Theos-Talk Archives (November 2012 Message tt00098)

What is the "Daily Initiation"?

"It is supposed by some that initiation is always and in every case a
set and solemn occasion for which the candidate is prepared and
notified in advance. While there are some initiations surrounded by
such solemnities as these, the daily one, without success in which no
aspirant will ever have the chance to try for those that are higher,
comes to the disciple with almost each moment. It is met in our
relations with our fellows, and in the effects upon us of all the
circumstances of life. And if we fail in these, we never get to the
point where greater ones are offered. If we cannot bear momentary
defeat, or if a chance word that strikes our self-love finds us
unprepared, or if we give way to the desire to harshly judge others,
or if we remain in ignorance of some of our most apparent faults, we
do not build up that knowledge and strength imperatively demanded from
whoever is to be master of nature.

It is in the life of every one to have a moment of choise, but that moment is not set for any particular day. It is the sum total of all days; and it may be put off until the day of death, and then it is beyond our power, for the choice has been fixed by all the acts and thoughts of our lifetime. We are self-doomed at that hour to just the sort of life, body, environment, and tendencies which will best carry out our karma. This is a thing solem enough, and one that makes the "daily initiation" of the very greatest importance to each earnest student. But all of this has been said before, and it is a pity that students persist inignoring the good advice they receive.

Do you think that if a Master accepted you He would put you to some strangetest? No, He would not, but simply permitting the small events of your life to have their course, the result would determine your standing. It may be a child's school, but it takes a man to go through it."

The Path, Sept. 1889, pp. 187-88, Hadji Erinn