Alice Bailey - From Bethlehem to Calvary - II - The First Initiation - The Birth at
Bethlehem
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From Bethlehem to Calvary - Chapter Two - The First Initiation - The
Birth at Bethlehem
III.All of these five initiations have certain basic
points in common, resemblances which in themselves are of real significance. There are
factors which are germane to all of them. The Way into the kingdom is universal, and man
himself is the symbol and the reality. He looks out at all [51] the myths and symbols of
the world; he reads and knows the story of the world Saviors; at the same time he himself
has to re-enact the same story and make myth a fact in his own personal experience; he
must know Christ; he must also follow Christ stage by stage through the great experiences
of the initiatory process.
Every
initiation is preceded by a journey; each stage and each dramatic happening comes at the
end of a period of travel. The symbolism of this is apparent. "The treading of the
Path" is a familiar way of describing the approach of a human being to the mysteries.
It is interesting to note that today the whole world is on the move. Everybody is
travelling and journeying - a process symbolic of an inner condition of search and
movement towards a preordained goal. Travel by rail, by steamship and by airplane is today
the lot of everyone. Groups of people in many countries are being transferred from place
to place as economic conditions make possible and destiny dictates. We are journeying
hither and thither. We are on our way, widening our horizons. We are also preparing for
expansions of consciousness which will enable us to live in two realms at once - the life
which must be lived on earth and the life which we can live in the kingdom of God.
Humanity is on the first stage of its journey towards the mystic Bethlehem where the
Christ child will be born, and the first initiation is, at this time, an imminent
happening for many.
"To
every man there openeth
A way, and ways and a WAY.
And the high soul takes the high way
And the low soul gropes the low;
And in between, on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro,
But to every man there openeth
A high way and a low.
And every man decideth
The way his soul shall go."
- John
Oxenham. [52]
Again,
every initiation is marked by the enunciation of a Word of Power. The initiate hears it,
though the rest of the world may not. When Christ passed through these crises, in every
case a Voice sounded out, and the sound which went forth "opened anew the gates of
life." Door after door is opened on the demand of the initiate and at the response by
the Initiator, standing on the other side of the portal. We shall see what each Word
signified. The Word always issues forth from the center. Again and again in the New
Testament we are told that "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear," (St.
Matt., XI, 15.) and a study of the words spoken to the seven Churches in Revelations will
bring much light upon the factor of the Word.
Great racial Words have been sounded forth and have brought about needed changes, and
have signified a potency of true spiritual value to the sensitive.
The Word or sound for ancient Asia in the past was TAO, or the Way. It stood for that
ancient Way which the Initiates of the far East trod and taught. For our race the sound is
AUM, which has degenerated in our Occidental vernacular into AMEN. The ancient scriptures
of India regard this Word as peculiarly the indication of divinity, of the spirit of life,
the breath of God. What the new Word will be which will "come forth from the
center" we do not know, for it will not be heard until the race is ready. But there
is a common Word of Power which will be given into the custody of our race if we measure
up to our opportunity and, through the new birth, enter into the kingdom of God. It is
this Word which will quicken into life the hidden soul of man and galvanize him into a
renewed spiritual activity. As the race grows in sensitivity, as the aspirants of the
world in all the many religions cultivate the ability (through meditation) to hear the
Voice which can tune out all other voices, and as they learn to register the Sound which
will obliterate all other sounds, they will, as a group, record the new Word which will
issue forth. [53]
At each initiation of Jesus, as we shall see, a Sign was given; it was a Sign which
registered upon the consciousness of those who were not initiate. Each time, a symbol or
form was seen which was indicative of the revelation. Christ Himself tells us that at the
end of the age the sign of the Son of Man will be seen in the Heavens. (St. Matt., XXIV,
30.) Just as the Birth at Bethlehem was ushered in by a Sign, that of the Star, so shall
that birth towards which the race is hastening be likewise ushered in by a heavenly Sign.
The appeal which goes up from the hearts of all true aspirants to initiation is
beautifully embodied in the following prayer:
"There is a peace that passeth understanding; it abides in the hearts of those who
live in the Eternal. There is a power which maketh all things new. It lives and moves in
those who know the Self as One. May that peace brood over us; that power uplift us, till
we stand where the One Initiator is invoked, till we see His star shine forth."
When that Sign is seen and the Word is heard, the next step will be the recording of
the Vision. The Plan and the part to be played by the initiate are shown to him, and he
knows what he has to do. This Vision is spoken of as "the vision of God," but it
is expressed to man in terms of God's will and the completeness of that which God intends.
We are intended to be initiate into the mystery of that will. The vision of God is the
vision of God's Plan. No man has seen God at any time. The revelation of God comes through
the revelation of Christ.
"Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
"Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
(St. John, XIV, 8, 9.)
Christ
revealed in Himself the will of God and gave to humanity a vision of God's Plan for the
world, this Plan [54] being the coming of the kingdom. He was God, and the word of God
went forth from Him.
Man lives
by the incarnation of God in himself. By passing through the gate of the new birth, he can
redeem the flesh in which that divinity is encased, and can then help in the redemption of
the world. For the race, too, there is the crisis, the initiation and the vision.
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." (Prov., XXIX, 18.) But that
vision is never of the whole Plan. It is not of the ultimate experience nor of the
unfathomable consummation. For that we are not as yet prepared. Christ Himself did not
proclaim the final revelation. He saw and proclaimed the next step for the race. The
events immediately ahead are sensed, to be later intelligently considered; there is a
moment of prevision, a foretelling of movement and activity, of difficulty and service,
and of the next unfolding glory.
Following the vision, as that followed initiation, comes a renewed cycle of test and of
difficulty. The truths revealed and the revelation accorded have to be worked out in the
experience of daily life. Moments of assimilation and reflection must succeed the periods
of exaltation and of vision. Unless there is a practical experience of that which is
known, it remains upon the mountain top of revelation.
Finally,
every initiation leads to expanded service. Practical spiritual living must follow the
moments on the mountain top. Self and its attainment must be forgotten in service to
others. From this there is no escape. Every pinnacle of achievement is followed by a cycle
of testing. Every new revelation grasped and appropriated has to be adapted to the needs
of a consequent and strenuous life of service, and initiation ever calls forth renewed
testing and enhanced power to serve.
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