Beloved Master, what is the advantage of belonging to a group of lifestreams dedicated to spiritual service when so often the frictions between individuals seem to hamper personal harmony & peace?
Blessed chela, in all spiritual development the individual must make a voluntary choice whether he will use his energies in collective endeavors or to attempt to ascend the spiritual path alone. The heart must prompt such voluntary cooperative service. From time immemorial there has been the conflict in the human breast between shunning cooperative endeavor in order to find personal peace or serving a unified cause to give the spiritual strength of united energies for the good of the whole.
The words of Master Jesus express a cosmic truth--"Where two or more are gathered together in My name (nature) there AM I in the midst of them." The nature of the communal service will determine its efficacy to the individual & to the common good. Therefore individuals who within themselves have not accepted this type of joint service will benefit little from communal endeavors & will ofttimes have a disintegrating effect upon the entire group.
Beloved Master, would you suggest that the individual proceed alone until such time as he can harmonize with group endeavors?
Blessed chela, there is no more wonderful discipline of the lower self than to learn thru participation in communal activities how to harmonize with the purpose of the group service & the individuals who form a part of such a group. No man knows his own strength & mastery until it is tested in actually mingling with other lifestreams, imperfect as he himself is.
However, as the individual consciousness blends into & becomes actually a part of the spiritual entity created for the purpose of worship & service it is the obligation of each such member to bring to the group activity as much individual personal harmony, tolerance, understanding, wisdom, cooperation, enthusiasm & faith as he can draw forth thru his own personal application & contemplation of the God-Presence. I can but repeat the words of a wise man who walked the Earth: "The habit & tonsure help but little, but the changing of life & the mortifying of passions make a person perfectly & truly religious."
Beloved Master, is it true that individuals often harmonize with one particular type of worship & group of associates & find great personal aggrevations & grievances with another?
Blessed chela, certainly! The ray to which a man belongs, the habits of religious worship thru the centuries, the race in which he is born, the background of his present earth life, all of these are determining factors in the spiritual rapport among individuals.
Beloved Master, should a man then continue to seek until he finds those with whom he feels this sense of spiritual rapport or align himself with those whom circumstance has placed in his path?
Blessed chela, it depends upon the sincerity, development & nature of the individual man. The course of the determined chela is to bring himself into rapport with those with whom he is given opportunity to serve. The willful individual seeking always the greener grass on the other side of the fence must pursue his search until he finds that the peace, tranquillity & capacity to work with others do not come from the actions & reactions of others but are dependant upon his own reaction to internal & external aggravations.
Beloved Master, individuals who find the Presence of God & live in harmony without belonging to any communal group often seem more at peace than the congregations of spiritually intended people.
Blessed chela, this is true. One reason is that group endeavors draw more concentrated power & render a greater service to the impersonal life that requires redemption, purification & salvation. The individual who offers to become part of such a magnetizing & radiating center voluntarily offers to take as part of his karma the reaction caused by moving the invisible forces that hinder man's progress.
Each individual is a magnet drawing pure primal life into the qualifying center of his own consciousness. Each individual is also a radiating center emanating the qualified life so drawn. In unity there is strength. When a group of individuals determines to draw more healing power, more protective radiation, more purifying currents into the atmosphere of Earth the result of their cooperative endeavors is of necessity a greater benediction flowing from their blended energies than could possibly be drawn by one individual. Further, the spiritual hierarchy can more easily & with less expenditure of Their cosmic essence nourish a group of individuals gathered together in God's name than They can when They must seek out each individual worshiper & tunnel thru the lower atmosphere a channel for that benediction. This conservation of the energy of the masters is greatly appreciated by Us.
Beloved Master, when an individual is not in harmony with a leader or speaker, what course should he pursue?
Blessed chela, he should pursue the course of the generous, compassionate, tolerant follower of Christ. The leader or speaker has offered, no matter how great his personal limitations may be, to create a focus of God-aspiring individuals thru which two purposes are served. First, the individual student is stimulated by the enthusiasm, inspiration, strength & collective consciousness of those who are of like intent. The student is also the recipient of all spiritual energies magnetized & drawn thru the songs, invocations, decrees & visualizations. Second, the Godhead & masters, angelic host & devas are provided with a conductor thru which Their energies may be transmitted into the mental & feeling worlds of mankind who are not yet seeking the place of the Most High.
