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THE RAYS AND THE INITIATIONS
We now come to the final part of A Treatise on the Seven Rays and I have in mind three things which it appears to me to be necessary to do; these three will make this Treatise not only the textbook of the new psychology but also a more vital factor in the human consciousness, because the fact of initiation will be emphasised. These three are:
This is a large order and one not easy to fulfill because so much has already been given out anent initiation; the subject is dangerously familiar. By that I mean that certain preconceived ideas are already present in men's minds and many of these are not factual in nature and need to be discarded or, at the best, reinterpreted. I have myself dealt in a broad and general way with the subject of initiation in one of my earliest books: Initiation, Human and Solar; also, scattered through all my writings over the years is a mass of information which needs collating and bringing together as a basis for the instruction of disciples in training for an initiation.
In Discipleship in the New Age, I gave out much more upon this subject and also information of a deeply esoteric nature anent the Ashrams of the Masters. The second volume of the book also contains much that is new and should serve to bring this whole subject much closer to public understanding. In the instructions now to be given, however, I shall endeavour to cover the ground not already considered, and look at the subject of initiation from the angle of the seven Rays, from the effect upon the centers, planetary and individual, and from the point of view of the esoteric training of the accepted aspirant or disciple.
This final Volume of A Treatise on the Seven Rays will eventually change the attitude of men's minds towards the Mysteries and towards the activity of Spiritual transference, which is one of the names given by the Masters to the basic mystery of initiation.
Teaching anent the five initiations which confront all aspirants has long been given and has become public property; it has meant very little for most people and nothing at all to the mass of men; it has been regarded by the intelligentsia as vague and visionary nonsense; some few have admitted that these initiations may be possible, and others say that they are simply symbolic modes of indicating some final achievement which mankind faces; still others have accepted this teaching and have come to regard the initiations as goals and have then taken the necessary steps to prove the veridical nature of their beliefs; they have proved it, have become initiate, and have attained the status of Master of the Wisdom and taken their place within the Hierarchy. There is, therefore, a certain familiarity about these goals, the service they could entail and the consummation of the hierarchical possibilities; this itself indicates that the time had come when certain faint indications of that which lies behind the Mysteries and of that which is to be seen ahead of those who have achieved initiation should be somewhat clarified; I therefore started to impart three phases of information:
1. I gave out teaching which indicated the mode of bridging the gap between the lower three worlds and the world of the Spiritual Triad.
In doing this, it became apparent that there were three groupings or levels of consciousness which had to be recognised:
a. The three worlds of human evolution.
b. The three levels of the Mental plane.
c. The three worlds of superhuman evolution, the levels of the Spiritual Triad:
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