Tag: buddhic

True Intuition and the Soul or Dreamer

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

There are various types of intuition, one of these is intellectual pattern forming in which the mind maps things and comes up with some arrangement. An example of this is when I prepare a shopping list, I put items in rough order for where they are in the store. The last item is usually butter or fresh bread because these are closest to the checkouts. When I used to play the card game “pairs”. Instead of row and column, I would remember where, pictorially.  Listening to questions on “university challenge” I occasionally intuit an answer with little or no laboured thinking. Of course this is far from 100% accurate.

There is another kind of intuition, which is less rational, we might call it a direct knowing. This maybe when a friend or family is about to ‘phone and we go towards the ‘phone as it rings. It is kind of spooky for some but completely normal for others.

True intuition is when the dreamer or Soul speaks directly to the incarnate being through the veil of personality and ambition.

Pictorially here is a schematic of levels of awareness as per Théun Mares.

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In the schematic the dreamer corresponds to the Soul and true inner-tuition arises when the dreamer tries to advise and direct the dreamed. I can say that I have had numerous occasions when I have been busy doing something and all of a sudden, I get an imperative out of nowhere, to cease and desist. Alternatively, if I lack courage, I can get a sudden swelling of bravado and encouragement to go ahead.

Until rapport has been established with the dreamer or soul, until one is technically speaking soul-infused, intuition is largely mental or emotional and hence a property of the dreamed or incarnate personality.

Lifetime after lifetime the dreamer dreams in a dreamed, a vehicle in which it learns and evolves. The dreamer is often frustrated by the wayward dreamed, but that is the challenge of the dreamer to fully manifest its awareness on the physical and meaty plane.

By setting one’s intent to intelligently cooperate with the dreamer one “lifts” awareness onto what is called in some circles the intuitional or buddhic “plane”. I prefer state to plane. Thus, the goal is to expand awareness towards a buddhic or true intuitional level, state or scope. True intuition is never separative rather holistic and inclusive. I use holistic in a much more elevated and expansive sense than it is commonly bandied about, here.

According to the blue books opus, human evolution is headed in the direction of lifting awareness out of the meaty carnal, emotional and mental polarisation towards a true intuitional beingness. That looks nothing like modern soap-opera living, whether Trumpian or otherwise.

The theory goes that humanity is in general not in touch with nor en rapport with its Soul or dreamer. One of the ways contact can be established with the Soul is by dreaming. BUT, in order to do this one has to let go and NOT try to direct the dreams. Otherwise dreaming becomes a mental/emotional/carnal practice. Which does not liberate.

An imperative true intuition is very difficult to ignore, and the consequences of such ignoring can be wide reaching and impactful. The dreamer is persistent and will kneel the dreamed if so required.

True intuition can be very imperative. It can also be light and gentle. The dreamer is the “real” you, so it makes no sense in negating your “self”.

It is said that the greatest act of a warrior is to shift from control to abandon. In that one hands the steering wheel of the mundane vehicle over to the dreamer, the Soul. Life then is Soul influenced, Soul infused and tends to be way less petty and full of gripes and groans and moans.

One learns to dream true…

The Unknown and The Unknowable

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Many do not know with humility where for them the known ends and the unknown begins.

Moreover, their assessment of what is known may be inaccurate in that they imagine they know more than they actually do. Anyone who has taught undergraduate science can testify that there are many students who imagine they know more than they do. They may be confident and exhibit braggadocio concerning their knowledge. They may even pass exams and imagine a mastery over a subject when in fact they have just passed an exam. A qualification is not synonymous with full knowledge. The measured knowledge is qualified to a yard stick. Knowledge begins post exam in its subsequent application. When you have to teach something in public, then you learn. Each time you teach it a new facet, previously un-noted, may be revealed. You could say that teaching is also a process of learning for the so-called teacher.

It stands to reason then, that the scale and scope of the unknown can not even be estimated. Therefore, it cannot be factored in, in a reliable way. There may be some things, concepts and states of awareness which are unknowable, particularly so while in meaty carnate human form.

You do not know what you don’t know and are, by definition, unaware of the gaping hole in your knowledge. Though you may self-diagnose prematurely as omniscient. There are many who imagine themselves smart and with wide, deep and profound knowledge of life, the universe and everything.

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To give a trite example what it feels like to be dead is unknown when alive, yet because we all die, it is not unknowable because we all get a chance to experience it. The level to which we are conscious in the death state may be variable. We don’t know for sure.

In the new age literature, I encounter many who talk about the buddhic and atmic planes or awarenesses. There is a certainty in language which is not necessarily backed up by personal experience. It is for them a theory, a hypothesis and not an experiential reality. In the blue books opus direct and continued experience of these states, in the model hypothesis, is as a result of initiation and evolution.

