Purpose of Deity - ngws - worldserviceworld

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the fourth purpose of deity    death    present attitudes to death    death & the etheric body
disease & death    the devachanic experience    service    distinctive methods of ray service
seven rays    the rays enumerated    theproblemofsex    W-Holy Festivals    W-Holy Festivals updated    W-Holy Festivals part 3    Notice of imminent changes Shamballa Ageless Wisdom

the fourth purpose of deity:

Ray IV. Harmony, Beauty, Art

Colour, and yet no colour now is seen. Sound and the soundless One meet in an infinite point of peace. Time and the timeless One negate the thoughts of men. But time is not.

Form is there found, and yet the psychic sense reveals that which the form is powerless to hide,_ the inner synthesis, the all-embracing prism, that point of unity which_ when it is duly reached_ reveals a further point where all the three are one, and not the two alone.

Form and its soul are merged. The inner vision watches o'er the fusion, knows the divine relation and sees the two as one. But from that point of high attainment, a higher vision blazes forth before the opened inner eye. The three are one, and not alone the two. Pass on, O pilgrim on the Way.

In reading these words, the student must bear in mind that the antechamber has been left behind and man stands (when he/she has allowed the fourth ray to do its work and can therefore function on the fourth or buddhic plane) within the temple of the Lord. He/She has found a measure of light, but in that light he/she now sees light, and visions a greater revelation and brilliance. This now becomes the object of his/her search. He/She has mastered the uses of duality and has learnt to at-one soul and body into one instrument for spirit. Now he/she passes on his/her way to achieve the greater synthesis.

The Lord of the fourth ray has many names which warrant careful study and much consideration. In less than a hundred years this Lord of harmonising power will have more influence and will offset some of the Saturn disruption of the first decanate of Aquarius. In the meantime a study of His names will produce a simplification of His efforts and build up a body of constructive thought which will facilitate His work when He is again in active manifestation. He is always, however, more or less in power where the human family is concerned, for there is a numerical alliance between the fourth ray, the fourth Creative Hierarchy, or the human Monads, and the fourth kingdom in nature. His power is always consequently active.

The Perceiver on the Way
The Link between the Three and Three
The Divine Intermediary
The Hand of G od
The Hidden One
The Seed, that is the Flower
The Mountain whereon Form dies
The Light within the Light
The Corrector of the Form
The One Who marks the parting of the Way
The Master
The Dweller in the Holy Place
The Lower than the Three, the Highest of the Four
The Trumpet of the Lord.

The aphorisms connected with this fourth ray are not easy of comprehension. They require an exercise of the intuition and are conveyed by six short and excessively brief commands uttered, curiously enough, late in the creative period and at the time when the fourth Creative Hierarchy came into incarnation:

1. Speak low the Word. Speak low.
Quality......power to penetrate the depths of matter.
2. Champion desire. Give what is needed to the seeker.
Quality......the dual aspects of desire.
3. Lower the thread. Unfold the Way. Link man with God. Arise.
Quality......power to reveal the path.
4. All flowers are thine. Settle the roots in mud, the flowers in sun. Prove mud and sun, and roots and flowers are one.
Quality......power to express divinity. Growth.
5. Roll and return, and roll again. Cycle around the circle of the Heavens. Prove all is one.
Quality......the harmony of the spheres.
6. Colour the sound. Sound forth the colour. Produce the notes and see them pass into the shades, which in their turn produce the sounds. Thus all are seen as one.
Quality......the synthesis of true beauty.

This instruction on the rays is of deeper significance than can as yet be comprehended. Careful systematic study and a sane refraining from the forming of rapid deductions will be the wisest way in which to approach its consideration. It is not possible for us to deal with the definite human psychological applications at this early stage. We are occupied with starting a general outline, with the impartation of ideas, with the grounding of a few basic concepts in the consciousness of the reader, and with an attempt to clothe this most abstruse and difficult subject in such a form that some new rhythm of thought may be set in motion, and some new realisations be grasped and held. These concern at present a prototypal cosmic process, and will lead eventually to an understanding of the part an individual may play in a stupendous cosmic whole. We begin with the universal and end with the particular, which is ever the truly psyientific method.

However, all that we are positing about a ray Life may be equally well posited anent a human life, but it should be borne in mind that the pure ray type does not as yet exist, for there is not to be found that perfect form, mechanism or expression of the ray quality, nor that absolutely purified appearance in the human family, except in such rare cases as the Buddha, or Christ, and (in another field of expression) an Alexander or Julius Caesar. Leonardo da Vinci was an analogous expression. The rays concern energy and consciousness, and determine expression, but where the matter utilised and the vehicle informed is as yet imperfectly evolved, there is then limitation and the "tuning out" automatically of much of the energy. The effect of ray force, working through imperfect forms, must be distorted and curtailed and misapplied. Let us illustrate. W e have said that first ray energy works out as the destruction of forms; it must be remembered that a pure destroyer is utterly unknown, and mercifully for the race this is so. It is a beneficent condition that as yet a first ray ego is so handicapped and limited by the form nature and the quality of that form nature that it is unable to make adequate or intelligent use of its destructive force. First ray personalities are oft destructive, as well you know, but the energy generated is insufficient to work much harm. Again, pure love is incapable of expression today, its flow being impeded by the form nature. A consideration of these two cases will help the reader to appreciate the situation. But the time is near at hand wherein there will be a fuller expression of ray purpose, type or quality, and therefore a truer appearance.

This is owing to the imminent appearance, or manifestation, of certain great Lives Who will embody the energy of rays two, three, five and seven. They will thus constitute focal points for the inflow of these four types of divine energy and, this will produce a tremendous stimulation of their corresponding and responding units of life. These four Beings, Who will appear as human beings in the field of the modern world, may be looked for before the end of this century and Their united effort will inaugurate definitely the New Age, and usher in the period which will go down in history as the time of glory for the fifth root race. Each of these four Masters, for that They will be, is also subjectively the focal point for a triple inflow of energy from the centre in the Body of God which is symbolically spoken of as "the heart of the Sun." For each ray is in its turn a triple manifesting entity as is the solar Deity Himself. Love will be Their outstanding characteristic, and through that attractive magnetic force the new forms will come into being which will permit of purer ray types, and thus of more truly expressive appearances. A great deal of the destructive energy extant in the world today is due to the presence on the astral plane of a first ray noo of the planetary Logos. His work it is to clear the way for the manifestation of these other four major Noos, Who are primarily Builders; They will enter on Their work when the task of the wreckers of form has been accomplished.

We should like here to give a suggestion, for it is necessary that some of the methods of the Hierarchy should begin to be understood. The work of what in the West is called "the Christ Principle" is to build the forms for the expression of quality and life. That is the characteristic work of the second aspect of divinity. The work of the Antichrist is to destroy forms, and this is essentially the work of the first expression of divinity. But the work of the destroyer is not the work of black magic, and when ignorant humanity regards Antichrist as working on the black side, their error is great. His work is as beneficent as that of the building aspect, and it is but m-w-c's hatred of the death of forms which makes him/her regard the work of the destroyer as "black," as being against the divine will, and as subversive of the divine programme. The work of the representatives of that mysterious power which we call cosmic evil, and their responding representatives, is indeed worthy of the word "black"; but it is not applicable to the work of Antichrist. It might be added that the work of the black forces wells up from below, whilst the work of the destroyers is impelled from above. The symbols of these two ways are the sword and the cross.

After these preliminary remarks, which are intended to indicate the magnitude of the subject, we shall now proceed to an analysis of the three rays which still remain to be considered.

THE FIFTH PURPOSE OF DEITY

Ray V. Concrete Knowledge or Science

The thunders crash around the mountain top; dark clouds conceal the form. The mists, arising from the watery sphere, serve to distort the wondrous...... found within the secret place. The form is there. Its note is sounding forth.

A beam of light illuminates the form; the hidden now appears. Knowledge of God and how He veils Himself finds consummation in the thoughts of m-w-c. The energies and forces receive their secret names, reveal their inner purpose, and all is seen as rhythm, a returning on itself. The great scroll can now be read. God's purpose and His plans are fixed, and m-w-c can read the form.

The plan takes form. The plan is form. Its purpose is the revelation of the mind of God. The past reveals the form, but the present indicates the flowing in of energy.

That which is on its way comes as a cloud which veils the sun. But hid behind this cloud of immanence is love, and on the earth is love and in the heaven is love, and this,_ the love which maketh all things new_ must stand revealed. This is the purpose back of all the acts of this great Lord of Knowledge.

Before enumerating the names of this great Life, we should like to point out that the fifth ray is one of unique and peculiar potency in relation to the human kingdom. The reason is that the fifth plane of mind is the sphere of His major activity and it is on this plane that we find the triple aspects of mind:

1. Abstract /or higher mind, the embodiment of a higher triad.

2. The concrete /or lower mind, the highest aspect of the lower self.

3. The ego /or solar Angel, the pure Son of Mind, Who expresses intelligence, both abstractly and concretely, and is the point of unification.

This Life has also much power today in connection with the fifth root-race and with the transference of the consciousness of humanity into the fifth or spiritual kingdom. Students would learn much if they contrasted the building power of the higher mind with the destroying power of the lower. Just as the personality has no other function in the divine plan than to be a channel for, and the medium of expression of, the soul, so the lower mind is intended to be the channel for the pure inflow of higher mind energy.

This fifth ray is a Being of the intensest spiritual light and in His manifestation on this fifth plane, which is peculiarly Hiss, He symbolises the three aspects in a way achieved by no other ray. Through His quality of higher mind, this ray is a pure channel for the divine will. Through the septenary grouping of the solar lives on the mental levels whereon they appear, He brought into functioning activity seven corresponding reflections of the seven centres of Deity, as far as our planet is concerned, a thing which none of His six brother \ sister rays have done. This statement means little to you, but the tremendous sacrifice and effort thus involved are paralleled only by the life of the Buddha, and this is one of the reasons why, in this fifth race, love and mind must eventually and mutually reveal each other.

Some of the names given to the Lord of this ray are as follows:

The Revealer of Truth
The great Connector
The Divine Intermediary
The Crystallizer of Forms
The Three-fold Thinker
The Cloud upon the Mountain-top
The Precipitator of the Cross
The Dividing Sword
The Winnower of the Chaff
The Fifth great Judge
The Rose of God
The Heavenly One
The Door into the Mind of God
The Initiating Energy
The Ruler of the Third Heaven
The Guardian of the Door
The Dispenser of Knowledge
The Angel with the Flaming Sword
The Keeper of the Secret
The Beloved of the Logos
The Brother \ Sister from Sirius
The Master of the Hierophants

This fifth ray has so many names, owing to His close connection with man (since man was originally created), that it has not been easy to choose those which are of the most use in enabling the student to form an idea of the fifth ray characteristics and mission; but the study of the six aphorisms, and the qualities which they indicate, will show how potent and important is this ray Lord. These six aphorisms were chanted by His six Brothers at that momentous crisis wherein the human family came into existence and the solar Angels sacrificed themselves. Esoterically speaking, the "went down into hell, and found their place in prison." On that day souls were born. A new kingdom of expression came into being, and the three highest planes and the three lower were brought into a scintillating interchange.

