The topic of initiation is becoming increasingly widespread among the public. Not many centuries will pass without the ancient mysteries being restored and the church has an internal group; in the church of the future, whose inner core is being formed, the first initiation will be exoteric, that is, the first initiation will constitute, before long, the most sacred ceremony of the church and will be celebrated in an exoteric way, for being one of the mysteries revealed in certain periods, and those who are involved will attend. It will also occupy a similar place in the masons ritual. In this ceremony, those who are prepared for the first initiation, will be publicly admitted to the Lodge by one of its members, authorized to do so by the great Hierophant Himself.
Definition of four words.
When talking about initiation, wisdom, knowledge or the path of probation, what do we mean? We use the words very lightly without considering the meaning involved. Take, for example, the first of the words mentioned. There are many definitions and explanations regarding its scope, the preliminary steps to the work that must be done between initiations and its results and effects. One thing is evident to the most superficial student, and that is that the magnitude of the subject is such that, in order to elucidate it properly, one would have to write from the point of view of an initiate. Otherwise, everything said may be reasonable, logical, interesting, suggestive, but inconclusive.
The word initiation derives from two Latin words: In en, Ire ir; therefore, it is the initiation of a beginning or the entry into something. In the case we are studying, it means, in its broadest sense, the entry into the spiritual life or a new stage of that life. It is the first and subsequent steps on the path of holiness. Therefore, who received the first initiation literally took the first step in the spiritual realm, leaving the purely human kingdom, to enter the superhuman. Just as he left the animal kingdom and entered the human, in individualization, so he enters the life of the spirit and, for the first time, has the right to be called "spiritual man", in the technical meaning of the word. Enter the fifth stage, the last, of our current fivefold evolution. After having felt your way through the Classroom of Ignorance, for many times, and entered the school in the Classroom of Learning, enter the University or Classroom of Wisdom. When you graduate from it you will graduate with the degree of Compassion Master.
It may be beneficial to study first the difference or connection between Knowledge, Understanding and Wisdom. Although in common language these terms seem synonymous, they are technically different.
Knowledge is the result of the Learning Classroom. It could be said that it constitutes the totality of human discoveries and experiences and what can be recognized by the five senses and correlated, diagnosed and defined by the human intellect. It is that of which we are mentally sure or can corroborate the experiment. It is a compendium of the arts and sciences. It concerns everything that deals with the construction and development of the form aspect of things and, therefore, the material aspect of evolution, the matter of solar systems on the planet, in the three worlds of human evolution and In human bodies.
Wisdom is the result of the Classroom of Wisdom. It concerns the development of life within the form, the progress of the spirit through vehicles, always mutable, and the expansions of consciousness that follow one life after another. It deals with the life aspect of evolution. Because it refers to the essence of things and not to things themselves, it is the intuitive grasp of the truth, independent of the reasoning faculty; the innate perception, able to differentiate the false from the true, the real from the unreal. It is more than that, it constitutes the growing capacity of the Thinker to penetrate more and more within the mind of the Logos, to understand the true interiorization of the great spectacle of the universe, to see the objective and harmonize progressively with the upper measure. It can be described for our purpose (which consists in studying the Senate of Holiness and its various stages), such as the knowledge of the Kingdom of the inner God and the uptake of the `` Kingdom of the external God '' in the solar system. Perhaps it could be said that it is the gradual merger of the paths of the mystic and the occultist? The construction of the temple of wisdom on the foundations of the co Birth.
Wisdom is the science of the spirit, just as knowledge is the science of matter. Knowledge is separative and objective, while wisdom is synthetic and subjective. Knowledge separates, wisdom unites. Knowledge makes differences, while wisdom merges. So what does understanding mean?
Understanding can be defined as the ability of the Thinker, in time, to appropriate knowledge as the basis of wisdom, what allows adapting things in the way to the life of the spirit, receiving flashes of Inspiration, coming from the Classroom of Wisdom, and linking them to the facts of the Classroom of Learning. Perhaps the idea could be better expressed if it were said that:
Wisdom concerns me and knowledge not? Me, while understanding is the point of view of the ego or thinker, or the relationship between the self and the non? .
In the Classroom of Ignorance controls the form and predominates the material aspect of things. Man is thus centered in the personality or lower self. In the Learning Classroom the higher self or ego struggles to dominate that form, until it gradually reaches a point of balance, where neither of them fully controls man. Then, the ego controls more and more, until in the Classroom of Wisdom it dominates in the three lower worlds and, incrementally, the inherent divinity assumes control.
