A Paper on Power, Authority and Leadership in Occult Groups

The esoteric world is littered with failed groups and the mis- use/ mis understanding of power

All true power is given from above and comes from the alignment with the energy of Will via Hierarchy, Morya, SK and ultimately the Solar/Cosmic  Logos.

We are learning how to contact and wield that power and at Shamballa School we are making a particular experiment of approach to this energy via a second ray educational focus.

Misuse of power comes from an assumption of excess authority by a lesser entity along this chain of being and eventually results in the 'drying up' of true power and the increasing assertion of authority by the entity in order to make up for this loss.

In esoteric groups we see this in leaders claiming divinely given inspiration and excluding all who disagree with them and 'holding' others through both fear of exclusion and the offering of 'special' connection. They result in ever dwindling numbers until there is only one or two left sitting in a room in the suburbs asserting to themselves that they are holding the whole world together and are misunderstood and unrecognised by the masses. In other words the real result is not power but impotency.

In order for this misuse to happen there must develop an unhealthy codependency between leader or leaders and followers - the piscean experience. Both need to increasingly deny or ignore a deeper sense of truth in order to preserve the illusion that makes them feel special and hides an underlying fear of impotency.

What makes true Aquarian groups different is that each member of the group must be a soul with their own independent alignment - with Hierarchy and eventually with Shamballa. They must each take responsibility for the choices they are making moment by moment including the surrender of any authority or choice.

In Hierarchy this surrender of authority is made through a process of 'occult recognition'. In other words souls, out of their own alignment, recognise the alignment of other souls - their particular function and both the quality and capacity of the energy which they are handling and directing. This is what creates a 'hierarchy' - a recognition of differentiated function within One ashram - that of SK contained in the 'body of Christ'. This recognition occurs through a process of  progressive 'revelation' as the identification of the individuals shifts more and more into their soul nature and they thus become more aware of themselves as members of Hierarchy and thus intrinsically and already a 'group'.

On the way to this revelation outer groups form and break as training grounds where the principles of working with love and power can be learned.

An initiate group is composed of members of the Hierarchy. They come together cooperatively to do a specific piece of work recognising each other's quality and 'standing' within Hierarchy .They come together through their shared desire to serve the purpose of a recognised higher level of responsibility - A Master, The Christ or SK for example as well as a shared desire to serve those who are not yet conscious of themselves as 'souls'. They are a group member of Hierarchy and thus stand between Shamballa and Humanity.

Training for group initiation involves a strengthening of each group members alignment so that they are capable of becoming members of Hierarchy and demonstrating occult recognition. This training also sequentially develops the groups' capacity to recognise and handle higher energies as a unit within the Ashram. This training is somewhat quarantined at first but eventually becomes part of and is a byproduct of the work of Hierarchy itself. An initate knows because he works and a group initiate knows because it begins to recognise the particular function it is performing with the Plan.

True power in these training groups is given from above - higher levels of Hierarchy. Authority within these groups is never imposed. It is freely given to the senior members of the group through the process of occult recognition. It requires the conscious participation of the individual 'wills' of the group. Individuals recognise the power flowing through the leaders alignment. This power flows according to the degree of surrender the leader is able to make to a higher will and it evokes from the group an increased surrender of will towards  the same place the leader is surrendered - ultimately Shamballa. It is not so much a surrender to Will but a surrender to Surrender. The secret of power is in surrender and humility and not in authority.

The heart naturally responds to the love principle - the Christ's greater love causes an opening in the hearts of disciples resulting in both an upsurge in love towards the Christ as well as an outflow of love in service to humanity. The crown naturally responds to the power principle - The Great Sacrifice of SK causes an opening of the crown and an upsurge of the will principle - the urge to surrender or offer will  to support and respond to the greater Sacrifice as well as an outrush of the willingness to sacrifice on behalf of the growth of humanity.

When these two responses are reconciled in the heart, the central core opens - in the soul , the jewel is exposed. In Hierarchy, the great atonement made by the Christ when he linked with the Father is realised.

The result of this reconciliation within a group training for initiation is not a dwindling into impotency but a great expansion of the energy of love, infused with Will and a loss ( in consciousness ) of the group identity as it expands to include and identitfy with the greater and greater 'wholes' in which it forms a part.

 

Bruce Lyon