Course IX - Teaching 8: Duties of the Sons

Cafh’s labor particularly influences those souls that form groups of seven Sons each in order to get the spiritual teaching. Each group has its characteristic, labor and mission; thence the Sons of one Table never assemble entirely, but by forming groups, with the exception of certain event or established festivity.
As the Son enters the Holy Order, he assumes duties whose fulfillment conditions his true permanence in Cafh since the soul of the Son comes into contact with the Mystical Body of Cafh through this fulfillment.
First, the Son must fulfill the Regulation with entire fidelity.
Fidelity is the fundamental virtue that Cafh makes all Sons cultivate.
The demand does not imply mere observance of the Regulation but intrinsic attachment to it, and the fidelity to the Regulation leads the Son to commune with the Spirit of the Regulation.
The Son comes into permanent contact with the Great Current through a perfect observance but he takes part in the Great Work through fidelity.
The Son must attend punctually to meetings of his group. A meeting is a holy date; it is then when the Orators impart the Teaching and the Superior blesses the Sons. So, an unpunctual attendance is a serious fault that the Superior can justify but not to excuse, since this fault affects the Masters.
On the other hand, unpunctuality is one characteristic of the disordered living of men in the world.
Those diligent Sons to fulfill this duty with the Group shall get used to be punctual at any job and to distribute orderly their time.
Other duty of the Son consists in studying with diligence and in carrying out any appointed work.
A mere reading of notes about the Teaching is not enough so that they become a living knowledge in the soul.
One must study and learn the teachings, since this is the way to introduce and harbor them in one’s soul.
These teachings shall remain there if they have been study with application for a long while: meanwhile, the subconscious shall develop them and grasp their spiritual contents, which shall flourish at the exact moment before the astonished eyes of the disciple. So, memorization is the first step that demands diligence.
The Son can have many and varied appointed works; he has to wish them fervently, since the Son should not be the passive element of reception for life, but gradually and slowly he must become able to receive in a divine way, that is, to give of himself, and to work for the sake of work.
These works are not as much necessary to Cafh as to the very soul, and Cafh uses this tool to prepare the Sons for the Divine labor. So, any resistance is harmful. Any reluctance makes the work unproductive.
Cafh desires to guide the souls toward the fulfillment of the divine laws and introduces and cultivates among its Sons the concept of hierarchy, which so real in the higher worlds but so resisted in the world of man. This concept is one of the foundations of obedience to the Superiors, which the Regulation establishes.
On the other hand, obedience is a basic virtue for the spiritual progress. No virtue can be considered definitely realized without obedience, since obedience fulfilled since the first steps on the Path disconnects the soul from a personal –ever passion-like– will by subjecting it to the will of a Superior; which however be a strange will is already more divine than personal.
So, whether for the sake of health of the soul or for the sake of due Cafh’s organization, obedience is an essential regulation requirement.
The Regulation also establishes the duty of respecting one’s companions; and not to forget that a spiritual friendship unites the Sons, which derives from a community of ideals and from their permanence in Cafh. The nature of this link is higher than any conventionalism, and the expression of this link implies mutual respect.
Obedience and respect are externally expressed by giving to each person his place and title, according to the Regulation.
The Regulation establishes as a moral duty of the Sons to make a monthly collect to sustain Works protected by Cafh, and other Works; so the Sons contribute to affirm spontaneously the material aspect of the Great Work for the sake of Humanity.
The Son must not leave the Stability Area of his respective Table.
The stability fixes the aura of the Table on the environment. It encompasses an area and spreads its influence on it. If the Table unites all its Sons with a magnetic thread and acts in this way, the absence of a Son disorders the whole, and therefore spoils expression of it.
When a Son has to leave for a just cause, he must ask license of his Superior so that the latter appraises this cause, and grants the license or not, and then replaces the absent Son in the mystical choir of his Table. Moreover, the Son must ask license of his Superior not to attend to a meeting for inevitable motives.
We have already said that the meetings of the Sons are holy dates, which they must compulsorily attend to. If the Son does not attend without license and a just motive, his attitude would be haughty and conceited as to his reasons. But if he expresses these motives to his Superior, and sacrifices his personality, then he would redeem his absence before his Superior.
If members of an outer enterprise for a better organization must report any change of address, this is far more important in Cafh, since the address of the Son is where the Great Current should be harbored. Any change must be reported for the Superior to be able to delimit the magnetic field where his blessing shall be poured.
The most direct method for the self-exaltation is to try to exalt Cafh, and also the Regulation establishes this.
The more fervent is the Son in his relationships with Cafh, the more depersonalized he is and lives on the great vibratory orbit of Cafh.
The more the Son works for Cafh, the closer he is to the divine labor, and the more he moves away from the limited circle of personal problems.
Cafh’s fervor opens the soul to understand other souls and widens the heart to make it fit to feel the Great Love.