It’s a great day to talk about Life, or Fire, which is what Life is. When the blazing light of the Monad is focused directly upon the personality, via the antahkarana and not specifically through the soul, it produces a blazing fire which burns up all hindrances in a steady, sequential process [emphasis added]. Wording it otherwise, when the will aspect streams from the Monad and focuses through the personal will (as the mind can grasp and realize it) it destroys as by fire all elements of self-will. As the energy of Shamballa streams out and makes a direct contact with humanity (omitting the transmission via the Hierarchy, which has hitherto been customary), you have what has been seen in the world today, a destructive conflagration or a world burning ground. (A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Vol. V, p30.)

Is that scary, or what? But, friends, do not be alarmed by these words. First printed in 1960, they are a deeply significant, if simply put, matter of fact. (That’s the thing about the Tibetan—he encases these profound truths in the simplest of sentences and leaves it to us to get to the heart of the matter.) Evolution is not over yet and, as our brother, Jesse Jackson, observed, God is not finished with us yet. The disciple, humanity, has a ways to go on the Path of Return.

We, therefore, must be willing to face and eliminate our fears, including the father of all fears—the fear of death which springs from our personality’s attachment to or identification with its self, its form. Eventually, and, I think, in the foreseeable future, a significant number of us will learn the lie of death that was engendered by the Forces of Retrogression those many millennia ago when the Forces of Light withdrew to subjective levels. We will shift the focus of human concern once again from death to life. In the meantime, what is required of us is what Morya calls the Lion Heart. Being compelled to honesty, we can really offer one another no comfort. We can offer camaraderie, companionship; we can offer co-labor and the joy that comes form the shared struggle, but no comfort. As has been observed many times, comfort is, after all, the cemetery of the spirit.

From the Father’s House, from the Council Chamber of the Lord of the World, from the City of the Gods, from the Bright Center lying far in the distance, from the White Island, from the place of mystery, and the home of The Secret Doctrine, from the City in the East, the city of light which is constructed of second subplane etheric matter (Initiation: Human and Solar, p33.) and which lies in the heart of the great Gobi Desert, from that much talked about but little understood place which is more commonly called Shamballa, flows Purpose, flows Monadic Energy, flows Spiritual Will, flows the Shamballa force, which I like to call the S force. Energetically, these names for the essence that flows from that most sacred of all spots on our planet spring from the same root. Their basic signature is Fire. If we can grasp even the superficial meaning behind the words with which I opened this talk, we will understand that the S force needs to be handled, not with kid gloves, but with asbestos gloves.

Morya has said, "A new dawn for mankind will come when the understanding of fire enters life." (Fiery World I, p9.) Lord knows that we have had ample opportunity to become acquainted with fire. The burning ground has been the most prominent planetary feature of the last, what, five centuries, certainly of the last 150 years. Humanity has passed through the World War, witnessed the fiery destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, harvested the fruits of despair from the Korean and Vietnam Wars; and, still today, we have the raging fires of war and destruction in Africa, Eastern Europe, South America and, just as fiery if a bit less loud, the ravages of starvation and disease in any number of places on the globe … I have North Korea and Iraq in mind.

However, we—that is, humanity—we seem to have this problem with shortsightedness or spiritual myopia. Spiritual myopia is a crystallized psychic condition generated by the intense form focus of the highly, one might say "overly," developed and self-indulgent personal will. This shortsightedness problem, which is widespread in humanity, seems to have led to a condition of collective Alzheimer’s. For example, we have trouble remembering, after the passage of a few years, that war—while it is sometimes necessary to preserve freedom, as it was in the War for Independence in 1776 and the recent World War—that war doesn’t provide solutions to the problems that caused it. We forget, even with centuries of examples, that holding another person or group of persons or nation in a condition of slavery, be it through the physical terrorism of armed might or the equally deadly terrorism of economic manipulation—the modern weapon of choice for the so-called superpowers—we forget that this sort of behavior just makes a terrible mess of our relationships. We have trouble remembering that greed and avarice and pride never have, never will, lead anywhere but into some really dark and nasty places; that if we do not look at the next step we will probably fall down the stairs.

So, here we are, today. What is coming is the 3rd direct inflow of the S force. It is coming straight into the human family and not just, as used to be the case, through the Hierarchy. It is also, of course, coming to us through the Hierarchy. So, in that sense, it is a double dose. This is an important event. I suppose that in terms of the galaxy, it is not such a big thing; but, relatively speaking, to this little dust ball we call Earth, this is a very big deal.

