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Discipleship in the New Age I - Personal Instructions to Disciples - L.U.T.
January 1940 MY BROTHER: What I have to say to you grows out of your earlier instructions. I wonder how much you have read and pondered upon the ideas therein conveyed? The thought may come to you that in all probability I know and hence the needlessness of my question. Disciples need to learn that in the intense preoccupation of our world work those who serve humanity have not the desire, nor have they the intention, to study the details of a disciple's life or to intrude into his own personal affairs. All we are concerned with is to ascertain the growth of the inner light and the quality of his service. We look at both of these as they emerge into reality upon the physical plane. I would remind you that as individuals or as active personalities (which is it, my brothers?) you "occultly evade my attention," for I work with you entirely on soul levels and on the plane of mental illumination. With you, my brother, the inner light is intense indeed, but it does not radiate. It shines at the center of your being and with such intensity that it serves almost to blind you. Can you imagine, as you consider my words, the effect of this condition? A light that shines in a closely shut lantern may serve to irradiate the inner walls of the lantern but of what use is it to its owner or to others? This simile is - as are all similes - faulty, but it will serve to demonstrate pictorially the theme of this instruction to you. You have an intense inner light and one which emanates from the knowledge petals of the egoic lotus - speaking symbolically. You have much knowledge and much intelligent understanding or theory. Some of it you have applied; most of it you have not. This inner light or knowledge does not serve to reveal to you the inner walls of your being - those aspects of the form nature which we call in their aggregated effect the personality. You are conscious of your lower self, of your limitations, of your desire nature, of your moods and reactions, of your [492] frustrations, difficulties and disillusionments; you are aware of what you would like to be, but what you are in expression engrosses your attention to the point of inertia. In my last instruction to you, I referred to the "glamor of preoccupation" which engulfed you, surrounded you and conditioned you. That glamor still persists, perhaps even more strongly. It means an intense, unavoidable (from your point of view) preoccupation with yourself, with what concerns you, with what you like, with how you feel, physically and emotionally, with your reaction to people and environment and with the material aspects of daily living - money, health, surroundings and people's personalities. This condition is now so acute that you whirl at the center of your daily life, seeing nothing of reality as you might see it, hearing nothing but the reverberations of your own thoughts and, my brother, getting no true joy or pleasure out of the life of service. I seek not to discourage you, for even your discouragement is a preoccupation with which you can well dispense. I seek to lift you out of the bog in which you are foundering (or should I say, floundering? These niceties of the English language still present difficulties to me) and to send you on your way rejoicing. Is it any use for me to point out to you that, in the light of world pain, you have little whereof to complain; that in the sight of world sorrow, your life holds nothing comparable; that before the woe of the women and the little children and of human beings in most countries, your life has in it little to cause you concern? There are people around you who care for you in security; you have co-workers who are your friends and from whom you are not wrenched by the cruel uses of war; you have a life task wherein you can serve us and humanity; you have no lack of life's necessities and know not the significance of cold and starvation or of a future which holds nothing but further agony; you are not wracked with pain nor have you to look on at the pain of others. What, therefore, is the cause of your condition? What lies at the root of your malaise (as the Latins call it)? What leads to your sense of physical ill and to the gloom and depression with which you greet the world? Just the glamor of [493] preoccupation - an intense preoccupation with yourself. Jf I should call this attitude "self-pity," will you accept it and use your intelligent mind to reason yourself out of your impasse? Disciples need to learn discrimination in the use of the instruments which they should use to free themselves from limitations and liabilities. There is too much loose talking re "calling in the soul" or similar terms. Yet it is not the soul which must be called in; for you, the use of the mental processes (which you possess in full measure for your need) will clarify the issue. Reason out the causes of your sense of frustration and of blocking - both materially and spiritually. Specify to yourself the nature of your grievances against life and place before yourself your paralleling sources of content. Cultivate a sense of the relative values, comparing your life of adequate possibility of expression, your wherewithal to provide the three necessities of life (a roof, food and warmth) and your environing conditions with those