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Discipleship in the New Age I - Personal Instructions to Disciples - S.S.P.
January 1936

I have very little to say to you this half year, my brother. The meditation work and the exercises assigned to you in your last papers were intended to cover your work for the period of one year... I would ask you to study your last instructions with exceeding care. All I intend to do is to give you a new series of seed thoughts. Your coordination is better, but your alignment is still weak. One of the objectives, which you should have steadily in view, is the constant cultivation of the attitude of the observer, of the one who assumes and holds the position of the perceiver. This you are beginning to realize, for I note in you a closer attention to the daily duties of the disciple, and a more observant attitude towards yourself, and towards what you do and say and think. This reaches; likewise, to your life on the astral plane, and you are becoming aware of the dreams and experiences in the hours of sleep. Remember ever, however, that these also are a part of the great illusion. The goal is to develop the powers of observation which are those of the soul, and the cultivation of the power to register, through the medium of the brain, the thoughts of that divine Perceiver.

In order to achieve this attitude there is no need for you to subject yourself to constant criticism. Each day, however, subject yourself to a brief and exact analysis. I suggest for your personal use a form of evening review... Have the thought of the divine Perceiver as you work over it each day, and seek to see yourself in the light of that spiritual perception. It is not necessary, my brother, to do this at night, if the hour, fatigue or your duties should render it inconvenient. Do it once in the twenty-four hours and do it with care.

Disciples everywhere have to work hard at the task of self perfecting for the world situation demands trained and skilled workers. No group can be used in world service that is not working in perfect accord and this harmony must be attained as a group. It must be brought about, not through the process [195] whereby people withdraw within themselves and thus inhibit that which upsets group equilibrium, but by the process of loving self-forgetfulness. You have within yourself a good deal of steady staying power, and you have also a definite capacity to radiate. Use these powers as a contribution to your group life, and, by means of your loving radiation, strengthen the group structure, and stimulate the group love. This is something I ask you definitely to do.

My brief instructions to you can be summed up as follows:

  1. Keep your meditation as heretofore.
  2. Follow carefully the review work assigned you.
  3. Above everything else pay close attention to reaching me, if possible, at the time of the Full Moon and give to the five days thereof your constant thought. I am anxious to see a greater emphasis built up this year in connection with your contact with me, your teacher and your friend.

One other point I seek to make, my brother, whom I hope to see drawn into a closer relation of service. This point may be regarded by you as in the nature of a criticism. From my point of view and lucidity, it is the pointing out of a hindrance to your progress; it is in the nature of a stone or rock over which you might stumble as you tread the pathway towards the light. You have, as you know and as I have told you, a very critical mind; you are full of response to, and recognition of, the weaknesses and frailties of your family and associates. Let not this grow upon you, but let it cease, for it builds a barrier between you and them, and obstructs and hinders your service.

The seed thoughts on which I would ask you to meditate are as follows:

  • 1st month - The heart as a radiating center of love.
  • 2nd month - The radiance which shows itself as joy.
  • 3rd month - The will, as directed by love and expressed in freedom.
  • 4th month - Speech as an expression of a heart at rest.
  • 5th month - The power to dwell, unmoved, at the center.
  • 6th month - The personality, as a reflector of the light of the soul. [196]
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