1. God and His Angels now arise and see. Let the mountaintops emerge from out the dense wet mist. Let the sun touch their summits and let them stand in light. Shine forth.
Quality...... emergence into form and out of form.
2. God and His Angels now arise and hear. Let a deep murmur rise and let the cry of seeking man enter into their ears. Let man listen. Let m-w-c call. Speak loud.
Quality......power to make the Voice of the Silence heard.
3. God and His Angels now arise and touch. Bring forth the rod of power. Extend it outward toward the sons of men; touch them with fire, then bring them near. Bring forth.
Quality...... initiating activity.
4. God and His Angels now arise and taste. Let all experience come. Let all the ways appear. Discern and choose; dissect and analyse. All ways are one.
Quality......revelation of the way.
5. God and His Angels now arise and sense the odor rising from the burning-ground of m-w-c. Let the fire do its work. Draw man within the furnace and let him/her drop within the rose-red centre the nature that retards. Let the fire burn.
Quality......purification with fire.
6. God and His Angels now arise and fuse the many in the One. Let the blending work proceed. Let that which causes all to be produce the cause of their cessation. Let one temple now emerge. Produce the crowning glory. So let it be.
Quality......the manifestation of the great white light. (The Shekinah)

There is much of practical usefulness to the reader in a study of these qualities. When he/she believes him/herself to be upon a particular ray, they will indicate to him/her some of the characteristics for which he/she may look, and perhaps demonstrate to him/her what he/she has to do, what he/she has to express, and what he/she has to overcome. These qualities should be studied from two angles: their divine aspect and their reverse aspect or the form side. This ray, for instance, is shown to be the revealer of the way, and it should be remembered therefore that this fifth ray reveals the way down into death or into incarnation (which is the death-like prison of the soul), or it reveals the way up and out of darkness into the pure light of God's day. We mention this as we are exceedingly anxious that all who read this treatise should make application of this teaching to their daily lives. We are not interested in imparting weird or unusual items of information anent these matters for the delectation of an unhealthy mental appetite. The stocking of the memory with psyientific detail which serves no useful purpose only strains the brain cells and feeds the pride.

THE SIXTH PURPOSE OF DEITY

Ray VI. Devotion or Idealism

This ray which is just going out of manifestation, is of vital interest to us, for it has set its mark upon our western civilisation in a more definite way than any of the others. It is for us the most familiar and the best known of the rays. The mantram which defines its purpose is unlike the others and might be expressed somewhat as follows:

The Crusade is on. The warriors march upon their way. They crush and kill all that impedes their way, and aught that rises on their onward path is trampled under foot. March towards the light.

The work goes forward. The workers veil their eyes from pity as from fear. The work is all that counts. The form must disappear so that the loving spirit may enter into rest. Naught must arrest the progress of the workers with the plan. They enter upon the work assigned with paean and with song.

The cross is reared on high; the form is laid thereon, and on that cross must render up its life. Each builds a cross which forms the cross. They mount upon the cross.

Through war, through work, through pain and toil, the purpose is achieved. Thus saith the symbol.

It will be noted how this purpose, when applied by man to him/herself, works his/her release. When applied by man to man, it has produced the corrupt and awful story of m-w-c's cruelty to m-w-c. In the above mantram you will find the clue to the sixth ray purpose as it appears in the human kingdom, and a close expansive study (note that paradoxical phrase) of the underlying ideas will reveal a little of the larger purpose. The soul is and should be pitiless to its form and its problem. The soul can, however, comprehend the need for pain and difficulty in the world, for he/she can extend a knowledge of his/her own technique with him/herself to the technique of God with His world; but he/she does nothing knowingly that could possibly increase the world's pain or sorrow.

Some of the names for this beneficent yet somewhat violently energised Lord of a ray are as follows:

The Negator of Desire
The One Who sees the Right
The Visioner of Reality
The Divine Robber
The Devotee of Life
The Hater of Forms
The Warrior on the March
The Sword Bearer of the Logos
The Upholder of the Truth
The Crucifier and the Crucified
The Breaker of Stones
The Imperishable Flaming One
The One Whom Naught can turn
The Implacable Ruler
The General on the Perfect Way
The One Who leads the Twelve

Curiously enough, this sixth ray Lord has always been a loved enigma to His six Brethren. This comes out in the questions which They addressed to Him on one occasion when They met "under the eye of the Lord" to interchange Their plans for united, divine, harmonious action. They asked these questions in a spirit of heavenly joy and love, but with the intent to throw some light upon the somewhat obscure quality of Their loved Brother \ Sister.

1. Why is desire red? Why red as blood? Tell us, Oh Son of God, why thy way is red with blood?
Quality......power to kill out desire.
2. Why do you turn your back upon the sphere of earth? Is it too small, too poor? Why kick it as a ball upon a playing field?
Quality...... spurning that which is not desired.
3. Why set the cross from earth to heaven? But earth can be a heaven. Why mount the cross and die?
Quality......self-immolation.
4. Why battle thus with all that is around? Seek you not peace? Why stand between the forces of the night and day? Why thus unmoved and calm, untired and unafraid?
Quality..... endurance and fearlessness.
5. See you not God in all, the life in all, and love in all? Why separate yourself and leave behind the loved and the well-known?
Quality......power to detach oneself.
6. Can you arrest the waters of the sixth great sphere? Can you stem the flood? Can you recover both the raven and the dove? Can you, the Fish, swim free?
Quality......overcoming the waters of the emotional nature.

This out-going ray of devotion to the ideal, and the incoming ray of magical order or organisation are largely responsible for the type of m-w-c's consciousness today. Man is essentially devoted (to the point of fanaticism) to whatever may be the goal of his/her life's attention. This goal may be to achieve nooship, or to raise a family, or to get money, or to achieve popularity, or any other objective to which he/she consecrates his/her time and energy; but whatever it may be, to it he/she devotes all that he/she is or has. Man also is essentially and inherently a producer of Law and order, though this quality is only just beginning to make its presence felt. This is because mankind is, at last, becoming mentally centred, and hence we have in the world at this time the many and varied attempts to straighten out affairs along business, national, economic, social and other lines, to produce some system and order, and to bring about the re-arranging of all energies with the objective (unrealised consciously as yet) of inaugurating the New Age. Owing, however, to defective mental control and to an almost universal ignorance as to the Laws of thought, and in addition, to a profound lack of knowledge as to man's own nature, man works blindly. The ideals sensed are not correctly interpreted by the mind nor applied in such a way that they are of general and appropriate application. Hence the confusion and the chaotic experimentation going on, and hence also the imposition of personal authority to enforce an individual's idea of the ideal.

The need today is for sound teaching as to the Laws of thought, and the rules which govern the building of those thought-forms which must embody the ideas sent forth from the universal divine Mind. Men-w-c must begin on the subjective planes of life to work out the needed order. When this is realised, we shall have every important group of men engaged in world affairs, or in the work of government in all its branches, aided on the mental plane by trained thinkers, so that there may be right application and correct adjustment to the Plan. This time is as yet far away, and hence the distortions and misrepresentations on earth of the Plan as it exists in heaven, to use the Christian phraseology.

It was the realisation of the present world need for illumined thinkers and subjective workers which prompted Those Who guide so to direct the incoming spiritual energies that the formation of the esoteric groups everywhere came about; it led also to the publication of the mass of mystical and Oriental literature on meditation and allied topics which has flooded the world today. Hence also the effort that We, workers on the inner side of life, are making to teach the newer psychology in this treatise, and so show to m-w-c what is his/her equipment and how well suited he/she is to the work for which he/she has been created, and which he/she has as yet failed to comprehend. The force and the effect of the seventh ray influence will, however, reveal to him/her the magical work, and the next twenty five hundred years will bring about so much change and make possible the working of so many so-called "miracles" that even the outer appearance of the world will be profoundly altered; the vegetation and the animal life will be modified and developed, and much that is latent in the forms of both kingdoms will be brought into expression through the freer flow and the more intelligent manipulation of the energies which create and constitute all forms. The world has been changed beyond belief during the past five hundred years, and during the next two hundred years the changes will be still more rapid and deep-seated, for the growth of the intellectual powers of m-w-c is gathering momentum, and Man-W-C, the Creator, is coming into possession of His powers.

THE SEVENTH PURPOSE OF DEITY

Ray VII. Ceremonial Law /or Magic

"Let the Temple of the Lord be built", the seventh great Angel cried. Then to their places in the north, the south, the west and east, seven great sons of God moved with measured pace and took their seats. The work of building thus began.

The doors were closed. The light shone dim. The temple walls could not be seen. The seven were silent and their forms were veiled. The time had not arrived for the breaking forth of light. The Word could not be uttered. Only between the seven Forms the work went on. A silent call went forth from each to each. Yet still the temple door stayed shut.

As time went on, the sounds of life were heard. The door was opened, and the door was shut. Each time it opened, the power within the temple grew; each time the light waxed stronger, for one by one the sons of men entered the temple, passed from north to south, from west to east and in the centre of the heart found light, found understanding and the power to work. They entered through the door; they passed before the Seven; they raised the temple's veil and entered into life.

The temple grew in beauty. Its lines, its walls, its decorations, and its height and depth and breadth slowly emerged and entered into light.

Out from the east, the Word went forth: Open the door to all the sons of men who come from all the darkened valleys of the land and seek the temple of the Lord. Give them the light. Unveil the inner shrine, and through the work of all the craftsmen of the Lord extend the temple's walls and thus irradiate the world. Sound forth the Word creative and raise the dead to life.

Thus shall the temple of the light be carried from heaven to earth. Thus shall its walls be reared upon the great plains of the world of men. Thus shall the light reveal and nurture all the dreams of men.

Then shall the Master in the east awaken those who are asleep. Then shall the warden in the west test and try all the true seekers after light. Then shall the warden in the south instruct and aid the blind. Then shall the gate into the north remain wide open, for there the unseen Master stands with welcoming hand and understanding heart, to lead the pilgrims to the east where the true light shines forth.

"Why this opening of the temple?" demand the greater Seven. Because the work is ready; the craftsmen are prepared. God has created in the light. His sons can now create. What can else be done?"

"Naught!" came the answer from the greater Seven. "Let the work proceed. Let the sons of God create"

These words will be noted by many as of deep significance and as indicating a wide intention (during the coming cycle) to open the door wide into the temple of the hidden mystery to m-w-c. One by one we shall undergo the esoteric and spiritual counterpart of the psychological factor which is called "a mental test." That test will demonstrate a m-w-c's usefulness in mental work and power, it will show his/her capacity to build thought-forms and to vitalise them. This we dealt with in … [deleted], and the relation of that treatise to the magical work of the seventh ray and its cycle of activity will become increasingly apparent. … [deleted] is an attempt to lay down the rules for training and for work which will make it possible for the candidate to the mysteries to enter the temple and to take his/her place as a creative worker and thus aid in the magical work of the Lord of the Temple.

The names whereby this ray Lord is known are many, and their meaning is of prime significance today. The work of the future can be seen from a study of these names.

