The Ceremony of Life

Why is the See-La-Aum Technique so important within the Ceremony of Life?

The Ceremony of Life is the transformation of the entire life and affairs into a magical activity of consciousness, a moving picture of the life of the Soul. It's the Seventh Ray way of living, the day-to-day process of moving Divine Intent downward into appearance.

In that context, the See-la-Aum technique is the method whereby one moves that Intent downward. Regular practice of the SLA builds the alignment that makes the Ceremony of Life possible. The SLA makes the Ceremony work.

The SLA (not the NS technique specifically but that basic process) is also the basic alignment of this age.

For instance, in the old method of initiation the initiate or guru would have a realization  of the Divine, and  would then model the Divine for the Chela. The Chela would adore and aspire to the " god" in the guru. This is an alignment from the guru up to the divine,  invoking the divine downward into the guru, out from the guru to the chela, and back from the chela through the guru back up to the divine. In this old method of working, the guru/initiate  is or was the connection with the divine and the attention (and much of the devotion) of the chela/student is necessarily  directed at the guru.

This was fine when the chela joined the guru in renouncing the world and submitting to severe rites of purification of body and emotions. However, when the guru's chelas consist of a large body of modern householders, who have not renounced the world but are emersed within it, their devotion brings with it a great deal of baggage which can and often does cause a great deal of trouble for the unprepared teacher. The devotion they direct to the persona of their teacher inevitably carries with it all their astral/emotional crud. The " fall" of many a well-meaning teacher, preacher, and guru has been due to this very mechanism.

The basic problem is that in this Seventh Ray age the student and practitioner of the Wisdom, in order to bring Divine Intent into appearance in the world, must be involved in that world. We can no longer renounce it and withdraw into isolated mountains, forests, or deserts. Thus, a new alignment is required. That new alignment is the one created by the See-la-Aum technique, in which the Divine is invoked downward, directed outward to the body receptive, and then aligned back upward from the body receptive directly to the overshadowing source, without going through the instrumentality of the disciple.

The result is rather like going outside and staring up at the sky. People will stop and look up to see what you're staring at. In this new process, the disciple, actually the group disciple, is much more difficult to see for it is not making any particular effort to be seen. On the contrary, it is directing attention away from itself toward that which is overshadowing.

So, that's basically why the See-la-Aum technique is so important. It's the foundational technique for the work of Discipleship in this age. One cannot practice the New Path of Discipleship until one has incorporated that technique into one's daily life and affairs as a core part of the Ceremony of Life.

Regards,

Glen

* * *

The Technique

(An extract from the N.S. Study Guide)

In this lesson we finally begin to openly explore a concept that all the previous lessons have been leading up to. This concept can be briefly states as follows:

Your entire life and affairs is a creative ceremony.

Of course, this brief statement needs some explanation. One way to begin is with another outline of the creative process as discussed thus far:

1. The Logos sounds the creative word, extending a spark of itself into the void.

2. That creative word interacts with the void, producing Esoteric Light.

3. The Light interacts with Divine Intent, and produces Esoteric Color (in three prime colors, one of which is tainted).

4. The tainted color is opaque and isolates the breath from its creator. The isolated breath becomes dormant, and awaits the awakening word of the Logos.

5. The Logos sounds that creative word that awakens the dormant consciousness[1] and sets the Soular Deva (the body of Light, Color, and now Vibration) moving in a series of circular motions, driving it downward.

6. The Soular Deva, driven downward into the upper three sub-planes of the mental plane, is reflected there as a thought-form or Causal Body. This Causal Body is positive to the devas of the lower four (the devas of the mental, astral, physical-etheric and physical-dense bodies).

7. The devas of the lower four, aspiring to their higher correspondent (the Soular Deva) respond to its reflection (the Causal Body) by mimicking its shape and form. In the process, the devas of the lower four also mimic the reflected taint or distortion.

8. This distortion or opposition produces illusion in the mental body, glamour in the astral body, and crises of opportunity in the persona life and affairs.

9. The disciple recognizes each such crisis as an opportunity to identify and transmute some part of the glamour, illusion, and tainted color or opposition. He sees these crises as methods of identifying the opposition that his group life is related to and responsible for. Thus, the disciple not only transmutes each crises as it appears, but knowingly maintains a quality of group consciousness that attracts such crises.

Eventually, the entire life and affairs is transformed into a ceremony, the Ceremony of Life. This ceremony of life is an extension of Ceremonial Magic, a projection of ceremonial magic into the daily life and affairs of the disciple. That is why the techniques associated with this ceremony are considered the most important in this course.

