Good evening friends and welcome to this Festival in Aquarius. The moon is out of the way and the sun is focused on channeling the spiritual influence of Aquarius. The sun and the earth, representing the soul and the personality, are in direct alignment with the energy. This is why the time of the full moon each month is such a unique occasion; it is full of spiritual opportunity for service. Remember this word ‘opportunity’; it is a keynote for the times in which we live. The opportunity of the times is the reason why we and many other groups in the world are meeting in meditation. It is a time when humanity and Hierarchy can approach each other in consciousness. And because of this closeness we are able to radiate the energies of Light and Love more effectively into human consciousness. So let us take a moment to linkup with our co-workers around the world and with the group forerunner of the Christ, the new group of world servers. Then let us sound together the mantram of the new group of world servers.

May the Power of the one Life pour through the group of all true servers.
May the Love of the one Soul characterize the lives of all who seek to aid the Great Ones.
May I fulfil my part in the one Work through self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech.

One Life, one Soul, one Work, representing the trinity of Life, Consciousness and form. These three stages sum up the opportunity lying ahead for humanity in the Aquarian age. The opportunity lies in the realization of the oneness and interdependence of everything in this created world as it is animated by the one Life. The oneness of the soul comes through the realization that where there is even rudimentary evidence of consciousness—from the atom of substance, to a plant, to an animal, to a human being—there one will find the presence of the middle principle of the soul. The one Work is, of course, the work for which humanity is responsible: to become a unified and synthesized expression of divine Light and Love in the world. All three stages when working together will demonstrate Life as "loving synthesis in action." This is the task for us in the Aquarian age.

The keynote of the sign of Aquarius is "Water of Life am I poured forth for thirsty men." An appreciation of the life-giving qualities of this sign will become increasingly apparent as the new age unfolds. Christ came as the forerunner of the Aquarian age. As He said, "I am come that you may have life more abundantly." And He meant life in the true sense of the word. His teachings have enabled us to deepen and expand our appreciation and understanding of the Life of God in expression in the world. Water of life…does not of course refer to water per se. It refers to the great stream of Life, that essential electrical energy which flows through and sustains every living form down to the tiniest atom. It is the life-force that is dispensed evenly by God to the good and the bad, the saint and sinner alike. And it demonstrates or is expressed in the word livingness. We might define livingness as the degree that the Life of God is manifesting in the world. In other words, how much of the divine intention of God is shining through His Creation. Thinking about life in this way forces us to go beyond the fact of creation itself to the very cause and purpose of creation in the first place. Receiving life more abundantly is like receiving more of God’s essence—His qualities, His Light and Love and His Will-to-Good. Christ, as the true Aquarian and the Dispenser of the Water of Life gave us, and continues to give us, His essential life as an example of a more perfect expression of God in manifestation. His more perfect qualities express a highly refined degree of livingness and as a model which we can all emulate, if we have the will.

Livingness must encompass more than just a physical way of life; it must include the emotional and the mental expressions as well. When Christ said "I am come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly", He was referring to life expressed in three ways:

1. As physical life, nourishing the cells of the body. This life is found within each atom of substance as the central point of living light.
2. As livingness, seen as love and light within the heart. When this livingness is present and expressing itself, the human atom becomes a part of the spiritual Hierarchy.
3. As Life more abundantly. This life can be known as light, love and power within and above the head of the disciple of the Christ. This abundant life enables him to cooperate, not only with humanity and with the spiritual Hierarchy, but also with Shamballa itself—the centre of life in its purest essence.

Now we should take note of the word enables, because it holds the key meaning. As we are told, "life is the livingness which enables." Livingness depends on what amount of the pure love of the soul we can manifest individually and as a group. The growth in the capacity of love will enable us to synchronize our activity with the Will-to-Good and the center Shamballa. This capacity must be prepared by an increase in love and light radiating from the human heart. In other words, a more abundant inflow of the energy of life will enable humanity to express the living qualities of the Plan of God. It will provide the divine incentive, the divine power to express in a more refined way the qualities of divine Light and Love. We are told that Christ, when He returns, will also "draw upon the energies which are defined by the phrase "life more abundantly", because they will set loose (in the Aquarian age) in a new and dynamic manner the new energies needed in order to bring about restoration and resurrection. This new energy is the "implementing force of universality"; it concerns the future. This inflow of Aquarian energy is one of the factors which will enable the Christ to complete His task as world Savior and world Teacher.

We should take note of the phrase the "implementing force of universality." Universality is a specific potency and is already producing effects in human consciousness and human planning. It is a life force that eliminates the sense of separateness. Were it not for an infusion of this potency into human consciousness, by way of the Shamballa impact, we might not have a world institution like the United Nations. We might not have a major incentive to create the European Union, and the dozens of universal economic and trade agreements that have brought order and organisation to the world economies over the past fifty years. The force of universality is now an ideal that is manifesting in the demand for unity and right human relations, and is responsible for the growth of internationalism. And thanks to this force we are slowly developing the capacity to identify with the whole. The globalisation of human planning and activity is one result of the potency of the force of universality. And one of the great benefits to come out of all these global enterprises—whether admitted or not—is the realisation that it all could not happen without the presence of the energy of goodwill. As it is said, "Goodwill is the touchstone that will transform the world." Even if there is still, basically, a great amount of self interest involved, all realise that more can be accomplished where there is a willingness to share and cooperate and create agreements based on goodwill. Whether they know it or not, this is the beginning of a new dispensation, a new expression of divine, universal love appearing in the human kingdom. This is what is being implemented by the force of universality. In its essence it is an expression of life as loving activity; it is the livingness which enables great works to be accomplished on a universal scale.

