Standard opening. Call forward Djwhal Khul to supply his group merkabah to take you to his inner-plane ashram and guide your class and all the ascension activations. Take turns reading chapter 6, "Glamour, Illusion, Maya," from The Complete Ascension Manual. Discuss how glamour operates on the emotional plane for each class member, how illusion operates on the mental plane, and how maya operates on the etheric plane.

Take a break. Read the Meditation in the Golden Chamber of Melchizedek. Personal sharing. Do standard closing. Social time.

The Complete Ascension Manual
Chapter 6
Glamour, Illusion, Maya

The dweller on the threshold is like
a gigantic thought form of
glamour/illusion/maya that must be
dissipated prior to taking initiation
Djwhal Khul
as channeled by
Alice A. Bailey

In Djwhal Khul's classic book, Glamour, A World Problem, he divided the levels of delusion into three categories. There is the delusion on the astral or emotional plane, on the mental plane, and on the etheric plane. Each of these planes has a unique form of delusion specific to its level, and each of these delusions has its unique remedy.

The form of delusion on the astral or emotional plane is called glamour. The form of delusion on the mental plane is called illusion. The form of delusion on the etheric plane is called maya.

The remedy for glamour on the astral plane is what Djwhal Khul termed illumination. The remedy for the mental-plane illusion is what Djwhal called intuition. The remedy for the etheric-plane maya is what is termed inspiration.

"The dweller on the threshold" is the term Djwhal has used to describe the sum total of all the delusion on all three levels that has remained unconquered and unsubdued and that must be cleared before initiation can take place. The dweller on the threshold is all that a human is, apart from his higher spiritual self. It is the sum total of the forces of the lower nature prior to illumination, intuition, inspiration, and initiation.

"The angel of the presence" is the term Djwhal has used to describe the spiritual self. The angel of the presence and the dweller on the threshold stand face to face in conflict. As the dweller on the threshold becomes subjugated and mastered, it eventually fades out in the blaze of glory that emanates from the angel of the presence.

The following chart summarizes the above-mentioned principles.

Plane                                        Problem                                   Remedy                       

1.         Physical Brain               Dweller on the                          The Angel of the

Consciousness              Threshold                                 Presence

2.         Astral                           Glamour                                   Illumination

3.         Mental                          Illusion                                      Intuition

4.         Etheric                          Maya                                       Inspiration

The Problem of Delusion in Relationship to the Root Races

The second stop in the understanding of this process is to take these same principles and apply them to the past root races on this planet.

The Lemurian root race's main lesson was attunement to the physical. The problem they were dealing with, hence, was maya. The etheric energies are intimately connected to the physical plane. The etheric body is the energy body of the physical body.

The Atlantean root race's main lesson was attunement to the astral and emotional level. This being the case, their main problem was that of glamour. The Aryan race, which we are now in, is attuned to the mental; hence, our main problem is that of illusion.

The yoga of the Lemurian race was Hatha Yoga, and they were dealing with the first initiation. The yoga of the Atlantean race was Bhakti Yoga and they were dealing with the second initiation. The yoga of the Aryan race is Raja Yoga, and we are dealing with the third initiation.

The chart on the next page summarizes the above information.

Glamour

Glamour is astral in character and more potent than illusion because over 50% of the population are still run by their emotional bodies. Glamour veils the truth behind the fogs and mists of feeling and emotional reactivity and victim consciousness. Glamour is one of the main ways the "Dark Brotherhood" attempts to get well-meaning aspirants off the path.

When one finds oneself reacting with criticism, separativeness, and pride, it is a sign that glamour has a hold over one. When an aspirant can free himself or herself from these characteristics, he is well on the way to dissipating and relinquishing glamour. The best method for dissipating glamour is to act as a pure channel for the energy of the soul. This has to do with keeping a spiritual attitude toward life as opposed to an egotistical one.

