HARMLESSNESS - THREE REQUIREMENTS
ESOTERIC HEALING, 670/78
What shall I say concerning harmlessness? It is not easy for me to show or prove to you the effectiveness of the higher aspect, spiral or phase of harmlessness as employed by the Hierarchy, under the direction of the Perfect One, the Christ. The harmlessness with which I have earlier dealt has relation to the imperfections with which humanity is wrestling, and is difficult for you to apply in and under all circumstances, as well you know. The harmlessness to which I refer in connection with you is not negative, or sweet or kindly activity, as so many believe; it is a state of mind and one which in no way negates firm or even drastic action; it concerns motive and involves the determination that the motive behind all activity is goodwill. That motive might lead to positive and sometimes disagreeable action or speech, but as harmlessness and goodwill condition the mental approach, nothing can eventuate but good.
On a higher turn of the spiral, the Hierarchy also employs harmlessness, but it is related to the will-to-good and involves the use of dynamic, electric energy under intuitive direction; this type of energy is never brought into activity by man; it is energy which he cannot yet handle. This type of harmlessness is based on complete self-sacrifice, wherein the will-to-sacrifice, the will-to-good and the will-to-power (three phases of the will aspect, as expressed through the [Page 671] Spiritual Triad) are all fused into one dynamic energy of a deeply spiritual nature. This energy is the epitome of complete or perfect harmlessness, where humanity and the subsidiary kingdoms in nature are concerned, but it is expulsive in its effect and dynamic in its annihilating impact, where the Forces of Evil are concerned.
A close but esoteric study of the three temptations of the Christ will reveal three major occasions when the Perfect One, expressing this higher harmlessness, forced the exponent of evil to retreat. This triple episode is symbolically related, but is factual in nature. Little thought has ever been given to what would have been the worldwide effect down the centuries if the Christ had not reacted as He did; speculation is of little use, but it might be stated that the entire course of history and of the evolutionary progress of humanity would have been altered, and in a dire and awful manner. But the dynamic harmlessness, the expression of the will-to-good and the demonstration of the will-to-power (forcing evil to leave Him) marked a most important crisis in the life of the Christ. The Gospel story (with its resume of the five initiations) concerns the progress and triumph of the Master Jesus; the story of the three temptations indicated the taking of a still higher initiation, the sixth, by the Christ; this conferred on Him complete mastery over evil, and not mastery over imperfection; it was because He was the "Perfect One" that He could take this initiation.
I have given you much for mature consideration and thrown some light upon an initiation of which little, naturally, can be known. I would call your attention also to the three fundamental requirements for a successful approach to this initiation: perfect poise, a completed point of view and divine understanding. You would find it of interest to see how these three qualities work out in relation to the [Page 672] three temptations; in so doing much light would be thrown on the life, nature and character of the Christ.
Under the Law of Perfection we are given the key to the civilisation and cycle of evolution which He inaugurated—the ideal of which is not lost, though the application of the teaching He gave has been neglected by the churches and by mankind. You will note also that one temptation takes place on the summit of a high mountain; from that elevation both time and space are totally negated, for the vision of Christ ranged from the past, through the present and on into the future. This state of awareness (I cannot call it consciousness, and awareness is almost as inaccurate a word) is only possible after the fifth initiation, reaching a high point of expression at the sixth initiation.
I would like to consider with you the nature of the three requirements presented as essential for a certain initiation, because they provide the link between Law IX and Rule Six. The rule is so clear and concise that it needs but little explanation, emphasising, as it does, energy which must be used and that which must not. It says:
RULE SIX <Pages 672,678>
The healer or the healing group must keep the will in leash. It is not will which must be used, but love.
These three basic requirements concern attainment on various planes of the universe; though I dealt with them in connection with the approach to the sixth initiation, they have— on a lower turn of the spiral—their correspondences, and are therefore of practical application by the initiated disciple, particularly one who has taken the third initiation. Let us take them, one by one, into our thinking:
Perfect Poise indicates complete control of the astral body, so that emotional upheavals are overcome, or at [Page 673] least are greatly minimised in the life of the disciple. It indicates also, on the higher turn of the spiral, an ability to function freely on buddhic levels, owing to complete liberation (and consequent poise) from all the influences and impulses which are motived from the three worlds. This type or quality of poise connotes-if you will think deeply-an abstract state of mind; nothing which is regarded as nonperfection can create disturbance. You can realise surely that, if you were entirely free from all emotional reactions, your clarity of mind and your ability to think clearly would be enormously increased, with all that that involves
Naturally, the perfect poise of an initiated disciple and that of the initiated Master are different, for one concerns the effect of the three worlds or their non-effect, and the other concerns adaptability to the rhythm of the Spiritual Triad; nevertheless, the earlier type of poise must precede the later achievement, hence my consideration of the subject. This perfect poise (which is a possible achievement for you who read) is arrived at by ruling out the pulls, the urges, impulses and attractions of the astral or emotional nature, and also by the practice of what I have earlier mentioned: Divine Indifference.
A Completed Point of View. This necessarily and primarily refers to the universal outlook of the Monad, and therefore to an initiate of the higher degrees. It can, however, be interpreted on a lower rung of the ladder of evolution and refers to the function of the soul as an Observer in the three worlds and the completed all-round picture such an observer gradually attains. This is brought about by the development of the two qualities of detachment and discrimination. These two qualities, [Page 674] when expressed on the Way to the Higher Evolution, become Abstraction and the Will-to-good.
