Alice A. Bailey On Capitalism

Alice A. Bailey (AAB) had some interesting things to say about Capitalism. When reading the works of Alice A. Bailey, many of which she attributed to Djwhal Khul (DK), one has to ask the question whether one believes that attribution to be real, the revelations of a much advanced “Master of Wisdom,” or a product possibly of her imagination or alter ego, or something else.

Her writings attributed to DK on Capitalism are I think a good test. For example in Problems of Humanity we read:

“With invention of machinery and the inauguration of the machine age during the 18th and 19th centuries, the condition of the labouring elements of the population became acutely bad; living conditions were abominable, unsanitary and dangerous to health, owing to the growth of urban areas around factories. They still are, as witness the housing problem of munitions workers during the past several years and the situation around the coal fields both in the States and Great Britain. The exploitation of children increased. The sweat-shop flourished; modern capitalism came into its own and the sharp distinction between the very poor and the very rich became the outstanding characteristic of the Victorian era. From the angle of the planned evolutionary and spiritual development of the human family, leading to civilized and cultural living and to fair play and equal opportunity for all, the situation could not have been worse. Commercial selfishness and wild discontent flourished. The very rich flaunted their superior status in the faces of the very poor, paralleled with a patronizing paternalism. The spirit of revolution grew among the herded, overworked masses who, by their efforts, contributed to the wealth of the rich classes.” CHAPTER III – THE PROBLEM OF CAPITAL, LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

Much of the above is just not accurate, not accurate from a historical perspective. It is I think possibly something you might expect an admirer of the 1940s British Labor Movement to believe, or what an admirer of the principles (though not necessarily the practices) of Communism might believe. It is not something I would expect a “Master of Economic Wisdom” to teach.

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Dweller on the Threshold

The Dweller on the Threshold is an entity we encounter in both Theosophy and the Arcane School of Alice A. Bailey. Below are some quotes on the Dweller on the Threshold in the writings of Alice A. Bailey(AAB) and Djwhal Khul (DK). Links on these pages  are to the online books at the Lucis Trust website.

 In Scorpio, two most occult factors emerge from the past and begin to engross the attention of the disciple. One is memory and the other is, as a consequence of the memory, the Dweller on the Threshold. Memory in the sense here involved is not simply just a faculty of the mind, as is so oft supposed, but it is essentially a creative power. 

 It is basically an aspect of thought and—coupled with imagination—is a creative agent because thoughts are things, as well you know. From ancient recesses of the memory, from a deeply rooted past which is definitely recalled, and from the racial and the individual subconscious (or founded and established thought reservoirs and desires, inherited and inherent) there emerges from individual past lives and experience that which is the sum total of all instinctual tendencies, of all inherited glamours and of all phases of wrong mental attitudes; to these (as they constitute a blended whole) we give the name of the Dweller on the Threshold. This Dweller is the sum total of all the personality characteristics which have remained unconquered and unsubdued and which must be finally overcome before initiation can be taken. 

 Each life sees some progress made; some personality defects straightened out and some real advance effected. But the unconquered residue and the ancient liabilities are numerous and excessively potent and—when soul contact is adequately established—there eventuates a life wherein the highly developed and powerful personality becomes, in itself, the Dweller on the Threshold. Then the Angel of the Presence and the Dweller stand face to face and something must then be done. 

Esoteric Astrology , 3. Spiritual Effects of the Zodiacal Constellations. – Part 5

 Upon the mental plane the Angel of the Presence and the Dweller on the Threshold are brought face to face. Their synthesis is brought about upon the Path of Initiation.  Continue reading “Dweller on the Threshold”

Alice A. Bailey On Planetary Evil

Alice A. Bailey (AAB) and Djwhal Khul (DK) writing on planetary evil imply that evil is a necessary part of Creation as Spirit is projected into matter. They also distinguish between planetary evil and cosmic evil.

Below are some quotes from the writings of AAB and DK on the subject of evil, particularly planetary evil.

First. It should be remembered that the whole subject of planetary evil (and students must distinguish carefully between planetary and cosmic evil) lies hid in the individual life cycles and in the history of the Great Being who is the planetary Logos of the Earth.  Therefore, until a man has taken certain initiations and thus achieved a measure of planetary consciousness, it is useless for him to speculate upon that record.  H. P. B. has touched, in the Secret Doctrine [S. D., III, 62; Section 6, page 67] ,  upon the subject of “the imperfect Gods,” and in these words lies the key to planetary evil.

Second.  It might briefly be said that, as far as our humanity is concerned, the terms planetary evil and cosmic evil might be interpreted thus:

Planetary evil arises from certain relations existing between our planetary Logos and another planetary Logos.  When this condition of polar opposition is adjusted, then planetary evil will cease.  The adjustment will be brought about through the mediation (occultly understood) of a third planetary Logos.  These three will eventually form an equilateral triangle, and then planetary evil will cease.  Free circulation will ensue; planetary obscuration will become possible, and the “imperfect Gods” will have achieved a relative perfection.  Thus will the karma of the manvantara, or secondary cycle, be adjusted, and so much planetary karmic evil be “worked off.”  All the above must be interpreted in its esoteric sense and not its exoteric.

A Treatise on Cosmic Fire , 2. The Nature of Magic

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