A New Year heralds fresh opportunities and turns a new leaf on which we write our history as it courses towards a fuller participation in the life and purpose of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being.  In Australia there is a change of government. In the USA the presidential nomination process proceeds towards the election of a new administration. In Kenya elections have generated a process of bringing out the true will of the people, though with so much pain and suffering. In Palestine a new determination for peace is being offered by the world community. We are told that where great changes are afoot “all such movements are first felt as disturbing, and only when the dust of turmoil, and the noise of clashing forces have died away will purpose be seen emerging.” [A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, page 1080]

Thus the turning circle of life moves us and our world in its mysterious spiral as the cycles progress our destiny. These turnings hint at the true significances behind many daily patterns and observances. This is beautifully clarified by Lama Anagorika Govinda in The Way of the White Clouds:

“But what is the origin of the revolving wheel? The ‘turning of the Wheel of the Dharma’…is a metaphor known to every Buddhist, meaning ‘the setting in motion of the forces of the Universal and Moral Law’, and in turning the prayer-wheel he becomes conscious of the supreme law which the Buddha proclaimed when he set the Wheel of the Dharma rolling 2,500 years ago. For the Buddhist it is not sufficient that this act has been performed once by the Enlightened One – every single human being that strives for Enlightenment must repeat this creative act by realising it in his own mind.

            The profundity and the cosmic parallelism of this symbol will easily be understood if we realise that the life of the whole universe is dependent on rotation: be it the rotation of stars and planets around a central sun, or the similar movements of atoms. If the mere rotation of a dynamo can produce the power of electricity … and if the turning of the human mind around a particular subject of his consciousness can produce a state of concentration that can lead to world-shaking discoveries or the realisation of higher dimensions of Perfect Enlightenment…then we must admit that the Tibetan belief is not quite so absurd as it might have appeared in the first instance.”

The power that holds the cycle to its spiralling course is the magnetic point at the centre of a life which pervades everything within its sphere of influence. It holds all according to the intended pattern of expression as it unfolds. Just as a man’s DNA guides the unfoldment of the vehicles of his living, so his life-intention works out through the pattern of his living. The energies that sustain and promote his course flow through the cyclic pattern of his thoughts, feelings and actions.  The more deeply responsive he is to the power and purpose at the core of his being the more magnetic he is and the power at the centre radiates through his living to draw others to the essential inspiration that brings all into being and life.  The Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul, explains the cause of radiation:

“Radiation comes about when the internal, self-sufficient life of any atom is offset by a stronger urge, or pull, emanating from the enveloping greater existence of whose body it may form a part. This is nevertheless only true when it is caused by the pull upon the essential life by the essential life of the greater form; it is not due to the attractive power of the form aspect of the greater life. A very definite distinction must here be made.” [A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, page 1063-4]

This radiatory power is not the superficial attractiveness of the form, nor the attraction of the opposites on the same plane, nor the creative meeting/conflict of positive and negative.  It is the power of the One Life and the pull of the greater centre that is steadily drawing all into the pattern of that larger intention. As the Tibetan explains:

“…the attractive pull of the greater centre becomes so powerful that the positive life within the atom (whatever type of atom it may be and in whatever kingdom) feels the force of the central energy which holds it, along with other atoms, coherently fulfilling their function.  This energy penetrates through the ring-pass-not, evokes no response from what might be called the electronic or negative lives within the atomic periphery, but does evoke a response from the essential, positive nucleus of the atom. This is due to the fact that the essential life of any atom, its highest positive aspect, is ever of the same nature as that of the greater life which is drawing it to itself.

….The positive life of any atom in due course of evolution becomes negative to a greater life toward which it is impelled or drawn, and thus the process of evolution carries every life…” [Cosmic Fire, page 1064-5]

Increasingly life experiences reveal the true nature behind the outer form. What may be outwardly very attractive to begin with may soon reveal its superficial and temporary nature and that which lies behind it may not live up to the beauty of its outer form. We are often told that “beauty comes from within”. The beauty that touches, draws and inspires the heart and mind transcends the so-called “animal magnetism” of the form.  Yet all reflect, on their own plane, the potency of the One Life at the centre of all.  At the truly human plane of awareness there is a closer communion with the subtle power of the Lord of the World. From the centre of His divine will His influence radiates out through the world and our growing realisation is both an effect and a cause of its eventual unfoldment into expression.  Through this sacrifice (or making sacred) of our living world, our heavenly ship, Earth, becomes a sacred planet – a jewel in the Solar crown.

The deeper our point of vantage the more subtle and rarefied the energies that enliven and guide, the further we see onto events and time and the more clearly we distinguish the place and purpose of everything as we see from within the greater pattern of life. The significance of the immediate moment and experience changes and a sense of a greater and truer proportion operates to filter and direct our energies more in line with the will and purpose of the greater life radiating out through all.  The Tibetan clarifies the potency of this purpose implemented through love:

“People are apt to regard magnetic potency as evidence of love; it is, in reality, evidence of the radiation of love when enhanced and strengthened by (will). It is the admixture…of love and will which produces radiation. It is the conscious use by the (Spiritual) Hierarchy of the power coming from (the Centre where the Will of God is known) which results in the magnetic impact and the spiritual ‘pull’ which draws the soul, incarnated in the body, towards the (Spiritual Centre). This pull is directed towards the world of souls which is, through its manifesting units, undergoing experience in the school of life, yet overshadowed by the soul on its own level.  It is this overshadowing soul which absorbs and utilises the magnetic power and which from soul levels, transfers it to the souls of men. … It was this magnetic power … to which the Christ referred when He said ‘I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.’” [The Rays and the Initiations, page 374-5]

All that is uplifting and urges to betterment, growth and wisdom is the hallmark of the magnetic life of our planet.  The greater our vision, the deeper our response, the more do we see the expression of that glorious radiating Life we share.

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The Festival in Aquarius will be celebrated at a meditation meeting at 8 pm, Tuesday, 22 January, at the YWCA, the “Y On The Park”, 5-11 Wentworth Avenue, Sydney. The keynote for reflection is:

Water of life am I, poured forth for thirsty men.

The Festival in Pisces will be celebrated at 8pm Wednesday, 20 February, at the YWCA.  The keynote is: 

I leave the Father’s home and turning back, I save.

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Don’t forget to visit our Website at www.sydneygoodwill.org.au for literature, books, meeting dates, etc!