Become as Little Children

By Phillip Lindsay

(From The University of the Seven Rays Conference 2004:
A New World Religion: Envisioning a Universal Spirituality.)

On the seashore of endless worlds

On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.
The infinite sky is motionless overhead
and the restless water is boisterous.
On the seashore of endless worlds
the children meet with shouts and dances.
They build their houses with sand
and they play with empty shells.
With withered leaves they weave their boats
and smilingly float them on the vast deep.
Children have their play on the seashore of worlds.

They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets.
Pearl fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships,
while children gather pebbles and scatter them again.
They seek not for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets.
The sea surges up with laughter
and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach.
Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children,
even like a mother while rocking her baby's cradle.
The sea plays with children,
and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach.

On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.
Tempest roams in the pathless sky,
ships get wrecked in the trackless water,
death is abroad and children play.
On the seashore of endless worlds is the
great meeting of children.

(Tagore)

The Master Jesus once said: “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” 

“At the first great Initiation the Christ is born in the disciple. It is then that he realizes for the first time in himself the outpouring of the divine Love, and experiences that marvellous change which makes him feel himself to be one with all that lives. This is the `Second Birth,' and at that birth the heavenly ones rejoice, for he is born into `the kingdom of heaven,' as one of the `little ones,' as a `little child'—the names ever given to the new Initiates. Such is the meaning of the words of Jesus, that a man must become a little child to enter into the Kingdom." [1]

Some of you may think this as very basic and even platitudinous, and it is. Nevertheless, it is still a healthy attitude to maintain in this age of claim-making, false prophets and over-blown egos – even in the field of occultism. How our innocence can be taken over by blind ambition, when aspiring to become a ‘rich young man’. The innocent becomes the worldly and world-weary. How do we maintain that balance? Utter simplicity is one key to staying childlike.

Many of us here may have had experiences which were in the nature of an awakening. Meher Baba had a stone thrown at him by a woman that hit him on the forehead and sent him into an instant awakening. Others of us may have experienced a ‘dark night of the soul’, a major trauma that reoriented us, a  change of lifestyle. All of these events may have been accompanied by signs and portents, or dreams and vivid internal experiences. The point in  common with all these occurences is that the experience of God or the soul was direct and so overwhelmingly powerful that it has kept us oriented for life. Time as we knew it may have slowed down, we may have felt like we were on some hallucinogenic trip, but again, an overall theme of oneness with all and a perception of the infinite may have been the over-riding feature.

So how to ground and understand that vision or experience? How to put it into a meaningful context? One obvious point is the role of occult education as that which must eventually replace orthodox religious education. The spiritual knowledge that explains the experience within the context of our soul purpose and what ‘God’ actually is.

Astrological and Ray Historical Overview

We live at the end of the astrological age of Pisces, a period that saw the expression of two new world religions, Christianity and Islam. The sixth ray of devotion or idealism finds a potent expression through Pisces, and indeed, this ray was incarnate for most of that age. Even though the sixth ray went out of expression in 1625, its influence is still very strong owing to the longevity of its incarnate cycle.

Now at the end of the Piscean era, we see a breaking down of many forms, and the last gasp of some world religions. Many people have turned to the ‘religion of the new age’ – that generic title that includes the many forms of spirituality that are meaningful for those individuals, whether it be theosophy, wicca, Alice  Bailey, etc.

But in this intensely materialistic age we find other ‘religions’ emerging: the religion of narcissism, the ‘religion of science’, the religion of the internet, with all its ‘sub-cults’, the religion of sport (rugby is god), the religion of materialism and their places of worship – the ubiquitous shopping malls. With all these examples it can seen that religion is something that unites people in a common purpose. Or a common purpose has created a religion as such.

Definition of Religion 

It is interesting considering this sixth ray of idealism when looking at the standard definition of religion: “the quest for the values of the ideal life, involving [1] the ideal, [2] the practices for attaining the values of the ideal, and [3] the theology or world view relating the quest to the environing universe.”

Of course the ideal and the reality can be worlds apart, so immediately there is set up a dichotomy. But the essential interpretation of this ‘ideal’ is the sensing of that direct experience of God, of that which transcends the everyday world - “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It is somewhat of the  mystical approach which characterised the Age of Pisces.

Of course the theology of god is the millions of words and books written that have created a barrier of the lower mind to any direct intuitive or sensed experience of ‘god’ via the soul.

This is a temporary problem peculiar to the current unfoldment of human consciousness. On the one hand we all aspire to a direct experience of god or soul, yet the developing mind of humanity wants to understand that experience in more concrete terms as well. It is the very development of this mind that will eventually contribute to an overall understanding.

