The Consciousness of Will

There is a difference between working with the consciousness of Love and working with the consciousness of Will. Understanding the difference between these two aspects of consciousness is a first step from Discipleship to Mastership.

The stimulation in consciousness brought this year [2006] by the energies coming during the full moon of Leo has presented an opportunity for Disciples to focus their identity on a new state of consciousness. This new state of consciousness can be approached as if it were a “door” through which one has to pass. This symbolic door, triangular in shape, has as its apex the state of consciousness known as the Will to Sacrifice, while the other two angles of this triangle, at its base, are formed by the states of consciousness of Love and the Creative Intelligence. To approach the threshold of this door one must synthesize these three states of consciousness into one. The Will to Sacrifice is the key and the central approach to make this synthesis possible now in the new planetary cycle that we started under the Seventh Ray.

How is this process of synthesis in consciousness accomplished?

There are not actions, studies or mental formulas of any type to accomplish this synthesis. As the objective is a synthesis in consciousness so the work must be done with consciousness — that is, with planned movements of consciousness aimed towards an intuitionally-sensed new state of consciousness. These movements in consciousness can only be described through symbolism, and here we will consider a familiar symbol to make the task approachable.

The process of synthesis in consciousness through the Will to Sacrifice can be described, symbolically, as a “renunciation of the World, the Devil and the Flesh”. This is analogous to the process the Master Jesus experienced during the forty days of vigil in the desert before He started his public appearance. It must be noted, however, that for the Initiate this “desert experience” means something different from the typical Christian interpretation of it.

By looking under a new light the meaning of the expressions “the World”, “the Devil” and “the Flesh”, we will be able to grasp the task ahead for those Disciples whose opportunity is now.

Renouncing the World

For the Initiate “the World” is the system of relationships that one has created throughout hundreds of incarnations along the human experience. This system of relationships is vast, extending through time and space, and encompassing all types and levels of relationships: with our human form, family, friends, society, nation, cultural group, humanity, the natural world and even with our fellow travelers along the spiritual path, with the spiritual dimensions, and with Divinity Itself. All of these relationships are “the World”.

The creation of this system of relationships is a natural result of the evolutionary process. It serves the purpose of moving one’s consciousness to progressively focus and to intelligently simplify our sense of identity. This progression in consciousness moves one from identification with the masses, passing through a self-identity, to eventually identifying with The One, Divinity, where relationships are no longer seen by the “eye” of consciousness… just an all-pervading and organic Beingness.

It is important to realize that all relationships are, for our sense of identity, a frame of reference which is the result or the creation of our emotional and mental activities. In other words, one’s relationships have no real existence in Time and Space because the threads of energy and substance of the Cosmos connect us all in equal ways to each other and to the rest of the Cosmos. Relationships only exist in our consciousness as identity-stimulating mechanisms that help us define “who we think and feel we are”. The only true and real existence in Time and Space is the all-pervading and organic Beingness that we call The One, Divinity. Thus, “renouncing the World” is a process of freeing one’s identity from the shackles imposed by emotions and thoughts and is a process of discovering, instead, the freedom of pure Existence.

To understand how this “renunciation” is accomplished, let’s use the symbolism of the spiritual Path, which will also help us understand the type of “door” that is today within the reach of a number of Disciples.

Regardless of how one chooses to see the spiritual Path, on it there are always found two “doors” where two major shifts in our sense of identity occur: one “door” is at the beginning of the Path, the other one is at its end.

The first “door” is found at the turning point between mass identification and self-identity, and it is crossed when one consciously starts traveling the spiritual Path.

The second “door” is found at the turning point between self-identity and Pure Being identity, and it is crossed when one “renounces the World, the Devil and the Flesh”.

It is today well known how one starts the journey of the spiritual Path; but little is known regarding how one “renounces the World, the Devil and the Flesh”. Present day Disciples need to discover this knowledge and make it available to humanity as a growing number of human beings will arrive at the threshold of this “door” in the decades to come. The law of analogy can help with this discovery because there are similarities and parallels between the crossing of each “door” on the spiritual Path. Let’s see these.

Similarities:

• Both crossings are arrived at through a natural expansion of consciousness that cannot be forced, much as a flower bud opens up when it is internally ready to open.
• Both crossings are the result of a renunciation of a sense of identity that no longer satisfies oneself.
• Both crossings are energized by an intuitional perception that one is something greater than the present state of identity.

Parallels:

• Crossing the entrance to the spiritual Path is an act of renunciation regarding identification with one’s emotional life.
  Crossing the door to Pure Being is an act of renunciation regarding identification with one’s mental life.
• Crossing the entrance to the spiritual Path is a shift in consciousness from using the intelligence of Intellect as a mechanism for defining one’s identity to using the intelligence of Love.
  Crossing the door to Pure Being is a shift in consciousness from using the intelligence of Love as a mechanism for defining one’s identity to using the intelligence of Will.
• The crossing of the entrance to the spiritual Path is anchored in the daily life with disciplines aimed to submit the physical body to a new and higher rhythm — and, by extension, to submit the self to a new and higher rhythm.
  The crossing of the door to Pure Being is anchored in the daily life with the imposition of a new rhythm to the etheric body by means of creative visualizations aimed to serve the Divine Plan — and, by extension, to refocus the “eye” of consciousness away from the self.

