Over the long course of human evolution there have been many instances where a spark of enlightenment has kindled periods of creative expansion and a fresh surge in the unfolding of human consciousness. And what is significant about these creative periods is that they seem to occur in patterns indicating some intelligent direction behind human activity and thereby moving human consciousness toward a specific goal.
For those who are familiar with the esoteric teachings now widely available to the public, you will recognize that these enlightened periods are essentially the work of the Spiritual Hierarchy – that inner group of initiated Beings whose responsibility it is to carry out the great Plan of the planetary Logos (of God) on earth. This Plan calls for human consciousness to eventually reach a high degree of “subjective synthesis”.1
By the year 1400 it was obvious to the members of the Hierarchy that human consciousness was far from that objective. They were also looking ahead 500 years when the new seventh ray energies of the coming Aquarian Age would be making an impact on human consciousness and the preparation that would be necessary for humanity to be ready to take full advantage of the new Aquarian qualities.
1400 also marked the approximate time of the third decanate (a period of 600 to 700 years) or the closing phase of the Piscean Age which had been expressing its forceful sixth ray qualities of Devotion and Idealism. These are qualities that depend heavily on the ability of humanity to have awakened minds and hearts; minds that could conceive and formulate ideas and ideals which would engage the thinking of large groups of people, whole nations and even groups of nations. In fact humanity has achieved that higher standard today which marks a certain degree of success for the hierarchical effort. But such strong idealistic thinking that is current today was not in evidence in 1400. The major line of Western thought at that time was pure devotion to the theology and traditions of the Catholic Church which held sway over the thinking of the common people and even the nobility. The Hierarchy’s approach at that time was to develop more active and creative thinking among the people through the activities of more enlightened souls entering and working in the world.
Small groups of spiritual workers were called in to “raise the mental standard of the race and put man en rapport with the world in which he lived, opening his eyes not only to the nature of matter and of form but also to the hidden depths of his own being”.2 The ultimate goal is for the establishment of “a world brotherhood of nations”, and the “development of a universal public consciousness which realizes the unity of the whole”.3 Humanity has obviously not reached this stage of enlightenment yet, but much progress has been made over the past five hundred years since the beginning of the European Renaissance. And a closer look at the service activity of small groups of servers in the world at specific times will shed light on this hierarchical effort.
1 Alice Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, p. 403
2 Ibid, p. 406
3 Ibid, p. 406
(to be continued)
