World of the Soul
Author's Introduction
Chapter 1: The Search for Truth
Chapter 2: The Soul
Chapter 3: Life and Form
Chapter 4: The Constitution of a Human Being
Chapter 5: Awakening to the Soul
Chapter 6: Masters of the Wisdom
Chapter 7: Spiritual Hierarchy
Chapter 8: Hierarchies of Life
Chapter 9: History of the Soul
Chapter 10: The Path of Initiation
Chapter 11: First Initiation
Chapter 12: Second Initiation
Chapter 13: Third Initiation
Chapter 14: The Continuity of Revelation
Chapter Twelve
Second Initiation
A great deal of time may elapse between the first and the second initiation. Many human incarnations may occur between these two events, for the first initiation is simply the beginning of the path, the commencement of the journey, and the "birth of the Christ in the cave of the heart." After birth, long years elapse before the child becomes, so to speak, an adult, capable of active service within the Spiritual Hierarchy.
During this time the work of the first initiation is completed and a long building takes place in preparation for the second. Each initiation is in fact a long process which culminates in certain experiences. Prior to the initiation, we are preparing ourselves for these experiences, and subsequent to the initiation we are learning to work out the newly contacted energies in daily living, and make practical that which was previously merely theoretical.
The second initiation, then, is:
- The process of learning to control our emotional vehicle. It takes a great deal of time to learn to calm the emotions and transform them into aspiration, and still later turn that aspiration into the energy of love.
- The event of the second initiation itself, which constitutes a fiery process that brings the Spiritual Intuition to bear upon the watery emotional life.
- A long, subsequent process of making the new-found emotional life stable and of applying the potency of the Spiritual Intuition in all aspects of life.
Initiation is, therefore, more of a process than an event, a process by which we are transformed and awakened to new aspects of awareness and truth. The world can no longer be seen in the old way; a new world appears before our awakened senses.
The initiation itself, then, is a recognition of the work that has been done by us that allows new possibilities to occur. We have strived and struggled, and have brought some aspect of our personality under the influence and control of the indwelling soul. We have achieved all of the qualifications for taking the initiation, and then we do so. We achieve the qualifications of the initiate, and the initiation then seals that achievement, making it permanent and stable — but more importantly, it opens the door into a new realm of life and spiritual living. The "initiation" is, therefore, as the word implies, the start of a new cycle of activity and not simply the end of some process or an award for good achievement.
In the second initiation, commonly called the "baptism," our emotional or feeling nature is brought under the control of the soul and the power of the Spiritual Intuition makes itself felt more strongly. In the first initiation we brought the physical body under control and made it the willing receptacle for soul energy and influence. In this second initiation the process is moved upward to the emotional world, and our desires, feelings, and urges of the watery nature are transformed by the will of our soul.
When we have gone through the process of the second initiation we have learned how to "subdue the waters" and transcend the dualities that confront the ordinary consciousness of daily living. This mastery over our emotions is a true reconciliation of all the energies of the emotional world with the soul. It is not a suppression of our emotions, nor is it giving them free reign. Instead it is bringing all of the forces of our emotional nature into harmonious alignment with the energies of the soul. It is the bringing in the energies of soul love, joy, and beauty so strongly and powerfully that our entire emotional life is swept up in them and transformed by them. It is bringing each and every emotion into line with the purpose of the soul, resulting in absolute purity of motive. Our emotional life is transformed by the power of love such that no selfish feelings, no separative attitudes, and no personal desires can survive that spiritual housecleaning.
The process of the second initiation subjects us to the whirlpool of our own desires, emotions, and feelings, and shows us how to live above them. The soul is, in this case, often symbolized by a ship, which passes calmly over the waters no matter how turbulent they may be. Even so, the soul rides the waves of the emotions and remains ever-present in our consciousness no matter how turbulent our feelings and desires are.
At this initiation the control of the emotional vehicle over our consciousness is broken; our desires can no longer compel us to act. The will of the soul has taken the place of our little personality will, and the higher Self flowers in all its beauty and power as never before. Instead of being compelled by personal emotion, we are compelled to action by a response to soul or Intuitional direction. Divine Love takes the place of personality desire. Spiritual living takes the place of selfish ambition. The light of the soul illuminates our whole lower nature and things are seen as they truly are. The deceptive glamors of the emotional world no longer compel us to act; we have learned dispassion toward all human feelings and all emotional conditions, but we are at the same time filled with an ever-present and lasting love, joy, and serenity.
The love that is demonstrated by us as second degree initiates is not simply sentiment, or personal love of any sort, or a desire to do good. It is an energy of the soul itself, a downflow from the realm of the Spiritual Intuition — that realm in which appearances are replaced by "actuality" — that which actually IS in truth and in Spirit. This love is the love of the soul, an impersonal love that gives to all regardless of whether they are family or not, friends or not, cooperative or not, and good or not. The love is a manifestation of the Love of the Christ, that endless, sacrificial Love that has no end and no boundaries, being all-inclusive and all-encompassing.
This initiation is intensely difficult to pass through. The whole life of our personality has been focussed for ages in the emotional nature and the purpose of life has been the fulfillment of our own individual desires. Our powerful and fully developed emotional nature is very difficult to transform and redeem. The glamors are intensely compelling, and the feelings seem totally overwhelming. We must learn to stand amidst the storm unperturbed, focussed upon the inner light and not on the outer conditions of life, knowing that desires come and go but the soul endures through all. The whole emotional nature is then dedicated to the life of the soul, and the fluctuations, pains, and sorrows of the emotional world are replaced with the endless sun of joy.
