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The Externalization of the Hierarchy - Section IV - Stages in the Externalization
The preparation of the Members of the Ashrams found within the Hierarchy, Who must emerge from Their retreats and live among men in the ordinary intercourse of daily life, has necessitated much discussion and instituted a drastic training system within the Ashrams. Into the nature of this training [691] I cannot enter, for it differs for disciples upon the various rays and the theme is too large at this point for our purpose. The problem has been how to preserve the sympathetic, sensitive rapport and to lay the basis for the higher, inclusive identification, and yet at the same time preserve a spiritual detachment which will enable the disciple to do his needed work, unhampered and unimpeded by the distress, the anxiety or the thought activity evoked by the minds and the desires of those with whom he is working.

The necessary detachment cannot be based upon the innate instinct of self-preservation, even when that is carried into the realm of the soul; it must be motivated by an occult absorption in the task, and implemented by the will which keeps the channel of contact open between the disciple and the ashram and between the disciple and his sphere of activity; this channel must be kept entirely clear of all lower identifications. This might be termed a method of eliminating all tendencies to register anything save a wise apprehension of the point in evolution of those contacted; a sound appreciation of the problem to be faced on their behalf, and a process of directing the needed energy of love in such a manner that the stream of projected love not only aids the recipient, but protects the disciple from undue contact; it will then evoke in the person to be helped, or the group to be aided, no reciprocal personality expression; instead, it lifts the entire quality of the personality life or the group life on the purificatory way on to higher levels of awareness.

A great part of the work to be done by the disciples who are emerging from the ashrams, and will continue thus to emerge, is of a purificatory nature at this time, and increasingly so for the rest of this century. On the Path of Probation, the aspirant is taught to purify himself and his three vehicles of contact; upon acceptance into an ashram, a large measure of the needed purification has been achieved. From then on, no emphasis should be laid by the disciple on the purification of his own nature, for this would produce too close and intimate a self-focus and tend to an over-stimulation of the personality vehicles. But the lessons learnt upon the [692] Probationary Path will be found by him to be simply the foundation for the Science of Purification or - if I may use a word made familiar to you through the war experience - of Decontamination. This will be brought into full expression by the working disciples who will be responsible for the preparation of the world for the reappearance. This purificatory process falls into the following stages:

  1. The stage wherein the tainted area, the hidden evil, or the diseased factors are recognized and duly contacted in order to ascertain the extent of the purificatory measures required. This is a point of danger for the disciple.
  2. The process of discovering the magnetic areas, magnetized in past centuries, and even aeons, by Members of the Hierarchy. This is done so as to make available the transmission of energies there stored. In the cycle which is now close at hand, these magnetic centers will be largely tapped or utilized by the world disciples responsible for the purificatory work.
  3. The stage wherein the disciple withdraws his attention from the source of difficulty and concentrates upon certain mantric usages and certain hierarchical formulas, thus setting loose the energies needed to destroy the germs of evil, latent or active, thus eliminating certain materialistic tendencies, and strengthening the soul of all that is to be purified and the life to be found within every form. It is wise to remember that, for instance, as the Master works with His disciples and strengthens the life within them and evokes their soul into potency from latency, every form and every atom within their various bodies is equally energized and aided. It is this fundamental process which will guide the disciples and the initiates in the coming work of world purification.
  4. The stage of withdrawing of the purifying energies; this is to be followed by a period of stabilizing the purified form and starting the life and soul within it on a new cycle of spiritual growth. [693]

I have worded all this in such a manner that it will be evident that the work to be done is not confined only to humanity, but also to the forms of life in the other kingdoms in nature.
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