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1. "I might here touch upon the paralleling activity of The Forces which are working to prevent The Externalization of The Hierarchy of Light, since such a happening as that would mean increased power. As you know, on The Astral and Mental Planes centers exist which are called Dark Centers because the emphasis of their activity is upon the material aspect of manifestation and upon the activity of material substance. All energy is subordinated to purely selfish purpose."
"The Forces of Light work with The Soul, hidden in every form. They are concerned with group purposes and with the founding of The Kingdom of God (The Spiritual Hierarchy) on Earth. The Dark Forces work with the form side of expression and with the founding of a center of control which will be theirs entirely and which will subdue all the living forms in all The Kingdoms to their peculiar behests."
"It is the old story of the kingdoms of the world and The Kingdom of The Christ, of the power of The Anti-Christ and the power of The Christ. This produced a great climax in Atlantean Days, and though The Hierarchy of Light triumphed, it was only by the merest margin. The battle was fought on The Astral Plane, though it had its correspondence upon The Physical Plane in a great world conflict of which the ancient legend tells us. It ended in the catastrophe of The Flood."
"The seeds of hate and of separation have been fostered ever since that time, and the 3 modes whereby The Forces of Darkness seek to control Humanity are hatred, aggression, and separativeness. The 3 great spiritual counterparts are love, selfless sharing, and synthesis."
"The Dark Forces are ruled on The Physical Plane by a group of 6 oriental leaders and 6 occidental leaders. Of these the oriental are the most powerful because they are the oldest racially and, therefore, the most experienced. Their particular point of attack at this time is the group of world disciples and Initiates, for these latter are responsible for the fostering of love in the world and for the binding of men together in the spirit of unity."
"If these Evil Forces cannot induce the disciples everywhere, in group formation or individually, to succumb in some form to glamor (illusion, duality, desire, negative emotions), then they will endeavor to utilize group glamor to negate their efforts and force those with whom the disciples work to believe evil, to impugn motives, and to produce such a convincing story that the struggling disciple will be left to fight almost singlehandedly. If this cannot be done, they may then attack the physical bodies of the workers and agents for The Hierarchy and seek, through the distress of the physical body, to control the disciple's output. This does not always prove successful, as The Master can and often does protect his disciple."
"The Dark Forces work also through the identification or stimulation of the psychic mechanism, so that the lower psychic powers become abnormally developed and prematurely assume proportions which are almost uncontrollable. This happened on a large scale in Atlantean Days and led to the entire Astral Plane standing revealed but not understood. Its undesirable potencies were then let loose upon The Physical Plane, and this led to the war between the 2 Great Schools of The Mysteries, The Light and The Dark, which culminated in the destruction of the then known world."
"Today these potencies, Light and Dark, are again struggling for Physical Plane expression and supremacy, but this time the result is vastly different. The effort by The Dark Forces to stimulate the lower psychic powers seems able to reach no deeper into matter and form than the aetheric vehicles and from there to condition the physical body physiologically in the form of diseases, lesions, nervous troubles, and brain afflictions and the many other ways in which the human being is rendered helpless and unfitted to cope with daily living and modern world conditions."
"But the mind nature has reached a stage of protective usefulness, and some of the great guarding barriers which are flung up around Humanity at this time are the spirit of skepticism and the refusal to recognize the existence or the usefulness of the psychic powers (lower ones)."
2. "The major weapon now being used by the combined Forces of Evil is chaos, disruption, lack of established security, and consequent fear. The entire rhythm of international thinking has to be altered, and that constitutes a slow and arduous task. The evil personalities, which in every country are responsible for the chaos and uncertainty, have eventually to be replaced by those who can work in cooperation with the rhythm of The 7th Ray and thus produce ordered beauty."
3. "Those men are truly evil who seek to enforce a return to the bad old ways, who endeavor to keep their fellowmen in slavery of some kind or another, who block the expression of one or all of The 4 Freedoms, who gain material riches at the expense of the exploited, or who seek to hold for themselves and for gain the produce of The Earth and thus make the cost of life's necessities prohibitive to those not richly endowed. Those who thus work, think, and plan are to be found in every nation and are usually of prominence because of their riches and influence."
