(A.A. Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, pp. 673-687, 1960 — SECTION TWO, THE ASPIRANT AND THE MAJOR INITIATIONS.)
Initiation II. THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN.
"The initiation which we are now to study is perhaps one of the most important, because it concerns that aspect of the personality which gives the most difficulty to everybody: the emotional or astral body. Today the mass of men are swept by the emotions and by a sensitive response to circumstance; they are not swept usually by an intelligent reaction to life as it is. The normal and usually violent reaction serves only to increase the confusion and the attending difficulties, producing vortices of uncontrolled energies, glamour and delusion. Even though it may at the same time produce a saving aspect in some cases, the violence of the astral testing and the potency of the astral temptation (as it might well be called) leads to a greatly increased sphere of suffering. To this must be added the materialistic bias of the many presented solutions, bringing in the force of the world maya and thus greatly complicating the problem.
Distressing as all this may be, and significant of the end of this age and the cessation of the Atlantean vibration and quality which has carried over so potently into this Aryan cycle, it is however indicative of the attainment of a definitely racial opportunity. Humanity—on a relatively large scale— faces the second initiation, or the Baptism Initiation.
The concept of baptism is ever associated with that of purification. Water has ever been the symbol of that which purifies; it is also the symbol of the astral plane, with its instability, its storms, its tranquillities, its overwhelming emotional reactions and its pliability, which makes it such a good agent for the deceptive thought-forming faculties of the unregenerate man. It reacts to every impulse, every desire and every possible magnetic "pull" coming from the material or substantial form side of nature. In its cycles of tranquillity it reflects equally the good as well as the bad; it is the agent, therefore, of deception when manipulated by the Black Lodge, or of aspirational reaction when influenced by the great White Lodge, the spiritual Hierarchy of our planet. It is the battleground between the pairs of opposites; the problem is complicated by the fact that men have to learn to recognise these opposites before right choice, leading to spiritual victory, is theirs.
Today, desire for peace at any price, for adequate food, warmth and housing, for the restoration of stability and security and for the cessation of anxiety controls the mass of human reactions and makes the astral plane loom so large in men's affairs and in world decisions. This is so dominantly so that the realisation which the mind could reveal and of which the intelligentsia are the custodians is lost to sight and has small influence.
At the third initiation the control of the soul-illumined mind is finally established, and the soul itself assumes the dominant position and not the phenomenal form. All the limits of the form nature are then transcended. It is the vision of this transcendence which is communicated at the time of the second initiation under the symbolism of a positively applied purification.
I am not here emphasising the Biblical account of that purificatory process. That summarised symbolically the watery nature of the astral plane and the "washing by water" of the initiate. It expressed the purely Atlantean form of the initiatory process, giving us the concept of a descent into water and of ascent out of water in response to a Word of Power from on high. The Aryan approach to this same initiation has not yet been fully understood.
This second initiation—as now undergone—is to some extent one of the most difficult. It involves purification, but it is purification by fire, symbolically understood. The occult "application of fire to water" produces certain most serious and devastating results. The water, under the action of fire, "is resolved into steam and the initiate is immersed in the fogs and miasmas, the glamours and the mists" thus caused. Out of this fog and out of the glamours, the initiate must emerge; out of the present fog of human affairs humanity will also emerge eventually. The success of the individual initiate is the guarantee of the racial destiny. The complications, produced by water in conjunction with fire in these Aryan days, are far greater than those produced entirely by water in Atlantean times; this age is kama- manasic and not simply kamic or strictly astral. Remember therefore as you read these words that I am speaking symbolically. The fire of mind today has to be reckoned with in conjunction with the water of desire, and it is owing to this that much of humanity's problem develops. It is because of this that the second initiation has become one of the most difficult which the modern disciple has to take.
The result, however, of the modern initiatory process is of a much higher order. This statement is related to the emerging fact that the Hierarchy and its personnel in process of assembling will be of a much higher order than that previously responsible for human guidance. A more advanced humanity demands a more advanced Hierarchy and hierarchical supervision; this has ever been the case. The evolutionary process covers all that is. Even Sanat Kumara is learning and advancing from a relative imperfection to perfection.
This baptism of fire (to which reference is made in the Western Scriptures) carries with it inevitably the connotation of pain, and this to an extent hitherto unknown. Even a casual glance at world affairs will reveal the truth of this statement.
