The process of evolution
Applied
knowledge is the salvation for ignorance. Even the wisest among us have
much to learn and no one has, as yet, attained perfection; nor can one
attain perfection in one short life. We observe everywhere in Nature that
slow, persistent unfoldment makes for higher development of everything.
The more we know of the working methods of Nature, the visible symbol of
the invisible God, the better able we shall be to take advantage of the
opportunities it offers for growth and power -- for emancipation from
bondage, and the elevation to self-mastery. This process is
Evolution.
At the beginning of his evolution man
consisted only of Spirit and body; he was soulless. But since then each
life lived on Earth in the great school of experience has made him more
and more soulful according to the use he has made of the opportunities and
the lessons he has learned from them. This is shown in the different
gradations between the savage and the saint, which we see all around us.
All races are products of evolution, the only object of which is final
perfection. The highest expression in one life becomes the lowest
expression in the next life, and thus we gradually climb the ladder of
evolution toward Divinity. Humanity as a whole is slowly progressing upon
this path and thus slowly attaining higher states of consciousness.
Periodicity
One of the chief characteristics of
evolution lies in the fact that it manifests in alternating periods of
activity and rest. The busy summer is followed by the rest and inactivity
of winter, and each season is a little farther progressed along the
pathway of time. The busy day alternates with the quiet of night. The ebb
of the ocean is succeeded by the flood-tide.
Thus, as all other things move in
cycles, the life that expresses itself here upon Earth for a few years is
not to be thought of as ended when death comes. The birth of this body is
infinitely far from our ending. Our Spirits are immortal and the physical
bodies are the instruments which we use during this Earth life to aid in
our evolution. We may rest assured that in whatever station of life we are
placed, monarch or beggar, rich or poor, it contains the lessons and
experiences necessary at the moment for our evolution and gives us the
best possible advantage for our development. As surely as the Sun rises in
the morning after having set at night, will the life that was ended by the
death of one body be taken up again in a new vehicle and in a different
environment.
Evolution is the history of the
progression of the spirit in time. Everywhere in Heaven and on Earth all
things are going onward -- upward, forever, and as we see about us the
varied phenomena in the universe, we realize that the path of evolution is
a spiral. Each loop of the spiral is a cycle. Each cycle merges into the
next and as the loops of the spiral are continuous, each cycle is the
improved product of those preceding it, and the creator of those more
developed states which are to come.
The Spiral Path
But the path of evolution is a spiral
when we regard it from the physical side only. It is a lemniscate or
figure eight when viewed in both its physical and spiritual phases. The
two circles of the lemniscate converging to a central point symbolize the
immortal Spirit, the evolving Ego. One of the circles signifies its life
in the physical world from birth to death. During this span of time it
sows seeds by every act and should reap a certain amount of experience,
which it will do if lessons are extracted from its opportunities; and at
the end of this life the Ego will find itself at the door of death laden
with the richest fruits of life.
The other circle of the lemniscate
symbolizes the sojourn of the Ego in the invisible worlds which it
traverses during the period from death to birth. At the time when the Ego
arrives at the central point in the lemniscate which divides the physical
from the spiritual worlds, it has with it a collection of faculties or
talents acquired in all its previous lives which it may put to use or bury
during the next life experience as it sees fit; but upon the use it makes
of its acquired faculties depends the amount of soul-growth it garners in
its next life. We have already lived through a mineral, a plant, and an
animal-like existence before becoming human, and beyond us lie still
further evolutions where we shall approach the Divine more and
more.
Advancing Through
Sacrifice
Man advances by sacrifice alone. Few
realize that when we rise in the scale of evolution, we do so by trampling
upon the bodies of our weaker brothers. Consciously or unconsciously we
crush them and use them in attaining our own ends. This fact holds good
concerning all the Kingdoms in Nature. When a life wave has been brought
down to the lowest point of involution and encrusted in mineral form, it
is immediately seized upon by another slightly higher life wave which
takes the disintegrating mineral crystal, adapts it to its own needs as
crystalloid, and assimilates it as part of a plant form.
Foot Washing
In the Christian Mystic initiation when
the Christ washed the feet of His disciples on the night of the Last
Supper, the explanation is given that unless the minerals decomposed and
were offered as embodiments for the plant kingdom, we should have no
vegetation; also if the plant food did not furnish sustenance for the
animals, the beings of the animal kingdom could not find expression, and
so on -- the higher is always feeding on the lower, and as the Master
washed the feet of His disciples, He symbolically performed for them that
menial service in recognition of the fact that they had served Him as
stepping-stones to something higher.
