Dweller on the Threshold: A Compilation

Partial compilation on ‘The Dweller on the Threshold’ as applied in the writings of Djwhal Khul and Alice Bailey.

 

The Dweller on the Threshold is usually regarded as presenting the final test of man’s courage, and as being in the nature of a gigantic thought-form or factor which has to be dissipated, prior to taking initiation. Just what this thought-form is, few people know, but their definition includes the idea of a huge elemental form which bars the way to the sacred portal, or the idea of a fabricated form, constructed sometimes by the disciple’s Master to test his sincerity. Some regard it as the sum total of a man’s faults, his evil nature, which hinders his being recognized as fit to tread the Path of Holiness. None of these definitions, however, give a true idea of the reality.

Source: Glamor – A World Problem

 

The Dweller on the Threshold is illusion-glamor-maya, as realized by the physical brain and recognized as that which must be overcome. It is the bewildering thought-form with which the disciple is confronted, when he seeks to pierce through the accumulated glamor of the ages and find his true home in the place of light.

Source: Glamor – A World Problem

 

Glamor upon the Higher Mental Planes – The Dweller on the Threshold

We will now touch very briefly upon the problem of the Dweller on the Threshold. This Dweller is oft regarded as a disaster, as a horror to be avoided, and as a final and culminating evil. I would remind you nevertheless that the Dweller is the “one who stands before the Gate of God,” who dwells in the shadow of the portal of initiation, and who faces the Angel of the Presence open-eyed, as the ancient scripture calls it. The Dweller can be defined as the sumtotal of the forces of the lower nature as expressed in the personality, prior to illumination, to inspiration and to initiation. The personality, at this stage, is exceedingly potent, and the Dweller embodies all the psychic and mental forces which down the ages have been unfolded in a man and nurtured with care; it can be looked upon as the potency of the threefold material form, prior to its consecration and dedication to the life of the soul and to the service of the Hierarchy, of God and humanity.

The Dweller on the Threshold is all that a man is, apart from the higher spiritual self; it is the third aspect of divinity as expressed in the human mechanism, and this third aspect must eventually be subordinated to the second aspect, the soul.

The two great contrasting Forces, the ANGEL and the DWELLER, are brought together – face to face – and the final conflict takes place. Again you will note that it is a meeting and a battle between another and higher pair of opposites. The aspirant has, therefore, three pairs of opposites with which to deal as he progresses towards light and liberation.

The Pairs of Opposites

1. On the Physical Plane – The dense and the etheric.
   Fought out upon the Path of Purification.
2. On the Astral Plane – The well-known dualities.
   Fought upon the Path of Discipleship.
3. On the Mental Plane – The Angel and the Dweller.
   Fought upon the Path of Initiation.

I have, I should judge, given you enough to ponder upon; I would close it, however, by pointing out to you the very practical nature of that which I have communicated and would urge you to find out in your own practical experience the nature of the battle you have each to fight. To aid you in this, I am going to help you in one very definite way.

It will be of service to you if I indicate to you – each of you – the rays which govern your threefold personality. You will then be in a position to handle yourselves with greater wisdom, to trace more easily the causes of difficulty and to study more intelligently the effect you may have upon each other and upon those you contact in daily life. I will elaborate in detail the training which should be given to each of the three bodies, taking one of the vehicles at a time and explaining the problem facing each of you in relation to that particular vehicle, and assigning a meditation which will enable you (with greater facility) to handle the personality from that specific angle.

You will note from the above that it is, therefore, my intention to give you a much more careful and intensive training. Will you profit by it? In the interim and in order that you can apprehend the truth of what I shall later tell you, will you study yourselves with care during the next six months and see if what I later suggest is not true? Use the information given in A Treatise on the Seven Rays as your guide in this self-analysis; I would remind you that the rays govern the three bodies in the following order:

1. Rays governing the mental body – Rays 1.4.5.
2. Rays governing the astral body – Rays 2.6.
3. Rays governing the physical body – Rays 3.7.

Thus you will note that all the rays play their part in the mechanism of man, making all circumstances the vehicles of opportunity and all conditions the medium of development. This statement as to the governing rays is a statement of an infallible rule, except in the case of accepted disciples.

As you read and study, you would find it of value to reflect upon and then to answer the following questions:

1. What is the relation of the intuition to the problem of illusion?
2. In what manner can illumination dispel glamor, and how can it be brought about?
3. Define maya and give your understanding of inspiration as a factor in dispelling it.

