Christ Consciousness and the Age of Aquarius

INCREASINGLY as this Aquarian Age dawns, we are becoming aware of the intimate relationship existing between the individual, the planetary and the cosmic Christ Consciousness. We are recognizing that the "chitta" or "mind stuff," as the Eastern knowers refer to it, to which our own minds are related and of which our mental bodies are an integral part, is also part of the mind of the cosmic Christ, of Whom the historical Christ is—upon our planet—the highest embodiment.

Why should this be so? And, isn't it blasphemous to refer to the individual indwelling Christ consciousness? The Age of Aquarius promises to be the Age of Brotherhood, the Age in which the law of Love reigns supreme. What is this law of Love but the expression of the Christ consciousness—the second aspect of divinity born of Life and form?

Christos—the Greek word from which the term Christ is derived—is an archaic term that was applied to every Initiate of a certain degree within the Mystery Temples of old. St. Paul, echoing the Gnostic belief in the saving grace of the indwelling spiritual essence, also referred to "Christ in you, the hope of glory." And, Clement of Alexandria, who died about the year 215 A.D., refers to Christos as "the WAY," the glorified Spirit of Truth and the reunion which makes the soul (the Son) One with the (Father) Spirit.

In The Esoteric Character of the Gospels by H.P. Blavatsky, Christ is referred to as "the divine principle in every human being." She elaborates: "He who strives to resurrect the Spirit crucified in him by his own terrestrial passions, and buried deep in the 'sepulchre' of his sinful flesh; he who has the strength to roll back the stone of matter from the door of his own inner sanctuary, he has the risen Christ in him."

Every human being is a potential Christ and the unfolding of the Christ-life is outlined in the Gospels. There are five great initiations in the life of a Christ—each one marking a stage in the unfolding of the Life of Love. The last initiation marks the final triumph in which the individual transcends the human experience and becomes a Saviour of the world. Like the mid-day sun, the fully realized Christ blots out the darkness and irradiates all within its orb.

"We shall see what is called symbolically 'the birth of the Christ,' or the second birth, taking place in many lives, producing on earth a large group of the spiritually new-born. They will be those who have brought together, consciously and within themselves, the two aspects of soul and body.

Esoteric Psychology, Vol. I
by Alice A. Bailey,
p. 313

In spite of the fact that this truth has been taught for centuries in the Mystery Schools of the East and the West, for the most part, people have not accepted the truth of their own indwelling divinity. Instead, as the Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul, indicates, they "have sought for reality without and have turned their attention to the Personality of the One who taught them a major truth ... The price of this distortion of the truth has been paid again and again by a devitalised body and by the inability of the average mystic to live a concrete, and yet, divine, life upon earth."¹

The esoteric wisdom refers to the Christ principle as the principle of Buddhi—that higher plane of mind that can only become related to the lower planes as these are purified and become free from that which obstructs awareness of the inner reality. The disciple cannot attain "unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ" (Eph. 4:13) until the forms are transformed, their activities quieted, and their restlessness stilled.²

The Holy One, the Lord of Love and Compassion Whom many have come to know as the Christ since His public appearance some 2,000 years ago, is known in the esoteric wisdom by many different titles, among which is that of "World Teacher." This Being of exalted rank is the embodiment, as well as the magnetic point of love, for the entire planet and thus represents the planetary potential for the second aspect of divinity—that of the second ray of Love-Wisdom. His Life, as many of the Teachers of humanity attest, was intended to be an example. Each of us at some point in our long evolutionary journey are to experience the birth, the baptism, the test of the personal will, the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension.

It is in these early years of the Aquarian Age that humanity—the world disciple—has the opportunity to prepare the way for the reappearance of this World Teacher. How better to do so than to cultivate and imitate as best we can the Love and Compassion that this World Teacher continues to pour forth to all? Is it not incumbent upon each of us to help provide—in whatever way we can—the needed physical and spiritual environment in which this Planetary Teacher of "men and angels alike" will be able to once again openly teach and work? Can we therefore use the transfiguring will to renounce and sacrifice all that hinders the inner Christ consciousness from manifesting in the day-to-day life?

¹ Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II, Alice A. Bailey, p. 597-598.
² The Light of the Soul; the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Alice A. Bailey, p. 12.