Two Roads
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert FrostToday, humanity stands at an intersection of great significance. Though this is not the first time that we have stood at such an intersection, and probably will not be the last, we are faced this day with two paths. One path, the one towards which we seem to be inclined, leads directly and rapidly to the loss of human freedom, a condition which for the human family represents at the very least a pause in our evolution and at the worst a very large step backwards. The other leads to the glory of Satya Yuga, the pre-ordained golden age in which we will see the full flowering of human freedom, and the final breaking away from the prison house of form and illusion within which, during this long dark age, we have been imprisoned.
As time goes, in the sweep of evolution, this is not an entirely new intersection. It is the same one we have been facing since very early in the last century. Then, in a many years long ceremony of sacrifice, we, as a people, chose to resist the forces of retrogression and engaged in a long, sad and terrible world war which ended finally in the defeat of the forces of retrogression on the physical plane. Since then, we have struggled to keep the war off the physical plane. The war, however, did not stop; it merely became invisible to most people.
The forces of retrogression continued to wage deadly war on the higher planes of ideology and thought. One of the major mistakes that Humanity has made in understanding the nature of this mostly hidden war is the assumption that the Forces of Evil or Retrogression are on this side or that side. Thus the fanatics on either side, who actually are soldiers of the dark forces, are able to inflame the people on either side with the illusion of fighting evil. This notion is no doubt fostered and fed by the Forces Of Retrogression. Nothing helps their goals more than having humanity engaged in a killing struggle with one another to stop them. Thus, they have skillfully and powerfully waged this war by adamantly opposing the living ideas of essential divinity, good will and unanimity, with the ancient and imprisoning thoughtforms of separation, exclusivity and special privilege. They have waged this war on a global scale through all nations and governments and through all of our systems everywhere.
True, we have had many successes in this war, and as we can so clearly see today, many setbacks. With the recent hot wars in Viet Nam, the Balkans, the attacks of September 11 th and the bloody and destructive responses that accompanied the declaration of world war on terrorism by the President of the United States, the war seems to have returned to the physical plane and is becoming visible again.
The Face of Darkness
This fact, it would seem, represents a major set-back for the forces of Light. However, it may serve to reveal the face of darkness, which is, when the mask of rhetoric is stripped away, a face that mouths fear and hate and peddles the poison of revenge all in the guise of religious exclusivity and separative flag waving patriotism no matter the religion, the country or the color of the flag.
Humanity stands where we do today because of the decisions that we have made and allowed to be made in our name since 1945. It seems clear to many that since then the forces of greed and separation have controlled or manipulated many of these decisions. These forces are in a position of strength now, and, as I mentioned a minute ago, the path towards which we seem to be T 2 For freedom intrinsically involves the courage to exercise it, to embody and thereby accept the responsibility for the vision. inclined leads directly and rapidly to the loss of human freedom.
Besides the dire consequences of a wrong choice, what makes this particular intersection so significant is humanity’s level of consciousness. This is the first time in the history of human evolution on this planet that we, as a race, have stood at such an intersection where enough of us— and I am talking about the planetary intelligentsia, now— where enough of us are equipped with the consciousness to make a free and telling decision. The decision on which way we go from here is entirely in our hands. In fact, it is exactly our freewill to choose that is one of the major factors being tested at this juncture. The choice can not be avoided.
The issue is many sided. It has, however, two most telling aspects. On the one hand there is the question of whether humanity has actually acquired the wisdom "which is knowledge gained by experience and implemented by love" (Rays and Initiations P. 591), to see the higher way. On the other hand the issue is whether, being able to see it, we have the courage to choose it? The wisdom to see and the courage to choose the higher way is what freedom means. For freedom intrinsically involves the courage to exercise it, to embody and thereby accept the responsibility for the vision. Where the courage to implement the clear vision is lacking, there is really no freedom, and indeed, one wonders whether there is really a clear perception. It would seem that the ability to see free and to act free must always and only coexist.
Thus, we have before us the choice between the ways of form slavery or principled living. We can choose the path that will lead to a new civilization and culture wherein the principles of essential divinity, goodwill and unanimity working through the laws of right human relations, group endeavor and spiritual approach will manifest in sustainable communities: scientific, social, educational, political, economic, ecological and religious environments that celebrate and enhance life for all species, for the entire planet.
This choice must be consciously and deliberately made. Many have made this choice. As the existence of the United Nations and similar organizations reveal, we have already made a beginning in the construction of the new civilization and culture. It is a civilization and culture that understands the fact of the One Humanity, and recognizes the unique and inviolable presence of each individual and the right of each individual to be free, that appreciates the relativity of consciousness and the responsibility of the whole to the individual and of the individual to the whole. We have even begun to recognize and understand, to respect and honor, the interconnectedness and interdependence of the mineral, vegetable, animal and spiritual kingdoms in the fabric of the New World Culture.