I have purposely not elucidated this technique as I sought to draw out your own ideas. I would urge you to follow the group meditation with care. It is of deep importance to the group in the interest of integration and real spiritual cooperation. The Full Moon work will likewise increase in importance. Later will come facility in recognizing and recording the nature of the glamor to be dissipated and aptitude in seeing the process of light distribution.

Source: Glamor – A World Problem

 

Scorpio. The keynotes of this sign are, therefore, test, trial and triumph. They can also be called struggle, strength and Sagittarian attitudes. Another angle of the experience in Scorpio can be covered by two words: recapitulation and reorientation. In Scorpio, two most occult factors emerge from the past and begin to engross the attention of the disciple. One is memory and the other is, as a consequence of the memory, the Dweller on the Threshold. Memory in the sense here involved is not simply just a faculty of the mind, as is so oft supposed, but it is essentially a creative power. It is basically an aspect of thought and – coupled with imagination – is a creative agent because thoughts are things, as well you know. From ancient recesses of the memory, from a deeply rooted past which is definitely recalled, and from the racial and the individual subconscious (or founded and established thought reservoirs and desires, inherited and inherent) there emerges from individual past lives and experience that which is the sumtotal of all instinctual tendencies, of all inherited glamors and of all phases of wrong mental attitudes; to these (as they constitute a blended whole) we give the name of the Dweller on the Threshold. This Dweller is the sumtotal of all the personality characteristics which have remained unconquered and unsubdued and which must be finally overcome before initiation can be taken. Each life sees some progress made; some personality defects straightened out and some real advance effected. But the unconquered residue and the ancient liabilities are numerous and excessively potent and – when soul contact is adequately established – there eventuates a life wherein the highly developed and powerful personality becomes, in itself, the Dweller on the Threshold. Then the Angel of the Presence and the Dweller stand face to face and something must then be done. Eventually, the light of the personal self fades out and wanes in the blaze of glory which emanates from the Angel. Then the greater glory obliterates the lesser. This is, however, only possible when the personality eagerly enters into this relation with the Angel, recognizes itself as the Dweller and – as a disciple – begins the battle between the pairs of opposites and enters into the tests of Scorpio. These tests and trials are ever self-initiated; the disciple puts himself into the positive or conditioning environment wherein the trials and the discipline are unavoidable and inevitable. When the mind has reached a relatively high stage of development, the memory aspect is evoked in a new and conscious manner and then every latent predisposition, every racial and national instinct, every unconquered situation and every controlling fault rises to the surface of consciousness and then – the fight is on. The keynote of Scorpio is, however, Triumph. This is its major expression upon the physical plane. As a result of struggle and of victory, the whole divine man – not yet perfectly expressing himself, if I might word the situation thus – is anchored upon the physical plane with such accuracy and clarity that there is no escape from the environing conclusions of the disciple’s family, friends and group that he is a disciple. From that angle he is meticulously watched; he learns the meaning of the word “example”; he is pilloried by those who are onlookers and the first conscious stages toward group awareness and group response, plus group service, are now taken. Such is the outcome and the reward of the experience in Scorpio.

Source: Esoteric Astrology

 

The Dweller on the Threshold is all that a man is, apart from the higher spiritual self; it is the third aspect of divinity as expressed in and through the human mechanism. This third aspect must be eventually subordinated to the second aspect, the soul.

The two great contrasting forces, the Angel and the Dweller, are brought together – face to face – and the final conflict takes place. Again, you will note, that it is a meeting and battle between another and a higher pair of opposites. The aspirant, therefore, has three pairs of opposites with which to deal as he progresses towards light and liberation:

The Pairs of Opposites

1. Upon the physical plane – The dense and etheric forces.
   These are faced upon the Path of Purification.
2. Upon the astral plane – The well-known dualities.
   These are faced upon the Path of Discipleship.
3. Upon the mental plane – The Angel of the Presence and the Dweller on the Threshold.
   These are faced upon the Path of Initiation.