A completed point of view-as experienced on soul levels—indicates the removal of all barriers and the freedom of the disciple from the great heresy of separateness; he has therefore created an unclogged channel for the inflow of pure love. Perfect poise, viewed from the same level, has removed all impediments and those emotional factors which have hitherto blocked the channel, thus preparing the way for the Observer to see truly; the disciple then functions as a clear channel for love.
Divine Understanding must also be studied from two points of view. As a soul quality, it indicates a mind which can be held steady in the light, and can therefore reflect the pure reason (pure love) which qualifies the reflections of the Son of Mind, the soul on its own plane. On the higher Way of the Master, it relates to that identification which supersedes the individualistic consciousness; all barriers have gone, and the initiate sees things as they are; he knows the causes of which all phenomena are the ephemeral effects. This, consequently, enables Him to understand the Purpose, as it emanates from Shamballa, just as the lesser initiate understands the Plan as it is formulated by the Hierarchy.
All three of these divine attributes are, in some measure, essential in the development of the initiate-healer; he must work at their unfoldment as part of his necessary equipment; he must know that all reactions of an emotional nature create a wall or barrier between the free flow of healing force and the patient, and that the barrier is created by him and not by the patient. The emotions of the [Page 675] patient should have no effect upon the healer and should fail to deviate him from the intense concentration needed for his work; these emotions of the patient cannot in themselves create a barrier strong enough to deflect the healing force.
A completed point of view involves at least the attempt by the disciple to penetrate into the world of causes, and thus learn (if possible) what it is that is responsible for the disease of the patient. This need not involve penetration into previous incarnations, nor is that essential, in spite of what some modern and generally fraudulent healers may claim. There is usually enough psychological evidence, or indications of inherited tendencies, to give the healer his clue and to enable him to get a somewhat complete picture of the situation. It is obvious that this "penetration" into the causes of the trouble will only be possible if the healer loves enough; because he loves, he has achieved a poise which brings negation to the world of illusion and of glamour. Divine understanding is simply the application of the principle of pure love (pure reason) to all men and to all circumstances, plus right interpretation of the existing difficulties of the patient, or of those which may exist between patient and healer.
To these requirements I would like to add another factor: that of the doctor, physician or surgeon who is physically responsible for the patient. In the coming new era, the healer will work always with the scientific aid of the trained medical man; this is a factor which causes bewilderment, at present, to the average modern healer belonging to some cult or expressing some unorthodox phase of healing.
It will therefore be apparent how these three divine requirements (when stepped down for the use of the disciple in the modern world) indicate a line of training or of self-discipline [Page 676] to which all should apply themselves. When they have mastered even some of the earliest phases of this triple achievement, they will find that they can apply Rule Six with ease.
What is meant by the words "to keep the will in leash"? The will aspect here considered is not that of the will-to-good and its lower expression goodwill. The will-to-good signifies the stable, immovable orientation of the initiated disciple, whilst goodwill can be regarded as its expression in daily service. The will-to-good, as expressed by a higher initiate, is a dynamic energy having predominantly a group effect; for this reason, the higher initiates seldom concern themselves with the healing of an individual. Their work is too potent and too important to permit them to do so, and the will energy, embodying as it does divine Purpose, might prove destructive in its effects upon an individual. The patient would not be able to receive or absorb it. It is, however, assumed that goodwill colours the entire attitude and thinking of the healing disciple.
The will which must be kept in leash is the will of the personality which, in the case of the initiated disciple, is of a very high order. It also relates to the will of the soul, emanating from the petals of sacrifice in the egoic lotus. All true healers have to create a healing thoughtform, and through this they consciously or unconsciously work. It is this thoughtform which must be kept free from a too powerful use of the will, for it can (unless held in leash, stepped down, modified or, if needed, eliminated altogether) destroy not only the thoughtform created by the healer, but it can also build a barrier between healer and patient; the initial rapport is thus broken. Only a Christ can heal by the use of the will, and He seldom in reality healed at all; in the cases where He is reported to have done so, His reason was to prove the possibility of healing; but-as you will [Page 677] note if you are familiar with the Gospel story—He gave no instructions to His disciples upon the art of healing. This is significant.
The self-will (no matter of how high a quality) of the healer, and his determined effort to heal the patient, create a tension in the healer which can seriously deflect the healing current of energy. When this type of will is present, as it frequently is in the inexperienced healer or the non-initiated healer, the healer is apt to absorb the patient's difficulty and will experience symptoms of the trouble and the pain. His willful determination to be of help acts like a boomerang and he suffers, whilst the patient is not really helped.
So the instruction is to use love, and here a major difficulty emerges. How can the healer use love, freed from its emotional or lower quality, and bring it through in its pure state for the healing of the patient? Only as the healer has cultivated the three requirements, and has therefore developed himself as a pure channel. He is apt to be so preoccupied with himself, with the definition of love, and with the determination to heal the patient that the three requirements are neglected. Then both he and the patient are wasting each other's time. He need not brood or worry about the nature of pure love, or endeavour too ardently to understand how pure reason and pure love are synonymous terms, or whether he can show sufficient love to effect a healing. Let him ponder on the three requirements, particularly the first, and let him fulfill within himself these three requirements as far as in him lies and his point in evolution permits. He will then become a pure channel and the hindrances to the inflow of pure love will be automatically removed for "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he"; then, without obstruction or difficulty pure love will pour through him and the patient will be healed—if such is the law for him.