Then there is the other way. I doubt that many have consciously made this alternate choice. However, as I said, the way of principled living must be consciously and freely chosen. So, by far, by very far, the major problem confronting those of us who count ourselves as conscious members of the forces of light is that, for a number of reasons, many of those capable of choosing have simply not chosen. And, I am sorry to say, not choosing— in this case especially— not choosing is actually supporting the way of retrogression. We can see the higher way, if we will, and make the choice that leads to the light of a new day for humanity.
The Failure to Choose
I recently talked about the 20 or 30% of the planet’s population that make up the planetary intelligentsia. It is within this group that the issue lies. The failure to chose because of being blinded by the dazzling allure of the great illusion accounts for a large part of the problem and is a sad, but real condition. I think that as the world situation worsens, more and more of these folks will wake up and make the right choice. However, I am not real excited about this option. One can recall just how bad the situation had to get before we were able to mobilize enough choice power to make the decision to resist the Forces Of Retrogression in 1914, in 1941 or during the Viet Nam war.
I also think that there is an even more significant group of relatively powerful and influential people who are not asleep, and who can see, but who are simply afraid to choose. It is these folks we can try to reach through discussion and letters and organizing. If they can be encouraged, can be opened to love to find the courage to choose, I think that they can persuade the others, can put light and love on the real situation and so awaken the sleeping ones before we have to endure too much more killing and terror.
So, humanity can, if we choose—or simply by not choosing— humanity can follow the downward spiral of materialism which leads to ever and ever greater separation and disintegration until a tiny collective of super minds rule and control the vast majority of souls, holding them in bondage stripped of any semblance of free will or free determination even to the point of making them ignorant of the option.
We need to remember that to be a slave one does not have to be literally chained to a wall. Our chains are chains of illusion, of fear, of greed, of material power and relative wealth, but they hold us from the light and truth no less than our chains of iron held and made slaves of the African people on the ships of darkness just two hundred years ago. The images and symbols of our present day artists are not far from the mark, and one thinks of the many storied towers of human batteries as depicted in the recent film, The Matrix.
We are fond of talking of the shades of gray and all that space between the light and the dark. However, I think that these two paths are as clearly delineated as I have indicated. Shades of gray have a relative value and are most useful when we are looking for a way. But the shadings are all relatively darker or lighter, and the effort is to always choose to bear toward the light. Because things are murky and because the light and the darkness both inhabit the same forms, as we only too well know, does not mean that we can not tell the difference. Part of wisdom is to be able to tell the difference, and to make decisions regarding actions that will ever lead toward the light and out of the darkness. I think we can do this. I am convinced that we can see the higher way, if we will, and make the choice that leads to the light of a new day for humanity.
Many people have said that September 11 th was a wake up call, and indeed it was. Unfortunately, it was a wake up call for the retrogressive forces as well as for the Forces of Light, and up to this point, it seems that the retrogressors are winning the day.
I could give now a very long list of specifics. I could mention just the shifts in money from programs and projects that are life giving into programs and systems that are death dealing, Neither pessimistic nor optimistic, but because there is no alternative, we are committed, and we hope. We hope with a powerful hope. like the missal defense concept. I could talk about the growing commoditization of large areas of our social systems like the law enforcement/prison complex or the health care system which is little more than a corporate owned and operated cash cow that feeds on misery, pain and fear to generate huge profits.
I could also mention several terrorizing statements by high government officials, like the statement President Bush made, "If your not with us in this war, you are against us." Or I could mention several new government initiatives including the creation of a national defense department, that are diluting and even removing many of our civil rights. You are all aware of these shifts, and you are all aware that these shifts are world wide, not just in the United States.
We are aware of a number of light generating events, particularly the peace movement in Israel. But on balance, the horizon does not look real bright. Neither pessimistic nor optimistic, but because there is no alternative, we are committed, and we hope. We hope with a powerful hope. Among the things for which I hope is that recent world events including 9/11 and its sad aftermath are enough to awaken those good hearted, but sleeping, men and women in the planetary intelligentsia who alone can save humanity.
I think that it is necessary for us to have the big picture in order to know and understand just what is going on in the world, so that we can make intelligent decisions about how and when and where we each spend our quota of life force. We must see that it is absolutely necessary for us to focus on the here and now, on the needs exactly in front of us. What each of us can do to help seal the door where evil dwells is each one’s own personal free choice to make. It must be that way. It’s a rule of the road. We each must know what we can do, and we each must find the courage to do it. This is the demonstration of freewill towards which the evolution of the ages has aimed.
