The cardinal point emphasized in this rule is purity and, in the last analysis, purity is largely a question of motive. If the incentive to action of any kind in the three worlds is based on personality desire and brought about by the applied use of the mind, then impurity characterizes that action. If the impulse emanates from the [258] Dweller in the form, it is then subordinated and controlled by the Dweller to the desired end. Then the characteristic is purity within the group limitations, for absolute purity only exists when entire freedom from control has been brought about. The soul is group conscious and group controlled, and (until the causal body has been overcome and liberation from its control achieved) the real significance of purity will not be comprehended. Suffice it to say that there is a close connotation between impurity and limitation of any kind, physical, emotional and mental.But absolute purity need not here be considered by the aspirant. No one in the esoteric groups of the world has yet achieved the fifth initiation, wherein the meaning will enter the consciousness in a blaze of intensest realization. For the majority, physical and emotional purity are the objectives, and primarily therefore liberation from emotional control and desire. Hence the constant, e'en though badly worded injunction in many of the esoteric books, "Kill out desire". Perhaps a more just rendering for the immediate present would be "reorient desire" or "redirect desire", for a constant process of reorientation of the entire desire nature so that it eventually becomes a habitual state of mind is the clue to all the transmutation processes, and to effective magical work.
As progress on the Path is made the thought processes of the aspirant become more potent, and the thought-forms - created with definite purpose and in the meditation work - become more effective in the bringing about of results. It will be apparent therefore that in magical work (which has ever to be wrought out on the physical plane) there will always exist the tendency towards the "left-hand path" until soul consciousness is permanently established, and purity of motive has become a habit of the mind....read more...
