Beloved Master, how does a man change the pattern of his life? For instance, if an individual experiences cycles of failure, limitation, ill health & wishes to rise above repetitions of such experiences, what is the science to be applied?

Blessed chela, first the individual must will to change the pattern. You use an apt word for the experiences that weigh heavily upon the race are truly patterns designed by thoughtforce & energized by rampant feelings. Resignation, lethargy & unrighteous acceptance of such patterns as they appear upon the screen of life lead to a certain vicarious enjoyment. The individual who wills to dissolve the pattern with sufficient earnestness & tenacity of feeling becomes master of circumstance.

Beloved Master, many men will to change the conditions that appear on the screen of life--war, famine, pestilence, disease, death itself--but know not how to go about it.

Blessed chela, when the will is strong one man can change the course of history. Let us remind you of the Master Jesus whose will coupled with action born of love transcended even the appearance of death.

Beloved Master, following the will to do, what is the course of the individual's activity?

Blessed chela, the will is a magnetic power that draws into the compass of the individual's own aura opportunities based upon the capacities, developed momentums & consciousness of the individual. These opportunities are invoked by the inner will of a man & are provided by intelligences who carefully measure his worth & strength. Sad it is that man's perception so often fails to discern the hand of Opportunity, looking for a more glamorous & spectacular type of service which is ofttimes far beyond the capacities of the individual.

Beloved Master, after the individual wills with his whole heart, soul, spirit & mind to change the pattern of his life must he then be alert for every opportunity to better his physical & mental dexterities & to help the current cause of the cosmic moment while preparing for great opportunity?

Blessed chela, you have spoken truly! Many an applicant for spiritual mastery has wasted away pining for a visitation while the hand of the Goddess of Opportunity has manifested thru the veil of his own aura a thousand times in the course of one yearly cycle. He who grasps opportunity & is practically about his Father's business prepares for greater opportunity to come.

Beloved Master, if the individual does perceive an opportunity to help his fellowman or the Great White Brotherhood thru some service, is this enough to change the pattern of his life?

Blessed chela, no! Service performed as duty in which there is no love is of little use to the master or the individual's own Presence. The individual must love to perform these services which in themselves are changing the form & pattern of his past cycles of imperfect manifestation. He must eagerly rush to meet opportunity--such a man builds a new pattern out of the substance of grace.

Beloved Master, the individual who serves willingly, perceiving opportunity, is then master?

Blessed chela, no, there must be individual humility & purity of consciousness so that the pattern & design of the master is not distorted according to the arrogance of human will. Illumined obedience is required of the individual who wishes to submerge self in an organization where on a moment's notice any member is required to give ALL of his momentum to a cosmic crisis. The individual who must be persuaded, coaxed & generally reprimanded for deviation from the divine plan must learn the lesson of nature's spirits who reproduce with mathematical accuracy & precision the design & form of the lotus, lily & rose.

Beloved Master, when the individual has surrendered the human egotism & desire to improve upon the designs of Heaven is his training complete?

Blessed chela, no! Tenacity of spirit, the ability to stay with a project until it is completed is also a requisite for mastery. For instance, if the Silent Watcher to this sweet Earth should tire of holding the pattern within her consciousness dissolution of the planet would ensue. Many a man begins a project with great enthusiasm only to expend his energies & abandon the design long before it has served its purpose. If you want health hold to your design until it is manifest & then sustain it so long as you are required to use a physical body. If you desire financial opulence, hold to your application until it is manifested unto you & then--a word of warning--do not abandon your application for all in this world is fleeting unless sustained consciously after it is drawn forth.

Beloved Master, after one has accepted the mental picture of what he desires in place of the pattern of failure or has accepted a picture which the masters would like to externalize, after such a one perceives the opportunities that come his way to externalize the pattern, after one has held that concept free from intrusion of his own outer consciousness as well as the disintegrating consciousness of others & after the individual has made sufficient application in visualization, invocation & decree, he is surely then master of circumstance?