What, therefore, is really happening, and what are the major facts involved? Much will depend upon my answer and upon your interpretation of it. I would ask you consequently to give careful consideration to my reply to these two questions.
Under the influence of the Piscean cycle which is now in process of termination, the sixth Ray of Idealism or Devotion was predominantly active. This is the ray of one-pointed determination and— from one angle—it is the ray of blind procedure. The individual, the group or humanity, sees only one aspect of reality at any one time, and (because of man's present point in the evolutionary process) usually the least desirable aspect. All else is sealed to them; they vision only one picture; their horizon is limited to only one point of the compass (speaking esoterically). To the mass of humanity, the aspect of reality which was visioned and for which men lived and died was the material world, material comfort, material possessions and material enterprises; to this the labour movement today and the tendencies already apparent in the United Nations bear incontrovertible testimony. To a much smaller group of human beings the world of the intelligence appears paramount, and the concrete mind is the desired ruler or controlling factor. All, therefore, remains within the area of material control and interest.
The solar plexus centre is consequently the dominant factor, because—even in the case of the intelligentsia—it is desire for material well-being, for territorial possessions and for planned governmental and economic material decisions which control and motivate the individual, the group or the nation. These are not necessarily wrong, but (under the present emotional-desire concept) they are placed in the foremost position and are regarded as causal in their nature; nevertheless they are fundamentally secondary in their nature, and are effectual in their essential nature, placing the emphasis upon the word "effect." Humanity, even in its advanced brackets, is not yet able to think on causal levels.
What is the basic goal of the initiate who has taken the second initiation? I would ask you to transit in consciousness from the concept that the process of initiation is a consummation of effort, to the higher and better concept that it is initiatory in effect and marks a beginning and not a consummation. What, therefore, lies ahead of the initiate who has entered the purificatory water, or rather, fire? To what is he pledged? What is to happen within "the area of livingness" (I want you to familiarise yourselves with that phrase) and what results will take place within the mechanism with which he approaches the place of initiation? These are the factors of importance, and these are the aspects of the life process which should condition him. At the close of the initiatory process certain energies and divine aspects should be recognised by him as now playing a part in his thinking and his purposes—energies which heretofore (even if present) were quiescent and not controlling.
Before him lies the third Initiation of the Transfiguration. Facing him is a great transition from an emotional aspirational focus to an intelligent, thinking focus. He has, theoretically at least, cast off the control of the astral body and nature; much still remains to be done; old desires, ancient astral reactions and habitual emotions are still powerful, but he has developed a new attitude to them and a new perspective to the astral body. Water, fire, steam, glamour, delusion, misinterpretation and emotional continuity still mean something specific and undesirable to him. He is now negative to their appeal and positive to the higher demanding focus. That which he now loves and longs for, desires and plans for, lies in another and higher dimension. He has, through his willingness to pass through the second initiation, struck the first blow at his innate selfishness and has demonstrated his determination to think in wider and more inclusive terms. The group begins to mean more to him than himself.
What has happened, technically speaking? The energies of the solar plexus centre are being transferred from the major clearing house below the diaphragm to the heart centre—one of the three major centres into which all the lower energies must transfer. At the first initiation he was granted a vision of a higher creativity and the energy of the sacral centre began its slow ascent to the throat centre. At the second initiation, he is granted a vision of a higher focus, and his place in the larger whole begins slowly to reveal itself. A new creativity and a new focus become his immediate goals, and for him life can never again be the same. The old physical attitudes and desires may still at times assume control; selfishness may continue to play a potent part in his life expression, but—underlying these and subordinating them—will be found a deep dissatisfaction about things as they are and an agonising realisation of failure. It is at this point that the disciple begins to learn the uses of failure and to know certain fundamental distinctions between that which is natural and objective and that which is supernatural and subjective.
