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Study Set 9
The Temple of the World
Contents
Seed Thought
Reading Assignment
Recommended Additional Reading
Written Work
Letter from Teaching Staff
The Story of The Three Linked Festivals
The Probable Outer Form for the Inner Temple
Temple of the Lord
The Building Work of the 7th Ray
The Outer Court
Chart: One Concept of the Temple of the World
Glossary of Terms
SEED THOUGHT:
Amidst the unfathomable tumult of life do We erect our Temple.
Deeply laid is the foundation.
The builders laying the base know not the grandeur of the future
towers.
But the architect already has designed their height.
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Reading Assignment: A Treatise on White Magic, pages 374-398,
601-640
Recommended Additional Reading: INITIATION, HUMAN AND SOLAR,
pages 28-62
QUESTIONS AND ISSUES FOR STUDY, REFLECTION, PONDERING:
Please answer the following questions out of your own thinking,
rather than searching through the book or study set for quotable answers. You are urged to
give considerable attention to this aspect of the subjective work. The more time, the more
thought you give to it, the more spiritual help you will receive through your studies.
These are quite searching questions. If you wish, try to formulate written answers to
these questions. The effort you give to expressing your thinking about them is in itself a
method of calling into activity hitherto unused parts of your mental equipment.
1.) Where do you suppose the members of our planet's spiritual
Hierarchy (the Masters of the Wisdom) are today? What do you think They are doing?
The reading assignment will not give you specific help with this
question. That material was written several decades ago. This question is presented to
encourage you to sort out and clarify your own thinking.
2.) Without quoting or copying or restating anything from the book,
write in your own words, in your own way, what you believe to be the esoteric sense:
What is it?
What does it do?
How is it developed?
You will surely answer both of these questions differently 20 or 40
years from now -- IF you begin now to search interiorly for the answers. Think
about them as clearly as you can. Then simply put your thinking onto paper.
Dear Fellow Students:
You are to be commended for having persisted in your studies so far.
Your persistence connotes a steadily emerging understanding and your progress is based
upon this. Having begun a study of this kind an aspirant finds himself, quite naturally,
desirous of serving the Hierarchy and fully determined to do so, and this is good. The
Hierarchy needs selfless, intelligent servers, and while determination and desire are very
important, something else is needed too. One of the first requirements placed before the
aspiring ones is that of rhythmic living. The Tibetan tells us, "The rhythmic nature
of the soul's meditation must not be overlooked in the life of the aspirant."
There are, of course, many rhythms to be observed in the daily lives
of people. There is the rhythm of the business world; the successful business man has
learned to adjust his daily efforts to that rhythm. There is the rhythm of the public
school system, to which school teachers and school children and mothers of school children
must conform. There is the rhythm of family life, to which the housewife conforms. The
creative artist moves to still another rhythm. Aware of it or not, the human being is a
rhythmic being and the particular rhythm that governs his daily life is determined by the
nature and purpose of that larger area of life within which the individual has chosen to
play his part.
Occult meditation and the major spiritual disciplines are a
scientific method of bringing the daily life into the rhythmic pattern of the soul's
being. When the personality succeeds in imposing the more subtle solar rhythm on itself
through meditation and observance of the daily disciplines, an adjustment to the tides of
soul life takes place. Then, gradually, with increasing response to the soul's intent, the
man becomes sensitively aware of the still more subtle rhythms of Life Itself: the rhythm
of service, the rhythm of growth, the rhythm of group need, the rhythm of world progress.
Only when his sense of rhythm is thus refined, and his daily life moves forward at the
soul's direction, is he available to the Hierarchy as a useful and dependable worker for
humanity and the Plan.
