PP 297537/00068
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www.sydneygoodwill.org.au

No 175 / July 2001

Dear Friends,

A major problem when implementing anything new is to recognise what is new clearly enough to allow it to come through into the world - to contact the vision, to communicate it and to implement the new processes that will give it form and living presence. That is the sequence. Where any of the steps are lacking old ideas, methods and forms rush in to fill them - as space abhors a vacuum. It is a disciplined visionary process that requires constant, unremitting striving to apprehend the new energies emerging. Such striving wastes no time in selfish comparisons or judgements arising from the lower desires and motivations (however well we hide them from ourselves or rationalise them). There is no room for self pity or self blame. These are of small if any consequence to the soul and to our true identity as the human spirit in incarnation.

Much theory is expounded about the real and subtle world but, when put to the test, do we live every moment of our lives based on this knowledge? Or do we succumb to "the way of the world" as it has been in the past and delude ourselves that we are preparing for the future by storing up knowledge that we do not yet practise? That future will never happen if we do not begin to live it now, as it is being visioned. It will not happen while we still cling to a protecting veil between ourselves and the implications of our thoughts and actions.

The great teachers through the ages such as the Christ and the Buddha, and all those inspired by the greater vision of truth, have not behaved in the world according to past customs but have initiated a new way, a living way, demonstrated through their own life in the world and its connection with and obedience to the greater laws operating through it. On a smaller scale many individuals, some recognised and many unknown, have lived a spiritual life in the world. They have invariably been misunderstood by those steeped in the ritual of the past and whose vision is veiled by its limitations. We can still see this happening around us but the catastrophic events of the past century have revealed and clarified all of the old attitudes and ideas which have operated in blindness and have worked out within the shackles of prejudice - under a belief in separateness and exclusivity.

Yet this past cycle has brought universal human recognition and is beginning to stir the human psyche and the human race as a whole. We live life now on behalf of the whole human race - always the representative and no longer the separate individual striving for personal exclusivity. Anyone's pain is our pain; everyone's joy is our joy. And this flows more and more freely through us - not from us, but through us - the initiating cause being that life and purpose which flows through all.

Christ heralded our destined role in this great scheme: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." He demonstrated the way of our true mission as St Paul relates: "By a fresh and living way, which he has opened up for us by himself passing through the curtain, that is, his own human nature." And from St Matthew: "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." The Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul, explains the nature of these curtains or veils:
"The veils . . are in the nature of opposing forces and energies which act as inhibitory factors to the aspirant as he seeks to make progress, and to the entire human family as it moves onwards upon the Path of Evolution. They are not basically related to consciousness at all, for in the majority of cases these veils 'lie on the earthward side of being and not upon the side of light'; they are essentially physical forces, and although they are the result of man's own effort and activity down the ages, they are largely unrealised, unseen obstacles to his progress. . . they lie between the subtle inner man, mental and astral, and his physical brain. They are that which prevents brain registration of the world of causes and of meaning. This inner world can be emotional or mental in its focus and in its force precipitation on to the etheric plane. It can be the fused result of personality integration and be a combination of energies; or it can be dominated by the effects of soul energy. These, if evoked, can penetrate occultly and drive out or break down and through the separating veiling forces, thus producing coordination eventually between soul and brain.
These veils are as curtains over the windows of vision. They prevent realisation of that which lies beyond the room or area of average or mediocre experience, and they prevent the light from penetrating."

He goes on to describe the three great rents which have been made on behalf of humanity by Moses (penetrating through to the glory of the Lord and returning with the essential laws), Christ, and St Paul (pushing along "the road to Damascus"). In these as in the many smaller instances it is striving that carries the pilgrim, the aspirant, the disciple through to truth. The next great moment will be brought about by humanity itself - we all have the capacity and will if we but apply it. Again the Tibetan explains:
"The etheric web, separating the lower physical consciousness of the brain from the astral plane begins to undergo a lengthy process of destruction, and the first 'rents' in the web occur. It is through these that the student becomes aware of the inner planes, becomes conscious in the physical brain of the inner happenings, and can (if a disciple) make his contacts with his Ego (soul) . . The higher head centre increases its activity and becomes capable of receiving flashes of illumination from the higher planes. This happens only occasionally at first but with increasing frequency as the years progress, and the 'rents' become more numerous. . . The final hint which can be given, may be summed up in the words that as the aspirant progresses, he not only balances the pairs of opposites, but the secret of his brother's heart becomes revealed to him. He becomes an acknowledged force in the world, and is recognised as one who can be depended upon to serve."

Revelation brings a more complete truth - what is true at all levels at any point in time. Judgement and discretion must be carefully applied if we would veil that truth either from ourselves or others. Do we protect or inhibit when we fail to acknowledge what we know or when we fail to make the attempt to rend the veils and confront truth? The truth is always greater than our fear or frustration would have us believe. An unwillingness to "see through" and acknowledge illusion and glamour, and an inability to marshal the constant determination to win through to truth are all that holds us back. The Tibetan warns:
"Few . . dare trust themselves to see their fellowmen as they really are, for fear of a critical spirit - so hard it is to develop the true practice of loving understanding which leads to the seeing of all people in truth, with their faults and their virtues, their pettiness and their grandeurs, and still to love them as before and even more."

This fine discrimination is a result of seeing truly and clearly through the veils, through every moment - not losing sight of the truth, in process of manifesting in our world while we apprehend it and so allow it through. There is always a "way through" for truth. The old defensive and offensive position-taking process does not allow a "way through" and therefore stands in the way of divine Will emerging into external order. So Christ showed us how to operate with divine mission rather than worldly position. The process is epitomised in the story of the woman who touched the hem of his garment. As he made his "way through" the worldly crowds pressing in on either side he knew when someone who aligned with his mission touched him because he felt "virtue" flow from him. Revelation flows through us when in line with divine Will and Direction. The pervasive and permeating flow through substance re-conditions, re-organises, re-makes, re-directs and makes all whole and true. And we are its way in the world.