Do these ideas make the concept of initiation more useful to you and more practical? Any initiation which does not find interpretation in daily reactions is of small service and basically unreal. It is the unreality of its presentation which has led to the rejection of the Theosophical Society as an agent of the Hierarchy at this time. Earlier and prior to its ridiculous emphasis upon initiation and initiates, and prior to its recognition of the probationary disciples as full initiates, the Society did good work. It however failed to recognise mediocrity and to realise that no one "takes" initiation and passes through these crises without a previous demonstration of a wide usefulness and of a trained intelligent capacity. This may not be the case where the first initiation is concerned, but where the second initiation is involved there must ever be the background of a useful dedicated life and an expressed determination to enter the field of world service. There must also be humility and a voiced realisation of the divinity in all men. To these requirements, the so-called initiate of the Theosophical Society (with the exception of Mrs. Besant) did not conform. I would not call attention to their prideful demonstration, were it not that the same claims are being made and the same delusions presented to the public.
The problem of freedom from the limitations of matter should now be considered and the entire theme be rendered practical.
There is perhaps an ultimate opinion that it is the realm of the emotions and the susceptibility to emotional reactions which constitute the major human limitation—both from the individual angle and also from that of the national angle. It is everywhere realised that the demagogue, for instance, who sways public opinion, is one who also and emphatically plays on human emotions as well as upon human selfishness. As the race progresses towards mental expression, this distorting influence will become increasingly less important, and once the masses (composed of the millions of so-called "men in the street") begin definitely to think, the power of the demagogic approach will have disappeared. The major battle in the world today is that of the freedom of the average citizen to think for himself and to come to his own decisions and conclusions. It is here that the major quarrel between the Great White Lodge and the Black Lodge is to be found. It is a battle in which humanity itself is the decisive factor, and for this reason the Black Lodge is working through the group which is controlling the destiny of Russia and also through the Zionist movement. The leaders of the U.S.S.R. are working intelligently and potently against human freedom and particularly against freedom of thought. Communism per se has no such objective; it is the totalitarian policies of the national rulers which are so disastrous, plus their ambition and their hatred of true freedom. Zionism today stands for aggression and for the use of force, and the keynote is permission to take what you want irrespective of other people or of their inalienable rights. These points of view are against the position of the spiritual leaders of humanity, and therefore the leaders of the Zionist movement, and the group of men who direct and control the policies of Russia, are against the policies of the spiritual Hierarchy and are contrary to the lasting good of mankind.
The freedom of the human spirit, the freedom to think, govern and worship as innate, human, instinctual human desire may dictate, under the influence of the evolutionary process, the liberty to decide on the required form of government or of religion—these are the rightful prerogatives of mankind. Any group of men or any form of government which fails to recognise this inherent right runs counter to the principle which governs the Great White Lodge. The menace to world freedom today lies in the known policies of the rulers of the U.S.S.R. and in the devious and lying machinations of the Zionists. In neither group is there any true spiritual potency, and both are doomed to failure even though they may succeed from the angle of material gain; from the spiritual angle, they are doomed. The leaders of the Russian enterprise against the freedom of the individual are doomed, because inherently man is free and fundamentally divine, and it is assured (from the long range vision) that masses of men in Russia and in the communistically inclined "satellite states" will inevitably react divinely and potently. The true communistic platform is sound; it is brotherhood in action and it does not—in its original platform—run counter to the spirit of Christ. The imposition of intellectual and formal communism by a group of ambitious and sometimes evil men is not sound; it does not adhere to the true communistic platform, but is based on personal ambitions, love of power and on interpretations of the writings of Lenin and Marx which are also personal and run counter to the meaning of these two men, just as the theologians of the Church interpret the words of Christ in a fashion which has no relation to His original intention. The rulers of Russia are not truly working for the good of the people, any more than academic Zionism is working and carrying out its projects for any humanitarian reasons. But the people hold the ultimate triumph in their hands, for the heart of the people in all nations is basically sound, fundamentally good and God-inclined. This the rulers of the communistic regime forget.
The leaders of the Zionist movement of aggression constitute a real danger to world peace and human development and their activities have been endorsed by the expediency policy of the U.S.A. and, in a secondary degree, by Great Britain, under the influence of the U.S.A. It is the Zionists who have defied the United Nations, lowered its prestige and made its position both negative and negligible to the world. It is the Zionists who have perpetrated the major act of aggression since the formation of the United Nations, and who were clever enough to gain the endorsement of the United Nations, turning the original "recommendation" of the United Nations into an order. The rule of force, of aggression and of territorial conquest by force of arms is demonstrated today by the Zionists in Palestine, as well as the demonstration of the power of money to purchase governments. These activities run counter to all the plans of the spiritual Hierarchy and mark a point of triumph of the forces of evil. I am emphasising the activities of these two countries because through the leaders of these groups of aggressive men the forces of evil—dammed back temporarily by the defeat of the evil group which Hitler gathered around him—have again organised their attack on the spiritual development of humanity.
