In
New Age circles there is a great deal of talk about the subject
of glamour.
New
Age groups, the esoteric and occult groups, fondly imagine, of
course, that they are without glamour. They tend to see themselves
as the most advanced groups in the world, above and beyond the
glamours which beset ordinary humanity, and as particularly fitted
to guide the rest of us into the same, blessed, glamour-free state
in which they happily reside.
This
is one of the biggest glamours of these groups.
The
Tibetan Master DK, who gave the Alice Bailey teachings to the
world, has written that the esoteric and occult groups are the
most glamoured of all the groups. And, I must say, that is exactly
my experience.
What
is glamour? When we are asked what glamour is we can more easily
answer, what is not glamour? There seems to be nothing which enters
our mind, comes out of our mouths or concerns us in any way at
all, which is not saturated with glamour. Glamour is illusion
on the astral or emotional plane.
There
are three levels of illusion, all pertaining to the personality.
Illusion on the physical plane we call maya. On the astral plane
we call it glamour. When it is on the mental plane, we call it
illusion. The vast majority of us live constantly in a state of
illusion, the result of not seeing reality as it is. Eventually,
we come to an understanding that this physical plane world, our
astral and emotional life and even our mental ideas are nothing
more than illusions of one kind or another.
The
real world, which we can only know through the development of
soul consciousness, is something which we have to reach and experience
through the practice of meditation and service. Through meditation
we gradually form a contact and eventually an alignment between
our personality self and our true Self, our soul. When this is
established the soul can throw its light on to this illusory life,
physical, emotional and mental, in which we have up till then
lived.
That
is what evolution is about. We gradually evolve out of the darkness
of our illusions, physical, astral and mental, into the light
of the soul, the true reality. Before this process of change takes
place we do not see the harm that maya, glamour and illusion do
to us and the world. When we are in a state of glamour, of illusion,
we are quite content because we do not know anything else. Our
glamours, our illusions, are very comfortable for a long time.
We have illusions, glamours, because they are comfortable. They
help to bolster our ego, or denigrate our ego, depending on what
we wish to do.
Many
will have heard of the Seven Rays, energies from Cosmos, which
control our lives. These ray energies have very definite and,
in many cases, quite different qualities. The first ray of will
or power or purpose, for example, has strength, perseverence and
breadth of viewpoint. The second ray of love and wisdom has the
qualities of love, of empathy, the ability to see the other person's
point of view. Therefore it brings understanding, inclusiveness,
of sensing inwardly the reality of unity, which is the essential
nature of the human race.
All
of us, as you probably know, are 'on' particular rays. Our soul
is governed by a particular ray; our personality, our mental body,
our astral body and our physical body are all governed by particular
rays. Therefore, we have (or may have potentially) the qualities
of these rays. The differences in our personality, in the effect
which we have on each other, is to do with the differences in
the quality of the rays on which we find ourselves. This also
accounts for the differences between nations. The differences
in the way the Dutch, for instance, govern their life and, let's
say, the Americans, Russians or the Chinese, are the differences
in the rays of those countries. Nations whose rays are the same
or similar tend to understand each other and become friends and
probably trading partners. Nations whose rays are very different
have very different approaches to politics, economics, international
affairs and so on. If we were perfect enough always to demonstrate
purely the qualities of our ray structure, we would have no maya,
no glamour, no illusion. Unfortunately we are not.
We
are all of us rather unevolved and so demonstrate these ray qualities
in their obverse effect; not the virtues but the vices of the
rays. All of us have the vices of our rays, without any doubt
at all. And those who are in the process of trying to find out
their ray structures are best instructed to do so through the
recognition of the vices of their rays.You may have some of the
virtues; you will certainly have the vices. Not because you are
any worse than anybody else, but because you are human.
Humanity
lives under a great cloud, a great pall of murky darkness, which
surrounds us even if we don't see it. It interpenetrates all our
being; it is called glamour. Glamour is the result of not seeing
reality as it is. As groups form and work together they demonstrate,
necessarily, their ray qualities: some of the virtues and certainly
most of the glamours of those rays.
There
are seven rays and seven times a multitude of glamours. Rather
than going into individual ray structures and individual glamours
and how to handle them, I would like to talk a little bit about
how these glamours affect the interaction of individuals in a
group formation. A group comes together under karmic impulse,
ashramic necessity and soul purpose. These are the three factors
which bring an esoteric group, for example, into existence. If
this is the case let us assume therefore that we are talking about
a serious group with a serious purpose in coming together and
not on some kind of whim. This being so, it will be very important
how that group actually works; each member in relation to each
other member. The group dynamics become very important; they matter.