All the other techniques, all the earlier lessons, are preparing the student to move The Wisdom into his life and affairs as a daily practice of The Ceremony of Life. This ceremony will be discussed more extensively in the next few lessons.

Moving Into The Ceremony of Life

It is the nature of the Soul to create, and it is the function of the Disciple to be the Soul in the world. As mentioned earlier, the first ¾ of this course (Introductory Lesson through Lesson 27) prepare the student for the last ¼. The last ¼ of this course (Lessons 28 through 40) discuss the creative process as prac­ticed by the Soul on its plane and in the three lower worlds. We have defined the portion of the creative process that takes place in the three lower worlds as Ceremonial Magic and have studied the process if not yet the technique.

At this point the student may well ask:

“Why am I being given all this information?”

A careful self-assessment usually forces the student to conclude that they are incapable of using this information as described. Often the student has a difficult time even conceiving of being able to use it. Why then are they being given this information?

To answer this question, we must first clear up several misun­derstandings. The first relates to the implications of “self-initia­tion”. We are all accustomed to the idea that when we complete a course we will, by its completion, have gained some mastery over the subject of the course. When we take a driver training course, we expect to be able to drive when we complete it. If we take a swimming course, we expect to be able to swim when we complete it. When we take a course on conscious creativity, we expect to be able to create when we complete it. If we cannot create, we automatically assume that either we “failed” the course or the course is faulty.

This assumption does not apply to this series of instructions. As a course on self-initiated spiritual growth and development, it is the students task to teach theirself how to use what they have learned.

The second misunderstanding relates to the presumed level of growth and development of the students of the course. We have stated that this course is designed for those who are completing the third initiation. We have also stated that initiation is now a group process. However, we have not yet explained that the first, second, and third initiations have been blended into a sin­gle process of initiation.

Imagine that you are a member of a group of seekers preparing to climb a massive mountain. You are out of shape, but since you are beginning at the forested plain at its feet (and the slope increases gradually) you will have time to get into shape. Along the way, the more traveled members of your party provide the rest with necessary instructions and supplies. In each case, some of the instructions do not make sense until you need them, and you must learn how to use your supplies by actually using them.

Initially, individual members of your party set out at different times and travel at different rates, making it appear that some of the members will neither reach the higher slopes nor need their climbing gear. However, as the group proceeds the mem­bers begin to work together for the common purpose. By the time group members reach the crags, they are traveling in small teams. As the teams proceed up the crags they band together, forming larger units. By the time they reach the summit, they have become one working unit and take the initiation together.

In this analogy, the plain stands for what was the first initia­tion, the forested slopes the second, and the rocky crags the third. While the group initially appears to be scattering all over the mountain, the process will eventually pull it together into a working unit. In the meantime, individual members of the group life receive portions of The Wisdom which they may not be able to use when they receive it. This ability will come as you gradually learn to apply The Wisdom to your daily life and affairs.

Your ability to apply The Wisdom in your daily life and affairs will inevitably pass through several stages. These stages of ap­plication change with your orientation to, or awareness of, The Wisdom. These stages of awareness and application are:

1. Knowledge: During this stage, The Wisdom, and N.S., are seen primarily as sources of information. The student may meditate on occasion, but does not include meditation as a regular part of his life and affairs. Students experiencing this stage will find N.S. lessons 1 through 21 very stimulat­ing, but may not be at all interested in the later lessons.

2. Scheduled Meditation: During this stage, The Wisdom is seen as a source of knowledge, experience, and understand­ing. The student keeps a regular meditation schedule. This stage has three sub-stages:

a. During this sub-stage, most of the meditation work is in­tended to clean-up the personality of the student. When this sub-stage has progressed to the point where the stu­dent’s orientation begins to broaden to include his group-life, he moves into stage 2-b.

Students experiencing this sub-stage will find that their in­terest in the lessons continues through lesson 28, but they may not be attracted to the later lessons.

b. During this sub-stage, most of the meditation work is part of an individual service activity.[2] The student is becoming aware of his subjective group-life, but is not yet function­ing as a unit of that life.

Students experiencing this sub-stage will find that their in­terest in the lessons continues through lesson 40, even though they realize that they do not yet understand the later lessons.

c. During this sub-stage, most of the meditation work is part of a group service activity.[3] It has little to do with the per­sonality of the individual practitioner. The practitioner is increasingly aware of his group-life, and is beginning to function as a part of that life. This sub-stage is a prelude to stage 3.

Students experiencing this sub-stage will find that their in­terest in the lessons continues through lesson 40, and they will realize that they are only beginning to under­stand and apply The Wisdom.