The world today still remains divided into people of evil intention and great power and their victims, plus the negative reactions of the remaining nations. There is no nation in the United Nations which has attempted to swing the tide of evil by ranging itself and other nations on the side of freedom. There are only groups of unillumined men who seek to control national destinies. There is still emotional reaction to situations and the emotional exploitation of individuals and nations by those who are in no way emotional but who are mentally convinced that certain lines of activity must be followed, leading to their own individual good but which—in the long run—are not good for the peoples involved.
We therefore come back to the problems of the astral plane, of the emotional level of consciousness, and to the second initiation; this initiation releases men from emotional control and enables them to shift their consciousness on to mental levels, and from that higher point of focus to control their normal and well developed emotional attitudes.
If you will turn back to page 340, you will find that the three keynotes are given for this second initiation and for its technique. I would like to call your attention to them because they present those keynotes which give us the clue to the world problems and indicate at the same time the solution and the way out of the present impasse. These three words are: Dedication. Glamour. Devotion.
It is the dedication of the aspirant which invokes the fire. You have here a statement of major importance. The aspirant upon the higher levels of the astral plane is swept by the "fire of dedication." This immediately focusses his will as it demonstrates on the mental plane, and this focussing in due time starts the serious undertaking of the shifting of his consciousness on to mental levels. Then immediately the "fire" works, and the first reaction (as I have earlier pointed out) is the "meeting of fire and water," and consequently the production of fog, mist, of glamour and illusion. All of these four words must be understood symbolically. The glamours thus induced are dependent upon the ray and the point of evolution of the individual and the nation. It is essential that you learn to think in the widest possible terms. With these I shall not deal. Individuals are rapidly discovering the nature of their glamours, once their "spiritual intention" is determined; also national glamour is well recognised by onlookers, though seldom yet by the nations involved. The factor which leads to the dissipation of glamour is devotion—devotion to an individual, to a Master (as taught by the Theosophical Society) or to some idealistic project. It is finally an unlimited devotion to the Way, to the treading of the Path at any cost, and to the unswerving attachment to service—as constituting the major technique of the Path.
Dedication, resulting in glamour, which is dissipated by devotion—these are the keynotes of the second initiation. Forget not that nationalism is the result of dedication to a particular national set-up and produces the glamours which lead to world difficulty.
These three aspects of evolutionary unfoldment must be recognised by every aspirant; their existence determines his place upon the Path, the initiation for which he is being prepared and the nature of his service for humanity.
And what will be the result of the combination in one's life of these three factors? Primarily two things:
1. The solar plexus centre will be brought, first of all, into a condition of almost violent and compelling activity. This activity is induced by dedication and produces glamour inevitably.
2. The violent energies of the solar plexus centre will eventually be controlled by the quality of devotion. It is this quality which transforms the solar plexus centre into the great clearing house for all emotional reactions and for all glamours, and makes it temporarily a cause of disaster, of conflict, of pain and of distress.
As a result of both of these, a great transforming agency is set in motion by the quality of devotion, and the solar plexus centre becomes not only a clearing house but the main factor in lifting both physical and emotional active energies from below the diaphragm into the heart centre. This constitutes a long process which the aspirant is forced to face in the interim between initiations. We are told (and it is factually true) that the longest period between initiations is that to be found between the first and the second initiations. This is a truth which must be faced, but it should also be remembered that it is by no means the hardest period. The hardest period for the sensitive, feeling aspirant is to be found between the second and the third initiations.
It is a period of intense suffering, of the penalty of applying factors of glamour and illusion, of pronounced involvement in situations which, for a long time, remain unclarified, and of a steady moving forward as best the beleaguered aspirant can—under the influence of right direction and spiritual determination. This he has usually to do in the dark, working under the action of the logical and understanding mind, but seldom under the influence of inspiration. Nevertheless, the good work goes on. The emotions are brought under control, and necessarily the factor of the mind assumes an increasingly right importance. Light—flickering and as yet uncertain and unpredictable—pours occasionally in from the soul, via the mind, adding frequently to the complications but producing eventually the needed control which will lead to and result in freedom.