The other major contributing factor is the knowledge of the heart gleaned from direct intuitive experience. Humanity is still largely polarised in kama-manas or desire-mind, which is reflective of the current dilemma in human evolution -  and why millions of individuals have not really received or ignored Christ’s injunction: Love one another. Hence the many bloody wars in His name, whilst Humanity, the World Arjuna, reconciles the pairs of opposites upon the astral plane.

In the ‘gospel’ according to Alice Bailey (something that she or DK would be horrified to hear), we are told that there are two major paths, that of the mystic and the occultist. The first is trod in the awakening of the heart and the second to awakening in the head, and the eventual synthesis of the heart in the head. One cannot do without the other, and indeed some who are over-developed in the head must seek further incarnations where the mystic way of the heart is bought into balanced expression.

Science and Religion

This fundamental duality expressed through the heart or head finds its expression in religion and science.

In Religion it is expressed all the way from blind emotionanl devotion through to the mystical visionary. Religion also has a ‘scientific’ side through the theology created by the lower mind. The combination of both can bring about a very powerful adherence to ideas which are really ideals and of course, the development of fundamentalism.

In Science it is expressed mostly as a concrete mental focus that accepts tangible evidence and denies the intangible – the seen versus the unseen. It also has a ‘religious’ side through the powerful emotional defence of these ideas as ‘reality’; everyone must bow before the great god of science.

This has created a temporary imbalance in the world, yet esoterically we know that eventually the ‘proof’of the soul will be bought about scientifically through a nation that has the fifth ray strong in its make-up.

Yet in the days of old the Masters tell us, there was no split between science and religion. H.P. Blavatsky goes on to tell us in Isis Unveiled:

“…religion and science were closer knit than twins in days of old; that they were one in two and two in one from the very moment of their conception. With mutually convertible attributes, science was spiritual and religion was scientific … [then later she says], The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge gives death without the fruit of the Tree of Life. Man must know himself before he can hope to know the ultimate genesis even of beings and powers less developed in their inner nature than himself. So [it is] with religion and science; united two in one they were infallible, for the spiritual intuition was there to supply the limitations of physical senses. Separated, exact science rejects the help of the inner voice, while religion becomes merely dogmatic theology -- each is but a corpse without a soul.” [2]

The phrase, ‘exact science rejects the help of the inner voice’ is one worth noting, descriptive of the effects of the lower aspect of the fifth ray , most recently expressed over the past 200 years. It has been the culmination of a process that began in 1425 with the onset of the third ray cycle and the development of manas and science. It has created even further dogmatism in religions that were already crystallised 2000 years ago. It has relegated only the tangible and physically seen to that which is reality, ignoring the truths of the inner life and the more intangible realities.

Hence the effort by the Hierarchy in the 1700-1800’s to balance the excesses of the Industrial Revolution via Romanticism in literature and the arts; the classical intellectual attitude that gave way to a wider outlook, which recognised the claims of passion and emotion, and in which the critical was replaced by the imaginative spirit, and wit by humour and pathos.

This inititative was regarded by the Masters as a failure because of Humanity’s lack of response. Hence the ongoing imbalance created which led to a withdrawal of the 5^th ray force “by special and unique arrangement” because it was deemed that the impetus given to the human "spirit of discovery" has served its purpose. 

The American (and Aquarian) philosopher, Ken Wilber says: “If "we are to effect a genuine integration of science and religion, it will have to be an integration of real science and real religion, not bogus science and bogus religion. And that means each camp must jettison its narrow and/or dogmatic remnants, and thus accept a more accurate self-concept, a more accurate image of its own estate”… He also goes on to say elsewhere, with a slightly different spin related to HPB’s previous statement:

“…in the modern world, the good thing is that science-art and spirit-morals have successfully differentiated, whereas in the old world, these three were all combined together, so that religious leaders, for example, controlled thinking about science and art.  The differentiation was good, in that it led to the ideas of democracy, freedom, logical explanation of the world, independent creative expression in the arts, etc. but the differentiation went too far, and science became so powerful that its viewpoint has virtually wiped out the other two viewpoints as legitimate ways of looking at the world, that this is pathological….the way to fix the problem is to integrate the three different ways of experiencing and knowing the world.”       

The terms Mysticism and Occutism can be equated with religion and science respectively.  Mystical Religion and Occult Science. But what if we to mix it up a little in the Age of Aquarius? Mystical science and occult religion? Indeed, this is already occurring as science penetrates further into the subtle ethers. And of course ‘occult religion’ is the re-emergence of the mystery religions of old, the ones that harboured the Mystery Schools.

