Superior Index Go to the next: Chapter 8
Print Files: A4 Size.
To All Who Would Climb the Ladder of Progress:
The development of an internal sense of fairness, justice and honor is essential if the chela is to progress upon the Path. So long as individuals allow themselves license to do what they will, without first determining by internal deliberation the consequences of their actions upon the lives of others, so long will distortion occur in the mirror of transforming Truth.
What chicanery it is that individuals raise the double standard! How can freedom be won and cherished unless man knows that he has first given justice unto others, that he has espoused the golden rule, and that his intentions themselves have been vigorous in their denial of unfairness wherever confronted? If the standard of Truth is not upheld within, how can it be upheld without?
Once the conceptions of the mind are aligned with the patterns of Truth, the next step is the forgiveness of sins - the breaking of old grudges held against other parts of Life. So long as men harbor these grudges, a certain measure of their daily allotment of energy is taken up in sustaining matrices of condemnation and resentment and thereby diverted from constructive channels. This energy then becomes trapped in the subconscious recesses of his being like a coiled spring that can go neither forward nor backward. Before long, mounting pressure from within these coils causes mental anxiety, frustration, sleepless nights and various forms of psychosis until man becomes a caged lion, pacing back and forth, awaiting the moment to strike against those whom he blames for all his ills.
I speak to all who love freedom. Put your internal house in order and keep it there. Do not allow yourself to become engrossed in the business of vengeance. Why do you suppose the Scriptures warned of old, saying, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord"? Let all, then, be content to allow the Cosmic Law the freedom to act. As long as people interfere with the karmic patterns of others, so long do they leave themselves wide open as targets for the interferences of others; whereas, by the ritual of forgiveness extended to all - and especially to themselves - for all past wrong, they clear the way for the activation of the Spirit of Truth and their own cosmic initiation.1
Yet, it is not enough to clear away the negatives from your world. If you would truly experience the renewal of right action toward your fellowman that will enable you to reach your Divine Presence, you must also understand something about the divine nature in both God and man. The divine nature is real and permanent as the Scriptures record - "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever" - intimating that the Christ Consciousness does not undergo change. Even so, if you would progress, you must be constant in upholding the immaculate concept of the Christ on behalf of all mankind.2
One of the great mysteries involving the concept of the changeless nature of being is that whereas the aspects of Deity do not undergo change in the sense of deterioration, they do undergo transforming change "from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord." This sometimes moot point must be understood: From the human standpoint, the laws of God remain inviolate and cannot be changed as they apply to human conditions. At the same time, the very nature of the Infinite is to transcend itself, to rise ever higher in consciousness into that realm of God bliss, whose vibrations are pulsating in transforming spirals of divine awareness. As the curve of the Infinite appears to be a straight line to mortal eye, so the transcendent nature of God appears changeless to unascended souls.3
There are many in the world today who, in the name of God, in the name of Truth, or even in the name of the Ascended Masters, take license in proclaiming erroneous doctrine, not knowing that their concepts represent the astral viewpoint. To keep themselves above the choppy waters of vain rumor and free from mortal strife, it is important that men shall understand the value of decrees, prayers and affirmations. That which some men have classed as 'vain repetition' is, in reality, the victorious manifestation of freedom in action in man, accomplished by the ancient power of the Spoken Word.
It is written, "Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways." The vanity of repetition comes about as men merely utter the words of God without allowing the intense feelings of the Holy Spirit to generate in them that response whereby the very doors of the universe open wide and the windows of heaven shower upon man the answers that clearly are recorded: " ... before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Because some have made vain use of the Sacred Word should all forsake its blessings? I think not. I, for one, shall not!4
Let it be understood, then, that we do not approve of the astral manifestations of spirits that "mutter and peep" and masquerade in the similitude of God, if for no other reason than the fact that these entities are altogether limited in the realm of response. They may flatter, prate aphorisms and pronounce grandiose schemes, but they cannot act in life; in fact they are utterly helpless to work change in the land of the living - and this is the great requirement of the hour as well as the proof of the spiritual pudding.5
The responses of the astral denizens to the pleas of men are doled out as false promise of name and fame; these ultimately dethrone themselves and all who follow them. No pie in the sky is the Ascended Masters' teaching, but a veritable cornucopia of constructive energies invoked for constructive change.
What better action can a man take than to pray, decree and meditate upon the very law of his own life? For born out of his prayers, his meditations and decrees is the power of valiant action; and without them the very stimulus for action cannot be provided. The entire universe was created by the Word of God, and so man himself, by the same power, creates his own world, for good or for ill. Jesus pointed out to his disciples the immediate effect of their words upon their lives when he said, " ... by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."6
Let men understand the importance, then, of the words they speak and the thoughts they think; for the old conflict, " ... shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works," often becomes a confusing point for those who do not understand the Law in all of its various aspects. But when the Law is understood, it becomes a means of deliverance; and the relationship between faith and works is readily apparent. Those who have no specific inward faith, yet who perform the works of righteousness on behalf of their fellowmen, often find that their faith comes into manifestation following their works.7
We are advocates, then, of good works among men; for thus is the Cosmic Law invoked on man's behalf. Furthermore, the whole process of initiation, of testing the soul that it might rise, depends upon the inner action of man's thoughts and feelings as these are implemented through word and deed. But the carnal mind is often the worst enemy of man. Even when the soul of love produces right motive and right action, the carnal mind will place in question the actions of another. Standing guard, self-appointed, upon the activities of men, it waits to plunge its sword into the offenders of its name.
Man should not always be on the qui vive outwardly. Let his protection be from within. In the words of Sir Galahad, "My strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure."8 Unless one's protection issues from the purity of the Christ Consciousness, one is helpless against the inroads of the night visitors; thus do vile men badly motivate those who are inherently good.
By the cleansing process of the Sacred Fire, man invokes for himself a suitable climate for the initiatic experience that necessarily entails the proving of his soul's worth under the most adverse circumstances. Thus is he readied for the appearance of that cosmic virtue which, when multiplied by the efforts of many hearts kindled with love, will relieve the world of its darkness and produce the miracle of Light within all.
One of the simplest methods whereby the rigors of initiation can be invoked from the hand of the Great Initiator is through sustained feelings of joy, of buoyancy, of happiness, of expectancy, of wonder, of trust and of awareness that God is, that He employs in His service myriad hosts of Light, and that these hosts of Light conspire together for the victory of the Light in all who would produce constructive change in themselves and in the world.
In the name of common sense, I implore the citizens of Earth: do not trust the outer hand of worldly circumstances to produce all of the constructive change required for the golden age civilization. Allow heaven the opportunity of expressing within you. Let buoyancy of thought, healthiness of spirit, and compassion for the whole world make life's journey happier. Without this trust, man is bereft even of the opportunity of initiation; with this trust, this faith and this right action, which begins in the inner world of thought and feeling, man can stabilize his entire existence; and through the radiant power drawn from his God Presence, he can pass every test aright and rise swiftly in the cosmic peerage.
First as the servant of all and then as the ruler of many, he will be called upon to strengthen those whose spirits are without hope until the purposes of many lives are at last fulfilled. Bearing the fresh winds of freedom and the courage to undergo any initiation that may be required for his victory, he shall lead others into that realm of joy which the true spiritual man is destined to know and whose manifestation the fleshly garb ought not to prevent.
For your delight in a freedom transcendent and in the progress of the new age, and with the hope that the catharsis of man will become a reality at last,