The following are the results of the second initiation:
- Our emotional vehicle is stilled and is swept only by love, which ever increases. The desire nature, which has for so long controlled the destiny of the individual, is transformed and redeemed. It is now a pure receptacle for soul energy. We thus constantly live love, and radiate love outward to all humanity and the planet.
- Usually our mind is tremendously strengthened by this initiatory process, and the mind's capacity to perceive, think, and intuit is greatly strengthened. We learn to focus our consciousness in the mind and in the soul nature, and to keep it there. This allows us to live, subjectively speaking, above the realms of the turbulent emotional nature and not be affected by it.
- There is an intense urge to serve humanity. There is at the same time a greatly increased capacity to serve due to the strengthening of our minds. Our spiritual devotion to service of humanity is intense and powerful.
- There is a strong impulse toward progress on the path. Our urge to serve, love, and travel the path becomes so strong that our progress is tremendously speeded up. What might take us years to accomplish before might now be accomplished in only a few days or weeks. This impulse, by the way, must not be expressed to the detriment of other people. We may come to the point where we seek to sacrifice the good of the whole for the sake of progress, and this must not be the case. Though we may be a second degree initiate, we are still human, with human failings and human limitations. Realizing this, we must be careful and humble. We must never lose sight of the need of humanity as a whole, and be constantly responsive to the immediate need in our service work.
- We might say, then, that the initiate has overcome the emotional tendencies toward criticism, separateness, and pride. There is no longer any criticism, where criticism is only of the personality or is not warranted. There is no longer any sense of separateness toward any other human being due to racial or national prejudice, ego gratification, or class distinction. There is no possibility of pride that might arise out of knowing more or being more capable than others. A spirit of brotherhood has replaced all emotional reaction. Indeed, the cultivation of the spirit of universal brotherhood is the royal road to initiation. It's a simple request, but very hard to fulfill in every aspect of our lives!
- The dominant factor in our consciousness is the achievement of the greatest and highest good of all. The will of our soul, our true self, is the dominant will, not the desires of our personality which are now, in any case, purified and transformed.
- The group life becomes the most important factor in our daily lives. We become increasingly aware of the group life of which we are a part, and we become more capable of acting in support of and in response to that group life. We are neither extraverted nor introverted, neither outgoing nor inwardly oriented — or are rather both at once. We serve outwardly yet at the same time retire inwardly, balancing these pairs of opposites and resolving the duality of emotional life.
- We have, therefore, learned to balance the pairs of opposites in the emotional world, and live within them but remain unaffected by them. Pleasure and pain, good and evil, light and dark, happiness and sorrow are still known, but our reaction to them is of a totally different nature than before. It is a reaction based upon soul knowledge and Intuitive perception. It is a reaction that is the result of seeing THAT which is neither of the pairs of opposites, and of deliberately travelling that middle path between them.
- We become free from the slavery of ideas. The majority of humanity today is swept by ideas, which in turn stimulate desires and result in physical action. This makes and shapes the so-called modern civilization in which we live. People are influenced by political ideals and party lines, religious theology and doctrine, and the concepts of material progress and achievement. It is said that "ideas rule the world" but as second degree initiates we stand free of this rule because we are nonresponsive to the emotional desires, the siren calls, and the group emotions that are their result. They no longer have any power over our inner consciousness.
The second degree initiate is, therefore, never a fanatic. We are never, at this point, the intense devotee of a teaching or a teacher. We see the truth and the error in all teachings, beliefs, and ideologies, and thus do not condemn any of them — nor at the same time support any of them. We see each of them as one part of a still larger Whole, and focus upon the expression of THAT which transcends them all. This includes a non-attachment to the esoteric teachings presented in this book — or whatever teaching we may adhere to by whatever name it is called — which, after all, is but our current understanding of the expression of Intuitional truth in the world. Each time and each age inevitably bring forth a greater measure of truth than the previous one, due to the unending evolution of the human family. That future truth will make what we know today seem of limited scope and of small importance. Thus, let our adherence always be to that Intuitional Truth and Spiritual Wisdom that lie behind all outer truth, of which the Spiritual Hierarchy is the custodian and humanity the still-imperfect expression.
It may seem from this description of the initiations that progress is like clockwork: first the physical body is brought under control, then the emotional nature, and later the mental vehicle. But it is not so simple or straightforward. The development of a control of the three aspects of the personality usually proceeds in parallel. There is often a simultaneous development of control on all levels, and this marks the possibility of a major shift in our consciousness. Some people find the control of the physical body relatively easy, and others find it hard and difficult. Likewise for the other vehicles — much progress may be achieved in one area only to leave another lagging. It is up to us to find out what our areas of weakness are and correct them, and determine where our strengths truly lie and consciously use them in service. But there will nevertheless be points of crisis in our progress which mark the achievement of control over each aspect of our personality nature. Out of these points of crisis will arrive that spiritual growth and Intuitional awareness that will lead us to the golden door of initiation.
Previous — End of Chapter Twelve — Next
Author's Introduction
Chapter 1: The Search for Truth
Chapter 2: The Soul
Chapter 3: Life and Form
Chapter 4: The Constitution of a Human Being
Chapter 5: Awakening to the Soul
Chapter 6: Masters of the Wisdom
Chapter 7: Spiritual Hierarchy
Chapter 8: Hierarchies of Life
Chapter 9: History of the Soul
Chapter 10: The Path of Initiation
Chapter 11: First Initiation
Chapter 12: Second Initiation
Chapter 13: Third Initiation
Chapter 14: The Continuity of Revelation