Another pairing in the mystical/occult paradigm is Astrology and Astronomy. In ancient times the two were one and only recently have they experienced the schism that holds them apart. Yet it is acknowledged that mystical and intuitive astrologers really need to understand how astrology works from the occult point of view. Most average astrologers would not be able to do this. Hence the importance of occult training in the Aquarian Cycle which explains wholistically, all the details of the process of astrological influence.

Likewise astronomers, some of whom DK informs us, are future Lipika Lords in training, have much to learn about the subtle forces that the stars impart –which requires a setting aside of the concrete mind. Hence astrology and astronomy have much to offer each other and their future marriage is assured. Likewise with religion and science, their gradual synthesis and mutual relationship will eventually develop. Yet one of the cupids that will bring them together will be the eternal truths of the ageless wisdom and occultism.

It must also be acknowledged that there are many deeply religious and spiritual scientists on the planet today who retain a reverence and awe for the sacred mysteries of life, as opposed to a prideful mental arrogance that characterises many.

Definition of Religion Part I

The word ‘religion’ comes from Latin, religio fear of the gods, religious awe, sacredness. This is interesting in light of the fear with which religious leaders have kept Humanity imprisoned by their thoughtforms in this past Piscean age. He’s a good, ‘God-fearing’ Christian! The glamour of authority at its worst. Projecting a fear of eternal damnation, the fear of being worthless or unworthy, the fear that we cannot grow into the truly powerful spiritual beings that is our birthright.

The word ‘religion’ is also supposed to mean to ‘unite’ or ‘bind back’. We can allow ourselves to be bound by imprisoning thoughtforms, like Hercules tied to the rock by the cunning Busiris; or we can choose to bind with God, in union with the soul.

And yet, many of the early Christian church fathers played jailers to Humanity. St Paul has much to answer for according to DK, and Blavatsky said: "No one did more than St. Augustine to bring science and religion into antagonism; it was mainly he who diverted the Bible from its true office -- a guide to purity of life -- and placed it in the perilous position of being the arbiter of human knowledge, an audacious tyranny over the mind of man.” That’s a big one Augustine!

Definition of Religion Part II

It is said that the new definition of religion will be “the invocative appeal of humanity and the evocative response of the greater Life to that cry.” This is a recognition by the part and its relationship to the Whole – and a growing demand for increased awareness of that relation.

Pisces is known as a sign of mysticism and religious feeling on the one hand, yet also a place of imprisonment and bondage on the other. This latter bondage is that of  the two fishes bound together expressing the duality of the human condition, the split between God and Humanity (or the lower and higher selves) – a Humanity who are finding their way back to that source. Through the strong astral sensitivity of Pisces it is notably a sign of addiction, whether to alchohol or substance abuse, sex or shopping, or indeed, ‘the spiritual search’.

No wonder in this age Karl Marx characterized religion as “the opiate for the people” – a somewhat addictive substance to say the least. Kingsley asserted that the Bible had been wrongly used as, “an opium-dose for keeping beasts of burden patient while they were being overloaded”, and as a “mere book to keep the poor in order”.

Indeed, many sensitive souls in this latter age of Pisces (which could be called the ‘age of disillusionment’), have become prisoners to heroin, cocaine and amphetamines – in a bid to escape the harsh realities of a non-spiritual and ethically unsound world. Yet in a way, they are no less powerful than the other addictions. While the old religions are crumbling and have no appeal with their stuffy authority, nothing else has really come forth to replace that and help guide the masses. There are no rites of passage for many youth, who instead invent their own destructive alternatives based upon a system of materialistic ethics within which they find themselves.

What has emerged now stronger than ever at the end of the Age of Pisces, is fundamentalism, the expression of the deepest crystallisation in all these belief systems, with a literal interpretation of their founding principles. And this fundamentalism also extends into the esoteric communities, where we have fundamentalist theosophists, one-eyed Alice Bailey zealots and born again anthroposophists. This is probably an even deeper problem to be surmounted.

Redemption

Human souls have been described as the prisoners of the planet, and certainly ‘beasts of burden’ who carry a heavy load of karma from God-knows-when. The freeing of ourselves and hence the ongoing liberation of all our fellow human beings is known as the Science of Redemption, the redemption of unprincipled substance, its creative restoration and spiritual integration. Nothing like the old biblical ‘redemption of sinners’, with its fire and brimstone, condescendion, blame, criticism and lack of love.