Having just said that, there are one or two suggestions that I would like to make. This first one is prompted by a powerful sense of pressure from the inner side. I have this impression that there is a large backlog of relatively advanced souls, the ones we need just now, waiting for adequate equipment to incarnate.
This backlog came about because of the reluctance on the part of many members of the intelligentsia over the past 50 or so years to have children. This phenomenon gave rise to a very large category of people called DINKS, "Double Income No Kids". I do not think that DINKS were or are bad people. However, I do think that a relatively large amount of the DINK phenomenon is directly traceable to the retrogressively driven self focus movement that began in the early fifties, the "Do something nice for yourself movement" as it was called. To me the DINK phenomenon represents an excellent example of how we have been manipulated by the forces of retrogression. The allure and dazzle of materialism that impairs vision, and results in self centered choices rather than choices that support the common good, resulted in many of the people who were equipped mentally and emotionally and could afford to provide a fostering environment for a child to choose otherwise.
Also, we are all aware that over this time there has been a constant erosion of any social systems or helps that would encourage people to 5 A great service, a very great service for any capable couple would be to have a baby. have children. The evaporation of the so called peace dividend and the shift of billions out of social and educational programs into the bottomless maw of the military industrial complex is a recent example. It is true that families, even double income families, often have had to choose between transportation or a house and a child.
So, as an act of love and courage, as a statement of hope, I am suggesting that a great service, a very great service for any capable couple would be to have a baby. This decision—as any decision to serve does—would require a ceremony of sacrifice. It would require a sacrifice that would result in the making of a space, a nest, for a new soul, and believe me—speaking from lots of experience here— this one sacrificial act will prove, beyond any doubt, that everything the Teachings say about sacrifice being the doorway into beauty and joy and wonder is true.
The other suggestion of a specific "thing we can do" that is sort of gnawing at me to share with you has to do with money. We can use our money to support life. Arcana Workshops, for example, is an opening, a rent in the veils of separation, through which ideas of beauty and power find their way into human consciousness. These kinds of esoteric openings are rare. They need and deserve our financial support.
And, while not obviously esoteric, I would mention one other such opening in the veil which is extremely important to the Forces of Light just now. This rent in the veil is under enormous attack and badly needs the reinforcements our monetary support would bring. This is the local Pacifica station, KPFK, 90.7 on the FM dial. Its phone number is 818-985- 5735. Call them. Demonstrate hope. Make a pledge. Anyway, whatever each of us can do, for heavens sake, we need to do it, do it now and do it with joy and with goodwill, with goodwill because goodwill is the most powerful energy we can lay our hearts on. "The Will to Good sub stands all true goodwill." (Discipleship in the NewAge II P.595)
The power of darkness is the power of imposing a will on others. It is the power of binding, the power of inhibiting the circulation of energy, including money and love and life, the power of generating illusions or veils of separation which stand between, which divide, imprison and obscure us, one from another. We can not use that energy to find our way out of this darkness. We can not generate a unified and peaceful world using the energy of death and separation. And, we must begin to realize that those who do use this energy to enforce or impose a will on others are, at the very least, ignorantly playing into the hands of the Forces of Retrogression. I heard a line in a new song recently that went like this, "You can bomb the world into pieces, but you can’t bomb it into peace."
A Ceremony of Sacrifice
We all know that any attempt to bring in a new form must be preceded by a ceremony of sacrifice. The ceremony releases the Life from its prison and allows it to re-join the whole and participate in the new expression. This is the 7th Ray implementing the 1 st Ray through love or the 2 nd Ray. The sacrificial release of life force is the secret of ceremonial magic. This is the secret that lies at the heart of the crucifixion. The ceremony of sacrifice is the source of the power of the Good. The Good empowers by releasing that which is bound and imprisoned. There is no form anywhere in Life that can resist it. But it has to be freely and lovingly given.
Meditation as a World Service
It is not for me, not for anyone to tell anyone what it is he or she needs to do. It is through the alignment between the brain and the soul that that light will come. However, we are meditators. We have been meditating, many of us, not just for a few years in this life, but for life times. We have built the bridge between the Ashram and the plane upon which the Life needs to walk. My prayer, my hope, is that each of us will find within, the courage, the love and the will to walk the talk, to become "a company of liberators".
And so, friends, let us not give in to doubt, to depression and discouragement. Let us not think that what any one of us can do— in the face of what we know about what is going on in the world— is of no value. My! It is of tremendous value. It is all each of us has. It is the nails in the hands and the feet. It is the crown of thorns. It is the gift of our heart’s blood. It is what we are and what we have of a spiritual essence that is mightier than any force of darkness. We just need to give it, spill it, pour it out at the feet of the One who waits. It will heal the planet and save humanity.
Tom Carney, March 2002