Alice Bailey - Autobiography - Appendix - Some Definitions of Esotericism
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Autobiography of Alice A. Bailey - Appendix - What is an Esoteric
School
I. Some Definitions of EsotericismThe
words "esoteric" and "occult" signify "that which is
hidden"; they indicate that which lies behind the outer seeming and point to the
causes which produce appearance and effects; they are concerned with the subtler world of
energies and forces which all outer forms veil and hide. They deal with that which must be
known before the initiate-consciousness can be developed.
Emphasis in the past has been upon subjective but nevertheless material forces (hidden
within the human being), and frequently upon the psychic powers, such as clairvoyance and
clairaudience which man shares in common with the animals. Physical purity has been
enormously emphasized in the old schools and concerns the cleansing of the forms through
which the soul must manifest. This cleansing is not esoteric in nature and is no sign of
esoteric or of spiritual unfoldment. It is only a most necessary preliminary stage; until
this purification has been undertaken, more advanced work is not possible. The physical
disciplines are needed and useful, and must find their place in all schools for beginners;
by their means the neophyte establishes habits of purity and builds the type of body,
required by the disciple when he starts true esoteric work.
This
elementary training enables the neophyte to shift his consciousness out of the tangible
world of daily living into the subtler worlds of his personality forces. He becomes aware
of the energies with which he must deal and dimly to sense that which lies behind them -
the soul in its own world, the Kingdom of God.
The new schools are occupied with more esoteric values. They train the disciple to work
as a soul in the three worlds and prepare him to work in a Master's group as a pledged
disciple. Most of the schools, which belong to the old order, have ignored the stage of
[267] personality integration and of trained knowledge of life in the three worlds in
which the beginner should be instructed. Instead, they have held out to the beginner the
tempting prospect of contact with a Master and a Master's group, and this before he was
even a coordinated person, when he hardly merited the word "intelligent" and
before he had any soul contact. Emphasis was, and is, laid upon devotion - devotion to the
teacher at the center of the group, devotion to the truths enunciated by the teacher,
devotion to the Master, plus a fixed determination to merit the title of
"disciple" and so be able, some day, to say, "I know this Master or
that." At the same time, the beginner is given no true idea of discipleship or its
responsibilities. The new schools, now forming, convey very different ideas to their
students and very different techniques of training.
1. An
esoteric school is one in which the relation of the soul, the spiritual man, to the
personality is taught. It is the major line of approach to the student, and soul contact
becomes his first great endeavor. He comes to know himself and struggles to work as a
conscious soul and not just as an active personality. He learns to control and direct his
lower nature through a technical understanding of its constitution and to pour through it
the light, love and power of the soul. Through alignment, concentration and meditation, he
establishes a permanent contact with his inner spiritual being and is then well on the way
to become a useful server of humanity.
2.
An esoteric school is an extension into the physical outer world of the inner group or
Ashram of a Master. Just as the individual disciple is taught to regard himself as a
channel for the soul, and as an outpost of the consciousness of the Master, so the true
esoteric school is the outpost of some subjective spiritual group or Ashram, conditioned
and impressed by the Master, as the disciple is by his soul. Such a group is, therefore,
in direct relationship to the Hierarchy.
3. A
true esoteric school works on four levels of service and of experience. This enables the
disciple to make a complete approach to humanity and to use all of his equipment. In the
true spiritual schools, as approved and endorsed by the Masters, service to humanity is
taught and not the need for the disciple to be in touch with a Master, as is the case in
the majority of esoteric schools of the old order. Contact with the Master is contingent
upon the measure and [268] the quality of the service rendered by the disciple to his
fellowmen. This is a point oft overlooked by teachers, who lay the emphasis upon the
personal attainment of the individual and upon individual perfection. The new schools, now
forming, are preoccupied with training men to meet world need and to serve spiritually,
upon the following four levels of conscious activity.
That of the
outer world. The disciple is taught to live normally, practically, effectively and
spiritually in the everyday world. He is never a freak or a crank.
That of the
world of meaning. The disciple is taught the why and the wherefore of circumstances and
happenings - both individual and universal. He is thus trained to act as an interpreter of
events and to function as a light bearer.
That of the
soul in its own world. This makes the disciple a channel for divine love, for the nature
of the soul is love. He heals and carries inspiration into the world.
