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To All Who Would Invoke Freedom:
As recent Pearls of Wisdom have directed man toward the study of certain tenets of his own freedom, so does the inward nature of man yearn to know even more of the true meaning of freedom. As man yearns for freedom, Heaven responds with a greater release of freedom's holy Light and wisdom.
What a glorious opportunity the Living Spirit has provided for each vestment of His own consciousness in man! Each investiture of individuality is a transfer of cosmic authority from the realm of Spirit to the realm of form. It is an opportunity for man to see, to know and to be that which he is in truth - a cosmic principle, a spiritual fire, blazing upon the Earth with the shining of ever-new opportunity.
Long ago Jesus said, "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" As man measures his own rate of progress by human standards, he often finds himself the victim of pernicious habits of darkness. Sometimes he believes that these habits cannot be changed. In the name of freedom, beloved ones, what hope is there for the world if man cannot till the garden of his own heart, his own opportunity, his own environment!1
Spiritual fruit is the natural manifestation of that cosmic authority which was bestowed upon man in the beginning. Man was given the fiat to take dominion over his own world, yet he has allowed his authority to lapse. He has failed again and again to uphold the banner of his personal freedom. And because he has permitted the banner to be dragged in the dust, or because someone else has lowered the standards of life, he has often taken excuse and allowed his own standards to fall to the ground.
Now in this year of high adventure, when so many are asking themselves how they may resolve the riddle of life's meaning and their own fruitless experiences, let me hasten to assure the devotees of freedom that once you have embarked upon a spiritual course, the very fiat of movement is itself the bearer of your freedom. By contrast, the inertia of noncommitment and the sense of hopelessness will draw you down into negative spirals of worldly magnetism.
The Cosmic Light investiture, the giving by God of His creative authority to each man, provides him with a very wonderful opportunity when it is properly used. The recognition of the fiat to create will bring to every man a new surge of freedom, a sense of well-being and that practical outreach to his fellowman which is so necessary to the survival of the soul. Through obedience to the divine mandate Masters are born; through disobedience men pale into the insignificance of worldly habits to their own regret and shame, and their "damnation is just."2
It is not necessary for man to probe all mysteries, for although he may be aware of them, he may also realize that a partial knowing is the fulfillment of the understanding that there is much about life that he has yet to learn. He need not despair this ignorance - for Cosmos is waiting for the conquest of valiant souls. Some, however, in the name of freedom, seek to conquer worlds in space while ignoring the minerals of seemingly inert vitality right in their own backyards.
Man should not fear the past or the future - that which is near at hand or at a great distance, the known or the unknown - for there is nothing in the universe that does not lie within the bounds of his exploration. In a relative sense he can come to know and to conquer, yet the consciousness of the boundlessness of true freedom is a very essential ingredient in the rightful conquering of each facet of himself.
I once said that man could conquer all of creation by entering into the very Heart of God. Those who know only of the Earth (of Matter) do not consider the higher realms of Heaven (of Spirit); but those who know only of their own hearts can still find God within themselves; and when they do, they will know that the hearts of others also belong to God.
Thus the freedom to know, to do and to dare is a vital opportunity that makes the whole business of living a continuous summoning of new vistas of freedom. Has another discovered a new world, has another planted his flag upon a neighboring orb? Then there is hope for those who follow after. From the standpoint of the individual pursuit of Cosmos, no worlds are conquered until the individual himself conquers. All worlds remain a challenge to every son of God. Has man been there before? Then another can be. Has his spirit been lifted? Then another's may take flight.
Some have said that man is his own worst enemy, and rightly so; for by misusing his creative opportunity he aborts his own creative fulfillment. Some have dwelled in the negative aspects of freedom, taking license to chase the phantoms of their own imaginations. But if the imagination is to be tethered to cosmic freedom, man must first understand the nature of freedom.
Long ago it was said, "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." The spirit of individual man may feel cramped by his self-created image of an anthropomorphic God; but once God is understood as the all-pervading, all-expansive essence of Spirit, as the divine influx of creative opportunity, man will understand that God will not, cannot, and does not cramp or corrupt His style. Therefore, whenever man finds "that Spirit," he finds true liberty.3
How can it be that a heaven that takes such delight in assisting mankind to climb the pinnacles of achievement would desire to impose upon him any unnecessary restraint? All restraint, then, when it is legal from the standpoint of cosmic law - or, as we have called it, cosmically legitimate - is imposed only upon those who are yet inept in the application of the Law, who are wanderers without knowledge. These Heaven seeks to restrain from committing those acts (such as the contamination of virgin planets with war and pestilence, human hatred and degradation) that in the name of freedom would become the binding cords of their own future karma.
The initiatic system affords mankind the opportunity of receiving the communications of his own Christed Intelligence, who will release to man in his finest moments the knowledge of the Law, enabling him to carry the banner of his own freedom. Men have not dreamed of the vast wisdom that can be theirs through following this system; yet they have applied unto mortal men, unto mortal tomes, the strength of knowing. Let them now in their own minds, and for their own good, accord equal respect to those of us who have sought to guide the race. Let them recognize that we of the Ascended Hosts have, by the grace of God, the necessary cosmic intelligence and cosmic love, and even the cosmic power, that when invoked by 'unascended hosts,' will establish in the world a cosmic forcefield of such magnitude as will restore to mankind en masse that sense of the Divine Reality that shall bring in the golden age!
Men cry for the coming age; they wait for it, they long for it. But if their hearts are ever to be assuaged, they must first begin to experience it in themselves. And this is possible. Men need not eat the whole carcass of their freedom in order to realize certain elements of that freedom. Sometimes a tiny bite will suffice to show man the meaning of true freedom, and thus to stimulate his pursuit of it.
In next week's Pearl of Wisdom I should like to deal with an experiment in spiritual initiation. I should like to show each student, according to his own capacity to receive, that tangible freedom is real, that so-called intangible freedom is the spur of attainment which produces tangible manifestation. When one has seen, the need for the appearance of reality is lessened; but while one is still pursuing as an act of faith, he frequently tells himself that once he sees, he will have attained. Let him understand that faith has value, that seeing has value, but that neither can assure man his freedom.
Man makes vows, he seeks greatness; but he is often deterred by small obstacles. Let all understand that the summoning of freedom is a valid expression of faith, that great help is given to the man who is beginning to realize that he can invoke freedom on his own behalf and thereby come to know that it exists in the higher dimensions of his own being.
Some think they are limited by their past attainments. Not so, for the potential of the mind and spirit is so great that the moment the desire for freedom gives them a higher reign, man breaks the bonds of his mortal limitations. Now his desire is chained to the goal of winning freedom through spiritual experience and attainment. He realizes that he can know, he can see, and he can be a higher expression of his own immortal being. It is freedom just to realize cosmic potential, but it is even greater freedom to attain it.
As I extend these hopeful banners of thought to the world, I cannot help but desire for man a greater moving with the tide of his own reality. Only by the complete repudiation of his past experiences with darkness, as well as the darkness of outer controls, can he free his soul to move with the great stream of Life. The imposition of social, economic or even political controls as a substitute for the freedom of the precious soul is a cheap and pasty design. In their place let us draw the mandala of the future and thereby make way for the cosmic progress of real freedom in man and society.
Devoted to your greater Light, I remain