The Unveiled Magician
The Worker in the Magical Art
The Creator of the Form
The Bestower of Light from the Second Lord
The Manipulator of the Wand
The Watcher in the East
The Custodian of the Seventh Plan
The Invoker of Wrath
The Keeper of the Magical Word
The Temple Guardian
The Representative of God
The One Who lifts to Life
The Lord of Death
The One Who feeds the Sacred Fire
The Whirling Sphere
The Sword of the Initiator
The Divine Alchemical Worker
The Builder of the Square
The Orienting Force
The Fiery Unifier
The Key to the Mystery
The Expression of the Will
The Revealer of Beauty

This ray Lord has a peculiar power on earth and on the physical plane of divine manifestation. His usefulness to His six Brothers/Sisters is therefore apparent. He makes Their work appear. He is the most active of all the rays in this world period, and is never out of manifestation for more than fifteen hundred years. It is almost as if He whirled in and out of active work under a very rapid cycle, and His closest relation, symbolically, is to His Brethren/Sistren of the second and fifth rays in this world period.

He builds (using second ray cooperation) through the power of thought (thus cooperating with the Lord of the fifth ray and on the physical plane, which is His own essential and peculiar sphere). In another world period His relation with the other ray Lords may undergo change, but at this time His work will be more easily understood when He is recognised as aiding the building Lord of the second ray and utilising the energies of the Lord of concrete thought.

The aphorisms embodying His qualities run as follows, and were esoterically whispered into His ears when He "left the most high place and descended into the seventh sphere to carry out the work assigned."

1. Take thy tools with thee, brother \ sister of the building light. Carve deep. Construct and shape the living stone.
Quality......power to create.
2. Choose well thy workers. Love them all. Pick six to do thy will. Remain the seventhin the east. Yet call the world to enter into that which thou shalt build. Blend all together in the will of God.
Quality......power to cooperate.
3. Sit in the centre and the east as well. Move not from there. Send out thy force to do thy will and gather back thy forces. Use well the power of thought. Sit still.
Quality...... power to think.
4. See all parts enter into the purpose. Build towards beauty, brother-sisterhood. Make all colours brig ht and clear. See to the inner glory. Build the shrine well. Use care.
Quality......revelation of the beauty of God.
5. Watch well thy thought. Enter at will into the mind of God. Pluck thence the power, the plan, the part to play. Reveal the mind of God.
Quality......mental power.
6. Stay in the east. The five have given thee a friendly Word. I, the sixth, tell thee to use it on the dead. Revive the dead. Build forms anew. Guard well that Word. Make all men seek it for themselves.
Quality......power to vivify.

Thus we have studied a little the work of the seven Rays. The teaching has had to be conveyed symbolically and its understanding necessitates an awakened esoteric sense; to comprehend it all is not as yet possible.

The Chohans of the sixth initiation have the guidance of those units of consciousness in whom their particular ray vibration and colour predominate. The vast importance of this fact is often overlooked, even when theoretically acknowledged by aspirants to initiation. Hence the importance of determining the ray of the ego and of the Monad,_ something of vital moment after the third initiation. A majority and a minority always exist in every department of life. So it is in the work of the Logos, for at the end of the greater cycle (manvantara) the majority will find their way to the synthetic love ray; a small minority will find their way to the power ray. This minority are destined for an important function. They will constitute the nucleus which (in the next solar system) will constitute the majority, finding their synthesis on Ray one. This is a great mystery and not easily understood. Some hint towards its solution will be found hidden in the real meaning of the words "exoteric" and "esoteric."

The fact should be remembered that only five rays dominate at any one time. All manifest, but only five dominate. A distinction should be made between the rays dominating in a solar system and those dominating in a scheme, or a chain. To this reference has been made in … [deleted]. Three rays out of the seven synthesise. One ray out of the three will synthesise at the culmination. For the first solar system the third ray was the synthetic ray, but for this solar system the second ray is the synthetic ray, and for the next solar system the first ray will perform a similar function.

Two rays are largely the goal of human endeavour, the first ray and the second ray. One ray is the goal of the deva or angel evolution, the third ray. All these three rays contact the two poles, and the attainment of the goal at the end of the cycle marks the achievement of the solar Logos. This again is hidden in mystery. The seventh ray and the first ray are very closely allied, with the third ray linking them, so that we have the relation expressed thus,_ 1. 3. 7. There is a close association also between rays 2. 4. 6., with the fifth ray in a peculiar position, as a central point of attainment, the home of the ego or soul, the embodied plane of mind, the point of consummation for the personality, and the reflection in the three worlds of the threefold Monad.

Ray I.....Will, demonstrating as power in the unfolding of the Plan of the Logos.

Ray III...Adaptability of activity with intelligence. This ray was the dominant one in the past solar system; it is the foundation or basis of this system, and is controlled by the Mahachohan.

Ray VII..Ceremonial ritual or organisation. This is the reflection on the physical plane of the two above, and is likewise connected with the Mahachohan. It controls the elemental forces and the involutionary process and the form side of the three kingdoms in nature. It holds hid the secret of physical colour and sound. It is the Law

These three rays together embrace and embody all. They are Power, Activity and the Law in manifestation.

Ray II....Love and Wisdom, the synthetic ray which is the goal for this system, holding all in close harmony and relation.

Ray IV...The expression of Harmony, beauty, music and unity.

Ray VI...The ray of Devotion to the ardour of aspiration, and of the sacrifice of the personal self for the good of all, with the object in view of harmony and beauty, impelled thereto by love.

These two groups of rays might be related to each other as follows:

Rays 1. 3. 7 are the great rays connected with the form, with the evolutionary process, with the intelligent functioning of the system, and with the Laws controlling the life in all forms in all the kingdoms in nature.

Rays 2. 4. 6 are the rays connected with the inner life, expanding through those forms,_ the rays of motive, aspiration and sacrifice. Rays pre-eminently of quality. Rays 1. 3. 7 deal with things concrete and with the functioning of matter and form from the lowest plane to the highest.

Rays 2. 4. 6 deal with things abstract, with spiritual expression through the medium of form.

Ray 5 . . . .forms the connecting link of the intelligence.

Our third question comes up now for consideration and is as follows:

Question 3. Can the fact of the Soul be proved?

The soul has been satisfactorily disproved from the standpoint of academic science. For ages the search has gone on, with the objective of the search_ scientifically speaking_ being laid on the demonstration of the location of the soul in the human bodv. That has been the emphasis and the important factor to the scientific mind, which is so different to that of its more mystically inclined brother-sister.

All research, especially that carried on lately in connection with the modern materialistic schools and with the fuller understanding of the mechanism of the human body, has tended to prove that the soul is a superstition, a defense mechanism, and that conscious thought with all the higher manifestations of the human mind (and hence also the lower expressions of personality, selfhood and conscious integration) can well be provided for and accounted for by m-w-c's present equipment of brain, nervous system and the endocrine system. All these in their turn are understood to be the result of a long evolutionary and selective process. The wonder of the machine itself is divine in its completion and in its scope. From a primeval germ, developing under the pressure of nature's Laws , and of environing conditions plus a consistent adaptation to requirements and a most careful selection, man has developed; he/she now possesses a mechanism which is responsive to the natural world, to sensation and to thought. That which is called the soul is regarded frequently as the result of this selective process and as constituting the sum total of the responsive and discriminating powers of the cells and organs of the body, plus the life principle. All, we are told, is inherent in the parental germ, and the conditions of the environment, added to heredity and education, are sufficient to account for the phenomena of the human consciousness. Man-W-C is a machine, a part of a still greater machine which we call nature, and both man and nature are run on immutable Laws . There is no free will except within certain clearly defined limits, which are defined by equipment and by circumstance. There can be no immortality, for when the machine breaks down and disintegrates there is nothing left but the dissociated cells and atoms of which it was originally composed. When the principle of coherence or of integration ceases to function, that which it produced_ the coherent functioning body_ likewise ceases to function. Consciousness and choice, awareness and affection, thought and temperament, life and love, character and capacities_ all disappear, and there is nothing left but the atoms of which the body had been composed. These in their turn are dissipated and disappear, and all has finally been reabsorbed into the general reservoir of forces and atoms.

Of the countless millions of human beings who have lived and loved, suffered and rejoiced upon our planet, what is left today to guarantee to us their existence in the past, not to speak of their continuing existence in the present? A few bones, a few buildings, and, later, traces of their historical influence; later still, we note what they have left behind of beauty in the field of literature, of architecture, of painting, and in those forms in which they have embodied their thought and aspiration, their visions and their ideals. On the planet today we find a humanity at all stages of development, with mechanisms of varying kinds, adequate and inadequate. We find all of them, without exception, breaking down under test and limited by disease, or hiding the seeds of disease; the perfect equipment is totally unknown, and every man harbors the germs of trouble. No m-w-c possesses a perfect mechanism, but owns one that must inevitably break down at some point that is conditioned by an under-developed or over-developed glandular system, that hides at some point inherited disease and racial weaknesses, and that fails somewhere, in some portion of the mechanism, to meet the needs (physical, emotional, and mental) of the day and hour. Of what does this speak? Of the sum total of the united cell life; of the environing group in which a particular form finds itself; of the life, impersonal and abstract in nature, which pervades it; of a vague group spirit that is expressing itself through the fourth kingdom in nature; of a temporary and impermanent self; or of an immortal entity who is the dweller in the body?

Such are some of the questions which arise today; and in the last analysis, belief in the soul can be posited as being largely a matter of temperament, of the wish and desire of the ages wherein m-w-c struggled and suffered and relieved the strain of living by constructing a body of thought around a happy immortal being, who was to be free, eventually and finally, from all the difficulties of physical existence. The soul can be regarded as a beautiful vision or as an hallucination, for all that tends to prove its existence is the testimony of the many mystics down the ages to a contact and an experience which can be accounted for in terms of dream life, of brain lesions or of escape reactions, but which rests on no sure foundation. So say the materialists and the upholders of proven scientific facts. Belief, verbal testimony, hope, curious and inexplicable psychic happenings, the mass of untrained opinion and the findings of visionary people (who were probably psychopathic cases) are not enough to prove the fact of the soul. They prove only m-w-c's power to imagine, to build images and pictures, and to lose him/herself and his/her dreadful present in a dream world of a possible and ardently desired future in which frustration will end, in which full expression will be achieved, and in which each m-w-c will enter into an impossible heritage which he/she has him/herself constructed out of the unrealised hopes and dim unuttered longings of his/her deeply hidden thought life. Belief in God and Heaven and in an immortal future have grown out of the ancient awe and ignorant terror of infant humanity. They saw in all the phenomena of nature (incomprehensible and terrifying) the activity of a gigantic man, built on lines which were the projection of their own consciousness, and who could be propitiated or angered by the behaviour of a human being. The result of a man's effect upon this deity provided m-w-c's destiny, which was either good or bad according to the reactions of this God to his/her deeds. Thus we have the origin of the heaven or hell complexes of the present religious faiths. From this grew, automatically, the idea of a persistent entity called the soul, which could enjoy heaven or suffer hell at the will of God and as the result of actions done whilst in the human form. As the forms of man grew in sensitivity; as they became more and more refined under the influence of the law of selection and of adaptation; as the group life grew closer and the group integration was improved; as the heritage of history, of tradition and of the arts grew richer and made its impress, so that ideas of God grew, and likewise ideas of the soul and of the world, man's concepts of reality grew richer and deeper, so that today we are faced with the problem of a thought inheritance which testifies to a world of concepts, ideas and intuitions which deal with the immaterial and the intangible, and which testify to an age-long belief in a soul and its immortality for which there is no true justification. At the same time we have demonstrated to us by science that all we can really know with certainty is the tangible world of phenomena, with its forms, its mechanisms, its test tubes and its laboratories, and the bodies of men "fearfully and wonderfully made," diverse and different. These in some mysterious way produce thoughts and dreams and imaginings, and which, in their turn, find expression in the formulated schemes of the past, the present and the future, or in the fields of literature, art and of science itself, or in the simple everyday life of the ordinary human being who lives and loves and works and plays and bears children and eats food and earns money and sleeps.