which today face countless millions and in which and through which they must triumph. Where is your triumph, my brother? Initiation is a process of graded triumphs and I seek to aid you towards that process. Having said this, let me at the same time remind you that any reaction of depression as the result of my words will but prove the extent of my truthful presentation. For your comfort, I would point out that were you not in a position to triumph, were you not upon the Path of Accepted Discipleship and were you not a man in touch with his own soul, I would not take the time or trouble to help you see and wrestle with your problem. I, your Master, believe in you and in your capacity to throw off the glamor of preoccupation. I have confidence that no matter how hard the struggle, you will persist unto the triumphant end. Your isolated first ray personality at its relatively high point of integration has now undue control. It must be dominated by the soul whose nature is love. Knowledge you have. More love you need. When I say "love," I refer to soul love and not to affection, emotion or sentiment. I refer to that detached, [494] deep love which can pour through the personality, releasing it from limited expression and at the same time streams out into the environment. How release the love aspect of your soul? That is for you the major problem at this time. By meditation, and by certain practical measures. These latter you must work out for yourself; the Master can point out to you the goal, indicate the hindrances and suggest solutions. These three conditions I have met. The disciple studies the situation and then applies those methods which seem to him to be promising and to be rightly indicated. I suggest, therefore, a careful process of reasoning for you so that the roots of your preoccupation with the little self may be discovered by you. It is not acceptance of my statements which is required; it is a mental activity carried on by you alone which will enable you to find out the truth of what I have indicated and lead you to take the needed steps. Having reasoned the matter out, then struggle not with the discovered condition but apply to your life the opposing quality with determination and persistence. Self-pity must give place to compassionate interest in others - those in your own home, in your business relations and in all whom you meet and life and fate throws in your way. Isolation must give place to cooperation, not an enforced cooperation but a spontaneous longing to be with and to share with others the processes of living, loving, occult duty. Ponder much upon this last phrase. It is a seed thought for your life at present. The second suggestion is the cultivation of indifference - that spiritual indifference which pays no undue attention to the physical body, or to moods and feelings or to mental illusions. The body exists and must receive due care; the feelings and moods are potent and exhausting and from them, my brother, come much of your physical discomfort. Deal with them not by struggling but by substitution of other interests, ignoring them and treating them with indifference till they die of lack of attention and of a slow attrition. You pay too much attention to the non-essentials. The third suggestion I make is to give you a personal meditation which may serve to aid you: [495] PERSONAL MEDITATION Relax. Identify yourself with the soul and strive to eliminate the personal consciousness. Herein lies your battleground. An intense interest in some other theme is your major way of escape. Sound the O. M., seeking (as you do so) to call upon the soul. This sounding of the O. M. is directed upward from you, the personality, to the over-shadowing, waiting soul. It is the threefold call of your personality vehicles. Accept the contact and the response and believe that it does exist. Here lies release - belief in the fact of the soul and its relation to you. Meditate then upon the implications, using knowledge and mind as the method of understanding. Accept the implications at which you arrive, provided they are the highest you can reach. Center your consciousness in the ajna center - the center of personality force and integration. Then sound the O. M. again, this time as the soul. Then again sound the O. M. as the soul and see it: Purifying the mind so that the illusion of the separated self disappears. Driving out selfish preoccupation and substituting intense interest in humanity and God's plan for man. Vitalizing the etheric vehicle so that the physical body is galvanized in service and flooded with vitality. Believe that this is so. Then linking up consciously with the soul, the real, inclusive self, go forth to your work. You will note that I here call on the functioning of both your imaginative capacity to believe and on your power of reflective reasoning. The right use of these two aspects of your personality, within the radius of soul light, will bring you release. But in the earlier stages of this process you will have to accept my word for it and go on, therefore, with the work even when you yourself see or feel no results of any kind. [496] I look to you for vital service, my brother; I am confident in your power to triumph. I would remind you that the triumphing must begin in your home and in your office by bringing happiness and release to others.
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