| VI. Group Telepathic Work I shall now take
up with you the subject of united group telepathic work, its possibilities and the
present opportunity, touching upon the dangers involved and the responsibility which will
rest upon your shoulders and upon those of all disciples who may attempt to work in this
way. You need to bear in mind the following three injunctions:
- First: It is essential that you acquire facility in tuning in on each other with
deepest love and understanding; that you develop impersonality so that when a
brother tunes in on a weakness or a strength, upon a mistake or a right attitude, it
evokes from you no slightest reaction that could upset the harmony of the group united
work as planned; that you cultivate a love which will ever seek to strengthen and
to help, and a power to supplement or complement each other which will be of use in
balancing the group, as a working unit under spiritual impression. The discovery of a
weakness in a group brother should only produce the evocation of a deeper love; the
discovery that you have made a mistake (if you have) in interpreting a brother should only
prompt you to a renewed vital effort to approach more closely to his soul; the revelation
to you of a brother's strength will indicate where you can look for help in any hour of
your own need. State frankly what you feel as you work month after month at this task of
group rapport, deliberately tuning out criticism and substituting for it analysis - an
analysis impersonally given; state truthfully what you sense and register. Your
conclusions may be right or wrong, but a definite effort to comply and to recognize
consciously the gained impression should aid the group blending without undue delay into
an instrument of sensitive understanding. If disciples cannot tune in on each other [38]
with ease after long periods of close relationship, how can they, as a group, tune in on
some individual or some group of individuals unknown to them in their personalities?
Unless such interplay is established fundamentally and unless there is a close integration
between the members who constitute the group, it will not be possible for constructively
useful and spiritually oriented and controlled work to be properly carried forward and
successfully accomplished. But it is a task which you can accomplish if you will, and real
application over a period of time should enable the group to work smoothly and well
together. The three Rules for beginners, earlier given (A Treatise on White Magic,
page 320), embody the first steps leading to the attitude required in true hierarchical
work; this is the objective of the accepted disciple.
Secondly:
Your constant effort - to be carried forward steadily and slowly - must be to bring about
a group love of such strength that nothing can break it and no barriers rise up
between you; to cultivate a group sensitivity of such a quality that your
diagnosis of conditions will be relatively accurate; to develop and unfold a group
ability to work as a unit, so that there will be nothing in the inner attitudes of
any of the group members which could break into the carefully established rhythm. For it
is quite possible for a member of the group to retard the work and to hold back the group
because he is so engrossed in his own affairs or in his own ideas of self-development;
when some members cease their activity it does affect the inner group vibration; when
others become slowed up by definite changes in their outer or inner lives, this requires
periods of adjustment and oft of reorganization of the life. These changes, being
externalized, can produce powerful psychological changes and upset the rhythm of the
soul's endeavor. A tried and [39] experienced disciple will not let such a change upset
his inner rhythm, but a less experienced disciple needs real soul watchfulness to the
danger of sidetracking the life interest from spiritual purposes to personality attentions
and interests.
Thirdly: Any
group work of this kind must be most carefully controlled; any group effort which seeks to
impress the mind of any subject (whether an individual or a group) must be strenuously
guarded as to motive and method; any group endeavor which involves a united applied effort
to effect changes in the point of view, an outlook on life, or a technique of living must
be utterly selfless, most wisely and cautiously undertaken, and must be kept free
from any personality emphasis, any personality pressure and any mental pressure which is
formulated in terms of individual belief, prejudice, dogmatism or ideas. I would ask you
to study the above few words most carefully.
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