Thoughtline  May 1996

On The Threshold

The disciple, Humanity, stands today on a new threshold. This is probably not news to you. Virtually every serious thinker with whom I am acquainted in the esoteric community and many, many of the general academic and scientific intelligentsia of humanity, the world over, hold this opinion.

Thinkers within the esoteric community see this threshold as the front end of a rapidly approaching event of major, major significance, not only to Humanity, but to all inhabiting kingdoms on the globe. The threshold upon which Humanity stands today opens a way into whole new cultures, new art forms and new systems of human interfacing and conditions of life. It faces us with evolutionary and systemic developmental changes unlike any that we have faced previously in our ages-long journey from the darkness to the light and also of far greater significance than any of those noted in that rather tiny 5 or 6 thousand year period of time we call recorded history.

The symbol of a threshold and its accompanying doorway is one of the half dozen archetypes, like the mountain and the ocean, found at the very core of human thought. It is intrinsic to the concept of evolution and embodies one of the great truths involved in the ancient process of initiation. Just as the disciple, Humanity, is, at this particular time in the Great Unfolding, now standing on a threshold of great significance in that process, each of us, the world over, whether we like it or not, indeed even whether we know it or not, is, in a relative way, standing on her or his own threshold. Especially for this reason, but also because it is Aries, and Aries is the sign of the threshold, I want to share some ideas about thresholds with you this evening. I want to talk for a little while about the meaning and significance of the threshold conditions which we encounter from time to time in our lives and especially about this major threshold upon which humanity finds itself standing today.

And so I say good evening to you, Ladies and Gentlemen. In coming here, we have already crossed one threshold. It was the threshold into this Friendship Hall, into this meeting. This hall is itself, of course, just another threshold, the crossing of which will let us into the place of silence where we will attend the real meeting with the Spiritual Hierarchy of this beautiful planet, Earth, which is our home.

So, as it should be when one crosses a threshold into a friend's space, we have been welcomed and calmed. We have put the hustle and bustle of the city and our very active individual and personal lives aside. We have been helped in this, first of all, by the intention to serve humanity which brought us here, and, secondly, by the magical work of a number of our fellow celebrants who, while we were busy collecting and seating ourselves, have been consciously creating a web of etheric energy, a chalice of stillness and safety within which this meeting will occur, and also, of course, by the warm and friendly words of welcome from Dan Underwood and by the uplifting and totally beautiful music which Keith Bailey made for us.

And now, my friends, may I ask, is the group present? Can you sense the group which, through the magic of the weavers, and the amalgamating effects of the welcoming words and the music, we have become. Can you register our group presence? That, friends, is the soul. To rephrase a famous Pogoism, we have met the soul and it is us. "We tread this way," ladies and gentlemen, "we tread this way, the ways of men, but we know the ways of God." And that little fact makes us exceptionally well qualified to do the work for which we are assembled here this evening.

Thresholds are the stoops in front of doorways whereupon one stands and knocks or rings the bell to be let in. Humanity has been knocking and ringing at this particular door for some time now. Every heartfelt and mind-focused enunciation of the Great Invocation by either individual or group has been a knock. Every selfless daily meditation by the individual disciple that has demanded light, love and power on behalf of the human family has been a knock on that door. Selfless meditations held at the time of the full moons by groups, small or large as this one, have been mighty thumps on that door.

And thus, friends, we will soon take our invocative stance on the threshold of the Hierarchy. In this, we are, as I said, a microcosmic example of Humanity. For the threshold upon which Humanity is standing and which is being universally sensed by thinkers everywhere, is the threshold of the 5th Kingdom. It is the doorway through which Humanity and Hierarchy will enter into a long awaited relationship.

This is the major point I wish to discuss with you this evening. I think it would be interesting if we looked at this ancient symbol from the viewpoint of the individual. Seeing this symbol, just realizing that thresholds and doorways exist and having some notion about their role in the evolutionary process we call initiation, holds much of value for us as we try to tread these paths of livingness, or discipleship, which we call our daily lives.

