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Esoteric Psychology I - Section Two - III. The Rays and Man
SECTION TWO - CHAPTER THREE III. The Rays and Man Introductory Remarks I have now dealt with one of the basic problems confronting the race at this time. I interpolated my comments on the subject of sex at that particular point because it made a fitting conclusion to our study of the rays in connection with the animal kingdom. Man is a living entity, a conscious son of God (a soul) occupying an animal body. Here lies the point. He is therefore in the nature of a link, and a far from missing link. He unifies in himself the results of the evolutionary process as it has been carried on during the past ages, and he brings into contact with that evolutionary result a new factor, that of an individual self-sustaining, self-knowing aspect. It is the presence of this factor and of this aspect which differentiates man from the animal. It is this aspect which produces in humanity a consciousness of immortality, a self-awareness and a self-centeredness which make man truly to appear in the image of God. It is this innate and hidden power which gives man the capacity to suffer which no animal possesses, but which also confers on him the ability to reap the benefits of this experience in the realm of the intellect. This same capacity, in embryo, works out in the animal kingdom in the realm of the instincts. It is this peculiar property of humanity [312] which confers upon it the power to sense ideals, to register beauty, to react sensuously to music, and to enjoy color and harmony. It is this divine something which makes of mankind the prodigal son, torn between desire for the worldly life, for possessions and experience, and the attractive power of that center, or home, from which he has come. Man stands midway between heaven and earth, with his feet deep in the mud of material life and his head in heaven. In the majority of cases his eyes are closed, and he sees not the beauty of the heavenly vision, or they are open but fixed upon the mud and slime with which his feet are covered. But when his open eyes are lifted for a brief moment, and see the world of reality and of spiritual values, then the torn and distracted life of the aspirant begins. Humanity is the custodian of the hidden mystery, and the difficulty consists in the fact that that which man conceals from the world is also hidden from himself. He knows not the wonder of that which he preserves and nourishes. Humanity is the treasure-house of God (this is the great Masonic secret), for only in the human kingdom, as esotericists have long pointed out, are the three divine qualities found in their full flower and together. In man, God the Father has hidden the secret of life; in man, God the Son has secreted the treasures of wisdom and of love; in man, God the Holy Spirit has implanted the mystery of manifestation. Humanity, and humanity alone, can reveal the nature of the Godhead and of eternal life. To man is given the privilege of revealing the nature of the divine consciousness, and of portraying before the eyes of the assembled sons of God (at the final conclave before the dissolution) what has lain hidden in the Mind of God. Hence the injunction before us today (in the words of the great Christian teacher) to possess in ourselves "the mind of Christ." This mind must dwell in us and reveal itself [313] in the human race in ever greater fullness. To man is given the task of raising matter up into heaven, and of glorifying rightly the form side of life through his conscious manifestation of divine powers. To portray adequately the wonder and the destiny of the human kingdom lies beyond my powers or the power of any human pen, no matter how great a man's realization may be, or his response to the beauty of God's world. Divinity must be lived, expressed and manifested, to be understood. God must be loved, known and revealed within the human heart and brain, in order to be intellectually grasped. The hierarchy of mystics, knowers and lovers of God, are manifesting this revealed truth in the world of the mental plane and of the emotional plane today. But the hour has now come when the manifestation of this reality can, for the first time and in truth, manifest itself on the physical plane in an organized group form, instead of through the instrumentality of the few inspired sons of God who have, in past ages, incarnated as the guarantee of the future possibilities. The Hierarchy of Angels and of Saints, of Masters, Rishis and Initiates, can now begin to organize itself in material form on earth, because today the group idea is rapidly gaining ground, and the nature of humanity is being better understood. The Church of Christ, hitherto invisible and militant, can now be seen slowly materializing and becoming the Church visible and triumphant. This is the coming glory of the Aquarian Age; this is the next revelation of the evolutionary cycle, and such is the task of the immediate future. The true drama of this triple relationship (of which physical sex, as we have seen, is but the symbol) will be enacted on a large scale in the life of the modern aspirant during the next fifty years. We shall see what is called symbolically "the birth of the Christ," or the [314] second birth, taking place in many lives, producing on earth a large group of the spiritually newborn. They will be those who have brought together, consciously and within themselves, the two aspects of soul and body, and thus have consummated the "mystical marriage." The aggregate of these individual happenings will produce a group activity of an analogous kind, and we shall see the emergence on the physical plane of "the body of the Christ," and the appearance of the manifested Hierarchy. This is what is happening today, and all that we see going on around us in the world is but the pangs and the travail which precede this glorious birthing. We are now in the process of this consummation. Hence the difficulty and agony evidenced in the life of every true disciple who - embodying in himself symbolically the two aspects of father-mother, spirit-matter, and having nurtured the Christ child through a period of gestation - is now giving birth to the Christ, within the animal stable and in the manger of the world. In the sum total of the general accomplishment will the entire group achieve and the Christ again appear on earth, incarnated this time in the many and not in the one personality. Yet each member of the group is a Christ in manifestation, and all together present the Christ to the world, and constitute a channel for the Christ force and life. It is indeed and in truth from glory to glory that we go. The past glory of individualization must fade away in that of initiation. The glory of the slowly emerging self-consciousness must be lost to sight in the wonder of the group consciousness of the race, and this the foremost thinkers and workers today most ardently desire. The glory that can be seen faintly shining in humanity, and the dim light which flickers within the human form, must give place to the radiance which is the glory of the developed son of God. Only [315] a little effort is needed, and the demonstration of a steady staying power, to enable those who are now on the physical plane of experience to evidence the radiant light, and to establish upon the earth a great station of light which will illumine the whole of human thought. Always there have been isolated light bearers, down the ages. Now the group light bearer will shortly be seen. Then shall we see the rest of the human family (who respond not yet to the Christ impulse) having their progress facilitated towards the path of probation. The work will still be slow, and much yet remains to be done; but if all the aspirants of the world and all the disciples at work in the world today will submerge their personal interests in the task immediately ahead, we shall have what I might pictorially call the opening of a great station of light on earth, and the founding of a power house which will greatly hasten the evolution and elevation of humanity, and the unfoldment of the human consciousness. There has been for long in esoteric circles much idle and oft foolish talk anent the ray upon which a man may be found. People are as ignorantly excited over being told which is their ray as they are over the portrayal of their past incarnations. The "new teaching on the rays" vies with astrology in its interest. Like the Athenians, men are always searching for the novel and the unusual, forgetting that every new truth and every new presentation of an old truth carries with it the onus of increased responsibility. However, it is interesting to trace parallels, and it is becoming obvious to the careful student that the emergence of the teaching on the rays has happened at a time when the scientist is announcing the fact that there is naught to be seen and known save energy, and that all forms are composed of energy units and are in themselves expressions of force. [316] A ray is but a name for a particular force or type of energy, with the emphasis upon the quality which that force exhibits and not upon the form aspect which it creates. This is a true definition of a ray.
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