Source: Esoteric Psychology II

 

The Contrast between the Dweller and its opposite, the Angel of the Presence

The entire subject of the Dweller and its relation to the Angel (a symbolic way of dealing with a great relationship and possibility, and a great fact in manifestation) is only now possible of consideration. Only when man is an integrated personality does the problem of the Dweller truly arise, and only when the mind is alert and the intelligence organized (as is becoming the case today on a fairly large scale) is it possible for man to sense – intelligently and not just mystically – the Angel and so intuit the PRESENCE. Only then does the entire question of hindrances which the Dweller embodies, and the limitations which it provides to spiritual contact and realization assume potent proportions. Only then can they be usefully considered and steps taken to induce right action. Only when there is adequate fusion within humanity as a whole does the great human Dweller on the Threshold appear as an integrated entity, or the Dweller in a national or racial sense makes its appearance, spreading and vitalizing national, racial and planetary glamor, fostering and feeding individual glamors and making the entire problem unmistakably apparent. Only then can the relation between the soul of humanity and the generated forces of its ancient and potent personality assume proportions which call for drastic activity and intelligent cooperation.

Such a time has now come, and in the two books, Problems of Humanity and The Reappearance of the Christ, and also in the Wesak and June Full Moon messages, I have dealt with this most practical and urgent situation, which is in itself the guarantee of human progress toward its destined goal as well as the assertion of its major hindrances to spiritual realization. The sections on which we shall now be engaged are of prime importance to all who are in training for initiation. I said “in training,” my brothers; I did not say that you would take initiation in this life. I know not myself whether you will or no; the issue lies in your hands and in your planned destiny – planned by your souls. Your problem is essentially that of learning to handle the Dweller on the Threshold and of ascertaining the procedures and the processes whereby the momentous activity of fusion can take place. Through the medium of this fusion the Dweller

“disappears and is no more seen, though still he functions on the outer plane, the agent of the Angel; the light absorbs the Dweller, and into obscuration – radiant yet magnetic – this ancient form of life dissolves though keeping still its form; it rests and works but is not now itself.”

Such are the paradoxical statements of the Old Commentary.

I have earlier defined for you in as simple terms as possible the nature of the Dweller. I would like, however, to enlarge upon one or two points and give one or two new suggestions which – for the sake of clarity and for your more rapid comprehension – we will tabulate as follows:

1. The Dweller on the Threshold is essentially the personality; it is an integrated unity composed of physical forces, vital energy, astral forces and mental energies, constituting the sumtotal of the lower nature.
2. The Dweller takes form when a reorientation of man’s life has taken place consciously and under soul impression; the whole personality is then theoretically directed towards liberation into service. The problem is to make the theory and the aspiration facts in experience.
3. For a great length of time the forces of the personality do not constitute a Dweller. The man is not on the threshold of divinity; he is not consciously aware of the Angel. His forces are inchoate; he works unconsciously in his environment, the victim of circumstance and of his own nature apparently and under the lure and the urge of desire for physical plane activity and existence. When, however, the life of the man is ruled from the mental plane, plus desire or ambition, and he is controlled at least to some large extent by mental influence, then the Dweller begins to take shape as a unified force.
4. The stages wherein the Dweller on the Threshold is recognized, subjected to a discriminating discipline and finally controlled and mastered, are mainly three:
   1. The stage wherein the personality dominates and rules the life and ambitions and the goals of man’s life-endeavor. The Dweller then controls.
   2. The stage of a growing cleavage in the consciousness of the disciple. The Dweller or the personality is then urged in two directions: one, towards the pursuit of personal ambitions and desires in the three worlds; the other, in which the effort is made by the Dweller (note this statement) to take a stand upon the threshold of divinity and before the Portal of Initiation.
   3. The stage wherein the Dweller consciously seeks the cooperation of the soul and, though still in itself essentially constituting a barrier to spiritual progress, is more and more influenced by the soul than by its lower nature.
5. When the final stage is reached (and many are now reaching it today) the disciple strives with more or less success to steady the Dweller (by learning to “hold the mind steady in the light” and thus controlling the lower nature). In this way the constant fluid changefulness of the Dweller is gradually overcome; its orientation towards reality and away from the Great Illusion is made effective, and the Angel and the Dweller are slowly brought into a close rapport.
6. In the earlier stages of effort and of attempted control, the Dweller is positive and the Soul is negative in their effects in the three worlds of human endeavor. Then there is a period of oscillation, leading to a life of equilibrium wherein neither aspect appears to dominate; after that the balance changes and the personality steadily becomes negative and the soul or psyche becomes dominant and positive.