A person who is caught up in glamour needs to learn how to become more polarized or more closely identified with the mental body. When a person is over-identified with the emotional body, he ends up being on an emotional roller coaster. Djwhal has termed this the glamour of the pairs of opposites.

As one develops and becomes more mentally polarized, he develops the path of the middle way, or even-mindedness and equanimity. As the disciple learns to develop right alignment to his soul, this results in increased Light that irradiates the mind and brain consciousness. This greatly helps in the development of spiritual perception as opposed to the ego's perception of reality.

Glamour prevents a person from seeing life truly or clearly and from seeing surrounding conditions as they truly are. The emotional type can be swayed by appearances and forgets what the appearance veils. In Lemurian times glamour and illusion were relatively unknown because the root race had only developed to the point of physical attunement. Humankind was more instinctual.

Glamour began to develop in the Atlantean times. It is interesting to point out that the other kingdoms of nature are relatively free of glamour and illusion.

On a world level, Buddha and his nine hundred arhats (fourth-degree initiates) struck the first blow in the dissipation of world glamour when he created his four noble truths. Christ struck the second blow with his teachings of individual responsibility and brotherhood. The third blow is now being struck by the New Group of World Servers acting under the direction of the Christ and his disciples.

Each human being has to deal not only with his own personal glamour, but also with family glamour, national glamour, and the glamour of the human race as a whole. The family glamour deals with the "desire life" of family in both the past and the present. The national glamour is the sum total of the desire life of the nation. The glamour of the human race is the sum total of all glamours of the human race combined in the consciousness or race mind.

The disciple who wants to dissipate glamour must do two things: He must stand in his spiritual being and he must keep his mind steady in the Light. This means keeping the consciousness and mind always on God, the soul or higher self, and on a spiritual attitude. No matter what happens, he must be vigilant for God and His kingdom.

The glamours that hold humanity are:
1. The glamour of materiality. This has to do with an over-identification with materialism, with the gluttonous desire for possessions and/or money.
2. The glamour of sentiment. This is pseudo-love based on attachment and addiction to loving or being loved.
3. The glamour of the pairs of opposites. Here the disciple swings back and forth between opposites without even- mindedness. The ideal is to remain even-minded whether one is experiencing profit or loss, pleasure or pain, sickness or health, victory or defeat, praise or criticism. This glamour has a lot to do with letting go of attachments, also. If one is not attached to things or people one does not suffer or experience pain.
4. The glamour of devotion. This refers to people who fanatically follow a cause in an extremist fashion.
5. The glamours of the path. The glamours of the spiritual path itself include working with the Ascended Masters from the negative ego's perspective.

It is essential to understand that the remedy for dissipating glamour is illumination. Trying to dispel glamour with intuition or inspiration does not work. It is the illumined mind, or Christ-thinking, that will get rid of glamour. The astral glamour needs the use of the illumined mind, just as the illusions of the mental plane need the next level above it which is intuition. The astral glamour needs hard, straight, correct thinking in the service of the soul's guidance. This is achieved through right analysis, discrimination, and right thought.

The following are some examples of the common glamours of the seven different rays as elucidated by Djwhal Khul in the Alice Bailey book, Glamour, A World Problem.

Ray 1:
The glamour of physical strength
The glamour of personal magnetism
The glamour of self-centeredness and personal potency
The glamour of "the one at the center"
The glamour of selfish personal ambition
The glamour of rulership, of dictatorship, and of wide control
The glamour of selfish destiny, of the divine right of kings personally exacted
The glamour of destruction
The glamour of isolation, of aloneness, of aloofness
The glamour of the superimposition of will upon others and upon groups

Ray 2:
The glamour of the love of being loved
The glamour of popularity
The glamour of personal wisdom
The glamour of selfish responsibility
The glamour of too complete an understanding, which negates right action
The glamour of self-pity, a basic glamour of this ray
The glamour of the messiah complex in the world of religion and world need
The glamour of fear based on undue sensitivity
The glamour of self-sacrifice
The glamour of selfish unselfishness
The glamour of self-satisfaction
The glamour of selfish service

