The Liberation (Initiation) of Humanity


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The Liberation (Initiation) of Humanity

This is the path for all who seek the Light. First form, and all its longing. Then pain. Then the assuaging waters and the appearance of a little fire. The fire grows, and heat is then active within the tiny sphere and does its fiery work. Moisture likewise is seen; dense fog, and to the pain is added sad bewilderment, for they who use the fire of mind during the early stage are lost within a light illusory. Fierce grows the heat; next comes the loss of power to suffer. When this stage has been outgrown, there comes the shining of the unobstructed Sun and the clear bright light of Truth. This is the path back to the hidden centre.*

In the far distant future, as awesome as it sounds, it is expected that humanity as a whole will bring about changes and events in the solar system and even induce interstellar activity.

In the esoteric teachings we are told that humanity is the keynote of the Lord of the World. Humanity is the basis, the goal and the essential inner structure of all being. Humanity itself is the key to all evolutionary processes and to all correct understanding of the divine Plan, expressing in time and space the divine Purpose of Sanat Kumara-that omniscient Being Who ensouls planet Earth. All the planetary centres are constituted of lives progressing towards the human stage, and those who have left that stage far behind are yet endowed with all the faculties and all the knowledge wrought out into human expression in earlier planetary schemes or through our own planetary life.

Because They share a common humanity, the great and omnipotent Lives in Shamballa, the sixth realm of consciousness, can impress the omniscient Lives and lesser lives in the Hierarchy of Love-Wisdom, the fifth realm of consciousness. Because of shared experience and understanding, the hierarchical Masters and Initiates can consequently impress humanity. And, in turn, because of shared instinctual tendencies and the potential assets in the three subhuman groups, humanity can and does impress these kingdoms.

The unleashing or application of spiritual energies is ever followed by crises. The light ever draws forth the shadows or that which is not of the light. The potent spiritual energies ever burn up in the fires of destruction all that which would impede the free flow of that energy. The dross, which would limit and distort the new possibilities, must be brought forward so that it can be known and then eliminated by the fires of consciousness.

Crises, as we know from our own direct experience, serve as great spiritual opportunities, challenging us to move ever closer to our own inner divinity. Thus, the current intensification of planetary crises will serve to test and prepare humanity for the unprecedented and imminent opportunity in which millions may tread the noble, but arduous path of initiation. And, it must be acknowledged that initiation is a process of excessively hard work, constant and strenuous effort and ceaseless striving to embody that which the intuition increasingly reveals. In spite of the difficulties of the Path, the incentive of freedom provides an undeniable, propelling force. The Path of Initiation is but another name for the Path of Liberation. And, it is liberation or freedom from the limitations of the lower consciousness that initiation confers.

Making his or her way through the darkness and coarseness of the enveloping matter, humanity's long journey is full of pain, suffering and often blind struggle. Yet, the tiny spark of light within the relative darkness of the lower nature-frustrated by the encircling walls, yearning to unite in full consciousness with that abundant sun from which it came-persists and waxes increasingly brighter until full union and identification are achieved.

All of humanity to one degree or another, either consciously or unconsciously, is involved in this fundamental struggle to attain the freedom whereby the Soul and its powers can unfold; whereby the limiting circles of the lower consciousness can open to the more inclusive and expansive states of higher consciousness.

What is it that ultimately and finally propels the individual forward to that point of accomplishment? It is only as a series of disillusionments are experienced and comprehended, that the individual realizes there is no choice but to move forward into greater light. In short, humanity learns through discontent. As the poet Browning so adequately expressed it, humanity learns "by the means of evil that good is best." Thus, step-by-step humanity learns to exchange the darkness for the light, the unreal for the real, death for immortality and chaos for beauty.

^* Extracted from "The Old Commentary" in Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. I by Alice A. Bailey, Lucis Publishing Co., p.678.