Source: Glamor – A World Problem

 

Source: Glamor – A World Problem

 

In considering the subject of Avatars I would like to point out that (from the standpoint of mankind at his present point in evolution) Avatars are of two kinds, as might be expected when the consciousness of humanity is subject to the control of the pairs of opposites. These two are:

1. Those Avatars Who are the embodiment of the Angel of the Presence, whether that Presence is the soul in man, the planetary Logos, some extra-planetary Entity, some Cosmic Being, or an Expression of Cosmic Good.
2. Those Avatars who are embodiments of the Dweller on the Threshold, whether that Dweller is the human Dweller on the Threshold, planetary Forces of Materialism, or some Aspect of Cosmic Evil.

Let me attempt to make this analogy a little clearer. Just as in the case of individual man there comes a point in his life experience when the Angel of the Presence is sensed, known, seen and recognized as the revealer of divinity, so in the history of the race of men, the same great illumination may come. Revelation confronts the aspirant. Revelation confronts humanity. God is known within the human heart. God is known by mankind. This recognition of divinity in its varying aspects is naturally a progressive one – each stage and each life bringing its own revelation of the beauty of divinity and the glory of light more truly and clearly before the disciple. Similarly, there come cycles wherein the Dweller on the Threshold appears and confronts the aspirant, challenging his purpose and progress and blocking the door which leads to expanded life and liberation. The Dweller challenges the freedom of the human soul. So it is also in the life of a nation, a race, and humanity as a whole.

The Angel of the Presence indicates divine possibility, reveals to the attentive disciple the next step towards liberation which must be made, and throws light upon the immediate stage of the Path to Light which must be trodden. So does the Avatar Who reveals the Lighted Way to humanity.

The Dweller on the Threshold summarizes in itself the evil tendencies, the accumulated limitations and the sumtotal of the selfish habits and desires which are characteristic of the material nature of the disciple. The Angel of the Presence indicates the future possibility and the divine nature. So does the Avatar. The Dweller on the Threshold indicates the past with its limitations and evil habits. So do those Avatars Who from time to time appear as the embodiments of evil and of the lower nature of mankind. And, my brother, They do appear from age to age.

Some cycles in a disciple’s life present one aspect of a “confrontation” and some another. In one life he may be entirely occupied with fighting the Dweller onthe Threshold or with orienting himself to the Angel of the Presence and permitting the divine conditioning energy to flow into him; he may be succumbing to the influence of the dread sumtotal of his evil and material desires or he may be drawing gradually nearer to the Angel. But – and this is the point of importance – it is he himself who evokes one or other of these manifestations. So it is with humanity. The call of humanity’s soul, or of humanity’s material nature, must evoke response, and thus an Avatar can manifest. It is the magnetic appeal or the massed intent of the disciple or of humanity which produces the manifestation. In other lives, the disciple may simply swing between the two poles of his being, with no conscious effort, no direct confrontation and no clear understanding of life purpose. So does humanity.

Eventually, however, there comes a life wherein the disciple is confronted by both the Dweller and the Angel simultaneously and the major conflict of his experience takes place. So it is today in the world. The spiritual and the material are in conflict, and humanity itself is the battleground.

Source: The Externalization of the Hierarchy

 

At this point I desire to do two things: I seek to outline a little more carefully this discussion or short treatise on glamor, so that our ideas may be clearly formulated and you will have a textbook for future reference which will serve to guide your group and analogous groups in the way of right activity. Secondly, I wish to recapitulate somewhat those things which I have already stated so as to enrich your understanding of the various phases of the world glamor. This world glamor, the analytical mind has to differentiate into distinctive phases, calling them Illusion, Glamor, Maya and that synthetic thought-form, found on the Path of Discipleship, which is called by some schools of esotericism the Dweller on the Threshold.

As you will see from this, my brothers, we have set ourselves a large theme, which must be very carefully handled. My task is a difficult one, because I write for those who are still held by the varying aspects of glamor, and usually by the secondary glamor and maya. Illusion does not yet fully play its part and the Dweller is seldom adequately realized. I would here remind you of a stupendous occult fact and will ask you to endeavor to understand that whereof I speak. The Dweller on the Threshold does not emerge out of the fog of illusion and of glamor until the disciple is nearing the Gates of Life. Only when he can catch dim glimpses of the Portal of Initiation and an occasional flash of light from the Angel of the Presence Who stands waiting beside that door, can he come to grips with the principle of duality, which is embodied for him in the Dweller and the Angel. Do you comprehend that whereof I speak? As yet, my words embody for you symbolically a future condition and event. The day will surely come, however, when you will stand in full awareness between these symbols of the pairs of opposites, with the Angel on the right and the Dweller on the left. May strength then be given to you to drive straight forward between these two opponents, who have for long ages waged warfare in the field of your life, and so may you enter into that Presence where the two are seen as one, and naught is known but life and deity.