If a group is to function properly, each member will have to give
of his or her best.
In
New Age and esoteric groups there is no lack of desire to do one's
best. These groups are saturated with idealism. There is no lack
of idealism today. How is it that we have such a rotten world
then? Because the idealism never results in any kind of action.
It remains a vision, an ideal.This world is filled with great
idealistic notions of bringing peace, joy, the end of suffering
to the world. Yet every day we have suffering, we have war and
starvation in the world. So what about the idealism? It is glamour.
It is unreal.
New
Age groups probably more than anybody else are saturated with
this unreal idealism. There are registers, thousands of names
long, of groups with wonderful names: "The Universal Brotherhood
and Sisterhood of World Servers in the Light", or: "The Universal
Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Creators of the New World", etc.
They are all 'Universal', they are all about 'transformation',
they are all full of 'Light' - and a lot of hot air. They come
together regularly and talk about transforming the world and creating
conditions of love and light throughout the world. You do that,
they believe, by talking about love and light, by recognizing
that the most important things in the world are love and light,
that if only enough people in the world knew that the things that
really matter are love and light we would have a wonderful world.There
are thousands of such New Age groups all over the world. And of
course they are not wrong.The world does need love and light.
But they don't do anything about it. They don't address the problems
of creating the conditions in the world in which love and light
can come into manifestation.This, I think, is the major New Age
glamour.
There
is a particular glamour of a particular ray, which for the moment
will be nameless, which assumes that if you can name a thing,
you have it in your pocket. Let's name the most blessed state
for humanity: peace, love, brotherhood, wholeness, unity. As soon
as you can see it or name it, you have it. All the world needs
is to see that it needs peace, love, freedom, unity, etc. This
glamour imagines that if you have the vision of a thing you have
the thing itself. That is the major New Age glamour, I believe.
It is, of course, total self-deception, a purely astral idea.
The vision is seen on the astral plane, imagined as a vision of
love and light and peace, and just having the ability to envision
that is deeply satisfying. You don't have to do anything more.
That is glamour. Glamour is taking the unreal for the real; the
vision for the reality. Of course you have to have the vision.
If you don't have the vision, you can't create the reality. But
you have to make the vision real on the physical plane. Otherwise
it is glamour.
People
imagine that they have come into this world with a great mission;
a great role. Not an ordinary mission, an ordinary role, like
growing up and having a family and doing your best in the world.
But a great mission, a great responsibility. They have not yet
done anything about it, but they will. That is a typical New Age
glamour. The New Age groups are full of individuals of that kind.
Nice, sweet, full of idealism and absolutely, totally unpractical.
Of course there is nobody like that in this audience. As soon
as you contact the soul you want to serve. Today, millions of
people, through meditation, are contacting their souls and desire
seriously to serve. They come into a group and say: "Is there
something useful I can do?" They are told: "Yes, we have a mailing
going out tomorrow. All these envelopes need to have a name and
address and a stamp", and so on."Well, actually, I don't happen
to have so much time tonight. Perhaps some other time." Or they
say: "Yes, I could do that, but I have a very, very good way of
talking to people and I feel I can be more useful in talking about
the work to people and spreading the message". Or: "I have done
esoteric work, and I have been in groups for so long. Well, you
begin by licking stamps and addressing envelopes, but it is a
waste of my qualities, my experience, my point in evolution, to
be used in such work".
How
many people can put their hand on their heart and say that they
have never felt or thought in this way. One of the most difficult
things in a working group, a group really working seriously on
the outer and the inner plane, is to get people to accept any
level of work, any level of job. Everybody wants to do what they
think they are good at. Whether they are good at it or not (usually
they are not), what they want is to do something that they enjoy,
not something that is boring, run of the mill. All of that is
glamour. The idea that one job is more important than another
in a group activity is glamour.The idea that anybody is better
fitted than another person to do more important work, or too important
to do a lesser work, is glamour. One of the major glamours in
group activity is to take on jobs and then not to do them. People
don't recognize these as glamours. But they are. It is very difficult
for people to work in a group with impersonality. And yet that
is precisely what is needed for correct group activity.