“Renouncing the World” is then a renunciation of the need to define our sense of identity within the parameters provided by the system of relationships that we created while identifying with our emotions, feelings and thoughts. This is accomplished through the sacrifice of our sense of separation from the all-pervading and organic Beingness in which we exist — a separation that is fostered by our mental life. It is accomplished through the sacrifice of our need to love some beings differently from others — specially those close to us in this incarnation. And it is accomplished through the sacrifice of our long time impulse to perfect oneself — that is, through the sacrifice of the spiritual Path itself.

For those Disciples who today have in front of them the opportunity to cross the second and last “door” of the spiritual Path, “renouncing the World” is possible because, naturally, several processes are already taking place in their consciousness. These processes signify readiness and they are:

First, as a result of relentless efforts to live in the Presence of The One, their mental life focus is rapidly shifting from the concrete, intellectual mind to the abstract mind illuminated by the Intuition — this process gives them the force of will to detach themselves and their sense of identity from their thought life.

Second, the Love aspect of their spiritual nature has matured to the point that they are completely detached from the astral, emotional life of those close to them and of all humanity — this process gives them “the understanding of the heart” or “the intelligence of Love” to make impersonal and illuminated decisions regarding their affairs and their service to the Plan.

Third, their etheric body’s sensitivity to energies and forces is rapidly increasing as they follow an inner prompt to serve the Plan through the creative manipulation and visualization of energies — this process opens for them Sources of Inspiration and Revelation and makes of them a source of inspiration to others.

Thus, “renouncing the World” is not a matter of desiring or wanting to cross that “door” in consciousness at the end of the spiritual Path. It is a matter of having arrived, in consciousness, to the threshold of this door. It is a matter of readiness to apply the Will to Sacrifice upon oneself and upon the sense of identity attached to it.

Renouncing the Devil

For the Initiate “the Devil” refers to the dualist view of all things and beings that has created in the human consciousness the notions of good and evil, right and wrong, like and dislike, and so on, in that continuous categorizing of the many facets of life that one experiences. This is responsible for the systems of values of all kinds that humanity uses to rule its life and activities.

This dualistic view of all things and beings by the human consciousness is a side effect of the innate tendency in one’s identity to move from one state of conscious identity to a more expanded one under the pressure of the evolutionary process. In other words, it is the side effect of that constant re-definition of our sense of self away from the not-self that all human beings experience. Again, this natural process has as its purpose the moving of one’s consciousness to progressively focus and to intelligently simplify our sense of identity from identification with the masses, passing through a self-identity, to eventually identifying with The One, Divinity Itself, where dualities are no longer seen by the “eye” of consciousness, just an all-pervading and organic Oneness.

Duality in consciousness is thus the emotional and mental response to the impact of one’s surroundings upon our sense of identity. But this emotional and mental response to “external” impacts takes place only because we anchor our sense of identity in our emotions, feelings and thoughts.

This experience of duality in consciousness is the experience of “the Devil”, and to it the one to be Initiate renounces through the realization that “the Devil” does not have a real existence in Time and Space. Dualities of all types and classes only exist in “the eye of the beholder”. In other words, they are a transitory state of consciousness during the human experience. They are a mere mechanism in consciousness for assisting us in defining our sense of self-identity. The only true and real existence in Time and Space is the all-pervading and organic Beingness that has chosen to explore creativity and creation through a multitude of individual experiences and moments in time.

“Renouncing the Devil” is very much the same process as “renouncing the World”. All that was said about it applies to “renouncing the Devil” because “renouncing the World, the Devil and the Flesh” is one synthetic process or experience — “the desert experience” or the experience of the steady and relentless application of the Will to Sacrifice upon oneself.

As the central point of “renouncing the World” is the sacrifice of all relationships as a mechanism to define our sense of identity, the central point of “renouncing the Devil” is the sacrifice of the power of choice or freewill to also help define our sense of identity. This is so because the sense of duality (that is, the creator of “the Devil”) is born from choices… from continuously choosing between “who one is” and “who one is not”.

It must be emphasized that it is not freewill itself that is sacrificed “to renounce the Devil”. What is sacrificed is the use of freewill choice as a mechanism to define “who one is”. Let’s study this. Up to the first “door” on the spiritual Path, all the choices one makes have a self-centered motive. Later, after crossing this first “door” and somewhere before arriving to the threshold of the second “door”, all choices one makes have in them a measure of selfless motive. The point to realize here is that in both cases, regarding self-centered and selfless choices, the self is still the point of reference for making choices. In other words, as long as self-identity is at the center of our consciousness, we are still seeing all things and beings through the eyes of duality. Crossing the second “door” requires the renunciation of this dualistic self and the embrace of the identity of the One Self — the one reality: the all-pervading and organic Beingness that one essentially is.

