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inevitably are activated in any determined effort to radically transform the fundamental
nature of mankind at any particular stage of planetary evolution. Just as the level of
evolution of mankind affects the possibilities open to any particular person, so the success
(or failure) of any one individual consciously entering the Path affects to some degree the
entire evolutionary process on earth.
The situation can be understood more clearly by referring the Path, as a process of
transformation, to the great cycle of being outlined in Part One of this book. The
possibility of beginning this process can arise only in an individualized, conscious,
determined, and relatively independent or self-induced manner at a particular stage of the
evolutionary curve. This must occur somewhere past the midpoint between the symbolic
Noon and Sunset, for such a midpoint symbolizes the definite beginning of the process of
individualization. If ultimately successful, the process leads to the stage of Illumined Man,
the Gate of Silence at which the principles of Unity and Multiplicity are of equal power
and the human consciousness is illumined by the light, power, and presence of the
creative God (the symbolic Sunrise or "first point" of a particular cosmic cycle). Strictly
speaking, the "human" phase of the great cycle of being is consummated in Illumined
Man; what human beings experience as objective existence passes into an increasingly
subjective state of "inistence" leading to the Godhead state at which the principle of Unity
attains its maximum value for the particular cosmic cycle.
As discussed in Part Three, what is rather inaccurately called "reincarnation" is actually
the development of a relationship between a single spiritual Quality (one of the myriad
Letters of the creative Word-in-the-beginning, or Logos) and a series of successive earthborn
human beings developing within successive cultures. Such a series of increasingly
individualized persons becomes gradually more attuned and responsive to the spiritual
Quality seeking to find a perfect vehicle of expression in a human form and thus -to
consummate the "divine Marriage" of spirit and matter. The process of radical
transformation called the Path begins when one of the personalities of this series becomes
aware in an individualized and self-induced manner that it is connected with a spiritual
Quality — in whatever way his or her religion, philosophy, and culture names it and
explains its existence — and completely accepts union with it as an essential, ideal goal.
A particular person may not accomplish much toward this goal, but efforts made in
that direction are not lost; they strengthen the subtle connecting link between the spiritual
Quality and any new person drawn to the series. Every positive and successful step
counts; every moment of crucial weakness, indecision, or collapse delays advance on the
Path. Progress can be so delayed that the planetary cycle of mankind ends before the
supreme moment of union occurs, in which case the process will have to begin again in
another great cycle, and probably at about the same point at which the decisive delay
previously took place. From the point of view of Wholeness, nothing can ever be lost,
except the possibility for a particular participant in a cycle to experience Wholeness in that
particular cycle.
If one thinks of the reason for the formation of a new universe, it is the loss of such a
possibility which generates a new time. Many years ago I wrote, "Time is God's
compassion for chaos." The polarization of God and chaos (or of Unity and Multiplicity,
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