For some aspirants the Hierarchy may be an unknown factor,
spiritually sensed but unprovable. In the way that any religious person believes
implicitly in God without being able to substantiate his belief, the one who seeks
esoteric training knows without question that a body of Teachers, of Masters, lives
and works somewhere, unknown to the bulk of humanity. But even while seeking to live
according to the principles set forth in the Wisdom Teaching, the one who inwardly senses
the Hierarchy may sincerely question whether he can be of use to such as They. They must
surely be, he thinks, so far beyond him in the spiritual world that nothing that he is or
can soon become would be useful to Them in the vast work They are attempting. He forgets,
however, that his own soul is a member of the Hierarchy, and that long before he was aware
of either soul or Hierarchy, the relationship existed. The fact that he is now so
interested in the esoteric teaching is an indication that his solar angel, meditating
deeply and rhythmically, has begun to impress its intent upon the consciousness of his
personality.
An urge to be of service to the Hierarchy is evidence of response to
the prompting of one's own soul. Since the Masters of the Wisdom Who make up the planetary
Hierarchy never deal with personalities but work always at the soul level, it seems
reasonable to assume that the most realistic way to be available to the Hierarchy is to
make the personality available to the soul. For this very purpose do we meditate.
We have pointed out that every life has a rhythm imposed upon it by
the demands of personal necessity, of family, of society and of the world. Solar rhythm
acts not to the detriment of these other rhythms. Life pulses through the soul at a
steadier more deliberate pace than it does through the man who is governed by personal
desire, or by mood or whim, or who dances to the tune of personalities stronger than his
own. The soul serves the Plan! When meditation begins its calming influence, the man will
identify himself with the inner world of causes rather than with the outer world of
effects. When the unevenness of his response to soul rhythm begins to smooth out, the
meditator-in-training finds that his whole life becomes more effective. He won't waste
fuel racing his motor and spinning his wheels. He will hurry less and be more punctual;
move around less and cover the ground more effectually; talk less and say more; serve more
hours in the day and end the day less fatigued.
The aspirant's steady effort to live a regular, evenly-paced life
soon builds into his mental body a stability and poise it never had before. The condition
of mental poise tends to produce quiet and serenity in the emotional body; the
result in the physical body is steadiness in the nervous system and general physical
efficiency. Thus the persistent meditator re-builds his form into a triple vehicle
suitable for Hierarchical service. In the most natural way, by enlarging his own
capacities, by developing his own innate talents and by aligning himself with his own
soul, the man in physical plane life becomes a major spiritual asset to his environment.
Be determined in your efforts to deepen your meditation, and
unflagging in your attention to the daily disciplines, serenity and steady nerves.
Know that we are always your interested and very good friends,
The Teaching Staff of ARCANA
THE STORY OF THE THREE LINKED FESTIVALS
The new creation already exists in the Mind of that larger
Life in Whom we live and move and have our being. It is there -- but not yet here. It only
waits for a league of creative thinkers to sense it, see it, precipitate it. During the
creative season of Springtime, a new measure of Life must descend into form: must be
conceived as idea in Aries; be clothed in attractive substance (desire) in Taurus; take
shape in the etheric substance in Gemini; so that in Cancer its
appearance in dense form is quite discernible. The creative process, and who does what,
when, within that process, might be pictured thus:
From a height and expanse utterly beyond human comprehension, new
creative impulse, new spiritual incentive pours down to the mental plane, to a point of
focus that lies within reach of human meditators. The ram's horns, symbol for Aries, give
the picture neatly.
To understand Aries is to gain valuable understanding of much that is happening
throughout the world at the advent of a new age. The birth of anything at all requires an
expulsive use of releasing energy. You use more gasoline to start the engine of your car
than to keep the wheels going. To set in motion, to commence, requires a strong Initial
push to offset the inertia of matter.
The birth of a new age requires a mighty impact of resurrective
power. The beginning of a new age is springtime vastly augmented. So, appropriately
enough, the birth of the Aquarian Age is marked by the
resurrection of Temple Teachings relative to zodiacal significance. In the growing
emphasis upon the observance of the three linked full moon festivals of
Aries-Taurus-Gemini, human creators find their way to consciously participate in
vital movements of planetary unfoldment.
The new initiating energy pouring into the mental plane in Aries,
descends to the emotional plane in Taurus, where it may be reached and claimed by
upstretched human aspiration, pictured as the up-pointed horns, the single-eyed bull of
desire, symbol of Taurus.