Ray 3:
The glamour of being busy
The glamour of cooperation with the plan in an individual rather than a group way
The glamour of active scheming
The glamour of creative work without true motive
The glamour of good intentions, which are basically selfish
The glamour of "the spider at the center"
The glamour of "God in the machine"
The glamour of devious and continuous manipulation
The glamour of self-importance, from the standpoint of knowing, of efficiency

Ray 4:
The glamour of harmony, aiming at personal comfort and satisfaction
The glamour of war
The glamour of conflict, with the objective of imposing righteousness and peace
The glamour of vague artistic perception
The glamour of psychic perception instead of intuition
The glamour of musical perception
The glamour of the pairs of opposites, in the higher sense

Ray 5:
The glamour of materiality, or over-emphasis on form
The glamour of the intellect
The glamour of knowledge and of definition
The glamour of assurance based on a narrow point of view
The glamour of the form that hides reality
The glamour of organization
The glamour of the outer, which hides the inner

Ray 6:
The glamour of devotion
The glamour of adherence to forms and persons
The glamour of idealism
The glamour of loyalties, of creeds
The glamour of emotional response
The glamour of sentimentality
The glamour of interference
The glamour of the lower pairs of opposites
The glamour of World Saviors and Teachers
The glamour of the narrow vision
The glamour of fanaticism

Ray 7:
The glamour of magical work
The glamour of the subterranean powers
The glamour of that which brings together
The glamour of the physical body
The glamour of the mysterious and the secret
The glamour of sex magic
The glamour of the emerging manifested forces

Illusion

Illusion is a soul activity and is the result of the mind aspect of all incarnated personalities in manifestation. When a person lets his ego interpret reality rather than the soul or the spiritual attitude system, he is lost in illusion. In the context of the four-body system, those people who are more intellectual than emotional in nature are more prone to illusion than glamour.

Deception is created by the misunderstanding of ideas and thought forms. The incarnated personality needs to learn to pour the Light of the soul through into the mind and brain. Only the intuition, and not illumination or inspiration, as Djwhal has defined them, can dispel illusion. It is in meditation and techniques of mind control that incarnated personalities will rid themselves of illusion. The mental plane is especially important during this particular period of history because we are now in the Aryan race which, again, is the attunement to the mental plane.

Illusion began to arise during the stage of the advanced humans in the later Atlantean times. Djwhal Khul, in the Alice Bailey books, has also defined illusion as "the reaction of the undisciplined mind to the newly contacted world of ideas."

There are various threads that lead to this distortion on the mental plane. They might be listed as the following:
1. The point of evolution the incarnated personality has reached;
2. The integration or lack of integration of the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies;
3. The degree of attunement and enlightenment achieved by one's soul;
4. The ray type of the mental body of the incarnated personality, which colors the incarnated personality's interpretation of ideas;
5. The level of development of the mental body;
6. The ray type of the soul which also colors the person's interpretation of ideas.

One of the absolute keys to dispelling illusion is to learn to "hold the mind steady in the Light." Most people in the world let their minds wander willy nilly and do not keep them focused. People have not been trained to own their personal power and to retain self-mastery at all times. People let themselves operate on automatic pilot and lose their vigilance. When this happens the ego or lower self becomes their director.

The aspirant must make a commitment never to let his mind leave the point of focus on God, his soul, and his spiritual attitude. If he does this, he will see his life absolutely revolutionized. This will become a habit after the initial battle with the subconscious mind and negative ego takes place. Keeping one's mind in the Light at all times will bring "a peace that passeth understanding."