That of his
Master's Ashram or group. He is taught to cooperate with the Hierarchical plan as it is
gradually revealed to him and to arrive at the knowledge which will permit him to direct
some of the energies producing world happenings. He thus carries out the purposes of the
inner group with which he is affiliated. Under the inspiration of the Master and His band
of working disciples and initiates, he brings to humanity definite knowledge about the
Hierarchy.
4. An
esoteric school trains the disciple in group work. He learns to relinquish personality
plans in the interest of group purpose - ever directed to the service of humanity and the
Hierarchy. He becomes merged in group activities and - losing none of his individualized
and particularized identity - he is a dedicated contributor to the Plan, with no thought
of the separated self conditioning his thinking.
5. An esoteric school is not founded upon authority or on the demand of some teacher
for recognition and obedience. It is not based on the claims of some usually mediocre
person to be an initiate and, because of his status, authorized to speak with dogmatic
emphasis. The only authority recognized is that of truth itself, intuitively perceived and
then subjected to the mental analysis and interpretation of the disciple. The disciple who
(working under some one of, the [269] Masters) starts an esoteric school has absolutely no
authority, except that of a life lived as dose to the truth as possible, plus the measure
of truth which he can present to his group. The obedience developed in his group of
students is that of recognizing joint responsibility, united loyalty to group intention
and purpose, as indicated by the group leader (suggested by him and not presented as a
command). The presence of authoritative statements, emanating from the teacher of the
group, or any demand upon his part for recognition, or for the unquestioning obedience and
loyalty of his followers marks him out as a beginner and as simply an aspirant -
well-meaning and with good intention. It indicates that he is not a disciple, charged with
the work of the Hierarchy.
6. An
esoteric group is one in which the rounded-out development of the disciple receives
attention. Character-building and unselfish aspiration are regarded as necessarily
present, but no great emphasis is laid upon the ordinary virtues, or upon the purity in
the outer life, or on kindness, good temper and freedom from self-assertion. These
qualities are regarded as basic essentials and as present in some measure, but their
further development is regarded as the personal problem of the disciple and not that of
the teacher and the group. Mental development is emphasized in order that the disciple may
be intelligent, analytical (but not critical) and in possession of a rich, well-organized
mental equipment. The head and the heart are regarded as of equal importance and as
equally divine. It is with the states of consciousness of men everywhere, of all ranks,
races and nations that the Hierarchy works and disciples are trained to work the same way,
eventually themselves becoming Masters of the Wisdom. This they achieve by mastering all
difficulties and obstacles by the power of their own souls. They thus release some Master,
now active in the world, for higher and different work.
7. An esoteric school is, therefore, a medium through which the disciple's life-focus
becomes that of the soul; neither the physical world, nor the emotional and mental worlds
are to him the major sphere of his activities. They are simply his field of service, and
his personality becomes that through which his soul serves. He learns to work entirely
from spiritual levels, and his consciousness is stably centered in the soul and in his
Master's Ashram. The esoteric school teaches him how to achieve this, how to make contact
with his soul, how to live as a soul, how to recognize a Master and how to work in [270] a
Master's group. He learns the techniques whereby he can register impressions from the
Master and be responsive to group intent and thus increasingly sensitive to the Plan with
which his Master and the Ashram is pledged to cooperate. He is taught how to play his part
in raising the consciousness of the race; this he does through a conscious, directed use
of the trained mind, of his controlled emotional nature and his responsive brain. He
becomes proficient in playing the difficult, dual role of the disciple. This is to live as
a soul in the life of every day and to work consciously in relation to the Hierarchy.
There are many other definitions of an esoteric school but I have chosen the simpler of
them, and the ones which must be first grasped if right progress is to be made. Step by
step the disciple is led forward along the Path until the time comes when he is ready for
those great unfoldments of consciousness which we call "Initiations." He then
begins consciously to tread the Path of Initiation with which the esoteric schools of the
future will familiarize the general public.
It is with
the effort to meet these seven requirements of all esoteric schools, that the Arcane
School is occupied. It is not occupied with preparing disciples for
initiations and never has been. It is attempting to train its students to make the
preliminary contacts and to work as true servers in the world. There is no true esoteric
school today which is giving training for initiation. Those who claim to do so are
deceiving the public. Training in the life of discipleship, academically understood, can
be given. Training in the life of the initiate has still to be ascertained individually,
and through contacts in the world of spiritual being.
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