8. Guidance can come, therefore, from all kinds and types of incarnate or discarnate men, ranging in character from very good to very bad. They can include the help proffered by real initiates and adepts through their working disciples and aspirants to the mental and astral activities of ordinary intelligent men and women, [491] including the emotionally and selfishly oriented person. It should be remembered that no true initiate or disciple ever seeks to control any person nor will he indicate to him in the form of a positive command, any action which he should take. But many people tune in on teaching being given by trained minds to disciples, or record telepathically the powerful thought forms, created by world thinkers or Members of the Hierarchy. Hence the many misinterpretations and the so-called recorded guidances. Men appropriate to themselves sometimes that which is intended for a group or a hint given by a Master to a disciple.

10. Guidance can come, as you well know, from a man's own soul when through meditation, discipline and service, he has established contact, and there is consequently [492] a indirect channel of communication from soul to brain, via the mind. This, when clear and direct, is true divine guidance, coming from the inner divinity. It can, however, be distorted and misinterpreted if the mind is not developed, the character is not purified and the man is not free from undue personality control. The mind must make right application of the imparted truth or guidance. Where there is true and right apprehension of the inner divine voice, then - and only then - do you have infallible guidance, and the voice of the inner God can then speak with clarity to its instrument, man upon the physical plane.

11. Once this latter form of guidance has been established, stabilized, fostered, developed and understood, other forms of spiritual guidance then become possible. The reason for this is that they will pass through or be submitted to the standard of values which the factor of the soul itself constitutes. The awareness of the soul is a part of all awarenesses. The recognition of this soul awareness is a gradual and progressive happening where the man upon the physical plane is concerned. The brain cells must be gradually awakened and the correct interpretative response developed. As, for instance, a man becomes aware of the Plan of God, he may regard that Plan as being imparted to him by a Master or by some Member of the Hierarchy; he may regard the knowledge as coming to him through his own immediate contact with a thought form of the Plan. If he achieves and interprets this knowledge in a truly right way, he is perforce simply achieving recognition of that which his own soul inevitably knows, because his soul is an aspect of the Universal soul and an integral part of the planetary Hierarchy. [493]