How do we redeem in the Aquarian Cycle that we are entering? It is a well-known occult fact that what you redeem in yourself has a ripple effect in your local environment. Redemption of that which is unprincipled within involves the many small renunciations we choose to make in the world of everyday. The practice of harmlessness is one method par excellence to achieve this – easier said than done!

This ‘redeeming process’ eventually leads to the true unification of heart and mind. This can come about through the enunciation of those occult principles which scientifically explain how life works; through invocation from below which brings evocation from that which is above – successfully practiced through meditation, so as to bring about that direct experience of soul or god - within the human heart; so as to understand that direct experience.

Ken Wilber again comments: "Engage the injunction of contemplation”, take up the paradigm of meditation; practice and polish that cognitive tool until awareness learns to discern the incredibly subtle phenomena of spiritual data; check your observations with others who have done so, much as mathematicians will check their interior proofs with others who have completed the injunctions; and thus confirm or reject your results.”

Thus, Wilber views Zen and other contemplative traditions as "a deep science of spiritual interiors”. With the eye of contemplation, Spirit can be seen. With the eye of contemplation, God can be seen. With the eye of contemplation, the great Within radiantly unfolds.

      In reconciling Science and Religion we see that one of the most powerful transformative tools for doing so - in both areas - is the Science of Meditation. It builds the bridge between the subtle and outer worlds.
       The structures that can bring this about lay partially within the externalising Mystery Schools which were once part and parcel of the old Mystery Religions. Their reappearance is coincident with the reappearance of the Hierarchy in the not too distant future, culminating we are told, by the reappearance of the World Teacher himself, Lord Maitreya or The Christ.

Hence the work of individuals and groups such as ourselves at this conference. We have much responsibility in communicating these seeds in a way that bridges from the real to the unreal, from the esoteric to the exoteric, from the occult to the mystical, between religion and science. There is much glamour and illusion in the world of religion to eradicate.

It is said that masonry, the church and education represent the three aspects by which the ground is being prepared for the great restoration which the Christ will engineer. (Note that scientific word, ‘engineer’.)

Genesis

The world’s most sacred scriptures describe where we come from – our  human genesis. That is why the task of interpreting them correctly in their esoteric truth is still of paramount importance today. For the past ten years I have been gathering the material to write a book on the esoteric history of the world, and in the past six months have been actually putting all this material together. It is based upon the stanzas of Dzyan from The Secret Doctrine, and seeks to demonstrate the history of the Earth from the start of the solar system, through all the rootraces.

There are several keys that I am using, showing how the races unfold in particular ray and astrological cycles, but also synthesising this with various scientific and religious keys such as geology, biology, Judaism and Hinduism.

This study led initially to a vision of Jewish history from the first solar system to present day, and I will be presenting some of this at the conference. I also realised from reading The Secret Doctrine that there was no way that I could avoid tackling the problem of interpreting Genesis in the bible esoterically. HPB has told us that Genesis contains the history of the first three rounds and first three races in this round - which are missing from the stanzas of Dzyan. We can interpret with the key of the kabbala and its most esoteric essence, the Zohar.

Since wading into this complex task, I have had a profound perception of all the layers, distortions, half-truths and outrageous lies that have been woven into and tampered this once original occult work. The degree to which the deliberate misinterpretations have distorted the Old Testament is quite shocking - and I know that I probably preach to the converted on this. This patriachal, jealous and hateful God of Jehovah has coloured much of the New Testament and conditioned western culture for the past 2000 years and more. The original version of the initiate Moses written in Hebrew, is now totally lost. It has also led to an inequality of the sexes that persists until this day.

Astrology and the Age of Aquarius

The day of 9/11 shook us to our cores with the realisation that fundamentalism in one particular world religion was a contributing factor in terrorist attacks. Yet equally, fundamentalism is imbedded in all world religions expressing itself in not practicing what you preach. In stressing the authority and literal application of the founding principles of some belief system – fundamentalists are uncompromising and aggressively extremist in promoting their ideas. It has been a mixture of the 5^th and 6^th rays working over the last 2000 years and particularly the last 200 years.

This aggression is of course much more apparent in the religions of Christianity and Islam, as a martial expression of the sixth ray, but it also strongly expressed in Hinduism and Judaism. The aggression stems from where humanity is at in its consciousness unfolded thus far – kama-manas – desire mind that fosters such strong attachment to ideas. Idealism per se.

It also relates to the two planetary rulers of the sixth ray, Mars and Neptune. Mars is the non-sacred, unredeemed planet which is the point of least resistance for most. The majority of us have sixth ray emotional bodies expressing more Mars than Neptune. Mars also has a lower mental expression in relation to science.