"They are relatively few compared to the countless millions of men but are exceedingly powerful. They are highly intelligent but unscrupulous, and it is through them that The Forces of Evil work, holding back progress, promoting poverty, breeding hatred and class distinctions, fostering racial differences for their own ends, and keeping ignorance in power. The will-to-power as it militates against the will-to-good is a dominant all-controlling factor in their lives. These men, who are found in every nation, thoroughly understand each other and are working together in great combines to exploit the riches of The Earth at the expense of Humanity."
"The source of that evil, The Black Lodge, is the problem of The White Lodge and not the problem of Humanity. For eons The Hierarchy has handled this problem and is now in the process of solving it. It is essentially, however, the main consideration and problem of Shamballa, for it is connected with The Will Aspect (The 1st Ray), and only the will-to-good will suffice to blot out and annihilate the will-to-evil."
4. "Where the average unthinking (and undeveloped) man is concerned, the danger of 'Black' interference is nil. The Dark Forces do not interest themselves in any unimportant person save with those of potency and influence who can serve their ends. Also, their evil work is only possible at the moment or cycle wherein the man is making decision as to whether he will move into spiritual living, remain static where he is, or turn with deliberation to the path of pure selfishness. This path leads to The Black Lodge."
5. "The Dark Brothers are, remember this always, brothers, erring and misguided yet still sons of The One Father though straying far, very far, into the land of distances. The way back for them will be long, but the mercy of evolution inevitably forces them back along The Path of Return (to The Godhead) in Cycles far ahead. Anyone who over-exalts the concrete mind and permits it continuously to shut out The Higher (Mind) is in danger of straying on the left-hand path."
"The Dark Brother recognizes no unity with his species, only seeing in them people to be exploited for the furtherance of his own ends. This, then, on a small scale is the mark of those who are being used by them wittingly or unwittingly. They respect no person. They regard all men as fair prey. They use everyone to get their own way enforced, and by fair means or foul they seek to break down all opposition and for the personal self acquire that which they desire."
"The Dark Brother considers not what suffering he may cause. He cares not what agony of mind he brings upon an opponent. He persists in his intention and desists not from the hurt of any man, woman, or child provided that in the process his own ends are furthered. Expect absolutely no mercy from those opposing The Brotherhood of Light. Oft too The Dark Brother masquerades as an agent of The Light. Oft he poses as a messenger of the gods, but for your assurance I would say that he who acts under the guidance of The Ego (The Higher Self) will have clear vision and will escape deception."
"On The Physical Plane and on The Emotional Plane (Astral Plane) The Dark Brother has more power than The Brother of The Light, not more power per se but more apparent power because The White Brothers choose not to exert their power on those 2 Planes as do The Dark Brothers. They could exert their authority but They choose to refrain, working with the powers of evolution and not of involution and the elemental forces to be found on these 2 Planes."
"The Mental is The Plane on which The Brothers of The Light work. Mighty Dark Magicians may be located on the lower Mental Levels, but on The Higher The White Lodge dominates, The 3 Higher Subplanes being The Levels that They beg the evolving sons of men to seek. It is their region, to which all must strive and aspire."
"The Dark Brother impresses his will on human beings, if analogous vibration exists, and on the elemental kingdoms of involution. The Brothers of Light plead as pleaded The Man of Sorrows for an erring Humanity to rise upward to The Light. The Dark Brother retards progress and shapes all to his own ends. The Brother of Light bends every effort to the hastening of evolution and stays amid the fogs, the strife, the evil, and the hatred of the period (on Earth) if, in so doing, He may by all means aid some and set their feet upon The Mount and enable them to surmount The Cross."
