Sustaining the Vision:
I see the goal. I reach that goal and then I see another. The keynote of Sagittarius, so full of promise and aspiration, strikes an especially poignant note as this stressful year comes to an end. The world has experienced stresses on many levels, and for some, the attempt to focus on the future might seem to be the only course available in the present moment. Now, with the coming of a new cycle indicated by the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, which brings increasing light, we have an opportunity to use the creative imagination to clarify what a better future for all should be.
The writings of Alice Bailey tell us that the spiritual imagination is a definite means of ascertaining truth or falsity—a capacity urgently needed in this media-saturated world we all live in. “It must always be remembered”, she wrote, “that the imagination is the seed of the intuition, because that which is not existent somewhere within our apparently complex planetary system cannot be imagined.” What a startling statement, full of implications for use by human minds! Indeed, we’re told that when the mind aligns with the imagination, it becomes in time a great invocative, creative agent. In that recognition lies the key to reaching the goal in Sagittarius.
If the fruits of the lower, “concrete” mind become overly emphasised, the power to use the creative imagination might seem to be too ephemeral a pursuit. However, it’s absolutely indispensable for treading the spiritual path, so much of which is shrouded in almost total darkness with only faint glimmerings beckoning the aspirant forward. This is why the power to act “as if” one were the soul in full expression is such an important means of support and a source of the power to persist, no matter the cost. To some minds, this might suggest a degree of fanaticism, but the path through Sagittarius towards an ideal that seems continuously to increase in subtlety and refinement does indeed demand a high degree of persistence and devotion.
The solstice marks the beginning of a cycle of increasing light, but while the progress of the Earth around the Sun obeys the laws and rhythms of nature, the path of the human being is more unpredictable. During periods of darkness, those servers who persistently orient themselves towards the light can contribute a particular service, Alice Bailey wrote. “Their work must primarily be to keep such a close link with the soul of humanity—made up of all souls on their own level of being…that there will always be those who can ‘work in the interludes’ and so keep the plan progressing and the vision before the eyes of those who cannot as yet themselves enter into the high and secret place.” By never losing the vision—no matter how dim or distant it might seem—these servers constitute the door, so to speak, between Humanity and the higher worlds. Without this sustaining faith, we’re told, this path would be lost in times of darkness and confusion.
That’s why persistent striving towards the goal, step by step and without counting the cost, is an act of preservation which is of immeasurable service to the whole of humanity. Those who can imagine a better world, who trust that the essence of the Cosmos is Love, help to sustain an effort so vast and evolutionary in scope that its goal is—as yet—unimaginable. But, Alice Bailey assured us, “It is impossible to realize the wonder of the future which the planetary Logos“, Whom we may call God, “will unfold before those who have unfolded Love….“ Perhaps no moment is more opportune for this form of service than the full moon each month, when the sun, symbolic of the soul, shines its lighted rays unimpededly upon the Earth. Let us all join in the worldwide meditation at this time to bring greater clarity and a larger vision to the path ahead.
