The three main channels through which the preparation for the new age is going on might be regarded as the Church, the Masonic Fraternity and the educational field. All of them are as yet in relatively static condition, and all are as yet failing to meet the need and to respond to the inner pressure. But in all of these three movements, disciples of the Great Ones are to be found and they are steadily gathering momentum and will before long enter upon their designated task.
The Masonic Movement, when it can be divorced from politics and social ends and from its present paralysing condition of inertia, will meet the needs of those who can, and should, wield power. It is the custodian of the law; it is the home of the Mysteries and the seat of initiation. It holds in its symbolism the ritual of Deity, and the way of salvation is pictorially preserved in its work. The methods of Deity are demonstrated in its Temples, and under the All-seeing Eye the work can go forward. It is a far more occult organisation than can be realised, and is intended to be the training school for the coming advanced occultists. In its ceremonials lies hid the wielding of the forces connected with the growth and life of the kingdoms of nature and the unfoldment of the divine aspects in man. In the comprehension of its symbolism will come the power to co-operate with the divine Plan. It meets the needs of those who work on the first Ray of Will or Power.
The Church finds its mission in the helping of the devotee, in aiding the great public which is innately religious, and of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. Christ himself works through it and by its means seeks to contact the vast Christian goodwill. It hides in its heart those who vibrate to the great public. It is the leaven in his hands to leaven the whole lump, and being in a form comprehended by the people, it can touch the great masses of seeking souls.
By means of the educational work of the world, the Great Lord seeks to reach those of the intelligent public who cannot be reached by means of ceremonial and symbolism, as in Masonry, or by religious means and ritual, as in the Church. It touches the masses and those in whom the intelligence aspect predominates to the lessening of the other two aspects. It aids those men who are predominantly on the third Ray of Intelligent Activity.
In all these bodies there are to be found esoteric groups who are the custodians of the inner teaching and whose uniformity in aspiration and in technique is one. These inner groups consist of occult students and of those who are in direct or occasional touch with the Masters and of those whose souls are in sufficient control so that the will of the Hierarchy may be communicated and gradually filter down to the channel of the physical brain. These groups which constitute the true inner esoteric group are many, but their membership is yet small, for the fact that a student may belong to any of the outer esoteric groups so-called is no indication of his true esoteric status. When the few who are the true esoteric students of the world know the difference between etheric and astral forms, between mental clairaudience and clairvoyance and their astral counterparts, between the elementals of thought and elementals of nature, then will the Christ and his church have a real esoteric group on the physical plane and the outer organisations receive the needed stimulation. That is why it is necessary to work with the students at this time and train them in the nature of true occultism. When we understand better the significance of time in prevision, and of force in movement, and when we comprehend more fully the laws that control the subtler bodies, and through them therefore the laws that function on the planes whereon those bodies express themselves, then will there be more intelligent and more useful work offered in co-operation with the Occult Hierarchy.
In the esoteric group, which is composed of the true spiritual esotericists found in all exoteric occult groups, in the church, by whatever name it may be called, and in Masonry you have the three paths leading to initiation. As yet they are not used, and one of the things that will eventuate, when the new universal religion has sway and the nature of esotericism is understood, will be the utilisation of the banded esoteric organisms, the Masonic organism and the Church organism as initiating centers. These three groups converge as their inner sanctuaries are approached. There is no dissociation between the One Universal Church, the sacred inner Lodge of all true Masons, and the innermost circles of the esoteric societies. Three types of men have their need met, three major rays are expressed, and the three paths to the Master are trodden, leading all three to the same portal and the same Hierophant.
It must not be forgotten that only those souls who are on the Probationary Path or the Path of Discipleship will form the nucleus of the coming world religion. It exists on the inner planes for the purpose of gathering out of all the churches those who have reached the point in evolution where they can consciously and of their own free will place their feet upon that PATH which leads to the centre of peace; who can in full awareness turn their eyes upon the Great Lord, and transmute the life of worldly endeavour into the life of service. The first detachment gathered into the coming Church will be found to be a part of the present great bartd of servers. These have, down the ages, been associated with the Christ in his work. Remember always the fact of the work he did in connection with the last advent, and remember likewise that in the turning of the cyclic wheel, in the evolution of the spiral, similar conditions will eventuate, the same need arises, and the same egos incarnate that were present in the days of old in Palestine. The numbers of those associated with him will be greatly increased, for all who knew him in earlier incarnations in the ancient East, all whom he cured or taught, all who contacted him or in any way incurred karma with him or with the Master Jesus, will have the opportunity to co-operate at this time. Each sincere aspirant who is closely connected with the present Church organizations, who feels a close link with the Christ and who loves him, can be practically sure that in Palestine they saw him, knew him and may have served and loved him.
The sacraments, properly understood, serve to strengthen this link and realisation, and such a one as that of Baptism, when entered upon with understanding, will draw forth oft a response from the Great Lord himself. It is almost as if a golden strand were directed from his heart to the heart of the servant, a strand unbreakable and unfathomable and which, with each administration of any of the holy rites in the succession of lives, becomes stronger, broader and brighter. Eventually these many strands will become reabsorbed into their source when the Body of the Christ, one of the seven Heavenly Men on the second or monadic plane, is completed in full expression, for each one linked to him becomes, in a vital sense, a cell in his body. This , the initiate Paul truly sensed and knew. Via this strand passes the power to strengthen, to stimulate, to vivify and to bless, and this is the true apostolic succession. All true disciples are priests unto the Lord.
— Corinne Heline
