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Esoteric Psychology I - Section One - II. Certain Questions and their Answers
Each of these rays is dual in time and space, though only the second ray is dual when they are regarded from the standpoint of the final abstraction. In their temporary duality can be seen, for each of them, the interplay which we call cause and effect. Ray I - Will, dynamically applied, emerges in manifestation as power. Ray II - Love, magnetically functioning, produces wisdom. Ray III - Intelligence, potentially found in substance, causes activity. The result of the interplay of these three major rays can be seen in the activity of the four minor rays. The Secret Doctrine speaks of the Lords of Knowledge and of Love, and also of the Lords of Ceaseless Devotion. We might, in order more clearly to understand the mystical significance of these names, point out that the dynamic persistent will of the Logos expresses itself through the Lords of Ceaseless Devotion. Here devotion is not the quality to which I referred earlier in this treatise, but is the persistent directed one-pointed will of God, embodied in a Life which is that of the Lord of the first ray. The Lords of Love and of Knowledge are the two great Lives Who embody or ensoul the Love-Wisdom and the creative Intelligence aspects of the two major rays. These three are the sum total of all forms or appearances, the givers of all qualities, and the emerging Life aspect behind the tangible manifestations. They correspond, in the human family, to the three aspects of Personality, Soul and Monad. The Monad is dynamic will or purpose, but remains unrevealed until after the third initiation. The Monad is Life, the sustaining force, a Lord of persevering and ceaseless devotion to the pursuit of a seen and determined objective. The soul is a Lord of love and wisdom, whilst the personality is a Lord of knowledge [49] and of intelligent activity. This use of terms involves the realization of an achieved goal. It is not true of the present stage as regards expression, for this is the intermediate stage. None are as yet working with full intelligent activity, though some day each will do so. None are as yet manifesting Lords of love, but they sense the ideal and are striving towards its expression. None are as yet Lords of ceaseless will and none realize as yet the plan of the monad nor the true goal towards which all are striving. Some day all will. But potentially every human unit is all these three, and some day the appearances which were called personalities, that mask or veil reality, will fully reveal the qualities of Deity. When that time comes, the purpose for which all creation waits will burst upon the awakened vision, and we shall know the true meaning of bliss, and why the morning stars sang together. Joy is the strong basic note of our particular solar system. One of the foundational septenate of rays embodies in itself the principle of harmony, and this fourth Ray of Harmony gives to all forms that which produces beauty and works towards the harmonizing of all effects emanating from the world of causes, which is the world of the three major rays. The ray of beauty, of art and harmony is the producer of the quality of organization through form. It is in the last analysis the ray of mathematical exactitude and is not the ray of the artist, as so many seem to think. The artist is found on all rays, just as is the engineer or the physician, the home-maker or the musician. I want to make this clear, for there is much misunderstanding on this matter. Each of the great rays has a form of teaching truth to humanity which is its unique contribution, and in this way develops man by a system or technique which is qualified by the ray quality and is therefore specific and unique. Let me point out to you the modes of this group teaching: [50] Ray I - Higher Expression: The science of statesmanship, of government. Lower Expression: Modern diplomacy and politics. Ray II - Higher Expression: The process of initiation as taught by the hierarchy of adepts. Lower Expression: Religion. Ray III - Higher Expression: Means of communication or interaction. The radio, telephone, telegraph and the power to travel. Lower Expression: The use and spread of money and gold. Ray IV - Higher Expression: The Masonic work, based on the formation of the hierarchy, and related to the second ray. Lower Expression: Architectural construction. Modern city planning. Ray V - Higher Expression: The science of the soul. Esoteric psychology. Lower Expression: Modern educational systems and mental science. Ray VI - Higher Expression: Christianity and diversified religions. (Notice here relation to Ray II.) Lower Expression: Churches and organized religions. Ray VII. Higher Expression: All forms of white magic. Lower Expression: Spiritualism of "phenomena." The fourth ray is essentially the refiner, the producer of perfection within the form, and the prime manipulator of the energies of God in such a way that the Temple of the Lord is indeed known in its true nature as that which "houses" the Light. Thus the Shekinah will shine forth within the secret place of the Temple in its full glory. Such is the work of the seven Builders. This ray is expressive primarily on the first [51] of the formless planes, counting from below upwards, and its true purpose cannot emerge until the soul is awakened and consciousness is adequately recording the known. The planes or manifested spheres of expression are influenced in manifestation in a numerical order: Ray I - Will or Power - Plane of divinity. Ray II - Love-Wisdom - Plane of the monad. Ray III - Active Intelligence - Plane of spirit, atma. Ray IV - Harmony - Plane of the intuition. Ray V - Concrete Knowledge - Mental Plane. Ray VI - Devotion, Idealism - Astral Plane. Ray VII - Ceremonial Order - Physical Plane. The fifth ray therefore works actively on the plane of the greatest moment to humanity, being, for man, the plane of the soul, and of the higher and the lower mind. It embodies the principle of knowledge, and because of its activity and its close relation to the third Ray of Active Intelligence might be regarded as a ray having a most vital relation to man at this time in particular. It is the ray which - when active, as it was in Lemurian times, - produces individualization, which is literally the shifting of the evolving life of God into a new sphere of awareness. This particular transference into higher forms of awareness tends, at the beginning, to separativeness. The fifth ray has produced what we call science. In science we find a condition which is rare in the extreme. Science is separative in its approach to the differing aspects of the divine manifestation which we call the world of natural phenomena, but it is non-separative in actuality, for there is little warring between the sciences and little competition between scientists. In this the workers in the scientific field differ profoundly from those of the religious. The reason for this is to be found in the fact that the true scientist, being a coordinated personality and working therefore on mental levels, works very close to the soul. The developed personality produces the [52] clear distinctions of the dominant lower mind, but (if one may use such a symbolic way of expression) the close proximity of the soul negates a separate attitude. The religious man is pre-eminently astral or emotional and works in a more separative manner, particularly in this Piscean age which is passing away. When I say the religious man I refer to the mystic and to the man who senses the beatific vision. I refer not to disciples nor to those who are called initiates, for they add to the mystical vision a trained mental apprehension. The sixth Ray of Devotion embodies the principle of recognition. By this I mean the capacity to see the ideal reality lying behind the form; this implies a one-pointed application of desire and of intelligence in order to produce an expression of that sensed idea. It is responsible for much of the formulation of the ideas which have led man on, and for much of the emphasis on the appearance which has veiled and hidden those ideals. It is on this ray primarily - as it cycles in and out of manifestation - that the work of distinguishing between appearance and quality is carried forward, and this work has its field of activity upon the astral plane. The complexity of this subject and the acuteness of the feeling evolved become therefore apparent. The seventh Ray of Ceremonial Order or Magic embodies a curious quality which is the outstanding characteristic of the particular Life which ensoul this ray. It is the quality or principle which is the coordinating factor unifying the inner quality and the outer tangible form or appearance. This work goes on primarily on etheric levels and involves physical energy. This is the true magical work. I should like to point out that when the fourth ray and the seventh ray come into incarnation together, we shall have a most peculiar period of revelation and of light-bringing. It is said of this time that then "the temple of the Lord will take on an added glory and the Builders will rejoice together." This will be the high moment [53] of the Masonic work, spiritually understood. The Lost Word will then be recovered and uttered for all to hear, and the Master will arise and walk among His builders in the full light of the glory which shines from the east. The spiritualizing of forms might be regarded as the main work of the seventh ray, and it is this principle of fusion, of coordination and of blending which is active on etheric levels every time a soul comes into incarnation and a child is born on earth.
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