3. Ongoing Meditation: During this stage, the practitioner stops studying The Wisdom. Instead, he lives it. At this point he stops studying The Nature of The Soul, and all other inter­pretations of The Wisdom. He has embodied them so well that he no longer needs to study their physical manifestations.

When the practitioner arises in the morning, he automati­cally performs the appropriate morning ritual. He practices his morning techniques, reviews his upcoming work, and con­tinues to hold his alignment while performing his morn­ing routine. This ritualization of life does not end there, but con­tinues through the entire day. He practices whatever in­ner discipline (meditation or alignment) is needed at that mo­ment. Thus, the alignment of devic life (via the See-la-Aum technique), the adjustment of persona negativity (via trans­mutation), the sacrifice of the separative persona (via the sacrifice on the cross technique), the use of the rays and all the other techniques he knows and practices, becomes auto­matic.

Eventually, the practice of The Wisdom becomes as auto­matic as walking.

This is what it means to embody The Wisdom. It does not mean you change your outer life and affairs (for The Wisdom is not concerned with the outer form). It means you change your inner life (and your outer life is transformed by those inner changes). This is what The Ceremony of Life is all about.

Thus, we see that The Ceremony of Life is the ultimate 7th ray (Ceremonial Magic) technique. It gradually transforms our en­tire life and affairs (inner and outer, waking and sleeping) into a continuous creative ceremony.

The Ceremony of Life

Now that we have outlined and defined the Ceremony of Life, we can begin examining its various parts.

The central portion of the Ceremony of Life is called the See-la-Aum meditation technique. This technique can be fully under­stood and practiced only in relation to the rest of the Ceremony of Life.

The daily life of the disciple is a ceremony, an ongoing transmu­tation of resistance, glamour, illusion and maya.

“True ceremony is an inner state of being, which is channeled into every outer act.” 

The Nature of The Soul, by Lucille Cedercrans, Wisdom Impressions Publishers, p. 431

Thus, the Ceremony of Life is eventually practiced constantly. While the probationer’s first practice of the ceremony is limited to set times and formal meditations, this is a temporary condi­tion. Eventually, the disciple learns to practice the technique si­lently, during his daily life, whenever he becomes aware of a condition that needs this kind of adjustment.

This progression from occasional use to constant use parallels the three stages of meditation practice outlined above.

In the first stage, the beginning student (who meditates occa­sionally), is unlikely to intuit the need to practice the Cere­mony. He would recognize that a condition was out of harmony with divine intent only when outer circumstances made it ap­parent. The beginner will then often seek the help of a more experienced practitioner of The Wisdom. The experienced prac­titioner will remind the beginner of what he already knows, and suggest that he practice whatever techniques the beginner’s intuition indi­cates are appropriate. For students of this and similar courses, the See-la-Aum portions of the Ceremony of Life would play a central role in most such adjustments.

In the second stage, the intermediate student (who meditates daily, following a schedule) will probably eventually intuit the need to practice the See-la-Aum portions of the Ceremony. He will then make room for a formal meditation session, using the Ceremony exactly as taught in the textbook.

In the third stage, the advanced student (who meditates fre­quently, throughout his daily life and affairs) will probably quickly recognize the need, and immediately practice, the Ceremony. He will not wait for a formal meditation session, but (recognizing that the notes used in the text are doorways to the true seven-fold esoteric sounds) will sound the true notes “silently”.

The following is an outline of the See-la-Aum portion of the Ceremony of Life as it would be practiced in stages one and two. I strongly suggest that you practice this technique as fre­quently as you feel called on to do so. The more you practice it, the more sensitive your equipment becomes, the more aware you become, and the more frequently you practice the Cere­mony of Life.

See-la-Aum

Description of The Ceremony

While the above outline is very helpful, it is also extremely lim­ited. It can be compared to teaching a child how to ride a bicycle without teaching him when and where to ride it. In other words, the mechanics of a technique are useless unless you also know when and where to practice it.

You will have noticed that the description in the text is unusu­ally difficult to understand. This is generally understood to be a protective veil. Not only is this technique difficult to learn and practice, but the description of the technique is scattered through three lessons. When the various parts are gathered to­gether they can be divided into two sections:

1. When to practice the Ceremony of Life:

a. The Ceremony of Life is intended to be practiced con­stantly, throughout your daily life and affairs. This con­stant practice will unfold in the stages described above.

b. How to identify conditions that need adjustment: The See-la-Aum portion of the Ceremony is practiced whenever:

(1) The disciple or initiate, focused as the Spiritual Soul,

(2) identified with the One Life,

(3) and aware of the etheric body or network of manifesta­tion,

(4) relates to those within his environment as parts of the One Life,

(5) and relates the Plan to the consciousness aspect of the environment.