The mastery of the mind will bring one to the third initiation and the soul merge. For remember, the first initiation is physical mastery, the second initiation is astral and emotional mastery, the third initiation is mental mastery and mastery of the threefold personality in service of the soul. Only one more initiation is needed after this for liberation from the wheel of rebirth. The fifth initiation will lead to monadic and spiritual merger and the sixth to ascension. The need to control the mind cannot be emphasized enough. God and the Ascended Masters will not do this for people. It is their job. The aspirant must never forget that it is his thoughts that create his reality.

The remedy for illusion is intuition. Intuition leads to a progressive understanding of the ways of God in the world on behalf of humanity and leads to the development of pure knowledge and pure reason. Djwhal has listed four types of people who are subject to revelation through the awakening of the intuition:
1. Those who are on the line of the world saviors,
2. Those who are on the line of the prophets,
3. Those who are on the line of true priests,
4. Those who are on the line of the practical mystics, or occultists.

Djwhal Khul has also stated that illusion usually demonstrates in one of seven ways:
1. The way of wrong perception,
2. The way of wrong interpretation,
3. The way of wrong appropriation,
4. The way of wrong direction,
5. The way of wrong integration,
6. The way of wrong embodiment,
7. The way of wrong application.

For a more in-depth discussion of these principles I would guide you to read Glamour, A World Problem by Alice Bailey, pages 57 to 65.

It also bears noting here that every bit of glamour dissipated and illusion recognized and overcome clears the way for those who follow and makes the path easier for one's fellow disciples. Those who have gone before have performed the same service for those who are here now.

It is also important to recognize that one has made great strides just by recognizing and owning the fact that one is even battling with illusion. There is a large grouping of the population that is not even aware that they are caught in glamour, illusion, or maya.

Maya

The first sense of glamour arose in the Lemurian times. Maya is experienced upon the path only when one begins the path of probation. The problem of maya deals with the world of vital forces. A person can be victimized by emotions, thoughts, and also just energy or vital force. Until one attains self-mastery, an aspirant can be swept around by all kinds of uncontrolled forces. It is for this reason that maya is 'predominately a difficulty of the etheric plane and etheric body.

These uncontrolled forces pour through the seven chakras producing reactions and effects that can be disastrous if not controlled properly. Maya is the term given to these uncontrolled energies, forces, and impulses which emanate from the world of prana and from the latent force of matter itself.

This mass of uncontrolled force can stem from the animal nature, the world, and/or the environment in which a person finds himself or herself. The bulk of humanity are governed by maya until they stand on the path of probation. People are governed by maya when they are controlled by any force or forces other than those energies that come directly from the soul.

When people are governed by physical (maya), astral, and mental forces they are usually convinced that these forces are right for them. This is exactly the problem of maya. It is the same as when people always think or feel that their opinions or perspectives are right, even though they may be completely egotistical and personality-based.

Djwhal Khul has stated about maya, in the Alice Bailey book, The Problem of Glamour, that many people, particularly the unintelligent masses, are solely inspired by desire-material, physical, and temporary. Animal desire for the satisfaction of the animal appetites, material desire for possessions and the luxuries of existence, the longing for "things," for comforts and for security-economic, social, and religious - control the majority. Man is under the influence of the densest form of maya, and the forces of his nature are concentrated in the second center when this is taking place.

In the case of glamour, the forces of a man's nature are stored in the solar plexus. Glamour is subtle and emotional, whereas maya is more tangible and etheric.

The two keys for the disciple are to bring all of the chakras under the inspiration of the soul and to transmute the forces of the lower chakras, which control the personality, into the energies of the chakras above the heart, which respond automatically to the inspiration of the soul. The remedy for maya is inspiration. Inspiration will devitalize and remove maya.

It is the first initiation that deals with physical mastery that is connected to the mastery of maya. Glamour, maya, illusion, and the expression "the dweller on the threshold" all stand for the same general concept or some differentiation of that same concept.

The Dweller on the Threshold and the Angel of the Presence

The dweller on the threshold is the one who stands before the gate of God and at the portal of initiation. The dweller is like a gigantic thought form of glamour/illusion/maya that must be dissipated prior to taking initiation. The aspirant is not even aware of the dweller until just prior to initiation.