Source: Glamor – A World Problem

 

I would like to start off this instruction with the simple statement as to the task which all disciples of the Masters throughout the world are engaged in undertaking and which you also should consciously consider. It is the task of confronting the Dweller on the Threshold in your own life and also in the group life, and then – from that vantage point of strength – face that Dweller on behalf of humanity and thus aid humanity to vanquish this ancient evil. To do this presupposes crisis in your life and in the life of humanity. The handling of crises is the hallmark of the disciple, and every crisis met and rightly handled provides (once the difficulty is occultly “under the feet”) the place from which an extended vision can be gained, fresh knowledge can flow in and the transmuting light can shine from the Angel of the Presence and thus produce results.

Each of you has passed through a cycle of real difficulty and strain. This is true of all disciples. The past eighteen months have been months of precipitation, producing a chemicalisation, an interior process of upheaval and probably outer behavior which may have caused concern to the Observer within. This however is but the reaction of the personality to undue pressure and strain, to world conditions and clearer vision. Vision reveals both the light and the dark, a thing which is oft forgotten. Disciples are fortunate if the major results work out in the physical body. The reactions of the physical body are the least important and do the least harm to others. Where they work out in an emotional or mental condition they are then apt to become a problem of fellow disciples, adding to their strain and necessitating an effort upon their part to carry the brother through with the least damage to the group.

In this group work you need to remember that increasingly there will be no individual life. This is as it should be. Increasingly disciples should be aware of each other and tune in with ease on each other; increasingly the bonds of illumined loyalty should control; increasingly you will participate in each other’s attitudes and conditions and thus learn the basic lesson of understanding. Understanding is the secret behind all power to achieve identification with any form of divine expression; understanding is one of the prime factors in producing revelation, and this is one of the paradoxes of occultism. In the world of human thought, understanding follows the prescribed routine, it follows the presented fact. In the life of the spirit, understanding is a necessary predisposing cause of revelation. I would ask you to ponder on this, bracing yourself for revelation, through a deep understanding of the initiator in yourself. Each of you has to initiate your own individual crises; there is no one else who is responsible. Each of you together initiates the activity for which the group is responsible and for which you have been brought together; each of you initiates himself into the Presence, through the medium of the Angel, and into the shadow of the Dweller on the Threshold. Through this process, full consciousness is achieved.

Source: Discipleship in the New Age II

 

1. Upon the mental plane the Angel of the Presence and the Dweller on the Threshold are brought face to face. Their synthesis is brought about upon the Path of Initiation.

What is true of man in this connection is true also of humanity as a whole, of the planetary Logos of the Earth, as of all planetary Logoi, and of a solar Logos. The analogy between the fusion of the pairs of opposites, for instance, upon the physical plane can be seen in the conscious and directed fusion of the planetary forces with the energy of any specific planet or group of planets. The analogy, involving discrimination to regulate and offset the force of the pairs of opposites upon the astral plane, can be seen when the energies of the sun sign and of the planets are perfectly directed and adjusted. The analogy can also be carried forward onto the mental plane and when the energies of the sun sign and the rising sign are coherently blended and expressed (in the case of both the individual or a planetary Life) there comes a point of crisis wherein the soul and the personality are brought face to face. The Angel of the Presence, distributing solar fire and holding focused electric fire, and the Dweller on the Threshold, expressing and utilizing fire by friction, know each other “with intimate occult knowledge.” The door then stands open wide through which the life and light of the three major constellations can – after the third initiation – be occultly available to the initiate, be he a liberated human being or a planetary Logos.