Sacred planet Neptune influences at a lower level the addictive tendencies, yet it is ultimately the force of the World Teacher, Lord Maitreya. In many ways Mars is unevolved and unintelligent Humanity, whilst Neptune is the promise of Humanity becoming soul-infused.

As Pluto transits through Sagittarius at the moment, we are seeing the last gasp of fundamentalism for the Piscean Age, one heavily characterised by the 6^th ray. Pluto is of course the soul ruler of Pisces and in her kali expression, destroys everything at the end of the cycle.

The one-pointedness of Sagittarius, combined with the fact that it is said to be currently the strongest expression of the sixth ray – even though that ray has been going out of incarnation for 400 years – tells the whole story of Pluto in Sagittarius. Currently Humanity is the blind-folded Sagittarian Archer.

As the Aquarian age waxes stronger, Humanity will gain a far more detached viewpoint through the clear mental light of Aquarius and the fifth and seventh ray forces which pour through it. At the moment we are still at 6’s and 7’s with ourselves.

The New World Religion

DK said that Christianity was meant to be a bridging religion between Buddhism and the the New World Religion to come? What is this New World Religion? Is it going to be like the New World Supermarket where I get my groceries every week? Can I go there and acquire something for my aspiring palate?

What will that New World Religion entail? That all belief systems become obsolete and we somehow all magically convert overnight to some new form? I think not, the best of all traditions will be preserved. The essence or principles of each religion will be extracted as guiding ethics for people to live by. This is already occurring in some experimental seminars held overseas with children.

Therefore the New World Religion may not have a name, but people will always name things. It will however be recognisable in the values shared by a certain percentage of the human population, whether they are followers of orthodox religions or not. They will be demonstrating in their lives the very principles and ethics upon which all world belief systems are based.

DK names other key tenets of the New World Religion:

1. The fact of God. God immanent (within) or God transcendant (without) – east/west.
2. Mans relationship to God.
3. Basic recognition of  [A] reincarnation, [B] the law of cause and effect, or karma.
4. The continuity of Divine Revelation and the Divine Approaches.

Re-emergence of the Mysteries/Mystery Religions

All religions contain an esoteric essence which is the heart of the mysteries. The coming new world religion has at its base the externalisation of Hierarchy, re-emergence of the mystery schools and  the reappearance of the Christ.
The mystery schools or religions will be the few drops that presage the coming monsoon of a new world religion. The Ageless Wisdom can provide a fundamental template upon which the New World Religion can be based.


This is a major point for us to consider, involved as we are in the creation of the new occult education. We have to take our occult principles and disseminate them in a way that helps create a new mental template on which to build. These ideas must permeate the many belief systems that abound in the world today.

There is an opportunity at this juncture of history to make mainstream the mysteries. Their externalisation is on a par with the externalisation of the hierarchy. As with all manifestation, the subtle pattern or template is always laid down first, followed by the outer, more exoteric expression. Hence the contribution disciples can make, working in the field of esotericism, is enormous.

Promotion of the science of comparative religion is one exoteric angle, following the golden thread that runs through all these systems of thought and faith.
We need a practical approach that builds subtle templates but also infiltrates the mainstream. An ‘Aquarian Conspiracy’ perhaps, through universities, media – film, radio, TV and the internet. To utilise the many teaching tools we have at our disposal – the technologies of Aquarius.

Currently the religion of media through TV and cinema is the Babylon of our age. Its tendency is to dominate the masses and keep them passive through visual and financial manipulation. For illumination to penetrate humanity needs to be smartly informed.

Blavatsky once said, ‘There is No Religion higher than Truth’. We cannot be too ‘precious’ about preserving the mysteries and there is a very fine line between protecting them from the profane and disseminating seeds that may germinate in some enquiring mind. There will always be an esoteric core of the mysteries relative to human unfoldment.

The emotiveness of religion is extraordinary, the cultural conditioning that we are all saddled with – us ‘beasts of burden’! Besides politics, it is our biggest button-pusher.
This is the shadow or dweller of humanity, a little part that we all carry around with us in our prejudices, vanities and separative behaviours. We know what is ‘right’ or politically correct but quite often it may be in conflict with how we really feel, much of which our culture or family have influenced us through.

The coming new world religion has at its base the externalisation of the Hierarchy and the reappearance of the mystery schools.  As with all manifestation it is the subtle pattern or template that is always laid down first, followed by the outer more exoteric expression. Therefore the contribution which disciples of the world can make, working in the field of esotericism, is enormous.

Become as little children!