Readiness “to renounce the Devil” is arrived at naturally as one lives in consciousness the same three processes described before for “renouncing the World”:

Living in the Presence of The One: this practice shifts the focus of the mental life from the concrete, rationalizing mind to the abstract mind illuminated by the Intuition — the result is an empowerment in consciousness, the Will to Sacrifice, to detach one’s sense of self and identity from the thought life.

Loving all beings without expecting anything in return: this practice frees our sense of identity from the emotional, desire, feeling life of those around us and of all humanity — the result is that wisdom to make impersonal and illuminated decisions regarding one’s affairs and service to the Plan; again, the Will to Sacrifice.

Serving the Plan through a regular and rhythmic creative visualization of energies and forces: this practice matures the etheric body and awakens the potency of its energy centers — the result is a rapport with Sources of Inspiration and Revelation, a vitalization of one’s being and actions to be a source of inspiration to others, and the power to be an effective co-creator with the Plan; once more, the Will to Sacrifice.

Renouncing the Flesh

For the Initiate “the Flesh” refers to the sense of individuality that every human being develops in consciousness through the long series of incarnations in the human form.

Individuality is a result in consciousness produced by the long experience of enjoying the apparent separate existence that the human form provides. It is a natural result of the evolutionary process in the human kingdom. But this experience of an apparent separate existence while in the human form produces a mix in consciousness of two different things: identity and individuality. This mix in consciousness is a confusion of the Observer with the instrument of observation. It is the identification of the Observer with its instrument of observation.

Individuality is, in fact, no more than an instrument of observation or a vantage point in consciousness that one uses to observe with the “eye” of consciousness the panorama of the entire Universe while one is immersed in the same Universe. Individuality is just that, a vantage point or window in consciousness through which one can gain direct understanding of numberless forms and energies without losing oneself in them.

To grasp what individuality truly is let’s consider the state of consciousness of the animals. Animals on Earth have an instinctual consciousness. With this type of consciousness they live completely identified with their environment. That is, their instinctual consciousness does not allow them to distinguish the Observer, the mechanism of observation, and the field of observation — in their consciousness they are the three of them… they are, in their consciousness, the natural world itself. Human beings, on the other hand, have a consciousness of an intellectual self. With this type of consciousness they can see the field of observation (that is, the numberless forms and energies of the Universe) separate from their consciousness. However, this intellectual self does not distinguish its sense of identity, that is the Observer (the self), from the mechanism of observation, that is the individuality (which includes the intellect).

Identity, on the other hand, has nothing to do with the intellect or with the triplicity of Observer, mechanism of observation, and field of observation. Identity is none of these three. Instead, it is the essential reality that one is, independent from Time and Space, an abstraction to Time and Space. It is Pure Being or that Something which wills to create and use Time and Space to grow in understanding of Itself. Identity, therefore, uses energy, motion or change (all synonymous terms) to create and experience states of Consciousness and Form, yet while remaining completely free from them for Its own existence.

It is this realization of the transitoriness of individuality and of the purity and freedom of identity what the Initiate awakens in consciousness at the crossing of the second and last “door” of the spiritual Path. As the instinctual consciousness of the animal mixes into one thing the identity, the individuality and the information received from “the external world”… and as the intellectual consciousness of the human mixes into one thing the identity and the individuality… it is the intuitional consciousness at the second “door” that reveals that one’s identity is free from individuality and from all information received from the “external world”.

The awakening of this realization of one’s essential Identity is the supreme act of the Will to Sacrifice during “the desert experience”. In a real sense, “renouncing the Flesh” — or that movement in consciousness from the confinement of a self-identity to the freedom of Pure Being identity — is made possible by the renunciation of “the World” and “the Devil”. When these two aspects of renunciation have done their work in consciousness, then the renunciation of “the Flesh” follows suit, naturally and as a consequence.

A closing thought: Even though for most human beings the terms ‘renunciation’ and ‘sacrifice’ usually have a negative connotation, for the Initiate “renouncing the World, the Devil and the Flesh” is a positive act energized by the Will. In a sense, the use of the Will to Sacrifice is the opposite pole of the physical and emotional renunciations of the beginner on the spiritual Path, whose renunciations are focused on giving up and letting go of self-centered desires, emotions and thoughts to replace them with selfless ones. For the Initiate it is another matter altogether. It is not a giving up or letting go. It is a positive or creative act focused on moving one’s sense of identity to a timeless and spaceless dynamic existence in the all-pervading and organic nature of Pure Being — all made possible by the transformation of the “eye” of consciousness with which one sees “the World, the Devil and the Flesh”.

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