The annual gift-wave from the Most High which had poured down into
the mental plane in Aries, on down into the upheld chalice of humanity's spiritual desire
in Taurus, must be brought down still farther in Gemini into the etheric body of humanity,
there to be contained and assimilated so that in Cancer the new energy may find proper
forms in planned service to the common good.
Upon the shoulders of world servers, the true sons of Aquarius,
rests the responsibility to be suitable channels for this energy, carrying it in their own
vehicles, providing it with proper unimpeded outflow via their world-spanning
world-coordinated service activities. So, in Gemini, through the agency of the servers of
the world, the new energy must pass between two pillars guarding the entrance to the outer
world of form, to be further precipitated (later in Cancer) into birth in the dense
physical form.
All along this Way of Descent of the downpouring stream of new
livingness are stationed lives of every imaginable grade and order and degree of
co-creative capacity, to convey and condition the downpouring "life more
abundantly" into -- what else? -- NEW FORMS.
As we have seen, ARIES is the birthplace of ideas. The birth of a
new idea requires that old forms of thinking, old attitudes, die out. Wherever old,
outworn ideas are held onto, the new ideas cannot enter the mind. Aries means deathbirth.
Not death and birth. Not two sequential happenings. But one
occurrence: birth-death. Or, death-birth.
In the realm of consciousness, to pass through a doorway is to die
out of one room and be born into another, and the crossing of the threshold is one
step. So birth on the mental plane indicates an inpouring of enlightenment that will prove
to be death-dealing to whatever thoughtforms are standing in the way of Life's onmoving;
and will simultaneously give birth to new insights, new incentive, new vision of the way
ahead.
It can scarcely be repeated sufficiently: where there is reluctance
to relinquish old forms for new, the destroyer aspect of Aries can be disconcerting -- or
devastating. Life moves on! -- don't try to stop it.
The first degree of Aries is the place of the rising sun. The
entrance of the sun into Aries is one of the initiatory points of the zodiac.
Major world religions, past and present, have woven the cardinal
points of the solar year into important festivals. The tradition, the myth, the ritual
whence issue the various religious observances of Springtime, develop around the planned
placing of the Applicant to the Mysteries at such time, in such location, in such
position, that three days after his ceremonial departure from his body his re-entrance to
waking consciousness is induced by the first rays of the rising sun striking his forehead.
He awakens, re-born godlike.
We have read, or been told, and have agreed in our hearts, every
year for several years, that the New-Religion will be built upon a foundation of group
meditation meetings held as close as is feasible to the time of the full moon; that upon
such foundations will be raised a structure of public meeting, held annually in each of
the major cities of the world, at the time of the full moons of Aries, Taurus and Gemini,
to be presided over by a trained disciple of appropriate ray; that such meetings will be
used by the spiritual Hierarchy and certain Spiritual Entities of magnitude to reestablish
on earth anchoring points for new energies and, eventually, new institutions for
developing a whole new world culture.
The vision is attractive; the method sounds workable once it gains
momentum. Passages in the Tibetan's teaching describing the future possibility are quite
exciting. Many readers tell how the pulse beats faster as they read.
Are you tempted, at this point, to take one of three courses?
1. Move out of the speed and smog and pressure of the city; find a
quiet place and be glad that God and all those Spiritual Beings are taking such good care
of the world.
2. Recall having heard of groups here and there who hold full moon
meetings; remember vaguely having heard that the meetings are rather dull -- no food or
social activity -- just people sitting, meditating. Leave the early stages of the work to
others, wait and see who becomes involved.
3. Decide that if the restoration of the Mystery Temple on earth
depends upon public meetings in your city, the whole idea is utterly unrealistic. Maybe
the Tibetan doesn't know what a western metropolis is like. And there are so many other
things to do.