Humans like to model in their own image and may draw glowing enlightened figures, perhaps partially because states of awareness and consciousness of highly abstract natures are not easily diagrammatically rendered. In the Ancient Wisdom traditions, the atmic “plane” is sometime referred to as the nirvanic plane, implying it is the awareness of the post nirvanic being lacking a causal vehicle having blown it off. They may fail to imagine awe and the austere nature of universe, perhaps they imagine a soft radiant glow, with comforting pastel shades. Cosmogenesis is not nice and fluffy; it is cosmic and violent beyond comprehension. The scope is far beyond human experience. We can just do our best to observe, model and understand.

For a scientist the use of the two dimensional nomenclature of plane is very unhelpful and distracting. Plane implies matter and physicality {excluding imaginary numbers}. When I have been reading these things, I find that the legacy nomenclature from the Victorian mediums and early twentieth century occultists off putting and something which I need to put to one side to get to the gist. The use of etheric “plane” instead of emotional is old fashioned.

I have seen the word Toltec described as man of knowledge and uttered with a bit of awe. I have yet to meet a so-called Toltec who can solve Schrödinger’s equation for a particle in a three dimensional box. Tens of thousands of undergraduates do this every year. There is a whopping great gap in knowledge of physics, chemistry, biology and engineering, in my opinion. They may have knowledge but it is far from complete.

Similarly, many scientists may profess profound knowledge. They may pooh-pooh magic, chakras, ghosts and exorcism. They may even soap box. I’ll wager that I could spend the wee small hours in a haunted house with them and have significantly less fear. Even though ghosts do not exist, of course. If I started to do a rite of exorcism, they would probably shit their pants.

Both groups have the unknown and the extent of it is also unknown. I could play on words and say that the extent of the unknown is the unknowable for any give life because we can only map out so much unknown in ~ 85 standard earth years.

I’ll make a statement; it is common for human beings to imagine themselves more knowledgeable than they actually are. There is an arrogance which is out of proportion with their tens of kilograms of meat measured against a planetary and cosmic scale. Yet they have trouble not being adamant and assertive about things which they know little or nothing about.

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Do you know where the unknown for you starts?

Have you an inkling of just how vast that unknown is for you?

The Problem of Fifth Ray – Concrete Mind

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

In his blue print for the future schools Kuhl mentions that ideally the educational personnel should be as capable as those at a modern university. Since his offerings the university sector has undergone a massive expansion. Modern science has exploded and expanded at a tremendous rate. It is no longer possible for any human mind to encompass all the knowledge.

I fit the educational criterion or at least I once did.

The use of fifth ray concrete mind to expand science / technology in a kaizen or step wise manner has proven remarkably successful, perhaps at the cost of more intuitional thinking, intuiting. The mantra of factory like metrics is embedded deep. One has to “promise” what one might find and its commercial impact before funding is given. There must be concrete measurable and success criteria. It is perhaps a tad OCD and anal.

Kuhl imagined that all would need to learn science as part of their education. I’ll generalise but your average fourth or sixth ray type is prejudiced against those “nasty” fifth ray types. They would not be keen on university level thermodynamics.

Those of a fifth ray orientation do not like fluffy bunny woolly crystal feeling astrologers. They want hard facts not metaphor and allegory

Both of these groups are set, a little like concrete, in their ways.

I am perhaps more bilingual than most.

In a sense “science” in its technological flavour has become the new God. Anything outside its creed and gospel is not welcome and prone to ridicule.

The Kurukshetra is this fifth ray and getting past mid-high concrete mind into intuitional or buddhic levels.

I’ll expand more in due course.

Selected Dragon Content in the Blue Books Opus

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

All of these, unless otherwise stated, are from a Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Djwhal Kuhl and Alice Bailey

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In the fifth round, at its middle point, certain things will eventuate.

The fifth Hierarchy will rise to its full power. This will precede the Judgment Day, and will mark a point of tremendous struggle, for the manasic vehicle “manas” (which they embody) will rebel against the translation of the life within (the buddhi). There will, therefore, be seen on a racial scale and involving millions simultaneously, a repetition of the selfsame struggle which embroils the man who seeks to transcend mind and to live the life of Spirit. This will be the final Armageddon, the planetary kurukshetra, and will be succeeded by the Judgment Day when the Sons of Manas will be cast out and the Dragons of Wisdom rule. This only means that those in whom the manasic principle is over-potent or underdeveloped will be considered as failures and will have to wait for a more suitable period for development, while those who are living the buddhic life, and in whom it is waxing stronger – spiritual men, aspirants, disciples of various degrees, initiates and adepts – will be left to pursue the natural course of evolution on this scheme.

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Second. The goal set before humanity is that of becoming Masters of the Wisdom, or conscious units in the Body of the Dragon of Wisdom or of Love. This a man achieves when he can function consciously in the buddhic vehicle, or when the astral permanent atom is superseded by the buddhic permanent atom.

