1. That unconscious adaptation to his environment of the man
who is primarily an unintelligent animal.
Low grade savages are in this class, and many purely agricultural
peasants who have not been subjected to modern education. The man at this stage is little better than
an animal and is governed entirely by instinct.
2. An unconscious
adaptation to environment carried on by the man who is beginning to evidence
some faint flickers of mental perception.
This is partly instinctual and is based on a growing self-love. There is more of the "I"
consciousness in him, and rather less of group instinctual awareness. You find this growing self-realisation in the
low grade slum dwellers, for instance, and in the petty criminal who is
instinctual enough and bright enough to live by his wits and to show quickness
in reactions and deftness manually. It
is the stage of animal cunning.
3. A conscious and purely selfish adapting of oneself to the
environment. In these cases, the man is
definitely aware of his motives; they are consciously thought out and
recognised, and the man makes "the best of his circumstances". He forces himself to live as far as possible
harmoniously in his surroundings. In
this there is really good motive, but principally the man is governed by a
desire for comfort—physical, emotional and mental—to such a degree that he will
discipline himself into such a condition that he fits wherever he may be and
can get on with anyone.
4. From this stage on the differentiations become so
numerous that they are difficult to follow, being mixtures of pure selfishness
(developed often to the nth degree), of a growing recognition of the group, of
an awakening realisation of the right of other people to a similar degree of
comfort and harmony, and of a steady effort to adapt conditions of character
and personality life, so that the purely selfish interests do no real damage to
others, until we arrive at...
5. The average really good man who is struggling to adapt
himself to his surroundings, to his group relations and responsibilities in
such a way that some measure of love can be seen. I refer not here to that instinctual love for
family and children and herd which men share in common with the animals and
which often breaks down when the loved individuals assert themselves. The tie is not strong enough to hold, and the
motive is too selfish to resist the pull.
I refer to that motivated love which recognises the rights of others and
consciously strives to adapt itself to those recognised rights whilst
tenaciously holding on to the rights of the personality.
6. Then we have the work of adaptation as carried on by the
aspirants of the world who are theoretically convinced of their group relation,
of its paramount importance, and of the need of every personality to develop
its powers to the fullest capacity in order to bring real value to the group
and to serve adequately the group need.
In true esotericism, there is no such motive as "killing the
personality", or of disciplining it to such an extent that it becomes a
dead poor thing. The true motive is to
train the threefold lower nature, the integrated personality, to the highest
demonstration of its powers, latent or developing, in order that those powers
may be brought to the helping of the group need, and the personality of the
aspirant may be integrated into the group.
Thereby the group life is enriched, the group potency is increased, and
the group consciousness is enhanced.
What is therefore to be seen going on in the life of the
true aspirant today (his developing recognition of group responsibility) can
also be seen going on in groups, in organisations and nations. Hence the many experiments. A process is going forward whereby these groups,
large or small, are being subjected to a housecleaning, to a discarding of the
rubbish of old and worn-out ideas, and to a period of disciplining and training
which must precede all real group life.
When this process is over, we shall have these groups approaching each
other in a new and real spirit of cooperation, of religious fusion, and in an
international attitude which will be new indeed. Then they will have something of a surer and
greater value to offer to the whole.
Within all these groups which are struggling towards this newer
realisation and integration, and which express what we might call "the
sixth stage of adaptation,", are those who are already at the seventh
stage.
7. Here we have complete unselfish adaptation to the group
need and purpose. Those who have reached
this point in their evolution are decentralised as regards their own
personality life. The focus of their
mental attention is in the soul and in the world of souls. Their attention is not directed towards the
personality at all, except in so far as is needed to force it to adhere to
group or soul purpose. These servers who
are expressions of soul radiance and attractive power are knowers of the Plan,
and in every organisation they constitute the new and slowly growing group of
World Servers. In their hands lies the salvation of the world.
8. The final group in this scale of adaptation is that of
the higher initiates, the perfected Elder Brethren and Great Companions. They
are perfectly adapted to Their personalities, to each other and to world
conditions; but as a group They are learning how to adapt the forces of nature,
the energies of the rays and the potencies of the zodiacal signs to the world
need and the world demand in a practical manner and at any particular
time. It is here that the work of the disciples
of the world, and of the higher types of aspirants, proves helpful as a field
of experiment, and it is in the new group of World Servers that the process of
adaptation goes on.
I have endeavoured to outline these stages of the process of
adaptation in terms of consciousness, viewing the subject therefore
philosophically and psychologically. It
should be remembered that this process, as it goes on in consciousness,
produces (surely and inevitably) corresponding changes in mechanism and
structure, and in sense perception through the apparatus of the body. On these changes I lay no emphasis in this
treatise, for they are beautifully dealt with by modern science, which is
steadily forging ahead in the right direction. I lay the emphasis upon consciousness
as the pre-disposing factor, and on the developed sense of awareness which
produces an inner demand for improved equipment. The improving of equipment as a result of the
demand of consciousness is the secret of the evolutionary impulse, down the ages. This inner demand in man awakens the centres,
and the awakening of the centres determines the response of the endocrine
system, governs the nervous system in its threefold capacity, and also the
blood stream. Thus the outer form or
mechanism is ever an indication of the point of evolution of the inner
subjective and spiritual man. [ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY, p322/6]
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