So, if we are—heaven forbid—just now starting to prepare for an event of this magnitude, it would seem that we were a bit behind the curve. But, it is typical of those afflicted with spiritual myopia to put things off until the last minute and then to rush around trying to do something to get ready. We probably should have been having this conference 10 years ago.

However, as the saying goes, "Shoulds and woulds do not build bridges;" so, we work from where we are. Also, things seldom are as dark as they seem. It is being conned by this fear thing that makes us see things as darker than they are. And, I am aware that for the last 10 to 15 years there has been a lot of work going on in a number of the esoteric centers with which I am familiar (and, I suspect, in a number of others with which I am not acquainted) … a lot of work being done on exploring and endeavoring to implement the spiritual will.

This is good. It will—has already, in many cases—lead to the development of the art of visualization, which is gradually overcoming the spiritual myopia that has plagued us for so long and without which the understanding of fire or Shamballa is not possible, anyway. We each see such a small bit of the whole that we can get discouraged, but I have found a lot of encouragement in the work that has been going on. I have encountered disciples all over the world who are seriously and intelligently involved in the efforts to move with their groups into the realm of group-consciousness or spiritual living, which is what group-consciousness is.

Also, let me hasten to say that I am not one of those who think that the term disciple is reserved for those of us who study the "blue books" or the Agni Yoga books or the writings of any spiritual teacher at all. Spiritual, to me, means living with the energy of life—wherever you are. It means seeing the common ground between the law of eternal giving and fire, so that one’s day-to-day life becomes a flaming sacrifice. There must be action; there must be spiritual livingness. Esoteric study and esoteric knowledge that lead to skill in action is good, but they are neither necessary nor sufficient. As Morya has pointed out, "The human heart knows about fire but the reason tries to obscure this evident wisdom." [Fiery World I, p255.] Spiritual livingness does not require book learning. It requires the Lion Heart. It requires loving our brothers.

So, a great deal of what is going on on the planet is an example of a growing willingness on the part of the disciple, humanity, to look ahead, to use foresight, to actually plan. This would be yet another indicator of the gradual merging of the 4th and 5th kingdoms, planning being an almost instinctual attitude of an Hierarch. For, in a nutshell, what we need to do—that is, what people who would attend a conference such as this one, need to do; what disciples need to do, or what people who think that they are disciples—people who have pledged and accepted themselves as disciples—need to do; and any man or any woman, anywhere, who has in the confines of his or her own heart placed the welfare or the good of the planet, or of the children, of the brothers and sisters, or the animals or sea life or any part of the environment, who has placed that good above or ahead of his or her own personal good, has made such a pledge and has accepted his or herself as an individual who matters, as a person who can and will make a difference— that person is a disciple in the deepest subjective sense of that word. These are people whom the Great Ones can, and undoubtedly do, use. What we need to do—this whole galaxy of people I have just outlined here and which is a very large group, indeed—what we need to do to prepare for the Shamballa force is to continue to shift the focus of our attention from ourselves to our service ... to shift the flow of our will from a personal to a spiritual perspective.

For us, the time for self-improvement is over. Also, over is the time for looking for one’s group or one’s field of service. There will still be many who are interested in self-development, and there will still be many hunters of the horn or lookers or seekers out there, and they are good people. We should try to serve them, to meet their needs; but, because of the self-focus of their desire, they will probably not be available for the work of the externalization and reappearance.

If we are going to make any sort of practical use of the Shamballa boost, we will need to be done with the bit—the luxury of searching for our groups or seeking our fields of service. One’s field of service is not what one discovers with the implementation of the spiritual will. What one discovers is that one is a servant … totally and constantly … that sacrifice—which is, I should point out, a heart quality, the heart being the only safe valve or center, if you like that term, through which we can route the S force—that sacrifice or service is the automatic response of soul-mind-brain alignment to living in form. One serves right where he or she stands, wherever that is.

Prepare for the Shamballa force. Find a group. Move into it. Align with what you sense as the group’s purpose. Work within it. In the center of the pentagram is the place of safety for all who love and serve the Plan, and every group that is a group has, at its very heart, a pentagram.