One may think of a new threshold, not as the result or the reward of an effort, but as the effect of an effort. Results and rewards are concepts which deal with the past. Effects are more akin to new possibilities, new opportunities, new openings, all of which are by way of being thresholds. Thresholds always deal with that which is to come, with the future. Also, thresholds are not time constrained in anyway. We encounter the threshold in time, but it has always been there waiting for us to get to a point where we could see it. Thresholds are stations in consciousness. They signify the approach to an opening between two places in consciousness, not between two places in time at all.

Thresholds are also more than the usual points of development that we know as rites of passage in a person's life. Thresholds are more internal, more esoteric points in development. They are openings in consciousness. They are steps in the inexhaustible, unfolding revelation as it gradually and sequentially dawns upon the disciple's awareness.

Revelation, as you know, always carries with it the need for the disciple to rearrange the interior way in which he or she lives, often times in only a minor way, but sometimes in a very significant manner. Revelations seldom cause us to rearrange, in any substantial manner, our outer lives; we are still responsible for all of our daily life commitments-family, job, service projects and so on.

There are basically three things that one can do when one realizes that one's efforts have brought him or her into a threshold condition. One can move forward. One can turn around and retreat. Or one can get hung up in an indecision loop which is a frequent 2nd ray reaction to threshold conditions. lf you know the story from the Bible, you will recall that Christ had a threshold problem in the garden at Gethsemane. When the rearrangements demanded by the revelation are smallish, we, most of us, move forward calmly and surely. However, when we are faced with a major challenge, such as the one Christ faced in the Garden at Gethsemane, many of us slip rather easily into the second or third possibility.

An interesting thing about these threshold conditions is that the inner restructuring they require is frequently something that we are well into before we realize it. This causes the shock of the revelation to the personality to increase. And the comparative threshing or thrashing about betwixt and between, which in many cases seems to be necessary to get the new grain separated from the old husk, and which by the way is where the term "threshold" comes from, is often a more agonizing experience.

The agony, friends, is generated by the holding on to the husk whether it constitutes something as magnificent as the causal body or just some life form with which we have become familiar and comfortable. In those instances where we are able to say yes and let go of the old worn-out way and step into the new, the term "joy" is understood and experienced, and the term 'ecstasy" becomes meaningful. Can you handle joy? Can you really handle ecstasy? These frequencies will change the way we live, friends, utterly. When faced with a threshold condition, it might be helpful to remember that these small sacrifices which we make as a result of our small revelations are in the way of training sessions for the sacrifice of which the Crucifixion is a symbol.

Thresholds do have a number of identifying characteristics, and the path-wise disciple is acutely conscious of them. Pain is an extremely efficient teacher. To mention a few of the more obvious, there is that sometimes sudden, sometimes dawning sense of unfamiliarity about a part of one's life. It is like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. What is going on here? Where am I? I don't remember ordering this?" Or the again, sudden, or gradually growing sense of discomfort that one is experiencing with the way his or her life is unfolding. Sometimes moves, changes in jobs or locations, significant events like the death or birth of a loved one, the establishing of a new relationship or the dissolution of an old one, can signify a threshold condition. These usually occur after the threshold has been crossed and are frequently the first test of stability in the new frequency.

More subtle and less realized, even by the path-savvy disciple, are the almost subconscious avoidance programs or routines that the personality starts to run when it senses an impending threshold condition. There will be a new interest in old things, familiar, comfortable things. We will suddenly find terrific reasons, sound, logical reasons for our inability to attend that workshop or meet that person or read that book or not like that guy and so on. We will discover many more important, also familiar and comfortable things to do with our time.

There may be some people in the hall this evening who are not aware of these kinds of games, but I suspect that most of us are. I know that once one reaches a certain point, that quiet voice we heard as children speaking to us about things of right and wrong gets very much more persistent and very much more difficult to ignore or turn off. This, I think, is a natural effect of living a disciplined meditative life. It is a natural development in the process of initiation of which a gradual and growing soul-infusion is itself a threshold condition.

