Two influential groups with different visions for America are described by David Spangler in his recent essay AMERICA AND THE ELECTION. One group envisions America as an inclusive, pluralistic nation, aligned with the principles in the Declaration of Independence, seeing power residing in individuals. The other group emphasizes structure, hierarchy, and American exceptionalism, viewing the nation as a guiding “parent” to other countries. Both hold an element of truth and “neither group can force anyone to believe or do anything. They can inspire, and they can offer energy to those who resonate with their perspective, but the choice rests with us,” says Spangler.
Spangler also identifies a third group, in agreement with Thomas L. Friedman, as explained in our previous post.
There are also those in the shadowy dimensions of human energy whose motives have little to do with spirit and much to do with division, separation, and destruction. They have no interest in any form of spiritual destiny for America—or for any other nation. They work to tear down, to manipulate, and to control, and they feed off anger, hatred, fear, and suffering. They have little or no interest in the good of any larger whole but only in meeting their own selfish needs and hungers. This group, if I may call it such, is an expression of humanity’s karma and its shadow and is not particular to any single nation, Party, or people. Its influence is international and seeks only to diminish or extinguish the Light. It can work through tyranny and structure and through anarchy and the mob. Its identity is Chaos.
The externalization of the planetary spiritual Hierarchy and the reappearance of the World Teacher requires a transformation of the democratic ideal of governance. Between the extremes of absolute freedom (anarchy) and authoritarian governance (fascism) lies the Noble Middle Path of a Hierarchical Democracy.
A Hierarchical Democracy needs an enlightened meritocracy of servers qualified by spiritual training and experience, and the free and fully informed (good) will of an enlightened public, adept in self-rule and right human relations. What do we mean by “qualified by spiritual training” and by “adept in self-rule and right human relations”?
The advice of the Tibetan Master about spiritual training on the right use of power and authority, so much needed to govern in a Hierarchical Democracy, and so much lacking in many political leaders today, may provide answers to these questions. It is evident that this spiritual advice runs contrary — as it should — to the agenda of the regressive Forces of Darkness promoting “division, separation, and destruction” in a Chaotic Democracy.
The Illusion of Power and the Glamor of Authority
Extracted from Glamour: A World Problem
by the Tibetan Master
“Let us illustrate my point from two angles, both of which are entirely in the realm of discipleship, or encountered upon the Path of Probation. We will call them the “illusion of power” and the “glamour of authority.” This form of words will show you that one is to be encountered upon the astral plane and the other upon the mental.
“The Glamour of Authority is a mass glamour in most cases. It has its roots in mass psychology and is one of the indications that humanity is at the nursery stage as yet, wherein men are safeguarded from themselves by the imposition of some rule, some set of laws, some authoritative dictum, emanating from state control, from the rule of an oligarchy, or from the dictatorship of some individual. It reduces mankind, as far as one can judge, to set forms and standardizes men’s activities, regimenting their lives [Page 46] and work. It is imposed and ordered through catering to the fear complex, rampant in humanity at this time; and this fear is one of the most fruitful sources of glamour which we have. We might perhaps and with reason regard it as the seed of all glamour upon our planet. Fear has been the incentive to those conditions which have brought about the glamour of the astral plane, though not the illusions of the mental levels of consciousness.
