3. Let the Army of the Voice be no more heard, and let the brothers onward move within the Sound.

The many voices of the world, the flesh and the devil are no longer distinguished; there is nothing within the consciousness of the initiate which can respond to them. The Voice of the Silence dies out also and the Word itself [201] cannot be heard. Only the Sound remains. This is the Sound which reverberates in the formless worlds; it is the Sound to which the Spiritual Triad responds and of which the initiate is a part, because the Sound which he makes as he proceeds upon his creative way is a part of the universal Sound. It should be pointed out that He Who stands at the very center of the Council Chamber of Shamballa sounds forth all words, the Word, and He also utters the Sound. This is apt to be forgotten. He it is Who intones the AUM and all things come to be; He it is Who voices the Word, the OM, and God incarnate in humanity appears on earth; He it is Who utters the Sound, and upon that outgoing Breath holds all things in life; and - in the rise and fall of its cadences - there is found the cyclic rhythm of the creative process. He it will be Who will withdraw the Sound and centering the vibration within Himself, will some day bring to a close this periodic manifestation and carry the Sound to other localities in space, holding it in quiescence on the withdrawn breath until a later cycle of expression dawns. Then it will again be exhaled and sent forth to provide a new field of experience for the Lives which, in cyclic rhythm, again seek to manifest. The entire story of incarnation is hidden in the understanding of the Sound and its differentiation into the OM and the AUM.

When we can identify the Sound and are no longer "moved" by the OM, then the initiate becomes a Christ in expression and makes His appearance, either in physical form or upon the planes of what to us might be called the "areas of non-appearance." He can then contain and utilize the energies of which the Spiritual Triad is the custodian and which are the expression of the will and purpose of God. Though the initiate may not be a part of the planetary government, and though he may not be a member of the Council at Shamballa (for only a limited number of initiates are so placed), he nevertheless has the right to move on identical levels and to prepare himself for those higher evolutionary processes which will give him entrance to the cosmic astral plane. This will enable him to "see through" [202] and to recognize "cosmic glamor," and will give him the hidden key to the world of feeling and of sentiency, of which our feeling-response and our emotional and intuitional sensitivity are but the dim and distorted reflections. This is a factor of some importance to have in mind if a right sense of proportion is to be developed. The initiate has learnt on earth that the astral plane is in fact non-existent - at last for those of the higher degrees of initiation. This knowledge constitutes the first step towards the comprehension of the secret of negation, towards a true understanding of the basis of the ever-existent pairs of opposites, and towards the knowledge which lies behind the significance of negation. The above sentence is in all probability of little meaning to you, but it nevertheless contains a truth for which the trials, experiences and initiations of planetary existence prepare the initiate. They endow him with those qualities which will enable him to contact cosmic evil and yet remain untouched, eventually to play his part in bringing the Black Lodge and its Brotherhood to an unholy finish. The roots of the Black Lodge are on the cosmic astral plane, as the roots of the White Lodge and its Brotherhood are on the cosmic mental plane; this is, in reality, only for the time being and in order to see certain organized activities upon the star Sirius perfected and carried to a consummation. This has oft been hinted in my writings.

"The Way of the Higher Evolution" leads to the cosmic astral plane, and the goal which carries a man there is the transcendent vision accorded at some of the higher initiations; the quality which enables him to work as a creative factor in the great White Lodge is the developed buddhic faculty. It is upon the "wings of Sound" that he travels, to use a well-known though little understood metaphor.