From the writings of Alice A. Bailey we have the features of what a life infused by the soul might hold. Ain’t life fascinating! A little research for some background of Alice A. Bailey and I discover that she was a cook in the American Theosophical headquarters café. A association with my own work as a chef! It was there that she connected with the Master Djwal Khul who she credits with telepathically dictating the works she would produce from 1919 ’til her death in 1949.
She had some very interesting ideas on a multitude of subjects and it is from The Soul: The Quality of Life that I derived the following material. The italicized sections are quoted from the book. I’ve broken it into three posts and it may be interesting for you to follow the practice I outlined in the previous post.
Aspects of the Soul
Love, Responsibility, Humility, Inclusiveness, Joy and Happiness
Love
Love is the nature of the soul and therefore I make it the first of its characteristics. This isn’t the love of affection, emotion, or sentiment. It is soul love and flows from the inner self. Rather than needing to be projected outwards by one willing it, it radiates touching those that come in contact with it, even on a subtle level. It brings order to chaos and changes pity to compassion.
There are some affirmations from the work of Alice A. Bailey as regards soul love:
a. May that soul of mine, whose nature is love and wisdom, direct events, impel to action, and guide my every word and deed.
b. Let the love of the soul attract, and the light of the soul, direct all whom I seek to help.
c. Right attachment releases the love of the soul, and only love, consciously, intelligently and deliberately applied, can make for successful work.
Responsibility
For me responsibility is foremost after love. It brings me into solid connection with my physical existence. By taking responsibility I take ownership of my ‘I AM PRESENCE’ in the here and now. I am 100% responsible for anything that is manifest in my life. My words, my actions, all my thoughts from which I create my life. And if there is negativity manifest in my life then I take responsibility for it. I do not attach blame to anyone or anything exterior to me, but attempt to discover what the thought is that evokes the manifestation of the negativity.
Humility
I went through a series of humbling experiences on my journey to connect with my soul. The Alice A. Bailey writings speak of the concept of Glamour and when I was humbled by life, I was seduced by the glamour of an idea.
Even though it felt like I had the best of intentions I noticed that in some ways I was stroking my ego. I wasn’t anchored in a soul-based consciousness. I was attracted to working as a therapist but not out of a sense of service to others, but rather the glamour of working in the field.
It was a reality check. In Overcoming Emotional Chaos authors Doc Childre and Deborah Rozman of HeartMath refer to something similar and call it vanity. Once seduced by this vanity or glamour I was not in a state of being fully present to all my life. These experiences evoked the humility required to exist in a more soul conscious state.
I had discovered HeartMath a year or so earlier and had committed to their training and a seminar in Australia. Their teachings on heart intelligence are powerful. I was possibly the first person in New Zealand to do their training and excited by the prospect it held. When opportunities didn’t unfold though I marketed the program I sensed the vanity and also the possibility there was more of me to be uncovered. Rather than pushing me to look further outwards for answers these humblings prompted a turning within. Was I denying parts of myself that needed expression? A visit to a person channeling a Persian Mystic invited the idea that I might look at soul retrieval. For some time I had been reading material around the soul, never imagining that I might be missing part of it. Once the shamanic practitioner had taken me through the rite of retrieval and time had been taken to integrate the part there was a greater feeling of unity within. The journey was not yet over but there was a sense that somehow I was more of me. I had less of a feeling of separation from the rest of those in my circles. A previous sense of difference and isolation was being replaced by a feeling that whoever we are we’re all looking to evolve our humanness in our own unique way.
Inclusiveness
Bailey describes inclusiveness as…. the outstanding characteristic of the soul, or self, whether it is the soul of man, the sensitive nature of the cosmic Christ, or the anima mundi, the soul of the world. This inclusiveness tends to synthesis.
Synthesis can be thought of as fusion and for me involves creating the space within my mind and heart to acknowledge that I’m part of all that is. That by virtue of being a guest on Planet Earth I’m intimately connected with all that entails – the rest of humanity, the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, the mineral world, and in even a wider sense the rest of the universe. I live with a sense of sacred relationship to all these facets of life I honour each for the gifts they bring.
Joy and Happiness
The Bailey work says that happiness is based on the confidence of the God within. I’m not sure I’d describe myself as being a happy person, and acknowledge there have been times in my life when I thought of myself as being depressed but unsure whether it was anything that was affecting my life detrimentally. At times it became a good excuse if things didn’t appear to be going to well. Following the soul retrieval, I came to notice within, not a happiness, rather a feeling of profound contentment.
The work of Alice Bailey speaks of happiness as a personality reaction and to endeavour to demonstate it. She says joy is a soul quality that is experienced in the mind and advises us to be joyful as it is joy that allows light to bless us. Bliss is described as a nature of the spirit and can only truly be encountered once unity, the ultimate beingness, is realised through the soul.
….work not for joy, but towards it; not for reward, but from an inner disposition to serve; not for gratitude but from the urge that comes from having seen the vision and realization of the part you have to play in bringing the vision down to earth.
May the Blessings of the New Year touch you. Gratitude to all.
Resources:
D.K. through Alice A. Bailey
The Soul The Quality of Life
Wikipedia: Alice A. Bailey, Dwhal Khul, Anima Mundi
