The “new age” has a connotation in some human minds of an ungrounded, free-wheeling approach to living characterised by an attitude that “the rules don’t apply”. True, the crystallised restrictions and binding mores of the old age no longer dominate most human thinking, but the timeless rules of the soul do and always will apply to the spiritual seeker. The sincere aspirant to the discipleship knows all too well that there is no evading the law on the way of spiritual evolution. This is a lesson which the inpouring energies of the new age are bringing to human recognition, for the energy which will govern the new age is the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Law or Order. This is the impulse behind the increasing demand for the rules of law which is becoming increasingly evident in societies everywhere. It may also lie behind the urge of fundamentalists in all fields to impose their sets of law and rules on the larger society and, in so doing, widening any existing cleavages between peoples.
Rules govern group relationships on every level from the mundane to the most spiritual, and the books of Alice A. Bailey are replete with them. There are the Rules for Disciples in A TREATISE ON WHITE MAGIC, the Rules for Aspirants in INITIATION HUMAN AND SOLAR, and the Rules for disciples and Initiates in THE RAYS AND THE INITIATIONS, Volume V of A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS. Then there are the timeless Rules of the Road discussed in GLAMOUR, A WORLD PROBLEM. All of these rules are intended to set the parameters of group work, to elevate it to its highest level as the collaboration of souls.
The Tibetan master said the following:
What is this occult obedience, my brothers, about which we hear so much? Not what many occult groups make it out to be. It is not the control of an external organisation, dedicated to so-called occult work. It is not the imposed conditions of any teacher of any rank. It is not the exchange of the prison of one set of ideas for those of another set with perhaps a larger range or import. A prison is a prison, whether it is a tiny cell or an isolated island of vast extent, from which escape is impossible.
The authority to which we, the teachers on the inner side, respond is twofold in nature, and to it you are just beginning (as units in a group) to respond. To what do you respond?
1. To the slowly emerging realisation of the “light beyond,” using that phrase as a symbol. This light is different in its appeal to the individual. Yet it is ONE LIGHT. But its recognition reveals new laws, new responsibilities, new duties and obligations, and new relations to others. These constitute an authoritative control. None can escape this authority, but can disobey it in time and space and for a temporary period.
2. To the authority of the Rules of the Road which are imposed upon one as one passes from the Path of Probation on to the Path of Discipleship. Yet it is ONE ROAD. Upon this “narrow, razor-edged path,” one learns to walk with discipline and discretion and with the desirelessness which one experiences in unison with one’s fellow disciples.
What, briefly and succinctly, are these rules of the Road? Let me give you six of the simplest rules, begging you to remember that they are not authoritatively imposed by an arbitrary Board of Directors, such as a group teacher or teachers (of whom I might, of course, be one) but are the outcome of the conditions to be found upon the Path itself. They carry the warrant of a man’s own soul and are the result of the experience of millions of travellers upon that Path.
I will give you these six rules (even as I gave them to another aspirant*) in ancient and symbolic form, translating them as well as I can from the ancient records, stored in the Hall of Wisdom, and available to all earnest disciples,—such as you.
The Six Rules of the Path
I. The Road is trodden in the full light of day, thrown upon the Path by Those Who know and lead. Naught can then be hidden, and at each turn, a man must face himself.
II. Upon the Road the hidden stands revealed. Each sees and knows the villainy of each. (I can find no other word, my brother, to translate the ancient word which designates the unrevealed stupidity, the vileness and crass ignorance, and the self-interest which are distinguishing characteristics of the average aspirant.) And yet there is, with that great revelation, no turning back, no spurning of each other, and no shakiness upon the Road. The Road goes forward into day.
III. Upon that Road one wanders not alone. There is no rush, no hurry. And yet there is no time to lose. Each Pilgrim, knowing this, presses his footsteps forward, and finds himself surrounded by his fellowmen. Some move ahead; he follows after. Some move behind; he sets the pace. He travels not alone.
IV. Three things the Pilgrim must avoid. The wearing of a hood, the veil which hides his face from others; the carrying of a water pot which only holds enough for his own wants; the shouldering of a staff without a crook to hold.
V. Each Pilgrim on the Road must carry with him what he needs: a pot of fire, to warm his fellowmen; a lamp, to cast its rays upon his heart and show his fellowmen the nature of his hidden life; a purse of gold, which he scatters not upon the Road but shares with others; a sealed vase, wherein he carries all his aspiration to cast before the feet of Him Who waits to greet him at the gate—a sealed vase.
VI. The Pilgrim, as he walks upon the Road, must have the open ear, the giving hand, the silent tongue, the chastened heart, the golden voice, the rapid foot, and the open eye which sees the light. He knows he travels not alone. [GLAMOR A World Problem. pp. 49-51]
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Rules for Applicants
The rules given here are fourteen in number, and are gathered from a series of instructions compiled for those who seek to take the first initiation.
Rule I. Let the disciple search within the heart's deep cave. If there the fire burns bright, warming his brother yet heating not himself, the hour has come for making application to stand before the door.
When love for all beings, irrespective of who they may be, is beginning to be a realised fact in the heart of a disciple, and yet nevertheless love for himself exists not, then comes the indication that he is nearing the Portal of Initiation, and may make the necessary preliminary pledges. These are necessitated before his Master hands in his name as a candidate for initiation. If he cares not for the suffering and pain of the lower self, if it is immaterial to him whether happiness comes his way or not, if the sole purpose of his life is to serve and save the world, and if his brother's need is for him of greater moment than his own, then is the fire of love irradiating his being, and the world can warm itself at his feet. This love has to be a practical, tested manifestation, and not just a theory, nor simply an impractical ideal and a pleasing sentiment. It is something that has grown in the trials and tests of life, so that the primary impulse of the life is towards self-sacrifice and the immolation of the lower nature.
Please read the rest at: http://edgeba.webs.com/rulesshowtheway.htm
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