(6) He then intuits the new growth (of consciousness) that is indicated by tonal quality of the relationship be­tween The Plan and the indwelling consciousness,

(7) and sounds the See-la-Aum, initiating the process of adjustment (or creating those conditions of substance that provide consciousness with that experience which produce Wisdom).

This process is described in Lesson 36:

“Observe the conscious soul incarnate within his envi­ron­ment. Consciously identified with the One Life, and cogni­zant of its etheric body of manifesta­tion, he relates to those within his environment as interrelated parts of the totality. He then relates the Plan to the conscious­ness aspect of the envi­ron­ment. What new growth is indicated in the tonal quality of the relation­ship between Plan and indwelling consciousness?

Example: He knows the Plan for humanity in general to be Christhood. He relates that planned goal to the incarnating consciousness, and compares the tonal quality of such con­sciousness to that of the Plan.” Ibid., p. 443

Please note that the relationship of the goal to the incarnat­ing consciousness, while initiated by the disciple (acting as The Soul) is actually carried out by the devas of the lower four. That is why the See-la-Aum technique relates deva to deva, rather than consciousness to consciousness.

2. The See-la-Aum technique, the central portion of the Cere­mony of Life. The above outline, while an adequate presenta­tion of the mechanics of the technique, fails to mention sev­eral points. These points are mentioned in a simpler out­line provided in Lesson 34.

“The disciple knows the form he exchanges is not his gift; it is not his contri­bution to humanity, even though it may ap­pear as such.

“He detaches the sense of importance from the form or ap­pearance of his ser­vice, knowing wherein his real service lies.

“Then, calmly, without emotion, he aligns the devas of ap­pearance with the devas of the Plan, aligns the lower word of power with the higher one, and sounds that mantram which gives him control of the form nature.

“The mantram that he sounds is more than a word. It is a syn­thesis of Light, sound, color, and vibration into a new cere­mony, the ceremony of life itself.”  Ibid, p. 420

For the sake of clarity, we shall examine each of these para­graphs in turn.

a. “The disciple knows the form he exchanges is not his gift; it is not his contri­bution to humanity, even though it may appear as such.”

We have already discussed the idea that while the aspi­rant con­siders the outer form to be his service, the disci­ple does not. The disciple realizes that his true work is done subjectively, behind the scenes. This behind the scene's activity of the disciple is The Ceremony of Life. The practice of the Ceremony of Life includes the regular practice of the See-la-Aum technique.

b. “He detaches the sense of importance from the form or ap­pearance of his ser­vice, knowing wherein his real service lies.”

The disciple detaches himself from the form of his service for several crucial reasons.

First, he realizes that the outer form is merely the ap­pearance his inner work takes in response to the karmic conditions of the times. Building that shape is the func­tion of the obsessing devas of appearance, and is not his concern.

Second, he realizes that the timing of the creative process requires that he remain detached from his creation. Oth­erwise, he may become emotionally attached to it too soon. Becoming emotionally attached to your creation be­fore it is complete will have serious consequences.

Water is the symbol of the astral plane because vibration is the predominant motion on that plane. You will of course remember that it is esoteric vibration (that equa­tion of the three prime motions that emphasizes circular motion) that drives the Soular Deva downward. The as­tral plane (the lower correspondent of esoteric vibration) has the same function and effect in ceremo­nial magic. It drives the persona deva downward to the deva of appear­ance which then directs the creation of the outer form.

Thus, if you become emotionally attached to your creation be­fore it is complete, you will prematurely inject it with astral force, driving it downward into physical appearance before it is ready. If you are fortunate, your creation will be stillborn. All to often the undeveloped form survives but is unable to serve its purpose and becomes an impediment to the work. In addition, the probationer’s attachment to the form of his service leaves him open to the influence of the Deva of Appearance. He may them be­come obsessed with a dysfunctional form, taking on its dysfunc­tionality.

c. “Then, calmly, without emotion, he aligns the devas of ap­pearance with the devas of the Plan, aligns the lower word of power with the higher one, and sounds that man­tram which gives him control of the form nature.”

This third paragraph refers to the various alignments in the See-la-Aum technique. This alignment can be illustrated as follows:

Illus. from the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci [?]

The above illustrates the process of the See-la-Aum tech­nique. It is not a map of where (in space) the notes are sounded, for there is no exact spatial location.

