I wish to pause in the adventures of this monad and have a quick recap on some of the terminology and symbolism used in these presentations. Laurency reminds us that true knowledge affords the knower a degree of power that should not be used for personal gain. Remember, here we are talking about true knowledge. This knowledge is for those monads who have dedicated their lives to serving others, not themselves. If this is not you, then you still have the fictitious knowledge supplied by theology, philosophy and science. Be content with that.
So how did we get access to ‘true’ knowledge in the past? It was through the institutions of secret knowledge orders. Even then, the knowledge that conferred real power was reserved for only those students who had reached the highest grade of that knowledge order. Needless to say, the number of such individuals was few. There was merit in advancing in the lower grades of a knowledge order because it liberated the student from the illusions and fictions all too prevalent in life. Note the words ‘illusions’ and ‘fictions’. This refers specifically to the Emotional and Mental worlds respectively.
Most initiates of any knowledge order remained in the lowest grades of that order. If that order had seven grades, then they would be unlikely to pass beyond the 2nd grade. Very few students reached beyond the 3rd degree and they did not even suspect that there were four levels above where they had reached. These knowledge orders were very secretive structures and for the good reason stated already; power.
So how was this knowledge imparted to any student, at any grade? Through symbols. The power of symbols is very versatile because you can present the same symbol to all seven grades of students but explain a different meaning of that symbol to each grade. This is where the term ‘hidden meaning’ comes from. The teacher of that symbol had to also reckon on the culture and the stage of development of the students they were attempting to instruct. This is why there was not just one mystery school, established thought out the ages. New schools had to be opened with new forms of teaching the same symbols, but in a manner that was current and appreciated by its recipients.
The use of symbols to convey ‘truths’ ensures that to the profane, such symbols are meaningless. That is not to say that these symbols did not seep out into the wider environment. This resulted in the ‘uninitiated’ picking up these terms, misunderstanding them and the rest is called ‘Christianity’! LOL The general mode of knowledge transfer within knowledge orders was by word of mouth. A good example was the teachings of Christian Rosencrantz, aka the Master R. There was never any written text to record his teachings and no one disciple knew another, so how we ended up with three Rosicrucian orders today is unfathomable.
Laurency gives us an example of an esoteric symbol with different interpretations, depending on the students’ stage of development.
“Lead us from darkness to light, from the unreal to the real, from death to immortality”.
Let us look at this statement from the grand perspective of a 1st, 2nd and 3rd Self. To remind you, a 1st-Self is a monad passing through the 4th Kingdom of Nature; that is us. Moving from “darkness to light” is moving from ordinary knowledge to esoteric knowledge. “The unreal to the real” is moving away from materialism to spirituality. “Death to immortality” means the realisation that we are immortal and are reincarnated to expand our consciousness. To the 2nd-Self, a monad focused in the 5th Kingdom of Nature (worlds 45 & 46), the phrase refers to a liberation of the monad from the worlds of the 1st-Self, with their attendant “darkness”, “unreality” and “death”. When it comes to a 3rd-Self, residing in the 6th Kingdom of Nature, the reference is now to liberating the monad from the limitations of the worlds of the 2nd-Self.
So, where do we get an idea of the correct interpretations of all these symbols that are flying around in esoteric and non-esoteric, including occult, terminology? The answer lies in the writing of Alice Bailey and her transmission of the thoughts of her master, D.K.
Is everything now rosy in the world of esoteric literature? Well, not quite. Many esoteric writers have not possessed the requite clarity to convey information to the reader. Laurency considers all of the old esoteric terminally not to be fit for purpose. In the past, you have had the wrong terminology used and then misinterpreted by the uninitiated and this has sometimes led to tragic consequences. Laurency states two examples. A Christian myth is that the believer is saved by the blood of the person Jesus. In reality, no one needs saving but what does happen is that when a monad enters the 5th Kingdom, World 46, and acquired Unity consciousness, if incarnate, the blood flowing through its organism’s veins is changed to the point where a 2nd-Self suffers no disease and does not age.
The second example is where, in The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky speaks of “imperfect gods”. This is used in the context of planetary rulers who have taken over the management of a planet with ungovernable, repulsive monads, aka, us! The mix up here is the misunderstanding between the planet, which is a conglomeration of collective beings and is imperfect, and the Planetary Government, which is not responsible for the mess we are creating. After all, we have free will under the Law of Freedom.
Laurency also feels that Theosophical terminology, which is by now largely adopted by all esoteric writers, is not fit for purpose and should be replaced with clearer terminology. Blavatsky used many Sanskrit terms, which have no real equivalent in Western languages. This has led to misinterpretations, exemplified by our misunderstanding of terms used to describe the realities presented in yoga philosophies. So what is the solution? Laurency does not feel it is necessary to construct a dictionary of Western terminologies that would equate to Indian philosophies and occultism. Indian philosophy focuses on micro-details to the point where you can’t see the wood for the trees. Laurency, amusingly, considers the 84 yoga postures to be unnecessary in their number and positively harmful in their practice for a Western physique! LOL
Laurency suggested that what was needed was a radical, new, uniform, simplified Western terminology. Where would you ground this terminology? In Western concepts of reality, which would include terms garnered from science and philosophy. These are more easily understood by a Western esoteric student. What makes Laurency’s presentation unique, and I suspect this comes straight from Pythagoras’ view of the world, is that when it comes to concepts around matter, envelopes, worlds and kingdoms, he uses numbers to describe them. Numbers are a universal language and an exact one at that.
There is good reason for an esoterician to streamline their vocabulary and avoid traditional theological and religious expressions. Why? Because, according to Laurency, they have a deceptive way of dragging your thoughts down into old ways of thinking, mired in illusions and fiction. What has ended up being presented in this series of presentations is a mixture of the terminology used by Laurency and that developed by Lee Bladon and found in his excellent book, ‘The Science of Spirituality’. As an example, Laurency calls World 46 ‘Essential’ but Bladon called it ‘Unity’. I prefer ‘Unity’ as I feel this accurately describes the fundamental attribute of this world. Monads have finally managed to unite their consciousness fields into a single united one.
We have made a good start at looking at the role terminologies and symbolism play in our understanding of esoteric truths. In the next presentation, we continue our journey into this topic.