Bob Ray Initiation Of A Mystic Rar
Elis Riebow
Initiations are as old as the earliest civilizations.The ancient Egyptians learned that the performance of various acts, and the use of certain objects, helped to facilitate instruction, so that mystical ideas were more easily impressed upon the minds of students.
In a dramatic way, the initiation sheds illumination upon certain subjects which otherwise may not be thoroughly understood and appreciated. Further, the mystical aspect of initiation arouses your psychic and emotional response concerning the subjects you are about to study and produces an awareness, a state of consciousness which otherwise could not be achieved.
Initiation rituals may be performed at home during your study period; or you may receive these initiations in a more comprehensive form in Rosicrucian Temples. However, no rite or ceremony, no matter what its form or how it is conducted, is a true initiation if it does not do the following:
As a student of the Rosicrucian Order, you have the option and privilege of attending local groups in your area. Here you can enjoy the company of other Rosicrucians, hear inspiring lectures, engage in mystical experiments with other students, and participate in beautiful ceremonies and stimulating discussions.
In addition, you will have the opportunity to attend a variety of special events, seminars, and conventions. No Rosicrucian member is obligated to associate with a local Rosicrucian group, but it is highly recommended. This is a special privilege offered to you, and provides a unique opportunity to enrich your membership experience.
The official magazine of the Rosicrucian Order. The Digest, published bi-annually, contains fascinating and informative articles related to mysticism, philosophy, the sciences, and the arts and is of particular interest to Rosicrucians and their friends.
The concept of initiation was brought to the West by the writings of Helena Blavatsky, beginning in the late nineteenth century, followed by those of C. W. Leadbeater and Alice A. Bailey in the 1920s. (These writings are also referred to as the "Ageless Wisdom Teachings".)[2] According to Alice A. Bailey, initiation is the "process of undergoing an expansion of consciousness"[3] According to C. W. Leadbeater, initiation is a process by which "we try to develop ourselves not that we may become great and wise, but that we may have the power and knowledge to work for humanity to the best effect."[4] In these two quotes, one can recognize how Theosophy merges both Eastern and Western ideas about spiritual development into something new and syncretic: For the East has long grasped the importance of self-realization (which differs greatly from the idea of individuation or the pursuit of the "authentic" self), while the West recognizes the need for service or charity (should one become spiritually mature).
Without discipline, initiation is said to be inconceivable, for spiritual maturity entails the relinquishing of one's personal desires. By learning to observe one's self as a detached, outside observer would, one acquires the fortitude and insight not to resist what is (as Jesus' life and death so aptly taught the world).[17][18]
This is understood as a scientific process, with each initiation ushering in points of crisis as well as more and more expansive states of consciousness; with this one becomes increasingly united with the Plan and beings guiding the energies and evolution of this planet.[21] Only when one has grown exquisitely aware throughout time and space (i.e., both absolutely free of the lower aspects of one's self, yet restrained and enlightened) can one arrive at the fifth level of initiation; at that point, one becomes a Master of Wisdom. Having mastered one's body, feelings, and mind, one has grown to be harmless, intuitive, brilliant, telepathic, and wise. At this stage, the individual is said to be impersonal and objective, beyond the reach of death, and is awarded the opportunity to serve as part of the Spiritual Hierarchy, the planetary governing body that oversees the plan of the Logos (i.e., the evolution of the planet as a whole).[6][18]
When people near the gate of initiation, at whatever level, a profound change takes place in their life patterns and associations. All that was familiar and comforting loses its flavor and becomes stale. All that tended to support and comfort falls away. A new openness and vulnerability takes the place of assured habits of thought, and an unfamiliar humility descends upon the seeker. The old certainties disappear, the world changes shape and nothing is as it was.
Thus it is for the individual disciple. Thus, too, is it for humanity as a whole. As it stands, now, at the very door of initiation into a new state of consciousness, humanity steels itself for the experience of the new, the infinite tasks ahead, the creation of a new world. Bereft of guidance, it would founder quickly and suffer painfully. Without higher help, its progress would be slow and fitful, its future uncertain and bleak.[24]
We are entering the "crisis of love". This is the experience which the human race faces as it enters the period in its evolutionary journey when it will, as a whole, demonstrate the quality of Love and take its place in the Kingdom of Souls, the Esoteric Hierarchy. During the Aquarian Age, the aim of the Christ, Maitreya, the Hierophant at the first two initiations, will be to initiate millions of people, in group formation, into the Hierarchy, at some stage or other. Vast numbers will take the first and some will take the second initiation. This is an extraordinary Plan as it is envisaged by the Lord of the World, Sanat Kumara, on Shamballa, carried out by His agents, the planetary Hierarchy.