We wonder what sort of people held what sort of gatherings in what
sort of places in the formative stage of past religious systems. Early Christian meetings
were held in rather unlikely places (such as underground cemeteries) at unlikely times
(during Roman orgies, so as not to attract attention). Earlier still, they met in private
dwellings. Little groups met quietly, uncertainly, animated by a Teaching then new, not
well understood. How Interesting it is to look back on previous beginnings
THOUGHTLINE, 3 April 1963
Ideograph of the Three Linked Festivals
Out of the Aquarian Urn is poured
"life more abundantly", Down through the Messianic Tradition (the tie that binds
the Fishes) into the Mind of the Creator |
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There to be focused and translated into the Will-to-Incarnate; |
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Received by the upreaching horns of the Bull of Desire; |
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Channed between the twin pillars into the form etheric, woven by rhythmic
interplay of life's polarities. |
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Dense physical manifestation is now assured. |
The Christ Today: Exponent of Brotherhood and Group Process
The Christ, when He reappears, is expected to anchor upon earth the
Aquarian principles of universal brotherhood and group consciousness. As
avatar of a cycle expected to be distinguished by brotherhood of men and of nations, and
by group work and group progress as the way of the world, He may be expected to embody
brotherhood in His reappearance and to exemplify group method in His way of working.
During the present cycle, the Christ is directing His influence
through the sign Gemini. Gemini is the sign in the zodiac which channels second ray
energy, love-wisdom. The symbol for Gemini is a pair of pillars. The pillars signify two
brothers. The important part of the symbol is the space between the pillars, which
signifies what goes on between two brothers: the nature of brotherly relationship.
Readers of the Tibetan's teaching know somewhat of the collaboration
of the Buddha and the Christ as together They prepare for the Christ's reappearance and
the Buddha's subsequent release from His long time commitment to aid our planet. During
the period of preparation, the Buddha is focussing in Himself down-pouring energies of
extra-planetary origin which constitute the spiritual inspiration of the governing
forces of our planet; and the Christ focusses in Himself "the outgoing demand and the
spiritual aspiration of the entire planet. This makes a planetary alignment of
great potency."
The cooperative roles of the Buddha and the Christ might be
envisioned as the two central pillars in the true Temple of the World. Symbolically and
factually, the vitality of a new era is pouring in through these two pillars.
As you have already learned (through our mailings or through other
channels of the Tibetan's teachings) at the time of the Wesak Festival, the full moon in
Taurus, there is performed in the Himalayas a ceremony in which the Lord Buddha and the
Lord Christ are the central participants. Other participants include the entire membership
of the spiritual Hierarchy as well as the world disciples and aspirants who comprise the
New Group of World Servers (all present either in the body or out of the body or in the
dream state). At the exact moment of the full moon the Buddha transmits to His great
brother, the Christ, spiritual energy which the Buddha brings to earth each year. The
Christ holds the energy in trust for one full month. Then, at the hour of the full moon in
Gemini, the Christ begins the gradual distribution of the Buddha's blessing throughout the
year, throughout the world.
It so happens -- and do try to capture the beauty and simplicity of
the pattern, now, as you read -- that the relation of Gemini to all other signs in the
zodiac is curiously appropriate for the circulation of a sense of brotherhood, and for the
planting of group values in the heart of humanity. Gemini is related to every pair of
opposite points, making of every pair of opposites a three-way relationship, a triangle.
Triple relationship reflects the origin of the group concept in the Triune God. God in His
triplicity is the First Group.
A future world society, animated by the spirit of brotherhood and
built upon group relations, is even now taking shape in mind.
Energies that prompt the building of that world society are reaching
us from distant points in the solar system, via groups of Beings unknown to man, via the
collaboration of the two great Brothers focussed in the Wesak Festival. Then, beginning at
the full moon of Gemini, the Christ releases these energies gradually throughout the year,
through triangles of zodiacal signs.
(The zodiac is simply a thoughtform, a concept, a symbol, which by
its nature leads the thoughtful student into an understanding of the nature of God, the
working of human nature, and the relation between God and man. A full moon is simply a
condition of the sun and moon occupying opposite points in the physical sky, and opposite
points in the zodiac upon the plane of mind.)