Ponder on these things. Freedom is the keynote of the individual who is facing the second initiation and its aftermath—preparation for the third initiation. Freedom is the keynote for the world disciple today, and it is freedom to live, freedom to think and freedom to know and plan, which humanity demands at this time.
The initiation (that of the Transfiguration) which we are next to study is one of the most important of them all. From one particular angle, it is peculiarly related to the fifth Initiation of Revelation and to the seventh Initiation of Resurrection. All three are concerned with freedom: freedom from the personality, freedom from blindness, or freedom from all the seven planes of our planetary existence— the planes which are sometimes referred to as the planes of human and superhuman evolution. You will have noted that lately I have been emphasising an aspect of initiation hitherto little emphasised— the aspect of freedom. The Path of Initiation has at times been called the Path of Liberation, and it is to this essential aspect of the initiatory process that I am seeking to call your attention. I have pointed out continuously that initiation is not really the curious mixture of self-satisfied attainment, ceremonial, and hierarchical recognition as portrayed by the major occult groups. It is far more a process of excessively hard work, during which process the initiate becomes what he is. This may entail hierarchical recognition, but not in the form usually pictured. The initiate finds himself in the company of those who have preceded him, and he is not rejected but is seen and noted and then put to work.
It is also a graded series of liberations, resulting in the attainment of increased freedom from that which lies behind in his experience; this carries with it the permission (soul enjoined or given) to proceed further on the WAY. These freedoms are the result of Detachment, Dispassion, and Discrimination. At the same time Discipline enforces and makes possible the hard work required to pass the grade. All these four techniques (for that is what they are) are preceded by a series of disillusionments which, when realised and comprehended, leave the aspirant no choice but to move forward into greater light.
I would like to have you study initiation from the angle of liberation, looking upon it as a process of strenuously attained freedoms. This basic aspect of initiation—when realised by the initiate—ties his experience into a firm relation with that of the whole of humanity, whose fundamental struggle is the attainment of that freedom "whereby the soul and its powers can unfold and all men be free because of an individually attained freedom."
If you will study the nine initiations and look upon them from this angle, you will see how each does most definitely mark a point of attainment, and therefore the entire subject of initiation takes on a new beauty and appears more worthy of the pain and struggle of attainment. Let me give you an indication (no more than that) of what I mean.
Initiation I. Birth. Freedom from the control of the physical body and its appetites.
Initiation II. Baptism. Freedom from the control of emotional nature and the selfish sensitivity of the lower self.
Initiation III. Transfiguration. Freedom from the ancient authority of the threefold personality, marking a climaxing moment in the history of all initiates.
Initiation IV. Renunciation. Freedom from all self-interest, and the renouncing of the personal life in the interest of a larger whole. Even soul-consciousness ceases to be of importance and a more universal awareness, and one closer to the divine Mind, takes its place.
Initiation V. Revelation. Freedom from blindness—a liberation which enables the initiate to see a new vision. This vision concerns the Reality lying beyond any hitherto sensed or known.
Initiation VI. Decision. Freedom of choice. I have dealt with these choices in an earlier part of this book.
Initiation VII. Resurrection. Freedom from the hold of the phenomenal life of the seven planes of our planetary Life. It is in reality a "lifting out of or above" the cosmic physical plane.
Initiation VIII. Transition. Freedom from the reaction of consciousness (as that word is understood by you) and a liberation into a state of awareness, a form of conscious recognition which has no relation to consciousness, as you understand that term. It might be regarded as complete freedom from sensitivity, yet with a full flowering of that quality to which we give the inadequate name "compassion." More I cannot say.
Initiation IX. Refusal. Freedom from all possible forms of enticement, particularly with reference to the higher planes. It must constantly be remembered (and hence my constant reiteration) that our seven planes are the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane.
This goal of freedom is in reality the main incentive to tread the Path of Return. One of the most spiritually exciting things taking place in the world today is the use, in every country, of the word FREEDOM; it was that great disciple, F. D. Roosevelt, who "anchored" the word in a new and more universal sense. It now has a fuller and deeper meaning to humanity."