Source: Esoteric Astrology

 

What is the task which confronts you, both as individuals and as a group? It is a fivefold task:

1. To confront and deal adequately with your own personal Dweller on the Threshold.
2. To share – as a group – in humanity’s effort to confront the group Dweller on the Threshold; this “Dweller” is constructed of the evil desires of all mankind, of humanity’s mistakes and weaknesses, thoughts, distorted strengths and perverse motives. This confronting is one of the objectives of the present world war.
3. To arrive at that understanding which is the foundation of wisdom, which is the result of a developed intuition, and which is also an intelligent application of the truths apprehended.
4. To stand – as a group – before the Angel of the Presence.
5. To take initiation yourself, as an individual, and also as a coherent unit in the group effort towards initiation.

Source: Discipleship in the New Age II

 

Speaking symbolically the substance of the astral plane is animated by three types of divine force, which, when brought together, produce the great Illusion. These are:

First, the force of selfish desire. This involutionary energy plays a big part in bringing about evolution, for selfishness is the nursery of infant souls. Hence the aspirant refuses to be held by it.

Second, the force of fear. This is the product of ignorance, and in its initial stages it is not the product of wrong thinking. It is basically instinctual and is found dominating in the non-mental animal kingdom as well as in the human kingdom. But in the human, its power is increased potently through the powers of the mind, and through memory of past pain and grievance and through anticipation of those we foresee, the power of fear is enormously aggravated by the thought-form we ourselves have built of our own individual fears and phobias. This thought form grows in power as we pay attention to it, for “energy follows thought”, till we become dominated by it. Second ray people are peculiarly a prey to this. For the majority of them it constitutes the “dweller on the threshold”, just as ambition and love of power, backed by frantic desire and unscrupulousness form the “Dweller” for the first ray types. The crystallized thought form of intellectual achievement for selfish ends, and the use of knowledge for personality objectives stand before the portal of the path in the case of the third ray person, and unless broken up and destroyed will dominate him and turn him into a black magician.

Source: A Treatise on White Magic

 

I deal not here with the nature of imperfection or the purpose of evil. Do I need to point out to any of my readers how inescapably both are present? I might point out that imperfection is inherent in the nature of matter itself and constitutes an inheritance from a previous solar system. I might indicate that evil emanates from that hierarchy of evil Forces which are the material correspondence to the spiritual Hierarchy; this is related to the fact that all our planes are composed of substance of the cosmic physical plane. It might also be stated that when the imperfection of matter is realized and corrected, and when the interest and emphasis of humanity is turned away from material conditions, then the Forces of Evil will have nothing in the three worlds (the three lower levels of the cosmic physical plane) upon which to work; there will be nothing they can influence, and no mode of influencing man will then exist as far as evil is concerned. I cannot expect you at this time to comprehend the meaning of my words. They are, however, related to the words in the Great Invocation which say, “and seal the door where evil dwells.” There is a door into an evil realm and into blackness, just as there is a door into a world of goodness and light; the devil is to man who is dedicated and consecrated to evil what the Dweller on the Threshold is to the spiritual aspirant.

Source: Esoteric Healing

 

One of the most difficult things with which the Masters are today confronted is to prove to man that the old and recognized values and the tangible world of phenomena (emotional and physical) must be relegated to their right place in the background of man’s consciousness, and that the intangible realities, and the world of ideas and causes must be, for him, in the immediate future, the main center of attention. When man grasps this and lives by this knowledge, then the glamor which now holds the world will disappear. If you ponder on this you will recognize how the great crisis of 1914-1918 did much useful work in smashing the glamorous material security in which men were living, and in destroying much of their instinctual and sensuous selfishness. The group is beginning to be recognized as of major importance, and the welfare of the individual is important just in so far as the unit is an integral part of the group. This will not eventually destroy initiative and individuality. It is only in our initial experiments, and through our inexpertness in the use of the discriminating faculty, that we are, as yet, making such sad mistakes. This process of destroying the world illusion has been going on on a large scale ever since; in every country, through the various experiments which are going forward, the glamor is breaking down and the truer values of group welfare, of group integration, and of group progress are emerging. The sense of insecurity which is such a distressing aspect of the present upheaval is due simply to this destruction of the old sense of values, to that dispelling of glamor which reveals at present an unfamiliar landscape, and to the fear and instability which man feels when he comes up against the world “Dweller on the Threshold.” This has to be broken up and destroyed, for it blocks the way to the new world of values. The great thought form which man’s greed and materiality have built, down the ages, is being steadily demolished, and mankind is on the verge of a liberation which will take him on to the Path of Discipleship. I refer not here to the final liberation, but to that liberation which comes from a free choice, wisely used and applied to the good of the whole, and conditioned by love. Note that I say, “wisely used.” Wisdom, actuated and motivated by love, and intelligently applied to world problems, is much needed today and is not yet to be found, except among the few illumined souls in every nation, – in every nation, I say, without exception. Many more must love with wisdom and appreciate the group aspiration before we shall see the next reality to be known and to emerge out of the darkness which we are now in the process of dispelling.

