English
The legitimate and pro- gressive method in which that humanity can be expanded involves the subordination of the physical life and its conditions to the service of higher spiritual objects. If the forces and powers having to do with higher spiritual phases of existence are, by reversing the natural current, directed to the service of ends having to do with the gratifications of temporary physical life, that reversal of Nature’s design constitutes a blasphemy against her highest intentions, which is not only evil and wrong, as minor sins altogether lying on the physical plane may be, but is in reality that supreme species of wickedness which early theological writers, little fore- seeing the extent to which their words would be mis- understood, have called a sin against the Holy Ghost. We may thus realise now the circumstances under INITIATION IN THE PRESENT DAY. 397 which the methods and system of initiation, that have for so many centuries been concealed from popular observation, are now once more slowly and by degrees becoming known to a generation which, at the first blush, may seem to be curiously little ready for such teaching. Curiously little ready for a long time to come most certainly the majority of this and many succeeding generations will continue to be; but, at the same time, it has never been the expectation of those directing the course of initiation, whether in the ancient world or now, that people of the ordinary type will flock to them and become candidates for their guidance in any very large numbers. If those in whom the spirit of ardent enthusiasm for spiritual knowledge and experience is already strong enough to bear down their eagerness for the pleasures or pursuits of ordinary life, are alone their regular pupils, that is all that can be expected or desired; but unless the possibilities of the situation are generally known, even the few who are inspired in the way just-described will waste their ardour and readiness for self-sacrifice in empty dream- ing or futile endeavour, and the great purpose of Nature will not be advanced at all. That great purpose, let us always remember, as earlier chapters of this book have already shown, has to do not merely with the perpetuation of the human race, but with its exaltation into the higher conditions of being. From one point of view the innumerable differentiated units of conscious- ness which we call men and women are cast by nature in enormous abundance on the surface of the earth, as so much seed from which spiritual beings of an 398 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. immeasurably more important and dignified character may ultimately be grown. But while in dealing with its lower organic manifestations Nature is extraordinarily profuse in providing germs, the human germ is one of a very different order from an acorn. The unused acorn may resolve itself into its original elements without suffering by reason of not becoming an oak. Nothing is wasted in this case but, so to speak, the trouble of Nature in producing the acorn. But in the human being, however truly that human being may be regarded in his or her highest aspect as the germ of something immeasurably higher, there is, nevertheless, already the focus of divine consciousness which must continue through an immeasurable futurity a vibrating nucleus of suffering or enjovment, and whether it unites itself consciously with the highest design of Nature so as to work that out, or not, its destinies differ very widely in character from those of the vegetable seed which disintegrates and is done with if its loftiest purpose remains unfulfilled. It has been already shown that the fulfilment by any given human being of the loftiest purposes of his existence can only be accomplished by the conscious union of his will and intention with the powers and forces of Nature operating through him, and it is thus the simple truth of the matter, that having attained that rank in existence identified with the present stage of the earth’s progress, his further advancement in the whole scheme of existence, which embraces so much more than what is sometimes called the scheme of creation, depends on his acquisition of correct knowledge concerning the nature of the efforts INITIATION IN THE PRESENT DAY. 399 he has to make to bring his will into the harmony spoken of ; in other words, it depends on his attainment, sooner or later, of that initiation with which we are now concerned. This view of the matter, as apparently placing the destinies of man in the hands of other men, however far these other men may be advanced in know- ledge and spiritual power, may seem at the first glance repugnant to the understanding of people who have been trained but too constantly in the belief that the wisest course to pursue concerning the future life is to regulate conduct in this with a reasonable regard to right and wrong, and for the rest, trust blindly in the gracious mercy of God. If the explanation just given, however, be analysed with reasonable intelligence, it will be seen to offend in no way against such trust, but on the contrary to bring the conclusions of experi- ence in every department of life of which we have any knowledge to bear upon the great problem, as they are necessarily brought to bear on all of minor degree. No man who wants a crab apple tree to produce good fruit, sits down in apathetic contentment, with a pious platitude concerning the goodness of that power which rules the processes of vegetation as undeniably as those of human evolution. He knows that the powers of nature will work with him if he adapts his measures to their design. He learns all that he can learn of that design and of its requirements from other men who have studied the subject before him, and then applies his knowledge to the case with which he himself has to deal. Having thus united his will with the laws of vegetable growth, he acquires his improved fruit. 400 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. It seems to me there must be little difficulty in dispelling any distrust of the kind here referred to by the time the situation is appreciated with moderate precision. Clear thinkers will recognise that the exist- ence within touch of the world of human beings immensely more advanced than their contemporaries along the paths of spiritual evolution is a metaphysical- necessity of all thinking on the subject. A much graver difficulty and more serious embarrassment in the way of those who may get so far in the direction of realising the possibilities before them, has to do with the question how any given aspirant may succeed in putting himself into touch with those more advanced contemporaries, those higher teachers or masters of esoteric wisdom. And I now approach the answer to that difficulty, although it is one which, from the nature of the case, cannot be given in half a dozen words. There certainly is not now, nor has there been at any other time, any recognised official bureau at which people, however honestly desirous of efficient spiritual guidance, can obtain specific information; and though there is much talk in all medieval occult writing of doors, in the symbolical sense, which are always opened to those who knock, such phrases are extremely exasperating to Western thinkers who have got out of touch with those highly symbolical methods of expres- sion, and who, though sometimes but too content with being left in ignorance, will claim that if they are to be told anything of what they may want to know they shall be told it in a straightforward, comprehensible way. The fact is that access to the masters of initiation INITIATION IN THE PRESENT DAY. 401 is only to be attained in the first instance through the exercise of those higher faculties in man which it is the province of initiation to cultivate and expand. This will seem like reasoning in a circle. The candidate for spiritual knowledge will complain that it is just this he requires, in order that he may evoke from their mysterious recesses in his own nature the higher senses which constitute the channels of psychic perception, and that if he is told that he must employ those senses in order to get at the teachers, he is merely being mocked by a paradox, and left where he started. The elucidation of the paradox, however, merely claims that we should bear in mind that doctrine, already fully described in these pages, which describes the method which Nature employs in carrying on the evolution of the human soul. We must not forget that Re-incarnation is the lot of every human being, and we must apply that principle to every thought, and above all to every mystery which has to do with the study of spiritual progress. And here it is necessary to interpolate a caveat even before completing the explanation in view for the moment, which is to this effect, that here and there peculiar influences arising from the Karma of past lives may bring people within reach of the higher spiritual teachers, or rather may enable them themselves to comprehend the fact that they are within the reach of such teaching without either extraordinary efforts on their part, or without the advantage of psychic gifts already developed. But let me first deal with the operation of what may be regarded as the normal rule before handling such cc 402 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. exceptions with regard to their details.