“When the glamour of authority transfers itself into the spiritual consciousness of man, we have such a state of affairs as the period of the Inquisition in its worst forms, of Church authority, with the emphasis upon organization, government and penalties, or the unquestioned rule of some teacher. In its highest forms we have the recognition of the right of the solar Angel, of the soul or ego, to rule. Between these two extremes, which express the infancy of the race and the freedom which comes when mankind achieves its majority and the freedom of the soul, lie all the many types and kinds of intermediate reactions.“
[…]
“The Illusion of Power is perhaps one of the first and most serious tests which comes to an aspirant. It is also one of the best examples of this “great mistake,” and I [Page 52] therefore bring it to your attention as being one against which I beg you most carefully to guard yourself. It is rare indeed for any disciple to escape the effects of this error of illusion for it is, curiously, based upon right success and right motive. Hence the specious nature of the problem. It might be expressed thus:
“An aspirant succeeds in contacting his soul or ego through right effort. Through meditation, good intention, and correct technique, plus the desire to serve and to love, he achieves alignment. He becomes then aware of the results of his successful work. His mind is illumined. A sense of power flows through his vehicles. He is, temporarily at least, made aware of the Plan. The need of the world and the capacity of the soul to meet that need flood his consciousness. His dedication, consecration and right purpose enhance the directed inflow of spiritual energy. He knows. He loves. He seeks to serve, and does all three more or less successfully. The result of all this is that he becomes more engrossed with the sense of power, and with the part he is to play in aiding humanity, than he is with the realisation of a due and proper sense of proportion and of spiritual values. He over-estimates his experience and himself. Instead of redoubling his efforts and thus establishing a closer contact with the kingdom of souls and loving all beings more deeply, he begins to call attention to himself, to the mission he is to develop, and to the confidence that the Master and even the planetary Logos apparently have in him. He talks about himself; he gestures and attracts notice, demanding recognition. As he does so, his alignment is steadily impaired; his contact lessens and he joins the ranks of the many who have succumbed to the illusion of sensed power. This form of illusion is becoming increasingly prevalent among disciples and those who have taken the first two initiations. There are today many people in the world who have taken the first [Page 53] initiation in a previous life. At some period in the present life cycle, recurring and recapitulating as it does the events of an earlier development, they again reach a point in their realization which they earlier reached. The significance of their attainment pours in upon them, and the sense of their responsibility and their knowledge. Again they over-estimate themselves, regarding their missions and themselves as unique among the sons of men, and their esoteric and subjective demand for recognition enters in and spoils what might otherwise have been a fruitful service. Any emphasis upon the personality can distort most easily the pure light of the soul as it seeks to pour through the lower self. Any effort to call attention to the mission or task which the personality has undertaken detracts from that mission and handicaps the man in his task; it leads to the deferring of its fulfilment until such time when the disciple can be naught but a channel through which love can pour, and light can shine. This pouring through and shining forth has to be a spontaneous happening, and contain no self-reference.
“These two illustrations of glamour and of illusion will show you not only the subtlety of the problem, but also the urgent need for its recognition. There are today so many manifesting these two qualities of the lower nature.”
About the two “alternative worlds” envisioned by Spangler in his essay, we may also benefit from the Tibetan Master’s advice on the dangers of “a world in which the United States proves itself to be the controlling factor,” and the benefits of a new multipolar world order, “a world divided into blocs for mutual aid and economic sharing.”
WORK IN THE COMING DECADES
Extracted from The Externalisation of the Hierarchy
by the Tibetan Master
April 1948
Spiritual workers should face the various world alternatives:
1. An all-dominant Russia …
2. A world in which all nations live in an armed armistice …
3. A world in which the United States proves itself to be the controlling factor, after wiping out Russia, which she can well do if she acts now. It will be a predominantly capitalistic world, run by several nations but headed by the United States. A capitalistic nation is not necessarily wrong; capital has its place, and Russia (the enemy of capitalism) is by no means free from capitalistic bias. The motives of the United States are very mixed motives: greed of money or its equivalent, such as oil, and at the same time sincerely good intentions for the establishment of human freedom in a democratic world—modelled, of course, on American democracy. Other motives are an appreciation of the armed fist and, at [Page 639] the same time, a longing for economic sharing and for that essential kindness which is such a strong American characteristic—a mass characteristic. These mixed motives will produce eventually a very confused world, one in which it will be found that humanity has learned very little as the result of the World War (1914-1945) and is acquiescent to the cycle of well-intentioned money control.
4. A world divided into “blocs” for mutual aid and economic sharing. There is nothing intrinsically wrong in any group of nations standing together for mutual aid and economic cooperation. The wrong factor comes in when they stand united against any other group of nations, and therefore against any group of human beings. It is this attitude, engineered and fostered by Russia, which has lead to the relatively new concept of blocs against. Along this line, and with this attitude of antagonistic groupings, only disaster can lie.
Blocs in themselves can be good and proper if they follow lines of natural cleavages, of language differences and of cultural distinctions. They can be essentially right if they are formed for economic, educational, religious and social aims and can therefore provide no true cause for alarm. Such blocs would be cultural and not militaristic, economic and not greedy, and they could provide a normal and progressive movement away from the separative nationalism of the past and towards the distant creation of the One World, and the One Humanity. This will some day be seen, but the time is not yet. Mankind is not ready for some super-government [written in 1948], nor can it yet provide the unselfish and trained statesmen that such a government would require. As yet, there are more seeds of danger in this concept than there are of helpfulness. Nevertheless, it is a dream which will some day materialize, after the creation and the functioning of blocs have proved how men should work and live together.
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