Education in The New Age
Theory and Method
E.P. Hafstein
Theory
Aim
The Three Fundamentals of Education
The Seven Underlying Determinants
Method
Yoga
Double Working of the Mind (Occult Meditation)
Service (Occult Creation)
The article is composed of two parts: Theory and Method. In the first part, I introduce the aim, the three fundamentals, and the seven underlying determinants of education. The second part discusses ways of acquiring knowledge.
Theory
The theory chapter is divided into three sections. The first section addresses the aim of education. The second section covers the three fundamentals of education. The third section explores the seven underlying determinants of education.
Aim
The aim of education is twofold. Firstly, it involves establishing a connection between the soul and personality, essentially building a bridge of consciousness between them. This bridge-building can be seen as living in the here and now. Secondly, it emphasizes working as a soul, which continues the first aspect by consciously participating in the future.
The Three Fundamentals of Education
Three fundamentals are presented as the foundation of education: yoga, the double working of the mind (Occult meditation), and service (Occult creation).
Yoga. Yoga is the bridge-building of the mind. The goal is to construct a bridge of consciousness in the student’s mind. Once the bridge is complete, nothing hinders the constant flow of consciousness or awareness from the higher spiritual levels to the student’s brain. In this way, the pupil becomes increasingly aware of God’s aim and purpose.
The Double Working of the Mind (Occult meditation). Occult meditation is more closely connected to the sciences than to religion. In a sense, it is an integral part of yoga, serving three main functions. First, it enhances sensitivity to influences from higher realms. Second, it promotes a constant stream of consciousness or awareness. Third, it trains the student in the fundamentals of service (Occult creation) by generating images or visual sequences of images in their mind.
Service (Occult creation) constitutes a natural extension of yoga and the double working of the mind. As the bridge-building between personality and soul progresses, and understanding God’s plan flows into the student’s mind, his capacity for service grows. A unifying soul and personality initiate a specific sequence of events or functions involving the student on the physical plane. These functions always conform to God’s aim and purpose and are known as service.
The Seven Underlying Determinants
The primary objective of New Age education should be to train students to respond to the life of the soul. Meanwhile, teaching is influenced by personality types. Therefore, all education must improve awareness and address soul determinants in an individual’s life.
In this section, I explore the elements the soul uses on the physical plane and expresses through its personality. There are seven in total: three aspects and four attributes. They correspond to the characteristics of the seven rays. The aspects are Will or Purpose, Love/Wisdom, and Active Intelligence (rays 1, 2, and 3). The attributes are Harmony Produced Through Conflict, Concrete Knowledge, Devotion, and Order (rays 4, 5, 6, and 7).
The aspect of Will or Purpose. The individual must develop this aspect to the point where his personality expresses his spiritual purpose. All actions need to be directed toward his inner reality. All teaching in this aspect must guide the pupil’s will in the right direction. Key points to emphasize are the will toward the good, the will toward the beautiful, and the will to serve.
The will towards the good involves seeing how creation forms a whole and understanding that all life is part of a larger living entity. When this awareness is attained, individuals develop understanding and sympathy for their fellow men regarding the difficulties in their developmental paths. The natural consequences of this altered attitude are inoffensiveness, goodwill, and correct conduct in dealings with others.
In one way or another, the will toward the beautiful results from the will toward the good. The individual experiences the beauty of creation in the correct context and as a unified whole, as a physical expression of the vital force of which we are all a part. He realizes that all forms are life’s attempts to express nature and creative powers, constrained by time and space. One form gives way to another, yet life remains. The will toward the beautiful compels life to strive for greater perfection and beauty in its expression.
The will to do good and the will for beauty form the foundation of the will to serve. When the individual recognizes his role and responsibilities within the whole, along with his creative abilities and how to apply them, the will to serve awakens in earnest. The driving force of the pupil’s life is his duty to the life he is a part of and the tasks assigned to him. In other words, the pupil becomes a part of the plan he has been entrusted with.