Third. The next reason is that the second aspect of the Logos (that of love or the manifestation of the love nature of the Logos through the medium of the Son) is the one demonstrated in this system. This system is:

  1. A Son of Necessity, or of desire.
  2. Vibrant to the key of the cosmic Ray of Love.
  3. The form through which this ray of cosmic Love (shown in the interrelation between the Self and the Not-Self, or through duality) is expressing itself.
  4. Governed by the cosmic Law of Attraction. The monads of love are the dominating quality. (I choose this word ‘quality’ specifically.)

Fourth. The center in the cosmic body of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NOUGHT MAY BE SAID of which our solar Logos is the embodied force is the heart center. Here we have one of the clues to the mystery of electricity. The sacred planets, with certain allied etheric spheres within the ring-pass-not, are parts of that heart center, and are ‘petals in the Lotus,’ or in the heart center of that great unknown Existence Who stands to the solar Logos as He in His turn stands to the Heavenly Men Who are His centers, and specially as He stands to the particular Heavenly Man Who is the embodied force of the logoic Heart center. Therefore, it will be apparent to the careful student that the entire force and energy of the system and its life quality will be that which we call (having perforce to use handicapping, misleading words) LOVE. This will account for the fact that the force that plays through that cosmic heart center will be the paramount force found in the manifestation of a solar Logos, and of a Heavenly Man; it will likewise produce its microcosmic analogy, and reflective reactions; hence the relative importance of the astral permanent atom within the causal periphery. It is in the direct line of active force emanating from the cosmic existence, and passing to it in ever lessening degree, via the solar Logos in His system of love, and the planetary Logos within a scheme, the Dragon of Wisdom-Love.

This force when rightly directed and properly controlled is the great transmuting agency, which eventually will make of the human unit a Master of the Wisdom, a Lord of Love, a Dragon of Wisdom in lesser degree.

Finally: this solar system, the objective physical manifestation of the Logos, is interpenetrated by His astral body, as is the case with the human manifestation. As the Logos is polarized in His cosmic astral sheath and has not yet attained cosmic mental polarization His force or desire nature is the main incentive for the subjective Life and Eves that underlie the form.

If the student will ponder with care these five facts, he will get a clue to the problems of existence as realized around us, to the causes of the heat of the solar system, to the method of the cosmic Law of Attraction and Repulsion, which governs all atomic forms, and to the question of SEX which is apparent in every kingdom of nature. They give the clue also to the constitution of the Divine Hermaphrodite.

Therefore, it is necessary to bear in mind the relative importance of the permanent atom of the second aspect of the personality within the causal periphery, and to remember that the force which flows through that atom and which is the animating force of the astral body is following the lines of least resistance and really might be considered as bearing upon his physical manifestation in a manner twice as strong as that reaching him through the other two. The Logos expresses Himself now through the Divine Ray, His second aspect, and this Ray is the sumtotal of the radiation of the Lords of Wisdom, the Heavenly Men, the Dragons Who are Unity and Who are Love. Through Them this force flows, and They in turn clothe Themselves with form, or as H. P. B. expresses it ‘The primordial Ray becomes the Vahan for the Divine Ray. Their life animates every atom of substance when built into form, and Their life is the sumtotal of Logoic magnetism, or the great desire nature of the Logos going out after the Not-Self, producing the cosmic Marriage; it is the logoic demonstration of the sex appeal, His search for His polar opposite, and their mystic union.

This process is repeated by the microcosm following the line of his being, and this brings him likewise into incarnation, or into mystic union with form.

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Initiation VI – Decision – Ray III

We have concluded our study of the rays and the five initiations, and there is little more that I can tell you about the remaining four initiations, except one or two points anent the sixth Initiation of Decision; this initiation is governed by the third Ray of Active Intelligence.

The only reason that I am making a few comments upon the sixth initiation is that at this time a number of the Masters are taking this great step, and it has a most peculiar application to the time of the reappearance of the Christ.

At this Initiation of Decision, the Master concerned decides usually which of the seven Paths He intends to tread; some Masters decide to remain until the close of our planetary Life, at which time the “last weary Pilgrim will have found his way home”; the Earth can then be prepared for a new Humanity. When this happens, our planet will no longer be known as the planet of sorrow and of pain, but will be distinguished by a quality of tranquillity and by an aura of calm potency wherein the will of God (to be demonstrated in the next solar system) will be focused; this – in some mysterious way – will enable the solar Logos (not the planetary Logos) to bring the first great divine aspect, that of Will or Power, into expression throughout the solar system. Instead, therefore, of the statement which explains our present solar system, “God is Love,” we shall have a dynamic expression of the will-to-good – an energy which will have been generated to some extent upon our Earth. This is the reward which the present Earth humanity will reap, and this is the consummation of the preordained task of our planetary Logos. He undertook, when He came into incarnation (through the medium of our little planet), to aid the work of the Solar Logos in expressing the will aspect of divinity.