To help clarify the process of evolution, the story of the Gospel in the Christian Bible was given to Humanity, both as a historical and symbolic event. It is also a retelling of other ancient stories about the first 4 initiations, with the various, major events in Jesus' life symbolizing different initiations. For example, when in the Garden of Gethsemene while his closest disciples slept (i.e., were unaware), Jesus was in darkness. In order to be in right relationship to himself, his own fate, and God, he needed to rupture his identification with not merely his fears and desires, but also his ideas about how things should be. His inner struggle led him to grasp that he actually could not accomplish his task without relinquishing his self-will. Yet through this sacrifice, he experienced at-one-ment with the Will of God.[41]
It is believed that at the Third Initiation one has acquired the spiritual stature to come into contact with Sanat Kumara. Sanat Kumara is identified in Buddhist, Hindu and Theosophical texts with the Logos or the Being that ensouls this planet. He acts as Hierophant at the third initiation and is also identified with the Will aspect of God.[42]
Symbolically the fourth initiation is equated with the crucifixion, the relinquishing of all identification with what one takes as one's self. (While undergoing the crucifixion, Jesus is said to have become a Fourth Degree Initiate). According to Benjamin Creme, in 1984 there were merely 450 people at this level of initiation, on a planet of 4.767 billion.[30] Individual examples of those who took the fourth initiation during their life-time include: Helena Blavatsky; Helena Roerich; Sri Chinmoy; Lao-tse; Hermes; Zoroaster; Marpa; Kabir; Bhagawan Nityananda; Muktananda (of Berkeley); Sivananda (of Rishikesh); Krishnamurti; Jesus; and Vyasa.[32]
Having reached the threshold of the fifth initiation, a soul does not necessarily have to enter Earth's spiritual hierarchy proper as one of the "Masters of the Ancient Wisdom". One can proceed along one of seven paths.[46] In Theosophical literature "the seven choices before the perfect [hu]man" are that the Initiate:
The fifth initiation, which is also referred to as the resurrection, marks a turning point in the evolutionary journey of disciples, enabling them to join the Fifth Kingdom, the Kingdom of Souls, and serve as part of the Spiritual Hierarchy furthering the Plan for Earth: As Fifth Degree Initiates, they become "Masters of Wisdom". In this sense, the fifth initiation is considered a re-birth as those few people who have achieved such spiritual prowess now become full members of the Kingdom of Souls, or the Spiritual Hierarchy working towards the upliftment of the world.[49]
C. W. Leadbeater, Alice Bailey and Benjamin Creme compiled information about the Masters of Wisdom; and there are believed to be a total of 43 beings at this level of initiation (with another 17 having taken the sixth initiation). Of these 43 Masters, a total of 16 have been identified: one by C. W. Leadbeater and nine by Alice Bailey.
The seventh initiation is known as the initiation of the Bodhisattava in Buddhism or that of the Avatar in Hinduism. At this level also is said to be associated with the Chakshusha Manu, the Vaivasvatu Manu and the Maha Chohan.[57][58]
The tenth initiation is considered to symbolize perfection and is used to describe the Silent watcher. It also denotes the Planetary Logos of Earth.[65] In order to reach the status of a Planetary Logos, this being would have had to have been a high level Planetary Deva in some other solar system before it incarnated inside our planet at the time of the creation of the world. According to C. W. Leadbeater, the "Planetary Logos" is functioning at the tenth level of initiation and Sanat Kumara, is in continuous telepathic rapport with the Planetary Logos, functioning as its spokes-deity. Since the formulation in the early 1970s by James Lovelock of the Gaia hypothesis, the idea of the Earth Mother has been popularized. As such, the Theosophists conception of the "Planetary Logos of Earth", although renamed in the New Age, is widely accepted.
C.W. Leadbeater stated, "The ladder of being [i.e., of initiation] extends upward into clouds of light, into which few of us can yet penetrate, and when we ask those who stand higher than we and know infinitely more than we do, all they can say is that it extends beyond their sight also. They know very many more steps of it than we do, but it goes still further, onwards and upward to unimaginable heights of glory, and no one knows its end."[67] If the concept of the Multiverse is true, then, as Theosophists long maintained, other Spiritual Hierarchies exist in other Universes and there are many other cosmoses besides our own.[48]
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