And then what? Does man disappear into nothingness, or does, somewhere, a part of him/her (hitherto unseen) live on? Does this aspect survive for a time and then in its turn disappear, or is there an immortal principle, a subtle intangible entity which has an existence either in the body or out of the body, and which is the undying immutable Being, belief in Whom has sustained countless millions down the ages? Is the soul a fiction of the imagination and has science satisfactorily disproved its existence? Is consciousness a function of the brain and of the allied nervous system, or shall we accept the idea of a conscious dweller in the form? Does our power to become aware of and to react to our surroundings find its source in the body-nature, or is there an entity who beholds and takes action? Is this entity different to and separable from the body, or is it the result of the body type and life, and so either persists after the body disappears, or disappears with it and is lost? Is there nothing but matter or energies in constant movement which produce the appearances of men who react in their turn and express the energy that is pouring through them blindly and unconsciously, having no individual existence? Or are all these theories partially true, and shall we really comprehend the nature and being of man only in the synthesis of all of them and in the acceptance of the general premises? Is it not possible that the mechanically minded and scientific investigators are right in their conclusion anent the mechanism and the form nature, and that the spiritually minded thinkers who posit an immortal entity are also right? As yet perhaps something is lacking which would bridge the gap between the two positions. Is it possible that we may discover a something which will link the intangible world of true being with the tangible world (so-called) of form life?

When humanity is assured of divinity and of immortality, and has entered into a state of knowledge as to the nature of the soul and of the kingdom in which that soul functions, its attitude to daily life and to current affairs will undergo such a transformation that we shall verily and indeed see the emergence of a new heaven and a new earth. Once the central entity within each human form is recognised and known for what it essentially is, and once its divine persistence is established, then we shall necessarily see the beginning of the reign of divine law on earth_ a law imposed without friction and without rebellion. This beneficent reaction will come about because the thinkers of the race will be blended together in a general soul awareness, and a consequent group consciousness will permit them to see the purpose underlying the working of the law.

Let us put this a little more simply. We are told in the New Testament that we must endeavour to let the mind which was in Christ also be manifest in us. We are working towards the perfecting of the rule of Christ on earth; we are aiming at the development of the Christ consciousness and at the bringing in of the rule or law of Christ, which is Love. This will come to fruition in the Aquarian Age, and we shall see brother-sisterhood established on earth. The rule of Christ is the dominance of the basic spiritual Laws . The mind of Christ is a phrase conveying the concept of the rule of divine intelligent love, which stimulates the rule of the soul within all forms, and brings in the reign of the Spirit. It is not easy to express the nature of the revelation which is on the way. It involves the recognition by men everywhere that the "mind-stuff," as the Hindus call it, to which their own minds are related and of which their mental bodies are an integral part, is also part of the mind of Christ, the cosmic Christ, of Whom the historical Christ is_ upon our planet_ the ordained representative. When men-w-c, through meditation and group service, have developed an awareness of their own controlled and illumined minds, they will find themselves initiated into a consciousness of true being and into a state of knowledge which will prove to them the fact of the soul, beyond all doubt or questioning.

The Mystery of the Ages is on the verge of revelation, and through the revelation of the soul that mystery which it veils will stand revealed. The scriptures of the world, we know, have ever prophesied that at the end of the age we shall see the revelation of that which is secret, and the emergence into the light of day of that which has hitherto been concealed and veiled. This, our present cycle, is the end of the age, and the next two hundred years will see the abolition of death, as we now understand that great transition, and the establishing of the fact of the soul's existence. The soul will be known as an entity, as the motivating impulse and the spiritual centre back of all manifested forms. The next few decades will see certain great beliefs substantiated. The work of Christ, and His main mission two thousand years ago, was to demonstrate the divine possibilities and powers latent in every human being. The proclamation which He made to the effect that we were all sons [/ daughters] of God and own one universal Father \ Mother will, in the future, no longer be regarded as a beautiful, mystical and symbolic statement, but will be regarded as a scientific pronouncement. Our universal brother-sisterhood and our essential immortality will be demonstrated and realised to be facts in nature. He came, He said, not to bring peace but a sword, and esoterically, He has been the "Cosmic Divider." Why? Because, in establishing unity, He also makes a distinction between body and soul. Body and soul are, however, only two parts of one whole, and this must not be forgotten. In establishing the fact of the soul and its expression, the body, the totality emerges in completeness.

How will this revelation come? We enter here into the realm of foretelling and of prevision to which many have an objection on the ground that the thing of the moment is that which aids the soul's spiritual living; they feel that the holding out of promises of future help and revelation, and the encouragement in the aspirant of a happy speculation and an idle expectancy carry the seeds of danger, of static inertia, and of idle imaginings. But "where there is no vision, the people perish," and so much has happened during the last two hundred years, and so much has already been revealed, that we are provided with a firm basis for all our forward looking. Had the unfoldments of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in the departments of science and psychology alone, been forecast to the thinkers of the world in the sixteenth century, how strange and impossible it would all have seemed to them! Stranger than anything we might here prophecy to you, for we have already seen so much occur, and the testimony to the world of true being is accumulating so fast, that we can no longer stand amazed at any occurrence.

The fact of the soul will be brought to the raycial recognition in many ways, and the revelation will come along so many lines that all types of minds will be satisfied. We shall indicate only a few.

The psychics of the world are increasing greatly in number, and the growing sensitivity of the race to impression is a cause of rejoicing and of danger. All over the world aspirants are registering contacts hitherto unknown, are seeing a phenomenal world usually hidden to them, and are generally becoming aware of an expansion of consciousness. They are registering a world of phenomena_ often astral, sometimes mental, and occasionally egoic_ which does initiate them into a new dimension of consciousness and into a different state of being. This expansion of consciousness serves both to encourage them in their endeavour and to complicate the way of the aspirant. This growing sensitivity is universal; hence the rapid growth of spiritualism and of the psychic sciences, and hence also the increase among men of nervous tension, of neurotic conditions, and of the greatly increased problems of the psychiatrist; hence also the spread of new nervous and mental diseases. This sensitivity is the response of the mechanism of man to the approaching developments, and the race as a whole is being brought into a condition wherein it will be ready to "see and hear" that which has been up to the present unrevealed.

The growth of the colour sense and the capacity to respond musically to quarter tones and subtle nuances indicate a thinning of the veil which separates the world of external and tangible phenomena from that of subjective being and of more subtle matter. The growth also of etheric vision and the largely increased numbers of clairvoyant and clairaudient people are steadily revealing the existence of the astral plane and the etheric counterpart of the physical world. More and more people are becoming aware of this subjective realm; they see people walking around who are either the so-called "dead," or who in sleep have dropped the physical sheath. They become aware of colours and distinctive hues and streams of organised light which are not of this physical world; they hear sounds and voices which emanate from those who are not using the physical vocal apparatus, and from forms of existence which are not corporeal.

The first step towards substantiating the fact of the soul is to establish the fact of survival, though this may not necessarily prove the fact of immortality. It can nevertheless be regarded as a step in the right direction. That something survives the process of death, and that something persists after the disintegration of the physical body, is steadily being proved. If that is not so, then we are the victims of a collective hallucination, and the brains and minds of thousands of people are untrue and deceiving, are diseased and distorted. Such a gigantic collective insanity is more difficult to credit than the alternative of an expanded consciousness. This development along psychic lines does not prove the fact of the soul, however; it only serves to break down the materialistic position.

It is among the thinkers of the race that the first assured recognition of the soul will come, and this event will be the result of the study and analysis, by the psychologists of the world, of the nature of genius and the significance of creative work.

Some men-women-children in the world tower above their fellow men-w-c, and produce that which is superlative in its own field; their work has in it the element of divinity and of immortality. The work of creative artists, the intuitive perception of great scientific investigators, the inspired imagination of the poets of the world and the vision of the illumined idealists, have all to be accounted for and explained, for the Laws under which such men and women work have yet to be discovered. The close study, by the psychologist, of the abnormal and the subnormal, of warped and distorted minds and of defective equipments, has been over-emphasized, and due attention has not been given to the divinely abnormal, and to those types of consciousness which transcend the ordinary human state of intelligent awareness. These latter super-normal states find expression through the medium of the great artists, musicians, dramatists, writers, and the many other types of creative workers who have been the glory of the human kingdom down the ages, and who will flame forth during the coming century with greater glory still.

When the hypothesis of the soul is accepted, when the nature of the spiritual energy which flows through the soul is admitted, and when the mechanism of the force centres is studied, we shall make rapid progress towards knowledge. When, through meditation, experiment is made to produce creatively some of the beauty contacted, some of the ideas revealed and some of the patterns seen, we shall learn to cultivate genius and understand how to train people to work creatively. Then much will be discovered about the centres in m-w-c where the divine principle has its dwelling, and from which the Christ within can work. The study of the super-conscious must be undertaken, and not simply the study of the self-conscious or of the sub-conscious. Through this study, carried forward with an open mind, modern psychology will eventually arrive at a recognition of the soul.

The range of investigation is so wide that we can only indicate some of the possible fields of research:

1. The investigation of the nature of genius, and its definite and specialised cultivation.

2. Training in creative work and a study of the difference between this kind of training and training for vocational work. Creative work proves the fact of the soul; vocational training demonstrates the type of the personality.

3. Scientific investigation of the powers in man-w-c, with particular attention to telepathy. It will be found that telepathic work is from mind to mind, or from soul to mind, and does not necessarily imply brain to brain communication and contact. This is one of the most promising fields of investigation, though it still presents much difficulty. The fact of the existence of the soul will not be proved through the medium of telepathy until after the year 1945. By that time an event will have happened in the world and a particular new teaching will have been given which will put the entire subject of telepathic phenomena in a new light.

4. The scientific training of clairvoyants and the intelligent development of clairvoyant powers by the intelligentsia of the world leaves as yet much to be desired, but it will come as the result of mind control and illumination. Men will learn to subject the mechanism of the body to a downflow of spiritual energy and stimulation, and thus will bring the powers of the psychic nature into activity, and the old method of sitting for development in order to awaken the centres will be seen as dangerous and unnecessary.

In the field of modern psychology we can look for a gradual recognition of the fact of the self. The problem of the psychologists is to comprehend the relationship or the identity of that self with the soul.