Aspects of the Initiation
The initiation or the process of experiencing the expansion of consciousness is part of the normal process of evolutionary development, considered on a large scale and not from the point of view of the individual. Observed from the individual angle, it comes down to the moment when the evolving entity understands that (by its own effort and aided by the advice and suggestion of the observer instructors of the race) it has reached a stage where acquires a certain degree of subjective knowledge, from the point of view of the physical plane. The experience is similar to that of the student in school, when he suddenly realizes that he has mastered the lesson and that the subject and method of the process belong to him in order to apply them intelligently. These moments of intelligent capture follow the evolving monad in its long pilgrimage. What has been partially misunderstood at this stage of understanding, is the fact that the importance of varying degrees of expansion is accentuated in different periods and the Hierarchy strives to take the race to the stage where their entities have Any idea of the next step to take. Each, initiation indicates the passage of the student through the Classroom of Wisdom to a higher degree and also the clear glow of the internal fire and the transition from one point of polarization to another; it implies the understanding of the growing unity with everything that lives and the essential uniqueness of the self with all the selves; It results in a horizon that continuously widens to include the sphere of creation, or the increasing ability to see and hear on all planes. It is to have an increased awareness of God's plans for the world and the ability to develop those plans. It is the effort of the abstract mind to pass an exam. It is to appear in the honor roll of the Teacher's school, within the realization of those souls whose karma allows it and their effort is sufficient to reach the goal.
The initiation leads to the mountain where vision can be obtained; the vision of the Eternal Now, where the past, the present and the future exist as one; the vision of the history of the races with the golden thread of their genealogy, followed through numerous types; the vision of the golden sphere that keeps the multiple evolutions of our system in unison: devic, human, animal, vegetable, mineral and elementary, through which it can be clearly seen that throbbing life beats with regular rhythm; the vision of the mental form of the Logos in the archetypal plane, a vision that increases from one initiation to another until it covers the entire solar system.
The initiation leads to that current that, when it has penetrated into it, drags man until he is brought to the feet of the Lord of the World, at the feet of his Father in the Heavens, at the feet of the triple Logos. The initiation leads to the cave in whose limiting walls the pairs of opposites are known and the secret of good and evil is revealed. It leads to the Cross and to the total sacrifice that must be consummated before achieving perfect liberation, where the initiate frees himself from all earthly chains and nothing retains him in all three worlds. It leads through the Classroom of Wisdom and gradually places the key to all cosmic information and the system in the hands of man. It reveals the hidden mystery underlying the heart of the solar system. It leads from one state of consciousness to another. As it enters each state, the horizon widens, the view widens and the understanding is more inclusive, until the expansion reaches the point where the ego encompasses all selves, including everything mobile and immobile, according to an ancient writing.
The initiation implies ceremony. This aspect is the one that has been most emphasized in the minds of men, omitting some of its true significance. Primarily it implies the ability to see, hear and understand, to synthesize and correlate knowledge, although not necessarily the development of psychic faculties, but it involves the internal understanding that sees the underlying value in the form and recognizes the purpose of the prevailing circumstances. It is the ability to present the lesson to be learned in any given event, and this understanding and recognition results, every hour, every week and every year, a progress and expansion. This process of gradual expansion - the result of the definite effort and an arduous life and correct thinking of the aspirant, and not of some esoteric instructor who celebrates a hidden rite? It leads to what could be called a crisis.
In this crisis, where the help of a Master is necessary, a definite act of initiation is carried out, which (acting on a particular center) produces results in some of the bodies, and encourages the atoms to reach a certain vibration and allows to obtain a new rhythm
The initiation ceremony marks a point of realization, but not the realization that is often believed but simply that which the Instructors who watch the race, recognize as a definite stage in the evolution achieved by the disciple, which provides two things :
- An expansion of consciousness, which allows the personality to penetrate the wisdom achieved by the Ego, and the higher initiations, into the consciousness of the Monad.
- A brief period of enlightenment, where the initiate sees the part of the path that must tread and also consciously participates in the great evolutionary plan.
After the initiation, the work that must be done consists mostly in converting that expansion of consciousness into part of the personality team to be used in a practical way, and in mastering that part of the path that must still be traveled.
Place and effect of the Initiation.
The initiation ceremony takes place in the three upper sub-planes of the mental plane and in the three upper planes, according to the initiation. During the initiations in the mental plane the five-pointed star shines on the head of the initiate. This corresponds to the first initiations received in the causal vehicle. It has been said that the first two initiations are made on the astral plane, but this statement is inaccurate and has given rise to a misinterpretation. Both are felt deeply in the physical, astral and lower mental bodies, affecting their control. Because the main effect is felt in these bodies, the initiate can interpret that they have taken place in the planes involved, since the vivid effect and stimulation of the first two initiations occur mainly in the astral body. But it should be borne in mind that major initiations take place in the causal body or? Outside it? in the buddhic or atmic plane. In the two final initiations that liberate the man from the three worlds, he is allowed to act in the vital body of the Logos and manage that force, then the initiate transforms into the five-pointed star, which descends on him, merges into he and he is seen in the very center of the star. The descent is made by the action of the Initiator who wields the Scepter of Power and puts man consciously in contact with the center in the body of the planetary Logos, of which he is a part. The two initiations called sixth and seventh, take place in the buddhic and atmic planes. The five-pointed star "shines from within itself, " says an esoteric phrase, and transforms into "the seven-pointed star, " descending upon man, and it penetrates the flame.