Blessed chela, no! Every manifest form is held in the physical appearance world thru the concentration of some intelligence human or divine. Otherwise it begins thru disintegration to return to the unformed. Witness the beautiful homes brought forth & sustained while some strong lifestreams held the pattern & used the energies required to sustain them. When they are abandoned they fall into ruin. Great business enterprises suffer like fates. Mighty empires builded thru the strength & vision of a few men fall into ruin when their sponsors leave the scene of Earth. This is a very good visual example of what happens to your new pattern of mastery, opulence, health or whatever it may be unless you stay with it unto the end.

Beloved Mster, are the foregoing then the sum total of requisites in order to become a precipitating Presence & a coworker with the Brotherhood?

Blessed chela, one more requisite, almost the most important of all, I would lay before the altar of your consciousness. That is the necessity for maintaining harmony & peace not only during the process of your experimentation with the law of conscious precipitation & the law of self-mastery but after the manifestation occurs. Peace is the sealing process that sustains your endeavors. Without peace the greatest empire, the most beautiful religious faith, the most powerful world trust cannot endure, nor can the smallest manifestation of the most timid man.

Beloved Master, how does a student enter the silence?

Blessed chela, consciously entering the great silence is a positive & not a negative state of individual consciousness. Contemplation must never be confused with lethargy nor adoration & devotion with imagery & visionary dreamings. Herein lies the training in wisdom, discrimination, balance, purity of motive & perseverance of will & purpose.

Beloved Master, when You say entering the silence requires the establishment & maintenance of a positive state of consciousness, what do You mean?

Blessed chela, I mean that the individual must engage the cooperation of his various vehicles of expression & use them to create an individual aura of peace, purity & tranquility. Within this personal aura the individual must remain alert, focused in attention & in control of his concentrative powers, holding them upon the object of his devotions whether it be the heart of God or some divine representative of the King of Kings.

Beloved Master, we have been told that long periods of contemplation are dangerous & open the individual to insidious influences.

Blessed chela, here discrimination must be developed. Each individual is capable of a different amount of applied contemplation according to the personal control of his thought processes, his feelings, his etheric memories & the demands of the physical vehicle. One man consciously preparing to commune with his Maker finds his own mental processes weaving out of the substance of thought a screen of irrelevant thoughts which make unsatisfactory his endeavor. Another man able to concentrate his thoughts finds the surging tide of his emotional nature revivifying past injustices. Still another enjoys the ever-responsive sea of memories that flow from the etheric body. a man well able to control his thoughts, feelings & memories may find the demands of cramped muscles, itching skin or other physical discomforts disturbing his endeavors. Each chela must take personal note of his own capabilities & capacities of stilling his vehicles & then in wisdom develop the applied contemplation according to his ever-increasing efficacy in the mastery & control of his vehicles.

The vibratory action of the soul itself, the motive animating the soul toward communion with the inner Self, the vibratory action & appetites of the inner bodies will determine what type of influence can play upon the individual seeking the peace of the silence. When heart is pure the soul earnest & the conscious mind keenly alert to the deceptions of the ego that seek to aggrandize self thru impressions of a grandiose nature, no subtle outside forces can enter the period of contemplation.

Beloved Master, what is the advantage of entering the great silence?

Blessed chela, the advantages of entering the silence could hardly be enumerated in this column. First, it is in the silence that the soul makes acquaintanceship with its Maker. This is the primary purpose of all religious endeavor, teaching, discipline, instruction & application. Where the lower self is so blatantly active even in professions of faith the great Presence cannot be felt, acknowledged nor allowed to flow thru the outer self with sufficient intensity to accomplish that union which is known as the second birth. In the silence when the soul & consciousness is sincerely, humbly, peacefully, gently & reverently loving God a state of grace is established in the aura & the many selves. In this state of grace the individual soul becomes open to the benediction & blessings, the healing currents, flashes of illumination & encouragement, pressures of faith & conviction which nourish the individual & make real spiritual progress possible.

