THE LIGHTED HOUSE
WHAT IS INITIATION?
There is a supreme being that created the cosmos and controls everything in it. Whether you call this supreme being God or the master of the universe, or any of the numerous names given to the creator, we all agree that there is a creator. Everything we see in our world, the rocks, the trees, the animals and humanity itself, are all creations of this great being, and are therefore all imbued with a spark of divinity. There is a master plan of the master creator, and part of this master plan includes the gradual expression of that innate divinity by everything in creation.
When a flower is in full bloom, it is at its most beautiful and is expressing its divinity. In the human kingdom, this expression of divinity takes place through a series of expansions which lead towards this final achievement as one with god or one with the universe. In esoteric or metaphysical terminology, this series of consciousness expanding events is called initiation.
The definition of initiation from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is as follows:
1 a : the act or an instance of initiating b : the process of being initiated c : the rites, ceremonies, ordeals, or instructions with which one is made a member of a sect or society or is invested with a particular function or status
2 : the condition of being initiated into some experience or sphere of activity : KNOWLEDGEABLENESS
Wikipedia Encyclopedia tells us that "initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. In the context of ritual magic and esotericism, an initiation is considered to cause a fundamental process of change to begin within the person being initiated. The person conducting the initiation (the initiator), being in possession of a certain power or state of being, transfers this power or state to the person being initiated. Thus the concept of initiation is similar to that of apostolic succession. The initiation process is often likiened to a simultaneous death and rebirth, because as well as being a beginning it also implies an ending as existence on one level drps away in an ascension to the next."
Our purpose here is to look at initiation from a spiritual perspective. So here is a definition from a spiritual perspective:
"The meaning of the word "initiation" is "to go into." It means simply that an initiate is one who has taken the first steps into the spiritual kingdom, and has had the first series of spiritual revelations, each one of which is a key to a still greater revelation. [Consciousness of the Atom, p. 116]
From a spiritual perspective, initiation means that you are identifying yourself less and less with the form or material side of life because you are becoming more and more identified with the spiritual side. Each of the various degrees of initiation increases your connection to and your understanding of spirit. Another definition of initiation is “daring to approach the Image of Light and not fearing to look at it” [Supermundane: The Inner Life, Book One, p. 348].
Initiation progresses through a gradual series of renunciations, whereby control of the life is gradually given to higher and higher aspects of oneself. Words can never truly describe the experience, but in trying to understand the definitions that have been given to us, we are opening our minds to higher possibilities, and preparing ourselves in a way for the time in which we will experience initiation. For many of us, initiation may not even occur in this lifetime, but at least we can begin thinking about it, and determining what we need to do so that we can arrive at that point where initiation is possible.
Most of the information on initiation presented here is gleaned from the Alice Bailey books. However, the experience of initiation has been covered in many schools of thought and religions, including Christianity, Buddhism and Masonry. Although the names are different, they refer to the same experience.