Excerpted from “The Rays and the Initiations” by Djwhal Kuhl and Alice Bailey

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{This below concerns one of the available paths of higher evolution open to the fifth degree initiate or master. My comment.}

Path I. The Path of Earth Service

The nature of the spiritual force which animates the group of our peculiar planetary initiates will become apparent perhaps if the methods and purposes of their work are studied from the standpoint of subjective energy, and not so specifically of the material form. This point of view can be gleaned most easily from a consideration of the animating impulse lying behind all world groups which are particularly consecrated to the uplift of the race. This will necessarily include all political, religious, scientific and metaphysical organizations. It will be found that each and all are definitely related and have a point of at-one-ment with certain of the numerous occult bodies which are (usually unknown to the affiliated group) responsible for the vitalization of the principal units in any of these organizations doing this pioneer work.

This first path is the one that keeps a man linked to the Hierarchy which is pledged to the service of our planetary scheme. It comprises those who work under the Lord of the World in the seven groups into which our Masters of the Wisdom are divided. Not so many Masters follow this Path as some of the others, and only enough are permitted to do so to carry on planetary evolution satisfactorily. More is known about this Path than about any of the others, and more will continuously be found out as members of our humanity fit themselves to contact the Brothers of the Hierarchy. Their field of employ, Their methods of work will eventually become exoteric, and as the seven groups are recognized and known, schools of development for the filling of posts in these groups will be the logical sequence.

The adepts who stay upon this Path are distinguished by a dual attribute, which is their guarantee of attainment along this line of spiritual endeavor. They are animated by wise-compassion. These words should be carefully studied for they hold the clue to the nature of this first Path. The adepts who choose this Path are called esoterically the “beneficent dragons,” and the energy with which they work and the stream of living force upon which they are found emanates from the constellation of the Dragon, working through the zodiacal sign Libra. This special spiritual energy produces in all those groups which come under its direct influence a profound faculty for identification. This identification does not concern the form nor the soul but only the spiritual point of positive life which in the human unit we call the “Jewel in the Lotus.” It should be remembered in this connection that there is a jewel at the heart of every atom. Every jewel has seven facets which are the seven doorways to the seven Paths.

The “beneficent dragons” are distinguished by their “luminosity,” and it is this basic quality which lies behind the injunction given by all spiritual teachers to their pupils in the words “let your light shine forth.”

When the adept enters through the “luminous door” he has before him four very peculiar and esoteric IDENTIFICATIONS. This entrance takes place after he has passed the fifth Initiation and has demonstrated his fitness so to do through a long period of service in connection with our planetary evolution. These identifications eventually bring about within the jewel, which is essentially the true spiritual unit, a momentous happening, and are undergone within the monadic consciousness after the transcendence of the atmic sheath. These four identifications are connected with the fourfold lotus of the solar Logos, or with His twelve-petalled heart center. This lotus is sometimes called the “heart of the Sun,” and concerns the subjective sun. It is not, however, possible to say more along this line.

These four Identifications are only undergone upon this particular Path and are each preceded by three lesser identifications which make a totality of twelve Identifications, corresponding to the twelve-petalled lotus. It will be noted by the accurate student that we are now discontinuing the use of the word “initiation” which has to do specifically with consciousness and therefore with duality and are utilizing a word which connotes synthesis, though very inadequately.

The energy which is manipulated in the process of these identifications is largely that pouring through the sixth Hierarchy, which has an esoteric relation to the sixth Path on to which the initiates of Path I have eventually to fight their way. The form through which the adept must work in order to demonstrate his control of the energy concerned may not here be given. It may only be stated that luminosity is gained upon the battle ground through a fight with a dragon. The following summation may be found suggestive:

PATH I. EARTH SERVICE

  • Attributes – Wise-compassion.
  • Source – Constellation of the Dragon, via Libra.
  • Method – Twelve cosmic Identifications.
  • Hierarchy – The sixth.
  • Symbol – A green dragon issuing from the center of a blazing sun. Behind the sun and over-topping it can be seen two pillars on either side of a closed door.
  • Quality gained – Luminosity.

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SECTION THREE – DIVISION C – SEVEN ESOTERIC STANZAS

STANZA I

(From Archaic Formulas. No. 49)

PATH 1. The Path of Earth Service.

The Dragon who hideth within the lowest of the Sacred Three ariseth in His might. In His mouth He holdeth the balances, and in the balances He weigheth the sons of men who – upon the field of battle – are impaled upon His spear.

In the great balance upon which His eyes are fixed, one scale is veiled in fire of vivid green; the other hides itself behind a screen of red.

Those sons of men whose note responds not to the note of red enter the scale upon the right hand side. From thence they pass upon a path which dimly can be seen behind the dragon’s form.

This path is entered by a fourfold door. The sacred phrases of the Sons of Light define it thus: “The portal of the luminous light, which leadeth from the green into the heart of indigo, by that rare fire and richly colored blaze for which no name on earth hath yet been found.” Its tone is hidden.

