Theos-Talk Archives (January 2003 Message tt00515)

Nick Weeks wrote:

> "Can one think, discern, discriminate and still love only? Of course!"

And, of course, I agree!

My favorite HPB book is The Voice of the Silence (VS), but I haven't found
any commentary on it. Can anyone suggest a good commentary? So, my remarks
that follow represent my own thinking.

There is a section in VS that describes the "seven portals" and refers to
the "sevenfold Path." My interpretation is that the spiritual journey can
be characterized as a sevenfold Path and the seven portals represent the
seven chakras. HPB's description in VS for each portal provides the key for
mastering the corresponding stage on the spiritual journey and awakening the
corresponding chakra.

With the regard to the third portal, the VS states:

"For as the lingering sunbeam, that on the top of some tall mountain shines,
is followed by black night when out it fades, so is heart-light. When out
it goes, a dark and threatening shade will fall from thine own heart upon
the path, and root thy feet in terror to the spot. Beware, disciple, of
that lethal shade."

My interpretation is that the third portal is the heart charka, and
"heart-light" is the same as what other writers have called universal love,
Christ spirit, spiritual love, etc. When we experience the "heart-light" it
elevates our consciousness ("top of some tall mountain") and we see and
respond to life in a new way. But when it goes out, it is though we never
had the experience and forget that such an experience is even possible. The
discipline for evoking the "heart-light" is not available to everyone: it
is for those who have reached the third stage of the spiritual journey by
having mastered the first two stages. The discipline for evoking the
"heart-light" is not the final step, because there are still four other
stages that remain on the seven-fold journey.

How does one evoke the "heart-light"? VS provides the following answer:

"No light that shines from Spirit can dispel the darkness of the nether
soul, unless all selfish thought has fled therefrom, and that the pilgrim
saith: 'I have renounced this passing flame; I have destroyed the cause: the
shadows cast can, as effects, no longer be.'"

These passages are symbolic, and so there is value in reading what other
people may wish to say concerning the process for evoking universal or
spiritual love.

Zack Lansdowne