A lifelong Christian woman who served as a missionary during World War I and lectured in theology in Ireland and the United States. But at the same time, she was an ardent popularizer of mysticism, supported the doctrine of esotericism and hermeticism, she herself organized a theosophical school, taught in it and wrote books, even participated in the mysteries. And it's all about one person, Alice Bailey.
Childhood and youth
Alice Bailey was born into a family of two ancient noble families. Her parents were rich enough to provide for the child a comfortable existence, but they passed away too early, stricken by the tuberculosis epidemic. Relatives were involved in the upbringing of the girl. Discipline was observed very strictly, and for the slightest disobedience, retribution immediately followed, which made the child very shy and quiet. Plus, the family was very religious, so from childhood Alice Bailey positioned herself as a devout Christian and could not imagine that over time she would preach mysticism. Despite her religious orientation, the girl tried to commit suicide several times. She was driven to this by loneliness anddissatisfaction with the outside world.
At the age of fifteen, in broad daylight in her own living room, the girl first encountered a vision. He was a tall man in European clothes, but with a turban on his head. And what he said changed Alice's life forever.
The stranger said she had been chosen to do important work. But for this you will need to leave a comfortable home and spend many years wandering, learning and changing. He also mentioned that success depends only on the girl, on how much she can transform her character during this time and succeed in business. His last words were a promise to appear every seven years with new instructions. This meeting made a strong impression on the young girl.
Missionary activity
At 22, Alice Bailey, whose photo could grace the cover of a fashion magazine, left home for one of the British colonies to conduct preaching work among the soldiers there. She organized a school for the military, where they studied the Bible, helped in hospitals, and cared for the wounded. Sometimes I had to read fifteen or twenty lectures a day.
It was under these conditions that Alice met her future husband, W alter Evans. Together they left for the United States, where the husband received the post of priest. At first, the future seemed bleak. But this marriage did not last long, and after seven years the future writer Alice Bailey decided to divorce. Having three little daughters, the woman had to work long and hard to raise them and give themgood upbringing. She did not leave her destiny, although she could return under the wing of her family in the UK.
Second marriage
The second time her choice fell on Foster Bailey, and after the official divorce from her first husband, they were legally married. Together, the couple became members of the Theosophical Society of the United States, where Foster was head of the national section. This allowed the opening of several schools where mysticism could be spread.
Alice Bailey met Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, whose writings "The Secret Doctrine" and "Isis Unveiled" became an inspiration to continue the hard work.
Writing activity
In the same year 1919, the guidance of her Teacher again comes to Bailey, who asks her to sit down to write a number of works, and they should be read by people all over the world. The author of the books is Alice Bailey, but, as she herself claimed, they were dictated to her by the Teacher, who appears in these works under the name of the Tibetan. In more than thirty years, twenty books have come out from under her pen. All of them in one way or another contained recommendations, explanations, instructions for readers regarding mystical, esoteric and religious events. Sometimes she allowed herself to insert a description of her séances, during which Bailey was transported over long distances, communicated with deceased historical figures and gained knowledge.
School
Together with her husband, the founder of the Lucis Trust organizationAlice Bailey organized the Arcane School. It provided knowledge about how a person should move along the Path of Evolution, how to enter the Spiritual Hierarchy, how to achieve success in spiritual purification, and the like. Throughout its existence, hundreds of people have passed through this educational institution, wishing to gain knowledge associated with mysticism and hermeticism. The aforementioned "Lucis trans" was engaged in the publication of Bailey's books, popularizing them in the media.
Autobiography
In their declining years, the students persuaded their mentor to write a book in their own name. At first, she resisted for a long time, but then gave in, deciding that her experience would help others to embark on the path of faith and achieve significant success. In addition, this would be material evidence of the existence of the Hierarchy of spiritual guides, world Teachers, which are also mentioned by Alice Bailey. The biography remained unfinished - the author died. But the followers still published it, albeit in an abridged version, as a tribute to the memory of their teacher.
Classification of esoteric schools
In this autobiography, Alice Bailey characterizes and classifies all the schools of spiritual development that existed at that time. In her opinion, they could be divided into four groups:
- Schools of aspirants. The teachers there are mostly power-hungry ambitious people. They cannot bring something new into the life of their students, since they themselves are still poorly versed in the subject. Their lectures are full of platitudes compiled from books on the occult and oldallowances. Among other things, leaders do not recognize any criticism of them and constantly check their students for loy alty.
- School teachers. There are few such institutions, in them the teacher only transfers knowledge, without analyzing it from the point of view of his own experience, since he understands that he cannot do it. He does not express claims to higher powers, rarely comes into contact with them and focuses more on his own experience.
- Schools of a new type. In such institutions, already advanced students who have reached a certain position in the Spiritual hierarchy teach. They seek to teach their followers something new and to explain existing truths from a different point of view. This always presents a certain difficulty, because it is natural for a person to react with denial to something that does not correspond to his ideas about the truth. People who teach in these schools have a stronger influence on others due to powerful inner radiation. They expand the areas of their work, strive to cover as many followers as possible. It is they who are entrusted with the difficult mission of founding new schools.
- False schools. There are taught distorted truths that lead believers astray. Luckily, Bailey noted, they were few in number and their influence was short-lived, so people who did fall under it had a chance to get back to square one and start moving in the right direction again.
Recent years
Alice Bailey, whose years of life fell on the First and Second World Wars, leftafter herself a rich spiritual heritage, she was a wife and mother, as well as a teacher for many of her followers. She was able to abandon the familiar world, comfort, security in favor of spiritual enlightenment. This act alone is worthy of respect.
In our time, mysticism and esotericism have acquired a slightly different meaning. They are popularized by mass culture as something supernatural, giving magical powers or dooming to the fight against evil spirits. It remains to be hoped that the allegorical nature of these images can still be understood by those who actually seek to expand the boundaries of their knowledge.