It is, however, from the field of science that the greatest help will come. The fact of the soul will eventually be proved through the study of light and of radiation and through a coming evolution in particles of light. Through this imminent development we shall find ourselves seeing more and penetrating deeper into that which we see today. One of the recognised facts in the realm of natural science has been the cyclic change in the fauna and flora of our planet. Animals, plentiful and familiar many thousands of years ago, are now extinct, and by means of their bones we endeavour to reconstruct their forms. Flowers and trees that once covered the surface of our planet have now entirely disappeared and only their fossilized remains are left to indicate to us a vegetation vastly different to that which we now enjoy. Man him/herself has changed so much that we find it difficult to recognise homo sapiens in the early primitive races of the far distant past. This mutability and obliteration of earlier types is due to a major factor among many. The quality of the light which promotes and nurtures growth, vitality and fertility in the kingdoms of nature has changed several times during the ages, and as it has changed it has produced corresponding mutations in the phenomenal world. From the standpoint of the esotericist, all forms of life on our planet are affected by three types of light substance, and at the present time a fourth type is gradually making its presence felt. These types of light are:

1. The light of the sun.

2. The light in the planet itself_ not the reflected light of the sun but its own inherent radiance.

3. A light seeping in (if we may use such a phrase) from the astral plane, a steady and gradual penetration of the "astral light" and its fusion with the other two types of radiance.

4. A light which is beginning to merge itself with the other three types and which comes from that state of matter which we call the mental plane_ a light in its turn reflected from the realm of the soul.

An intensification of the light is going on all the time, and this increase in intensity began on the earth at about the time when man discovered the uses of electricity, which discovery was a direct result of this intensification. The electrification of the planet through the wide-spread use of electricity is one of the things which is inaugurating the new age, and which will aid in bringing about the revelation of the presence of the soul. Before long this intensification will become so great that it will materially assist in the rending of the veil which separates the astral plane from the physical plane; the dividing etheric web will shortly be dissipated, and this will permit a more rapid inflow of the third aspect of light. The light from the astral plane (a starry radiance) and the light of the planet itself will be more closely blended, and the result upon humanity and upon the three other kingdoms in nature cannot be over-emphasized. It will, for one thing, profoundly affect the human eye and make the present sporadic etheric vision a universal asset. It will bring within the radius of our range of contact the infra-red and ultra-violet gamut of colours, and we shall see what at present is hidden. All this will tend to destroy the platform upon which the materialists stand, and to pave the way, first, for the admission of the soul as a sound hypothesis, and secondly, for the demonstration of its existence. We only need more light, in the esoteric sense, in order to see the soul, and that light will shortly be available and we shall understand the meaning of the words, "And in Thy light shall we see light."

This intensification of the light will continue until A.D. 2025, when there will come a cycle of relative stability and of steady shining without much augmentation. In the second decanate of Aquarius these three aspects will again be augmented by increased light from the fourth aspect, that is the light from the soul realm, reaching us via the universal "chitta" or mind stuff. This will flood the world. By that time, however, the soul will be recognised as a fact, and as a consequence of this recognition our entire civilisation will have changed so radically that we cannot today even guess at the form it will take. The next ten years will see a greatly increased merging of the first three forms of light, and those of you who are awake to these issues and happenings will find it interesting to note what is going on. The consensus of opinion in the religious and spiritualistic fields and in the field of biblical prophecy, and likewise a study of the symbolism of the Pyramid, lead students to believe that the immediate future will see some great event and some unforeseen spiritual happening. This should be duly anticipated, and careful preparation should be made for it. We refer not to any coming of any individual. We refer to a natural process with far-reaching effects.

There are certain other fields of activity which will all do their part in demonstrating the fact of the soul.

There is an aspect of human consciousness which has for long baffled the materialistic psychologist, and this is the curious power of prevision, the ability to foresee and foretell with accuracy events coming in the immediate future, or distant happenings. There are warnings given by some inner monitor which have again and again saved m-w-c from death and disaster; there are the appearances, to their friends and relatives, of men or women who have just died, before any word of their death has been received. This is not in the field of telepathic knowledge of the death, but involves the appearance of the person. There is the power to participate in events in distant places and to recover the recollection of what transpired with accuracy as to place, personnel and detail. These powers and many similar previsions and recognitions have long bewildered investigators and must find correct explanation. In their wise investigation, in the accumulation of responsible evidence, and in the later substantiation of the prevision, it will begin to be seen that some factor exists in m-w-c which is not bound by space-time limitations, but which transcends the normal human consciousness. The present attempted investigation and explanations are inadequate and do not account satisfactorily for all the facts. When, however, they are approached from the standpoint of the soul, with its faculty of omniscience and its freedom from categories of past, present and future (for they are lost in the consciousness of the Eternal Now), we shall begin to understand the process a little more clearly. When the true Dweller in the body is recognised and the Laws of prevision are discovered, and when the power to foresee is generally prevalent, then we shall begin to find ample proof of the existence of the soul. It will be impossible to account for the ordinary phenomena then current without admitting its existence.

Along these various lines proof of the soul will accumulate. In the massing of testimony and of evidence a fruitful field of activity lies. In the training of the higher types of men in the use of the soul force and soul powers, and in the trained control of the mechanism, that evidence so produced will be seen to be of so high an order and will be so scientifically presented that it will be regarded as of as much importance and as justifiable as any views presented by our leading scientists in their various fields of research today. The study of the soul will before long be as legitimate and respectable an investigation as any scientific problem, such as research into the nature of the atom. The investigation of the soul and its governing Laws will, before long, engross the attention of our finest minds. The newer psychology will eventually succeed in proving the fact of its existence, and the paralleling intuitive and instinctive response of mankind to soul nurture, emanating from the invisible side of life, will steadily and successfully prove the existence of a spiritual entity in man,_ an entity all-wise, immortal, divine and creative.

But the process would be slow were it not for the work now being done by a group of noos and initiates working in collaboration with the Master [deleted], Who has His headquarters in America and Who, with His noos, is doing much to stimulate the various psychological schools in the world today. It is needless for students to endeavour to ascertain His identity. He works through movements and schools of thought, and does no work with private individuals. He works practically entirely on the mental plane, with the power of thought, and is quite unknown and unrecognised, except by His fellow workers in the various countries in the world, and by the noos on His ray, the fourth ray. Much that is opening in the world of psychology today is due to the work He does in stimulating the minds of the leaders of movements. He works with them on the mental plane, but does not contact them as physical plane individuals.

The urgency of the time is great, and the Masters are exceedingly active and profoundly concerned at this time with the work of salvaging the world. They have not the time for personal work, except with Their own groups of accepted chelas, all of whom are active in the world work, or they would not be in the Masters' group. Also They may work intermittently with small groups of probationers to whom They offer opportunity and give an occasional hint. Each of Them has a few, a very few, probationers in training, to take the place of chelas who pass on to initiation, but beyond these two groups, during this century, They do no personal work, leaving the many aspirants to the care of lesser initiates and chelas. Even Their work and Their personal chelas at this time are much restricted, and word has been sent out to the working noos in the world to stand on their own feet, to use their own judgment and not handicap the Masters at this time of intense strain and danger by attracting Their attention needlessly. The world issues today are of such importance, and the opportunity before humanity is so great, and the Masters are so entirely occupied with world affairs and with the dominant and prominent figures in high places in the nations, that the instruction of unimportant people in the various little psyientific groups and societies is temporarily suspended. The time is relatively so short in which to accomplish and carry out certain aspects of the Plan as entrusted to the Great Ones, that all true chelas are going about their work and endeavouring to solve their own problems without having to call on the Master's help, thus leaving Him free for more important work. The closer a noo is to a Master, the more deeply he/she realises this fact, and the more he/she endeavours to fulfill his/her duty, learn his/her lessons, serve humanity, and lift some of the load of work off the shoulders of the Master.

The world today is full of noos of varying degree, and each of them is, in his/her place, able to guide and help some aspirants. The world is full of teaching and of books able to inspire and help all true seekers after spiritual knowledge. The last fifty years have seen much teaching given out and much esoteric training given to the world and available now to all who earnestly seek it. Aspirants have much to work upon and much theory to render into practice, and this leaves the Masters free for more important work.

One of the interesting things that is happening, and one of the factors which will serve eventually in the work of demonstrating the fact of the soul, is the mass of communications, inspired writings, and telepathic dictations which is flooding the world today. As you know, the spiritualistic movement is producing a vast amount of this inspired or pseudo-inspired literature, some of it of the very highest order and unquestionably the work of highly evolved noos, and some of it most mediocre in quality. The various theosophical societies have been the recipients of similar communications, and they are found in every psyientific group. True communications are frequently of deep spiritual value, and contain much teaching and help for the aspirant. Students of the times would do well to remember that it is the teaching that is of moment, not the supposed source; by their intrinsic value alone these writings and communications must be judged. These communications emanate in the majority of instances from the soul plane, and the recipient or the communicator (the intermediary or scribe) is either inspired by his/her own soul or has tapped the thought level and knowledge of the ray group to which his/her soul belongs. He tunes in on a reservoir of thought, and his/her mind and brain translate these thoughts into words and phrases.

In a lesser number of cases, the m-w-c who is receiving a dictation or writing is in telepathic rapport with some more advanced noo than him/herself, and his/her mind is being impressed by some chela in his/her group. This chela, who is closer to the Master than he/she is, passes on to him/her some of the knowledge that he/she has absorbed through being able to live within the Master's aura. But the Master is not concerned in the process; it lies between the chela and the aspirant. In these cases the receiver of the communication is often misled, and thinks that the Master Himself is dictating to him/her, whereas in reality he/she has_ through a more advanced chela than him/herself_ tuned in on the Master's thought atmosphere.

None of the Masters of the sixth initiation (such as the Masters [ "…" and "…" deleted]) are at this time working through dictation with Their noos. They are too much engrossed with world problems, and with the work of watching over the destinies of the prominent world figures in the various nations, to have any opportunity to dictate teaching to any particular noo in some small field of activity and upon subjects of which sufficient is already known to enable the noo to go ahead alone and unaided. Two of the Masters are working telepathically and through dictation with several accepted noos, and Their effort is to inspire these noos, who are active in world work, to greater usefulness in the Plan. They are working in this way in order to impress a few of the prominent thinkers in the field of science and of social welfare with the needed knowledge which will enable them to make the right moves in the emergence of the race into greater freedom. But we know of no others, in this particular generation, who are so doing, for They have delegated much of this work to Their initiates and noos. The bulk of the communicators today (working through aspirants on the physical plane) are active working chelas of accepted degree who (living as they do in the thought aura of the Master and His group) are steadily endeavouring to reach all kinds of people, all over the world, in all groups. Hence the increasing flood of communications, of inspired writings, and of personal messages and teaching.

When you add to the above the equally large flood of communications which emanate from the transmitters' own souls and from the realm of the subconscious, you have accounted for the mass of the material going out now. In all this there is need for deep thankfulness at the growing responsiveness and sensitivity of man-w-c.

That the first reaction and effect of such an outpouring of communications is oft an increase of spiritual pride and ambition, and that the stepping down of the teaching from the mind to the brain and from the brain into words and sentences often fails in adequacy is sadly true, and that there is frequently misapprehension as to the emanating source of the instructions is also true, for the lack of humility in m-w-c and the lack of a true sense of proportion are great. But out of this inflow from the subjective side of life are coming new knowledge, increased devotion to the Plan, and those indications which will eventually bring us assurance. Men-W-C will know, and know soon, that the soul is not an imaginary fiction, that it is not just a symbolic way of expressing a deep-seated hope, and is not m-w-c's method of building a defense mechanism; nor is it an illusory way of escape from a distressing present. They will know that the soul is a Being, a Being that is responsible for all that appears upon the phenomenal plane.

