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Initiation, Human and Solar, by Alice A. Bailey, [1922], at sacred-texts.com
Before entering upon the subject matter of the following articles on Initiation, on the Paths that open before the perfected man, and on the Occult Hierarchy, certain statements may be made which seem essential for the judicious study and comprehension of the ideas submitted.
It is to be recognised that throughout this volume facts are alleged and definite statements made which are not susceptible of immediate proof by the reader. Lest it be inferred that the writer arrogates to herself any credit or personal authority for the knowledge implied she emphatically disavows all such claims or representations. She cannot do otherwise than present these statements as matters of fact. Nevertheless, she would urge those who find somewhat of merit in these pages that they he not estranged by any appearance of dogmatism in the presentation. Nor should the inadequacy of the personality of the writer act as a deterrent to the open-minded consideration of the message to which her name happens to be appended. In spiritual issues, names, personalities, and the voice of external
authority, hold small place. That alone is a safe guide which holds its warranty from inner recognition and inner direction. It is not, therefore, material whether the reader receive the message of these pages as a spiritual appeal in an idealistic setting, a presentation of alleged facts, or a theory evolved by one student and presented for the consideration of fellow students. To each it is offered for whatever of inner response it may evoke, for whatever of inspiration and of light it may bring.
In these days of the shattering of the old form and the building of the new, adaptability is needed. We must avert the danger of crystallisation through pliability and expansion. The "old order changeth," but primarily it is a change of dimension and of aspect, and not of material or of foundation. The fundamentals have always been true. To each generation is given the part of conserving the essential features of the old and beloved form, but also of wisely expanding and enriching it. Each cycle must add the gain of further research and scientific endeavour, and subtract that which is worn out and of no value. Each age must build in the product and triumphs of its period, and abstract the accretions of the past that would dim and blur the outline. Above all, to each generation is given the joy of demonstrating the strength of the old foundations, and the opportunity to build upon these foundations a structure that will meet the needs of the inner evolving life.
The ideas that are elaborated here find their corroboration in certain facts that are stated in the occult literature now extant. These facts are three in number, and are as follows:—
(a) In the creation of the sun and the seven sacred planets composing our solar system, our Logos employed matter that was already impregnated with particular qualities. Mrs. Besant in her book, "Avataras," (which some of
us think the most valuable of all her writings, because one of the most suggestive), makes the statement that "our solar system is builded out of matter already existing, out of matter already gifted with certain properties …" (page 48) . This matter, therefore, we deduce, held latent certain faculties that were forced to demonstrate in a peculiar way, under the law of Cause and Effect, as does all else in the universe.
(b) All manifestation is of a septenary nature, and the Central Light which we call Deity, the one Ray of Divinity, manifests first as a Triplicity, and then as a Septenary. The One God shines forth as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and these three are again reflected through the Seven Spirits before the Throne, or the seven Planetary Logoi. The students of occultism of non-Christian origin may call these Beings the One Ray, demonstrating through the three major Rays and the four minor, making a divine Septenary. The Synthetic Ray which blends them all is the great Love-Wisdom Ray, for verily and indeed "God is Love." This Ray is the indigo Ray, and is the blending Ray. It is the one which will, at the end of the greater cycle, absorb the others in the achievement of synthetic perfection. It is the manifestation of the second aspect of Logoic life. It is this aspect, that of the Form-Builder, that makes this solar system of ours the most concrete of the three major systems. The Love or Wisdom aspect demonstrates through the building of the form, for "God is Love," and in that God of Love we "live and move and have our being," and will to the end of aeonian manifestation.
(c) The seven planes of Divine Manifestation, or the seven major planes of our system, are but the seven subplanes of the lowest cosmic plane. The seven Rays of which
we hear so much, and which hold so much of interest and of mystery, are likewise but the seven sub-rays of one cosmic Ray. The twelve creative Hierarchies are themselves but subsidiary branches of one cosmic Hierarchy. They form but one chord in the cosmic symphony. When that sevenfold cosmic chord, of which we form so humble a part, reverberates in synthetic perfection, then, and only then, will come comprehension of the words in the Book of Job: "The morning stars sang together." Dissonance yet sounds forth, and discord arises from many systems, but in the progression of the aeons an ordered harmony will eventuate, and the day will dawn when (if we dare speak of eternities in the terms of time) the sound of the perfected universe will resound to the uttermost bounds of the furthest constellation. Then will be known the mystery of "the marriage song of the heavens."
The reader is also asked to remember and weigh certain ideas prior to taking up the study of Initiation. Due to the extreme complexity of the matter it is an utter impossibility for us to do more than get a general idea of the scheme; hence the futility of dogmatism. We can do no more than sense a fraction of some wonderful whole, utterly beyond the reach of our consciousness,—a whole that the highest Angel or Perfected Being is but beginning to realise. When we recognise the fact that the average man is as yet fully conscious only on the physical plane, nearly conscious on the emotional plane, and only developing the consciousness of the mental plane, it is obvious that his comprehension of cosmic data can be but rudimentary. When we recognise the further fact, that to he conscious on a plane and to have control on that plane are two very different conditions, it becomes apparent how remote is the possibility of our approximating more than the general trend of the cosmic scheme.
