THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY

Chapter 5

Functions and Structure of the Soul

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home.

Nature of the Soul

Aristotle asserted that all living creatures have souls. Esotericists agree but expand the definition of “living” to include the whole of creation. The Master Djwhal Khul argues that everything has a soul: a rock, animal, human being, all the way to the planet and beyond. The soul, he says, is “the sentient factor in substance itself-- that innate faculty-- which produces the undeniable intelligent activity which all demonstrate.” It is “that entity which is brought into being when the spirit aspect and the matter aspect are related to each other.”3 The soul is the expression of the Second Aspect of deity: the form-building aspect of that awesome process through which the Logic essence descends into manifestation. The soul gives the form its distinctive characteristics, so that a tree is different from a rock and a horse, and an oak tree is different from an elm. The tree soul ensures that seeds develop into shoots, saplings, and eventually mature trees capable of propagation; it ensures that trees’ roots penetrate the soil and their branches reach up to the sky, bearing leaves and fruit.

Chapter 8

The Path of Discipleship

With thy multiple compassion,
Unify my heart,
And the heart of all thy folk
To love and revere thy Name.
And our eyes enlighten
In the light of thy Torah,
For with thee is the source of life:
In thy light shall we see light.

From Aspiration to Discipleship

Spiritual progress is made possible by divine grace, by the example of the great avatars, and by the call of the solar angel; but our response is a matter of choice. The choice is made at the personality level where awareness is presently focused. It is not a choice between good and evil; many “good” lives still result in only slow progress. It is an intentional and purposeful decision to accelerate the normal process of evolution by offering oneself in service to the Planetary Hierarchy and humanity. It is a coming of age; from being “children of God,” we offer ourselves as “adults of God,” able and willing to play a positive role in the affairs of the planet. Discipleship is a path of challenge, possibly leading in directions that we cannot foresee. But a point comes when the solar angel’s call becomes deafening, when we feel compelled to move forward, to step off the cliff like the Fool in the Tarot deck. One of the functions of the soul...including our surrogate soul, the solar angel...is to drive us forward on our evolutionary journey.