We need to realize that the impact of inflowing energy on a form, whether it be Shamballic, buddhic or mental energy, "…produces results which are dependent upon the quality of the forms…." (A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Vol. V, p75.) So, we can expect that the coming inflow of Shamballa force will dynamically energize whatever set of attitudes or inclinations are present in the system under discussion, be it a person, a group, a nation or the human family. The larger issue, the easy-to-see issue, has to do with the relative focus of the attention within the system. To the degree that one is trying to implement the spiritual will in place of the personal will, or to the extent that one is service-centered, or other-centered, the inflowing Shamballa force will empower those efforts. The service will be more dynamically effective; it will reach more deeply into deeper and broader fields; it will literally blow by obstacles that may have previously been seen as insurmountable. And, it will do so through an application of solar fire rather than fire by friction. Or, to word it differently, rather than that ancient combative, competitive process, with which we are all so familiar, of divide and conquer or destroy and pick up the pieces, the spiritual will effortlessly surmounts insurmountable obstacles through that still barely understood process we call synthesis. It is not a case of either this or that. It is both, and.

Conversely, in those systems, be they separate personalities, organizations or states where the attention is turned in or toward the self, in self-centered systems or personalities, the inflowing Shamballa force will dynamically drive the life deeper into relationship with the forms. The identification with the forms will become more and more rigid to the point where they will explode or shatter. In this way, the imprisoned life will be released into a new state. This is the natural progression of evolution, anyway; but, with the advent of the release of this Shamballic inflow, the process will be greatly accelerated. And, if you will look around the planet right now, you will see many, many examples of this kind of shattering going on—as well as the reorganization and generation of new synthesized organisms.

I have the world esoteric community in mind now, but the following remarks would apply to almost any group—a government, or corporation or association in the professional and business worlds, as well as the world labor unions. Most of the organizations and groups which have been generated in the past couple of thousand years, like the great world religions, and even in the past 10 to 15 years, are somewhere in the process of moving from personal to spiritual, from self-conscious organizations to group-conscious groups. This is the thrust of the unfolding life on our planet. It just is, and there is, ultimately, no way to avoid it.

As a result of evolution and especially of the last couple of inflows of the S force, most of the groups on the planet are experiencing very significant shifts in their inner circumstances. These shifts are the results of the crystallization and fracturing of the self-conscious-generated view of group, which was all that we were capable of, all that self-consciousness could produce in those years. Among the many earmarks of this type of group was the dominant personality, the one person in the group who actually ran the group. This person was usually the individual who "founded" the group or, in the event of that person’s death, the dominant person was the one who inherited the mantle, not of leadership, but of rulership. This mantle was usually passed on to the person who could be counted on to continue to implement the thought form the original founder had put in place to guide the group. These people, being overwhelmingly form-focused, were usually unable to see into the heart of the form that the founder initially used to create the organization, and thus the group moved inexorably toward crystallization.

In those cases where the new people were actually leaders, actually able to see beyond the form to the founding idea, able to contact the life force that animates the soul of the group rather than the form which it initially used for incarnation, the groups will reorganize, synthesize and move into their new estates. They will be actuated by the living principles which brought them into existence rather than the forms which were useful and which originally worked, but which are now more like coffins than effective organizational structures. Incidentally, when a situation is reorganized through a process of synthesis, the baby is not thrown out with the bath water.

So, prepare … if we are interested in the work of the externalization and reappearance, and we want to be a part of that and be able to direct the Shamballa force into those efforts, we need to get in touch, more deeply and more firmly in touch, with the animating life ... the animating life of our groups, of our souls. This will make us akin to the Shamballa force. It will make of us a ready and safe receptacle of practical value.

In terms of being prepared, I need to put a couple of things into perspective here. I do not know this, of course, but then I do not know anyone who does; however, the thought that, at a certain point in 2000, Sanat Kumara, or whoever happens to be on duty out there in the Gobi Desert at the time, will throw the Shamballa switch and the juice will flow is a bit weird. I know about how the planets and all align and so forth, but it seems rather arbitrary to say that on Tuesday, April 18th in the year 2000, at 12:41p.m. Eastern Standard Time, there will be no Shamballa force present, but that on that very day at 12:43p.m., two minutes later, it will be there, full blast.

I have a problem with that. Mainly, it is just impractical; and, I have come to realize that practicality or the wise use of energy, which is what practical really means, is a hallmark of the Hierarchy—of universe, actually. I mean, practicality is intrinsic in Universe… . But, it may work that way—maybe some Body does throw a switch at the exact point in time… . However, on the off chance that, like everything else in the physically observable and psychically registerable universe, the Shamballa force will actually flow on a flow basis, perhaps reaching some form of a peak in 2000, then go on for another number of years … on the off chance that that is the case, I suggest that we get prepared yesterday or today, right now.