Source: Esoteric Psychology I

 

The main factor preventing a completely unimpeded sequence of impression from Shamballa straight down into the mineral kingdom, via all the other kingdoms, is the factor of free will, resulting in karmic responsibility. This can be either good or bad. It is interesting to note here that both the good and the bad karma produce conditions which not only have to be worked out, but that they lead to conditions which delay what we – from our limited point of view – might look upon as the liberation of the planet. The generating of good karma necessitates the “living through” of conditions where everything (for the man responsible or for any other form within its limitations) is good, happy, beneficent and useful. The evil karma generated in any kingdom in relation to the “realm where dwelleth the planetary Dweller on the Threshold” stands between the cosmic Door of Initiation and our planetary Logos. This Dweller represents all the mistakes and errors due to wrong reactions, unrecognized contacts, deliberate choices made in defiance of known good, and mass movements and mass activities which are temporarily not progressive in time and space. I realize that where these facts apply to the subhuman kingdoms in nature you are not aware of what I mean, but that does not alter the law or movements which are in no way related to human evolution. In connection with the planetary Logos I would like to add that in that great planetary struggle and His subsequent initiation, we are all implicated – from the atom of substance up to and including all the Lives which form the Council Chamber of the Lord of the World; it is this titanic effort which is made by the sumtotal of all the living processes and entities that compose the manifestation of Sanat Kumara which is responsible for the creative evolutionary processes; it is also responsible for what we call time, with all that that concept involves of events, opportunity, the past, the present and the future, the good and the evil.

Source: Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle

 

Source: The Externalization of the Hierarchy

 

Initiation might be defined at this point as the moment of crisis wherein the consciousness hovers on the very border-line of revelation. The demands of the soul and the suggestions of the Master might be regarded as in conflict with the demands of time and space, focussed in the personality or the lower man. You will have, therefore, in this situation a tremendous pull between the pairs of opposites; the field of tension or the focus of the effort is to be found in the disciple “standing at the midway point.” Will he respond and react consciously to the higher pull and pass on to new and higher areas of spiritual experience? Or will he fall back into the glamour of time and space and into the thralldom of the personal life? Will he stand in a static quiescent condition in which neither the higher trend nor the lower pull will affect him? One or other of these three conditions must distinguish him and must succeed upon an earlier and vacillating experience wherein the disciple vibrates between the higher and the lower decisions. It is at this process, the Master presides. He is able to do nothing because it is the disciple’s own problem. He can only endeavor to enhance the desire of the soul by the power of his directed thought. The personality can also do nothing, for at this point both the physical body and the astral vehicle are simply automatons, waiting responsively for the decision of the disciple, functioning in his mental body. Only the disciple can act upon the mental level of consciousness at this point of endeavor. Once he does so, the die is cast. He either moves forward towards the door of light where the Master takes his hand and the Angel of the Presence becomes potent and active in a way which I may not describe to you, or he drops back temporarily into the life condition of the lower man; glamour and maya settle down anew upon him and the Dweller on the Threshold inserts himself between the disciple and the light from the open door and renews activity. The disciple either awakens suddenly to a wider grasp of reality and a deeper understanding of the Plan and his part in it, or the “veils of earth” close over his head; the vision fades and he reverts into the life of an ordinary human being, probably for the period of the incarnation wherein the opportunity was offered to him. Should he, however, go forward through that door, then (according to the initiation which becomes possible) will be the revelation and its attendant consequences. The revelation will not the revelation of possibilities. It is a factual experience, resulting in the evocation of new powers and capacities and the recognition of new modes and fields of service. These powers are conditioned by past developments and the presence of these capacities, plus a freedom of movement “within the bounds of the Hierarchy” which lie far beyond anything which he may have dreamed, become his. New hierarchical contacts are now possible to him; new responsibility is laid upon his shoulders and new “fields of potency” become available for his use in world service.

Source: Discipleship in the New Age I