I
wonder how many people really, honestly, with hand on heart, can
say that they do not enter a group of this kind, for instance,
without a motive of personal gain. I don't mean of money, but
a personal gain in some way or another. I wonder how many people
can say that they enter this work out of a pure, simple desire
to serve the world to the best of their ability. That there is
no personal ambition to be in a position of some importance, some
desire for recognition for doing certain work. A desire for a
situation in which they can advance themselves, become more powerful,
more knowledgeable, more important. I wonder how many people can
say in all honesty that there is none of that in their approach
to service. I think that, if we are honest, we have to admit that
in all groups perhaps the majority of people have approached the
work for these personal reasons. That is glamour. And that is
one of the major hindrances to real advance, personally and in
a group relationship.
To
advance individually and in group formation there has to be complete
impersonality in relation to each other and to the work. Sooner
or later that impersonality has to develop. The problem with glamour
is that when we are in the glamour we don't see it as glamour.
That is why we like the glamours, they are comfortable, they keep
us from seeing reality as it is. So they are protective devices.
As soon as the light of the soul through the more focused mind
begins to recognize the glamours and show them for what they are,
a very uncomfortable situation develops. A glamour which is seen
and recognized, but still lived within, is a very uncomfortable
thing. It can only be overcome by not giving it any energy; by
withdrawing the attention from it. Our glamours are maintained
by the effect of the basic law of occultism, that energy follows
thought. Wherever we put our thought we put our energy. If our
thought is all directed to ourselves, then all our energy is directed
to ourselves. And if all our energy is directed to ourselves,
there is no interplay with the other, that which is outside ourselves.
Then we feel unloved, alienated; we feel isolated, miserable,
because all our attention is directed to ourselves. All of that
is glamour.
It
is the illusion that we are separate. If we could only recognize,
and live, the fact that there is no separation, there would be
no glamour. If we have a pain in the physical body and we direct
our attention to it all the time, we will continue having the
pain and we will make the pain worse. We will create inflammation
and make the whole condition worse. If we direct our attention
to the world, to the needs of the world, our energy will flow
from us out into the world. In meeting the needs of the world
we forget about ourselves. And when we forget about ourselves,
the glamours go, because we have taken our attention, and therefore
our energy, away from them. So, too, goes our misery, our pain,
our isolation.
The
great secret in transformation is the re-direction of thought.
Away
from ourselves to the needs of the world. The more we are engaged
in serving the needs of the world the healthier and the happier
and the more serene we become. The fears, the jealousies, the
unhappiness fade away from lack of energy. These glamours are
only held in place by the energy with which we feed them. The
first thing is to recognize them, to look at them. That is all;
do nothing about them. Do not judge them or condemn them, do not
try to change them, but do not try to repress them, do not try
too hard 'to be better'. Every undue effort you make to overcome
a failing, a glamour or whatever, simply makes the condition worse.
The way to deal with a glamour is first of all to recognize it.
Just look at it and do nothing about it. Do not identify with
it. Just withdraw your attention from it and it will die of starvation.
The major thing is the recognition and not identifying. Both in
a personal sense and in a group relationship.
One
of the most destructive forces at work in group relationship is
competition. In most groups you will find a number of people competing
with each other. Competing for influence, for power, for recognition.
If there are offices, then for offices. This is highly destructive
of group unity and of any correct group work. That is probably
the first glamour that should be recognized and has to go for
the correct working of any group. Competition is deadly; it is
always destructive.
Are
there no good glamours? No worthwhile glamours? Are there no good
illusions? No.There are no good illusions and no good glamours.
Some are more destructive than others, that is all. The worst
glamours are other people's glamours! Our own glamours we can
put up with. Of course, the glamours of people with the same rays
as ourselves are unbearable. It is amazing how quickly we recognize
other people's glamours when they are the same as our own. A key
to knowing what your worst glamours are, your major glamours,
is perhaps to recognize what you hate most in other people. That
is an eye-opener.
The
Master DK wrote about a most unusual glamour which He had for
many years and which kept him back for years. There is a lot of
it about. It is a glamour which saturates the New Age and esoteric
groups. It is called: "devotion". The Master DK had an intense
devotional attitude to His Master, the Master KH. He was absolutely
devoted to that Master and was certain that that at least was
His major virtue. But that devotion held him back for years, It
was not His greatest quality; it was His chief fault. Devotion
can be a glamour. Anything can be a glamour, if it is 'over the
top'. Devotion can be the chain which keeps us from initiation.
At the same time, lack of devotion can be the chain. It works
both ways. What is needed is total impersonality. Not devotion
or lack of devotion. Not idealism or lack of idealism. But a correct
balance of recognition of the needs of the world and using whatever
faculties we have, serving those needs. Otherwise our devotion,
our idealism, and so on, are chains. It is the easiest thing in
the world to be a devotee. But it is of no value to the world
and may be a hindrance to ourselves.