We have two more questions to consider now, and they are as follows:

Question 4. Of what value is it to know about the seven Rays?

Question 5. What is the significance of the outstanding soul qualities such as sentiency, consciousness, awareness, and light?

Question 4. Of what value is it to know about the seven Rays?

Question four is of importance on account of its vital practicality. In the last analysis, definition conveys mental satisfaction but is no criterion as to applied knowledge.

Above everything else, it is necessary that the aspirant be practical. The days of a mystical and dreamy consciousness are rapidly passing away, and as m-w-c, through understanding of psychology, comes to a more accurate knowledge of him/herself he/she will begin to act with precision and with intelligence; he/she will know with exactitude the way that he/she should go, and will comprehend the forces in his/her own nature which will lead to specific action when brought into touch with the forces of his/her environment. Aspirants should endeavour to make practical application of the imparted truths, and so minimise their responsibility. Where there is acquired knowledge and when no use is made of it there exists a condition of danger and subsequent penalty.

Much has been given in previous books which awaits your adaptation and useful service. Much will be given in the present volume, but students need to remember that they themselves evoke and call forth the teaching they receive. The position between us and those who are reading is not that of a teacher imposing a system of knowledge upon a group of waiting pupils. The group is simply the channel through which a particular aspect of the Ageless Wisdom can reach a waiting world. We do not regard you as a body of good men and women, who, because of your point in evolution, are deemed worthy to receive something esoteric and unusual, and hence withheld from the rest of the race. We regard you as sincerely interested in the spiritual life, as concerned with the endeavour to be intelligent, and as willing (more or less) to try to live as souls, and to use as much of the imparted teaching as can be understood. What use students make of it is entirely their own affair. But the value of any group of aspirants and noos consists in this: They can_ if they so choose and if their united aspiration is strong enough_ draw forth the teaching, and so form a centre through which that teaching may go forth and begin its work of moulding human thought, of throwing light upon the problems of psychology, and of so expanding the point of truth (anent the seven Rays, an ancient septenate, but little comprehended) that a new realisation may be evolved and a new science of psychology may be launched upon its career.

You ask, therefore: What must we as a group do that we may be of service, and so constitute a good channel for the helping of humanity?

First of all, you must see to it that your attitude towards all teaching is that of willing service, with no thought of self. The growth in spiritual realisation and the lifting of humanity is that which is of moment, and not your own personal growth or development, nor your own satisfaction at receiving special and new information. You will grow, and your soul will take increasing hold upon its instrument, when your mind and effort are turned towards group service, and when your tongue is rendered harmless, through the inflow of Love.

Secondly, let not your mind be occupied with idle speculations as to the identity of the teacher. What matters it who he/she is? Can you prove his/her identity in one way or another? And of what value is it to accept the statements of any fellow student who may claim to be informed on the matter, be he/she who he/she may? You cannot prove him/her right or wrong, and therefore it remains a waste of time which could well be given to more fruitful service, to closer study of the life-essentials, and to meditation.

What is taught should matter. The aspects of truth which we present to your consideration should count; the measure of help which we can give and the spiritual and mental stimulation which we may impart are of moment to you. The training of the intuition to recognise spiritual truth should be the subject of your effort. The sole authority is the teaching, and not the teacher; upon the rock of authority many schools have foundered. There is but one authority_ each m-w-c's own immortal soul, and that is the only authority which should be recognised.

Learn to grasp the teaching correctly, and see it for what it is. Some of it is written for a distant time, and the true significance of this treatisewill begin to emerge as part of the general knowledge of humanity only towards the close of this century, unless the imminent outpouring evokes greater change than is now deemed possible by the watching Hierarchy. Some of the teaching is of immediate usefulness to all of you. Some of it will throw light upon the problems of modern psychology, and link the many aspects of the science of the soul. Noos grow these days by finding out the reservoir of their soul's nourishment; they will discover that the source of their strength is to be found in group teaching and in group endeavour. We are training men-w-c to live as souls and not as children to be nursed and cared for in a protected nursery run by rules and orders. As souls, men-w-c derive their life from the ocean of the universal, and not from the tiny well of the particular. Carrying their little pitchers, they find their way to that ocean, and for themselves they draw into that receptacle that which they need. In the light of your own intuition and illumined mind (developed and brought to usefulness through meditation) take that aspect of the teaching which suits and aids you, and interpret it in the light of your own need and growth.

The days of personality contact, of personality attention and of personal messages are over, and have been over for quite a while, save in the vale of illusion, on the astral plane. This is a hard message, but no true noo will misunderstand. From the depths of his/her own experience and struggle he/she knows it to be so. It is the group of Masters, the Hierarchy as a whole, that is of moment and its interaction with humanity; it is the Masters' group of noos that counts, and its relation to probationary noos on the physical plane, who are seen by the group as existing in group formation all over the world, no matter where its units may be; it is the body of teaching that can be made available, and its effect upon the collective mind of the thinkers of the race, that is of vital importance; it is the interplay between the subjective group of world workers and_ on the outer plane of objectivity_ the lovers of humanity which seems to us, the teachers, to be of supreme importance. The satisfying of individual aspiration, the meeting of the desire of the probationers and the feeding of spiritual ambition appeal to us not at all. The times are too serious, and the crisis too acute.

It is of course a fact that there are today groups of aspirants receiving definite instruction, and noos being subjected to definite training. But it must be remembered (in spite of all statements by the devotees of the world to the contrary) that no training is given in these cases as to the handling of the details of the personality life; the specific problems of health, finance and family concerns are not dealt with nor considered; nor is comfort given or time taken to reassure or satisfy the unstable personality. Training aspirants as to the technique of spiritual growth is undertaken; correction of the hidden factors producing emotional conditions may be suggested; meditations may be arranged in order to bring about certain results; and instruction in the Laws governing soul union may be offered; but no personality work is attempted. Noos handle their own personalities. In the pressure of world work, the Masters are finding Themselves with less and less time to give even to Their noos. How then do those who are not in the ranks of accepted noos expect the Master to have the time to deal with their little affairs?

In the future, however, groups will be formed increasingly, which will function on a new basis, and some of these new "group organisms" are forming in the world at this time. They are still in the nature of an experiment and may prove premature or undesirable. The teaching given in these new groups, the suggestions made, the experiments in training to be attempted, and the technique imparted will not be given personally and privately to an individual group member, but all of it is open and can be read, known and considered by every other member in the group. These groups are as yet necessarily few, and very small in number. They are in the nature of an attempt to see if it will be possible eventually to externalise the groups gathered around a Master on the inner planes. These groups of accepted noos on the inner side are sensitive organisms, and each member of these circles gathered around a Master is aware of that which concerns his/her fellow noos' spiritual unfoldment, within the radius of the circle in which he/she finds him/herself. These small outer attempts at a tentative duplication are in an embryonic condition as yet. It is a test and a trial effort, and may fail. The members of these tiny outer groups (whose membership and grouping are known only to those who form part of them) have to be willing to be instructed and developed as group units, with the other members of their group aware of their failures or successes. They have also to preserve complete silence as to the existence of the group, and a breaking of this silence warrants their elimination from the group. The personnel of these groups is forgotten in the life of the group entity as a whole. The members are trained in the group, and the group is trained as a whole, with no emphasis upon the individual but only on the group interplay and interaction, its integration and growth. Only those factors in the life of the individual are noted and handled which would hinder the growth of the group life and expression. It is the group note, the group colour, and the group development which count with the training staff of workers, and the individual is never considered as an individual, but only in his/her relation to the group. What he/she is told to do, and the discipline applied, is all based on the desire to preserve the group balance, and not on any personal interest in the individual. In this experiment a m-w-c is tried out to see his/her fitness. He will be tested early in his/her career as a group unit. If he/she passes the test and makes the grade, the group is enriched and grows thereby. If he/she fails, he/she drops out and others take his/her place until such time as the group unit is attuned and completed, and those who are sincere and true, impersonal and mentally poised, self-forgetful and loving, are found to work together in harmony. Thus they can, as a group entity, form a focal point for the transmission of spiritual force to a needy and waiting world.

But it is important to remember that the attitude of the training initiate or teacher is one of complete detachment and impersonality; he/she is aware of the soul light and condition, and of the mental state, but he/she does not turn his/her attention to the handling of the affairs of the aspirant on the physical plane, nor to the training of his/her emotional nature and his/her astral development. Aspirants learn to be master and adept by handling their own physical plane affairs and their astral idiosyncrasies. This they must do in the light and strength of their own souls. We who teach would break a law and hinder their development if we attempted to enforce conditions which come not naturally. We should also overstimulate their lower natures. When will aspirants learn that the teachers and senior noos in charge of them work only on mental levels and with the soul? When will they grasp the fact that until a m-w-c has contacted his/her own soul, and has learned to function as a controlled mind as well, there is little we can do for him/her? Again we say, we are not interested in personalities and their small affairs. We have neither the time nor the inclination to interfere with the way and method of a m-w-c's daily life. Why should we, when enough has been printed and taught to occupy the attention of the aspiring m-w-c for many a day? When a m-w-c is beginning to live as a soul, and when his/her consciousness has shifted away from the world of illusion, then he/she can be useful. The first lesson he/she has to learn is a sense of values in time and space, and to know that we work with souls and do not nurse the personality.

Seems this too hard a saying to you? If it is indeed so to you, it means that you are as yet somewhat self-centred and in love with your own individual soul, having not yet duly contacted it, and having but perhaps sensed its vibration and no more. You have not yet that true picture of the world's need which will release you from your own ambition and set you free to work as we (on the subjective side) work, with no thought of self or of spiritual happiness, and with no desire for any self-appointed task; with no longing for glittering promises of future success, and with no demanding ache for the tender touch and contact with those greater in consciousness than ourselves. If this lies still beyond your realisation, recognise the fact, and understand that there is no blame attached. It only indicates to you the ground whereon you stand, and that the illusion of the astral plane still holds you in its thrall and still leads you to place personality reactions before group realisation. As long as you walk on that plane and function on that level of consciousness, it is not possible to draw you consciously into the Masters' groups on mental levels. You are still too destructive and personal; you would be apt to hurt the group and cause trouble; you would see things (through the group stimulation) with a clarity for which you are not yet ready, and would be shattered thereby. You have need to learn the lessons of accepting guidance from your own soul, and of learning to work with harmony and impersonality on the physical plane with the group or groups to which your destiny impels you. When you have learnt the lesson of self-forgetfulness, when you seek nothing for the separated self, when you stand firmly on your own feet and look for aid within yourself, and when the trend of your life is towards cooperation, then you may pass from the stage of Observer to that of Communicator. This will happen because you can be trusted to communicate only that which is impersonal and truly constructive, and which will not feed the emotional nature and satisfy the desire-self.

