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Esoteric Psychology I - Section One - II. Certain Questions and their Answers
Question 2 What are the Origin, Goal, Purpose and Plan of the Soul? The seven rays are the sum total of the divine Consciousness, of the universal Mind; They might be regarded as seven intelligent Entities through Whom the plan is working out. They embody divine purpose, express the qualities required for the materializing of that purpose, and They create the forms and are the forms through which the divine idea can be carried forward to completion. Symbolically, They may be regarded as constituting the brain of the divine Heavenly Man. They correspond to the ventricles of the brain, to the seven centers within the brain, to the seven centers of force, and to the seven major glands which determine the quality of the physical body. They are the conscious executors of [60] divine purpose; They are the seven Breaths, animating all forms which have been created by Them to carry out the plan. It may perhaps be easier to understand the relation of the seven rays to Deity if we remember that man himself (being made in the image of God) is a sevenfold being, capable of seven states of consciousness, expressive of the seven principles or basic qualities which enable him to be aware of the seven planes upon which he is, consciously or unconsciously, functioning. He is a septenate at all times, but his objective is to be consciously aware of all the states of being, to express consciously all the qualities, and to function freely on all the planes. The seven ray Beings, unlike man, are fully conscious and entirely aware of the purpose and the Plan. They are "ever in deep meditation," and have reached the point where, through Their advanced stage of development, They are "impelled toward fulfilment." They are fully self-conscious and group-conscious; They are the sum total of the universal mind; They are "awake and active." Their goal and Their purpose is such that it is idle for us to speculate about it, for the highest point of achievement for man is the lowest point for Them. These seven Rays, Breaths and Heavenly Men have the task of wrestling with matter in order to subjugate it to divine purpose, and the goal - as far as one can sense it - is to subject the material forms to the play of the life aspect, thus producing those qualities which will carry the will of God to completion. They are therefore the sum total of all the souls within the solar system, and Their activity produces all forms; according to the nature of the form so will be the grade of consciousness. Through the seven rays, the life or spirit aspect flows, cycling through every kingdom in nature and producing thus all states of consciousness in all fields of awareness. For the purpose of this treatise students will have to accept [61] the hypothesis that every human being is swept into manifestation on the impulse of some ray, and is colored by that particular ray quality, which determines the form aspect, indicates the way he should go, and enables him (by the time the third initiation is reached) to have sensed and then to have cooperated with his ray purpose. After the third initiation he begins to sense the synthetic purpose towards which all the seven rays are working; but as this treatise is written for aspirants and disciples, and not for initiates of the third degree, it is needless to speculate upon this ultimate destiny. The human soul is a synthesis of material energy, qualified by intelligent consciousness, plus the spiritual energy which is, in its turn, qualified by one of the seven ray types. Thus the human being emerges, a son of God, incarnate in form, with one hand (as the Old Commentary says) holding firmly to the rock of matter and with the other hand plunged into a sea of love. An ancient scripture puts it thus: "When the right hand of the man of matter grasps the flower of life and plucks it for himself, the left hand remains in emptiness. "When the right hand of the man of matter grasps the golden lotus of the soul, the left descends seeking the flower of life, though he seeks it not for selfish ends. "When the right hand holds the golden lotus firm and the left hand grasps the flower of life, man finds himself to be the seven-leaved plant which flowers on earth and flowers before the Throne of God." The purpose of Deity, as it is known to the Creator, is totally unknown to all save the higher initiates. But the purpose of each ray Life may be sensed and defined, subject of course to the limitations of the human mind and to the inadequacy of words. The planned activity of every ray qualifies every form found within its body of manifestation. We come now to a technical statement which must be accepted for the sake of argument, being incapable of proof. [62] All the Lords of the rays create a body of expression, and thus the seven planets have come into being. These are their major expressions. The Sun (Veiling Vulcan) Jupiter Saturn Mercury Venus Mars The Moon The energies of these seven Lives however are not confined to their planetary expressions, but sweep around the confines of the solar system just as the life impulses of a human being - his vital forces, his desire impulses, and his mental energies - sweep throughout his body, bringing the various organs into activity and enabling him to carry out his intent, to live his life, and to fulfil the objective for which he created his body of manifestation. Each of the seven kingdoms in nature reacts to the energy of some particular ray Life. Each of the seven planes similarly reacts; each septenate in nature vibrates to one or another of the initial septenate, for the seven rays establish that process which assigns the limits of influence of all forms. They are that which determines all things, and when I use these words I indicate the necessity of Law. Law is the will of the seven Deities, making its impression upon substance in order to produce a specific intent through the method of the evolutionary process.
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