The meditation begins with an alignment (as the Soul in the Cave with the Synthetic Ashram, Monad and Christ). You then sound the name of “See-la-Aum” in a note that you in­tuit. You then sound the Om (silently) three times, descend­ing in fre­quency towards the cave. You sound the Om a fourth time in the cave, and three more times while moving out towards the ajna. You sound the name of “Selah” in the ajna, then sound the OM seven more times, outside the equipment, moving upward in frequency to See-la-Aum. The fourth of the ascending OMs is, again, in the cave frequency. However, this time it is outside your equipment and not in the cave.

Now, while each OM may be given an approximate location in space (that location to be determined by you) they also have a loca­tion in frequency. For instance, the first descend­ing OM is sounded simultaneously on the first sub-plane of each of the seven planes. The second descending OM is sounded simultaneously on the second sub-plane of each of the seven planes, etc.

This can be illustrated as follows:

A1

Logoic Plane

G7

A2

 G6

A3

 G5

A4

G4

A5

G3

A6

G2

A7

G1

A1

Monadic Plane

G7

A2

G6

A3

G5

A4

G4

A5

G3

A6

G2

A7

G1

A1

Atmic Plane

G7

A2

G6

A3

G5

A4

G4

A5

G3

A6

G2

A7

G1

A1

Buddhic Plane

G7

A2

G6

A3

G5

A4

G4

A5

G3

A6

G2

A7

G1

A1

Mental Plane

G7

A2

G6

A3

G5

A4

G4

A5

G3

A6

G2

A7

G1

A1

Astral Plane

G7

A2

G6

A3

G5

A4

G4

A5

G3

A6

G2

A7

G1

A1

Physical-Etheric/Dense Plane

G7

A2

F

G6

A3

F

G5

A4

F

G4

A5

G3

A6

G2

A7

G1

You will notice that the “A” notes (on the left) are descending from the higher sub-planes to the lower, while the “G” notes (on the right) are ascending from the lower sub-planes to the higher. Selah (in the note of " F" ) is sounded on the Physical-Etheric plane, mid­way between the " mass mind" of humanity (on the mental and as­tral planes) and the mass Devas of Appearance.

Do not attempt, at this point, to sound each of the seven sub-tones. You need merely be aware of the fact that each note is seven-fold (sounding on seven sub-planes), and in­cludes Esoteric Sound, Light, Color and Vibration. This last leads us to the fourth para­graph.

d. “The mantram that he sounds is more than a word. It is a synthesis of Light, sound, color, and vibration into a new ceremony, the ceremony of life itself.” 

This is a case of making things complicated in order to make them simple.

We know that everything that exists, in order to exist, must be three things, Spirit, Consciousness, and Matter, or a positive pole, a negative pole, and the relation­ship between them.

This is equally true of the three prime motions. The straight line of Spirit, spiral of Consciousness, and circle of Sub­stance, cannot ex­ist apart from each other. Thus, their first existence is together, as a balanced harmony or esoteric sound. Thus, all the other motions, the individual prime mo­tions and the equations of esoteric light, color and vibration, are derived from this first harmony or sound. Since the other motions are derived from or differentiation's of eso­teric sound, they are themselves “sounds”.

This is why you are instructed to sound the OMs on a par­ticular “note”. The note (or vibration) given is the closest physical equiva­lent to the actual seven-fold subjective note.

Now that you know what the technique is for, when to practice it, and how to do it, you need only one more thing before you can take up this kind of work. You need an alignment.

In order to use the Ceremony of Life you must be able to hit and hold a sequence of sixteen subtle frequencies. This is not easy to do. It requires training, practice, and experience. Prac­ticing the techniques assigned earlier in the lessons will provide it. Simply reading about the technique will not. Thus, you must have a well-developed meditation alignment to practice this technique.

Copyright © 1997 by Glen W. Knape. All rights, including copyrights, reserved.


[1]When the process thus described refers to the creation of an individualized human being, then the “consciousness” or “breath” here referred to is the human soul or persona.

[2]This “individual” service work can take any outer form (including teaching). It is motivated both by the desire to be someone (in a spiritual sense) and the aspiration to serve. This mixture of desire and aspiration produces a service activity that is oriented around the individual persona of the seeker. He asks “What can I do” rather than “I stand willing to serve...”.

Each stage of the unfoldment process has its particular expression of the aspiration to serve.  During this stage, the form of “service” is an expression of the individual persona. Thus, any service the persona enters into at this point (including teaching The Wisdom) is an extension of their studies rather than an expression of their group work.

[3]The individual service work (an extension of their studies) may continue while the probationer moves into this stage. Eventually the probationer will complete his studies and drop his individual service activities.

[4]If you have difficulty remembering which notes to sound when, I suggest you pretend the technique is “A Fun Game”.