Thus such a leader renders a great service to God & to his fellowman while attempting at the same time to work out his individual karma. If the teacher waited until he himself was perfected before sharing his knowledge, enthusiasm, faith & spiritual light with his fellowman We would have no representatives in the world of form. As soon as the teacher perfects himself he ascends into a realm to which he has earned the right of access. Consider the teacher as a fellow student upon the path, bless him, pray for him, love him for his courage to take on the karma of other individuals thru such service & raise the teacher by your love. Do not destroy him by your condemnation--this is a mortal sin!
Beloved Master, if an individual desires to serve God it would seem that he could best do that by disciplining himself & in the company of other like-minded men & women attempt to perfect himself, at the same time participating in communal endeavors on behalf of the race.
Blessed chela, truly spoken. A long time ago I wrote a few humble words which I would like to place before you again for consideration: Lord, make me a focus of Thy peace,/ That where there is hatred I may bring love,/ That where there is wrong I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,/ That where there is discord I may bring harmony,/ That where there is error I may bring truth,/ That where there is doubt I may bring faith,/ That where there is despair I may bring hope,/ That where there are shadows I may bring Thy light. (-St. Francis)
Beloved Master, I ask forgiveness if this question seems presumptuous. However it often seems that in the widening of the consciousness of students to include the knowledge of the masters individual attention upon the Presence of God is neglected.
Blessed chela, truly this is a fact, a stage of spiritual development, an initiation upon the path that leads toward mastery. The individual might be likened to a child who early in life does not even cognize the parent nor solicitous guardians. Then comes recognition of the forms of the loving parents followed by years of leaning upon them. Later comes maturity when the individual begins to draw & rely upon his own intelligence & directions. The mass of mankind do not cognize the watchful beings who have forsworn the bliss of higher realms in order to care for them. Mankind, always a slave to form, when it finds an individualized Presence tends to lean upon It. Later comes maturity when the individual begins to work in the spiritual army of the King of Kings.
Beloved Master, in order to understand the work of the spiritual Hierarchy we are taught to turn our attention toward certain masters & this naturally builds an affinity of spirit. Is this not a good endeavor?
Blessed chela, yes, it is a most praiseworthy endeavor indeed. The state of consciousness of the student is the primary point of importance in this association. As beloved St. Germain has said, "In the ascended master realm the individual I AM Presence & all the ascended masters, angels, devas & cosmic powers are One." It is only the human mind that insists upon the doctrine of separateness & the distinction of form.
Beloved Master, what is the correct attitude of consciousness for an earnest student to take in endeavoring to draw close to the masters but yet to develop individual maturity & grace?
Blessed chela, every being who has attained perfection represents the sum total of millions of years of the use of life-energy to develop some virtue, talent, power, grace & expression of the Godhead. Such a one is like the sun in the Heavens a focus for that momentum of good, drawn--remember--from the One Source. These beings are really living batteries of already God-qualified life. Proximity to their Presence allows the individual to absorb that quality even as one absorbs the heat & comfort from the radiator.
Some there be who thru spiritual pride would prefer to shiver in the icy winds of the mountain heights until they can generate the heat to comfort them thru their own endeavors. Others take advantage of the proximity to already generated heat & comfort provided by the fueled flames in the hostelries which welcome pilgrims who pursue some quest. Thus it is with man. Some men avail themselves of the faith, courage, strength, confidence, healing essence & illuminating power of those who have accumulated those stores of qualified life. Others insist upon generating these qualities themselves & shiver in the winds of uncertainty while their more humble brothers proceed upward on the path in the warmth of the Presence of their Elder Brothers & Sisters.
The cultivation of the Presence & association with the masters must be to kindle the fires of one's own spiritual nature, not to find another to do one's personal work. Many seek the master as a leaning post. Many seek Him to satisfy personal curiosity & doubt. To these He cannot come because it would deter the individual development by drawing the attention to the form of the master. Even Jesus affirmed this principle when He said, "If I do not go the Comforter will not come."