The same principle holds good in all
spiritual evolution, for if there were no pupils standing on the lower
round of the ladder of knowledge and requiring instructions, there would
be no need for a Teacher. But here there is one all important difference.
The Teacher grows by giving to his pupils and serving them, as everybody,
no matter what station in life, grows by service. From the shoulders of
the pupils the teacher steps to a higher rung of the ladder of knowledge,
and thereby owes them a debt of gratitude which is symbolically
acknowledged and liquidated by the foot-washing, an act of humble service
to those who have served Him.
Progress or Regress
Under the beneficent guidance of the
Great Intelligences, we are constantly progressing from life to life under
conditions exactly suited to each individual until in time we shall attain
to a higher evolution and become supermen. The occultist believes the
purpose of evolution to be the development of man from a static to a
dynamic God -- a creator. In order that he may become an independent,
original Creator, it is necessary that his training should include
sufficient latitude for the exercise of the individual originality which
distinguishes creation from imitation. So long as certain features of the
old form meet with requirements of progression they are retained, but at
each rebirth the evolving life adds such original improvements as are
necessary for its future expression. Stragglers have been left along the
way who failed to reach the necessary standard to keep abreast of the
crest-wave of evolution. In the progress of evolution there is no halting
place. Progress or retrogression is the Law, and the form that is not
capable of further improvement must degenerate.
The evolutionary impulse works to
achieve ultimate perfection for all. It is therefore reasonable to suppose
that the exalted Intelligences in charge of our evolution use every means
available to bring through in safety as many as possible of the entities
under their charge. Every vibration of the universe is life and all life
has sprung from the one God. Hence, we are all one, yet there are some who
are constantly straggling behind.
During this present stage of
individualism, which is the climax of our illusionary separateness, all
mankind needs extra help, but for the stragglers some additional, special
aid must be provided. To give that special aid was the mission of Christ.
He said He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He opened the way
of Initiation for all who are willing to seek it.
Soul Growth
Evolution depends upon soul growth, the
transmutation of the bodies into soul, which must be accomplished by the
individual efforts of the Spirit in man, the Ego, and at the end of
evolution it will possess soul-power as the fruitage of its pilgrimage
through matter. It will be a Creative Intelligence.
If we fill our appointed niche to the
best of our ability throughout our whole life we shall be certain of
advancement in a future age. We shall see more clearly through the veil of
egoism when we willingly live the life in which we have been placed, for
the Recording Angels make no mistakes. They have put us in that place
where we have been given the lessons needed to prepare us for a greater
sphere of usefulness.
If we have within ourselves sufficient
love of all things, we can do no harm, because that love would stay our
hand at any action, our mind at any thought which might hurt another. As
yet we have not reached that advanced stage of consciousness. If we had,
there would be no need for our existence here, but all of us are seeking
and advancing toward that state of glorious perfection. It is surprising
how rapidly an individual may advance along these lines if he is truly
serious in his effort, trusting not in his poor personality alone, but
having implicit faith that by the example and teachings of Christ he may
be enabled to unite himself with his Divinity within.
Evolution depends upon the dissolution
of the bodies and the alchemical amalgamation of the soul with the Spirit.
The soul is the quintessence, the power or force of the body, and when a
body has been brought to perfection through the various stages, the soul
is fully extricated there from and is absorbed by one of the three aspects
of the Spirit which generated the body in the first place.
The Goal of Perfection
The Conscious soul will be absorbed by
the Divine Spirit in the seventh Revolution of the Jupiter Period.
The Intellectual soul will be absorbed
by the life spirit in the sixth Revolution of the Venus Period.
The Emotional soul will be absorbed by
the human spirit in the fifth Revolution of the Vulcan Period.
While developing this universal love
within ourselves we learn to realize more and more that every human being
is a son of the Creator and that in due time we will advance to
perfection, just as we all hope to do. However base a man or creature may
appear, we must remember that there is a Divine spark within which will
slowly but surely grow until the glory of the Creator illuminates that
being.
The Divine Hierarchies who have guided
humanity upon the path of evolution from the beginning of our career are
still active and working with us from their worlds, and with their help we
shall eventually be able to accomplish the elevation of humanity as a
whole and attain to an individual realization of glory and immortality.
Having this great hope within ourselves, this great mission in the world,
let us work as never before to make ourselves better men and women so that
by our example we may waken in others a desire to lead a life that brings
liberation.
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