane of expression. Most disciples are occupied vaguely with achieving inspiration but know nothing of the earlier stages of insight, leading to the practical and wise expression of the met need upon the level of daily living. One of the major undertakings of the accepted disciple (or the accepting disciple) is to transform himself from a well-intentioned idealist into a man of action on behalf of humanity.
16. Group initiation involves:
A. The possession and recognition of a united vision to which the individual in the group subordinates himself.
B. The simultaneous rapport of the group members with the soul on its own level (that composite group soul which is composed of the soul of each individual member). This leads to group integration on soul levels.
C. The blended consecrated contact of the group personalities upon the three levels of personality expression—the mental, astral and etheric levels of awareness. Some group members contact each other on one level and some on another, but the aim should be a close contact on all three levels at will and all together when the group, as a group, demands it. This is a hard saying but later a clearer understanding will come of what this means and what it brings about.
D. The ability of the group to stand united and with no barriers between the group members of any kind. This will necessarily involve the sacrifice of personality reactions, ideals and plans. At present the varying ideals, attitudes and points of view separate disciples from each other. These must go.
17. The goal of initiation is held out by the Masters to all Their disciples and They stand ready to give the needed instruction. I would remind you at this early stage that only that which you know for yourself and experience consciously within yourself is of importance and constitutes the truth for you. That which may be told you by others, even by me, serves no vital purpose, except to enhance or corroborate an already known truth, or to create illusions or responsibility until it is either rejected or experienced by you in your own consciousness.
18. It is essential that one thing be grasped by all of you, prior to undertaking work with me. It is that in a group of disciples such as this, the large majority have already taken the first initiation and are being prepared for one of the later initiations. There is nothing surprising in this statement or any particular cause for elation or for pleasure...I would remind you here that many, many lives can elapse between the first initiation and the second—long, long interludes of silent and almost unapparent growth. You are in no way unique or far ahead of the senior world aspirants. In that lies cause for encouragement and humility. It is naturally not my intention to state who is being prepared for any particular initiation. That is a matter for each of you to discover for himself. It is a matter of interior orientation and not a matter of outside information.
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