There
is no Guru in the world, high or low, who needs our devotion,
not one. No one on earth needs our devotion except the old ladies
who need help across the road. Or the starving millions who are
right this moment dying in Africa and Asia. The needy of the world
need our devotion, no one else. The pain, the suffering, the anguish,
the terror, the fear of the world, that needs our devotion. All
the rest is glamour.
Q.
Is it possible to take stress from other people or is this glamour?
A.
It is possible, because stress is infectious. It is precisely
one of the problems with glamour that some are very infectious
indeed. The glamours of anger and violence are infectious, and
above all the glamour of fear is extremely infectious. All you
have to do is to create a fearful idea, about catastrophe or disaster,
and that fear will spread as a rumour throughout a continent.
America, for instance, is a great 'rumour land'. The Master Morya
writes about one of the major glamours, that of anger, of irritation,
which He calls 'imperil'. Anger imperils the world; it enfolds
the world in a fog which surrounds humanity and is released in
all kinds of violent acts. We create it all the time. One of the
major tasks of the Christ in this new age is to free humanity
from glamour, above all the glamour of materialism and the illusion
of separation.
Q.
If I feel someone else's fear, is that because I have that fear
in myself?
A.
Absolutely. If it were not present in you you would not feel it.
You might recognize it and see it, but you would not feel it yourself.
One of the major disservices given to the world by so-called 'Masters'
(communicators 'channelling' through astral sensitives, either
trance mediums or not) is that from them is pouring into the world
the threat of destruction and catastrophe. These are the ones
I call 'the prophets of doom'. Humanity has enough fear, without
these induced fears. They are playing on the insecurity of humanity.
People have those fears, so it simply strengthens them. I am amazed
that people are so glad to receive these fearful warnings. Happy
to pay any amount of money, to buy any number of books, if they
have these forecasts of doom and catastrophe in them. One of the
dangers is that, if people hold on to a thought-form for long
enough and make it powerful enough, they can precipitate the doom,
the catastrophe. We do it to ourselves all the time. We precipitate
our fears, our anger, our neuroses. We are projecting them as
thought-forms. In doing so, we create our own lives with pain
and suffering, much of it unnecessary.
Q.
Why does glamour exist at all?
A.
Because we are spirit immersed in matter, which is so inert that
the spirit cannot manifest purely, correctly, at this level. We
are perfect spirit, complete, perfect Gods, as any 'New Age' group
member will tell you. That being the case, they will say, there
is no evil in the world; there is nothing to worry about. Only
a few millions starving in the world, but that is not evil. There's
nothing we need to do about that, because we are all perfect.
The starving millions are perfect, too. If only they would realize
that, they wouldn't starve. People actually believe that. Glamours
result from our inability to think. Responding largely to events
of life with our astral/emotional body we cannot see the reality
which exists outside this fog. We are in incarnation in order
gradually to change this equipment, evolve it, until we have bodies
which correctly demonstrate the nature of the soul, which is will,
love and light.
Q.
Is glamour recognized by life experience, by meditation or both?
A.
We are in the midst of glamour until we have taken the first initiation
and are approaching the second. Around the point 1.3-1.5 the soul
energy becomes more and more potent and the light of the soul
strengthens the mental body. This will throw a new light on every
situation, which reveals the glamour. Up until then, when one
is completely in it, one doesn't even see it. But then, even when
we have never heard about glamour, we will realize the inconsistencies,
see the glamours in our make up. We can't do anything about them
at first, they are just painful. We experience it as the not-self.
As not us, and yet they are us. Our fears are us; our anguishes,
our jealousies, the timidities, all of these are glamours. As
long as we identify ourselves with the glamour, we are as good
as being that glamour. The more we can identify with ourself as
a soul, the less we will identify with a glamour. Through meditation,
the soul pours out its energy and, through the mind, reveals the
unreality, the glamour. The mind looks at this glamour and asks:
"Is that me?" That fear, that ambition, that pomposity, is that
me? Well, of course not.
The
nature of humanity is joy. Everything, that inhibits that joy
is a glamour. If we condemn the glamour, we are giving it energy
and only strengthen it. Whatever we inhibit, we will strengthen.
On the other hand, if we indulge in it, we will strengthen it
too. So there is only one thing left and that is just to look
at it. Look at it without condemning, without indulging in it.
Just look at it, recognize it, and gradually you will withdraw
from it the energy which keeps it going. The second initiation
can only be taken when we have really demonstrated our control
over the astral elemental which creates the glamour.
Reprinted
with the kind permission of Share International Magazine.