The sons of men (and few their number is) enter that door of luminous fire when they surmount the crest of gold which riseth on the dragon’s head above the point where gleams “the eye of fire.”

This eye of fire transmits a strong vibration from the triple Lhas unto a center in the Adept’s head. This, when aroused, reveals the Life that is, the form that shall be, and the work united of the two and four.

These two are drawn together. Their essence blends. The man who seeks this path is then impaled upon the spear and thrust within the fiery light which veils the balance. The mystic process then proceeds and… Thus is the work of SATURN seen, and thus the consummation is effected.

Through SATURN’S fateful force the victor then is swiftly projected to the summit of the crest, and thence to that vibrating disk which guards the fourfold door of luminosity.

Three Words are then committed to the Liberated One. He stands triumphant on the speeding disk and when their utterance has… the door is seen ajar, and from its other side a voice is heard to say: “Son of Compassion, Master of Love and Life, the wheel turns all the time for those who battle on the fiery ground beneath the dragon’s feet.”

The first Word having entered on its mission, the victor lifts His head and seeks to utter forth the second Word. But, as He sounds it forth, He arrests its wide vibration, drawing again its power within His heart.

The motion of the disk slows down. The portal of the fiery light opens more widely yet. A form is seen. Unto the Master of the Fiery Heart, this form presents three precious jewels. Their names are hidden from those sons of men who have not yet attained the dragon’s crest.

These jewels three give to the Master of the Fiery Heart a portion of the triple force which circulates within the planet’s sphere.

With eye intent and heart alive with burning love the Master utters not the final Word. He steps from off the disk and turns His Lotus Feet back to that Path He earlier left behind, and from the other side remounts the Dragon’s crest. Himself a dragon, He now identifies Himself with those who seek the beast. And thus He serves, turning His back upon the door of light. He is the offspring of the dragon and serves His time…

Unknown and unseen by Him, a greater disk becomes apparent, turning unceasingly. He seeth not its movement for His eyes are on the world He has returned to serve. The disk revolves and brings around – before His yet unseeing eye – a greater wider Door… His eye of vision opens… He treads the first great path, yet knows it not.

The note that sounds forth from that first great WAY is yet unheard by Him. Its sound is lost in the uprising cry of the children of the lesser dragon.

NOTE: These seven stanzas form only one true stanza out of the oldest book in the world, and one which the eye of the average man has never contacted. Only the sense is here given and not a literal translation, and certain phrases are eliminated in all of them for one or other of the three following reasons: Either the manuscript from which these extracts are taken lacks certain of the words or symbols which are missing on account of the extreme age of the material upon which the text is indited, or their insertion would convey too much knowledge to the man whose perception is sufficiently awakened. Thirdly, the insertion of the omitted words would only serve to awaken confusion and even ridicule on account of the impossibility of translating them correctly; they concern realizations far in advance of the comprehension of man at this time.

Initiation, Human and Solar

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INITIATION DEFINED

The question anent initiation is one that is coming more and more before the public. Before many centuries pass the old mysteries will be restored, and an inner body will exist in the Church – the Church of the period, of which the nucleus is already forming – wherein the first initiation will become esoteric, in this sense only, that the taking of the first initiation will, before so very long, be the most sacred ceremony of the Church, performed esoterically as one of the mysteries given at stated periods, attended by those concerned. It will also hold a similar place in the ritual of the Masons. At this ceremony those ready for the first initiation will be publicly admitted to the Lodge by one of its members, authorized to do so by the great Hierophant Himself.

Four Words Defined

When we speak of Initiation, of wisdom, of knowledge, or of the probationary Path, what do we mean? We use the words so glibly, without due consideration of the meaning involved. Take, for instance, the word first mentioned. Many are the definitions, and many are the explanations to be found as to its scope, the preparatory steps, the work to be done between initiations, and its result and effects. One thing before all else is apparent to the most superficial student, and that is, that the magnitude of the subject is such that in order to deal with it adequately one should be able to write from the viewpoint of an initiate; when this is not the case, anything that is said may be reasonable, logical, interesting, or suggestive, but not conclusive.

The word Initiation comes from two Latin words, in, into; and ire, to go; therefore, the making of a beginning, or the entrance into something. It posits, in its widest sense, in the case we are studying, an entrance into the spiritual life, or into a fresh stage in that life. It is the first step, and the succeeding steps, upon the Path of Holiness. Literally, therefore, a man who has taken the first initiation is one who has taken the first step into the spiritual kingdom, having passed out of the definitely human kingdom into the superhuman. Just as he passed out of the animal kingdom into the human at individualization, so he has entered upon the life of the spirit, and for the first time has the right to be called a “spiritual man” in the technical significance of the word. He is entering upon the fifth or final stage in our present fivefold evolution. Having groped his way through the Hall of Ignorance during many ages, and having gone to school in the Hall of Learning, he is now entering into the university, or the Hall of Wisdom. When he has passed through that school he will graduate with his degree as a Master of Compassion.