I think that this force is flowing even as we sit here and talk about getting ready for it. I think that it has been flowing for a number of years ... that it is behind the efforts of so many of us to implement the spiritual will, to focus our service efforts on the externalization and reappearance, that it is behind the shake-ups, reorientations, new vistas we have all been experiencing in our meditation work and throughout our group lives, and within that galaxy I include not only the esoteric groups to which we may belong, but our family lives, our community lives, the lives we lead as citizens of this country and the world.

That humanity is on the brink of an initiation seems clear to me. I think that a bunch of people who know themselves as disciples, and a bunch who are disciples and know it not, are approaching the third portal. I also think that an even bigger bunch is approaching the second portal. What this means is that there are enough people on the planet now who are able to solve problems without being dominated by the power of their personal will that humanity can move on to the next step of its long journey back to the Father’s House. It was, I think, necessary for humanity as a group to reach this stage before the Shamballic inflow would be attempted.

The Great War was the test, and the passing of the test was the demonstrated ability of the so-called Allied Forces, through whom the Forces of Light were working, to not use their victory to dominate and enslave the world. This would not have been the case if there were not enough people involved at the decision-making levels of humanity who were relatively free from the dominance of their personal wills.

The Shamballic inflows of this century are the responding evocations of the massive invocative efforts of humanity for the last few hundred years. They are not accidental, nor are they released without due consideration of humanity’s ability to handle them in an appropriate manner. We need to realize, of course, that the ability to handle appropriately does not guarantee that they will be handled appropriately.

Because humanity is sort of "in charge" of its own evolution ... there is this thing ... which we prize so very highly ... called free will. Free will, by the way, is simply the reflection within the 4th kingdom of the Shamballa force. This is what Morya means when he says, "the human heart knows about fire… ." Free will is the fiery essence of the human heart. It is the core of what Morya calls the Lion Heart and, because of this free will, our right to make choices, the inalienable right of each individual to self-determination … because of this, in the short term, nothing is guaranteed. If we are to move into the new estate, take the next step in the evolution of the species, lift the planet and its lower kingdoms onto its next level—and the human kingdom, the 4th kingdom with this fiery power we call free will is absolutely pivotal in this effort—if we are going to do this thing, we are going to have to do it through the implementation of the fiery will of spirit.

There are considerable forces arrayed on the side of retrogression. These forces are highly skilled. Unlike the Spiritual Hierarchy, they are not governed by any laws that respect the human right of free will, that observe the right of the individual to self-determination. They will, and do, manipulate any foolish person for their own selfish ends, and they work tirelessly. They don’t even take vacations. I do not mention this to be either frightening or discouraging. I just think that a sober understanding of the realities will help us see the need for the Lion Heart. As I said, in the near term, nothing is guaranteed. And, as I mentioned above, the inflow of this force being unavoidable, it will work out according to the focus of the consciousness. It’s like sunshine—it energizes whatever it touches, including the Forces of Retrogression. What did you think was empowering Milosevic?

What we need to try to insure in the coming 12 months and the next few years is that enough of us are focused steadily enough within the field of our spiritual wills that we can tip the scales of justice toward our next destined step in the light. So, preparing for the Shamballa inflow really comes down to each one of us doing his or her own work, throwing his or her weight onto the scales of planetary unfoldment.

By way of practicality—it always boils down to that—it boils down to the conscious control and direction of our energy. There is, of course, no such thing as being out of control … someone or somebody is always in control. It is our opportunity and charge to see to it that the point of control is the spiritual will. It is the steady and deliberately conscious use of energy for service that keeps the Forces of Retrogression at bay, and any act or thought that lifts, liberates, bridges, heals, any kindness, any consideration, any act of respect, any radiation of love or goodwill, any effort to bring beauty and harmony or light and understanding into a situation … is sacrifice and is service. It is this effort on the part of all who love and serve the Plan that will gradually absorb the darkness, by irradiating it with light and love and through the synthesizing power of the Shamballa force eliminate the last veil.

I have been thinking a lot lately about an earlier time in our nation’s history when we were called on to implement the will of our hearts in order to move onto a higher plateau and to save, not just ourselves, but, in many respects, the human family. I see a lot of similarity between the symbology of the situation our fledgling nation faced in 1776 and humanity’s current situation. It is sort of the same thing on a larger and higher spiral. The issues at stake now are just as enormous and just as important to the Great Unfolding as those in 1776, and I think that Tom Paine’s words are just as eloquent now as then, and so today, I leave you with them.

These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: It is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. The Crisis No. I, Thomas Paine, 1776

Tom Carney, March 1999
04/12/1999