We have, then, delivered the simple explanation of the Great Work: deliberate and knowledgeable alignment of ones intentions with those of the Supreme Being. The importance of the Lesser Work in providing on with the ability to partake in the Greater should not be, but sadly, is overlooked. How often do we read even the phrase 'The Lesser Work' in standard occult literature where its elder term the 'Magnum Opus' is tossed about with much gay abandon? Yet the term 'Great' denotes by its very nature that there must or should be a 'Lesser'. Whatever the Greater may be it is our contention valueless and misconceived without a careful and accurate understanding of its beginnings. So let us now, carefully, examine the Lesser Work and its formula.

As we have pointed out in our preceding discussion all of Nature originates from One source. After this fact creation, the act of becoming, is governed by One intention or Will. This Will we refer to as The 'Law'. According to this view everything in creation is therefore part of a plan. A plan, we assert, is an orderly arrangement of ideas designed to present a measurable understanding of a process.

The primal act of creation is therefore governed by a simple formula. This formula is the mother formula which lies behind the laws governing the dynamics of every system. A system is any aggregate of subjects or objects which act together in order to realize a goal.

Taking all of this into consideration it is not difficult to accept that human development is a process of becoming, a process of creation. We are, physically and mentally, evolving towards some goal, we are not static beings. The Hermetic Tradition further asserts that all systems evolve through various stages. Each stage has a definite starting point and a definite stopping point. Further, and more importantly, for any system to bridge the gap between one stage of evolution and another a 'shock' to that system must be applied from without. Alchemists present this fact in the statement that 'Nature unaided cannot perfect our matter'. It is only through the intervention of man, they demand, that arte transforms Nature beyond its natural boundaries.

Hermetic Science therefore carefully points out that where human evolution is concerned evolution plateau's out at a certain point and cannot advance further without the application of a special kind of shock-to-the-system. In order to, in a moment, deliver our point more effectively, we will point out that within the family of humanity there are, roughly, four types of person. The first is little more than an animal. That is he looks like a human but his habits, desires and intellect are not too much advanced from the higher members of the animal kingdom. The second is a little more refined than the first, having conceded to accepting a rule to live by which is designed to assert the rights of the individual as a semi-intelligent being. These second types still, never-the-less, maintain or are governed by, the herd instinct. They are habitual, motivated by fear and intolerant of the actual Truth. The third type is intelligent man. He has, to a degree, but not totally, risen above the average by taking it into his own hands a desire to think for himself, to be intelligent in an marked manner. The fourth and last kind is altogether almost completely outside of the herd instinct, of slavery by the animal in him. He is highly intelligent, but not necessarily in an academic manner. He has a deep connection with life and a strong conviction about the reality of mans transcendental nature.

Now, it does not take the delivery of a great shock to evolve a man from stage (type) one to type two. Although we might not expect, in one lifetime, for the type one individual to progress so much that he jumps two gaps and finds himself in type (stage) three. It is just as unlikely, or possibly even more so, that type two persons will not jump two gaps in the evolutionary cycle to find themselves a type four within one lifetime. We say 'even more so' because the gap between types three and four is an extreme on which requires the acceptance of a 'special' type of shock, which we mentioned earlier, in order to 'jump the gap' at that point of development.

This special type of shock the classic Sages have called occult Initiation. Now, when we, herein, use this term 'Initiation' we do not refer, simply, to induction into just any kind of occult group or system. We refer to one kind of situation only. About this specific kind of situation we can firstly say that it is what the ancient Sages were most concerned with when they trained students in the secret sciences. It is what educated occultists today desire when they join occult Societies, Fraternities or Orders … but sadly, rarely find. This 'situation' can be found in any organized system but is rarely if ever found in every group or training situation in every system. In the same way those groups or individuals within an initiatory system who at any time 'have it' may just the same not have it at other times. So we might just as well say that that which we are referring to here can appear or be found, within the realm of esoteric training, anywhere and at anytime but never everywhere or all the time.

What we are actually referring to here is the ability for a group or a single teacher to provide the 'shock' needed to take a person from type three to type four humanity. This 'shock' is a very specific process or mechanism. We shall call it 'The formula' here for our present purposes.

It has been observed that when a group or individual has successfully applied the formula or provided the right circumstances for the shock to occur it is most often, about 90% of the time, unconsciously done so on the part of the Initiator. In other words nature provides the aspirant, the right time and place and the appropriate vehicle, be it a single person or a special kind of situation. It might be argued by those who are familiar with the situation that the percentage of conscious deliberate successful Initiations is much higher. That occult schools have a good success in pulling students through the process effectively. Again, we do not disagree that these occult systems work, but we do assert that it is often in spite of the efforts of those who run such systems that they work. A certain degree of knowledge might be had by the Initiator about what the actual intentions of the rite he works and training methods are, but as we shall see by the end of this treatise, few individuals, very likely, have a full understanding of that subtle, natural, underlying formula that must govern every successful occult Initiation into a system that is designed to mature the soul.

The formula itself is very simple to describe. As it should be. It is a little more difficult to understand, and usually requires having passed through its fiery hoop in order to grasp its subtleties. The 'doing' is the hardest thing of all, in that it is very uncomfortable for the aspirant. But it is also easy, in the manner that the process is self actuating and fulfilling … eventually.

To Chapter Three