At each full moon, the spiritual impetus released by the Christ
through Gemini, first circulates around a triangle formed by Gemini and the two opposite
signs occupied by the sun and moon. Each month the energy circulates around another
triangle, as the sun and moon move at each full moon into the next pair of opposite
signs, thus around the circle. Month by month, the Christ's influence continues its
circulatory flow into the human kingdom, and is received by groups whose rhythm of work
has been carefully synchronized with the full moon rhythm. Full moon meditating groups are
an essential part, even though a fractional part, of the vast process.
Naturally, the new inpouring energies will be received first and
assimilated most comfortably by persons whose character and quality of living reflect the
character and quality of the new energies. Groups actively and strenuously engaged in
establishing brotherhood between nations, between races, between religions, are the early
recipients of the new energies.
This briefly describes the invisible structure and mechanism
currently bringing the love of the Christ into the affairs of men.
THOUGHTLINE, 4 June 1963
THE PROBABLE OUTER FORM FOR THE INNER TEMPLE
The three main channels through which the preparation for the new
age is going on might be regarded as the Church, the Masonic Fraternity and the
educational field. All of them are as yet in relatively static condition, and all are as
yet failing to meet the need and to respond to the inner pressure. But in all of these
movements, disciples of the Great ones are to be found and they are steadily gathering
momentum and will before long enter upon their designated task.
The Masonic Movement when it can be divorced from politics
and social ends and from its present paralyzing condition of inertia, will meet the need
of those who can, and should, wield power. It is the custodian of the law; it is the home
of the Mysteries and the seat of initiation. It holds in its symbolism the ritual of
Deity, and the way of salvation is pictorially preserved in its work. The methods of Deity
are demonstrated in its Temples, and under the All-seeing Eye the work can go forward. It
is a far more occult organization than can be realized, and is intended to be the training
school for the Coming advanced occultists. In its ceremonials lies hid the wielding of the
forces connected with the growth and life of the kingdoms of nature and the unfoldment of
the divine aspects in man. In the comprehension of its symbolism will come the power to
cooperate with the divine plan. It meets the need of those who work on the first Ray of
Will or Power.
The Church finds its mission in the helping of the devotee,
in aiding the great public which is innately religious and of good will. It hides in its
heart those who vibrate to the great love ray, the second ray of Love-wisdom. Christ
Himself works through it and by its means seeks to contact the vast Christian public. It
is the leaven in His hands to leaven the whole lump, and being in a form comprehended by
the people, it can touch the great masses of seeking souls.
By means of the educational work of the world, the Great Lord
seeks to reach those of the intelligent public who cannot be reached by means of
ceremonial and symbolism, as in Masonry, or by religious means and ritual, as in the
Church. It touches the masses and those in whom the intelligence aspect predominates to
the lessening of the other two aspects. It aids those men who are predominantly on the
third Ray of Intelligent Activity.
In all these bodies there are to be found esoteric groups who are
the custodians of the inner teaching and whose uniformity in aspiration and in technique
is one. These inner groups consist of occult students and of those who are in direct or
occasional touch with the Masters and of those whose souls are in sufficient control so
that the will of the Hierarchy may be communicated and gradually filter down to the
channel of the physical brain. These groups which constitute the true inner esoteric group
are many, but their membership is yet small, for the fact that a student may belong to any
of the outer esoteric groups so-called is no indication of his true esoteric status. When
the few who are the true esoteric students of the world know the difference between
etheric and astral forms, between mental clairaudience and clairvoyance and their astral
counterparts, between the elementals of thought and the elementals of nature, then will
the Christ and His church have a real esoteric group on the physical plane and the outer
organizations receive the needed stimulation. That is why it is necessary to work with the
students at this time and train them in the nature of true occultism. When we understand
better the significance of time in prevision, and of force in movement, and when we
comprehend more fully the laws that control the subtler bodies, and through them therefore
the laws that function on the planes whereon those bodies express themselves, then will
there be more intelligent and more useful work offered in cooperation with the Occult
Hierarchy.