Here are various quotations from the Bailey books describing and defining initiation:
"Initiation is essentially an expanding series of inclusive recognitions." [The Rays and the Initiations, p. 341] “What, therefore, is Initiation? Initiation might be defined in two ways. It is first of all the entering into a new and wider dimensional world by the expansion of a man's consciousness so that he can include and encompass that which he now excludes, and from which he normally separates himself in his thinking and acts. It is, secondly, the entering into man of those energies which are distinctive of the soul and of the soul alone—the forces of intelligent love and of spiritual will. These are dynamic energies, and they actuate all who are liberated souls. This process of entering into and of being entered into should be a simultaneous and synthetic process, an event of the first importance.” [Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II p. 12] “Initiation is, therefore, a constant fusion of the lights, progressively entered, thus enabling the initiate to see further, deeper and more inclusively.” [The Rays and the Initiations, p. 540] “Forget not that initiation is but another name for synthesis and fusion.” [Esoteric Astrology, p. 241] “..initiation is, par excellence, a series of graded steps or awakenings which enable the human being to become eventually a member, or a point of light, in the Kingdom of God.” [Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II p. 381] “Through the process of Initiation, the soul becomes aware of the essential nature of divinity.” [Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II, p. 19] "Initiation is, in the last analysis, the realisation, the recognition in the brain consciousness of various spheres and states of divine awareness, with a consequent life demonstration of this fact, this eternal fact." [The Rays and the Initiations, p. 259] "Initiation is a strictly personal matter with a universal application. It rests upon his inner attainment. The initiate will know for himself when the event occurs and needs no one to tell him of it. The expansion of consciousness called initiation must include the physical brain or it is of no value." [Initiation, Human and Solar, p. 102] "I have stated that initiation is essentially a process of revelation. ..…The revelation which is accorded at initiation is given to the soul, recorded by the "mind held steady in the light" and then later—with greater or less rapidity—transferred to the brain." [Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II, p. 257-258] “…initiation is the demonstration of intuitive understanding put to practical expression.” [Esoteric Astrology, p. 391] “The forces of initiation produce their major effects upon the physical plane, for it is there that the initiate has to demonstrate his liberation, his understanding and his divinity.” [Esoteric Astrology, p. 304] Initiation is a process whereby the spiritual man within the personality becomes aware of himself as the soul, with soul powers, soul relationships, and soul purpose." [The Rays and the Initiations, p. 341] “Initiation is never taken unless the intuition is becoming active.” [Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II ,p. 267] "The intuition (as the philosopher understands it) is the ability to arrive at knowledge through the activity of some innate sense, apart from the reasoning or logical processes. It comes into activity when the resources of the lower mind have been used, explored and exhausted. Then, and then only, the true intuition begins to function. It is the sense of synthesis, the ability to think in wholes, and to touch the world of causes. [Esoteric Astrology, p. 516]?? “Initiation is an achievement and an attained success of the soul which has at last succeeded in dominating the personality and in manifesting its true nature and character, in spite of the personality and the antagonism of the human being intent upon his own purposes.” [Esoteric Astrology, p. 148] “When initiation becomes possible, it indicates that two great groups of energies (those of the triple integrated personality [Page 14] and those of the soul or solar angel) are beginning to fuse and blend. The energy of the soul is beginning to dominate and to control the lower types of force, and—according to the ray of the soul—so will be the body in which that control will begin to make its presence felt.” [Esoteric Psychology II, p. 13-14] It is only when the electrical energy of which the door is constituted and that of which the man is constructed at any particular time synchronise and vibrate in unison that the aspirant can pass through to greater light. This gives you a somewhat new and rather abstruse definition of initiation. [The Rays and the Initiations, p. 351] "It dawns on the initiate, as he proceeds from one initiation to another, that each time he moves forward on the path or penetrates into the heart of the Mysteries in company with those who are as he is, who share with him the same point in evolution, and who are working with him towards the same goal, that he is not alone; that it is a joint effort that is being made. This is in fact the keynote of an Ashram, conditioning its formation. It is composed of disciples and initiates at various stages of initiate-unfoldment who have arrived at their point of ashramic consciousness together, and who will proceed together until they arrive at that complete liberation which comes when the cosmic physical plane drops below the threshold of consciousness or of sensitive awareness and no longer holds any point of interest for the initiate." [The Rays and the Initiaitons, p. 342] "Yet one of the prime prerequisites for initiation is a clear and concise recognition of one's own group, not through a process of wishful thinking, but through factual cooperation and work upon the physical plane. I said group, my brother, and not organisation, for they are two very different things." [The Rays and the Initiations, p. 342] REFERENCES Supermundane: The Inner Life, Book One, 1938, Agni Yoga Society, New York, 1994. Bailey, Alice, Consciousness of the Atom, Lucis Publishing Company, New York, Bailey, Alice, Discipleship In the New Age, Volume Two, Lucis Publishing Company, New York, NY, 1955. Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Alice, Initiation: Human and Solar, Lucis Publishing Company, New York, NY,
“…initiation is a process of developing inclusiveness.” [Esoteric Astrology, p. 503]
Bailey, Alice, The Rays and The Initiations, Lucis Publishing Company, New York, NY, 1960.