In addition, the four initiations prior to that of the adept, respectively, indicate the acquisition of certain proportions of atomic matter in the bodies, for example, in the first initiation, a quarter of atomic matter; in the second, one half; in the third, three quarters, and so on. Since the buddhic principle is the unifier (or the fusion of everything), in the fifth initiation the adept emerges from the lower vehicles and is affirmed in the buddhic, from where he creates his body of manifestation.
Each initiation grants greater control over the rays, if this can be expressed in this way, although it does not give the exact idea. Words often confuse. In the fifth initiation, when the adept is a Master in the three worlds, he controls more or less (according to his line of development) the five rays that are manifested especially at the moment he receives the initiation. In the sixth, if it passes to the higher degree, it acquires power in another ray and, in the seventh, it exercises power in all rays. The sixth initiation points to the point of realization of Christ and puts the synthetic ray of the system under His control. We must keep in mind that initiation gives the initiate power in the rays and not power over the rays, a well-marked difference. Each initiate logically has one of the three major rays as a primary or spiritual ray, and in the ray of his monad it is where he finally acquires power. The love ray or synthetic ray of the system is the last one acquired.
Those who disembodied after the fifth initiation, or those who do not become Masters in physical incarnation, receive their next initiations in another part of the system. Everyone is in the Logos Consciousness. A great reality must be taken into account, that the initiations of the planet or those of the solar system are only preparatory to be admitted to the Grand Lodge of Sirius. This symbolism has been well preserved in Freemasonry and by combining the Masonic method with what has been said regarding the steps on the Path of Holiness, we will obtain an approximate picture. Let's expand its meaning:
The first four initiations of the solar system correspond to the four "Initiations in the Threshold", prior to the first cosmic initiation. The fifth initiation corresponds to the first cosmic initiation, that of "accepted apprentice" in Masonry, which makes a Master, an "accepted apprentice" in the Sirian Lodge. The sixth initiation is analogous to the second degree of Freemasonry, while the seventh makes the adept a Master Mason of the Brotherhood of Sirius.
Master, therefore, is the one who has received the seventh planetary initiation, the fifth solar initiation and the first cosmic or Sirian initiation.
Unification, result of the Initiation.
It should be understood that each successive initiation produces the most complete unification of the personality with the ego and, on higher levels, with the monad. The evolution of the human spirit is a progressive unification. In the unification of the soul with the personality lies the mystery of the Christian doctrine of the Atonement, a unification that takes place at the time of individualization, when man becomes a conscious and rational entity, different from that of animals. As evolution continues, successive unifications occur.
Unification at all levels? emotional, intuitional, spiritual and divine? It consists of a continuous and conscious operation. In all cases it is preceded by combustion through internal fire and the destruction, through sacrifice, of everything that separates. The approach to unity occurs through the destruction of the inferior and everything that hinders. Take, for example, the plot that separates the etheric and emotional bodies. When the internal fire burns this plot, continuous communication occurs between the bodies of the personality, and the three vehicles act as one. Something similar occurs in the upper levels, although the parallelism cannot be detailed. Intuition corresponds to the emotional and the four upper levels of the mental plane to the etheric. In the destruction of the causal body, upon receiving the fourth initiation (called, symbolically, "the Crucifixion"), we have a process analogous to the combustion of the plot, which leads to the unification of the personality bodies. The disintegration, which is part of the initiation of the arhat, leads to unity between the ego and the monad, expressing itself in the Triad. This is the perfect unification.
Therefore, the purpose of the process is that man be consciously one:
First: With himself and with those who have incarnated with him.
Second: With your higher self and with all the selves.
Third: With his Spirit or "Father in Heaven, " and so with all Monads.
Fourth: With the Logos, the Three in One and the One in Three.
Man becomes a conscious human being through the perpetual sacrifice of the Lords of the Flame.
Man becomes a conscious ego, possessing the consciousness of the higher self, in the third initiation, through the mediation of the Masters and the Christ and by His sacrifice, by incarnating physically to help the world.
In the fifth initiation man joins the monad through the Lord of the World, the Lone Observer, the Great Sacrifice.
Man is unified with the Logos, through Him of Whom nothing can be said.