In the esoteric group, which is composed of the true spiritual
esotericists found in all exoteric occult groups, in the church, by whatever name it may
be called, and in Masonry you have the three paths leading to initiation. As yet they are
not used, and one of the things that will eventuate -- when the new universal religion has
sway and the nature of esotericsm is understood -- will be the utilisation of the banded
esoteric organisms, the Masonic organism and the Church organism as initiating centres.
These three groups converge as their inner sanctuaries are approached. There Is no
dissociation between the One Universal Church, the sacred inner Lodge of all true Masons,
and the innermost circles of the esoteric societies. Three types of men have their need
met, three major rays are expressed, and the three paths to the Master are trodden,
leading all three to the same portal and the same Hierophant.
It must not be forgotten that only those souls who are on the
Probationary Path or the Path of Discipleship will form the nucleus of the coming world
religion. It exists on the Inner planes for the purpose of gathering out of all the
churches those who have reached the point in evolution where they can consciously and of
their own free will place their feet upon the PATH which leads to the centre of peace; who
can in full awareness turn their eyes upon the Great Lord, and transmute the life of
worldly endeavour into the life of service. The first detachment gathered into the coming
Church will be found to be a part of the present great band of servers. These have, down
the ages, been associated with the Christ in His work. Remember always the fact of the
work He did in connection with the last advent, and remember likewise that in the turning
of the cyclic wheel, in the evolution of the spiral, similar conditions will eventuate,
the same needs arise, and the same egos incarnate that were present in the days of old in
Palestine. The numbers of those associated with Him will be greatly increased, for all who
knew Him in earlier incarnations in the ancient East, all whom He cured or taught, all who
contacted Him or in any way incurred karma with Him or with the Master Jesus, will have
the opportunity to cooperate at this time. Each sincere aspirant who is closely connected
with the present Church organisation, who feels a close link with the Christ and who loves
Him, can be practically sure that in Palestine they saw Him, knew Him and mayhap served
and loved Him.
The sacraments, properly understood, serve to strengthen this link
and realisation, and such a one as that of Baptism (when entered upon with understanding)
will draw forth oft a response from the Great Lord Himself. It is almost as if a golden
strand were directed from His heart to the heart of the servant -- a strand unbreakable
and unfathomable and which, with each administration of any of the holy rites in the
succession of lives, becomes stronger, broader and brighter. Eventually these many strands
will become reabsorbed into their source when the Body of the Christ -- one of the seven
Heavenly Men on the second or monadic plane -- is completed in full expression, for each
one linked to Him becomes, in a vital sense, a cell in His Body. This the initiate Paul
truly sensed and knew. Via this strand passes the power to strengthen, to stimulate, to
vivify and to bless, and this is the true apostolic succession. All true disciples are
priests unto the Lord.
There is no question therefore that the work to be done in
familiarising the general public with the nature of the Mysteries is of paramount
importance at this time. These Mysteries will be restored to outer expression through the
medium of the Church and the Masonic Fraternity, if those groups leave off being
organisations with material purpose, and become organisms with living objectives. When the
Great One comes with His disciples and initiates we shall have (after a period of
intensive work on the physical beginning around the year 1940) the restoration of the
Mysteries and their exoteric presentation, as a consequence of the first initiation. Why
can this be so? Because the Christ, as you know, is the Hierophant of the first and second
initiations and He will, if the preparatory work is faithfully and well done, administer
the first initiation in the inner sanctuaries of those two bodies. Many faithful workers
will, during His period of work on earth, take this first initiation, and some few will
take the second. The race has now reached a point where many souls are on the Probationary
Path and need but the heightening of their vibration (made possible by His Presence) to
reach the portal of the Path itself.
TEMPLE OF THE LORD
The following passage from SEVEN RAYS, Vol. I, pages 82-85,
indicates the purpose of the Seventh Ray. A thorough study of the various ray energies
will be presented in later Study Sets. This passage is included here to provide you with
another concept of the Temple. It is important that at this stage you try to keep your
thinking flexible and receptive to new concepts. The mind that is open and enquiring will
be able to adapt itself more comfortably to new energies and influences that are pouring
into our planetary life.