We must recognise also that danger lies in dogma and in the hide-bound facts of textbooks, and that safety lies in flexibility, and in a shifting angle of vision. A tact, for instance, looked at from the standpoint of humanity (using the word "fact" in the scientific sense as that which has been demonstrated past all doubt and question) may not be a fact from the standpoint of a Master. To Him it may be but part of a greater fact, only a fraction of the whole. Since His vision is fourth and fifth dimensional, His realisation of the place of time in eternity must be more accurate than ours. He sees things from above downwards, and as one to whom time is not.
An inexplicable principle of mutation exists in the Mind of the Logos, or the Deity of our solar system, and governs all His actions. We see but the ever changing forms, and catch glimpses of the steadily evolving life within those forms, but as yet have no clue to the principle which works through the shifting kaleidoscope of solar systems, rays, hierarchies, planets, planes, schemes, rounds, races, and sub-races. They interweave, interlock, and interpenetrate each other, and utter bewilderment is ours as the wonderful pattern they form unfolds before us. We know that somewhere in that scheme we, the human hierarchy, have our place. All, therefore, that we can do is to seize upon any data that seems to affect our own welfare, and concerns our own evolution, and from the study of the human being in the three worlds seek to understand somewhat the macrocosm. We know not how the one can become the three, the three become the seven, and so proceed to inconceivable differentiation. To human vision this interweaving of the system forms an unimaginable complexity, the key to which seems not to be forthcoming. Seen from the angle of a Master we know that all proceeds in ordered sequence. Seen from the angle of divine vision the whole will move
in harmonious unison, producing a form geometrically accurate. Browning had hold of a part of this truth when he wrote:
"Truth inside, and outside, truth also; and between each, falsehood that is change, as truth is permanence."
"Truth successively takes shape, one grade above its last presentment…"
We must remember also that beyond a certain point it is not safe nor wise to carry the communication of the facts of the solar system. Much must remain esoteric and veiled. The risks of too much knowledge are far greater than the menace of too little. With knowledge comes responsibility and power,—two things for which the race is not yet ready. Therefore, all we can do is to study and correlate with what wisdom and discretion may be ours, using the knowledge that may come for the good of those we seek to help, and recognising that in the wise use of knowledge comes increased capacity to receive the hidden wisdom. Coupled also with the wise adaptation of knowledge to the surrounding need must grow the capacity for discreet reservation, and the use of the discriminating faculty. When we can wisely use, discreetly withhold, and soundly discriminate, we give the surest guarantee to the watching Teachers of the race that we are ready for a fresh revelation.
We must resign ourselves to the fact that the only way in which we can find the clue to the mystery of the rays, systems, and hierarchies, lies in the study of the law of correspondences or analogy. It is the one thread by which we can find our way through the labyrinth, and the one
ray of light that shines through the darkness of the surrounding ignorance. H. P. Blavatsky, in "The Secret Doctrine," has told us so, but as yet very little has been done by students to avail themselves of that clue. In the study of this Law we need to remember that the correspondence lies in its essence, and not in the exoteric working out of detail as we think we see it from our present standpoint. The factor of time leads us astray for one thing; we err when we attempt to fix stated times or limits; all in evolution progresses through merging, with a constant process of overlapping and mingling. Only broad generalities and a recognition of fundamental points of analogy are possible to the average student. The moment he attempts to reduce to chart form and to tabulate in detail, he enters realms where he is bound to err, and staggers through a fog that will ultimately overwhelm him.
Nevertheless, in the scientific study of this law of analogy will come a gradual growth of knowledge, and in the slow accumulation of facts will gradually be built up an ever-expanding form, that will embody much of the truth. The student will then awake to the realization that after all the study and toil he has at least a wide general conception of the Logoic thoughtform into which he can fit the details as he acquires them through many incarnations. This brings us to the last point to be considered before entering upon the subject proper, which is:
That the development of the human being is but the passing from one state of consciousness to another. It is a succession of expansions, a growth of that faculty of awareness that constitutes the predominant characteristic of the indwelling Thinker. It is the progressing from consciousness polarised in the personality, lower self, or body, to that polarised in the higher self, ego, or soul, thence to a polarisation in the Monad, or Spirit, till the consciousness eventually
is Divine. As the human being develops, the faculty of awareness extends first of all beyond the circumscribing walls that confine it within the lower kingdoms of nature (the mineral, vegetable and animal) to the three worlds of the evolving personality, to the planet whereon he plays his part, to the system wherein that planet revolves, until it finally escapes from the solar system itself and becomes universal.