Second, the conscious endeavor to control the thought & feeling nature develops individual mastery as does the discipline of the rebellious physical garment. In the East of course this mastery has been developed by many thousands but the pendulum of endeavor has swung too far the other way as individuals are so caught up in the ecstasy of the silence that they have forgotten for the most part that the entire purpose of such contemplation & its succeeding benediction & illumination is to translate the perfection of that inner realm into the physical appearance world. The great teacher of the East, the Lord Buddha, having passed thru all the trials & tribulations of a soul endeavoring to find the heart of eternal peace, clearly manifested the balance of the law: after attaining the Ultimate He returned to bring the fruits of his application to his fellowmen.

Beloved Master, does this period of contemplation suffice for personal application?

Blessed chela, no! As I have said above the great silence is entered for a purpose. Even the ascended masters who choose to animate some particular portion of the divine plan make conscious obeisance at the throne of the silence to secure both inspiration & direction & to draw the strength & power required to fulfill their new venture. The individual chela particularly in the West does not know the meaning of getting still. When the body is quiet the mind is racing even in petitions to the Lord. Yet in order to provide the spiritual stamina for the greater services the period of quiet contemplation of the Presence with its attendant outpouring is requisite.

Beloved Master, could you give us a simple exercise or outline of such an activity as attempting to touch the hem of the robe of the silence?

Blessed chela, certainly. First find a place where you will be undisturbed. Constant interruptions are very injurious to the nervous system. The more beautiful, quiet & harmonious is your place of contemplation the more will your senses cooperate with your endeavor. Frequency of aspiration in the same place also brings an atmosphere of sanctity & each successive endeavor is complemented by the energies so devoted in like manner before. That is why in cathedrals, temples & homes of saintly lifestreams it is easier to reach the altitude of consciousness which reveals the Ever-Presence.

Second, place your physical body in a comfortable position. Remember in all spiritual endeavors the more cooperation you secure from your vehicles the easier will be your achievement. To enter the silence however is a positive activity. Therefore it is wise to sit with spine erect as the very position of lying prone is conducive to lethargy. Let Me say here, discrimination & wisdom are required for the pursuit of the spiritual path & common sense, not a blind adherence to the letter of the law, is requisite to more than ordinary spiritual development. For instance, to take a specific question about contemplation in the dark, let Me clarify this once & for all. To deliberately create an atmosphere of darkness & then attempt to commune with the unknown is contrary to spiritual law. However in the course of living good students awakening thru the night hours are not always afforded sufficient privacy to create artificial light. These good people are naturally protected by the aura of their own aspiration & can well utilize the time in perfect safety when they cannot for one reason or another procure artificial light during application & spiritual contemplation.

Third, relax. Most individuals are so tense they close the door to inflowing grace. Cultivate that state of rest in action so essential to poised balanced living. The use of the rhythmic breath is very conducive to alert & poised relaxation.

Fourth, determine within yourself what being or activity from God's heart you desire to contemplate. Examine your motive impartially, wisely & with discrimination. If there is any desire for self-seeking, for phenomena, for satisfaction of curiosity you will defeat your purpose. The whole purpose of active contemplation is to enter the Presence of God & the heart of His messengers when one is propelled by divine love for Them & the progress of the universal scheme of creation.

Fifth, consciously feel yourself enveloped in God's Light, His Presence, His Love.

Sixth, endeavor to hold your thought processes & your feelings one-pointed in pouring forth love & blessings to God & His universe.

Seventh, endeavor to control the demands of your physical body during this time.

Eighth, if necessary to provide a spiritual lever for your conscious mind & feelings read some lovely uplifting piece of poetry or prose or listen to an inspiring melody.

Ninth, have no fear of evil forces. While you are loving God, the angels & the ascended host the natural vibration of your vehicles form a wall of light around you, a magnet to draw good influences & currents toward you & a natural repellant vibration to evil of every kind. Tenth, enjoy loving your Presence. When the feeling of peace fills your soul you will know you are there. Rest in that peace & draw the currents of light & power which you will require for your endeavors in the world of form.

Eleventh, consciously determine within yourself to give something of your radiant peace to your fellowman.

Twelfth, the efficacy of all spiritual exercises is determined by the rhythm of the application. Five minutes daily at the same time is better than two hours one day & nothing the next.