The aspect of Love/Wisdom. Love leads us into the consciousness of the whole. The first step in teaching about this aspect is the cultivation of love of self (self-consciousness), followed by the love of those around us (group-consciousness) and, eventually, love of the whole (God-consciousness). The pupil is taught that self-consciousness is only part of a larger consciousness. This process is love, which leads to wisdom. Self-consciousness is the awareness of oneself as an individual, which can be isolating and harmful. Love is the path of consciousness from isolation to freedom, from embracing the self to embracing the whole.
When the pupil becomes one with his soul group, his consciousness attains unity with the group consciousness. He then intentionally engages in the group’s work. This work is known as service, and wisdom (love in action) is employed in carrying it out. Service is a method used to expand consciousness.
The aspect of Active Intelligence. This aspect concerns developing the spiritually aware individual’s creative powers, which arise from the correct use of the mind. The soul’s creation method consists of the following steps: 1) The soul creates the physical body. 2) The soul, bound by its physical body, creates in time and space according to its aspirations. In this way, physical reality is brought into existence along with our culture. 3) Using its lower, concrete mind as a tool, the soul creates a world of symbols, enriching our lives with interest, concepts, ideas, and beauty. It expresses these elements through spoken and written language, as well as through art.
All teaching regarding this aspect addresses the nature of ideas, their origins, and their expression. It should also encompass understanding the laws governing all creative activities.
The attribute of Harmony Produced Through Conflict. This attribute leads to the liberation of man and the expression of his creative powers. It is concealed in every form and is the fundamental force driving the individual’s restlessness and discontent. It compels him to strive and develop until he ultimately unifies his soul. The awareness of conformity and beauty guides the individual along the path of development and back to his origin.
In teaching, it is essential to pay close attention to the forces that lead to restlessness and discontent. These forces should then be interpreted so that the student understands the causes and can respond to them sensibly.
The attribute of Concrete Knowledge enables the student to define his concepts and generate mental images to materialize his plans and transform his ideas into reality. He carries out this work with the aid of his lower concrete mind. The pupil must be trained in the correct use of the mind. He must be brought to a fuller understanding of the underlying purpose of being and led to work with wisdom in creative activity.
Teaching about this attribute should focus on developing the pupil’s ability to assimilate ideas and their receptivity to God’s plan. The goal is to align with his soul’s will and actualize that part of the plan, representing his unique contribution to the whole.
The attribute of Devotion. This attribute arises from discontent, paired with the possibility of choice. Depending on the extent of a person’s dissatisfaction and ability to perceive things accurately, he experiences numerous phases of temporary satisfaction. In each of these phases, he shows devotion to a desire, a person, an idea, or a plan, until he ultimately aligns himself with that ideal, which represents the highest possible standard for him. This ideal is primarily the soul, followed by the universal soul or God.
Teaching and training regarding this attribute involve guiding the pupil from stage to stage, from one goal to another, and ultimately into the embrace of his soul.
The attribute of Order involves a specific arrangement, guiding the individual to operate under the control of a focused will toward a particular goal and following specific habitual patterns. Under the influence of this attribute, the individual learns to act in one specific way in his service.
Teaching and training related to this attribute must enable the student to develop his will, intellect, decisiveness, and the technique of functioning as a soul. In this way, a foundation is laid to nurture the student’s spiritual powers and to express these powers increasingly.
Method
The method chapter is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the teaching of yoga. The second section focuses on explaining the double workings of the mind (Occult meditation). The third section covers service (Occult creation).
Yoga
This section outlines four fundamental assertions that form the foundation of the yoga method. These relate to the nature of knowledge and a specific approach to training the student. They are as follows: the soul as the creator; Dharma, the individual’s duty; the emotional body and its purification; and the mental body and work with thoughts.
The Soul as the Creator: This assertion describes the individual and how he is constituted. Following this, a description of the role of each of his constituent parts and their interaction occurs. The main focus is on the interaction between the personality and its creator, the soul. In this way, we achieve, to some extent, the first part of the stated aim. Mutual trust is crucial in the relationship between the soul and personality, and we emphasize this aspect.