An interesting point might here be noted and a question answered. In [deleted] we referred to the two groups of Observers and Communicators (the third group lies outside our present discussion), and the question was asked: Who trains these Observers and Communicators? We should like to make it clear that the observers train themselves or_ more accurately_ the soul of each trains the personality in true observation. In the case of the communicators, they are slowly and gradually trained by senior noos_ working on the physical plane_ engaged in training groups of communicators to be employed later by the Hierarchy. In this matter (as in all else in the spiritual life) the noo first trains him/herself to be responsive to his/her own soul, and then trains him/herself to be responsive to the inner group of workers, who later, as a result of his/her self-intiated effort, teach him/her to be a communicator, an intermediary. The hallmark of such communicators is mental clarity, true impersonality, spiritual tolerance, and a frugality in the use of words, when embodying concepts. It should be remembered that in the wealth of psychic writings pouring into the world today, the work of the true communicators will concern itself with the Plan and not with personalities; with principles and not with individual purposes; and that all such communicators will be mental types, channels for the love of God, and group conscious. There will be nothing in their work to produce separativeness, and nothing to feed the fires of controversy, antagonism or partisanship. Much of value may come along other lines than through this group of communicators, and you may look for an increased flood of inspirational writings of a high order, and for an outpouring of wisdom from the world of souls through the hundreds who are in touch with their own souls; there will also be much emanating from the highest level of the astral plane, of a high order along devotional lines, but none of this will be the work of the band of communicators now in process of forming. Only a handful are doing this work as yet, and the true influx of communicators will not start for another fifteen years.

To return to our two questions, and particularly to the one concerning the value of studying the rays. We have felt the need to write on this matter for the following reasons:

1. Modern psychology is in a cul-de-sac. The many psychologies have made their contribution to the whole subject, and all of them have value, for all have embodied an aspect of truth. Through them we have arrived at an amazing knowledge of m-w-c, of his/her instincts and animal mechanisms, of his/her reactions to his/her environment and of his/her sensitive apparatus; we have learnt much about the sub-conscious, through which ancient racial sins and knowledges, suppressed complexes and latent desires, as well as highly organised psychic reactions, well up into the conscious mind so disastrously. We know much anent the m-w-c as a whole functioning unity, and of the interactions existing between the nervous system, the glandular system, the muscles, and their expression, in forms of quality, character, personality, and the environment. We have learnt much, therefore, about that composite being called man, and m-w-c, as a psychic entity, is an established fact in nature, as is m-w-c, the animal. But m-w-c, the soul, remains still a speculation, a hope, a belief. The fact of the soul is not yet substantiated; and in helping the truth into the light we seek to bring the subject of the seven Rays to the notice of the thinkers of modern times, so that the light of this esoteric knowledge may be thrown upon the science of psychology. Thus may the work of revelation be aided.

2. If there is one thing that has emerged into the minds of investigators, as they have studied man, it is the fact that he/she is essentially dual. Psychology has shown that in the consciousness of every human being is a sense of duality, that man is in some mysterious sense two beings, and that it is the warfare between these two which has led to all the neuroses and complexes which tax the ingenuity of trained psychologists to solve. The initiate Paul referred to this when he/she spoke of the eternal warfare going on between the carnal mind and the heavenly nature, and all aspirants who are occupied with an intelligent struggle towards liberation bear witness to the same. Paul points out that victory is won through Christ, and we give a clue to the importance of this study of the rays when we state that, esoterically, these seven Rays are the sevenfold expressions of the Cosmic Christ, the second Person of the Trinity. Bewildered men and women go in their thousands to the clinics of the psychologists, carrying with them the burden of their dual natures; and psychologists in their thousands recognise this duality and seek to unify the dissociated aspects. When the true nature of the seven Rays is grasped, and when their effect on humanity in expressing the seven types of men is also understood, we shall then approach the subject of man's duality with greater intelligence. We shall comprehend better the nature of the forces which constitute one or another of these dualities. This is the true esoteric science. The science of the seven qualities or rays, and their effect upon the myriad forms which they mould and energise, is the coming new approach to the correct method of training and developing the human family. Modern exoteric science knows much about the outer form, or matter aspect, and its electrical nature. Esoteric science knows much about the nature of the subjective energies and the qualities which colour and condition the form. When these two knowledges are brought intelligently together, we shall evolve a truer and more accurate psychology and a new science of human culture. Then the work of unifying man_ m-w-c, the psychic entity, and m-w-c, the conditioning soul_will go rapidly forward.

3. A knowledge of the rays and their tendencies and energies will bring much illumination to the workers in the field of the various sciences. All the sciences find themselves on some one or other of the rays, and a science is literally the light thrown by a ray into a particular field of divine manifestation. The four kingdoms in nature are embodiments of four great Lives Who are found, each on one of the four minor rays. The Being Who is the life of the fourth or human kingdom in nature (regarding that kingdom as a distinct organism, just as man's body nature or personality is a distinct organism, separable from him/her as a soul) is on the fifth ray. The Being Who ensouls similarly the third kingdom, the animal kingdom, vibrates to the sixth ray. The Being Who is the expression and active force of the entire vegetable kingdom is to be found upon the fourth ray. Therefore we have:

Humanity 4th Kingdom 5th Ray Concrete Knowledge.
Animal 3rd Kingdom 6th Ray Devotion upwards or forwards.
Vegetable 2nd Kingdom 4th Ray Harmony and Beauty,
Mineral 1st Kingdom 7th Ray Organisation and Ritual.

These statements mean little to you at present, but we shall elaborate them later, when we come to the consideration of these rays in greater detail. We are but giving a general impression at this time. It is apparent nevertheless that when the nature of the energy permeating and animating any particular kingdom in nature is recognised and accepted (even if hypothetically) by the scientists, much light will be thrown upon the outer form qualified by a particular force and life.

There is, for instance, a definite reason why the bulk of the wild flowers and garden flowers in the occident, and also those found during the autumn season, are at this time found in tones of yellow and orange; and the mental calibre of the later sub-races of the Aryan race, as well as its general tone throughout the Aryan age, is also related to the same reason. The influence of the fourth ray of Harmony and Beauty, and the developing power of the fifth ray of Knowledge (synonymous to the merging of the intuition and the intellect in highly evolved m-w-c) have a definite effect upon the vegetable kingdom and upon the human aura. Yellow-orange shines forth in both. We mention this as an illustration of an externalisation of ray force, and as an indication of the value of the esoteric science when applied to the exoteric.

The blue ray of devotion passes now into the violet of what we term the ceremonial ray. What do these words mean? Simply that the great Musician of the universe is moving the keys, is sounding another note and thus bringing in another turn of the wheel, and swinging into the arc of manifestation the ray of violet, the great note G. These rays bring with them_ in every kingdom in nature_ all that is attuned to them: Human beings, devas of order high or low, elementals of a desirable or undesirable nature, flowers, fruits, and vegetable life of a certain kind, and animals and forms of varying species. It is the passing out of a ray that signals the ultimate extinction of some particular form, some type of animal life, and leads to some vegetable aspect coming to an end. Hence the confusion among the scientists at this time. The process of coming in is slow, as is all work in nature, and as is the process of passing out. Simultaneously with the cyclic birth and emergence of a new ray is the slow return to its source of the prevailing ray, present at the advent of the new.

At this time the sixth ray is passing out and is taking with it all those forms whose keynote is blue_ those people, for instance, who with devotion (misplaced or not) followed some particular object, person or idea. With it passes, therefore, those whom we term fanatics, those who with one-pointed zeal work towards some sensed objective. Many of the flowers in which you now rejoice are passing out, the bluebell, the hyacinth and the olive for example; the sapphire will become scarce and the turquoise will lose its hue. Flowers of violet colour, of lavender and of purple will come into favour. Behind all this lies a purpose profound.

The physical plane, in its densest aspect, holds little of mystery for m-w-c today; he/she has knowledge on these matters. But the rarer levels of the physical plane lie hid and are, for man, his/her next field of discovery. The ceremonial ray brings with it the means whereby that knowledge may be acquired and revealed to all, and thus not be the sole property of the wise and of the psyientists. The three higher etheric levels, with their denizens, are waiting to become the property of all, and with their inhabitants comes the next approximation.

It is possible at this time to foretell certain events which will come to pass during the next one hundred years.

First, in about ten years time the first ether, with all that is composed of that matter, will be recognised scientific fact, and the scientists who work intuitionally will come to recognise the devas of that plane. People coming into incarnation on this seventh ray will have the eyes that see, and the purple devas and the lesser devas of the etheric body will be visioned by them.

Secondly, when He Whom both angels and men await, will approach near unto this physical plane, He will bring with Him not only some of the Great Ones and the Masters, but some of the Devas who stand to the deva evolution as the Masters to the human. Forget not that the human evolution is but one of many, and that this is a period of crisis among the devas likewise. The call has gone forth for them to approach humanity, and with their heightened vibration and superior knowledge unite their forces with those of humanity, for the progression of the two evolutions. They have much to impart anent colour and sound, and their effect upon the etheric bodies of men and animals. When that which they have to give is apprehended by the race, physical ills will be nullified and attention will be centred upon the infirmities of the astral or emotional body.

These violet devas of the four ethers form, as you may imagine, four great groups with seven subsidiary divisions. These four groups work with the four types of men now in incarnation, for it is a statement of fact that at no time in this round are more than four types of men in incarnation at any one time. Four rays dominate at any given period, with one in excess of the other three. We mean by this, that only four rays are in physical incarnation; for on the plane of the soul all seven types are of course found. This idea is brought out in the four castes in India, and you will find that these four are found universally. The four groups of devas are a band of servers to the Lord, and their special work is to contact men and to give them definite and experimental teaching.

They will instruct in the effect of colour in the healing of disease, especially the effect of the violet light in the lessening of human ills and in the cure of those physical plane sicknesses which have their origin in the etheric body or double.

They will teach men to see etherically, by heightening human vibration by action of their own.

They will demonstrate to the materialistic thinkers of the world the fact that the superconscious states exist_ not the superhuman only_ and will also make clear the hitherto unrecognised fact that other beings, besides the human, have their habitat on earth.

They will also teach the sounding of the tones that correspond to the gradations of violet, and through that sounding enable man to utilise the ethers, as he/she now utilises physical plane matter for his/her various needs.

They will enable human beings so to control the ethers that weight will be for them transmuted, and motion will be intensified, becoming more rapid, more gliding, noiseless, and therefore less tiring. In the human control of the etheric levels lie the lessening of fatigue, rapidity of transit, and the ability to transcend time. Until this prophecy is a fact in consciousness, its meaning is obscure.

They will also teach men-women-children how rightly to nourish the body and to draw from the surrounding ethers the requisite food. Man-W-C will in the future concentrate more on the sound condition of the etheric body, and the functioning of the dense physical body will become practically automatic.

They will enable human beings, as a race, and not as individuals, to expand their consciousness so that it will embrace the superphysical. Forget not the important fact that in the accomplishment of this the web that divides the physical plane from the astral plane will be discovered by the scientists, and its purpose will eventually be acknowledged. With that discovery will come the power to penetrate the web, and so link up consciously with the astral body. Another material unification will have been accomplished.

Then what else will occur, and what will be the method of approach to these devas?