It might be of benefit to us also if we studied first the difference or the connection between Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom. Though in ordinary parlance they are frequently interchanged, as used technically they are dissimilar.

Knowledge is the product of the Hall of Learning. It might be termed the sum total of human discovery and experience, that which can be recognized by the five senses, and be correlated, diagnosed, and defined by the use of the human intellect. It is that about which we feel mental certitude, or that which we can ascertain by the use of experiment. It is the compendium of the arts and sciences. It concerns all that deals with the building and developing of the form side of things. Therefore it concerns the material side of evolution, matter in the solar systems, in the planet, in the three worlds of human evolution, and in the bodies of men.

Wisdom is the product of the Hall of Wisdom. It has to do with the development of the life within the form, with the progress of the spirit through those ever-changing vehicles, and with the expansions of consciousness that succeed each other from life to life. It deals with the life side of evolution. Since it deals with the essence of things and not with the things themselves, it is the intuitive apprehension of truth apart from the reasoning faculty, and the innate perception that can distinguish between the false and the true, between the real and the unreal. It is more than that, for it is also the growing capacity of the Thinker to enter increasingly into the mind of the Logos, to realize the true inwardness of the great pageant of the universe, to vision the objective, and to harmonize more and more with the higher measure. For our present purpose (which is to study somewhat the Path of Holiness and its various stages) it may be described as the realization of the “Kingdom of God within,” and the apprehension of the “Kingdom of God without” in the solar system. Perhaps it might be expressed as the gradual blending of the paths of the mystic and the occultist, – the rearing of the temple of wisdom upon the foundation of knowledge.

Wisdom is the science of the spirit, just as knowledge is the science of matter. Knowledge is separate and objective, whilst wisdom is synthetic and subjective. Knowledge divides; wisdom unites. Knowledge differentiates whilst wisdom blends. What, then, is meant by the understanding?

The understanding may be defined as the faculty of the Thinker in Time to appropriate knowledge as the foundation for wisdom, that which enables him to adapt the things of form to the life of the spirit, and to take the flashes of inspiration that come to him from the Hall of Wisdom and link them to the facts of the Hall of Learning. Perhaps the whole idea might be expressed in this way:


Wisdom concerns the one Self, knowledge deals with the not-self, whilst the understanding is the point of view of the Ego, or Thinker, or his relation between them.

In the Hall of Ignorance the form controls, and the material side of things has the predominance. Man is there polarized in the personality or lower self. In the Hall of Learning the higher self, or Ego, strives to dominate that form until gradually a point of equilibrium is reached where the man is controlled entirely by neither. Later the Ego controls more and more, until in the Hall of Wisdom it dominates in the three lower worlds, and in increasing degree the inherent divinity assumes the mastery.

Aspects of Initiation

Initiation, or the process of undergoing an expansion of consciousness, is part of the normal process of evolutionary development, viewed on a large scale, and not from the standpoint of the individual. When viewed from the individual standpoint it has come to be narrowed down to the moment wherein the evolving unit definitely apprehends that (by dint of his own effort, aided by the advice and suggestions of the watching Teachers of the race) he has reached a point wherein a certain range of knowledge of a subjective nature, from the physical plane point of view, is his. It is in the nature of that experience wherein a pupil in a school realizes suddenly that he has mastered a lesson, and that the rationale of a subject, and the method of procedure, are his to use intelligently. These moments of intelligent apprehension follow the evolving Monad throughout his long pilgrimage. What has been misinterpreted somewhat at this stage of comprehension is the fact that at various periods the emphasis is laid on different grades of expansion, and always the Hierarchy endeavors to bring the race to the point where its units will have some idea of the next step to be taken.

Each initiation marks the passing of the pupil in the Hall of Wisdom into a higher class, marks the clearer shining forth of the inner fire and the transition from one point of polarization to another, entails the realization of an increasing unity with all that lives and the essential oneness of the self with all selves. It results in a horizon that continuously enlarges until it includes the sphere of creation; it is a growing capacity to see and hear on all the planes. It is an increased consciousness of God’s plans for the world, and an increased ability to enter into those plans and to further them. It is the effort in the abstract mind to pass an examination. It is the honor class in the Master’s school, and is within the attainment of those souls whose karma permits and whose efforts suffice to fulfil the aim.

Initiation leads to the mount whence vision can be had, a vision of the eternal Now, wherein past, present, and future exist as one; a vision of the pageant of the races with the golden thread of pedigree carried through the many types; a vision of the golden sphere that holds in unison all the many evolutions of our system, deva, human, animal, vegetable, mineral, and elemental, and through which the pulsating life can be clearly seen beating in regular rhythm;

  • a vision of the Logoic thought-form on the archetypal plane,
  • a vision that grows from initiation to initiation until it embraces all the solar system.