The dweller on the threshold will arrive at full potency at the end of this Aryan cycle and in the lives of all initiates prior to taking the third initiation. Remember, it is the third initiation that has to do with mental mastery and mastery of the threefold personality, which cause the soul merge to take place. The third initiation is the mastery of the physical, emotional, and mental bodies, hence the mastery of maya, glamour and illusion.

At the fourth initiation the initiate demonstrates the ability to produce complete atonement (at-one-ment) between the higher and lower aspects of the soul in manifestation, and hence the dweller on the threshold merges into the Angel of the Presence and disappears. The Light has absorbed the darkness.

At an earlier stage the dweller controls. The second stage is when the dweller, or the personality, is conflicted between materialistic desires and the desire for soul-realization and initiation. Then the third stage is when the personality has decisively chosen the path of the soul and has learned how to "hold the mind steady in the Light". This ability has enabled the disciple to control his or her lower nature and hence the dweller is gradually overcome, controlled and mastered.

Summary

The disciple on the path of probation and initiation has three main tasks in the dispelling of glamour, illusion, maya and the dweller on the threshold:

1. To be able to distinguish the three distinct levels of distortion;
2. To discover what conditions in the environment or in the individual constitution cause these aspects to develop; and
3. To find out what methods are effective in obtaining mastery over their combined effect.

Each person can discover within himself or herself which form his own dweller on the threshold assumes. The key to this is to become more deeply aware of whether one is a physical, emotional or mental type, or a combination of any two, or all three. I would also recommend careful study of the first three levels of initiation in Djwhal's book, Initiation, Human and Solar, by Alice Bailey.

I also suggest a careful study of the Alice Bailey book Glamour, A World Problem. Djwhal Khul has written what I think is an absolutely brilliant, detailed study of this entire process.

As the final entry in this chapter I would like to add three pieces of information I have stumbled upon in my research of the Alice Bailey material which I think are quite interesting.

In this chapter we have been talking about the distortion factor in the three levels of our being (mental, emotional, etheric). The etheric body is intimately related to the physical body. Within the physical body are inherited instincts. When we think of the term "instincts" we usually think about animals having them but not so much about human beings having them. Djwhal Khul, in his writings, has given a detailed study of what the animal, human, and divine instincts are. I share this with you for your further study, meditation, and contemplation. I, personally, find the comparison of the three quite interesting.

Instincts within the Animal, Human, and Divine Kingdoms

The Archetypes

Another factor in becoming clear and free from glamour, illusion, and maya is the understanding of archetypes. If I am not mistaken, this was a term that was coined by the famous Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung. My dear friend Marcia Dale Lopez, a spiritual teacher living in New York, has defined archetypes in a very clear and concise manner.

"Archetypes are underlying mythic themes that can be found in all races and cultures at all times. The archetypes are ageless roles or key stereotypes that portray different forms of behavior. In other words, the archetypes are universal role models or personifications of perennial themes. They can be identified as the main characters found in legends, fairy tales, Shakespearean dramas, and Bible stories."

The following are twelve of the basic, most well-known archetypal forms. In my personal opinion, the purpose of these archetypes, as of any roles, is to play them if it is appropriate to one's life and spiritual path and, most of all, to play them consciously. The danger comes when these universal roles and archetypes play the disciple instead of the disciple's playing them.

The second key point is the danger of living out one particular archetype that might make one psychologically imbalanced. This can be a type of glamour of the opposites of which I spoke earlier in this chapter. For example, a person may live out the martyr archetype; however, one of his spiritual lessons might be also to learn to be spiritually selfish.

The wise one archetype may need to learn to be the fool in order to find balance. Every subpersonality has an opposite subpersonality. An archetype, being a type of universal mythic subpersonality, may need to be balanced also, as long as in doing so one is not serving the negative ego and lower self.

