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Glamor - A World Problem - The Causes of Glamor
4. Stage by stage, the man has progressed from one state of illusion or glamor to another, from one point of discriminative opportunity to another until he has developed in himself three major capacities:
  1. The capacity to handle force.
  2. The capacity to tread the middle way between the pairs of opposites.
  3. The capacity to use the intuition.

These capacities he developed by resolving the pairs of opposites on the physical, astral and lower mental planes. Now he faces his climaxing resolution, equipped with these powers. He becomes aware of those two great and apparently opposing entities (with both of whom he finds himself consciously identified) - the Angel of the Presence and the Dweller on the Threshold. Behind the Angel he dimly senses, not another duality, but a great Identity, a living Unity, which - for lack of a better word - we call the PRESENCE.

He then discovers that the way out in this case is not the method of handling force or of leaving behind both pairs of opposites, or of right recognition through the intuition, but that this Dweller and this Angel must be brought together; the lower entity must be "blotted out" in the "light," or "forced to disappear within the [103] radiance." This is the task of the higher of the two entities, with which the disciple or the initiate, consciously and deliberately, identifies himself. With this process we will later deal. This is the problem which faces the initiate before he takes the final three initiations.

You must bear in mind that none of these three stages are, in reality, divided off from each other by clear lines of demarcation, nor do they follow each other in a clear sequence. They proceed with much overlapping and often with a partial simultaneity. It is only when the disciple faces certain initiations that he awakens to the fact of these distinctions. Therefore, it might be stated that:

  1. In the first initiation the disciple demonstrates that he has resolved the dualities of the physical plane and can rightly impose etheric energy (the higher of the two) upon physical energy.
  2. In the second initiation, the initiate demonstrates that he can choose between the pairs of opposites and proceed with decision upon the "middle way."
  3. In the third initiation, the initiate can employ the intuition for the right perception of truth, and in that initiation he catches the first real glimpse of the Dweller on the Threshold and the Angel of the Presence.
  4. In the fourth initiation, the initiate demonstrates his ability to produce complete at-one-ment between the higher and lower aspect of the soul in manifestation and sees the Dweller on the Threshold merge into the Angel of the Presence.
  5. In the fifth initiation - and here words fail to express the truth - he sees the Dweller on the Threshold, [104] the Angel, and the Presence merged into a divine synthesis.

The question arises as to what produces this glamor and illusion. The subject is so vast (embracing as it does the whole field of planetary history) that I can do little more than indicate some of the causes. Few of them have, as yet, been susceptible of correction except in the case of individuals. This means that when individuals reach the point in evolution where they can identify themselves with their higher aspect, the soul, and can then bring in soul energy to offset, subdue and dominate the lower forces of the personality, then correction becomes possible and inevitably takes place. When, therefore, the time comes when a very large number of persons become aware of the condition of world glamor (through discovering it and dealing with it in their own lives), then we shall have a group approach to the problem. Then we shall have a definite attack upon the world glamor, and when this does take place - speaking esoterically - "an opening will be made which will admit the light of the solar orb. The fogs will slowly disappear, subdued by the solar radiance, and the pilgrims will then find the enlightened way which leads from the heart of the fog, straight to the door of light."

It is with the intention of discovering how far the aspirants and disciples of the world have gone in their understanding and in their handling of this problem that such an experiment as that being carried on in these groups has been undertaken and permitted.
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