Dharma, The Duty of Man: Dharma is the theory of duty in life. It is best summarized as: “Do your duty without fear of the consequences.” Each person’s dharma is his duty in a specific incarnation. It constitutes his path, set out before he is born on Earth. It cannot be changed after he is born, and the personality’s free will does not influence it during that particular incarnation. The personality is the soul’s tool in each incarnation, and the soul molds it according to the nature and purpose of each embodiment. The personality comprises three layers or bodies: the mental body, the emotional body, and the dense physical body, which is also partly an etheric body.
The Emotional Body and Its Purification: The emotional body is the dwelling place of our aspirations and desires. The goal is to train and purify it to reflect only feelings of love. The steps in the purification process are inoffensiveness, goodwill, and love. Humans have free will on the emotional level. If misused, it creates karma, but if used correctly, it can free the soul from the chains of cause and effect. Training and purification of the emotional body involve understanding the composition and flow of emotions and guiding them in the right direction.
The Mental Body and Thoughts: The mental body (the lower, concrete mind) is the dwelling place of our thoughts. As with the emotional body, the aim is to train and develop it until it ultimately reflects the soul’s goal and purpose. We also possess free will on the mental plane. This aims to gain control over our thoughts, liberating us from the shackles of karma. Here, we must also understand the origins and progression of the contents of our minds and then guide our thoughts in the right direction.
Double Working of the Mind (Occult meditation)
As stated earlier, the double working of the mind is a part of yoga. Therefore, the main emphasis is on linking the soul and the personality. At the same time, the double working of the mind is a direct connection with service in that through meditation, we train the mind and the mental function, which is the fundamental basis of service. Therefore, there are two sides to the essential elements of all Occult meditation. Firstly, they involve linking the soul and the personality; secondly, they require forming thought forms of the plan, which the soul reveals.
The linking of the soul and the personality: I introduced four basic assertions in the yoga section. These assertions form the foundation of the link between the soul and the personality. The method of the double working of the mind consists, among other things, of combining these four basic assertions in a specific meditative process in a graphic form. The combination is visualized as a triangle. The apex represents the soul, the creator of the personality, symbolizing the mutual trust that must be cultivated between the soul and the personality. In the center of the triangle is the individual’s dharma or duty, which must be fulfilled during this incarnation. In the left-hand corner is the heart, symbolizing the emotional body when love is the aim. In the right-hand corner is the mind, representing the lower mental body and symbolizing the spiritual light the mind needs to create.
This graphic form must be visualized mentally as the foundation for linking the personality and the soul.
The formation of thought forms and the Double working of the mind: The Double working occurs when invocations and mantras are used in meditation alongside thought forms or graphic sequences of events. An example of this double working of the mind is found in The Disciple’s Invocation. In this context, the graphic form above is continuously maintained in mind while the following text is repeated:
The Disciple’s Invocation
My pathway is laid out before me.
I keep light in my mind and love in my heart;
a soul am I, soaring on wings to the heights.
The double working of the mind is the perfect method for Occult meditation. When the student becomes aware of his plan as part of the whole plan for humanity’s evolution, he is prepared to participate in Occult creation and perfect service to humankind.
Service (Occult creation)
As mentioned above, Service is a natural extension of yoga and the double working of the mind. The introduction to service is intended for all pupils prepared to work at service tasks under God’s plan. The elements to be treated, which are fundamental for service, are the creative process and mathematical number systems. Color theory—laws of color mixture, music—basic theory, the connection between tones, colors of light and numbers, breathing techniques, and the act of Occult creation—responsibility and consequences.
The creative process: The creative process is a method of service. This part of the course introduces all aspects of the creative process, including the preparation, implementation, and consequences of Occult creation.
Mathematics – number systems: This element deals explicitly with the base-seven number system, but also discusses other number systems and their mutual relationships.
Color theory – laws of color mixture: The emphasis here is on the basic theory of color mixture, regarding additive and subtractive color mixtures and the distinction between them.
Music – basic theory: This course emphasizes the fundamentals of musical theory, including exercises in scale structure.
The connection between tones, colors of light, and numbers: The emphasis is on exercises connecting numbers and colors, numbers and tones, and tones and colors.
Breathing techniques: The focus here is on introducing and practicing correct breathing in Occult creation.
The act of Occult creation – responsibility and consequences: This element emphasizes the practice of Occult creation. All aspects of the creative process are practiced and discussed.