Initiation leads to the stream that, once entered, sweeps a man onward until it carries him to the feet of the Lord of the World, to the feet of his Father in Heaven, to the feet of the threefold Logos.

Initiation leads to the cave within whose circumscribing walls the pairs of opposites are known, and the secret of good and evil is revealed. It leads to the Cross and to that utter sacrifice which must transpire before perfect liberation is attained, and the initiate stands free of all earth’s fetters, held by naught in the three worlds. It leads through the Hall of Wisdom, and puts into a man’s hands the key to all information, systemic and cosmic, in graduated sequence. It reveals the hidden mystery that lies at the heart of the solar system. It leads from one state of consciousness to another. As each state is entered the horizon enlarges, the vista extends, and the comprehension includes more and more, until the expansion reaches a point where the self embraces all selves, including all that is “moving and unmoving,” as phrased by an ancient Scripture.

Initiation involves ceremony. It is this aspect that has been emphasized in the minds of men, perhaps a little to the exclusion of the true significance. Primarily it involves the capacity to see, hear, and comprehend, and to synthesize and correlate knowledge. It does not necessarily involve the development of the psychic faculties, but it does entail the inner comprehension that sees the value underlying the form, and recognizes the purpose of pervading circumstances. It is the capacity that senses the lesson to be learnt from any given occurrence and event, and that by means of these comprehensions and recognitions effects an hourly, weekly, yearly growth and expansion. This process of gradual expansion – the result of the definite effort and strenuous right thinking and living of the aspirant himself and not of some occult teacher performing an occult rite – leads to what one might term a crisis.

At this crisis, which necessitates the aid of a Master, a definite act of initiation is performed, which (acting on a particular center) produces a result on some one body. It keys the atoms to a certain pitch, and enables a new rate of rhythm to be attained.

This ceremony of initiation marks a point of attainment. It does not bring about attainment, as is so often the misconception. It simply marks the recognition by the watching Teachers of the race of a definite point in evolution reached by the pupil, and gives two things:

  1. An expansion of consciousness that admits the personality into the wisdom attained by the Ego, and in the higher initiations into the consciousness of the Monad.
  2. A brief period of enlightenment wherein the initiate sees that portion of the Path that lies ahead to be trodden, and wherein he shares consciously in the great plan of evolution.

After initiation, the work to be done consists largely in making that expansion of consciousness part of the equipment for the practical use of the personality, and in mastering that portion of the path that has yet to be traversed.

The Place and Effect of Initiation

The ceremony of initiation takes place on the three higher subplanes of the mental plane, and on the three higher planes, according to the initiation. The five-pointed star, at the initiations on the mental plane, flashes out above the head of the initiate. This concerns the first initiations which are undergone in the causal vehicle. It has been said that the first two initiations take place upon the astral plane, but this is incorrect, and the statement has given rise to a misunderstanding. They are felt profoundly in connection with the astral and physical bodies and the lower mental, and affect their control. The chief effect being felt in those bodies the initiate may interpret them as having taken place on the planes concerned, as the vividness of the effect and the stimulation of the first two initiations work out largely in the astral body. But it must ever be remembered that the major initiations are taken in the causal body or – dissociated from that body – on the buddhic plane or atmic plane. At the final two initiations which set a man free from the three worlds, and enable him to function in the body of vitality of the Logos and wield that force, the initiate becomes the five-pointed star and it descends upon him, merges in him, and he is seen at its very center. This descent is brought about by the action of the Initiator, wielding the Rod of Power, and puts a man in touch with the center in the Body of the Planetary Logos of which he is a part, and this consciously. The two initiations called the sixth and seventh take place on the buddhic and atmic planes; the five-pointed star “blazes forth from within Itself,” as the esoteric phrase has it, and becomes the seven-pointed star; it descends upon the man and he enters within the flame.

Again, the four initiations, prior to that of the adept, mark respectively the attainment of certain proportions of atomic matter in the bodies – for instance, at the first initiation one-fourth atomic matter, at the second one-half atomic matter, at the third three-quarters atomic matter, and so on to the completion. Since buddhi is the unifying principle (or the welder of all), at the fifth initiation the adept lets the lower vehicles go, and stands in his buddhic sheath. He creates thence his body of manifestation.

Each initiation gives more control on the rays, if one may so express it, although this does not adequately convey the idea. Words so often mislead. At the fifth initiation, when the adept stands Master in the three worlds, He controls more or less (according to His line of development) the five rays that are specially manifesting at the time He takes the initiation. At the sixth initiation, if He takes the higher degree, He gains power on another ray, and at the seventh initiation He wields power on all the rays. The sixth initiation marks the point of attainment of the Christ, and brings the synthetic ray of the system under His control. We need to remember that initiation gives the initiate power on the rays, and not power over the rays, for this marks a very definite difference. Every initiate has, of course, for his primary or spiritual ray one of the three major rays, and the ray of his Monad is the one on which he at length gains power. The love ray, or the synthetic ray of the system, is the final one achieved.

