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Discipleship in the New Age I - Personal Instructions to Disciples - J.S.P.
To J. S. P. September 1937 BROTHER OF MINE: I have deferred giving you your personal instructions until this time as the quiet process of your integration in my group has been going forward with success. I felt it wise to wait. You [663] have had the difficult task of being admitted into a group which has been functioning as a unit for some time, and the amount of reading matter which you have had to master and the rhythm to which you have to adjust yourself has made your task a most difficult one. Your experience in group work, your open-minded attitude to other people, and the fact that (subjectively) you have belonged to this group ever since its inception has greatly helped. You have stepped into a position which has been yours subjectively for a long time. I am mentioning this persistent inner relation to me and to your group brothers so that you may realize that you have only to establish the outer links. The inner are already forged. The life of the disciple moves forward through moments of crisis. These crises produce two results: The intensification of aspiration, if the disciple is still upon the Probationary Path, or the intensification of illumination if the disciple is nearing the Path of Accepted Discipleship, or is upon the Path itself. The achievement of a more stabilized attitude of detachment, based upon conscious personality renunciation, upon a right orientation of the personality to the soul (who is the one Master, the Light of Life) and to the Hierarchy of Servers. They will, therefore, produce an increasing power of control by the soul - the One who knows no attachment and who stands at-one with all souls in all forms. Such moments of crisis and of intensification, added to renunciation, have been your lot for years, have they not, my brother? They have swept your whole personality into an attitude of withdrawing from the things of the senses and to an earnest approach to the world of reality. In your life, since you came into incarnation this time, there have been four such moments, in the major sense - each of them preceded by a period of one-pointed aspiration, of painful and oft agonizing detachment from all that the personality held dear. Each of them produced a subsequent reaction wherein it seemed that all was dark, and that aridity and stern struggle were the curious and undesirable result of sacrifice and of a recognized high point of illumination. [664] For you, as for so many disciples in this particular life cycle, the lesson has been to learn to move forward in spite of the activity of the pairs of opposites, paying no attention to the reactions of the senses and standing free and unafraid whether the experience being undergone is one of high import and of spiritual satisfaction, or is one of the "dead-level" happenings, where nothing brings joy and where only pain, fear and suspense are to be found. You must learn to move forward steadily between the pairs of opposites, saying to yourself: I am not this; I am not that; eternally, I am the Self. These lessons you are learning (and learning with rapidity). You have now reached a point where you can learn them in a group - a group of fellow disciples who are undergoing the same experiences, who are oriented in the same direction, who are occupied with the same problems, and who are motivated by the same desire to serve. This means that you travel not alone, but are supported and sustained and strengthened by your group brothers. Those working in these groups will tell you that in spite of the difficulties and oft the increased problems of the spiritual life - the results of a renewed consecration and a more clearly defined service - the "comradeship of the Path" and the inspiration and love of the group do most certainly constitute a powerful help and bring a sense of life and love which negatives the ancient loneliness, and offsets the old solitary suffering. Carefully follow the work of the Full Moon Approach, for it will bring you much and you should enter, through its means, into closer contact with the inner spiritual Sun, the soul, and with all of us who, in our varying grades of discipleship, seek to serve our fellowmen. This Full Moon work involves the use of the creative imagination, the cultivation of the power to visualize, the intensification of the magnetic vibration of the ajna center, and consequently of the pituitary body. This establishes a magnetic field for the interplay of the currents and energies which are brought into action by the activity of the head center and of the pineal gland. These higher forces are brought in and utilized in the meditation processes followed by all the group. I have nothing to say in connection with your life of service and activity. That will go on naturally, and as ever in the case [665] with all true aspirants, must be rendered with no thought of self but in an effort to meet the need of those within your environment who look to you for help - physical, emotional and mental - but always with a spiritual intent. I will make some suggestions as to your personality problem, and I will outline for you some meditation work. I use the word "suggestions" advisedly, for I would have you realize from the very beginning of your work that I never give more than a hint or a clear suggestion, or point out a possible line of action. I suggest a mode of training and of meditation and then leave each of you free to accept the suggestion and to conform to the outlined ideas as may seem best to you. I seek to give you a hint as to your ray influences, so that certain attitudes of mind and expressions of feeling-perception may be clarified for you. The five ray potencies which constitute your problem (and, with the soul, constitute also the mechanism of service through which the monad manifests), provide your field of opportunity and your main avenue of knowledge in the world of human expression. Your soul ray is the second ray. Your personality ray is the sixth ray, as you may have often suspected. This will link you closely by similarity of vibration with your brothers, D. H. B. and D. I. J. Your mental body is governed by the fourth ray, producing that love of art and literature which distinguishes you, and providing also that field of conflict which characterizes your entire life. Harmony through conflict is the keynote of your life, with the soul ever aware of the basic harmony, but with the personality registering the conflict more definitely and more aware of the strife and the difficulties. Ever the mind has sought to control; ever the soul has endeavored to carry increasing illumination, through the mind; ever the personal lower self has resisted that illumination and control. Is this not so, my brother? Your astral body is closely linked with your soul and governed by the second ray, thus making for you the line of least resistance in this life. For you, the line of feeling-intuition, of astral-buddhic approach has been the way. It is right here that the fourth ray problem of your mind has its major [666] difficulty and this for the following reason: In this life your major vibration runs along the line of 2-4-6, producing the intensification of your second ray qualities and indicating the need for some balancing factor. The difficulty is helped, however, and the problem aided towards solution by the fact that your physical body is on the seventh ray, which brings in the vibration of the first ray line of energy, 1-5-7. This is of great assistance to you. Upon the physical plane, therefore, you have the task of balancing this preponderance of second ray attributes, qualities and rhythm. Your rays, therefore, are: The ray of the soul - the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. The ray of the personality - the sixth Ray of Devotion. The ray of the mental body - the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict. The ray of the astral body - the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. The ray of the physical body - the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Order. You will find this of deep interest and, if rightly appreciated, it will produce fruitful development in your life. I suggest that you do the following meditation for a period of three months and then take up the group meditation. I have made your personal meditation very brief so that when you take up the group meditation it can constitute a preliminary exercise. Continue with the simple breathing exercise you are now doing. It is of value to you in producing inner alignment and the harmonizing of your bodies. Then, by an act of the will, withdraw the consciousness into the head and there visualize the inner radiant sun, formed by the merging of the lesser life of the personality with the radiant light in your soul. At the very center of this life see the Self, the inner Christ or Buddha. Then focus your thought, without effort or strength, in this center. Next sound the O. M., breathing it out through the personality and carrying: [667] Light to the mind. Peace to the astral body. Strength to the physical body. Finally, as the soul and the personality together, sound the O. M. again, once audibly and once inaudibly, thinking as you do so of the need of the world and the power of the soul to meet that need, through the medium of aspiration and discrimination. Continue then with any meditation such as you may feel the need of doing. Have in the background of your consciousness the three words: joy, stability and the Plan.
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