And this is what Aquarius will bring to the world in the new age. The forces of Life freely and selflessly pour forth providing humanity with the incentive and the capacity to enable. This is service at the universal level being enforced by the soul, responding to the Law of Service. The Law of Service is called the third Law of the Soul; it is intended to govern all soul activity. Therefore once we reach the stage where the impact of the soul is felt, there is no evading the impulse to serve. It is imposed upon us in much the same way as man-made laws are imposed. If we knowingly evade them, there will be penalties. A law, whether man-made or spiritual, is defined as "an expression or manifestation of force, applied under the power of thought by a thinker or group of thinkers." Many groups of thinkers have created the thousands of laws which govern our society. Likewise, as below, so above. Spiritual laws, like the Law of Service, are the product of great divine Thinkers. They are the ones Who devise the laws that regulate the flow of life in the universe. The Law of Service is apparently set in motion by the great Thinkers governing the life in the constellation Aquarius. It is a law now being imposed upon our planetary rhythm and it will increase in strength over the next 2000 years. Christ was the first to fully express this Law; He is the "water of life", the "living water" which humanity needs in great abundance. Today, humanity is steadily coming to realise the truth that Christ said, "no man liveth unto himself", and that only as love and goodwill finds its outlet in service, can we begin to measure up to our innate capacity. Love enables.

The Law of Service is said to be the major releasing factor in a disciple’s life. Responding to the law releases energy for the benefit or others and thus redirects the flow away from the little self. The energy of life and love is not simply accumulated and held for the glory of the personal self and its plans; this energy is meant to be released and redirected and used for the beneficial work of salvaging and uplifting and for the meeting of needs. It is a law that puts energy to work.

"Humanity is on its way to a right understanding of service" says the Tibetan; "it is becoming responsive to this new law and is learning to react to the steadily imposing will of that great Life who informs the constellation Aquarius, just as our solar Logos informs our solar system and our planetary Logos informs our planet Earth.

The idea of service is, at this time, the major idea to be grasped for (in grasping it) we open ourselves wide to the new incoming influences. The Law of Service is the expression of the energy of a great Life, who, in cooperation with Him in Whom we live and move and have our being, is subjecting the human family to certain influences and streams of energy which will eventually do three things:

1. Awaken the heart centre of all aspirants and disciples.
2. Enable emotionally polarised humanity to focus intelligently in the mind.
3. Transfer the energy of the solar plexus into the heart.

This unfolding of what we might call 'the consciousness of the heart' or the development of true feeling is the first step towards group awareness. This group awareness and this identification with the feeling aspect of all groups is the quality which leads to service—a service to be rendered as the Masters render it, and as the Christ demonstrated it for us in Galilee."

Aquarius challenges us to expand and deepen our capacity for love, and for that we need the all-inclusive cup of the soul which pours forth its water of life for thirsty men and women. As the keynote says, "Water of life am I poured forth..." This suggests that not only are we receivers of the energy of life, but more importantly, we are also distributors of life. This realisation harks back to the old saying, "it’s better to give than to receive." It’s better because it allows for the divine circulatory flow of life energy. If energy is blocked from flowing smoothly and freely, whether in the physical body, or in the nation, or throughout the planet as a whole, then there will be a weakened response to the divine expression of life. The self-centered personality life, with its selfish attitudes, its fears and phobias, often acts as a grounding point to divine energy. Energy received tends to strengthen the negative conditions and there is little return flow to the positive. Aquarius give us the opportunity, the challenge, to change and transform this negative condition in human consciousness. This is essentially the purpose of these monthly meditation meetings - to act as a group receiver and distributor of divine energy, and use the power of the mind to build an improved and refined thoughtform based on a deeper appreciation of the true essence of the Aquarian ideal: the ideal of service of humanity, of a sensitive humanitarian awareness, and the ideal realisation that our true life intention is to aid the spiritual Hierarchy of this planet in expressing the great Plan of God.

As the center Shamballa is pouring out its energy directly upon humanity, let us realise our vital group responsibility to receive it and work with it to build in human consciousness the new ideals of the kingdom of soul. The key word for us today is opportunity; the opportunity to synchronise our response to that which is coming. It is our opportunity to pour out the water of life—the Life force of Shamballa—to a world in need. It is our opportunity to work with the "implementing force of universality" and to help bring forth the power of the "livingness which enables." May it enable us to do our part. [-]

Dale McKechnie

Festival In Aquarius

New York,
January 21, 2008