Those who pass away from the earth after the fifth initiation, or those who do not become Masters in physical incarnation, take their subsequent initiations elsewhere in the system. All are in the Logoic Consciousness. One great fact to be borne in mind is, that the initiations of the planet or of the solar system are but the preparatory initiations of admission into the greater Lodge on Sirius. We have the symbolism held for us fairly well in Masonry, and in combining the Masonic method with what we are told of the steps on the Path of Holiness we get an approximate picture. Let us enlarge somewhat:

The first four initiations of the solar system correspond to the four “initiations of the Threshold,” prior to the first cosmic initiation. The fifth initiation corresponds to the first cosmic initiation, that of “entered apprentice” in Masonry; and makes a Master an “entered apprentice” of the Lodge on Sirius. The sixth initiation is analogous to the second degree in Masonry, whilst the seventh initiation makes the Adept a Master Mason of the Brotherhood on Sirius.

A Master, therefore, is one who has taken the seventh planetary initiation, the fifth solar initiation, and the first Sirian or cosmic initiation.

Excerpted from:

“Initiation, Human and Solar – Chapter II – Initiation Defined” By Alice Bailey and Djwhal Kuhl

The Shamballa Thought Form and Nomenclature

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

There are certain words bandied about by esotericists and new agers which will grate on the ears of someone trained in the physical sciences. Because therein their use is specific and defined. If you talk about a vibration to a physicist, chemist or engineer it has a very contained meaning. If you say the vibration of a new age it sounds like poppycock, yet people will accept informal “only good vibes, man”.

It is common parlance in esoteric circles to talk about the astral plane, the mental plane and the buddhic plane. Plane to a scientist refers most often to a two dimensional surface or cross section, there are planes of symmetry about which reflections can be made. The misuse of language appropriated by science is a real barrier to any acceptance of esoterica in the mainstream scientific mind, a real turn off, a deal breaker and a red line.

If you speak about someone being polarised emotionally that has no defined meaning. If, however, you describe someone as governed to a large part by their emotions and emotional reactions that is more acceptable. Soap operas are popular because many like the emotional drama as it reflects their lives and how they pan out.  In esoteric parlance the majority of humanity is “polarised” on the emotional/astral plane.

Others are preoccupied with body, form and fornication. They are governed by physical sensation, hormonal response, instinctual behaviours and sexual urge.

Those more detached and less dominated by emotion could be said to be governed by mental or thinking process, these can be straightforward or highly abstract.

We might then loosely talk of three moods or modes of consciousness, carnal meaty, emotional and mental. In esoteric speak the physical plane, the astral/emotional plane and the mental plane. There is no plane simply a state, a mood, a flavour of consciousness where the being’s consciousness mostly is. It is possible to move between flavours. A simple act experienced by a detached mental type could cause an upswelling of emotion.

If you are often angry then you are governed by emotions. There is a lot of anger in the middle East just now, a lot of hot angry heads.

In esoteric circles there are the so called buddhic and atmic “planes” which are more “rarefied” and “above” the three “lower” planes. The buddhic state of consciousness is governed by intuitional mind {and heart}.

The aim of rāja yoga is, in one sense, to try to rise above the mundane, emotional and the pettier aspects of mind. The being then “spends” more time free of wild emotional swings and the desire for physical and sexual gluttony. We might speak of individuals who are largely physically governed, largely emotionally governed, largely mentally governed and largely intuitionally governed. {The intuition here differs from mental guesswork.}

This last paragraph does not use nomenclature which belongs to science. Instead of “plane” we are framing a loose description of a state or type of consciousness. No dimensionality is implied. An ordering, perhaps evolutionary is. The consciousness is increasingly expansive and inclusive as effort is applied and mind opened and broadened. One is not dogged by the incessant unwelcome boners of the physically governed and can allow consciousness and awareness to elevate above the belt and emotional storms.

In the blue books opus By Alice Bailey and Djwhal Khul Shamballa is mentioned as a “place” where the so-called spiritual hierarchy hang-out and meet. Human beings who have watched too many Raiders of the Lost Ark and Tomb Raider will be prone to imagine that Shamballa is a place with perhaps secret entrances. They will look for the kingdom of Shambhala referenced in a special scroll of Kālacakra tantra. The insistence on verbatim and dead letter reading causes people to seek out the resting place of Noah’s Ark. Maybe people are unwilling to accept the prevalence of metaphor and allegory in parable. It seems to me Moses parting the sea is more metaphor than physical “plane” reality.

In the works of Kuhl he mentions that the so-called maters can be “found” high up on the mental plane, near the buddhic.

In other words, people who are large mentally and intuitionally governed might be able to “contact” the masters.

Perhaps Shamballa too is a state of awareness, a level of consciousness and a thought form in which these evolved beings congregate from time to time. When one has risen above and expanded consciousness one might be able to build the Shamballa thought form and “go” “there”.