The passage quoted below has been translated by the Tibetan from
"an ancient teaching preserved on leaves that are so old that the writing is slowly
fading" into modern languages "though much is lost thereby."
"Let the Temple of the Lord be built", the seventh great
Angel cried. Then to their places in the north, the south, the west and east, seven great
sons of God moved with measured pace and took their seats. The work of building thus
began.
The doors were closed. The light shone dim. The temple walls could
not be seen. The seven were silent and their forms were veiled. The time had not arrived
for the breaking forth of light. The Word could not be uttered. Only between the seven
Forms the work went on. A silent call went forth from each to each. Yet still the temple
door stayed shut.
As time went on, the sounds of life where heard. The door was
opened, and the door was shut. Each time it opened, the power within the temple grew; each
time the light waxed stronger, for one by one the sons of men entered the temple, passed
from north to south, from west to east and in the centre of the heart found light, found
understanding and the power to work. They entered through the door; they passed before the
Seven; they raised the temple's veil and entered into life.
The temple grew in beauty. Its lines, its walls, its decorations,
and its height and depth and breadth slowly emerged and entered into light.
Out from the east, the Word went forth: Open the door to all the
sons of men who come from all the darkened valleys of the land and seek the temple of the
Lord. Give them the light. Unveil the inner shrine, and through the work of all the
craftsmen of the Lord extend the temple's walls and thus irradiate the world. Sound forth
the Word creative and raise the dead to life.
Thus shall the temple of the light be carried from heaven to earth.
Thus shall its walls be reared upon the great plains of the world of men. Thus shall the
light reveal and nurture all the dreams of men.
Then shall the Master in the east awaken those who are asleep. Then
shall the warden in the west test and try all the true seekers after light. Then shall the
warden in the south instruct and aid the blind. Then shall the gate into the north remain
wide open, for there the unseen Master stands with welcoming hand and understanding heart,
to lead the pilgrims to the east where the true light shines forth.
"Why this opening of the temple?" demand the greater
Seven. "Because the work is ready; the craftsmen are prepared. God has created in the
light. His sons can now create. What can else be done?"
"Naught!" came the answer from the greater seven.
"Let the work proceed. Let the sons of God create."
These words will be noted by many as of deep significance and as
indicating a wide intention (during the coming cycle) to open the door wide into the
temple of the hidden mystery to man. One by one we shall undergo the esoteric and
spiritual counterpart of the psychological factor which is called "a mental
test." That test will demonstrate a man's usefulness in mental work and power, it
will show his capacity to build thought-forms and to vitalize them. This was dealt with in
A TREATISE ON WHITE MAGIC, and the relation of that treatise to the magical work of the
seventh ray and its cycle of activity will become increasingly apparent. A TREATISE ON
WHITE MAGIC is an attempt to lay down the rules for training and for work which will make
it possible for the candidate to the mysteries to enter the temple and to take his place
as a creative worker and thus aid in the magical work of the Lord of the Temple.
THE OUTER COURT
Fortune Telling Character Analysis
Predictional astrology Personal horoscopy
Palmistry Palmistry
Quija board Numerology
Psychic readings Clairvoyant analysis
Magic pendulum Phrenology
Tarot Graphology
Crystal ball Physiognomy
Seance gatherings
Tea leaves
Climate of Outer Court:
Psychic stimulation
Sensationalism
Extravagant claim-making
Reference to "Mysteries of the Universe"
"How to Unfold Your Hidden Powers"
"How to Control Your Fate"
Common practices of Outer Court groups:
Members required to pledge
.....Secrecy
.....Fidelity
.....Unquestioning acceptance of, acquiescence to or obedience to,
teaching.
.....Money
Claim-making
Flattery of membership
In his ages-long approach to God, man finds his way, sequentially,
into the three chambers of the Temple of the World.
From one point of view, the above tabulation represents the outer
chamber, the Outer Court. At a certain stage of evolution of consciousness, man awakens to
the realization that the outer world of visible forms is but a tiny part of all that
exists. His curiosity about the inner layers and inner workings of life, and growing
awareness of his own inner self, prompt him to investigate one or several of the areas of
interest enumerated above.