"What methods may be employed to safeguard the worker in the field of the world?
a. A realization that purity of all the vehicles is the prime essential. If a Dark Brother gains control over any man, it but shows that that man has in his life some weak spot. The door whereby entrance is effected must be opened by the man himself. The opening whereby malignant force can be poured in must be caused by the occupant of the vehicles, therefore the need of scrupulous cleanliness of the physical body, of clean steady emotion permitted in the emotional body, and of purity of thought in the mental body. When this is so, coordination will be present in the lower vehicles, and The Indwelling Thinker Himself (Higher Self) permits no entrance.
b. The elimination of all fear! The forces of evolution vibrate more rapidly than those of involution, and in this fact lies a recognizable security. Fear causes weakness. Weakness causes a disintegration. The weak spot breaks and a gap appears, and through that gap evil force may enter. The factor of entrance is the fear of the man himself who opens thus the door.
c. A standing firm and unmoved no matter what occurs. Your feet may be bathed in the mud of Earth, but your head may be bathed in the sunshine of The Higher Regions. Recognition of the filth of Earth involves not contamination.
d. A recognition of the use of common sense and the application of this common sense to the matter in hand. Sleep much and, in sleeping, learn to render the body positive. Keep busy on The Emotional Plane and achieve the inner calm. Do naught to overtire the body physical and play whenever possible. In hours of relaxation comes the adjustment that obviates later tension."
6. "It is only as Discipleship (to an Ascended Master) is approached and a man stands out ahead of his fellows as an instrument of The White Brotherhood that he attracts the attention of those who seek to withstand (The Dark Brothers). This attack may be directed against any of his 3 vehicles and may be of different kinds:
a. Definite attack on the physical body. All kinds of means are employed to hinder the usefulness of the disciple through disease or the crippling of his physical body.
b. Glamor (illusion, deception, duality, fear, etc.) is another method used, or the casting over the disciple of a cloud of emotional or mental matter which suffices to hide the real and to temporarily obscure that which is true. Glamor may be either on the emotional or mental levels but is usually on the former. One form employed is to cast over the disciple the shadows of the thought of weakness or discouragement or criticism to which he may at intervals give way. Thus cast, they loom in undue proportion and the unwary disciple, not realizing that he is but seeing the gigantic outlines of his own momentary and passing thoughts, gives way to discouragement, aye even to despair, and becomes of little use to The Great Ones.
Another form is to throw into his mental aura suggestions and ideas purporting to come from his own Master, but which are but subtle suggestions that hinder and help not. It takes a wise disciple always to discriminate between the voice of his Real Teacher and the false whispers of the masquerading one, and even High Initiates have been temporarily misled.
Many and subtle are the means used to deceive and thereby curtail the effective output of the worker in the field of the world. Wisely, therefore, have all aspirants been enjoined to study and work at the developement of viveka or that discrimination which safeguards from deception. If this quality is laboriously built in and cultivated in all events, big and little, in the daily life, the risks of being led astray will be nullified.
c. A third method frequently employed is to envelope the disciple in a thick cloud of darkness, to surround him with an impenetrable night and fog through which he stumbles and often falls. It may take the form of a black cloud of emotional matter, of some dark emotion that seems to imperil all stable vibration and plunges the bewildered student into a blackness of despair. He feels that all is departing from him. He is a prey to varied and dismal emotions. He deems himself forsaken of all. He considers that all past effort has been futile and that naught remains but to die.
He should, at these times, remind himself that the darkness hides naught from The God Within and that the stable center of consciousness remains there untouched by aught that may betide. He should persevere until the end of the enveloping cloud, the point where it merges itself into sunlight. He should pass through its length and out into the daylight, realizing that nothing can at any time reach to and hurt the inner consciousness. God is within, no matter what transpires without.
d. Finally (for I cannot touch upon all the methods used), the means employed may be to cast a mental darkness over the disciple. The darkness may be intellectual and is consequently still more difficult to penetrate, for in this case the power of The Ego (The Higher Self) must be called in, whereas in the former (emotional darkness) frequently the calm reasoning of the lower mind may suffice to dispel the trouble. Here, the disciple will be wise if he not only attempts to call his Ego or Higher Self for the dispelling of the cloud but calls likewise upon his Teacher or even upon his Master for the assistance that They can give."
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