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The Externalization of the Hierarchy - Section IV - Stages in the Externalization
These disciples may be conscious that their effort and their thinking are part of a forward-moving evolutionary endeavor; to that extent they are mission-conscious, but the value of this attitude is that it relates them, in consciousness, to many others, similarly motivated and conscious of a similar vision. It is of course wise to remember that all such disciples are pronounced ray types and are integrated personalities in the highest sense of the word. They will work on earth as high grade personalities, under the impact of strong motives which emanate from the soul in response to impression from the Ashram, but of this, in their physical brains, they know nothing and care less. Part of their effectiveness in service is due to the fact that they are not preoccupied with soul contact and with the idea of academic service. Their eyes are on the job to be done, their hearts are with their fellowmen, and their heads are busy with methods, techniques and practices which will raise the entire [586] level of endeavor in their chosen field. Hence their inevitable success.

Disciples who are intensely interested in personal responsiveness to the soul, who work diligently at the problem of soul contact, who are busy with the art of serving consciously and who make service a goal, who are keenly alive to the fact of the Ashram and to the Master, will not be asked to do this work of preparing for the externalization of the Hierarchy. Advanced disciples who are stabilized in the Ashram, and who are so used to the Master that He assumes in their consciousness no undue prominence, can be trusted to work along right lines in the world and do the work of preparation. They cannot be sidetracked or deflected from one-pointed attention to the task in hand by any soul call or urge; hence they are free to do the intended work.

The situation, therefore, in relation to the consciousness of disciples in the intensely difficult, though interesting, period with which humanity is faced could be summed up in the following statements:

  1. The disciple is not motivated by any desire to externalize the Hierarchy or to see the Ashram with which he is affiliated functioning physically on the outer plane. He may be totally unaware of this hierarchical intention. If he is aware of this underlying purpose, it is entirely secondary in his consciousness. The good of humanity and a stabilized spiritual future for mankind are his major life incentives.
  2. The disciple is strictly humanitarian in his outlook. He works for the One Humanity and though aware possibly that he is affiliated with the Hierarchy, his loyalties, his service and his life intention are directed entirely to the cause of human betterment. In this attitude he is coming to resemble the Masters Whose life directive is not hierarchical possibilities but adherence to the purposes of Shamballa, in action, in relationships and to the Plan for all living units in the three worlds.
  3. The intuition of the disciple is alert and active; the new ideas and the vital fresh concepts are foremost in his mind. [587] He almost automatically repudiates the reactionary and conservative thinking of the past and - without fanaticism and undue emphasis - he lives, talks and instructs along the new lines of right human relations.
  4. The disciple, occupied with hierarchical plans for the future, has a completely open mind as regards the growth of true psychic powers. He deplores and represses all negative conditions and forms of thinking as he contacts them in his environment, but he encourages the growth of all forms of higher sensory perception which expand the human consciousness and enrich its content.
  5. According to his hierarchical status, he will become increasingly a channel of power in the world. His own ashramic life will deepen as his world service develops. The statement in the Bible (or rather injunction) to "take root downward and bear fruit upward" has for him a deeply occult significance.

I am not here touching upon the growth of a disciple as a disciple, or on his individual progress on the Path; I am considering the type of consciousness with which he faces the task which confronts him. Unless he fulfils within himself the requirements enumerated in this section of our study, he will not be one of the workers in this interlude between the old age and the new.
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