*The books of Alice A. Bailey, written in cooperation with a Tibetan teacher between 1919-1949, constitute a continuation of the Ageless Wisdom--a body of esoteric teaching handed down from ancient times in a form which is always suitable to each period. Intended to precede and condition the coming era, the Alice A. Bailey writings offer an unparalleled spiritual approach to such subjects as the teaching on Shamballa and the Path of spiritual evolution; the spiritual Hierarchy; the new discipleship and training in meditation as a form of service; the teaching on the seven rays and the new psychology of the soul; the teaching on esoteric astrology; and the new world religion, which emphasizes the common thread of truth linking all the major world faiths. In her foreword to this book, the author remarks, "The conscious evocation of the Christ life in the human heart and our rapid integration into the Kingdom of God are the immediate tasks ahead, embodying our responsibility, opportunity and destiny".
The five expansions of consciousness by which this integration and evocation proceed are clearly portrayed here as the correspondences of the five climaxing experiences of the Master Jesus during His life in Palestine. These are the five initiations known as the Birth, Baptism, Transfiguration, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension. Through these five stages on the Way, we follow the Master from Bethlehem to Calvary. While these initiations are popularly known by the Christian terminology, within the experience of the spiritual Hierarchy the fourth and fifth initiations are known as the initiation of Renunciation and the initiation of Revelation. The crucifixion experience of the Master Jesus involved Him in the great renunciation of His own soul, with a resulting revelation in the light of the Spiritual Triad. These experiences are both symbolic and actual, setting guideposts along the way of the disciple.
Some understanding of these Mysteries revealed by the Christ and the Master Jesus, as They exemplified the experience of the human soul through the five stages of its spiritual journey, can be invaluable to individual man facing the vast span of the same five-fold experience. This is probably the factor of greatest value and service to the aspirant, setting his feet on the Path of Return; that the experience of the Master Jesus, including that of the Crucifixion, the Great Renunciation, reflects through the lives of all human beings. Through the divine life in us, and as the Christ principle unfolds in our heart and consciousness, the sons of men walk the Way of the Cross eventually to become soul-illumined Sons of God. Knowing something of these things, aware of the spiritual journey before all men from stage to stage on the Path of Initiation, an exact service opens before the aspirant.
"Service must expand and express itself on broader and more inclusive lines, and we must learn to serve as Christ served, to love all men as He loved them and, by the potency of our spiritual vitality and the quality of our service, stimulate all we meet so that they too can serve and love and become members of the Kingdom ...the call is for sane and normal men and women who can comprehend the situation, face what must be done, and then give their lives to expressing for the world the qualities of the citizens of the Kingdom of Souls; love, wisdom, silence, non- separativeness and freedom."
Author Biography:
*Alice A. Bailey, (1880-1949) From her conservative British background, Alice Bailey's life led her in many directions, but always in one direction--towards the time when through drastic personal experience of many kinds she had acquired a synthesis of outlook and understanding, and an absolute conviction that one divine life pervades and animates the one humanity; that the Plan for humanity requires the cooperation and service of trained and dedicated human beings intelligently informed about world affairs, in collaboration with those who form the spiritual Hierarchy, the inner government of the planet. Her life work became an integral part of this synthesis and this realization. Without in the least losing any of her very human qualities and involvement, her soul took up its commitment to her Master,and her personality provided full cooperation in the field of her accepted service. Basically her work developed as a duality--her discipleship service which included the establishment of an esoteric school; and her initially reluctant agreement to work with the Tibetan, Djwhal Khul, in the writing of a series of books presenting the next phase in the continuity of the Ageless Wisdom teaching for the present and the immediate future. An extract from the Tibetan teacher, written in 1934 briefly explains the intent of these teachings: "The books that I have written are sent out with no claim for their acceptance. They may, or may not, be correct, true and useful. It is for you to ascertain their truth by right practice and by the exercise of the intuition. Neither I nor A.A.B. is the least interested in having them acclaimed as inspired writing, or in having anyone speak of them (with bated breath) as being the work of one of the masters. If they present truth in such a way that it follows sequentially upon that already offered in the world teachings, if the information given raises the aspiration and the will-to-serve from the plane of the emotions to that of the mind (the plane whereon the Masters can be found) then they will have served their purpose. If the teaching conveyed calls forth a response from the illumined mind of the worker in the world, and brings a flashing forth of the intuition, then let that teaching be accepted. But not otherwise. If the statements meet with eventual corroboration, or are deemed true under the test of the Law of Correspondences, then that is well and good. But should this not be so, let not the student accept what is said."
