The Mysteries of Group Consciousness by Christine Morgan
First let’s turn to the mysteries of group consciousness. Of course, if it were possible to examine this elevated state of consciousness, there would be no mystery – for group consciousness has to be experienced to be understood. However, we can shed light by considering the spiritual path as a series of expansions in consciousness leading to ever greater realisations of inclusiveness and unity. Hidden within the mysteries of consciousness is electrical power, a Will to Good that is needed to stimulate the diverse group of servers which has evolved out of humanity. It consists of leading, intuitive thinkers who are able to turn inwards for inspiration and outwards to creatively serve the needs of the time, and wherever three are found working in a physical group, a triple tread of golden energy links them to this worldwide subjective group – referred to in the Alice Bailey writings as The New Group of World Servers.
The Law of Group Progress:
Kathy has provided the astrological dynamic of this Festival Week and the opportunity it presents. To make good use of these and prepare for the visualisation to come, it will be helpful to consider one of the laws for group work – its called The Law of Group Progress. Its described as a “type of energy” that binds and integrates the members in a group into one living organism. It is only when this influence colours one’s thoughts and actions that a person becomes an integral part of the Group. Presented symbolically, the group so formed is depicted as a goat standing on a mountain top. Of this we are advised that: “an astrological sign, that of Capricorn, can be noted. All hard places can be surmounted, and the summit reached by the ‘Divine Goat’.
The Law of Group Progress reveals the part each person plays in the general progress of a group. Its easily understood at one level and, understanding the spirit of group work, we can see many examples of how each group or family member contributes to shared goals – in sport, business for instance. When we consider this at a much deeper level, however, there is within this something that needs to be understood in terms of energies and qualities, but also involves very subtle choices as to what is meant by, say, higher versus lower principles, motivations for action. It may also mean discerning impressions coming from one’s own soul or a higher group or the NGWS for example, knowing the different notes that they sound. It involves a realisation that we live and move and have our being as part of a greater Being, and that each one of us is like a cell in that stupendous body with a specific role to play. While this may be beyond our comprehension, its something to hold in mind as a potential. All is energy, and as such, the role of each and every one of us in a group is concerned with energy conversion and transmutation – which is the essence of the evolutionary process that is taking place.
When an individual becomes responsive to the soul in meditation, energy circulates around the higher centres in the etheric body – the head, heart and throat centres. It is the circulation of the “forces of creative life” around these etheric centres: Light from the Throat, Love from the Heart and Will or Power from the Head which fuse together to form a triangle of circulating force. As this occurs in the individual, so does it occur throughout the group with which he or she is subjectively and naturally aligned. As the group energy circulates between the centres of individuals within the group, they come alive as an organism and participate in the divine circulatory flow of life.
As we think about these energies spiraling upwards, we can understand why the Law of Group Progress is sometimes called the Law of Elevation. Together, the consciousness of the group rises, reaching a point far above the mundane level of human thinking, and the perspective achieved is like standing on a mountaintop looking down on the world. Spiritual teachings refer to this journey to the summit as the Path to Initiation in Capricorn. And while scaling a mountain evokes images of danger, hardship and exhaustion, when the energy is properly circulating in an aspiring group, the rise is more like levitation. The more a person loves and serves, the more freely the energy circulates and the faster is the ascension. Though tests come to all on the path, this stage of group progress sees the establishment of “certain rhythms”, and the lifting process begins. The sense of the burden of service and the weight of lower demands are steadily replaced by a joyful and willing response to the group need and purpose.
At this stage the path up the mountain to the summit is no longer full of those crises associated with the physical difficulties of mountain climbing, they are more the crises that accompany expansions of consciousness. Such expansions of consciousness occur when a new inflow of energy is suddenly registered and which the aspirant must learn to handle, to circulate throughout his or her aura and to distribute in service. A new world is sensed on the horizon of consciousness and the goal becomes one of responding with the best that is possible in terms of quality, wisdom and energy for the group enterprise. Rather than preventing the individual sense of free expression as often happens where the personality of a group dominates, the higher pattern of group relationships provides greater light and more abundant energies. It is by means of this geometrical group pattern, that the light, love and power of the Plan is able to find an inlet to pour its inspiration into the lower worlds.
When we work with the visualisation and imagine ourselves standing on the mountain top together, we can reflect on the fact that mountain peaks are, in themselves, natural steeples that stir the true religious spirit deep within. When they are obscured by cloud, we are reminded of the greater reality that is hidden by the planetary veils, distortions and illusion, which the group must penetrate. At the mountain summit, far above the clamour of the outer life, the intense silence of Nature’s power can be felt – hinting at the beauty of the inner worlds which, one day, will be manifested on Earth. This same, intense silence exists at the high peak of meditation. A sublime tone may then be felt resounding throughout the heart – and issuing out of it, a voiceless invitation to become a part of nature’s revelation. And then… an overwhelming understanding of what it means to synthesise and make all things new.
In this connection, we can imagine the repatterning of human relationships throughout the world to form a new, revitalised human kingdom that reflects the light of the higher, spiritual realms, down into the lower kingdoms of nature.
Through the Law of Group Progress, this will occur as certain triangles of energy start to appear in the human kingdom. Then humanity will start to work with the planetary circulation of energy around Shamballa, Hierarchy and Humanity, the planetary head, heart and throat centres respectively. Of course, pioneering the way forward in all of this triangular energy work is the Triangles network itself and the use of the Great Invocation to circulate the energies of Light, Love and Power throughout the world. As these begin to circulate within the NGWS, and later on in humanity as a whole – we will become truly a living organism.