We finally come to the last in the series on discipleship. This has taken 12 episodes to accomplish. The reason for this attention to this subject is because it is the very bedrock of what every monad passing through the 4th Kingdom of Nature must, at some point in their evolutionary process, take heed of and then complete. We are human to become self-aware, but this is only a stepping stone to reaching universal consciousness. So, what could slow us down from reaching our goals in the 4th Kingdom? We have talked about the 12 qualities all aspirants should seek to develop within themselves. What qualities should be avoided then? All the qualities are derived from repulsion. This is hatred by another name. We acquire these negative qualities as we focus on our monad through the three lowest subplanes of our emotional bodies (48:5-7).
A major stumbling block to anyone’s development is egoism. This consumes 95 per cent of most people’s beings. For a disciple is only five per cent. The ego is needed to make efficient use of one’s envelopes, but five per cent is plenty. In a previous presentation, it was stated that it is the duty of a disciple to be happy? Why? Because everyone emits energy into their environment. The further along the path you are, the more energy you emit. If you are a miserable old goat, you are not exactly going to enliven your environment. Emotional and physical needs must be heeded and satisfied, but attention to such matters must be kept at a minimum. Avoid the cult of appearances. Besides being illusional, it is deceitful as well. We all know Laurency’s phobia about encroachment into other people’s private lives. One reason you want to stay away from such inclinations is that these involve the examination of the other person’s ego. This is not them. By the same logic, a disciple must not testify to themselves. No one needs to know about them. They may have outstanding qualities compared to most, but this is just a tool to achieve greater objectives, those of universal brotherhood. Do not fixate on other people’s faults. You have enough of your own to deal with. Moralising should be considered a deadly sin, although we all know there is no such thing as sin, just ignorance of the Laws of Life.
Speaking of hindrances to discipleship, intolerance is a big one. Others to consider are lack of control of one’s envelopes. A weak intellect is not exactly an asset, neither are self-assertion and self-conceit. Stay away from “creeds”. Believing in things because it says so in a book is not good for your health, and alas, has proved fatal for others. A creed is a belief and is not a mental precept. Either you know or you do not know. A mental system of thought develops a working hypothesis. This is just there to afford mental clarity and exactitude. You work with it because it explains more things to you than anything else on the market. Laurency is adamant that disciples should have no paper popes, ideologies or dogmas, just common sense.
An aspirant is hindered if they over-estimate themselves and under-estimate others. All too often, they think they are “more” advanced than they really are. They think they “know”, that they know more. This is a very good way to go about getting the door to discipleship slammed in your face.
Another hindrance to discipleship and this has been mentioned many times, is to avoid taking an interest in one’s chakras. This is the business of the teacher, who will give instructions on such matters. Linked to this is a postponement of any activities engaging in breathing exercises until one becomes an accepted disciple. This avoids all sorts of complications linked to raising energies that the disciple has no knowledge of how to control. Some aspirants dream of kindling the “light in their head”. This could lead to blindness; be warned.
Some people are blessed with innate etheric objective consciousness. This is a gift that should not be abused, nor should one encroach on another’s privacy. If one happens to have innate clairvoyance, which is emotional objective consciousness, this just strengthens emotional illusoriness. Comprehension of objective vision in the Emotional World only begins when full causal consciousness is achieved. It is worth repeating, again and again, that working towards a “rapid spiritual career” is a form of selfishness. Such aspirants wish to be saved before others. Laurency quotes the words of a Swedish poet, Lidner, which sums this up perfectly; “though in an abyss I would call me happy, if there were no unhappy mortal left but me”. Ponder that.
To close out on hindrances to discipleship is the failure to say what ought to be said, or to do what ought to be done, any kind of compromise in the matter of right or wrong.
The last topic to be examined is the unhealthy curiosity many have towards occult exercises. Wishing to know about your future is no way to do research into the causes of things. This is different from casting a horoscope to ascertain one’s strengths and weaknesses. This is just checking what one has in one’s armoury. An esoterician should never display any “uncommon” faculty they may possess in order to satisfy other people’s curiosity or to convince sceptics, least of all for money. Dabbling in the occult is like playing with explosives. Is it worth the risk? There are many curious to know but are too immature to understand. They may rale at the secrecy around certain knowledge, but it is there for a good reason. We have abused this knowledge before and that is why it is hidden from us.
There are many today who are aware of phenomena, subjective and objective, in the Emotional World. It is unwise to involve oneself with such phenomena. It is wiser to focus one’s attention on better understanding one’s physical environment. Disciples are directly warned against exploring the Emotional World. This is the hideout for the Black Lodge. Stay out of their territory.
Many seek communications from the dead. Unfortunately, many new arrivals to the Emotional World are completely disorientated. New entrants should strive to rise into subplanes 48:2-4 as quickly as possible, not look back to the lower subplanes where there is only misery, or to the physical world just vacated. Calling loved ones back focuses them into the lower subplanes, which take longer to dissolve, thus hindering the departing monad’s journey back to their causal envelope. If the earth-bound monad’s objective is to gain a better understanding of the Emotional World, it can only effectively be served by fostering objective emotional consciousness, while still in the physical plane. We should by now know what the basic requirements for that are. Enlightenment.
Another field of curiosity is to find out about the other life streams that inhabit our worlds. The first thing to realise is that these other life streams want precious little to do with us, due to our rampant egos, vibrating with hatred. There are a minority of beings occupying the higher Emotional World (48:1-3), who are prepared to interact with us from time to time, rather like you may seek to help a wounded dog, but they do not associate with us in other respects, despite the lurid tales in Greek mythology. Leave this curiosity firmly on the shelf until you take the (i3).
Some wish to come into contact with higher beings. For us, they are found in the Causal World and we can seek them there. Until we can operate at this level, it is pointless communicating with them, as we would not understand what they wished us to know. As has been mentioned, it is very difficult stuffing casual ideas into a mental head. We receive all the knowledge we need to know, for us to gain a better understanding of the meaning of life.
To conclude, there is no excuse for ignorance or impotence. There is knowledge and power for any who seeks, but it is the reason for seeking and the purposes that gift is put to that matters. Everything must be done within the Laws of Life and of Nature. The disciple seeks to serve life through serving all. They do this by fashioning themselves into a tool that serves the purposes of the Divine Plan. They must find their own way to this service and use their judgment as to how best to implement those aspects of the plan that they feel they are best qualified to do.