More and more, during the next fifteen years, will men-w-c receive definite teaching, often subconsciously, from devas to whom they are linked. This will be done telepathically at first. Doctors today get much information from certain devas. There are two great devas belonging to the green group on mental levels who assist in this work, and some physicians get much knowledge subjectively from a violet deva working on the atomic subplane of the physical plane, aided by a deva of the causal level who works with, or through, their egos. As m-w-c learn to sense and recognise these devas, more and more teaching will be given. They teach in three ways:

a. By means of intuitional telepathy.

b. Through demonstration of colour, proving the accomplishment of certain things in this way.

c. By definite musical sounds, which will cause vibrations in the ethers, which in their turn will produce forms.

The ether will eventually appear to the enhanced vision of humanity to have more substance than it now has, and as etheric vision increases, the ethers will be recognised as being strictly physical plane matter. Therefore when in sickness men shall call a deva, when that deva can destroy diseased tissue by sounding a note that will result in the elimination of the corrupt tissue, when by the presence caused by the vibration new tissue is visibly built in, then the presence of these devas will be generally acknowledged and their power will be utilised.

By what means will their presence be realised and their powers employed?
First of all, by a definite development of the human eye, which will then see that which is now unseen. It will be a change within the eye, and not a form of clairvoyance.

Next, by a steady experimentation with invocations, and through their use the method of calling the devas will be discovered. This development must be approached with caution, for to the unprotected it leads to disaster. Hence the necessity to inculcate pure living, the learning of protective invocations and formulas, and the power of the church and of Masonry to protect. Forget not that evil entities exist on other planes than the physical, that they can respond to analogous vibrations, and that the invocations that call a deva may, if sounded inaccurately, call a being that will work havoc. In ritual lies protection. Hence the emphasis laid upon church forms and on the Masonic rituals,_ an emphasis which will increase and not grow less as the years slip by. The force of invocations will be known later.

Every individual vibrates to some particular measure. Those who know and who work clairvoyantly and clairaudiently find that all matter sounds, all matter pulsates, and all matter has its own colour. Each human being can therefore be made to give forth some specific sound; in making that sound he/she flashes into colour, and the combination of the two is indicative of some measure which is peculiarly his/her own.

Every unit of the human race is on some one of the seven Rays; therefore some one colour predominates, and some one tone sounds forth; infinite are the gradations and many the shades of colour and tone. Each ray has its subsidiary rays which it dominates, acting as the synthetic ray. These seven Rays are linked with the colours of the spectrum. There are the rays of red, blue, yellow, orange, green and violet. There is the ray that synthesises them all, that of indigo. There are the three major rays_ red, blue and yellow_ and the four subsidiary colours which, in the evolving Monad, find their correspondence in the spiritual Triad and the lower quaternary. The Logos of our system is concentrating on the love or blue aspect. This_ as the synthesis_ manifests as indigo. This matter of the rays and their colours is confusing to the neophyte. We can but indicate some thoughts, and in the accumulation of suggestion light may eventually come. The clue lies in similarity of colour, which entails a resemblance in note and rhythm. When, therefore, a m-w-c is on the red and yellow rays, with red as his/her primary ray, and meets another human being who is on the blue and yellow rays, with a secondary resemblance to the yellow, there may be recognition. But when a man on the yellow and blue rays, with yellow as his/her primary colour, meets a brother on the yellow and red rays, the recognition is immediate and mutual, for the primary colour is the same. When this fundamental cause of association or dissociation is better understood, the secondary colours will be made to act as the meeting ground, to the mutual benefit of the parties concerned.

Of the colours, red, blue and yellow are primary and irreducible. They are the colours of the major rays.

a. Will or Power Red
b. Love-Wisdom Blue
c. Active Intelligence Yellow

We have then the subsidiary rays:

d. Orange.
e. Green.
f. Violet.

and the synthesising ray, Indigo.

4. It is of course to the human interest that a study of the rays makes its main appeal. It is this study that will vivify and awaken psychologists to the true understanding of man. Every human being finds him/herself upon one of the seven Rays. His personality is found, in every life, upon one of them, in varying rotation, according to the ray of the ego or soul. After the third initiation he/she locates his/her soul (if one may use such an inappropriate word) on one of the three major rays, though until that time it may be found in one of the seven ray groups. From that exalted attitude he/she strives towards the essential unity of the Monad. The fact of there being seven ray types carries great implications, and the intricacy of the subject is baffling to the neophyte.

A ray confers, through its energy, peculiar physical conditions, and determines the quality of the astral-emotional nature; it colours the mind body; it controls the distribution of energy, for the rays are of differing rates of vibration, and govern a particular centre in the body (differing with each ray) through which that distribution is made. Each ray works through one centre primarily and through the remaining six, in a specific order. The ray predisposes a m-w-c to certain strengths and weaknesses, and constitutes his/her principle of limitation, as well as endowing him/her with capacity. It governs the method of his/her relations to other human types and is responsible for his/her reactions in form to other forms. It gives him/her his/her colouring and quality, his/her general tone on the three planes of the personality, and it moulds his/her physical appearance. Certain attitudes of mind are easy for one ray type and difficult for another, and hence the changing personality shifts from ray to ray, from life to life, until all the qualities are developed and expressed. Certain souls, by their ray destiny, are found in certain fields of activity, and a particular field of endeavour remains relatively the same for many life expressions. A governor or statesman has learnt facility in his/her craft through much experience in that field. A world Teacher has been teaching for age-long cycles. A world Saviour has been, for many lives, at the task of salvaging. When a m-w-c is two-thirds of the way along the evolutionary path his/her soul ray type begins to dominate the personality ray type and will therefore govern the trend of his/her expression on earth, not in the spiritual sense (so-called) but in the sense of pre-disposing the personality towards certain activities.

A knowledge therefore of the rays and their qualities and activities is, from the standpoint of psychology, of profound importance, and hence this treatise.

5. Groups of people, organisations, nations and groups of nations are all the result of ray activity and magnetism. Hence an understanding of the forces which stream forth from the divine creative centre, and which we call the rays, is of value in understanding the quality, nature, and destiny of vast human masses. The seven planets are governed by one or other of the rays. Countries (viewed independently of their nationals) are likewise the result of ray activity, and thus the importance of the subject cannot be overestimated.

Question 5. What is the meaning of the following words: Sentiency; Consciousness or Awareness; The Energy of Light?

We shall now consider our last question, and we shall indicate to you, in general terms,_ necessarily limited by the inadequacy of language,_ the significance of the outstanding soul qualities:

a. Sentiency, or sensitive response to contact, and by that means the subsequent growth in knowledge.

b. Consciousness, awareness of environment, and the development of instruments whereby consciousness may be increasingly developed.

c. Light, or radiation, the effect of the interplay between the life and the environment.

The first point that we seek to make is a difficult one to grasp for those beneath the rank of initiate or accepted noo of the higher stages. The soul is that factor in matter (or rather that which emerges out of the contact between spirit and matter) which produces sentient response and what we call consciousness in its varying forms; it is also that latent or subjective essential quality which makes itself felt as light or luminous radiation. It is the "self-shining from within" which is characteristic of all forms. Matter, per se, and in its undifferentiated state, prior to being swept into activity through the creative process, is not possessed of soul, and does not therefore possess the qualities of response and of radiation. Only when,_ in the creative and evolutionary process,_ these two are brought into conjunction and fusion does the soul appear and give to these two aspects of divinity the opportunity to manifest as a trinity and the chance to demonstrate sentient activity and magnetic radiatory light. As all that we shall posit in this treatise is to be approached from the angle of human evolution, it might be stated that only when the soul aspect is dominant is the response apparatus (the form nature of m-w-c) fulfilling its complete destiny, and only then does true magnetic radiation and the pure shining forth of light become possible. Symbolically, in the early stages of human evolution, m-w-c is, from the angle of consciousness, relatively unresponsive and unconscious, as is matter in its early stages in the formative process. The achievement of full awareness is of course the goal of the evolutionary process. Again symbolically speaking, the unevolved m-w-c emits or manifests no light. The light in the head is invisible, though the clairvoyant investigators would see the dim glow of the light within the elements which constitute the body, and the light hidden in the atoms which constitute the form nature.

As evolution proceeds, these dim points of "dark light" intensify their glow; the light within the head flickers at intervals during the life of the average m-w-c, and becomes a shining light as he/she enters upon the Path of Disciple/Nooship. When he/she becomes an initiate, the light of the atoms is so bright, and the light in the head so intense (with a paralleling stimulation of the centres of force in the body), that the light body appears. Eventually this body of light becomes externalised and of greater prominence than the dense tangible physical body. This is the body of light in which the true son/daughter of God consciously dwells. After the third initiation, the dual light becomes accentuated and takes on a still greater brilliancy through the blending with it of the energy of spirit. This is not really the admission or the re-combining of a third light, but the fanning of the light of matter and the light of the soul into a greater glory through the Breath of the spirit. [… deleted.] Seek to understand the significance of this process. In the understanding of these aspects of light comes a truer perspective as to the nature of the fires in the human expression of divinity.

It must never be forgotten that the soul of all things, the anima mundi, as it expresses itself through all the four kingdoms in nature, is that which gives to our planet its light in the heavens. The planetary light is the sum total of the light, dim and uncertain, to be found in all atoms of radiatory and vibratory matter or substance, which compose all forms in all kingdoms. Added to this, there is, within the planet and also within each kingdom in nature, the correspondence to the etheric body with its centres of radiant energy, found underlying or "substanding" the outer physical form. Man's etheric body is a corporate part of the planetary etheric body, and constitutes its most refined and most highly developed aspect. As the aeons pass away there is a growing intensity of light radiating forth from our planet. This does not necessarily mean that a dweller on Neptune would see our planet glowing with an increasingly brighter light, though this does happen in a few cases in the universe. But it means that, from the standpoint of a clairvoyant vision, the etheric planetary body will grow in vivid radiation and glory as that radiation expresses more and more the true light of the soul.

The soul is light essentially, both literally from the vibratory angle, and philosophically from the angle of constituting the true medium of knowledge. The soul is light symbolically, for it is like the rays of the sun, which pour out into the darkness; the soul, through the medium of the brain, causes revelation. It throws its light into the brain, and thus the way of the human being becomes increasingly illumined. The brain is like the eye of the soul, looking out into the physical world; in the same sense the soul is the eye of the Monad, and in a curious and psyientific sense, the fourth kingdom in nature constitutes on our planet the eye of the planetary Deity. The brain is responsive to the seven senses:

1. Hearing 5. Smell
2. Touch 6. The mind, the common-sense
3. Sight 7. The intuition /or the synthetic sense.
4. Taste

Through these seven senses contact with the world of matter and of spirit becomes possible. The seven senses are, in a peculiar way, the physical plane correspondences of the seven Rays, and are closely related to and governed by them all. The following tabulation will be found suggestive. That is all that it is intended to be:

1. Hearing 7th Ray Magic The Word of Power.
2. Touch 1st Ray Destroyer The Finger of God.
3. Sight 3rd Ray Vision The Eye of God.
4. Taste 6th Ray Idealism The Desire of Nations.
5. Smell 4th Ray Art The Beauty of Revelation.
6. The Intellect 5th Ray Mind The Knowledge of God.
7. The Intuition 2nd Ray Love-Wisdom Understanding of God.