4.
The Sabian Procedures

The Sabian Pledges

There are three sections in the Sabian neophyte pledge. The initial section is the preamble, and consists of paragraphs A to D as a rehearsal of principles essential to all self-committal under the Solar Mysteries. The first of the principles is the necessity of (a) a supreme desire for illumination, (b) a determination to become the Servant envisioned in Deutero-Isaiah and (c) a realization that the way is a conscious self-ordering within the Eternal Wisdom. The second of these principles is the necessity that any conscious functioning in a reality beyond time and space be sustained by a self-assumed obligation that can symbolize it in the everyday existence to which all lesser aspiration is limited. The third of these principles is the necessity that the cabalistic correspondence of the aspirant's higher self-realization with the normal consciousness of the spiritual group be recognized, and that the immortal consciousness of the individual be furthered by framing his self-assumed obligation in the identity of purpose characteristic of the group. The fourth of these principles is the necessity that the desire for illumination be established as an actual laya center for the aspirant's immortality through the dedication of all efforts of the self to ends in which the vision of the individual and of the group have a common manifestation.

The second section or paragraph 1 of the Sabian neophyte pledge is the actual committal, and it consists of the statement of the self-assumed obligation made in such fashion that it (a) may shape itself gradually as the personal but yet ineffable prior or true laya center for the conscious immortality, (b) never may be other than the effort to be what it is and thus never may be subject to the risk of any judgment of its success or failure in being what it is, and (c) as that which is eternal and universal in every respect of itself may be beyond every possibility of necessary relationship with people, organizations, communities, allegiances, loyalties or anything that can be reduced to definition or identification in a world of physical reality.

The third section or paragraph 2 of the Sabian neophyte pledge is the earnest, or the matter of the superficial tokens through which the initiatory process is rehearsed through the two solar years. In the arcane tradition all the deeper teachings are given twice for the fructifying and gestating emphases respectively by which they are established in the consciousness of the race, and the aspirant has the symbolical two cycles for achieving a measure of awareness in his immortal laya center. The two phases of the earnest are (a) the rhythmic ingathering to self of the Eve or the life as the whole-potentiality epitomized in the Eternal Wisdom and (b) the equally rhythmic outgiving or sharing of self through the contribution up from the substance of the Adam or ground of personal potential. This is an earnest because it is as the aspirant remains steadfast in his desire, thus given an initiatory instrumentation, that his Sabian pledge or obligation can be seen to have become his own in any actuality. Otherwise it has no import, and the fact need be no embarrassment to him and in no way an occasion for disappointment or a stumbling block to good feeling.

The written reports of those who do not attend study groups may be made (1) to the Esoteric Secretary directly or other members of the Esoteric Council, (2) to some member of the Assembly sponsoring the particular neophyte in any formal or informal fashion, (3) to any member of the Assembly willing to supervise the newcomer's adjustment to Sabian materials and procedures. This requirement can also be fulfilled through participation in (1) the Interchange Chapter, (2) an online study group or (3) online forums. In all cases the supervisory role shall be undertaken only at the neophyte's request or with his approval, and should be subject to change whenever he wishes. Except where the seeker and his correspondent for this phase of his discipline agree on some other plan, the weekly reports should be aggregated and submitted monthly. Only aspirants of legate grade should undertake any supervision of the neophyte's correspondence in fulfillment of his pledge. In cases of absence, when students are participating more or less regularly in a study group, the written report should be sent weekly to the leader of the given group. There are three similar sections in the Sabian acolyte pledge. The initial four paragraphs A to D are again the preamble or rehearsal of the principles essential to the establishment of the seeker's tangible obligation on the level of the Servant or in a dimension next above everyday existence in time and space. Here is the proposition of group endeavor rather than individual discipline as the focus of aspiration under the Solar Mysteries. The principles are the necessity for (1) a recognition of a personal expansion of consciousness that can be identified as a measure of stewardship in the manifestation of the Eternal Wisdom, (2) a further recognition that the commissions of this stewardship are ultimately of the two or three working together in the name of the Eternal One or only-begotten principle of being, and not the result of any individual seeking as such, (3) a realization that the consistency and worthiness of everyday action and attitude that has contributed to the expansion of consciousness must now be given a larger dimension through undertaking new duties in connection with the invisible fellowship and (4) a determination to match the spread into space created by group effort with the needed and concomitant self-projection in time resulting from an enlistment of past experience in both present and prior lives, and the accompanying proffer of all future potentialities for service under the Solar Mysteries.

The second section or paragraph 1 of the Sabian acolyte pledge is the actual obligation, and it is a repetition of the neophyte self-dedication with now the (a) inclusion of the whole span of incarnations and (b) exclusion of dependence of any sort on even the intelligences functioning on other planes of reality. The third section or paragraph 2 of the Sabian acolyte pledge is the earnest, or the token obligations to the Sabian Assembly in (a) the continued sharing of personal capacities and means and (b) the ritualistic rehearsals through the work in consciousness in general and the Full Moon ceremonies in particular.

The annual reports required of acolytes are made to the Esoteric Council member assigned as his esoteric sponsor and all correspondence in connection with acolyte or legate discipline is confidential and similarly is with the esoteric sponsor.

There are three sections of like pattern in the Sabian legate pledge. The preamble in paragraphs A to D rehearses the principles essential to the establishment of the aspirant as a worker for the Solar Lodge on the level of the avatar, and the proposition here is the immortal contribution to ultimate ends of the race as not only a matter of group endeavor but also of an actual or collective continuance in organic form of some total body of dedicated souls through a span of history or in an establishment of an unbroken continuity in some phase of the esoteric tradition. For the average aspirant the avataric goal is achieved in what to him may seem an exceedingly insignificant foreshadowing of a Gautama or a Jesus, but it is no less an important contribution to the total vision and in the meanwhile it is essential for the everyday dramatizations that might hope to further the leavening of the world at large. The necessities are (1) a recognition of an earned place of identifiable nature in the racial destiny, (2) a further recognition that this has not been gained except through the personal associations that bridge mere physical incarnation, (3) a realization that the consistencies of action and attitude that have contributed to the enduring and spiritual self-recognition must now gain a very practical authority in the outer and practical world as an insurance against megalomaniacal pretension or self-destructive delusion and (4) a determination to sacrifice all dependence on self-identity by a transfer of conscious existence into a genuine racial embodiment of some experienceable sort.

The second section or paragraph 1 of the Sabian legate pledge is the actual obligation, and it is the dedication to the avataric role of the Servant in some definite particular and the strengthening of this with a surrender of all reliance on an anthropomorphic God or any reality known in any fashion as alien or external to the purity of laya center. The third section or paragraph 2 of the Sabian legate pledge is the earnest, or the continued token obligation to the Sabian Assembly in (a) the sharing of personal capacities and means and (b) the ritualistic rehearsal through the work in consciousness on legate quadrangles and its esoteric reinforcement at the four seasons.

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