You will note how this voice never compels or forces. It simply keeps facing us with that which we ought to do, with the need which, because of the revelation into which we have meditated our way, we can now so clearly see if we will only have the courage to look. The voice of the soul is really the voice of lighted love, or love-wisdom if you prefer, and it knows exactly what is needed in exactly the right amount and exactly when to deliver it. We know these things, we the soul know these things because at the soul level we participate in the generation of the Plan.

It is best, as you probably have experienced, to not relax vigilance, even for a second. That quiet voice can be turned off or drowned out, at least for a little while. A disciple can lose his or her tension and become extended and scattered and relatively re-lost in maya. In moments like this we need each other. We need our group brothers for balance and light. This is one of the reasons initiations beyond the second are only group affairs. It is a razor-edge path, and the tests are non-stop, at least until we are ready for the Crucifixion.

So, the threshold upon which Humanity stands today has to do with a significant unfolding in the Plan. It has to do with the externalization of the Spiritual Hierarchy. It has to do with a much closer interface between 4th and 5th Kingdoms. It has to do not with the building, but with the manifestation of the existing bridge. It has to do with the visible and permanent reunification of our Planetary Logos' subjective and objective selves.

Just as in the case of the individual, this threshold upon which Humanity stands is an effect of its own thrust, an effect of its own expression of love. It is evidence of the progress of the human spirit. In facing this point of tremendous opportunity Humanity, like us individually, will do one of the three things I mentioned. It will take its next step, a step of major proportions. It will spin its wheels, or it will turn back to the more comfortable and well known past.

Right here, I need to mention the fact that there are forces at work, even as we speak, forces who have been evoked by the very fact that we stand now on a point of emergence from the darkness. It is the single-minded intention of these forces to keep humanity in the darkness, to prevent us from moving forward. These are very powerful forces, very well-organized forces. They have the power of intelligence and of money and with that they try their utmost to fog the future, to blur the lines between compassion and greed, between the common good and the exclusivity of the few. We must not underestimate these forces. Neither should we be fooled or intimidated by them.

Huge abstractions like Humanity are comfortable to work with. They have the effect of moving responsibility off into the wild blue yonder. We can say, "Ah yes, Humanity can do this or that." But we all know, or we should know, that Humanity is an abstraction, and abstractions never have and never will do anything. Individual people working in harmony for the common good do things. Humanity is me and you, friends.

From the inner side the call has gone out ". . at this time for hierarchical workers to reveal with greater emphasis the fact of the Hierarchy This-if done on a large scale and through proper organization- will destroy on a large scale the present world structure in the field of religion, of economics and of politics; it is already doing so. An increase of pressure on the part of all who recognize the factual nature of the inner subjective kingdom of God, will produce amazing results."

A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Vol. V p 300.

My, mission this evening has been, as the program promises, to say some inspirational words, so this talk tonight, although it has a little information in it, is really a call, not a call to arms, but a call to heart, a call to sacrifice, a call to service. To do what has been asked of us by the workers on the inner side-that is "to reveal with greater emphasis the fact of the Hierarchy"-will take great courage and even greater skill in action. In terms of the world population, we are few, friends, but we are disciples and we are path-wise, and so we can measure up to the task. It will take all of us, and we each must work at his or her maximum effort.

And so my fellow co-workers, let us remember that disciples, like poets, are volunteers. And, like poets, they work as Dylan Thomas pointed out, "not for ambition or bread, or the strut and trade of charms upon the ivory stages, but for the lovers, their arms around the griefs of the ages, who pay no praise or wages nor heed (our) craft or art." And so we are called to the struggle, a struggle that in very real terms involves the very real soul of humanity.

In his Talks to Disciples, Djwhal Khul spoke directly to what our need is today. "Your major need," he says, "is for an intensification of your inner spiritual aspiration. You need to work more definitely from what might be called a point of tension. . . It is intensity of purpose which will change you from the plodding fairly satisfactory aspirant into the disciple whose heart and mind are aflame." A Treatise on The Seven Rays, Vol. V, p 496.

Finally, let me leave us all with a wonderful observation from the Master Morya. "The calmness of the yogi," he says, "is not due to inner reserve and serenity, but to inner, flaming joy."