April 29, 1999
The Dark Night of the Soul
The one most likely to get help from a Master is:
(e) Scott also has been a sincere seeker all his life, and has studied and sought diligently for over 20 years. He starts a project that he believes will help mankind, but does not seem to care as to whether he ever sees a master or not.
Most of you wisely suspected that this was the correct answer; however Glenys had a good reason for believing in another possibility. In addition to my last tricky quiz making her suspicious, she mentioned that others sought help from a higher power, whereas Scott in (e) did not, as far as we know.
Seeking help from God and a higher power is indeed a positive thing, and if faith is exercised then it will be forthcoming, but not necessarily from a Master. There are unseen helpers from the unseen worlds, and then there is also guidance from our own souls, which Alice A Bailey calls “a Master on its own plane”.
The Christ and his associates have much work to do on their own plane, and are limited by several factors as to who they can and will work with in the mortal world. “Like attracts like” is a wise statement. If you want to draw the attention of a Master, you have to think and act like a Master.
And how is that?
The master is an initiate, and he will begin a work of some kind and seek to follow it through as Dave did in the parable on Decision. Note that when Dave was visited by the second angel, he was not seeking or expecting such a visit. He was just happily proceeding doing a great work of turning hell into heaven, and in a moment he was not expecting it, a messenger appeared. This is also pointed out in the Bible by Jesus. “Watch (pay attention) therefore: For ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” Matt 24:42
We also have the parable of the talents:
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
“Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
“His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
“He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
“His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
“Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
“His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” Matt 25:13-29
Notice here that the ones, who were praised and rewarded by the Master, were they who used their INITIATIVE and multiplied what they had. It is interesting then that if all a person does is to seek guidance and the favor and visitation of a Master or sensational spiritual experiences, he will be quite unlikely to have a visitation of a true teacher. Instead he is setting himself up to be deceived by some entity or thoughtform pretending to be a master. This could be a teacher on the physical plane, an astral entity or some channeled source.
He who is most likely to obtain a visit, will be he who actually attempts to do the will of God no matter what the difficulty, and will proceed with a good work whether or not any Master visits him. When such a person is making progress and is in a state of mind where he doesn’t care if the Masters are paying attention or not, then the Masters will start to pay attention.
The person grumbling about a lack of signs or assistance will often have neither. One of the things each true servant must learn is to find the power of God manifesting through himself, through the medium of his own soul.
A final barrier before the student makes the necessary spiritual contacts is called loosely the dark night of the soul. Now, most people feel loneliness now and then to a degree, but the student on the threshold of greater spiritual contact will go through a period of loneliness and feelings of isolation that eclipses any feelings of loneliness that the average person experiences. This loneliness is often accompanied by a feeling that he or she is different and there is no one else on the planet who can understand what he is going through or communicate effectively with them. To some it will seem that a dark cloud also hangs over them.
If the student in this condition gives up in his quest for higher knowledge, then soon things will return to normal, but he will soon have to go through the dark night again. On the other hand, if he perseveres, he will eventually arrive at a higher level of consciousness and soul contact. After he passes through this dark night, he will realize something very interesting. He is not alone. He finds he is in “communion with the saints” as it is written in Christian terminology. In other writings “he finds his group.” But it will be a spiritual group that has an eternal presence before his soul.
Once this happens, new vistas of understanding open up to him, and he will never feel that “aloneness” feeling again, and it is almost impossible for such a one to become depressed.
Copyright by J J Dewey
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