Many people find themselves identifying with a large number of these archetypal roles and patterns, and that is fine, too. There is no right or wrong, there is just what is appropriate for one's spiritual path and mission in this lifetime and the issue of being whole and balanced in life. Within the framework of the bigger picture, it is essential to master and integrate all twelve of the basic archetypes.

In a similar sense, one has to master all twelve signs of the zodiac and the ten sephiroth on the Tree of Life. This doesn't mean that one has to do this all in a single lifetime. There is also the possibility of another soul extension's being stronger in certain archetypes, while being, oneself, stronger in others.

It is a good idea to allow oneself to role-play these different archetypes during this life so as to gain the greatest sense of wholeness one can possibly have. Many of these archetypes have been lived out in past lives and so don't have to be lived out in this life.

The bottom line is to let the guidance of one's soul and monad lead one to the appropriate application of these universal states of consciousness. Thinking and meditating upon these twelve archetypes can be quite interesting.

The Archetypes

Destroyer                                           Fool                                         Innocent

Change-maker                                      Risk-taker                                Artist

Enemy                                                  Clown                                      Child

Betrayer                                               Flake                                        Youth

Evil-doer                                              Lunatic                                     Harmless One

Mischief-maker                                    Madman                                   Lover

Devil                                                    Madwoman                              Trusted One

Rascal                                                  Philanderer                               Wonderer

Smartass                                              Scatterbrain

Magician                                            Martyr                                    Patriarch

Fairy Godmother                                  Great Soul                                Ancestor

Merlin                                                  Saint                                         Father

Priest/Priestess                                     Savior                                      Mother

Shaman                                                Loser                                       Old One

Sorcerer                                               Struggler                                   The Great Father

Trickster                                               Unfortunate Victim                    The Great Mother

Warlock

Witch

Wizard

Ruler                                                   Seducer                                   Seeker

Aristocrat                                             Deceiver                                   Adventurer

Emperor/Empress                                 Enchanter                                 Explorer

Judge                                                   Lover                                       Hermit

Prince/Princess                                     Philanderer                               Hunter

Queen/King                                          Tempter/Temptress                   Monk

Superior                                                                                               Pioneer

                                                                                                            Pursuer

                                                                                                            Wanderer

                                                                                                            Wonderer

Servant                                               Warrior                                   Wise One

Assistant                                               Fighter                                      Guru

Attendant                                             Gladiator                                  Holy One

Person Friday                                       Hunter                                      Master

Right-Hand Person                               Knight                                      Mystic

Slave                                                    Rival                                         Oracle

Subject                                                 Soldier                                     Philosopher

Subordinate                                          Survivor                                   Prophet

Worker                                                Struggler                                   Sage

                                                            Teacher

                                                            Thinker

Psychic Development and the Senses

Just as each person has five physical senses, each person has five subtler senses that are spiritual counterparts to the five outer ones. The chart on the next page shows the progression of the senses and supersenses as one travels up the first five dimensions of reality as Djwhal Khul has described them in the Alice Bailey books.

The lack of understanding of this is a source of great glamour in the psychological and spiritual fields. In my development and progression on the spiritual path, it has been very interesting to me to have met people who are often extremely psychic and yet not spiritual. This has been hard for some people to understand. How can they be so psychically developed yet often not even believe in God?

The psychic senses are often coming from what Djwhal Khul has described as the "astral senses," and many times people get stuck at this level. Another example might be a person who channels but is channeling astral entities that aren't very evolved. This chart presents a type of map of some of the higher senses in the causal, Buddhic and atmic planes that many people may not be aware of.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with developing one's astral senses. It is just important to use them in the context of the understanding that there are seven dimensions of reality and seven levels of sensory apparatus. The chart on the following page depicts the first five dimensions of reality, taking one up to the doorway of ascension and/or merger with the monadic plane.

The Senses and the Supersenses