All of these areas of interest, which comprise the Outer Court, have
two features in common: (a) they appeal to self interest, and (b) they are
concerned with form.
Man's experience in the Outer Court, the knowledge and associations
he gains there, contribute to his growth and at the same time provide a test.
His response to his own soul depends on his acquiring knowledge on
all planes of consciousness. All psychic powers are faculties of the One Soul, which
pervades the whole universe with a fragment of itself and which has embedded a seed of
itself in the man's triple form. It is that seed of soul which, as it grows, creates a
response mechanism with appropriate organs of perception on each ascending plane.
During the stage of unfoldment that is dominated by personal desire,
the desires and aspirations of man color his experience, create glamour and illusion as he
peers into world within world. His perceptions are illusory, for the perceptive power is
limited by the sensory equipment through which it works in the three bodies of the
personality. The seer's view is distorted by what he hopes to see, what he expects to see,
what he refuses to see. Above all, the seer's view is distorted by his inability (at this
stage) to understand and correctly interpret what he sees. To put it most simply, his
emotional reaction to everything that happens to him, overwhelms his perceptive and
interpretive faculties. It is just at this stage, that the Outer Court holds great appeal
and attraction for him.
Yet interest in the so-called pseudo sciences and in psychic
phenomena, do indicate (in the materialistic earth-bound consciousness) an
increased sensitivity to contacts beyond the dense physical plane. Progressive refinement
of the organs of perception gradually shifts the focus of attention to the mental plane.
In using the mind to analyze and compare, to organize and plan, the
power to discriminate and to choose is developed. Man learns to consider the effect of
mental-emotional activity, and in time learns to control this activity in deference to his
environment. The soul contacts the personality on the mental plane. Mental focus enables
the seed of soul (embedded in the triple form) to unfold and express its inherent
intuitive insight. Intelligent interest in the world of glamour is required in order to
understand it, to understand its hold upon others, to learn to control our reaction to it
and thus release ourselves from its thralldom.
The stage of preoccupation with the fascination of the
Outer Court is a test of the ability to respond to the soul on its own plane while in the
midst of distractions foreign to the soul's nature and purpose. For some, it is a
prolonged, severe test. Too much attention and curiosity devoted to psychic phenomena
imprisons the soul, is subnormal, and retards man's evolutionary progress.
ONE CONCEPT OF THE TEMPLE OF THE WORLD
"From the centre where the Will of God is known
...."
INTERLINKED CHAIN OF MEDITATING GROUPS,
"DISCIPLESHIP IN THE NEW AGE" vol II, page 214
GLOSSARY
VARUNA - The god of water, or marine
god, but far different from Neptune, for in the case of this oldest of the Vedic deities, Water
means the "Waters of Space", or all-investing sky.
SHIVAVISHNU - BRAHMA - The Trimurti is
the Hindu Solar Triad: a compound of tri (three) and murti (manifestation or
form). This trimurti or Trinity is composed of Brahma, the Emanator or Evolver, Vishnu,
the Sustainer or Preserver; and Shiva (Siva), the Beneficent Destroyer and Regenerator.
The Trimurti corresponds to the Holy Trinity in the Hebraic-Christian tradition. The
"Three-in-One" concept, three aspects of One God, is expressed thus in the
Oriental tradition: The One Mightiest God of the Solar System is called Brahma when he
becomes Rajasic or active and brings forth the Solar System; is called Vishnu when by
means of his Sattvika quality of purity and truth he preserves all created things through
the successive cycles of existence; is called Shiva when, filled with the quality of
Tamas, he destroys the Solar System and dies, and then reposes for a long cycle in the
depths of some greater being than Himself, only to come forth refreshed again to evolve
still higher.
PURANA - The Puranas are allegorical
writings which contain ancient legends and archaic traditions of the human race and of our
universe. They are called Puranas, meaning "ancient," because they are relics of
antiquity passed on by memory from teacher to pupil.
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